#baldurs gate 3 zarys

[my-favourite-zhent]

[sharess-festhall]

Spending my day wondering how Zarys and Rugan initiate new recruits.

[sarenhale]

A sketch of my sorcerer Zari. She was a street artist/performer in Baldur's Gate

[killerpancakeburger]

Not getting over the duality between when you meet Rugan for the first time and he plays the Big Bad Zhent, promising you that Zarys will have your head if you steal their cargo, threatening you to be sure you don't cheat him if you convince him to make a deal "the Black Network had eyes and blades everywhere", kinda showing off with "I'll tell my associates to expect you".

And when you reach their hideout and Zarys just fucking roasts him publicly non. stop. "YOU GAVE THEM THE PASSWORD??" "You have fire in you, if only Rugan was like that we wouldnt be in this situation". "The Zhentarim look out for one of their own - even if it’s Rugan."

She's really like "Yes Rugan is the moron of the crew urgh Im so done I will complain about him to every single person walking by"

[my-favourite-zhent]

Omg, this was unexpected. I'm fucking dead.

On that meme bandwagon.

[alpydk]

Trying to talk myself out of getting a Zhentarim tattoo...

They're the bad guys, right???

[crshelidon]

"Remember that you're resources" is something I actually heard an HR manager say to a team of architects in their employment, with pretty much the same tone.

[my-favourite-zhent]

You lot are always making fun of me

Two months ago @coreene compiled some of the Zhentarim banter audios on the server and I kept forgetting to post it! Thank you so much for this file~~ I've only gotten this to trigger once on playthrough, I think it was bugged in subsequent patches.

[my-favourite-zhent]

I've read the fic by @dustdeepsea, I'll smash

[dustdeepsea]

2024 writing round up

thank you for the tag @inquisimer 💖 this was a lot of fun to answer I split my time this year both writing and drawing. if you'd like to see my 2024 drawing round up it's here

words posted: 52,715 (not counting anything I wrote in round robins)

additional words written: hmm roughly 4,000?

grand total of words: 56,715

fandoms: Baldur's Gate 3 through most of the year. And Dragon Age swooping in at the end, because I am predictable.

highest kudos: Benediction, a Zevlor/Tav piece that found its audience.

highest hit oneshot: Same as above :)

new things I tried:

Writing my first OC who shares the same gender presentation as I do (Octavia), creating self-indulgent lore and art for them and becoming entirely too obsessed with my dolls.

Writing for a popular ship (Lucanis/Rook/Spite). It low-key stresses me out to see the number of works I can't keep up with in their tag. I had made an effort to read and interact with nearly everything for my BG3 micro-blorbos, which I believe was less than 100 fics across an entire year. I've decided to just let it go and enjoy the interactions I can manage!

fic I spent the most time on: Gods and Monsters (BG3) at a grand 12k words and counting. I have a lot of complicated feelings about this story. I want to come back to it some day.

fic I spent the least time on: performance review (Zarys/Rugan [NPC/NPC], BG3) was the shortest and also quickest piece written over 2 days. I also participated in 4 round robin writing challenges, and turned around my paragraphs in 1-2 hours each time it was handed to me.

favorite thing I wrote: somewhere I have never travelled (BG3), a one shot about young love and mistaken identities. It's set in a "fix it" universe written by @my-favourite-zhent (a mutual who later became a friend!) That sense of communal world building is really exciting and magical. I was really lucky to experience it in my first proper year in fandom.

favorite thing(s) I read:

Alongside my previous recommendations (1, 2, 3):

Seleny Merlot, 8:92 Blessed by silverhalla (Dragon Age) - truly masterful short fiction. I often want my Veilguard fics to be something the game is not (a self-critique and absolutely not on any writer), but this perfectly captures the lighthearted humour of the installment.

