BG3 Sorcerous Sundries Vault Guide

If you thought Baldur's Gate 3 was anywhere close to wrapping up when you reach the Lower City, you’ve got another thing coming. The labyrinthine streets and dark alleyways of the city are home to a huge and diverse array of secrets, including a magical vault inside of Sorcerous Sundries, full of powerful artefacts to plunder.

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How to access the Sorcerous Sundries vault

Approach Sorcerous Sundries and, more so than almost anywhere else in the city, the shop will be quite different depending on your choices in the game so far.

If he survived, you will find Aradin from Act 1 shouting at an enchanted robot. He wants his cut of the contract and seems to suggest that Lorroakan really is looking to capture the Nightsong, rather than set her free as you might have imagined.

Either way, inside the shop, again if he survived, you find the mage Rolan from the grove manning the front desk. Speak to him and you find out that Lorroakan is “consumed by his pursuit of the Nightsong”. If you choose to shop, there are a few great items here.

Tell Rolan you have info about the nightsong and want to speak to Lorroakan. He sends you upstairs and warns you to keep your wits about you.

However, for Gale’s quest and the Vault, the person you need is Tolna Tome-Monger at the back of the shop.

Ask after the Netherese Crown and she’ll tell you about the selection of books on offer. You’re after the Annals of Karsus.

You need to pass a check for her to even let you know about the book, but once you do, she’ll spill that the book can be accessed through her office. She remains obstinate that you can’t have it, but now you know where to access it through less scrupulous means.

Make your way upstairs and you’re interrupted by a projection of Lorroakan, who conjures a portal that grants you an audience.

Ignore it for now, and look for a door on your left. For some reason the lock on the door is very finicky to interact with, so it’s much easier to pickpocket the key from Tolna and open the door that way. Sneak out of sight behind her and snag it - remember to make a quicksave to reload if you miss.

Inside the office, grab the basement chest key from her desk, then interact with the “clasped book” on the shelf in the corner. This opens a portal to the basement.

Enter, and you find yourself in the vault. Coming in here also updates your Necromancy of Thay quest - sending you after the Tarchiate Codex.

Sorcerous Sundries Vault Guide

Go through the oak door in front of you, then pick the lock on the door marked “Ramazith”. But be aware, in front of each door is a trapped pressure plate you need to disarm or avoid.

To get the Annals of Karsus, go through the door marked Silverhand, then the door marked Abjuration.

Then open the door Silver and pull the lever.

Next, go through the Demon door. This teleports you back to the first room with the Karsus vault open.

Go through the door to the vault, and if you can see invisibility, more gilded chests with unique items appear. On the shelf, pick up the Annals of Karsus. You need to do this as Gale or with him in your party to advance his quest.

He learns not just about the Crown, but how to reforge its original design, allowing greater control. This is an integral part of one of the “Evil” endings of the game. But you can either try to dissuade him from this path, or go along with it. Either way it’s a while until you reach that point in the story.

Before you leave, there’s a lot more to see inside the vault though. To unlock the Elminster side of the vault, go through the Silverhand door, then Evocation, then open the Wish door.

Inside there’s another lever which opens the Elminster side. Then go through the gate to get back to the previous room, then walk through the Illusion door.

This gets you back to the start with the Elminster vault open. Inside you find the Pyroquickness hat, some scrolls, potions and gold. Open the display case and you can claim the Tharchiate Codex, which links in to the Necromancy of Thay quest you picked up all the way back in Act 1.

Next, in the reception area between the entrance room and the vault, where you can see the two chests, the wall on the right is magic and you can walk through it to get a unique book called Caution before the Seelie.

At the back of the entrance room you came into at the start of the Sorcerous Sundries vault, there’s a button which opens a secret door to a room with another book, the Red Knight’s Final Stratagem, as well as a load of good items, like another Corpse Rose for the unique grenade from the Shadow-cursed Lands.

Between this secret room and the first one, there’s another false wall behind the locked chest. Here you find a peculiar lamp. If you touch it you will swap places with the Djinn inside, but you can avoid getting sucked in by summoning something, then getting them to interact with the lamp.

If you do get trapped, use the Quasit spell you find by searching the inside of the lamp, which summons a creature to take your place inside the lamp. Alternatively you can summon your own creature and you will still be released.

Finally, before you leave, remember to go back to the vault room and get one final item.

Disarm the traps and throw a fireball at the door marked “Illusion”. This will destroy the door and reveal a new room with a chest inside. In it you find the powerful unique weapon, the Hellfire Greataxe. It’s an awesome weapon for Karlach, or similar character, which deals fire damage to themselves over time to activate self-damage skills, but can also unleash beefed-up attacks by consuming the flames. However, don’t collect the Hellfire Greataxe until you’ve looted the rest of the vault, because you need to go through the Illusion door that gets broken.

With that done, you’re now free to return to the Sorcerous Sundries shop floor and speak to the mysterious wizard Lorroakan if you haven’t done so already.