#I LOVE HER I DO i think she maybe liked durge at one point in their lives

[feniksido]

If i think about Zenith and the whole dark urge thing in general for too long i start going crazy

To me Zenith is not redeemable, he learns about everything he’s done and he thinks “i was brilliant. That man was brilliant” he is never ashamed of who he is or what he did but i like to think about those moments where he’s too human for his own liking. He gave someone some coin while on a walk! He cares for his cultists in the temple in his own way, recovering family artifacts and feeding his following

He’s evil. He’s horrific. A manipulator, a serial killer, a cannibal, and a just all around horrendous person. He’s not redeemable. But he’s a person and something about irredeemable people acting human makes it better for me.

I love it when an evil person can stand there, committing horrible crimes against humanity and society as a whole and yet still be genuine in his admiration and respect for another person. Doesn’t change the fact that they’re evil. Doesn’t mean they can be redeemed. It just means they’re alive. And contradictory. And that they have always had the capability to be “good�� but have actively chosen not to be. Makes them worse people honestly. Cus if you had no choice then one can hardly blame you for just being the only thing you can be. But you’re worse cus you chose this

[crossdressingdeath]

[Notes from Himberloo, a street beggar employed by the Guild as a spy, on activity at the Devil's Fee antiquities shop. The report concludes with the following.] Though the majority of my report concerns the visits of well-known patriars to Helsik's establishment, aristocrats who might be blackmailed to keep such visits secret, there was another visitation that I feel should not be overlooked. The arms dealer Gortash, along with a known Bhaalist leader, met yesterday with Helsik for a considerable period. Upon leaving the shop, I overheard Gortash to remark, "What did I tell you? If Helsik can get us into the House of Hope, she can get us into Mephistar, too."

The first thing I notice about this is that apparently Durge was a known Bhaalist leader. The Guild at least knew who they were. Imagine you're chilling in your tavern and a well-known (at least in the city's underbelly) associate of Enver Gortash and leader of the murder cult in the sewers just walks in casually. Possibly with a Harper in tow. How do you even respond to that. Where do you start. I choose to believe Nine-Fingers recognizes Durge and is just like "You know what? I don't want to deal with this right now, if they're going to pretend they're no one important I will go along with it."

Also, this suggests that Gortash and Durge went to the House of Hope at some point before the Crown heist. Is this a third heist that they did? Did they rob Raphael? Was their test run for Helsik's abilities stealing from Raphael? I love the idea of Gortash getting some revenge on Raphael by testing out his and Durge's ability to steal from devils on the House of Hope. And I kind of love the implication in "What did I tell you?" that Durge didn't think Helsik would actually be able to get them to the Hells, I bet they and Gortash bickered about that constantly until they actually went to Helsik and she proved she could do it. Maybe that's why Durge growled at her the first time they were there, they were just mad about being proved wrong. Although the two of them maybe shouldn't be openly discussing their plans in the middle of the street. This Guild spy is just sitting here like "These cultists are up to something" and they have no idea how right they are.

[dearest-and-nearest]

Okay, so, i want Gortash in party so badly, here's few things i headcanoned for how it would be. Durge run, because it seems more fitting for me

- After the destruction of the grove, only Wyll leaves, Karlach stays behind and, when she meets Gortash, gives you an ultimatum: it's either him or her. Gortash's taunts don't help the cause, but in theory you can convince her to just leave without attacking. Afterwards, Gortash joins the party, as he needs to deal with Orin personally.

- You can go to him from any LI, you don't have to be a loner for the whole game.

- The personal quest is tied to the House of Hope. Maybe it's about the contract with the sale of Gortash, not sure yet. If you take him there, you can get unique interactions with almost everyone on the location, when you meet the man who used to be the jailer you have to pass a persuasion/intimidation check so he doesn't raise the alarm and shear everyone at you

- There's unique dialog with Raphael too, even at the deal-making stage (Gortash won't approve it). He mocks Gortash by suggesting him go back "home", calls him by his real last name, and says that he became like that solely because of his upbringing from Rafael. After the deal, you can talk to Gortash about it, he'll snap at you and won't let the subject develop. Full dialog will be after Raphael's death, then the start of the romance can also be...?

- Additional unique dialog when meeting Gortash's parents. In the romance, Gortash will laugh that he invited MC specifically to introduce his dear parents to beloved of their lovely son. At the same time, he will disapprove for trying to contact them by tadpole, and if you do try to talk about it, he will emphasize that they got what they deserved.

- Alternate quest options with the factory and the prison. On both we instead of releasing prisoners on the contrary more oppress them + the opportunity to personally chat with Gortash's subordinates (they will snort that he told them about you all the time, they're sorry for Bhaalites, if you are the same), in addition, if Wyll previously left the party, it's Gortash who gives a quest about the dragon. He also is the main fan of dragons here and with all the polite impossibility to refuse asking to be in a party to go to look at the dragon

- Because of dragons, here are banters with Laezel, where he tries to ask more about them and sighs that he wanted a dragon when he was a kid, but even Bane didn't give him one, and someone in this world talks about justice.

- There's no good route with him. Like at all. Just no. Just like Wyll and Karlach have no evil and they argue and angry when the MC tries to move in that direction, so it is with good and Gortash. If you try to draw an analogy between his slavery and what he does to those around him, he disapprove on 30 points and warns you that okay, you don't remember, but bring it up again and blame yourself. If you try to continue, he gets angry and either attacks or leaves the party, saying that Urge has really changed too much.

- If you come to Sarevok with him, a free dose of grandfatherly grumbling is assured. If there is romance, he can also start mentioning how much Urge admired Gortash, which will give Gortash a satisfied grin. With Orin, if Gortash is in the party, it will be much harder to save the hostage (checks 30+-) and after the duel, your father will additionally condemn your choice of the chosen one (but I would like this with all romances, not just with the Gortash personally).

- The butler doesn't call him by name, but keeps telling that his lord/lady deserves much better than this. Gortash finds it funny

- He doesn't die at the brain like stupid, instead he can meet Emperor again. Thinks that becoming illythid is stupid if there's already a squid here, and after all it would be easy to betray him. Also in the finale gives the ability to summon a squad of Steel Guardians. Of course, will agitate to become an Absolute

- If you still destroy brain, then obviously romantic dialog after the finale, where he sighs that okay, to rule the world is still a little failed, but you two will practice for now on one city.

[quescon]

Rare BG3 char x OC F/F fic recs

Sooo, @mikuchan made this post on gender stats in bg3 fandom (Which is very cool, not very surprising and you should check it out)

Along with other info in the post, there's a page that lists number of x oc fics for every character who has any. So, I looked through the tags, picked 5 medium-short fics and I present them to you.

Venomous - Kagha/Tav, M, warning for character death (but neither of the women), check this out if your enjoy evil Tavs and ambitious women.

Lilith investigates Kagha with the intent of finding knowledge to use against her. Yet the more she learns, the more intrigued she becomes, until she settles upon her own method of dealing with the druid.

"Love? Hah. Never heard of it." - Derryth Bonecloak/Tav, T, FLUFF, check this out if you think that Derryth deserves good things and wanted to play an eladrin in bg3

Derryth wasn't quite sure what to expect when leaving her presumed-dead husband in the Underdark. Adopting a dubiously named cat? Sure, maybe. But finding love again? That one was a stretch.

