Cold be heart and hand and bone

In progress

Last chance to turn back! There will be spoilers for most of Balder's Gate III in here. I'll keep it to a minimum. Below are some of the major decisions I made in this playthrough.

Act One
Emerald Grove
- Recruited all major companions (Shadowheart, Lae'zel, Astarion, Gale, Withers, Wyll, Scratch)
- Sympathized with tiefling refugees.
- Allowed Astarion to bite him. Defended his presence when other party members got weirded out.
- Had run-in with Auntie Ethel. No deal, killed her. Saved Mayrina, did not revive her husband.
- Investigated Kagha, exposed connection to Shadow Druids. Killed Kagha in the ensuing fight.
- Reluctantly fed Gale artifacts. He has a bad history with wizards and was on edge about this.
- Earned Loviatar's blessing from Abdirak.
- Rescued owlbear cub and Volo.
- Rescued Halsin, slaughtered all goblins and leaders.
- Flirted with Halsin at the tiefling party.
- Spent the night with alone after the celebration, despite offers from Lae'zel and Astarion.

Underdark
- Cleared out the Duegars by the lake.
- Set dark gnomes free.
- Turned the mercenaries against Nere in Grymforge; delivered Nere's head to myconids.
- Allowed Omeluum to attempt to understand tadpole.
- Explored Selunite Temple and Arcane Tower.
- Stole Runepowder barrel from Philomeen; ended up killing her. Something is off about the Ironhands.

Githyanki Creche
- Let Lae'zel attempt the cure. Watched for one round, until other companions got concerned. Urged her to break out.
- Defeated Inquisitor Ch’r’ai W’wargaz.
- Did not kill guardian, pissed off Vlaakith.
- Decided to take Underdark route to Moonrise Tower.

Act 2
Shadowlands
- Helped He-Who-Was (then killed him).
- Sniped at Karniss and the goblins in the Harper ambush.
- Helped Mol cheat against Raphael at chess by tipping the board.
- Helped Arabella find her parents.
- Told Araj to fuck off when she asked Astarion to bite her.
- Killed Gerringothe.
- Convinced Malus's nurses to stab each other; convinced Malus to kill himself.
- Convinced Thisobald to drink himself to death.
- Saved tiefling and gnome prisoners from Moonrise Towers.
- Reunited Oliver and Thaniel.

The Gauntlet
- Completed Gunatlet of Shar.
- Persuaded Yurgir to kill his followers and himself.
- Shadowheart spared Nightsong.

Moonrise Tower and the Colony
- Recruited Jaheria and headed into the mind flayer colony with her.
- Rescued Zevlor and Mizora.
- Fought and beat Ketheric and ended the Shadow Curse.
- Refused to let Gale go nuclear.
- Defeated Ketheric Thorm.

Act 3
Rivington and Wyrm's Rock
- Helped the Emperor subdue Prince Orpheus.
- Kept silent during Vlaakith confrontation; Lae'zel broke from her for good.
- Solved Temple murder.
- Collected Dribbles for reward.
- Decimated Stone Lord's crew and helped the Guild.
- Made tentative alliance with Gortash against Orin (with no intention of upholding it).
- Turned down Raphael's deal; is not intending to reconsider.
- Got increasingly annoyed with/resistant to the Emperor.
- Didn't intervene while Astarion was torturing Petras for information. Sound interrogation technique.
- Rescued Florick.
- Began romance with Halsin.
- Did it with the bear.

Lower City
- Killed Lorroakan with Dame Aylin. Didn't really want to explore another arcane tower but went with Gale; Gale and Astarion looted everything.
- Gave Gale the Annals of Karsus; gave Astarion The Tharchiate Codex; broke the curse on Astarion.
- Threatened the abusive dog trainer when she demanded Scratch back, intimidated her into leaving the kennels.
- Broke into the House of Hope; stole the Orphic Hammer and Mol's contract; killed Harleep; freed Hope.
- Made nice with the Guild.
- Entered the Temple of Bhaal; killed Sarevok.
- Defeated Orin).
- Fucked up Cazador. Astarion chose not to ascend.
- Rescued/recruited Minsc.
- Encouraged Wyll to break pact with Mizora.
- Rescued everyone from the Iron Throne; told Gortash to fuck off.
- Saved the Gondians, disabled the Foundry. Barcus Wroot takes over Ironhands.
- Killed Gortash; promised Karlach he'd be with her at the end.

End Game Conditions
- Refused to side with the Emperor, that shady fuck.
- Orpheus became a mind flayer.
- Fought the Netherbrain with Lae'zel, Astarion, and Shadowheart (original gang for the win).
- Lae'zel got killing blow on the Emperor.
- Astarion got finishing hit on Netherbrain.
- Gave Orpheus an honorable death.
- Encouraged Lae'zel to make her own decisions; she left to free the githyanki.
- Wyll convinced Karlach to go to Avernus with him.
- Gale decides to give the crown to Mystra.
- Stays with Halsin.
- Owlbear joins the family.

Rune is a gloomstalker ranger multiclassed with assasin rogue. Most people literally never see him coming. More details soon.

