dev_notes.md

Dialogue Choice Addition Notes

This document comprises rough development notes and brainstorm data; not polished documentation.

Candidates for expansion

• End dialogues early in Candlekeep return
• Iron Throne NPCs
• Character rejoin dialogue
• Caelar
• Add journal when killing Madele
• [ ] Final BG1 battle
• [ ] Koveras
• [ ] Centeol

BDNEDERL

Stay away

"The reinforcements you've brought are a welcome and much-needed asset, . YOUR presence is problematic. Many are... disturbed... by tales of Boareskyr Bridge. It would be best if you were away from the camp for a time."

Responses:

• I'll stay away then.
• If you don't want me here, I'll go.
• Fine, where should I go? / What do you want me to do?
• Is there nothing I can help with?
  • Is there nothing I can do?
• That's not fair or true / oppose
• You want me to just keep my distance from the camp?

Answers:

• ⭐ I'll stay away then.
  • ⭐ I'll keep my distance then.
  • If you don't want me here, I'll go.
  • Then I'll go.
  • I'll go then.
  • Fare well then.
  • I'll go.
  • I'll be off then.
  • Fine, I won't bother you.
  • Fine, I won't bother you no more.
  • Fine, I won't stay.
  • Fine. I don't want to be here anyway.
  • I will take my leave then.
  • Fine, I'll leave.
  • Fine, I will leave.
  • Fine.
  • Fine, I won't linger.
  • Fine. I'll not bother you.
  • Fine. I'll not bother you or your camp.
  • ⭐⭐ Fine. I'll be off.
• If there's nothing for me to do here, then…
• Is there nothing I can help with?
• What do you want me to do?
  • What do you want me to do then?
  • What would you have me do then?
  • What would you have me do?
• Tell me what to do.
• You want me to just go?

Brainstorm, not all polished.

LLM Answers:

• ⭐ Very well. Where would you have me go?
• Then I will leave the camp. What would you have me do?
• If I am not wanted here, then send me where I may still be of use.
  • ⭐ Human: If I'm not wanted, I'll go.
  • ⭐ Human: If I am not wanted, I will go.
  • Human: If I am not wanted here, I will go.
  • Human: If I'm not wanted here, I'll go.
  • Human: If I'm unwanted, I'll go.
  • ⭐ Human: If I am not wanted, I shall go.
• Fine, then. Is there some task that needs doing elsewhere?
• If I must stay away, then give me a purpose.
• Very well. Where can I do the most good?
• ⭐ If I cannot remain here, perhaps I may still be of service.
• Then tell me how I may aid the cause.
  • Human: Then tell me how I may still aid the cause.
• If I must go, let it be where I can still help.
• If there is no place for me here, then tell me where I am needed.
• Very well, but I would not stand idle. What needs doing?
• If you would have me gone, then at least put me to use.
• So be it. If not here, then where?
• Very well. If not here, then elsewhere. Where?
• Then I had best be elsewhere. Where to?
• ⭐ If there is no place for me here, then where is there?
• Very well. Where next?
• So this is how it is. Where now?
• So be it. I will make for Dragonspear. What lies between here and there?
• ⭐ Very well. I will keep my distance.
  • So be it. I will keep my distance.
  • So be it. I will stay away.
• Then I will not trouble your camp.
• So this is how it is. I will keep apart.
• ⭐ If I am not wanted here, then I will go.
• If you do not want me here, then I will leave.
• If I am not welcome in this camp, then I will leave it.
• If you would rather I were gone, then gone I shall be.
• ⭐ If I am not wanted, then I will not remain.
• ⭐ If I am unwelcome here, I will trouble you no longer.
• Very well. If I am not wanted here, I will go.
• So be it. If I am unwelcome, I will leave.
• Then I am of no use here.
• I see. Then I am not needed here.
• ⭐ Then I have no place here.
• So be it. I am not wanted here.
• ⭐ Very well. I will not trouble your camp.
  • ⭐ Human: Fine. I will not trouble your camp.
  • Human: Fine. I shall not trouble your camp.
• Then I shall leave you to it.
• I see. I will be gone, then.
• So be it. I will stay away.
• Fine. I have no wish to stay here.
  • ⭐ Human: Fine. I have no wish to be here.
  • Human: Fine. I don't enjoy being here.
  • Human: Fine. I don't enjoy being here anyway.
  • Human: Fine. I do not enjoy being here anyway.
  • Human: Fine. It's not like I enjoy being here anyway.
• Very well. I have no place here.
• So be it. I do not care to remain.
• Fine. I will be gone from here.
• So be it. I have no business here.
• ⭐ Fine, then. I shall be elsewhere.
• Fine, then. I will not stay where I am unwelcome.
• So be it. I do not care to remain.

State 8:

"As it happens, there is a matter that requires attention a ways from here. Word has gotten 'round that Caelar's forces are receiving supplies via caverns beneath Dragonspear Castle. We have a rough idea where the entrance is—beyond Dead Man's Pass, as the locals like to call it."

BDDELANC

Torture

State 8:

"As it happens, there is a matter that requires attention a ways from here. Word has gotten 'round that Caelar's forces are receiving supplies via caverns beneath Dragonspear Castle. We have a rough idea where the entrance is—beyond Dead Man's Pass, as the locals like to call it. That's assuming the information we have is accurate. Torture usually gets you answers, but it doesn't always get you the truth."

Reactions/stances:

• I don't want to think about torture. / I don't know what I think about torture.
• Torture is sometimes a necessary evil.
• Sometimes torture is your least bad option.
• I hope torture was your last resort.

Not my own views, but possible reactions players/PCs might have. Excluding ones that are covered in vanilla.

Answers:

To state 28:

• Let's hope it's true. / That's incredible information. / That's incredible news!
• I don't know if I endorse your use of torture, but now that it's done, what do you want me to do?
• That's insightful. What do you want me to do?
• We should investigate.
• Still, that's worth investigating.
• What's your idea?
• Have you learned anything more? / What else have you learned?
• Tell me more. About the caverns.
• Does it lead into the castle?
• Is this a way in? / Could this be a way in? / Could this be a way inside the castle?
• Could this be a way in? What more do you know?
• Could this be a way into Dragonspear Castle? What else can you tell me?
• Do you think the caves lead inside the castle? What more do you know?
• Could the caverns be a way in? What more do you know?
• Could these caverns give us a way in? What else have you learned?
• What more do you know?
• What more do you know about this?
• What more have you learned?
• What else do you know about this?
• Tell me more.
• Who is responsible for the supplies?
• Could this be a way inside the castle? What else have you learned?
• Could this be a way into the castle? Have you learned anything else?

LLM:

• Let's hope this information proves accurate. What would you have me do next?
• I won't condone torture, but the deed is done. What's our next step?
• That's troubling, but we should act on what we've learned.
• We should investigate the caverns and confirm the truth of this.
• This warrants further investigation. What do you propose?
• Have you uncovered anything else of importance?
• Set aside how you got it—what matters is whether those caverns reach the castle proper.
• If this intelligence is sound, we use it.
• Do the caverns provide a way into the castle's interior?
• Could this be an entrance to the castle? Have you uncovered anything further?
• Could this be a way in? What else do you know about it?
• Is this a way in? What more have you learned?
• Could the caverns get us inside? What do you know?
  • Human: Do the caverns lead inside the castle?
• A way in, perhaps? What more is there?
• A way in, is it? What more do you know?
• Might these tunnels lead us in? What more is there?
• What else have you heard of this?
• What more have you learned of this matter?
• Is there more to this than rumor?
• A way in? What more do you know?
• Even so, it is worth hearing out. What more do you know?
• Even doubtful intelligence may prove useful. What else do you know?
• Uncertain though it is, we should follow it. What else have you learned?
• Whether true or not, it bears looking into. What else do you know?
• ⭐ Even so, I would hear the rest. What else have you learned?

To State 10:

• Was torture really necessary?
  • Why did it have to come to torture?
• Do we really need to use torture?
• I hope torture was your last resort.
• Is there no other way to get the truth?
• Is torture ever required to get to the truth?

LLM:

• Was such cruelty truly necessary?

• Was there truly no other way?

  • Human: Was there truly no other way to learn this?
  • Human: This is promising, but was there truly no other way to learn this?
  • This may help us, but was there no better way to uncover it?
  • This is valuable news, but was there no gentler way to come by it?
  • Useful though it is, was there truly no other way?
  • This may prove important, but did it truly have to come to that?
  • This is welcome intelligence, but was there no lesser means?
  • This may aid us, but could it not have been learned by gentler means?
  • Human: This is promising, but was there truly no other way come by this information?
  • Human: This is promising, but was there truly no other means come by this information?
  • ⭐ Human: This sounds promising, but was there truly no other way come by this information?
  • ⭐ Human: This sounds promising, but was there truly no other way to learn this?
  • Human: This sounds promising, but was there truly no other way to gather this information?
  • Human: This sounds promising, but was there truly no other way to gather this information?
  • Human: This sounds promising, but was there truly no other means to obtain this information?
  • ⭐ Human: The information sounds promising, but was there truly no other means to obtain it?
  • Human: The information is valuable, but was there no other way to obtain it?
  • Human: The information is valuable, but was there no other way to obtain it than through torture?
  • Human: The information is valuable, but was there no other way to obtain it than through torture?

• Was there no other way to get the truth?

• Did it truly have to come to torture?

• Were such measures truly required?

• Was torture the only way?

• Was there no gentler course open to you?

• Could the truth not be had by gentler means?

• Was it truly necessary to resort to such measures?

• Was it necessary to go so far?

• Did you see no better way?

• Was that measure truly required?

• Do we really need to rely on such methods to gather intelligence?

  • Human: Do you really need to rely on such methods to gather intelligence?
  • Human: Is it really needed to rely on such methods to gather intelligence?

• I would hope torture was used only as a last resort.

• I trust you only turned to such measures when no other options remained.

• I trust torture was your last resort.

• I trust you exhausted your other options first.

• I trust such measures were not taken lightly.

• I trust you did not turn to torture lightly.

• I would hope this was done only of necessity.

• I trust there was no gentler way to get the truth.

• I would rather believe torture was your final recourse.

• I trust this was done only when all else failed.

• I trust such measures are not taken lightly.

• I trust you do not resort to such measures lightly.

• ⭐ I trust this is not your first recourse.

• I trust there is good cause for such measures.

• I trust you do not employ such methods lightly.

• Is there no surer way to the truth than this?

• Is there no better way to uncover the truth?

• Must one resort to torture to find the truth?

• Is torture truly needed to get the truth?

• Can the truth not be had by lesser means?

• Is torture ever required to get to the truth?

• Must it come to torture to learn the truth?

State 28:

"We have reason to believe Caelar Argent's top advisor, a priest named Hephernaan, is quartered in Dragonspear's basement. We know very little of Hephernaan, other than he apparently has Caelar's ear. We do know that a series of caverns runs beneath the castle. We believe Caelar is channeling supplies through the tunnels rather than attempting to break our perimeter. So there is a way into the castle from below."

State 10:

"Judge me if you must, , but for the Sword Coast's sake, do it after the Shining Lady's been dealt with."

Answer 1: "...Very well. What do you require of me?" Rewrite to ⭐ "...Very well. What else have you learned?" Rewrite to "...Very well. What more have you learned?"

Stoop lower than torture

"I'd stoop lower than that if it meant saving the life of a single soldier under my command."

Jastey's Tweaks:

• Yes, but as Marshal Nederlok just pointed out it's not even guaranteed that it will!~

AI:

Here are alternatives that push back on De Lancie's logic without duplicating the other three options:

• And if the answer wrung from him is false? You may have damned yourself for naught.
• A soldier's life is not saved by any means that happen to present themselves. Bad counsel kills as surely as any blade.
• You speak as though cruelty becomes wisdom when dressed in a commander's cloak. It does not.
• ⭐ If the man lied to end his pain, then your noble purpose has bought us nothing.
  • And if the man lied to end his pain? Then you have bought nothing but shame.
  • If the man lied to end his pain, then all your sacrifice has bought us nothing.
  • If the man lied to end his pain, then your soldiers may die chasing a falsehood.
  • You would stoop so low for words a tortured man may have spoken only to end his pain?
  • ⭐⭐ If the man lied to end his pain, then you have stooped for nothing.
  • Human: If the man lied to end his pain, then you have stooped for nothing!
  • ⭐⭐ If the man lied to end his pain, then your sacrifice is no sacrifice at all—only shame.
  • If the man lied to end his pain, then your resolve has served only your anger.
  • ⭐ If the man lied to end his pain, then you have won no truth—only the comfort of having done something.
  • If the man lied to end his pain, then your hard choice was merely a foolish one.
  • If the man lied to end his pain, then you have risked our cause on the word of a desperate prisoner.
  • ⭐ If the man lied to end his pain, then all you have proven is that fear can make fools of commanders.
• You would trade your honor for a rumor, then? That seems a poor bargain.
• Saving lives is a fine cause. Chasing lies born of pain is another matter.
• A fine bargain: your honor for words screamed through broken teeth.
• You would damn yourself for a rumor, and call that command?
• So this is command, then? Trading honor for whatever words pain can purchase?
• If this is what passes for duty, I fear the Coast has already lost more than soldiers.
• You dress barbarity in a soldier's colors, but it remains barbarity.
• A man will say anything under torment. You have bought shame, not certainty.
• You speak of saving lives while making corpses of your own principles.
• ⭐ So you would stain your honor for words screamed under duress? A poor bargain, and a foolish one.
• You would stoop to torture for answers that may be lies? That is not resolve; it is desperation.
• Then you would purchase rumor with cruelty and call the bargain noble.
• ⭐ A man in pain will say anything. If that is the foundation of your strategy, we are worse off than I feared.
• You have not bought truth, De Lancie. You have bought whatever words would end the pain.
• Cruelty is ugly enough without pretending it is wisdom. Nederlok is right: pain does not guarantee truth.
• So the lives of your soldiers now rest on confessions wrung from agony? That is not command; it is folly.
• ⭐ You would damn yourself for answers you cannot even trust. How very noble.
• If you would stoop so low, at least admit how little certainty you bought for the price.
• Pain buys answers, De Lancie—not truth.

Poisoning thy enemy

State 22:

"We know Dragonspear is being supplied via the caverns you'll be visiting shortly, if all goes as planned. If you put a few drops of this in the enemy food supplies and water, we would have an edge when we finally confront the Shining Lady."