Gale's Mom Has Got It Going On - Morena Dekarios/Tav, M, humour, Gale POV, check this out if you want a giggle and believe that Morena is a milf, actually. (A lot of this is Gale going mad over other guys in camp flirting with his mom)

Gale has his hands full trying to keep his two comrades from hitting on his mother. Unfortunately, Astarion and Wyll are relentless. He ends up leaving her in the care of the one person at camp he thinks will keep her safe: Octavia, the Paladin of Tyr. Surely, the honorable paladin only has the purest of intentions with her, right? ...Right?

Of Spots and Scales - Quil Grootslang/Dark Urge, T, modern AU, quite fluffy for a durge-being-durge story. Check this out if you just excitedly thought "There's Quil fic??"

Quil knows she is an optimist. She also knows a lot of people find her annoying, or say other words about her. Bright and cheery. Sweet and naive. Diabetes-inducing. Very loud. The last one is totally fair because throatsinging is hard to do quietly, ignoring the fact that doing so ruins the whole point of it. There are some people that appreciate Quil for who she is though. But then, there is Rae. The silver dragonborn knows that, rationally, their whole thing would not make sense. However, Quil knows for a fact that emotions are not constrained by petty rationality. She has tried her best to express that in written song lyrics, though her efforts are not yet bearing full fruit. She just needs to survive until they do.

The Flood's Guiding Hand - Allandra Grey/OC (not really Tav), E, smut, SM, check this out if you like a bit of worldbuilding with your smut and you like dwarves.

Sanna is a would-be priestess of Umberlee and a runaway dwarf who has no love for her people's traditions. She is initiated into the Flood Tide's inner circle, but before the rite is complete she must undergo a very particular ritual. Written for Femslash February 2024 for the prompt "Rain."

[animentality]

Not to send you an essay but do you ever think about how Gortash was the only person in the whole game who didn’t want anything from Durge but Durge. Just them, as a person. Like yes he wanted the netherstone, and wanted the alliance. But what I mean is there were no prereqs for Durge as a person. Every other companion, every other NPC even, wanted Durge to either resist and refuse Bhaal or pursue power and claim their birthright. Everyone had their two cents for what Durge should or shouldn’t do irrespective of how Durge actually felt about it. It made any friendship or love offered to them conditional, even in the case of their companions. It was always “I’ll stand by you, IF”. To be fair, not necessarily unreasonable for the normal person to set boundaries on murder and such lol. But my point is that they all wanted something from Durge first.

But Gortash. OF ALL PEOPLE. Gortash didn’t want anything from them but them. Even for Durge’s biggest supporters in either moral direction - Jaheira, Sceleritas, etc - it was not that simple. Yet Gortash’s friendship with Durge (and to be clear I think they were so in love but I say friendship here to emphasise that even on top of or irrespective of any romance, they were genuinely friends too!) was unconditional. “This changes nothing” is a line I know we all talk about to death but god. That is genuinely unconditional. It is!

(If we want to push the delusion a bit further, that’s a declaration of the unconditional nature of their alliance, which can be chalked up to nothing less than real and honest love as far as I’m concerned. He has no other reason to not care that Durge just said yeah the entire divine commandment part of this mission is in the pot. But Gortash was like I Do Not Care! And he meant it! “Oh yes incomprehensibly powerful beings came to us in our dreams and asked us to do all of this in their names in the first place, and you just pissed on that, but no biggie!” Same short-tempered petty bastard who kicks you hard in the shin with his metal-toe boot if you accidentally hit him. Who straight up attacks you if you show up to his office without any of the netherstones and say you forgot them or whatever. Guy who just kills you if you GIVE HIM THE STONES LOL. But he doesn’t care even slightly that Durge said fuck off to the lord of murder who ordered this whole plot to start? Doesn’t yell, doesn’t ask Durge what were they thinking, just goes oh ok. He makes me insane btw)

I’m also painfully aware that Durge will never find that kind of unconditional support with anyone else, ever. I just feel like this would haunt my resistance Durge for the rest of his days tbh.

(And like. My resistance Durge loves Jaheira, she’s the parent he never had and she means the world to him post-canon, he follows her around like a lost puppy because ultimately he is one but I have to wonder if he would lie awake at night with the niggling thought that maybe what he has with Jaheira would not survive if he acted any other way. Plus the thought that Gortash knew him at his absolute worst, and loved him anyway. And maybe that wasn’t a GOOD thing, morally - a GOOD person shouldn’t have loved him like that, right? - but he loved him anyway. I don’t think my Durge would ever ever get over it. Especially with the fact that he can’t even remember 99% of their relationship. Gortash can’t ACTUALLY haunt Durge cause Bane is busy using his soul as a stress ball but in every metaphorical way. Durge is haunted.)

Tldr Gortash is the guy who says “just be yourself <3” and I think that’s beautiful

You know, you hit the nail on the head.

Of course it's not unreasonable to expect your friends and lovers to stipulate, that they will only love you as long as you don't go on a murderous rampage.

That's totally reasonable, that's normal, I agree with it on principle.

But. But.

As you said.

Gortash loved you even when you went on a murderous rampage.

I am obsessed with him, because he loved the dark urge without reservation, believing in their ability to control their urge, but also admiring their intelligence and their talents.

He knew what they were from the start, and he accepted it!

And he could still love them!

I just don't think anyone else in the entire goddamn game could say that!

And that's why I'm obsessed with Durgetash.

You get me.

It's about loving someone for who they are, and not what they are to you.

They were never just the Chosen of Bhaal, whom he must work with, not to him.

Never.

They were never the Bhaalspawn, the savage dark urge, the scourge of Faerun.

They were themselves. And he liked that.

Guys, he LIKED them.

[sky-kiss]

hello <3 I’ve been lurking around the raphael tag little niche and I see that a fairly popular concept is tav/durge duchess (love the concept love the energy, very big fan of it in your fic as well) and I was wondering, since raphael struggles with sort of minimising how much his mortal side is perceived in favour of appearing as much as possible as a devil with a capital D (see his celebratory paintings being all about his devil form), whether that by itself would be a peculiar choice to take a mortal as a consort. or if you think he sort of did the math and went well tav/durge is a very effective asset he can keep close and its sort of worth it take the loss of sort exposing himself to other archdevils being judgemental over it (especially since the hells seem very much like a only devils can sit at the grown up table lmao)

/Stares at you. Sighs. Sips scotch/

So, I see. You're finally here to kill me, anon.

Alright. Let's get into it. If we're being entirely honest, I do not believe that Raphael would offer Tav/Durge a place as his consort. I genuinely don't. Especially not directly after they've given him the Crown. I've done it a few times recently, mostly because it's the only place to conveniently put it. And it works for short-form posts.

But if we are talking about genuine Raphael, it's my opinion that he would not offer. He may be fond of you, but his version of fondness would translate more to like...how fond you are of a good dog, or a subcontractor who put in great work. You aren't equals. "Friends," but not equals. Raphael's interest in Tav/Durge stems from what they can provide him. Once he has the Crown, he sees himself as having succeeded. You might meet for drinks like he's promised, but he has no reason to continue the relationship.

