#and every time they post about it they have to compare it to bg3 for some reason? and talk about why bg3 is so bad and everyone that likes

[juice-enjoyer]

being on tumblr more and seeing literally no discourse has made me realize

1. how much I need to do a serious purge of my twitter timeline

2. how fucking irritating my twitter tl is

[hippotooth]

💙 Hello talented people who create fan art and fan fiction! 💙

It’s probably just some random fluke of my dash tonight but I’ve been seeing a lot of discouraged people wondering why they aren’t getting more interaction, or followers, comparing themselves to other artists etc- so I wanted to share my perspective, for what it’s worth.

I’ve been doing this thing for a while where I seek out, and reblog, BG3 fan art that is under appreciated - doesn’t have a ton of notes, etc - so visual artists are more my niche than fan fic but this applies to you writers out there too I think.

I’ve noticed:

Interaction does not always correlate with quality ✨

I see a ton of art each day of all skill levels, mediums, and subject matters. There is a ton of amazing stuff out there that simply does not get notes.

More importantly:

Every post is someone’s favorite 💕

Your post may not make you tumblr famous but I guarantee you someone loves what you make. I can reblog something, see most of my followers not interact with it, then see one follower reblog it absolutely losing their mind in the tags because it’s the perfect piece for them. If you’re not finding that person, the problem is most likely circumstance and not you. Maybe they’re in a different time zone than when you post, blame tumblr’s messy tagging and impossible search function- not yourself!

Sappy as it sounds, consider me your biggest fan if you want! I’m grateful for how active the BG3 community is and love seeing your talent and growth as artists. I genuinely enjoy every post I like and reblog. Need a pick me up? Message me and I will shamelessly gush about how much I love your work and mean every word of it. 😊

Your art and writing are appreciated. Sometimes that appreciation isn’t as loud or as visible as it should be, but that is not a fault of you, devoted and talented people. 👏

Thank you for sharing your creativity with us all!

[cfcreative]

You want to know my absolute biggest self-indulgent post BG3 headcanon?

Maybe five, ten years down the line, Gale (after he’s spent a great deal of time researching immortality and ways to undo Astarion’s vampirism) and Rolan (when he has truly mastered Ramazith’s tower and the knowledge within), are able to offer Aylin and Isobel a way to equitably split Ayln’s immortality. After all, Kethric was able to tap into Aylin’s powers to keep himself alive after he should have died many times over, and Lorrroakan seemed convinced he could also use Aylin for such purposes.

However, this technique cannot make them both immortal. What it does is make Aylin’s life incredibly long, but finite, and gives Isobel a lifespan to match it. Aylin maintains most of her divine abilities, but she has to be more careful because they’re not sure she will resurrect the way she used to, or what effect her dying might have on Isobel’s life, tied to Aylin’s in this magical way.

Selúne makes no apparent protest over her daughter becoming mortal. Perhaps when she sent Aylin to Moonrise all those years ago she knew what awaited her daughter there—the joy and the suffering. Perhaps some of her divinatory abilities had given her a glimpse of a silver haired half-elf cleric centuries before she brought Aylin into being. Perhaps all along she knew that another, dark-haired half-elf would also need Aylin’s guidance.

If any of this is true, the Moonmaiden keeps her own counsel about it.

Several centuries later, people visiting Baldur’s Gate comment how every the monuments for the heroes of the netherbrain crisis are so well maintained compared to some of the others. Locals tell them that every couple years or so a pair of women pass through and clean them up, cast warding spells, and lay flowers.

“They always do it in the dead of night, but it’s always under the light of the full moon… they’re not the best at hiding, those two,” the proprietor of the inn nearest the monuments will explain if asked.

Once, when he’s explaining this to a curious couple at the bar, a woman stands up at a nearby table to declare, “DAME AYLIN DOES NOT HIDE, DAME AYLIN PAYS TRIBUTE TO HER COMRADES UNDER THE FULL EYE OF HER MOTHER, OUR LADY OF—”

Her companion gently touches her arm to stop her, and says “Sorry. We’ll take the check when you’re ready.”

[ceeridwen99]

BG3 is a R O L E P L A Y I N G GAME...

Okay, time to be a bit controversial but I need to get this off my chest. Mainly because I've been seeing it everywhere. Instagram. Here. Youtube. Even the cursed site that is Reddit. I doubt this will reach many people, but I'll feel better having gotten it out of my head.

I think that a lot of people who play/played BG3 have forgotten that it is of ROLEPLAYING game. Let me repeat that. ROLEPLAYING. That means, that your game is based off of YOUR choices and YOUR choices alone. Meaning that the things you choose to do in this game are based on YOUR interpretation of the media. There is NO canonical interpretation of the game because it is YOUR campaign based on how YOU play. The plotline, the romances, and everything that happens is based on YOUR choices and how YOU decide to ROLEPLAY it.

Why am I putting so much emphasis on this? Well, because with the new patch, some additions were made to Durge's storyline. Mainly regarding Gortash. Nothing major at all, honestly. But, as we know, durgtash is quite a popular ship in the fandom. There was an added line during Gortash's coronation when Gortash expressed that he "liked" the Dark Urge in comparison to his sibling. A line has been added where the Durge can reply "I think I liked you too." That's it. That's what all the fuss is about. Because oh boy, did some people interpret that as Larian forcing durgetash on the players. First...what? How--

Let me preface this by saying I'm NOT a durgetash shipper AT ALL. I don't even like Gortash. Believe me, I've tried to see what people see in it (and him). I went and found all the journals and letters trying to see the romantic connection, and I just couldn't. It seems more like admiration and respect than love for me, but hey...guess what...that's MY interpretation. That's not what those who love this ship feel and that's perfectly okay because it's THEIR Campaign.

My point is, in no way is Larian FORCING a romantic relationship between Gortash and the Durge UNLESS you interpret it that way. Gortash says he "liked" you. Okay, That can mean many things. He respected you as his partner in this whole scheme. He enjoyed your company in comparison to Orin. Or, he saw you as a true friend. Or if you want--and only if you want it--he liked you romantically. And this is vice versa for the new line that was added to further differentiate the Durge from a Tav. It is such a vague line and can be interpreted in so many ways, that I truly don't understand what all the fuss is about. If you don't see Gortash as a previous romantic partner...then don't.

The Dark Urge is in many ways a blank slate. Yes, they have a bloody past when it comes to murder, but you don't have to add personal relationships to it if you don't want to. Hell, in my latest playthrough, my durge was a virgin when this whole mess began lol (They, of course, didn't know that, but it's what I roleplayed). They also never fully recover their memory outside of what's shown in the game. They're a complete blank slate at the start and the end. The durge has no personal background so you can make your own. So you can ROLEPLAY.

If you don't like the idea of Durge and Gortash being a thing...don't roleplay it that way. And, if you interpret that line as romantic DON'T click it. But there is no reason to be going around saying something is being forced on you when it isn't.

(If you want to be mad about something, be mad about Wyll constantly being sidelined compared to every other companion, but that's another post in itself.)

Anyway, if you read this thanks and have fun with whatever headcanon you carry.

[nika-vincent]

Some of our reflections on the development of Halsin's personality in Bg3. Long post warning.

I can say that this post is something like a continuation of my previous one, which was devoted mainly to romance with Halsin. This time I gathered some more thoughts from my recent discussions with the guys who love this wonderful character, but this time the main topic will be the development of Halsin's personality in the game. Some things about romance will also be mentioned here a little, the moments we found in the game files, and a few more facts from the datamine. So if you haven't completed the game and don't want to get spoilers, then I suggest skipping this article for now. We will be very happy if this review can also help Larian to see some points that could be supplemented or repaired with patches and also look at how the players perceive our beloved bear and what they would like to see with him in the future.

I would like to start by saying that if we compare Minthara and Halsin in terms of the degree of personality development throughout the game, Minthara is prescribed better and even has her own different ways: to change herself for the better or to remain a bad girl. And I'm not gonna say that she doesn't deserve this because most players choose the path of good and there is no point in investing in the development of her character. Not at all. On the contrary, it shows that it is important for developers to take into account every detail in the game, and if players want to play the game differently for a change, they will discover a lot of new things and say: "Oh, dude! Minthara turns out to be not as bad as she seemed at first glance!". And this is really a wonderful move by Larian, which doesn't allow players to get bored and makes them look at situations and the characters themselves differently. (And by the way, if some character is in the minority according to the preferences of the players, this does not mean that it deserves to receive poor development.)

