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thranduil-aran-edhil · 1 year ago

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OK, so. Finished my first run. Gotta admit I'm not 100% satisfied with some endings. BUT NO BIGGIE, THAT'S WHAT HEADCANONS ARE FOR, DON'T WORRY I GOT A PERMIT (i'm a Dungeon Master) SO LET'S GO, HC TIME D&D STYLE BC WE STILL GOT 8 LEVELS TO GO: (spoilers for BG3 and Descent Into Avernus going forward)

They'd all stay together and continue to go on adventures, the 9 of them, Tav, Lae'zel, Shadowheart, Gale, Astarion, Wyll, Karlach, Halsin and Minthara. Found Families stay together. (I do enjoy the polyship aspect too, so just throwing it out there)

There's an exchange you can have ingame with an NPC in the Guild and Tav will say the party's name is Wormskulls and I love it. I do also love Tadfools. Maybe they are Wormskulls to the general public and Tadfools to their close friends and allies lol. After the tadpoles are gone I think it would be very useful for them to commission earrings enchanted with Rary's Telepathic Bond. Less invasive than a mindflayer tadpole and just as useful. Also symbolic for Gale. I think the earring would have a pendant of a skull with a serpent coming out of its eye and being bitten by the teeth.

OK SO, my girl Karlach. I haven't romanced her yet, gonna do a run for that. But she's not dying on my watch. She's going back to Avernus, BUT YOU CAN BE SO SURE THAT THE MOMENT THE WHOLE PARTY IS READY WE'RE KICKING DOWN ZARIEL'S DOOR AND KICKING HER ASS. Or giving her her sword back and possibly turning her back into an Angel, something that whatever party of adventurers that managed to save BG and Elturel in Descent Into Avernus CLEARLY didn't do, it would probably not only nullify Mizora's contract with Wyll bc Zariel is now a completely different entity, if you decided to redo Wyll's contract with her, but also would give us a better chance of Zariel taking the infernal engine out of Karlach herself. Maybe turning Wyll into a Devotion Paladin? (more details about Zariel here)

I'd ask Jaheira and Minsc to take care of Scratch and Albie (owlbear cub) because the Hells is no place for pets. Even very brave ones. Maybe Halsin's "ending" fits here, taking care of the pets and the kids while everyone goes to Avernus, they leave him with a Sending Stone. And when they are back he's there waiting for them. 🥺

If we saved Duke Ravengard and broke Wyll's contract. (or didn't but are hcing that we broke his contract by defeating/unmaking Zariel) what does that mean to Wyll? I think it be super cool to go more in depth about it. How does he reconsile with his father? Does he accept to be reinstated as heir and becomes the Duke right away or does he think it's best for his father to continue his role a bit longer? Does he even want to be Duke or does he think he can serve the people of the Sword Coast better as an adventurer? If he turns into a Duke, what sort of benefit does that give an adventuring party?

Finding something to make Astarion able to walk in the sun again I've seen people talk about the Ring of the Sun-Walker as if it's from the 5e books, it's not, it's homebrew. HOWEVER, any freaking DM with a heart would create something similar for their player to continue playing without being afraid of dying instantly bc of the sun. The Cloak of Dragomir is canon to the Baldur's Gate videogame universe, so it be a good tie in, but it would be a temporary solution at best since it penalizes the player quite harshly, Strength: -6, Dexterity: -4, Intelligence: -2, Wisdom: -2, Charisma: -4 and Vampire Regeneration divided by 3, to 1 HP per 3 rounds. That being said, I wouldn't make it TOO easy to obtain as there are other ways for Astarion to be safe, like the Darkness spell. It would be interesting to see him (and Tav) struggle a little bit more, really feel the sacrifice Astarion made by rejecting the Ascendance even after they find something to combat the Sunlight Hypersensitivity.

Astarion's biological family would be something very interesting to explore in the future. They would be Elves themselves and are most likely still alive, we even have a surname thanks to people analyzing the shit out of that tombstone: Ancunín. As a DM I wouldn't wait for a player to decide to search for these people, I'd throw them at the players! Strolling through the Upper City in a quick shopping trip? You hear a loud gasp, things clattering and bumping into the ground, hurried desperate steps and then someone sobbing "Astarion?? Astarion is that you?!" What do you do?

Visiting Waterdeep and Morena Dekarios. This woman deserves to see her son again, and Gale deserves to finally go back home and see his mom without the burden of an ancient artifact lodged in his chest and a goddess wanting him to kill himself. Would he stay? I'm not sure, he went through an entire Odissey and maybe now home, although pleasant, is not as comforting anymore. Waterdeep is the element of Gale of Waterdeep and he's not him anymore. I think this would be a great premise for a roleplay focused arc. Gale is invited to the Blackstaff Ball for the first time since Mystra shunned him, the Wormskulls are famous now, The New Heros of Baldur's Gate (Gala Episode anyone? All of them SLAYIN with their fits? Poor Halsin totally out of his element). He's once again welcomed into the society of the Lord Mage of Waterdeep and his peers seem to have all but forgotten he was ever a pariah. Is that what he wants?

And Waterdeep has many opportunities for more adventure.

A paranoid Beholder underground anyone?

Kill the Lich Queen (CLASSIC D&D). Vlaakith IS FINISHED. TIME TO SPELLJAM AND BE SPACE PIRATES YALL. Lae'zel deserves to see this through to the END.

Shadowheart goes through another journey to find out if she wants to truly embrace Selûne or maybe become another thing entirely. Selûne should reach out or Isobel and Dame Aylin would help her out. Or maybe Shadowheart is tired of being a Cleric and following a god. But change and inconsistency is something that is under Selûne's portfolio, she's often followed by those who are lost, so I think she'd find more than fitting for Shadowheart to be a cautious and weary follower of her.

Your Tav's personal stuff. The Dark Urge sounds amazing and I can't wait to do a run with them, but I think most of us got very attached to our Original Characters Do No Steal. So I'm excited to see what people come up with for their Tavs. Otessa, my Tav, doesn't know her dad was a pirate, he never told her, so I expect that his past will come bite him in the ass and she'll have to help him out of that pickle.

When the party has reached level 17, Gale has access to the Wish spell. And I really do think they'd use it to get rid of Astarion's undeath. As a DM I wouldn't let Gale simply get the spell outright, he'd have to research it. Not only that, I don't think Astarion would be totally free of undeath, some remnant of it would linger, he'd probably turn into an Elf that needs blood to survive and is forever locked out of the Call of Arvandor or something. But he'd be mortal and would be able to walk in the sun without that ring, cross bodies of water, wouldn't instadie from pointy wood objects in the chest etc. (i'm writing a little one-shot about this, should post it soon)

#i know this is rambly and i havent seen all the endings/done all the romances but i really wanted to put this out there anyway #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #astarion #karlach #gale of waterdeep #gale dekarios #lae'zel #shadowheart #wyll ravengard #halsin #spoilers #bg3 spoilers #tadfools #wormskulls

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unreadpoppy · 9 months ago

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Halsin, Minthara and Datamines

I've talked about this before but I decided to make a more "formal" post about it, so that I don't have to keep repeting myself. Also, this is a situation that lowkey makes me a bit stressed and it has been plaguing my mind for quite long now, so I'll use this as an excuse to talk about it.

Context: There's datamined stuff that people found of a potential ultimatum scene. In it, Halsin confronts the player for saving Minthara in the party, because of what she almost did to the grove, and basically says it's either her or me (hence the use of the word ultimatum) and then the player would have to choose to either keep Minthara or Halsin.

Now, Larian, as far as I know, has made no move to actually implement this in game but apparently, lines have been voiced.

So... my opinion on this (and let me make this VERY clear: this whole post is solely my opinion ok, feel free to disagree with me, I'm not the owner of the truth): I would hate if this got added in game.

First, because I love both Minthara and Halsin, and I was so happy when Minthara was finally recruitable in a good run, because I personally, don't find evil runs as appealing, so it was nice to have her while still enjoying what I was doing. And Minthara is such a fun character and I loved every second I got to spend with her.

Second, I don't think it's a choice/scene that makes sense. Why implent the option to recruit Minthara on a good run and then make the player choose between her or Halsin? Because, if you can't have both, why go through all the pains of doing a good run, and just stick to an evil one if you want Minty? Like, it goes back to what it was previously, making the option to have her in a good run pointless.

Third, this scene, TO ME, feels incredible out of character for Halsin. Look, I'm not saying that the two of them need to be best friends, but it feels weird that the one guy who believes that time heals, that people and circumstances can change, a guy who believes in freedom and all that, would give an ultimatum because Minthara, under mind control of the Absolute, wanted to end the Grove. If Halsin knew that Minthara didn't do those things willingly, that she didn't have a choice and is not proud of the hold that the Absolute had on her, I doubt he wouldn't offer her the same grace of possible change and healing as he does others.

I'm ok if this scene was something like the confrontation between Lae'zel and Shadowheart. The two have a fight, due to different beliefs, and Tav 'picks' a side to end the conflict, but ultimatly, both stay and eventually, get over their animosity towards the other.

But, in my opinion, forcing the player to have to let go of a companion that they fought hard to get, it's just so absolutely shitty and feels like a betrayal to what their characters are. And sincerely, it would make me feel very negative towards Halsin, if he wasn't willing to listen to what Minthara had to say and was forcing the player to choose.

With all of that out of the way, I want to address data mines over all. To make a long story short, I'm not a fan of datamined content. I think it's stuff we (players) were not even supposed to know, and when datamined stuff gets discovered, it's spread around the fandom like canon when it's not. Sure, there is a possibility that this stuff might get implemented but it is not a guarantee, and it should not be treated as canon. What is canon is what is IN the game, what we can see, hear, find, interact, not datamined material.

Also, please people, if you're talking about datamined material, MAKE IT KNOWN SOMEWHERE IN YOUR POST. More than once was I left very confused by people talking about character interactions that weren't in game, only for later to discover it was datamine.

Finally, to end on the Minthara-Halsin situation. I think these two have a lot of potential together. I've been told by a friend that a reason this would be implemented would be because of the 'issue' of these two characters sharing a tent, which I hope it's not the 'reason', bc that's such a non issue, and the two of them having to share a place is exactly the type of potential for like, interactions and dialogues;

Just stop trying to pit two bad bitches against each other and let Minthara and Halsin be together.

#minthara bg3 #halsin bg3 #my thoughts #longpost #that's a recent screenshot i took since this is the second tiem i have minthara in a good run #halsin #minthara #bg3 #baldur's gate 3

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mumms-the-word · 8 months ago

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A Macabre Masquerade - Ch. 4

Ch. 4 - The Gang's All Here

Characters: Tavs (multiple), Gale, Astarion, Karlach, Wyll, Lae'zel, Shadowheart, Halsin, Minthara + other OCs Plot: One year after defeating the Netherbrain and saving the city, Dani and Gale receive a mysterious invitation to a masquerade ball. The invitation specifically invites them to participate as the Heroes of Baldur's Gate. However, when they get there, they soon realize they aren't the only Heroes of Baldur's Gate that got invited. A/N: All the crew is back together again! And strange things are afoot on their way to the masquerade. Things are looking more and more like a trap... Also, I'm very aware that I'm a slow writer lol more action to come very soon!

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Dani turned away from the empty street—away from the blank stretch of city wall where a masked servant and a stall of enchanted masks should have been—to face Gale and Astarion, her expression a mix of resignation and annoyance.

“Typical,” she said. “This had better be a bloody practical joke.”

“Which part?” Astarion asked, examining his gloves in a feigned show of disinterest. “The permanent mask feature, or the disappearing servant act?”

“Both!” Dani tried to move her mask once again, but the results were the same as before. She couldn’t even peel it away from her face enough to wedge a piece of paper beneath the mask. She dropped her hands back to her sides with a sigh. “Come on then. We might as well go see this Lord Dormire and ask him what the big deal is.”

“Oooh, delightful,” Astarion said, dropping his bored act to clap his gloved hands together. “It’s been too long since I’ve held someone at dagger point. Almost a full twenty-four hours, in fact.”

“Let’s not get too hasty,” Gale warned. He’d tied back the ribbons of his mask again, even though his mask was clearly going nowhere even with the ribbons loose. “There may yet be some…sensible explanation for all this. Perhaps it’s a temporary spell that lasts only until we’re inside this lord’s manor.”

