secretavenueshark

[citizen-of-the-fandom]

Loving the idea of Astarion Origin runs. This guy? The guy whose plans have never developed beyond:

Stab

???

Profit

That guy? That guy is in charge of 5 chaotic strangers and making decisions and saving the world now?

[kittenintheden]

sip the tea

lol I dunno it's a smutty drabble, enjoy.

Rating: E Word Count: >1k Content: 18+, temperature play, blowjob, mild cumplay

---

Astarion's reading in his usual spot by the fireplace, posture relaxed, leaning his head on one hand. You approach with a steaming mug. He glances up and gives you a smile.

"What's that, love?" he says.

"Peppermint tea," you respond, setting it on the side table beside him.

He looks at it, then back at you. "Erm. Sweet, but you know I don't really drink tea. It all tastes like ash water."

"I know," you say, moving around in front of his chair and going to your knees. You run your hands up the tops of his thighs and his book droops a bit in his hand as he gives you a knowing look.

"It's not for you," you say with a smile as you go to undo his laces.

"What are you up to?" Astarion purrs as he lifts his hips for you to slide his soft trousers and smallclothes down his toned thighs. "Not that I'm complaining."

"I was making myself a cup and I had a thought," you reply, running light fingers over his cool skin, lighting up the areas over his thighs, his abdomen, his pelvis. His soft cock stirs, arousal waking. His hand falls over the side of the chair, book forgotten and dangling from his fingertips, eyes half-lidded as he watches you tease.

You hold his eye as you lean forward and take him in your mouth, encouraging him harder. Astarion gives a soft groan of approval, fingers of his free hand reaching out to play with your hair.

"Still not sure what the tea's for," he breathes. The soft skin of his cock goes taut in your mouth, his erection coming to full mast. You press your tongue firmly along the underside as you slide off of him, amusement in your eyes as you blow on his spit-slick skin.

"Ooooh," he murmurs with a lilt, his erection jumping a little at the sensation. "But why'd you stop?"

You raise an eyebrow at him and reach for your tea, the ceramic cup nearly too warm to touch, and sip a careful mouthful. It's still quite hot, but not scalding. Cooled just enough to comfortably hold it in your mouth, which you do, allowing the soft and tender flesh inside to grow warmer than your natural heat allows. The mint tingles on your tongue. Astarion watches, intrigued. You smirk as best you can with your mouth full.

Then you swallow and immediately take him fully into your mouth again.

"Holy-" Astarion growls, throwing his head back and involuntarily arching his hips up, deeper, seeking the molten heat that is your mouth, heightened even more against his own cooled skin. He hits the back of your throat and you give a small cough, a tear forming at the corner of one eye.

You pull away, saliva and his clear pre-fluid connecting your lips to the head of him, and say, "Too much?"

Astarion's chest heaves and he blows out his breath as he tilts to look down at you, an inferno in his eyes. He shakes his head.

You grin. "Good." You take another sip and go again.

He melts under you, one leg twitching a bit from overwhelm as the rest of him sinks deep into the cushions of his favorite armchair. His head lolls to the side and he pants, his tongue moving barely past his bottom teeth as he watches you work him, eyes hooded. You twist your head and swirl your tongue, warming every bit of him. Each time you pull off to reheat your mouth with more tea, you see the head of his cock swollen and flushed pinker than usual.

He whines when you leave and squirms when you return. Sweat begins to bead along his forehead.

"Darling," he whispers at last, his thighs tensing on either side of you. "Oh, darling, keep it up and I won't last another minute."

You take your time, keeping him right on the edge until you go for one last mouthful of tea, keeping a little in your mouth this time as you swallow him down. He twists his fingers in your hair and whines out a reedy, "I'm going to come, I'm going to come, I'm coming-"

And he does, salted spunk mingling with the peppermint still on your tongue. You swallow it all, helping him ride it out to the last. When you pull back, peering up at him with your mouth wet and pink, he's collapsed bonelessly in the chair, still staring out at you from half-closed eyes. His throat bobs.

Then he reaches out, quick as a blink, and palms the back of your head to bring your lips to his, his tongue delving into you to taste that last bit of mint and heat and slick.

[tragedybunny]

Pretty Baby

༺Summary༻

Astarion is a trophy wife that does online porn and gets soft dommed by his loving wife.

