#more to say than Lae'zel who has nothing act 2.

[mephi-does-things]

Girl help I keep restarting my BG3 playthroughs the moment I reach act 3

[moghedien]

lae'zel, permission, and what she actually wants

the thing about Lae'zel is that she's always looking to someone to give her permission

basically her entire life up until the beginning of the game has been a fight to be allowed to live. she has to prove she's better than her peers. she has to prove that she's worthy of fighting for Vlaakith. hell, even when she was an egg, she would have had to prove she was worthy of hatching because if she'd been a bit late she wouldn't have even been allowed a chance.

she doesn't really do anything unless its what her goddess and her society allows and she'll do exactly what is prescribed. she bristles at any attempts to find a cure for the tadpoles that aren't going to the creche because that is what she is supposed to do as a good githyanki. anything else is a deviation from what is allowed, even if it might work.

so you look at her romance through that lens, it really sort of pulls everything together.

In the act one scene, she's still following the rules like a good devoted of Vlaakith. She will sleep with you one or two times if you ask her to, but will bristle at anything more than that. She's a totally typical normal githyanki after all (she isn't), and it isn't normal for githyanki to have any kind of serious romantic relationships. "love" isn't even a real thing, and is just a strange mental illness that cowards use as an excuse (all of these are things she actually believes at the beginning of the game based on various bits of banter and dialogue where she's reflecting retroactively on her previous beliefs). Straight up, anything beyond casual sex is not allowed, so she doesn't even question it as an option.

Then by the time you get to the Act 2 romance scene, Lae'zel's entire world has been upturned for unrelated reasons. She did everything as she was supposed to and nothing she wasn't and Vlaaktih betrayed her. Her entire culture and society betrayed her despite her never doing anything without their permission.

It seems like she is somewhat quick to accept that and switch her allegiance. Her entire existence was because Vlaakith gave her permission to exist, and then Vlaakith betrayed her no matter how devoted she was. So Vlaakith is a liar and she learns that Orpheus is a possible answer to solve the Vlaakith problem, so now she's committed to Orpheus.

It seems like a quick turn, but if you look at Lae'zel as someone who needs permission, then it makes more sense. Vlaakith can't give her that anymore, so she needs someone else to tell her how to live, so that becomes Orpheus, who of course conveniently isn't there to actually tell her to do anything. So she does as Voss says to try to save him and that becomes her entire life motivation. Because what else can she possibly do? She needs someone's permission to decide how to move on now.

By the time you get the Act 2 romance scene, Lae'zel is on this path, right? If you look at the actual Act 2 romance scene, its basically her asking for permission again. Not in the way you'd immediately expect, because while she is asking like, your permission to develop your relationship into something further, its not just you she needs permission from. She needs her societal expectations to give both of you permission.

To elaborate, you're a fucking wrench in all her expectations of what is right. You were supposed to be a one or two night casual fuck, and then she went and got fixated with you. She calls it an obsession. She says its bothering her more than Vlaakith's betrayal, more than her people hunting her, more than the worm in her head. Those are all problems that she has some instruction on how to address. You, she has no fucking clue what to do about. Rebel githyanki aren't exactly giving instructions on how to pursue romantic relationships with people while planning on how to take down Vlaakith. Even if they are more lenient and accepting of those kinds of attachments (which we have no idea if they are or not), she hasn't been around any of them long enough to figure that out.

In her feelings for you, she's confronted with feelings that to her culture are perverse and which she has no societal context for. Even if there was someone who might give her the go ahead to pursue that relationship, she has no idea who they might be. She's someone who's entire life has revolved around what she has permission to do within her society, and she finds herself drawn to do something that she has no way of even figuring out how to approach in an acceptable way.

And despite all of that, and all the complications around what asking more from you would mean from a githyanki standpoint, she still gets to a point where she wakes you up in the middle of the night and begs you to do something about it.

She's frantic and confused and its clear she doesn't even really know what she wants from you, so she asks you to prove yourself and fight her. Its not because she thinks you're too weak for her. She admits she finds you strong the first time she comes onto you. Alternatively, she basically negs you after having sex with her by calling you weak and a coward and she is more than pleased to have sex with you again after doing so. Strength or weakness has nothing to do with why she needs you to fight her.

She needs you to fight her because that's how she's always had to prove herself worthy of existence. Her entire life has been a series of peers and comrades she had to fight in order to prove that she could go on. So when she doesn't know what else to do about you and there's nothing else to tell her how to proceed, she needs you to fight and prove that you (and her) can go on.

But the thing about the duel you have, is that the outcome doesn't actually matter. Regardless, it does give her what she needs to know to go on your relationship, but not in any ways she expected. Regardless if you win or she does, she gets overwhelmed and realizes that she wants you and she wants you to want her. Something definitely starts to shift in her mindset after the fight.

If you win, she's alarmed by the contradiction that she should feel ashamed for having lost. If you lose, she's alarmed by the contradiction of feeling no joy in having beaten you. She realizes that she doesn't want to be doing the thing she's supposed to do (fight to prove her worth) and instead wants to protect you. She also says that she wants you to protect her, which is something that she only says if you lose the fight, which I think is notable and makes the shift a bit more obvious.

Because she only says it if you lose. You lost. You just showed you were weaker than her. And she still wants you to protect her. By all githyanki standards, you shouldn't even be worthy of living if you couldn't win the fight, but she not only doesn't want to see you hurt, but she wants you to see that she doesn't get hurt. Not only should this not make sense because you lost, but it is maybe the first time Lae'zel has admitted she doesn't want to have to rely only on her own strength. She wants to rely on you, even if you're weaker and couldn't beat her in a fight. That challenges everything she has ever believed in her life probably as much as being betrayed by Vlaakith did.

If you win the fight, she doesn't admit that, but I think the sentiment is still there. It just isn't something that she has to directly confront in the moment because you proved that you can protect her. In that instance, she's coming to terms more with the fact that she should feel weaker or ashamed but isn't. In either instance, she was asking for permission from her ideals on how to deal with the You problem. In either instance, she's confronted with something that challenges that. Either you fail to meet the expectations she thought she had, and she finds out she doesn't care, or she fails to meet the expectations of a githyanki soldier and she finds out she doesn't care. Because either way, she figures out she wants you more than she wants to be the good githyanki that does what she's supposed to and act like she's supposed to act. Being "obsessed" with you should be perverse and wrong, but she embraces it whether she has permission (from her society) to do so or not. That is an extremely big deal.

And even before we get into Act 3, there are some interesting beats here about Lae'zel's romance in Act 2 still. One of the two things I want to discuss is the kissing. After the main Act 2 romance scene, you get new dialogue options, including asking her to kiss you.

This is kinda where we get into my opinions on the best choices to make with her romance, and I'm aware that these are my opinions and people deciding to do other things isn't incorrect. I'm pointing this out because I'm gonna start talking a lot about choices soon and which ones I think are the best thematically and from a character standpoint. They are my opinions. You are allowed to disagree. I will however be defending and arguing my opinions here. You don't have to get angry or defensive if you did something else or don't agree with my conclusions.

Now, back to kissing Lae'zel. The notable thing about asking Lae'zel to kiss you is that her initial reaction is embarrassment. It's somewhat of a turn from how she is open about talking about your sexual encounters before this. The entire fight scene, which may have ended up with the two of you making out in the middle of camp until it faded to black, was seemingly in front of everyone and she had no concern about that.

Kissing just out of the blue though? She's shy about that.

Because just kissing for no reason is soft and pointless, really (and if you watch the Lae'zel kissing animations, they are all in fact very soft and sweet). You don't really need to do it. Before hand with the sex and whatnot, she fully has arguments about why that was ok and even beneficial for the overall task at hand. Soft little kissing though? There's no reason to do that unless she wants to. Hence her embarrassment.

Now, she won't kiss you in Act 2 when you ask because of her embarrassment. Not unless you persuade her to do it. You only have to persuade her once and if you succeed, the first time she is clearly nervous and looks around uncomfortably. In all honesty, it seems somewhat uncomfortable to persuade her especially given her initial reaction. I do, however, think its the best thing to do for her.

Yes, she's uncomfortable. She's uncomfortable with your entire relationship now because she's has no experience even knowing about a situation like this and from a githyanki standpoint, affectionately kissing in public for no reason is basically outing yourselves as being perverts. She also very, very clearly wants it. The way you persuade her, is by pointing out that she probably wants this. And if you succeed in pointing that out to her, she is smiling and afterward when you ask her to kiss she is clearly happy and very soft about it all.

If you don't persuade her, I believe you can still kiss her without the check if you wait until after the Act 3 scene, so she is clearly comfortable with it at some point. Persuading her might seem like you're pushing her past her comfort zone. That's honestly why I didn't do it for a while. But looking at how she reacts after the fact and what happens after, I do feel like its not so much pushing her out of her comfort zone. Its more challenging her to push against her initial ideas of what she thinks she should do and instead encouraging her to do what she wants. More on that later.

The other romance beat that happens in Act 2 occurs some time after the main scene in camp, when she get about as vulnerable as she's been yet. She asks you for softness. She wants to be with you and she doesn't want the rough, passionate, hedonistic type of night that has been all of your relationship up until this point. She asks for gentleness, softness, and she's terrified. She says outright that its terrifying for her to ask this and she's been working up the courage to do so.

This is meaningful in multiple ways, because its not only a sign that your physical relationship is becoming something more than just sex. Its a sign of how much Lae'zel has changed. Because Lae'zel is someone who needs permission in everything. Up until this point, we haven't seen her ask for permission, she simply waited for her betters to give it to her and denied herself if they didn't. When it was someone who isn't above her, she makes demands. She doesn't ask permission. Ever. Now she outright asking you for permission to be gentle and soft. She didn't just need to build up the courage to be soft. She needed to build up the courage to ask to be allowed something she wanted.

As I stated before, I think Lae'zel's instinct is to not take into account what she actually wants, but to just go ahead with whatever she thinks she's supposed to do. That's how she was raised and indoctrinated after all. Gently pushing against her first reactions to things allows her a chance to push against that instinct of behaving how she was indoctrinated to behave. I think her asking for a softer touch is a sign of this changing for her. The Act 3 scene is even more so.

The Act 3 romance scene is sort of the height of Lae'zel's character growth. One thing that makes me sort of sad is that I feel like you don't really get to see the fullness of her character unless you romance her. That's true with other characters I've romanced so far to some extent, but not as much as with Lae'zel.

But here you romanced Lae'zel, so you get to see her admitting how much her perceptions have changed because of you helping her see things differently. She has different perspectives and she finds beauty and bliss in things she used to find dread in. She loathed the sun, and now drags you to a roof top just to stare at it coming over the horizon (please don't stare into the sun). She finds herself liking Faerun and the colors in it. She admits all of this before she brings up what she actually wanted to talk to you about.

Lae'zel has no terms in which to describe your relationship. She doesn't know about dating (or courting) or marriage and she doesn't actually even know what the word love means. She doesn't ever say the word until six months later in the epilogue, but what she's describing to you on how she feels is without a doubt love and what she's asking of you is more or less marriage. She doesn't have the terms or any cultural context to make it easier to ask, but she wants you to stay with her, whatever happens. That's the only way she can really describe it. Staying with her. Because even if you've only actually known each other a short time, you might be the most constant thing she's ever had in her life, and she's probably terrified of what it means when the Absolute is dealt with and there is no mission keeping you together. She isn't asking for permission now to stay with you, but is asking for you to stay with her. Where you might be and doing what, who knows, but she is for the first time just pursuing something she wants that she hasn't been given explicit permission for beforehand.

And then, we get to saving Orpheus.

This is where my thoughts might get controversial, but as I said, you're free to disagree but I'm arguing for my ideas here.

I'm not sure how any of this changes if you go a different route in the final parts of the game, so I can really only speak on the options you get if you saved Orpheus and he became Illithid.

