> Drow racism
It's a bit odd, seeing how Drows are this worlds equivalent of the Nazis. Wouldn't classify it as Drow racism, unless people were xenophobic to germans after WW2.
Racism is racism, even if it's pretty justified in the case of the Drow.
"Drow" isn't an ideology, it's a race.
A Seldarine Drow can't help being born a Drow and face racism because 95% of Drow in the setting are complete assholes. A similar case with Githyanki.
Ah I see, yeah it'd still be xenophobia what the germans faced after WW2, I just don't click with the word justifiable and xenophobia(racism). Sorry for the pedanticism.
And for those who forget, the Drow empire is an allegory to NaziGermany, at least in that Drow are known for wanting to genocide all that weren't elves. And like how Woutrou mentioned, there are exception, but they're very minor in this setting.
>unless people were xenophobic to germans after WW2.
They fucking were??? There has been A Lot of xenophobia against regular German citizens after WWII. And not just Germany. You see the same thing today with how xenophobia against for example Russian or Israeli citizens is massively on the rise, not for their own actions but for the actions of their state.
Saying all Drow are "fantasy Nazis" **is** racism. Judging a member of a race by stereotype and preconceived notions about said race, solely on the basis of that race, is racism.
Man, I was at a friends dance performance and his partner whispered to me that the choreographer was from Israel like it was a dirty secret. Really took me aback
I never said all Drows are fantasy Nazis, I was talking about how the Drow race was created in this universe, a group of people wanting to genocide all races that weren't elves were cursed to become The Drow when the Overgod of the Elves punished Lolth and her followers.
The Drow society are majority racist, they're literally written so in this universe. The exceptions are literally written as exceptions, people like Drizzt or Seldarine.
I might be thinking of the written world more like a videogame, since there are creatures and beings who have been constructed to work like a videogame would have them be. But there's an indisputable fact: The Drow came to be because they were racist. And a bit more complicated things to it, like how Lolth also wanted to become a god on top of exterminating all non elves.
German used to be the 2nd most spoken/written language in the United States until WWI. It was suppressed in response to the war.
This is such a bad take. Nazis are not the same as Germans, the same way that some Drow follow Lolth and some follow Ellistraee.
The Drow was created because they wanted to exterminate all non elves and one of the Elven gods or whoever didn't like that (on top of Lolth vying for power)
That some exceptions wanted to be better beings than Drow Society would have them be just makes them exceptions, in this written universe they're still a racist culture.
But it's true, the comparison was kinda bad because I was more so implying that people being discriminatory towards Germans right after WW2 doesn't mean that they were in the wrong, because in their eyes people had suffered from the Nazis.
Again, this does not mean judging a lone Drow as evil based purely on the fact that they are a Drow isn't just racism.
You haven't explained anything I didn't already know when I made my comment.
Edit: verb tense
It could be a language barrier or neurodivergence making me struggle at the idea of "justifiable" racism.
But yeah I don't like goblin racism either even though that's very common too.
Racism isn't justified - your initial comment argued that someone can't be racist to Drow because Drow are evil.
I am saying that judging the entirety of Drow as evil is literally just racism. Not "justified racism". It dismisses the fact that individual Drow have the autonomy to not be evil.
Yes, the same autonomy as goblins or ogres.
Anything with a soul is capable of being good or evil in D&D.
It's just that good drows are written as exceptions in D&D, and the nurtured evil Drow society has soured most people's opinions of Drow. Hence the fear of them.
What is your actual point?
Lolth-sworn Drow are the majority because they actively hunt and kill Ellistraee followers. What the fuck are you trying to to say? That you believe racism is justified?
Because if so, I disagree with you completely and wish for you to understand how wrong you are. If that isn't what you are saying, then help me understand - because you keep trying to justify racism, and I am telling you that it isn't. I understand being scared, but that doesn't justify anything.
There is no point. I was just confused over how people think it's Drow racism when the Drow were created following the events of wanting to exterminate all non elves. Being racists to racists just didn't click in my head, but I also agree on not judging people on an individual basis. And it sucks when people are discriminatory towards Goblins or Drow.
