#but I thought that you couldn't save isobel! and that's just what was supposed to happen! fool was I!

[forcedhesitation]

I finished act 2 again, but properly this time. and I cannot even begin to put into words how satisfying and beautiful all of that was. I loved act 2 the first time I played, but figuring out how to save the last light this time, properly completing halsin's quest, storming moonrise towers with jaheira and her harpers, seeing aylin reunite with isobel...all of it. I love it even more. and the beginning of act 3 feels all the more rewarding, having fixed my past errors.

[ferinehuntress]

◈　 ⇢  @skyheld　 ⋯　 Random Starter ♡ 　 ⸻　Ameridan learns more about the daughter of moonlight.

Black bags lingered heavily under Isobel’s eyes as she leaned herself up against the wall and slowly slide down to the floor. The strain of fatigue was visible in her silver-green eyes, revealing a loss of luster. And yet, she continued, her power linked to the barrier. Each day, she pulled that power and embraced it. As the barrier restrained the shadow curse, Isobel could feel the internal fight of it within her. The shadows tried to swallow up the magic, and yet the power of the moon fought to drown out the darkness. Slowly, she leaned her head back against the wall as she faded into her thoughts.

Every day here left her weary and worried. Already, one of their own had turned against them and Isobel couldn't believe how close she was to be taken back to her father. No, she wouldn't call him that. His name was Ketheric, no longer her father. Her father was kind and just, he took the protection of Reithwin personal. This tyrant was not her father. And yet he tried to dig his claws into her, dragging her back to a place she did not want to be. She had lost her lover, her soul burned from feeling as if the other half was missing. She reached over, pulling off her gloves and letting them drop to the ground. “What happened to me?” she questioned a little, staring at her black cursed hands flexing her palms and staring at the darkness that engulfed them. Was this her father’s fault or something else entirely?

The woman she saw in the mirror wasn’t who she used to be. Her raven black hair was now silver, her green eyes now a silver-green. Pale flesh lost its olive tone and now was more ivory. Still licked with warmth, but the undertones had faded. She slowly lifted her hands up to brush through her hair and sobbed quietly, before she jerked at feeling a presence. The wolf it reminded her of Aylin as her hand pressed up against her lips before reaching out to scratch his head. “I’m tired,” she whispered, and then leaned back and shook her head. “I don’t know what to do. How am I supposed to stop him and save everyone?” Her shoulders slouched with the weight upon them. “If only Aylin were here, she would know how to talk with you. I bet you would have loved her.” Just saying her name ripped her heart in two when Dread shifted and suddenly left the room.

Left alone again, Isobel slowly pushed herself up as she buckled over and started coughing. Something was wrong inside of her, she could feel it. A sickness or darkness, she didn’t know what; but she still didn’t feel right. She pressed her hand up against the wall as the attack subsided and she could lean back up and take a breath. She tugged off her armor and cloak, left in a simple tank top and some gray pants. Her body lead over to the fire as she dropped into her chair, trying to warm herself up. The cold of her body didn’t make the shiver, but she still didn’t like the feeling of it creeping over her hand.

It was when the person walked through the door that Isobel nearly jumped out of her skin. She grabbed a pair of gloves, hastily struggling to place them on her hands to hide the black tendrils that spread over her forearms and the black that engulfed her hands. “Ameridan,” Isobel quickly spoke up, recovering from any internal turmoil, and pushed back her rocking chair. “I was not expecting to see you back. Are you and your crew well? Do you need something?” She asked, as she lifted her hand, sensing the selunite magic still blessed him. “Oh good, the blessing is still strong. What can I help with?”

[teeldaa]

so i was looking up datamined content from early access and wanted to rant and talk about some of the changes Ketheric and Shar His story was changed twice!in both ea version he was a moon elf chosen of shar(he had nothing to do with Myrkul),in the first version Halsin accidentally killed Isobel and that pushed ketheric to release the shadow curse, nightsong was an avatar of shar

this is the original nightsong,a necromancer called "sevryn"(beta version of balthazar?!) had quest for the player to kill her with a dagger that absorbed her power,but if you saved her she could become a camp follower,here's some of her lines

"Shar is the Nightsinger, and I am her Nightsong." "I am her instrument, transforming the faithful into Shadows." "I drink their sorrow, their loss, their grief,then I vomit it back into the world." "I was captured, by Ketheric Thorm - Shar's chosen.He turned me into this creature." "I want to sing my own song, not Shar's, not Ketheric's!"

