Gauntlet of Shar

== Walkthrough ==
There are 4 in Gauntlet of Shar that are needed to progress through the dungeon. In order to find the four gems, it is necessary to solve a number of puzzles and encounters. The layout of the dungeon is fairly open-ended past the entry chamber and can be completed in a variety of approaches. 
=== Entrance ===
Just inside the entrance is a statue with an unobtainable Umbral Gem. speaks directly through the statue, inviting the party to take on her trials and prove themselves worthy. However, directly approaching the statue triggers a hidden forcefield, repelling the party members. 
In order to continue, the party must extinguish eight Mystic Thuribles around the room. There are two side hallways to the east and west of the room, and levers located in alcoves to the north and south of each hallway. Each alcove is protected by one pressure plate and one vent, which can be disarmed with . Activating the traps produce a cloud similar to , minus the acid damage.
The party must activate the levers to lower the Thuribles, then interact with them to snuff out their lights. Any or other sources of light must also be unequipped. Once the room is shrouded in darkness, purple glyphs are revealed around the statue. It is necessary to follow the gaps in the glyphs to touch the Umbral Gem. This opens the stone door with to the north. The gaps in the barriers do not change between playthroughs, allowing the puzzle to be skipped on repeat playthroughs via route memorization.
It is also possible to extinguish the Thuribles without lowering them by casting on each of them.
Alternatively, the party can bypass the puzzle entirely by teleporting a party member past the stone door via , , or other means, then open it with the lever to allow the other members of the party through. Also can be used to prevent forced movement as long as the wearer is concentrating.
=== Mushroom cave ===
West of the entrance, the temple walls degrade and open into a large natural cave overgrown with giant mushrooms, similar in appearance to the Underdark. A Cloaker lies in wait to ambush party at . Cutting through this cave leads to a kitchen and feasting hall. In an adjoining room at . Five Rats encircle an Altar to Shar; each party member can pass a to pray at this altar and obtain until next long rest. Failing the check (or praying as a Cleric of Selûne) causes the party member to be afflicted by .
=== Balthazar's Outpost ===
Pulling the lever at opens the way to the vast antechamber abutting room. Alternatively, if heading north from the entrance room, the party can enter an open hall with a lift overlooking a massive chasm. Some skeletal undead (Reconstituted Duellists and Marksmen), apparently controlled by Balthazar, attempt to warn the party about the Gauntlet's dark defenders, Dark Justiciars, that immediately attack the group. In the area there also spawn some Umbral Tremors, which continuously summon more Dark Justiciars until all of those tremors are destroyed. The skeletal undead fight with the party against the Sharran shades.
If moving west, the party can encounter more skeletons. A second, larger episode of tremors begins, and Justiciars are summoned to attack the party. Several waves appear, including a tremor in the center of the room which summons a Justiciar Crusader if not destroyed. Following the battle, the door to Balthazar's outpost at opens up, revealing the necromancer along with and three Ghoul Medics. 
In the following cutscene in Balthazar's anchechamber, Balthazar is annoyed and blames the party for summoning the Dark Justiciars. If the fight in the open hall was avoided by reaching Balthazar via the mushroom cave, then he is more positively inclined towards the party. In addition, if the fight in Balthazar's antechamber occurs first, the one taking place in the open hall does not occur when venturing there afterwards.
Balthazar assumes the party members are True Souls and tells the party to go and complete the Trials of Shar for him, as the Justiciars have been making it impossible for them to move forward. The party can either agree to help him or attack him outright. Balthazar can be convinced with a to offer help in the form of a bell that summons his brother, .
If venturing east from the lift chamber, the party members head towards Yurgir's Tribulation.
=== Vault ===
Just north of the the antechamber to Balthazar's outpost is a locked Vault door guarding Sharran treasures at . The lock is protected by an exceptional . There is no key for this door, but the spell can be used to bypass the lock.
=== Trials of Shar ===
In order to reach the , the party must find four to access the heart of the Gauntlet. Three of them can be obtained by completing the Trials of Shar. The fourth one must be acquired from .
Each trial must be started by interacting with the sacrificial bowl at the trial's entrance. If is in the party, she volunteers each time, gaining , if she is allowed to give blood, and losing if she is not. Whoever gives blood to begin the trial receives a single turn of .
Solving all four trials of Shar earns the Inspirational Events In Her Footsteps (Acolyte background) and Recognised by Shadows (Noble background).
