#got through basically all of shar’s temple

[shaykai]

You know I thought I was strong enough to let the tieflings die, but I don’t think I am actually

time to reload a save that’s like 5 hours back

[animentality]

Can I just bitch about Baldur's Gate 3 for a second-

JK, I'm not fucking asking.

So Ketheric Thorm...got an entire fucking act basically DEDICATED TO HIM.

The Shadow Cursed Lands suck because of him. Everything in that zone is fucked because of his nonsense. Every enemy you fight is either related to the shadows or the Absolute plot, which, as far as you know at that point, is tied directly back to him, and him alone.

And every fucking person you meet, rounds him out in some way.

Thisobald, Gerringothe, Malus, these are all unique looking and fun bosses. And they all round out Ketheric Thorm, showing us his fucked up family, and how terrible their impact has been.

Balthazar, Z'rell, even Aylin and Isobel- all thematically and narratively tied to our Shar/Myrkul worshipping bitch.

Even Halsin and Thaniel, Minthara and Shadowheart...all of them have ties to Ketheric.

And that's great and all. That's probably why I, unlike many others, actually enjoy Act 2 a fair bit.

But then. We get to the dreaded Act 3.

Which is a bloated, disorganized, incoherent mess.

But worse than that is... Gortash and Orin are our next big bads, yeah? And they have a kind of fun intro, that makes you think ooh, the next big bads...

And then.

And then what happens?

You can kill Gortash immediately, pretty much at the beginning of Act 3. No build up. You can just do that. Sure, you can do the Steel Watch or the Ironhand Throne quests...but tell me.

Could you just go up to Ketheric Thorm and kill him at Moonrise? The answer is no. Even if you skip a lot of content, you still have to go through a million other tasks before you can face him, AND the big boss battle at the end is entirely him and Myrkul. It's EARNED.

But Gortash? Well, fuck, he's fucking dead before you can even face the final big boss.

And Orin? Sure, you have to collect a bag of hands to get into the Temple...but so what? That's maybe two or three quests, but you can circumvent them. Besides, as soon as you kill her, she vanishes from the narrative and doesn't matter. She's a somewhat easy boss battle, but the actual build up isn't intricately tied into the narrative of Act 3...because there is no inherent narrative to Ac 3.

Act 2 was about an insane man's descent into villainy after losing the people he loved most.

It was tragic, but at least thematically consistent.

The fuck is happening in Act 3?

Gortash is committing war crimes because he's tyrannical, and Orin is murdering indiscriminately and just for funsies.

at least Ketheric's entire thing is about defying the gods, using them for his own gains, and similarly, being used by them.

But Orin? She has one sympathetic scene, and then she dies immediately after.

Gortash you can just kill and then he doesn't matter, or you can side with him, and then he just dies, and doesn't matter.

It's utterly baffling and mildly infuriating.

I know Act 3 was hit with the cut content rush and all, but I feel like you could've spent your time actually bothering to build them up the way you built up Ketheric. You could've given us political quests or world building quests with Gortash, especially given how manipulative he is, or given us more madness and shadows and underground labyrinths and spooky monsters with fucking Orin.

Instead of garbage quests like the Wavemother, Mystic Carrion, Stop the Presses, and Lady Jannath's Torture House, you could've given Karlach a quest related to fixing her heart, which would've tied into Gortash's plots, or given Gale more to do than simply go to Sorcerous Sundries, or tied Cazador to some kind of patriars plot, or had Wyll's father do more than be kidnapped and then later saved.

You could've given Halsin literally any fucking quest, instead of bringing in Jaheira or Minsc. But most importantly.

I just don't get it. Gortash runs Baldur's Gate. You could've easily tied him to a lot more quests, and made him far more threatening or hard to take down. You could've also made Orin feel like an actual threat, and not just a mild nuisance.

It's just kind of...it irks me.

Not just as a Gortash stan, but as a writer, because it's so odd, to have 3 perfectly decent villains...and only flesh out one.

The other two might as well be optional mini bosses.

[elequinoa-world]

last night i fucked up so bad in bg3 lol

spoilers for act 2 under the line

so i was exploring the shar gauntlet, found some rats, read too quickly through their lines and understood that if i left them alone, they would guide me to some treasure. so naturally, everywhere i saw the rats, i followed!!! i was doing some exploring along the way, did the trials (i was so mad at myself because i picked up the game one after one week of vacation and forgot that we could HIDE and had to restart the HIDING trial so. many. times UGH i'm so dumb) anyways

i followed the rats. now you remember that while you're exploring the shar temple Raphael has tasked us with killing an old foe of his in exchange for intel abaout astarion's scars right???? that's what i wanted to do. find the foe. kill him. make my vampire boyfriend happy.

but i fucked up. i fucked up so bad x)

i followed the rats down to some bone pit, where they promptly attacked me without warning. i killed them all. then the guy the rats were made of (?) appeared, he was the last dark justicar of the temple. i killed him too, naturally. he had some good stuff on him, i was happy.

I carry on exploring the temple, with difficulty. i stumble upon a room with some friendly (?) dudes and one big guy who turns out to be raphael's foe that he asked us to kill!!!!! but i don't know that when i find him chilling in his throne room. so i talk to him. turns out the dude has been fucked by raphael (of course), his contract specified that he had to kill every. last. dark justicar. in the temple. but he couldn't, because that guy turned into rats and hid forever!! and by killing that guy, i fulfilled that dude's contract, free him basically.

raphael pops up, is mad at me. because he lost his contracted guy.

astarion is mad at me cause now raphael won't tell him about the scars.

everyone's mad.

i was livid. x)

anyways i reloaded a MUCH earlier save, did not kill the rats, managed to find the big dude ambush by myself this time, promptly killed him without mercy (poor guy he was just being played by raphael in the end) and then at camp raphael showed up and astarion got what he wanted. also i wanna kill cazador so bad (((((((((((((:

and then i went again and killed the rats lol

[yeehawbvby]

It's time to ramble about Lilith’s lore because I love my dark urge daughter with all my heart LET'S GO

(there are tons of BG3 spoilers ahead, and also TW for a looot of canon typical violence/vivid descriptions of it!! So pls be careful!!):

Afaik her past aligns pretty properly with the canon durge past in a lot of ways?? I think?

