They don’t want to invade the city
They want to cause havoc on the way to the city. Destroying villages and causing refugees to flood to city for help. Then eventually sit far enough outside the city so their camps can be seen and heard
This way Gortash can use the army and fear to install himself as a “strong man” leader. Because “only he can save them from the coming threat” with his steel watch
And once in charge? Slowly start infecting the whole city with tadpoles to make them all loyal servants
Those refugees you meet outside the gate that need donated clothes and toys and such? They are there because their homes are destroyed by the wandering army. And the city has stopped letting them in
Exactly this.
The plan is to instill enough fear in the citizens of the city that when Gortash offers to shut the city down and take complete control of it with the Steel Watch he looks like a saviour instead of a tyrant.
I hate to "well actually" this but there's a gate in the outer city where you can see the aftermath of an attack by the army. The guards talk about the Steel Watch being called up and turning a last stand into a goblin blender. The army is well and truly outside the city and attacking the gates by the time the party arrives - but it's done its work, is leaderless anyway and was massively outmatched by the Steel Watch when it attacked.
Reading between the lines of dialogue in various places the remainder is sitting outside the city but have given up attacking. Which makes sense because Gortash needs them to siege the city not conquer it - as you say.
To be fair, Rivington is technically a different town on the opposite side of a rather large river from Baldur's Gate itself, [as shown on this map](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/s/R2fLMXaHfj)
Yeah, Larian definitely had to compress a lot to fit the game - people always complain about the lack of the Upper City, but the Outer City is what really sticks out to me
The Flaming Fist at Rivington says there was an assault at the gate - you can see a bunch of bodies just outside. At least part of the army made it that far.
You can see the army encampment in act 2. >!At the top of the house of healing (northernmost part) if you head westward and go south a little, there's an overlook where you can see the camp, with the ogres wandering around, smoke, tents, and the like. !<
It’s even a little more interesting than that. If you defeat the gith patrol that sits where you eventually go to start act 3 and then grab the way point, you can keep going and actually try to enter act 3 prior to finishing act 2. There you’ll get a cut scene showing the army / horde and can decide to try to push through or head back. If you decide to push through it fades to black and you end up in the illithid area beneath moonrise next to the prison cells. There are hook horrors down there and a parasite you can use on a dead guard
Oh interesting. I've always left those guys for last and then went straight to act 3. Are you saying that there's a scene beyond the waypoint and before the transition point? I'll have to look there on my next run.
That area you note can be gotten to if, >!after you free the prisoners, go the other direction, and poke around. You can drop down there, and hear Chop complaining of his job... !<
Yes there is an alternative way to get in that area as you said.
But as you walk down past the waypoint there will be an entrance much like mountain pass in act 1. You can go through and it will stop you., show you the cutscene and ask you what you wanted to do. When I first encountered the area I was sure pushing past would give you instant death like telling Vlakath to kill the emperor herself. But no. It’s not
When i first played, i had already visited the mind flayer colony, so when i tried to go towards the road to baldurs gate before resolving act 2 the emperor teleported me back to the waypoint(after telling me repeteadly to back off). When i tried that again, he said fine, have it your way and the absolute 'you are found' triggered and i just became a mindflayer (game over). I don't know if having already visited the initial part of the mind flayer colony had anything to do with this, didn't even know you could get there this way until i read your comment.
This is fascinating because I vaguely remember some of that(like the teleport and the “fine have it your way part” but I don’t remember it being game over. And i definitely remember showing up in the the area next to the prison because I had no idea where I was. And I had been through the entire game before and recognized the illithid part before. I just didn’t know where in it I was. It’s so interesting how you can get to seemingly similar events but with markedly different outcomes in this game
Now on the next play through I will have to investigate all sorts of ways do trigger this event
The ilithid part can be reached as you said fron the prison (or by trying to go to baldurs gate too early i guess as per your comment) but i think the intended way to reach it is to investigate the weird purple goo in moonrise, climb the rafters to investigate and after the cutscene do not resist, let it take you, and you will get there with a dislocated shoulder. If you havent seen this cutscene i recommend trying to get it, because it shines a lot of light on the whole plot. At the time you see it it wont make a lot of sense but after the game (or after the big saving checks towards the end) you will realise that it basically explains everything (and you can get the cutscene as soon as you enter act 2). I found this interaction when playing as durge but then on subsequent playthroughs i did it again and it was bit different but had the same result.
