#(I wasn't I was playing BG3)

[zombie-bait]

Larian modding animation + Legends of Avantris Chuckles animation held hands to bring him to life folks

[blorbopolis]

desensitize your wizard bomb early and often

[tshortik]

Evil Meow Meow Minthara

[niuniente]

Hehoo, why your place is full of pretty, shiny items?

[elvhenmage]

misc bg3 gifs -> 6/∞

[silver-horse]

unfortunately I have opinions about the ascendant astarion ending and I have been holding back from saying it. but it's a problem that applies to the whole game and it's been annoying me

what's actually weird about the ascendant "romance" scene is that the writer considers it a tempting option for the player. They wrote it to be bad, but they also think it's a fun and sexy option. Same goes for the haarlep scene which they also wrote that way because they find it sexy. Except finding this sexually appealing entirely hinges on the idea that the player is a submissive. So RIP to a scene that the rest of us could have found sexy because the lead narrative designer was a submissive. lmao

In this game you can have a scene where you have to kneel for a male character. But you can never have a male character do the same for you. (Halsin doesn't count. It's a vanilla scene, he is not submissive there and we are not even asking/telling him to kneel down) You don't get such options, not even if you play a drow female! RIP the number one reason for playing drow female to be honest. lol You can kneel and fully submit to ascendant astarion or fully submit to mizora or fully submit to haarlep or submit to lae'zel or submit to minthara. you can get whipped by abdirak or you can tell him "touch me and lose a hand" he even responds positively to this remark and yet the possibility to flip the dynamic doesn't exist. There is never an option where a male character truly submits to the player. RIP to a scene that would have been the opposite of the traditional dynamic. the potential that existed but they never used the opportunity

By the way, how interesting that Lae'zel is dominant but she is a woman so ofc you get the option to tell her “no you will submit to me”. You never get such switch options with any of the male characters... Obviously it's not ascendant where they could have made that an option. My point is that it's NEVER an option among so many male characters.

It's a cool idea that the bad ending in a romance means "I saw this character as a sex object" except it falls apart when the scene is very sexually unappealing to anyone who is more dominant leaning. If I see a character as a sex object then I would place them in sexual situations which are appealing to me. so the message doesn't quite work. because there isn't anything that I can selfishly choose for myself just because I like it and I find it sexy.

[datura-tea]

i'm sooo late but here's day one of wyll week - my favorite outfit on him!! i love his raggedy camp clothes so much ❤️

[thestarfishface]

Verity (+Rodin) doodle sheet. Trying to remember how to draw for fun :x

[invinciblerodent]

how do property laws work in Faerûn

no really, legally speaking, how can Rolan just take over Ramazith's tower? because on paper, all that happened is that adventurers waltzed into a home, killed the owner, and then... the apprentice, whose name -let's face it- is probably not on any sort of paperwork whatsoever, decided that he just owns the building and the land now? in the Upper City, the rich-tits district of Baldur's Gate where all the patriars live?

how do wizard apprenticeships even work. is it like regular employment, an unpaid internship, or Some Guy just hangs out in your home until you decide they've learned enough. was Lorroakan just being an asshole, or actually breaking Fantasy Labor Laws.

or is it just wizard laws. are wizard laws not like regular laws. do you just get anything your opponent owns if you best them in a wizard-duel. can (should????) you bring backup to a wizard-duel, or is it considered bad form to use help that's not your apprentice or someone you summoned yourself. is it illegal, or just a bit of a dick move to bring a ticked off aasimar AND a wizard that's a higher level than yourself as backup.

I have so many questions and no answers whatsoever, but I bet there will be a slightly uncomfortable conversation about this among the rebuilt council that ends with "do you actually, honestly miss Lorroakan enough to try and figure this out, or can we just fucking drop it and be glad he's dead"

[thanekrios]

WHEN YOU GAZE INTO THE ABYSS, THE ABYSS ALSO GAZES INTO YOU.

[hootshooch]

the game crashed the moment I met Halsin for the first time this playthrough. my computer is trying to cockblock me ffs

[razrogue]

channeling energy (Minthara x Tav)

It takes Minthara some time to come to terms with the force that Gan is.

Someone being so in sync with her and wasn't trying to kill her to take it all was like a fever dream. All the right words are said, almost all the right moves are made, Minthara found it unsettling at first. Many nights she wanted to push into Gan's mind to really find out if there was a dagger waiting for her. The one night her curiosity got the better of her and she did, it was illuminating and incredibly frustrating.

