To decipher the ancient book of necromancy from Thay in Baldur’s Gate 3, you must overcome some challenges. MeinMMO tells you how to open the necromancer’s book from Thay – without getting lost – right above with a short guide, below in detail.
Find and open Necromancy from Thay – Short Guide:
- Enter the apothecary in the ruined village in Act 1 and find the secret cellar door.
- Arriving in the cellar: Look for the rusty key and the next secret room.
- Outsmart the talking magical mirror and disable the traps.
- Find the Dark Amethyst in the nest of the phase spider beneath the Ruined Village to unseal the ancient book of necromancy from Thay.
Step 1: Quest Search the cellar
– How to find the necromancer’s book from Thay
What should I do? Go to the Ruined Village to the second building on the left – the Apothecary’s house. On a counter lies a book with the quest “Search the cellar”.
Behind this counter you will find the cellar hatch to the underground adventure. Upon arriving in the cellar, you find a rusty key on a shelf in the westernmost room of the laboratory that you need.
Behind three wooden crates next to the large wardrobe, you will find a lever to the next secret room after a perception check. You can lift the crates and throw them aside to reach the lever. After that, the wardrobe moves and the passage is open.
Outsmart the magical mirror
You will encounter some enemies. After defeating them all, you will come across an ornate mirror. Start a conversation with the talking magical mirror and outsmart it with the following sequence of responses:
Yes, an ally! An ally of your master.
Szass Tam is evil and abhorrent.
Balm is used for wound cleaning.
I would look for a spell that frees me from this worm.
After that, the magical mirror lets you through and you enter a room.
In the middle of the room, you will find a research note on the table that continues your quest. Then use the rusty key to open the closed gate. Behind the closed gate, you will find the necromancer’s book from Thay.
Be careful! It’s best to disarm the traps beforehand – there are many. And then grab the book.
Here are tips for all classes directly from developers:
Step 2: Decipher the ancient book
How to open the necromancy from Thay
To follow the dark path of necromancy and open the book, you need an item called Dark Amethyst
. Visit the Ruined Village, this time not a house – but The Whispering Depths
:
- Go to the well in the ruined village, examine it, and enter the whispering depths.
- Prepare for a fight against nasty phase spiders.
- Head to the nest of the phase spider matriarch – far in the west.
- Stealthily approach (Tip: Invisibility Potion), or defeat the matriarch.
- The glowing purple Dark Amethyst lies under her nest next to a broken pillar – “Press Left-Alt”.
To indulge in necromancy or destroy the ancient book?
After you have collected the amethyst, you can read and open the necromancer’s book again. However, there are several ways to use the necromancy of Thay.
Here are the options:
- Bards can roll Performance checks (DC: 5, 10, 15)
- Sorcerers can roll Charisma checks (DC: 5, 10, 15)
- Warlocks can make their first roll as a Charisma check with a difficulty of 5. For the other pages, it’s the specified Wisdom checks.
- Mages can make their first roll as an Intelligence check with a difficulty of 5. For the other pages, it’s the specified Wisdom checks.
- Clerics with gods allied to the Dark/Evil (like Talos, Gruumsh, or Lolth) receive a Wisdom check with reduced difficulty of 10 instead of 20 for the third page. Shadowheart as a cleric of Shar also qualifies.
Warning: Spoiler! From here, the article contains information that will only be revealed much later in the game.
Step 3: Read the last page of the necromancer’s book
How do I read the last page of the necromancy from Thay? To find out the complete secret of the necromancer’s book from Thay, you must first arrive in Baldur’s Gate. There you go to the place “Charming Curiosities” – which is part of the quest line “Wizards of Waterdeep” (Gale). Go there, look for the librarian’s office and interact with the clutched book on the shelf. It opens a dark portal that teleports you to a spell vault.
Another way to reach this spell vault is to press one of the large buttons in Lorroakan’s tower, labeled “Vault Room”.
Explore the entire area of the spell vault. Once you are in the puzzle room, go through the doors in the following order:
- Silver Hand
- Summoning
- Wish
However, watch out for traps. After that, you can use the lever in the last room and make your way back to the first room – the Elminster Vault should be open.
