Pros & Cons Of Helping Sazza In Baldur’s Gate 3


Summary

  • Saving Sazza is considered an evil choice and can lead to serious consequences, such as betraying other characters and raiding Emerald Grove.
  • Freeing Sazza and turning against the druids also has benefits, including gaining a powerful companion, looting powerful equipment, and favor from certain party members.
  • It is possible to save Sazza without raiding Emerald Grove, which opens up a potential path to recruit Minthara in Act 2.



In Act One of Baldur’s Gate 3, the adventurers encounter Sazza, a sassy goblin stuck in a cage. While the goblins have been an imminent threat thus far throughout the playthrough, a definitive choice must be made here. Either save Sazza or mercilessly let the guards put her out of her misery while she’s trapped. This decision can seem like a no-brainer, but it actually has pretty serious implications for the entire campaign of BG3. For this reason, it’s important to weigh the pros and cons before making a final decision and potentially venturing down an undesired path.

Much like all decisions in Baldur’s Gate 3, one action can ripple out, reverberating throughout a campaign and changing the outcome of future events. Like many of these decisions, sparing or killing Sazza is one of these choices, and the outcomes must be weighed before making the proper choice. While the prospect of having the mind flayer tadpole removed via the goblin shaman, True Soul Gut, might seem alluring, the decision has impacts within the greater conflict of the Emerald Grove and beyond.


[Warning: This article contains spoilers for Baldur’s Gate 3]

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Helping Sazza Is The Evil Choice

Consequences Of Saving Sazza In BG3

The choice to save Sazza the goblin comes during the main quest “Save the First Druid,” when the adventurers are tasked with saving the healer Halsin, who is rumored to be capable of removing their mind flayer tadpoles. On the way to the goblin camp, players will come across a goblin in a cage – Sazza – with guards wielding crossbows ready to take her life.


Sazza can either be freed with a series of dialogue checks, or by killing the tiefling guards, then picking the lock on her cage. Sazza must then be escorted out of camp, but it’s best not to do so in broad daylight. Taking the back route, down the ledge behind her cage, leads to a far easier path along the Underground Passage – although the way is lined with traps.

It’s possible to use the glowing panels in the Underground Passage to turn off the traps, but it’s not without risk. Getting to them means running through the path of a few fireballs, so ensure whichever party member goes first has near-full HP.

What Happens When You Help Sazza In BG3

Pros & Cons Of Freeing Sazza

True Soul Gut with dwarf and Sazza in a cage.
Custom Image by: Garrett Ettinger


While aiding the helpless in BG3 typically is a good action looked at in a positive light, stepping in front of Sazza and sparing her from a crossbow bolt is considered evil, and good companions will disapprove. However, saving Sazza will start the questline “Save the Goblin Sazza.” Like most BG3 quest lines, this one can be abandoned at almost any point along the way, but following it all the way through will lead to the party siding with the Goblin Camp in Act One.

Following this path will eventually lead to the party raiding Emerald Grove, which is deemed so evil that key Origin characters like Wyll and Karlach will leave the party. This decision also leads to betraying the tieflings, which could contradict previous actions in the game. The assault itself on Emerald Grove is not without its consequences, either. Some NPCs killed in the conflict are early-game merchants that may make it easier to get through the campaign. Several of the Emerald Grove tieflings, including the blacksmith Dammon, are also involved in a variety of Act Two side quests. Killing them in Act One means missing out on that content later.


If Sazza is freed in Act One, then players can encounter her again when they arrive at Moonrise Towers in Act Two. She finds herself in much the same situation, only this time, she’s held prisoner by agents of the Absolute, who seek to punish her for her failure to obtain the Artifact. Once again, they can decide either to free her, or leave well enough alone.

Players also have the opportunity to decide Sazza’s method of execution if they so choose.

If they decide to leave her to her fate this time, she’ll be killed. If they do free her, she’ll simply run away, but the player will receive a letter from her in the Chest of Grateful Words during the game’s epilogue. This simply explains that she’s been captured again, and is counting on the player to come save her another once more.


From a role-play perspective, the only viable reason a character would take this route is if they were evil, so considerations for immersion should also be taken if going down this path. Because the goblins worship the Absolute, this also means that the party will be siding with followers of that deity. The party should only save Sazza on an evil playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3, as there is a point of no return after which it’s hard to turn back, so engaging with Sazza’s quests after interacting with her should not be taken lightly.