She was basically Orin except just. Much more Normal(tm) I guess? Was less giggly about her practices unlike Orin, and more - for lack of a better wording - aroused and enamored by it all.

They were besties nonetheless. Sisters in crime, Bhaal's favorite children, all that jazz. Or like, Lilith thought Orin was her bestie at least.

She 100% had a thing with Gortash. They were insufferably in love and absolutely deranged. Gortash was SO fucking into all her violent tendencies. They were going to rule Baldur's Gate together - not with her as his consort, but as true equals.

Now that her memory's basically gone after all that time, Lilith is repulsed by her urges. She's a sweetie and wants nothing to do with her desire to kill and cut and coat everything in her path in blood and guts

But obv she can't control that sometimes...

When she encounters Shadowheart she wants nothing more than to punch through the glass capsule the cleric was trapped in and expose her innards with the broken pieces

When she meets Lae'zel she daydreams of chopping her up, limb by limb, and tossing her off of the ship to be fed to the dragons

Upon meeting Astarion, with his knife to her throat, she's fully enamored by the prospect of him using it to slit her open. Similarly, she daydreams of doing the same to him, drinking in how beautiful his corpse looks as it bleeds all over her

Gale... she couldn't control herself lol his hand got chewed off SO fast by those little tiefling fangs of hers. RIP Gale

With Wyll, she wanted to take his own blade to his good eye to give the fake one a little friend

She, knowing full well that touching Karlach upon their first meeting could have burned her alive, relished in the idea of taking that chance. Feeling her skin char as she ripped her fellow hellspawn's horns from her skull to skewer the mechanical heart in her chest

She was terrified of herself already, imagine the horrors when she mangled poor Alfira WHEW!! RIP Alfira my beloved..

Canon typical Astarion romance ensues over time: She eventually opens up to him about everything before the incident where she's ordered to kill him by that little red goblin butler bastard though.

In turn, the vampire is more inclined to open up about his past to her. Eye for an eye or whatever. Except it's willing - she ensures him he doesn't need to share so much with her, in fact she has no idea why she shared so much with him other than out of sheer desperation for someone to confide in

Fast forward to the Ketheric/Myrkul battle: She knows Gortash. Doesn't know how, but she recognizes him, and something about him makes her heart flutter

She wants to throw up

Especially so when her bestie Karlach seethes at the mere sight of him

Who is he?

Likewise, she recognizes Orin, somehow. She feels comfort, even as the deranged bhaalspawn laughs in the face of Ketheric beneath her blade.

Fast forward again to when the party makes it into Baldur's Gate.

At this point, it's small.

She, in a sleepy stupor, watched blissfully as Shadowheart had killed Lae’zel during their dispute over the Artefact.

When she went to the temple of Shar, she ignorantly didn't think to include Shadowheart in it, so driven by her yearn to get the fuck out of there. So Shart obviously left because wtf that was a dick move, Lilith!!!

Gale was never around to begin with.

Jaheira and Halsin were off completing their own business, with intentions to join their endeavors in a tenday or so.

She know's there's strength in numbers, but now she fears the day Jaheira and Halsin and whoever else joins the crew. How does she know she'll keep them safe? Will she keep them safe? What if she herself is their demise (re: Alfira my beloved!!!)?

Imagine how that fear grows as she steps foot into Gortash's coronation, only to have all her memories with him come flooding back, as he introduces her so highly to the room of people as what one could only assume is a lover.

She remembers their lust-filled nights, dirtying the Lord's bedsheets with the blood of their enemies.

The days where they collaborated side-by-side on their next move both for Bhaal and The Absolute

The days where they... acted normal. Went on nice dates to the park, or had a lavish feast with nobody but each other as company

The day where Gortash asked Lilith to be at his side forever, and she wholeheartedly welcomed it

(Based on the lack of a ring, she can only hope she didn't actually tie the knot yet by the time she got flavorblasted into becoming The Bonemother or whatever the fuck Kressa said she was)

That's all I've got for now because as usual the lore is driven heavily by romance ckemviekbkn sorry

I HOPE U ENJOYED IF U READ THIS FARRRRRR :3c

Edit: have decided based off her interactions with Alfira (before she brutally destroyed Alfira) that her hobby (other than killing apparently) is being an amateur bard (she has high performance so she always keeps Alfira’s lute around) (I am still mourning alfira)

[iamaweretoad]

I'm bored at work, and being an unproductive muppet, so I might as well just admit I'm getting nothing done and talk more about BG3! Also, you got me thinking about Vitani and now I have Sal on my mind!

So if you don't mind me asking: Was he ever in love? Or generally felt love towards someone? And speaking of love - did he ever wonder who his parents were?

oh man, I feel you! I am just sitting here vibrating at high speeds while I wait XD . Thank you so much for the ask! This was a tricky but fun one to answer! :D <3

Re: love -- for most of his life, I think the answer would be no. His relationships with other people have always been transactional and dependent upon his usefulness, even as a young child he was treated more like a useful pet than anything else (small children had better success with begging, could fit through small windows/openings to open doors for the adult robbers, etc). The lack of stability also didn't help -- quite a lot of the people he grew up with died, were arrested, disappeared or left.

