Where to find Necromancy of Thay, how to open it, what you need to do to read the last page of necromancy
Baldur’s Gate 3 is a huge role-playing game with a lot of content (both plot, plot-related or secondary), so it is not surprising that without guides and manuals you will miss out on many interesting moments and aspects. In particular, many are unaware of the existence of a side quest related to the Necromancy of Thay, although even those who managed to discover this dark book do not understand what to do with it or how to read all its contents.
Below we tell you everything you need to know about Necromancy of Thay – how to find the book, where to look for the dark amethyst that will allow you to open it, whether you should destroy the necromancy or whether you should read every page. I’ll add that to fully complete the mission related to “Thai’s Necromancy” (unless you decide to destroy it), you will have to get to the third act of the game.
Point of no return. Moreover, if you pass by Thay’s Necromancy while traveling through the Sword Coast in Act 1, up to a certain point you will have the opportunity to return to the Extinct Village to return the item. You will not be able to visit Act 1 locations after you enter the Shadowfell during Shar’s Challenge. Once you do this, if you didn’t pick up Thay’s Necromancy earlier, you won’t be able to do it.
So here are some key points related to the assignment:
- Starting point: Extinct village (Act 1).
- Quest giver: to start the task, you do not need to communicate with anyone. Instead, the quest starts automatically as soon as you discover a basement, book, journal, or dark amethyst.
- Requirements: a decent level of perception to avoid traps; one of the options for completing the quest requires that the main character or any companion be a magician (any magic class).
- Duration of the task: 1-3 hours.
- Difficulty: 4/10 (although when passing a certain method it can reach 9/10).
A short walkthrough of the quest “Necromancy of Thay”
Below you will find a summary of what you need to do during the side quest related to Thay’s Necromancy. Please note that some details are not provided here, including which options should be chosen in a given situation, and so on.
Let’s get started:
- Visit the Extinct Village in the first act of the game. This location is located west of the Emerald Grove (Druid Grove).
- Head to the house south of the Extinct Village waypoint, literally 10 steps from the altar.
- Go down to the basement of the house.
- Find and use the hidden lever on the north side of the basement to reveal a secret passage.
- Talk to the large enchanted mirror and choose the appropriate options to pass the test.
- Inside the secret laboratory, move towards the prison cell on the left side.
- Be careful as there are two fire traps inside. After neutralizing them, take the book “Necromancy of Thay”.
- Find a well in the center of the Extinct Village and go down into it. There are other ways to end up in this cave (the Whispering Abyss).
- Deal with the spiders and other enemies, move deeper into the Whispering Abyss until you can find a corpse and a backpack with a diary, as well as a dark amethyst lying under the cliff, on which a huge spider appears. If you don’t want to fight, try using stealth.
- Use the dark amethyst on the book “Necromancy of Thay”, and then decide what to do with it.
Detailed walkthrough of “Necromancy of Thay”
To get to the book “Necromancy of Thay”, you need to complete the additional task “Search the Basement”. Technically, there are several ways to start and complete this quest. In most cases, gamers will begin quests by descending into the Whispering Abyss, a cave beneath the Extinct Village inhabited by spiders led by the Phase Spider Matriarch. However, you can act differently and, for example, first find not the dark amethyst or the diary from the cave, but the book “Necromancy of Thay” itself. This doesn’t affect anything, so you can proceed in any way you wish. But in this guide we will have to focus on one specific example, so let’s immediately find the book.
The Apothecary’s Basement in the Extinct Village
First of all, to start the quest, go to the Extinct Nu Village. This small settlement, overrun by goblins, is located west of the Emerald Grove, inhabited by druids and tiefling refugees.
Go across the western bridge to reach the village and activate the fast travel point. To find the book that allows you to start the side quest, you need to go to the house south of the waypoint in the center of the settlement. Go into the house, near the entrance you will see a hatch leading to the basement. Go down through it to reach a deceptively small room. Go to the northern part of the basement, find a table and a painting and pay attention to the nearby wall.
On the left side of the wall with the painting there are several drawers. If you pass the attention check, you will find a lever behind them. Otherwise, destroy all the boxes manually. By activating the lever, you will move the bookshelf to the side and discover a secret passage. Use it to move on to the next stage of the game.
Talk to the enchanted mirror
Move through a linear dungeon, similar to an ordinary cave, until you reach an unusual door. Along the way, you need to find a coffin with a dark diary, from which you will learn the name of the owner of this place (Ilin Toth). Its uniqueness lies in the fact that instead of a door in the passage, there is an enchanted mirror with which you can talk. The passage further will open only if you correctly answer the questions that the owner of this place has prepared for you.
