crystal-overdrive-old1

[crystal-overdrive-old1]

Transferred Blogs!

Hey! I'm now posting over at @crystal-overdrive. This was originally a side-blog but it's all I use these days so wanted to be able to like and follow people from this name so I can interact with Gortash nation more!

[crystal-overdrive-old1]

Towards Tyranny Chapter 7

Enver swallowed. He said, breathlessly, ‘You look like a Baneite Empress ready to bring all of Toril under her dominion. All that’s missing is the mask.’

Tav settles into her role as grand duke, and the papers have an awful lot to say about her. Tav gets a surprise shipment from Fiagro Pennygood.

[crystal-overdrive-old1]

I really love how much freedom you get with a Tav to define your moral choices, and how a dice roll or misaligned intention can affect that. Mine started off good but got really into using the absolute authority and after a mishap at the Last Light Inn that ended with everyone dead, I was playing a sort of Lawful Evil ends justify the means, get it done then most efficient way kind of character. In terms of shipping, putting this Tav with Gortash makes a lot of sense, they're morally aligned.

Yeah, playing into the Dark Urge is evil and all, but I don't think it truly beats the pure, sadistic, unadulterated evil of playing as a morally good character throughout the entire game, only to shift at the end. Just picture it. The entire time you've convinced everyone around you that you're a genuinely kind, helpful, and loving person. You're dependable. You're empathetic and go out of your way to listen to people's worries. In a Dark Urge run, you lose Karlach and Wyll, potentially Gale; if you don't threaten him into staying, and Selûnite Shadowheart. By the time you finish Act 1, everyone knows exactly what type of person you are. You're a monster and you like it. Every terrible action you take is expected. No one's surprised. Some even enjoy it. But just imagine you fool everyone. Imagine you save Astarion from Cazador and break his cycle of abuse. Imagine you help Karlach slay Gortash and give her hope for the future. Imagine you convince Shadowheart to reject Shar and reunite with her parents. Imagine you show Lae'zel the truth behind her queen and encourage her to rebel. Imagine you talk Gale into giving up his ambitions and soothe his insecurities. Imagine you break Wyll's contract with Mizora and save his father. You become the one person they can rely on. You make them feel heard. Cared for. Safe. Then, at the end of your wondrous journey, you betray them. You reveal your true intentions, which was to take control of the brain all along. There were no warning signs. No indication that you could ever do something so vile and wicked. You hid your desires well. All that intimacy and compassion was nothing more than a set up for your own twisted amusement. You've wanted to hurt them from the start—and you do. You smile as you take control of their minds, sensing their pain, sorrow, and fear. You feel their skin crawl. You feel their hearts shatter as they realise what you've done. Why? How could you? They trusted you.

The Dark Urge has nothing on that.

[crystal-overdrive-old1]

I shouldn't be allowed access to mods or photoshop. Anyway here's Tavarina and Gortash!

[crystal-overdrive-old1]

Sorry we messed up your tent playing dress-up Shadowheart.

[crystal-overdrive-old1]

Finally got round to installing some mods so I could make Tavarina from Towards Tyranny!

Ignore the mace she is definitely a warlock, nothing untoward going on with her class whatsoever.

[crystal-overdrive-old1]

*playing twister*

Astarion: Right hand red.

Tav: *ends up on top of Gortash*

Gortash: You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?

Astarion: I stopped spinning like 15 minutes ago. Honestly, I'm surprised you didn't notice.

[crystal-overdrive-old1]

[crystal-overdrive-old1]

🌨️❄️🌫️

winter time

[crystal-overdrive-old1]

i have spent so long trying to place who astarion reminds me of

his dry little sarcastic bits gets me every time and like it's automatically funny but it felt so familiar...

this bastard.

and some more similar comparisons i think

thank you for coming to my ted talk

[crystal-overdrive-old1]

perpetual state of unshaved-ness

[crystal-overdrive-old1]

actual insanity that you can't marry gortash when playing as a banite cleric. im suing larian

[crystal-overdrive-old1]

Absolutely incredible art of my dark urge Lumina & Gortash from @moonidraws on twitter! I’m obsessed!

[crystal-overdrive-old1]

fuck I just realised 'Banite' has no e in the middle and I've been spelling it wrong this whole time

[crystal-overdrive-old1]

Don't know if it's been done before, but I saw it, had to do it, and had way too much fun.

[crystal-overdrive-old1]

Wild that people think Astarion would make a good dad, cause I cannot imagine him as anything other than the family friend who is your absolute last choice of sitter even though your kids love him because every time you pick them up from his house, they'll tell you something like, "Mom! Uncle Astarion taught us how to throw knives!"

[crystal-overdrive-old1]

Was it lust for power, or something else…? prints | high res/wordless ver on patreon