#BG3 temporary companions

[pomeraniandancer]

And then throw in all of her honorary aunts and uncles who also helped save the world from the Netherbrain…

Lae'zel being very stern about knowing how to fight and being booksmart and bringing Zan over for playdates because she's coming to understand the importance of play and fun in life (or, depending on the age gap, sending Zan over to babysit when no one else is available)

Gale teaching her cantrips and spells and teaching her how to make use of libraries and archives and taking her book shopping

Karlach doubling up on Halstarion/Tav's lessons about bodily autonomy, independence, and *respectfully* supporting and defending anyone who is getting bullied at school

Wyll and Karlach teaching Tav Jr. about the importance of accepting people for whom they are, regardless of what they look like (Lae'zel might chime in on this front as well, but I suspect that if Tav Jr. grew up with Zan as a friend or babysitter that regarding githyanki as looking "strange" simply wouldn't occur to her; Halsin would also chime in when asked or invited to)

Wyll and Karlach being very stern and clear about the Hells as well, and how nothing good will come of dealing with devils.

Shadowheart I imagine would take a little longer to warm up to Tav Jr. just because it reminds her of her own lost childhood and memories, although she doesn't hold that against any of the party or especially Tav Jr.

So I can see her maybe being a tad more distant at first, but warms up as she heals and has similar lessons about the Gods that Wyll and Karlach do about the Hells

Halsin grows night orchids and Tav Jr. always makes sure they have a bouqet of them for Shadowheart when she comes over for a visit

Jaheira intimidates Tav Jr. at first, but Tav Jr. quickly gets past that when she realizes that Jaheira is basically a walking, talking historical document that she can interview and cite in her history homework. Jaheira's children are all happy to babysit when needed, and Jord in particular is another reminder to Tav Jr. not to judge people based on their looks.

Minsc is Tav Jr's favorite babysitter because he teaches her how to throw axes, and Boo gives her more history lessons. Her parents aren't entirely sure how Tav Jr. learned to converse with Boo.

Wyll, Duke Ravengard, and Counsellor Florrick teach Tav Jr. courtly manners and dances. She takes to calling Duke Ravengard "Granddad" since he's the closest thing she has to one. Everyone is rather charmed by this, particularly since at least two of her parents are significantly older than the Duke.

We don't have to stop at the companions either...

Mol's gang take glee at getting gangster lessons from Astarion

Tav Jr. is completely bewildered by the prejudice against Teiflings, since she grew up in a commune surrounded by them

Astarion, Tav, and Halsin in particular are cautious about taking Tav Jr. into the underdark, but Tav Jr. does get to befriend the Gur children

Dame Aylin is rather distant (both because she's at least a demi-goddess, but also because she's' super intimidating even to fully grown adventurers, let alone a small child), but Isobel comes to befriend Shadowheart and visits on occasion, especially if Jaheira is around.

Tav Jr. at one points works up the courage to ask Dame Aylin to take her flying. Her parents are both mortified and a little alarmed, but Dame Aylin is unexpectedly gracious, and actually does it.

Arabella babysits, and is Tav Jr's parents' number one choice.

Although they're careful about when and where they take Tav Jr. into the Underdark (mostly because of the vampire cohort -- Astarion especially distrusts Dalyria), they do take her to meet the Myconid Colony. The Myconids are slightly puzzled by this novel (to them) form of reproduction (they knew other species reproduced differently, but hadn't really inquired into the details), but are pleased to meet the offspring of the heroes who helped protect their colony.

Tav Jr. swears off eating mushrooms after meeting the Myconids.

Us and Scratch are two of the commune-wide pets. It takes Tav Jr. a while to realize that Us is not your usual household pet.

Tara acts as if Tav Jr. is *her* child, not Astarion, Tav, and Halsin's, and gets very stern with them when they reprimand her for some mischief without her permission. Gale doesn't even bother trying to understand this.

Omeluum resides in the Myconid colony, and is in regular conversation with Tav Jr's parents, although they take a while before they introduce him to Tav Jr. in person.

Omeluum has also enthusiastically taken up researching how to allow vampire spawns to walk in the sun, as well as how to nutritionally supplement Vampire diets to ensure they do not need to feed on humans full-time, along with his research into humane mindflayer diets.

Myshka comes to live with Tav Jr's family. He sleeps on Tav Jr's head every night, and has come to some sort of truce with Tara, though neither the cat nor the tressym divulge what this truce involves. Has taught Tav Jr. Mriaer. Was afraid of Us and the Owlbear at first, but now regularly naps with both, and Scratch.

I haven't gotten to the end of the game yet, but in my run Yenna and Grub are safe from Orin, and they go to live in Halsin's commune as well, so I imagine Yenna occasionally babysitting Tav Jr., teaching her to cook, and to respect Grub's space and bodily autonomy.

Grub one day walks over and curls up in Tav Jr's lap for a nap. Tav Jr. goes completely still in shock and delight, and barely moves for the entire time (twenty minutes), which was the longest anyone had seen Tav Jr. stay still since she had learned how to walk.

Tav Jr. treats the occasional visit from the strange "Bone Man" (a name she picks up from Arabella) as just another day-in-the-life thing.

I feel like we should have something about Tav Jr. befriending Thaniel just as her parents did, but I don't have anything specific in mind.

No one is quite sure how to bring up to Tav Jr. how unusual her upbringing really is, or if it's something they should point out to her at all. So far, they haven't said anything of it.

Sorry this got so long, I wasn't expecting it to be this lengthy either. Feel free to pick and choose which hc's you agree with and which you don't!

Legit just sick in bed thinking about TavxHalstarion headcanons for if they all had a daughter:

- She would be princess problems, no doubt about it. And #1 daddy’s girl.

- “Oh you don’t want to take me shopping for ten new outfits, compliment me as I try them on, and hold all my bags while we shop? That’s fine, my daddy will take me.”

- “Oh you don’t want to build me a house with your bare hands because it’s too much work? That’s fine, because my daddy will. No, not that daddy. The other one.”

- “Oh, you don’t think women can be leaders and be in charge of men? That’s funny because my mommy lead BOTH my daddies in battle and all three of them saved YOUR mommies and daddies from being mindflayers.”

- “Some people only have ONE daddy and some people have NO daddies?” Cue genuine shock and confusion from six year old Tav Jr.

- Absolute menace to society. But also a strong, fearless leader.

- Knows how to sew, embroider, whittle, cast healing spells, live off the land, speak to animals, pickpocket/lockpick, ballroom dance… really a jack of all trades kinda girlie.

- She’s giving female Robin Hood meets social justice queen vibes.

- Generally kind, but if you’re a bully on the playground? She’ll draw blood without a second thought.

- If she’s called to the principles office for such an offense, Astarion is the first one through the door threatening to sue everyone.

- Meanwhile Halsin is checking Tav Jr. and the other kid over for injuries, healing them if necessary.

- Tav is simply shaking her head at Tav Jr, knowing damn well that strong sense of justice and morally gray vigilante way of handling it is all her and she can’t actually be too mad that her daughter picked up the trait.

-Halsin will try to help her control her internal rage with meditation, while Astarion will try to show her how to simply not get caught.

- Halsin: “What do we do when we get the urge to physically hurt someone, my heart?” Tav Jr: “Take a deep breath and ask the Oak Father for patience.”

- Astarion: “What do we do once we’ve actually physically hurt someone, darling?” Tav Jr: “Remain silent and ask for my lawyer to be contacted.”

- Regardless of who is actual, biological daddy, Astarion and Halsin share the role with pride and recognize one another’s strengths for what they are. It takes a village to raise a child, and little Tav Jr. is fortunate to have her very own village built right in.

[tethys-the-aquatic-sea-godness]

The worst thing is, Viconia would've fit perfectly in Shadowheart's storyline. From Viconia's (non-romanced) epilogue, we know this:

Viconia does found a cult of Shar in Waterdeep and she is betrayed by one of her followers. She is, not Shar. Shar, in fact, admonishes Viconia for this, showing she clearly never ordered that. And Viconia does not give a damn. This is the woman who left the cult of Lolth and went to the 'lighter' option that was Shar (compared to Lolth). She already deals with agents sent by Lolth, she's not going to let Shar tell her what to do.

The nature of the betrayal Viconia was the subject of is left entirely up to the player. With Viconia and Shadowheart's backstory being what they are, Shar's plot for a Selûnite child could've been perfectly inserted as the reason for Viconia's falling out with Shar.

Viconia left Lolth because of how children were treated, how she was treated herself. She did not turn to Shar to do the same thing. She would reject Shar's plot the moment the order came, and that would be the perfect trigger for one of her follower to turn of her. Shar's cult being what it is, I don't think taking down the whole lot is overkill to avoid further backstabbing. There aren't many who will pick their priestress over their goddess, especially not with how Sharran's faith emphasizes self-effacing. Can't make a decision for yourself when you don't think for yourself.

Shar's reprimends following what Viconia did further proves this wasn't what the goddess wanted. Complete that by adding she's incensed Viconia rejected her order and slaughtered her willing clerics, and you've got the perfect connection between Viconia and Shadowheart.

In BG 3, we could've met Viconia in Baldur's Gate, rather annoyed because she's been getting an influx of Sharran agents after her, and she's tracking the source to put an end to it. A Shar-aligned Shadowheart could've the mission to purge the cloister that failed to kill her, while a Selûne-aligned Shadowheart would work with her to put and end to the cloister, to give them both some peace and quiet.

Epilogue could've them both sharing tips on 'How to best kill an agent of faith sent after you'. They both have sharp tongues and a similar past, they could've had fantastic banter.

Instead we have this mess.

[precious-little-bhaalbabe]

Ok I’ve seen enough stuff online at this point that I have to know

[mumms-the-word]

I love that after 163725 tries to get good Gale kisses with Dani, I finally get it right after I randomly make them both goth for a day

Poorly edited PS5 screenshots as per usual

[teiasviago]

taking a vigorous, copious, mind-boggling amount of notes in my head on how to play the game rn

[thechaoticdruid]

Welcome to my humble party!~

[My Astarion Fanfic Masterlist]

Just call me Druid since I really have no intention of revealing my real name for the foreseeable future.

I decided to make a masterlist just to help organize my stuff!

~Original Characters for story or RP stuff~

Winnifred The Druid -My Tav

Arva Nightshade -Winnie's closest pre-tadpole friend.

Fi The Hornless -A talented bard and a member of Arva's pack. She helped look after a juvenile Winnie.

Elora Ancunin -Under developement...

