Inside The Drow City - Baldur's Gate 2 Side Quest
The Inside the Drow City quest begins the moment you gain access to Ust Natha in Drow Illusion form. Before we get started with anything let me first say that the majority of these quests are timed and taking too long will fail the entire chain. I strongly recommend once you start these quests that you focus entirely on them and just them.
If you'd like to see map locations for Ust Natha or just get an over head view of the entire area so you can learn where everything is I recommend you check out my Ust Natha Overview page. There are various side activities we can do in this town too which I point out on that page.
Our first task in Ust Natha is going to have us speak with Solaufein outside of the Male Fighters' Society, if you need help finding it check your map - it's marked on it. Solaufein is going to be your frequent contact throughout all of these quests so get used to finding him and talking to him. His first task for you will be to return to the entrance of the city and speak with him again (fun).
Solaufein and Imrae will inform you that your first real task is to save a dark elf by the name of Phaere from a Mind Flayer party. You'll have to meet Solaufein just outside of the Mind Flayer city (Eastern Tunnels) in the bottom right hand corner of the Underdark map within 12hours.
On your way to where you meet Solaufein you'll find a group of adventurers that were not here before. You can invis past them if you want but I recommend fighting them for the Dragon's Breath +4 that they drop. Plus you're going to have to fight them sooner or later anyway since they're blocking the main path.
Solaufein waiting for you outside the Mind Flayer City
I recommend you save your game then rest before talking with Solaufein. You'll want to save incase your rest is for 16hrs instead of 8 which will go over our time limit and (possibly) fail the quest. Before talking with Solaufein and getting this event started I strongly recommend you buff up because the fight will be a tough one. Mind Flayers will be appearing within melee range which leaves us vulnerable to their Devour Brain attack.
When the fight is over head back to Ust Natha and talk to Solaufein in the same spot as before near the entrance. He'll tell you a bunch of stuff but most importantly, he'll tell you to meet him at the tavern in town within the next 24 hours. You can find them in the back portion of the tavern; the innkeeper here to rest is the Drow Bartender along the northern platform. A picture of where you can find Phaere and Solaufein inside the tavern is shown below.
After speaking with them you'll be given a couple of days to "rest" but you should use this free time to do a lot of the side objectives throughout the city - like the 2 battle arenas inside the tavern!
Where to find Solaufein and Phaere in the bar
Inside the tavern you'll be able to speak with Sondal in the south and Szordrin in the northeast to participate in a battle arena. The one that Sondal operates you'll have to participate in alone and during one of the events you'll be required to use a mage character. However with Szordrin you can use your entire party during every event.
For more information about these events check out my Ust Natha Tavern Overview page. When you are ready to continue with the quest visit Solaufein and Phaere at the entrance to Ust Natha and speak with them again. The quest they have for you this time involves fighting a Beholder enemy on the platform in the southeastern portion of the city.
You can find the platform they're talking about just south of the Deirex's Tower mark on your map. Use my screenshot below if you need help locating this area.
Once the Beholder is defeated Phaere will give you another 3 days to do whatever you want before you have to return to the tavern and speak to her. You can take this time to explore more of Ust Natha if you want, check out my Ust Natha Overview page for more information about what you can find in this city.
The next time you visit the entrance platform of Ust Natha you will be stopped by a Duergar who asks you to speak with his "master" inside of the nearby tank. Speaking to the master will begin the Retrieve Qilue's Brain side quest which is an easy and straight forward quest that you can complete within a couple of minutes.
When you are ready to progress this quest forward again what you will want to do is visit Phaere inside the tavern and speak with her again. She'll task you and Solaufein with killing an entire Svirfneblin patrol in the Underdark; Solaufein will ask you to meet him in the northwestern portion of the Underdark just outside of the Svirfneblin Village.
You have 2 different ways of completing this part of the quest...
Defeat the Svirfneblin Patrol: You'll earn about 9000 EXP for defeating the entire patrol; loot the Patrol Leader's Helmet and return to Ust Natha with it.
Let the Svirfneblin Patrol go: Tell Solaufein that you can handle the patrol yourself and that he can return to town. Once he leaves move up to intercept the patrol and speak with the Svirfneblins about what you're tasked with doing. Tell them you'll spare their lives and all they need to do is hand over their helmet so you have some sort of proof of kill.
It doesn't matter which of these 2 routes you choose as there is no difference between them. Neither Phaere nor Solaufein will find out that you spared their lives and there is no reward or future quest that changes depending on your outcome here. Either way, return the Patrol Leader's Helmet to Phaere in the tavern to collect your reward and complete this part of the quest.
Phaere will ask you to meet her inside of the Female Fighter's Society without Solaufein. Visit her here and she'll inform you of her plan to kill Solaufein, of which she wants you to do the dirty deed. You'll have 2 ways of solving this quest, you can do what she asks and kill Solaufein or you can tell him about Phaere's plan and allow him to live.
Unlike last time - this time sparing Solaufein's life will make a difference in a future quest. Letting him live will get you an extra fake egg in a future quest which is how you can obtain the best outcome and earn the most experience. For this reason I would strongly recommend keeping him alive.
You can find Solaufein inside of the Male Fighter's Society in the eastern portion of Ust Natha. Much like with all the other notable locations, this one is marked on your map so you shouldn't have trouble finding it.
Regardless of your choice after you deal with Solaufein you'll need to bring his Drow Piwafwi Cloak back to Phaere as "proof of kill". Phaere will reward your entire group 30k EXP and, if you're playing a male character, you'll be invited back to her room to sleep with her. Be warned that choosing to sleep with Phaere will break some romances and damage others. It's very uneventful either, don't expect some sort of scene like in Witcher 3.
After your interaction with Phaere she will ask you to visit the Temple of Lolth in the southeastern portion of the city and speak with Matron Mother Ardulace here. The Temple of Lolth is marked on your map so you shouldn't have any difficulty in locating it.
Inside the temple Matron Mother Ardulace will give you a new task, you'll have to collect one of three different items from the various tunnels throughout the Underdark. Your choices include an Eyestalk of an Elder Orb from the Southern Tunnels, Elder Brain Blood from the Master Brain in the Eastern Tunnels or the Kuo-toa's Blood from the Kuo-toa Prince in the Western Tunnels.
Once you return one of these items to Matron Mother Ardulace the city will become "locked" and you will not be able to leave until this quest is over. Keep this in mind before proceeding any further with this quest. After giving Ardulace one of the required items you'll be rewarded with a decent chunk of EXP and Phaere will ask you again to meet her in her private quarters in the Female Fighter's Society.
At this point in time another side quest will begin called The Drow Summoning Ritual and all future quest updates will take place there. This quest will eventually conclude once the entire city turns hostile against you. That will happen either at the end of The Drow Summoning Ritual or sometime after leaving the city if you leave without fighting everyone inside.