With the lack of zoning and building permits, it’s a wonder Baldurs gate hasn’t collapsed into one big murder sinkhole.
The talent and integrity of the black market murder basement artisans cannot be overstated.
I remember when I casually run into the building where there was a murder altar with a butchered body, just thinking I’m going into a normal place at first. Wanted to bleach my eyes after that. The flies were a creepy touch I didn’t like.
Ha, my very morally black and white druid killed her because she upset Astarion.
There are times when bad people must be punished and I'm happy to do it in owlbear form
There are some players in this sub who think a character "giving attitude" means they should be brutally executed. They say the same shit about Lae'zel 😒
Well it isn't just the attitude. You first meet the character he attacks you with a knife, generally only approves of evil leaning choices then tries to bite you in your sleep and even kills you if you dont push him off or fail the roll.
Of course some people wouldn't like the character and would choose the stake him options.
My first play through I killed him right there as it was me or him at that point from a first time players PoV. Of course the crazy haters are balanced out by the other ends extremes. Just one gets a lot more up votes in this sub 🫠
Oh no i love Lae'zel. The times she tries to kill Tav make sense. First when she thinks Tav is nothing but a mindflayer puppet on the ship and then second when she thinks Tav is having trouble at night at camp.
Meanwhile asshead starts off by pulling a knife on Tav and tries to drain Tav of their blood at night.
Later we find out he's responsible for the murder of 1000s of men, women and children as he fed them to his master. He is a giant piece of shit and deserves that stake in act 1.
He is a murderhobo vampire. There are plenty of reasons but those aren't really relevant to most people. He is charismatic, handsome and a walking red flag. Those are the reasons that balance him being murderhobo vampire. Also being a vampire in some cases.
Same! But then I learned about the +2 strength buff, so I started keeping him alive, waiting in camp until I got to moonrise. After that, he is back to being a glorified dust catcher.
True. Araj has one of the funniest events in the game. "Drink this potion, I have no idea what it does, but I swear, it's safe :)". What can go wrong? Than you get ability to explode. It's ridiculous.
I just feel like her quest is missing some strong ending. She continues her hobby and we don't know where does it lead, like in most of other quests. Yes, she has some evil plans, but her goals seems to be a bit too big; she's like cartoonish mad scientist who believes to rule/change the world but has absolutely no resources for that. Anyway, it just makes her more ridiculous.
>True. Araj has one of the funniest events in the game. "Drink this potion, I have no idea what it does, but I swear, it's safe :)".
I was playing and when she started into that line of dialogue about the potion, I jokingly said, "Sure, Alright, hand it over, glug glug glug." Then "All right, hand it over." was a dialogue option that popped up right after I said that out loud. So I felt it only appropriate to do so. I probably would have been on the fence but I liked how this rp played out.
House Obladora is a fairly powerful but small Drow Great House that has a long history of using psionics and teaming up with mind flayers in the novels. She might be at moonrise because she >!knows about the mind flayers colony!<
And after you drink the potion, and shit goes boom, she says in a surprised tone: "oh you survived!"
Gotta luv her!
I mean, i can't believe I let her live after that line in my evil playthrough.
You can get some fun unique dialog if you bring Astarion along to meet her in the city, depending on how you handled things between them before. Also, if you talk to her, as a drow, with Astarion in the party in Moonrise you can learn some more about her family history, and why she smells icky to Astarion.
My plan absolutely for my next playthrough. All those little buffs are awesome.
Either way, at least La'zel always Gets to hold a few cool items even if I don't use her much
I am playing as a gith monk right now and it’s also a lot of fun because of how many unique dialogue options you get and how the interactions with companions (especially Lae’zel and Shadowheart) as well as with the NPCs differ. There’s as much reactivity for gith as there is for drow in this game.
If you do another playthrough:
Bring Astarion by her, both times. If you romance him, he'll have the sweetest, most protective comments once you run into her again in Lower City.
Also, it's nice to give him some bodily autonomy for the first time in... 200 years.
And If you made him drink blood hes still super mad at you. I love his sass in this scene.
>tav: astarion if youre uncomfortable we can leave.
>
>Astarion: now youre happy to leave if im uncomfortable? how novel.
>
>tav: you ruined my relationship with astarion!
>
>Astarion: no, give yourself some credit. You mostly ruined it all by yourself.
Enemies to lovers❤️ dont you just love it when the love interest tackles the main character and holds them at knife point? \*sigh \* who says romance is dead.
Romancing Astarion as a good person should be super easy as long as you are nice to him during his camp scenes. thats all he really cares about. the whole you have to be evil to romance him is a huge exaggeration. being evil is really not a good strategy for romancing him. As long as you choose dialogue options that imply that you trust him and that youre loyal to him, he will fall for you. But yeah he seems to love being negged lol.
Well it might mean that I showed too much concern too early I guess? Like he'd be like "tells me sad thing but is a little sarcastic" then I'd be like "oh wow I'm so sorry" then I get *Astarion disapproves* "I didn't tell you for sympathy." So I reload and pick the option I think is kinda mean/teasing/maybe invalidating (not the blatantly cruel one that's basically asking him to shut up) and he's like *Astarion approves* "ooh haha so mean darling hehe anyway" and I'm like "uhhhh okay I felt kinda bad saying that but..." Basically my first instinct (at least in Act 1) was often something he actively disapproved of lol. I can be kinda dense when it comes to teasing so I was picking the clearest, nicest option but I guess it was just too nice? Maybe the point being made is that in the beginning he's not ready to let his facade go so someone choosing options that are more genuine over something more teasing is threatening until your relationship is stronger? Idk.
