Sorcerous Sundries

Lower City
Highberry's Home
↑
Stormshore Armoury	←	Sorcerous Sundries	→	Peartree House
↓
Felogyr's Fireworks

Sorcerous Sundries is a Location within the Lower City in Act Three of Baldur's Gate 3.

“

As luck would have it, we'll soon find ourselves near one of the finest book collections this side of Candlekeep - Sorcerous Sundries. <...> Their collection of rare tomes is unparallelled.

„

— Gale, after the first time seeing the Crown of Karsus

Overview[edit section | visual editor]

Sorcerous Sundries is a well-known store in Baldur's Gate, trading in various magical goods: elixirs and potions, spell scrolls, books, as well as weapons, armour and accessories.

Sorcerous Sundries is a large circular building with a dome made of elaborate multi-coloured stained glass. It is located in the heart of the Heapside district of the city. The only entrance to it is at X: -20 Y: -64, from a vast plaza lined up with Bonecloak's Apothecary, Central Watch Tower, and the Stormshore Armoury clinging to the Lower City Central Wall.

The party can visit its ground and first floors, and also its elaborate vault. Also, from the Sorcerous Sundries the party can travel to the Ramazith's Tower, towering above the Upper City of Baldur's Gate.

Building layout[edit section | visual editor]

Ground floor[edit section | visual editor]

After entering the shop, the party is in a large open area serving as main hall.

In the center of the room is a counter, where a is a shopkeeper trading in scrolls, potions, and equipment. Depending on the party's prior decisions in various quests, this can be either  Lorroakan's Projection,  Rolan, or  Rolan's Projection. A  Potion of Sleep can be stolen from the counter.

Rolan is at the counter only if he survived the events of Act One and Two. If the party speak to him, he reacts accordingly to their prior actions (notably speaking to him in the Emerald Grove and saving his siblings from the Moonrise Towers Prison). The interacting party member can also notice that Rolan has been heavily beaten recently, and ask him about it, rolling a passive  DC 10 Insight Check.^[1]

The stairs to the both sides from the counter lead up to the first floor (see below).

The main trade hall encircles the counter, forming an inner an an outer lines of lesser counters, small tables, bookcases, and display cases. The hall is guarded by four Animated Armours. Various magical and / or alchemical items are here on display. Some of them are free to take, while most others are red-outlined, and looting them is considered a crime. The most notable items are the follows (going clockwise from the entrance):

At X: -1 Y: -64 on a counter are the  Coldbrim Hat, an  Elixir of Cold Resistance, the  Gold Wyrmling Staff, and the  Winter's Clutches, as well as two Uncommon spell scrolls.
At X: 4 Y: -100 on a small table are a  Topaz and a  Sapphire.
At X: -18 Y: -90 on a small table is a  Potion of Speed and a  Potion of Mind Reading.
At X: -9 Y: -92 on the alchemy counter is a  Mind Flayer Parasite Specimen. On a table across it is an  Elixir of Barkskin.
At X: -18 Y: -75 on a small table are two Uncommon scrolls. In a round bookshelf nearby is a  Potion of Invisibility.
A certain amount of common herbal alchemical ingredients like  Weavemoss,  Mugwort and  Autumncroci can be looted freely from the counters.

The shop entertains its clients with various showpieces of magical nature. At X: -3 Y: -71 are tamed  lava and  water elementals. Also, the shop continuously casts  Find Familiar spell, summoning random lesser conjured animals (a cat, a crab, a frog, a rat, or a spider) each three turns.

Several clients are wandering around shopping or simply gawking at the curios on display. Apart from the main counter, the shop staff consists of the necromancer  Cordrane the Recent who sells zombies as home helpers and personal guards, and  Tolna Tome-Monger, the head of the shop's Literature Department.

Tolna Tome-Monger[edit section | visual editor]

Tolna Tome-Monger is at her counter at X: 8 Y: -92, where she sells various books and Very rare spell scrolls.^[2] Tolna can inform the party about the most rare ancient magical books owned by the Sorcerous Sundries, including the  The Annals of Karsus and  The Tharchiate Codex, and two others which are never mentioned elsewhere in the game. She refuses even show these items, let alone selling them, but nevertheless can shed some light on their authors and themes.