Responses:

• Uncomfortable with that
• Unsure what to think of the ethics
• Is the poison lethal?
• It's okay if it's non-lethal
• That would give us advantage, therefore it's good
• For the greater good, regardless the consequences
• Are you sure this needs to be done?
• Will it affect non-combatants?
• Killing is never an acceptable outcome
• I am not committed for this campaign to lead to killing; it should be avoided at all costs

Answers:

• ⭐ Only if it's non-lethal.
• Is it lethal?
• I would poison my enemy, but not for this cause.
  • I will poison my enemies gladly for the right cause, but fighting Caelar's crusade isn't it.

State 23:

"Given a choice between victory and honor, I know which I'll choose. I can see you'll not be persuaded entirely by reason—given your reputation, I can't say I'm surprised. Perhaps you are open to compromise. Would it change your mind if I told you the poison wasn't lethal?"

↑

LLM:

• An advantage, perhaps, but not an honorable one.
• Must we truly set honor aside for this?
• There is no honor in poisoning soldier and civilian alike.
• ⭐ If this campaign is to mean anything, it must not be bought with needless killing.

State 105 (new):

"I can see you'll not be persuaded entirely by reason—given your reputation, I can't say I'm surprised. Perhaps you are open to compromise. Would it change your mind if I told you the poison wasn't lethal?"

• Is it lethal?

LLM:

• If it does not kill, I might be persuaded.
• I mislike such methods.
• I know not what to make of this.
• If it kills, I want no part in it.
• ⭐ I want no part in needless killing.
• If it gives us such an edge, I would know its cost.
• I am no stranger to hard necessity, but tell me first whether it kills.
• I am no stranger to hard necessity, but this gives me pause.
• Are you certain this is needful?
• If innocents may suffer, I would hear more before I agree.
• I want no part in killing, least of all by poison.
• ⭐ I did not come here to see this campaign descend into needless killing.
• Poisoning food and water is vile.
• ⭐ No good comes of poisoning men.
• That is foul work.
• I want no part in such filth.
• That is a butcher's way of war.
• That is not a deed I would stain myself with.
• That is cruelty dressed up as strategy.
  • That is cruelty, not strategy!
• This is how men forget what they fight for.
• ⭐ That is too vile a means for any cause.
• ⭐ I did not come here to poison men like rats.
  • Poisoning men like animals is vile.
  • I did not come here to poison men like vermin!
• This goes too far for an advantage.
• ⭐ Too many may suffer for this.
• I want no part in such ugliness.
• I will not have this war sink to poison.
• That goes too far, even for war!
• ⭐ Poison is the sort of expedience that rots a cause from within.
• No good future is built on work like this.
• We are not here to poison men into submission.
• This is not how such evil ought to be fought.
• There must be a better road than this.
• ⭐⭐ I would sooner face them blade to blade than do this.
  • I would sooner face them blade to blade than poison men like this.
  • I would sooner meet them blade to blade than do such a vile thing.
  • I would sooner face them blade to blade than poison men like this.
  • I would sooner face them blade to blade than poison their food and water.
  • I would sooner meet them in battle than poison them like this.
  • Human: I would sooner face them blade to blade than to use such cruel methods.
  • ⭐⭐ I would sooner face them blade to blade than use such cruel methods.
  • I would sooner face them blade to blade than stoop to such cruel methods.
  • I would sooner face them blade to blade than deal death by such cruel means.
• This war ought to end cruelty, not teach us new forms of it.

State 106 State 105 (new):

"Perhaps you are open to compromise. Would it change your mind if I told you the poison wasn't lethal?"

LLM:

• If it kills, I want no part in it.
• ⭐ I want no part in needless killing.
  • Human: I want no part in needless suffering.
• ⭐ If this campaign is to mean anything, it must not be bought with needless killing.
• That sits poorly with me.
• I would hear more before I agree.
• Whether it kills them matters.
• I would not kill for an edge like this.
• If it is not meant to kill, say so.
• If it wins us an edge without killing, say so.
• If this serves the greater good without needless death, say so.
• An edge is one thing. This method another.
  • Must it come to poison?
• And what of those within who are no soldiers?
  • And if there are innocents among them?
  • What of those in the castle who do not bear arms?
  • And what of servants and the like?
  • Will this harm only soldiers?
  • What of those who serve, but do not fight?
  • Will this strike only Caelar's fighting men?
  • I would not have innocents suffer for this.
• ⭐ I would do much for victory, but this gives me pause.
• I will not be party to killing them.
• I would keep this campaign from needless bloodshed, if I can.
• I will not see this campaign turn to poison and butchery.
• I will not lend my hand to such killing.
• I will not do this if it means poisoning them to death.
• I will not kill by such means.
• Killing by poison is not a thing I can countenance.
• Poisoning men to death is too high a price.
• Such killing is too high a price for victory.
• This campaign must not be bought with poison and death.
• That is too grim a price to pay for an edge.
• That way lies needless killing.
• Such means would stain the cause beyond bearing.
  • This would stain the cause beyond bearing.
  • The cause would be stained by such means.
• ⭐⭐ Poison is too blunt a weapon for my liking.
• That is a line best left uncrossed.
• This is how wars are made uglier, not shorter.
• An army that stoops to this learns the wrong lesson.
• There are victories not worth the manner of winning them.
• Too many would suffer for too little certainty.
• This is a poor bargain, even in war.
• Some measures are best left unused.
• ⭐⭐⭐ I want no part in victory purchased with needless suffering.
• There must be a better road than this.

State 25:

"Damn it! Your reticence this day is going to kill people. Good men and women. I will do everything in my power to see an end to Caelar Argent. You, it seems, will not. The blood of those who fall to the crusade is on your hands."

Answers:

• I would poison my enemy, but not for this cause.
  • I will poison my enemies gladly for the right cause, but fighting Caelar's crusade isn't it.
  • Trust me, I enjoy poisoning my enemies as much as anyone. But I will not do it simply because you asked me.
  • Trust me, I enjoy poisoning my enemies as much as anyone. But since you asked, I won't do it.
  • Trust me, I enjoy poisoning my enemies as much as anyone. But since you asked, I will not do it.

LLM:

• If this poison kills, I want no part in it.
• No. I will not do this.
  • No. This goes too far. I refuse.
• The more I think on it, the less I can stomach it.
  • I cannot stomach such a thing. Find another for it.
• I will not use poison, lethal or no.
• I will not buy advantage at such a price.
• There are things I will not do, no matter the cause.
• An advantage alone is not enough. I refuse it.
• This may win wars, but I will not do it for you.
• ⭐ Poison has its place. This is not it.
  • Human: Poison has its place. This is not it. Speak no more of it.
  • Human: Poison has its place, but this not it.
• Poison has its place, but not in this fight.
• I would poison my enemies for the right cause, but not at your bidding.
• I would poison my enemies readily enough, but not under your banner.
• I do not shy from necessary evils, but this is not one of them.
• Ruthless means have their place. This is not it.
• I have no quarrel with ruthless means. I have a quarrel with this one.
• I would embrace worse for a just cause, but not for this campaign.
• ⭐ I would do many dark things for the greater good. Not this one.
• If innocents may suffer for it, then I want no part in this.
• No. I will not kill them by poison or otherwise.
• I will not help turn this campaign into a butcher's work.
• ⭐ I will spill blood when it suits me, but I will not play poisoner for you.
  • ⭐⭐ I kill when it suits me, but I will not play poisoner for you.
    • Human: I kill when it suits me, but I will not play poisoner for you. I'll hear no more of this.
    • ⭐⭐⭐ I kill when it suits me, but I will not play poisoner for you. Press me no further.
  • I deal death when it suits me, but I will not play poisoner for you.
  • I have no qualms about killing, but I will not play poisoner for you.
  • I choose my own cruelties, and this is not one of them.
  • I have done ugly work before, but I will not play poisoner for you.

State 29:

"Here is the poison. One drop in a barrel of water, three in a crate of potatoes, and all who consume them will soon wish they hadn't." → State 27

• ⭐ Only if it's non-lethal.
• Lethal or not—give it here.
• Assuming this won't kill them/anybody, I'll do it.

LLM:

• If it will weaken them, I will do it.
  • If it will weaken them, then give it to me.
  • If this gives us an edge, then I will use it.
  • If it gives us the advantage, I will use it.
• ⭐ So be it. I will do what must be done.
  • If this is what's required, I will see it done.
  • If this is what must be done, then so be it.
  • If this is the cost of victory, I will pay it.
  • Very well. I will see it done.
  • So be it. I'll see it through.
• ⭐ If it serves our end, I will use it.
• ⭐⭐ An ugly task, but I will see it done.
  • I do not like it, but I will do what is needed.
  • I will do what must be done, though I take no pride in it.
• If it helps bring Caelar down, I will carry it out.
• Then give me the poison.
• If you are certain it must be done, then I will do it.
• If this will strike only Caelar's forces, then give it here.
• I have my doubts, but give it here.
  • Best not to dwell on it. Give it here.
  • Say no more. Give me the poison.
  • I like this little, but give it here.
  • Whatever comes of it, give it here.
• Let us hope it strikes only the guilty. Give it here.
• May this spare more blood than it spills. Give it here.
• If this may spare lives in the end, I will do it.
• If this may end the matter with less bloodshed, I will do it.
• If this is not meant to kill, then give it here.
  • If it is not lethal, I will do it.
  • If this is to weaken them, not kill them, then I will do it.
  • If it need not kill, then I will see it done.
  • If this brings no death with it, then give it here.
  • If it is meant only to sicken them, I will use it.

State 27

"You are doing the Sword Coast a great service, . May fortune smile upon you in your mission. Farewell."

Original:

1. Poison an enemy army? You sicken me, de Lancie. Is this the honor of the Waterdhavian guard?
2. What? Explosives are one thing, but poison is too much. I'll hear no more of this.
3. That would give us a significant advantage, but managing it would entail significant risk. Which means I'll want a significant reward.
4. I will show the Shining Lady's followers the same mercy they would have shown me. Give me the poison.

Final:

1. An ugly task, but I will see it done.
2. Poison an enemy army? You sicken me, de Lancie. Is this the honor of the Waterdhavian guard?
3. I want no part in victory purchased with needless suffering.
4. That would give us a significant advantage, but managing it would entail significant risk. Which means I'll want a significant reward.
5. I will show the Shining Lady's followers the same mercy they would have shown me. Give me the poison.
6. I kill when it suits me, but I will not play poisoner for you. Press me no further.

Compromise

State 23:

"Given a choice between victory and honor, I know which I'll choose. I can see you'll not be persuaded entirely by reason—given your reputation, I can't say I'm surprised. Perhaps you are open to compromise. Would it change your mind if I told you the poison wasn't lethal?"

State 105:

"Perhaps you are open to compromise. Would it change your mind if I told you the poison wasn't lethal?"

• No. It's still evil.
• No. I will not partake in poisoning an army.
• No. I will not poison an army.
• It is a price I am not willing to pay.
• It is a price I am unwilling to pay.
• I will not compromise on my morals.
• I will not compromise on such an important moral thing.
• I will not compromise on this.
• There must be another way.
  • I will find another way.
  • I will find another way to stop Caelar.
• It would change my mind on the morality, but not on my decision.
• I wise distinction, but my answer is no.

LLM:

• No. I will not do this.
  • No. This goes too far. I refuse.
• The more I think on it, the less I can stomach it.
  • I cannot stomach such a thing. Find another for it.
• I will not use poison, lethal or no.
• ⭐⭐ There are things I will not do, no matter the cause.
  • ⭐⭐ Human: No. There are things I will not do, no matter the cause.
• An advantage alone is not enough. I refuse it.
• This may win wars, but I will not do it for you.
• A lesser wrong is still a wrong. I want no part in it.
  • That lessens the harm, perhaps, but it does not make the act right.
  • It would matter, yes. But it would not change my answer.
    • Human: It would matter, yes. But it would not change my answer. I will not do this for you.
    • Human: It would matter, yes. But it would not change my answer. I will not do this.
    • Human: It would matter, yes. But it would not change my answer. No.
  • A mercy in the method does not erase the wrong in the deed.
  • You mistake my concern. The death was not the only wrong.
  • ⭐ Less harm is not the same as no harm. I will not be part of this.
  • A gentler wrong is still a wrong. I want no part in it.
  • No. I will not excuse poison simply because it stops short of murder.
  • That makes it less grave, not acceptable.
  • You mistake restraint for innocence. I decline.
  • Nonlethal or not, it is still deception and harm. I will not help.
  • ⭐ I appreciate the distinction, but it does not change my answer.
    • ⭐⭐ Human: I appreciate the distinction, but my answer is no.
    • ⭐ Human: I appreciate the distinction. But I will not poison an army.
    • ⭐ Human: I appreciate the distinction. But I will not poison the enemy.
    • ⭐ Human: I appreciate the distinction. But I will not poison their food and water.
    • It matters that the poison is not lethal. It does not make me willing.
  • There is a wide road between mercy and murder, and this walks neither. I refuse.
  • That makes it less grave, not right. I will have no part in it.
  • That makes the act less severe, not acceptable.
  • No. Nonlethal harm is still harm.
  • That lessens the wrong, but does not remove it.
  • That is better than murder. It is not enough.
  • I hear the compromise, but I cannot accept it.
  • You have made it less monstrous, not right.
  • I grant the difference. I still refuse.
  • That changes what you are asking, but not enough.
  • No. I will not call this acceptable merely because it is restrained.
• No. If this thing must be done by poison, then it shall not be done by me.

