#amulet of bhaal

[bhaalbust]

Bhaal png showcase — found on bg3 wiki

[bhaalswn-arch]

Speak with Dead.

[tadpole-apocalypse]

Some object studies while i was on the phone with various insurance agents all day 🫠

Necromancy of Thay, Amulet of Bhaal, Noblestalk

[tevinterdays]

I forgot that in this screenshot you can see every bad choice I have ever made

gays going to brunch* *killing cazador

these guys just looked so silly so that was my damn warmup ig

[goldenlikedayl1ght]

the great war - astarion

a/n: i finished baldurs gate 3 last night for the first time and i just. i couldn't stop thinking about the fact that this is a game where all you do is fight and kill people and spend months thinking you'll die. and no one mentions the fact that those things woudl give you ptsd. so here's what i came up with! warnings: cursing, smut, angst, nightmares, ptsd, crying, MASSIVE spoilers for baldurs gate 3. like explicit details about the ending. general content warning for mature themes and such word count: 2.2.k summary: the four things you tell your companions you've been up to when they ask at reunions. pairing: astarion x gn!reader now playing: the great war - taylor swift "that was the night i nearly lost you/i really thought i'd lost you/we can plant a memory garden/say a solemn prayer, place a poppy in my hair/there's no morning glory, it was war, it wasn't fair/and we will never go back"

Painting

He asks you to teach him to paint on a cold, rainy day. He’s spent hours watching you meticulously replicate various memories and scenes you want to be forever permanent. You paint your old friends.

You paint Gale and Tara curled up on one of the chairs in the Elfsong Tavern.

You paint Astarion with a goblet in his hand, wrinkles crinkling at the corners of his eyes.

You paint Karlach and Shadowheart laughing by the fire.

You paint Astarion in the early morning, his arm draped over his eyes as he rests.

You paint Wyll and Lae’zel sparring as Scratch watches, running around them like an excited toddler.

You paint Astarion sitting by the river, his feet submerged in the water. You remember how peaceful he looked.

But now, he stares at the canvas in front of him with a frown.

“What’s wrong?” You ask gently as you work.

“You’re so good at this,” He whines, “It’s infuriating.” You can’t help yourself. You lean over and gently kiss his cheek. The pale elf’s ears grow red.

“It’s all about practice and time, love.” You remind. “Besides, I also draw a lot. That helps.” You confess. Astarion looks at you curiously.

“I’ve never seen any of your drawings. Not recently, I suppose.” He recalls scattered parchment across your tent, but he couldn’t recall seeing you draw in the past few months. Your heart skips a beat.

You’ve revealed yourself.

You rest the paintbrush and the pallet down, before going to your bedroom. You come back and hand him a sketchbook. He sits down on one of your chairs before taking it, beginning to flip through it.

The pages are full of so many things.

His heart aches just looking at it.

The first few pages are normal. You’ve drawn Astarion, your companions, Scratch..

And then, he starts to see the dragon you fought on top of the Netherbrain. Right beneath it, Arabella grins back to him.

The amulet of Bhaal sits in one corner, and Halsin widdling sits in the other.

This pattern goes on and on, back and forth. A horrible thing is followed by the warmest memory you can reach in that moment.

Unconsciously, Astarion’s arm wraps around your waist and pulls you closer. He goes through the book, and as the horrors you’ve drawn become worse, he notices that a familiar face he now recognizes as himself fills the pages.

He closes the book and puts it to the side. Then, he glances up to you. He pulls you closer, so you’re standing between his legs. You admire him for a long time but neither of you say much. You just admire each other as you quietly ponder everything that you’ve been through

2. Fucking

When you aren’t painting, you’re fucking—You cannot help yourself, and at this point, it’s sort of embarrassing.

You and your darling Astarion live in a roomy but peaceful house where no one can just stumble upon you, they must be looking. You have a small sunroom for your paintings, even an alchemy lab, and of course, Astarion spends most of his time in the study he has made himself.

But that doesn’t stop the pair of you from trying to fuck to death.

Astarion bakes you various delicious treats, and then lays you down on the table to enjoy his own treat—His tongue laps up the sweet nectar that he has found himself genuinely craving you, as if your cum was a lifesaving elixir.

And of course, while he works in his study, your mouth warms his cock, teasing it—When you get too cheeky, he pulls your hair with his fingers, telling you to behave.

One particular night, his teeth graze your neck as he thrusts into you, gripping your hands as he listens to the euphoric moans leaving your lips. He thinks he can probably spend the rest of eternity chasing those moans.

“Astarion,” You breath out, squeezing his hand, and he just lets out a breathy chuckle.

“I know, darling, just wait a few more minutes for me..” he says softly, “Just really feel everything I’m giving you,” He says. His voice is not unkind, and he is focused on giving you what you want.

You fought a Netherbrain for Gods sake, you can at least take a few minutes to enjoy the feeling of your spouse fucking you.

As your moans become whinier, and Astarion feels himself about to cum too, so he bites the shell of your ear, a quiet sign to let yourself go.

And you do—In the midst of a chorus of moans and pants, you take a second to recognize the fact that you’re alive. The two of you are breathing and you’re not mindflayers, and you’re in love. You never thought the feeling of your lover’s cum dripping out of you would be damn near inspirational.

