#miss lemon plays bg3

[lemonhemlock]

bg3 anon, you know the drill :)) Part 1 here, Part 2 when I'll get the chance (this got very long, as usual) :))

Anonymous asked:

I haven't done a lot of stuff in the game myself with my Dark Urge bard lately as real life got in the way…

I hear you. I haven’t progressed myself much lately, but the game isn’t going anywhere and, in any case, it’s good to take a break once in a while and do other stuff.

As of last night, I am at the Creche and managed to get Lae’zel out of the zaith'isk. I have to admit I save scummed to get past the guards and to be able to deface Vlaakith’s portrait (because it’s too funny an opportunity to pass on), as the checks were quite difficult and I wanted to keep my 1 inspiration roll for the zaith'isk. Then I allowed her to get in the chair and I got hit with an insane 30 Persuasion check. Fr. Of course I failed the first check, but I rolled again with my sole inspiration point and, to my shock, I got a perfect 20 and with my other bonuses it was enough to hit 30. Phew.

I searched online after my first try because the checks were really difficult to pass and I was sort of underwhelmed to find out that most people chose to get inside the machine themselves, as the checks become easier this way. But for RPG reasons, I really insisted on it being Lae’zel, because she really wanted to and it’s something Mirta would not impose on. But the debuffs she receives if you don’t get her out of the machine are so cruel, I couldn’t go on knowing I’d lobotomized my poor girl. She’s my ride or die – if my companions were in a burning building, I’d save HER. MY CHILD.

Anyway, she was extremely pissed by the whole experience, which, while understandable, was also kind of funny, I have to admit. :)) One thing I would have added, though, is that it would have been nice to have some dialogue with Astarion telling you he’s not exactly keen to remove his parasite before he deals with Cazador, which I don’t think would be an unreasonable take. This ties in with how he’s apparently so eager to consume more worms, yet doesn’t do anything if you don’t actually give them to him, just mewls like an angry cat.

Also, courtesy of the wives subreddit, I’m thinking about installing this mod perhaps? https://www.reddit.com/r/OnlyFangsbg3/comments/1gtc8fp/the_greatest_mod_that_everyone_should_know_about/?share_id=pxnAo20qclKeI4rNG3M2_&utm_content=1&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_source=share&utm_term=5 It would be fun to have companions react more to their surroundings, especially since I am not going to do playthroughs with every origin character as my Tav. I have the feeling that some of their interactions just don’t show up for me. IDK if it’s a bug or whatnot.

but I've dealt with pretty much everything in act 1 except all of the Underdark and the Rosymorn monastery. As you may have guessed…I sided with the goblins this time and massacred the grove. It was really horrific, especially seeing all those children's corpses. :(

My goodness, anon, you went all out! One of my friends also said that some of the stuff she did as Dark Urge keeps her up at night. :))

I also defeated Ethel in one attempt with Astarion, Lae'zel and Shadowheart (I took her offer and gained +1 CHA, now I'm at 20 CHA) and immediately after I dealt with her Lae'zel was so impressed my fighting skills that she confessed she wanted to fuck me as soon as possible…I said yes. She dominated by bard throughout the act and left in him pain afterwards. You do have the option to dominate her instead if you wish, but you'll need to pass an intimidation check in order to do so.

This game is unhinged, wow. :))))

By the way, Astarion has unique dialogue after you sleep with her where he tells you "I heard you did the deed…" and asks you how was it. I told him to fuck off and he disapproved! (I doubt he spied on us, but due to the tadpoles it's pretty much implied everyone knows what the others may be up to…including having sexy times). There was also a very funny bug a while ago in Early Access that's been fixed: if you slept with Astarion and offer him your neck, you used to get a "Shadowheart disapproves" message. =)) Here's a meme about it: https://imgur.com/a/qyOKUM3 Oh and he also offered to sleep with me the day after I was with Lae'zel. Nope. Not this time!!!!

Cockblocked!!!!!

Since I told you about Astarion sleeping with Lae'zel at the party if you don't romance either one of them, well, there are some Astarionwives out there who have recently confessed they choose to sleep with him in act 1 even in playthroughs where they end up romancing someone else (they'll choose to friendzone Astarion later on) because they want to protect him from...Lae'zel being rough and hurting him during sex. These people I swear...I absolutely hate it when innocent female characters are catching strays because of insane male character fangirls. This debacle is even funnier when you know he also sleeps with Tav under false pretenses and doesn't really enjoy it (except the bite if you let it happen), so acting like Lae'zel is some sexual predator to poor Astarion is crazy. If she is, then so are your Tavs. Sorry.

Gosh, I did actually hear about this, courtesy to me discovering that wives subreddit. It popped up one day on my Reddit page because I had been looking for mods. Yeah, that’s a peculiar sort of rationalization because of the crazy discourse that accepting to have sex with him is equal to Tav raping him or however the hell they elect to woobify him. Despite the fact that he is the one who initiates and is doing it under false pretences, like you said.

So I guess some of them are trying to twist it in a sort of “it’s better if it’s Tav instead of Lae’zel because Tav would be gentler with him”. Even though, like any Tav, in-story Lae’zel would absolutely not be aware of his backstory to that extent. I get that it’s kind of iffy to think about – where I do agree a little with them is that Lae’zel is quite bad at sensitivity and handling feelings and I saw that she has dialogue about sleeping with Astarion where she says that “he served his use”. I get why people would be uncomfortable with her talking about an SA victim like that; it’s objectifying and a little mean. BUT!! Like with Tav, this was Astarion’s decision and, as bad for his psyche as it is, it’s still something he has agency over. No one is forcing him in this scenario. And it’s not on Lae’zel to read his mind or have responsibility over his healing journey. I would imagine him going through with this for the same reason he decides to seduce Tav – because Lae’zel is powerful and he craves security.*

Although, I would argue that Lae’zel is not truly leadership material. She couldn’t really succeed in gelling a group of divergent individuals together as she lacks the persuasion skills and emotional adaptability. But, in the absence of Tav, I guess Astarion is shooting his shot the best way he can, lol. Come to think of it, I don’t believe any of the origin companions would have the people skills to coagulate this group around them, if they were interacting naturalistically according to their own personality (not played as someone’s Tav).

* And, also, it’s disregarding how Lae’zel would feel about this whole interaction, too. Maybe she also would only want to have sex with people who desire her, think she’s hot and match her energy in bed, instead of pretending and going through the motions – she is allowed to feel that way even if it’s just casual sex!

Back to our business: Gandrel got killed this time. RIP. I really wanted his crossbow but to be fair I haven't used it so far.

Oh, you can’t pick up his crossbow from his dead body?

I’ve been thinking about the Gandrel side-quest and I can’t decide if it’s a storyline that’s a little not-completely-thought-through or if it’s meant to be this way. But I understand Gandrel came looking for Astarion because he and his spawn siblings took some Gur children to give to Cazador (details are a bit iffy as I’m only reading diagonally to not spoil myself TOO much. I’m really bad at this LOL). But this begs the question – why not go after the other spawn who are still in the city of Baldur’s Gate and prowl the streets at night? Why go to the middle of nowhere to ask a hag about a missing spawn? Seems needlessly complicated. Also, why not go after Cazador himself? He is the actual perpetrator here, as vampire spawn are forced to obey his will. You’ll understand why I’m wary of accusing an already marginalized community of being arseholes – a community who have already been victimised by Astarion in the past and who are still a target of his racism. But I have to ask if it’s intentional or if it’s just a storyline that wasn’t completely developed – and they just needed to engineer some scenario for the player to show their trust in Astarion. I obviously can’t fault people for wanting revenge over their missing children but it does seem a bit misplaced.

Anyway, way to overthink this whole thing. :))

Who else did I kill? Karlach. I still feel bad about it but she along with Wyll will leave the party no matter what if you raid the grove so I figured it's better to let Wyll kill her…simply because you also get a pretty good robe for spellcasters (Infernal Robe) from Mizora as a reward, which I put on Gale.

Damn… poor Karlach! She is truly such a sweet soul.

The evil playthrough sucks a bit because you lose a few companions and potential content. Even Gale will attempt to leave and if you don't pass a check he will go, feeling very guilty over having to participate in the carnage. Halsin obviously won't join you if you massacre his grove and if you don't kill him in the goblin prison he will attack your camp. At least you used to exclusively get Minthara if you played evil but since they "officially" made her recruitable in good playthroughs…you even lose that. It's obvious they didn't focus on balancing the good vs evil playthroughs by offering an equal amount of content. In a way it's understandable because most players will play the hero and investing a lot of resources just for a small number of players isn't worth it, but it still feels lacking and takes a way from the game's potential of replayability.

Yeah… But there is probably a limit for how much content a mid-level (?) company like Larian could introduce in a game, sadly. And definitely fewer people would be interested in a true evil playthrough.

I'll also have to decide soon but currently I'm very positive on romancing Lae'zel, surprisingly. I started this playthrough thinking I'd end up with Shadowheart but frankly, her romance doesn't seem so so impressive from what I've seen. I also thought about Minthara but I don't feel like she has any chemistry with my bard which is unfortunate since I want to romance her sooo bad. Well, since I do intend an Astarion Origin playthrough after this one, perhaps I'll romance her then. It may be a crackship but honestly I don't think Astarion is truly compatible with any other companion either and I also don't want to do a celibate playthrough so anyone will do in his case.

I know what you mean, I think Astarion would be kind of lost without a sympathetic Tav, since none of the other origin characters’ given personalities would vibe that much with him, especially not in a romantic way. Minthara would be an interesting choice though, for anyone interested in exploring Astarion’s bratty sub side. :)))

Perhaps I could get persuaded on Ascended Astarion/God Gale for the toxicity...could you imagine it?

Good Lord, I’m gagging just thinking about it. :))))))))))))))))))) It would definitely be funny, I’ll give you that, but without outside intervention (as in, you’re playing one of them as your Tav) to string them along, I don’t think they’d ever realistically get close in that sense. Doesn’t Astarion make fun of Gale the most out of any companion? I heard he has a lot of jibes to throw out in casual conversation. But, you know, when has any of that ever stopped players? Where there’s a will, there’s a way. :))))))

Relating to your playthrough and current progress: make sure you save Githyanki egg in the Githyianki Creche. You may want give it to Lae'zel! Just keep it in her inventory and don't worry about it for the rest of the game. Also, don't forget about the Blood of Lathander for Shadowheart. It's truly one of the best weapons in the game. The Knife of the Undermountain King is also a must have for Astarion, there's a merchant in the creche selling it.

Oh, yeah, I gave Esther the owlbear egg and refused this quest. The githyanki are arseholes, but stealing a child and displacing it from its own culture and people seemed needlessly cruel. I am still looking for the Blood of Lathander. Haven’t found the knife or the egg yet, but I’ve only just got there.

I also suggest taking the elevator in the Grymforge when you finish exploring all of the Underdark and the Rosymorn monastery to then progress to act 2/Shadow-Cursed Lands. You can go back there, no worries. It makes a bit more sense to follow that path (I think that's what Halsin suggests as well) in good playthroughs since it places you closer to the Last Light Inn, a location you'll want to get to before going to Moonrise Towers. But it's also fine to choose the alternate path.

Hmmmm…… thank you for the tip, I hadn’t considered this! I do want to go to that inn very much. But I thought I could reach it on the top-side, too? Or is it only accessible via the Underdark? I don’t want to skip the shadow-cursed lands either, they’re intriguing. They kind of remind me of the Shadow Fold from Shadow and Bone.

Oh no, not the "you should side with Rhaenyra because she's a woman and women are never wrong". And if you don't you'll get accused of misogyny even if you are a woman yourself because why else would you disagree? Yeah, I think you explained it much better. Not all of them would make the same choices if given the opportunity in real life. It's more like a wish fulfillment type of thing where they imagine themselves doing it or fantasizing about it, and maybe genuinely think they would do so, only to change their mind once confronted with the actual choice in real life…I do guess some would probably accept being with a real life equivalent of Astarion because unfortunately many people end up with bad partners thinking their love can fix them (men included, I don't want to claim it's only women doing it), but for sure others will realize how such a thing wouldn't necessarily result in anything good. Thinking you can fix someone is a dangerous mindset to have in real life.

Yeah, definitely agree. Some do end up with bad partners like this, unfortunately. You can never truly tell when you encounter anonymous users discoursing online, but it’s definitely a mix between wish-fulfilment people and people with true blind spots when it comes to red flags.

Honestly, the game does lean a bit into the "I can fix him" trope with Astarion in his good path, which unsurprisingly is not acknowledged very much by his fandom. Most fangirls (not the Ascendedwives this time) are like "He fixes himself! We only helped him and showed him the good way." Well, yes, but the fact that you need to push him up until the last moment in the right direction doesn't suggest that he is fully capable of making the best decision for himself. If you need to convince him that sacrificing 7000 souls to the hells is bad…well, then I rest my case. I'd actually wager that in an alternative timeline and if left to his own devices, Astarion would most end up ascending.

Indeed, this is very much an “I can fix him” type of story, no doubt about that. And, while I never would recommend this to anyone asking for advice in a romantic capacity in real life, credit where credit is due, it’s a fun storyline for a game, what can I say. I have to emphasize the acute need to separate real life from the medium of gaming here in a different capacity, as well, because what works in real life doesn’t necessarily translate to game mechanics in the best way. For example, it makes sense that your Tav would have tremendous influence on their companions and that you could shape their story to a huge degree. Here you have to sacrifice the characters’ agency in favour of a more entertaining gaming experience. Like, no one would enjoy playing if their companions did the same thing no matter what choices you make, you know what I mean? So here I can see why it kind of HAS to be an “I can fix them” story, otherwise it would be a frustrating playthrough.

This is where analysing the companions as real people or even as characters in a book or movie kind of breaks down because you have to account for the medium. An RPG is always going to sacrifice on their free will in the player’s favour to make it for fun for them. Tav is the one who gets to play God a little and direct their story. This wouldn’t translate the same if these people were actually real, because, even though you can talk some sense into those around you and help them make a decision, they’re still beings endowed with reason who have responsibility for their own actions. And, needless to say, real life functions way differently and you have different objectives and desires for yourself and your social circle. To be honest, it's terribly goofy that there are voices in this fandom that don't perceive these elements naturally and behave as if their vampire bf has a growth arc predicated independently by his own moral compass. (like that anon you sent me who referred to Astarion as their "partner" lol)

That being said, I do agree that the game suggests that Astarion would be the kind of person whose hand you’d have to hold because they’d be incapable of making the right choice on their own. And that can be very infuriating to think about!

Sure, the same can be said about the other companions. Without Tav's influence they will all end up in a bad place, but at least in their case you can generally trust them a bit more to make the good decision, unlike Astarion. If you have a high approval number with Shadowheart and showed understanding towards her person, when you reach a certain pivotal moment in her quest you'll have the option to trust her and depending on your previous interactions with her she will almost always choose to do the good thing (you can also choose to do the persuasion check if you don't have faith in her). Same for Lae'zel, you don't really need to push her very hard in the right direction. It's largely the same for Gale, although as I pointed out previously it's easy to fuck his result up as he can end up ascending to godhood if you don't push against his stupid ideas really hard.

Yeah, with all the caveats I described previously, there are little ways to suggest that some companions make good decisions on their own a little easier and without needing to be swayed so much. It’s not a perfect system because the medium doesn’t allow for it but these things are still data points.

I know I'm being facetious a bit because I do hate it when fans don't acknowledge the not so pleasant aspects of Astarion's character even when he stays on his good path, and choose to flex against the Ascendedwives for choosing the good and moral option, but he still doesn't transform into a good person overnight. And who's to say the matter of ascension won't come in in future arguments with Tav? If you break up with him in the epilogue he gets angry and yells "how dare you, after everything I sacrificed for you" (hinting at sacrificing the ascension for you)…unlike AA who doesn't let you break up with him he catches himself accepts it of course. Yes, it's an overreaction because he got hurt but the scene does show up the matter of ascension is still on his mind, in a "what could've been" sort of way. It's a worse case scenario for sure, personally I doubt he will come to resent Tav for convincing him not to ascend. I do like the fact they didn't turn him in a totally good guy though. He is still a bad person who still kills people (just the ones he deems to be bad). Whether the fans accept it or not, he's still the same person who just weeks ago was fully capable of sacrificing 7000 people for his own benefits. He's not suddenly fixed by Tav's magical genitalia.

Oh, absolutely! A person with his backstory would have a long journey ahead of themselves when it comes to overcoming their unscrupulous impulses in any case. I do like that he’s not fully evil or fully good either, I always think it’s a more interesting story this way. Him just being one way or the other would feel reductive, if you ask me. I don't think I would enjoy it as much if someone with authority on the subject (the gods of reading comprehension 😂) confirmed to me that Astarion is 100% evil, just as much as I wouldn't enjoy it if they told me he was just a poor little misunderstood meow meow.

I also like thinking that one is not entrenched in their past mistakes, that one’s choices matter and that being “good” is an active choice you have to make against your baser nature. It’s a more attractive scenario to me than needless cynicism.

I agree and I also did the same thing and told him he could have as many tadpoles as he wanted to. But yes, you do actually need to consume the tadpoles on his behalf because on his own he won't do it even if you give him the permission to do so in dialogue. This goes for any other companion who accepts it. Gale does, I think? The others need convincing. Minthara you'll find out when you recruit her that she had already eaten several tadpoles once you access her illithid menu and you can feed others to her if you want more powers. Halsin and Jaheira are the only potential companions in your party who don't have a tadpole.

There is a consequence though. I'll keep it as spoiler free as possible: at the start of act you'll be given a special tadpole that will supposedly grant you special abilities if consumed. If you've eaten the regular ones, you won't be able to refuse the special one unless you pass a Wisdom check. You can also convince your companions to eat that special tadpole. Funny thing is, Astarion will refuse to do it this time, for good reasons though…but you can still force him to do it if you want to be an evil bastard.

I do have to point out that a significant part of the whole Mindflayer plot got rewritten (and partly replaced) quite late during development and this is why the whole thing feels very lacking and there are no really massive, unavoidable consequences for eating tadpoles. I can't say exactly which part because it's a massive spoiler, but remnants of it can still be seen in the art book that comes with the game.

It does feel like this part of the game could have benefited from more work, but, alas, nothing is perfect, I suppose. And it’s a massive game as is. So headcanons are the way to go here!

"Anyway, this is also just a game at the end of the day and its complexity is limited in that it can mimic real life, but not truly represent its quagmires, because character development is not linear for living, breathing people. […]" I'd argue there are some specific cases in this game in which they should've and could have done a better job to mimic the real life equivalent, I do largely agree that in such setting it's very hard to showcase all the complexities a similar real life scenario entails, but the fact that AA lashes out whenever Tav goes against him is in my opinion definitely meant to be a red flag, that he's now too far gone. If the writers intended to achieve the opposite result, that he's a loving and healthy partner well, then they failed to make the case.

Yeah, can’t disagree here, the wives choosing the appeasement option is just sweeping the problem under the rug. Like with any of the other companions, I imagine, there is a good ending and a bad one, and pretending Astarion’s bad ending is good is just… who is this helping? :))))

Your instinct is right, we don't find anything about his parents or anyone from his former life. We don't even know for sure if he was born in Baldur's Gate or in another place and traveled to the Gate for whatever reason. I think it's possible he had a distant relationship with his parents (it looks like he also comes from a noble family, as in Early Access his background was Noble some point), but I still imagine his loss must have been quite significant considering elves in DND aren't very fertile and elven couples having a child is rare. There is also a limited number of elven souls that reincarnate all over again and vampirism/undeath apparently disrupts that cycle so Astarion will likely not be able to reincarnate when he dies… Speaking of gods, you'll want to have Astarion and Gale in your party when you reach the lower city in act 3. They have a party banter together, a very sad one, where Gale asks Astarion if he ever prayed or felt the call of the divine and Astarion replies that he tried and prayed to all gods to save him but none of them answered… :(

I'll try to keep it spoiler free but on his good path (and if romanced) you'll be able to go with him to the graveyard where he was buried in. His gravestone is unkept, with vines covering it. If there was anyone who cared about him still around in the city (his elven parents, perhaps siblings or even a former elven lover), I imagine they would've visited the cemetery from time to time and leave some flowers or tend to his grave? But there's no suggestion of it happening. They either moved on centuries ago, thinking his soul went on to reincarnate or…they didn't even care for him. Or maybe he was an orphan and forged his way into being a noble and getting that magistrate job (it's a fun theory). It's also possible, like I said, that his family is from another place and it's the city officials who buried him given his position as a magistrate. I imagine they wouldn't leave a public servant to rot on the streets. Needless to say, Astarion himself says he person he was lays dead and buried. He doesn't seem to dwell on his former life anymore.

I also suspect he might have been of noble stock because he talks like one for sure and his fashion sense indicates the same thing. I harp on him a lot, but I do get sorry thinking about his sappy backstory! Clutches right at my heartstrings, damn. :))

Also, fun fact, but Astarion was supposed to be a tiefling initially and not a high elf. https://www.ign.com/articles/astarion-was-a-tiefling-in-an-early-version-of-baldurs-gate-3-gdc-panel-reveals Honestly? He could've been a human instead and nothing would've changed as there aren't really any interactions in the game that feeds into the idea that he thinks like a high elf, except maybe the elitism and racism towards other races and people (like the Gurs and gnomes) but even that isn't exclusive to his race. There are also several subgroups of high elves (moon elves, sun elves, star elves - the fandom consensus is that he's a moon elf) all of them with several differences between them. And you also have the wood elves who are culturally and socially different than their high elven counterparts…It would've been fun if the game offered more lore about it but it's already massive.

