No Way Out is a Quest in Divinity: Original Sin II. Short description goes here.
Important NPCs
No Way Out Objectives
- Help the magisters flush out Owin or help Owin get rid of magisters
No Way Out Walkthrough
Some Magisters are using bombs to try and flush out a man (Owin) from his house (X:644 Y:142) in the Blackpits. They claim he is a Sourcerer who has killed one of their comrades.
You can persuade magisters that you can handle the situation. The man can be found in a cellar, persuade him to come out and face the magisters. (Armed or unarmed)
This quest can end up "unresolved" if not handled in a particular way, resulting in Owin never leaving his cellar and the Magisters not leaving the scene either. The quest entry will not be marked as closed either. The following are two paths you can take that do properly resolve the quest. There is also a third "alternate" path you can take that allows you to help Owin without turning all the Magisters in Blackpits hostile. This third path can also help if you find yourself in one of the "unresolved" states that the quest can leave you in if you did not follow Path 1 or Path 2.
Path 1: Helping Owin. Note that this method results in fighting the Magisters immediately outside of the house, but will not cause the rest of the Magisters in Blackpits to become hostile as well.
- Convince the Magisters you can handle the situation. (7,500XP)
- Go into the cellar and convince Owin to leave the cellar armed or unarmed.
- Return to the Magisters and side with Owin.
- Kill the Magisters. (11,225XP or 7,500XP per Magister killed)
- Talk to Owin. (7,500XP) or "cut Owin's hand", after taking the sword, because you were "just curious". (11,225xp)
Path 2: Helping the Magisters.
- Convince the Magisters you can handle the situation. (7,500XP)
- Go into the cellar and convince Owin to leave the cellar armed or unarmed.
- Return to the Magisters and side with the Magisters or "leave them to it".
- Talk with the Magisters. (11,225XP)
Alternate Path: Helping Owin without turning all Magisters in Blackpits hostile.
- Convince the Magisters you can handle the situation. (7,500XP)
- Go into the cellar and convince Owin to hand over the sword and leave in when it's safe (either option will work) [scholar].
- Report back to the Magisters, though they will not leave. (Sometimes the Magisters will initiate conversation with a companion that doesn't have the sword. To avoid this, unchain the character that has the sword and let him / her go up the ladder to talk to the Magisters).
- Use pickpocketing to steal an item from one of the Magisters.
- Allow yourself to be caught and allow the search. The Magisters will become hostile and attack you.
- Kill the Magisters. (11,225XP or 7,500XP per Magister killed)
- Talk to Owin. (7,500XP)
Tips & Tricks
- Fighting the Magisters outside Owin's home will result in all Magisters in Blackpits becoming hostile and you will not be able to participate in any dialogue with them. Use the Alternate Path listed in the walkthrough section to avoid this.
- The Magisters from Blackpits will only be hostile to character the Magister leader spoken when Owin leaves the cellar. Meaning you can leave the affected companion unchained and roam around talking to the other magisters. Provided you don't prompt fights with the affected companion. If you pass the gate check (using the Writ of Passage), the companion can join the rest of the party, Magisters won't be hostile any more.
- Another alternative is to stand on the overlooking ledge in Stonegarden and teleport the Magisters up to you to kill them. This allows Owin to go free without making every other Magister hostile.
- Black Ring Blade: From Owin Anchoret in the Black Pits in the burning House which is attacked by Magisters.
AnonymousYou can teleport the patrolling archer to you from the hill. Although I did have the Vulture set on to increase cast range. None of the other magisters attacked.
- Anonymous
There is a bug where: If you cannot talk to Owin to finish the quest you can pickpocket him and let him catch you to initiate the dialogue.
