House of Healing

Nearby but separate

The route through the ominous crevice can lead towards the Grand Mausoleum, but crossing into that area begins exploration of a different location. The House of Healing should therefore not be treated as a synonym for the whole north-western section of Reithwin.

Hospital ward

The main ward is the first substantial interior space. Sister Sinda stands at the reception counter and normally asks visitors to wait for treatment. Several dialogue and ability checks can persuade her to let the party proceed. The exact options vary by character, background and class. The Dark Urge and Astarion can enter without the usual ability-check sequence according to the location’s dialogue data.

Sinda’s counter and the heavy chest beside it are locked and red-outlined. They contain alchemical supplies, and the counter key can be taken from or pickpocketed from Sinda. Behind the reception area, a skeleton lies on a mattress carrying True Love’s Embrace.

The eastern gallery contains medical equipment, bookcases and three Potions of Sleep. At its far end, a stack of crates has a bet list on top; Shar’s Temptation is hidden inside one of the crates. The gallery connects to the children’s ward and is far enough from reception to provide a useful alternative entrance.

Children’s ward

The children’s ward is an annex on the eastern side of the hospital, with its own small yard opening into the graveyard. The children are gone. The occupied cots contain the bodies of Locke and Komira, Arabella’s parents.

If the party has spoken to Arabella outside the graveyard and agreed to help her, examining the bodies advances her storyline. Both corpses can be targeted with Speak with Dead, but Locke is the one who answers. Sister Lidwin stands nearby. If the party convinces her that the “patients” have received sufficient care, she becomes a trader. Containers in the room hold random alchemical ingredients.

Operating theatre

The theatre occupies the circular northern section of the hospital. Raised wooden seating and bookcases overlook the surgical floor, where Malus Thorm instructs the undead nurses. His office is behind the theatre.

Malus initially treats the party as potential students. Dialogue can expose weaknesses in the nurses’ equipment or appeal to his distorted understanding of Shar. Possible approaches include:

The most useful non-combat route is to persuade Malus to make an example of himself. He kills himself by stabbing through his own eye. This avoids the full battle, although it does not satisfy the conditions for the Non-Invasive Procedure achievement, which requires killing Malus in combat before he performs surgery on a party member.

If combat begins, the nurses can restrain or incapacitate characters while Malus requests surgical instruments. Depending on the instrument supplied, he can use attacks that inflict bleeding, poison, fear or other debilitating effects. He can also revive dead nurses, so reducing the number of assistants early is usually worthwhile. On Honour Mode, Malus has additional legendary actions, including Grasping Appendage and Wail of Loss.

After Malus dies, his body can be looted for:

The Battered Lute is the important quest reward. It is required to wake Art Cullagh at Last Light Inn, unless the party uses the alternative Speak with Dead route available after certain outcomes involving Art.

The assisting nurses carry four named surgical tools:

Each tool is a +1 weapon. Collecting all four can grant the Criminal-background inspiration Right Tool for the Job. The nurses and Sister Sinda also carry Karabasan’s Gift, which can be looted or pickpocketed.

Hospital library

The library is on the upper floor above the operating theatre. It can be reached by several routes:

A Potion of Invisibility is in a bird’s nest on the roof above the ward. Two locked gilded chests in the library contain alchemical supplies and other minor loot. Another bird nest can be searched from the theatre roof. A vine bridge from the library leads towards the Grand Mausoleum, but the mausoleum is a separate location.

The library’s bookshelves can contain random uncommon or rare spell scrolls. These are not guaranteed named placements in the same way as the fixed quest and magic items, so treat them as variable loot rather than a fixed inventory.

Reithwin Graveyard

The graveyard surrounds the hospital on its northern and eastern sides and borders the river. It can be entered through the main cast-iron gate, the side route near the morgue, vines from the Mason’s Guild area, or exits from most hospital rooms.

Its tombstones are interactive. Examining them produces epitaphs that range from bleak to sarcastic, including the grave of Marvey Bullows, the town crier. The graveyard also contains charnels, buried treasure and access points into the hospital annexes.

The graveyard is also one of the most convenient ways to reach the children’s ward without going through Sister Sinda’s reception dialogue.

Morgue loot directory

This inventory is separate from the main hospital loot, including the Battered Lute, Surgeon’s Subjugation Amulet, True Love’s Embrace and Shar’s Temptation.

Ominous crevice

The ominous crevice is hidden behind a metal door in the morgue. Unless the party uses the two relevant levers, opening the door requires a very high lockpicking check. The interior is filled with acidic vapour and narrow ledges. Movement spells such as Misty Step, Feather Fall or flight can make the route substantially safer, although the exact requirements depend on the party’s positioning and movement options.

Descending to the bottom triggers a hostile encounter with a Hollow Armour and three Fetid Oozes. The Hollow Armour drops Protective Plate, which grants resistance to necrotic damage without imposing disadvantage on Stealth checks. The Fleshmelter Cloak is in a locked chest on a ledge above the pit.

The crevice also has an unusual connection to the Grand Mausoleum. From the far side, a button on a statue can open the morgue door. This makes the area useful as a back route, but it does not merge the morgue and the mausoleum into one location.

Wake Art Cullagh

Malus carries the Battered Lute. Taking it to Art Cullagh at Last Light Inn wakes him and allows Halsin to question him about Thaniel. This is the normal route into the central stages of Lift the Shadow Curse. If Art dies in particular circumstances, Speak with Dead can provide the same information, but relying on that alternative is more conditional and less straightforward.

Lift the Shadow Curse

The House of Healing does not resolve the curse by itself. It supplies the item that advances the Art Cullagh stage. The broader quest continues through Halsin, Thaniel and Oliver, and is only fully resolved after Ketheric Thorm is defeated and the party leaves the Shadow-Cursed Lands for Baldur’s Gate. If the quest is left unresolved when the party departs, Halsin does not remain with the party in the normal way.