Dani gestured toward the blank wall. “Then explain the disappearing servant and disappearing mask stand, love. No one packs up that fast, not even the Lower City merchants at the Wide when the curfew bells ring.”

Gale pursed his lips, clearly casting about for an explanation. He admitted defeat with a shrug. “All right, fine, something nefarious is afoot, but—” he held up a finger as Dani and Astarion exchanged gleeful looks, “we should proceed with caution. It wouldn’t do to land ourselves in worse trouble than we’re already in, hm?”

“I see married life with our darling Dani hasn’t robbed you of all your prudence,” Astarion said, smirking.

“Only out here in the streets, Astarion,” Dani said, patting his arm as she swept past him to head toward Dormire’s estate. She seemed to know on instinct which street was best, further proving that there was indeed a navigation spell in place. “In the sheets, however…”

“Dani!” Gale protested, sounding exasperated. But he didn’t deny it. He simply shook his head and fell in step beside her, and Astarion joined her on her other side.

Dani linked arms with them both, happy to be between her husband and one of her dearest friends. Despite the suspicious situation, they chatted amiably as they walked, catching up with Astarion, inquiring about his life as a roguish clandestine hero and complaining in return about Baldur’s Gate politics. They spoke, too, of Gale’s latest finds in his research about sun sensitivity cures, infernal engines, and mysterious Sharran wounds.

“We’re planning a trip to visit Candlekeep soon, to make use of their archives in our research,” Gale said. “When I say I am beyond thrilled at the idea—“

“But first a trip to Waterdeep to have tea with Morena and Tara and collect a gift for the gatekeepers,” Dani added. “We don’t have anything suitable here at home.”

“Or rather, nothing you are willing to part with,” Gale said wryly.

The gatekeepers of Candlekeep refused to let anyone inside the halls of wisdom without first presenting a seal of a renowned wizard and offering a gift of knowledge to add to the collection. Gale had suggested that his own name might be “renowned enough” to grant entry past the gates but, lacking an official seal, he had asked Elminster if he could offer his seal instead. Elminster happily agreed. As for the gift of knowledge, Gale had told Dani this usually meant a very rare, very expensive tome, but the gatekeepers had recently relaxed their rules to accept other artifacts as well. She was a little too attached to the arcane (and mundane) treasures they had accumulated over their adventures pre- and post-Netherbrain, so they agreed to select something from his old tower in Waterdeep. Or ask Tara if she knew of anything suitable.

The journey overall was meant to be their next big adventure, made up of several days spent away from Baldur’s Gate. But it seemed now that adventure had come seeking them out much sooner and much closer to home.

“Ah, Candlekeep,” Astarion said. “That great big library fortress to the south. Sounds like more your thing than mine. Still, if they know anything useful…”

“You’ll be the first to know, I promise,” Dani said. “One way or another we’ll have you back in the sun. Without burning to a crisp.”

Astarion opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, Dani gasped, her eyes landing on another familiar figure just up ahead. The swept streets of Manorborn were relatively empty of people, aside from a few late-evening strollers who seemed eager to keep to one side, well away from the three of them. But a solitary figure was waiting for them at the end of their current street, gazing at them patiently behind a silvery mask, her shell-pink lips curved in a teasing smirk.

“That can’t be Shadowheart behind that pretty mask, can it?” Dani called, breaking away from Gale and Astarion to rush forward.

“The one and only,” Shadowheart said, laughing and opening her arms.

Dani embraced her quickly in a tight hug before pulling back to glance appreciatively over her outfit. Shadowheart had opted for a black dress with silver and pearl accents, sewn and embroidered in gentle leaf and vine motifs, her sleeves nothing more than sheer black drapes of glimmering chiffon. Her mask was made of curling silver filigree in a familiar style that reminded Dani vaguely of Dame Aylin’s helmet and armor. She’d styled her usual braid, still silver-white even a year later, in a coil near the top of her head, crowning the bun with a silver circlet.

“What do you think?” Shadowheart asked. “I thought about going for all white and silver, but it just seemed like overkill, especially with my hair.”

“I think you look gorgeous. But you’d look gorgeous in anything, Shadowheart.”

“You flirt,” Shadowheart laughed. “You look stunning too, as usual. I’ve missed you.” She nodded smilingly toward Gale and Astarion. “Gale, Astarion. It’s good to see you both again. You’ve both been keeping out of trouble, I hope?”

“Naturally,” Gale said, while at the same time, Astarion grinned and said, “Of course, darling.” An obvious lie for one, if not the other.

“Shadowheart, have you noticed anything strange about your mask?” Dani asked, pointing toward her own golden bird mask. Better to get it out of the way now. “Anything…er…magical?”

“You mean like the fact that it’s telling me where to go and the fact that I can’t remove it?” Shadowheart set one hand on her hip, her fond amusement sobering into a more serious look. “I asked the servant about it, but he told me that it’s all just precautions to protect me out here in the Upper City. I say he’s lying, or at least withholding a great deal of the truth.”

“Protection from who, the City Watch?” Dani asked. “They’ve always been a sort of ‘arrest people now, ask questions later’ type of organization, but gluing masks to our faces to prove we have a reason to be on Upper City streets seems a bit much.”

Shadowheart nodded. “There’s definitely something else going on. I’m just glad I convinced my parents to stay behind at our cottage. The last thing I want is to drag them into something like this.”

“Have you met any of the others? Karlach or Wyll? Lae’zel?”

“Lae’zel is coming. I was waiting for her here, actually.” She swept her gaze over their surroundings. “We were supposed to travel together from my cottage but she said she had to shake off some pursuers, so we agreed to meet up in the city.”

“Does she still visit you every now and again?” Dani asked, grinning. Shadowheart and Lae’zel’s relationship had shifted since the early tense days over a year ago. Dani was convinced that part of Lae’zel’s decision to stay on Faerûn rather than join in the liberation of the githyanki empire was because a certain half-elf cleric wouldn’t join her in the Astral Plane. Her suspicions were all but confirmed by the rumors that Lae’zel allegedly made frequent stops by Shadowheart’s cottage on her way to or from a githyanki outpost.

“Once a tenday, if she hasn’t wandered too far abroad,” Shadowheart responded with a faint smirk. Her hazel-green eyes lit up as she spotted someone just over Dani’s shoulder. “Ah, and speaking of…”

Dani turned her head just as Lae’zel herself walked forward. Dani didn’t know what she expected Lae’zel to wear to a masquerade ball, but whatever her expectations might have been, they were surpassed by Lae’zel’s choice of outfit. She’d donned an indigo long-sleeved dress, the skirt little more than a drape of fabric in front of and behind her legs, which where encased in githyanki-style boots all the way up to her thighs. That would have been enough, but over top of the dress, she wore pieces of armor, bits of fine chainmail and githyanki pieces, all silver and purple, with more indigo fabric draping from her shoulders like two thin capes. Her mask was a simple black fabric thing that barely covered her eyes, so slim that Dani had almost mistook it for more of the black shading she usually wore around her eyes.

“You were supposed to dress for a party, not for war,” Shadowheart teased.

“Chk,” was Lae’zel’s telltale response. “It is better to always dress for war. That way you are never surprised by it.”

Lae’zel ignored Dani, Gale, and Astarion and instead went straight for Shadowheart, pulling her by the waist until their bodies were flush, their lips meeting as naturally as if they’d done this a hundred times. As they kissed—and continued to kiss for several seconds—Gale coughed slightly into his fist and looked away politely while Astarion rest an arm on Dani’s shoulder and watched with glee.

“It’s about time the two of them made things public,” he said in Dani’s ear. She giggled. It had been an open secret for so long, none of them were particularly shocked.

At last, Lae’zel and Shadowheart separated from one another and turned to face the others. “Well,” Shadowheart said, somewhat breathlessly. “Shall we get going? After you.”

“Just don’t fall behind, you two,” Dani teased, taking Gale’s arm. “We’ll need all the backup we can get should this turn into a fight.”

“Are we expecting a fight?” Lae’zel asked.

“Maybe? We’ll explain on the way.”

Dani and Gale took the lead, with Astarion, Shadowheart, and Lae’zel following. Lae’zel was irritated but not entirely surprised to learn about their masks’ unique, magical qualities as the others explained what they knew. She muttered something about Faerûnian wizard antics, but otherwise was content to walk hand-in-hand with Shadowheart as they navigated the Upper City. They were no closer to figuring out the point of the masks, however, so topics turned to Lae’zel’s latest adventures and the ever-increasing numbers of githyanki loyalists she’d killed so far in Faerûn. If the party proved to be a trap or a bust, at least Dani was content to catch up with her friends as they made their way through the Upper City.

Lord Dormire’s estate was deep within the Manorborn district, almost on the edge of the district itself. Though the masks had granted them all an innate ability to know which turns to make and a general sense for how close they were getting, Dani was surprised at how far into the district Dormire’s manor actually was. Most of these elegant houses belonged to the oldest families, the ones who’d been here so long that their names were as familiar as Balduran’s own. These manors were larger and had lush gardens and tall, wrought iron or stone fences surrounding them, often with the family heraldry over the gates or hung in banners all over the buildings.

Once upon a time, Dani would have greedily rubbed her hands together and giddily plotted a grand heist to break into one of these estates and abscond with a pack loaded with valuables. Now, in the past year, she’d been inside at least half a dozen of these estates for parties and balls, often with a fake smile fixed to her face until she could turn her head and whisper her biting remarks about puffed up nobles to Gale as he fought to control his expression into something neutral.

But it seemed they wouldn’t be attending another event in these larger homes. Soon those grand estates fell away and they were heading to the far reaches of Manorborn, very nearly to the massive wall that made up the edge of the city itself, where the manors became narrower and more numerous, the gardens and fountains now shared features rather than individual hallmarks of wealth and prestige. As they turned the last corner, they stepped out onto a street lined with well-built, newer-looking manor homes, their windows burning brightly with candlelight and torch-glow. Several carriages lined the streets, parked and inert, more than they had seen on other streets. A relatively short distance away, one building was twice as bright with torchlight as the others, illuminating colorful banners hanging from windows and drapes of fabric framing the doorway. Distant strains of dance music wafted over to them. Dani recognized the tune and the beat as a popular court dance.

Their destination at last.

“Finally,” Astarion said. “I was beginning to think there would be no party at all.”

Dani glanced at the carriages as they passed, trying nosily to guess which noble families would be in attendance based on the heraldry on the doors, but to her surprise, she didn’t recognize any. No Portyrs, no Hhunes, not even an Eomane, and they were famous for their cruel masquerades. She expected to see at least a Jannath, because they showed up everywhere, whether they were wanted or not, but she didn’t see the Jannath heraldry either.

“Curious,” Shadowheart said.

“What is curious?” Lae’zel asked.

“The carriages. They’re empty.”

“Is that so strange? The party isn’t out here in the street.”

Dani turned her head to respond, but Astarion beat her to it. “Normally a patriar’s driver will at least stick around for a short while to tend to the horses, or secure the carriage, or be on hand just in case their patriar master wants to make a hasty escape because they saw their spurned lover across the ballroom floor,” he said. “That sort of thing. But I don’t see a single driver or footman.”

“Maybe they all nipped off to get drinks at a nearby pub,” Dani suggested, but she didn’t believe it. A few drivers and footmen, maybe, but all of them at once?

“Or maybe Lord Dormire is a liberal-minded fellow and invited them all inside to enjoy the party too,” Gale suggested, with an equal lack of conviction. He shook his head. “At this point, if we step inside and there are no guests, I suggest we turn around and leave.”

“And have these masks glued to our faces forever? I think not. Party or no, we have to find this guy and get these masks off.”

“Agreed,” Shadowheart said. “I don’t relish the idea of having to peel off a few layers of skin just to get this thing off my face. It’s pretty, but it’s hardly suitable for everyday wear.”

They paused just outside the manor itself, looking up at the building in all its finery. Though it looked like every other manor building on this street, the stone clean, the architecture and design reflecting a newer, nouveau riche style, the banners and draperies that flowed down or fluttered gently from the windows and down from the roof elevated the facade and created an extravagant yet mysterious aura about the place. To her pleasant surprise, Dani saw figures moving inside, blurred and shadowed forms passing in front of sheer-curtained windows, some swaying to the beat of the music playing inside. The music had shifted to a bouncier courante dance tune and Dani was transported suddenly back to memories of dancing a courante with Wyll, her singing the tune and Wyll teaching her the steps, both of them grinning wide.

