This guide will help you explore the town of Verdistis in Divine Divinity.
Verdistis Map
Area Overview
1 – Ducal Inn, Tavern
You’ll find the following people…
Kyrinil. He’ll tell you that Anthrabert tried to hire him to burn up Mpenzak’s cart. You’ll find Anthrabert in one of the back rooms.
Graham. He’ll tell you how Cirgon blinded him in one eye, and he’ll offer you “magic gloves” if you avenge him. However, when you talk to Cirgon (#17) you’ll find out Graham slept with his wife and perhaps deserved what he got. If you kill Cirgon anyway you’ll receive snakeskin gloves. If you tell Graham you don’t want to get involved, you’ll receive 50,000 experience.
Afrasam. If you met up with Harriet at the Blue Boar Inn, then you can deliver her letter to Afrasam and receive 15,000 experience and 100 gold. Afrasam is also the contact for the local brothel. Once you’ve learned the pass phrase (at #13) and spoken it to Afrasam, he’ll direct you to Leptine at his shop (#3).
Rob. He’s the master of the guild of thieves. He’ll allow you to join the guild, provided you can prove yourself by performing a couple tasks for him. The first task is to steal a necklace from Sweeney (who is in the tavern). Sweeney is only level 1, so you’ll only need one point of “pickpocket” to do the job. Once you take the necklace, you’ll earn 30,000 experience.
For the second task, Rob will ask you to fetch him some ale from the locked storage room in the Thieves’ Guild / basement of the inn, and he’ll even give you a set of lockpicks to do the job with. Once you’ve returned with the ale, you’ll receive 76,000 experience but lose two reputation points, and Rob will teach you a point of “lockpick,” “evade trap” or “pickpocket.”
Finally, after visiting (and getting kicked out of) Stormfist Castle, you can ask Rob for a way back into the castle, and he’ll suggest you use the treasure room entrance in the Rivertown sewers. He’ll also give you the key to the hatch in Lain’s house in the Poor Quarter. The hatch leads into the Rivertown sewers.
You should also find a hatch behind the bar. It leads down into the Thieves’ Guild.
2 – Ducal Inn, Rooms
You’ll find some people of interest in the rooms:
Codran and Titrin. They’ll tell you that they’re looking for “women of special talents.” Once you’ve learned the code phrase for the local brothel (see #13) and visited the brothel yourself, you can tell the brothers about it, and that will earn you 70,000 experience and 50 gold.
Nurendel. The more you wander into his room, the more upset he’ll become with you, and eventually he’ll attack. Nurendel is level 45, but he’s still easy to kill. “Maybe an arrow in your butt will point the way for you.”
Anthrabert. He’ll ask you to burn up Mpenzak’s cart (#9). If you’ve received the summoning quest from Corinna, and if you’ve spoken to Pierce (#4) about the wine you’ll need for it, then Anthrabert will offer you the wine if you perform the service for him. If you do as Anthrabert wishes, you’ll receive 15,000 experience and 5000 gold. If you don’t want to play along with Anthrabert, then when you refuse his offer (or if you take too long to do the job yourself) you’ll find that somebody else (perhaps Anthrabert himself) has burned up the cart. You’ll find Captain Perrewis standing next to the cart, and you can report Anthrabert to him. That will earn you 34,000 experience, and then you should find the bottle of exquisite wine in Anthrabert’s room.
Note: If you just want the wine and you don’t care about Anthrabert’s quest, you can use the trade button and buy the wine from him. It’ll cost less than 100 gold.
Zaknadrix. Once you’ve received the quest to put back together the Council of Seven, you’ll find Zaknadrix in the eastern room. He’ll give you a way to meet the imp council member.
3 – Leptine’s Market
Leptine is a general store merchant. He’ll ask you to deliver a bill to Hugh in the Farms area. However, when you get to Hugh you’ll find out that Leptine owes him money, and he’ll refuse to send Leptine more grain. If you deliver this news to Leptine, you’ll get a quest to help him out, and then you’ll have to head back to Hugh. So feel free to skip that step and simply pay the amount Leptine owes (you won’t actually lose any gold). For doing that you’ll receive 60,000 experience, and when you return to Leptine you’ll receive 46,000 more experience, plus a point of reputation.
Leptine also houses the local brothel under his shop. Once you’ve learned the pass phrase (see #13) and spoken it to Afrasam at the Ducal Inn (#1), Leptine will unlock the hatch to the brothel. You can also pick the lock on the hatch, but going through Leptine will net you 34,000 experience.