Gan felt Minthara's tadpole engaging hers as they got situated in Rivington. She knew it couldn't really be anyone else because it was a sensation she'd known before with Minthara given how she often intruded into her thoughts long before now. Minthara hadn't done it since before the shadow cursed lands when she last saw her after the party so Gan was a little annoyed at the intrusion now. She dropped the bag she'd been holding and stared at her, waiting for her to use her words. It surprised Minthara for a moment before she finally tells her.

She wanted to know if this was all a dream. If she had to be worried that they would eventually end up on opposing sides. Gan looks at her before finally agreeing to let her in. Minthara is hesitant at first. She had to admit to herself that her intrusion was not entirely about finding out if she was only a rest away from a dagger to her throat, not unlike how she'd once done to her. Whispers of companionship had also crossed her mind. She knew the elf was coupled with the vampire spawn. She'd seen them cavorting about but he was of no consequence to her, he barely registered as a threat, let alone a rival. Minthara did find it puzzling how such a formidable person had gotten tangled up with such a fiend but being on the surface had introduced her to many strange customs.

The two of them went into the barn, away from prying eyes, and allowed their minds to mingle.

Minthara pushed in, gently at first, bracing for whatever lie in the thick of it all. She found herself greeted by hesitation of Gan wondering if they should trust them then admirable scenes of the two of them side by side slicing and smiting their foes. It brings Minthara joy to see them removing threats to their claim. But then Minthara pushed further and saw something a lot more personal. The two of them embracing each other by firelight. Gan lying beneath her, hands palming her ass, running her tongue along the edge of her ear. Quickly nibbling its point as she slides her hand further down until it reaches warmth.

Minthara pulls back. It is a revelation indeed. She tells her that she is a little surprised, not that they had not connected physically before. But the vision Gan had shown her held far more intimacy than she anticipated.

She reached for her hand, letting her know her feelings were not one sided. Then she had to lay everything out - that she did not share those she cared about.

Gan runs her thumb across the back of her hand, along a freshly healed scar. She understood that Minthara felt that way but she could not live like that. She told her how she grew up in a family with many parents who all loved and embraced each other freely. She found it incredibly selfish to want to consume someone wholly when you are capable of loving many as love and the capacity to love was not finite. The irony wasn't lost on Gan how she could be unapologetically selfish in so many aspects of her life but loving and sharing herself with others was not one of them. She understood that Minthara felt how she did but she was not one to hoard her affection for others. Gan grabbed her hand and pressed a kiss to her palm as she stood up. 

She valued Minthara, not only as an ally but as someone she was starting to care about in a sense, but she would not be made to conform to someone else's definition or expectations. And so Minthara takes that knowledge and response in stride.

It was not her way and she knew the surface folk moved very differently than those in the Underdark. She couldn't fathom having to share her affections with others because when she loved, she only wanted to love one.

But time and insight had a way of bringing clarity. When they were engaged they were no less attended to than the spawn was. Even if it hadn't been in a romantic capacity at the time, Minthara felt no less important to her. Minthara slowly came to see what Gan meant. It may not have been her way but it was a sight to see and to be a part of. So when she finally decided she was willing to partake, she did so with the full knowledge that she wouldn't feel lesser.

[utilitycaster]

An unfortunate trait I have is that in most cases it does kind of work on me to compare something I enjoy to something I haven't experienced but have reservations about because I'm like well I gotta try the thing I think sucks to confirm it sucks (the exception of course being TTRPGs because of the collaborative aspect)

[blackjackkent]

All right, no more putting it off. Time for Mizora's visit.

Somewhat amusingly, the scene starts out with Wyll and Rakha just sort of standing awkwardly near each other and Wyll has the goofiest smile on his face which is not really apropos to the situation, but it's still kind of cute to think that maybe he just looks like that sometimes when he looks at her, even in bad situations:

(Rakha, of course, is completely distracted from the cute smile and looks preoccupied as hell, which is apropos.)

Whatever Wyll might have in mind to say at this moment, however, is interrupted by the sudden opening of a hell-portal, for the second time, in the middle of their camp:

Mizora does not waste time in greetings, but lifts a hand flaring with hellfire in her palm.

"Sorores surge. Testis esto pacti mei!" she cries.

More portals burst open around the camp, disgorging forth a handful of other devils - women in silk dresses with wide, leathery wings and bright, glowing eyes.

"Come, sisters!" Mizora cries. "Be my testament! Notum sit in Baator!"

