not today or tomorrow

I finally made it to Act III of Baldur's Gate 3 today, and immediately ran headfirst into what I refuse to believe is anything but a very deliberate prank constructed by the developers... and it got me so bad I had to walk away and lie down for a while because I was crying with uncontrollable laughter and couldn't see the screen. It was like getting cursed by Tasha's Hideous Laughter in real life. Devastating critical hit.

(For the curious, this article describes much the same situation I ended up in.)

( some broad and nonspoilery observations )