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alias_sqbr) wrote2023-12-06 11:55 pm
alias_sqbr) wrote2023-12-06 11:55 pm
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Baldur's Gate 3: Return of the Tav
Masterpost
Since there's a new epilogue, I decided to fire up a near-end-game save for my first PC, Tav, finish up a few quests that turned out to be more important than I realised (and also took longer than I expected), and then see the new ending!
Which was great!! Just a nice epilogue giving the chance to find out how everyone's doing and give a bunch of them hugs. There were LOTS of visual bugs but it only just came out and the bugs didn't undercut my enjoyment too much.
So! As a reminder, Tav is an earnestly good hearted tiefling druid in a relationship with Shadowheart and Halsin. In my first game, they turned into a mindflayer in the end.
I reopened a save from just before the first confrontation with the Elder brain, at which point Tav was still un-tentacled and most remaining Act 3 quests were still available.
The very first thing I did was change Tav's voice, which had bugged me all playthrough, since the option to tweak character settings came out after Tav's game was done. I left Tav's appearance the same because it is PERFECT and I will miss it if they become a much less cute mindflayer again. I'm still pondering that, since it turns out the consequences for saying no aren't as dire as I initially thought. Will have to see how I feel in the moment.
I rushed through to the ending the first time and am pondering which unfinished quests I will do this time. But my biggest goal is to SAVE KARLACH. Which means doing Wyll's personal quest. Which turned out to be pretty interesting story-wise!
Wyll has heard stories of a dragon, Ansur, beneath Baldur's Gate that will come to save the city in times of trouble.
The reason I didn't do the quest before is that getting to the dragon involves breaking into the prison, which I had assumed would make all the city guards hostile everywhere. But it doesn't! And by avoiding it this long I.... ok I was about to say I inadvertently got Wyll's dad's second in command Florick killed. But I just checked, and she wasn't dead yet! She was just chilling in her prison cell. I guess she just watched Tav and crew kill all the guards and go to meet the dragon and was like "Huh, wonder what that was about" then got back to moping about being sentenced to death.
ANYWAY. Back to my story.
Tav and crew killed all the guards and waltzed right past Florick's cell without noticing she was there, then found their way to the Secret Underground Dragon Caves.
At the entrance was a statue of Baldur's Gate's founder, Balduran, giving a pompous speech about needing to prove yourself a hero to meet the dragon.
The Emperor was all "this is pointless, there's no dragon" which I found interesting because I had already been spoiled for him being Balduran.
The first test was a frigging CHESS PUZZLE and damn if I didn't think "I love Karlach, but do I have to save her..." but I did it with only some help from the internet, go me. (I like puzzles in general but am SO bad at chess)
Another test required dispelling a curse, a walkthrough said Shadowheart can do that and I was all "I don't see it in her list of... WAIT I CAN CHANGE WHAT SPELLS SHE HAS PREPARED??" So I am gonna go through and play with that at some point.
The tests to be a worthy hero: solve a chess puzzle, survive several rounds of combat with monsters, dispel a curse and choose jail over death or freedom for someone who stole to feed a child, read some books and figure out which of three people deserve to die.
The last one was interesting because one of the books was about the fall of Elturel, which afaict happened just before canon. So who put the book there, the Emperor?? Also MAYBE A TRUE HERO IS A PRISON ABOLITIONIST, BALDURAN.
And then we meet the dragon Ansur... who is a giant withered corpse. When Tav tried to loot it, they were taken over by Ansur, who angrily accused Balduran/The Emporer of murdering him. It is implied that they were romantically involved.
Back when Balduran got turned into a mindflayer, Ansur (in the form of a humanoid Dragonborn) rescued him and desperately tried to cure him while the Emporer was all "I don't feel my feelings any more but am fine like this, and your failed attempts are making you unhappy, let it go". Ansur decided Balduran was gone and tried to kill the Emperor, who killed him in self defence.
And Ansur's spirit is still pissed! He attacks the party and is defeated and killed for good.
The Emperor is unrepentant and says the past is the past and he had no choice.
I'm still deciding if Tav will become a mindflayer again, and if so how that will affect their romantic relationships, so this was SURE RELEVANT.
Back at camp, Wyll apologises to his father for failing to bring back the dragon to save the city. His dad says Wyll saved everyone from an angry undead dragon, and Wyll is the one who will save the city, as the new Duke.
Wyll points out that he left that life behind to become the Blade of Frontiers. I had the choice to agree or encourage him to become Duke, I wasn't sure which would send him into Avernus and thus save Karlach so let him decide and he said "I am no longer the Blade of Frontiers. I am the Blade of Avernus, defeater of evil devils!". Karlach cheered :D
And I think this is better for Wyll, he's a great guy but too earnest to be a politician. Plus, while he was the one who suggested the right choice for the judgement test, he apologetically admitted to being no good at chess, and that's apparently also a vital skill for running a city lol. It's not even a hereditary position! Duke Ravengard, I'm glad you and Wyll are on good terms again but there's better ways to show your fatherly love. Buy him a puppy or something.
While I was rearranging my party I noticed that Gale's friend Elminster was in camp! He had a message from Mystra, saying she wanted to meet with Gale. Tav was pretty hostile to this idea, they're not super close with Gale but still think he should avoid his ex who wanted him to KILL HIMSELF. Elminster was all "Mortals cannot understand gods. Except the very few who are able to be close" which is funnier with the context that he is apparently sleeping with her. We're going to go, but with the plan to tell her to LEAVE GALE ALONE.
The other relevant quests I have left are to find a child murderer, and find the dismembered body parts of a dead clown. Fun! I might also still have Minsc's recruitment available if I poke Jaheira enough? Oh! And saving the artist!
Plus any other little quests I randomly stumble into. Like rescuing Florick! Which I have now gone back to the prison and done.
Party is now the baes Shadowheart and Halsin, and bff Karlach. In my first playthrough I kept Astarion around to open locks even though Tav didn't really like him. But I don't remember many locks in the endgame and anything important can always be opened some other way. (EDIT: There was ONE important lock in the endgame I eventually had to blow up with Karlach's help, but we got through it!)
...oh hey, and we could do the fivesome in the brothel, since it turns out Halsin and Shadowheart are VERY into it which was my concern before. Karlach can awkwardly read a magazine in the lobby or something. Sorry Karlach.
Rescued the Artist! I remembered the reason I never did it before was that it involved BREAKING INTO A LOCKED DOOR IN PUBLIC and I was, again, worried every single Baldur's Gate citizen would immediately decide I was an enemy. Look, I accidentally aggro-ed the entire druid camp one time and it left a mark.
But I broke in and noone cared, not even the owner of the house. Kind of a boring quest, so I half-assed it, I don't really care what happened between the artist, his rich fiance, and his dead ex-girlfriend. Which is good because it was a bit buggy and I never entirely found out.
Took Gale to talk to Mystra, and Tav actually didn't get to go along, instead I just saw the scene in third person even though Tav would have no idea what was happening. But I'm sure Gale filled them in later. I think the game interpreted my "Screw Mystra" attitude as "Screw the rules let's take the power of the gods for ourselves!" so Tav may have encouraged Gale to be more power-hungry and evil, oops.
Mystra: The orb inside you is Evil Alternate Magic created by Evil Wizard Karsus who wanted to a be god and created the crown that now controls the Elder Brain. The Elder Brain threatens to destroy the world, while the orb threatens to swallow up all other magic, and your primary concern is whether you survive?
Gale: Wait so I have my OWN SPECIAL MAGIC?? Separate to yours?? And if I take the crown for myself I could control this magic and be a God?? Ahhh no wonder you broke up with me!!
Mystra: Just give me the crown and I'll cure you.
Gale: We'll see :)
And then afterwards he flip-flopped between self reproach and dreams of grandeur. Gale, honey, no. Mystra sucks but no.
I talked to Jaheira and sure enough triggered the Minsc recruitment quest. SIGH. GUESS I'LL DO THAT AGAIN.
This epilogue gifset of mindflayer!Tav/Wyll is weirdly cute. I wonder what Shadowheart would say (and Halsin if they remember he is also dating Tav)
Did Minsc's recruitment and now whenever I talk to him he has backed up dialogue about all the villains we fought "together", since the whole Bhaal subplot (which I did back in my first playthrough before recruiting him) involves characters from the original Baldur's Gate games he came from himself.
I went to find the strange ox and it wasn't there?? Shadowheart even said "It's that ox again". Maybe it was hiding??
Finding all the dismembered clown body parts was long and gross and not very interesting but I've done it now. Finding who was putting explosives in toys for refugee children was also a bit tedious, but took me through the brothel which reminded me about the fivesome, hooray.
Once you pay the drow they lead you to a Sexy Sex Room full of Underdark themed mushroomy decorations. Then they said they didn't like being watched which confused me since, you know, fivesome, but then I realised Jaheira and Us were in the room too. I'd swapped out Karlach for Jaheira to do the Minsc quest which was probably for the best, I feel like Jaheira's reaction to being sexiled for an orgy would be to just cheerfully roll her eyes and go ask the barkeep for rumours.
I did not specifically sexile Us, so while it wasn't mentioned during the orgy I can only assume it was there.
Anyway, orgies aren't really my personal jam romance wise but Shadowheart and Halsin were super into it and each other and that was nice. Afterwards everyone was in the their underwear, I brought Jaheira back into the room and talked to her, curious to see if she'd have a reaction, and she said "I never thought I'd be glad to be see this city again, let alone smell it" which was Something haha.
And then I went to take down the Evil Child Murdering Fireworks Salesman, which very quickly ended when I accidentally set off ALL THE FIREWORKS with a few area effect spells and killed all the bad guys, and then hoofed it when the cops showed up and got pissy that Tav was trespassing. You're welcome for killing another serial killer you ignored, cops :P
I went to try and kill Auntie Ethel but the quest didn't trigger. Ah well, let's assume that all turned out fine.
And then it was OFF TO THE ELDER BRAIN.
All the creepy rats attacked me which they never did before, not sure what triggered that.
Anyway, it all went the same as last time, fighting the brain, losing, and being dragged into the prism with the Emporer.
But then! Karlach said SHE was willing to become a mindflayer, which I don't think she did before? Unfortunately when I tried to have that actually happen the Emporer just got pissed off and left to join forces with the Elder Brain.
Time for a walkthrough!
...hoo boy, is the internet ever divided on whether mindflayer!Karlach is a good ending for her or the tragic destruction of her soul. But the second group made some compelling arguments, so. Off she goes into Avernus with Wyll.
Anyway, I forgot, but the Emperor getting pissed and leaving is in fact what I want to happen to free Orpheus.
So I did that and got to the choice with Orpheus... and then made a save and spent a day Thinking About It. Because he's so sad! He's all "I was imprisoned for a thousand years, and sustained myself with the belief that I would one day be free to rescue and lead my people. But I suppose I was wrong."
But, well... I already saw the mindflayer!Tav ending and I don't want Shadowheart to be sad. So! Sorry, Orpheus!
After defeating the Elder Brain the ending scene was FULL of visual glitches and randomly topless tiefling women.
Gale is all "Hmm... the crown fell into the ocean, maybe I should take it... and become all-powerful...?" but went along with Tav saying not to very easily. This is not a man with the strength of character to become all-powerful. There was unfortunately no way to do this that didn't end up encouraging him to go back to being Mystra's Chosen, sigh.
Karlach's death scene was playing out the same and I was getting nervous but then Wyll swooped in to say he wasn't going to let her die. I let Karlach decide if she wanted to go with him into Avernus, reassuring her that Wyll would keep her safe from her old evil boss, and she decided she would go with him. Which was more satisfying than Tav making that decision for either of them. Poor old Astarion still ended up having to hide behind some crates from the sun but this was less upsetting knowing there would be an epilogue.
I decided to kill Orpheus, as he requested. After learning about Balduran, Tav was dubious about any mindflayer's ability to keep their personality long term, and Orpheus said he could feel his mind/soul being destroyed. Before Tav killed him, Orpheus charged Lae'zel with saving the githyanki in his place, she was very inspired and determined and grateful for Tav's past support.
The Shadowheart scene afterwards was less bittersweet now Tav wasn't a mindflayer. And I got a Halsin romance scene too this time, yay! He said he was going to go off and build a new home for refugees and orphans in the former Shadowlands, but that he hoped Tav would come visit. There was the chance to be all "Stay with me!" but he'd been very clear about his approach to relationships from the start and this sounded really positive for him.
AND THEN. AT LAST. THE EPILOGUE.
It's six months later and Tav and Shadowheart have been exploring Faerun having adventures. She has become fearless even in the face of wolves and water, aww.
Withers has invited everyone to a big party. There's basically a chance to talk to everyone once, and kiss both love interests, and hug Halsin, Shadowheart, Karlach, and Gale. Noone else is a hugger I guess lol. I'm curious if Shadowheart will hug someone she's not in a relationship with.
Shadowheart is cutely concerned about not telling interesting enough anecdotes but very happy with Tav.
Scratch (in the form of two eyes floating in translucent fur textures) has found a new home with a little girl in the city, but says Tav is still also his best friend.
Halsin is really enjoying being "Daddy Halsin" to so many children and also happy Tav will come to visit. He feels settled and at home for the first time, and asks Tav to share some stories of their adventures to tell the children when it's time for bed. There's no way to say Shadowheart will be coming to visit too but I am sure she will, and will love it.
Gale has become a college lecturer which is absolutely his natural form, and spends most of his dialogue complaining about his students haha. But he did give Mystra back the crown and is very happy to be free of the orb at last. He invites Tav to come visit his and Tara's tower, she is dubiously accepting of this in a very cat-like way.
Jaheira cheerfully talked about helping Baldur's Gate rebuild and what her children are doing.
Me: Oh crap I forgot to look up how to meet her children.
Tav: YOU HAVE CHILDREN??
So, something to do on another playthrough haha.
Minsc is cheerfully getting into trouble and being sentenced to death by combat etc.
Karlach and Wyll have been having a challenging but productive time in Avernus, and have found tools that may help fix Karlach's heart and let Wyll turn the eye that lets Mizora track him into something he can use to track her. Karlach says something like "Anywhere can be fun with someone you love at your side" which could be read as just platonic love but I am for sure shipping Wyll/Karlach even harder than I did already.
Lae'zel has sent a projection, because she is currently on a diplomatic mission to meet the githzerai, a monk-like gith culture who split off after the gith got free of the mindflayers. She said Tav taught her sometimes words are better than swords, aww.
Astarion says he's become an only-somewhat-morally-shady hero who embraces the night instead of being resentful that he's stuck there. He seems really happy, it's cute.
No mention of the little girl Yenna so I am just assuming she found a happy home.
There was also a mysterious bard playing music on a high rock, I failed a religion check but afaict he's some kind of god? Ah, a former minor deity of song who ended up working for Withers.
Aww and looking the epilogue up I missed a little nook with some info about the fates of various minor characters! *reloads save*
Haa the Baldur's Mouth newspaper thinks Minsc is dead, is that a bug or a cover story...
The letters were really sweet. Arabella is learning magic from a 'Beard Man", maybe Elminster? Alfira has started a music school with her friend she's really shippy with. The smith Dammon is plausibly pining over Karlach. Hope has turned Raphael's old House of Hope into a true refuge (which I headcanon Karlach and Wyll as staying at sometimes), Sebastian says the 7000 spawn murdered a few people when they first went into the Underdark but are now learning to create a new life for themselves with the help of Astarion's spawn 'siblings'. And the monster-hunting Gur write to Astarion to say he is an inspiration to their vampire spawn children that bloodlust can be overcome, and an inspiration to them to remember that redemption is possible even for the undead.
WHAT ABOUT YENNA, GAME??
The otherwise cheerful vibe was made a little odd by everyone's clothing textures and teeth being black, Karlach being pantsless, and Withers being naked. I guess Withers just really knows how to throw a party haha.
There was a chest full of clothes to try on, which is a fun idea but was somewhat undermined by the All Clothing Textures Are Black bug.
But bugs are understandable given the tight turnaround on making the epilogue and it still really made me happy!
I feel like I've really finished the game now. So, next up, finishing Stav's story I guess, or continuing Xem's. Hmm! Will see where my heart takes me.
Ok let's look at time stamps.
My initial "about to fight the elder brain" save was at about 65 hours.
The one after doing all the act 3 quests was at 71:30 hours so that's six and a half hours just to finish up "a few" quests. I do remember leaving the game running accidentally for like 20 minutes in there somewhere though.
A save from just before defeating the final battle was at 73:09 hours, so that's another hour and a half for the endgame battles.
And then after playing through the epilogue my last save is at 74:27 so that's about an hour and a half to fully finish the final battle, see the original ending, and then see the epilogue.
AND NOW IT IS MIDNIGHT AND I AM DONE.
Since there's a new epilogue, I decided to fire up a near-end-game save for my first PC, Tav, finish up a few quests that turned out to be more important than I realised (and also took longer than I expected), and then see the new ending!
Which was great!! Just a nice epilogue giving the chance to find out how everyone's doing and give a bunch of them hugs. There were LOTS of visual bugs but it only just came out and the bugs didn't undercut my enjoyment too much.
So! As a reminder, Tav is an earnestly good hearted tiefling druid in a relationship with Shadowheart and Halsin. In my first game, they turned into a mindflayer in the end.
I reopened a save from just before the first confrontation with the Elder brain, at which point Tav was still un-tentacled and most remaining Act 3 quests were still available.
The very first thing I did was change Tav's voice, which had bugged me all playthrough, since the option to tweak character settings came out after Tav's game was done. I left Tav's appearance the same because it is PERFECT and I will miss it if they become a much less cute mindflayer again. I'm still pondering that, since it turns out the consequences for saying no aren't as dire as I initially thought. Will have to see how I feel in the moment.
I rushed through to the ending the first time and am pondering which unfinished quests I will do this time. But my biggest goal is to SAVE KARLACH. Which means doing Wyll's personal quest. Which turned out to be pretty interesting story-wise!
Wyll has heard stories of a dragon, Ansur, beneath Baldur's Gate that will come to save the city in times of trouble.
The reason I didn't do the quest before is that getting to the dragon involves breaking into the prison, which I had assumed would make all the city guards hostile everywhere. But it doesn't! And by avoiding it this long I.... ok I was about to say I inadvertently got Wyll's dad's second in command Florick killed. But I just checked, and she wasn't dead yet! She was just chilling in her prison cell. I guess she just watched Tav and crew kill all the guards and go to meet the dragon and was like "Huh, wonder what that was about" then got back to moping about being sentenced to death.
ANYWAY. Back to my story.
Tav and crew killed all the guards and waltzed right past Florick's cell without noticing she was there, then found their way to the Secret Underground Dragon Caves.
At the entrance was a statue of Baldur's Gate's founder, Balduran, giving a pompous speech about needing to prove yourself a hero to meet the dragon.
The Emperor was all "this is pointless, there's no dragon" which I found interesting because I had already been spoiled for him being Balduran.
The first test was a frigging CHESS PUZZLE and damn if I didn't think "I love Karlach, but do I have to save her..." but I did it with only some help from the internet, go me. (I like puzzles in general but am SO bad at chess)
Another test required dispelling a curse, a walkthrough said Shadowheart can do that and I was all "I don't see it in her list of... WAIT I CAN CHANGE WHAT SPELLS SHE HAS PREPARED??" So I am gonna go through and play with that at some point.
The tests to be a worthy hero: solve a chess puzzle, survive several rounds of combat with monsters, dispel a curse and choose jail over death or freedom for someone who stole to feed a child, read some books and figure out which of three people deserve to die.
The last one was interesting because one of the books was about the fall of Elturel, which afaict happened just before canon. So who put the book there, the Emperor?? Also MAYBE A TRUE HERO IS A PRISON ABOLITIONIST, BALDURAN.
And then we meet the dragon Ansur... who is a giant withered corpse. When Tav tried to loot it, they were taken over by Ansur, who angrily accused Balduran/The Emporer of murdering him. It is implied that they were romantically involved.
Back when Balduran got turned into a mindflayer, Ansur (in the form of a humanoid Dragonborn) rescued him and desperately tried to cure him while the Emporer was all "I don't feel my feelings any more but am fine like this, and your failed attempts are making you unhappy, let it go". Ansur decided Balduran was gone and tried to kill the Emperor, who killed him in self defence.
And Ansur's spirit is still pissed! He attacks the party and is defeated and killed for good.
The Emperor is unrepentant and says the past is the past and he had no choice.
I'm still deciding if Tav will become a mindflayer again, and if so how that will affect their romantic relationships, so this was SURE RELEVANT.
Back at camp, Wyll apologises to his father for failing to bring back the dragon to save the city. His dad says Wyll saved everyone from an angry undead dragon, and Wyll is the one who will save the city, as the new Duke.
Wyll points out that he left that life behind to become the Blade of Frontiers. I had the choice to agree or encourage him to become Duke, I wasn't sure which would send him into Avernus and thus save Karlach so let him decide and he said "I am no longer the Blade of Frontiers. I am the Blade of Avernus, defeater of evil devils!". Karlach cheered :D
And I think this is better for Wyll, he's a great guy but too earnest to be a politician. Plus, while he was the one who suggested the right choice for the judgement test, he apologetically admitted to being no good at chess, and that's apparently also a vital skill for running a city lol. It's not even a hereditary position! Duke Ravengard, I'm glad you and Wyll are on good terms again but there's better ways to show your fatherly love. Buy him a puppy or something.
While I was rearranging my party I noticed that Gale's friend Elminster was in camp! He had a message from Mystra, saying she wanted to meet with Gale. Tav was pretty hostile to this idea, they're not super close with Gale but still think he should avoid his ex who wanted him to KILL HIMSELF. Elminster was all "Mortals cannot understand gods. Except the very few who are able to be close" which is funnier with the context that he is apparently sleeping with her. We're going to go, but with the plan to tell her to LEAVE GALE ALONE.
The other relevant quests I have left are to find a child murderer, and find the dismembered body parts of a dead clown. Fun! I might also still have Minsc's recruitment available if I poke Jaheira enough? Oh! And saving the artist!
Plus any other little quests I randomly stumble into. Like rescuing Florick! Which I have now gone back to the prison and done.
Party is now the baes Shadowheart and Halsin, and bff Karlach. In my first playthrough I kept Astarion around to open locks even though Tav didn't really like him. But I don't remember many locks in the endgame and anything important can always be opened some other way. (EDIT: There was ONE important lock in the endgame I eventually had to blow up with Karlach's help, but we got through it!)
...oh hey, and we could do the fivesome in the brothel, since it turns out Halsin and Shadowheart are VERY into it which was my concern before. Karlach can awkwardly read a magazine in the lobby or something. Sorry Karlach.
Rescued the Artist! I remembered the reason I never did it before was that it involved BREAKING INTO A LOCKED DOOR IN PUBLIC and I was, again, worried every single Baldur's Gate citizen would immediately decide I was an enemy. Look, I accidentally aggro-ed the entire druid camp one time and it left a mark.
But I broke in and noone cared, not even the owner of the house. Kind of a boring quest, so I half-assed it, I don't really care what happened between the artist, his rich fiance, and his dead ex-girlfriend. Which is good because it was a bit buggy and I never entirely found out.
Took Gale to talk to Mystra, and Tav actually didn't get to go along, instead I just saw the scene in third person even though Tav would have no idea what was happening. But I'm sure Gale filled them in later. I think the game interpreted my "Screw Mystra" attitude as "Screw the rules let's take the power of the gods for ourselves!" so Tav may have encouraged Gale to be more power-hungry and evil, oops.
Mystra: The orb inside you is Evil Alternate Magic created by Evil Wizard Karsus who wanted to a be god and created the crown that now controls the Elder Brain. The Elder Brain threatens to destroy the world, while the orb threatens to swallow up all other magic, and your primary concern is whether you survive?
Gale: Wait so I have my OWN SPECIAL MAGIC?? Separate to yours?? And if I take the crown for myself I could control this magic and be a God?? Ahhh no wonder you broke up with me!!
Mystra: Just give me the crown and I'll cure you.
Gale: We'll see :)
And then afterwards he flip-flopped between self reproach and dreams of grandeur. Gale, honey, no. Mystra sucks but no.
I talked to Jaheira and sure enough triggered the Minsc recruitment quest. SIGH. GUESS I'LL DO THAT AGAIN.
This epilogue gifset of mindflayer!Tav/Wyll is weirdly cute. I wonder what Shadowheart would say (and Halsin if they remember he is also dating Tav)
Did Minsc's recruitment and now whenever I talk to him he has backed up dialogue about all the villains we fought "together", since the whole Bhaal subplot (which I did back in my first playthrough before recruiting him) involves characters from the original Baldur's Gate games he came from himself.
I went to find the strange ox and it wasn't there?? Shadowheart even said "It's that ox again". Maybe it was hiding??
Finding all the dismembered clown body parts was long and gross and not very interesting but I've done it now. Finding who was putting explosives in toys for refugee children was also a bit tedious, but took me through the brothel which reminded me about the fivesome, hooray.
Once you pay the drow they lead you to a Sexy Sex Room full of Underdark themed mushroomy decorations. Then they said they didn't like being watched which confused me since, you know, fivesome, but then I realised Jaheira and Us were in the room too. I'd swapped out Karlach for Jaheira to do the Minsc quest which was probably for the best, I feel like Jaheira's reaction to being sexiled for an orgy would be to just cheerfully roll her eyes and go ask the barkeep for rumours.
I did not specifically sexile Us, so while it wasn't mentioned during the orgy I can only assume it was there.
Anyway, orgies aren't really my personal jam romance wise but Shadowheart and Halsin were super into it and each other and that was nice. Afterwards everyone was in the their underwear, I brought Jaheira back into the room and talked to her, curious to see if she'd have a reaction, and she said "I never thought I'd be glad to be see this city again, let alone smell it" which was Something haha.
And then I went to take down the Evil Child Murdering Fireworks Salesman, which very quickly ended when I accidentally set off ALL THE FIREWORKS with a few area effect spells and killed all the bad guys, and then hoofed it when the cops showed up and got pissy that Tav was trespassing. You're welcome for killing another serial killer you ignored, cops :P
I went to try and kill Auntie Ethel but the quest didn't trigger. Ah well, let's assume that all turned out fine.
And then it was OFF TO THE ELDER BRAIN.
All the creepy rats attacked me which they never did before, not sure what triggered that.
Anyway, it all went the same as last time, fighting the brain, losing, and being dragged into the prism with the Emporer.
But then! Karlach said SHE was willing to become a mindflayer, which I don't think she did before? Unfortunately when I tried to have that actually happen the Emporer just got pissed off and left to join forces with the Elder Brain.
Time for a walkthrough!
...hoo boy, is the internet ever divided on whether mindflayer!Karlach is a good ending for her or the tragic destruction of her soul. But the second group made some compelling arguments, so. Off she goes into Avernus with Wyll.
Anyway, I forgot, but the Emperor getting pissed and leaving is in fact what I want to happen to free Orpheus.
So I did that and got to the choice with Orpheus... and then made a save and spent a day Thinking About It. Because he's so sad! He's all "I was imprisoned for a thousand years, and sustained myself with the belief that I would one day be free to rescue and lead my people. But I suppose I was wrong."
But, well... I already saw the mindflayer!Tav ending and I don't want Shadowheart to be sad. So! Sorry, Orpheus!
After defeating the Elder Brain the ending scene was FULL of visual glitches and randomly topless tiefling women.
Gale is all "Hmm... the crown fell into the ocean, maybe I should take it... and become all-powerful...?" but went along with Tav saying not to very easily. This is not a man with the strength of character to become all-powerful. There was unfortunately no way to do this that didn't end up encouraging him to go back to being Mystra's Chosen, sigh.
Karlach's death scene was playing out the same and I was getting nervous but then Wyll swooped in to say he wasn't going to let her die. I let Karlach decide if she wanted to go with him into Avernus, reassuring her that Wyll would keep her safe from her old evil boss, and she decided she would go with him. Which was more satisfying than Tav making that decision for either of them. Poor old Astarion still ended up having to hide behind some crates from the sun but this was less upsetting knowing there would be an epilogue.
I decided to kill Orpheus, as he requested. After learning about Balduran, Tav was dubious about any mindflayer's ability to keep their personality long term, and Orpheus said he could feel his mind/soul being destroyed. Before Tav killed him, Orpheus charged Lae'zel with saving the githyanki in his place, she was very inspired and determined and grateful for Tav's past support.
The Shadowheart scene afterwards was less bittersweet now Tav wasn't a mindflayer. And I got a Halsin romance scene too this time, yay! He said he was going to go off and build a new home for refugees and orphans in the former Shadowlands, but that he hoped Tav would come visit. There was the chance to be all "Stay with me!" but he'd been very clear about his approach to relationships from the start and this sounded really positive for him.
AND THEN. AT LAST. THE EPILOGUE.
It's six months later and Tav and Shadowheart have been exploring Faerun having adventures. She has become fearless even in the face of wolves and water, aww.
Withers has invited everyone to a big party. There's basically a chance to talk to everyone once, and kiss both love interests, and hug Halsin, Shadowheart, Karlach, and Gale. Noone else is a hugger I guess lol. I'm curious if Shadowheart will hug someone she's not in a relationship with.
Shadowheart is cutely concerned about not telling interesting enough anecdotes but very happy with Tav.
Scratch (in the form of two eyes floating in translucent fur textures) has found a new home with a little girl in the city, but says Tav is still also his best friend.
Halsin is really enjoying being "Daddy Halsin" to so many children and also happy Tav will come to visit. He feels settled and at home for the first time, and asks Tav to share some stories of their adventures to tell the children when it's time for bed. There's no way to say Shadowheart will be coming to visit too but I am sure she will, and will love it.
Gale has become a college lecturer which is absolutely his natural form, and spends most of his dialogue complaining about his students haha. But he did give Mystra back the crown and is very happy to be free of the orb at last. He invites Tav to come visit his and Tara's tower, she is dubiously accepting of this in a very cat-like way.
Jaheira cheerfully talked about helping Baldur's Gate rebuild and what her children are doing.
Me: Oh crap I forgot to look up how to meet her children.
Tav: YOU HAVE CHILDREN??
So, something to do on another playthrough haha.
Minsc is cheerfully getting into trouble and being sentenced to death by combat etc.
Karlach and Wyll have been having a challenging but productive time in Avernus, and have found tools that may help fix Karlach's heart and let Wyll turn the eye that lets Mizora track him into something he can use to track her. Karlach says something like "Anywhere can be fun with someone you love at your side" which could be read as just platonic love but I am for sure shipping Wyll/Karlach even harder than I did already.
Lae'zel has sent a projection, because she is currently on a diplomatic mission to meet the githzerai, a monk-like gith culture who split off after the gith got free of the mindflayers. She said Tav taught her sometimes words are better than swords, aww.
Astarion says he's become an only-somewhat-morally-shady hero who embraces the night instead of being resentful that he's stuck there. He seems really happy, it's cute.
No mention of the little girl Yenna so I am just assuming she found a happy home.
There was also a mysterious bard playing music on a high rock, I failed a religion check but afaict he's some kind of god? Ah, a former minor deity of song who ended up working for Withers.
Aww and looking the epilogue up I missed a little nook with some info about the fates of various minor characters! *reloads save*
Haa the Baldur's Mouth newspaper thinks Minsc is dead, is that a bug or a cover story...
The letters were really sweet. Arabella is learning magic from a 'Beard Man", maybe Elminster? Alfira has started a music school with her friend she's really shippy with. The smith Dammon is plausibly pining over Karlach. Hope has turned Raphael's old House of Hope into a true refuge (which I headcanon Karlach and Wyll as staying at sometimes), Sebastian says the 7000 spawn murdered a few people when they first went into the Underdark but are now learning to create a new life for themselves with the help of Astarion's spawn 'siblings'. And the monster-hunting Gur write to Astarion to say he is an inspiration to their vampire spawn children that bloodlust can be overcome, and an inspiration to them to remember that redemption is possible even for the undead.
WHAT ABOUT YENNA, GAME??
The otherwise cheerful vibe was made a little odd by everyone's clothing textures and teeth being black, Karlach being pantsless, and Withers being naked. I guess Withers just really knows how to throw a party haha.
There was a chest full of clothes to try on, which is a fun idea but was somewhat undermined by the All Clothing Textures Are Black bug.
But bugs are understandable given the tight turnaround on making the epilogue and it still really made me happy!
I feel like I've really finished the game now. So, next up, finishing Stav's story I guess, or continuing Xem's. Hmm! Will see where my heart takes me.
Ok let's look at time stamps.
My initial "about to fight the elder brain" save was at about 65 hours.
The one after doing all the act 3 quests was at 71:30 hours so that's six and a half hours just to finish up "a few" quests. I do remember leaving the game running accidentally for like 20 minutes in there somewhere though.
A save from just before defeating the final battle was at 73:09 hours, so that's another hour and a half for the endgame battles.
And then after playing through the epilogue my last save is at 74:27 so that's about an hour and a half to fully finish the final battle, see the original ending, and then see the epilogue.
AND NOW IT IS MIDNIGHT AND I AM DONE.