Down, Down, Down By the River: Let's Play Baldur's Gate 3

[Timrod]

Summary

: Welcome back to Baldur’s Gate 3!

: So many gith are going to die today.

: Before we go gith hunting, there’s one last minor thing I forgot to do - the toll house basement. We need the key for that, and it’s in a bush near the toll house, at the bottom of the big ladder.

: The door in the basement is one of the only doors that cannot be lockpicked.

: There are a lot of gas vents down here, which are all triggered by a single pressure plate later on. We can ignore them. The chests have small amounts of gold and jewels in them.

: Past the first gate is a room without much in it except more traps and some gold.

: The trick is putting some kind of weight on these two chairs, which have pressure plates on the seats.

: For our troubles, we get a now-obsolete Greataxe +1 and some useless gloves.

: Now it’s time to go gith hunting. There are two routes we can take: the first is having Lae’zel in the party, and the second is not having Lae’zel.

: As we approach, a dragon flies overhead. We now have the choice of taking Lae’zel or leaving her. If you want to talk your way past, take Lae’zel.

: There is a tiefling hiding here we can talk to.

: This, by the way, is what a lore-accurate tiefling looks like.

: “What are you doing?! Hold up, before they see you, mragreshem!”

1. What’s the matter?
2. And who are you exactly?
3. I might’ve been concerned, had I the slightest idea who ‘they’ are…
4. Whatever you just called me, I don’t like the sound of it. Watch your tongue.
5. Leave.

: “What’s the matter?”

: “What? Apart from the dragon? Look…”

: “That lot are swarming all over the bridge. I don’t know what they want, but it can’t be good. I’m going to find another way around. You should do the same.. unless you’re looking for a fight, that is.”

: She leaves, and there’s another cutscene.

Gauntlet Dion: “Drop your weapons!”

: The Dion Gauntlet sounds like a fan challenge for Titanic where you try to make it all the way through without crying.

: The cutscenes here kind of break a little if you never go down to ground level. The entire party is still up on the fortification.

Sarth Baretha: “I’ll feed your innards to the ants before I do that, istik.”

Gauntlet Dion: “This is y-your last chance!”

Sarth Baretha: “No, look up. That was your last chance, istik. Now burn!”

: The real Demon’s Souls starts here.

: “Stop wasting time, Baretha. You’re not here to play with the locals.”

Sarth Baretha: “Of course, kith’rak. We merely sought to -”

: “No excuses. Question, kill, then move on. Find the weapon. Our queen watches us. Fail her at your peril.”

: I’m gonna enjoy killing him. Smug prick.

: “A red dragon. I envy its knight - would that I rode such a steed. A creche must be near. Come - my kin await.”

1. The dragon incinerated those soldiers - surely this isn’t safe?
2. And we’ll just pat the dragon on the head, I suppose?
3. Let’s go.
4. Leave.

: “Yes, and I’m sure he’s not going to turn the dragon on you and then on the rest of us. Lyselle, Astarion, start putting up the explosives.”

: “The dragons serve githyanki. I’ll see it does you no harm. Follow me. We are close to the cure we seek.”

: If you have Lae’zel in your party (or you never recruited her in the first place) she’ll leave the party and run up to Voss on her own.

: Naturally, this puts you at a disadvantage if you decide to kill them all instead, or if you fail the speech checks.

: “Rider - my time is short. Lead me to..”

: “Sh-sh-shhh. Such a familiar tone. Were I not merciful, I would slice the skin clean from your meat. Yet you are not bleeding. For I am nothing if not merciful. Your name, child.”

1. Nod to Lae’zel. Go ahead.
2. I will be speaking on her behalf, gith.

: “Go ahead.”

: “…Lae’zel.”

: “Lae’zel. Proud. Regal, even. You will call me Jhe’stil Kithrak.”

: “Voss, Knight Supreme. The queen’s silver, the queen’s sword.”

: Voss is.. I don’t particularly like his writing. They write him like a villain, but he’s not meant to be a villain. He is also a Drizzt.

: “Voss. I am who you say. A ghaik vessel has fallen from the sky, Lae’zel. Thieves aboard have taken a weapon most precious. It is polyhedric in shape and inscribed with the sacred runes of our people.”

Narrator: You suddenly feel a strange anxiety take hold - not your own, but that of the artefact you carry. Somehow, it’s afraid… you attune your mind to it. The artefact does not want to part from you. It does not want to fall into the gith raiders’ hands.

: “Take word to your creche. You are to join our search. Speak up, child. Affirm your mandate.”

1. Mouth a silent command to Lae’zel: ‘truth’.
2. [PERSUASION] Mouth a silent command to Lae’zel: ‘play along’.
3. Produce the odd artefact. “You’re looking for this, I take it?”
4. I have my own mandate. Time to die, gith.

: “You honor me with this duty, Kith’rak. I shall alert my caretaker with haste.”

Narrator: The Kith’rak nods, content with Lae’zel’s answer.

: “You serve your queen well, child. Take your slaves, and hunt those who escaped the ghaik ship. They must carry the weapon.”

: “I fly now to Vlaakith, our Undying Queen. She will see your faith rewarded in this plane and ours.”