You’re right about him being an elf not really having that much to do with his story. Like, perhaps it could have been integrated in the discussion about his parents, his lifespan, maybe the way he would interact with other types of elves, like wood elves or drows. He could have had different prejudices and reactions to Halsin or Nere, for example, IDK. He’s already racist, but, like you said, he could have been a human racist, too, you don’t have to be an elf for that. He does very much look like what I imagine a moon elf would look like, though. I find it kind of funny that, for some reason, humans are not a race he’s particularly prejudiced against, just on principle I mean – except the Gur obviously. You’d think a racist elf would have beef with humans, too. But, when discussing his diet, you can get him to ask you what you’d consider a “thinking creature” and he enumerates elves and humans as fitting the bill, but not goblins or gnomes lmao.

Speaking of which!! Another criticism I’d have of the game – goblins don’t particularly seem to be “redeemable”, at least not so far. And some of the goblins I encountered in the camp were kind of funny. I thought the children throwing stones at Halsin were kind of cute, too – I felt bad about killing them. I’d have liked to take them back to my own camp. Look at me – I sound like the Society of Brilliance with the githyanki egg. :)))

Exactly!!! When he comes clean about it he will also, in true Astarion fashion, unintentionally mock Tav by saying "seducing you was easy haha" and you can't even call him out on it if you do want to continue the relationship with him. Can you really be surprised that some people got the ick here? He may have not promised anything other than casual sex but let's be real, how would you feel if this happened to you in real life? Imagine having sex with someone and later on that person will confess to you that they did it under false pretenses…it's an enormous breach of trust that it's very, very hard to forgive. That's not to say Astarion doesn't feel guilty about it! He very much does and is aware of what he did and clearly doesn't expect to be forgiven by Tav, but let's not sweep all of this under the rug because of his trauma. Trauma doesn't give him an excuse to do anything he wants.

The whole romance largely starts under false pretenses with him not even enjoying any of the sex he is offering because he is dissociating throughout the act and just goes with the motions. I don't know if you explored the dialogue the morning after your Tav had sex with him for the first time (when you see his back and the scars), but you can ask him "Did you enjoy it? You did not seem fully present" but he brushes it off saying he just didn't want to go too far. Clearly something else was going on. So yes, some players legitimately don't feel the vibe anymore.

I have to say, though, this is one of the scenarios the game puts you in that I find really interesting because it’s so, so messy and kind of realistic, if you ask me, or at least approximating reality in a believable fashion. I keep thinking about this and it IS tricky to navigate or even formulate a coherent reaction to it because it’s A LOT.

I think the game should have included an option to call him out on, what essentially is, him insulting you with the “you were so easy to seduce” thing, because it’s infuriating, hurtful and, boy!! I slept with you DESPITE your janky ass pick-up lines, not because of them. But, at the same time, it’s this traumatised person baring their soul to you in a very vulnerable state and wanting to right their past wrongs, so to speak, so there’s a little part of me that thinks – do I really want to make this moment about me? Then again, he did put Tav in a very uncomfortable position: just thinking that, unbeknownst to them, their sex partner was an unwilling participant would make any sane person feel extremely icky and taken advantage of. And Astarion should start taking responsibility for his own actions if he wants to live as his own person. So, yeah, if this happened to me in real life, I’d nope out so quick, NGL. It’s very easy to activate all of someone’s insecurities regarding their body and sense of attractiveness that way, not to mention the horrible feeling that you’ve been tricked into doing something immoral (even though it’s obviously not a rational thought).

But, as always, in RPG format I’m way more lenient because, from the comfort of my own computer screen, I can blithely choose the toxic option that provides the most amount of angst, so looks like Mirta and Astarion are set for some rocky screaming matches ahead. <333333

 I won't lie, others (including some antis) also went as far as saying he should not be a romanceable option due to all of this because you are essentially raping him (LMAO), which is insane because Tav isn't supposed to have all this knowledge, but the point is that I've seen plenty of people getting dragged by some crazy Astarion stans when all they did was to politely express why they didn't like it anymore. It doesn't mean they hate survivors and don't trust them to make their own decision just because they don't want to roleplay this specific scenario due to how it started under false pretenses or agree that Astarion shouldn't be in a relationship at that point in time, even more so in a world where therapy doesn't exist.

Also, not vibing anymore with a romance is valid no matter what the issues it. There are people who ended up not liking Gale's romance anymore because of him constantly talking about his ex (Mystra). It put people off the entire thing. Players self-insert a lot into their characters and many of them don't want to date someone who's still hung up on their ex, to the point where it feels like they are still together and you are the third in their relationship. I don't fully agree with their perspective, but it's easy to see where they are coming from! At least the Galewives don't attack other fans as much as the Astarionwives do.

Very well said!

Most fans identify with him over the fact that he's also SA victim, especially women, and this is the main aspect which in my opinion, has been causing a big part of the discourse because a lot of fans (both ascended and unascended ones), as pointed out previously, weaponize their trauma survival status against other fans who dare to have a different opinion. It all gets very nasty because you'll constantly be shamed and get all the "as a survivor of SA I feel offended/dehumanized" and "you hate/infantilize all survivors for saying this" type of replies, making it it's quite hard to have a mature debate, free of personal attacks. Quite a few of these people have moved on from this fandom currently so you won't get dragged as badly for saying something unpopular but it still happens to some extent. Sure, some people did say nasty and infantilizing stuff about survivors but in my experience most were genuinely polite about everything, quite a few of them were survivors themselves and still got a lot of shit and harassment.

Oh, of course, the sexual assault aspect of his character is also something that could cause people to project onto him and create this intense bridge of empathy and protectiveness. But, like with his vampirism, it doesn’t give him a free pass to do whatever the hell he wants or thinks is best for him and you just have to “accept him for the way he is”. Like in the manipulative sex instance, I completely get why he would do that with his headspace, I empathise and feel sorry for him, but it’s still a very shady thing to do to Tav.

As for the ableism: indeed and this is where the "wanting to cure him equals ableism" people come from. Granted, while curing vampirism isn't an easy task at all in their universe, it's not impossible and equating this with real life disabilities and mental health issues is far-fetched. Just because you want him cured of vampirism doesn't mean your Tav doesn't accept him as he is if he wants to stay this way just like it doesn't mean that you don't accept real persons who are disabled just the way they are. Also, telling someone "You don't need a cure to your ailment, I love the way you are!" is a bit tone-deaf IF such a cure exists because what if that someone does want it?

Now, whether or not Astarion himself would accept to cure his vampirism and return to mortality is another question entirely and frankly, the jury is out on this question. The game focuses more on him (and his partner, if romanced) seeking a way to able to walk in the sun, although you are given the option at the post epilogue party to say to a companion that you are looking for a cure his vampirism. It's really just up to everyone to headcanon what they want to do with him post-game, which is why attacking people over it is crazy.

Absolutely! Curing him of his vampirism is honestly a harmless headcanon, if you ask me, and you’d be performing a public service as well because one fewer vampire walking the earth is a boost to all the communities who wouldn’t have to risk exposure to them.

No one in their right mind in Faerun would agree to be his constant blood donor except for Tav (in the case you roleplay them as someone willing to be his blood bag) and a certain drow lady in act 2 who'll immediately recognize the fact that Astarion is a vampire and will ask you to force him to bite her since he'll refuse. She confesses that she's been dreaming of being bitten by a vampire since she was a little girl…lol. I know I'm being mean but a lot of Astarionwives remind me of her, I'm not gonna lie! While yes, good vampires do and can exist, the general populace views all of them as evil, soulless monsters and killing one of them is acceptable and no one would be second-guessing your decision. Good aligned gods also view undeath as an affront since it violates the natural cycle of life and death, so a paladin or cleric of Lathander is fully within their rights of killing Astarion and any other vampire or undead, no matter how innocent they may be.

All I'm saying is there still are plenty of risks for Astarion in the event he stays a vampire and if certain people become aware of his true nature. So, unless a potential cure to his vampirism comes with risks he will refuse to take, I don't think it would be as OOC for him to agree to such a thing like some fans claim.

I'm personally ambivalent towards this, perhaps I lean towards him staying as a vampire in my headcanon for the angst? I do like how on his good path he learns to make peace with and accept himself, vampirism included. Perhaps this is why some hate it when they see the matter of him getting cured coming up, they perceive this as telling him "you're still not good enough like this", that you can't accept him just the way he is...it's a fair perspective, I guess but I still don't agree entirely with it.

Even with good!vampires who solely restrict themselves to an animal diet, you know there is always the possibility of relapse, because thinking-creature-blood is so much more delicious. And, if you’re living nearby one, as good a person as they strive to be, you’d be aware there is always a risk and that’s just a really unpleasant way to live, with Damocles’ sword dangling over your head and whatnot. So, like you pointed out, could Astarion really realise his dream of security this way? Now, I’m not saying his vampire-acceptance ending is terrible, by any means, though, it’s rather sweet – or more like bittersweet actually – but definitely not something to fight others about and bring ableism accusations into the mix. And I do like they leave the option for curing vampirism open – it was certainly placed there for headcanons and to leave open the possibility of a more hopeful future. In short, it's truly not that serious! Just another interesting thing to think about.

Whew, that got really long. 😊) I’ll post part two of the ask when I get the chance!

[theonewiththefanfics]

Homecoming (one-shot)

Synopsys: When Y/N goes missing during a simple supply run, she comes back with world-shattering news for Astarion. News he never thought to hear, and now he has a decision to make, one that will shift his life on its axis once more.

Set after the main events of BG3

Pairing: Astarion x fem!Reader

Genre: angst, fluff, a bit of SMUT, but nothing explicit

Warnings: talks of blood, injuries, swearing, mentions of abuse, but nothing explicit, kidnapping

Word count: 8397

A/N: I have not played Baldur's Gate 3 (I don't own a PS or a PC where to play it. all of this is based on the info gathered online and through Neil's own gameplay etc. Please be kind :) )

Part 2(ish) - Love Conquers All (one-shot)

A home was not something to ever be taken for granted, that much they had learned during their adventures.

A home was a fire slowly crackling in the hearth, warmth expanding through the living room. A home was Astarion sitting on a loveseat, a book in his hands while he waited for his love to finish puttering around in the kitchen. A home was drying tea leaves and making preserves for the coming winter as she shooed him out, saying that his fussing would only hinder her process.

He’d huffed, puffed and whined, trying to make Y/N pull away from her plans just so they could curl up and read together, but she was adamant.

“I’ve already started.” She dropped an orange peel and pressed some lemon juice into the steaming pot. “It’ll be wasted produce if I just leave it now.”

“But it will take you hours!” Astarion whined like a child and even stomped his foot, making her snort.

“And it will take me twice as long if you don’t stop annoying me.” Y/N threw him a saccharine smile over her shoulder, batting her lashes at the pouting vampire. “Now, be a good boy, and quit pestering me. We’ll have all the time in the world, once I’m done.”

Astarion just groaned, going up to her and wrapping his arms around her waist, the incisors he usually sank into her neck now nipping at her lobe. “I can be a very good boy if you only let me prove it.”

“My love, you will be getting absolutely no sex from me, if you don’t let me at least finish this batch.” A shiver rushed down her spine as he licked at her neck, so close to that sweet spot he always used as a place to bite and drink from. But she had to be strong. The jams wouldn’t make themselves. “Every additional minute you keep me from this will be an additional day of your dry spell.”

The vampire spawn jumped back from her as if he’d been scalded, scarlet eyes narrowing in on her. “You wouldn’t dare. You wouldn’t last an hour!”

Y/N turned around, crossing her arms as a devious smile bloomed on her lips, a brow raised in challenge. “Would you like to test those waters?”

Astarion stood, staring her down. His crimson gaze was blazing from underneath his lashes, but she didn’t budge. They’d played this game for close to three years as a couple now, and she’d learned very quickly – Astarion was very much so a cat. But especially – he was a cat that liked to knock things over while keeping direct eye contact with you, though the second you placed a palm underneath whatever it was he wanted for to fall, all his need for chaos disappeared. It just wasn’t fun anymore.

For twenty long seconds, Y/N and her pale elven lover didn’t break, hoping the other would crumble and be announced as the loser, but part of what he loved about her, was her stubbornness. It was because of that part of her personality, she’d stuck by him when his doubts had crept in, when his own mind called him worthless and not good enough for her, almost as if to spite those vicious words in his mind. She didn’t give up on the people she loved, and as luck would have it, Astarion owned her heart.

But Y/N also knew how to handle a cat like him, so just after a few more tense moments, his eye twitched, and he huffed in defeat.

“Fine,” he scoffed. “But if you are not done by sundown, I shall have no other option but to drag you away from the stove. Kicking and screaming preferred.”

Y/N simply shook her head, and went to him, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling the man into a deep, breathless kiss, but not before nipping at his bottom lip, dragging the piece of flesh between her teeth and making him let out a desperate moan. “I’ll even let you tie me up if you wish to do so.”

Astarion’s pupils almost swallowed the red irises in a matter of seconds, as he threw his head back in a groan. “My love, you’re absolutely killing me here.”

“Then I hope whatever punishment you deem fit for me, will be just oh, so sweet.” Y/N stepped back, untangling herself from him, but the mischievousness in her eyes didn’t lessen.

She could see how the words tortured him, how it took every single last piece of his fraying self-control, to not rip off her apron and the clothes underneath and just lay her down on the kitchen table, legs spread with his mouth licking into her until she orgasmed.

With eyes holding nothing but pure lust and hands clenching and unclenching, Astarion retreated. Y/N would be lying if she said she wasn’t hot and bothered and absolutely dripping between her thighs, and the thought of finishing those jams was the last thing on her mind, but she did have to do it. If only to keep him waiting longer, knowing whatever his beautiful brain was cooking up would leave her screaming and shaking for hours.

They’d been growing their own vegetables and fruits, Y/N tending to them during the nights to spend more time with Astarion as he fussed over his flower gardens, so it would simply be wasteful to leave their berries to rot. The year had been very generous and offered a variety of things to gather, so a while back, she’d decided to pickle some of the tomatoes and cucumbers, turn another batch of peppers and tomatillos into sauces while the sweeter things would be turned into syrups and jams.

Y/N shook her head, trying to clear it from the haze of lust, as the aroma of lemons and cranberries, raspberries and oranges wafted all around, encasing her in the scent. She was just about to add the sugar when the tin rattled with the sound of the last grains left.

Her brow furrowed as she opened the lid and looked inside. Sure, enough it was empty.

The woman huffed. She was absolutely positive she’d gotten the right amount during the last trip, but somewhere along the way it seemed a miscalculation had happened, and now she had to get more. Y/N would have asked Astarion, and had the sun dipped below the horizon, he would have jumped at the request, but alas his little vampiric predicament forbade him from walking during the day, the sun still high in the sky from what she could see through a tiny slit in the shutters.

Quickly, Y/N snuffed out the flame below the pot, untied her dirtied apron and grabbed a basket from the pantry, tying a pouch of coins to her side. She only needed sugar, but maybe she would grab some other necessities as well. They were low on Astarion’s favourite wine, one he claimed didn’t taste like vinegar at least.

“I’m off to the market really quick,” Y/N announced as she peeked into the living room, taking in Astarion as he flipped a page in a book. “Do you want anything?”

“No, my love.” He looked at her like a love-sick puppy. “Just your darling self back as quick as you can. I have picked up some… inspiration for your punishment if you will. Just as you suggested, of course.” He closed the book, showing the cover to her.

Heat crawled all over her body as she read the title, one of her smuttier romances she had started to read, and when she could do nothing but gulp and nod, his smile turned from a sweet one into a wicked-fanged thing. It was all she needed to know whatever awaited her once she was done would leave her unable to walk. Gods, she needed to finish this whole thing up as quickly as she could.

Y/N was out the doors like the wind, the usual stroll to the market cut from half an hour into a brisk fifteen-minute jog, the thoughts of the man waiting back home for her at the forefront of her mind.

The needed sugar, some coffee beans, a loaf of fresh bread, Astarion’s wine and some sour cream were all bought in quick succession, Y/N didn’t even try to haggle. Her eyes drifted across various stalls and merchants and she almost deemed it done when her gaze caught onto a rose seedling. It was a beautiful bloom with blood-red petals that whitened at the very tips. She smiled and went to buy it. Astarion would love the symbolism even if a bit too on the nose.

Once satisfied with everything, Y/N marched across the market and was back on the road to home. It was a humble little house they’d purchased with whatever had been left in their pockets after all was said and done with the tadpoles, but Astarion had bigger plans. This was only a temporary situation.

“I want a whole room full of books. Nothing but books from one end to the other and then some,” he’d confided in Y/N one night after both were panting and spent from multiple rounds of bringing the other to ecstasy.

“And a large ballroom,” he continued, and Y/N couldn’t help the loud laugh that escaped her.

“A ballroom? And what will we do with that?”

“Why, have grand balls, of course!” He threw his hands up in the air as if her question was preposterous.

“Star…” Y/N tilted her head to look up at him from where she was lying on his naked chest. “You hate people. A ballroom full of them – it would be your literal nightmare.”

“I don’t hate people.”

“I don’t count.”

“Alright,” he conceded, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her closer. Y/N placed her palm atop where his heart was and rested her chin on it, looking deep into his eyes. “I hate most people, simply dislike them, but I wouldn’t be opposed to a get-together, from time to time. Maybe… maybe see our friends. Catch up on how they’re doing. I absolutely despise to admit this and will say you are lying if you ever mention it to anyone, but I – I miss them… even Gale…”

A gentle smile lifted her lips as she brushed a wild curl out of his face and tucked it behind his pointy ear. “I think I’d really like that too.”

His eyes were so soft and full of love, that Y/N swore she could feel his heart beating once more in his chest, thudding against her palm in a confession of adoration.

She was almost out of the city by that point, already on the small, secluded road leading to their house which lay on the outskirts of Baldur’s Gate right by the edges of the woods, so Astarion had easier access to game in between feeding on her when her attention was drawn back by someone calling out.

“Miss!” the voice, male she made out, yelled after her. “Miss, please wait!”

Instantly, her guard was up, but when a breathless man, looking to be in his late sixties appeared from behind a copse of trees, she somewhat relaxed. Y/N was still cautious, but if anything, she had a dagger holstered against her thigh. She was always prepared.

“Miss,” he gasped out, leaning his hands against his knees to catch his breath. “Miss, you are a quick one. I’ve been calling for you since by the rose stalls."

“Oh, I – I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you!” Y/N said but didn’t move forward. “How can I help?”

He huffed, as if regaining her breath, before fishing out a piece of fabric from his pocket, and extending it towards her. “You dropped this by the flowers.”

When she took a closer look at what he was holding, it seemed to be some sort of a silk scarf. She narrowed her eyes at him. She didn’t own silk scarves and definitely hadn’t worn one on such a warm day. “You must have mixed me up with someone, as it’s not mine. Sorry, for you to have troubled yourself like this.”

“No.” The man furrowed his brow, taking a step closer. “I am fairly certain I saw you drop it. Such a fine piece… didn’t want you to lose it.”

Y/N took a step back, angling herself in a defensive position with the basket in front of her. She didn’t like the tone he was speaking in, nor the way his eyes seemed to be appraising her. “No,” she asserted. “It’s not mine.”

His back stiffened, eyes growing cold, the grip on the scarf tightening as he hummed. “Well… a pity then.”        

She took another step back, but he was already lunging at her.

Dropping the basket to the ground, she reached for the knife strapped at her thigh, but he was quick as a viper as she hadn’t even noticed when a rope appeared in his hands, lashing it at her. Years of having fought had kept her agile and aware, but years of domestic bliss with Astarion had dulled her senses a bit.

The rope caught and wrapped around her ankle, knocking her to the ground. Y/N’s teeth clattered and snapped, her tongue almost in between them, but as he rushed to pin her down, she twisted her leg around the rope and pulled, making the man lose his balance and stumble.

It was enough for her to swipe her leg underneath his, and send him sprawling. It was enough for her to untangle her legs and roll away as he snapped it at her head. Her clothes were dirty as was her face, but it didn’t matter. She’d cover herself in blood if needed.

It was almost animalistic how she pounced – teeth bared, a snarl ripping from her throat and hands forming claws as if she would gouge at his face with just his nails, but as her palm brushed her thigh, unclipping the holster for her dagger, Y/N didn’t see the man had crouched on his knee and swung the cord.

It knocked the air out of her, as it wrapped around her chest, and he pulled her down, hard. Her ribs were screaming as the tether tightened and tightened with every pull, but as she thought this would be it, something strange happened – instead of offering her the killing blow, he opened a palm, now covered in a leather glove, and blew the contents of it onto her face.

Y/N coughed and sputtered, but whatever it was, was fast-acting and her lungs, still incapable of proper breathing due to the rope couldn’t expel it. In just a few seconds, the bright day around her turned into darkness.

She didn’t know how long she was unconscious for, but enough time had passed to dry out her throat. Or was that a side effect of whatever was blown into her face? In any case, as she slowly came to, Y/N noted there was a soft mattress under her body, which was an oddity for someone kidnapped. She could even tell the dagger was still by her thigh, the comforting weight of the blade pressed under her. Even weirder, if you asked her, to not disarm your victims.

Darkness still encompassed her, but the soft cloth against her cheeks told her she hadn’t permanently lost her vision, but with her sight obscured, she had to rely on her ears. That’s when voices invaded her senses.

There were three people somewhere further away, most likely in a different room if taken by how muffled the words were. She focused harder on what they were saying.

Two men and a female, Y/N differentiated, when the woman spoke.

“This is not what we agreed upon!” she hissed, and a grumbly-sounding man scoffed.

“You said to get her to you. I did. You never specified how.” It was the same man who’d knocked her out.

“We want her to help us!” A different male voice, this one softer, even kinder, rebutted. “I highly doubt kidnapping is a good incentive for that!”

“Look,” her assailant said. “I fulfilled my end of the deal. She is unhurt, maybe she'll sport a couple of bruises and a headache, but that is her own fault. She could have come willingly but didn’t. Other than that, though – she is completely fine. Now you do your part!”

As the trio argued between themselves, more angry whispers than shouting, Y/N started to shimmy her hands which had been bound, out of the restraints. She had a good inclination they needed her alive but had no want of staying as a prisoner.