And because his value in all these relationships was conditional and subject to change, he learned pretty early never to trust anyone. Like, he had casual friends-with-benefits relationships, but no actual close friendships or romantic relationships.

His run-in with that Ilmatari cleric (i need to actually give him a name) was his first experience with someone who was genuinely kind and not interested in using him for something, and who was not deathly allergic to sincerity or vulnerability. Salvage fell pretty hard and fast for him, but that relationship crashed and burned after a few months because Sal was still involved in lots of shady shit and some of the consequences of that kinda splashed back on the cleric and he got defrocked and sent away. So basically the only person that seemed to care for Sal got their life ruined because of it, which pretty well reinforced all Sal's previous beliefs about love being unrealistic/undeserved.

As for his parents --- I think foundlings were probably pretty common in the lower city, so missing one or both parents wasn't all that unusual. I don't think their identities were something he thought about much, but that gap in his own identity is the reason he has a casual reverence for Umberlee. Like, he doesn't view her as a mother figure the way Shadowheart does Shar, but his name is a joke/reference to flotsam and jetsam, ie. things lost or discarded at sea (since he was found outside the temple of Umberlee in the harbor district), and he kind of took it to heart.

[weirding-way]

Okay we're talking about Baldur's Gate 3

So, I'm eyeball deep in the brain rot and I want to talk about the shit I've done so far across like three and a half playthroughs. Spoilers ahead, ye be warned, blah blah.

Favourite Quest: I really fucking loved the House of Hope. I've played enough RPGs to know that making a deal with a demon is a bad time so I turned Raphael down flat. His boss fight when I raided his place for the Orphic Hammer was EXCELLENT and I could vibe to his villain theme song for ages. It's a sign of good writing when I enjoy smacking the crap out of an antagonist.

Stupidest Thing I've Done: So there's an elevator platform in the Temple of Shar in Act II. And sometimes your party is Not Good at all being on the platform when you pull the lever. So Astarion, bless his pointy ears, got left behind down the bottom of the shaft. Fine, I sent the lift back down to pick him up. Only... he didn't move out of the way. This is how I learned that yes, lift platforms can insta-squash your companions. There was some mashing of F8 involved.

Least Favourite Quest: The Iron Throne fucked me up, man. I'm one of those must save everyone types and it gives me so much anxiety trying to save everyone down there. Even with about 20 scrolls of Dimension Door I am not looking forward to my next run through that thing.

ETA: okay the Iron Throne was fine with a metric fuckton of Potions of Speed. but godDAMN saving all the gondians at the iron foundry was FUCKING AWFUL, they have NO SELF PRESERVATION fucksake

Big Brain Moment: First playthrough, during the Cazador fight, I wondered what would happen if I had Shadowheart whip out her Daylight spell. Carnage. Carnage happened. Cazador never stood a chance. I thoroughly enjoyed stomping him into jam.

Core Party: My main run was with a Storm Sorcerer, and I mostly worked around that. Astarion basically never left the party because my Tav cannot pick locks for shit. Since my Tav is a glass cannon I needed Shadowheart a LOT to stop the whole dying thing. Last slot was usually Karlach because a) tank, and b) Karlach can GET IT.

Romance: Look, this game might as well be subtitled Bi Panic, because I was all set to romance Astarion when Karlach happened. I did go for Astarion, but my next playthrough with my bard is all Karlach all the time.

[dragonbard-bastard]

Another day another slay! Posting this late, and with Tumblr fucking me over :)

Started off today by heading to Grymforge! We pushed a Duegar off a boat (admittedly for my own personal enjoyment + extra XP, Soph would never) and sailed into the old fortress.

Sophronius was very unhappy about the fact they kept slaves and the attitudes of the Duegar they met first. So, they're not in the picture anymore. He was also not at all thrilled when he saw a massive amount of bodies piled up and the Duegar pushing them into the water. He dealt with them and proceeded to remove the bodies and give them a proper sort of shrine to remember them. It doesn't look that great I worked with what I had lmao

Talked to Stonemason Kith, have I said I love Stonemason Kith?

We got the Adamantine Forge working and killed the guardian in only a few turns using the crucible! We made the Adamantine Splint Armor for Lae'zel and the Shield for Shadowheart. With Sophronius wearing the helmet from the Guardian, those three cannot be crit'd against!! The dice hate me so this is great news.

We also walked by the Lava Elemental and it was surprisingly chill? Bro had no issue despite totally seeing us. Anyways we grabbed the Adamantine Chest and sent it to camp for Astarion to unlock later (he's been in camp all of Grymforge, you know why). In the box was the Amulet with the giggly monk and now Soph is wearing it

We teamed up with the rebels to kill Nere and of course Tactician has to make the Scrying Eye basically immune to every single damage type except thunder so that was a HUGE pain. Ended up luring the eye to the right where that chasm is and throwing it off. Some guy got mad but he didn't move or attack, he didn't take his turn at all and spent a minute doing nothing until he was dead.

I love Soph so much, these options fuck hard.

Anyways the bug where none of the enemies move or take actions happened in this fight too with some of the allied Duegar also feeling the glitch- it was annoying, boring, and long because it took a minute for each enemy's turn to be forcefully stopped. We didn't lose any health though I guess.

The gnomes were free!!! Soph demanded Brithvar let them go, and after watching him turn Nere into a was he got the idea. Took Nere's head and went back to the Myconid colony, where we delivered it to Spaw. Then we went back to Grymforge and up the elevator, into Act 2.

