BG3: Stav starts Act 3
Dec. 3rd, 2023 02:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrBG3: Stav starts Act 3
Masterpost
I was a bit ambivalent going into Act 3 since the promised epilogue wasn't out yet, so I initially just focussed on Astarion's romance. But then the epilogue did come out, yay, even if there's a lot of gameplay between me and there left to go.
Spoilers for Act 3.
So!
First night, on the borders of the city, and we're attacked by githyanki and finally meet the Emporer's true, mindflayer form. Stav was EVEN MORE DUBIOUS of the Emperor than Tav at this point, but also not quite so guilt ridden about leaving Orpheus entrapped since (a) Stav is not as soft hearted and (b) I know he'll get free eventually.
I had vague thoughts about maybe doing the Astarion/Stav/Halsin romance just because it's the only other chance to do polyamory. Stav hasn't really clicked with Halsin but went to say hello and he was VERY flirty VERY quickly. I flirted back to see how it felt, but Astarion's permission felt lukewarm and Stav wasn't feeling it. If nothing else, Halsin is just. So large compared to a gnome.
So I reloaded and turned him down.
A little while later Stav went to camp and Halsin was there in bear form OVER A COMATOSE SCRATCH THE DOG??? He returns to elf form and is all "I have gone mad you have to kill me", Stav said no and of course it turned out to be Orin shapeshifted, announcing that she'd kidnapped Halsin. But the important thing is that Scratch was fine.
Astarion was very ambivalent about saving Halsin, which isn't intended to be jealousy for Doylist reasons but I can read it that way if I want.
In my first playthrough I was DESPERATE to save the kidnapped Lae'zel, sure she'd die if I waited too long, even though Tav didn't like her that much. But turns out you can put it off indefinitely and Stav is not that attached to Halsin, so. He can chill on the altar for a while longer.
The current party is Jaheira, Astarion, and Lae'zel. Jaheira and Astarion are super cute together, they both make snarky cynical remarks about the city and she cheerfully undercuts his edgelordiness and points out he's not as nasty as he pretends to be. They're about the same age, despite Jaheira looking and acting like a grumpy old woman, I kind of ship it (in another universe, this Astarion belongs to Stav).
Despite being pretty focussed on Astarion's romance at this point, I wanted to do some basic exploration and quest setup, and still kept encountering quests I had totally missed the first time.
For example: I found the Strange Ox again!! It was hiding outside the city, and asked Stav to carry it in the form of a small object. Which I did and nothing happened? Maybe I screwed it up somehow.
I went and killed Cazador before doing much else, which I was under-levelled for but that's what cheats are for. It was very affecting as someone romancing Astarion, and the romance scene afterwards is very sweet. He took Stav to his grave, and they had sex on it, aww. (It was sweet in context) And then I replayed the Cazador fight opening a bunch of times as research for my fic, during one such replay I encountered the skull of Cazador's old vampire master, who abusively trained him up and then was inevitably murdered. I always find that sort of Evil Mentorship very silly but never mind.
We went to meet Jaheira's Harper contacts, who turned out to have been infiltrated by shapeshifters, leaving basically no one else left alive. This set off her personal quest, where we went to ask the local criminal Guild for information about her friend Minsc, who had been kidnapped by Absolutists.
Turns out Minsc had been brainwashed into becoming a crime lord. So there was a long sequence of quests to find him and knock him out and convince the Emperor to free him from the Absolute's control. And then I gained friends in the Guild and a new companion!
A new, very annoying companion. Minsc is just Too Silly for me, with a fake eastern European accent, a Dumb Warrior personality, and a tiny space hamster called Boo. But he makes Jaheira happy, so they can hang out together in camp.
While I was trying to find a way down into the sewers to find Minsc I encountered a woman who said her daughter had been kidnapped, following that up led me to a pirate bar, and confronting the proprietor led to a fight with AUNTIE ETHEL! She had mind controlled a bar full of pirates, shape-shifted into the bar owner, and EATEN a small girl who was gestating in her stomach to turn into a hag.
I was a bit worried that knocking Ethel out and cutting into her stomach might hurt the girl but she seemed ok if shaken. And now Stav has pirate friends too! I gave Stav the criminal background and am imagining them cheerfully thinking about the profits they will make from new connections when this is all over. As a deep gnome they have Feelings about slavery which made murdering the More Evil slave-owning criminal gang the Zhentarim very satisfying, and made me feel less dumb about accidentally having to murder all the Zhentarim I met in Act 1.
Speaking of which. The non-binary deep gnome Stav/Astarion fic I just posted is inspired by Stav's game but not about Stav per se, and now every time I make an especially dumb decision on Stav's behalf I think "Lol, fic!Tav would never".
Most recently, while attempting to investigate a serial killer and save the upcoming victims I managed to get the detective killed and kill the next victim myself with an area effect. But hey I did also bring the serial killer down too, and got to see a new scene: the murder cult liked my murdering-innocent-people style and invited me to join >.>
Oh and when I did get into the sewer I stumbled across the waypoint for the Bhaal temple pretty quickly, it took me FOREVER to find in my first game.
And then I looked at how many quests were still left and went ehhhh maybe I'll replay Tav's game and see the epilogues before they get spoiled for me, and then finish up things with Stav. So! I shall stop here for now.
