#durge is a birb

[angiemaniac]

Sorry if I am bothering you but you know how eagles look so majestic when seen from the side? But look absolutely derpy from the front. And some joke same thing for dragons?

Imagine

LMAO now I can never unsee this.

[spiritsong]

writer vs. oc

Thank you for the tag @dolceaspidenera <3 this was fun!!!

picrew here

top left to bottom right ->

yours truly (they/she/he)

(tav!)Aune, Sword Dancer of Eilistraee aka bard-cleric (she/her or whatever you prefer)

durge!Aune, beloved and tortured spore druid (she/her or whatever you prefer)

Lethe, the Feylost, sweet and mischievous archfey warlock (they/he/she)

Vir, my Elturian tiefling ranger (he/him). I haven't talked about him here but he's from a multiplayer pt! pretend the bear is his boar companion, Goodberry

had to include Eleneva, my Surana from DA:O (she/her). girl I miss you but bg3 is my life rn sorrryyyyyy 😭 she's grumpy 24/7 (forever flicking off the Circle ALL MY HOMIES HATE KINLOCH HOLD fr fr). but she's got a death grip on that rose from Alistair

there was no purple skin for Lethe??!? which was a travesty so I edited the colors and then got carried away and edited skin colors for nearly everyone because they weren't quite dark enough/the right tone. also eye colors for some. and the silver for durge!Aune's hair. oops

tagging (as always don't feel any obligation to do it, but if you do, I'd love to see <3 include yourself or don't, include bg3 OCs and/or others, whatever you want): @bhaalsdeepbat @dragon--sage @witch-from-a-block-of-flats @justabiteofspite @birb--birb

[wrenhavenriver]

top 5 games you played in 2023!

ayyy good one, thank you!! i'm slowly working on my "games played in 2023" gifset so you'll see all of these again within a week or so but:

unsurprisingly: baldur's gate 3, i was in a terrible gaming/gifmaking slump and bought it on a whim at release despite knowing next to nothing about it (and being gotdamn awful at dnd style combat) and man did it set my brain on fire. would love to actually finish a single playthrough of it one of these days but i'm still having a good time alternating through my files for *checks notes* two different Tavs, one durge, and karlach and shadowheart's origins

death's door - adorable indie featuring a birb protagonist, i was always gonna love it. thematically centered around (obviously) death and how we do/don't accept it as a natural part of the life cycle, which i always eat up

nioh - god i'm still so sad this franchise didn't kick off on tumblr, the combat (and the music, and the art design, and and and) is so fucking good. unfortunately the story is pretty fucken opaque if you're not already decently familiar with warring states era japan (or aren't willing to read a gazillion codex entries piecing together who in the gotdamn hell these people are, which is entirely fair). but sengoku jidai media is my kryptonite and also the main character is voiced by Ben Peel (aka McCullum from Vampyr) and who really needs an excuse to listen to that man talk for a 50 hour video game playthrough, ya know?

ghostwire tokyo - another game centered around death/grief, featuring a cyberpunk 77/venom style "two souls squished into one body and snarking at each other the whole time" relationship. also killer art design featuring lots of cool creatures from japanese folklore, and the powers/combat feel really smooth and satisfying on controller! the gameplay can feel very tedious at times tho (hello, collecting 250,000 souls 100 at a time for the platinum...), so kind of another "i understand why tumblr didn't jump on this game...and yet...what if..." scenario. also managed to break me out of a like 5 year dry spell of fic writing.

you know, i don't think i actually clocked all that many hours of dishonored this year, but if i don't put it on every yearly gaming list i start breaking out in hives. play dishonored 2012 dev. arkane studios okay thanks bye

[justabiteofspite]

what kind of love are you?

HENRI: Love as a Religion

Devotion, that is the name of your love. Your love is an act of worship. Your love is like witnessing the birth of Venus, like seeing the sun come alive, or the stars fall. When you love, it is because you have found God in a lover. You have found the meaning of life itself in the heart of the one you adore. They are everything to you; they are your Maker, and you are their lamb, their flock, their first and holiest worshipper. When you fall in love, it is as a baptism. You are born anew, made a believer in the divinity of the one you love most. Being loved by you is an ascension; it is holy and golden. It is all-consuming, and all-faithful, loyal as the dog. You will never, ever bite back.

