#sorry gale i still love you

[basketobread]

The weaveussy? But the weave belongs to mytra- oh.....gales lost in his exes sauce

TRUE.... BUT HE IS LOST IN HIS EXES SAUCE NO LONGER.... he is a free man.... *free bird guitar solo*

[baldandgay]

It's very unfair that I can't have other party members romance each other In my main game where my Tav is in a romance with Karlach I should legally be allowed to have Gale and Astarion and Shadowheart and Lae'zel romance each other like why? let me do it damn it

[gale-dekarios]

i am extremely bisexual for all of the companions, for the record. this was just the URL that was available.

[onyxsboxes]

Sometimes you think you're doing fine. Then you look at how you've behaved over the past weeks/months. And well, you were wrong.

[elendsessor]

i may be crucified for this opinion but

one of the many reasons i think dds deserves a remake is just how little impact some of the characters have and it’s really fucking sad. unless they’re party members or antagonistic forces they don’t get nearly as much screen time as they deserve and i think that hurts them as characters???

jinana and lupa especially. i get the setting of the first game is a battle royale that turned into a cannibal battle royale so of course not everyone could live but they kinda didn’t get as much screen time as they deserved. i mean think about it they kinda just exist to introduce their tribe, interact with the embryon for a bit, disappear, reappear once or twice, then next time you see them they’ve succumbed to hunger, you beat the shit out of them, and they end up dying. what little they are given does make you like them don’t get me wrong but a lot of that rides on dialogue which, as someone who loves seeing people experience certain plot stuff of games i enjoy, i kinda noticed that it was a really mixed result. it’s either “oh no anyways” with maybe the player getting a little melancholic when they get brought up again or the player doesn’t care. considering how important their struggles and mini arcs are that’s not good??? the fact that they exist solely to develop argilla and gale is a shame since unless you like the exchanges they have their deaths don’t have that big of an impact. they do get mentions and all that in 2 yet it kinda just. makes me question it more from the standpoint of what could’ve been done with them or the giant emotional aftermath that should’ve happened. this isn’t to say they can’t die or whatever but considering the interesting conflicts dds introduces and how it already struggled to explore it as much as it could’ve, jinana and lupa really did have the potential to help remedy some of those issues.

and then there’s fred aka the smokey of dds. i still don’t know why he exists except to explain why lupa somewhat knows what a child is and to introduce the existence of tiny humans to the gang. i’m sorry i straight up forget he was a character at points.

qds fixed a lot of this yes yet i still think it’s important to point out on a game standpoint, since most people who play dds don’t end up reading qds, and i really don’t think actual important contextual stuff or major aspects of a game’s themes should be exclusive to books. it’s not as bad as something like fnaf or other mascot horrors—that shit was over a decade later—but it is a major writing issue and i don’t think the fact that the original lead writer got sick and had to leave means there wasn’t a writing decline. you can tell there was stuff that was going to be built upon only to be abandoned or underdeveloped.

it’s extra sad because this is straight up one of the best instances of world-building the series has ever had, and the whole cannibalistic character drama mixed with spiritual and buddhist + hindu themes is something so inherently interesting while also being in some ways taboo??? there’s not a lot of games out there at least not made by indie developers that get that risky since it’s not marketable, and something like that is next to nonexistent now in the mainstream market. we fuckin need games like the dds duology that challenge the status quo and goddammit if it got expanded upon and had more development for side characters that would be actually perfect.

[blueberryspyder]

Literally not even a month ago, if you had asked me what the first thing I’d draw once I got my art tablet back was gonna be, I’d say Gale Dekarios and my Tav Hylas, but after binging The Magnus Archives and starting The Magnus Protocol, I think I’m legally obligated to say Gerry Keay has made it to slot numero uno

[ex-textura]

i just broke wyll's heart and im not okay nobody look at me i'm a monster

[alpydk]

Cabinet of Oddities (Part 23)

Summary: With her mind empty of Thomas’ ramblings and now a little sleep behind her she’d become easily restless. She’d read a book, planted the walnut hoping it would grow instantly, and even tried to sort the contents of her pack. Eventually, when Shadowheart vanished into her tent, Nana took the opportunity to do something a little more interesting. She decided to go shopping.

