#dragonbard writing

[dragonbard-bastard]

If anyone is interested in reading a bit of my writing, here's a short little thing I wrote after defeating Raphael the first time. It's a few months old and I did take out a few bits that were true of my original run that I did differently in my canon run. Otherwise I actually made sure to do some of the stuff that was written here because it's funny.

Little synopsis: Aiden (Tav) is playing his music in his and his husband, Gale's library/bookstore in Waterdeep they'd built in the bottom floors of Gale's tower. A kid comes up to Aiden asking about his favorite piece of decor, and the bard recounts the tale of how he and his friends killed the devil Raphael in his house of hope.

Aiden sits with a smile, sitting on the side of the library he and Gale have built together. After all of their adventures, the dragonborn has had enough action for this life and the next. He’s just glad to be able to spend these quieter moments with Gale. Aiden stares lovingly at the wizard, who is currently talking to a customer. He can't make out what they're saying from here, but the other is enthusiastic about his books as always. Gale always has that shimmer in his eyes when he talks about books- he says the dragonborn gets the same when singing of their adventures. 

He gently taps away at his drum in a steady beat as he looks at the life they've built from the chaos. They saved Baldur's Gate, then they left it behind for Waterdeep. Astarion and Wyll promised they'd visit sometime. While Aiden would have loved to have stayed at home, to be worshiped with song and praise as the hero of Baldur's Gate, Gale would prefer to stay out of the spotlight. No fame or fortune would get him to part with the wizard, and he just wants to see him happy. Besides, word already spread about their heroism, and the people of Waterdeep have grown to love them and their little bookshop already. Here, he gets to share his stories of adventure with song and dance, and Gale gets to talk about all the books they've collected on their adventures, and the artifacts.

Aiden's eyes steadily raise up to the ceiling. Protruding from the wall behind him on a plaque is a taxidermy devil. The bookshelf sat beneath the dead creature is made of redwood, lined with books of all kinds. There was a reason the bard had sat himself up right here, in front of their hells collection, directly below the taxidermied torso of the devil Raphael- he loves to gloat about it. It's easily his favorite tale, and he had taken the beast's body to prove it. 

As he basks in the memories of their victory, a child comes up to him with eyes full of wonder and curiosity.

“Is that real?” It asks in awe, pointing up at the item Aiden himself was just admiring.

“Of course it's real- slayed it myself.” Aiden remarks with a smirk.

“Woah, really?” The child's eyes are wide as saucers. “Was it hard?”

“Very.” Aiden responds. “No devil will go down without a good fight, and boy did he put up a fight.

“How'd you do it?” 

The bard smiles. “I am so glad you asked. The devil, Raphael, had offered us a deal. He had a hammer, one forged himself, one that could break any chains. We needed it, but he wanted the Crown of Karsus-”

“The Crown of Karsus?”

“Yes, the Crown of Karsus. Once we're done here, you should talk to my husband,” Aiden points to Gale behind the front counter, “That's his specialty.” 

Gale glances over to him, and Aiden winks with a smile and watches as the others face turns a light pink before continuing with his tale.

“As I was saying, he wanted the Crown of Karsus. Not only was such a powerful object extremely dangerous in the hands of such a fiend, but Gale wanted it too. I've killed devils for that man, and I'd kill a thousand more.” The dragonborn chuckles. “So we turned down his deal- no devil is to be trusted anyways. We found a diabolist running a shop called the Devil's Fee in Baldur's Gate. That dwarf wanted five thousand gold for information on how to get to the House of Hope, ha! What a fool, she was, as I talked off her ear a good pal of ours, Astarion, picked every last item of any worth out of her pockets- then we sold her spoiled food for all the gold she had. Took the stolen grimoire up to her own bedroom, cleaned the place out of anything valuable, and took her diary too. In fact, that and Raphael’s diary are right behind me. We used it all to create a portal directly to Raphael’s House of Hope.

“He was away at the time, not around to see as we robbed him blind too! It's not stealing if you take from the evil in my book.” Aiden pauses for a moment as it recalls one of the memories from that house he wishes to rend from his mind, but quickly chokes the emotions it brings back. With a slight voice crack he continues, “On our way we met a woman, a cleric, if my memory serves me. She seemed to be going a bit crazy, being somebody else's servant will do that to someone. I've seen many people chained, locked up for years, decades, hell, Dame Alyin was locked up for a century before we released her! We went back to her prison with the hell-forged hammer, broke her chains, and slayed the spectators overseeing her ‘chamber’. Then we marched on the battle against Raphael! That dumb bastard was singing the whole way through- of course I sang back. Still remember the words to this day, still remember that the devil couldn't sing for aithyas.” Aiden isn't usually one to censor himself but he isn't exactly enticed by the idea of being chewed out by the boy's mother if he repeats his swearing.

“Hah, I almost forgot Yurgir! I'd tricked that old Orthon before, had him kill his entire band of Legionnaires and himself. Made less work for me, and yet I was still able to convince him to fight by my side against the devil Raphael. He fought well, and he was strong. Together we struck blow after blow, destroying the pillars used to hold souls Raphael fed on, killing his minions, and eventually striking down the devil himself. Yurgir and I went our separate ways- would love to see that mighty warrior again someday.