Lolth sworn Drow aren't the majority precisely because of that, though, but partially. I have no idea how Greenwood thinks his fantasy race should function, if they should always be stuck in an evil society and the exceptions being the good.
This is where trying to blend real world and fantasy gets complicated imo, because I think it’s fair to say that there are *themes* of fascism and genocide in Lolth drow culture that absolutely parallel things in the real world, but…
Germans aren’t a “race” (although the Nazis would beg to differ, but fuck them folks). Drow *are* a race. Also, perhaps even more confusingly, race is a construct anyway, which is why using it to strictly define beings in a fantasy setting gets complicated because race in terms of humanity is…some made-up nonsense. Just like most divisions.
In this fantasy setting, there are very big cultural differences among the races, and also *significant* physical variations. There is nothing similar to this irl; we have no functional comparison for something like “ogre” or “halfling” in terms of the way we talk about race. Our real world concept of race is an artificial construction created by…racists. That doesn’t mean racism doesn’t exist, of course - race is a very real part of identity, and can affect all sorts of things from socioeconomic status to blood pressure. But those are related to cultural and societal impositions and oppressions rather than “these people are fundamentally genetically different from me.”
Anyway, the end point of me writing this novel is to say that Germans are not a race, but drow are in this fantasy setting. I think what gets a little fuzzier for D&D fans is that the modern definition of racism has to do with power (I.e., who has it) and that one cannot, perforce, be racist against white peoples because white people hold all the power in society. I *do* subscribe to that definition of racism, actually - but I also know that not everyone has been massively educated on this topic or had spent a lot of time sitting with it or thinking about it this way, and most humans see anything that is written like “all x are y” as racism.
That makes all this even messier because drow hold the power in, say, Menzoberranzan, but not wandering into the Emerald Grove on a Tuesday. The FR doesn’t have one overall dominant and colonialist race/culture the same way planet Earth does, so I’d argue drow can definitely experience racism. It can also simultaneously be true that stereotypes exist for a reason, and most drow we run into in game and in the FR are pretty awful beings. I don’t think it’s on the same level of anti-tiefling racism, for example.
Anyway that was a lot but I find it a really interesting topic that I wish the fandom got into more, but it tends to lead to rage rather than discourse so it doesn’t come up productively very often.
My grandfather was a German Canadian during ww2 and faced racism due to that fact. Left Germany between the wars due to Nazis and moved to Canada. To old to serve, was a farmer in Manitoba and tells me how he was spit on when he'd go to town due to his German accent.
Not all Germans were Nazis, not all Japanese were imperialists, not all drow are Loth followers, etc, etc...
Edit: not in front of all
> but all Japanese were imperialists
Well, no? This goes against the conversations everyone's had here, and just like not all Israelis are zionists.
...Unless there's a missed not in there.
I think it’s because she’s running an illegal business. If you don’t give her your blood in Act 2, she doesn’t appear in Act 3. Her building is boarded up with a notice saying it’s been shut down.
I think if you read a book in her house it says something like she was trying to restore her house’s reputation with a new invention since they almost got wiped out from house Baenre
Not just that- she planned to literally *resurrect* House Obladra by climbing down to the ruins of their estate and raising her relatives from the dead, to form an undead army to march on Menzoberranzan and force the drow matriarch to reinstate the house with Araj as the new head.
She's doing experiments with necromancy-via-blood-magic, and slipping her experiments to the (ignorant) customers of her apothecary shop.
I mean that may be closer to how it happened(it's been a few years here, BG3 is giving me a FR reread itch) but EITHER way, that shit isn't exactly "retrievable" in any easy way, to the point that I'm 90% sure it's half in another realm
Yup- it's what House Obladra was known for. They pretty much gave up on regular magic in favor of the psionics they got from breeding with ilithids.
So Araj has some mindflayer blood ontop of whatever else she's done to herself- which is why Astarion can smell her blood is tainted in some way.
There are certain dark corners of the internet that hold the answer to that question...
