Those who find a hidden latch in the alchemist’s house in the Blighted Village will find a secret cellar. This cellar will start the Search The Cellar quest in Baldur’s Gate 3. It’s worth pointing out the instruction of this quest is unclear, including where this leads to. So, we are here to help you with this walkthrough. More specifically, we’ll focus on the gate-keeping parts of the quest, such as the Search The Cellar Bookcase, Mirror and the Iron Gate and Key checkpoints, so you can get through this part of the quest with ease.
Baldur’s Gate 3 Search The Cellar Bookcase¶
(1 of 3) The first hurdle of the Search The Cellar Quest is the Bookcase trope.
Once you enter the Blighted Village via the fast travel portal, look for the large house directly to the right of where your characters are facing. This house is the large Alchemist building, where you can find a hatch behind the counter. Simply walk into the hatch, and you’re in.
Now, you are in the Cellar, you can navigate around and loot whatever you want at will. We recommend reading the book at the top of the room, as the doctor’s notes, titled Healer’s Notes, will come in handy later. You can find these on the desk next to a healing potion.
When you head to the right-hand corner of the room, you’ll get to make perception checks and identify the bookcase in the cellar as there are scratch marks on the floor. However, you cannot shove, break down, or move the bookcase.
Instead, you must follow the wall up and back into the main room, until you come across three crates on the ground. You’ll notice no character can move these boxes as they are locked in tight. But, what you can do is attack them. Have someone in your party smash the box stacked at the very top, and you’ll reveal that it was covering a lever the entire time. Pull the lever, and the bookshelf will open. You’ll likely get a notification updating the journal as the bookcase allows access to the rest of the Search the Cellar quest in BG3.
Before making it to the mirror, you must defeat a few undead guardians.
While moving around the next room, be mindful of the coffins scattered around the place. These coffins contain undead creatures that will animate upon interacting with them. Then the guardians’ job is to run around and open as many undead boxes as possible. The result is a slowly increasing horde of undead guardians that will eventually start shooting and stabbing you. So be mindful that you pretty much have a few rounds where you can easily beat these creatures before they start doing damage (minimal damage at that).
Baldur’s Gate 3 Search The Cellar Mirror Checkpoint¶
The Mirror checkpoint in the Search the Cellar quest requires you to meet a few dialogue checks before you can enter the final room.
Now that the creatures are dealt with, you’ll spot a large mirror as a doorway the Undead Guardians protect. You can now safely approach the mirror and talk to it. Upon talking to it, you will learn that it is a magic mirror guarding Szass Tam, a powerful Lich from the realm of Thay in 5e lore. If you intend to get in safely, you can respond along the lines of:
- Tell it Your Name
- Foul, Wretched Creature.
- He Used Balsam To Clean A Wound - The option says you read it in the Doctor’s notes if you read the Healer’s Notes, guaranteeing you pass this.
- Either Option 2 or 3: You’re dealing with a Lich’s magic, and they don’t really do love, only might, death and power.
If you fail the check at any point, the creature will spawn a Golem-like Guardian to protect it, meaning you get into another fight. If you win it, the mirror lets you through into the final rooms of the Search The Cellar quest.
Search The Cellar: Iron Gate and Key Location¶
(1 of 2) You need to find the Rusted Iron Gate Key if you want to open this and get access to the final room in the Search The Cellar questline,
You need to find the Rusted Iron Gate Key if you want to open this and get access to the final room in the Search The Cellar questline, (left), Here is the Iron Gate Key location in the Search the Cellar Quest. (right)
Now you’re inside, you can loot the place at will. However, one place is not accessible, and that is the Iron Gate. No matter how good a thief you have, you will find that the Iron Gate in the Cellar cannot be lockpicked. Instead, you need to find the key for it. You may want to disarm the trap right below it though.
Luckily for you, the key is not too far away. Simply go into the side room which bridges the starting point of the Search The Cellar quest and the Mirror Room. You can find the Rusted Key you need to open the Iron Gate on the shelf in there. You’ll find it on the left end of the bottom right shelf, if you’re facing the camera towards the wall the shelves are on.
Now you have the Rusted Key, you can open the Rusted Iron Gate. As you lift the gate, you’ll find the Necromancy of Thay book on a table. However, before going right ahead and clicking on it, the room is rigged heavily. We recommend disarming the trap plate the book is sitting on, and disarming the gargoyle statues at the sides of the room too. That way, you are guaranteed not to blow up after interacting with the booklet.
Interacting with this book starts a new quest called the Unlock the Ancient Tome. Depending on what you do with the book, you can complete the Search The Cellar and the Ancient Tome quests together. However, the Necromancy of Thay is its own questline in itself, so, we recommended doing the Necromancy of Thay when you’re around level 4-5, as you will need to fight a powerful boss spider, and many other CC-heavy spiders and tough level design in the Whispering Depths. Going there any earlier is going to make you have a bad time.
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