In there you will find the Tharchiate Codex. You need it to read the last page of the necromancy from Thay. The wisdom check is not easy. You must roll a 20. If you succeed, you will be richly rewarded: with the last page, you receive a powerful spell with which you can summon ghouls.
If you’re still unsure whether you want to take Gale and Astarion into your party, we have a suitable guide for you here. With it, you should be well equipped to put together your dream team: Baldur’s Gate 3 Guide to the Companions – How to create the best group
- Read it yourself (successfully): Explore the secret of necromancy from Thay yourself. When flipping through the pages, you must face a total of three wisdom checks with increasing demands – 10, 15, and 20. If you succeed, you will receive the achievement “Hidden Knowledge”: a bonus of +1 on all Wisdom saving throws and skill checks. You will also get the spell: “Speak with Dead” – a 3rd-level necromancy spell. However, you cannot yet read the last page. The quest will continue, which is quite a long process. If you want to know how to read the last page – then scroll further down. Warning: Spoiler alert!
- Read it yourself (not successfully): If you fail the wisdom checks, you will be cursed based on the number of failed saving throws (After the first fail with “Whispers of Madness”, after the second fail with “Wretched Knowledge”). However, both curses can be dispelled with the spell “Remove Curse”.
- TIP: Class options: Some classes can adjust the difficulty of the roll or change the conditions:
- Bards can roll Performance checks (DC: 5, 10, 15)
- Sorcerers can roll Charisma checks (DC: 5, 10, 15)
- Warlocks can make their first roll as a Charisma check with a difficulty of 5. For the other pages, it’s the specified Wisdom checks.
- Mages can make their first roll as an Intelligence check with a difficulty of 5. For the other pages, it’s the specified Wisdom checks.
- Clerics with gods allied to the Dark/Evil (like Talos, Gruumsh, or Lolth) receive a Wisdom check with reduced difficulty of 10 instead of 20 for the third page. Shadowheart as a cleric of Shar also qualifies.
- Gale: You can give the necromancy from Thay to Gale to help him. You will not have this option if you open the book beforehand.
- Astarion: After opening, you can give the necromancy from Thay to Astarion. This earns you his recognition and advances his unique story. However, you can only give the book to one of the two story characters. Maybe with one of the companions, it will even lead to a deeper romance.
- Destroy it: You can destroy the necromancy from Thay with holy damage – which I wouldn’t recommend. You can cast “Guiding Bolt” on the book with Shadowheart. But then three dangerous shadow enemies await you, who are very resilient. Without a strong party, you will likely die very quickly. Astarion will not like the destruction of the book, but Karlach, Lae’zel, and Wyll will be grateful.
- Put the book away: Keep your decision open for now and make a choice later in the game.
Warning: Spoiler! From here, the article contains information that will only be revealed much later in the game.
Step 3: Read the last page of the necromancer’s book
How do I read the last page of the necromancy from Thay? To find out the complete secret of the necromancer’s book from Thay, you must first arrive in Baldur’s Gate. There you go to the place “Charming Curiosities” – which is part of the quest line “Wizards of Waterdeep” (Gale). Go there, look for the librarian’s office and interact with the clutched book on the shelf. It opens a dark portal that teleports you to a spell vault.
Another way to reach this spell vault is to press one of the large buttons in Lorroakan’s tower, labeled “Vault Room”.
Explore the entire area of the spell vault. Once you are in the puzzle room, go through the doors in the following order:
- Silver Hand
- Summoning
- Wish
However, watch out for traps. After that, you can use the lever in the last room and make your way back to the first room – the Elminster Vault should be open.
In there you will find the Tharchiate Codex. You need it to read the last page of the necromancy from Thay. The wisdom check is not easy. You must roll a 20. If you succeed, you will be richly rewarded: with the last page, you receive a powerful spell with which you can summon ghouls.
If you’re still unsure whether you want to take Gale and Astarion into your party, we have a suitable guide for you here. With it, you should be well equipped to put together your dream team: Baldur’s Gate 3 Guide to the Companions – How to create the best group