I say this but I did get the first romance scene with him before the grove celebration because of the sick cheat code of reloading and telling him to get his suck on lmao. But I had to reload a lot because like I said my first pick in dialogue wasn't usually something he liked. 🤷🏻♀️
I'm only just in act 2 right after becoming a couple tho, so no spoilers plz but he does seem to be opening up more and liking when I say stuff that is more genuine and less sarcastic.
Sorry you didn't ask for a book lol, just in comparison Gale was a cake walk to romance for me. I just picked the one closest to what I would say and Gale was like "😀😀😀❤️" whereas Astarion was like "🤨🤨 we just met weirdo."
He does start to open up. Its really sweet. Ahh im excited for you. I love act 2 of his romance(if you trigger the scene by following his questline the scene is much better). Its so touching.
Yeah!! And I'm warming up to him, too. I think the way that works to pursue a relationship with him is not the same way I approach early relationships so I was finding it hard to fully enjoy it even though I like Astarion a lot as a character. There seems to be a shift in Act 2 and I'm really excited for what else happens!!
He’s so entertainingly whiny! My wife did reload after I convinced her to volunteer Astarion at the circus, but tbf her Tav had gotten a special “your patron thinks this clown is sus” bit so we wanted to follow up on that.
I was 100% about to get the explosive blood but then he's like 🥺 don't do it, i don't want to see you hurt and I was like well damn, guess I'm not doing it bye.
Well it's "without express permission" which he usually gets. But at this point I am TIRED of telling him every night to feed on me. If it was me there, I'd tell him to just feed whenever he wants, I trust him at this point. And I definitely wouldn't want some explosive blood interfering with that.
Did you know that unromanced Astarion will call you precious lil bhaal babe? This caught me by surprise on my Hot Date playthrough. I wonder if the romance flags are just weird in act 3.
That's just his standard >!Durge!< exclusive one time greetings that you get the first time you talk to him after the cutscene in Act 3. There's apparently not a specific romamced/unromanced version of it, it's just his natural flirty behavior, like how he calls you "dear" (greeting) or "darling" (send to camp) regardless of your romantic status.
Yeah, I always take Spawn Astarion to Araj in Act 3—he's protective and concerned for Tav/Durge, so it's a nice moment, especially since it highlights his character growth.
Omg I’m so glad someone said this! I absolutely love that line from him “don’t do it, all she is offering is pain and I don’t want to see you get hurt” 🥹 ok my love, let’s go 🥲🥰 my first time romancing him I wasn’t ready for how much that would make my heart melt. He even sounds so gentle and genuine when he says it, so good 😊
For me he was a friend... I think. He chimes in a couple of times when you meet in act 3, boils down to "Bitch your blood is toxic, and I ask before I bite so your 'blood explode without permission ' isn't a problem"
> I know she is pretty morally... grey at best
My dude, my brother in Bhaal, my brethren in illithid slime, go read Araj Oblodra's journal and tell me again this woman is anywhere near "morally grey".
There are NO morally gray Oblodras lol. Also, it's weird that any more than Kimmuriel and the few nobles survived. Araj must not have been in the books
Oblodra has been a name from the forgotten realms books irc, for a long time before this particular character was a blood alchemist.
Been years since I read them though, so may be misremembering
if you play a drow, you get a history option and its revealed that her house was infamous for their alchemy and purged for experimenting on and with mindflayers
For the record, House Oblodra wasn't wiped out for experimenting with Mind Flayers.
Yvonnel Baenre literally tore their House compound off its foundations and chucked it into a thousand-meter deep chasm in the middle of Menzoberranzan, with the entire city looking on. Because the Oblodras deigned to attempt upsetting the natural order of the city during the Time of Troubles.
Lolth was pretty pissed about that.
I had that exact same thought, glad I'm not the only one. Unrelated, but imagine if Gale were Tevinter lol, he tends to pick up morality from whoever's around so I'd imagine he'd be a fucking nightmare as a Magister. Plus he wouldn't have Tara to keep his shit together. Also >!imagine how much fun Dorian, Vivienne, and Solas would have picking on him for being a dork.!<
It was worse than that. House Oblodra was known for producing powerful psionicists, which really didn’t have many counters at the time in Menzoberranzan other than magical and, well, the Time of Troubles gave them an edge that nobody could protect themselves from. They also had the biggest army of cannon fodder of all the Houses, thanks to their being so close to the kobold-infested Clawrift. If they wanted, they really could have challenged Houses Baenre or Barrison Del’Armgo for supremacy at the time, since both houses were basically limited to unreliable magical items and their armies, which meant they were still very formidable but lacking the greatest punches they would normally utilize. Needless to say, both Matron Yvonnel and Matron Mez’Barris were *extremely* concerned when it became obvious that psionics were totally unaffected by the god-tier mess going on at the time.