“Pity that Wyll hasn’t seemed to make it,” Dani said. “I can just picture him out on the dance floor to this music, showing everyone up with his moves.”

“It’s like you’ve read my mind, my friend! The Blade of Avernus would never turn down a dance.”

Dani turned with a gasp at the familiar voice. Wyll stood several paces away just up the street, sweeping a low, courtly bow as a greeting. Beside him stood Karlach, grinning brightly and practically bouncing on her toes.

“Wyll! Karlach!” Dani voice rang out exuberant and loud, her heart fit to burst seeing two more of her dearest friends once more on the Material Plane. She let go of Gale and ran to grab them both in a hug. They both laughed and wrapped their arms around her until the three of them were more a tangle of limbs than anything else. “I can’t believe you made it out of Avernus for this! Gods, I’ve missed you.”

“We’ve missed you too, Dan,” Karlach said, giving her as tight a squeeze as she could with Wyll also tangled up with them. They both reeked of brimstone and ash, like the very Hells themselves, but Dani couldn’t care less. She held on as long as she could, trying to make up for months of missed hugs and scarce messages.

When she finally pulled away, Wyll was trying to discreetly wipe his good eye free of tears around the eyeholes of his wolf-shaped mask and Karlach was burning with blue flame. She was also starting to sweat a little, her face glistening around the scaly, dragon-like mask she wore.

“I have so many questions,” Dani said. “How did you get out of Avernus? Where the hells did you get those clothes? Have you found a blacksmith to fix your heart yet? Do you have to go back?”

“Hang on, soldier, I haven’t said hi to everyone else yet,” Karlach said, laughing.

Dani stepped to one side as Karlach went around hugging everyone in the group, including Astarion, who relented much the same way he had with Dani, with a look of surprise and a little fond pat on Karlach’s back. Wyll, too, was eager to hug or shake hands with the others, and soon the group, finally back together again, was abuzz with conversation, with Shadowheart and Lae’zel catching up with Karlach and Wyll, and Lae’zel comparing kills with them, and Astarion quipping now and again with his usual humor. Dani stood back with Gale and watched with a smile. It felt as though all the little pieces of her heart, the pieces that her friends had carried away with them the moment Withers’ party had broken up six months before, were once again made whole. She almost felt like she could cry. The old crew, back together again. Or mostly so, since Jaheira, Halsin, and Minsc wouldn’t be joining them.

By and by the details came to light. Karlach and Wyll hadn’t had much luck with a blacksmith just yet, which meant Karlach’s heart was still in disrepair. She was certain it would hold for one night, though, since it had done just fine at Withers’ party six months ago. Despite the danger, they both agreed that trying to go to the party was worth the risk, so they had visited the House of Hope to catch up with Hope and see if she had any clothes left over from Raphael’s closets for them to borrow. It seemed they had been quite lucky sifting through Raphael’s old things, as Wyll was now sporting an elegant red and silver doublet with trim leggings to rival any Upper City bard in style and Karlach had found a black, red, and gold low-cut sleeveless dress with two slits all the way up to her hips. She’d paired it with black leggings and thick black boots that looked like they had probably curb-stomped a cambion sometime in the last two or three days, yet went with the dress surprisingly well. As for how they got here, they said that a portal had opened up for them nearby while they were traveling, not unlike Withers did for them six months ago.

“You don’t think the old bag of bones is behind this party, do you?” Karlach asked.

“No. I wish, but Withers has a more casual style than this,” Dani said, gesturing toward the decorated building they were all loitering in front of. “Plus, Withers wouldn’t enchant our masks to get stuck to our faces like this.”

“Hang on. What?”

Karlach and Wyll exchanged shocked glances before they simultaneously tried to remove their masks. They had just about as much luck as the others, with exactly the same results. Their masks were stuck fast.

“By the Triad,” Wyll said. Karlach only groaned and said a long, drawn out, “Fuuuck.”

“Yeah. Don’t worry, we have a plan,” Dani said.

Gale shot her a surprised look. He wasn’t the only one, as Shadowheart and Astarion both looked doubtful, but it was Gale who spoke. “We do?”

“Sure. Go in, find this Lord Dormire guy, get him to talk, get him to remove our masks, steal the booze, and leave. We can iron out the details as we go.”

“Oooh, I volunteer for ‘get him to talk’ duty,” Karlach said, cracking her knuckles. “Astarion and Shadowheart can steal the booze.”

“Just like old times,” Wyll said, shaking his head with a smile. “And here I was hoping for a dance or ten.”

“I’ll dance with you after we know we won’t be spending the rest of our lives perma-masked,” Dani said. “Deal?”

Wyll’s smile was infectious. “Deal. It would be a sin to waste a party, after all, since it’s been so carefully coordinated for us.”

The seven of them, once more reunited on the anniversary of their defeat of the Netherbrain, turned as one to look up at the manor once more. There was no servant on the steps to greet them and the double doors at the front were firmly closed, but every window was lit with cheery light and the sounds inside certainly sounded like a patriar’s party, with music and the low murmur of chatter. Strange events aside, it didn’t seem any different than any other Upper City party Dani had attended in the past year.

So why did her body seemed to buzz with anticipation? The masks, the empty carriages, the disappearing servant, they all hinted at some adventure to come. But what kind? Would there be twisted party games, like the Eomanes liked to do with their masquerades? Was this all an elaborate trap, intended to lure them in and attack them unawares? Was Lord Dormire an enemy, a practical joker, or a harmless patriar, well-meaning but strange?

Dani looked at Gale and found his eyes already on her, patiently waiting for her signal. She took his arm with a little grin and nodded toward the doors with her head. “Let’s see what all the fuss is about.”

Together they stepped through the gates that separated the manor from the street and went up the three steps that led to the double doors. Dani was prepared for magical shenanigans, so she was unsurprised when the doors opened of their own accord the moment she reached for the handles. Golden candlelight spilled out over them as the doors swung inward to reveal a grand foyer, several masked attendees milling about inside and one central figure in black and white standing at the bottom of a carpeted stairway.

The masked attendees quieted and turned to look at them, all curious glances, fluttering fans, and glimmering finery. But it was the centermost figure who had Dani’s attention.

“You,” she gasped. “The servant from the gates!”

The masked servant bowed low as he had done before and then gestured for them to enter. “Welcome, Heroes of Baldur’s Gate, to the masquerade. Eat, drink, dance, mingle, and...enjoy the party. Lord Dormire will begin the official celebrations shortly.”

“Wait—”

But the servant didn’t wait. With another bow, he disappeared in a flurry of swirling ash and embers.

#bg3 #bg3 fic #my fic #oc #bg3 companions #bg3 fanfic #dani #meridan zavrai #gale #gale dekarios #astarion #wyll ravengard #shadowheart #lae'zel #karlach #long post #we're trying to keep this up lol

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sasha199 · 4 months ago

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Gale/ Wyll drama pt. 6 This one's for all my fellow citizens of the Holy Rolan Empire.

Y’all…this game hits different when your Tav is a stand in for yourself.

My sister and I are playing a multiplayer as ourselves, as sisters. I was romancing/flirting with both Gale and Wyll. I made a move on Lae’zel too but THAT ended in tears. Sister is pulling both Astarion and Shadowheart.

(I’m Sasha, sister is Marlie.)

The Last Light Inn is bustling, as usual. Harpers have a knack for keeping their minds occupied, they're survivors first and foremost. After the acquisition of the Moon Lantern, Marlie and I are on a first name basis with most of the people here, but as I approach Quartermaster Talli, the nearby Harpers go quiet. Everyone stares at us. I do my best to ignore them and I greet Talli with my usual enthusiasm. She gives Minthara a hard look as she doles out heavy armor and weapons, but gives me no grief. The conversations pick back up again as we walk away.

Marlie makes her way over to Dammon to see what he's been working on. The tiefling blacksmith has a knack for harnessing the power of infernal iron, and we had managed to gather more on our recent venture. Astarion seems to be looking in every direction at once as he follows her, his footsteps eerily silent.

As I enter the main common room Alfira rushes over, her face is stretched taunt with worry. That's not new, she's been struggling since the death of her instructor and friend Lihala. I gather her in a brief hug, the bells of her bard's collar tinkling faintly. "Everything alright?" I ask. I absently do a head count of the children over her shoulder, my heart sinks as I remember that Mol is still missing.

"No," her dark golden eyes dart back and forth between mine, "It's Rolan, I can't find him."

"Rolan? Lia's brother? He's probably drying out somewhere..."

"No, you don't understand, I don't think so. He's been missing since last night."

"Alfira, I'm sure he's fine." That man was more of a headache than I had ever anticipated a wizard could be.

"When did you last see him?" she asks me.

I picture in my mind's eyes the swaggering, scowling, tiefling, hair always coiffed to hide his ears as if he's ashamed of them. His golden eyes were lidded and drooping, he leaned over the bar like he was preparing to take a nap right then and there. Granted, the fight with Marcus had been exhausting. I'd rushed downstairs to help Jaheira, who had already wild shaped into a panther, and Rolan had been engaged with a horrible winged monstrosity. I had cast Mage Armor on him as I ran past trying to put myself between the children on the first floor and the creatures descending from the sky. The golden light from my spell was still emanating around him, making his eyes shine.

He sneered at me before I could speak. "Just stay away from me," he slurred, "I'm so sick of you and you're self-righteous heroic crap. None of this would've happened if you hadn't interfered in our business. We'd be in Baldur's Gate by now. Together. Safe."

The "we" he was referring to were his siblings. They'd been ambushed by a group of cultists from Moonrise, and taken prisoner. Many members of the tiefling refugee group had perished in that conflict. I had first met the trio when our party had been in search of a healer for the tadpoles swimming around in our brains. His sister, Lia, and I had become close during that time, and she had been keen to aid the refugees as they journeyed to Baldur's Gate from Elturel. Rolan thought I was a bad influence on her.

I was hurt by this outburst but not terribly surprised. Rolan was not what I would call a kind man. "Look, I'm sorry about what happened to your family-"

"They're dead for all I know," he sloshed more wine into a silver tankard, dribbling the frothy liquid onto the counter, "I don't need your help... or your pity."

"I'll rescue them," I snapped. "I would never abandon Lia, or Cal." I reminded myself that Rolan had saved Alfira, saved the children. It was his magic that allowed them all to escape and take refuge at Last Light. I owed him a lot. It would be wrong to walk over, wrap my armored hands around his red neck and watch gleefully as that stupid golden light left his black eyes. "They're strong and capable, they'll take care of each other. I trust them to manage until I can get them out."

He turned to face me fully then, his tail lashing behind him, "They're MY responsibility." He bared his fangs at me, lowered his head as if to charge me, but his voice was quiet and menacing, "You go save the world, or whatever it is you do. I'll fix this."

"Well fuck." I say coming back to reality. Alfira is still looking at me, pleading with her eyes for me to take action.

"Stay calm," I tell her, "If he's still alive, we'll find him. Lia would never forgive me if I didn't look out for him."

I reach out through my mind, through the tadpole connection to Marlie and Astarion. "Time to rally," I think harshly, "Rolan has gone to Moonrise. Maybe we can still catch him."

"Who?" Marlie responds.

I sigh and send her a mental image.

"Oh, that egotistical shit." I can feel her exasperation, the bitter taste of it curling on my tongue through out mental connection. "I'll be pissed if we did all that work to keep him alive only to fail here."

***

Marlie and I had grown up in the wilds to the south of Baldur's Gate. It's an entirely different environment from where we are now, but the intensity of the Shadow Curse has turned this city into a wasteland of sorts. I'm never so grateful for my tracking skills as we make our way towards the ruined battlefield. I avert my eyes from the slaughtered tiefling bodies that litter the ground not far from here. I can still hear Asharak's encouraging voice if I think hard enough.

Marlie and Astarion are stealthing in the darkness, I can't see them but Marlie sends me flashes through the tadpole of the landscape, and I know they're scouting for shadows. It's then that I hear "DETONO" from somewhere up ahead. The ground vibrates with the force of the spell and I jump over a low wall, moving towards the sound.

"Rolan!" I shout, rounding, a corner. Minthara leaps ahead of me, her sword glowing with divinity, and my eyes flash green in the darkness. In one smooth motion I pull fletching to cheek and loose an arrow ablaze with dread and malice. The shadow it embeds itself into shrieks and collapses in on itself. I hear Astrarion off in the distance laughing as an attack misses him.

