What triggers goblins to kill mother owlbear?

[RW]

Does anyone know what exactly triggers the goblins to kill the mother owlbear? I've had this event trigger multiple times, but in my most recent game, I've long rested many times, and the mother owlbear was still alive when i returned to the cave (I'd already persuaded her to leave me alone.) In the other games where I had the event trigger, I had also just persuaded her to leave me alone, then long rested some number of times and the goblins killed her. I've heard though if you try to kill her after you persuade her to leave you alone, the baby owlbear will never leave the cave. I tried that, and sure enough the baby was still there after two long rests, so it seems like maybe that is true. Is there any way then to recruit the baby owlbear if you persuade the mom to let you go, and the goblins never kill her?

[Silyon]

Far as I know, you have to encounter the owlbear but NOT attack/kill her, then go to the goblin camp. The Cub will replace the chicken for their animal-abuse minigame, and if you return to the cave afterwards you'll find the mom and several goblins dead.

[Leander.quest]

Originally posted by Silyon:

Far as I know, you have to encounter the owlbear but NOT attack/kill her, then go to the goblin camp. The Cub will replace the chicken for their animal-abuse minigame, and if you return to the cave afterwards you'll find the mom and several goblins dead.

Yes, had it in my game.

[RW]

Originally posted by Leander.quest:

Originally posted by Silyon:

Far as I know, you have to encounter the owlbear but NOT attack/kill her, then go to the goblin camp. The Cub will replace the chicken for their animal-abuse minigame, and if you return to the cave afterwards you'll find the mom and several goblins dead.

Yes, had it in my game.

I was trying to say I did that (1. went in cave 2. Talked to mom using animal speaking, and persuaded her to leave me alone 3. Left cave without interacting with the owlbears further 4. Long slept many times, went to goblin camp multiple times), but the goblins never killed her, so the baby owlbear never ended up at the goblin camp, so either it was bugged, or there's a more specific condition I'm missing. (If it's a bug, does anyone know what triggers the bug? ) I really want to know how exactly to get it right, since it's really hard to tell whether it worked or not without wasting hours in game. =(

[Leander.quest]

I'd focus on the goblin story...is Vol(d)o still in the engrove?

[RW]

Originally posted by Leander.quest:

I'd focus on the goblin story...is Vol(d)o still in the engrove?

I basically cleared all of Act 1 except I hadn't killed the goblin leaders yet. Volo was in my camp already.

[JennyTheGhoul]

Originally posted by RW:

Originally posted by Leander.quest:

I'd focus on the goblin story...is Vol(d)o still in the engrove?

I basically cleared all of Act 1 except I hadn't killed the goblin leaders yet. Volo was in my camp already.

That may be the issue.

[RW]

Originally posted by JennyTheGhoul:

Originally posted by RW:

I basically cleared all of Act 1 except I hadn't killed the goblin leaders yet. Volo was in my camp already.

That may be the issue.

How is that the issue? I went into the owlbear cave at the very beginning of Act 1. There's been TONS of time for it to trigger. I can't even tell how I played any differently from any of my other playthroughs, yet this one the event never triggered.

[Humpenstilzchen]

The last time when I went into the cave and back out without killing the owlbear, i just walked up towards the hill where the blighted village is and and inspected a burrow at the foot of the hill which to my surprize led right back in the owlbearcave and I was even more surprized that the owlbear was already dead like not even 2 minutes after I left the cave before. That was a little bit immersion breaking tbh.

[Mike Garrison]

Just roll with it. I am pretty sure that baby owlbear will show up in your camp no matter what you do, unless you kill it.

FWIW, I think the easiest way to play it is to just kill the mama owlbear yourself. The cub never seems to hold it against you in any way. And it's the easiest way to get the egg, which can either be used to scam the egg-collector woman or else can be sold for some cash. (Or it you are really hungry, it's worth 40 food all by itself.)

One thing I did learn is to not suggest to the two absolute people you meet that they should track and kill the owlbear. If they join you in the the fight, they have a propensity to kill the cub.

[Mike Garrison]

Originally posted by Dimlhugion:

THEN I started exploring around, and found the owlbear cave. Persuaded her to leave me alone, snuck around and found the Selunite chest. Shadowheart forbade me to take the treasures, so I left and started exploring Auntie Ethel's area.

