#and now me and my friends get up to lots of nonsense in baldurs gate and im so fuckign obsessed with it too so this is a blast dkfkgkfk

[galebecky97]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHi posted an art

[zwolfgames]

Idk, but I think bg3 reader would try to leave the group, if they know about their yandere personalities, lol. Please, your bg3 works are so good. I expect the new one

(So, not a continuation of the last drabble. This is hypothetical for now. Also it deleted my answer the first time :( so this is try two, it may seem a bit rushed. And I got a bit off track, woops.)

Warnings: mentions of yandere stuff I suppose.

Y/N in this au (aka teen tav) really isn't stupid, sure they grew up in a village with just their mother and pulled random spells out of their ass like a true sorcerer, but they're not stupid.

The party started with variable reactions to a minor in the group. Act 1 doesn't showcase a lot of Yan tendencies due to everything still going kind of fine and everyone getting to know each other.

The yandere part really starts in act 2 when they enter the Shadow cursed lands. Unlike the normal region of act 1 are the Shadowlands riddled with danger.

The party quickly gets their wake-up call after things like Kar'niss (who gets his little momemt) and the other bosses and dangers. Katherine Thorm, being a threat, also doesn't help ease the party's feelings.

The group would go from silly to way more protective in act 2. But Y/N can't do anything about that yet. The shadows would eat them alive, or someone else could get them. Better left with unease rather than dead, right?

I've purposefully mentioned Y/N's mother in the drabbles to show the main goal of the reader, which is to return to their mother. This goal is being held back by a party of people who no longer seem intent to part ways with you once this is over.

Sure, Y/N wanted their cool adventure with heroes like Wyll Ravenguard, but staying with them permanently? Haha... no.

So after the wake-up call of act 2, Y/N would take their chances at escape in Baldur Gate. The thing is, though, Y/N isn't from Baldurs Gate. They don't know the alleys like the back of their hand in the same manner that Astarion does. They didn't grow up playing in the secret passageways like Karlach...

This is a dangerous game you're playing. The more you wiggle, the tighter their hold. It's just how it goes with people who have faced enough to lose it.

They handle you in different ways, of course.

Wyll, Gale, and Halsin strike me as the type to have wanted to protect this poor kid from the start, so their resolve just strengthens to unnecessary levels. You wouldn't mind just being carried to bed by a bear man, would you? He knows some good elvish lullabies.

Lae'zel is her own separate category, she's a githyanki, they have very diffrent ways then most folk on faerun. I'm basing her motherly ability on the prologue where she raises the gith egg. She may not be affectionate, but she does not want you out of sight. Expect training.

Karlach and Astarion surprisingly go together here. They don't seem like the parental type. More of an aunt/uncle. Would try and stay your friend. Guiltripping from Karlach that she may or not be aware of herself, and straight up manipulation from Astarion. They both had a bad past. You can stay, right? As a little gift from the gods?

Shadowheart didn't like you from the start, not a fan of kids. Her yandere strikes a lot later. First, she had only been worried about your health as a cleric. After her arc at the end of the shadow cursed lands (freeing Dame Aylin etc) she gets a bit of that parental feeling nonsense too. Though I'd say she shows it the least. You'd be tricked easily into thinking she's the only normal one in the party.

Minthara, I'm unsure if I can find a good way to let her join, but she'd be similar to Lae'zel, just crueler and definitely bot secretive about her want for your stay. If you ask her directly, she'd just plain out and say that if she catches you, you're getting bound.

Jaheira, natural mom, she's got kids, protected the kids. Don't expect her to be sweet, but you're definitely not going out of sight.

Minsc joins in Act 3, so really, he doesn't have the time to get to know you, he's funny, you're funny. Friends. Not that the rest appreciates the time you spent with him. They're scared you're gonna make up a talking animal next.

All in all, Y/N would try and escape. It just isn't very likely to succeed. If you get far... well, there are other beings out there still after you, you know?

Just forget your mom. Aren't they better family now? Your mom didn't teach you spells, did she? Or swordplay? Maybe how to make balms?

Cmon, they're the best option. Stay.

Just an answer lol, hope i didn't make anyone too OOC with just this. Xd.

[thefallenangelsgang]

BALDUR'S GATE 3 x MAMMA MIA! AU

CHARACTERS

[YOU HAVE PERMISSION TO USE MY IDEA FOR ANYTHING YOU WANT, I ONLY ASK YOU CREDIT ME]

(break to save your dash)

Now, not every character is going to fit cleanly into character slots (there are too many characters to fill the main cast) so some of our Baldur's Gate loves will be sharing character traits and plot devices amongst each other.

Let’s start with Donna: She will be played by Tav obviously. I mean there really is no other choice here. We need someone who has gotten romantically entangled with multiple if not all the companions. The one unfortunate snag is that Tav has to carry or otherwise create the child of dubious parentage without the other parent knowing. That does pigeonhole the characterization a bit unless you want to go the magic route with it (which opens a line of ethical questioning beyond not telling the Parent of your child about the existence of said child)

For the purposes of this thought experiment, I'm operating under Tav being AFAB and having a womb to carry the baby. I’m also operating under the idea that all the companions have the reproductive organs of the gender they present as in game. If anyone wants to actually do something with this they are free to do whatever the fuck they want and use whatever headcanons they want. 

Sophie is going to be played by Tav’s kid. This one doesn’t have a hard and fast gender rule (TIL Sophus is the masculine version of Sophie) but they have to want to know who their other sire is and be generally chaotic which is not hard when they’ve grown up with the Tadfools as their role models. It is important that they display mostly Tav’s traits with others that could be any one of their other parent’s. (think Amanda Siefried and Meryl Streep are both blonde and similarly built. Sophie draws like Sam and sings and plays like Harry and has Bill’s adventurous spunk)

For ease of writing Tav’s Kid will be referred to as Soph from here on out.

Speaking of Sires, the Dads:

Sam: I waffled a LOT on who to choose out of the Baldur’s Boys because I wanted to keep it to just the traditional three and to just companions. You can obviously shuffle around people (I'm sure the Rolan girlies (gender neutral) would love putting him in this AU) and expand the possible dad list (though I don’t know how to split the characteristics like the Donna’s Friends). I chose to go with Gale here. I think he fits the very no nonsense and very anxious vibes from Sam in the show/movie. Instead of a business person who “went home to get married” perhaps Gale got called upon by Mystra as her Chosen and left to focus on his Wizardry. He is definitely the kind to break Tav’s heart over duty and be so ashamed he doesn’t really speak to them for 20 years. 

Bill: This one was damn near a no brainer once I was considering it. It’s Halsin. Who better to be the Hippie, fun-loving, sex god and travel writer? He retains all his Baldur’s Gate characteristics. His experience with Tav is truly just a bit of fun before they both go their separate ways. Their relationship is HEAPS less frigid than Gale and Tav’s. 

Now this is where you can go two ways with this. You could give Halsin is canon good ending (Reithwin with the kids) BUT we miss Bill being scared shitless at the prospect of having a child which I always loved as a characterization (Skarsgard plays it like a champ in the film, he looks like he’s gonna have a heart attack lmao). I feel like Clan Dad Halsin after 20 years is way too open to the idea of having something permanent like a kid. Wandering Arch Druid Halsin might be a little more scared shitless at the idea. That one is a personal preference, I think I’d prefer Reithwin Halsin even though I miss the majesty of an internal conflict.

Harry: Now this one also was a no-brainer but needs to be explained with some tact. It’s Astarion. It is not because Astarion is the most effeminate of the group. For those that don’t know, Harry is canonically gay. The companions are all pan. I chose Astarion because there is an opportunity to do something else transformative with Astarion and Tav’s tryst. 

In Mamma Mia, Harry talks about how Donna is the last and only woman he’s loved and their time together helped him accept his sexuality. In the stage show he’s in a committed relationship (his partner's name is fully escaping me atm). It always stuck out to me that Donna changed Harry and that’s why he still loves her after all these years. Sam obviously regrets leaving to do what was expected of him because he didn’t love his first wife. Bill sees the life of adventure and companionship he could have had with Donna but acknowledges that that time is behind them and still loves her anyways. And Harry loves that Donna made him see himself clearly for the first time in his life and loves her for it. You can see why Astarion came to mind I hope. 

