So, due to intrigues of beyond my control, my character has become a spirit-eater, a curse that was originally transmitted down the lines from the original Betrayer, a high priest of Myrkul that assaulted Myrkul's domain due to a perceived injustice relating to the fate of his beloved. The Sword of Gith and possibly the shard? were once in the possession of this priest and have been taken from me "For love." (We'll get back to this.). Where once the shard was, an emptiness now exists, both figurative and literal, that can never be filled and with it a hunger.
One of my first major gripes is that upon waking up, my character didn't seem to give a shit that all of his friends just died horribly, especially Elanee who he'd become romantic with in the OC. They're never once mentioned until the start
of Act II and it almost makes my character seem like a bit of a psychopath because it's not as if he doesn't know what happened. I get why this was done design-wise, because not every player would be coming to MotB from the OC, especially since the OC was so average, but still. I can't help but feel that at least some sort of underlying sadness should be evident every so often in dialogue, especially companion dialogue, if nothing else. Eventually, the game let us know that Khelgar and Amon Jerro made it out alive, which is nice I guess but they weren't the the closest to my character. Also seems that Sand was definitely killed by the cave-in and at least two others are dead for certain, though those may have been Bishop and Qara which I killed myself due to their betrayal. That still leaves Elanee, Nishka, Zhjaeve, Grobnar and Casavir missing and presumed dead. That's a big deal character-wise and I almost wonder if it wouldn't have been better for MotB's MC to have just been an entirely separate character. Remains to be seen if the Sword of Gith's role is truly indispensable to the main plot or whether some other contrivance could have been substituted.
The first companion I met was Safiya, a cute Thayan waifu who found me in a barrow after the Sword of Gith and the shard had been stolen from me. In truth, I didn't pay close enough attention to why she was there at the right place at the right time. I know she tells you when you first meet her, but I don't remember what she said. (If anyone remembers, please let me know.) What I do remember is that it felt a little too convenient. Apparently, she hears voices in her head sometimes that warn her of impending dangers. (Though, she is bald and covered in tatoos so just post-university mental illness right? Riiight.) I think she may have been sent away by her mother, who is the mistress of an academy in Thay which is in rebellion against her. Her mother has rivals or a rival that iirc, was a quiet scholarly type who suddenly tried to overthrow her. I guess she sent her daughter to find her friend who was a former red wizard now running a theater company in exile or something? I have the feeling that Safiya isn't telling me the whole story and perhaps even to the point that she too was involved in my affliction. (Another Betrayer or layer of betrayal down the road.)
Next up we have Gann, some sort of half-breed that loves giving chicks the time of their lives in dreams, but that's just a mask he wears to distract himself from the pain of being an outcast with no one to trust and no family or something. He reminds me a lot of Atton from KotOR II. He's hurt and will hurt others in turn because that's the way of the world, but it doesn't need to be so. I don't really know what his deal is yet, it seems Kaelyn can see right through him though and it seems like this is the echo of the "Mask" idea. That everyone has a mask they wear and sooner or later they must decide between what they present and what they hide. To a lesser extent whether he wants a place in the real or the ethereal. It's very Avellonian and intriguing.
Then there's Kaelyn the Dove. "Mr. Kelemvor tear down this wall!" - Innocent, naïve angelic bae and ex-priestess of Kelemvor who cannot stand the perceived injustice of the Wall of the Faithless, a thing that's crafted by the Gods of Death out of the souls of non-believers as punishment for their lack of faith in any god to the point she was thrown out of Ilmater's hall for leading a second failed assault(?) upon the wall some time after the original Betrayer's assault failed. This is something that I have a hard time swallowing for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I find it difficult to believe that in a world where Gods unambiguously fell from the heavens in a well-known cataclysmic event (admittedly I'm not sure how long ago the Time of Troubles was to the game's timeline) that anyone could possess sufficient doubt or scorn to be an actual atheist. To Kaelyn's credit, she mentions children, newborns and savages on the bottom of the sea or folk on other planes that had no access to revelation and I think "Okay, fine... but..." The Christian in me thinks that if such a wall exists and all three Gods of the Dead, regardless of temperament and morality came to the same conclusion that: "Yeah, maybe this thing that we've just inherited should stay exactly as it is and we shouldn't fuck around with it." then there's probably a damn good reason for it, even if that reason is currently unknown to mortals or angels. Through Kaelyn's empathetic good nature, the game seems desperate to convince the player that the wall is unjust, while as of yet providing no plausible or compelling counterargument. It's again similar to KotOR II where Kreia is desperately trying to convince you that the Force is malicious. I have a feeling that much later in the game a counterargument will be given as a revelation, perhaps to the shock of everyone, especially my Bard who is a hopeless romantic at heart. I have a feeling that the wall may be required to give power to all the Gods to exercise their portfolio and they do a lot more good than harm on balance. As a player though, I'm having a hard time biting my tongue when what I really want to say is: "How the hell could you possibly know that the alternative to the wall isn't worse?" or as is available, but out of character: "Another case of love ruining a perfectly good working relationship." - Oh Chris, if only you knew...
The only thing I really fear is if the Wall of the Faithless turns out to be exactly what Kaelyn describes it as, just an arbitrary punishment because (insert mid-2000s religion bad! cringe here). I really hope it's deeper than that, at least to the point where the two camps can be reconciled through a new covenant for the genuinely ignorant or something.
Just got the Okku the Bear, nothing to say really, seems he was connected to one of the curse-bearers after the original Betrayer died and that bearer somehow managed to contain the Spirit-Eater curse in the runestones in the barrow that I woke up beside at the start of the game. Whoever put me there probably did it to begin the cycle anew for reasons unknown to me currently.
Lastly, we have the Red Woman and the White Woman. From what I gather, I think the White Woman is Akachi's (the first Betrayer's) beloved who didn't believe in any Gods and that Akachi was somehow successful in saving her life even though his crusade against Myrkul failed and he suffered the curse. A former Red Wizard of Thay, she lived out her days in exile and sadness in Mulsantir until she's approached by the Red Woman sometime before the game starts and her entire mood changes according to her friends. I'd hazard a guess that the Red Woman told/lied of a possibility to save Akachi from the wall but I think in the end she was betrayed by the Red Woman. I think that the Red Woman probably convinced her that in order to get her beloved back she needed to take the Sword of Gith and the Shard from my character's body. Possibly something only she could do since she was connected to their former owner. In a vision when touching the operating table, a woman remorsefully echoes "For love." when removing the shard, something that Kaelyn mentioned word for word as the motivation of Akachi the Betrayer. Like poetry, it rhymes. Successful, the Woman in White was betrayed by the Woman in Red who ordered her death previously. We know that there's a portal between the theater where the operation took place and the barrow where my character's body was left post-op. I think the Red Woman, or possibly Safiya put my character there, now empty, a perfect vessel for the spirit-eater which was imprisoned in the place I was dumped. I strongly suspect that the Red Woman is Safiya's mother, who wanted the Sword of Gith and possibly the Spirit Eater Curse to combat the rebels at her school or for some other reason not yet known to me. Safiya's mother is supposed to be dead according to the White Woman's murderers but I think that's just a bit of theater to throw the player off the trail. Probably faked her own death to buy time or to better dupe her daughter into guiding me some other purpose down the road. Possibly another layer of betrayal if Safiya is in on it. Remains to be seen. Please no spoilers, thanks.
And what a difference it's making!
I eventually gave up and turned my speakers off to complete the dungeon.
