#skie silvershield

[incorrect-bhaalspawn-quotes]

Garrick: Don't you carry a hair dryer in your purse?

Dynaheir: Hast thou ever met a human woman?

(later)

Garrick: Hey, do you carry a hair dryer in your purse?

Skie: Of course, I'm not an animal.

[nightingaletrash]

Jaheira told Tallis about how the bg1 and 2 parties got so used to Fianna waking them up with her nightmares that they were like 'fuck yeah, keep resisting Bhaal babe!'

And now I'm imagining that whoever was on watch was also on Fianna duty, and if she woke up from a nightmare, it was their job to take care of her.

--

Imoen distracts her with stories and reminding her of their childhood misadventures around Candlekeep. And when her own nightmares come knocking, Fianna is ready to do the same.

Khalid and Jaheira 10/10 go into parenting mode. Khalid is there with a solid shoulder and a soothing presence, while Jaheira is happy to keep watch while Fianna sleeps.

Minsc and Boo are there with hugs, rousing reassurances, and lots of hamster cuddles. Boo is very wise after all. He knows that cuddles are the best solution.

Dynaheir calmly and confidently reassures her that the worse her dreams, the more she is resisting Bhaal's lure. She talks about some of the things she's witnessed on her travels all the same, to chase away the lingering malaise.

Rasaad invites her to meditate with him so that she can clear her mind. When that fails, he recites prayers and psalms that he finds soothing, and offers whatever comfort he can.

Skie insists on teaching her something she didn't know because if she wears herself out, she'll sleep better. So she teaches Fianna to dance and talks about etiquette and social rules among patriars and Grand Dukes - it is very effective at getting them both to fall asleep. Jaheira ends up scolding Skie for falling asleep on watch when that happens.

Yoshimo would tell tall tales of his endeavours, many of which are too tall to be believed, but drove away the shadows all the same. Though those tales go sorely missed once Fianna escaped Spellhold, a still warm, spasming heart wrapped tightly and stowed in the bottom of her bag.

Viconia does not do comforting, but prayer is an effective balm for a troubled night. Incense helps as well, and it's definitely a coincidence that she happens to always have some handy when she's on watch.

Cernd talks about nature. Fianna grew up dreaming of the world beyond Candlekeeps walls, and listening to Cernd talk about it in such an idyllic fashion brings back those same feelings of nostalgia for something she's never known.

Sarevok rolls his eyes at first. How pathetic his sister must be to be so deeply troubled by dreams. He mocks her at first for her supposed weakness, until he begins to change his own views. He sits with her in silence now, a silent guardian against their father's spectre. She does the same for him when the nightmares begin to plague him.

[valiantvillain]

I have a tentative headcanon that Skie, for all that she might be naive and sheltered, perhaps teaches Bhaalspawn how to dance like a noble lady, maybe also teaches her and Imoen how to do their hair in fancy styles. As far as anyone knows, Skie's never had any sisters so what if she found some degree of it among Bhaalspawn's crew with them, Imoen, and Neera since they all seem to be around the same age. Skie is the friend who knows all about fashion and makeup and yeah, her complaining about her clothes or hair getting messed up while adventuring can get old but that hardly makes her a bad person. Also I just really like the idea of the younger girls in the party becoming pretty close friends, especially since for me it will provide more weight to when things happen to them in-game.

[ask-baldurs-gate]

Skie, any makeup tips for the road?

The most important thing I've learned is to always keep a small handkerchief around, and maybe some soap, if you can get it. You have to wash your face a lot more on the road, makeup won't work as well on a face covered in road dust. Oh! And it's better to use wet make up than dry. You're going to be sweating A LOT on the road, and that makes unsightly streaks in powder-based makeup.

...Also, keep your nails short. It's less fashionable, but if you don't, they WILL break.

[anderstrevelyan]

wip wednesday

Words! On a Wednesday! (It's definitely been a minute.) Thanks for the tag-push, @milesmentis. Tagging forward to @rowanisawriter @mightymizora @threeofswrds or anyone else who wants to share something!

