BG3 How to solve the Open Hand Temple Murder of Father Lorgan

The magical world of Baldur's Gate 3 is filled with mysteries, but throughout the game your party is also tasked with plenty of more down-to-earth investigations. At the Open Hand Temple in Rivington, Father Lorgan has been murdered.

But with tensions between the local citizens and incoming refugees running high in the face of the Absolute, when your party arrives it looks like the prime suspect was chosen not because they were truly responsible for Father Lorgan’s murder, but because they fit the convenient narrative.

On the West side of Rivington, the Open Hand Temple is also where you need to take the sentient amulet you found in Grymforge during Act 1, but finding the real killer is your main challenge.

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How to solve Father Lorgan’s murder at the Open Hand Temple

Inside the Open Hand Temple, talk to Valeria, Sleuth of Helm. After some back and forth, they tell you about a man named Brilgor who allegedly killed the Father before taking their own life.

However, with some further deduction, it seems like Brilgor was a refugee and the perfect patsy if something more sinister is afoot.

Offer to help with the investigation and Sister Yannis warns you that significant new evidence will be required to change the Investigator’s mind. Yannis also says that the murder weapon was never found, but that anything disproving the murder and suicide would be useful.

First, it’s time to inspect Father Lorgan’s injuries.

Speak to Sister Rose the Penitent in the infirmary and she thinks the investigator is right. Lorgan’s hand was cut off, with a paralytic poison used to cut it off while he was still alive. Similar to what you found with Dribbles the Clown, huh?

Search Lorgan’s body and take Lorgan’s chest key. Now, if you have access to the skill either from a Warlock or the Necromancy of Thay, you can also cast “Speak to the Dead” to ask Lorgan’s corpse some questions.

He reveals that a dwarf in red clothing killed him, and that he was hiding Brilgor from the Flaming Fists when he died - all but confirming that Brilgor was innocent.

Next, in the kitchen, talk to Donnick. He doesn’t think Brilgor did the deed and says they tossed him out back. Head to the cemetery and dig up the grave next to the mausoleum.

Inside is Brilgor. With a strong character like Karlach, pick him up, then drop him. Now using a scroll or a character who can speak to the dead, you can question him about the murder.

Ask him how he was killed and he will reply that it was a dwarf with red clothes who was a stranger to him - so not a suicide. Plus, he will say that Father Lorgan was helping him and other refugees in the tunnels beneath the temple and that Lorgan also opened these tunnels with concealed buttons - which you now need to find.

Before you do, in the bedchamber Father Lorgan’s chest is the one in the middle. Open it using the key you took from his body and after a perception check you spot a false bottom. In the diary, you find that Lorgan was indeed harbouring refugees, corroborating Brilgor’s story.

Now in the kitchen you find a hatch, go down it. In the crypt through the hatch in the kitchen, interact with the heraldic sign on the wall and press the button behind it - there’s one on either side of the room.

This leads into a secret cavern behind a hidden passageway. There you find three doppelgangers who attack as soon as you’re close. On their bodies, read the note.

It references a discarded dagger that was coated in poison - could it be the murder weapon perhaps? You also get a key for Fraygo’s Flophouse in Wyrm’s Crossing.

Search Penela Lumpensicks for two key items, Dribbles’ torso and a note detailing the whereabouts of Orin’s Temple of Bhaal - likely the source of these wretched doppelgangers.

Now is a good time to check in with Sister Yannis, but you will need to continue further into the city to learn more.

To get there, you need to make it past the guards at South Span Gate and into the city. They’ve been compromised, so if you let them scan you, you’ll be taken to prison.

At the South Span Gate, you’re stopped by the Steel Watch. Say you’re not a refugee and pay the bribe of 200 gold. Don’t ask about the steel watch, it won’t go well - so either lie about your business or say you’re going home if you’re Baldurian. Whatever happens you’ll be taken, so you need to find another way around, unless you want to take a detour here to escape the Wyrm’s Rock Prison.

Otherwise, to the right of the South Span Gate, climb part way down the cliff and jump across to the bottom of the wooden structure. This sets you out in the south span of the city, where you can find the Flophouse, Sharess Caress and Danthelon’s Dancing Axe, which is the Harper safehouse you learnt about from Jaihera.

Head into Fraygos Flophouse on the western side of the South Span. Upstairs, you find Pale Petras and Dalyria, the spawn of Cazador you’re looking for in Astarion’s Szarr's Palace quest, but to advance the murder mystery, you need to use the key you found under the Temple to open the wardrobe in the attic. Climb the ladder in the bedroom on the other side of the building to the vampire spawn, then interact with the wardrobe.

Read the bloodstained note, then interact with the blood on the floor next to the bed. Roll for the simple investigation check and you find a body hidden under the bed. It belongs to Ffion Goldgrind, on their body is another key, this time with a 5 scratched into it.

Pick up and read the bloodstained parchment and you will find that Stelmane, Father Lorgan and Dribbles the Clown were all killed by Orin and her followers as part of the Dread Lord’s Tribunal. This is why the hands were taken, as proof of the deed.

Back downstairs you find Ffion’s chest in the main bedroom. Inside is a diary and some loot. Then all the way downstairs, speak to Dashkent and tell him about the dwarf. You’re told to tell Mamzell at the Sharess’ Caress across the road.

There’s all sorts in here. Talk to Mamzell behind the desk and she’ll spill that Raphael is currently in residence, along with the rogue toymaker from the fireworks quest. Go on to tell her about Ffion, who worked at the bordello. She’ll let you have a fling with the Drow in the taproom as a reward for finding out what happened, but you need to speak to Valeria up on the veranda.

Speak to Valeria and relay your findings about Father Lorgan’s murder. In the conversation, you find out that the investigator’s assistant, Devella, has been interested in Bhaalist cultists for a while. Show them the proof of the bloodstained parchment and they’ll tell you to go to the Elfsong tavern to meet Devella, as well as a pass to get into the Lower City.

For finding this new evidence, you’re commended for your ingenuity and complete the quest for solving the Open Hand Temple murder!