weirdest-wyrd

[weirdest-wyrd]

The Weirdest Wyrd

A BG3 Webcomic by SootyCrowBait

From a swaddled, coddled, overprotected druid, to plunging through the skies in a burning alien ship with a neolithid in her skull, Taj has to think fast. 

The bad news is that is not her strong suit.

The good news is she’s not alone! Surrounded by powerful, talented, secretive companions all enthralled and looking for the panacea that keeps pulling them deeper and deeper into the mysterious cult of The Absolute.

The bad news is she is going to get them all killed; falling into holes, wandering into traps and selling their best boots?

The bad news is she has no way back home to the only family she’s known. The bad news is she’s a liability. The bad news is she's only a matter of time before she’s left behind. She’s always been left behind. She’s always been left alone....

But s‘all good! She’ll be right! No worries, yeah mate?! 

[weirdest-wyrd]

Webcomics for All!

If you love my stuff…. Well there’s no accounting for taste but lets see if we can improve that palette! 

And if you have a comic to share, please reply or let me know because I’d love to collect you all like Pokemon! 

Stories

Blood Beneath the Silent Wings by @yellomagoo   Zhevani || Dark Urge || Drow || Paladin || Astarion Romance || Website

A Host at the Gate by @swanbrother Full OC Party! || Supplementary Tumblr

Dirge by @dirgecomic Valance || Dark Urge || Half Elf || Bard || Website

Rowan by @crocodiller Rowan || Tav || Elf || Ranger || Astarion Romancer

Brainworms by @mistercrowbar Aldiirn || Tav || Half Drow || Bard || Astarion Romancer || Website

Baldur's Gate: Don't Say Inevitable by @rielzero  Locke || Tav || Warlock || Website

Hilde by @ladymathart Hilde || Tav || Tiefling || Cleric 

Collections

Raven by @cleomigadon Raven || Dark Urge || Half Tiefling || Grim Knight || Shadowheart Romancer

Clover @tendermiasma Clover || Tav || Half-Elf || Wizard || Halsin Romancer

[weirdest-wyrd]

Heck yeah for Cardy! Always a romp! I'm also delighted to see Trail we Blaze, one I hadn't thought of in years but so perfect! Doodles is so cute, so perfect for Taj !

Beautiful Life is an absolute jaunt! I can definitely see her bopping to it while she picks her herb supplies.

The one that surprised me was Am Gold, but it does feel like the life of a drow.

Thank you so much for putting me onto some great bops!

Songs that Remind You of OCs

I got tagged in a thing by @sootycrowbait, in this excellent post over here, which has been a rich source of Tavs I hadn't checked out yet.

I mostly know Tavs from Bluesky at the moment, but a few of y'all are also over here, so sure why not lol

long post is long

First up, returning fire @sootycrowbait, songs for

Taj:

1: Perception Check by Tom Cardy I CAST VICIOUS MOCKERY

Silly internet songs for silly bard stuff. Can't be beat.

2: AM Gold by Train You're a hit you know/Cause you're legit you know

I don't actually know, just something about the vibes feels like it matches up here.

3: Doodles by Rose Betts One for the chaos/and one for the craic

Cheerful song about making silly mistakes. There's a great animation of it also.

4: A Beautiful Life by Tim McMorris I gotta dance just a little bit/Move to be free/Keep my head up/Don’t forget to be me

Cute song for a cute Tav. The video where I first encountered this song for sure was part of why I thought of it for Taj lol

5: Trail We Blaze by Elton John (from The Road to El Dorado) Look out, new world, here we come/Brave, intrepid, and then some!

Song about a bard and a rogue setting out on a grand adventure, also broadly applicable to various combinations of tadfools.

Next Up, @tragedysorbet, with songs for

Mal:

1: Fear and Delight by The Correspondents I don't show it but I quiver whenever you come near/ and I cannot decipher between the thrill and the fear

If you start to fall in love with someone because they held a knife to your throat this song has appeal lol

2: Killer Queen by Queen To avoid complications/ she never kept the same address/ In conversation/ she spoke just like a baroness

Swap out the pronouns and we have a song for a classy assassin.