RP Note: Winnie is currently open to answering questions from all of you beautiful people! She is an open book so do not be afraid to ask away! Astarion may even make an appearance in the reply depending on the question. No he will not bite you, Araj! Just make sure to label your ask; Dear Winnie, Question for Winnie, Hey Winnie, I dare Winnie to, etc, and we will let the fun begin!

More NSFW type questions are accepted, but only by people who have their age visible on their blogs. Minors attempting to ask or anons without any age identification will be blocked/ignored. (Also let's try not to ask anything too gross okay.... I'm into some weird stuff but you know limits, my dude.)

~During campaign Winnie fics Masterlist~

[Click Here Darling~]

~Multi-part Fanfics~

[This Bites] Astarion x Chubby Female MC

A young woman ends up literally stuck with a fictional vampire from her newest video game obsession! She now must deal with keeping him safe and hidden all the while dealing with stress from her shitty stepdad.

Chapters: 1, 2, 3 ,4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8

Valentine's Day Special: Eat Your Heart!

[The Spawn Vs The Ascendant] (Fem) Tav x Astarion(s).

Astarion and his lover Tav are happily together after defeating Cazador and freeing 7000 vampire spawn into the Underdark. They are now preparing to take on the Elderbrain when an Astarion look alike, claiming to be 'The Vampire Ascendant' appears and demands the Spawn hand Tav over to him.

Parts: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4

The Spawn vs Tav vs The Ascendant: A smutty one-shot that doesn't really take place in any particular time during the events of TSvTA. MDNI 18+ (Though if I'm honest it probably takes place post story.)

[Firsts] (Named!Fem! Tav x Astarion) Winnie has noticed her vampiric companion had been acting much more aggressively flirtatious lately. Of course, he flirted with everyone, this was common sense. But ever since Winnie had given him a taste of her blood it seemed she was the main target of his affections. Which quite frankly confused the hells out of the young druid. He couldn't actually be interested in her? Could he?

MDNI 18+ There is smut! The second half involves the Tiefling party!

[1/2] [2/2]

[Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts] (Chubby F!Tav x Astarion) After failing yet again to find a good lead on the Ring of the Sunwalker Tav and Astarion return to their current and hopefully temporary home in the Underdark only to be greeted by a distress signal from an old friend and an invitation to extravagant soiree hosted by an eccentric stranger!

Chapters: One ,

~Headcanon lists!~

[Astarion x chubby!reader headcanons!] (GN! Reader)

[🍿Watching movies with Astarion!🍿] (GN! Reader)

[BG3 companions babysitting your kids!] (GN! Reader)

[Telling the companions baby news!] (GN! Reader)

[Meet the Parents!] (A fun little writing challenge I put together. I wrote up headcanons of Astarion meeting my Tav's parents and Winnie meeting Astarion's parents.)

[Astarion's Teddy 🧸] (A little HC about Winnie giving Star a plush.)

~Other~

[All Wrapped up!] A short AstarionxF!Tav Christmas one-shot inspired by my God-awful ability to wrap presents.

[We'll Protect Each Other] While staying at an inn in the Underdark Tav and Astarion are forced to protect each other. Tav defends her lover's honor which later leads to a visit in the night from a familiar face. (Protective! Tav x Astarion One-Shot.)

[The Bite Scene] A rewrite of Astarion's bite camp event with my Tav, Winnie. It was basically a draft from my abandoned long fic.

[The Monster Hunter] Happens right before the The Bite Scene. It's a rewrite of the encounter with Gandrel out in the bog. Another draft from my abandoned long fic that I just decided to share.

[Indulging Curiosity] (F!Tav x Astarion SMUT MDNI) After a particularly bloody battle with a pack of gnolls Astarion finds himself rather hot and bothered seeing his favorite little druid absolutely drenched in blood. Unable to help himself he invites her to join him for an evening of pleasure where he indulges in some of Tav's sexual curiosities.

[Seriously, now!?] (Named!Tav x Astarion, period comfort fic) After causing a scene, embarrassing and being shouted at by the party's own resident wizard, Winnie storms off alone to sulk. Her monthly bleeding is upon her and making everything seem so much worse! But perhaps her vampiric lover can make it all better? (MDNI, slight smut at the end.)

[Forever] A requested rewrite of the camp event where Astarion's siblings come to kidnap him, but featuring Winnie!

[Delicious] (Named!Tav x Astarion) While camping in the Underdark the tadpole crew gather around the fire telling stories to pass the time. One way or another they turn into tales of old lovers. Which brings up a curious question? How come Winnie had no lovers before Astarion? (MDNI SMUT AT END)

~Taglists~

[This Bites] Comment on the latest chapter to be added!

[Winnie during BG3] Comment here to be tagged whenever I drop any fics that take place during Baldur's Gate 3 campaign!

[The Spawn Vs The Ascendant] Comment here to be added to the taglist, but hurry! This fic will soon be complete!

Ao3 Account Though most of my stuff will probably be updated here on Tumblr first!

Blog Rules ig: Okay so I normally try to promote positivity it's why my fics are mostly comedy based. That being said, anyone who comes here acting like an asshat is getting blocked. I don't tolerate homophobia, heterophobia, biphobia, panphobia or really any kind of discrimination towards anyone's sexuality. Transphobic behavior is also unacceptable and will result in a block. Racism, or sexism of any kind is also not tolerated, understand? We're all going to be friends here. Treat people the way you want to be treated.

Requests???

Hi, friendly neighborhood Druid here. My ADHD gives me a shit ton of trouble writing so I'm real iffy about doing requests of any kind. That being said, I'm currently only taking specific requests involving Astarion x my Tav Winnie where I rewrite a scene from the in game campaign. I've already done the Tiefling Party so that is out of the question. And so is anything post Act 3 final boss. I'm also honestly just open to chatting through the asks.

-Druid

[fullmoonandstar]

Sending this BG3 idea to a bunch of different blogs to see what they do with it: Tav uses edging and/or orgasm denial on Raphael to get him to give up the hammer without giving him the crown. (Enjoy! I hope... 😅)

I think I have even read some stories like this xD

The main problem I see is that the only way Tav could succeed is by tying him up, and he would not agree to that. Not on a first time, at least...

Tell me how you like the story, anon :3

Everyone else can say something too, if they want

Devil's Den

Raphael x afab!Tav Fandom: Baldur's Gate 3 Rating: R Word count: 5.1 k Cw: (temporary) major character death, second-person perspective, light Dom/sub, Restraints, Sub Raphael, Orgasm Delay/Denial, Angst, Heartbreak, Cunnilingus, Woman on Top, Pegging, dom reader, Blow Job

“So, the devil’s den. Tell me, are you such a frequent customer that they gave you your own room, or do you take clients here?”

Raphael laughed.

“This place attracts all kinds of people, and deals come easier when everyone is in the right mindset.”

“Hm, sounds to me like you're avoiding the question.” You made sure to give him an obvious once over, ending on his eyes. Raphael held your stare, and a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. It was almost as if at any second now, sparks would start flying between the two of you.

In the corner of your vision, Astarion wrinkled his nose and said: “That’s my cue, I’m leaving.”

He turned on his heels and disappeared through the door, not even looking back to see if anyone would follow.

“What are you doing?” hissed Wyll in your ear, but you just waved his question away. 

“Go ahead to camp, I'll catch up later,” assured him. Your companions followed Astarion, but not without glaring at the devil and giving you looks of bewilderment. When the door closed behind them, you were alone with Raphael. 

“You’re quite brazen, little mouse.” How ever much he liked to play coy, Raphael liked the attention, it showed in the way he held himself. He stood a bit straighter, chest puffed out; he reminded you of a peacock, all made up, trying to impress his potential mate. 

“Well, you always say you’re fond of me; and I” — place a hand on his chest- “wonder just how much.”

You looked up through your eyelashes and hoped that the devil’s flirting had some substance. For a heartbeat, Raphael was at a loss for words, and you wondered if anyone else ever tried this. They must have, man is nothing if not charismatic, a trait that got him plenty of souls, so there had to have been some advances in the past. 

“It’s not my usual way of dealing with clients,” he said in a low voice, subconsciously leaning in. His hand came to rest on top of yours.

“I’m special,” you said, leaning in closer. 

Heat radiated off his body, under your palms, the unholy fire of the hells was burning, inside his veins and even in his human guise could not suppress it entirely. 

“You really want to bed a devil?” His tone was a mix of astonishment and disbelief.

“What else am I to do in the devil’s den?” you breathed. “Not any devil, you.”

His hand cupped your cheek almost lovingly, and you leaned in, finally closing the distance. His lips warmed your whole body with their soft feel and their determined movement. You didn’t feel like pushing your luck and let him dictate the pace of the kiss. It was surprisingly slow, but then again, he was someone who played the long game. You ran your hand over his chest and around to his back, pressing your body into his.

The bed had clearly not been used recently, but the sheets were quite lavish. To your surprise, you didn’t land on your back, instead Raphael lay down and waited for you to follow. You crawled on top of him.

The whole camp piqued up when you enter the door to the rented rooms on the top floor of the Elfsong Tavern.

“You’re alive!” Jaheira shouted from across the room. Her voice was a mixture of relief and anger, like a mother who just found her child wandering back home from a night lost in the woods. Now everyone knew you were back, and they swarmed to the door. A winged figure turned the corner and crossed her arms.

“Oh, you didn’t?!” Hissed Mizora. “You fucked Raphael?! You clearly have no taste.”

“You’re just jealous, she didn’t do you,” Shadowheart said.

“Fuck off, Mizora,” you said and waved at her to go away. She wrinkled her nose, and in a flash, she was gone.

“What in the hells were you doing?” Gale asked. “You slept with a devil and not just any devil but Raphael? Have you gone mad?”

“Trust me, I know what I’m doing,” you said. “I need to go to the Red Boutique tomorrow.”

“What’s the Red Boutique?” Wyll and Gale at the same time, and Gale added, “This really isn’t the time to go shopping.”

“It’s a toy shop.” Shadowheart grinned. As a fellow Baldurean she, of course, knew of this particular, but that Wyll didn’t seem to have heard of it struck you as odd.

“What?”

Gale’s utter confusion was almost comical, but Astarion rolled his eyes.

“Toys to use in bed, dear. Definitely not for kids.” Addressing you, Astarion added: “So you plan to go back?”

You nodded. Gale’s face twisted in silent shock and disbelief.

“And there is something else I need.”

Gale had not recovered from the fact that you not only had slept with Raphael and planned to go back. You touched his hand to get his attention. 

“Gale, is there a way to bind a devil?”

You went back to the devil’s den a few days later, with your newly acquired toys from the red boutique — a selection of differently sized phalluses and a harness — and as expected, it was a great hit with the devil. If your first encounter had taught you anything, it was that Raphael liked to let others do the work, and you indulged him.

