#i'm sorry and you're welcome
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This image was stuck in my head all morning, so-
Happy Easter!
#some people provide thoughtful commentary for the season#i provide... memes#I'm sorry and you're welcome#happy Easter#he is risen#we have such a cool king guys#scribe draws
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Reginald Crane is shuffling through Zoraxis dossiers at his desk. Agent Phoenix opens the door suddenly and stomps one foot into the room, pinning Crane with the wild-eyed stare of divine revelation.
Phoenix: HOLY SHIT REGGIE I FIGURED IT OUT HE'S THE BEES.
Reginald: S-sorry, what?
Phoenix: Hivemind isn't a guy in charge of a bunch of bees, HE'S A BUNCH OF BEES IN CHARGE OF A GUY.
Reginald: ಠ_ಠ agent wth is wrong w/ u
Phoenix: ( ˶°ㅁ°)!! it's tru I swer
Bee hovering at the window: (°ー°〃) boy how in the fuck
#ieytd#i expect you to die#agent phoenix#reginald crane#this is a dream I had on cold meds#I'm sorry and you're welcome
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New requests about Vox Machina and Bells Hells glutinous maximus lists? This is hilarious to me, specifically.
[m9 list]
i mean, i'm not gonna say no. LET THE STUPID HCS CONTINUE!
...actually, I am gonna say no re: Vox Machina, as I haven't listened to the whole campaign and none of these Ass Opinions are based on character art, so even though I know what they look like, I have no thoughts on them. BELLS HELLS THO.
Fearne! You just can't beat a cute fuzzy lil goat butt. Also she has a fluffy tail.
Dorian, and anyone who saw him in that pageant outfit KNOWS it. his regular look is more modest but he's admittedly proud of his figure--he just doesn't want anyone to talk about it or he'll blush.
Orym does not do all those lunges and shit for nothing. when they all got the new outfits, he put those tight pants on and everyone was like WOW OK.
Imogen, she's got horse riding muscles so probably also excellent thighs
Ashton, they're definitely built like a brick house but not particularly curvy. great pecs on him, though
Chet keeps claiming that if you saw him when he was 150, he'd be top of this list, nobody knows whether to believe him
Laudna has like a negative amount of body fat and is also dead. Her body type is tree branch, sometimes very literally. Zero ass.
FCG has been disqualified for not actually possessing an ass.
(as with most things, i have no opinions on betrand bell.)
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so i went thru a weird phase and made a bunch of these but @ichompdragons asked for cat-eared Saejima so here you go bonus, dog-eared Majima extra bonus w/o extra ears under the cut
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system felt that cumplane were getting a bit complacent
#this one goes out to pio thanks for the idea#cumplane#you're welcome. or i'm sorry#cucumber bro#peerless cucumber#peerlesscucumber#airplane shooting towards the sky#airplane bro#shen qingqiu#shang qinghua#sqq#sqh#svsss#scum villain
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This is from Vil x Reader -- Overblot Slap:
“Please, don’t look at me… Stop looking at me like that!” Vil screams, cowering away from you. “Why? I wanted to become the most beautiful in the world, but why am I so–so ugly! I’m so ugly!”
The dorm leader clutches his hair, hyperventilating. Poisonous gas seeps into the hallway.
“Roi de Poison, you’re not ugly,” Rook refutes.
You give him an incredulous expression. Vil looks pretty ugly to you. He hasn’t looked good since you became an unwilling participant in the reality TV show that’s his life. He has such an obsessive and self-important attitude. It pisses you off.
“Yeah! Neige and Rook didn’t drink the juice!” Kalim agrees.
You gape at Kalim with wide eyes. Is he excusing Vil’s actions? That man attempted murder! He might not have done irreversible physical damage, but you have psychological trauma. It’s been accumulating since day one. You can’t do this anymore. You have to hit him before he overblots. As a magicless student, you’re pushed to the sidelines during overblot fights. However, you have a personal grudge against Vil. You’ve put up with his pretentious behavior in your house for a month. You’re going to express your feelings with your fists.
