#shadowheart lore

[carmsgarms]

i think one of my favorite things about replaying bg3 (I needed a palette cleanser after doing evil durge so I'm playing with my comfort tav because I want to explore her character better. I'm making the same/similar choices and also making the choices I regret not making in the first playthrough) is going through each area and discovering how deep the environmental storytelling in this game is. It's truly incredible how many little stories are littered throughout the game.

the story with Yrre the Sparkstruck and Lenore the cleric of Mystra is lowkey one of the saddest stories in the game and it i told exclusively through items (and you can't even get all of the items in one playthrough) and one small area in the underdark that I completely missed on my first couple of playthroughs because I was so intent on getting through the main story.

Ketheric and Halsin's stories are also very deeply intertwined the more you look at the environmental storytelling in act 2, and it makes sense why Halsin is so rude and skeptical of Shadowheart for being a Shar worshipper, constantly questioning her devotion, prodding at her to ask if she's aware of what she devoting herself to and teasing her for sounding like she is reciting words from a book without understanding their meaning (which you only see if you have both of them in your party before finishing the gauntlet of shar).

[saltycryptid]

"You know, I've been catching myself smiling more lately."

🥺🥺 shadowheart is everything to me tbh,,, 💖💖

[y-rhywbeth2]

Apparently, Shar literally eats grief and misery - she needs it to exist, "for human suffering is her sustenance." When she consumes your negative emotions it gives you a temporary high. This also applies to the suffering caused by some mental illnesses.

And that's how her religion works! She makes you fucking miserable and then feeds of your suffering, in a cycle.

[krembruleed]

SHADOWHEART - THE MOON

Uncertainty • Trickery • Clarity

[a2zillustration]

You ever get all teared up and can't remember why-

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[kirain]

Question. How do you handle the age differences and life spans of your tavs/romances in bg3?

Are you asking if I've made my Tavs age-equal to the romances I've picked for them? If so, then I've actually been very careful about that. Lore-wise, I can't stand the thought of my character dying hundreds of years sooner or living hundreds of years longer than their partner. So I adhered to D&D 5E lore. If you're interested, I've explained most of the lifespans below.

Serena, my canon character, is human and romanced Gale. In D&D, the average lifespan of a human is 120 years, but since she and Gale are both wizards, they could potentially live for thousands of years. It all depends on the magic they wield. Elminster, for example, is nearly 1,300 years old. Otherwise, they'll age alongside each other as equals.

Saska is a Seldarine drow. On average they last between 400-750 years, depending on if they survive and leave the Underdark. Saska has indeed left the Underdark, works as a bard, and romanced Karlach. Tieflings typically live to 150; however, Karlach has the potential to live longer since her body has been so drastically altered. Upon finding a permanent upgrade for her engine, it's possible she could live just as long as a drow, if not longer, as she's been touched by infernal technology.

Ez'ria is a githyanki fighter/storm sorcerer. This one was easy, since she romanced Lae'zel. With any luck, they'll both live to a nice, healthy 120 years old; the average lifespan of a gith.

Eilonwy is my redeemed Dark Urge half-elf. On average they last about 180 years. This one's a bit more complicated because I partnered her with Astarion, who's a pure high elf and a vampire. High elves live to an average of 750 years, and vampires/spawn are of course immortal. But I've given this a lot of thought. Eilonwy, for example, is a druid, and because of their connection to nature/magic, their aging slows to 10% of what they would normally age. This means Eilonwy has the potential to reach 1,800. I should also mention that there are cures to vampirism in D&D 5E, so I like to think they find one at some point during their travels.

Bakara is a tiefling sorcerer of the draconic bloodline. Another semi-easy one, since I partnered her with Wyll. As I mentioned before, tieflings typically live to 150, whereas humans live to 120. I headcanon that my tiefling was already 50 when she met Wyll; who, according to Larian, is 24 during the events of BG3. To clarify, tieflings are considered young adults by the age of 20 and full adults when they reach the age of 60. So despite being 50, she's mentally around the same age as Wyll.