Narrator: A current of deception carries Voss’s words. Wherever he flies, it is not to Vlaakith.

: And that’s it? We’re just going to let the villains get away?

: “Dammit all! You did well to intervene, vexed as I am to admit it. The Jhe’stil Kithrak would have flayed our skin and left our carcasses to burn in the sun.”

: About the only clue we have to Voss not being a villain is the fact that he fucks off the second you initiate combat, as was shown in the optional update with the sword glitch.

: “The creche is near, this much we know. We follow the path forward and into the valley. No one, not even the ignoble Jhe’stil Kithrak, will keep me from my purification.”

: Nah, fuck that. They’re all going to die. First, ditch Lae’zel.

: The gith have a hefty amount of fanfiction on their side. We’re not getting through this one without blowing some cooldowns - but since we get a forced long rest immediately afterward, that’s fine.

: First, we toss a grenade on them. There’s a spare one in a hidden chest nearby, if you need one.

: Barricading won’t help because the gith can all teleport, but they’re not going to get the chance to.

: From there, Lyselle casts a quickened Fireball.

: The gith will, of course, fanfiction their way out of it… unless Pollux steps in and reduces their saves.

: A second fireball later and they’re all dead before they’ve even gotten the chance to react.

: The bullshit part is that the gith have the ability to do insane amounts of damage: the melee gith in particular can kill anyone but Karlach in one turn. They also get a “githyanki parry” that reduces all incoming damage by 10 unless they’re disarmed.

: The reason we want to kill them (apart from that they’re fanfiction) is that you miss out on a lot of loot if you don’t. This sword in particular is really good for Lae’zel.

: If you don’t talk to the gith at all, one of them will have a slate that can be deciphered to give you all the same information.

: This is the other entrance to the mountain pass - we saw the first one near the goblin camp in that update where I killed Raphael early.

: We’re all done with everything else in Act 1, so we can progress. The game will give us the same cutscenes (the one that introduces Mizora and the Raphael cutscene) as before.

: If you try to sleep without talking to Raphael, the game forces you to do so… unless you were to use that glitch to kill him.

: Unlike the long rest at the tiefling party, this one actually IS free because the game forced it on us. I believe it will also do this if we were to take the elevator in the duergar camp.

: The reason it does this is because the game expects that we’ve seen three cutscenes by this point: the Wyll/Mizora scene, the Raphael scene, and one other we’re about to see.

: Because we only long rested once, the game doesn’t know what to do and forces a long rest. This is used in the Any% speedrun of the game.

: The Any% run uses a bug to launch a dead party member (usually Shadowheart) from the beach to the mountain pass, which triggers the forced long rest and warps you to the mountain pass.

: I have tried the glitch but I can’t get it to work right.

: “I came just in time. You are transforming.”

: It’s Miku!

: Mik-who?

: She’s a famous singer, and she invented Minecraft.

: What the hell’s a Minecraft?

1. I know your voice. I’ve heard it before.
2. Who the hells are you?
3. Back off. I have enough crawling around in my head already.

: “I know your voice. I’ve heard it before.”

: “Yes, you have. I saved you before.”

: This area that Pollux is in right now is where the “river” in the title song comes from. You never see it in the game because the devs scrapped a lot of it when they re-wrote the dream visitor.

: “And I’m here to save you again. Don’t worry. You will not become a mind flayer. Not while I’m around. I’ll protect you.”

1. Take the hand offered to you.
2. Get up on your own.
3. Recoil from any help.

: (I know what this is. This is the parasite.. isn’t it?)

: “Independent. Good.”

: “We haven’t much time, so listen closely. There is great potential within you. It comes from that parasite. Your instinct is to resist the power it gives, but you must accept it, nurture it.”

: “I will keep it from consuming you. But for the sake of both of us, you must learn to wield it.”

: (I have a giant skull fortress in my head? What if.. what if Halsin and I made out in the giant skull fort?)

: “A fight for the fate of Faerun. A fight we are losing. For now. You can change that, but only if you embrace your potential.”

: Unsurprisingly, this starts a quest called “Embrace Your Potential” and allows you to start eating mind flayer parasites for powers. Pollux will not be doing that.

: I didn’t on my first run either, but that’s because I have a thing for characters in settings like Shadowrun who refuse to use cyberware.

: “I have to go. The enemy is closing in. I will be back.”

: “Wake now. You’ll feel better - I promise.”

: Unfortunately, this costs us the buff from the mushrooms right before one of the harder fights of Act 1. We’re probably going to need to temporarily respec Pollux for it.

: Welcome to the Rosymorn Monastery Trail. It’s considered a different zone than the rest of Act 1.

: “Looks like Lathander, god of the dawning sun.”

: Up ahead is a fight that can best be described as 100% fanfiction. There are two of these big skeletons, which are not in any version of D&D. They are a fanfiction monster.

: Let me tell you why this fight sucks. The starting fight is against two of these skeletons, a ghast, and three ghouls.

: The skeletons start out with 20 temporary HP, and when they have that bonus HP they take half damage from all sources except radiant. This means that Shadowheart is the only person capable of hurting them.

: What’s not shown on the skeleton’s examine page is that they can summon a new ghoul every turn and also revive each other as a bonus action.

