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Version used for review: 1.0.

Xzelë Melaenitt is a true-neutral paladin of the Evening Glory, a goddess of love, beauty, and undeath. She is introduced by the mod ‘In Love, Undeath’, which has the player participate in a few short quests surrounding a new area just outside Athkatla — the temple of Evening Glory, a deity that concerns herself with love and beauty beyond the grave.

The majority of the mod, however, is spent with Xzelë herself, as your companion. Xzelë is an interesting woman who is, in her own way, just as lost as many of the companions the player may travel with in the game. She is a woman who once had everything, and then lost it all, only to be denied vengeance on that which took her loved ones away. She is calm and collected, and very compassionate. Though it is clear throughout her dialogue that she is a woman haunted by her loss.

The way that Xzelë’s backstory and character is unveiled to the player is done so in a compelling fashion, and you can hear it all without romancing her. You’ll first learn about her beliefs and her personality in the quest portion of the mod, which will help launch into the friendship that you can build with her, which is when you learn about her past — and, perhaps, her future.

At a certain point, you may find yourself discussing former loves with her, and you are able to express your sexuality — whether it be gay, straight, or whatever inbetween. Whatever you choose, it will open up new paths in Xzelë’s dialogue. For the case of a straight man, it will open Xzelë’s romance further down the line. I appreciate that this wasn’t just an arbitrary choice, and that each choice results in a different branch of dialogue opening up, however short that branch may be.

You can’t fall in love without making a first impression, and such is the case for this mod as well. The initial quest begins when a woman approaches you in the Temple district of Athkatla, raving about undead in the city. While she doesn’t seem spectacularly unhinged, it’s always good to approach strangers with caution when you’re an adventurer. Of course, you can check out the temple that the woman mentions at your leisure. When you arrive there, you are met with a beautifully crafted custom area that could very well seem at home in the unmodded game. It is a little small, but I can’t fault the mod for the fact that I tend to play the game zoomed as far out as possible.

As soon as you get to the temple, you meet Xzelë, and are given the chance to attack her or work with her. Working with her entails four simple quests, with an additional four to come. For the most part, the quests involve going to another area, talking to someone or killing something, and returning with an item. Your reward is some experience and an insightful conversation with Xzelë after each quest. The fourth quest sees you fight a powerful enemy to save the inhabitants of the temple, which was a very challenging fight for my level 10 party. Despite the great encounter, it’s clear that the interactions with Xzelë were the main focus of the quests here, and the tasks themselves are relatively simple, with the occasional item reward.

In the Temple of Evening Glory, there are a series of undead NPCs that show you the power that Xzelë and her god possess. A variety of different undead creatures that have regained some semblance of their humanity inhabit the area, and you can speak to them and gain some insight into their condition. There is also a vendor that provides some well-designed new items.

Where my enjoyment stumbles a bit, unfortunately, is in the English of the mod. Although the talent of the writing itself is excellent, it is marred slightly by the grammar, though further editing may be expected, considering that this is the first version of the mod available.

Despite this, the romance with Xzelë is of a high quality and doesn’t feel particularly out of place for the character or the mod. What does feel a little strange, though, is that in order to gain access to the romance, the main character needs to undergo a change — to become undead. This is not a change that Xzelë requests, but one that you must choose to make yourself. This is an idea that has been toyed with in the past, with Beamdog supposedly almost adding the option to become a vampire in Hexxat’s romance. If this idea was ever on the table, it was scrapped — and this mod may be a good indicator of why.

In order to have such a significant change take place for the main character, the story needs to reflect it in some way to represent the choice that the player made. Whether that involves undead-specific dialogue options, new side-quests, or something else entirely is up to the developer, but without something to show that the player’s choice mattered outside of pure mechanical value, it ends up feeling underwhelming. I would love to see a few unique dialogue options in future mods that reflect the decision to become undead, but I won’t be too disappointed otherwise.

In the case of this mod, the way that the choice is reflected is in conversations with XZELE, if you decide to pursue a romance with her. As far as romances go, though, it isn’t a particularly long or complicated one. What is there is well written, though.

Regardless, I am glad that this was included in the mod. It’s something that many people have wanted to see, but I feel like it may be something that would be more befitting a series of mods, or one entirely focused on becoming undead and the reactivity involved.

The choice to become undead — a half-curst — begins when you encounter a petrified woman, and from her person you obtain an item that will send you down the path. Mechanically, it will provide you with some advantages, as well as some pretty significant disadvantages.

This ring represents the abilities that the player will receive upon becoming a half-curst. There are some useful immunities and bonuses, but depending on your build it may actually stand to make your character weaker — if you do not count being immortal as a strength.

Xzelë herself wears a similar ring, for she herself is undead. This particular ring doesn’t serve to weaken Xzelë quite as much, but her physical stats do take a toll.