Thalias is a high half-elf Selûnite cleric. Possibly the easiest one, since he romanced Shadowheart, who is also a high half-elf who becomes a Selûnite cleric (at least in my game). With Selûne's blessing, they could live however long she desires, but on average they'll both live to be 180.

I also made an adorable little deep gnome named Mira to sweep Barcus off his feet. I shall wait patiently for Larian or a clever modder to make him romancable. The average lifespan for gnomes is 350 years.

Halsin is a bit more complicated, since he's a pure wood elf and a druid. This means he could conceivably live to be 7,500 years old, which is wild. I do plan on doing a playthrough where I romance him, and when I do I'll be making a mysterious wood elf named Arawen, a warlock who made a pact with an ancient archfey. So in addition to living to 750; as per the average lifespan of her race, as long as her pact remains in tact, she will live as long as her patron allows.

[narriose]

more doodles + new tav (not a cry for help /lie)

[tizooky]

I have a lot of drawings of my Tav I've been sitting on, so I figured I might as well start posting some of them. Her name is Wren, and she's a green dragonborn and a spore druid! As it turns out, getting tadpoled might have been one of the best things to ever happen to her, even if the situation was a bit dire at times. Nothing says honoring your clan like saving the world, right?

Bonus comic:

[alpaca-clouds]

The DnD Lore Problem - Accessibility and Characters (and how BG3 might not help)

You know what? I am gonna talk about DnD Lore and the accessibility of that lore. I talked about this exessively before. But to summarize that long blog very shortly:

Wizards of the Coasts currently makes the mistake of putting basically most DnD Lore behind a paywall, rather than offering official ressources. This leads to a lot of tables actually playing with their original worlds, rather than Toril/Faerûn, which in turn also means, that they are not spending money on official products. While my anti-capitalist ass things that the lore should be accessible just so that people can enjoy it, I also think that this inaccessibility actually costs WotC A LOT OF MONEY.

Today I want to talk about another aspect of this inaccessibility, that is kinda linked to some of the stuff I talked about before, but also is linked to the things WotC is currently not doing in terms of both Honor Among Thieves and Baldur's Gate 3. A thing, that also might not quite work with BG3, though.

See, the core problem of this inaccessibility is, that a) there is no official place where you can just get base information about the world and the timeline, b) this world has grown organically for about half a century, which lead to clutter, but also to the fact that things are at times showing their age.

I might actually make a post on the gods and religion in the world at some other point - but for now let me talk about something else: Extended universes and access points.

The Problem with Extended Universes

Okay, let's talk about how a lot of the big franchises for the longest time have told their meta stories - including DnD - and how it kinda struggles to find its audience. The extended universe.

I am frankly not entirely sure what franchise has started this. I am assuming it was Star Trek? But that is just a guess. But at some point in the 60s oder 70s someone had the idea that: "Hey, we could totally give the fans more to chew on by making official tie-in comics and novels!"

And that was how it worked for very long. Like a lot of the big franchises had at times around 10 novels and comics (if not more) releasing per year that would just explore other parts of the universe and allow the very engaged fans to... well, learn more about the world. Now, I am not going to talk about all the drama connected to the Star Wars stuff, but if you know, you know.

DnD did this too. (As did a lot of the big TTRPG systems, like Shadowrun and WoD as well.) Having a lot of tie in stuff - in the case of DnD mostly novels - that told more stories on the world and also established like some big player characters within the world. Elminster Aumar is probably one of the best examples here.

Those established some characters that play a big role within the world and also told just more stories of those big world changing events. In the recent DnD history that would be stuff like the Time of Troubles, the Spellplague and the Second Sundering.

Now, here we have one big issue. And one issue where I am not entirely certain where it arose from. But the fact is: In recent years, people invest way less into those kind of books. This is just a fact.

