Honestly it's impressive this is *only* 5400 words about act one BG3

[spindizzy]

I forgot what having a hyperfocus was like unmedicated. What do you mean people want to talk to me about things that aren't BG3. Why do I have to do things that aren't play BG3. Why do people keep interrupting me when I'm thinking about BG3. This is probably why I started writing reaction shots and fic to begin with, isn't it – to have somewhere for all of these obsessive feelings to go.

... Man, how did people even put up with me before I got medicated, damn. ANYWAY. Spoilers through act 1 ahoy!

I spent the 23 27 36 hours of my first playthrough basically going around and talking to every tree, rock, plant, and creature around Emerald Grove before I even looked at the goblin camp where the plot was. Am I doing this right? It feels like I'm doing this right. And once I'd done the goblin camp, I went off to explore the Underdark to try to finish off some sidequests before I sent the tieflings off. And then I started a new game to romance Astarion to exorcise my intense feelings about him, did most of act one, and then rolled my save back about fifteen hours to try to fix some mistakes I'd made. SUPER GREAT at following the plot.

General

• I'm obsessed with the nature of the narrator. Like, she could be a perfectly neutral DM analogue! That is definitely a possibility! Or she could be the voice of the tadpole in your head, commenting on your actions! And we'll just not know until act three!


• Is it just me or does the Absolute and your Dream Visitor have the same voice with different effects over them.


• Wyll has an off-hand mention that he used to have more powers before the parasite. Is that why everyone has the backstory of a level ten character and the stats of a level 1 character? Because the parasite is metaphorically throttling them?


• If this was a real D&D campaign I'd be impressed by the DM bothering to name every single NPC and corpse you come across, whether you can talk to them or not.


• Apparently some of the rules work differently to how 5th ed does? I don't understand enough of the rules to actually say how or why, but Lex has said it's caught him out a couple of times.


• Offline Friend Chris keeps being cryptic about stuff that I've not got to yet, and I swear I've got the Nick Fury "Stuff like this is why I have trust issues" gif on speed dial now.


• The lack of random encounters when you're just bobbling around the map is so peaceful. Like, the Pathfinder game I'm in has no random encounters either because we're here for the story and the SHENANIGANS, so the GM just doesn't bother, which means the game actually progresses. (Or possibly I'm just misinterpreting BG3's random encounters as plot relevant because I keep talking my way out of things? Idk my dudes.)


• People keep saying things as background chatter and my head snaps around like "Was that a reference?!" I have no objection to Undertale references in my RPGs, I just don't expect them.

The Nautiloid

• The opening cutscene with the dragons: yes, excellent, very cool looking. I unironically love the dragons tearing through the ship and the sheer grossness of the structure. All those disgustingly slick surfaces and the horrifying fleshy nature of it? Fantastic, disgusting. The sphincters especially are just grim, let's NEVER COME BACK HERE.


• There's a reference to Omeluum right in the beginning of the game! Just didn't notice because why would I? "An anomaly. One like ourselves, unconnected from the whole." Foreshadowing!


• The nautiloid involves a lot of me sadly muttering "Brains with feeeeeeeeeeeeet" because I'm in a Pathfinder game that also involved a flesh-ship and intellect devourers. It was a terrible place and why is this happening again.


• Shadowheart's intro kinda reminded me of Liara's intro in Mass Effect, and I think that was why I was so surprised that she's not "nice." Like, it becomes pretty clear that Shadowheart has a lot of sharp edges and isn't afraid to use them, I just had a brief thirty seconds of "?!" while I caught up.


• The implication of Shadowheart having the artefact on her the whole time she was captured is that the mindflayers and the Absolute cultists have no idea what they're looking for! Because they had it right there, in one of the pods! ... Actually, it's implied that parasites can retain the memories of their hosts (source: when you find Edwin), so does that carry to the ghaik? Do they get to keep the memories of the host and thus Shadowheart's knowledge of the artefact?


