Tarchiate Withering – A Curse in Baldur’s Gate 3
Tarchiate Withering is a curse in Baldur’s Gate 3 that a character receives after reading the Tarchiate Codex from the special storage in Ramazith’s Tower. It imposes negative effects on the hero:
- Endurance: -5.
This reduction in endurance affects the character’s health points. For example, in my case, Gale’s health decreased from 148 to 92, which is quite significant.
Appearance
In Baldur’s Gate 3, Tarchiate Withering can be identified by a special icon next to the character’s portrait, which upon hovering over, reveals information about the applied debuff. It looks as follows:
Additionally, the hero gets a black-green aura, which also indicates the negative influence.
How to Remove
You can remove Tarchiate Withering in several ways:
1) Help from Shadowheart
If you have Shadowheart as a companion, you can ask the priestess for help. It does not matter if she is currently traveling with you or waiting in the camp, the important thing is that she is available as a companion.
Shadowheart receives this spell by default at level 5.
Since this is the simplest and cheapest method, here’s a step-by-step guide:
- Add Shadowheart to your party. Check if she has the “Remove Curse” spell among her used spells. If yes, proceed to step 6 of the instructions.
- If she doesn’t, return to the camp and select her as the active character.
- Open the spell settings tab in the inventory, which looks like an open book.
- Find “Remove Curse” in the list, under the 3rd spell circle.
- Remember that the number of spells a hero can use at once is limited, so you may need to temporarily remove another spell to make room for “Remove Curse”. Later, you can revert this if you wish by simply clicking on any option outlined in yellow to free up a slot for “Remove Curse”.
- Return to the main screen and select “Remove Curse” from the panel.
- Stand close to the hero who needs to be freed from Tarchiate Withering and use the spell.
2) Scroll with the Spell
If Shadowheart is unavailable for some reason, you can use a “Remove Curse” scroll.
This method has no specific requirements. Approach with any character who has the scroll in their inventory and apply it to the “afflicted” one. Unfortunately, the exact location of the scroll is unknown, but it can be found randomly from traders or during world exploration.
If you have the scroll, you can teach the spell to your party member Gale for money, or to yourself if you are playing as a Wizard class. In this case, it can be used under the same conditions as Shadowheart the priestess.
Bonuses of Removal
Besides getting rid of the negative effects, which is significant in itself, the character also receives Tarchiate Vitality in the amount of 20 temporary HP. Unfortunately, this state only lasts until the next long rest, not permanently.
However, it’s definitely worth it since reading the Tarchiate Codex not only gives the curse but also provides the opportunity to complete “Necromancy of Thay”. By passing a Wisdom check (20), you can learn the spell “Horrifying Dance”.
Horrifying Dance is a 5th circle Necromancy spell that allows creating up to 4 ghouls once before the next long rest.
Its usage looks as follows:
