Playthrough Recap: The Wanderer of the Wilderness
1. Character Overview
You are playing a Wood Elf of unspecified origin (Generic/custom character, referred to as Tav), currently at Level 3 — early in the journey, the tadpole still fresh in your skull and the road ahead long. Your active party is a tight quartet of survivors:
Shadowheart (High Half-Elf) — your cleric of secrets, guarded and watchful
Astarion (High Elf) — the pale vampire-spawn rogue, charming and dangerous
Lae'zel (Githyanki) — fierce, impatient, and already sizing up everyone around her
The difficulty flag reads as Easy (GLODifficultyModeCharacterStatsEasy), suggesting this is a playthrough focused on experiencing the story and world rather than punishing combat encounters — a valid and honest way to play.
2. Act 1
The Nautiloid & the Crash
Your story began where every tadpole carrier's does: aboard a mind flayer nautiloid, a prisoner of creatures that harvest minds for sport. You navigated the chaos of the ship, freed Shadowheart from her stasis pod in the transform chamber, and fought your way to the helm — joining a desperate battle against the mind flayer crew. The nautiloid fell from the sky, and you woke on the beach, infected, alone, and very much alive.
The crash site has been picked over. The mind flayer pilot is dead. Whatever brought the ship down remains a mystery for now, but the tadpole behind your eye does not.
The Chapel & Lae'zel's Recruitment
One of your early encounters brought you to a ruined chapel on the cliffs — a place that proved more eventful than its crumbling stones suggested. Inside, you encountered a group of tieflings who had caged Lae'zel, intending to sell her or worse. You intervened: you persuaded them not to kill her (CHALaezelRecruitmentEventPersuadedKillLaezel), the cagers were dealt with (CHALaezelRecruitmentStateCagersAreDead), and the Githyanki warrior was freed to join your cause — ungrateful as ever, but yours.
The chapel also held something older: a tomb bearing the mark of Jergal, the Lord of the End of Everything. You interacted with it (CHAJergalHasMetAtChapel) — a quiet, unsettling brush with divinity that left its mark on you.
The Emerald Grove
You made your way to the Emerald Grove, the tiefling refugee settlement sheltered within a druid sanctuary, and found it on the edge of crisis. The druids, led by Kagha, were moving toward a ritual lockdown that would expel the tiefling refugees into the wilderness — a death sentence, given the goblins prowling every road.
You did not stand aside.
The full picture of your time in the Grove is rich:
You rescued a captured goblin from the grove's guards (DENCapturedGoblinStatePlayerRescuedGoblin, DENCapturedGoblinStateReleased). Whether mercy or strategy, you let them go rather than leave them to the crowd's anger.
You uncovered the shadow druid conspiracy: Kagha's secret allegiance to darker forces within the druid order. You witnessed the snake court (DENShadowDruidStateSnakesCourtDone) and freed the child caught in that web (DENShadowDruidStateKidFreed).
The goblin raiding party that attacked the grove's gate was repelled. You fought in that defense (DENRaidingPartyEventGoblinRaidFight), helped open the den gate, and saw the conflict through to a peaceful resolution (DENRaidingPartyStatePeacefulResolution, DENRaidingPartyQuestConfrontationResolved). The goblins were driven off without the grove's destruction.
You befriended the tieflings (DENHideoutEventBefriendedThieflings) and worked with Zevlor, their leader. The confrontation between the refugees and the druids has been resolved for now (DENTieflingLeaderEventPostConfrontationDone).
A small but telling moment: you caught a tiefling stealing (DENThieflingsStateCaughtStealing), and navigated that delicate situation within a community already on a knife's edge.
You visited the Sacred Pond, where a bird departed peacefully (DENSacredPondStateBirdLeft), and explored the druid cave beneath.
The grove, for now, stands. The tieflings live. This was a consequential set of choices, made consistently in favor of the vulnerable.
Nettie and the Poison
Within the grove's inner sanctum, you met Nettie, the druid apprentice tending the wounded Halsin's duties in his absence. She confronted you about your infection — and the conversation reached its darkest point: you were offered (or pressured toward) a poison, a failsafe against ceremorphosis (DENApprenticeQuestTookPoison, DENApprenticeEventReachedCyanideDialog). The tadpole scene played out fully. You know what's at stake if you lose control.
Halsin's Absence
The grove's archdruid, Halsin, is known to be missing (GLOHalsinKnowsIsMissing). The trail points toward the goblin camp. The flag WLDPriestsConqueringGodGoToGoblinCamp confirms you've been pointed in that direction — the next major objective is clear.
The Forest & the Owlbear
Your wanderings through the wilderness around the grove were eventful. You encountered and permanently defeated the owlbear in its cave (FOROwlbearStatePermaDefeated), a formidable creature taken down at Level 3 — no small feat even on Explorer difficulty. The cave also brought you into contact with a Selûnite shrine, and you successfully convinced Shadowheart to acknowledge it (FORSeluneStashStateConvincedShadowheart) — a charged moment, given her allegiances. You also removed a cultist as part of a priest's confrontation with a false god (FORDeathOfAtrueSoulRemoveCultist).
