Mind Flayer Colony

The Mind Flayer Colony is a location under the Moonrise Towers Prison in the Shadow-Cursed Lands in Act Two.

While inside the Mind Flayer Colony, the party cannot fast-travel to a Waypoint or go to camp.

Map of the Mind Flayer Colony

Access

This area is accessed by jumping down into a tower after the fight against Ketheric Thorm on the Moonrise Towers Rooftop. When arriving from the Moonrise Towers Rooftop, the party must destroy the membrane to move forward. The colony has many intellect devourers running around, which will only become hostile if a fight breaks out nearby.

Points of interest

Morgue

The morgue is run by Chop, a strange bugbear who butchers humanoids to create new Intellect Devourers.

Us can be found imprisoned here if it was not killed on the Nautiloid. After talking to Us, the party can convince Chop to give a Morgue Cage Key with a successful DC 14 Persuasion check, DC 18 Intimidation check, or Illithid Wisdom. If freed, Us will reward the party with the item Summon Us.

If the party threatens to kill Chop, he will respond as though he wants the party to kill him. Despite this, attacking him will still make Chop and the surrounding intellect devourers (except for Us) hostile. Nonetheless, Chop will comment that he is "free at last" as he is killed. The intellect devourers outside of the morgue will remain neutral.

Necrotic laboratory

Main article: Necrotic Laboratory

Balthazar's Necrotic Laboratory can be found in the south-east of the map, at X: 715 Y: -49. When entering the area, a battle with a large number of undead will commence, including: 1× Death Shepherd, 4× Winged Horror, 4× Greater Zombie, and 6× Zombie.

Further southeast is a Brain Mapping Puzzle, consisting of four mental faculties (Emotion, Speech, Memory, and Reason). To solve this puzzle, each mental faculty must be connected to its identical matching faculty on the far side of the puzzle by selecting intervening nodes. Successfully solving the puzzle will grant the Inspirational Event Brain Blast! (Sage) and access to the Blade of Oppressed Souls and the Waking Mind. Beside the Waking Mind is a skeletonX: 750 Y: -138 with the Circlet of Mental Anguish and Braindrain Gloves.

The Mind-Archive Interface at X: 699 Y: -117 allows to talk to the brain jars found scattered across the area.

• The Waking Mind found behind the brain mapping puzzle can grant a permanent buff: Githzerai Mind Barrier.
• The True Mind, Willing Mind, Butchered Mind, Closed Mind and Fresh Mind brain jars elsewhere in the Colony, as well as the Dark Mind and Slave Mind brain jars from the Nautiloid, will only give dialogue.

Mol's Eyepatch and a note shedding some light on The Dark Urge can be found on a table near the mind-archive interface.

Tadpoling centre

Main Article: Tadpoling Centre

Tadpoling Centre is a roughly-round room filled with Mind Flayer Pods; some contain non-hostile humanoid characters, including Zevlor ( Find Zevlor quest), while others contain Mind Flayers. A Neural Apparatus at X: 689 Y: 17 gives the party a choice between purging all of the pods (illithid and humanoid alike) and opening them all.

If the party chooses to purge the pods, Zevlor will die; if they open the pods, they must fight several mind flayers and intellect devourers (though the newly-freed NPCs will fight alongside the party, providing significant aid.)

Zevlor and the other survivors can potentially turn hostile if they are damaged by the party, including via spell AOE effects such as Cloud of Daggers or Flame Wall.

In the next area (Brine pools room), Mizora is stuck in a pod. The party may free her in order to advance  The Blade of Frontiers, Wyll's companion quest.

Mizora's pod has its own controls. The left is "annihilate," the right is "unleash", each requires DC 10 Arcana check to decipher its function. If freeing Mizora and Wyll being in the party, the cambion may reward them ( DC 14 Persuasion check required), giving Wyll the Infernal Rapier. Killing Mizora via the "annihilate" button results in Wyll dying as well.

Interacting with the brine pool near Mizora ( DC 16 Perception check) yields a Mind Flayer Parasite Specimen.