- Anonymous
This guide is not ideal. To get max exp, you side with the magisters after you persuade Owin to follow you, they kill him and then you get the 11,225 EXP (DE). Then you're free to kill the magisters for 7500 EXP each after the quest is over. This nets you 3725 more EXP than any other route. You can do the pickpocketing trick to start the fight or just attack them when the ranger isn't close to the other group of magisters (if you don't want them in the fight). Or if you're playing on vanilla and not epic encounters you should probably fight them all at once anyway for fun.
- Anonymous
I have serious suspicions that Owen is actually a Black Ring member...
He has banners in his basement, not only a Black Ring sword but also a shield and the magister soul says when you talk to him ' the black... the black... the black... '
Anyone confirm ?
- Anonymous
It doesn't turn all the magisters hostile if you fight them outside his house, when I did he was out there with me and I had his sword, the other magisters in blackpits were red on minimap during the fight but were too far away to care and were yellow again after. I had reimonds letter to show I could be there and go into the basement etc. However now I have done everything at blackpits and he's still outside his house with a red quest flag but I can't talk to him, it may be bugged because in the basement first I talked to him with one character and took his sword and said to come out unarmed. Then before leaving the basement I talked to him on another character and did some barbarian dialogue I think about some fake out maneuver and took his sword again on that character, then he said he wasn't coming out armed or unarmed til the magisters were gone, but still joined the fight as soon as combat started lol. Pretty sure it's soft locked now
- Anonymous
So I killed the magistered first. Went into the cellar. Got the option to tell him to leave behind the sword but can't actually make him give up the cursed sword.
- Anonymous
This website doesn't once name the sword, or give any citable link to its stats or appearance.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Return to the Magisters and side with Owin.
Kill the Magisters. (11,225XP or 7,500XP per Magister killed)
Talk to Owin. (7,500XP) or "cut Owin's hand", after taking the sword, because you were "just curious". (11,225xp)
Is this out of the order? After I convinced the magisters, talked with Owin and then killed the magisters in Definitive Edition there wasn't an option to cut his hand.
- Anonymous
Im playing DE. I engaged the gate guards first, killing them all, including the patrolling guard, who will join mid fight (or you can intentionally wait). After that, I can do this quest and side with Owin without making all the magisters (far inside) hostile. Hope it helps.
- Anonymous
Playing DE. That patrolling magister archer can be chain-teleported to the entrance of Blackpit area and won't aggro other magisters. The 3 magister gatekeepers to the south can be easily put down and won't aggro those fire setters either.
Deal with them first, then approach the house. You can then do whatever you want without consequences.
- Anonymous
Talk to Owin. (7,500XP) or "cut Owin's hand", after taking the sword, because you were "just curious". (11,225xp)
-I just realized that this line refers to the magister's saying "armed on unarmed" and I chuckled louder than i should lol
- Anonymous
Playing DE, the Alternate Path worked for me but not quite as described. As soon as I left the cellar with Owin’s sword, the Magister Inquisitor asked if I failed. The first 2 conversation options did nothing and option 3 (“Ignore him. Keep walking.”) triggered the fight. The Magister Patroller had been walking towards us and so quickly joined the fight. As has been mentioned, once the Patroller turns hostile then the guards at the gate do so as well. I killed the 3 magisters in front of the house and then killed the Patroller. As soon as the Patroller died everyone else stopped being hostile and let me through the gate like if nothing had happened.
Here’s where it gets complicated. The Patroller stopped inside a smoke cloud, and that’s where he died. So either using the Alternate Path and killing the Patroller near the house makes every other magister no longer hostile, or having a big ass smoke cloud blocking line of sight for the gate guards made every other magister no longer hostile once the fight ended.
- Anonymous
Looks like, in DE, if the patrolling guard enters the combat area the magisters at the gate will become hostile, so you probably need to freeze the patroller in a conversation.
- Anonymous
Confirmed Alternate path will work. Had one of my party members talk to the patrolling guard far away, used the other three to attack (didn’t have to do the stealing bs just attacked). All will pop up red at first but when you’re done they will not be hostile.
- Anonymous
Cannot get the alternate path to work, no matter how far the patrol is from the gate all magisters becomes hostile.