Burn, Shepard, Burn series by Otempora (Mass Effect) - The adventures of Shepard of Mindoir, witcher for hire, and her devoted "friend" Garrus Vakarian. The premise works fantastically; Shepard and Garrus are both entirely themselves in this AU. Slow, slow burn, but it doesn't matter—you know that they love each other in every universe.

cemetery by MelisandreStark (BG3) - Minthara/Gale, post-game, treated perfectly seriously. It's the happily ever after that I never knew I needed until I read it.

writing goals for 2025:

Perfect is the enemy of good and done.

Be kind to myself about my output.

Find my Horny Fandom of 2025 (god bless you BG3 mutuals). Write more smut.

new works: I'm not going to stress myself out by promising anything more than I already have, but I want to continue what I've done with my newer stuff like castling, which is to trust the process and myself more. To write when I want to, and not only when "conditions are perfect". And stop imagining that I need a certain word count before posting. If I want to change tenses and POVs, and write freaky Fade stuff, I will!!

[archived-from-the-realm]

Some companion quest stuff that I haven't named because I can't think of anything that wouldn't be cringe, and this is cringe enough for me.

Act 1

His quest starts after encountering the Zhentarim either in the gnoll encounter or in the hideout.

If during the gnoll encounter, Rugan will ask about Astrophel, saying he looks like someone one of their informants had described

If in the hideout, a half-orc will approach after the party deals with Zarys either persuading her to stand down in exchange for Astrophel or trying to persuade the party to hand him over in exchange for a fair amount of gold

If the party hands him over, he will be found dead and beyond recognition in the hideout

Afterwards, he can be asked about it. He'll admit that he hasn't been entirely honest about his past, but an insight check will confirm that he wouldn't be lying about not being officially part of the Zhentarim.

While in the underdark, he would find a corpse of a large barbarian elf that he recognizes, but he deflects instead of answering any questions about who she was.

Act 2

With a high affinity, he would confess about his past as a warlock of Hyrsam along with revealing that the corpse had been bothering him as she was someone he knew since he was 12, the age he first entered into his pact.

At Moonrise, there will be another offer for the Zhent to take him in exchange for a parasite and the gold from before.

If taken, he'll be found dead in the dungeons, otherwise, they'll just tell him, specifically, to watch his back if he ever gets back to Baldur's Gate.

After this encounter, he'll confess the reason they want him so badly is because he killed a spy that worked for them. When asked for more details, he'll admit to having helped the spy gather information due to a complicated relationship with him.

If romanced, he'll give the details of the relationship which are summed up as very not good, and he'll admit that the spy helped him get out of his pact along with being the first person he's ever had romantic feelings for.

Either way, he'll finish the conversation with the death of the spy is the reason the Zhent are after him as he has a lot of confidential information.

Act 3

While in the city, other revelers of Hyrsam can be found performing in the streets near Sorcerous Sundries. They approach either to talk to Astrophel or to thank the party for caring for him for so long.

They ask for help due to the Zhent coming after them to get to Astrophel, and Astrophel pleads for the party to help his "family."

Endings

While he can be persuaded to forget about them, it's would be a high check, and it would make Astrophel leave a romantic relationship for this.

If agreed to help, a quest to seek out and assassinate spies of the Zhent is given, leading to a fight in an old hideout where Astrophel used to live with his former flame along with some of his old things like a cape that grants +2 charisma [total 22] and +1 spell save DC.

If helped, the revelers will stay to help with the final battle, though they do request that Astrophel rejoin them.

If the revelers are not helped or sided with the Zhentarim spies: He spends the rest of his days running from the Zhent, never feeling safe enough to trust or get close to anyone outside of getting what he needs and leaving them either dead or with nothing.

Encouraged to rejoin the revelers: He reenters his pact with his patron. While he does still long for stability, he is somewhat happy though a part of him is resentful for being constantly on the move without any hope of settling down outside of the feywilds due to the enemies he made and the chaos that follows them.

Encouraged to remain independant: He finds a permanent home in Baldur's Gate, aiding Alfira in creating a bard's school and teaching there, mainly about history.

[zhentil-keep-perverts]

Waukeen's Rest Crew General Headcanons

The Caravan with Rugan and Olly were coming from Elturgard (not to be confused with Elturel, the city which was in literal Hell for a couple of months at least) so they might have come across from Darkhold or down the Trade Way from Waterdeep.

