InBaldur’s Gate 3, your actions (and even your inaction) impact how the plot develops. Characters you meet may become allies or enemies. Many of them can be spared or eliminated in various ways. One example of this dynamic in action is theFind the Missing Shipmentquest in Act 1, which requires you to decide what to do with precious cargo. Here is our guide telling you what to do with the Caravan Strongbox inBaldur’s Gate 3.
Baldur’s Gate 3– what to do with the Caravan Strongbox
You encounter theCaravan Strongboxalong the northern portion ofThe Risen Road. If you’re having trouble reaching that area, check our guide outliningall ways to get to The Risen Road. Once you access the region, win a battle outside a large cave opening and then acquire the Caravan Strongbox within that cave.Either open the Caravan Strongbox or keep it closed and bring it to the Zhentarim Hideout for your reward.
You first acquire the Caravan Strongbox in a remote cave.Two characters namedRuganandOllyhave found the chest within the cave ahead of you, and they are badly outnumbered by aggressive enemy mobs as you arrive. Your initial choices are:
I have not progressed far into the game after choosing all of the above options. However, I’m generally in favor of keeping characters alive until that option goes away. For the purposes of this guide, let’s suppose you choose the more difficult approach andclear the monsters out of the cave, saving Rugan and Olly in the process. This approach leads to the most follow-up options.
If you decide to take out the monsters, make their leader your ally.At level five,Flindis an enduring threat. Its minions make the battle a nightmare, however. They fire acid or frenzied flurries of arrows.Save your progress before approaching the area.If Flind approaches you near the start of the battle, use your parasite abilities to convince it to feed on its cohorts. Karlach won’t approve, but you can regain her approval by talking Rugan out of the chest after saving him.
Once you gain access to the chest through any of the above approaches, decide whether to open it before delivering it.The chest contains generally uninteresting items. For me, the bounty consisted of aBlack and Jade Green Dye x2,23 gold, and anIron Flask. None of that loot sounds like much, but the flask is actually important.
If you open the chest and throw the flask you find inside, you release aSpectatormonster that you can (maybe) defeat. Rugan and Olly may even help you in the battle. However, even if you defeat the monster, this choice displeases your Zhentarim contact atWaukeen’s Rest.
If you return the Caravan Strongbox to Waukeen’s Rest unopened, you receive a more useful reward.You don’t need to have visited the area previously. Take the chest to the northwest corner of Waukeen’s Rest, near the stable stall with the frightened ox. When you frightenSalazonin the nearby room, recite a password you learned. Then head around the shelves where the man cowers to find theHatchthat leads toZhentarim Basement.
In Zhentarim Basement, find theWardrobenear the back corner and open it to access theHidden Stairs. Follow them to meet withZarys. There are a number of ways this conversation can go, depending on what has transpired already. In my case, I needed to kill Rugen and then Zarys asked me to deliver the chest to Baldur’s Gate. By joining the ‘family,’ you gain the option of purchasingThe Jolty Vestarmor for 663 gold from the local merchant,Brem. This seems like the best possible outcome.
From what I can tell, a final option is to keep the chest without bothering with Zarys. Then you should be able to pawn it later in the game, at Baldur’s Gate. I don’t yet know if the story changes while taking that approach. At this point, it seems the best thing to do with the Caravan Strongbox is to return it unopened.
Baldur’s Gate 3is available onSteam.
Jason Venter
Jason Venter is a contributing writer for PC Invasion since 2022 who can trace his love for video games back to the Apple IIe port of Mario Bros. in the late 80s. He remains a diehard Nintendo fan to this day and loves JRPGs, adventure games, and platformers in particular, but he still plays games in most genres and on most hardware. After founding indie gaming site HonestGamers in 1998, he served as an editor at Hardcore Gamer Magazine during its entire print run. He has since freelanced for a variety of leading sites including IGN, GameSpot, and Polygon. These days, he spends most of his time writing game guides and entertaining readers with his fantasy novels.
