noamuth - Tumblr blog

[noamuth]

Almost done with his jewelry!!! Just 3 more earrings to go and then I can show you all!

And im going to blab so much about the stones, too. It's gonna be a long headcanon. I did too much research for it not to be xD

[noamuth]

more Dal thoughts, some just restating what i've already mentioned because. my mind likes the repetition i guess

One interesting thing about BG3 Dal's personality compared to his TES origin is that, while TES Dal has/had some angst about being a monster because of his vampirism, and has guilt over some bad things he's done, BG3 Dal does not

At no point does Dal think anything he's done is wrong, and he does not believe himself a bad person or monster for having done those things. He believes all his actions, up to and including murder, were entirely justified, and whether he's actually right or wrong doesn't matter, because it's done and now he's moved on.

TES Dal lived in a world where cruelty and torture and murder were against the rules from the get-go, while BG3 Dal did not. Murder is "legal" in Menzoberranzan as long as you don't get caught. They don't care about investigating things after the fact. That guy's dead? Welp. Guess he should've been more vigilant. Cruelty isn't just allowed, it's encouraged and expected, to show Drow superiority and "prepare" young Drow for "the harsh world"

Even when he starts to learn the rules of the surface, he doesn't regret his past actions, because he sees them as having been necessary to survive (and in many cases, they were, but not all). It's happened and now it's done.

What he does (eventually) have angst about is knowing that while he was literally being fed/ingesting poison to boost resistance, a surfacer's parents are cooking them their favorite meal. While he's punished for small mistakes, a surfacer is praised for their attempts regardless of the result.

Now obviously this is a oversimplification--the surface isn't sunshine and rainbows, especially not for lower classes and outcasts, etc.

He can't even be like "Why didn't anyone help me?" because he fully believed the Lolthite way of life was normal and the best way to have a strong society full of necessarily ruthless if charming and intelligent individuals. You can't help someone who doesn't want help, and that's why even on the surface he's a pain in the ass. He doesn't think he needs help. He doesn't need people to care. To want or need help is to be weak or vulnerable and he refuses to be weak or vulnerable because it's a quick way to make yourself a target or a burden, and Menzoberranyr don't suffer burdens.

Not to mention, there was no one around to help, no one who didn't also believe in Might Makes Right. Maybe Nilaufein but, y'know, not for long.

There's cognitive dissonance and then there's "You lived your whole life in The Torment Nexus to the point of believing it was good for you, and now that you're out of the Torment Nexus you're feeling things you weren't allowed to feel before because you were told they were Bad but now it feels Good and trying to repress the feelings is nearly impossible because you Don't Really Want To but also it's Scary and New and what if you're tackled and killed for it or something idk you've never been on the Surface before. The Torment Nexus is familiar. Maybe it wasn't fun but you knew what to expect."

The sheer exhaustion of hearing Alarm Bells ringing every time anything feels remotely Safe or Relaxed or Calm. He has to be rewarded for every scrap of vulnerability he shows, but seeing those moments is an art in itself, and the reward itself feels like a trick to him. It's never simple.

What else can one expect really, when someone who thought they were the Predator Animal suddenly feels like the Prey? Who prided himself on being Perfect only to gain a permanent injury that'll affect his abilities for the rest of his life, and make him a liability in battle?

Anyway, this kind of got away from me, but BG3 Dal doesn't think in Good or Bad. He doesn't think of himself in terms of Good or Bad. He's a survivor. He did what he felt he had to, and he will continue to do so. He just doesn't realize that the mechanisms that kept him safe in Menzoberranzan aren't needed on the surface, but they're so extreme and deep-seated that not using them makes him feel stripped bare, just asking to be hurt. Even just speaking without some measure of pride or contempt for others can feel too... sincere, and sincerity can be used against him.

He never thinks he's a Bad Person or that he's Done Wrong, because he believes it was necessary. But he can be convinced that he's a Hurt Person, and that's what brings the angst

[noamuth]

Triumph! And yet.. the rat does not struggle as he might expect. Is it sick? It watches him just as surely as he watches it. An uncomfortable thought.

Several possibilities run through his mind, all of them making him wish he had simply ignored the rat until it became someone else's problem. He is well aware of spells which would allow a mage to transform themself or another, but is uncertain why anyone would do so simply to grab a minuscule amount of food.

Dalamus peers around at the campsite. Everyone is still asleep, and there are no other signs of intruders. What should he do...? He drags his free hand down his face.

At the risk of looking a fool, Dalamus turns his attention back to the rat and speaks to it, knowing it cannot exactly speak back even if it is a mage in disguise. "Is food all you are after?" he whispers to the rat. Normally averse to sharing or doing favors, enough food to fill a single rat's stomach seems a small price to pay for not battling a mage. Assuming he can trust the rat's answer, regardless.

Or maybe it is just a calm rat, and anyone who wakes right now will question his sanity.

It works. As the rat makes its move towards the mushroom, it feels the hand descend upon its back and tries to back away -- too late. The mushroom rolls into the dirt as it finds itself trapped.

Odder still, although it squirms for a few seconds, it soon gives up on the endeavour, as if realising that its efforts are futile. The next step, one might assume, would be baring teeth in readiness to nip at the fingers closed around it, but instead it goes quite still. Even its breathing remains steady. Its tiny chest rises and falls beneath its captor's fingers and it twists its head until it can meet Dalamus's eyes again. Anyone who didn't know better might think it was contemplating its next move.

[noamuth]

"A ship? No wonder you are mad. An elf's feet should not be off solid ground for so long." He has only heard of ocean-faring ships, never seen them nor the ocean itself, but he does not like the thought of it any more than he enjoyed being high in the air in the Nautiloid. A short levitation is more than enough time off the ground.

