#the personal quest I have for Wyll in my head …

[fllagellant]

It’ s so weird that Wyll has so … little to say when you’ re actually in Baldur’ s Gate . Why isn’ t he trying to check old places he remembers being at . Why isn’ t he wondering where a shop has gone or why they changed the gates at a park . Why isn’ t he trying to talk to old people he knew . Why isn’ t he trying to sneak around Wyrm’ s Rock . He would know the out of the way doors and the best hiding spots . Why doesn’ t he demand to visit his family estate and see if anyone there has managed to avoid a tadpoles fate .

+ the fact the game ( if you break the pact at least ) REALLY doubles down on Wyll only doing it for his own power play but what if you had quest to help his father ( or himself ) secure power again in Baldur’ s Gate . Why is there no “ steal these documents from Gortash to learn where Duke Ravengard is “ why is there no “ Expose lies to the Baldur’ s Gazette “ quest to help make the citizens start to look down upon Gortash . No infiltrate coronation ball quest at all ????? Why is there NOTHING ..

Also sorry . Mizora does not need to fucking be at the camp . “ Zariel’ s protection “ means nothing . I don’ t even get a persuasion check to try and make her go ? Not even one intimation check ?? You can go to the house of hope but you cannot find anything that might force Mizora to Go Away ? The fact she starts to fuck with people like Florrick to try and ruin Wyll and she’ s always back at camp ??? Would have made more sense if she wasn’ t there at all .

Mfw I get to Baldur’ s Gate the name of the Game and it feels like a two sentence foot note

[zwolfgames]

Goblin camp overtake (drabble) Platonic!Yandere!BG3 x Teen!Reader

(Hopefully it's a bit accurate because ive only played the story twice for now so i dunno all the posibilities.)

Summary: Teen!reader and the squad go take defeat the goblins. Therefore meeting Halsin, and Minthara again.

Warnings: Death (obv), mentions of gore, Goblins

Other related BG3 by me: Intro, Gith creché

The sun was shining, the flowers in the forest were blooming... On days like this, kids like you had been tasked with commuting genocide on the local goblins.

Not that you really cared. They were little shitheads... Stole your laundry once back when you lived with your mom... before all this...

But getting closer to this alleged camp wasn't making you any more at ease. You could already imagine the stench of those sweaty creatures when you have to inevitably walk into that camp. Which you've heard is actually just an old temple.

You've noticed over time that people in your little group have gotten... well, friendlier. For example: Lae'zel was no longer throwing you glares, Shadowheart remembered your name, Astarion has indoctrinated you into his schemes... Yea, the three most hostile people had warmed up to you.

And the other have just... always been quite nice.

Well, Wyll still didn't seem to approve of you, a minor, coming along. But he didn't really have a choice as the others were not allowing him to take you back to the Emerald Grove. Guess they really do find you too funny to lose then.

"Ugh, the stench is disgusting." Karlach waves the air under her nose away.

"It is the smell of a goblin camp. What were you expecting? Tchk. And I myself find this odor quite thrilling. It promises of a good fight." Lae'zel slightly smirks. Clawed hands flexing around the handle of her greatsword.

"Of course you do... Tough the smell of blood has never scared me away." Astarion, in turn, chuckles in that weird posh way. You raise a brow.

"So you're sure you're not a vampire?" You question sarcastically. The pale elf gasps in mock offense.

"Of course not. I merely like the smell." He huffs. Right, so that time you saw him hunt down a boar must have been make belief.

The rest of the party didn't comment anymore as you made your way to the camp.

Gale had thrown his arm around your shoulder to keep you at the back. He excused that as 'magic users stay behind so they can asses the battlefield'. But he probably just didn't want to accidently get Lae'zels sword through his back.

This mission to save some druid calmed Halsin was looking like a total hassle. But hey, why not do side quests while the worm in your head is ready to kill you?

Whatever person lives in your head didn't take kindly to your remark as you heard the voice say they'd protect you.

Right, bullshit. You're just developing pshycosis. A hundred percent that.

"Y/N. If they target you, I want you to run, alright?" Wyll speaks calmly.

"Well, I mean, not that I don't want to but were kind of in this together -" You start nonchalantly.

"Don't listen to the human. It is unhonerable to run from a fight." Lae'zel scolds like a lecturing general.

Well, do you really care about your honor? It's not like you're trying to capture the Avatar here-

"Yea yea, got it, boss." You sigh. The slight stress makes its way to your head. It's just some goblins, right? Nothing a good magic missile can't solve... Right?

You take back your words quite quickly when Astarion smooth talks his way past the outside security to let your group pass. There's like... at least fifty goblins here!

You feel an arm slitter around your shoulders. Looking up, you can see Lae'zels warry face.

She's gripping that greatsword quite harshly, a bit scared, maybe? Tough you doubt it, it's Lae'zel..

You ignore the stink eyes these little creatures are throwing you and walk along with your group.

"My, what a festive place, no? Look, they even have booze." Astarion muses with his typical smug grin.

"We're not here to party." Gale groans. The wizard stares at the goblins in distaste. You note that everyone is on edge

A goblin child sticks her tingue out at you, so you do the same, blowing raspberries for good meassure. This action earns you a dissaproving look by Wyll.

"So where's this druid? I don't want to be here any longer then needed." Shadowheart complains with a little wave infront of her nose to showcase that she thinks this place stinks.. Wich it does.

"Let's ask!" Karlach offers her idea.

"You've got to be the most optimistic person I've met and we have a literal child in the group." Gale groans.

"You can't miss any of the chances you take." Karlach shrugs.

"Let's just gut all of them. I'm sure we can search for the druid in peace then." Astarion smirks.

"For once, I agree with the pale one." Lae'zel sneers.

You watch your group bicker a bit longer as you wander out of the grip you had been put in. Walking around the goblin camp instead.

Mhh, a clear booze tub. They're drunk. Quite ideal.

You scan around the area, a certain tall woman catches your eye, seeing as she isn't a goblin.

Wait a minute, you've met her before! She almost killed you on the beach when the Nautiloid crashed!

The nerve of that woman, she doesn't deserve the same hairstyle as your mother.

Astarion had snuk out of the argument your group of idiots was having right in the middle of the goblin camp. He stuck himself to your side, observing along with you.

"You seem... focussed. You have an idea, do you not?" The pale elf asks smoothly.

"An inkling. They're drinking, and Nettie gave us wyvern poison... I mean...?" You let your gaze travel to the booze tub. Astarions red eyed orbs follow along. You can see a sharp toothed grin spread across his face.

"I just know we're going to be great friends, Y/N.." He smirks and puts a cold hand on your shoulder.

You just smile in satisfaction that your plan is apparently good. Before you know it, Astarions snatched the poison out of Shadowhearts pocket. You watch the man go invisible to presumably go dunk the booze in poison. Or maybe he's gonna drink it... But he never seemed suicidal... So it should be fine.

"Y/N, c'mon, we're going into the temple, the druid should be there." Karlach waves you over.

You nod and join the group again. Getting tucked back under someone's shoulder.

The first leader of the Goblins you had met was a priestess. And oh boy, defenitly not your favourite... She wanted to brand you! Is she nuts!?

So anyways, Lae'zel chopped her head off... Uh... props to Wyll for covering your eyes.

Then there was Dror Ragzlin. Scary guy that one. Almost twice your size, mean face and doing necromancy. Yikes.

Unfortunatly, you did have to help in this fight. There were goblins storming in through the door and well just that beast of an orc.

So you you just started blasting spells at the incoming goblins. Fireball and Ice Knife were a nice combo, no? Make em slip and then steam the ice and do damage? Sounds logical to you. Was anyone else smelling barbeque or just you?

When that got taken care of, Karlach strapped a helmet to your head and lead you back to the group.

The last leader was the same woman that had tried to kill you. Minthara, apparently. You've never seen a real drow, so this was cool. Except for the part where she tried to kill all of you. That wasn't that cool...

Just before she was supposed to just die, Lae'zel had accidently hit one of the wooden beams in the room. The ceiling collapsed right infront of you.

Well, maybe she's dead? Atleast it's not your problem anymore?

After all the goblins inside had straight up been slayed, Astarion joined the group once more, seeming quite pleased with himself.

"Where have you been?" Gale asks sternly. Raising an eyebrow in suspiscion. It's still quite annoying that nobody really trusts anyone here..

"Let's just say the situation outside is taken care off." Astarion boasts proudly.

"Really? And you did that, alone?" Shadowheart states in a disbelieving tone. Gods forbid the fancy man does anything impressive.

"Yes! Is that so hard to believe?" Astarion scoffs and crosses his arms.

"Very." Shadowheart argues back.

"I'll believe it when I see it." Lae'zel adds.

Wyll and Karlach just exchange glances. Well you know that he did it. So there's no need for your input-

"Ahhh!" You eep in fear as a large man had appeared behind you. Wich is very scary considering every one in this temple was supposed to be dead.

"Calm down little cub, I mean no harm." The large man smiles reasuringly.

You stagger back to Lae'zels side. This man... Elf ears.. Brown hair. Ah, druid attire? Halsin, perhaps?

"And who are you?" Shadowheart asks for all of you.

"Halsin. You were sent here to come chack on me, or are you just lost adventurers?" Halsin asks with that same smile.

"Well, we found him. Back to the grove-" Gale starts walking off before Karlach grabs the rim of his robes to keep him in the group.

"We did come here for you. Have the goblins hurt you?" Wyll asks calmly. Halsin shakes his head.

"Nothing I can't handle. Why the cub?" Halsin tilts his head at you.

"They're actually an immortal being in the form of a child. Wiser then any of us." Astarion makes up.

Halsin raises a brow. Clearly not believing that.

"Right. But like your little wizard said, we should get back. I am sure the grove has missed me." Halsin hums.

"Don't think so, they're closing it off frol the outside world." You mention calmly.

"What." Halsin stops smiling. You just shrug, that's all you picked up from it.

Halsin frowns and starts walking out. What determination.

Your group eventually exits the dead silent temple after having taken any valuables. Can't leave without some loot, who knows if you're getting paid!

As you walk out the large door, the death Astarion had caused is quite visible, dead goblins everywhere. R.I.P, you won't be missed.

Now that that's taken care of, who knows what adventures await you thanks to this stupid worm in your brain!

Not the best, but it's something. Yan feelings gotta develop trough the story but I'm not fully there yet.

[roguishcat]

What happens at Sharess', stays at Sharess'

Excerpt: “Cora, sweetheart,” Astarion leaned closer to her, brushing a strand of inky black hair behind her ear, delighting in the fact that she leaned into his touch. “Can you tell me what you did last night to that nice drow man to have him in hysterics, hm?”

Pairing: Astarion x my OC, Astarion x female Tav

Word count: 3.2k

Tags: Fluff, Act III, Spoilers for Act III, named female Tav, OC

Set in Act III

A/N: I feel a bit nervous about posting this, and hope you like Cora, she is so cunning and chaotic, quite different from how I usually portray Tav in my other stories. Enjoy! ❤️

Art by @floadwarf1

Astarion prided himself on being able to read people. But then along came Cora. The seemingly dimwitted and charming high-born half-elf who was a magnet for trouble.

Yet, once you got to know her more, you realised that it was all a front and Cora was, in fact, so much more than just a conceited rich girl. Just like the rest of them, Cora kept her secrets close to her chest initially, but ended up confessing everything, overwhelmed by guilt, feeling that she was letting her friends down by not being entirely honest. Seeing as all of them were either keeping secrets or straight up lying to each other from the word go, the revelation was received well enough. And it was after Cora finally told them the truth about her shadowcaster heritage and dysfunctional, borderline psychotic patriar family that Astarion really saw her in a new light.

She was intelligent and ruthlessly vicious when dealing with enemies, making them end themselves by using their madness to quicken their demise. Her sharp tongue and the way she twisted words were rather useful when they were directed at someone else. He was especially impressed by the way she handled Yurgir. Large doe eyes and deceptively frail frame aside, Cora could be trusted to be cruel when the situation called for it.

Yet, Cora was fiercely loyal and protective to the group, to the point that it was near suicidal, which drove Astarion up the wall.

When Astarion first decided to sleep with her to get their unanimously appointed leader under his thumb, he did not realise that he bit off more than he could chew, figuratively speaking. Initially, Cora did not reveal her ancestry, she was ashamed of its corruptive power. But as they progressed on their journey, she managed to harness the shadows without succumbing to the corruption.

A tenday ago, as their band of misfits finally made it to the city, Cora grew quiet and withdrawn, quite a contrast to her usual chatterbox ways. Astarion guessed that it had everything to do with being reunited with her family, an unavoidable, worrying inevitability that frightened her to the point of making Cora distracted and even careless. Granted, she wasn’t the only one with an unpleasant family reunion, but it made her worries no less valid. But after Gortash’s coronation and Wyll’s subsequent decision to be free of Mizora at the cost of his father’s freedom, Astarion saw a familiar stubborn look in her eyes as she fell into her problem-solving mode.

She had a plan.

