Werewolf Island Lore [Spoilers]
johntyl
Member Posts: 400
I just completed the Isle of Balduran quest and although I kind of get the gist of the story, there are some parts I still can't get my head around. See here for brief recap: https://baldursgate.fandom.com/wiki/Balduran
1) It's mentioned that the crew of Balduran were infected by a curse of lycanthropy by the Cursed Lord of Anchorome. Am I right to understand that the curse had caused two strains of lycanthropy, leading some of Balduran's crew to become Werewolfs and the other Wolfweres?
2) Although Balduran's final fate was never confirmed, it was stated that he was "left to his ship by the ancestors of the village". If he was left to his ship, wouldn't he be co-existing with the Wolfweres who had taken over his ship (while the Werewolves built the village)? But he couldn't be living with the Wolfweres since "he was instrumental in the killing of many on both sides of the conflict" and that he never truly "belong" to either clans. I am confused.
3) The last bit was the battle with Kaishas Gan. I do not understand her logic that it was inevitable we had to fight. Prior to the battle, I had agreed to accept the lycanthropy but that had caused a mutiny within her clan. She said she will "absolve me" for killing her mutinous Werewolf kin and will await me at the ship. Then when I've killed off all the Werewolves and met her at the ship, she said she had to kill me? I'm like what? I don't get it. Am I missing something, or is this just some kind of illogical story structure to further the gameplot?
Thanks for reading, and looking forward to your insights!
1) It's mentioned that the crew of Balduran were infected by a curse of lycanthropy by the Cursed Lord of Anchorome. Am I right to understand that the curse had caused two strains of lycanthropy, leading some of Balduran's crew to become Werewolfs and the other Wolfweres?
2) Although Balduran's final fate was never confirmed, it was stated that he was "left to his ship by the ancestors of the village". If he was left to his ship, wouldn't he be co-existing with the Wolfweres who had taken over his ship (while the Werewolves built the village)? But he couldn't be living with the Wolfweres since "he was instrumental in the killing of many on both sides of the conflict" and that he never truly "belong" to either clans. I am confused.
3) The last bit was the battle with Kaishas Gan. I do not understand her logic that it was inevitable we had to fight. Prior to the battle, I had agreed to accept the lycanthropy but that had caused a mutiny within her clan. She said she will "absolve me" for killing her mutinous Werewolf kin and will await me at the ship. Then when I've killed off all the Werewolves and met her at the ship, she said she had to kill me? I'm like what? I don't get it. Am I missing something, or is this just some kind of illogical story structure to further the gameplot?
Thanks for reading, and looking forward to your insights!
Post edited by johntyl on
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2) He probably tried fighting them until he died. This means that Balduran's actual final fate was "torn apart then the bones scattered and gnawed until almost nothing remained".
3) She was lying all along. The whole point is for Mendas to send you there to kill the wolfweres so Kaishas can get to the ship.
Also, you do not necessarily have to kill Kaishas if you play your cards right on the island. I try to avoid it whenever I'm playing ToSC.
Oh, where did you find that quotation?
The route to the bay where the boat is in fact isolated from either camp geographically, accessible only via a cave under the village as @Maurvir has pointed out. So there was actually no direct need to clear the Wolfweres.
Furthering this trend of thought, if the main point was to get CHARNAME to the isle with the hidden agenda to get Kaishas the sea charts, perhaps the ploy to get Charname to kill the Wolfweres was a) they really hated each other, so might as well get some outsiders to kill them and/or b) sending Charname to kill Wolfweres will probably weaken him so Kaishas can easily get the sea charts off him (that's her ultimate goal)
However, when Kaishas found out that Charname actually killed off the Wolfwere clan and came back unscathed, she needed another reason to lay her hands on the sea charts. Hence, her contingency plan to infect Charname with lycanthropy and offering them the chance to join the clan, knowing full well that many of her Werewolf clanmates will never accept that and will try to kill Charname (hoping again to get her hands on the sea charts) - what a cunning b*tch really.
Anyway, she did get the sea charts off Charname under the pretence of 'protecting' it before the battle in the village begins. Her true colours finally revealed, she didn't care if Charname and her clanmates die killing off one another, what she needed was the sea charts and she got it.
So when Charname finally got to the bay and met her there, she needed to kill him because it was never her intention for Charname to leave the island.
Omg, I just stream-of-consciousnesssed this whole thing and it all made perfect sense now lol. If this is really what the devs had in mind, this whole manipulation ploy was really brilliantly thought out and hidden between the lines.
How did you avoid killing her? Every option will inevitably lead you to the bay where she will await you there and kill you before you can board her ship.
Alternatively, the curse split more along mental lines. Those who embraced a more savage, feral lifestyle (Chaotics) became Wolfweres, content to live as little more than hungry beasts looking forward only to their next kill. On the other hand, those who wanted a more orderly, regimented life where the pack deferred to the will of the alpha and set about planning for longer-term goals like escaping the island (Lawfuls) became Werewolves, and thus the schism came about.
As for Balduran, I don't remember ever running across anything that explicitly spelled out his final fate, but given that Balduran was never seen again, and that there was no way off the island, I think it's safe to say that Balduran met his end on that island. How exactly it happened remains a mystery though.
Yes, that makes a lot of sense! I'm convinced!
I thought so too, that was why I was confused about this whole 2 strains theory.
That is true.
Of course, it is still possible that the curse was broad (and powerful) enough that it affected both Balduran's crew AND the native animals of the island, so your theory could still be correct.
I could have sworn I was able to pull that off in unmodded EE (not sure about vanilla, that was a long time ago for me). However, I might be mistaken.
I only started using SCS in my last run, and it was the first time I've seen that resolution. Its listed as one of the components. IIRC, there's also a BG1 stonghold mod currently in beta that has the same component, but without making Karoug harder.
Yep, that sounds about right now that you mention it. Once I went to using SCS, I never went back.