This guide will walk you through Mae’Var’s Guildhall in the Docks District of the city of Athkatla in Baldur’s Gate II. This area’s codes in the game files are AR0301, AR0302, AR0303, and AR0304.
Map of Mae’Var’s Guildhall
Overview
This location is involved in a quest from Renal Bloodscalp in the Shadow Thief Guildhall in the Docks District. Bloodscalp will ask you to investigate Mae’Var to see if he’s plotting anything against the Shadow Thieves, and he’ll give you a Letter of Transfer so you can infiltrate Mae’Var’s guild and get close to Mae’Var. Without the letter, you’ll only be able to visit with Gorch in the foyer (#1).
To get close to Mae’Var, you’ll have to prove yourself to him. This will require you to complete a handful of quests. These quests are described below.
Quest 1
For your first quest, Mae’Var will ask you to steal something from the Temple District. The object in question will depend on your Reputation:
With a high Reputation (10+), Mae’Var will ask you to steal the Necklace of Talos from Weathermistress Ada in the Temple of Talos. At night, Ada will go to sleep in the southern bedroom and lock up the necklace in the cabinet by her bed. That’s the easiest time to get it, as Ada won’t notice what you’re doing. Otherwise, you’ll have to pickpocket the necklace from her. When you acquire the necklace, you’ll earn 20,000 xp.
With a low Reputation (9 or less), Mae’Var will ask you to steal the Statuette of Lathander from the Temple of Lathander. You’ll find the statuette in a locked safe in the southern part of the temple. The easiest way to steal it without violence is to wait until night when Dawnmaster Kreel and the Morning Knights move away from their daytime positions. When nobody is near the safe, pick it open and loot the statuette. You won’t earn any xp for the theft.
When you deliver the requested item to Mae’Var, you’ll earn 29,500 xp, and he’ll direct you to Edwin on Level 3 (#8) for your next two quests.
Quest 2
For this quest, Edwin (#8) will ask you to assassinate Rayic Gethras, a Cowled Wizard. If you refuse to do this (several times), then Edwin will summon some shadow thieves to attack you, and he’ll teleport himself away. If Edwin escapes, then you won’t be able to complete Bloodscalp’s quest, because without the key Edwin is carrying, you won’t be able to find any evidence against Mae’Var. So you’ll need to kill Edwin very quickly, most likely by hasting your party and putting your melee characters next to Edwin before talking to him. When Edwin dies, he’ll drop Mae’Var’s Strongbox Key, which will allow you to loot Mae’Var’s strongbox (#6), where you’ll find Mae’Var’s Letter. Gaining this document will allow you to skip the other quests and head straight to the conclusion (see below).
Assuming you accept Edwin‘s quest, you’ll find Rayic Gethras’ house on the western side of the Docks District. When you enter it, you’ll be attacked by several mephits (worth 420 xp each) on the first floor, a pair of stone golems (worth 8000 xp each) on the second floor, and then Gethras himself (worth 9000 xp) on the top floor. Gethras is a high-level mage, and he’ll cast spells like Fireball and Finger of Death, plus Protection from Normal and Magical Weapons, so it’s a good idea to buff up before facing him. Conveniently, it’s safe to rest inside his house.
For this quest, Edwin (#8) will ask you to acquire some documents from a merchant named Marcus in the Sea’s Bounty Tavern in the Docks District. You’ll find Marcus on the lower level of the tavern, standing next to the bar. There are numerous ways to acquire Edwin’s Documents from him:
You can pickpocket them.
With 16 Strength and 12 Charisma, you can threaten Marcus for them.
With 10 Charisma, you can purchase them. This will cost you 250 gp by default, but with 15 Charisma you can lower the price to 200 gp. If you’re playing a female human, elf or half-elf, and if you have 16 Charisma, then you can convince Marcus to give you the documents for free.
You can force-attack Marcus and loot the documents from his corpse. Nobody in the tavern will care, but you’ll lose Reputation for the deed.
With 14 Strength, 17 Dexterity, and a non-good alignment, you can snap Marcus’ neck without anybody noticing, and loot the documents from his corpse. This won’t cost you any Reputation.
When you deliver the documents to Edwin, you’ll earn 10,000 xp, and Edwin will send you back to Mae’Var.