: I don’t know what WoW raid mechanics are doing in a D&D game, but they have no place here. If a real DM tried this shit, I’d leave the table.

: The game expects this to be a big, resource-intensive fight. The best way to do it is to respec everyone into a cleric, but that’d take forever.

: To save time, we’ll just use the custom companion mod to make a couple of clerics to take the party’s place.

: Meet Private Beef. Private Beef is a half-orc cleric who has dumbass Final Fantasy hair because it’s funny.

: Using the mod, we can level up Private Beef and then clone him three times to save time leveling four characters up. If only raising an army was really this easy.

: For those wondering if you could do this in the unmodded game, the answer is actually yes: you can have a maximum of three hireling characters, and you could respec them to be clerics. You’d just use Shadowheart and three hirelings instead of four Beefs.

: The ghast has a constant stench cloud that will prevent anyone who isn’t undead from doing anything. Fortunately, that won’t matter.

: Beef #1 uses Spirit Guardians and stands in the path, forcing the enemies to go through the spirit guardians. This nearly wipes the four ghouls.

: Beefs 2 and 3 also use spirit guardians, while Beef 4 uses a radiant nuke unique to light domain clerics.

: The three spirit guardians act like a chainsaw and mow down the weaker enemies.

: Light domain clerics also get an infinite use ability that allows them to force attackers to roll twice and take the lower roll.

: A couple of turns later and everything is dead.

: At the end of combat, Pollux sends the Beefs back to the Beef Dimension.

: There’s a dead cultist here with some expensive armor we can sell, and a note.

Duke Ravengard is to be delivered - unharmed, or mostly so - immediately. Moonrise Towers cannot fulfill its destiny until the Duke has been delivered. Those who succeed will be rewarded. Those who fail will face first my wrath, then Gortash’s, then mine again.

General Ketheric Thorm

: This trail is littered with repulsion mines. They don’t do damage, but knock people back pretty far. They’re here mostly to show you they exist - we’ll see them used in an actual trap later.

: We could have reached Lady Esther without fighting the skeletons, and she has some things we want to steal.

: Esther carries a lot of monk gear, but this piece in particular is useful for Astarion, as it will boost his dexterity to 20.

: She also has these, which are meant to pair with the staff we put together in the underdark. If Ray of Frost hit twice like Eldritch Blast does, these would actually be good.

: Before we talk to her, we’re going to put Lae’zel back in the party since I took her out for the extermination run.

: “A friendly face. Oh you are a sweet, sweet blesing, my dear. You know, I’ve had nothing but trouble all day. I’ve been accosted, chased, insulted.”

: Didn’t we kill you two days ago, depending on whether last night is canon or not?

: I have no idea what you’re talking about.

: The teahouse? The one in the middle of the poison swamp? I hit you with that odd magic staff and your head exploded? I still have part of your scalp if you’d care to look.

: You can never be too careful. Maybe we should kill her - you know, just to be sure.

: She’s not Ethel. They don’t even have the same voiceactress.

: Plus, hags are allergic to cliffs.

: “Look over there. Do you see that wretched little hive?”

1. It looks like a temple?
2. Uh… sure.
3. Lady, I’m busy. What do you want?

: “It looks like a temple.”

: “Oh, it certainly looks that way, but inside it is swarming with brutish, stupid, rude githyanki.”

: “Brutish and rude by your wretched standards, but stupid? K’chakhi.”

: “Your charming companion would call it a creche. But it was built on what remained after the githyanki slaughtered all of the monks. I’d call it a murderous training camp.”

: “Acutely observed on both counts.”

: “Honestly, I was doing them a favor, offering to buy one of their eggs. And how am I repaid? Attacked and run off like some transient.”

1. You tried to buy one of their children?
2. Why would you want one of their eggs?
3. And? How much did you offer?

: “You tried to buy one of their children?”

: “What? No, of course not! I was merely - well… look, it 's just an egg. The Society of Brilliance asked me to acquire one of their roe so they can incubate it and, once it hatches, raise the spawn in their tradition.”

: “Please, do enlighten me. What is this ‘tradition’?”

: “The Society believes a githyanki raised in a peaceful, nurturing environment can overcome its violent nature. I’m sure your friend would agree. A githyanki is as likely to foresake its violent nature as a gnome is to fly.”

1. Violence is taught, not inherited. You don’t need to steal a child to know that.
2. Some things are in our blood - only a fool would deny that.
3. Well, you failed to get the egg, so I guess we’ll never know.

: “Violence is taught, not inherited. You don’t need to steal a child to know that.”

: “You’ve been drinking from the same goblet as the Society. Perhaps you’d be willing to help, then? To prove your point. They may have chased me away, but surely the gith would welcome a person with such sympathetic views to their creche. And once inside, you could simply.. purloin an egg.”

: “Steal one of gith’s own? I will slit your throat for even suggesting it.”

: “I am not talking to you. You’ll be well compensated, of course. Just bring me an egg.”

1. Produce the owlbear egg.
2. Sounds good - I’m in.
3. Do you have any equipment worth trading?
4. [PERSUASION] Fine, but I want payment. Up front.
5. My friend is right: what you suggest is revolting and you need to die.
6. I’m not getting involved in this.

