Graveyard (Lower City)

Key takeaways

• The graveyard is a broad Lower City region with three open entrances, a Mortuary, four family mausoleums and numerous ordinary graves.
• The Mortuary contains a useful optional item connected to Mystic Carrion, along with records concerning Duke Stelmane and the gravekeeper’s business.
• Several encounters are easy to miss, including Nina Dortmell’s necromantic experiment, Gothric Rillyn being buried alive, the Bugthimble encounter and a one-way sewer entrance.
• Karlach and Shadowheart have notable graveyard interactions Astarion can also receive a location-specific romance scene under particular progression conditions.
• Most mausoleum doors can be lockpicked at DC 10 Sleight of Hand without the act being treated as a crime, although the interiors may contain traps or undead guardians.
• Grave-robbing is possible and can produce useful loot, but it is a crime if witnessed. Bring stealth, concealment or a character who can manage the relevant checks.

About this guide

Overview

The Graveyard is a substantial outdoor location in the Lower City of Baldur’s Gate, not merely the small cemetery surrounding the Mortuary. It occupies a long strip along the northern Lower City wall, running from the vicinity of Candulhallow’s Tombstones in the west to the walls beside Devil’s Fee in the east. The playable area includes the open cemetery, the Lower City Mortuary, several family mausoleums, named graves, a hidden route into the Lower City Sewers, traders, companion scenes and multiple small encounters.

The nearby Candulhallow’s Tombstones is best treated as a neighbouring location rather than part of the graveyard proper. It is a funeral-supply business on the fringe of the cemetery and contains the route to the Murder Tribunal, but it has its own building layout, encounters and quest progression.

Reaching the Graveyard

The Graveyard becomes accessible once the party can freely explore the Lower City in Act Three. It is not a separate region reached through a one-time transition, so the practical approach is to visit it while exploring the northern Lower City.

The three open entrances allow the area to be approached from different directions:

Reaching the Graveyard

Recommended first visit

A thorough first sweep is best done in this order:

This order reduces backtracking and lets you see most of the location before changing the state of its visitors.

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The Mortuary stands on the raised eastern portion of the graveyard. It has a ground floor, an upper floor used as Valmorba’s home and a cellar reached through a locked hatch beside the porch stairs.

Recommended first visit: steps

1. 01
   Enter from the western or central side and walk the cemetery perimeter.
2. 02
   Speak to Maude before taking flowers or alchemical ingredients.
3. 03
   Visit the Mortuary porch and speak with Anita Fischer, Elias Fischer and Ulkov Sully.
4. 04
   Enter the Mortuary and speak to Valmorba.
5. 05
   Search the upper floor and inspect the cellar hatch.
6. 06
   Explore the named graves, including the pipe grave, M. Kurwin’s grave and Allister Marnley’s grave.
7. 07
   Decide how to handle Nina Dortmell.
8. 08
   Check the central willow and the four mausoleums.
9. 09
   Dig the marked mound near X:29 Y:16 only when prepared to use a small or Tiny character, disguise or Wild Shape.
10. 10
    Finish by checking the eastern and western exits, then continue towards Candulhallow’s Tombstones or Devil’s Fee.

Mortuary porch

Anita Fischer and Elias Fischer are waiting outside, distressed because their daughter Lily has died and a coffin has not been prepared for her. The carpenter Ulkov Sully works behind the Mortuary.

You can resolve the situation in two broad ways:

After the coffin is arranged, return to the Fischer couple. The outcome can grant inspiration to characters with the relevant backgrounds:

The encounter is a small but effective example of the Graveyard’s wider theme. The area is not simply a dungeon full of undead. It is an active workplace dealing with the consequences of the city’s recent murders.

Mortuary interior

Inside, Valmorba prepares bodies for burial. If the party has read the Tough Letter, which is carried by Gomwick in Act One, Valmorba can help identify the grave of “M. Kurwin”. She may also lend the party a shovel.

The upper floor is Valmorba’s living space. Her diary and other written material add context to the Mortuary’s work. The upstairs area is also important because the Durinbold Mausoleum Key can be found on a shelf in the bedroom.

Mortuary cellar

The hatch beside the porch stairs is at approximately X:31 Y:21. It can be opened with:

The workshop contains the Jar of Mystic Carrion’s Lungs, which Valmorba bought from an adventurer who found it in the Undercity Ruins. The room also contains herbal and alchemical ingredients. The jar is a particularly important reason to search the building if you are pursuing Mystic Carrion’s storyline.

The cellar has three rooms

1. 01
   An entrance room containing the gravekeeper’s notes on Duke Stelmane’s body.
2. 02
   An embalmer’s laboratory with a body awaiting burial.
3. 03
   Valmorba’s workshop.

Ancient Mausoleum, or Grand Mausoleum

The western mausoleum is labelled Grand Mausoleum on the map, while the interior location identifies it as the Ancient Mausoleum. This is an important naming distinction. The two labels refer to the same place rather than two separate mausoleums.