༺Pairing༻ Astarion x Tav

༺Warnings༻ NSFW - PiV Sex, Anal Play, Femdom, Mommy Kink, Feminization

༺Word Count༻ 2870

༺A/N༻ I'm gonna be straight with ya - there was a lot of pseudoephed and sinus cold involved in the conception of this. I am accepting no responsibility for it.

Read On AO3

It's 6 PM and I just got home from the office. Pulling into the driveway, I let the car idle a bit before getting out. It builds the anticipation, I know he can hear it, know that he's in there, waiting for me, my sweet wife, my Astarion.

He's kneeling on that plush white rug that I indulged him and bought, even though it's a nightmare to have cleaned. That perfect body of his is clothed in nothing but his new pink, lacy, lingerie set that we picked out yesterday. 

I feel myself getting a little wet thinking about it, how I watched him put it on this morning during his stream. Whenever I have time, I like to turn it on, even in the background, watch what they're all wishing they could have, but it belongs to me. 

He'd been artfully arranged in bed when it had started. “Hello darlings,” he'd purred for his audience. “Forgive my state, I'm just waking up.”

I laughed loud enough that I was thankful my office door was closed. Did anyone really believe he looked that made up fresh out of bed. He'd been up since I got up, cooking us breakfast in an old band t-shirt and boxers, curls wild, red eyes full of sleep still. My sweet little albino weirdo, he listened to me complain about how we were out of blueberries for my oatmeal and promised to get more. “Get some strawberries too while you're there,” I'd added on my way out the door. After I left for work, he got ready for his stream. 

Whenever someone at the law firm asked what my spouse did, I told them he was a social media marketing consultant. When they asked for who, I told them it was all hush-hush, NDA's, they were lawyers, they understood. At this point, they were convinced he worked for the pentagon or something, if only they knew. 

After he told the audience his ridiculous lie, he rolled over in bed and stretched dramatically, flexing lean muscles for the camera. “I need to go to the farmer’s market today, mommy is out of organic blueberries. But she got me something special and told me I have to wear it if I leave the house.” 

My hands had drifted to the crotch of my pants, client emails forgotten. He had been asking to wear a plug outside the house, I told him if he remembered his lingerie and to send me pictures, we'd talk. Pulling the set from his dresser drawer, he showed it to the camera. “Mommy is spoiling me, isn't she, darlings?” 

My fingers ghosted over my mound as I watched him put on the pink bralette and thong panties. Somehow, it was more intoxicating than seeing him nude. “I'll be taking some pictures later that you all can indulge in, but for now I'm off.” 

Thinking back on it, I can't wait anymore and turn the car off. As soon as I walk in the door, I head straight for the living room, dropping my bag on the chair to find my little treat waiting for me, on his knees, still dressed like I'd told him. “There's my little wife,” I greet him, and he knows he's good to talk. 

“Hi mommy, how was your day.” He shifts one leg forward on instinct so that I can put my foot on his thigh. 

“Fine, nothing terribly exciting,” I answer as he takes my shoe off. Switching feet, he takes the other one off, kissing my leg through my suit pants. 

“I'm glad it wasn't too stressful.” Shoes gone, he starts to work on my pants. 

“And how about you, were you a good little wife today? I saw you getting dressed on your stream.” I run my hand through his platinum curls and give them a playful tug. 

He smiles proudly. “Yes, mommy, I did my errand and I had a nice day. I love it when you take time to watch me.”

“I know you do, baby. And you sent me so many nice pictures of you in your gift, just like I asked.” I step out of the pants and signal him to stand so he can finish undressing me. When he's done, he hands me a comfortable, loose dress he has ready. “What's for dinner?” 

Astarion is a middling cook, and we eat a lot of take out, but sometimes it's nice to push him out of his comfort zone. Especially since he doesn't do all that much around the house with the maid service and the grocery delivery. He's a trophy wife. I knew that the moment I met him though, back in law school. He'd been forced into it by his adoptive father, Cazador Szarr and was so visibly unhappy with it and his whole life. We'd eloped six months after we met so I could get him out from under that monster’s thumb. I hadn't regretted it since, our less traditional proclivities even ended up complementing one another. 

“Lasagna,” he says, looping his arms around my waist and burying his face in my shoulder. “It's almost done and I promise the maid didn't help this time.” 