He stays on top of you for a few minutes, and you can tell he’s feeling the same things you are. But eventually he rolls off of you and rests comfortably on his stomach. Your hand comes over to his back, starting to trace those scars.

Those scars that haunt him.

You cannot help the next words that leave your lips.

“Do you ever regret not becoming the Ascendant?” You ask quietly. His eyes study yours. He answers with another question—

“Do you ever regret not taking control of the Netherbrain?” he asks.

Your answer is simple. Unspoken. Obvious.

You just smile gently to him and lean in, kissing his head.

3. Late Night Tea

Astarion doesn’t sleep. Not because he doesn’t want to, but that’s how elves work. But he doesn’t mind laying next to you as you sleep and he meditates.

But mostly, you never sleep through the night.

Sometimes it’s something small.

Raphael’s laughter haunting you. The snake that threatened Arabella in the grove. The sewers of Baldurs Gate.

Other times, it’s intense. It’s vivid and leaves you sobbing and panicked.

Orin with a knife to Gale’s throat. Gortash experimenting on Karlach. The Emporer sucking Wyll’s soul from his head, or sometimes you’re just stuck in the Astral Prism, unable to get out.

Tonight, You’re in Cazzador’s dungeon. You’re standing in the middle of the circle where he attempted to preform the ascension ritual—But this time it’s different. Your companions are levitating, suspended in red magic. When you look behind you, Astarion is there. He’s shirtless, suspended midair.

Your heart drops.

You run over to him, as fast as your feet will take you, but you are halted just a few feet from him, crashing into an invisible barrier keeping you from your spouse. You cannot reach any of your companions, but their faces are all twisted into the same look—A melted, tense look of pain and terror.

You look back to the center of the room and.. You see your dream vistor. The façade the Emperor put on to try and trick you. They hold Cazzador’s staff, and their eyes glow deep red. You charge at the dream visitor, your hands clawing for the face before—

You wake up, sobbing and breathless. You have to take a moment to realize that it is over, that you’re not in that dungeon deep beneath Cazzador’s estate, and instead, are in bed, lying with Astarion.

You sit up, and when you glance over to him, he’s awake, looking at you with this worried expression. It makes him look younger than you’ve ever known him.

“Astarion—” You start, the words getting caught in your throat.

His hand comes over to your cheek, cupping it gently.

“Shh.. Just breath.” He requests gently, wiping your tears gently. His other hand finds yours. “Come along,” He says softly, tugging on your hand, pulling you along to the kitchen. The sun will rise soon. But Astarion leaves the windows open, sensing it will help ground you.

He starts to boil water for tea, as you sit at the table, staring out the window. Your hands wipe away your tears. Astarion brings two cups of tea to the table and sits next to you.

“Thank you.” You say gently, and he smiles gently to you.

“Do you want to talk about it?” You shake your head. Then you ask—

“Do you ever get nightmares?”

Astarion tilts his head, admiring you for a few moments as he debates his answer.

“Yes.” He takes a sip of his tea.

“Why don’t you ever wake me up when you have them? You always seem to help me, why not wake me up?”

Astarion slides off the chair and kneels by your side. He kisses your hand gently, looking up to you with those gorgeous red eyes.

“When I wake up and realize that Cazzador is dead, that it was just a rather dull nightmare.. When I remember that you’re safe and by my side, I’m okay.” He says gently. “As long as I can realize you’re safe, I can calm down.”

You kiss him deeply, and you never want to let him go.

4. Growing Back Together

It takes a long time to find all the pieces of yourself that has been scattered throughout Faerun due to the parasite. It takes a long time for Astarion to unlearn two hundred years of abuse and torment.

The two of you become less frail as you grow comfortable. Your stomachs are full of warm soup and bread and rich wines, and as you lose that familiar and constant hunger, your brain begins to clean up, as if it’s repairing itself, mending the walls and putting pictures back together.

You and Astarion spend your time trying to grow together. He teaches you how to play cards, and you accuse him of cheating every single time. You know he is. He won’t ever admit it to you.

You face the inevitability that Astarion will outlive you. That you will grow old and sickly, and Astarion will be left all alone. He will outlive not only you, but your comapnions, too. It will be just him and Withers one day.

And at first, you try to convince him to move on after you die. You tell him that he will have the opportunity to see this wild future, a future that no one can possibly predict. You tell him that he might be able to fall in love with other people, and that he can live this phenomenal life in your name.

But he argues back. He tells you he has no desire for people to forget the battles you fought, that he has no need to hear the very real adventures he went on become a fairytale, a legend that no one truly believes.

He has no need to outlive his friends, loved ones, or even future children you might have with him.

“There’s no desire to live a life without you. You are what makes my life worth living.”

And that is what convinces you. You agree that when you’re old and wrinkly, and you are near the end, Astarion will hold you as the sun rises. That way, the pair of you will die together. There will never be a day the two of you know without each other.

But for the time being, you spend long nights in front of the fire, talking about anything and everything.

One night, Astarion slips a gold band onto your finger and asks you to solidify the legend of the Vampire Astarion and the Savior of Baldurs Gate, in front of your friends, in front of the Gods, and to each other.

How could you say no?

But the two of you, being who you are.. You cannot just rent a venue, buy a few fancy outfits, get a cake, and have a party. There needs to be a special twist on it.

So when Withers sends out invitations for the five year anniversary of your defeat of the Netherbrain (after six months and then a year), you and Astarion look at each other, and realize what must happen.

To declare your love for each other in the place where your love started, it’s the perfect fairytale ending the two of you deserve.

Withers agrees to turn his celebration into a makeshift wedding, happy to indulge you in your mortal celebrations, especially because he knows things you do not know.

So, in that pretty clearing in the forest that he lead you to when you thought you might be illithid by morning, you marry him. You marry him and never look back, do not think twice, and you dive headfirst into it.

When you get back to your house, you spend days buried between silk sheets.

Dirty tea cups sit on the table.

An old game of cards lays abandoned on the desk of his study.

A painting of your wedding hangs on the wall.

The Pale Elf gets his happy ending.

You can hear your own thoughts, there is no tadpole invading them.

And neither of you have flinched in years.

[myers-meadow]

Welcome to the library of Emerald Grove

Make yourself comfortable in the small, yet cosy, library of Emerald Grove. Who knew the druids had such sappy and erotic tales, next to their spell and potion recipe books?

Here you will find my writing about the wonderful characters of Baldur's Gate 3. Most of my writing will be x (named) Tav or x reader. They are listed chronologically, with the newest fics at the top.

Happy reading!

He Who Was

Humiliation kink headcanon (request)

General ideas I have regarding He Who Was and punishment (request)

Rolan

Rolan x Tav: Foolish gratitude (oneshot, heed warnings, smut, 18 +)

Raphael & Haarlep

Raphael x Tav: contract gone wrong/undressed with his claws (drabble, request, non-con/dub-con fade to black)

Haarlep falling for Tav (headcanons, request)

Raphael x Tav: Korilla is Tav's ex (drabble, request, sfw)

Raphael x Tav: Raphael waking up as little spoon (drabble, request)

Raphael x Tav: Jealousy (request, smut, drabble)

Haarlep x Tav + Raphael x Tav + Haarlep x Raphael: Hellish Beginnings (drabble, sfw)

Halsin

Halsin x Tav: An orange and a knife (sfw, oneshot, in which you share an orange together)

Halsin x Tav: fluff headcanons for a friend who had a bad day (sfw)

Halsin x Tav: Aftermath of the Amulet of Bhaal (nsfw).

Halsin headcanons: general, sfw.

Halsin x Tav: Explorations of jealousy (drabble, sfw)

Astarion

Ascended Astarion x Tav: Palace Life (drabble)

Tav creating duplicates so Astarion can see himself (request)

Astarion who is addicted to Tav's blood headcanons

Astarion liking dogs headcanons (request)

[trappedinafantasy37]

I guess I'll start my Daedra questions with one I've been curious since the beginning (since I think about this stuff way too much). What build was Daedra originally? Like class level division, notable feats or fun things you did/memorable moments that never made it into the story? Did it change for the story?

Also, which Tav voice? I have big feelings about all of them :3

Lots of good questions @alicelufenia! This will be a bit of a long one.

I'll do the easiest question first, Voice 4.

Before I get into it, since many people don't know what Daedra looks like, here's some Daedra spam:

Daedra's build

Her split was 5/3/4 Gloomstalker Ranger / Assassin Rogue / War Cleric of Lolth. I picked this build because Gortash describes Durge as an assassin so I wanted to go a full stealth build which is where the Gloomstalker Assassin came in. I also knew from the beginning that I was going to have her be a cleric of Lolth, but it was more for roleplay rather than any mechanic. I picked war domain because war actually is one of Lolth's domains (with the other one being Trickery. And we know from Shadowheart just how absolutely atrocious Trickery domain is). I started Daedra as a Ranger and then took the cleric dip at level 2. Afterwards, I focused getting ranger and rogue to their desired levels before finishing off with cleric in Act 3.

Like I said, I picked cleric more for the roleplay aspect rather than the mechanics. So, I did not anticipate how much synergy there would be with war domain. With War Domain you get a war priest charge in which you get an extra attack for the turn. So, you can start the game off being able to do two attacks. And then once you get 3 Ranger, you get Dread Ambusher which gives you an extra attack at the beginning of the turn. So for the very first turn, you can attack three times. Once you get to 5 ranger, you get the Extra Attack like with the other martial classes. So on the very first turn, you can attack four times.

Daedra also had all the brain worms (there actually are enough worms in the game in which you can max out two characters). For feats, she had Sharpshooter and Ability improvement for Dex (with Auntie Ethel's boon she has max Dex at 20).

Gear: Frayed Drow Hood, Deathstalker Mantle, Spidersilk Armor, Craterflesh Gloves (I forgot to give her in the story), Disintegrating Night Walkers

Jewelry: Amulet of Bhaal (gave to Minthara in the story), Shifting Corpus Ring (gave to Shadowheart in the story), Eversight Ring (gave to Minthara in the story)

Weapons: Justiciar's Scimitar, Knife of the Undermountain King (gave to Minthara in the story), and the Deadshot

Lemme tell ya, this build is nasty. It got to the point where it felt like Daedra was soloing the game. There were some times where Daedra would kill everyone in the first turn (so Minthara and Shadowheart never even got a hit off) and this was in Tactician! If Daedra didn't end the fight, then Shadowheart and Minthara would. The only time things were really tricky was during the major boss fights. But, even on the major bosses, if I had Daedra focus on the boss alone, she could get them very low on HP in the first turn. Daedra absolutely humiliated Orin.