However, there is something to be said for an adventurer's soul. And Tav/Durge would be a massive catch further down the line. By the endgame, the TadFools are a bunch of freaks if we're power scaling. They're only level 12, but the games mechanics and the psycho gear they acquire allows them to punch well above their weight class. With their stat blocks, their party of four could probably fight Zariel. And on that note, because of game mechanics, Raphael could probably take Zariel (based on her 5E statblock) in a cage match, even without the Crown. He'd at least make it close. That's how powerful the crew is by the end. So, they would be a crazy powerful asset to acquire.

To the point of offering them the role of consort: no. I don't think he'd do it. Not right after the Crown, at least. And it's something I wish I'd made clearer in my long fic. I'd clarify it in a rewrite. Raphael never actually offers Joi/Durge the role of consort. Haarlep moves for her to be in that role. Haarlep informs Mephistopheles that she's his new consort. Meph is the first one to actually state it and does this in front of Dispater to discredit his son. Raphael then plays along with it in order to build his influence with the succubi/incubi. It's self-preservation, power, and arrogance that motivates the decision, not affection.

So uh...yeah. Sorry. I don't....I don't think he'd take Tav/Durge as his consort. Maybe after he's had his assbeat for a while? And they crusade and prove themselves to be incredibly useful?

But we lie to ourselves for fiction. Sorry for the longpost.

[sixtysixproblems]

welcome to my half-assed the chosen three are "good" au.

this is a lie of course, because only Ketheric is lawful good; Orin is chaotic neutral, and Gortash lawful neutral maybe lmao.

id say this is a fix it au but. no. not really. things are just marginally better for these 3 characters, and they do (less) warcrimes. but the Absolute is still a problem!

the new chosen three are Durge for Bhaal, Raphael for Bane, and uh. Isobel for Myrkul (I'll get to that).

basically, in tldr summary: adoption is a lovely thing and I blame Shar for everything. read more under the cut because this post is long.

Long version: Shar is responsible more actively for the shadow curse-- Ketheric stayed a paladin of Selune because Isobel doesn't die, but Justiciars still march on Reithwin and he is killed + Aylin imprisoned by Shar. I imagine Isobel only became a "follower" of Shar to try and make a deal to get Aylin back, but that failed, so she turned to Myrkul. Ketheric is revived by her/Myrkul, but earlier than Isobel was bc reasons.

anyways. he'd be around in act two, filling a similar but probably more active role to Isobel in the og plot. and him and Aylin save Isobel from Myrkul/convince her to stop because I'd be too sad otherwise

Now for Orin...Uh. Much more vague. Basically: Ketheric is a girl dad?

I've been toying with several ideas, but the one I think right now is Bhaal/Saverok was disappointed in Orin and abandoned her in the shadowlands instead of straight up killing her for some reason? Maybe they wanted to see what a shadow cursed bhaalspawn would be like, maybe it was a "she'll either toughen up or die so win win", idk. Anyways she's probably like. a toddler. three at max. because Bhaal is awfully. And freshly revived and confused as fuck Ketheric has a new daughter now. yay!

I think she'd be yoinked by the nauteloid, and sort of fill a joint tav/durge role.

anyways, onto the fucking slimy raccoon! it's his time to be yoinked by a stoic old man royalty-ish-guy! enter duke ravenguard from stage left!

I don't know the specifics, but Lawful Good TM Ravenguard trying to hold meetings-- that his feral tween foster child he stole from a devil keeps interrupting-- sounds really, really funny to me.

on a sadder note, Wyll's whole...situation. I imagine this would drive a very, very big wedge between Enver and the Duke because Enver would be inclined to believe Wyll because of his own history with Raphael. Also, I was stuck on what to do about Karlach if Enver wasn't evil-- maybe she still gets hired by Enver as a bodyguard, but Enver has her stay with Wyll while him and Ravenguard go to Elturel...So it's just her and Wyll vs the Cultists...And at some point in the fight she's somehow yeeted to Avernus...

and like! imagine how angsty it would be if Mizora sent Wyll after Karlach without telling him who she was! and the first time these besties see each other in 7 years is when one is sent to kill the other! fun times fun times.

anyways. as for what Gortash is up to. quite frankly I have no fucking idea. an idea i've been toying with is he's undercover in the absolute either on Ravenguard's behalf and/or for self preservation? and/or mindcontrolled by it to make the steel guard? or something like that? him & durge can have a "I cant fix this man, but I can fuck him. maybe that'll calm him down" dynamic lmfaoooo. he's probably still the most morally questionable.

Regardless of the specifics of what he's up to, he might have cameos or be communicating with Wyll somehow pre act three, but I think he only has a proper role then. And double regardless, with Raphael as the Bane chosen...I doubt he's having the time of his life. But he's a conniving little bastard. i'm sure he'll be fine.

anyways. meme time.

~-~-~-~-~

Halsin/Jaheira: what the fuck you're alive??

Ketheric: ...Reports of my death were greatly exaggerated. Anyways my daughter's kind of evil now, and not the Bhaalspawn one--

Jaheira: We left you alone for one century. One...AND YOU HAVE A BHAALSPAWN--

Halsin: I-- You're Orin's Dad????

~-~-~-~-~

Orin: wow Wyll your foster brother is really fucking annoying and also possibly evil. and also maybe fucking my evil brother. can we kill him pretty please

Wyll: can't say I haven't had thoughts myself over the time i've known him...repeatedly... but no

Orin: :(

Karlach: If it makes you feel better Orin, you may get to knock him out

Orin: :)

~-~-~-~

Wyll: Have care how y ou speak-- Gortash may be in league with the absolute, but we don't know his reasons yet-- and he's still a Ravenguard. And my brother.

Orin: He killed 80 people in two days with his evil roombas.

Wyll: ...

Wyll: he's adopted??

~-~-~-~-~

Alternatively:

Orin: Have care how you speak-- Isobel/Durge may be a follower of Myrkul/Bhaal, but she's still of House Thorm. And my sister/brother.

Jaheira: She/he killed 80 people in two days.

Orin: ....I'm adopted.

[ghostwise]

rinny dark urge run??? aya?/?? an introduction....blease... 👀👐also would love any of your thoughts on the dark urge run so far too <3 <3 <3

OH MAN Isa I'm going to take this as a sign that I need to liven up the place and post way more about my Durge playthrough. It's been a ton of fun.

Aya is my elven bard, a morally grey Dark Urge with a strong hedonist streak. She's a scholar and a poet and a compulsive liar who loves drama, but I feel she'll wind up resisting the urge because she cannot abide being told what to do. She laid it out pretty clearly when she first was reacquainted with Sceleritas Fel; if, when, and how she kills is up to her. If she chooses to indulge she deserves to at the very least remember it!

Yeah her memory loss is quite upsetting to her.

I think it's explicitly canon that Durge has some degree of TBI; the fainting, the lapses in memory and cognition, the headaches all point to it. I initially thought it was post-concussive syndrome, but Omeluum is able to reveal that Durge has lesions in their brain--akin to something burrowing through the brain matter. This girl has been functionally lobotomized, or nearly so, anyways. (I'm super curious as to whether we'll get clarification on when this damage happened.)