“Now that's how we killed the devil. Thanks for listenin’ kid, tales a favorite of mine.” 

“Can you sing me the song? The one you sang with Raphael?”

“Well, I don't have a Raphael with me at the moment but I am nothing if not a performer! Of course I will.”

“Yes!” The boy shouts with wide eyes, and Aiden smiles before getting to his feet. He beats away at his drum, performing a dramatic, enthusiastic dance paired with song. He changes his voice as best he can to mimic Raphaels- of course, putting his own whiney spin on the fiends vocals. He, as always, gets so caught up in his own show he doesn't even notice as a few others gather behind the boy. Not many, just a handful of customers or browsers, but any crowd is welcome. 

[kagedbird]

Rapidly approaching over 100k words!!!! So excited!!! If I get to 150k, I might just. Upload chapters when I feel like it instead of weekends cause. I'm too excited.

[silvermoondarkening]

@dragonbard-bastard Thank you so much for enabling me I hope you enjoy

Right now one of my favorite Tav runs is a half-drow wild magic sorcerer named Hemlocke, he's the son of one of my durge runs, Wilbur 'Grampa' Flynn, who doesn't know he exists

I have a little story type thing planned out for if I ever use him in DnD proper, and it's that he was abandoned by his mother so that his dad wouldn't kill him but he was left a letter stating his name, so he goes to try and find his dad

His run of bg3 isn't canon to my lore, in fact Grampa's run is and Hemlocke is just trailing behind him asking if they've seen someone by his name (accompanied by a party of three of my other Tav runs, a group of siblings calling themselves The Strays)

He's a Gale romancer, because Gale didn't accidentally claim enough of my ocs smth

And as for my favorite Durge, it's this lovely silver dragonborn named Kyralinne Wildheart, she's a draconic bloodline sorceress (specifically red dragon, I thought it would be funny if she was a fake-out and people expect her to use ice magic before she immediately chucks a powered up fireball at them) and she's literally so pretty, like if you took a shot for how many times I remark of how hot she is during playthroughs you'd be dead

She's supposed to be an embrace durge, but I do have plans lore wise that would mean she doesn't keep up what she's doing by the end of it all, so she's technically kinda in the middle?

She's romancing Astarion, naturally, and they even have a ship name (Ouroboros, like the snake eating its tail, cuz the act of consumption as a love language is very entwined in their relationship) and my first and only playlist I've ever made was for them

I write them a lot, too, most of it is just rare soft moments they experience whenever the rest of the party is asleep

It's so funny that my favorites of both types happen to be sorcerers though, I will say that as far as my tavs it was a tough pick, because my other favorite is basically a durge without the urge (a Mephistopheles Tiefling Arcane Trickster by the name of Inkarys Valourem, she goes by Ink for short and she's also very pretty)

Ppl should ask me abt my bg3 runs

[dragonbard-bastard]

Meet Aiden, a white dragonborn bard from Baldurs Gate! He's trans and his pronouns are he/they/it, and mine are the same (he's sort of a sona)!

He's probably Chaotic Good, he does what he thinks is right and sticks up for the little guy. He loves to write music and stories as most bards do and if he sees a child in need he will attempt adopting them whether the game allows it or not.

It is married to Gale and they have a little library/bookstore in Waterdeep together mostly stocked with books Aiden stole burrowed during their adventure.

Some of this stuff may change- I beat the game with Aiden once but it went rather atrociously, so I'm doing his canon run now. We're in Baldur's Gate, only a few days away from our true ending.

Feel free to send asks and stuff about Aiden! I will probably answer most in text posts, at least until I've finished the game again. I also might redo his ref, he looks way slimmer than in game and I don't like it. Also don't be too afraid of spoilers, I've already seen how the game ends and I think I've seen a majority of it, though id prefer no durge spoilers as I haven't done a full durge run yet!

I'll post art here, maybe some tidbits of writing that I like, and other silly stuff as well as gaming ramblings and some opinions or headcanons along the way!

Tags are gonna be real simple!

Art - #dragonbard art

Writing - #dragonbard writing

Asks - #dragonbard answers

Shitposts - #dragonbard shitposts

Reblogs - #reblogs

Ramblings/headcanons/opinions - #dragonbard rambles

[dragonbard-bastard]

I am not a song writer but I try my hand at it every once in a while to write little snippets of songs I think that Aiden would write... These are all snippets from either bigger pieces or a story where Aiden spends some time thinking about his favorite songs.

(The way we killed Orin changed in his canon run but I still think that throwing her into the void is hysterical)

His current passion project has everything to do with the chosen of the Dead Three. He's already completed Thorm’s Lament, beautiful sparkling chimes fading into slow, deep drum beats.

