Navigating the cleverly-arranged traps of a wizard’s lair in Baldur’s Gate 3 is not a task for the faint-of-heart, and no location calls more for the Arcanely-inspired than the vault of Sorcerous Sundries. This confusing labyrinth of a location houses some of Faerun’s most legendary and dangerous tomes.
Whether you’re a thief hoping to get your hands on powerful magic, a hero skirting the line of crime in the name of justice and defeating the Elder Brain, or a simp for Gale, you’ll likely find your way down in the vault. But will you be able to find what you’re looking for down here without getting torched?
How To Enter Sorcerous Sundries’ Vault
There are two ways to enter Sorcerous Sundries’ Vault:
- Ramazith Tower Puzzle
- Tolga Tome-Monger’s Office
The first method will put you directly inside one of the side rooms inside the vault and behind the portal room. The second will be the position from which we begin this article, and entering this room from the first method is as easy as leaving the room to the south.
How To Unlock Elminster’s Vault: Tharciate Codex
Beginning from the portal room inside the vault, you have two choices:
- Go north, finding a hidden button on the wall to a room with the rare tome: The Red Knight’s Final Stratagem.
- Go south, entering the Restricted Area.
We recommend you do the northern room to loot before heading into the Restricted Area.
There are three rooms in the Restricted Area:
- Silverhand
- Elminster
- Karsus
You’ll need to begin with Silverhand, though you must beware of the traps in this room and in every room to come.
Each room you teleport into will have traps inside. Seeing them will require an Arcana check. There are no off-toggles, so you’ll need a Trap Disarming Kit handy.
You can skip this entire puzzle if you have the Knock Spell. Use them on the Elminster and Karsus doors to receive their legendary tomes without any of the hassle below.
Through the Silverhand path, there will be two rooms. Each room will have three doors. To reach the end of the path, you must select the correct doors to proceed through.
To unlock the Elminster Vault, this combination is: Evocation and Wish.
Enter the room that Wish reveals and stop halfway to spy the trap. Disarm it.
Once the trap is disarmed, proceed and move the lever ahead. Then, return to the first room by walking through the Foresight door in the central chamber.
You may now enter Elminster’s vault. Do so.
Inside Elminster’s vault, you’ll find the book known as the Tharciate Codex. Reading this book will give you a curse.
However, you can remove the curse and turn it into a blessing that gives a permanent temporary 20HP bonus to the reader if you use the Remove Curse spell.
How To Unlock Karsus’s Vault: Annals Of Karsus
Return to the central chamber and journey through the Silverhand again. However, this time, you’ll do a different combination:
- Abjuration
- Silver
Just like with the previous lever room, travel halfway through to spy and then disarm the trap. Pull the lever once it’s safe.
To return to the previous room, click on the Shadow door in the main chamber.
With Karsus’s door now unlocked, enter his vault to find the Annals of Karsus resting on the second shelf of the bookshelf on the west side of the room. If you have Gale in your party, this will trigger a unique cutscene.
With both books now in your possession, you can leave the vault. This is a dangerous area, however, so you will need to leave this area via the portal at the start of the vault. Do so and then immediately travel to another waypoint with your spoils before you’re awkwardly discovered in Tolga Tome-monger’s office.