So you do the thing that Lae'zel has been lead to believe she needs to do and free Orpheus. I personally cannot blame the man's attitude given his being imprisoned for who the fuck knows how long and the fact that he is still willing to sacrifice himself. However, it is clear that he is perhaps not quite as understanding as Voss lead you to believe he would be. Given that he tells you that you should have let his guard kill you if you were actually on the same side as him, which notably would have doomed everyone and lead to the Absolute's victory. But again, centuries of imprisonment, we cannot blame the guy.

The point I want to make with bringing that up at all, is that, even in these little bits of conflict that don't really amount to anything in game, its a crack in the ideal of Orpheus. He isn't every grand thing that Voss promised you and Lae'zel he would be. He's not bad here and gives us no reason to think he is, but its a crack. Lae'zel didn't have any reason to doubt Vlaakith or see her imperfections until it was too late, after all. I'm not saying the two are equals, but Lae'zel went from worshipping an evil false-goddess to holding up that goddess's enemy in similar reverence in a shockingly short amount of time. The girl jumped from a cult that worshipped one powerful figure to a radical rebel movement that held up another. And we immediately see little tiny cracks in the facade of Orpheus.

Lae'zel won't. Lae'zel doesn't know how to be anything but utterly devoted to the highest figure of authority she sees as worthy to follow. Lae'zel won't know to be wary. But you should be wary as fuck about what Orpheus is going to ask of her.

Cut to the end. We win, the absolute is defeated, yay! Mind Flayer Orpheus is asking Lae'zel to kill him and take up his mantle and lead his rebellion against Vlaakith.

In that moment, you have really two options. Technically there are multiple dialogue options, but really there are two. You can let her go (and potentially go with her) or you can persuade her to stay. If you tell her to do what she wants, she and you will leave on dragons to fight the rebellion against Vlaakith.

I do not think this is what Lae'zel wants.

When Orpheus is giving her this duty, she doesn't look happy about it. She just finished the single most traumatic event of her life, which turned everything upside down and completely shook who she is as a person. Now she is being handed what she had said she wanted. The means to free her people and defeat Vlaakith. She has a silver sword. She's being given not one, but two red dragons. And she just looks fucking sad. She looks exhausted as Orpheus is commanding her to do this.

She is someone who has never lived a life where she was able to want her own goals or life. She was Vlaakith's. Now she's being ordered to carry Orpheus's legacy. And I do believe she wants to stop Vlaakith and save her people from her control. But she is being given all of the burden of doing so and commanded to begin immediately upon completing her previous ordeal.

Lae'zel has been following orders her entire life. She isn't one to even consider what she actually wants and instead does what she thinks she's supposed to do. So when Orpheus tells her to do this, she is going to obey the authority figure like she was been indoctrinated into doing. When you ask her what she wants, she will say you're coming with her because she's at least broken away enough to do that but not to consider that she doesn't want to go.

Gently pushing against Lae'zel's immediate reactions, as I said, is I think the way to get her honest, genuine desires. If you persuade her to stay and disobey Orpheus, she does seem suddenly energized. She will then say that her destiny is not for Vlaakith or Orpheus to decree. Her destiny is hers alone. Neither Vlaakith nor Orpheus will give her permission to do that, but you can. She doesn't obey you. You aren't an authority figure and you have probably shown yourself to be weaker than her at several points in the game. But you still give her permission to choose her life and she accepts that.

And this, is how you break the Lae'zel out of the cycle that she finds herself. in. The only way she isn't perpetually bowing down to some authority figure is if she stays in Faerun. Because she escaped the authority of Vlaakith and immediately went to Orpheus, who now she can't even escape because he's dead and she is the one holding up his legacy on his behalf. She can't choose to leave once she's accepted that responsibility, and she frankly does not look like she wants to accept that responsibility.

If she stays on Faerun, she is still fighting Vlaakith. Not only because she is literally hunting down and murdering Vlaakith's forces, but she's living completely free of Vlaakith's influence in a way she couldn't otherwise. She isn't living under Vlaakith's rules, nor having to live in direct antagonism to Vlaakith's rules by forming a new society from scratch for the githyanki. She's just living. Occasionally going and massacring Vlaakith's soldiers as a means of survival, but otherwise just living how she wants and with who she wants. And in theory, she could go and join the rebellion proper any time in the future. If she stays, her future isn't certain, and that, I think, is the best thing for her.

In the epilogue, if you are with her on Faerun, its clear she doesn't really let herself rest still. She busies herself (and you) by tracking down Vlaakith's forces to eradicate, and she tells you of another one she found, noting that she can't rest for long. You have the option to push against this gently, suggesting taking some time off. No persuasion needed. She not only agrees to take some time off, but she immediately has a vacation suggestion which she has clearly been looking into and is excited to check out. But Lae'zel is not someone who is going to consider what she actually wants. She's going to suggest what she thinks she should be doing, but with some gentle push back, will let you know what she actually wants.

Because you're not really rejecting her ideas when you push against the instincts that have been indoctrinated into her. You're giving her permission to decide what she wants to do, and Lae'zel is always someone looking for permission.

[autistichalsin]

Some of my favorite voice lines (either because of the lines themselves or because of Dave's delivery) from this collection of every line Halsin had in the game (and some he technically didn't because they weren't Halsin lines at all, but lines other characters have that they had Dave record for some reason):

5:07 "Fancy a b-oink? Indeed, you'll be hard-pressed to find a joke I haven't."

8:26 "I am Halsin. First Druid of the Emerald Grove. And I am here to VISIT NATURE'S FURY UPON YOU!" (From his revenge scene if the grove is raided- just, brilliant acting, gives me the chills every time. Give Dave an award please)

10:10 "Karlach. I am glad you can enjoy the touch of another once again. And I hope you are afforded much more time than you've been told. A lifetime and more, if I have a say in it."

17:33 "Lae'zel could not have wished for a finer companion by her side. You truly love her, I can tell. Just... keep each other safe, please."

25:05 (Tav or Durge line) "Yeah, she's not coming back."

27:44 "Shadowheart. These truths that have been revealed to you... I know they must be painful. But Oak Father as my witness, I know you are strong enough to bear them. You need not walk this path alone."

34:08 "I am sorry, Gale. You tried. Mystra was wrong to turn on you, no matter what mistakes you made in the past."

35:57 "Time can prove to be a trickster on one's recollections. What would be multiple lifetimes for others now separate me from my captivity. Perhaps I have lost perspective on what happened to me."

39:06 "Re-education. As if this sect has not mangled poor Shadowheart's mind enough already."

41:59 "I need you!"

47:08 (Shadowheart line) "Let's see what comfort we can offer a grieving mother."

47:57 "You have carried this burden for too long already. I simply do not believe that ceremorphosis is the only course left to you! Orpheus must help us." (He is so protective of the player 😭 )

52:03 "We need to be gone from here- now!"

53:10 (Tav/Dark urge line) "In my name." (Amazing acting for that line, makes me wish SO BAD we could have Origin Halsin)

1:04:13 "A mindflayer?! What foul trickery is this?"

1:04:20 "I am no stranger to the Underdark. Cruelty comes to Lolth's followers as naturally as breathing. I have seen it- experienced it." (You can tell he still holds so much grief and anger over what happened to him in the Underdark.)

1:04:32 "Do not yield, Karlach. The world has need for you yet. I have need for you yet. Please." (The way his voice breaks here just wrecks me.)

1:10:13 "Let our enemies' corpses nourish the ground!"

1:13:20 "Gale, what's troubling you? We're nearly at the end, I know it."

1:14:52 (Tav/Dark Urge line) "That's what was in there? Those little shits."

1:21:26 "You have upended nature's balance. Only your death can restore it!" (From the Halsin revenge scene.)

1:24:31 "Last Light fell because you could not control the violence in your heart. All those people perished because of what you did to Isobel. You must try harder. You must be better."

1:24:26 "There must be no more Yennas."

1:25:39 "No, it's wooden. Um. I suppose it burns if you find yourself in dire need of kindling, but I hope it does not come to that." (Referring to his whittled duck)

1:35:12 (Karlach line) "Rest in peace, Astarion. You may have been a bloodthirsty murderer, but I liked you all the same."

1:37:03 "Death is nature's final slumber. It awaits us all. Do not punish yourself over those lost, or give in to despair. Not while there are folks in need of your help."

1:40:57 "Do not yield, Karlach. Stay with us. Stay with the ones who love you." (Just breaks my heart. 😭 )

1:43:28 "You deserve so much better, but alas... I understand. Do as you must."

1:57:27 "You seem to be mumbling to yourself- aren't I enough company for you?" (To Shadowheart)

2:08:57 "GLORY?! There's no glory here! Now there's nothing here. Only shadows, and the total absence of hope!"

2:09:37 "I see. Well. Perhaps not all friendships are destined to be balanced and reciprocal. But I remain eternally grateful for having met you, all the same. Rest well."

2:13:27 "We are. Yet there is a burden to being the survivor, the witness to others' tragedies. It only grows heavier with time."

2:16:26 "You worship Shar?! That umbral witch unleashed a plague of darkness on nature! Her followers slew many of my fellow Druids!" (So much pain and anger here.)

2:20:41 "It wasn't just power this needed! It was wisdom, understanding! I suffered along with this place for years trying to understand the curse! And it seems I will continue to do so."

2:21:46 Maniacal laughter (I can only imagine this happens if you get hit with Tasha's Hideous Laughter, and this one was incredible in that it SCARED THE SHIT OUT OF ME LMFAO I was so creeped out. HUGE props to Dave Jones for that one.)

2:26:15 (Dark Urge line) "In Bhaal's name."

2:33:13 "Poor creature! Locked in a cage, denied her true nature. Civilization would cause her a monstrosity, yet it treats her like this?!"

2:34:54 "What are you doing?! No!"

2:39:01 "Ah, but the glory can be found in the telling! The children love tales of underdogs, facing odds most unlikely! They shall appreciate your story, trust me."

2:40:20 "The Rite of Thorns? No..."

2:42:09 "I was not here to guide them. Now they rest forever, while I carry the weight of my failings."

2:52:35 "Nature cares little for nobility- it is pure artifice. But I can still hold some respect for Wyll's accomplishment. He shall be a fine duke, I am sure."

2:53:50 "Please. Don't sully the gratitude I feel towards you by making excuses for Kagha. My choice was clear."

2:56:01 (Orin-as-Halsin) "Please, wait. I did not want this. I could not stop it."

3:19:56 "Hmm. Perhaps I can substitute the bloodlust and, well, general lust for cuddles and animals in the retelling. The children will be confused, but no matter- they will soon be asleep."

3:23:38 "I am glad to have Gale back with us. The group would be poorer without his insights- and his company."

3:27:00 "That was no killing blow- far from it. What happened?"

3:27:49 "Silvanus guard us- what have you done?!"

3:29:58 "If this is what you truly want, I shall respect your wishes. But know that you shall not die, not truly. Nature's realm shall be yours- in the air, the trees, the waters."

3:32:27 "Don't do this! Your life!" (When a mind flayer character commits suicide in the ending)

3:34:47 Pained groaning (IDK it just sounded so damn real here, I could just imagine Halsin with a giant gaping wound or something here)

3:38:53 "The machine! It's going to blow!"

3:41:12 "Come on, you useless turnip!"

3:46:43 "You can still save yourself, Karlach. You can return to Avernus- it need not be forever. Just long enough to give yourself a chance..." (His voice sounds so small and pleading here 😭 )

3:48:12 (Dark Urge line) "In Bhaal's name." (Just a really good delivery)

3:48:54 "But... friendship is no consolation trophy. I cherish the bond we have forged. Whether it should grow into something else is... not for me to predict."

3:49:20 "Vampire spawn assailing us in the night? I thought we had ample troubles as it was. At least you are safe, Astarion."

