#tav!lore

[durgetavoc]

Tav (during the act 1)

A few notes about her!

Tav is a human sorceress, born in the Heapside district at Baldur's Gate but was taken in the orphanage attached to the Open Hand Temple (Rivington).

She doesn't know/remember a thing about her family, she was renamed "Tav".

Her wild magic starts around the age of 14 (or how to make teenage years even more complicated).

At 21, she leaves Rivington (after yet another magical accident) to live in Cloakwood, where she discovers about the nature of her magic (thanks to a shadow druid she met there) and tries to learn how to master it better.

She's 24 during the actual events of the game.

She's 5'5", with a thin, slight and squarish build.

She is passionate about alchemy and makes her living from what she sells in the Rivington market (potions and various resources she finds in Cloakwood).

She doesn't like Baldur's Gate and is wary of cities in general (bad experiences from gangs and violence), but she's not quite happy in the forest either (she's not suited for the loneliness there).

Things she really loves in Rivington: listening to streets bards!! Going to the circus!!

Things she really loves in Cloakwood: the nature, learning on her own, the PLANTS!!

She is not devoted to any particular deity, even if she has a certain gratitude for Ilmater, or more particularly the priests who took care of her.

Goal of her life? Not dying.

[tadpole-apocalypse]

Perils of dating a Wild Magic Sorcerer while trying to have a dramatic moment on your grave.

[lazylittledragon]

pov a weird lady pulled you out of a portal and now there's a morgue in your house

[nottragic-stilltoothsome]

Everything I found in Szarr's palace, for all your fanfiction-writting needs. I haven't found any other post like this one, so i hope i m not copying anyone. Posting it here, because editing the official wiki feels intimidating. Feel welcome to add anything I missed.

Astarion's siblings (the other spawn):

Petras - one of the two you meet in the Flophouse.

Dalyria - the other one from the two you meet in the flophouse. Her diary can be found in the "guest room". Before Cazador turned her, she was a doctor, a "Physician General to the Parliament of Baldur's Gate". She thinks vampirism is a disease and plans on curing herself of it by drinking blood of someone young and healthy - other spawn's daughter, Victoria.

Leon Onufrio - before Cazador turned him, Leon was a sorcerer. He is the one whose daughter's (Victoria's) body is found, cursed, in the room where with the Kozakuran dictionary.

Leon put a protective counter-curse on her, to discourage other spawns from attacking her. Despite his efforts, Dalyria bit her, hoping it'd cure her vampirism. Needless to say, it didn't and Victoria died @easterlingwanderer found out that if you use "speak with the dead" on the body, it turns out that it was a random urchin and Leon did get Victoria out of the city on time. After removing the curse inflicting you with necrotic demage, you can loot a letter of her body from her father instructing Victoria to read said dictionary, so she can freely move around the castle.

In the favoured spawn room, you can learn that Leon was the one usualy occupying it (along with his daughter). His diary reveals that he put extra effort to be Cazador's best hunter, so he can keep Victoria away from others and that he came up with a plan with Figaro to disguise and sneak Victoria out of the palace.

He also notes that he doesnt like the way Violet looks at Victoria and Cazador's wicked smile, when Leon asked him what his master was planning to do with his daughter.

Violet - you can find her Diary in the Dormitory of Spawn. She notes that she put garlic in Yousen bed as a prank.

Aurelia - a tiefling

Yousen - @neophytepagan noticed he is a gnome

Other:

The chamberlain of Cazador was Antwun Dufay. In his diary, which can be found under his bed in his room after a successful passive perception check, it says that he had a lover Lurianna (a werewolf, who can be found dead by walking through fake north wall of chamberlain's office, or through another fake wall in Chamberlain's private room). He knew about Cazador's Black Mass enough to fake his death in order to avoid the threat of taking Astarion's place. Unfortunately for him, it seems he confused the actual death potion and fake death potion, and really died. His lover drank the other potion, which melted her guts. The actual fake-death elixir can be found in his desk, which puts the player in 10-turn coma. He ordered the elixir from Bonecloaks', where he also ordered most of the things the palace needed to function (like bloodstain remover, candles and food for "guests").