Aya starts act 1 in shambles. She's a mess, hardly able to fight. Shadowheart quickly latches onto her; she sees her deep wounds and uses her healing magic to coax Aya back to health, day by day. She relates to her memory loss, and she's also the first one who sees Aya's surgical scars. I think she's taking a bit of a liking to her; or at least, she enjoys trying to fix her up lol.

Aya holds a mutual respect for Lae'zel. Funny enough, they're both kind of out of their depth for different reasons (Lae'zel being unfamiliar with Faerûn and Aya being unfamiliar with everything), so they tend to defer to each other's judgments, even when these are not entirely accurate.

Karlach strikes me as showing a deep understanding of what Aya's experiencing. She notices her symptoms right away--such injuries are not uncommon in the Blood War--and she flat out asks, "Have you all noticed she's having seizures?" I think she regards her with deep compassion, which, oughhh. Will she be worthy of it? Who knows!!

She's romancing Astarion but it's shaping up to be a fiends with benefits type of situation so far. They share a sense of humor and are often in cahoots, but just as often they are on each other's nerves. Maybe it'll sort out into some genuine fondness. But the idea of two morally grey people just teaming up and continuing to be morally grey just in different ways is so compelling sdfghdfg

Her nickname pre-memory loss was Sabandija. She likes to sing to people as she kills them. 👍🏽 Her voice claim is Natasha Shneider.

[archduchessgortash]

The fact that Gortash will decide to kill your character if you choose the dialogue option to freely give him the Netherstones is one of my favorite things about him. It either supports his opinion of the player character as his equal, is indicative of rebellion against one of the core principles of his religion, or shows evidence of the Absolute's ability to influence him.

It also suggests that he's not the dom that much of the fandom makes him out to be in their headcanons.

Banite doctrine dictates that subordinates must be subservient to their masters. Subservience in this specific interaction, however, can get your character killed. Worse yet, babygurl is now the enemy. Perhaps, then, they are NOT his subordinate? 🤔

The newly appointed Archduke has generously acknowledged your character as worthy. If he does not see them as his true equal, then he at least sees them as a valuable ally with the potential to be an equal. Your character's submissiveness is an insult to him. How dare they suggest by their willingness to give up the Netherstones that he would permit them to take his own stone without a fight? How dare they be so spineless as to simply do as he says?

If that is who they are, they can roll over and die. He has no use for them.

If he truly sees your character as his subordinate, refusing to allow them to behave as one is directly opposed to his own religious doctrine. Even the Banites' own codes state that the rules of the cult are the only ones that they are obligated to follow. All others are irrelevant. If they are indeed his lesser, Gortash should accept the stones and let your character tag along as cannon fodder, but he doesn't. Is it a subtle rebellion against Bane, or could it be the Absolute exerting her influence to bring the Astral Prism to her directly?

If Gortash is brought to the morphic pool, the Absolute makes it clear that she was in charge, at least from the point of Orin's attack on Durge. She let Gortash and the others believe that they controlled her while she used them to grow more and more powerful. It's fun to think that the genius mastermind was ultimately no more than the Absolute's pawn. How many of his decisions were influenced by her? How much of the Golden Reign of Gortash would even have been Gortash at all? 🤔

The Absolute is as interesting to ponder as the scrunkly Banite himself.

From a personal perspective, the fact that this man expects his allies to stand up to him is one of the reasons that I like him. It also supports my theory of him as a switch, not a dom. Anyone who flat-out submits to him is not worth his time, beyond the time spent to end them, that is. He's a little like Brynhildr. She would only wed one who was without fear.

As popular as top Gortash is, I don't personally see it as particularly in-character for him. The delivery on some of Gortash's more dominant lines is certainly attractive in its tone, so I can totally see why fans would want that. However, in the circumstances in which the lines are spoken in-game, they don't inspire me to fall to my knees. 'You will follow, and you will show due respect' is so very throat-punch worthy.

Ballsy of Gortash to think he can talk like that to someone who has been utterly annihilating his religious hoax... and happens to have recently ganked an immortal paladin.

Plus, the avatar of Myrkul.

And possibly every living Bhaalist in the city, including his high priest and his chosen.

Maybe an undead dragon.

Perhaps even the son of Mephistopheles in his own house.

Gortash wants to say, 'Yes, dear.'

I love that you have to call Gortash's bluff not once but twice, or you're not worth keeping alive. He is surrounded by sycophantic Banites who will do anything he wants because of the way in which their hierarchy is structured. It must get pretty boring after a while. His dislike of Orin isn't the only reason he's so thrilled to see Durge.

I think the last thing he truly wants to hear is a, 'Yes, sir/master.'

[cambion-companion]

Hello! I enjoyed reading your Raphael fics! ( it must be a bit obvious who I' am because I've been the one on the liking and reblogging spree of your fantastic work hehe ).

Simping on this handsome devil, I've had this idea in mind. Our companions, and 2 Tavs ( maybe one is a Durge? ), and the story goes as usual. Raphael offers to remove the tadpole / Orphic Hammer in exchange for the crown, but he notices this other Tav ( female ) who was much more timid compared to the brave and heroic leader Tav. He takes interest in this shy and timid Tav and he eventually finds out she's "innocent" ( yes, see, I've been reading your fics haha ) in many ways more than one. A potential, pliable and submissive "client".

So, he gains interest in her more than the other Tav and secretly visits her one day, offering to take her away from the chaos of this group, shut the tadpole once and for all, and give her possibly everything she wanted. In exchange for one and only one thing.

"You" he says.

What do you think? >.<

I would very much be the happiest person if you take this little idea of mine and write something about it. Thank you so much! ❤️❤️❤️

Thank you so much for reading my Raphael fics! He is certainly living rent free in our brains huh? Who needs a mindflayer parasite when we've got a cambion?

I would love to eventually play with the idea of Raphael and a more meek Tav.

You know how cats get bored of the mice who lay still and don't move? I picture Raphael very much the same way. As evidenced by his obsession with Hope, he really gets off on chasing the little souls who put up resistance.

I love the idea of his offering to shut out the tadpole, cause apparently he CAN DO THAT. I really like and have been considering the idea of him letting the Emperor see everything when Raphael finally ravishes Tav.

Staking a claim and basically saying this mortal is calamari free.

Oh, and there's the point you bring up about Raphael seeing innocence and wanting to corrupt. Definitely in his nature.

Of course, he'd be more than happy to take full advantage of a client so willing to give themselves to him. He's a savvy businessman after all ;)

[gyrovagi]

hello and welcome to my gamer's den. here's a quick and dirty guide to the ocs i talk about constantly

CANON PROTAGS/NORMAL MEN. INNOCENT MEN:

eloy "el" surana (blood mage/arcane warrior) - i'm like if a control freak could control things ❤️ with blood magic ❤️. generally well-intentioned but hypervigilant, always playing 5d chess about the worst scenario. world's first moral (not necessarily ethical) male bigender manipulator. wields a wholly inappropriate degree of political influence in denerim

seongmin hawke (primarily diplomatic, sword + shield berserker) - afraid that his abandonment issues will leave him. pathologically conflict avoidant, fawn response to the max - up until someone he loves gets threatened, at which point good luck leaving alive lol. 'i don't think i need to talk about my feelings,' says man who just broke the arm of a templar asking around too much about the darktown clinic and then continued making casual conversation with varric as if nothing happened

ciuying "arav'assan" lavellan (archer, assassin) - king of compartmentalization. would really prefer to be one guy helping people on the ground rather than the unwilling inquisitor chained by power he never wanted, fighting for his life to be as politically uninvolved as possible. guy who is duty-bound never to return home

dak-wai (wi)thorne(s) (spellblade) - prospective rook, direct port of my bg3 durge. vashoth grey warden mage seeking a righteous purpose after a complicated and bloody past, but who has yet to find a better general approach to problems than killing things with hammers.