Shadowheart sat down next to you, and you knew she wanted something.

“What is it,” you asked.

“So, you have been visiting Sharress’ Caress quite a few times.”

This was where this was going. Astarion appeared seemingly out of thin air to listen in on this conversation. 

“What is it like to sleep with a devil?”

“Erm…”

You thought about how to put it.

“He’s a pillow princess who lets you do the work” you said finally. “but…”

You hesitated. Talking about your intimate moments was a bit embarrassing, even you didn’t feel it while doing them.

“But what?” Astarion asked with an annoyed edge in his voice.

“I like taking charge and, well, the ridges on his …”

You bit your lip, already regretting having revealed as much as you had.

“You fucked him in his true form too?” Astarion exclaimed.

You didn’t say anything.

“How long will you keep this up?” Gale asked after you got back from one of the encounters with Raphael. “We have to do something about the brain. We have to take the crown and end this.”

“I have to wait for the right moment.”

“The right moment?”

“Yes,” you said. “If I asked him to put on the thing too early, he may get suspicious and burn me to a crisp.”

Gale nodded slowly, but his face spoke volumes of his worry.

“It’s a very dangerous game you're playing.”

The sun was setting over Baldur’s Gate and you were on your way to Wyrm's Crossing. You and Raphael had never set a schedule, you had just shown up at the brothel, and sometimes he had been there, other times the devil's den had been empty.

You entered Sharress’ Caress through the main door and Mamzell greeted you.

“He is waiting for you.”

She handed you a bottle.

“What is this for?”

“Well, it’s for you.”

It was a wine you liked, but you didn’t know what to do with it. 

“Thanks.”

“Have a stimulating evening.” Mamzell cooed and you made your way upstairs.

From the moment you entered the door, you felt that something was different. You looked around but didn’t see Raphael, what you did see however were candles, but they had been placed around the room not for just light, no, it looked more intentional. They had been placed for aesthetic. The fresh flowers in the vases that were arranged on the around the room filled the air with a sweet and fresh aroma.

“I had a feeling you would come today.”

Raphael’s voice came from the back area where the bed was, and you walked over to see him doing something at a dresser. He gave you a brief look over his shoulder, flashing a smile. Everything about him took you by surprise. His smile was not the usual smirk of self-importance and superiority, but it was warm and struck something in you. He wasn’t wearing one of his usual outfits either, but a flowing, silky robe the colour of fresh blood that was held in place by a belt of the same material. Even on a normal day, he was handsome, but today you were too stunned to move or say anything.

He turned around and came closer. Even though you had seen him in various stages of undress, the way the robe hugged his body and exposed just the right amount of his chest, made your heart beat faster.

“Give that to me.”

He reached for the bottle, and you pulled yourself together enough to hand it to him. On the dresser, stood several glasses, and he poured you some wine while he took the small glass with a dark reddish brown colour liquid.

“What is that?” you asked, curious what he was drinking. “Can I try it?”

“It’s whisky. From home.”

“Oh, no.”

Baator whiskey was said to burn as hot as Avernus and as sweet as the touch of a lover, but mortals didn't take well to it. Raphael smiled again, and your stomach twisted with how filled with affection it was.

“Here.”

He drank everything in one go, set the glass down behind him, cupped your face in his hands and kissed you. You could taste the drink on his tongue, the diluted whiskey added a feeling to the kiss that you hadn’t experienced before. If you hadn’t known better, you would have guessed it was some sort of aphrodisiac. A fire filled your body, an arch that reminded you of the anticipation of being with someone. You melted into Raphael’s arms, and you lost yourself in the kiss.

You could not tell how long it took until the feeling faded, but when it did you pulled back just enough to take a deep breath. Your head rested on his chest and he planted a kiss on the top of your head. He had never done that before.

“Looks like you rather enjoyed that, little mouse”

He said, against your hair. “But don’t try to drink it.”

You ran your hands over the fine robe, exploring his back again and still ravelling in how good he felt pressed against you. Wouldn’t it be nice to wake up next to him? Your hands stopped. Oh gods, let's never think about that again, you thought. The day had come, it was time to execute your plan.

“I won’t. Promise,” you said and pulled out of his embrace. “But it was … stimulating.”

He laughed and your heart jumped. What is up with me today? Get it together.

“I’ve brought you something, maybe you want to try it out.”

“Oh?,” he smiled, intrigued. “What is it?”

You pulled out a pair of manacles, he lifted an eyebrow and took them from you. He inspected them, turning the dark metal in his hands, and a worry gnawed at you that he would see right through you.

“You want me chained up and helpless at your mercy?”

The dangerous edge in his voice made you stiffen, and you opened your mouth to say anything, but he didn’t let you. “That’s very much like you to enjoy something like that. Well, I do rather like when you take charge.”

He handed them back to you with an easy smile.

“I’ll indulge you, pet. How do you want to have me?”

“You have to work today,” you purred, covering up your moment of fear and ran your finger along his jaw. “Show that you deserve what I’m going to give you and if I’m pleased- ”you grabbed his chin and caressed his lower lip with your thumb, “-  I will reward you.”

He nodded, his pupils blown wide open like a cat about to roll in Nepeta cataria. This night would end badly, but until then, you would enjoy having Raphael wrapped around your finger.

“Should I lie down?”

“No.” you drew out the vowel and slapped away the hand that was reaching to undo his robe.

“Kiss me.” You said, and he obliged. His soft lips moved sensually against yours, and you let your hands roam his body. Your finger followed the hem of his robe down his chest, dragging your nails lightly over his muscles and teasing at the band that held the robe in place.

You pulled away from the kiss, and Raphael followed your movement, not ready to lose contact just yet. You gave him a peck on the lips and used your hand on his chest to hold him a bit further away.

“I like your kissing, but I wonder what else that tongue of yours is good for.”

He exhaled audibly. You stepped back and removed your all clothes except your underwear.

“Now, be creative, pet. If you make me come, you get to be on the bed.”

A smirk flickered over his face at the nickname that was replaced a moment later by an expression that you could only describe as unadulterated lust. He kissed you again, but this time with new-found intensity, desperate for something. His lips didn’t linger for long on yours, but moved along your jaw and down your neck, eliciting a shiver from you. His hands roamed your body and landed on your chest. He took your breasts into his hands and massaged them, teased the sensitive nipples to come to a point.

“I know what you want from me,” he whispered into your ear, and you froze. He stepped back with a mischievous glitter in his eyes. “But don’t tell anyone. I have a reputation to uphold.”

His hands were on you again, slowly dragging your panties down and you step out of them. The underwear went flying and a moment later you saw what the thing was, shouldn’t tell anyone about. He sank to his knees in front of you, looking up through his lashes, and peppered your exposed stomach with kisses.

His hand guided your right leg to rest on his shoulder before kissing further down. When his clever tongue made contact with your clit, you grabbed his hair. Raphael moaned into your skin and closed his eyes, fully concentrating on the task at hand. His tongue moved to your entrance, circling the sensitive skin but not dipping in. He covered your clit with his mouth, sucking and flicking his tongue against it.

“Oh gods,” you whispered. The pleasure was building inside you like steam in a kettle, and you were almost ready to blow. Your hand had a firm grip on his hair, ready to get him in line should he even think about pulling back. Your legs started shaking in anticipation, and the only things preventing you from falling were Raphael’s hands on your hips. He sucked your clit and your whole body stiffened as a wave of bliss rolled over you.

After you reached your climax, he slowed down, licking and sucking diligently until you loosened your grip on his hair. He moved his attention to your entrance, making you moan as his hot tongue made contact with your sensitive flesh. He lapped up the signs of your release, and a low groan rumbled in his chest.

You gave his hair a light tug and he pulled back. You swallowed hard at the sight of him, kneeling, face wet and looking up as if there were nothing else in the world but you. You took a shaky breath and removed your leg from his shoulder.

“And why exactly have we never done this before?” You wondered out loud, brushing a strand of hair out of his face.  Raphael leaned into your touch, and you combed your fingers through his soft hair.

“Let’s clean you up.”

You turned and walked on wobbly legs over to the wash basin. You picked up a wet cloth, returned to Raphael who still sat on the ground and cleaned his face.

“There you go. Now, lie on the bed for me. On your back and get comfortable.”

He followed your request, and you chained him to the metal hoop that perturbed from the wall. You stepped back to commit the image to memory. Raphael lay on top of the covers, he had disrobed, but the red silk was draped over him to cover his private parts and his chest. It looked a bit as if he were bleeding from a wound in his left shoulder, and the stream of red had run down his body. His arms were held up by the manacles, but they had enough slack to so he could rest them against the headboard of the bed.

You ran your hands up his spread legs and crawled onto the bed. Both of his forms had their charms, but you loved how soft his skin felt in his human guise, the little hairs tickled your palms so nicely. You planted open-mouthed kisses along the inside of his thighs and were pleased with the shiver that ran through his body. Pushing his knees-up revealed a nice surprise for you.

“Look who came prepared.”

That was the first time he didn’t smile that overconfident smile of his, instead his eyes were dark with lust and an uncertainty that you had never seen on his face.

“What would you have done if I hadn’t come?” you taunted and moved further up his body until your arms rested on either side of his handsome face, and you looked down on him. “Walk around making deals while you had a plug in your tight little ass?”

His eyes gleamed, and he finally said in a small voice: “Yes.”

“I do like preparedness.” you said. “I think you deserve a little treat.”

A brief kiss elicited a soft moan from him. From your backpack, you produced a harness and an array of dildos you had bought from the Red Boutique. In previous encounters, you had noticed a pattern of what Raphael’s favourites tended to be, and you held up the three most likely candidates for tonight.

“What is it going to be?”

When he glanced at the objects, his erection twitched under the folds of the robe.

“The glass one.” 

His voice was more casual, as if he was ordering food in a tavern, not choosing the instrument that would penetrate him soon. You put the other toys back in the backpack and slipped into the harness, adjusting then numerous straps to fit your hip and offer enough support for the hefty phallus. The solid glass toy had been the most expansive thing you had bought for your adventures with Raphael, and he enjoyed the cool, ridged surface of the handcrafted item. You guessed it reminded him of someone.

The glass dildo hung heavy between your legs as you walked over to the head of the bed and positioned your hips at eye level with Raphael. He stared at the toy, and with a raised eyebrow up at you.

“What do you want me to do?”

“Oh, your mouth did so wonderfully already. I think, it can do more.”

Neither the dildo nor the harness provided any friction, but the sight of him could ignite your arousal again.