Ao3 Link

1487 DR

She paused at the top of the hill facing the monstrosity in front of her. It stood towering, its jaw lined with teeth and dripping with blood, talons covered in the viscera of its last victim. The priests had done what they claimed they would, and the ritual had been a success. Now stood before her the demon, paralysed and ready to be banished. She stared in horror trying to will herself to follow the instructions given by the cleric. Use the dagger, that’s all you need to do. And yet as she forced herself all she could hear was his voice. 

Nana, you know you can’t do this. They don’t care about you, they’re using you. Don’t you see? They don’t understand you as I do. They think you’re something you’re not. They don’t see the real you and now they’re making you confused. You know I love you. I’m your white knight. Don’t do this!

She stepped forward, thrusting the dagger in front of her as commanded, watching as the beast writhed in agony before struggling as the ground pulled it under. With a guttural screech, it clawed at the markings of the ritual circle around it, desperately fighting the power of the cleric’s banishment. It wasn’t until the dust around her had settled that she took her eyes off the sight, seeing nothing but the scorch marks in front of her, a deep feeling of numbness overtaking her, a silence not just in the air but in her mind. 

Present Day

“No, I don’t want to get up. I’m too comfortable.” Nana lay semi-covered by a blanket in her bedroll. One leg shot towards the tent flaps, one arm reaching above her head bent at an obscure angle. Gale wondered if this is what life together would be like after their adventure,  if there would even be a life together afterwards. He wanted to say she looked cute, but her white hair was a dishevelled mop on her head and her shirt had travelled up to an immodest distance. He batted at the thoughts of joining her and kissing the skin of her abdomen as she lay there peacefully.    

“Just leave her, darling. Shadowheart can babysit,” commented Astarion walking past and trying to sneak a glimpse of Nana within.

Gale sighed deeply and blocked his prying view. “I hate to agree with you but on this occasion, you are most likely correct. Upon reconsideration, a coronation might not be the best venue for her.”

She had slept, she was sleeping. That was a good thing and knowing this, he left the tent reminding himself that she had survived this long by herself, a few hours alone would do her no harm. 

----------------------------

She woke around midday with her wrist bent awkwardly under her chin and a breeze hitting her midsection. She yawned trying to figure out what time of day it was, readjusting her clothing as she poked her head from the tent. She spotted Shadowheart poking at the campfire. Nana morphed into her human form, still not comfortable being her natural changeling self in front of her and left to see what she was doing.

“Ah. So, you’ve finally graced us with your presence,” she said without lifting her head.

Nana wiped the sleep from her eyes, looking around. “Yeah, seems I overslept. Where is everyone?”

“At the coronation for Gortash.”

“Who?” She looked at Shadowheart with a tired expression on her face, before sitting on the ground opposite her.

“Enver Gortash, the military advisor… Never mind.” Shadowheart dismissed the rest of the explanation knowing Nana would pay little attention or remember only the most useless of details. “Either way they’re at the keep and we are not.”

“So, why are you here? Don’t you like ceremonies?” Nana shuffled uncomfortably on the ground, flicking a stone from under her leg.

“I’m here because someone needed to watch you.”

The day passed slowly, and Nana had gotten tired of bothering Shadowheart with mundane questions about the weather, gods, her braid, wine, and any other topic that she would hope to connect with her on. With her mind empty of Thomas’ ramblings and now a little sleep behind her she’d become easily restless. She’d read a book, planted the walnut hoping it would grow instantly, and even tried to sort the contents of her pack. Eventually, when Shadowheart vanished into her tent, Nana took the opportunity to do something a little more interesting. She decided to go shopping.

-----------------------------------

Gale stood wide-eyed in front of Shadowheart. The coronation had been long and stressful with Gortash warning them of Orin, his changeling ally, who came with a bloodlust and was capable of infiltrating their camp. They’d now come back to Shadowheart yelling if they had seen Nana on their trek back.