Cora squared her shoulders and thrust her chin up stubbornly, bulldozing her way through the city, swindling the innkeeper into giving them rooms at the Elfsong for free, fighting tooth and nail to make sure that they obtained all the information that could aid them on their personal quests. They defeated Cazador, which, surprisingly, was far less troublesome than he thought it would be, although it didn’t make it any less traumatic, were confronted by the Sharrans, and ambushed by Orin. Cora dealt with each crisis to the best of her ability. But it was not enough.

It felt as if for every step they took forward, they were thrust back two paces. They needed information and they needed it now.

When the sky dusked, Astarion saw Cora getting dressed with a glint in her eyes that he knew meant that she had come to a decision.

“Cora? Dearest? Where are you headed this fine evening?”

“Sharess’.”

He raised an eyebrow at that.

“Would you like me to come with you?” he asked tentatively. Being all but abandoned by her family to grow up at Sharess’ meant that if circumstances were different, Cora would avoid the place like the Bubonic plague. Several days back they helped the Mamzell find out who was behind the murder of one of the prostitutes. A favor which she wanted to repay by offering a free ride. Cora refused politely yet firmly.

“No need. Though I would appreciate it if you came to get me tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow? Are you planning to,” he swallowed around a lump in his throat, “stay the night?”

“Yes,” she said simply, grabbing her brocade bag and making sure she had everything she needed.

“I see,” he said, trying to sound nonchalant. As if she told him what the weather was going to be like rather than telling him that he would have to sleep alone that night.

“Oh Star, it’s not like that!” Cora wound her arms around his neck and pressed a kiss under his jaw. “I’ve got an idea, but it might not work. So, not telling for now, okay? But I promise, I’m not going to lay a finger on anyone there. And no one sure as hells is touching me,” she said almost ominously.

Then her expression changed, she smooched his cheek and with that, she was gone.

Astarion followed her, of course. Because, as he kept telling himself, she was going to get mugged twice before she even made it to the brothel. Well, perhaps that was an exaggeration. He knew that she was powerful and very dangerous, but he couldn’t help but still think of her as the inept girl that she was when they first crashed on the beach. Now she was mistress of the shadows, one of the creatures that went bump in the night.

And of course she made it completely fine, walking into Sharess’ with confidence and levelling Mamzell with a hard look that that came from years of ordering people about. Astarion turned himself invisible and snuck after her, noting that Cora almost immediately ducked through the curtain and made a beeline for the drow twins.

Astarion scowled as it all clicked in his mind. So, this was it then. She just didn’t want him to be upset that she went back to taste whatever was on offer. It was understandable, really. With how much there was at stake, with all her responsibilities, it was no surprise that Cora needed to let herself forget, if only for a moment. Lose herself in someone willing, someone capable.

With the music being loud and the patrons getting rowdier and handsier as they got drunker, he could not hear exactly what she said to the twins. After a brief exchange, the brother, Sorn, if Astarion remembered correctly, motioned for Cora to follow him.

Astarion did not want to see anymore. He knew that technically he insisted that Cora indulge with the drow when they were here last time. Astarion was nowhere near ready to resume the sexual part of their relationship, but he still felt… he was not sure how he felt.

As they walked up the stairs, Astarion caught some of their conversation.

“Don’t you worry, I pride myself on delivering absolute satisfaction to every guest.”

“Let’s hope that you live up to your reputation. I am very particular when it comes to what gets me… excited.”

“Is that so? Well, whatever the fantasy, we always guarantee discretion. No one will ever find out.”

“I would like to think that. It would be shame if your establishment-.”

As they rounded the corner, Astarion could not catch the rest of what Cora was saying. He was sure that if his heart could beat it would be hammering loudly. He heard enough to make his insecurity rear its ugly head.

Of course he was not enough. How could he ever be? And Cora, the sweet, kind creature that she was when it came to him, did not want him to know of his inadequacy. The one thing that he was ever good for. And even that he could not provide. She did not take Halsin up on his offer, perhaps because she did not want him to witness whatever they would get up to. So, she had to take care of her needs in a different way.

Woodenly, Astarion made it to the bar and ordered wine. Might as well wait for her here. He didn’t want to go back to Elfsong and answer questions about Cora’s whereabouts. And it didn’t really matter if he drove himself mad thinking about what the drow was doing to her here at the bar or back in Elfsong.

As hours ticked by, he was approached several times by the men and women who worked there until they finally got the hint and left him be. Gods, he wished that he could get drunk. But apparently, he was not even allowed such small mercies. He rubbed his hand across his face. Picking up his glass, Astarion decided to relocate to a corner table near the window, to be left alone with his thoughts.

When morning finally came and the first slither of light warmed his cheek, Astarion heard a door slam open and shut somewhere. Someone, possibly one of the workers, ran past him and darted up the stairs with impressive speed. Then another and another. Just what in the hells was going on there?

The answer to his question came in a form of sniffling drow who was half-pulled, half-coaxed down the stairs by two servants, his bewildered and confused sibling waiting for him at the foot of the stairs.

“Sister! My head, my eyes, my hand, oh it hurts!” he wailed quite pathetically, making Astarion’s ears perk up in curiosity, “I have never been subjected to something like this in my life!”

“Brother? Are you well? Shall I call for a healer?”

“No, I don’t need a healer. What I need is rest!” he threw his arms up and pushed past her, confusing whatever guests were still milling about with his theatrics. “Do not expect me to entertain for at least a tenday! In the very least, I earned this respite!”

Now that was interesting. Astarion was curious to know what exactly was it that Cora had the drow do. Because surely… surely it could not be that bad and depraved, right? Had she been going easy on him all this time? He swallowed, not sure if he was concerned or impressed.

As he snuck past the workers and walked into the drow’s room, Astarion watched Cora stuff her face with the delicate little breakfast pastries, finely cut meat and whatever else was on the table. Quite a spread for a simple breakfast. But then again, she was quite the guest, apparently. And here at Sharess’ they knew how to cater to every whim.

“Astarion! You’re here already? Didn’t expect you to be so early,” she smiled from across the room, waving him over.

A quick glance told him that whatever happened last night did not involve the bed, as it was clearly untouched. He felt his shoulders relax a little as he got a better look at Cora. She looked tired out. But Astarion knew what a well-fucked Cora looked like, and this was not it. Which begged the question, what exactly did she get up to?

“Cora, sweetheart,” Astarion leaned closer to her, brushing a strand of inky black hair behind her ear, delighting in the fact that she leaned into his touch. “Can you tell me what you did last night to that nice drow man to have him in hysterics, hm?”

She blinked and swallowed her food, feigning ignorance. “But my love, I have no idea! I kept my promise to you, I didn’t even touch him! Well, once. But that was more of a slap than a touch, so nothing down south.”

“He seems to be of the opinion that after one night with you, he will have to take a tenday off work. ‘To heal physically and emotionally’ if I were to quote him.”

Cora snorted in amusement. It was quite perplexing how she could be a fine, noble-born lady one moment, a little rascal the next, and also a murder-happy villain when the situation called for it. Naturally, Astarion rather liked all of the above.

“Well, my Star,” she purred, pulling his face closer to her own, lips close to the shell of his ear as she whispered softly, only for him to hear, “it seems that only your magic touch is enough when it comes to me.”

Then she gave him a peck just below his ear, grabbed her bag and grinned mischievously.

“Let’s head back to Elfsong. I’ve got something in this bag that will make you very, very happy.”

Astarion felt a tingle run down his spine and swallowed nervously.

An hour later, they were back in their room. The separate room that Gale insisted they should take. Astarion did not know what in the world the wizard’s problem was. He was practically a saint with how well-behaved he’s been lately!

“So… spill dearest. What have you been up to?”.                         

“Help me with this dress,” she smiled over her shoulder.

She was stalling. He could see that suddenly she felt nervous, her fingers fiddling with the strap of her bag.

“I wonder however you managed to put it on yourself without any help,” he clicked his tongue, trailing gentle fingers up her sides until they rested on her shoulders.

“I didn’t say I couldn’t do it. But I’d rather you were the one to do it.”

He smirked and pressed a kiss to her neck, spinning her around to face him.

“And no funny business Ancunín,” she swatted at his hand when he tried to cop a feel. “Not until I show you what I got.”

“Yes, dearest. I promise to be a perfect gentleman.”

“You are not a gentleman. That’s part of your appeal. But you are perfect, my love.”

Astarion felt a lump in throat at how earnest she looked when she said that. Trust Cora to be the one person to look at him, a vampire who had been a slave for 200 and did unspeakable things, some of which she witnessed firsthand, and still call him perfect and mean it. Her fingers felt so warm against his skin as she cradled his cheek. He wanted to lean into her touch, kiss the underside of her wrist and draw her in, pulling her close and swallowing her gasp as he desperately ravaged her.

But his twice-cursed mind would not let him succumb to his own desires, or at least not let him enjoy it. And he wanted to. By gods he wanted to. Cora deserved to have the entirety of his attentions, for her lover to be present, to be there in the moment.

And that was why, with a crooked smile and a chaste peck, Astarion quickly helped her out of her dress and withdrew. Cora was a saint for pretending that she did not notice his inner turmoil.

“Lady Coraline Ravenshade, you will tell me what you got for your efforts this minute or so help me I’m leaving,” he crossed his arms and tapped his foot in a mock display of impatience.

“Fine,” Cora changed into her sleepwear and opened her bag, rummaging around and pulling out papers and parchments.

“We needed information and I thought, when does one let their guard down? When do we reveal our secrets? Whisper them into others’ ears, hushed tones, candlelight soft and intimate?”

“Are you talking about pillow talk?” Astarion said slowly, not quite sure where she was going with this.

“And then I thought, where do the richest and most influential Baldurians go?”

“Sharess’.” Astarion’s eyes widened as it all clicked.

“And of course they would choose to spend an evening with the best that coin could buy,” she nodded, spreading the papers on their shared bed with a triumphant look in her eyes.

“But why Sorn? Why not the sister?”

“Well, that was a bit of a gamble,” she admitted with a shrug. “But I figured sweet and soft would not cut it in this case. And I was right.”

Astarion picked up the papers scattered on their shared bed. Confessions, secrets revealed, plans uncovered. It was all theirs.

“You brilliant terror!” Astarion’s grin was all fangs as he quickly skimmed through the confessions the journalists at the Baldur's Mouth would pay a mountain of gold for. “But how did you convince the drow to tell you these?”

“Ah, well that took a bit of creativity. He didn’t realise that there was a kink quite like mine until last night. Because what makes me really, really hot,” she brought her lips to the shell of Astarion’s ear, “is when my lover writes.”

“We spent the whole night writing down all the gossip that the drow could think of. Quills gliding against parchment, ink stains on fingers, lips being bitten as concentration wavers and then” she said breathily, “with a thrust of the tip into the pot, back to writing we went.”

Astarion eyed her incredulously. Cora could not take it anymore and giggled.

“Was it a deeply satisfying experience, love?”

“Oh, yes. Very much. I’m afraid I tired him and myself out completely. My hand definitely cramped once or twice, but I kept at it. You know how thorough I am in everything I do,” she yawned loudly and wiped her bleary eyes.

“But the best part, my love, is that they guarantee discretion when it comes to kinks. Not when it comes to what is said after the deed is done. Sorn didn’t do anything wrong by telling me everything that he knows. But he cannot tell of anything that transpired between him and I, because that goes against everything that they stand for.”

Astarion just looked at all that she had accomplished in one night. It was so simple yet so brilliant.

“It is all here, Star,” she took his hands into her own, giving his knuckles a kiss. “The underwater prison where Gortash is probably keeping Wyll’s father. The rumours about Bhaalists, sightings in the sewers. And so much more! We can blackmail tons of people into giving us even more information!”

Astarion pulled her towards him with a chuckle and snaked his arms around her middle.

“You villain! I love how your mind works!”

“I told you, I never want to be with anyone but you. I love you. And I want to be with you for as long as you allow it.”

Astarion cradled her body against his tightly, burying his face in Cora’s unbound hair.

“This was all I could think of,” she said softly, running her fingers through his curls with a sigh. “Coming back to you and you holding me.”

It was a moment so tender that he felt like his heart couldn’t take it. It was simply too much. So Astarion threw the covers aside, the papers flying off the bed like startled birds to scatter in all directions, pushed Cora onto the bed and lay down next to her.

“Oh, be quiet and sleep! You frail half-elves need your rest,” he grumbled and pulled the covers back up to cover Cora up to her chin.

“You knew I was a yapper all along. So you have no choice but to grin and bear it.”

“Tsk, shush. Don’t make me silence you.”

“Promises, promises,” she yawned, closing her eyes with a happy sigh.

And for a moment, all was perfect. He knew that this would not last. Tomorrow would bring some new horrors and new battles. But somehow, for the first time in centuries, he found himself feeling hopeful about his future. About their future.

Because whatever happened, they would face it together. And have a lot of fun doing it.