Story Cuts

Now, onto the things that never made it into the story. First, Wyll and Karlach. Yes, I did initially have it so that Wyll and Karlach were in the story. But, I realized when I actually starting writing that Wyll and Karlach would not let the grove raid stand, so they died in the grove raid which was really hard for me to do. I also thought it was just beautifully tragic that Minthara was the one to kill Karlach in just the worst and most painful way possible.

Second change, I had initially planned a chapter were the elves met Ethel and Araj in Act 3. The reason why I wanted to do it was to kind of show how Daedra is starting to indulge on her urges as she would have chosen to kill Lora (the mom) completely on her own without discussing it with Shadowheart and Minthara. I also wanted to have Minthara interact with Araj as House Baenre was the one responsible for the destruction of House Oblodra and I wanted to have this interaction in which Araj would ask Minthara if she was here to finish the job her house didn't. But, when it came time to actually write the chapter, I really didn't want to do it, so I didn't.

Third change, I had two chapters planned in which the elves would destroy the Foundry and then go kill Gortash. Later that night, Daedra and Minthara would sneak back into Wyrm's Rock so Minthara can sit on a dead man's throne and then fuck Daedra on it. But when I was thinking about it, I couldn't find any logical reason to do so other than "just because". Minthara had made an alliance with Gortash and wanted to keep it until it proved inconvenient. But, it never proved inconvenient so there was no reason for Minthara to turn on Gortash and destroy the Foundry.

Fourth change was Mizora. I actually did have three chapters in which Mizora would just randomly show up just to be a pain in the ass. Because Mizora is a little upset that she lost her "favorite little pet" and she knows Minthara is the reason why. So, Mizora shows up and basically tells Minthara, "if I can't play with my pet anymore, I will play with yours" and Mizora just starts tormenting Daedra. There was a moment where Mizora stole Daedra's old bow and snapped it in half (which was the reason why Daedra bought the Dead Shot in Chapter 38), another moment where Mizora actually threw Daedra off the bridge between Wyrm's Rock and the Lower City, and another moment in which Mizora not only revealed the locations of the elves and broke their stealth in the fight with Dolor in Chapter 39 but she was also the one who snitched to the Fist Guards and prompted the chase. I cut Mizora from the story because I really could not find a reason as to why she would be there without Wyll other than "just because".

Another thing that didn't make it into the story was Withers! But, this was not actually intentional. I just forgot to write him in there and when I realized he was missing I didn't feel like going back and writing him. You see, I already knew from the get-go that Bhaal was gonna murk Daedra (that was a very hard in stone decision I made very early on as I was always going to have it so that Minthara killed Orin). So the question of resurrection became very tricky for me to answer, and I almost didn't resurrect Daedra. And then I remembered, Lolth is right there. The next tricky question was determining whether or not Lolth is actually willing to resurrect someone, at least with their soul intact and not as puppets. But, from the lore I've read, Lolth would resurrect a drow if she had really good reason to.

I also had a One Shot planned called "Dread Ambusher" that was meant to take place during the events of Chapter 38: Old Acquaintances. At the end of that chapter, Daedra sneaks back into the mansion in the middle of the night and Minthara questions if Daedra killed someone. "Dread Ambusher" was meant to go over those events. In this one shot, Daedra actually does sneak out of the mansion with the intent to kill someone and she runs into Orin. And the two of them hunt together, and they both enjoy their time together. Daedra even begins to feel somewhat of a sibling bond with Orin and how nice it is to have someone around that doesn't look down on her for her urges or treat her like a child. And Daedra ends up killing someone that Minthara told her not to (the victim was a patriar and someone who most certainly would be noticed if they went missing) and Orin almost convinces Daedra to kill children. But, Daedra reigns back some self control and spares the kids, but she injures herself as a means of control. This is why she is limping when she returns to the mansion and its because she has a massive stab wound in her leg. The reason this was cut was because I had ended up finishing the entire fic before I got around to writing the one shot. So, when the publications in AO3 caught up to Chapter 38, I had lost the steam to write this one shot and could not find the willpower to do so. But, I do want to be clear, just because I did not write it does not mean it doesn't happen. The events that I had planned for this one shot all actually do happen that night and are canon to the story.

There were also a few more one shots that I had wanted to do but also ran out of steam. There was gonna be a one shot that took place immediately after Chapter 44: Parting Wisdom in which Jaheira would get all the elves high, because they needed that good self medication to help them get through their damn problems and stop all this "woe is me" nonsense. I thought it would have been really funny to write Minthara completely zooted out of her mind. Another one shot meant to take place after Chapter 44 that I called the "One Eyed Paladin" in which Minthara is training and learning how to fight again now that she only has one eye and her depth perception was off. During the training, Minthara gets extremely frustrated with herself and starts beating herself up in which Daedra actually calms her down and helps her.