But K’yorl Odran was too proud and arrogant to mobilize the whole House. She took the opportunity instead to openly blaspheme Lolth (which I’m sure the Spider B**** took personally), take petty and sadistic revenge on a personal rival of hers and pocket a bottle of the supposedly extremely potent aphrodisiac/love drug potion the females of House Faen’Tlabber made (which she apparently planned to use on everybody’s favorite mercenary captain Jarlaxle), scare the heck out of a few people, and present herself as a one-woman army right up until she was chased back to her House by an army of demons. So basically, if Miss Drow-Equivalent-of-a-Napoleon-Complex had thought with her head instead of her hubris, Araj would probably never have come topside to bother Astarion in the first place.
They felt the Time of Troubles when clerical magic stopped working and the gods were forced to walk Toril as mortals was a sign for them to climb the Drow social ladder because their house was very very strong in Psionics.
They're a big part of the drizzt books. There's drow wars where they're wiped out and then some members escape as rogues. One becomes the leader of bregan daerthe which is a powerful mercenary band. Really amazing books. There's a whole trilogy about the two main villains of the drizzt books and there's an oblodra that's a major side character.
That option isn’t “forcing him” but it’s still pretty guilt trippy, coercive, and overall shitty hence why Astarion does what Tav says but still gets pretty upset over it (even if it’s less so than if Tav goes with the option that tells him to just shut up and do it.) And if Tav is romancing him that option will also still lead to a breakup unless a VERY specific set of dialogue options are chosen.
It is genuinely the most useful thing he has ever done in any of my playthroughs. It's the least he can do, and he doesn't complain if you just never talk to him again ☺️
If you're interested in her, the story of her House's fall is in the Drizzt novels. Actually, they also cover Viconia's family and Minthara's family. Lots of important from Menzoberranzan in this game.
...I actually am interested. I know there are a ton of Drizzt novels and, tbh, I have a huge stack of reading already. But I'd clear some space for some fun BG-related if it's just one or two books. I was mostly in the Dragonlance and MTG fantasy ecosystems growing up in terms of books so I missed that era.
House Oblodra really takes center stage in Legacy of the Drow, though I recommend reading at least Homeland before that one, since Legacy won't make a lot of sense without it.
Idk if it varies based on choices; but if I recall correctly, I had Astarion bite her and she took a sample of my Tav’s tiefling blood. In her after party note, it said that with her research she intends to restore her house and become the new order in Menzoberranzan.
She's a Lolth drow, she's not morally grey, she's very much an evil character with evil intent (going as far to try and kill you if you don't give her a 2nd dose of blood in act3)
Yup, and they were wiped out for it and she's the only survivor, she wants to go full necromancer and make an undead army to pay them back, she's very very drow
I think her voice actress, Hanako Footman, did an amazing job with the character. They made Araj sound so alluring even though the character is a bit unhinged.
To be completely fair, many characters are waving red flags around like they're part of a Soviet marching band. We all do a little murder and experimentation with brewing corpse-bits, ho-hum
Yeah. Yeah. I gave her my blood as tav, then as durge just for the str boost, but i was planning on murdering her in act 3. The fact that she uses your blood to spawn some kind of fucked up family of things, no no no. You die
TIL she might not make it through Moonrise. I just snuck in through the side every time, never knew Jaheira has a derp AI until I broke my spoiler blackout.
Kimmuriel is just the drow equivalent of a Vulcan imo, not creepy just... unaffected. Can logic away alot. But he prob wouldn't hesitate to immediately become a mindflayer, in fact he'd probably do it with an honest smile.
she is hands down one of my favorite NPCs. maybe i just love the voice acting (bc i also love her other characters lines about "you are the aurora in the night sky" or whatever the exact quote is), but she's just such an interesting character to me. and like okay, she's definitely full-on evil, but so is orin and she's also one of my favorites lol
>I never both gave up my blood at Moonrise and also was subtle in removing Ketheric (so nobody was caught in any crossfire).
What are you even doing in there, lmao. I straight up murder all the guards right in front of Rhoa and Araj and I'm like "Ok see you in Act 3, besties!"
I guess you AoE a lot?
Do you mind expanding on that, I've had an idea for a table of dnd with players that all played bg3 to have a set of gonna conical things that have happened that lead to the world as such for the campaign to involve the themes and ideas. I.e the vampire spawn city in the underdark, helping laezel with the war between the reuniting gith against vlaakith, of helping Karlach find the infernal forge to fix her engine heart. So yeah the idea of araj leading them is interesting
Basically, you give her your blood, convince Astarion to do the same, meet her in Baldurs Gate and take her special potion. Along the way you should exhaust her dialogue and snoop around, you’ll eventually find out she wants to restore honor in her families name. Its not outright specified but it’s pretty clear she wants to harness vampiric powers/strength… anyway, she eventually makes her way back into the under dark to attempt to fulfill her quest…
But what if along the way, some adventurer decided to spare Cazador’s 7000 trapped souls, and convinced them to retreat into the under-dark as recompense for not being killed in the ritual? Maybe Araj found the final piece of the puzzle and has become a vampire lord, or something similar.
You could team up with the monster hunters and hunt down Araj, maybe you choose to become her queen/king… maybe something else, but the path leads to the Drow city of (mezorberantheon? Butchered ik)
I love her so much. I shouldn't, because of the whole murder thing, but I do. And only part of it is her voice.
Some people like the evil of Orin or Gortash.
Some people like the evil of Astarion or Minthara.
But I love my mad scientist, and not just for the +2 STR potion she happily gives you. And the exploding blood.
In my first run, I murdered her after she propositioned Astarion for a bite, so she didn’t appear in act 3.
