Disable the Steel Watch

The Steel Watch is a dangerous tool of Gortash

Disable the Steel Watch is a sub-quest of the quest ⁠Get Gortash's Netherstone in Act Three of Baldur's Gate 3. It can be started by speaking to  Enver Gortash in the audience chamber above Wyrm's Rock Fortress or by encountering  Orin the Red in the Lower City Sewers.

Objectives

Figure out how to disable the Steel Watch.

• Gortash is protected by the Steel Watchers. We need to figure out how to disable the Steel Watch.
• Orin told us not to underestimate Gortash's Steel Watch. She mentioned they come from the Lower City. We should find where they are made.
• Wulbren, leader of the Ironhand Gnomes, wants to disrupt Gortash's tyrannical rule by taking down his Steel Watch. He's made a runepowder bomb that can blow up the Steel Watch Foundry.
• Barcus pleaded with us not to use the runepowder bomb, saying it will kill the Gondians in the Steel Watch Foundry. He wants us to find a peaceful solution.

Find the Steel Watch Foundry.

• We have Wulbren's runepowder bomb, which can destroy the Steel Watch Foundry. The Foundry is in the Lower City, down by the docks.
• We learned that the Steel Watchers are being assembled in the Steel Watch Foundry down by the Lower City docks.

Find a way to destroy the Steel Watch Foundry.

• We've reached the Steel Watch Foundry. Now we need to find a way to disable the Steel Watch.
• We've reached the Steel Watch Foundry. Now to find the perfect place to use the runepowder bomb.
• We found where the Steel Watchers are being assembled - the Steel Watch Foundry. If we destroy the Foundry, we'll severely weaken Gortash's hold on the city.
• We found a book on Zanner Toobin. It claimed Gond's true name can destroy the Neurocitor.
• Gond's is known by many names, but to the gnomes he is called 'Nebelun'. This must be the key to destroying the Neurocitor on the Foundry's lower levels.
• We met Zanner Toobin, one of the Gondians being forced to build the Steel Watch. He said if they don't comply, the Banites will kill both them and their families - who are being held hostage at a secret location. He'll help us destroy the Foundry if we find and rescue their families.

Destroy the Steel Watch Foundry.

• Zanner Toobin, one of the Gondians, agreed to help us destroy the Steel Watch Foundry. We have to guide him to the lower levels of the facility.
• We learned the sequence to force the Foundry to self-destruct. We need to get to the Neurocitor, which lies in the lower levels of the facility.
• Toobin died, and can no longer help us destroy the Foundry.
• We reached the heart of the Steel Watch Foundry - the Neurocitor. If we use Wulbren's runepowder bomb on it, it should be enough to destroy the Foundry.
• We no longer have Wulbren's runepowder bomb. We need to find another way to destroy the Foundry.

Quest Complete

• The Steel Watch Foundry was destroyed. Every Steel Watcher in the city has now been disabled.
• We dealt with Gortash without disabling the Steel Watch.

Walkthrough

As part of ⁠Get Gortash's Netherstone, the party must figure out how to defeat Gortash, who is surrounded by Steel Watchers. One way to weaken him is by destroying them. The party can learn more about the Steel Watch by speaking to  Wulbren and embarking on ⁠Avenge the Ironhands, or by exploring the Lower City.

Investigating the Steel Watch Foundry

The Steel Watch Roof has an entrance.

The Foundry is in the southwestern corner of the Lower City, near the Grey Harbour waypoint. There are multiple ways into the Foundry:

• Unlocking ( DC 20 Sleight of Hand check) the iron gates at X: -234 Y: -181
• Entering a vent in  Wild Shape form at X: -246 Y: -126
• Flying onto the roof and jumping down from an open hatch at X: -295 Y: -135

There are two Steel Watchers guarding the front entrance - one which patrols the front and western side of the building, and another which stays on the western side near the loading dock. The Steel Watcher patrolling the front can easily be avoided by lockpicking the front gate and enter the front door while the Watcher is on the western side.