you can listen to her datamined voice lines here and here's a video about that version in the second version Ketheric turned away from Selûne when Isobel was still alive in that version it was Balthazar who killed isobel then framed Aylin as her murderer there was this isobel's line "I was dead, Aylin. For so long. It was Balthazar - he trapped my soul, he-" and Aylin's line "It is why I couldn't leave your body, even when they came. Balthazar and that Sharran witch told your father that I was to blame." and one Ketheric's line @ Aylin"You killed my daughter, then you stand before me and lie? I'll see you suffer tenfold what my Isobel did."(source) i think being recruitable kinda make sense for this version of Ketheric because he was being manipulated by Balthazar and Shar btw here's ketheric and isobel's datamined models(source)

so act 2 was all about the conflict between Selune and Shar and they just slapped myrkul in there last minute?! so Ketheric being a sharran and a chosen of absolute means shar was somehow supposed to involved with the absolute plot(that why shadowheart and her fellow sharran went and stole the artifact)

Daisy,The Urges,Orpheus and The Emperor Daisy was the early access version of dream visitor and every companion used to have their own unique daisy(everyone had the same dream except Astarion)"Down by The River"and"The Power"used to be about daisy there were "urges" in early access that wanted you to kill Daisy Orpheus was in the artefact but he wasn't chained up,he was supposed to be the one who helped you and shielded you from the absolute instead of the emperor.He probably had a way bigger role there is a misconception that original tav was meant to be a bhaalspawn which is straight up false,the dreams and the urges from early access only accrued if you used your illithid power (using them originally meant to have severe consequences) i know some people say daisy was supposed to be a manifestation of the tadpole that was trying to turn you and your party into mindflayers but i don't think it was ever confirmed what daisy or those urges were,i could be wrong but i remember it was datamined that both the Absolute and Orpheus used the Daisy persona...idk i know some people are gonna be like"dream guardian is better,Daisy was creepy/obviously evil"but Daisy only appeared if you used your illithid power,plus you could just reject them...or even kill them

as for the emperor,at first i thought he was just a replacement for Daisy and Orpheus but apparently no!i was watching Harbs Narbs talking about bg3's magic the gathering cards,when he saw the elder brain's card he said"could this be the emperor?"

Cazador and The Butcher …they basically cut everything...(source of datamined lines) so there was this character called "the Butcher"(who was one of the chosen/leader of absolute)who asked you to find his apprentice "Ohler" in Baldur's Gate's graveyard and bring him back a flask(?!),he was the leader of a skeleton faction(their faction was called TadpoledSkeleton)their concept art is still in bg3 artbook

i'm guessing this butcher guy was supposed to be the original Armored male elf chosen of myrkul?!ohler was caught by an ancient and powerful vampire called"the alluring"

you could side with the butcher and bring him back his flask,then he proposed to turn you into an undead,but if he allowed him to performe the ritual to turn you undead he also would try to make you his puppet. if you managed to break free of his control and you had to fight him. To kill him permanently you had to destroy his phylactery,otherwise he would resurrects every time. or you could side with Cazador,he wanted the butcher guy dead

btw i was looking at bg3 art book pdf i found these on cazador's page

is that what he originally was supposed to look like?!the scythe...ugh it looks so cool the other interesting thing is apparently other spawns were somehow okay/happy with their situation

the other thing i wanted to mention is i think Cazador was originally supposed to be a half elf,the language Cazador uses is Kozakuran,The Kozakurans were a human ethnicity The Creche vs The Cult of the Absolute (source) there was supposed to be a fight between the absolute cultist(led by Orin and the butcher)vs the creche(and some sort of team up between lathander priests and githyanki)

you could side with the absolute,they wanted to stop Kith'rak Voss from returning to Vlaakith,here's some of the butcher's lines

and orin's

and this orin badass moment,i'm still salty they cut this for the full release...

or you could side with Voss and helped him escape(i suggest you watch the source video,there's so much more there)

some other stuff there was some datamined stuff bout the city here and here i don't get it...why did they change so many good stuff,Ethel's nephew and hag coven,Raphael's original deals,Zevlor plot twist and...are all gone at first i thought they"cut"those content due to time restriction or resource constraints but that's clearly not the case,There is a clear change in direction,i think what they were originally going for was"choosing the lesser of two evils"then they decided to go with more generic route of good vs evil! bg3 was released in August 2023,larian was looking for beta testers for Acts 2 & 3 in july 2022 idk maybe if they didn't rewrite the companions to be less mean/evil and didn't add halsin and dark urge they could have finish the game?!