💖 Tag list 💖:

@ninty900, @ayselluna, @dajeong,

@ravenswritingroom,

@misscrissfemmefatale,

@clazberryk, @anukulee,

@preciouslittlebhaalbae,

@sh3rl0ck, @mellowenthusiast2299,

@fleetstreet78, @starlight-rogue,

@obsessedwhyyes, @arzen9

[alexissara]

Recruiting Minthara Without Doing A War Crime - BG3

Opening Disclaimer: I do not know every variable, I am sharing what I did to recruit Minthara in BG3 since basically every guide in the internet is wrong and says you must do a war crime to recruit MInthara. You will lose out on the Minthara post battle sex scene and she remains mutually exclusive with Halsin you either have her or him but she can be obtained as a party member and even has exclusive voiced dialogue for Karlache and Wyll whom many say you are also locked out of to recruit her. Also this is totally intentional and accounted for but in my personal run I am getting some bugs, idk if it's an everyone issue or a me issue the game is still very new.

To Attack The Grove or to Kill Everyone In The Goblin Camp, that is the question, one that needs not an answer. You can do quests in both places, talk to Minthara, and more and still walk away from this fight.

All you need to do is simply progress the plot ignoring these two binary options. You'll need to ensure Minthara does not know the location of The Druid Grove so for me the way I did it was I rescued Sazza then killed her in the goblin camp before she could rat out the location and turn on me right before she would have walked me over to MInthara. It triggered a small fight but I destroyed the drums they played to trigger an alarm and have everyone fight me meaning I only had to kill four Goblins or so. I went to talk to Minthara and told her I had no clue where the druid grove or her item were but i'd totally look into it. I grabbed everything I wanted from the Goblin camp and before that did all of the Tiefling kid side quests except stealing the artifact in The Druid grove, upgraded Karlache's infernal engines, looked around everywhere I could. I did not at any point meet or talk to Halsin.

Then from there I simply went to the Underdark, you may be be able to take the Gith path instead, idk I didn't do it but I personally went to The Underdark by way of Feather Falling in the Phase Spider Monarch's layer down into it. From there I found some slavers, killed them and stole their boat. I sailed away to a forge where more slavers were living, I helped them save a true soul, helped the true soul kill them and then killed The True Soul. With that I was on my marry way and entered act 2. This I believe triggers time to have progressed in the game and everything will have gone into motion. I wanted to be sure though that I had done everything correctly so I headed to Moon Rise towers as fast as I can. I did some fights, got to the tower and found Minathara getting yelled at by her boss and thrown into a prison. In the prison two women are trying to wipe her mind. I killed all the guards before trying to help her out in the prisons area and freed some other prisoners. Stole a bunch of stuff then went to the girl herself. I then killed the people trying to brainwash her after talking to them for a little, walked out with Minthara, the guards at multiple times were like "why the fuck do you have Minthara" I smooth talk my way out of each situation, we leave moonrise and I tell her she can stay in our camp. From there she is a party member.

The game suggests you don't bring Minthara back into Moonrise Towers with you, I have got some light glitches on my own run when going to areas that are before you can normally recruit minthara and going to camp sometimes she spawns over at The Goblin camp where you first meet her. The Goblins seem to be basically fine so what happened with the tiefling and druids. Well the tieflings were forced to leave the druid grove but they were gonna do that anyway and the same quests are triggered as if you didn't do that as far as I undertand. I have met one of the tieflings already in act two and they were not mad at me for not helping the grove. The grove however did do the ritual and is no longer accessible. I will update this when I enter Baulder's Gate if I find out I like idk caused the death of a bunch of characters for not siding with either but I don't think I cased any deaths at all, I think I spared the most lives, the most peaceful bitch.

I want to end of the note that there is more to Minthara than Girlboss, Gaslight, Gatekeep. She for narrative reasons is a fun character to have. She is cold for sure but I think the game does a pretty good job justifying it and you can see right away glimmers of her warming up. In terms of a party member her kit is interesting, she starts with tadepoles already in her head so if you were totally avoiding them like me you'll be able to see a few of the powers in action given you have no option to remove them from her.

[talizoraa]

Some early game Baldur’s Gate 3 tips

- Once you’ve rescued Shadowheart from her pod on the Nautiloid, you can press K on pc (idk about controller) to see her spell list and change her prepared spells. Swap out one of her spells for Command. Now you can use command to make the devil drop his sword and easily go and pick it up. Even if you can’t use it, this is a very strong early game sword even for your party members and there’s no reason not to do this. Once he’s dropped his weapon it’s easier to kill him, but still very tough. He gives a lot of xp though, so it’s your choice. (Thanks to my gf for this she’s a genius)

- Long rest as often as possible. Especially if you care about your companions personal stories and your relationships with them. As you progress the story and recruit your party members, camp events get added to a queue with different urgency attached to them. If you don’t long rest enough, you will miss a lot of these. Some of them are important for quests, some are just for learning more about your companions, but you can get a lot of approval if you do them, if that’s something you care about. The majority of the time there is no downside to long resting frequently, with camp supplies being very easy to come by. There are a small number of quests that will change after you long rest, but by far fewer than I thought there would be. If you’re worried, you can f5 to quick save before long rest. On my earlier saves, I used long rest very sparingly and missed a lot of events I would’ve liked to have seen. (Also obviously restoring spell slots and hp and stuff)

- If you are not playing a cleric or a druid, and don’t feel like constantly having Shadowheart in your party, you can go here to loot a necklace with Guidance on it. Guidance is extremely good for dice rolls and I absolutely recommend picking this up.

- This last ones mostly just for fun, once you reach the Emerald Grove, head up the path to the east from the entrance and you can meet Alfira the tiefling bard. Talk to her and offer to play with her, pass all the difficulty checks and you’ll learn to play musical instruments. There’s also a chest here with an item for bards inside. Head north east from her to fight some harpies and rescue a tiefling boy, who will give you access to the kids hideout. Again these aren’t super important, just helpful, and the instrument proficiency is fun. These will NOT be available after you complete the main quest for the zone. (Image is from google, don’t know what the other markers are)

- Oh also, these are pretty well known but just in case. As I said, F5 to quicksave, F8 to quickload. Hold ALT to see almost all lootable objects. Hold SHIFT to see enemy’s cones of vision.

These are just a few tips that would have helped me out had I known them sooner, that I’ve hardly seen mentioned anywhere else. There’s more obvious ones, like making sure you recruit Wyll and Karlach before moving on to act 2, as they’re easily missable, and fully exploring the crash site to find all the available companions. Feel free to let me know if there’s any more I should add or reblog with your own!

[nanamimizz]

tags: written for @prettyboykatsuki in mind. reader is gn, and is a rouge with a thief/street urchin background. marriage and discussion of children. takes place in act 3, spoilers for wyll’s personal quest. discussion of marriage. fluff.

synopsis: you overhear wyll bragging to the children. at first you think nothing of it until you hear him say somethings you weren’t privy to.

Wyll is good with children, a truth not doubted but known ever since you had met the fabled folk hero in the Emerald Grove. It’s something you hardly do not think of, if you don’t want to end up in some sort of frenzy of thoughts better left unsaid. At least for the chapter of life you two are currently in. Maybe, you think as you clutch the wishing acorn the love of your life had gifted you in the palm of your hand, maybe when all this is over you could discuss such things as a family with him. When Wyll is free of Mizora’s hands completely, when his father is safe from all plots and schemes and when the little friend in your head has been cast out - yes, you think, you would like to utter the words of a family to Wyll’s ever so kind ear.

Unlike you however, your intended is not as patient as you can hear him bragging to the tiefling children you have both met and saved in your travels to Baldur’s Gate. It makes you chuff, like a pleased tiger and shake your head oh so fondly as he utters tales of your adventures. As you draw near you can make out the words - he’s telling the tales of defeating the goblin camp leaders. The adventure feels like a lifetime ago but not the phantom ache of the knot on your head you sustained from Dror Ragzlin knocking you well and good on the head.

You hear one of the kids, Mattis with his shaggy dark hair and mischievous eyes that glitter like the gold he covets with his not-so-lucky rings.

“Looks like you don’t do much now, do you Blade of Frontiers?” Mattis mocks, snickering behind his red hand. Wyll laughs good-naturedly, letting the teasing roll off his back smoothly like water off a duck’s wing. It’s something you envy, how Wyll is never riled up by such empty words. Mattis pouts, petulant as he throws another half baked insult at the man.

“And what’s with you letting your allies take such a beating - first Karlach now this? Having a hard time picturing what good you are for Blade?” Wyll huffs a chuckle, a smug smile tugging at his full lips and you stare a little too deeply at how white his teeth are in the afternoon sun.

“Things are different now you see - I have another story for you…” Wyll continues on with the tale of where you fought off Roah Moonglow, a Zhentarim trader who stole all the gold in the common’s people’s coffers; there had been a fatal mistake that you had made and Wyll had saved you at the perfect time. Even had a second to spare to throw in a witty comeback and a brilliant smile your way before the fight continued. Mattis’s face scowled as even he had to admit that the story succeeded in making the Blade appear just as cool as you and Karlach.

If barely.

“So what’s different now? Did you finally know how to hold your own in a fight?” Mattis pouts, conceding that maybe the Blade of Frontiers was more cool than dorky. Wyll grins, brilliant teeth on display at the apple of his cheeks raised.

“I’m their husband now. No one can ever hurt them while I’m around.”

Scratch that. The Blade of Frontiers will forever be corny in the eyes of these tiefling children for as long as you and Karlach live - they even think that know-it-all wizard that hangs around you is cool by default. The children all gag, making their sounds of disgust with Mattis being the loudest of them all. They are quick to disperse, going off to do what children do best in the times they live in and you approach Wyll as they leave.

“Calling yourself my husband now are we? It’s been less than a tenday since you asked me to be yours. Unless we’ve had a ceremony within the same amount of time - I think it’s a little too soon to call you such a revered title.”

Wyll jumps at the sound of your voice, your quiet steps always managing to go under his senses. It makes you laugh a little, how the smallest testaments of your background manage to slip past the hero’s defenses. You watch with adoring eyes as Wyll flushes with a warmth that makes him shine in the daylight as he brings a hand to rub at the back of his neck from embarrassment.

“Please - don’t tell me you heard all of that?”

“Oh yes I did. Every word in fact.”

Wyll hisses in embarrassment, and even then he doesn’t hesitate to look back into your eyes when you gently run your hand on his arm.

“Do you mean that - that nothing can hurt me while you are with me?” You ask your voice soft with tentativeness. He softens, gaze going from embarrassment to an eager honesty simmered with so much affection you neve once thought you would be looked at with. Wyll is a smart man, perspective and he knows what it is you ask - the battles that you have yet to face but will have to as fate decrees; its golden thread dictating every action and word that is to be spoken.

Wyll takes the hand on his arm into his and gazes at you, the brown of his eyes turning golden under the warmth of his words.

“Yes, truly. I may be the Blade of Frontiers sworn to protect the Sword Coast but,” he pauses to lick his lips as if tasting the sweetness of his confession before uttering it to you, “I am first and foremost a blade sworn to you. So whenever our enemies are drawn near, don’t hesitate to point me their way.”

The devotion is heavy in each word spoken, something you had never been witness to - loyalty and devotion only gets you killed in the streets. So it takes you a moment to collect yourself, to pick yourself off the floor from the weight of the goodness Wyll holds for you. You swallow before speaking, your voice thick.

“You already asked me to marry you - you don’t need to lay it on thick.” You say, trying to deflect but Wyll only smiles, eyes fond and gently as he lets his thumb caress the top of your hand.

“I know, I can’t help but be sweet to you. And I swear to the Helm I’ll live up to my word everyday.”

You smile, lacing your fingers with his.

“I’ll hold it to you Lord Ravengard.”

“I hope to exceed all expectations.” His smile is smig but his words are warm - lovinging and truthful. Just as Wyll always is.

[grape-eating-vampire]

PART 2 of

things that happened so far in my first bg3 playthrough ever that I found so funny that I put them in my notes (now proper spoilers below)

defeated Ketheric Thorm in no less than 4 attempts

freed Mizora from one of the mindflayer pods, regretted it immediately because I hate the woman

got annoyed at missing so much companion banter, caved and got the companion limit begone mod

am now running around with all the origin companions, left the druids at camp to not be toooo overpowered (luckily I'm so bad at the game that it doesn't make a huge difference anyway)

there is someone named Orpheus and eithin seconds I had the Wedding Song from Hadestown stuck in my head

reached Baldur's Gate! my 200€ pc is Suffering

slept with the emperor to get the 'Mind Blown' achievement only for my mum to walk in in the middle of it to ask me for a hairclip

needless to say she was concerned and I had to explain myself (she stayed concerned but also found it funny)

snuck into Cazadors home and met someone named Sebastian, bawled my eyes out at his and Astarion's conversation

killed Cazador!! (fuck that guy)

went through the entirety of the sewers to find Minsc because what Jaheira says is law and the quest markers in my game are buggy as hell

on a sidenote, I godamn LOVE Minsc and Jaheira as a duo they are the best

recruited Minsc obviously, also took me two attempts because just knocking him out while he was under a 'Hold Person' spell counted as killing to Jaheira :(

met Dammon again! Karlach was thrilled and so was I

talked to Gortash (he's meh) and he told me to kill Orin

talked to Orin (I hate her with all I have and more) and she told me to kill Gortash

OH I ALMOST FORGOT

Remember how I left the druids at camp? Orin snuck in and took Halsin, pretended to be him and had me almost crying

but rage prevailed, so I went around the city for about 19 years to figure out how to get into Baahls temple (I had only knocked out someone instead of killing them, making the amulet you need for it not spawn in their inventory)

finally figured it out, went in, and immediately found a clowns head from about 20 hours playtime ago

killed Orin (and got the achievement), it was great fun bc as mentioned before, I despise her

Halsin was so thankful I'd saved him that he immediately went "haha tysm for not leaving me, wanna fuck?"

so I left Wyll for him (with lots of pain in my heart, the things we do for the plot istg)

have not played since, but my most recent savefile is called "the wicked bitch is dead, long live the druids"

[sailorgundam308]

Got pretty annoyed yesterday while discussing the game with a friend (don’t worry, we’re still friends lol). But truly, I got annoyed at, once more, seeing how there are wrong assumptions weaved into the community discourse - things based out of someone’s ass, apparently, that got traction and now are repeated by players as if it’s true. But, of course, if anyone stops 2 seconds to actually pay attention to the game, these ideas prove to be just wrong.