As for Halsin in this case, at the moment not only his romantic content is missing, but also his very development as a character and a full-fledged companion. This can be explained by the fact that he was probably recently added as a companion, and there simply wasn't time for him to prescribe more things that would reveal his character and potential to the fullest. Considering Sven Winke's recent post on Twitter, where he announced that Larian will again involve voice actors to record new content, there is a chance that these flaws will be fixed in patches and Halsin will get more interactive scenes than those he has now. (As far as I know, Minthara is also suffers from a lack of romantic content, as does Halsin, so I suggest waiting for now and following the official news from Larian …)

It's sad to see that new players who don't experience early access called Halsin a rather boring companion compared to others. However, players from early access spoke about him much higher and more positively, otherwise he wouldn't have become one of the popular characters of the community. So, why did this happen? I can explain this by saying that at that time Halsin was just something like an episodic character that we just had to rescue from the goblin camp and he would tell us everything he knows about our parasite and where we should go for further answers then. (And for an episodic character, that would be enough.) After that, we witness how he scolds Kagha because of the rite of thorns. And I think a particularly strong point was that in the case of Arabella's death, Halsin says in raised tones: "As for the Idol? It's nothing compared to life! A mere object, next to one nature's creations! You showed no pity, no remorse. I cannot absolve you!" I've seen people write admiring comments like: "Until that moment, I thought I couldn't love him even more!". The way he expresses his thoughts, shows concern, compassion, or regret and disappointment mixed with anger (because of the death of a little girl that Kagha allowed) - all this showed us the traits of Halsin's character and caused emotions among the players. Someone thought he was too soft, and someone admired his kindness. And that's how it should work, so that the character evokes different or even contradictory emotions in people, anything but boredom or the feeling that something is missing. This is what makes the character interesting, we want to learn more about him, see how he will behave in other situations and especially how he will react to the Baldur Gate City itself. And I can also note that we were particularly interested in his story with Ketheric Thorm, which he tells us about after the Tiefling party, as well as what he feels guilty about and what unfinished business he mentioned.

Unfortunately, much of what concerned Halsin's personal growth in the release version of the game remained not fully disclosed and seemed unfinished, especially in act 3. His quest during act 2 was challenging from a gameplay point of view, but from a story one it was quite touching and helped us learn a little more about Halsin's past and that the spirit of the land named Thaniel was his only childhood friend. We also learned a little about his parents, as well as the reason why he became the archdruid.

But the story of the shadow curse still remained as if unsaid, and also we didn't see any of his interactions with Ketheriс Thorm, which I think deserved to be realized, and were not limited to Halsin's stories only about Ketheric if we ask him. An interesting fact is that for a long time there were hints in the datamine that Ketheric's daughter Isobel died because of Halsin (correct me if I made a mistake somewhere, please). And I remember, I saw there that Isobel was killed by the spear 'Sorrow', the same spear that we can get in the secret vault in the emerald grove. Not to mention that in Halsin's room we can even find his diaries, in which Isobel was mentioned several times. This would have added a lot of intrigue and special opportunities for Halsin's interactions in the plot of Act 2 itself, but for some reason it remained behind the scenes and even if we ask Isobel about how she died, she cannot remember her killer. Although there are some special dialogues between Halsin and Isobel in the game files themselves at the moment, but there are none of them during the gameplay. I dunno why it was necessary to cut or change these things, and it is not for me to decide what to do here after all. But in my humble opinion, it would have added fire to Halsin's plot in act 2. I would regard this as a fact that even such a good and kind character as Halsin can make mistakes, has his own shortcomings and even dark sides. Therefore, before the release of the game, I had high expectations that Halsin would play a much bigger plot role in Act 2 because of these intrigues between him, Ketheric and Isobel than what we have in the game at the moment. The feeling of the whole story being left unsaid is still present in Act 2, but who knows, maybe it can be improved in patches?

When Halsin became our full-fledged companion in the game, we got new options for the dialogues, but very few of his interactions in the future. It's as if the development of his personality in the second act ended along with his quest. Remember what wonderful scenes with companions in Act 1 we watched over and over again when we stayed overnight in the camp. It helped us to get to know them better, to love someone or hate someone. Halsin definitely should not be deprived of this, we still want to get to know him so that later we can draw conclusions about him in Act 3 and help him find his own path, as it was with the other companions. We got to know our companions during acts 1 and 2 to see the end result of what we experienced together in act 3.

What confuses me is that the developers seem to have paid more attention to his sexuality than the development of his personality instead (not to mention that scandalous story of his sexual slavery to drows in his past, and he only tells us about it after we sleep with the drow twins in a brothel in his company). This looks especially sad for romance, because it looks like Tav fell in love with Halsin more for his sexy muscular body, and not for what kind of person he is. After all, even in real life, we fall in love with someone not for having a fine big booty, but for how a person presents themself to the world and how they treats us. I want to add here one quote that I just remembered: 'Personality is much more important, because the external beauty of a person is taken away by old age, but the beauty of the soul will remain forever.'

In act 3, at the moment, Halsin reveals much less, but we can still see some hints. After he appoints a successor to the Emerald grove in his place, and after we help heal the lands from the shadow curse, Halsin apparently has a conflict with himself about finding a new goal. He notes that he does not like the city of Baldur's Gate, he is saddened by the fate of orphans here, he would also like people to see a friend in nature. And there are also curious moments in his reasoning about shadow druids and their methods. But all this remains so far only at the level of discussions and comments that pop up sometimes. And we can only find out at the very end that he decided to find a new goal in helping people and orphans from the city in Thaniel's world. And you know, it's a really great idea, but I have this feeling again that in act 3 we missed a lot before he came to find this goal in his ending. The idea of his personal path still remained unfinished to the end. I also heard that he was supposed to have some kind of quest with a druid circle in the city, well, let's see if we'll have a chance to see it in patches.

Сomparing Halsin with the rest of the party, he still looks pretty unfinished in terms of development by the end of the game. Because each companion has their own personal options for the path of development, which we are able to influence, and we can notice the difference in the change in the character of a certain companion comparing with what they were in act 1 and what they became by the end of act 3. We can see what Shadowheart can be like if she rejects Shar, or what she will be like in the future if she becomes a dark justiciar. Astarion can remain as a spawn, but at the same time preserving himself as a person and not turn into the likeness of Cazador, whom he hated so much. Or we can help him become a Vampire Lord and the power will intoxicate him so much that he will even begin to dream of taking the city itself in the end. Even Minthara, the companion opposite to Halsin, also has her own personal path of development. But with Halsin himself, unfortunately, this is happening pretty weakly at the moment...

We have been discussing a lot lately what would help for the development of Halsin's personality, so that he could be on a par with the rest of the companions. And I'll start with an excellent thought from my dear friend @merrinla, which would give an excellent opportunity for the development of his personal path, which at the moment in the game looks somewhat unfinished (but I still believe in the power of patches, official writers and the love of fans!❤).

Considering that his background is labeled 'outlander', this makes him a person who grew up in a wild environment, wandering a lot, living in harmony with nature, free as the wind. And even his best friend is the spirit of the land, not from the ordinary people. In his youth, he lived this life, unencumbered by responsibilities, exactly before the crisis moment happened, which was a shadow curse that abruptly changed his usual life. And for 100 years, his goal was to heal the lands from this curse. Plus, his duties as an archdruid piled up here and he didn't have time for his own desires at all. "I was forgetting who I was," as he once told us. After the events in Act 2, he does not seem to be eager to return to the emerald grove, but keeps in touch with Francesca to find out news from there. He speaks quite critically about the city of Baldur's Gate, but he has a desire to help people here and make life in the city better. And I think it would be appropriate here to let Tav tell him something like: 'You know, Halsin, it's not for nothing that people say that everything can be found in Baldur's Gate. Maybe you can find yourself here too?' and also try to change his views on the civilized world, because at the moment he is not familiar with this world too well, and we could help him adapt, convince him that the city itself is not so bad, and find himself here. Even the romance with him will look great with this option.

So it would be a suitable solution if Halsin also had his own development paths: 1 - if he trusts our advice and assistance in adapting to the city, which will allow him to become more civilized. 2 - we agree that he is right in his critical views on the city and civilization, and ultimately he decides to remain an outlander.

I think that even his ending with the orphans could also look different depending on the choice of his personal path, as well as in the case of the romance with him. This is a really great idea, and thank you @merrinla so much for sharing it with me!🙏❤

I would also like to give my comment about Halsin's role in our party. Considering that we have often witnessed conflicts between our companions, in Halsin I see something like scales holding the balance. Someone like the 'father' of our party, an adult wise mentor with whom we could consult about our experiences and ask for his advice. And I would also be very happy to see how he will try to calm our companions in case of any conflict.😂 His wisdom and mentoring experience just have to play a role in our party. If we go on a romance path with him, I would really like him to let us know that he will always listen to us at any moment and support us. Maybe we could even unobtrusively take his hand in return for a while to show how much it means to us. It would also be nice if Thaniel could communicate more with Halsin in the camp, and, in the case of romance, in a dialogue with us, he would notice that Halsin cares about us. These cute moments and his modesty suit Halsin much more than excessive sexual innuendos.

