#bg 3 Lae’zel

[mare--noctis]

Starting a new play-through as our favourite wizard Gale!

[soranatus]

Shadowheart’s Elegant Robe By Ami Thompson

[fourraccoonsinacoat]

Shadowheart: I feel sorry for you, Lae'zel.

Lae'zel: Why?

Shadowheart: It must be difficult going through life without the ability to laugh.

Lae'zel: I do have a sense of humor, you know. In Creche K'liir, I was considered to be quite funny.

Shadowheart: Really? I've never heard you laugh.

Lae'zel: And I have never heard you say anything funny.

----

BG3 Incorrect Quotes Masterlist

[deletarius-draws]

You Honor Me ~ {Full Illustration}

Sol & Lae ~ You Honor Me Full illustration.

I’ve been looking through references of old distressed style, cracked and textured paintings for this one as well as for their posing. This piece is during their time within the Astral Planes fighting alongside one another against Vlaakith’s forces. Solus Aximand (Tav) has gith inspired armor with a githzerai tailored robe, dawning a battle worn breastplate, a gold or possibly just brass. Lae’zel is wearing the modded in equipable armor worn by Githyanki in-game (I looked at some Pinterest references for her armor), the two in this particular piece wear more scavenged armor due to previous wear and tear of whatever they wore before. Traversing the battlefields of the Astral takes its toll, the two can fight on for hours and days without much rest, that is until now. Not that keeping up with time really means much at all, considering their locale. They continue to war together, fighting as one and instinctually as they have when they fought side by side in Faerûne. The only difference is the enemies they face alongside Githzerai allies.

[wizardofpalmsprings]

If you called Minthara “Minthy” to her face, you would be walking back to your tent going “I don’t want to talk about it.”

[shirojikimattari]

... how did you even get 7 int on tav tho lol :')

Do you honestly think Tav wouldn’t lose a chunk of her brain when her camp is a freak show

[battybaddie13]

I had fun making these. 😉

[fragrantfungusstew]

This was definitely Karlach’s idea

[luneillusoire]

Lae’zel artwork as the first post of 2024 🌟

[felrend]

Only the strong survive

[mare--noctis]

Ohhh boy do I have footage for you folks …

Here is a teaser, of a fairly emotionally poignant moment with Astarion undercut with a song I forgot would be included in the screen recording

[soranatus]

BALDUR’S GATE 3 By Ami Thompson

[antomander]

Just got stuck in some Shadowheart x Lae’zel ao3fic for like three hours before bed and now I have to get up for work soon and I’m weeping uncontrollably

[deletarius-draws]

Karlach capturing the moment of Solus and Lae’zel petting their Owl Bear Cub. This piece took longer than expected, it was supposed to be a simple quick inked sketch but I got carried away again. I will say I’m getting carried away with another upcoming illustration as well. Lol

I added a few variants of the piece without speech bubbles and framing, I’m also trying to implement more dynamic shots and angles of the characters with some background staging. Gonna keep trying to push out a few more at a time.

[tealfling]

There's so much flirting between them

If you haven't watched this yet, this is your sign that you should.

[leighsartworks216]

I Come With Knives Pt6

Astarion x gn!Tav/Reader

(The other parts of this story are under the First BG3 Masterlist, or you can use the AO3 link to read it there)

This one is my problem child. I have no idea how to write for the other companions but I needed to have this as context for the companions learning about Tav's bg and yeah whatever I've got better stuff coming up. I am very very excited for future chapters >:)

Warnings: self-destructive coping mechanisms (scratching oneself), mentions of slavery, hints of a panic attack, mentions of emotional abuse, mentions of biting, possibly OOC companions

Word Count: 1,334

Main Masterlist

First Baldur's Gate 3 Masterlist - Second Baldur's Gate 3 Masterlist

I Come With Knives Masterlist

AO3

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Everyone eyed you warily. You didn’t blame them. After you scrubbed your hands raw of the blood staining them, you provided no explanation. You’d basically sped in, Astarion trailing behind, and ran for a bucket of water. And stayed there. For hours. After the fact, you changed out the water, of course, but they weren’t concerned as much with the pink-tinted water as they were with the frantic nature you scraped the natural dye from your hands.

Astarion didn’t say anything either. A few of them had tried asking, but he smiled tersely and made an excuse that changed each time. “I was too distracted fighting a beast.” “You know how some people get with germs.” “They really hate the color red.” (This one was not said to Karlach, nor in her earshot.) 

It all came to a head at dinner, when you’d still provided no explanation. Gale handed out servings silently, staring at you as though studying a new specimen. Lae’zel watched you like a predator trying to defend her territory, prepared for the moment the intruder stepped over the line. Shadowheart barely repressed her scowl.

Wyll set down his bowl pointedly. “Haven’t you kept your secrets hidden long enough?” You raise your eyes from your barely-touched stew. You didn’t quite see him. Your mind lingered on the image of the Gur. “Do you expect us to continue following blindly while we pour our souls out for you?”

