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How To Free Oskar Fevras
How To Get The Torch of Revocation
Travel to Lady Jannath's Estate
Confront the Ghost of Kerri
Like many interesting side quests in Baldur's Gate 3, "Free the Artist" is a fun, small adventure that introduces you to interesting characters and offers unique rewards for engaging with the larger world. This story bridges both Act 1 and Act 3 of the main adventure, taking you into the city of Baldur's Gate itself. Tough fights and even more difficult choices await those who pursue this small but intriguing piece of the game.
To begin, travel to the Zhentarim Basement in Act 1, the headquarters of a criminal organization that you can reach by pursuing the "Find the Missing Shipment" quest. If your character happens to know Detect Thoughts, you can learn the password to get into this place from the NPC Salazon, who guards the area. Whatever method you use to enter this hideout, you'll find the artist by talking to someone named Brem.
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How To Free Oskar Fevras
Once you start talking to Brem in the Zhentarim Basement, he'll mention how he can force the organization's pet artist to paint you and your party. This will lead you to ask more about this supposed painter, including how they got captured through some dialogue choices in Baldur's Gate 3. Brem will offer to trade the artist Oskar Fevras for a good amount of money, which could give you a few options.
Speaking to Oskar before Brem will lead to the artist offering you double whatever you pay for his freedom from a mysterious "patron" that Oskar claims can give you great rewards later.
While you could certainly pay the total 1,000 Gold price Brem wants for Oskar, you have Persuasion, Intimidation, and even a Rogue class-specific dialogue prompt that could make this process much easier. Any custom character in Baldur's Gate 3 with a high enough Charisma stat can use these extra options to convince Brem to simply hand Oskar over without spending anything.
Freeing Oskar into your service leads to more conversation with the artist, where he tells you more about his patron, Lady Jannath, a noble in Baldur's Gate. Apparently, he and the Lady were to be married, but he quit the service before being captured. He wishes to reunite with her if she still wants to marry him and asks you to lend him some Gold to help him return safely.
Whether you hand over money to Oskar or not, he will leave your group and travel to the city, updating your Quest Journal to meet him in Baldur's Gate to claim your reward for freeing him. Regardless of whether Lady Jannath will give you something or not, you will have to wait until Act 3 to reach the city itself.
How To Get The Torch of Revocation
When you reach Act 3 and rush towards Baldur's Gate 3's ending, travel to Philgrave's Mansion instead of Lady Jannath's Estate to acquire a powerful item that will help you later. Here, you'll meet with the Mystic Carrion, who your party may have already encountered through another side quest in Baldur's Gate 3. Either help the Carrion or kill him to find a chest behind his desk in the building that contains the Torch of Revocation.
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This item is crucial for the quest involving Oskar and acts as a very rare weapon that deals 1d4 fire and 1d4 necrotic damage to targets as a Club. Party members like Shadowheart or Lae'Zel are perfect candidates for wielding this tool due to their proficiencies with melee weapons in Baldur's Gate 3.
Travel to Lady Jannath's Estate
Lady Jannath's Estate can be found once you reach the Lower City in Baldur's Gate 3, toward the western edge of the map above the Steel Watch Foundry. Going inside reveals a haunting truth - the house has been overrun by poltergeists, making the furniture float and move suddenly throughout the house. Defeat these ghosts and the Tormented Souls that linger on the second floor to continue searching for Oskar and his new wife.
Going upstairs further lets you find Lady Jannath and a possessed Oskar, who has been summoning the ghosts around the Estate. Make sure to activate non-lethal damage and stop Oskar without killing him. After you subdue the artist, Jannath will ask you to find out what has caused this invasion of spirit to her beloved in Baldur's Gate 3, mentioning that Oskar was obsessively working on a project in the Atelier area.
The path to the Atelier is guarded by enemies called Cursed Skulls, which can be destroyed by simply casting the Remove Curse spell instead of reducing their Hit Points to 0.
Fight through more specters up another set of stairs in Baldur's Gate 3 to reach Oskar's Atelier study, where you'll find a door that can be opened using a key from Oskar's body. Inside is a painting of another woman named Kerri, Oskar's original lost love, with evidence that the artist had been trying to summon her spirit with the help of the Mystic Carrion. This ties together what has been happening and leads to the last part of this quest.
Confront the Ghost of Kerri
Go ahead and use the Torch of Revocation to burn the painting of Kerri in the Atelier to reveal the ghost of the young girl being the culprit behind this paranormal panic. Return downstairs to find Lady Jannath unconscious and Kerri standing over her and Oskar. Confront this ghost, passing Persuasion or Intimidation checks to discover the full story between her and the unfortunate artist in Baldur's Gate 3.
Once you have the full story, you have three choices that will determine the outcome of this quest in Baldur's Gate 3. You can let Kerri kill Oskar, but this will cause the ghost to disappear and Lady Jannath to blame you for her new husband's death, leading to no reward. You could also kill Kerri or convince her to leave Oskar alone with a strong enough Persuasion or Intimidation check once again.
If you manage to keep Oskar alive, he will be incredibly grateful for your help a second time and offer to create a portrait of your character as thanks. This decoration can be added to your party's residence, although there have been reports of Oskar accidentally drawing other party members as of this time of writing. Completing the "Free the Artist" quest in Baldur's Gate 3 will also give you tons of XP to level up your party.