It is the reason why those big universes went from publishing like ten novels a year to often not more than three. We saw that in the failure of the extended Universe Disney tried to pull off for Pirates of the Caribbean (though I will still maintain that another big problem was that they barely marketed that at all - hi, everyone, who did not know there were extended universe novels for PotC). We also saw that with League of Legends, who really, really tried to tell a lot more stories with short stories and then also some novels set in Runeterra, before finally giving up, because most people didn't care.

In terms of Dungeons & Dragons I can totally see that a lot of people will also say: "I do not care what some other people's characters do within the world." Buuuuuut...

Stories actually can help you understand the world. Which brings me to...

The Elminster Problem

Okay, I do not know how to put this, but... If you look at the novels coming out for DnD literally half of them focus on either Elminster Aumar or Drizzt Do'Urden. Characters that have pretty much been around since the very beginning and. Look, I don't know how to put it but... It shows.

I am currently reading some of the newer novels and the fact is, that they do not really feel like fantasy books from the 2010s and 2020s. Because Elminster and Drizzt are very clearly characters originating in a very different time when stories were told very differently.

I mean, just look at Elminster. He is a wanna-be Gandalf character. He is from the early, early days of fantasy and... Look, I personally just really am unable to identify with a character like this.

And while Drizzt is a bit better as a character, but even he... How to put this delicately? They are both very much characters written by white cishet men for white cishet men. There, I said it.

I am noticing this a lot with reading Salvatore's books currently. Like, female characters are not overly sexualized, which is a plus. But they also very much exist most of the time in service to a man or at least in relation to a man. There is not a lot of female characters running around that have their own agency.

Which kinda leads to another thing. I actually saw this one brought up by one of those very cliché nerdy Youtube channels talking on DnD, who recognized the problem as well: There are basically two large groups of DnD players who barely intersect. One is the cliché nerds, the other is a largely queer and largely diverse group. And the youtube guy, who was very in the white cishet nerd group, suspected that actually the later group makes up more of the player base by now.

Buuuut... that is also the group who really do not get catered to by the canon lore so far. That was until 2023 with DnD:HAT and BG3 - both catering actually a lot to those groups.

Honor Among Thieves and the undermarketed books

Okay, here is the thing: Honor Among Thieves had two novelizations (one for young readers, one for older readers) and two tie-in novels. One featuring Edgin, Holga, Forge and Simon before the stuff with Sofina went down. And the other featuring Simon and Doric taking place at the time while Ed and Holga are in prison.

I am honest: I really, really liked the Ed and Holga novel. It was super cute and charming and really gives a better understanding of the characters.

But of course once again there is the thing: The books - just like the Pirates of the Caribbean books - were super undermarketed. Like, most people I know off do not even know that there were books released. Heck, even within the actual active fandom there are again and again people who will be surprised that those books exist.

And... I actually also think that the books waste one big ass opportunity, by not at all tying into the broader lore. They are super self-contained.

And that is actually just a waste. Because the place were Edgin lived in? Yeah, that place was super affected by the Second Sundering. Heck, that might have had to do something with his troubles.

Why is that an issue? Well, because... there was not a lot going on there that was inviting you to further interact with the world and learn more abotu what is happening. For once, again, because I think it is a super fun and interesting world. But also, because... WotC wants to make money and is so bad at it, that it really boggles my mind.

See, here is the thing: They could've used those characters - that really are fun and sympathetic characters - to create an accesspoint into that world.

Alright, so what about Baldur's Gate 3?

Which brings me to Baldur's Gate 3 and the thing that a lot of people have noticed: The other Baldur's Gate games - as well as some of the other games releasing around 2000 - had their own tie-in novels going into the characters, their background, but also what they were doing in the future.

Something that so far BG3 has not done, which some fans have already critized. Because a lot of people have actually gotten really invested into those characters. A lot of the kind of people especially who so far are underserved by a lot of the tie-in stuff: Queer and generally diverse audiences.

Like, I think there would be a lot of people, who totally would read a novel, about...

Astarion getting drawn into some sort of political intrigue in Baldur's Gate while serving Cazador

Karlach's time in Avernus

Some Adventure Wyll got dragged into while being the Blade of the Frontier.