This post probably had more detail than you were probably expecting, but I did want to talk about all the things that I almost did, but didn't do. Really good questions! Keep 'em coming folks!

[dearest-and-nearest]

The funniest thing - Glassred switched more gods than Ketheric did in a shorter time (her whole life is no more than 40 years, while for him it took at least 100 years), but while he is constantly mocked for that by everyone, she is ignored.

Like when she was a little girl, her parents worshipped Helm. Then she killed them and a sister of her adoptive mother adopted her. Glassred wasn't really devoted follower, but she was a tamed animal and joined her aunt in prayers and visited temples with her.

Then at 17 (almost adult, but not yet) Glassred slaughtered her order and become Chosen of Bhaal. Blah blah, story we all know, served him for almost 20 years, nothing drastically different from other Durges

After tadpole Glassred was sure she is worshipping Bane. It is a funny story: long before tadpole Gortash gave her an amulet with symbol of Bane. They both laughed at that and forgot, but before Orin's attack Glassred wore that amuled and it stayed with her. So she was pretty sure she followed Bane (and Gortash enslaved her and carved his name on her body. Oh, irony)

After brain defeat (one way or another) a new problem appeared: Bane is a dick. I mean, he decided to not save Gortash and to not give his soul back. So for Glassred everything was clear: invade Banehold, steal Gortash's soul and boom, everything is perfect. But it's too crazy even for her to follow god you decided to mess with, so she needed a new god.

And she chose Cyric. Yes. The guy everyone hated and she hated when she followed Bhaal and Bane. For her it was too logical: she despised those two idiots (and Myrkul too, just because he can't chose friends and still hang out with those two), they hate Cyric, so what to do if not follow him? Utterly logical, no less

And yes, this woman jokes about Ketheric's inability to follow one certain god

[y-rhywbeth2]

Gale: 'Even being in the presence of that amulet makes my skin crawl. It's like feeling the eyes of Bhaal himself settling upon us.'

OK, well, I've got news and it's up to you whether it's good or bad, because Bhaal is omnipotent within a 1 mile radius of all his followers and artefacts and everything else tied to him - like Durge - at all times, so it is far too late to start getting unsettled for he has had eyes upon you this whole time!

Also, even if he hadn't, you just drew his attention to you by invoking his name...

Edit: Unless Mystra, Selûne or Withers feel like shielding you, anyway.

[yoakesan]

Yeah I'm okay I'm just picturing Durge post-Murder Tribunal, covered in blood, Bhaal's amulet weighing upon their neck, rushing to Wyrm's Rock so they can tell Gortash I know where the temple is, I am headed towards my fate, afraid that might be the last time they see him — they want to say goodbye, just in case.

Gortash stares at them with admiration and concern. He takes their face into his hands, tells them Take care and do what you must, and kisses them.

[mumms-the-word]

so, funny story

when I was trying to get a picture of ascended Gale that I liked for my fic about, well, him ascending, I decided to speedrun the last half of act 3 in my Dani saves. I knew if I just launched from the morphic pool save I had and went to the end, Gale would reject godhood, because Dani was like “I don’t need the stars I love you as you are” AS SHE SHOULD and he was so smitten that even trying to be like “but power?” at the last minute would result in him being like “haha no are you crazy I’m a better man now” AS HE SHOULD

so I had to go with an earlier save

and in that save I decided I would just encourage him to go with godhood and skip very quickly through conversations and skip all the stuff I had to do to run to the morphic pool. we’re talking ZOOMZOOM through act 3 to the epilogue, sorry Wyll, sorry Shadowheart, there will be no Ansur or House of Grief, like bitch we didn't even talk to Raphael or crash his house we had to GO

I didn’t zoomzoom through Gale’s confrontation of Mystra because tbh god-path Gale’s spat with her in the Tabernacle scene is worth a watch, it’s very cathartic (and I think she explains things better when he’s mad at her but I digress)

but essentially the plan was to do the boat scene with Gale, go yell at Mystra, kill Orin, bop over to the brain, give it a good smack, boom epilogue

Problem: I hadn’t encountered Sarevok yet, so I couldn’t make it to Orin

now, Sarevok isn’t a super tough fight but he’s a pain and I was in a rush. so the quickest way to get the amulet of Bhaal was to…well, become an unholy assassin and kill Valeria

(Which I hate Valeria so like on the one hand, cathartic, on the other, Dani would never and Gale was AGHAST)

(Side note #2: he did immediately follow up the mention of him not approving by saying that Dani’s eyes were capable of tenderness while she was still covered in blood from the unholy assassin baptism so…………yeah)

anyways now that we’re unholy assassins (sorry Gale) we bop over to Orin. I’ve got this all planned: we’ll just blow her up.

well, no, we won’t because when Orin jumped over to where Karlach was waiting with 8 barrels of smokepowder and runepowder bomb, Orin still had 2 unstoppables, and I, like a FOOL, didn’t think to use Gale’s turn to cast magic missile to get rid of them, because I’m thinking “these barrels are going to all explode, that’s multiple hits, it’ll be fine”

reader it was not fine

I blew up the barrels and you how much damage Orin had received?

