#agent-underdark

[dailyadventureprompts]

Adventure: Along the Kobold Street

Folk in Eldriton have been complaining about the muddy streets for over a generation, ever since their humble settlement grew from Eldrit village into a proper town. Traffic and merchant wagons churn the streets to mud even days after the rain, and the party notably have to slog through it to reach the inn on their first night.

Imagine everyone's surprise when folk awaken to discover a fresh swath of new cobbles along the town's main thoroughfare, appearing as if my magic in the dead of night. Some are wary but others are perplexedly elated, and the general mood is only further confused when it's discovered that the mayor's manor has been stripped down to it's wooden skeleton while he slept inside it.

Adventure Hooks:

Garbed in only his night shirt and clinging to a third story support beam, the mayor hollers at onlookers, alternating between demands for rescue and threats thrown at those carrying off his furniture and possessions, which have been neatly laid in the street for all to see. The frame of the disassembled manor creeks ominously, threatening collapse, and intercession by the party will likely earn them a significant reward if they don't bring the whole structure down on themselves. Or they could nick some valuables before the guards arrive and make a run for it.

The culprits in this perplexing case turn out to be warren 568, a collective of kobolds who've been moving into the region over the past couple months after their underdark tunnels brought them close enough to the surface to hit sunlight. They've proven themselves to be fine enough neighbours buying up provisions and trading tin with the local craftsmen, but there's an inevitable clash of cultures going on here. The kobolds don't get town people, why their leaders are allowed not to pull their weight and why an inefficiency like the muddy roads was allowed to persist. Then a couple of weeks back a few of their proquirers got to chatting with some market people and they overheard the rumour that the mayor never got around to seeing the roads paved because he was too busy building out his impressive home. "Ah" say the kobolds to themselves, already working out the logistics "we're good neighbours, let us fix that for you."

Days later, an old warehouses collapse in the night and tiny tools are found amid the rubble. The rumormill turns and folk start to whisper that the kobolds are intent on taring down all their houses in their mad act of "generosity". As it turns out, this is a ploy by a few of the local materials merchants to oust the kobolds for undercutting them. They hope to turn the unrest over the manor into active distrust.

Obviously aggrieved, the mayor wants the kobolds gone, and is willing to offer the party a tidy reward to infiltrate their mine and collapse some of the tunnels, bodycount be damned. If they keep to their principles and abstain from this bloodmoney they'll eventually be called in by the local reeve, apparently the mayor found bigger idiots with less scruples and she wants the party to find them before they instigate a massacre.

If the worse comes to pass and the mine collapses, the party may find themselves trapped in the underadark with some very distraught kobolds and no obvious way back to the surface.

Finally, if you're running with a new group of players or starting a fresh campaign consider using Eldriton as your "first town", a stopoff after the tutorial dungeon where the heroes were perhaps sent on a mission from the reeve so they can know her ahead of time. This adventure is pretty low stakes but offers a lot of opportunities for the group to decide who they are, be it opportunistic thieves, armature detectives, callous sellswords, or agents of order.

Artsource

[galedekarios]

gale's early access dialogue transcripts - part 3: dialogues regarding various decisions & quest progression

in early access, companions used to react much more to the decisions you made in dialogue as well as the overall quest progression pertaining to the main quest as well as side quests, and the events happening around them.

these conversations would be shorter in nature and were usually marked with an exclamation mark ( ! ) over their head.

some of these conversations survived the transition from early access to the full release, but they are very few and far between. the only ones that did survive are 1) gale's reaction to nettie poisoning the protag, 2) gale's reaction to saving mirkon, and 3) gale's reaction to saving arabella.

gale was much, much more responsive in early access and had conversations with the protag about a variety of topics.

following are all cut conversations / dialogues with gale (excluding the deer stew scene and loss scene, which i have covered here and here, but have decided to exclude because they are much longer conversations):

overview:

jergal's temple

reaching the druid's grove / emerald enclave

arabella the tiefling child dies / protag stood by and did nothing

protag killed lae'zel after lae'zel tried to prevent them from turning into a mind flayer

karlach vs anders, the paladin of tyr / agent of zariel

after edowin / the siblings brynna and andrick

killing the druids

arriving at the goblin camp

finding out that the absolute's brand is magic

about true souls

dror ragzlin & the dead mindflayer

ogre + bugbear couple in moonhaven

giving the necromancy of thay tome to gale (dialogue option in player-initiated dialogue / gale asks for tome)

on ethel

on ethel's deal

after finishing mayrina's quest

the zhentarim chest / rugan

the myconid colony in the underdark

defending astarion to gandrel the gur monster hunter

handing astarion over to gandrel the gur monster hunter

arka the tiefling (kanon's sister) kills sazza the goblin / protag stood by and watched it happen

letting sazza escape

finding out about priestess gut from sazza

below the read more, you'll find the transcripts of these 23 cut conversations.

where i can and still have them, i will include screenshots and, when i can find them online, i will include links to watch those conversation in video format.

jergal's temple [link to gifset]

Gale: Bad form, isn't it? Grave robbing? Judging by those undead guardians, the architects of this crypt certainly thought so. - Protag Option 1: I'm desperate, not proud. Best to take what I can get.  Gale: Then again, to be alive is to be curious.  - Protag Option 2: Dressing up the dead is pointless. They have no need for trinkets.  Gale: Never lost a loved one, have you? Then again, those who loved these loved ones are dust and bones themselves. - Protag Option 3: A good fight and fine treasure. What's not to like? Gale: I suppose that's one way to spin it. - Protag Option 4: Why care about decorum in a long-abandoned tomb? Gale: Because my mother raised a gentleman. Then again, to be alive is to be curious.  - Protag Option 5 [Cleric]: True. My god might not be particularly happy about it. Gale: You can pray for your sins later. I’m told that does the trick. Gale: Let's have a look at the loot. It isn't for your pockets only.

2. reaching the druid's grove / emerald enclave

Gale: So much for finding a safe haven. - Protag Option 1: This is a druid grove. With a bit of luck we'll find help here.  Gale: Druids master the ancient magic that is part of nature's fabric itself. They can make bloom, and they can make wither. Let's hope the latter applies to tadpoles.  - Protag Option 2: We won't linger long.  Gale: And we shouldn't – but we'd be remiss not to give the place a once-over. Druids master the ancient magic that is part of nature's fabric itself. They can make bloom, and they can make wither. Let's hope the latter applies to tadpoles. 

3. arabella the tiefling child dies / protag stood by and did nothing [link to gifset]

Gale: This place is a snake pit in more ways than one. That poor girl... Such sudden madness.... And what did we do? We stood by and watched. Her parents – we'll have to tell them that we failed.  - Protag Option 1: Our priority remains to find a healer. The most dangerous snake is in our heads, remember? Gale: Distinctly. But it hasn't poisoned my sense of right and wrong just yet. How about yours? - Protag Option 2: We're here on Zevlor's behalf. Let's not lose sight of that.  Gale: Yes, nothing like serving up a dead child as the appetiser to successful negotiations. - Protag Option 3: Her parents deserve to know what happened. And that we are not to blame.  Gale: So inaction equals innocence? There's a small corpse on the floor over there that might just beg to differ. - Protag Option 4: This is none of our concern. Where there's strife, there will be blood. Gale: And where there's blood, there will be vengeance. This troubled grove is about to become far more troubled still. - [Arabella died because protag failed the DC twice] Protag Option 5: The girl really should have left the druid's idol alone. Look where it got her.  Gale: If the errors of youth deserve an early grave, none of us would live to see a dozen summers. There is no justification for this tragedy.

4. protag killed lae'zel after lae'zel tried to prevent them from turning into a mind flayer

Gale: Lae'zel... that was brutal. Are you all right? I'm here if you want to talk about it. - Protag Option 1: Is there anything left to say? Gale: She was alive. Now she is dead. Might be worth a few words. Then again, maybe not. What a night... - Protag Option 2: She was danger to us all. She didn't leave me with a choice.  Gale: I was not judging, merely offering my sympathy.  One moment we are travelling together, then the next... - Protag Option 3: Don't bother. It's over and done with.  Gale: Words as final as your acts. One moment we are travelling together, then the next...

5. karlach vs anders, the paladin of tyr / agent of zariel

Gale: I have to say I don't know if agreeing to this hunt was such a wise idea. Who's to say who's the real villain in this tale of devils and masquerades? - Protag Option 1: Cheer up! It'll be fun.  Gale: Yes, I used to sign up for a round of Kill-The-Stranger every tenday back home [sarcastic]. When we track Karlach down, let's chat before we chop. - Protag Option 2: You're saying I shouldn't trust a bunch of devil-sworn pretending to be paladins of Tyr? Gale: I'm saying I really shouldn't have to point that out. When we track Karlach down, let's chat before we chop. - Protag Option 3: It's easy: I say who the villain is. Gale: My, so it's you who is Tyr then, the mighty judge of justice?  Go ahead, tell them. I'm sure they'd love to fawn all over their erstwhile patron.

6. after edowin / the siblings brynna and andrick

Gale: I have to say, it's one thing to have a parasite in your head, quite another not to know it's there. What's more, these people weren't on the nautiloid with us. Just how many mind flayers are at work in these parts? - Protag Option 1: The real question is: how does this all link to their belief in this “Absolute”? Gale: Mind flayers excel -> See Option 3 - Protag Option 2: Do you really think there may be more mind flayers around? Gale: This True Soul and his acolytes are ample proof of that...  They 're ample proof of a dread suspicion as well.  - Protag Option 3: Let's move. I don't mean to lose daylight pondering idle questions.  Gale: You really do dismiss these events too casually. - Gale: Mind flayers excel at mind games. To enthral completely is their bread and butter. What if they perfected their craft by convincing their subjects they're not thralls at all, but that they have free will? That the commandments they experience are the will of a benevolent god. How terrifying a level of perfection that would be.

7. killing the druids

Gale: If Silvanus is the mighty oak, his druids were but the weakest of his leaves, tossed by the winds of fury. I can't shake the image of what happened to the grove: the winds have blown and the harvest has come. The oak stands lone and barren.  - Protag [Druid] Option 1: A grove destroyed... I dont think I can forgive myself. Gale: After winter, spring will come, but I'm not sure we left behind much fertile ground. - Protag [Druid] Option 2: The druids caused the harvest. It was only just we did the reaping. Gale: Yes, well, I prefer to pluck apples and pick strawberries. They don't tend to weigh on one's conscience. - Protag Option 3: They were in need of a lesson – and we taught it well. Gale: One usually needs to be alive to reap the benefits of education. If anything, we taught them too well.  - Protag Option 4: They felt threatened and lashed out. A tragedy I wish we could have avoided.  Gale: Their action are on them, that much is true, but the consequences are ours to carry - Protag Option 5: Come, let's move on. What's done is done. Gale: Look around you. What's done is done, but what's wrong is also wrong.