I dunno if Larian will do something about the fact that in the game files Halsin should have received more interactions with Isobel. But I think it would be great and intriguing. And interactions with Ketheric would also be perfect here (Girls, don't start a fight until I find my popcorn😅). And it also seemed strange to me that Halsin had no reaction to Zevlor's betrayal. Maybe it's a bug or just another flaw, who knows. But it would also be good to get this scene, even if he was at our party at the time of the showdown with Zevlor. Maybe it would be nice to organize some kind of his reaction to Nightsong, too, given that Halsin learned about her from Aradin, but he thought she was an artifact, not a living angel. Some interactions with our pets in the camp, I think they should be for Halsin too. (Let him stroke Scratch's belly, haha) And also… the arm wrestling scene of Minsc and Halsin when? Just imagine how funny it might look, 'cause even the dialogue with Minsc about it was hilarious.😁

That's all for today! Thank you guys for reading this review to the end, and also join us in discussions in the feedback about Halsin of the official Larian's discord club! I wish great success to Larian and I thank them for creating this wonderful game for us, which unites people and allows us to discuss many things. We love you and hope that you will also succeed in your future projects, and I also wish you good luck and inspiration in working on new content for BG3!❤🙏

[eff-plays]

every time i remember that astarion has 4 extra hours of dialogue compared to wyll, i get so sad... before i got to the end of the game, i was like "ah. wyll must not be in any fandom posts i saw because of predictable reasons, but surely he still has cool scenes and an equivalent level of care in the canon writing!" RIP. he does not. it's like a self-sustaining vortex of the fandom and the writing team both being way more excited about the pale elf than any other character.

it's a shame because astarion is otherwise a well written and acted character, but it makes me dislike him on principle if i feel he's the authors' Favourite Little Boy, hah.

God YEAH. It's so fucking frustrating!

Like he's my favorite little boy! He fully is! But I would give up HOURS of his content if it meant the effort was equal across the board! Because that's good game design, that's good writing! That's what they should have done!

And it's so so fucking frustrating to see how Larian are basically leaving the other companions in the shitter just to cater to a small and annoying minority of rabid fangirs who shit themselves silly at the mere mention of him.

Y'all know that pretty post with all the companions' eyes? Well someone added some shit about how Astarion's eyes have micromovements that are faster than anyone else's because he's always looking for threats.

And I'm just sitting here like. This is the Dragon Age fandom again. Y'all are here overanalyzing insignificant shit just because it pertains to your favorite crusty white man. It's giving "let's pretend that BioWare's shitty canned animations are worth of deep frame-by-frame analysis". I think in general it's fine to analyze animations in the case of BG3, because there's mo-cap and actual acting involved, but c'mon, y'all. Derailing a beautiful gifset of EVERYONE'S eyes with some sappy addon about only Astarion?

I honestly HATE the fact that I like Astarion as much as I do, because it means sharing a fandom with the type of people who think Cullen is a gift to all women. Which, yeah, a lot of parallels there, in that he also got a hugely inflated role because of a minority of extremely horny idiots who saw a pretty white boy (though the pretty part is debatable in Cullen's case) and all other thoughts flew out the window. I literally initially didn't like Astarion because based on what I'd seen from the fandom, he'd be another unrepentant asshole that people woobiefied like they did Cullen, and to some extent, Solas. And I was right! I just ended up liking him in the actual canon enough to make my own judgment in the end.

It's also why I am filled with glee whenever another Astarion-centric blog blocks me, because the more of those guys I keep away from me, the less I want to shoot Astarion point-blank just by association.

So yeah. He's my little guy but I also fully 100% understand disliking him because of the hype. It's 100% justified and I fault nobody for doing so. His being so well-written as a result of poor management, crunch, and fandom pressure isn't something to celebrate. The ends do not justify the means here. Either extend dev time to give everyone the same amount of love, or don't fucking bother with extra content at all. It's that fucking simple.

Also the optics of admitting all of that in a Discord server just to satisfy a bunch of dipshits looking for a pat on the head for making the Canon Choices. Just ... bleh.

[coolfijiwater]

larian studios and wyll

so i’ve been meaning to make a post about wyll for a while now, and now is the time (lol). but i’ve been thinking and talking to friends about the lack of content wyll has in bg3, and it’s something that i think i noticed even when playing with early access. but the full game release really puts a giant spotlight on the content disparities between the main companions and even various npcs.

i don’t know if i want to fully list every single spot where wyll clearly lacks in content because i find that it’s incredibly obvious. but the few things i do want to mention are his romance/sex scene and his story line and beats being about practically everyone else. and i know that the second one is super vague and encompassing, but that’s the core of the issue. larian studios “rework” of wyll’s story line did nothing to fix it and, quite possibly, made it worse.

since i only had access to act 1 during early access, i can’t speak to act 2 and 3. but even the changes in act 1 are apparent. while i do think some of the changes larian made were good (especially changing wyll from being incredibly racist towards goblins to not), but most of the changes were just cutting content.

and then there's what was added - mizora changing wyll’s race and appearance against his will because he saved karlach. i feel people have talked about this trope around poc and black people before when talking about disney’s the princess and the frog or brother bear, and that is something that has been discussed as openly racist (here’s a mic article talking about this concept).

but beyond this, that scene isn’t really about wyll. it’s about karlach, if you really think about it. wyll is being punished because of his decision (which isn’t even really his decision because your tav makes the real decision) to save her. and this sidelining of wyll is constant throughout his story line. saving his dad (multiple times) gets sidelined with ketheric or saving the gondians, finding ansur on behalf of his ulder gets overshadowed by the emperor and ansur relationship, and so much more. there’s also the fact that to learn anything about his mom, you need to kill his dad. and don’t get me wrong, i hate ulder ravengard with a fucking passion, but i wouldn’t purposely kill him because it makes wyll hate you. to make that aspect worse, wyll isn’t even the one to tell you the lore surrounding his mom, it’s just flavor text from ulder’s sword. 

there’s definitely more to say about how larian studios treats wyll’s story line, but i do want to talk about his romance story line. just like his story line, wyll’s romance is so much less than any of the other companions or even npcs. wyll has a sex scene, but it’s a fade to black with no voice over, which is nothing compared to one of the only other fade to black sex scenes: the drow twins. the drow twins have a number of sex scene options, all of which have voice overs. wyll, one of the 6 main companions, doesn’t even get this.

and i think this all leads back to larian studios not wanting to admit that they’re racist. wyll has consistently gotten nothing, even after release with all of these updates and patches. like, let’s be real here, the reason wyll has gotten nothing is not only because of the fans or data points, it’s because larian studios is racist. it’s them, seemingly, not being aware that the fantasy genre is steeped in racism because they don’t need to think about racism because they’re european, they’re not racist because they’re not american.

i don’t even know what i want to happen with this post. i guess i just wanted to open up this discussion and maybe remind people that larian studios is not infallible.

also! i feel like i need to mention that i love wyll. he is genuinely one of my favorite characters in bg3, i want more content for him. but we need to be real about why that content isn't already in the game.

[august-anon]

No one is sending me bg3 tk headcanons so i will speak a few of my own. please send me bg3 asks lol. these little gremlin people in my computer are all i can think about

Wyll is definitely more of a ler than a lee in my mind, BUT i see that man in a crop top every single night, you cannot tell me he is not also crazy ticklish. And he definitely doesn't mind it -- he just doesn't want it too much. He much prefers making his romantic interest smile and blush and laugh, and waxing poetic in that wonderfully romantic way of his to make them blush even more. I ask what we are and he compares me to the sun at different times of day in a way that makes me swoon?? Imagine how he'd describe your tav's smile and laughter and flushed cheeks. My god I am so in love with this fictional man.