8 smokepowder barrels and a runepowder bomb took one ONE UNSTOPPABLE. BITCH WAS STILL INVINCIBLE.

and then she killed Karlach dead dead and it all went downhill from there and we all died I was out of saves so I had to reload back to the boat scene with Gale

thus began Dani’s villain era

we go yell at Mystra, we go stabbity stab Valeria (Astarion ends up in the baptism because, idk, reasons, but good for him), we bop over to Orin, we fight Orin the old fashioned way (aka with magic missiles and cloud kill and stuff), and then Dani steals her armor and turns it black and puts it on and I’m like “wait a minute she’s looking, like, really hawt”

so I put Gale in Gortash’s fit and then we went and dominated the world

temporarily of course because I did need my epilogue but like look at her

of course I was going to let her dominate the brain for a bit

so we did

and anyway I guess the lesson is let your ocs become villains together for a minute??

anyways thanks for reading please enjoy my two OOC villain babies kissing like ten feet from Orin’s dead body I guess

what if we kissed inside the lord murder’s temple

[bhaalswn-arch]

alkas @ himself: what the fuck do i do with these four severed hands?????

[lakemojave]

Tonight at 6pm Pacific: The Direct Actors, A Baldur's Gate 3 "Adventure" pt. 22!!!

We're back after an absolute doozy of tech failures. Tonight's gonna be the last BG3 stream for a little while so be sure not to miss this one! Come see @radiofreederry as Dhudlei Durite, Elf paladin, @mayflowers429 and Nana as Leviathan, Dark Urge monk, @flagellant as Micah Harper, Tiefling wizard, and myself as Delilah "Mama D" Harper, Halfling bard!

Character art by @bijillion, recap under the cut!

THE STORY SO FAR: On the way to a union rally, Delilah "Mama D" Harper and her grandson Micah were abducted and taken aboard an ilithid nautiloid, which they escaped with dancer and son of Bhaal Leviathan and the self-proclaimed "Champion of Ilmater and Paladin of Good" known as Dhudlei Durite. Each infected by a mind flayer tadpole, but so far immune from transforming into mind flayers themselves, The Direct Actors, as the party have come to be known, have arrived in Rivington, the gate to Baldur's Gate, and find themselves in the middle of a town with some big problems of its own...

LAST TIME: As Micah stayed restlessly awake after the party freed Dhudlei from Shar's creeping influence, Karlach approached Micah, pleading for the Direct Actors' help finding the smith Dammon to save her from her deteriorating internal engine before it explodes. The others, in their sleep, were visited by fleeting visions of the Emperor, showing his true face and attempting to ease them into trusting him. Mama D, for her part, pried at the Emperor for information about his past, but remained unswayed by his offers for partnership. The next morning, Dhudlei enjoyed a pleasant date at the circus with Lae’zel. Paired with a vulnerable but reassuring conversation with Mama D about his relationship anxieties, Dhudlei was back to himself at last.

With renewed spirit and a disguised Dhudlei, the Direct Actors left the circus to pursue rumors of foul play in the temple of Ilmater. Micah set about questioning both the living and dead on the scene in cooperation with a delightful hollyphant detective named Valeria. While rummaging through the cemetery behind the temple, Micah reunited the sentient amulet from the grimforge with the object of its desire, resulting in a battle for his own sanity as the spirit passed on a piece of Shar's blessing to him, against the party's concerns and advice. 

The party took their investigation into Wyrm's Crossing, after slipping past a frightening metal golem with the help of the deep gnomes from the underdark. Dhudlei and Mama D took off to the brothel Sharess' Caress, where Mama D found Arfur, the nobleman who rigged the children's donations with explosives, found out what he knew, then insulted him to death. However, the duo's hot streak came to a swift end as they witnessed one of a loving couple turn into a mind flayer before their eyes. Without the help of their two allies, the poor sex worker was killed in the crossfire. 

As Dhudlei and Delilah wandered through the brothel, they came face to face with the devil Raphael, who revealed his evil plans and offered the party the means to free themselves from their obligation to the Emperor, so long as they brought him the powerful Crown of Karsus. Dhudlei, beseeching Mama D's trust repeatedly, signed his name on Raphael's contract, which he now keeps safe in his House of Hope. With Dhudlei signed away to Raphael and the murders solved, the two heroes collected their rewards: a session with a drow courtesan for Mama D, and a fancy sword for Dhudlei.

While Micah lightly burgled in the adjacent flophouse, Levi had a tense conversation between his two selves. After closing the murder case, Levi--the brooding, asocial and pink-eyed half of the white dragonborn--pressed Micah about his strained family history, and his grandmother’s role in it. When the sinister, yellow-eyed personality took over for a moment however, the conversation turned back to Levi, and Lorenz--the cunning, coy, and cruel green-eyed half of Leviathan--gave Micah permission to use different names for the two sides. Though the three-way conversation with the two men was tense, Levi took a moment to solidify his friendship with Micah, and express curiosity with what his future holds ahead of him. 