3:51:00 "I was never afforded a chance to start a family of my own- serving nature always had to come first."

3:51:07 "You thought she was an imposter- a threat. This was a trap of Orin's creation. Yenna's death is on her hands, not yours."

3:51:22 "Your rage is most impressive, Karlach. If the lesson is not to provoke your temper, consider it well-learned."

3:59:04 "Ha! I suppose I did, didn't I? I was so focused on helping Thaniel that my sense of decorum was neglected."

4:06:02 "Truly? I thought you felt the same way as me. There was a connection, I-I was sure!" (Oh my god he sounds like he's fucking CRYING here and this legitimately made me whimper out loud and hide my face. I have NEVER needed to hug a character THIS BADLY before oh my god give Dave Jones all of the awards please)

4:17:03 "Oak Father, what did I do to deserve such allies?!"

4:18:03 "This... orb. Gale carries a most dire burden. I wish he had shared it with us sooner."

4:18:58 "Time for blood!" (In bear form)

4:19:31 "Karlach has had her mortality defined to her in most cruel terms. I do not know if we can help her, but perhaps we can at least be there for her."

4:23:19 "FINE!" (He just sounds so done lmfao)

4:23:20 "And yet, she fears there are none to inherit her work, so she goes on. Long life can be a burden at times- I know that well."

4:24:45 "You shall live on. And wherever I go, I shall feel your presence, and you mine." (To Origin Karlach in the ending- this whole scene would be really beautiful if they would just fix a few things)

4:27:55 "Your power is buoyed by a sea of innocent blood! I hope you are pleased."

4:28:26 (Tav/Dark Urge line) "In my name." (Gave me chills)

4:30:59 (Tav/Dark Urge line) "What in the hells, Astarion?! You bit me!"

4:32:39 "Remember, whatever evil is trying to control you, I know you are stronger. Resist."

4:35:08 Pained groaning and cries (They just sounded so real and painful)

4:37:11 "Dominate the brain! Do it now, or all is lost!"

4:47:46 "I will not go on without you!"

4:49:18 "Perhaps try attacking the enemy!" (He sounds so done lmfao)

4:49:25 "That contraption looks set to kill you, not save you! Get clear of it at once!"

4:50:27 "A cruel blow. Astarion loved feeling the caress of the sun, only now it gouges him with its claws. Perhaps we shall meet again, beneath the shield of darkness."

4:53:23 Maniacal laughter (Truly terrifying just like the other one)

4:58:49 (Yenna line [yes really]) "Where am I? I don't like this dream!"

4:59:04 "Nature bows to none. It will fight on and survive, no matter what madness your god has inspired you to undertake."

5:03:51 "Stuck, eh? Straight out of bawdy literature."

5:09:57 "Killing Orin won't bring Yenna back, but it may give her some peace, and me... a great deal of satisfaction."

5:11:26 "No! Have you taken leave of your senses?!"

5:15:27 "This may keep the city safe, but to seal all those unfortunates away forever? Death would have been more merciful."

5:16:44 "Stay your hand, Astarion! To sacrifice so many is a tyrant's ambition!"

5:16:52 "I... cannot imagine how you are feeling, Gale. For a goddess to ask a mortal to pay such a price... I am sorry for... for your burden."

5:19:44 "Immortal... and angered. What have I done...?"

5:20:43 "The power of the bear lies within me!"

5:22:47 "In that case, nothing more needs to be said. Farewell." (Said if a player who has low approval with Halsin at the epilogue party says they have no interest in taking the olive branch Halsin extended; I like this one because he sounds like a strange combination of sad and relieved at the same time, which is such a realistic combination of feelings!)

5:26:14 "Slain and stuffed. I would like to do the same to whoever's handiwork this is." (About a taxidermy baby bear)

5:26:19 "My heart grows heavy for Karlach. She can touch once more, yet is her remaining time to truly be so short? I shall pray to Silvanus that it does not come to pass."

5:32:10 "I... cannot imagine how you are feeling, Gale. For a goddess to ask a mortal to pay such a price... I am sorry for... for your burden. Though I wish you had told us of your predicament before."

5:36:33 (Orin-as-Halsin) "I lost control. I felt the bear take over, blood-crazed. And she forced me into a cage, along with... *sobs* with children, taken from the streets." (I think this one is a slightly different version than what ended up used? The sobbing is definitely more prominent if nothing else.)

5:39:28 "I hoped my friends would save me..." (Dave manages to make Halsin's body sound dead-corpse-emotionless and yet sad at the same time.)

5:39:45 "I hoped my loved would save me..." (Same as above)

5:41:08 "Your gold and your loins. Not for me to dictate what you do with either."

5:41:20 "You were not even born when Shar's followers slew my fellow Druids, or when her shadow curse tainted the land. I can get past those... but I truly wish you had trusted me sooner."

5:52:36 "No matter how long I live, I will never get used to the cruelty that infests our world. That such evil is allowed to breathe the same air as us is an abomination."

5:57:33 (Tav/Durge line) "In my name."

6:02:56 "Of course... somehow I'd hoped for a miracle, but of course... the only miracles are those we make ourselves." (He's talking about Karlach/her engine here)

6:03:57 "I was all too eager to surrender my responsibilities towards the Grove, and now it has been sealed away from the world! Perhaps I was never meant to be Archdruid... to be a leader."

6:08:29 "NO! Cease now, before you doom us all!"

6:09:22 (Dark Urge line) "In Bhaal's name."

6:20:05 "I shall endeavor to be more tactful when trying to make friends in future."

6:22:06 "You are afraid because you are alive, and you have something to lose. Hold onto that."

6:26:58 "You will not desecrate this grove! Not while I draw breath!"

6:33:00 "This need not be a parting, so long as you fight on. You and I can each roam apart, until nature compels our paths to cross once again."

6:41:42 "I shall miss him, though I hope he proves to be a kindly god. I've had my fill of the tyrannical sort."

6:42:29 "Do as you must, as shall I. We shall meet again. It is as sure as the break of dawn, or the spring thaw."

6:44:49 "And I have been evicted from the very place I was charged to safeguard. A telling summary of my time as Archdruid, perhaps."

6:45:47 "Stay with me, my love."

6:50:36 "Do not falter, I am here!"

6:51:15 "Karlach. I am sorry. I shall not try to soothe you with gilded words, but... know that I am here for you."

[some-thrilling-heroics]

shadowheart and halsin

so. the thing that i don't get (aside from the meta reason of 'they didn't write that in or record any lines' etc) is shadowheart and halsin in act 2 BEFORE she goes and spares the life of you know who

there are some jabs from halsin abt her yapping and reciting lessons like a student without understanding what she's saying and i know he is proud of her when she rejects shar, but before all that, i feel a distinct lack of conflict

shadowheart is perfectly happy to put her knife to lae'zel's throat and that whole thing where you can take sides and it's all bc the artifact she carries is for shar, that's her holy mission (plus she hates the gith on top of that)

why is there no similarly visible conflict between her and halsin when the setting is ripe for it? i would expect some comments abt helping him lift the curse - kinda like astarion says to fuck off and not expect his help with the gnome slaves (you can still have him in the party but he does complain abt us helping them) - and it could just be 'do not involve me in this, if he wants to waste his time going against the dark lady then that's his choice, but he will pay the price eventually' and then you don't have her in the party when you clearly are working to help him with the curse. also that comment he has on the old battle field when he sees the corpses - shadowheart could go 'that's what happens to enemies of lady shar. you should take note and stop your foolish quest' or some minor passive aggressive quips abt futility of it all.

now, i know shadowheart is a shitty sharran XD sure, but even with that in mind she does have a vibe of a pupil that is trying very hard for approval still and i think that would work for me as a motivator when there's nothing else to it. and i do think that she could be conflicted deep inside when she sees the effects of the shadow curse, but at least for the first half of act 2, maybe before the gauntlet she would outwardly not show that imo (plus then she does apparently share her doubts at the gauntlet, not that i ever saw that in game myself)

as for halsin. eh, on one hand he has zero issue with a vampire or a bhaalspawn and all that but imo a sharran would feel more personal than a random undead 🤔but afaik there's not much there.

perhaps he doesn't sees shadowheart as much of a threat (as, again, she is patently a very crappy sharran), but more a misguided person that needs patience to guide them away from a bad path. maybe he sees her internal conflict? i wouldn't expect him do that thing he does with minthara where it's either him or her bc he just wants to be anywhere but around minthara bc it's unsafe - but wouldn't seeing shadowheart's armor / regalia bring back bad memories? he's seen people wearing similar vestiges do horrible things. i think he would be very wary of her at least for the remainder of act 1 since joining the tadfools before he gets ....idk i don't want to say comfortable but idk.

once again, comments? thoughts? XD

[oops-all-concrete]

This was requested by @wine-effectao3 !!

BG3 characters react to the other companions story events/conflicts! These lovelies watch each other go through so much and I have so many HC's about how they feel/interact. There isn't a HC for every character combination, but I did as many as I have rn- I'm open to a part 2 👀

Spoilers for BG3! Enjoy the fluff ^^

(I don't have another image rn, so enjoy my necromancer durge; Ezerah)

Lae'zel -

Lae'zel tends to keep to her own affairs, so stays distant, but watching the Blade of Frontiers gain horns from the source of his commitment and power over what was essentially a mislead, a lie?? The thought of Vlaakith doing the same to her, makes her sick. But inspired her all the same, seeing him take it in stride. She always spoke highly of him as a warrior. Shadowheart gained Lae'zels sympathies as well after the fall of Ketheric. Both Wyll and Shadowheart never have to worry about their weapons being maintained and sharpened. Lae'zel gladly allows them both as much time to relax as she can.

Shadowheart -

Knowing she and Astarion have such similar stories makes the vampire seem a lot more...human, for lack of a better term. She understands that all his avoidance and irritation with immediate kindness isn't out of just being mean- he doesn't want to come off as vulnerable or easy to take advantage of ever again. She goes out of her way to make comments so people know the kindness is begrudging or hesitant, so people don't get that idea. He doesn't know she does that. She won't tell him either. And as much as they butt heads, Lae'zel would have a cleric at her side at a moments notice if she asked.

Wyll -

Watching a man like Gale (someone Wyll looked up to given his mastery of magic without need for a devil's pact) be told by his goddess his old lover- turn so cold as to ask for his death? Nothing makes him more hopeless. Wyll tried to take his mind off it by asking Gale about his home, asking him about plans, making sure he has them. Because Wyll won't let him sacrifice himself. On top of that, he feels awful for Karlach. She inspires him so much knowing what she went through in Avernus and survived, still giggling and dancing. As a lover of dance, he teaches her ballroom and formal dance, in turn, she teaches him house and breakdancing.

Karlach -

There is nobody she feels for in the camp quite like Astarion. She cannot stand the utter hopelessness, anger and betrayal in his eyes and voice whenever he speaks of Cazador, and how willing he is for help from a devil of all people. She knows that desperation. It hurts to see. She sh!t talks Gortash and Zariel with him, so he has an excuse to talk about wiping the floor with Cazador. She also likes watching Gale get excited whenever she asks him a question about- anything really. She hates when his big brown eyes get all sad, so she'll keep him occupied talking about weave and potioncraft and old scripture.

Gale -

While it doesn't bother Wyll so much, Gale is a mommas boy, and can't imagine not having her. He makes plans for his mother to meet Wyll. She makes amazing brownies, and every person should be able to enjoy a mothers baking. (Wyll loves Morena and visits her often after act 3. She loves him for keeping her son safe.) Other than this, watching Lae'zel and Shadowheart lose the admiration of their Gods hurts him personally. He knows that fall. Goes out of his way to make sure they don't lose hope. "Who's to say you can't still have a dragon? There's plenty around. Bigger. Scarier. Probably also hates mind-flayers. Perfect for a woman of your demeanour." He assures her. / "If its any consolation, I like the new hair, Shadowheart. Between you and me, you look much better with white hair than he does" He jokes.