Shadowheart going onto a mission for Shar (maybe together with Nocturne)

Whatever Gale was doing during the Second Sundering

Lae'zel's youth among the Githyanki

The Dark Urge and Gortash starting up the entire conspiracy

... whatever Halsin had been up to in his long live

Heck, people would eat that stuff up. And you could not only use it to worldbuild but also once more create some access into the world and what happened there. And they are kinda wasting a lot of potential by not bringing out those novels.

Of course, there is one big problem: BG3 makes it kinda hard to write about anything happening after the ending. Because as it is right now, someone is gonna be pissed if a novel set after the game does not go with the decision for a character they go for. Like, Ascended Astarion fans are gonna be pissed, if they go with Spawn Astarion - and the other way around. Same goes with every other character where you have those big decisions happening.

This is something they will have to tackle eventually if they plan on doing something with the characters in the future (no matter if we are talking Larian or WotC), but it is definitely an issue that just arises from the structure of the game.

Bonus of course is, that you just cannot define a canonical Tav. But without a Tav, you also gotta act as if the story of the game happened without a Tav, which still is not ideal. I am honestly not sure with how they are gonna deal with this on the long run.

Access via Characters

Alright, but what is the actual issue here?

Well, basically there are two hurdles to overcome for the accessibility of the lore. The first is the physical accessibility - aka, what I talked about in the last long blog post. The second meanwhile is more related to making the lore engaging. And that happens through characters.

It is for me what happened last year. I actually tried to engage with the lore as the movie came out - but only when BG3, that tied a lot more into the actual lore was released I actually found proper access to the lore. Because I had concrete things I could now look for because the game hinted at so much both through characters and major story events happening.

Here is the thing: If you just have the lore on its own, it is about as engaging as reading a history book. Sure, as your local history nerd I find reading history books fun, but most people really do not want to read a history book to engage with a hobby.

People will however engage with stories and characters that interest them. Which is where we get back to the thing I talked about at the beginning: Right now most canonical novels and stories still cater to an audience that is male, cishet, white and also, let's be frank, definitely over 30 years old. Leaving behind a lot of potential fans that theoretically make up a big part of the player-base, but actually do not engage a lot with the lore for this exact reason.

Look. DnD right now is fairly close to being an actual mainstream hobby, due to the recent proliferation of formerly nerdy stuff. And yet WotC is bleeding money, especially in regards of DnD.

If you ask me, sure... DnD should go into public domain. But it doesn't. And given that there are so many creative, skilled people working on this - no matter how dumb Hasbro is and how shitty of an employer they are - I actually do want them to succeed. I have really become engaged with this world now. And I think it is a pity that they clearly do not know how to market this stuff.

[karlach-esmeray]

Jaheria and her first Grandcub! 💚

Jaheira may not express her feelings outright most of the time, but she did cry when she found out Esmeray and Karlach named their child after her.

Jaheira was there for most of Esmeray's labor and, although originally not planned, she participated firsthand in delivering her grandcub.

Unknown at the time, the baby's horns curved outward, leaving Esmeray unable to support herself through the pain during the home water birth. Karlach was meant to help with delivery, but she had no choice but to physically hold Esmeray up during the late stages. Luckily, Jaheria loves her adopted cubs and had no problem stepping in. She was the first person to ever see that baby, but the excitement didn't last long when Esmeray rapidly lost consciousness.

It was Jaheria who lept into action and instructed Karlach on how to stanch the bleeding while she ran for help. Thanks to her quick actions, fueled by the fear of losing her daughter and granddaughter, both mom and baby made a full recovery.

After everything is said and done, she can rest her "old" bones and enjoy a peaceful moment with her new Grandcub, Jaheria Lea'heart Cliffgate.

Taters

(There is more Esmeray lore on my page if you're interested)

[justabrowncoatedwench]

So I'm not done lol I wanna rant about how all the god shit in BG3 is connected! Spoilers under the cut...

