BG3 How to investigate the murders and defeat the Murder Tribunal
As if one dangerous cult wasn't enough, at the climax of Baldur's Gate 3 your party is drafted in to investigate a slew of murders and defeat the Murder Tribunal!
After solving the start of the mystery in Rivington, your work investigating the murders in Baldur's Gate 3 is far from over.
To continue the “investigate the murders” quest, after solving the Open Hand Temple murders you need to speak to Gauntlet Devella upstairs in the Elfsong tavern - it’s near the Basilisk Gate fast travel point.
Approach the stairs and speak to the Fists guarding the bottom. Say that you’ve been sent by the Investigator and need to speak to the Gauntlet and they let you pass.
Open the double doors at the top of the stairs and you find yourself in the crime scene of Duke Stelmane’s murder. Tell Devella that Valeria sent you and that you suspect the cult of Bhaal is involved. She discusses all that she’s discovered about Bhaal and his cult, then asks you to help out because you’re not bound by bureaucracy. She leaves headed for the Upper City to warn the well-to-dos and asks you to speak to everyone marked on your map in the Lower City.
How to complete the "Investigate the Murders" quest
At the wine festival, speak to Cora Highberry. Tell her about the murder attempt and you will be attacked by Shapeshifters while the ringleader flees. After they’re dealt with, on one of the shapeshifters you get the key to the front door of the tombstone shop. Speak to Cora again inside her home and she thanks you for your help with a big pile of gold.
Next, inside the Elfsong Tavern, talk to chef Roveer to warn him and he will refuse to entertain the thought until you deal with the rats in the cellar. Defeat them - which you have to do for the Emperor’s Hideout quest anyway - and you will get some gold for your trouble and Roveer will take heed of your warning.
Then, at the Peartree house, bash the door down and you find that you’re too late. But you can find a Soul Coin in his letterbox. However, this is one of the houses that you need to visit to find the rest of Dribbles the Clown, so head down the hatch and grab that piece of viscera if you haven’t already.
At this point in my game, the Investigate the Murders entry disappeared from my journal, but I still had a marker at Figaro’s shop - so I went there next.
Open the double doors and you find Dolor in the middle of torturing Figaro and Devella. Step in to save Figaro’s life - if you choose the stealth option Figaro dies - and an extremely aggravating fight against Dolor, who keeps turning invisible, and a load of shapeshifters begins. AoE spells and skills are great here because they help to hit invisible enemies.
When they’re defeated, speak to Devella and she explains how they were captured. She also puts all of the pieces together and sums them up for you: the Bhaalist temple is underneath the tombstone shop, and you need a hand to enter this “tribunal”. You have the key to the shop already from investigating the targets, so you can go there now, if you wish.
On Dolor’s body, you get not just some loot, but a bag of hands to blag your way into the tribunal. Read the note and you also get the secret pass phrase, “Sicarius”. After your investigation, Devella agrees to catch up with you at Basilisk Gate.
Where to find the Murder Tribunal
To investigate the Murder Tribunal, make your way to the tombstone shop. You need to go to the north east of the lower city, next to the Elfsong Tavern.
At the tombstone shop, unlock or break down the door and go through the storeroom to the office. Interact with the note on the desk called “seekers” and ponder its message.
Pick up the painting on the wall next to the desk, and behind the picture you find a button. Press it and a cellar door will be revealed. It’s locked, and this is where you speak the password you learned from the cultists’ notes: Sicarius.
On the other side, you find yourself in an evil place indeed: the Bhaalist Crypt. Go around the corner and step into the Tribunal antechamber. Here you find a trio of powerful Death Knights: That Which Guards, That Which Lurks and That Which Watches.
The leader, That Which Guards, asks for your trophies to pass, at which point you can hand over the… hands you took from the killer you stopped at the clothing boutique.
They accept your offering, and as you head inside, you find ghosts, projections of Bhaalists waiting to judge you. If you intend to make this violent, make sure the rest of your party is close behind your lead member, or you will get stuck with them too far behind and have to waste turns moving them in closer. Also, this seems very silly, but if you close the door to the tribunal area, you make the upcoming fight loads easier because the Death Knights are oblivious and don’t help their master.
As Devella feared, the Tribunal is revealed to be headed by the infamous murderer, Sarevok Anchev. If you’re with Jaheira, they obviously know each other from adventures past and things will turn acrimonious immediately. You can either submit to his trial or attack.
If you attack, you must take on a Level 16 Beast with high armor class, easy bleeding, and high damage resistance. You need to focus on him though, because once he’s defeated all of the Death Knights fall as well. Also, if you defeat the ghosts, he will just absorb their power and become more dangerous too, letting him spam murderous strikes.
He’s not unbeatable though, especially if you have ways of shredding armor like a Druid’s sabertooth tiger form.
When he’s dead for the second time, have a look around and loot the bodies, remembering to grab the amazing loot from the Death Knights outside. This includes strong (and valuable) armor and a really solid sword. On Sarevok, you get the unique greatsword of Chaos, Sarevok’s Horned Helmet which prevents getting frightened, his amulet of Bhaal, which is incredible inflicting guaranteed bleeding on full-health enemies, as well as directions to the bhaalist temple and a key. The amulet also works on multi-target Cantrips like Eldritch Blast, so I equipped Wyll with it.
Your directions say: take a round street hatch to enter the city sewers, proceed northwest to find your way to the undercity ruins, blood the skull to pass the door, then follow the trail of murder to the Bhaal temple door. The round hatch is the one next to the Basilisk Gate, not far away.
Still in the tribunal chamber, though, go over to the right-hand wall and use Sarevok’s key on the hole in the wall. Inside, you find the Investigator Valeria. Use a tough melee weapon to smash their chains and they thank you for your help and abscond shortly after. They repent that they pinned the murder on the refugees and by way of thanks, pledge that the City Watch will help you in the fight to come against the Absolute - another useful ally.
With that you have successfully investigated the murders, but your work isn’t done. With the lead sewn up, you now have a means of fighting the evil Orin the Red and taking her Netherstone.