The brothel is a small area. If you sleep with any of the companions, male or female, it’ll cost you 250 gold but you’ll receive 63,000 experience. Then, if you talk to Jacob, he’ll mention the “special treatment.” This service will only become available after you’ve rescued Penumbra and gotten the book of summoning from her. At that point you can ask Kherondar the barman for the special treatment, and he’ll direct you to the room to the southwest. There you’ll find Penumbra. You won’t get any experience for the soiree, but it’s sort of a funny scene.
4 – Pierce’s Wine Barrel
Pierce is involved in a couple quests described elsewhere (#13 and #28).
5 – Dead Body
You’ll find a dead body on the ground here. It might be related to the murders that have been happening in Verdistis lately, but nothing will ever come of finding it.
6 – Mosquitoes and Bees
7 – Abandoned House
The house has a locked hatch, which you won’t be able to open until a certain point in the story. See the Council of Seven section for details.
8 – Verlat
If you healed Verlat in Aleroth, then you’ll run into him here, and he’ll give you a sapphire ring.
9 – Mpenzak
Mpenzak is a traveling merchant, and he can do a variety of things for you. If you have a piece of the treasure map (see the Treasure Maps entry in the Other Quests section) and describe it to him, then Mpenzak will sell you another piece for 50-500 gold. Mpenzak can also give you some information about the Holy Weapons quest (see the Holy Weapons entry in the Other Quests section). Finally, once you’ve talked to Corinna (#13), Mpenzak will offer to sell you wood from a talking tree, but don’t buy it from him. It’s a fake, and using it in the ceremony will kill Corinna.
Mpenzak is also part of a quest with Anthrabert, where Anthrabert will want you to burn up Mpenzak’s cart. If you do the task for Anthrabert, then Mpenzak will stop hanging out at his original position, and he’ll end up inside or south of the Ducal Inn (#1).
10 – Owen’s House
11 – Martin’s House
12 – Lucius’ House
You’ll find a couple locked chests in the basement.
13 – Corinna’s House
Outside the house you’ll come upon three women having a conversation. They’ll end up talking about the local brothel, and you’ll learn that to earn an invitation you’ll have to ask Afrasam at the Ducal Inn about either Magdalena or Yaniz. Then the next time you speak with Afrasam, you’ll get the dialogue option appropriate to your gender, and you’ll be able to visit the brothel. “That bastard son-of-a-halfling! I’ll cut his philandering pecker off!”
Inside you’ll find Corinna the Summoner being attacked by a demon. If you decide not to help her, then the demon will kill her and you’ll miss out on a quest. If you help her, then Corinna will offer to teach you about summoning, but you’ll have to bring her some ingredients first. The three ingredients are: wood from the Talking Tree in the Dark Forest, a book of summoning held by Penumbra (who is currently a prisoner of the Thieves’ Guild), and some special wine sold by Pierce the wine merchant (#4).
You can buy some Talking Tree wood from Mpenzak (#9), but it’s fake wood, and using it will kill Corinna and botch the quest. The only way to get the wood is to travel to the Dark Forest and deal with the tree itself.
Also, once you’ve rescued Penumbra from the Thieves’ Guild, she’ll show up at Corinna’s house. But she won’t immediately give you the book. Instead, she’ll ask you to retrieve her dagger heartseeker from Commander Kratus at the Town Watch building (#28). You’ll find the dagger in the southwestern storage room. The room is locked, but the key is in the “strong table” in the entry hall of the building. The guards don’t seem to care what you do, so just wait for Kratus to wander outside and then grab the key and the dagger. When you return heartseeker to Penumbra, she’ll give you the book for Corinna. You’ll also receive (in total) 100,000 experience for the encounter.
Lastly, you don’t actually have to acquire the exquisite wine. Any wine will work.
Once you’ve collected the three ingredients, Corinna will drink the wine and tell you to collect some nightflower from her garden. It’s on the northern side. When you return to Corinna in the cellar of her house, she’ll ask you to stand in a pentagram (the one on the left; not the one surrounded by candles), and when you do that she’ll briefly summon a demon. Then when you talk to Corinna again you’ll earn 42,000 experience, and you’ll learn a point of “banish.”
