#pregame bg3

[shadowstarion]

strangers • pregame shadowstarion

i am a sucker for the “we met once and had an impact on one another but neither of us remembered it” trope and i need them crossing paths at least once. this is just some thoughts/concepts for a fic featuring baby sharran shadowheart and rookie vamp spawn astarion

++ warning for mentions of trauma & abuse

Novice Shadowheart being the honeypot piece for an investigation on disappearances near her House. She’s sheltered and awkward, not yet confident in herself, and the idea of going to seedier hangouts in town makes her very uncomfortable, which is 75% of the reason this task gets assigned to her. Her sitting nervously in a tavern bar, feeling overexposed in that leather getup and nursing a drink.

Astarion approaches her and she’s smitten in an instant— there’s no way that this is the creep her superiors are after, right? He’d walked right up to her in plain view, his flirtation is polite and respectful even. All of his words and touches are sweet ones, compliments and chaste caresses. She realizes it feels nice to be just a girl in a bar, batting her eyelashes and enjoying the attention of a stranger. No obligations, no pressure to be perfect, no standards for her to meet other than simply existing as she is.

There’s no moment of “she’s the love of my life i must spare her from certain death” where Astarion consciously refuses to lure her home, he just… doesn’t. They end their night together with an almost-kiss after she’d insisted on bidding him farewell, sounding almost pained. He’d leaned in for it, to give her that mesmerizing kiss that would linger in her mind and draw her back here some other night, but she’d winced and flinched away at the last second before hastily leaving. And Astarion would let it happen. With his skill set and the clientele of the tavern, he’ll have plenty more options to bring home for his master’s dinner. Maybe some part of him just wanted to be an interested suitor chatting up a shy but beautiful maiden, not a hunter in pursuit of prey.

The whole time they’re talking, Shadowheart is growing more convinced that this stranger was not the one she was meant to seduce and interrogate, but she just can’t tear herself away from him. Shar is punishing her for it, her brand flaring up once or twice throughout. Of course her patron would protest at this, her wasting her time flirting around instead of pursuing the objective, the way her smiles and laughs are growing much too genuine. So she rushes back to the cloister, repents for her failures, and has the mission wiped entirely from her memories.

Astarion forgets because he hadn’t been able to bring home supper that night. Entertaining that pretty girl at the bar bleeds into a tick in the endless tally of tortures, no different from any other evening he’d come home to a punishment. Faces and names are hard to recall, everything stained by Cazador’s cruelty.

When they meet again, neither of them have any idea they’d ever met before. That entire day’s worth of time was erased from her mind, she couldn’t possibly remember him. Even if Astarion might have remembered Girl At The Tavern #147 for some reason, he wouldn’t recognize her immediately— her hair is much longer now, she’s slimmed down a bit, and her personality is forcibly cold and prickly.

Regardless of how their story ends, I don’t think they’d ever even know. If Shadowheart did recognize him via Selune returning her memories, she wouldn’t tell him. Knowing she’d been one of his failed targets in that time would only make him feel terrible, and what’s the use in dredging up old wounds now when they’re finally free from abuse? She’ll just keep how he made her feel close to her chest as a cherished memory.

[kromanjoma]

Younger merchant Gortash when you come to trade him rotten tomatoes for a dagger

[mariana-oconnor]

OK okokok... gonna put this 'I just woke up' thought out there because this is tumblr and what else is it for? Someone has probably already said this and I haven't seen it, but whatever. I will throw it out anyway.

SO... Gale. We've all seen the posts where people quote the Gale lines about being naturally gifted with magic as a baby, a prodigy etc. and then point out that this is sorcerer behaviour.

BUT, what if... you're all right and it is sorcerer behaviour. BUT the orb feeds on weave/magic right? And sorcerers are born with innate magic... so what if he was born a sorcerer, then trained as a wizard, but the orb consumed his sorcerous magic. And that's why he's not as powerful as he once was, because, unbeknownst to him, all this time, he's been using that natural sorcerous connection to make accessing the weave easier. And now that's gone. Eaten up. Destroyed forever by the Netherese void.

And that's part of what's causing him pain. Because an instrinsic part of himself has been taken away. And he feels it like a phantom limb. Maybe he thinks it was actually connected to his relationship with Mystra, rather than a part of him, and that adds to his sense of loss from that relationship.

What if the first magic item Gale fed to the orb was himself and he doesn't even realise it?

[sanguine-tenshi]

Right so I have this feral idea for a citrusy one shot.