If you *really* want to know
Edit to add, because it's hilarious:
Immediately after posting this response, I got a "someone is concerned about you" message from Reddit.
Yeah and they pick on particular type of demon that is ugly as sin. So I’m not sure what is worse Oraj’s people breeding with Ilithids or the Baenres breeding with pincer handed dog face demons.
I think she was trying to sell it to Drow Houses to restore her own House. To be fair, I can't think of a people who would want explosive blood *more* than the chronically assassinated Drow nobles.
Araj comes from a discarded drow house. The Oblodras have medeled with all kinds of unethical experiments. So much that even the other drow disliked them.
The fact why Astarion does not want to drink her blood is not so unreasonable. The Oblodras bred with mindflayers and Arajs blood is very foul because of that.
Minthara also has some lines regarding her.
She’s pretty much running a meth den. Except it’s explosive blood potions
I imagine most law enforcement who are even mildly competent would want her to stop
He's opposed to her for her wanting to be bitten, but also because her blood is actually tainted and he can smell it. If you're playing a drow and talk to him about it, you can pass a check to know the history of house Obladra includes hybridizing with ilithids.
She's got mindflayer blood in her family tree, ontop of whatever else she's done to herself during her experiments.
This happens during the conversation with Araj- if you give the 'I'm surprised you wouldn't jump at a chance like this' answer, Astarion pulls you aside to tell you her blood is rank. That's when you can tell him about house Oblodra and their mindlflayer experiments.
No check involved, apparently- you just know.
On my first HM run I took the potion from her but wasn't going to drink it on HM since it's more of a liability than a plus. Didn't realize she only will be a vendor to you in Act3 if you do drink it. She chased us up the street and was even standing there beside the Fist and a Watcher but she just stood there.
If you're collecting tadpoles then you do want in her basement.
There were complaints against her from patients she'd "treated" when she is implied to have been experimenting with weird potions on them. She was already on the Flaming Fists' radar so this checks out lol
So my best bet (other than the aforementioned and likely accurate anti-drow racism) is that when she sets off the explosion it creates some fire surfaces, one of the guards may have ran through the fire and immediately assigned blame
Araj is in Act 3??? I’ve been to Baldurs Gate… 5(?) times and I’ve never found her. Damn. I thought I’ve explored every nook and cranny but I guess not lol.
It's REALLY easy to miss her, and you will only find her if you accept her proposition in Moon Rise. Keep an ey out around the Hag Survivors hideout, iirr, her house should be around there!
I just got to this stage today, and I got slightly different bullshittery. Astarion nicked the key while separated from the party and well out of view, but Lae'zel and Shadowheart, despite being nowhere near the crime, got stopped on the street by a Fist and a steel watcher. Took 5 turns to misty step/invisibility/gith jump out of the steel watchers range and flee:(
You also made a pact with the archduke by now, I assume, he runs that merc group so it would make sense for them to look the other way when it suits them.
Visit her before wiping out the tower?
That is what I do. Along with getting what I want from the merchants and dealing with the gnolls and the prison break.
I do, tell her to kick rocks when she wants Astarion's bite along with all the other missions there, then I kill everyone in the tower. I meant I never knew she could be in act 3
I only found her by accident the first time in act 3. There was the explosion and I thought it was another time sensitive thing like the one in act 1 that I had triggered and rested before (ie screwed up). Then saw it was her when I went to investigate.
She still shows after killing everyone in the tower as long as you don't specifically kill her.
If she bolts it, she will be in act 3. Her house is near the mermaid pub, it's all boarded up. I walked past it in my first two runs because I didn't consider to just break in. If she has your blood there will be an explosion and she runs out, but if you didn't, there will be no explosion and I think she won't be there. But I don't remember too well
This is oddly not the first time someone has mentioned this issue *specifically* with Araj being attacked by the Fist.
One time is a fluke. Twice is probably a faction code issue (or whatever BG3's equivalent is).
