#and tearing durge a new one over alfira

[telanana]

so I re-rolled my durge bc I wasn't really feeling the goody-goody paladin pairing off with astarion and wanted to see who she'd naturally gravitate toward most (probably gonna be wyll or karlach tbh) and the most unfortunate thing happened. I... got alfira joining my camp literally my second long rest in the game. none of the other party members have even started opening up about their bs so, as far as durge knows, these guys are all normal and she's the one who's Fucked Up. totally switches up the party dynamic from what I had last run and it's honestly amazing.

[y-rhywbeth2]

Staring at the symbol drawn on Alfira's corpse - because you're supposed to designate your sacrificial murders by painting the Tears, and Bhaal himself does like to leave his 'signature' on his own personal kills so you know whose handiwork it is.

This isn't the Circle of Tears. No skull, no sixteen teardrops in the circle. It does remind me a little of this though:

Not a big lore thing, but it was an ancient glyph associated with Bhaal - somewhat to his mortal activities, rather than godly - in a 4e premade adventure. I mused when I saw it that maybe it could be taken as an early holy symbol that predates the tears, since holy symbols change a lot (Bane's gauntlet changes a lot over the centuries, Myrkul's original symbol was apparently a black cloth pulled tightly over a skull positioned to look like it's screaming).

Durge, in their canon activities and approach to their work, is a touch heretical in light of the actual Bhaalyn doctrine, as Orin and possibly Sarevok point out. And while this is probably a case of either not wanting to spoil Durge's 'mystery' or something, thus avoiding the actual Circle of Tears, I like to add artificial depth.

So is Durge bringing out an antiquated holy symbol, or have they introduced a new one?

[nonamesoaname]

Uh probably gonna write something but this is just a convo. Spoilers probably for durge so like keep your eyes where you want them I guess.

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It was almost close to dawn, probably 2 or 3 in the morning. The light flickering from the fire was comforting but nothing seemed to calm her more than the cliff side as she dangled her feet over the waves below. With no one around her the dark thoughts and urges seemed to quiet down though the problem behind her eye was pressing. It didn't scare her as much as the joy she felt when her hands were covered in blood.

She looked down at her hands clean but the memory was seared into her mind. Alfira gouged and dead underneath her feet. The way she stood there motionless with her eyes nonexistent as Miv’s brain rattled with how pretty the corpse was. It was terrifying. She was scared of going to sleep and scared of what these thoughts meant for her. She didn’t even know who she was before all of this.

She shuddered before feeling cold fingers traced up her neck a familiar weight behind her.

“Well my blood thirsty friend, I was hoping to have a couple more tastes before you succumbed to the edge,”Astarion’s silky voice behind her as he sat further up next to her. Where there would be warmth was still as comfy as she sighed looking at the waters below.He gave a bottle of what seemed to be wine as he took a gulp of his own.

“You know we will have to be up in a couple of hours and I believe going on adventures with alcohol in our system is not a good look.” Miv said looking at the bottle before doing the opposite of what she just said,”But what the hell it’s not like we are making great impressions anyway.”

Astarion shrugged with a sly smile,”If anything it’ll loosen us up to be more forthcoming in our conversations. Who wants to live life barred by a sober mind. Plus you naive little thing with a little sleep wine isn’t going to stay in our systems for long and maybe even some fun between us.” He gave a mischievous side eye look to her as he moved his hand up her covered thigh.

“If it’s okay with you..as much as I want you to touch me. I’m quite frankly not in the right headspace.” Miv replied as Astarion quickly placed the hand that was on her thigh to his mouth in a playful shock.

“Oh my, my heart hurts from the rejection. How will I ever live a day without the loving embrace of you darling? But oh well another time.” He moved his hand down to grab his drink and take another sip seemingly a bit taken aback,”Well this wasn’t all the fun I was expecting but I’m glad I was able to snag a good fine red wine for my refined palate in our earlier escapade.”

Miv nodded, taking another swig. Astarion playfully poured at the lack of response. He nudged her wanting a reaction from his new plaything.

“Is what happened the other night bothering you? It’s not like we haven’t killed anyone before. What makes her death so different? Or is it the fact you didn’t even attempt to hide it and just aired out your dirty laundry in front of everyone? Not very sneaky of you.”

She sighed. He wasn’t going to stop talking was he? “Yes, I am bothered. She was innocent and I was asleep and I did something disturbing. I needed everyone to know because what’s the point of hiding it? Secrets won’t do any good.” She replied matter of factly to each question, “What if it happens again? What if it’s someone closer to me? I’ve been saying that I have these dark thoughts..these dark impulses. What if I can’t control myself?”

She looked to the water underneath her tears brimming in her eyes before looking the other way quickly wiping them away. Silence lingered between them as she dangled her legs again over the water. “Kill me if I were to hurt anyone. I don’t think I could live with myself if anything happened to our group and I couldn’t imagine if…” She cut herself short there was no reason to be specific. If anything happened to astarion because of her. It would be the end of her.

“Of course darling, I couldn’t have you ruin this pretty face. Though I may be a little late if you were to uh attack some members of our rag tag group of weirdos.” Astarion lifted a hand fancily, “I’ll make sure to make it quick and have a good nice drink as well. Wouldn’t want that good blood to go to waste.”

Miv covered her feelings. Of course he replied swiftly at the mention of killing her. It would be easy for him..she already knew that her feelings couldn’t be reciprocated but the reminder stung. “Good, at least something good will come out of it.”

He nodded quickly standing up as he drank the rest of the bottle. He offered a hand to her, “Since I made you promise. I’ll make sure to help you not fulfill your murderous sleepwalking. Will you be able to sleep now?”

Miv nodded, feeling the tiredness seeping in as she rubbed her eyes. It was a welcomed feeling that she hadn’t felt in days. She gently placed her hand in his pulling herself up. She picked up her empty bottle as she moved to put it away looking at it closely before sighing.

He let go of her hand now shooing her to bed as he followed along with a sly smile, “I need to do something real quick and I will follow suit.”

He made his way over to his tent looking at her as she moved the covers of her head. He retrieved a calming powder from his pocket placing it back among his things. A frown settled on his lips as he looked over to her now sleeping. He settled down on the front of his tent looking at the books he’s collected before pulling one out watching the sleeping members carefully as he stayed up.