Astarion -

As a man used to fixing his things (since they're all he's got) he goes out of his way to make sure Karlachs things are all in good shape. Clive gets torn at some point or other, and he's pulling out his fabrics and sewing set and wordlessly returns him to Karlachs tent, much to her relief. Neither of them have a lot- so of course he's going to maintain what she has. She deserves it. Also, Shadowheart telling her story hits home for Astarion a lot. Being vulnerable, scared and otherwise an easy target- and having your whole life turned upside down because someone took advantage of it? He becomes a lot more talkative with her. Even if it's just over wine and complaining. Oh, and of course nothing makes him happier than watching Lae'zel turn her back on Vlaakith. Go her.

Halsin -

Halsin has nothing but praise for Wyll. His endless kindness, his patience with the teifling children, his level-headedness in crisis- he is the leader Halsin wishes he was. Halsin also sees Astarions hunger for power. Halsin might not speak of it often, but he's had at least 3 years of what Astarion's suffered for 200, and he knows how much powerlessness feels like vulnerability. He let's the vampire know he's got a bear at his back, even if its met with an eye roll.

[eldritchelfwriter]

More Florwyn thoughts ... through late act 1 and act 2

Chapter 14 needs a bit more time in the oven, so instead enjoy part 2 of Florwyn's inner thoughts through Shadowheart Begins. (Part 1 is here).

Burning questions? Asks are OPEN.

=============

I knew it couldn't last, but still, it's a blow to hear it. I don't think Shadowheart knows all she should about this goddess of hers but how could I possibly tell her that? What I sense in her wound is only making me more sure that she is being deceived. But I can't tell her I hate her goddess but I ... love ... her. Gods, I'm already in deep. But we're probably all going to die soon anyway, I can't just let this moment in time with Shadowheart slip away.

Poor Lae'zel. I would give her a hug, if I thought she would accept it.

I never thought I'd get to see the Underdark for myself.

A storm oh gods not like this. Not like this. Gods I can't - no - no - not again notagainnotagain - need to find - Shadowheart -

I'm safe. She's safe. It's over.

But now she knows. What I did. Why did I tell her? Why did I show her that? Aren't I enough of a freak already?

An Arcane Tower, in the Underdark? Probably another Mystra fawn. I hope it's not a wizard, but with my luck ...

I - I don't know what to think, I don't know what to feel. Not El. Not here. Not after all this time. Not now!! Oh gods gods gods how do I get OUT OF HERE.

Bernard. It's - it's Bernard. How many times did he follow me around, bringing more hot chocolates than a little girl could handle? No I don't want to remember. I don't want to think about what he - we - we did to - to - NO. No more. It's over. It's over.

Why would she leave a code for me? Why did she leave me? Wasn't I good enough? Why why why after all this time WHY is she back and still making me miserable, when apparently she's already DEAD?

She knows, now. Shadowheart knows. And I know it's safe with her. She isn't judging me for what was done, what I had to do. I'm so relieved to be able to tell someone. I'm so glad it was her, that I told. She is becoming everything to me. I don't know how I will let her go.

Oh my heart. Did I share too much? Is she scared of me, now that she knows what I can do? Everyone always sees that I'm a freak in the end. Gods it hurts. Something has changed and I don't know what to do, and she won't talk to me. My heart is breaking. All I can do is cry myself to sleep and hope tomorrow things will be different. Or the day after that ... or the day after that ...

THIS is Shar? This curse? How can Shadowheart possibly worship a goddess that does - this? None of us believe Shadowheart chose this. And no one will say it to her face because we know how she'd react. But everyone thinks her memory wipe, and her wound, are beyond suspicious. And when she's saying something about Shar, it sounds like she's repeating something rote. It's not who she is. It isn't!!

I'm lucky Karlach can give hugs now because I've sure been needing them. She says Shadowheart will come round, but I'm not so sure. There's something horribly wrong, like she's ill or something. When I see her eyes, it's like she's not even there. And there's nothing I can do!! I want so badly to reach out - to hold her - but she keeps avoiding me. What am I to do?? And why, oh why, did she leave me? Did I do something wrong??

Karlach says she will talk to her while we're at Moonrise Towers.

I'm not ready to die. But I'm dying.

I'm dying. I'm dying. Shadowheart ...

Was Shadowheart here with me, or was that a dream? Oh gods I can't take it if she turns away from me again.

She was afraid of love? LOVE? All along? So, I did scare her, but not with my powers. I guess it makes sense, with all the Shar stuff, for love to be scary. I hate Shar for doing that to her. But I'm so glad everything's out in the open. I'm so glad she's talking to me and being honest with me. I know she feels the same, even if she can't say it. It's so good to see her back. It's so good to see her. It's so good to hold her. Even if we have to put things on hold for Shar.

I have a terrible feeling about Shadowheart's mission. A terrible, terrible feeling. I know what I said. I know what I agreed to. But I don't really want her to be Shar's at all. But I haven't a clue how to help her leave Shar behind. Isobel says I am doing the only thing that might work - loving her. But that's an easy thing to do! I wish I could do more. El taught me to pray to Mystra, but what did Mystra ever do for me? Should I pray to Selune perhaps? Shadowheart would kill me if I did. Not literally. She wouldn't kill anyone just for talking to Selune. ... would she?

This place makes my skin crawl. I can feel Shar all around, like a sickness in the air. And Shadowheart is set to become a Dark Justiciar. And then, she will be out of reach, gone from me forever, to Shar and her wickedness. None of the others like it either, but what are we to do? Tie her up and prevent her from achieving her life's goal? She'd never forgive us, and it would confirm all the lies Shar has ever said to her about trust and love and ... oh that I could take her away, far from here.

Somehow I knew it would come down to this. That at some point, she would have to choose between me and Shar. I shouldn't want it, given what we agreed at the start, but I want her to choose me. My poor deluded heart, you knew it would come to this sooner or later. I can't bear to see her deeper in Shar's clutches. But I can't say nothing! I'd regret it for ever, if I didn't even try. I can't lose her, but I can't cage her either. Oh if there is a god who cares, please help me!

It's even worse than I imagined. A helpless aasimar, caged and drained of her power. Worse than anything Petorran did. This is not who Shadowheart is. She can't do this. Surely not. Surely not. Not my Shadowheart.

My wonderful, beautiful Shadowheart! She defied Shar! But she's rocked by the enormity of it all, she needs time to heal. I will give her what comfort I can and -

SHADOWHEART!!!!!!!! SHADOWHEART!!!!!! NOOOOOO!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOO!!!!!!! LET ME BACK IN YOU EVIL BITCH!!!!!

... Shadowheart?? My gods what has happened to her?? Is she OK?? Well clearly not but ...

... she wants to be with me. 'Now and always." Who could believe a heart could feel so much joy, in this cursed place?

I wish I could just look after her at camp at let the others kill Ketheric, but there is no time. Everyone is looking after her, though. Proving Shar's words wrong!!!

I'm so worried. One person isn't enough to love away all the hurt and pain she has borne. I hope the aasimar comes soon, I can barely take seeing her so lost.

The truth, at last. I hate that bitch Shar even more. This is going to be a lot for her to adjust to. A lot. Something I know, all too well.

I'm so glad she feels she can come to me now. My dear Shadowheart, how much you have borne today. I can't make it all better, but I will love you, as best I can, as best as I know how.

... and how my heart soars to hear you say those three little words ...

=========

I see you here in the darkness

Blinding light right where your heart is

If you're ready, heart is open

I'll be waiting, come find me

[blackjackkent]

OK, we're in the home stretch before heading into the mausoleum and, from there, into the end of Act 2, which (as I understand it) is when some of the big Durge Lore is gonna drop and Rakha's world is gonna get blown wide open.

Cleaning up loose ends, and the only remaining ones that I can think of are 1) finishing up with He Who Was and 2) helping Halsin with Thaniel. The latter is obviously more overall important to Rakha, but she is obliquely invested in the situation with HWW because HWW has promised to show her intense necromantic magic.

So let's start with that.

-----

The man is still standing in the spot where Rakha left him. She could easily believe that he has not moved since she was last here. As she approaches, though, he twists his head to the side, his nostrils flaring as he sniffs the air. His gleaming black-on-black eyes look at her intently.

"The air stirs in trepidation," he murmurs, sounding satisfied. "You have the ledger."

Rakha comes to a halt in the circle of light that surrounds the ritual circle next to the man's boots. She lets out a slow breath between her teeth. As before, the effect of the curse is weaker here; the man's magic, though dark in its way, is clean - uncorrupted. Powerful. She watches the way the Weaves shimmers with it, pale fire sizzling through the fabric.

All the same, she stops a short distance from him and watches him warily.

(Wyll expressed concern on the way up here. We don't know what he wants, he said, quite reasonably. He says he means to drag a soul back for judgment, when by all rights the gods have already judged her. Just... be careful, all right? And he's right; she knows he is. But this man knows things Rakha doesn't know...)

"How do you know I have the ledger?" she asks cautiously.

"The raven always knows," the man says placidly.

Rakha shoots a sideways look at the white raven hovering at the man's shoulder. It is flapping its wings in a steady, comfortable rhythm and squinting at Rakha with what seems like baleful dislike.

Evasion? Or does the raven truly know such things? It's not an animal, but a conjuration out of the Weave; Rakha can tell by the way the light sits on its feathers. But that tells her nothing, really.

"Tell me why you want the ledger, first," she says.

"To punish a murderer," the man hisses. There's a subtle note of agitation and urgency in his voice now. "If that is not enough, leave. I have no time for those lacking commitment."

Rakha reaches into her pack, withdraws the small, battered volume, and extends it in the man's direction. "Here," she says flatly. "Take it."

He snatches it from her grip and thumbs through it eagerly, devouring the words on each page. "We have it..." he whispers feverishly. "Her lies. Her *guilt.* Madeline reported her friends to a Dark Justiciar and fled when they were butchered."

He looks up at Rakha and there's a sudden wildness in his eyes, a manic smile touching his lips.

"Well, she flees no more," he rasps. "I will be the conduit for Madeline's spirit. I will force her to face trial! And you will be the judge. Make her beg. Make her *suffer.*"

A rolling throb of pain reverberates through Rakha's head. The beast stirs, the bloodthirst - abrupt and hungry, resonating with that desperate intensity in the pale man's voice.

Make her suffer. Yes. An invitation to indulge the worst part of herself, the part that she does not control. An invitation, in exchange for magical knowledge, to destroy someone at a level even deeper than blood.

The beast keens eagerly. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Rakha swallows. She feels acutely aware of Wyll standing at her side, the back of his hand just brushing hers. She knows the distinction well by now, everything that he and Lae'zel and the others have taught her. Attack with purpose.

This is some kind of perverse temptation. She feels like a woman starving a week, presented with a dish she knows is poison.

"I'm here to... make sure she sees justice," she mutters hoarsely. It's not an answer to the man so much as a reminder to herself.

The man's lip curls in an almost-snarl, as if he is half a beast himself. "There is no justice for traitors," he hisses. "Only pain."

Pain. Yes. The pulse starts to thump at the back of Rakha's skull.

She watches silently as he turns away and sets the book down at the edge of the ritual circle.

Then he stands slowly, spreads his hands at his sides. Rakha watches as the Weave closes in and wraps around him in a swirling, sweeping wave.

"WITNESS HER!" he cries out.

White-green light flares at the center of the circle and blasts outward, coating the dead woman's corpse, painting the man's skin a sickly hue.

He screams, his fists clenched and head thrown back, as the light pours out of his mouth and between the eyelids of his tight-clenched eyes. His breath rasps in his throat with a painful, grating sound.

Rakha stares, wide-eyed. For a brief moment, all the thoughts of blood and pain are driven from her mind, because this--

She has never seen magic like this before.

