Balthazar's Experiment

Balthazar's Experiment is a sub-quest of Gale's Companion Quest,  The Wizard of Waterdeep. It is automatically triggered when the entrance to Balthazar's secret laboratory is revealed.

Objectives

Objectives and journal entries may vary pending story decisions.

Deal with Balthazar's ritual circle.

• We found a strange ritual circle hidden in a secret workshop within Balthazar's chambers. Gale was able to understand the strange sigils used to cast it, and says it was used to create the Moonlanterns that protect their wielders from the shadow curse. Gale says there is enough magic still within it to create one last lantern, one he claims he can make even better than Balthzar's. But this requires him to use a kind of magic forbidden by Mystra. To earn her good favour, he'd be better off destroying it.

• We used a discarded pixie corpse to craft a Shadow Lantern using the strange ritual circle in Balthazar's chambers. Gale believes Mystra would disapprove of such corrupted magic, but she has shown no signs of condemning him further. And the lantern, with its ability to wield the very shadows that threaten us, should prove very useful indeed.

• We destroyed Balthazar's ritual circle, cleansing the corrupted shadow magic stored within. Though Mystra did not speak to Gale, for a fleeting moment he sensed her presence. She bestowed upon Gale a small token of her approval, a blessing to help him fight against the shadows. (Mystra's Benevolence condition gives Gale advantage on concentration checks until the next long rest)

• We tried to use the ritual circle without Gale's input, and destroyed it in the process. Gale was not amused.

• We left Balthazar's ritual circle alone. Its corrupted shadow magic will slowly fade, tainting everything around it. Unless someone else puts it to use.

Walkthrough

This quest can be started by interacting with the ritual circle which can be found in the secret workshop behind the bookshelves in Balthazar's chambers in Moonrise Towers. Gale can create a Shadow Lantern by combining a Broken Moonlantern and Dead Pixie. Both can be found next to the ritual circle.