Though her fighting skills seemed to have mellowed, which she was not happy about, even a couple of years without mortally dangerous adventures, hadn’t changed how quickly she could slip her wrists from their bindings.  Astarion might need to get more creative during their debauchery.

Y/N froze the second she heard a door open and shut, two pairs of footsteps moving closer and closer to where she was. Her breathing was shallow and almost imperceptible, as she tried to make it look like she was still unconscious.

She could sense two bodies enter the room and one move to stand where she faced, the other going to her back.

Y/N tensed. In just a few moments, whoever was behind her, would notice her undone binds. But she’d be ready.

“Darling, please be careful,” the woman said, a tremble in her voice.

Good. Let them be scared.

“Don’t worry,” the man replied. “I’ll just make sure she’s – what in the -”

But Y/N was already up, the blindfold off and ready to pounce. This time, she’d have the upper hand.

For a second, the light in the room blinded her, but her sight refocused fast enough to take in her captors’ faces.

The woman was beautiful, with high rosy cheekbones, and jade green eyes so vivid they looked like actual gemstones. Her hair was long and dark, down to her waist while grey strands seemed to have invaded the brown tresses in some places, but she was still ethereally gorgeous, her pointy ears covered in piercings.

Y/N snapped out of the shock quicker and using this to her advantage, she was behind her in a matter of a blink, her dagger pressed tight against her throat.

A gasp entered her ears, but she just pressed the blade harder, making her whimper.

“Please!” the man made her look at him, but instead of bracing for an attack, he had his hands up in surrender. “Please don’t hurt her! We just want to talk.”

“Funny way of having a conversation you’ve got there.” Y/N tightened her grip on the knife, surveying the man. Again, those same pointed ears, but his eyes were the most brilliant blue she’d ever seen and his face was marred with more age lines than the woman’s, yet he still was as gorgeous as she. “Typically, only my enemies would knock me out and tie me up before spilling their grand plans. But I will be kind and give you a choice – what would you like to be – friends or foes?”

“Friends! Friends! Please! We – we’re looking for our son!” the elven man pleaded. “And we – we heard a rumour that you might know him. Have even seen him.”

Y/N narrowed her Y/E/C eyes, piercing his with her gaze. “I’ve known and seen a lot of people. Usually, others just ask me about them, they don’t have someone kidnap me.”

“And we’re sorry, we’re so very sorry, but we had to make sure you came. It went too far and we apologise, but please…” He took in a deep breath, worried eyes flipping between his partner and her. “Our son – his name is Astarion. Astarion Ancunin. Have you – do you know of him?”

Hearing his name, knocked the breath out of her as if they’d snapped a rope around her chest again, making her stumble back. Her grip on the woman released, and she used the moment to leap over to her partner, using the bed as a buffer. He instantly wrapped his arms around her, pulling her half behind his back, but not before checking if Y/N’s dagger had pierced the skin.

Tears brimmed in the eleven woman’s green eyes as she looked at her, not even caring that just a moment before she was so close to having her blood dripping on the floor. “Please,” she whispered. “I – I know we didn’t go about it the right way, but please… is it true he’s alive?”

"I,” Y/N stammered, her gaze snapping back and forth between the two.

Astarion.

They were Astarion’s parents.

Even after all this time, they were searching for their missing son.

Y/N should have noticed the details – how the woman had a small mole on her cheek right where Astarion did, how the shape of the man’s eyes was the exact same as his son’s. Astarion even had the same high cheekbones as his mother while his sharp jaw was that of his father.

What had his eyes been like before? Green like his mother’s or the sky blue of his father's? What had he been like as a child? No doubt as mischievous and scheme-prone as he was now, but who had he gotten it from? So many different questions rattled through Y/N’s brain as she kept glancing back and forth, before shaking her head and pulling her out of the shocked stupor.

“You – you’re Ancunins?” She had to ask. Had to make sure she hadn’t overheard them or maybe hallucinating because of the powder she’d inhaled.

“Yes.” The woman nodded, brushing tears from under her eyes. “Our son has been missing for more than two hundred years, and we almost lost hope until… until we heard about you and your company a few years back. How one of the party members resembled our little Star so much.”

They hadn’t been inconspicuous, though they had tried, so it shouldn’t have come as such a surprise that tales of their adventures had gone far and wide, especially after saving Baldur’s Gate, killing Cazador and the absolute, and Gods know how many other evils along the way. But she never thought Astarion’s parents would have heard of it.

In fact, Astarion had barely even mentioned them over the years, and, for whatever reason, Y/N had concluded they must have passed, despite knowing elves lived extremely long lives. Had he maybe tried to find them on his own and couldn’t? Or had he forgotten about them?

Until Astarion and Y/N had become an official couple and she’d commissioned a portrait of him as a gift on an anniversary, he hadn’t even seen himself in two centuries. He’d forgotten what he looked like. It didn’t seem too crazy to assume, the memories of his parents’ names or their faces, might’ve slipped away as well, or even the love they had for him. Especially knowing how deeply Cazador had ruined that notion for him.

She needed to get home. She needed to see Astarion, and then she could figure out what to do.

“I need to go.” Y/N nodded to herself, muttering under her breath. “I need to think.”

“No, please!” the woman lunged, trying to grasp at her, but she had a knife pointed at her chest in an instant, making the elf shrivel back, but still, she pleaded. “Please help us. You’re the hero of Baldur’s Gate! If you can’t help, who will?”

“I promise I will do my best,” Y/N said. “But I need time… I – I need to figure all of this out.”

Her mind was swirling like a hurricane, but the man interrupted her breakdown as she realised how pretty much her in-laws, had kidnapped her. “At least tell us this – is – is it true he is alive? Or have we travelled across Faerun under the pretences of false hope?”

In truth, Y/N wanted to take them by the arms and drag them to her house, but whether Astarion wanted to reach out and reconnect, was up to him. That sort of a choice was not hers to make, but she could grant them this one request.

“He is.” Y/N nodded.

And then she left as quickly as she could because if she had to stand there and watch as the elves crumbled into one another, cries of relief and joy escaping into the slowly setting day, she would crumble too. Their faces were already permanently burned into her mind, and she needed a moment to process everything.

By a stroke of luck or fate, Y/N instantly recognised she was in the woods on the other side of Baldur’s Gate, so retracing her steps to the market was fairly easy even though the whole way back home, she was pretty much stumbling around in a daze, knocking into people and tripping over her own two legs.

Her discarded basket was right where she’d left it, gold coins scattered around it. The pouch must’ve broken during the struggle. Y/N made sure to pick every single piece up and was more than relieved to see, that the rose bloom was still intact.

By the time she arrived, the sun was starting to dip below the horizon, and as the last rays warmed her back, she extended her palm to open the door, though she didn’t even get to touch the handle as it was ripped open by a visibly distressed Astarion.

His eyes looked like he’d been crying, his hair as if he’d been relentlessly raking his fingers through the locks and his lower lip so bitten, there was a small hole where one of his incisors had gone through.

“Oh, thank the Gods!” Astairon instantly grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her in a bone-crushing hug, burying his nose into the crook of her neck. “Thank the Gods!”

Y/N dropped the basket over the threshold and closed the door with her foot, her own arms weaving around his middle, a palm soothingly brushing along his side, as he soaked her in.

“I’m alright, Star,” she said, kissing his temple and didn’t even make a noise as he gripped her waist tighter, right where bruises were forming. “I’m sorry I was gone so long, but I’m alright.”

“What happened? You said you’d be quick, but you were gone for hours! And you know what the worst part was – I couldn’t even go out looking for you because of the damned fucking sun!” Astarion cupped her face, turning it this way and that way, trying to find any injuries, but the biggest one would be in her head as she tried to figure out how to explain to him what had happened. “Gods, I am never letting you out of my sight again!”

Y/N indulged the vampire in the hug he pulled her in, holding him against her chest, trying to comfort him, but she was way too consumed with her new findings. Too quickly, as evident by the frown on Astarion’s face, she untangled herself from the embrace, anxiety immediately flashing over his handsome features.

She slid her arms from around his waist to take his palms into hers. “I – I don’t even know how to say this… How do you say something like that?”

Worry instantly marred his brow, and Y/N pressed a practised thumb between them, trying to soothe them away.

“Shit…” he muttered. “Did I do something wrong?”

“What? No!” She cupped his cheeks. “Astarion you’ve done nothing!”

“Then – then what?” He was tentative, still, scared Y/N might be angry at him. Or worse – wanted to leave, but her next words erased all that doubt.

“I…” She took in a deep breath. “Astarion, I met your parents today.”

Whatever he had expected, clearly that hadn’t been it. Probably a confession she’d met a past love, that their feelings were reignited and she wanted to go with them. But definitely not that.

He blinked once, twice, trice, completely and utterly stupefied before a small whisper of “What?” passed his lips.

“It’s why I’m so late,” Y/N explained. “They’d heard a rumour, that I knew you and had travelled with you during our tadpole situation, and came to me. Astarion, your parents are looking for you…”

A million thoughts seemed to swirl in his head, but Y/N held onto his hand through all of them.

“What,” he cleared his throat, “what did you tell them?”

“That I’d find them once I figured out what to do?”

“Which means?”

“Which means I would come home, give you this information and let you figure out what you’d like to do…”

So many emotions flashed across his face, but Y/N no longer needed that mind flayer tadpole connection it created – Astarion was an open book for her to read.

Joy. Such indisputable joy shone in his scarlet eyes before being consumed by confusion. Then anger and disgust and love, but by the end of it all his heart settled on one feeling – fear.

It’s what it knew best, though Y/N had tried her hardest to reduce it to ashes, yet still it lingered. She understood it, despite not being happy he ever had to feel it.

He feared what to do, what would be the right choice to make, he feared their reactions and what they would say of his disappearance or of his newest… condition. Would they accept him? Or would they be repulsed by him?

“What – what would I even say to them?” Astarion searched her Y/E/C eyes as if they held an answer, but when one magically didn’t appear, he hung his head, a tear rolling down his cheek. “I can’t even remember what they looked like. Their names, the house we used to live in… it’s all a fog.”

Y/N tried to give him an encouraging smile. “Well, your mother – she has the most beautiful green eyes. Like that dress you made for me for Summer Solstice, that same shade. And – and she has a little beauty mark on her cheek.” With a gentle thumb, she brushed over the mole. “Right in that same spot.”

His brows furrowed in concentration; his lips pinched tightly. “I – I remember blue eyes. Not green.”

“That might be your father's. His are azure I’d say. Like the summer sky. Gods, Astarion,” Y/N breathed out. “You look so much like them, but… honestly, the only thing you need to know right now is that they looked relieved.” Her voice was soothing as he tried to find lies in her words, but there would be none. “I didn’t tell them anything apart from the fact that you’re alive, and all I saw was complete and utter relief.”

Y/N placed a strand of hair behind his ear as he pondered. His carmine eyes slid to hers. “Do they want to see me?”

“Yes. It was the whole reason they sought me out because I might have a single scrap of information on you.” She’d mention the kidnapping later. Or maybe never, depending on how everything went. What he didn’t know couldn’t hurt him.

“Is it,” he hesitated, as if ashamed to be asking such a question. “Is it alright if I think this over for a bit? I’m just – there’s so much going on in my head…”

“Of course, Star!” Y/N cupped his cheeks and placed a reassuring kiss on his forehead. “Take all the time you need.”

“Thank you,” he sighed, his shoulders dropping, but she just shook her head.

“Nothing to thank me for. Not for this.”

And so, they continued on like that for a few days – Y/N didn’t bring the subject up, but she made sure Astarion knew, she’d be there whenever he needed to talk. Yet her mind couldn’t help but worry about the two elves in that little cottage on the other side of the town. How horrid it must be to wait for an answer that might never come, but her love was her first and only priority. When he decided it would be time, she’d support him no matter what.

It was a week after the revelation (and subsequent freakout on Astarion’s part when Y/N had removed her clothes before him, and he saw the raw skin and bruises on her ribs. She spent the whole night convincing him it was fine and talking him down from hunting the mercenary and bleeding him dry. She didn’t mention it had been his parents who’d hired him but rather said it had been an unfortunate coincidence), when Astarion awoke with a certain determination, shaking her awake.

She swatted at him like an insect buzzing by her ear. “Leave me be, you blood-sucking, elf!” Y/N grumbled, burying herself under the duvet. “It’s too early. And stop hogging the covers!”

She was just about to elbow him in the ribs if he didn’t let her sleep more, but what he said was like cold ice being poured over her, waking her up completely.

“I think I want to see my parents.”

Y/N was sat in a second. The sheet dropped down, exposing her naked chest, but she didn’t even feel the chilly air biting at her skin, even though Astarion’s gaze immediately dropped down to her breasts, eyes blazing with want.

Rolling her own eyes, she pulled the cover so that it obscured her indecency. Though it was his favourite outfit of hers, they needed to focus on the important things. “Are you sure? You can take all the time you need. There is no rush to this, and it’s a huge decision to make.”

“I’m sure,” Astarion sighed, running a hand through his moon-white locks and dropping back onto the pillows. “It’s pretty much all I’ve been thinking about.”

Y/N worried her lip before sliding back down next to him, letting him wrap his arms around her body. She knew in moments like these, Astarion needed reassurance, and he craved being close to her. Holding her grounded him, and made his scattered thoughts into something solid.

She kissed right above where his heart lay. “If, you’re sure.”

“I am… I just… Will you be there?” Astarion looked down at her.

The woman gave him a smile. “Nowhere I’d rather be than by your side.”

Gently, he brushed a finger against her cheekbone and leaned to kiss her, thankful he’d found someone to walk the world with, especially during the moments he feared he might break.

The day before they’d decided on meeting, Y/N ventured out to the cabin to inform the elven couple of Astarion’s decision. Once they’d seen her walking up through the window, they were out before she even managed to get to the door, faces full of hope.

“Astarion, he wants to come and see you, but there are some… conditions…”

His mother’s brow furrowed, the grimace so familiar it sent a pang through Y/N’s heart, but she swallowed it. “Whatever he needs. Whatever you both need. Anything for our little Star.”

“So… please just don’t question this, but umm… physical contact – I know I can’t possibly understand how you feel, but let him come to you first. It might not make sense, but it’s important that he is the one to make that step.”

“Of course,” Astarion's father nodded, his mother eagerly agreeing.

“And umm… he’ll be different. He might not look like the elf you remember him being. The world wasn’t kind to him for a long time… Please don’t mention this.”

Pain flashed across their faces at her words. They must have assumed something horrible had happened to him, but to have it confirmed was a different kind of agony. But as Y/N had asked – they didn’t question, simply nodded, holding onto one another a bit tighter.

“Alright.” Her heart was somewhat settled. “Thank you. We – uh- we’ll see you later tonight then.”

And with that, she left only to find Astarion pacing the inside of their hallway upon her return.

“Is it sundown already?” He snapped his neck to her as she removed her cloak, visibly upset when Y/N shook her head.

“A couple more hours, I’m afraid,” she said, taking his hand and kissing his palm, placing it against her cheek. “Please stop worrying. It will all be alright.”          

“But what if I’m making a mistake?”

She raised her brow. “Do you think you’re making a mistake?”

“N-no?” Astarion huffed. “I don’t know. I know I want to see them at least once, but what if it’s best to leave the past in the past? Why torture myself and exhume it, so to speak?”

“You can leave it all behind if that’s what you wish. But, Star, you also have the rarest of opportunities people get – a second chance.” She stepped close to him, pulling his head down by the nape of his neck so they could rest their foreheads against one another. “But you can always leave. You can always say “no.” And if someone doesn’t get that, no matter who they might be, I will gut them navel to throat.”

Astarion chuckled, brushing his nose against hers. “My knight in bloody armour, always ready to ride into battle for me.”

Y/N pecked his lips in response. “As long as I get my kisses at the end of it – without a second to spare.”

They spent the couple of hours waiting until the sun went down cleaning up around the house and then it was time to go.

As Astarion took a deep breath before closing the door, Y/N squeezed his hand. “We can turn back whenever you want to.”

But he seemed determined, only giving her a reassuring smile and twining their fingers together, her hand in his solid hold.

They walked slowly, enjoying the warm night gracing Baldur’s Gate, and soon enough they were through the city and past the woods, a small log cabin coming into view.

He stopped them a few feet away, taking in a moment to gather his thoughts and emotions.

Y/N glanced at him encouragingly. “Are you ready, Star?”

Astarion took in a deep breath, held it in for a moment and then exhaled, nodding. With this confirmation, she released his hand and ventured to the door, gently rapping her knuckles against it, immediately returning to stand beside her lover.

Instantly his palm was back into hers, as if he needed her to ground him, reassure him everything would be alright as nervous energy coursed through his veins while they waited for the inhabitants to come and see them. And though it was probably no more than ten seconds since she’d knocked, it felt like time had stood still. Once the doors opened, even nature quieted down.

The breeze shushed the tweeting birds and seemingly even the worms digging underground stopped their burrowing as finally, after two hundred years, the lost Ancunin son returned.

They stood like that for what seemed like ages, just taking one another in, before a small sob of Astarion’s name from his mother’s lips broke the spellbound silence.

It’s when he rushed for her, the elf already on her feet, meeting him halfway. Her arms wrapped tight around his body, hands smoothing down the back of his head as all the while she kept whispering “My Star, my little Star, you’re home.”

Y/N was on standby, ready to rip her away if Astarion became overwhelmed. She’d asked them to allow him to be the one to make the first step, and they had, but with such all-encompassing feelings, she just wanted him to be safe.

Though all that anxiety dissipated like ice under the blazing hear of the sun when Astarion practically melted against his mother, his fingers digging into her shoulders and back as if he never wished to be let go, both of them crumbling to their knees, still in each other’s embrace.

Tears welled along Y/N’s bottom lashes and when his father joined them, wrapping his arms around his family, they fell like rain on an autumn evening. She had to press a hand against her mouth to not sob out loud, but it didn’t seem like anyone would care, as Y/N noted Astarion’s shoulders shaking while his mother and father were freely crying, all the while touching and caressing his face, trying to ingrain the memory of having their son back in their arms.

She couldn’t imagine that feeling, didn’t ever want to, of finally being reunited with a family which you were so brutally ripped away from. Y/N almost wanted to resurrect Cazador, just so she could drive a stake through his heart again, but that might’ve been a bit too morbid of a thought in such a tender moment.

“You’re home.” His mother pulled back, cupping Astarion’s cheeks and smiling from ear to ear. “Our little Star is back home.”

“I’m sorry it took me so long,” he choked out, but his father shook his head.

“Doesn’t matter. You’re here. That’s enough for us.”

Y/N watched as he took in the people who’d searched for him relentlessly. He never knew they’d never given up. She wondered if there would be a time, he’d believe he was worth all it. She certainly hoped so.

“Thank you,” the elf with eyes like jade said, snapping her eyes towards Y/N. “You have no idea what kind of a gift you’ve bestowed upon us. We will never be able to repay you.”

She could only wave them off, a knot in her throat. “You owe me nothing. Seeing this – this is enough for me. I’ll – uh – I’ll leave you to it then.”

Just as she was about to turn around, Astarion jumped to his feet, untangling himself from the limbs of his parents, eyes full of concern. “What? Why? What’s wrong?” He was by her side in an instant, pulling her hand to rest against his chest.

“Nothing!” Y/N shook her head. “I just – I just think maybe I should take my leave. I can be back in a few hours if you’d like, but this just all seems like – like a private family reunion.”

Astarion scoffed, his free arm weaving around her waist, completely offended. “And what exactly do you think you are to me if not family, my love? Arguably, you might be the most important part of it.”

“Well, I wouldn’t say that -,”

“Hush now!” he scolded her. “You promised to be by my side through everything. Are you breaking that promise?”

“No, I just,” she stammered. “Are you sure you don’t want me to leave you to it? This just feels awfully personal.”

“My love, you are the keeper of my heart. You are my true home.” Astarion cupped her cheek, resting his brow against hers, chest against chest, not caring who might see. “Without you, none of this would have happened. I could still be on that beach with a mind flayer tadpole wriggling behind my eye.” He took her hand, and kissed her knuckles, sighing as they brushed against his jaw. “I don’t want to do this without you. I want to relearn who my parents are, and I want them to get to know me, but a non-negotiable part of that is you. That is if it’s alright with you?”

A tear slipped down her cheek, as she looked deep into those ruby eyes that once held nothing but fear and pain, only to now show love and compassion and happiness. When she smiled, her grin could have rivalled the sun itself. “I’d be honoured.”

When they glanced at the two elves by the threshold of the house, they noted the horrified looks on their faces. Astarion’s guard was immediately up, but his mother beat him to it.

“My Star, I am so sorry!” She put a hand over her mouth. “We swear we didn’t know you two were lovers! We just...” She glanced at her husband in desperation, but it seemed the little scene they’d put on had rendered him speechless. “Had we known, we would have never…”

Astarion squinted at her, a dangerous note appearing in his voice. “Never would have what?”

“Oh Gods, we had your partner kidnapped,” his father finally got out, eyes only widening in more shock as it settled that Y/N wasn’t just a travelling companion or a friend, but just what she really meant to Astarion.

“You did what?!” His head snapped to Y/N who now retreated to stand between the two shocked elves, and her quite furious boyfriend.

“Astarion, it’s alright,” she tried to calm him down. “They didn’t know! Besides, I heard them arguing with that mercenary. They didn’t hurt me. In fact, I,” she let out a nervous chuckle, “I held a knife to your mother’s throat. So, call it even and let’s move past it?”

His gaze was hot like the flames, as it burned into her. “We will discuss this later.” He pointed an accusatory finger at her before taking a deep breath and exhaling. “This is absolutely not how I ever imagined a family reunion to go, let alone the introduction of my partner.”

Y/N’s shoulders dropped as he broke the settled tension, but something in his eyes told her she’d pay for her omissions. And oh, how delicious that punishment would be.