8. arriving at the goblin camp [link to gifset]

Gale: Amid all this grandeur sunk into squalor, I wonder what dismal corner we'll find Halsin in.  - Protag Option 1: Any suggestions? Gale: Prisoners are treated the same by everyone: they serve as serfs, or they waste away in a dungeon. Stands to reason we'll find Halsin in either one of these less-than-appealing conditions.  - Protag Option 2: What grandeur is that? Gale: This must have been a splendid complex once, a temple of impressive proportions. Worshippers lived here. Pilgrims visited. They required food, shelter, ceremony, entertainment. Now that it's nothing but a goblin-ridden death-trap? Plenty of places to hide away a druid, I imagine. - Protag Option 3: With our luck? Marinating in a cooking pot most likely. Gale: A hearty serving of druid stew wouldn't do us any good. No, let's hope the best and keep this in mind: Prisoners are treated the same by everyone: they serve as serfs, or they waste away in a dungeon. If he's still alive, it stands to reason we'll find Halsin in either one of these less-than-appealing conditions. Well -more-than-appealing conditions come to think of it, when one considers the stew alternative.

9. finding out that the absolute's brand is magic

Gut: Hold out your arm so I can mark your flesh. It's charged with magic. Ordinary slobs can't see it; only us that follow the Absolute.  Gale: Charged with magic? Perhaps that explains the ease with which these goblins submit to True Souls.

10. about true souls

Gale: I can hardly wrap my head around what we've just heard. Let's list up the facts, shall we? There are other people here with tadpoles in their heads. They can hear the tadpoles speak to them, and they think it's a new god. I don't know about you, but to me, none of this makes any logical sense.  - Protag Option 1: I concur. There doesn't seem to be a logical explanation. Gale: And yet I suspect something... intelligent behind it all. Some carefully nurtured scheme. - Protag Option 2: I'm seeing too many coincidences – which tend to add up to conspiracies.  Gale: Evil cults and grand designs, is it? Mind you, I'll not even dispute the possibility. - Protag Option 3: I don't care about logic, I care about solutions. Gale: I'm not sure those are mutually exclusive. If we seek to solve we must seek to comprehend.  - Gale: But let's not lose sight of what we've learned here – what joins us and what separates us from these True Souls: They heard a voice we do not hear, a voice that binds them in servitude. As long as we're possessed of our own free will, I venture to say there's hope for us yet.

11. dror ragzlin & the dead mindflayer

Gale: A grand necromantic spectacle staged at the behest of a newfangled god to track down... us. Can't quite say which of these two wins out: to be honoured or to be horrified. - Protag Option 1: The real question is: why are they looking for us? Gale: Several guesses spring to mind, all equally plausible and implausible at once. - Protag Option 2: Not to worry: we easily tricked that hobgoblin – and his god. Gale: We tricked the minion, yes, but its master? I doubt it. - Protag Option 3: Can't say I'm thrilled to be a god's pet project. Gale: Horrified it is then. - Gale: Fact is we're being hunted, but at least we have the hunters at a disadvantage: even here, in the lion's den, they don't recognise us as their prey.

12. ogre + bugbear couple in moonhaven

Gale: One moment they were embracing each other in intimacy, the next they're embracing only death. Can't say I'm proud of our actions here.  - Protag Option 1: Me either. We should have left well enough alone Gale: Don't get me wrong, I know they'd have gladly made us their post-coital picnic given half a chance. It just feels wrong to turn lovemaking into life-taking.  - Protag Option 2: Playing it a bit fast and loose with the word 'intimacy' there, Gale. Gale: I'm not contemplating definitions, I'm contemplating our deeds. Don't get me wrong, I know they'd have gladly made us their post-coital picnic given half a chance. It just feels wrong to turn lovemaking into life-taking.  - Protag Option 3: Don't dwell on it. Ogres and bugbears are nothing but vermin. Gale: And yet they speak and bond and revel. Don't get me wrong, I know they'd have gladly made us their post-coital picnic given half a chance. It just feels wrong to turn lovemaking into life-taking.

13. giving the necromancy of thay tome to gale (dialogue option in player-initiated dialogue / gale asks for tome)

Gale: Much obliged. Narrator: you watch Gale perusing the book with a true wizard's fascination. A few pages in, something startles him.  Gale: A rough read indeed... I'll give it my undivided attention at a more appropriate time.

14. on ethel

Gale: You know, I think there's a little something more to Ethel than meets the eye. 'Hag' is the word they used.  If that's what she really is, she's beyond dangerous.  - Protag Option 1: If that's what she is, that means we killed two innocent men. Gale: But theit sister still lives. And I doubt Auntie has her over for tea and conversation. - Protag Option 2: Hags are powerful creatures. She might actually be able to help us with the parasite.  Gale: See Option 3 - Protag Option 3: She hinted at a reward. That's all I really care about. Gale: Beware of a hag bearing gifts. They're never gifts to begin with.

15. on ethel's deal

Gale: Netherese. A portentous word. Combine it with mind flayers, and it's... unspeakable. - Protag Option 1: What do you make of it all? Gale: What we can do is combine what we know and make our deductions. At the heart of it all, the problem is clear: we've been infected by a mind flayer parasite. So far, however, we've been spared the dread fate that is ceremorphosis. How have we been spared? It would seem the answer is that the parasite is somehow infused with Netherese magic – more powerful, more sinister than it has any right to be. The question remains, however: why? Infected, but unchanging. Blind cogs in an all-seeing machine. - Protag Option 2: If even a hag can't help us, who can? Gale: I... I actually don't know. All we can do is combine what we know and make our deductions- See Option 1 - Protag Option 3: It's all gibberish as far as I'm concerned. Gale: No, there's meaning to it. There has to be.  All we can do is combine- See Option 1 - Protag Option 4: None of this actually solves our problems. Gale: I know, but let's consider this: at the heart of it all, not only is our problem clear, but so is the motive of our enemy: power. All power has a nexus. Find it, and we may just find both the answers and the remedy we seek. - Protag Option 5: Get to the point if you have one. Gale: I was merely thinking out loud, but if you desire a point, consider this: See Option 4 - Protag Option 6: Enough talk. Let's go. Gale: Fine, but while we walk, consider this: See Option 4

16. after finishing mayrina's quest [link to gifset]

Gale: Hags really do redefine depravity, don't they? A promise kept in the cruellest of ways: a loved one returned, undead.  - Protag Option 1: This entire affair sickens me. I wish we'd had no part in it. Gale: We don't always choose the roles we play. All we can do is perform them to the best of our ability.  [Connor killed] At least the curtain's fallen on this tragedy. The lovers' tale is quite over.  [Connor alive] Can't say I'm very enthusiastic though, about the extra you just cast. - Protag Option 1: Hags thrive on corruption. It is simply their nature Gale: A nature that, as far as I'm concerned, deserves to go extinct.  [Connor killed] As extinct as the happiness Ethel cut out of Mayrina. [Connor alive] So does that abhorrent thing-once-man. For god's sake let his eternal sleep be free of this undead nightmare. - Protag Option 3: You have to admit Auntie Ethel knows how to have some fun. Gale: [disapproves] You can't possibly mean that.  [Connor killed] In any case, the man's dead for good. The spectacle has come to a close. Fun's over.  [Connor alive] Although, judging by the newest company you've decided to keep, you may just be depraved enough yourself to mean that after all.

17. the zhentarim chest / rugan

Gale: So you threatened your way into ownership of that chest. Now that it's yours, what will you do with it? - Protag Option 1: I say we hold on to it until we find the rightful owner. Gale: So that means you're not curious as to what's inside? Very well, suit yourself... - Protag Option 2: Let's seell it. We're bound to make a tidy profit.  Gale: See Option 1 - Protag Option 3: I will do what is meant to be done with a sealed chest: open it. Gale: Music to my curious ears!

18. the myconid colony in the underdark [link to gifset]

Gale: Spores that can raise the dead... These myconids certainly are fascinating creatures.  Protag Option 1: They make for good allies.  Gale: Agreed. And there are precious few of those in the Underdark. - Protag Option 2: They're more dangerous than I thought. We should be on our guard.  Gale: They will remain welcome hosts unless we turn hostile. Should be easy enough to avoid. - Protag Option 3: Sorry, but I don't share your fascination for fungi.  Gale: Nobody's perfect. 

19. defending astarion to gandrel the gur monster hunter [link to youtube video]

[Protag defends Astarion] Gale: How thoroughly invigorating it is to stand by one's friend in the face of danger. Even if that friend is an egomaniacal vampire with moral longevity of a mayfly. - Protag Option 1: We did the right thing and that's all there is to it. Gale: It's charming that you think that. - Protag Option 2: Are you saying that you would have thrown Astarion to the wolves? Gale: Never. What harm did the wolves ever do? - Protag Option 3: I'll remember you skepticism if anyone ever comes looking for you. Gale: ?

20. handing astarion over to gandrel the gur monster hunter

[Protag hands Astarion over to Gandrel the Gur Monster Hunter] Gale: I had a friend who had a dog once. Beautiful animal, but it got mean in its old days. Gale: It would growl and bark at everyone. Even bit him at the end. Gale: Yet still it was the saddest of occasions when he took the dog away for good. - Protag Option 1: It was for the best, I'm sure. Gale: I'm not sure the dog would agree. Gale: Astarion wouldn't. I'm absolutely sure of that. - Protag Option 2: Parting is never easy. Gale: ? - Protag Option 3: Put the mongrel down, did he? Gale: ?

21. arka the tiefling (kanon's sister) kills sazza the goblin / protag stood by and watched it happen [link to gifset]

Gale: Arka's thirst for revenge has been sated... and the goblin welcomed death with open arms. All's well with the world one might argue. And yet there's something unsettling about witnessing an execution. - Protag Option 1: I take no pleasure in it, but justice has been done. Gale: No one will mourn this goblin I suppose. Let's leave it at that. - Protag Option 2: Somehow that sounds a condemnation. Gale: I condemn nothing - but a question can be a mirror: Gale: If it's guilt you see reflected, the condemnation is your own. - Protag Option 3: I have no patience for the squeamish. Gale: You imply a weakness. I say a critical mind is one of our greatest strengths.

