I didn’t even know if I was going to write about Baldur’s Gate 3. Zillions of people are playing it (1,8 gigazillions at last count). I just wouldn’t have anything to say.
But… bedding down for the night, I woke up suddenly to find the suspiciously pale elf with the suspiciously long teeth leaning down for what… a kiss? I’d heard that the characters in BG3 would be warm for my half-orc form but… so soon?
Astarion jumped back, startled. “Oh, shit. You weren’t supposed to be awake.”
The game suddenly got a lot more interesting. For me, as a cleric, the chance to kill a vampire is pretty much the dream. Instant cred with Gruumsh, who famously hates even the idea of undead. Dead should stay dead! That’s why they have it!
But Astarion had an intriguing offer. Yes, he is undead and all that… but if I gave him a sip of my green blood, he could be my undead, and do my bidding. He is very good, he said, at following orders. Centuries of experience. And now that he suddenly can be up and about during the broad daylight, well… wouldn’t I want him on my leash?
Well, I just might at that. Gruumsh is suspiciously silent on the wisdom of yoking the feral undead. And besides, we need a rogue, so…
So anyway, the goblins all love us because we’re obviously True Souls, the minions of “new” deity The Absolute, and I found out that if I just walk confidently into the goblin camp carrying a clipboard and wearing a hardhat, the gobbers just assume that I’m supposed to be there.
Unfortunately, through a series of wild coincidences and accidents that I’d be embarrassed to even write about, I stupidly killed Princess Gut, who was definitely going to cure me of mindflayer-tadpole-itis. It really could have happened to anyone. I also tripped against a cage and freed spoony bard Volo, who definitely was about to be eaten. I flubbed up a simple torturing assignment and a druid slipped out of my fingers, and then I accidentally fed some goblin kids to a bear and now all THAT stuff is happening.
I’m playing on Normal mode, or whatever the default mode between easy and hard is, that’s the one I’m playing. Being able to talk my way out of tight situations is a nice bonus of having high Intimidation and Persuasion skills, but the fights aren’t too bad.
The current team is my character, a War Cleric of Gruumsh; Shadowheart, the half-elf cleric of Shar; Astarion, vampire spawn rogue, and the githyanki Lae’zel, greatsword fighter. Once I finish up the Goblin Camp, I should have Volo and I believe this druid available and I will have to make decisions about whom to keep on the team.
We don’t need two clerics, so the half-elf is not long for the party. And I want to get that bard in the party, if only because I need to have someone around for Astarion to chew on when he gets peckish. But if it is him or the druid, I’d have to go for the druid, and I would dump them both for a caster — that warlock who came by to say hello in the goblin camp would be wonderful. I’m not sure what the party size is, yet. If it’s five, I’ll take them both for now.
Okay, a little research, and it looks like Volo isn’t an option for the party, and the maximum party size is four, and also that taking Halsin in the party means closing the door to other party members… which might simplify things. So we’ll see.