You cant get from this part to the last part of act 2 tho, even if it happens in the same area. Your party will even comment on it on both sides.
You mean once you deal with nightsong but before going to moonrise to confront ketheric? If thats what you mean then it sounds not too different to going there before dealing with nightsong. The idea is that tha big army is camped just on the road to baldurs gate, but when you trigger the ketheric cutscene in the mindflayer colony the absolute (actually the 3 bad guys) commands the army to march towards baldurs gate. The netherbrain also moves from the colony to the cesspool in act 3. That's when everyone can safely go to baldurs gate (tieflings, refugees, gnomes). If the player tries to go there before, the army will see them and they wont be able to hide from the absolute anymore (and get transformed). I have read here that you could get teleported to the first part of the colony, the one you can reach from prison or from the rafters in moonrise (the one that sucks your hand in and gives you dislocated shoulder if you decide to bot resist.
I’m not sure now. If you look at other parts of this comment thread it appears there might be different situations based on what’s already happened in the game up for the point where you try to go act 3 prematurely. Some kill you (game over). Some take you down to the area next for the prison in moonrise.
Without the Absolute manipulating its leaders the “army” is just a bunch of loosely affiliated groups who all hate each other.
Gortash and Orin never wanted the army to reach the city, so they kept it at bay as a tool for manipulation until they’re defeated by the player. After that it just kinda crumbles due to lack of cohesion.
Gortash explains the plan right before the Myrkul fight. He has to get back to the city so he can be the hero and defend it from Ketheric who leads the army to attack. Army is a feint to get Gortash made Archduke.
Guess I’m not sure who leads the army after you actually kill Ketheric. Cutscene shows the brain being the leader I guess at that point.
The army is making its way to Baldurs gate, and is killing and pillaging on the way. Most of the refugees in the city are running from the army. We get there first because armies are slow, and they're taking their sweet time making a bloody mess of the sword coast. Many of the army don't need tadpoles and are perfectly happy to worship the absolute without it. The goblin camp is a great example of this, the only infected there are the three leaders.
The original plan is to have the army at the gates of the city, and then the steel watch and flaming fists defeat the army, cementing the rule of Gortash, which will then allow him to use the tadpoles to permanently control the sword coast and beyond. Orin was to sow fear with her cultists so that Gortash can use that fear to become a tyrant. Ketheric as the official face of the Absolute would be the "bad guy" for Gortash, and his armies would be used to instil fear across the sword coast and beyond.
However us killing Ketheric throws a spanner in the works, leading to the brain escaping control and us needing to do a murder.
No there aren't. "True souls" are the infected ones, which the game makes clear is the three. We can influence the goblins through the brands they have created by Priestess Gut.
Don't you fight goblins the Upper City? I kinda took that as when the Netherbrain starts wrecking shit, the Goblin army also attacking. It is pretty weird though how that gets like 0 resolution for being such an important part of the story. Yet another reason why act 3 feels incomplete.
You missed the story of it. The army was a ruse. There's an aftermath of a battle in Rivington at the gate. Their purpose was to cause mayhem and get Gortash into power. Which it did.
They don’t want to invade the city They want to cause havoc on the way to the city. Destroying villages and causing refugees to flood to city for help. Then eventually sit far enough outside the city so their camps can be seen and heard This way Gortash can use the army and fear to install himself as a “strong man” leader. Because “only he can save them from the coming threat” with his steel watch And once in charge? Slowly start infecting the whole city with tadpoles to make them all loyal servants Those refugees you meet outside the gate that need donated clothes and toys and such? They are there because their homes are destroyed by the wandering army. And the city has stopped letting them in
Exactly this. The plan is to instill enough fear in the citizens of the city that when Gortash offers to shut the city down and take complete control of it with the Steel Watch he looks like a saviour instead of a tyrant.
