Mind Flayer Colony

== Access ==
This area is accessed by jumping down into a tower after the fight against on the Moonrise Towers Rooftop. Upon arriving from the Moonrise Towers Rooftop, the party must destroy the membrane to move forward. The colony has many intellect devourers moving around, which only become hostile if a fight breaks out nearby.
While inside the Mind Flayer Colony, the party cannot fast-travel or go to camp.
== Points of interest ==
=== Morgue ===
The morgue is run by , a strange bugbear who butchers humanoids to create new .
If not killed on the Nautiloid, can be found imprisoned here. After talking to Us, the party can convince Chop to give a Morgue Cage Key with a successful, , or Illithid Wisdom. If freed, Us rewards the party with the item .
If threatening to kill Chop, he responds as though he wants the party to kill him. Despite this, attacking him still makes Chop and the surrounding intellect devourers (except for Us) hostile. Nonetheless, as he is killed, Chop comments that he is "free at last". The intellect devourers outside of the morgue remain neutral.
There is also a mechanical device called Touch, which controls the pipe that transports corpses. Upon the first interaction, the pipe drops a corpse, on which can be used.
=== Necrotic laboratory ===
Balthazar's Necrotic Laboratory can be found in the south-east of the map, at . Upon entering the area, a battle with a large number of undead commences, including a , four and , as well as six .
Further southeast is a Brain Mapping Puzzle, consisting of four mental faculties (Emotion, Speech, Memory, and Reason). To solve this puzzle, each mental faculty must be connected to its identical matching faculty on the far side of the puzzle by selecting intervening nodes. Successfully solving the puzzle grants the Inspirational Event Brain Blast! (Sage) and access to the and the . Beside the Waking Mind is a skeleton at with the and .
The Mind-Archive Interface at allows the party to talk to the brain jars found scattered across the area.
* The found behind the brain mapping puzzle can grant a permanent buff: Githzerai Mind Barrier.
* The , , , and brain jars elsewhere in the Colony, as well as the and brain jars from the Nautiloid, will only give dialogue.
 and a shedding some light on The Dark Urge can be found on a table near the mind-archive interface.
=== Tadpoling centre ===
The Tadpoling Centre is a roughly-round room filled with Mind Flayer Pods; some contain non-hostile humanoid characters, including ( quest), while others contain Mind Flayers. A Neural Apparatus at gives the party a choice between purging all of the pods (illithid and humanoid alike) and opening them all. 
If choosing to purge the pods, Zevlor and all the other characters in the pods die; if opened, the party must fight several mind flayers and intellect devourers (though the newly-freed characters fight alongside the party, providing significant aid.)
Zevlor and the other survivors may turn hostile if damaged by the party, including via spell AOE effects such as or .
In the next area (Brine pools room), is stuck in a pod. The party can free her to advance , Wyll's companion quest.
Mizora's pod has its own controls. The left is "annihilate," the right is "unleash", each requires to decipher its function, but can be passed automatically if the same words were deciphered on the Nautiloid in the Ceremorphosis chambers. If freeing Mizora with Wyll in the party, she rewards them ( required) with the . Killing Mizora via the "annihilate" button results in Wyll's death as well.
Interacting with the brine pool near Mizora () yields a .
=== Barracks ===
In the north-eastern corner of the colony are the barracks, where the party can meet and her Skull Lashers. After brief dialogue, it is possible to fight against Kressa or convince her to stand down with a successful . If friendly, Kressa can be persuaded () to grant her blessing, , to each party member that speaks to her. Only one check is needed for the whole party. 
Kressa recognises The Dark Urge, if present and undisguised, and recalls the time spent under her care in the colony. This conversation inevitably leads to combat.
In the chambers are also several notes in the area that can shed light on The Dark Urge.
== Advance to Ketheric Thorm ==
To complete , the party must head to the lift in the eastern part of the Mind Flayer Colony. Before descending down the lift the party can use the Restoration Pod to the right of the lift to receive the benefits of a Long Rest.
Upon descending, a cutscene is triggered, wherein the party can watch , and , learn of their plans, and see the , thus discovering the true identity of the Absolute. If is in the party, there is the option to allow him to explode the Netherese Orb, killing the Netherbrain, all three Chosen, and the party, resulting in a very early endgame. Otherwise the cutscene continues with the Elder Brain infecting with a Tadpole, before the Chosen of the Dead Three unleash their assault on Baldur's Gate.
=== Fight with Ketheric ===
If passing multiple and / or checks, both atop Moonrise Towers and in the Mind Flayer Colony, Ketheric Thorm can be asked to repent. Doing so skips the first half of his fight in the Mind Flayer Colony as Ketheric gives himself to Myrkul. 
Otherwise, when the second fight with Ketheric starts, Ketheric begins by calling on for aid. As Ketheric remains invulnerable as long as he has the captured, the party's initial goal should be freeing Aylin with the action, as she is trapped inside a soul cage by Ketheric. 
After the battle there are a series of cutscenes. The party is teleported back to Moonrise Towers ground floor, where they can speak with some of the characters met in the Shadow-Cursed Lands before heading west to Baldur's Gate. It is also possible to travel to the Last Light Inn and talk with the remaining characters there.
==Notable characters==
* (conditional)
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=== Available to Speak with Dead ===
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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:
=== Quest items ===
* - in the necrotic laboratory at , advances 
=== Quest rewards ===
* - given by Mizora
* - looted from Ketheric Thorm
* - looted from Ketheric Thorm
* - looted from Ketheric Thorm
* - looted from Ketheric Thorm
=== Other ===
* - found in the Necrotic Laboratory after solving the brain puzzle
* - can be looted from a skeleton near Necrotic Laboratory at 
* - can be looted from a skeleton in the Necrotic Laboratory at 
* - looted from Kressa Bonedaughter
* - given by Us
* - found in Balthazar's necrotic laboratory
* - found in the Necrotic Laboratory after solving the brain puzzle
==Notes==
* It is possible to overhear Chop from the Oubliette, suggesting that the Morgue and Oubliette share a wall. However, the Mind Flayer Colony cannot be accessed until the end of Act Two, and the player character notes aloud there is no way through.
Category:Locations
Category:Act Two Locations