Quest 4
For this quest, Mae’Var (#5) will ask you to kill a traitorous Shadow Thief named Embarl in the Sea’s Bounty Tavern in the Docks District. If you refuse, then Mae’Var will decide that you’re a traitor, too, and he’ll attack you. Unfortunately, this fight will trigger the appearance of Arkanis Gath, a Shadow Thief assassin who can’t be killed through regular means (he can only be stat-drained to death), and who will one-shot every character in your party (unless they have Death Ward). So refusing Mae’Var means you’ll probably have to load your game.
You’ll find Embarl on the upper level of the tavern. You’ll have two ways to deal with him:
You can kill Embarl. This shouldn’t be tough, and you’ll find Embarl’s Dagger on his corpse. Nobody in the tavern will care about your actions, and you won’t lose any Reputation.
You can let Embarl live. He’ll explain that he overheard Mae’Var plotting to kill Bloodscalp, which is why he was labeled a traitor. He’ll then give you Embarl’s Dagger and flee from the city.
When you deliver Embarl’s Dagger to Mae’Var, you’ll receive 18,750 xp, and Mae’Var will send you back to Edwin.
Conclusion
When you talk to Edwin (#8), he’ll reveal that he knows about you and Renal Bloodscalp. If you deny this, or if you announce that you’d rather work with Mae’Var (which you can’t actually do), then Edwin will summon shadow thieves to attack you, and he’ll teleport himself away. This will put you into the same position as if you had refused Edwin‘s first quest (Quest 2).
Otherwise, Edwin will reveal that Mae’Var is courting the Night Knives of Westgate, “a cutthroat guild of footpads, brigands, and highwaymen,” which Edwin doesn’t want any part of. So he’ll give you Mae’Var’s Strongbox Key, which will allow you to open up Mae’Var’s strongbox (#6), where you’ll find Mae’Var’s Letter — the incriminating evidence that Bloodscalp was hoping for. Edwin (a lawful-evil human conjurer) will also offer to join you, and he’ll become available as a companion from this point forward.
When you deliver Mae’Var’s Letter to Renal Bloodscalp, you’ll receive 48,250 xp, and Bloodscalp will ask you to kill Mae’Var and his henchmen. When you return to Mae’Var’s Guildhall, all of the shadow thieves there will be hostile, and you’ll earn around 50,000 xp total for defeating them. Mae’Var (#5) will drop Shadow Armor +3 when he dies.
Note: If you’re playing a Thief, then you should loot everything in Mae’Var’s Guildhall before leaving. The guildhall will shortly become your stronghold in the game, and everything inside of it will reset, so anything you don’t loot now will be lost. You should also free Kamuzu from his cell in the basement (#4). He’ll help you out in one of the Thief Stronghold quests.
When you return to Renal Bloodscalp after taking care of his Mae’Var problem, every character in your party will receive 45,500 xp, and you’ll also earn 10,500 gp. If you’re playing a thief, then Bloodscalp will allow you to become the new guildmaster of Mae’Var’s Guildhall, and it will become your Thief Stronghold. See the Thief Stronghold page for more information about what you can do there.
Note: Gorch will only be available as a shopkeeper while you’re working on Bloodscalp’s quest. So buy everything you want from him before completing the quest.
2 – Gorvin
3 – Zyntris
4 – Kamuzu
5 – Mae’Var
6 – Mae’Var’s Strongbox
This box will start out locked. To open it, you’ll need to acquire Mae’Var’s Strongbox Key from Edwin (#8). Inside the box, you’ll find Mae’Var’s Letter (which you’ll need for Renal Bloodscalp’s quest) and Boots of Stealth: Worn Whispers.
7 – Doors
Along the walls here, you’ll find 15 doors. They’ll all be locked, and the tougher ones (on the eastern side) will also be trapped. If you can open all of the doors — 100 Open Locks and 100 Find Traps is enough for this — then you’ll find a Buckler +1, a Short Sword +2, Studded Leather Armor +1, some gems (including a Rogue Stone), some potions (including three Potions of Master Thievery, which might come in useful here), and 850 gp. You’ll also earn 28,000 xp.
I love RPGs, sandboxes, survival, and sim games. Anything that lets me build and decorate or just has a really good story. I've spent hundreds of hours in Bethesda games and even more time modding them. I also play a lot of World of Warcraft.
Warcraft Tavern
Warcraft DB
Diablo Tavern