‘The moon would shy away from such a sight

the light would soon retreat from his soul

in its place was nothing but the pitch of the night

when the light had faded from his family's eyes

he'd turn to the darkness, the darkness'

He struggles with the lyrics for Gortash’s theme, though he has the instrumentals down quite well. Aiden began experimenting with new sounds to create the perfect melody for the chosen of Bane, giving it a mechanical feel perfect for the handy, intelligent individual who had created the Steel Watch.

For Orin he wrote a song fast-paced and filled with odd noises and notes with a rather sudden end- After all, the Changeling met her fate to the void via well timed telekinesis by Gale. Her song must end as quickly and suddenly as her life had. The tune is best performed by two, one for the main vocals and another for the eerie, ghost-like whispers in the background.

‘Skin and slice and steel! (Who can you trust?)

Pluck and plunge and peel! (Are you really real?)

Rot and rage and rip! (She could be all of you.)

Take and torture and tear! (She is watching you.)’

(A bit about the lovers you find in the beginning of the game- the one on the beach with the letter and the one on the hill near the grove.)

‘A tale of a love so strong

A story of two looking for where they belong

Destination: Baldur's Gate, where their love could thrive

oh if only they had made it there alive

A life cut short, a corpse by the sea

On the hill forever lies half of a tragedy’

(Mystra hate mail)

'I won’t let you take him from me

I don’t even know what he sees

Not in you or in me but I know, I know

He deserves more than this

Deserves more than you and more than me

You had taken his life from him

Yet you couldn’t trust enough to let him in

Maybe you had your reasons

Maybe they were real damn good

But did the punishment really fit the crime

When you had the cure all this fucking time?'

[kagedbird]

I was looking through TESSDE's bookmarks just because, and there are quite a few sweet messages in there (thank you to those that left them 💚) but the one that caught my eye was a tag that said, "read once complete."

Baby 💀

[kagedbird]

Two more days until the end of Act One of The Elder Scrolls Skyrim: DragonBard Edition.

It's surreal to think that I've spent an entire year constantly writing and thinking about this story. When I was younger, I couldn't write more than 10 chapters because I couldn't create the cohesive storyline I wanted.

Now I'm dropping so many hints in each chapter, I'm 60+ chapters deep, the total word count just for arc one alone will be around 500,340, I have an understandable and cohesive plot, I'm working both well within canon and adding my own twists and turns— chapter 60 is 56 pages on its own.

I'm just really proud of how far I've come. 🥰 Thank you to everyone who's read my story and those who want to in the future. See you for the finale on Monday!

[kagedbird]

The warmth of the fireplace is a welcomed relief, despite only having been outside from the last one for a few moments. I loved cold places far more than hot ones, but there was a certain kind of nip in this cold air that seemed to really hurt just in a matter of minutes compared to home.

Hi! Chapters 44 through 56 is up.

I've uploaded all of my backlog as I no longer have the timeline for pacing it out. I'll be trying to write up as much as I can, or on the more likely chance, I'll write up some notes for people to enjoy.

More info below!

DragonBard (TESSDE) means so much to me. I'm very sad I will likely not be able to finish it. I was very willing to take however long it took, but... unfortunately life decided I was not allowed to.

Glad I was able to write as much as I did. 445,675 and some extra from 57 that I haven't finished in about 7 months is a considerable amount.

Thank you, for what it's worth, for enjoying my story! I'm so happy to have found my place in this niche little section of the internet. I really have been enjoying my time in it, and I'm so grateful for those who have enjoyed my stuff too.

I'll do what I can to get as far as I can before time is up. For those who I know in the Skyrim fandom, I may ask for your assistance, if it's not too much, haha.

Thank you for reading. 💚

[kagedbird]

This is just to keep everyone here informed, but by the end of the week, I'll be homeless again, which is why i made mention of not being able to finish TESSDE/DragonBard.

I also failed to finish the outline notes before I had to give up my computer to a friend for safe keeping, and with 312 pages, my phone would not likely be able to manage me writing even more. (It implodes on itself enough as is just by opening Tumblr alone.)

I don't have a car this time around and it's getting to be winter. I don't have anywhere to really go, and I'm not going to lie when I say shit's bleak. I'm tired of begging for scraps just to live, and I don't want to take from others when I know they're struggling too.

I don't really know where I'll end up. I'm hoping someplace better than this. But I don't really know.

Thank you to those of you who have liked my stuff! I'm sorry I never finished anything I wrote. That will always bother me, and I was really, desperately, wanting to finish TESSDE. But it was certainly a big project, haha. 312 pages just for notes- and incomplete- definitely tells me I was on the money for thinking it's take until I was 30 to finish. And I would have.

Love you guys.

[kagedbird]

Help im in love with the latest dragonbard chapters

Living and breathing

For so many reasons.

And all for my little binge reader heart.

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

Haha! Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying them!

I'm working really hard and as fast as I can to write up the bone structure of the rest of the story before I can't continue it any longer, so I apologize for the long wait time in between these latest chapters and what will come, but I'm doing my best! I don't want the story to just stop where it is after all. It's my baby, and I want to see it through.

Thank you for reading my silly little story, and finding enjoyment in it!