You bristled. The image disappeared, tucked away to haunt you later. “No. No, I’m sorry.” You sighed and set your bowl aside. Everyone watched you expectantly, more interested in what you could say than filling their bellies. “It’s just… difficult to talk about.”

“Speak,” Lae’zel encourages roughly. “We will listen.”

Astarion frowns at you. He’s taken to sitting beside you for ‘dinner’. They knew by now he wasn’t suited to eating normal food, but he didn’t quite trust them not to stake him through the heart or cut his head off. It was safest to linger by your side. The irony of your trust in him was not lost on him: You understood him best and you feared him the most. That fear may have dampened over time, but you still flinched at the gleam of his fangs, watched him as he left camp to hunt at night. Yet you’d bared your soul to him and him alone. He couldn’t wrap his head around it.

You inhale, slow and shaky. Your hands fiddle in your lap, providing you some sort of distraction. It would not be enough to ground you to reality should the thoughts become too potent.

“I was… am,” you corrected unsurely, “a vampire’s thrall. She… uses me as a blood source. Has used me, for years. I’ve been stuck under her thumb since I was a teenager. It’s… easier to have one consistent source of food than to go out looking for it every night.

“When we were out in the woods,” you nod your head slightly toward Astarion, “there was a Gur. A monster hunter. A-And he said he was looking for a runaway.” Your breaths sharpen into quick, frightened little things. You nearly choke on them. You stare into the fire. Your nails start scratching at your hands. You don’t even realize you’re doing it. “He had nothing to go on, just a name, but I panicked and I- I killed him. I shouldn’t have. I know I shouldn’t have. I could have explained everything. I could have paid him off. I could have-”

“Steady on, soldier,” Karlach interrupts. You can’t look at her, can’t draw your eyes away from the flickering flames, but you know she looks worried. It always amazed you how openly she wore her emotions, despite it all. “Take a breath, okay?”

Your nails stop scratching in favor of digging into your skin. You take a breath, slowly let it out, and your nails ease off. You run your fingertips mindlessly over the indents left behind.

You whisper, unable to raise your voice any further. “He said my master is in Berdusk.”

Quiet. Gale spoke up, voicing the awful realization everyone had. “That’s only a few miles from Baldur’s Gate.”

You nod.

“You’re marchin’ right back to her.” Karlach sighs, heavy and empathetic.

You finally lift your eyes from the fire. Everyone’s attention is on you, pitying and remorseful. “I have no choice. I can’t abandon you all just to run away. Especially with these tadpoles. I have no doubts she’ll find me quickly once we reach the city.”

“We could confront her,” Wyll suggests. “Go to Berdusk, face her head on, free you!”

“It’s not some goblin camp we can just walk into and clear out,” you protest. The idea thrills you to no end, but you cannot allow yourself that hope. Not when there is none. You will be found. Tonight, the next, a week from now. You’ll be locked back into your servitude. There is no chance you have to be free. “Killing a vampire lord isn’t- It’s not just-”

Astarion speaks up. You don’t expect it; he’d been so quiet this whole time. “If we can kill Cazador, we can kill Kir Parthene.” Your stomach rolls around at the sound of her name. “What makes facing my master any different from yours?”

You know the answer. Even if you don’t realize it yet, you know.

You have no qualms threatening Cazador. You’ve even told Astarion that you plan to help him kill his master, once and for all. Free him and his ‘siblings’, and rid Baldur’s Gate of the nighttime threat to its people. No longer would they have to go out, lure victims in as food for the vampire lord. It was so easy to promise. If you could help everyone else, why should you leave Astarion to the same fate you faced after this quest? He should be as free as possible from the chains binding him.

So why couldn’t you let them swear the same for you? What made Kir Parthene so different from Cazador? She was not stationed in as large a city, she did not steal souls off the street every night just for a quick meal, she did not personally carve poetry into the flesh of those beneath her. She had power, but no more than Cazador held. So why were you so reluctant to even dream of your freedom?

You were afraid.

Astarion can see the very second you know the answer to his question. Your eyes open a fraction wider, filling with a bottomless dread. Your heart stutters and your breath catches. He’s sure you’re on the verge of tears as you inhale a trembling breath, trying to keep yourself from hyperventilating, even as your fear squeezes your lungs.

“You won’t have to face her alone.” You turn to look at Shadowheart. “You’ve given us the strength to face our demons. We can help you face yours.”

You want to believe her. Believe all of them as they nod in agreement. Believe they could give you the strength you lacked, support you when you come face-to-face with her once more.

But then you see the deep crimson of her eyes and lips. You feel her nails digging into your skin. The cooing affections that come just after the harsh vitriol. Her teeth digging deep into your neck. How can you have any hope of facing her?

You shake your head and push yourself to your feet so fast Astarion is startled. “I’m sorry. I can’t think about this right now.” You abandon your dinner. It sits, lonely and growing cold, as you step away from the warm glow of the fire and the safety of your companions into the edge of trees surrounding your camp. You don’t go far, just far enough you can’t hear them speaking and they can’t see you collapse against a tree, clutching and clawing at your hands to remove the memories from your mind.

At least they know now.

---

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