#'i crawl among my own people low as an asps belly'

[thats-a-lot-of-cortisol]

brb spiraling into insanity about Lae'zel's story themes being about letting go of high-demand religion/society and carving your own path with your own values and allies and morality despite the intense pressure from your old group to remain in a place that's eating you alive

[wisterias-in-bloom]

Lae'zel open starter.

"Vlaakith. Vlaakith! I have wielded your fury as a blade, roared your wrath as a dragon!" She cried out, her face for the first time revealed her rounder eyes full of heartbreak.

“You promised ascension - yet I crawl among my own people, low as an asp's belly. Shka'keth!" She spatted out desperate before spitting blood on the marbled floor. She hated how her eyes wetted and wetted as she spoke.

"I followed your path. What good, this heart of stone, for it to be shattered?” Her knees almost gave out, she had lost even the strength to act tougher, to suppress her emotion and she knew all eyes fell on her.

[kirwond]

Fate Spins Along As It Should

A playlist for Baldur's Gate 3, following characters and events for the game.

Notes from the game, cover art from BG3 concept art.

Listen at Spotify.

Even more playlists here.

Tracklist and notes below the cut.

Help I'm Alive - Metric

Narrator: As you wake, the tadpole squirms in your skull.

Army Of Me - Bjork

Lae'zel: Who am I? Your only chance of survival. Now move. You are wasting time.

The Wolf - PHILDEL

Shadowheart: Most people fear the dark, like children, because in darkness they see their fears reflected. But Shar teaches us to step beyond fear. Beyond loss. In darkness we do not hide - we act.

Icarus - Bastille

Gale: "What if," I thought, "What if after all this time, I could return this lost part of herself to the goddess?" You know me. My gestures can never be grand enough.

The Devil Is A Gentleman - Merci Raines

Astarion: On my honour, the only thing on my mind is depraved, carnal lust.

Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) - Emily Browning

Dream Guardian: There is great potential in you. It comes from that parasite. Your instinct is to resist the power it gives, but you must accept it, nurture it. I will keep it from consuming you. But for the sake of both of us, you must learn to wield it.

I Am The Fire - Halestorm

Karlach: Avernus was never my home. It was my prison. I'm free now. AND I'M NEVER. GOING. BACK.

Woke Up A Rebel - Reuben and The Dark

Wyll: Gods damn her straight back to the Hells. Just look at me. I did what was right. And Mizora made me pay for it.

The Curse - Agnes Obel

Halsin: There is a terrible curse surrounding Moonrise Towers, a shadow curse that drains away all light and life. That place is where the cultists send their captives, to be infected. Innocents go in, True Souls come out.

Don't Fear The Reaper - Blue Oyster Cult

Gale: The truth is, I was living on borrowed time already. Consuming those items would only have kept the orb sated for so long. If anything, I feel more at peace than I have in months. At least I know my death will have purpose. It won't be a distant bang in the footnotes of history.

Queer - Garbage

Astarion: He had me go out into Baldur's Gate to fetch him the most beautiful souls I could find. It was a fun little ritual of his - I'd bring them back and he'd ask if I wanted to dine with him. And if I said yes, he'd serve me a dead, putrid rat. Of course if I said no, he'd have me flayed. Hard to say which was worse.

Wrong Side Of Heaven - Five Finger Death Punch

Lae'zel: Vlaakith! I have wielded your fury as a blade, roared your wrath as a dragon! You promised ascension, yet I crawl among my own people, low as an asp's belly. I followed your path. What good, this heart of stone, for it to be shattered?

Bad Moon Rising - Satin Puppets/Nxghtshade

Jaheira: I have every reason to be cautious. I've traced people like you, people with parasites in their brains, all the way here from Baldur's Gate. We tracked them to this ancient village only to be faced with a man we killed and buried over a century ago.

Goodbye - Ramsey

Karlach: Listen. You heard Dammon. There is no solution. It's Hell or bust. I choose bust.