- Anonymous
Confirmed that DE you can agro the magisters outside Owin's house without making the rest of black pit magister's hostile as long as the one that patrols is not near the gate. The people who are agroing both the gate and this group are engaging when the patrolling markswoman is close enough to the gate to alert the others.
- Anonymous
You must kill the patrolling Magister if you want to save Owin properly. After the quest Owin loiters about his burning home lamenting and eventually that magister doing rounds bumps into him and will turn hostile and kill Owin for sure if you took his sword off him. You'd think that after saving his ass he'd be smart enough to run, but no.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
if you kill magisters before talking to him you get no bonus xp for completing this quest.
confirm this plz
- Anonymous
I'm on the most recent version of DE (check today's date) and I killed the corrupt magisters trying to smoke Owin out (after speaking to them and Owin and helping Owin). No one else is hostile toward me. My battle did not wander close to the gate either.
- Anonymous
In DE Magisters at the gate becomes hostile too if alternate path is followed.
- Anonymous
I killed all these magisters and the rest aren't hostile. Not sure if this changed in DE or what.
- Anonymous
Alternate Method: The cliff @ the cemetery (where you philosophize and match wits with the undead know-it-all) just so happens to overlook the burning house and the magisters are all within spell distance. I teleported each of them up one by one and slaughtered them 4 on 1. You know... With honor. You can then proceed with the "kill magisters method" in the blackpits at your leisure, and the remaining magisters will be none-the-wiser and happy to chat - before you shove an oil barrel up each of their tailpipes.
- Anonymous
If you kill all the magisters, go inside and talk to Owin (it's not owen), tell him he's free to go, then go outside again and talk to him the quest will be resolved and the XP earned.
- Anonymous
why the hell would i waste all of this effort just to beable to speak with bloody magisters? i killed every magister in this game without even speaking to a single one of them! doing quests for magisters? HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA i can't bear to be within 10 meters from these without instantly killing them then face ripping their corpse and purging their souls
- Anonymous
Convince the Magisters, Go into the spot with the guy, come out, unchain one of your characters and talk with the patrol around the gate area, as far from the magisters, kill them, no aggro. And to finish the quest just go into the cellar and tell him that magisters outside are dead, let him come out, talk with him, and the quest ends.
- Anonymous
LOL. In my case it was the best alternative path: I've convinced magisters, then owen. Then I climb the ladder the magisters addres random char in my party (Lohse, I was Fane) that didn't have sword on them, so they've attacked anyway. Killed them, the gate keepers remained neutral (though they were red right at the beginning of the fight). Maybe because I've talked to them first. So in the end: alternative path with no tricks involved in fighting magisters and not turning anyone else hostile!
- Anonymous
Well I killed all magister on site in blackpitts including the ones firebombing the house, went in basement told him he could leave then blocked his path asked for sword then cut him with it and he died and got 11xp
- Anonymous
Convince the Magisters you can handle the situation. (7,500XP) Kill all the magister includes patrol (11,225XP or 7,500XP per Magister killed) Go to the cellar and ask him to come out then talk to him (7,500XP) Done. No hostile magister after that.
- Anonymous
I tell Owen to wait, then i kill the Magisters outside, then Owen come outside ask who murder them? i tell him i did, then Owen turn hostile killed him, got 11k exp which path is this?? hahahah
Unchain one of your party and stay on the bridge, when the patroller come to the bridge, talk to her untill you start the fight with the magister on the Owen house. The magister on the gate wont be a hostile. Have fun
- Anonymous
I took the sword from Owen and told him to wait in the basement to fight the magisters. Mid fight he came up to 'help' which was fine, some healing and armor on the dumbass to keep him alive delayed me but managed. Both of the rangers that were left with only 200 hp, one turn from death, when this idiot pulled the entire side camp I managed to dodge perfectly and he got instantly killed. Too salty to reload and now my quest is unfinnished.