Astarion’s night with Tav was him figuring out what intimacy meant to him after finally closing the Cazador Chapter of his life. The encounter was brief but it changed him for the better and allowed him to start healing.

EDIT: I realized I didn’t cover Astarion’s Vampirism at all. For story purposes assume he has some kind of temporary solution to the sun issue because I need his ass to be present when this is set on a fantasy Greek island. The Dhampir issue is… something. I sludged through some further thought experiments. Tav and the kid being Tieflings hides the fang coloration issue. Explaining away that the characteristics haven’t presented yet because the kid is still quite young by nearly all standards (20 is just barely of age for humans, and though they are full grown biologically they are still children in Elven society) and also have been largely sheltered from danger their whole life also works.

But to be honest, despite what the second movie and its director want you to believe, I think Harry is the least likely father of the three. I am comfortable extending this to Astarion. 

Okay now we are into the Dynamos! Fuck yes! Rosie and Tanya are my favorites (it helps that they are PERFECTLY casted in the movie oh my god). I have split their characteristics across the girls. There are some of the companions that are obviously one or the other (Karlach is the most Rosie coded while Minthara SCREAMS Tanya) while others send mixed signals (Shadowheart is the most even, skewing towards Tanya slightly while Lae’zel has Tanya’s bitchy attitude and Rosie’s  “lone wolf” outlook) SO I’m going to make a chart

Like Astarion, for story purposes, assume Karlach’s heart issue has been solved.

Graphic design is my passion

ANYWAYS you may have noticed three of our friends are missing from this line up. Our intrepid Folk Hero Formally Known As The Blade of Frontiers, Wyll, Pack Mother, Jaheria, and her trusty ride or die Rashamen, Minsc (and don’t forget Boo!). 

I had some trouble with these nerds because initially I was playing with making Wyll the second half of Sam, he would have usurped the businessman and maybe the gone home to get married bit while Gale was the heartbreaker and took something from Bill’s characterization, but I was having trouble with losing character motivations. Plus Wyll is canonically not the type for flings. So I am having him be a good family friend invited to the wedding but not involved in the parentage. He essentially is a more involved part of the Greek Chorus. He could take Sam entirely if you are not the type for Gale but you will see why I did this when I get into the songs (yes I am that fucking insane about this.) 

Jaheira does have the countenance to be a Dynamo BUT there is this minor character that I think about way too often that I wanted her to take. She is only mentioned in the first movie and the stage show in one line and seen a little in the second movie (which is a fever dream and convolutes the “lore” but I love it anyways). It’s Bill’s Great Aunt Sophia that left Donna the money to start Villa Donna. OBVIOUSLY she isn’t directly going to be playing Halsin’s Great Aunt or be dead (though she will be ancient by then) but she’s going to fill the mentor role for Tav and help out with Soph. She is the only one who knows that Gale Halsin and Astarion are the possible fathers until the beginning of the shenanigans.

Minsc, like Wyll, doesn’t have a direct parallel. He is also a part of the more involved Greek Chorus. He is Soph’s crazy uncle. He got them into all kinds of trouble and still does to this day. He gives a less emotional and personal version of Sam’s “are you sure you want to do this, you are so young” speech that essentially is offering to run off and be warriors (His plan does not get them away from anyone, he’s unanimously elected that the entire tadfool group is coming with them). But he does it after Gale gives the original speech that severely upsets Soph so it serves as a cheer up speech (“Minsc is unsure if the Wizard should come along seeing as he has upset the little warrior so, but Boo says he is very useful and Minsc agrees. So he can come with, but he does not get to pet Boo’s furry little bottom!”). 

The rest of our Greek Chorus and people like Sky and Sophie’s Friends are filled out by various NPCs. Pepper is played by Mol. Ali and Lisa are open to OCs to be honest but the idea of Yenna and Arabella hearing the saucy details of a story they were partly involved in is really funny to me so they are listed in the song list as the backup singers. Sky is an OC because I wasn’t fully comfortable using any of the child NPCs. He’s referred to as Soph’s partner.

[lanafofana]

put a fanfic trope in my inbox and I will tell you:

how likely I am to write it

what character(s) or pairing I’d most likely write it for.

How about betrayal fic, crack fic, or crossover? 💕

Hello and thankyou for the ask!! 😘💖

There's a lot to cover so let’s fucking goooooo

Betrayal!

Friend, I have never before thought about writing betrayal (outside of the misunderstanding trope) before but ooh this ask has my gears turning!

I think if I was going to tackle this it would be in one of these types of scenarios:

Astarion x Durge - What if at the end of BG3 Durge attempts to pull his massive betrayal BUT is unsuccessful and now Astarion has to move on from that point. Falling in love with someone and trusting them so much all to find it was for naught? Holy angst batman 🤤

Tav x Durge- you know me and my TavxDurge brain rot, but what if instead of Durge (arguably the one with higher likelihood of pulling a sudden Judas) doing the betrayal it’s Tav? Ooh and what if it pushed him into a more unstable state where he’s even more on the cusp of embracing those dark urges? Yeeeee

Crack

I am 10000% likely to write crack. Crack is some of my favorite stuff to write. There's a lot of freedom in just writing whatever unhinged nonsense flits across the brain and I enjoy imagining dialogue that just goes completely off the rails. And crack treated seriously? Yes yes yes yes. Give me absurd situations to put my blorbos in. Let them say the most hilariously off the wall stuff but in context, still make sense.

As for characters/pairings? Probably almost all of them. No one is safe from me.

Crossover my beloved!!!!

A Lana crossover original? It's more likely than you think!

Guess who has been quietly writing a Baldurs Gate Three/Dragon Age Inquisition crossover? Is it crack? Yes.

Because when I started playing DAI I kept thinking how fucking funny it would be for Shadowheart to lose the Sharran Wound only to end up in Thedas and immediately get the Mark of “Andraste.��� Like???? My girl cannot catch a fucking break 🤣 And for pairing? I’m still working that out.

Aside from that, I love a good crossover. I also played around with the idea of someone from Thedas dropped into Faerûn which, as a concept, I fucking love. But I have not had the time to really pursue it much (yet).

Possible pairings thoughts?

Dorian x Gale. Do I even need to explain this hello

Tav x Varric. LET ME LOVE THE DWARF BIOWARE YOU COWARDS

Inquisitor x Wyll. Because that's what heroes do (each other).

Sera x Lae'zel. No shut up, I'm right. No, I will not be taking questions at this time. Thank you.

Solas x Halsin. Because why wouldn't Halsin want to fuck the drea(I am forcibly removed from the podium)

[kapyushonchan]

Plague Doctor Ch. 31 short summary

Since it's taking me longer to translate chapters due to busyness, I decided to post on tumblr short chapter retellings that I post on MGPD Discord when chapters come out.

The chapter starts with very... tired/drained Lera, who comes to Sergey's main apartment. Lera is covered in small cuts and bruises all over her body. She is also smoking. She admits that she failed the mission, that there is some f-ed up shit that is going on in the casino, and she ask a permission to enter. A bewildered Sergey agrees. Then he stops and waryly asks Lera how she knows his real address. Lera lifts up her face - her eyes are like a Fireworshipper's. She drops a cigarette and everything starts to burn. Sergey wakes up with a jolt, and thinks wtf is he dreaming about again. Then he turns to the left side of his king-sized bed and says, "Oleg, you-" But the left side of the bed is empty.

Oleg is caughing and playing some videogame (Baldur's gate?).Sergey comments that Oleg spent a day in the ice warehouses and didn't get sick, while here in the summer heat he caught a cold. Oleg reminds about his gift of a minuscule chance. Sergey changes the subject and asks if Oleg has cigarettes. Oleg shows him where to get some and then comments that Sergey doesn't smoke, so why would he need cigarettes. Sergey replies that he had a nightmare and now he wants to smoke. Oleg asks what he dreamed about and Sergey retells him his dream. Sergey finds the cigarettes, freezes, and then says in surprise "Why do I need cigarettes? What the hell."

