#and this is in the ending where minthara goes back to the underdark too

[trappedinafantasy37]

No, but she literally does this with Karlach! In the Karlach origin who does not romance Minthara, Minthara is offering Karlach an army and her support once she claims her house. Minthara is willing to go to fucking war for Karlach, a woman who doesn't even love her back and there is no guarantee that all of this will win Karlach's affection. And it isn't for power, it isn't for glory, it's for vengeance and the guarantee that Karlach gets to live.

And when Karlach asks her why Minthara is doing all this, Minthara pussyfoots around the issue. "Oh, you know, the heart is so mysterious and wants what it wants. If only we can share our minds you'd understand. But alas, there is no worm and you'll never know. The words for what I feel don't even exist in your language." Minthara is deeply, madly, stupidly in love with Karlach, but will do absolutely nothing about it. She won't admit it, she won't make the first move, and she makes her efforts seem practical rather than obviously romantic.

Minthara going to Avernus has never been about power, it is about love. So she shies way from it because she does love Karlach, just not in the way that she is "supposed" to love another woman.

choosing to interpret and characterize mintharas sexuality and her partner preferences as violating cultural norms in menzoberranzan because she doesnt desire the "right" kind of person in the "right" kind of way, and as a result of that minthara being constantly surrounded by people trying to gain her favor (because Baenre) that she can't form close relationships with, surrounded by suitors but never comitting, short one off affairs that never amount to anything, because the last lover she had, she has to kill

minthara being all alone in a crowded room. how she just thinks thats how she'll always live her life. at the epilogue party surrounded by people who enjoy her company and think fondly of her and she still feels alone and wants to leave to get away from it. pinning everything she wants out of someone onto her partner because she genuinely doesn't think she'll have anything else

theres just something sooo. like going through high school and you have crushes on the right people but everyone around you can still tell your doing it wrong even though you have no idea what you could possibly be fucking up. im doing everything right, im doing what you told me to do to survive, im exactly what you want me to be, what am i doing wrong? what can you see that i cant? i dont know how to want any other way. i dont know how else to love.

maybe im just meant to be lonely. maybe all i need is just one person who understands and ill be fine. theres just something about me specifically that repulses people away. its my fault, its my responsibility, ill just live like this, i just need to survive it

are you done talking to your friends? can we go home?

[gaysindistress]

I’m having ✨minthara brain rot✨so suffer with me

bg3 masterlist

So hear me out; Minthara doesn’t end up with Tav. In fact, Tav goes off with their first romanced, Gale and they get married. Minthara is upset for obvious reasons but she’s not going to beg Tav to stay with her or anything like that. They’re both adults and she refuses to stoop so low as to damage her dignity like that. This leads to her going to the underdark alone and doing a bunch of badass shit (we’ll get there).

The epilogue comes and goes but that’s not where we pick up.

Our story starts about 5 years after that. Tav is being asked to do some adventurer shit that requires them to go to the Underdark. Something about Spawn going missing and Astarion is worried so he asks his friend to help out. Gale isn’t happy about it but he’s not going to stop them either. He and minthara weren’t exactly friendly or even civil most of the time so he’s not thrilled about it. The problem is that Tav refuses to ignore this request and will not say no, leaving Gale in a rather unpleasant position. All he can do is go with Tav and protect them.

Minthara has successfully taken back her family house and is in the process of rebuilding society following the defeat of the Spider-Queen. During all of this, she meets her bride to be, you. Among the many of forlorn travelers and lost souls, a small band of drow find themselves stranded and desperate for a miracle. Your house had been taken during a battle with the Spider-Queen and you have yet to find another house willing to take you in. Minthara comes across your group as her army and her are surveying recent encounters.

A rather foul squelching sound, that of a blade through flesh, rings through the air as Minthara leads her people into the ruins of House Lelith. As she approaches what may have been a a once elegant home, she hears small grunts and huffs coming from just beyond the archway. She sends three soldiers forward in efforts to flank whoever may be inside before taking up the back.