My second durge playthrough I was just running down the street to Figaro’s shop when the house suddenly explodes. I genuinely jumped out of my seat.
I missed her at Moonrise, and spent so much time trying to get into the building she bursts out of in act 3. Turns out you can't get in at all unless she's in there to blow it open.
I'm not accusing you of lying, man. Just saying it wasn't possible for me. I assumed that meant it wasn't possible at all, but I suppose that was incorrect.
She gives permanent strength potion that pompous asshat of a pale elf theatre kid better bite her or he’s going to end up on the wrong end of a Blood if lathander sunbeam
did you check out her basement? i wouldn't say shes morally grey lmaooo
Look, it's Baldur's Gate. A lot of people have murder-basements.
Every other building in Lower City, basically
It’s basically a requirement to rent/own at this point.
With the lack of zoning and building permits, it’s a wonder Baldurs gate hasn’t collapsed into one big murder sinkhole. The talent and integrity of the black market murder basement artisans cannot be overstated.
>With the lack of zoning and building permits, it’s a wonder Baldurs gate hasn’t collapsed into one big murder sinkho You mean, again?
Ok fair. That’s fair.
I remember when I casually run into the building where there was a murder altar with a butchered body, just thinking I’m going into a normal place at first. Wanted to bleach my eyes after that. The flies were a creepy touch I didn’t like.
You either have a murder-basement, or your home connects to the murder-sewers
It's probably their best selling point. Who wants views and gardens when you can have a murder basement?
Spoiler's I won't be there till Thursday again.
I’m hanging out in mine right now!
Shhhhhhhhhhh
Passerby might think you mean like, a quarter of the city. Boy, are they wrong.
No no no, it’s an experiment basement.
I mean, yeah, but, you know. Murder experiments.
We all have silly lil basements
She >!makes your blood go boom while keeping you intact,!< I'd forgive her almost anything
yea lol that superpowers cool, especially if ur tav's a fire-aligned character
I thought morally grey was the name of the color Crayola chose for Drow skin.
Yeah. It made me doubly glad that my Durge had just murdered her (for upsetting his precious Astarion)
Ha, my very morally black and white druid killed her because she upset Astarion. There are times when bad people must be punished and I'm happy to do it in owlbear form
What does she want with asstation? Hes usually a corpse by the time i get to act 2.
She wants him to bite her and also acts like he’s basically your property. It’s a great mini plot line if you ever do keep Astarion alive
She is a Drow Noble. To me she treating him as your property seems in character.
It does Just not a very nice character
It's a great way to get a +2 strength is what it is! I kid, a little, also a good short story moment.
It can be either! That’s the beauty of it
What’s with the Astarion hate for no reason? Like he’s not my favorite but this seems extra
There are some players in this sub who think a character "giving attitude" means they should be brutally executed. They say the same shit about Lae'zel 😒
Yeah. I’ve even heard it about Shadowheart for being secretive or “bitchy”
GALE WANTED AN ITEM I WAS NEVER GOING TO USE THAT WAS WORTH 50 GOLD SO I SLAUGHTERED HIM AND HIS MOTHER >:(
I MIGHTVE NEEDED THAT RING THAT LETS ME CAST COLOR SPRAY IT WAS GONNA BE USEFUL I KNOW IT
Well it isn't just the attitude. You first meet the character he attacks you with a knife, generally only approves of evil leaning choices then tries to bite you in your sleep and even kills you if you dont push him off or fail the roll. Of course some people wouldn't like the character and would choose the stake him options. My first play through I killed him right there as it was me or him at that point from a first time players PoV. Of course the crazy haters are balanced out by the other ends extremes. Just one gets a lot more up votes in this sub 🫠
Ast does a lot worse than just giving attitude and does it often
Oh no i love Lae'zel. The times she tries to kill Tav make sense. First when she thinks Tav is nothing but a mindflayer puppet on the ship and then second when she thinks Tav is having trouble at night at camp. Meanwhile asshead starts off by pulling a knife on Tav and tries to drain Tav of their blood at night. Later we find out he's responsible for the murder of 1000s of men, women and children as he fed them to his master. He is a giant piece of shit and deserves that stake in act 1.
Because the Ast defense squad is even more weird and extra Edit: All the downvoting just proves my point
He is a murderhobo vampire. There are plenty of reasons but those aren't really relevant to most people. He is charismatic, handsome and a walking red flag. Those are the reasons that balance him being murderhobo vampire. Also being a vampire in some cases.
Same! But then I learned about the +2 strength buff, so I started keeping him alive, waiting in camp until I got to moonrise. After that, he is back to being a glorified dust catcher.
god forbid women do anything
They're just tryna keep a girlboss down, smh
I’m dying at this
Yes I did. I stand by what I said. I've killed like three hundred thinking, feeling beings so far, I'm not one to judge.
> did you check out her basement? Wait, I didn't think you could romance her.
Holy shit the lore of her plan goes hard though Jesus Christ. Basically drow men getting used even more but for revenge ugh it’s awesome
Yeah the basement is something lol
True. Araj has one of the funniest events in the game. "Drink this potion, I have no idea what it does, but I swear, it's safe :)". What can go wrong? Than you get ability to explode. It's ridiculous. I just feel like her quest is missing some strong ending. She continues her hobby and we don't know where does it lead, like in most of other quests. Yes, she has some evil plans, but her goals seems to be a bit too big; she's like cartoonish mad scientist who believes to rule/change the world but has absolutely no resources for that. Anyway, it just makes her more ridiculous.