: (I wouldn’t even trust this crazy bitch with the owlbear egg, assuming she’s not Ethel in disguise. Let’s see if I can trick her into revealing herself.)

: “I have the egg right here.”

: “Oh, you wonder - hold on. It looks different to what I expected. Are you sure that’s a gith egg?”

1. No, it’s an owlbear’s. I just like it.
2. [NATURE] The curves, the coloration, the size - looks right to me.
3. [DECEPTION] No, but this owlbear egg is worth much more. And it can all be yours.
4. [PERSUASION] Of course not. It’s from an owlbear. But I bet your employers won’t know the difference.

: (Huh, I figured she’d start screaming about children and attack.)

: “No, it’s an owlbear’s. I just like it.”

: Pollux has an egg hyperfixation.

: We’re not giving the egg to Esther. If you do find the egg and give it to her, you get a boss fight in Act 3 and one of the best scenes in the game becomes weaker as a result.

: There’s something else we can do with the egg that is the reason I’m not using Lae’zel this playthrough, because it’s really fucking buggy.

: Directly across from Esther is a cable car station. This is our way into the creche, and you can do this without ever fighting the skeletons.

: Alternatively, we could skip the creche altogether since we killed the skeletons. This would bring us directly into Act 2. We’re going to go down there for a cutscene, but we need Gale.

: There’s a “weary traveler” here who is level 20. This is Elminster - he’s D&D’s equivalent of the Harlequin, which is to say that he’s an unkillable plot device and a Mega-Drizzt. He is (effectively) the Chosen of Mystra.

: My understanding of it is that he’s a pet character for one of the original writers of 1E, and stuck around ever since. When I played 3E they gave him stats and I remember people making epic-level builds specifically to kill him.

: “Ho there, wanderer. Stay thy course a moment to indulge an old man.”

: This line is a callback to the first Baldur’s Gate.

: “Elminster?”

: “The very same, Gale. And a fair bit miffed he is, too, finding himself forced to expose his best pair of boots to so many miles of country road on your behalf.”

: Some wizard he is.

1. [BARD] My, not every day one meets the hero of countless ballads in the flesh.
2. I think some proper introductions are in order.
3. Many miles, you say. Where do you hail from?
4. Hit that country road, old man. I’m not interested in the junk you sell or the junk you tell.

: “My, not every day one meets the hero of countless ballads in the flesh.”

: “I know a minstrel by trade when I see one! Tell me, what ballad bold enough to lift me unto the pedestal of acclaim enjoys your musical predilection?”

: “Across the peaks of Icewind Dale / strode fast the Sage of Shadowdale.”

: “Is that so? The lyrics are by Volo, you know, whose name alone is sufficient enough a criterion to arbitrate its acclaim to truth.”

: I didn’t know this until just now, but Volo is apparently a recurring character going back to 2E who has inexplicably lived for like 300 years despite being human.

: Volo is also in the first two games.

: “Two weeks I had to endure a frozen beard and wicked frostbites, yet he makes it sound like a dalliance through the Dales.”

: “Yes, yes, yes, be that as it may, you said you came all this way on my behalf, did you not? For what purpose?”

: “I was bid to spare neither time nor my own self to find you. She sent me, Gale. You know of whom I speak.”

: “But why? Out with it, Elminster! Please!”

: “Young man, has your sojourn away from Waterdeep washed away your decorum as well as your patience?”

: “Nigh a tenday I’ve gone without honest fare worthy of the name - drank naught but what the sky entitled my thirst.”

: Pfft. I can summon high-end sushi with the snap of a finger.

: It’s a reference to the fact that only clerics and bards have access to spells that summon food.

: “Why, some bread, cheese, and a cup of wine would appear unto me a feast! Surely you won’t begrudge me a mite of rest and repast before I get ‘out with it’?”

1. Yes, Gale. Where is your decorum?
2. I suppose we could part with a few of our rations.
3. I’m not in the habit of taking in vagabonds.

: “I suppose we could part with a few of our rations, even though quite honestly if an adventure needs an unkillable plot device it probably sucked in the first place.”

: “And a great kindness that would be! See, Gale? Even in these barren parts, the art of hospitality begets inspired new works if one only keeps up the practice.”

: “Oh, for the love of..”

: “This way, then, to your camp? Don’t dawdle now, lad. You’re the one who’s in such a frightful hurry.”

: “Nigh on thirteen centuries old and he still thinks with his stomach. We’d best follow, and see if he’s more disposed to speak plainly once it’s stopped its grumbling.”

: We get the choice to long rest right away or not. Because we had Private Beef and his three identical clones to wipe the skeletons, we’re good to keep going.

: Lae’zel glitches off the cable car, which cuts off this conversation where Karlach wants to have a picnic.

: Near the cable car station on the bottom is a shrine covered in offerings, which we can take. They won’t miss them.

: Down the path is another warp point. At this time, it is highly recommended that you temporarily remove all spellcasters from the party.

: Up ahead is an extremely annoying encounter that’s meant to be an ambush. We’re going to ambush them instead.

: This barricade is walling off a nest of evil little bastards who will ambush you if you enter their room from inside the monastery.

