#durge epilogue spoilers under the cut!!

[fenharel-archived]

omg durge who embraced bhaal but didnt take over the netherbrain probably has the most fucked up epilogue huh

[dmagedgoods]

BG3 patch 5 epilogue spoiler under the cut

I always doubted that Haarlep has positive feelings for Raphael but all those amazing stories with them made me soften for them. And they definitely are highly entertaining. But damn, this letter broke my heart. One person with the vague potential to maybe slightly miss Raphael (at least if Tav/Durge doesn't), or to care at all, and they're celebrating his death. I'm aware they're an incubus and were stuck with Raphael and I didn't expect them to break down in grief either. But a flicker of ... melancholy, wistfulness, something after all this time? Or maybe just not the crudest, most distasteful letter possible, this at least would have been on the table. Not? I guess they truly only ever despised him.

[darlingdekarios]

Gale epilogue spoilers under the cut

he is the ONLY MAN EVER and the way everyone was asking about my redeemed Durge being pregnant/starting a family…#1 Gale breeding kink truther here

[bettsfic]

it took 140 hours, but i finally finished my first playthrough of baldur's gate 3. overall i'm insane about it but there are a few things that really pissed me off. my (many) thoughts in no particular order under the cut.

i forced myself to play the full game totally vanilla, no mods even though i'm so bad at games i usually need cheats to make it to the end. not to mention i've hated inventory management in every game i've ever played (except genshin. love u, hyv). but i was patient, and i played on explorer mode, and i savescummed the hell out of it (hence 140 hours). but as SOON as i finished the epilogue, i turned around and installed 30 mods, most of which are QoL things that shouldn't even need to be modded (vertical camera pitch, WASD option, stackable items, sortable inventory, highlight ALL interactable objects).

i decided i wanted to play both a Dark Urge playthrough and an I'm Just Ken playthrough, but after making two new characters and, through my endless youtube diving, accidentally getting spoiled on what i think is the major durge reveal, i decided simply to make Ken the Dark Urge.

every other minute he goes, "Hi! I'm Ken," and then thinks about murder. it's great.

obvs he's going to romance Shadowheart (although i may download the poly mod and romance everyone).

MAJOR SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT

here are my Thoughts, in no particular order, because i don't know where else to put them:

i didn't enjoy romancing Astarion as much as i thought i would, because i came to see him less as a romantic interest and ended up identifying with him more than my Tav. that said, i'm very excited to do Astarion's origin playthrough

i ended up enjoying my Halsin romance more, because it was a more traditional slowburn, and Halsin's quest was totally external conflict. on one hand, that made me less interested in him as a character overall; on the other, it was SO SATISFYING to find out he had been Pining for me the whole time. sometimes i just need a little bodice-ripper content, as a treat

obviously i'm also into Astarion/Halsin and Astarion/Halsin/Tav

however the only viable fic idea i have is Astarion/Shadowheart? i blame this fanvid

no, really, what was so different about Early Access that OP got this much Astarion/Shadowheart material? the description in the video says they were disappointed by how their dynamic had changed for full release

okay, time or my biggest beef:

Haarlep pissed me off almost enough to stop playing the game. not in a purity way, but in a "this is just bad writing" way

i mean, your options are to kill him or fuck him. that's not consent. and when you agree to fuck him, you have to roll several checks to keep him from killing you. then he steals your likeness so that whenever he has sex with someone else, you have a spontaneous orgasm

i wanted to dismiss it as dead dove, but the point of dead dove is that 1) it is labeled, and there was no indication whatsoever i was about to walk into this, and 2) dead dove implies the creator is aware that the content is filth for filth's sake. i saw no evidence that that quest was anything more than the sniffing panties buff of D:OS2

the sadist in the goblin camp? that's good filth. you have a little public BDSM demo that you can easily nope out of, and if you finish it you get a permanent buff. your companions have fun things to say. and there's no major quest attached to it, so you can completely walk past it. and the Drow twins were the same. and Mizora. just horny content for players who enjoy that kind of thing, and easily disregarded for players who don't. i don't understand why Haarlep had to be different

