I have my laptop so I can be a bit more comprehensive in replies!
Surprise surprise, the drow noble is enthused by violent murder of an enemy.
I have an image in my head of Minthara and Lae'zel being the devil on Torius' shoulder while Wyll, Halsin, and Jaheira compete to be the angel. (Somehow Creccoth is in the lead without trying. Fear the power of Dargon Tiddie.)
Yeah, no solving this until act 3 and the Czarr palace.
Raphael will of course have his day in Act 2, and this will tip Torius' reaction from 'no' to 'FUCK no'. Act 3 quest will be interesting because Astarion will probably still want the ritual, but after seeing just what Torius can do he might listen to the alternative he cooks up before they fight Cazador. It'll require seeing what's under the palace, but there's a chance.
Yeah, the writers v obviously put his age in like that just so you wouldn't have players going 'oh, you can just cure the vampirism with that one spell' (even though you can't reach the required level in the game regardless)
Yeah. Same reason you can't just hire Ommeluum to do the crystals and either need someone to SQUID or Gale to explode in an Orpheus run.
Its for ~tension~. Also, Gale has the scroll of said spell and that's probably another reason they need to set that.
Old Spell Supremacy GO.
Pathfinder otoh making the v good decision imo that spells should never have xp costs.
And then 5e comes along and instead of making the costs high to compensate for giving you reality-warping BS they just hard-limit you to one a day, max. Still not balanced.
It's telling that in Wrath of the Righteous that that is the one path where everyone abandons you.
Worm That Walks is horrifying in concept and execution. Putting someone else through that For Science is Tuesday in Magic Fascist Land. (This probably also applies to Thay from what I heard, to be honest.)
For a cambion he has managed to do damned well for himself in that timespan. He's quite the threat, has permanent portals to everywhere of importance, contacts everywhere, and some potent resources. The main thing in his own way is his smug narcissism.
Is this true? Yes. Will Torius ever admit it? No. Will it stop him from queuing up that one song from the opening of 'Legally Blonde' and going on a joyride through the House of Hope speedrunning the death of Raphael's actually loyal servants, jailbreaking the prisoner, and stealing everything nailed down or not? Also no.
Could possibly avoid the Raphael deal, though not for definite, what with Mol being ambitious.
I had Torius engage with Mol for a reason. That reason will be made clear through Act 2.
Well that's a very Sharran curse for sure.
Don't worry Viconia, you'll get your good looks back! Even if someone has to rip that faker's face off! (Note: I do not intend for that to be the solution at this time.)
Of course, not being an idiot, she wouldn't face him alone, but with an army of soul-eaten powerful veterans at minimum.
Exactly. Especially after it's stated she knows who he is and is already nervous when she is about to send him into the prism. Him teaming up with Orpheus is her Nightmare Scenario and she just made it happen because her options were limited.
Ach, he'll be fine. Volo inexplicably surviving to be charming annoying later on is part of his archetype.
Like he just doesn't have anything to do? If I add him to camp when I already have plans for at least one other extra party member that's just begging for Cast Bloat. At least pre-Act 3. Volo can't fight and I made Alfira semi-competent so he can't bard that way, any lore he can offer can immediately be trumped by Halsin, Godless, Gale, or Torius, and I have Astarion and Torius to bully for fun.
Well they've partially figured out some of what is going on with the Absolute! No figuring out the big thing until they actually see the three Chosen with the brain and the Crown down under the colony though. Imagine that will rattle Torius somewhat. Though not as much as the brain having evolved.
And they know all this before meeting Florrick in Last Light, too.
Mind Blank and True Sight meaning this plays out quite differently and we see Orpheus much earlier.
Ah, Emperor split the party to try and make a play. Only Torius has True Sight, so whilst the others cannot be controlled, non-psychic illusions will work just fine.
The Emperor is so damned well written as a manipulator. A lot of the playerbase have fallen for his lies as well! You can only see the truth behind what he says across multiple playthoughs where his different responses expose how he will say whatever he thinks will produce his desired result. Plus his turning on a dime to side with the Netherbrain the instant his power through Orpheus is lost.
And all of this is why it played out the way it did. Torius spent almost two thousand years as a semi well-kept prisoner, so of course he's going to empathize with Orpheus. Even at his angriest, Orpheus is still genteel and straightforward, and those are qualities Torius really appreciates. Emps trying to be a snake oil salesman reminds him of home in all the worst ways. Behold: a Trauma Survivor reacting in a semi-realistic manner! (Disclaimer: Most Trauma Survivors will not freeze people acting like part of their abusive environment or stick their souls in a paperweight. Torius is SpecialTM.)
Wants to be more like Pharasma eh? Would be quite the improvement on the current death system.
Behold, Withers' goal in the long game with taking Torius. Have one worshipper for over a thousand years, have them shape an idea of you in their head, and let yourself be modified according to that idea. Be the exhausted social worker you were always meant to be.
Tragically, this means that we don't get Astarion's hilarious reaction to being immolated by the sunlight trap.
True. I've been very nice to him this whole fic. I need to bully him to compensate. Can't let Torius have all the fun. ...where though, is the question...
Lae'zel storyline so, so, damned good. Her value system was brutal, but had a kind of fairness to it, and when that promise was betrayed, and the proof repeatedly shoved in her face, then there were only two ways it could go. It's tragic that in the Vlaakith route ending you can see her performing the role, despite very clearly knowing on some level that it's all a lie. She can see the other 'ascended', and yet carries on anyway as if she can escape that fate by just following the rules as hard as possible.
And I could not let her go down the Vlaakith path, especially not in a 'fix fic'. Also now Orpheus has a chance to show his chops, even if he's stuck in the magic spiky d20. Actually
earn her fealty, rather than just get it as an alternative to Vlaakith.
It's almost as if their relationship might not be entirely healthy!
Remember when Astarion has a mini episode in the tub with Torius at the idea of everything on offer for mostly free? Normally he wouldn't care about taking advantage of people. Torius reminds him of the one he let get away and got locked in a coffin for a year for. Torius has super powers. He has Feelings and does not know how to deal with them.
The healthiest relationship Torius has is with Creccoth because he's willing to set boundaries and give him some modicum of guidance.
Wyll infantilizes him, Gale thinks he's more adult than he is, Karlach does not have the tools or awareness to help. Minthara still lionizes him. Shadowheart has a good picture of who he is, but thanks to the Sharran-ing she can't/doesn't do much with it. Halsin is still new enough and observing, and picking up on things. Lae'zel is Lae'zel, and Alfira is along for the ride/just happy to be here and not dead.
When I say Astarion inserted himself in there and accidentally an OT3, I mean it. Both he and Torius are incredibly dependent on Creccoth, and that only works because the man got his brain scooped out by a
spoon dagger so he got a hard reset from MurderBonersRUs. I repeat: of this trio, the emotionally competent one is the
Super-
Bhaalspawn.