The raiding party that went to Waukeen's rest lost control of their Gnolls/let them go off on their own walk to make more Gnolls by having the hyenas eat The Caravan.

The crew that was with Rugan and Olly for the Gnolls was Nine Finger's people therefore primarily thieves not fighters → If it was a full Zhent crew would've gone differently I expect.

It is implied that management from Darkhold, that is aligned with Bane (and subsequently Gortash) ordered the Waukeen’s rest Crew to be hanged because they needed a scapegoat for the Duke’s kidnapping at Waukeen’s rest.

"We’d returned to Baldur’s Gate to find new management among the Zhentarim in the city. They promptly turned us all over to the Steel Watch." "Whatever they’re planning has impressed the powers that be at Darkhold, judging by the reinforcements.” Perhaps Gortash told Roah Moonglow that he needed a scapegoat for the Duke's kidnapping and she handled the rest. Basically so Gortash gets to go "Oh no it was these evil Zhents and Councillor Florrick who kidnapped him and I saved him!" The Waukeen's rest crew could have either a) been in the wrong place at the wrong time or b) Roah arranged the delivery schedule such that they would be there when Duke Ravengard was taken. And then when the crew does make it to Baldur's Gate, Roah's all 'time to tidy up loose ends'. Rugan survives by becoming a turn coat, basically testifying against the others to keep from getting hanged too. His "ratting" is convenient for them because now their story is corroborated. But I think he's only bought himself some time. Sooner or later they'll eliminate the "rat", hence Roah's letter to Karcen. That's when they capture and imprison Councillor Florrick as well to wrap up everything. You can find Rugan drinking himself stupid in the Thieves Guild with the Darkhold Zhents. He's obviously got a lot of remorse about all his friends dying but also kinda like "Well did what I had to, to survive." You can talk him into quitting the Zhentarim at his point

Waukeen’s rest is a permanent Zhentarim post, because Zhents needs that Underdark access point right there, and Bellar mentions that he was going to miss the place.

The original Waukeen’s rest crew are all human but interestingly, most of the Darkhold replacements in act 3 are not.

Out of all the Zhents in the crew the only two members who are rogues, are the ones that are perhaps not smart enough to lie about it.

The crew have been working together for long enough that they've ironed out little problem like Bellar killing people while they're still useful.

Zhents as cats → "I did a murder for you". They'll bring you the head so you can identify the victim. (Probably Bellar's first date gift)

When you save Rugan from the Gnolls, Zarys says things like: "We look out for our own even if it's Rugan" and "You're a friend of the family now, that's worth something in Baldur's Gate."

But in the cut content when you come across him the Guildhall he says "Look it's the one who saved me, and nobody gives a shite." Because the Darkhold crew don't care about him the way the Waukeen's rest crew did, he lost his whole family. :(

Danzo's letter to Roah Moonglow refers her as "city Zhent" and Zarys group as "the Waukeen's rest cell". Which would mean Roah and her group is the actual Baldur's Gate crew, while Zarys group are just the ones assigned to the Zhentarim Hideout underneath Waukeen's Rest. Danzo also calls the Waukeen's rest crew "useless".

Some of the Zhents chew tobacco and then spit it out. Brem, Garias, and Bellar have to be on the ground floor of the hide out because of their spitting habits. And Vol keeps screaming at them because the dogs try to eat the spittle.

Head canons were created in group discussions on Discord and we've preserved them anonymously. Please drop a message if you'd like to be tagged.

[my-favourite-zhent]

I love that Rugan is basically the Gerry of the Zhentarim.

[sarenhale]

HALSIN DO YOU FUCKING MIND

[killerpancakeburger]

It's pretty fucking funny to me that almost the whole time you bargain with Rugan he's like "Stealing from the Zhentarims is a VERY BAD IDEA. You WILL regret it, and then you will DIE" but then the second you offer to split the profits with him he does a 180 "sure, why not! This will definitly NOT bite me in the ass later" 💀

[bg3smash-or-pass]