TGIRLS SAVE THE WORLD(STATE):

sang tabris (champion) - next shem bastard who pisses me off i'm just going to fucking kill you. alistair did you eat yet ^_^. struggling to reconcile an irrepressible hope for a better world with the abject horrors he's been subjected to by the world he lives in at present. morrigan's lesbian husband.

so-min hawke (blood mage) - girl could you at least pretend not to be a chantry-hating apostate in the middle of the gallows. carver just got suddenly pissed off in a darkspawn tunnel and he knows it's not because of the genlocks

r trevelyan (rift mage) - tranquil since 18, and at age 33, honestly dealing pretty well with accidentally getting a magical lobotomy reversed. yeah ok so maybe the random prolonged neutral-expression weeping is a little off-putting. it's hard when you're the white girl who needs to save yourself

yazmin de riva (duelist) - embittered bastard child of the young lord owain trevelyan. frighteningly competent and driven, but has difficulty taking orders and working with others due to the huge chip on her shoulder. thinks lucanis dellamorte is a nepo baby

INSANE WOMEN AND MALE MANIPULATORS:

ngayu brosca (reaver) - what do you MEAN the fate of the country is dependent on two twenty-year-olds one of whom gets scared looking at the sun. has never once in her life believed she would live past twenty and that's looking increasingly likely as a prediction

rina hawke (assassin) - when you are endlessly bitter and refuse to deal with it in any healthy way because that would require you to acknowledge your resentment towards the family members you perceive as a burden. chronically insincere, subservient but seething the whole time, wouldn't be able to name a solid belief if you asked her, incapable of self-reflection. crack baby you don't know what you want...

caden trevelyan (templar) - gay transgender homophobic misogynist. has weird ideas about being a man. constantly develops obsessive fixations on authoritative older men. believes he has the divine right to mete out violence. white boy who sucks 🔥

ha-neul aldwir (slayer) - prospective rook, veil jumper. fascinated by magic and magical artifacts. something of an oddity by both dwarven and non-dwarven standards, a guy with an endless thirst for life and little interest in denying himself pleasure or dwelling in guilt, for better or worse. can be surprisingly callous and self-interested, despite his generally upbeat, affable vibe.

PRONOUNS USERS GOING THROUGH IT/TRAGEDY WORLDSTATE;

enasa mahariel (ranger) - deadalive nothing girl who isn't. didn't anticipate that taking the vallaslin of dirthamen, twin brother to death, would be quite so prophetic. very clearly crumbling under mounting pressure while refusing to stop dragging the rotting corpse

bryn hawke (force mage) - half-avvar on malcolm's side, raised with what avvar beliefs and practices their father could half-remember from childhood. never quite at home in ferelden and struggling to come to terms with the idea they'll never be quite at home in their mother's city either. quietly shouldering other's burdens until it chokes them.

meiying lavellan (knight-enchanter) - turns out when you take an anxiety-ridden elf burdened with excess responsibility since youth out of their familiar environment and support system she'll have a bad time. solas' ex-spouse still misses him… but their aim's getting better!

orpheus ingellvar (death caller) - < he doesn't know (that he's the child of the last theirin king and the missing presumed dead hero of ferelden). surprisingly cheerful for a guy collectively raised by a bunch of necromancers, seems like a polite young man, but then he says something weird and offputting that makes you realize he's spent a lot of his life interacting with skeletons

ASSORTED GUYS:

dea surana - reserved but observant, knows it's best not to attract attention, tries to look after herself and her own in the ways she can. surprisingly worldly/cynical after her brother was taken by the templars at a young age and her life afterwards was spent largely on the road. then her situationship was like 'you know the hero of ferelden is named surana? circle mage, relative of yours?' and now she regularly talks to the king of ferelden

owain trevelyan - never really stopped hoping his older brother would come back from the circle and everything would be fine again. he's socially well-connected and charismatic, and could make for an influential heir to the house with motivation and an advantageous marriage - but he's a lot more interested in dragon hunting and boy bestiesisms with the prince of starkhaven.

valerie trevelyan - black sheep of the family, annoyed that this is more about lesbianism than being a fantasy communist. managed to pull off a 'buy my silence - for $8000 a month i will stop' ploy on her parents at 20, before she knew that this would end with her as the warden-commander's sister-in-law

ga-ying lavellan - middle sibling b/w meiying and ciuying, closer to both of them than they are with each other. tends to take things a little too lightly, an optimist unconcerned with anything outside of the clan and the present. the siblings' dads (and meiying, and his wife) are hoping the birth of his daughter will make him more serious. ciuying likes him as he is.

everybody's parents tend to be less developed than their kids are but they exist. In my mind . there's also a couple other extremely incidental fellas but they'll come up when they come up. i might also ramble about my non-da guys here but (closes my eyes and passes away silently)

[avionvadion]

Screenshots and silliness from my Durge playthrough so far. Because I have no self restraint and I needed to keep myself awake a few more hours.

SHADOWHEART, GALE, AND DARK URGE SPOILERS BELOW

She's doing her best!!!

Astra can sing. Kai'mana, on the other hand... can not. Oof. Anyways, I have been talking to so many animals. It's delightful. Although Kai'mana did unintentionally kill a squirrel, which is what led to me reloading and constantly using Speak to Animals because it helped avoid the... Urge just immediately offing the poor thing. But now I'm paranoid, lol.

Kai'mana: What's he talking about???

He was still in neutral by this point. T_T I don't know how, but I'm having a harder time raising his favorability as a good Dark Urge than when I was playing Astra- a good Tav.

OHHHHHHHH, ASTRA DIDN'T GET THIS ONE.

Anyways. I had Kai'mana say they should get to know each other better, then say she was joking- because she could tell he wasn't being serious, and it left him so flustered, alskjfldkjflkdj. It was adorable.

Astarion can not get a good read on this Dragonborn gal.

Gale, sweetie, this scene is super cute... but not what I intended. T_T

I'm obsessed with how pretty Kai'mana looks.

Oh no... here it is... I've heard about this...

I'M SORRYYYYYYYYYYYYY.

Gods, the Guardian is so pretty.

BASSY!??? SEBAS-CHAN!??? *Is immediately sent plummeting back into my middleschool years* WHAT'RE YOU DOIN' HERE!??? GO BACK TO CIEL!

Astarion is so short next to Kai... askjjflkdjljfdl. I love it. Also, fun fact: I did not kill the Gur this time around! I did with Astra, but not with Kai. I'm curious how his survival will affect Act Three.

*crying at how pretty she is*

Wyll: "Is no one else seeing this? No? Just me? Sigh... just another day in camp."