“What do you mean, she’s missing ?” Gale said, his voice low and direct.

“As in, she is not here. I turned my back and I’ve not seen her since.”

He could feel the anxiety rising at the multitude of outcomes. Taken by Orin, the tadpole, the mind flayer, vampires, Gur, hells even Mystra was a possibility with how Nana had spoken of her. “We need to locate her. We’ll split up. You and Karlach take Rivington. Wyll, take Wyrms Pass. Astarion and myself will head into the city itself and ask around. She can’t have gotten far.”

---------------------------------------

Nana stood in the small room at the base of Sorcerous Sundries. She’d spoken with what she thought was a very handsome and humble tiefling wizard at the entrance to the store where she’d been directed to speak to their librarian and yet somehow, she had still managed to get lost, walking through a portal and then pressing a random button. Now every door she seemed to walk through would put her back where she started, and she was growing irritated at how her simple shopping expedition had turned into an elaborate puzzle. “Bloody wizards, can’t just trade like everyone else.” 

She pulled a lever with a struggle wishing she had a little more strength or possibly Karlach to do the heavy lifting. “Right, let's hope that worked.” She traipsed back the way she came walking through the now glowing open door and into another small room. She let out an exasperated sigh. “What even is this shop!? Ok, well at least there are books here.” 

Nana picked up a red book lined with gold trimmings and flicked through the pages. “Eh, it’s old. He’ll probably like it.” She opened her pack, shoving it in without regard for its contents. “Hopefully not too expensive. Now to figure out how to get out of here.”

She returned to the room she started in, looking at the large portal.  “I hate portals…” She walked through finding herself in yet another locked room but at least this one didn’t seem to have any traps and she could hear the sounds of the shop on the other side of the door. She gave the door a shove and then a loud knock hoping that someone would answer. As the lock slowly clicked, she stepped back with an innocent smile on her face.

The door opened, the handsome tiefling standing in front of her, looking a combination of surprised and unimpressed at her presence. She gave him a wide smile and a blush. “My hero,” she flirted as she squeezed past him through the open doorway. He wanted to question her but seeing her leave the store brought him a sense of relief and he went about his day not thinking any more of why she had been there.

“Book done, now for Astarion. What does he even like? Weapons, too dull, new clothes? That’s a possibility, but what’s even his size? Jam… No, not jam. Gods, a Gale and Astarion jam sandwich. Focus Nana.” She took a seat on a bench watching the spell casters create cat illusions and then blow them up. “A new mirror? No, that's stupid. I could- Maybe…that could work.” She stood with a determined look on her face and wandered off further into the city.

-----------------------------

“A human woman, long red hair, slightly vacant expression,” Astarion spoke nonchalantly to the tiefling as Gale searched the rest of the store. He’d been dragged on this wild goose chase and though he knew the risks towards Nana he was more worried about his own face being seen around the city.

“Oh her. Yes, she left not long ago after perusing the entire establishment and leaving empty-handed.”

Astarion’s ears pricked up hearing this. “Really? And any idea of where she was heading next?”

“No, but if you do come across her, tell her that she is now barred from Sorcerous Sundries.” His voice carried a regal tone, and he was serious in what he had said.

Astarion raised an eyebrow and turned, giving Gale a wave. “She was here quite recently. Normal Nana mayhem it seems,” he smirked.

Gale sighed.

“Don’t worry, darling. What’s the worst that could happen?”

------------------------------

Nana stood in a back alley with a mirror morphing into Astarion. “Okay, and that curl of hair there. Stand a little taller. Oof, his voice is great.” She mimicked his poses with the mirror in hand. “Oh, darling, don’t I just look beautiful?” She laughed to herself hearing the familiar voice and the silky way the words seemed to emerge. She left letting the sun hit her new features. “Now, where in this city can I get a portrait done?” 

She failed to notice the scarlet eyes of the man lurking in the shadows who had caught a glimpse of her before she walked off. 

--------------------------------

It didn’t take long until they caught word of a well-dressed pale elf heard talking to himself around one of the upper-class estates. Astarion looked at Gale with confusion. “She wouldn’t dare, would she?”