• (Due to the vagaries of English as a language, I periodically crack myself up with "Oh these absolute cultists.")


• Did not try to mug a level 8 demon for his fancy magic sword as three (3) level 1 characters. Still regret it a little.

Crash site and the first abandoned temple

• There has still not been an answer to how Gale managed to mess up so badly with his portal. Like. What were you doing. In fact, tangent: I really wish the character gen didn't come after the ship kidnaps you, because I have SO MANY QUESTIONS that I'm not sure can be answered by the game just swapping out your character model rather than actually giving you their full routes.
  
  • So, obviously: Gale. What did you do. I don't play spellcasters in 5th ed, is arcane spell failure still a thing? (Update: LexGarrett says no.) Do I need to worry about the fast travel occasionally just refusing to spit me out? Because if so: amazing, please carry on making the world and the game mechanics intertwine, I absolutely want that. I asked Offline Friend Chris and he says that in the early access version, Gale tried to magically aim himself at the portal when he got thrown from the ship in an attempt to Not Die, hence why he's in a portal, and the falling from a great height might be why it didn't work properly? But it's not confirmed canon anymore? I'd be good with that as an explanation though – especially since it seems like getting stuck in a portal isn't going to come up again.
  
  
  • Astarion says that he saw Tav and Shadowheart on the ship, to which I have to ask: WHEN. (Rogue is good at hiding, news at 11, I know, I know.) And how did someone who by his own admission was kept on a short leash get kidnapped in the first place? ... I'd ask if this was a set-up by Cazador but honestly that's getting to schemes within schemes within schemes.
  
  
  • How long were we unconscious in Avernus that Karlach and Wyll both had time to gatecrash the ship and get infected before we left?! We were only there five minutes! ... Is that what killed the other mindflayers? They were so focused on infecting everyone who entered the ship that they didn't stop to realise they were in literal hell?
  
  
  • How hard did Lae'zel land that it was possible for two baby tieflings to put her in a cage. The area was booby-trapped, so I assume that she somehow landed on a cage trap and rolled a nat one to get out of it. But considering that she can tell you about her adventures across the multiverse, I think she should maybe be a little embarrassed about the baby tieflings thing. (Also: I imagine when I breeze into Emerald Grove with her later, someone is going to be giving me the side-eye.)
  
  
  • I had a whole rant about "How did Lae'zel even get captured, nautiloids are huge!" and then I engaged my thinking brain. The githyanki and the worshippers of Shar were both looking for an artefact, the mindflayers knew that the artefact was A Problem, presumably Shadowheart and Lae'zel got grabbed in a similar area while looking for the same thing that the mindflayers where looking for. There we go. Thinking brain does understand sometimes.
  
  
  • The solution to all of my questions about how people got captured is probably "Enormous tentacled monstrosity that can teleport people at will" and how they escaped is probably "Same way I did: chaos and confusion after the fire started." Although I could see "Dream visitor totally let you out" being an answer, but I legit have no memory of seeing or hearing her on the ship. That doesn't mean she wasn't there, because my memory is terrible, but I have SO MANY QUESTIONS.


• Oh boy, I wonder if this handsome elf having blood red eyes is significant of anything! ... It's probably fine.


• I am so into Astarion's intro being distracting you and then him throwing you both to the floor with a knife to your throat. Yes I cannot pass perception checks why do you ask? And Shadowheart will try to protect you despite her not actually caring if you live or die at this point!


• Astarion's disbelieving laugh and "Of course it'll turn me into a monster. What else did I expect?" My hearrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt.


• Guess who rolled a nat 1 to not get eaten by a mindflayer and instantly died less than an hour into the game!


• The temple is the first point where my problem of "Astarion doesn't approve of me but he DOES get inspiration from my playstyle" came up and I'm only a little salty about it. I like talking my way through encounters instead of fighting them, okay!