like, you're looking around for the hammer. you come across Haarlep, who is bored and wants to have fun with you. maybe he offers the promise of a buff that will help in the coming battle with the Absolute. if your romanced character is in the party, you have a dialogue option to talk to them about it first. maybe in parting, he gives you a hint about where to find the hammer, and it's in a completely different room

but no, you *have* to interact with him to advance the quest, can't talk your way out of it, and it leaves you with a skeevy pseudo-debuff

when i went to look it up, i saw so many forum posts of people being like, hmm this made me really uncomfortable, and (presumably) men responding, it was consensual! you have the option to kill him! and it's frightening that so many people think that way

also when you have a female Tav and you choose a male Haarlep, the animation doesn't change to account for the position. Haarlep straddles you the whole time. and that just made me interpret the scene as a male succubus rape fantasy

and your companions have to WATCH. and they don't intervene or even say anything about it. if you've romanced Astarion and he's in your party, you get one point of disapproval and that's it. like he wouldn't have an Opinion over that kind of coercion? i saw some youtube videos and know that he says something about it much later when you spontaneously orgasm, but that's it

i hope there's something i'm missing, and someone will come into my ask and go "ummm actually" and tell me some important factoid of game development that will make me interpret the scene differently

i ended up resetting and just not doing the House of Hope questline. i didn't bother with the hammer, either. honestly the whole Githyanki plot confused me and i was more invested in my conflict with the Emperor. i ended up siding with him and killing Orpheus so that no one would have to turn into a mindflayer. i was expecting to have to persuade him out of taking the crown himself, but he just noped off for some reason

this is another thing i wonder if i missed. i never understood his motivations or goals beyond "protect you" and "manipulate you." so he's Balduran and he killed his dragon and...what else? to what end? it would have been more satisfying to me if he planned to take the crown for himself but decides not to because of the bond he's forged with you. but maybe i can interpret it that way anyway

yes i fucked the Emperor

but i fucked him in Guardian form

like a COWARD

i was very torn about all the characters' final decisions. in the end, i kept Jenheart and spawn Astarion. i let Wyll and Karlach choose for themselves (and loved their ending together). i couldn't prioritize Gale or Lae'zel this playthrough because i was focused on too many other things, and i got their bad endings (although i ended on good terms with Lae'zel despite killing Orpheus?)

i played as a beast master ranger (i mained a beast master hunter in WoW for years) and i've seen in several places on the internet that it's supposedly the worst subclass, but let me tell you...

the bird companion. nobody is talking about the bird companion. by the end, it has two actions, the ability to blind, and your bird can call in two more birds. you can have a total of FOUR BIRDS

the red dragon in the final battle? couldn't do shit. it spent the entire time blinded by my bird. nearly everyone on the battlefield was dead by the end, but my bird still had over 50% of its HP. the bird is BROKEN

in my I'm Just Ken playthrough, i'm going to multiclass Shadowheart into a raven girl. the birds spoiled me and i can't imagine playing without them now

it's weird to me that there's penis physics but no boob physics. did anyone else notice that? you wiggle the male avatar and the dick moves. you wiggle the female avatar and her boobs are like rocks. even when she's lying down, the boobs stay exactly as they are

listen, i have a lot of complaints. the bugs made the game nearly unplayable for me. i know they're putting out patches fast, but i think it'll still be years before i would recommend this game to someone who is on the fence about playing it. if you're not immediately dropping everything to fuck the hot sad vampire, you might as well wait until the game is cleaner at like hotfix 856