I have not gotten to a point in the game yet where my bestie Karlach is all fixed up (i only just started Act 2 about 10 hours of gameplay ago -- i expect to be here for another 30-40 hours at least before we finally reach Act 3 lol), I can only assume it happens for her, and i think that when she is fixed up she would go WILD with the tickle fights. She would find it so, so much fun. She probably loves tickling, on all sides, and given how bold she is when she comes onto you the first time (I am so sorry i had to turn you down girlie ✌️😔 i already had my eyes on Wyll), I think she would definitely have 0 problems asking to be tickled or to tickle someone else

i think if i tried to tickle Lae'zel she would kill me. But also we have like, medium approval because I am too nice for her and so i don't know a lot about her lol. Y'all who have had better relationships with Lae'zel or who have romanced her should tell me your thoughts, y'all probably have much better understandings of her character than I do, I would love to know what you think about Lae'zel and tickles

Gale insists he is not ticklish. He tries to distract you with fancy words and long sentences until you forget what you were talking about in the first place, because all of a sudden you're like. Talking about the history of Waterdeep or smth. Anyways, he does this because he is wicked ticklish. And I don't think he necessarily minds being tickled, but I definitely think he's the kind of guy to wanna keep up appearances for as long as he can lol. Gale lovers please correct me if I am wrong, but I always get distracted by his long-winded explanations and fanciful way of speaking (is this how people feel when they talk to me??? i am also extremely long-winded -- as you can see from this post -- and people think i speak funny and in an abnormal manner also lol). That long-windedness comes in handy with teasing though, I'm sure.

Shadowheart is another one I can't get a read on. I have had really good approval with her from the beginning, we are somehow besties, and yet i know so little about her. She is very hard to read. I have no idea what her thoughts and opinions are here lol. I think she would regard me with great disdain if I tried to tickle her

Astarion,,,,, i don't think he'd vibe with most people tickling him, OR tickling most people. Purely from existing in fandom, despite not romancing him (yet -- he is next on my list. I can fix him), i know a lot of spoilers for his general arc in a romance. I don't think he would let anyone but his lover touch him like that (or touch anyone but his lover like that), and only after a lot of healing. It's a very vulnerable situation to put oneself in!!! I feel like for the first long while he'd be far more interesting in ler-ing, he would have to be pretty comfortable and secure to feel comfortable in a lee situation.

[keldae]

Get To Know Your Tav

Tagged by the lovely @starknstarwars -- thank you! <3 Throwing a tag out to whoever has also been infected with the BG3 brainrot and wants to gush about their babies. ;)

Leeeeet's talk about Deviali Nulys, aka Devi!

What is your tav’s favorite weapon?

Devi's first weapon is her words. She's a smooth talker, and rolls decently high (most of the time) on her persuasion checks! She can usually talk her way out of trouble. Second-favourite weapons are her knives. Her brother Jehn taught her how to fight with daggers when she was eight or so, and she learned to keep a backup pair of knives in her boots/in her inventory for if she ever lost her main weapons.

style of combat?

DIRTY. Devi has no aversions to biting (unless it's a goblin... eww.), kicking, elbowing, ambushing her foes, or throwing sand/mud/warg shit/whatever at her enemies. If it gives her an edge, she'll take it! Considering she's a Smol for a half-Elf, it's easy to push her around or physically overwhelm her -- best to take down her bigger enemies quickly and decisively. She's picked up using a bow over the course of her adventure, so she can shoot with pretty good aim (and loooooves her lightning arrows), but she would rather use her knives.

most prized possession?

Remember those backup daggers Devi keeps in her boots? Those were a gift on her tenth birthday from Jehn -- and after he ran away from home, they were all she had left of him. She would rather cut her ears off than give those up! Her lockpicks have gotten her into (and out of) more than a few tight spots too. She learned how to play the violin as a teenager, but her asshole of a father destroyed her violin that Jehn had stolen for her; she picks up a new violin in Act I, and it's a prized possession now.

deepest desire?

She wants answers for what happened to her mother, who disappeared when she was about five. She has her suspicions, but nothing she can confirm. (She also wants her father and some of his friends to die slowly and painfully.)

And after the events of the game, she wants to personally murder Shar, and to punch Mystra in the face, godhood status be damned.

guilty pleasure?

Trashy bodice-ripping romance stories. She and Shadowheart compare notes regularly. ;) Even if she struggles to read easily, thanks to her childhood lack of education, she puts in the effort for those!

best-kept secret?

Pre-game: She's a SA survivor, and she's got some trauma from that. But she keeps that secret under wraps -- she won't talk about it unless she absolutely has to. (Honestly, this girl needed therapy even before the game.) Post-game: Look, she has no idea who drew a large mustache on every statue of Mystra in the Lower City, but she wishes she could kiss that person on the mouth, honest, Mister Interrogating Cleric! (It was totally her, with Astarion's help. Gale pretends he doesn't know anything about it. Mystra is not amused.)

greatest strength?

Her loyalty. She trusts very few people, but those whom she trusts and loves, she is very much the ride-or-die friend. (See also: why she wants to kill Shar and punch Mystra.)

fatal flaw?

Her temper and her insecurities. She is a wee bit fiery and will throw hands when provoked. And she's so afraid of being abandoned again that she tries to give off the impression that she's self-sufficient and doesn't need anyone's help -- she won't accept help until she either trusts someone (which, again, doesn't come easily for her) or she's desperate.

favourite smell?

Pre-game: flowers in the public parks in the Lower City, the scent of tea steeping. Post-game: Gale, the books in his library, and the flowers he frequently brings home for her since he knows she loves them.

favourite spell or cantrip?

She doesn't have access to any spells of her own (unless I up the difficulty level of my game enough to multi-class her as a bard)! But she highly appreciates a good usage of Vicious Mockery.

pet peeve?

Cracking knuckles. She haaaaaaates that sound.

bad habit?

She does not put things away correctly. She has a bad habit of leaving whatever she's reading/playing with/working on out in the open and forgetting about it until it's in the way. It drives Gale bonkers. She also swears like a pirate... and can drink like one, too.

hidden talent?

She's an excellent violin player, and can sing surprisingly well! The rest of the Tadfools figured out she can sing quite by accident after a drink-off at the tiefling party in their camp during Act I. She doesn't sing often, since she's very self-conscious about her voice, but her friends try to get her to sing something for them regularly. She also claims she hasn't yet met the lock that she can't pick. ;)

leisure activity?

Playing new tunes on her violin. She can't read music very well, but she can remember a tune like nobody's business -- if she hears a song once or twice, she'll probably remember it.

favourite drink?

She used to just get the cheap wine at the taverns that she frequented, but Gale's gotten her used to the finer tastes in life, so she's grown to appreciate the good wine in his cellar. She also likes tea in the mornings!

comfort food?

Her favourite food is pumpkin soup, from one itty-bitty tavern in the Lower City. Gale has learned to replicate it perfectly, much to her delight.

favourite person(s)?

Gale, for obvious reasons.

Her older half-brother, Jehn (and by extension, his partner, Ferrus).

Shadowheart, Wyll, Astarion, and Karlach become her best non-romantic friends over the course of their adventure.

Do Scratch and the owlbear cub (who she and Halsin name Garmus) count?

favoured display of affection (platonic and/or romantic)?

She's very touchy with the people she loves. With her platonic friends or her brother, she'll lean on them, or nudge them, or sometimes kiss their cheeks if she's feeling very touchy. With Gale, she'll almost always be in contact with him in some way, whether that's leaning against him, or playing with his hair, or kissing him -- his lips, his cheek, his neck, whatever.

fondest childhood memory?

She barely remembers her Elf mother, but she can remember one day when she was curled up on her mother's lap, Jehn sitting on the floor beside them, and listening to her mother sing a song in her native tongue. She doesn't clearly remember the lyrics anymore, but she can just remember the tune, and she remembers how comfortable and safe she felt in her mama's arms with her big brother right there.

free-response! Is there anything else about your Tav you’d like to share?

I think Devi is trying to learn magic post-game in Waterdeep! She won't enrol in the Academy, but she does try to get Gale to teach her some basic spells.

[catt-nuevenor]

Baldur's Gate 3 - Writing

Right, yes. I am a writer, time to put all the pretty screenshots aside and talk about the writing. Still going to sneak a screenshot or two in, but I will try and remain focused on the task at hand.

Spoilers for BG3, BG1 and BG2, visual and textual. The games are best experienced knowing as little as possible going in, so I highly recommend you do that if you plan to or are playing.

Considering just how long the game is and how much story is pack into it, it would be foolish of me to try and condense my thoughts on it down into an itty bitty tumblr post. So, we're going to pick out a few elements and overview their structure, progression, and impact.

These are my opinions, not fact, they are also from a 1 and a half playthrough perspective with far too many additional hours spent in early access, and I'm a good bean who gets physically squirmy with 'evil' choices. In other words, I'm not going to have seen everything. With all that in mind, let's dive in.

As the character who has probably changed the least from early access through to full release (so is therefore the most linear developed character in my head), let's talk about Shadowheart.