Soon, it is over, and panting I turn to Rolan. "Gods damn it all." He shouts before I can say anything. "Anyone but you...can I do nothing right?"

I don't know what to say, I feel like I'm in the wrong. I reach out tentatively and he recoils, teeth bared again. I was prepared for his reaction, but this is too important, why doesn't he ever cast it on himself? Rolan is now glowing with a bright yellow light, I mutter the incantation and he looks down as three arcane shields buzz around him for a heartbeat. I'm heartened to see his face soften slightly.

"If it helps," I venture, "when I re-tell this story, I could say you killed all the monsters?"

"Who gives a damn about your stories," there's a note of despair in his voice, "All I care about is getting my brother and sister back."

"Instead he found himself cornered by shadow fiends and in desperate need of rescue." Minthara's melodious tones almost echo around us, the group has re-gathered and Marlie and Astarion are looting somewhere in the darkness.

"From you of all bloody people." Rolan snarls, looking particularly devilish in the flickering light of his torch.

"You were trying to help your family," I say quickly before I lose my nerve, I don't know why I'm attempting to make him feel better, "you're - you're too hard on yourself."

"Or not hard enough." There is no appreciation in those yellow eyes, only contempt. He looks like an entirely different person from the man who filled the air with sparkles at the grove's celebration. The man who basked in my applause and asked me if I needed anything before retiring to spend the evening alone. That man is dead apparently.

"Are you in the habit of collecting wizards who nurse a death wish?" Minthara steps up next to me, absently looking over some loot Marlie gave her, she sneers at Rolan, "Seems they cannot help but follow in your wake. Like ducklings."

"I'll return to Last Light." Rolan storms away, torch held high, he mutters something else but I can't make it out. I'm pretty sure he's cursing me.

"Moonrise would have eaten him alive."

"And you should have let it," Minthara tosses the loot casually on the ground, apparently it does not meet her standards. "There are too many fools in the world as it is."

When we return to Last Light, Rolan is drinking in the corner again.

"Don't do it." Marlie says to me.

"Do what?"

"You have enough on your plate, don't go asking for more."

"I'm not."

She lowers her voice, "You can't save people from themselves, Sasha. Let him be miserable if he wants to be."

I sigh and walk over to Rolan's corner.

"Gods, what now..." He mutters into his tankard. I keep my distance, feeling awkward, wishing I knew what to say. He turns to me, he looks haggard, defeated. "Come here to gloat? "

"Yes." I respond half thinking.

"Well I'm not here to grovel, so PISS OFF!" He takes a hardy swig.

It shouldn't matter, I owe him nothing. As I walk away I wipe my nose absently on my sleeve. I'm not crying, everything is fine. I'm perfectly fine.

Marlie is at my side as I step out into the yard. "Did you find...?" I trail off as she nods her head slightly, sending me a mental image of a haughty, finely dressed man. Last I'd seen him he was sitting across from a one-eyed little girl, a board game between them. I swallow a lump in my throat and say a silent prayer for Mol.

"To Moonrise?" She asks me as I digest the image.

"First to camp," I say, "we can't take Minthara back there."

"Right. Who are you going to bring with you instead?"

I look at her, an image flashes in our tadpole connection. "Right," she says again, "poor Daddy's Boy."

#bg3 #gale romance #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 fanfiction #gale of waterdeep #baldurs gate gale #bg3 gale #bg3 tav #gale dekarios x reader #wyll ravengard #rolan romance #holy rolan empire #bg3 rolan #rolan x tav #rolan smut #read more #baldurs gate wyll #baldurs gate 3

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pikaglove · 7 months ago

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Monk run done, here are her headcanons

Bianca Lasslail

• High elf

• Monk (4 elements)

• Noble

• Trans female

• Pansexual

• Late 40s

• Lover: Karlach

• Takes estrogen potions to maintain her gender identity

• Realized she was trans while training as a monk

• Likes to tease friends

• Took music lessons as a kid but never kept up with practice.

• Canonically intimidated a hag

• Is willing to get 2nd degree burns just to bang Karlach

• Has jokingly told Karlach that she should fuck her while she is still burning because then that would be free bottom surgery.

• Got a cut on her lip when she was fighting with a mean girl who bullied her and the bully punched her in the mouth while wearing a diamond ring.

• Dyes her gray hairs pink

• Got into a lot of schoolyard fights

• Became a monk to manage her anger better and get good at fighting

• The 2nd born out of 4

• She has 1 older sister and 2 younger brothers

• Not the best relationship with her sister but good relationship with her brothers

• Used to have unhinged white boy moments with her brothers.

• ADHD

• Was 15 when she went to train as a monk

• Pegged Astarion

• Can catch arrows with bare hands

• Too slutty for lae'zel apparently

• Sold a gith egg because she thought the child would have a better life away from her group cause they cause trouble. (She was mistaken)

• Likes to have girl's nights

• Gave herself the absolute brand

• Her and Karlach are the gay moms that get the gang outta trouble

• Likes when her breasts are touched

• Shares a bath with Karlach 90% of the time

• Wyll is her bff

• Enemy to the goblins

• Saved Minthara

• Mainly uses fire spells

• Took the tadpole

• Is fond of Baulder's Gate

• Got judged by Astarion, Wyll, and Shadowheart for fucking the mind flayer (the startbucks crew)

• Was misgendered once in the marketplace

• Is called more elven slurs than she is misgendered

• Plays lute for Karlach

• Has assulted Karlach's face with kisses (consentual)

• Becoming a monk has helped her gender dysphoria

• Could not save Astarion from Ascending and regrets it every day.

• Her and Karlach sacrificed themselves during the iron throne (#couplegoals)

• Rejected her nobility after becoming a monk

• Did not fuck Haarlep

• Least favorite vegetable is cabbages

• Went to Avernus with Karlach

• Has had to ask her siblings for money

• Took up a smoking habit when she went to Avernus

• Hangs out with Hope sometimes in her home

• Murders devils with her bare hands

• Avoids Astarion any time she can

• Reminds Astarion about how she pegged him at the tiefling party whenever he talks about how great he is as a lord

• Has had to threaten Astarion to stand down from trying to take over Baulder's Gate on multiple occasions

• Has warned her siblings to not attend high society parties hosted by Astarion

• Will beat the shit out of Mizora and Zariel

• Searching for a cure for Karlach

• After most of our heros have walked the valley of Judgement, rumors of a monk still roams the hells killing demons along the way

#baulders gate 3 #bg3 #baulders gate tav #Baulder's gate #karlach #karlach cliffgate #bg3 roleplay #dnd #dungeons and dragons #bg3 karlach

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whitegoldtower · 22 days ago

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If I were in the BG3 universe:

🕸️ Obviously I’d be a drow, myself. As an FTM and the eldest child in my family, I’d at least survive long enough to get nabbed by the nautiloid.

🕸️ act 1 Astarion would have to actively work to earn my trust because he and I would NOT see eye to eye and his behaviour would make me feel deeply unsafe. Again, as I said in my last post, his reaction to being told “you’re too close” would absolutely make me retaliate aggressively, and I wouldn’t just let him walk away from me after speaking to me like that.

🕸️ I would probably spend entire nights just talking to Gale and Wyll. I’d also be competing with Gale for the title of Camp Cook

🕸️ Lae’zel bossing me around on the nautiloid would rub me up the wrong way and I’d be very likely to react the same way as Shadowheart “who put you in charge?”

🕸️ I would get Scratch for Karlach but I wouldn’t be particularly pleased with having a dog in the camp.

🕸️ I’ll indulge Volo because it’s funny, but I am not letting him lobotomise me.

🕸️ If all went smoothly, I’d have some pretty deep conversations with Astarion.

🕸️ “I hate wolves” - me too, girl. Your fear is justified, and not just because of your trauma. I, too, would shit myself if Silver walked past me.

🕸️ I’d spare Minthara and then save her from Moonrise. Even though I would have some heavy disagreements with her, she would be my best friend. She would be the one person I’d seek out if I needed a second pair of eyes and/or a reality check.

🕸️ I would trust Shadowheart to do the right thing.

🕸️ Honestly, I don’t think I would even free Lae’zel from the tieflings. She would not be at my camp. I would see her in the wooden cage, see the tieflings guarding it, and keep walking. I would remember her giving me orders on the nautiloid and that would instantly dissuade me from even debating whether or not trying to persuade those tieflings to let her go was worth it.

🕸️ I would punch Aradin (and hurt my fist in the process but it’s worth it)

🕸️ I would free the spiders in the goblin camp and let them eat the goblins.

🕸️ Wyll would find me questionable at times. Karlach would get annoyed because I prefer to act subtly and strategise instead of running in guns blazing.

🕸️ I wouldn’t probe at Shadowheart. She and I would see eye to eye on a lot of things.

🕸️ I’ll let Abdirak have a go out of pure curiosity.

🕸️ I would technically save the grove but not on purpose. Yes I would take out the goblin leaders, and yes I would free Halsin. Yes, I would also help the tieflings with the druid situation. But it wasn’t my first priority. Not that I would say that out loud.

🕸️ I would rather either wait for Halsin to get to the grove to yell at Kagha and resolve the issue with the tieflings himself, or expose Kagha to the other druids. Minimal bloodshed in the grove.

🕸️ I would let True Soul Nere do his thing (I’m not getting involved in that) and then talk to the dumbass about the Absolute situation. Ideally, I wouldn’t give him the chance to run off. He’s coming back to camp with me. Better to have another ally than to let Balthazar have him. Also I’m romancing the pants off him.

🕸️ Church bells would ring when I saw Kar’niss for the first time. I would not be able to take the moonlantern from him, and as a reluctant consequence, I would turn on the harpers. I would aim to just knock him out at Moonrise because his sobs would make me feel too bad.

🕸️ Araj Oblodra would catch my hands so fast. At that point, I might not particularly be besties with Astarion, but I would defend him. Nobody should be speaking to anybody like that. One of the rare instances in the game thus far that would absolutely make my blood boil.

🕸️ Mayrina made her bed and now she can lie in it. Auntie Ethel can do as she likes.

🕸️ Raphael’s voice could convince me, but his words could not. I’m not falling for it.

🕸️ I would let Astarion bite me but by the gods I had better see him fighting tooth and nail afterwards. I am not a blood bank and I would get pissy if he wasn’t pulling his weight. A second feeding would 80% ride on whether or not I thought it would be efficient to let him do so again and 20% on the soft little part of me that wants to see him happy. But any of that “my little treat with his cheeks all flushed” nonsense and he’s not getting anything. Not unless I’d clocked that it was a bit, but I’m autistic so it would probably take a while.

🕸️ I would eventually trust each of the companions to make the big decisions - it’s not my place to tell them how to resolve their personal problems. The most I can do is support them and offer rational advice if they ask for it.

🕸️ Karlach can have Scratch, I don’t care. I’m adopting all the cats and spiders (leggy cats). Although, that one woman with the cages? I’ll let her have it with both barrels.

🕸️ When Orin decides to mess with my party, I decide to scalp her when I next see her.

🕸️ The tadpole would make me have panic attacks every night because of my medical anxiety, and I would be trying everything to get rid of it (as long as I don’t lose an eye, but if I was desperate enough I might try it. Raphael might even start to tempt me). Eventually, I think I’d become apathetic to it and force myself to stop acknowledging it.

🕸️ if the companions cared enough about me, it would probably be a nightly occurrence for them to have to stop me from downing the Wyvern Poison Nettie gave me in the grove, because even the slightest ache in my body would set off alarms. “You’re not turning into a mindflayer, you just ate some dodgy meat”

🕸️ On the nights I’m not cooking, I’m requesting that Gale cooks something with mushrooms in it. Comfort food. Routine good.

🕸️ I’ll take Minthara calling me a jaluk as a compliment, because at least she’s gendered me correctly.

🕸️ I absolutely cannot sleep alone. If I had to pick a companion to keep me safe when I’m sleeping, it’s either going to be Shadowheart, Wyll or Minthara. Shadowheart and Wyll would be comforting and reassuring, and Minthara would be vigilant and stern enough to both make me feel safe and convince me to go the fuck to sleep.

🕸️ however if I woke up in the middle of the night and freaked out, I’d be most likely to wake up Wyll. The whole time this and the above is happening, I would have Nere in a vice grip and would not be letting go.

🕸️ I would be some sort of magic user. But if push came to shove in battle, I’d take a leaf out of Astarion’s book and start biting people. There’s a time and a place for dignity, and whilst I consider myself an otherwise very dignified person, I’m not opposed to fighting dirty if it’s necessary.