It's fueled by my need too put Astarion in pretty things, torture Gortash and have Durge be some feral nerd assassin. And it's just Astarion all gift wrapped sent by Cazador to Gortash to get a better deal or something. Gortash can guess what Cazador expects of him, of how he'll treat Astarion so he just swerves off road and goes service top (he does have Durge there for the deprived stuff). And just as they are getting close Gortash's window slams open and in cryptid crawls dragonborn Durge just drenched in blood.

Durge's all like "Ye, hey Gortash got you the..." which is when he notices Astarion under Gortash.

"Is this a bad time... Got you gnome liver, you said you needed gnome liver."

So ye... that does turn into a bloody mess of a threesome.

[jb-nonsense]

Working on the fic for Gale and my Galemancer OC, Gwenifar, and I'm giving you all a rough draft preview.

Background: Taking place ten years prior to the game, set when Gale had a case of pox when he was cared for by the Ilmatari in Waterdeep. Gwenifar, a novice cleric, is there to help with the pox outbreak.

Finally, he was looking at her. Blue eyes met brown as she waited for his reaction. Brown hair kept in a short, clean cut stuck to his forehead from the sweat of his fever and the pox was on his skin. Gwenifar realized how close she was, without proper protection, was very dangerous at the stage he was at, but she could not allow him to continue in his fevered state.

“Are you an angel?” The question took her off guard. She blinked, looking at him with furrowed brow. He still looked fevered, his cheeks flushed and eyes hazy. His voice was hoarse and tired from yelling, but there was a gentleness to it. “Because I can’t think of anything on this plane that could be so beautiful.”

Any thought took a quick flight out of her mind at that. Her hands loosened their grip on his wrists, and she sat back a bit, processing what he had said. Surely the fever had gotten to him. He was definitely seeing things, if he were to say something like that about her. She shook it off, focusing on getting him to calm down and come back to reality and see things as they were.

“You’re very sick,” she explained. “You’re at the Hospice of St. Laupsenn.” His hand reached up to touch her uncovered face and she reacted quickly, not wanting him to react negatively. She took his hand in her gloved ones, keeping her eyes on him. “We’re going to help you get better, but you need to go to sleep. Your fever is too high.” “You’ll stay with me?”

[flymmsy]

The Scion of Bhaal. His Dear Lady. Created to Rule.

[archersartcorner]

Someone holds me, safe and warm

Horses prance through a silver storm

Figures dancing gracefully

Across my memory…

Hi I finished a resisting Durge user with Bela and I have. Thoughts.

[agent-jaselin]

Reith has pretty good endurance since their dad is a ranger, but they still probably get tired faster than the adults in the party.

Wyll is the first one to offer to give them a piggy back ride. Karlach offers but can’t till her engine cools, at which point she wrestles and plays with them a lot. Gale offers and quickly realizes he cannot carry a kid. And they just ride around on Halsin’s shoulders all the time, sometimes even if they don’t need to because dad energy.

Astarion complains about it because no one offers when his feet hurt. He loves to tease and whine about it. Big brother energy very quickly.

[xanfeursel]

finished sketching Will color tomorrow thoughhh... i do like how her outfit design came out though

[prismbearer]

[autuumnlocked]

Okay, completely out of the realm of possibility but such a fun thought: what if it had some sort of recording device and Gortash finds recordings of you having spoken to it.

For extra Dark Urge fun: he doesn't tinker with it for fear of losing the recordings of Durge. Maybe it's enough to show him Durge is actually alive, or maybe he doesn't know when the recordings were made and thinks it was from your many travels abroad. Either way, it's possibly all he has left of Durge's voice and maybe image until Durge confronts him in Wyrm's Fortress.

no one told me that to doodad ketheric sent along to gortash was bernards head D:

[the-southern-cereal-king]

I am once again pleading bg3 players to play Divinity Original Sin 2, another larian studios game, because it’s very similar and so enjoyable. You can find a lot of commonalities in characters between the two games.

I played dos2 to pregame baldurs gate because I wasn’t used to the turn based combat system, and I was much more prepared for it. Larian Studios is not a one hit wonder, and when I have the funds I plan on playing the other games they’ve made. They also have a dos2 website and digital art book/ character sheets/ cosplay guides that’s worth checking out

Also, dos2 explores the crafting/ combining mechanic WAY more, and I honestly wished Larian had kept more crafting in bg3.

Oh also, Amelia Tyler, the narrator for baldurs gate 3, plays a really great character in divinity original sin 2

[rawrsatthetree]

One of my favorite things in the bg3 fandom is hearing about people’s Dark Urge Oc’s relationship with Orin pregame.