His lips closed around the glass, his breath briefly condensing on the cool surface. You rocked your hips back and forth slowly, watching as the toy slipped a bit deeper into his mouth and back out again. Your fingers tangled in his hair and you pulled lightly. He moaned around the toy and closed his eyes as you gently fucked his mouth.

“Look at you, little devil,” you said. “You take my dick so well.”

The praise encouraged him to take more into his mouth, but he was too ambitious and gagged a moment later. You pulled out.

“You’re doing so good today,” you praised. “but don’t get too cocky.”

“Whatever do you mean, I’m a picture of modesty.” Your laughs echoed around the room.

You positioned yourself between his legs and without ceremony you pulled out the plug, leaving him nice and open for what was to come.

With a more lubricant, the glass dildo slid into him with little resistance. As much as you loved the stretch and friction of riding him, this position was empowering. You held his thighs pressed against you, for no other reason than that you liked how they felt in your arms, thick, powerful and hot. The pillow positioned under his hips made it easy for you to rock your faux cock into his heat.

His hair stuck to his forehead and a thin layer of sweat covered his body. In his true form you had never seen him sweat, but it always happened in his human form and you loved it. His mouth hung open, and his brows were furrowed, little gasps escaping him when you thrust into him just right. He flexed the muscles in his arms, helpless to change his position to get more friction.

A wave of affection washed over you, seeing him struggle so beautifully. You let his thighs go, and shifted your position until your lips captured his and your tongue pushed into his welcoming mouth. He moaned into your kiss, pressed his body up at you and arched his back. Your hips halted, the glass cock buried as deep inside as possible.

“Don’t stop!” Raphael whined. “Why did you stop?!”

“Who said you were allowed to come yet?”

His eyes went big, a look so very unlike him. You laughed and planted a kiss on his lips, then you pulled out.

“I want to have my fun too.” You said and loosened the straps of the harness.  Raphael’s eyes followed the movement of your hands, but his gaze wandered around your body. He was desperate for stimulation, but you let him wait. Washing the toy in the basin right then was not necessary, but the effect it had was precisely what you had hoped. Raphael whimpered and rattled his chains, but he wasn’t desperate enough to use his powers to break free.

You dried the toy and threw it back in your backpack. The hardest part was yet to come, and that surprised you. Raphael, though charming, was a devil, he did evil things to all kinds of people, so why was it hard for you now to go through with your plan?

“Are you done yet?”

He tried to sound commanding, but it came off as desperate.

“Why? Do you miss me?” you taunted. Raphael clenched his jaw and looked at the ceiling. You couldn't help yourself, it was so easy to tease him in his current position. In your backpack, you found a book that you had forgotten was there, and you opened it, reading a whole two pages before Raphael sighed.

“Yes, I miss you. Now come back.”

You raised an eyebrow. 

“Please.” he grumbled. 

“Well, if you ask so nicely.”

His head sank into the pillow again when he saw you walking to the bed. The wait had drained his erection, exactly as it should be.

When you straddled his hips, Raphael sucked in air sharply. He hadn't found his release yet, and it was starting to get to him. He buckled his hips, searching for some friction, desperate, so very much unlike the smug in control devil he was the rest of the time. You indulged him and sighed when he got hard again between your legs, dragging his length through your folds. Your core throbbed, and your insides twisted with want. For you too, it had been hard to endure teasing him, seeing him helpless, so at your mercy and hearing him moan and whimper at your touch.

You took him into your hand. With a few strokes, he was full hard, and you couldn't wait any longer; you sank down on him. He cursed. Even you didn't understand what he had said, in that tone it could hardly be anything else.

As much as you loved the overwhelming feeling of his ridged cock when he was in his true from, his human guise was a bit easier on your body. You rode him slowly, rolling your hips and taking note when he pressed into you just right and when Raphael moaned. His voice was really the thing that pushed you over the edge.

You dragged your nails over his chest and abdomen, feeling the muscles harden under your touch, and heard his desperate noises. You rocked your hips and the tide broke, sweeping you away again.

Raphael whined when you stopped abruptly. You had got way off course, but by some miracle you still had him where you needed him. He licked his lips and said breathlessly: “Don't you dare stop again, mortal.”

His breathing was heavy, and he strained against the chains. Raphael could break them. You were afraid he may yet do so if you teased him more, so instead you raised an eyebrow and said mockingly : “At your service, oh mighty Raphael.”

You said a slow pace, and he closed his eyes, concentrating. This was it.

You reached out and touched both manacles and said the last words of the incantation: “Potentiam exhauri et liga.”

The metal started to glow, but it felt like ice under your fingers. Raphael was engrossed in the feeling of you on top of him, that there was a noticeable delay between you uttering the words and his eyes snapping open.

“What did you say?”

He searched your face for context but didn't find any answers. His eyes fell on the chains and he grimaced.

You expected him to thrash, to throw you off, but for a few heartbeats he just lay there under you, still connected.

“Give me the hammer.”

“What hammer?” He asked coolly.

“The Orphic hammer.”

“If you want it, you'll have to give me the Crown of Karsus. That is the deal I offered.”

“No.” You grabbed his chin and his eyes widened. “You will tell me where the hammer is, how to get it, and you will get one thing. You get to leave.”

To make your point, you rocked your hips and as expected, he sucked in air sharply.

“If you think you can extort me with torture, you are wrong.”

You didn't believe a word he said. He was close to breaking, you could feel it, he just needed a push. You pushed yourself off him, letting him slip out of your warm embrace, and savoured the feeling of superiority when he clenched his jaw tight to stop any sound from escaping.

You brushed a lock of hair out of his face as he stared into your eyes, willing you to finally let him come undone.

“Give me the hammer, and I'll give you a hand.”

He took a shaky breath. His erection looked painfully hard, and your hand caressing his chest only worsened it. He closed his eyes, and you knew you had won.

You closed the door to the devil's den, after telling Gale's mirror image how to get the hammer from the House of Hope. Raphael was still tied to the bed, fuming, but very much not undone. You sat on the bed next to him with a warm wet cloth and cleaned his cock while he hissed.

“What are you doing?”

You tossed the cloth in the direction of the water basin and took him into your hand, stroking him back to full hardness.

“Even if this negotiation didn't go according to your plan, I intend to uphold my end of the deal.”

Before he could say anything, you closed your mouth around his tip and threw his head back. This would be the last time you heard that wonderful voice of his sing for you in ecstasy, the last time his body trembled under you as he released approached and the final time he arched his back off this bed, and you savoured it. Licking the under side of his cock, sucking and swirling your tongue around the tip. His hips buckled, and he poured himself into your mouth.

Raphael stayed silent while packed your scattered things and got dressed. You sat down on the bed afterward, and kept an eye on him. The chains robbed him of his powers, but he hadn't got this far in his life by just his charms. If he broke free now, he would kill you and then your companions in his house.

“Why didn't you just give me the crown?” He asked finally.

“Why?!” You shook your head. “Do you really need an explanation?”

“You have already caught me with me pants down, so humour me, cheater.”

“Fine.” You snapped. “If gave you the crown, what would happen? Maybe you would conquer the hells or maybe not. Mephisto didn't use it to overthrow Asmodeus despite having it for ages and hating the ruler of the hells. what does that tell you?”

You waved the hypothetical question away.

“Let's say you make it, let's say you actually make it all the way to the top of the food chain. What then, Raphael?” You didn't wait for him to answer, and continued: “do you really think you will lounge on a throne in Nessus for the rest of time? You? No, Raphael, that could never be you. You will take over everything you can until all the planes in existence are under your rule.”

“I would n-”

A knock on the door silenced him, and you walked over to see who was there. Lae'zel held a silver hammer in her bloody hands, a determined expression on her face.

“We have it.”

You gave her a weak smile.

“I'll tie up some loose ends and meet you at camp.”

She nodded grimly, holding the hammer tightly, and vanished into dawn. You closed the door and picked up your backpack, rummaging in it before finding what you were looking for and carefully pushed it in your back pocket.

“The heist was successful.” Raphael said bitterly, but his grimace changed into confusion when you straddled his chest. You ran your fingers over his warm smooth skin from his temple along his jaw to his chin. 

“For what it's worth, I'm sorry, Raphael.”

You planted a kiss on his soft lips and rammed the dagger into his heart. 

Check my Masterlist for more

[apostaterevolutionary]

Collecting some thoughts on veilguard cause tbh I really don’t know how to feel lmao so. Unstructured ramble time

I’ve watched the trailer and the demo and I feel very. Idk? Still ‘wait and see’ mode for me. It’s been 10 years. Inquisition imo was the weakest of the 3. And while I have kind of moved on from DA there is a part of me that wants this to just blow everything out of the water and be amazing. I’m just not sure if that’s what I think will happen. Right now, I just think it doesn’t feel dragon age-y enough (in terms of what I, personally, consider the defining traits of the series) but I don’t want to jump to conclusions with so little information

The trailer was. Fine. Vibes were a little off but given its Varric narrating, it makes sense (also. Unpopular opinion lmao. I love Varric but I don’t think he should be a companion again. If there’s a carry over companion, it should have been Dorian. And tbh he could still be there, considering they said 7 companions but Varric is not included in that. So did they mean 7 *new* companions and maybe a few others? Advisors again maybe? Idk. Maybe Varric is a temporary companion, but I don’t think he should be there except maybe as a cameo. Scout Harding is an unexpected but fine carry over though). I don’t really have an opinion yet on the companions themselves cause there’s just. Nothing to base an opinion on other than the character designs

Gameplay demo shows that they’re definitely going very Inquisition-y. As in, continuing further down the path it started. Which isn’t unexpected, but is a bit disappointing, though not necessarily a dealbreaker as of yet. It’s probably smart tbh to go more in an action rpg direction than back to the crpg roots given it’s going to be compared to bg3 no matter what they do - better to differentiate as much as possible. Though I don’t think that’s why they did it, probably more a happy accident. I just. Idk, I found inquisitions combat a bit boring and I haven’t been impressed by what I’ve seen yet. But a 20 minute demo is probably not enough to really form an opinion

I feel like you can still see the echoes of this being a live service game at one point too. Healing potions coming from pots found in the environment (I never got over healing spells being cut btw lmao, bring back spirit healers already), the “ability wheel” (unsure about that too, given it sounds like we can’t control companion characters anymore? Kinda really don’t like that :/), stuff like that. I still feel like DA2 combat was the perfect balance between fluidity and strategy but it is what it is. It performed badly, so they’ve disregarded it wholesale rather than consider that some aspects of it may still be worth exploring. It sucks, but that’s capitalism I guess