Original:

1. A victory stolen is no victory worth having. Were you anyone else I'd cut you down for even proposing such villainy.
2. Incapacitating an enemy without killing them is an ideal situation.
3. I still don't like it, but I've done a lot of things I don't like in this life. I'll be able to live with this one.
4. A lesser sin is a sin still. Do not speak to me of this again. (good paladins and clerics)

New:

1. A victory stolen is no victory worth having. Were you anyone else I'd cut you down for even proposing such villainy.
2. Incapacitating an enemy without killing them is an ideal situation.
3. I appreciate the distinction, but my answer is no. (not paladin or cleric)
4. I still don't like it, but I've done a lot of things I don't like in this life. I'll be able to live with this one.
5. A lesser sin is a sin still. Do not speak to me of this again. (good paladins and clerics)

SCAR

Greetings

• ⭐⭐ I am indeed the one involved in the clearing of the Nashkel mines.
• Is there anything I can help with?
  • Can I help with anything?
• ⭐⭐ I am looking for a job.
• We should work together.
  • We should join common cause.
  • We should join forces.
  • I would like to work together.
  • I would like us to work together.
  • Are you open for collaboration?
  • mutual benefit
• Do you need help with anything?
  • Can I be of assistance in any way?
  • Do you need assistance with anything?
  • Do you need any assistance?
  • Can I help you with anything?
  • Do you have need of assistance?
• Never mind.
  • Goodbye.
  • An honor to meet you. Goodbye.
• I wish I had the time to stay and chat.
  • Unfortunately, I cannot delay.
  • Unfortunately, I cannot stay and talk.
  • I must go, unfortunately.
• I just wanted to say hello. Goodbye.
  • Good to meet you. Unfortunately, I must go. Goodbye.
  • I only wished to greet you. Goodbye.
  • I only wished to greet you. Goodbye for now.
  • I only wanted to say hello. Goodbye for now.
  • I only wanted to say hello. Goodbye for now.
  • Nice to see you, Scar. I have pressing matters at hand, so I will leave you to your work.
  • Nice to see you again. I have pressing matters at hand, so I will leave you to your work.
  • I simply wanted to greet you, but now I must leave.
  • I simply wanted to greet you, and now I must leave.
  • I only wanted to say hello as I was passing by. Goodbye.
  • Good to meet you. Unfortunately, I have some pressing matters at hand.
  • Good to meet you. Unfortunately, I have some pressing matters at hand.
  • I only wanted to say hello for now.
  • I'm in a hurry, but we should talk some time.
  • And you, Scar.

LLM:

• ⭐⭐ Well met. Things seem uneasy in Baldur's Gate.
• I'm looking to earn some coin.
  • I'm in need of work. Got anything for me?
  • I'm seeking employment, if you have any.
  • If there is work to be done in Baldur's Gate, I would hear of it.
• I suspect we could be of mutual assistance.
  • You and I may both be seeking answers in this city.
  • It seems to me we might profit by working together.
  • I believe we may be of use to one another.
  • I think we might profit by working together.
  • I have reason to think our goals may coincide.
  • I suspect we may be able to help each other.
  • You are a man of authority, and I am not without ability. Perhaps we should speak further.
  • I have seen enough trouble in this city to know that capable allies are worth having.
  • I suspect you and I may be concerned with the same troubles.
• Perhaps I could be of some use to you, Scar.
• I only wished to offer my greetings. Farewell.
  • Human: I simply wished to offer my greetings. Farewell.
  • I meant only to introduce myself. Good day.

Murs

"You not shiners? Why you here?"

• To kill you.
• To talk.
  • To make conversation.
  • To learn.
• To make friends.
• To rally against the crusade.
• A mistake. I'll head back.

LLM

• To see what the Shiners left behind. Maybe take some for myself.
• Same reason anyone comes here: to see what can be taken.
• If the crusade found something useful here, I want it first.
• I heard ogres were going missing. I wondered what they were worth.
• I came looking for profit, and ogres seldom guard anything worthless.
• To find out what all the fuss was about. Perhaps sell the answer.
• ⭐⭐ I thought there might be something here worth stealing.
• The Shiners take ogres. I was hoping they left treasure.
• I came to pick over whatever the crusade missed.
• Not to help you, if that is what you hoped.
• ⭐ I came to see whether you were as stupid as everyone says.
• I thought perhaps the Shiners had softened you up for us.
• If your kin are gone, perhaps you no longer need their belongings.
• I go where there is fear, confusion, and something to gain.
• To learn. No blades.
  • To find answers.
  • To listen, not fight.
  • To hear what happened.
  • HUMAN: To learn what happened.
  • To find out who is taking your people.
  • I only came to talk.
  • To ask questions, nothing more.
  • Just looking for answers.
  • No Shiners. No trouble. Just talk.
  • To see what all the noise was about.
  • To talk. Though I see that may have been optimistic.
  • To learn whether you were worth speaking to.
  • Curiosity. A mistake, perhaps.

Arbinge

Leave before smash

"Not your fight, <PRO_RACE>. Leave before Arbinge smash you to blood 'n bits!"

• Well said, actually. Goodbye.
  • Well said, actually. Goodbye and good luck sorting this out.
  • Well said, actually. Goodbye.
  • Well said, actually. I will leave.
• You're right. Not my fight. I'll leave.

LLM:

• ⭐⭐ A compelling argument. I'll trouble you no further.
  • No need to smash me. I'm leaving.
    • HUMAN: That won't be necessary. I will leave.
    • ⭐ HUMAN: No need to smash. I will leave.
    • HUMAN: Smashing won't be necessary. I will leave.
  • No smashing needed. I go.
  • Fine, fine. I go.
  • I leave before smash.

Dying Myconid

Belch

"(The mushroom creature shudders. Its body emits a prolonged belch from an orifice you cannot see.)"

• I can't understand you. Are you all right? What is that horrible smell?
• ⭐⭐⭐ I can't understand you. Are you all right?
• ⭐ Is it trying to communicate? What is that horrible smell?
• ⭐⭐⭐ I think we should leave.

LLM:

• ⭐ I wish I could understand you. Do you need help?
  • ⭐ HUMAN: I wish I could understand you. Are you all right?
  • You seem distressed. Is there any way I can aid you?
• I have no idea what you want, but gods, that smell is answer enough.
  • Whatever you are saying, it is being drowned out by the reek.
  • Is this your way of talking, or merely of offending the nose?
  • I cannot understand you. I can smell you, though, and that is bad enough.
  • You had best speak plainly, if you can. That odor is doing you no favors.
  • I do not know what you are saying, but I know what you are smelling.
  • Are you ill, or do all your kind smell like a compost heap?
• Are you unwell, or is that smell normal for you?
  • Are you dying, or is that horrible smell normal?
  • Are you ill? What is that awful stench?
  • Is something wrong with you? What is that horrible odor?
    • ⭐ HUMAN: Is something wrong with you? What is that horrible smell?
  • Are you supposed to smell like that?
  • ⭐ Are you unwell, or is that horrible smell just part of you?
    • ⭐ HUMAN: Are you unwell, or is that horrible smell normal for you?
  • Are you in pain, or merely producing that horrible smell?
  • ⭐ Are you all right? Because that horrible smell suggests otherwise.
  • ⭐ HUMAN: Are you all right? Because that awful smell suggests otherwise.
  • ⭐⭐ HUMAN: Are you all right? Because that putrid smell suggests otherwise.
• Is that normal for you?
  • Are you dying, or is this just how your kind behaves?
  • Should you be leaking like that?
  • Is something wrong with you, or is this usual?
  • Is this a sickness, or some mushroom trick?
  • Are you falling apart?
  • Do you need help, or distance?
  • Is that supposed to happen?

Original:

1. I can't understand you. Are you all right? What is that horrible smell?
2. Gods! It smells worse here than the outhouse did after Winthrop was done with it.
3. What is this foul miasma? Are you responsible?

Problems: no non-insulting option; no exit option

New:

1. I wish I could understand you. Do you need help?
2. Are you all right? Because that putrid smell suggests otherwise.
3. Gods! It smells worse here than the outhouse did after Winthrop was done with it.
4. What is this foul miasma? Are you responsible?
5. I think we should leave.

Too cluttered for an inconsequential encounter.

New:

1. I can't understand you. Are you all right?
2. Gods! It smells worse here than the outhouse did after Winthrop was done with it.
3. What is this foul miasma? Are you responsible?
4. I think we should leave.

Sorry, Beamdog.

BDBELLOW

Surface again

• No time to talk.

LLM:

• ⭐ I have no time for this. Farewell.
  • No time for riddles. Farewell.
  • ⭐ I've no time to hear your story, strange as it may be.
  • This sounds like a story best left untold. Farewell.
  • If this is the surface, I'd hate to see the cellar.
  • ⭐⭐ I'll leave you to enjoy the fresh cave air, then.
  • ⭐⭐ A touching reunion with the surface, no doubt. Farewell.
    • I'll not spoil your reunion with the surface. Farewell.
    • A fine surface you've found. May it keep you company.
    • A touching reunion, no doubt. Farewell.
  • I know not what game you play, gnome, but I'll have no part in it.
  • I'll not be waylaid by every oddity in the dark.
  • Another trapped soul, another strange tale. I must move on.
  • The road has given me enough riddles for one day.
  • I'll leave before this grows any more foolish.

BDSHAPUR

No business

State 9:

"That's no business of yours, surface-dweller."

• If you do not care about survival, then do not let me interfere.

LLM:

• Then settle this in blood, if you must. I want no part in it.
• ⭐ Then I withdraw. Let your choices claim you.
• HUMAN: Then I withdraw. Settle it in blood, then, if you must.
• Then I want no part in this. Kill each other, if that is all you understand.
• Then I leave you to it. Settle your grievance in blood, if you must.
• Then I'll not stand between you. Let whoever wants blood take it.
• Then I withdraw. If neither side will yield, finish it by the blade.

Begone

State 10:

"I'll not bargain with a surface-dweller. Begone!"

• ⭐ If you are so set on dying, then so be it.
• ⭐⭐ If you are so intent on dying, then so be it.

State 3 (BDTHERLI):

"You heard <PRO_HIMHER>! Cut the black-skinned bastards to pieces!"

State 30:

"Attack! Kill the rivvin, all of them!"

BDKHARMY (Keherrem)

Issue after modding dialogue

The journal makes the player lie about who killed the crusaders if they choose to kill them, even if they killed them for other reasons.

Possible fixes

• A. Change journal text so it doesn't phrase the deception part as necessary
• B. Change dialogue options so that they again reflect the evil quest path As far as my attempts at this goes, this muddies the water (e.g. "Letting crusaders live is a risk I am not willing to take. Your fellows will hear that the cultists killed you.").
• C. Branch "why kill when you can access the camp by saving" from "kill to deceive or kill for other reasons" in dialogue E.g. "Those spikes in the floor were designed to shoot up and impale you. One pull of that lever across the room and I'd rid the world of three crusaders. I'll tell your fellows the cultists killed you.". Muddies the water.
• D. Add instrumental evil path Already up at 5 options; can't think of a fix that feels right
• E. Instrumental evil option if the player has talked to the sargent / The Missing Patrol quest has started Same issue as with D.

Fixed using option A.

Help

"Help! Let us out of here! HELP!"

• Of course.
  • Of course. I'll find a way to open the cages for you.
• ⭐⭐ Of course. I'll find a way to free you.
• You wear crusader colors. I have no interest in helping you.
  • You wear crusader colors. I have no interest in helping you. Goodbye.
  • ⭐⭐ You wear crusader colors. I have no interest in helping you. Farewell.
  • You wear crusader colors. I have no interest in freeing you.
• ⭐⭐ Why help you when I can kill you?
  • Help a crusader? Why help you when I can kill you?
  • Why free crusaders when I can kill them?
  • Why free crusaders when I could kill them instead?

LLM:

• All right. I'll see if I can get these cages open.
  • Very well. I'll look for a way to open the cages.
  • I'll help. There must be some way to open these cages.
  • Keep your voice down. I'll look for a way to free you.
• Why free a crusader when I could kill one?
  • ⭐ Why should I free you when I could kill you instead?
  • ⭐ HUMAN: Why free you when I could kill you instead?
  • ⭐⭐ HUMAN: Why free you when I can kill you instead?
  • Why open your cage when I could make it your tomb?
  • Help a crusader? Why help you when I can kill you?
  • Help a crusader? I could end you just as easily.
  • Help you? A trapped crusader is a rare opportunity.
  • You ask for rescue, but your colors argue for execution.
  • Three crusaders, begging aid? Give me one reason I should not cut you down where you stand.
  • Help three crusaders? Give me one reason I should not kill you instead.
  • Three crusaders trapped and helpless. Why should I not simply kill you where you are?
  • Help three crusaders? I see no reason not to kill you where you stand.
  • Help you? I am more inclined to put an end to you.

Original:

1. Who are you?
2. You seem to be in a nasty spot.
3. You wear crusader colors. I have no interest in helping you. In fact, I should kill you right now.

New:

1. Who are you?
2. You seem to be in a nasty spot.
3. You wear crusader colors. I have no interest in helping you. Farewell.
4. Why free you when I can kill you?

Option 4 → "No! Don't do that, please! Just let us go."

Crusaders; help

"Private Keherrem of the crusade here. We're on a real important mission, and these kooky cultists caught us. Help!" "No! Don't do that, please! Just let us go."

• I cannot afford to let any crusade free. I will have to let you stay in these cages.
• Those spikes in the floor were designed to shoot up and impale you. One pull of that lever across the room and I'd rid the world of three crusaders. I'll tell your fellows the cultists killed you.
  • Those spikes in the floor were designed to shoot up and impale you. Perhaps I shall kill you.
  • Those spikes in the floor that are designed to shoot up and impale you, are those connected to this lever here?
  • ⭐ Those spikes in the floor were designed to shoot up and impale you. One pull of that lever across the room and I'd rid the world of three crusaders.
• It is not in my interest to help crusaders.
  • I am not inclined to help crusaders. Goodbye.