Godey - Cazador's right hand. Astarion says that while Cazador was the master of the palace, the kennels (the room where the spawn d be tortured, when they did something Cazador didnt approve of) was the domain of Godey. Godey tortured the spawn when Cazador didnt feel like it. Cazador trusted Godey with the key to the sealed ballroom for the duration of the ritual.

Through the palace, fanatic-servants cleaning the palace: Syrin - human, Greenfern - wood half-elf, Vilhelm - human, Varderola - also human. All of them are servants, who Astarion said are devoted to Cazador and came to the palace of their own will, beggining Cazador to turn them into vampires. Vilhelm is most noteable, as you can talk to him and he asks Astarion why isn't he downstairs, that he is late and the ballroom is already locked. If pressed, he informs that Godey has a key and that the Cazador is going to punish Astarion for missing the ritual (and from his expression, he seems to quite like the thought).

Chamberlain Dufay wrote a blooddonnors ledger, instructing the Spawn to favourite the lower class as prey, as too many missing patriars may drow too much attention.

The language Cazador uses is Kozakuran, from a distant land of Kara-Tur. Astarion notes that they were strictly forbidden from learning it. From Cazador's Journal you can learn that Astarion was not an unreliable narrator when he said Cazador liked torturing him the most: Cazador paid the most attention to him in the journal.

In the favoured spawn room, there is a ledger with the list of spawns who have been favoured (its only Leon and one time Violet).

Amanita Szarr - on her 13th birthsday, invited by her Uncle Cazador. She was invited to the ballroom. She became a vampire, but was not happy about it. She rejected her family name Szarr and named herself Lady Incognita. She claims she stays in the attic and writes stories. One of the books written by her can be found on Cazador's desk.

Mrel Alkam - vampire mastress from Athkatla that Cazador wrote a letter to.

[catsharky]

So while I'm unlikely to have enough time to get another whole comic out before the new year, I recently got hit by the urge to just draw some random facts about Ember that I'm not sure will ever end up showing up in a comic.

I tend to forget that all of her comic appearances so far have given a pretty shallow idea of what she's really like, so I figured this might be a fun way to flesh her out a bit more.

No idea how many of these I'll end up doing. I have a bunch in mind but I doubt I'll actually get through all of them.

If anyone has anything specific they'd like to know about her, let me know! I can't promise I'll be able to do a piece of art to answer it, but who knows.

I am also planning on answering a bunch of asks some time soon, I just keep getting derailed by other things.

[crocodiller]

Rowan tends to be a bit of an open book, if you just ask him direct questions. Otherwise he's not much of a sharer. Reference to this comic

[indimiart]

thank you for reminding me what the sun feels like

They’ve both got a lot of years of missing sunlight. Lucky they get to relearn warmth again together🫶🏼

[justporo]

I wanna talk about this Epilogue letter for a hot moment.

I bet someone must've talked about this before but alas I haven’t seen it and BOI do I have feelings about this.

This letter is from the Gur to Astarion.

Not only did I find it astounding that they wrote him a letter but like...

Not only are they forgiving him but they tell him he is a ROLE MODEL to their vampiric children. They admire him for the redemption he lived through, the development he made to become the bigger man.

So not only do they tell him that they're even with him now: no! They also claim that he's helped them to accept their vampire children. Because Astarion showed them that they can be more than just undead creatures.

They voice admiration for him and tell him they're gonna keep watch of him.

(This is not to say that Astarion's actions against the Gur should be overlooked, but it shows to me that both sides have learned and moved on.)

Now: imagine Astarion reads this letter at the reunion party. Or maybe Tav hands it to him later because he couldn't be bothered to waste his time sorting through letters (is what he says but he probably thought no one would have sent him one). He reads the letter barely believing the words he's reading. Tav notices he's gone super silent and turns to find Astarion teary eyed, hand covering his mouth. When he sees you noticing he looks almost like he's going to snarl at you but then he just let's you wrap your arms around him.

"I'm so proud of you," you say.

And he might need more time to accept that, but the seed is planted.