3: Made You Look by Meghan Trainor Yeah, I look good in my Versacе dress/But I'm hotter whеn my morning hair's a mess

idk I just think this is kind of a cute song

4: Perfect Isn't Easy by Bette Midler (from Oliver and Company) Perfect isn't easy/but it's me

Okay I'm poking fun with this one a little bit

5: That's What I Want by Lil Nas X Love me or nothing 'cause I'm not wanting anything/But your loving, your body, and a little bit of your brain

Solid Malstarion pick I think

@tcustodisart songs for

Connie:

Why is most of this list Great Big Sea? I'm having a Great Big Sea moment this week idk

Walk On the Moon by Great Big Sea this is my one small step/this is my walk on the moon

This is the "I don't want to be with anyone but you" moment ca. the end of act 2. Could be either half of Connieheart, which is neat.

2. Clearest Indication by Great Big Sea Where do we stand? /What Am I supposed to do?/ Give me the clearest indication/ I'm not alone with you

Act 2 feels when things are a bit rough

3: Plough and Orion by Skinny Lister Oh to lay with you among the dandelions/Dark falls, we watch the stars/The Plough and Orion

Sweet Connieheart vibes. It was down between like three songs exactly like this

4: Good People by Great Big Sea ask em' for a shovel and they'll dig you a hole/put the coffee on, drag you in from the cold/if you get lost they'll show you where to go/even give you a ride, good people

oops they're back

Theme for the whole Connecticut family tbh

BONUS

song for Starling also:

All For A Song by Alan Doyle You and me/We did it all for a song

if it sounds familiar it's because Alan Doyle was in Great Big Sea

im so sorry I promise I listen to other music as well

@mistercrowbar songs for

Aldiirn:

1: I Don't Work Here by Tom Cardy Silly Me! I've had the pasta all along (fuck you)

Because you are 100% correct about drow accents, and because though Aldiirn would never, everyone who has to do customer service a lot dreams of saying things like this to certain customers. Especially the aliens. Break their mind by calling them a cunt et al.

2. Fast As I Can by Great Big Sea I'm going fast as I can, please don't make me rush/This feeling's coming on way too fast/I'll tell you all of the things that you'll never forget/But I'm not ready say, "I love you" yet

I know this band literally because the flute part from the beginning of this song lived in my brain for like fifteen years after hearing it as a kid. It's a great flute part.

3: Music of the Night by Andrew Lloyd Webber, this iteration performed by Gerard Butler (from Phantom of the Opera) You alone can make my song take flight/Help me make the music of the night

General purpose Vhaeraun song tbh

and finally

@amaidienfishi

Songs for

Darius:

1: Come On To Me by Paul McCartney I saw you flash a smile/ that seemed to me to say/you wanted so much more than casual conversation

This seems like his MO lol

2: Dear Wormwood by The Oh Hellos I have always known you/ you have always been there in my mind/but now I understand you/and I will not be part of your design

A bittersweet but triumphant song for a resist!Durge

3: Put Your Lights On by Santana ft. Everlast Hey now, all you lovers/Put your lights on, put your lights on/Hey now, all you killers/Put your lights on, put your lights on

YEAH.

[weirdest-wyrd]

Taj's Soundtrack

Full Play List

So every OC needs a theme track to bop along to!

Main Theme: Dumb Things by Paul Kelly

So Taj isn’t an adventurer with great power brought low. She’s an inexperienced overcoddled welp constantly wandering into trouble. She will touch that button, she will fall down that hole, she will sell your irreplaceable magical items. 

Fight Music: Heart in Danger by Southern Sons

Another bouncy fight one, reflecting her testing new boundaries and figuring out who she is.

Relaxing Music: The Wind by Cat Stevens

She’s a druid, of course she has to have a chill folk ballad.