As for all the other little things, idk, I really am not sure what to think yet lmao. Some sound good. Some less good (why only 2 companions, I don’t like that at all - also weird that the demo shows you won’t have a tank for the initial bit of the game. That’s a weird choice). Nothing to make me go aaaaaa either positively or negatively yet. I don’t even know what to say. My feelings are just so complicated about it, but also kinda empty at the same time. Like. It’s a bit of kombucha girl meme but also muted? I would like to feel just. More about it. But I don’t yet. I’m too unsure. Not quite numb, but almost tbh

At this stage, I feel like I’m gonna wait till it comes out and see what happens. No pre-ordering until I get a better idea. It’s like. With origins, I’ve played it a lot. DA2, even more - countless times lmao. Inquisition though, I played 2.5 times immediately after release and have tried to play it multiple times since but. I only ever get 10-20 hours in before I get bored and can’t make myself continue. I’ve tried many, many times and idk why but I just can’t do it. I never even played any of the DLC, so like. I kinda need to do that first if I’m gonna play veilguard but I have never succeeded before so idk how I will now lmao. But I feel like at least trespasser is necessary and I have genuinely never played it. And I gotta play the rest of the game first to get there and I genuinely don’t know if I can sksksjs

And with that in mind like. If inquisition is that unappealing to me, a game that feels very inquisition-y, potentially leaning even more into the stuff I didn’t like about it, is. Definitely not what I was hoping for. It’s still possible it’s leagues better than inquisition and actually playing it will be a great experience. But right now I just don’t know. I probably won’t be able form any kind of opinion until it comes out and I start getting info from trusted folks that I know have good DA opinions lmao

Idk. I’m not trying to be a wet blanket or a hater, and I genuinely don’t think I am being a hater at all, but I am just. Very tired and nervous. But also cautiously hopeful. I’ve said ‘idk’ a lot lmao but I truly don’t know at this stage. I guess we’ll see. Let’s hope it’s actually amazing and the very thing we need to make the series as a whole feel like it used to for us lapsed DA fans

[stayatsam]

BG3 greater fanbase is...not very kind to larian ngl...the fact that people threw enough of a fit to have Alfira become a (temporary) companion is so wild to me.

i dont understand the growing desire to have this game have 100% every single thing ever. it sounds like to me some of these people should just play actual DnD? if you don't have a party then you can run it yourself and make one...idk

i hate seeing game devs bending over backwards for changes ultimately making the game...worse lol

romance alfira romance raphael romance dammon, romance gortash romance (blah blah blah) idc

[sorcerous-caress]

Miss may I ask for a drabble about a sick tav. I wonder hoe the bg3 companions would take care of a tav who is feverish and unwell.

Shadowheart, as a cleric, knows how to cure and keep your sickness at bay while you recover. While she is more of a battle medic, her spells still help a lot in giving you temporary relief and strength. She is clearly worried about you but isn't sure how to approach the subject, she didn't have people caring for her when she was sick and even if she did, she doesn't really remember it.

Halsin is a healer and the closest thing to a doctor between all of the companions. He has seen your symptoms before and knows the remedy for it like the back of his hand. He is also used to dealing with sick people no matter how whiny they get, he remains ever gentle and patient as he coax you into drinking the sour potion, promising something better tasting for lunch.

He tries his best to reassure the others that while your symptoms are severe, your sickness isn't and it will go away in a week or two of rest, alas it's not very effective and they still freak out as if you're on your deathbed.

Gale knows what he's supposed to do, he has read about it, but isn't the best at action. Maybe he even ends up reading one or two pages that mention a deadly sickness that overlaps with your symptoms and he lowkey freaks out what if this isn't just a fever? He does pull some strings to see if he can get one of his wizard friends to lend you their personal doctor for the day.

Don't get him wrong, he trusts Halsin...it's just that he would rather an actual certified doctor sees you. You're not a plant or an animal, a druid can't do much for you no matter how talented they are, he claims.

Wyll and Lae'zel aren't the best bedside nurses really. Wyll is used to taking care of himself and pushing through sickness whilst he was a travelling hero. Meanwhile Lae'zel is used to the drastic githyanki medicine that while takes a toll on the body, is very effective but only on githyanki.

Although Lae'zel would be the only one to not underestimate you, she has seen people in much worse states before completely win battles on their own. If you say you can do something, she won't argue and will trust your decision. Unless youre decision turns out to he idiotic and you fall on your ass then she will carry back to camp while scolding you for being overconfident.

Wyll has better bedside matters, he and Karlach definitely know how to take your mind off of the sickness. Hanging out with them is still as fun as ever. He's definitely kept the most leveled head during this whole ordeal of chaos and knows you're strong and will get through it.

Astarion also falls into the camp of not knowing what to do. Vampires don't exactly get sick. Well, he knows that he can't drink your blood because it smells awful when you're sick and you're already in a weak state, and he doesn't want to kill you.

If you have a cold and you need heat then he will definitely make sure to keep you warm though, steal the blankets of everyone else and pile them on you, saying you clearly need them more so your companions should stop being whiny children. He doesn't need to sleep so he checks up on the campfire all night and makes sure the heat warms up your tent.

If you're feverish he will begrudgingly let you use him as a body cooler. He can't contract your sickness so it's fine and his hands can get as cold as ice during the night. So he'll keep it on your forehead and attempt to soothe away your pain.

Minthara is surprisingly knowledgeable in medicine to a certain degree, nobles, especially drow nobles, have to go through certain training in medicine to recognise poison attempts and how to quickly recover.

And that's the first thing she checks for when you show signs of sickness, were you poisoned? And no one is off the suspect list, even Scratch gets a long stare from her as she determines his fate before he licks her face making her admit he is innocent.

She takes your state the most serious of all, treating your refusal to take your medicine as a personal offence against her. She isn't above death threats even if they are less effective considering the fact that she is doing her best to keep you alive right now.

For once, Minthara and Gale agree on something as they both are sceptical of Halsin's healer title and would rather get an actual doctor in here. Halsin isn't offended but Jaheira definitely is and starts an argument with them about how druids are just as experienced as doctors and who are you even to assume nature doesn't have the cure to everything?

Karlach brought cards and board games to spend time together with you. She is by far the most pleasant company of all of them. Hell she is even down for tolerating reading a book or two with you if it would cheer you up, would lend you her teddy bear if she notices you were getting lonely.

[taki-yaki]

Prompt: Tav that's somehow acquainted with Drizzt. I don't know where his situation fits in the BG3 timeline, so I don't know if Tav being Drizzt's daughter's friend or classmate would make sense. Maybe a neighbor, or the apprentice of one of his party members? I honestly just want to see Astarion fangirl over meeting someone who has close ties to Drizzt Do'Urden.

Briennelle Zaharina (Drizzt’s daughter) would be around the age of 4 during the events of Baldurs gate 3. But an apprentice adventurer who teamed with Drizzt would work.

Astarion x Drizzt Apprentice Tav

As an Elf, you were aware of how long your kind lived for, even outliving many other races in kind. Instead of being stuck inside the walls of Evereska, you longed to venture beyond them. Travelling from town to city, helping with any problems that plague the area. Until you arrive at Baldur’s Gate meeting the famous Drizzt the drow, offering to become his apprentice just for the time he is within the city on his quest. 

Although he was hesitant at first to accept, he agreed after seeing your innate magic abilities in combat. 

Despite your time as his temporary pupil only being short through the eyes of normal elves, the experience to you felt as if it was a main part of your long life.

After your encounter with the famous drow, you would continue your travels across the sword's coast, always returning to the gate to reminisce upon the skills that your mentor taught you. However, during one of these trips to the city, you were abducted by the mind flayers, soon having a tadpole forced inside your head.

During one of these first few nights with your new companions, Wyll was exchanging stories around the campfire of his travels as the blade of Avernus, he would bid you to tell tales of your travels throughout the sword coast, with nearly everyone's eyes on you, except for a pale elf who was pretending to read a book to act disinterested, despite his ears seemingly twitching whenever someone blabbed about others.

As you told your tale of your ventures in Baldur’s Gate, you offhandedly mentioned how you met the notorious drow when you noticed Astarion fully snapping his attention towards you, seemly engrossed for a moment of the comment you made before swaying his eyes towards the book once again.

The next few nights would consist of you telling a story or two about Drizzt casually to Karlach or Wyll with Astarion occasionally dismissing some of your tales seeing them as nothing but farfetched stories at first, “Yes darling, and I’m a princess of house Nightstar and married to a tarrasque named Johnathan, anything else you have to say?”.

However as the tales would start to sound more believable, he would start to inquire into them, asking questions such as what was Drizzt’s eye colour and other minutiae details, which would quickly devolve into an argument at camp about whether the drow’s eye colour was a lavender hue or aquamarine or other minor details.

During another late-night argument once again about Drizzt, Karlach spoke aloud “Fangs if I didn’t know any better I’d say that you’re a fan of Drizzt”, his mouth quickly shut upon hearing Karlachs words, “As if I would fawn over such a thing, dear that is for children, I’m only correcting your ‘mistakes is all”, before he attempted to smoothly retreat towards his tent for the night.

The next night, the arguments between you seemed to have ceased, with you both only acknowledging each other through silent glances across the camp. It isn’t until you confront him, once everyone else has gone to sleep for the night, that he attempts to withdraw to his tent once again, apologising for arguing over such trivial things, but it isn’t until he interrupts you with a soft sigh before stating 

“I- I never said I disliked your fables, my dear”

“When I was trapped under Cazadors thumb, I would daydream of the drow one day coming to save me from his hell, a revolution of sorts against him.” turning to avoid your line of sight, uttering in a hushed whisper “But that never happened”.

“You know, I’m not your exact ‘Drizzt’ type, but I promise, I’ll kill your vile master, I’m certain Drizzt wouldn’t have stood for such a thing as do I.”

As he looks down upon you, in silence, he lets out a little chuckle, before offering an outstretched hand towards you.

“You know, It would be nice not to have to rely on you as my great protector, but... well, I do appreciate the thought.”

Raising your head to meet him face to face, reaching out to clasp his hand softly. 

Throughout the rest of that night, the two of you spend the rest of the night in long discussions about your fondness for the legendary drow.

It isn’t until you arrive at the city that the two of you discuss Drizzt's latest adventures that were published within the new books. Reading the book together, actively discussing each tale that was told and just for a moment, true peace was found between you both, despite all the horrors you’ve been through with the absolute.

[infiniteanalemma]

I know that Act 3 of BG3 could use a lot of fleshing out in so many areas and that this is such a minor thing, but it bugs me to an absolutely unreasonable degree that the Planar Ally summons don't have anything to say.