His mother still seemed to be all nerves as she invited them inside, spouting apologies in Y/N’s direction, but when she took the elf's hand in hers and gave a comforting embrace, she relaxed a little. “Let’s let the bygones be bygones.”

“I’d appreciate that,” she smiled, and wrinkles of age and time appeared around her eyes.

It was awkward at first, two centuries of hurt laying between them, two centuries of torture on Astarion’s end, of lost love and people, but slowly they opened up. And when his mother mentioned how he always used to bury his nose into strawberry fields, because it reminded him of his mother’s hair care products, it was like a damn had been opened.

The memories were still there, buried under layers of pain and horrors, but there. Maybe a little jumbled up and out of sorts, but with every hour spent together, locks were being broken and a light long lost lit up again.

Astarion had changed, but so had his parents. He let them know of his adventures, how he met Y/N and how she had turned his world upside down but abstained from the more gruesome parts. He wasn’t ready for that. Not yet. Maybe not ever, but if he so wished, she knew his parents would be there to listen and welcome his vulnerably with open arms.

An hour before the sun resumed its place in the sky, Y/N nudged Astarion, telling him it was time to leave. She had little doubt in her mind, his parents had caught onto what he was, even if they hadn’t mentioned Cazador. If not for the shape of his elongated canines, or the colour of his eyes, which Y/N had found out had been a beautiful shade of pale green, then because of the brutal scars on his neck. But they still pulled him into a hug with such vigour, it was like they feared they’d never see him again, which was probably a thought always haunting their minds.

“Would – would you like to come over to ours?” Astarion asked, still holding onto his mother’s hands. “It’s a bit of a mess, our place, but if you come after the sun’s down, I’m sure we can have it proper enough to take on guests.”

It was an odd request, but thankfully, neither his mother nor father said anything about the specific time request, simply hugged him once more and promised to be by their door the second the sun dipped, wine and lemon cakes in hand.

As they waved their goodbyes, Astarion slipped his palm into Y/N’s and made sure they walked all the way back like that. Once behind a closed door, he pulled her into his chest relishing in the way their bodies melded together – two puzzle pieces finally connecting and forming the most magnificent picture to exist.

“What is it like to be finally home?” Y/N asked as he swayed them to a tune only, he heard.

Astarion shook his head, pulling slightly back so he could cup her jaw. “My love, I have been home for a long time now. I’ve been safe and cared for, all thanks to you.” His eyes were so full of love and adoration, she almost choked on a breath. “Now… now it just feels complete. So thank you… thank you for being my home,” he muttered that little confession against her skin, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “Thank you for keeping me safe.”

“Always, my love.” Y/N didn’t hide the tears rolling down her face and he brushed them away with a soft thumb. “Always.”

When their gazes locked, all she could see was excitement for what the new day had to offer, and she knew whatever was in store, as long as they were by one another’s side, there was nothing they couldn’t overcome.

But for all that, there was an important thing she was unaware of.

As Y/N entered their living room, talking to herself and making a list of what they had to do before his parents arrived, Astarion stood and watched her, leaning against the doorframe, all the while his hands rested in his pocket, where in one of them, a beautiful ring was being twirled between his fingers.

Before they’d left, his mother had slyly pulled it off her own hand, pressing it into his palm, and whispering to him while hugging that she didn’t want to see Y/N without it the next time around.

Astarion had no intention of living his life without Y/N as his fiancé for a second longer.

When she turned around to find him on one knee, he didn’t even get to ask the question before she responded with a shout of “Yes!” and jumped on him, pulling him into a kiss he swore breathed life into his still chest.

He couldn’t wait to reintroduce Y/N to his parents as his intended.

Now all was as it should be. He was finally home. And somewhere in the garden, a rose bloomed in full.

Tags:

Everything tags: @palaiasaurus64 @supernaturalbaesduh @thatawkwardlittlefangirl @sea040561 @staryeyedgirl @deathbyarabbit @m-a-t-91 @maladaptive-ninja-returns @averyrogers83 @gallifreyansass @dewy-biitch @avxgers @unlikelygalaxygiver @magicwithaknife @ollyoxenfrees @bnhvrdy @tvwhoresblog @thatkindofgurl @sj-thefan @lestersglitterglue @im-squished @strangersstranger

Astarion tags: @spacebarbarianweird

A/N: This idea was inspired by that one post of a painting Astarion's parents probably had of him, but had put away somewhere just so they didn't have to look a the son they lost, so I rectified it (Link to the inspo pic :) :( Now they have a portrait of Astarion and his love right above their fire place :)

P.S. my tags are always open :)

P.S.S. please don't plagiarise or repost on other platforms.

[vivaciousdomo]

Vegan BG3

I've been doing a vegan play through of BG3. Like, I'm still a durge, and evil, but I try not to kill animals, and I don't consume meat or cheese. Is anyone else doing this? Any mods to add more vegan items? Also, am I missing the beans? Ye olde europe would have eaten a bunch of beans, right? How do I get protein if no beans?

List of Vegan Foods

apple/half eaten apple

bagel

baguette

banana (how is this in in europe?)

bread/stale bread

cabbage

carrot

courgette

fragrant fungus stew

garlic

glow cap mushroom

good berry

grapes (green/purple)

gruel

horseradish

kiwi

lemon

lettuce

mushroom soup

onion

onion soup

orange

pale mint

pear

potato/boiled potato

potato porridge

pumpkin soup

pumpkin

raspberry

red pepper

sourdough bread

split pea soup

sun melon/half a sun melon

sweet potato

vegetable broth

walnut

(I accidentally ate the supply pack, but it has cured meats in it and "smells distinctly of smoked ham", so I won't make that mistake again. Let's just say Lae'zel ate them 🤷 Also can't eat the berry tart because it's got butter in it.)

Maybe Vegan?

biscuit (seems to be an oatmeal raisin which can be made vegan)

everything soup (description is "named for the halfling tradition of frantically raiding the pantry or garden upon the unexpected arrival of a guest")

puff pastry braid (unsure if butter was used here)

sunflower seed bun (unsure if has butter)

treacle tart (maybe butter?)

Drinks

amnian dessert wine

arkhen's hoard (wine?)

ashaba dusk (wine)

baldur's grape (wine)

blackstaff

barrel-aged callidyrran (…whisky? rum?)

carafe of wine

chultan fireswill (wine)

common table wine

eigersstor noblerot (??? probably vegan?)

esmeltar red

highsun liqueur

ithbank (wine)

mermaid whiskey

mug of beer/pitcher of beer

plum fizz (wine?)

port sherry

rolling deck rum

tyche pink (rose?)

wine (regular wine???)

Non alcoholic drinks

the water from the well outside the Hag's house (can't bottle and carry in your pack though and maybe has dead human bodies given the smell 🤔)

health potions? (can't long rest with them tho :<)

tea

coffee

I'll update this if/when I find other vegan foods and drinks, for your RP pleasure.

I'd also be so down to try and make a vegan bg3 cookbook. I know the lady with the big pot of gruel says she can't find salt easily, so maybe easy on the salt, but we have garlic and onion, so we have at least some flavor 🤔 oh, and there's a red pepper, so we can have some spice, maybe. brb, starting a Vegan Baldur's Gate 3 cookbook?

[pilot-doodles]

HELLO! I was tagged in this "Get to Know me" thing. wazzup. thanks, @alyxtried

Last Song - Blood Upon the Snow- Hozier, Bear McCreary

The song fits some of my OCs super well, I keep putting that song on in the car and get really lost in it. It's one of those songs that if given the right time to sit and listen, will give me full body chills. today was one of those days!

Currently Watching - Star Wars Rebels (Season 2)

I can't shut up about Star Wars ever and because I am fun and love live My favorite animated series is Rebels. I wanted to show it to my roommate. Every time I re-watch it I notice more and more. I'm also watching Ashoka so It is nice to see the parallels. and GOD i love Hera Syndulla so much.

Currently Reading - Burning Chrome- William Gibson

Reading is SUUUUPER hard for me for some reason, so I find myself picking up and putting books down often. I rarely get so engrossed in a book that I finish it, but that's why Burning Chrome works for me. it's a scify anthology/short story comp that I can pick up and put away whenever I want. the few books I strongly recommend are Piranesi and the Winternight Trilogy!

Current Obsession - (Still) Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Baldur's gate 3

before I go back on my Star Wars bullshit, I'm still playing BG3 with my beloved bard, Viv. I don't have as much free time as I did a while back but I still want to finish the story.

Favourite Colour - Red

it's been my favorite since I was a kid! I don't have a single explanation for it but it's always my favorite. I use it a lot in character design. I am also a fan of a good gold and black. the combo of red, dark navy and gold will always make me go insane. (in a good way)

Favourite Candy - Gummies

who has ONE favorite candy? what? I love gummies, hard candy, dark chocolate, anything with lemon- the more I think of it I don't think there's anything I actively dislike! except circus peanuts and candy corn but I think I'm allergic to them.

Favourite Game of All Time - Final Fantasy Crisis Core

I don't know who knows but I have a tattoo of the buster sword (Zacks OG CC version). it's on my left forearm. the tattoo artist I got was amazing, too. Crisis Core was extremely formative for me and had formulated some of the ideals I hold today.

Current Pets - Tadashi (gray longhair cat) and Acorn (Society Finch)

My boy tadashi was a shelter cat who probably would have died if I hadn't gotten him when I did. He came to me with a life threatening respiratory infection and ringworm, fleas, kennel rashes, etc. He's all fixed up now and living his best life as a spoiled, fat housecat. he's a bit standoffish to people, but really loves being with people. I also live with my sister's two cats, madeline and Olive.

Thanks for the tag, If someone wants to do it, go for it! I would love to hear about the vast beautiful worlds you got going on! (trying not to tag irl friends) Theres a lot of you active mutuals, so if I missed you and you wanna do it, I have spiritualy tagged you.

@magicalzombiegirl @ramroadrage @sternenhimmel-mond @thatoneperson1967 @astro-b-o-y-d @jesterrlavorre @phobosapollo @nionbell

[dustdeepsea]

Tagged by both @littleplasticrat and @voloslobotomyservice so I combined answers to both! Sorry this took a while, and thank you for forcing me to actually flesh out my OC ^^;

Name: Octavia Nickname: Tav Gender: Non-binary (they/them) Star sign: Aries Height: 161cm (roughly 5’3”) Orientation: Pan Race: Human Class: Rogue/Fighter multiclass Romancing: Rugan No one, but they had a tender moment with Halsin after the shadow curse was lifted.

Favourite… Fruit: Plums Season: Autumn Flower: Peonies Scent: Cedar

Coffee, tea, or hot chocolate: Hot black tea with lemon Average sleep hours: 5-6 hours, plus as many naps during short rest as they can fit in Dogs or cats: Cats Dream trip: To visit Kara-Tur Amount of blankets: A light blanket pulled up to their waist, that gets kicked off sometime during the night. Can barely stand being cuddled or spooned, but will allow it until their partner falls asleep.

What is your Tav’s…

favorite weapon? Knife of the Undermountain King (technically a shortsword but it has “knife” in the name!), and the silencing Sussur Dagger in their off-hand.

style of combat? Striker with a critical hit build—although they have enough Constituiton and Fighter’s Second Wind to take a few hits for their casters.

most prized possession? Tav hoards every shiny thing they find on the road, so definitely their non-canon Bag of Holding.

deepest desire? To walk freely and invisibly; to not be perceived/gendered/judged.

guilty pleasure? Sticky sweets, luxurious fabrics, impractical clothes. They definitely wear soft, pretty things to sleep when they are alone.

best-kept secret? Where they stash all their coin and hoarded trinkets on their relatively small person.

fatal flaw + bad habit? (I debated this one for a long time while writing them, even as a reader-insert.) Tav is fatalistic and has a latent deathwish, which is balanced by their sense of duty and morals. In BG3, they realise they have an important mission to complete, but would also gladly annihilate themselves in the process. In this way, Tav is ironically extremely selfish.

This manifests as them taking on far more than they can handle constantly, while trying to be stoic about it. Yes, we’ll save your sister. Yes, we’ll find the missing Archdruid. Yes, we’ll lift the ancient Shadow Curse. Yes, I’ll do every terrible, mundane thing you ask of me, including dragging everyone along on a mission to save the world.

greatest strength? Consequently, their attitude on said suicide mission is very much: “You cannot kill me in a way that matters.”

favorite spell/cantrip? Blur

pet peeve? Cold food that isn’t fruit. Please don’t feed them any more dried sausages.

hidden talent? They can mimic a tune they’ve heard once, but have no aptitude for reading or playing music or wish to learn.

leisure activity? Sorting and polishing one of the many daggers, cups or rings they’ve found.

favorite drink? Hot black tea with lemon. They will add honey sometimes, as a treat.

comfort food? Savoury porridge with egg

favorite person(s)?

Shadowheart: Shadowheart can reliably call Tav out on their bullshit, with kindness and humor.

Jaheria: Jaheria nicknamed them cub, and reminds them of their mother.

Rugan: They aren’t sure why this person keeps showing up and drinking with them, but they like it also the dick is spectacular.

favored display of affection? Acts of service

fondest childhood memory? Being given some coin for morning errands and having some leftover. Buying hot, fresh bread from the bakery, and eating it while watching the sunrise, in sneaky fistfuls, without having to share with their seven siblings.

anything else you’d like to share?

Tav’s alignment is neutral good.

I am well-aware that at some point I will have to name them (oh god) but Tav is the youngest of eight. Their parents were too tired to discipline them strictly by the time they were born. They grew up playing on the streets and being raised by some combination of older brothers and sisters.

They snore, terribly, and need to be rolled over in their sleep to stop.

Their favourite treat is Turkish delight (or whatever the Forgotten Realms equivalent is).

In the City of Judgment, they hope to be claimed by Jergal. It would be nice to be walked home by a friend.

Meet Tav!

Octavia was the eight child of a large family. They shortened it to Tav. No one calls them Octavia anymore.

Fighting style: Dual-wielding daggers, sneak attacks, blur, colour spray, hit and run.

Appearance: All the outfits in BG3 are waaay too form-fitting for them -- Tav would be wandering around with a hooded scarf in high summer, looking like a teenage boy who hasn't hit their growth spurt. I wanted to design them as androgynous, yet still somewhat cute, and ended up settling somewhere between "Link" and "Arya".

Romance: No relationships on the way to Baldur's Gate, but they made eyes at Halsin. They're now sleeping with the Zhent. It's complicated.

I know this multi-class build is absolutely not optimised (take Thief and Battlemaster if you want to go Rogue/Fighter in BG3). But I did this all to give them WIS as a dump stat. This is my commitment to A Bit. Also they took 5 levels in Fighter after the Underdark and pumped CON out of spite and a refusal to roll over and die.

[lemonhemlock]

bg3 anon, answers under the cut for ease of scrolling! 🤝

Anonymous asked:

"you’re right. i think i’ll perhaps do it as a safety check because i don’t intend to be respectful of the bloodsucker twink lmao. i put him in a ridiculous looking outfit and it’s so hard to take him seriously AT ALL i’ll see how it goes. he’s currently leaving me on ‘Seen’ with an approval rating of 3" Darling (pun intended, sorry, couldn't help myself) it's going to be a problem starting his romance if you're still at 3 approval. I would suggest checking the BG3 wiki, it has most of his approvals and disapprovals listed so you could farm them, but that would be way too immersion breaking to be fair as it goes against the beauty of role playing, at least if you are the type who truly immerses oneself like I am...sometimes I can't bring myself doing things I personally want to do it in a game because it would go against the character I am playing...it's super weird lol.

If romancing him doesn't work out maybe you can go with Gale instead? Or why not maybe Shadowheart will grow on you haha By the way I don't know if I mentioned this but to successfully romance the bloodsucker, you need to sleep with him at least once in act 1. You can't start his romance later.

As for ridiculous looking outfits…here's a suggestion you may want to keep in mind: at the start of act 3 there's a circus where you can loot a clown outfit and buy clown makeup. I put everything on Gale personally because why not? However, sadly the only clown in this whole affair was myself considering I spent 5000 gold on making Astarion a fucking statue, which stayed in my camp for the remainder of act 3. And he didn't even comment on it!!! Well at least I didn't go for the naked version of it, but next time I'm definitely choosing to make a statue for my Tav lmao.

"well the wives are the reason i’ve started to play actually, as counter-productive as that sounds 😂 i have a friend who explained the lore to me, so i know most of astarion’s background and what happens with him, though i don’t remember details, of course. she told me how delulu they are in excusing every thing he does, even his insane decision to become the no 1 ascended vampire boss. how they deceive themselves into believing astarion becomes in love with them if they act like complete doormats and go along with whatever fuckass thing he wants, even if the 'detect thoughts’ option clearly indicates that he thinks badly of them :))"

I didn't want to mention the possible ascension because of spoilers but since you know a lot about him already thanks to your friend…yes, it's all true. The ascension wives are the most unhinged subsect of the Astarion fandom. If you let him do it he even becomes abusive if you are in a romance with him and you'll even have to agree to let him turn into his vampire spawn otherwise he'll break up with you (some of the wives 100% believe he turns you into his vampire bride, but obviously there is nothing in the game confirming this, on the contrary, the evidence is quite flimsy). The craziest thing is the wives think YOU are the abusive one for not letting him sacrifice 7000 souls (including children) in a diabolical ritual, a deal with a fucking archdevil in order to let him ascend, because how can you condemn pookie to a possible life without the sun while still feeling a vampire's hunger? They think you are robbing him of his own agency and infantilizing him. Not to mention that once you get rid of the tadpole, he won't even let you break up with him anymore. Like, at all. You have no choice anymore. He outright laughs at you and says "your future is mine to decide." Also, if you break up with him just before he's about to turn you into his spawn he admits he would've used your love for him against you until "you were nothing", that he appreciates you for doing this, saying he didn't think you had it in you (breaking up with him, that is). Oh and since you mentioned playing the game for meme potential, well, here you also have the option to kick him in the balls when he says "on your knees, darling" to your Tav, before he's about to transform them into a vampire. But be careful, he breaks up and leaves the party permanently after doing this to him lmfao (like any Real Man™ would).

But no, the wives won't hear any of this, in fact they blame you for only choosing the confrontational dialogue options and say that if you are nice to him, he doesn't turn abusive. What??? That's not how this works lmao.

Yes, he has all that power, glory and money if he ascends, but at what cost? He totally loses himself and any positive character growth he had is totally gone and nullified by the ascension. Like yeah he does push for ascending, but does he really need it? There is a difference between wanting something (for all the wrong reasons imho, he can be safe and free without doing this as his good ending proves it) and needing something and you as his friend or lover should know better rather than have him give in into his worst impulses. Tbh I think many of these wives genuinely believe that if he says he wants something, you have to do it because how can you deny your boyfriend this "but he said so!!!". Loving someone doesn't mean agreeing with them every single time, that's not how actual relationships work. That's not to say one can't enjoy toxic relationships in fiction, but that's not what these people are doing here, let's be real. He actually approves and genuinely thanks you if you talk him out of ascending, by the way. He says he was not himself back then when he was just about do it and although he did not appreciate it at the time, is now grateful for saving him from himself, that you saw and believed he is enough just way he is, that now he is "truly and honestly free". The game couldn't be more clear about this, the parallels, the foreshadowings are all there from the very beginning but everything completely flew over these people's heads. Sure, he gets sad when he loses the tadpole and can't be in the sun anymore but eventually he embraces the shadows (in a good way this time) and realizes he can be free and happy like this as well.

Did your friend mention the fact that the wives also harassed and stalked one one of his writers for calling this ending the bad one for him? Because they did this. (tbh personally I do think that writer unprofessional in how they expressed their opinion but they still didn't deserve to be harassed for it…and it's also not like the text itself doesn't confirm what they said).

I do feel bad for those who do like his evil ending for what it is without trying to whitewash it because they often end up catching strays thanks to the crazies, like people telling them they'll be abused in real life by their partners because they like this version of Astarion…which is not a nice thing to say to someone even online. On the other hand these wives claim they are genuine villain fuckers, that they love Astarion as evil as he can be, they also claim to love dark romances but then they totally dumb down the toxic elements of the relationship with him and turn it into uwuuu loving evil power couple. Come on…they genuinely insist his bad and evil ending is the GOOD one! Most characters have a good and evil or bad ending yet fans of other companions don't pretend the bad ones are secretly the good ones "for reasons" or "but they said so, they said they wanted it". I've yet to meet a Shadowheart fan who genuinely thinks her bad ending is in fact her good one, for example. Or a Lae'zel fan.

______________________________________________________________

Darling (pun intended, sorry, couldn't help myself) it's going to be a problem starting his romance if you're still at 3 approval.

i shot up to 28 now! 🤙 without basically doing anything evil, apart from letting him feed on Gandrel (but i kept him alive, at least) out of curiosity, i'm going to go back and see if that gained me any approval points or not

I would suggest checking the BG3 wiki, it has most of his approvals and disapprovals listed so you could farm them, but that would be way too immersion breaking to be fair as it goes against the beauty of role playing, at least if you are the type who truly immerses oneself like I am...sometimes I can't bring myself doing things I personally want to do it in a game because it would go against the character I am playing...it's super weird lol.

oh, i am so tempted, but i'm trying to maintain at least a semblance of unpredictability and candor! i totally get not wanting to do smth if the character would be against it

If romancing him doesn't work out maybe you can go with Gale instead? Or why not maybe Shadowheart will grow on you haha By the way I don't know if I mentioned this but to successfully romance the bloodsucker, you need to sleep with him at least once in act 1. You can't start his romance later.

good to know, soldier! 💪i am not refusing any of his (most likely) cringe sex proposals if i can get them 🤡

As for ridiculous looking outfits…here's a suggestion you may want to keep in mind: at the start of act 3 there's a circus where you can loot a clown outfit and buy clown makeup. I put everything on Gale personally because why not?