: That pile of books on the right is a gremishka nest. They’re evil cat-shaped monstrosities that eat magic and hate spellcasters. They’re in the wrong setting.

: Gremishkas are native to Ravenloft, an alternate setting meant for horror-themed games. Ravenloft takes place in a series of pocket dimensions made by Shar.

: If they’re hit with magic, they’ll release an “unstable effect” at the end of their next turn. This includes anything from turning into a panther (more than doubling their HP) to exploding.

: The explosions can create more of them, and can set off the other cats.

: Because we came through this way, most of them have to dash to get to Karlach. This gives her an opportunity to jump back across the gap.

: As long as no one uses magic, the gremishkas will go down easily.

: If you approach the nest from this side, one of them will run up to the roof and jump off.

: So much for always falling on their feet.

: A couple turns later and they’re all dead. More importantly, we have a way in.

: There are a couple of locked gates Astarion can open without even trying, as well as two wine barrels.

[A dust-covered tome of complaints to the Dawnmaster.]

Who allowed a pilgrim to pay for wine with a cat? And what sort of cat even is it?! One of my novices told me they saw it grow to the size of a humongous hound. That was moments before it attacked. The poor novice didn’t stop trembling for a tenday. Please, I beg of you, can we just accept gold for goods like ordinary folk? And for gods’ sakes, call on someone to get rid of that nasty animal!

: The corner has a recipe for a potion of animal speaking - but as far as I know, you can get that recipe automatically by having the ingredients for it.

: If we look underneath this room, we can see the wine cellar. It’s full of kobolds. This is something to keep in mind for a bit later.

: Ugh. Kobolds. They’re the worst.

: Kobolds are small bipedal lizard-men who worship dragons with the hope of becoming one.

: They’re like unfixed cats. They come up to you and just start humping, and it only gets worse if you throw them off.

: And this is why they’re all going to die.

: I don’t necessarily want them dead, I just want them and their “hey mommy u wan sum fuk?!” away from me.

: The gremishka room has a locked door that leads to a partially collapsed tower. We need to stack some boxes for Pollux, but everyone can make it up pretty easily.

: We’re now on the roof. There’s a dead gith here with some lore.

[This stone disc has githyanki runes carved into it. Below them is drawn a translation into the common tongue.]

Location - good. Close to road, but secluded. Building looks well-fortified. Defence - minimal - seems to be a religious building. Space - ample, underground, hidden. Was easy enough to sneak in without being observed. Prime spot for a creche. Suggest immediate occupation. - M’lar Rih’al.

: On the roof are two giant eagles and what appears to be a magic cannon of some kind. This cannon is tied to a quest we can only finish once we go into the gith creche.

Ancient Giant Eagle: “INTRUDER! In MY NEST! This area was meant to be SAFE! Xavier, get behind mummy.”

1. [PERSUASION] I’m just interested in the big device. I promise not to meddle with the nest.
2. Attack.
3. Back away slowly.

: “I’m just interested in the big device. I promise not to meddle with the rest.”

Ancient Giant Eagle: “Ugh, fine. Xavier! XAVIER! Don’t talk to it. It might have germs.”

: The real reason we came up here is to get this warhammer, which is used for a puzzle. You can mage hand it away, but we’re just going to kill the eagles since there’s a quest to do so.

: How difficult the eagles are is almost entirely dependent on RNG. They have a “gust” attack that does no damage and knocks people back and/or prone, and they also have a multiattack.

: If the mother eagle is allowed to live for more than one turn, she calls for help and three more eagles show up.

: Past the eagles is a spot where you can jump down for a helmet and a healing potion. You need feather fall to not take damage, but I had Astarion do it for 1 HP.

: Down the root ladder is a room we can enter one of two ways: either smashing through this wall or picking a lock.

: Inside is a Guardian of Faith - this is a 4th level spell that any cleric can get. It’s melee-only and also guarding a puzzle item.

: Attacking it from range kills it easily.

: On the same level as the guardian of faith is another barricade. This is how we’re going to get to those kobolds we saw earlier.

: The game expects you to encounter the kobold room from the other side, and then use this entrance to jump up to the roof.

: They’re so drunk that they’ll explode if hit by fire, which is definitely someone’s out of control fetish.

: Most of them are standing next to wine barrels, but these are a trap. Real wine barrels have but a single hit point.

: They’re extremely easy to kill, and since we’re coming from this side they can’t put up barriers by lighting the wine on fire

: All they can do is dash forward one by one and die.

: One of the kobolds will have a ceremonial mace on it, which is the last piece we need to solve a puzzle.

: The fake wine barrels will make noise if we get near them, and it’s pretty obvious what’s inside. We can pick these up and send them to camp all the same.

: The puzzle is across a jump from one of the exits of the gremishka room.

: There are four pedestals, one of which has a glowing longsword on it, and a stained glass circle in the floor we can examine.

Narrator: The monastery’s notable keepers adorn these intricate panels. Lathanderian monasteries of this size were usually overseen by Dawnmasters, esteemed members of the clergy.

1. Examine the image marked 'Dawnmaster Seed".
2. Look at the picture of ‘Dawnmaster Stockhold’ in the glass.
3. Inspect the broken stained glass window.
4. Take a look at ‘Dawnmaster Welkinglory’.
5. Leave.

