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Locationmajor

Durinbold Mausoleum

The Durinbold Mausoleum is a small, optional tomb in the Lower City Graveyard during Act Three of Baldur’s Gate 3.

Importancemajor

Key takeaways

  • The mausoleum is in the south-eastern part of the Lower City Graveyard, beside the Mortuary, at approximately X: 32, Y: 18.
  • You can enter with the Durinbold Mausoleum Key or by passing a DC 10 Sleight of Hand check on the gate.
  • Opening any of the four sarcophagi requires a DC 15 Strength check and summons Houndmaster Pol and his three ghostly dogs.
  • Taking the Scroll of Animal Friendship or the Rusty Spear also triggers the same fight without necessarily opening a sarcophagus.
  • The broken wall on the western side contains a small cave with a Feather Token and a passage-sized hole leading to the Gorion Mausoleum.
  • The site has no known quest completion reward or recruitable dog outcome The ghostly dogs are hostile undead, and the encounter is primarily optional exploration, lore and loot.

About this guide

Base-game guide for Baldur’s Gate 3. Major spoilers: This page discusses the mausoleum’s undead encounter, its hidden connection to another tomb, and all known loot.

Overview

The Durinbold Mausoleum is a small, optional tomb in the Lower City Graveyard during Act Three of Baldur’s Gate 3. It is the family burial place of Houndmaster Pol, a servant of the Durinbold patriar family, and his three hunting dogs: Gordis, Rocky and Zina.

The site is easy to mistake for part of the wider Graveyard location. For clarity, this guide treats the mausoleum interior, its broken-wall cave annex and its direct connection to the Gorion Mausoleum as the Durinbold Mausoleum’s scope. The wider Lower City Graveyard, the Mortuary, the other family tombs and the Lower City Sewers are neighbouring locations, not subareas of the mausoleum itself. The mausoleum is a self-contained optional encounter rather than a full quest location.

Location and boundaries

The Durinbold Mausoleum occupies one locked tomb building within the Lower City Graveyard. The Graveyard is a broader outdoor area containing several mausoleums, the Mortuary, ordinary graves, staff and visitors, and connections towards nearby Lower City locations. The Durinbold Mausoleum is only one of those tombs.

The entrance lies close to the Mortuary, in the graveyard’s south-eastern section. The mausoleum should not be conflated with:

The mausoleum itself consists of a principal burial chamber and a broken section of wall on the western side. That breach opens onto a small cave-like annex containing bookshelves, a skeleton and a hole leading into the Gorion Mausoleum. The Gorion connection is therefore a direct environmental link, not evidence that the two tombs are one location.

Nearby but separate places

The wider Graveyard has several entrances and four underground family tomb entrances. Its large weeping willow and the Mortuary are useful orientation landmarks, but neither should be counted as part of the Durinbold Mausoleum.

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Named places within scope

Nearby but separate places

Access and routes

From the Lower City Graveyard

The most direct route is to enter the Lower City Graveyard and follow the paths towards the Mortuary. The Durinbold Mausoleum is beside the Mortuary, with its entrance marked as a locked gate. The location is close enough to the Mortuary that it is worth checking the building before attempting to force the tomb open.

Using the Durinbold Mausoleum Key

The key is found on a shelf in the upstairs bedroom of the Mortuary, at approximately X: 37, Y: 31. It is a story item used to unlock the mausoleum and has no other recorded purpose.

Taking the key does not itself trigger the mausoleum encounter.

Lockpicking the gate

The entrance can instead be opened with a DC 10 Sleight of Hand check. According to the Graveyard’s location information, lockpicking the mausoleum entrances is not treated as a crime, although the tombs may contain traps or undead guardians. The Durinbold Mausoleum is not presented as a restricted area requiring permission or a quest state.

From the Gorion Mausoleum

The western annex contains a hole connecting to the Gorion Mausoleum. The connection is useful for exploration, but the two locations remain separate areas with their own entrances, occupants and loot. Depending on your character’s size-changing options, traversal may require a spell, wild shape or another method of becoming sufficiently small. The direction is reciprocal in environmental terms: the Gorion Mausoleum also has a hole used to access Durinbold Mausoleum.

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Using the Durinbold Mausoleum Key: A practical route is

  1. 01
    Enter the Lower City Graveyard.
  2. 02
    Go to the Mortuary on the raised central ground.
  3. 03
    Search the upstairs bedroom.
  4. 04
    Take the Durinbold Mausoleum Key from the shelf.
  5. 05
    Return to the locked mausoleum beside the Mortuary.
  6. 06
    Unlock the gate and enter.