When I first came across Shadowheart I was reminded of Sebille from Larian's previous game Divinity Original Sin 2. The comparison didn't hold up long, but its undertones were always there, just under the surface.

Quick catchup for clarity, in DOS2 Sebille is a classic Femme Fatale character. She is openly seductive, dangerous, and introduces herself to your character by sticking a needle in your neck. First impressions very important and all that. After you strike something of an uneasy alliance with her, involving agreement to murder someone, or several someones, her approach to you shifts. She takes nearly every opportunity she can to physically touch you, the first being as you approach her first 'target' she walks up behind you and places her hand to the small of your back. A definite seductive action. It's not your shoulder, not your arm, certainly not your hand, all platonic or affectionate, but the intimate sensitive position of the small of your back. It's a great set up for the breakthrough you get with that character a short while later. You reach for her hand to comfort her, and she recoils bodily. If you apologise, she does the same and compares herself to, "A cat that has known too much unkindness." And so the two sides of Sebille begin to be revealed. (Highly recommend DOS2 by the by)

In my opinion, Shadowheart begins the game with the ambition of being like the initial side of Sebille. I hope you all paid attention to the spoiler section. Considering Shadowheart's parental figure, or at least the only one she initially remembers, this should come as little surprise to the informed player.

She wants to be cold, but appealing, she wants to be able to draw people in, use and discard them, she wants to be ruthless and detached and to be able to use other's weaknesses to get what she needs out of them. Take the moment where she demands to know what the main character thinks about Rafael before she will give them her own opinion. My read on this is that she is trying to use techniques she was taught back 'home'. Find out what facade will fit the best with her current companions. Ideally, if she were successful at the Femme Fatale archetype, she would twist her own feelings to compliment or manipulate the Main Character's. But here is where some of the first cracks show through. She can't twist her opinions, her own morality breaks out.

It's difficult to know at the beginning how genuine her care for the Main Character is. I think of the moment you free Lae'zel from her cage:

"She sees your kindness as weakness. Don't let her take advantage."

Now, with hindsight, she's probably right. Lae'zel doesn't have a brilliant opinion on kind acts. But, one could argue there's a little self projection going on there. It is possible that 'mother' superior said the same to her at some point? Less 'be careful', more 'kindness is weakness, take advantage of it'.

It's interesting to think that Viconia had 40 years of trying, and possibly failing, to beat the kindness out of Shadowheart, yet it's only when she is out from under her control, forced to rely on others, that her personality 'locks in'. If you are kind, above nearly all other things, kind to others, kind to children, kind to animals, Shadowheart softens. She opens up, reveals more, even if you disagree with her beliefs.

Second playthrough my main character is a priest of Eilistraee, the chaotic good drow goddess, who has on multiple occasions had 'disagreements' with Shar, and is allied with Selûne and Mystra, among others. On paper, Shadowheart should hate that character on principle, possibly try to murder them if no Selûnite is available. Yet, she does not. So long as she is not antagonised about her faith, Shadowheart is willing to let the eternal war her own goddess seeks to perpetuate lie.

"A cat that has known too much unkindness."

I keep coming back to that line. I think is sums Shadowheart up, despite it being written for another character. If you coax her out of her shell, if you are gentle and understanding, and do not admonish her for her occasional lashing out, show her that she can relax around you, that you won't punish her for miss-stepping or misspeaking, she uncoils. But if you meet her hostility with the same, or encourage her into hostility against others, she'll draw further into herself, remain hissing and spitting in her corner.

"The fate you seal is your own. To be a Dark Justiciar is to turn your heart from everything but loss. You will know no love, no joy - only servitude."

I just did a little Wiki digging to see what the alternate routes through this scene are, since it's mid-morning here on a workday and I'm not loading up Baldur's Gate 3 before 5pm, I would never get anything done otherwise. It's interesting that many folks seem to have found that you need to convince Shadowheart to do the right thing here.

When I first played this through, I did the same, persuaded her. Due to a muck up on my part and some serious save backtracking, I had to do this section again with the same playthrough, and I quicksaved before the dialogue began and decided to see what would happen if I let things just play out. If Umrae (the Main Character) trusted Shadowheart to do the right thing.

She chose, without input on the Main Character's part, to release the Nightsong. It stunned me, it really did. And I realised that all those little kindnesses had led her up to that decision, that she'd been allowed to show her softer side with the Main Character and the others, and even in the Shadowfell, even in the heart of Shar's domain, she clung to her gentler side without explicit encouragement.

"They trained you well, trained you hard. Chiselled away any part of you that did not fit their plan. They made you forget."

Trusting Shadowheart brings to the table self-motivated development. Later in the playthrough, once we'd kicked Viconia around for a far longer battle than it should have been due to me being seriously under-leveled, I had the opportunity to give the reigns to Shadowheart again.

Shadowheart chose to spare her tormentor.

In hindsight, upon exploring the rest of the cloister, I was very tempted to go back to an old save and have a word with Viconia myself, nostalgia for the old games be damned. But it felt right to respect Shadowheart's decision instead.

In that vein, the conclusion of Selûnite Shadowheart's story can feel a little hollow initially.

The options:

Her parents die, she is free from Shar.

Her parents live, Shar can (and will) torment her for the rest of her life.

I am a wee bit annoyed at Larian for the framing of Shadowheart's final scene at Selûne's statue. If her parents are alive, they get to hug and comfort her. If her parents are dead, she stands alone and sobs, and even in the Main Character has a close or romantic relationship with her, they stand like a statue in the background. Let us give the poor woman a damn hug!

EDIT: You can now give Shadowheart a hug! Thank you Larian!

Because otherwise it can feel like Shadowheart is choosing between having support but never-ending torment, or peace and utter isolation. Imagine how differently that scene would feel if not only the Main Character could hug and support her, but if others, like Karlach, or Gale, or Wyll, or heck even Jaheira and Minsc, could all pile in and remind her that hell no she's not alone.

"Embrace loss."

Personally, I chose to follow her parents' wishes.

I've seen it argued that this is letting Shar win, that Shadowheart is forced to, 'Embrace Loss'. But I'd like to dispute that, if I may. As you're approaching the House of Loss in act 3, you come across a woman on the bridge. She's confused and doesn't seem to remember why she's there, who she is, or why she remembers the words to a lullaby but not who she sung it to. It doesn't take much to fill in a tragic story in place of what the mirror has taken.

This is the loss Shar preaches.

What Shadowheart begins to experience after her parents die isn't this dizzy blank nothing, it's grief.

You've all heard me exposit on grief and its difficult, painful journey many, many times before, so I won't rehash the same here.

Shar doesn't 'win' if Shadowheart loses her parents. She'd only win if Shadowheart chose to deal with her grief by taking what memories she has of them and giving them up to the mirror.

If you take her to the temple in Baldur's Gate, after everything goes down with Shar (perhaps this also happens before, I haven't checked), and get her to interact with the shrine to Selûne, the goddess welcomes her. It's a scrap of narration, and a blessing if you make an offering, but it feels complete to take her there after the House of Loss.

The seduction of Shar is that she conflates absence with relief, that grief is something to be discarded, thrown away, that silence is peaceful rather than quiet.

Early Access screenshot. Dialogue remains the same, I think.

"Most fear the dark, like children, because in darkness they see their fears reflected. But Shar teaches us to step beyond fear. Beyond loss. In darkness we do not hide - we act."

I've had few more rewarding experiences in a story to walk beside a character who goes from that.

Through little glimpses of sweetness like this:

To this:

Anyway, I think that's enough for now.

Not sure how much analysis went on there, I think I more just gushed. We could have a look at a single scene if you'd all like, if I have an appropriate save or can zip to the point in question in another playthrough.

Kudos if you got to the end, this has definitely got to be up there with my longest post.

[imagine-silk]

BG3; Dammon and Durge comparing tails

》I wanted to write this after reading this post. I've been playing Baldur's Gate 3 in my spare time and I lose sleep knowing not a lot of people play the OG Dark Urge.

Cultural affection is a wonderful thing. Love so close to a person that it's natural. Tieflings have such a cultural affection; their tail. It's not a well known fact, mostly just between tieflings. In essence it's just holding hands but because it's a racial thing they put it under wraps and that just became the norm.

Dammon didn't know what would happen when he did it the first time. Being with anyone a different race was difficult for tieflings but he was already with Durge so he wanted to test the waters. His tail made it's way to hold Durge's calf loosely while they were talking. And to his relief he didn't mention it, didn't even flinch.

