#minthara is everything to me and has been since before the game released

[darkelfchicksick]

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[threerattsinatrenchcoat]

I did this poll!

My Minthara/Araj fic got the most votes (40%! Woooo!). This would be a continuation of this fic (CW blood and needles)

Here are the lines. For context, Minthara has been captured by another noble House. It's a bit long so I put some under the cut.

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"Announcing Commander Iiv'nitra Duskryn," sang a servant as the woman led her—and her alone—into a hall. Minthara hit her knees with perfect timing, just after Iiv'nita initiated the shove down but before her captor had a chance to actually do it, a move that should have made Iiv'nitra stumble.

Unfortunately, the commander masterfully turned the clumsiness into a bow, and murmured to Minthara, "Excellent attempt."

"You should see me when I'm not improvising," Minthara said.

"Tempting." Then louder, "In the court's own time."

Iiv'nitra spoke to the empty throne, ignoring the other occupants on the dias: a heavily pregnant priestess on a less grand throne and the male seated on a low stool next to her; a retinue of warriors, each gorgeous in their viciousness; another male tucked in back, head bowed in the demure modesty of a wizard; and a woman standing next to the throne in a simple, perfectly pressed and fitted robe. Silently, Minthara put names to each: Priestess Zesace; her current stock and body guards; Faeruck Imbros; and High Advisor Ginra, a no-name who'd wormed her way to the ear of the matron, mostly by being correct about everything she suggested. Other Houses put stock in blood, while Duskryn promoted solely on merit, which meant each individual was very good at the title they had earned.

Unlike Minthara, who was good at everything.

On an invisible cue, the court fell silent, all its attendees turning their attention to Minthara like hungry crows to a kitten. Steadily, she gazed back, picking out familiar faces and adjusting her plan accordingly.

"I have captured Minthara Baenre," the commander said. "Our intelligence was correct."

"The traitor," said Zesace. "The dangerous one."

"I am aware. She slew one of the recruits, but I've found her rather mild since."

"A docile Baenre? Impossible."

"I know. I must admit, my lady, that I am tempted to petition the court to keep her. A beast this rare is perfect for the menagerie."

"Are you certain you could handle the responsibility? You'd have to take her on walks."

"Oh, look at her. She would take me on walks."

The court laughed.

Iiv'nitra settled back into professionalism and continued, "With her were a servant, a slave, a male—magus, I suppose, although he didn't do much—and the Oblodra."

"How does she look?" blurted Zesace.

"Tentacles?" asked Ginra with dark delight.

"Simply dull," Iiv'nitra said. "Her hair is windswept and she struggles in the darkness."

"Oh, do bring her in."

A moment later, Araj was dragged to Minthara's side. Zesace hefted herself out of her chai. Trailed by her male, she made her way closer.

"Fascinating," she said. "She nearly looks drow."

"I am d—" Araj started, but Zesace shoved her fingers into Araj's mouth, catching her tongue with long, cruel nails and yanking it forward.

"See how forgiving I am? Letting you keep this? Be certain to mind it from here out; Oblodra parts sell well," Zesace said.

Araj flushed.

"She seems quite regular."

"As I said," Iiv'nitra shrugged, "dull."

Ginra leaned close to the empty throne and murmured, "My lady, given our findings, perhaps we should continue this with a private audience?"

Another pause, then Zesace released Araj, wiping spit in her hair, and said, "Very astute, my lady. As you wish."

"I defer to your wisdom," said Iiv'nitra.

Zesace snapped, and Imbros scuttled around, activating a series of runes that wrapped magic around the area and left them in complete privacy. Foolish, to not check Minthara or Araj first. Perhaps she had over prepared for this challenge.

"The honorable Prae'anelle Duskryn. You look different than I remember," Minthara bowed to the chair.

"We were warned you were funny," Iiv'nitra said.

Ginra said to the throne, "My lady, I would advise caution. Even stripped of her titles, she is still a general."

"A general without a weapon," Iiv'nitra shrugged.

"A Baenre without Lolth."

"A disgrace."

"Is there any value to her at all?" mused Zesace.

With the careful precision of an assassin dropping an arachnid egg sac into a surface debutante's ball, Minthara said flatly, "One of you thinks so, given that I've made it this far."

The effect was immediate: Iiv'nitra laughed the short, brusque laugh of someone trying to cover nerves, Zesace relaxed, a classic overcorrection when one knows they tend to stiffen in surprise, the guards tensed, Imbros ducked his head harder, and the stock looked towards Zesace. No, past his priestess and wife, to Ginra.

Who didn't react at all. Either because she had a plan, or because she was the only one with a drop of courtly skills.

No, there was a reaction. The slightest dilation of her pupils. Excitement. A weakness.

Minthara said, "Or, perhaps, Matron Duskryn is the only one who wishes me dead?"

"Our mother matron has priorities elsewhere," said Iiv'nita.

Zesace said, "And so, in her absence, we lead."