“Good job, baby. Go handle my clothes and we'll eat.” 

Dinner is served by Astarion with a cute little apron over his lingerie. Not every night is playtime like this, but it is Friday so we've got time to enjoy ourselves. The lasagna is an improvement over the last time and he even took care to make a wine pairing from a local winery. “They had samples at the farmers market, so I could make sure it's up to your standards.” 

The bottle comes back with us to the living room where I leave Astarion to pick out a movie while I grab some toys for the evening. His eyes get wide with excitement as I lay them out on the table next to the wine glasses. My wand, his plug with the pink jewel top, lube, and his paddle in case he gets bratty. I don't spank him often, only when he's seriously asking for it.

“Come here, wifey.” I take a seat on the champagne pink couch and settle him between my legs with a glass of wine. 

What we're watching doesn't even matter as he starts loving on me almost immediately. The skirt of my dress is short enough that it rides up and leaves plenty of me exposed. He kisses and nibbles my thighs, fingers digging in, begging for my attention. My own underwear are getting slick. 

“Please, can I pleasure you?” He rasps, finishing his wine and setting the glass aside. Kneeling, he turns to face me, crimson eyes begging.

“Hmm, you said you were good today. Did you get my blueberries?” He nods enthusiastically. “And the strawberries?” His face falls, I did add that at the last minute, maybe it's a little unfair.

“I forgot,” he looks down at the carpet. Poor little dear, his cock is already half-hard in his panties. 

“You can use the wand for now. Anything else depends on your behavior.” He doesn't look up right away and I tip his chin up with my fingers. “Understood?”

“Yes, mommy.” Obediently, he retrieves my wand and sets it to low, he's so well-trained with it. 

My legs spread and he bushes it lightly against my clit through my underwear. “Good baby.” 

He works me gently to the precipice, stroking the wand over me rhythmically until I'm panting and groaning in need. My fingers wrap themselves in his curls and I tug him forward, demanding more. Placing it flush against me, he goes back to kissing my thighs. 

Bucking my hips against the wand, I feel myself letting go. “I'm going to come love, you're doing so good.” Moaning, I clench around nothing, and pull his face against my sodden underwear by his hair. 

Taking the wand, I turn it off and pet him, fingers drifting lightly over his scalp. Despite not fulfilling all my requests, I know I'm going to need him inside me tonight. I'll just have to think of a little punishment to remind him that he's not getting away with it. But for now, I want to play with my little wife.

“Lay in my lap, let's get this plug in you.” 

He blushes adorably and quickly does as he is told, laying across my thighs so I can reach his bottom. Taking another drink of wine, I let him wait, feeling him squirm with anticipation. Finally, I grab the lube and coat my fingers. 

Pulling his thong to the side, I spread him open and gently work a finger inside him. Below me he already starts making noises.  Another finger slips in and he mewls. “Feeling good, baby?”  

“Yes, mommy, you're so good to me.” 

My fingers flex inside him, eliciting little moans as I prep him. When I'm satisfied he's ready, I lube up the plug and place it teasingly close to his entrance. “I want you to keep still, and no coming. If you want to wear this out of the house, you need to prove you're not going to be a mess about it.” 

“Y-yes, mommy.” 

This is actually unfair and he knows it. I wouldn't be there to play with him if he wore it out. But he accepts it like the good wife he is. 

Slowly, I push it inside of him, treasuring the little gasps he makes. Once it's inside, I give it a firm push and he actually yelps. Poor thing, I'm just getting started. 

Focusing on the movie, I start to idly play with it. Teasingly, I tug on it, working it back and forth until I feel him rut against my thigh. Lightly, I smack his bottom in warning. “What did I say?” He stills but whimpers as I keep going. 

After he's good and worked up, I give him a break, rubbing his back and playing with his curls. I feel his cock, hard enough to dig into my thigh, and his panties wet with pre-cum.

When his breathing evens out, I start again and feel him shaking as he fights the urge to thrust against me. “Mommy, please,” he whines. 

“A little longer baby,” I answer soothingly, now fucking him properly with it. 

His moans turn to cries as he fights the rising tide of an orgasm, control something he's never been particularly good at. Finally, I take pity and stop, letting the plug settle inside him. “I think you've been very good tonight. I'm going to let you fuck me, but you can't finish in me because you still need a punishment for forgetting.” 