Romantic Theme: You Were There by Southerns Sons

I don’t know who Taj is romancing yet. When I recruit Karlach in the game I’m going to roll a dice, so that’s my Kinder Surprise. The wonderful thing is every companion is perfect so I don’t think I’ll be disappointed, but I definitely see Taj as a blushing and pining and peeking from trees.

Adventuring Theme: Wake Me Up by Avicii

A joyous find through exploring, just something along the road.

Nautiloid Escape: Full Steam Space Machine by Royal Republic

Taj is currently escaping the Nautiloid, so this is on a loop!

[weirdest-wyrd]

*gleeful giggle*

hey if i have songs that make me think of y’all’s tavs/durges can i post them and tag y’all

[weirdest-wyrd]

What does Taj smell like?

Taj has really high Insight... but she was effectively homeschooled.

Also translation: "I never knew Wyll was so clumsy."

I'm trying hard to keep up with tags!

[weirdest-wyrd]

I am so incredibly spoiled! I love seeing the variety of drow OCs out there! You really brought out their individuality! Taj is so adorable I want to carry her around in my pocket!

The extremely introverted drow is having guests over and it didn't end well

(From left to right) Featuring: Taj ( @sootycrowbait @weirdest-wyrd ), Enel ( @burnmyboness ), and Breoch ( @bardic-perdita )

Continuation of this art

[weirdest-wyrd]

Oh god. Finally.

Thanks. I hate it. It is three different kinds of shading and highlights in one page. I will wait one year to redo the banner with everything I've learned. I will not touch it.

At least it helped me nail down each character's thematic colours. Taj will move closer to burgundy as the story progresses.

Karlach in lush, gorgeous green (the pair are in the barefoot jammies club along with Halsin). Gale will be navy blue, Lae'zel browns, whites and silvers, Astarion black and gold, Wyll in red and goth girl Shadowheart in dark violet.

[weirdest-wyrd]

Thank you so much for this! I'm flabbergasted you took your own free time to bring Taj to life! You got her chubby cheeks and outfit so right its amazing!

✨️Mutual's drow tavs✨️

@burnmyboness 's Lolth drow,

Enel💚

@sootycrowbait & @weirdest-wyrd 's drow,

Taj🩷

@bardic-perdita 's Lolth-sworn drow,

Breoch Vy'sse🩵

(I will make a mini comic about this)

Thank you for lending me your gorgeous Tavs^^✨️

[weirdest-wyrd]

Taj's Lines

All together now!

[weirdest-wyrd]

Family Album

Constructive Criticism APPRECIATED! Please tell me how I can improve!!!

Alrighty, so sketching out my pages I realised I hadn’t designed the two of Taj’s biggest influences; Auntie Bydelle and Auntie Merla.

For those who don’t know, three years before the Nautiloid took flight over Baldur’s Gate whilst traversing through the forests of SilveryMoon, in a cavern by a waterfall they found a naked drow woman. Although tempted to kill the wretch, the duergar hand was stayed knowing her best friend would beg mercy.

When the drow awoke, she screamed and thrashed without end. Only sleeping draught would bring peace. For weeks on end they travelled, seeking refuge with the Tall Trees Druid Circle where only their high regard for Merla allowed the eerie, stupified drow amongst them. Merla exhausted her knowledge and stores until one night she sent Bydelle away in secrecy, returning with an mysterious elixir.

The drow awoke, as empty as a doll but with time and compassion she regained her body, mind and voice. In spite of the whispers around them, Tajana is loved by Bydelle and Merla as family.

Auntie Bydelle is a duergar, survivor of a plot that killed her husband and son, exiled as a coconspirator and nursed by halflings, more than a hundred years on the surface has polished some of her rough edges but not all. Although unable to stand the harsh light of midday, she toils from dusk til dawn as a Beastmaster Ranger; harvesting rare ingredients for Merla alongside her loyal trufflepig, Jub Jub (the pig she didn’t want). She passed on Taj her industrious and meticulous personality, along with her thick Undadark accent and slang. 