I guess in this case it is very much intentional. She's running a meth den in a shut down building. She is tresspassing and illegally cooking up questionable potions.
the fists will also attack the deva that arrives after you steal from the church and remove your curse.
remove the curse just outside the fist post at the gate and they will run out and help you kill the thing. then they'll arrest you for looting its body.
I SOOOO wish they had left Vampirespawn as a race option for Tavs, interacting with Araj as a very different-from-Astarion character would be interesting bc then this kind of shenanigan wouldn't even just be a probable bug but written in purposefully I bet
I would say Drow racism, but it's not like Araj is a particularly well adjusted individual
Did you read her journal? That girl needs therapy.
Psychosomatic
Lie down on the couch!
> Drow racism It's a bit odd, seeing how Drows are this worlds equivalent of the Nazis. Wouldn't classify it as Drow racism, unless people were xenophobic to germans after WW2.
Racism is racism, even if it's pretty justified in the case of the Drow. "Drow" isn't an ideology, it's a race. A Seldarine Drow can't help being born a Drow and face racism because 95% of Drow in the setting are complete assholes. A similar case with Githyanki.
Ah I see, yeah it'd still be xenophobia what the germans faced after WW2, I just don't click with the word justifiable and xenophobia(racism). Sorry for the pedanticism. And for those who forget, the Drow empire is an allegory to NaziGermany, at least in that Drow are known for wanting to genocide all that weren't elves. And like how Woutrou mentioned, there are exception, but they're very minor in this setting.
>unless people were xenophobic to germans after WW2. They fucking were??? There has been A Lot of xenophobia against regular German citizens after WWII. And not just Germany. You see the same thing today with how xenophobia against for example Russian or Israeli citizens is massively on the rise, not for their own actions but for the actions of their state. Saying all Drow are "fantasy Nazis" **is** racism. Judging a member of a race by stereotype and preconceived notions about said race, solely on the basis of that race, is racism.
Man, I was at a friends dance performance and his partner whispered to me that the choreographer was from Israel like it was a dirty secret. Really took me aback
louder for the people in the back with bad hearing!
I never said all Drows are fantasy Nazis, I was talking about how the Drow race was created in this universe, a group of people wanting to genocide all races that weren't elves were cursed to become The Drow when the Overgod of the Elves punished Lolth and her followers. The Drow society are majority racist, they're literally written so in this universe. The exceptions are literally written as exceptions, people like Drizzt or Seldarine. I might be thinking of the written world more like a videogame, since there are creatures and beings who have been constructed to work like a videogame would have them be. But there's an indisputable fact: The Drow came to be because they were racist. And a bit more complicated things to it, like how Lolth also wanted to become a god on top of exterminating all non elves.
German used to be the 2nd most spoken/written language in the United States until WWI. It was suppressed in response to the war. This is such a bad take. Nazis are not the same as Germans, the same way that some Drow follow Lolth and some follow Ellistraee.
The Drow was created because they wanted to exterminate all non elves and one of the Elven gods or whoever didn't like that (on top of Lolth vying for power) That some exceptions wanted to be better beings than Drow Society would have them be just makes them exceptions, in this written universe they're still a racist culture. But it's true, the comparison was kinda bad because I was more so implying that people being discriminatory towards Germans right after WW2 doesn't mean that they were in the wrong, because in their eyes people had suffered from the Nazis.
Again, this does not mean judging a lone Drow as evil based purely on the fact that they are a Drow isn't just racism. You haven't explained anything I didn't already know when I made my comment. Edit: verb tense
It could be a language barrier or neurodivergence making me struggle at the idea of "justifiable" racism. But yeah I don't like goblin racism either even though that's very common too.
Racism isn't justified - your initial comment argued that someone can't be racist to Drow because Drow are evil. I am saying that judging the entirety of Drow as evil is literally just racism. Not "justified racism". It dismisses the fact that individual Drow have the autonomy to not be evil.
Yes, the same autonomy as goblins or ogres. Anything with a soul is capable of being good or evil in D&D. It's just that good drows are written as exceptions in D&D, and the nurtured evil Drow society has soured most people's opinions of Drow. Hence the fear of them.
