An early conflict the player will have to face in Baldur’s Gate 3’s Act 2 is the situation between Isobel and Flaming Fist Marcus.
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After arriving in the Last Light Inn, the player will need to pick a side between those two, and while some players might be conflicted, there’s definitely an option that seems to be the better out of the two.
Who Are Flaming Fist Marcus and Isobel?
Flaming Fist Marcus and Isobel are characters that will become important to the story after the player reaches Act 2. The player will first meet Isobel when they reach the Last Light Inn, a place protected by her Moon Shield, allowing inhabitants to live despite the curses in the shadow cursed lands. She’s a cleric, specifically a follower of Selune, who possesses great power that will attract to her the likes of Ketheric Thorm.
This is where Flaming Fist Marcus comes into play. He will interrupt the player and Isobel after she bestows on the player a protection spell against the curses. He will come on Ketheric’s order to kidnap Isobel. This will shock Isobel as she previously trusted him. With that, a fight will erupt in the Last Light Inn, where the player can side with either Flaming Fist Marcus or Isobel.
Where To Find The Last Light Inn
All of this fighting will happen in the Last Light Inn. This area will become accessible early on in Act 2. When the player heads into the Shadow Cursed Lands, they will be met with many challenges, and early on, they will need to carry a torch at all times (except Shadowheart).
On their way, the player will run into Harper Lassandra and her group, whom the player can help fight against some Shadows. When that’s done, they’ll take the player to the Last Light Inn, a unique place that’s protected in this land.
Fighting Flaming Fist Marcus and Helping Isobel
Flaming Fist Marcus will arrive at the player’s location right after Isobel uses a protection spell on them. If the player refuses to help him capture Isobel for Thorm, a fight will ensue.
Flaming Fist Marcus, alongside his Winged Horros, will attack the Last Light Inn and try to capture Isobel. The player will have to do everything in their power to prevent that from happening as Isobel is the only reason the Last Light Inn is not riddled with curses. Her going down would mean all the inhabitants of the Last Light Inn would be in great danger.
So, when fighting Flaming Fist Marcus, the player’s priority must be protecting Isobel, generally by buffing her defense with spells like Shield Of Faith, or constantly healing her. She heals herself often as a cleric but it’s not enough to keep her standing.
The player will need to take down Flaming Fist Marcus, which can be a challenge while protecting Isobel. Once he’s down, however, the fight is still not over as the Winged Horrors will not stop attacking or trying to kidnap Isobel. The player could potentially lose Isobel despite having managed to defeat Marcus due to this, which would give the player Marcus’s loot, but would be a tough situation to handle with the moon shield down.
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If Isobel is good and safe when this fight is done, then the player will have succeeded. The inhabitants of the Last Light Inn will be safe, and the player will not have to go through a difficult fight against the inhabitants who are now taken over by the shadows.
With Isobel safe, the Harpers will aid the player on their quest to infiltrate the moonrise towers.
Helping Flaming Fist Marcus and Fighting Isobel
If the player wishes to go the evil route, then they will side with Flaming Fist Marcus. To do that, the player must communicate the message to Marcus. During the conversation, the player must make it clear they want to help out Marcus by picking dialogue such as:
“I say let’s follow this winged freak.”
And
“Sounds Like Fun – I’m with you.”
As well as
“you’re going to meet Ketheric – face to face.”
With that, Isobel will become hostile and the player will fight against her.
Defeating Isobel is relatively a whole lot easier than going against Marcus and his winged Horrors. Once the player defeats her, Marcus will take her away and fly off. With that, the moon shield dissipates and all the inhabitants of the Last Light Inn, except the player and Jaheira, will get corrupted.
Despite the player aiding Marcus, Jaheira will still aid the player as it seems she has no idea of what unfolded. The fight against the now hostile inhabitants will be no easy one as they are numerous.
If the player manages to win this fight, however, it could make their infiltration into the Moonrise Towers easier, as Ketheric is more likely to trust the player than if the player stood against Flaming Fist Marcus, believing the player is a true soul on their side.
This will, however, cause many quests to just come to their end, and the player will not get help from the Harpers on their upcoming missions.
Jaheira is also very likely to die during this fight, as the player does not control her and she does as she pleases, making ensuring her survival more difficult.
Which Way Should the Player Go?
Unless the player is doing an evil playthrough, it’s definitely better to not side with Flaming Fist Marcus, and instead help Isobel.
Helping Flaming Fist Marcus will put an end to many interesting quests in Act 2, and annihilate the inhabitants of the Last Light Inn, many of whom the player might’ve previously saved from the Emerald Grove.
The player will also likely lose Jaheira, a possible companion, which will then also close the door on another companion, Minsc, for whom the player is required to have Jaheira to recruit him later on in Act 3.
If not helping Isobel, the player will also pass out on a mind Flayer specimen that they could’ve acquired off of Flaming Fist Marcus’s corpse. Marcus has some other interesting loot too that could come in handy for the player.
The only reason the player might want to help Marcus is to get Ketheric to trust the player and defeat him more easily, but there are better ways to get rid of him anyway. The player will also not get help from the harpers to find a way to moonrise, which could be hard.
Overall, the player is more likely to lose than gain by siding with Marcus and fighting Isobel, on top of it being the morally wrong choice in this scenario. So, unless the player is doing an evil playthrough, it’s better to avoid and instead help Isobel and the other inhabitants.
Baldur’s Gate 3 is now available to play on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation 5.
Baldur’s Gate 3
- How Long To Beat
- 30 Hours
- Metascore
- 96
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