Even after 180 hours of Baldur's Gate 3, I never realized there's a game-spanning unmarked quest to find a stray cat a new home

Malta the orange and white cat in BG3 closeup
(Image credit: Larian)

I have sunk so much of my life in Baldur's Gate 3, and it just keeps surprising me. YouTuber DragonsDream demonstrated an absolutely delightful little unmarked quest to find a stray cat a new home in Act 3, and I know exactly why I've never seen it before: you have to effectively fail another quest all the way back at the beginning of the game to make it happen.

Derryth Bonecloak, dwarf apothecary, only wants to adopt a cat if she's single come Act 3. This can be accomplished one of three ways: not completing the Act 1 Underdark quest to find her addled husband, Baelen, finding him, but somehow killing him in the process, or successfully rescuing him and giving him a dose of the Noblestalk mushroom, which causes him to regain his faculties⁠. Baelen returns to being an abusive brute, and Derryth subsequently divorces him.

I've never had a save lacking Baelen come Act 3 before⁠—those first two conditions require failing a pretty easy quest, all things considered, while the third locks you out of special cutscenes for giving the Noblestalk to Shadowheart or the Dark Urge. Not to mention, it hardly seems like a kind thing to do to Derryth.

However you arrange it though, if Derryth is single and in no way ready to mingle come Act 3, you can deliver one of two charismatic talking stray cats from the mean streets of Baldur's Gate to the good life under her care. DragonsDream shows the process for sending her Malta, the noir-obsessed orange cat who narrates his own life, but you can also apparently deliver her Myshka, a cat who speaks his own special language and thinks your character is his mother. Regrettably, only one of these fine felines can find a forever home at Bonecloak Apothecary.

I'm still blown away by this little quest⁠—a Pet Pal side deal to help a stray cat is pretty classically Larian, but tying it to world state changes you'll have set in stone dozens of hours previously is truly next-level. Maybe I'll find a way to ensure Baelen has a little "accident" the next time I play through Baldur's Gate 3.

Associate Editor

Ted has been thinking about PC games and bothering anyone who would listen with his thoughts on them ever since he booted up his sister's copy of Neverwinter Nights on the family computer. He is obsessed with all things CRPG and CRPG-adjacent, but has also covered esports, modding, and rare game collecting. When he's not playing or writing about games, you can find Ted lifting weights on his back porch.

Read more
Astarion
Players are still finding edge-case Baldur's Gate 3 scenes, like one where you play as a kidnapped Astarion even if you made your own player-character
Minthara BG3 looking upset
Another round of Baldur's Gate 3 unearthing reveals Minthara can end up living in a sewer, an unused beach ending, and more
A Lovecraftian monster in a dungeon in Cyclopean: The Great Abyss.
This fascinating Lovecraftian RPG has me determined to build an army of ghoul-slaying cats—and no I haven't been driven mad by forbidden knowledge, why do you ask?
A fungus-infected bear attacking in Avowed.
Avowed is overrun with bears and I need to find out why
Avowed masked Knight with glowing red eyes Inquisitor Lodwyn looks at camera
Avowed's rarest ending has only been seen by 0.2% of players and demands you make the correct choice at every major quest to not get your head chopped off
Half Orc wearing rare Bhaalist Armor in Baldur's Gate 3 standing in front of Astarion and Karlach
It turns out you can get Baldur's Gate 3's best assassin armor without killing a baby angel elephant and joining a cult, all you have to do is pickpocket a ghost
Latest in Baldur's Gate
Minthara BG3 looking upset
Another round of Baldur's Gate 3 unearthing reveals Minthara can end up living in a sewer, an unused beach ending, and more
Gale, a wizard from Baldur's Gate 3, looks very bloodied and very sad at the player while a celestial midnight blooms behind his depressed mug.
Baldur's Gate 3's stress test update fixes heartbreaking bug that wiped out Honour Mode runs at the last possible moment
Baldur's Gate 3 player character made to resemble Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher.
Wait a minute, Geralt of Rivia actor Doug Cockle was in Baldur's Gate 3 this whole time
Half Orc wearing rare Bhaalist Armor in Baldur's Gate 3 standing in front of Astarion and Karlach
It turns out you can get Baldur's Gate 3's best assassin armor without killing a baby angel elephant and joining a cult, all you have to do is pickpocket a ghost
Gale, a wizard from Baldur's Gate 3, looks very bloodied and very sad at the player while a celestial midnight blooms behind his depressed mug.
Baldur's Gate 3's stress test update has, mercifully, made one of its new OP cantrips halfway balanced again—but it's really still quite good
Withers Big Naturals mod image - Withers with big naturals
Sure, why not, here's a guy beating Baldur's Gate 3 without a race or class at all
Latest in News
A mech awakens.
Mecha Break developer is considering unlocking all mechs following open beta feedback
Lara Croft Unified Art
Tomb Raider developer Crystal Dynamics lays off 17 employees 'to better align our current business needs and the studio's future success'
A long bendy arm stealing money from people in a subway car
'You're a very long arm. You steal things. It's a comedy game,' explains developer of comedy game where you steal things with a very long arm
The heroes are attacked by monsters
Pillars of Eternity is getting turn-based combat to mark its 10th anniversary, and that means PC Gamer editors will soon be arguing about combat mechanics again
Image of Ronaldo from Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves trailer
It doesn't really make sense that soccer star Ronaldo is now a Fatal Fury character, but if you follow the money you can see how it happened
Junah beginning a battle in Metaphor: ReFantazio.
Today's RPG fans are 'very sensitive to feeling like they wasted time' when they die, says Metaphor: ReFantazio battle planner—but Atlus still made combat hard anyway