This friend, for example, was mentioning how Astarion and Karlach NEVER agree or disagree together in anything. That’s a lie. I’ve (me myself, so I KNOW firsthand) been screen shooting every time there’s an agreement between them and when there isn’t. There are much more agreements than disagreements between Astarion and Karlach. They do come across as having different alignments, but they think alike MUCH more than ‘the internet’ (or even some devs?!) tend to believe. They might justify their rationale in different ways but they do agree together and disagree together way more than they disagree with each other. So that is something I personally can attest to.

Then I heard the argument that Karlach and Astarion don’t get unique scenes between each other: again, untrue. The tiefling party scene with Karlach, for starters, is the only unique romance scene for Astarion. The only person who has back and forth with Karlach after the paladins of Tyr are defeated is Astarion. They have (out of the top of my head, at least 4 unique short banters while both are in the party - again, more than Karl with any other companion.

Then the wrong assumption Astarion can’t go to Avernus : he can and he goes, both as ascended and spawn if you’re playing origin Karl. Ascended if you’re playing him.

A lot stems, again, from simplistic and shallow interpretations of both these characters’ story arcs and personalities. Others come from prejudice, from passing judgement on their appearance instead of their “content”.

Moreover, though, there will never be as much this x that content if it’s involving Karlach (and worse for Wyll) SIMPLY BECAUSE there is LESS than A THIRD the amount of content for Karlach in ANYTHING.

For some reason writers/devs took a long while to decide to put the work into Karlach and when they did they clearly made a bet that blew in their faces - that she’d be a lesser origin character and that’d turn out alright. But she’s the second most popular character and because people like her, they are paying attention to her story - and the massive lack of work and resources dedicated to her arc. Imagine if she had received the attention in detail and the game time / in game content, say, shadowheart received? Instead of a temple Shar, we went to Avernus? In place of Shar, ZARIEL made a personal appearance? We could’ve gotten a young Karlach flashback cinematic, an extra dungeon in act 3, then a personal quest closure with Gortash instead of SH’s parents, so we’d know what the fuck happened. As someone who can’t give two shits about SH, that would’ve been incredible to play. Half of that would still have been a blast. But we get nowhere near. And I’m only bringing Karlach to attention here as an example - if you look at Wyll (who was the front page origin boy since the conception of the game), the disparity is even more shocking.

I’ve read on a writer’s twitter a while back (can’t remember who exactly so you’ll have to excuse me), that they were the writers for Durge, and for a time they got to write some stuff for Astarion for a bit, due to some task delegation changes and whatnot, and they explicitly said they “managed to put in things specific to their “main” character (durge) in Astarion’s writing” - or something in those lines. Honestly… what the fuck? Not sure if that was the intention, but to me it sounded like someone with their own precious OC, which they are obviously attached to, pushing content in to benefit their “main”. In a game where there are several “mains” and many with glaringly less content than others. Again, in my interpretation of what I read that day, this information came across as the most unprofessional shit I’ve seen - if you are tasked to write someone else’s character, you should act as that character’s writer - not a fanfic writer trying to push a personal headcanon or narrative because it pleases YOU, in detriment of other characters. It was wild at the time and I just kinda… walked away and pretended I didn’t read it. It was just shocking and not the attitude I expected from a serious professional.

Whether that’s the whole truth or not I can’t say, but what I can say is that this left me with a weird taste in my mouth and perhaps that’s why until today I couldn’t finish a single run with Durge despite trying several. There are other issues with Durge for me personally in term of the actual writing of the sentences and the way they were worded that just seems impossible to take seriously. (But I’m trying to get over it still, as I want to experience this part of the game too, so I won’t give any sort of personal final veredict).

Also, the idea that Durge was supposed to be the main character… that’s a new assumption for me and my friend also brought it up. That sounded very sus and I went to read more about it and, of course, that’s also wrong. In previous BG games, we always played a Bhaalspawn. It would make perfect sense we played one again - but the butler shit, the amnesia, the gore erotic fantasies, that wouldn’t fly for the average BG3 player - and wasn’t supposed to. When they decided to split tav to leave the “absolutely neutral protagonist” they parted with the bhaalspawn narrative that was a very big part of the previous games, so I assume they didn’t want to just toss it, but put it to another “dark tav” or whatever shit that means. And then they doubled down with the evil and edge lord of kitschy horror narrative. It’s FINE. But isn’t supposed to be the main character.

TLDR: instead of taking random assumptions about bg3 as yours, pay attention to the game itself. And think critically about it a bit. All the origins are presented AS equals but they’re nothing but. And Larian should be (yes, troubleshooting tech issues but also) trying to even out the absurd gaps they allowed to happen in integrating the narrative of, especially, Karlach and Wyll into the game. Make more and decent content for them, fix the plot holes, rewrite the shit that doesn’t make sense for them FIRST.

Tbh, I wouldn’t be complaining if Larian had owned it to their content and presented us with Karlach and Wyll as sort of Halsin or Minthara type of companion - non origin, lesser tier of companion. Then the production choices they made would be at the very least justified. And I won’t EVEN start on the fact that these two, Karl and Wyll, are the two PoC origins… the black guy and the southeast Asian woman. Because, oh, boy, things start to look VERY bad when you put THAT into this equation… 👀

[blackjackkent]

OK. Iron Throne time!

This is one of those things that is a) mildly easier with the extra person we have in our squad and b) not really THAT different from how it went with Hector, so I'm not going to play-by-play the mechanics again.

However, there are a few differences between this scenario and how it ran for Hector, starting with the voice that pops into Rakha's head as soon as she arrives:

"Halt."

Narrator: A cold, suckering wetness grasps at your mind. A voice, familiar to you from the Underdark, wraps itself around your brain.

"You must act with haste. Duke Ravengard is held within these walls. He must be extracted."

Unlike Hector, Rakha did not accept any help from Omeluum in the Underdark, so this is not a familiar voice in any respect. It in fact takes Rakha a few precious seconds to place it - the illithid from the myconid colony who offered to investigate the worm in her head. What in all the hells is it doing here?

But that question doesn't even matter, because what it says is far more important.

Duke Ravengard is held within these walls.

A flicker of adrenaline pulses like lightning through her veins. Wyll's father is here, and still alive. Mizora didn't kill him when the pact was severed. They can still rescue him.

But the water is pouring in fast.

"Tell me what to do," she responds inwardly. She is conscious out of the corner of her eye of Wyll's eyes going wide and his breath quickening.

Images flicker through her head - of rusted steel walls and locked doors, and lizard-like creatures patrolling.

"Duke Ravengard is held in the security wing," Omeluum intones. "Be careful. There are many hazards. This structure is collapsing. Act with speed. Act with efficiency. Good luck."

-----

So here's the thing.

None of that dialogue made it at all clear that Omeluum is actually a) here or b) in danger. All it said was that Ravengard is and needs to be extracted. And actually finding Omeluum requires you going way out of your way and through a locked door in the facility.

And Rakha talked to it in the Underdark for a total of about ten seconds and DID NOT trust it at all.

Much as I hate to say it, I don't think she would be at all compelled to hunt for and save Omeluum despite it appearing as an item in the quest log. (Omeluum is a bro and I love it and Hector did save it, but I just can't see why Rakha would even realize she could try just from this dialogue, let alone necessarily wanting to.)

Her focus, in any event, is entirely on the Gondians and on Ravengard. So let's get to work.

-----

We have eight turns to play with (in D&D speak, about 48 seconds of real-time, which is definitely a fact that breaks down a little in this scenario if you try to look at it too closely).

Lae'zel has the fastest movement speed, followed by Minsc, so they are on Gondian retrieval duty, while Jaheira clears the entryway and Rakha and Wyll go after Ravengard.

Haste potions for everyone except Jaheira, who is being kept on the task that requires not much moving around because I love her to death but she is SO slow. (The game claims she has the same movement speed as Rakha and Wyll but I don't buy it; she ALWAYS seems to be moving slower than everyone else.)

Lae'zel and Minsc and Jaheira's portions go off without a hitch, more or less. (Truly the most exhausting part of this whole process is watching the three billion turns go by of the tons of sahuagin that start spawning and all the Gondians trying to run away and eliciting every attack of opportunity in their path.) I am rather proud of some strategic stuff I did with making use of my character pathing to elicit reactions from the sahuagin and make it safer for the Gondians to get out. :D

Shoutout to the one Gondian who thought it was a good idea to PUNCH AN OIL BARREL on his way out. I truly do not know why he did this, but it set off an explosion which then a) damaged his comrades and b) triggered the lever to shut the door he was trying to get through to leave.

???? Why.

-----

CORRECTION from later in the fight - it apparently caused BOTH doors on the pathway out to both shut and LOCK. And the levers to open them are both on the inside where none of my controlled characters are. Let the bards sing of Featherweight Falson and his utter idiocy for centuries to come.

The Gondians had better all be lining up to give me a real nice evening after this. I did manage to get them all out in spite of their idiocy; the strategy involved Lae'zel taking two of her three attacks to smash the first door down and then shooting an arrow at the lever to open the second. I also spent a lot of healing potions on these dumbasses.

But I did it!8

-----

Anyway, Wyll and Rakha's portion is where the interesting stuff happens.

As soon as Wyll opens the door on Ravnegard's cell, an unsettling, rolling burst of laughter rolls through the air around them. Mizora's laughter.

Rakha shudders involuntarily, but the adrenaline and the effects of the potion she swallowed don't allow her to slow down. She can see that Wyll has gone wide-eyed, frantic, yanking the door open to let his father free.

I think Rakha can probably tell immediately that Ravengard is charmed. The game shows it as a bunch of light strings sort of puppeting his body, and I'm guessing Rakha, with her sensitivity to the Weave, can see it too. So she's already on her guard and hurling a health potion at Ravengard to try and prepare him as the devil herself shimmers into view.

"Wyll, my pet..." she purrs, malice in her eyes and her smile. "I was hoping you'd bound along. A bargain's a bargain. And I've come to see it through."

She looks past Wyll towards Ravengard who is still standing just past the door of his cell, trembling and blank-eyed. "Mea furia," she snarls. "Kneel for me!"

Slowly, jerkily, Ravengard stumbles, then falls to one knee, staring at Mizora's feet.

"What are you doing?" Wyll hisses, his voice full of fury and desperation.

Mizora clicks her tongue, mock-innocent. "Exactly what you asked for," she says brightly. "Now stand back and enjoy the show!"

She vanishes, and in her place appear a horde of magic-glittering spiders, which descend on Ravengard.

-----

Wyll and Rakha, in keeping with the fact that both of them are in High Adrenaline mode at the moment, managed to have a pretty badass little sequence here on their next turn.

Rakha hurled another health potion on Ravengard, then darted out of the room to clear the AOO from the Sahuagin blocking the door. Wyll used the help action Ravengard to free him from his compelled kneel, then Eldritch Blasted all the nearest spiders to knock them out of AOO range and kill some of them before they could burst on his father.

And then everyone ran like hell.

And you know what? I know I'm on easy, I know, I know - but I did some pretty smart stuff here and I got everyone out and I'm proud of myself. :P

-----

(For some reason, when everyone escapes, this cutscene always puts Minsc in the driver's seat no matter how I order the party or who was actually the last one out of the Iron Throne. I had to do a temporary save leaving him behind in the exploding prison in order to make the cutscene use anyone else - specifically Wyll who was who I wanted.)

Wyll hurls himself behind Rakha up the ladder, soaked in the briny water that is now flooding the last corners of the shattered Iron Throne. The Gondians are out. His father is safe. With a last wrenching effort he pulls himself into the submersible and lets the hatch fall shut behind him.

Ravengard stands at the window, watching the prison fall away behind them. Seeing Wyll out of the corner of his gaze, he turns and meets his son's eyes in silence. Then he turns, wordlessly, and takes a seat, leaving Wyll to look out through the reinforced glass alone.