: We can see that Seed had a warhammer, and we’ve got one of those. We know what goes on his pedestal.

: Stockhold doesn’t have a weapon, but we can find out which one is his.

: If you climb down the front of the monastery, you can find Stockhold’s grave with a note inside:

Behold Dawnmaster Stockhold, buried with a ceremonial mace, in honor of the many humble maces he wielded in his lifetime as he purged the evil from this land.

: It’s right near this door, which is the back entrance into the gith creche. We’ll see where that goes when we go in the front route.

: From there, it’s a matter of putting the ceremonial weapons onto the right slabs.

: Doing the puzzle gets the whole party (including people in camp) a buff that adds 1d4 radiant damage to weapon attacks. This would be useful against the skeletons.

: This gets us an item with no apparent use. It’s actually a key we need to get a very powerful item.

To the next Dawnmaster,

I don’t think we’re going to make it, but The Blood is secure. We closed it off with magic. Only one of our own can take it. If anyone else tries, the walls will fall and they won’t get out of here alive. Should that happen, pray for Rosymorn Monastery, but do not mourn - it’s for the best. In death, new life, always.

: Our next destination is the creche. We could take the side door, but because we’ve spent enough time upstairs, the gith patrolling the main entrance are gone.

: There’s a different scene if you rush straight to the creche, which I’ll show off later. The little shrine at the bottom of the stairs talks about “firing the Lance” when you walk by.

: At the bottom of those stairs is another barricade. This one leads to the creche.

: Once we enter the main hall, Miku starts talking via big text on the bottom of the screen.

: “Your curiosity is getting the better of you - do not let it. Stay away from the githyanki. They’re hunting you. They want the artefact. They’ll stop at nothing to take it from you.”

: Reading the plaque on the statue gets us 1.5 owlbears of EXP.

: Experience inflation is crushing the value of the owlbear.

: We can also open the main doors from the inside using a lever. The main doors can’t be lockpicked and are virtually immune to damage.

: The dead cultist is part of a cutscene we didn’t see. If we had gone this way first, we would have fought some gith and the doors would be open.

: The main entrance to the creche is under the statue. If you have Lae’zel in the party, this is the door you want to take.

: By skipping the gith patrol, we get 120 EXP out of the 150 we would have gotten if we fought them. The two gith in the patrol are still alive, and I think we can kill them for more EXP.

: I recognize that hallway! That’s the hallway from the goblin camp!

: It sure is.

: Does that mean we can give them the beatdown the same way?

: Oh, definitely.

: “Sentries, to arms! Istik. State your purpose. Quickly.”

: “Stand down, gish. Is it not Vlaakith’s command to welcome her faithful?”

: “I expected no visitors, faithful or otherwise. Why have you come?”

1. Allow Lae’zel to answer.
2. I was infected by an illithid, and was told to seek a githyanki creche.
3. [INTIMIDATION] Let me pass. Fighting me will end badly for you.
4. [PERSUASION] You githyanki hate illithid. I have proof that they’re invading. We need your help.
5. Attack.

: “We seek the zaith’isk. Show me the way.”

: “You are infected? A ghaik thrall is something to eradicate, not reason with.”

: “The faithful may be purified. This is Vlaakith’s protocol!”

: “Chk. Fine - let the ghustil carry out your fate. Report to the infirmary at once. And step carefully. Creche Y’llek watches you.”

: An elevated platform with one way up. When are clerics ever going to learn?

: Destroy the ladder and rain down on them from range.

: One of them is a caster, and she can violate the rules by concentrating on two effects at once.

: And she’s only doing it because she forgot her ranged weapon at home, isn’t she? The bad guys never learn anything.

: One thing to watch out for is the pathfinding AI bugging out and running underneath you. If this happens, you may need to have someone jump on to the stairs, which is how we get down without taking fall damage.

: The creche is pretty well-designed in that getting into a fight in one zone won’t usually aggro the other gith. We also get this ring, which I honestly forgot existed.

: Arcane Synergy lets you use your casting stat in place of dexterity or strength when using a weapon.

: Ellyka’s body is here. There’s no way to save her.

: The next room is where we would come in if we had used the side door. There are a bunch of gith in here, and if we start attacking there’s a pretty good chance it’ll spill out.

: It won’t aggro the entire creche, but it’s an annoying enough fight that we don’t want to bother… yet.

: Oh, we’re bothering all right. None of the gith in this room have anything important to say… except one.

: This one’s a trader, and has an item that will turn Astarion into an unstoppable killing machine.

: This is the best shortsword in the game, bar none. It is part of a series of items that reduce the “critical threshold”, the number you need to roll to crit.

: It also gives advantage when attacking targets who aren’t in direct light, and this applies to all of your weapons.

: We start up on the top level, where two lower-level gith are sitting. If you initiate with a non-throwing attack, you can surprise them. This won’t aggro the ones down below as long as you’re standing over here.

: Both gith die before they get a turn.

: There is a TON of loot here, comprised mostly of gith armor and gith swords. There’s so much I have to make a trip to the mushroom colony to sell.