As it turns out, the ending of last chapter where Lera infiltrates Mark's casino, inhales spores from his miracle tree and Mark catches her is my mistake, I confused the Triad spy - Wang Lin - with Lera. They have similar hairstyles. That's why Mark caught Wang Lin and not Lera. Meanwhile, Lera is at home reading a book on Slavic mythology, which Mark recommended to her, and thinks he pranked her. Apparently, it's a lot of nonsense. Then she notes that the wound on her knee went away quite quickly, but Fishkin's bite marks are not (I guess the events of the arc take place tightly after the special. During her fight with Fishking, who attacked people, she teamed up with Mir and Aisa to beat him, but he bit her quite hard). Lera has also taken in Chrysalis's cat for foster care while he is at sea. She gets a call from Toma. Toma tells her that he doesn't know who sent her the anonymous letter asking the Plague Doctor to help catch Fishkin (which caused the Plague Doctor to later be blamed for Fishkin's kidnapping, though he simply escaped), and Chrysalis wonders how his cat is doing.

Meanwhile, we are shown what became of Wang Lin after he was caught by Mark. As it turns out, his hallucinations didn't stop, it was just a way to show what was really going on. Mark orders the unconscious Wang Lin to be thrown out. Wang Lin ends up simply going insane and is found by the Triad men and brought back to headquarters. Liu Shengli is very concerned and tries to bring him to his senses. Mrs. Mei is not happy with their failure, beats up Shengli and kills Wang Lin. She then demands that Shengli tell Mark that the Triad demands a fight. Shengli is shoked and broken by his friend's death.

Meanwhile, Mark is examining his man which is blind in one eye and Mark is unable to cure him. To be more precise: his subordinate was walking around with a prosthetic eye. Mark grew an eye for him, but the eye of his subordinate can't see anything. It's strongly implied here that Mark is the one who adopts other people's wounds and then heals them. He also comments to himself that "My father's land was never my own and gave me almost no power. Only wasted my strength." I assume he is half Mexican, his father is from Russia.

Mark shoos his subordinate out and Shengli walks up to him unnoticed. Mark is caught off guard and asks how he got in in the first place. Shengli says that Mark's men searched him and let him in. Mark wonders to himself how he's even still alive with such guards and scoffs at Shengli's words that he's unarmed and defenseless, saying Shengli is a fighter, his body a weapon in itself. Shengli recommends hiring Chinese bodyguards, who are rigorously screened. Mark scoffs, saying, "Did you come for job interview?"

Meanwhile, Lera, in an airy pink dress, approaches the casino and notices Shengli's security guards. Sergey notes that they don't look like building security, just some strange asian dudes. Lera walks up to the entrance and they start harassing her. As soon as one of them grabs her, he gets kicked in the stomach. A brawl ensues and Lera trashes them like puppies. Meanwhile, Shengli sends Mark a Triad message: confrontation. Until the group is destroyed. Mark assigns a location for a showdown - Shuvalov Forest. Mark's man runs in and says there's a fight with the Chinese at the entrance. Mark is unhappy that Shengli told him that he came alone. Mark sees Shengli's beaten guards at the entrance and jokes that Chinese guards are also made in China. Shanley gets angry at thst remark. Seeing Lera, Mark perks up, transforms, and expresses how happy he is to see her again. Lera is surprised that Mark is the owner of the casino, and Sergey remarks snidely that Lera has interesting acquaintances.

Mark is so happy to see Lera that when he learns that she has come looking for a job, he almost offers her the position of head of security. Sergey jokes that Lera should be more careful - "don't overdo yourself trying to get a job, ma chérie, or you'll end up getting a maternity leave".

Shengli also starts apologizing to Lera on behalf of his guards, saying that the order was not to let anyone in, to which Lera replied, "Taking a woman away against her will is also an order?". Shengli apologizes for that as well. Lera notes to herself that Shengli looks somehow doomed. Mark is irritated that Shengli has gotten Lera's attention.

Shengli and Mark start bickering with each other, which does not escape the attention of Lera and Sergey - they realize that before them are competitors at knifepoint. Shengli finds it suspicious that a professional fighter shows up on Mark's doorstep and Mark doesn't care, but decides not to dwell on it. Shengli leaves and reminds Mark about meeting "in Shuvalovsky". Sergey is pleased, he is going to search in where exactly they're going to have their showdown. Mark apologizes to Lera for the scene and escorts her inside. Sergey turns off the microphone just in case, since he's been joking constantly and is afraid that Mark will notice the wiretap.

Lera sees the strange tree with flowers and mushrooms that Mark planted in the hall and says that it is beautiful. Sergey notes that the orphanage didn't have this tree before. Mark says that the St. Petersburg climate is too cold for him, but this tree has taken root here - although that didn't happen even at his home. Anyway, this place where his tree took root is his reason for staying in the city. Lera clarifies whether Mark is a gardener or a landscaper. Mark jokes that he's a magician. This is when they are rudely interrupted by new visitors. Lera is shocked and horrified, Sergey is shocked and horrified, and tells Lera that they'd better shoot the building plan some other time, because Altan Dagbaev and Vadim themselves have come to Mark's casino. As it turns out, Mark had an appointment with them (but he was too happy to see Lera and forgot. Or he just doesn't care, lmao).

That's it folks.

[bmaxwell]

Baldur's Gate 3

Baldur's Gate was my first-ever PC game. I came home with a shiny new PC a coworker built for me, and stopped at Best Buy to pick up the MicroProse Magic the Gathering game and Baldur's Gate. The game was positively mind blowing. It used AD&D rules (my first tabletop system) it had gorgeous isometric graphics, and FIVE (5) discs. Console gaming had nothing like it.

5 years later I was burned out on the genre* and maybe the rest of the world was too, because that style of game stopped being made. Years later when Pillars of Eternity, Tyranny, and Divinity Original Sin came along, I spent time with each but was never truly enamored with them. I figured that, like RTS games, Metallica, and kart racers, CRPG's were something I used to like.

So when Baldur's Gate 3 released in early access, I largely ignored it. I'm not going to spend time playing an unfinished story-centric game, and even if I did? I haven't finished One of These in some 20 years. It's a bad bet.

However.

I'm like an alcoholic that drives past every bar in town every day. I listen to video game podcasts, and I talk games with friends. A couple of friends' enthusiasm for the game was infectious and, near release, Larian Studios announced that they were upgrading standard preorders to the Deluxe Edition for free. Well, if I ever do want the game I'll want the deluxe edition, and I can get that upgrade for FREE now? I'm basically losing money if I don't buy it. Right?

Buy it I did, and I was immediately hooked. I even spent an eternity in the character creator,** mostly debating my race and class. I get major FOMO with games like this. I want to see everything there is, and that's just not possible. I can't pick every lock AND smooth talk every conversation AND be a follower of every god, and so on. I finally settled on a Tiefling Warlock, a patron of The Great Old Ones.

Oh Aremon. I have so much I need to warn you about. But alas, I cannot.

It turns out there's a lot more than your character and class keeping you from seeing everything Baldur's Gate 3 has to offer. The game gives you an incredible amount of freedom. The studio touted the game's "17,000 endings" which seems nonsensical. After putting a hundred hours into the game I can believe it now. There are choices and events - big and small - whose outcomes ripple out into what feels like an ocean of possibilities.

The game reacts to everything you do. I've played a few saves and have friends playing their own campaigns, and the way we swap Baldur's Gate 3 stories feels like the old days on the playground. "Oh, you saved the druid grove? Well I heard you can assassinate the leader and there's a war and the whole GROVE is basically destroyed! Billy says he went and saved their missing leader and Susie says she helped an evil Drow elf raid the grove and burn it down!"

Susie that bitch.

And that's all true. Every action you take, every quest you follow through on or ignore, every area you miss altogether - these all have tendrils that spread out and touch every other thing in the game. It feels like there's a DM with a folders full of wrinkled papers of hastily scrawled notes alongside their binder of carefully written world lore that the players may never see.

