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Grand Mausoleum
| Reithwin Town | ||||
| Gauntlet of Shar | ||||
| ↑ | ||||
| Grand Mausoleum | ||||
| ↓ | ||||
| Reithwin Town | ||||
“Shouldn't all these bones be tucked away neatly in their tombs?„
Overview[edit | edit source]
The Grand Mausoleum, an ancestral burial place for the Thorm family, is located in the far end of the graveyard. It is actually a large cavernous area inside the rock, separated from the world with a high cast-iron gate.
Inside are the tombs of 
Ketheric Thorm's wife 
Melodia and daughter 
Isobel, as well as several sarcophagi and numerous urns of his ancestors. Ketheric himself until the recent events was buried here, defeated by the alliance of Harpers and the druids of the Emerald Enclave.
Unbeknownst to most, the Thorm Mausoleum also keeps the entrance to the Gauntlet of Shar - an ancient Sharran temple where the Dark Justiciars honed and proved their martial mettle and utter loyalty to the goddess 
Shar. It is also a important location for progressing both 
Astarion's and 
Shadowheart's personal quests (either as origin or companion).
In the heart of the temple Ketheric Thorm hides his greatest treasure: the relic which helps him sustain immortality. Ketheric's closest disciple, a necromancer by the name 
Balthazar, has been sent to retrieve the relic, but has not succeeded by the time of the game events.
Access[edit | edit source]
The Grand Mausoleum can be accessed from several points:
- From the Reithwin Graveyard heading its most northern path and climbing up a small slope
- From the roof of House of Healing Library using the arborous vine at X: -192 Y: 62
- After leaving the Ominous Crevice, climbing up a cragged rock and some cliffs westward
Regardless of the path they use, the party eventually come out to a small clearing in front of high cast-iron gate built straight into a rock side. The gate is entangled with silvery chains crossing it several times, adorned with Selûnite sigils. However, it is clear that thick metal is cambered from powerful blows when somebody or something made its way out.
Exterior[edit | edit source]
At X: -174 Y: 102 are five graves seemingly made in haste. If party members interact with the grave markings near each one, a passive 
DC 14 Religion check is made to discern 
Selûnite burying rites.[1] Otherwise, all graves can be looted to find Selûnite robes, brooches or earrings, and some gold or Valuables as well.
Raphael waits for the party near the entrance, polishing yet another patch of poetry to greet them. When coming close, the dialogue with him starts automatically. Initially, he seems to be concerned with the party's intents to explore the mausoleum. However, two successful ability checks within the dialogue: DC 10 Persuasion check and DC 10 Insight check, make him reveal details about the 
infernal beast lurking inside. Additionally, if 
Karlach is in the party, certain conversation choices result in her correctly guessing that the creature Raphael seeks is an 
Orthon.
Raphael calls this creature a personal enemy and asks the party to dispose of it for him, starting the 
Kill Raphael's Old Enemy quest. Taking up the quest may also be important for progressing Astarion's personal quest (both origin and companion).
If Astarion is present, the dialogue with Raphael may shift to the scar markings on the vampire's back. In this case, several options are possible, depending on whether Astarion is played as an origin or is a companion:
- Companion
- In this case, the aforementioned rolls can be freely failed without any consequences:
- If the party have already met Raphael in the Last Light Inn and Astarion asked about the scars, Raphael lays killing his enemy as a condition for giving information on the matter.
- If the party did not speak to Raphael in the inn,[2] the devil turns the conversation to Astarion's scars himself, just like he would have done in the Last Light Inn, with the result same as above.
- Origin
- If playing Astarion as an origin, it is necessary to succeed both checks to ever get the quest from Raphael, otherwise, he disappears without saying a word about the beast.
- Without passing both checks, the option for Astarion origin to ask about the scars does not appear, regardless of whether the party spoke or did not speak to Raphael in the Last Light Inn.
If Astarion is 
disguised when the conversation with Raphael begins, Raphael will not speak with him or extend the offer to interpret his scars unless Astarion is the only one speaking with him and all other active party members are far enough away to not be brought into the conversation cut-scene when it begins.
Fisher's shackle[edit | edit source]
As mentioned above, one of the paths to the Grand Mausoleum comes westward from the exit from the Ominous Crevice.
If the party comes down the cliffs northeast the crevice exit, they find a dilapidated fisher's shackle with a wooden chest inside and a note from someone by the name Ellis on the floor.
A pack of Cursed Kuo-Toa led by a 
Cursed Kuo-Toa Chief (although rarely there are two of them) 
hide near the water edge. A DC 30 Perception check is needed to perceive the ambush. Looting the wooden chest inside the hut or coming too close to the riverside causes the kuo-toa to attack. The chiefs each drop 
Lightning Jabbers.