It is somehow connected to the magic of the curse around her; she can tell that. But it is also clean and pure and uncorrupted. It is bright and dark at once. And it reaches out through the Weave - like the magic of Wyll's eye or Shadowheart's brand, except this time it is not a communication conduit but a claw, a grasping seizing thing that reaches beyond the world and pulls, violently and brutally and unceasingly, dragging a dead soul back into a living body.

His living body.

He spasms; his scream grows higher-pitched, his shoulders hunching, his head cocking to one side. The sound fades and he breathes again, still rasping and gutteral. The light ebbs away and he stands there, trembling, and turns to look at her with bright terror.

"You!" he yelps. She yelps - for the voice is completely different now, another person's sound in his throat.

It is, Rakha realizes, the voice of the dead woman in the ritual circle. Madeline. Rakha can see the lines of the Weave shuddering and pulsing, binding the man to the corpse, and the corpse to somewhere beyond, and she has never, never seen magic like this before. She can feel her whole body thrumming with its energy.

"He said I was gonna be punished! That you'd be the judge! But I didn't mean to hurt anyone!" Madeline stares out of the man's eyes pleadingly, her entire attitude one of intense supplication and fear.

Slowly Rakha's eyes refocus on her; it takes a moment to extract herself from watching that endless shimmering pattern. Right. She is supposed to stand trial. To judge this woman's crimes. To punish her.

I didn't mean to hurt anyone, she said...

Rakha is all too familiar with that phrase. She snorts softly, a bitter and humorless sound. "Blood taints all our hands in ways we never predict," she mutters.

Madeline flinches. "But-- but this wasn't supposed to happen! I swear!" she wails. "I said it didn't mean nothin'! That Ben n' Marc were just drunk n' whining! The Dark Justiciar promised she was gonna *chat* with 'em. She promised!"

Rakha remembers the writing in the book. The two men - Ben and Marc - had spoken out against Thorm's rule, before the curse. Madeline reported them. They were punished.

"What did the Dark Justiciar actually do to your friends?" she asks.

"She gave 'em a dagger each," Madeline says softly. "And told 'em to press it against their stomachs. On the count of three, to 'start stabbin' and not to stop til she said so." She swallows; the man's Adam's-apple bobs sharply with it. "She never said stop. I'd do anything to take it back. Anything!" she wails.

(A/N: A bit disappointed there's no Dark Urge persuasion option here. As it is, there's one standard persuade, plus a class-specific set of two - one to forgive her, one to punish her. The class-specific ones Rakha gets are [BARD] options which are very unlike her; most of the [BARD] options are quite flamboyant and wordy and don't match her personality. So we'll go with the standard persuade option, although it takes a little mental gymnastics.

Side note - this scene has the camera on He Who Was pretty much the entire time; I have almost no shots of Rakha to work with at all, which is annoying.)

Rakha listens to this in silence. Her eyes dilate subtly at the mental image of this brutal punishment. The daggers. Self-inflicted. A gut wound... purrs the beast. Genius. They would die slowly. The blood would pour and pour and pour...

Rakha shudders, squeezing her eyes shut. Justice. Purpose, she reminds herself fiercely.

But her thoughts feel jumbled. She cannot focus - neither on the beast nor on any sense of justice. Her thoughts are suddenly blotted out by a sudden frustrated rage without any direction... because she hears herself in the woman's words.

Monsters - the both of us.

Yes. It was brutal, what this woman caused to happen. She killed those men by proxy, men who were her friends. Just like Rakha has killed so many by letting the beast take control. By being too weak to stop it.

Monsters, the both of us. And both should be punished, she thinks wildly.

[PERSUASION] "Anything?" she mutters. "Then hurt yourself. As Ben and Marc did. Stab yourself." The words are tight and strained in her throat. She's dimly aware that with one hand she has grasped the hilt of her own dagger, pulled it slightly free of its sheathe so the edge of the blade touches her hip. She can feel its bite through the fabric of her robes.(*)

The man's body shudders all over. His hands rip the dagger from his belt and hold the point poised at his stomach. Madeline is hyperventilating with fear, eyes wide and staring at Rakha's. "Like... this...?" she whispers.

-----

"Rakha!" Wyll snaps next to her.

Rakha's head clears slightly and she sucks in a sudden sharp breath. Wyll is gripping her forearm gently, holding her still, drawing her back. "Why are you doing this?" he mutters, tipping his head towards her. "Is this justice?" His eyes flick to Lae'zel, then back to Rakha. "Is there purpose?"

Rakha draws a slow, shaky breath. She wants to explain, to have the words to make him understand that this woman's crimes and her own are the same, and both deserve punishment...

...and that he has made a mistake with his kisses and his soft touches, that he should see her that way too...

But she doesn't. She can't. She doesn't have the words, and she knows he wouldn't believe her anyway. Because he saw light in her even when there was none, and perhaps he sees it in this woman's soul too, despite everything she did.

Her hand relaxes at her side, her own dagger sliding back fully into its sheath, and she looks down at the ground and swallows. "No," she mutters.

He nods, releases her arm, and says nothing more.

------

After a while Rakha raises her head and looks at Madeline, who is still standing stock-still with the knife gripped in both hands.

"Stop," she says quietly. Her voice, to her own shame, is shaking slightly. "You were willing to hurt yourself. That is enough for me."

Madeline's eyebrows lift and her breath catches in the man's throat. "I did it?" she whispers weakly. "I'm forgiven?"

The knife drops from her grip to clatter on the stones. The man's mouth opens and the green light pours from it again, the soul being set free to the sound of a last whisper. "...Thank you..."

Then the man's body spasms again, and he cries out in sudden pain, staggering back a few steps and clutching at his head.

"Aaaaargh!" he howls. "You were supposed to make her suffer! Not forgive her!"

Rakha stares at him icily. She feels as if she has run a marathon, and this man cannot possibly understand the internal struggle that his little trial has put her through. It was not justice.

"Do not speak to me like that," she says flatly.

His eyes flare with sudden rage. And it is not the self-hating, vindictive rage that Rakha just struggled against, but something more petulant - a child denied a favorite toy. Perhaps there was never any intention for justice here anyway. "You're right," he snarls, and pulls the enormous spear from his back. "Now is not the time for talk. You have crossed me - and for that I end your pathetic life!"

(*) Critical levels of artistic license here, obviously.

[riddlerosehearts]

all right so, some more thoughts on act 2 of baldur's gate 3 now that i finally replaced my hard drive and have been able to play again! this is basically all about like the very end of act 2 because i enjoyed it but just didn't really write things down for most of it.

so first of all i actually kind of love ketheric thorm and the tragedy of his character. i love villains who are willing to destroy themselves and the world for the sake of their family 💖

however i wish that if you talked to him about his wife and passed the checks to try persuading him to repent you could actually change the outcome of things. like what if you could save him and recruit him.... i honestly really think my tav would've felt a bit of empathy toward his situation and wanted to save him if they could, and also personally i just find him more interesting than halsin or even jaheira asdkjfghsdf

i'm sure jaheira is a lot cooler to people who know her from previous baldur's gate games but having 2 druids feels a bit redundant when there are so many other classes and she and halsin both become recruitable a little too late imo, especially given that halsin kind of has nothing to do after he finally joins you. ketheric would be an even later addition but sorry i just think he's so cool and that making one of the villains redeemable + recruitable would've been neat!

ANYWAY i also love the fact that even though i was spoiled on a lot of random bits and pieces about the different companions' personal stories before i started, i was not really spoiled at all on the actual main plot of this game lol. it just makes it that much more exciting getting to see how it all unfolds.

i also wasn't spoiled on the details of wyll's pact and now that he's finally talked about it, i love his character even more!! he's literally like if a disney prince loved his home and its people so much that he sold his soul to save them. i wish we could've had a full flashback when he agreed to show us what happened like the ones we get when we see into shadowheart's past.

i also wish he got more appreciation from fans and had a more complete romance but we all know why he doesn't 😔

i think this is literally the first "stereotypical horny bard" dialogue i've come across omg 😭 didn't actually pick this because it would've been ooc for elenion to say but i will say i think it would've been really funny if there was like. romance-specific dialogue here because you have such insane first meetings with every companion. i'm just imagining elenion going "love at first sight? i suppose so, although for me it was more like love at first hand" and leaving isobel wondering wtf that's supposed to mean

all of this confusion and going back and forth about whether to trust the dream guardian... and they were a mind flayer the whole time!! tbh that actually does not make elenion automatically stop trusting them because we've met omeluum and he didn't seem bad, but what does kind of make them lose trust in the emperor is the whole "encouraging you to turn into a mind flayer" thing... yeah, not doing that.

actually though i found out a while ago that something was up with the dream guardian but like. i was expecting them to turn out to just be fully evil and wanting to try and manipulate us more directly after the reveal, not for them to be acting like a nice friendly heroic mind flayer, so that does come as a surprise!

i wish i had thought to take lae'zel with me to the astral plane in case she would've had anything to say about orpheus while we were there... but oh well, i didn't really have her on my team during act 2 and she wasn't relevant to basically any of its story so i missed her a lot and i am so proud of her now for how she told off vlaakith.

??? halsin just tried to confess his love to elenion and said he thinks they feel the same way and i mean... at least he was very kind and understanding when they rejected him but i am baffled because i haven't really had him in the party at all and. like. when he asked them to tell him a secret they even said they didn't feel like there was anything to tell because they didn't wanna open up to him too deeply (well, and also because for some reason the only other option is to say you're afraid of krakens), but now he thinks they're in love with him? 😭 i've heard that it used to be extremely easy to accidentally romance gale but i do not understand how this happened with halsin. oh well.

oh yeah also i got this dialogue from wyll and i wish there was an option to say that you're anxious about being back or something. because elenion has been sort of avoiding visiting home and only going back very infrequently for a very long time and he and wyll are close so i imagine that wyll knows why that is. but i ended up just picking the first option and imagining that wyll is too polite to question it.

anyway, i've stepped into rivington and am ready to start exploring it but i'm going to end this post here for now!

[swimmingtrunks]

Baldur's Gate 3 progress report:

I'm in Act 3 with Durge. Lost my grasp on her character a bit in Act 2, and then accidentally locked her out of all origin character romances. So now I'm trying to find fun in having this playthrough go a little off the rails and exploring choices I probably won't be inclined to make on a more "canon" run. Still not really interested in a full on "evil" run, but definitely making some questionable choices here. A heel turn, if only a weak one.

The romance mess:

She was indulging in benefits with Astarion but after that pivotal conversation decided to be there for him as a friend instead.

I feel like Lae'zel woulda been a good route for this run but she didn't want sloppy seconds after the tiefling party I guess? (Also didn't let her ask until after the creche so that's maybe more the problem.)

By the time Wyll took her up on the dance she had other things cooking, and to be honest he didn't really click for me as a character until Act 3. That pout tho :(((

Pretty sure I want to do a Gale romance with my Tav so I swore him off for now. Gale romance as a treat. Look I KNOW I have a TYPE I have a THIRST for NERD CHARACTERS who spackle EGO and BAD HUMOR over their INSECURITIES like NO ONE WILL NOTICE I NOTICE

Wasn't ready to commit to a Karlach romance after the second engine upgrade and didn't wanna hurt her so skipped that lil' exclamation point and the whole thing fizzled.

I thought Shadowheart was still a possibility but nope! Not sure why!

I'm not sure if I haven't invested enough time in Minthara or if I missed the hop-on point there too. Or if glitched because I did the workaround to recruit her

Luckily Daddy Druid is around and horny, so Durge has an outlet for her less dark urges. Because why not.

The heel turn:

After abstaining from tadpoles for the first two acts, Durge flipped and took the astral tadpole, then started snackin' on the ones she tucked away earlier. She's not pushing them on anyone else who objects, but Minthara was jazzed and Gale was curious so who was she to deprive them of cool powers and a gross complexion.