To preface: all dates are listed in DR, or Dale Reckoning, which is the most commonly used dating of years in Forgotten Realms lore, established with 1 at the signing of the Dale's Compact, creating peace between the elves of Cormanthyr and the human+ civilizations of the Dalelands (notable to current discussions, as Elminster Aumar is equally well known as the Sage of Shadowdale, one such dale in the Dalelands).

So Shadowheart's arc highlights the tug of war between Shar and Selune, but Shar and Selune are ALSO the progenitors of a lot of the other deities INCLUDING the OG Mystryl, born when Selune tore a part of her essence & threw it at Shar during their initial war post-sun creation, wounding them both & casting Shar into the void for a while. Mystryl was that piece of magic torn from Selune and having grabbed up a piece of Shar's as well when she hit, a blending of light and dark.

Mystryl then much later gave her life to save the world during Karsus's Folly in -339 DR. That's how Karsus fucked up magic so bad and so permanently. He almost DESTROYED the Weave, because Mystryl - and in future, Mystra - IS the Weave! And she died - thus also killing him, as she was inside him at the time - to preserve the Weave when he tried to steal some measure of her power!

*And Gale knew this*, knew much of it anyway. How could he not, with his own research that led him to the Orb? And his relationship with Mystra? And friendship with Elminster?

Anywho, Mystryl took time to reincarnate herself using a young peasant girl as her vessel, she then chose to go by the name Mystra instead of Mystryl. Once in this vessel she regained control of the Weave, bringing magic back to Toril (the planet Faerun, a continent, is on), which had been chaotic & largely depowered. After Karsus, she became much more strict/ Lawful in her decrees around magic, banning mortals from using any magic above 9th level spells (Karsus's Folly involved at least one 10th or 11th 12th level spell iirc).

Later, during the period known as the Time of Troubles, which began when Bane & Myrkul (two of the Dead Three) tried to steal the Tablets of Fate from Ao (the Overgod that most mortals don't even know exists). Ao then locked the deities into the Material Plane, forcing them to walk among their followers on Toril. Mystra at one point defied Ao's order, attempting to return to the heavens, and was killed by Helm, who had been tasked by Ao with protecting the gates and ensuring none of the gods disobeyed him. (Good job, Mystra.)

Also during the Time of Troubles the Dead Three got their name in truth, as Myrkul, Bane, and Bhaal were killed (as were several other gods, some of whom Ao chose to resurrect as they perished while fulfilling the obligations of their portfolios, like Torm). The Time of Troubles is also when Bhaal was seeding his Bhaalspawn - including Sarevok Anchev - in the world (the results of which gave us Baldur's Gates 1 and 2).

Anyway, as previously established, Mystra IS the Weave, so killing her fucked magic up again, unleashing the Spellplague (hello 4e D&D and your reduced pantheon & reduced magic). Ao selected several mortals to either ascend into vacated portfolios or rewarded mortals for killing gods who needed killing; Cyric was a mortal who killed Bane, while helping to retrieve the Tablets of Fate for Ao, for example of one such occurrence, who fwiw was the adventuring companion of two other mortals chosen for godhood, Kelemvor and Midnight. Kelemvor took on a portfolio of the dead, and Midnight was who Ao picked to take on Mystra's role and she chose to take on Mystra's name as well. This happened in 1358 DR, and when the Tablets were returned to Ao, he ground them to powder so they'd never be at risk again. This however fucked up the natural laws of Realmspace, which began to unravel, beginning the Era of Upheaval. The Era of Upheavel lasted from its beginning in 1358 DR (BG1 takes place in 1368 & BG2 takes place shortly after) through the Second Sundering (though most mortals only know of it as the Sundering, since the First Sundering happened even before Karsus's Folly by millenia, in -17,600 DR, in the time of elves) which took from about 1482 through 1487 DR. (The Second Sundering and its associated tie in novel series - very good! - brings us from 4e into 5e D&D, in ttrpg terms.) Baldur's Gate 3 takes place in 1492 DR, starting in the equivalent earth month to August, late August specifically.