Gale furrowed his brow, rubbing at his temples with the tips of his fingers. “You know, I’m afraid she would.”

They quickly changed their course, meeting a dragonborn at the door of an artist’s home. “We normally charge extra for twins, you know.” 

Astarion’s eyes narrowed. “She has…”

The doorman invited them in and asked them to wait patiently. Gale looked up and as soon as the doorman was out of sight, he proceeded to open one of the many doors in search of Nana. “I’ll check the area down here. Do you think you can reach the upper floors?”

Astarion gestured playfully. “When have I ever failed you?”

Thankfully the home was empty aside from a single woman sitting reading in a bedroom. Astarion snuck past with ease climbing the many flights of stairs, listening out for the sound of Nana’s voice. 

“Now, darling, paint me from this angle. It’s where the light catches my eyes best.”

Astarion paused hearing his own voice coming from the attic above. It sounded so alien to him, the way the words lilted and the subtle arrogance they carried. He tiptoed up the stairs and as he peered through the bannister he caught the sight of himself dressed in an embroidered suit. He took in the way his hair hung styled over his ears, how the collar of the jacket hid the bite mark on his neck. But the one thing that stood out to him was how his eyes were a bright cherry red sparkling in the glistening sunlight that shone through the windowpane. He looked almost…happy.

He stood in silence for some time as Nana held a pose for the artist. It wasn’t until Gale crept up behind him and saw his duplicate through the railings, that he moved. Gale sighed and stepped past him interrupting the artist’s work. 

“You should never interrupt an artist at work!” The painter said, wagging a paintbrush at Gale flamboyantly and then again as he saw Astarion slowly ascend from the stairway. 

Nana flicked her head around quickly and seeing Astarion quickly morphed herself into her human form. The suit was now incredibly ill-fitting, and a button flew from the chest. “Shit. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…”

The artist looked at them in shock and all Nana could do was gather up her belongings and herd her two friends from the attic. “What are you guys even doing here?”

“We were looking for you!” Gale's voice was more high pitched, the one usually given for when someone had said or done something stupid. He’d only used it once when she tried to claim that Tara was just a cat. “Do you realise how irresponsible it is to be cavorting around this city alone right now? And in Astarion’s form too. Have you taken complete leave of your senses?”

Nana lowered her head like a child being chastised. “I was bored.”

“Bored? Bored!? You could have been killed, or worse!”

She started to get the impression that his anger was not entirely at her but more a culmination of all the recent events in one and so she said little more aside from quiet apologies as he continued his lecture. 

Astarion followed behind, pondering to himself. He could feel a plan coming together.

[mumms-the-word]

A Macabre Masquerade - Ch. 9

Ch. 9 - Leaderless

Characters: Tavs (multiple), Gale, Astarion, Karlach, Wyll, Lae'zel, Shadowheart, Halsin, Minthara + other OCs Plot: One year after defeating the Netherbrain and saving the city, Dani and Gale receive a mysterious invitation to a masquerade ball. The invitation specifically invites them to participate as the Heroes of Baldur's Gate. However, when they get there, they soon realize they aren't the only Heroes of Baldur's Gate that got invited. A/N: Surprise! Gale POV this time!! Dani has ended up...well possibly in another world (we think) so that leaves the gang without their fearless leader. Let's see how they fare.

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | BG3 Masterlist | AO3

Dani was gone.

She wasn’t just busy somewhere in another room. She wasn’t just missing. She was gone. Absent from this place, from this mortal plane even. Not dead—gods, he hoped not dead—but still gone.

Gale could feel it in his very being. The threads of the Weave were woven strangely here, as if altered and warped by a strange magic he didn’t recognize. He’d tried to attune himself to it from the moment he entered the manor, to have ready command of it, but he always felt one wrong move away from the magic slipping out of his grasp.

He felt it the instant something happened in the ballroom, shortly after Dani had ventured inside. A twisting of the Weave, a pulse of energy along the threads. The casting of a spell.