Oooh and that's right I had an idea for an icon! *posts that first, then this*
Masterpost
I was a bit ambivalent going into Act 3 since the promised epilogue wasn't out yet, so I initially just focussed on Astarion's romance. But then the epilogue did come out, yay, even if there's a lot of gameplay between me and there left to go.
Spoilers for Act 3.
So!
First night, on the borders of the city, and we're attacked by githyanki and finally meet the Emporer's true, mindflayer form. Stav was EVEN MORE DUBIOUS of the Emperor than Tav at this point, but also not quite so guilt ridden about leaving Orpheus entrapped since (a) Stav is not as soft hearted and (b) I know he'll get free eventually.
I had vague thoughts about maybe doing the Astarion/Stav/Halsin romance just because it's the only other chance to do polyamory. Stav hasn't really clicked with Halsin but went to say hello and he was VERY flirty VERY quickly. I flirted back to see how it felt, but Astarion's permission felt lukewarm and Stav wasn't feeling it. If nothing else, Halsin is just. So large compared to a gnome.
So I reloaded and turned him down.
A little while later Stav went to camp and Halsin was there in bear form OVER A COMATOSE SCRATCH THE DOG??? He returns to elf form and is all "I have gone mad you have to kill me", Stav said no and of course it turned out to be Orin shapeshifted, announcing that she'd kidnapped Halsin. But the important thing is that Scratch was fine.
Astarion was very ambivalent about saving Halsin, which isn't intended to be jealousy for Doylist reasons but I can read it that way if I want.
In my first playthrough I was DESPERATE to save the kidnapped Lae'zel, sure she'd die if I waited too long, even though Tav didn't like her that much. But turns out you can put it off indefinitely and Stav is not that attached to Halsin, so. He can chill on the altar for a while longer.
The current party is Jaheira, Astarion, and Lae'zel. Jaheira and Astarion are super cute together, they both make snarky cynical remarks about the city and she cheerfully undercuts his edgelordiness and points out he's not as nasty as he pretends to be. They're about the same age, despite Jaheira looking and acting like a grumpy old woman, I kind of ship it (in another universe, this Astarion belongs to Stav).
Despite being pretty focussed on Astarion's romance at this point, I wanted to do some basic exploration and quest setup, and still kept encountering quests I had totally missed the first time.
For example: I found the Strange Ox again!! It was hiding outside the city, and asked Stav to carry it in the form of a small object. Which I did and nothing happened? Maybe I screwed it up somehow.
I went and killed Cazador before doing much else, which I was under-levelled for but that's what cheats are for. It was very affecting as someone romancing Astarion, and the romance scene afterwards is very sweet. He took Stav to his grave, and they had sex on it, aww. (It was sweet in context) And then I replayed the Cazador fight opening a bunch of times as research for my fic, during one such replay I encountered the skull of Cazador's old vampire master, who abusively trained him up and then was inevitably murdered. I always find that sort of Evil Mentorship very silly but never mind.
We went to meet Jaheira's Harper contacts, who turned out to have been infiltrated by shapeshifters, leaving basically no one else left alive. This set off her personal quest, where we went to ask the local criminal Guild for information about her friend Minsc, who had been kidnapped by Absolutists.
Turns out Minsc had been brainwashed into becoming a crime lord. So there was a long sequence of quests to find him and knock him out and convince the Emperor to free him from the Absolute's control. And then I gained friends in the Guild and a new companion!
A new, very annoying companion. Minsc is just Too Silly for me, with a fake eastern European accent, a Dumb Warrior personality, and a tiny space hamster called Boo. But he makes Jaheira happy, so they can hang out together in camp.
While I was trying to find a way down into the sewers to find Minsc I encountered a woman who said her daughter had been kidnapped, following that up led me to a pirate bar, and confronting the proprietor led to a fight with AUNTIE ETHEL! She had mind controlled a bar full of pirates, shape-shifted into the bar owner, and EATEN a small girl who was gestating in her stomach to turn into a hag.
I was a bit worried that knocking Ethel out and cutting into her stomach might hurt the girl but she seemed ok if shaken. And now Stav has pirate friends too! I gave Stav the criminal background and am imagining them cheerfully thinking about the profits they will make from new connections when this is all over. As a deep gnome they have Feelings about slavery which made murdering the More Evil slave-owning criminal gang the Zhentarim very satisfying, and made me feel less dumb about accidentally having to murder all the Zhentarim I met in Act 1.
Speaking of which. The non-binary deep gnome Stav/Astarion fic I just posted is inspired by Stav's game but not about Stav per se, and now every time I make an especially dumb decision on Stav's behalf I think "Lol, fic!Tav would never".
Most recently, while attempting to investigate a serial killer and save the upcoming victims I managed to get the detective killed and kill the next victim myself with an area effect. But hey I did also bring the serial killer down too, and got to see a new scene: the murder cult liked my murdering-innocent-people style and invited me to join >.>
Oh and when I did get into the sewer I stumbled across the waypoint for the Bhaal temple pretty quickly, it took me FOREVER to find in my first game.
And then I looked at how many quests were still left and went ehhhh maybe I'll replay Tav's game and see the epilogues before they get spoiled for me, and then finish up things with Stav. So! I shall stop here for now.
Oooh and that's right I had an idea for an icon! *posts that first, then this*