“If you’ve come to finish us off, speak now and I shall grant you the mercy of a quick death,” a soft yet powerful voice murmurs from her left. A sting and a trail of warm blood seeping from it brings shock and mild surprise but nothing is able to shake Minthara to her core as the sight of you.

She spares the briefest of glances towards you and is completely ill prepared for the pandemonium that washes over her.

“Speak before I split your tongue and cleave your heart,” you demand once more and press the blade more so into her neck. She makes no show that it causes her pain aside from the slight flinch of her skin.

“I hold no loyalty to that viper of a queen if that is what you’re asking,” she casually replies while her heart beats wildly. Your armor is in disrepair; bloodied, torn, and hanging together by haphazard threads but you still wear it with pride. The rest of you is a similar state with your hair unbound and wild while spotted with viscera but your beauty is unmatched.

“If not for her, then who?”

“Do you truly not know who i am?”

She can feel your eyes narrow and scrutinize her before you remove your blade and place it in its sheath.

“Minthara of House Baenre of Menzoberranzan,” you state as you prowl around her and stop only when you’re merely inches away, “A former follower of the Absolute and Oathbreaker.”

Her nose flares at your last words, causing you to chuckle as you cross your arms and lean against the archway. “Touch a nerve did I?”

“Are you one of her little spiderlings?” she instead asks, too overcome by you to engage in any form of clever conversation.

“I should think my declaration to sever your head from your body would answer that question, my lady. Or did the tadpole eat away at your brain more than we’ve been led to believe?”

Her small smirk is what captured you and from that day on, you’ve been nearly inseparable. Your romance appeared to be a complete myth as few ever saw you interact outside of political encounters. Those close to you, however, see the small well times glances, the softest of smiles, and the secret touches between the two of you. Minthara may not be outright in her love and devotion for you but she shows it in her fierce desire to protect you. Never out of sight of you, Minthara is always aware of where you are and who is near you. It is rare that she is even out of reach of you but alas duty calls and this is not possible.

In your private quarters, it is an entirely different matter. Her head is forever resting on your shoulder or in your lap as she basks in your warmth and affection. Many nights you take on the task of doing her hair. She lounges in the bath as you gently work through whatever knots and tangles hide in her moon pale strands. By the fire, she’ll rest her head against your knee as she sits between your legs and you brush out her wet hair. Her eyes flutter closed at the care you take to not pull or tug on her scalp. Quiet moans slip out when you graze her ears and when you chuckle at them, she groans out a weak demand to be silent.

“It is you who cannot be silent, my fearsome beloved.”

She’s told you of Tav but to be truthful it is too caught up in the trauma that she suffered under Orin and the Absolute. Thinking of Tav is often too difficult to manage and with you, there is no need to dredge up old wounds as such. That’s not to say you’re unprepared for meeting Tav but let’s be honest with ourselves, anyone would be unprepared to meet the Hero of Baldurs Gate. Everything is a whirl wind upon their arrival with Astarion making his presence well known, Gale and Wyll discussing whatever it is they talk about it, Karlach and Halsin playful daring each other to lift heavy objects. All the while Shadowheart and Tav are quickly discussing something with Minthara and occasionally asking for Astarion’s input. You are standing just beside the door, waiting for your intended and leader to give a command.

Tav makes a comment about the sheer number of people in the room and not so subtly requests the room to be cleared. Minthara glances around and with a slight nod her people file out, leaving the heroic adventure party and yourself. Tav throws a confused look your way as do the others but Minthara ignores it to lead them to the map of the Underdark she has displayed.

Nearly 10 minutes pass before Tav outright asks about your presence and once more requests that you leave. Ever the observers, Shadowheart and Astarion are quick to notice something is different about you. You are not merely a soldier, a trusted advisor even. Much like the first time you met, you’re causally leaning against a pillar with your arms crossed over armor that’s identical to Minthara’s. They share a look of an epiphany before attempting to quiet Tav however their efforts are futile.

As soon as Tav asks who you are and why you’re still here, you take your opportunity to humble the leader.