Considering that Midnight took on the mantle of Mystra in 1358, I'm pretty sure Gale has only dealt with *her*, while Elminster has served Mystra - including being her lover and raising 3 of her 7 daughters - for 1300 years by BG3, which would include both previous incarnations of Mystryl/Mystra.

So in summary, the gods are all Like That, even the ones who used to be mortals (and I'm pretty sure Gale doesn't know his Mystra used to be a mortal, or that any other gods were either, based on dialogue after you get the Tome of Karsus in Act 3).

All the delicious BG3 god machinations are connected and have been for centuries if not eons. The Dead Three like to cause problems on purpose, Shar and Selune are sisters & also kind of contentiously divorced parents who can't play nice & use the kids to fight. Even the Lathander stuff at the gith creche is kind of connected, since the kick off of the big war between Shar & Selune was the creation of the sun to give their first child, Chauntea, the og earth/nature deity, warmth. Lathander (& Amaunator, rip) is the deity of the dawn/sun, among other things, and Silvanus (hello deity of the Druids in Act 1 & Halsin) is the wild nature counterpart to Chauntea's now largely agricultural portfolio. Chauntea has been known to have romantic connections with Lathander, as well. Zariel too - hello Wyll & Karlach's storylines - is connected, because before her fall into Avernus where she became an Archdevil in service to Asmodeus, she USED to be a solar (most powerful type of angel/celestial) in the service of Lathander.

If you've gotten this far, thank you for listening to my lore dump lol. I hope it enriches your experience of BG3 & the Forgotten Realms!

Post-Script: if you're left wondering how the unraveling of the laws of Realmspace got fixed, the Second Sundering began when Ao decided to recreate the Tablets of Fate to fix what he'd broken vis a vis the chaos of the Realmspace.

Additional fun fact: of the 3 of Mystra's 7 total daughters that Elminster raised, Storm Silverhand - renowned High Harper of the Dalelands - was one, and often also traveled with him as an adventuring companion as an adult through the centuries. Another is Laeral Silverhand, current Open Lord of Waterdeep, that big ol' city Gale is from that's right up the coast from Baldur's Gate.

[savs-sims98]

(Sylvannah & Shadowheart vibe before the hair change✨👌🏼)

Sylvannah and Shadowheart were fast friends😌.

Shadowheart was weary to trust her or any of them for that matter. Something about Sylvannah made her feel heard and she felt that she could open up to someone finally. Sylvannah never had many real friends growing up so it was refreshing to just sit, laugh, and drink with another woman.

I feel as though Shadowheart is definitely the first to come out and see the twins when they are born. She brings her parents with her along with some crops and flowers from her garden🪻🍇

Art by @ soapap

[y-rhywbeth2]

Other fun details today include that half-elves are apparently capable of elven communion - the joint parent-child pseudo-reverie that occurs during pregnancy also occurs with half-elven parents (even if the child in the womb was sired by a human, and thus functionally human in regards to magical elf things).

This thing:

'Reverie also serves an important purpose in elven child-drearing. When an elven women is with child, she enters a state close to reverie when her belly begins to swell with child; from that time until her child is born, she mentally teaches her child of herself, the child's father, her clan and colony history, and the basics of many languages' - Cormanthyr; Empire of the Elves

(Quality of education may vary greatly.)

I wonder if half-elf -> human communion is restricted to pregnancy (as the foetus is sort of symbiotically part of the half-elf's own body at the time), or if elves can project their emotions/surface impressions/reveries onto a non-elf, but don't get any feedback in return? Which would probably feel weird for the elf. Just projecting your soul into an empty void.

Also, theoretically you can still do mind melds with Shadowheart post-game, if you're of elven heritage and she's open to it. Due to Sharran conditioning she's probably used to being spiritually alone though, so I don't see her rushing to do it or relearning that communal connection/instinct easily. I still don't know if Astarion can commune: technically vampirism overrides the elf typing (he was an elf; he is now a vampire with elven traits), but he still enters reverie and has a soul, so the basic requirements are there...

