Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Lenore's Kill Me Stanza

So, here's another thing that doesn't make sense.

Why is there a "If I recite this stanza, Bernard will kill me," trigger? Why would Lenore create such a thing?

Let's say she's walking around the tower, reading out loud. Oh crap! I just recited the kill me line!

Shouldn't it be more of a, "If you recite the right line he thinks your Lenore and no matter what after that you're fine, but if I recite the wrong line he views you as an intruder and tries to kill you?"

Shouldn't the kill me line be more of a, "Attack my enemies" trigger instead? Maybe after you quote the right line to make him friendly, quoting the kill me line could send Bernard and his animated armor clan out to go patrolling the Underdark for enemies or something.

This one should be easy ...

Imagine you create a robot, that reacts on vocal orders ...
Then it hit you, anybody could use your robot ... so you decide to code your comands into reciting verses from your favorite performance ...
But then it hit you, anybody who will find those lines and fire out that they are used for can do the same ... and so you decide to hide there a trap line, that will tun your robot into "kill on sight" mode ...

And voila.
If someone gets to your robot and figure out how to control it ... and if he pick wrong line ... he will be reduced to dust. :3 Its safety mechanism.

From the wiki : automatons have an inate desire to destroy organic life forms. Should an automaton's creator not define a kill phrase, the automaton will choose one itself composed of some of the statistically most common words in the creator's language. Recorded examples have been "Good day", "I'm hungry", and "Well, actually..."

Just saying, seems pretty stupid to create a command phrase to have your machine kill you. Never should there be a phrase that kills the owner... Ever. If the robot calls you Lenore and gives you a hug, you should from that point on be safe.

It's kinda like, "Wait a sec. How did Lenore die?"

"She was reciting her favorite poetry and her automaton went psycho. Truly tragic. If only she didn't love poetry so much. Sigh."

I'm not trying to make fun of you. I totally agree with you! My goal was for us to laugh together at how absurd the lore would have to get in order to justify such a gamey choice. I'm sorry if that didn't come across.

I disagree.

I think it shows Lenore is hanging on by a delicate thread.

She's programmed a robot to hug her, desperately looking for emotional comfort.

The fact that she has a kill phrase programmed into the robot hints that she's suicidal, and probably on more than just an ideation level. She's actually thought through the exact method and made preparations. She knows what the instrument of her death will be if she decides to end it all.

I believe there's meant to be something tragic in the figure of Lenore. Perhaps a nod to Poe.

I got the same impression as you, JandK.

To me, this was one of the most touching stories in the game so far, exploring the abandoned tower and discovering more and more about it's missing owner, and how lonely she must have been.
I must admit that meeting Bernard and finding out that Lenore had programmed him to hug her and encourage her brought a tear to my eye.

It seems very likely to me that she has programmed this kill phrase in a suicidal intention. I don't think she went through with it, but I fear that something happened to her in the Underdark, while she was on her way to Baldur's Gate.

I love the atmosphere of this area, very beautiful and very sad at the same time.

Edit: Oh, and I reloaded after finding out what this stanza is used for. I would not want to "kill" Bernard.

Did you go into the basement and find her final journal. Her last journal didn't seem to me like someone suicidal. She seemed more frustrated that her research was being interrupted by some emergency Mystra cleric meeting in Baldur's Gate.

I don't know. Doesn't seem quite right to me, bit whatever. It's a small thing regardless.

I haven't gone back over the scene, so I'm just relying on my memory here.

There was a death. A grave, and she put flowers on it every month. Right? Whose grave was that? I can't recall the name off the top of my head.

Wasn't there mention of Lenore trying to befriend the bulette, as if it could be a pet? Is that a sign of loneliness, perhaps tinged with a streak of self-destruction?

Wasn't the initial dusty book in the tower a story about three doomed friends who grow to kill one another?

Her journal talks about her departure, yes. Wasn't she only supposed to be gone for a month?