Note

“Here lies the Houndmaster of the Durinbolds, surrounded by his loyal pack, good boys and girls all.”

Layout and landmarks

The main chamber is a compact rectangular burial room with four sarcophagi. The central visual prop is a large stuffed bear, which can be interacted with for unique party dialogue. It is an environmental object rather than a merchant, creature or usable service.

A plaque on the western wall identifies the occupant and establishes the mausoleum’s purpose:

The four burial places belong to Houndmaster Pol and his three dogs. Their plaques provide short character descriptions, including Gordis’s reputation as a fearless hunting dog.

Western annex

The damaged western wall opens onto a small cave-like section. It contains:

The annex is easy to overlook if you focus only on the four coffins. Search it before leaving, but remember that taking the scroll starts the encounter.

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Residents and creatures

There are no ordinary residents, staff or traders inside the mausoleum. Its named inhabitants are the dead members of the Durinbold household’s hunting staff and pack.

Houndmaster Pol

Houndmaster Pol is a ghostly undead creature. In life, he served as the Durinbold family’s houndmaster. The Durinbolds are associated with the city’s patriar families and with Durinbold Cheese Wedge, a family-related food item. Pol is not a conventional quest-giver and does not offer dialogue before the fight.

Gordis

Gordis is one of Pol’s ghostly hunting dogs. His sarcophagus plaque describes him as fearless and as a dog who would chase any prey. In combat, the ghost dogs benefit from pack-oriented features and can be more dangerous when they remain close together.

Rocky

Rocky is one of the three buried hounds. The mausoleum’s item records associate Rocky’s sarcophagus with Harpy Feathers and other minor burial contents.

Zina

Zina is the third ghostly hound. Her sarcophagus contains the mausoleum’s most valuable fixed item, an Elixir of Cloud Giant Strength, along with other contents.

Named creature directory

There are no verified ordinary NPCs, faction representatives, guards, vendors or law-enforcement personnel stationed within the mausoleum.

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The Houndmaster Pol encounter

The encounter is optional and is not attached to a named quest in the location data. You can enter, inspect the plaques, take some non-triggering objects and leave without fighting, provided you avoid the known triggers.

Ways to start the fight

The encounter summons Pol and the three hounds together. Disturbing one grave is enough to wake the group, so opening the coffins one by one does not create four separate fights.

Combat advice

The hounds are undead and ethereal. They have strong defensive traits, including resistance or immunity to several damage types, and their pack behaviour makes positioning important. Pol can mark targets and use ranged attacks, while the dogs pressure characters who are isolated from the group.

The ghostly enemies are not beasts that can be pacified with Animal Friendship. The scroll is a trigger object, not a solution to the encounter. The game does not provide a verified peaceful resurrection route for the three dogs.

Loyal Furry Friend

Community reports describe a behaviour in which a ghost dog may move towards Pol’s remains after Pol is defeated and then disappear. This behaviour is thematically consistent with the hounds’ loyalty, but it is not necessary for completing the location and should not be treated as a required puzzle solution without confirming the exact behaviour in the current game version.

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Ways to start the fight: The ghosts appear when you

  1. 01
    Open any of the four sarcophagi after passing the associated DC 15 Strength check.
  2. 02
    Loot the Scroll of Animal Friendship from the western bookshelves.
  3. 03
    Loot the Rusty Spear resting on top of Pol’s sarcophagus.

Combat advice: A sensible approach is

  1. 01
    Enter with the party grouped near the entrance or in a position where the ghosts cannot immediately surround everyone.
  2. 02
    Trigger the fight deliberately rather than taking the scroll or spear accidentally.
  3. 03
    Keep the dogs from gaining easy advantage through pack positioning.
  4. 04
    Consider controlling or disabling the hounds while dealing with Pol’s ranged attacks.
  5. 05
    Loot Pol’s sarcophagus after combat rather than expecting a conventional body drop.

Loot and collectibles

The mausoleum contains both fixed named items and smaller burial contents. Some item records vary by which sarcophagus is searched and whether the encounter has been triggered.

Fixed and named loot directory

The principal location record assigns the major items as follows:

The exact placement of some minor contents is not consistently represented across all secondary guides and item pages. The major named items above are supported by the location and item records, but individual low-value ingredients and random-looking burial contents should be treated as placement-sensitive.

