Baldur's Gate 3: How to open the secret cellar door and Ornate Mirror

May 25, 2024

Find your way into the underground laboratory.

If you want to explore the apothecary's cellar in Baldur's Gate 3, there are a couple of puzzles you'll have to overcome. The first is heading to the Blighted Village, finding the cellar hatch, and then uncovering the secret door that leads you further into the underground area. The second is convincing a magical mirror that you're a friend of its master so it'll grant you access to his lab.

The lab itself contains some pretty decent loot, including lots of magical scrolls, and the powerful Necromancy of Thay book. This magical tome can give you a permanent bonus to Wisdom checks—if you're able to overcome the trial of reading it, that is. Here, I'll explain how to open the secret door in the Blighted Village cellar and what answers you need to give to the mirror to get into the lab.

Once you're inside the apothecary's cellar in the Blighted Village, which is to the west of Silvanus' Grove, you'll find your progress is barred. To enter the laboratory itself, you're going to need to open a secret door hidden behind the big bookcase next to the painting on the north side of the cellar. The lever to activate this is hidden behind a nearby crate that you can smash with attacks. Head through into the next area, though be careful not to disturb the coffins lying nearby unless you want to tango with the undead.

In the next section, you'll find an Ornate Mirror on the wall, and when you approach it, you'll be asked a series of questions. Correct answers will gain you access to the lab, while the wrong answers will see you labelled as an intruder and set on fire—this mirror isn't playing around. Here are the answers you need to choose:

After that, the mirror opens up to grant you access to the laboratory, and you can open the main door to the original part of the cellar using a lever on the west side of the room.

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Sean's first PC games were Full Throttle and Total Annihilation and his taste has stayed much the same since. When not scouring games for secrets or bashing his head against puzzles, you'll find him revisiting old Total War campaigns, agonizing over his Destiny 2 fit, or still trying to finish the Horus Heresy. Sean has also written for EDGE, Eurogamer, PCGamesN, Wireframe, EGMNOW, and Inverse.

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