“Please, Vil, come to your–”
You stomp up to Vil and slap him. The sound reverberates off the walls. He stares at you. His eyes are wide, and he has a searing red handprint on his face. One of his gloved hands brushes over it in disbelief. You put your hands on your hips.
“Yeah, you’re ugly,” you confirm. “You’ve been acting ugly for a while now. You almost murdered Neige because of your stupid ego and inferiority complex. Not everything is about you. You don’t get to decide you’ve lost the competition before you’ve even performed. You have a whole team behind you. You’re not being a good leader.”
There’s a period of silence. The dorm leader stares at you. After a moment, you slap him again.
“Your face pisses me off,” you explain, “Get your act together and stop whining. You have other things to do, like apologizing.”
(this is the first page of the Overblot Slap fanfic. u're welcome and i'm sorry. u're going to be so mad at me. this isn't going to come out in a while. i'm mostly working on Rook x Observant Reader. Then, the Dreaming of You series... however... I will say that once I get Riddle and Azul's finished, I might work on this more)
#get wrecked#he needed it#sassy reader#get em#he deserved it#you're welcome#i'm sorry#i give u a beautiful unfinished masterpiece#again it's not going to be elaborated upon until later#twisted wonderland#twst#twst x reader#pomefiore#vil schoenheit#rook hunt#fanfic update#twst rook#twst vil schoenheit#vil x reader#overblot#overblot slap#overblot vil#kalim al asim#twst kalim#twst chapter 5#twst book 5#fanfic writing#fanfic sneak peek#fanfic snippet#snippet
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Lemon Khezu 🍋
#artists on tumblr#doodle#digital sketch#digital drawing#digital art#monster hunter#lemon#khezu#monhun#You're welcome and I'm not sorry. :)#🍋
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Tom Hardy (and Blue 🐶) on saying goodbye to Venom & Eddie Brock in The Last Dance
What is your favorite way of getting someone to submit in jiu-jitsu?
#tom hardy#tomhardyedit#i'm sorry but i still haven't stopped screaming over this#the fact that afterwards he says 'you're welcome' to the camera#like#what do you mean#WHAT DO YOU MEAN?
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JET LAG THE GAME | Benjamin 'cardinal directions and vibes' Doyle (1 / ?)
#jet lag the game#jltg#ben doyle#myedits#if you don't love ben then truly madly deeply i do not understand you#i want to pick him up and put him in my pocket#narrowing down my favourite ben moments to six for this thing?#the literal horrors#hence the 1/?#this will continue#i'm not even going to pretend to be remotely sorry#these idiots have taken over my brain#this one in particular#ride-or-die teamben#but then also team badam#but then also my discord is corrupting me with other combinations 🤨#fyi for anyone annoyed that my gifs are so long because apparently people get annoyed about things like that#because people are stupid#my very autistic visually sensitive brain finds it so FUCKING uncomfortable to watch 3 second gifs#i like them longer - so - you know - if you do too then cool and you're welcome! and if you don't then ... eh
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"asexual discourse" is so funny cause dude that's not discourse and it's never been discourse. it's not an argument and it's not a conversation bitches are just yelling at us unprompted and then making up people to get mad at 😭
#exclusionists will act like they're in the fucking trenches when they're posting#as if they're not taking the time to walk into someone else's community without provocation and start being nasty.#saw a post the other day that was saying smth aphobic and was like 'it's true and we should be allowed to say it'#babe nobody's Stopping you. you can say whatever the fuck you want.#thing is though that when you say shitty things. people don't typically like it <3#anyway die mad sorry that you fell for heteronormativity and amatonormativity and assume both to be the norm.#i'm gonna keep creating community with other queer people and you are more than welcome to go off and die alone <3#also if you're fr going into ace discourse in the year of our lord 2024. jesus fucking christ get a hobby#aromantic#aromanticism#arospec#aroace#aspec#talking#asexual#ace discourse#ace exclusion
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i deleted instagram from my phone because idk i'm a monk or something and honestly using it from the browser is so funny. they let you do everything but it's so much worse and at every turn they're like "ok but are you sure you don't want to do this on the app? are you sure? are you sure? we have an app you can use, are you sure??????" any second now i genuinely expect mark zuckerberg to knock on my door with flowers and sad dog eyes. or a gun
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cone but if cone
(more dumb below)
*squinting at my nearly two month old scrawled notes*
"no one asked for this, idk why i made this, i need to sleep but here's the anatomical (?) explanation so the pointy hair in the back mutates or something and becomes huge and pointy, perhaps an antidote side effect cumbersome? yes, but at least he can spin like a top now and that's what's important"
yeah.