At X: -132 Y: 113 an unlocked painted chest contains a random arrow and minor loot.
Interior[edit | edit source]
Past the iron gate is the sequence of connected chambers with several large sarcophagi and shelves with funerary urns. The inner decoration of the mausoleum presents a strange combination of symbols of various deities: frescos on the wall depict Selûne, vases and decorative floor tiles are of clearly Sharran design. Numerous skulls and bones from desecrated, opened or broken graves and funerary vessels lie in heaps or are assembled into profane sculptures. The only tomb left intact and undisturbed is Melodia Thorm's sarcophagus in the middle of the central hall.
Near Melodia's tomb stands a talking skull called the Herald of Balthazar asking any trespasser to leave the mausoleum. However, the herald "assumes" that the only possible intruders could be 
Nere, 
Z'rell, or 
Minthara. The plaque at the foot of Melodia's tomb runs a line in Elven dialect: "Ai armiel telere maenen hir," which can be translated as "You hold my heart forever." Also, behind head of the sarcophagus the 
Diary of Ketheric Thorm, Vol 1 can be found.
On the altar in the smaller hall to the west another part of the diary, volume 2, can be found. The backpack behind the altar here contains random alchemical ingredients and scrolls.
Upon entering the eastern hall, party members roll a passive DC 18 Religion check to recognize the sign scraped in blood on the floor as a symbol of 
Myrkul.[3] A locked Traveller’s Chest at X: -259 Y: -882 requires a DC 14 Sleight of Hand check to lockpick and contains the 
Vivacious Cloak and several alchemical ingredients. Row of books on a stone bench nearby contains random uncommon or rare scrolls.
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On the altar in this hall lies a 
stained book. It is written by Balthazar and gives a hint on how to open the way to the Sharran temple. At X: -262 Y: -881the Diary of Ketheric Thorm, Vol 3 can be found.
On the way to the northern chamber is a table with the 
Temple Map on it, depicting the plan of the Sharran temple below the mausoleum, with Balthazar's remarks on the purpose of the various halls of it.
The northern wing features another sarcophagus, but clearly opened carefully, with no graverobbing intentions. The plaque under it tells that it was the resting place of "Isobel Thorm". The party's comments depend on whether they have met Isobel in the Last Light Inn.
The room is littered by various types of traps requires passing a DC 10 Perception check to reveal each: vents and marble plates on the floor, as well as gargoyle heads on the walls. However, traipsing haphazardly across the traps does not have any ill consequences, revealing that they were previously disarmed. The party members comment on this, and can still disarm them again.
The walls of this chamber are adorned with three frescos with buttons under each one. To move further in the mausoleum, the buttons below the three paintings around the room have to to pressed in the right order. The instructions given by Ketheric himself to Balthazar, as the aforementioned Stained Book hints, order to move "from splendour, to tragedy, to infamy":
- "Moonrise Towers" painting, representing his origin as a worshipper of Selûne
- "Grief" painting, representing the loss of his family
- "General" painting, representing his rise as a crusader for Shar[4]
Successfully solving this puzzle grants the inspiration 
History Never Forgets to characters with the 
Sage background.
This opens up two movable walls on both sides of the third painting, revealing the next chamber with a large disc. The disc is adorned in Sharran style and is actually an elevator operated via a glowing Traversal Gem. Interacting with the Traversal Gem on the lift takes the party to the Gauntlet of Shar - and to the secret of Ketheric's 
relic.
While inside the Grand Mausoleum, all party members receive 
Glutted Catacombs condition, allowing them to cast 
Animate Dead: Skeleton without consuming a corpse.
Waypoints[edit | edit source]
This location contains the following waypoint:
Grand Mausoleum X: -173 Y: 80
Related locations[edit | edit source]
Related quests[edit | edit source]
Characters and Creatures[edit | edit source]
Loot[edit | edit source]
Lightning Jabber - x1 or x2
Vivacious Cloak
Hidden Treasure[edit | edit source]
- At X: -170 Y: 100 (requires DC 6 Survival check) - outside the mausoleum
- At X: 273 Y: -818 (requires DC 18 Survival check) - inside the mausoleum
- At X: 260 Y: -863 (requires DC 14 Survival check) - inside the mausoleum
Related Literature[edit | edit source]
Footnotes and references[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Of all possible companions at this point, only
Halsin remembers the actual events. If he is in the party, he utters a comment without any check rolled, and his comment has the priority to appear.
- ↑ It is possible only before the forces of the Absolute's attempt to abduct Isobel from the inn; when the assault starts, Raphael disappears from the building.
- ↑ If the check is successful, the narration lines upon interacting with bone-assembled totems change to reveal Ketheric's worship of Myrkul.
- ↑ Despite the description and the party's comments, Ketheric is pictured on this mural in armour and with shield which betray his current devotion to Myrkul.