*Downs his wine*

Aw, shucks! That's cute. They're eyeball buddies! I'm surprised her fake eye is still pink though. It's a lot more muted than the other, but I was expecting it to be silver. I guess it's different for Dragonborns. Neat.

I've... been putting her through several different outfits, trying to find a good one, and a good dye, that'll fit. I currently (where I'm at in the game, not in the screenshot) have settled on her wearing Minthara's camp clothes. Which look REALLY good on her with her scales.

...Astarion has the armor, though, lol.

Kai'mana just... has the charm I guess. First Gale's magic lesson, then Lae'zael trying to seduce her, and now Shadowheart. Okay. Maybe this'll be like with Astra and Lae'zael. A thing at the beginning, before eventually breaking off. I do think Shadowheart and Kai'mana just talking together was a super cute scene. Maybe that's the ace in me speaking. I dunno. But I liked it.

Kai'mana: "You're beautiful."

Shadowheart: "I know. But you're sweet for noticing."

LIKE THAT WAS SO CUTE YA'LL I CAN'T.

Kai'mana: "I unintentionally murdered the bard bestie in my sleep..."

Shadowheart: "And I almost intentionally murdered Lae'zael in her sleep. It's fine."

Kai'mana: "...Fair enough."

I think it'll be a thing where they're not used to the company/trust of others, both of them being amnesiac and harboring "darkness" inside of them, and they lead themselves on to believe it's a romantic attraction to one another, but then realize they're just meant to be besties. They click, but not necessarily in the way they think. It's a pleasant/fond experience for them, though.

[selfproclaimedunicorn]

4, 16 and 21 for the tav questions!

Thank you, omg, somehow I did not anticipate one of these 😅. Also I'm doing this for both my Tavs because I love Mardora & Guemarir equally

4: What would your Tav's romance scenes look like? How many would they have?

For Mardora, I think she'd have 4 if you picking her to spend time with at the Tiefling party counts? The first one/tiefling party would be pretty lowkey & sweet. Drinking together to celebrate & having a quick little kiss before Mardora sends Tav/Durge to bed because "we should make this choice with clearer heads;" the second one (also in Act 1) would be a "we have clear heads now" followup. Third scene is after you've unlocked some quest progression you can only do in Act 2/learned her backtory & Tav/Durge gets the option to be like "Mardora, you don't have to take care of me, let me take care of you this time" (save her from being a people pleaser, please). And then finally, in Act 3, there'd be a really sweet star gazing scene where she talks to Tav/Durge about dwarf stuff & reveals she's been calling them the sappiest, most intimate-&-reserved-for-life-partners pet-name in existence ever since hitting "excellent" opinion/reaching Act 3 (depending on when you hit scenes/vs approval)

Guemarir feels a little tougher to figure out because you are definitely, 100% able to flirt with him from moment 1. You meet that man & you are immediately able to tell him how pretty he is & how much you want to hit (because believe me bestie, he's doing the same). I think he'd have more than Mardora just by virtue of his own sluttery. Maybe 5? I do not know what is a normal amount of romance scenes because I've only finished Lae'zel's & I'm maybe only halfway done with Astarion's? This ain't about them though.

So I think Guemarir's tiefling party night would be him promising to stop being a tease & finally give Tav/Durge that dick after the party's died down & he's not entertaining people with his ✨️dulcet tones✨️ anymore. The second scene is about Guemarir having tiefling angst & daddy issues because by this point the refugees are on the way to Baldur's Gate & you've definitely encountered his dad, so he's having a rare moment of depth; Tav/Durge has the option to comfort him & give him a lil smooch, mayhaps cuddle by the fire at camp. Scene 3 is at the beginning of Act 2, & Guemarir apologizes for his moment of vulnerability "won't happen again, silly manwhore hours only from here on out," & Tav/Durge can talk him through not having to put on a persona with them because of sincere feelings. Guemarir is taken aback, but jazzed because this is new territory for him. Scene 4 is Guemarir trying very, very hard to take Tav/Durge on a "date" at camp; he made dinner, there's a tablecloth on a stump, he lit candles, he plays a love song on his lyre. It's very precious & he is doing his best to do sincere romance instead of "wham, bam, thank you ma'am/man." Last scene is in Act 3, Guemarir invites Tav/Durge to hang out with him & he has a really sweet talk with them about being grateful for them giving him the opportunity to have a romantic relationship instead of just a bunch of random hookups, Guemarir & Tav/Durge can fuck at the end of this scene, though.

16: What do they do for fun when not adventuring? What are their hobbies?

Mardora is a huge book worm, she reads a lot when not adventuring. Maybe not as much reading as Gale, but enough to discuss books with everyone's favorite magic item eating wizard to a pretty satisfying capacity on his end. She also keeps a very meticulous journal, & she knows how to make jewelry. She's not good at it, but she can do it, & being able to do something even kinda rudimentary with metal is a source of pride for her because Dwarf.

Guemarir's whole thing is being a wandering bard (and slut), so he's mostly just playing music. I feel like he's dabbled in poetry & writing his own compositions, but never in any kind of serious way he likes showing to people. He also knows a lot about tea & is a pretty decent cook!

21: Describe a defining moment from their past which makes them who they are today!

When Mardora was the dwarf equivalent to, like, 10, she got separated from her mom while they were out-and-about, & it was a priest of Moradin who calmed little Mardora down & helped her. That plus getting the virtues of the dwarffather & of helping others in a personal, one-on-one way while looking for her mom left a big impression & very much laid the foundations for a lot of later events that turned her into the Mom Friend Ultimate Good Guy she is by the start of the game.

13-year-old Guemarir was forever altered when he met his dad for the first time & found out he's the son of his mom's patron. Until then he just kind of...had not questioned why a half-elf's kids were tieflings? He probably had some theories about a tiefling baby daddy, but learning him & his 2 siblings are fully a demon's kids & that he's got boocoo half siblings left an impression. Especially since his dad is just, like, really invested in having a lot of (his own) kids at his disposal "if he needs them." That whole thing just really made him...kinda judgemental & gave him some very, very hard stances on making deals with devils.

[rabbittwinrithings]

So while I'm fucking around with my skyrim baldurs gate companions game, I also decided to do a more in-depth Durge playthrough, and play around with the companions looks. So here's how everyone looks so far!

First off, my peepaw Durge, Cain! I love him so much! While I played with him a bit before and romance Lae'zel, I'm debating on if I want to do that again. Guess I'm going with the flow on him to see who he ends up with.

I really need to draw him at some point. I love the story I built for him, and his personality, which I imagine is very much like Kratos's from God of War; mostly silent and gruff, but knows when he is needed emotionally, and gives great advice on combat!

(Everyone else is below the cut!)

Astarion is one I really just played around with. I knew I wanted to make him a Tiefling, but that was it. Still, I'm super happy with how he turned out. I'm even warming up to him a bit this playthrough!

I'll do Shadowheart next as she is also a character I really don't care for. But maybe I'm shallow, cause this playthrough I'm paying more attention to her and starting to warm up to her character.

I really love the purple and black on her. I also ADORE the tear looking scars on her face.

I'm not sure how the mod I'm using reacts to act 3 Shadowheart, but hopefully I can remember what faces and such I used on her so I can keep her looking mostly the same with just a few changes.