#dcmk#detective conan#edogawa conan#haibara ai#the bad thing about not posting my shitposts here immediately is that i don't know what the fuck i was doing#and so here i am#deciphering my old shitposts like im an archaeologist finding cave paintings on the wall#i was planning on posting a compilation but i drew way too much for this particular idea#so uh yeah here you all go i guess??#you're welcome or i'm sorry
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the problem with viktor has always been that he thinks too much. he thinks too much, and feels too much, and wants too much, all things which he had no business reaching for with the cards that he'd been dealt, not that that ever stopped him. stopped the burning, the ever-present hunger for more sizzling somewhere at the bottom of his lungs, always aching to understand, to see a bit clearer, to breathe a bit deeper. to fix that dislodged out-of-place feeling inside him, to finally silence the thing in his head that was whispering that things could be so much better.
he's always been a raw nerve open to the elements, feeling like there's some protective layer missing from around him, and - he knows it's a hard world. he knows. he's more than aware that the universe has never handled him with care, and that it never would.
that doesn't stop the stinging.
the aching.
the burning.
no matter how hard he tries, he never really could grow that thicker skin. it still always hurt. and he's still always thinking, always feeling a little out of place, and most people just don't seem to understand how much he sees, hears, feels. sometimes it feels like he's the only person around with clear vision, and sometimes he wishes he could just be blinded for a moment. just - just for a moment, okay. just have it all quiet down, you know? just be in the blissful dark for a sec. but there's still always the noise and the buzzing thoughts in his head and all the broken little pieces of the world and the never-stopping river of pain and everything that could be better - all the problems he could fix if he just turned it around once more, looked at it from a different perspective, poked at it a little differently - and it's fine, he's used to it, it's just always been his life-
but it's lonely.
there's still that weird hollow feeling in his chest that whispers something is wrong here and we don't belong-
and then you show up with your... your understanding.
and he needs to recalibrate his brain. because suddenly someone is in that hollow with him, and it's easy, and then, for the first time in his life, probably, feeling too much doesn't seem to be a bad thing. he starts to crave more of it. and yeah, he's drowning in it, all those heavy thick-spun feelings, warm and swirling in him, but he's pretty sure he'd stay in the vortex of them forever if he could.
it's like the feelings are bleeding out of him, and honestly, he's fine with that. you don't seem to mind; you look at him like you understand what it feels like, and something like warm honey runs over that raw ache in him. like it's okay.
#scribbles#viktor arcane x reader#viktor x reader#viktor arcane#not sure what this is but you're welcome/i'm sorry?
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viren, season 6: the sacrifice... oh... it's unthinkable.
claudia, season 7: unthinkable is just another kind of thinkable.
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Gale's Netherese Orb
The Condition and Symptoms

You asked for it! You're getting it! Yet another deep dive, this time about Gale's orb functioning as a chronic impairment/disability and the ways that a cure is dangled in front of him and even withheld from him.
Disclaimer: a lot of this has already been discussed by lore-wizards like galedekarios or mezzziah and some information is going to come from actual-lea's wild playthrough of the Gale Origin where they didn't give him any magic items just to see what would happen (which I recreated quickly in my own game to gather screenshots and gifs of my own). I'm not going to tag any of them because I don't want to bother them, but if you want even more lore, you can and should check them out!
We're going to look at Gale's orb "condition" in three phases: the effects of the orb on Gale's body itself, the ways that he has to treat it, and the potential cure for the orb. Because my deep dives always get a little out of hand, I’m splitting this into 3 posts. So you can take and leave whatever you like, but I'll link the masterlist to all 3 parts here once I have them posted!
But without further ado, let's deep dive!
