Confront the Elder Brain: Difference between revisions

{{SpoilerWarning}}[[File:Confront the Elder Brain Quest.jpg|thumb|The Elder Brain is the ultimate opponent, and the one way to escape the tadpoles.]]

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<div style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.6;">Follow the Chosen to Baldur's Gate.</div>

<div style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.6;">Obtain the three Netherstones.</div>

<div style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.6;">Meet Gortash at the Morphic Pool.</div>

<div style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.6;">Face the elder brain.</div>

<div style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.6;">Talk to the Emperor.</div>

<div style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.6;">Get a mind flayer on your side.</div>

<div style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.6;">Face the Netherbrain again.</div>

<div style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.6;">Get to the Netherbrain.</div>

<div style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.6;">Reach the Crown of Karsus.</div>

<div style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.6;">Enter the portal to the Netherbrain's psyche.</div>

<div style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.6;">Bring the Netherbrain to heel.</div>

<div style="font-weight: bold; line-height: 1.6;">Quest Complete</div>

[[File:Netherbrain.webm|gif|350px|thumb|The reveal]]Confront the Elder Brain is acquired at the end of [[Act Two]], after the Chosen Three are revealed to be controlling the Elder Brain as part of their plot to take over Baldur's Gate. However, the quest cannot be meaningfully progressed until [[Get Gortash's Netherstone]] and [[Get Orin's Netherstone]] have successfully been completed. Orin must be defeated and Gortash must either be defeated or his bargain accepted as part of [[Consider Gortash's Bargain]]. Defeating both Orin and Gortash causes a vision of the Elder Brain in the [[Morphic Pool]] beneath the city. If Gortash is allied with, then he reveals the Elder Brain's location and tells the party to use the boat under the city to meet him there.

The Morphic Pool Dock is north of the Temple of Bhaal waypoint. Approaching the dock before obtaining all three Netherstones results in a swarm of cranium rats attacking.  

'''Note that going on the boat to the Morphic Pool is the start of the endgame.''' After this, it is ''not'' possible to long rest or visit camp. Plan accordingly and choose the desired companions for the final battles.

* [STRENGTH] Muster the full might of your physical form - throw it into breaking through the brain's defences. (DC 20)

* [INTELLIGENCE] Your mind is yours to command - block out all possibility of failure and compel the brain to submit. (DC 20)

* [CONSTITUTION] You have survived this far - trust yourself. Dominate the brain. (DC 20)

* [DEXTERITY] The Crown is an unmissable target - set it in your sights, and trust that you will strike true. (DC 25)

* [WISDOM] A first attempt is just that - iteration is key. Aim for the Crown and try again. (DC 25)

* [CHARISMA] Nothing is immune to influence - determine to master the brain. (DC 25)

* Bow before the glory of the Netherbrain. Submit to domination.  

The Netherbrain tells the party she was the one who informed the Chosen of the [[Astral Prism]] and planted fear of what Orpheus could do to their plan. She was the one who let the Emperor slip its leash so that it could retrieve the prism and loosen the Netherstones from the Chosen Ones' grasps.

* [STRENGTH] You are strong. You are mighty. You will dominate the brain. (DC 30)

* [CONSTITUTION] Your resilience will not be shaken - cast the spell again. (DC 30)

* [INTELLIGENCE] It may not be easy, but it was always supposed to be possible - do it again. (DC 30)

* Bow before the glory of the Netherbrain. Submit to domination.

One final, near impossible check remains. The result of the check is inconsequential, as the Netherbrain is too powerful.

* [STRENGTH] DOMINATE THE BRAIN (DC 99)

* [DEXTERITY] DOMINATE THE BRAIN (DC 99)

* [INTELLIGENCE] DOMINATE THE BRAIN (DC 99)

* [WISDOM] DOMINATE THE BRAIN (DC 99)

* [CHARISMA] DOMINATE THE BRAIN (DC 99)

* Give up. Allow the brain to dominate you.

Regardless of what the party does, the brain is simply too powerful, and the party is knocked unconscious. The Emperor steps in to save them by bringing everyone inside the Astral Prism.

The party awakens in the Astral Prism having benefited from a Long Rest and '''losing all Elixirs and "Until Long Rest" duration buffs they may have had.'''