[halichor]

Scourge of the Seas

Just started another save with durge Jehan since I missed that last time, and I'm /still/ not done with Karythos and Vesna's saves aaaaaa 🫠

[kirain]

Sigh....Galemancers really love to move the goal post when it comes to the grooming accusations huh? You found out Gale was a fully grown MAN when Mystra slept with him so now you have to say, "Well then he was emotionally groomed and the power dynamic is too vast." Mystra is a neutral good goddess because she's Midnight, who was a neutral good human. She hates that her magic has to be used for good and evil. Ao makes her share it evenly but she'd rather not. She would never do anything to hurt Gale. The writers of the game even confirmed she's not a groomer. People like you also downplay the point of Gale's entire story arc, which is he should've listened to Mystra! The whole point of his personal quest is he needs to learn to humble himself and listen to his goddess! He has no one to blame for his downfall but himself.

There's no "post" to move, anon. The game and lore give us all the context we need. Grooming doesn't only apply to children, and people have proven right and left that Mystra is terrible at relationships. She's petty and abusive when she isn't obeyed by her partners, and that's been the case with all of her iterations. Even the narrator describes her as a "jealous goddess" when you visit her shrine. Plus, your information is wrong on many accounts; the most pertinent being that the Mystra of BG3/5E isn't technically Midnight. Cyric and Shar killed her, reducing her to her godly essence (lore-wise that means she died). The current Mystra is an amalgamation of the vestiges of Mystryl, Mystra, and Midnight, as told in the novel Elminster Enraged.

Now, this is about to get complicated, as it always does with Mystra, so from here on out I'll be referring to Mystra #1 as Mystryl, Mystra #2 as Mystra #2, Mystra #3 as Midnight, and Mystra #4 as 5E Mystra. Alright, let's get started.

Elminster had to reform the fallen goddess by giving her fragments of all three iterations of Mystra. Since all three iterations are combined, our current 5E Mystra embodies the good, the bad, the beautiful, and the ugly. There's even a conversation with The Simbul (one of the Seven Sisters and a Chosen of Mystra) where the newly reformed 5E Mystra speaks of Elminster as her "longest lover". This puzzles The Simbul because that was something of the old Mystra (Mystra #2), not Midnight. The new 5E Mystra replies that she has become a combination of the memories of Mystryl, Mystra #2, and Midnight. This is all in chapter 25-30 of Elminster Enraged. I know it's confusing, but in short: 5E Mystra is not Midnight anymore, and the leading mind is clearly that of Mystra #2, hence her extremely poor judgement—a recurring theme with her character.

Mystryl and Mystra #2 were originally lawful neutral. The alignment changed to neutral good when Midnight took up the mantle, because Midnight herself was a neutral good person. But now it seems 5E Mystra is true neutral, because you are right, anon; Ao won't allow her to do whatever she wants. Midnight tried and was forbidden. 5E Mystra absolutely does not have the same level of humanity or kindness as Midnight, and that may be because Mystryl had no human consciousness and Mystra #2 was a mess.

Regardless of her alignment, she must embody her domain by Ao's decree, which means she needs to spread magic across all Realmspace. Since she has to maintain the balance, she approaches good, neutral, and evil mages with potential opportunities. This isn't a criticism (that's just how godhood works), but rather proof that Mystra is absolutely capable of good and bad. I don't want to hear any more of this "she's a precious little bean and Gale's victim" nonsense. Even if she wants to be, she's not. As Kikitakite said in their post, she's done some fucked up things.

Whether or not the writers intended to make Mystra a groomer, that's exactly what they did. Sometimes writers don't realise they've written an abusive character until they're criticised. Take writer of The Notebook, Nicholas Sparks, for example. He didn't realise he'd written Noah to be an abusive piece of shit until Ryan Gosling pointed it out himself. Gosling has gone on record many times to say he hates Noah, and experts have labeled him an unrealistic and emotionally abusive/manipulative character. The same can be said for Stephenie Meyer, who wrote some of the most celebrated toxic relationships in recent media—with a dash of borderline pedophilia on the side. Therapists have weighed in extensively to tell people that Bella and Edward's relationship isn't healthy and shouldn't be emulated in real life. Indeed, perhaps the best thing to come out of the entire franchise is Robert Pattinson's hatred of Edward and the series as a whole. Jacob's actor, Taylor Lautner, even argued with Meyer's on set because of how weird the "imprinting" segment was and he didn't want to come off as predatory. Meyer argued it was "romantic". 😕

Even if you don't agree Gale was groomed, Mystra is flagrantly responsible for his insecurities and she never should've put her hands on him. The power dynamic is too vast, and even god Gale (conceited as he is) realises it by the end. He only stays in a relationship with Tav if they allow him to ascend them alongside him as his equal. He recognises that anything else would be unhealthy and unacceptable. Also, I researched high and low regarding your claim, but none of the devs have dispelled the idea that Mystra is a groomer. In fact, the most I could find was one dev simply saying, "To Gale it was love, but he didn't know any better." If anything, that only confirms he was confused and didn't know what to do. Their "relationship" was a stunningly horrible idea from the start and that's not on Gale, it's on the literal cosmic being who initiated it.