Traveling through the topside of the Sharran temple, one of the Moonrise Towers we got to the Shadowcursed lands. Immediately Shadowheart was like "OMG the curse doesn't affect me!!! Shar loves me!!!" I know it's not because she had the Blood of Lathander but I like to imagine she thinks it's Shar and it's literally just cuz she has a light source. from, you know, the morninglord.

Anyways we help the Harper's fight off the shadows and I was sad because Yonas purty but now Yonas dead :( After heading to Last Light we talk to Jaheira, she does her whole vine bit, and Mol comes to our rescue. We have a glass of wine w her and detect the truth shit but drink it anyways. Soph doesn't have anything to hide.

We talked to Isobel, got the blessing, and helped fend off the Winged Horrors and I don't think there were any casualties, and Isobel was alright. We also got Karlach's engine 'fixed', enough so I could give her a big ol' hug.

I took a few long rests in quick succession in the hopes of getting my scene with Wyll but no fucking Durge and Dream Visitor shit is overriding it. Also got one of Gale's scenes.

The dream visitor said some shit I don't remember, but the butler guy showed up and was like you gotta kill Isobel and I'm not doing that so. Fuck off. Then that's where I left off.

A few notes about Soph being a Durge by the way: Since Soph is an OC the Durge storyline isn't totally 1:1. This run is supposed to be an AU basically, but basically his real story is basically "has been mind controlled by an evil cultist to kill hundreds of people." The parallels of killing in his sleep are the main reason I made him Durge. Also I needed to do a durge run. Another idea I had was if the Urge made me break my oath I would essentially switch over to doing an evil run? Where I'd give into the urges, because of a few lore reasons. When Soph gets mind controlled it leaves a sort of remnant of the magic in his head and it also turns his eyes all black and spooky and he's very easy to manipulate after that especially.

[invinciblerodent]

as i was making my way through the Shar temple as Petyr in increments, I kind of couldn't stop thinking about how this whole thing is a real eye-opener of a formative experience for him.

he's got... very little experience with any organized religion. He grew up among druids (I feel like it's rather natural a fit for a rather neutral/neutral good-aligned ranger), so he wouldn't say that he's a believer of any one specific faith, he's more in the "well of course the ancient powers are in perfect balance as they should be. gods are real, yeah, but they too are just pieces in this game- larger pieces, but pieces nonetheless, just like you and me" school of thought. His "faith" is less one with tenets, and rules, and a deity, and more of a general, handwave-y type of... mystic spirituality, where it's okay for him to just be as decent as he can be (which, the bar is at roughly his ankles there), do what he strikes him as right, and the rest will sort itself out. (If he had any magical aptitude, he would be a druid, but he doesn't, so he isn't, basically.)

so I imagine his utter bewilderment reading Sharran texts for the first time, which is a bit after he's accepted that he has feelings that go beyond just simple attraction for Shadowheart. This guy, whose entire Thing is being adaptable, going with one's fancies as they strike, and a "live and let live/why exactly should I care, quickly" type of philosophy, is now forced to be confronted with the objective reality of a religion that (while he knew some about in a very general, abstract sense) not only is preaching things that are sort of the partial antithesis of what he believes in, but it is also... making Shadowheart act completely different from the way she is when they're alone together.

She's normally so fun. She trades those silly, flirty quips willingly with him, and despite the mischief, she really isn't as secretive as she likes to pretend she is. She's kind to animals, and likes pretty flowers. Her touch, while she is prone to prodding a bruise just because it's funny to watch him jump, it's -frankly- the warmest he's known in a very long time as well as... one of the first that isn't just a quick fuck/fwb/hmu-when-you're-in-town type of arrangement. She may tease, but she also fusses, and eases aches and pains that he's used to taking days in a mere instant, and, well, when her finger brushes the inside of his wrist as they sit by the fire, that's really nice.

The person he knows her as, they're a sweet, warm person with a lovely teasing edge, a "friend-but-something-else-too" who teasingly says things like how his presence makes her smile, and though the Shadow-Curse is weighing heavily on all of them, making them act strange (my hc is that all of act 2, they're all snappier, quicker to anger, more anxious and more prone to putting their respective feet in their mouths) this... ardent, reverential worship, especially of a goddess who sounds objectively pretty damn terrible, is kind of scaring him.

When he's thumbing through the books in the Silent Library, each sounding worse than the last (and the darkness and destruction of Reithwin heavy in his mind), he just... steals glances at her doing the same with that serene expression (as if languishing in grief and darkness is somehow a good thing), and he feels like he's seeing... almost a stranger, wearing her face.

He's more or less accepted that his casual interest has turned into him full-on falling for her the moment he handed her that night orchid, and laughed with her at her (kinda terrible) joke, and now there are these texts all about how... love is a disease, arson, and an insult to Shar's infinite darkness. No matter how he bristles at the word "love", that... must be a really strange feeling.

It'll be really thematically appropriate for the commitment dialogue to come at the heels of her casting Shar aside. And despite how dense he normally is (with his 8 INT/8 CHA combo), it really feels a little like he knew that this was going to happen at a point much sooner than she did.

Maybe it's a type of intuition. Maybe it's just wisdom. But learning about Shar after getting to know Shadowheart, yeah, it would be hard to see that Sharran ideal in her.

(They really went all the way in showing us early on that this is not right for her, huh.)

[rottenbrainstuff]

BG3 playthrough - Gauntlet of Shar + The Nightsong

Very nearly done act 2!!

Spoilers below the cut.

Did I ever mention that as I play, because I’m a fucking nerd, I’ve been writing down short little notes and journal entries from my tav’s point of view? What they were thinking and how they reacted in certain scenes? I highly recommend it if you’re also a fucking nerd, because it’s been fun.