Behind them, the last charges detonate within the Throne's carcass. Chunks of broken stone and metal burst out in all directions as the submersible slips away into the dark water.

[crossdressingdeath]

Can I just... okay, there's something that's been percolating in my head ever since the Durgetash patch 6 crumbs dropped and I think I can finally put it into words. Because everyone was getting so mad about Durge (and it was about Durge, not Gortash; it was an origin character getting their backstory acknowledged in the game at a point where it should've been from the start, saying it was about Gortash is like saying... I don't know, any unique dialogue Cazador gets in Astarion origin runs is Cazador content) getting five or six new lines when Wyll got nothing and... well, personally I think that's a little silly, first because adding a few new Gortash lines to Durge runs would not be taking away from Wyll content (the two characters have different writers, VAs and mocap actors, for the most part they would not have been pulling from the same resource pool), but more importantly because... if you want to point at an origin character taking resources from Wyll, don't point at Durge. Point at Karlach.

I mean, think about it. Think about how the game runs with these two characters. You likely meet Wyll first unless you go out of your way to avoid speaking to him until you meet Karlach. He asks you to help him hunt down and kill a devil, and you go and you look and you find her and... now you're doing Karlach's quest. They interrupt Wyll's quest in the middle to do Karlach's quest. And she keeps piping up during the conversation with Mizora afterwards, and it turns out that Wyll got sent after Karlach to begin with because Karlach is Zariel's extra-special favourite mortal, and suddenly Wyll's sharing his post-quest transformation cutscene (something which I think we can all agree should be entirely about him) with a character who wasn't even playable until a ways into EA. You can't even properly commiserate with Wyll afterwards, you can only even be nice to him if you choose to read the lines that way; you spend more time chatting to Karlach about Wyll's transformation than you do Wyll! Wyll's act one quest gets almost completely taken over by Karlach, I'm honestly kind of surprised I haven't seen anyone else talking about it. Even him being turned into a devil is barely about him because Karlach's backstory is butting in! There is a reason why no other origins share villains, but where Karlach's connection to Gortash is overshadowed by Durge in a Durge run here she's overshadowing Wyll in every run except maybe (I say maybe because I haven't done it) a Wyll origin.

And it gets even better! Remember how originally you couldn't save Karlach at all? Remember when it was death or mind flayer? Remember what Larian did when people complained about that? I'm fucking amazed I didn't see more complaints about that, given the number of complaints I saw about Durgetash getting five whole lines. Do you want to keep Karlach alive? Do you want to end the game with all your companions still breathing and reasonably happy? Well then fuck what you think is a good, happy and/or narratively satisfying ending for Wyll; you're packing him off to the Hells, because that's the only way to keep Karlach alive if you don't want to go with her (which you probably don't if you romanced someone other than her)! Like, I want you to really let that sink in; they made Karlach's survival completely reliant on how you end Wyll's quest. If you want Karlach to survive and don't want your character's epilogue to be "go to the Hells" (which, again, odds are most players don't) you have to end Wyll's quest accordingly. They could've put that into Karlach's quest! Give her an actual character arc (instead of the line-with-maybe-a-slight-curve she got) where you can encourage her to choose life and go to Avernus on her own or... I don't know, go with Dammon or something! Especially since as it turns out Zariel apparently doesn't actually give a shit, which the PC should be able to point out given Zariel's track record in this game of giving barely enough of a shit to make a token effort at getting Karlach back or killing her! But instead the climax of Wyll's whole damn arc has to share space with Karlach. Maybe not in the game's text proper, but from a meta perspective? If the player doesn't want to go to the Hells but wants Karlach to live, that's likely going to be if not the deciding factor in Wyll's quest then certainly a major one in—as with the transformation cutscene—a situation that should be entirely about Wyll.

I don't really know how to end this. I guess... I fully admit part of it is me being super petty about the sheer number of posts I saw getting mad about Durgetash getting literally five or six lines (crumbs! Barely crumbs! Crumbs that didn't impact Wyll in any way!), but it also really is like... people complained about that but I haven't seen anyone complaining about how Larian warped Wyll's whole story around Karlach. And I think more people should complain about it. Wyll's story got dragged off-course the second they started rewriting it, but they wrapped the whole thing around Karlach when they made her an origin companion to the point where at times it feels like Wyll's playing second fiddle in his own arc, and that's... well, honestly it just pisses me off.

[cromcrux]

BG3 Brainstorming (spoilers)

So, I love Baldur’s Gate. I have spent so much time in that world. Which, because I cannot just mindlessly enjoy things, means I have been thinking about it and things that make the world feel a little flat or forced to me. So in the interest of releasing these thoughts from my mind!

Things I would change about BG3

First off, I would change some of the companion character’s classes, and when those companions join your group. The first character I would change would actually be Wyll. I love Wyll as a character, but his warlock status feels really forced. It feels a little first draft to me. I think Wyll would have made for a fantastic ranger (and I am further justified by the afterparty confirming this).Alternatively. Wyll could have been a Paladin. This would also give you access to a paladin before Act 2 and an alternative to the (before one of the last updates) much more difficult to recruit Minthara. If his oath had been to Baldur’s Gate or, even more spectacularly, Ansur himself, that would have given the quest beneath Baldur’s Gate so much impact. Overall, I really like Wyll and I wish more had been done with him. If we really weren’t going to kick off his story arc until Act 3, I think that’s when he should join up though. He basically has nothing to do in Act 2, not even character growth because he’s a pretty stable guy, he doesn’t really need to mature or overcome any trauma. He just chills. Maybe wait until his action starts to include him. Either that or give him something to do in the Shadowfell (maybe give him information about Ansur or some other nuggets so he’s not just sidelined storywise).

Next up is Halsin. Don’t get me wrong, he’s a cool character. But he should have been a Nature Cleric rather than a druid. He’s got very ministerial vibes. A Nature Cleric of Silvanus could have still been important to the grove (maybe working with the head druid instead of the head himself) and would have made for an excellent healer. We also get both Jaheira and Halsin as recruitable members at the same time and having two druids doesn’t make for good balance when so many of the other classes are under-represented. 

Jaheira, should join you properly in Act 2. When you leave to go investigate Moonrise, she should be recruitable as a companion. Halsin is still doing his thing in camp and in the version, Wyll is waiting for us at Baldur’s Gate (maybe he’s here helping protect the Tieflings, that would also be cool), and having a druid after seeing what they can do in Act 1 would be good. 

Since we have Wyll filling in as our ranger, Minsc would actually make for a pretty good Monk and give us some experience using a Monk before we have Orpheus in our party (if we choose Lae’zel over the Emperor). I do wish it was a little easier to get Minsc slightly earlier in Act 3. Everything feels very rushed after Orin kidnaps one of your party, but I think that was due to Act 3 getting truncated. 

Astarion: I have seen some complaints that his storyline doesn’t feel like it meshes as much with the main storyline, since aside from hailing from Baldur’s Gate, nothing about his personal storyline is directly connected to the Dead Three or what’s going on there, so here’s my fix: Astarion is the Warlock with Mizora as his patroness. I think it would be a much more interesting dynamic. There is dialogue outside the tabernacle where Astarion remarks how no god ever answered his prayers when Cazador had him, so what if a Devil had? He might trade one master for a mistress if he thought the terms were better. He might still strain against leash, but his own manipulative behavior would prevent him from being overtly hostile towards her. Astaron’s Ascension could then be duly colored: Don’t ascend and risk losing his soul to Mizora forever, or ascend and truly be free? (I do think players should have the opportunity for the same sort of deal Wyll makes to free Astarion from his contract. But if you don’t make that deal or don’t get that choice, it makes Astarion’s argument to ascend look slightly more grey than it is).

Finally, I wish Alfira was a recruitable character. She’s the only actual Bard you run into (I will not be counting Volo as a bard, he’s at best a nuisance to his own editors and publishers), and it might be interesting to have a companion leave you in Act 3, once you make it to the Elfsong, she stops being a companion and instead helps with keeping your reputation or communicating information between you and the various factions you’ve gotten on your side. She could stay in your camp but no longer be playable.

Next would be a change I think would actually be pretty easy to implement: Make the choice to side with the Emperor after learning his true identity an actual choice. If the players choose to side with the Githyanki, allow the Honor Guard to take up protecting the party (with successful dialogue choices and checks), and continue the game mostly as normal. This would even fit with what the Emperor tells you as the inside of the Prism is suppose to block out the absolute  Have the head of the Honor Guard checking in with players instead of the Emperor, maybe being the same imposing presence as Kith’rak Voss. Have the Honor Guard be the ones to save the party from the Absolute. This would also make Orpheus softening up to you in the final scenes make a little more sense, as you did choose the “right” thing. It’s the biggest part of the story that feels railroaded and it seems like such an easy swap.

[leofrith]

hii so i‘m way to invested in everyone‘s baldurs gate plays. can we see your tavs? I would love to see them haha😭

YESSSSSS i will happily take any excuse to talk about my tavs. 🥰 i'm sorry this took so long. i wanted to have their Lore™ a little more set in stone before answering this, but then i proceeded to make uhhhh 2 more tavs and a durge. 🤡

i am listing my characters in the order i created them. they're all good/neutral aligned because being mean in video games makes me break out in hives. aaaaand this is going under a read more because it got really fucking long. 🥴

marqwyn stoneheart

race: human

class: eldritch knight fighter

background: soldier

romance: gale

my first tav who i adore. ❤️ i stole her name from the very first character i created for a now abandoned dnd campaign (though she's nothing like og marqwyn). she's a former flaming fist who left their service due to the corruption she witnessed there. after leaving the city she became an independent soldier for hire—but she's a terrible mercenary because she's a bleeding heart who will help people because they need it, regardless of whether they can pay her or not.

she has dragged the party into many an unnecessary brawl because her charisma is literally in the negatives. we love a girl incapable of talking herself out of Situations. she also used to have two brown eyes before deciding to get herself volo'd during a brief moment of desperation-fuelled insanity.

her backstory has changed a lot since i first made her, mostly because i didn't really have anything in mind when i started playing. 😬 i also had no fucking clue what i was doing when i first started and it certainly shows (tons of missed content, didn't take enough long rests, completely missed lae'zel for the first ~30 hours of gameplay, have done quests in an extremely questionable order, etc.).

i romanced gale with her because the wizard had me by the jugular the second he opened his mouth, and buff wife who hits things with her big sword and her squishy wizard husband who casts counterspell is something that can be so personal. that being said, i do want to rework her character and do another playthrough with her, probably romancing wyll, because her playthrough is a mess.

i will now dip into the alternate canon that lives in my brain in which my next three tavs are allowed to coexist, so just stay with me here and trust in the vision ajgjsdgf

meadow moonwillow

race: mephistopheles tiefling

class: storm sorcerer, bard of the college of lore

background: entertainer

romance: karlach (or enya in the canon that exists in my head)

i made her specifically for my karlach romance run, because best girl deserves a little sunshine to match her own. meadow was born to play gigs in dive bars, but was cursed with a natural talent for magic. 😔 she'll use it because it's useful in a fight, i guess, but she'd much rather insult people to death. if there is shit to be disturbed, she will disturb it.

her and gale are best friends, because i think having some friendly spell caster competition with his bestie who (begrudgingly) lets him teach her wizard spells would be good for his mental health. her and wyll butt heads a bit at first, mostly because meadow's way of trying to comfort people is through humor, and her attempts to make him feel better about his new devil form come off as insensitive (inspired by the way i accidentally insulted wyll at the tiefling party in my meadow playthrough by joking that i was jealous of his horns. king i swear it was meant as a compliment!! 😭). eventually they become really close, which is certainly a necessity when you're both going on a vacation to hell with no set end date.

also my choice of name for her definitely has nothing to do with the fact that i am in the middle of watching the sopranos. definitely not.

landric sparrowsong, "the wrath-bringer"

race: human

class: oath of vengeance paladin, tempest domain cleric of ilmater

background: sage

romance: gale

his backstory is probably the one i've thought about in the most detail, mostly because he's a walking tragedy and i live for that shit. 🧍🏻‍♀️

he was once a school teacher and wasn't much of a fighter at all before his little village near baldur's gate was razed to the ground and his wife and (or so he thinks 👀) daughter were killed, at which point he took up his oath of vengeance. his favourite pastimes now include self-sacrifice and violently murdering evildoers, hence the "wrath-bringer" epithet.

he has been alone—mostly by choice, because he can't lose any more loved ones if there is no one left alive that he loves—for over a decade by the time he's infected, but the forced proximity means the companions very quickly get under his skin. he's very protective of meadow especially (when they're both in the party at the same time in the universe that exists in my head) because she reminds him of his daughter.