There was another matter at hand though. Durge was a dragonborn, a dragonborn with a tail. It wasn't like Dammon's. Dammon's was like a whip, thin enough to be completely flexible, thick enough to hurt. Durge's was longer and thicker, it had no point at the end and swayed down, rarely ever picking up. It matched his overall figure, he was not a small man by any means.

The matter was Durge did not let Dammon touch his tail. He let Dammon use his to touch him, hold him, but he never stated he liked it. Dammon didn't want it to get to his head but it was very hard. So he slowly stopped doing it.

Of course, Durge took notice of it. Hard to miss. "What's the matter? Don't tell me 'nothing'."

So Dammon let himself confess in the safety of their bedroom, "Why don't you use your tail on me?"

Durge's eyes went wide like Dammon was asking to kill him. "I... don't understand what you're talking about."

"Do you like when I wrap my tail on you?"

"Of course. That's why I know you're upset. But I don't think you know what using my tail means," Durge said, eyeing his lover warily. He decided to sit on the edge of the bed to settle into the conversation. "Dammon, if I use my tail on you I will kill you."

The blunt statement made Dammon falter in both sadness and fear. "You... you'd kill me."

"No. I'm not going to kill you," Durge said quickly. "Dragonborn don't use their tails for any kind of affection, we use it to murder people." Another crude statement that didn't come out the way most people would like. However, Dammon knew what he meant when he said things like that and it brought him great comfort. "That's why I like it when you do that."

That was all Dammon needed to hear for him to walk up to the bed and wrap his tail around Durge's leg. "Now I feel a bit embarrassed. So this is okay?" When Durge nodded he pulled his leg with his tail to make him fall back onto the bed with his legs open. "Show me how okay it is, then." Then next day it was like the conversation never happened. Or rather, that it launched Dammon's affections further than it was before.

All was well but Durge started acting weird after a few days. While he was standing around things next to him would fall over. It was like a ghost was following him. He brushed it off every time and Dammon couldn't catch what was happening. Stools, pole arms, brooms, even tables would move. But it all made sense after three weeks.

Dammon took a break from his forge, wiping the sweat off his face under the shade of the shop front. Durge came up and took refuge with him. The conversation itself was nothing that invigorating but in the middle of it Dammon felt a tail shakily wrap around his leg, first trying to find any sort of holding on his calf but giving up and ended up holding his thigh as the easier option. Durge continued the conversation while refusing to look him in the eyes. Dammon smiled as he felt the tail struggle to keep closed but not giving up the entire time.

[faeruy]

Been on a Baldur's Gate 3 brainrot, so I thought I'd share my Tav and Durge.

First up: Tav aka Is'lei - she/her, wood elf, Circle of the Spores Druid, Outlander Background

So I've played Is'lei in other D&D games, and normally she's Eladrin, but since that's not an option in BG3, she's wood elf instead. She's the very definition of a hippie druid, with a scary knowledge of all of the ways plants can kill people, and while wise and knowledgeable in many ways, she's spent almost no time around people and is sorely lacking in social skills. Freedom and free will is her creed, with an alignment thats true neutral trending towards chaotic good. Is'lei has very little desire for power or even material possessions, she mostly just wants to do her part to keep a harmonious balance in the natural world and enjoy it's wonders. Illithids, being aberrations, are ananthema to her and she refuses using any of their powers, especially the mind-manipulating ones. Despite her lack of people skills, or maybe because of it with these weirdos, she gets along well enough with most of her party members, although she and Astarion have diametrically opposed world views and she's constantly annoyed that Gale has a tendency to treat druidic magic as lesser or not real. Is in a polycule with Shadowheart and Halsin, and their homebase is in the former Shadow-cursed lands and filled with flowers and animals.

Durge - aka Rhapsody - she/her, Mephistopheles Tiefling, College of Lore Bard

Rhapsody is not the name she was born with, but is the virtue name she took on; it's meaning is one of strong emotion, exuberance, and ecstasies and it speaks to her musical training, her character, and especially her ambition. She's never wanted to be forgotten or dismissed - she'd rather evoke strong negative emotions in people than indifference. Post tadpole-insertion, however, she's mostly forgotten the dark paths her ambition led her down and thinks that she's capable of being remembered as a hero saving the world. She's just... not great at it. Her moral compass is quirked more westerly than true north. She has very few qualms about getting her hands dirty or using her silver tongue to get her way and definitely trends more towards chaotic neutral. After all, her impulses keep telling her things like 'roast dwarf is delicious' and when compared to that, a little theft and a lot of grifting don't seem all that bad. But beyond all that, when things get too weird and rough, she turns to music, every time. It's the only positive thing about herself that she remembers and she takes great pride in it and uses it to ground herself and her party. She gets along well with most of them, and is inclined to encourage their more ambitious goals and dreams. Become a god? Sure, why not? She's also a bit of a flirt, and enjoys talking to Astarion a lot for that reason, but it's very shallow. For something deeper, there's something about Wyll's heroic, noble nature that draws her to him.

[leftoverdinosaurbones]

Chapter 5: The Feeling of Dread

Series: F!Reader (Dark Urge), Spawn Astarion, Haarlep, Raphael - NSFW (minors DNI)

[Major Spoilers - Set post BG3]

***

Here is the next chapter of the fanfic I've been working on!

You can read Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, and Chapter 4 here on tumblr or on Ao3.

Content Warning: Gore, Depictions of Anxiety

Summary:

You've made plans. You've packed. You've strategized. But nothing compares to stepping foot into the horrors of Avernus. Coming face-to-face with Zariel's indomitable Fortress.

Maybe you aren't as ready as you thought.

Chapter 5: The Feeling of Dread

The simmering rage at the thought of your imprisoned friends melted away any anxieties that accompanied you to sleep last night. By the time you woke up, your body felt nearly aflame with the need to get going. At times, your animalistic need to give into the instinctual pull towards delivering vengeance, towards justice, can make you sloppy. It’s what brought you in headfirst into situations like the Hag’s house after you found the bodies of the two dead brothers, without taking even just a moment to look around at your surroundings.

You need to rationalize with yourself, to take some time to make plans to ensure your success.

You sat at your desk to pen a note to Rolan and Shadowheart. You told them nearly everything (leaving out your ‘discussions’ at the House of Hope). It felt strange to go on such a mission without gathering around the fire to discuss plans with all your companions. Of course, you wouldn’t have to convince any of them to take up arms and free Karlach and Wyll from Avernus. The only arguments would likely be about how - and with your discussions with Raphael, surely.

You collect a few key items from around your home - a scroll of revivify, a couple health potions, a few pieces of cheese and bottles of water - and tuck them into your backpack. You pick up the Orphic Hammer and strap it across your back. It is heavy (heavier than you remember) but the feel of its weight brings you some comfort, along with the faint memories of the past. With one final, sweeping glance around your home, you step outside and lock the door behind you.

The restlessness vibrating through your legs and feet propels you forward. You drop the letters into the mailbox for the post officer and his pigeons to collect, and then continue along the streets of Baldur’s Gate.

You walked a brisk path along the cobbled streets, making occasional turns. Your mind was preoccupied as your imagination worked overtime, taking you through countless possible scenarios of what the rescue might be like. You were always one to (emotionally) over-prepare, at least.

The sounds of metal clanging against metal filled your ears as you rounded yet another street corner. The slight smell of a smoldering fire danced along your nostrils as the forge came into focus. There, you saw a man bent over at the furnace, consumed by his latest project. You can see the slight definition of his back muscles as he lifts a hammer and strikes it over the smoldering metal. His sleeves are rolled partway up his arms revealing the muscles of his forearms, contracting with every hit.

You step forward delicately to avoid disturbing him, and lean back against a wooden railing to admire his craft. You notice a fine sheen of sweat starting to gather across his brow as he continues to pound into the weapon, willing - demanding - it to take its necessary form. He quickly grabs the tongs and plunges the searing hot metal into the barrel of water. The weapons lets out a long hiss as the steam fills the air of the forge. He lets out a sigh, bringing his arm up to wipe away the sweat building on his face.

As the steam dissipates, Dammon looks up at you and smiles.

“Well, well. To what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you?” Dammon asks with a smile as he continues to care for his weapon. You meet his gaze, greeting him with a smile that doesn’t quite match the fire burning in your own eyes.

“Oh Dammon, how I wish I were just here to watch your fine craftsmanship.” Dammon puts down his tools after hearing the seriousness in your tone, giving you his undivided attention. You explain that Karlach and Wyll are trapped with Zariel, and your quest to save them (again, leaving out the bits with Raphael).

Dammon’s eyes darken at the situation, particularly when hearing of Karlach’s capture.

“How can I help?” He asks, as much to you as himself. “Ah! Okay, how much do you know of Zariel’s Fortress?”