The Emperor states that only an illithid can hope to take down the Netherbrain in its current form and that the illithid must consume the power of Prince Orpheus in order to succeed. As an illithid, the Emperor says he can do this, and asks the Netherstones be relinquished to him.

If the party rejects the Emperor's proposition, he states that he has no other choice but to reassimilate with the Netherbrain, and leaves the party in the Astral Realm. This can be done by selecting "I don't believe a word you just said" followed by "I will never trust you", or by asserting the intent to free Orpheus if the party possesses the Orphic Hammer. Afterwards, if the party has the Orphic Hammer, they can equip it and attack the crystals binding Orpheus.

There is also the possibility of the party not retrieving the Orphic Hammer and spurning the Emperor. In this case, Raphael appears within the Astral Prism. He has front row seats to the final hour, and now he's come with the sole salvation of Faerun. There are no more deals: only master and vassal. Sign a contract for the Orphic Hammer in exchange for the Crown of Karsus, or the world ends. Failing to uphold the bargain means the party's souls are forfeit. Refusing to sign turns the party into mind flayers who assimilate into the Netherbrain, causing a game over. The party is forced to [[Fulfill the Deal]].

Once Orpheus is freed, he confronts the party on their choices, saying the party should have let his honor guard kill them so they could have avoided this whole situation. He also confronts the party if they stole the Githyanki egg in Steal a Githyanki Egg. However, he agrees to stand down and works with the party. He states that the Emperor was correct and an illithid is necessary to take down the Netherbrain. Either a party member can make the sacrifice, or Orpheus will if everyone refuses.

Otherwise, the party can choose to work with the Emperor. The Emperor can be given the Netherstones and he assimilates Orpheus by devouring his brain. Another possibility is for Karlach to volunteer to become an illithid, as she is dying from her infernal engine anyways. The player character can also volunteer to become illithid. Whoever becomes illithid can wield the stones.

=== The High Hall ===

Otherwise, the individuals that appear are based on who was successfully recruited as part of [[Gather Your Allies]]. These allies grant a new action - Call Forth Allies - that can summon various allies to the field or utilize powerful AoE attacks.

Before entering the courtyard, the party can potentially encounter a few mindflayers if they move eastward. There is also a restoration pod right near the gate to the courtyard. (not if played on tactician) Entering the courtyard leads to an all-out assault of Absolutist cultists, goblins, an Ogre, a Spectator, and several Mind Flayers. Note, it is possible to bypass this battle by avoiding entering through the main entrance, and approaching the High Hall from the northern or southern routes with stealth and invisibility.

Additionally there is a hidden route through Upper City Sewers which also lead to High Hall proper. This route features few goblins, a mindflayer, Absolute cultist, [[Necromite|necromites]] and a Death Knight named Stalker Svignee.

Once the courtyard battle is completed, the party enters the High Hall proper. A Nautiloid attacks, and there is a turn limit to get deeper into the Hall. The party faces several Banite cultists and Intellect Devourers. The stairs are partially broken; a statue can be destroyed or pushed (with a Strength check) to provide a foothold. Past the enemies is a door to the stem of the Netherbrain. Approaching the stem ''with any character'' causes an automatic cutscene that ends the turn limit ''and'' the fight, and teleports the entire party to this location. From there, the party can use a restoration pod and then climb the stem, to get to the top of the Netherbrain.  

[[File:CTNB Quest Ending Gale Alone vs Brain Stem.jpg|350px|thumb|''"Though our time together will be exceptionally brief. Farewell, and happy landing."'']] If [[Gale]] is in the party, interacting with the Brain Stem ''may'' trigger a short conversation between him and his controlling player-character. Multiple potential outcomes are allowed from this conversation, depending on the players' actions prior to crossing the "point of no return."

If the player ''allows Gale to ascend the Brain Stem, alone'' then all of the fights described in the rest of this article '''are completely avoided.'''

Other outcomes from this conversation are possible, but multiple of these naturally result in Gale continuing with the other party members into the remaining fights of the game.