[shewhowas39]

fun little piece of Forgotten REalms lore that makes BG3 even more interesting

so two of the most represented gods in BG3 are Shar and Mystra, right?

fun fact: about 100 years before bg3 takes place, there was the Spellplague, a cataclysmic event that - long story made very short - made arcane magic go away for like 10 years and made many wizards and users of the weave either die or go insane.

what caused this event?

Shar had Cyric (another god, he doesn't matter as much to thisBG3 tie in but follow me) go kill Mystra. and Cyric succeeded.

Shar HATES Mystra. because Shar wanted to control the weave. but in killing Mystra, she actually just fucked up the weave real bad and never got to control it after all.

anyway, obviously Mystra got better and came back and the weave is fixed now. blah blah.

but next time you are contemplating Shadowheart and Gale's dynamics, add in the fact that her goddess once had his ex-girlfriend killed and caused an event that altered the face of Toril forever.

andddd it happened within Astarion, Halsin, Jaheira, and Minthara's lifetimes.

[zevlors-tail]

Hey! So far I've not seen anyone make the connection yet, so I thought I'd drop a little bit of lore/character development for Shadowheart that no one else seems to have found yet. Or if they did, I haven't seen anyone mention it. Mild spoilers having to do with Auntie Ethel in Act 1 of BG3.

Just before you enter Ethel's home, on the left, is a well that you can drink from. It gives you +10 hit points and the condition refreshed. Recently, before I decided to fight Ethel this playthrough, I had everyone in my party drink from it for the extra HP. This included my Tav (a Lolth cleric), Wyll, Astarion, and Shadowheart.

Now, if you didn't already know this, those +10 hit points and the refreshed condition disappear when you engage in combat with Ethel and are replaced by another condition: nauseated. Everyone in my party received this condition except one person. Guess who? Here's a pic for reference.

As you can see, everyone in my party has the little nauseated icon except for Shadowheart. Ethel was dead at this point. The conditions don't wear off until you long rest, so I decided to loot her house before doing so. While I was doing just that, I found this book titled Mistress of the Night and Friends. In it, there's an explanation for why Shadowheart was not negatively affected by the well water.

The book describes a short story of a woman who had many friends, suitors, and a beloved mother who wished her daughter only happiness. But the mother passed away, and the woman wept, so much so that all of her previous friends and suitors and acquaintances left her. She then prayed for someone, anyone to ease the loneliness she felt. And who answered? None other but Shar, of course.

Shar convinced the woman that no one else loved the woman except for her, and that all she needed was faith in Shar. Shar then gave the woman a vial, and told her to take it to a man (likely a follower of Shar, also). She did so without question. The man tampered with the vial, instructed the woman to throw it down a well, and she did just so. The book then says that many people got sick and died, except for the woman devoted to Shar, who remained perfectly healthy.

I bet you can guess what well she threw the vial down!

The implication here is that because Shadowheart is such a devout follower of Shar, Shar allows her to keep the blessing of the well where everyone else in your party gets nauseated (sick). Kind of a neat little attention to detail that I wasn't expecting that early on in the game. Anyways, shout out to Larian for the small things in this game! I thought this was super interesting and unique. Not sure about how the hag has a connection to Shar's well, but with "Friends" in the title, I assume she would maybe have at least an amicable relationship with the dark goddess.

[optiwashere]

OK, so the mysterious visitor from the previous chapter is here, and I wonder who they could be? Anyways, I hope to update this and Nightsongs a bit more frequently soon as I've had such a massive burst of inspiration for both fics!

Here's another meaty chapter in this post-canon fic about my Tav, Asheera, and Shadowheart fighting Sharran assassins, getting caught up in another Sharran conspiracy, and traveling to wherever their happily ever after awaits them. I still can't believe that this smutty one-shot idea about Sharran assassins:

Turned into something with this much plot

Accidentally wove back into the in-game epilogue after Patch 5, luckiest shot in the dark I've ever taken...

Rating: E for quite a bit of smut and graphic violence

Category: F/F

Ship: Shadowheart/Trans Fem Tav