I was also pretty upset that they made us sacrifice someone. My thought was that the Emperor even said, "Your mind is too simple to do this. It can only focus on one thing at a time. The Absolute can focus on many things at once."

Okay. Here Gale. You're equal to mind flayer Intelligence by Act 3 because I gave you 18 Intelligence. Mind flayers have 19. So... You take ONE Netherstone. I'll use a second with my Circlet of Intelligence I got from the ogre gourmand in Act 1, and let's give the third one to Orpheus. He's GOT to have higher intelligence too. Right? Now let's all 3 of us work together to hit the Netherbrain's mind in three different ways at the same time and penetrate through it and take control.

Sorry, I also have a problem with the whole, "You have to have the mind of a mind flayer to use the Netherstones properly to defeat the Netherbrain." They're only Intelligence 19. They don't even really have some sort of special ability that would necessarily make them SO vital to the task. And the whole Crown and Netherstones were made by humans to begin with, so making it so that they could ONLY be used by a mind flayer in the end to defeat the Netherbrain just doesn't feel right.

I don't know. I just had a hard time with it. I'd have preferred giving the PCs a legit chance to defeat the Netherbrain at the end without one person turning into a mind flayer but giving the PCs additional skill checks. Something like, "With Orpheus' help, now that he's free, his abilities can help hinder and distract the Absolute long enough for three of you to use your combined abilities to use the Netherstones to reshackle the Absolute. Now make a DC 12, DC 15, and DC 18 Arcana check consecutively. All three of you need to keep making these rolls until you all three make them successfully one right after the other, and each round requires you to spend all actions to do so while the rest of your party and allies keep the enemies at bay."

But, having said that, I'm doing something different with the fanfic. I haven't posted this particular part yet, but it's coming next week. It starts, however, with the chapter I just posted this week.

Updated BG3 blog. Book 4: Ascension of the Mastermind, Part 5, Chapter 45. The Inception of the Grand Design. Hope you enjoy it.

It is the final book in the Baldur's Gate 3 The Afflicted fan fiction. At last, the Afflicted have arrived at Baldur's Gate, but they quickly learn that there is SO much more going on than the Cult of the Absolute. Numerous schemes, conspiracies, and intrigues quickly entangle them and threaten to enslave or destroy them. Will the Afflicted stay united? Will they survive? Will they overcome? Or will the greatest mastermind succeed and ascend to absolute godhood?

This story is free on the blog site to all who wish to read the Baldur's Gate 3 story using characters I created as the protagonists.

MAJOR SPOILERS if you plan on playing the video game. Hope you enjoy.

https://baldursgate3theafflicted.blogspot.com/2021/08/home.html

Book 4: Ascension of the Mastermind (MAJOR SPOILERS!!! It is highly recommended you play the video game first. This story is based on choices and decisions I made while playing the game as well as on what I thought the characters would do if they weren't restricted by the video game. Also, SPOILERS for the Demon Hunters story as it is the prequel to the Afflicted story. Three of the characters from Demon Hunters - Aelun, Vlynrifane, and Fiovay - are among the main characters of this story. There are other characters from Baldur's Gate 3 that are in Demon Hunters, so the two stories are closely tied together. As before, I will be releasing portions of this story as I complete them, so watch for updates regularly.
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Also check out Demon Hunters, the 2-Book prequel story based on the Out of the Abyss campaign. The Demon Hunters story has many tie-ins with Baldur's Gate 3 that I've created including several major characters. You might get confused at some points in Baldur's Gate 3 if you haven't read Demon Hunters.

https://dndemonhunters.blogspot.com/2022/09/demon-hunters-d-5e-fan-fiction.html

(Not to be confused with other Demon Hunters stories or franchises. I created Demon Hunters as a story prior to certain other Demon Hunters publications (notice 2022/09 in the above link). I got the name, actually, from a heavy metal Christian band I used to listen to, so there is absolutely no relation with current, popular Demon Hunters.)