If Orpheus was sided with rather than the Emperor, the Emperor appears on top of the Netherbrain to stop the party. The Emperor conjures up several Dream Visitors to fight alongside him, stating he knows the party's every weakness. He is joined by several Mind Flayer Arcanists and an enthralled Red Dragon.  

If the Emperor was sided with instead of Orpheus, the Netherbrain itself spawns several powerful thralls to join the Dominated Red Dragon and [[Illithid Arcanist]]s. The specific thrall enemies summoned by the Netherbrain depend on the classes of the current party members.<ref>The ability scores of these thrall enemies seem to be affixed to the specific entity, and set up in a way that is mostly favorable for the abilities of the specific ''class'' of that enemy, such as [[Rage Queller]] the Barbarian equivalent having a high Strength score.</ref>

The physical structures of the "Atop the Netherbrain" map area allow for multiple "safe" paths across the brain matter, including two visible paths along the "ridges" of the Crown to the east and west. Staying on these paths will prevent additional Tentacle entities from appearing and attacking the party.

From the start of this fight, a counter is issued for 4 turns, after which a Nautiloid ship will arrive and begin using the same "targeting" abilities as seen during the players' ascent in the High Hall.<ref>At time of writing, the turn counter UI element may display as having five "sections" around its circle, with one section depleted, but still otherwise functions as only allowing up to 4 turns. It's basically impossible for a regular player to confirm if this UI element behavior is a "bug", or if it had to be implemented this way for another reason.</ref>

The illithid party member that is "holding" the Netherstones needs to travel close enough to the Crown of Karsus, and then perform Karsus' Compulsion for several turns. The party member ''can'' be attacked, possibly interrupted, and even killed while attempting to cast this spell. If a character casting Karsus' Compulsion is killed, no other party members will be allowed to cast the spell in their place, but once the character is resurrected they will be allowed to try casting Karsus Compulsion again, at their next available opportunity.<ref>Players should be aware that, when a character is resurrected, even if they are "the" illithid party member for this fight, they will still have the usual effects of being resurrected while in-combat, and it may be multiple turns before they are capable of taking actions again.</ref>

Successfully casting Karsus' Compulsion opens up a portal to the "Mind of the Netherbrain" area, where a physical manifestation of the brain can be attacked. Killing the brain before the turn limit allows the brain to be defeated, once and for all.

This area contains a number of loosely connected floating platforms that are ''breakable'' if they take enough damage, though they appear to be immune to multiple specific damage types. Once a platform is destroyed, any entities that were on the surface are instantly killed and cannot be resurrected during the fight (Death in this manner does not, however, cause the character to have a different "ending" upon winning the fight, if applicable).

To reach "The Mind of The Netherbrain" after this trigger occurs, ''each individual character and summoned creature'' under the players' control must directly interact with the portal to be brought through, or else they will remain in the "Atop the Netherbrain" area.

Upon successfully interacting with the portal, the character will appear somewhere inside "The Mind of the Netherbrain", on one of the aforementioned breakable platforms (out of the rough "half-ring" grouping of platforms that is farthest away from the Netherbrain). Once all party members are ''either'' inside the "Mind of the Netherbrain" area, or have ''died'' while still in the "Atop the Netherbrain" area, the turn order will truncate down to include just the entities present inside the "Mind of the Netherbrain."

When the Netherbrain is added into the turn order, a new counter will appear, overwriting the state of the prior timer. If the players do not successfully kill the Netherbrain entity within the alotted turns, a Game Over screen will occur.

At the start of each of the Netherbrains' turns, it may attempt to cast a spell called "Orb of Negation" which summons an entity of that name with an aura condition attached to it, and adds the orb entity into the turn order. When the turn of an orb entity arrives, any platforms or characters afflicted with the orbs' condition '''will die''' (or in the case of the Platforms, be destroyed).

The first time within each round that the Netherbrain takes damage from another character, it may attempt to cast an ability called [[Retributive Brainquake]], which deals 10-60 damage (minimum of 5 damage if an unspecified save is passed) to all characters who are within 30m of the Netherbrain.

When the Netherbrain reaches 0 hit points -- '''Congratulations''' - the Netherbrain has now been defeated, and a Conversation will trigger allowing the player to make their final choices and play through the closing interactions of the game.