22. letting sazza the goblin escape

Gale: I know I said it's not inconceivable a goblin priestess could help us. And yet... was it really wise to set another goblin free so she can arrange introductions? - Protag Option 1: Passing up the promise of a healer would be far more unwise. Gale: A perfectly reasonable train of thoughts. But what if she leads her entire tribe to the grove? - Protag Option 2: What's done is done. Doubt doesn't help us.  Gale: I'm not quite done yet. What if she leads her entire tribe to the grove? - Protag Option 3: Keep your misgivings to yourself. Gale: But consider the consequences. What if she leads her entire tribe to the grove? -> Protag Option 1: I'll make sure that doesn't happen Gale: I'm not sure you can. - Protag Option 2: Getting rid of the tadpole comes first. Otherwise we might be the monsters that destroy this place. Gale: Harsh. But fair. If not given too much further thought. - Protag Option 3: I don't care, I owe this grove no allegiance. Gale: No allegiance, no. Though we don't need to sign its death warrant.

23. finding out about priestess gut from sazza

Gale: Booyahg – the goblin word for magic. Primitive to a fault, but not entirely without merit. To seek some goblin priestess' help would be unconventional to say the least. Then again, I'm not one to advocate conventionality.  - Protag Option 2: A goblin healer sounds absurd to me. Gale: I wouldn't dismiss the idea out of hand. Goblins come from a warrior culture: to heal wounds is a highly prized skill. - Protag Option 1: I don't care if a cure comes from a goblin, an ogre, or an orc: as long as it works, I'm happy.  Gale: My sentiments exactly.  - Gale: If this priestess is indeed a master in the arts of booyahg, it's not inconceivable she could be of help to us. And if she isn't, we might find items of interest among her shamanic paraphernalia. If her tribe doesn't kill us on sight, that is.

thank you for reading! please consider liking and reblogging this post to support my work. thank you.

coming up next:

-part 1: the three tadpole dreams -> completed -part 2: major cut scenes: the deer stew scene & the loss scene -> completed -part 3: minor cut scenes: abandoned temple of jergal, failed to save arabella, talking to the paladins of tyr and agreeing to go after karlach, edowin and the tadpole reveal, mayrina giving ethel's wand to her or breaking it, handing astarion over to the gur or defending him, reaching the druid grove, killing lae'zel, reaching the goblin camp & looking for halsin, killing the druids, priestess gut & the brand & the cult of the absolute, dror ragzlin and talking to the dead mind flayer, ogre couple, necromancy of thay, ethel, zhentarim chest, myconid colony -> completed with this post -part 4: gale's condition & the way it was treated in early access

taglist: @chainsawmascara, @randomfanner, @tacogoats, @khajiit-necromancer, @gwinharper, @galesenchantedpanties, @swampfaerie, @ardently-queer, @nirraein, @gale-enjoyer, @xiv-wolfram, @kairoswouldnever, @a-psychopathic-dream, @toboldlydammitjim, @mishtress, @vcxahlia, @fitzmagus,

i thought i'd tag the people i'd seen taking an interest in my original post! if you want to be taken off the taglist, or added, please let me know!

[lunastrophe]

Drow Lore 🕷️ Dangerous Merchants

Drow merchants are often not who they seem to be. Some of them are more or less independent information brokers, selling not only goods, but also knowledge to those who can pay for it. Some others secretly work for noble drow houses, occasionally serving as their spies, agents or assassins.

Normally, the drow merchants' first and foremost priority is to ensure the prosperity of their business, but they are often fine with taking an additional assignment now and then - for a fee, of course, or in exchange for other benefits.

In the Icewind Dale series we can meet a great example of a prosperous drow merchant who is much more powerful than he seems to be at first glance - Nym.

🕷️ Polite Drow Merchant - Nym can be found in the hidden svirfneblin village in the Lower Dorn's Deep and after being approached, he greets the player characters in drow language:

"Mallan uss, dis malli usstan tal tanas talthalra. Usstan zha Nym."

This line contains some drow words from canon sources and some others that seem to be distorted - but it can probably be translated as: Honoured one, you honour me with this meeting. I am Nym.

Nym is always exceptionally polite while talking to adventurers, referring to them as "honored customers" - however, soon it becomes clear that under this veneer of politeness and almost-friendliness, there is a cold, cunning and manipulative mind.

🕷️ Profit And Self Above All Else - when the player character points out that it is strange to see a dark elf in a village of deep gnomes, since svirfneblin typically hate drow, Nym replies casually:

"Dire need overcomes simple hatred in periods of duress. I am a businessman. Petty racial differences are irrelevant in my dealings. The deep gnomes have gems. I have goods. It's an excellent relationship. Most profitable."

Since svirfneblin from Lower Dorn's Deep are in deplorable situation, doing business with them - or maybe rather taking advantage of their misfortune and lack of other options - must be "most profitable" indeed.

Nym also tries to take advantage of the visiting adventurers: he buys even quite valuable items cheaply, but his prices are high; he offers special services (enchanting a shield), but demands an outrageous amount of gold as a payment; he is also a slippery negotiator - if you are not careful, you may end up paying him way too much for a simple dagger +2.

But as it turns out, in the past Nym was doing much worse things for a profit.

🕷️ Skilled Thief - the player character can ask Nym about his profession, commenting that being an Underdark merchant sounds like a possibly dangerous and short career. Nym replies calmly that for many, it is, but then states:

"However, I have been in this trade for over four hundred years. I have seen my way into and out of places that no other dark elf has ever seen. You'd be surprised how powerful a single merchant can be."

He is clearly proud of his accomplishments and cannot resist boasting a bit:

"I have seen many things, been many places. The gem mines of Thay aren't quite as frightening as some might lead you to believe. The depths of the Moonsea aren't filled with undead. Oh, and the treasury of Dorn's Deep wasn't very secure even when it was inhabited by the dwarves."

Why is the information about the treasury of Dorn's Deep so important?

🕷️ Nym's Stratagem - sometime after 900 DR, the elves from the fortress known as Hand of the Seldarine and the dwarves from Dorn's Deep formed an alliance and together they created many powerful artifacts. At some point, though, many of those artifacts mysteriously vanished from the treasury and inexplicably fell into the hands of enemies - orcs and goblins. The elves accused the dwarves for secretly supplying the orcs and ultimately, the alliance was severed. The war that came after destroyed both nations.

The vanishing of artifacts was apparently Nym's doing:

"The darthiir [elven] and dwarven artifacts produced by the so-called "Time of Cooperation" were too valuable to resist. Selling the artifacts to the goblinoid armies was the best business decision I ever made. It had so many angles to play. The stupid goblins went bankrupt just to buy artifacts that they couldn't use properly. The dwarves who were threatening to attack some drow outposts were implicated, and the darthiir slit their own throats when they decided to wage war against the goblins and dwarves. Silly elves."

🕷️ Drow Cause - Nym's words about "dwarves threatening to attack some drow outposts" suggest that he was acting not only for his own benefit, but also for the benefit of some local drow community - likely Rilauven, drow city located below the caverns of Lower Dorn's Deep.

Was Nym supported, or maybe even employed and sponsored by Rilauvenian drow? Or was he acting independently - and making the entire drow city owing him a debt was only a side consequence of his plan?

It is not really known - but when we meet Nym several decades later during the events of Icewind Dale II, he seems to be on good terms with Rilauvenian leaders like Malavon Despana and he even works for them...

Also, in one of the books that can be found in game, we can find this note:

"It is rumored that a dark elf by the name of 'Nym' was the individual truly responsible for the fall of the Hand. Through magical means he entered the vaults of the dwarves, stole their artifacts, and sold them to the goblinoid armies. He then sat back and watched as the elves and dwarves destroyed their alliance with accusations of guilt.

It is speculated that Nym did this to remove a significant threat to the drow population in the area of the Hand. With the elves and dwarves vanquished, the drow were free to claim their territory as their own with no consequence..."

🕷️ So, to sum things up - beware of the Underdark drow merchants... especially the ones who somehow manage to stay in this dangerous business for centuries.

For more of my drow lore ramblings, feel free to check my pinned post 🕷️

[caffinedragon]

He knows what happened, he just doesn't feel like anyone would care.

This is a little long but it has been bothering me after i have seen several posts on how Halsin didn't realize what happened to him in the Underdark.

I have a different opinion:

Have people ever considered that Halsin talks that way about his trauma because of how little he believes people would care, and not that he doesn't understand what happened to him?

Now, I am speaking from my own personal experience as someone who has faced a lot of trauma(Nothing sexual thankfully) and who has been put in a semi leadership adjacent position during or after experiencing it, and let me tell ya, you quickly learn how much of a one sided affair that is.

From a young age I ended up being the person everybody in my friend group came to for advice and help, something I had taken pride in. However, I wouldn't realize how lonely that was until I was in my early 20's when the first time I tried to reach out for a fraction of that help I gave out back I got a response along the lines of, "Your life is so much better than mine, what do you need help for?"

And do you know what that does to someone?

I will tell ya.

You shut the fuck down.

You feel like you don't have the right to reach out for help.

Your the strong one.

Your the one everybody needs to look up to.

Your the one everyone believes is unshakable.

You don't need help.

You can do this all on your own.

Sound Familiar?

I am not in the camp that he doesn't understand what happened to him.

It's been 200 years at least and he didn't live most of his life in a society with social rules, forced power dynamics and complex politics and gender norms.

He knows what happened to him was horrific and wrong.

He knows how nature works. He studies it.

I doubt he is ignorant of the fact that the mind and body can operate separately.

He wouldn't be able to control his wild shape otherwise.

He tells you how he feared for his life and wanted to escape.

He explains how he was biding his time in order to survive.

Ever hear of undercover agents getting too deep and forgetting they were undercover?

But, despite this, he has also been around people long enough to notice how people might perceive his story.

he has interacted with people long enough to know that not everyone would be understanding.

I firmly believe that he talks the way he does about his trauma because he knows how people not only react to his physical appearance, but how they view him as this wise and strong unbreakable leader.

He said it himself, "People who see someone my size don't think i can get hurt or have feelings."

He talks like that about it because he has been made to feel that no one would care if he actually broke down.

To be able to do that, you need to trust the other person not to judge you or blow you off.

It puts you in an incredibly vulnerable position.

A vulnerable position Halsin couldn't really afford to put himself in due to everything that happened after.

Unless you have been in that position, you have no idea how scary that is.

And the only way to change that, is to find someone or someones, that allow you to be weak in front of them without judgement.

