Temple of Bhaal

The Temple of Bhaal is a decrepit and forgotten building hidden in the Undercity, old ruins beneath Baldur's Gate. The building interior has a rectangular shape, its entrance located on the southern edge of the screen, with the temple's altar to the north. The western and eastern walls are decorated with lines of giant-sized statues of scythe-wielding robed figures. The eastern wall is also lined with stone sarcophagi which spawn Battle Horrors where one draws near them. The symbol of Bhaal, a skull encircled with bloody tears is depicted in the middle of the area and is heavily trapped.
In this temple, the final battle of the game takes place, the battle against Sarevok as well as his three closest followers Angelo, Tazok and Semaj. The four are standing at the four edges of the altar to the north and are initially covered by a fog of war effect. Crossing the temple to engage Sarevok in combat is a difficult task, as the whole temple is filled with traps.
==Strategy==
===Traps===
A map of all traps in this temple is available in the sidebar.
The only detectable traps in the room are two Lightning Bolt traps on the southwest side, and eight traps on the symbol of Bhaal in the center of the room. Of these, the only two which can be disarmed are the Lightning Bolt ones, which require rank 50 Find / Disarm Traps. Before moving to the north to begin the battle, it is wise to disarm the Lightning Bolt traps and detect the traps on the symbol so the party is at least aware of their location and can avoid them for the duration of the fight. The small "blood drop" parts of the symbol fire an arrow, and two separate sections of the skull cast Skull Trap.
Along the east side of the room approaching the sarcophagi are four non-detectable traps that summon Battle Horrors. One additional trap of this sort is at the top northwest corner of the room. It is notable that these traps are not triggered if the party member crossing them is invisible.
There is a series of five long, horizontal Web and Stinking Cloud traps in the approach to the altar at the north end of the room where Sarevok waits. However, these traps are unique in that they cannot be detected nor triggered by the party, only by NPCs, including the bats roaming the area. In spite of this, they will still target the party when any party member is in visible range. The best way to deal with these traps is to walk through the room slowly, getting them in visible range without revealing Sarevok or his companions, and wait for a bat to trigger them. Once they have been activated, they will not trigger again.
===Combat===
Sarevok and his companions are high-level characters and dangerous opponents. A stealthy approach dealing with the traps as described above instead of direct assault is highly advisable. Gorion's Ward's party should try to lure the enemies one by one by appearing just on the edge of their sight range and quickly retreating towards the entrance. Using this tactic will guarantee that the party is not overwhelmed. To beat the game one has to defeat only Sarevok and given that this is the final battle chances are the party will already be at their experience cap and won't need the experience from killing Sarevok's goons.
Tazok can be seen, lured to the entrance, and killed, and the party will still be able to leave the room. However, it is not possible to leave the Temple once Sarevok has been spoken to, although Semaj can still be lured to the entrance and killed without Sarevok following. It will not be possible to save the game once this has been done, however, unless you have also defeated Sarevok.
One way to make the final battle easier is to lure Sarevok outside the temple and fight him in a six-on-one battle (not counting any random enemies that might spawn). Once you are inside the temple choose one character who has an area-of-effect attack, such as Fireball or Wand of Fire, and is hastened (either by item or spell). Have that character move close to the altar but stay out of Sarevok's line of sight, in order to not trigger the conversation. Use Fireball (or an item) to hurt Sarevok. This will cause him to attack the character, but will not trigger the conversation. Immediately pull your character back to the entrance, and then have all six characters leave the temple. Sarevok will follow them outside and trigger the conversation. After that fight him as normal.
If you do it this way the final cutscene will not trigger when Sarevok dies. Enter the temple once more and then it will trigger, after a short wait of a few seconds.
==Game Endings==
*In the original game or Enhanced Edition Sarevok's death ends the game.and starts a cinematic death scene.
*In Baldur's Gate: Siege of Dragonspear or Enhanced Edition Trilogy EET the transition to the Dragonspear extension will be triggered. This includes the cinematic death scene from the original game, the opening scenes from SoD and the moving of the protagonist's party into Korlasz's tomb. (Note, the automatic transition can be delayed and controlled by the player by a mod.)
*In the Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition Trilogy (BGT)  the party is able to leave the temple after the death scene has played out. The player can do additional quests and needs to talk to Duke Belt to trigger the transition into Irenicus' Dungeon (BGT does not contain SoD).
==Easter Egg==
The mural on the altar floor is taken from Fra Angelico's The Last Judgement portraying hell. The real and complete painting (tempera on panel) can be seen in the museum San Marco in Florence.
==External Links==
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