The last loose end to tie up before the Gauntlet was completing Halsin’s little shadow curse quest. I think I might have skimmed too much info from Halsin’s introduction back in act 1 or something, this whole plot point and Halsin’s connection to the shadow curse and what Thaniel is exactly is a little vague and strange to me. Sorry buddy. I know it’s not your fault you have so much exposition to dump all the time… you really do seem like a lovely guy with your honey and your ducks. “Little” shadow curse quest, “little”, man the fight by the docks was a pain in the ass, even with Shadowheart’s spirit guardian spell helping out.

The design of Shar’s big temple is definitely…… distinct. I am not sure if I can say I personally enjoy it, it feels weird to me, this kind of modern, minimalist, sleek almost like I dunno giving me bauhaus vibes or something, in the middle of this otherwise very medieval world. Though I do not personally prefer it, I do appreciate that they went with a bold and distinctive choice. I bought the DLC pack that includes the art book, but I haven’t gone through it yet because I didn’t want to see art for areas I hadn’t visited yet. When I’m all done the game I can’t wait to go through and check out the design work.

I know it’s a bit ironic for me, a consummate and obsessive savescummer, to say this, but once again: don’t be too afraid to fail dialogue checks, a lot of the dialogue has interesting outcomes if you fail.

Anyways, the actual Gauntlet… was I the only one who found it kinda… anticlimactic? I was disappointed the trials weren’t harder. Even the library of silence was weirdly easy (I was able to snipe that black hole thing undetected from the doorway and vaporize it before the fight even started, removing the silence condition, and then it’s just mopping up). The only really challenging encounter I’ve found in this area at all was the fight right before Balthazar’s room, because it was tricky to take out all the black hole things in one round, and everything else has been solidly myeh. I was SO excited to have to fight copies of my party, but I snuck everyone into sniping spots and basically finished everything off before they even had a chance to fight back, because the HP was so low. (I mean was that supposed to be the point? We were specifically fighting our past lives, was it supposed to make me contemplate how much more powerful I am now, or how sad it is to basically slaughter my past self?...) I mean I *am* playing the game on easy mode, maybe these challenges are more significant on higher difficulties. Or, as much as I say I was disappointed, maybe I would have been frustrated if it was harder, because at this point I kind of really just want to hurry up and finish the Nightsong stuff so I can fight Ketheric.

I read online and found people discussing the self same trial and how difficult it can be. They were even listing all these tips for how to make the fight easier, like unequipping all weapons and armour before you enter the room to make the copies weaker. Like. I dunno. I *AM* playing this game on the easy setting, so maybe it’s different, but like, yeah. The copies had a FRACTION of my hit points, they were two levels lower, and they all had lower stats. I sniped them from hiding spots, and I was able to kill every single copy before they even got a turn in battle. I dunno man. Maybe it’s an actual fight on higher difficulty levels. Maybe this is one time where playing on easy was a bad choice.

So far I have found two hidden areas that are only accessible via a featherfall jump from a higher platform, am I missing anything else?

And I finished all the Nightsong stuff. Now I’ve freed the hot aasimar lesbian, hooray! Once again, another writing issue: I read a plaque that said to the effect of “spill the blood of Selune and become a dark justiciar” or something, and my journal updated to declare that we had discovered from plaque that the Nightsong is not a relic, but a woman trapped in a cage! Em no we did not discover that. I love this game so much but it does make me just ever so slightly sad that act 2 has all these rough little edges on it. I wish they had had the time to smooth things out just a LITTTTLE bit more.

I was very surprised to see that Shadowheart will decide to spare Aylin all by herself, without you stepping in to say anything. I wanted to see the dark justiciar option first, then reload and spare Aylin, so I decided to just stand back and watch and I picked the ��do nothing” dialogue options. I was surprised to see her throw away the spear. It actually took some effort to convince her to go through with it. Good for you, Shadowheart. That’s really interesting. (I wonder how it goes with Astarion’s choice with the ritual) Holy smokes that fight with Balthazar though. I almost got a TPK because I was being really fucking stupid. I forgot, stupidly, that he is undead, and it just didn’t occur to me to get Shadowheart to turn undead. So he kept casting cloudkill on our asses. Once I stopped being stupid it was a pretty standard fight. Holy smokes.

My oldest kiddo has played all the Dragon Age games and she’s been telling me about how the games are similar and how they’re different - I wish there were changes to BG3 companions when you romance them, like how she mentioned they get different outfits in Dragon Age. Maybe a romanced companion could have something added to their tents at camp. Like some flowers for Shadowheart’s camp, wine and books for Astarion, I dunno, just some little token that’s implied you put it there, something like that. Actually that makes me think too… I once played a game where you could kind of make friends with all the residents of this village, and as you made better friends with them, their houses would get decorated with greenery and lights outside as your approval went up. It would be neat if, as you gained approval even with unromanced companions, it would cause their tents to change and be improved. Or what if there were specific items you could give all the companions as gifts? Like the way you can give Shadowheart the night orchid and the shar statue. What if everyone had special items somewhere hidden in the game? It’s selfish I guess - this amazing game that already has so much detail in it, and I’m just thinking about MORE things that I want? But it WOULD be neat…..

My act 1 map is gone now so I can no longer visit the tiefling graveyard I set up at the monastery. Sigh. Next up is storming Moonrise with the harpers, and I am SO SO CLOSE to being able to free my sad old man from the dungeon.