LLM:

• Crusaders? Then freeing you would be a mistake.
  • If you serve the crusade, I cannot let you go free.
    • ⭐ HUMAN: If you serve the crusade, I cannot let you free. I will leave these cages locked.
    • ⭐⭐ HUMAN: If you serve the crusade, I cannot let you free. I will leave you here.
    • ⭐⭐ HUMAN: If you serve the crusade, I will have to leave you here.
    • ⭐⭐ HUMAN: If you serve the crusade, I will leave you here.
    • HUMAN: Crusaders are better left locked up.
    • HUMAN: Since you serve the crusade, I will leave you locked up.
    • HUMAN: Crusaders? Unfortunately, I will have to leave you locked up.
    • HUMAN: I won't be freeing any crusaders. I will leave you locked up.
    • HUMAN: Given that you serve the crusade, I will leave you locked up.
    • HUMAN: You serve the crusade? Then I will leave you locked up.
    • HUMAN: Crusaders? Then I will leave you locked up.
  • The crusade has caused enough trouble. I will not loose more of its soldiers.
  • Your mission ends here, Private. I'm leaving you in the cages.
  • Crusaders? Then I cannot set you loose. I am leaving you here.
  • I cannot risk letting crusaders go free. I am walking away.
  • If you march with the crusade, I will leave these cages locked.
  • No. I am walking away before I regret opening those doors.
  • Your crusade is trouble I do not need. I am leaving you caged.
  • Your cause is not mine. I am turning away.
  • I cannot trust soldiers of the crusade. I am leaving you behind.
  • The cultists may be mad, but they have spared me a difficult choice. I am leaving.
  • I will not free you only to face you later. I am leaving.
  • No. I am going to leave you in the cages.
  • The safest choice is to leave you locked up. That is what I will do.
  • Your mission ends in this cage, unless someone else opens it. I am leaving.
  • I want no part in freeing crusaders. I am moving on.
  • If you march with the crusade, I cannot risk freeing you. I am leaving you here.
  • A crusader's plight is none of my concern.
  • I do not make a habit of helping crusaders. Goodbye.
  • Important mission or no, I will not aid the crusade.
  • You serve the crusade. That is reason enough to leave you here.
    • You serve the crusade. That is reason enough to leave you caged. Farewell.
  • I care little for crusaders and less for their missions.
  • I will not free crusaders. Remain where you are. Farewell.
• Those slots in the floor—where the spikes shoot up and impale you—are they connected to this lever?
  • Let me guess: that lever across the room makes spikes shoot up through the floor and impale you?
  • Those slits beneath you look made for spikes. Does that lever across the room raise them to impale you?
  • That lever across the room would not happen to send spikes through the floor and impale you, would it?
  • A cage, a lever, and slots for spikes to shoot up and impale you. Subtle.
  • A cage, floor-slots for spikes, and a lever across the room. I take it the spikes are meant to impale you?
  • If I pull that lever, do spikes rise from the floor and impale you?
  • Those grooves in the floor—are they for spikes that impale prisoners when that lever is pulled?

Impale

"NO! Don't! Don't, don't, don't, don't do that!" "No! Don't do that, please! Just let us go."

• Sorry. I was only thinking out loud. I won't kill you. Tell me how I can free you.
  • Sorry. I was just thinking out loud. I won't kill you. Tell me how I can free you.
  • ⭐ Sorry. I was thinking out loud. I won't kill you. Tell me how I can free you.
  • Sorry. I was thinking aloud. I won't kill you. Tell me how I can free you.
  • ⭐⭐ I was merely thinking out loud. I won't kill you. Tell me how I can free you.
• I cannot risk letting three crusaders live.
  • I cannot risk letting three crusaders live. Now I will kill you.
  • I cannot risk letting three crusaders live. Prepare to die.
  • I cannot risk letting three crusaders live. Say your last words.
  • Letting crusaders live is too big a risk. Say whatever prayers you know.
  • If I let you live, I might regret it later if I end up with your blade against my back. Say whatever prayers you know.
  • If I let you live, I may regret it later with your blade against my back. Say whatever prayers you know.
    • Letting crusaders live is a risk I am not willing to take. Your fellows shall hear that the cultists killed you.
• You'd rather live under these terrible conditions? Suit yourself. Good bye.
  • You would rather rot in that cage of yours? Suit yourself. Good bye.
  • You would rather rot in that cage of yours? Suit yourself. I'll go now.
• You have joined the crusade and therefore you must die. No sin shall go unpunished.
• I will enjoy this.
• Killing you will help me get into the camp. (instrumental evil)
  • If I kill you and take your badge, the sargent might let me in the camp. I will tell them the cultists killed you.
  • I will tell your fellows the cultists killed you.
  • Your fellows will hear the cultists killed you.
  • I will kill you and bring your badge to the sergeant, and they will let me into the camp.
• Your badge may be useful to me.

LLM:

• I spoke too harshly. I will not pull the lever. Tell me how to open the cages.
  • ⭐ HUMAN: Sorry. I was thinking out loud. I won't kill you. Tell me how to open the cages.
  • Peace. I will not kill helpless prisoners. Tell me how you may be freed.
  • Easy. I was only thinking aloud. I will not kill you. Tell me how to get these cages open.
  • I will not kill prisoners in a cage. Tell me how these locks open.
  • Enough. I only wanted the truth from you. How do I get you out?
  • ⭐⭐ I am merely considering all options. How would I go about freeing you?
• ⭐ If you are crusaders, I cannot let you leave this place alive. Make your peace.
  • Crusaders are too dangerous to spare. Say whatever prayers you know.
  • I cannot risk letting crusaders leave this place alive. Make whatever peace you can.
  • HUMAN: I cannot risk letting crusaders leave this place alive. Say whatever prayers you know.
  • ⭐ HUMAN: If you are crusaders, I cannot let you live. Say whatever prayers you know.
  • ⭐ HUMAN: If you are crusaders, I cannot let you live. Say your prayers.
  • ⭐ HUMAN: If you are crusaders, I cannot let you live. Say your prayers.
  • ⭐⭐ If you serve the crusade, I cannot spare you. Say whatever prayers you know.
  • HUMAN: I cannot risk letting crusaders leave this place alive. Say whatever prayers you know.
  • HUMAN: I cannot risk letting crusaders leave this place alive. Say whatever prayers you know. Say your prayers.
  • Crusaders are too dangerous to loose. Prepare yourselves.
  • Crusaders are too dangerous to keep alive. Prepare yourselves.
  • I have seen what your crusade brings. I will not let you carry it farther.
  • Three fewer crusaders may be worth one pull of a lever.
  • If mercy means freeing crusaders, I choose caution. Say your prayers.
  • I cannot afford pity here. Pray to whatever god still hears you.
  • Too many have died under your banner for me to open these cages. Pray.
  • Your lives are not worth the risk they carry. Pray, Keherrem.
  • The crusade has made enemies of us all. I will not spare you. Pray.
  • Your cause has made you too dangerous to spare. Pray while you can.
  • Mercy for crusaders is a risk I will not take. Say whatever prayers you know.
  • No. Letting crusaders live is too great a risk. Pray while you can.
  • I cannot spare crusaders and hope they stay harmless. Say your prayers.
  • Your lives are a danger I cannot leave behind. Say whatever prayers you know.
  • Letting crusaders live is a gamble I will not make. Pray now.
  • Spare you now, and I may find your blades at my back before this is done. Say whatever prayers you know.
  • I will not spare crusaders only to meet their steel behind me. Say whatever prayers you know.
  • If I open these cages, I may be opening my own grave. Pray while you can.
  • Let you go, and I may spend my last breath regretting it. Pray.
  • Mercy now may become murder later, and mine at that. Say your prayers.
  • I cannot loose you and trust you to stay harmless. Pray to whatever god will hear you.
  • Spared foes have a way of returning with sharper intentions. Say whatever prayers you know.
  • No. If you walk free, I may meet you again from the wrong end of a blade.
  • I will not spare you today only to bleed for it tomorrow. Pray.
  • A cage is the only thing keeping your steel from my back. I will not open it.
  • I will not gamble my life on your gratitude. Say whatever prayers you know.
  • I have seen what spared zealots do with second chances. Pray.
  • Your lives are a debt I may be forced to pay in blood. I refuse.
  • Mercy is easy to beg for and easier to betray. Pray now.
  • You ask for life, but offer me only risk in return. Say whatever prayers you know.
  • A living enemy behind me is a fool's mercy. I am no fool.
  • Crusaders or no, I cannot gamble with lives that may yet turn blades against me. Say your prayers.
  • ⭐ If you are what you say, then I cannot afford mercy. Pray while you can.
  • ⭐⭐ HUMAN: Letting crusaders live is a risk I am not willing to take. Say your prayers.
    • Crusaders are too dangerous to leave alive. Your comrades will hear that the cultists killed you.
    • Three fewer crusaders is no loss to me. Your comrades will think the cultists responsible.
    • Mercy for crusaders is a luxury I cannot afford. Your fellows will hear you died at cultist hands.
    • Dead crusaders tell no tales. Your fellows will hear the cultists did the deed.
    • ⭐⭐ Leaving crusaders alive is a risk I will not take. Your fellows shall hear that the cultists killed you.
    • ⭐⭐ If you serve the crusade, I cannot spare you. The cultists will take the blame.
• You would rather rot in that cage than face the lever? Suit yourself. I'll leave you to it.
  • You would rather rot in that cage of yours? Suit yourself. I'll leave you to it.
  • Then the lever stays untouched, and the cage stays locked. I am leaving.
  • Then keep your lives and your cage. I am done here.
  • Then I will leave the lever alone, and leave you in the cage.
  • I will not pull the lever, but neither will I open the cage. You remain here.
  • Then the spikes stay down, and the locks stay shut. Farewell.
  • I will spare your lives, not grant your freedom.
  • Be grateful. I am leaving you caged instead of dead.
  • I will not kill prisoners in a cage. But I will not loose crusaders on the Coast either. The bars stay shut.
  • I will not murder prisoners, but neither will I accept responsibility for releasing enemy soldiers whose purpose I do not know.
  • I will not kill prisoners in a cage. But I will not loose crusaders on the Coast either. The bars stay shut.
    • ⭐ HUMAN: I will not kill prisoners in a cage. But I will not loose crusaders on the Coast either. The cage stays shut.
    • I will not kill prisoners in a cage. But I will not set crusaders loose on the Coast either. The cage stays shut.
    • I will not pull the lever on helpless prisoners. But I will not open the door for crusaders. The cage stays shut.
    • HUMAN: I will not pull the lever on helpless prisoners. But neither will I open the door for crusaders. The cage stays shut.
    • HUMAN: I will not end the lives of helpless prisoners. But neither will I open the door for crusaders. The cage stays shut. -⭐⭐ I will not take the lives of helpless prisoners. But neither will I open the door for crusaders. The cage stays shut.
    • HUMAN: I will not end the lives of helpless prisoners against their will. But neither will I open the door for crusaders. The cage stays shut.
    • I will not execute helpless prisoners. But I will not release crusaders back into the world. The cage stays shut.
    • I will not murder prisoners for convenience. But neither will I loose soldiers of the crusade. The cage stays shut.
    • I will not kill you. I will not free you. The cage stays shut.
    • I will not answer the crusade with slaughter. But I will not aid it with mercy. The cage stays shut.
    • You are prisoners, and I will not kill prisoners. You are crusaders, and I will not free crusaders. The cage stays shut.
    • I did not put you here, and I will not kill you here. But I will not free crusaders either. The cage stays shut.
    • Killing you would be murder. Freeing you would be folly. The cage stays shut.
    • The spikes stay down. The bars stay closed. That is the only mercy I offer.
    • Mercy forbids the lever. Prudence forbids the key. The cage stays shut.
  • Your deaths will not be on my hand. Nor will your freedom. I am leaving the cages as I found them.
• ⭐⭐ Beg louder. I want to hear it when I pull the lever.
  • No, keep begging. It suits the moment.
  • No. I want to see what the lever does.
  • Your panic makes a strong argument for pulling it.
  • I wonder whether the spikes are as sharp as they look.
  • ⭐ A lever, three crusaders, and no witnesses. How could I resist?
• The sergeant only needs a story. Your corpses can give me one.
  • The sergeant sent me for proof. Your badge will serve just as well as your rescue.
  • Your sergeant wants proof. Your badge will do, and the cultists will take the blame.
  • The sergeant wanted proof of what happened to you. Your badge will do, and the cultists will take the blame.
• Your badge may serve as proof of your fate if I meet others from the crusade.

Player: Those spikes in the floor were designed to shoot up and impale you. One pull of that lever across the room and I'd rid the world of three crusaders. Jaherred: NO! Don't! Don't, don't, don't, don't do that!

1. Sorry. I was thinking aloud. I won't kill you. Tell me how I can free you. Jaherred: There must be a key around here somewhere! I saw a big lizard lady; maybe she has it. Free us and I'll do anything you say!
2. I cannot let crusaders leave this place alive. Say whatever prayers you know. Jaherred: Free us, please! I'll do anything you say if you help.
3. I will not take the lives of helpless prisoners. But neither will I open the door for crusaders. The cage stays shut. Jaherred: Free us, please! I'll do anything you say if you help.
4. Beg louder. I want to hear it when I pull the lever. Jaherred: Free us, please! I'll do anything you say if you help.

Don't impale

"It is not a very noble act to kill a defenseless prisoner. You should find another way to help them."

• Don't interfere, Rasaad. I shall enjoy their screams.
• I am merely considering all options. I haven't decided yet. Now, let's consider this option: how might we free them?
  • Let us consider all options. How might we free them?
  • Let us consider all options first. How might we free them?
• ⭐⭐ Letting crusaders live is a risk I am not willing to take. I will kill them.
  • Letting crusaders live is a risk I am not willing to take. I will tell their fellows the cultists killed them.

LLM:

• Stand aside, Rasaad. I want to hear them scream when the spikes rise.
  • Stand aside, Rasaad. I want to hear them scream when the spikes impale them.
  • Do not test me, Rasaad. I mean to pull the lever and enjoy what follows.
  • ⭐ Stand back. Their pleading is almost as pleasant as what comes next.
  • Noble acts are for noble causes. This one calls for screams.
  • ⭐ Do not interfere. I want to see what the spikes do.
  • ⭐⭐ HUMAN: Stand aside. I want to see what the spikes do.
  • Spare me, Rasaad. I did not come here to be merciful.
  • Noble? No. Memorable? Perhaps. Stand aside.
• The lever is one answer. Before I choose it, I would hear another.
  • I have not condemned them yet. Prisoner, how might these cages be opened?
  • Perhaps there is another way. Perhaps not. Prisoner, speak.
  • I am still taking measure of the matter. If death is not the answer, then how are they freed?
  • One pull would end this. Another path may yet serve better. How are the cages opened?
  • I am weighing death against release. Prisoner, speak for the latter.
  • The lever remains untouched. For now, tell me what stands between them and freedom.
  • I have considered the spikes. Now I will consider the lock. How is it opened?
• ⭐ They are defenseless now. They will not be, if I open those cages.
  • A noble act may yet get us killed. I will not spare crusaders only to face their steel later.
  • I will not dress folly as mercy. These crusaders are too dangerous to spare.
  • Spare them, and we may answer for it in blood. I will not take that risk.
  • A prisoner today, a crusader with a blade tomorrow. No.
  • Nobility is cold comfort when a spared foe returns with steel drawn. They die here.

Parley

Happy sacrifice (DELANC)

Context: parley between Caelar and her crusade and the coalition. Caelar offers retreat from dragonspear castle in favor of borrowing the baahlspawn (the player character) for a few hours or something like that.

the pc/baahlspawn pretty much knows (or suspects) what they want them for, but doesnt want to reveal it here. they need their blood to open a gate to the nine hells.