I've said before that Baldur's Gate 3 is ultimately a game about cure—finding a cure for ceremorphosis, specifically. Every companion is facing a (potentially lethal) forced transformation into a squid creature in seven days or less unless they find a cure. At least, that's what they think before they realize that their tadpoles are special. On top of that, several characters, including Gale, especially Gale, are also dealing with additional chronic conditions that they wish to cure.
Let's set aside the search for the tadpole cure for a minute and focus on Gale—his character arc, his goals, even the text for his questline. The moment that Gale steps out of his pod on the nautiloid, he has a twofold goal: find a way to cure or treat the hungering orb in his chest and find a way to cure or stop ceremorphosis, in part because turning into a mind flayer may destabilize the orb, thus making the orb the bigger or more significant problem for Gale personally.
In other words, on two fronts, Gale's entire plot is concerned about curing a chronic, potentially lethal condition (or two), but the orb is the bigger issue between the two. Turning into a mind flayer is one thing, turning into a cataclysmic explosion that could "level a city the size of Waterdeep" is another.

The Wizard of Waterdeep Objectives - Escape the nautiloid I was an archmage - powerful, proud, full of potential - until my failed attempt to impress my lover, the goddess Mystra, left me with a volatile 'orb' of Netherese-corrupted Weave in my chest. Keeping it stable is difficult at the best of times...and these are far from the best of times. I've been abducted by mind flayers, infected with one of their tadpoles. So far the orb appears unaffected, but I can't count on that for long. I need to get back to Faerûnian soil before it begins to hunger.
Despite being infected by illithid tadpoles, Gale's larger concern is that staying in the hells will make feeding the orb difficult. When he gets off the nautiloid, he's worried that turning into a mind flayer will completely destabilize the orb. It's his primary concern and will continue to be so throughout the game.
Narrator: Despite your recent fall from the nautiloid, you are miraculously unharmed. Apart from the volatile orb of Netherese magic buried within your chest, of course. It stirs softly. Soon it will hunger, and when that time comes it must be fed. Starve it, and you risk triggering a cataclysmic explosion of raw, unfettered Weave. Such an explosion will be unavoidable, if the tadpole in your skull triggers ceremorphosis. An outcome definitely best avoided.
So, yeah, the squid thing is a problem, but Gale is definitely more concerned about exploding. But exploding and "hungering" aren’t the only things the orb does to his body.
I’m going to break down the actual condition into three smaller segments: the words Gale uses to talk about his condition, the physical effects that Gale describes happening to him, and the mechanical gameplay effects. I’ll talk more about the actual “hunger” of the orb in part 2 when I talk about its treatment, in part because the hunger and the treatment are both magical effects and are intrinsically linked. But for now, let's start with a look at how Gale talks about the orb.
Call it a Condition
To start off, Gale describes having the orb in his chest along the same lines that people might discuss chronic impairments or chronic illness. It's not a minor "issue" or a "problem" that is disconnected from Gale's body and physical/mental health; instead, he calls it a "condition," a "malady," and even a "chronic impairment." He couches the condition in terms that evoke illness and unwellness.
Gale: You see, I have this...condition. Very different from the parasites we share, but just as deadly. Player: What kind of condition? Gale: The specifics are rather personal, but suffice it to say that it is a malady I have learned to live with - though not without some effort. Player: (Durge) You also feel disgust by how life, miserable as it is, insists of persisting in this most wretched world? / (Tav) Is it contagious? Gale: No, no - nothing like that. Though if I fail to treat it then the consequences would not be contained to me alone. Player: Can it be cured? Gale: No, it cannot be cured. And I assure you I've left no page unturned in reaching that conclusion. I can keep this condition under control, as indeed I've done for a significant amount of time, but that was under different circumstances altogether. Home, in Waterdeep. What it comes down to is this: every so often I need to get my hands on a powerful magical item and absorb the Weave inside.

Player (Ranger): I think I might have a dock leaf in my bag, or some medicinal berries... Gale: Thank you for the offer, but the treatment for my condition is very specific.

Gale: The reality of the matter is that a lone wizard with a chronic impairment such as my own is not in the most ideal of situations with regards to self-defence.