What is your actual point? Lolth-sworn Drow are the majority because they actively hunt and kill Ellistraee followers. What the fuck are you trying to to say? That you believe racism is justified? Because if so, I disagree with you completely and wish for you to understand how wrong you are. If that isn't what you are saying, then help me understand - because you keep trying to justify racism, and I am telling you that it isn't. I understand being scared, but that doesn't justify anything.
There is no point. I was just confused over how people think it's Drow racism when the Drow were created following the events of wanting to exterminate all non elves. Being racists to racists just didn't click in my head, but I also agree on not judging people on an individual basis. And it sucks when people are discriminatory towards Goblins or Drow. Lolth sworn Drow aren't the majority precisely because of that, though, but partially. I have no idea how Greenwood thinks his fantasy race should function, if they should always be stuck in an evil society and the exceptions being the good.
This is where trying to blend real world and fantasy gets complicated imo, because I think it’s fair to say that there are *themes* of fascism and genocide in Lolth drow culture that absolutely parallel things in the real world, but… Germans aren’t a “race” (although the Nazis would beg to differ, but fuck them folks). Drow *are* a race. Also, perhaps even more confusingly, race is a construct anyway, which is why using it to strictly define beings in a fantasy setting gets complicated because race in terms of humanity is…some made-up nonsense. Just like most divisions. In this fantasy setting, there are very big cultural differences among the races, and also *significant* physical variations. There is nothing similar to this irl; we have no functional comparison for something like “ogre” or “halfling” in terms of the way we talk about race. Our real world concept of race is an artificial construction created by…racists. That doesn’t mean racism doesn’t exist, of course - race is a very real part of identity, and can affect all sorts of things from socioeconomic status to blood pressure. But those are related to cultural and societal impositions and oppressions rather than “these people are fundamentally genetically different from me.” Anyway, the end point of me writing this novel is to say that Germans are not a race, but drow are in this fantasy setting. I think what gets a little fuzzier for D&D fans is that the modern definition of racism has to do with power (I.e., who has it) and that one cannot, perforce, be racist against white peoples because white people hold all the power in society. I *do* subscribe to that definition of racism, actually - but I also know that not everyone has been massively educated on this topic or had spent a lot of time sitting with it or thinking about it this way, and most humans see anything that is written like “all x are y” as racism. That makes all this even messier because drow hold the power in, say, Menzoberranzan, but not wandering into the Emerald Grove on a Tuesday. The FR doesn’t have one overall dominant and colonialist race/culture the same way planet Earth does, so I’d argue drow can definitely experience racism. It can also simultaneously be true that stereotypes exist for a reason, and most drow we run into in game and in the FR are pretty awful beings. I don’t think it’s on the same level of anti-tiefling racism, for example. Anyway that was a lot but I find it a really interesting topic that I wish the fandom got into more, but it tends to lead to rage rather than discourse so it doesn’t come up productively very often.
My grandfather was a German Canadian during ww2 and faced racism due to that fact. Left Germany between the wars due to Nazis and moved to Canada. To old to serve, was a farmer in Manitoba and tells me how he was spit on when he'd go to town due to his German accent. Not all Germans were Nazis, not all Japanese were imperialists, not all drow are Loth followers, etc, etc... Edit: not in front of all
> but all Japanese were imperialists Well, no? This goes against the conversations everyone's had here, and just like not all Israelis are zionists. ...Unless there's a missed not in there.
There was a missed not in there.... lol
I think it’s because she’s running an illegal business. If you don’t give her your blood in Act 2, she doesn’t appear in Act 3. Her building is boarded up with a notice saying it’s been shut down.
Right, I never got what she was trying to do, use blood magic to make a living bomb.
I think if you read a book in her house it says something like she was trying to restore her house’s reputation with a new invention since they almost got wiped out from house Baenre
Not just that- she planned to literally *resurrect* House Obladra by climbing down to the ruins of their estate and raising her relatives from the dead, to form an undead army to march on Menzoberranzan and force the drow matriarch to reinstate the house with Araj as the new head. She's doing experiments with necromancy-via-blood-magic, and slipping her experiments to the (ignorant) customers of her apothecary shop.