Which, even in this day and age, is very hard to do.

I am lucky that i have my best friend of 30+ years who let me realize that i had someone i could be weak in front of.

Halsin doesn't have and i think has ever had someone to be weak in front of by the time of the start of the game.

I know how hard it was to let my walls down at 36.

I cant imagine how hard that would be at 350.

If he can at all.

tl;dr: Halsin knows what happened to him was awful and horrific. He just believes no one would care if he spoke about it seriously because "People believe someone my size cant get hurt or have feelings."

[mintharabaenrelore]

Minthara & Orin

(Well-done, beautifully colored Minthara & Orin art by @ravysu, NOT by me!)

Before you continue, please read this! I do not ship this, but I'm not saying you can't do so.

Ketheric Thorm sent a True Soul and 2 novices to Menzoberranzan, 'preaching a message of togetherness'. Minthara killed them. She then used a 'simple act of necromancy'- likely Speak to the Dead, but as I said in my timeline, corpses don't speak to their killer, so I don't know how she did this. They informed her where to strke, and so she went to Moonrise Towers with a retinue of warriors and assassins. As she referred to them as 'her men', I believe they were all male.

She met Ketheric at a feast, he proposed an alliance between Moonrise and Menzoberranzan. During all of this, Orin was at the foot of the table, and Minthara notes she should have been more wary of her- the 'pale woman'. Then, Orin spoke for the first time. Minthara caught only her name. Orin then climbed across the table, 'a dagger in each hand', skipped toward her, 'slicing' the throats of her men as she passed by them. Ketheric held Minthara still, a hand on her shoulder, 'the grip tight enough to crack bone'.

Orin stood before her and touched a dagger to her eye, 'drawing out a tear of blood'. Why did she do this? Potentially preparation for the tadpole to be inserted, but knowing Orin, I think it's just that she enjoys stabbing people's eyes- that's what she does to whoever she kidnaps, after all. Anyways, Orin said, in these exact words, "I want this one." This is where things get vague.

What did "I want this one" mean in this context? I think Orin viewed Minthara as a plaything, and this was her way of saying so. Ketheric gave her permission, and Minthara never forgave him for 'handing' her to Orin. In fact, she says "For that, I hope Myrkul hollows out his bones and lets them be dust." Minthara was then taken 'below'- by Orin herself, I believe. (Whether that means she was dragged to the colony or injured already or some other method, I don't know.)

Why did Orin demand to 'have' Minthara? A childish, twisted curiosity or even obsession. I've seen many comparisons between Minthara and the Dark Urge- both having led lives of violence, tormented by Orin, their minds tampered with- and one thing I theorize is that Orin's fascination with Minthara came from this. Perhaps she thought she was similar to Durge... a replacement, even.

Remember, Orin wasn't supposed to kill Minthara's fellow drow. Here is the note found in Ketheric's room that references Minthara's "recruitment"-

“Sweeping up individual drow renegades is not giving us the cadre of Lolth-trained veterans I want for our staff and officer corps; we must be more ambitious. Agent Xilvre, True Soul 113, will be commanded to infiltrate Menzoberranzan itself, ideally House Baenre, ostensibly to proselytise on the behalf of the divine Absolute. I think Xilvre will be convincing in this role.

This intrusion will excite outrage among the Baenre matrons, who can be counted upon to send a warband to exterminate whoever was so rash as to promote anti-Lolth apostasy in their home. Xilvre will have left a clear trail back here to Moonrise Towers, where the warband will find, not a circle of ragtag heretics, but an army in the making. I will parley with the drow leader, but as we negotiate her warband will be ambushed, and every drow warrior we capture will be tadpoled. This accomplished, the warband leader will meet the same fate, and thus we shall acquire our cadre of hardened Underdark warriors. And all it will cost us is the life of loyal Agent Xilvre, but he is, truth be told, a tedious enthusiast and I will not miss him."

Continuing on- what happened in the colony?

Minthara was kept for days in the mind flayer colony by Orin personally. She was forced to watch as her men were processed as food and thralls. When Orin kidnaps someone, she appears to use a paralysis of some sort, so I theorize that's how Minthara was 'forced to watch'. Unsurprisingly, Minthara has 'grim' memories of the place.

Two contrasting statements are made about exactly how Minthara was tadpoled, but both directly involve Orin. Either Orin placed a tadpole in Minthara's eye herself, or she 'held' her down in a 'cocoon of flesh' (which may or may not mean a mind flayer pod; Minthara is familiar enough with mind flayers by this point that I think she would say so if it was) and 'laughed' at her fear as a mind flayer forced a parasite into her brain.

From that point on, Minthara was brainwashed and believed in the Absolute. Orin was the Absolute's Chosen, who she believed to be speaking for her, and so Minthara says "I worshipped that woman." She says, "Orin was by my side. She told me that the Absolute had chosen me to be a True Soul. Blessed and adored. Now I know those memories are lies." Whether she is saying Orin lied or that these memories were altered, I'm not certain. I know that the memory of her indoctrination was obscured, as as during banter with Shadowheart, Minthara notes "I am glad my memories of the infection are not so clear."

Fortunately, Minthara didn't stay in the mind flayer colony for long. She says, "My indoctrination - my infection - took place at Moonrise, but I did not stay here for long. […] Ketheric recognized me as a soldier, and took me into his army immediately." Less fortunately, this doesn't mean she wasn't still seeing Orin from time to time.

So, there's the information. But what do I think happened, exactly?

It's confirmed Orin physically harmed Minthara- "I have faced Orin before and she left scars on me that will never heal. She will enjoy adding to them" and "I will dissect her for laying her blade on me again" (this confirms that Orin used Bloodthirst on her, as this is Minthara's line when she is Orin's victim and is freed during the battle) are two examples. "[...] Her father is murder incarnate, and she is a devoted daughter. To please Bhaal she would butcher the world. She has the scent of our blood, and she will tease and toy with us until she tires of the hunt. Then she will obliterate us without a second thought," another statement by Minthara, is particularly telling.

And it's suggested that there was romance.

When you ask Minthara "An old flame?" about Orin, she replies, "Jealous? You needn't be- when Orin is in my hands, her agony will nourish me." She also says "During my time in the cult, I came to know one of his"- Ketheric's- "co-conspirators all too well- Bhaal's blood-letter, Orin." And, of course, "I worshipped that woman" is noteworthy. With her own mind, Minthara fears and hates Orin- "I find her. I will murder her. And I will smile."

Orin's statements about Minthara during the love test, disguised as the dryad, are also notable. Example- "Minthara- a mask of ice hides a heart of pure fire- you do well to call her close."

One thing that could be interpreted in many ways is Orin's comments that Minthara relayed- telling her the Absolute had chosen her to be a True Soul, blessed and adored- and that Minthara viewed the Absolute as pure love and total power. If Minthara viewed Orin as speaking for the Absolute, or even the Absolute itself, what does that imply?

"I want this one" could also be viewed as a romantic statement. A disgusting one, but nevertheless.

Orin clearly understands Minthara's trust issues, as if Orin is impersonating her at the camp after kidnapping her, she speaks about that a lot. She also says "When we met, I was beholden to a cult dedicated to a false god that controlled me through a parasite in my brain," reinforcing the fact that Orin knew all of this, the whole time. If the PC threatens to kill Minthara, Orin says "You could stick me through the heart. Stick her through the heart. Cut us to bits."

If she kidnaps her and mimics her in the sewers, she says, "I cut her- I cut her and cut her and cut her, but the more she bled, the harder she fought." It's interesting to speculate whether this echoes their actual interactions. Anyways, while imitating Minthara, she refers to herself as "Bhaal's bitch", which is weird. She claims "Minthara murdered her way out of the womb", which suggests 1. she knows her quite well and 2. wait, what? She also says of Minthara, "her skin will make a pretty-pretty tapestry", which matches Minthara's imitation of Orin- "Pretty little flesh thing".

After Orin is dead, Minthara says "It is hard to believe she is dead, after all that she did to me."

The odd thing is, had Orin not brainwashed Minthara, I could see them getting along. Minthara canonically has a thing for Bhaalspawn; Orin is desperate for someone to be loyal to her and love her unconditionally, and Minthara is VERY devoted. But that's not what happened.

So, do I think they were more than platonic? Probably. But we need to remember, this isn't some cutesy murder wives scenario, as Minthara was under mind control and Orin was well aware of it. That's not consent. That's taking advantage of someone.

And whether or not there was romance, their relationship is horrible, traumatic, and generally terrible. Comparable to Astarion and Cazador, except Minthara wasn't even aware of the situation until much later. She was a brainwashed plaything. That doesn't mean there aren't other aspects- for example, Minthara sees herself in Orin, a mirror that shows her what could have happened had the PC not saved her.

Here is an Emma Gregory quote on their relationship in a Streamily signing video: "I think she's so immensely hurt by Orin it's just unreal isn't because, you know, there's a lovely line actually, I was looking at it earlier today when I was enjoying the scene where she says she refers to Ketheric as Genral Thorm." ... "Because of course she had great admiration and almost love for Orin."

PS: It's possible, but unlikely, that Orin visited her while in the goblin camp, as one of the goblins states the "Moonrise types" rarely see Priestess Gut or Dror Ragzlin, so the PC- if said goblin is under the impression that the PC is from Moonrise- should see Minthara.

PPS: I've seen it suggested that Orin was personally controlling Minthara at moments, which is possible, but a more compelling theory- to me- is about how each of the goblin leaders' personalities are influenced by their Chosen, hence why Minthara is so bloodthirsty and half-mad, described by a guard at Moonrise as "fierce and erratic".

"We were both born of trauma"-Minthara Baenre on Orin the Red

[hades-in-bloom]

MASTERLIST

Thanks y’all for reading, sweethearts! Minors, lovies, please DNI – all’s 18+, whether fluff or not.

Leon S. Kennedy [Resident Evil] 🩵 babygirl

Silver Fox: drabble [leon kennedy x reader; man’s getting his first white hair]

Al Dente: drabble [leon kennedy x reader; a big scary federal agent can’t nail cooking pasta]

Shower Thoughts: drabble [leon kennedy x reader; he got home after yet another soul-crashhing mission early]

Quit: drabble [leon kennedy x reader; problem solving for panic attacks took unexpected turn]

Scars: drabble [leon kennedy x reader; thinking of his scars]

‘Till Death Do Us Part: pt 1, pt 2 [leon kennedy x reader; he didn’t show up to his own wedding, albeit having a solid excuse]

A Swim: one shot [leon kennedy x interpol!reader; our favourite drunkard got bothered on self-indulgent vacation]

But First, Coffee: one shot [post-di!leon kennedy x corp exec!reader; leon is after his next target when he encounters a not-so-cooperative informant]

Astarion Ancunin [Baldur’s Gate 3] 💜 🩸

The Bigger Person: drabble [astarion x dark urge; was tending seven thousand spawns in the Underdark something he truly wanted to do with his freedom?]

