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The Dragon's Sanctum
| Wyrm's Rock Fortress | ||||
| The Dragon's Sanctum | → | Wyrm's Rock Prison | ||
| ↓ | ||||
| The Wyrmway | ||||
Overview[edit | edit source]
The Dragon's Sanctum is a place where, according to legends, the bronze wyrm Ansur, the protector of Baldur's Gate, waits in slumber for his chance to fulfill its oath, "answer the call and come to the city's aid".[1] The entrance into it is located at the far end of The Wyrmway.
To prove that the party members are worthy to speak with Ansur, they must try to pass four Balduran's trials, titled Courage, Insight, Strategy and Justice. After completing them all, the Sanctum can be entered from The Wyrmway. However, party members are awarded due XP and allowed to proceed to the Dragon's Sanctum at the end of the trials regardless of success or whether or not any undead spawn if failing any of them.
The Sanctum itself is a huge cave with a small stone-paved antechamber, dotted with bunches of Attuned Crystals all around, and featuring two steam clouds at the each far side.
While exploring deeper in the Sanctum, it is revealed the great protector of the city has actually long turned into a rotted carcass, prostrated in the middle part of the Sanctum. All companions in the active party comment on this with regret, irony or admiration with the creature's former magnificence.
“Only... bones? Oh Boo, the dragon must have starved to death waiting for a worthy hero to eat!„
Ansur's body can be interacted with, initiating a conversation[2] between the player character, Ansur and The Emperor, with the player character's body being used as a conduit for the dragon's spirit. Throughout the conversation, it is unveiled that the Emperor is actually none other than Balduran, the legendary adventurer who founded the city of Baldur's Gate. Faulting the illithid for murdering him, Ansur calls it "faessi", meaning "coward" in Draconic language. Breaking the player character off mid-word, the wyrm-spirit calls them "vrak" ("child") or, if they are a 
, "ux Bahamuti" ("Bahamut's progeny"[3]).
Regardless of chosen dialogue lines, Ansur castigates the Emperor and reanimates into a hostile undead. The party must inevitably fight the dragon and two Water Myrmidons which spawn in the steam clouds at the far sides of the cave (see Ansur/Combat for the wyrm's abilities and possible tactics).
After defeating Ansur, another conversation with the Emperor is triggered immediately. The mind flayer confirms actually being Balduran in the past, and once again tells its story of an adventurer being captured and infected by illithids, along with new details on Ansur's role in this part of its existence. Regardless of the player character's reaction, the Emperor seemingly feels few regrets on its deed, offering as an explanation necessity and the will to survive.
In the northern part of the cave lies the 
Helm of Balduran on an altar there. The altar is actually a kind of a pressure plate: taking the helm off it opens the illusory wall that leads back to the spelean tunnel to Wyrm's Rock Prison.
The Helm can be taken without interacting with the remains of Ansur at all.
Related quests[edit | edit source]
Companion approval and Inspiration[edit | edit source]
- Waking Ansur's spirit (and initiating the fight with him) grants
+10 - In the dialogue with the Emperor after defeating Ansur:
- The player character: You're definitely sick.
+1 
+1
- After the Emperor's respond: "I'm sorry you had to go through that" -1 -1
- After the Emperor's respond: "I'm sorry you had to go through that"
- The player character: "You could have done the honourable thing and let him kill you" +1 -1
- Picking up the Helm of Balduran gives +5
- 
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Notable characters[edit | edit source]
Creatures[edit | edit source]
Notable loot[edit | edit source]
Balduran's Giantslayer looted from Ansur
Helm of Balduran on an altar behind Ansur X: 636 Y: 964
External links[edit | edit source]
Ansur on the Forgotten Realms Wiki- Draconic dictionary on the Forgotten Realms Wiki
Notes and references[edit | edit source]
- ↑ From dialogue with Florrick or Cordula Eltan initiating the quest
- ↑ The synopsis to the correspondent dialogue file implies that initially the conversation was prompted by any party member attempting to take the Helm of Balduran from the altar behind Ansur. However, as of Patch 8 it is possible to walk the dragon's remains around, loot the helm and leave the cave without waking up Ansur. In this case, all due inspirational events concerning the helm are granted as usual. The conversation (and consequent fight) now enacts only if interacting with the wyrm's corpse.
- ↑ This is not accurate, because according to Forgotten Realms lore Bahamut is said to be the progenitor of the dragons (and, subsequently, the Dragonborn) of "metallic" subraces only. Progenitors of other subspecies are reputed to be Tiamat ("elemental", or chromatic dragons) and Sardior (extremely rare "gem" dragons). For more information, refer to Dragonborn on the Forgotten Realms Wiki.