Here’s some Gortash trying to encourage Valas to pursue a murder he thinks unbecoming of himself as a Bhaalist (because of how he covets this one death over all death, over death by volume, over death by skill). It’s almost a year into their acquaintance, and six years before the game.

He fights the feeling down—this must be what he’s testing, his self-control.  It’s not long before Gortash fills the silence, when he doesn’t respond. “Surely you must derive pleasure from something. I’d only thought… Well, that look in your eye when you hold a blade. When blood first touches your tongue. When you’re… Yes, that look right there.”  He’d lapsed into something of a glare, Valas realizes as he tries to erase it, the kind of thing he often feels in his face at the beginning of a hunt. When fire starts to burn through his blood, when his fingers start to long for a neck, for some bone, for a knife.  He breathes.  “You enjoy your work.” “As you enjoy penning your little threats. Long talk with your patriars—always a dance, till it’s a duel—and bringing them back to your bed.” There’s bitterness there, one Valas hears more than he feels, and he doesn’t want to sit in it, to ponder its source, so he grasps instead for the other image in his mind. One of the man bent before a wooden table, shirtsleeves rolled back, as much black grease as bared skin. A look of calm focus as he fits small gears together with his hands, then a glance his way as he explains the mechanism. Do you see it, too? says the bright in his eyes. “You enjoy your machines.” “Which brings us back to my point,” Gortash says, a light in him not unlike those memories, like discovery shared. “There’s pleasure to be found in brilliance. You, my dear friend, are brilliant. It can only benefit us both for you to exercise your talents.” Valas tries to fall back into silence, but Gortash isn’t having it.  “How would you do it?” he asks. “How would you kill Skie Silvershield?”

[blackjackkent]

OK, we made it to the counting house. WHERE IS MY BOY!

Hm. No immediate sign of Minsc and he's kind of hard to miss so I guess we'll just go look around.

It turns out that I did lie slightly about being able to read red-tagged documents as long as you don't pick them up; everyone in the bank, including all the customers waiting in line, disapproved loudly when I tried to have Hector look at the accounting books behind the desk.

Some other interesting documents to look at, though, including this on a random table:

Vault 1, 3, and 5 are all names we recognize; I wonder if bringing Wyll around would be useful for getting into the Ravengard vault. Might have to look into that later.

2 is also a name recognizable from BG1/2, as I was reminded by another document nearby:

*trumpet fanfare* BG1 reference!

Grand Dukes Belt and Liia Janneth appeared in BG1 and Siege of Dragonspear. Silvershield is also a familiar name; not Daryn, but we met Duke Entar Silvershield in BG1/SoD - he was Skie's dad. Despite what ended up happening to Skie, I guess Entar did have another kid to carry on the family line.

(I don't *think* any of this is actually relevant to anything, I'm just enjoying nerding out about all the little details. :D )

There are a lot of doors and chests around that Hector is very much not allowed to touch. We might have to touch them anyway but let's try chatting with the clerk first:

"Welcome to the Counting House. I'm Head Clerk Meadhoney - how may the Fellowship of Financiers serve you?"

"You seem a little nervous, Saer Meadhoney. Had some difficult customers today? One in particular calling himself the Stone Lord, perhaps?"

"The who? The what? All right, fine -- the Head Banker may have just taken a customer by that name down into the vaults. Rather large. Rather heavily armed -- which is against regulations. But I'm sure the Head Banker knows what he's doing."

"I assure you -- he does not. You're right to be nervous - but let us pass, and all will be well."

The fact that we're having this conversation while covered in blood from the fight with the gith is probably not helping our credibility.

"Eh, well... who is this Stone Lord to you?"

Hector, as usual, taking the honest and direct route until it stops working: [PERSUASION] "A friend. He might do something stupid down there, but we can help."

"That would be most unusual. But then again... so is our visitor."

Jaheira gave this kind of sad little laugh... "That he is. But don't worry. We can handle him."

"Very well. Show the guards this *temporary* vault pass. And should my superior ask -- keep my name out of it."