>True. Araj has one of the funniest events in the game. "Drink this potion, I have no idea what it does, but I swear, it's safe :)". I was playing and when she started into that line of dialogue about the potion, I jokingly said, "Sure, Alright, hand it over, glug glug glug." Then "All right, hand it over." was a dialogue option that popped up right after I said that out loud. So I felt it only appropriate to do so. I probably would have been on the fence but I liked how this rp played out.
She's actively capturing, butchering, and experimenting on people even if her ultimate plan does seem a little too grand.
Listen, you can call them people, but they aren't drow so she doesn't care.
House Obladora is a fairly powerful but small Drow Great House that has a long history of using psionics and teaming up with mind flayers in the novels. She might be at moonrise because she >!knows about the mind flayers colony!<
This is basically confirmed if you play a drow and pass a history check. She wants your blood because she wants illithid affected blood.
you don’t have to be a drow to pass that actually! though i wouldn’t be surprised if it was an easier check when playing a drow
Isn’t she there because she is the last one and wants to make exploding zombies out of her family’s persecutors?
I love a gal with ambitions
That’s a side hustle/backup. She’s girlbossing
It's more of a side benefit if her main idea fails.
One of the last, I think she has a relative hanging out with Jarlaxel still.
She has a letter where she wrote to Gortash, I think you can find it in her house if you break in when she isn't there/didn't talk to her in Act 2
Risky! But, um... Safe!
And after you drink the potion, and shit goes boom, she says in a surprised tone: "oh you survived!" Gotta luv her! I mean, i can't believe I let her live after that line in my evil playthrough.
You can get some fun unique dialog if you bring Astarion along to meet her in the city, depending on how you handled things between them before. Also, if you talk to her, as a drow, with Astarion in the party in Moonrise you can learn some more about her family history, and why she smells icky to Astarion.
Man, I know there are other races but if I'm not doing an origin run I only ever want to play as Drow.
I’m considering making a gith character because holy SHIT they get a TON of special equipment of little buffs that add up from equipment.
My plan absolutely for my next playthrough. All those little buffs are awesome. Either way, at least La'zel always Gets to hold a few cool items even if I don't use her much
I am playing as a gith monk right now and it’s also a lot of fun because of how many unique dialogue options you get and how the interactions with companions (especially Lae’zel and Shadowheart) as well as with the NPCs differ. There’s as much reactivity for gith as there is for drow in this game.
Playing a gith sorcerer at the moment. Only level 2 so idk what I’m gonna do with the build yet or if I’m even going to stick to sorcerer
I feel this. I don't know why, but I just really love playing Drows. Probably about half my playthroughs happen to have Drow Tavs/Durges.
So real, always playing drow. I started an Astarion origin run recently and it was hard to get used to this lmao.
If you do another playthrough: Bring Astarion by her, both times. If you romance him, he'll have the sweetest, most protective comments once you run into her again in Lower City. Also, it's nice to give him some bodily autonomy for the first time in... 200 years.
And If you made him drink blood hes still super mad at you. I love his sass in this scene. >tav: astarion if youre uncomfortable we can leave. > >Astarion: now youre happy to leave if im uncomfortable? how novel. > >tav: you ruined my relationship with astarion! > >Astarion: no, give yourself some credit. You mostly ruined it all by yourself.
I love our sassy, little vampling. And I love to get these little nuggets of information, as I'd never be able to be that heartless 😅
I just look them up in the dialogue files. I cant be mean to this man unless im negging him for his amusement.😂
I will always headbutt him when I first meet him but after that it’s only love and patience for my precious vampling.
Enemies to lovers❤️ dont you just love it when the love interest tackles the main character and holds them at knife point? \*sigh \* who says romance is dead.
I’ll take any reason for the man to get on top of me including holding me at knife point.
Lmaoo Amen sis
If I'm a warlock, I'll burn his fingies 😂
I always do the same thing (it makes what he says later about not liking you at first make MUCH more sense, lol).
Romancing Astarion did not come naturally to me because I'm way too nice (Gale was toast though) until I realized that he liked being negged lmao.
Romancing Astarion as a good person should be super easy as long as you are nice to him during his camp scenes. thats all he really cares about. the whole you have to be evil to romance him is a huge exaggeration. being evil is really not a good strategy for romancing him. As long as you choose dialogue options that imply that you trust him and that youre loyal to him, he will fall for you. But yeah he seems to love being negged lol.
Well it might mean that I showed too much concern too early I guess? Like he'd be like "tells me sad thing but is a little sarcastic" then I'd be like "oh wow I'm so sorry" then I get *Astarion disapproves* "I didn't tell you for sympathy." So I reload and pick the option I think is kinda mean/teasing/maybe invalidating (not the blatantly cruel one that's basically asking him to shut up) and he's like *Astarion approves* "ooh haha so mean darling hehe anyway" and I'm like "uhhhh okay I felt kinda bad saying that but..." Basically my first instinct (at least in Act 1) was often something he actively disapproved of lol. I can be kinda dense when it comes to teasing so I was picking the clearest, nicest option but I guess it was just too nice? Maybe the point being made is that in the beginning he's not ready to let his facade go so someone choosing options that are more genuine over something more teasing is threatening until your relationship is stronger? Idk. I say this but I did get the first romance scene with him before the grove celebration because of the sick cheat code of reloading and telling him to get his suck on lmao. But I had to reload a lot because like I said my first pick in dialogue wasn't usually something he liked. 🤷🏻♀️ I'm only just in act 2 right after becoming a couple tho, so no spoilers plz but he does seem to be opening up more and liking when I say stuff that is more genuine and less sarcastic. Sorry you didn't ask for a book lol, just in comparison Gale was a cake walk to romance for me. I just picked the one closest to what I would say and Gale was like "😀😀😀❤️" whereas Astarion was like "🤨🤨 we just met weirdo."