So, for those who have no idea what I'm talking about, the Planar Ally cleric spell lets you summon either a deva (angel, basically), cambion or djinni. The three of these are all sapient beings of fairly high intelligence, possibly higher than the one who summons them. For context, the deva has 17 Int as his lowest stat, with Wis 20 and Cha 20. I think the djinni has 15 Int. The cambion I'd have to check, but you get the point.

Unfortunately, they don't have any dialogue, not even basic voice barks. 😒 This is especially annoying to me because you get dialogue with Us, Shovel and can talk to a bunch of temporary companions like Glut or the random Harpers who help you in Moonrise. You get all sorts of ambient commentary from the Sentient Amulet ghost monk, and you can talk to him at will. He doesn't have a lot of dialogue, but still! Come on, man!

Do you mean to tell me that a literal angel from heaven, summoned to help you, has nothing to say about your situation? (And keep in mind that this is a cleric spell. If you're playing as a good-aligned cleric, this is very likely a servant of your god.) You're saying that a devil isn't looking at this situation like 👀 ? A djinni may shrug and be like "this isn't really my problem, I'm just along for the ride," but even they're still (chaotic good) sapient beings who you'd expect to have thoughts. Even if it's just about the audacity of this random bitch (gn) to summon them from whatever they were doing without even offering them anything for their trouble.

And that's not even getting into the potential drama. Like, can you imagine taking a literal angel into a brothel and then going upstairs to the devil's private room to discuss a deal? Or the incredibly catty response Raphael would have if Tav brings another cambion into the meeting, or perhaps more explosively, to his house to steal from him? You mean to tell me the annoying djinni at the circus wouldn't prompt a summoned djinni to say something?

Argh! The missed potential! *tearing out hair*

[littlejuicebox]

Remember how it feels to have a heartbeat

-----

Chapter number: Six Themes: BG3, slow burn, original female character x astarion, dialogue heavy, canon adjacent behavior, angst, feelings realization, trauma, the slighest of smuts in this one Masterlist: Click here. Song inspiration: "Two Ghosts" - Harry Styles Notes: Don't do drugs, kids. :) I probably need to make some edits, and I will, but I wanted this up before the weekend and it's been a crazy work week. I wrote two different versions of this chapter and settled on something somewhere in between. The next chapter will prob be the one you're all waiting for.

-----

Astarion was ripped out of his trance by the Shar-worshipper before dawn; the rude awakening left him thoroughly perturbed. Shadowheart hadn’t allowed the vampire more than a quick breakfast of squirrel before she hauled the entire group out of camp, snapping orders every step of the way.  Gods, he couldn’t wait until Wren was reinstated as group leader and the cleric could go back to being the ranger's unofficial second in command. The pale elf was certain this temporary change in leadership would cause a mutiny, led by him, if balance weren’t reinstated soon.

The bog was quiet when they began their journey toward the goblin camp; the last few fireflies bid their farewells with a twinkle of lights dotting the horizon. The pale elf brooded, lamenting the thought that the world was still asleep, and yet here they were, trudging through the mud to save some fool that got himself locked up in a goblin camp. Survival of the fittest would never win as long as the merry band of misfits insisted on being do-gooders... and the rogue was, much to his disappointment, always outvoted.

“Frankly, Shadowheart… it seems a waste of a lockpicking kit.” Astarion mumbled through a yawn, rubbing at his scarlet eyes, cursing himself for not going to bed sooner. The excitement of last night kept him up for longer than he'd intended; part of him had desired to crash back into Wren's tent and take her then and there. The other part sat frozen in place, unsure what his next move should be. She had taken the chess game he’d been playing and flipped the board, scattering its pieces about and leaving him at a loss. Over 200 years of life hadn’t quite prepared him for this.

Did he actually like this woman? Had she accidentally become more than a pawn in his chess game? If he went back into that tent, would he still just be toying with her... and what would come of that when they got to Baldur's Gate? Was he to introduce his new girlfriend to his vampire overlord and expect that they would be one big happy family? Gods, the entire thing was ridiculous, and the rogue knew he had more pressing matters at hand, like a damned parasite and an obsessed master, for instance... but all his thoughts contained the smell of strawberries and cinnamon. 'You really are an idiot spawn.'

“We spoke to Volo when we did our reconnaissance mission, while you were off playing bucket brigade with Karlach.” Shadowheart huffed, “If we can get him out alive, there is a chance he can restore Wren’s vision. He showed us a magic eye that he’d hidden from the goblins and he says he knows how to install it in Wren. Gale examined it; it’s legitimate.”

At this delicious piece of information, Astarion practically beamed. One step closer to getting his favorite companion back in action and ceasing the militant behavior of the shar-worshipper... this was the best news he'd had since he found himself able to walk in the sun. The pale elf dramatically draped his arm around Shadowheart and smiled. “Darling, I’m suddenly overcome with the urge to kiss you.”

“Please don’t.” The cleric grumbled, shrugging away from the vampire's touch and rolling her eyes up at the heavens. She was probably praying to Shar to smite the vampire where he stood. Or, at least to smite him after the lock on Volo's prison cell was broken. "I truly believe I would rather kiss a goblin."

Astarion sighed, pouting at the cleric. Everyone lacked humor when Wren wasn't around; it was so dreadfully boring. “If you insist, dear... but you don't know what you're missing."

The vampire picked up the pace with renewed interest in the plan. His strides became longer, and suddenly he was ahead of the rest of the group, ready to throw himself into the action. Once Wren was back in the game, they could get out of the bog and back into doing his favorite thing... drawing blood. The rogue spun his dagger between deft fingers, practically giddy as the first rays of sunlight burst into the sky. "I suppose it is quite a beautiful day for a jailbreak."

-----

In the mid-morning, Wren stirred from her sleep to discover a barren camp; to her disappointment, she was greeted by an overly chipper Gale and a sulking Lae'zel. The archer’s heart sank when she realized she would have to spend another day out of action and withstand being babysat by the Gith woman…. again. She had originally intended to pass time with target practice, but after a flurry of misaligned arrows the ranger quickly called it quits, too frustrated with herself to continue. It was painful to suddenly be so poor at a skill that had once been as natural to her as breathing. As she haphazardly shoved arrows back into her quiver, the half-elf inwardly chastised herself for her own stupidity and irrationality causing her to lose an eye and throw off her aim. ‘Damn the Gur and damn my own stupidity.’

“Darling, I’m home!” The vampire called as he tore through the tree line, the exclamation directed perhaps toward no one in particular, perhaps toward Wren. He was nearly skipping as he made his way to the center of camp, the rogue's jovial mood an odd juxtaposition to the dots of crimson splattered across his face. He gravitated to the half-elf woman and took a deep breath of humid bog air as he pulled a final arrow from the target and handed it to her, eyes twinkling with post-battle excitement. “Oh, how I adore the smell of spilt blood in the morning… and have I got quite the surprise for you, little bird.”

“Have WE got quite the surprise for you.” Shadowheart interjected, rolling her eyes at the vampire as Lae’zel sauntered over from her tent to undo the straps of the cleric's armor. “Don’t think I’ll let you run away with all the credit, Astarion. You merely picked the lock.”

Wren's attention turned from her quiver to the silver-haired elf as she looked him over for injury. He was in too good a mood to be that badly wounded, but she'd grown so used to having knowledge of his status during battle that the flecks of blood on his person unnerved her. The lack of control she'd experienced over the past few days was infuriating. This, paired with the piss-poor target practice, had soured the ranger's state of mind; she was in no mood for surprises or games. Instead, Wren crossed her arms, eyes narrowed. “You didn’t say anything when you left this morning.”

“My sweet, forgive me and my poor manners but your beloved Shar-worshipper left no time for such social graces this morning." Astarion responded with a good-natured eye roll, not fully sure why the half-elf was upset with him, but assuming it was because he'd left her tent so abruptly last night. He'd been nearly as upset with himself at the time, truth be told. The rogue used a small pout of his lips as an all-encompassing apology, hoping to smooth the beautiful little bird's ruffled feathers; he didn't particularly enjoy the feeling of not being in her favor. But, he was in far too good a mood after a successful jailbreak and a few severed goblins to really let it ruin him and shrugged off her glare. She would forgive him in mere moments, once she understood the gift they’d brought.

Karlach and Wyll now entered the camp, escorting an eccentric man who appeared so out of place in the wilds that Wren chuckled on the spot, forgetting all about her brief quarrel with the rogue. Volo made his way up to the half-elf woman and introduced himself, all pomp and circumstance. The bard made some off-color joke about the Gur having taken "an eye for an eye" literally and Astarion bristled, tongue ready to lash Volo for the offense. He was interrupted by a burst of laughter and was shocked to discover the noise had come from Wren.

'What an unpredictable, dark and twisted woman...' The vampire mused as he turned his attentions and assisted his campmates with preparations. His hands meticulously smoothed at the blanket Wyll draped over an oblong boulder. Shadowheart began piling various tools and tinctures onto the rock, slapping the vampire's hands away as he reached out to examine a particularly interesting vial.

Volo was explaining the magical eye and the installation process to Wren as the camp bustled around them. The little bird listened intently, eyebrows furrowed in a look between confusion and trepidation. She considered everything for a moment before shrugging, "Hells, not like I can be blinded twice in the same eye."

Astarion examined the boulder's set up suspiciously before turning to Wren, clapping his hands together in an impatient chop-chop. “Well, come on then, darling. Let’s give it a go.”

As the sharp tool made its way towards her eye, Wren began to panic, and grasped desperately at the bard's wrist. Shadowheart offered a calm emotions spell and the half-elf accepted, releasing Volo's arm as visions of squirrels and red eyes crinkling in laughter flooded her mind, wrapping her in a blanket of comfort.

At the little bird's spell-drunk request, Astarion scooted closer to the boulder and held her limp, drugged, hand, his gaze completely averted. Karlach settled on a boulder nearby and gave Astarion a knowing look, pointedly mouthing "your girl" before cackling at the eyeful of daggers the rogue shot her way. Everyone else hung much further back, interested in the results but unwilling to come close to the scene.

Volo’s “surgery” was quite a grotesque affair. Shadowheart, always the miracle-worker, despite her claims otherwise, did everything she could with drugs and spells to reduce the pain. Wren barely registered a dull throb as the bard scooped her necrotic eye out of its socket with a slimy pop. To everyone’s disappointment, the blue-clad man made an unsuccessful attempt to extract the wriggling parasite before he placed the magic eye in Wren’s barren socket.

“Welcome to the one-eyed club!” Wyll cheered, raising a glass of wine to the half-elf as she sat up, clutching the side of her head.

