If you find Alfira the bard early on in Baldur's Gate 3, you might be wondering what is the point of the encounter. The purple-haired Tiefling is trying to compose a song, but it seems that once you've exchanged a few words, you go your separate ways with nothing really being gained. So what gives?
Not every character you meet is going to wind up in romance, obviously, but it seems that there's more to this bard than meets the eye, and you'd be right. By choosing certain dialogue options, not only will Alfira give you her teacher's lute, she'll teach you how to use it, no matter which class you are. Here's how to learn the lute with Alfira in Baldur's Gate 3.
Baldur's Gate 3 Alfira: How to play like a bard
You can find Alfira just to the east of the Emerald Grove, on a dirt path near the edge of a cliff. Her bright clothes and hair make her easy to spot and you can hear her lute long before you catch sight of her.
It seems she's having trouble writing a song and you're going to need to work your way through a series of choices with two fairly tough Performance checks. Because of this, it's a good idea to save before you speak to Alfira. For the first option, pick "Let me see if I can help", then comes the first important choice:
- First things first—what's the song about?
- Hand me that lute. We can perform together.
- Leave.
Pick the second choice, then select the Performance option on the next set of choices, which will be your first Charisma check. You'll need to roll higher than a 15 for this, so it can be pretty tough if you don't have bonuses. Don't worry too much if you fail the first check as you'll get another chance with the next choice, which is another Performance check, this time with a 10-roll requirement.
If you pass at least one of the Performance checks and aren't rude to her for the rest of the conversation, you'll get to keep Lihala's Lute which you can equip to gain bard Class Actions, letting you play a selection of songs whenever you like. These are:
- Bard Dance
- Old Time Battles
- The Power
- Sing for Me
- The Queen's High Seas
- Of Divinity and Sin
On top of that, Alfira has taught you proficiency with musical instruments, which can't be a bad thing.
It's also worth noting that you do get the option to put the lute in your pack throughout your conversation together but if you do this, you won't gain proficiency with the instrument and will play poorly.
The Dark Urge encounter
As ever, there's another outcome here that is specific to The Dark Urge. Regardless of whether you meet Alfira or not, she'll appear at your camp after you speak with Kagha in the Emerald Grove. She'll want to join your merry band and if you let her, well… You awake and she has been brutally murdered and there's literal blood on your hands.
You can use Investigation and Intelligence to figure out what happened before attending to the body. You can also admire your handiwork because you just love killing. You can do a Stealth roll to try and move the body or wash your hands. I suggest either, at the very least washing your hands otherwise Gale will accuse you and boy, do they figure out there's something off about you fast. You can also do nothing and face the music with glee. Afterwards, you can deny it, admit the deed, or if you managed to wash your hands, roll Deception to convince them it was a wild boar.
Whether or not you manage to conceal your evil deeds you'll become inspired, getting the Haunted One: Snipping the Chords.