Around the camp, echoes of the words roll back from the mouths of the assembled devils. Mizora smiles in satisfaction.

"Holy hells," Wyll whispers unsteadily.

Every muscle in Rakha's body is drawn tight, every sense on alert. She feels acutely aware of the number of strangers in the camp at present, their malicious intent, and Mizora at their head. The beast in her head growls like a beaten dog backed into a corner; it wants to rip and rend and tear at these interlopers into their territory, and at Mizora most of all, who has called that frightened and weary look into Wyll's face.

But she holds herself back with every ounce of control she possesses, because to attack Mizora would be to doom Wyll. The pact is not yet broken. When it is... when Wyll is finally free... she and Mizora will have a final reckoning, and it will not go well for the devil. But until then... she waits, and watches Wyll out of the corner of her eye, ready to act as he sees fit.

"Just what are you up to?" she asks, very carefully, as if afraid to jar herself loose from her own control.

"I come to bargain," Mizora says with a casual smirk. "The Hells demand witness."

"Enough, Mizora," Wyll snaps. "Where is my father? How do I save him?"

Mizora's smirk deepens, utterly untroubled by Wyll's anger. "How else?" she purrs. "We bargain. Sisters...?"

She gestures with one hand, and the summoned devils begin to intone a chant in Infernal. In her other hand, Rakha watches the Weave give a shuddering jerk as if ripped apart by gripping hands, and from within the wound in the fabric comes forth an enormous piece of parchment inscribed with glowing letters.

She can see the magic dancing on its surface, over every word. It doesn't take much effort for her to guess what this is, even before Mizora explains it.

"Your contract, Wyll," the cambion says, mocking laughter in each word. "Signed in blood, forged in fire, bound in bone - but not unbreakable."

Then break it! Rakha wants to scream, to demand, to rip Wyll away from Mizora's control for good. She can already guess where this conversation is heading, and the dark certainty of it makes her tremble with rage.

But she says nothing. She waits. She waits... and the hammer falls.

"But no contract is ended without sacrifice, Wyll. The cost must be paid."

Fire bursts up around her, around all the devils in the camp, sending weird flickering shadows across the scene, lighting Mizora's face ominously from below. She raises her hands and her voice booms out across them, raising the hair on the back of Rakha's neck.

"WYLL RAVENGARD!" she booms. "A choice is before you! Option one - I show you the way to your father. I guarantee him no harm except that from you and your allies. And you pledge your soul to me and the archdevil Zariel in a pact eternal. Option two - I break your pact, and you are freed from your duty. Your father dies by his enemy's hand, and Baldur's Gate loses its greatest champion."

She smiles; her eyes glow like burning coals in the hellfire light. "Name your sacrifice!"

"Bloody Zariel!" Rakha hears Karlach shout from beyond the fire. "I won't let her take Wyll!"

"SILENCE, KARLACH!" Mizora barks.

Wyll's shoulders have hunched up as if defending him from a physical blow. "Mizora, you arsehole--" he growls.

"CHOOSE!" she snaps, and laughs.

Rakha's blood runs cold. I knew it, she thinks bitterly.

Kill her... growls the beast. Take the choice away and punish her for giving it. Rip out her guts and see what a devil looks like from the inside...

But she can't. She can't... because that would destroy Wyll... and yet the choice is impossible.

(A/N: I'm still salty as hell that you can't let Wyll make this choice on his own. It's the only companion decision that you can't leave to the companion themselves. I think, however, we can safely guess what his choice would be, if the option were given.)

Well, not impossible. Were it Rakha's choice alone, she would break the pact without hesitation. Wyll needs to be free. What did Ravengard do for him besides turn him out into the cold when Wyll needed him most? Wyll has trusted and loved Rakha in spite of the monster inside of her, but Ravengard did not have the strength to do the same. He does not deserve Rakha's pity, and Wyll deserves far better than either of them.

Besides... she is all too familiar with being trapped in the service of a power inside her head that she doesn't control. Hers is baked into her very blood and flesh, but Wyll, at least, has the possibility of freeing himself from his.

"The half-life of a mind-addled slave is worse than death," Astarion said, when she told him of Bhaal's taint in her blood. And she knows he was right.

The trouble is, of course, that Wyll will not see it this way. She knows all too well that he sees his father as a hero, a man to be emulated in all things. He will want to sacrifice everything to save his father, even if his father would not do the same for him.

It isn't fair! she thinks, petulant, angry, as if her rage could somehow change the truth of the situation.