The key can be pickpocketed from Mortarch Gracie Scyre. The location is also associated with the Graveyard’s broader network of tombs and underground routes.

Durinbold Mausoleum

The Durinbold entrance lies towards the eastern side of the cemetery. Its key is found upstairs in the Mortuary, on a shelf in Valmorba’s bedroom. Alternatively, the door can be lockpicked.

Gorion Mausoleum

The Gorion Mausoleum lies beneath the central willow, around X:10 Y:33. Its gate can be opened with the Gorion Mausoleum Key or a DC 10 Sleight of Hand check. The key is found on the ground to the left of the entrance, partly hidden by a tuft of grass.

Inside is the sarcophagus of Lord Gregorion Gorion, described on the plaque as the first High Constable of Baldur’s Gate. This creates a deliberate continuity question because the name resembles Gorion, the mentor from the earlier Baldur’s Gate games. The in-game evidence does not establish that the two characters are the same person. The location’s supporting material instead highlights significant chronology and lore inconsistencies, so they should not be treated as definitively identical.

The mausoleum contains written material and an Elixir of Heroism, including:

The Gorion Mausoleum also connects internally to other tombs. A hole to the east leads towards Durinbold Mausoleum, while a crumbling western wall can be destroyed to reach Hhune Mausoleum.

Hhune Mausoleum

The Hhune Mausoleum is another underground family tomb. Its key is found in the Knights of the Shield Hideout, a related Lower City location. It can also be opened with the standard lockpicking option.

Mausoleum directory

• Ancient Mausoleum
• Durinbold Mausoleum
• Gorion Mausoleum
• Hhune Mausoleum

Staff and workers

Gracie is not simply a background NPC. She objects to grave-robbing and can become involved in nearby combat. She also reacts to Nina Dortmell’s necromantic experiment.

Visitors and mourners

The Graveyard contains a number of visitors whose dialogue can change depending on progress in Investigate the Murders:

Several mourners are connected thematically to the serial killings occurring in the Lower City. This makes the cemetery a useful place to revisit after advancing the murder investigation rather than treating it as a one-time stop.

Other named figures

Morbus wanders around the cemetery trying to play hide-and-seek with Pookums. After completing Find Mystic Carrion’s Servant, both disappear from the Graveyard, making this a progression-dependent encounter.

A Coffin for Lily

Speak to Anita and Elias Fischer, then deal with Ulkov Sully behind the Mortuary. Persuade or pay Ulkov to make Lily’s coffin and report back to her parents.

This is a small, self-contained activity with background-specific inspiration rewards. It is also one of the more human encounters in the area and can be completed without starting a fight.

Find Mystic Carrion’s Servant

Strange Beggar Morbus and Pookums are part of the Graveyard’s role in the Mystic Carrion storyline. They remain here until Find Mystic Carrion’s Servant is completed. Completing that quest causes both to disappear from the cemetery. The Graveyard also contains the Jar of Mystic Carrion’s Lungs, linking the Mortuary directly to the larger servant and immortality plot.

Investigate the Murders

Dialogue for several mourners changes according to progress in the Lower City murder investigation. The Graveyard is also adjacent to Candulhallow’s Tombstones, the funeral business that conceals the route to the Murder Tribunal. Candulhallow’s Tombstones is technically a separate location, but it is one of the most important reasons to explore the western edge of the cemetery.

Nina Dortmell and the dead

At approximately X:-12 Y:32, Nina Dortmell is attempting to resurrect her recently deceased brother. The party can either:

Both broad decisions can grant the Acolyte inspiration What Remains of the Dead. Helping Nina additionally grants the Urchin inspiration Good Intentions.

If the party helps Nina, the encounter becomes a combat:

The Death Shepherd significantly improves the durability of the other undead, so the fight is more dangerous than the first visual impression suggests. Afterward, Gracie can reprimand the party for enabling Nina’s necromancy. Reporting Nina in advance avoids the same outcome but also changes the available interaction.

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The pipe grave and Gothric Rillyn

At approximately X:17 Y:24, a Perception check reveals a pipe protruding from a grave. Interacting with it allows the party to hear a voice. Digging up the grave exposes a coffin containing Gothric Rillyn, who says that the Stone Lord buried him alive as punishment for theft.

This is a good example of why the red-outlined dirt mounds deserve investigation. Not every grave is simply a container with random valuables. Some trigger dialogue, reveal named characters or connect to wider Lower City stories.

M. Kurwin’s grave and Bugthimble

At approximately X:7 Y:25, the grave marked M. Kurwin conceals a kobold named Bugthimble. Digging the mound reveals him claiming the treasures within.

Defeating or driving him away provides Kurwin’s Cauteriser. Taking the grave’s loot grants the Charlatan inspiration Grave Prospector. Dark Urge characters receive an additional violent option, but the source material marks the associated Paladin Oath interaction as needing verification, so it should not be treated as an unqualified universal rule.