Oh hey, cleric4vampire who tagged me, look Aune and Henri match! Shoutout to @birb--birb who also tagged me, I got some lore dumping here!

Henri the "I went down near the end of the Gur hunter fight because I used all my spell slots to keep Astarion up and none on myself even though I was also taking huge hits" Bhaalspawn treating love as a one-way devotional act of worship? Nah, can't be true!

Definitely couldn't be Henri the "I'm letting the vampire use me because I love him and being used is the closest thing I'll ever experience to being loved in return" Bhaalspawn playing up the fact that she doesn't remember any previous sexual encounters because the idea of him ruining her for all others seems to turn him on.

Or Henri the "Astarion staying with me through the night after seeing the most horrible version of myself that tried to kill him and then telling me he cares about me and wants to help is the most radical form of love I've ever received. It feels both thrilling and completely heretical to my entire being" Bhaalspawn who dealt with this feeling by hugging the vampire a few evenings later and then heavily making out every time they both ended up covered in blood.

Anyhow, tagging @owmyeyeballs, @nat20composure and @tealfling. If you want to do this and I didn't tag you, please do this for your own Tav/Durge and tag me!

[sadko101]

BEHOLD MY DURGE

Dennis is a redeemed Durge, At first only because he fell head over heels for Wyll when he turned devil and realized to get that Wyllussy he had to be a good person. then things got real personal in grymforge when he realized that he could've been dead by the hands of those slavers (without knowing his past anything was possible) and the way that the ironhand gnome's treated him made Dennis feel like a person and like he belonged for once (Dennis also wanted Barcus but he never followed through with the kiss he offered). so that's how he decided to be a better person not just so he could get with a hot guy with an amazing personality, that was just a bonus :3

bro's a monk cause he thought finding his inner balance would fix the stuff in his head, still is a monk.

his canon ending is marrying grand duke Wyll Ravengard and they have a hairless cat and that canonical daughter i forgot the name of, Dennis works a lot with Barcus (he has no more feelings for him don't worry) and continues to spend time meditating and stuff cause it turns out all that monk stuff was actually pretty useful

(yes he has to be shirtless every night, its not my fault the gith underwear look so good on shorties)

the emotions from top left to right: 'looking at slaver' 'can't see for shit' 'can we go now' 'ew wtf are you' 'where on earth is my future husband' 'ermmmm' 'KITTYUUHH (birb)' 'i don't speak dog' 'oh shit'

[illithiddreams]

Make all the durges birb idiots aghhhh

On the one hand we have Ashe who is a murder hobo idiot who wants to see the world burn.

Then you have a shy little idiot who only attacks assholes and those who threatened others. And feels bad about hurting ppl most times

[traggalicious]

Fixed it by restarting! And shoving a pre-existing OC in there! Lorelei! We love her <33

She’s a half-elf druid, got those birb tattoos to commemorate solomon, aaaaand i love her. She’s protective of the party despite just having met them, will be even more so later when Shit Happens involving pasts catching up. Hates the absolute and is unlikely to use the tadpoles until prolly astarion convinces her. No fuck for her, except maybe with gale or shadowheart bc gale 1: reminds her of sol, shadowheart reminds her of herself, and 2: they’re cute lols, and also just. They’re sweet. She’s not here just to fuck. However she wont easily romance them either bc while sol’s death was a while ago (maybe byflaming fists, maybe guild bitches, maybe fuckin…. Durge and gortash when they were starting shit out w/ the absolute. Idk man.), she’s still. Well. Mourning. Tho she’s got that adhd object permanence so she’s ‘getting over it’ faster than she wants to and fears forgetting about/replacing him. Yeahhhh. ANYWAY. yeah i love her. She’s meant to b mute but i mean, she can speak a bit, and nobody said the character *speaks* when you pick dialogue… so. Partially mute!

