#Mephistar

[narcisseart]

abandon all hope , there is only anger here .

[drownedrow]

Cania, The Eighth Layer (Envy)

[yenabeans]

what if we smooched in front of the Mephistar portal?

[aracnaregis]

@mephist4r : ❝ i've seen far more horrific beauty in darker places , little spider . ❞

@mephist4r

Lolth's laugh was a venomous melody, sweet and cruel all at once. "Oh, darling," she cooed, her voice dripping with derision. "And yet... You crawled out of those darker places only to find yourself here, still speaking to me. That says volumes, doesn't it?"

[feniksido]

Go over the plan one more time

[kirkhammr]

i love u...scary guys

[caniasfire]

the dash: giving each other gifts the amay and harleep @dvilsdesire subplot:

[not-poignant]

Things to expect that are absolutely spoilers for Palmarosa at some point:

Visiting at least one other circle of Hell (specifically Cania)

Meeting Raphael's father (some of you know who this is)

Meeting High Inquisitor Verillius Receptor (possibly meeting Archduchess Zariel)

A lot more politics around devil hierarchy

The return/cameo of at least one companion (I know who it is too and I know what storyline that is)

Haarlep definitely coming back

Visiting Waterdeep again

Visiting Baldur's Gate again

One of the reasons this story will be long is because even though it's all playing out like a bottle episode right now, we're actually going travelling and the cast shall be expanding.

Let's just give Astarion some time to settle in first, lol

[sankttealeaf]

writing while being unwell is so fun. do these words make sense? we'll see!! good luck editing me, i hope you can make sense of all this

[fallenbhaalspawn]

man i didnt know the full deal with the dark urge on cor's first playthrough but knowing that durge stole the crown of karsus from mephisto's vault does make raphael's speech in sharess' caress sound very threatening huh

[truly-sincerely]

Comprehensive Dead Three Timeline

Outdated! I've made a new timeline!

Obviously there's varying amounts of speculation here, but I believe this is as close to a reasonable order of events as can be achieved with current, in-game information

1460s

Enver Flymm sold to Raphael by his parents, renamed Gortash

Gortash learns about the Crown of Karsus while a prisoner of Raphael

1470s

Gortash escapes the House of Hope

Gortash gets involved with black market arms dealing

Durge begins their serial killing spree in Baldur’s Gate

The Emperor dominates Duke Stelmane

1480s

Gortash establishes a cult of Bane in Baldur’s Gate

Gortash approaches Durge about an alliance

Hall of Wonders test mission - Durge gets Bhaalist memorabilia - Gortash gets a bunch of Gondian designs - Durge & Gortash get companionship

Gortash trades Karlach to Zariel for infernal machinery & iron

Baldur’s Gate’s Beloved Ranger statue goes missing

Gortash recruits Franc Peartree to distribute infernal iron weapons

Gortash moves against the Zhentarim & Knights of the Shield

Wyll Ravengard enters pact with Mizora, leaves Baldur’s Gate

1490s

Dead Three made aware of the Crown of Karsus (most likely informed by Gortash) - Gortash becomes Bane’s Chosen - Durge becomes Bhaal’s chosen - Gortash & Durge are instructed to recruit Ketheric

Gortash tells Durge about the Crown of Karsus

They visit Ketheric and learn of the illithid colony under Moonrise

Gortash & Durge visit the House of Hope (for intel on Mephistar?)

Gortash & Durge raid Mephistar - They get the Crown of Karsus - They get the book on the accelerated grand design

Gortash captures the Emperor

Gortash & Durge return to Moonrise - Their identities are kept secret from Ketheric’s people - Durge impresses the Moonrise Gnolls, but not Steelclaw - Ketheric yells at Durge in the throne room for unknown reason

Durge proposes their plan to the Elder Brain who accepts

Raid on the illithid colony - Durge puts the Crown on the Elder Brain - Orin gets Durge alone during the raid & stabs them in the head - Orin tadpoles Durge, making them the first True Soul - Orin leaves Durge in an illithid pod - Orin tells the Chosen she now speaks for the Temple of Bhaal - Orin likely told Gortash, Ketheric, and Balthazar something vague about Durge’s disappearance being related to Durge’s religious crisis and let their imaginations do the rest