"At least you deign to drink it, unlike Gale who wasted it," he says, and earns himself a half-heartedly indignant 'Hey!' from the wizard several feet away. Dalamus sips his tea slowly, watching her from under his hood. "If nothing else, you kivven are proving entertaining, at least."

"Manners? Refined palate? Red eyes, your ears must've been somewhere else when I told this crew I was on a ship before our shared little kidnapping. I don't give a damn if you think I'm ladylike or a whore."

"Besides-" she takes another sip, a nasty grin forming on her face. "it's not like your tea was worth showing any manners for."

[noamuth]

POV you've woken up and the weird paranoid drow is interrogating a rat while shirtless at 1am

[noamuth]

I will try to get to drafts tomorrow!

in the meantime please enjoy this gif which is all i can think about as Dal holds the rat while he tries to figure out the best course of action

[noamuth]

I love the idea that, in a conversation between Dal (new to the surface and never learned much about it) and someone who's never been to the Underdark/never learned much about it, that describing animals from either place gets an equal amount of "No, you're making that up, c'mon" from either side

[noamuth]

One of Dal's rings has a stone that, on Earth, would be a Sonora Sunrise/Sunset, but obviously Mexico doesn't exist in Faerun so I need to come up with something else.

Part of me wants to keep the Sunrise/Sunset but just put a different place's name. I think it would be somewhat ironic for Dal to be wearing a piece meant to emulate a sunrise/sunset that he's never seen at the time of making it, having only heard about it or seen it in art at most.

There is a Mountains of Copper with extensive mines, so I've been looking at the surrounding areas. There's a forest I think I'll use. Shalhoond Sunrise?

[noamuth]

I'm getting more serious about the jewelry reference than i meant to. i promise it'll be worth it once i post it.

don't forget me in the mean tiiiimmmeeee (voice slowly trails off)

[noamuth]

Stones have all been chosen, and this is turning into a more serious reference sheet than I meant to. Which i should have anticipated :'D

But I may start re-coloring it tonight with all my changes accounted for

[noamuth]

maybe since the accent stones are so small, multiple colors wouldn't be too bad. maybe odd numbers of each

Symmetry is pleasing, but asymmetry is interesting

[noamuth]

trying to look for which accent stones to use for one of the rings and all im getting is articles about "accent diamonds"

i cannot overstate how boring Dal thinks diamonds are. They're fine for accents he GUESSES but not for as many as i need on this ring

[noamuth]

Stones for the rings are all picked out. I think. Now I gotta figure out what stones i wanna do for the earrings. I know what colors I think I want but we'll see! I want them to be cabochons of course with interesting looks to them without being cluttered or too detailed. flat colors are boring to him (and im starting to agree with him lmao)

[noamuth]

hmmm the desire to have him wear many different colors vs the desire to be... idk what it's called. chromatically cohesive?

i just put down the base colors im thinking about, but i haven't looked at stones yet

[noamuth]

I think.... I THINK i've settled on jewelry for Dal to wear. I've drawn it and I'm not displeased, he's got a few complicated pieces and several simple ones to balance it out. Most of them he made himself, and I'll point out each one

I wanna color them bc the cabochons have color of course, so I'm not posting it just yet but. I'm happy to have something figured out :3c

[noamuth]

Dal as a Companion: Location and Recruitment

Dalamus can be found along the same beach that the player lands after being thrown from the Nautiloid, a bit further North than where Shadowheart is found.

He can be seen attempting to get to his feet, but failing, obviously disoriented and possibly injured judging by the way he falters when trying to stand and his labored breathing. He appears to be looking for his piwafwi, and sees it caught on some rubble or a tree branch, precariously flapping in the wind and ready to be whisked away at any moment.

When approached, a "mental handshake" of the tadpoles is triggered and the player will see glimpses of Menzoberranzan, Dalamus' exile through his eyes and flashes of pain, his escape from the Nautiloid pod, and generally feel his paranoia and desperation to return home.

He immediately aims a dagger at the player before they can get closer, and will threaten them in Drowic. If the player knows Drowic, they can offer help or ask to speak in Common. Whatever the language, Dalamus will insist that he does not need the help, despite still having difficulties standing, and the heat bearing down on him causing him to exhaust quickly.

His piwafwi dislodges from where it is stuck and is carried by the wind, and the player can catch it, at which point they have a few options:

Approach and give it to the Drow

Let the Drow approach you and take it

Hold onto it until the Drow agrees to join you

Let the piwafwi flutter away in the wind

Options 1 and 2 gain slight approval from Dalamus, and will trigger conversation that allows the player to convince him to either join them or go their separate ways. The best way to get him to join is to somehow convince him that it is mutually beneficial. Or, at the risk of gaining disapproval, one can say he owes them a favor for returning his piwafwi.

Option 3 skips the secondary dialogue, as the player bargains up front, and Dalamus may join but at a lower approval.

Option 4 will have Dalamus initiate combat immediately, although his disorientation in the sun without his piwafwi and aggravated back injury make him an easy fight even for a brand new player.

If Dalamus is alive but not recruited at the Ravaged Beach, he can be seen again within the destroyed Nautiloid, having been cornered by imps while in search of information about the tadpoles. If one engages in battle and saves him, he will begrudgingly join the player, now feeling that a debt is owed and knowing he cannot survive the surface alone.

[noamuth]

Btw if a character knows about the whole "drow eyes change color when ill" thing and you want your character to comment on Dal being in pain bc they can see the gold showing up, know it's always correct for the purposes of RP

He will be annoyed about having eyes that telegraph when he's feeling weak/sick, but I am glad he can't always hide his pain, try as he might

I just think it's easier to give others blanket permission to bring it up now and then, rather than me describing his eyes in every instance to offer it as a potential topic and possibly end up seeming pushy.