he is god's favourite sacrificial lamb, and is consistently the first to go down in a fight (inspired by me, constantly getting him killed by taking far too long to figure out how to play a support class). naturally i paired him with gale because i think the idea of a guy finally opening his heart to the love of another after over a decade of self-imposed solitude out of fear of being hurt again, only for gale to decide to take on a suicide mission just as they're finally realizing their feelings for one another, is soooooo good and tragic. ☺️

he has a soft spot for children, but being around them makes him sad and withdrawn (for obvious reasons), something that the companions notice pretty quickly once they get to the grove and see his cold exterior totally melt around the kids there. he carries a journal which he adds to often, either little blurbs or sketches of people he meets in his travels, ever observing from afar as an outsider.

he was actually a war cleric of mystra when i first multiclassed him because the idea of this man finding solace in his goddes during the worst years of his life only for that same goddess to tell the first person he's truly loved in years that he needs to kill himself is sooooo. anyway. but i decided to change it because war domain just wasn't doing it for me and also have you seen ilmater's whole deal?

also if he bears a close resemblance to my favourite unromanceable assassin's creed npc, that's just a coincidence (lying).

enya sparrowsong

race: human

class: beast master ranger/circle of the land druid

background: urchin

romance: lae'zel (or meadow in the canon that exists in my head)

enya is landric's very alive daughter. i made her in the character creator with no intention of actually doing a playthrough as her, which is a lie i tell myself every time i open the character creator. 😔

ideally she would not even be filling the role of tav at all, but that's obviously not an option for an actual playthrough. she spent her childhood hunting and gathering in the wilds and later pickpocketing her way through the darkened alleys of baldur's gate to survive. in the version of her backstory that lives in my head, she eventually caught the attention of jaheira (by trying to rob her), who then took enya under her wing. the harpers became a family to her, and she is with them in the shadow lands when we meet them at last light in act two. also depending on my mood on any given day, enya and meadow are either bitter exes or couple of the year.

she is generally very abrasive with most people she doesn't know well (her and lae'zel are very perfect for each other), but has a soft spot for animals and orphans. she likes her solitude and it takes a lot of effort to earn her trust (there's a reason she's survived alone as long as she has) but once you do, she's ride-or-die.

she has a raven companion and her preferred wild shape is a wolf, but i've also had a lot of fun using her wolf wild shape and a wolf companion for twice the mauling in combat (and twice the torment for shadowheart—thank you sam for pointing out that she would fucking hate this 😭). i also like to think that she's been helping shadowheart get over her fear of wolves.

her relationship with her dad is deliciously complicated!!! but that's for another post.

idunn

race: high elf

class: necromancy wizard/gloom stalker ranger

background: haunted one

romance: astarion

i haven't played as her much yet, and she's my first durge so i don't really know a ton about that whole background. but her brain is currently scrambled egg and she doesn't remember her past so i figure it's fine if i don't know anything about it either.🧍🏻‍♀️

she's trying so very hard not to kill people, and making up for the lack of murder by being incredibly rude to everyone she meets [astarion approves]. i named her idunn because i like the name but also in large part because i think associating the dark urge with the norse goddess of rejuvenation and vitality is really funny.

aelius lucilius

race: drow half-elf

class: light domain cleric of selune

background: acolyte

romance: shadowheart

he's my newest tav and the one i've played the least, so i'm still working out his backstory. i honestly just really wanted to romance shadowheart as a selunite, which is working out great so far because the shar is already out of the bag and now she loudly and openly hates his fucking guts. 🤪

[thebearemoji]

Me talk about minthara now? Nnyes

Hhhhhhhhh I revert to a whiny little baby whenever I think about the fact that some portion of the bg3 player base will simply never encounter minthara in any capacity hhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I am aware minthara is believed to be "rushed content", and that accounts for many of her bugs. But I don't really care about why she's a mess, im more interested in talking about the result of that reality.

So I've finished 2 runs of bg3 so far, one in which I played a generally very good character and one in which I played a generally pretty evil character. After completing the latter run, I'm left with several qualms about what felt like a simply inferior experience to my first play through. The most frustrating being that Minthara, who became one of my favorite companions, is completely chained to the much less satisfying "evil content" with no way to see her story otherwise.

For context, minthara can only be recruited if the player helps the goblins attack the Grove in act 1. This alone is enough to stop plenty of players from ever seeing minthara beyond that single misleading conversation in the goblin camp. Some players don't enjoy role-playing being mean/evil, and attacking the Grove is unfortunately about as despicable as a game can get. For some reason, you can't tell the tieflings to leave despite the fact that they're only collateral damage in the attack on the druids. You gotta kill every druid, and every innocent refugee, or no minthara.

But the deck stacked against my beloved drow doesn't stop there, not only do you have to kill the tieflings along with all their associated content and side quests, in order to recruit minthara you have to forgo recruiting Wyll, Karlach, and Halsin because all 3 object to the attacking the Grove.

3 companions for 1, a frankly unpleasant task of slaughtering tieflings even for someone who enjoys role-playing evil characters, not to mention she's been plagued with bugs that cause her content to fail to trigger. All those things considered, why would anyone go out of their way to recruit minthara...?

Well... i just think she's neat.

After the first encounter with minthara in the goblin camp I was not necessarily looking forward to recruiting her. I assumed she was a murder hobo and nothing more based on first impressions, but at the very least I was looking forward to getting a third companion who wouldn't nag at me for every choice I was making. At the very least, she would be another character in my corner.

However, much to my shock, she turned out to be far more nuanced then she seemed at a glance. Because the person the player meets in the goblin camp isn't minthara, but rather a puppet of the absolute wearing her skin. She has little to no control over her actions, including the roll she plays in the attack on the grove.

I really struggle to wrap my head around this choice to tie her completely to the grove. Especially considering she's being mind controlled, but there's no way to know that. Minthara is a bait and switch, someone who (despite still being evil) is nowhere near as bad as the game inclines you to believe. But you can only discover this if you help her do something truly despicable. So there's a companion who's a better person then she seems, but you can only find out about her better side if you're evil. Why? Why can't a good tav save her? Why doesn't she get the same opportunity at redemption that laezhel, astarion and shadowheart get? I know the reason is probably time constraints, but I'm mad about it.

I really think she's worthy of a closer look, i love me some good lawful evil energy. Minthara is a good example, I believe. She takes no pleasure in killing or violence, but she will also eliminate anyone who remotely impedes her without hesitation. And she weaponizes grudges like her will is sharp enough to kill on its own. She's fierce, eloquent and cunning, and also managed to make me laugh out loud with how dead pan she can be (see her response to dribbles: "Say the word and I will kill the clown. We will be heralded as heroes." with a look of pure distress on her face).

She's a lolthsworn drow who is now exiled after falling under the influence of the absolute. The place she comes from is harsh and punishing, and yet she was a noble. She describes the beauty and majesty of menzobarenzan (sp) in the same breath that she discusses battle. I wish she would've gotten a flash back cutscene like shadowheart. Either her home or Ketheric betraying her.

Honestly I wish every character had gotten a flashback cutscene like shadowheart. It's a win/win of exploring the social aspect of the tadpoles by sharing memories and also adding a visual to the events the characters describe. But I digress.

Minthara's character trope may not appeal to everyone, she is still not a good person. But neither is astarion, and he's fandom favorite. Surely people wouldn't hold minthara's morality against her while also praising Astarion for some weird reason i cant put my finger on???? HaHA-

I wouldn't blame anyone who doesnt do an evil play through. The game didn't let me have fun with it, and playing games is about having fun. Why try to be evil and get nagged at by the game for 70 hours of gameplay when I can instead save everyone and enjoy myself?

So the reality is, Minthara may remain a cryptid for many players, riddled with bugs and cursed by the narrative to lose so that many other characters can win. But at the very least, I want to draw attention to one snippet of her dialogue. This is from a conversation after Orin is defeated.

I can't shake the idea that the minthara I know and love is trapped within the person you meet at the goblin camp. In a similar vein to gortash's mother in baldurs gate, trapped behind eyes she no longer controls. At the mercy of the tadpole and the whims of the brain and the 3. A helpless victim desperate to get her chance at vengeance at those who wronged her.

And that knowledge will haunt me every time I play a "good" character. I will know that even though my goal may be to save them all, there is one that I quite literally cannot save. Because the game won't let me. And God damn it, she's too interesting for that to be her legacy in this game. Minthara worries that no one will remember her, but I will think of this dialogue every time my journal flatly instructs me to "kill the goblin bosses".

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

Thinking, as one does for no reason, about how the Descent into Avernus campaign is a pretty significant background event for BG3 - Karlach, Wyll, Mizora, the refugees from Elturel - but due to the nature of things, BG3 has to commit its setting to following up on only one of the many possible outcomes of the campaign. Elturel is raised from the Hells, Duke Ulder Ravengard survived, Zariel remains alive and an archdevil. That's the game's canon.

Now, however, consider this. A different outcome. One where Zariel is redeemed - by the power of friendship and a really cool sword, my tabletop group did just that. And after Elturel is raised from the Hells, Zariel gives the adventuring party one of her feathers, which they can use once to call upon her for aid.

(So a redeemed, archangel-again Zariel affects Karlach and Wyll's personal quests, of course, but there's a power vacuum in Avernus with Zariel gone, and it's not hard to consider that Mizora could be making a grab for more power and want Karlach hunted down for those reasons. Anyway!)

All of this is context for this joke:

Tav who previously experienced the events of Descent into Avernus, redeemed Zariel and saved Elturel, and is the member of their adventuring party who was holding on to Zariel's feather.

And then, like two weeks after all that shit, Tav gets abducted by mindflayers and gets a tadpole stuck in their head and goes through more shit with the feather in their pocket the whole time. Meets Wyll, meets Karlach, meets Mizora, hears about how their stories intersect with Zariel and Avernus. (Hears that Duke Ravengard was captured - man, we just saved him from the Hells, are you kidding.)

And in the midst of all that, Tav can, at any point, call on Zariel for help. Funniest timing for this: Either when Mizora is re-negotiating Wyll's contract, or in the Iron Throne after Wyll has broken his pact for good.

Just imagine it. This devil is being a bitch to your friend, threatening him with his dad's death if he doesn't sign over his soul again, so you call up her former boss. Imagine being Mizora and having that happen, one of Wyll's shitty little friends just saying "oh, by the way" and revealing that they have Zariel on speed dial. Imagine being Karlach and having that happen, Tav's helped her with her heart, heard all about what Zariel did to her, Tav turned Zariel back into a celestial and has her on speed dial. Wyll in the middle of this and also also learning that Tav met and saved his dad in Avernus. Zariel, showing up to help one of the brave adventurers who saved her and then finding herself in a room with Karlach and Mizora, both of whom are super pissed at her for very different reasons. The rest of the party on the sidelines, who are all trying to remember if Tav ever mentioned anything more than "yeah, I was in Avernus when Elturel was dragged down". (They didn't. Certainly did not mention that they are one of the people responsible for saving the fucking city).

Or like, the Iron Throne, Mizora thinks she's being so funny sending in the exploding spiders to make sure Ulder dies, well Tav's about to be hilarious--

[ranger-jahen]

Your Tav/OC as a party member: Get to know Jahen

Class: Ranger (Canon subclass: Dread Ambusher)

Race: Half-Elf

Background: Outlander

Voice: Tav 7

Where to find him: Between the Nautiloid crash and the Overgrown Ruins, kneeling in the underbrush and picking herbs. When you speak to him he tells you that he's been scavenging for basic supplies. He can be recruited through a dialogue about needing someone on your team who can help navigate and forage in the wilderness.

Approval Conditions: Successful medicine checks, successful mediations during conflict, asking for his opinion in survival scenarios, providing aid to allies or refugees, showing caution when interacting with the Dream Visitor, sarcastic or hyperbolic humor.

Disapproval Conditions: Abject or senseless cruelty, aiding antagonistic characters, agreeing to Raphael's soul-binding deals, betraying allies, tampering with dangerous powers needlessly, using your illithid powers on him without his consent.

Betrayal Conditions (cause him to leave the party): Killing the tiefling refugees, allowing Last Light Inn to be destroyed, bombing the Steel Watch foundry with the gnomes inside, letting Orin kill her victim or becoming Bhaal's Chosen.

Personal Quest: The Lonely Ranger - as time passes, you will learn that Jahen has almost no friends or allies to his name. His childhood was loveless, his escapades as a ranger have kept him at arms-length from most communities, and he has not made efforts to change this out of a deep-rooted fear of not belonging. As your rapport increases you will have quest-related chances to affirm your friendship, his merit as an ally, and your confidence that he will have an important role to play before all is said and done. His quest will culminate in him deciding to confront an old enemy of his in the city, someone who preyed on his good will and tricked him when he was young, and believes themself to have gotten away with it all these years. Now that he has friends he trusts at his back and a newfound self-respect for who he is and what he's about, he will rise above his past grudges and be ready to face his future head-on.

Greetings:

Platonic High Approval: "Look what the cat dragged in." · "There you are." · "What's cookin'? Hope it's something good." · "Good to see a friendly face coming my way."

Romanced High Approval: "You've been thinking about me too?" · "Do we have a little time? You'll have to tell me if not or I'll get sidetracked." · "Hope that smile is for me."