• Feel a little bad for the bandits inside the temple, because I can talk their boss into leaving, but there's not really an option not to fight those people.


• Tiny detail that I love: you can loot all of the skeleton monks before they reanimate and the fight starts, and if you do they can only do unarmed or magic attacks. XD


• I'm sure the lich creature who escapes his tomb and moves into my camp is FINE. NO PROBLEMS HERE. WHY WOULD THAT COME UP AS A PROBLEM.


• If you set up camp before you go to Emerald Grove, you get whole different options when you talk to people around the camp fire! Shadowheart is concerned about her mortality, Gale has to process things being Real, and Astarion is like "Oh, being in the countryside is so different to city life, I'll stay up tonight and keep watch while I process. :)" MATE. MATE. AFTER SHE FINDS OUT ABOUT THE VAMPIRISM TAV IS GOING TO SIT UP AT LIKE 3AM AND GO "WAIT A FUCKING MINUTE —"


• I wonder what people see when they mind-merge with Tav. I wonder why people only seem to mind merge with more than one person when it's plot critical (e.g. Wyll and Karlach.). ... Omg who in this party is drift compatible, I must know.


• Withers is so dry and I respect him for it. "Skeletons don't usually talk." "Correct." "Care to explain?" "No." I guess I'm okay with the lich-god of fate and stories hanging out in one corner of my camp and watching me be a disaster? That's probably fine. (Okay I have no PROOF that he's some sort of lich-god, but he is BLATANTLY A LICH-GOD.)


• On the one hand, I don't think that the book of dead gods was particularly well hidden given that a squad of level 1 and 2 characters could stomp in and get it, but given that most people round here have five hitpoints we're probably a statistical outlier and should not have been counted.

Emerald Grove ~~Environs~~

• The thieflings are good kids!!! I love them all even though they're terrible at their life of crime! Mol deserves respect for her genre-savvy, because she looked at this ragtag bunch of orphans and went "I know what I have to do."
  
  • (Also: TINY CHILD FOUGHT A HOBGOBLIN ARE YOU SHITTING ME THOSE THINGS ARE TWICE HER SIZE.)
  
  
  • If you help a bunch of the kids before you go to see Mol, she just does a LIST of all the different ways you helped out! We are a positive influence in their lives!
  
  
  • I feel like I should try to turn them away from this life of crime, because they are all gonna be shocked when they hit Baldur's Gate, but NO I LOVE THE TINY CRIME FAMILY. Gonna fund their thieves' guild and no one can stop me.
  
  
  • Saved a kid from a harpy, got a story in return. This is genuinely one of my favourite quest rewards, that's such a sweet and kid-like thing to do! ;__________________;
  
  
  • Every time I do that fight, Gale gets caught by the harpy song. EVERY TIME. Calm yourself Gale!
  
  
  • Found a letter Doni wrote to his dad and threw into the river because all rivers lead to the Styx so his dad will find it eventually. ;________; THIS KID.
  
  
  • Mattis is so proud of her sleight of hand and her scheming. BE MY APPRENTICE, KID, WE'LL GO FAR.
  
  
  • I was gonna be like "Arabella is the only non-orphan in this crew!" and then I realised that there was still time for that to change.


• I really hope that I wasn't supposed to take the druids vs refugees thing as a moral quandry because it really isn't.
  
  • "Do we help the people who need help or the people who want to leave others to die" what the fuck do I look like, a tory?
  
  
  • Hear me out: Khorga hasn't had contact with children since she was one and it shows. Sure lady, torment a terrified child with a snake! Try to lock her away from her parents! What is wrong with you?! What is your trauma that your first response to being in power is "Time to move to another dimension so that no one can ever get in or out again!"
  
  
  • And the extra fun thing is that the people who lead goblins to the grove? Not even the bloody tieflings. If the druids had gone "Ew, adventurers are bad," then fine! Still a dick move, but one I could understand! "Ew, adventurers are bad so the people who aren't adventurers must suffer too" what the hell lady.
  