Moreover, Gale was very likely 17 when Mystra revealed herself to him. This perfectly fits into the 5E Forgotten Realms timeline. If so, no, he absolutely wasn't a grown man. He was a teenager. Mystra may not have slept with him until he was in his 20's, but that still makes it a disgusting teacher-turned-lover situation. Gale even tells us he was "young" when she took him into her fold, and he was only eight years old when Elminster started their lessons. Remember, Elminster is Mystra's biggest apologist. He would've taught Gale to revere her, which means there was almost never a point in his life when Mystra wasn't the main focus. You can tell by the way he speaks about her in Act 1. He's in awe, he's excited, he's proud she chose him. That does something to a child. Something irreversible. If anything, Elminster is complicit in what happened. I've said this before, but he couldn't even be bothered to visit Gale himself. He sent a simulacrum.

As for your accusation that I'm "downplaying" Gale's story arc—you're damn right I am, because the writers made me! Most D&D players I know aren't very happy with how Mystra is portrayed in the game, and that's probably because even they know she isn't presented in a very flattering light. If you really think about it, it's obvious what the writers were going for, but they failed. For example, you said Gale should've listened to Mystra, right? Well, in Act 1 he admits his ambition was his undoing, blames himself for his downfall, and by Act 2 he's literally ready to off himself for her. In fact, he's the only one who sees her ultimatum as justified. Every other companion says she's being cruel and unreasonable. If Gale actually blows himself up at the end of Act 2, the results are catastrophic. The brain is destroyed, yes, but the tadpoles, free of the Absolute's control, complete their transformation and infect/enslave the entire Sword Coast. Anon. She. Is. Stupid. Even the Narrator is like, "You wanna ... you wanna try that again?"

The entirety of Act 2 is Gale learning he shouldn't listen to Mystra. And then she has the audacity to lecture him in Act 3? If he'd listened, it would've been the end of everything. Maybe if Mystra was as infallible as she pretends to be, she would've put her three brains together and came up with a better, less vindictive plan. Because make no mistake, she wanted Gale to blow up in Act 2, which is ridiculous. I know this is an uncomfortable topic for some people, but gods aren't perfect, especially in fiction. They're flawed. They're selfish. Some of them are straight up assholes. The real irony of Gale's arc isn't that he has no one to blame but himself, it's that Mystra should blame herself. At no point does she even consider if she's being unreasonable or unfair. There's no self reflection whatsoever. And the writers expect me to think Gale's full of himself? I wonder where he got it.

Probably from his teacher. ✋🎤

[bearsandswears]

Asena is perfectly comfortable with nonsexual nudity (you kind of have to be as a werewolf, the clothes don’t come with), but seeing a chance to make Gale blush activates her prey drive.

[durgetavoc]

Guys, is it gay to be killed by your enemy wearing your other enemy's clothes?

Brainrot down below about my Tav/Orin, after I realized that when you wear Gortash's outfit you can't be frightened by the Slayer.

So, here, Orin has pretty much a psychosexual obsession for Tav.

At first, Tav is just a target in Orin's path to fulfilling Bhaal’s grand design, a "lamb" she plans to offer in sacrifice, a prized blood gift. It's all about domination. But Tav’s resilience becomes an irresistible challenge, turning her into Orin’s favorite “prey.” Orin is captivated by how Tav stands tall despite every obstacle, and rather than killing her outright, she begins to enjoy prolonging the chase. Tav’s resistance keeps Orin coming back for more, like a toy she can’t bear to break—yet.