It was Auntie Merla’s mother who ministered to Bydelle, and when her talented daughter ‘grew fancy feet’, Bydelle swore to protect her during their journey.

Merla is a Moon Druid and a master potioneer, her wares sought after throughout Faerun. She’s kind and generous but although well meaning her fussy nature means she’s only passed on a limited amount of her knowledge to Taj. She doesn’t like Taj to go wandering and often asks her to transform around strangers because of how unwelcome Drow are. To keep her safe of course. 

I hope this art doesn’t give too much of the wrong impression. Taj loves her Aunties and they love her. They are just crushingly overprotective. 

—-

The Meta! I realised giving Drow a bogan occa accent wasn’t going to work but given the duergar we meet speak cockney I figured it wasn’t a far stretch. Bydelle is loud, crass and full of fun Aussie slang. Actually both are full to the brim with sayings and proverbs that live rent free in Taj’s head which she is constantly asking herself what they would expect of her. 

Jubjub is a carry over from my crash run where I hoarded inspiration points and failed every animal encounter. Animals hate Taj. Jub Jub hates Taj with all the fire of a hellspawned chihuahua which Bydelle treats as ‘aww, he’s just protective of mummy.’ 

I’m a vettech, so many of my bites are from ‘don’t worry he’s all bark no bite!’ with owners laughing as my hand gets savaged. 

Artwise, I might go back to my previous sketch brush. It’s much harder and I haven’t developed the hand co-ordination yet to make use of lineweight. I might continue to use this soft shading technique because I’m still getting to grip on shades and highlights. I love cellshading. I got my start tracing my shitty Naruto OCs over screenshots but I don’t have the skills to pull it off yet and with my fuzzy blend brush I can hide it better.

I’m getting a bit better at faces. Bydelle looks like Chief Wiggum and I tried and I tried to fix Taj’s face but there came a point where I just had to move on. Most of all I fucking love Jub Jub. I’ve never drawn animals before and I think he came out pretty good. 

Speech bubbles. I keep reading online how you should put your speech bubbles down first and draw around them but I didn’t listen. I don’t know how readable this is but a lesson learned.

Back to pages….

Constructive Criticism APPRECIATED! Please tell me how I can improve!!!

[weirdest-wyrd]

Bragging Rights

You know what, I'm gonna brag about the internets most fuckugly pig. It's the first animal I've ever drawn.

[weirdest-wyrd]

Still playing with brushes and I think I found a set I like so I can actually start moving from the sketch stage. I found some Sailor Moon expression screenshots and thought I'd try f'n around with them. The goal was quick and dirty to knock out pages in a decent amount of time.. Can I sketch and base out colours quickly or is it better to do proper lineart layer. Mixed results.

And while I initially started with Taj, I didn't think it was enough so I messed around with Gale. Poor, fuckedup Gale. I chose him because I have to figure out how to draw his square-block head and while I'm happy with his hair, I still have to figure out his nose and his cheekbones and his beard.

The MVP is Wyll of all people. I don't know how I got that smirk, thanks Minako, but I think his face turned out okay and a cheat brush for his locs. I've never done black hair before and I don't know how I feel about them.

[weirdest-wyrd]

Last of my Taj Lines, Positive and Flirting. I really like the Flirting one as I feel like I have that peer beneath fringe, round face, button nose thing I hope to use for Taj's design. I continued to use a painters brush along with a fluffyblend that made things kind of textured.

Positive

"G'day, g'day! Howsigoing!" "What's the goss?" "Good as gold!" "Oiyamate! What's the good word."

This is as confident as Taj gets, no transparency in her text bubbles and the dialogue spline is short, straight and to the point. Flirty

"Cooee, howsigoin?" "Uppa cuppa? Lavender is perfect for sweet dreams..." "There's always room by my fire for you." I suppose my endless question is, 'Who's it for?' I don't know if I mentioned it before but on this playthrough, once I've collected the main six, I'll roll a randomiser and see how it goes (aka Prime Run).