De Lancie: If I understand you correctly then, you're willing to surrender your troops and abandon Dragonspear Castle. All we have to do is give you the Bhaalspawn. [...] Caelar: You understand my position, then. I need the child of Bhaal, but only for a short time. I shall return them safe, unharmed, within the week and disperse my troops from Dragonspear Castle. [...] Hephernan: If it will help end this madness, I will go with Caelar. Stonehand: If it'll save the troops— Marshal Nederlok: What Caelar plans for the hero may be worse than loss of life. I understand your position, Stonehand, but you must see that cooperation could end in a bigger disaster than a battle. De Lancie (coalition leader): It pains me to say it, but Nederlok is right. This time. Though I'd happily sacrifice the Bhaalspawn's life to end this war, we don't know what sending them off with Caelar means.

1. I still think surrender is the best option. I'd gladly give my life to save those around me.
2. Thank you for the touching display of support, de Lancie.
3. Surrender is a tool, one I won't use until I'm certain of the outcome. I stay with the coalition.

Human

• I agree.
  • I agree as well. → Caelar: Time is now our enemy. If someone else seeks the Bhaalspawn... I cannot wait any longer for you to see the light. What will not be given freely must be taken.
• I trust your judgement, de Lancie.

LLM

• I agree. We can't risk handing me over without knowing what Caelar intends.
  • I agree. Whatever Caelar promises, surrendering me to her is too great a risk.
  • I agree. Until we know what Caelar truly means to do with me, I remain with the coalition.
  • Nederlok and de Lancie are right. I won't gamble the coalition's fate on Caelar's promises.
  • I agree with Nederlok. Until we know Caelar's true aim, surrender is too great a risk.
  • Caelar asks for trust while marching an army at our gates. I say we give her none.
  • No. Whatever Caelar intends, she has gone to great lengths to conceal it. That alone is reason enough to refuse.
  • ⭐ I agree. Surrendering me may end this battle, but it may begin something far worse.
    • I agree with Nederlok. No bargain should be struck blind; until Caelar speaks plainly, I go nowhere with her.
  • Caelar's bargain is too clean. If she needed only my presence, she would have said why.
  • A commander who hides her purpose should not be trusted with the one thing she demands.
    • ⭐ No bargain should be struck blind. Until Caelar speaks plainly, I go nowhere with her.
  • ⭐ She wants the Bhaalspawn badly enough to offer a castle for me. That should trouble everyone here.
  • I agree with Nederlok. This is not mercy; it is a price, and we do not know what we are buying.
  • Caelar may promise my safe return, but she has not promised the safety of anything else.
  • ⭐ I agree. A hidden purpose is poor ground on which to surrender the only thing she truly wants.
  • ⭐ I agree. If Caelar's purpose were harmless, she would not need to hide it.
  • ⭐ I agree. Caelar's promise protects me alone, and even that rests on trust she has not earned.
  • ⭐⭐ I agree. Caelar's terms are generous only if her purpose is harmless—and she has given us no cause to believe that.
  • ⭐ I agree. A week in Caelar's hands may cost more than a battle at Dragonspear.
  • ⭐ I agree with de Lancie. My life is not the only thing at stake here.
  • ⭐ I agree. Caelar offers peace too readily for a price she refuses to name.
  • I agree. The danger is not that Caelar will kill me. It is that she may not need to.
  • I agree. Caelar asks us to trust the one demand she will not explain.
• I trust your judgment, de Lancie. If you say this bargain is too dangerous, I will not dispute it.
  • For once, de Lancie, I am glad your caution outweighs your dislike of me.
  • I trust your judgment in this. Caelar has offered too much and explained too little.
  • Then I leave the decision with you, de Lancie. Better suspicion now than regret later.
  • I trust your judgment, de Lancie. My life may be expendable, but this choice is not so simple.
  • You are right to hesitate, de Lancie. Caelar's promise is not enough.
  • I defer to you, de Lancie. This army is yours to command, and I will not undermine it now.
  • I trust your judgment, de Lancie. If the coalition will not make this bargain, neither will I.
  • Then I stand with the coalition. Make your decision, de Lancie, and I will abide by it.
  • I will not divide our ranks over this. You have my support, de Lancie.
  • This is your command, de Lancie. I will not set my conscience above the fate of the coalition.
  • I trust you to weigh the lives at stake, de Lancie. I will follow your lead.
  • Very well. I place this decision in your hands, de Lancie.
  • You have command here, de Lancie. I will not contest your call.
  • If that is your judgment, de Lancie, I accept it.
  • I came here under the coalition's banner. I will honor its command.
  • A grim comfort, de Lancie—but I trust your judgment in this.
  • Your candor does you no favors, de Lancie, but I trust your judgment.
  • I dislike your reasoning, de Lancie, but I trust your conclusion.
  • Then I place my fate with the coalition, and trust your judgment, de Lancie.
  • I heard you plainly, de Lancie. Even so, I trust your judgment.
  • Not the warmest endorsement I have ever received, but I trust your judgment.
  • You have made your priorities clear, de Lancie. I trust your judgment all the same.
  • You would trade my life, but not blindly. I trust that much, at least.
  • I trust your judgment. If this bargain troubles even you, then it should trouble us all.

You're not safe here

Context: after parley, caelar wanted to trade the Bhaalspawn (pc) for surrender without explaining why. no deal was made.

De Lancie: Well. I sincerely hope you're worth what you just cost us, . [...] Stonehand: Guess it's war, whether we like it or not. Nederlok: Let's get you back to the camp, . You're not safe here.

EDIT: I missed the Nederlok line when speaking to LLM at first

responses - llm:

• upset at de lancie
• shame
• Half-willing, but angry at Caelar
• Grim pragmatism
• Fear / vulnerability

choices - llm:

• So that is what I am to this coalition. A cost to be measured, regretted, and maybe spent.
  • War or no war, it is a strange comfort to know my allies were only uncertain whether selling me would make things worse.
  • I suppose I should be grateful they found a reason not to hand me over.
  • I did not ask anyone to die for me. But I will not be grateful that my life was spared only because my death might be inconvenient.
  • I thought allies were meant to stand beside you before they started calculating your usefulness.
  • War because I would not let myself be handed over like tribute. That is a strange burden to lay at my feet.
  • Whether we like it or not? Some here seemed ready enough, so long as the price was only me.
  • I see. Refusing to be traded makes the war mine now. Convenient.
  • ⭐ A moment ago, my life was a bargaining piece. Now the blood to come is my fault for not accepting the role.
  • ⭐ It seems my choices are simple: be sacrificed quietly, or be blamed when others draw swords.
  • ⭐⭐ Easy thing, calling it war. Harder thing, standing here after hearing how readily peace might have been bought with your own skin.
  • ⭐⭐ The war was Caelar's threat. But somehow the shame of surviving it has already found its way to me.
  • No deal was made because Caelar would not explain herself. Yet somehow I am the one being weighed and found costly.
  • I will fight if I must. But I will not pretend I did not hear how quickly my life became strategy.
  • War, because Caelar would not explain herself—and because some bargains only look clean from the far side of the table.
  • War, because Caelar demanded a sacrifice, and some here nearly dignified the demand by considering it.
  • If it is war, perhaps it is because no one in command found the courage to say, plainly, that people are not terms of surrender.
  • War, yes. That is what happens when a tyrant asks for a person and commanders start discussing the price.
  • Seems so. Strange how quickly we arrived there after my life became a matter of arithmetic.
  • ⭐ War it is. I wonder whether it might have sounded different if the proposed sacrifice had worn a commander's cloak.
  • ⭐ War, because Caelar gave us a monstrous bargain — and because too many reasonable men paused to admire its convenience.
  • ⭐ Perhaps. Or perhaps it is war because the first answer to Caelar was not outrage, but calculation.
  • ⭐ War, whether we like it or not. Though some seemed to like the alternative rather more than they should have.
  • ⭐ So it seems. A crusader threatens us, a commander weighs my life, and somehow the blame finds the nearest Bhaalspawn.
  • Aye, Stonehand. War. Since surrendering someone else was apparently the only peace worth imagining.
  • Not safe from whom? Caelar, or the allies who just discussed spending my life?
  • Lead on, then. It seems I am safer among soldiers than among strategists.
  • Not safe here? No. Not while my life is being counted like rations before a siege.
  • I noticed. Caelar wanted to take me, and some here only objected because they feared what she would do next.
  • Then get me away from this place. I have had enough of hearing my life discussed as a military expense.
  • Not safe? I just watched a roomful of allies decide whether my life was cheaper than a battle. Tell me something I do not know.
  • Safe from what, Nederlok? Caelar's army, or the next man who decides my death is tidy enough to call strategy?
  • No. I am not safe here. Not with Caelar outside the walls and men inside them wondering whether I am worth the trouble.
  • Not safe? The enemy wants me for some hidden purpose, and my allies are angry I made that inconvenient. Yes, I noticed.
  • Gods, listen to yourselves. Caelar demands me, half this council weighs the bargain, and I am supposed to walk away grateful?
  • move quickly, before someone finds a cleaner word for handing me over. Duty, perhaps. Necessity. Sacrifice.
  • Fine. Drag the dangerous thing back to camp before it inconveniences any more commanders by having a pulse.
  • I did not cost them this war. Caelar did. But I see how eager everyone is to find a smaller target.
  • Safe is not the word. Contained is the word. Guarded. Counted. Kept alive until someone decides otherwise.
  • I should have known. Bhaal's child is never a person for long. Just a problem waiting for some righteous man to solve.
  • Yes, let us go. I have no wish to remain where my survival is being mourned like a tactical error.
  • No more councils. No more bargains. If anyone wants to spend my life, they can try taking it from me first.
  • Caelar promised me "safe and unharmed." Funny. The crusader sounded less eager to see me dead than some in this room.
  • Caelar asked for me. That was madness. What sickens me is how quickly madness became a proposal.
  • I will go back to camp. But I will not forget how easily one commander's conscience survived offering up my life.
  • Caelar threatened to take me. One expects threats from enemies. From allies, I had hoped for more than arithmetic.
  • I should be angry at Caelar. I am. But she was not the one who called my death a bargain.
  • I have no fear of dying in battle. But I will be damned before I stand quietly while allies discuss donating me to one.
  • If anyone wishes to spend my life, they can stop speaking in councils and come take it from me.
  • Safe? Caelar promised me safe and unharmed. A moment later, my allies were discussing whether my life was worth spending. I am beginning to hate that word.
  • ⭐ Safe from whom, Nederlok? The woman who swore I would be returned unharmed, or the man who said he would happily sacrifice me?
    • Safe from whom, Nederlok? The woman who promised to return me unharmed, or the man who said he would happily see me sacrificed?
  • Do not call it safety while people in this room are still deciding whether I am a person or a price.
  • Safe from Caelar, perhaps. Safe from being turned into someone else's solution? That remains to be seen.
  • Then get me away from here before another brave soul discovers how noble it would be to spend my life for me.
  • I will go, but not because I feel safe among people who can say "sacrifice" and mean me.
  • Safe? No. Guarded, perhaps. Contained. Kept from Caelar until someone else decides what I am worth.
  • Fine. Lead on. But if anyone else wants to discuss my safety, they can begin by remembering that my life is mine.
  • “Safe and unharmed,” she said. “Not safe here,” you say. Yet every version of safety seems to begin with someone else deciding where I belong.
  • Safe? Caelar promised me safe and unharmed. De Lancie promised he would happily sacrifice me. I am beginning to wonder what that word means here.
  • Not safe here? No. Caelar wants me alive, and my allies are debating whether I am more useful dead.
  • “Safe and unharmed,” she said. “Happily sacrifice,” he said. Strange day, when the enemy and the ally differ mostly in wording.
  • No, I am not safe. Caelar would keep me alive for whatever she wants, and De Lancie would spend me for whatever he wants.
  • Caelar offered safety with chains. De Lancie offered sacrifice with regret. I am not sure which insult is supposed to comfort me.
• War, then. And here I stand, alive, while others prepare to pay for it.
  • If they die because I remained free, I do not know how I will carry that.
  • Caelar forced this choice. But the shame of it still seems to know my name.
  • War, then. And I am left wondering whether my life has become too expensive to keep.
  • I did not ask to matter this much. Gods help the ones who pay because I do.
  • Then every blade drawn tonight is another answer to whether I should have gone.
  • I know she gave us no reason to trust her. I know that. It does not make this easier.
  • I should be angry. Instead I only feel the weight of everyone who may die in my place.
  • I kept my life. Now we will see what it costs everyone else.
  • A week in Caelar's hands, or a field full of graves. I hate that I was made to weigh them.
• ⭐ I might have gone willingly if she had trusted me with the truth. She chose force instead.
  • Had Caelar trusted me with the truth, I might have chosen to go. She chose threats instead.
  • I was not unwilling to listen. But she would rather seize me than trust me.
  • I might have gone with her, had she given me reason instead of riddles. Now she has given me war.
  • I would have heard her out. I might even have gone with her. But she chose threats over honesty.
  • She asked for trust while offering none. That is not parley. That is a demand wearing a halo.
  • I might have gone willingly, had Caelar trusted me with the truth. Instead she chose force, and now good people will bleed for her silence.
  • She wanted my cooperation, but would not trust me with the reason. That was her mistake.
  • ⭐ I might have gone to prevent bloodshed. Instead, because Caelar would not speak plainly, others will bleed.
  • I would have weighed the sacrifice, had I known what it meant. Caelar demanded payment and hid the price.
  • ⭐ She told us what she wanted. She did not tell us what it would mean. I will not surrender myself to a lie of omission.
    • ⭐ HUMAN: She told us what she wanted. She did not tell us what it would mean. I will not surrender myself to a sin of omission.
  • She might have had me willingly. But she would not say what she meant to do with me, and now she means to take me.
  • ⭐ I might have accepted the risk, if she had named it plainly. She hid the terms, then blamed us for refusing them.
  • She asked for a week of my life and would not tell me what she meant to spend it on. No bargain is honest on those terms.
  • If Caelar had trusted me with the full truth, perhaps I could have spared these soldiers a battle. Her silence will cost them.
  • She knows what she hid from me. Whatever it was, she judged force safer than honesty. That tells me enough.
  • Had she been honest, I might have trusted her. Instead she tried to make my ignorance part of the bargain.
• Enough. Caelar means to take me by force, so we prepare for that.
  • She revealed her priority. That gives us leverage.
• Everyone here fears what I am. Good. Let Caelar fear it too.
  • I am tired of being treated as a disaster waiting to happen. Perhaps I should become one.
• Do not order me around, Marshal. Advise me.
• No. First I want answers from the coalition leaders.
• I decide where I am safest.

beamdog unused:

• I'll die before that devil gets her claws into me.

sacrifices has to be made

De Lancie: War rarely makes sense. Stonehand: An' it's the common folk who pay the price, more often than not. De Lancie: To win a war, sacrifices must be made.