You shake your head.

He pulls out a quill and some parchment, and starts to draw you a map based on his memory.

“Here,” he points to a room on the map. “This is likely where Wyll and Karlach would be held.” He points to another area of the map. “Here is the forge where I used to work. If you are able, you should bring Karlach here. If you are lucky, the blacksmith will be a prisoner, and perhaps will be sympathetic to your cause.”

Dammon paused, his face clouding over, unreadable.

“I know how impossible that sounds, but this forge could be the only way to ever let Karlach come back to Faerûn.”

You nod, and pull Dammon into a tight embrace. You hear his voice, light as a whisper, against the hair on top of your head. “I think of Karlach often, and wondered what’s become of her. I thank the gods that she’s alive, but I never would have wished this upon her. If you can’t free her from Zariel’s clutches, she truly would be better off dead.”

“I will find her, Dammon. I promise.” Dammon turns away from you, and continues back with his work.

***

Just after sundown, Astarion emerges from a darkened alleyway to meet you outside of the Devil’s Fee. The Deathstalker Mantle dances along his heels as he glides towards you.

“Hmm, well aren’t you something?” you breathe.

Astarion is a sight to behold. He is dressed in simple black leather armor, contrasting sharply with his pale skin. His fingertips flirt with the hilt of one of his daggers, strapped to his hip.

Such a sin for a deadly man to be this beautiful.

Astarion lets out a low, soft laugh as your eyes drink him in from head to toe. He quickly closes the distance between you. Your breath hitches as he stops in front of you, just an inch away from your body. You can feel the electricity between the two of you as your skin yearns for contact.

“Hello, beautiful,” he smiles down at you, as he slowly brings both his hands up to cup your cheeks. You lean into his caress as your own hands find their way around his waist to draw him into you.

Even though you’ve touched him so many times, just like this, your fingers tremble slightly as you run your fingers up and down his back. Gods, the hold this man has over you…

Astarion rubs his thumbs across your cheek bones. A smile lightens up his own face, deepening the laugh lines around his eyes. He bends slightly to meet your lips in with a kiss. Your lips move against his, the heat of your desire for him cooling against his skin. You feel yourself fall into the love and safety of this embrace.

It always ends much too quickly. You both pull away, the pressure of the upcoming mission weighing heavily on your minds, particularly while standing in the looming gaze of the Devils Fee. You take Astarion’s hand, interlacing your fingers, and walk through the door.

***

“I’ve been expecting you.”

Helsik has her back turned to you as she organizes various items behind the front desk. As you approach, she turns to face you.

“Your entry is paid for. Which is good for me, because apparently you aren’t the type to make honest deals,” Helsik spat.

“Oh come off it,” Astarion rolled his eyes. “And I’m sure you simply forgot to mention what the payment for the previous journey was going to be? Something stolen from Raphael’s home? I’m sure Raphael would have completely understood and offered to recoup you the money you lost, no?”

Helsik scowled, not bothering to conceal her annoyance.

“You will be dropped into Avernus less than a day away from Zariel’s Fortress, so you can enter with less suspicion,” she continued, ignoring Astarion. She handed the materials to you without another word.

***

With a crack of fire, you appear in Avernus. The smell of brimstone and tar assaults your nostrils immediately as hot wind whips burning sand around your bodies. You clamp the visor of your helmet over your face as Astarion pulls the hood of his cloak over his head, though it did little to dissuade the multitude of biting flies that accompany each gust of wind.

Though the heat of this plane was inextinguishable, there is no sun to be found. The soft light seems to come from a permanent sunrise, just below the horizon. Clouds fill the sky, further obscuring the limited rays of light and providing a darkened overcast for your journey.

“Well, I suppose it was too much to hope for some rays of sunshine in the hells. I guess I should have been more specific when I said I missed the warm feeling of the sun, especially when we know our dear devilish friend is always listening.” Astarion let out a short, bitter laugh.

A fireball burst from the sky and lands about a half-mile to their left. The surrounding area was swallowed up in flames.

Astarion clapped his hands together. “Okay, well! Let’s get going then, and I’ll try to avoid any more jokes that might lead us to an ill-timed demise.”

You both walk in silence, the journey nothing like the companionship of your past travels. The terrain is rocky, and you need to be careful with your footing. Metal trees are adorned with swinging corpses, swollen and rancid. A river of burning-hot blood sludges by you on your right-hand side, winding up through the horizon as far as your eyes can see. Piles upon piles of corpses litter the grounds, the stench of their decomposing bodies made worse by the relentless heat. Ruins of collapsed buildings and broken-down war machines are scattered across the landscape, merely distant memories of what Avernus used to be. You never would have thought of the House of Hope as an oasis, a safe haven in the otherwise tumultuous lands of Avernus.

Dread filled your stomach, like the pangs of hunger when you couldn’t find food for days. Karlach and Wyll have been living here? For months? You’ve been here for only a few hours and the only thing that kept you going was your thirst for vengeance. You could not imagine living here with no end in sight.

***

Finally, Zariel’s Fortress emerges in the horizon, like a beast unfurling its wings. The Fortress is a massive, powerful sight to behold. Turrets lined the tops of the walls as flames burst sporadically from the ground. Details continued to become clear as you continued to approach the Fortress. More bodies were hung along the outer walls as some sort of obscene decoration. At first you assumed these were corpses - but then you heard the screams.

Suddenly, it becomes harder for you to breathe. Your throat tightens and your chest heaves, desperate for air. You rip off your helmet to take in glups of air, only to feel whipping winds lash at your face, filling your mouth with hot sands. You gag, spitting up the gritty sand as Astarion rubs rough circles on your back.

“It is truly hard to believe that this is the ‘Hero’ of Baldur’s Gate.” 

You whip around to find the source of this unexpected voice, wiping your mouth with the end of your sleeve.

“I’m here to remind you of Raphael’s offer, one final time. Even if I am loathe to provide it.” Korilla looks bored, making an offer she desperately doesn’t want to fulfill.

“I don’t think an eldrich blast will make the difference between getting us inside or not,” Astarion sneered. “So hopefully you have something else more helpful to suggest.”

“Relax, spawn. I can get you inside. I just hope you are prepared to handle whatever may come at you once you are in there. Remember - you will be completely on your own once you are in there, if you reject Raphael’s offer now.”

You brush the few strands of hair out of your face, and wipe the sweat off your brow. You stared directly at Korilla, willing yourself to be as confident as you hoped to be.

“No, thank you. We will do just fine on our own.”

Korilla shrugged. “It’s your souls if you get caught. I’d much rather be bound to Raphael than Zariel.”

And with a snap of her fingers, you find yourself inside Zariel’s Fortress.

Read the next chapter here.

[luvwich]

wip whenever

was tagged recently by @wanderingaldecaldo and @streetkid-named-desire to share some WIP! i don't have a lot of new prose to share so i'll just gab a bit about what i've been workin on…

i've been in the planning and worldbuilding stages lately, so all the words i've been writing have been in bullet lists and various illegible obsidian notes.

91.9 royal blue

royal blue is the valerie/river series, and my ideas here are primarily whodunnit one-shots or gutwrenching angst that i'm not currently depressed enough to actually write about. so i've been trying out a little mystery story here, a little fluff there, gettin a handle on post-Mikoshi valerie, simmering simmering

hypercritical

heavily rotating a few things from what i'm calling the "hypercritical au," which is the vania/mike timeline of Jaded and Crescent. some threads i'm noodling on…

been worldbuilding for a story feat. regina jones in shanghai in the 2050s. there's a little about shanghai in the ole pacific rim sourcebook (💩), but not much! (and i'm a rather out over my skis here having never been to china, so if i decide to go further with this one i'll probably want a beta reader who's spent some time in shanghai)

and what happens in the 2050s in the cyberpunk universe, like, at all? in the timeline of canon events it's a decade with very little filled in compared to everything else in the 21st century. opportunities!

the Crescent time-gap aka "mike's hard eighteen months"

post-canon, what's the deal with that fifth corporate war huh?

post-canon, Crescent ends in a very particular place and situation of my own invention and i've been working out the endgame for that situation

all of this is very different from my m.o. up until this point, which has been to write characters being horny and then stay within shouting distance of the canon plot (thx @merge-conflict for that phrasing/concept) while diverging a bit for funsies. and i'm appreciating more and more how frightening and freeing it is to cook up a whole narrative that stands on its own without a skeleton of plot already in place — not to mention all the built-in emotional stakes of cyberpunk 2077's plot. and it's very hard at times to push through the "nobody will read this" voice yet it's fun! i'm having fun!! pounds table

also have some bg3 stuff on the side burner, but i feel like i'll need a lot more time to marinate in lore, and i need to finish the fucking game already lol. (tbh i'm very intimidated writing for bg3!!!) but the docket here includes a dank throuple feat. some old man yaoi (tav/rugan/gale). this is totally up in the air though and i truly can't find my own ass with both hands when it comes to the forgotten realms

and then there's a grip of smutty shorts, drabbles, and assorted plot creatures from every dimension sniffing around.