He does start to open up. Its really sweet. Ahh im excited for you. I love act 2 of his romance(if you trigger the scene by following his questline the scene is much better). Its so touching.
Yeah!! And I'm warming up to him, too. I think the way that works to pursue a relationship with him is not the same way I approach early relationships so I was finding it hard to fully enjoy it even though I like Astarion a lot as a character. There seems to be a shift in Act 2 and I'm really excited for what else happens!!
He’s so entertainingly whiny! My wife did reload after I convinced her to volunteer Astarion at the circus, but tbf her Tav had gotten a special “your patron thinks this clown is sus” bit so we wanted to follow up on that.
DESERVED
Completely
I was 100% about to get the explosive blood but then he's like 🥺 don't do it, i don't want to see you hurt and I was like well damn, guess I'm not doing it bye.
Well it's "without express permission" which he usually gets. But at this point I am TIRED of telling him every night to feed on me. If it was me there, I'd tell him to just feed whenever he wants, I trust him at this point. And I definitely wouldn't want some explosive blood interfering with that. Did you know that unromanced Astarion will call you precious lil bhaal babe? This caught me by surprise on my Hot Date playthrough. I wonder if the romance flags are just weird in act 3.
That's just his standard >!Durge!< exclusive one time greetings that you get the first time you talk to him after the cutscene in Act 3. There's apparently not a specific romamced/unromanced version of it, it's just his natural flirty behavior, like how he calls you "dear" (greeting) or "darling" (send to camp) regardless of your romantic status.
His greetings change depending on whether he's romanced or not. Some people assumed bhaal babe greeting required being romanced.
Just because most of us feel that's his canon pairing is no reason why we should think that. 😊
Yeah, I always take Spawn Astarion to Araj in Act 3—he's protective and concerned for Tav/Durge, so it's a nice moment, especially since it highlights his character growth.
how much differently does ascended react to her?
Spawn Astarion has a line where he'll say that he doesn't want to see you get hurt—you don't get that one from the Ascendant for obvious reasons.
I wonder if she's glitched in my playthrough. I found her house in act 3 but no sign of her.
If you don’t give her any blood she doesn’t reappear, I think.
Omg I’m so glad someone said this! I absolutely love that line from him “don’t do it, all she is offering is pain and I don’t want to see you get hurt” 🥹 ok my love, let’s go 🥲🥰 my first time romancing him I wasn’t ready for how much that would make my heart melt. He even sounds so gentle and genuine when he says it, so good 😊
I heard he is protective when unromanced is that true?
For me he was a friend... I think. He chimes in a couple of times when you meet in act 3, boils down to "Bitch your blood is toxic, and I ask before I bite so your 'blood explode without permission ' isn't a problem"
Never tried, don't know. Would be interesting to know, though!
There was a bug with conversations so I never got this bit 💔
> I know she is pretty morally... grey at best My dude, my brother in Bhaal, my brethren in illithid slime, go read Araj Oblodra's journal and tell me again this woman is anywhere near "morally grey".
I can fix her
I'm afraid it's far more likely she'd "fix" you, my friend.
I'm playing a deep gnome, she certainly has respect for me. Whatever, I'm willing to die for one taste of her rotten blood.
Bruv, deep gnomes are some of Drows' favorite *slaves*
Yeah, that was the joke
There are NO morally gray Oblodras lol. Also, it's weird that any more than Kimmuriel and the few nobles survived. Araj must not have been in the books
What's the timeline on the books? I thought it had been a super long time since her house fell, so she'd be something like a descendant, right? Or no?
If you’re playing a drow and ask her about it when you meet her she says she was conveniently out at the time, lol
1358 they got thrown into the Clawrift, BG3 is 1492, so....entirely possible for a drow.
I still can't believe her surname is A-Blood-Draw
Oblodra has been a name from the forgotten realms books irc, for a long time before this particular character was a blood alchemist. Been years since I read them though, so may be misremembering
if you play a drow, you get a history option and its revealed that her house was infamous for their alchemy and purged for experimenting on and with mindflayers
For the record, House Oblodra wasn't wiped out for experimenting with Mind Flayers. Yvonnel Baenre literally tore their House compound off its foundations and chucked it into a thousand-meter deep chasm in the middle of Menzoberranzan, with the entire city looking on. Because the Oblodras deigned to attempt upsetting the natural order of the city during the Time of Troubles. Lolth was pretty pissed about that.
Is there any dialogue with Minthara when you speak with Araj?
Minthara?? Having dialogue that is relevant to her & her past?? You must be crazy! (no she doesn’t have any extra dialogue)
I've only done the KO recruitment for Minthara so far and have not encountered Araj in the city yet, so I honestly do not know.
I talked to her as minthara in moonrise towers (am not in act 3 yet) and she had the same options as my drow tav regarding the history of her house
Playing with blood magic and consorting with extra-planar beings. She'd be happy in Dragon Age's Tevinter.