In Gale's first conversation with the player about the orb, which is where all of the above comes from, he uses language related to illness and chronic pain/impairment to discuss the orb. It's a "condition," it is a "malady" that requires "treatment," it is a "chronic impairment," and so on.
Generally, at first, he speaks lightly about it and even continues to joke about his condition ("my tower in Waterdeep has never been so free of clutter" and so on), but the reality is he's underplaying the actual physical toll it takes on his body. When you ask him what happens if he doesn't consume any artifacts, he'll briefly describe some symptoms to you that aren't obvious to the player character. Which brings us to...
The Physical Symptoms
This is how he describes the initial physical symptoms of the orb's hunger:

Gale: I'll spare you the finer details, but it begins with a simple biological deterioration. Muscle spasms, disorientation, a slight ringing in the ears. And if left for too long...catastrophe.
In other places, we see the orb's hunger/pain also affecting his ability to think clearly, suggesting he's experiencing a kind of brain fog or concentration issue, plus general discomfort, and a feeling like something is gnawing at his insides, as seen in various lines below.


Gale: You'll have to speak slowly. I'm finding it quite difficult to concentrate with my condition gnawing at my insides like a teething displacer kitten. Gale: Somehow the second artefact hasn't had the effect of the first. It's somewhat relieved the discomfort, but I fear my hunger hasn't quite... Ahh...* Gale: But... this doesn't feel quite right... It never feels right, but it relieves. This doesn't relieve... Ahh...* *devnote: Near the end of the line he's in discomfort, in pain
This is all from the second artifact conversation, when you give him the second item to try and feed the orb's hunger (the last line is a lower approval/you've-been-begrudging-about-items kind of line, so he's still being closed off with you). When you hear these lines in the game, he's obviously speaking with discomfort and with difficulty, as if trying to string words together despite the pain. His little comments as you travel with him/as him while he is dealing with arcane hunger also reference weakness, pain, and concentration issues.
- I'm feeling rather unsteady... - Deep breaths, Gale. Hold it together. - I'd be rather enjoying this journey, were I not wracked with pain. - One step in front of the other, Gale. - Ugh, I feel rotten. devnote: Slightly pained/struggling with a constant ache (the orb is negatively affecting him, causing him pain. Prompt is to remind the player that Gale is unwell.) [mumm's note: there are other lines as well, beyond these, and Gale will say them at random, so there's no progression into better or worse. This is just a sample of the lines.]
Given everything so far, I suspect the pain he feels is a combination of heart/chest pain, like one might feel during an anxiety attack, a POTS flare-up, or even a heart attack, while the gnawing sensation could be like hunger cramps (or any other internal cramping, though I think for Gale it feels higher up in his body than in his stomach, given the orb's location).
I highly suspect the orb is feeding off of not only his magic, but his body as well. We know it feeds off his magic specifically (more on this in the other two parts, especially because this detail doesn't come to light until Gale meets with Mystra). But given the pains and the way he frames his condition as a state of deterioration, it's likely that it's also feeding off energy stores and other biological/physical elements of his body, not unlike how extreme hunger can cause your body to essentially eat itself—your fat stores first, but eventually even your muscle tissues and other vital tissues.
(I've seen someone suggest this is why Gale has "dehydration state" chiseled abs like movie stars have because the orb is literally eating away at his fat/energy stores and so on. It's a compelling theory!)
The orb also weakens him, likely causes massive fatigue, and even seems to be draining his "spirit" or his mental capabilities. We see this in descriptions of Arcane Hunger (which are below). It's a wonder this man can put one foot in front of the other if the pain is particularly bad.
In addition to all the other physical symptoms, the orb itself has physically scarred his body with the marking on his chest, which is also bruising pretty significantly (though this "bruising" could just as likely be dark-colored magic just beneath his skin, your headcanon/mileage may vary).
Photo credits: @elspethdekarios, though I cropped them down for this deep dive
If you click on the images and zoom in, you can see how the markings have a bit of depth and texture to them, as opposed to the flat lines of a tattoo. The lines are carved into his skin. Certain lighting will also make the mark look darker or lighter, and make the bruising at the center faint or noticeably dark. There are some theories that the bruising gets worse as the game goes on, but I think it's just a lightning issue (though it would be interesting if the bruising gets darker with each new level of arcane hunger, or something to that effect).