All right, we have a way into the bank! Sadly I have to stop here for the night; more tomorrow after my stream, most likely! :D

[theurgic-necromancer]

Two of Diamonds - What does your muse do if they disapprove of another’s relationship?

Card Suits

((Stare at the partner he disapproves of with open disapproval lmao

To go with a specific instance: he did not approve of his friend Skie Silvershield dating Eldoth. Largely because even he could see how much of a dick Eldoth was to her, and he was of the firm opinion that Skie deserved better. But, Skie would not hear a single word of warning, so Sayran backed off of telling her "hey your boyfriend fucking sucks." He was baseline polite to Eldoth, and basically only put up with him for Skie's sake. The only thing he ever directly said to her about it was that he thought she could do better than Eldoth, but, again, she didn't really want to hear it so he never pressed.

He was immensely relieved to hear she eventually cut ties with Eldoth, though he was wise enough not to be like "I told you so" lmfao))

[fandom-geek]

so i'm trying to figure out how areas were changed when the upper city was cut and, i suspect, the outer city was reduced in size.

major spoilers for act 3, as you should expect. also slight spoilers for the fate of a bg1 companion, surprisingly.

the descent into avernus book is absurdly helpful for this, as it mentions a lot of the locations involved and it's set in the same year. definitely worth a read for anyone curious. as was chubblot's datamining from early access, which i may explore further in the future. i haven't looked at any of their datamining from patches after that, so i may discuss that in a future post.

interestingly, the reveal trailer of the city and the accompanying community update in june, where larian specifically mentioned you could go to the upper city, was also a great source. it seems that the upper city was literally cut in the last two months - possibly because pc release got moved up by a month?

anyway, let's go for the obvious picks first and look at what places were named in the datamining back in 2020!

the four main places that were clearly cut are "BG_OuterCity_AbsoluteChurch_A", "BG_OuterCity_Graveyard_A" (and B), "BG_UpperCity_A", "BG_UpperCity_Silvershield_A", and "BG_UpperCrypt_A".

as i discussed at the time, OuterCity_Graveyard is quite revealing. i won't recap my old post too much, but the szarrs were originally a mercantile family whose manor overlooked cliffside cemetery (aka the graveyard). not a patriar family, and certainly not in the upper city.

this actually suggests to me that astarion's quest has been reworked twice. the first time, they moved the szarr manor from the outer city to the upper city, replacing the graveyard it overlooks with the lower city park. the second time, they cut the upper city and placed access to the manor where it currently is.

given that larian were advertising that you could visit the upper city in june, and that astarion has a voice line about the manor being in the upper city, i think it's quite reasonable to conclude the upper city being cut was a very last minute development, while it was decided between 2020 and june 2023 that the outer city would be reduced in size.

but to move back to the datamining - i will say upfront that looking at DIA, i have no idea where the absolute church was meant to be. maybe it's meant to be related to hamhocks slaughterhouse, which DIA says is the centre of a cult run by a black gauntlet of bane, a death's head of bhaal, and a master of souls of myrkul (pasque enrial, corian khee, and jaemus exheltarion respectively).

notably, the cult kills in a way that's led to rumours of a "supernaturally deadly serial killer". blood in baldur's gate and the combo of cultists makes me wonder if this could've appeared as a mini defiled temple to introduce you when you arrived into the outer city, but without any datamining evidence that's very much a stretch.

so, what about silvershield in the upper city? that's not a location - that's a reference to skie silvershield, daughter of duke entar silvershield and bg1 companion. her father was one of the grand dukes of baldur's gate in 1368, and she was murdered at the end of siege of dragonspear.

her soul was trapped within a dagger, so i suspect larian intended to continue her story. alternatively, we would get to explore her family's estate again.

the crypt is also a difficult one to place, though potentially linked to the silvershield location. DIA mentions crypts under the estates of the bormul and hhune familes, so i think it's probably safe to say most patriar families have crypts below their homes.

to move onto places that DIA shows are in very different places, ramazith's tower and sorcerous sundries are an interesting example. they don't have any connection in DIA at all. ramazith's tower is in the upper city, and sorcerous sundries is run by rivalen blackhand, a human mage.