Then…nothing. Worse than nothing. A chill as though some part of him had been ripped from his grasp. An emptiness that he couldn’t explain.

Dani was gone. He knew it before he could even make sense of it.

It was more than a gut feeling, too terrifying to ignore. He’d alerted the others as soon as he felt it and was nearly to the top of the stairs when Astarion pulled him back, demanding answers.

“Something’s happened,” was all Gale could say. “Something’s happened to Dani.”

After that, contained chaos. Astarion had gone invisible and ventured inside the ballroom to look around, but reported back that he couldn’t see her. Not even a body. The rest of them had split up shortly thereafter, checking all the rooms on the ground floor, as well as the street outside, in hidden closets and alcoves, a few rooms on the second floor, and the back garden. But Dani was nowhere to be seen.

His wife was gone. And without her body, without knowing what exactly had happened to her, even the Scroll of True Resurrection he kept once more near his heart was of no use.

The thought threatened to unravel him, but he had to keep a calm head. If he just retreated to a place of calm and thought carefully, rationally, he would be able to find her. Somehow. Somehow.

He paced the foyer, racking his brains for another step to take, another plan to try. Karlach and Wyll watched him with tense and worried expressions but said nothing. Karlach had her weight on one leg, the other bouncing restlessly. It was clear that she was eager for some action, but didn’t know what kind would help.

Shadowheart and Lae’zel reappeared a moment later, joining them in the foyer. Gale whirled to face them, hoping for good news.

“Any signs of her?” he asked, right as Shadowheart asked, “Did you find anything?” They both stopped short.

“Damn,” she said softly, frowning. “How does someone like Dani just up and vanish like that?”

“Where’s Astarion?” Karlach asked. “Maybe he’s found something.”

Gale flicked his gaze up the stairs, toward the ballroom. “Still upstairs, I think. He promised to watch the ballroom for any signs.”

"And you just left him up there?" Shadowheart asked, setting a hand on her hip. "Alone?"

"Astarion can take care of himself."

Shadowheart's little snort suggested she thought otherwise. "It's not him I'm worried about, but fine. What now?"

"I don't know. I'm trying to think."

"Not to push, but can you think a little faster?" Wyll asked. "Dani could be anywhere by now."

“I know that, I—” Gale blew out a frustrated breath, trying to keep his temper in check. Now wasn't the time to let his anger get the better of him. "Dormire likely knows exactly where she is. He may very well be the last person to have laid eyes on her. We need to investigate him.”

Karlach frowned. “How do you figure that, Gale?”

“I felt—something. A twisting of the Weave. Some kind of spell was cast not long ago, and it’s simply too much of a coincidence for it not to be connected to Dani’s disappearance.”

Lae’zel gave a doubting chk, crossing her arms. “And you think Dormire is the cause? There are dozens of people in that room upstairs, and none of us has seen Dormire even the once.”

“I don’t care who it was, frankly,” Gale said, his voice getting sharp. “My wife is missing without a trace and someone has cast a powerful spell. I’m simply putting two and two together.”

“Watch your tone, Gale,” Lae’zel said, her eyes narrowing. "I am trying to help."

“Whoa, hey, let’s all calm down a moment,” Karlach said, raising her hands. “Fighting each other isn’t going to help Dani.”

“What we need to do is go upstairs,” Wyll suggested. “If we go as a group, we’ll be that much harder to stop. We can catch Dormire and see if he’ll talk.”

Shadowheart frowned. “That would put more guests in danger, wouldn't it?”

“Who’s to say they’re not all involved in this treachery?” Lae’zel said. “We should capture as many as possible and question all of them.”

Gale scoffed. “Six of us against dozens of them? A waste of time and effort. We must focus on Dormire.”

“And if he slips out of our grasp? Or he’s not the culprit? What then?”

“Then we think on our feet.”

Shadowheart laughed. “And when has this group ever proven effective at ‘thinking on our feet?’”

“Whenever Dani is in charge,” Karlach said, frowning now.

“Well Dani isn’t here, so we ought to agree on a plan.”