Lastly, and I'll discuss this more in part 2, even when the orb does not actively pain Gale, it "stirs." Other references from the narrator reveal that the orb "shudders" or "prickles" within him. Gale can feel the movement of the orb inside his body, possibly like a weird fluttering or vibration in his chest. It's likely why, even when he isn't actively hungering, he'll put his hand over his chest and adjust his shoulders, as if reacting to a strange and slightly uncomfortable sensation within his chest.
Anyway, long story short, the physical symptoms of dealing with the hungering orb are:
Biological deterioration (like hunger, the body consuming itself, muscles weakening, etc)
Muscle spasms
Disorientation
Ringing in the ears
Difficulty concentrating/brain fog/mental fatigue
Cramping and/or chest pain
General discomfort and pain
Physical fatigue/feelings of weakness
Scarring and bruising from the orb itself
A sensation of the orb "stirring" even when not painful
And this man will joke about it.
Honestly, his ability to joke and discuss his condition with humor is a sign to me that he really is experiencing and thinking of the orb the same way people with chronic conditions think about their pain or illnesses. At the start of the game, Gale's condition is incurable—Gale says as much himself that it "cannot be cured." It can only be managed, treating the symptoms and diminishing the pain, rather than completely eradicating the impairment. Gale likely has a new scale for pain, the same way people with chronic pain do. A "bad day" for him would likely end most healthy, normative people in a clinic hoping for some prescription pain medication, whereas he will just grit his teeth and keep going. In short, saying that the orb is a "chronic impairment" is a bit of an understatement, and I don't think people realize just how much Gale is/acts like a person dealing with real-world chronic pain or chronic illnesses.
Gale is used to this pain, though he certainly isn't enjoying it. Have you ever persuaded him to wait before giving him a magic item? If your persuasion is high enough (and he likes you), he'll give a cheery "of course!" even though treating the pain is obviously the preferable path here. When he reminds you of his need for an item, as with the "teething displacer kitten" line or the "My condition likes being ignored as much as I do," he still conveys these lines with a mix of urgency and dark humor. He's dealt with this condition for a year or more. You might be testing his tolerance by withholding items, but he's not going to let on just how badly he's actually feeling.
This is the man who will uncomfortably laugh and say "Gods, this is bloody uncomfortable," while the orb in his chest is running a high-grade POTS flare-up and consuming his innards. That's what we call an understatement, Gale. He could complain a lot more, and far more loudly, but he's actually keeping it quite restrained, as people with chronic pain often tend to do.
So anyway, if you ever hear anyone complaining that Gale complains about his magic orb condition too much, ask them how much they'd like walking around with heart-attack symptoms for a few hours at a time. But let's move on!
The Gameplay Effects
Now that we know what the orb does to Gale narratively, what does his condition do to him mechanically in the game? Because, unlike with Karlach's unstable engine or Shadowheart's incurable wound (other examples of chronic pain/disability in the game), the game adds actual debuffs to Gale's character that can affect gameplay and battles. Therefore, leaving Gale disabled with pain also, in effect, disables the player's ability to play the game (or at least hampers it).
In the game, there are three stages of Arcane Hunger. Most people generally don't go beyond the first stage, because why would you let Gale walk around with a debuff of any kind if you have a locket of dancing lights you'll never use? But if you continue to ignore him (or, if you're playing as Gale, and willfully choose not to consume any items) then the Arcane Hunger will progress to Greater and Severe Arcane Hunger, bringing even more serious debuffs to his character.



Arcane Hunger - Condition Gale's spirit is being drained. He has disadvantage on Constitution Saving Throws. Greater Arcane Hunger - Condition The Netherese Orb in Gale's body is weakening him. He has Disadvantage on Attack Rolls and all Saving Throws. Severe Arcane Hunger - Condition The Netherese Orb in Gale's body is severely weakening him. He has Disadvantage on Attack Rolls and all Saving Throws. His movement speed is halved.