He petulantly agrees and gets off my lap, kneeling on near me, while I set my clothes and lay out on the couch. “You can touch and kiss all you want.” I instruct, reaching out to stroke him through wet lace. “These are so pretty, but let's get them off so we don't ruin them.” 

When they're discarded on the floor, he slots himself between my thighs and runs his hands over my body. “You're so beautiful. How did I get so lucky?” 

I'm so wet, there's no resistance as he slides inside me, a relieved groan escaping him. His lips kiss every inch of me as he pumps slowly into me with restraint that's been trained into him. 

Hesitantly, he takes a nipple between his lips, looking up to make sure he has permission. I nod and he hungrily suckles at it, the pace of his hips increasing. 

“That's it, harder.” I encourage, reaching to scrape my nails along his back and ass. His hips snap harshly as he stays latched onto me, teeth scraping my nipple with just the right amount of pain. “I'm close, touch me.”

His fingers eagerly dip between my legs, knowing he can't come unless I do first. My hips buck into the firm circles he's rubbing, and my legs wrap around his back. He fucks so damn good. “That's it, love, such a good little wife,” I moan and see stars. 

He whines and jerks back as I'm still riding my high. “I- I'm,” the rest of his words are lost to heaving breaths as he tries not to spill himself.

“We need to work on that control of yours,” I scold gently and he pouts. “I'll remember that attitude later. Now go on and finish up.”

“Thank you, mommy.” He palms himself and begins to stroke vigorously.

Reaching for my phone from the table behind me, I open the camera. I'll hold onto these for myself for a while, then let him post them. I don't mind sharing his beauty with the audience, but I get first dibs. 

“There's my pretty baby,” I coo, watching his face beam at the praise while I snap the loveliest pictures of him. 

“I want to watch you come. Can you do that for me? Get it all over yourself.” I zoom in on his leaking cock, elegant fingers wrapped around it, then his face, eyes closed, mouth parted. 

With a final moan, he comes, seed coating his stomach and pelvis. “Look at me love.” His eyes are hazy when he brings them to mine, and he's smiling dazedly. “Let me get some pictures of you, you're such a beautiful little mess.” 

God, I may keep these forever, he looks so blissed out. Putting my phone away, I lean over and kiss him tenderly. “Let's get you in a bath.” 

In the water, he curls up in my arms, the little spoon, my cherished wife. “Did you enjoy yourself,” I ask, kissing the top of his head. 

“I always do with you.” Taking one of my hands, he kisses it reverently. 

“And you still like all this, right?”

He goes stiff in my arms and hesitates. His adoptive father had no tolerance for Astarion’s more unique tastes. “Yes,” he breathes, distraught enough that I feel bad. 

“That's good, because we have to make a special stop before groceries for the dinner party tomorrow.” Grabbing my phone, I open the email concerning a gift I ordered him. 

A rose gold metallic band sits on a bed of red velvet. A normal choker, save for the tiny lock in place of closure. “You mean it?” His voice is breathy with excitement.

“Of course, a pretty collar for my pretty wife.” 

“Can I wear it to the dinner party?” 

“Are you ready for everyone to see it?” I don't want him taking on too much at once. 

“I am, besides, I can't wait to see who's the most awkward about it.” Little breathy giggles escape him. 

“Gale for sure,” I add my laughter to his, glad he's so happy.

“Can…can I wear a skirt tomorrow when we go out?” 

“Sure baby. Do you want one for the party too?” I've asked before if he wanted to be thought of as a different gender, and he always says no, despite very much wanted to be called wife. 

“No, I think the collar will be enough excitement for them.” 

“Alright, that sounds like a good plan. Now let's get out of here before we both get all pruney.” 

The camera is set up for an early stream the next morning. Astarion flounces into the room in the fluffiest black tulle skirt with cream silk blouse. “Good morning darlings, mommy is taking me out today, and she said since I was good I get a little reward.” 

He bends himself over the ottoman that's the same pink hue as the couch. A pretty little sight with his bottom in the air. “And she's going to be nice and help me with it.”

I don't make appearances on his stream often, and they're always from the waist down to avoid recognition. Carefully, I sit next to him on the couch, keeping my face out of view, and push his skirt up before pulling down his panties. Sensible black cotton for today. We gave him some prep off camera so the audience can get straight to the goods. 

