Baldur's Gate 3 — Playthrough Chronicle
1. Character Overview
You are playing a Gold Dwarf of unspecified class, currently at Level 3 — a custom character (Generic origin) rather than one of the game's origin heroes. You are adventuring on Balanced difficulty, the standard Larian ruleset, with a full party of four:
Shadowheart (High Half-Elf) — your cleric companion, travelling with you since the nautiloid
Astarion (High Elf) — the vampire rogue, freed from his cage at the chapel ruins
Lae'zel (Githyanki) — the warrior, similarly rescued from her tiefling captors at that same chapel
The save is early Act 1, sitting at roughly the point where the Emerald Grove's immediate crisis has been resolved but the wider world remains largely unexplored. This is a young adventure — rich in setup, light on consequence so far.
2. Act 1
The Nautiloid & Crash
Your story began as most do: aboard a mind flayer nautiloid tearing through the sky, a tadpole forced behind your eye, and the whole vessel coming apart around you. The flags confirm you freed Shadowheart from her stasis pod in the transformation chamber — she has been with you from the very first moments. You fought alongside a helmsman against the mind flayer crew, survived the crash, and woke on the beach with the parasite already whispering behind your skull. You even harvested a spare tadpole from a corpse — a grim practicality that speaks to a certain unsentimental approach to survival.
The Chapel Ruins & Recruiting Your Party
The ruined chapel north of the crash site proved eventful. You encountered Lae'zel already caged by a group of tieflings — and rather than letting them execute her or abandoning her, you persuaded them to free her. The flags show the tieflings were killed in the process (the cagers are dead), but Lae'zel walks free. She has been fighting alongside you since, and her approval sits at a positive threshold — the Githyanki warrior respects what she's seen of you so far. Astarion, too, joined the company here in his usual manner, no doubt with a blade to your throat before introductions were made.
Outside the chapel, you scared off at least one bandit and brought a pillar down — the ruins bore the scars of your passage.
The Risen Road
You passed through the stretch of road scarred by Zariel's paladins, and here the flags reveal an important encounter: you found Karlach wounded. The save shows her recruitment flag fired — she is injured, you have met her — but she does not appear in your active party of four. She is out there, unresolved. The Zhentarim flask and both agents being alive suggests you encountered that particular conflict and left it intact rather than forcing a confrontation.
The Emerald Grove
The heart of Act 1's early drama. The flags here tell a clear and notably peaceful story.
You entered the grove during the goblin raid on its gates — DENRaidingPartyEventGoblinRaidFight confirms the attack happened, and you fought through it. But crucially: DENRaidingPartyStatePeacefulResolution is set. You resolved the confrontation peacefully. The gate opened, the raid was repelled without the grove descending into massacre, and Zevlor was sent to speak with Aradin's party — the flag DENGroveConflictKnowsZevlorSentToSagha confirms the chain of diplomacy held.
Inside, you navigated the grove's layered tensions with care:
You entered the druid sanctum and explored the cave beneath
You got involved with the tiefling refugees and befriended them — DENHideoutEventBefriendedThieflings is set
You found and freed the child caught up in Kagha's shadow druid conspiracy (DENShadowDruidStateKidFreed), and witnessed the snake court play out in full — Kagha's secret dealings with the Shadow Druids were exposed
You encountered the apprentice Nettie, went through her whole interrogation about the tadpole, and took her poison — the contingency she offered against ceremorphosis, which you now carry
You spoke with Wyll, watching him train the tiefling children, and met Volo — who has since moved on to the goblin camp, as bards do
The tiefling child who stole something — you confronted that situation too, leaving grief in its wake (DENCapturedGoblinEventLeftToGrief), and you've set yourself on a path of vengeance regarding a captured goblin (DENCapturedGoblinStateAvenge).
You learned that Halsin is missing and is believed to be held at the goblin camp — this thread hangs open. The goblin camp flags show only Volo performing on stage; you have not yet stormed the camp's leadership. The three goblin commanders who threaten the grove are still alive.
The Forest & Beyond
Flags show you've engaged with the forest area — clearing a True Soul cultist, and being directed toward the owlbear cave. The underdark flag suggests the gnome-in-a-barrel situation at the Selûnite outpost has registered, hinting you've at least brushed the edges of that descent.
