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hiddenbeks · 4 months

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#7 from general and #2 from story (from the tav meme) for khaless please!

yayyyyy thank you jasper!!

bg3 companion!tav asks

putting this under a cut bc it got super lengthy!! sorry abt that hgfhfg

general #7: do they have their own personal quest that spans the course of the game? can it take different branching paths depending on the choices the player character makes?

yesss tho i'm still trying to figure it out! her story is strongly tied to menzoberranzan and drow political intrigue and since you don't go anywhere near menzoberranzan and only encounter a handful of drow in-game it's been hard to figure out how to tie her into the game's plot but anyway-

some backstory first!! basically her house fell from grace several generations ago when one member (khaless' silver dragon ancestor disguised as a drow) was revealed to be an undercover servant of eilistraee. the rest of the members quickly disposed of her to avoid the whole house being destroyed. but their reputation took a hit and ever since they've been a minor noble house struggling to survive. enter khaless, an ambitious young visionary who wants to restore house dhalmar to its former glory! she was viewed with suspicion growing up because her draconic powers and scales were a nasty reminder of the house's past. but she proves herself a cunning and ruthless and kinda fanatical worshipper of lolth and advances quickly despite it all.

khaless becomes a priestess in house dhalmar and wipes several houses out of the way and grows house dhalmar's influence. she starts to believe she is unstoppable and thinks it's a great idea to accept house baenre's offer of alliance, not realizing the baenres' plan is to betray her and destroy house dhalmar before they become an actual problem. khaless survives and flees into the underdark! she is discovered injured by a group of silverhair knights and she spends some time with them after recovering and initially thinks they are stupid and weak but it's the first time she encounters drow with a different way of life and maybe it.. leaves an impression...

anyway the knights are killed by some assassins looking for khaless. rip. she flees to the surface and gets abducted by the mind flayers and this is where we finally get to her quest phew!!

when you encounter khaless she is at a crossroads; on one hand she believes she deserves vengeance and power after everything she's been through. on the other she is becoming disillusioned with lolthite society and very deep down just wants to live without having to constantly look over her shoulder, plotting to betray others before they get to betray her.

you can either convince her to return to menzoberranzan for revenge and to continue her elimination of houses until she reaches the top as she believes she should. or you can guide her down a gentler path and help her find new purpose outside of the cycles of violence she grew up in. tbh i think returning to menzoberranzan would be the sexier and more satisfying ending but maybe that's solely because i haven't come up with an equally satisfying "good" ending yet. idk. the ones i have cooked up don't have a catharsis factor similar to the menzo ending but maybe that's like the point... sometimes there is no catharsis and sometimes a happy ending is not an epic one... you just have to move on or whatev. although coming to terms with her past and choosing to leave it behind and live for herself can be cathartic i guess?

ALSO one important thing in khaless' questline is her ancestry being at odds with her upbringing and her being conflicted about having the blood of a silver dragon who served the goddess she was raised to hate and said blood also giving her the powers that have helped her survive throughout her life. so that's one more thing to deal with lol. in her non-menzo ending khaless would fully embrace her draconic ancestry! and maybe she finds out that her ancestor is only Allegedly dead and goes on a journey to try and find her to learn more about her powers and heritage from her.

story specific #2: how do they advise the player character on raphael?

she would say something like "i hope you're not foolish enough to take this cambion at his word. that being said i think we should take full advantage of his powers and knowledge. perhaps we could even trick him into serving us..." basically find out what exactly raphael wants and what exactly he is offering and use that to the party's benefit. kinda similar to gale's advice iirc? khaless is always looking for opportunities to take advantage of more powerful people in order to get ahead. unfortunately she also tends to get in way over her head and have it all backfire on her. it's almost as if she and her 10 wis learned nothing from her disastrous alliance with the baenres,

btw speaking of gale. khaless is kinda similar to him with how ambitious she is and this drives her mad. she is Not like this nerdy ass wizard he is so lame she would've shoved him into a locker in her youth she is nothing like him she is nooooooootttt (she is)

#inbox #ch: khaless #khaless likes to think she's super cunning and impossible to manipulate but her ambition is so easy to take advantage of btw #like she thinks she's always two steps ahead of her enemy but that's only because she's so blinded by her overconfidence #she always finds out too late that it was in fact the other person who was two steps ahead and holding all the cards!#arrogant ass fool. i love her #thanks again for the ask!! this was fun <3 #also if u managed to read thru that whole ramble abt her family history and background and personal quest. ily

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