#the cage bg3 fanfic

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Be careful of the curse that falls on young lovers Starts so soft and sweet and turns them to hunters - Howl, Florence + the Machine

"I just want you to be safe, love."

[chaos-is-neutral]

Lyria, The Quiet Songbird 🕊️

Class: Bard

Race: Half-Elf

Chaotic Neutral/Neutral Good

Pronouns: They/Them

Sexuality: Bisexual

In a relationship with Karlach and Halsin. They are the only two who truly know Lyria, yet they will not sing for them.

Astarion is surprisingly their best friend despite their arguing all the time.

They play their flute out of necessity for the camp to heal them, but they will not play any more than that

Backstory: They were abandoned by their parents at a circus that frequents Baldur's Gate. They were only three and have no real memory of them, so Lyria never missed their parents and instead found a family among the people they performed with. Growing up Lyria developed a love for music and art. They taught themselves to play the lute, flute, and harp. When they were sixteen the ring mistress took notice of them. She moved them to her tent where she helped Lyria hone their skills. When they sing the crowd goes quiet and all will listen. It is a voice that is a once in a generation. People will come all over to hear them perform. Lyria's musical abilities even had magical healing. The ring mistress called them her songbirds. For a while, everything was okay until Lyria wanted to move out of the tent and into their own. The ring mistress grew angry at Lyria and said that they were hers and they did not belong to anyone else. That is when the abuse began. Lyria was caged by her. If they even looked at someone else in a different way things went bad. One night Lyria attempted to escape with a man they had fallen for. They were sadly caught though. Someone had reported it to the ring mistress. In a fit of rage, she carved the symbol onto Lyria's forehead, chin, and neck. It was to show who they belonged to. After that, the bard became a hallow of who they once were. They stopped singing, stopped performing. Lyria vowed to never play again. The abuse didn't stop though. Instead, it got worse. Years had passed before they had the courage to escape again. It took a lot of planning, but the night had come. They took only their flute with them as they escaped. Sadly they had only made a half-day travel before the mindflayer abuducted them.

Post BG3 Ending: When Karlach was dying they sang for the first time with tears in their eyes. Thankfully at the last minute, Wyll took Karlach back to hell. Lyria fell into a deep depression but Halsin figured out how to bring her back and Wyll. Once they had Karlach back the three of them went back to the Shadowlands and created a grove there. The three adopted Thaniel and Oliver. Lyria keeps to themselves mostly. They can be found in their meadow painting or writing music. They help Halsin from time to time with council duties. Slowly and bit by bit Lyria becomes truly happy again.

(I won't continue their post bg3 ending, because I am going to be writing a fanfic where Lyria gets it a little rough lol and we get possessive and distraught Karlach and Halsin)

[neosunbrella]

✴️ Gilded Cages is on hiatus (RE4 Leon/Ashley)

✴️ Creatures of Night is being actively updated (BG3 Tav/Astarion)

Howdy, I'm Nova! I am from the olden days of tumblr, but it looks like folks these day make these little pinned posts with info about themselves/their blog so here's mine!

About this blog

The purpose of this blog is largely to provide progress updates on my fanfics

I'll probably mostly be reblogging Resident Evil stuff and Baldur's Gate 3

My favorite Resident Evil pairs are (but I am too old for shipping wars so pls don't @ me if you hate these) Ashley x Leon, Claire x Leon, Claire x Jill, and Jill x Carlos

About the blogger

I am 27 and have been on & off tumblr since 2012

I'm bi & use she/her pronouns

I love video games and currently am playing Baldur's Gate 3 Resident Evil 4 (and the rest of the series) over and over again until my brain chemistry changes

Other games I enjoy are Stardew Valley, Animal Crossing, The Nancy Drew Series, Death's Door, and Until Dawn / The Quarry (I haven't actually played these yet, but I did enjoy the playthroughs I watched and they're on my list!)

I'm always looking for new puzzle, adventure, or cozy games to play especially if they have a spooky vibe or horror themes

I'm currently a grad student working on a MA — I like to call it artistic literary coding (because that's really what I'm exploring in my thesis) I graduated y'all! 😭

I have ADHD, which is why I tend to ramble and sometimes abandon projects, but I'm desperately trying to get better about that (pray for me)

I love music too — some of my fav artists are boygenius, rosie tucker, annie dirusso, flipturn, paramore, Noah Kahan and taylor swift

That's the gist! Feel free to chat me up anytime about these things! Thanks for reading! Oki, bye! 👋

[chronoxtreme]

It was love that had him slip his knee under their good leg, hooking it up over his hips so he could sink down fully into their arms.