She still grew up the same way as her toh counterpart, in the woods n shit with her circle. She likes bears, knows a fuckton abt poisonous plants n shit, loves animals in general tbh… bro she’s basically a druid. Idk what else really bc im still early game, only one long rest in. She’s interested in exploring the realm, but flip flops between laser focused on the mission, keeping her party safe, and being… well, traumatized as fuck. She can be found talking to local animals, tending to plants (or injured party members), reading every book she can find (or making gale read them for her lmfao), or. Drawing. Every party member has found themself subject to being a model for her sketches, amidst pages of anatomical and botanical diagrams and doodles in her field journal. Yeah (:

I lobe lorelei

When you fuck up the enjoyment of a choose ur own adventure type game. (Bg3). And for the THIRD TIME. Restart. FOR THE SAME REASON MAY I ADD. I just keep losing joy . I fucked up and missed an important astarion plot point and he just doesn’t vibe with me????????? Urgh. Heah so im restarting. Again.

[spiritsong]

what kind of love are you?

Aune: Love as a Choice

You choose to love. Love does not come to you easily, but every day you wake up and choose it. It would be so easy, wouldn't it, to grow cold and callous and grim. But you rise to greet the world, making the conscious effort to find something, anything to love. When you fall for someone, you do not kid yourself of their flaws. Instead, you resolve to see them for who they are, mistakes and all and you love them all the same. Your love is work, and it does not come easy. Your love sweats and toils. It is calloused and sunburned; it bears scars and comes with stories. Your love is worn, but no less valuable for it. Being loved by you is like being loved by a gardener, a mother, a teacher. Your love may not always be the simplest, but it is worth the effort.

Aune (as Durge): Love as Religion

Devotion, that is the name of your love. Your love is an act of worship. Your love is like witnessing the birth of Venus, like seeing the sun come alive, or the stars fall. When you love, it is because you have found God in a lover. You have found the meaning of life itself in the heart of the one you adore. They are everything to you; they are your Maker, you are their lamb, their flock, their first and holiest worshipper. When you fall in love, it is a baptism. You are born anew, made a believer in the divinity of the one you love most. Being loved by you is an ascension; it is holy and golden. It is all-consuming and all-faithful, loyal as the dog. You will never, ever bite back.

Don't mind me. Just thinking about how the Cleric to whom freedom of choice means Everything and is going through a crisis of faith did not get "Love as Religion"; But the Bhaalspawn to whom choice was never an option loves like religion — because the idea that anyone could love someone as wretched as them must certainly be holy and worthy of devotion. And to be devoted is to choose to surrender - knowing your lover could be the end of you - and still doing it. Because you have FAITH

aaaaaaaaaaa

tagged by @dolceaspidenera; thank you for tagging me!!

if you haven't done it yet and want to — tagging @bhaalsdeepmuse @justabiteofspite @thehightiefling @dragon--sage @witch-from-a-block-of-flats @birb--birb and anyone else who wants to do this!!

[spiritsong]

tag game ~

Thank you for tagging me @bhaalsdeepmuse, and for making the specification that this could be for Tavs/Durges, too. I started filling this out for myself, then before I knew it, I was like, "wait... what color do I view myself as? what IS my favorite food? what would I BE if I was food? Who... who even am I" and I noped out of there real quick 💀

SO here is Aune. durge!Aune this time as I did something like this for tav!Aune already —

Rules: Use this order and insert images according to how you view yourself/your character!

Animal — Black panther; It's her preferred wildshape, as she was raised beside a displacer beast for some years

Place — The fungal forests of the Underdark

Plant — Ghost pipe (monotropa uniflora); specifically, the rare red variant. (Tav!Aune is the standard white version!)

Character — Herself, I guess...? 😂

Season — Winter, as well as the very end of autumn

Hobby — Cultivating mushrooms. She prefers growing them on dead bodies, though 😌

Color — Muted earthy greens (& purples)

Crystal — Bloodstone (& obsidian)

Food — [REDACTED]

Tagging: @dragon--sage @dolceaspidenera @witch-from-a-block-of-flats @birb--birb @bi-ace-mess @solasgreatlydisapproves to do this if you so desire, for whomever you please <3