Oddly enough, I had given her heterochromia at some point to turn the eye with the scarring around it white, and it did NOT get the astral worm treatment. She's got quite the look going on now.

The small grip I have on Durge's motivations is that after the paternity reveal she's feeling like bucking authority and throwing some vindictive middle fingers. Not sure where that will lead with the Emperor/ main quest but I do have a feeling Durge will be indulging the misguided goals of her [power] hungry guys.

Other thoughts:

Astarion is an EXTREMELY good character and all around well written and acted. I do wonder if there would be more affection for other characters if their animations were anywhere near as lively as his. He SHOULD be more dramatic than the rest, but idk. I feel like the others have a few good moments sprinkled in (SH fingerguns, Lae'zel describing turning into a mindflayer, Gale's needle miming, etc) but mostly end up... just standing there. Even Karlach, who's idle animations are the least idle things ever.

When I found some in-world text referencing a miniature giant space hamster, I thought it was a Mass Effect reference, not the other way around. I am on the precipice of meeting Minsc and Boo and I am excited.

Pretty sure I'm having a similar banter bug to DAI. Act 1 had tons of banter, but even then I'd have issues where I couldn't actually hear one of the characters, only read what they were saying. In Act 2 there was like NOTHING, and Act 3 has been sparse with the same issue as Act 1. Made Act 2 feel kinda stagnant to me, really hoping it doesn't happen in my next playthrough.

[trashcatsnark]

Just rambling because I really wanna be feral about my bg3 tav and dont have a place to really do so lmao but my little rotted brain wanted to play with the whole- tadpole fucks with previous conditions/characters shit. Ala making Astarion able to walk in sunlight and and seemingly making Gale's orb hungrier/less stable (judging off the first artefact helping him as usual but then the second one doesnt)

And I don't do fantasy often but since arcana Ive always wanted to play with a character with a enchantment/spell on them that makes people forget them shortly after meeting them. Unable to form lasting connections and living a life thats almost entirely in isolation (i love lonely transient bitches)

So, my tav, Petra (half wood elf, rogue/ranger) ran away from a shitass abusive life with her now dead partner who casted the enchantment on them both, so only they could remember one another. Being each other's entire world. Shit happens, her lover dies, but the enchantment is binded to their instrument (lover was a bard)

Which is all build up to say, she had and only wanted a cozy insignificant existence, because significance just means giving people the power to hurt her/being known means vulnerability and yet now thanks to the tadpole, she is being perceived and thats horrifying enough- i also really love the extent that Petra contradicts with many of the companions in terms of the idea of ambition and desire.

For so many of the companions (except Karlach really) insignificance is their like nightmare. Gale has both an innate hunger f for power because he derives his sense of self-worth from being a powerful, significant, and impressive wizard. Gale of Waterdeep, chosen of Mystra, deep down he does want a more simple life of relaxing in his tower and idly reading, and cooking for someone he loves but he can't ever seem to fully shake this feeling that when he sees power or opportunity he must grasp it because without talent, power, significance, magic, utility- he thinks he has no worth at all. Astarion craves power, once you start to enter act 2, he starts to talk about how he thinks the player has ambition and that maybe heyyy you can use that ambition for me? Because to him ambition and power, his own or using someone elses is how he'll find a way to permanently escape his abuse. He says he's not content to sculk in the shadows, what good is freedom if he doesn't have the power to make sure he'll never lose it. Wyll, the blade of frontiers, wanting desperately to help everyone- be a hero, make the sword coast proud in a way he never could make his father. He wants to matter, he wants to be important, he is forever burdened by the weight of his mistakes- the pact that binds him, never able to feel free of it and just wants the world to look at him and see something good.

Lae'zel fears insignificance, this is stated plain as day in the scene where she threatens the player, if you choose to probe her thoughts. She's doesn't care if she dies, if her skull splits, and tentacles writhe through her flesh- she's terrified it will happen before her queen ever knows her name, that she'll never be more than a failed soldier, that she'll never wield the silver sword or ride a red dragon. That she'll die before she feels she ever mattered.

Shadowheart wants to be a dark justiciar, she wants to be of value to her god, she wants to matter- similarly to Lae'zel, ironic given their hostility, but it is the same ultimate goal. She doesn't want to be no one, she doesn't just want to be another follower who's struck with pain, mind wiped tirelessly, and nothing to show for it- she wants her pain to have purpose, meaning, even if it's just serving the god causing it. Karlach is already a bit of an oddity in terms of, she never really seems to be scrounging for power and signficance and in fact- her power, her strength, her ability is what led to Zariel choosing her as her attack dog. So, while she's a bit more similar in not having a heavy desire for power, ambition, and a goal beyond- not wanting to be hurt, the desire for freedom and life on her terms. They still differ so greatly in terms of- Karlach lost out on getting to be a part of life for so long, she misses people, connection, and she doesn't want to avoid life because it hurt her, she wants to take back the parts stolen from her- she wants to live and be apart of the world finally again on her terms. Even if it kills her.

And my brain just kind of buzzing and feral for this idea of how she somehow finds herself thrusted into not only being perceived, being surrounded by people who are learning who she is, knowing parts of her she hasn't shared, and also being asked to... lead. When it's never truly been something she craves and even overwhelms her, but it finds her regardless and how she helps ground for many of them their grappling for power/ambition while for her they help her find that... she deserves to be a part of the world around her, that she can touch the world around her and make a difference. And she's no less guilty of wanting something that's bad for her, that she's been alive but not truly living and returning to that loneliness once the tadpole is plucked out won't be peace, won't be contentment, isn't freedom, because it was never that to begin with- she was just languishing in isolation and grief as a living ghost.

[lonepower]

4-7 general, 2, 6, 14 story, 1, 3, 5 romance for merry, if that's not too much? 

IT IS NOT, THANK YOU :D

4. What sort of general actions raise or lower their approval?

Approves: - generally selfish actions, or actions that prioritize party members over strangers - actions that seek to further the player's knowledge or power (such as reading all of Thay) - casual violence or petty cruelty - lying in any context, but doubled if it's funny or pointless rather than in advancement of plot (ie playing along with Volo about the goblins/dragon, convincing Blurg you're a mushroom collector, etc)

Disapproves: - offering to help strangers without asking for anything in return - wanton cruelty on a large scale, cruelty to children or animals, or to people who "haven't done anything" (note that her definition of this may be arbitrary and a little hypocritical!) - trying to sway someone from the course they've chosen for themself (so she'll disapprove a lot if you use [persuasion] to get Shadowheart to spare the Nightsong, a little if you say "just kill her" which doesn't require a skill check, and approve a lot of you letting Shadow make her own choice, no matter the outcome of that. Same with Lae'zel & Voss: you'll get a little disapproval for telling her what you think she should do, and a lot of approval for saying "I have your back"). Exceptions are when (she perceives) the choice as being under duress: Kahga is being manipulated by Olodan and Ketheric, Astarion isn't fully himself during the ritual, that sort of thing.

tl;dr she believes in fierce loyalty to a select few, defense of a person's individual freedoms/right to make their own decisions (even if those decisions are bad), self-preservation and self-advancement, and generally being gleefully unpleasant, but doesn't go out of her way to cause needless misery.

5. Are there any instances where your Tav can permanently leave the party, depending on player character actions? / 6. Will they stay with the Player Character regardless of siding with the goblins or the tieflings, or is it possible for them to leave the party permanently? She'll turn hostile if you actively betray a party member (such as killing Mizora and thus Wyll, or sacrificing someone to BOOOAL). The exception is if they aren't a full party member or aren't a party member yet, so if you kill Karlach with Wyll straight off the bat (you monster), she'll disapprove a little but she won't leave. Like Gale, she can be convinced to stay if you side with the goblins, but it's a pretty high speech check (DC25, or DC19 if you're also a druid) and she'll leave if you fail.

6. Do they have any secrets that can be revealed? What are the prerequisites for this secret coming to light? I don't...think so? on the one hand she's a very "I have nothing to hide" kind of person who doesn't really feel shame, like, at all lmao. if someone doesn't like something about her, her god, her ecoterrorism, or her past, they're free to take it up with her. (This philosophy has gotten her arrested at least once.) But on the other hand, she loves lying. So it might be less "secrets revealed" and more akin to Deacon Falloutfour, where she tells you something about her Dark Past™ and then later is like "oh yea i was just messing with you lol", repeat ad nauseam.

7. Do they have their own personal quest that spans the course of the game? Can it take different branching paths depending on the choices the Player Character makes? Yes and no. Her quest takes place over act 1 but has different outcomes in act 3. Her recruitment is an alternate route to the shadow druids questline where you can usurp Olodan and convince the others to reject Ketheric Thorm and his bargain of isolationism, thus keeping the grove for the Shadow Druids but also keeping it open and ensuring their help in the final battle. (there's more to it wrt the refugees that I'm still working on, lol.) If Kahga dies, Merry becomes first druid of the shadow circle and stays with the grove, but she'll return for the endgame as a temporary member a la Jaheira, along with the others. If Kahga survives as first druid, Merry accompanies you as a companion and you get the shadow druids' help, but Kahga doesn't join you as a temp.

---

2. How do they advise the player character on Raphael? That's a good question. Is she still his sibling? (She doesn't know this, so the point is moot on her end, but when she's Tav I very much hc that he does.) Either way, I think she's sort of an inverse of Astarion's "they don't play games unless they know they can win": if you want to play with a devil, you'd better have a damn good strategy (and a very rigged board). Otherwise, the only winning move is not to play.

14. How does Tav react to the PC becoming a mind flayer? Can they offer to become one themselves? Does their reaction change if they’re romanced?

Of course she can ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) She will start offering as soon as the Emperor reveals themself, lmao. Whether romanced or not, if Tav becomes a mind flayer she will be pelting them with questions. Do you have a sense of taste? Do you see color? Do you see more colors? What number am I thinking of? Do you, personally, perceive yourself as the same person you were before? The only difference if she's romanced is that there are a few (and only a few) more questions about tentacles. If she becomes a mind flayer, you are treated to a humorous but very unsettling scene of her figuring out her wildshape (think animorphs levels of body horror).

--

1. Is your Tav a romanceable character? Are there any specific requirements to romancing them? Yes she is, and no requirements other than that she's a full party member (so, it starts in act 2). Like Lae'zel and Shadowheart, a new dialogue option will pop up once you get to a high enough approval.

3. Are they a polyamorous or a monogamous option? Poly! She can be romanced alongisde Gale, Astarion, and Shadowheart, and is open to romance w Karlach and Zel (but they're not interested ):). Ironically, she and Halsin don't really like each other at all (in an "I respect you as a professional but you are not my type of person" kind of way, not any real vitriol) so they are not simultaneous options lol. on second thought, it makes more sense if she and halsin are mutually exclusive entirely and she only joins you if you actually complete her version of the quest. especially since if they're not, you end up with three recruitable druids which is...not balanced lol.

4. Does the romance have different branching paths, or just one route to take? For some reason I'm stuck on this one, lol. I think it would be really fun to give her dynamic endings based on if you're romancing her with someone else, but I can't think of any branching paths for just her alone. The three of you should definitely be able to usurp Mystra together. she's not that special. we can take her.

[welcometothememeteam]

I have received a vision while catching all the starters in the new Pokemon dlc and so it must be shared. It's time forrrrrr.....

WHICH POKEMON STARTERS EACH OF THE BALDURS GATE 3 CHARACTERS WOULD HAVE

I am basing this off the final evolutions of each starter, for example infernape instead of chimchar

1. Wyll: I believe in my heart of hearts this man would be best fucking friends with an empoleon. Not only would empoleons steal and water typing make it very effective as a shield for the week, especially against demons, but empoleons personality generally is very proud and upstanding. Like Wyll, it is proud but not prideful, not full of arrogance or superiority, but the pride of responsibility and leadership. I feel like they both represent something more than they are.