When the party reunited with their combined information, the party was at first enraged at Dhudlei, believing him to have signed all their names to the service of a devil with the thinnest of plans to undo the contract. While Delilah assured the party that only Dhudlei's name was on the physical, destructible contract which was within their reach in the city, Micah fantasized about what knowledge he might glean from the Crown of Karsus. Dhudlei, who once witnessed the fall of the kingdom of Netheril to the Crown's influence in ages past, pleaded with Micah to tread carefully.

After finding the deep gnomes' sanctuary and discovering a terrorist plot by known bastard and criminal Wulbren Bongle, the party made rest to plan their next move. Levi, quite vulnerably, asked Mama D to teach him how to play Minthara’s lute one day, and she accepted, offering tutelage and a stronger friendship between them. Later, Micah shared a theory with his grandmother about that fateful day in Waterdeep. Micah believed that Mama D could only have raised so many dead that day if she, like Micah, had a latent talent for necromancy. Though she was troubled to hear this, she chose to look past her discomfort to accept Micah, necromancy and all, for who he is. Micah, more passionate than ever, rambled to Delilah about his plans for the future, his fascination with Illithid and Githyanki magic and technology, his curiosity with their planeshifting capabilities, and his excitement to study it all firsthand. Mama D did not understand a word he said--she simply watched and listened with pride.

How will Dhudlei's devilish scheme turn out? Will Levi and Lorenz keep themselves together in the face of the Bhaalist conspiracy? What casualties will the notorious Harper Hubris take next? Find out on another exciting entry of Baldur's Gate 3, starring the Direct Actors!

[4theonewithoutaname]

A sketch of my durge, Drystan (post-epilogue), and the butler's hat.

I just had this idea that he kept the hat, the amulet of bhaal and the deathstalker's mantle. Since I may have still had them in my inventory, when I fought the elder brain. And that part of him, does miss, and is in mourning, Sceleritas Fel.

[the0verboss]

WIP WHENEVER

I saw this on @flamemittens blog and thought eh why not...

So this is installment 4 of my Durgetash fics, and installment 3 is fighting me tooth and nail on being written so we might never get to this part.

***

Gortash suspects where he is even before he hears the voice. Consciousness is coming back to him slowly, but the scent of fresh blood and old decay that permeates the air is a good first indicator. By turns, sickly sweet and sour rot, with none of the chemical preservatives found in his own carrion dens. There's a stone slab at his back and even trying to wiggle a finger is impossible. A low droning chant can be heard, the sound bouncing off the walls and filling the space with a persistent hum. The quality of the tone suggests not only that the room is massive, but between that and the air moving through it Gortash also guesses that it's subterranean. Subtle echoes, a deep dripping, though nothing like bats or birds or other such vermin. Strange for a cavern, though perhaps not strange for this cave.

And then he hears her.

“Open, open, little lordling. Your savior comes.”

There's the quick swipe of moving air and a sharp sting at his eyelids before they pop open involuntarily. Above him Orin the Red dangles her dagger directly above his left eye. Gortash can feel his Netherstone quiver at the perceived hurt, Orin testing the bonds of the pact that binds them and in turn the pact that binds the brain. At least she hasn't removed it.

Now that he can see his surroundings the Chosen of Bane is certain of his location. This is the temple of Bhaal.

“Look, look, would-be-king. How splendid your knight rides in.”

Orin’s touch has always made Gortash’s skin crawl. The shadowy whirls that undulate over her skin have a notable texture. Though not quite slimy they slither, the movement perceptible even through his garments. He can feel them all the more when her corpse cold hand presses against his bare cheek, forcing his head to turn and look toward the stone staircase that descends to them.

Achaia stands at the top, a resplendent fury, every inch Bhaal's prodigal son, come home.

Oh, and a vision of the past he is, like he’d stepped out of Gortash’s own memory. Achaia’s mattes have been lengthened, braided down to the floor and decorated with gold beads and Bhaalist icons. His skirts sway with every imperious step, gold rings on his bare toes, Stillmaker at his hip. The fine red shawl, sheer, is tucked into a belt and wrapped over one half of his chest, its long tail held in the opposite hand. Head held high, ruby eye burning and focused on Orin alone, he ignores her assassins entirely. The Amulet of Bhaal he’d received from the tribunal laid proudly on his bare chest for all to see.

Behind him Gortash can see Karlach, the wizard and Ravengard’s ignominious spawn. With a wave of his hand Achaia commands them to stay back as he makes his way down. Soon enough he steps into the circle of chanting Bhaalists, ready to face his tempestuous sister. He says nothing in greeting, merely crossing his arms over his chest, glancing over the altar before returning his attention to Orin.

“Oh, sweet sibling, I saw you slip sliding, all caught up in the tyrant’s lies. Just like last time. So I've made it easier for your mincemeat of a mind.”

Achaia snorts at her and shakes his head. “I have no intention of legitimizing your claim by sacrificing Bane’s Chosen at your demand. I have not come to duel you, little sister, I have come to take what is mine by rights. Heel, or die.”

“Rights, Rights! As though you did not sacrifice every right for this wretch!”

Achaia’s brow furrows, but he makes no denial of the charge Orin brings against him. The Bhaalists of the circle have gone quiet, their chanting paused as Bhaal's own offspring are speaking. Living totems of their chosen deity, every word must be near on sacred to these lesser devotees. If he was capable, Gortash thinks he might almost pity them, caught in a family feud of this magnitude,likely to be pulped regardless of the outcome.

