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10/12/2020 c3 Chandagnac
I haven't been very well over the past few days and, looking back at it, I feel like my latest review was barely intelligible.

I've spotted one major mistake which I feel that I need to correct:
"Also, no one likes grief and loss, they are part of life" should have been written as "Although no one likes grief and loss, they are part of life."

But in general, I feel like my most recent review was a confusing ramble. I hope you were able to make some sense of it
10/12/2020 c3 2Chandagnac
Baeloth is an amusing fellow, probably my favourite of the new characters I have been introduced to in this fic and its predecessor. However, considering that he is an unrepentent slaver who forced sapient beings to duel each other to the death for his amusement, he is definitely evil. I think T'rissae would be wise to be warier of him than she has been. Because she has never been a victim of his crimes, she doesn't seem to take him seriously. I wonder if that will come back to bite her later on? Also, if he were captured and in fear for his life, I don't think he'd be brave enough to resist selling her out. So yeah, I'm looking forward to his sudden but inevitable betrayal, somewhere down the line!

It's nice that T'rissae has found a relative who isn't trying to kill her, but it seems to have impaired her ability to lead the party: she seems unwilling to give Cierre orders, or expect them to be obeyed.

Hmm... What should she have done during the Corinth trial? I think she could have played up her role as a bloodthirsty and evil Drow mercenary who didn't really care about the proceedings. She could have established the basic facts of the case (namely that, other than Valis's accusation, there was no evidence that Corinth did anything wrong), refused to ask Corinth any questions (acting on the assumption that he would have protested his innocence whether or not it was true), and then sneered at Leopas and the others for wasting their time on a false accusation based on nothing more than Valis's jealousy. That's if she'd wanted to spare his life, but the situation was complicated by the fact that she was worried about him being a skilled archer who might end up killing some of her soldiers (or her close companions). Very tricky. It's no surprise that she messed up somewhat.

I've been thinking about the fact that Cierre is "more or less Good" despite worshipping an evil goddess. I really like the non-evil version of Shar in your Tabula Avatar story (which I've only just remembered to Follow/Favourite) and I'm kind of hoping that Shar in this story will be similar. It has always bothered me that the deities of D&D's Forgotten Realms setting are all so stereotypical (if that's the right word). All the 'Good' deities are gods and goddesses of things that humans find pleasant. All the 'Evil' deities are gods and goddesses of things that humans find unpleasant. Because humans generally don't like the dark, that means the goddess of darkness has to be evil, right? What nonsense. Also, no one likes grief and loss, they are part of life. Which is worse: grieving for someone you've lost, or living in a permanently happy neverland where nothing really matters and you are unable to remember that you used to have loved ones who aren't around anymore? Also, I don't understand why Sune, goddess of beauty, is considered to be Chaotic Good despite her cruelty to those of her followers who don't meet her standard of beauty. And so on.

I think there was a rule in D&D had to share their deity's alignment or be only one step away from it. Or maybe it was only Clerics who had to follow that rule. I've always preferred to think of Auril as an impersonal force of elemental cold rather than a malevolent deity who tells her worshippers to go around smashing in other people's walls and roofs (which she canonically is). If Cierre is "more or less Good", I think it would make sense that she worships Auril as a force of nature to be respected rather than as someone whose whims must be obeyed, which I assume is what you intended.

Also, I think I remember reading that Cierre was originally meant to be an evil Drow infiltrator only pretending to be a rebel like Drizzt. Whatever the case, you've certainly made her your own.

Anyway, good chapter. Thank you for sharing it with us.
10/3/2020 c2 Chandagnac
Ah yes. Smoke on the water. A fire in the sky.

Because I haven't played Siege of Dragonspear, I know nothing about Caelar Argent, but the glimpses of her which I've seen in this story are intriguing. Because this is a Baldur's Gate story, my automatic assumption is that she's a Bhaalspawn, but I suppose she could be telling the truth about being an aasimar. Wait, Baldur's Gate is is based on 2nd edition D&D, back when non-humans couldn't be paladins. Does that mean Caelar was never a paladin? Or did the game bend the rules around that, as videogames are wont to do?