: After putting all of the trader’s items into a container, it’s time to exterminate the gith on the lower level.

: With a surprise round, taking them all out is no problem. All the loot is now ours, and everyone hits 7th level.

: The trader has a ton of potions, as well as that shortsword, and..

: Two pairs of gloves. Note the ones Pollux is wearing: she carries those as well. They set his dexterity to 18. She’s also carrying two hand crossbows, so those go on Pollux as well.

: With Arcane Synergy, Pollux is now almost as good with hand crossbows as Astarion.. once he casts an eldritch blast, that is.

: The guards in the hallway outside patrol one by one, and have an unfortunate accident involving multiple stab wounds to the back.

: The hallway that goes to the infirmary has this painting at the end, where the path splits. It has a unique interaction.

Narrator: This imposing portrait depicts a powerful githyanki warrior, undeniably regal in her mien.

: “Vlaakith herself. She is both the sun that blinds us and the void that contains us. Praise be.”

Narrator: In the corner of the painting is a small symbol you can’t quite place.

1. Study the subject’s features.
2. [HISTORY] Inspect the symbol more closely.
3. [DEXTERITY] Draw a new face onto the portrait.
4. Leave.

: That’s the comet from the book in the wizard tower, isn’t it?

Narrator: You take a moment to appreciate your masterpiece. She certainly looks a little less regal now.

: “A wretched display. I thought you better than such juvenile antics.”

: Oh look, a student come to clean the portrait.

: They already have to clean the paint off the painting, and now they’re going to have to clean paint and blood.

: I"m surprised Astra isn’t up in arms about that.

: The gith all turn hostile once you complete the objective here, that’s why. Mara’s just clearing them out ahead of time.

: The infirmary is to the left of the painting. You’re intended to do this part first and not go around killing all the gith until after.

: The infirmary has two gith kids (who are unkillable) pushing a box around with mage hands.

: There’s never been a better time to install the killable children mod.

: “Not now, k’chakhi! We’re busy.”

1. What’s in the chest? It’s making an awful noise.
2. You should stop doing that. It’s not nice.
3. Looks like fun - can I play?
4. Leave.

: “What in the fuck is wrong with your neck? Actually, don’t answer that.”

: “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

1. Whatever it is, I think you should stop. It’s clearly not having a good time.
2. Looks like fun - can I play?
3. Leave.

: “I’ll find out after I kill everyone in this room, you little shit. Hope you enjoy being an orphan.”

: The gith lay eggs and abandon their children at birth. Technically, they’re all orphans.

: “We’re all orphans.”

: The gith who actually pose a threat are in this back room. The archer (top-left corner) is by far the most dangerous.

: That porn moustache will look great on his severed head.

: Our reward is a unique (but shitty) ring. Cantrips suck on anyone who isn’t a caster, and anyone in a position to actually use this wouldn’t want to sacrifice an attack for it.

: Pollux could use it, but he doesn’t have a cantrip that does any of those types of damage unless we re-spec and drop eldritch blast.

: The box has a gremishka in it, which dies before it hits the ground.

: Finally, the back room has the “purification device” we’ve been looking for. We can kill the gith in here and use it just fine, but let’s just let this play out.

: “Vertical incision from pineal eye to end of notochord. Intestinal colouration consistent with samples 231 to 259.”

: “If you require treatment, take a seat, kin. Or do you have a question?”

1. I am Lae’zel of K’liir. I have come to be purified.
2. What do you hope to gain from dissecting the ghaik spawn?
3. Is that machine a zaith’isk? Is it operational?
4. Is that thing’s host still alive?
5. I have a tadpole of my own. Can you help with that?
6. Leave.

: “I am Lae’zel of K’liir. I have come to be purified.”

: “Cursed is the day that even we become ghaik incubators. Tell me, how long have you been infected?”

: “Three days. And with none of the symptoms.”

: “Fascinating. So you’re conscious of your infection, but showing no signs of cerebral impairment. Either your tadpole is special, or you are. We must find out which. Go to the zaith’isk. I will ensure you are cured.”

1. What will the zaith’isk do?
2. [GITHYANKI] I have waited long for this.
3. Actually.. maybe I’ll come back later.

: The ideal thing to do would be to leave, remove Lae’zel from the party, and then come back and have your main character do the zaith’isk.

: You also want to come back with Shadowheart, activate Phalar Aluve, and probably respec into a divination wizard with high portent dice.

: If you plan on letting Lae’zel do it (DO NOT DO THIS) you need to max deception and persuasion unless you intend on benching her immediately afterward or doing copious amounts of save-reloading.

: “I have waited long for this.”

: “It will be worth it. I assure you. Most of our kin never get to experience the zaith’isk. Vlaakith smiles upon you.”

Narrator: The device is strange, made of taut flesh and pockmarked metal. It waits for something.

: That thing’s evil. It’s like an evil lounge chair where the villains watch the Philadelphia Eagles play evil football.

: “The zaith’isk. Vlaakith’s purity, distilled. My duty. My right.”

1. Go ahead, Lae’zel. You’ve earned it.
2. Stand back. I’m going first.
3. [INVESTIGATION] Examine the device.

Narrator: The device is an ingenious synthesis of illithid anatomy and metal alloys. It hums with a psionic energy, hinting at paths into unknown minds and unseen planes.