[syrips]

this is years old yet you're like one of the only people i know that has said the gur and monster hunters part. like FINALLy someone else said it, thank you!! i know the joke online is 'haha cazador is hunter what a basic name' but there are SO many references to his connection to a group of hunters that the game is basically saying this is not a coincidence or 'one time thing' at all

ramble about cazador and act 1-3 spoilers below

i mean seriously, even the item in his BANK vault is a Gur/hunting item. astarion got attacked by a group of Gur. cazador works patiently and hidden underneath networks, especially working with those that are expected to protect innocents from evil beings like him. his literal underground/sewer/rat references and connections are also a parallel to this.

cazador's theme and symbolism is connected to a 'rat'. and not in the 'vile' way, but in the way that an animal roams and communicates underground. they are not hidden, but rather accepted as a 'boring/normal' part of life and shrugged off if roaming through a city. shrugged off by commoners, nobles, and guards, 'as long as the rat does not bother me,' which he and his connections make sure of - because that is saved only for their prey.

a rat reference in act 2 emphasizes this as well. i dont think its a coincidence, but in the shar temple, the rats scattered everywhere are like 'all are one' or something. we literally see their union, connection, and desire to destroy the light in this place of the shadows. a place where, selune, the deity of light and revealing the truth, is looked down upon - where light can also be its own symbolism here. this place, is a place where secrecy, thievery, and deception are welcomed and accepted, with the rats under one mind - one leader.

doesnt that sound familiar? is that not what cazador and his networking does? connecting with others and working in a system where he is the master? it's obvious that he has a group of allies that help him out - malicious, betraying, treacherous people who label themselves as hunters. hunters that innocents are expected to feel safe with, and twists it so that those innocents are very easily cazador's prey. he teaches his vampire spawn to do this as well, the deception and manipulation of protection, security, and safety. he's been allied with malicious hunters for at least two centuries, so i highly doubt he only 'borrows' a couple of hunters for 'one time hit jobs'. he's been patiently planning every single sacrifice he's been collecting, for centuries; so, having a generational group of hunters on his side seems definitely high in his long term investment

ive said it before too, that this game has deep lore stuff and is implied to be developed in english, so these names were probably chosen with thought and consideration. but yea rambling done i forgot the point of this post hehe thank you op ok goodbye

I’m sure I’m not the first one who’s pointed this out but I haven’t seen anything on it so I’m just gonna bring it up anyway

As we all know, Astarion’s master’s name is Cazador, yeah

Cazador isn’t just some fantasy name pulled out of nowhere - it is in fact an actual Spanish word

Anyone who’s played Fallout: New Vegas has heard and seen the giant mutated tarantula hawks, the Cazadors - their name isn’t something pulled out of nowhere either

Cazador is the Spanish word for hunter or huntsman, which checks out for FNV’s Cazadors since they’re tarantula hawks, a kind of spider hunting wasp

And ofc, this name makes sense for Baldur’s Gate’s Cazador as well, seeing as not only does he hunt people as a vampire, but he also works very closely with the Gur - known monster hunters

A clever choice in a name, and one I suspect we’ll be seeing in more detail in the near future

[shadowstalker732]

ALRIGHT LETS GIVE THIS POSTING THING A GO

MY REVAN TIME (one of them at least)

Also spoiler warning a guess for a game over a decade old? (Am I meant to say spoiler warning? Who knows not me)

(Please don’t yell at me about stats I do what I want)

Anyway first playthrough where I don’t stop and hard restart Tarris or Dantooine 13 times because choice reasons and me forgetting that stealth is useless and just letting the game auto level for me (learnt that the hard way), I’ve basically done Tatooine but I haven’t beaten the dragon yet cos I wanted to bugger off to another planet first and chose Kashyyyk. And I’m down in the shadow lands now (do not worry Zaalbar I WILL GET YOU BACK) and yeah that’s where I’m at.

ANYWAY, Shay or Shar Stalker (because the game won’t let me do non-binary) is a light side Revan. Good of heart dumb of ass and yet will still rob you dry if you place bets on a strategy game against them. Height wise around the 1.6m mark (5′3″ for the Americans). Prefers the double lightsaber look (currently got a short green one and a normal blue one for amnesia version). Not a flirt but definitely had something going on with my Exile in the past but that ended in the Mando war at some point… teenagers in war don’t usually do well mentally wise.. back story and post events of Kotor under the cut (also warning it’s long, like super long, and goes into their future story? As well)

SO BACKSTORY,

Shar got some Mando blood floating in their veins from some ancestor and that causes them to go full buir sometimes hence why Mission, Zaalbar, HK-47, T3-M4 and Juhani get bed time stores aboard the Ebon Hawk and chocolate space milk whenever they stop (Rev gets some too because who doesn’t love some good old Choccy milk), droid duo get cleaned basically daily while Bastila gets the bird for even thinking that this is a waste of time and resources.

Wait I said backstory… TEMPLE LIFE!

Rascal trio with Exile and Alek at their heels. All three, good of heart dumb of ass. Shar was a prodigy and excelled in basically all Jedi subjects at the time, was pretty popular with most people and just a nice person who didn’t stand for bullshit. Got into a few “heated” (honestly that’s an understatement) arguments with council members about how some things in the galaxy were handled but mostly had a positive response from people. At this time their main saber was purple and their off hand a short cyan. Joined the Republic in the Mandalorian wars a few months before their 17′th birthday. Didn’t not return to the Temple once after leaving for war.

The War 

(I should mention I get most of my knowledge from wiki skims (not deep reads) and other Tumblr posts so if it’s off canon… it’s my story and Star Wars is my sand box so I MAKE THE RULES HERE BABY!)

