Baldur’s Gate 3 has a Necromancer Apothecary quest and an ancient tome that you can pick up from the Extinct Village. We will tell you how to get through it.
Passage of the quest “Basement of the pharmacy”
Travel to the Extinct Village and enter the wooden doors near the Altar of Wanderings. On your right, on the counter, read the Apothecary’s Notes. Now get down to the wooden hatch behind the counter.
Search the basement to collect rare herbs. In the far right corner, you will find a large bookcase. A character with high attention will notice that he needs to move. Remove the top drawer to the left of the cabinet. There is a lever behind it.
Walk forward to a clearing with moldy coffins. Defeat the rebellious guards, then search the coffins and read the Dark Diary. Now go to the large mirror.
Here are the answers to help open the passage:
- Repeat the name from the read book – “Ilin Toth”
- Vile lich. A thousand deaths will not be enough for him.
- I read the doctor’s diary: he used balsam to cleanse the wound.
- I need any spell that will rid me of this worm in my head.
Search the hall where you got and read the notes of the necromancer. On a pedestal behind a locked grate lies the tome of Thay’s Necromancy . Be careful, as soon as you pick it up – the grate will slam shut and the trap will work.
To deactivate it, you need to put something on the altar in return. Or, alternatively, move away and use a magic hand or familiar to steal the book.
How do I destroy a tome?
If you don’t want to open the book, you can destroy it. Use the Aiming Beam spell that Shadowwhart has. Thai’s Necromancy will ignore the rest of the damage types. For destruction, 50 experience is given.
How do I open a tome?
This option is longer. You need to get to the Whispering Abyss , where a dark amethyst is hidden. There are three ways you can take:
- through the well near the wandering altar in the Extinct Village;
- by breaking open the dilapidated wooden doors leading to the basement of the building to the right of the entrance to the Extinct Village;
- by burning off the cobweb covering the hole in the floor in the building to the right of the entrance to the Extinct Village;
If you decide to go through the basement, there is a destructible wall inside. An attentive character will notice her. But the way through the well is easier and more convenient.
Shortly after entering the Whispering Abyss, you will encounter Phase Spiders. They like to sit on web bridges, burn them and spiders will take damage falling down.
After the fight with the spiders, go to the southern part of the cave. There is a small room where you can pick up the Spider-Foot Boots from the skeleton , thanks to which you will gain immunity to the webs.
Now go for the amethyst. It is guarded by a Phase Spider Matriarch. In principle, you can try to sneak up and just steal a stone, but the spider drops Poisoner’s Robe armor with buns to poison damage.
Here are some tips on how to win this fight:
- Before the start of the battle, sneak up and destroy as many spider eggs as possible.
- All remaining spider-matriarch will turn into ugly little spiders. They have little HP, so group attacks will perfectly clear the way for you.
- Burn web bridges when there is a large spider on them. He will fall down and take a lot of damage.
- Gail can successfully knock the matriarch down with Thunderwave. The fall itself will do much more damage than the spell.
- When the matriarch’s HP gets low enough, his rage turns on. With proper luck, he can easily knock two of your fighters in one turn. Therefore, Laezel’s threatening attacks will come in handy.
Now pick up the Dark Amethyst . This is a purple pebble that lies right on the rocks at the bottom of the cave. A quest marker on the map will lead you to it.
Insert it into Thay’s Necromancy to reveal the tome. You will need to successfully pass three Wisdom checks, or grab the debuff and be left unrequited. If all goes well, you will receive the “Conversation with the Dead” spell as a reward .
How do I give the tome to Gale?
If your relationship with Gale is warm enough, he will ask you to give the book to him in order to absorb the Weave. But first you need to open it.
It looks like we have something irretrievably buggy and we can’t give the book back after reading it. It looks something like this: “Hey, Gail, I have a cool book for you. But I won’t give it to you.”
