Brain Mapping Puzzle

Nearby but separate

The Mind-Archive Interface is close enough to form part of the same practical exploration route, but it is not part of the puzzle itself. It is a separate device used to speak with preserved minds.

Normal route

The Mind Flayer Colony is normally entered after the first fight with Ketheric Thorm on the Moonrise Towers Rooftop. After the battle, jump down into the tower and destroy the membrane blocking the way forward. The colony is a progression area rather than a freely accessible part of Moonrise Towers.

The laboratory lies towards the south-east. Its entrance is approximately at X: 715, Y: -50, although the exact practical route depends on which doors, passages and encounters you have already used. These coordinates are useful as a rough map reference, not as a substitute for the area’s internal layout.

Recommended approach

If you want to collect the colony’s major optional rewards, do not immediately descend using the eastern lift. A useful order is:

This route is not mandatory, but it reduces the risk of leaving behind companion content, brain jars and equipment.

Before starting

The exact visual route is fixed for the game’s puzzle layout, but the important rule is not simply to connect colours in a convenient-looking straight line. The paths are deliberately interwoven. A route that appears shorter can block one of the other faculties.

Solving the map

A safe general strategy is to work from one side of the display towards the other while tracing only one colour at a time. Do not try to place partial routes for all four faculties at once. The puzzle accepts completed paths independently, so solving one complete connection before beginning the next is less error-prone.

If you are playing with a controller

On console, ordinary movement input can make the puzzle seem unresponsive. Press L3, meaning press down on the left analogue stick, to enter interaction mode. Select each neural node and choose Use. This is especially important because the neural nodes are not always easy to target with the normal character cursor.

If the puzzle appears impossible

The puzzle can be redone, so an incorrect attempt does not permanently consume the reward.

Flesh-wrought door

Completing the neural map opens the nearby Flesh-Wrought Door. This door cannot be bypassed by lockpicking or Knock. The Brain Mapping Puzzle is the required mechanism.

Behind it is a Desecrated Relief. Interacting with the relief causes the character to receive fragmented descriptions projected into their mind by the Absolute. The Dream Guardian can then comment on the relief, identifying it as a depiction of the Grand Design, the universal objective associated with illithids and Elder Brains.

Loot directory: puzzle chamber and immediate surroundings

The Waking Mind and Blade of Oppressed Souls are found near the heap of skulls at approximately X: 750, Y: -138. The Circlet of Mental Anguish and Braindrain Gloves are on the nearby skeleton.

Brain Blast! inspiration

Characters with the Sage background receive the Brain Blast! inspiration event for solving the puzzle. This is a background-based inspiration reward, so not every party member receives it.

Githzerai Mind Barrier

This is a personal condition, so choose the character who is most likely to make Intelligence saving throws or the character you want to carry the reward for the rest of the game. The Waking Mind is the only brain in the colony’s archive with this significant practical benefit.

Warlock dialogue

A Warlock receives additional dialogue during the Waking Mind conversation. Their patron warns them not to trust the Githzerai mind, allowing further questioning about how it came to be imprisoned in the colony. This is additional narrative content rather than a different puzzle solution or separate reward.

Brain jars associated with the archive

Six of these are found in the Mind Flayer Colony. Dark Mind and Slave Mind originate in the Prologue’s Nautiloid. The other brains primarily provide dialogue. The Waking Mind is the one with the permanent mechanical reward.

The Fresh Mind can produce companion approval or disapproval changes, while the other non-Waking minds mainly expand the colony’s lore and its connection with Balthazar and Gortash’s experiments.

Balthazar’s study

To the west of the central hexagram is a small study containing:

The Mol’s Eyepatch updates the Find Mol quest and grants the Amateur Optician inspiration to characters with the Urchin background. The Resonance Stone affects creatures within 9 metres with Steeped in Bliss. The Prayer for Forgiveness contains material relevant to the Dark Urge.

The two Rune Slates contain information about the fall of the Illithid Empire and the fate of the Elder Brain connected with the colony. Reading them is associated with a DC 14 Arcana check, although the game may display the written slate material regardless of the result in some versions.

Central laboratory encounter

Entering the Necrotic Laboratory normally begins a large undead encounter. The documented enemies include:

The Death Shepherd can use No Rest for the Wicked to raise additional reconstituted undead during the fight. The precise number of reanimated enemies can depend on the state of the encounter and how quickly the Death Shepherd is defeated.

The centre of the room contains a large hexagram with Profane Wombs at its points. If the party allowed Balthazar to take the Nightsong from the Shadowfell, party members can later wake in these containers with the Profane Womb-Bound condition. The condition silences the party and restricts movement. This is a progression-state variation of the laboratory, not part of the Brain Mapping Puzzle itself.

Before entering the colony

The colony is reached after the first Moonrise Towers Rooftop confrontation with Ketheric Thorm. It is effectively a contained progression area:

Before using the eastern lift

Use the Restoration Pod near the lift before descending. It provides the benefits of a Long Rest, which is valuable because the colony does not permit normal camp access. The lift continues the main sequence and leads to the revelations involving Ketheric, Gortash, Orin and the Netherbrain.

Potentially missable content

The following rewards or scenes are conditional and should be handled before leaving the colony:

The Brain Mapping Puzzle itself is optional, but once the colony sequence is completed and the party leaves, returning to this area may no longer be possible through normal play. Treat it as a before-the-lift exploration objective.

Puzzle-focused route

If you only want the Brain Mapping Puzzle rewards: