So, spoiler alert here. I'm talking about what is, I think, the resolution to the plot in the Shadow-Cursed Lands. It also involves a villain with a rather famous voice actor (which probably just gave that away) and is a really big moment when the stakes and plot of Baldur's Gate 3 start to truly come into focus.
Spoilers ahead:
BG3 does a remarkable job of simulating a D&D experience, while also doing the extensive legwork of creating maps and secrets to find all around the world. The plot as it stands is pretty open - I'm very curious to see how things go if you side with the Absolute cult.
But we're finally getting a sense of what the Absolute actually is, and, well...
It's the Dead Three.
Yes, the villainous gods that I think have been involved in all the Baldur's Gate games are, through three of their "Chosen," setting about a plot that seems to intend to hijack the "Grand Design" of the Ilithid - a plot that would see sudden ceremorphosis of countless mortals into mind flayers on a mass scale and thus re-creating the ancient Ilithid empire anew. The Dead Three - Myrkul, Bhaal, and Bane - have living (well, mostly living) servants who are working together to make the city of Baldur's Gate the place where they will use this transformation to create, essentially, an Ilithid empire under their own control, as they have a captured Elder Brain that is controlled via ancient Netherese magic/technology.
The party members (at least the ones you get early on in the game) are infected with the "True Soul" tadpoles that are meant to fully take over the wills of those possessing them, but thanks to a special artifact that Shadowheart was sent to purloin from the Githyanki, you and your companions are protected from this takeover.
Act Two of the game involves a lot of potential for progressing Lae'zel and Shadowheart's personal quests, though I think it would not be too difficult to find yourself missing the Lae'zel part of it.
Here's the key character beats I've hit:
Going to the Githyanki Creche (which is a bit of a detour - I think you can get to the Shadow-Cursed Lands that way, but I went by the Underdark) we traveled inside the Astral Prism (Shadowheart's artifact, which holds a piece of the Astral Plane and is where our "dream guardian" has been), and discovered that, one way or another, if we killed the "guardian" inside or not, Vlaakith arranged for Lae'zel (and the rest of us) to be labeled apostates and bound for death.
As a note, there are a couple things where the game gets a little confused about the order of things. For instance, I went straight to the audience with Vlaakith before using the device that's meant to remove a Mind Flayer Tadpole, so when I actually took Lae'zel there (and sat in the device myself only to discover it was not remotely safe) she was still praising Vlaakith despite her turning on the Githyanki lich queen after our false condemnation.
Shadowheart, of course, is similarly in need of some deprogramming - or so I thought. You might notice that Shadowheart is a surprisingly good-seeming character for someone who worships Shar, and you should trust her instincts - my advice, when she comes to a pivotal moment in her story, is to sit by and trust her to do the right thing. Ok, this is beyond a spoiler cut, so I'll just tell you what happens - but first, some context:
The leader of the Absolute forces in the Shadow Cursed Lands (and as we discover later, one of the three leaders of the cult) is Ketheric Thorm (voiced by J.K. Simmons!) Thorm is, I believe, a Death Knight, though he looks kinda sorta alive. Point is, he was a paladin of Selune until his wife died, at which point he turned to Shar. But then his daughter died, and he turned to Myrkul to bring her back.
Ketheric is invulnerable because he has an Aasimar named Nightsong - a daughter of Selune - chained up in the Shadowfell (I believe this was probably done while he was a Shar worshipper). Nightsong is immortal, regenerating from any wounds, and Thorm channels that regenerative power into himself.
Nightsong is only killable if Shar allows her to be, and only a chosen of hers can do it with a special spear. You get this spear by proving Shadowheart's worthiness in a series of trials, and for her to be initiated as a Dark Justiciar - the elite enforcers of Shar's will - she needs to slay a Selunite (Shar is a goddess of darkness, and views the moon goddess Selune as an afront to her - robbing her of the darkness of night through the glow of the moon).
But (at least the way I played it) if you simply sit back and let Shadowheart do what she will - literally just say nothing - she'll ultimately throw the spear aside, letting it drift into the endless darkness of the Shadowfell (which is a different interpretation of that plane than I tend to go with, but I guess the Shadowfell can be a lot of things, including the Domains of Dread). Cast out by Shar, Shadowheart comes to realize that she's actually been getting her divine magic from Selune all along, but is very much in identity crisis mode (still an effective cleric though!)
The point, though, is that by freeing Nightsong, you have a powerful ally to combat Thorm.
The assault on Moonrise Tower, at least if done after taking care of some sidequests (I freed a group of gnomes and a group of tieflings simultaneously, which required some judicious use of Turn-Based Mode and Astarion's Mage Hand (I have him as an Arcane Trickster) as a scout to find windows of opportunity when the guards wouldn't be watching) and a rush to a chained-up boat,) involves one enormous fight on the ground floor (which I initially attempted with lots of melee folk, but then came back with Gale and Wyll and judicious use of Fireballs and Hunger of Hadar) and then a smaller one upstairs (which was not too bad except for a single fireball that got off on my party) before facing Thorm at the top of the tower.
This fight actually went really well - having Nightsong there is an enormous boon to the battle, as she's a high-level paladin who hits like a truck, but I also use a Wall of Fire from Gale to take out one row of undead minions and then Hypnotic Pattern on Wyll to neutralize another group, and so it took maybe two rounds for me to get Ketheric down to 50% health, at which point a cutscene plays.
What is revealed is that Moonrise Tower is built over an Ilithid colony, and the horrifying tentacled structures that burst out of the structure capture Nightsong again, and force you to travel down into it.
Here, I had one somewhat tricky fight against a bunch of undead - nothing terribly threatening, but it was lengthy and I didn't want to expend too many resources. Then, there was a fight against some actual Mind Flayers when I released them along with Zevlor and some other old allies. Also, we freed Mizora to progress Wyll's quest and get him out of his contract - if he lives another six months (but I got him a cool sword with a successful persuasion check).
I also talked by way past what I imagine was another softening-up fight, though it honestly could have been more climactic because, as it turns out, there's a rejuvenation station similar to the ones you find on the Nautiloid in the first part of the game right before the climactic battle.
And so, we came to said battle, where a few things happened:
First, we met Gortash and Orin, who are Thorm's counterparts representing Bane and Bhaal respectively. Their plan, as described above, comes into focus, and furthermore, we see Wyll's father, Duke Ulder Ravengard (a famous Forgotten Realms figure, the decidedly Lawful Good leader of the decidedly Lawful Neutral - at best - Flaming Fist) get Tadpoled and then teleported away along with Gortash and Orin (we'll have to look out for those two).
But then we got to fight Ketheric for round two. And, as it turns out, round three.
I think I basically aced the strategic choices. Going in with Shadowheart, Wyll, and Astarion, and my Paladin Rokthar, I had Astarion and Shadowheart go as quickly as possible to free Nightsong once again (fittingly, I think it was Shadowheart who performed the Help action that did it) while Wyll Misty Stepped up to a platform where there was a single Mind Flayer minion (actually, one flaw was that I Eldritch Blasted the Mind Flayer off the platform, and it was able to stun Shadowheart and Astarion for a round, but then I think got distracted before it could really take advantage of the situation). Rokthar leapt up and engaged Thorm (a nice Paladin/Death Knight duel) while we basically ignored the Intellect Devourers (who seem to be far less of a threat in this than they are in tabletop D&D). The undead Necromites were a nuisance, but not too much of a problem, and when Nightsong got into the mix, Thorm went down on round three or four.
But, well, haha. Apparently killing a god's Chosen is liable to get that god to unleash its wrath upon you (interestingly, Clerics can choose a god to represent, but Paladins don't). Thorm is transformed into a gigantic undead abomination that is actually kind of Myrkul's holy symbol writ large. The good news, though, is that it and its undead minions are not immune to Confusion, which Wyll was able to provide.
This phase of the fight actually went pretty quickly. Using, ironically, a Myrkul-themed flail as his weapon, my Paladin hit the "Acolyte of Myrkul" with a critical strike when he had I think fifty HP left and you know I had to hit that 3rd level divine smite (we hit level two fights before this one). I don't know what I actually got damage-wise, but a 3rd level divine smite against an undead target means 10d8, or about 45 damage on average, and with my +5 to strength, a +2 I think from the weapon, and I believe a 2d8 (9) from the flail and 2d4 (5) from a ring I have that adds fire damage to my attacks (I think the flail also adds necrotic, but I assume that it was immune to that) and you're looking at probably around 66 damage in that single hit, which did it.
This feels like a huge moment in the game - really climactic in a way that no fight has felt so far. I suspect that I might actually be able to get to the eponymous city soon (especially since it seems that Gortash and Orin are planning to take a subtle approach to infiltrating it while Thorm's army marches on its walls).
As a note, while I got Thorm's awesome armor and other magic items, he did have one personal thing on him: a note conveying the love he had for his daughter. (Which... did I mention she's the Selunite cleric at the Last Light Inn who is keeping everyone alive?) A little humanization for an utter bastard of a character.
This chapter of the story has been really amazing, and thematically focused (Thorm's siblings are each optional minibosses that can, in fact, all be talked into their own destruction with some lucky checks and clever logic, but are all masterfully spooky). It's hard to believe that, like 45 hours in, I feel like there's still a lot to go.
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