Casual reminder that Constitution Saving Throws generally affect concentration, which is needed to maintain spells that last for more than one turn. This goes back to Gale's concentration/mental fatigue when he's initially hungering. When the hunger progresses, however, Gale is physically weakened and the game makes it so that he's more likely to fail savings throws or attacks.
Trying to normally play as Gale with these debuffs is basically an exercise in resigning yourself to missing attacks frequently and failing literally every saving throw (this includes disadvantage on saving throws in dialogues as well). He's still playable, since Magic Missile never misses and you can work with spells that deal damage even when an enemy passes their saving throw, but he becomes even more of a glass cannon than ever. If he's not at the back of a fight, he goes down pretty quick.
Once you hit Severe Arcane Hunger (which I hit after only 6.5 hours of rushed gameplay, though you could probably hit it sooner if you were zooming through a bit faster than me) you're also forced to walk everywhere. Gale's movement speed is halved. The distance he can move in a single turn is drastically shorter than usual, and his speed is no faster than a casual walk. Anyone who has tried to move while encumbered knows this same walking speed debuff.
So the game literally takes Gale's chronic impairment and makes it disabling to both him AND you controlling him. No one really wants to play the entirety of BG3 at a walking pace, after all, so it forces you to make a decision—will you finally treat Gale's condition, or will you grit your teeth and bare it, like Gale does with his pain (though it's nowhere near close to the same levels of discomfort).
Typically a companion Gale will just leave if you refuse to give him any items and he progresses to the stage where he's at Severe Arcane Hunger. But if you play as Origin Gale, you can keep playing with Severe Arcane Hunger until, well, his condition literally paralyzes him and then he withers away, apparently dying of necrotic damage from the orb (I’m assuming here, because the log doesn’t specify what damage causes Gale to wither away, and he exudes a necrotic damage aura once he’s dead, which happens whenever he dies anyway).

Gale withered away. Gale lost Condition: Gale is Paralysed. Gale received Condition: Gale is Paralysed. [mumm's note: obviously this is listed in reverse order, because Gale becomes paralyzed and then withers away]
It appears that if left untreated, Gale’s biological deterioration reaches a point that it literally shuts his body down completely, and then he just...dies. I imagine that physically the orb has eaten away at so many of his vital tissues, including his internal organs, that everything just sort of ceases to function. He's corrupted from the inside out, and nothing but death and a quick resurrection can reverse those effects.
It's worth noting that if you choose to do this experiment with Origin Gale and don't feed him a single magic item, then Elminster won't be waiting for you to arrive in the Mountain Pass or just outside the Shadow Cursed Lands if you travel through the Underdark. Since Gale hasn't been managing his symptoms, he hasn't realized that the various items he's consuming aren't having any effect. Therefore, he isn't actively looking for a new solution to treat the symptoms. Since he isn't looking, I guess Elminster never thought to make himself available with the new solution?
Honestly, why Elminster doesn't show up is kind of a mystery. Gameplay-wise, I assume it's that Gale's quest didn't progress enough to trigger the game flag that would spawn Elminster. But lore-wise or narratively, it doesn't make sense. Mystra sends Elminster with both a command and a temporary "cure," so is she just waiting until Gale realizes his symptoms can no longer be managed? No idea. Maybe I'll explore it more in Part 3.
Anyway the point is that when an untreated Gale reaches Moonrise without talking to Elminster, the game (and his condition) shuts him down. When you revive him at camp, Elminster conveniently appears to give him Mystra's command to sacrifice himself at the Heart of the Absolute and stabilizes the orb at last.
But there's a catch.


Elminster Aumar: A shame that we did not cross paths sooner. The orb's thirst for magic is now quenched, yet it already inflicted some damage while you tried to forge ahead. The ill effects may linger, I'm afraid. Not enough to hamper your mission, I hope.
I believe this can also happen with a companion Gale, but I'm not sure about the specific parameters of triggering this. Regardless, as actual-lea has observed in their No Gale Dinner experiment, if Gale has regular Arcane Hunger then Elminster stabilizes the orb and all is well, but if he has Greater or Severe Arcane Hunger, then the damage the orb does to his body becomes irreversible. After Elminster stabilizes the orb, in this scenario, Gale is left with a permanent "Arcane Hunger" debuff, the same as the above, where he suffers disadvantage on constitution saving throws. This time, you can't consume items to make it go away, and nothing will cure the debuff. Gale just permanently has it for the rest of the game.