I have a current run (Dump-run) where I'm playing with mods and actually putting everything I learned on my crashout playthrough (Crash-run) where I romanced no one, didn't save the tieflings at Moonrise and sacrificed my darling Karlach to be a mindflayer because I didn't know she could go to Avernus.... My current Dump-Run I've got Poly-Romance and Extended Party mod so I can get a feel for everyone's story so that when I finally roll for romance I've got a hazy idea of how their romance would progress. Frankly, loveya Karlach, but Lae'Zel throwing down with timid little Taj and then soothing her has its appeal. I've mucked around with everyone's classes, I think I'm gonna go wild! I also want to try and flesh out some of Wyll and Karlach's stories because... well... it hurts.... the potential... But all that is the future...

[weirdest-wyrd]

Comic Dialogue

Playing around with stuff to make sure dialogue is readable. What dya reckon?

[weirdest-wyrd]

Zethino's Test of Love

Tagged by @ranger-jahen

Zethino the Dryad asks you how well you know your love interest. But what would the answers be, if your OC was asked?

Rules: Think of three answers with approval, disapproval and an explanation.

Spring air like honey or winter flurries laced with snow. Sunshine, starlight or moonbeams. As she strolls through life, where does Tajana find her peace?

Curled and cosy by the fire with autumn rain pattering rhythmically down a tin roof. (+1)

Joyful and spirited as drifting, dancing ice crystals rest against her brow. (-5) 

As the first raindrop falls on the cusp of the storm, as the hot air prickles, the thunder rolls and lighting forks across the sky. (+5)

Taj hates being cold, and her default is ‘it’s too cold’. The idea of playing in snow is foreign and torturous. 

Number three because Taj is all about lightning. I’m an expat, moving from the Australian inland to frigid fucking Canada where I wear trackydacks 80% of the time because I share my house with fucking polarbears.

The thing I miss most is summer storms. I miss savage thunder, blinding lightning and the roar of rain on a tin roof. I miss sitting on my veranda feeling that suffocating wait, feeling the air thrum, standing out in the open getting drenched and breathing in the delicious smell of petrichor…..I miss it so much.

While her laughter is warm and soft as summer rain, what sound freezes her heart with fear?

The waiting silence, where her own thoughts crowd her head with a deafening pound. 

The joyous music of children’s laughter as they play. (+5)

The endless clamour of the city noise and it clashes against her ears.(+1)

Number two is a plot point so you don’t get nothin!

“If the world demanded her sacrifice, what could she never let go?”

The preciousness of memories, she will always cherish the time she has had with her family anew. (+2)

The gift of the present, a wish this moment with you would last an eternity. 

The hope of the future, in all its thrilling mystery. (-1)

This was a harder one because I don’t think Taj has had much to hold onto until she met her weird new family and even the most awful parts of their adventure has been glossed with love and acceptance. 

Probably not number two or three as she would spend too much time worrying about the future….and she would give up her life if it meant you lived happily ever after… 

So again, the art was 'just a quick sketch' that got out of hand. Still messed up the perspective. Still figuring it out. Taj's wearing the Moonbasking armour, colours brown and burgundy.

So I wrote my own questions but check out Jahen’s original questions and answers here and get to know him here!

Others to be tagged or have been tagged! Get to know them too!

Elenion the Half Elf Bard by @goldenflowers who was tagged here.

Imrae the Wizard Drow by @spillingteanotpermitted who's tagged!

Neer the Bard/Rogue Drow by @del0nix-regia who's tagged!

Eoe and Paradox by @eoe-everlasting who is tagged!

Deet the Half Drow Warlock by @the-red-drow who is tagged!

Also open tag, I'm always thrilled to know more about your OCs!

[weirdest-wyrd]

WIP Wednesday

Heeeey! You know Sooti, you're starting a blog so why not do a little banner for your tumblr!

A nibble at this monstrosity before I go to work in the morning and from the time I started to now I've already learned heaps. I'm still throwing around colour choices but Wyll's likely to remain red. I still have a lot of shadows to do. Uuuugggg. I hate it. I can't stop.