What does going through the mountain pass early do?

[Chimbledon]

Says to tie up loose ends before going forward, I haven't noticed anything change with most of the ongoing quests, it does a bunch at camp I think but can't tell otherwise.

[Connor]

nothing, you can go right back to the wilderness

[The Schwifty One]

Everything will be fine, go for it

[Falcon]

The previous replies are terrible advice. Going through the Mountain Pass early (i.e before resolving the grove and goblin camp content) will affect quests and consequences. For example: Travelling to the Mountain Pass before resolving things for the grove, will mean that the druids complete the ritual and close the grove off.

[Moxifica]

For anyone still wondering, the post above (Falcon) is correct. It forces a long rest and the grove gets sealed.

[EricHVela]

It also depends on which way you enter the Mountain Pass. One of the two paths from the Wilderness region will affect a companion if not yet recruited.

[cppop]

Does it affect any of the underdark quests?

[Bufnitza]

Originally posted by cppop:

Does it affect any of the underdark quests?

No, it's perfectly valid to do all of the Mountain Pass quests and then do the Underdark quests.

As mentioned above the only quests which are automatically resolved if not completed yet when entering the Mountain Pass are the grove and tieflings quests.

[Simon McAllister]

You're not locked to either path that being the Mountain Pass or the Underdark. What most do not know is that all the Underdark quest that including Grymforge can be done before resolving the grove conflict. But you probably want to stop the ritual before doing that. As that is timed take too many long rest and the grove is sealed. So long as you don't use the elevator in Grymforge the goblin vs grove thing isn't auto resolved on you. That also will happen if you stopped the ritual but went into the mountain pass early. The quest auto resolves and the grove is massacred by the goblins. Use to be the only option to players if they didn't want to take a side but wanted Minthara to live. Odd thing is the mountain pass is considered act 1 but is treated the same as if you go to Act 2 before tying up loose ends.