Wicked Game - Boyce Avenue

Astarion: Look. I had a plan. A nice, simple plan. Seduce you, sleep with you, manipulate your feelings so you'd never turn on me. It was easy - instinctive. Habits from two hundred years of charming people kicked in. All you had to do was fall for it. And all I had to do was not fall for you. Which is where my nice, simple plan fell apart.

Losing My Religion - BELLSAINT

Shadowheart: I... I can't believe I just did that. Lady Shar will disown me.

Battlefield - SVRCINA

Dame Aylin: Our Lady of Silver. Hear me! She Who Guides, the Moonmaiden Selune, mother of the so-called Nightsong. THE NIGHTSONG IS NO MORE!

O Death - Bobby Bass/Lauren Paley/Colm R. McGuiness

Ketheric Thorm: Join the army of the dead, True Soul. Witness Lord Myrkul's glory!

In The Wind - Lord Huron

Halsin: Oliver is helping Thaniel to recover. They both lie dormant, like trees awaiting spring. I would like to return here someday - see Thaniel and Oliver again, in my meditations, or perhaps in person, if the Oak Father wills it. I hope he does.

Flesh And Bone - Black Math

Wyll: He returned to an unsuspecting city and a wayward son with a smirking devil at his side. I tried to tell him the truth, but my mouth couldn't form the words. I led him to the battlefield, but Mizora had swept it clean. I showed him my stone eye, but he only turned away. After, he said only one word. "Go."

Nothing Is As It Seems - Hidden Citizens/Ruelle

The Emperor: Before you do anything, I am your ally.

Red Right Hand - Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds

Duke Ravenguard: Enver Gortash. The Council appoints you Archduke of Baldur's Gate.

I Will Not Bow - Breaking Benjamin

Lae'zel: Forsake one protocol and forsake Vlaakith. Forsate Vlaakith, and be the blood and meat which sates her dragons. If Voss speaks true, if ascension is a lie, if tadpole purification is a fairy tale, then I have not sinned against Vlaakith. She has sinned against me.

Broken Mirror - Trees of Eternity

Astarion: Back at the ritual, all I could see was the power on offer and the safety it promised. I was so blinded by it. Just as Cazador was. You saved me from myself and let me walk a new path where I can be free. Truly, honestly free.

Three - Sleeping At Last

Gale: I've work ahead of me before I'll feel myself truly redeemed of the damage I caused. But I intend to try.

Mind Games - Sickick

The Emperor: I studied you. Your motivations, your actions, your desires. I deduced the best way to align your goals with my own. I anticipated the challenge, and I anticipated your resistance. What I didn't anticipate was how much I would enjoy your company. Your mind.

Hamsters - King Missile

Minsc: I have no idea what any of that was about. But we shall simply - GAH! Boo, why do you gnaw at my soft parts? I am trying to... *urgent squeaking* Once again? In smaller words? *SQUEAK!* I see.

Soldier - Fleurie

Jaheira: You twine your life around the people you love. And when they are gone, you grow around their absence instead. Which is my sage way of saying I am in no danger of forgetting how my husband died. But I choose to remember how he lived.

I Come With Knives - IAMX

Orin: Did it think it could protect? Did it think it could save? Only the blades can offer salvation.

Never Look Away - Vienna Teng

Shadowheart: She's as much a part of who I am as Jenevelle. I can't just forget her, that's not what I do anymore. Besides, Shadowheart still suits me - even better than before, perhaps. You can't cast a shadow without some light.

Heroes - Mans Zelmerlow

Wyll: When I left the city, my father saw only a boy carrying the stench of the Hells. Now, he sees the man I made of myself.

Raphael's Final Act - Boris Slavov

Raphael: It is said that hope is a fine breakfast, but a poor supper. Well, the shadows grow long, and the hour is late. It's suppertime.

King Nothing - Metallica

Gortash: I'm not here for games. Hand me the stones, or face the black hand of Lord Bane.

Legends Never Die - Against The Current

Karlach: I'm dying. My heart feels like a live grenade - gonna blow any minute. If this is the end for me, let me be the motherfucker who saved the world.

Seven Devils - Florence + The Machine

Narrator: You feel it - a sudden shift. The brain is weakening, its grasp of self slipping. This is your chance.