BUT

i've never experienced anything like this game. every decision matters. every character has a story. there are so many potential paths and opportunities that it's literally impossible for the fan wiki to be completely accurate. i cried at least 4 times, and by the end, saying goodbye to Karlach, i was actually sobbing. i'm old enough now to know that these states of immersion into fictional worlds are rarer than they used to be, and i'm so grateful to this game for giving me so many hours of fun and escape

unlike books, movies, and tv, where i get invested and move on and rarely read or watch anything twice, video games are always such a learning curve for me that when i get into a game, i stay there. i have thousands of hours into Genshin and SDV, and i have a feeling BG3 will be the same. this game is so, so flawed, but it's ambitious beyond any narrative i've ever encountered, and i really admire it for that

i would love to find a Discord server for it that's not overwhelmingly huge, just the people writing fic and making art. it's been a long time since i've been involved in a fandom and i really miss it

[narratorinthecloset]

After patch 5 and seeing the epilogue for the worst ending for Durge I have so many thoughts running through my head.

Spoilers under the cut for the epilogue

Mostly I find it interesting that this is one of the very few times when I don't want my character to go all evil or crazy, this time I want my Durge to redeem themself, to resist the darkness, be free and happy.

Usually, when I see in media that the main character deals with their "dark side" or is being corrupted, I always want them to go into that darkness because I'm not a big fan of "pure good hero" and because they have much better personality and powers in my opinion 😅

But here?

Durge is... An animal, they're feral, they're twitching and growling, covered in blood and dirt, they can't even speak as the narrator says.

When looking at some options it kind of seems like the little part of "good" Durge is still in there, that wants to fight, to protect their friends and lover but they can't, Bhaal is much stronger than them.

In this case, their only way to protect everyone and to free themself is to die.

[whathebeep]

The New Durge Epilogue (Spoilers OBVI cause I need to write a different ending for that) (this is super self indulgent but also if it's well received maybe I'll make a fic of it??) Astarion Romance centered!

Explanation of the dark urge route I have in mind under the cut- I'll probably do a true evil one another time but this is more chaotic good so all the companions are there!

More or less this will be based on a good Durge who took Bhaal's blessing and became an undead assassin in order to stop the netherbrain. Did this from the perspective of " We're not strong enough to stop the brain but if I submit myself to the urge and take the power we have a better chance." Sacrifice for the greater good type idea, with the goal of fixing it somehow after the brain is gone.

Six months ago, they disappeared. 6 months ago they had transformed into the slayer as Bhaal's chosen and destroyed the nether brain, goring it with its claws and teeth to ensure the grand design would never come to pass. When everyone regrouped on the docks, those who remained were off to celebrate. But at some point the group realized their bhaalspawn friend was gone, nowhere to be found.

It was easy to tell that the murders in the city were of someone's doing- murders that stuck out like a sore thumb amongst the dead who fell from the ilithid attacks and toppled buildings- but despite those who remained in Baldur's Gate trying to find you, it was to no avail.

And then came a letter in the mail.

All gathered at the original campsite to celebrate- Wyll and Karlach returned from the hells, Astarion from the Underdark. Gale from his prestigious teaching position, Halsin from the now former shadowlands, Shadowheart from her wandering adventures. Lae'zel's projection was there too, as were Minsc and Jaheira, two grand heroes who were more than proud to see the next generation of heroes gathered.

Yet there was still a missing presence at the camp. Friends reminisced about you, others kept silent and masked their sorrows about your missing presence in a bottle of wine. Withers gave his toast and praised everyone for their parts in saving the world and everyone drank to that. Mirth and good tidings were in the air as everyone drank to their victories...it was Astarion who spotted them. He dropped the bottle he had and it shattered on the ground as he stared, and the others turned to look too. The music stopped and all was silent.

Lumbering over the log was you. It was you! Shadowheart called out for you but was stopped short by Halsin, a firm hand on her shoulder.

In your hand you held a blade- one just like Orin's. Dried blood and dirty stained your old camp clothes, and your otherwise cheery bright eyes glowed red. You lumbered forward, white knuckling your dagger.

It wasn't one of your companions who broke the silence, no- it was Withers.

" You're foolish to have brought them here, Bhaal."