I live! And this mod is giving me life!

For anyone who's here reading The Cage, I promise that I'm still working on it. Unfortunately a lot of crazy stuff in my personal life happened all at once (as it does), and I'm working through burnout, etc. But as I adjust to my new reality, I'm finding a lot of solace in writing their story, especially through Astarion's POV. Anyway have a spoiler of how this is gonna go (don't worry, how we get there is still gonna be fun)

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The movements were jerky, a bit awkward, a bit unsure. But they understood. The first time was always the hardest.  Astarion’s nose brushed their neck, and they felt just as much as heard him inhale. An exhale, then another breath taken and released.  Together, they stood and breathed.

Didja want more hug feels? I did. (Link to the chapter here)

Neither of them have been hugged in such a long time but they're trying.

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“Can I kiss you?” they asked, voice still hoarse, but level. “Darling, there’s nothing I’d like more,” he breathed, leaning in, eyes closed— Only for their lips to brush his cheek instead. For a moment, it brought back a pleasant memory: Nanne doing the exact same thing that disastrous final night of meaningless sex, a token of true affection after his failure of a performance. It had meant far more to him than he’d ever like to admit. But they were past that, weren’t they? He wasn’t someone who needed to be coddled. He wanted more. “A real kiss, my dear,” he murmured, before clutching their face in his hands and pulling them back flush against him.

One of my favorite moments of Chapter 17, so I had to make a gif for it (sorry Gale, I stole your kiss).

[chronoxtreme]

The Cage: Chapters 2-5 Author's Notes

So, I'll be honest - one of the biggest weaknesses of this fic for me, personally, is that these 3 chapters don't really need to be here, but they do at the same time. They're important to Astarion actually getting to know Nanne, but at the same time they don't really move the story along in terms of the main thesis, i.e. "they met 10 years ago and now they're back together oopsies."

I've also been trying to break the habit of relying on canon dialogue/scenes to convey relationships. It's something that I notice I do a lot in my other fics that aren't AUs, so this fic is trying to get out of that niche.

As well, Nanne giving the tent to Astarion is something I kind of stumbled into and ended up loving. I think it's a nice way to establish Nanne's personality in context. That sort of generosity mixed with envy because you really want it for yourself but you know that it's the right thing to do to give it to this poor nobleman who's clearly never had a day of hardship in his life. The selflessness that isn't quite selfless because it's been engrained into you from a young age and is it really a choice? (Don't worry, we'll get into more of that later)

Some funny headcanons/canon events that I shoved into this fic:

Literally all of Astarion's camp gear is stolen from the crypt/the tiefling refugees/the druids at the grove. I refuse to believe that he obtained all of those trinkets by gainful means when it's repeatedly emphasized that this dude owned literally nothing under Cazador.

Astarion's burial shroud (inspired by the rags you can see in his various camp sites, especially in Last Light Inn). This is something that was almost 100% pulled out of my ass. I don't think the vampiric resting place rule applies to spawn, but I do like the thought of Astarion's sole possession being a reminder of his trauma. We'll do stuff with that later, don't worry.

Astarion thinks Wyll is hot because he's exactly his type of "innocent charming younger man who is selfless and slightly awkward but good at heart." Also Wyll is just hot.

Astarion making fun of Shadowheart's goth name is a thing that happens in game if you happen to recruit Astarion first before her and it's VERY funny

The sheer, utter frustration Astarion has watching everyone in camp target his seduction mark and try and pull the moves on them

I do also believe that Astarion's compatible with every single party member (except for Minsc and Jaheira for obv reasons), so while he does tick them off the list of "seduce for protection" candidates for various reasons, it's mainly because this is a Tav x Astarion story. Likewise, I love all the party members, no matter how much Astarion may shit on them lol

So, let's talk a little about Chapter 5 and what's going on here. A lot of the events are based on my second-first playthrough as Nanne (my first playthrough was on my old PC that died and the saves got corrupted, so I had to start over). Looking back, I do think it's pretty self indulgent to have everyone hit on my OC, but considering it happened in game just by playing a nice character who naturally wanted to get to know everyone and was a compulsive peacemaker, I can't say it's, like, over the top outrageous. (They literally ALL cockblocked Astarion's romance scene except for Wyll. Literally all of them)

If I were to go back and rewrite this section, though, I'd probably stretch out the timeline a lot more, moving Shadowheart's date later back, Gale's magic lessons, etc. One of the issues that I have with writing is the timeline, and nowhere has it been more obvious than with this fic, where I'll describe a week's worth of events happening in literally four days, then skip ahead two months and go "Hey guys, take my word for it that x time has passed." It's something I definitely need to work on lol. At the same time, this is very much a self indulgent fic for funsies.

