Poor Quarter – Divine Divinity

This guide will help you explore the Poor Quarter in Divine Divinity.

Poor Quarter Map

Area Overview

1 – Dorian’s House

Outside the house you’ll meet Dorian. He’ll claim to be a leper. He’s not, but you can give him 5 gold anyway.

Inside the house, in the basement, you’ll find a scene of “amateur butchering.” If you’ve spoken to Tom in the farm area, you’ll recognize that this is where his missing cows have gone. When you talk to Dorian about it, he’ll admit to stealing the cows — but only so he can feed the poor.

That’ll give you a choice. If you agree to keep Dorian’s secret, you’ll earn 15,000 experience and gain 3 reputation points. If you turn in Dorian to Tom, you’ll earn 20,000 experience. The dialogue will also indicate that Tom gives you a “bag of coins,” but he doesn’t.

2 – Jonas’ House

Jonas is involved in quest with Balin (#5). See Balin’s entry for details.

3 – Maria’s House

Maria will tell you how Malcolm, the secretary of the Merchant’s Guild in Verdistis, ruined her family. She’ll also tell you that Malcolm has been stealing funds from the guild for many years, and she’ll ask you to expose him. You’ll find the evidence against Malcolm in his house in Verdistis, and when you present it to Trevor at the Merchant’s Guild, you’ll receive 30,000 experience and be allowed into the guild. Plus, when you tell Maria the good news, she’ll leave the Poor Quarter and return to Verdistis (but you won’t get any more experience).

4 – Lain’s House

Outside, there are two things you can talk to Lain about. First, he’ll sound you out about performing “delicate” (that is, illegal) tasks for his master, Rob the innkeeper at the Ducal Inn. If you sound interested he’ll tell you to meet with Rob. Second, if you ask Lain about the plague, you can eventually convince him to give you the key to the coroner’s house (#7).

Inside Lain’s house, if you move some of the junk in the first room, you’ll find a hatch leading down into the Rivertown sewers.

5 – Balin’s House

Balin will introduce himself as the “owner of every street you see around you,” but, in lieu of paying him protection money, he’ll let you do him a favor instead. All you’ll have to do is find out if Jonas (#2) stole his necklace.

The necklace is just sitting in plain sight in Jonas’ house. If you pick it up and then return it to Balin, that will consign Jonas to death (you’ll see a blood splotch where he was, along with any objects he was holding). For a reward you’ll receive 13,000 experience and lose 1 reputation point.

If instead you talk to Jonas after picking up the necklace, Jonas will tell you what a “fat fart” Balin is, and he’ll ask you to kill him. If you do that and return to Jonas you’ll earn 20,000 experience and gain a reputation point (plus you’ll earn about 10,000 experience for killing Balin).

You can’t complete both quests.

6 – Gate to Quarantined Area

When you approach the gate you’ll see Dr. Elrath leave the area and head for his home in Rivertown. If you try to go through the gate, the soldier next to it will let you know that all the peasants beyond the gate have been infected with the Grey Death, and that Dr. Elrath has been treating them.

7 – Coroner’s House

You can use this house to enter the quarantined area. You’ll just have to get the key from Lain (#4) first.

8 – Plague Victim’s House

There are three plague victims — Sara (#8a), Cederic (#8b) and Tibus (#8c) — but they’re all about the same (Tibus will claim his family will reward you if you heal him, but it won’t). When you talk to them you’ll receive separate quests to heal them.

You’ll find two cure flasks in Dr. Elrath’s house in Rivertown. If you want to play the game as intended, then that means you’ll only be able to cure two of the three victims. If you don’t mind “cheating” a little, then there are three ways to cure the third victim:

• a) You can give the cure to one victim and then pickpocket it back.
• b) You can give the cure to one victim and then kill the victim to get the cure back (it won’t cost you any reputation).
• c) You can drag the cure flasks out of your inventory while holding down the control key. That will open a panel allowing you to split the stack, and then you can type in “-1” and press enter to create 256 cure flasks.

For each victim you cure, you’ll receive 25,000 experience.

9 – Empty Flasks

Near the well you’ll find three empty flasks. When you pick them up you’ll notice they smell funny, and you’ll wonder what they’re doing there, but you won’t receive a quest about them. They’re just a clue that there’s something fishy about the plague.