The way Durge twitched, it was clear more than ever as they came into the light what had happened. You had been consumed by your urge, a far greater mad dog than Orin had ever been. Orin at least had her wits about her, but you, here and now? All that you were now was a puppet for Bhaal.

Tears seared from Karlach as they singed away the second they fell. " Soldier..."

Withers approached first, if not slowly.

" Here they are amongst friends. Among memories of goodness and mirth. While here they were free from you, free from their birth right as bhaalspawn. Bhaal, you are but a fool for bringing them here. They may have made their choice and sacrificed everything to be your chosen, to be gifted the power to end the netherbrain...but by bringing them here, there is but a chance to save them. Their destiny is not yours to stitch, god of murder...but their own. That much they are owed. I, however, cannot intervene. These comrades, friends, fellow heroes...they can."

It took the strength of the whole group to bring you down - to stop the slayer form you had changed into and force you into bindings strong enough to keep you still.

While recovering and healing from their injuries, the mood throughout the camp was somber. Seeing you like this, a shell of your former self, it hurt. It hurt so many that cared and loved you.

Withers helped keep you restrained and brought you to his workshop while the others discussed options- discussed how to save you from this unforgiving fate. Jaheira, Halsin and even Gale spoke of magical means- how to potentially ask Silvanus to aid you or even find a magical means to remove Bhaal's hold over you. Shadowheart suggested potentially reaching out to Dame Alin and Isobel to see about intervention from Selune.

Wyll comforted Karlach, who was still rather injured and still overwhelmed by what had happened.

Astarion was the one who spoke up that until an answer was found, that you would need to be kept under watch and key, perhaps even by one of them. No jail held by mere guards in any city would be well fortified enough. That's when Withers returned, Scratch by his side.

" I believe our furry friend has found a solution for that." In his hand he raised the astral prism. The very device that imprisoned Orpheus, that housed the Emperor and kept the party safe from the tadpoles in their brains.

" Are you...are you really suggesting we cage them in there until we find an answer?" Astarion asked in disbelief, and he nodded.

"It is the strongest prison we all know of...and we would have the time we need to find an answer." Gale frowned as he spoke up. This situation wasn't to anyone's likings, but it was better than leaving you out and at risk of killing more.

" And what are we to do if there is no saving them?" Jaheira spoke up, arms crossed. " What if we are delaying the inevitable for them? Would it not be best to end their suffering?" She motioned to you on the ground, and Minsc spoke immediately.

" Are they not worth the attempt? Did they not save each and every one of us?" He motioned amongst the group. " Astarion, Minsc is sure they helped you be free of Cazador. And Minsc is sure they saved bear Halsin from a cage! And did they not do everything they could to save our fire hearted friend from burning to crisp?"

Words of agreement rose from the others in the group. " They sacrificed everything...even succumbing to their birthright as Bhaalspawn to save Baldur's Gate- to save the world from the Absolute and the Brain. We will do everything we can to save them, as they had done for us." Halsin spoke to the group, and all were in agreement. Even Karlach spoke up.

" I might not be of much help in the hells, but we'll help as soon as we can. That much I can promise."

"I will come assist as soon as possible. The war against the Lich Queen will be concluded as fast as possible- but if my direct aid is ever needed, do not hesitate to call on me." Lae'zel spoke- even she had showed up as soon as the fighting started.

Wyll agreed with a nod. " They helped save me from my contract and my father...many of us wouldn't have our freedom without them. It's only right we help fight for theirs." With the overall agreement, Withers stepped forward and his hands glowed once more. A light green hue filled the astral prism and then enveloped you, your bound body turning to mist and being sent inside. After a few moments his hands stopped glowing, but the glow of the prism remained- this time a deep red.