Orin’s obsession is deeply personal, but she refuses to acknowledge it. She hides behind the justification that killing Tav would please Bhaal, when in truth, it’s her own fixation that drives her. Tav has become her ultimate prize, and the “sacrifice” to Bhaal becomes little more than a way for Orin to rationalize her unhealthy need for control and dominance.

Meanwhile, Tav remains largely unaware of Orin’s obsession. She assumes Orin’s focus is just because she's the leader of her group (like of course she will be the natural target for any enemy). Sure, she keeps her guard up (thanks to Orin's shape-shifting abilities, it triggers Tav and make her feel unsafe even around familiar faces, which allows Orin to get closer, playing cat-and-mouse while taunting her. Like really, how Orin can be more intimate and invasive than this???) but it also stops her from realizing the deeper danger of Orin's fixation... Well, until Orin crosses a line by targeting the camp, her companions, kidnapping one of them. Now Tav is not content to merely survive anymore. Her ANGER overtakes her fear. It gets personal for Tav, she has to mirror Orin’s own ruthlessness, if she wants to protect her loved ones.

It's a turning point for Orin as well, Tav refused to play the "lamb" she envisioned, neither the prey fleeing her attacks, but now a hunter matching her intensity and bloodlust.

Killing Gortash is also a major feat in their relationship dynamic, and choosing his outfit (still covered in his fresh blood) as her armor wasn't an innocent choice for Tav.

Tav is a sorceress, but she also lived in the wilds, in Cloakwood (which lives up to its reputation as a DANGEROUS forest). She had to learn to hunt (something that disgusted her before she was forced to do it for survival), it's clearly an...Interesting evolution for her to be able now to wear Gortash's outfit, like a hunter would take parts of their prey as trophies, weapons or protective charms. Here, it's not only a proof of her victory, but a "shield" blocking out the fear Orin tries to instill, turning Orin’s own tactics against her. For her, it's not just about claiming Gortash's strength, but also desensitizing herself, numbing any aversion to violence or death that Orin might otherwise exploit. To Orin, who revels in blood and violence, Tav wearing armor that is still wet with her enemy’s blood is a thrilling and unnerving sight. It’s as if Tav has appropriated Orin’s own love for the grotesque, throwing it back at her in a display of raw, unapologetic power. Orin see this as Tav "answering" her challenge, mirroring her ferocity and playing into her bloody ideals. Blurring the same lines which would normally have distinguished them, between hero and monster.

But the outfit is also a projection of Gortash’s arrogance, we already know that Orin despises Gortash, so seeing Tav in this outfit make her feel that Tav is intentionally mocking her, as if Tav is flaunting Gortash’s defiance in Orin’s face. With the fusion of Tav with Gortash’s attributes, it’s not just about killing Tav anymore; it’s about proving her dominance over the traits that both enraged and fascinated her in Gortash and also a chance to "erase" definitely the ghost of him, feeling that killing Tav in his armor is akin to obliterating his legacy. By reclaiming power from her enemies, Tav unsettles Orin, who is used to seeing herself as the apex predator. Tav’s act feels like a challenge, maybe Tav might “take” something from her, too (whether it’s victory, pride, her netherstone or...her life). Sure, Orin can transform but Tav also changes form in a way : "This is who I am willing to become to face you.", now they're both on equal footing, and Orin has to find some other ways to fight her.

In the end, they transform under each other’s influence: Tav, into a relentless avenger, and Orin into someone who must confront her own vulnerabilities. Their final confrontation a battle for dominance, obsession, and ultimately, a test of who they each truly are at their core.

I would also like to add that by wearing Gortash's "skin", Tav is making a statement that her enemies (Gortash, Orin, and any other threat she faces) do not define or break her. Instead, she assimilates them, taking what she needs and discarding the rest. Fun fact, before her fight against the Netherbrain, Tav will burn the loots related to Gortash, Orin and Ketheric (something that would be good for a different post) to make an official end of their existence once she used them.

Now for anyone who read to the end of this post…

[basketobread]

there’s a whole AU thing where lunara never leaves the Underdark and gets sent into the absolute and I love her (a lot of this is really old art LOL)

[passacalia-bg3]

"they spoke correctly. the last stage of love is grief"

the art refers to the distant future where Afaleon became a dragon again, and despite all their common achievements with Minthara, they were unable to live together for a long time. Minthara sleeps in his skull in an attempt to feel close to him again.

not quite a canon of their story, more of an option for how it could have ended. It was drawn more for my tragic mood in that day

[serpenlupus]

About Wyll and his horns (and what they mean)

Let's say I was writing a part of my Tav's story with Wyll directly connected to the dialogue he has during the tiefling party, and while struggling with this bit, I've realized there's quite a few misconceptions floating around. I felt compelled to add information to the table that might clear them, so here we go.