The story revolves around mindflayers, opening with your character being restrained and infected with a gruesome parasite. It's a pretty good impetus to set you off on a quest to get that teethy little tadpole out of your head. No one needs to tell you that the kingdom is in danger, you have your own personal stakes in the form of unwelcome parasite in your brain. You can just watch that opening cutscene again if you need reminding of the situation's urgency. *shudder*

Or, perhaps not. Maybe this tadpole gives you cool powers. If one tadpole is good, more must be better!

Right?

As of now I am into chapter 3, exploring the titular city of Baldur's Gate, and I have no idea how this is all going to play out.*** The shades of grey and the way the game subverts expectations speaks to the quality of its writing. Dungeons and Dragons is some 50 years old now. Creative works carry the world view of their makers - hopes, fears, sense of justice, and prejudices are all along for the ride. They HAVE to be.

It's a black and white world where the monsters are evil and the heroes are heroic. The black skinned Drow are born evil and cruel, orcs are wild, savage, dumb, and violent. Mind flayers are cruel, thriving on enslaving others for their own ends. Thankfully the writers have gone outside the tired stereotypes pretty often with Baldur's Gate 3.

It makes me happy that I have a female Tielfing demonic barbarian who is somehow big hearted and vulnerable while also being powerful and kickass. My cleric is worships Shar, goddess of darkness. She's not necessarily evil per se, but she's definitely not about holy water and rays of holy light shining down from above.

And those mind flayers? Maybe they're not so bad. Not all of them. Some of my best friends are mind flayers! Or maybe that's my tadpole parasite thing speaking. I've met monsters who were not monsters at all. It's a lot of shades of grey and I DIG that.

The game gives you some weighty choices. I've had a handful of moments where I had to sit back and ponder for a few minutes, and these usually involve my party members. Each party member I've recruited (I have missed a few that I know of also) has been wonderfully written and voice acted. They each carry their own baggage and their own backstory that they will eventually share with you. We're all in the same parasitic boat together, but we each have our own demons.****

I have a vampiric theater kid, a spunky demon lady, a melancholy mage, a heroic warlock, an emo cleric, and a fearsome warrior traveling with me. Well, had. I ended up killing one of them when their morals went too far off the rails for me. It's not a choice I made lightly and I do not regret it. My friends have had their stories play out differently. The world reacts to your decisions and so do your party members. They're not just blank ciphers to blindly follow in whatever you do. They'll make their opinions known up to the point of leaving or even attacking you. I've seen their stories play out in very different ways based on who was in my active party at the time of a key story event.

Video game stories are very hit or miss for me. With RPG's I'm usually there for the combat and systems as much as the story. Baldur's Gate 3's main story is engaging and kept me invested from start to finish. Every party companion felt like a fully fleshed out character who I wanted to learn more about and hear more from. Even some of the game's side plots were engaging - one involving a hag comes to front of mind. There's just so damn much DETAIL here, and none of it feels extraneous. The developers have clearly played a lot of Dungeons & Dragons, they know the sorts of things players want to do, and they made a game that says "Yes, actually you CAN do that" surprisingly often.

That freedom extends to the game's combat as well. You can throw objects, ignite pools of oil or alcohol, electrify water, push people off ledges, and on and on. My concern was that I'd get overwhelmed like I did with Larian's previous game Divinity Original Sin 2, but the combat threads the needle of being challenging without typically being overly long (spending an hour plus in combat only to lose and have to start over feels bad).

I can't close this review without mentioning that Larian did a great job replicating the act of rolling a die, a key component of tabletop games. The die clatters about and settles on its number in a satisfying way, and the excitement of a natural 20 on a long shot or the deflation of a crummy roll are intact here in this digital translation. The game handles luck streaks too - there's an option called Karmic Dice that you can toggle in the system menu, which prevents long runs of bad die rolls. After all, the dice add some welcome randomness but they should never play a huge role in determining how things play out.

The inspiration system is also wonderful - the game grants characters an "inspiration point" that can be spent on a reroll either in combat or in a skill check. These points are earned by essentially roleplaying your characters; smooth-talking Astarion will get inspiration points whenever you lie, persuade, or otherwise bullshit your way through a situation while no-nonsense bruiser Lae'zel is inspired whenever you mop the floor with foes in battle. The game is full of these thoughtful little touches.

The game writes a LOT of checks in the opening act, and somehow manages to cash them all. Choices you've made, people you've helped or hurt or ignored will come back around to you in the final act. Major events will play out wildly differently based on who is in your adventuring party. When it came down to the end, I made choices that felt right for the people in my party. It felt more like an ensemble cast rather than my character being the star of the show and everyone else supporting him. I'm writing this the morning after finishing the game, and I'm debating whether to reload my final save to see how other options play out. On one hand, I'm curious; on the other, it feels like the ending I got was my canonical ending, and playing tourist with it would feel dishonest.

As someone who hasn't seriously played D&D since 3rd edition (and not at all with the 5th edition ruleset used in Baldur's Gate 3) I'm not sure which elements are from the tabletop and which are unique to the video game. All I know is that, while no videogame can wholly replicate the experience of spending a Saturday afternoon at a table rolling dice, talking in bad accents, and poring over rulebooks and character sheets with friends, Baldur's Gate 3 does a better job than any game before it. *After Icewind Dale, Icewind Dale II, Planescape: Torment, and Baldur's Gate 2 **At least 15 minutes! ***I've since finished the game ****Figurative and otherwise

[imscissorbladez]

Meet the Tavs!

Because this piccrew is god tier.

ROOK MAGUIRE

half wood elf. folk hero. bard. late twenties early thirties. they/them.

rook was living a completely normal life fucking around in taverns around baldur’s gate trying to make it big as a bard, when the nautiloid caught them. an asshole in the sense of ‘will be an asshole if someone is rude to them’ but largely has always tried to do the right thing. typical party was karlach, astarion, switching between gale and shadowheart. ended up besties with gale and shadowheart. some dialogue is really funny because as an enby tav it was like ‘shadowheart, plz, I beg, I’m trying not to deadname you but you have to tell me.’ panicked early game realising they couldn’t protect their party after a few deaths, started eating the forbidden gummi worms, was half-ilithid a lot of the game. ended the game in the underdark, because they kind of like the folk hero gig and their vampire man needs a daylight ring or a wish spell.

romanced: astarion, gale tried it but they honestly got a cute third act arc and in retrospect if rook wasn’t already a human capri-sun they could’ve been a thing.

would they have been lured to cazador: without a shadow of a doubt, yes they would.

RI’LRR THE BLOODY

seldarine drow. haunted one. rogue. mid-twenties. she/her. dark urge.

my original dark urge; she woke up with no memory and proceeded to be super weird, because nothing says ‘cohesive party’ like ‘is it normal to want to pluck out your eyeballs and eat them? gale? gale???’ throws every fight she gets into because she’s scared of going too far. typical party is lae’zel, karlach and shadowheart. this is the girlypop crew. ri’lyrr struggles to make friends but she saved shadowheart when lae’zel was yelling at her so the girl gang has her back at all times. does the right thing! just EXCEEDINGLY violent. resisting but im not sure if itll last and if it does it’ll be because she loves her squad so much.

romanced: lae’zel and they are the cutest couple on this earth. ri’lyrr has gone from ‘man who was absolutely too old for her and was definitely a poor choice’ to ‘githyanki warrior who will end lives for her and actually doesn’t like seeing her in pain.’ fun fact, this was meant to be a wyll run, but they just worked SO well. bae’zel and ri’lyrr are at this point essentially married.

would she have been lured to cazador: honestly at that point i think it would’ve been cazador’s problem.

HAVEN [REDACTED] GRIGORE

human. sage. wild magic sorcerer. mid-thirties. she/they.

my little brainrot blorbo: without saying her entire backstory she’s sheltered for a reason. they grew up in rivington raised by their grandmother, and have a connection to the monastery of lythander that may irreparably change the course of their life. switches parties depending on need. sends out scouts. my most technically competent tav. she just has a desperate need to be liked so she can stay alive long enough to get back to be rivington, so compulsively helps everyone she sees and then lies about why. also her dad is a pirate. this will become relevant but it’s more if I start using pirate imagery that’s why. the idea of haven in the pirate hat has sent me FERAL.

romanced: if you can call whatever toxic nonsense that they have with astarion right now romance, sure. i could ship them with lae’zel, wyll or astarion, which is the route the fic is going for. karlach is firmly besties, shadowheart just doesn’t like her much at all, gale and haven would be boring! there, i said it.

would she have been lured to cazador: not an ice cube’s chance in hell.