Bitten Lips: double drabble [two different scenarios with astarion x tav and astarion x dark urge, featuring bitten lips]

[sharoscylla]

it's been over a year since BG3's full release so i'm gonna say it

i don't think myrkul actually did resurrect isobel thorm from the dead. based on her description of what happened - and the facts that in that same cemetery they made a point of having a tomb with someone wearing Boots of Feign Death + malus had that sharran paralysis amulet - I think she was put in a form of Feign Death either by an agent of Shar, Shar herself, or Malus as a way to prod ketheric into joining malus in shar worship. (also that shar specifically didn't let isobel die JUST to spite selune and melodia who would naturally be waiting for isobel in the afterlife) I think it's as simple as somebody realizing 120~ years later that she only SEEMS dead in there and lying their ass off to convince ketheric that they resurrected her instead of waking her up, with myrkul backing up the lie because honestly he doesn't have very many active worshippers at any given time, and none so powerful as ketheric is or was.

i also don't think isobel is ketheric's only child! dialogue + ingame journals make it pretty clear to me that gerringothe and thisobald are ketheric's chlidren, based on the fact that they're more elfish than isobel and ketheric I'm guessing those two maybe had a different mother than isobel, and ketheric was a shit dad but neither selunite or sharran even though his uncle malus was a sharran. Ketheric meets melodia, converts to selunite worship for her, eventually they have isobel and he's supposedly a pretty good dad to her, which, you know, probably raises the hackles on his adult children who had to live with a cruel and demanding father. thisobald had his own terrible shit he was up to prior to being trapped there forever in the shadowcurse, but other than being a bitchy embezzling boss gerringothe was just... trying to save up money to flee town and never come back, and the shadowcurse trapped her there before she could find the courage to actually make the leap.

speaking of which, the thorms are czarr-levels of incest coded. I know I've been saying I'll write the Thorms Were All Molested By Ketheric And Malus manifesto for a year now, but that will have to wait for when I'm slightly less busy. ... or, well, it'll feature in the Ripley Savage AU, but they're just now getting into the Underdark in that one, so, you know, it's a ways away.

This is not Gortash Apologia (...probably just a bit) but do you really expect me to believe Zariel went "Yeah sure, I'll take this 21 year old tiefling with no specific skillset that's exactly like a million other mortals, and not only will her soul not be in danger from this deal but I'll make sure she doesn't die of shit that would normally kill a person to death, just so i can spend a couple years grooming her into a super strong warrior that will do cool tricks for a few years before her inevitable mortal demise, at which point i still won't have possession of her soul so it'll be fucking off to the fugue plane at that point, here's A Big Pile Of Super Rare Infernal Metal I Invented During My Reign Over The Last 130-140 Years, I'll also let you study the blueprints of the guy who is designing her heart engine because that's definitely the kind of information I want floating around the Material Plane where anybody could get their hands on it/you".......... no man. I think Gortash paid/convinced Zariel to take Karlach and make her strong. Zariel probably did not want Raphael building himself a stronghold in what should have been her domain, so I can believe that they came to an agreement as a way of mutually spiting or undermining him, and I think - considering the steel watchers were just in the prototype stage when Florrick last was in Baldur's Gate within a tenday or two, i do not believe for a second gort just sat around on the materials and plans for a decade without *starting* the project - that he didn't actually get his hands on the plans or materials for the watchers until his durgeheist much much more recently, say 1-2 years ago at the most. "But karlach said Zariel said XYZ when-" zariel lied. why would the archdevil of avernus be the one telling the whole truth here. at that moment Gort was Karlach's Main Person (her parents dead, she flat out says she loved him and respected him and was happily building her life around being his trusted bodyguard) and Zariel needed to make sure Karlach would be easier to control re: depending utterly on Zariel to survive etc. once she had the engine installed it'd be even easier to control her - soul coins, keeping her in the middle of the blood war front lines instead of screwing around asking questions or making alliances - and of course, zariel couldn't have known that karlach was ultimately indomitable, even if it took a decade for her to slip her chains.

I know... I know, it was already the product of years of labor, and stuff like multiple act 3 storylines didn't end up getting the amount of attention they deserved... but i wish there was a magical item crafting system beyond "1 sussur weapon/eye of the absolute spear/mourning frost/exactly 2 grymforge items"+alchemy. We found all that mundane jewelry and all those gems and I don't care if it would have all been mid equipment, I want to have been able to make the campers all wear matching Rings Of +1 Besties. I also hunger greatly for "hey, if you're going to spend 30+ hours in Act Three anyway, and you have the money for it, why not just buy an apartment or house for you and the squad and decorate it as you see fit" + the fallout 4 style settlement creator post-game. Even if I couldn't get past the level 12 cap I'd still be out there hunting monsters to make my village safe + get supplies to make my village/house cool looking + attract stronger villagers. please let me create a city-state. i desire it so much.

[vintagerpg]

UK4: When a Star Falls (1984) is a great example of that often ambiguous UK style. Here it manifests in a strong graphic design, particularly in the maps, but also in the titles and the page header (which feature quotes and visual coding using cropped illustrations for different sections).

It is also very British in other ways. It’s pretty plot heavy and features lots of Fiend Folio monsters (so many Derro!). It also, as the title implies, has an astronomical impetus, which isn’t uniquely British, but does seem to be a recurring theme in the Old World, with Morrsleib the Chaos Moon raining warpstones down on the countryside.

Oh, and this adventure has the single most unique hook put to paper, I think. The party encounters (and hopefully kills) a memory web, which in its death throes then imprints the memories of its last meal on the characters, via a list of fragmentary details, a collage-like illustration and some important geographic data. This is a real maestro game design moment, handing everything the players need to proceed in a singularly weird way. No one who plays it will ever forget it!

The adventure is basically a series of fetch quests. Get the fallen star (from the derros), bring it to the sages (who are dealing with a coup, the instigator of which has sent a memorable agent out to get the star for himself), who then want to send it to to the svirfneblin (did I spell that right?) in exchange for a book. Both subterranean regions feel a lot like the underdark. The various faction motivations feel rich. The whole thing doesn’t really have a climax (aside of a weird battle with red dragons), but that doesn’t matter, it still manages to feel complete. This is the best UK-module so far.

In no small part because of the art by Jeremy “Jes” Goodwin, who would come to define much Games Workshop’s Warhammer universe in the coming years.

[hotguysfugue]

i am thou, thou art i

a way i’ve best found to characterize an NPC is to perceive them as an agent of a card of the major arcana - it often leads to interesting and diverse personalities that may have not been present otherwise.

and of course, given my adoration of the persona games, this becomes even more relevant to my interests. bonds may have not been formed between the PCs and particular individuals on this list due to various reasons in the same way as the social link/confidant system (including party allegiance/politics or over-the-table interest in a certain character), but i really do feel like this is a good way of assessing major NPCs and how they fit into a greater world.

0. the fool; naïve, wandering, transcendental.

jack frost is the fool, a creature of fey mischief unknowingly trapped into a cloth of bureaucratic fabric. he is the beginning of a heroes’ journey; his refusal of the call catapults his whimsical self into something far darker than he had ever anticipated.

i. the magician; manifestation, conduit, creation.

dr. wyndi čeloscas is the magician, a conduit to the goddess sibyll born to serve many greater than herself. in turn, her actions - the reincarnation of chaos’ child to an angelic form and the gift of mass transit to the world - would spark creation in her wake.

ii. the high priestess; divine, actualization, mysticism.

aryll maledict is the high priestess, a human held so gently by the goddess of adventure becoming a woman deeply inclined to aid those in need. there are few in the world who understand themselves more than those who serve the material, and her love for humanity is divine.

iii. the empress; creativity, beauty, youth.

navi helekas is the empress, as despite their refusal of the masculine and the feminine, they prioritize their outward beauty as a way to pursue paths of greatest success. they endeavor to discover wrongdoing and trap the kingdom into the international criminal court at any means necessary, including an obfuscation of their own identity.

iv. the emperor; stability, logic, leadership.

morpheus torrentum is the emperor, as he shifted from a fellow who was kicked out of his masters’ program to becoming one of the most cited and revered academics that the world had ever seen. in his elder years, he has settled down with his husband and become a central individual for many communities.

v. the hierophant; tradition, organized religion, spirituality.

captain marlene scaffa is the hierophant, representing centuries of continued tradition within the occidental kingdom. though this steadfast devotion to ideals of truth and candor inevitably led to her downfall, she epitomizes the archetype of orthodoxy.

vi. the lovers; unity, guidance, love.

the lovers are represented by two on the same card: carlen the arcanist and cyril the broadcaster. their fates have been entwined since they laid eyes upon one another in that strange coastal town, and their relationship only burned brighter when faced with the strife of the most secure prison in all the multiverse.

vii. the chariot; victory, willpower, courage

karyon beeching is the chariot, a being who led an empire to freedom from tyranny. though his recent years have lost the drive once felt in his youth, his victory stands as a turning point for the rest of the world - a change in era.

viii. strength; fortitude, compassion, love

orion ermendrud is strength, as her ability to remain steadfast in wake of her underdark imprisonment has allowed her to overcome any fear directed her way. she achieved this through aiding her fellow prisoners and concentrating on the one person who would free her from these bonds.

ix. the hermit; wisdom, solitude, introspection

thomas penningon is the hermit, having his youth stolen away by a creature that took him to the feywild on a whim for over a half-century. he wandered and wandered, becoming a dreamwalker and communing with the natural world; by the time he was able to reunite with his sister, he had become truly self-actualized.

x. the wheel of fortune; destiny, serendipity, possibility

kos vessar is the wheel of fortune. his very existence is the keystone on which this plane is balanced on, and his state of being informs the destiny of all who live upon it. despite limited interactions with any at the table, kos is a being from which two long-form campaigns managed to stem.

xi. justice; equilibrium, balance, harmony

dahlia was justice, as in her long life she was able to bring a semblance of balance to the turgid ecosystem that his her hometown. when she was cut down for restoring a series of poisoned wells, the little equilibrium found in the city came to a grinding halt; upon the revelation of her death, so did the peace of her closest allies.