[michael-runs-hot-guerin]

I saw someone comment something under a Malex post on Tumblr and I couldn't help but laugh. They said "wouldn't it be interesting if they did a storyline between Malex where cheating is involved." Needless to say I went off on them a little! I get a lot of shows do storylines like that (which I hate! lol) but I don't think they would do this. I mean they didn't have Michael cheat on Maria with Alex so I doubt they would have Michael and Alex cheat on each other. Besides they are cosmic and will always want each other. Not to mention the hate Chris would get! He would become more hated that Carina is! Also the fact that im sure Michael and Tyler would speak up. For my Shadowhunters fans out there Matt and Harry who played Alec and Magnus spoke up against such a thing when filming Shadowhunters. Remember how it looked like Alec was going to cheat on Magnus with that new guy who came in after Alec was getting all upset over Magnus being immortal and everything..... Well turns out that was supposed to happen but Matt said he wouldn't do it and it wouldn't be right to their characters and the fan base and Harry stood right by his side and agreed! I know Vlamis and Tyler would do the same because of how much they love Malex and how they know Malex has a huge fan base! ☺💖

Let's fucking save that for the realm of fanfiction. It's fine there where we can be warned about it but BARF any of these characters cheating, they're just not like that

This is, like, if they did want to do a cheating storyline it would most certainly not be one of malex cheating on the other. That's fucking unthinkable (though, again, realm of fanfiction). I *have* read fic where Alex cheats on Forrest with Michael, and where Michael emotionally cheats on Maria with Alex (Which is...literally what happened in the show, bc she would not talk to him. God I remember when I thought m*luca wouldn't get together because he wouldn't talk to her, can you believe how much they assassinated her character that it turned out to be the opposite where Michael wanted to be open and talk about things and she'd shut him down at every turn) ANYWAY

Point is they kinda did it.

But actually, romantic relationships don't need cheating or triangles for drama, so it's completely unnecessary! There's insecurity, the Past™, I'm sure given Michael's life there's going to be drama about their finances, drama about their wedding (malex vs Isobel on how fancy it should be of c) drama about how they're gonna have kids and when, drama about Michael adopting a dog for Alex (but he prrooomisesss to take care of him for you Alex!! Look how cute sssaasddddd) and this is just off the top of my head

I know nothing about shadowhunters except malec is popular ship lol

[lovecolibri]

I like Maria, really I do, but she is So Mean. to him.

I would never ship them in a million years, he's nice to her, he's sweet to her, he's loving to her, even when they weren't together in season 1, but Dear God, she is So. Mean. to him.

"I didn't know you were housebroken," wtf? He cooked you breakfast, you jerk. Say thank you like a normal person. Like...he has canonical deeply rooted insecurities about being "homeless" and "feral" and "unloveable" and she thinks it's cute and flirty to joke about him being awful.

"Sex in a truck, smells like a river, never introduce him to your Mama type of way..." Why the fuck not? He's a sweetheart and loveable and loving, why is she so mean to him?

Also, Why did Maria care if Michael saved her? She thought Max was going to have to save her and that should have been enough to trigger her vision. She didn't know Michael was going to save her, literally seconds from Death (and if he hadn't she'd of been splattered all over the pavement cuz Max couldn't save her).

Her goal was accomplished and she got to both not die and not kill Max.

I'm assuming these went together, so they’re getting answered together!

I....don’t like her, not after the season 1 finale and absolutely no redemption for me after season 2 started and part of the reason is exactly that! She’s so mean to Michael, all of the time. And if you notice, their kinda teasing/kinda mean banter they had in season 1 goes away on Michael’s end when they get together, but hers stays just as mean and actually once she knows him better, it’s all even more pointed, barbed, and hurtful. And his was never really that mean, more teasing and, given that season 1 is all about her “intuition” and getting a good read on people (the justification for why she never liked Isobel, and thought Noah was shady, and knew Alex still loved Michael), shouldn’t she have been the FIRST one to be on his side knowing that he’s covering up a lot of pain and abandonment in that banter?

The comment about the kid who was living out of his truck in HS smelling like a river (which is NOT the same as rain as anyone can tell you because rivers smell nasty, especially the sad, half empty ones here in NM) will ALWAYS rub me the wrong way. Plus the “never introduce him to your mama” line is weird too because he pushes Ann’s buttons but she’s...pretty awful to him in my opinion and her stubbornness to not admit she knows he’s the 3rd kid they refused is ridiculous. ANYWAY, that line, and later m*ria refusing to let him see Mimi even though, again, her “intuition”  that she ALWAYS had despite the neckless dampening her “powers” should have let her see what kind of person he is. And you KNOW he’d be so sweet to Mimi. It’s just irritating that they’re like “she’s sooo intuitive!” and then turn around and are like “how was SHE supposed to know about Alex and Michael and that Michael was still in love with Alex even if he was hurting?!” Please 🙄

And she cared that Michael saved her because she didn’t CARE if she killed Max as long as she got her vision to assuage her own personal guilt. Both Max AND Kyle who has been treating him told her that one of them would absolutely die, and she jumped knowing Max would never let it be her. But you’re right that her plan was to have Max stop her inches from the ground expecting that would trigger the vision so why, when the result she was expecting to happen, still happened just with one additional person, did she get pissed like Michael ruined everything? Also, if seeing a spider native to the area was enough to do it, how was the jump off the roof not able to? Anyway, she’s The Worst.