ELYS AKTA SMOKEHARBOUR.

mephistopheles tiefling. noble. draconic bloodline sorcerer. in human standards, late-thirties. all pronouns.

ELYS THE MENACE. has spent the entire time with a tadpole in her brain rizzing up the camp. an objectively ‘good but not nice’ character. was literally described in co-op as ‘oh I get it, she’s going to save every tiefling here she’s just an arsehole.’ Had a problem with Asmodean Tieflings (it was on sight) up until she met the kids at the Tiefling camp. is here for a good time not a long time. wants to get back to the upper city and be a big deal again, death is not something they were planning for. keeps her camp mates up gossiping about ‘why is wyll 10 times hotter as a literal devil’ or ‘i think gale ate my good heels, i will pay someone 50 gold to retrieve them.’ co-op, so plays with a halfling cleric peddling gummi worms that elys won’t touch but everyone else probably will. the rest of the team comp changes depending on vibes.

romanced: has managed to romance everyone to some degree except halsin and that’s because you can’t do that yet where i am. however: it’s 99% going to be wyll. he will make elys into a better person. elys will make him do shit for himself. they’re going to have like six kids and elys will complain the whole time, i’m so ready for it.

would she have been lured to cazador: she wouldn’t run in the same circles but potentially, yes. wouldve criticised astarion’s repair work and taken him in as a sugar baby. i’m not even joking.

[burning-bubble-tea]

I finished my second play through of baldurs gate 3 because I work in the gig economy and so sometimes I have entire days to just binge play that game.

But I think hopefully I can give it a break and like… do other things. Like writing shitty fan fiction. Or reading fanfiction. Or watching tv. Or sewing. Or cleaning my room. Or staring out the window and blinking after staring at a screen for way too long.

Anyways, time to regale myself with my own headcannon on what happened to my dark urge character.

So my poor little dark urge. A half drow afflicted with a cursed blood line. I named him Incarnate cause I think it’s very funny how that word is said to him and by him through the play through. And I had no idea before hand, I just assumed it was a word that would be used hahahah.

He woke up on the nautaloid with mashed potatoes as brains as he stumbled out of his pod. All he remembered was his paladin oath, an oath of vengeance… except he didn’t exactly remember why he wanted revenge. Little did he know that his oath was sworn in fealty to Baahl with its purpose to smite and murder those who defy Baahl’s will. But also within him was a raging tempest, a dark storm that manifested his sorcerous aptitudes that he would reclaim control of again once he gained a few levels haha.

After saving Shadowheart and La’zel, Incarnate came across his future lover. Who promptly held him hostage but Incarnate easy head butted him. And thus the romance of two blood lusty idiots began. I styled Incarnate to contrast Astarion’s. Astarion’s colour pallet has lots of white, Incarnate had lots of black, but I made sure there overlap between the two was red.

I chose Astarion for the dark urge because it felt the most fitting. Astarion helped balance Incarnate’s bloodlust and seemed to be the least phased by the murder habits of Incarnate. Though getting enough approval from Astarion was hard cause Incarnate was kind of a more stoic no nonsense type. Serendipity got a lot of approval from Astarion quickly because they were cheeky and enjoyed pranks which Astarion also enjoyed. But with Incarnate, I like the headcannon that Astarion isn’t just unhappy that we’re not murdering people for fun and funnies, but also upset that we’re being kind and heroic and Astarion doesn’t really believe in kindness as he’s been abused for 200 years and thinks I’m self preservation and enjoying inflicting pain into others cause trauma cycle.

So Astarion and Incarnate’s stores are both about breaking trauma cycles.

Incarnate was confused most of the time. I played him very clueless, asking a lot of questions. This unintentionally helped him out as he assumed the violent desires were a symptom of the tadpole before his new friends told him no. But they didn’t just say no, they also talked about how the bloodlust could be channeled, or managed. No one in his new group of friends ever made him feel ashamed for having his bloodlust.

The trust that his friends gave to him helped Incarnate face them when he killed Alfira. He did not hide or lie, he faced them and his friends stayed. They believed him and tried to help him.

Incarnate’s and in extension redeemed dark urge runs are really just great found family stories.

The scene of Astarion keeping Incarnate tied up so he wouldn’t murder him was really funny and a bit sweet. Astarion was not phased at all by Incarnate’s bloodlust. I do wish I got the cutscene of Astarion trying to bite incarnate but alas I didn’t and Astarion just told me he was a vampire one day at camp.

While Incarnate never broke his oath, he had essentially changed the oath as he now was a paladin of vengeance fighting for heroics and goodness rather than trying to get revenge on all living things for defying Baahl but not being pretty corpses.

Once Incarnate tamed the inner storm, his smites became powerful and plentiful. Honestly his build was super fun and I wanna play it in tabletop dnd one day. His smited just obliterated things so quickly and a quickened haste spell to allow for four smites in one turn melted a lot of enemies. Like I barely even used his other spells besides misty step and haste because it was just such a winning combo.

Gortash once again was stupidly easy. The moment his shields went down it was four smites to the face and dead he went. Same with the steel watch. Shields down? Four high level smites to the face.

The climatic fight with Orin was actually anticlimactic because Incarnate smited her to oblivion in like one or two turns.

Anyways, Incarnate’s ending. He and Astarion are very in love. They become adventurers but not before securing a place in the under dark for the freed vampire spawn. I’d like to think they receive help from ommelium.

But after helping the spawn, Astarion and Incarnate head out on their own adventure by moonlight. I’d like to think Incarnate has a very fucked up sleep schedule but it’s not because of cursed Baahl nightmares but rather staying up late to try and be on as similar of a schedule as his love. Though Incarnate does need to do daytime stuff, he’s very much a night owl and the two often enjoy moonlit walks.

Incarnate’s ending would be different from Serendipity’s as he would want to explore and see the world without a dark desire to murder it. He would dedicate himself to being a hero. Much to Astarion’s mock distain as he enjoys being a hero as well.

Though the two make an odd pair, running around at night.

Both Astarion and Incarnate don’t really have roots in Baldur’s gate anymore as Incarnate’s old home was a Baahl temple and Astarion was the accursed Cazador’s palace. But they have plenty of friends they could stay with when visiting Baldur’s gate.

Incarnate was able to save an additional person from the hag, and Mayrina as well. Incarnate didn’t convince Mayrina to break the wand so in Incarnate’s universe I’d like to think she does come to the same conclusion and does lie Connor to rest. Though I think she keeps the wand just in case. You never know what may happen and having a zombie to protect her new family has proven useful, if not a bit smelly.

Incarnate does research into Baahl cults and visits candlekeep to give them first person accounts of his experiences.

Gale would help with his university resources from time to time with the guest lecture of Incarnate and Astarion being a bit of a comedy as the two cast a train of the darkness spell so Astarion can walk on campus during the day.

There are some things to get used to like how Incarnate has to always remember to invite Astarion in. But the two are happy. There is nothing like throwing the curtains open to bring the moonlight in.

Speaking of the moon, Shadowheart and the two would definitely meet up. I hope Nocturne would eventually leave Shar and join them on their adventures.

Wyll and Karlach would eventually return to faerun in my headcannon. And they would also rejoin the group.

I think for the next crisis, even Gale would leave his library and come join them. And I think it would be La’zel bringing them all together to liberate her people.

And they’d get to meet her son hehe.

Incarnate would still be plagued with guilt for everything he had done in his past life but Astarion would be there to support him every step of the way.

I really think Astarion and dark urge romance is so good. Love wins heheheh.