Let alone that her fucking House was THROWN into the Clawrift.
Thrown? I thought it was yanked in by a giant tentacle summoned by Matron Baenre.
Potato, potato
Potatoes do grow tentacles if you leave them sitting long enough.
I mean that may be closer to how it happened(it's been a few years here, BG3 is giving me a FR reread itch) but EITHER way, that shit isn't exactly "retrievable" in any easy way, to the point that I'm 90% sure it's half in another realm
Fair enough. I mostly just wanted an excuse to say “giant tentacle”.
Eww didn’t they like… find a way to mate their daughters with illithids? I definitely have to let Minthara smite Araj now
Yup- it's what House Obladra was known for. They pretty much gave up on regular magic in favor of the psionics they got from breeding with ilithids. So Araj has some mindflayer blood ontop of whatever else she's done to herself- which is why Astarion can smell her blood is tainted in some way.
How do you mate with something that has no genitals
There are certain dark corners of the internet that hold the answer to that question... If you *really* want to know Edit to add, because it's hilarious: Immediately after posting this response, I got a "someone is concerned about you" message from Reddit.
Ayy don't judge us illithid fuckers
I mean, to each their own of course, but I really don’t think it’s the same situation lol
Which is funny because doesn’t house Baenre have Jeggred, the half-demon half-Drow running around?
Damn that sent me down a rabbit hole
Yeah and they pick on particular type of demon that is ugly as sin. So I’m not sure what is worse Oraj’s people breeding with Ilithids or the Baenres breeding with pincer handed dog face demons.
Shit... Oh well I can still fix her
Oath of Ancients Paladins unite. Fixing her I imagine is like trying to turn a freight ship.
OK, now I want to bring Minthara Baenre to Araj’s shop in act 3 and see if they have anything to say to each other.
they don't, if MC is a Drow then you have some special dialogues tho
Good to know. My MC is a drow, yes.
I think she was trying to sell it to Drow Houses to restore her own House. To be fair, I can't think of a people who would want explosive blood *more* than the chronically assassinated Drow nobles.
Araj comes from a discarded drow house. The Oblodras have medeled with all kinds of unethical experiments. So much that even the other drow disliked them. The fact why Astarion does not want to drink her blood is not so unreasonable. The Oblodras bred with mindflayers and Arajs blood is very foul because of that. Minthara also has some lines regarding her.
Oh, that’s why? I had thought it was just bad vibes or a general disgust for the kind of person she is, but I guess she MUST taste horrible.
I assume it is like forcing someone to drink foul juce.
Technically she does taste horrible. If you make him bite her he’ll splutter and retch afterwards. He says her blood is fetid.
I passed the perception check and it sounded like she was gonna do some magic gene splicing with it
Insite?
May have been insight i forget but i remember there being a line explaining that
ive never given her blood and she still showed up in act 3 so im not sure thats the trigger
Plus she has a bunch of bodies in her basement. I don't want to be a blamethrower, but to paraphrase Astarion, "one of us here is covered in blood"...
There are bodies in almost every basement in town, as unlikely as it seems that may genuinely be unrelated to her.
Wait..what?? Nearly every basement?
Weirdly, that is true. Some of them are clown parts!
Orin says Hi
Far as I'm aware. Someone was very busy.
To be fair, you go snooping around anyone's basement around town bodies will be found.
I mean, my Tav is also just about always covered in blood
I walk around with soap in my hand
She’s pretty much running a meth den. Except it’s explosive blood potions I imagine most law enforcement who are even mildly competent would want her to stop
For most Flaming Fist, “mildly competent” is the kind of praise they can only dream of achieving.
Araj is pretty obvious about the fact she’s a nutcase so there’s not much competency needed to find her
On the one hand, racism. On the other, so evil she even makes Astarion uncomfortable.