🕸️ based on all this, I think I’d be some sort of neutral alignment. Probably true neutral.

#dnd ramblings #rambling #bg3 character #bg3 #bg3 self insert

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hex-rex · 4 months ago

Note

jinx and/or shart and/or lae'zel for the give me a character ask thing

And\or errrrm. I like to talk? I am doing all 😁👍

putting it under a cut bc the Jinx section got out of hand 🤠 Uuuh Arcane and bg3 spoilers

Jinx

• how i feel about this character

AUGH????? AUGH!!!!!!!!! DJJFJFNFHDIDNDJFJIFNFFHFJ!!!!????

• All the people I ship romantically with this character

Personally no one from the show, but I really like Lux from what I've seen of her (I think that's her name. I've never played League)

• My non-romantic OTP for this character

Obviously her sister and her have an addicting dynamic but I also like Ekko and Jinx in a they miss each other so painfully much but could never forgive the other either, and are stuck in an endless loop of missing them and hating them 😩

• my unpopular opinion about this character

I've seen people saying they want Jinx to get help\realize how evil she's been and makeup with Vi, but I personally don't .... The whole point is they've changed. They're both completely different and there's no going back. They both miss each other so painfully much but they just can't see past the old to accept the new. They both want their sister back so bad, they can't realize their sister is right there. They both can't move on without moving on from their memory, but doing that would be the same as accepting their sister as dead to them.

• One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character

OKAY I KNOW SHE HAS HAD LIKE 15 BREAKING POINTS BY NOW BUT. I neeed to see Jinx kill Cait\A council member\anyone close to Vi. I need to see Jinx do something so unforgivable out of rage that Vi finally realizes she's not getting Powder back. I need Vi to snap at her and have Jinx realize her sister will never accept her as she is. I need sibling angst 😩😩😩

Shart

• how i feel about this character

See above^

• All the people I ship romantically with this character

Funny you should put this with Lae'zel. Well let's just say. Haha. Ftrog laby.... I also really like Karlach x Shart and Minthara x DJ Shart!

• My non-romantic OTP for this character

ASTARION!!!!! Two pale white-haired elven mean girls trash talking EVERYONE at the reunion!!!! They both said the same insult at the same time and immediately became best friends.

• my unpopular opinion about this character

I really like the DJ Shart route 😩 like. More than her normal route!! OBVIOUSLY Selunite Shart is the best for her character but DJ Shart is SO interesting!

• One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character

I WANT MORE SELUNITE SHART CONTENT!!! I KNOW that is ironic considering my previous statement but I DO!!! I NEED IT!!!!

Lae'zel

• how i feel about this character

Augh.... Alien lizard woman with a sword save me.... Save me alien lizard woman with a sword...

• All the people I ship romantically with this character

Already said Shadowheart, but also Wyll!! He could fix her....

• My non-romantic OTP for this character

Jaheira! I can imagine Jaheira helping her down the path of like. Not murder. She tells her little stories about heros and Lae gets SO shocked (and disgusted) when she actually gets invested in the self-righteous plot

• my unpopular opinion about this character

She actually isn't just a mean evil woman 🤠. She is soo complex and has so much more to her, even in act 1, than being a racist meanie. She was taught to put herself first and that feeling of being the best is slowly unraveling!! And she has to juggle her loyalty to her kin with her newfound love for her friends!!

• One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character

I wanna be able to go to the comets with her platonically ☹️. I KNOW she wouldn't let her but I WANT TOOO!!!!

^me being plagued by thoughts of Woman with Braids

#so sorry this is so long you cant give me 3 brainrot women and expect anything else #anyway had to add Shayne to fit w ur Amanda!#asks #I speak

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ex-textura · 7 months ago

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I stumble in through the doors, having been a booping fiend the other day but ah hello! ;D; /)~~

My main/first tav for BG3 was an extremely sunny dispositioned, kind hearted, and optimistic half wood elf man named Hexmen Ziziaurea-Ivadaera, or simply just Hexmen Ivadaera for the sake of not having to write out an extra name ( + he more often uses his father's last name in memory of him!). Hexmen's an Oath of the Ancients turned Oathbreaker paladin who accidentally broke his oath literally at the beginning of his adventures when he unsuccessfully tried to save Lae'zel and ended up killing a tiefling ( ooc-- I was trying to hardcore commit to my actions early on with no save scumming and accidentally did a smite even though I did nonlethal attacks and oh god one of them died).

After that accident and the Oathbreaker Knight jumpscare, he promptly told Lae'zel through gritted teeth that were barely holding back a panic attack to leave, in which she did. Afterwards, his entire adventure was mildly stressful but he tried his best to uphold his old oath tenets of kindling hope and helping those in need along the way! Astarion wasn't much of a fan of the do-gooder Hexmen, Shadowheart ended up being like a sister figure to him, Wyll is like one of his best friends who's a fellow Baldurian and he ended up finding himself mutually falling for a certain Wizard of Waterdeep! Karlach and Halsin are also dear friends of his, Jaheria felt like a cool aunt friend to him, and dear lord just like Wyll he couldn't get enough of Minsc. I sadly didn't have Minthara on his run, but I do think they'd maybe understand each other's devotions, however they'd clash because of their very different beliefs and such.

Throughout his run, he was mostly Lawful Good that eventually turned into something more chaotic in the long run.

Before his time in the main campaign, he was a paladin of Lathander from Baldur's Gate! His mom's a full wood elf from the Ardeep Wood outside of Waterdeep and his father was a human man born and raised in Baldur's Gate that acted as a city guard until his untimely death. For a good portion of his early teens through adulthood he was raised only by his mother after his father's passing, and eventually as an adult he was left alone for the most part in Baldur's Gate with his father's side of the family, as his mother went off on a mid-life elf adventure on her own.

Hexmen had his human grandmother and his best friend, Lumin Sacredlight, a human variant cleric of Tyr and Selune (who is also my multiplayer tav and who his dream guardian was modeled after), for company for a while until he was scooped up by the Nautiloid while on a patrol around the temple he guarded.

- An additional handful of fun facts are that he did visit Waterdeep here and there when he was younger when he and his mom traveled to the Ardeep Wood to visit his wood elven family! I drew out an entire mini comic before of him accidentally brushing past a young Gale before! However they never formally met and didn't recognize each other when they met during the events of BG3.

- I researched so much DnD elven language for this man and some Forgotten Realms cuisine. One of his favorite snacks to have is Elven Seed Bread!

- He has such a heavy sun motif and despite being an oathbreaker, he still withholds his tenets from being an Oath of the Ancients sworn to Lathander.

- His face scar is from a duel he had with a fellow paladin trainee when he was younger-- that paladin who fought him later became an Oath of Vengeance paladin.

- I have written an ungodly amount of content for this man and have drawn him so much.

- Hexmen ended up falling for Gale! Him and Gale had such mutual pining for a long time until they eventually confessed to each other. I love these two so much-- Hexmen accepted his proposal at the end of the game and additionally moved to Waterdeep with him where they probably have a permanent magic portal somewhere in or near the tower so he can still check on his grandmother in Baldur's Gate often ( and additionally see old friends and etc). I originally thought Hexmen was going to be an Astarion romance until he pulled Gale out of the portal and yeah. Yeah… I would ramble more about their entire romance but I’m afraid that I’m going to write way too much if I get more in detail about it whE A A

- If he was a recruitable companion, you'd be able to find him face down in shallow river water near the harpies and there would be a whole thing with Tav/the Origin character needing to figure out how to wake him up via magic with arcana checks, CPR with medicine checks, pickpocketing him with stealth checks at the risk of him drawing his sword on you as the movement potentially stirrs him, or straight up just leaving him there and claiming he's dead.

- I tried to do a tactician run with him, but accidentally killed the owlbear cub due to a bug, and I ended up stopping the run because I knew and felt that Hexmen would not do that in good consciousness nor ever let that go.

- Hexmen was extremely against using the tadpoles and only used his illithid powers a grand total of maybe three times throughout the entire game. The one time he used them, he thought a goblin was just going to be quiet from his command but nope– UH– they– they died. And Hexmen turned around to the party absolutely mortified at what he had accidentally done. Safe to say that was probably one of the last times he used those powers until the Elder Brain fight.

Thank you for the chance to ramble about m’dude! ;D; God I brainrotted over him for so many months and I love him a lot whEA E A

OH MY GOD THIS MAN IS EVERYTHING HEXMEN YOU PRECIOUS SUN!!

I love how much lore you have for him omg. I can feel the love from here and it's beautiful.

Also my boy. My man. My precious guy my Auric can commiserate on the paladin struggles. That feeling when you accidentally break your oath and your heart sinks into the floor. Especially when it's something like accidentally deleting an innocent. Gawd. I'm sorry Hexmen but I still believe in your good heart.

I love the slow alignment shift. Did he become more chaotic because of the influence of the tadfools, gremlins that they are? Or was there another influence? Or maybe it just happened organically for no other reason??

HOW DID HE GET CONKED OUT BY THE HARPIES??! Is that where he landed???? My man what are you doing out here xD I want to protect you.

(the owlbear incident was just a bad dream. Never happened. Let a wizard hug the pain away)

Thank you for rambling at me about him I love him! I love a paladin and an oath breaker choosing to still stick to his tenets and maintain his goodness in spite of it all is such a good flavour.

(you can ramble more about their romance I am always eager for Gale love have you seen my blog gimme Gale loooooove)

#asks #other people's ocs

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myheartismadeofstars · 6 months ago

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Tav character building questions with Clover!!

1: Where in the Faerûn is your Tav from?

Honestly I hadn't really thought about the exact location lol she's from a woodland farm so... somewhere wooded?

2: What is your character's alignment?

I honestly never bothered to assign an alignment to her, under the assumption that it might well change as the story progresses. I do think she is Good aligned, but probably Neutral Good?

3: Race and subclass?

Wood Half elf and Beastmaster Ranger!

4: If your Tav was a companion, where would they be found?

Honestly probably near animals and or children, similar to Wyll. So probably in the Grove.

5: Dark Urge or no?

She's not. But I do include a default Durge as a companion for my fic lol.

6: What companion are you platonically close with?

She really wants to be best friends with Shadowheart, and eventually gets her wish, but by that point Karlach has moved up that ladder.

7: Romantically close with?

In game? Astarion. And Halsin. In my fic? All of them. We poly-ing this party!! Yes, even Minthara and Durge.

8: Who are they suspicious of?

At the beginning? Lae'zel. Which goes to show her bad judgement, as Lae'zel is one of the most honest members!

9: Is your Tav from Baldur's Gate? Why are they travelling there?

She is not! She's never been to a big city before. She's honestly going there because other people suggest going there and hoping she finds her brother at some point, or hoping to find some information.

10: Are they proficient in playing any instruments?

No! Her brother was a bard before he left and tried to teach her but she never caught on. She loves music though (in game she probably gets proficiency from Alfira but in my fic it's actually Durge that gets that honour) her brother played Dulcimer, Lyre, flute and hurdy-gurdy, so she likely would have learned one of those.

11: Weapon of choice?

Bow and arrow! She prefers a longbow to short.

12: What is their orientation?

Sexual/romantic orientation I assume? She's bi. 💙 💜 🩷

13: What are their thoughts on killing? Is it a necessary evil or do they enjoy it?

She tries to avoid it if possible, but sees it as a necessary evil sometimes...and then there are some people that she thinks "Need to die" (Cazador, for example lol)

14: What hobbies does your Tav have?

She grew up on a homestead. She loves the work there. I think the one thing she enjoys most would be cooking, baking and brewing she still lets Gale cook at camp, but she helps him when she can. She brings home brewed Mead to the reunion party.

15: What NPC's do they like? Which one's do they dislike?

I'm sorry I'm basic 😔 she likes Rolan. But in fairness she also likes Kar'niss if I can justify saving him in my fic once I get there, he's safe. She dislikes people who are ungrateful or cruel. Wulbren Bongle is both.

16: Do they have a favorite creature in the Faerûn?

She likes all creatures 😂 she's an animal lover through and through. I do have an image of her adopting pretty much any animal she can (and a few she can't in game 👀) but I've always imagined that if she met one she would ADORE a Flumph and befriend them immediately. She also has a stuffed Hollyphant at home.

17: Do they enjoy life as an adventurer?