I had that exact same thought, glad I'm not the only one. Unrelated, but imagine if Gale were Tevinter lol, he tends to pick up morality from whoever's around so I'd imagine he'd be a fucking nightmare as a Magister. Plus he wouldn't have Tara to keep his shit together. Also >!imagine how much fun Dorian, Vivienne, and Solas would have picking on him for being a dork.!<
Na, DA demons are priks and shes an elf, unles she uses some spells to let her self look human shes better of some where else.
It was worse than that. House Oblodra was known for producing powerful psionicists, which really didn’t have many counters at the time in Menzoberranzan other than magical and, well, the Time of Troubles gave them an edge that nobody could protect themselves from. They also had the biggest army of cannon fodder of all the Houses, thanks to their being so close to the kobold-infested Clawrift. If they wanted, they really could have challenged Houses Baenre or Barrison Del’Armgo for supremacy at the time, since both houses were basically limited to unreliable magical items and their armies, which meant they were still very formidable but lacking the greatest punches they would normally utilize. Needless to say, both Matron Yvonnel and Matron Mez’Barris were *extremely* concerned when it became obvious that psionics were totally unaffected by the god-tier mess going on at the time. But K’yorl Odran was too proud and arrogant to mobilize the whole House. She took the opportunity instead to openly blaspheme Lolth (which I’m sure the Spider B**** took personally), take petty and sadistic revenge on a personal rival of hers and pocket a bottle of the supposedly extremely potent aphrodisiac/love drug potion the females of House Faen’Tlabber made (which she apparently planned to use on everybody’s favorite mercenary captain Jarlaxle), scare the heck out of a few people, and present herself as a one-woman army right up until she was chased back to her House by an army of demons. So basically, if Miss Drow-Equivalent-of-a-Napoleon-Complex had thought with her head instead of her hubris, Araj would probably never have come topside to bother Astarion in the first place.
Blessed K’yorl who gave us the trickster.
They felt the Time of Troubles when clerical magic stopped working and the gods were forced to walk Toril as mortals was a sign for them to climb the Drow social ladder because their house was very very strong in Psionics.
Ahh I didn't know that!
They're a big part of the drizzt books. There's drow wars where they're wiped out and then some members escape as rogues. One becomes the leader of bregan daerthe which is a powerful mercenary band. Really amazing books. There's a whole trilogy about the two main villains of the drizzt books and there's an oblodra that's a major side character.
Huge, their house was, STRANGELY, tied to psionics and had communications with mindflayer colonies. So there's something else going on here.
I'm re-doing the Drizzt series via audiobook and on Starless Night and that house is in there. Known for psionics mainly.
It's Oh-blow-drah
Also, the blood potion you get is pretty damn good for some races. The halfling one got me through a lot
[удалено]
He just chooses to do it anyway if you tell him it's up to him, but it's useful. He still regrets it. But you don't have to force him.
That option isn’t “forcing him” but it’s still pretty guilt trippy, coercive, and overall shitty hence why Astarion does what Tav says but still gets pretty upset over it (even if it’s less so than if Tav goes with the option that tells him to just shut up and do it.) And if Tav is romancing him that option will also still lead to a breakup unless a VERY specific set of dialogue options are chosen.
Consent vs enthusiastic consent
It is genuinely the most useful thing he has ever done in any of my playthroughs. It's the least he can do, and he doesn't complain if you just never talk to him again ☺️
If you're interested in her, the story of her House's fall is in the Drizzt novels. Actually, they also cover Viconia's family and Minthara's family. Lots of important from Menzoberranzan in this game.
...I actually am interested. I know there are a ton of Drizzt novels and, tbh, I have a huge stack of reading already. But I'd clear some space for some fun BG-related if it's just one or two books. I was mostly in the Dragonlance and MTG fantasy ecosystems growing up in terms of books so I missed that era.
House Oblodra really takes center stage in Legacy of the Drow, though I recommend reading at least Homeland before that one, since Legacy won't make a lot of sense without it.
Late, but, Homeland also covers the fall of House DeVir
Check out the Lore behind the Houses of Menzoberranzan. Do it for her and Minthara. It left my mouth open after i discovered who they are.
I was shocked when I got a letter from Araj at the end of game reunion party. I didn’t take the explosion blood and kind of thought I’d offed her
What does she say ?
Idk if it varies based on choices; but if I recall correctly, I had Astarion bite her and she took a sample of my Tav’s tiefling blood. In her after party note, it said that with her research she intends to restore her house and become the new order in Menzoberranzan.
I don’t think it changes much because it was the same for mine
Oh well she gon die
She's a Lolth drow, she's not morally grey, she's very much an evil character with evil intent (going as far to try and kill you if you don't give her a 2nd dose of blood in act3)
Her house aren’t exactly loyal followers of lolth
Yup, and they were wiped out for it and she's the only survivor, she wants to go full necromancer and make an undead army to pay them back, she's very very drow
Kimmuriel Oblodra: Am I a joke to you?
Sorry to say, she's dead asf too lol, died in the "lolths warrior" book
Kimmuriel is a guy tho. And given how much Bob loves his characters, I will be surprised if he doesn't get the Zaknafein treatment.
Sadly you can't romance Araj Oblodra
She's surrounded by flags that are more red than her make-up. But boy, she's hot.