For Gale I really wanted to give him a scrawny wizard man look, and I'm just really happy with it. I don't think I have much to say about him. Just, I really like how he turned out.

I really had no idea what I wanted to do for Karlach, but I'm happy in the end. At first I just was going for a red color look. But after finding the horns that glow, I thought giving her the fire color palette with the orange would be super cool. And it is!

Honestly with Lae'zel, after turning her into Serana in my other playthrough, I decided I wanted to make her more goth. Kinda like Gale, I don't have too much to say, I'm just happy how she turned out!

And lastly Wyll, my boy! I mainly knew I wanted to use these horns. But other than that I wanted to play around with his looks. I tired to download a mod that added more dreadlock hairstyles, but for some reason it didn't work (a lot of my hair mods didn't,) but I decided to just go with the og dreadlock hairstyle. Which, I'm still very happy with! I love Wyll's looks so much, and it breaks my heart knowing Cain wouldn't want to romance Wyll and I can't romance with him. Big sad!

As I play more through this game I may post more screenshots or videos. But we'll see. I've been playing for the past six hours at least, and now I must sleep!

[archive-of-note]

Murder Most Fragrant

Set in Act I of a Durge run. I used my Durge, Markus (Tiefling, Wild Magic Sorcerer) cause he’s my murder son and I love him.

Warning: Canon divergence, descriptions of gore, allusions to sexual assault, assumed sexual assault (This is told from Astarion’s perspective, and his first assumption is not “oh this weird tiefling who killed a bird has already worked his way up to mortals.”) I think I got Astarion’s thought process but I’m not so sure about his voice? However it is 5 Am and I have been writing this since at least 1:30. All mistakes are my own, cause again, one sitting in the early AM.

@simplyalexeiofficial who posted the initial prompt.

Astarion wakes up from the overwhelming smell of blood as Durge Tav is murdering *the* bard. That’s it. that’s the prompt.

The smell of blood is what shakes him from his trance. It’s living blood, not the subtle rotten stench of dead man’s blood or his own.

While the smell woke him up, it’s the sounds that really grab his attention.

Soft whimpers, harsh breaths, the slick wet sound of something moving through flesh.

Astarion ever so slightly turns his head.

That bard from the grove is whimpering, staring up at Markus wide eyed as the sorcerer crouches over her body.

Astarion rolls his eyes, both for the tieflings’ lack of subtlety and the ineffective angle Markus seems determined to keep.

The sorcerer was already low on the vampire’s list for who to manipulate, he was a bit unsettling, prone to getting lost in his own thoughts, and after he tore that bird to bits with all the glee of a toddler with a new toy, Astarion began thinking Markus might be too volatile.

Yes, an amnesiac sorcerer with wild magics would be a great meat shield in regards to Cazador, but there would be no point if Astarion doesn’t even make it to the gate.

With this new revelation of Markus’s ineptitude in regards to pleasure, the tiefling has been moved to the very bottom, Astarion may have been forced through worse, but he’d like to actually get some enjoyment from the inevitable bedding.

“…please…sto—hap—!”

If he still had blood in his veins, Astarion is sure it would be running cold.

Murderous violence is one thing, one thing Astarion can get behind and indulge in, but this… maybe he should consider going off on his own.

More whimpering, more sounds of flesh.

Then a crack. Astarion’s head jerks back to the scene, that noise could not mean anything pleasant.

The bard’s arm is stretched out towards the fire, towards Astarion, and not only is it covered in blood, there’s an unnatural bend to it.

The girl’s fingers twitch with every regular roll of Markus’s shoulders, the man letting out a few muffled grunts as he roughly pulls at something.

A high pitched wheeze from the girl, Astarion didn’t even bother listening for her name, and then splatter.

Markus stands, and between his legs and the idle back and forth of his tail, Astarion sees what he had been doing.

There’s a morbid relief in the realization the bard’s lower half is still clothed. Even if her trousers are soaked heavy with her own blood.

The sorcerer begins muttering something, an incantation perhaps, his blood soaked hands held above his head.

Astarion looks back down and makes eye contact with the mutilated bard.

Her mouth opens, broken arm shifting as she tries and fails to make a fist, silently, desperately begging Astarion for help.

He stares back at her, eyes wide.

“… accept this offering, Sanguine King, accept my humble apology for my failures.”

Disgust and rage bubble beneath the horror, doing this for a god? The gods never did anything for Astarion, and considering the predicament they are all in, the vampire is confident in his belief that all of his companions have been abandoned by their beloved gods as well.

“Take this paltry flesh, I beg of thee send a sign, I have not strayed, I have not betrayed or abandoned my mission, I beg for nothing but a chance to correct my failures, a chance to bring about the world as I have pledged.”

The bard is still making pathetic attempts to escape, as if her insides pooling around her aren’t an indication for how this will inevitably end.

Markus looks down, head tilting and tail swaying in something like amusement as the girl keeps fighting.

The man shifts his weight and Astarion freezes, even holding his breath, the air stuck in his chest putting pressure against his unbeating heart.

“They can’t help you, even if they found us like this, even if they killed me, there’s no saving you.”

Markus crouches back down, cupping the bard’s cheek to force her to look up.

“You’ve lost too much blood, tissues have already begun necrotizing, sepsis is a terrible way to die, if anything, killing you now is a kindness.”

Astarion’s stomach rolls, Markus sounds kind, his soothing rumble adding an unnerving comfort to his words.

The sorcerer rubs his thumb against the bard’s cheek, like a parent comforting a crying child.

She spits in Markus’s face, or at least she tries to.

The glob of bloody spit doesn’t even disconnect from her lips, barely more than a pathetic bubbling from her mouth.

Markus’s eyes narrow even as his lips quirk up into a forced smile.

With a harsh motion Astarion doesn’t entirely see, Markus does something that makes the bard gasp, her haggard breathes turning into desperate gurgles as her body convulses.

Markus twists his body, giving Astarion a clearer view of the bard’s death throes.

The sorcerer’s arm is buried elbow deep in her stomach, and if the angle didn’t give it away, the unnatural bulging beneath her skin does.

He’s digging in her chest cavity, and with the sudden stiffening of her entire frame, Astarion knows the man has a gotten a hold of her heart.

The air is still, the night silent, and Markus seems to be savoring the sensation of the girl’s heart in his hand.

With a sudden harsh motion, his arm twist, and the bard goes limp.

After another moment of stillness, Markus sighs, arm slowly retreating from the corpse as he stands, the girl’s mangled heart is a lump of torn flesh in his hand.

The tiefling stares down at the body, his expression hidden from view.

Another sigh, less satisfied than the last, and the tiefling begins drawing on the ground around the bard’s body.

Again he stands above the body, hands open at his sides, staring at the sky as he mutters something.

The words are quiet and rushed nonsense, even as Astarion can hear the tiefling’s heartbeat speed up, with the words becoming louder and more slurred.

Until, with a sudden choke, the tiefling stops speaking, obviously panting as he sways in place.

Markus’s head rolls, his swaying becoming even more precarious before suddenly stopping.

The tiefling looks to his hands with a gasp, his tail thrashing as he steps back, another gasp and another more panicked step back that almost knocks the sorcerer onto his ass.