Also I think both Wyll and Empoleon are extremely cool and swag. Thats just me tho

2. Lae'zel: I think Lae'zel would love a Feraligatr, and not because of any fucking jokes about what githyanki look like! I think she would deeply appreciate the ferocity and power that feraligatr has, with its incredible bite force and powerful legs. there isn't a lot in the pokedex about its personality, but I like to imagine it as a creature with a lot of loyalty, it sticks to those it has grown close to and will fight by their side until the bitter end. I think they would "spar" (read: play fight) often, with Lae'zel trying to give it more formal training, especially since totodile is known for having little control of its incredible jaw strength. I don;t think she would like that uncontrolled strength.

3. Karlach: Karlach is the genesis of this stupid idea. I caught a tepig and thought, 'man, karlach would love an emboar' and I am fucking correct. Karlach obviously needed a fire type, and nothing suits her more perfectly than one of the Fire/Fighting types. Emboar not only fits her personality, but also her fighting stye, with its Black and white 2 pokedex entry saying "A flaring beard of fire is proof that it is fired up. It is adept at using many different moves." literally perfect for 'set my engine on fire and i am a master of killing diffderent varieties of demon' karlach. Not only that, but its original pokemon black entry has the line "It cares deeply about its friends." Emboar is Karlach the pokemon.

4: Gale: This man needs a Delphox in his life fucking immedietly for a multitude of reasons. First of all, psychic types are genrally supposed to be smarter than your average person, so hopefully another companion like tara who would be able to keep with his smart ass. Speaking of his intelligence, we all know, despite this man's vast fucking intellect, he does not have the best foresight, making decisions that seem good in the short term, but not so great long term. Delphox can fix that! According to its X entry, it can literally see the future! let this man know if fucking with strange magic will go well or not. Also, its hidden ability is magician and its basically a witch. All in all, solid companion for Gale/

5. Shadowheart: This one was a bit harder, but if we are talking about early game, still devoted to shar shadowheart, its got to be incineroar because it dont think any other starter matches incin for sheer drama value. Its literally and on fire cat that is also a pro wrestler. Also the secondary dark typing and edginess fits. If we are talking late game, Selunite shadowheart, Meganium. Maganium's whole bit is renewal and healing, giving life where it was previously taken away. The only starter that could be better at healing is primarina and that doesn't fit shadowheart as well as meganium does. I think the whole evolution line fits shadowheart pretty well as well. Starting with Chicorita, a barely sprouting flower, through Bayleef, where you can finally see the beginnings of the vibrant flower that is Meganium. I think that is somewhat mirrored in shadowhearts process of growing into herself throughout the acts, as she finds who she is without shar.

6. Astarion: I think this one was the hardest for me, but I think it has to go to Decidueye. A ghost type archer whose signiture move is about taking control the battlefield by locking their opponents down? seems to fit with Astarion pretty well. The dex entry holds pretty true as well, stating that "Although (Decidueye is) basically cool and cautious, when it’s caught by surprise, it’s seized by panic." I am unsure if Decidueye is the perfect fit for astarion but the only other one I could imagine him with is greninja, but i dont think it fits as well as decidueye.

Anyway! thats the main six. I might do additional ones later. The Shadowheart and Astarion ones are definitely the weakest, but I think they are still pretty good

[autistichalsin]

Shippy Halsin/Origins moments, part 1: Lae'zel

I'm starting with Lae'zel because, sadly, she and Halsin have vanishingly little together. They have (2) party banters together, total, and very few of their one-one-interactions, I.E. in Origin Lae'zel runs, offer anything different than a Tav would. That said, there are a very few interactions I can pull shippiness from!

In the ending, if Origin Lae'zel is on the Orpheus path and chooses to fly off to the astral plane, Halsin will say: fly on, Lae'zel. May the Oak Father preserve you and guide you true.

Even if she's not of his world, he still hopes his deity will protect her. :)

If Lae'zel stays loyal to Vlaakith after the confrontation, Halsin says: Your loyalty stands to you, Lae'zel. I can only hope Vlaakith recognises it as I do.

Your queen's words have set your mind then, Lae'zel? I would not wish to be the one that Vlaakith unleashes you upon.

He believes in her, even on her evil path, and he admires her strength and skill in combat.

Similarly, if Lae'zel decides to turn against Vlaakith instead here: So, it seems that Vlaakith is your queen no longer, Lae'zel. That took no small amount of backbone.

He admires her, quite a bit.

When getting to know Halsin in the Shadow-Cursed Lands, Lae'zel, as with the other Origins, has a line unique to her.

For Lae'zel, the line is: I despise sunsets, slow wits - and small talk.

To which Halsin responds: Luckily there's nothing small about getting to know someone like you. There's little occasion for frivolity in nature - I can appreciate your stance... even if others do not.

Halsin very rarely responds negatively even to blatant insults. Here, though, he not only doesn't mind it, but he outright states his respectfulness of her and her boundaries. Despite having just said he wanted to know her like she wanted to know him, he is willing to back off when she says she doesn't want it to veer into small talk, and instead affirms her worth as a person (basically saying it's not small talk when it's her) and that it's valid to not enjoy more than the necessities of conversation.

This is a level of insightfulness and respect that a lot of the other companions don't give Lae'zel; they will either be angry at her attitude or try to get her to lighten up. Halsin just respects that this is who she is, even if he would like to talk to her casually. It speaks to Halsin's fluidity and adaptability in social situations that make him well-suited as a romantic partner to many different kinds of people, and while Lae'zel may be scornful of most- and definitely would scorn Halsin's diplomacy-first approach- I could see her slowly beginning to respect Halsin's attitude in turn. Unfortunately, though, that has to stay a theoretical, because in canon, almost every line that implies something between them is from Halsin to her, not vice-versa.

Here is one of the two party banters they share:

Halsin: Such hoarding of wealth. A tomb for riches that could be put to better use.

Lae'zel: I've heard the same said of bears - the kind you take the shape of. They hoard, gorge, and hibernate through hard times.

Halsin: True... but only until the thaw, then life goes on. This gold may never see daylight again, while others go cold and hungry.

Halsin doesn't act offended here, though he would have every right to be (in fact, he reacts calmly whenever someone pushes back against his nature metaphors and such). Instead, he calmly states his position to her.

Also, this is probably reaching (but when the content is this sparse, I kind of have to, right?) but one gets the feeling a Githyanki wouldn't exactly know a lot about bears normally. Maybe she asked the companions for information about bears to learn more about Halsin?

Their other party banter is, uh... well. THAT one.

Lae'zel: You've quite the appetite, Halsin. I'd wager you've bedded more of your foes than you've felled.

Halsin: Hmm. A challenging sum. The chimera has three heads... but does it still count as one?

Lae'zel: Must have been a challenging kill.

Halsin: Kill... yes.

The openness in sexual conversation is interesting, because both are far more unashamed about sex than normal; Lae'zel because of her culture and Halsin because of his Druidic beliefs. This causes Lae'zel to show no mercy in slut-shaming Halsin, and Halsin to be equally unusual in taking absolutely no offense to it, calmly responding to her question by... sharing a story one gets the feeling few others would want to share, I.E. bedding a chimera. (Well, either bedding it, or lying about it to troll Lae'zel, which would also be entertaining).

Interestingly, this conversation is all about the juxtaposition of sex and violence. While we all know Lae'zel prefers her lust as dessert after bloodlust, Halsin enjoys regular lust, but seems open to mixing it with violence (bedding more of his foes than he's felled). Which would seem to indicate he would be open to Lae'zels... preferred courtship.

And indeed, one of the few bits of reciprocation we see from Lae'zel is when discussing her thirst for Halsin. I.E. if another player character asks her for an open relationship with Halsin, she says: Undoubtedly. Arms like tree trunks, chest broad as an ocean[...]

And after recruiting him: Halsin's proved himself a fine ally already. He'll be useful in battle, If those tree-trunk arms are an indication.

Lastly, though it's not nearly as fun as some other reactions, they do, of course, react if the other is kidnapped by Orin, and it at least indicates good feelings to each other.

Lae'zel: Orin thinks Halsin's abduction is an ultimatum to kill Gortash. Foolish woman - as if I needed more reason than I already had.

This is actually quite a lot of positive emotion considering it's Lae'zel of all people saying this. It indicates she is NOT happy Halsin's been taken, even if she acts aloof about it.

And, lastly, to finish up this tragically short meta, is Halsin's reaction for Lae'zel being kidnapped by Orin: Will Orin truly free Lae'zel if we slay Gortash? I am not so sure... a rescue may be in order.

He wants to save her. :)

Yeah, that just about sums up how little I can piece together, try as I might. I WANT there to be a lot for them because I adore them together and want to have something to point to, but sadly, really, all we got is "Lae'zel's down bad" and "Halsin really respects her boundaries as a person who doesn't like to talk much." Not a lot to go on, but it could be a lot worse!

One post down, five more to go. :) Next up will be Halsin/Wyll.

[danse--macabre]

ch'lakhou on companions:

jaheira: at first was on a knife edge, but after the bhaalspawn reveal... utter admiration for this woman. awe. respect. a woman with no time for bullshit nor romantic notions of heroism but not unkind, neither. ch'lakhou tends to wear a mask around most people for fear of fearing them, for fear of not being the kind of killer people want to see, but with jaheira they can be honest. with jaheira they can see a future baldur's gate which has a space for them.

minsc: admires the simplicity of his outlook. indulges boo. ch'lakhou likes to pretend theirs is similarly simple (I like killing and violence and I despise bullshit) but they have proven themselves wrong on that account multiple times since their brain was punched full of holes. surprised minsc hasn't sussed out that ch'lakhou was a terrible villain whose butt needs kicking yet. also, jaheira likes minsc, so ch'lakhou likes minsc.

shadowheart: a friend, after everything. ch'lakhou did, for the longest time, think SH would knife them in their sleep the moment their urge started working up. that fear has long passed. by act 3 they're glad she's still here.

wyll: baffled he's still here. they've been blunt and disapproving of his pact at all times. they also murder people straight in front of his eyes and even though he disapproves, he's never strayed. is something wrong with his head? ch'lakhou is a monster and is he not a monster slayer?

gale: they don't dislike gale and think he's useful and friendly even if his outlook is baffling to ch'lakhou but frankly one of the biggest reasons they keep him around is because lae'zel likes him. ch'lakhou is surprised when he appears to... well, get it. but ch'lakhou is quick to forget he was also left high and dry by a deity as well, and left to fend for himself in a horrid condition. they're touched by his kindness perhaps more than others.

halsin: ch'lakhou left him in act 2 sorry not sorry. the shadow-curse can be fixed later.

lae'zel: this is a whole essay but ch'lakhou went from 'terrified, as this is the first Real githyanki I have met who isn't me (fake githyanki)' and needing to impress her to realising... oh god this kid is uptight. oh god this kid knows nothing. really wish she'd chill the fuck out. so ch'lakhoi gently screws with her (lae'zel is fun to screw with). lae'zel quickly realises ch'lakhou is not a battle-hardened legend but a weirdo cast-off who, despite being taught to look down on cast-offs as lesser, is still a thousand times more adept at this 'navigating faerûn' thing. they have a major spat after the crèche but over time things cool off and ch'lakhou is just her weird aunt/uncle figure who can beat her in a straight fist fight.

minthara: found her in the dungeons in act 2 at her most wretched and saw themselves in her: a violent, bloodied tool that had been discarded and was going to rot. how could they not save her? how could they not chase her quest for vengeance, so tied up in ch'lakhou's own? ch'lakhou only wonders, when minthara calls them exquisite, whether they see the stone cold blooded killer who they were supposed to be? or the ruthless fighter they actually are. thinks her ideas about controlling the absolute are funny. they might kiss about it later.

karlach: karlach's outlook is simple. kill bad guys, have fun, get laid, get smashed. ch'lkahou's isn't too different (they say). they're simple (they say). karlach's the angel they want to be able to never disappoint. karlach says things like 'I adore you' and ch'lakhou wonders whether she's actually ever seen them, really, really really. ch'lakhou wants to be good enough for her. desperately wants to be good enough for her. (they don't think they're good enough for her). the real test will be gortash. when ch'lakhou says, look, you go ahead and kill him, but take someone else. take astarion or wyll or lae'zel with you. I can't do this. what happens then? does it all fall apart? will karlach see them as failing? did karlach even see more than the cowboy hero act? is it just masks?

astarion: oh! you thought karlach was complicated? or lae'zel? asides from jaheira, astarion is the only person who ch'lakhou thinks sees them, all of them. and yet he frustrates them with his propensity to talk complete shit. he's an impulsive idiot. he's remarkably perceptive and far more clever than he looks, even if he's not as clever as he wants to be. He shares that same hunger for the kill, that same fear of the world, and he understands them like no one else. he has zero time for their maudlin moments or navel-gazing and can't stand their poetry. he stopped them from killling themselves when they were barely more than strangers, and yes it was part of a manipulation game but it STILL had meaning. he also attempted to blackmail them after alfira died (it didnt work). he's the closest thing they have to a best friend. sometimes they're complete mirrors and sometimes they're absolutely nothing alike. they absolutely should not have slept with him, it made it complicated, in ways they can't describe. they called things off because of how terrifying it all was. they still don't know if they regret that.

