In Baldur's Gate 3, a bugbear beckons on a horde of goblins towards the gate of the Emerald Grove. Behind him, a large ogre looms and two giant spiders skuttle down a pathway to join the fray. After the drow Minthara walks onto ledge to preside over the ensuing battle, a chorus of metal clangs can be heard as the goblins shake their crude weapons in the air. Then all attention turns to Zevlor. As the leader of the tieflings who are now forced to defend themselves, Zevlor begins to do a rallying speech. "I know that you are all afraid… but I also know you've been fighting your whole lives," he cries as inspiring music starts to swell.
Suddenly, I feel like I'm in scene plucked right from Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, but instead of an army of orcs there are goblins, and instead of King Theoden addressing his people at Helms Deep, it's Zevlor before a crowd of tieflings. With almost 400 hours behind me and multiple runs in Baldur's Gate 3 so far, I can't quite believe it's taken me this long to witness this. Who would have thought one deviation away from my tried and true method to clear out the goblin camp would put me in the midst of a Lord of the Rings-style battle with high stakes. It would be epic if it weren't for the fact that I can't shake the feeling of guilt that this is happening at all.
Double-crossing
Having started around six different playthroughs since I got my hands on Larian's RPG this year, I decided it was high time I did things a little differently during one particular questline. See, when it comes to getting rid of the goblin leaders in the camp in Act 1, I'd always done exactly that. It had almost become routine for me to attack all three leaders under the guise of being an avid follower of The Absolute.
After all, I'd learned from one of the biggest mistakes I'd made in my first ever run, and my biggest priority was always ensuring the tieflings were safe. So, whenever time came for me to speak with Minthara, it always ended the same way: I'd battle the drow Nightwarden then and there instead of helping her locate the grove. With all the leaders defeated and the camp cleared, I'd then return for a night of revelry to celebrate the fact that everyone had come out unscathed.
Baldur's Gate 3's most challenging trophy is also its most morally rewarding
I've always been satisfied that this was the best outcome, but one day, during another subsequent run as a Warlock, I had an idea. It was like a lightbulb came on over my head, and I just couldn't shake the question that had suddenly formed in my mind. Now, I've always known that Minthara is a possible companion if you take a particular route, but after hearing about the sacrifices that have to be made when it comes to the tieflings, I've still not been able to bring myself to commit to it.
What if, though, there was a way for me to get her on my side - at least temporarily? As apprehensive as it made me, what would happen if I did tell her where the grove was, and then turn against her later? Would that even be an option? Could I still do right by the tieflings if I went down this path? Judging by how much choice Baldur's Gate 3 offers up, I was pretty confident I could, and I just had to test it out and see what happened.
Now determined to double cross the tieflings to then double cross Minthara like I was in some kind of fantasy episode of 24, all I had to do was set it in motion. Picking the dialogue option to reveal the grove's location felt so wrong, and the reaction it roused from Karlach immediately made me question my decision for just a split second. Thankfully a response I could say to my fiery companion made me more convinced than ever that I could play this my way, with me offering her reassurance that I had a plan to help the tieflings - because I very much did. At the time, I also figured that if this all turned out horribly wrong, it's nothing an older save wouldn't fix.
After I revealed the grove's location to Minthara and warned Halsin of the impending attack, all that was left to do was have a long rest and awaken to face the consequences… and attempt to put my plan into action. When Minthara instructed me to take out Zevlor and open the gate, I realized that I could absolutely bring my intended path to fruition. I straight up refused her, and a Lord of the Rings style battle that pitted me against her forces was my reward.
Still, when a tiefling I had previously spoken to died within the second turn of the battle at the clutches of a spider, guilt washed over me. This didn't have to happen - I knew that all too well from past runs. This was entirely preventable, which made me feel the weight of every death. Even if I was still defending the grove, the sting of loss wasn't quite quelled by the cool battle I'd never experienced before. But had I never tried out a new way, I'd have entirely missed out on one of the most epic scenes prior to a fight. Sometimes it does pay to brave a trickier path, but if I want to save all the tieflings, maybe I'll stick to the method I know in future.
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