For a lot of Baldur’s Gate 3 fans, the real romantic pairing of the game isn’t between their Tadpoled Adventurer and a companion, or even Raphael and Withers, but rather tiefling Barbarian Karlach and erstwhile infernal smith-turned-heart engine mechanic Dammon. There’s certainly some sparks there in the game, but as reported by GamesRadar, an inaccessible camp scene makes it way more explicit.
If you take a long rest on the Nautiloid crash beach before meeting too many companions, you’ll be treated to a special one-off camp scene where your origin character reckons with their past—we previously reported on how this shakes out with the Dark Urge (spoilers: it’s rad).
When playing with Karlach as your origin character, there’s a normal version of this scene, and also a secret one involving Dammon that’s currently impossible to access in the game—you need to have met Dammon, but also never have left the starting beach, making this an impossible nap to take. YouTuber Sparrows swapped the flags for this scene, allowing it to play out as normal.
After musing about having escaped the hells, Karlach’s thoughts turn towards Dammon, the smith capable of repairing her heart—in more ways than one? “I ought to keep him close. Really close.
“And then, next time he leans in to listen to my heart, I take his chin in my hand and I lift his face to meet mine and I—stop it, brain! This isn’t the time! Is it?”
Mama mia. It keeps going from there too, if you pick the right dialogue option for Karlach’s internal monologue. Thoughts of Illithid tadpoles soon take over though: “I’m all nerves now, all starry, as my head explodes, showering him with skull fragments to reveal a mass of tentacles—OH GODS.”
Daydream ending notwithstanding, it’s certainly a nice touch for fans of the pairing—including the characters’ voice actors. Both Samantha Béart and Frazer Blaxland have spoken approvingly of the idea, with Béart even addressing this specific scene: “You know me and [Frazer Blaxland] say that Karlach & Dammon being into each other is canon? Well this is pretty clear (and unfortunately cut for the time being).”
That’s all well and good, but I actually think we can agree that Karlach’s canon pairing is with my Half-Orc Paladin who’s good at everything—we all love that guy, don’t we?