Baldur's Gate 3 tragedy unfolds as unfortunate player 'recruits' companion fated to die

In a game as big as Baldur's Gate 3, it's safe to assume that you might miss a few key details here and there. Unfortunately for one player, they thought they'd uncovered a whole new party member - only for the game to rip it out from underneath them.

This article contains early game spoilers for Baldur's Gate 3's Dark Urge storyline

The Dark Urge is one of Baldur's Gate 3's Origin characters, but unlike the likes of Shadowheart and Astarion, they can be crafted however the player likes. No matter whether you're a Halfling Bard or a Dragonborn Barbarian, you'll have a mysterious desire to commit heinous acts of bloodshed. It's thought to be one of the most compelling ways to play the game, even if you're likely to be waist-deep in blood by the time you reach Baldur's Gate itself.

Early in the game, in an attempt to highlight your murderous instincts, you wake up having gutted an NPC. That NPC is Alfira, a doe-eyed tiefling bard that you find in the Druid Grove early in the game, and who is so inspired by your heroics that she wants to join your party. She'll rock up when you head to camp and ask to adventure alongside you, only to wind up dead by the time the sun rises.

I didn't know you were able to recruit this person! from r/BaldursGate3

Unfortunately for one player, they weren't entirely aware of what the Dark Urge can bring to bear. In a post on Reddit, they wrote in a fit of effusive excitement about how excited they were to have discovered this unique new companion, a character they didn't know was even possible to recruit. The reality of the situation didn't seem to sink in as commenters asked whether they were playing as The Dark Urge, but Alfira's fate appears to have been sealed a few minutes later, given the text equivalent of an anguished wail that OP posted shortly after their original post.

It's the kind of perfect comic timing that you could never write, even if it left this unfortunate player somewhat traumatized. In an edit to their original post, they said that "it's been five hours and I'm STILL upset." The entire sequence is so delicious that some commenters don't believe it's real, but I'm prepared to take OP's obvious guilt as evidence that they truly didn't know Alfira's fate.

It's possible to save the tiefling from her grisly death at your hands, but the solution isn't without violence. Knock her out before she can enter your camp, and she'll be replaced by a different NPC, a Dragonborn - even if Alfira doesn't die, someone has to suffer to get that blood on your hands.

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I'm GamesRadar's Managing Editor for news, shaping the news strategy across the team. I started my journalistic career while getting my degree in English Literature at the University of Warwick, where I also worked as Games Editor on the student newspaper, The Boar. Since then, I've run the news sections at PCGamesN and Kotaku UK, and also regularly contributed to PC Gamer. As you might be able to tell, PC is my platform of choice, so you can regularly find me playing League of Legends or Steam's latest indie hit.