Baldur's Gate 3 - Counting House Keys and Contents Guide

A complete guide to the locations of all 23 keys as well as contents of safes and vaults.

Contents

Key Types & Accessing Counting House
Safe Keys
Regular Vault Keys
High Security Vault Keys

Key Types & Accessing Counting House

Сrеdit gоеs to TrashQueen !

Beware of spoilers throughout this guide. I have tried to make it as specific to the keys as possible but they span the whole of Act 3 and a lot of important quest NPCs so it’s not really possible to make this spoiler-free.

The Counting House in the Lower City has an ungodly amount of confusingly labelled keys, and finding them all naturally is a challenge. These keys can be used to unlock one of three types of secure storage in the secure basement area of the Counting House.

There are three types of storage in the basement:

Safes (8 in total)
Vaults (6 in total)
High Security Vaults (9 in total)

Uktar, Nine-fingers’ guild bursar will offer a reward for finding and bringing all 9 High Security Vault keys to him in the Guildhall. Other than this, finding all of the keys is not necessary with a reasonable sleight of hand skill, but for those who want to try anyway, a complete list is below.

In order to access the Counting House secure area, you will need a temporary pass from Head Clerk Meadhoney, obtained by either dialogue options or pickpocketing.

There are a number of books around the Counting House area which list who owns the contents of each safe or vault to give a clue as to where the keys might be. These include the books in front of the clerks, and one on a table to the right as you walk into the main hall.

Safe Keys

Lockpick DC: 20

The room with the safes is at the bottom of the stairs as you enter the vault area on the right hand side, with the wrought iron walls.

Safe keys generally use the “filigree gold key” image and have “an elaborately gilded key” in their description (as of patch 3)
There is no door to get into the safe areas, but gaseous form (using the”fly” ability to move), or any teleport will work
Safes 1-3, safe 4, safe 5, and safes 6-8 are each in their own walled-off area, so you will need to use multiple movement abilities to get all of them
Safe 4 really is empty as the accounting ledger in the main hall suggests, so it’s not necessary to waste resource to get into that area unless you want the full completion.
There are two chests in the room in addition to the safes with some potions and valuables – one as you come in, and one in the corner of the restricted area to the left as you enter, next to Safe no. 1

Safe Key Locations, Owners and Safe Contents

Key No.	Owner	Owner Location	Key Location	Key Appearance	Storage Contents	Note
Counting House Safe No.1 key	D. W. Martin	–	Szaar Palace, Ballroom	Gold filigreed	Mid-tier loot chest	See Note 1 below
Counting House Safe No.2 key	Gorus Elgrin	–	Traded (not bartered) from Skittles the rat trader in Heapside Prison	Gold filigreed	A couple of +2 weapons	Either get arrested or enter from the sewers. Sewer entry does not turn guards hostile.
Counting House Safe No.3 key	The Bonecloaks (Derryth)	Bonecloak’s Apothecary	In a trapped chest in cellar of store, before the secret area	Gold filigreed	Gold, scrolls, and a pouch of minor alchemical loot	–
Counting House Safe No.4 key	Empty	–	Head Clerk Meadhoney, Counting House	Silver filigreed	Empty	“An elaborate key, plated with silver”
Counting House Safe No.5 key	Harvard Willoughby	Comedian in Elfsong Tavern	On Willoughby’s person	Gold filigreed	Higher-end loot chest, gold	–
Counting House Safe No.6 key	Anonymous	–	Backpack in secret basement area of Smuggler’s House	Gold filigreed	Two backpacks with various consumables	–
Counting House Safe No.7 key	Oliver Tefoco	Beehive General Goods	On Tefoco’s person	Gold filigreed	Crate with various camp clothes	–
Counting House Safe No.8 key	Ava Morlay	–	Mailbox outside the above-ground entrance to the Guildhall	Gold filigreed	Gold	–

Note 1: Safe Key no.1 is in the opulent chest behind the secret panel on the left of the ballroom opposite the path to the office. Button to open the panel is in the tower room to the right of the ballroom by the stage.

Regular Vault Keys

Lockpick DC: 25

The room with the regular vaults is is at the bottom of the stairs as you enter the vault area on the left hand side, with the large arcane traps on the floor.