“So?! Don't leave us all in suspense, what’s the verdict?” Astarion asked, an edge to his voice that Wren couldn’t quite identify.

The ranger sat silent for a moment, turning her head to look about the camp. Her expression was vacant as she examined her surroundings, switching her focus from the faces of her friends to the edges of the camp, where small yellow marigolds dotted the tree line. She could see everything with exceptional clarity and turned to beam at the vampire that had been watching her with bated breath. "I think it was a success."

Half a week’s worth of stress melted from Astarion's face and turned him back into the playful, silver-haired rake. He practically glowed. “Wonderful news, darling! I was really hoping we wouldn’t have to slaughter another man in the middle of our camp. The clean up last time was quite awful, you know.”

The camp was alight with happiness as soon as the procedure was declared a success; Volo was thanked profusely and invited to spend the night before heading his own way. Everyone began chattering all at once about the information they'd gathered, Halsin's location within the camp, and all the ideas they had for breaking him free.

Wren declared herself fit for battle with a few perfectly placed arrows on the target that had seen only misfires earlier that same day. Hours rushed by as the group busied itself with preparations, all focused on getting closer to finding a way to rid themselves of the parasite. Astarion left to hunt as the sun began to kiss the horizon goodnight, but Wren noticed, with some sort of childlike embarrassment, that he'd returned to sit by her and read in relative silence as she ate her dinner and prepared a few more arrows for her quiver.

-----

After everyone called it an early evening, Wren lay awake in her tent, walking the tightrope between wakefulness and sleep. Her mind began to wander, and soon it drifted to the lustful events from the night prior. The sound of Astarion’s gasp when she’d touched his ear had ignited a fire inside her, the feeling of his lips on hers stoking the flames. The grip he’d had on her forearm caused her still sore layers of bone and muscle to radiate stabs of pain down her nerves and quelled the passion between them almost instantly. Before Wren could assure the vampire she'd been okay, the moment fizzled out and he was gone, leaving her a hot mess that she’d had to handle herself. The ranger silently cursed her bruises and the missed opportunity as she drifted to sleep, the embers of that fire still glowing within her psyche.

The familiar croaking of frogs and chirping of cicadas welcomed the half-elf as she rustled out of her bedroll a mere hour later, drenched in sweat. Had she experienced a nightmare or a memory? She couldn’t be sure. Much of the time after she'd married Kol was covered in a fuzzy film; the memories were a blur the woman couldn't ever pull from the fog. The flashes from her sleep, all violent jolts of lightening and screaming, left a pit in her stomach and a sudden, urgent need to escape the confines of her tent. The pre-battle jitters were surely getting to the ranger... she just needed to relax.

The little bird dug through her pack and pulled out both a pipe and small sachet of fragrant herbs she’d snatched from the Druid Grove. Seconds later she was stoking the final embers of the campfire, coaxing it back into a small flame. The stillness of camp and the hushed snores of her companions provided an odd sort of comfort; just a few puffs and she would head right back to bed.

Wren packed the pipe with the herbal mix, whispering a small thanks to Halsin and a promise to break him out of the goblin camp as a thank you. She lit the contents of the bowl and lifted the stem of the pipe to her lips, dragging a long, deep inhale of smoke into her lungs. Hazy rings of gray floated through the air as she exhaled and looked up towards the star-speckled sky.

“Couldn't sleep?"

His voice startled her; she’d nearly dropped the pipe. Wren was always remarkably quiet in her approach, but Astarion had her beat... he was silent. Deadly. She spun to look at the vampire; one eye that familiar shade of honey and one eye a shocking blue-green. His eyebrow arched, amusement playing at the edges of his mouth as he sauntered over to her. "I didn’t peg you as a smoker, little bird.”

Another drag off the pipe and the ranger shrugged as the comforting rush of warmth floated through her, the intoxicants flooding her system. “I’m entitled to a little fun before I march into a deathmatch, aren’t I? Blame Halsin and Nettie for leaving it out… or thank them, I suppose.”

Wren proffered the pipe to the rogue with a small wiggle. He took it from his female companion and inhaled as he sat down next to her, gaze focused on the night sky. The silence between them spread, warm and comfortable, a direct parallel to the sensation spreading throughout their psyches as the druidic herbs worked their magic. The half-elf turned to the vampire, head cocked as she analyzed his profile. She eyed, with some small measure of adoration, the straight bridge of his nose that turned into a perfect point, the soft curls that weaved around pointed ears, and the nasolabial folds that framed his near-perfect lips.

“Like what you see, darling?” The rogue taunted, a cocky smirk playing across his lips as he took another drag from the pipe and turned to meet her eyes with a lifted brow. He passed the pipe into waiting hands, locked into the spell of her gaze as she analyzed him through half-drooped lids, pupils blown wide.

“What color were your eyes before they changed?” Wren responded, her voice soft, almost sleepy.

“I… well, I don’t know. I can’t remember.” Astarion murmured, brows knitted together as he searched his memories; he hadn't thought about it in 200 years, and no one else had ever asked such a question. His heart dropped. The pale-elf shook his head and scoffed in frustration; his lips pulled back in a sneer. “I don’t know what my face looks like at all. I haven't seen my reflection since I was turned."

The ranger stared at him, part of her admiring, part of her pitying, but all of her fully doped. In truth, Astarion’s face looked like it had been carved out of marble by the gods. But the little bird knew from all his stories that the people he’d lured to Cazador had always seen the vampire as attractive. That had been his entire identity for over 200 years and his greatest weapon.

Wren knew she could tell her companion that he was beautiful... it was the objective truth. But her gut made her think that wasn’t the answer he truly wanted to hear. It was too one-dimensional, predictable, and easy; he would never ask, but he wanted something else. All pretense melted away as the glow of the medicinals lit her up inside and her freckled hand reached out to run a thin pointer finger down the bridge of Astarion's nose. The vampire snapped his head to look at her, face tensed, lip still slightly sneered, almost offended, mouth open to chastise her before she interrupted him, one finger covering his lips.

“You have a very straight nose bridge,” she murmured, before moving her finger to cross his upper lip. “Your top lip is just slightly larger than your bottom lip, and they both seem to be perpetually stuck in a smirk.”

Astarion relaxed, still confused but no longer offended, as her finger grazed along his face, tracing the contours of a visage he could no longer see. She continued to trace along his face, examining him intently. He tilted his chin up slightly, suddenly quite flattered by the amount of attention she bestowed upon him and, unbeknownst to himself, yearning for her touch. Wren brushed her hand along the elf's eyebrows and then over his eyes, causing his lids to flutter as she grazed against white eyelashes.

“Your hair is a beautiful silver-gray, like moonlight. Your eyes are a shade of deep crimson... like the wine you adore so much. And they are rather round when you aren’t busy glaring at or judging someone; they can be quite soft and portray all manner of emotions. I think they may be my favorite part of your face.” She murmured, pausing for just a moment before continuing, almost coy. “Save, perhaps…” She dragged her hand through his curls and then daintily pulled her finger up the helix of his ear, tracing the pointed pinna with the gentlest of touches. "Save perhaps this part right here."

She’d stolen Astarion's breath away with ease as her finger grazed against his ear. The pale elf felt that familiar flush of desire rise up again, spurred on by the fresh blood from his evening hunt. He exhaled slowly and closed his eyes, letting Wren trace circles along his ear. Their sensitivity had been enhanced by the powerful herbs running through his system and he basked in the thrilling sensation her touch sent through him.

“Darling, I’m not quite sure you know what that does to me.” He murmured, his voice just above a whisper but laced with excitement. His eyes snapped open when he heard Wren’s response, her lips skimming his ear, hot breath tickling him on the exhale.

“Oh, I do.” She whispered just before enveloping his ear in her mouth and shocking a gasp from the rogue, so similar to the one he'd uttered last night that it set her body aflame. “And I’m not as fragile as you think I am, either.”

At that tempting invitation, Astarion turned and crashed his lips into hers once more, desperate to drown in the familiar taste. Strawberries and smoke rings flooded his senses. Wren eagerly responded to his advances, her lips parting to welcome his tongue as he delved into her mouth, fraught with the desire to explore its depths. His hand found her hip, where he grasped as the kiss deepened, unleashing the tides of their mutual arousal.

Astarion broke away from the half-elf's lips and trailed kisses down her neck, just behind her ear, extracting a low, satisfied purr from the ranger. His hand walked the distance from her hip up to her chest before cupping the underside of her breast with long, pale fingers. The thin material of her chemise aided the rogue in finding the centrally located nub on her pert breasts. He teased Wren's nipple between thin, dexterous fingers and pulled a keening sound from her lips, the sound so deliciously tempting that his entire mind fixed itself on forcing that noise from her once more.

"Little bird..." The pale elf whispered, voice all gravel and lust as he continued his ministrations and the gentle kisses he placed along her neck, teeth just grazing his favorite spot where her pulse fluttered with excitement. "I could devour you right here and now, but perhaps we should make our way to your tent."

Wren pulled the rogue into another kiss before grabbing his hand and practically running to her tent, both of them half-stumbling in their intoxicated state. What further surprises did the two of them have in store for one another? The night was still young, and had much to tell.

[ladytanithia]

Writing WIP Wednesday (08/21/2024)

Tagged by @theoneandonlysemla

Tagging @dirty-bosmer @lillxart @skyrim-forever @thequeenofthewinter

I've hardly done any EARNEST writing lately, but I've had a lot of little scenarios running through my mind, most of which are occurring as I play through BG3 as my half-wood elf bard, Lyric Forest-Singer. So I'll share this modest little snippet, really kind of boring, about Lyric's first meeting with Gale.

Lyric glanced at Shadowheart to see if she found their new companion as handsome and adorably full of himself as she did. To her at-least-temporary relief, Shadowheart regarded him with just as much of a closed expression as she showed to Lyric. At least for now, Lyric seemed to be the only one attracted to this intriguing man.

In the next millisecond, however, she was forced to chastise herself harshly. They were all in the same situation, an urgent one. This was not the time for cultivating romance. They needed to find a healer, and they had no idea just how much time they had to do so. They didn’t even know if a healer would be capable of removing or nullifying their tadpoles, or whether it could be done without undesirable side effects – like death, or worse. In Lyric’s mind, spending the rest of her life as a cripple or being feeble-minded would be a fate worse than death, especially if she couldn’t play her lyre or sing or dance.

“You’re quite welcome to join us,” she told Gale with a measured smile. He seemed quite cordial, but she wasn’t seeing any spark of attraction in his eyes, just a “proper” sort of charm he probably put on for everyone, so she felt it best to be careful to mask her own attraction. Not only for her own heart’s sake, but for the sake of their little party. She must focus on the task at hand, and if there was time later, then she could let her imagination run wild.