Plug in hand, I give him a showy little spread first. That's right, look at my wife's cute little asshole you simps, I think to the audience spending their hard-earned money on him. I push it in, letting his whimpers fill the air. It's so hard to not talk, to not call him pretty baby and tell him how good he is, but I can't have my voice recognized. 

When it's in, I give his bottom a few firm smacks for everyone watching to enjoy. A little payback for the pout last night. “Mommy,” he whines, not having expected the improptu punishment. When I'm finished, I pull his panties back up and he turns to sit facing the camera, eyes watery. “We've got a busy day, so I probably won't see you all again today. I promise a nice long video next time.” 

Once he gets the camera off, I pull him in for a kiss, tongue darting into his mouth. “Let's get going. I want to make it back early enough ruin this cute little outfit of yours.” 

[nerdalmighty]

WIP folder game

Thanks for the tag @khywren!! I'm excited to participate :)

Rules: Make a new post with the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! Then, tag as many people as you have WIPs.

I only have a few wips, 4 in total right now, all for bg3, but one is a multi-chapter where each chapter is named after a different song from ANOTHER video game, Deltarune (because I'm the most creative woman in the world), and one is JUST a shitpost of a fic that I wrote to make myself laugh:

An Evening to Ourselves

Sewer Party

Don't Forget (Multi-chapter: Field of Hopes and Dreams, The Legend, Scarlet Forest)

Dont! Cross! This! Line! With your hand

Feel free to ask about any of them! I'm really enjoying posting snippets :)

Seeing as how I'm VERY new to the writing scene, I don't have a ton of mutuals who write, but I'll tag a few friends! @maladaptive-menace @ladyduellist - No pressure! And also if YOU (the person reading this) write and YOU want to share your wips, please do! And tag me in it!!

And for you, my dear @khywren, below the cut is another snippet of my long one shot (she's clocking in at 17.6k words! oops!):

“Listen to me,” you turned your head towards Astarion. “I need you to reach into my pack and get out a Scroll of Sleep.”

“You don’t just know that off-hand?”

“Astarion.” 

“Fine, fine.” The vampire drew out his daggers and slowly circled around the room, drawing the bugbear around so he wouldn’t be able to attack from behind. Astarion looked up at the rafters and saw a hay bale hanging precariously over the edge of a beam. If he angled his daggers just right…

He let the blades fly and when they connected with the hay bale, it fell from above, landing right on top of the bugbear. Astarion looked over at you with an excited grin to make sure you’d witnessed his victory.

“Yes, yes, you’re very good at knives,” you quipped. “Now get over here!”

“As you wish.” Astarion weaved his way across the barn and positioned himself behind you to look in your bag. You felt his cold breath on your ear. “Hello,” he purred.

Your fingers stumbled on a few notes and the ogress suddenly looked around, as if waking from a trance. 

“Wha-”

You scrunched your nose and kicked behind you at Astarion’s shin. 

He laughed out in pain, but you could feel him rummaging through your bag. The song you were playing resumed its hypnotic tones and the ogress seemed to calm down. 

“Remind me to never have you organize my wardrobe, darling. It is a mess in here.”

“I know where everything is!” You argued. “The scrolls are in alphabetical order.”

“My gods, you’re lame.” Astarion squinted into your bag, trying to read the titles of the spells in the dim light. 

“ASTARION!” You shouted and twisted as the bugbear suddenly reappeared, apparently having been able to push the hay bale off of himself. He was running like a madman around the right side of the barn, towards Astarion. 

Astarion reached for his daggers, only to come up empty. They were still in the hay bale on the other side of the barn. Swearing, he looked up just in time to see-

WHAM!

Your lute connected with the bugbear’s face with such force that he went down instantly. 

As a result, however, your lute was now shattered. Which meant there was about to be a very angry ogress on your hands.

Astarion quickly shuffled back to your bag and filed through your spells.

“Astarion…” You said hesitantly. Your body tensed as the ogress blinked a few times, growled, and began stomping her way towards you two.

“I’m going! I’m going! A HA!” Astarion pulled out the proper spell and leaned forward over your shoulder to shove it ungracefully into your hands. “Read it out read it out read it out!”

“Shut up shut up shut up!” You uncrumpled the spell and shouted “SOMNUM,” just as the ogress reared back to swing her club.