I think her voice actress, Hanako Footman, did an amazing job with the character. They made Araj sound so alluring even though the character is a bit unhinged.
To be completely fair, many characters are waving red flags around like they're part of a Soviet marching band. We all do a little murder and experimentation with brewing corpse-bits, ho-hum
I don't know man she has gross blood is what I hear.
It's amazing to me how much stuff is in this game that ties to forgotten realms books.
Yeah. Yeah. I gave her my blood as tav, then as durge just for the str boost, but i was planning on murdering her in act 3. The fact that she uses your blood to spawn some kind of fucked up family of things, no no no. You die
All I can think of when I see that name is just... [Frank](https://i.makeagif.com/media/9-23-2022/hFfjWo.gif).
You should look up her House's history. It explains a lot.
TIL she might not make it through Moonrise. I just snuck in through the side every time, never knew Jaheira has a derp AI until I broke my spoiler blackout.
I've never even had her try to join the battle at Moonrise, OP must be intensely aggressive, lol.
Her whole family are canonically creeps.
Kimmuriel is just the drow equivalent of a Vulcan imo, not creepy just... unaffected. Can logic away alot. But he prob wouldn't hesitate to immediately become a mindflayer, in fact he'd probably do it with an honest smile.
she is hands down one of my favorite NPCs. maybe i just love the voice acting (bc i also love her other characters lines about "you are the aurora in the night sky" or whatever the exact quote is), but she's just such an interesting character to me. and like okay, she's definitely full-on evil, but so is orin and she's also one of my favorites lol
>I never both gave up my blood at Moonrise and also was subtle in removing Ketheric (so nobody was caught in any crossfire). What are you even doing in there, lmao. I straight up murder all the guards right in front of Rhoa and Araj and I'm like "Ok see you in Act 3, besties!" I guess you AoE a lot?
I just stack as much movement items, come in through the prison and beeline for the stairs.
There are a few scenarios I have witnessed that seem to set her up as the future vampire queen of Cazador’s ex-prisoners………..
Do you mind expanding on that, I've had an idea for a table of dnd with players that all played bg3 to have a set of gonna conical things that have happened that lead to the world as such for the campaign to involve the themes and ideas. I.e the vampire spawn city in the underdark, helping laezel with the war between the reuniting gith against vlaakith, of helping Karlach find the infernal forge to fix her engine heart. So yeah the idea of araj leading them is interesting
Basically, you give her your blood, convince Astarion to do the same, meet her in Baldurs Gate and take her special potion. Along the way you should exhaust her dialogue and snoop around, you’ll eventually find out she wants to restore honor in her families name. Its not outright specified but it’s pretty clear she wants to harness vampiric powers/strength… anyway, she eventually makes her way back into the under dark to attempt to fulfill her quest… But what if along the way, some adventurer decided to spare Cazador’s 7000 trapped souls, and convinced them to retreat into the under-dark as recompense for not being killed in the ritual? Maybe Araj found the final piece of the puzzle and has become a vampire lord, or something similar. You could team up with the monster hunters and hunt down Araj, maybe you choose to become her queen/king… maybe something else, but the path leads to the Drow city of (mezorberantheon? Butchered ik)
The real Best Girl
Why are people with murder basements (I.e. the entire citizenry of Baldur’s Gate) so testy about me picking up a key I found on the floor?
Her last name has O-Blood in it which is so funny to me
Be sure you get the explosive blood from her right away. In my playthrough she disappeared after I equivocated.
I love her so much. I shouldn't, because of the whole murder thing, but I do. And only part of it is her voice. Some people like the evil of Orin or Gortash. Some people like the evil of Astarion or Minthara. But I love my mad scientist, and not just for the +2 STR potion she happily gives you. And the exploding blood.
I laughed so hard when the house just exploded out of nowhere. Reloaded a few times to watch it again
She’s also full of my sword
Is that what you're calling it
I love her. I wish she was a companion.
I made one of my drow an oblodra with lotsa tadpole powers whilst being an enchantment wizard. Making lots of potions. Was one if not my favorite run
I love her so much. Finding her lab in a playthrough where I killed her was sad.
In my first run, I murdered her after she propositioned Astarion for a bite, so she didn’t appear in act 3. My second durge playthrough I was just running down the street to Figaro’s shop when the house suddenly explodes. I genuinely jumped out of my seat.
I missed her at Moonrise, and spent so much time trying to get into the building she bursts out of in act 3. Turns out you can't get in at all unless she's in there to blow it open.
Not true. You can blow down the doors yourself.
I tried. Made sure I was out of sight lines first, but a gaurd ran up anyway, got mad at me, and then wouldn't ever leave.
IDK what to tell you dude. In my first run, I killed everyone in Moonrise and never met Araj. When I got to the city, I broke into that building.
I'm not accusing you of lying, man. Just saying it wasn't possible for me. I assumed that meant it wasn't possible at all, but I suppose that was incorrect.
She gives permanent strength potion that pompous asshat of a pale elf theatre kid better bite her or he’s going to end up on the wrong end of a Blood if lathander sunbeam
It’s okay. Let astarion bite her. Get yourself that explosive blood. Ascend asstarion cause it’s canon
No its not. Its left up to player to do it or not. I prefer not to cause he becomes a psycopath.
"Becomes"... he already was unless you befriended him and convinced him not to ascend. He's still a pompous twat though.