Act 3 of Baldur’s Gate 3 features many quests, such as Sharran Lookout, that will happen inside the House of Grief. During this quest, you will choose to defeat Viconia DeVir and her Sharron Cultists along with the Shadowheart. You will also find the reason for her belief in Sharran when you ultimately save her parents.
We have prepared this guide to help you find the House of Grief and defeat the Mother Superior.
The House of Grief location in BG3
To find The House of Grief, you must go to the Overgrown region of Baldur’s Gate 3. Once there, you must make your way to the northwest part of the city. There, you will come across the house of Ellerrathin.
After that, you need to cross the bridge next to the house. The House of Grief will then be on your right side once you take the stairs on the left side of the bridge. The exact coordinates are X: -264 Y: -9.
The House of Grief in Baldur’s Gate 3 has stairs to reach its entrance. Once you need to trigger the dialogue with the Mother Superior, this can be done by sitting on a bench made of stone near the entrance of The House of Grief.
Here, you will also get to know Viconia DeVir is the actual name of Mother Superior. She belongs to the Drow class of characters. During Baldur’s Gate 3, she is taking orders from Sharron.
Save Shadowheart or Give Her to the Mother Superior
As you already know that you will visit The House of Grief while doing the Sharron Lokout quest. Before you enter The House of Grief in Baldur’s Gate 3, you will have the company of the Shadowheart.
So, as you go deep inside The House of Grief into the Inner Sanctum, you will begin your dialogue with Sharron Cultists led by the Viconia. Here you will have two options:
Protect Shadowheart
If you try to protect Shadowheart, it will begin your fight with Viconia and a couple of Cultists. We have explained the fight in detail in the later section.
Surrender Shadowheart
If you try to obey the orders of Viconia and give her the Shadowheart, she will order one of her believers to help you later in the Storyline.
Fight Mother Superior and Shar’s Disciples
The fight with Mother Superior will be brutal in Baldur’s Gate 3. You and Shadowheart need to follow the instruction given below to defeat her.
Let Shadowheart take a rest to avoid getting Damage
At the start of the fight with Mother Superior, she will inflict Shadowheart with one of her spells Wayward Heart. This spell will put Shadowheart at a significant disadvantage against Mother Superior.
This is because all of her attacks will deal Critical Damage to Shadowheart. You can easily remove this spell from her by letting her rest for a while. At the same time, you also have to protect Shadowheart from all the attacks of the Viconia.
Use Lightning and Thunder Spell on Mother Superior
Shadowheart belongs to the Cleric character class and can use Thunder and Lightning Spells. Using these spells is more defensive than dealing damage to the Mother Superior.
This is because by using these spells, we cannot get blasted from her passive ability, Radiant Retort. You or any of your party members will only get blasted if you attack Mother Superior while her passive ability is equipped.
Cast back the spell of Mother Superior
During the last stage of the fight, Mother Superior in Baldur’s Gate 3 will use the Sunder the Heretical spell. You and your party members must be careful of this spell, as it can easily take any of you in one single hit.
What you can do prevent getting damaged by Sunder the Heretical requires Shadowheart to be at a high level. This will not be a problem as the fight is already in its last stages.
Once prerequisites are resolved, you can use Shadowheart to cast back Sunder the Heretical spell. This will save you from getting damaged and significantly damage the Mother Superior.
Use Blessing of Selune to prevent Darkness
During the fight, Sharron Cultists will cast Darkness using spells such as Call of the Dark Lady and Beckoning Darkness. To prevent getting damaged by these Darkness afflicting spells, you can use Blessing of Selune.
Aside from this spell, you can also get near any light source to prevent getting damaged by the Darkness.
Should You Spare or Kill the Mother Superior
Once you have finished most of the HP of Viconia, you can kill or let her go. Shadowheart will let you choose here.
Kill Viconia DeVir
If you decide to kill Viconia DeVir in Baldur’s Gate 3, you will get access to plenty of items. The items you will get after killing Viconia are mentioned below:
- Viconia’s Walking Fortress (legendary shield) – Equipped with an armor rating of 3, this shield will knock your enemies out when inflicted with close-range melee attacks.
- Viconia’s Priestess Robe – Equipped with an armor rating of 10, this item will increase of chances of passing DC stealth checks in BG3.
- Handmaiden’s Mace – You can deal Poison and Bludgeoning damage with this item. It also increases your strength stat to 18.
- Inspiration: Knives in the Dark (Soldier) – This spell allows you to prevent getting damaged by the Shar’s Cultist later in the Storyline of Baldur’s Gate 3.
- Viconia’s Personal Chest Key
Spare Viconia
If you try to spare Viconia DeVir in Baldur’s Gate 3, your party member Jaheria will agree. Doing so, you will not get the loot from the Viconia DeVir. Still, you can loot some items from the dead Shar’s Cultist.
Also, do not forget to get the Silver Key at the corner of the battlefield. You can also meet one NPC named Nocturne in one of the side chambers along the battlefield.
Nocturne will allow you to buy some items from her. It would be best to let this opportunity go because this is the last time you will see it for a long time.
You can also find a treasure chest inside one of the rooms in The House of Grief containing the Counting House Vault 8 Key.
What to do with Shadowheart’s parents
Once you have decided what to do about the Viconia DeVir, the next thing to do here is find Shadowheart’s Parents. They are also inside the House of Grief; you need to interact with the Altar to get to them.
To find the Altar, travel to the main hall of House of Grief in BG3. Once there, interact with it by collecting the Diamond located in the front. From there, you need to use the Silver Key you got earlier to unlock the room where Shadowheart’s parents are.
Once you get inside the Inner Sanctum room, you will meet the parents of Shadowheart. They were held captive by Shar, the Mother of Night, using magical powers. After starting the dialogue with Shadowheart’s parents, they will tell you her name, Jenevelle Santos Halloweaf.
In the Inner Sanctum, you will also hear the voice of Shar, the Mother of Night. She will tell you the Shadowheart curve will return if she frees her parents.
You will choose between the three options in the dialogue, each with a different outcome about the Shadowheart parents.
- “You should end their suffering and yours” – Choosing this dialogue will allow Shadowheart to end their suffering and turn them into Moonmates. She then says they might have died, but their spirits will forever live. Shadowheart will then get emotional briefly in front of the statue of Selune. She will tell you that she had very little with her parents during this.
- “This is your choice” or “Remain silent” – With this dialogue selected, Shadowheart will simply kill her parents.
- “Do not lose your parents, not again” – You should choose this dialogue If you want to prevent the death of the Shadowheart parents. But before that, you will be given DC20 Persuasion or Religion check. After that, Shadowheart parents will live with you inside your camp. During the camp, a series of events will begin in which they will say that they own her regardless of her belief in Shar.
The Mirror of Loss
Baldur’s Gate 3 Mirror of Loss is a relic in the same room Shadowheart’s parents were residing in your camp. If you wish to find the purpose of this relic, you need to pass another DC20 Persuasion or Religion check. During this check, you will be given the option to surrender the following things:
- The Mirror of Relic will ask you to give away two points of your stats to get any of the six attributes. These attributes can be chosen from the given list. During the process, you will become cursed, which can be removed using the Remove Curse Spell.
- On the other hand, if you are planning to pass this DC20 Persuasion or Religion check, you can choose the Deception.