14 – Sir Patrick’s Estate
Sir Patrick is currently feuding with Sir Dante (#24). The feud involves a quest, but you’ll have to go to Sir Dante to receive it.
Also, you might notice that if you enter the front of the house, there doesn’t seem to be a way to get into the back of the house. To get into the back area, you’ll have to use the portal stone at #14a.
When you step on the portal stone, you’ll find yourself in a room with a lever and five doors, plus another portal stone to take you back outside. The idea is to use the levers in the room where you start out, plus the ones in the rooms to the north and south, to open the treasure room to the west.
The sequence is pretty easy. Go into the rooms that have unlocked doors (that is, the rooms to the northwest and southeast) and pull their levers, and then pull the lever in the room where you started. That should unlock the treasure room where you’ll find five locked chests and Sir Patrick’s Title Deed. The chests require 5 points in “lockpick,” and the deed is what Sir Dante wants.
Note: The portal stone that takes you to the treasure area will only work until you complete the quest for Sir Dante. So make sure you have enough skill in picking locks first.
15 – Terry’s House
16 – Robert’s House
17 – Cirgon’s House
If you’ve spoken to Graham at the Ducal Inn, then you’ll be able to ask Cirgon why he blinded Graham in one eye, and you’ll find out that Graham slept with his wife. If you kill Cirgon anyway, then Graham will give you snakeskin gloves. If instead you leave Cirgon be and tell Graham you don’t want to get involved, you’ll receive 50,000 experience.
18 – Dragrin’s House
Dragrin is the healer in Verdistis. He’ll tell you about Buad’s tea, which can be used as a cure for certain ailments, and he’ll tell you how Buad has recently gone missing. There isn’t a quest to find Buad, but you can find some of his tea in Dragrim’s basement. The hatch to the basement is located under one of the beds in the southern part of the house. It’s locked, and you’ll need five points in “lockpick” to open it.
Once you’re in the basement, you’ll have to move a bunch of barrels out of the way to get through the western door, but once you do you’ll find a barrel of tea, plus bone gauntlets and a couple of books on the desk. The bone gauntlets don’t have any significance other than possibly being a valuable piece of equipment (they were going to be part of a quest that was taken out of the game), and the books detail how toxic the tea can be.
The tea can be used to kill the Talking Tree in the Dark Forest, so hang onto a barrel of it.
19 – Abandoned House
The only way into the house is to pick open the door on the western side (press the alt key to see it). Inside you’ll find a key in a shelf, and then, in the basement, once you’ve moved a bunch of barrels out of the way, a locked chest. Inside the chest you’ll find the belt of the dragon and 1000 gold.
Note: The floor is weak west of the hatch, but if you fall through you’ll earn 42,000 experience.
20 – Raphirella
Once you get close enough to her, Raphirella will tell you about a dispute she’s having with her sister Zedzarine. It doesn’t matter what you say or whose side you take; as long as you get involved you’ll earn 34,000 experience, and Raphirella will mention a belt. This is all just a clue for the belt of the dragon, found in the nearby house (#19). “I bet you didn’t pay a thing for that medicine, you slut!”
21 – Malcolm’s House
If you’ve spoken to Maria in Poor Quarter, you’ll have a quest to find evidence against Malcolm, and you’ll find the evidence in his house. The evidence is a book called the Merchant Guild’s Financial Records. It’s located on the cabinet in the bedroom.
22 – Chicken House
You’ll find 500 gold inside the house.
23 – Street Urchin
When you arrive in the intersection, a street urchin named Hilka will approach you. It doesn’t matter how you respond to her — although it’s funniest when you giver her ten gold — you’ll receive 34,000 experience regardless.
24 – Sir Dante’s Estate
You’ll find most of the estate to be locked, so mostly what you can do here is talk to Randell and Sir Dante. Randell will ask you to travel to the Dwarven Halls and pick up a brooch for Sir Dante’s wife. When you do you’ll receive 130,000 experience and 1000 gold.
Sir Dante will offer you a trade: if you steal the title deed from Sir Patrick’s estate (#14), he’ll give you an introduction to the Assassin’s Guild. The deed is in the treasure room on the western side of Sir Patrick’s estate (see #14 for how to get to it). Once you’ve returned it to Dante, you’ll receive 38,000 experience, and he’ll tell you to talk to Yarun at the Merchant’s Guild.
Note: If you saved Tibus from the Grey Death while at the Poor Quarter, you can tell his father Sir Dante about it, but he won’t give you a reward.