The Gondians' Plight

Prinski's Motivation Sequence and the Motivators allow the Banites to control the Gondians.

Once the Foundry has been entered, a cutscene plays, revealing that the Gondians are being forced to work by Banite cultists, under threat of explosive collars and their families being murdered. If the party approach, the Banites move to attack the cultists and bid the Gondians to aid them. It is possible to convince the Gondians to help fight back, or make the Banites believe the party belong to them:

• [DECEPTION] Forgive the interruption Dread Sister. I've just arrived for duty. (DC 15) (if an automatic DC 7 Religion check was passed)
• [INTIMIDATION] I wish to bathe in the blood of these worthless Banites. You can help Gondians - or you can die. (DC 15 ) (if an automatic DC 7 Religion check was passed)
• [INTIMIDATION] Gondians! Fight back! Do not let these people torment you. (DC 18)
• [PERSUASION] I am here to help, Gondians. Together, we can free you all. (DC 18)
• [PALADIN] [PERSUASION] I am here to help, Gondians. Together, we can free you all. (DC 18 )
• [BERSERKER] [BARBARIAN] [INTIMIDATION] Cowardly Gondians - do not let these people torment you! Fight. (DC 18 )
• [BARBARIAN] [INTIMIDATION] COWARDLY GONDIANS - FIGHT BACK! FIGHT WITH ME! (DC 18 )
• [ROGUE] [PERSUASION] A proposal, Gondians. You hold these arseholes, and I stab them all to death? (DC 18 )
• [BARD] [PERSUASION] I've heard many a tale of Gondian genius and courage. Let us write another today - and take down your captors. (DC 18 )
• Touch these people, and I'll kill you.

If the Deception option was chosen and passed,  Tamia Holzt gives the party the  Motivator and does not become hostile. Two hostile Banites and Steel Watchers guarding outside also disappear if they have not been fought before.

If either the  Intimidation or  Persuasion options are chosen and passed, the Gondians help the party. Otherwise, they are too scared to fight against the Banites and remain hostile until Black Gauntlet Tamia Holzt is defeated. Upon her death, the Motivator she carries begins to activate and can be deactivated with a  DC 5 Intelligence check. After the battle, the Gondians begin to panic and state that their families are being kept hostage.

In order to gain more information, the party must go into the Security Office. The key can be looted off of Tamia Holzt's body, or the door to the office can be lockpicked ( DC 15 Sleight of Hand check). Only one Gondian is inside -  Zanner Toobin, who immediately recognizes the party as intruders. He explains more about the Gondian's families being held hostage and begs the party to rescue his daughter. If the party agree, he helps to shut the place down. Unfortunately, Zanner is not sure where the family members are being held and suggests going deeper into the Foundry to find more information. This begins ⁠Save the Gondians.

If the party rescued the Iron Throne prisoners before visiting the Foundry, Zanner Toobin is present during the first cutscene with and the Gondians automatically help the party fighting the Banites, skipping the initial dialogue check.

Deciding on a Plan

The control centre, guarded by the Titan

After encountering Zanner, there are several avenues to approach disabling the Steel Watch. It is possible to ⁠Save the Gondians by rescuing the Gondians and their families or the party can complete ⁠Avenge the Ironhands and either save the Gondians along the way, or leave them to die.

If Save the Gondians is attempted and completed first, and Zanner is told (or lied to) that his daughter  Obelia Toobin is okay, he becomes very grateful and offers to accompany the party to the Control Centre where the foundry can be destroyed.

Alternatively, if the party decides to head straight into the foundry and destroy it before saving the Gondians, any surviving Gondians (in both the Foundry and the Iron Throne) as well as members of the Black Gauntlet of Bane are incinerated.