[in-fair-verona-we-set-our-scene]

I do think Withers has a really subtle background character arc in bg3. Because at the start it is really clear he doesn't want to be here and he's being forced to clean up his mess by Helm and probably Ao. He doesn't really care either. Everything ends so nothing really matters, he'd like to go back to his paperwork now please.

Except he's stuck babysitting a bunch of traumatized dumbasses as they stumble into dealing with the most recent bad idea of his three fuck-up disappointments. So he brings them back when they die for a pittance, lets them pay for some vengeful ghosts to come back as flesh and blood to wreak bloody vengeance on the Absolute, and starts to... comment, on what's going on, as he follows them on their adventure.

Next thing you know Withers is like, doing things unprompted. He refuses to bring back Alfira (or Quil) but that's an act of compassion, keeping the poor girl from the Urge and letting her rest, his actual duty as a god of death. He tells Arabella to follow her destiny and does that thing to make her grief go away which honestly freaks me out but seems to be him trying to help her. He shows up at Moonrise and prompts us to consider why the Dead Three would want a bunch of soulless illithids that would give them no power, getting us to think of the big picture.

And by the end (especially if you do a resist!Durge playthrough) Withers is actively interfering and seems genuinely invested! He brings Durge back from the dead, free of their father! He encourages us before the final fight with the Netherbrain! He's real fucking smug that the Dead Three lost when he never seemed to care about the destruction they caused before! He throws a reunion party and many of his lines are genuinely touching or kind! Especially if a companion died permanently! He has tea with Gale's mom and Tara! He's like, socializing and shit! Yes, everything is temporary and we all die, but there's great beauty in fighting for that precious time and living it to the fullest!

Basically Wither's character arc is this meme, all because Helm made him go outside and touch grass.

[shadow-fell]

Ulder Ravengard

have you met Ulder and gone dude why are you so mean to your son? do you want to write some fun angst for Wyll? well then do I have some meta for you.

This is a summary of the events of Murder in Baldur's Gate, the adventure that introduced Ulder + a lot of other plot points for BG3, plus some bits from his later appearances in Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus and Rise of Tiamat. MiBG isn't widely run, but this is heavy spoilers, so reader beware!

Murder in Baldur's Gate is an adventure very few people have heard of and also one of the most critical to the plot of BG3 (aside from Descent into Avernus which it was introduced as a direct companion/sequel to). It was part of the D&D Next playtest for 5e, and was written so that it could be played in 3e, 4e, or with the playtest rules, and is thus a really weird but fun adventure to run.

The core concept is this: Grand Duke Abdel Adrian (AKA Gorion's Ward AKA Charname from BG1/BG2) is attacked by the last remaining Bhaalspawn. One of them kills the other, and the survivor is turned into the Slayer, who the party is introduced helping to take down. What no one knows is that this also led directly to the resurrection of Bhaal, who proceeds to lurk in the shadows, manipulating events.

The main structure of the module is that there are three characters vying to take control of the city in the upheaval - Duke Torlin Silvershield who wants to consolidate power for the patriars and himself, Rilsa Rael of the Guild who's trying to start a populist uprising, and Ulder Ravengard, who's vying for the open Duke spot and trying to get the Flaming Fist more control over the city.

They're also all three touched by Bhaal, slowly driven over the deep end to drive the city into chaos. There are 10 stages, each with a mission from one of the three. If things go off as written (either because the party, working for that antagonist, did as they were told, or if they failed to intervene) they gain a rank of 'Bhaal's Favor' - with the winner ascending as the Chosen of Bhaal and wreaking havoc on the city.

Who is Ulder Ravengard at the start?

"Ravengard is not a zealot or a fascist - not yet, anyway."

Blaze Ulder Ravengard is the fourth son of a lower city smith, who is intensely loyal to the Flaming Fist, believing them to be the backbone of the city. He's repeatedly described as being disciplined, focused, and utilitarion. He has "no interest in domestic matters" and his soldiers respect rather than love him.

However, unlike most of the Fist, his goals are for the good of the city. He "seethes over the eagerness of ill-doers to control others, steal the fruits of honest folk's labor, and otherwise misuse hardworking people" - what manifests mainly in a crusade against the Guild, but he's no fan of the patriars and their corruption either.

Specifically, he plans to "wage war" against the Guild - and is aware that "wars aren't won without casualties or collateral damage" - pointing out his blind spot that "he excuses all actions taken for the public good while simultaneously deploring identical deeds that others carry out for less altruistic reasons"

Ulder's main flaw is that he thinks the ends justify the means, and that he's willing to do anything to protect the "honest" citizens of the city against crime. He's fine with intense methods if they produce results. That is to say, he's a cop.

To be honest my whole meta on Ulder really can be summed down with "ACAB" but we'll keep going anyways.

Murder in Baldur's Gate

It's Uktar 1482, at the Founder's Day celebration, and Grand Duke Abdel Adriain is dead. Ulder was his right hand, and was there for the death - but unarmed, because the Flaming Fist don't have authority in the Upper City, only the City Watch, who due to poor planning were too far away to do anything to help.

Ulder is the only one of the three antagonists to meet with the players openly, and invites them to Wyrm Crossing where he offers temporary membership in the Flaming Fist. His plan is to regain order, investigate the death (he thinks the Guild is behind it) and put himself up as Adrian's replacement.

Most of the module occurs in "stages" where each antagonist has their own plan going, which the party can either help or hinder.

Ravengard shuts down two gambling dens run by the Guild in the lower city, boarding them up and bringing the owners in for questioning.

Ravengard sends extra Flaming Fist to patrol the docks to check on workers from the Outer City he believe to be behind recent vandalism and tax robberies - they proceed to enact some police brutality.

Several statues (including the Beloved Ranger) are vandalized by a group of patriar youths. Whoever the party turns them over to gains a rank of Bhaal's Favor

Ravengard begins campaigning for Duke. Traditionally, the spot has ties to the Lower City and the Flaming Fist, but the Parliament of Peers wants a patriar instead - Wyllyck Caldwell. Ravengard blackmails Caldwell to get him to step away.

Ravengard convinces the Harbormaster to raise tariffs on luxury items (in response to the stage 2 sumptuary laws Silvershield enacts)

The Court of the Fist is set up - an illegal military tribunal where the Flaming Fist begin capturing suspected Guild members and sympathizers,

Ravengard closes down the Baldur's Mouth under suspicion the Guild is using it to communicate.

Rioting in the city breaks out, the Flaming Fist cracks down violently if the players don't intervene

Ravengard declares martial law. Not complying with the Flaming Fist is grounds for execution.

Ravengard sets up public executions. Over a hundred are killed within the first hour.

It Ends With Blood: if Ulder Ravengard is the Chosen of Bhaal, he reigns death on the city from above using the trebuchets in the Seatower of Balduran.

Event 10 occurs for the top two of Bhaal's favor, and Event 11 for the chosen - which is canonically Silvershield. So, we know events one through nine were at least ordered, even if circumvented - martial law is the only one that can't be averted.

Given that he ends up "winning" (becoming Grand Duke) I think the executions probably didn't happen (and instead Rilsa Rael staged her prison break) but it doesn't actually break canon.

Rise of Tiamat & Descent into Avernus

Sometime around or shortly before 1485, Ulder is named Grand Duke. 1485 is the year Wyll is banished for his pact with Mizora - which means he was only the Duke's son for maximum a few years.

In 1489, Ulder represents the city on the council to deal with the threat of Tiamat, where his traits are:

Ideals: Responsibility, glory ("I am trusted with protecting thousands of lives, and I will not betray that trust no matter what my personal desires.") Interaction Traits: Honest Pledged Resources: Flaming Fist warriors and expert advisers to train conscript troops

In Descent to Avernus, he's described as having been elected "backed by idealistic commoners and enemies of the other established dukes" and that his concerns are the "stability and prosperity" of the city. He's the "voice of reason and common sense" but not egalitarianism.

The central tenet of DIA is that Ulder Ravengard is an honorable man, and without him to keep the Flaming Fist in line, they exercise their power cruelly (guided along by Vanthampur as she tries to consolidate power)

In Elturel, Ulder has taken charge of the city's defense. You meet him as he has tried to recover a relic and been caught by a psychic attack from Baphomet, that is mostly grounds for him to give a lore drop.

Okay, that's a lot of information. Summary please?

Ulder Ravengard is a cop.

He's not a bad cop. He's not interested in power, wealth, or fame. He wants what's best for the city...and he believes that the Flaming Fist, with the right motivation and guidance are it.

But, like, he's still a cop. He's inflexible, and doesn't see much nuance in situations. He's Lawful Neutral, in a genuine sense, he believes in the righteousness of Order, and can't see the nuances or the downsides.

If he's a righteous man, why hasn't he put work into reforming the very corrupt Flaming Fist? Because Good Cops don't fix anything, and I don't think he actually has a problem with most of it. Sure, the punishment is extreme, but you were committing a crime - Mercy is a virtue for a judge to hold, but it isn't a right. He's more concerned with the corruption vis a vis bribes from patriars and the Guild than the police brutality angle.

He's a good man to have running your army. He's a good man to marshal your defenses as your city goes plummeting to hell. Grand Duke of Baldur's Gate? The only thing he has going for him is that everyone else is just as bad.

Of course he exiled Wyll - if you're not guilty, you have nothing to hide. There was nothing more damning than not being able to speak (which Mizora knew; she is, in fact, good at her job). Ulder's views of patriar corruption (and status as being from the lower city) also has him uniquely positioned to be very harsh - he can't be the person who lets his son's crimes slide, not and clamp down on the patriars doing the same thing.

But once he had the context, he accepted him immediately - the ends justify the means. Ulder Ravengard is a man who would make a deal with a devil to save his city...so long as he knows the price.

(now, on the 'leaving 17yo Wyll in charge...look, this gets complicated, but the only way it works is if he's put in charge of the Flaming Fist, not as 'heir to the Duke' mostly because Ravengard doesn't trust most of the Fist to not be corrupt. Even then, I think it's likely to be a bit more of Wyll's POV (I have to step up!) and less an official chain of command, but he could easily have been an official member).

There are definitely places with Wyll that you can see how he has and hasn't taken his father's ideology. He's got some naive views (Baldur's Gate, welcoming refugees??) that suit someone who was taught the theory but never actually practiced politics, but he definitely has a leaning towards some of Ulder's views about law and order and ends and means.

And as for Grand Duke Wyll Ravengard, well....

...let's just say, with the right people pushing buttons, I could see him going down the 'declare martial law' route too.