[blightarts]

Blades of Order & Chaos

Chapter Title: 8 - Rival

Previous Chapter: Lion VS Bear

Word Count: 5239

Disclaimer: All rights belong to Pixelberry. This is my version for the upcoming sequel of Blades of Light & Shadow. I am not claiming this to be the canon story of the book. This is only written to increase the hype for the actual sequel.

MC/Pairing: Kite (Blue Elf Male MC) / Kite x Nia

Taglist: @princessstellaris​ @mechaspirit​ @brightningstar​ @cal-north​ @lxdy-starfury​ @tyrils-star​ @imturaxamara​ @kelseaaa​

In the middle of the Vishanti Kingdom market square, Kade comes face to face with the former prince of Morella, Aerin Valleros. While Threep glares along with Kade, Kite and Bella are left confused.

Kite: Kade, is this person a danger to us?

Aerin scoffs.

Aerin: I’m hurt, Kite. After a year of not seeing each other, you’ve forgotten all about me?

Kade: Kite lost his memories.

The prince raises his eyebrow.

Aerin: Oh? That’s quite unfortunate.

Bella steps up.

Bella: Hold on. Is there some romantic tension that I’m not gettin’ here?

Threep: This young man is Aerin Valleros, prince of Morella, who betrayed his people and aided the Shadow Court in their return.

Bella tenses up upon hearing the words, “Shadow Court”, but composes herself before walking up to Aerin and grabbing his collar.

Bella: So, this li’l fella is a problem to you guys then? Should we throw him off the mountain?

Aerin chuckles and sarcastically raises his hands in defeat.

Aerin: Easy, easy. I’m not even showing any hostility towards any of you… yet.

Kade: What are you doing here? How’d you even survive the Empire’s attack on Whitetower, let alone escaped your prison cell? Did they let you out and got you a spot in their ranks?

Aerin: What’s in it for me if I tell you?

Bella: We don’t let gravity decide your fate.

Aerin rolls his eyes and shrugs.

Aerin: Alright, fair enough.

Bella lets go of Aerin as he dusts himself off.

Aerin: A year ago, after you lot had your first encounter with that coward, Laundsellyn, he took me from my cell and dragged me into the Shadow Realm.

The prince then turns around for a stroll, signaling the party to follow him.

Aerin: After that, I thought I was done serving jail time, but no, they threw me into another cell for my failures in defeating you.

Kade: Well, it serves you right for joining the wrong side.

Aerin ignores Kade’s rude comment.

Aerin: I stayed in that cell for about three months and during that time, I’ve heard from one of the Shadow Guards that once served under me, mocking me and laughing about the news that Laundsellyn killed my father.

Kite notices Aerin clenching his fists in anger.

Aerin: Upon hearing my father’s name, visions began to clutter my mind, visions of the past that I cannot even recall, visions of me… and my brother, Baldur… actually getting along during our childhood…

Threep: I thought you two were at odds with each other until you plunged the Blade of Shadows unto him.

Aerin: That’s what I thought as well. For years, I believed that my brother had always been a condescending jerk who treats people who are beneath him as insects. But no, my memories proved that to be wrong as when we were young, he offered me to be his right-hand man, his closest advisor once he becomes king.

Kade: So, what you’re saying is that the Dreadlord somehow manipulated your memories, as well as Baldur’s in order to tear yourselves apart and use one of you as a puppet?

As the party nears the kingdom’s gates, Aerin stops walking.

Aerin: I don’t know. That’s what I intend to find out.

The prince moves forward once more.

Aerin: I spent my three months in solitary, recalling my memories and struggling from countless headaches, but I could not make any progress whatsoever. And then… he came along, Ignis…

Shivers run up everyone’s spines while Aerin clutches his chest.

Aerin: He visited my cell and “offered” me to join his ranks in exchange for my freedom.

Kade: Well, seeing you here right now means that you’ve obviously said yes.

Aerin turns to Kade with rage.

Aerin: I was not even able to give an answer!

Kade flinches as Kite gets between him and Aerin. Citizens begin to stare at the party.

Aerin: I was dragged out of my cell before that accursed devil casted a spell…

Aerin then tears open his shirt, revealing a Nerada Stone still etched onto its chest while small purple sparks surge through it.

Aerin: …on this damned thing, making sure that I get in line and follow the orders of the elf that killed my father, else I get electrocuted to death!

The prince then grips his hair as he starts to lose it.

Aerin: After that I was worked to the bone, slaughtering innocent people who refused to bend to the Empire and conquering peaceful lands across Morella, all while suffering from the headaches caused by those visions and the shocking pain that this stupid stone keeps bringing unto me!

Aerin then grabs Kite by the collar. Bella grabs onto one of Aerin’s arms.

Bella: Hey! No bright ideas, royal boy!

Aerin: How do you even live while you’re suffering like this, Kite?! After everything you’ve been through, being betrayed, being separated from those you love, being beaten to a pulp, and having your memories lost! How are you still moving forward?!

Kite is speechless while Aerin keeps rambling in tears.

Aerin: I’ve thrown it all away… I’ve surrendered myself to darkness… I’ve betrayed the people who once saw me as their friend… I’ve let my own father die under the hands of the elf I now work for… I’ve killed my own brother all because a dark entity severed our bonds and manipulated our memories…

Threep leans in on Kite’s ears and whispers.

Threep: We should leave quickly. Everyone has their eyes on us.

Aerin: The nesper is right.

Aerin sniffs and wipes his tears before letting Kite go.

Aerin: This should not be settled by just words.

He turns away.

Aerin: Meet me outside of town.

Aerin then walks off while buttoning up his shirt. The crowd avert their eyes from the group as the tension dies down.

Bella: Jeez, that was one helluva ride.

Kade: We can’t let him get away.

Threep: I believe that he wants to settle things with Kite through combat.

Kite watches as Aerin disappears into the crowd.

Kite: I’ll do it.

The party look at Kite with surprise.

Kade: What?! You do know it’s a trap!

Bella: Yeah, he’s with the bad guys, whether he likes it or not.

Kite: I don’t care. I can tell from how Aerin looked at me earlier. It’s like… he’s asking someone to save him.

Kite runs ahead to chase after Aerin while the party hesitates for a second before following suit. Threep gets on Kite’s shoulder.

Threep: I hope you know what you’re doing.

Kite: I am. You guys have to trust me.

Minutes later, in the outskirts of the Vishanti Kingdom, Aerin sits on the snow, gazing at the sky. His head begins to pain as a vision flashes in his eyes.

Aerin: Tch! Not again!

In his vision, he sees his young self being bullied by three kids in the town square of Whitetower.

Bully 1: Go back to your lush life in the castle, Valleros!

Bully 2: Yeah, no one wants you here!

Bully 3: Weakling!

Suddenly, Baldur appears, pushing the bullies away, and gets in between them and Aerin while holding a stick.

Baldur: Hey! Get away from my brother! He may be not as strong as any of us here, but he is sure as heck smarter than the three of you combined!

The bullies approach Baldur, cracking their knuckles.

Bully 1: Now, you’re asking for it, Baldur.

Baldur turns to Aerin.

Past Baldur: Stand up, Aerin. We can take them on together.

Past Aerin: O-Okay…

Aerin stands up and shyly raises his hands in self-defense.

The vision fast-forwards, minutes after the two brothers faced off against the bullies. They have a few bruises scattered around them, but they were victorious in the fight. Baldur is giving Aerin a piggyback ride.

Past Baldur: Good job handling yourself out there.

Past Aerin: You did most of the work…

Past Baldur: Nonsense. It was smart of you to poke their eyes, giving me time to whoop their butts. I’m proud of you.

Baldur grins while Aerin becomes flustered.

Past Aerin: T-Thank you…

The vision ends as Aerin is snapped back to reality and his headache fades away.

Aerin: How…? Where did it all go wrong…?

The prince turns around to see Kite and his friends standing behind him.

Aerin: You’re here.

He stands up and cracks his knuckles.

Kite: I’m guessing you wanna settle this in a fight?

Aerin: Yeah. Once I defeat you, the Hero chosen to defeat the Empire, right here, I will go back to Shadow Realm and claim vengeance!

Aerin puts his hand forward, materializing a polearm surging with Shadow magic. Kade grits his teeth.