First, what exactly happens to Wyll when he disobeys Mizora in act one? Well, he doesn't get turned into a devil, he certainly doesn't get turned into a tiefling, he's not a half fiend, not a demon, none of that. Wyll stays human, but he has horns and red eyes (and other features we can't see on his model as of now).

(Everyone has their race listed, Wyll's remains "Human")

This is because when a warlock fails to uphold some part of their contract they can suffer a certain number of consequences, Wylls is “The character grows horns, a tail, or some other devilish features that can't be removed by any means short of divine intervention. As long as these marks persist the character detects as a fiend when subjected to Detect Evil and Good spells or similar magic.” ( from Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus, page 214)

And I’ve come across some people that think it wasn’t so bad of a punishment, that he was being racist towards the tieflings, or just not being justified in being upset after having his body forcibly changed against his will. I think they are missunderstanding just how insidious Mizora’s actions were, and here I just want to give some context to maybe bring a better understanding to the situation. Your conclusions are up to you.

Gonna start by using a not exact analogy, but I think it’s going to make the explanation easier. Stick with me for a minute.

Remember Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean? He had a branded “P” on his arm that marked him as a pirate. A murderer, robber, criminal, etc. in the eyes of the society he was a part of. What did Jack do to earn the branding? (if you don’t know this I suggest you look up the “people aren’t cargo mate” scene) He refused to transport slaves and later freed them, and Beckett had him marked as punishment.

Then, in the first movie, he saves Elizabeth, a woman he didn’t know, from drowning. Right after however, when Norrington sees he has a branded “P”, he’s like “alright, off to jail with you, and then hanging”, no other option crosses his mind. Again, Jack doesn’t know Elizabeth, isn’t indicated to think he is going to be rewarded for helping her, he just sees a drowning person, sees that no one else is going to help, and chooses to save them. That is a pretty selfless/good aligned thing to do, for no other reason that he was the one able to do it, yet the branding in his arm overrides any good action he could ever do, marking him as a criminal for execution and no further thought.

In a way, that’s what Mizora did to Wyll; she forever visibly branded him as someone that has made deals with devils, and that in the world of DnD is a VERY BAD THING. Personally I really like the mod that gives him more devilish features, but at the same time I think there was something clever about choosing to leave him looking more human. He can’t be confused with a tiefling, he doesn’t have the ears, the claws, the tail, all those features that characterize them. He looks kind of uncanny, and that would be like a red flag for anyone in that world. (Beyond the already existing hate for tieflings that I’m not gonna tackle on here because it’s a complicated thing that deserves its own post). And Wyll wants to do good, he wants to help people, to be a positive force in the world so, so badly. This dude got abducted by a nautiloid, got tadpole’d, and the first thing he did right after that was come across the Tiefling refugees and be like “Oh you need help? No worries let me teach you self defense. Oh you being attacked by goblins? Let me blast them real quick”. His way of saying fuck you to all the awful things that have happened to him is being aggressively good and kind. Mizora knows this very well, wants to see him suffer for her amusement, wants to remind him he can't escape her claws, so her choice of punishment was to forever taint his future interactions with mistrust and suspicion. Some people can go real fast from “oh thank God they saved me” to “oh no, are they gonna rob me, are they trying to trick me, are they in cahoots with the ones that attacked me first?” just because of outward appearances. Especially in DnD world. And that deserves its own conversation, but we're focusing on Wyll here.

(Mizora, when I catch you Mizora)

“Well, maybe he shouldn’t have made a deal in the first plac- - “ He was seventeen, alone, preyed upon by Mizora and put in an impossible situation. Please PAY ATTENTION to the story you’re witnesing.

Anyway.