She does! She loves seeing new places, meeting people and creatures, she gets a bit homesick sometimes but she'd be lying if she said she didn't want to adventure anymore (except in the Shadowlands where she becomes depressed and wishes she could go home, sometimes wishing she never left...)

18: What would your Tav be doing if they weren't kidnapped on the Nautiloid?

Honestly? She got kidnapped right after leaving home to find her brother, so she'd still be doing that! And she still is!

19: How do you think they'll meet they're end?

I'd LIKE for her to die a peaceful death surrounded by loved ones, but more realistically she's going to die from some sort of accident. She's not clumsy or anything, but once she retires she's probably left with those as her most likely death.

She does canonly die to Astarion during Bite Night though so...

20: Would they destroy the elder brain or control it?

Destroy. No one should have this power.

21: What is your Tav's favorite spell?

In game? Speak with animals lol Hunter's Mark is probably her most used spell in combat though. She is also beyond fascinated with prestidigitation (which isn't in the game but you cannot tell me Gale isn't using this literally all the time)

22: What languages is your character fluent in?

Common, Elvish she doesn't really know any languages but what were spoken at home.

23: What do they do after the absolute crisis?

Honestly? Go home. She does find her brother according to my fic (considered her True Canon) learns the truth...and she misses her mom. She mostly retires from being a ranger, only using her skills occasionally. She has no issues travelling to the homes of the others, travelling on foot, horseback or cart, solving any issues that come up on the way to Baldur's Gate or Waterdeep, but she doesn't see herself as a ranger anymore. (Though that will NOT stop her from using magic lol)

24: Does your character believe in the afterlife?

She does! That's what happens when your mother is a faithful cleric!

25: What arcana major best represents your Tav?

There are several that suit her. But I think the one that suits her overall is The Star (though it is important to know that she is very much The Fool in Act 1)

26: What animal best represents your Tav?

Honestly if given a metric fuckton of time I could probably find a better answer but I'm going with: Spaniel. Friendly, loving, cheerful and outdoorsy.

27: What was their life like before the events of BG3?

Honestly? Sheltered. She lived with her Chauntea cleric mother on a homestead. Her father left when she was still little and her brother successfully hid anything unsavoury in their home from her. But she would genuinely describe it as warm and loving

28: Is your character the de facto leader of the party? Or do they consider someone else to be the leader?

She is only the leader because she's the best mediator. If you asked her who the best leader is, she'd probably suggest Gale, or maybe Karlach, though Wyll is only excluded because he was going to kill Karlach. She tries to find balance between everyone's ideas, but won't compromise her beliefs.

29: Does your Tav want to utilize the tadpole powers or not?

No. She doesn't like the idea of controlling others and so on. But at the same time, she doesn't mind her companions doing so if they want. (And she does engage her tadpole occasionally for things like communication) Minthara does end up partial Illithid while Clover watches over her.

30: What's your favorite thing about your Tav?

Honestly? I love her sweet fun personality. She can be naive, but she always is willing to offer kindness. So many people in BG3 need kindness. I even love her descent into depression, because she's so empathic that being in a seemingly hopeless situation genuinely affects her, even when she's faking a smile and trying to help everyone else. I also have made the executive decision that she is tiny and squishy and she wears her hair in braids (though I've been imagining situations where she might end up cutting her hair short) and I just...love that for her!

#my ocs

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blackjackkent · 6 months ago

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8, 12, 17, 28, 33, 35, and 39 for your durge and hector!!

ik its alot so dont feel like tou have to answer allll of them lmao. Im very curious about rhaka 👉👈 (hope i spelled that right)

(Tav/Durge as Companion Ask Meme)

Surprising no one, I'm doing the WHOLE DAMN THING. :D I hope you enjoy. <3

Hector first!

8. Companion/romance death reactions

Lae'zel: "Get up, Lae'zel! This is not our last fight!" Shadowheart: "I'll protect you in Selune's name, will you or no!" Karlach: "No! You don't fall here, not after everything!" Wyll: "We've more yet to save, Wyll! Get up!" Gale: "Gale, no! Hold on, I'm coming!" Astarion: "Damn it-- no! Astarion!" Jaheira: "Jaheira's down! We've got to help her!" Halsin: "Hold tight - I'll help you, Halsin!" Minsc: "I'm coming, my friend! For you and Boo both!" Romanced PC: "My love! No, please. PLEASE!"

12. Encountering a locked chest/door

"Locked. Though that never seems to bother us much."

"Selune forgive me, I suppose. If she cares about this particular lock."

"This didn't used to be a part of my day-to-day."

17. Looking in a mirror

"Gods, the road's a dusty place, eh?"

"I've never looked so tired."

"The glass didn't crack, so we have that."

28. Party banter with Karlach

(Needless to say, in a scenario where Hector is a companion, he and Karlach are implied to get together in a scenario where neither are romanced. :P Because I said so.)

(Act 1) Hector: "I must admit, I don't know how you dart around with that axe in battle so easily." Karlach: "Well, when the weapon's bigger than you are, it's challenging. Like an imp with a longsword - cute but unwieldy." Hector: [mock-affronted] "Well, luckily I do so well with just my fists instead." Karlach: "And look good doing it, too!"

(Act 2, after Karlach's second repair, if neither romanced) Hector: "Gods, it's bleak out here. I've never gone so long without seeing moonlight of an evening. It's unsettling." Karlach: "Well, I can't do anything about the moonlight, but I bet I could make you see stars." Hector: "What?" Karlach: "What?"

(Act 3, after Hector's personal quest (deciding to stay with the party rather than return to the monastery)) Karlach: "So... decided to keep slumming it here with us, eh, Hec?" Hector: [gravely] "It wasn't an easy decision - but I've changed too much. I couldn't go back." Karlach: "Well, I'm glad you stuck around. Too many things still need punching, and you put on the best show in town!"

33. Party banter with Minthara

Passing on this one for now as I have not really had her as a companion yet. I also have an open request from @zenjestrr to do Hector banter with Minthara once I know her better, so I'll answer this then. XD

35. How would your Tav/Durge greet a player character if they were a companion at low, neutral, high, or romanced approval?

Answered here for another similar meme; copied here for completeness. :D

“Are we there yet?” (very deadpan) (negative approval)

“Make it quick.” (negative approval)

“What new madness to deal with?” (low approval)

“You look like you want something.” (low approval)

“Name what you need and you’ll have it.” (medium approval)

“Sorry, let me mark my place– there. Something I can do for you?” (medium approval)

“My sibling in moonlight. What can I do for you?” (high approval - Selunite)

“Always glad to see you. What can I do for you?” (high approval - others)

“I swear you can tell when I’m feeling lonely. Hello, darling.” (romanced)

“My love. Tell me everything.” (romanced)

39. If romanceable, what lines would they say if a player character prompted them with, "Can I kiss you?"

"I will never say no, my love."

"Gods, please - I could use it."

[slightly giddily] "Ahhh... lucky me."

----

And Rakha!

8. Companion/romance death reactions

Lae'zel: "Stand - the fight's not won." Shadowheart: "Get up. Your goddess watches you." Karlach: "I will not let you die." Wyll: "No. No! Get up!" Gale: "Agh-- the Weave cracks-- someone get him up!" Astarion: "Not your blood, not now. Theirs!" Jaheira: "If I must fight on, then so must you." Halsin: "No earthen grave for you yet, druid." Minsc: "Will you die with skulls yet uncracked?" Romanced PC: "If you die, I will bleed the world dry!"

12. Encountering a locked chest/door

Answered here.

17. Looking in a mirror

"I knew that face, once."

"Where did the scar come from?"

"Sometimes it looks out of my eyes..."

28. Party banter with Karlach

(Act 1) Rakha: "You fight with rage. Blind violence." Karlach: "Yeah, well, I've got plenty to be angry about. And, well, sometimes it just feels good to really let loose, you know?" Rakha: "Yes. When I think of spilling blood, it is when I feel most alive." Karlach: "You know, somehow it's way creepier when you say it."

(Act 2 - after whatever happens to cause THE reveal) Karlach: "You know, I was jealous of you for a while. Would've been nice to be able to forget everything that happened to me in Avernus." Rakha: "And now?" Karlach: "Now... I don't know. I hope you're doing okay. You've had a lot dropped on you." Rakha: "I have. And I am not doing okay. But... thank you for asking."

(Act 3 - after Gortash's death) Rakha: "It was good to see Gortash die." Karlach: "Really fed the ol' beast, did it? Tried to really splatter him up, just for you." Rakha: "That isn't what I mean. [pause] He was cruel. You did not deserve it. So I am glad he is dead." Karlach: [slightly startled] "Oh. I mean-- yeah. Thanks. Me too. [pause] Obviously."

33. Party banter with Minthara

Once again, passing this until I know Minthara better. XD

35. How would your Tav/Durge greet a player character if they were a companion at low, neutral, high, or romanced approval?

Also answered here and recopied. :D

“…” (negative approval)

“What?” (negative approval)

“Say what you must.” (low approval)

“Go on, then.” (low approval)

“Who needs killing?” (medium approval)

“I have more questions. But you may speak first.” (medium approval)

“My blade is ready. Speak your need.” (high approval)

“Something troubles you?” (high approval)

“I wish I could show you what I see. How the Weave dances around you.” (romanced)

“It calms when you are close… I thank you…” (romanced)

“Please… come back later. The blood is… distracting.” (random, when spoken to while bloodstained from battle; conversation cuts off immediately)

39. If romanceable, what lines would they say if a player character prompted them with, "Can I kiss you?"

"Yes."

"I would like that."

(random) "I don't... want to be touched right now. Later. Please..."

#hex-rex #ask meme #hector carlisle #rakha the dark urge #i spent too much time on this but i had fun the whole time XD #ty for all the prompts! :D #i made myself laugh with that act 2 banter with karlach and hector lol #the act 2/3 banters with rakha are guesses obviously bc i haven't actuallly gotten there with her yet lol

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avelera · 1 year ago

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My BG3 characters can basically be described as dark mirror versions of each other and I cracked up when I noticed how predictable I am.

(Cut for some spoilers)

Play 1: Avelera - Good-guy tiefling warlock/paladin. Wants to save everyone. Romances Gale. Longs for Karlach from afar and wonders what might have been.

Play 2: Tavriel- Drow bard, justifies being “good” as playing the long game acquiring allies, short term niceness = long term power. Romances Astarion. Accidentally ends up making them both into good guys. Regrets having killed Minthara and wonders what might have been.

Play 3: Circe - Dark Mirror to Avelera. Dark Urge tiefling firestarter. All fire spells and fire resistance all the time, baby. Headcanon fire starting as her Dark Urge more than knives. Red dragon lineage sorcerer. Romancing Karlach (but sometimes helplessly charmed by Gale). Doing her best to resist the Urge.

Play 4: Zenobia. Dark Mirror to Circe AND Tavriel. Dark Urge. Drow Rogue. Middle-aged powerhouse, General of Bhaal, full co-conspirator in the original plot, and completely comfortable with her power and murderous urges before she got her mind wiped. Evil playthrough based on a love of smacking those around her with disillusionment with their gods as a twisted form of love. Does all the good guy quests before turning on the Grove. Helps out everyone before turning against them. Revels in confronting Gale with his capacity to choose evil if it means his survival, and Shadowheart and Lae’zel with the apathy and silence of their god, but only after being super supportive of them up to that point. Romanced Astarion but feels no need to disillusion him because he already understands betrayal by higher powers. Oddly makes her a bit protective of him such that when he needed a friend more than a lover, she was sincerely happy to let him go. When Minthara re-emerged she found her true partner in crime, someone who truly understands the betrayal of fallible gods and sees the world the same way she does.

#bg3 #I know that reading about other Tavs can be dull this is mostly for me

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cuntertaker · 8 months ago

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gonna update you guys on the jason bg3 run,

so he is actually the perfect candidate to just steamroll through the bosses of act 2...i think combat wise he is a little useless but that is so in character, i was gonna get rid of z'rell before the act 2 big fight but then i didn't so we are gonna get into some shit there.

okay so this insane guy, saved minthara, that's never happened...i love minthara, and i think that the only reason minthara is even nice to this goody two shoes guy it's because he was incredibly compassionate with her and everyone is like JASON JASON SHE WILL KILL US IN OUR SLEEP !! JASON !!

also the entire time he was really nice to his not girlfriend shadowheart, even though after seeing what shar did to the entire shadowcursed lands it kinda made him go like uhhhhhhh is being a sharran a good idea ? but he did not try to interfere and turns out shadowheart speared the night song! yippee !!!! he also helped astarion and told him he maybe did not need a lover but a friend and he and astarion are now best friends...also his guardian looks like acclaimed singer debbie harry from the band blondie which in his og canon is his celebrity crush

i also find it too funny that this is the dude who like everyone picked to be his leader...this dumbass...who knows shit only because they made songs about it...god....

