I was really sad that my fellow campmates weren't there in the final battle. It seemed ridiculous that I could see characters like the Strange Ox, Yurgir, and Wulbren Bongle who I didn't even want to help, but I couldn't get encouragement from my friends Gale, Karlach and Wyll, who I had been with since the start. The epilogue helped with this a little bit, though.

My Tav, Miriam, chose to stay with Vampire Spawn Astarion and help him look for a cure to vampirism, or at least, something to help him walk in the sun again. I know that there are items for this in Dungeons and Dragons, so I feel hopeful for Astarion around this. Since she is a drow, I expect that she will be able to stay with him for a very long time, which makes me feel happy, even though I will not be there to see it.

Wyll decided to go with Karlach to Avernus, and become the Blade of Avernus. I was glad that Karlach didn't die, and I felt relieved that this was an option. I love these two characters together, and I know that Wyll and Karlach will look after each other. I was happy when they mentioned in the epilogue that they found blueprints for Karlach's engine, as well as a map to one of Zariel's forges, and that they're hoping to fix Karlach's engine. I think that it would be an incredible outcome for them to be able to come back to Baldur's Gate together, hand in hand.

Gale returned the crown of Karsus to Mystra, and in return she healed his orb. After this he became a professor at Blackstaff Academy, teaching Illusion magic. He said that he never told his students that he had been cured, so they live in fear of him suddenly exploding, which was really funnier. He seemed much happier and more relaxed, and he invited my Tav to drop by as a guest lecturer sometime which was super nice. He said Miriam could stay in his and Tara's tower. Although this probably isn't what he had in mind, I think that this would be a good opportunity for her and Astarion to research cures for vampirism also.

Shadowheart's epilogue story was maybe a little sad. She had been travelling alone, visiting temples of Selune, in memory of her parents. She wondered whether they were proud of her, but said she could still feel them watching over her. She still kept in contact with her Sharran friend Nocturne, who warns her whenever followers of Shar put a target on her back, and she said that while she hopes that Nocturne will feel strong enough to leave Shar, she doesn't want to force her to leave, instead she is waiting patiently.

Orpheus was the one to undergo ceremorphosis, and Lae'zel decided to stay in Faerûn, with the Githyanki egg, and experience freedom on her own. This caused Orpheus to despair before his death. Kith'rak Voss went ahead to spread the word of Orpheus' sacrifice, and negotiate with the githzerai, which was interesting. Lae'zel had found some new friends that she really trusted, and the egg had hatched. She named him Xan, which means freedom, and her friends were looking after him during the epilogue party. She was travelling with her friends and invited Miriam to help her destroy a creche of Vlaakith that they had found, to which Miriam suggested they talk about it after the party. I think it would not be bad to go destroy the creche with her, but I would worry about Miriam leaving Astarion behind.

Halsin moved into what was once the Shadowcursed Lands, which had become a place for refugees visiting Baldur's Gate to live in. He looked after the children who had been orphaned, and they loved his bear form, and that he had ran out of bedtime stories to tell them, and asked for some of Miriam's stories from her adventures since defeating the Elder Brain. He said he felt happy and settled, for the first time in his life. He said that Thaniel and Oliver are doing well, and they have made many new friends. And he had also kept in contact with the druids in the grove, apparently Francesca the new Archdruid was doing a great job. He gave Miriam a wooden duck that he had whittled, as a token to remember him by. I am tearing up just thinking about it now.

Jaheira didn't really have any updates for herself personally, but her children were working hard to rebuild Baldur's Gate after the destruction, and the city was looking a lot better now apparently. She said that she has been thinking of going on a last adventure. I know her children will miss her so much when she is gone. I hope that she keeps in contact with them this time.

Scratch has a new owner, a young girl, and he also still plays with the Owlbear cub (who is now enormous). They consider one another brothers, but the Owlbear cub is very careful not to hurt Scratch who is now so much smaller than him. The owlbear cub spends his time making friends with various creatures. He made friends with a cat, and then a kraken, but then the kraken killed his cat friend so he killed the kraken. I love how open-minded and friendly the owlbear cub has become, and how he is no longer scared after his experience with the goblins. He said that he found Miriam in the epilogue because he could smell her at the party, and that she still smells very delicious. Miriam patted both of her good boys, and played fetch with Scratch, throwing the now broken artefact which Scratch brought her.

Minsc was on a journey of kicking the Guild into shape. Pretty much literally. He'd brought some random halfling to the epilogue party with him, who looked terrified, which made sense as he'd been dangled by Minsc from the top of a tower for two hours, as a punishment for theft, before Minsc got the portal to the party. Minsc said that it was good that the portal showed up when it did, because his arm was starting to get tired...

It was lovely catching up with Minsc, and he truly made me feel like Miriam was a real hero. His introductions for each of the characters was beautiful, and I felt so happy about this special detail. I appreciated that he was supportive in Miriam and Astarian's quest to search for a cure for Astarian's vampirism, and I thought his comments about the real cure being love were super cute. But also loved that Boo knew about real cures also, this would definitely come in handy if only Minsc was able to pass on the knowledge.

I also really enjoyed reading the Baldur's Gate newspapers and the letters during the epilogue. I think the most notable, and definitely the worst one, was the news of Wulbren Bongle. In the absence of any leadership in Baldur's Gate, he and his Ironhand gnomes had taken over leadership, and banished all Gondians from entering the city. This was... a result of something I massively messed up early in the game. Let me set the scene.

Not long after entering Baldur's Gate, I was told that a slanderous article would be released about my adventuring party. Naturally, I was concerned about this, but since the press were so heavily controlled by Gortash, and he wanted my help in disposing of Orin, I thought surely he wouldn't allow them to publish this. So, I went to speak to him. And immediately the most insane fight broke out. It was incredibly difficult fight but I managed to beat him and all of his Steel Watch.

Unfortunately, the defeat of Gortash meant that the Elder Brain was able to take over the Steel Watch entirely. She blew up the foundry, killing everyone in it, and this resulted in the Gondians that Wulbren Bongle wanted dead dying. I later discovered that it also resulted in the death of Duke Ravenguard, Wyll's father, as well as several other more minor characters. Safe to say, this was a pretty poor choice of action, and with Wyll leaving to go to Avernus, this left a power vacuum which meant that Wulbren could just step straight into the role.

To be talked about more at a later date...