You’re standing in the Rivington outskirts, and suddenly, you’re caught in the middle of a blood feud that’s been brewing since the Underdark. Most players stumble into Avenge the Ironhands BG3 after seeing the Steel Watchers harass a gnome at the South Span Checkpoint. It feels like a standard "stop the robots" mission, but Larian Studios loves a good moral trap. Honestly, this quest is less about being a hero and more about deciding which kind of radical you’re willing to tolerate.
Wulbren Bongle is a jerk. Let’s just get that out of the way. If you saved him from Moonrise Towers in Act 2, you probably expected a thank you, not a lecture on gnomish superiority and the necessity of high-yield explosives. But here we are. The Ironhand Gnomes want the Steel Watch Foundry in the Lower City leveled to the ground. They want the Gondians—the rival gnome clan forced to build Gortash’s mechanical army—dead or at least out of the way. It’s messy. It’s loud. It’s one of the most consequential side quests in Baldur’s Gate 3 because it dictates exactly how your final battle against the Absolute is going to look.
The Runepowder Problem and Wulbren’s Grudge
To start Avenge the Ironhands BG3, you usually need to find the secret hideout. It's tucked away in a cave near the Sword Coast Couriers. Wulbren is there, fuming, and he hands you a vial of Runepowder. This stuff is basically a tactical nuke in a bottle. He tells you to plant it in the heart of the Foundry.
✨ Don't miss: Bowser Kingdom Moon 45: What Most People Get Wrong
The tension here is built on a century of lore that most players blink and miss. The Ironhands were exiled from Baldur’s Gate years ago, and the Gondians took their place as the city's premier engineers. Wulbren isn't just fighting a revolution; he’s settling a professional grievance with a side of ethnic cleansing. He views the Gondians as collaborators. You? You’re just the delivery driver for his "justice."
If you talk to Barcus Wroot—assuming you saved him from the windmill in Act 1 and the forge in Act 2—the tone shifts. Barcus is the soul of this questline. He knows Wulbren is losing his mind. He begs you to find a way to stop the Watchers without murdering every Gondian in the building. It’s a classic Larian fork in the road. Do you take the easy way (kaboom) or the hard way (the rescue mission)?
Navigating the Steel Watch Foundry
Actually getting inside the Foundry is a nightmare if you just charge through the front door. The Steel Watchers are massive, they have an absurd amount of health, and they explode when they die. If you're playing on Honor Mode, those self-destruct sequences are a party-wipe waiting to happen.
Most people sneak in through the side vents or the roof. Once you’re inside, you see the reality of the Gondians’ situation. They aren't "collaborators" by choice. Gortash has their families held hostage in an underwater prison called the Iron Throne. He’s also fitted the workers with motivation collars that explode if they stop working.
This is where the Avenge the Ironhands BG3 quest objective gets complicated. You can't just plant the bomb and leave if you have a conscience. If you blow the place up while the Gondians are still inside, you’re effectively finishing Wulbren’s dark work for him.
The Iron Throne Connection
You basically have to pause the Ironhand quest to deal with the Iron Throne. This is arguably the most stressful twenty minutes in the entire game. You take a submersible down to a sinking prison and have a limited number of turns to open cells and get everyone back to the ship.
- Duke Ravengard is usually there.
- Omeluum might be there if you played your cards right in Act 1.
- The Gondian families are scattered in the North, East, and West wings.
If you fail to save the families, the Gondians in the Foundry will likely fight you or simply give up. If you succeed, they’ll stage a bloody uprising the moment you step back into the factory. It’s chaotic. You’ll be fighting Banite guards, Steel Watchers, and trying to keep fragile gnomes with 30 HP from running directly into a Hellfire Watcher’s blast radius.
✨ Don't miss: How to Actually Make Pickled Herring in Dreamlight Valley Without Wasting Your Ingredients
The Blind Gondian and the Neural Switchboard
Zanner Toobin is your key man inside the Foundry. He’s the one who tells you that the Runepowder bomb is overkill. He can shut the whole thing down manually, but he needs to get to the Control Centre in the basement.