Medium Approval: "Can I help with anything?" · "If you need something, just let me know. Can't promise anything but I'll do my best." · "Wanted to let you know I found something. Thought it might be useful, so I put it by your pack." (places random herb in your alchemy inventory. this greeting can happen at medium approval or higher.)

Neutral Approval: "What is it?" · "Something wrong?" · "Oh, hey. Something on your mind?"

Low Approval: "Ugh, what do you want now?" · "This had better be good." · "Don't know what that look on your face is about. Maybe I shouldn't care though."

Party Dynamics:

Jahen will have lots of positive and adventurous banter with both Wyll and Karlach. If the player reaches high approval with both Jahen and Karlach by Act 3, Jahen will have a banter with her where he will tell her he wishes he’d known her when he was younger, as he could see himself being better off with a friend like Karlach in his life. She will reply that she adores him too and feels the exact same way.

Jahen will be cautious but generally respectful to a pre-act-2 Shadowheart in his party banter. His post-act-2 banter with her will depend on what choice she made and how it affected the Shadow-Cursed Lands. A Dark Justiciar Shadowheart will receive terse but civil dialogue with him if she attempts to engage him in conversation. A Selunite Shadowheart will see a marked change in his disposition towards her as he will become warm, protective, and proud of her.

Jahen and Halsin will have a great deal of party banter that revolves around discussing the natural world and the various things they each enjoy about their respective roles in the party and their lifestyles. The two of them will also tend to flirt with and tease each other if the player is not romancing either of them (or is romancing both of them.)

Jahen will have numerous party banters with both Astarion and Jaheira that entirely revolve around giving each other shit or snarking about some of the less-than-pleasant aspects about the journey so far. In some cases Jahen and Astarion might get so wrapped up in gleefully sassing each other that the player avatar will interject to tell them to pipe down or put a lid on it, in which case they will both reluctantly concede.

Jahen will often ask after Gale’s wellbeing in act 1 party banter, but will tend not to have much to say to him during act 2, other than an occasional quiet comment about how important Gale is as both an ally and a friend. Gale will recognize Jahen’s attempts to dissuade him from using the Orb and will politely deflect each time. By act 3, Jahen will have resigned himself to an occasional, friendly, exasperated “Gale…” each time his wizard friend starts raving about a new powerful artifact the player might have discovered.

Jahen’s banter with Lae’zel will tend to involve him welcoming her to talk about her culture and experiences as he is very curious about her and her life thus far. If she says something particularly horrendous even by the party’s standards he will diplomatically end the conversation with something like “I see” or “Is that so?” and decline to comment further.

Most of Jahen’s party banter with Minsc will revolve around Boo. They may both be rangers but they have little in common beyond their fascination with friendly creatures.

If Minthara is recruited during a campaign that does not involve killing the tieflings (as this choice will cause Jahen to leave the party), he will rarely be inclined to chat with her unless she is specifically talking Karlach up, in which case he will join in. If Minthara addresses Jahen directly she will tend to comment on what a waste his aimless life is, to which he will reply tiredly that he knows she thinks so but he doesn’t really care, and tell her to save her breath. She will then surprise him by overtly approving of his disdain regarding her opinion of him.

Act 1 Companion Scene:

You will find Jahen up late at night, sorting herbs into satchels and preparing small bundles tied with twine that he's laid out atop a flat stone at the edge of camp. You can either approach him directly or roll a check to sneak up on him (DC 18.)

If you successfully sneak, you will startle him and he'll playfully rant at you a little for messing with him, but other than a few lines of funny dialogue there won't be much impact on the rest of the conversation. If you unsuccessfully attempt to sneak, he will chuckle under his breath and tell you he can hear you and to come out and talk to him face to face.

When you ask him what he's doing, he will tell you that in a camp this size, he thinks it will be useful for there to be a sort of communal "medicine cabinet," which you or your other companions can come to collect "remedy bundles" from at any time ("Just crush them up together with some water and heat and you'll have the potion or antidote you'll need," he'll tell you.)

If you ask him why doesn't he just have people come and ask him for remedies, he'll answer in a way that shows a deep understanding of others and those who may want for privacy: that sometimes people don't like to show weakness or may even feel too ashamed to ask for help directly. Having something pre-prepared like this takes the pressure off of having your needs met when you're in pain or unwell.

If you ask him how he'd know to think of that, he will admit to you that he's had a strange condition ever since he was a child; a condition that can cause him to be overcome with intense fevers at night that seem to miraculously evaporate in the morning. He's never been able to find proper medical help because the symptoms sound too unusual to match any known illnesses, and he's been accused of imagining things or even making things up. He himself has been ashamed to ask for help in the past and he wants to make sure that no one he calls a friend ever has to worry they'll find themselves in a similar position.

If you tell him it does sound like he's making things up, he will disapprove (-5), and tell you sadly that he thought you might understand, but he apologizes for taking up your time (this will end the scene.)

If you instead ask if there's anything you can do to help, he will laugh lightly and tell you that if you think of anything, he would be all ears. After a moment of hesitation he'll add that he's a little afraid that if he comes down with a fever any time soon, the others in your camp will jump straight to the conclusion that he's undergoing the transformation and becoming a mindflayer. At this point, he'll ask you if you'll give him the benefit of the doubt and refrain from attacking him or keep your other companions from attacking him until and if you're completely sure it's the transformation and not his condition.

If you agree to protect him if he becomes vulnerable like that, he will approve (+5) and thank you for having his back. If you agree to protect him but also protest that you don't like the thought of having to kill him, he will approve (+3), but tell you that while he truly appreciates the thought, he would not want to live as a mindflayer - especially if it means he might become a threat to you or your other friends, as he is beginning to care for you all. If you tell him he's on his own if this comes up, his approval with you will not change but he will comment sadly that maybe he should have expected as much.

Regardless of your dialogue choices, a "medicine station" will become a permanent fixture at your camp following this scene (until and if Jahen leaves your party.) You can interact with the medicine station once per long rest, and chose a benefit-based potion of any discovered type to add to your inventory. (The station cannot be easily "farmed" however, as it will not reset unless certain conditions are met in-between rests. On explorer difficulty: an update to any active quest. On balanced difficulty or higher: any member of your party having lost one-third of their hit points (or more), expended half their spell slots (or more), or received any negative status condition at some point during the day.)

Act 2 Companion Scene:

You notice that Jahen isn't at camp and find a small trail that leads down a hill into a grassy clearing. As you follow it, you begin to hear notes from a musical instrument, and shortly after, you pick up the sound of Jahen singing.

You will find him sitting with his back to a tree playing a small kalimba, one that's a little rough around the edges as if he might have made it himself. He will stop singing when he spots you and ask you if you came to find him for anything important.

At this point you'll have a few different dialogue options to explore and questions to ask. If you ask him about his kalimba and his singing, he'll tell you it's a way he's learned to pass long nights by the campfire during the years he's been on his own, that it brings him some comfort and gives him a reason to keep reading books and finding new songs to sing. If you ask him how long he's been on his own, he will give you a rough timeline of his life, starting with how he and his older brother lived as latchkey kids in a dubious shack that belonged to his father in Baldur's Gate. If you press him he will admit that there was no real love in his family and the arrangement was more or less what was most convenient at the time. When asking further questions you'll find out that when he prepared to move out at the age of seventeen, neither his father nor his brother cared enough to even properly tell him goodbye, and that he learned basic survival skills from a Hedgedruid who passed through the area before he struck out on his own into the wilderness. The rest of what he knows is mostly self-taught, and he travels around the Sword Coast, doing his best to help whoever he comes across. If Wyll is in your party, Jahen will have an extra dialogue line about how he heard of the Blade of Frontiers years ago since they live similar lifestyles, and that he's really enjoyed the chance to get to know him face to face.

If you tell him his singing is bad he will laugh, approve (+1), and tell you that's why he walked away from the camp to do it. If you tell him you like his singing he will be surprised, approve (+1), and then quickly tell you with some humor that he hopes you won't expect him to take up the bard profession as it's a quiet pastime for him and not something he likes to do for attention. if you tell him to stop with the theatrics, that he's nothing special and that he'd better come back to camp before he pisses you off any more, he will disapprove (-3) and quietly get to his feet to follow you back (this will end the scene.)

After you've asked about the music and he's told you about how it became a hobby of his, you can point out that he's among friends now, and ask why come out here to play and sing if he usually does this when he's lonely? He will answer that the Shadow Curse is weighing heavily on him; he is struggling with the unnatural gloom twisting the lands, and he will express that he hopes your band can do something to help. if you tell him it sounds like he needs someone to talk to about what he's struggling with, and that he should feel okay to come to you with his burdens because you care for him, he will approve (+8), become quiet and emotional, and tell you that he's never had anyone before that he could just talk to if something was on his mind. After the conversation finishes he will tell you warmly that his heart feels lighter and he's ready to go back to camp.

You can also choose to tell him that he shouldn't expect special treatment, that no one is enjoying themselves right now and that's no excuse to wander off and make himself a liability. If you choose this option he will agree with you sadly and say he's ready to come back to camp.

(If your player character also has high approval with Shadowheart and has not yet completed the gauntlet of Shar, you will have the opportunity to ask him what he thinks about her involvement with Shar and how that impacts his view of the curse. Jahen will tell you that he cares for Shadowheart and doesn't want to see harm come to her, but that he believes she's been deceived and led down a dark path that doesn't reflect her truest self. He will say he hopes she can find the courage to turn away from what is hurting her rather than continue to embrace it.)

If, during his Act 1 Companion Scene, you explored the conversation far enough to learn of Jahen's condition, he will stumble a little when he gets up to follow you back to camp. You can choose to ignore this to end the scene and you will get no approval changes, but the next morning your other companions will remark that it seemed like he wasn't well the night before (with some commenting warily about potential mindflayer symptoms), and you'll find he has an "off balance" debuff until your next long rest. If you did not learn of his condition earlier through conversation, you will not get a chance to question him about the stumble but he will still receive the debuff the next day and he will proceed to explain his condition to you that morning.

If you don't ignore Jahen's stumble and instead ask if he's alright, he will admit to you that he might have a "bad night" coming on, and that he'd better get to his tent before he inevitably passes out. Once back at camp, you can choose to either tend to him yourself (by getting water for him or bringing him some herbs - dialogue only, no effect on camp supplies), or if Halsin is in your party, notifying him that Jahen needs help. You can also choose to tell Jahen goodnight without offering him help (he will give you a friendly dialogue reply, but this will result in him receiving the debuff.)

If you choose to tend to him yourself, you will have an opportunity in the morning when he's back on his feet to verbally tell him you're glad he's feeling better (+3 approval), give him a friendly hug (+5 approval), or lean in for a kiss (+5 approval.) (this will start his romance if you have not done so already at the tiefling party in act 1.) regardless of your choice of verbal or physical affection he will receive you with immense warmth and will tell you that you are the first person who has ever cared this much for him, and that he hopes he can be as good a friend to you as you have been to him.

You can also choose to tell him now that it's morning he'd better suck it up and get going, and in response to this he will give you a weary laugh and a wordless salute, with no approval changes. If you tell him he was a waste of time and that this better not keep coming up, he will disapprove (-5) and say he'll make sure it won't be your problem again. As long as either you or Halsin helped him the night before he will not receive a debuff the next day.

After this scene plays, you will have an occasional opportunity to check in on him during a long rest when another companion makes a remark about him not looking well. He will not receive the status debuff again but checking in on him will net you a couple more +1 approvals before late game. If you ignored or chastised him in the larger cutscene, providing him some help during these passing checks will ensure he doesn't die during the endgame.

Act 3 Companion Quest:

When visiting the Guild Hall in the sewers at any point during Act 3, a brief interaction will play if you have Jahen in your party where an unnamed NPC will leer at him or possibly threaten him. The next time you’re back at camp, you can prompt him for answers regarding this strange interaction, and he will tell you about an event in his past that he carries great shame over.

When he first struck out on his own after receiving survival training, he didn’t immediately leave the area and instead kept a tight circuit around Baldur’s Gate, where he helped travelers in need on the roads or brought supplies to and from the trading outposts to earn some gold. In time, citizens in the area came to know him for his helpfulness and resourcefulness, and before long there was a group of street urchins who would seek him out to ask for training of their own to forage and learn to survive.

Jahen was eager to pass his skills on and happily taught the kids everything he knew about medicines, wild foods, and carefully instructed them on dangerous lookalikes to keep them safe. But in little less than a year, his eager pupils stopped coming around and he was certain something was wrong.

Jahen began to investigate their last known locations and learned to his horror that the younger ones had been abducted by a man who was building an underground drug channel of sorts. The man had enlisted the help of the kids with promised coin and then put them to work by force in his budding organization once they knew enough about herbalism to better serve his for-profit interests.

Outraged, Jahen set out to free those abducted, but only managed to retrieve one or two of them before he was overwhelmed by a retaliatory force of hired muscle and beaten to death’s door, barely managing to escape with his life. With no allies of his own to call upon to attempt a second rescue and a seething threat from the growing organization to keep his distance or face their forces again, Jahen left Baldur’s Gate in defeat and regret. He’s kept to other areas of the Sword Coast ever since in order to avoid stirring up the situation anew.