[ferinehuntress]

Tonight, she had her dear Isobel back. It still stunned her, seeing her with Ketheric at first, those glowing eyes and the command to kill her. Aylin knew immediately that wasn't her Isobel, but Isobel being controlled. Once more, she had to get through to someone getting controlled by another god. First by Shar and then by Myrkul. It made her rage for Ketheric even greater, that he would not just take away her chance at a new life, ripped from the Moon Maiden's embrace but also to dominate her mind and turn her into something she wasn't.

So this was to be a reunion, their hearts once more able to embrace each other. The only gift that cruel man had given Aylin was Isobel. She never thought she would see her again, never though she felt her soft touch. When Isobel broke the chains that held her, that magic that restrained her, Aylin knew what she had to do. Save them and destroy the god of death.

Why could this not work out the way she wanted it to? She had never before had a problem surprising her love and now she sat on the floor weeping. Crying wasn't foreign to her, her father had many times quelled her fears or worries as a young kid. The new sensation was the sense of loss, and her inability to process what was going on in her head.  The sudden feel of hands caused Aylin's head to shoot up and stare forward through her wings. "My heart?" Her eyes glanced down at the arms wrapped around her waist, her soft voice as her wings slowly moved to rest against the ground. "I was supposed to surprise you, as I have done countless times a century ago,"

"You should not see me in such a state, Bel, I apologize for my unseemly appearance," She whispered, lowering her eyes down to the floor. Hands reached up to rub against her soaked eyes, tears streaking her cheeks as she tried to console herself so Isobel did not worry. But she couldn't look in the mirror, as she looked up her gaze avoided the reflection before her. Something cool touched her back, wet and cold as she shifted so she could look down at the smaller woman. Aylin wrapped her arms around her to distract from her break down and pulled her into her arms. "I have you, you are safe within my embrace once more,"

Ketheric was defeated and it felt like these lands could finally be at peace again. Already the curse was lifting and life was returning to normal as if it never happened. However as easy as it was on others, it was not so for Isobel. While the rest of the party celebrated in the defeat of Ketheric, she couldn't join them in that celebration because for her the lifting of this curse, had meant more than just killing the a dictator under the thumb of the absolute. It meant killing her father and that did not sit well in her heart.

As Isobel sat alone in her room she found herself grieving for the man that he had been until her death. Although his belief in Selune had begun to wane then, he had been a loving father, caring for her every need. In the near century she had been gone, everything had changed. He let his belief crumble and instead became a cruel ruler who served Myrkul. So apart from his old self, he had used dark magic to bring her back into the world, preventing her rebirth. Tainted her and here she was, crying at the loss of someone she had loved. It didn't matter that he had kidnapped her, put her under a spell to control her, to dominate her mind. In the end he had been her father.

The cleric buried her hands into her face, sobbing wildy for a long while, dressed a long white gown that exposed corrupted veins. Her heart felt like a fragile tea cup shattered into a million pieces, breaking with each step. If she wasn't careful she would drown in her sorrows, letting her grief get the better of her. There was only one person who could help her, who presence alone eased her. While she was under her fathers thrall, he would've had her kill Aylin. Worse of all, had Aylin not helped her break that spell, she would have done so without question and that only caused more pain to ache in her heart.

So, she steeled herself and made her way to Aylin's room. Before she had even made it to the door she could hear the shouting on the other side. Oh how her heart continued to ache. "I'm coming in, love." Isobel spoke as she slowly and quietly opened the door. What she saw only broke her heart even more, seeing all of the cracks in her angel's skin. Proof that they had both been through so much, no thanks to her father. "I know you wanted to be alone, but I couldn't bear it." Isobel approached Aylin without hesitation, wrapping her arms around her from behind immediately. The softness of the wing felt soothing but she didn't let it distract her.

"I know this sounds selfish, but I didn't want to be alone." Her voice was quieter now and she tightened her hold. "I fear that if I left myself alone, that grief would get the better of me." That perhaps the taint inside her would grow and fester, but she wouldn't let that be known. No, she didn't want her beloved angel to know that she wasn't pure anymore. "And you've always been my rock, just as I will always be yours, my love." Something in her had also told her she needed to be here. Whether it be the empathy or the connection that she had always had with Aylin. She would never ignore that call. "Shh, it's okay, I'm here now."

Unbeknownst to her, tears were already starting to stream from just the sight of the other woman. Seeing her again, being alone with her since her death.