The basement fight is a slog. You face the Steel Watcher Titan, a Level 12 monstrosity that sits in a defensive "Bulwark Mode" and rains missiles on your head.
Expert tip: Use Lightning damage. Sorcerers with Chain Lightning or Clerics with Call Lightning make this fight trivial. The Watchers are vulnerable to electricity, which stuns them and peels away their armor.
Once the Titan is scrap metal, you have the choice. Let Zanner disable the place, or use Wulbren’s bomb. Either way, the Foundry goes up in smoke. The real drama happens outside on the docks once the smoke clears.
Wulbren vs. Barcus: The Aftermath
This is the climax of Avenge the Ironhands BG3. Wulbren shows up, seeing the wreckage, and demands the heads of the surviving Gondians. Even if they were slaves. Even if they helped you. He doesn't care.
If you have Barcus with you, this is his moment. You can persuade the Ironhands to depose Wulbren. It requires a high Persuasion check, but seeing Barcus finally stand up to his "friend" is one of the most satisfying character arcs in the game. Wulbren slinks off into the shadows, swearing revenge, and Barcus takes over the clan.
Why does this matter for your playthrough?
📖 Related: Period of Time Crossword Clues: Why They Trip You Up and How to Solve Them
- The Final Battle: If the Ironhands are led by Barcus and allied with the Gondians, you get both as allies in the endgame.
- The Steel Watch: Once the Foundry is gone, every Steel Watcher in the city collapses. This makes the final push against Gortash or the brain infinitely easier. You no longer have to worry about giant robots arresting you while you're trying to buy potions in the Lower City.
- Wulbren’s Fate: If you side with Wulbren and kill the Gondians, you get the Ironhands' support, but you lose your soul a little bit. Plus, you miss out on some of the best gear Zanner can provide.
Common Mistakes and Weird Bugs
Look, BG3 is a massive game, and this quest is notoriously buggy. Sometimes Zanner Toobin just refuses to move. Sometimes the Gondians in the Foundry will turn hostile even if you saved their families because you accidentally hit a chair with a Fireball.
If Zanner dies—which happens a lot because he has the survival instincts of a lemming—don't panic. You can speak to his corpse using Speak with Dead to get the code for the terminal. Or, you can just use the Runepowder bomb Wulbren gave you. The quest doesn't "fail" just because the NPCs are incompetent.
Another thing: if you go to the Iron Throne before visiting the Foundry, Gortash will blow the place up immediately. He’ll call you on a screen, look you in the eye, and tell you that you've just signed everyone's death warrant. He isn't lying.
Actionable Steps for Your Playthrough
To get the "best" outcome for the Avenge the Ironhands BG3 questline, follow this specific order of operations:
- Find the Hideout: Talk to Wulbren in the cave near Rivington. Take the bomb, but don't promise to use it.
- Talk to Barcus: Ensure he’s there. He is the moral compass of the quest.
- Infiltrate the Foundry: Get inside, talk to Zanner Toobin, and learn about the hostages.
- Go to the Iron Throne: Do not pass go, do not collect $200. Save the Gondians' families first.
- Return to the Foundry: Fight your way to the basement and take out the Titan.
- Let Zanner Set the Code: Use the manual shutdown instead of the bomb.
- Back Barcus on the Docks: Use your Charisma to kick Wulbren out of the leadership position.
This path maximizes your allies for the final fight and ensures you aren't leaving a trail of innocent gnome bodies behind you. It’s a long, multi-step process that spans most of Act 3, but it's the difference between a city that's liberated and a city that's just under a different kind of terror.
The Ironhand Gnomes have a right to be angry. They were wronged by the city. But Wulbren’s path leads to the same kind of tyranny Gortash loves. Taking the time to navigate the nuances of this quest is exactly why Baldur’s Gate 3 is a masterpiece of RPG design. You aren't just clicking buttons; you're deciding the political future of a city-state. Keep your lightning spells ready, keep your Persuasion high, and for the love of the gods, don't let Zanner Toobin walk into a cloud of fire.