- Anonymous
After killing the Patroller and the Magisters outside, then speaking to Owen a few times and completing the quest (also quicksaving), I got into a fight on sight with the Magisters at the gate. Predictable given the info on this page, but I didn't like my positioning, so I reloaded. Upon reloading, the Magisters at the gate are not hostile and I can speak to them normally. Not intentional and not even sure it's repeatable, just thought I'd mention it.
- Anonymous
The alternate path does not turn the other magisters hostile but the patrol will most likely kill him. You can complete the quest before that happens and can loot him afterwards :P
- Anonymous
You can send one of your party members onward to talk to the patrolman by the gate so he doesn't wander near the house and cause an alarm (make all of the magister's hostile). Then, if you side with Owen with your other three party members, you can kill the magisters but not have the entire camp aggro.
- Anonymous
I showed the sword to the Magisters outside Owen's house and then killed them anyway so that Owen would come out. The other Magisters were initially hostile to me in the blackpits, but then I saved and loaded and then they were NOT hostile. Weird
- Anonymous
OK! Here's how to complete the quest peacefully, save Owen and don't fight the magisters (unless you want to).
Get the sword, and make sure you un-chain the character who has the sword and send them out of the cellar ALONE. You need to show them the sword to prove you killed Owen. The Magisters will accept that. When traveling with my group chained together, they would always prompt dialogue with Beast, who didn't have the sword and so it didn't work. It won't let you use "Magic Hands" to show the black sword.
- Anonymous
i tried casting rain 1 too many times on the flaming house and FML, it set owen hostile. time to kill yet another npc.
- Anonymous
Owen came up after I killed the magisters, asked about the murders of the magisters, I confessed, and he turned aggro and I killed him.
- Anonymous
There is an easier alternative way if you choose to save Owen:
Before going down to the basement, teleport the wandering Magister Patrolman far away from the scene and finish him unseen.
Therefore after you rescue Owen and start fighting the besieging magisters, the ones at the gate (and the rest of the Blackpits) won't be triggered hostile.
This might be an addendum to the Alternate path.
Using a SCHOLAR character initiate convo with owen.
Tell him " You have an idea...
(not sure if something can be done differently with the sword)
Follow SCHOLAR convo path.
Tell him to wait here...
As soon as you leave the magisters will confront you and both options end in a fight.
Owen will come fight with you because he is an idiot.
After the fight the Magisters at the gate did not aggro me so I assume that it has not turned everyone against me.
The quest log closes out with [The man has survived his encounter with the Magisters, but his home hasn't fared well.]
- Anonymous
Alternate path does work, but the problem is that as soon as you kill one Magister, your journal updates with "The Magisters are dead", so Owen leaves the basement and joins the fight. Since he has no armor, this means he will get killed pretty quickly, so you'll need to be prepared to either take the other magisters out fast or immediately buff his physical/magical armors.
Also, be careful not to let the fight spill too close to the magisters by the gate, or they'll also aggro. As long as you don't aggro them during the fight, they won't aggro after you kill the group by the house using the alternate path.
I had to retry this fight a couple of times to keep Owen alive and the gate magisters unaggroed.
- Anonymous
Make sure you break off whomever HAS the sword from the party and go back topside with ONLY that person to ensure the magisters talk to them specifically. If they talk to anyone else, you wont have the option to NOT fight them because you wont have the option to give them the sword.
- Anonymous
- Anonymous
Alternate path doesn't work. I've got the sword from Owen, picking any option once coming out results in the Magister initial a fight.
not much is said about the Black Ring Sword, which is way more powerful than first glance. A necromancer or fighter can easily take off physical armor, then apply decay (repeatedly) at will. With whirlwind or crippling blow, apply decay to large groups, follow up with Healing Ritual.. there aren't many combos more satisfying! Holy hand grenade or Restoration spells are great follow ups. For single targets, cast Rain Blood and then Blood Sucker... massive damage.
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