" They are healed and bound inside now. They will not be able to leave, but if needed to any of you may travel inside if not to check on their condition. However...one of you must carry the prism with you. I cannot be the keeper of it." Those in the group looked uncertain. Discussions rose amongst the group of what to do, how to proceed- some outright couldn't. Halsin couldn't due to the children- Lae'zel, Wyll and Karlach couldn't - bringing you and potentially losing the prism in another plane would be disastrous.

It was then that Astarion finally spoke again. He had been the closest to you, your nearest and dearest friend and lover. He had been keeping his feelings all under wraps but there was no denying the remorse painted on the vampire's face. He had missed you- he still misses you.

" I will. I'll keep them with me in the Underdark. There's more than enough vampire spawn down there who I trust are strong enough to help guard it- not that I would let it leave my person." Withers nods, handing over the prism to Astarion. The pale vampire stares down at it, running his thumb over the runes on it. He bites back his tears. " We...we should all get some rest and discuss this in the morning. Please."

Everyone turns to their cots that night, and Astarion retreats to his tent to sleep as well- he'll get up with the others, but will need to be mindful of the sun as it rises. The prism is kept close to his chest as he curls up to sleep, tears falling from his face.

They have to save you- they WILL save you, if it's the last thing he ever does.

[pluviatrix-talks-too-much]

under the cut are lines from my last two playthrus of bg3 that made me laugh or cry or both. spoilers but i also want to convince at least one person to play bg3.

astarion's character growth from act 1 to act 3 if you're playing a good playthru. besides the yenna rescue approval (which is a gutpunch when you get it for the first time) if you rescue duke ravengard, the duke says the following line and astarion approves, when there were several moments in the earlier acts where he got pissy about rescuing people. also, the 'seeing the sun' and 'to be free' and astarion approval triple whammy got me GOOD. right in the chest

2. after nightsong-selûne but before her 3 am breakdown haircut

3. astarion i should kill you with hammers for making me feel like this. i'm like a sack of broken glass and i am not immune to durgestarion. also three cheers for growth and breaking the cycle of abuse

after this dialogue below (after dame aylin bane'd lorroakan), i picked the selected option and he was like 'nuh uh!!! it's gonna be awesome and i'm gonna magically be all better and he'll be DEAD.' and . YIKES

4. not dialogue but still. godless heathens

5. doing an origin astarion run and this is what he says about the sun. what if i died

6. minthara being pissy about being left out at the epilogue party

7. shadowheart trans real???

8. UNIVERSAL approval. we win these. i think this was about convincing wyll not to kill karlach. everyone likes karlach.

9. karlach being my favorite character just cuz she's SO unbelievably golden-hearted. she breaks my heart i have her post-gortash monologue tattooed onto my brain

10. GALE!??!?

11. my durge was an oath of ancients paladain. they broke their oath when they freed the vampire spawn under cazador's castle (which i have a LOT of thoughts about...) but when the oathbreaker knight showed up there was a lot of interesting dialogue. i didn't get all of it. it's so crazy the creators thought to address this b/c i was definitely wondering and ugh i was eating it up

and that last one right there ^^ is the thesis of redeemed durge, isn't it!! and interestingly enough, gale was the only person who had anything to say about my durge reswearing their oath. that might be that everyone else was caught up in the end of astarion's questline tho. thinking tho this might be about freeing the spawn. who knows

12. average bg3 side quest:

hmmm i'm gonna have to rb with lines that made me laugh huh. hold on

[aflockofravens]

Finally finished my first Baldur's Gate 3 playthrough 😮‍💨

Spoilers under the cut

I fucked up late in act 3 and just decided to roll with it out of sheer desperation to finish.

I didn't save the Gondorians (sp?) and destroyed the Iron Throne prison on accident (I also merked the guard who could have helped me)

I didn't have Karlach in my party for the Gortash fight and she was mad at me and I cried

I sided with Orpheus and lost the Emperor's support

I sided with Orpheus and lost Lae'zel and had to kill her

I turned into a mind flayer (which I really didn't want)

Gale insisted on sacrificing himself so I blew up the Netherbrain with his Orb and I was really sad about it

I cried and sent Karlach to Avernus with Wyll because I wanted to go after Astarion (except that's not an option and it really should be)

If that's where it ended before they added the new epilogue, I can see why people were pissed off. That was not satisfying for me AT ALL. It didn't feel like I won, it just felt like it was over.