If  Gale is in the party, and the interacting character asks Tolna about the "The Annals of Karsus", Gale chimes in, drawing the player character's attention to the book.

Tolna tells the party that these books are stored in the Sorcerous Vault. If the interacting party member passes an ability check ( DC 18 Deception Check,  DC 18 Persuasion Check,^[3] or  DC 16 Intimidation Check), she tells them the vault can be entered through her office. The  key to the office she carries on self.

Under Tolna's counter lies the note labelled  The Path to Elminster, which can help the party navigate their way to unlock the "Elminster" section of the Sorcerous Vault (see the page about it).

Most books from Tolna's stock, particularly from the Magic Schools and The Apprentice's Companion series, can be looted for free from the non-restricted bookcases around the main trade hall.

First floor[edit section | visual editor]

Two stairs on the ground level lead up to the first floor, which consists of two rooms and the long stairs-landing between them. It is guarded by two more Animated Armours.

Upon entering for the first time the party encounters  Lorroakan's Projection at X: 14 Y: -72. It prompts a dialogue and informs them that the wizard  Lorroakan awaits the first-hand information about the Nightsong only, and for those who have it, "knowledge will determine their path forward". Next, four portals open, each accompanied by a plaque giving a different explanation of what the  Nightsong might be. The only correct one is the pale blue portal at X: 13 Y: -83,^[4] which transports the party to Ramazith's Tower, home and study of Lorroakan. The three others  down and eject from the building whomever attempts to enter.

The two rooms at each side of the landing are locked and red-outlined (each requires a  DC 15 Sleight of Hand Check to lockpick). Casting  Greater Invisibility or  Fog Cloud is helpful for sneaking undetected into any of the rooms (the door can be shut behind the party to avoid the Animated Armour noticing anything is amiss).

At X: -3 Y: -97 is the small bedroom with no signs of whom it might belong to. Little inside is of note, save for the note labelled as  The Path to Karsus on the desk. It describes the way to navigate through the Sorcerous Vault to unlock the "Karsus" section.

The entrance to Tolna Tome-Monger's office is at X: 12 Y: -79. Apart from lockpicking, it can be opened with  Tolna's key. On the desk here lies an  note concerning a djinni lamp, and the  Sorcerous Sundries Basement Chest Key.

At X: 17 Y: -73 is the half-round bookcase containing another  Sorcerous Sundries Basement Chest Key. Interacting with the  Clasped Book (Sorcerous Sundries Office) in the bookcase opens a portal to the vault. Once used, the book is not interactable anymore, and the portal remains open until the endgame.

Despite its actual functioning similar to a button or a lever, this book is destroyable like any other book in the game. Destroying it deprives the party of one of the ways to access the Sorcerous Vault, as well as of the convenient way to leave it.

Sorcerous Vault[edit section | visual editor]

The vault can be accessed in two ways: either through the aforementioned portal in Tolna's office, or from the lower level of the Ramazith's Tower.

Inside, the party can find all books Tolna Tome-Monger mentions, including the Annals of Karsus, as well as numerous magical items, Very rare scrolls (some of which are in a single copy throughout the game), and Valuables. They can also find the djinni lamp mentioned in the note in Tolna's office, and progress several quests, uncluding Gale's personal quest (both companion and origin).

Involvement and companion interactions[edit section | visual editor]

The Sorcerous Sundries is the place where several major quests can be progressed.

The magical shop is the place where  Gale hopes to find information on the  Crown of Karsus. The book he needs to read is called "The Annals of Karsus" and is hidden in the restricted vault, for it contains knowledge possibly dangerous for both the reader and those around them. Convincing Tolna Tome-Monger to tell where the book is kept progresses Gale's personal quest (either companion or origin).
The same mechanism works for the ⁠Unlock the Ancient Tome quest, save for the book in question. To progress this quest, the party must find and read "The Tharchiate Codex", which is also kept in the magic store's vault. The party may or may not know about the way to progress with reading the  Necromancy of Thay at the moment.^[5] Regardless, if the party asks Tolna Tome-Monger about the Codex, she mentions the Necromancy of Thay, and thus the quest is updated.
The Sorcerous Sundries is owned by the wizard Lorroakan, who announced a contract to ⁠Find the Nightsong. Talking to Aradin, to Rolan, and to Lorroakan himself reveal that the latter became obsessed with finding the Nightsong and binding her to his will. He, however, did not tell any of the adventurers he signed up for the task any details either about the true nature of the requested "item" or about "its" exact location.^[6]

