21 // working and hating every second // md and bg3 my beloved // WEAK FOR THE STUPID ASS TYRANT ENVER GORTASH MY BBG // 16+ blog cause my humor is crude
You cannot tell me Gortash isn’t the reason Orin turned on Durge. In Rivington, if you encounter all her forms from nearest to farthest from your starting point, Orins first disguised interrogation of durge is about who they’re in love with. She assumes durge loves someone. If they haven’t romanced a party member, she pushes it further- surely there’s someone you respect- someone you trust (a partnership built on mutual respect and trust, no?) .
Next, as the smith, she wants to know if you’ll kill those you care about. And we know who Durge didn’t want to turn on in the past- she surely felt personally betrayed by that as well.
Only then as the journalist does she actually get to the more important questions: how did you kill Ketheric and what do you plan to do next?
She may as well say it: she mutilated Durge, she removed part of their brain and did all she could to tear apart their memories but it still is at the forefront of her mind: do they love Gortash now? Do they remember how to trust him? Do they remember being respected? Cherished? Will they still refuse to kill the Banite? It might be semi strategic, but knowing why they’re in the city and what they know of Bhaal would be much more so.
Anyways I’m going to get emotional if I think too much about Durge’s self talk like “wretched thing, pull yourself together”. Combined with their confessional letter to their father, fucking begging forgiveness because they feel fondness, I think it’s very clear Durge has some experience and expectations of disdain and punishment from others. They’re a wretched thing who failed their god only a little and felt fear. And some of that thought follows them even without memory. Even Balthazar wrote that Durge would have wished to die after what happend to them- all while calling Durge “it” and “thing”- “feral thing”.
And then there’s Gortash who is so happy to see them. He’s not mad. He should be mad they failed him. They failed the plan. They let their guard down and Orin got them. Sure he doesn’t intervene, how could he without destroying Durge’s chances of gaining their fathers approval again and risking his own soul and the fate of Baldurs Gate? He’s not sugarcoating what happened, but I honestly think Durge would describe it as humiliation too. I just wonder if he was the only person to offer Durge that kind of grace to not blame them or try to threaten them into compliance, to still call them an equal. He could hate them, but he doesn’t.
Durge thought of themselves as dangerous, but did they ever consider themselves worthy?
Once agreeing to ally with Gortash, Durge can convince him to join the party, but only if they agree to kill Raphael. If Karlach is in the party, this may be done in exchange for Gortash to fix her heart if Durge can pass the persuasion roll on Karlach.
• Upon joining the party, Gortash shows up in a more practical armor set, still gold and black but not as decorated as his robe. There’s scrapes and dents on parts of it, clearly having been worn before. Durge can ask him about it in conversation and discover he has chosen to wear the same armor as he did when they robbed Mephistopheles Vault. He never repaired it and can tell a story for each scratch.
• He does a lot to try to jog Durge’s memories, and it works a some degree. We hear little stories around the city, some more suggestive than others.
• Old habits never die. He’s constantly touching Durge, always walks next to them, has a lot of strong opinions but will only concede to Durge.
• Durge persuasion rolls on Gortash are DC10 and under. Anyone else it’s DC30.
• He absolutely compliments Durge a little too much. And he’s always the first at Durge’s side after the fighting ends. Grumbles if he has to rez anyone else but dotes on Durge.
• Gets along well enough with Astarion, Shadowheart, and Laezel. Respects Minthara and Gale, sees them both as potential allies if they know their places. Absolute bitch to Wyll. Actively the number one Ravengard hater.
• If Durge can convince Karlach to stick around, she will only be in the same party as Gortash once or twice. She’ll confront Durge about it after and either has to be kept separate or leaves the party.
• If taken to Astarion and Shadowhearts’ personal quests, he’ll be surprisingly respectful, and will tell them they’d make good Banites, particularly if Shadowheart resists Shar. (Kinda think he would tell Astarion not to Ascend but for his own advantage of not having to deal with an Ascended Vampire and not wanting the hells to gain power from 7,000 souls)
• Random gifts pop up in Durge’s inventory. He says nothing about them. One is definitely the hand of an enemy.
• When in the House of Hope, Gortash will only allow Durge to enter the prison with him until the warden is dead. He’ll tell them everything, but won’t let the others see it.