"A fine opportunity for you to prove your worth," Minthara said. Curious that Ginra hadn't spoken up. A clear "guide from the shadows" type.

"Honeyed words," said Zesace.

"Such a polite disgrace," Iiv'nitra marveled.

"I've even brought a gift," Minthara said.

"What are you planning, Baenre?" asked Ginra.

"Really, at this point I'm more curious than anything else," Iiv'nitra said.

"Do not make little of our situation," said Zesace.

"Priestess Zesace, I am a swords master. It's my existence to cut problems down to size."

"And mine is to confirm we stay on point," said Ginra. "Why are you here?"

All three turned to look at Minthara, weighing their thoughts. Deciding. Each seemed determined that their decision be the final one, and the sort who didn't know how to use a loss to an advantage.

Time to release more spiderlings. "I seek allies. One of the eight houses would be incredibly valuable."

"One of the eight houses," Zesace scowled. "We've heard enough jokes. Kill her."

As Iiv'nitra pulled a blade, Minthara said, "You were due to be elevated. What happened?"

"House Baenre promoted House Do'Urden over us," said Iiv'nitra.

"Do'Urden?" Minthara sprinkled a bit of disgust on the name. She didn't even need to act; Astarion's constant prattling about Drizzt had solidified Do'Urden as a house she would happily wipe from history.

"The honorable Matron Mother Quenthel Baenre deemed fit to reform the House," said Zesace.

"That idiot little goblin," Minthara growled, as if her outburst were not perfectly planned. "I apologize for this oversight. Know that it is not a lack of respect to your House, but a lack of a proper spy network. Did you at least receive the assassin I sent?"

"That was yours?" said Ginra

"The jumpy gnome?" Iiv'nitra said. "Oh, she was a delight. I kept her hair and her blades."

"I hope you would like her! I wouldn't want to be rude," Minthara said, and dropped her voice to the low tones of a gossip. "House Jaelre didn't poison anything they offered me."

Zesace tsk'd. "This is what happens when males try to lead."

"Let's keep this one," Iiv'nita said.

"No. We will return the disgrace to her house for a favor."

"Because Baenre has respected you before," Minthara mused.

Iiv'nitra cuffed the back of her head, hard, and said, "Or we see why she is here."

"To take my house back," Minthara answered. Another smack, but a bit affectionate.

"Ah, suicide. In that case, we simply kill her."

"Offer her to Lolth," said Zesace.

The stock's hand slipped off his thigh, falling out of sight, the tendons in his arm flexing. Signing.

None of the others noticed, of course. Who cared what a male did? And Ginra, to her credit, didn't look at him once. The only tell that she'd seen was her asking, "What of the gift?"

"My gift? To not reveal your coup to your matron."

Iiv'nita's sword arced toward her neck.

[glassbirdfeather]

Baldur's Gate 3 half-baked missing ending content

I'm not going to post a direct link here because tumblr likes to kill posts with them.

Below is a screenshot of a Larian forum post, which itself was copied from a reddit post that was unfortunately deleted before I could screenshot it; probably because it linked to a google drive document containing decompiled game content, but I personally reviewed one of the files in that drive that they are referring to and can verify it contains what is claimed below.

There is a single spoiler for Karlach's cut ending in the following text.

<ID: A larian forum post by Madguise titled "To those disappointed in the endings... [Reddit post]"

I'll be copying and pasting since this is very much important; I think there is good reason to assume the situation will be fixed in the (near) future. If you look in the game files (an extract of the decompiled dialogue files can be found here) you can find; [I have removed the google drive link here, sorry]

END_GameFinale_CompanionFates Withers has gathered the companions together one final time as a reunion of sorts 6 months later. They each exposit their various activities. Minthara is not here because she is only present if she is partnered with the player (she is still a speaker here but can change). END_GameFinale_WithersGathersCompanions 6 months later after saving Baldur's Gate, Withers gathers the companions and player around a campfire to invite them to recollect what they've been doing. END_GodsAndMonsters_WithersChronicles Scene that plays after END_GodsAndMonsters_WithersMeeting in which Withers settles the accounts of what happened to all the characters after the events of the game ended.

These files have tons of variations in them and are overly long so I will not copy everything that's in them here, but in my opinion it can be assumed that these are the "17000 endings" Larian talked about just before release. Maybe the game was shipped with everything leading up to the ending finished so they could get it out the door and had time to add all of this stuff later, but nevertheless I feel people should know that these files exist and that there is already a major framework for an epilogue, ending slides etc.

If you want to take a look yourself, go to the link above. There is so much in there that it's hard to cover everything at once, but my personal favourites so far are [spoiler]Karlach having her ending slides take place in the City of the Dead if she dies at the end while playing as her and Withers repeating the question you asked him at the beginning back to you at the end.[/spoiler] It's such a shame this is not in the game already.

This makes me glad that there is a ending somewhere in the games files, but it also makes me upset that they decided to launch their game without an ending. Maybe they did'nt think the game would garner a lot of attention, but I hope they will patch everything in real sooner rather than later.

End ID>