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Upper City Gate Checkpoint
| Lower City | ||||
| Upper City | ||||
| ↑ | ||||
| Upper City Gate Checkpoint | → | Facemaker's Boutique | ||
| ↓ | ||||
| The Lodge | ||||
“No admission to the Upper City until further notice. Residents may queue up and wait.„
Overview[edit | edit source]
Upper City Gate Checkpoint (also designated as Baldur's Gate Checkpoint) is an unnamed part of the Steeps district of the Lower City, occupying the bridge leading to the Upper City gate.
The bridge spans across the river stream, which runs from the far end of the Bloomridge Park towards the House of Grief. The eastern side of the street leading to the bridge is lined up with the Facemaker's Boutique and The Glitter Gala. On the western side of the street is the 
Baldur's Gate waypoint. The street runs down to the large plaza with a statue of Balduran in the middle. Another statue to him stands on the bridge, separating it (and both the patrols and the queue of citizens) approximately in two.
Involvement[edit | edit source]
With the armies of the Cult of the Absolute threatening the city, the power holders of Baldur's Gate have forbidden free entrance to the Upper City. This prohibition is still active when the party reaches the Lower City in Act Three of the game.
As a result, the Baldur's Gate Checkpoint is heavily guarded by a squad of several Flaming Fists and a 
Steel Watcher, commanded (apparently) by 
Fist Darbonna.[1] They have been instructed to deny entrance to anyone in without proper authorisation (which effectively means no one at all). Several Upper City residents wait their turn to pass the checkpoint, forming a queue.
However, there is one exception from the new-established rules – the party itself. If the party reach the gate proper and talk to Darbonna, her squadmate 
Fist 'Deadeye' Mibbs claims that the party "have special dispensation" and is about to let them in.
Unbeknownst to everyone around, Mibbs and Darbonna are infected with 
Mind Flayer Tadpoles. The implications behind Mibbs' and Darbonna's actions, as well as passing a 
DC 15 Insight check throughout the dialogue, reveal that Mibbs' behaviour is not his own, and both are likely being mind-controlled by the 
Netherbrain. The latter is trying to lure the party into the Upper City, so it can overwhelm the Emperor's defences and force the party's transformation.
Going on the bridge without having acquired all Netherstones results in the Netherbrain attempting to take over the party members' minds, causing them to receive 
Mindbroken or 
Stunned conditions. These conditions are applied to every member of the party, even if only one of them tries to get to the end of the bridge separately. These conditions are not applied to the two infected Fists. While crossing the bridge, 
The Emperor chimes in several times, warning that the party are being fooled and urging them to turn back at once, even going so far as teleport them back to the beginning of the bridge.
Ignoring the Emperor's warnings and proceeding beyond the gate potentially causes a game over screen.[verify]
If the party return to the city after acquiring all Netherstones, three infected NPCs near the queue forcefully transformed into 
Mind Flayers via 
Ceremorphosis and attack the bypassers. The Flaming Fists are 
Surprised, but fight alongside the party. Once the Mind Flayers are dead, all the guards run away to warn their superiors, before completely vanishing from the game once far enough.
Waypoints[edit | edit source]
This location has the following 
Waypoint nearby:
- Baldur's Gate X: -198 Y: -26
Related quests[edit | edit source]
Characters[edit | edit source]
Gate guards[edit | edit source]
Civilians[edit | edit source]
Loot[edit | edit source]
Related literature[edit | edit source]
Footnotes and references[edit | edit source]
- ↑ She, of all Flaming Fists around, keeps the orders on allowing admission to the Upper City.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Appears only after the party acquires all Netherstones, only to be turned into mind flayers as the party approach the gate
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 These characters do not stand in the queue. However, their banter suggests they wanted to pass the gate but quit the queue due to feeling something unnatural or unnerving around. The corresponding dialogue file is /LOW_BaldursGate_AD_Civilian_005_011.
- ↑ Appears only after the party acquires all Netherstones, when people around him start turning into mind flayers, he flees
- ↑ Looted from Mibbs and Darbonna