Gale
Gale's approval sits at a modest positive threshold. A flag of note: ORIGaleStateSwayedTowardsCrown — in early conversation with Gale, something nudged him toward thoughts of the Crown of Karsus. This is a subtle but meaningful flag. You also disrupted a waypoint in his presence. Gale is not in your active party of four, but the approval flag exists — you have met him and he thinks reasonably well of you.
3. Companion Status
Companion Status Approval Notes
Shadowheart Active party ≥ 20 (warm) With you since the nautiloid; her mission for her goddess remains unfinished and undiscussed in depth
Astarion Active party ≥ 20 (warm) His bite scene is unlocked — he has fed from you in your sleep, and that conversation has happened
Lae'zel Active party ≥ 20 (warm) Knows Githyanki are near the mountain pass; eager to reach the creche
Gale Not in party ≥ 10 (neutral-positive) Met, travelled briefly; shows a concerning lean toward the Crown
Karlach Not in party ≥ 10 (neutral-positive) Found wounded on the Risen Road; her situation is unresolved
Halsin Met/known ≥ 0 (neutral) Known to be a prisoner at the goblin camp
Wyll Seen, not recruited — Witnessed training children; not in party
On Astarion specifically: The bite scene flag (ORIAstarionStateBiteSceneUnlocked) means he has come to you in the night. This is an early intimacy — a moment of vulnerability and unease — and it shapes where that relationship can go. Approval sits at 20+, suggesting you haven't shut him down entirely.
Shadowheart has discussed her incurable wound with you (ORIShadowheartStateDiscussedIncurableWound) and suspects something about it (ORIShadowheartKnowsWoundSuspicion). She is also visibly wary of Lae'zel (ORIShadowheartStateLaezelWeary) — the two have been circling each other with that particular tension since recruitment.
4. Notable Decisions
Freeing Lae'zel through persuasion (with lethal cost). You didn't abandon the Githyanki to the tieflings, nor did you simply walk past. You argued for her life — and the tieflings paid for their stubbornness. It's a telling early choice: you protect what's yours, even at cost to others.
The peaceful resolution at the grove gates. Many players let the raid devolve into a full brawl or even side with the goblins. You held the line diplomatically. Combined with befriending the refugees and freeing the shadow druid's child captive, a picture emerges: you are navigating the grove's politics on the side of the living, protecting tieflings and druids alike.
Exposing Kagha. You didn't just stumble through — you found the evidence, triggered the snake court, and saw the conspiracy through. Kagha's shadow druid dealings were laid bare. The grove's lockdown was presumably lifted as a result.
Taking Nettie's poison. A small thing, perhaps, but it says something. You accepted the contingency. You are not in denial about what the tadpole might do.
Leaving Karlach unresolved. You found her wounded and left — or perhaps couldn't bring her into a full party. Her story is the one significant loose thread of compassion left unpulled on the Risen Road.
5. Trajectory
This is a classically heroic playthrough in the making, running Balanced difficulty with methodical, socially engaged choices. You are not a chaos agent — you are someone who talks first, fights when pushed, and tends to side with the vulnerable. The tieflings are safe, the grove's conspiracy was unravelled, and even a condemned Githyanki warrior got a second chance because you chose to argue for her.
The party dynamic is interesting: a Gold Dwarf surrounded by three of the game's most morally complex companions — a secretive cleric concealing her own nature, a predatory vampire learning something like trust, and a Githyanki soldier whose entire worldview is about to be tested. All three sit at positive approval. You are earning their loyalty without, apparently, compromising your own values to do it.
Gale's quiet lean toward the Crown is the one shadow worth watching. You may not have noticed it, or you may have meant it — but that flag will matter in context later.
The goblin camp awaits, with Halsin captive inside and three goblin leaders who need dealing with before the grove is truly safe. The road to the Githyanki creche — Lae'zel's urgent goal — runs through the mountain pass. And somewhere on the Risen Road, Karlach is still bleeding.
You are three levels into a very long story, and so far, you have chosen to be someone worth following.