First Light - Hozier

Astarion: I can't say what the future holds for us, but I know we'll be facing it together. And we're going to have a lot of fun.

[blackjackkent]

Talked to Lae'zel back outside the Astral Prism. She is, uh...pretty all over the place, to say the least, and I don't blame her.

"Vlaakith. Vlaakith! I have wielded your fury as a blade, roared your wrath as a dragon!" She sounds miserable, despairing, utterly baffled. "You promised ascension - yet I crawl among my own people, low as an asp's belly. Shka'keth! I followed your path. What good, this heart of stone, for it to be shattered?"

:( I don't think we've ever heard her this shook up. It's pretty affecting to hear.

Of course she immediately controls it, tries to find the line of her faith again. "She...tests me. A trial of faith. K'liir prepared me. 'Only the heaviest souls soar to the Astral.' Yes. Yes! I might gain Vlaakith's favor yet."

Oof. :(

Hector has the option to be pretty mean here but obviously he's not going to do that. The truth is...he is a man of faith himself, he knows what Lae'zel is going through, that questioning, that crisis, must be horrible. How would he feel, in her place, if someone were to tell him, with credible evidence, that Selune and her light are a fraud, and Shar the true goddess of all?

So he is gentle with her. "An impressive show of faith," he says softly. "Will it be enough for your queen?"

"Silence!" she snaps bitterly, turning her head away from him, squeezing her eyes shut. "I must think."

I think she knows, deep down, that what Hector said, what the guardian said, is the truth...but it's not something she can look at head on yet. And I (and Hector) don't blame her for that either. Just hope we can get them all out of here in one piece and get some time to process everything.

[crossdressingdeath]

Lae'zel: Vlaakith. Vlaakith! I have wielded your fury as a blade, roared your wrath as a dragon! Lae'zel: You promised ascension - yet I crawl among my own people, low as an asp's belly. Shka'leth! Lae'zel: She tests me. A trial of faith - K'liir prepared me. 'Only the heaviest souls soar to the Astral.' Lae'zel: Yes. Yes. I might gain Vlaakith's favour yet. Kyvir: You're an enemy of your people now. You need to accept that. Lae'zel: Silence. Lae'zel: I must think.

I say again: ascension is a bad word, Lae'zel. Not ascending is a Good Thing. No ascending!

But it's like... I can't wait to see where this goes, because "You were trying to do what was expected of you and through no fault of your own you're now the enemy of your people solely because you refused to lie down and die" sure is a situation for Lae'zel to find herself in! ...Okay yeah, technically she did fail to achieve her mission, the Guardian's still alive, but it's not like W'wargaz bothered to ask and Vlaakith intended to kill her either way so that's not really important overall. The point is, she didn't really do anything wrong because Vlaakith didn't actually care what she did and was going to kill her either way and now because she wouldn't accept that she's the enemy of her own people.

[blackjackkent]

"Vlaakith. VLAAKITH! I have wielded your fury as a blade, roared your wrath as a dragon! You promised ascension, yet I crawl among my own people, low as an asp's belly! Shka'keth! I followed your path! What good this heart of stone, for it to be shattered?"

Rakha listens silently as Lae'zel paces the edge of their makeshift camp deep in the creche. Lae'zel's voice trembles with pain and rage, broken syllables tumbling over each other as she struggles to comprehend the depth to which her world has been upended.

Then she halts abruptly. Her eyes narrow and her shoulders square. "She tests me," she mutters hoarsely. "A trial of faith. K'liir prepared me - 'Only the heaviest souls soar to the Astral.' Yes-- yes! I might gain Vlaakith's favor yet!"

There's a sort of hysteria in her tone. Her eyes fix on Rakha, pleading, desperate for reassurance.

But Rakha has none to give her. They both know the truth. "You're an enemy of your people now," she says, blunt and curt and quiet. "You need to accept that."

Lae'zel recoils as if slapped and her eyes narrow - and Rakha can see the faintest hint of trembling at her lips and along her jaw. "Silence," she snarls. Her voice cracks and she squeezes her eyes shut, looking away. "I must think..."