Kade: A new weapon from Ignis, I presume?

Aerin: More or less. It’s called the Blackcliff Polearm.

Kade, Bella and Threep steps back.

Kade: Is it really okay for us to let this fight happen while not worrying about an avalanche?

Bella: It’s alright. The Vishanti placed wards around the mountain to prevent avalanches from occurring, guaranteeing the safety of their kingdom.

Threep: That’s a relief.

Kite unsheathes the Mirror Claymore, piquing the interest of Aerin.

Aerin: So, that’s the Mirror Claymore of the Vishanti. Quite the Sacred Treasure.

Aerin begins the fight by charging towards Kite and performs a few swings and thrusts with the Blackcliff Polearm, but the latter uses his elven senses to avoid all of them.

Aerin: Tch! Alright, how about this?!

Aerin leaps up and attempts to plunge the polearm on Kite, but again, the latter hops back, evading the attack.

Aerin: Got you now!

Aerin lets go of the polearm while it is planted on the ground before kicking it.

The polearm spins vertically towards Kite who blocks it with the Mirror Claymore.

Kite: Damn!

As the polearm begins to slow down in spinning, Aerin suddenly lunges forward and grabs it, surprising Kite.

Kite: What the—

Aerin then uses Shadow magic, transforming himself into a purple bolt of lightning, before traveling upwards. Kite and the party look up in awe.

Kade: What the hell is that?!

Threep: He has become stronger since we last saw him!

Three duplicates of the Blackcliff polearm rain down from the sky and plant themselves around Kite. Sparks then begin to appear on their tips. Kite attempts to block the incoming attack with the Mirror Claymore, but Aerin proves to be quicker as his lightning form comes crashing down onto the duplicate polearms acting as lightning rods. Kite gets electrocuted and hurled from the point of the attack, where Aerin is seen crouching down and holding his weapon, plunged onto the ground.

Bella: Sheesh, remind me not to mess with him when he’s this worked up.

Kite gets up while still recovering from Aerin’s attack. The prince stands up and pulls out his weapon from the ground, boasting about his successful attack.

Aerin: How was that?!

Kite: Tch! Not bad.

Kite gets up and dusts off his shoulder.

Kade: Wait, why was the Mirror Claymore not able to absorb the magic attack?

Threep: I believe that Kite was expecting Aerin to strike from above, even though there were duplicates of the polearm around him. However, when Aerin dropped and struck Kite’s guard, it wasn’t a magical attack, it was instead a physical attack. So, it didn’t count to the magic absorption power of the Claymore.

Bella: Then what caused the electric surge?

Threep: Electricity ran from the tip of Aerin’s weapon towards its duplicates while avoiding the Mirror Claymore, overloading them with magical energy to the point where they would explode.

Kade: That was… actually clever.

Bella: He managed to bypass the insane power of the Mirror Claymore.

Aerin rushes towards Kite once more, but the latter stays composed.

Kite: Aerin, you’re not the only one that has grown.

Kite raises the Mirror Claymore and slams it on the ground in front of him, scattering the snow and obscuring himself from Aerin’s sights. The elf then quickly casts a spell.

Kite: Chaos Magic: Moonlight Circle – Mirror Mirage.

Aerin: You can’t hide from me!

Aerin slashes the thin snow wall between him and Kite in half. As the snow parts, the prince comes face to face with multiple duplicates of his opponent, each holding the Bow of Gal’dariel in hand.

Aerin: Wha—

Kade: He used Mirror Mirage!

Threep: An excellent strategy. This should buy the real Kite some time to strike back.

Aerin stops in his tracks.

Aerin: So, this is the spell you used to escape the clutches of the Empire.

Kite and his duplicates draw their bows and arrows while aiming at Aerin.

Aerin: I know that most of those arrows are not real, but one of them can still pierce my body.

The arrows are let loose as they fly towards their target.

Aerin: So, as long as I find the real you…

Aerin does a forward flip, avoiding all the arrows, before slamming his polearm on the ground, unleashing arcs of lightning towards Kite and his duplicates. The arcs pierce through each duplicate as, one by one, they fade from existence, however, as the last duplicate fades away, the real Kite is nowhere to be seen.

Aerin: What?! Then… where is he?!

Aerin looks around, searching for the real Kite, when suddenly, the snow beneath him begins to move. He looks down.

Aerin: Can it be…?

Kite leaps up from under the snow, equipping the Gauntlet of Pain, and sucker punches Aerin, launching him far away.

Bella: Oof, that’s gotta hurt!

Aerin gets on his feet and wipes off the blood, dripping from his lips.

Aerin: But still not enough to make me concede.

He rushes to Kite, who unsheathes the Mirror Claymore.

Aerin: I will...!

Kite swings the Claymore like a baseball bat, but Aerin leaps to avoid it, ready to plunge his polearm.

Kite: Damn!

Aerin: …surpass you!!

Kite swiftly grabs the sharp end of the polearm using the Gauntlet of Pain, stopping Aerin’s attack, before hurling it behind him. Aerin ends up plunging his weapon on the snow.

Aerin: Tch!

He flips away, giving himself some distance from Kite. The two stare down at each other, waiting to strike.

Aerin: Why don’t we both bring out everything we’ve got?

Kite deeply inhales before casting Lion’s Pride, raising his physical attributes. Meanwhile, Aerin channels his Shadow magic, causing purple electricity to surge throughout his body, increasing his speed and agility. Bella steps in front of Kade and Threep.

Bella: We gotta stay back. When their attacks clash, it could be dangerous for us.

The party steps back a few feet and as soon as they did, Kite and Aerin charge at each other. They both swing their weapons, causing a strong shockwave upon collision. The two keep clashing, trading minimal blows and parrying each other’s attacks. While Aerin has the speed to strike before Kite could defend himself, the latter has enough endurance to not flinch from the attack and strike back.

Aerin leaps up, transforming into a bolt of purple lightning once more. This time, more than three duplicates of his polearm drop from the sky and surround Kite.

Kite: Tch!

Kite hops back, trying to get out of the field of polearms, but Aerin quickly descends from the sky, releasing magical energy to the polearms, causing them to burst with electricity before Kite could escape the area of effect.

Aerin: I’m impressed that you were able to survive that.

The light from the electrical surge fades, revealing Kite shielding himself with the Mirror Claymore as it is filled with magical energy that came from Aerin’s attack. However, the elf is left with burns across his body.

Kade: Kite!

Unconcerned with his own well-being, Kite swings his weapon, unleashing a magical projectile, shaped like a crescent and filled with Shadow Magic, towards Aerin.

Bella: Again, with that recklessness. Has he always been like this?

Threep: Sadly, yes, but it’s what got him this far.

Aerin imbues his polearm with Shadow Magic and uses it to cut the crescent in half, avoiding the attack, but as the crescent parts, Kite comes up right in front of Aerin, catching him by surprise.

Aerin: When did you…?!

Aerin then notices Kite conjuring a ball of Cleansing Fire from his hand. Kite swings his hand down, attempting to slam the fireball onto Aerin’s head, but the latter leaps back, evading the attack.

Aerin: It takes a lot more than a ball of fire to knock me down, Kite.

Kite looks at Aerin with a smirk.

Kite; What makes you think that it was going for you?

Aerin: Huh?

Kite slams the fireball onto the Mirror Claymore as it absorbs the magical energy, imbuing it with flames. He then charges forward while Aerin is still in mid-air, in the midst of avoiding the fireball.

Aerin’s Thoughts: Shit! I can’t dodge it! I have to block it!

Aerin holds his polearm up to block the incoming attack, but…

CLANG!!

…Kite disarms Aerin and sends the Blackcliff Polearm flying through the air, startling the latter.

Aerin: No!

The party starts cheering.

Kade: He did it!

Threep: Kite has the advantage now!

Bella: Nice!

As Aerin lands on the snow, Kite kicks his leg, forcing him to kneel in pain.

Aerin: Aah!!

Kite: Aerin… if you let only your emotions fuel your false resolve…

The elf then pulls his weapon back, ready to swing it.

Kite: …then you do not deserve to win this fight.