• only caelar

• pacifist

• I refuse that sentiment.

llm:

• Sacrifices, yes. But not ours. Caelar has chosen her path.
  • If a sacrifice must be made, then Caelar has already volunteered.
  • The only thing worth sacrificing is Caelar's crusade.
  • The only one leading people to slaughter is Caelar.
• If victory demands innocent blood, then it is not victory.
  • Sacrifice is too easy a word when others are the ones who bleed.
  • There must be another path. I will not call slaughter wisdom.
  • Wars are won by men who speak of sacrifice, and paid for by those who never agreed to it.
  • If we answer Caelar's threats with more death, we become part of the same madness.
  • I won't mistake bloodshed for necessity.
  • The common folk have sacrificed enough. It's time the powerful sacrificed their certainty.
  • Then we had better be certain they are ours to make.
  • Victory bought with the lives of innocents is only another defeat.
  • The common folk have sacrificed enough for other people's wars.
  • Not if we can help it.
  • I won't accept that until I must.
  • Then let us be careful who is asked to make those sacrifices.

Dragonspear trolls

Help us

Context: attack on Dragonspear Castle. PC breaks into castle through the outer wall on the side, discovers penned up trolls.

Troll 1: Help us! Troll 2: They stole us from the Claws, burned place down. We want go home! Troll 3: Let us out. They been tort—torm—hurting us for days! We not want fight for them!

vanilla: no options

human:

1. I'll try.
2. Last time I let trolls out of pens, it didn't go so well.
3. Why should I?
4. No way I'm helping trolls.
5. I wish I could, but leaving wild trolls running amok isn't a good idea at the moment.
6. I prefer you inside the pens, stinking trolls.
7. I don't have the time to deal with this. / If you haven't noticed, I'm busy storming the castle.

llm:

1. I'll try.
   • Very well. Keep your heads low and your claws to yourselves.
   • If you truly mean no harm, then I'll not see you butchered in chains.
   • Aye, I'll try. But keep those claws where I can see them.
   • All right. Keep quiet, and I'll see about the lock.
   • No creature deserves the rack. I'll help if I can.
   • No promises, but I'll try.
   • I'll see these pens opened, if fortune allows.
   • Easy, now. I'll see about getting you out.
   • If there is a way, I'll find it.
   • ⭐ I'll do what I can, but keep your claws to yourselves.
   • All right. Let me see what holds this pen shut.
   • Then let us make enemies of your tormentors together.
   • I'll not suffer torture where I can end it.
   • Hush your howling. I'm helping.
2. Last time I let trolls out of pens, it didn't go so well.
   • The last trolls I freed were none too grateful. Give me reason to think you are different.
   • A caged troll begging freedom is a sight I have learned to distrust.
   • Last time I let your kind loose, I nearly lost a limb for my charity.
3. Why should I?
   • And why should I loose a pack of trolls within these walls?
   • And why should I trust the word of penned trolls?
   • You ask much for creatures with a taste for manflesh. Give me cause.
   • And what, pray, do I gain by loosing a pen full of trolls?
   • A touching tale, but I have enemies enough. Why should I add trolls to the count?
   • You ask much. What use are you to me if I set you free?
   • Mercy is well and good, but I prefer bargains. What do you offer?
   • ⭐ I have a castle to take. Convince me this is worth the risk.
4. No way I'm helping trolls.
   • Trolls are monsters, caged or no. You will find no mercy from me.
   • No. Whatever wrong was done to you, I will not set trolls loose in a battlefield.
   • I pity your suffering, but I cannot risk the lives of my companions.
   • You may be victims here, but you are still trolls. I cannot trust you.
   • I will not free one danger merely to fight another.
5. ⭐ I wish I could, but leaving wild trolls running amok isn't a good idea at the moment.
   • ⭐ Were this another hour, perhaps. But I cannot loose wild trolls in the midst of a siege.
   • I am sorry, but an open battlefield is no place to test your gratitude.
   • ⭐ I cannot free you while the castle still burns with battle.
   • Your cause may be just, but your freedom would put too many at risk.
   • For now, you stay penned. When I know where the danger lies, perhaps that changes.
   • I'll leave you be for the moment. Loose trolls may serve me poorly in a crowded castle.
   • This is a poor mercy, I know, but I cannot free you blindly.
   • I'll not make this choice in haste. Stay here for now.
   • I'll think on it. For now, the pens remain shut.
   • I'll leave the gate closed for now. Do not mistake caution for cruelty.
   • Not yet. I'll not loose trolls in the midst of a siege unless I must.
   • ⭐⭐ I'll leave you here for now. A free troll may do more harm than good in this chaos.
   • I mislike leaving you penned, but this is no time to set trolls loose.
   • I'll think on it. For now, a locked pen is the safer course.
6. I prefer you inside the pens, stinking trolls.
   • I prefer you where you are: caged, cowed, and far from my throat.
   • The pens suit you. Try not to foul them further.
   • A troll in a cage is the only troll I trust.
   • Beg all you like. I've no pity for carrion-eaters.
   • Stay behind bars, beast. The air is rank enough already.
   • ⭐Beg elsewhere, beast. I like you penned.
     • ⭐⭐ HUMAN: Beg to someone else, beast. I like you penned.
   • ⭐ The pen flatters you. Try not to foul it further.
   • ⭐ You are exactly where trolls belong.
   • ⭐ I see no problem here. Only trolls where trolls should be.
7. I don't have the time to deal with this. / If you haven't noticed, I'm busy storming the castle.
   • I have a castle to take, not a menagerie to empty. Find your own escape.
   • ⭐ I have no time for this. There is a battle raging, in case you had not noticed.
   • I am in the midst of taking a castle. Your plight must wait.
   • A kind act done foolishly may kill more than cruelty ever did. You must remain where you are.
   • Can you not see I am in the midst of a siege?
   • Your troubles will have to wait. I have enemies at my back.
   • Stand aside from my thoughts, troll. I have more pressing foes.

final:

1. I'll do what I can, but keep your claws to yourselves.
2. I have a castle to take. Convince me this is worth the risk.
3. I'll leave you here for now. A free troll may do more harm than good in this chaos.
4. Beg elsewhere, beast. I like you penned.
5. I have no time for this. There is a battle raging, in case you had not noticed.

Freed them

vanilla:

"The Siege of Dragonspear

I freed the trolls to wreak vengeance on the crusaders.

The crusaders stole the trolls from their homes and used them for shock troops. Now the trolls are free, and the crusade will pay the price for its slaver ways."

This only works for certain characters.

llm:

I freed the trolls to turn them against their captors.

The crusaders stole the trolls from their homes and forced them to fight. I saw no reason to waste such willing hatred while storming Dragonspear Castle.

I released the trolls so they could fall upon the crusaders.

The creatures had no love for their captors, and their vengeance suited my purposes well enough. In a siege, one uses every weapon at hand.

I let the trolls out of their pens.

They claimed the crusaders had stolen and tortured them. Whether out of pity or calculation, I decided their fury would be better spent on my enemies than left wasting behind wooden stakes.

I freed the trolls and set them loose upon the crusaders.

The trolls promised to fight Gnarg and his allies if I released them. In a siege, one uses whatever weapons the enemy has foolishly left lying about.

⭐ I freed the trolls and turned them against their captors.

They promised to fight Gnarg and his allies if released. It seems only fair that the crusaders should be the first to enjoy the fruits of their own cruelty.

I freed the trolls after they promised to turn on their captors.

Whatever else they may be, the trolls have no love for the crusaders who dragged them here. If their anger can be turned against my enemies, so much the better.

I released the trolls to sow havoc among the crusaders.

The creatures begged for freedom and offered to fight Gnarg and his allies in return. In a siege, even a dangerous bargain may be worth making.

⭐ I struck a bargain with the imprisoned trolls.

They wanted freedom; I wanted more trouble for the crusaders. It is not the noblest alliance I have ever made, but it may prove effective.

I freed the trolls after they offered to fight the crusaders.

The crusaders brought the trolls here in chains, and the creatures are eager to repay them. Loose within Dragonspear, they should prove a dangerous distraction.

I let the trolls out of their pen after they offered their aid.

They were taken from their home and forced to fight for the crusade. Now they are loose, and their captors will have to answer for it.

⭐ I released the trolls after they promised to fight the crusaders.

The crusaders stole the trolls from their home and penned them within Dragonspear Castle. Once freed, the trolls turned their anger on their captors.

Human+LLM:

⭐⭐ I let the trolls loose to turn on the crusaders.

The crusaders had captured the trolls and used them as shock troops. Once freed, the trolls turned their anger on their captors.

Ashatiel

You will never fight with us

Context: Battle of Dragonspear Castle. The coalition (and or including the player) has breached the wall but cannot break through the waves of soldiers. Player and Ashatiel finds each other. Adras Ashatiel is a female avariel (winged elf race) Fighter / Mage / Cleric. She serves as the right hand to Caelar Argent. Ashatiel calls a halt to the battle. Her side wants to open gates to hells to free tormented souls.

Ashatiel: STAND DOWN OR BY THE LADY, YOU'LL ANSWER TO ME! Ashatiel: Know that I am Adras Ashatiel, right hand to the Shining Lady. I know you, Bhaalspawn. Player: [...] Ashatiel: Some call you a hero, but I know what happened on Boareskyr Bridge. You will never fight with us, though our cause be righteous. Player:

1. I DO fight on the side of right. You and Caelar cannot see that.
2. Caelar's madness will leave the Sword Coast in ruins. Stopping her is the only sensible thing to do.
3. I fight for my own causes and my own purposes. No one else's.

• diplomacy

• convince her she is wrong

• embrace bhaal

• join her

• attack

• reject Boareskyr Bridge claim

• conspire

• Stop this madness. Can't you see what harm you're creating?

  • Call an end to this madness. Can't you see what harm you're creating?
  • Call an end to this madness. Can't you see what harm your side is creating?
  • Call an end to this madness. You are not on the side of virtue.
  • Help me put an end to this madness. You are not on the side of virtue.
  • Call an end to this madness. I only serve this side because of the destruction you're creating.
  • Call an end to this madness. The side I fight for only wants to put an end the harm and destruction you're creating.
  • Call an end to this madness. The side I fight for only wants to put an end the harm and destruction.
  • Call an end to this madness. I only want to put an end to the harm and destruction your side is creating.
  • Call an end to this madness.

• Whatever you believe about me, it's not true.

• You are right. I am a child of Bhaal, and I will never join such a pathetic cause.

  • You are right. I am on the side of Bhaal. Only a fool would think I would join your side.
  • You are right. I am a child of Bhaal. Only a fool would think I would join your side.
  • You are right. I am a child of Bhaal, and I've braced it. Only a fool would think I would join your side.
  • You are right. I am a child of Bhaal, and I embrace it. Only a fool would think I would join your side.
  • You are right. I am a child of Bhaal, and I embrace it. I came here for murder. Only a fool would think I would join your side.
  • You are right. I am a child of Bhaal, and I embrace it. The only side I serve is murder.
  • You are right. I am a child of Bhaal, and I embrace it. The only cause I serve is murder.
  • You are right. I am a child of Bhaal, and I embrace it. I did not come here for a sermons about virtue. The only cause I know is murder.

• I will enjoy killing you.

• Your time is at an end. (revenge-seeking or purely evil)

• I did not choose what happened at Boareskyr Bridge.

llm:

• Then prove your cause is righteous and end this now. Your crusade has brought enough death to these walls. We came to stop it from bringing more.
  • Call an end to this madness. Whatever your cause began as, it now brings only ruin. We are here to stop that ruin, not add to it.
  • If your cause is righteous, then do not answer blood with more blood. Stand down, Ashatiel. We came to end this, not revel in it.
  • Then prove your righteousness. Call off your soldiers, Ashatiel. This battle will not free the damned; it will only send more souls to join them.
  • If your cause is righteous, end this slaughter. The coalition seeks only to stop Caelar from opening a road to the Hells.
  • Righteous causes do not need fields of corpses to prove them. Stand down, Ashatiel, before this battle devours us all.
  • You speak of righteousness while Dragonspear drowns in blood. Call an end to this, and no more need die for Caelar’s dream.
  • If honor guides you, prove it by ending this madness. We came to stop a catastrophe, not to butcher your people.
  • Your cause may have begun in mercy, but it has led only to ruin. Stand down before Caelar’s crusade damns more than it saves.
  • Look around you, Ashatiel. This is not deliverance. It is slaughter wearing a holy name.
  • Whatever Caelar promised you, this battle will not redeem the lost. It will only make more of them.
  • If your cause is righteous, prove it by standing down. Yours has brought this castle to slaughter; ours seeks only to end it.
  • If your cause is righteous, prove it. Call off your soldiers. We came to stop Caelar from opening the Hells, not to slaughter those who follow her.
  • If your cause is righteous, then end this slaughter. We came to stop Caelar’s plan, not to butcher her followers.
  • If your cause is righteous, call your soldiers back. Opening the Hells will not save the lost; it will only doom the living.
  • If your cause is righteous, show me. Lay down arms, and no more need die for Caelar’s dream.
  • If your cause is righteous, prove it. Call off your soldiers, and let this battle end before more lives are wasted.
  • If your cause is righteous, then let the honorable side show mercy first. Call off your soldiers, Ashatiel.
  • If your cause is righteous, stop this battle. Let us see which side has the courage to spare lives, not spend them.
  • If your cause is righteous, then show me the honor in it. Stand down, and let this field see which side truly seeks justice.
  • If your cause is righteous, let it be judged by mercy. The worthier side will be the one that ends this bloodshed.
  • If your cause is righteous, then prove your side the nobler one. Call off your soldiers before more lives are thrown away.
  • If your cause is righteous, Ashatiel, then show restraint. Let honor belong to the side that first lowers its blade.
  • If your cause is righteous, this is the moment to prove it. End the fighting, and show that your side values life more than victory.
  • If your cause is righteous, prove it. Call off your soldiers. Your side has brought this battle to bloodshed; mine seeks only to end it.
  • If your cause is righteous, let your side show mercy. Mine will answer in kind.
  • If your cause is righteous, then prove your side the nobler one. Call off your soldiers, and mine will stand down.
  • If your cause is righteous, show it now. Your side need not spend more lives, and mine need not take them.
  • If your cause is righteous, Ashatiel, then let your side be first to show restraint. Mine did not come here for slaughter.
  • If your cause is righteous, call off your soldiers. Your side still has a choice, and mine offers one.
  • If your cause is righteous, then let your side prove it without more blood. Mine seeks an end to this battle, not a heap of corpses.
  • If your cause is righteous, prove it. Call off your soldiers. Your side has brought this battle to bloodshed; mine seeks only to end it.
  • If your cause is righteous, then call off your soldiers. My side came to halt this madness; yours would rather drown in it than yield.
  • If your cause is righteous, then call off your soldiers. My side may have breached your walls, but yours made this battle inevitable.
  • If your cause is righteous, then call off your soldiers. My side seeks an end to this madness; yours has left us no gentler road.
  • If your cause is righteous, then call off your soldiers. My side came to end this madness; yours gave us no other path.
  • If your cause is righteous, then call off your soldiers. My side would rather this ended without more blood; yours has made that hope thin indeed.
  • If your cause is righteous, then call off your soldiers. My side may hold the breach, but yours made the bloodshed necessary.
  • If your cause is righteous, then call off your soldiers. My side seeks only to stop this madness; yours has carried it too far to ignore.
  • If your cause is righteous, then call off your soldiers. My side wants only an end to this madness; yours has brought it to the point of slaughter.
  • If your cause is righteous, then call off your soldiers. My side wants only an end to this madness; yours has made war necessary where reason should have sufficed.
  • If your cause is righteous, then call off your soldiers. My side wants only an end to this madness; yours can prove its honor by standing down.
  • If your cause is righteous, then call off your soldiers. My side wants only an end to this madness; yours can prove its honor by standing down.
  • If your cause is righteous, then call off your soldiers. My side wants an end to this madness and destruction; yours can still choose the same.
  • If your cause is righteous, then call off your soldiers. My side wants this battle ended; yours can prove its honor by ending it.
  • ⭐⭐ If your cause is righteous, then call off your soldiers. My side will stand down if yours has the wisdom to do the same.
    • ⭐⭐⭐ HUMAN: If your cause is righteous, then call off your soldiers. My side will stand down if yours do the same.
    • If your cause is righteous, prove it. Call off your soldiers. Mine will stand down if yours do the same.
    • ⭐⭐ HUMAN: If your cause is righteous, then call off your soldiers. I will have my side stand down if yours do the same.
  • ⭐ If your cause is righteous, then call off your soldiers. My side wants no more bloodshed; yours can yet spare us all from it.
  • You know I fell at Boareskyr Bridge. You know what was left around me. But a mark of Bhaal is not reason enough for more soldiers to die. Call yours off, and the coalition will do the same.
  • If your side is righteous, prove it. I woke beneath Bhaal’s mark at Boareskyr Bridge, but I did not choose what happened there. Call off your soldiers, and my side will do the same.
  • Whatever you think happened at Boareskyr Bridge, soldiers are dying now. If your side is honorable, act honorably now.
• Then you know I am no common sellsword. Let me stand with the Shining Lady.
  • I have come not to fight you, but to offer my blade.
  • I am weary of standing against you. Let me serve the Shining Lady.
  • If your cause is as righteous as you claim, then I would be part of it.
  • Then let my name serve me here. I would speak with the Shining Lady and offer her my aid.
  • If you are Caelar’s right hand, then take my words to her: I would join her crusade.
  • Perhaps I have chosen the wrong side of this wall. I would hear Caelar’s purpose for myself.
  • Then you know I am not your enemy by necessity. I would hear the Shining Lady’s cause, and perhaps stand with her.
  • Then you know enough to hear me out. I have not come only to shed blood; I would speak of joining your crusade.
  • If you know me, then know this: I would rather stand with Caelar than die beneath these walls for those who fear her.
  • Then you know I am no common soldier. Take me to Caelar; I would offer her my blade.
• Then you know me well enough. I am Bhaalspawn, and I make no apology for it. Keep your righteous cause; I came here to kill.
  • You speak of righteousness to Bhaal’s own blood? Save your breath, Ashatiel. I did not come to join your crusade. I came to end it in slaughter.
  • Aye, I am Bhaalspawn, and I came here for murder. Do not prattle to me of righteous sides, Ashatiel. Yours will bleed like any other.
  • Then you know me well enough. I am Bhaalspawn, and I came to spill blood. Your side may dress itself in virtue; I prefer honesty.
  • Only a fool would think I came to join your side. I am Bhaalspawn, and whatever virtue yours boasts, I mean to drown it in blood.
  • You speak of your side’s righteousness to the child of Bhaal. I did not come seeking virtue, Ashatiel. I came seeking slaughter.
  • Then you understand me. I am Bhaal’s blood, and I came here to kill. Let your side keep its honor; I will keep the corpses.
  • Aye, I am Bhaalspawn. Your side claims righteousness, mine brings death. Let us see which survives the day.
  • You are right. I am a child of Bhaal, and I embrace it. Your side speaks of honor and virtue; mine knows murder for what it is.
  • You know me well enough, then. I am Bhaalspawn, and I came to Dragonspear for murder, not sermons about virtue.
  • Only a fool would think I came to join your side. I am Bhaal’s child, and murder is the inheritance I claim.
  • You speak of your side’s righteousness to Bhaal’s own blood. I did not come seeking virtue, Ashatiel. I came seeking murder.
  • You are right. Boareskyr Bridge showed the truth: Bhaal’s mark is mine. I did not come to join your shining side. I came to drown it in blood.
• Boareskyr Bridge should have warned your side what powers are circling this war. Instead Caelar would open the Hells and call it righteousness.

Final:

1. If your cause is righteous, then call off your soldiers. My side will stand down if yours has the wisdom to do the same.
2. I DO fight on the side of right. You and Caelar cannot see that.
3. Caelar's madness will leave the Sword Coast in ruins. Stopping her is the only sensible thing to do.
4. I fight for my own causes and my own purposes. No one else's.
5. You are right. I am a child of Bhaal, and I embrace it. I came here for murder. Only a fool would think I would join your side.

Face me

Ashatiel: I will bring you to the light, and prove that ours is the side of honor and virtue. Face me, one on one. If you defeat me, my soldiers and I will surrender to you. Do you accept?

• No. I want as many to die as possible.
• If it will end the battle earlier, then so be it.
  • This might be the more effective way. Bring it on.
• This might prove fun. I accept.

llm:

• No. One death is a poor harvest. Let the field have its fill.
  • One death is a poor harvest. Let the field have its fill.
  • No. Keep your honor. I want slaughter, not terms.
  • No. I will not spare your soldiers the battle they came to fight.
  • No. I want the screaming to carry beyond the walls.
  • No. Your offer would end this too quickly.
  • No. A single corpse will not satisfy Bhaal’s blood.
  • No. Let the battle continue. I would see how many souls Dragonspear can swallow.
  • No. I came here for murder, Ashatiel, and you offer me only one death.
  • No. I want no surrender. I want a massacre.
• I accept. If defeating you ends this stand, then draw your weapon.
  • Then let sense prevail where sermons have failed. I accept.
  • I will face you. Let your soldiers witness the price of following Caelar.
  • Agreed. Better your pride broken than the whole castle burned around us.
  • Very well. If one battle can replace a hundred, I will take it.
  • Your terms are favorable. I accept.
  • A clean offer, whatever your motives. I accept.
  • Your soldiers surrender if you fall? Then draw your weapon.
  • That is the first sensible offer I have heard from your side. I accept.
    • That is the first sound offer your side has made. I accept.
    • For once, your side speaks sense. I accept.
    • A sensible bargain, at last. I accept.
    • Your side has found reason at last. I accept.
    • At last, terms that serve more than pride. I accept.
    • For the first time today, your side offers something useful. I accept.
  • Your pride has given me an opening. I accept.
• This may prove amusing. I accept.
  • This may prove amusing. I accept.
  • Very well. I accept your little trial of virtue.
  • I accept. Show me this light of yours before I snuff it out.
  • You have made murder ceremonial. I approve.

Exact terms

• I do not accept these terms. No deal.

LLM:

• No bargain, then. If we fight, we fight as war demands.

Aun Argent

The cost

Context: The devil Belhifet is slayed by the player (Gorion's Ward / Hero of Baldur's Gate). Caelar Argent's destructive crusade to free tormented souls in hell—her real reason has been revealed to be to save one person—her uncle Aun Argent—with little hope of saving others, and others are not saved. Aun Argent's cage opens.

Caelar: I can scarcely believe it. Everything I did, every sacrifice I made, all to reach this moment... You are free at last, Uncle. Aun Argent: I know not what you did to make this happen, Caelar. Whatever it was, the cost was too great.

1. I have no family of my own, sir, but if I did, there is little I wouldn't do to save them.
2. You have no idea how right you are.
3. Tell him, Caelar. Tell him the price the Sword Coast bore that he might be freed from Belhifet's clutches.

• not add insult to injury

• acknowledge cost without adding insult to injury

• get out asap / not listen

• if there was a decent chance to free others, maybe it would have been worth it

• if she was truly acting selfishly, then immoral

• more should have died

• Belhifet is slayed though, isn't that good?

• you should be thankful

• I would have done the same

• deceit is the problem

• deceive

• revenge

• annoyed by the moralizing

• What is done is done.

  • No reason to cry over spilled milk.
  • No use in lingering on what cannot be changed.
  • The important thing is that she learns something.
  • What is done is done. Caelar shall answer for her crimes.
  • ⭐⭐ What is done is done. Caelar will answer for her crimes.
  • The cost will not be forgotten.

• I am inclined to agree.

• If this was all to save one man, then truly, yes. The price was too high.

  • If you knew the Dragonspear dead could never be saved, then yes.
  • She fooled hundreds...
  • If your ambition was never truly to save the Dragonspear dead, then yes, this is despicable.

• The number dead is nothing compared to the great accomplishments of Bhaal.

  • You are a weak man, Aun.
  • You are a pathetic man, Aun.
  • I don't see what Caelar sees in you.
  • What she did is nothing compared to what I would do to achieve my goals.
  • This is pathetic.

• Belhifet is dead. That's something.

• What say you, Caelar?

• Who are you to judge?

  • Oh, spare me the sermons.

• The only cost worth mentioning is what she did to me.

  • Her only mistake so far is crossing me.

• This can wait.

llm:

• What is done is done. Caelar will answer for her choices in time.
  • Your words are true enough. Caelar’s choices will not pass unjudged.
  • What is done is done. Caelar will have to answer for the ruin her crusade has wrought.
  • The Sword Coast paid dearly. Caelar’s deeds will be judged when we return.
  • What she did cannot simply be set aside. Caelar will face lawful judgment.
  • That judgment is not mine alone to pass. Caelar will answer before the law.
  • The price has been paid, and the law will have its say.
  • Caelar’s cause has ended. What remains is for the law to decide.
  • What is done is done. Caelar shall answer for her crimes when we return.
  • What is done is done. Caelar shall answer for her crimes in due course.
  • The cost was great indeed.
  • You speak truly. Many paid for this day.
  • It was. And those who paid it are beyond our reach now.
  • You are right. This victory carries a heavy shadow.
  • Aye. Too many paid for this moment, and too dearly.
  • You speak truly, Aun. This rescue came at a bitter price.
  • The price was high, and no word of mine will lessen it.
  • Too great, perhaps. But the deed is done.
  • The Sword Coast bled for this moment. That much cannot be denied.
  • Whatever else is said, the cost was real.
  • Love drove her here. Pride and desperation carried the rest.
• You were not wrong to want him saved, Caelar. But too many died for this.
  • Human: You were not wrong to want him saved, Caelar. But too many suffered for this.
• I know what it is to be driven by a past you did not choose. But that does not excuse what you chose.
• This was not your burden to bear, sir. But yes—the cost was more than anyone had a right to pay.
  • You are not to blame for what was done in your name. But many suffered for it.
    • ⭐⭐ Human: You are not to blame for what was done in your name. But many suffered for it.
    • ⭐ Human: You are not to blame for what was done in your name, Aun. But many suffered for it.
• This is between the two of you. I have done what I came to do.
  • This is between the two of you. I will not answer for Caelar.
  • Ask Caelar. I have no wish to speak for her.
  • Let her tell you. The truth should come from her.
  • That answer is Caelar’s to give, not mine.
  • Then let Caelar tell you what that cost was.
  • Caelar can speak to that better than I can.
  • I will leave you two to reckon with that.
• Belhifet is dead. The gate is closed. Whatever the cost, the Coast survives.
• Remember this, Aun: noble words can march people into slaughter as easily as wicked ones.
• Let the gods weigh her deeds. I have seen enough blood to know my own judgment is not clean.
• Forgive the intrusion, Aun, but the cost was borne by more than Caelar.
• The cost is nothing to me. Caelar’s mistake was making me pay it.
  • ⭐ Spare me the reckoning. Her only mistake was standing in my way.
  • ⭐ Human: The cost is nothing to me. Her only mistake was standing in my way.
  • Too great? Perhaps. But her true error was making an enemy of me.
  • Let the dead weigh upon her. I care only that she crossed me.
  • I care little for the cost. She chose her path, and it crossed mine.
  • ⭐ Human: I care little for the cost. Her only mistake was standing in my way.
  • ⭐ Human: I care little for the cost. What matters is that she tried to kill me.
  • ⭐ Human: I care little for the cost. Spare me.
  • ⭐ The Sword Coast may count its dead. I count only the insult.
    • The Sword Coast may weigh its losses. I weigh only what was done to me.
    • The Sword Coast may have its grief. I have my grievance.
  • I did not come here to weigh Caelar’s conscience.
  • Spare me the reckoning. What is done is done.
  • Spare me the sorrow. The deed is done.
  • Human: Spare me the reckoning. The deed is done.
  • Her crusade, her cost, her grief. Her mistake was making it my affair.
  • The only price that matters is the one she pays for crossing me.
  • Her cause was folly, but folly is common. Crossing me was the fatal error.
  • The cost is counted by those who paid it. I did not.
  • Too great? Perhaps. But you are free, and Belhifet lies dead. I call that sufficient.
  • Too great for whom? I survived it well enough.
  • I care little for the cost. Belhifet is dead, and I am alive.
  • Let the dead count the cost. I have no patience for it.
  • The price was high. I am not moved by it.
  • What is a little ruin, weighed against victory?
  • Count yourself fortunate, old man. Many paid dearly so you might breathe.
    • Count yourself fortunate, Aun. Many paid dearly so you might breathe.
    • Count yourself fortunate. Many paid dearly so you might breathe.
    • Count yourself fortunate, Argent. Many paid dearly so you might breathe.
    • Count yourself fortunate, fool. Many paid dearly so you might breathe.
    • Count yourself fortunate. Your life was purchased with better blood than yours.
    • Count yourself fortunate. Many died for you, and I doubt you were worth the cost.
    • Human: Count yourself fortunate, you fool. Many died for you, and I doubt you were worth the cost.
    • ⭐ Human: Count yourself fortunate, you fool.
    • ⭐ Human: Thank her, you fool.
    • ⭐ Human: Thank us, you fool.
    • Human: You should count yourself fortunate, you fool.
    • Count yourself fortunate, Argent. Better souls than you paid dearly for that breath.
    • Count yourself fortunate, fool. Many died so you might breathe.
    • Count yourself fortunate. Your freedom was bought with a mountain of corpses.
    • Count yourself fortunate. Many were butchered so you might stand here sniveling.
    • Count yourself fortunate, Aun. Others were fed to the slaughter so you might live.
    • Thank us, fool. Your cage is open; spare us your conscience.
    • Thank us, fool. The dead have paid your ransom.
    • Thank us, fool. Your freedom was purchased with corpses.
    • Thank us, fool. You breathe because others do not.
    • ⭐⭐ Human: Count yourself fortunate, fool. You breathe because others do not.
    • ⭐⭐ Human: You should count yourself fortunate, fool. You breathe because others do not.
    • ⭐⭐ Human: You should count yourself fortunate, fool. Your life was purchased with corpses.
    • ⭐⭐ Human: You should be more thankful. Caelar purchased your life with a mountain of corpses.
    • ⭐⭐ Human: You should be more thankful. Caelar purchased your life with a field of corpses.
    • ⭐⭐ Human: You should be more thankful. Caelar purchased your life with heaps of corpses.
    • ⭐⭐ Thank her, Argent. She paid for your freedom with lives by the thousands.
    • ⭐⭐ Human: Thank her, Argent. She paid for your freedom with lives by the hundreds.
    • ⭐⭐ Human: Thank her, Argent. She paid for your freedom with fields of corpses.
    • You should be grateful. Caelar buried half the Coast in your name.
    • Do not sneer at the cost, Argent. It is the only reason you stand free.
    • You should be more thankful. Your freedom has been paid for in full — blood, souls, and ruin.
    • You should be proud. It took a crusade, a war, and a field of corpses to buy you back.
    • A little gratitude. Caelar did not ruin the Coast for nothing.
    • You were purchased with blood, Argent. At least have the decency to seem valuable.
    • Your life was bought with a mountain of corpses. Try not to insult the transaction.
    • Spare me your judgment, old man. Your cage is open; the Sword Coast has paid. Be grateful—or crawl back inside.
    • Spare me your reckoning. The dead paid the price, and the living will endure it.
    • Spare me the tears. Your freedom was bought in blood, and I find the bargain acceptable.
    • Spare me the reckoning. The cost was paid by others, and that is the only kind I find tolerable.
    • The cost was paid by those too weak to stop it. Be grateful you were worth the trouble.
    • The price was paid. Whether it was too great is not yours to decide.
    • Whatever was spent, it purchased your life. Do not cheapen it with complaint.
    • If freedom offends you, step back into the cage.
    • The cost was paid by the living. You may spare us the sermon.
    • The crusade is broken, the devil is dead, and your cage is open. That is all the judgment this moment requires.
    • Do not presume this is only between you and her. Her crusade made it mine.
    • You call the cost too great? I crossed the bodies it bought. Spare me the lesson.
    • I did not come this far to watch Caelar be scolded like a wayward child. Her crimes are larger than your disappointment.
    • Spare me the reckoning. Your suffering has already served its purpose.
    • ⭐⭐ Human: Spare me the family reckoning.
    • Your torment served its end, Argent. Try not to cheapen it with whining.
    • How touching. The martyr disapproves of the slaughter committed in his name.
  • The cost matters only to those weak enough to regret it.
  • The dead are past caring, Aun. I suggest you do the same.

final:

1. I have no family of my own, sir, but if I did, there is little I wouldn't do to save them.
2. Tell him, Caelar. Tell him the price the Sword Coast bore that he might be freed from Belhifet's clutches.
3. What is done is done. Caelar will answer for her crimes.
4. You are not to blame for what was done in your name. But many suffered for it.
5. You should be more thankful. Caelar purchased your life with a mountain of corpses.

How a girl not ten years old found herself caged

Caelar: I was brought up in the Order of the Aster. My aasimar heritage and the Argent name assured me a place of honor as a paladin of the Morninglord. Or so I thought at the time. I had such confidence then. Such certainty of purpose. I knew I would rise to greatness, knew it in my bones. Caelar: All that barred my ascent were my superiors in the Order. They sought to teach me humility; I see that now. But I could not bring myself to bow to their authority. To any authority but Lathander's, perhaps not even his. Caelar: I was told to watch over the library. To guard the volumes within, for they held knowledge critical to the order's success in the battle against darkness. I coveted that knowledge. In my arrogance, I read aloud from the pages, not understanding the forces I was invoking... Caelar: That was how a girl not yet ten years old found herself in this pit, in that cage.

1. Yet you escaped its bars. You must have.
2. We all make mistakes.
3. Then you have experience in being caged. Good. It will serve you well when we return to the Material Plane.

• You were but a child... (EDIT: I thought she was sent to Avernu as punishment, but the tomes transported her there, I think)
• You deserved it.
• And you escaped? Pity.
• And somehow you got out.

llm:

• You were not yet ten. No child should pay so dearly for arrogance.
  • You were a child, Caelar. Proud, perhaps—but still a child.
  • Nine years old, and they left such knowledge within your reach? That guilt is not yours alone.
  • You were barely more than a child. The Order failed you before Hell ever claimed you.
  • A child’s pride should earn correction, not damnation.
  • You were too young to understand the weight of what you held.
  • You were not old enough to know what you were reaching for.
  • That was no sin worthy of Hell. It was a child’s mistake.
  • Then the fault lies with those who placed forbidden power in a child’s hands.
  • You speak as though you were already the woman who led this crusade. You were a frightened girl in a cage.
  • That was not justice. That was a child abandoned to Hell.
  • Whatever you became after, that girl deserved mercy.
• You were a child, Caelar. The fault lies with those who put forbidden power within your reach.
  • You were a child, Caelar. The Order failed you long before the Hells claimed you.
  • You were not at fault. A child should never have been left alone with such knowledge.
  • Then the Order’s shame is greater than yours. They set a child to guard what adults feared to touch.
  • You were a child. The fault lies with the fools who placed forbidden knowledge within your reach.
  • You were a child. The Order should have guarded you as carefully as it guarded those books.
  • Your pride was a child’s pride. Their negligence was an adult’s sin.
  • A child should never have been left to guard what seasoned paladins feared to use.
  • Whatever your arrogance, you were still a child. They should have known better.
  • You disobeyed, yes. But only a fool leaves a child alone with words that can open Hell.
  • Your mistake was childish. Theirs was unforgivable.
  • If those books were so dangerous, then guarding them was no task for a child.
  • ⭐ No child should have been set to guard such knowledge. Whatever followed, that fault was theirs.
• ⭐ A fitting lesson. Pity it failed to take.
  • A fitting lesson. Shame it failed to teach you humility.
  • Hell received you young, then. It should have kept you longer.
  • And still you learned nothing. That is the true tragedy.
  • You call it tragedy. I call it consequence.
  • You were warned. You disobeyed. You fell. That is not tragedy, Caelar. That is order.
  • Perhaps if the cage had held you longer, the Sword Coast would have been spared.
  • A cruel lesson, but not an undeserved one.
  • You were warned, you disobeyed, and you paid. That is not tragedy. That is order.
  • The cage suited the crime better than you care to admit.
  • You opened the door yourself, Caelar. Do not weep because something answered.
  • An ugly fate. But not an inexplicable one.
  • A pity Belhifet did not keep you long enough to teach restraint.
  • You read the words, invoked the power, and suffered the price. I fail to hear the injustice.
  • You trespassed where you were forbidden and found exactly what waited there.
  • A harsh punishment, yes. But arrogance is rarely corrected gently.
  • You were not punished for malice, Caelar. You were caged because you proved dangerous.
  • You reached for power beyond you, and power answered. That is not injustice. That is the shape of the world.
  • You were young. You were ignorant. You were still dangerous.
  • You made yourself the obvious price. Do not sneer because they paid it.
  • You were a lesson to the rest of them. That may be cruel, but it is not strange.
  • The Order looked upon your pride and found an offering already prepared.
  • You made a fine warning, Caelar. Perhaps that was the first useful thing your arrogance achieved.
  • You proved dangerous, proud, and disposable. Few institutions resist such a gift.
• And yet you escaped. A regrettable oversight.
  • And yet you escaped. An error worth correcting.
  • And yet you escaped. How unfortunate for the rest of us.
  • And yet you escaped. Some cages are opened too soon.
  • And yet you escaped. The Hells are careless jailers.
  • And yet you escaped. Belhifet’s first mistake.
  • ⭐ And yet you escaped. A flaw in an otherwise elegant punishment.
  • ⭐ Human: And yet you managed to get out. A flaw in an otherwise elegant punishment.
  • ⭐ Human: And yet you managed to get out somehow. A flaw in an otherwise elegant punishment.
  • ⭐ Human: And yet you got out. A flaw in an otherwise elegant punishment.
  • ⭐ Human: And yet you somehow got out. A flaw in an otherwise elegant punishment.
  • ⭐ Yet somehow, you were freed. A flaw in an otherwise elegant punishment.
  • ⭐ And somehow, you were freed. A flaw in an otherwise elegant punishment.
  • ⭐⭐ Human: And you were freed? A flaw in an otherwise elegant punishment.
• ⭐⭐ But the cage did not hold you forever.

Minsc freed

Now we can resume adventure together

Context: start of bg2, Minsc is out of his cage.

Minsc: Now we can resume our adventures together! There are friends to avenge and villains to smack about the face and neck! Right, Boo?

1. Join with me, but you must serve me better than you did Dynaheir.
2. Together we shall make our enemies answer for our fallen.
3. Um... yeah. I think perhaps we should... split up.

• I would appreciate your company.
  • Yes, please tag along.
  • You're welcome to join.
  • I'd be happy to have you with me.
  • I shall need your help. Come with me.
  • I'm glad to be back together.
  • I'm glad we are together again.
  • I'm glad to be united.
  • I'm glad to see you.
• You could prove useful.

LLM:

• ⭐ I am glad to have you at my side again, Minsc. Let us find the others and leave this place.
  • There will be time for smiting villains. For now, stay close — we are not safe yet.
  • Your strength is welcome, my friend. Let us put it to use finding a way out.
  • Your strength is welcome, and so is your friendship. Let us find our way out.
  • There will be time for smiting villains. For now, stay close — we are not safe yet.
  • There will be time for vengeance. For now, I am glad you are free.
  • Stay with me—we will need your strength before this is done.
  • Good to have you free, Minsc. Now let us find the others and get out of here.
  • Well done, Minsc. Now let us find the others and escape.
• My head is still fogged, but your voice is familiar. Stay close, Minsc.
  • There is much I do not remember, but I know I will need you and Boo before this is done.
  • I do not know what has been done to me, but I know I would rather face it with you beside me.
  • If we were comrades, then let us be comrades still. Help me find a way out.
  • I cannot recall our adventures, but I would rather face this place with you than alone.
  • I do not remember you as I should, but I know an ally when I see one. Come with me.
  • You speak as a friend. I will trust you as one until my memory returns.
  • My memories fail me, Minsc, but your loyalty does not. Stay close.
  • Your strength is welcome, Minsc. Your friendship… I hope I will remember in time.
  • I remember enough to know you are a friend, Minsc. Come—we leave this place together.
  • Aye, Minsc. I remember enough. We are allies, and allies do not leave one another in cages.
  • ⭐ Your strength is welcome, Minsc. Your friendship more so. Come—we have lingered here long enough.
  • I remember you and Boo, at least. That is comfort enough in this place. Come.

Jailkeep Golem

You must not escape

Context: Irrenicus's Dungeon

Jailkeep Golem: Prisoners... you must not escape... the master does not will it. Imoen: Wow, a golem. Powerful magic stuff. Odd that it's not hostile. I suppose its maker didn't expect us to escape, so it never got orders for restraining us. Imoen: They only do exactly what they are directed to; they don't really think. If it hasn't been told to keep quiet, we might get some information out of it. Jailkeep Golem: Prisoners... you must not escape... the master does not will it.

1. Who is this master that you speak of?
2. What your master wills matters not to me, golem. Where are we, and why have we been brought here?
3. The master wants me to be free. He released me.
4. You are a mindless golem. I shall find no answers from you.

Other states

• I shall find no answers from you. Goodbye.
  • It seems I shall find no answers from you.
  • It seems I shall find no answers from you. Goodbye.
  • It appears I shall find no answers from you.
  • It appears I shall find no answers from you. Goodbye.
  • It appears I shall find no answers from you. Farewell.
  • I have no more time for this. Farewell.
  • I will not spend more time on this. Farewell.

LLM:

• Enough. I will find my answers elsewhere.
  • This is pointless. I will seek answers beyond this chamber.
  • Enough of this. I have a dungeon to escape.
  • You repeat orders, not answers. I am done.
  • Very well. Stand there and obey. I have better uses for my time.
  • Enough. We should keep moving before your master notices.
  • No more questions. We should leave before this thing receives new orders.
  • A golem will only know what it was made to know. We should not linger.
  • There is little more to gain here. We should search for our own answers.
  • We have learned all we can for now. Move on.
  • It seems I will find no answers from you. Farewell.
  • I shall seek my answers elsewhere. Farewell.
  • There is little more to learn here. Farewell.