#bg3 baelen bonecloak

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Beating the House: Divination and Gambling

[kirain]

What do you think of Derryth?

It's complicated. On the one hand, I understand where she's coming from. If you read her journal, you discover her husband's been abusing her for 70 years, to the point that she was too afraid to leave him. He is (or rather was) apparently well-known and well-connected in Baldur's Gate, so escape was impossible. Even if she tried, his friends likely would've forced her back or told him where to find her.

You can also find a note in her bedroom confirming Baelen's condition, along with a message from his healer, telling her that all he needs to do is consume a noblestalk mushroom and he'll be cured. If you give her the noblestalk, however, she uses it to save her shop, intentionally keeping it from Baelen. That's completely understandable, of course. She's covered in scars from the abuse and even the rothé confirms he was a piece of shit—he beat that poor animal, too. It's only natural she wouldn't want his mental faculties to return.

That said ... the Baelen she's abusing is not the same man who abused her. His mind is different. He's different. To make matters worse, he's entirely dependent on Derryth and believes she loves him. He may deserve that comeuppance, but he doesn't even understand why it's happening. Regardless of his past actions, he is mentally handicapped, and the immorality of using and abusing someone like that is pretty cut and dry. Plus, it isn't healthy for Derryth herself. Keeping him around as a constant reminder of the hell he put her through, forever angry and vengeful, doesn't help with her own recovery. She needs peace.

Ironically (and perhaps unfortunately), the arguably best outcome for this side quest is healing Baelen. When you meet again in Act 3, you find him running the shop alone. If you ask him about Derryth, he says she "fled in the night", and he claims to be fine with that. Though he expresses zero regret or remorse for how he treated her during their marriage, it does seem he's willing to let her go. You can later find her working in the Elfsong Tavern, where she gives a very inspiring and heartfelt speech about freedom and regretting her treatment of Baelen when he was sick. It's nice, but one does have to wonder if he'll truly leave her be.

So if the thought of healing that mound of living garbage disgusts you too much, you can always blow him to smithereens in the Underdark and give Derryth the noblestalk. If you do her shop will thrive, but she'll be lonely and admit she regrets how she treated Baelen before he died. The good news is you can convince Myshka, the white cat in the town square, to keep her company, and she's happier with him than she ever was with Baelen. The only downside being you won't be able to use the noblestalk on Shadowheart, which helps her recover her lost memories of Nocturne.

[algrenion]

i didnt realise that the only way to get Derryth Bonecloak out of her abusive relationship was by curing Baelen's illness and letting him go back to being a piece of shit to her until she leaves him

so i killed him in Baldur's Gate instead

i hoped she would have some special dialogue on this action, but it's the same as if she was running the shop with him. She doesnt seem to notice that he's dead. Which is a shame in some ways but maybe she's just in on the crime.

anyways i never charge her for goods and i donate stock and gold to her regularly, she's great.

[citizen-of-the-fandom]

Playing Baldur's Gate 3 and I'm mostly through Act 1, finishing up the Underdark quests, when I came across what I think is thus far the most complex, complicated, morally grey question:

What do you do with the Noblestalk?

Like, yeah yeah choosing mean dialogue choices to make Astarion happy is a thing I have made my peace with, it says a lot about a person and so many of the choices in this game are like that. BG3 does not make it easy. There are no "good" options and there are no "bad" options. You have to decide, which matters most in this instance? Do you save a tiefling girl or do nothing? Why?

But the Noblestalk.

Derryth and Baelen Bonecloak.

You meet Derryth and she's angry, bitter, and dismissive of her husband. You rescue him and get back to Derryth and she's like 'dammit I wish he had died' and you think "oh, okay, the morally correct decision is siding with Baelen" and then you find out he's been abusing his wife their entire marriage and you're like "oh okay so she was right" but then you think "no, actually, when Baelen lost his memory and she treated him like shit and sent him to fetch things that could have killed him, that's wrong also--"

Being hurt and choosing not to hurt others, regardless of whether or not they deserve it, is one of the main themes of this game. Breaking the cycles of abuse.

So, as I usually do I look up the wiki to figure out what happens if you choose path a or b or c because this is surprisingly difficult, and there were no correct answers. I felt bad no matter what I chose.

The answer that made the most sense, that ended with Derryth realizing what she and Baelen are doing to each other and leaving him, requires giving Baelen the Noblestalk.

Which means he gets his memories back and starts abusing his wife again immediately. She has to go through it again before she says "no more" and leaves. This leaves Baelen in charge of his shop and seemingly rich and with zero problems, having never learned anything even like a lesson.

And if you were going to play this in character, with no knowledge of what happens in the future, what would you choose?

(I'm choosing to give it to Shadowheart, and meditating on the fact that I am now resigning Baelen to a shitty life at the hands of his wife, just because he hurt her first and it's a video game and I can be petty and I value Shadowheart's story more.)

It is a complicated question, a truly morally grey quandary and it really made me think.

[communistfries]

I think astarion and my durge both think that the other person is the feral one in the relationship. They Are Both Right

[cactusmisslittle]

Inspired by this post, I made a version with random background/side characters because the tolna's server is nothing if not an enabling environment (transcribed version with names under the cut)

Also, yes, I know Grazilaxx is only mentioned by name in BG3, but this is my post so I'm going to include the grumpy squid if I want to

Transcription

Three seats on each side of an aisle, 6 rows long (so 36 seats total)

Left:

1 | Akabi | Popper

Mayrina | Auntie Ethel | 2

Elminster | 3 | Viconia DeVir

Volo | 4 | Grazilaxx

5 | Zanner Toobin | Wulbren Bongle

Sovereign Glut | Sovereign Spaw | 6

Right:

Balthazar | 7 | He Who Was

8 | Flind | Professor Limeleech

Blurg | Omeluum | Thisobald Thorm

Baelen Bonecloak | Derryth Bonecloak | 9

10 | Brem | Oskar Fevras

Sazza | 11 | Kar'niss