• Killing Raphael is very emotional. He’s proud, happy, relieved, but being there shakes him up. Durge can hug him in private when they talk about it.
• If Durge chooses to save Hope, she tries to hug ‘little Enver, all grown up’ before they leave. He does not like it, but part of him is happy to see her free.
• Durgetash romance can initiate after Raphael is dead. Sceleritas is so fuckin' pissed. Like, he kinda ships it, but he CANNOT handle Durge getting labotomized again for this Banite fool.
• He has random little personal quests and pop-up events like his formal coronation celebration ball, taking Durge to a fancy dinner, dealing with fans, and assassinating a rude journalist who called him not-so-young-and-handsome.
• If taken to Lady Jannath's estate, she flirts with him. Durge has an option to stab her for this- just once. Just a little. She'll be fine! Gortash approves. He apologizes to her, but he's absolutely into it.
• His two allied pathways at the end are to remain fully evil and control the brain/Faerun with Durge or absolutely still be, ya know, Gortash but destroy the brain and become archduke without the tadpoles' help as he’s now viewed as the city’s hero. This is his least evil option and requires a Durge romance or at least a Durge that will remain by his side regardless and saving Hope as pivotal moments.
• Durge's alliance or resistance of Bhaal would significantly influence this. Resisting Bhaal lowers the DC on any persuasion. Failing the duel with Orin would block any option except controlling the brain with Gortash as he sees it as the only way to protect Durge. Because controlling the absolute would offer them a large enough following to grant them literal ascension to godhood, freeing Durge from Bhaal's control. Plus, you know killing a god would only inflate Gortash's ego more, and that would be his new goal.
I've always loved the unique item descriptions companions get in BG3 and other games. Sometimes a few lines attached to a piece of gear can tell you more about a character than an entire conversation.
So I decided to have a little fun imagining what Ro's item descriptions might look like x)
Raphael: Sing me a song. Hope? I'm speaking to you. Now don't go silent. I'd hate to have to slit a child up the navel and rinse you in their insides.
Raphael: You hear them, then? The captured dreams of frightened children? The Omuans were a clever people, Hope. Their children slept like stones. No boogeymen or creepers invaded their imaginations in the tenebrous dark. No. Those figments went in here, and they got to know one another. A social house for nightmare. These things that go 'bump' in the night live inside this dreamcatcher. And they. Are. Dying to meet you.
Hope: I-I-I... You'll what, Raphael? Kill a child in front of me? Torture a family? Hang another dreamcatcher around my neck? Go ahead, you flaccid-horned fuck. Go right ahead. I will never give you what you want. Hear me? NEVER!
And so I had a thought
What if Raphael actually tormented an actual child in front of Hope in order to get what he wants?
quarterly reminder that if i reblog something ai-generated it is 110% and always an accident and for the love of god please tell me so i can delete it from my blog
A short comic about Ro visiting Gortash's home in the Upper City during Act III.
I'm convinced the only reason we can't access the Upper City in-game is because it was never finished, not because of the Brain.
I also have a headcanon that finding Bhaal's Temple was a lot harder than simply falling into the nearest sewer grate, so Gortash and Ro ended up pooling their resources and efforts. From time to time, they would meet to discuss new leads and exchange information to make the search more effective.
Considering that doppelgangers were a 24/7 threat to Gortash, it was very much in his interest not to sit around and do nothing.
And one of those meetings ended up being moved from Wyrm's Rock to his home x)
100% there was meant to be a whole upper city section before it was squeezed into the lower city. It would have made so much more sense to have Orin be the main boss in the lower city and then have the whole Cazador stuff be in the upper city. In fact, I don't even understand how easy it is to infiltrate his (aurguebly) toiny home and kill him.
if I could I would go back in time and throw you in the writing room /aff /silly
I stand by the opinion that the Gortash/Bane fight should have been during an upper city gala for the new Grand Archduke, and the fight should have involved the Titan Steel Watcher as Bane’s avatar. And the difficulty of the battle depends if you saved the Ironhand gnomes, if you have Karlach, and if you destroyed the Steel Watch factory.
I also think learning his backstory and bringing it up to him should have given him disadvantage on certain checks, as a sort of vicious mockery buff.
But of course the scene before would be a fancy ball where everyone wears a nice outfit.
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