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You’ll stumble upon numerous secrets in Baldur’s Gate 3. A few of these can be found in Sorcerous Sundries, a quaint shop for magic users that you get to visit during the game’s third act. Our Baldur’s Gate 3 Sorcerous Sundries Vault guide discusses how to enter this area, the rewards that you can find therein, and how you can remove the Tharchiate Withering curse. Likewise, please be reminded that this article contains spoilers.
Table of Contents [hide]How to Solve the Sorcerous Sundries Vault Puzzle in Baldur’s Gate 3Sorcerous Sundries Vault EntranceThe Silverhand, Elminster, and Karsus DoorsKarsus Door: The Annals of KarsusElminster Door: The Tharchiate CodexThe Tharchiate Withering Curse and the Necromancy of Thay
How to Solve the Sorcerous Sundries Vault Puzzle in Baldur’s Gate 3
The Baldur’s Gate 3 Sorcerous Sundries shop can be found in the Lower City. It’s one of the largest buildings in the area, adorned with colorful panes and entrance archway, so you can’t miss it. Soon, you’ll realize that the location hides many tomes and scrolls, including one that Gale desperately seeks.
Given that this is also part of Gale’s Wizard of Waterdeep companion quest, you definitely want to bring him along. Moreover, you should have Astarion with you, or a character with a high Sleight of Hand skill, due to all the traps and locked containers that you’ll stumble upon. Last but not least, this location is also where you’ll finally be able to unlock the powers of the Necromancy of Thay.
Sorcerous Sundries Vault Entrance
To enter the Baldur’s Gate 3 Sorcerous Sundries Vault, you need to talk to the librarian, Tolna Tome-Monger. Ask her about forbidden books (make sure you’re “whispering” when you respond). Select the option that lets you know more about the Crown of Karsus, and convince her to give you additional info. She’ll reveal that there’s a key in her room.
Tolna’s room is on the second floor, just off to the side of Lorroakan’s projection and sentries. You can get spotted here, so we suggest using the Greater Invisibility spell on Astarion, or anyone with high Stealth and Sleight of Hand.
Open the door with a lockpick, and quickly grab the Sorcerous Sundries Basement Chest Key on the desk. Then, quickly interact with a curious-looking book in the corner shelf, which will reveal a portal. Note that there’s another key placed inside the shelf. Your team needs to pass through the portal, though the sentry will likely discover you. This means you have to pass a DC22 check for various Charisma-based skills.
The Silverhand, Elminster, and Karsus Doors
If you succeed, you’ll be able to go through the portal. The vault complex has several chests along the sides. You can walk up to them since the floor is magical. If you’re unable to spot them, then you may need a spell that reveals invisible objects. In our case, we had the permanent Detect Invisibility passive, thanks to Volo’s botched “surgery” attempt.
Be forewarned, however, that the place has numerous traps. We suggest ungrouping your team so Astarion can disarm traps without accidentally triggering them.
In the room at the back, you’ll find The Red Knight’s Final Strategem. This nets you a Scroll of Artistry of War: Summon six apparitions that strikes a target of your choosing, dealing 18-78 force damage.
Next, if you head to the opposite section, you’ll arrive at a chamber with three doors named after three powerful wizards: Silverhand, Elminster, and Karsus.
Only the Silverhand door is open, and the other two are locked. Upon entering it, you’ll find yourself in another small room that’s filled with traps. These can be disarmed manually, or by interacting with a lever on the wall. Moreover, passing through certain doors will lead you to a different area, akin to a simple maze.
Karsus Door: The Annals of Karsus
For this section of our Baldur’s Gate 3 Sorcerous Sundries Vault guide, we look at how we can acquire the Annals of Karsus. This book is required to progress Gale’s Wizard of Waterdeep quest. To obtain it, enter the Silverhand room, and go through the following doorways:
Abjuration – This takes you to the next chamber.Silver – There’s a corridor here that leads to a lever. Interact with it to unlock the Karsus door.Wild – Leave via this doorway to return to the main area.
Enter Karsus’ room to find several goodies:
Foebreaker – Deals 3-13 damage; ignores bludgeoning resistance; +2 weapon enchantment; when you miss an attack, you still deal 1 point of bludgeoning damage.Scroll of Dethrone – Pull on the strands of the Weave to deal 30-80 damage.
Our main goal here, however, is the Annals of Karsus. This lets you learn of three artifacts that give untold power to their wielder: the Crown of Karsus, the Scepter of Karsus, and the Orb of Karsus.
You’re also given three choices on what you’d do once you have these items. We suggest picking the third option–“Better not get ahead of yourself, the crown is still out of reach”–since it’s going to take a while before we actually obtain that all-important item.
Elminster Door: The Tharchiate Codex
We’re not done yet since there’s still another room. Back at the main area, pass through the Silverhand door. Then, go through the following:
Evocation – This takes you to the next chamber.Wish – This has a corridor and a lever that unlocks the Elminster door.Foresight – This brings you back to the main chamber.
With the Elminster door open, you can grab the Pyroquickness Hat, which causes you to burn yourself if you deal fire damage with a leveled spell. However, it also grants a bonus action during that turn. The room also has a bunch of scrolls, as well as the Tharchiate Codex inside a display case.
The Tharchiate Withering Curse and the Necromancy of Thay
Upon reading the codex, you’re told of unrivaled magics to control the dead. Unfortunately, your chosen character will also get afflicted with the Tharchiate Withering curse, which lowers their Constitution by 5 points. Thankfully, you can cast Remove Curse on this character to nullify the effect. This grants the Tharchiate Vigor passive, which adds +20 temporary HP until your next long rest.
As an aside, if you brought the Necromancy of Thay with you all the way from Act 1, you’ll finally be able to read it. This grants the Danse Macabre spell, which allows you to summon six ghouls to fight alongside you in battle.
In any case, upon exiting the Baldur’s Gate 3 Sorcerous Sundries Vault, you’ll be greeted by Elminster, and he’ll provide the next step in Gale’s quest. You simply need to visit Mystra in a building in the Lower City to hear of her plans.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is filled to the brim with activities and secrets. You’ll no doubt be part of an adventure that can take countless hours to complete. For other tips, you can visit our BG3 guides hub.
