InBaldur’s Gate 3,Shadowhearthas memory issues and a reluctant attachment to a dark deity, holding power over her past, present, and future.Astarionhas long-cultivated trauma that he seeks to strike back against, getting his revenge and potentially becoming more powerful than ever. Karlach is burning up with each passing day, leading towards an inevitable end where she is engulfed with the heat of Avernus out of defiance to return to the hells now escaped. Me? I can’t find a goddamn flute.
I started Baldur’s Gate 3 as a bard, and it quickly became my new favourite class in D&D - I am now 100 percent a bard believer, and never will my mind be changed. Vicious Mockery and Bardic Inspiration were my lifeblood, alongside my trusty lute that I would play for the crowds - or my one and only fan in camp, Gale.
However, shortly into my much-longer-than-I-expected-it-to-be adventure, despite people telling me how long this game actually is, I decided that I also wanted a flute. There’s something so satisfying about pulling out a flute and casting insults at people, Tom Cardy-style, and so I made sure to keep my eyes peeled for this instrument on my journey. I acquired a violin, a drum, and even a magical lyre - but the flute… the flute evaded me. And so, it became my utmost desire, my one true destiny. Second to the world-ending Absolute cult, I guess.
Look, I know I definitely could have saved myself a lot of trouble early on if I had been more vigilant. Looking it up now, I see that there was a flute I could have taken in the Druid’s Grove. But I didn’t. Now it’s too late, so let’s just move on.
Other than the Druid’s Grove, apparently, I spent my time searching absolutely everywhere. I held down R3 and was constantly waiting for a flute to pop up on screen. But it never did. I trudged around the Nautiloid crash site, but apparently the Mind Flayer colonies are not a fan of fine music. I searched the Goblin Camp, and despite them cheering on my musical prowess, they had no flute to hand either. I felt defeated. But I pressed on.
I searched the Mountain Pass, winding path after winding path. I spent a good deal of time infiltrating the Githyanki Creche. Lae’zel needed to do something or other there, so I thought she might as well while I continued my search. She did what she needed to do, but yet I left once again, flute-less.
I journeyed into the Underdark, a place that light does not reach and features a labyrinthine quality that can ensnare even the most experienced of adventurers. And yet I mapped it out, exploring every single corner, nook, and cranny. Even discovering and befriending a whole species of fungi people, who could communicate in telepathy, making use of their hive-mind-like nature. And so, as it happens, a flute is rarely required when telepathy is involved. They still had no such thing to give me though.
I stumbled on in my quest, to a place hidden in the already hidden Underdark. Grymforge - a place housing the legendary Adamantine Forge, a contraption protected by a towering guardian, built to withstand the lava that flows through its depths, and designed to be indestructible as it watched over the forge. I felled this unfellable beast, and while I do not know the secrets that gave it power to withstand destruction, conquering it didn’t bless me with a flute, so I progressed, empty handed, and morale at an all-time low.
I saw no path forwards other than the Shadowlands. My save-the-world side quest was leading me here anyway, but my musical pilgrimage gave me drive, a desire to keep on moving. So I paved my way into the land of shadows and curses, seeking protection and guidance from the evil that lurked here, in the hopes of finding that instrument we all equally longed for.
Alas, from the dark reaches of shadow over dead lands, to the inexplicable undead carrying out unspeakable evils within the confines of a now desolate place of healing, there was not a flute in sight. Could a flute even survive such a curse? Surely. But no flute was to be found.
Moving on from the Shadowlands and Moonrise Towers, popping by to beat some Absolute ringleader down for good measure, I made my way to Rivington - a town just on the outside of Baldur’s Gate. I searched and I met people from all walks of life, and yet none of those walks involved a flute.
I even made my way into the grounds of a circus, where merriment and music was booming and enjoyed by crowds of people. I spoke to vendors, mingled with the entertainers, and survived a clown attack -that’s some other story entirely- but no one here had a flute to offer me. I did, however, see such a thing. There, on a crate, a flute unused, awaiting those who would play it and bring fleeting flute joy to the world. But to steal it from under the noses of entertainers, to take a flute with dishonor, a flute that did not call out to me and me alone… I would not stoop to desperation, I would not jump at a dirty means to complete such a destiny. With pain, I turned my back and left this particular flute to its own. I would find my own yet.
Arriving in the city, I spent countless hours walking the lower streets, speaking to those in need and helping them where I could. I carried out quests, joined up with new allies and factions, and sought out yet more evil to diminish. At this point, I was ready to call it - I had given up almost every hope of finding a flute on my long and perilous journey, and had accepted my fate as a lute-exclusive player. Perhaps in another life, I would find myself a flute. Perhaps in another life, I would stand at the beginning of everything, flute in hand. Perhaps.
And then I saw a sign. A sign from the gods? No, a shop sign. Upstairs neighbour to The Glittering Gala stood a place of trade, a place of the arts: Chromatic Scale. My eyes widened, my jaw dropped, and my fleeting hope returned in hesitant sparks. I walked in, to see if my destiny would yet be fulfilled, if my dreams would be met with a sense of accomplishment…