xii. the hanged man; self-sacrifice, patience, divinity.

there are none who represent the hanged man better than urthaz chrestwyth, an archmage who sacrificed everything to allow his found mother immortality. the goddess of suffering consigned him to a fate worse than death - infinite isolation at the heart of the sea’s most dangerous whirlpool - as punishment for allowing a mortal to ascend in such a way.

xiii. death; ending, transformation, cycles of life.

achlýs, goddess of suffering, is death. though she is not responsible for the physical act of dying in the way winter’s lord does, she has been the catalyst for an uncountable number of transformations (whether physical or moral). she is the change of a body from living to dead and all the pain that stems from it.

xiv. temperance; balance, virtue, intentionality.

sibyll, goddess of arcana is temperance. as the sole deity who was once mortal, she understands the balance between metaphysical, divine, and mortal rationality that those below need to thrive; she has gifted this understanding to them time and time again. she is far more personal than the pantheonic twelve, and will gift her champions the tools they need to stand in the face of those that seek to upset the balance of the great wheel.

xv. the devil; vice, temptations, addiction.

drifter is the devil in both the physical and moral sense, manipulating other creatures to do his bidding out of sheer boredom. his modus operandi is to entrap youth and to groom them into creatures who enact his will, habitually toying and breaking their spirits.

xvi. the tower; disruption, upheaval, radical change.

in the sole act the table has been privvy to thus far, the tower is the lady maud. she impersonated their closest ally for nearly a month before revealing her true form and utterly eradicating all sense of trust. she brought about the death of a king, causing utter instability in an (admittedly authoritarian) though stable land.

xvii. the star; hope, health, spiritual reflection.

arrah beeching is the star, as her journey dealt with internal and spiritual conflict far more than anyone else’s. upon resolving her conflict with a particular archfey, she found solace with the goddess of adventure and freedom.

xviii. the moon; intuition, danger, deception.

sam the bastard was the moon, a roguish archetype who convinced the destitute to become his underlings before betraying them in stings and setups. before his death, he contracted a great many people into doing his and his masters’ bidding. he considered danger to be intoxicating, engaging in riskier and riskier behaviors prior to his demise.

xix. the sun; success, contentment, material happiness.

the sun is oysters rockefeller, a pirate who found herself stranded with her crew following her pursuit of a hefty paycheck. though she has yet to undergo the same sort of development as many on this list, she is a person whose drive is towards success, happiness, and freedom.

xx. judgment; new epochs, transformation, outcome.

igor was judgment; the warden of the multiverse’s greatest prison was obsessed with the idea that he could bring about a new era of humanity via consuming the fear of all mortals. a child of suffering, he believed that he could usurp his mother’s position by transforming into something far greater than himself - he was thwarted.

xxi. the world; enlightement, oneness, divinity.

the world is the end of a cycle, and the erlkönig (despite his many, many faults) represented this shift to a divine singularity. he was singlehandedly responsible for many of the plane’s problems through incredible manipulation, and was eventually able to ascend to godhood through the aid of his cultists around the world. though he would be defeated by mortals and the god of fate, his ascension and eradication marked the end of thousands of cycles that he put into place.

though these names may not mean much to anyone beyond my table, i really think that this sort of categorization is extraordinarily helpful to my understanding of my own characters as they fit inside of my setting.

[mostlyskinart]

Character I made for a DnD oneshot we played with my friends during christmas break, and i liked him well enough to make a whole character design for him. Here is Elendar (Epithet: der Elendige, the pitiful), he is a devout follower of Loviatar, and he takes her teachings very seriously. His parents (A mushroom collector and a male Drow who got mutilated in the Underdark) died in poverty when he was just a small child, and a Loviatan priestress took him in after a bunch of the other orphan children beat him half to death. After climbing the ranks in his temple, taught by his beloved foster mother, he is now a traveling agent for Loviatar, determined to bring her blessings of pain to those who accept it willingly and those who deserve it most.

Elendar is of an exceptionally tall stature for a half-drow (1,55cm), he has an untameable cowlick on his forehead that flicks a strand of hair into his eyes no matter how much he tries to slick it back. He is proudly missing part of his ears, toes and fingers, willingly sacrificed to Loviatar (The cutout in his ear is his personal favourite). He has a loud, bold laugh.

I will use him as one shot character for now, I think he has the potential to be a deep and interesting character but the sadomaso jokes with the Loviatan faith can only bring you so far.

[gingeart]

phaesra, my tav! she's a lolth-born drow and a spores druid <3 backstory under cut!

(if there's much cult of lolth/underdark lore in-game i haven't gotten to it yet, this is just based off my own headcanons and the faerun+forgotten realms wiki pages!)

phaesra was inducted into the cult of lolth and groomed towards priestesshood from a young age; this involved a lot of lying, manipulating, backstabbing, and sex, all for the favor of a goddess who seldom cares about her followers anyway. she and her closest friend, xiulia (whom she was in love with), treated each other like shit, because that's what you do there. phaesra began to get tired of this, though, finding herself dreaming about what a life outside the cult might look like; xiulia knew about this, but agreed to keep her mouth shut about the traitorous thoughts.

xiulia, who thought phaesra was foolish and childish for objecting to lolth's methodology, kept her promise until the time was right, informing the priestesses training them that phaesra was thinking about leaving in exchange for her shot at priestesshood. while xiulia left phaesra behind and moved upwards in the cult's ranks, phaesra was given a full reeducation in lolth's ways, leaving her certain that she had to either escape or die trying. she followed lolth's tenants completely while she bode her time and planned her escape, making her break for the wilds of the underdark only a week before her trials were to begin.

being in the cult, phaesra'd thought she'd had to be sharp before; that was nothing compared to surviving the wilds while being hunted by agents of the goddess, whose wrath at being betrayed was unmatched. the only reason she was able to survive was stumbling across a druid circle, who told her they could not keep her for long, but could show her ways to hide her scent for a little bit. they advised for the long term that if she were able to find some way to be reborn, lolth would have no way to track her soul anymore. unwilling to let the circle be hurt because of her, phaesra set off alone.

the druids' methods worked for a little bit, but every escape was narrower and narrower, and there were monsters in the underdark who didn't belong to lolth too. eventually she found herself trapped in a cave, unable to hunt or resupply, and her will to live dwindled as her food and water did too; tired and with no hope left, she laid down among the mushrooms to die, knowing that being claimed and reused by nature would be a better death than any other she might receive.

a week went by without her moving, a week of her observing the world moving around her from that singular point. she understood the decay of her body as the mold and mushrooms she'd made her deathbed in grew around and into her; she was the spores, plain and simple. and she wasn't dead, even if she should be, so she got up and left, breaking immediately for the surface just in case any agents of lolth should still be looking for her. a couple of days after getting to the surface, she was snatched up by the nautiloid ship

[missrosiewolf]

-aggressively sips orange juice-

So! What happens when you take an Edgy That Guy and ascend him into Godhood?

You get Shevarash, the elven god of revenge, loss, and hating drow.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: This dude needed therapy, not godhood. Fenmarel, for some reason, decided that it would be a good idea to help the most Anti-Drow elf to ever exist to become a god and it is because of this mindset that Shevarash has very few allies. He is so fucking focused on his tireless and unending crusade on the drow that only like-minded individuals will put up with him, such as Psilofyr and Callarduran Smoothhands.

Because let's be real: this man lives and breathes hatred. That is all he is now. Whoever he was before he became this person, this hunter obsessed with eliminating the drow is gone, destroyed during what is called the Dark Court Slaughter.

For those who are not familiar with this event in FR history or don't know what it is, the Dark Court Slaughter was an event that took place on Midwinter's Night in -4400 DR. It was the longest, darkest night of the year and an army consisting of Drow and Duergar swarmed out of the Underdark; the army overran both the dwarven realm of Sarphil on the southern shore of the Moonsea and the Elven Court at the heart of the great forest of Arocar. Countless lives of elves and dwarves were claimed that night, including most of the assembled leaders of the Fair Folk and the Stout Folk who had come to court to reestablish their long-standing alliance.

Among the few survivors was Shevarash but among the dead was his family. With grief and anger in his heart, Shevarash swore an oath to Corellon to become the hand of the Seldarine against drow to seek vengeance for the loss of his family.

(Demihuman Deities, p. 157)

And that is how Shevarash, likely once as carefree as most elves, became an agent of revenge. It's an oath he kept too. I would say that he became the greatest enemy the drow had because he was, for the remainder of his mortal life, relentless in his pursuit of the drow. He raided their underground cities, destroyed their shrines dedicated to their gods, and slew their priests.

However, Shevarash stories ends like many stories of revenge: his death. Shevarash was slain by a horde of myrlochar (soul spiders) after killing High Priestess Darthiir'eigg Aleanrahel and six of her consorts circa -4070 DR — 330 years after the Dark Court Slaughter. So ended the mortal life of Shevarash the Black Archer

But then Fenmarel decided to help him achieve godhood. Now Shevarash is the Night Hunter and Arrow Bringer. Fun fact: Corellon is the one who determines whether or not someone can join the pantheon, soooo they absolutely okayed Fenmarel's decision to help Shevarash undergo apotheosis. They okayed the most Anti-Drow elf to ever exist...becoming a deity.

Despite the fact that Corellon has TWO dark elf children (three if we count Vandria) and one of them is supposedly the favorite child (Eilistraee) because here's the thing: Shevarash (in his mortal life) hunted all drow, not just Lolthite drow — though Lolthites were his primary target. It didn't matter if you were Lolthite, Vhaeraunite, Eilistraean, Kiaransaleen, whatever — if you were drow, then you were his enemy. However, that changed once he became a demigod.

(Grand History of the Realms (2007), p. 27)

Yes. Eilistraee and her worshippers at one time, pre-godhood, were among Shevarash's targets. Demihunam Deities even states that it was only until recently (full disclosure: DD is a 2e Advanced Dungeons & Dragons accessory for the Forgotten Realms so by recently I'm guessing it's referring to 1370-1371. Either that or the late 1360s) that she managed to work out an some kind of truce with this guy.

(Demihuman Deities, p. 11)

An uneasy truce. Uneasy truces are typically truces that will only last a certain albeit unknown amount of time and given this is the Seldarine and fucking Shevarash — it likely would not take much to break this truce.