[themadchemist]

Finished my first BG3 playthrough the other day and man I LOVE this game!!!

I love how how there are so many different ways to handle certain situations and fights. It's probably the first time I played a game like this and it was so much fun!!!

I was actually really worried about all the different options and stuff but after spending 110 hours on this game, it wasn't really that bad, on the contrary, it was amazing!

I'm going to start my 2nd playthrough tonight, this time with a Drow Paladin/Warlock (my first was a High Elf Archfey Warlock and I have to say, Eldritch Blast is busted lol)

Here's my elf girl who looks more like a lotr elf than I wanted to lol

And my Drow boy for my 2nd run whom I've already fallen madly in love with

Spoilers under the cut, mostly for the companions' stories.

First of all, the main story. It honestly wasn't THAT great. Like it's not bad or anything, just nothing too special imo. Just goes from finds a cure, fight the 3 bad guys then fight the big gross thing. The 3 chosen were a bit interesting (ok, maybe just Gortash, mainly because he's so pretty lol) like I honestly considered allying with him but 1. I couldn't do this to my girl Karlach 2. I really wanted his robe and I doubt I could've gotten it without killing him XD (I ended up not using it at all but still).

As for the companions' stories, they were GREAT. Astarion, Shadowheart and Wyll were the best imo, Lae'zel has actually really grown, Gale's was good but not as good as the others tbh (and somehow he still managed to grow on me so much that I considered going for him instead of Astarion. I obviously didn't but damn Gale, go easy on me, my poor heart can't take it). Karlach and Halsin's stories were the weakest imo but maybe that's just me being salty about their endings...

For romance, I went with Astarion and Halsin and they're just so sweet 😭😭😭 Halsin has that gentle giant energy and he's just so easygoing. Definitely the kind of guy I'd go for irl lol. And Astarion. Man, he's AMAZING!!! I'm really happy with how his story turned out, a bit disappointed with his good ending, especially when there seems to be a way in d&d to cure his condition, but I'm happy with his story all the same. Like, he's kinda still his "magnificent basterd" self but he also grows so much throughout the story, he becomes softer, more sincere and most importantly, he's actually free and learning to be himself again, to genuinely love and care and to open up and show vulnerability and just ughhhhhh I love him so much and I honestly wish Cazador's death was even worse. He deserved much worse for what he did (and because his fight was soooooooo annoying).

Gale is another one that really broke my heart at one point and I was so ready to fist fight Mystra for him 😭😭😭 like at the end of act 2, he was actually ready to die and it was pure torture to see him like that and just 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Shadowheart was another one that I really enjoyed, I went from just liking her to wanting to punch her to absolutely loving her. Like in act1 it was fine, funny at times but she really got on my nerves in act2, especially in the gauntlet of shar, like I get that this is where she's supposed to achieve her goal and become a dark justiciar but going Lady Shar this and Lady Shar that at everything started to really annoy me at a certain point but all that annoyance got thrown out of the window when she freed the Nightsong and turned her back on Shar. Like, that must've taken a lot of courage and honestly I was impressed. And then the whole thing with her parents... Damn, Shar really is evil. I chose to free them even though it meant she would live with the pain of Shar's curse for the rest of her life. Like, this was one of the few times that I broke the rp and chose as myself. Overall, her story was amazing (fuck that fight with the mother superior though. All that darkness was pure hell for my party of casters).

Wyll's story really surprised me ngl. I was expecting the boring heroic guy but he turned out to be so much more. The whole thing with Karlach and then his father. This time I chose to sell his soul to Zariel for help to rescue his father but I wonder if I can still rescue his father even after I break his contract. And he gets free bonus points for the fact that his story ended in fighting a dragon. Dragons are always a good addition to any story lol.

Karlach's story had so much potential but it felt like it was cut short. There were a couple of ways to solve her engine's problem, like the gnomes in the steel watch foundry who were working with infernal iron and maybe Dammon. Idk, it was all a bit disappointing honestly. Like she died in my playthrough and no one noticed until she was gone and damn I feel like I'm going to cry again just thinking about it 😭😭😭 overall, best girl deserved so much better.

Speaking of Dammon, him, Rolan and Alfira are my children, my babies, I reloaded the fight with Marcus like 9 times just to save Isobel, not for her though I didn't care about her at the time, but for them. I'd defend them with my life. Like I can't describe the fear I felt when I learned that Rolan left the inn, like my reckless son better be safe or I'm quitting the game. And then the rage I felt when I found him in the wizard's tower but his face looked bruised, like whoever did this to him, their days were numbered. No one hurts my baby like that. And then I saw Dammon and Alfira around the city and I was so happy they were safe and building good lives for themselves.

Back to the companions, I was surprised that you couldn't talk to the tiefling refugees as Halsin. I don't understand why tbh. He took them in and let them stay at the grove, sure he left for a while and left Kagha in charge which led to the whole problem but it's not like he was to blame for that, he wasn't there and he stopped the ritual as soon as he got back. Unless I missed something, I really don't understand. Also, he's another character that suffered from a short story, one that felt more like a side quest even and after that, he was just there... But I'm glad I had a chance to have my big cuddly bear elf man who loves ducks and honey around (also his lines after the romance are just perfect. I love him so much).

And lastly, Lae'zel. I don't really have that much to say about her since I've only used her a couple of times for her personal quest. Although, I admit I didn't expect her to make such little fuss about opposing Vlaakith. Although that was probably all for nothing since I accidentally doomed her people to following a false queen by siding with the Emperor. In my defense, the Emperor was protecting me the entire time, I barely knew anything about Orpheus and the Emperor, despite the concealed truths here and there, wasn't entirely bad. He didn't stab me in the back in the end or force me to do anything bad AND if it weren't for the Emperor someone from the party would've had to become a mind flayer so idk... I wish there was a way to keep the Emperor and rescue Orpheus but oh well... Also, the idea that Balduran was fighting to protect the city even though no one really knew that was cool. (also, I made the mistake of making my Guardian really pretty so I couldn't bring myself to betray him even after he showed his true colors. I blame the option to hug him for this. I only wish he could've kept that look around me...)

All in all, I really enjoyed the game. Act 2 was probably my favorite. Will start my 2nd run tonight, excited to see the Drow reactivity they talked about since the elf was just there, just some person lol

[tigolbittywizard]

THANK YOU

I'm only just in Act 2 (did the Githyanki Creche) but holy fuck has Lae'Zel had so much change. She was the rude warrior, the one who would not take any bullshit, who wanted to get to the creche as fast as possible without any hesitation.

Her interaction with Zorru, the tiefling refugee, paints this for me. She wants efficiency. She wants a cure. She is terrified and because surprise surprised child soldier cultist of a literal lich has something in her head that says "I can't be scared" so she plays it off as she's abrasive and rude.

Now; is she perfect? lmao no she's very much clear that she believes that the Githyanki are the best species in all the planes of existence (again cult indoctrination from hatching). But understanding that she is terrified and acting out in fear makes her so much more interesting. HEY SPOILERS FOR ACT 1 (and some of act 2 I guess I don't know sobbing) OF LAE'ZEL'S QUEST BEYOND THIS POINT. specifically; the events of the githyanki creche and the artefact ShadowHeart carries. Like- the moment things get revealed to her about the reality of her culture and species, she doesn't fully accept it but she also does not deny the reality. She does not immediately attack the party, in fact going so far as to defend Tav and even killing the attacking Githyanki. She is scared and clutching the first thing she knows, which at the start? Githyanki supremacy. Vlaakith is a god-queen, and she will save Lae'Zel and the other companions.

But after the events at the creche? That is now the small group of companions that Tav has gathered.

Lae'Zel is perfect and beautiful and amazing and I regret nothing less than having my paladin break her oath to save her.

... y'all know Lae'zel is acting scared, right?

Video transcription: I've seen a lot of comments on my short about Lae'zel dismissing her entire character because she's mean and… I'm just checking in here… you guys know she's scared, right? She's terrified. She was kidnapped by the worst monster she knows, infected with the most horrifying death anyone in her culture can have, and then stranded on a hostile world, alone, with nothing to guide her except the dogmatic military cult indoctrination of a cruel lich demigod, telling her that her only hope of salvation is to follow Gith doctrine with total unyielding faith. And still she tries to save you. When she keeps insisting that you must get to the Githyanki crèche, it's our only hope, she's trying to guide you towards the only salvation she knows from the parasite, so she can share it with you. And Gith... aren't supposed to do that, saving an outsider is not part of the doctrine, she's breaking the rules trying to do right by you. None of that means she's not being an asshole, she's rude, dogmatic and unpleasant. But everything she does comes from a genuine, very misguided and abrasive, desire to do the right thing. It doesn't make her behaviour okay, but there is more to her character than just "being the mean one."

To expand on this a bit more than I can in a 60 second short, people acting from fear and from their damage is a major theme among the Baldur's Gate 3 companions.

Lae'zel is terrified and falling back on the only thing she believes will give her back some control over her situation, which is the dogma of the military cult she's in. Shadowheart is much the same, amnesiac and grasping on to the only solid thing she knows, which is her faith, which preaches deception, loss and duplicity as the only certain factors in life.

Gale is an inveterate people-pleaser desperately dependent on other people to help him feed his magic addiction, with his overtly affable exterior hiding a rolling boulder of guilt, ambition, greed, arrogance and legitimate hurt. Asterion is... well, no way to really lay out his deal without spoiling, but the boy has been through it and his self-destructive, hedonistic and selfish impulses are all coping mechanism and self-defense all the time.

None of that make their shitty behaviours okay, but in a fictional story, those kinds of flaws and toxic behaviours are what make for interesting stories and characters. I don't blame anyone for finding Lae'zel unpleasant and abrasive, but I do get a bit Old Man Yells At Cloud about people who casually brag about shoving her off a cliff-side, or murdering her because "she was a bitch" or whatever.

Like... being unable to face discomfort in your media is not a virtue, and lashing out reactively against fiction that doesn't validate your power fantasy isn't a flex.

Of course, I saw a lot of those reactions in YouTube comments and on social media, so my sample is biased by those algorithms, but still. A lot of people seem aggressively proud that they never engaged with her story because the terrified indoctrinated child-soldier wasn't immediately nice to them and I can't explain it but something about that reaction feels puritan to me.