1492

Durge breaks out of their pod & is found by Kressa Bonedaughter

Gortash gets weird and intense with unethical experiments - Some futzing to get the tadpoles to consistently remain in stasis - This is when the name ‘True Souls’ gets coined - Extremely questionable fun with brains - Getting the Absolute’s voice sorted out - Tadpoling his parents - Poorly conceived experiments on children & their parents

Isobel is resurrected by the Dead Three

Minsc captured by Absolutists at recruitment rally in the Undercity

Minthara Baenre is recruited by Orin and Ketheric

Gortash has the Iron Throne converted to hold hostages

Gortash presents prototype Steel Watcher to the city council

Jaheira tracks cult to shadow-cursed land, meets Isobel

Elturel falls into Avernus

The brain sends the Chosen dreams about the Astral Prism

Gortash researches the Prism, finds out that Vlaakith has it

Gortash tells Ketheric to send a team to get the Prism - A nautiloid piloted by the Emperor and other illithid is sent - Kressa’s husband arranged for Durge to be on the nautiloid

Gortash deploys Steel Watch in Lower/Outer City

At this point Elturel is no longer in Avernus

Nautiloid picks up Shadowheart & the Prism from Astral Plane

Nautiloid picks up Lae’zel (?)

Nautiloid picks up Gale (?) & Astarion in Baldur's Gate

Nautiloid picks up Karlach & Wyll in Avernus

Nautiloid crashes, game begins

[narcisseart]

bilé - character design . first draft .

[bitethedevil]

If Raphael was supposed to be Gortash dad (makes sense they even share the same outfit style and all) maybe that explains Haarlep? His dad was feed up with Raphael having kids (worthless to him)

Yes! It does make all the sense in the world, to be honest. Especially since everyone except the Archdevils aren’t really supposed to have sex or reproduce. Haarlep as a gift makes much more sense in the context that Raphael had stuck his dick where he shouldn’t, and Papa wasn’t having it.

I got all the information from this link where they talk a lot about the House of Hope and Raphael as a character and there were some interesting things in there that I had no idea about.

Gortash’ clothes and all the parallels between those two make even better sense if they were actually related. It makes less sense that someone who was essentially a captive should wear clothes that represent their captor.

We were also supposed to be taken to Mephistar to meet Mephistopheles after defeating Raphael. The thing we saw in the scrying orb thingy was supposed to be a whole thing, but they scrapped it.

We were supposed to meet Papa Meph and he was supposed to thank us for getting rid of Raphael. It only proves what I’ve always thought about him: Raphael isn’t just some wittle cambion dude with a superiority complex (well he is ALSO that but). He must at least be somewhat good at playing the game since goddamn Mephistopheles himself could not get rid of him and seems thankful that he finally doesn’t have to deal with him.

Back to the thing with Gortash: It would also just be that much more tragic in a way. It’s the perfect example of children inheriting the same shit from their fathers, and it would be tied together perfectly if we actually saw Mephistopheles too.

Imagine this:

We meet Gortash and learn about his past. We learn that he’s Raphael’s kid and suddenly everything makes sense. Raphael has been a distant, shitty father so Gortash broke off to do his own thing and learned how to be independent.

We then kill Raphael and meet Mephistopheles, who is just like “thanks for killing my shitstain son! Cheers” and eats him in front of our eyes. It doesn’t take much deducing that Raphael grew up in much the same way. He broke off with his dad. He became independent. He sought his own power. And when he got a kid, he treated them exactly how he grew up anyway.

The cycle of abuse and everything. The story is already sort of there with Gortash, even though they were not blood-related, but it would have tied it all together in such a fascinating way.

Also, the fact that Raphael’s son stole the very thing he desired himself the most. Imagine the bitterness of your son succeeding where you couldn’t. That in itself has most likely been Raphael’s wet dream his whole life, and now his son succeeded in doing it instead of himself.

Like I said, many of these elements are still somewhat present in the current storyline, but it would really just have hammered it home.

(Thank you for the ask <3 Sorry I started rambling lol)

[chimkennuggies]

It started as a joke between a friend and I, now I'm not sure what it is bc I've spend too much time drawing/writing stuff related to them that I've actually ended up getting invested in this crackship.