Not surprising given that Shevarash is not only the most Anti-Drow Elf to ever elf, but he also did hunt Eilistraee's followers in the past likely during his mortal life) — which, as Grand History of the Realms points out, is something he no longer does as he no longer considers Eilistraee and Eilistraeans to be among his prey (likely due to the fact that once he ascended he became aware that Eilistraee is nothing like her mother and brother). So both sides are likely tense from this history and while she may not be counted among his 'prey' anymore, that does not mean he likes her or even that she likes him.

They, at best, tolerate each other from what I can tell.

(not even gonna lie. I would not at all be surprised to learn if Shevarashans are still terrorizing Eilistraeans in some capacity despite this uneasy truce)

Is this truce still a thing in the current edition? I don't know because I don't where Shevarash and Eilistraee officially stand in the new edition in relation to each other. I can't tell you whether or not that truce is still on-going. It'll have to be up to individual interpretation.

My personal belief / interpretation is that this uneasy truce is likely fractured, perhaps severely so. With the return of the Dark Dancer and her brother, Eilistraee and Vhaeraun have achieved a new understanding of each other — as a result, they have a friendship and a truce (though their followers still get into conflict from time to time. Understandable, a long history of both sides hating each other and fighting each other isn't going to go away in a single night). Which is a problem for Shevarash because even though Lolth and her followers are still Shevarash's number one target, the rest of the Dark Seldarine (sans Eilistraee) is still very much his enemy. Vhaeraun is still his enemy. Shevarash's followers still hunt down Vhaeraunites. Shevarash, as mentioned in the screenshot I shared from p. 27 of the Grand History of the Realms, is now more able to hunt Lolth and Vhaeraun directly thanks to his becoming a demigod.

I can't see Shevarash at all accepting Eilistraee's newfound friendship with her brother due to his history with the drow and his mission. Eilistraee, for her part with this new friendship and truce, I think would protest against Shevarash still hunting her divine twin and his followers. Given what I know of Shevarash, I do not think he would see this as anything other than an incentive to return to crusading against Eilistraee as well. He is a very angry deity, consumed by hatred — he's not going to look at the nuance at the situation. Likely, he'll read this as Eilistraee as turning traitor, becoming corrupted, etc. etc. Because to him...drow are bad. It doesn't matter who they worship, in his eyes drow are bad. For Shevarash, there is no nuance. It's black and white, as clear to him as night and day.

He might tolerate the drow worship Eilistraee and he might tolerate Eilistraee herself...but that means nothing when he will eventually resume being hostile toward Eilistraee. And he will. It's not a matter of if, but when and it won't take much. Will he resume hunting her? Possibly, especially if she decides to break ties with the Seldarine.

I did have a section written up about the elven group who are disguising themselves as drow and raiding surface settlements (thank you lawful-evil-novelist for that bit of lore!). but upon further reading, I learned Champions of Ruins doesn't, unfortunately, definitively state that the group is Shevarashans. Only that they're a very anti-human group called the Eldreth Veluuthra, who are conducting these raids in hopes of increasing hostilities between humans and drow. The book further states that even though they worship the Seldarine, the good-aligned deities of the pantheon want nothing to do with them so as a result no cleric of the good-aligned elven gods are part of the group.

So it's up in the air if these particular EV raiders are Shevarashans (his alignment is listed as chaotic neutral; it's possible he didn't write them off completely unlike his good-aligned peers) or not.

[everybodyloveshippos]

less of an ask but more of a ramble!

I was recently reading through the OotA module (a great read for Underdark content) and I find it so charming that out of all the drow patrol encounters, the one with Bregan D'aerthe mercenaries is the friendliest.

They're outright described as 'gregarious and jovial'! Also after their encounter, they toss the party a platinum coin (granted the PCs are amiable towards the drow).

I like to think Jarlaxle's more friendly disposition is rubbing off on his mercenaries. Granted it could be something he expects of them, but I do enjoy the idea of the former.

I haven't read far into the Drizzt series myself (most of my knowledge of FR comes from flipping through modules and their assortment of games). Still, it's incredibly charming that Jarlaxle is this beam of sunlight in the underdark, in his own way.

(also, apparently the undercommon word for 'light' is an expletive used by drow)

ahhhh thats so cool. i kinda want to buy OotA just for the underdark content despite probably having no further use for it (maybe one day I will be a DM lol)

Jarlaxle pointing to a big sign that reads 'IT IS COMPANY POLICY TO BE COOL. DON'T EMABARASS ME' whenever BD encounters anyone. but yeah idk he's an interesting character who definitely can be dangerous and cunning and violent (a lot of that in the dark elf trilogy and a bit of legacy bcus well. yeah. he's basically employed by several matron mothers etc) but then you see him on the surface and more acting as a free agent and he gets to be goofy and do what he wants and it becomes so clear that he doesnt want violence. my man just wants a good time. he doesnt know what he wants. he wants to find out.

didnt know about that last point!! had a drow pc who adopted a human baby and named it Ta'ecelle (drow for sunlight) or sunny in common

[ellatamara]

Aknarr "the Eye" Graw, Elder at the Monastery of Barendain, and member of the Circle of Guardians.

This guy's face and head shape is weirdly hard to draw. I used my old NPC drawings from '17 or so as reference, but my drawing turned out boring until I decided to do weird angles.

He helped the party on numerous occasions, but during a the quest into the Underdark to find the mind flayers' city, he got got, and the mind flayers turned him into a thrall and undercover agent. He got better though, after the party figured out how to un-thrall people.

[undyingembers]

Wistenra’s Backstory

After reading so many wonderful pieces by @dujour13, @turbulentpumpkin43, @hauntedolly, and @tenmillionbees, it inspired me to write a little background on Wistenra and their patron.

Wistenra was born in the drow city of Ust Natha. They were a mere child when the Bhaalspawn Tatjana infiltrated the city searching for the eggs of the silver dragon Adalon. Wistenra even managed to catch a glimpse of Tatjana and her party outside the city as the group’s disguises collapsed and they fled the Underdark.

Wistenra’s mother was part of a group of drow that would hold meetings in secret behind locked doors in Ust Natha. Unlike most drow in Ust Natha, this group questioned the efficacy of a society built upon cruelty and backstabbing and would discuss how they think things would be if drow society was more cooperative. Solaufein himself was a member of that group. The group was eventually discovered, and its members had to flee the city to escape persecution. They were found by a group of Sword Dancers, followers of the goddess Eilistraee, who helped them out of the Underdark and welcomed them among their commune on the surface. 

Wistenra and their mother converted to Eilistraee worship with their mother even joining the priesthood. Living communally where people treated them kindly was an improvement over their lives in Ust Natha. However, the surface drow still had to put up with mistrust and discrimination from the surface-dwellers. The church of Eilistraee teaches its followers to respond to insults and aggression with tolerance and understanding. While Wistenra’s mother embraced this philosophy whole-heartedly, Wistenra found that there were only so many times they were willing to turn the other cheek before they realized that it was much more satisfying (and profitable) to scam these surfacers of their money.

While Wistenra made their living on the surface, Sarevok Anchev was deciding what he wanted to do with his new chance at life. Now free of his Bhaalspawn taint and having earned his redemption, Sarevok found himself at a bit of a loss. In his wanderings, Sarevok found traces of Bhaal worship and schemes. Even though the Lord of Murder was long dead, and Tatjana had foiled his plans and given Bhaal’s divinity to be locked away in Mount Celestia, Sarevok had the suspicion that the Bhaalspawn crisis wouldn’t be the last they would hear from his father. He dedicated the rest of his life to investigating Bhaal’s schemes and foiling them wherever he could.

Without Bhaal’s taint, Sarevok had a normal human lifespan. When it was his time to go, Kelemvor sentenced him to the Wall of the Faithless. Rather than resigning himself to a slow fade into oblivion, Sarevok used the same determination and strength of spirit that brought him back to life the first time and refused the fate the god of the dead had in store for him. He accepted a bargain with a powerful devil who wanted to enlist Sarevok in his service. Sarevok managed to convince the devil that having him brought back as a lemure would be a waste, so the devil gave Sarevok his strength and power from his youth. This turned out to be a mistake. As soon as Sarevok reached Avernus with his would-be “master”, he immediately turned on him. Sarevok fought his way through Hell, defeating anyone who would try to tame him. Eventually, Sarevok became a fearsome devil more powerful than any pit fiend. Only an archdevil could stand a chance against his power. 

Sarevok was able to fight his new devilish nature and preserve the goodness in him. He once again turned his attention to his father’s schemes, fighting against them once more. However, he would quickly realize how very difficult it was for outsiders to fight against their nature. Every day was a battle not to lose the redemption he earned. He needed an agent. Someone with free will who could help him in his investigations.

Wistenra and Sarevok’s paths would converge fifteen years before the Absolute kicked off their plot. A rash of murders plagued the city of Baldur’s Gate. Wistenra’s mother, a gentle priestess of Eilistraee, was one of the killer’s victims. Distraught, Wistenra used every bit of wit and guile to find out who this killer was. Sarevok also took a great interest in this killer, as he suspected that Bhaal might be related to this. Sarevok would end up saving Wistenra’s life after their investigations nearly get them killed by Bhaalite cultists. The two of them agreed on a pact. Wistenra clearly had a talent for sticking their nose in places where it doesn’t belong, and the same determination to see things through that Sarevok had, but they were nearly powerless against whatever enemies they would come up against. Sarevok would provide them that power.

Sarevok’s suspicions were proven correct. The killer turned out to be the Dark Urge, a special Bhaalspawn created from the Lord of Murder’s essence. Wistenra was able to uncover the killer’s identity, but they were hunted down and slain by the Dark Urge shortly after. Sarevok brought them back to life so that he could get their report. Though the Dark Urge had gotten away, the killings stopped, and no trace of that strange Bhaalspawn could ever be found again. Sarevok and Wistenra made their partnership permanent. Wistenra would continue to investigate Bhaal’s activities, and Sarevok would give them powers and compensation for acting as his agent on Faerun.

[faize-art]

AFTERWARD: OF SWORD & SHIELD (Ch. 3)

First Chapter | Previous Chapter

During the many passing yet idle days, you find that your day-to-day routine consists of paperwork and relaying tasks to specific Knights of the Shield agents in the morning. Not only did their tasks and your tasks involve moving items and the occasional people around from within the bustling city, but it also involved the manipulation of the flow of commerce and much, much more. Normally, after you have finished your work, during the late afternoon hours or early evening hours, you often find yourself venturing down into the Underdark to hunt prey for alchemical purposes or to collect exotic plant-based ingredients. Sometimes, you will even mingle with Omeluum and Blurg from the Society of Brilliance and discuss theories or exchange acquired alchemical knowledge with each other.