  
  • Now I think about it: weird that the druids aren't the ones on the gates if they're ~~~so worried~~~ about being attacked. Especially considering they're like "Ohhhh only Master Halsin could solve this problem" SIR I SOLVED THIS PROBLEM WITH FIVE PEOPLE AND ONLY ONE OF THEM COULD TURN INTO A BEAR. THERE ARE MORE THAN FOUR OF YOU AND MOST OF YOU CAN TURN INTO BEARS. GET IT TOGETHER.


• Alfira is very sweet and does not deserve all the flak the NPCs give her about her singing. She is grieving and rusty! I'm clunky at things when I'm rusty too!


• The bard outfits are really quite ugly. EXCEPT FOR Alfira's, hers is lovely and I cannot have it, presumably because it's not considered as gender neutral as ugly pants.


• I'm with Lae'zel, I wouldn't have got to fayroon as a soundset by looking at the word. Diacritics are nemeses of people who aren't me as well!


• Auntie Ethel is possibly the most realistic character in motion. ... I might be basing this on about twenty years of knowing shady old women.


• SPEAK WITH ANIMAL IS MY FAVOURITE SPELL. You can talk to SO MANY PEOPLE.
  
  • Me: I can talk to the piggy!
    Boar: *squirms* Where's Halsin?! He promised me a mate!
    Me: I regret talking to the piggy.
  
  
  • You can get into a territory squabble with a squirrel. Amazing. Love that.
  
  
  • The bears are so sleepy, it's really cute! As is the bird trying to build the shiniest possible nest that you can give artistic advice to!
  
  
  • Did not anticipate how good Speak With Animals was until I got a quest from speaking to a rat!
  
  
  • Volo, Speak With Animals is on your spell list. How did you even start interviewing a bear if you didn't understand the answers.
  
  
  • At least one of the wolves is like "Oh hell, what do you want" when you show up because it's peopled out, and if you say you were just sharing your scent and you'll leave it in peace it's genuinely apologetic? And chill about you hanging around? What a good friend.
  
  
  • Pretty sure the boar Astarion snacks on is the one you can bump into that's having a meltdown after the crash. RIP anxiety piggy.
  
  
  • MAMA OWLBEAR! We respect the Mama Owlbear in this house because otherwise she would eat us.
  
  
  • I have no proof that the bird who's getting your opinion on decorating his nest is mates with any of the other blue birds you see, but I like the idea of it.
  
  
  • THAT IS NOT AN OX
  
  
  • I DON'T KNOW WHAT IT IS
  
  
  • BUT IT'S DEFINITELY NOT AN OX
  
  
  • WISH I'D REMEMBERED TO GET DETECT THOUGHTS GOING AS WELL AS SPEAK WITH ANIMALS BECAUSE THAT MIGHT HAVE ANSWERED SOME OF MY MANY QUESTIONS


• I love that you can just roll with Volo aggressively making shit up. Silver dragon? Nah mate, it was a gold dragon, scales glinting in the sun. Why was there a dragon? Because all stories are better with dragons.


• Dammon, a blacksmith: Damn druids. Who uses wooden tools?!


• I am very fond on two out of three of the fighty siblings and I'm sure nothing tragic happens to any of them.


• I gotta know how Auntie Ethel talked her way into the Grove. Was she a regular visitor? Did she trade with the druids often? Does anyone know she's a hag?
  
• Actually, there's a question. Are there any other villages near the Grove? Because Moonhaven's been abandoned for years, and everywhere else seems to be pit stops (Waukeen's Rest, Auntie Ethel's "tea shop") or temples. Where did those dead fishermen come from.


• Wyll teaching the kids how to use a sword so they've got enough time to run away: aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah my heart. That's kind! And then from his reactions after the whole Mizora thing, he thinks that... Doesn't matter? Somehow? Like, of all of the people in the world the people who permanently have horns and also watched him train their children are going to be the ones incapable of seeing the man he was?