Aerin stares in disbelief before slowly lowering his head in defeat, accepting his demise.

Kade: Wait… is he gonna…?

Kite grips the hilt of the Mirror Claymore tight before swinging rapidly, aiming for Aerin’s neck, as if he’s trying to behead him.

Threep: Kite!

Fortunately, Kite stops short, with the blade of the Mirror Claymore almost touching Aerin’s neck. The prince’s heart momentarily pauses as he just looks at Kite, with an expression of pity on his face.

Aerin: W… Why’d you stop…?

Kite sheathes the Mirror Claymore before turning away and rejoining his friends. Aerin grits his teeth and stands in anger.

Aerin: Hey! Don’t walk away from me, Kite! Why didn’t you kill me?!

Kite stops in his tracks.

Kite: Because I cannot kill a man who is just asking for a death wish.

Aerin: What do you mean…?

Kite turns to Aerin, who was speechless.

Kite: Defeating me or the Empire? Can you even do that? Or are you just looking for an excuse to get yourself killed to end your suffering, even though it doesn’t work that way? You weren’t even giving your all during our fight.

Aerin: I…

Aerin trembles, slowly realizing how correct Kite is.

Kite: The fact that you can’t even take it upon yourself to end your own life and instead relying on others to do it, means that there’s still a part of you that wants to live on.

Kite turns back to his friends.

Kite: Once you’ve found your real self, the Aerin before the Empire of Ash, before the Shadow Court, before all of this, then come find me.

Kite continues to walk towards his friends.

Kite: I’ll be sure to fight you again… to settle this properly.

The party gathers around Kite, making sure he’s okay, while they all walk away from Aerin.

Kade: Are you hurt?

Kite: I’m fine.

Threep: Did you really intend to kill him?

Kite: I wasn’t trying to.

Bella: Are you sure you wanna face him again?

Kite: As much as I need to until he’s saved.

As the party disappears from Aerin’s sights, he grabs his weapon, before walking the other direction and wandering to himself.

Aerin: My… real self…

As the party and Aerin part ways, Laundsellyn watches from the sky, laying down on a hovering Blade of Shadows.

Sir Laundsellyn: Hehe, that was fun.

He squints and smirks at the party.

Sir Laundsellyn: Now… where could that Priestess be?

————— END OF CHAPTER —————

[dicecast]

Blast to the Past: Planescape Torment tutorial

Ok so if we really want to talk about 

Now planescape torment as a game is mostly strongest in the start, the game reaches its peak once you leave for the Outlands and doesn’t really recover until the very end at the return to Sigil, something which I wish the enhanced edition would have fixed.  But I think one of the reasons why this game is so beloved is in large part due to its strong opening.  And whats funny at first is that it is actually closer in structure to the Pathfinder:Kingmaker situation than the Baldur’s Gate I opening.  You awake in a crisis and need to escape from a building with different rooms having different mechanics be introduced.  And while it is a lot faster if you don’t do the sidequests, you can’t just finish the tutorial in 5 mins the way you can with Candlekeep.  Despite that, I think Planescape surpassing even Baldur’s Gate in its opening.  Lets talk about why

1) Aesthetic.  One of the most powerful thing about Planescape is that it has a very specific art direction, one which I have not seen in any fantasy before or sense, this philosopher hobo view of cosmic metaphor.  While PS:T is undeniably part of the D&D universe and is just as much fantasy as Baldur’s Gate, it feels wholly unlike the former, even though both games are canon in the same universe.  The game specifically removes most of the trappings of fantasy, there is a single sword and a single suit of armor in the whole game (the suit of armor is a companion), there are not dragons, there are no goblins/orcs/giants/drow/Mind flayers, you never explore ancient ruins of a lost civilization or restore a monarchy, you don’t even defend a village from monsters.  

   This game abandons the conventional trappings of fantasy instead having an aesthetic of...well a slum.  Your initial weapons include an iron spike, a scalpel, a plybar, a severed arm, and a crunch, you travel to sewers and are murdered in like 40 different ways.  And the Morgue is an absolutely great to place to set the tone, the whole place is full of images of emboldening fluid, dissected corpses, and body parts, but rather than being used to be creepy or evil it is actually rather nice.  They aren’t enemies to be destroyed...they are you.  This place of corpses and preservatives is where you belong, because you are after all, a corpse who keeps refusing to die.  

2) it sets the tone, specifically in not judging a book by its cover.  The Mortuary could easily have been a sinister realm of necromancers with their zombie servants doing experiments among the dead, but the tutorial puts you in the framework of not assuming that the sinister is evil.  A floating skull can be your friend, you don’t have to attack the zombies, and the weird necromancers in robes talking about True Deaths are just stoic goths.  In a Planescape setting and especially in a game that is as role-play heavy as this one, it is important to communicate to the player that they need to take the weird stuff on its surface rather than assume things are going to follow a standard fantasy storylines.  Maybe the two demon ladies can be your friend, maybe its best to talk to the creepy hag, assumptions will not help you in this game 

3) Its not entirely linear.  A lot of the content is optional If you want, you can get through this tutorial in maybe 10-15 mins if you skip the side content.  Also much of the content has multiple resolutions depending on your play style, making it much more an example of self expression rather than “I need to pick the locks now” 

4) It is an actual story segement.  My issue with Kingmaker or Bloodlines is that the tutorial is just....a place you learn the mechanics and nothing more, while the Morgue is directly related to the plot of Planescape.  You need to learn about yourself as the Nameless One, you get to meet and learn about Morte, you meet Dhall and find out more aobut the story,  You meet Deionarra, and most importantly where you wake up is also the entrance of the final boss.  The Tutorial level is absolutely necessary to understand the story of the game and is infact more necessary than the whole Curst nonsense. \

5) It establishes the mechanics.  Despite using the same engine and being set in the same universe as Baldur’s Gate, the experience is totally different in terms of gameplay.  PS:T needs to introduce how important dialogue options are, that your stats can effect the various conversions, that you are immortal and that htis game has a much more visual novel/adventure game feel to it than the more combat oriented BG.  lets contrast some points real quick

In Candlekeep, you have to do an errant for a guy and normally he gives you some money but in one of my playthroughs he gave me a +1 dagger.  I didn’t know why the difference until I looked it up and was like “oh I had 18 charisma”.  Meanwhile planescape torment, it informs you about the different stat and their effect on dialogue in order to let players know to plan their stats accordingly

To use another example, in the Mortuary there are a bunch of giant skeletons chilling around in the upper level.  In BG that would be a challenge to defeat, but in PS:T, talking to them while having this one book and a high enough Int means you can deactivate them, getting XP for each one and looking their armor to learn spells.  This is going to be a hallmark of PS:T and it is established here

The fact that you can get through this whole level only killing a single zombie is right away a major different from BG, where you kill like 90% of the cast.  

6) It sets the tone of Planescape.  One of the reasons why this game is so beloved is that PS:T kinda delivers on the RPG promise.  There are like 20 zombies in this level and almost all of them has a different way of interacting with them and unique appearance.  One of them has stitches that you can cut with a scapel to find a not, one is holding a book, one losses its arm that you can lose as a club, there is a zombie who is actually a human spy dressed up as a zombie (who can dress you up too) almost everything in this level has a unique method of interactivity, and that is before Morte tries to hit on them.  Honestly one of hte failings of PS:T is that no other part of the game is as interactive as this particular level.  

7) You can return to the Motuary throughout the rest of the game, making this place useful.  Even if you do every single side-quest you can first time through, there will still be more to do. You come back here when you die, you need to go here for the final dungeon, some quests take you but most critically there is a whole zombie sidequest here.  later in the game a crying zombie will give you the power to talk to the dead.  If you think of it, you can return to this place and talk to every single zombie here, each of whom has their own story, a few of which are quite elaborate, and one of them is your old buddy who has some items for you.  

In short, PS:T is to me the ideal RPG tutorial (though I do wish I could get through it a bit faster on a second play-through) because it feels like an actual part of the game rather than simply “the part where you do the mechanics” 

Next time I might finally talk about why the tutorial for Pathfinder;Kingmaker is so bad...but I might not bother, its boring.