How to Awaken Art Cullagh and Remove the Shadow Curse in Baldur's Gate 3

Art Cullagh is a sleepy man in the Last Light Inn of Baldur's Gate 3's second act, and he is the key to breaking the Shadow Curse that ravages the shadow-stricken lands.

Once you reach act 2 and reach the central hub of the Last Light Inn, you can awaken Art, locate Thaniel, defeat Oliver, and finally recruit him. Halsin as a real companion for your company. All of this takes place during a lengthy quest that takes you through these new lands and to their edges Moonrise Towers.

In this Baldur's Gate 3 guide, we will guide you through it how to wake up art cullagh And how to break the shadow curse in act 2.

Wake up Art Cullagh

Once you reach the Last Light Inn in the Shadow-cursed Lands, return to your camp and talk to Halsin. He will tell you the story of a young man named Thaniela Tiefling who is the root of the curse taking over the Shadow-cursed Land.

Now return to the Last Light Inn and visit the bunkhouses on the first floor, just to the right of the entrance. A man will be mentioned Art Cullagh lying in bed with a swirling animation above him. Talk to him and he will mutter something about Thaniel. Walk through the dialogue and you'll learn that he needs a personal item to wake him up.

Return to Halsin at the camp and the Druid will decide that he must see the sleeping man for himself. Jump back to the Last Light Inn and talk to Art again, this time with Halsin's help. Read Art's final quest letter and a quest marker will appear near Moonrise Towers. Go there.

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In the city, near the Road to Baldur's Gate Waypointyou will find the House of Healing and the cemetery it is connected to – not exactly a good combination if you want people to have confidence in your hospital. Inside you will be redirected to the operating room and the “doctor” of the staff.

Go to the large room at the back of the hospital and you will meet Malus Thorm and his team of assistants. Thorm is an undead boss who is also a 'surgeon' who tortures a patient. Talk to him enough and you'll end up in a fight. Kill Thorm and his minions and loot his body once the battle is over. He will be one Battered Lute on his person. Take it and return to Art back in Last Light.

Locate and rescue Thaniel

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With the Battered Lute in hand, walk over to Art and accept the command to play him a song. Don't worry if you don't know an instrument; your character simply plucks the strings until Art wakes up.

After talking to Art, Halsin decides he must look to another dimension to save Thaniel. Follow him to the coast and prepare for a fight. Let Halsin enter the portal alone and prepare to defend it. A huge army of undead creatures will appear on the shore and try to reach the portal.

You'll need to hold them off for several rounds of combat to progress in the quest. We advise Shadowheart here, as she can use Become undead against all beings. storm is also an excellent choice, due to its great AoE abilities Fireball can take out many of the low health critters in one go.

Once you successfully defend the portal for the required time, all the undead will burn out and Halsin will return from the portal with Thaniel's body. The Druid will ask you to come back to camp and talk. Meet him there and he will finally offer to join your crew to complete Thaniel's rescue.

Complete Thaniel's quest to lift the curse

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Just because you have Halsin on your team doesn't mean you can relax, or that the Druid won't have more work for you to do.

To lift the curse, you must find Thaniel's other half: Olivier, an obnoxious boy who likes to play hide and seek in the middle of the cursed lands. You will find his house in the east of Last Light in an area called 'House in Deep Shadows' on the map.

If you find him, Oliver will ask you to play hide and seek. Obey him and look around until you observe his location. He gets angry and tries another game where he hides again and summons some ghostly apparitions to chase you.

Now you can sneak around and carefully try to catch him again, or you can get caught and just kill the shadows. Anyway, talk to Oliver again and he won't want to play with you because he's a jerk. Assuming you've already rescued Thaniel, you can tell Oliver to rejoin his other half. This will eventually lead to another small combat encounter.

Image: Larian Studios via Polygon

Oliver will teleport you to the The town square of Moonrise Towers, alongside resurrected versions of his Mommy and Daddy Shades. Oliver will encase himself in a shield and turn his undead minions on you. Every time you kill one of his enemies, Oliver's shield will also take damage. You can also attack the shield directly. Somehow break the shield to talk to Oliver again. Convince or threaten him and he will decide to join Thaniel again.

Return to camp and talk to the now complete boy. Unfortunately, Thaniel alone will not be able to end the curse on the land. Instead, you must complete the main mission in Moonrise Towers. But at least Thaniel is whole again – and, more importantly, you have a brand new druid friend to keep you company on your adventures.