• Karlach is a queen and I love her. I'm gonna keep saying it because her intro is her being on fire and then telling you that she's never been better.
  
  • "Bit of background in case you need something to point your moral compass at," I love you; you get this.
  
  
  • Someone said that the studs set into her shoulders are vents for the engine are you kidding me.
  
  
  • SHE JUST NEEDS A HUG AND A FROSTY PINT. SHE HAS PRIORITIES.
  
  
  • Shadowheart: She looks like she could throw me over her shoulder and carry me to safety. ... Should the need arise.
    Astarion: You want to just team up with some bloodstained killer? Because I'm fine with that.
  
  
  • EVERYONE LOVES KARLACH, AS IS ONLY RIGHT AND PROPER. ESPECIALLY ME.
  
  
  • I love that her response to Wyll agreeing not to kill her is "I made a friend! Or I will have." Yessssssss be friends with everyone you beautiful sunshine queen.
  
  
  • Her growling "Fuck Zariel," lives in my head rent-free because damn. Damn.
  
  
  • Wait, if you don't immediately take her for a tune-up does she rampage after EVERY fight?! Because I'm okay with hiding on a different level of a building while she destroys everything, but it'll be awkward outside.
  
  
  • Went to the funky forge and made her adamantine armour because she deserves only the best and also to be immune to crits.
  
  
  • It is physically impossible for anyone to dislike Karlach. Literally every single party member loves her for one reason or another and they are all so valid for it.
  
  
  • Due to the way the game works, the suggestion is that Karlach can walk into your camp, set up her tent, get comfy, chill out there as long as it takes for you to do whatever, and Wyll just doesn't notice she's there until nightfall. Wyll..
    
  • "You don't know what you're asking me to do!" I WOULD IF YOU'D JUST TELL ME.
  
  
  • The "paladins or Tyr" are very bad at pretending to be paladins. Like. You have two jobs and you immediately give up on one of them because you can't be bothered pretending for more than two sentences.


• Am I over Wyll NOT HAVING A COPY OF THE SOUL BINDING CONTRACT HE'S UNDER? Absolutely not.


• I keep forgetting that I can jump, because I have to go through a menu to get to it! And the one time I remembered, I got kidnapped by a devil for my hubris.
  
  • ... I do not trust any devil that shows up bearing gifts, okay. Like. What are you after.
  
  
  • (Astarion does an impression of Raphael and it does make me laugh. Yes, one shady flamboyant bastard making fun of another shady flamboyant bastard! I'm in!)
  
  
  • I can't decide whether Wyll telling me not to make deals with a devil is funny, hypocrisy, or speaking from experience.

Blighted Village

• I'm sure there's no correlation between the (presumably Selunite) town of Moonhaven and Shadowheart having flashbacks/magical chronic pain flare-ups. None at all. And no significance to the names carved into the post! I'm sure that's fine!


• I specifically created a group chat with Lex and Offline Friend Chris to announce that I FINALLY got Astarion to approve of me! All it took was cockblocking a troll!
  
  • Me: What has been seen can never be unseen, but I also gave a yeti a new kink so REALLY I'm a hero.
    Offline Friend Chris: ... keep telling yourself that.
  
  
  • This would just be a funny footnote of my playthrough if I hadn't then managed to give a goblin a new kink. HOW DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING. (Goblin tried to make me kiss his feet, did not expect the uno reverse of "No, you kiss MY feet." One of his fangirls apparently Learned Something About Herself that day.)
  
  
  • There's an option for Astarion to go "No no, don't open that door! Let me open that door instead!" and honestly yes, perfect, go forth you horrible gremlin man.
  
  
  • Me: Listen, I have committed to being a disappointment enough to know that Tav and Astarion wear matching underwear, I might as well keep digging.
    Offline Friend Chris: If you haven't started switching their underwear around, then you're probably fine. Maybe?
    
