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The Lodge
| Lower City | ||||
| Elerrathin's Home | ||||
| ↑ | ||||
| Lady Jannath's Estate | ← | The Lodge | → | The Blushing Mermaid |
| ↓ | ||||
| Grey Harbour Docks | ||||
“Blurg, proud member of the Society of Brilliance. <...> My colleagues and I are working to improve conditions in the Underdark. This need not be such a dire, hostile place.„
Overview[edit | edit source]
The Lodge is a medium-sized building in the Steeps district of Baldur's Gate, located across the Upper City Gate Checkpoint. It has two stories, an attic and a large basement, which opens into the Grey Harbour Docks.
The only entrance to the Lodge is at X: -215 Y: -80. However, it is also possible to jump onto the balcony, which looks at the street, to reach the first floor. The basement of the building is available only due to certain choices made by the party earlier in the playthrough (see Involvement section below).
The Lodge is used as the city headquarters of the Society of Brilliance. The Society unites scholars born to various races native to the Underdark,[1] whose common goal is to make their homeworld a less hostile and dangerous place for living.[2] Some members of the society also pursue their own research.
The society gladly enlists the services of adventurers and allies with those who share their goals and / or interests, like Lenore De Hurst.
Building layout[edit | edit source]
Ground floor[edit | edit source]
The ground floor consists of a small lobby and a larger salon next to it. A set of stairs at the far end lead to the first floor of the Lodge.
Behind the counter in the lobby, atop a stack of books lies the 
Lodge Dormitory Key, revealed by succeeding a 
DC 15 Perception check. On the salon table are several mushrooms which can serve as alchemical ingredients (all red-outlined).
First floor, attic, and vault[edit | edit source]
Upon reaching the first floor, the nearby double doors lead to the Lodge dormitory. Inside is a Traveller's Chest, unlocked with the Lodge Dormitory Key, or lockpicked with a DC 10 Sleight of Hand check. It contains gold, alchemical ingredients, and a letter from Lady Esther addressed to Havkelaag. One of cabinets in the dormitory also contains rare alchemical ingredients: 
Hastening Spores and 
Timmask Spores. Behind a folding screen is a ladder leading up to the attic.
In the attic, a wooden chest is in the corner, unlocked with the key Havkelaag carries or a DC 15 Sleight of Hand check. Inside is gold and alchemical ingredients. A painting titled A Magical Journey hangs on the wall. Interacting with the painting transports the party to the lodge's vault.
The vault is located on the same level as the Lodge's lobby, in an otherwise inaccessible part of the building. It contains minor loot and a large, unlocked, empty safe. An opulent chest on a shelf in the middle of the room can be unlocked with a key carried by Professor Limeleech, or lockpicked by DC 15 Sleight of Hand check. It contains gold, Valuables and two random arrows. Two 
Gold Ingots lie aside the chest.
Another copy of A Magical Journey painting teleports the party back to the attic.
Involvement[edit | edit source]
The actual state of the Lodge depends on the choices made by the party while exploring the Rosymorn Monastery Trail and Crèche Y'llek, concerning the quest 
Steal a Githyanki Egg.
Preserving the egg[edit | edit source]
If the party refused to sell the 
Githyanki Egg from Crèche Y'llek to 
Lady Esther – an adventurer hired by the Society to obtain an egg – then they can meet several members of the Society in the Lodge.[3]
One of them is the duergar 
Havkelaag, who is obsessed with the idea of obtaining a gith egg and proving his theory of "genetic morality" by nurturing a fledgling hatched from it. If the party is still in possession of the egg, they can sell it to him for 
1000 gp. Also, characters with 
Sage background can earn the 
Membership Admittance inspiration by asking Havkelaag about joining the Society.
On the first floor the party can meet the hobgoblin 
Blurg, who may have been previously encountered in the Ebonlake Grotto. As in Act One, he acts as a trader. The party can also inquire about 
Omeluum. If they do, Blurg tells them his fellow illithid took on an investigation of his own after dealing with the party's particular case of tadpole infection and disappeared. The party can then agree to locate Omeluum, which starts the quest Retrieve Omeluum.