The moment of silence stretches, Orin waiting for an acknowledgement Achaia either can't or won't give her.

“You still don't remember, do you blood-kin?” Orin taunts after a while, a manic kind of glee in her voice. She shifts her form effortlessly, and then there are two of Achaia, staring each other down. Both haughty, both sneering, unimpressed with the other. When Orin speaks next it's with Achaia’s own haunting lilt. “How you screamed as my knife split your skull? Your brain juices, sticky and sweet. A little hole, big enough for the worm, your body a blood sack to feed it. One parasite, exchanged for another. Blasphemous womb of Bhaal strung up by the sinews and plucked by my hands!”

From where he's laid out on the altar Gortash can see the confidence that had been on Achaia’s face melt away, replaced with uncertainty. A far away look the man sometimes gets when a memory is sitting just out of reach.

“What did you say?” He whispers.

Orin laughs, the pitch right but the cadence all wrong. Her blood red blade taps against the scar on her transformed abdomen. The one bisecting Achaia’s belly, horizontally, just beneath his navel. The one Gortash knows hadn't been there before Achaia went missing.

“Did you really think I'd allow you to carry on such heresy? To use Bhaal's own flesh to propagate with such filth? It fit in the palm of my hand, you know. A putrid morsel. Murdered before it could even truly be brought to life. Father was so proud!”

And finally the other shoe drops.

Gortash thinks back to the moldering throne room of Moonrise towers. To catching Achaia in private counsel with Ketheric before everything went wrong. He'd felt betrayed then, to find the man he thought of as his partner plotting behind his back. They'd shouted at one another, all three of them. But even when he'd stormed off, he had been none the wiser to what the other two Chosen had been discussing.

Now that he thinks on it, there had been another there. A cleric of Myrkul. A former midwife if he recalls it correctly; few Mykulites had been stationed in the tower proper. He’d disregarded the man before, but now in light of this new information Gortash can see the plot for what it had really been. Not a plot at all, and he thinks about the look that had been on Achaia's face when he burst in that closed door, shock and adoration. A single hand over his bare belly.

A secret yes, but not a betrayal. His Bhaalspawn had wanted that child. His child. Sin enough that it had cost Achaia, cost them both their easy ascension. The wicked misdeed that had forced Orin’s hand into action, in Bhaal’s name.

From the slack jawed look on Achaia’s face, even though his memory is gone, he too has put the pieces together. His single flaming red and black eye settles on Gortash’s face. The man is near vibrating and whether it is grief or rage remains to be seen.

“Did you know?” He breaths out, shoulders dropping, and Gortash wishes he were not stuck naked to this damn altar. Paralyzed so he can not even shake his head. Can only hope to convey with his eyes that- No, he didn’t.

Achaia must read him right because he looks away from him and makes no advance on him. Surely if he'd thought Gortash had known and kept it from him he'd cut his throat himself. Instead his eyes have traveled back to Orin, who has shed her disguise in a flurry of dust.

Achaia can feel the Urge rising in him, ravenous hunger fueled by his rage. His vision, already clouding with the blood haze. Sarevok had made mention of his shameful lack of progeny when he’d asked after Orin’s own parentage. To think there had been one, a legacy, a future, and she’d snuffed it out. Not enough to have stolen his triumph over Toril, his memories, his place in the cult.

“You took everything from me.”

“Not everything, not yet.” Orin says, backbending and tumbling out of reach. She's put the altar between herself and Achaia. “You were to slay the tyrant and then we’d duel, but you bent your knee to him once more. You don't deserve the Murder Lord’s blessing.”

Gortash has seen the urge rise and take control of Achaia on more than one occasion, but not like this. What had been subtle enough vibrations has become a full spasm, both of Achaia's eyes alight as his head jerks. His lips pulled back in a snarl, his hands curled into claws. Gone is the dignity he’d walked in with, hacking and gagging as he fights against it, trying to hold on for just one more second of sanity.

All in vain.

When the guttural roar from deep in Achaia's belly issues forth, Gortash knows the man has lost the fight with himself. A circle of blood drops lights around him, malice filling the air with a wicked aura. Oh, it's coming. Bhaal's bloody cleaver.

Achaia's skin bursts apart, split right down the middle as his blood floods out and reforms into the nightmarish shape of the Slayer.

***

[sequesteredbhaalspawn]

So this is a very teeny tiny note, but I just noticed another thing wrong with Bhaal-stuff in BG3 (and it's also wrong in BG1&2 as well).

The blood tear drops on the amulet of Bhaal are facing the wrong way, only on the amulet, and with holy symbols from all of the games; they do not have the correct number of blood tears.

(images from the BG3 wiki, and baldursgate wiki)

There is also suppose to be 16 tear drops on Bhaal's holy symbol (which never appears correctly in the game anyways, but whatever), and the amulet only has 11 that are visible.

(from Faith & Avatars)

There should be 16 tear drops for the 16 unique kills for being a Deathstalker.

(from Dragon Magazine #322)

"Must have murdered at least sixteen sentient creatures, using sixteen different weapons or methods"

I just want video games to get my second favorite fiction murder religion correct. 🤣