Caelar's stated motivations (i.e. to free the tortured souls dragged into the hells by fiends during a previous devilish incursion) seem noble enough, but her methods leave much to be desired. I mean... sending assassins to attack and kidnap T'rissae? If her motives were truly benevolent, why would that be the first thing she did? Why wouldn't she first meet with T'rissae and politely ask for her help? I rather suspect that the whole crusade is a devilish plot to open a portal to the prime material plane and unleash the legions of hell; this whole set-up reminds me of Mephistopheles' convoluted plan in Neverwinter Nights: Hordes of the Underdark. Alternatively, I suppose it could be a Bhaalspawn plot to become the new lord of murder by causing a terrible slaughter.

Once again, Irenicus shows up. Ominous vaguely evil foreshadowing. I'm assuming that this is Siege of Dragonspear canon. If so, it changes Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn's story in a way which I'm not sure I like. I remember way back when I first played BG2, Irenicus was something of a mystery until later on in the game. It was always clear that he was powerful, but his exact motivations and capabilities were unknown, which made it plausible that Charname would go blundering into the trap at Spellhold. By giving him such a prominent role in the interquel (as well as showing the corpses of elven assassins from Suldanesselar who were trying to hunt him down), it seems to take some of that mystery away from him. Of course, I've played Baldur's Gate 2 dozens of times, so there is no real mystery, but it still contradicts my headcanon in a way that just bugs me. I know, I'm being silly, and this was always going to happen when Beamdog were allowed to add their own canon expansion pack, but I still find it vaguely annoying. Which gives me a new appreciation for how difficult Beamdog's job was. I feel rather sorry for them, having to put up with so many rabid fans with their own vision of what the Baldur's Gate world was supposed to be like.

The most interesting thing about this chapter is T'rissae's meeting with Cierre. I know Cierre is a particular favourite of yours, so it's hardly surprising, but it's nice to see her again. Oof... if T'rissae is the daughter of Cierre's sister, it seems fairly certain that something horrible happened to her. (Raped by Bhaal, held prisoner by his cultists until she gave birth, and then murdered? Ugh.) I'm not looking forward to that, but it's an important part of T'rissae's backstory. I know it's going to be horrible for T'rissae to find out what happened to her mother, and for Cierre to find out what happened to her sister. I'll keep reading on with some trepidation.
10/2/2020 c1 Chandagnac
I didn't realise that I was only allowed to write one review per chapter. Writing this as a guest.

I'm a fan of Frankie Goes to Hollywood, so I would have been tempted to call this story 'Black Knight White Light". But Deep Purple is good too.

I've never played Siege of Dragonspear or the Baldur's Gate Enhanced Editions, so I get the feeling that I'm missing a lot of valuable context. The entire story is new to me and there are a great many things which happen in this chapter which are only explained in the sparsest of detail, presumably because readers are expected to already know about them. Or maybe that's the NaNoWriMo treatment you mentioned.

I suppose the bit at the beginning, with Korlasz, explains how the Sword of Chaos came to be in Irenicus's possession by the time of Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn. And I suppose the hooded man is Irenicus himself, making his presence felt already.

I did like T'rissae's increasing irritation with Skie Silvershield and some of the other fools (such as Ophyllis) she has to deal with. You mentioned previously that you thought people might see T'rissae as a Mary Sue because her flaws are not immediately obvious. I think writers can worry too much about that sort of thing: because they don't want readers to think their main characters are Mary Sues, they turn them into grotesques with addictions and flaws which should leave them unable to function at all. (Considering how many enormously popular franchises have blatantly Marty Stu-ish protagonists, I'd say there's no point in worrying at all: most people seem to *love* Mary Sues/Marty Stus!)

T'rissae is not a Mary Sue. Her flaws are subtle, but they are present. She tries to be a good person and live up to the precepts of her faith, but she has a streak of ruthlessness and irritability which means that she's not a perfectly saintly heroine. I'm expecting some of her decisions to come back to bite her on the arse later on, and not just the ones which were a railroaded part of Baldur's Gate's storyline.

Thank you for the fic. It's nice to see you've been writing some more.
10/1/2020 c1 Chandagnac
Excellent. Thank you for this update. I've been looking forward to more of T'rissae's adventures.

It's late and I'm pretty tired, so I'll leave off for now. I'll be back to give you a proper review some other time.

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