LOL i have a mod that gave me a clown outfit and i put it on shadowheart 😂 but gale sounds hilarious, too

However, sadly the only clown in this whole affair was myself considering I spent 5000 gold on making Astarion a fucking statue, which stayed in my camp for the remainder of act 3. And he didn't even comment on it!!! Well at least I didn't go for the naked version of it, but next time I'm definitely choosing to make a statue for my Tav lmao.

i was in tears when i read this :))))))))))))))))))) anon, i'm so sorry :)::):):)::):):):):) i can't imagine

i'm fine with letting astarion drain my blood, but i draw the line at spending so much money on his ungrateful arse 😂 priorities 😂

The ascension wives are the most unhinged subsect of the Astarion fandom.

the stories i've heard reveal such a fascinating level of delusion :)) like you said, not being able to accept the distinction between vampire spawn and vampire bride: he tells you (or least i chose that dialogue option) how one can become an actual, full-blown vampire and that no vampire would create a competitor! straight out of his mouth

Not to mention that once you get rid of the tadpole, he won't even let you break up with him anymore. Like, at all. You have no choice anymore. He outright laughs at you and says "your future is mine to decide." Also, if you break up with him just before he's about to turn you into his spawn he admits he would've used your love for him against you until "you were nothing", that he appreciates you for doing this, saying he didn't think you had it in you (breaking up with him, that is).

to think!! i would crawl straight into the depths of the mariana trench 😭 no way is this loser going to pull this level of insolence on mirta

Oh and since you mentioned playing the game for meme potential, well, here you also have the option to kick him in the balls when he says "on your knees, darling" to your Tav, before he's about to transform them into a vampire. But be careful, he breaks up and leaves the party permanently after doing this to him lmfao (like any Real Man™ would).

i puked a little in my mouth 💀

There is a difference between wanting something (for all the wrong reasons imho, he can be safe and free without doing this as his good ending proves it) and needing something and you as his friend or lover should know better rather than have him give in into his worst impulses.

yeah, that's what i was talking with my friend about, that you'd be out of your mind to accept for him to ascend. and, like you said, it would negate any kind of character growth he might have had until then. so far, my friend was able to talk him out of it and he was grateful, whereas my boyfriend didn't have a good enough approval rating so he had to kill him off. very different outcomes!

but neither of them have managed to fuck him so we'll see on which shores the tides of love take us 🤡

Tbh I think many of these wives genuinely believe that if he says he wants something, you have to do it because how can you deny your boyfriend this "but he said so!!!". Loving someone doesn't mean agreeing with them every single time, that's not how actual relationships work.

very well said!

also, i think that maybe in another game, it would matter more towards making him "happy" if you just went along with everything he says, but the game mechanics here are a little different and it's obviously telegraphing hard that this is Not A Good Path

That's not to say one can't enjoy toxic relationships in fiction, but that's not what these people are doing here, let's be real.

exactly, there needs to be a level of awareness here of what the dynamic actually is, not a senile denial of basic power imbalances

Did your friend mention the fact that the wives also harassed and stalked one one of his writers for calling this ending the bad one for him? Because they did this. (tbh personally I do think that writer unprofessional in how they expressed their opinion but they still didn't deserve to be harassed for it…and it's also not like the text itself doesn't confirm what they said).

not yet, i don't think! she just mentioned that they're very weird with the voice actors as well. she sent me a very long and lachrymose tumblr post, bemoaning that his actor showed his discomfort with ascended!astarion fans during a livestream, how unprofessional and hurt they were by this very normal reaction

on a different note, she showed me the post with the life-sized astarion sex doll someone commissioned

I do feel bad for those who do like his evil ending for what it is without trying to whitewash it because they often end up catching strays thanks to the crazies, like people telling them they'll be abused in real life by their partners because they like this version of Astarion…which is not a nice thing to say to someone even online.

of course, you can enjoy even that ending. i can see myself playing with my friends and making the most idiotic choices, howling with laughter. every one has a kind of setup that allows them to revel in the silliness or (why not) the kink-factor of these situations. it's the "convincing yourself this isn't abusive" part that's the issue

On the other hand these wives claim they are genuine villain fuckers, that they love Astarion as evil as he can be, they also claim to love dark romances but then they totally dumb down the toxic elements of the relationship with him and turn it into uwuuu loving evil power couple.

i wanted to highlight this because it's so true and something i've seen in more fandoms as well. i would say that aly$m0nd was a similar case, where a lot of shippers refused to engage with any potentially problematic aspects of their relationship and just pushed a sanitized true love narrative.

I will address the rest all at once without quoting separately since it's faster. Hopefully I didn't miss anything important:

The spear you found in Withers' place is okay for Shadowheart momentarily but it will soon become obsolete as you will find a much better weapon for her just before entering act 2. It's a mace called "The Blood of Lathander" and is located somewhere within the Githyanki Creche (you will have to go there as it's part of Lae'zel quest). Just deal with the giths first and then go and search for the weapon. It's super good for clerics especially and it's one of those weapons that is effective even in act 3 by the end of the game.

I heard about this mace! I will keep an eye out for it. Add it to my list of items I need to find while still in Act 1.

Entering turn based mode is also a good idea when stealing from merchants.

Yeah the weightless consumables mod is a must have. It seems useless now but when you start collecting all kinds of arrows, potions, scrolls, gold you will become encumbered really, really quick.

I'll see how much longer I'll mentally last with loading and unloading all of the crap I pick up. :))

I think you can sneak past Ethel's masked servants, some players managed to do it (perhaps you could try and make everyone invisible?). Personally I fought them as I didn't want to complicate myself by trying to sneak.

Oh yeah, I go more in detail in my last post about my Ethel adventures.

The Ethel point, if not used on your character, might very well go on one of your companions as I may have said in one of my previous asks. If anyone's main stat is still 17 use it to get it to 18. Then use the ability increase feat to even other odd ability points left? Mayrina will be angry with you no matter what you do so don't worry, it will pass.

So, I requested an INT +1. And my plan currently is to summon the ogres when I go to the goblin camp, make sure they die, if not felled by goblins, then by my hand, and pick up the Circlet of Intelligence or whatever it's called. It pumps INT up to 17, I think? I can then dump all of my INT numbers down to the minimum of 8, add Ethel's +1 and I'm up to 18. With a lot of points free to distribute someplace else. If I can get my hands on the Gloves of Dexterity, too, I can almost turn Mirta into a tank. I feel that secretly she longs for the bloodsong of the battlefield, but is keeping real quiet about it. :))

Nice that you persuaded the ogres to fight for you!!

You got the necromancy book? That's great. Buuuut you might have wanted to take Astarion with you as he has an interest in it. Giving it to him will also grant A LOT of approval (10 points I believe?) which is desirable since you want to romance him. And no, he won't do anything funny with it, the book will be safe in his hands. I mentioned in a previous ask about trusting and agreeing with some of his less insane suggestions, well, this is one of them.

Thank you so much for this suggestion! I wouldn't have known otherwise. There are a lot of details or paths in this game that you could easily miss, some of them very random!

As for your latest incident I should've mentioned that trusting him to NOT drain you dry isn't a good idea lol. I'm sorry once again however it's still extremely funny what he did to poor Mirta. At least she punched him!!

She's in her emo princess era currently. No time like the present to bust out the intense eye makeup!

After you are done with all the side quests in the area you can go to the goblin camp and do what's needed to be done there without needing to kill ALL of them. Rescue Halsin if you want to (he is a nice guy but a boring character overall and the bear sex stunt turned me off his character a bit I fear) and kill the goblin leaders. Not sure if you know, but one of their leaders (Minthara) can be recruited later in act 2 if you knock her out. So no killing - so don't use spells and ranged weapons on her if you want her to survive and have her in your party eventually.

Yeah, the bear sex I honestly find hilarious. I'm going to try to recruit as many as I can, because free labour and help? Why not? Though I'm not sure I can have both Minthara and Halsin in my camp (apparently they can't stand each other?). My bf said I had to choose, but I wonder if I can't get those two crazy cats to get along with my high CHA.

You may want to expose Kagha and the shadow druids before doing the goblin camp.

Good to know, thanks!

This is weird, when it comes to dialogues you should have the possibility to select the Friends cantrip in the bonus section before you roll the dice. It should be there near Shadowheart's guidance. Once you select it two dices will show up on your screen, then the dice with the higher number will be taken into consideration. You may have a bug if it doesn't show up. But yes other than dialogues, there's not much practicality for it.

You're right about that, I will reconsider the Friends cantrip later on maybe. I imagine I get more cantrip slots as I progress.

Also, if you want access to the Guidance cantrip, there is a necklace that grants you this spell so you won't need to drag Shadowheart around you. (a short video with the location so I don't have to explain it to you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_abMisavwU )

This would be so useful, thank you very much!!! V excited about this!

Yep, Dancing Lights disarming traps and vents is apparently a thing which I found out quite late in the game. I always threw stones and random weapons at vents to cover them and then I had Astarion disarm them and any other traps.

As for lightning and ice spells or cantrips: Shocking Grasp and Ray of Frost are the only cantrips available, but you may want to look into spells. I know the temptation is to not spend your spell slots and focus on cantrips since you can cast them endlessly but trust me, sometimes you'll have to use spells. Once you hit level 5 you'll begin to have access to other cool lightning and ice spells. Lightning Bolt and Glyph of Warding (this one lets you choose the type of damage you will deal and both ice and lightning are available - Shadowheart as a cleric will also have access to this spell) and on later levels there are even more cool ones. You probably missed this one but on early levels there is also Chromatic Orb which is similar to the Glyph.

Oh, yeah, I do use spells, too, but you never know when you might need an elemental cantrip you can cast without limit.

The only items Gale can eat will have a text written under them that should say something like "Gale can absorb this item". He has standards, he won't eat just anything!

Too bad I didn't figure that one out sooner, but no real harm done!

Not you giving Gale the Dancing Lights amulet. You are right that it is redundant but it has sentimental value since it's from Arabella's parents. How could you???

The bard hat must be worn by a bard, even if you gain that ability from Alfira it won't work on your character. Bards, depending on their current level, have a number of "Bardic Inspiration Poins" which are similar to cleric's Guidance cantrip and will grant other party members bonuses when they roll their dices. Some of their attack actions are also dependent on this system and may cost bardic inspiration points. If you don't intend to respect someone into a bard or use multiclass (a feature that's not available on your difficulty level anyway) on a party member, then the hat will be useless and Gale can eat it.

Oh.... Well, it was worth a shot. I did look goofy while wearing it. Gave it to Gale after all.

Gloves of uncommon power? Did you mean gloves of power? They are fine on Lae'zel or maybe even better on Astarion due to the Sleight of Hand +1 bonus. You could give them to Gale and then buy the Gloves of Thievery for Astarion from the Zhentarim merchant (I think you need to deliver the shipment from the caravan to them without opening it in order to have access to them and other cool items from full inventory).

These names sort of blend into each other after a while. :)) I'm writing down the Gloves of Thievery, thanks. :))

thank you for the Magnus Archives podcast link!

You're very welcome, I hope you liked the episode!

Anonymous asked:

"lmao anon don't worry! i genuinely did it for the lols at least i got him to an 18 approval rating for me, more than karlach, lae'zel OR gale somehow (motherfucker, and this is AFTER i gave him an artefact to consume)" Thanks the gods lol, I was surprised a bit since most players did not genuinely trust him to not do something stupid. The fact that you have options to make him stop is enough of a warning imho, the game is pretty much like "are you sure about trusting him, hmm?".

Tell me about it, but you can't really think clearly with vampire fangs down your neck, right? ☠

And how did you manage to have fucking Gale at a lower approval lmao, now I feel stupid for suggesting in my other message to go for him instead if you can't manage to romance the vampire. Gale and Shadowheart were the only ones I managed to have much high numbers compared to Astarion, and quite early on. Karlach was the hardest for me, followed by Lae'zel.

I'll have to check how I stand with them in this post-Ethel administration! 💪 Shadowheart and Wyll are quite keen on me.

"i'm glad he's fucking "happy", what can i say 🤡 maybe now we're not going to fail every perception check in ethel's cave at least. we're going TODAY so i can benefit from this bonus (i did work my arse off for if after all!)" From now on up until the end of the game you can use his bite ability on enemies when in combat and he will gain the "Happy" condition each time, including the +1 bonus. Alternatively, you can also have Mirta become his willing blood bag and invite him to feed on her each night or so lol & the following morning he will gain the condition that way as well, but I think letting him feed on enemies is better.

Yeah, I can imagine the blood bank fics, 😅 but, unfortunately (or fortunately for the sane ones amongst us), Mirta would wake up with some of her abilities depleted at the cost of Astarion's boosts. And that doesn't really work for her since she's discovered her own penchant for dueling after her brush with death. How can she take all that damage enemies frontload on her in combat otherwise? 💬

A fun happening which I forgot to mention previously but there is this Rha*nicent fan art that's been living rent free in my head ever since I saw it back in august (link: https://x.com/kknoahh/status/1825991659835867357) with short haired Rha*nyra, who I genuinely thought to be…Astarion at first. I was like who the fuck started to ship Alicent with him lmao, like can you imagine this crackship.

Oh my goodness, Rhaenyra really does look like him. 😳 Alicent really out there catching all strays and being shipped with anyone with the slightest potential of becoming psychosexually obsessed with her. :))

Have fun at the birthday party!!

Thanks so much, it was nice to go out and see my friends!

Anonymous asked:

Well, Gale isn't in a position to criticize Astarion for hiding his true nature, to be fair. You'll find out soon enough when he confesses the full truth about his condition and why he really needs to consume all those magical artefacts. I don't remember if the rest of your companions have something to say each time after you give items to Gale to eat but after you feed him for the third and final time they should have something to say if you click on them, at least those who are in your active party at the time (again, no exclamation mark will show up above them).

This tip has proven very useful and I always make sure to check on them at the end of the day and after I hit long rest. Most of them did comment on Gale some way the other, but NONE of them had ANYTHING to day that the leech spawn KILLED ME. Forsooth!

Astarion will be like "who would hide something like this from his friends? you can't trust anyone this days", which is quite hilarious considering Gale was more understanding lol.

This line is even funnier if you think he's being self-aware while saying it. :))

I may offer you a hint that won't spoil anything: make a quicksave to be sure just in case and then use Astarion's bite ability on Gale. You'll see that something is wrong with the guy… ;)

He did ask me whose blood I'd suck, which was quite hilarious, and insisted I'd answer. :)) I picked Gale for the lols, hoping it would trigger what you said, but nothing happened. I guess fang boy abides by our deal and keeps to hunting animals? Who would have thought? But maybe I'll try to bite Gale tonight, to see what he does.

Unfortunately, backgrounds don't matter so much, Tav is pretty much a blank slate. You get some specific skill proficiencies and maybe some unique dialogue options here and there but other than that? Pretty much nothing, except for also receiving inspiration points. It's really a missed opportunity and one of my main criticisms of the game, there are plenty of occasions in the game where your background could've been taken into into consideration. You actually gave a good example about perhaps being allowed into spaces common born people aren't, but unless I missed something, nothing like this happens. You even meet Baldurian nobles in act 3 and you have no dialogue options with any of them when normally you should've been familiarized with at least some of them, being a noble yourself. Two of your possible companions, Wyll and Minthara, are of noble birth as well and you can't have a noble to noble conversation with them (you have a noble dialogue option with Minthara but only if you play as a drow noble, other races aren't acknowledged and as far as I can recall, Wyll has no specific dialogue for other nobles).

That's unfortunate. It would have been a great addition. Like, I imagine noble characters could start out with more coin in their pockets or that common-borns could have streets smarts (survival proficiency) or knowledge about the local flora or fauna or small settlements. I sometimes have dialogue with people about aspects my tav should already be aware of, even general world-building stuff, like fellow races or just current events. :))

Also, it's rather annoying to be playing a Baldurian character but they're seemingly unaware of anything going on in Baldur's gate. For example, Mirta should have been aware of Cazador, I feel? At the very least that there's a coven of vampires in her home city and that no one is doing anything about it. :)) Or just generally question Astarion's magistrate background.

Good luck with Ethel!!

Thank you! Whole other post below on my hag struggles. :)

[lemonhemlock]

bg3 anon, replies are under the cut!

Anonymous asked:

Thank you for putting everything everything under the cut. It helps a lot :)

"Yes, the blatant ignoring of his actual lines is what gets me. :)) " That's the most annoying part about it isn't it? The game is very blatant about it being the bad ending for him but they completely ignore all the signs. Astarion himself literally says thank you for helping him break the "cycle of power and terror" (not kidding, he uses those exact words) which is a bit hilarious as it pretty much shows you the fact that the writers didn't fully trust part of their audience to get the message, so they decided to spoon-feed them to be 100% sure, just in case. Still, it didn't work! Sometimes I don't know whether to laugh or cry.

It gets even funnier though. When you explore Cazador's palace and dungeon you'll find his former master's (Vellioth) skull. It will tell you the rules of vampiric existence, the most relevant ones being to always dominate and allow no one to be your equal & to not share power with others as sharing means you are weak, and being weak means to die. It's pretty much what Astarion tells you in act 1 about true vampires not wanting to create a possible competitor. You'll also find some more insight into Cazador's life as a spawn. He was treated and abused just as badly as Astarion was, if not worse. At some point Cazador tried to reach out to a friend of his only for Vellioth to find out about it and punish him by draining his friend dry in front of him. He also tried to rebel against his master and was punished for it by being impaled for 11 years.

If you go and fight Cazador without Astarion in your party, you can cast Detect Thoughts on him while he is trying to heal himself in his coffin after the initial fight. You'll find out Cazador grieves his current existence ("the monster that will not end") and longs for the boy and the man he once was. He may have taken the all the power and his former's master place, but it still ended up trapping him in this cycle of neverending abuse and terror, a cycle that has been repeating for centuries with all the vampire lords and those who managed to take their place. It's a very sad situation.

Everything is very much a foreshadowing of what will happen if Astarion ascends. But do the wives care? No. It simply doesn't apply to their vampire boyfriend, because...reasons. There is also the irony of ascending Astarion just so he could enjoy and not burn in the sun anymore after the tadpole is gone and him telling you he plans to cover the world in darkness (thus block out the sun) anyway for his future spawn...

And look, I'm all for people interpreting a piece of media however they want but there are certain instances where both the text and the context are extremely clear and to come up with the opposite message and insist that is the right one is bizarre, if not deluded. Sometimes yes, there is more vagueness and one can reasonably come up with multiple and equally valid interpretations (and there are a few cases in this game, I'd argue) but that's not always true. This goes for everything really, not just this game.

I guess this is just further proof that, if someone has the predilection towards delusion and exaggerated fiction escapism, it doesn't matter how explicit you make the message. It's not going to stand in the way of their mental gymnastics. It definitely a case of shoehorning some kink fantasy into this (or any) story and closing the metaphorical eyes and ears to make it work. Which, like you said, each to their own, but it's so annoying to see someone actually try to defend that position without a shred of self-awareness. :))

I do feel really bad for Astarion's psyche, though, he's probably the character with the most amount of baggage. Like, can you imagine the roller coaster of emotions of being kidnapped by mind flayers, waking up in the sun after centuries, going over the initial shock of somehow not burning alive, then finding out there is a real possibility that you're about to turn into a squid person any day now? You can't even enjoy being away from your eldritch tormentor without worrying about tentacles sprouting from your face and losing your sense of personhood, being replaced with god knows what. You're all alone, have limited survival potential on your own and thus feel the need to make sexual passes at the group leader in hopes that they'll keep you around, if only as a sex toy, because some shelter is better than no shelter, so what if you have to sell your body for scraps again? It's not like anything you haven't done before. Ngl, I would have lost my marbles. :)) I guess this is why I'm more forgiving of Astarion's condescension than I am of Gale mansplaining the Weave to my wizard tav. :))

I have to say, I recently saw a little clip of Auntie Ethel hurling personalized Vicious Mockery insults at various character and her lines for Astarion were "is that rat I see between your teeth, slave" or something akin to him deep down actually enjoying being leashed. ☠ Took me out fr! Ethel did NOT come to play!

By the way, I'm sorry if I spoiled too much? I try to leave as many important bits as possible but since you knew so much of this already from your friend and bf, I figure you don't mind. Still, if you do please do tell me.

"Like, if I were going into this blind and let him ascend for the lols, I would immediately go back to an earlier save because I couldn’t stand that level of clapback. :)) And, generally-speaking, I wouldn’t let anyone in my camp achieve god-like levels of power because I just don’t think anyone should be entrusted with so much ability. " I do recommend on creating a separate save file for the ascended route if you're romancing him, at least for the sake of exploring the alternative route it offers for his character and the dialogues, but for sure he becomes unbearable as you'll immediately be inclined to go back to an earlier save like you said.

Maybe, but I could NOT stand his pale ass smarming at me. He's here to serve and fight crime, even if I have to drag him kicking and screaming!

Also, did you say "god-like levels of power"? Well, I regret to inform you but one of Gale's possible endings is him ascending to…godhood, if you're pushing him in that direction. Not even kidding. It's too bad the game doesn't allow you to put a flag in the center of your camp and write "NO ASCENDING ALLOWED. FOR ANYONE." on it. Maybe someone could make a mod?

Gale is most definitely NOT approaching godhood in any capacity. I could not STAND this mediocre white man overpowering ME!

I am, though, debating on whether I should let Volo perform brain surgery on him. Mayhaps I will!

"But it’s better to convince him against ascending, even if you have to break up with him. Not sure if those things are mutually exclusive, but, at the end of the day, he’s an elf, I’m a human, we have different life spans and couldn’t be together for a long time anyway. :)) " You can convince him against ascending and still keep the relationship. As far as I can remember, he breaks up and leaves the party if you don't help him at all when it comes to deciphering the meaning behind his scars in act 2 (which are tied to the Ascension ritual). He also does it if after you defeat Cazador, you initially say you're going to help him with the ritual (he won't be able to do it by himself at all) but then immediately change your mind at the last moment just when it is about to start.