In the Lab Level

On going deeper within the Foundry, the party can discover that  Hahns Rives is in charge of the entire operation. The party must sneak or fight their way to the Control Centre Antechamber on the western side of the facility. The door leading to the Antechamber requires a  DC 30 Sleight of Hand check to be unlocked unless the  Control Level Key has been looted or stolen from Hahns Rives. This leads to a hallway filled with Steel Watcher brains, and the control room beyond.

The Control Centre

In order to get to the console to disable the Steel Watch and destroy the Foundry, the party must defeat the Steel Watch Titan, a level 12 enemy, and three level 11 Hellfire Watchers. These must be dealt with to gain access to the Neurocitor which controls the Foundry.

The fight can be skipped entirely by using  Invisibility to walk past the Steel Watchers and interact with the Neurocitor.

Destroying the Neurocitor

The Steel Watch Foundry in the process of blowing up

If the party destroys or bypasses the Steel Watchers, the party can then try to destroy the Steel Watch Foundry itself using one of several methods.

Allow Zanner to destroy the Neurocitor

If Zanner accompanied the party, he will stay in the control room until after the fight with the Steel Watch Titan is over. Afterwords, he can be talked to and told to destroy the Neurocitor.

Use the Runepowder Bomb

If Wulbren was rescued from Moonrise Towers Prison during Act Two as part of ⁠Rescue Wulbren, he will be located in the cellar of the Rivington General in Rivington. When spoken to, Wulbren implores you to blow up the Steel Watch Foundry and then gives you the  Runepowder Bomb. If the party interacts with the Neurocitor while having it in their inventory, the party will set the bomb and then flee.

Planting the Runepowder Bomb grants the following inspiration:

• ⁠A Foul and Awesome Display ( Sage backgrounds)
• ⁠A Massacre Beyond Imagining ( Haunted One backgrounds)
• ⁠Love That Smell ( Soldier backgrounds)
• ⁠The Art of Destruction ( Guild Artisan backgrounds)

Speak with Dead

Should Zanner die, the party can use  Speak with Dead and then ask him "How do I destroy the Steel Watch?". Doing so will grant the code needed.

Reading the books

If Zanner's body is destroyed and thus Speak with Dead cannot be used on it, there is one last final way to obtain the code. The party must read both  Property of Zanner Toobin (carried by Zanner) and  The Many Faces of Gond which can be found in the bookcases in the small surgery area in the large foundry area before the room with the Steel Watch Titan.

Ignoring the Watch

It is possible to kill Gortash before the Steel Watch has been destroyed. If this happens, the Elder Brain takes control of the Steel Watch and use them to destroy the Foundry. Additionally, a dead man's switch is activated on the Iron Throne, making it inaccessible and killing the hostages inside.

Quest rewards

•  Gontr Mael - a legendary weapon dropped by the Steel Watch Titan
• A new ally for Gather Your Allies - potentially both the Ironhand Gnomes and the Gondians, or one or the other.
• ⁠Catastrophic Structural Failure ( Outlander backgrounds)
• ⁠A Dish Served Cold ( Urchin backgrounds)

Notes

• Zanner Toobin is initially present on the Foundry floor and only moves to the Security Office after the entrance cutscene plays. If the cutscene never plays he will remain on the Foundry floor.
• The Runepowder Bomb can be used to blow up the factory without consuming it. When interacting with the Neurocitor it's necessary to have the bomb in the inventory and select the dialogue option "Focus on the centre of the Neurocitor - the perfect place for the runepowder bomb.". Then selecting another party member and letting them place the bomb outside the factory or in camp makes it then possible to select the party member who is still in dialog with the Neurocitor and chose the dialogue option "Carefully place the bomb.". After the cutscene the bomb can be picked up where it was placed.
• The bookshelf containing The Many Faces of Gond may be destroyed during combat, resulting in the book becoming unobtainable and locking the party out of destroying the foundry. Failing to stop a Motivator from activating during combat can detonate Grindo Biggs's collar in the operating area and destroy it prematurely. This can be avoided by sending an invisible character to retrieve the book before initiating combat.