Now SPOILERS FOR NANNE'S CHARACTER ARC: In case anyone's curious, no, Nanne had no clue that Shadowheart's little date was supposed to be a date. This is a person who has never been approached for anything romantic except from their sketchy employer. Astarion is exasperated that they didn't see the signs, but Nanne has no experience with "hooking up", dating, whatever you wanna call it.

They do feel bad about accidentally leading Shadowheart on, but honestly, they're torn because on the one hand, someone did find them attractive! Wowee! On the other hand, this is moving awfully fast and they're scared about being exposed. They have had it repeatedly bashed into their head that their body is disgusting, unnatural, a deviation that must be fixed, and so relationships are this thing that they can't ever have, but desperately crave. It is a deeply painful position to be in. They do a good job of hiding it and not coming across as clingy, but Nanne is a very lonely person who craves connection and intimacy (physical, sexual, emotional, any of it). At the same time, they can't risk being rejected again.

END SPOILERS

The boar scene is one of my favorite early on scenes because this is the moment when Nanne clocks that Astarion is actually a vampire. A lot of people make fun of the game for waiting like, five in game days before exposing the elephant in the room, but considering that everyone knows vampires can't stand in sunlight, it's reasonable to assume that Astarion's just an incredibly pampered noble who's got delicate skin and maybe some drow ancestry.

But then he starts acting VERY suspicious and guilty and, well, the boar is literally right there.

Nanne's comment of "You're protecting us from the vampire, aren't you?" is meant to be a very subtle way of thanking Astarion from not eating anyone yet, which considering what happens in the next chapter is, uh, lol. Lmao, even.

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The Cage Author's Notes Masterlist

In case you actually wanna read my insane, crazy ramblings about this fic, here's all the Author's Notes in one place!

Prologue Chapters 2-5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20

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The Cage: Chapter 20 Author's Notes

So you know how last time I said Astarion would really go through it? Lmao

One of the most fascinating parts of Astarion's character is that he has a... shocking lack of empathy sometimes. When I replayed the conversation you get in the Act 3 interlude before reaching the city, I was kinda stunned when Nanne went "You sound like you're jealous of Cazador" and he goes "Oh yes, absolutely! The only problem with what he did was that he did it to me!" Which is like... it would be hilarious if not for the fact that this is what his abuse has taught him. I won't really go into it now, because that'll be for the next chapter, but it was definitely a moment I wanted to capture, and I'm glad I replayed that convo instead of just winging it.

Astarion's nightmare in this chapter is the very first I ever wrote for him. Don't worry, if you're sick of his nightmares, he only gets one more, so you're almost done! But this one I really wanted to emphasize just how wonky dream logic can be. The instant teleportation to places, the weird sensory things you experience, how Nanne in real life wouldn't behave nearly as innocent and childlike as they do here. But this is how Astarion perceives them: as a wholly pure figure that needs to be shielded and protected from monsters. He puts them up on a pedestal.

The feelings are also complicated, because Astarion's role is complicated. He's clearly a victim of Cazador's machinations, but he's also the one who lures these people to their deaths. How do you resolve that cognitive dissonance in your head? The fact that technically, you don't have a choice in killing someone, but you get to pick who gets to live and who gets to die? The fact that you're being used by these people, consumed as an object, but at the same time leading them to be consumed by someone else and ultimately killed? No wonder this man actively avoids any attempt to empathize with anyone. It's easier that way.

Nanne's involvement only makes it worse. They are living proof that people like Sebastian had futures, and Astarion "sold them out" (read: was abused and forced into an insanely difficult position where he is both victim and perpetrator) for breadcrumbs. The fact that he's pressed and coerced into using himself for so little is mind shatteringly awful. His reward for using his body and leading someone to their death is a rat. That's it. That's all. A rat. That's all Nanne's life is worth to people like Cazador. That's all it was worth to him, and realizing just how far he's come horrifies him immensely. Is it another reason why he clings to the ritual as his chance to "make it all go away?" Absolutely.

And then Nanne eats the Astral Tadpole.

So, this was something else I decided on from the beginning. First, because it's a choice that I feel a lot of players make for the gameplay advantages and not for RP, and second because more drama and angst lmao. More seriously speaking, I find becoming half-illithid absolutely fascinating in the context of romancing Astarion and persuading him to remain a spawn because on the surface, it's VERY hypocritical (which is part of the reason why Astarion is so furious about it). No, Astarion, you're not allowed to make a deal with the devil, but I'm allowed to eat this weird worm the Emperor gave me that gives me super powers!