The Risen Road & Karlach
You've ventured onto the Risen Road to the north and encountered Karlach — the tiefling with an infernal engine for a heart. The flag PLAKarlachRecruitmentStateKarlachWounded shows you found her, and she was hurt. However, she is not in your current party, suggesting her recruitment is either pending or you've not yet completed that thread. The Zhentarim shipment in the area was also investigated — both agents were found alive, and the flask remains in the chest, suggesting you left that situation unresolved or chose not to interfere.
A Brush with the Goblin Camp
You've reached the outskirts of goblin territory. The single flag from the camp — GOBVoloBalladStateOnStage — confirms you've at least arrived and encountered Volo, the insufferable bard performing for his goblin audience. He's been met (GLOVoloHasMet) and is currently at the camp. The camp itself remains largely unexplored by the save's evidence.
The Underdark
A single flag — UNDPanicRoomStateGnomeBarrelPresent — suggests you've dipped a toe into the Underdark, likely via one of its entrances. The gnome in the barrel situation has registered but not been resolved. This is the barest of footholds below.
3. Companion Status
Companion Status Approval Notes
Shadowheart Active party ≥ 0 (neutral) In party since the nautiloid; her wound discussed, her secrets still locked tight
Astarion Active party ≥ 0 (neutral) Bite scene unlocked — he's fed, the tension acknowledged
Lae'zel Active party ≥ 0 (neutral) Freed from the cage, fighting alongside you; knows githyanki patrol the mountain pass
Gale Not in party ≥ 0 Met and invited to camp; you witnessed his disrupted waypoint incident
Wyll Not in party ≥ 0 Invited to camp; you watched him training
Karlach Not in party ≥ 0 Found on the Risen Road, wounded
Halsin Not in party ≥ 0 Missing; rescue is a pending objective
Minthara Not in party ≥ 0 The grove survived, so Minthara's path was never walked
All approval ratings sit at the baseline — no one is particularly warm or cold yet. You're still in the early dance of earning trust (or not).
Shadowheart has had several notable moments: her incurable wound has been discussed, she's acknowledged the Selûnite shrine despite her own faith, and she's begun to accumulate the dream-points tied to her wolf dream. Her secrets are numerous. Lae'zel is already invested enough to ask about starting a romance — whether you've entertained that is unrecorded.
Astarion's bite scene has been unlocked — the night visit has happened, the truth of his hunger acknowledged. That conversation is one of the more intimate early trust-moments in the game, and you navigated it.
Gale was swayed toward the Crown during an early camp conversation (ORIGaleStateSwayedTowardsCrown) — a small flag with potentially large implications. He's hungry for power, even if he's polite about it.
4. Notable Decisions
The Grove's Defense — The most significant moral choice of the run so far. You fought to defend the Emerald Grove, repelled the goblin raid, unmasked Kagha's shadow druid conspiracy, and brokered a peaceful resolution. The tiefling refugees live. This was an unambiguous alignment with the vulnerable against those who would use power to discard them.
Releasing the Captured Goblin — A small act, but telling. Rather than leave the grove's prisoner to the crowd or extract what you could, you let them go. Mercy, even toward an enemy, was your instinct.
The Owlbear — You killed the owlbear in its cave. Not a moral stain exactly, but a choice — that creature had a cub, and the cub is now alone. The wilderness doesn't forget.
The Poison — You took or engaged with Nettie's failsafe. You know, clearly and consciously, what you might become. Whether you carried that poison or discarded it says something about how much you trust yourself.
Convincing Shadowheart at the Shrine — Getting Shadowheart to engage meaningfully with a Selûnite holy site is no small thing given her beliefs. You pushed, gently or otherwise, and she listened. That thread is worth watching.
Gale and the Crown — You swayed Gale toward the Crown during an early conversation. Whether intentional or offhand, you've nudged one of your companions toward a dangerous ambition.
5. Trajectory
This is an early-game save, barely past the first major waypoint, but the character of the playthrough is already legible.
You are playing as a protector and mediator — someone who fights when necessary but reaches for resolution first. The grove stands, the prisoners are freed, the shadow druids are exposed. You've consistently sided with the marginalised: tieflings, captured goblins, wounded strangers on the road. This is not a neutral Tav drifting through events; this is someone making choices.
The Easy difficulty is a honest framing: you're here for the story, the characters, the world. And it's a rich world to explore.
What lies ahead — the goblin camp, Halsin's rescue, the deeper mysteries of the Underdark — will test whether that protective instinct scales. The goblins are organised. Their leaders are not simple raiders. And the shadow over the land grows heavier the further east and south you travel.
Your companions are watching you. None of them love you yet, but none of them distrust you. That's a canvas, not a verdict.
The tadpole pulses. Halsin waits in the dark. And somewhere beyond the goblin camp, a curse is spreading that makes every choice you've made at the grove feel like a prelude.
The saga is young. Go find it.