Astarion’s voice called down to them from the upper story landing. “And who made you leader, Shadowheart?” 

Gale whirled, searching for Astarion on the landing. “Did you find anything?”

“Nothing but a few dozen people all dancing in a whirl.” Astarion made his way down the staircase and joined them, adjusting his coat cuffs. “The ballroom is quite the lively place.”

Lae’zel scowled. “All that time up there and you couldn’t come up with one useful thing to offer?” 

“I beg your pardon, but I was merely doing reconnaissance,” Astarion said, putting his fingertips to his chest. “What were you doing, besides discovering nothing?”

“Astarion, enough,” Gale groaned, rubbing his temple behind his mask. 

“No, let the spawn speak,” Lae’zel challenged. She turned to Astarion, arms folded. “After all, if you had gone with Dani she wouldn’t have disappeared so easily.”

“As if she would have let me,” Astarion countered, genuine anger flashing on his masked face. “You try getting in the way of Dani and her plans.”

“Lae’zel is right, you could have at least made yourself invisible and followed after her,” Shadowheart said.

“Yes, because this stupid thing—” Astarion pointed at his right eye, which held Volo's replacement eye, now charmed to match his other eye's crimson hue, “—wouldn't have revealed her in an instant."

"Perhaps it would have seen something useful," Lae'zel muttered.

“Hang on, this isn’t Astarion’s fault,” Karlach said. “It’s not like we knew—”

Wyll held up his hands. “None of that is important right now. What we need to do is—”

“I’m not Dani's keeper,” Astarion snapped, speaking over both of them. “Gale is her husband, why is no one accusing Gale of negligence?”

Shadowheart threw up her hands. “You’re her best friend!”

“I was concentrating on Dani’s invisibility spell,” Gale snapped at the same time.

“If some of us had been more vigilant then this would not have happened,” Lae’zel said, arms still crosed.

Karlach looked offended for the first time since they’d started arguing. “You say that like you weren’t just as 'not-viligant' as the rest of us. How were we gonna—”

“Are we blaming the vampire, is that it?” Astarion asked, continuing to talk over everyone. Soon all of their voices began to mix together in a cacophony of sharp tones and angry words.

“It’s no one’s fault, it’s just—”

“—and if you think for one moment that I have any control over—”

“—well someone should have been keeping an eye on—”

“—what’s done is done, now can we please just focus on—”

“No one made you the leader, Wyll!”

“Don’t yell at Wyll like that!”

"Dani was the one who—”

“—frankly all insane if you think—”

“Enough!” Gale shouted, rubbing at both temples now. But his voice was just another in the chaos, jumbling together and making his head pound with pain. He wanted air. He wanted out of this room. He wanted to be back home in his library. He wanted his wife back. He wanted—

“Dani!” he gasped, his eyes landing on the large mirror across the room, hanging over a console table.

He thought the sight of her in the mirror was an illusion at first, but when he blinked she remained there in the glass. She wore the same dark blue dress with golden feathers, her bird mask the very same one she’d chosen just hours ago. She followed after a couple, a blonde-haired woman and a brown-haired man, emerging from the opposite doorway behind them.

“Dani!” he called again, louder, dashing over to the mirror. He pressed his hands to the table and leaned over it, shouting again. “Dani, my love!”

She jolted with a start, looking around wildly before her gaze at last fell on him through the mirror. He saw her shape his name with her lips, her expression one of desperation and elation all at once. She ran to the mirror, leaning over the console table to press her hands to the glass.

“Can you hear me, my love?” he asked, touching his own hand to the mirror. He placed it, palm to palm with hers, but all he felt was cold glass. “Are you all right? Are you hurt? Tell me what happened.”

She nodded, forming words with her lips, but her voice was silent. Behind him, the others had ceased arguing, but even in their shocked silence, he couldn’t hear her.

It was jarring. After a year at her side, after several months of marriage to his loud, chaotic, beautifully vibrant bard, not hearing her voice was like facing a void. It was wrong and unnatural. He strained his ears, hoping to hear even a glimpse, but there was nothing. Not even the faintest echo.