Hidden sewer entrance

Digging the dirt mound at approximately X:29 Y:16 can reveal a hole after a DC 5 Perception check. Only a small or Tiny creature can use it, including a character who is suitably disguised or Wild Shaped.

The hole drops into the Lower City Sewers, near the entrance to Cazador’s Dungeon. The route is effectively one-way from the Graveyard side, with no apparent way to climb back to the surface from the same opening. Do not send your only convenient party member through it without planning how the party will continue.

Grave-robbing

Many red-outlined dirt mounds can be dug up. The resulting coffins and containers may hold:

The sarcophagus beneath the willow can be opened with a DC 15 Strength check. Grave-robbing in view of NPCs is treated as a crime, so use stealth, turn-based positioning, darkness, invisibility or another method of avoiding witnesses. The game does not treat every grave as a quest object, so some results are ordinary or variable rather than fixed named rewards.

Alchemical ingredients

Poppy Flower is described as a renamed copy of Mergrass and can be used in the same extract-related alchemy. Collect ingredients before leaving if you are already passing through the grounds, but avoid taking them directly in front of characters who may treat the action as theft.

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Astarion

If Astarion remains a vampire spawn after completing his companion quest and the player character is partnered with him, a nighttime romantic scene can take place in the Graveyard. He takes his partner to his own grave, which is not normally accessible as an ordinary grave during free exploration.

The location of the scene appears to be beneath the willow, near Karlach’s parents’ graves, although the supporting evidence describes this placement as an inference from the cutscene rather than a normally discoverable map location.

Karlach

With Karlach in the party, she can identify her parents’ graves in the middle aisle, around X:5 Y:31. Interacting with the highlighted tombstones prompts Karlach to speak about them and allows the player character to ask about her parents’ deaths and what happened afterward.

This is one of the most important companion conversations in the area. Bring Karlach if you want to see it rather than relying on a later camp summary.

Shadowheart

Near the southern entrance, around X:25 Y:15, is the grave of Allister Marnley, marked with a “Happy Birthday” note. Shadowheart comments on it if she is present and can reflect on recovered memories from her childhood in Baldur’s Gate.

The conversation changes according to the outcome and progression of her companion quest. You can also place a Night Orchid in front of the grave for her.

Dark Urge

The current game interaction for the Dark Urge on entering the Graveyard is a brief line: “Not enough graves. Never enough.”

Unused dialogue files suggest a more elaborate grave-related memory interaction was considered, but that material is not implemented in the normal current-game encounter. It should therefore be treated as development evidence, not as an available Dark Urge quest or secret.

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Named literature and documents

Some of these are located in the Mortuary, mausoleums, graves or nearby corpse-related containers. Not all are quest-critical, and some are primarily lore or atmosphere items.

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There is no formal guard checkpoint inside the cemetery comparable to the Basilisk Gate Barracks. Security is instead represented by:

Gracie may join a fight if the party starts combat with the undead or kobolds. This can turn an otherwise local encounter into a wider confrontation, so consider whether she is nearby before provoking enemies.

The Mortuary and mausoleums are suitable locations for methodical exploration because many doors can be opened without a crime through lockpicking. The cemetery itself is less forgiving if NPCs can see a character digging up a grave.

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Is Candulhallow’s Tombstones part of the Graveyard?

No. It is immediately adjacent and thematically connected, but it is a separate Lower City location with its own interior, characters, secret door and route to the Murder Tribunal. The Graveyard extends towards it, but the funeral business should be documented separately.

Can I open the mausoleums without their keys?

Yes. The documented alternative is generally a DC 10 Sleight of Hand check. Lockpicking the mausoleums is not considered a crime, although the rooms may contain traps or undead.

Where is the key for each mausoleum?

The Graveyard page calls the western site the Grand Mausoleum on the map and the Ancient Mausoleum in the interior, so these are aliases for one location rather than two separate tombs.

Where is the key for each mausoleum?

Can I return from the hidden sewer entrance?

The documented route is one-way from the Graveyard into the Lower City Sewers. There appears to be no way to return to the surface through that same hole.

What is the most important item in the Mortuary?

For quest progression, the Jar of Mystic Carrion’s Lungs is the standout item. It is in Valmorba’s workshop in the cellar and links the Graveyard to the Mystic Carrion storyline.

Is there a boss in the Graveyard?

There is no major standalone boss encounter in the open cemetery. The most substantial combat is Nina Dortmell’s undead encounter, which includes a Death Shepherd and several summoned undead. The nearby Murder Tribunal and Cazador’s Dungeon contain more significant boss-level content, but they are separate locations.

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Sources

• Graveyard (Lower City) - bg3.wiki — bg3.wiki
• Candulhallow's Tombstones - bg3.wiki — bg3.wiki
• Gorion Mausoleum - bg3.wiki — bg3.wiki