Baldur’s Gate 3: How to get the Necromancy of Thay in BG3

There are a number of peculiar items you’ll get your hands on in Baldur’s Gate 3, and the Necromancy of Thay is one of them. This Ancient Tome is suitably creepy, given its name, but grants you the ability to Speak with the Dead if you open it.

Before you even open the Necromancy of Thay, you’ve got to get your hands on it first. And that is no easy task.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Necromancy of Thay: How to search the cellar and open the secret passage 

The Necromancy of Thay can be found in the Apothecary’s cellar in the Blighted Village. The Apothecary’s house is at coordinates (X:34, Y:379). If you’re facing the Blighted Village waypoint stone, his house is the one to the left, with the big double wooden doors. If you go straight into the house, then turn right, you’ll find the cellar hatch behind the Apothecary’s counter. Go into the cellar.

Once you’re in the cellar you need to head to the back of the room, straight in the direction the ladder rungs are facing until you reach a painting of a landscape beside a large bookcase and a stack of crates. Remove the painting and move the crates shown in the image below to you will find a hidden lever. This causes the bookcase to slide to one side, revealing a secret passage.

Enter the secret passage. Follow the secret passage path and you will see coffins. If you click on a coffin, a skeleton will appear for you to fight. This skeleton will then open the other coffins so you end up fighting a bunch of them. So, if you want to avoid a fight, I advise avoiding those coffins as much as possible.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Necromancy of Thay: How to answer the mirror questions

Keep following the path, which will lead you up some stairs, until you reach a large mirror beside some kegs. Interact with the mirror and it will ask you to “Speak your name.” You are given a handful of dialogue options but you want to choose to “Tell it your name.” The mirror will say it doesn’t know that name and will ask you to declare yourself an ally. Choose the dialogue option “Yes, an ally! I am an ally of your master’s.” 

To prove you’re an ally, you will need to answer the mirror’s next questions correctly for it to let you in. You can also test your Intimidation skills to try to brute-force your way in, but be careful: The DC is 15, and if you fail your roll, the mirror will summon an orb that creates a path of flames and breaks open the caskets, launching you into a tough battle.

Related: Baldur’s Gate 3: All right answers to the Magic Mirror

Here’s what we recommend answering to each question:

• Question 1: What think you of the Zulkir known as Szass Tam?
  • Answer: Szass Tam is a foul, wretched creature.
• Question 2: Tell me, why might one use balsam ointment?
  • Answer: To clean a wound.
• Question 3: If you could see anything in me, what would it be?
  • Answer: I’d look for whatever spell will rid me of this worm in my head.

Once you’ve answered these questions correctly, the mirror will disappear, revealing another secret passageway. Go through it.

Baldur’s Gate 3 Necromancy of Thay: How to get the rusted key and open the rusted iron gate

Once you go through the hidden passageway before the mirror, you will be in a large room. On the left of where you come into the room, there will be a locked rusted iron gate that you can lockpick with a set of Thieves’ Tools. Be careful, though: a metal plate will trigger a trap underneath the book, and you’ll need to disarm it before picking up the book.

If you don’t have a set of Thieves’ Tools, head to the other side of the room and you will find a smaller room. You can find the rusted key needed to open the locked door is on a shelf on the right-hand side of that room, as shown in the video below. Pick the key up and head straight ahead out of the room to reach the locked gate.

Before you open the gate, disarm the metal plate in front of it if you can. Once that’s done, open the gate and you will see the Necromancy of Thay on a table. There are more traps in this room, including one gargoyle statue on the left and one on the right, but I didn’t need to disable those before picking up the book. If you’d like to play it extra safe, though, you can use Mage Hand to pull the book to you.

Related: Baldur’s Gate 3: How to speak with the dead in BG3

After you’ve picked up the book, you need to decide whether to destroy or read the Necromancy of Thay.