“I can’t…I can’t hear you,” he said, his voice breaking slightly. “The mirror…”

She stopped abruptly, her face falling, and for a moment neither of them spoke. She swallowed hard, her eyes fixed on his face. He could see her thinking, trying to come up with a solution, and finding nothing. They were at the mercy of the mirrors, and the mirrors had decided to let him only see her, not hear her.

He hated it. He’d grown so used to her voice, that being cut off from it threatened to break his heart. He’d never longed to hear her more than he did now. Her lilting voice with the softest rasp, always capable of quick humor and a multitude of tones. The way she could shift her voice in song, her notes coming out clear as crystal one second, and delightfully raspy the next.

Silence didn’t suit her. It never had. It never would.

For a moment, they merely stared at one another, separated by a pane of glass. Then she drew back, looking around at the console table as if searching for something. She blew out a frustrated breath, fluttering her ice-blue bangs from her face, when the man she had been following a moment ago stepped over, placing a hand briefly on her shoulder.

A flash of irritation ignited within Gale at the sight of the man’s hand on his wife, until a second look at the man had him freezing with shock.

That was…him. Himself.

Gale but not Gale. Himself in another outfit, another mask, but undeniably himself. For one uncanny moment, the world seemed to spin as he realized he was looking at himself in a mirror, but not at his reflection. He barely noticed as the other Gale spoke briefly with Dani, gesturing with his hands. She nodded to something he said and stepped back, gesturing to the mirror as she responded.

The other Gale, dressed in green velvet, took up her place in front of the mirror, and again the word seemed to tilt as Gale stepped back from the mirror and console table. Now it felt as though he were looking at a true reflection, but in a circus mirror, warped and distorted. The lion mask obscured most of the other Gale’s face, but the height, the build, the way his clothing was tailored to his body—no matter how much Gale tried to convince his brain that this wasn’t a reflection, his mind kept ringing off alarm bells every time the other Gale moved or shifted in a way that he was not moving or shifting.

He forced himself to focus, as best as he could, as the other Gale made the gestures and formed the words for a silent illusion spell—Gale recognized the motions instantly. Within seconds an illusion materialized in the air in front of the other Gale, forming into words that hovered and glowed between them.

Find Dormire. Get him to bring me back.

When he focused beyond the words again, the other Gale had stepped back, letting Dani return to the mirror. She watched him read the words again before she waved them away, causing the words to dissolve and fade, before she pressed her hand to the glass again.

“Dormire did this to you?” Gale asked. She nodded. “Did you see what spell he cast? Do you know what he said? Do you know any clues as to what he might have done exactly?”

She hesitated and then shook her head, making a helpless gesture. Gale grit his teeth at his rising frustration. It wasn’t directed at her, but at this arbitrary mirror and its ever-changing rules. If they could only speak...

“That’s all right. I’ll figure something out, my love,” he said, putting his palm over hers again. “I’ll bring you back, I swear it. I won’t rest until I do. Just...just wait for me. Please.”

She smiled, then, a little relieved smile, and put both hands on the glass. He matched her, hands level with hands, palms facing palms, and cursed that only a thin pane of glass kept them apart. So close, and yet they were worlds away.

“I love you,” he said. 

I love you, too, she said. He couldn’t hear the words, but he recognized the shape of them on her lips easily enough.

Gods, what he wouldn’t give to reach through the glass and draw her close, to kiss her and hold her and reassure her that all would be well. She wasn’t the type to crumple beneath the weight of fear, but he could see the anxiety in her gaze, in the way she seemed reluctant to part from him. Nervousness was not her forte, nor did it come easily to her, and yet he could see it in her now.

He had to fix this. He would fix this. 

Find Dormire, she’d said. Or gotten the other Gale to say. Get him to bring me back.

The plan was decided, then. Yet he cast about for anything else to say, anything to keep her in his sights a moment longer, for fear that if she disappeared he might not see her again.

“Dani,” he began, “I—”

A bright light flashed over the surface of the glass, briefly blinding him and forcing him to shut his eyes. When he could see again, she was gone.