to go back to the park below the szarr manor - that's changed quite a bit too. assuming it's meant to be insight park, as that's the only named park in DIA for the lower city. its main draw is a prophetic tree, which is actually used in blood in baldur's gate (online prequel abt the dark urge) to hunt down the durge. no prophetic unidentifiable tree there now!

another place that seems to have changed drastically is candulhallow's funerary arrangements - it's owned by moon elves who have a smuggling agreement with nine fingers keene, as well as harvesting and selling parts to cultists/necromancers. their leader, leylanna candulhallow, has a "necromantic masterpiece" she's been working on in her basement - which is where we find the murder tribunal instead.

speaking of bhaal, the temple... seems to be in the right place? DIA says it's rumoured to be under the sewers or carved into dusthawk hill (outside the city). however, very notably, DIA also has the covenant of the dead three, part of the dungeon of the dead three, which is explicitly a space for cultists of all three gods to plan attacks on the city.

anyone curious about the dynamics for the absolute plot will find this line interesting: "These meetings are often contentious, though the followers of Bhaal and Myrkul usually bend to the whims of the more strategically minded Bane worshippers."

it's hard to say definitively that the blushing mermaid is different than intended, the letters in ethel's cave suggest that we were originally meant to meet a new hag in baldur's gate (in addition or to replace ethel). maybe that was tied into the upper city cuts? hard to say more without diving back in the old datamines, though.

for other places... it's hard to tell without datamining, but i suspect florrick was probably meant to be held in the high hall, as that's where prisoners go to await trial. alternatively, she was meant to be held in the seatower of balduran, which is also the flaming fists' headquarters.

what i can say is that florrick was almost certainly not meant to be in wyrm's rock - while it does have cells, those are to hold temporary prisoners. interestingly, it was without a commander during DIA as ulder was meant to appoint one but got kidnapped, so a neutral evil dwarf mage took command in the meanwhile.

two places i frequently see npcs mention are the house of wonder, a temple to gond in the upper city, and the wide, also in the upper city. the wide also is shown in ansur's trials as part of the paintings. i can't say more without diving into the datamining, but i also think they were probably going to make an appearance.

[catthattalks]

Flaming Fist Mercenary: Follow me and stay close. We'll be traveling through tunnels beneath the city---Duke Belt wants you kept away from the public. Rightly so, I think. Flaming Fist Mercenary: Go down the stairs and head west. The cavern comes up outside the city gates. Eri: I didn't do it, you know. I wasn't the one who killed Skie Silvershield. Flaming Fist Mercenary: I believe you. Flaming Fist Mercenary: My cousin was in Bridgefort. The crusader's spellstone had poisoned her---shewas on the edge of death. You saved her Flaming Fist Mercenary: You saved the city from Sarevok. You saved the Sword Coast from the Nine Hells. I don't care what anyone says about you. You're a hero, and that's all there is to it. Farewell, Eri

This was a very sweet scene to get, considering charname has just been exiled, simply because of their blood. Random character tells Eri that they saved someone and that they are a hero to him, no matter what anyone else says. She was hero to someone! I think this interaction will definitely keep Eri from falling completely to 'evil' side, even when they have grown more cynical and angried in BG2

[sillywolffoxwrites]

29th of Nightal, 1368 - Day 161, Hour 20

TRIAL SUMMARY ACCUSER: Duke Silvershield DEFENDANT: Aurelia, "Hero of Baldur's Gate" CRIME: The murder of Skie Silvershield RULING: On account of possessing the murder weapon, being at the scene of the crime, and furthermore being a bhaalspawn, we find the defendant GUILTY

SENTENCE: Imprisonment until permanent decision.

[incorrect-bhaalspawn-quotes]

Skie: You should style your hair. I think a nice undercut will give that “don’t fuck with me” vibe, you know?

Shar-Teel: I mostly use my face for that.