I welcome positive, neutral, and negative, but here are some details from my playthrough. We can change anything you want depending on what kind of scene we're going for. I'm putting up Halsin first since he's Rune's romanced companion in my playthrough.

Halsin: Rescued him from the goblin keep; brought him to help with Thaniel; played hide and seek with Thaniel; delighted by the things Halsin reveals in conversation and gently teased him about the whole bear-and-honey-thing; flirted at the tiefling party and continued to make clear that he's interested, but respected Halsin's desire to take care of the shadow curse first. Rune was happy to enter a romance with him once Halsin felt like he could. Rune was not intimidated by the bear.

Lae'zel: Made the tieflings leave and tried to get Lae'zel to say "please" before rescuing her; let her take the lead in questioning Zorru and didn't interfere, though he wasn't thrilled; gave her the Orpheus slates to read; let her take the lead with the Creche; agreed to free Orpheus; remained silent during the Vlaakith confrontation; generally supported Lae'zel branching out on her own for some more self-determination.

Shadowheart: Rescued her on nautaloid ship; ignored the Artifact; didn't care about her religion but did get annoyed with the constant "ugh, Selune" dialogue; allowed her privacy; quietly observed her and Lae'zel's fight and only intervened when Shadowheart was threatening Lae'zel; allowed her to take the lead during Gauntlet of Shar; let her choose what to do regarding Nightsong; helped her infiltrate the House of Grief. Encouraged her to ask her parents what they wanted.

Astarion: Helped him when they first met; failed his perception check and ended up tackled to the ground; headbutted Astarion in the face to get free; kept Astarion from killing him while feeding; supported him in front of other companions; allowed him to feed on him at night; gave him the Necromancy of Thay; avoided Gandrel; not judgmental of his history and inclinations; tried to kindle a friendship but did not want a sexual relationship; accepted Raphael's deal to get information for Astarion about his scars; encouraged Astarion to seek revenge for the Gur; quietly argued that the spawn shouldn't be left alive.

Gale: Rune doesn't have the best history with wizards and was suspicious of Gale from the outset; still, the guy seems genuine so Rune gave him magical artifacts; really hated that Mystra told him to blow up the Netherbrain; gave him the Book of Karasus; generally accepting/non-judgmental about his past; acerbic in some of Gale's more "I could be a god" moments and frequently tried to steer him away from that; encouraged him to give the crown to Mystra. Likes Tara best.

Wyll: Found Wyll's sense heroism off-putting - he appreciated the desire to do good deeds and help people, but he's... quieter about it than Wyll is; defended Karlach against his threats and told him to stand down; helped break his deal, then discouraged him from accepting the next one Mizora came to him with; helped save his father. Turned down his romance.

Karlach: Helped her kill the fake paladins; repaired her heart with Dammon twice; gave her an hug; brought her to the Gortash coronation and was cold but civil toward Gortash; promised Karlach they'd take care of him later; encouraged Karlach to meet with her friends in the Lower City. Stayed with her at the end and let her choose to go with Wyll to Avernus. Rune really loves his friendship with her, and even though he wants her to live, he was very willing to stay with her and comfort her if she chose to die.

Jaheira: Stared her right in the eye and drank the drugged wine after correctly identifying it; makes fun of her age; followed her advice during the assault in the basement of Danthelon's; suggested the new Harper recruit might still have use as a Harper; brought her to the Guild and saved Minsc at her behest; generally positive after the Shadowlands, he shares her sense of humor.

Minsc: Weird guy, weirder hamster, but Jaheira trusts him.

Minthara: Killed her, but I'm game to explore the CR possible here.

Regardless of other world state options, Rune leans more true neutral in the sense that he is not particularly beholden to specific laws or codes, he just tries to do what he feels is right.

Other canon relationships:

Raphael: Called him a dramatic bitch; was not amused by his cute rhymes; does not trust Raphael as far as he can throw him, but remains somewhat polite because devils; accepted the deal to get information for Astarion; broke into House of Hope; killed Raphael's incubus.

Ketheric: Had little real sympathy for Kethric but was willing to use the information about Ketheric's past to try to get him to come around.

Gortash: What a slimy asshole; cold, civil, sharp with Gortash and avoids dealing with him again until he's ready to kill him with Karlach; he has some sympathy for what Gortash went through, but cannot abide everything he's done since.

Orin: Really hates her. She kidnapped Halsin and Rune had a long and violent fight with her, but he won.

Dame Aylin and Isobel: Rune likes them both, though he wishes he'd known more about Isobel's connection to Ketheric before getting into it; Dame Aylin is great, righteous murder bestie.

Rolan: Even if Rune doesn't like wizards, he actually liked Rolan more when it was clear how much he care about his siblings; he really didn't like that Lorrokan was beating him; became allies after that fight.

Other Options: I think I covered everything, but if I missed something feel free to ask!

Assumed CR: Open to it! Let's talk.

Cross-Canon: I welcome cross-canon interactions and AUs! Just hit me up and we'll work it out.