In general, there are two main ways to open the passage behind the enchanted mirror – one is easier and the other is more difficult with passing a skill check. If, for example, you follow the branch of your race (at least the Dragonborn have this option in this quest), the dialogue will turn out to be more unique, in some places you will have to lie, and also pass a skill check to convince the enchanted mirror that you are a powerful wizard.
However, there is an easier way that everyone can use. To do this, you need to choose the correct answers to the questions posed in a conversation with the mirror. You don’t have to take any skill checks or roll dice, so this option is more versatile. To outsmart the mirror you must say the following:
Name the name you read from the book – “Ilin Tot.”
- Yes, I’m an ally! Your master’s ally.
- Vile lich. Even a thousand deaths will not be enough for him.
- I read the doctor’s diary: he used balsam to clean the wound.
- I need any spell that will get rid of this worm in my head.
If you discover the Dark Amethyst first, other, additional dialogue threads will appear in the conversation with the enchanted mirror. They will make it easier to pass the mirror check, but the most banal option without any outside help is described above.
How to find the book “Necromancy of Thay”
Once in the secret laboratory under the Extinct Village, on the left side of the entry point after the challenge with the enchanted mirror, there is an area that resembles a prison cell (largely due to the bars blocking the path). In this small niche, similar to a cage, there is a book on a pedestal – the same “Necromancy of Thay”.
However, the deceptively simple task of picking up the book from the pedestal is not so simple, as in many other similar places from BG3. There are two traps on either side of the prison cell’s entry point, which will be triggered if you go inside and try to take the book without making a successful Attention check or disarming both traps.
If you didn’t bring trap-disarming tools, make sure you have a character in your party who can pass an attention check to spot the traps before they become active. Immediately after this, interact with the book (save before entering so that you can reload in case of an unsuccessful attention check).
At this point, you can examine the outside of the book, talk a little and learn more about the volume “Necromancy of Thay”. However, it won’t be possible to use it now, since to activate the book you need a dark amethyst, which must be inserted into the hole on the front cover. Let’s start looking for him!
How to get into the spider’s lair (The Whispering Abyss)
The next part of the quest, which theoretically could have been completed first, was to find a way into the Whispering Abyss under the Extinct Village. Since we first visited the laboratory, you should find the lever in the center of the room. Pulling it will open an additional exit, allowing you to return to the beginning of the basement. Climb up and exit to the surface of the village.
This time you need to find a well in the center of the settlement, still located not far from the rune circle. Interact with him, use a spell that neutralizes damage from falling from a great height. Or jump off with minor injuries. Alternatively, you can find the blacksmith shop opposite the apothecary’s house and drop down through the hole in the floor. Regardless of how you get to the Whispering Abyss, you will find yourself in a small linear cave with phase spiders. Each spider, in addition to normal damage, poisons heroes. Even if this is annoying, it should not be a problem for you, even if you have not yet had time to properly upgrade your heroes.
Take your time, defeat the spiders and gradually move through the cave until you reach the end. After defeating all the spiders, including the phase matriarch, find the corpse lying below and pick up the student’s journal. I don’t remember exactly, but the magazine should be either on the corpse or inside a backpack located near the dead body. After reading the diary, you can begin the additional task “Search the Basement” (if you did not previously find the book “Necromancy of Thay” or a dark amethyst).
Since in our case the quest has already been started (and even necromancy has been found), your goal in the Whispering Abyss is another item that can be found on a corpse (or just on the ground). Of course, this is dark Amethyst. With its help, you can open the book “Necromancy of Thay” and complete the additional task.
How to Defeat the Matriarch Phase Spider
Before starting the battle, I recommend acting stealthily and destroying as many spider eggs as possible so that ordinary phase spiders cannot make matters worse. The fact is that the matriarch will turn these eggs into small spiders during the battle. Although they do not have many health points, they take quantity rather than quality. If the matriarch is on a web bridge, use a fire spell to burn it down. As a result of the fall, the boss will receive additional damage. Gale has a powerful Thunder Wave spell that will help reset the matriarch. As a result of the fall, the boss receives much more damage than a direct hit from magic. Towards the end of the battle, the matriarch will go into rage mode, so make every effort to destroy the enemy as quickly as possible.