#bg3 #jason tag #tav: jason

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mumms-the-word · 5 months ago

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In Fathoms Below - Ch. 8

Ch. 8 - Cloakers

Characters: Gale, Karlach, Wyll, Lae'zel, Shadowheart, Astarion, Halsin, Minthara, Gortash + other OCs; pairing is Gale x fem!Tav Plot: The island city of Nautera disappeared over 4500 years ago, if it ever existed at all. Now not a single, legitimate record of Nautera exists, save for one. The Nauterran Account. Long thought lost, it has recently been retrieved from the depths of Candlekeep’s archives and placed into the capable hands of one Gale Dekarios. With the Nauterran Account in hand and an eclectic team of Baldurians and other allies mounting an official expedition, Gale journeys to find the ruins of Nautera…but hopes to find so much more. A/N: You guys voted and now we're here! Time for a cheeky Underdark encounter with a few beasties. Hopefully everyone makes it out alive. But you'll have to read on to find out!

Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | BG3 Masterlist | Read on AO3

Gale gave a small bow in deference to Minthara—she was the general after all—before he left to go find Karlach. Thus far on the trip, Karlach had been the one person he could honestly call friend, even after so short a time together. The others were warming up to him slowly too, he supposed, or perhaps he was warming to them. He wasn’t certain. But Karlach had been a constant warm presence down here in the Underdark, both literally and metaphorically.

He found her lounging against a rock with Wyll, both of them chatting and taking swigs of water from their canteens. Since arriving in the Underdark, both Karlach and Wyll had taken to wearing a weapon at nearly all times, except when bedding down for the night. Karlach had a large, lethal-looking battleaxe strapped to her back now, while Wyll had taken to sheathing a rapier at his side. Neither of them had used their weapons yet, aside from Wyll practicing his parries and ripostes or what-have-you before bedtime, but both seemed to think it was only a matter of time.

Karlach smiled and waved Gale over as he approached. “Just in time, Gale. You always miss the best stories from Wyll here. He was about to tell me about a fight he had against a wyvern or something.”

“A wyvern?” Gale asked, raising his eyebrows. “Was this some sort of…nobleman’s sport or…?”

Karlach laughed, while Wyll merely looked a touch sheepish and proud at the same time. “Well, actually, it happened during my time as the Blade of Frontiers,” he admitted. “That’s what I’ve been doing the last few years. Hunting monsters, fighting brigands, that sort of thing.”

“A hero of the Sword Coast, the Blade of Frontiers is,” Karlach said, nudging Wyll with her elbow. He merely chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck, though Gale could tell he took pride in the name.

“I had no idea,” Gale said. Then again, glancing at Wyll’s scars, he ought to have known. The scars he bore were from battles and monster fights, not noblemen’s duels and slumming adventures. They were scars from his time as the Blade, not as the son of Duke Ulder Ravengard. “Your, ah…reputation hadn’t yet reached Waterdeep, I’m afraid.”

“One day it will,” Wyll said breezily. “Anyway, what did you need?”

“Minthara wants Karlach to accompany me to scout ahead and find a new path for us,” Gale said. “Shadowheart, too.”

“Sounds like a party. Mind if I tag along?”

“Ooh, say yes, Gale,” Karlach said, brightening. “You haven’t seen anything until you’ve seen Wyll here fight.”

“And you have?” Wyll asked, grinning at her.

“Well, no, but your stories are amazing. I bet you could go toe-to-toe with a dragon and come out just fine.”

Wyll laughed and even Gale had to smile at their banter. Karlach made fast friends with everyone, it seemed.

“And if there’s nothing to fight?” Gale asked.

“Then we can find something to fight,” Karlach said, like this was the only obvious answer. “Besides, I hear Astarion’s been lurking around. Maybe we’ll run into him.”

Gale tilted his head. “How did you know that?”

“I told her,” Wyll said. “All the signs are there. The dead creatures, mainly, each of them completely bloodless. I think he’s sticking close to us. Though whether that’s for protection or to eventually make us his prey…” He trailed off with a shrug.

“Hmm…well if we’re about to encounter a vampire, perhaps having a monster hunter on our side wouldn’t hurt,” Gale said. “That just leaves Shadowheart, then.”

“I’ll get her,” Karlach said. “Meet you up front!”

She waved to them both and jogged away, heading toward the back of the convoy. Wyll shook his head fondly, watching her go. “Ah Karlach. I doubt even the darkest depths of the Lower Dark could dim her spark.”

Gale glanced sidelong at Wyll, noting the fondness in the younger man’s eyes as he watched Karlach’s flame-flickering form disappear down the convoy, toward the medic carts. Gale smiled faintly to himself and kept his opinions quiet.

“We’d best head toward the front, then,” he said instead. “We’ll meet our drow scout there. I really ought to learn his name…”

Moments later, Gale, Karlach, Wyll, and Shadowheart fell in step behind the drow scout, whose name was Nevrin, though he had parted with that name tersely and quietly when Gale asked. Together, they left the convoy behind and ventured deeper into the awaiting tunnels. As the darkness enveloped them, Gale cast dancing lights around them to help illuminate their way forward.

Nevrin scoffed. “Humans,” he muttered under his breath. “Now everything down here will spot us.”

“Oh, let it come,” Karlach said. “We can take whatever it is. Besides, they would have seen me anyway.” She gestured vaguely to herself, indicating the softly-glowing vents in her shoulder and the pulsing glow of her engine beneath her skin.

Nevrin merely made a soft hmph and continued on.

Gale cast a slow look around them as they walked through the passage. These tunnels appeared rough-hewn by tools, not naturally forming, so clearly they were on the right path. Though he couldn’t help but wonder when they were made, and whether they were made by the githyanki explorers or the author of the Account, who had journeyed down here to try and find Nautera’s ruins. He supposed in the end it didn’t matter, so long as there was a road to follow.

But sure enough, after several moments of walking, they reached a cave-in blocking the majority of their path. Rocks and boulders of varying sizes lay in a heap from floor to ceiling, the source of the cave-in lost behind them. There appeared to be a thin route along the right-hand side, spaces where they could see the possibility of the path continuing beyond, but on the left, a crude, burrowed passage disappeared into the darkness, leading off to some unknown space.

“Too bad we didn’t bring Halsin,” Shadowheart said, eyeing the gaps in the rocks on the right. “He could have turned into a mouse or something and scurried on ahead to see if the path continues on the other side.”

“Perhaps you can illuminate the space beyond?” Gale asked. “Then we could see what we may be working with.”

Shadowheart pursed her lips, as if she didn’t want to respond to Gale directly, but then shrugged. “I suppose. One moment.”

She climbed up onto the rocks and stuck her arm down one of the larger spaces, whispering a light spell. Light shone out through the gaps between the rocks, but when Shadowheart squinted through them to the other side, now illuminated, she retreated with a shake of her head.

“No use. Everything just keeps getting blocked the farther you go. We’d spend days trying to dig out this path.”

“We do have a lot of smokepowder,” Karlach suggested. “Plus the gnomes’ constructs are rothé. Aren’t they supposed to be good at clearing rubble or something?”

“Wouldn’t they just get damaged trying to unblock the path?” Gale asked. But Karlach merely shrugged, unsure.

“Let’s investigate out other option first, before we make any decisions,” Wyll suggested, gesturing to the left. “Shall we?”

“Smart thinking. Lead the way, Mr. Blade,” Karlach said. Wyll chuckled.

“Just Wyll is fine.”

They were mostly quiet as they ventured farther down the passageway, though the air between them was generally comfortable...Nevrin's serious demeanor aside. The walls here were rougher, with signs, even to Gale’s untrained eyes, to suggest that claws and other bestial markings had created this tunnel, rather than ancient tools. Gale wasn’t sure he wanted to meet whatever it was that was capable of carving through rock like this. Hopefully it was long gone and not lying in wait at the end of this tunnel.

The passageway eventually widened out into another cavern, this one made up of a series of rocky platforms that seemed to have shifted and broken over time, their rubble lying along the cavern floor in the gaps between platforms. Gigantic flat mushrooms grew along the cavern walls and on the sides of these platforms, glowing softly in blues and reds. Wyll and Nevrin split off from the rest of them, with Nevrin deftly climbing onto a series of wide mushrooms while Wyll clambered up the rocks onto a platform. They both peered into the darkness toward the other end of the small cavern.

“No luck,” Wyll said. “Unless Nevrin sees something I don’t, I think this place is a dead end.”

“There is a small cave on the far side,” Nevrin said. “But I do not think our wagons can fit through it.”

“Not without magic, in any case,” Gale said, already thinking of solutions. Levitation spells to get the carts across the platforms and mushrooms, spells to make everything smaller for a short time…

“Will it lead us back to the original path, though?” Shadowheart asked.

“Only one way to find out,” Karlach said, flashing her a smile. She climbed up to join Wyll and then pointed to a nearby mushroom that spanned the distance between her current rocky platform and the next. “These are safe to walk on, right, Nev?”

“It’s Nevrin,” the drow said, scowling. “But yes. Usually.”

Karlach had already hopped onto the mushroom when she froze and looked over at him. “Wait, usually?”

He simply shrugged and didn't elaborate. Karlach half-rolled her eyes, though she didn’t seem particularly annoyed, and jumped to the next platform.

“Come on, then,” she said, turning and beckoning to the others as she walked backward along the platform. “Last one to the cave is a rotten—”

Her voice cut off as she stumbled back over something and fell backward. She let out a surprised yelp as the ground below her hissed and moved—only for a giant stringray-like creature to raise its wings out from underneath her.

“Karlach!” Wyll yelled.

She rolled quickly to one side, off of the creature and over the edge of the platform. She fell a short way down and landed hard, her knees buckling briefly, but kept on her feet. On the platform, the creature flew upward and spread its wide, leathery wings with a sharp hiss. Though its face was mostly obscured by the semi-darkness, even Gale recognized the creature from old bestiaries he’d glanced through during his studies at Blackstaff.

“A cloaker,” Wyll said, drawing his sword. “Careful, it can—”

“Less talking, Wyll, more fighting,” Shadowheart snapped, summoning a ball of glowing, golden light to her hands. Taking quick aim, she lobbed it at the cloaker. It shattered against its leathery hide with a shower of golden light, causing it to hiss and recoil.

Karlach unlatched the battleaxe from her back and got into a fighting stance. “Come on, then, bring the fight down here ya fucker!”

Instead, the cloaker flew upward near the stone ceiling and let out an ear-piercing screech. In the darkness of the cavern, only partly illuminated by Gale’s dim dancing lights and the glowing mushrooms, they could hear other creatures stirring and taking flight.

“Watch out!” Wyll warned, but it was too late.

A large, dark shadow swooped down from one of the upper platforms toward Karlach, wrapping around her from behind. Her battleaxe clattered to the ground with a metallic ring as the cloaker pinned her arms to her body and wrapped its tail three times around her legs. They both fell in a struggling mass, Karlach wrapped up in the cloaker like a black cocoon. When Wyll tried to run to the edge of his platform to help, another cloaker flew upward at him, blocking his path. He swore loudly and flung out a hand with a sharp dolor! Sickly green energy blasted outward from his hands, slamming into the cloaker and sending it reeling backward.

Gale didn’t have time to be surprised at Wyll’s sudden use of magic. His allies were in danger. He summoned a fireball to his hand, ready to cast at the cloaker, only to hesitate—what if he hurt Karlach? Or Wyll, if he tried to help Wyll? What if he couldn’t remember how to sculpt his spells to protect his companions? It had been well over a year since he'd been in battle; the last time had been before he'd acquired the orb and all its cursed side effects. He suddenly felt about as skilled as a young apprentice.

He clenched his teeth as the doubt drowned out rational thought. He stopped the spell and switched to a simple firebolt, aiming for the cloaker smothering Karlach as she struggled to escape the suffocating grip of the beast’s wings. He just needed an opening—

But he waited a fraction of a second too long. Another cloaker appeared near Nevrin, swiping his feet out from under him with its tail, and then screeched, summoning three more around Gale. Gale stumbled back, throwing his firebolt at the nearest one to him, but it dodged easily. The next one flew at his legs, knocking him off his feet. The third loomed over him, ready to smother him, but he conjured a chromatic orb of lightning and threw it right into its face. The lightning hit and skittered over the creature, causing it to screech and then disappear.