After many battles and the relationship between the battle trio growing stronger with time it was also weakening. At one point Shar and Exile had a romantic relationship going but only kept that going for a few months, they both decided that this was not the time to be doing this and if they both survived would actually give the lovers thing a shot (doesn’t happen). Throughout the war all three realise that they must make sacrifices to stop the war, the old saying “sacrifice one to save the many” is said often between the three at first before it becomes second nature. During one of the battles Shar’s cyan lightsaber is completely destroyed including the crystal being completely shattered. After taking the mantle of the Revanchist only uses the name Revan and never removes the helmet unless it’s only the trio and only then will respond to their old names. All three are slipping mentally in this war but have all managed to hold onto the Light side by trusting each other. After the mass shadow generator event Revan looses all contact with Exile (force and otherwise) and assumes death, despite it being Revan’s own order it’s a major pushing point towards the dark.

The End of the War

Revan faces off against Mandalore the Ultimate and slays him, in his dying breathe speaks of the Sith Empire growing in the Unknown Regions and how this war wasn’t only about giving the Mandalorian’s a good fight but also to weaken the republic for Ultimates Empire allies. Not many Mandalorians knew of the Sith truth behind the war and just followed their Mandalor’s word that this war would bring them the honour of a good fight, and it did in a way. After Revan learns of the empire growing hidden amongst uncharted routes, knew that the council would never believe them and so took matters into their own hands. Taking a fleet and insisting it was to chase down the last of the Mandalorian high command, Revan left for the unknown regions.

The Unknown 

Yeah everything went to shit. Rev and Alek get captured and Sith tortured and kind probed by old man Sith Emperor but in that time Revan gains acute knowledge via reverse mind prob, of how the Sith empire is running, where resources are coming from and key weak points. During this time Alek falls completely and Revan fains it for now. Torture continues for a good while until Revan makes the choice that they have been making all through out the war “sacrifice one to save the many”… Revan embraces the dark side and makes a plan, a plan to empower the known galaxy enough to destroy the “true” Sith empire by uniting it as their own Sith empire. Revan knows light will always rise to face the dark and that the light side is strong, someone will rise to take them down after the “true” Sith empire is defeated and only in death will Revan have fulfilled their promise to the unknown Mandalorian and finally be able to be one with the force. Revan embraces the dark fast and is soon sent off by the Sith emperor who thinks Revan is under his control to take control of the star forge and start building the Sith army in the known galaxy, Revan assumes command with now Malek as their right hand.

Beginning of Darth Revan

Basically what is described in the first Kotor game, Darth Duo go find star maps, get to forge, start fucking up the galaxy yadeyadeya. Malek pulls a sick move and fucks up Revan’s plan to stop the Sith Emperor and boom Amnesia time baby. Oh also during Sith times used a red and their old purple lightsaber but when they got captured by Bastila both lightsaber’s goy yoinked and locked up on Coruscant for simple reasons. 

No Memory Time Baby

Council is smart as fuck and call them Shay Stalker AKA their old name to see if that will reawaken light memories or thoughts in Revan and basically try and nudge amnesia Rev to stay lightside cos they don’t want to see their lost padawan fall back to the dark, (Jedi are a complicated subject), also ONLY SHAY no mention of their other name Shar at all! So that will cause problems later for poor Rev when they start remembering things :), basically the game from here on. Memories of a calm life on a farming planet before joining the military, lost both their siblings (AKA Alek and Exile) while away on service. Joined to stop the Sith from taking any more innocent lives. Throughout the game Shay try’s to help as many people as they can and choose the option that will benefit good and innocent people, constantly says fuck to corporations and nasty people, is not afraid to kill a bitch. As I haven’t completed the game fully (but I am planing a lightside finish and I’m not exactly sure when the “I am Revan” bit comes in I’m gonna leave this as it is. Oh and blue main saber and a short green saber with a crystal they managed to purify (AKA was red but returned to its natural colour through meditation and force cleansing, also helped by Bastila)

Memories

Like I said I haven’t finished the game yet BUT after the whole “oh fuck oh stars IM REVAN?????” Lots of shit starts to make sense and the force “spell” (I’m gonna call it spell) that repressed Revan’s memories had already begun to weaken somewhat before this point but this kinda opens the flood gates but not too far just enough for it to not make any sense at all. Team is there for Rev and the game finishes lightside. (Also I know I said this rev not gonna romance but this is post game stuff now and I just don’t wanna romance Bastila in game so yeah) ANYWAY, Revan and Bastila build a healthy relationship together and Revan starts to regain a lot of memories that their friends help them through. Revan remembers why they took the name Revan and actually goes to Coruscant to the high council to explain why they put on the helmet in the first place and the Council adheres to Revan’s request and returns the original helmet. The Star forged one stays in storage for now. Revan also requests their old armour and lightsabers to help regain memories as to why they fell, the council is hesitant at this request and only allows Revan to meditate with their old things at the main temple with a council member present. Over one or two years a lot comes back but there is still a few key dates, names, moments and details missing. Oh and Revan uses force powers to make Bastila preggers. IF BOBA FETT CAN SURVIVE A SARLAC AND PALPATINE CAN EXIST IN THE SEQUELS. REVAN CAN PULL FORCE BULLSHIT TOO!