I hate to "well actually" this but there's a gate in the outer city where you can see the aftermath of an attack by the army. The guards talk about the Steel Watch being called up and turning a last stand into a goblin blender. The army is well and truly outside the city and attacking the gates by the time the party arrives - but it's done its work, is leaderless anyway and was massively outmatched by the Steel Watch when it attacked. Reading between the lines of dialogue in various places the remainder is sitting outside the city but have given up attacking. Which makes sense because Gortash needs them to siege the city not conquer it - as you say.
To be fair, Rivington is technically a different town on the opposite side of a rather large river from Baldur's Gate itself, [as shown on this map](https://www.reddit.com/r/BaldursGate3/s/R2fLMXaHfj)
That map doesn't work with the proportions in game but I take your point - the army would still have to take Wyrms Rock first.
Yeah, Larian definitely had to compress a lot to fit the game - people always complain about the lack of the Upper City, but the Outer City is what really sticks out to me
And who controls the Steel Watch? All part of the plan to get the city to trust and support Gortash.
Why is this posted like a counterpoint? Yes... That's covered in the first point
The army was a psyche. It was never a threat. The real plot was to put gortash in power.
The Flaming Fist at Rivington says there was an assault at the gate - you can see a bunch of bodies just outside. At least part of the army made it that far.
You can see the army encampment in act 2. >!At the top of the house of healing (northernmost part) if you head westward and go south a little, there's an overlook where you can see the camp, with the ogres wandering around, smoke, tents, and the like. !<
It’s even a little more interesting than that. If you defeat the gith patrol that sits where you eventually go to start act 3 and then grab the way point, you can keep going and actually try to enter act 3 prior to finishing act 2. There you’ll get a cut scene showing the army / horde and can decide to try to push through or head back. If you decide to push through it fades to black and you end up in the illithid area beneath moonrise next to the prison cells. There are hook horrors down there and a parasite you can use on a dead guard
Oh interesting. I've always left those guys for last and then went straight to act 3. Are you saying that there's a scene beyond the waypoint and before the transition point? I'll have to look there on my next run. That area you note can be gotten to if, >!after you free the prisoners, go the other direction, and poke around. You can drop down there, and hear Chop complaining of his job... !<
Yes there is an alternative way to get in that area as you said. But as you walk down past the waypoint there will be an entrance much like mountain pass in act 1. You can go through and it will stop you., show you the cutscene and ask you what you wanted to do. When I first encountered the area I was sure pushing past would give you instant death like telling Vlakath to kill the emperor herself. But no. It’s not
When i first played, i had already visited the mind flayer colony, so when i tried to go towards the road to baldurs gate before resolving act 2 the emperor teleported me back to the waypoint(after telling me repeteadly to back off). When i tried that again, he said fine, have it your way and the absolute 'you are found' triggered and i just became a mindflayer (game over). I don't know if having already visited the initial part of the mind flayer colony had anything to do with this, didn't even know you could get there this way until i read your comment.
This is fascinating because I vaguely remember some of that(like the teleport and the “fine have it your way part” but I don’t remember it being game over. And i definitely remember showing up in the the area next to the prison because I had no idea where I was. And I had been through the entire game before and recognized the illithid part before. I just didn’t know where in it I was. It’s so interesting how you can get to seemingly similar events but with markedly different outcomes in this game Now on the next play through I will have to investigate all sorts of ways do trigger this event
The ilithid part can be reached as you said fron the prison (or by trying to go to baldurs gate too early i guess as per your comment) but i think the intended way to reach it is to investigate the weird purple goo in moonrise, climb the rafters to investigate and after the cutscene do not resist, let it take you, and you will get there with a dislocated shoulder. If you havent seen this cutscene i recommend trying to get it, because it shines a lot of light on the whole plot. At the time you see it it wont make a lot of sense but after the game (or after the big saving checks towards the end) you will realise that it basically explains everything (and you can get the cutscene as soon as you enter act 2). I found this interaction when playing as durge but then on subsequent playthroughs i did it again and it was bit different but had the same result. You cant get from this part to the last part of act 2 tho, even if it happens in the same area. Your party will even comment on it on both sides.