Barracks

In the north-eastern corner of the colony are the barracks, where the party will meet Kressa Bonedaughter and her Skull Lashers. After brief dialogue, it's possible to fight against Kressa or convince her to stand down with a successful DC 21 Deception check. If friendly, Kressa can be persuaded ( DC 18 Persuasion check) to grant her blessing,  Myrkul's Gift, to each party member that speaks to her. Only one check is needed for the whole party.

Kressa will recognise The Dark Urge, if present and undisguised, and recall the time spent under her care in the colony. This conversation inevitably leads to combat.

In the chambers are also several notes in the area that can shed light on The Dark Urge.

Advance to Ketheric Thorm

Main article: Defeat Ketheric Thorm

The Mind Flayer Colony

To the east is a lift. Before descending down the lift the party can use the Restoration Pod to the right of the lift to receive the benefits of a Long Rest.

A cutscene will then play, wherein the party will watch Ketheric Thorm, Enver Gortash and Orin the Red, learn of their plans, and see the Netherbrain, thus discovering the true identity of the Absolute. If Gale is in the party, there will be the option to allow him to explode the Netherese Orb; this will kill the Netherbrain, all three Chosen, and the whole party, resulting in a very early endgame. If this action is not taken and the party remains unexploded, this cutscene continues with the Elder Brain infecting Duke Ravengard with a Tadpole, before the Chosen of the Dead Three unleash their assault on Baldur's Gate.

Fight with Ketheric

If the party passes multiple Persuasion and/or Intimidation checks both atop Moonrise Towers and in the Mind Flayer Colony, asking him to repent, the first half of his fight in the Mind Flayer Colony will be skipped as Ketheric gives himself to Myrkul.

Otherwise, when the second fight with Ketheric starts, Ketheric will begin by calling on Myrkul for aid. Ketheric remains invulnerable so long as he has the Nightsong captured. The party's initial goal is to free Nightsong with the Help action, as she is trapped inside a soul cage by Ketheric.

See Ketheric Thorm/Combat for details of this battle.

After the battle there will be a series of cutscenes. The party will be teleported back to Moonrise Towers ground floor, where they can speak with some of the characters met in the Shadow-Cursed Lands before heading west to Baldur's Gate. This is the end of Act Two. It is possible to travel to the Last Light Inn and talk with the remaining characters there.

Notable characters

• Balthazar (conditional)
• Chop
• Enver Gortash
• Ketheric Thorm
• Kressa Bonedaughter
• Mizora
• Orin the Red
• Us
• Yeva
• Zevlor

Related quests

•  Defeat Ketheric Thorm
•  Embrace Your Potential
•  Find Mol
•  Find Zevlor
•  Lift the Shadow Curse
•  The Blade of Frontiers
  •  The Grand Duke
•  The Urge
•  The Wizard of Waterdeep

Notable loot

Notable items obtained in this location, whether looted, purchased, or obtained as a quest reward:

Quest items

• Mol's Eyepatch - in the necrotic laboratory at X: 693 Y: -111, advances Find Mol

Quest rewards

• Infernal Rapier - Given by Mizora
• Ketheric's Netherstone - Looted from Ketheric Thorm
• Ketheric's Shield - Looted from Ketheric Thorm
• Ketheric's Warhammer - Looted from Ketheric Thorm
• Reaper's Embrace - Looted from Ketheric Thorm

Other

• Blade of Oppressed Souls - Found in the Necrotic Laboratory after solving the brain puzzle
• Braindrain Gloves - Can be looted from a skeleton near Necrotic Laboratory X: 748 Y: -141
• Circlet of Mental Anguish - Can be looted from a skeleton in the Necrotic Laboratory X: 748 Y: -141
• Myrkulite Scourge - Looted from Kressa Bonedaughter
• Summon Us - Given by Us
• Resonance Stone - Found in Balthazar's necrotic laboratory
• Waking Mind - Found in the Necrotic Laboratory after solving the brain puzzle

See also

• Oubliette

Notes

• It's possible to overhear Chop from the Oubliette, suggesting that the Morgue and Oubliette share a wall. However, the Mind Flayer Colony cannot be accessed until the end of Act Two, and the player character will note aloud that there's no way through.