You do however need to pass a persuasion check to convince him not do it and yes, if you fail it he doesn't ascend AND breaks up with you and leaves the party. There is also a Wisdom/Insight check that, if passed successfully, will tell you the promise of power the intense smell of blood in the air are intoxicating him indicating the fact he doesn't think clearly at the moment.

There is also a scenario where you even end up fighting him, but I don't remember the exact combination of dialogue options that will lead you to this outcome.

Thanks for the tip! I knew having high charisma would come in handy eventually.

The wives cling to the persuasion thing and they interpret it as you coercing Astarion into not ascending, but I think that's missing the mark entirely as persuading someone in this game doesn't equal coercion. Characters being opened to persuasion usually means they have an open mind, that they are capable of changing their opinion when you show them a better alternative. That's not the same thing as manipulation.

Even if it were manipulation, I'd still do it for his own good. Dumbass needs all the help he can get. 😂

Oh, good that you mentioned your Tav being human. There was an insane take about this a while go when some wife legit said you are being cruel to him by romancing him with a human due to their short lifespan...like how could you do this to him? Other wives even think you are ableist and get angry if you want to cure his vampirism, by the way. I would also add that in D&D there are various possibilities to extend your character's lifespan. Of course, the game doesn't offer you this but it's something that could happen within the universe. I personally like the angst mortal/immortal ships have so I chose not to headcanon something like this though.

Glad to know I have already joined the ranks of his abusers. 💪 Us antis got to stick together!

ABLEIST because you want to cure him of his vampirism.............that's wild :))))))))) How about I cure him of that and the price is that he'll get to live the remainder of his life in human years.... because I am NOT spending an elf eternity with that man. 🤙 A century is more than enough.

The Tav I romanced him with was also human…and so is my second Tav actually. I'm usually one of those boring ones who plays human characters even if the game lets you be something else.

IKR! Not bothering with other races, my imagination does not swing in that direction. :))

"I showed this to my boyfriend and we joked about buying the Zara Astarion!knock-off shirt. In all honesty, I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from laughing, so the whole cosplaying element would be for nothing. 😂 And I agree, I don’t…….. get…….. humanoid sex dolls, but spending so much money on a literal waifu pillow is " Lmao if you pair that Zara shirt with some leather pants, then find a silver haired wig you could have your own Astarion. It could make for a nice outfit for Halloween!

Agree though, I wouldn't be able to stop myself from laughing either.

The wives also spent a fair amount money on this figurine by the way (warning! very nsfw https://www.gkcollectors.com/products/god-pan-studio-the-pale-elf ) Not kink shaming anyone but come on lmao.

What on god's green earth!!!! Why does his cock look like a fat worm!!!! Why did they give him that cringe expression!!! 😭

I sometimes wonder if the Snapewives were this insane about their guy. It's a pity I wasn't in the HP fandom back then so I can't compare them.

Oh, the Snapewives could give them a run for their money! They built literal altars and were imagining themselves in real astral marriages.

"Yeah, I’m gonna summon the ogres in the goblin camp, too, thanks for the tip against this boss. I’m hoping the ogres will die in battle, but, if not, I’ll kill them myself to get that Circlet. " When I summoned them I had Astarion get (while hiding behind some wall I think) as close as possible to Dror Ragzlin while the rest of the party was farther away because I didn't want the game to drag everyone else into the fight. I then had him sound the horn. The ogres appeared and started to fight Dror and his minions and when most of the participants in the battle were dead or close to dying, I then dragged the whole party into the fight and simply finished everyone off. It did took me a few tries in the beginning because Astarion ended up being spotted, but it was worth it.

For some reason, the ogres did not show up for me in Dror's throne room, no matter how many times I sounded the horn. So I ended up summoning them in the courtyard, then, by the end, moved Mirta towards Lump and moved Lae'zel away. Then, while mid-conversation with Mirta, I switched to Lae'zel and Lump was dead after a couple of smacks. So I got my hands on the Circlet of Intelligence. Plus Auntie Ethel's hair, I can basically dump INT to 8 and still get INT 18. But I'll wait until after the Creche because I want the Gloves of Dexterity, too, so that I can dump DEX as well in my reclass. Tank!Mirta incoming!

I'm also thinking I'm ready to change the difficulty to medium now (I heard I can do this mid-game). The goblin battles weren't really challenging on easy and I am intrigued by multiclassing, which I can not do on easy. Dror, for example, was SO easy to kill, I just put Lae'zel and Karlach nearby and they made quick work out of him, he was gone by the third turn max. Elixir of Bloodlust on Karlach is insane.

"I tried but after Astarion reads it, it will not open for me anymore. Also, I’m sorry to report that giving him the book only got me a +5 approval rating. 😅 I’m currently at 39, so I’m gonna bring him with me to the goblin camp, too." It will only work on the party member who took the book initially. If you gave it to him back in the cellar, only him and no one else (including your character) will be able to benefit from the bonus it will offer. Ah, I think I misremembered the bit about receiving +10 approval if you give him the book. Still, +5 is still a high number. By the way, once you hit 40 approval rating he should propose you to sneak off and sleep with him at night...you are not far away from that. If he doesn't then don't worry, you can still do it at the party.

So I did a little reading and realised the goblin camp was a rich field of easy approval points for Astarion (and for Lae'zel and Karlach, too), that I just had to re-do it. During my first run, I didn't really stop to talk to all the goblins and missed many opportunities. And I didn't really even have to do anything evil, just chaotic and dumb, like flinging worg dung at the guards. Also, there is a barn in the Blighted Village where an ogre and a bugbear are having sex. If you go there BEFORE entering the goblin camp and let Astarion interrupt them*, you get 5 bloody approval points in one go. Crazy. After that, he made his advances towards Mirta and then the sex scene triggered when I hit long rest.

*you will have to separate yourself form the rest of your party and just knock with him at the door

"I did hear that Minthara was funny, which is why I’m interested in having her in my camp. A shame that Halsin is so boring! For a sex bear you’d think he’d be more LOL?" He is tied to a major quest in act 2 but other than that...yeah they didn't bother at all with giving him something else to do in act 3 besides sex and complaining about the city (he also has some fans that can be very annoying in their defense for his character). It's a pity because he had more potential as a character. Even Minthara who although wasn't intended either to be a companion either, still has something else going on considering she has a past with one of the main villains.

If nothing else, Halsin will be nice to have for some added flavour and the ability to play with a druid. Minthara, too, because she is a paladin and I have none in my party. Pity you can't make Volo a companion!

"Love to hear that she dunks on Gale, man’s become bottom tier in my companion list alongside Shadowheart. " When you recruit Minthara, Gale is like "I suspect a heart of gold lurks beneath her appearance" & "once she gets to know me I'm sure she'll open up, she just needs someone to listen." And she literally is like "LMAO, no!" I lowkey like them as a crackship though, this guys does need someone like her to put him into his place.

I am so looking forward to hear her dunking on Gale.

Shadowheart still hasn't grown on you? :( Such a pity. At least she tried, I suppose?

It's the obsession for her shitty god and the fact that she misses every single sacred flame I select. 😂 You need A LOT of patience with her to get past her eyerollish Shar worship and her mean emo girl shtick. I know she has a backstory and was probably kidnapped and brainwashed by Shar cultists, but, my god, the attitude!

Funnily enough, I think her and Lae'zel have many traits in common - rudeness, blind fanatical faith in something, arrogance etc - but Lae'zel is fr my fave.* I just find her so funny, inappropriate and extra, in a way Shadowheart isn't. We were in the Grove after defeating the goblins and, imprompted, she told a tiefling child he should get over himself because at his age she had already killed???? her own cousin???? girl fr who asked 😭🙏

(only surpassed by Karlach, because she is... basically perfect, but so sweet it's very easy to like her)

Frustratingly enough, Lae'zel and Karlach have me at the lowest approval ratings in the party :)) 31 and 29, respectively. But we'll do the creche next, so I'm hoping they'll grow.

"His reveal about him being Mystra’s lover just gave me the ick - that’s such a story only a MAN could tell. Becoming the buttboy of a goddess who couldn’t give two shits put together about you (otherwise why wouldn’t she help him with his current condition) is soooooo lame. Also he came off much too eager about Raphael’s offer which is another dumb man take. I get that he’d want to get rid of his weave problem, but he only has himself to blame for that in the first place. We’re NOT vibing atm." Lmaoo don't ever tell this to the Galewives, they absolutely hate Mystra's guts as they believe she is his groomer. It's very debatable if she really could be called a groomer in the first place, to me it always seemed like those fans only want to absolve Gale of any responsibility. It's very much HIS fault and no one else's as to why he ended up with that condition. Like you said, he only has himself to blame. Truly. I also agree, him considering Raphael's deal is a dumb man take. Even Astarion didn't agree.

Yes!!! Thank you!!! And, in any case, I think you can fight Raphael even if you didn't take his deal, so I'm not missing out on anything.

I think Mystra is equally lame for cavorting with (and discarding) a human like that, but groomer? Let's bffr.

The Galewives also think Gale is autistic coded and if you hate on him too much, you might being ableist yourself. Lol. Of course, they are not as bad as the Astarionwives with their buffoonery but you still have to be careful about what you say about him. Defending Mystra in any shape or form is guaranteed to trigger them. The good thing about them is they don't delude themselves with "but God Gale is his actual good ending" like the Ascendedwives do with their husband. Now that I brought this up, I actually do remember one discussion where an Ascendedwife was trying to defend Gale becoming a god because "he says he wants to!" and paint it his good ending, only for a Galewife to show up and be like STFU you clown.

Gale is NOT autistic coded, what the hell? If anything, he is privileged rich kid coded.

"I hadn’t even considered period blood fics, my goodness. =))))))))))))) I mean, if I were to entertain this train of thought, this is a fictional realm, why wouldn’t period blood count? It’s magically-infused by being associated with fertility and the like! Think, wives! “Lacking the proper nutrients”, my arse. " There are people who are into this kind of thing in real life but it's apparently too gross for a fucking vampire lmao.

He's been eating RATS until recently, how could this be more gross 😂

I also regret to inform you, but the latest period blood discourse (which originated on Reddit, mostly as an unserious, shitposting thing and surprisingly not something the wives provoked) has breached containment. Someone had the bright idea a few days ago to ask Astarion's writer about it on Twitter. Thankfully, he refused to use his powers as a writer to give an answer and said he will let the debate to rage on. Seriously now, I do find this a bit...embarrassing? I've always hated it when fans go to the writers and the actors to have their headcanons or interpretations confirmed since they obviously want that just so they could dunk on other fans. Just let people imagine whatever they want.

Yeah, it can quickly delve into inappropriateness, but it can also be shitposting idk :)) Gotta judge it on a case-by-case basis. The writer refusing to reveal whether period blood is nourishing for vampires in BG3 is kind of hilarious, though.

"Thank you! I’m currently debating about what to do with the missing shipment. I feel bad about killing Rugan and Olly after I’ve JUST saved them from gnolls, but the Zhentarim sound like major arseholes, so I’m contemplating just playing nice until I can trade/loot them, then killing them in their hideout. But if I spare Rugan and Olly now, won’t I just end up killing them in the hideout? Seems like the same outcome. I wish I’d get an persuasion check to convert them or something. Or at least Olly, as Rugan seems to be more shady. Although he was very nice to me after I saved his skin!" Yeah, the Zhentarim are majos assholes. I initially opened the shipment myself but still ended up going to an earlier save (I lost like 3 hours of gameplay) as I found out it will lock you out of having access to some very unique items from their merchant. You also get a nice crossbow as a reward if you return the shipment intact without opening it to their leader. You can still choose to attack everyone afterwards (and get the shipment back, if you REALLY want to find out its contents), although it isn't required and you can leave them in peace (you may want to explore their hideout anyway as there are some chests out there with unique items). Also no, you can't choose to spare Olly if you decide to turn on everyone. Either way, I wouldn't worry too much about this quest, its outcome doesn't matter in the long run at all.

I did get Harold and managed to trade with the merchant. I tried to make the painter make a portrait of Astarion, as I figured it would be a nice gift for him to be able to see himself, but I could only free him. (Of course, Astarion disapproved both that and me giving him money for the road).

I think I completely forgot about the shipment though! That cave is so big and I kind of lost myself picking up everything from the ground, so I don't really know where it is? Or if I can go back? Was it where Zarys was standing?

Anonymous asked:

BG3 anon again! I put together a few crazy screenshots of the wives being insane as I figured out you may want to get a laugh. :)) I didn't want to put this in my previous message as I don't want to attract any negative attention to your blog.

Link: https://imgur.com/a/wives-being-insane-lDwQwi2 (I hope it works)

This is barely 1% of the shit they say, sadly. Also, I was careful to not put any spoiler-y stuff that you may not know about yet, but yes they can be even more unhinged than this. The first and the most recent one is personally my favorite, the wife there dropped quite the gem about GRRM who, according to her, did not convey any message in his work…I fear I may never get this quote out of my head. Wives, please leave ASOIAF alone!!! We don't want even more craziness over here.

Thank you for this, I passed it to my own group chat for a good laugh. the wife declaring that the message of ASOIAF is "Winter is coming" tells me everything I need to know about their media comprehension skills. :))

The Gale scene where he tries to teach you about magic triggers for everyone once you hit a certain approval with him, it's not because you flirted with him before. You did well by choosing the imagine a hearty meal together option, that should lock you out of romancing him (although you'll have a second chance at the party if you want flirt with him there).

Phew! I even had Lae'zel come onto me unprompted at the goblin camp. With 30-ish level approval!! She's crazy lol. She gave me the "I want to taste you" line. Before that, she asked Astarion at the waypoint why he hadn't attempted sleeping with her. After he slept with Mirta!! Lae'zel!!! 😂

I won't say anything about the dream guardian…that's too much of a spoiler and trust me it's better to not find out anything about this one.

Yeah, I just made the decision that I don't want to have the Illithid menu activated, even if nothing will happen if I just take 1-2 tadpoles. But, for RPG reasons, we're doing all of this shit to get rid of them, why would I add more of them, you know?

Tbh Astarion's flirting is super cringe, I honestly don't get how so many of the wives get so horny at his lines. Or why they like this side of him so much. He sounds like a third rate pickup artist.

Right?? It would work so much better if he took it down a notch or two. Atm it's mainly pantomime. I nearly gagged when he talked about "our mutual ecstasy".

As long as you knock out Minthara she should show up in one piece later at Moonrise Towers in act 2. Also yes, you don't have to get her to be temporarily hostile anymore. Just initiate the fight. Make sure though you take out the war drum and the scrying eye, otherwise reinforcements will show up.

Again - as long as you knock her out you are good to go. Speaking with her before meeting Halsin shouldn't matter, but just don't take him with you in your party when you go to her. Having him in your party will also turn the entire goblin camp hostile automatically, so you may want to keep it in mind. Most players knock her out at the goblin camp but there is also the option to pretend you are her ally, show her the grove's location, take a long rest and then betray her once she shows up at the location. You can knock her out there as well during the fight. Both options work but doing it at the goblin camp is much easier since it's one battle less. It's also safer since during the siege you risk getting her killed by one of the tieflings if you are not careful.

I managed to knock her out and free Halsin so fingers crossed!

Don't worry about the other messages, you can answer them when you want. I don't mind.

💚

Anonymous asked:

You must have done the deed and let him bite you I guess...if you already have him at 74 approval!

Yesssssssss, I let him interrupt the barn sex between the bugbear and the ogre and that was so alluring for him he couldn't stand one minute longer without Mirta so he propositioned. And ofc I "offered him my neck" during intercourse, those are free points right there! 😂 74 points I got after finishing the goblin camp, a lot of free +1s over there that stack up + getting Loviatar's Blessing ofc.

But that's good, it means you really are on your way to become a real wife, although I hope you won't be a Snapewife type like so many of them are. Just kidding, I know you won't lol <3

Building him an altar in camp as we speak! 😂

Short story: there was some discourse in the fandom this week (I won't go into detail right now because it's a long story and it's better to put it under a "keep reading" post, just in case lol) but a wife "accidentally" got involved in some of the drama and lo and behold...she was one of those types who believes she's in a real relationship with the guy. They recently celebrated their three months anniversary. So happy for them! Now seriously...we may very well be on our way to a Snapewives 2.0 revival!

Oh god, well, it was only a matter of time, was it?

I also took a look at HOTD Twitter and unsurprisingly, people are still triggered by Helaemond and there is still harassment going on all of it over shipping, so I guess nothing changed over there. Oh and I saw TGC's friends got harassed by his fans. Yikes.

Im Westen Nichts Neues then LOL

Speaking of fans, a Shadowwife (or maybe it was a Shadowhusband) gave her actress a vibrator as a gift lmao. And the box had already been opened.

My friends told me. Wild! Guess shadowwives are throwing their hat in the ring for the title of weirdest micro-fandom.

Hope that chicken schnitzel was good, by the way!!

It was! The heartiest meals are the ones you eat languidly after a long day! :))

[lemonhemlock]

bg3 anon, i can happily report that i went to the bdsm priest in the goblin camp and astarion was so impressed i offered myself up to be whipped that he finally came onto me 💪 almost unlocked wife status 👽

[lemonhemlock]

BG3 anon here. Glad to see you've finally dealt with Ethel! The trick with the Protection Against Evil and Good is really neat, when I first played the game I had no idea it could work like that! I remember putting one of the masks on my Tav and she got possessed by it so I ended up fighting her minions and knocked all of them out except one. I'll definitely use that trick in my second playthrough though, I already reached level 4 and will have to deal with her soon enough. By the way, to successfully knock out a character you can't use ranged attacks and spells on them, that might be why you got all her servants killed. Or, if you use such attacks make sure the last, dealing blow isn't one of those, but a melee one (so swords, axes, maces, thing like that). Also, try not to use poison on your weapons or inflict other lasting conditions (like bleeding) on your targets as that can fuck the whole thing up in case the character you want to knock out is one of those who can show up later in the game. You should be safe though if the game says they are knocked out and they don't die when you exit the combat.

I wouldn't worry at all about missing some any important items from Ethel. She had a nice staff you could buy (you'll find better ones soon enough anyway) and some potions of Hill Giant Strength which are great, but it's not like you can't go on without them. Plus, you will meet other merchants selling those.

Yes, the dialogue with Gandrel is different depending on whether or not you found out the truth about Astarion being a vampire. It's also a bit different if you meet him without Astarion in your party! Honestly, I don't know if knocking out Gandrel works. Some characters will appear later on if you don't kill them and choose to knock them out instead (like Minthara will) but for story reasons I assume, some others won't. It is possible the game will consider him dead regardless, despite him not being technically dead. The only thing I want to point out is that it makes absolute sense from a role-playing perspective for Tav to deal with him considering he's looking after one of your companions and let's be honest, it's not like a monster hunter will spare a vampire once he's done with it. After all, vampires are considered irredeemably evil monsters in their world. I do agree that him trying to get help from a hag is quite stupid, he should know better being a monster hunter, shouldn't he?

As for Mayrina, I don't think you can grab Connor without her knowing so I would ignore her cries...she's better off without his stinky zombie ass anyway.

you're very welcome about the Protection Against Evil spell!

i think that's where i failed with the masks, because i used ranged attacks and spells on them. it would have been way easier to incapacitate them first and then just fight ethel with 3 people. if you succeed in doing that, make sure that, when you loot their knocked-out bodies, you don't take their masks off. otherwise they die. just take their other stuff

i dunno if gandrel will appear again in this act at least but if he pesters me i will deal with him at the time :)) aside from seeking help from ethel of all people, i'm not sure i can blame him for hunting a vampire (conceptually-speaking). ofc, astarion insisted that he must have been hired by cazador, but i clicked the option of asking why would the gur work with another vampire?

he told me they might not be aware who they're working for. but you know. :)) i'm already aware astarion did do some shitty things to the gurs :))

i'll see if i can make it up to the gurs later on

yeah, you know, i feel like after all this work i'd have earned at least a persuasion check on mayrina! i did leave her her necklace and all. this was hilarious bc she started talking to the nearest person, which just so happened to be astarion, and i made him say very sympathising things that i'm sure he very much did not mean :)) and, after all this bashing, i do have to say i thought it relatively cute how, when you enter turn-based combat with him against ethel, he tells you smth like "if you want to save the girl, you have to do it NOW". i was expecting him to advise me to ditch her and save our necks or start blaming me lol. it's the bare minimum in this camp!

[lemonhemlock]

oh my gosh you guys i let the bloodsucker go on, wanting to see how much of my blood he'd actually drink, and the motherfucker left me for dead!!! 😤 i had to make karlach use a revivify scroll on me 🧍trust NO man

i look busted fr

yes i did punch him in the face afterwards

[lemonhemlock]

baldur's gate anon thank you so much for your message & tips! i've decided to go back and re-do a lot of stuff (mainly to get the maximum out of ethel) so i'll come back and answer alongside my progress! hugs!

[lemonhemlock]

ok so i'm getting deeper into my act 1 baldur's gate playthrough and i'm chuffed bc i managed to get all companions without having to do extra detours! i'm playing as an enchantress wizard and i insist on having high charisma bc i want to be able to convince people to do stuff 😂 my dexterity is fairly low though so i always get attacked during battles lmao

also i really need to get my wisdom higher somehow bc all the wisdom rolls are annoying me and i wanna be able to do them without shadowheart. thinking about dumping DEX altogether to pump into WIS or maybe finding a magical artifact to increase these stats? i don't think astarion needs gloves of dexterity tbh, he's gonna get max DEX anyway

i picked up the spell that lets you see invisibility during my latest level up so that i can go fight ethel LOL wish me luck

[lemonhemlock]

bg3 anon!

i would have replied sooner but... well, you know. i didn't want to be on any sites at all, truthfully, so i've basically only been playing a bit and looking at build videos, some limited stuff on the bg3 subreddit, that sort of thing. i'm just... so tired.

anyway. i'm currently out of the underdark and investigating rosymourn monastery. i did all the underdark quests (i think) but did not take the elevator to Moonrise Towers because i wanted to explore as much as i could.