Tag or reply with yours!

[ofdarklands]

she was the real dark urge all along

....... but what if i want to romance the Narrator.

[avernusreject]

Nothing quite like getting dressed up and pregaming to go out for your friend to decide not to go last second. Well tonight looks like I’m playing bg3 in a slutty dress and slightly drunk. Astarion would approve

[bg3-stole-my-soul]

TavTash Tag Game

I was tagged by my beloved bestie @randomfanner to participate in @bearhugsandshrugs and @crystal-overdrive Tavtash game!!

1. Tell us a bit about your Tav!

I have many, but out of them all only 1 is shipped with Gortash, and that is Kieran. Unfortunately I have no pictures of her yet as I haven’t made her in game 🥲

She’s a Zariel Tiefling with a very warm orangey-brown skin tone and a deep scar on her cheek. She’s got pretty horns that she is actually proud of. She has orange-gold eyes. She has long auburn locs. Body type wise she’s built like a brick shithouse and is very androgynous looking (in full armor she’s often mistaken for a man) , but she doesn’t mind this fact.

2. What alignment is your Tav? How does that align or clash with Gortash? Do they agree with him morally?

Kier is Lawful-Neutral good, which leads to a lot of conflict with Gortash. The two often disagree, which does sadden her for multiple reasons. Kieran is usually really easygoing and Gortash is very much not—

3. What God does your Tav follow? Is Gortash's position as Bane's chosen an issue?

Hahahahaha Gortash being Bane’s Chosen is a MASSIVE issue for Kieran because she is a paladin/cleric of Lathander. When she saw him during the cutscene underneath Moonrise girl was genuinely tempted to throw her mace at his skull because “THIS FUCKING MORON BECAME A B A N I T E”

She does make it a personal goal to try and help him renounce Bane and become less of a tyrannical asshat—

4. What did your Tav think of Gortash when they first met? Did they take his offer of an alliance?

Well— the first time they met was actually pregame when they were children. Kieran was the young “apprentice” of the local glassmakers (she was given to them by her parents who did not think they could care for her), and lived not far from Gortash’s family. When she first met him she thought he was a scrawny little dork who was bound to get his ass handed to him in any scraps he got into— so she declared herself his bodyguard and friend. He wasn’t very keen on this big, smiley, weirdo.. but he got used to it. Then one day she disappeared— turns out Raphael impulse buys “useful” children often. So once Gortash was taken to the House of Hope they were reunited and he once again had his protector.. just in a much worse situation. They eventually worked to escape together, but were separated.

When meeting at the coronation she’s… not happy. Like she’s obviously happy to know he’s alive as that was a worry she carried with her for years, but learning he was the Chosen of Bane and trying to take over the world with an Elder Brain? Ya no she very much wishes to BONK him on the head and ask why he thought this was a good idea. She accepts the alliance with a few extra conditions (like having him work to help fix Karlach’s engine because she’s very upset about that) hoping to rekindle their friendship and tell Bane to go fuck himself.

5. How did Gortash and your Tav get together? What do they see in each other?

During the actual story of BG3 the pair have a lot of complex feelings about one another and argue often, but deep down the two could never fully hate one another. They literally survived the Hells together— so lots of tension, lingering glances, and thoughts about what could’ve/should’ve been.

Post Game I think is where the two could finally truly open up to one another. It would take a bit of time, but Kieran would be placed as Gortash’s “handler” while the two work to rebuild the city— and they can fall back into their long ago pattern of working together. Because when not fighting they can work together well, they balance the other out. Very Good Cop/Bad Cop dynamic at times.

As for what they see in one another-

Kieran’s always admired Gortash’s mind. His creativity and ingenuity have always astounded her. As children she often asked questions about his tinkering and encouraged it. She also has (almost) always found his wit funny, even when it got the two of them into trouble.

Gortash on the other hand has (almost) always liked Kieran’s strength, both inside and out Kieran’s never allowed herself to buckle. He admires her perseverance even in times when he would’ve stopped. He also likes that despite his very methodical nature, Kieran’s easygoing and adaptable to almost any situation.

6. What does the future hold for your Tav and Gortash? Are they in a relationship, a one time thing, are they going to rule the sword coast together or kill each other in a tragic showdown?

Realistically? Tragic showdown that would tear Kieran to pieces. Idealistically and because it’s my brainchild? They get together after working together to help rebuild the city (and symbolically their relationship). As for kids I haven’t put a lot of thought into it yet, but they would at least have 2.

Unfortunately I do not have anyone else to tag- but if you wish to participate, please do!!