“Who I am is none of your concern. we are not on the surface where you can demand things because you simply think you are owed them. You’d do well to remember that you are in the Underdark. This is not your domain and thus have no semblance of authority here. All you’re entitled to know is that Minthara, my lady and my leader, trusts me.”

Tav looks absolutely stunned to hear you speak so directly and curtly but it is Minthara who has the most shocking reaction. She calls to you drow, beckoning you closer because you’re too far from her as is and she may or may not be feeling the urge to ravish you in front of everyone. Minthara may not be one for displays of affection but her not correcting you makes it very clear that you are the single most important person to her and she values you above all else.

Tav be damned.

[thisaccountisagainstmywill]

I've begun an evil Honor mode playthrough with my Old Man Gaming Squad. And it's slightly less chaos this time around but by FAR more of a disaster. I'm playing Bazahl the Duergar Rogue this go around. We've been trying to do an evil game where we don't kill everyone, but instead do the actual evil plot line. (Hint: It's not going well.)

The beginning of Baz's real bad night. Night events keep triggering on me for some reason this session. This session I started with the Lae'zel "Oh we're transforming, I better slit your throat." I am not the face of this playthrough (or the last one), so I failed all the checks to convince her not to hurt me.

Someone asked "What happens if you just give in?" We do science in this house so of course I tried. Well, kids the news is: She kills you. Then after she kills you, she goes hostile and fights the rest of your camp. And for some reason Gale goes hostile too. (Boy's confused but he's got the spirit.) So because of the issue with killing Gale causing an end game state after three days, we're scrambling to fix it. Lae'zel we can handle being gone. She killed me and me is important we have no other rogue. We try bonking Gale. But bonking is bugged. We force restart the game, no good. We scramble around and eventually have to just kill Gale, we can't end combat we're in camp and we have no potions. His projection spawns and we go through all of that. Gale gets rezzed and we're Gucci. Sometimes a Wizard just needs his reset button pressed. In the mess of trying to get the other players back into the game I end up having to play through everyone's Dream Visitor Night 1 so they can get in. So I get to see everyone's Dream Visitors.

My dream visitor is real damn fine for someone I just hit random on a bunch of times. (✿◡‿◡)

The old men, however, were boring in their picks. Lae'zel is gone in the morning (we bonked her out, so she might be alive) and I'm alive again. We're good. We can go to the Grove, evil campaign back on schedule. WRONG We invade the Grove and everything goes fine. However, for some reason Minthara 'My Queen and Light of My Life' Baenre's sexual advances dialogue keeps triggering on my character despite never having spoken to her. Against my better wishes I turn her down. My Queen went immediately hostile at the party and now every Goblin is hostile. Its Honor Mode so we can't reload.

Moments before disaster.

Afterwards I'm getting yelled at going, "Why didn't you just sleep with her?!" Me: "Have you seen her scene?! " Old Man: "No!"

Me: "It's pretty explicit! It would be like watching porn with my uncles." Old Man: "Oh fair, I guess. But I would have done it."

Me: "I know you would've....that's so weird. Why did it trigger on me?"

Sleep well my bonked out Queen. I hope I see you at Moonrise. But I doubt it. Now every single Goblin back at the Goblin camp is aggressive. We've ruined our chances of having a nice and normal Evil Campaign. We're going full murder hobo. No one will survive. Zarys and the Underdark vendors are the only vendors we have left in Act 1. Everyone else is dead but we need to get to them still.

Conclusion: Honor Mode really isn't the place to be testing out new story paths. ƪ(˘⌣˘)ʃ

[sorcerous-caress]

Okay yes please on the Minthara’s servant in the underdark AU! Ramble your thoughts about it too me.

Okay SO SO!

Scenario A : we are also a drow

Not a member of her house but one who was given from another house. We are here to serve her and make sure all her needs are met, or maybe we were assigned as a house mage or a servant for another family memeber.

What matters is, she finds herself getting attached to us. And she knows how dangerous that is in drow culture, how much this weakness could be used against her.