" Yeah like with all due respect because I don't want to sound offensive or god forbid try to diagnose people I don't know in real life, but many Astarion fans (plus a few others in the fandom) need to seek out a good therapist. It's clear many use this character as an emotional crutch to cope with the problems and traumas they have which in theory should be fine but after interacting with them it's obvious they are not doing so in a healthy manner.

It's understandable to identify with a fictional character and it's normal to use fiction as escapism but they take it so, so far that they just can't differentiate the actual canon between what they projected onto him anymore. Some unfortunately also have the habit to (un)intentionally trauma dump onto everyone else and constantly use phrases like "As a survivor…" likely to guilt you in order to sell their own interpretation of the text as the only valid one. After all, if a survivor tells you something it means it must be true and moreover, it's shitty of you to contradict them, you know? If you try to politely argue against them, they lose their marbles and hit back with "just say you hate survivors". It doesn't even matter if you are also a survivor who may or may have not decided to come out as in a fandom space (why would we though, many of us are private persons).

I had witnessed similar behavior in the HOTD fandom where antis were employing similar tactics when trying to harass people for shipping incest, claiming they are were a danger to real survivors like themselves without knowing that many of those who were targeted by their horrible behavior were also survivors who simply chose to interact with problematic media because it's a safe environment that allows you to control the outcome. Not everyone is the same nor are survivors a monolith, in the end it's on your own responsibility to curate your fandom experience.

So, so true. The weaponisation of trauma survival as a means to lord over people in fandom spaces is such a creeping blight in online discourses and serves no one. It alienates fans and traps the perpetrators in an echo chamber from which they themselves might have trouble healing. And this whole nonsense is not even about enjoying the Ascendant storyline or writing fic about it (anyone can do that and entertain themselves or find a form of catharsis), simply about insisting on it being the good and non-abusive ending. The bar is in hell!

The self-insert nature of the game doesn't help either, you can tell most of them self-insert into their Tavs. This isn't a problem in itself, but when you express a negative opinion about some of the things you can do it in the game, they will take it as a personal attack because that's what they would've chosen to do had the situation been a real scenario (hope this makes sense!). I know this sounds crazy and again it's more of a personal opinion, but I think it explains a lot of their behavior.

I get what you mean and I do think there is a strong urge at play here to "justify" oneself and one's choices. Similar to how, in the HotD fandom, we had so many people siding with Rhaenyra automatically because she is a woman and of course women should get to rule and are not wrong ever.

But, in truth, I actually wager that some of them would truly, really NOT make the same choices if this were actual real life somehow, they're just blending fiction with reality in an unhealthy way. Like, if a fey creature showed up and asked to drink their blood, pretty please, they would most likely say no, like any normal person in that situation. Because the threat would then be immediate and not diminished by the safety blanket of fiction. "Realistically"-speaking, this is a strange man you don't know, who threatened you with a dagger at your neck just a few days ago, who's not even particularly nice to you and is rather obviously out for himself. No, I don't really believe even the wives would be so eager to indulge him if this were a real scenario. So, it's all the more embarrassing to be stirring shit up and making discourse out of nothing.

And, you know, it's FINE if you want daddy dom Astarion to ravish your delicate flower self and what-not, but there's really no need to find ethical worth in a horny fantasy, nor is that something achievable! Nor does it have to reflect back to one's moral character. There's no shame in finding the handsome vampire hot! Just have fun with it.

But these wives are forgetting that, just because someone is charming and dandified, it doesn't translate into sound judgment or moral worth, not in real life and not even in fiction. He can be very charismatic and still unable to make the best choices for himself.

Also, while there isn't a definite canon in BG3 since it's an RPG game and your playthrough is your playthrough and what someone else chooses to do in theirs doesn't mean it's something that applies to yours, when analyzing Astarion (or anyone else) as a character you have to take all dialogue options into consideration to reach an informed, valid conclusion. You shouldn't cherry pick the dialogue option(s) that's more likely to validate your preferred interpretation, that's now how it works. The AA situation is a good example of it: it's true that by choosing the loving options where you don't cross him, you can perhaps say he is loving partner but it's also true he will be awful and show his true colors if you go against him. Likewise, just because you do not choose to break up with him, it doesn't make his refusal to let you go away after the tadpoles are gone ("your future is mine to decide") is any less valid. In conclusion, yes, he does become abusive if he ascends. Constantly stepping on eggshells around your partner and only saying what he wants to hear from you is a sign of the relationship turning abusive, if it hasn't already.

Yeah, this is so true and I've had one of these lines already. The first time in the goblin camp I refused to give him a tadpole and he went all feral cat on me (and this was after he came onto me!! the knave!!). But when I did my second playthrough, I thought I'd make Mirta a little bit of an avatar for the Beholding / Eye (since I already gave you The Magnus Archives podcast link, it's one of the fear entities the show is about. this one in particular deals with things like scopophobia, the absolute terror of being known, of being judged or the pure experience of fear or of the unknown). So, she'd be a little like "oh, so you insist on being an absolute idiot? Might as well get a little entertainment out of this" and hand him just enough rope to hang himself with (you know, the kind of morbid curiosity that lends itself to terrible things sometimes). And so, I told him he could have the tadpole and he was all polite smiles and smug demeanor. Pompous prick!!! 🙌

It does seem to me that this part of the game is kind of broken, or at least not integrated enough, because 1. I don't think it's fair that you can ingest even a couple of extra tadpoles with no consequences (this is my understanding at least) and 2. I didn't get any approval or disapproval points from him. He just said that he'll pop one out of my backpack later. Now, I know he's not going to rummage through my stuff and steal it, like, I actually have to make him take one mechanically if I want his Illithid menu activated, so it was purely for show. But it feels rather empty, still.

Anyway, this is also just a game at the end of the day and its complexity is limited in that it can mimic real life, but not truly represent its quagmires, because character development is not linear for living, breathing people. So, I definitely agree that AA harping at Tav and biting back whenever he encounters the slightest resistance is meant to be a Red Flag, but irl sometimes, when you navigate a difficult situation with the "right" conversation, it allows the person to calm down and even grow from that experience. Like, they can later reflect on their bad behaviour and how wrong they would have been to lash out if they didn't hear what they wanted in that moment. But this is obviously something that doesn't really translate that well to becoming an immortal vampire lord with superpowers or whatever - like, by that point, they're too far gone to be able to interrogate their wrongs. But it could, perhaps, apply to Act 1 stuff when everything is still very raw from their trauma and still indulging in unhealthy coping mechanisms.

I want to add something rather surprising I've noticed about some wives. There are a few of them in the fandom who even claim to have degrees in literature (one is even teaching English literature at a university) and complain constantly about the state of media literacy in the fandom, the puritan culture that's been sweeping up fandoms lately…yet when you see their take on Astarion, ugh, they are the types who genuinely believe the ascension is his good path and that he 100% turned Tav into a vampire bride. Like how??? I won't elaborate further but yeah…I'll just add that your average gamerbro who likely hasn't read more than two books in his entire life never had such issues in getting the actual message of Astarion's story. They may not like his character (quite the opposite) or paid any particular attention to him and his romance, but at least they immediately understood ascension isn't his good path.

Yeah, when your garden-variety basement-dweller gamebro has a better understanding of the basic "good v evil" divide in a piece of media, it's time to rethink the tuition fees you paid for that literature diploma. :))

Ridiculous to think because, even IF Ascended Astarion was the consummate gentleman and the most loving waifu on the face of the earth, how is it helping anyone to bring another vampire into existence? By definition, vampires prey on other living creatures, it's parasitic and hurtful and frightening. They bring misery and problems into any community. Why would you even want to become one? And, again, even if it's like a fantasy kink or something, it would be detrimental to everyone else living nearby! We used to live in a society! It's just so harmful to your fellow man!

All of them have some baggage but he's certainly the one with most of it. It gets worse when you realize that's all he has ever known considering he can't remember his life as a mortal/elf (he "died" at 39 years old), having lost most of his memories because of the amount of torture and trauma (although in D&D lore vampirism itself could be another cause behind the memory loss). He can't even remember his face or the color of his eyes. When you confirm/ commit to the relationship with him in act 2, if you decide to friendzone him he'll tell you he's happy to have a friend because he can't remember ever having one. :( Being with Tav is really his both his first actual friendship and/or romantic relationship if going forward that route. I'm sure he had friends and lovers when he was alive, but it's irrelevant since all those memories are lost.

Yeah, this is what I mean, he's really had an awful turn. Two centuries of that! It's admirable he still has his wits about him and can function. But he needs A LOT of therapy (or the Faerun equivalent). He told me about not even remembering the colour of his eyes or what he even looks like anymore. Which ties a lot into the loss of personhood. If you don't know anything about yourself, what kind of life is that? What would he even like to do in a normal life, if given the chance? The only thing he knows is that he wants the pain and degradation to stop. Or to know that no one in your former life cared enough to try to help Elves, for example, live a very long time, even in DnD and he "died" very young for an elf, so his parents must still be alive. Where are they? Do they even care that their son is condemned to eternal torment? (I know they're probably absent because the writers wanted him with no attachments for story reasons, but, still, if you want to RPG properly, it must suck to think about it).

Which by the way, some Astarion fans hate it when you say that perhaps he needs a friend rather than a lover. It's okay not to vibe with his romance anymore guys!! But they've treated some people so awfully when they dared to say they prefer this option, as if everyone's opinion was in bad faith (the "you are just infantilizing survivors" type)…they should realize not everyone wishes to roleplay a character who got themselves into a situation where someone only started to have sex under false pretenses (he wanted protection so you wouldn't throw him away like you correctly pointed out), nor should they feel guilty into going forward with the relationship just because Astarion will feel bad about it. He's also happy if you remain friends! Just because he is now in a relationship with Tav, this doesn't mean all his issues will disappear, nor will they go away once Cazador is dead. You don't heal in an instant from centuries of constant abuse, torture, mind control and sexual trafficking. Also, just because he doesn't ascend and remains a spawn doesn't mean his relationship with Tav is actually 100% healthy and without issues, at least not from a modern POV or perspective.

Absolutely, not everyone wants or knows how to offer that kind of help to a romantic partner, and feeling way more comfortable to do that for a friend is understandable. It's OK to also have romance goals for your Tav, everything doesn't have to revolve around Astarion. :)) He is obviously very confused about the whole issue himself.

And, fuck buddies or not, it does sting to think that he only slept with you because he wanted your favour, because he goes out of his way to make it seem like he's over the moon about you and finding out he really doesn't rate you is unpleasant. Because it was never presented like the exchange he sees it as; not that Astarion presents it as true love or anything either, but he insists on it hinging on Tav's allure or attractiveness. And that's a delicate topic for people - no one wants to think that having sex with them is a chore.

No one's love life is something that they must sacrifice in order to "help someone out", like, that's not how it works. Your body is your body, not an instrument to cure someone's mental illness. I don't want anyone to take this the wrong way, but it's fucked up to expect that from people. Like, this person is just pretending to want to have sex with me and I'm supposed to not feel any kind of way about it? :))

Also, this is anoter fairly sensitive topic and I would not like to overstep, but I would urge anyone who is identifying with Astarion because of various disabilities or mental health issues and may feel further isolated or hurt by seeing people uncomfortable with romancing him and appeasing him to please not conflate their condition with vampirism. I think these comparisons can work to some extent, but only up to a point. I get the dependency aspect and needing a strong support system in order to manage their affliction - those are reasonable similarities that can help people identify with his character.

But vampires literally suck their victims' blood - it's not reasonable to expect the people within a settlement to be willing to offer their bodies up to feed the resident village vampire. Media often sensationalises this topic (and it's hard not to, since it doesn't exist IRL and there's really no way to tell how it could be managed by real-life people), but it doesn't take a genius to understand that it could very well be a frightening and painful experience for any such blood donor. It's often portrayed in fiction as this quasi-erotic, pleasant experience, but, as we all know, sexual acts especially can quickly turn extremely uncomfortable and traumatic in the absence of consent. Even if the person involved would theoretically consent, for the good of their community, they may very well not desire it at all and it could leave them feeling violated regardless.

This is why it's crazy for me to hear that some wives will accuse you of being 'ableist' if you'd want to find a cure for Astarion's vampirism and that you should just 'accept' him the way he is. Those two things are not the same at all! Let alone any kind of situation which leads to bringing more vampires into the world.

"Gale is most definitely NOT approaching godhood in any capacity. I could not STAND this mediocre white man overpowering ME! I am, though, debating on whether I should let Volo perform brain surgery on him. Mayhaps I will!" I think Volo's eye gives you the "See Invisibility" ability? It's useful but later own you'll find plenty of scrolls and potions of that kind. But if you want to sacrifice Gale's real eye just for the sake of it, then go for it!

Gods above, I did it for the morbid curiosity and it was just awful. Not even Gale deserves that, so I reloaded. I figured that it would be absolute blasphemy for the Beholding to take out one's eyes, so Mirta would not be on board with this. I booted Volo from my camp after I got out of the Underdark, because I wanted to at least give that fumbling idiot a living chance at least. For RPG reasons (I know he leaves anyway after the "surgery" wherever you set camp).

And, anyway.... *drumroll*... I respecc'd to lvl 4 wizard and lvl 2 bard and now I have fairy fire, which allows me to see invisibility anway so I don't need Volo's Trojan horses. Being a bard is so fun, you were so right about this, I can now play the flute(!) and have bardic inspiration as a bonus action. I also got annoyed at how much damage I'd get during fighting and switched Mirta's class to Abjuration - now she gets a cool spherical shield around her when she's hit and it's so much better!

Don't be so sure about Gale not approaching godhood! With Gale, the choice on whether or not he will become a god depends on certain dialogue options you will choose and 3. Unlike Astarion who can be convinced with a persuasion check, with Gale there's a point system behind his decision so the more options you check that lean in one direction, then that will be the result. Quite a few players actually thought they picked the right dialogue choices that would result in him not ascending to godhood but they still woke up with God!Gale in the end. We call it Sneaky God Gale lol. I won't spoil you too much, but you kind of have to push really, really hard against his stupid ideas even if he gets mad and gives disapproval.

He gets more infuriating the more I learn about him! I watched some romance scenes with him from Act 1, out of curiosity, and, gods above, he is SO smarmy. I could never. 😂

"Even if it were manipulation, I’d still do it for his own good. Dumbass needs all the help he can get. " See, if you were to post this opinion in pro AA space, the consorts would've canceled you. How dare you say you know better than him? He says he wants to ascend, do you not get that?

Here's to being his no 1 bully, first and foremost 💪

I know, right? I see where they are trying to come from when saying that it's beautiful to accept him just as he is, drawbacks included (the vampirism) but accusing people of ableism is just not it. Also, the idea of curing him and getting to live the remainder of his life in human years…I LOVE THIS. I don't think I've ever seen this headcanon from anyone!! Anyway, posting it in an Astarion fandom space will likely get you some angry fans who will say it's toxic and abusive lol.

Yeah!!! I'll give him the best human years of his loser ass life! Wizards live longer anyhow (from what I understand), so there's more than enough time for marital bliss. 🤡

"I’m also thinking I’m ready to change the difficulty to medium now (I heard I can do this mid-game). The goblin battles weren’t really challenging on easy and I am intrigued by multiclassing, which I can not do on easy. Dror, for example, was SO easy to kill, I just put Lae'zel and Karlach nearby and they made quick work out of him, he was gone by the third turn max. Elixir of Bloodlust on Karlach is insane." I think it's worth it. The game isn't hard at all on medium once you learn the basics and the multiclassing is worth it. If you want to get into that, I suggest multiclassing Astarion into Rogue/Ranger. For Rogue, I would suggest getting 4 levels in the Thief subclass because you get an extra bonus action for choosing it. The Assassin subclass is also good, but just avoid the Arcane Trickster one. Put all the rest of the levels into Ranger, specifically the Gloomstalker subclass. As for feats the most important ones for him would be +2 DEX and Sharpshooter. You can look into this build: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBREg0F0TCc - I suggest checking out his other ones as well if you need some help with other companions. You don't need to follow his exact stepts but his builds are a good starting point.

Oh, yeah, I had watched videos like that and thought it was a good idea so my Astarion is currently a lvl 3 rogue and a lvl 3 ranger. I also got a mod that gives you a feat every 2 levels, so I'm not worried about battles anymore. I'm not really one to use potions too much and I'm not going to activate the tadpole powers, so it's whatever, I'm not some overpowered demigod either way. I mostly just want to have fun during battles. So I was able to spare an Alert feat for Mirta and now she & Astarion go first almost every fight - who's a cute wittle power couple?? 🎃

" Also, there is a barn in the Blighted Village where an ogre and a bugbear are having sex. If you go there BEFORE entering the goblin camp and let Astarion interrupt them*, you get 5 bloody approval points in one go. Crazy. After that, he made his advances towards Mirta and then the sex scene triggered when I hit long rest.

*you will have to separate yourself form the rest of your party and just knock with him at the door" I thought you did that already!! Did he not ask you to let him open the door? Because when I played and romanced him he asked my Tav when she was about to open the door "please, let me do it!" . Perhaps they patched it out and now you have to do it separately with only him.

No, I had missed this! This particular barn is somehow a little off from the rest of the houses and I went past it completely. That's one of the reasons I reloaded - so many easy approval points, it was a shame to waste. Also, it was pretty funny.

"If nothing else, Halsin will be nice to have for some added flavour and the ability to play with a druid. Minthara, too, because she is a paladin and I have none in my party. Pity you can’t make Volo a companion!" Sadly, even in this regard he's not unique as you will be able to recruit ANOTHER druid in act 2 at about the same time when you can officially get him to join the party: Jaheira. She was one of the companions in BG1 and BG3 and far more interesting than Halsin. There will also be Minsc who is a ranger in act 3, another former character in the previous games. She and Minsc are good friends and they have some good content in act 3.

Unless they fixed some of this in patch 7, he is also very bugged and many of his dialogues are flagged as "flirting" despite them being innocent. At the tiefling party when talking to him you can pick any non-flirty dialogue option you want to and it won't matter. The next morning, if you talk to him again at camp you will have the option to apologize for coming so hard onto him at the party the evening before. Lmao, like when did I do that??? Later, if you later ask him how he fares at your camp he will say something about books, to which you can answer with "you'll find plenty of books, I come across them everywhere"…yeah, that's considered flirting and so is the other option if I recall correctly. And this can go on and on all the way throughout the game…In my case (and it happened to lots of other players, there are tones of complaints about it on the internet) when he finally confessed his love and I rejected him he hit back with "I thought you felt the same way, are you sure???" & "you saw to my needs at camp with the care of a lover, not a host" oh my god just go away dude because I did NOT treat you like a lover lmfao. In this instance he reminded me of those type of guys who think that just because you were nice one time, you must be attracted to them and down to fuck if given the opportunity, but when rejected they complain you were the one who led them on in the first place lmao.

In patch 6 they supposedly introduced a friendship/platonic path for him due to all the complaints but for most players it barely works considering how easy it is to accidentally flirt with him lol…very few people have managed to avoid all of this apparently by not talking to him AT ALL except the quest he gives you in act 2 and by avoiding all the dialogue options that give you a lot of approval.

Gale had similar problems at launch where he took ANY interaction with the player character as flirting, which eventually led him to confessing his love to you unprompted. It was hilarious. Fortunately they fixed it quite rapidly in the next patch which begs the question, why are they not doing it with Halsin...unless he's intentionally coded like this.

Now back to serious matters…Halsin can have a purpose in act 3. Without spoiling too much, there will be a kidnapping plot and he is one of the characters that can get kidnapped (don't worry, you'll be able to easily save anyone once you find the location). The other kidnappable companions are Gale, Lae'zel and Minthara, plus a NPC kid who will potentially join your camp. Also, no romanced companion will be taken. You can metagame your way into getting whoever you want kidnapped by leaving at camp the character you want to get rid of while having the rest in your active party. The thing is that Gale and Lae'zel have major quests in act 3 so you'd best want to keep them in your party if you don't want to fuck the result to those quests, Minthara has a past with the character who does the kidnapping (it's her former abuser) so you'd want her in your party when you go to confront them. As for the NPC…if the kid gets kidnapped, her cat will get killed no matter what you do. And that is unacceptable because no innocent animal is going to be harmed. Which leaves us with Halsin. Considering he really has nothing going on in act 3, he's the best candidate for this. Currently most fans have him kidnapped just to send him to horny jail. Many even kill him then, but I chose not to do it because if he stays alive he will take care of and raise some orphans and I don't want to take that away from them. It's a cute ending for him.

It's a pity because his character is okay if you ignore all of the issues and the fan service around him. Sadly, all Halsin does these days is ending up being a subject for discourse every two weeks or so…he also has a few annoying fans who will try to gaslight you that none of this is happening and it's your fault if you flirt with him (as if it's so easily avoidable) so…that's that.

I'm beginning to see what you mean about Halsin. I've had him in my camp for a while now and he does nothing, just stands there like a weirdo. He doesn't even have his own tent (neither do I, and I'm still salty about it). Doesn't interact with any other companions. And I can't even play with him! It really does feel like he was added as an extra thought.

I got the same experience in talking to him re: flirting. I spoke normally with him at the party because I wanted to lock my second night of passion (😂) with Astarion and the next day I had the option to act all embarrassed for flirting with him. Crazy. Now he's giving me moon eyes. :)) I don't really mind it that much since I do like him, he has a kind of rugged charm, but he's definitely not integrated in the best way in the game mechanics.