Feather Token

The Feather Token is found on a skeleton in the broken-wall section. Its description claims to protect its bearer from falling damage, but the item record notes that it does not provide a functional protection effect in the final game. Treat it as a collectible or lore item rather than reliable fall-damage equipment.

Elixir of Cloud Giant Strength

The Elixir of Cloud Giant Strength is inside Zina’s sarcophagus. When consumed, it raises the drinker’s Strength to 27 until the next long rest and replaces the effect of another active elixir. It is the most mechanically valuable fixed item in the tomb, but obtaining it requires triggering the undead encounter if you have not already done so.

Dog collars

Pol’s sarcophagus can contain the collars belonging to Gordis, Rocky and Zina. These are common amulets primarily useful for sale or collection. They reinforce the relationship between the houndmaster and his pack, but they do not grant a known combat or companion effect.

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Fixed and named loot directory

LocationRecorded contents
Houndmaster Pol’s sarcophagusArrow of Darkness, Arrow of Transposition and other burial contents
Gordis’s sarcophagusPotion of Speed
Rocky’s sarcophagusHarpy Feathers and dog-related burial contents
Zina’s sarcophagusElixir of Cloud Giant Strength and minor contents
Western broken-wall caveFeather Token from the skeleton
Bookshelves beside the broken wallScroll of Animal Friendship
Pol’s post-combat sarcophagusPotion of Animal Speaking, Scroll of Animal Friendship and the three dog collars

Exploration and walkthrough

Quiet exploration route

Use this route if you want to inspect the location while delaying the fight:

This route lets you see most of the room without disturbing the dead. Do not open a sarcophagus or take the scroll or spear until you are ready for combat.

Which sarcophagus should you open first?

There is no verified requirement to open the coffins in a particular order. Community discussion has suggested ordering the dogs by age, but the available location evidence confirms the Strength checks and encounter trigger, not a mandatory age-order puzzle. Do not treat the order as established canon unless testing it in your own game confirms a version-specific interaction.

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Quiet exploration route

  1. 01
    Enter with the key or by lockpicking the gate.
  2. 02
    Read the plaques around the chamber.
  3. 03
    Examine the Stuffed Bear for party reactions.
  4. 04
    Inspect the Rusty Spear without taking it.
  5. 05
    Search the western broken-wall cave.
  6. 06
    Take the Feather Token from the skeleton.
  7. 07
    Decide whether to leave the Scroll of Animal Friendship in place.
  8. 08
    Inspect the hole to the Gorion Mausoleum.
  9. 09
    Leave through the main gate if you do not want the fight.

Full-clear route

  1. 01
    Secure the Durinbold Mausoleum Key from the Mortuary, or lockpick the gate.
  2. 02
    Enter and position the party.
  3. 03
    Search the western annex and note the Feather Token.
  4. 04
    Trigger the encounter by opening a chosen sarcophagus or taking the scroll.
  5. 05
    Defeat Pol and the three ghost dogs.
  6. 06
    Search the sarcophagi again after the battle.
  7. 07
    Collect the elixir, arrows, potion, collars and other burial contents.
  8. 08
    Return to the western annex.
  9. 09
    Use the hole to inspect the Gorion Mausoleum if your party can fit through.
  10. 10
    Leave through either tomb or the main entrance.

Connections to the Durinbold family

The mausoleum is one of the few places where the Durinbold name is encountered through an institution rather than a living city figure. The family is a prominent patriar house in Baldur’s Gate. Other Durinbold-associated entries include Alia Durinbold, her attendant and bodyguard, and Durinbold cheese. These people and objects belong to the wider Durinbold family directory, not to the mausoleum itself.

Within the tomb, the family’s priorities are represented through the memorial arrangement: the houndmaster is buried alongside his loyal pack, with plaques celebrating the dogs as valued members of the household. The Stuffed Bear and the dog collars provide additional animal-focused details, although the game does not give Pol a full biography or a quest chain.

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In-scope family-associated names

Missability and progression

The location is optional and is not known to be required for the main story. Its contents are available once the party reaches the Lower City in Act Three, subject to ordinary access to the Graveyard and Mortuary.

No evidence establishes that leaving the mausoleum untouched causes it to disappear later. As with other optional Lower City content, completing major Act Three progression may alter access or the surrounding city state, but the specific location evidence does not document a unique timed disappearance trigger.

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Recommended checklist

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Sources