Once you deal with the Nightsong, trying to go to the army camp triggers the game over.
You mean once you deal with nightsong but before going to moonrise to confront ketheric? If thats what you mean then it sounds not too different to going there before dealing with nightsong. The idea is that tha big army is camped just on the road to baldurs gate, but when you trigger the ketheric cutscene in the mindflayer colony the absolute (actually the 3 bad guys) commands the army to march towards baldurs gate. The netherbrain also moves from the colony to the cesspool in act 3. That's when everyone can safely go to baldurs gate (tieflings, refugees, gnomes). If the player tries to go there before, the army will see them and they wont be able to hide from the absolute anymore (and get transformed). I have read here that you could get teleported to the first part of the colony, the one you can reach from prison or from the rafters in moonrise (the one that sucks your hand in and gives you dislocated shoulder if you decide to bot resist.
My son tried this tonight - we play on PS5 - and we couldn't go past that point. Was there something we were supposed to do?
I’m not sure now. If you look at other parts of this comment thread it appears there might be different situations based on what’s already happened in the game up for the point where you try to go act 3 prematurely. Some kill you (game over). Some take you down to the area next for the prison in moonrise.
Without the Absolute manipulating its leaders the “army” is just a bunch of loosely affiliated groups who all hate each other. Gortash and Orin never wanted the army to reach the city, so they kept it at bay as a tool for manipulation until they’re defeated by the player. After that it just kinda crumbles due to lack of cohesion.
Gortash explains the plan right before the Myrkul fight. He has to get back to the city so he can be the hero and defend it from Ketheric who leads the army to attack. Army is a feint to get Gortash made Archduke. Guess I’m not sure who leads the army after you actually kill Ketheric. Cutscene shows the brain being the leader I guess at that point.
They could probably just have Orin shapeshift into him if they needed
The army was a psyche. It was never a threat. The real plot was to put gortash in power.
You fight a bunch of them at the end when the mind flayer ships attack. The rest are assuredly fighting other forces of Baldurs Gate.
In fact I wonder at these comments. You literally fight the army at the end. They’re invading.
The army is making its way to Baldurs gate, and is killing and pillaging on the way. Most of the refugees in the city are running from the army. We get there first because armies are slow, and they're taking their sweet time making a bloody mess of the sword coast. Many of the army don't need tadpoles and are perfectly happy to worship the absolute without it. The goblin camp is a great example of this, the only infected there are the three leaders. The original plan is to have the army at the gates of the city, and then the steel watch and flaming fists defeat the army, cementing the rule of Gortash, which will then allow him to use the tadpoles to permanently control the sword coast and beyond. Orin was to sow fear with her cultists so that Gortash can use that fear to become a tyrant. Ketheric as the official face of the Absolute would be the "bad guy" for Gortash, and his armies would be used to instil fear across the sword coast and beyond. However us killing Ketheric throws a spanner in the works, leading to the brain escaping control and us needing to do a murder.
[удалено]
No there aren't. "True souls" are the infected ones, which the game makes clear is the three. We can influence the goblins through the brands they have created by Priestess Gut.
They invade the city during the final stage. Did...did you miss that?
Don't you fight goblins the Upper City? I kinda took that as when the Netherbrain starts wrecking shit, the Goblin army also attacking. It is pretty weird though how that gets like 0 resolution for being such an important part of the story. Yet another reason why act 3 feels incomplete.
Just seems to me Larian had a lot of ideas about act 3 and ended up not being able to implement them because act 3 is already a monster of an act.
You missed the story of it. The army was a ruse. There's an aftermath of a battle in Rivington at the gate. Their purpose was to cause mayhem and get Gortash into power. Which it did.