[nightingaletrash]

I might be in the minority here, but I'd love to get a lil bg3 addon/dlc that gives some closure to the murder of Skie Silvershield. I know that her death was part of a 2016 dlc for bg1, but my Bhaalspawn was so goddamn traumatised by Skie's death that I would love the chance to see some kind of resolution that lays Skie to rest.

My primary idea would be the chance to give players a fancy masquerade ball mission which the party has been hired to infiltrate by someone who wants to acquire the soul-taker dagger that Irenicus used to murder Skie and prevent her resurrection. The person who has the dagger has it locked up in the mansion/castle vault, and its up to the Tadfools to get to the vault and recover the dagger. And along the way, learn why these two parties are so interested in the dagger and decide what to do with it (and Skie's soul) once it's recovered.

I dunno, I just think it'd be a nice way to tie up that plot thread and give the fanbase a fun party quest. And yes, everyone should have their own unique outfit. For fun.

[shadowdancers]

TIL that Skie Silvershield's name is apparently pronounced like "Skee" instead of "Sky".

Um, what??

[wycha]

commission for Zhenta(on ao3/ff) to draw theirs character Freya with Skie and ominous Irenicus in the background. 

funfact: Skie holds cinquefoil which in language of flowers means “beloved daughter/child”

[anderstrevelyan]

You already answered about Viconia (my love) so I'll ask for more info about Skie 😏

For sure! (answering questions about my WIPs here) (but also that's all of them now, thanks everyone!!)

So this one's durgetash being horrible. Set after they've started their alliance, but still early within it, before anything's happened between them.

It requires a bit of previous-game setup, too (from the Siege of Dragonspear expansion, specifically): The original Skie Silvershield is the bg1 companion Charname is driven out of Baldur's Gate after being accused of murdering—a false accusation, in Valas's father Feron's case. Skie's descendent Torlin is (a possible) Chosen of Bhaal for a time pre-bg3. Torlin has a daughter he named Skie Silvershield the second.

Valas, deep in his Bhaalist days, would really like to murder her. He thinks it's a waste, that his father never did with the original Skie.

Gortash decides to seduce her and bring her back to his manor to facilitate this.

Still sketching it out, but I'm thinking she survives—Valas ends up being much more interested in the seduction part. It's about the awakening of desire in Valas that has nothing to do with violence, and the religious crisis that kicks off.

An excerpt:

He’s close, too close. Valas keeps his eyes trained on the carpet, and tries not to feel the shift in the cushion to his side, the soft suggestion of breath against his neck. “Would her death be of use to you, Lord Gortash?” He’d meant them as weapons, the title and the tone, but words have never been among Valas’s best. “Is that still how you think of me?” He takes another sip of the wine—too cold, too weak, nothing like the wet, warm iron he longs for instead. He hears his own in his ears, rushing through his veins, and ignores his, so close and sweet and begging to be spilled. “You’re a lord,” he says. “It’s your name.” “I rather thought I’d be Enver to you by now.” The two syllables alone are too much, and Valas tries to stop them sinking deeper, into his bones, where he knows they’ll haunt his every breath. At least Gortash has the decency to stand to refill his wine when he doesn’t respond, leaving the space beside Valas mercifully empty. He savors the slide of his sleeve against his as he goes. “But no,” the lord continues, studying him with those eyes, almost black in the candlelight, as the sound of his pour lingers, “there’s no political advantage that I could see. And I’m not sure I see the obstacle here—you’re a prolific bringer of death. Give her to your god.” He holds out his hand for Valas’s glass, and he offers it, rough fingers brushing his as it moves between them. “Bhaal doesn’t care for whose death he’s brought. There’s no glory in powerful targets, in beauty, in needless risk.” He takes the glass back and stalls with another sip, straightening his posture. “It’s a waste of thought.” “My dear Bhaalspawn,” he says, sitting back down at his side. He crosses one leg over the other, leaning closer than before. It’s manipulation, it’s malice, it’s an attempt to throw him off guard, though even as he tenses Valas has no idea why. “What’s wrong with taking something simply because you want it?”

[depresanesfreetime]

Whoa there!