    ... IT LITERALLY HADN'T OCCURRED TO ME THAT THAT WAS A THING YOU COULD DO??????


• I have recruited the hungry ogres in every playthrough, and I've still never actually summoned them in a fight.


• Shout out to the latest D&D movie because I 100% would not have got the significance of the wizards of Thay thing without it. And shout out to the "came back wrong" posts on tumblr, because they're presumably having a field day with the list of all of the ways this guy failed at bringing his wife back from the dead.


• Bless that mirror. It doesn't want to be freed! Ilyn Toth is presumably dead or gone, but it's still guarding his secrets! This is the only thing it knows, and it wants to keep doing it! But it appreciates you asking if it wants to be freed. Good mirror, glad I made a buddy. Also lol at one of the security questions being "IS THIS MAN A DICK, Y/N?"But
  
• I have no idea what a quasit is but the internet informing me that Ilyn Toth's familiar was called shovel explains the coffin full of items like "Shovel's Friend Finder" and a skull labelled "Friend." ... Did people not notice people going missing? Really?


• His apprentice sounds so mad about being here. Like, the angry raging notes in the recipe books about wanting to brew ANYTHING BUT HEALING POTIONS and GONNA EARN MY WAY BACK INTO CIVILISED SOCIETY levels of mad.


• Gotta ask: does anyone have an explanation for the fake well? Because I absolutely understand there being a warren of caves under this village, that's fine, I'm just stuck on the timeline of "Person who lives under the village and becomes a spider" and "This village falling to ruin" and this well becoming decorative. There's water running through those caves! Was it just higher at some point? Was there never water in the well? EXPLAIN YOUR LORE TO ME, GAME. NO, NOT THE IMPORTANT LORE, THE LOGISTICS OF THIS VILLAGE.


• Can we talk about the person who turned herself into a spider? Because what is with the person who turned herself into a spider.


• I unlocked the necromantic book and immediately gave it to Astarion because I am personally absolutely not messing with that.
  
  • If you just listen to Astarion while he's arguing with the book, you can hear him tell it "I'm not going to kill them. ... Well, except maybe Shadowheart." What did Shadowheart do!
  
  
  • I'm sure him nearly being dragged inside an evil book of necromancy is nothing to worry about.
  
  
  • I am unsurprised that the vampire who is in danger of being mind controlled by a bigger vampire is convinced that necromancy could help.

Waukeen's Rest and the Zhentarim base

• Me: It turns out gnolls chestburster out of hyenas!
  Lex: What?
  Me: It's canon! Happened right here. And here. And over here.
  
  Lex then proceeded to look this up and apparently this is canon from 4th ed onward. Explains why neither of us had encountered this – the DMing friend who uses the Faerûn setting hasn't moved past 3.5 yet.


• ONE OF THE GNOLLS IS INFECTED WITH ONE OF THE TRUE SOUL PARASITES AND THE DAMN THING IS TRYING TO FIGHT A LOSING BATTLE AGAINST HER DESIRE TO C O N S U M E. I desperately want to know who looked at a gnoll and went "Oh this'll be great."
  
  • The only times I've used Authority: 1) getting Shadowheart out of a pod, and 2) getting the gnoll to eat herself. Which is a thing that you can actually do.
  
  
  • I am now referring to her as the True Gnoll, which is a joke that only works about 50% of the time with how I pronounce my vowels.
  
  
  • In my Karlach save I found the gnoll cave fight from the wrong end and everyone got absolutely slaughtered. And I didn't put together the fancy chest with the note that says DO NOT OPEN THE FANCY CHEST so uhhhhhh maybe the zhent are not my friends in that save.


• Still not over the letter you can find that's some rich guy complaining about Baldur's Gate having a rule that you can't own any animal bigger than a peacock (At full spread?!? Or just like the actual bird?!) because it means he can't bring his bear into the city. They're separating him from his bear daughter! This cannot stand! ... And I don't have a leg to stand on here because I've got a dog and a baby owlbear that I'm not gonna be able to take home. XD


• I went to all the damn effort of saving Benryn, he asked me to look for his wife, and then he immediately ran over the burning ground and DIED. Absolute bastard. Reload the save.