(It's worth noting that you can also kill Elminster while he's talking with Gale, thus preventing him from stabilizing the orb with his magic and from telling Gale he needs to sacrifice himself. This sort of breaks the narrative for Gale and results in some wonky dialogue chains that do and don't flag correctly, but the interesting outcome is that it means you can continue playing the game with Severe Arcane Hunger, which is now also a permanent debuff. You can consume magical items before the Elminster visit, but never after. Even if you kill him, you lose the ability to consume items, which means it is officially impossible to manage Gale's symptoms. You just have to deal with the halved walking speed and disadvantage on everything. And you can complete the game that way, if you have the patience! But it would be a very long game. I would know. I've done it and I was rushing like a maniac lol)
Anyway this is getting super long, so I'll end with a few wrap-up thoughts.
Final Thoughts
Having played as Gale with Severe Arcane Hunger for several hours in the game, I think Gale honestly downplays just how bad the pain and debilitating effects of his condition really are. As I was going through the evidence, I kept thinking about how there are so many different elements of pain, discomfort, fatigue, and general unpleasantness that are all part of Gale's everyday life. Even when the orb is stabilized or not actively hurting him, he likely still feels it moving in his chest and I imagine there are chronic effects that stabilizing the orb couldn't exactly cure, like lingering fatigue (and we wonder why Gale complains about his knees and wanting to take a rest and so forth).
Ookay the knees thing might be unrelated to the orb but I digress
Dealing with that much pain and internal corruption is a state of living that most people wouldn't want to stay in, and Gale is no exception here. He wants to stop the pain in his chest, just as much as he wants his former abilities and magical prowess to return. These things are connected, which I'll talk about in part 2. But without hope of a cure, Gale is forced to deal with his condition as a process of managing symptoms, creating a treatment plan that involves him consuming magic from magical items just to get a bit of relief.
But that, my friends, is where we'll pick up with Part 2 - The Hunger and the Treatment.
#screw it we post#hooooo boy this got LONG#I'm sorry and you're welcome in advance#bg3#baldur's gate 3#bg3 lore#bg3 meta#bg3 deep dive#deep dive#long post#gale#gale dekarios#gale of waterdeep#bg3 discourse#bg3 screenshots
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Contrarian and Opportunist both use all pronouns, but for different reasons.
Contrarian does so because they saw the whole reality multiplying and breaking, how can they believe in any strong identity? + it's in his nature to break expected rules + she would want to try everything + they're stranger' ally + all other valid reasons y'know
Opportunist on the other hand does so just because he goes with anything people call him as long as they call him
"Gender is a social construct!" They both exclaim in unison, but one of their voices turns more and more into the triumphant villain laughter
#stp headcanons#his inspiration are CEOs in pride mouth#HEA used she about him once and he just went along#“if I have one gender privilege I'm pretty good. but once I start climbing with every gender' advantage.....well who knows where I'll stop"#“You can't take over the world by using pronouns” “I knowww I'm not trying to! anyways ladies first right-#“Psst! Tell her 'they will come' so that she'll think a few more people are coming and cook more!” “That's... not how it works”#gosh this is so stupid#“I wonder if ”they“ would mean distributing responsibility...and when it's distributed it's usually as small as possible....catch my drift?#and contra looks at him with big sparkling eyes and says “no idea what you're talking about tbh but welcome aboard queen!”#“Yeah....I suppose I am.....well let's just say.....a queen” while smiling mischievously#slay the princess#voice of the opportunist#voice of the contrarian#stp voices#stp opportunist#stp contrarian#Witch would use all his pronouns simultaneously to make him slip up with grammar sooner or later lol#(hard to do in english but imagine any other more gender-dependent language. but I believe oppy would still be suprisingly good at this)#i can'ttttt this whole thing is so silly. I'm deeply sorry. i.#quoquegiggles
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