Instead, she went down heavily, instantly asleep.

You and Astarion stayed frozen in place. When it was clear the ogress was truly out cold, Astarion chuckled against your shoulder, still leaning into you from behind. 

You smiled. Then you joined in his slight chuckle, which turned into laughs, which turned into the both of you doubling over in weezing delight.

“Have you ever seen anything so ghastly?” Astarion looked between the two unconscious creatures.

“Love finds a way,” you continued laughing.

“My dear, love had nothing to do with that,” Astarion wiped a tear from his eye and went to retrieve his daggers from across the barn. “That was all lust. And probably a bit of morbid curiosity to see if it was even possible.”

“Clearly it is,” you said. “Shows what we know about interspecies relationships.”

Astarion sheathed his daggers and came back around to see you picking up the broken pieces of your lute. You sighed and took off your bag, carefully making the pieces fit inside. 

He cleared his throat awkwardly. “Thank you.”

You looked up at him.

“For knocking out that bugbear. And for sacrificing your lute in the process.” He bent to pick up a piece that had slid across the floor and brought it over to you.

“It’s just a thing,” you said. “I can replace it. But I’m glad you’re okay.”

[yandere-sins]

I know this is a yandere blog, but you mentioned BG3 and I just have to say (keeping these vague to avoid spoilers where possible)...

My first romance was Wyll. I don't know how I, someone who usually goes for the characters that clearly have something deeply concerning about them, ended up with the literal prince charming of the game AND LIKING HIM. His romance was so pure, no horny, and I just... I love him and felt guilty every time I even looked at someone else (it didn't stop me from romancing my Guardian, but that's a different story).

Second run through? I went after Minthara and that relationship was so unhinged. Woman sat on the throne of her vanquished foe and she stole my entire heart. Every time she offered violence in my honor I had to stop from having a make out session.

Astarion is my next romance, but that file is still in act 1. Can't wait to see how that ends up.

I always love to chat though, so no worries! I'm just not taking non-yandere requests but otherwise everything is fair game ^-^

Oh man, I really like... want to romance Wyll because he is soooo sweet and wholesome, but in my first playthrough I found him and Karlach way too late (think I did half of the map and interactions of Act 1 without finding out how to recruit them) so he wasn't really interested in flirting with my first Tav and now with my second I kind of kindled the flame but I couldn't get myself to choose any of the monogamous LI for the tiefling party since that Tav is meant to be with Halsin (and good Astarion probably).

But I look forward to my Durge run because I will finally be able to recruit Minthara there ♥ I love her so much because I am a bit biased towards Drows in general, but I am not sure if I will date her since even before starting to play, I learned that with Ascended!Astarion you can get some special dialogue if you take over the brain and I kinda want that for my Durge. Maybe I'll need to go for a fourth run at this point because I really like Minthara, she's the better 'mean' character in my opinion, sorry Lae'zel >-<

Honestly, I wish I could date everyone lol. I just want to have all the romances at once but I also like that it's realistic and you can't just be in a relationship with everyone in camp, lol.

Good luck in your future runs! May you be blessed with all the romance you want ^^

[sun-marie]

I finished BG3 for the second time last night, and I have many spoilery thoughts about it (including PICTURES) so I'll put them under a cut. BG3 spoilers ahead, be warned!

I enjoyed the ending a lot more than my first playthrough (even Karlach notwithstanding, since this was the first time getting her sick Avernus ending). My first time I felt a little left out to dry by how it felt cut-off with no epilogue, but now that I saw that coming I enjoyed it more for what it was, if that makes sense! Though epilogues would still be nice, especially if there the same level of quality as Karlach's Avernus ending (but honestly I'd be fine with a slideshow too)

I have also made my peace with Ruathym becoming a Mindflayer. I don't think he wanted to do it per say, but I do think it suits him, and I'm cautiously optimistic in believing the game on him being an unprecedented mindflayer who may still retain himself and his soul. Plus it adds a really tasty tragic twist to his character, especially being in a romance with Lae'zel. Both Zephyr and Ruathym's romances have the potential for tragedy, but Gale's is seen ahead of time by the characters in the story, making it more satisfying to fight against it, while there's no way any of the characters could anticipate Ruathym having to become a mindflayer to free the prince of his lover and save the world, so it's more satisfying to lean into that dramatic irony. Plus, like, he lived in the Underdark anyway, and I don't think animals would shy away from him? So he'll be okay in the long run, I think. (Copium? Undoubtedly.)