--what purpose does her research serve, I wonder? If she's upset that she's being torn from her research, is it possible that this study is born of some madness, fueled by tragedy?

@GM4Him: didn't you have a thread somewhere about the Sussur flower, questioning why it wasn't breaking the stasis field holding the tadpole at bay?

I can't seem to find that thread.

Anyway, I wanted to comment:

Maybe Lenore's research *is* what's holding the tadpole at bay. Maybe the Sussur petal has been used in some way to create a stasis field that's keeping the tadpole from changing you.

*

Does anyone remember what year Lenore left the tower for the meeting? How long has she been gone?

Me neither ... but concidering that collar you can dig there i would guess it was her dog.

1481. 10 years-ish. Yes. Myrna, the dog.

So she was supposed to be gone for a month, but it turned into ten years.

Yes, I think her research is probably what's keeping the tadpole at bay.

And it may have something to do with the weapon Shadowheart carries, also.

I don't think so. I mean, it's possible, but I doubt it. Ethel clearly calls the magic Netherese/ Sharran Shadow Weave Magic. That's different from anti magic. Now, that said, I agree there may be a connection, and perhaps it all started in 1481 with the meeting of Mystra Clerics.

I also think Gale is more involved and knows more than he's letting on. Why didn't he connect when you first meet him? Perhaps he knows more about how to control the tadpoles since he knows Netherese magic... Aka the Fast Travel Netherese Portal Runes.

Hmmm. Reread the last journal entry in the basement. She says she's taking her ring to Baldur's to show what it can do. It is implied that the ring is based on her research.

So, perhaps there is something to it being used to keep the tadpole in stasis. Maybe she went to Baldur's, there was treachery and betrayal, and the Sussur research, ring and all, was taken and used.

Ah, but it's clear it's shadow magic, not anti magic. I keep going back to that.

That's one of the problems I'm having overall trying to figure this all out.

There are so many players. How to piece it all together?

A. Illithids,
B. devils,
C. githyanki,
D. vampire,
E. the dead three,
F. the Absolute,
G. the clerics of Mystra,
H. the Necromancy of Thay,
I. Shar,
J. Selune,
K. Ketheric,
L. Eilistraee,
M. Lloth,
N. Zariel,
O. the Unclaimed,
P. Ironhand gnomes
Q. tadpole versus dream figure

*

I feel sure that this is a vital piece of the puzzle though. The Sussur flower research has to be important. It's the flower powering the entire tower, and there are broken bits of machinery everywhere.

And it all has something to do with a ring going to a meeting of Mystra clerics.

Serious question:
Where did you find any connection between Mage Tower and Tadpole, or Illithids? O_o

Yeah, clearly Lenore is deeply depressed, and based on this program, had thoughts of suicide. She was so depressed, she thought her dog came back to her as a Bulette.


I think the odds are good we'll learn that something happened to Lenore in BG, and possibly deal with her wizarding organization. I'm wondering if the wizard looking for the Nightsong is related to her in some way.

Does anyone know if the play with the three wizards who betray one another has some meaning elsewhere in the game. I thought it might have been related to why Lenore never returned, then I thought maybe it was related to the three wizards looking for the forge (Lenore seems to have a few forges herself) but I can't quite work it out.
Things like this seem to be very obvious to other people but never me.

Also recall that Blurg and Omeluun mention her Tower has a habit of travelling around. So maybe her research (and the Sussur) is related to teleportation, or extraplanar travel maybe.

So, here's a realistic theory. What is the most likely thing Lenore would do before leaving for a year? She visits her dog Myrna's grave one last time. The bulette lives near there. "Goodbye Bulette," says Lenore.

"Goodbye Lenore," thinks the bulette with sinister intent.

And Lenore was never heard from again.

Side note. 1492 is current date. 1481 is 11 years, almost twelve, earlier. Why say, "about 10 years ago?" Why not "almost twelve?"