A Knight's Eternal Torment: My Guide to Withermoore's Soul Jar in DOS2

Okay, so I was just wandering around the caverns south of Fort Joy, minding my own business, when this little kid named Mody pops up and asks me to play hide and seek. 🥹 I thought, why not? It's a nice break from all the Magister drama. Little did I know, this game of hide and seek would lead me to one of the most haunting and memorable side quests in the whole game—meeting the eternally trapped soul of Withermoore.

The hide and seek was... an experience. Mody is surprisingly good at it! After finding him the second time (he goes invisible, the little trickster! ✨), he wanted to introduce me to his "friend." He led me to a small crawlspace. Following him, I noticed a spot where sunlight was shining on the ground—a telltale sign in Rivellon that you should dig. I pulled out my trusty shovel and, sure enough, uncovered an ancient stone hatch. Descending into the darkness, I found Mody standing next to a truly grim sight: a massive skeleton of an undead knight, impaled by a spear against a stone wall. This was Withermoore.

His voice echoed in my mind, full of centuries of pain. To free him from the wall, I had to remove the Spear of Braccus Rex. It took all my strength (you need 12 Strength or Telekinesis!), but yanking it out was so satisfying. He then told me his tragic story. He was a knight sent to bring the tyrannical Braccus Rex to justice, but he failed. As punishment, Rex trapped Withermoore's soul in a magical jar—a phylactery—and cursed him to eternal, conscious torment, impaled in this forgotten hole. The only way to end his suffering? Find and destroy that Soul Jar. In return, he promised to show me a secret way out of Fort Joy. A deal's a deal, right? I agreed to help.

His clue was cryptic: a secret switch on a statue in the courtyard. I fast-traveled to the Fort Joy - Square waypoint and approached the Shrine of the Divine. Looking closely, I found the worn button he described and pressed it. Just like that, a hidden stone hatch slid open right next to the statue! Talk about hidden in plain sight. 😲

This led me down into the Fort Joy Dungeon. A locked door blocked my path. A little persuasion with my lockpicks (or a well-placed attack) later, I was in the Holding Cells. At the far end, a Magister Houndmaster was loafing around. I sneaked past him (you can fight, but I was feeling stealthy) and snatched the Prison Key from a wooden stool next to him.

Using the key, I entered the main Fort Joy Prison area. My map updated with a nifty red flag marker. Following it led me to a stone altar near a staircase with a lever beside it. I pulled the lever, and the altar shifted, revealing yet another hatch leading even deeper—into the Ancient Passage.

The passage wasn't welcoming. Two massive poison clouds blocked the way forward, spewing from vents in the floor. My options:

• The Smart Way: Use Telekinesis to move the large vases in the room onto the vents, plugging them and stopping the gas. 🏺

• The Pyromaniac Way: Cast a fire spell into the gas and sprint through the resulting explosion. 💥

I went with Telekinesis—less chaotic. On the other side was the heart of the quest: a chamber with FIVE identical Soul Jars on pedestals. Talk about a cruel trick by Braccus Rex! Only one was real; the others were traps. I had to read the ancient plaques beneath each one. The real jar's plaque read: "Here lies Withermoore the Supplicant." It was the one at the far end of the room, on the left. I carefully picked it up.

Pro-Tip I Discovered: While you're here, check out the alcove accessible by a ladder near the jars. There's a statue holding the Tyrant's Stride leg armor, which is part of a whole other cool side quest for the Tyrant Set!

With the Soul Jar in my bag, I made the journey back to Withermoore's cavern. He was waiting, his skeletal form radiating a desperate hope. Now came the moral choice. What would I do?

The Final Choice: Mercy or Power?

This is where the role-playing gets real. Here are your options and what happens:

Your Action	Consequence	Experience Gained	My Thoughts 💭
Destroy the Jar	You fulfill Withermoore's wish. He thanks you and finally finds peace, his skeleton crumbling to dust. A truly bittersweet end.	1600 XP	The "good" ending. It feels like the right thing to do after hearing his story.
Keep the Jar	You refuse to destroy it. Withermoore, betrayed and enraged, becomes hostile and attacks you. You have to put him down. The jar in your inventory becomes "Empty."	1400 XP for quest + 200 XP for killing him.	The pragmatic (or greedy?) choice. You get less direct XP, but you don't have to fight him if you just walk away initially. His soul is still freed when he dies, so his torment ends... just not as peacefully.

No matter what you choose, Withermoore's eternal torment ends. If you fight him, destroying his physical form also seems to break the jar's link, leaving it empty. It's a poignant reminder of the game's depth—even a side quest about a skeleton has emotional weight and meaningful choices.

Completing this quest was a journey. From a simple game with a child to confronting the cruel legacy of a tyrant and deciding the fate of a soul trapped for eternity. It's these kinds of stories that make Divinity: Original Sin 2 truly special. Plus, that secret exit from Fort Joy he mentioned? Totally worth it. Happy questing, and choose wisely! ⚔️✨