What Happens If You Don’t Free Sazza In BG3

Pros & Cons Of Leaving Sazza Alone

He Who Was from Baldur's Gate 3 to the left, Orin the Red in the middle, and Sazza to the right, all superimposed over a pink background with heart figures.


If the player instead decides to leave Sazza to her fate, the tieflings guarding her will make good on their promise: she’ll eventually die in the cage. That’ll be the end of Sazza’s story, and the player will never see her or her guards ever again. This doesn’t have any impact with either of the major Act One factions, though. Players can still explore the Goblin Camp freely, provided they make a good first impression on arriving, and none of the tieflings or druids will breathe a word about Sazza ever again.

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Freeing Sazza Has Its Benefits

A Meet & Greet With Priestess Gut

True Soul Gut the goblin shaman in Baldur's Gate 3.


While hinted that saving Sazza will result in the goblin shaman, True Soul Gut, removing the mind flayer tadpole from the brains of the prisoners on the Nautiloid, that path does not go well, or as most would expect. Removing said tadpole is a larger part of the overall narrative, which will be further developed in Acts Two and Three regardless of player choices. However, if tempted based just on that offer alone, it would be ill-advised, as other characters in the game claim to have the same ability to remove the pesky telepathic tadpole to no avail, giving a hint to the end of that journey.

If Tav does decide to let Gut remove their tadpole, whether they were introduced by Sazza or found her on their own, she’ll knock them out with a powerful anesthetic. They’ll wake up later in the Goblin Camp prison, and be forced to find a way out. There are multiple avenues of escape: Strength checks can break the chains, Acrobatics checks can slip out of them, and merely waiting will eventually cause Gut to come by and let them out. However, Tav will have to fight Gut and her ogre bodyguard all by themselves, which, while possible, is not a pleasant affair.


However, while freeing Sazza and turning against the druids of Emerald Grove is certainly an evil turn, it doesn’t come without its benefits. For one, saving Sazza opens up the opportunity to gain Minthara, a powerful drow companion and ally with the goblins. Minthara also provides another romance option in BG3 after the goblins successfully assault the grove.

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In addition, the druids have powerful equipment that can be looted after defeating them, bolstering the party’s gear. This serves as an early-game boost for those with the mettle to take the evil and more unconventional approach to this portion of the campaign. It should be warned, however, that the druids and their Wild Shape forms are incredibly powerful, and the battle will be difficult if this path is chosen.


Lastly, companions Astarion and Lae’zel will favor the decision, so if the player plans to keep them around as permanent members of the party, it’s a smart choice. While they may disapprove of siding with the tieflings and druids instead, they won’t leave the party completely in that case. Remember, however, that this also comes at the trade-off of losing other “good” companions, though the full repercussions of this action will depend on other decisions and companions recruited throughout the campaign.

There’s A Way To Save Sazza And Not Turn Evil

It’s Possible To Free Sazza, But Still Side With The Tieflings And Druids

Minthara looking hopeful in Baldurs Gate 3.


Many different paths can be chosen when it comes to helping Sazza in BG3. There are a few specific ways to satisfy all parties, to some extent, and mitigate most drawbacks from decisions. Helping Sazza, leaving the conversation before heading to the goblin camp, and continuing along on a good-aligned playthrough by rescuing the druid Halsin will save Emerald Grove from destruction while also saving the goblin stuck in a cage.

The one drawback to this is that while Sazza is technically out of the cage and saved, the ability to add Minthara to the party as a companion will be lost, as she is one of the goblin leaders that the adventurers will have to take out to finish rescuing Halsin. However, there is an even more specific route that can both save Sazza, spare Emerald Grove, and recruit both Minthara and Halsin in BG3.

A common strategy to recruit both Halsin and Minthara involves simply knocking out the latter while killing the other two goblin leaders. This technically completes Halsin’s quest, and can also keep Sazza alive. The trigger for her death is the defeat of all three goblin leaders. If one of them technically remains alive until the second act, then Sazza will, too.


Like many other moral decisions that must be made in BG3, there are a wide plethora of branching paths and outcomes from helping Sazza. While the decision may not seem to have huge implications at first, it can lead to huge sways in the storyline, depending on the choices. There are many pros and cons to helping Sazza in Baldur’s Gate 3, and they should all be weighed before making the definitive choice – but if the goblin True Soul Gut’s offer to remove the tadpole was the main factor in their decision-making, players might be left somewhat unsatisfied with the result.

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