If Omeluum is subsequently rescued from the Iron Throne, it appears near Blurg in the Society and thanks the party with a small collection of useful items as a reward (see also the quest page), but, unlike Act One, does not act as a trader afterwards.
Giving the egg to the Society[edit | edit source]
If the party delivered the Githyanki Egg to Lady Esther in Rosymorn Monastery Trail, then no one is left alive at the lodge. However, no corpses of the Society members are to be found, except Havkelaag's, which can be communed with using 
Speak with Dead and looted for a 
Quarterstaff +2 as well as a book titled 
The Ptarian Code.
A trail of blood leads to a portal in the dormitory which takes the party to the Lodge basement. Entries from 
Havkelaag's Journal which lies near the bed reveal how Society members magically aged the Githyanki youth 
Ptaris and raised him under a strict and highly differentiated moral code ("Ptarian code"), with disastrous results.
Ptaris believes himself to be absolutely good and, therefore, able to determine who is 'bad'. On this basis, he considered his "father" Havkelaag and the other members of the Society immoral, and attempted to "make them better", but failed. Eventually, the teachings of his code led him to torture and kill the Society's members in the lodge in his quest to cure them of evil.
When the party uses the portal, Ptaris immediately starts a dialogue with them. Through it, he can be convinced to understand the outcome of his actions using various ability checks with high DC (20 or 25, depending on the interacting character's Race or Class). If the interacting party member fails the check, Ptaris becomes hostile.
Full list of dialogue options to placate Ptaris, as well as notes on tactics to defeat him, can be found on his page.
Meeting Ptaris grants one or both of the following inspirations:
- Alien in the Big City (
Entertainer background) - Nature of the Beast (
Outlander background)
The corpse of Lady Esther lies on the wooden berth between Ptaris and the portal exit. It may have some items of her stock from Act One (if these were not purchased from her). At X: -1234 Y: 238 on a shelf is an unlocked wooden chest with minor random loot.
If Omeluum is rescued after the party discovered the consequences of Havkelaag's experiment, he stays alone on the first floor of the massacred Lodge and cannot be traded with. The party can talk to him and take the blame upon themselves, which causes Omeluum to become hostile.
Outside the building[edit | edit source]
Near the Lodge entrance a patrol of the Flaming Fist consisting of 
Fist Pantella, 
Fist Gneiss, and a 
Steel Watcher argue with several citizens, who forbid them the access to the Grey Harbour Docks. However, they do not stop the party or other NPCs from passing by in any direction.
Related locations[edit | edit source]
Related quests[edit | edit source]
Characters[edit | edit source]
Outside[edit | edit source]
Notable loot[edit | edit source]
Gold Ingot - x2 in the Society vault
Mind Flayer Parasite Specimen - atop the rosewood desk at X: -208 Y: -85
Quarterstaff +2 carried by Havkelaag
Unflinching Protector Amulet[4] - carried by Ptaris- A variety of alchemical ingredients, including rare ones
Related literature[edit | edit source]
A Note of Thanks
A Study of Ores
An Opportunity from the Society of Brilliance
Concerning the Future of Baldur's Gate
Cautionary Note- Correspondence from Lady Esther
Havkelaag's Journal[4]
Havkelaag's Notes
Letter concerning Gravenhollow
On the Origins of Evil- Open Call for Adventurers on Behalf of the Society
- Peer Review
The Demonic Crisis
The Lost Tomb of Khaem
The Pilgrimage to Gravenhollow
The Pronunciation of Common for Monstrous Species: A Guide for Pedagogues
The Ptarian Code[4]
You're Not Wanted Here
External Links[edit | edit source]
Footnotes and References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ The only exception present in the game is a
Shield Dwarf 
Delverdenn, who studies the availability the ores mined in the Underdark.
- ↑ According to the Forgotten Realms lore, the Society's ranks included several creatures who belong to the races not implemented in the game and thus can be never met in the playthrough. Some, though, are mentioned cursorily, like the troglodyte
Skriss.
- ↑ The same outcome follows if they convinced Esther to take an
Owlbear Egg instead.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 Only if the party sold the githyanki egg to Esther
- ↑ If it was saved through Retrieve Omeluum