Xzelë comes equipped with a custom-made paladin kit — the Evening Glory’s Cherished. She also has very decent stats, is True Neutral (and thus won’t be affected by Smite Evil).

Her class provides many benefits, such as immunity to Level Drain, bonus saving throws vs. Necromancy and Enchantment (which is excellent against spells like Finger of Death and Power Word: Kill). Xzelë may also summon a skeleton that improves as she levels, use a more powerful version of Lay on Hands for undead (usable on herself, a half-curst player, Hexxat, and any other undead allies you may have).

Love Requiem is an incredible ability that is on par with a Skald’s song, giving great combat bonuses for varying lengths of time. Cherished Loyalty will allow Xzelë to charm undead, and Painful Betrayal grants her a unique Fire Shield that protects against undead and grants magic resistance. Fear of Abandonment is an ability akin to Chaotic Commands, and is excellent once you gain it.

The trade-offs are that Xzelë can’t use Turn Undead, Lay on Hands, or Detect/Protection from Evil. These are all quite insignificant in the face of having access to cleric spells, which Xzelë does — in fact, she earns a few bonus necromancy spells.

What’s more, Xzelë has an illegal three proficiency slots in quarterstaves, and she gains access to her personal staff that can be upgraded a few times.

These are not all of the items that you’ll gain access to while playing this mod, but they’re a pretty good representation of what you’ll see. Xzelë’s personal staff, The Dire Wolf, is an excellent weapon that pairs well with her proficiencies. It receives small chance-based bonuses and a +10% Slashing Damage Resistance, making Xzelë a little tougher. It also allows her to use Skull Trap twice per day, which is an excellent spell that you should be using, if you’re not already. As you upgrade it, done by finding the skulls of clerics previously killed by the weapon, the chance-based bonuses improve and Xzelë will find herself dealing out a surprising amount of damage with this glorified stick. I’m inclined to say that it’s a well balanced weapon, especially considering Xzelë’s three proficiency slots in staffs, though there’s little merit to use it by the time you get the final upgrade, as you’ll have access to much stronger weapons. That +20% Slashing resistance on the final upgrade is quite nice, though, and I found it helpful to always have The Dire Wolf in Xzelë’s inventory. It’s also worth considering as a weapon for Hexxat, since she receives the Slashing resistance as an undead creature.

The Evening Buckler is one of my favourite mod items that I’ve played with, as I am a big fan of bucklers. The main problem with being a big fan of bucklers, however, is that they are practically useless in Baldur’s Gate. This buckler grants you +2 Save vs. Death and +18% Magic Resistance, which is fantastic for any character that may find itself holding it. The Evening Buckler has my big smoldering stamp of approval.

Evening Glory’s Ceremonial Wreath is an interesting item, in that it is incredibly powerful while remaining utterly unique in that it is the only item that will be able to grant you Luck, outside of other mods. Luck, if you don’t know, is a very powerful buff in Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2, and more things can affect it than you may realise. Not only does this item grant Luck, but it also gives you a +3 bonus to all Savings Throws, which becomes a +5 if the caster is undead. There are a LOT of undead spellcasters in BG2, making this an incredibly powerful item.

Golden Doom is a ring that offers a very respectable trade of -15% resistance in exchange for an extra 1/2 attack per round. If you have items to mitigate the negative effect of this item and don’t mind not using them optimally, then this would be an excellent item for a character like Haer’Dalis, Minsc, or even Rasaad and Viconia, as their inherent Magic Resistance will counter the -15% of the ring.

The item icons all look fantastic, as is typical of Lava Del’Vortel’s work. Xzelë’s portrait is also great, though does stand out a little as being a bit too lifelike. I don’t dislike it, however, and the portrait does a great job at portraying Xzelë’s gently somber self.

The voice-work in this mod is good as well, though it is limited to a full set of selection sounds — perhaps for the best, as despite the excellent work of the provider of the voice, the microphone used to record and/or the compression method leaves a bit to be desired. However, it is certainly not the most egregious case of bad-mic syndrome that many mods have, and once I got used to the way that she sounded, I really didn’t mind at all. It helps that Xzelë’s selection sounds are filled with personality. My favourite of hers is “I keep wondering how this little elegy of ours will play out.”

Overall, I’m very satisfied with the quality of this mod, especially considering the number of ongoing projects that the author has going. I will likely revisit ‘In Love, Undeath’ in the future, which I cannot say for a lot of mods. I’d recommend this mod if any of this review intrigued you, and especially so if you wish that you could become a vampire through Hexxat’s romance route — becoming a half-curst doesn’t quite have the same impact, but it’s close, and I quite enjoyed it.

Thanks for reading.

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