At this point the player can tell him that he has friends and allies now and it’s time he get the chance to face down his past regrets. He will fiercely agree, and mark on your map the location of the shipping dock where this organization stocks their cargo and conceals a hidden entrance to their base.

You can also trigger this conversation if you complete the House of Grief questline first and investigate the supplies cache behind the counter. You will learn that in addition to magics and boons from their goddess, devout Sharrans have been making use of specialized elixirs and poisons to subdue and erase their client’s memories. You will unlock a journal entry to investigate the source of the potent alchemical flasks and Jahen will gain an exclamation mark to tell you he thinks he knows something about this.

This dungeon requires some preparation as the antagonists will make frequent use of a wide array of unusual poisons and negative status effects. It is recommended to give each of your active party members an elixir of poison resistance ahead of time and keep at least a couple bottles of antidote in each of your inventories. Thankfully you don’t have to worry about freeing the hostages mid-combat and can do so afterwards once the commotion has died down.

Post-battle, Jahen’s final personal cutscene will play, the conditions of which will depend on his level of approval towards the player character and their overall decisions in-game during their campaign. In any scenario however he will be able to claim many of the organization’s resources for himself, and back at camp, will indicate that he’s discovered a lead to start researching his condition in some of the medical literature that was stashed in the organization’s base. The player will be able to loot a crossbow from the corpse of Jahen’s old enemy with a unique bowstring that retains applied coatings for 3 turns each instead of the default 1 turn. There will also be an opportunity to acquire an alembic that will enable the player to combine effects of different elixirs.

Unique interactions in game areas:

Underdark - if you have Jahen in your party when exploring the Myconid Colony in the Underdark and open a dialogue with him, he will express enthusiastic fascination with this incredible new and different system of natural organisms that he’s never seen before. He will talk about wanting to collect samples to study them, experiment with making potions, and forage for unusual food sources. You will have the opportunity to approve of his curiosity but caution him not to make himself or anyone else sick, and he will laugh and assure you that he knows his methods very well and there won’t be anything to worry about. You can also choose to tell him this isn’t a field trip and to stop poking around like an idiot schoolboy. He will be crestfallen, but will meekly agree to heed your wishes and fall back in line.

His approval will not change in either case but if you choose to chastise him you will not receive a boon at your next long rest, courtesy of Jahen’s experiments.

If you do support his interest, then at your next long rest when selecting your camp supplies, you will have a choice to select either a “Colourful Potion” or an “Aromatic Mash.” The potion will give each of your active party members an extra +15 hit points until you either lose them in combat or take another long rest. the food mash will impart a unique “fortified” condition that gives each active party member a +2 bonus to strength, dexterity, and wisdom checks until the next long rest.

Wyrm’s Lookout - if you open dialogue with Jahen at this Act 3 interlude campsite before initiating the cutscene with the Astral Prism and his approval with you is medium or higher, a unique cutscene will play where you will happen upon him waist-deep in the berry bushes that cluster around the campsite. His face and hands will be so splattered with red berry juice that you’ll have the opportunity to remark that he looks like he’s covered in blood, and he will laugh, approve (+1), and offer up a basket of berries he’s been picking ever since everyone settled in.

If you accept his offered basket then you will receive 100 raspberries for your camp supplies and another +1 approval from him. If you tell him he should keep the fruits of his labor and the rest of you have plenty, he will receive a unique “satiated” condition for that night only, which may come in handy if you have him in your party when entering the Astral Prism (he cannot be surprised, frightened, or moved against his will.) You can also decide to share the basket between just the two of you (approval +5) (either friendship or romance), in which case you will both receive a one-night-only condition of “contented” (neither of you can be frightened.) If Jahen’s romance is active and you choose to share the berries between the two of you, he will lean in to kiss you just before the end of the scene and comment on your lips tasting like sweet berries.

When he offers his basket you can also choose to ignore the sharing options and instead tell him he looks ridiculous and that you hope those berries are poisonous to teach him a lesson about digging around in the bushes. He will become angry with you, disapprove (-5), and tell you the first rule of foraging is to never put anything in your mouth that you’re not absolutely certain is safe. He will then remark bitterly that you clearly think nothing of him or the few skills he can offer. If this approval change moves him from “medium” down to “neutral” approval, he will make an additional jab at your intelligence given that apparently you don’t recognize an ordinary raspberry when you see one.

If you do harshly reject his berries in this way he will evidently not continue to eat them off-screen as he will not receive the “satiated” condition for the night, but there may be some dialogue from either Halsin, Wyll, or Karlach the next morning about Jahen coming by to share his freshly picked fruit with them.

All of Jahen’s personal cutscenes will play, regardless of whether the player character is in a romantic relationship with him or not, but his dialogue will differ between his platonic and romantic paths and he will have some unique animations regarding his inclination towards physical affection if romanced. In addition, once his romance has been activated, he can be approached during any long-rest and requested to share his bed with the player. If his relationship is kept platonic and he reaches “very high” approval with the player (or higher, to “exceptional”), he can be approached at camp and asked for a hug at any time. His hugs will typically be very warm and he will clearly enjoy giving him, unless he has been “hardened” over the course of the game, in which case his hugs will become more somber.

Endings:

Bad Ending 1: If the player character runs a campaign that does not drive Jahen away from the party completely but still prioritizes broadly antagonistic choices, Jahen's outlook on the world will harden over time and he will adhere more strongly to his distrust of society rather than learning to seek community and trust his friends with his burdens. His personal quest will end with him choosing to take over his past enemy’s business rather than end it, in order to acquire the resources he needs to start researching his condition. He will start to earn a reputation by endgame as an up-and-coming Undercity figurehead, and he will make adjustments to the organization to make it less predatory, but you will also hear occasional rumors that similar nefarious figures think he's too soft to be cut out for the role because of this and have plans to move against him if his guard ever comes down.

Reaching this ending for Jahen will almost always end his romance. He will either break up with the player coldly and tell you he doesn't have time to entertain you anymore with his new goals in his sights, or if his approval is still high, he will break up with you regretfully, and mention that he can no longer afford to have obvious weaknesses. If his approval is still high, you can pass a persuasion check (DC 15) to convince him that you're anything but a liability and will only make him stronger in the long run. He will accept this and will thank you for staying by his side despite it all.

At the epilogue party, depending on certain circumstances met during the game, Jahen will either reveal:

that his rivals have taken their chance to move against him and he is more or less a fugitive, having made powerful enemies in Baldur's Gate and having little recourse to fall back on.

that he has risen to meet these challenges and has been ruthlessly cutting down his enemies for the past six months in order to come out on top. He will be noticeably colder and more cruel during this conversation, regardless of his prior approval or romantic status with the player.

* This ending is extremely difficult to get by accident as it requires careful micro-managing of his approval changes to enable the player to both establish trust with him while also not driving him away through antagonistic approval hits or outright evil choices before the endgame. If you wish to roleplay this ending it is recommended to follow a guide to help navigate strategic points to take Jahen in and out of your party.

Bad Ending 2: If a non-hardened Jahen's condition is repeatedly ignored and uncared for, his illness will interact poorly with his illithid infection and he will die after facing the Netherbrain when the tadpoles are destroyed, as the residual psychic energy overloads his weakened body and tears his mind apart. If the player character has him in their party and has medium or higher approval with him despite neglecting his wellbeing, he will tearfully tell them goodbye before he passes on and will say that he's at least glad he was able to be of some use before the end. If his approval is neutral or lower he will die with a wordless scream of pain as the narrator describes what is happening. If he is not in the party then he will die off-screen and another companion will tell the player what happened.

Neutral Ending 1: If a good-aligned player character made sure Jahen's condition was cared for but his personal quest is not completed, he will return to his familiar ranger lifestyle post-game and put some distance between himself and Baldur’s Gate once more. At the epilogue party both he and a few other companions will remark that he has kept in touch with them and that it’s good to have friends to have each other’s backs when the going gets tough. If the player encountered Jahen’s unique Underdark scene, did not ascend Astarion, and released the vampire spawn into the Underdark, Jahen will instead mention that he has specifically kept in touch with Astarion and the Gur, and has helped with keeping tabs on the spawn. Astarion will also have some unique dialogue about Jahen lending his efforts to the Gur’s cause, but admit that he’s got some concerns about Jahen’s condition seemingly worsening over time.

Neutral Ending 2: If Jahen's personal quest is completed and he has high approval with the player character, he can be convinced to become a mindflayer for the greater good in the endgame. However, once your victory is secure, he will choose to end his own life and cannot be persuaded out of this choice. Before he dies he will thank you for being a friend to him and say that he hopes you and your friends will keep looking out for each other, because he's come to view your bonds as very precious and he wouldn't like to think of this as the end of the family you've made.

Good Ending: A non-hardened Jahen gains trust and assurance in relying on others outside himself so he doesn't have to shoulder his burdens alone. After confronting the mastermind behind the mistakes of his youth, Jahen chooses to dismantle his organization and distribute important resources to all who were price gouged or blackmailed in the name of profit or power. In doing this he begins to acquire many helpful resources and valuable friends himself, and gains prospects to begin researching his own condition - the main lead he finds is that it may be related to a very rare mutation that can occasionally occur in those with half-elf ancestry like his own.

Epilogue 1: If Karlach is in the party and agrees to go back to Avernus with Wyll instead of burning out at the end of the campaign, and the player character volunteers to go with them, a romanced Jahen will also accompany them to the Hells.

Epilogue 2: If Jahen was romanced and the player character does not volunteer to accompany Wyll and Karlach back to Avernus, then Jahen will ask the player character to come with him back to the reclaimed lands that Halsin is returning to. Jahen's epilogue will then involve a few sequences of him and the player character contributing to the rebuilding of Reithwin and Last Light as well as following the lead collected on his condition from the end of his personal quest. If Halsin was poly romanced there will be some unique romantic dialogue. If not, there will still be a strong indication of warm friendship between Jahen, the player, and Halsin in the ending scene. Regardless of poly romance status, Halsin will have a couple of unique humorous lines about how he knows Jahen loves the kids but it’s hard to trust him alone with them as he keeps accidentally teaching them to swear.

Epilogue 3: if Jahen was not romanced, he will return with Halsin to the reclaimed lands to help rebuild and will also begin investigating the lead on his condition collected from the end of his personal quest. There will be some bits of dialogue at the epilogue party that imply/hint that he and Halsin have entered an open relationship with each other.

[tadpole-apocalypse]

Some spoiler musings under the cut related to Astarion’s act 3 quest

At first when I completed Astarion's act 3 quest I was a bit disappointed with how some of the loose ends were wrapped up with the choices I made, that being setting 7000 spawn loose to do whatever with his siblings agreeing very easily to just...watch over them and teach them to feed, even though none of them have fed from a humanoid themselves. It was all a little too convenient. I felt like it wasn't really treated like a big deal that Seven Thousand Vampires were just let loose on the hopes they'd just peacefully march to the Underdark.

But thinking on it more I think Larian probably wrapped it up the best way they could with the resources and time they had. Expanding on it would make the choice to free them seem like the objectively correct one, and I think I'm ok just accepting I'm neurotic about npcs acting realistically even in my power fantasy games. Though I do wish maybe there was a little something they could have put in, like finding exsanguinated bodies in the sewers a few long rests after finishing Cazador, or something.

I'm assuming Dalyria is in charge, since she's the one who seems to step up and get everyone on board with the plan to head to the Underdark. However, what we don't see is the interpersonal spawn politics, because now Leon will find out the daughter that he did all those vile things for, to keep her safe and mortal, is dead. At the hands of one of the other spawn! So there's no way Leon is on board with this, he's gone, either leaving on his own or choosing to meet the sun.

I imagine a substantial amount of the neglected spawn are just gonna take the first chance to run, probably kill at least one or several people, and probably get killed by authorities/the sun eventually. Hundreds of innocent victims probably die on the way from Baldur's gate to the Underdark. Families torn apart, lives ended and ruined. No way people wouldn't find out and track it back down to Tav's actions.

It's one of those roleplay choices I like, because I tried really hard to pick what I thought my character would do. I had decided that my character, Morgan, grew up in a cult that got raided by adventurers looking to kill her cult's leader. They came in and started swinging swords immediately, cutting down her family and friends and people she'd known her whole life. They weren't fighters or combatants, just regular people who had been taken advantage of and were trying to protect their home, and she only survived by blind luck. She couldn't bring herself to be that adventurer ending the lives of basically innocent victims for the crimes of their master and insisted they be let free to at least have a chance.

I don’t know if any of the companions actually disapprove of this choice (I only got a notification that halsin approved). But I think she probably argued long and hard with a few companions about the choice. Gale and Shadowheart have been traveling long enough with Morgan to trust her judgement, but Wyll and Jaheira would probably have some objections to it. She’s generally a very even tempered and logical person but being challenged on this issue turns her into an emotional wreck because she’s just had a very tense argument talking her vampire down from unlimited power and she doesn’t even know if he’s going to want to be with her still.