Regular vault keys all use the “filigree gold key” image and have “an elaborately gilded key” in their description (as of patch 3)
The traps will teleport you back out of the room if you run in, and can be disabled by hitting the buttons on each side of the room.
They can be turned off by shooting or otherwise activating the buttons on either side of the room at the point where the two circles overlap (magic missile can help with lines of sight but it is very easily possible to position archers too)

Regular Vault Key Locations, Owners and Vault Contents

Key No.	Owner	Owner Location	Key Location	Key Appearance	Storage Contents	Note
Counting House Vault No.1 key	Captain Grisly	Blushing Mermaid	On the real Captain Grisly	Gold filigreed	Chest with some gold and a diamond	The fake Captain Grisly does not have a copy of this key
Counting House Vault No.2 key	Oloric Witmirth	Elfsong Tavern	On Witmirth’s Person	Gold filigreed	Chest with gold and some scrolls	–
Counting House Vault No.3 key	Alan Alyth	Elfsong Tavern	On Alyth’s Person	Gold filigreed	6-8 bottles of 6-camp-supply wines	–
Counting House Vault No.4 key	Roger Highberry	Wine Festival	On Highberry’s Person	Gold filigreed	3 paintings and 95 gold	–
Counting House Vault No.5 key	Avery Sonshal	Felogyr’s Fireworks	On Sonshal’s Person	Gold filigreed	1220 gold, scroll of revivify, pouch with minor treasure	–
Counting House Vault No.6 key	Omotola	The Glitter Gala	On Omotola’s Person	Gold filigreed	Various mid-tier valuables	–

High Security Vault Keys

Lockpick DC: 30

The room with the safes is at the bottom of the stairs as you enter the vault area on the right hand side, with the wrought iron walls.

Safe keys generally use the “filigree silver key” image.
The key for High Security Vault no.1 is called “Heavy Iron Key” for some reason
Using these keys to open vaults will not remove them from your inventory, so they can still be turned in to Utgar. Utgar will not react any differently to receiving keys even if you have already cleared out the relevant vault.
Utgar will give you some gold for each High Security Vault Key you bring him, and a small bonus at the end for completing all 9, but this is not essential. Note that this seems to be bugged for a lot of people.
Vaults can also be openly lockpicked without the guards turning hostile, however, knock will not work on them.
Previously, high security vault keys were labelled “Counting House Vault x Key” and regular vault keys were labelled “Counting House Vault No.x Key”, but this has been amended to be clearer following patch 3

Safe Key Locations, Owners and Safe Contents

Key No.	Owner	Owner Location	Key Location	Key Description	Storage Contents	Note
Heavy Iron Key (for Vault 1)	Lorroakan	Razimuth’s Tower (Sorcerous Sundries)	On Lorroakan’s person	“Singe marks and arcanic residue decorate this elaborately gilded key.”	Nymph Cloak, Spell Savant Amulet, 260gp	Can be pickpicketed or looted
High Security Vault No.2 key	Lady Fireliia Jannath	Jannath Estate	On Jannath’s person	“The intricate filigree adorning this key is almost faded due to repeated and painstaking polish over several decades.”	Jannath’s Hat, smutty book, jewellery, 497gp	May not spawn in Jannath’s pickpocket inventory until after “Free the Artist” is resolved
High Security Vault No.3 key	Cazador Szaar	Szaar Palace	Cazador’s coffin, after the boss fight	“This silver key is cold to the touch, reminding of a long unattended gravestone in the dead of night.”	Long Arm of the Gur crossbow, 520gp, jewelleryt	–
High Security Vault No.4 key	Allundra Grey	Water Queen’s House	Chest in restricted upper floor of temple	“Flecks of salt stain and oceanic rust speckle this elaborately designed key”	Trident of the Waves, jewellery, 239gp	In the second upstairs room, across the bridge from the first, in the far corner by the bed
High Security Vault No.5 key	Duke Ulder Ravengard	Iron Throne	Safe in Gortash’s office	“A strong grip that has clasped this key close many a time has lightly rusted its silver plating.”	Ravengard’s Scourger mace, diary (for Wyll), 499gp	Behind a painting in the alcove to the left side of the throne as you face the throne. Either pass the perc check or remove the painting manually.
High Security Vault No.6 key	Enver Gortash	Gortash’s Office	Iron Throne	“The key’s owner seems to have adorned it with extra, superfluous filigree which wasn’t part of the original design.”	Parasite Specimen, Gortash quest/lore info, gold ingot, 221gp	In the second of the two side rumes with opulent chest in the branch of the Iron Throne which does not have prisoners in it.
High Security Vault No.7 key	Astele “Nine-fingers” Keene	Guildhall	On Nine-fingers’ person	“A weighty key that shows no signs of use – perhaps its owner has other ways of opening locks.”	Knock Knuckle Gloves, chest of children’s toys, 530gp	–
High Security Vault No.8 key	Viconia DeVir	House of Grief	Jewellery box in the bedroom/library alcove	“Clasping this key flips the pit of one’s stomach, filling it with a feeling of emptiness.”	Gems, jewellery, political lore information	–
High Security Vault No.9 key	Rakath Glitterbeard	Counting House High Security Vault area	On Glitterbeard’s person	“The blade of this key is well-worn by frequent turning in a heavy-duty lock.”	Elegant Studded Leather armour	Can be pickpocketed or recieved as reward for the quest “Return Rakath’s Gold”

High Security Vault no.9 is positioned behind the very large safe door right at the back of the vault room, where the intruders will escape to with the bank funds before you can kill them.