How to unlock Thay’s Necromancy with Dark Amethyst
The final step is simple: once you obtain the Dark Amethyst from the Whispering Abyss, install it in the book “Necromancy of Thay” and then open and learn its true secrets. However, this stage is not as simple as it seems, since the task can be completed in several ways. First of all, you have the opportunity to destroy the book with black magic at any time, even before receiving the dark amethyst.
If you decide to go this route, after destroying the book you will have to fight three shadows. These are extremely powerful opponents, even for those players who have already reached the Shadowblighted Lands and begun the second act. That is, if you came here in the first act, I don’t even know what the likelihood is that you will still manage to destroy the book and these shadows. Firstly, to win this difficult battle you need magic class characters. For example, Will, Gail. Although Shadowheart, who has several magic spells, would also be suitable.
Another route you can take is to give the book to one of the characters in the current party (for example, Astarion, Shadowheart or Gale). The third and final option is to keep the book and have it read by the main character. In addition, if you do not destroy or throw away the book, you can further study it in the third act to receive a bonus. The only catch with the last two options is that you’ll have to pass some difficult skill checks. This is difficult to do, so I recommend saving in advance. You will have only one chance to read the book, which means passing each skill check. If you fail, neither you nor your companions will be able to study the pages of “Necromancy of Thay.”
To open the book you will have to pass three wisdom checks: 10, 15 and 20 units. At the same time, if you open pages as Astarion, during the last test the requirement will be slightly less – 15 units of wisdom. But this is provided that you choose the option “Taste the darkness, plunge into it, turn the page.” In addition, passing each of the three checks will grant you the Forbidden Knowledge passive trait, granting a +1 bonus to challenges and wisdom checks.
Book Reading Reward
To help you decide whether the book should be destroyed or read, check out the list of potential rewards you’ll receive for completing the quest. The quest itself will allow you to earn several hundred experience points both for completing and reading the book. Regardless of the chosen path, the amount of experience will be plus/minus the same.
However, if you decide to destroy the book, you will only receive additional experience for killing shadows. If you read the book yourself, you will unlock the Speak with Dead spell regardless of your character class. If you give the book to one of the party members, the reward for each of them will most likely be different. Some of them will receive the “Speak with the Dead” spell, although the same Gale uses the book for other purposes, receiving a powerful buff.
What to do with “Necromancy of Thay”?
As mentioned earlier, you will ultimately have to decide for yourself what to do with the book. Personally, I think that you need to either destroy it, supposedly playing the role of a decent person or a “white” magician, or read it as your own character. If you give it to one of your companions, there is a chance that in the future you will have to replace the hero with another companion, and then you will lose the entire effect of the spell he learned.
So it all comes down to whether you want to destroy necromancy or want to study it. In my opinion, it is best to study the book. Despite the difficult skill checks, you can save after each successful one and reload if you fail. The end result will allow you to obtain the Speak with the Dead spell. If your character already has this spell, you can safely destroy the book. Of course, if you are confident in your abilities (returning to that very difficult battle against three shadows).
The last secret of “Thai’s Necromancy”
But that is not all. If you took the path of studying the book, after successfully passing the skill test, your character will say that he has not yet fully studied it and that the last secret remains, which is kept by “Necromancy of Thay”.
Do not throw away or sell the book after reading it. Play the game the way you want. In the third act, you can get another item by finding the book “Tarchian Codex”. The only point is that you can complete this part of the mission, it seems, only if Gale is present in the squad and you complete his personal task. This item will allow you to read the last page of the book “Necromancy of Thay”, which you could not do until now. The codex is hidden in a vault under the Magic Supplies store.
To get there, you need to go through the following doors:
- Evocation – leads to the next identical room with other doors and traps. There is a lever on the wall that turns off all the traps at once. Or neutralize them manually.
- Desire – you will find yourself in a corridor that leads to traps and a lever near the Elminster sign. Interact with the lever to open Elminster’s door.
- Foresight – Go back through the doorway to the main area and the Elminster door will open. Enter Elminster’s room and loot all the loot, including the Tarchiate Codex.
The curse you receive due to the codex can be removed using the standard Remove Curse spell. If you do this, you will unlock the true power of necromancy, and you will be able to summon up to 6 ghouls at a time. This is an incredibly powerful skill that, out of the blue, increases the size of your squad by six, albeit not the most powerful, units. You don’t even need to recharge with a long rest – the skill is restored after a short rest. It suits any class, although it would look great on an Oathbreaker Paladin or Necromancer.