She tries to forget us, to ignore us, or to even have us transferred to another house. She is in deep denial over her feelings

I'm imagining this as a slow burn princess/servant fanfic where Minthara goes through the 5 stages of grief. It's starts with her wanting to get rid of us or ignore us but ends with her defending us from someone. She fully embraces her feelings and doesn't want anything bad to happenen to us.

Scenario B : we are from the surface

Which probably means we got taken as a hostage or a slave, if we ever gain our freedom back it means we will have to earn it by blood.

Maybe she is the one who captures us. If you're an elf then you'll get the enemies to friends to lovers trope but expect a lot and I mean a lot of hatred from her at the start. It will be painful and filled with heartbreak and betrayal.

If you're any other race, she will be more respectful and tolerant of you. You're still below her but your mistakes will be forgiven more because you have the excuse of being ignorant and she'd be lying if she said she didn't find it endearing. You'll be more like a pet to her than a slave, she will be more protective and possessive of you. You'll both teach each other something as you try to overcome the huge cultural differences

Scenario C : we're a free person.

Could be a drow, could be a surface race. Doesn't really matter because you have fully earned your freedom and all of Menzoberranzan knows that. You still have to treat her with respect as a noble drow princess but nothing more.

Maybe you're a merchant or maybe you fun a coffee shop in the undercity. Whatever it is, you do this one thing that you find fulfilling and move on with your life.

The two of you meet by accident, or she finds your shop one day. Weirdly she feels relaxed there and starts frequenting it more and more. At least it's good for business to have a drow princess in your humble store.

Even if half the people who come there to see her are trying to murder her, you do put them in line because you'll have no drinks getting posioned while you're on the clock. Minthara notices and is moved. A romance slowly flourishes.

[the-rebel-archivist]

13 and 14 for Lucien? 👀

Thank you for the questions!

13. I haven’t plotted out too far and have left it open ended; there are some whispers of possible DLC and as Withers says, their story is not over yet. Mainly I’ve stuck to the threads started for him in the epilogue - he spent a few months researching his origin, visiting Candlekeep and delighting the scholars who were full of questions about the unique circumstances surrounding his birth.

Afterwards he prepared to join Minthara as she raised an army to conquer her own House in the underdark; many people who felt like they didn’t belong anywhere else were drawn to the cause purely because he was there.

So in my head he’s in the underdark now, but coming up to help Lae’zel out here and there and to check in on Shadowheart. All of them need to find ways forward without their former gods.

14. I did already answer this one so I’ll cheat and give the 3rd and 4th things!

Something to keep in mind while working with Luci is just how much he stands slightly to the left of expectations about anything, appearance, class, gender, etc. He’s agender, he doesn’t fit anywhere within this system at all. If anything his gender is murder. Or slayer. He was crafted for that. But he goes by any pronouns, mostly he just because none really fit anyway so it’s easy and because he takes some joy in observing people trying to work out if he fits gendered expectations. This is especially strange for him in the underdark; he was raised on the surface and experiencing such a heavily gendered society is incredibly odd to him.

The last thing to keep in mind is how much he struggles trying to balance a desire for belonging/craving for acceptance with an oathbreaker paladin’s inclination toward freedom.

Lucien is strange and off putting and even when he’s perfectly friendly he can come off as an uncanny valley representation of a person. It’s made it hard to connect and made him easy to target by people who might pick on him out of fear. But what he truly longs for is for his Father to tell him he’s done a good job, that he’s proud of him, that he’s done everything right and found his place and is exactly where he belongs and can be celebrated for it. He had it, back before Orin and the tadpole. Now… he keeps striding forward to go make Father proud but there’s a little voice at the back of his mind that says no, be free.