After the Netherbrain has been defeated, the choice must be made to either [[Control the Elder Brain]] or [[Destroy the Elder Brain]]. Regardless of the choice, this is the end of the game.

== Allies in the Final Fight ==

{{Hatnote|for a detailed walkthrough on how to gain a specific ally, see the quest [[Gather Your Allies]]}}

!Ally

!Benefit

|[[Mol]]

|[[Fetcher's Favour]]

|Equipped with [[Mol]]'s tricks of the trade, affected entities can cast [[Rays of Fire]], reduce all {{DamageType|Fire}} damage by 5 and gain an additional 1d4 to [[Charisma]] [[Ability Check|Checks]] and [[Saving Throw]]s.

|[[Volo]]

|[[Volo's Guide to Monsters]]

|With steadfast application of knowledge from [[Volo]]'s preeminent work, affected entities gain +2 to [[Attack Roll]]s, [[Saving Throw]]s, and [[Ability Check]]s.

|[[Halsin]]

|[[Spirit of the Land]]

|The reunited soul of [[Thaniel]] provides a +1 to all [[Ability Score]]s and an additional 2m [[movement speed]] to all affected entities.

|[[Duke Ravengard]]

|[[Rallied (Endgame)|Rallied]]

|Galvanising word and will of [[Duke Ravengard]] runs hot through your veins - gain 30 [[Temporary Hit Points]].

|[[Prince Orpheus]]

|[[Orphic Favour]]

|While within 18m of [[Prince Orpheus]], the affected entity has [[Resistance]] to {{DamageType|Psychic}} damage and a +3 bonus to [[Intelligence]], [[Wisdom]], and [[Charisma]] {{Saving Throw}}s.

|Summon [[Zlorb]] - a shapeshifting monstrosity that can adopt the aspect of several monsters and beasts.

|[[Yurgir]]

|[[Hellstalker Yurgir]]

|Summon [[Yurgir]] the orthon - a deadly combatant at range or in melee who can become Invisible immediately after attacking.

|[[Dame Aylin]]

|[[Sword of the Silverlight]]

|Summon [[Dame Aylin]], Selûne's shining paladin, to join your side in battle.

|[[Isobel]]

|Call upon [[Isobel]] to offer a furtive prayer to Selûne, healing up to 6 nearby allies.

|[[Valeria]]

|[[The Watch]]

|Summon some of the City Watch's great weapon fighters to protect their home.

|[[Zevlor]]

|[[Hellrider Platoon]]

|Summon [[Zevlor]]'s Hellriders to Smite foes and support frontline allies.

|[[Nine-Fingers]]

|[[Zhentarim]]

|Zhentarim

|

|[[Jaheira]]

|[[Silver Harp Squadron]]

|Summon elite Harper archers to provide ranged support from your back ranks.

|[[Astarion]]

|[[Retinue of the Vampire Lord]]

|Summon 2 [[Shadow]]s, 2 [[Giant Skeleton]]s, a [[Ghast]], a [[Shadow Mastiff]], and a [[Werewolf]].

|[[Wulbren]] or [[Barcus]]

|[[Rolan]]

|[[Rolan's Firestorm]]

|Damage: 20-120. Call upon Rolan, freed from the limitations of Lorroakan, to unleash a fiery barrage from the heights of [[Ramazith's Tower]].

|-  

|Damage: 20-120. Lorroakan uses all the arcane might of Ramazith's Tower to call down a fiery barrage.

|[[Kith'rak Voss]]

|[[Kirh'raki Inferno]]

|Damage: 12-72. Command the red dragon of [[Kith'rak Voss|Supreme Kith'rak Voss]] to breathe a wall of fire onto the battlefield.

|[[Mizora]]

|[[Mizora, Agent of Avernus]]

|Summon [[Mizora|Wyll's pactmistress]] to rain down powerful infernal sorcery and possibly Disintegrate your foes.

|[[Viconia]] or [[Shadowheart|Dark Justiciar Shadowheart]]

|[[Nightbringer's Shadow Adepts]]

|[[Auntie Ethel]]

|Channel [[Auntie Ethel]]'s magic to render 5 creatures within range invisible.

== Achievements ==

== Notes ==

<references/>