• Genuinely the best way to rescue Benryn is a) turn-based mode, b) smash through the wall(?) into the room, and then smash through the door literally two feet away from him. Completely free in two turns, and that exits straight into the room with his wife so he didn't have a chance to accidentally set himself on fire.


• When Lex did this mission he Misty Stepped into the room to prevent flashover, which was immediately foiled by his party opening the door to follow him.


• I'm sure there are no negative repercussions to an ox learning that he can gore small things that scream at an inn that presumably is frequented by children. None at all.


• Me, a person who has played D&D for about fifteen years, including in the Faerûn setting: So the Zhenterim are bad, right?


• I love that if you missed out on saving Ruban, you can still bluff your way in and the guard's just like "Oh my god why does he KEEP GIVING OUT THE PASSWORD." Ruban what are you doing.


• I am grumpy about saving the artist. Like. I know I could just leave him there! Because he's a grotty person in love with the idea of his own drama! But if I saved Volo, who is also a grotty person in love with the idea of his own drama, I can't justify not also saving this clown. ... But saving Volo was free, you know?

Goblin Camp

• BABY OWLBEAR!!!!


• It is so cute and chonky! And Does Not Want to Be Here!


• It's possible for the baby owlbear to try to fight against the goblins but if it does it will die because it's a baby. D:


• Chicken Chasing sounds right out of Fable. Even if the woman in charge of it has a very loose definition of "chicken."


• Mama Owlbear deserved better. >(


• Volo, what are you doing there. And I want to judge you for being a terrible bard, but a) I knew that already, and b) you are a writing bard not an improv poetry bard, this is not your wheelhouse.


• Offline Friend Chris was like "having Shadowheart and Astarion around can make dealing with with Abdirak... interesting" so obviously I had to go and find out why.
  
  • Of all of the reactions to this decision, my favourite so far has been Astarion's. "Oh I have to see this, don't you dare say no."
  
  
  • "Did you expect this when you joined up with her, Astarion?"
    "I mean, I hoped."
  
  
  • "Who knew our friend had so much blood in them?"
    "Please try not to lick your lips as you say that."
  
  
  • Intrigued by Tav's responses being performance and/or bard checks. So many questions. Especially about Loviatar rewarding you, because that suggests it's not the pain that Loviatar cares about as much as the reaction. Didn't take any of the constitution checks so I don't know if she gets cross about you stone-facing through it! Did anyone else do it?
  
  
  • I just don't feel like Abdirak is good at his job as he thinks he is, I'm sorry.


• I have not in any save accepted the Absolute's brand. I get that it gives you access to fancy magic loot and makes some checks easier, but... If my whole thing is getting away from the Absolute's bullshit, I don't want a permanent magical brand tying me even closer to them, y'know? And it seems like a bad idea considering *gestures at entire rest of group and their assorted traumas, except maybe Lae'zel* There's good roleplaying reasons to do it! I agree with that! I will just live and die by my charisma checks as god intended.


• Damn, apparently the way to do the "kill the leaders of the goblin camp" mission is pinpoint assassinations. Like, in my Karlach playthrough I just rolled a bear and two giant spiders through the main rooms like roombas of death, which was fun! Takes a while because you're basically summoning every goblin in this part of the camp, but fun! But breezing into rooms, chatting to people, and then giving Astarion a speed potion so that he could assassinate them in two hits is big and clever, and I support it.


• Funniest thing to do because I'm a bad person: turn invisible, unlock spider cage, open spider cage, run.


• Me: I will throw this iron flask! It probably works like a rock, right?
  
  The angry beholder trapped in this flask like a pokéball: BITCH YOU THOUGHT