There is one final thought, though, that seals things for her beyond anything else. You pledge your soul to me, Mizora said, and to the Archdevil Zariel in a pact eternal. That could mean anything - but there is the possibility that it means that once Ravengard is free, Mizora will take Wyll to the Hells. And he would be gone from her, and she would never see him again, and she would be alone with her own father's voice keening for blood in her head.

And she is not sure, without Wyll, if she can resist it.

"Break the pact, Wyll," she mutters. Shame floods her, knowing that it is selfish fear as much as love or hope that drives the words. "You deserve your freedom."

Wyll flinches, his expression twisting with agonizing pain. "You damned wretch," he snarls-- and perhaps he means Mizora, but perhaps he means Rakha, too, and the possibility stabs deep into her heart. But the words are spoken, and they can't be taken back.

His shoulders slump and his eyes close. "Do it," he mutters. "Break the pact."

Mizora tips her head to the side, visibly surprised, but her brutal smile doesn't shift. "Fiat ita," she intones, echoed by the devils surrounding them.

The Weave swirls around them in a burst of ripping, tearing energy, sloughing around Wyll's body, snapping the bonds tying him to Mizora by his hands, his eyes, his hips. The glowing contract flares up in a burst of fire, burning away into nothingness and leaving behind a singed mark in the magical fabric.

One by one, the witness devils disappear back through the portals that brought them, until only Mizora stands before them, still wreathed in the fading fire.

"Didn't think you had it in you," she says brightly, dusting her hands off with a conversational attitude, deliberately ignoring the anguish on Wyll's face as he sinks to his knees. "Seems my boy's all grown up."

She steps forward, close enough to give him a smart tap on the shoulder. "And don't go fussing about your father," she says coolly. "You made your choice; you knew the terms."

Drawing herself up to her full height, she meets Rakha's eyes and smirks. She's certainly fully aware of the fury in the half-orc's eyes - but it doesn't concern her any more than Wyll's agony does. "You know what..." she says, with mock-thoughtfulness, tapping a fingertip against her jaw. "I think I'll stick around." She snickers. "Not for the greater good, you understand... just for the entertainment."

-----

The flames fade. Mizora turns and walks away, her wings folding around her as she moves to a position at the edge of camp, casually settling herself against a tree. She catches a baleful glance from Aylin as she passes the aasimar, and grins, waggling her fingers in a playful wave.

Rakha sags, weary and angry, her eyes narrowed. She waits for Wyll to say something, anything... but he doesn't speak. He just sits on his knees in the dirt for a long, long time, then climbs to his feet and slowly trudges away towards his tent.

[echthr0s]

hey Siri at what point in Rogue Trader do I finally get to do real ass heretical shit

[lovelywingsart]

'Who made you like this? Who encrypted your dark gospel in body language? Synapses snap back in blissful anguish Tell me you met me in past lives, past lie Past what might be eating me from the inside, darling Half algorithm, half deity Glitches in the code or gaps in a strange dream Tell me you guessed my future and it mapped onto your fantasy Turn me into your mannequin and I'll turn you into my puppet queen

Won't you come and dance in the dark with me? Show me what you are, I am desperate to know Nobody better than the perfect enemy Digital demons make the night feel heavenly

Make it real 'Cause anything's better than the way I feel right now I can offer you a blacklit paradise Diamonds in the trees, pentagrams in the night sky'

'Ascentionism' - Sleep Token

---

Another case of not being able to decide the full lyrics to use so have half the song again lmao Anyway

Some work with BG3- the True Ending vs. Durge.

Storytime, ayo

In the true ending, Emelia has her 'home'; she was reunited with her Blood Bonded partner some time after saving Baldurs Gate and traveling with Astarion, and the three of them travel together. Sometimes they'll meet with her other partners (Halsin and Emperor), as well as the others she had adopted into the odd little family unit- Scratch, Owlbear and Yenna (and Grub) who stay with Halsin, and Arabella who is still off doing her thing but still keeps constant contact.

In the Durge, she's… alone. Mostly. She has Astarion, who she helped to Ascend- but she only has him. She only has him and the grim, bloody reminder of what she was. And while she managed to mostly escape the Bhaalists, she found herself trapped in yet another follower cycle with how hard she latched to Astarion, now a Vampire Lord. She bends to his every whim, and she's more like a glorified attack dog rather than a lover- But now, she can't tell the difference, and so she lives as a husk of what she could have been.

The True Ending is the best one- Durge is, without a doubt, the worst.