I bawled when I spoke with Gale's projection and Tara. I bawled again when I read Gale's letter. I bawled a third time when I read all the other letters from everyone you meet.

All in all, fantastic game and amazing story (even with the ending I got), even with the lacklustre ending. If they release DLC content (like it seems they were teasing), I will 100% play.

I can't wait to play again and fix all the things I did wrong. Just need to figure out what character to play this time.

[whathebeep]

Okay I've been stuck on it since I wrote the drabble about it BUT

(spoilers for Durge Epilogue under the cut)

WHY ISN'T IT THE CANON END THAT THEY TRAP YOU IN THE ASTRAL PRISM?? Like is it just me or would that be a cool little full circle?? Like that would even be a more satisfying end than the one we got if you had succumbed to the urges! Like you could arrive to the camp when Withers is making his speech and you could still have the unhinged moments on the log bridge but then someone spots you? And depending on your relationship level with each of them they probably have some kind of their own dialogue?

Like remember that you disappeared six months ago directly after saving the world. Whether or not you jailed yourself or not they still had no idea where you went!

Like imagine what an ascended or unascended Astarion would say if he saw you like that. If he was your friend or your love.

Imagine Shadowheart? Whether she would be following Selune or Shar she would surely mutter a prayer in shock

And assuming that despite being somewhat evil and if you had kept/loss companions, just overall imagine the shock. The heartbreak in your friend's eyes when they see you.

Imagine Karlach seeming overjoyed at first, calling soldier out to you only to stop short when she realizes just how twitchy you are, and the blade you carry. Imagine Wyll cautiously readying his weapon- out of anyone he would have heard of the strings of murders that begun after the gate was saved, and would have had the suspicion it was you.

And just overall, if anyone would have the power to seal you in the Astral Prism, Withers certainly could. And there could be a cutscene perhaps where someone becomes the keeper of the prism (probably your lover) and promises to help you, or when the end of their days has come to join you inside or something along those lines.

Larian I'm just saying,,, it was all right there!

[whathebeep]

Screenshots I've gotten of my Durge, Nyx, in the patch 5 ending and epilogue (I'll do multiple parts)👀 spoilers under the cut ofc

(side note if anyone can recommend an app or website to make gifs let me know I'd love to make gifs of the videos I saved too)

Absolute Ending

Ỉ̸̼͈̻̳̗͖̟͍͍ṉ̶̭̼̗͇͈͔͍̱̕ ̵̛͕̋̊B̵̢̰̃̊͋̔̚͝h̸͉̤̩̣̜̺̅̄̊̀͋ậ̸̻̫͉̞̠̠̟͂a̷̟̱̖͙̮͈̜̿̋̄͑͋͘͜l̶͚̔̾̅͑̚̚'̸̳͉̻̣́̅̀̈́̍̊͛s̶͙̟̱̟̫͈̬͓̜̦͐̑̒̆̾͛̍̃͠͠ ̶͚̜̒͊ṇ̴̢̡̻̩͚͊͐̋̃͐̎̈́à̶͓̮̹̠̺̙̻̣́͒̽̎̈́͛̽̆̚m̷̢̙̟̗̞̭̦̏͌̒̌̀̕ę̶̹̳̱̝̩̘͑ͅ

[whathebeep]

The only good thing to come out of the Durge Epilogue (spoilers under the cut)

Larian please let my Durge lick knives more. It's such a vibe and it's a shame we only get it when you've gone absolute bonkers and you're about to kill your friends. Let me have Nyx intimidate Isobel by licking their blade. Hell let Nyx lick their hands after they kill the bard at camp in act 1. Let me Durge be super unhinged Larian plz and thank you