She’ll tell you that her cat Cosmo fell into the basement of the Merchant’s Guild (#27), and she’ll ask you to retrieve it. You’ll have to join the guild to make your way to the basement, but once you do Cosmo will escape pretty much on his own. Then when you return to Diana you’ll receive 20,000 experience, and she’ll tell you about the gold in the chicken house (#22).
27 – Merchant’s Guild
There are a few people and places of interest in the guild:
Malcolm (southeastern room). If you’ve spoken to Maria in the Poor Quarter, then you should have a quest to expose Malcolm. Malcolm, on the other hand, will ask you to kill Maria. If you side with Malcolm, he’ll let you become a member of the guild for free, but you’ll lose some reputation for killing an innocent. If you side with Maria, then you’ll have to find the evidence against Malcolm at Malcolm’s house (#21), but you’ll earn 30,000 experience when you expose Malcolm to Trevor, and Trevor will allow you into the guild for free. Plus, when you tell Maria the good news, she’ll move from the Poor Quarter to the Merchant’s Guild.
Trevor (northwestern room). Once you’ve joined the guild, Trevor will give you a key to the archives (the northeastern room), and he’ll ask you to investigate Tingalf in Rivertown. Once you’ve turned in Tingalf to Lt. Robin in Rivertown, you’ll receive 20,000 experience when you relay the information to Trevor. You can also buy or rent a house from Trevor. For that you’ll need someone in Verdistis to vouch for you, and the only person who will do that is Maria, provided you helped restore her name. Then you can rent or buy the house, and you’ll earn 34,000 experience when you do.
Yarun (southwestern room). After you’ve talked to Sir Dante and learned that Yarun is the contact for the Assassin’s Guild, you can ask him about the duke’s murder. Yarun will flee the room through the nearby cupboard, and he’ll call some assassins to attack you. The cupboard leads to the Assassin’s Guild. See the Assassin’s Guild section for more information.
Archives (northeastern room). The door to the archives starts out locked, but you’ll receive a key from Trevor once you’ve joined the guild. Be sure to take the four keys from the desk before going down the hatch in the southern part of the room.
Commander Kratus (who moves around) will tell you about the murders that have been occurring in Verdistis lately. The victims have all been young women, and they’ve all been found “bloodless.” Furthermore, Kratus will tell you that he has a suspect: a noble named Jacob saw someone coming out of Pierce’s shop (#4) on the night of a murder.
When you visit Pierce, he’ll be outraged by the accusation, but he’ll allow you to search his establishment. On the western side, you’ll find a hatch leading down. Then on the eastern side of the basement, you’ll find several boxes and barrels blocking the outline of a door. When you move the boxes and barrels out of the way, you’ll discover the outline is really a door, and that it leads to the vampire Tutamun’s coffin.
Tutamun, obviously, won’t be happy to see you, but he’ll readily admit to killing the young women in Verdistis and also George in Aleroth. So when you kill him, you’ll advance two quests.
To complete the Verdistis murder quest, just return to Commander Kratus and tell him about the vampire. That will earn you 54,000 experience and 5 reputation points. To complete the quest about George’s murder, return to Mardaneus in Aleroth and tell him about the vampire as well. For that you’ll receive 63,000 experience and earn a point of “restoration.”
29 – Burned Plot
Once you’ve learned from Yarun that the assassin Cybu killed the duke, this is where you’ll be able to meet him. But you’ll have a choice: to meet with Cybu by yourself, or to inform Commander Ralph (at the Town Watch Headquarters) first.
If you inform Commander Ralph, then all you’ll have to do is talk to Cybu. Ralph and the town watch will fight the battle for you. For this case you’ll earn 40,000 experience and gain 5 reputation pints.
If you meet Cybu alone, then you’ll have to fight him and the four assassins he summons. Cybu is level 23 and the assassins are level 17, so you might want to wait on this quest until you’re a high enough level to win the battle. Once Cybu dies, he’ll drop a manuscript that proves his guilt. Just take the manuscript to Commander Ralph to earn 38,000 experience and 5 reputation points. That reward, plus the roughly 13,000 experience for killing Cybu and his assassins, makes this the more profitable option.
Regardless of the method you choose, you should end up with an invitation to Stormfist Castle when you complete the quest.
Resident role-playing RPG game expert. Knows where trolls and paladins come from. You must fight for your right to gather your party before venturing forth.