"I am so looking forward to hear her dunking on Gale." Minthara also has some nasty banters with Astarion. She says he would make a good pleasure servant in Menzoberranzan which is icky given his past lol. In another party banter she jokes about him probably having some STDs due to his decades of philandering. She is really vicious.

He'd better not have anything though!! :O Just kidding, I doubt vampires can contract and get sick from diseases.

I am so curious to see them together, since Minthussy is bound to be a dommy mommy who'd eat Astarion alive for breakfast. She should be scaring the living daylights out of him, given her background as a former Lolth-sworn drow. I learnt that they really don't treat men nicely down there. :))

In relation to this, I wish there was some options to explore the character of True Soul Nere more, since he abandoned Lolth for the Absolute and comes from a society in which he'd be a second class citizen. At one point, in one of his racist remarks, Astarion even says "I understand saving a drow, but gnomes?" And I was itching to reply something like "really? A male drow? Shouldn't they be considered weak underlings judging by your standards?" or even instill some fear of God into him, since he is also a male elf. 🫵

"Frustratingly enough, Lae'zel and Karlach have me at the lowest approval ratings in the party :)) 31 and 29, respectively. But we’ll do the creche next, so I’m hoping they’ll grow." Once you get to the Creche with Lae'zel to advance her personal quest you will gain A LOT of approval. Don't worry. But yeah Karlach was a bit hard for me, not gonna lie!

"Yes!!! Thank you!!! And, in any case, I think you can fight Raphael even if you didn’t take his deal, so I’m not missing out on anything. I think Mystra is equally lame for cavorting with (and discarding) a human like that, but groomer? Let’s bffr." You will eventually fight Raphael depending on your choices, don't worry…but you may want to deal with him in act 2 in order to help a certain pale companion, just saying! Make sure you have Astarion in your party when you reach the Last Light Inn. If you're now romancing him I guess you have him all the time, I assume?

You know, I was ready to switch him out regardless and leave his ass at home to fulfill the rotation, but he is really fun to have around, so I haven't had the heart to leave him in camp (*he was a punk, she did ballet, what more can I say* 🤡)

"Gale is NOT autistic coded, what the hell? If anything, he is privileged rich kid coded. " Fans will try to woobify their favorite characters, what's new. And yes I think Gale is indeed rich? Not filthy rich but well enough for sure.

I think I'm starting to see why they are rushing to his defense with this diagnostic - he has a tendency to ramble didactically on any given topic without stopping and I guess that COULD be interpreted as having a hyperfixation or a special interest? But Gale does possess good manners, because he can access them on a whim, apologises and stops. IDK, there's this tendency to pathologize any normal behaviour and turn it into something resembling neurodivergency that I don't think is necessary sometimes. People can just be arseholes! FFS, Gale introduces himself as Mystra's fuccboi and he will not let you forget how special and talented he is to have slept with her. Who does that??

"I did get Harold and managed to trade with the merchant. I tried to make the painter make a portrait of Astarion, as I figured it would be a nice gift for him to be able to see himself, but I could only free him. (Of course, Astarion disapproved both that and me giving him money for the road)." NO WAY YOU GAVE HIM MONEY! I REFUSE!!! I'm sorry but had you refused to do it, he would've told you he actually intended to spend the money on getting drunk. Lmaoooo. Sorry!

!!!! I thought he was going to die on the road if I didn't give him money?? 😭 You can't trust no man!!! ☠️

You will meet him again in the city though! If you successfully complete his future quest he can make you a portrait. But no companion will react to it. As for Astarion, yeah it's a missed opportunity that we can't show him what he looks like. However, Ascended Astarion will be able to see himself in the mirror and react accordingly…fuck him anyway.

Whelp....not on my watch! Not before we give him an anti-vampire vaccine like in the movie Blade. 😂

"I think I completely forgot about the shipment though! That cave is so big and I kind of lost myself picking up everything from the ground, so I don’t really know where it is? Or if I can go back? Was it where Zarys was standing?" You can loot it from Zarys' corpse if you gave it to her.

"Phew! I even had Lae'zel come onto me unprompted at the goblin camp. With 30-ish level approval!! She’s crazy lol. She gave me the “I want to taste you” line. Before that, she asked Astarion at the waypoint why he hadn’t attempted sleeping with her. After he slept with Mirta!! Lae'zel!!! " She came onto me after I killed the owlbear mother in the cave. I never got that banter with Astarion though…a lot of the party banters were bugged before patch 7. :(

Fun fact, if you aren't dating either Lae'zel or Astarion, they will hook up at the tiefling party and sleep together. By the way, if Astarion isn't available she will try to fuck Wyll. However Wyll will only want to talk, leaving her disappointed. There is also a bug where she will say to you she slept with Astarion even if you were the one to sleep with him, which led to some Astarion haters to say "see, he went to fuck someone else the moment your Tav fell asleep". Lmao.

Wyll was such a downer at the tiefling party, I gotta say. I'm having some trouble connecting with his character because he doesn't seem to get involved in anything and I don't really understand how to play warlock. It's gonna be ages until I find his dad, so I don't really know what to do with him lol.

"Yeah, I just made the decision that I don’t want to have the Illithid menu activated, even if nothing will happen if I just take 1-2 tadpoles. But, for RPG reasons, we’re doing all of this shit to get rid of them, why would I add more of them, you know?" I didn't eat any tadpoles in my first playthrough either. But I will indulge in them this time with my Dark Urge bard. He's crazy enough to do it lol. Plus, some of the abilities the tadpoles will give you are pretty great. It's just that indulging a lot in them may have some consequences…

"Right?? It would work so much better if he took it down a notch or two. Atm it’s mainly pantomime. I nearly gagged when he talked about “our mutual ecstasy”." You'll get another offer to sleep with him (but no cutscene this time) and he'll try some new lines! Watch out for them!

"I managed to knock her out and free Halsin so fingers crossed!" I hope she won't end up bugged. Before you rescue her in Moonrise Towers from the prison, make sure to make some saves. There will be others who will need saving as well!

Also I don't get why the fuck didn't Halsin transform into a rat or something and escape from the prison lol. Plot reasons, I gues? But it's stupid nonetheless.

I think I may have mentioned something about some recent Astarion discourse… There is this group of "Astarion is actually gay" fans because he acts flamboyantly and two of his former victims she was forced to seduce and bring back to Cazador were men...For many of them it's just their personal headcanon though, which is okay! But some (as well as a few others) often shit on f/m Tav/Astarion ships, headcanons, fan art and even fan fics bemoaning the fact that he's often mischaracterized in a lot of this type of content. It's also apparently heteronormative to ship Astarion with a woman or something lol, that we are delusional to think he would actually be into some of our female Tavs. Some even went as far as saying that Astarion fulfills some women's fantasies of being with a gay man and that's why we like him. Lol what? At first these people tried to excuse it "we are just curating our own fandom space, that's why we mention our dislike for f/m content and we block it on sight because we're gay!" which I fully get since it's understandable for a gay man to avoid f/m content, you know? Here's the thing though: they keep complaining about it even after supposedly blocking this stuff which begs the question: why keep talking about it so much if you hate it so much? Unless your purpose is to gatekeep the character and make women who like him feel bad about it? Because that's what it looks to me lol.

Of course some of the wives got a bit pissed and one of them even used a slur against gay men in response. It was the one I mentioned about pretending to be into a real relationship with Astarion. Anyway, at this point I don't even care this much about them getting shit and being shamed for liking their f/m Tav and Astarion ship because in the past many of these wives joined fandom mobs against others for silly reasons so in a way, it makes me feel lowkey happy they are finally getting a taste of their own medicine. Fellow wives, please do enjoy being called homophobic!!! Meanwhile think of the times you were throwing "-phobics" accusations at others!

Another ridiculous thing to fight about. :)) I mean, Astarion will sleep with you no matter your gender or race or how you look like, so I'm pretty sure he was always meant to be pansexual, all the companions were. It's so goofy to fight about this, it's in the game mechanics.

But, yeah, I understand the feeling of schadenfreude. 🙏

Now seriously complaining about fanon content it's a bit useless. When it comes to fan fic, Astarion is mischaracterized in most of it, INCLUDING m/m ships. In the end many of these authors are really young and honestly? Most are writing for themselves and what they personally like. You are not owed anything. I don't like several tropes either but I won't complain about them existing you know? I just don't read fics including them.

I also want to clarify that not every f/m Astarion ship is getting dunked on, it's mostly those ships where the woman in question doesn't fit the archetype modern fandoms think a strong, capable woman is supposed to look and act like. You've been in the HOTD fandom for long enough to see what I'm referring to lol...what type of women these fans dislike and consider weak.

By the way I'm having flasbacks to those Aemond/OC fics right now, heeelp! I admit to complaining quite a bit about those during season 1 but man...to think Aemond would betray his family to be with Rhaenyra's daughter? And the incessant Alicent bashing every other paragraph?

Yeah, I have done my fair share of complaining (hello lucemond and Rhaenyra's daughter LOL), but, like in all things, I have always been of the opinion that moderation is key here. It can be a relief to have a space to complain about all the things that annoy you and people should be allowed to talk about what they don't like as well, but, if you find that's the only thing you focus on, it's time to take a step back. I hated the Alicent-bashing myself and I'm glad I talked about it and I'm sure a lot of other things will annoy me in the future and I will also talk about them, but some people do make hateposting look like a full time job, when it's really not that serious.

Speaking of goofy HotD tropes, I was browsing the Astarion/Tav tag on AO3 and, of course, I found Tavs named Rhaenyra and Visenya, if you can believe it. I noped out so quick. 😂

I've also noticed that many BG3 bullies finally moved on to the new Dragon Age game and like I correctly predicted, they are now causing discourse over there. I am interested in the DA series but I'm not touching it as I don't want to share a fandom with these people anymore. Playing BG3 and interacting with the fandom (Twitter, reddit, Tumblr) at the height of its popularity has proved to be really tiring and by far my worst online experience.

Oh, yes, I've heard that game is causing quite a ruckus. I've been watching some clips out of curiosity with my boyfriend while eating, just for the sake of having something on the screen, but, I have to say, the fact that most of these commentators sound like incels who have not known the touch of a woman in a long time (if ever) is not helping the critical landscape. :)) Like, I've seen the ridiculous bharv (?) scene and, yes, it was cringy and I understand the game pauses many times to lecture you, but I still haven't properly understood why the game play is that bad, because they're not focusing on that and are instead frothing at the mouth at the idea that your tav can have top surgery scars, you know what I mean? The companions do sound annoying and it's silly that you can only be a goody two-shoes over there.

BONUS 1: https://imgur.com/a/72SRYya - I hope this is bait for their own sake but why do they always talk as if he is real? Not surprised though. I mean it's common even for those wives who seem normal to pretend he is real and say something like "Astarion would hate you for thinking/believing this" as if he's real. Also, him possibly hating some of my takes would be a good sign if you catch my meaning. ;)

"Tactless" - excuse me? I can't believe the way this is worded, I had to pause for a second there. 😂 "Telling someone their partner is an abuser" - he's not your partner!!! And if your partner were behaving like that, I'd hope someone in your life would tell you! Good Lord.

Yet again I'm having flashbacks to Aemond discourse when antis tried to make Helaemonds feel bad with "He loves her like a sister you freak!!! Aemond would actually hate you for shipping him with her!" yeah Aemond is also not real, hope this helps!

Ah, what a golden goose of a discourse this was! We did have some fun in our time! 🤌

BONUS 2: https://wanderingbardtoys.com/collections/astarion-the-vampire-rogue ;) Astarion inspired dildos lol

Holy godsdamned hellsssssssssssssss 😂😂😂😂😂 Why are they coloured like that????

I do have to admit, though, that these are much better than the oversized tick of a penis that toy statue of his had. The one that looks like what I imagine Jabba the Hut's "throbbing member" would look like if I were to entertain the idea and be completely insane. I was even cursed today to see a thumbnail of it when I opened the YouTube app on my phone.

EDIT: Wait a minute, I just had a look at length and girth.... Is he a man or a donkey???

Daddy's "home" - what home?? He doesn't have a house. ☠️ He's jobless.

By the feel free to ignore this if you don't feel like replying, it's okay if you only want to address a specific point. This got way too long..

No, but I do enjoy our little talks very much. It's just I wasn't really feeling like being online that much these past two weeks. I hope you're well and get to read this! 🫶

[lemonhemlock]

Congratulations on being on the way to become a future wife!! The timing of it happening just after you got whipped by the priest makes it even funnier. Not sure though, but I think it will take another long rest trigger his scene. The next long rest after entering the goblin camp will trigger the first scene with your dream guardian so that will take priority before any potential love scene.

By the way, if you've decided to knock out Minthara to recruit her later in act 2, make sure you do NOT take Halsin with you if you saved him in the worg pens. He will either kill her himself or her recruitment will potentially bug out. If you get to him before dealing with her, just tell him to wait there and ignore him from then on, he will eventually find his way by himself back to the grove.

no, no, i already had my first dream guardian sequence! it was right after i convinced lae'zel not to kill me, the entire camp and then herself because i was feverish :)))))) all in a day's (night's) work!! unfortunately this man was telling me to trust the tadpole and that, not to worry, he'll prevent me from becoming a squid person, so with a heavy heart i decided not to trust HIM because that just sounds whack. it was v hard bc he is v hot (i made him, after all, and gave him brat hair) and he seems to know what he's talking about. he has more rizz put together than my loser male companions but i'm squinting my eyes @ him from a distance

i also accidentally clicked on a gale flirting option (i've been successfully avoiding the shadowheart and lae'zel ones so far. shadowheart's was so easy to get and lae'zel unlocked hers at like 20-smth approval rating. crazy.) and got this cringe sequence of him trying to show ME (another wizard, mind you) how the weave works 🤡 but i did my best to friendzone him by imagining us having a hearty meal together

not that astarion flirting with me was much better in the cringe department, but at the very least hilarious considering the timing. unfortunately, i also freed volo beforehand so i suppose i'll get his sequence when i hit long rest. which won't happen anyway for quite some time because i have all spell slots & two short rests available to decimate the goblin camp rn. so our budding romance will have to be put on hold. (for the record, i am NOT going to let that clown perform brain surgery on me lol). i also made astarion lockpick and free liam, to which he didn't even object (not even a hiss or complaint! boo!)

i did not find halsin yet but did speak to minthara. i saw on reddit that, with the latest patch, you don't have to have her temporarily hostile anymore and could just knock her out? i did not know about not bringing halsin with me, that seems tricky. i guess i'm gonna have to try several versions of this battle if i want to have both those fools in my camp. i have neither a paladin, nor a druid, so it would be a chance for me to see how it is to play those classes

but in the meantime i think i'm going to pick up some of the junk i left in the traveller's chest and sell it to the merchant in the goblin camp for some more coin

i'm gonna answer the rest of your messages when i get some time but about the spoilers - yeah i had to be spoiled about some stuff bc i otherwise would not have started playing in a million years so :)) you know :)) but from now on i'm gonna at least try to not seek out very many details or arch-narratives, so that i can preserve at least some semblance of freshness when i get to them :)) so, going forward, as a procedure, i'll just ask about specific things if i want to know about them. thank you so much for your help & i hope you have a lovely week! (also don't worry you didn't tell me much i didn't already know/suspect)

[lemonhemlock]

RIGHT. i've finally managed to complete the ethel quest. it took AGES. literally what i've been doing for a week with my free time. 🤡

so i managed to get to a lvl 4 by fighting the spider mother underneath the blighted village. i got a hold of some cool items for Mirta that buffed up a bit (can't remember what exactly, a ring and some necklace) and help with her low HP.

i grabbed the clown alley of gale, shadowheart and astarion (team rocket from pokemon is an adequate way to describe our level of fierce) and basically entered ethel's teahouse, told mayrina with the first opportunity that the hag killed her brothers (thus turning her against ethel) and then fought her summoned red caps. this game has so many races and variants that i can't keep track. gnomes, gnolls, goblins, ogres ... ??? anyway. mean baddies.

it wasn't exactly a difficult fight, but still hilarious that somehow astarion and mirta (weakest of the lot with her STR 8 & DEX 10 lmao) proved to be my strongest soldiers and most offensive fighters. gale and shadowheart were for real chilling with almost full health and nothing much to show for it. (ofc i made shadow cast bless on everyone) but she missed nearly every damn sacred flame or guidance bolt and gale got Hold Person cast on him so often he was just a spectator. meanwhile mirtussy out front hanging by a thread and complaining because of every broken nail (that Voice i picked for her gets so melodramatic whenever she takes a hit but it's really just. girl. you're FINE 😭)

anyway. it took ages to loot ethel's hut and go downstairs. after many, many tries, i figured that i had 4 scrolls of Protection Against Evil and Good and i could cast them on everyone, THEN put the masks on and enter the wooden door. THEN i could successfully sneak past ethel's minions without harming them and, as a cheeky bonus, slide through the noxious gases without harming myself. i had gone through SO many iterations of this - i tried to fight the masks with non-lethal hits, but they were never knocked out and just died; i tried to use all sorts of shit to disarm the vents - throwing shields, dancing lights, perception checks, shooting arrows at the poison flowers, clean water to put out the fire etc. when it was so simple!

when i finally reached ethel, of course that the fight was much harder because she summoned her 4 minions (whom i elected not to kill) and had to fight both her and her multiplying ass while at the same time not target the masks. it's doable but such a pain in the backside. at long last, she started to haggle with me, but, to my horror, i realised that all my 4 clowns were dragged into the dialogue with her and i couldn't character select anyone to sneak up behind and kill her. so i made a bunch of saves in the hopes that i might try again.

i had read online that you should leave astarion out by the poisonous clouds and not take him with you in the fight at all, so that you could select him to murder ethel. only that meant that i had to defeat her and her 4 minions using only 3 people, which was an entirely different kind of buffoonery.

so i bid farewell to the bloodsucker, grabbed my most useless fighters and scrolled into ethel's lair like a bunch of amateurs, armed with only our wits and a dream. fortunately, i managed to get gale very near the orb that controlled mayrina's cage before getting caught and entering turn-based combat, so i got her out very quickly and didn't waste an extra turn extinguishing the fire. the hag cast so many hold persons i was left at one point with only shadowheart's expert marksmanship and you know how that goes. differentiating the ethels was not so easy, because, even when i hit examine and looked carefully, there really wasn't anything to give her away. the only things i could go by were HP to differentiate between her two sets of clones AND "condition: wet" because i previously hit her with water. but the damned harpy got dry at one point and i was just relying on god's will to get me through (and a bunch of in-combat saves)

haggling with her did work this time: i succeeded my intimidation roll to get both the +1 ability and mayrina (even though i had "condition: frightened" cast on me + disadvantage). but mirta is an inspiring leader of men and had no less than 4(!) inspiration points so i could just roll again. then i switched back to astarion and got him to murder ethel for me. unfortunately, the option "pickpocket" was disabled and she left no corpse, so i couldn't loot her, too. when i first encountered her in the grove i didn't really buy anything off from her and i kind of regret it (i don't even remember what she was selling). i understood that you could pickpocket her and get some of the items in her inventory but maybe the devs patched this up in later updates, idk. it didn't work for me.

but i managed to free the masks, although only one of them seemed to want to get out of there. i burglarized ethel's office and exited through the portal. THEN i saw mayrina outside but hesitated to tell her about the wand. i wandered around for a bit and, lo and behold, the Gur person happened upon me! i don't really remember if i had previously met him with astarion in this version (because of going back to an earlier save) but his conversation options went ahead like it was the first time we were meeting. it was a little different now because astarion had told me he was a vampire and i had the option to set him on Gandrel. i initially wanted to leave but astarion whined at me and i'm not proud to say that i relented. i guess mirta has not learnt her lesson after all!

i debated what to do, but Gandrel was going to ask ethel's help at the end of the day (you'd think a monster-hunter would be more wise than to seek the help of another monster, a hag) and the only reason he was still walking around was because we had taken ethel out. so i settled that we should all toggle non-lethal damage and just let astarion bite him a little. and loot him, ofc. not my proudest moment! but what's the harm in a little approval farming.

after that we went back to the coffin hoping mayrina had left but she was still there. i wonder if i hit long rest and come back, is the coffin still there or does she actually take it with her and leave? in any case, i used the wand on connor and hoped there would be dialogue options so that i could convince her to ditch her corpse husbando and leave. unfortunately, it didn't work and she got mad at me when i told her i was keeping connor for myself.

i figured it was really fucked up of me to let her have him, because he is a literal zombie and she needs to let go and move on with her life, especially with a baby on the way. looking at one's decomposing husband every day can't be great for one's mental health, whereas a zombie pet can prove useful for me and my band of scallywags in our quest to oppose the forces of the absolute. ideally, i would have wanted a way to grab connor without alerting her, but i'm not sure if that's possible

[lemonhemlock]

That makes sense, I thought you probably didn't have him the party a lot and that's why your approval points are so low. He approves of most good deeds so it's extremely easy to gain approval with him. You are also correct in your assumptions, he will change his tune and you will gain like 10 points with him each time you feed him an item so you don't have to worry about the current low numbers.

Also, just realized my first Tav was also of noble background (but a sorceress instead of a wizard) and I've been wondering how many of us asoiaf fans are choosing this background for their Tavs. I'll also mention that as a sorcerer you have some unique dialogue options with Gale and you can be really arrogant with him when he tries to mansplain magic to you haha.

yeah, gale seems like an easy character to get along with, i'm just annoyed with his bad habit of eating my stuff:)) although, i have to say, i went to him after astarion killed me and asked him what he thinks of having a vampire in the camp and he just said "we all have our struggles"

bitch!! you were supposed to commiserate and tell me men are bastards & that i can do much better! ☠️

(i expect there will be more sequences about this when i hit long rest again but we WILL do ethel before that so it's a long way away)

yeah, i chose noble bc i wanted diplomacy skills and i thought i could maybe gain access to other spaces they wouldn't otherwise allow me in if i were common born

having you clap back whenever gale is mid-paranthesis honestly sounds hilarious