i'm looking forward to getting more time to return to the groove here. (where will this mysterious "more time" come from? what is "the groove"? TBD)

and as fun as all the worldbuilding and plotting is, i do think i need to stop dicking around scratchin my chin and just write some god damn porn at some point 🙃

[lexsnotdead]

I absolutely loved BG1 and 2, Neverwinter Nights Hordes of the Underdark and Neverwinter Nights 2 too are among my most favourite RPGs. But Larians writing, particularly in D:OS2 turned me off so much :( How different is BG3?

big wall of text under the cut and before anything else i want to say that criticizing a game does not equal not liking it

i thought a lot about my response to this ask, since i must admit i have never played bg&bg2 and jumped straight into the hype train of bg3. and i'm genuinely curious what exactly about dos2 turned you off that much. here's what i personally think:

i played d:os1 and d:os2 and while i'm a big fan of the latter… dos1 couldn't keep me entertained even when playing with a friend in coop, which shows just how exhaustively boring and unmemorable it was. i really love dos2 and despite what i will say next, nothing is gonna change my love for this game. but. imma be honest, it was 3 and a half characters that kept me playing. i love sebille and lohse, i love malady — the mystery around her has its own appeal, but it's still a huge miss not to expand on such intriguing character as herself. i slightly care about ifan and fane, i couldn't give a lesser fuck about beast, i fucking hate the red prince and his writing is one of most unlikable from any rpg game i ever played (i can elaborate. but that's a post for another time). in short: lack of memorable characters, and those who are there have to make up in quality rather than quantity.

and larian is still... larian. their ambition makes them bite more than they can chew, you don't need to be nitpicking on purpose to notice just now empty act 3 of d:os2 was compared to fort joy or driftwood. in similar-ish way act 3 of bg3 feels less polished in terms of performance and content. like they even had to add an alternative ending to karlach's quest only after the game's release lol. there are quite a lot of bugs and players who are doing an "evil" playthrough like me found themselves deprived of content — sometimes you're just locking yourself out of quests, encounters, characters entirely because of decisions you made, quite literally making the game harder for yourself.

another important thing that i'd point out that dos2 felt kinda lacking in terms of the character creation because ocs always felt less immersive and shallow compared to the playable origins (i had the time of my life playing as lohse, tho). i know people who managed to have fun filling the blank spaces with their imagination, but i'm not one of those people, unfortunately. when i tried creating a drow character in bg3, however, every third npcs made sure to glare at me distrustfully and be fantasy racist towards the drow. like really? thanks for noticing! this might sound weird, but i liked that. it enhanced my feeling of immersion thus making it more satisfying to play. like yeees... yes... i indeed am a drow!

i'd rather stop focusing on its shortcomings because it feels unfair to larian when they are listening to the playerbase and trying their best to deliver patches as quick as possible. after all, what makes a good dnd adventure for me is always the story and characters — banal it may be, as long as it is fun, it is a good dnd game. and bg3 is very fun and addictive. there's this unique feeling when you're planning your next playthrough and considering what you would've done differently when still doing your first. i like it more compared to dos2, because... i'm not sure why myself? interpersonal interactions just feel a bit deeper, and i actually care about almost every companion, even the ones i did not expect to care about (like gale, astarion, shadowheart). and variety of the character creation, of course. and i can bet on bg3 being next the goty haha

to sum this all up:

if you like dos:2, you will like this game

if you like dnd e5, you will also like this game

if you like bg1 and bg2 then i genuinely don't know i'm sorry

[jojotichakorn]

ask game - top five favourite female characters :3

ok so we collectively decided that i will do top five from dramas and then top five from other forms of media, so this is gonna be a long post 😌

top five favourite female characters from dramas

number one. koh ae ri from the eighth sense

she is for real one of my favourite secondary characters of all time. she is so funny and i absolutely love the way she teases her friends, bullying IS a love language yes. i also love how confident and slightly over-the-top she is, she can really stand up for herself and other people as well, which is an admirable quality. also, i am side-eyeing her and her bestie. 🫵🏳️‍🌈⁉️ ykwim

number two. ink from bad buddy

we all know what i think about bad buddy but that doesn't mean there aren't any characters in that series who i still cherish, and ink is definitely one of them! i feel like everything in the world has already been said about her and i don't even have to explain myself. we all love her.

number three. hashimoto mio from kieta hatsukoi

she is an icon, she is a legend, etc. etc. she is so so sweet and wonderful but can also hit you across the face so hard that you fly away if you deserve it. i don't even think that's like dramatic effect exaggeration, she will kick your ass if you're acting like a fucking idiot and i love that about her.

number four. choi yu na from semantic error

true bicon of our generation. greatest fashion sense in the world. so very tired of your bullshit (and that's absolutely fair). a great friend. *bows fifty times in respect*

number five. sunny from our dating sim

she doesn't get too much screen time but i love everything about what we see of her. she is very no-nonsense and deadpan, but also very emotionally intelligent and compassionate (she literally helps lee wan figure out why he started drawing and why it's still important to him, like she literally changes his life with one small conversation). what a legend.

top five favourite female characters from other media

number one. brienne of tarth from game of thrones (tv show)

ok yeah yeah horrible tv show. ANYWAY. i am fucking obsessed with brienne. she is SO!!!! KDGJDFJGDFJGKDF. sorry. what am i even supposed to say. she is a warrior both metaphorically and literally. she is the most knight-coded character of all time. no man can compare to her in knightly qualities. she is noble, she is loyal, she is fair. she is fucking iconic.

number two. clementine from the walking dead games (video game series)

i grew up with clem, actually. i was just a couple of years older than her when i first watched a playthrough of twdg. i suppose we have to make some space for the fact that she is a protagonist in 2.5/4 games, meaning that every player kind of decides what kind of a person she is on their own. but i think overall, no matter what choices you make, she always remains a very strong and resilient person. despite everything she's lost, she doesn't lose her humanity and manages to take great care of her found family (and her adopted younger brother, shout out to our murder baby aj <3). i am very proud of her, almost like she is a literal person who grew up in front of my eyes.

number three. lae'zel from baldur's gate 3 (video game)

ok, now this one was hard. not because i don't love lae'zel so much, but because there is an insanely long list of female characters from bg3 that i absolutely adore, and choosing just one was hard. in lae'zel's place, there could have been shadowheart or karlach or jaheira or either isobel or aylin from everyone's favourite divine lesbian duo or nine-fingers or or or. i can go on forever. but i picked lae'zel for this post. so, first thing you should know about her is that she can step on you and you will be thanking her for it if she does. she is just 21 years old, yet she goes through a completely worldview-shattering experience and comes out the other side not just alive, but with her head held high. her quote "what good this heart of stone, for it to be shattered?" absolutely kills me every time. i'm gonna stop here, but i could go on forever actually yes.

number four. josephine montilyet from dragon age inquisition (video game)

very similar situation with the dragon age games and the amount of characters i could choose. morrigan, isabela, and sera in particular were very strong contenders for this space. but i ended up choosing josie for this post. she is a very sweet and romantic character. she used to be a spy (and she actually got into it because she thought it sounded romantic - she's whimsical like that), but then she ended up killing someone she knew and that experience changed her forever. she is now a very successful diplomat, determined to deal with world's problems through any means other than violence. she is very open-minded, understanding, and just an absolutely lovely person overall.

number five. anne elliot from persuasion by jane austen (novel)

choosing a favourite jane austen herione is like choosing a favourite child, but here we are. the photos are from two different adaptations, and i appreciate both of them in different ways, though i don't think we have a 10/10 adaptation of persuasion just yet. anyway, anne is naturally a rather timid and people-pleasing person, which i think a lot of us can relate to, but throughout the book she really finds her own voice and stands her ground, while simultaneously not having to completely change her personality, which i really appreciate. not everyone can be sarcastic or witty or strong-willed and that's ok. she also definitely shines as the undeniably smartest austen herione, as she figures out all the secrets, decidedly does not trust clearly untrustworthy albeit charming gentlemen, and is overall incredibly sensible, which means it's very easy to read her inner dialogue, because you never find yourself sighing at how blind she is at something that's happening. she sees everything. being inside her head is a great time.