I would really like to see like epilogue slides for the characters. If I wasn't romancing Gale I'd have no idea his plan was to go back to Waterdeep, and I had to look this up but if you romance Halsin he tells you he's going to start an orphanage! Why is that romance-exclusive information?? And like Shadowheart and Astarion are left out to DRY, people have already mentioned it before but there's no way the party would just let Astarion run off like that without following him. And if you let Shadowheart's parents die, there is zero follow up on what her plans are after all this. So idk, I know Larian said they're working on the ending, and I'm looking forward to it.

I would enjoy the ending much much more though if it actually worked. Like, I had to reset the game multiple times bc it just refused to render

Like idk I know it's a big game and my PC isn't the newest, but it's not ancient either and some people are playing this on their laptop for crying out loud!! I shouldn't be dealing with this level of graphical issues. (The same issues were cropping up during Gortash's coronation btw, which is what made pics for my mod such a pain to get). And while I do mod my game, I can't believe the mods I have are enough to cause this 😭

So, that kinda put a damper on things, but the *content* of the ending, I mostly like! It does feel very epic, and I appreciate that it was challenging but not impossibly difficult. It's also very satisfying to see everyone again, almost teared up when Rolan and Barcus Wroot gave their support to me! They were just That One Grumpy Tiefling At The Grove and That One Gnome We Saved From A Windmill, and look at them now!! ahhh that was really good.

And while I think it still needs to be extended, I do actually like the immediate nature of the goodbyes. Wyll and Karlach have to go to Avernus now, Astarion needs to get out of the sun now, and Lae'zel needs to leave for her people, and Ruathym is a Mindflayer now. It gives the ending an appropriately bittersweet note. We won, but we still lost people, even if we may see them again. It all happens so fast because the tadpoles died like *snap* that.

I loved this game, and I like this ending. I'm going to make myself wait before I replay it (bc this one of those games I want to be playing all the time), and when I do I want to see if I can squeeze one more oc or one more romance in there. I don't really do AUs, which include other playthroughs with different protags, and I'm not a huge fan of having a pc for every romance option, but I think between the options that are free (Halsin, Shadowheart, Wyll, Karlach, Astarion,....Minthara(?)) somebody could pair up! Even if it's after the events of the game lol. So I'm kinda tossing around the idea of a Wyll origin playthrough and finding who he'd romance, but idk yet, we'll see 👀

[missizzy]

A Game Novice's Baldur's Gate Log, 50 1/2 Hours In: Now With Accompanying Fanfic!

Masterpost

(Note: this will definitely contain spoilers for all I've played through, and probably quite of a bit of the later stuff I've also seen.)

So among the things I ended up playing through this week was a certain camp scene involving Lae'zel and Shadowheart. I'd already had an idea of writing something Lae'zel-related, and then Astarion, being Astarion, butted in where he hadn't been called for, and this resulted. It takes place in the universe of this playthrough, and it won't be the last thing I write that does. I've already got another Lae'zel-related idea, but it will have to wait until I play through a few more things. And yes, there will be fic about my Sara Tully and Gale, when I get to that part of the game.

At the end of last week, I was trying to get to the Myconids, and was convinced the way there was through the cave of explosive mushrooms, and was trying to figure out how to get the dwarf out without setting them off. My first attempt failed, and also caused my game to crash, although thankfully that didn't happen again. I also found myself regretting that I'd sent the spell slot-drained Gale back to camp, since I found myself thinking his frost rays could come in handy. So I went and got him back, actually zapped some isolated mushrooms, tried to bring out his mage hand, and found that made the mushrooms explode, too.

I'd neglected to save, and didn't feel like going back to get him again, so I went back to where I'd saved before sending him there, tried to take the route I'd first taken to the cave from there, didn't quite, got caught up in a very unexpected fight, decided the long rest before going any further, barely kept Shadowheart from killing Lae'zel, eventually got back to cave via a longer route that allowed me to loot a scroll of Misty Step-and was suddenly provided with the option of throwing it to the dwarf, which I gratefully took. With everyone clear, I then had Gale explode most of the mushrooms, went forward after that, looted a chest-and then discovered the cave was enclosed and was not the way to anywhere. I was very put out.