The Unknown part 2: Electric boogaloo 

Revan finally remembers what made them go dark and realises they fucked up their own plans pretty bad and the Republic IS WORSE OFF THAN HOW IT STARTED COS OPPS REVAN ACCIDENTALLY KILLED A SHIT TON OF FORCE USERS LIGHT AND DARK SO yeah. Bastila was holding the brain cell of the force bond in this moment and Revan decides the best course of action is to go face the Emperor alone… fucking brilliant Revan how the fuck did you win the Mandalorian wars again my good sir? Revan tells Bastila that they (Rev) has been assigned a mission to infiltrate the remanence of Revan’s old Sith Empire and basically destroy it from within and that this mission is basically so hush hush that Bastila isn’t meant to know but Revan thought it only fair to say that they would be gone for potentially a long time for this mission and Bastila, unaware that this would be the last time she saw them, accepted this goodbye and hoped they would return before their baby was born. But Revan has always been a good lier… even to themselves. Without anymore fuss they left the Known Galaxy leaving all their friends and family behind never to be seen again to face off against the bitch that started it all. (I haven’t read the novels or played the SWTOR game and never plan to do either so again I say this is wiki knowledge that I’m doing what ever I please with that knowledge because Star Wars is a sand pit and I’m the kindy kid that’s decided to sit and play with it today)

Mmmmm Watcha SaaaaaaaAy

Revan gets their ass handed to them and imprisoned for three hundred years and tortured and mind probed AGAIN. Also cut off their connections to any other force user to ensure old dude couldn’t get to them as well. Absolutely not having a good time here. After the 300 years of PAIN the force within Revan gets so fucked up that their physicality splits into two entirely separate beings, Dark Revan and Light Revan. When this happens the prison breaks and Light Revan makes their escape and gets out barely alive while Dark Revan hangs back and swears allegiance to Sith Empire and starts plotting to overthrow old dude cos Sith. Light Revan makes it back to the council and they heal them and have a very hard time believing they are Revan until Revan perfectly describes a gift they gave Bastila before they left that now a descendent of Revan now owns. The council doesn’t understand how Revan split into two entire different beings but accept “the force acts in mysterious ways at times”. Revan is FINALLY given knighthood and helps prepare the republic for the Sith Empire that hasn’t attacked yet but definitely will soon. And this is where Tarre comes in.

Mando Time Yeah!

My Tarre will get his own beefy post (def not as big as this one) maybe tomorrow or the next day so for now it’s just what Tarre does and means to Revan. ANYWHO, Tarre becomes Light Revan’s padawan. (I should mention that Light Revan despite being called Light Revan is leaning towards a grey area within the force but isn’t down right evil like dark Revan is. Dark Revan is killing puppies of an endangered species cos their bored evil). Tarre is Revan’s padawan and becomes a knight. Revan enjoys teaching Tarre about the force and understanding how Tarre was brought up a Mandalorian and with the peace between Jedi and Mandalorian’s at this point was welcomed into the Jedi temple later than most. Revan raises Tarre like he is their own son/little brother and they form an extremely powerful force bond because of it. I’ll go in depth on Tarre’s post but Tarre still gets Mando training for 4 months of the year but the jedi training is the rest of the year. Revan joins Tarre when he return to Mandalore to continue his Mando training and learns more about Mandalorian history and culture while there. While on Mandanlore Light Revan truely feels relaxed for once despite random Mando’s sometimes jumping out and challenging them to fights because apparently Revan is now a ghost story and a feared mighty warrior legend and when anyone finds out that Revan is “alive” immediately tries to prove that they are stronger than Revan (which they are not). A few years after Tarre is knighted the war with the True Sith Empire begins.

I don’t know what to call this bit sooooo UWU

Battles, fights, old shit, it’s a war. Revan proves to be supper fucking useful in leadership but doesn’t do as much “sacrifice one to save the many” moves anymore. Revan keeps predicting what the Sith are gonna do an THATS cos Dark Revan is leading the, and Revan knows Revan best but not the reverse. Light Revan knows how Dark Revan will act but Dark Revan doesn’t know how Light Revan will act since Light Revan technically includes Shay/Shar, Mandalorian War Revan, Amnesiac Shay, and post Amnesia. While Dark Revan is only really Darth Revan and post Amnesia so Light Revan technically outweighs Dark Revan. I’ve probably butchered that explanation or done it too late but that’s how it’s gonna be cos it’s midnight and I wanna finish this and post it today. ANYWAY, final battle between the Revan’s. They have a massive duel on the battle field and eventually Light Revan strikes Dark Revan down but also receives some pretty nasty injuries. Light Revan understands the need to be whole again and as Dark Revan “dies” reunites with that half of the force and Revan returns but Revan is so done, so fucking done with living and trying and they had a good run and now they have what was Dark Revan’s and Light Revan’s injuries all on one body and sure if Rev really tried they could probably suck the life force out of some Sith warriors to keep themselves alive but… they just don’t want to. Eventually Tarre finds the fallen Revan reunited at last and stays by their side as Revan finally lets go and becomes one with the force. After the battle Tarre brings Revan’s body back to the Temple to be burnt as Revan had requested but their armour, lightsabers, and other possessions would be taken to a place only Tarre knew of to be sealed away until a far descendent of Revan’s comes along to claim them as their own. The war isn’t over and Revan’s passing only fuels Tarre further into defeating the Sith empire that the republic eventually does after 20 years of war. 

Conclusion 

And that’s the overall story of this Revan, I know very long, very deep, wtf this is your second post after a what? 1 year break? Actually let me check… yeah nope about a year has passed since my Crash post. If you have made it this far thanks for reading my first ever “decent” post about something I’ve been developing for a while now in bits and pieces. Sorry it was so long but then again I did miss a lot of shit. If you want to interact and ask more questions about this Revan go ahead my ask box is open (don’t be weird tho and just cos I post long doesn’t mean you have to ask long unless it’s legit). I’ll try and get the Tarre post out tomorrow around this time too or earlier depends. Thanks again for taking the time to read my word vomit. Also sorry if there are any spelling mistakes I have missed.

Have a good one!