About the tieflings. I know it’s easy to think his words can be derisive towards them, but it’s less about the horns and more about his body being changed against his will. Imagine instead that he got half his face burned, or something that disfigured him. I think his feelings at the moment were closer to that, and yeah they are pretty insensitive words to say to someone with a similar condition (horns or disfiguration), but when feelings are fresh and raw like that it’s easy to say insensitive things. Not saying it was ok for him to say them, but there was no malice in his words. I’ve also seen some people share that they think Mizora wanted to change him more to make him unrecognizable to his original self, the Wyll Ravenguard kid, and I think there is some truth to that too. She wants to make sure that Wyll remembers that he belongs to her, there's no question to that.

(MIZORA, WHEN I CATCH YOU MIZORA)

Whether the Tieflings refugees would feel unsettled by Wyll or not? Yes. In a way, they would. From reasons aside from the ones I explained above, remember that these specific tieflings come from Elturel. If you didn’t pass the History check or don’t remember, Elturel is a city that was literally ripped from the land and dragged to Avernus, First layer of hell (it left a hole on the ground and everything) because their mayor made a deal with the Archdevil Zariel some decades back in the timeline. He sold the souls of all its citizens and the city itself.

This was probably one of the worst times of their lives. Some even got captured and forced to participate in the blood War, like Dammon as a mechanic. And after Elturel got returned to the surface, the tieflings lost their homes because they reminded the other citizens of the literal Hell they’d just gone through, and they kicked them out. And remember, they met and saw Wyll as a human, and then saw him with horns. It’s not unreasonable to think that by looking at him they would be reminded of all the events that led them to the awful situation they’re in. Because of someone that was making deals with devils, just like Wyll. Even if his situation is completely different. And Wyll knows that, that’s why he tells you the tieflings are unsettled by him and chooses to stay away during the party.

It was never just about the horns.

And I know Wyll calls himself a devil but I think it’s because it’s the closest thing he looks as; devils are a whole different race with their own intricacies, although humans can be turned into devils ONCE their souls go to Avernus and they start climbing the power hierarchy there (Mizora and Raphael are cambions/ half-devils btw, which is a different thing,  there are plenty of videos exploring those details more in depth).

Do I think Larian should have made some of this information clearer/easier to access? Maybe? but to be fair, it's a game focused and dedicated to a crowd that was already somewhat familiar with the source material, that blew up waay out of what they originally expected to reach. Hopefully they’ll add some clarifications like they did to other quests. 

Anyway these are my two cents to the conversation, have a nice day, and don't hesitate to add your two cents if you feel like it!

[catsharky]

(Spoilers for Astarion's romance in Act 2)

I would have liked to do something for terrible comic day, but a stubborn migraine put the kibosh on that, so instead have something vaguely in the spirit of it. I tend to prefer to only post clean, finished work and this is decidedly not that.

This is an unfinished comic I started back in October that I unfortunately stalled out on while it was still in the roughs/planning stage. I was a little disappointed that during the post-Araj conversation you have with Astarion, you only got to choose one question to ask before the conversation moved on, and I wanted to try and combine a few of them into a single back and forth (I also originally just wanted to set up a joke and then it grew legs and ran off in a totally different direction😭)

No idea if I'll ever end up finishing this! I'd like to, it's just a question of whether I'll actually get around to it. Only time will tell.

If anyone's interested, I've also included an alternate, scrapped version of page 9 under the cut and some Ember Lore/rambling about what I was going for with this comic that probably doesn't come across properly thanks to where it cuts off

After finishing this page, it ended up just not feeling quite right. Not only did it put too much of the focus on Ember too early (I wanted to keep the spotlight on Astarion's feelings for a while longer) but her reaction came across too vulnerable, and was reading as her being upset to find out that Astarion hadn't been invested in the relationship when they slept together. I wanted the reader to be able to initially make that assumption because that's how Astarion is taking her reaction, but it leaned a little too heavy in that direction.

Ember was aware from the start that Astarion wasn't interested in a romantic relationship. She's been having one-night stands for over a decade, she knows what it looks like when someone's not looking for long-term. Her mistake was believing that he was trying to string her along without realizing she knew what he was up to. So she's not upset that he was using her, she's upset that there's a chance she hurt him by allowing it to continue despite knowing something was off.

Eventually I'll do some proper stuff about Ember's early days with the party, and her life in general before the events of the game!! Just gotta finish all the other stuff I have ongoing first 🙃