Cult Compound – Baldur’s Gate II

This guide will walk you through the Cult Compound in the Temple District Sewers of the city of Athkatla in Baldur’s Gate II. This area’s code in the game files is AR0202.

Note: The Lower Reaches walkthrough can be found on its own page.

1 – Shadows

You’ll encounter five shadows in this room. When you move to engage them, four ettercaps will appear in the room behind you, and so you’ll have to deal with attacks from both sides. You’ll earn over 4000 xp for defeating the creatures.

2 – Gas Chamber

When you walk far enough into this chamber, you’ll spring a trap that can’t be disarmed: the doors will close and lock behind you, a Cloudkill spell will trigger, and two vampiric mists (worth 1000 xp each) will appear. To get the doors back open, you’ll need to turn the wheel in the center of the chamber, or just wait long enough for the Cloudkill to expire, or pick the locks.

Ideally, you should send in a character who is immune to poison (from the Cloudkill) or level drain (from the mists), and then have that character trigger the trap, open the doors, and retreat to the rest of your party. The trap will only trigger once.

3 – Gaal

In this chamber (#3), you’ll meet Gaal, the eyeless priest you previously witnessed recruiting peasants in the Temple District. Gaal will try to convince you to join the Cult of the Eyeless as well, and he’ll tell you a few things about it — like that initiates in the cult have their “limiting and offensive” eyes removed, and that the cult’s eyeless god is actually a beholder.

If you ask Gaal if there’s a way to join the cult without losing one’s eyes, then he’ll ask you to retrieve a rod from a holy altar in the Lower Reaches, and he’ll give you Gaal’s Key so you can reach it. This key will allow you to unlock a door to the north (#3a). At the end of the conversation, Gaal will move over to his quarters (#3b).

Note: If you attack Gaal or any of the other cultists, then all of the cultists will turn hostile, and the Unseeing Eye will rise up from the Pit of the Faithless and attack you. The cultists should be pretty easy to kill, but the Unseeing Eye might be a challenge, depending on how quickly you can pierce / breach its defenses and kill it. Fighting the cultists and the Eye at this point will save you some time, but you’ll miss out on some map areas and treasures, and so it’s better to wait.

On your way to the Lower Reaches, you’ll meet Sassar (#5). He’ll tell you that he was Gaal’s predecessor in the cult, but that he changed sides when he discovered how evil the Unseeing Eye is. He’ll then reveal that the rod you were sent to retrieve is half of a weapon, and that if the Unseeing Eye were to acquire both halves, then it would start “wreaking terrible destruction.” So he’ll warn you against delivering it to Gaal.

After acquiring the rod — aka a Rift Device Part — from the temple in the Lower Reaches (#12), when you return to Sassar, he’ll encourage you to steal the other half of the weapon from the Unseeing Eye, and he’ll give you the passphrase “the eye is blind.” When you use that passphrase with Tad (#4), he’ll show you a way to reach the Pit of the Faithless via Ghoul Town (Exit B).

Note: If you give the Rift Device Part to Gaal (#3b), then you’ll earn 75,000 xp, but he’ll decide that you’re no longer useful, and he and the rest of the cult — and the Unseeing Eye — will turn against you. It’s better not to take this path.

In the Pit of the Faithless, you’ll find the second Rift Device Part in a treasure mound on the eastern side. When you pick it up, it’ll automatically combine with the first part to form the Rift Device, a usable object with one charge. This will earn you 26,250 xp. Shortly thereafter, the Unseeing Eye will track you down, but using the Rift Device on it will all but kill it, making it easy to finish off. You’ll earn 30,000 xp for defeating the Unseeing Eye, and you’ll find an Amulet of 5% Magic Resistance on its corpse.

When you return to the compound, Sassar will be pleased with your progress, and you’ll discover that most of the cultists have left for greener pastures. But you’ll still have to face Gaal plus four of his elite guards (#3). Defeating them will earn you over 20,000 xp, and you’ll find a Girdle of Fortitude and a Heavy Crossbow of Accuracy: The Guide on their corpses.

As for the Rift Device, if you try to keep it and take it with you back to the surface, then you’ll die “with much suffering” when you reach the Temple District Sewers. To dispose of the device, you’ll need to complete the Avatar’s quest in the Lower Reaches (#12).

4 – Tad

Tad won’t have much to say to you when you first meet him, but after learning the passphrase from Sassar (#5), he’ll show you a way to descend lower into the sewers (Exit B).

5 – Sassar

Sassar is involved in Gaal’s quest (#3).

6 – Garuk and Zaelas

Garuk and Zaelas are followers of Sassar (#5), but they’re not important for anything.

7 – Sarcophagus

If you open the sarcophagus here, then you’ll release a shade lich. Liches are powerful casters — they’ll cast things like Time Stop and Comet, and they’re immune to spells of level 5 and below — so if you’re not high enough level yet, then you should probably come back later. Otherwise, please refer to our Defeating Liches page for some strategies for killing liches.

When you defeat the shade lich, you’ll earn 22,000 xp. Then when you interact with the sarcophagus again, you’ll find a Golden Arm and Leg. You’ll need these body parts for Kangaxx’s quest in the Docks District.

8 – Locked Secret Door

You’ll only be able to open this door from the northern side — that is, as you’re making your way back to the compound from the Pit of the Faithless (Exit D).

Exits

• A) Exit to the Temple District Sewers.
• B) Passage. After learning the passphrase from Sassar (#5), Tad (#4) will show you the passage here, which will take you down to Ghoul Town.
• C) Stairs to the Lower Reaches.
• D) Exit to the Pit of the Faithless.