Flaming Fist Marcus is a powerful enemy the player will encounter early on in Baldur’s Gate 3 in Act 2. He will come to the Last Light Inn to capture Isobel.
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Here’s how to defeat him and protect the cleric Isobel, as well as the other inhabitants of the Last Light Inn in BG3.
Where To Find Isobel
To even find Isobel, the player will have to enter Baldur’s Gate 3’s Act 2. To get there, the player will need to make their way to the Shadow Cursed Lands – an extremely dangerous area.
To get there, the player must finish their business with Nere in the Grymforge and head down an elevator available there.
The player will make it into a room where they will find Elminster Aumar. The player should stop and speak with him and Gale, but after that, the player must continue ahead.
Before anything, note that it will be useful to have Shadowheart among the player’s main team as she will be the only one immune to the curses in what’s to come. For the rest of the characters, the player should make sure they have enough torches to get through those cursed lands. Once that’s sorted, the player should cross the door that leads them into the Shadow Cursed Lands.
During all time in the Shadow Cursed Land, the player must stay next to a source of light or things could go very bad. The player will be confronted with some fights along the way when they meet Harper Lassandra. The player should not engage in a fight with her and instead help her. The player will need to fight some Shadows. Once those creatures are defeated, Harper Lassandra’s group will take the player to the Last Light Inn.
Inside the Last Light Inn, the player is protected against the curses. However, the second they step in, they will be confronted by Jaheira and will have to convince her that they’re not a threat due to the player having a parasite.
If the player had saved the Tieflings in the Grove, Mol, a small Tiefling will vouch for the player. The player will have to show Jaheira the artifact for her to finally have some trust in the player. The player should avoid a fight.
Inside the Last Light Inn, the player will find many of the Tieflings they saved back in the grove.
To now find Isobel, the player will first have to speak again to Jaheira, who will want to ask the player questions. She will also speak about Ketheric Thorm, and how the player will have to defeat him.
But, to reach the Moonrise Tower, she’ll ask the player to go speak with Isobel so that she can make them immune to some areas in the Shadow Cursed Land. She will be upstairs on the balcony in her room.
Who Are Isobel and Flaming Fist Marcus?
Isobel is known as a faithful cleric of Selune. She’s the one who made it possible to walk inside the Last Light Inn without worrying about the curses by casting a moon shield. Thanks to her, everyone can live safely inside of this area. She’ll cast a protection spell on the player immediately after being spoken to. This will allow the player to walk around the Shadow Cursed Lands, but not everywhere. The player will have to find another way to go into the areas with stronger curses.
While the players speak with Isobel, there will be an interruption. Arriving from the sky and landing on Isobel’s balcony, Flying Fist Marcus will enter the scene.
Isobel will be confused at first as she trusted Marcus, however, he has turned to Ketheric and wants to kidnap Isobel. Flying Fist Marcus is also infected with a parasite and the player can try to probe into his thoughts. It’s of the utmost importance that he brings back Isobel alive to Ketheric.
Confrontation With Flying Fist Marcus
Now that Marcus is here and is determined to take back Isobel, the player must stop him at all costs and let him know that they will not stand with him or the Absolute.
This will ensure a fight with Flaming Fist Marcus, and he comes with backup.
Defeating Flaming Fist Marcus
The fight will start in Isobel’s room, and before even speaking to Isobel, the player should make sure to take a long rest as it will definitely be needed. Ideally, also save here as the fight will not only be about defeating Flaming Fist Marcus, but also protecting Isobel.
Isobel is a cleric, and due to that, she is quite frail, so the player will need to heavily assist and protect her.
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Once the fight starts, Flaming Fist Marcus will have 86 hit points and he will be supported by quite a few winged horros, who each have 32 hit points. Specifically, the player needs to worry about 3 winged horros who will make their way to Isobel and the player while the rest are for the most part preoccupied with the other ally NPCs, such as Jaheira.
The area the player will fight inside is quite tight, so it will limit how useful some long-range attacks can be, but will make it easier to attack closely. Attacks that hit multiple enemies will also be hard to use due to how tight the space is, and could lead to the player damaging their own allies, especially Isobel, so that should be used with caution.
During this fight, the player should prioritize taking down Flaming Fist Marcus as he’s the one landing the most damage. The player should also try to disarm him as that will leave him a lot more vulnerable.
However, once Marcus is down, it doesn’t mean Isobel is safe, as she can still get taken by one of the Winged Horros.
The player needs to have a healer on hand who will take care of Isobel during this fight. Specifically, healing her and buffing her armor class is a good strategy. As a cleric, Isobel will often heal herself but that is not enough as she will get attacked by multiple characters.
This fight might take a few tries for the player, but as long as Isobel is protected, the fight should go smoothly. After defeating the enemies around Isobel, the player needs to help the other characters with the Winged Horros, which should not be an issue.
Flaming Fist Marcus Loot
Once Marcus is down, here’s what the player can loot off his body:
Of course, here, the most interesting item will be the parasite specimen, which are not a common find in the BG3 world and can grant great boosts.
What Happens If The Player Fails?
If Flaming Fist Marcus or one of the Winged Horros gets their hands on Isobel, the entire Last Light Inn will be thrown into chaos. Indeed, Isobel is the one keeping the area safe by casting a moon shield. Without her, the moon shield is gone, which causes the curses to spread everywhere, taking over everyone. The player might have to kill a lot of innocents in that case. So it’s best to avoid this scenario.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is now available on PC, Xbox and PlayStation 5.
Baldur’s Gate 3
- How Long To Beat
- 30 Hours
- Metascore
- 96
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