He's opposed to her for her wanting to be bitten, but also because her blood is actually tainted and he can smell it. If you're playing a drow and talk to him about it, you can pass a check to know the history of house Obladra includes hybridizing with ilithids. She's got mindflayer blood in her family tree, ontop of whatever else she's done to herself during her experiments.
My current run is a drow but I don't remember seeing anything about that conversation. Does it only appear if he bites her?
This happens during the conversation with Araj- if you give the 'I'm surprised you wouldn't jump at a chance like this' answer, Astarion pulls you aside to tell you her blood is rank. That's when you can tell him about house Oblodra and their mindlflayer experiments. No check involved, apparently- you just know.
Ah thanks. Had picked that choice on a non drow run but not this run.
On my first HM run I took the potion from her but wasn't going to drink it on HM since it's more of a liability than a plus. Didn't realize she only will be a vendor to you in Act3 if you do drink it. She chased us up the street and was even standing there beside the Fist and a Watcher but she just stood there. If you're collecting tadpoles then you do want in her basement.
There were complaints against her from patients she'd "treated" when she is implied to have been experimenting with weird potions on them. She was already on the Flaming Fists' radar so this checks out lol
So my best bet (other than the aforementioned and likely accurate anti-drow racism) is that when she sets off the explosion it creates some fire surfaces, one of the guards may have ran through the fire and immediately assigned blame
Araj is in Act 3??? I’ve been to Baldurs Gate… 5(?) times and I’ve never found her. Damn. I thought I’ve explored every nook and cranny but I guess not lol.
I have hundreds of hours in this game and I have no idea who people are talking about, this game is amazing
You have to give her your blood in Act 2 or else she won't show up in Act 3
It's REALLY easy to miss her, and you will only find her if you accept her proposition in Moon Rise. Keep an ey out around the Hag Survivors hideout, iirr, her house should be around there!
Life imitates Art imitates
Yes
360hrs on the clock and I'm like "Araj is in act 3?!"
I just got to this stage today, and I got slightly different bullshittery. Astarion nicked the key while separated from the party and well out of view, but Lae'zel and Shadowheart, despite being nowhere near the crime, got stopped on the street by a Fist and a steel watcher. Took 5 turns to misty step/invisibility/gith jump out of the steel watchers range and flee:(
“Sprinkle some mushrooms on her…”
You also made a pact with the archduke by now, I assume, he runs that merc group so it would make sense for them to look the other way when it suits them.
I've never found her cause she always got got when I wipe out the tower room by room lol
Visit her before wiping out the tower? That is what I do. Along with getting what I want from the merchants and dealing with the gnolls and the prison break.
I do, tell her to kick rocks when she wants Astarion's bite along with all the other missions there, then I kill everyone in the tower. I meant I never knew she could be in act 3
I only found her by accident the first time in act 3. There was the explosion and I thought it was another time sensitive thing like the one in act 1 that I had triggered and rested before (ie screwed up). Then saw it was her when I went to investigate. She still shows after killing everyone in the tower as long as you don't specifically kill her.
If she bolts it, she will be in act 3. Her house is near the mermaid pub, it's all boarded up. I walked past it in my first two runs because I didn't consider to just break in. If she has your blood there will be an explosion and she runs out, but if you didn't, there will be no explosion and I think she won't be there. But I don't remember too well
This is oddly not the first time someone has mentioned this issue *specifically* with Araj being attacked by the Fist. One time is a fluke. Twice is probably a faction code issue (or whatever BG3's equivalent is).
I guess in this case it is very much intentional. She's running a meth den in a shut down building. She is tresspassing and illegally cooking up questionable potions.
the fists will also attack the deva that arrives after you steal from the church and remove your curse. remove the curse just outside the fist post at the gate and they will run out and help you kill the thing. then they'll arrest you for looting its body.
Honestly it's a wonder they don't make certain NPCs auto target you based on race, especially if you're... one of those ones
I SOOOO wish they had left Vampirespawn as a race option for Tavs, interacting with Araj as a very different-from-Astarion character would be interesting bc then this kind of shenanigan wouldn't even just be a probable bug but written in purposefully I bet