Anyway

HEAR ME OUT WITH RAPHAEL X CAZADOR

Just let me explain, they're both AWFUL and suck so much LIKE- THE POTENTIAL, THE TOXICITY, + they both like poetry and are theatre kids I just know it.

Also, I made an AU were instead of actually dying, after being killed by the protagonists party both Cazador and Raphael end up in the Hells, being more specific, in Mephistar and double punishment bc they can't stand each other at first and they both want to return to they former life and stuff.

ANYWAY, long story short, kind of an enemies to allies to extremely toxic lovers to actually strangely decent lovers bc tbh I'm a sucker for tragic villain stories and these two have the backstory and the vibes to just fit into that (their narcissism and egomaniacal traits and behaviour have captivated me).

Btw they're t4t bc I'm trans and I say so.

I do have LOTS of stuff of them bc tbh I've been having quite the brainrot with this shit, so I'll be uploading more of it in the future idgaf.

[coyote-ralyn]

Mephistar Laboratory

Now you're my favorite guinea pig. 😏 Mephistopheles/Cazador

[feniksido]

For some reason my post about the Heist in the Hells has been getting some traction recently so I thought maybe it's time to talk about my actual thoughts on what I would like to see in the hypothetical Heist in the Hells DLC (my personal hell)

I was trying to figure out a whole bunch of stuff about Mephistopheles and the 8th layer of the hells! First, the vaults are in Mephistar, a citadel on top of a Glacier named Nargus, which is piloted by Mephisto all over Cania constantly on the move. Mephisto has his slowly melting throne at the very center of the glacier, and the rest of the city is like a mini-hell with 3 terraced levels where the lowest level is with “lowly least devils” and mid tier for mid devils i guess and then hellfire masters and nobles and the wizards on the third higher levels. It’s heated on the inside of Mephistar! It has baths and scented fires (not sure what they smell like but I assume something other than fire?)

The rest of Cania is just like barren wasteland full of just the weirdest left over arcane energy cus of Mephisto’s experimentation, its cold as fuck and it has constant surveillance against spies, mostly spies sent by Dispater, mr THE Arms Dealer of all the planes, so you know that motherfucker mephistopheles is very used to these types of people showing up and trying to go into the vaults and such

NOW Helsik very specifically used the words “I punched a portal into the Archdevil’s dusty vaults”, so I assume it was directly into the vaults that they fell into. I'm not sure how this is even possible but i'm not one to ask questions that i will never understand the answers to (lying, im seething) 

However, regardless of the fact that I don't know how Helsik the queen that she is did that, she did do it. I imagine the vaults are huge and incredibly elaborate and probably several stories? Layers? Deep. The items and scrolls and information must all be neatly cataloged and kept track of in the most particular way because Mephistopheles is nothing if not obsessively controlling of all his knowledge and information

However the whereabouts of the actual physical objects must be like.. Constantly changing or magically protected so that those with no authorization cannot find their way through the vaults

Mephistopheles’s filing system is… insane but i do think he would keep track. Or make someone else keep track. He’s very busy. He typically hands down experiments he ran out of time to deal with in his busy schedule to his lessers so I wouldn't put it past him to have someone else also take care of the cataloging. The Crown of Karsus is NOT high on his priority list so i understand how this was potentially feasible to Gortash and The Dark Urge

Actually Talking about the heist itself now: 

I imagine that if a whole heist dlc (don't think we’re getting one but a man can dream) did happen it would start with a bit of exposition. Probably explaining a little bit of the Letters between Durge and Gortash. Specifically these ones:

Then we cut to a scene where they’re already at Helsik’s place. They’ve discussed the plans in depth, they’ve been doing test runs for this in the House of Hope and now it’s time for the real deal. 