Outside[edit section | visual editor]

If  Aradin survived the events of Act One, he can be found at the entrance to the Sorcerous Sundries, trying to meet Lorroakan in person. However, the guard  Klank blocks him. If the party speak to Aradin, he recognizes them. If he also was convinced to yield  Lorroakan's contract on retrieving Nightsong, Aradin will try to find out whether the party succeeded with it. The party can pass various ability checks to discourage or deceive him, or invite Aradin to their camp to kidnap Dame Aylin.

Choosing the latter option is considered an oathbreaking action for Paladins of any Oath subclass.

In the middle of the plaza is a fountain. Near it, a group of wizards:  Astoundo the Greater,  Astoundo the Lesser, and  Salamander perform magic shows, casting various common cantrips and conjuring lesser familiars. A small crowd of onlookers, including several children, watch the show. At the other side of the fountain  News Hawker Jason attracts the customers. His outcries change depending on the recent party's actions and on the outcome of the ⁠Stop the Presses quest.

On a sandy patch across the Stormshore Armoury is the cat  Barsik. If the party speak to him via  Speak with Animals, he reveals himself to be a preacher of the goddess ⁠Sharess. If the party agree to hear out the tenets of his "religion", Barsik can be convinced to relieve  Derryth Bonecloak's loneliness if her husband  Baelen did not survive in the Underdark in Act One. If convinced, Barsik runs away and can be later met in the Bonecloak's Apothecary.

Related locations[edit section | visual editor]

Related quests[edit section | visual editor]

Characters[edit section | visual editor]

Notable[edit section | visual editor]

Patrons[edit section | visual editor]

Creatures[edit section | visual editor]

Outside, near the building[edit section | visual editor]

Loot[edit section | visual editor]

Sold at the main counter[edit section | visual editor]

Gallery[edit section | visual editor]

The main trade hall on the ground floor

Bugs[edit section | visual editor]

If Rolan is acting as a merchant when the party first enter Sorcerous Sundries, the uniquely named equipment items sold by him remain in his possession, even if Lorroakan's Projection takes over as a merchant after progressing Find the Nightsong, so it will not be possible to get them from Lorroakan's Projection. To get these items, they must be pickpocketed from Rolan or accessed via the Trade option available at the bottom left corner of the screen.

Footnotes and references[edit section | visual editor]

↑ Barbarians, Fighters, and Rogues have a common unique line for this, as well as Drow characters.
↑ She also has in stock a copy of  A Hunter's Guide to Hags, which can be useful while progressing the ⁠Help the Hag Survivors.
↑ Wizards roll the Persuasion check with DC 16 instead.
↑ The portals never change their order, colour, or shift guesses on the plaques.
↑ The only way to find this out before visiting the Sorcerous Sundries is to bargain with  Mystic Carrion at Philgrave's Mansion.
↑ Initial dialogue with Lorroakan (LOW_SorcerousSundries_Lorroakan) betrays his perfect knowledge of both Aylin's lineage and of her being trapped in Shadowfell.

External links[edit section | visual editor]

⁠Sorcerous Sundries on the Baldur's Gate Wiki
⁠Sorcerous Sundries on the Forgotten Realms Wiki

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[1] Barbarians, Fighters, and Rogues have a common unique line for this, as well as Drow characters.

[2] She also has in stock a copy of  A Hunter's Guide to Hags, which can be useful while progressing the ⁠Help the Hag Survivors.

[3] Wizards roll the Persuasion check with DC 16 instead.

[4] The portals never change their order, colour, or shift guesses on the plaques.

[5] The only way to find this out before visiting the Sorcerous Sundries is to bargain with  Mystic Carrion at Philgrave's Mansion.

[6] Initial dialogue with Lorroakan (LOW_SorcerousSundries_Lorroakan) betrays his perfect knowledge of both Aylin's lineage and of her being trapped in Shadowfell.

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