Markus looks around for something, and Astarion wants to roll his eyes at the performance, why waste the energy when, as far as he knows, he’s the only person awake.

———

“Overwhelming violent desires fester in my skull.”

Markus is twitching, his jaw rolling as he picks the drying bits of bird blood and sinew from beneath his claws.

“The norm is to keep dirty thoughts like that to ourselves. But do carry on.”

Suddenly tearing the bird at the infirmary apart may have been a bit concerning, but if this tiefling isn’t just capable of violence, but relishes in it, he may be useful to Astarion.

“A feeling deep inside possesses me and whispers murder, over and over.”

The tiefling bites his nails, a loud crack coming from between his teeth before he spits out the broken off tip of his claw.

Markus sounds shaken, so Astarion tries some sympathy, “It sounds like you’ve been dealt a vile hand…” but not too much sympathy, he can’t dull this potential blade, “I say: Play it. Play it for all it’s worth!”

The tiefling’s tail twitches, the jagged barb flicking back and forth as the smell of ozone slowly grows.

“Nobody should deny themselves of their true nature.”

Markus doesn’t respond, instead wiping his hands down the front of his robes, before he picks at his nails again.

Astarion lays on a bit more concern, Markus needs to think he cares, “But, do take care of yourself.”

Markus grimaces, humming a noncommittal, but affirmative, note.

———

Astarion didn’t consider the possibility of actual possession, but with the way Markus is acting, it’s a possibility he now has to consider.

The tiefling’s panic seems to settle, not entirely, but enough that the man doesn’t look ready to collapse in a panic.

Markus stands over the body, before seeming to make a decision.

He grabs the bard and her measly bedroll, dragging them both away with some effort, but there’s an ease to his movements that imply some familiarity.

Astarion is still staring at where the tiefling vanished into the brush, thinking over his options in regards to the sorcerer.

He can pursue Markus, and hope that the bloodshed of their adventure satiate whatever demands the tiefling kill.

But if he does try, and it doesn’t work, would those violent parts of Markus begin demanding Astarion’s blood?

He needs more information.

There’s a rustling, and Astarion pretends to trance, taking note of the sounds of sloshing water and kicking dirt.

He’s properly trancing again before Markus starts snoring.

———

“Where do you think she went?”

Markus shrugs at Shadowheart’s question, not looking up from the pack he keeps reorganizing.

“Astarion?”

“Not a clue, maybe she wondered off, there are certainly many things capable of mauling you out in the woods.”

Markus pauses for a moment, eyes glancing toward Astarion before quickly returning to the pack.

“Wouldn’t we have heard something?”

“Not if it got her in the throat first.”

“Or if it crushed her lungs.” It’s the first thing Markus has said all morning, and Astarion realizes he doesn’t know which one Markus did.

“Shouldn’t we go looking? What if she’s—“

“We have illithid tadpoles in our heads, we’ve been lucky so far, but I’d rather not tempt fate more than necessary.”

“But she wanted to help!”

“And we told her it was dangerous, and that was taking into consideration all of us, if she decided she knew better, well then who are we to undermine her choices?” Markus’s tone implies finality, and no one else pushes the matter.

As they leave the campsite, Astarion notices a dark red splotch in the dirt. He kicks some loose sand over the spot, not noticing Markus watching him as he does.

[fanfiction-artist-prototype]

favourite act 3 dialogues so far, a collection

(i love this mainly bc im like. ah. the 'looking back after killing cazador as a spawn and realising you were acting not dissimilarly to the man you hate so much and that you could have become just like him all over again if you'd gone through with it' is just delicious)

Lae'zel is just so tired, she's really going 'for fuck sake we have withers, a selunite demigod and her wife, scratch and the owl bear. must we take in *more?*'

CASSANDRA! YOU'VE KNOWN YOU WERE A CHILD OF BHAAL FOR A FUCKING DAY! STOP TRYING TO TELL EVERYONE! ALSO??? Babes im trying to redeem you so hard why are you making it so difficult for me to *not* pick 'recently unemployed, i quite like murders?' bc your intelligence stats make that so in-character

--

(honorary bloodweave 'and they were bunkmates' setup)

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(back to quotes)

(i love Orin. I love the relationship she has with Durge. She'll kill them, want them dead and to take over their life from their position in life to their room to *everything* that could be them because she needs to know what made her the lesser choice; why did Bhaal have to *make* another bhaalspawn when she was right there?

But it's the inflection when she says he's been whispering in their ears; it's the anger, the indignity. I like to take it not as a 'you are shameful for falling for it' even though she obviously references that he could twist them when they had their memories, i take it as aimed *at* Gortash. He's taken her sibling, her rival, and twisted them against what Father wanted to the point she found she had to and then was able to usurp them! And then, then he dares to take advantage of their amnesia and try and turn them against Bhaal once again. Anyway. Love this gal, she's a hoot.)

(also i forgot to screenshot but what do you MEAN Orin thought that the best way to impersonate Gale (who i had be the companion who got taken from camp - which i immediately reloaded to avoid bc im trying to do stuff for his character quest rn damnnit and it isn't time to go straight to the temple!) was to imply he ran away and that she castrated him??? that's so funny)

(Orin being described as a sulky child has got the brainworms (ha!) wriggling ngl)

(also it's always lae'zel. she's at max approval each time as well!! like couldn't it be Yenna or smthing? like have a whole 'look at the murder-kin thinking it can *protect* life? Trying to make up for all those you've cut shorter than this one?? Also i kind of need Lae'zel for heavy hitter stuff as well but we can push through for now!)

(Us in general is my fave part of this game. What do you mean that technically to the outside world my durge looks like she's wandering around with a dog, a cute kitten/cat and a raven (from the He Who Was reward gloves) trailing after her!? AHHH.)

DENIAL IS A RIVER IN EGYPT-

Durge why are you like this.

Is there truly anything bouncing between their tadpoles that isn't some form of sarcastic comment?

WHEN I TELL YOU I WAS KICKING MY FEET AND GIGGLING.

Like. Durge. this is so funny, you've known you were a bhaalspawn for like a *week* what do you MEAN you've already figured out appropriate blasphemes?"

THIS LINE RIGHT HERE IS WHAT INSPIRED MY ENTIRE FUCKING TAKE ON DURGE IN SCION ON SCION VIOLENCE. THIS IS THE FOUNDATION FOR MY INTERPRETATION OF 'THE URGES'

Literally i am not kidding when I say this is one of my fave lines. The context, of Karlach seeing her friend (maybe even her best friend, her fucking *sibling* in all but blood) getting to fix themselves, getting to choose to live knowing she can't, she's fucked it isn't going to work. And yet, she can only be proud. Makes everything hurt so bad-

*stares in that one playthrough where i didn't realise letting her kill the nightsong was her bad route and was like 'yeah lets let her become a justiciar* Yeah babes. It'd be a real shame wouldn't it. (also love her just as much as Karlach, like parallels)

look. I'm an astarion simp through and through and I DO NOT CARE THIS LINE GETS ME EACH TIME!! He's like. This is great and all but since we're not questioning what the fuck withers is im going to focus on the sickening sweetness and BLEH too much. Too much emotional trauma yet to be resolved this is a little nauseating ' i love him. so much.