He was back looking at his natural reflection.

“No!” He searched the glass, looking for some kind of arcane trigger, when a chuckle from above stopped him.

“You are late, my dear guests,” a voice said above them. Gale turned away from the mirror to face the steps in the foyer, following them upward with his eyes until he reached the landing. 

There, centered on the top of the staircase, was a masked figure dressed elegantly in black and red, with a large hat trailing long feathers. Every inch of him was covered by his elaborate attire, even his face and his hair. Not the servant from before, Gale realized. No, there was no mistake about who this could be.

“You’re missing all the dancing,” Lord Dormire said, gesturing behind him toward the ballroom. “Come. Join us.”

“Like hell,” Karlach said, baring her teeth. “What did you do to Dani?”

“You would refuse the host of the event?” Lord Dormire asked, tilting his head. “Your friend must have imparted her rudeness onto you during your adventures together. No matter. We still have a little time left.”

He stepped to the side and another, more familiar figure stepped forward. The masked servant from before, his presence once more bringing a whiff of brimstone and ash. Gale got the distinct sense that the servant was smirking or leering at them as he lifted his hand and snapped.

All at once, Gale felt as though his mind was being zapped by a hundred lightning spells. He and the others cried out in pain, all of them dropping to their knees, clutching their heads. And then in an instant, the pain was gone, replaced by an overwhelming urge to get up and move. Every thought was on the ballroom, on dancing, on joining the party upstairs. The music was enchanting, intoxicating, and he swore he could smell the sharp notes of expensive wines wafting down from the ballroom, calling to him like a siren song. Every muscle fought to move and drag him up to the ballroom, to dance, alone or with a partner or even a group, to laugh and down half a dozen glasses of wine and drown himself in merrymaking.

But even as the compulsion overwhelmed him and he fought against it, he felt warped, twisted, and wrong. Like a puppet on strings, his body moved without his will to stand and approach the stairs, the others falling in jolting steps behind him.

“Very good,” Lord Dormire said. “Now…”

The masked servant disappeared in a whorl of embers as Dormire extended his hand to Gale and the others in an open, welcoming gesture.

“Come,” he said again. “Dance.”

[fenharel-archived]

im going to combust 😭🤲

[galedekkarios]

is gale actually the worst guy alive or do people just have personal issues that give them a complex whenever someone else is a master of their craft and confident about it 🤔 hmmmmmmm

[basketobread]

Wylls an honorary girl your honor. Also lol no gale, did you put him in time out for eating to many shoes or just leave him stuck in the rock

TRUE!!! but also... :) …i may have just not interacted with the portal in the beginning and then forgot to grab him. I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE FUNNY AT FIRST. AND IT IS. but poor gale has been in there for like DAYS now 😭

i told myself i would send lunara to go and fetch him before saving the grove but then i forgot… so then i said id free him after the witches lair but i forgot… and now we’re in the underdark and its just so funny to me that idk if I wanna free him during this campaign 😭😭

[poptartmochi]

favorite thing about act I Agustín is that he's just some guy. he's just a rando with a walking staff 😭 who made him the party leader!!!

[apricote]

pressing halsin and "may i kiss you" a million times in a row only to realise gale is in the party

[stinkrascal]

i swear to god bg3 wants me to become a mind flayer so bad bc i had to reload my save twice last night bc i got turned into a mind flayer mid battle and the whole game ended at one point, and then when i realized why that happened and fixed it, i was turned into a half illithid and had to reload my save again bc i dont wanna be one! like baldurs gate wtf let me live 😭

[devotedlystrangewizard]

anyway if, by the time i have figured out how to code a game, we still dont have it (and i expect we wont) i WILL make an rpg with aro "love" interests. ur protagonist can be an aroallo whore now. whats love if not the thing that some people feel sometimes. some of your allies are only down to have sex with you and will reject you outright if you try to romance them. no monogamy limits outside of maybe specific actual romances. these aros would be absolutely destroyed by the potential fandom but its ok i didnt make them for you <2