A phantom. A copy of the cloaker, easily defeated by just one hit, but just as capable of dealing damage and just as deadly as a normal cloaker. If the other cloakers had the same idea—

But of course, they did. Screeches rang out around the cavern as other cloakers called phantoms into being, surrounding all five of them.

“Karlach!” Wyll yelled again, dispatching a phantom with another eldritch blast. “I’m coming!” But as soon as a second phantom fell to his blade, a third phantom, along with another cloaker, swooped in for another attack. Shadowheart was soon at his side, blocking one of them with her shield, but soon the two of them were surrounded, trapped on their platform.

Still on the ground, Gale fired off four magic missiles to take care of the two phantoms nearest him, and then rolled over and scrambled to his hands and knees, just in time to see another figure leap down from a platform near Karlach. White-haired and pale, the figure landed on both cloaker and Karlach with two daggers in each hand, stabbing downward into the cloaker’s hide. The cloaker writhed and shrieked, unfolding its wings to try and shake off its attacker, but the figure held on, wrenching one dagger free before stabbing it back down.

Karlach rolled away and snatched up her battleaxe. As soon as she was on her feet, she lifted the axe high and shouted, “Watch your head, fangs!”

The figure—Astarion—wrenched his daggers free and leaped away, just as Karlach brought her axe down over the head of the cloaker, chopping its head clean off its body. The head bounced away with a dull thud as the body collapsed, jolting once before going still.

But the battle wasn’t over. Nevrin struggled to duck and dodge the attacks of another cloaker and its two remaining phantoms, while Shadowheart and Wyll battled two more. A cry in the distance told them more were coming, sweeping through the darkness. Gale scrambled to his feet as Karlach hauled Astarion up. They barely glanced at one another before separating to rejoin the fight.

Gale couldn’t get the upper hand of any creature down on the cavern floor, so he misty stepped up onto a platform well above the fight. From there, he gathered more lightning in his hands and aimed it at one of the cloakers attempting to bite and attack Wyll and Shadowheart.

“Perure!”

Blue lightning illuminated the cavern with brilliant light as it blasted forth from his hands, heading straight for the cloaker. The air suddenly smelled of ozone and tasted of metal, but Gale focused on shaping the spell so that its only target—its only victim—would be the cloaker. It shuddered and shrieked as the lightning struck it and caused it to seize up, tiny crackles of lightning flitting around its body before it hit the ground in a smoking, lifeless heap. Two of its phantoms instantly disappeared.

Both Wyll and Shadowheart cast surprised looks up in Gale’s direction. He spared them a half-hearted wave before pointing behind them. “Watch out!”

They both were back in the fight in an instant, blocking the next creature that flew down to bite or capture them.

Down below Gale, Astarion and Nevrin worked in tandem, with Astarion feinting and dodging its attacks while Nevrin went in with his blades. One phantom fell to their strategy, and soon the cloaker itself was dead, too. Wyll and Shadowheart made quick work of their last cloaker, using a combination of Wyll’s sword, Shadowheart’s mace, and both of their magics, while Gale misty-stepped closer near Karlach, who was going solo against a cloaker and one of its phantoms. A well-aimed chromatic orb of fire dispatched the phantom while another guiding bolt from Shadowheart and a wide-arcing hit from Karlach’s axe silenced the final cloaker forever.

Then all was still. The cavern seemed oddly quiet, the noises of their battle fading in distant echoes around them, leaving naught but the six of them panting and looking at each other.

“Is everyone all right?” Gale asked.

Karlach, just a few feet away, nodded and turned her axe blade-side down, planting the head of it into the ground and leaning against the handle. “Phew…nothing like a quick turn with a few beasties to get your heart going, right? Just me?”

“Careful,” Shadowheart said, moving to the edge of where she stood on a platform with Wyll. Her eyes were on a wide mushroom across the way. “We might not be done with all the beasties just yet.”

Gale turned to look up at the mushroom, only to find Nevrin standing with his sword at Astarion’s throat. The vampire stood with his hands up, near his chest, his daggers on the ground at his feet.

Astarion had the good grace to try and alter his grimace into a charming smile. “Is all this really necessary?” he asked. “After all, we were working as a team just now.”

“You were a convenient distraction for the creature, nothing more, spawn,” Nevrin said. “That does not mean I owe you my life, nor have any cause to trust you.”

“Hang on, you can’t hurt him,” Karlach protested, straightening up. “He just helped us out.”

“But why?” Nevrin asked, his red-eyed gaze never leaving Astarion. “He must want something from us.”

“Perhaps if you let me speak, we can come to an arrangement?” Astarion suggested, lifting a finger to edge the sword just a tiny bit away from his neck. Nevrin sneered and pressed the blade even closer. A thin line of blood ran down the column of Astarion’s throat. He swallowed, growing still, and flicked his eyes toward Karlach and Gale. The silent question, or perhaps plea, in his eyes was clear.

“Nevrin, wait,” Gale said, stepping forward. “Let us handle the vampire. You go scout the cave ahead and see if it connects back to the main path. While you scout ahead, we’ll determine what should be done about him.”

The drow flicked his gaze briefly to Gale and then back to Astarion. “And why should I take orders from you, iblith?”

Gale frowned. He had a point, but it didn’t make his remark, or his insult, any less irritating. “Perhaps because Minthara gave me leave to decide what to do with him if we encountered him. Or did she not impart that specific detail to you before we left? If you doubt me, ask her yourself upon our return.”

It was a bit of a bluff and a bit of a lie, but Gale was hoping that the drow would weigh the risks of asking Minthara to explain her orders and decide against angering her. He held his breath, waiting to see if his words had any effect. After a moment, the drow relented, slowly lowering his blade and glaring at Astarion.

“Fine,” he said, sheathing his blade. “But if I return and find one or most of you dead, I will report to the Nightwarden that it was due to your own foolish mistakes.”

He turned on his heel and retreated toward the back of a cave, to an inky black spot that was darker than the rest of the surrounding darkness. The cave, Gale assumed. Soon he was entirely out of sight.

Astarion rubbed his throat with a wince before bending to retrieve his daggers. Tucking them into his belt, he hopped down from the mushroom to the cavern floor below and walked over to Karlach and Gale looking, if anything, a little sheepish.

“I suppose a thank you is in order,” he said, glancing between them.

“A thank you?” Karlach asked. “I should be thanking you. You saved my life out there. I’d probably be dead, or closer to dead, if you hadn’t swooped in when you did.”

“Yes, well, don't expect heroics like that all the time. Consider it…” He trailed off, looking conflicted a moment before lowering his gaze with a slight clearing of his throat. “Consider it repayment for…well, saving my life on the submersible. You could have easily left me to drown or be blasted to pieces aboard that wretched thing, but you…took me with you, instead.”

He frowned, as if he couldn’t quite puzzle out why Karlach had done such a thing. After a moment he shook his head slightly, as if clearing his thoughts, and looked up at them again. “Honestly, I think you're probably a little mad for doing that. And I know you're all mad for whatever the hells it is you're trying to do down here. But I’m grateful for not dying in a horrible underwater explosion nonetheless.”

“Aww…consider us even, then, fangs,” Karlach said, smacking him affectionately on the shoulder. Astarion flinched at the blow and then rubbed his arm with a kind of pained smile. “Oops. Sorry, Astarion. Don’t know my own strength sometimes.”

“Clearly,” he said, glancing down at the dead cloaker nearest them.

“Is that why you’ve been following us?” Wyll asked, as he and Shadowheart joined them on the cavern floor. “So you could say thank you to Karlach?”

Astarion gave an awkward chuckle. “Well…actually I’ve been following you because I don’t know where else to go. You seem to be heading toward some specific location, so I figured, why not tag along? In the shadows, of course, and only until I find somewhere better to be. I know when I’m not welcome.”

“Well you’re welcome now, if you want to join us,” Karlach said.

“Hold on, we can’t just adopt a vampire in the middle of an expedition like this,” Shadowheart said. “What would Gortash say? Or Minthara? And aren’t those blades from the weapons supply?” She pointed at the daggers he had tucked into his belt.

Karlach waved this off. “We have plenty more blades. As for Gortash and Minthara, we’ll talk them into it. Astarion’s on our side now, isn’t that right, fangs?”

“Er…in a manner of speaking,” Astarion said reluctantly.

“And who is going to volunteer to feed him?” Shadowheart asked, crossing her arms. “I don’t exactly relish the thought of any of us having to become this vampire’s bloodbag.”

The question gave them all pause. Karlach scratched the side of her cheek, looking apologetic.

“Well I can’t do it,” she said. “I’d burn you to a crisp, Astarion. Sorry.”

All eyes turned to Gale next. He felt a chill at their expectant gazes and couldn’t help but rub the mark on his chest out of habit. It seemed to ache at the very thought, as though reminding him of its presence.

“I, er…have a blood disease, I’m afraid,” he said. “I doubt he’d find my blood very nourishing. Or tasty, for that matter.”

He tried to ignore the way their looks turned to curiosity or doubt. But he was speaking the truth…mostly. Since the orb sat so close to his heart, it had slowly tainted his blood over time. He’d known that for well over a year, now. He could taste the bitter acidity himself, when he mindlessly gnawed a hole in the inside of his cheek while studying, or when he cut his finger while cooking and licked the blood away out of habit. He bled as red as any other man, but internally, he was altered. Poisoned.

Blighted.

He met Astarion’s gaze, trying to look sincere. Though the pale elf looked a little doubtful, something in Gale’s expression must have convinced him. He turned his crimson gaze toward Wyll and Shadowheart instead.

“I suppose that leaves me, then,” Wyll said thoughtfully. “Assuming we can’t find anyone else.”

“Not to sound ungrateful,” Astarion said, holding up his hands. “I appreciate the sweet offer, but I’d rather not make more enemies out of the lot of you than I already have. And if I recall, they say you’re the son of one of Baldur’s Gate’s grand dukes. I’d hate to anger anyone’s daddy back home.”

“‘Daddy’ has already toss me out in my ear,” Wyll said, crossing his arms. “I don’t think it’s possible to disappoint him more than I already have.”

“This wouldn’t happen to have anything to do with your being a warlock, would it?” Gale asked, curious despite himself.

Wyll just shrugged. “It’s a long story, and not an important one. The point is, Astarion, I don’t mind giving you some of my blood every now and again. Really. So long as Shadowheart or Halsin can give me a pick-me-up on the days you need to feed, that is.” He glanced over at Shadowheart as he said this.

She sighed through her nose. “Oh...fine. Since you’re all so determined to keep him. Just as long as he keeps those fangs well away from me.”

“Noted, darling,” Astarion said, a hint of a smirk on his lips. “I won't bite where I'm not wanted. Promise.”

“Well, now that that's settled,” Gale said, eager to move on. “We should get back to the task at hand, shall we?”

“Which was…?” Astarion glanced around at the rest of them.

“Finding a way through or around that blockage in the main passageway. Ideally we'd like to say on the ancient paths down here.”

“Ah, well you're in luck, actually.” Astarion pointed toward the cave that Nevrin had disappeared down. “Follow that through to the end and you'll find it comes back out on your ancient road. I didn't venture too far ahead and I have no idea what other creatures might try to bite your head off, but I did notice that much before I heard all the screeching and came back to save the lot of you.”

“Astarion, you're a godsend,” Karlach said, grinning. “Come on, let's catch up to Nev. We'll see this new path for ourselves, report back to Minthara, tell her all about how you found the path, and bam—you're part of the expedition.”

“That simple, huh?” Astarion chuckled and shrugged. “If you say so. Let’s—”

His next words were cut short as a distant, echoing shriek traveled down from the cave ahead. The five of them glanced at each other in surprise. Then Karlach hefted her battleaxe onto her shoulder with another grin.

“Come on, then,” she said. “Let's go save Nevrin's hide and smash some more beasties!”

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #gale #gale dekarios #gale of waterdeep #my fic #in fathoms below #bg3 fic #bg3 fanfic #bg3 fanfiction #you guys wanted cloakers so I give you cloakers #hope you like it!!#and YAY astarion is finally part of the team!#took him long enough...

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