Helsik “punches” the portal into the Vaults and they jump in. The portal closes behind them, Helsik will not allow herself to be implicated in anything. They take in their surroundings; they have to be quick, although it is heated inside of Mephistar the frigidness of Cania cuts deeper than anything Baldur’s Gate could ever manage. I imagine that they, having never been here before, look for something that can help them navigate/orient themselves in the vaults. Perhaps that whole cataloging system I talked about earlier. You can choose to ignore it and just go straight forwards checking every room making it substantially harder and less efficient which makes Gortash a little pissy at you for not taking his advice and helping him look for that or you can look around for one but the actual system for cataloging is encrypted 

Maybe a mini puzzle game can take place here, like the one with the brain in Moonrise Towers 

The thingy would then lead deeper into vaults where they would fight Gelugons (the main residents of the 8th layer also known as ice devils) and other assorted devils including pit fiends and pain devils. Maybe a couple dire polar bears also who knows who Mephisto but on his security team

At one point i want to come across an ice devil that much like Yurgir in the house of hope in act 3, can be convinced to side with you and become a temporary ally (perhaps it holds resentment towards Hutijin, mephistopheles’ second in command, and just got sick and tired of the monotony and wants to stick it to the man, i just want a devil in my party even for a second) 

If you manage to successfully persuade this devil to join you, Gortash might be impressed and tell you about how tricking a devil is no easy feat, you can ask him to elaborate on that and he might tell you a bit about his time in the house of hope as Raphael’s unwilling guest Who knows

Moving on, I’d like several more puzzles to delve deeper into the vaults, some that lead nowhere some that lead exactly where you need to go, if you did the earlier puzzle Gortash will be able to guide you and say which ones lead nowhere and which ones are the ones you need to do 

Eventually I want a mechanically engineered door to be the next hurdle which Gortash takes upon himself to solve on his own since he’s more well suited towards this kind of thing, during this, rounds and rounds of incoming security swarm around you both, and Durge has to defend Gortash while he works on getting the door open. Much like the quest for Halsin looking for Thaniel in the Shadowfell, you gotta keep the portal open but instead of “keep the portal open” its “keep Gortash alive and not distracted”

When the rounds of enemies are done you get a little cutscene where you see Durge being overwhelmed by the many devils and it cuts to Gortash who has just opened the door and he takes less than a second’s pause before he decides that instead of going through the door and escaping to relative safety on his own, leaving durge to die he helps durge and they are both able to get through the door sealing it behind them, now in relative safety, they both take a second to breathe 

You as durge now can talk to Gortash and have the dialogue options to say Thank you, scold him for dragging you away from the bloody slaughter, or question his decision to come back for you

I THINK IN MY MIND that the response for all these options would basically be the same, because Gortash is a well practiced speaker and knows exactly what to say but his body language would sort of give him away for the way he’s feeling about the option you choose 

Thanking him would lead to a more defensive “pushing away” way of saying “I still require your assistance, we’re not done. Don’t expect it to happen again.” tsundere ass but like imagine that but better written 

Scolding him would get a sorta like “I cant fucking believe this” as if he expected durge to be a little more practical about things and not lose focus in the madness that was that slaughter and rampage, like i said still the same but just “Argh! I still require your assistance! We are NOT done. DO NOT expect it to happen again if you intend to act this way.” He needs you to focus, not lose yourself in blood

Questioning and challenging his decision but not outright saying you disapprove would probably be playing right into the whole “equals who challenge each other” thing that he likes to do so it’d probably make him slow down, talk slower, make him really think about why he did it and do the thing where while talking he can't look at Durge in the eyes so he looks off to the side or down at the floor “I still need your help. We’re nowhere near done. Let’s not expect this to happen again, yes?” Like acknowledging that yes that was in fact weakness that neither of their masters tolerate (because obviously the correct thing a baneite would have done is let the bhaalspawn die so that he alone already so close to the crown could take it for himself) and almost regretful that he didn't have a better excuse

You continue forward and finally come into the room with the Crown of Karsus and the portfolio labeled “Accelerated Grand Design”, there they encounter a boss fight, probably not mephisto himself cus they’d be dead tbh but maybe a simulacrum or something idk here things get a bit dicey for me cus what the fuck! How do they get out? I thought maybe they do the fight and once they grab everything they need or want they maybe have an enhanced cloak of dimension door or maybe a scroll of teleportation or something to get them out of the deep deep VAULTS themselves and into a place where they can ��safely” create another circle on this side with the components and specific instructions Helsik gave them 

They’d arrive home back in Baldur’s Gate and celebrate their victory briefly and bada bing bada boom the dlc is over. If i had it my way at the end right there those two idiot geniuses would get so horny from the powerrush and bloodlust they just experienced that they end the dlc with durgetash fucking nasty