In Baldur's Gate 3, the prisoners of Moonrise Towers in Chapter 2 are widely considered dead by most players—but you can actually save them by rescuing them BEFORE the region's final showdown. If you skip the prison during exploration, you'll find the characters dead in the next sequence, and the window to rescue them closes forever.
Who are the "doomed" in Chapter 2?
Locked up in Moonrise Towers' prison are the gnome Wulbren and other prisoners—including the tieflings you met in Chapter 1. The narrative plays against you: everything points to their execution, and most players only discover the rescue after progressing too far in the story. The belief that "there's no way to save them" is the most common pitfall of Act 2.
The good news is that the rescue is possible any time before the battle that ends the act. You can enter Moonrise as soon as you reach the region, explore the prison at your leisure, and free everyone. After the final confrontation, the window slams shut, and the prisoners vanish from the area—for good.
Why so many players think there's no saving them
The game gives no emphasis to the prison: the main quest marker points toward the boss fight, and the fortress entrance looks like a warpath. Plus, the imprisoned characters don't speak to you from a distance—you have to get close to the cells to understand what's going on. As a result, most players walk right past and discover the prisoners' fate too late.
Step-by-step guide to saving the prisoners
- Head to Moonrise Towers before the final battle of Chapter 2—the main entrance is guarded, but there are side routes that avoid direct combat.
- Explore the prison area: the lower corridors of the fortress house the prisoners' cells. The path requires paying attention to patrols, but it's short.
- Use stealth or convince the guards: dialogues with Deception or Intimidation tags let you bypass combat—and avoid raising the alarm that calls reinforcements.
- Unlock the cells and guide the prisoners out—they follow the escape route on their own once freed, but they're vulnerable to ambushes along the way.
- Check the camp in Chapter 3: the saved characters reappear in the story if they survive the escape—and some unlock new quests in the final act.
Items and abilities that make the rescue easier
- Stealth: a character with high Stealth can move through the corridors without triggering patrols.
- Dialogue: high Charisma or the Deception tag avoids combat with the prison guards.
- Keys and levers: the cells open with the right interaction—look for levers and keys on the guards' bodies.
- Invisibility potions: in a pinch, a potion handles the trickiest stretch of the path.
What happens if you don't rescue anyone
If you push ahead to the final confrontation without visiting the prison, the prisoners never appear in the story again. Characters who were a living part of the world—with quests, dialogue, and reactions—simply vanish, and you miss content from Act 3. That's the difference between finishing the game with a "hollow" world and finishing it with complete stories.
Other easily overlooked rescues
The Moonrise rescue isn't the only case where Baldur's Gate 3 hides a saving window: the game is full of situations where a quick detour changes the fate of entire characters. The rule holds for the whole game: exploring before major fights almost always unlocks full storylines that most players never see.
Players on Honor Mode need extra caution: the single save file doesn't allow you to go back and test the rescue route. The strategy is to make the prison detour BEFORE any major battle in the region—once the rescue is done, the rest of the act flows without the pressure of a closing window.
Why the rescue is worth the detour
Beyond the Act 3 content, saving the prisoners changes how you see the world: Moonrise stops being just a castle of enemies and becomes a place with people—people you chose to save. That's the kind of choice that sets one campaign apart from another and gives you a reason for a second playthrough.
And the best part of the rescue: it requires no combat at all. With a stealthy or charismatic character up front, the entire prison can be traversed without firing a single arrow—making the detour accessible even to the most peaceful builds in the game. The decision to save or abandon the prisoners then rests on the player's heart—and that's exactly what Baldur's Gate 3 does best: turning choice into story.
Frequently asked questions
- Can you save the prisoners after Chapter 2's final battle? No. The rescue window closes once the region's final confrontation begins.
- Can Wulbren die during the escape? Yes, the prisoners are fragile on the escape route—protecting them along the way is part of the rescue.
- Does saving the prisoners change Chapter 3? Yes, the saved characters reappear in the story and in quests from the final act.
- Do you need to be stealthy, or can you attack the guards? Both approaches work; direct combat is riskier because the alarm calls reinforcements.
Want more guides and trivia? Explore the games category on Revista Pixel. For official details, check the Baldur's Gate 3 official site.