The oathbreaker longing for freedom from bonds is always there. He thought he could manage both if he was allowed to be his Father’s champion without coercion but he wasn’t, it was all or nothing. And he can’t let go of all. He made his choice and his choice was freedom over any sense of belonging from having chosen the purpose he was made for. Now he needs to take some time to recognize where he does belong: with the misfits in their rag tag group

[soggytaxidermy]

General 4 and 5 for the tav ask 👀👀

oh boy it’s been a while since you sent this - oh well, I still appreciate it! I have two main tavs - Damakas, tiefling wild magic bard-barian, adaption of one of my normal dnd characters, and Lharast, seldarine drow devotion paladin/fiend warlock, my durge. 

4. What sort of general actions raise or lower their approval?

Damakas: One would have to try very, very hard to get on this brick wall of a tiefling’s bad side. Damakas likes to believe that everyone’s intentions are as good as his and is an even stronger believer in second chances. After all, he was a cultist. Doing generally positive things like saving people and lending your hand without payment quickly gains you his approval, as does passing persuasion and performance checks. However, he’s also way too curious for his own good, so the player earns approval when they make some not-so-thought-through decisions in exchange for, well, finding out what happens next - for instance, reading the Necromancy of Thay or allowing Auntie Ethel to try to remove the tadpole. Like most companions, he dislikes threats and unnecessary violence. Should the violence be called for though, he will enthusiastically crush a head or otherwise dismember someone for you (this would be an option during certain cutscenes or if you take someone as a prisoner back to your camp). One should avoid asking him to do this too often, however.

Lharast: The player meets him as a masked knight in Underdark during the second act, and at first, his likes and dislikes are very vague. Sometimes he approves of extorting civilians, sometimes he doesn't. Your douche behavior rarely goes far enough to warrant his disapproval as your heroics do his approval. Only after completing the first part of his quest and getting him to unmask do things get clearer. Lharast is generally good aligned but approves of most deception checks, even against allies, and of using detect thoughts and other mind-meddling. As a paladin of Ilmater, Lharast greatly approves when you offer to heal sick or injured nps or take punishments destined for someone else. While he does a lot of things strangely against the values of his oath, the strangest is his complete approval of using the tadpoles to downright dominate others if necessary, and “necessary” appears to have a pretty loose definition according to his book. He disapproves of refusal to help people (asking for money first is ok though), dealing with the Flaming Fist, and summoning hirelings from Withers, for whatever reason. 

5. Are there any instances where your tav can permanently leave the party, depending on player actions?

Damakas: For starters, if the player chooses to attack the grove/kill the tiefling refugees, he immediately turns hostile. If he’s not killed in the battle, he can still be encountered later in the game, but he can never again be added to the party. Another instance is if you have him do his special kill on a truly innocent person and he finds out, he will be appalled and leave out of sheer guilt and grief. But, the circumstances matter - if the player discovers the person’s innocence alongside Damakas, he’ll still be stricken, but can be persuaded not to leave. However, if the player lied to him to get him to do it, there’s no going back.

Lharast: There’s a lot of ways. I’ve yet to fact-check this to see if it works, but in my npc lore for him so far, he was Minthara’s husband a couple hundred years ago, and that divorce - well, it was never really official. Since he’s met in act 2, if the player helps him with Minthara in their party, he will never end up removing his mask, and instead the covert version of his quest begins. He eventually takes you aside and tells you who he is and asks you to help him stab Minthara in the back, when the time is right. From that point, the player could tell Minthara, causing him to leave permanently. Alternatively, if Minthara is already out of the picture, bringing him back to Moonrise undisguised lands him in hot water, and if fumbled, leads to him getting taken back and mindraped beyond repair as punishment for desertion, as he was once high ranking among the Absolutists. Lharast doesn’t die, the player will probably just wish he had. The player could also fail at handling his patron, Malkizid, whereupon Malkizid essentially takes over Lharast’s form and replaces him in the party for a short time- albeit withholding the full strength of his archdevil powers. The other ways to get him gone are probably triggered by events later in the game, but since I haven’t actually gotten to play through those act 3 events yet, I can’t say for certain.

thanks again so much for the ask! and once again sorry it took so long to answer, I guess I just had to leave you in suspense for 10 days lmfao