: “Stand aside. My time has come.”

: If you try to go first and Lae’zel is in the party, she will turn hostile unless you have near-maximum approval with her.

: “Sit, child. Let the zaith’isk end your suffering.”

: This is going to kill her, isn’t it.

: “You must focus on the parasite at all times. The zaith’isk will do the rest.”

Narrator: An unseen blade cleaves your mind in two. Impossible pain sears your bones and body in concert with Lae’zel’s. The zaith’isk’s psionic forces batter Lae’zel’s thoughts. There is no chance she will survive this unscathed.

: Let me explain what’s happening here. If your main character (or anyone who isn’t Lae’zel) does the zaith’isk, you make three saves. The first is a DC 12 intelligence check. The second is a DC 15 Wisdom check, and the final roll is a DC 18 check that uses Constitution, Intelligence, Charisma, or Wisdom depending on what class you are.

: Failing any of the saves gives you a PERMANENT -2 DEBUFF to the associated stat. This can only be reversed by consuming a mind flayer parasite. If Lae’zel goes on it, she AUTOMATICALLY FAILS ALL THREE SAVES.

: “Ngh! Vlaakith tavki na’zin. Vlaakith tavki na’zin!”

: “Yes, child. Speak the Tla’ket. Meditate on its verses.”

Narrator: You feel Lae’zel’s mind rip and rupture. Is this purification? Is this the cure?

1. [PERSUASION] Get out of there, Lae’zel! You won’t survive this anguish.
2. [WISDOM] Call on your parasite. Show Lae’zel what she stands to lose.
3. Plead with the doctor. Lae’zel is in great pain.
4. Endure, Lae’zel. The cure is worth the torment.
5. Wait and watch.

: The persuasion check is a DC 30, and you are almost guaranteed to not make it. The wisdom check only happens if you make a hidden perception roll and is also a DC 30.

: For reference, Pollux’s base bonus to persuasion is +10. If we use the necklace from the myconids, we can make that a +12. Guidance from Shadowheart would add +1 to +4.

: Even assuming he got the max bonus on Guidance, Pollux would still need to roll a 14. I’m going to proceed as if Pollux fails all three checks.

Narrator: You share in Lae’zel’s agony. Every cell within her skull bursts iinto a constellation of fragments, sorted and reassembled. Lae’zel will die if she remains.

: “Yes, child. Ch’mar, zal’a Vlaakith. Call to your queen!”

: “My Queen, hear me!”

: “Get her away from that thing- now!”

Narrator: Your vision narrows. You sense myriad spectres of githyanki past. This is their fate. This is their anguish.

1. [WISDOM] Seek answers within the zaith’isk. What is this vision?
2. [DECEPTION] You must listen! The device is changing you. You are becoming illithid.
3. Keep focused, Lae’zel. The cure is close.
4. Wait and watch.

: “Lash’a’kla! Lash’a’kla! Lash’a’kla!”

: “Yes, child! Face her will!”

Narrator: Your marrow quakes within your bones. Behind the pain, a new sensation arises: power.

: “REMOVE HER.”

1. [DECEPTION] Your tadpole is changing, growing. You have to resist the machine!
2. [WISDOM] Focus your mind. Try to overload the device.
3. [CONSTITUTION] Pursue the visions you saw. See where they lead.
4. [ARCANA] Draw on the zaith’isk’s power. Take it as your own.
5. Wait and watch.

: If you make the arcana check (which is a DC 30) you get the same bonus you would if your main character succeeded at all three checks.

: “MY QUEEN! MAKE ME WHOLE!”

: “ENOUGH.”

: “Shka’keth!”

: “Damn it all, the parasite. I still feel it. I AM GITHYANKI! I WILL NOT BE GHAIK!”

: “My life’s work.. gone. And yet she lives, and so does her parasite.”

Narrator: Her voice cuts with a fanatical edge - an obsession bordering on mania. If there’s a chance the parasite lives, she wants it.

1. The parasite lives, yes. And thank goodness - it saved her.
2. Your zaith’isk tried to kill Lae’zel. And failed.
3. [DECEPTION] You’re wrong. Can’t you see it in her eyes? The parasite’s dead.

: If you don’t make the deception check, the gith is supposed to go out and fetch the armed gith we killed before coming in here. You can easily avoid this by going to camp.

: “I followed protocol. I kept to my faith. Yet the zaith’isk might have killed me. The ghustil tampered with it. Traitor - and there may be more still! This must be why the Inquisitor’s come.”

1. A traitorous doctor? How can you be so sure?
2. Are traitors so common among the githyanki?
3. How about a ‘thank you’? I just saved your life.
4. You were so close to a cure, if you’d only held on longer…

: “A traitorous doctor? How can you be so sure?”

: “Vlaakith does not abandon githyanki. The zaith’isk was tampered with. There is no other explanation. Now hurry. We msut go to the ch’r’ai and inform him of the doctor’s sedition.”

: This is why Lae’zel is perfectly okay with us murdering all the gith. The update is getting a bit long and I can feel the site bogging down, so we’ll end it here and finish the creche in the next update.