==== Soft-Step Trial ====
The first trial room is on the left of the Trial Hall, with a plaque that says "Her Most Vaunted Treasure" in front of the door. 
The Soft-Step Trial is a stealth trial. There are two Shadows patrolling a small maze, which must be stealthily navigated to get to the Umbral Gem. Only one character needs to successfully reach the end of the room to complete the trial. If a character is detected, all characters are teleported back to the start of the maze. The entire maze is and the Shadows in the maze have , which requires the participating character to pass a whenever hiding in the Shadow's sightline to pass undetected, or to use (a can be found on a skeleton at ).
It is possible to attack the Shadows and they do not fight back, but the party members are then detected and teleported back to the beginning of the trial, plus the Shadows heal to full health almost immediately. However, if a shadow is instantly killed with one single attack it stays dead and does not respawn, and therefore cannot detect the party members anymore. If both Shadows are killed it is possible to walk straight through the maze and complete it.
It is possible to visit the maze before starting the trial, if having a party member, who is good at lockpicking. Doing this allows the party member to get into the gem room before the shadows spawns, while the rest of the party has to be kept out of the maze. Then the trial has to be started to spawn the gem. The party member in the gem room can then pick it up. 
A gate blocks the way to the Umbral Gem. The gate guarding the gem can be unlocked with the in a hidden room of the maze at (). The party can flip a lever at to unlock this room. The final gate can also be lockpicked with a , or bypassed entirely with a teleporting spell like (a can be found on a skeleton at ).
Once the party has the Gem, a transporter appears that can be interacted with to teleport any party members to the beginning of the room.
==== Self-Same Trial ====
Along the corridor to the north from the Soft-Step Trial is a door with a plaque that says "Her Most Hallowed Mercy". This is the entrance to the Self-same Trial .
To complete this trial, the party must defeat shadowy copies of themselves. These copies have the same abilities and gear as the real party members, and cannot be restrained or shoved. If a character attacks a copy of a different party member while their own copy is still alive, they receive a stack of , reducing all Ability Scores by 1 until or a long rest is used. The debuff stacks up to four times. Once a party member's copy is dead, they can freely attack the other copies with no debuff incurred. 
Familiars and other summoned creatures are not duplicated, and can freely attack anyone without incurring penalties.
Only party members that are within the trial room are copied into reflections and entered into the trial. So, if doing the trial with one character (preferably a martial character) and removing all armor and weapons before starting the trail, then the doppleganger that is spawned when the trial is started, also has no gear equiped. The combat does not start right away, so it is possible to re-equip armor and weapons before engaging the enemy, which is outgeared then. 
Placing additional party members outside the room and trying to sneak them through by opening the door later forfeits the trial. However, this can be bypassed by destroying the door. After that it is possible to sneak in additional party members without forfeiting the trial.
Once all the shadow copies are defeated, one of them drops an Umbral Gem to be looted, and the transporter on the upper level of the room is activated to give a shortcut back to the entrance. can be found on the ground where the player character's reflection was defeated, but only if no party members received .
==== Faith-Leap Trial ====
From the Self-Same Trial, the party must head north and down the stairs. At the bottom, there is a door to the Faith-Leap Trial. There is a plaque on the outside of the door that reads "Her Most Sacred Path".
In order to complete this trial, a character must follow an invisible path, as marked on the mosaic floor in front of the sacrificial bowl. Straying from the path returns the character to the start of the trial or to the nearest platform, but only up to two times; any failure after the second instantly kills the character and then teleports them to the nearest platform. However, in Honour Mode even a single misstep results in immediate death.
This trial tests whether the party can follow the map drawn on the floor. As with the Soft-Step Trial, this trial should be completed with a single character, and indeed it is quite important to split the party before venturing past the starting point, lest the other party members' pathing may send them to a premature death. Even after the trial has been completed, party members can still be killed by missing the pathway.
There are several ways to pass this trial:
# Following the Map: After looking at the map on the trial floor following it to the final platform without stepping off the path.
# Teleportation: Using teleportation spells such as and to teleport between the platforms until the character reaches the final one. This will require the party to cast to remove the from the platforms or else be wearing equipment that provides immunity to blindness (e.g. ). 
# Dropping items: It is possible to drop items, for example camp supplies, on the ground before the party member, to make the path more visible.
# Using the movement ruler: In turn-based mode, the movement ruler of the character (i.e. the white line indicating movement) has a slight change in elevation where the path ends. This allows to navigate more reliably in the maze.
