The Shadow-Cursed Lands are when things start getting a little bit bleaker for our brain-worm-infested heroes in Baldur’s Gate 3. Gone are the pristine greens and golds of the countryside, and in their place, dark hues of grey, purple, and crimson. This is not a hospitable place – the very air will leach your life and leave you nought but a desiccated corpse.
But it’s not all bad. If you have a magical lantern you can run around and have a good time, evil shadows be damned. Sure, the undead roam the region and death is around every corner, but there is also treasure to be found and secrets to be uncovered. One such secret is the wonderful Sharran Sanctuary.
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Where Is The Sharran Sanctuary In Baldur’s Gate 3
You won’t realise it at first since the place is somewhat hidden (albeit in plain sight), but the Sharran Sanctuary is found north of Moonrise Towers in the Shadow-Cursed Lands. You can find the exact location by heading to our location on the above map.
The Sanctuary is hidden under the corrupted statue, and there is naturally a puzzle related to this statue if you want to enter the good bits below.
How To Solve The Statue Puzzle
This puzzle is all about the plaques that are attached to the statue itself. Each plaque has a different jumble of letters and words and it is your task to touch the plaques in the correct order to reveal the entrance to the Sanctuary. The Plaques are hidden behind an Intuition Skill Check, so be sure to have a companion like Asterion nearby who can draw your attention to them.
Interact with the plaques in this order:
- East
- West
- North
This should open the statue and allow you to enter the Sanctuary.
How To Gain The Blessings Of Shar
Once you are in, you will no longer need to use your various light sources to fight back the Shadow Curse as Shar is protecting the Sanctuary (apparently). You will, however, find three statues at the bottom of the staircase. Each Statue demands a Skill Check, one will require Charmisma, another will test intelligence, and the final will test your Wisdom.
Passing these tests can be done on any character – heck, they can be done across as many characters as you need. We recommend using Shadowheart for Wisdom, Wyll for Charisma, and Gale for intelligence. Each statue, upon passing their respective test, will grant a +5 stat boost to their designated stat. This boost will last until your next Long Rest.
Not only that, if you pass all three tests, a door will open leading to an altar.
Blood Sacrifice
This is an altar to Shar and Shar demands sacrifice. Interact with the Altar and choose to offer blood using the Ritual Dagger placed on the sacrificial bowl. Doing so will improve your relationship with Shadowheart. You will also gain some powerful scrolls and potions for later use.
Should You Steal The Ritual Dagger In Baldur’s Gate 3
You also have the option to steal the Ritual Dagger – you can even do this after you’ve donated blood to Shar. Do this at your own peril, however, as taking the dagger spawns three very powerful enemies.
The three statues you interacted with earlier spring to life and become level 7 enemies with 120HP each. These are incredibly powerful when you first make it to the Sanctuary and they will likely wipe your party.
To add insult to injury, they are almost impervious to damage due to their Living Shadow condition. This makes them resistant to all damage apart from Force, Psychic, and Radiant.
We don’t recommend fighting these guys as there isn’t a reward for doing so. The dagger you stole isn’t even that good. We had found two daggers by this point that were more damaging, so our conclusion is fighting them isn’t worth it. Especially not at lower levels.
That’s all we have for Baldur’s Gate 3 for now. Be sure to check out our other guides and lists for more Baldur’s Gate content.