You also held an interest in how the Myconid Circle colony has been faring with Sovereign Spaw and how the vampire spawns are thriving in the Underdark with the help of the people of Gur—a truly bizarre but inspiring combination set into motion because of Astarion’s actions after the defeat of Cazador.

Eventually, the blurred days turned into a month’s worth of time flown by, and you find it baffling how Withers reunion party and the Emperor’s last letter occurred that many days ago. Naturally, you could only conclude that things were going swell for the Emperor since he has not written word of his progress to you.

One day on a particularly clear night, as you exit the deep bowels of the serene Underdark and make your journey back to the Knights of the Shield’s hideout, you find yourself wandering toward a flat and jagged grass-filled hilltop towering over the unending sparkling sea. A sudden heaviness begins to eat at your chest as your beady black-like eyes listen to the lulling of sea water thrashing rhythmically. It was almost as if the heavy lump from within your chest were not your own.

How long? You ponder, entranced by the temperamental waves. You were missing him again, the Emperor, and his absence apart from Baldur’s Gate felt longer than usual this time around.

“…” You look beyond the shimmering black waters and up at the guiding moon of Selûne, and then you set your feet down onto the grass beneath you. It was a tad unusual for your half-exposed feet to touch grass or a solid surface, since Mind Flayers preferred to levitate rather than physically walk, and levitating at all times has become a motion of habit to you.

It tickles. You note the simple sensation while soaking in the feeling of every blade of green being compacted down and scrunched under your unusual pale-mauve prong toes. But it feels…nice.

 While taking in the scent of the sloshing frigid ocean water along with the barely perceptible smell of green leaf volatiles, you close your eyes and then inhale in another breath of sea breeze. When I was still my lesser version, I enjoyed small, mundane things such as this. I wonder why.

From behind you, a silent shadow approach.

“The sea is an unforgiving beauty,” their husky voice comments. “She will permit voyage across her skin, but she will not hesitate to consume you.”

The Emperor’s grand presence awes you, catching you off-guard as your mind had aimlessly wandered.

“So, you have returned. Welcome back,” you acknowledge him while concealing your state of surprise.

“Indeed,” he confirms.

You look to the Emperor as his feet land onto the soft bed of grass next to you. His stature is tall and magnificent compared to yours. His unmissable, glowing, and vibrant magenta eyes are beautiful and hypnotizing, and his four pink-tinged and mauve-purple tentacles are longer and stronger than yours.

“Nevine tells me you have been keeping yourself busy during my leave,” he mentions, his arms crossed behind his back.

“What else would I be doing?” You question him, knowing he more than likely charmed Nevine and the other Knights of the Shield agents so he may know all the details of their tasks while he was away.

“Whatever you wanted to do. You are a mind flayer, after all.”

It is no lie you had willfully gone through the process of ceremorphosis for this Mind Flayer after he had captivated your curiosity, and then your heart. More so as it is no lie that the reason you are partially haunted by Karlach's death stems from your selfishness to remain at the Emperor’s side.

“…” You wish to tell him you have yearned for him these past months. But you refrain yourself from spewing such soft-hearted words to him as you swallow down your inner conflict of past and present guilt.

The Emperor’s gaze travels beyond the outstretched night sky and then to you.

“I have missed you,” he nonchalantly tells you in that serious and husky voice of his.

Your eyes lock, and a rush of warmth like coyness flushes over you entirely. You quickly turn your head away to avoid your evident outburst of illithid embarrassment. You try to calm your explosive heart down by asking, “Really?”

“We are bonded. And we have already communed with the entirety of our minds. How could I not?”

“I calculated that our relationship was nothing more than a business partnership,” you calmly and outwardly confess.

“Rightly so. But it is also much more than that.”

“I see…so my calculation was…off.”

The Emperor raises a tentacle to your pale-mauve face. Gently, he caresses you with it. “I will understand if you see our partnership only as a business transaction. But I did not…”

Abruptly, you tilt your head to peer up at his fixated and looming gaze. “Because of our unusual dynamic, I naturally preconceived you were not interested in a relationship…since nothing else has occurred after…”

He looks at you with wonderment while giving you a sense of comfort.

“Was I not the one who asked to explore the possibility of a deeper relationship?” He then asks.

You pause for a moment, and then you gingerly wrap a tentacle around his pink-tinged tentacle caressing your cheek.

“I’m sorry,” you apologize while stroking his much thicker tentacle back. “I do want a deeper relationship with you.”

His glowing purplish-red eyes squint at you—a smile of relief and assurance. “You are perfect. You are the greatest ally I could ever ask for. And you are mine as I am yours—sword and shield, just like I had said before.”

The Emperor gingerly tugs at your coiled tentacle wrapped around his, and then he draws you closer. “Come. It is late. And we must head back.”

***

At the bottom of the toiling staircase and beyond the bulwark, candlelight flickering from the chandelier casts multiple outstretched shadows onto the stone floor where Nevine and four other Knights of the Shield agents await The Emperor and your return. The clicking of the lock from the main entrance alerts them, and Nevine shoots up from her seat and into a dutiful stance.

“They are here,” she ushers the fellow agents lined along her left and right side to also stand.

The bulky door draws open, and you stop amidst the wide gap as five agents stand before you and the Mind Flayer you have run off with. They stand stiffly with unnerving anxiety at the end of the draped table, their gazes catching a glimpse of the Emperor who is in mid conversation with you.

You levitate into the entrance of the Main Hall with the Emperor trailing close behind, his eyes focused on you and his hands propped sophistically behind his back.

“It is good to see our operations proceed accordingly,” the Emperor mentions while you secure the door shut, his voice trailing off into silence as he sees five agents bowing before him.

“Welcome back Master.” They hail in synchronization; each distinct voice trailing off each other’s.

“Well?” You cheekily ask the Emperor in mental privacy, the lids of your black-green eyes smiling.

Nevine and the few agents at her side remain in a half-bow. Their faces stare at the cold stone floor, waiting for an order.

“You may rise,” the Emperor commands with grace and authority.

You watch in silence as the four agents and Nevine stiffen in fear, curiosity, pride, and trust.

The Emperor, with his hands behind his back, eyes each humanoid body down, and then he says, “You are dismissed until tomorrow afternoon. I expect there to be no tardiness.”

They look at each other in puzzlement and then back at the Emperor.

“Y-yes. Thank you,” a well-trusted female agent of the Shield bows deeply.

A tingle of joy travels across your head. They are filled with uncertainty, surprise, and relieved thrill. You watch each agent bow and scramble off with merry whispers and cheer.

There is no doubt they will drink until their stomachs burst and brains grow hazy. You hypothesize.

“Master Tav,” Nevine calls out to you and only you.

The Emperor’s eyes direct in your direction, and you call out to her, too.

“Won’t you take the night and morning off with your colleagues, Nevine?” You question her.

She glowers at you, her stubbornness peaking beyond all of Faerûn.

“What use am I if I leave your side?” She protests, clenching her fists into a furled ball.

“The Emperor has returned for a brief respite. Take the remaining hours off. Once he resumes with his travels, so shall you.”

She thinks about it for a moment, and then she respectively bows to you and the Emperor.

“Thank you,” she says before exiting the Main Hall.

“Such an inconsequential thing,” the Emperor conveys his thoughts onto you in privacy, “…and you continue to keep her at your side.”

You chuckle at his remark as he makes his way toward the draped table decorated with documents and notes.

“She pines for you.” He flips through a few pages of parchment paper stacked beside a messily stacked tower of books. “I have seen her desires.”

You levitate toward the Mind Flayer reading before you, and then you take a seat on the seating bench.

“Are you sulking?” You ask out of curiosity.

“For you to not enthrall her…a ridiculous notion. She is unstable with her delusions—of you.”

As you watch him discreetly fret, you cannot help but bring forth the vivid moment you had set your forest green eyes on the Emperor’s entirety for the very first time. During that dire event when the Githyanki attacked the campsite at nightfall, he had urged you for your aid in taking down Orpheus’ faithful honor guards from within the Astral Prism. Back then, you did not find your dream guardian's true identity to be an encumbering distaste—though it was a major reveal filled with brief shock. Truthfully, to the former you, or whose strong remnants you still hold, the exposed Mind Flayer in need of your help was simply a mind flayer. But through time and countless saves from the said flayer, your former self had grown trustful and even fond of them.

An odd one he is. You chuckle to yourself whilst in past thought.

“Emperor, I vaguely recall a similar action of yours when I was…lesser.” You casually bring up, a bit puzzled.

The Emperor sets the sheets of scribbled paper back onto their designated stack, and then he towers over you as you observe his process of emotions.

“I did not want to use force. You also responded more reasonably than I had anticipated. Now look at you,” his husky voice trails off in commendation.

“Nevine proves herself to be of skillful use. She ensures the agents of the Shield are running when I am occupied,” you remind him, your hands grazing over the emblem on his lower abdomen. “It would be a waste to consume her because of her fantasies.”

“If you cannot consume her, thrall her, at least.”

“If my hand must be forced to, I will.”

“On your word.”  

Your black-green irises reflect off the flickering candlelight above the Main Hall’s ceiling, and you agree to the words spewed from your mouth.

“In my name,” you assure.

His eyes glisten as you pledge your promise, and then he eases you by gently brushing your face with his hand. “There will be no hesitation to kill her if she shows violent intentions to our plans—our partnership.”

You nod your head lightly, touching his hand with your tentacle in a caressing manner.

“Enough. Let us discuss other subjects.” The Emperor ends the former topic of conversation.

“Shall we discuss work?” You query.

“Like them, we, too, shall rest.”

You look up at the Emperor with a dumbfounded expression.

“Did you think I do not know how to rest once in a while?” He chuckles at your widened eyes in amusement. “Even I need to decompress.”

You twirl another tentacle around his hand that lays against your cheek. “…have you eaten?”

“I have,” his deep voice growls into a faded hum.

“Hm…seems you have considering your mucus is healthy.” You single out, twirling one of your lightly tinged pale-mauve tentacles between the palm of his hand and your cheek.

“Then…shall I show you what I have been trying to perfect during my pastime?” You suggest.

It was obvious you were trying to hold in your bubbling excitement, and the Emperor found it endearing. He gently takes hold of your tentacle slithering between his fingers and palm, his powerful magenta-colored eyes squinting at you in calm intrigue as you ease his hand away with respect. He cerebrally smiles at you and says, “I am listening. Lead the way...”

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