#look if things go sideways with Karlach I need a backup tank

[zenatness]

Durge's tiefling party was... interesting.

I walked around, talking to everyone, wondering if anyone was going to mention the suspect markings in blood in the middle of camp. Nobody did. Is this what serial killers feel like when they gift their murder trophies to their loved ones and they walk around wearing them in public, completely oblivious to the ghoulishness of it all?

Kissed Wyll. Chatted up Karlach. Made overly suggestive comments to Halsin. Agreed to have some wine with Shadowheart. Ditched her when Astarion suggested sex. Durge is an asshole, and somehow nobody seems to mind. The whole team absolutely loves him. Approval ratings are in the 60-90s. Somehow. Paladin Tav looks on from a parallel universe in disbelief.

We visited the creche, mostly to steal the blood of Lathander. I was fully ready to nuke Astarion in the process, but it was like he knew what was coming. Not only did he discover a secret compartment but he then managed to roll a nat 20 on the second attempt of opening it and got his hand on the crest. Half-drow Ghaunafein (Durge) got to steal a holy relic of Lathander, Shadowheart got a very shiny mace, Astarion didn't get burned to a crisp, Lae'zel got to go to the creche. Everyone's happy.

Things went sideways and we had to kill the entire creche. Well. Had to is, perhaps, not entirely correct. Choose to go out of our way to do so. And got really irritated that we couldn't find the kids that knocked me over with mage hand despite checking every room, including the nursery. Outrageous.

We turned around and headed into the Underdark where Lae'zel and Shadowheart had an altercation. Our brave leader Ghaunafein took one look at the situation, went "not my problem" and went to bed. Woke up to Shadowheart with a knife at Lae'zel's throat. Still not his problem, please keep it down, good night. Naturally I put Lae'zel's body in the ribcage where I keep all the corpses. It would have been rude to just leave her behind. Shadowheart somehow didn't take this uncaring attitude as a warning sign that getting involved with Ghaunafein was a bad idea, and shortly after invited him to share that bottle of wine again.

The camp started to feel dreadfully empty and it dawned on me that we're going to have issues going forward if my only tank is Karlach. I had but one hope.

I got to act 2 and... alas, Minthara did, in fact, not survive despite surviving the raid.

The disappointment was too much. I downloaded the Daughter of Lolth mod, fought with it until it worked, and now all is well. Turns out, Minthara does not get a new set of clothes if you steal them from her unconscious body so she had to stand trial in her undies. I'm glad I was generous and let her keep those, or that would have been even more uncomfortable for everyone involved. It certainly gave the scene a completely different vibe than I think Larian wanted it to.

Due to the Fighting (tm), I also got to see how much more Ketheric reveals about your past when Minthara is there. It was neat. Get a mad dog to judge a mad dog, indeed. People in Moonrise also keep recognizing Durge though they don't seem to know you, and the gnolls? The gnolls remember you and they like you. We're friends. I'm not sure I can murder my way through the tower now, I want my gnoll pals to survive. Where's the patch that let us recruit them?

I returned to camp and found Halsin just chilling with Minthara in her undies. I like to think that I got a solid 20 approval from him for this, considering his fondness for drow. I somehow did not get approval from Minthara when I gave her both casual clothes and armor though. Probably because I was still walking around in her casual clothes and refused to return them to her.

The trustworthy heart of the party and most desirable man alive. Apparently.