Shadowheart really is annoying with respect to that chest, but I'm pretty sure if you just take the stuff even without persuading her to let you, she'll get over it.

[Zanzibar]

You're not alone OP, I did pretty much the same and no owlbear cub, nor was the mama owlbear killed by the gobbos. I ended up killing the mama owlbear myself to see if that triggers anything but even a few sleeps and wandering around the cub still doesn't appear. Guessing there's a bit of a bug happening to some of us, hopefully it's rare.

[Humpenstilzchen]

Originally posted by Mike Garrison:

Originally posted by Dimlhugion:

THEN I started exploring around, and found the owlbear cave. Persuaded her to leave me alone, snuck around and found the Selunite chest. Shadowheart forbade me to take the treasures, so I left and started exploring Auntie Ethel's area.

Shadowheart really is annoying with respect to that chest, but I'm pretty sure if you just take the stuff even without persuading her to let you, she'll get over it.

I have tried all the options. If you persuade her that you can´t leave possibly valuable stuff behind she complains a little bit but agrees and you can take it.

if you don´t persuade her this way she will disapprove the moment you grab the contents of that chest.

[Sonic Titan]

Originally posted by Humpenstilzchen:

Originally posted by Mike Garrison:

Shadowheart really is annoying with respect to that chest, but I'm pretty sure if you just take the stuff even without persuading her to let you, she'll get over it.

I have tried all the options. If you persuade her that you can´t leave possibly valuable stuff behind she complains a little bit but agrees and you can take it.

if you don´t persuade her this way she will disapprove the moment you grab the contents of that chest.

You can just move your party somewhere out of sight (like just up the cliff near the chest), separate someone else from your party and have them go and take the contents of the chest.

[RW]

Originally posted by Humpenstilzchen:

Originally posted by Mike Garrison:

Shadowheart really is annoying with respect to that chest, but I'm pretty sure if you just take the stuff even without persuading her to let you, she'll get over it.

I have tried all the options. If you persuade her that you can´t leave possibly valuable stuff behind she complains a little bit but agrees and you can take it.

if you don´t persuade her this way she will disapprove the moment you grab the contents of that chest.

Maybe they're bard only options or certain race options, or they're dependent on you not knowing her secret yet, but here's how I did it:

1. Shadowheart tells you to leave the chest. Ask her "Why?"
2. She says it's selunite stuff. Pick the insight option, which is something along the lines of, "Why do you care so much?" Succeeding will result in her revealing her secret.
3. This dialog gets you off the original topic of looting the chest, so you'll end up leaving the dialog without actually looting anything. Try looting the chest again, and it just has a sleight of hand check this time, without any dialog. Pass that, and she won't disapprove.

As for my original question, I finally found someone mentioning on reddit about a week ago that they had the same problem, and they submitted a ticket to Larian about it, and apparently it's a known issue. =/ I just wish I knew the exact cause so that I could be sure to get it to work properly.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/comments/16qwscm/owlbear_mom_refuses_to_die/?rdt=37426

[RW]

As an update, I found more people on reddit discussing this exact bug, and they said that the owlbear gets bugged if you "leave" the cave before killing the owlbear, and going to camp, even just to change party members, counts as "leaving." According to at least one person, if done correctly, and you did the "killing" route, the baby owlbear should leave if you sleep in the cave immediately after killing the mother.

I'm not sure if the same applies to the other route, that is, interacting with the owlbear mother, but sparing it either through animal handling or speak to animals. But my experience would make sense if it does, because in later playthroughs I was being pedantic about switching characters in and out for maximum reputation, and I know I did so in the cave before the owlbear encounter as well, since certain characters approve of you sparing the owlbear mother. I believe though even when this route works correctly, you normally have to do at least two long rests for the goblins to kill the mother, though I've heard some people claiming it happened with less.

Edit: I tested this theory on a savegame I had right before I entered the Owlbear cave, and the goblins indeed came on the first long rest after I interacted with the mom. When I camped then interacted with mom, I tried long resting multiple times with no goblins. So, it seems like it's confirmed.