Editor’s Note: I tried to get this trial to take place during the day to no avail. Apologies for the dark pictures.
Returning to Baldur’s Gate to stand trial, we are paraded in front of the city and eventually tried outside of the Flaming Fist Headquarters. Duke Belt presides over the trial. The mob will bay for a guilty verdict as Bence Duncan provides absolutely zero evidence of our alleged crime and it’s clear we’re in a kangaroo court. He will talk about that time we burnt the symbol of Bhaal into the Boareskyr Bridge then will come out turn to speak.
Testaments of Character
Hopefully, we can remember during this walk through the options listed as [Hero] or [Villain]. These were moments of our choosing that determine the dialogue options during the trial. The two possible endings are one of exile and one of escape.
If we wish to experience the exile end we’ll need to have been EITHER consistently good or consistently bad throughout our playthrough. To prove our innocence we can either provide our [Hero] or our [Villain] moments as proof we weren’t Skie’s murderer. We will need at least THREE of either to convince Belt that we would never have done the horrific act or that we are so evil that we would have no problem admitting guilt if it were in fact something we did.
If we are unable to provide or simply unwilling to provide three examples of our character (good or evil) we are funneled down the ‘escape’ ending path.
To recap:
- Exile ending; provide no fewer than three [Hero] OR [Villain] moments during the trial
- Escape ending; refuse or be unable to provide three or more of these moments
There’s more nuance to this, but making either consistently good or bad choices throughout our playthrough will allow us to choose either end. The exception to this would be if we simply did not participate in such a moment (i.e. neither helping nor refusing to help the ill soldiers at the coalition camp or simply not participating at all in that scenario) and therefore can’t prove innocence one way or the other. Having a mix of the two will potentially limit our options to the escape ending only.
Editor’s Note: For the clerics among us, surely we can cry foul that we cannot use edged-weapons! Sadly, we cannot. Perhaps we spent all our cleric memes on the Glint and Pritchard interaction back at the allied siege camp in Chapter Ten. There is no “we’re sorry, you’re free to go cleric” ending.
Now we’re done speaking in our defense. Entar Silvershield will arrive to give us a piece of his mind and provides further context to what has befallen his daughter Skie. Her essence is now trapped in the Soultaker Dagger which no one can locate. He explains it will be impossible to revive her until the dagger can be found and returned. If it were up to him, we’d already been hanging from a tree somewhere.
Once Entar leaves we will be taken to a cell while the evidence is reviewed and our fate determined.
*Cutscene
Gromnir
Note:
One’s Reputation can be used as an argument in either direction; a Reputation of 17 or more or 4 or less respectively goes towards Hero or Villain.
Likewise if one is a (non-fallen) Paladin that can be used as an argument for Hero, while Blackguard can be an argument for Villain.
Enilwyn Rakingclaw
Yes, this is true. I have all the factors that contribute to the Hero/Villain outcome and plan to do a full write up it because I can’t find it anywhere else. Your class is pretty static (unless you want to be a Fallen Ranger or Palidan). And reputation tends to be what it is; in my 20+ years of playing these games I can’t think of a single time I’ve “managed my rep” outside of the threshold were you turn EVERYONE hostile to your presence. It’s either a) get that as high as possible for store discounts and beneficial quest rewards/actions or b) where’s the nearest temple so I can return to town and sell stuff!
I always appreciate your input Gromnir, thank you for reading! I’ll get working on that write up.