It is NOT possible to jump across gaps in the path or between platforms, and any attempts to do so result in the character being teleported back to the nearest platform or killed. This includes enhanced jumps such as or .
Once the final platform is reached, looting the Umbral Gem triggers another teleporter that can bring the party member back to the entrance quickly.
=== Yurgir's Tribulation ===
The fourth and final Umbral Gem is in the possession of the orthon in the eastern branch of the Gauntlet at , lying near his bed of corpses. The party can fight him or help him resolve his contract with Raphael, which starts the quest . It is also possible to steal the gem and get out unnoticed with sufficient or .
If siding with Yurgir, the party members have to hunt down the last of the living Dark Justiciars in the Shadow-Cursed Lands, . Following cragged rocks opposite from the Silent Library (starting at ) all the way downward into a small grotto, a ritual circle can be found at . Attacking a rat elsewhere in the Gauntlet causes the surviving rats to eventually swarm all the way downward into the grotto. Following these rats is a simple way to locate the area. Lighting the candles summons a rat, who offers to reveal a hidden treasure cache at , which is unobtainable without accepting the rat's bargain, in exchange for his life. Attacking the rat begins a battle with a swarm of rats who eventually coalesce into Lyrthindor.
Crossing the chasm to the other side and completing some jumps into an alcove, the party can reach a Stone Door at . Beyond the door is an abandoned ritual room containing a broken Mirror of Loss and a , which unlocks a nearby chest. Leaving the room and returning to the chasm, the party can climb upwards along the rocky outcroppings to reach the area where Yurgir stands once again to claim their reward.
=== The Silent Library ===
Once all four Umbral Gems are in the party's possession, it is possible to complete the Gauntlet of Shar and proceed to the . However, if she is in the party, has a request now: she wants to find the in the Silent Library, so that she can become a Dark Justiciar.
The door to the Silent Library is located south of the Faith-Leap Trial. The Library is heavily-trapped and patrolled by several undead Dark Justiciars. The Librarian can also be found here, generating a effect that covers the entire Library and keeps any spells from being cast inside while the Librarian is active.
One of the trapped ( to reveal, to disarm, the trap itself triggers a lowly ) bookshelves in the north east of the library contains a book called at . This book is destroyable! If destroying the book, the party is locked out of the final puzzle. So it is recommended to not use any AoE attacks near the bookshelves!
A button at unlocks the Iron Portcullis to the next chamber. Alternatively, the gate can be lockpicked (), or the lever that opens it from the other side can be hit with a ranged attack from certain angles. The chamber contains a pedestal named The Riddle of the Night, which accepts and produces the , a , and a .
=== Find the Nightsong ===
The party must return to the Pedestal of Reckoning to the north of the entrance hall. Placing one of the four Umbral Gems on the altar unlocks a platform. The party must move onto the platform and then activate the switch to take the party members downwards. It is recommended to unchain the party members and move them one by on the platform and make sure they do not stand on the edge of the platform to avoid that they fall off to their death when the platform moves.
At the bottom is another altar. Placing the remaining three Umbral Gems on the altar, opens the final massive doors. This door can also be opened with , which allows to bypass the three Trials of Shar. Inside lies the Verge of the Shadows Waypoint and a pool of water that serves as a portal to the Shadowfell. If is in the party she wants to pray.
Entering the portal takes the party to the chamber. The following sequence within the Shadowfell completes the quest .
Entering the portal serves as the 'cut-off' point for Act 2, after which it is no longer be possible to return to any Act 1 areas (including the Underdark, the Rosymorn Monastery Trail, and Creche Y'llek). This causes several quests to fail if they have not yet been completed!
==Waypoints==
This location contains the following :
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==Related Locations==
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==Related quests==
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==Notable loot==
Notable items obtained in this location, whether looted, purchased, or obtained as a quest reward:
* - north of Yurgir at 
* - found in a vault (Lockpick DC30) near Balthazar at 
* - dropped by Balthazar
* - found lying on a pile of boxes near Yurgir at 
* - in a chest next to the Spear of Night
* - at the bottom of the altar near the Spear of Night
* - dropped by Yurgir
* dropped by Lyrthindor
* - dropped by Lyrthindor
* - in the Self-Same Trial, dropped by the copy of the player character
* - found in the NE of the dungeon just before Yurgir at 
* - in the Silent Library
* - in the Silent Library at 
==Notable characters==
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==Notable creatures ==
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== External links ==
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Category:Locations
Category:Act Two Locations