I ended up looking up a map of the Underdark, then slowly walking my party along the barriers I'd run into to find the way through, eventually discovering the big mushroom stalk I could climb up to get to the Myconid village. And once again I must give high praise to the gamemakers for the beautiful, creepy, and very alien place they gave us to find there. We sci-fi/fantasy geeks may have run into the concept of hive mind societies before, but their work can give us the same awe and uneasiness as I instantly knew filled Sara, whom I'm sure never imagined such a thing, when she tried to talk to one of the guards in the front and was answered by Sovereign Spaw, it using this other being as nothing more than a mouthpiece. She felt a bit better when Blurg later claimed to her the Myconids are nonetheless each their own unique selves.

So when she met with the Sovereign, she was happy to tell it that we'd killed the Duergar slave-catchers, and happier to take the D6 boon that truly ended up coming in very handy the rest of the day. But when it requested she then kill Nere, she wasn't so sure she wanted to just agree to do so. On the other hand, after finding and healing Thulla, she had no hesitation about agreeing to rescue the other gnomes.

When we then met Sovereign Glut, and it also asked us about killing the slave-catchers, it likewise seemed no harm to take it to see the corpses. Until it demanded we kill Shaw. Sara wasn't without sympathy, when she heard Shaw had left Glut's circle to their fate, but she was aware she didn't really know or understand these people, and did not want to take sides in their internal political disputes. Except, of course, it then wouldn't take no for an answer, and forced us to kill it instead. Still, thanks to its allegations against Shaw, she was even more hesitant about killing someone it wanted dead.

But, of course, she did want to rescue the gnomes, so we headed to Grymforge anyway. Posing as a True Soul of the Absolute could not have been easy for Sara, but she's now very aware she's probably going to have to do it at Moonrise Towers, so this was good practice, at least. At least she's able to use intimidation as well as deception checks to get past cultists while doing so; she's way better at the former. Also, it seems the cultist NPCs don't necessarily have very good hearing. I'd actually seen one streamer reach the enslaved gnomes working on the cave-in, and note how she seemed able to talk to them freely with the overseers right there, which at least meant I wasn't caught out by that.

Had it just been Nere caught in that cave-in, Sara probably would've just turned on the overseers. But of course some of the gnomes were trapped as well, giving the player more motivation to go find the rune-powder to blow it open. En route, Sara found herself kneeling over the bodies of the dead gnomes being thrown into the water, and at that point her character demanded I have her promise to killed their enslavers. Yet even so, when we got back with the runepowder and set it off, I genuinely didn't know whether we were going to kill Nere or not.

All such vague doubts, however, were quickly wiped away by the cut scene. His brutal treatment of the gnomes was enough for Sara to immediately drop the cold and loyal True Soul act and decry him for his cruelty. His promptly ordering the Duergar to kill her only sealed what probably would've been his fate anyway.

Or at least it did so the second time I played through that scene. The battle proved another one where I first went in without any real preparation or strategy, and things went rather badly as a result. I hadn't even remembered that I'd given Shadowheart Spirit Guardians when we'd leveled up, that first time around. The second time on the other hand, she cast that in the knot our foes formed around us and held concentration on it long enough for it to very much be the MVP spell, making what had been a hard and painful struggle way easier. Although I fear at some point Gale cast something that accidentally hit one of the gnomes, since they suddenly gained all -5 in attitude towards him at the battle's end.

That was part of the reason I lingered only long enough to cut off Nere's head, since we might as well hand that in to Shaw, and be confronted by his parasite. That the gamemakers made sure to give us both virtuous and mercenary reasons to cut off that head makes me think getting that parasite was pretty important. Except that while Sara is no longer ruling out using the Ilithid powers, this time, she had to figure there's be more True Souls to kill down the line, if she wants to make that choice then, so she didn't have to make it now.

I came back after long resting with Gale discreetly swapped out for Astarion, to finish talking with the gnomes and agree to rescue Wulbren. It was a smart party member swap to make anyway, as we've since been further exploring the Grymforge, with plenty of chests and doors for him to lockpick. I am now trying to gather up further XP, and we've had a couple of fights against mimics and similar, but now we're getting close to the elevator that would take us to Act II, which we are definitely not taking just yet, if we do at all.