Nanne realizes this, and that's why they're so ashamed. They've done the very thing they don't want Astarion to do, and it wasn't even solely to save him, it was as an emergency stopgap solution to being wounded. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, and while we know that eventually the Astral Tadpole will die and Nanne will go back to "normal", they don't. This could be a permanent physical change, but they're so desperate they don't care. That's the main difference between Astarion's mindset when it comes to the ritual and Nanne's mindset eating the tadpole: Astarion is so desperate to be powerful and untouchable that he completely ignores all of the bright neon warning signs telling him that this ritual is bad news. But Nanne is so desperate that they're willing to live with the consequences if it means they get a solution now.

And don't worry, there will be consequences.

However, with that grim note, don't worry - Astarion will not seethe about Nanne's choice for long, and the next chapter has some comedy moments because Astarion's fave sibling (/s) is about to show up.

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The Cage: Chapter 19 Author's Notes

Chapter Link CW: Discussions of Astarion's backstory, sexual abuse

So, honestly, this chapter was both difficult and easy to write. Easy to write in terms of "this is what the characters were always going to do" and difficult to write in terms of subject matter.

While the game is never explicit about what Astarion went through and a particular EA scene that really makes it obvious got cut, there is still the strong implication that Cazador personally assaulted Astarion. I'm not going to go into detail about what he did, but to make the situation clear as to what was going on in this fic's interpretation: every single spawn suffered sexual abuse from Cazador by proxy (being forced to be entertainment at balls, honey trapping to lure victims back to the palace), but Astarion was the only one who Cazador sexually abused directly. This, naturally, put a wedge between him and his siblings, who otherwise shared a mostly similar experience. I very briefly explore Cazador's reasons for this in future chapters, but suffice it to say that there's no sudden shocking twist or sympathetic reveal. Cazador is an abuser, and he does what he does to control, humiliate, degrade, and terrorize his spawn so that he can feel powerful. That's it. His insistence that Astarion and his siblings are "family" is both another way to feel in charge as their "patriarch" and a means to control them. As you can see with Astarion's thought process, it did work to an extent.

Astarion's relationship with his siblings also fascinates me. The conversation he has with Nanne includes lines from an actual conversation you can have with him in game (I don't know how to trigger it yet, but I'll figure that out). All indications are there that this is a very fucked up family, with extremely fucked up dynamics. It's not the core of this fic, and if you want an excellent portrayal of just how hellish being Cazador's spawn would be, I always encourage people to read Perfect Slaughter (please do heed the content warnings, though, it gets very dark). But needless to say, while Astarion does pity them, there's enough bad blood and hatred that compared to Nanne, his siblings are immediately expendable.

Which brings us to the final part of the chapter: Astarion deciding to go through with the ritual immediately.

In game, the first time Astarion really talks about hijacking Cazador is at the start of act 3. However, I've changed around events, so that changes Astarion's thought process significantly. Usually Astarion finds out about the ritual before he has his "true love" confession (what I call the not Araj Act 2 romance scene), so he's also trying to process what's going on with his SO while unpacking that he's a ritual implement. But in this case, the relationship with Nanne has been established. Astarion knows the stakes now, and in his mind, the ritual promises a solution to every problem he's ever had. No more sex hangups, no more fear of Cazador, the ability to walk in the sunlight, AND if Nanne finds out the truth of what he did, he's going to be one of the richest men in Baldur's Gate who can give them everything they want. There's no reason, in Astarion's mind, for them to leave him, because he will be the perfect partner. He just has to murder his siblings. Which is... yikes lmao. Again, this was easy to write because the second I asked "Why, in this context, is Astarion going to be hellbent on taking over the ritual" the dots connected and I was like "Well shit, this hurts but it's logical." At the same time, I am rattling the bars of my enclosure going "THIS IS A BAD IDEA, ASTARION, YOU'RE FINE THE WAY YOU ARE LOVE IS A GIFT FREELY GIVEN AND NOT EARNED." I fully believe that characters are allowed to make stupid ass decisions if it fits with their characterization, and well... Astarion has started his character development, but it certainly ain't over yet.

While Astarion's made great strides in terms of being more positive about himself, his hangups are still there. This is why I say that even if he knew that Nanne knows about the past, he'd still make the same decision to immediately go all in with the ritual. In a way, I think it would make it even worse - now he has to prove to Nanne that he's worth it. The ritual is both his chance to prove that he's stronger better than what he was, AND his chance to cover it all up and wipe the slate clean.

Also, the normal reasons for him wanting to take over the ritual still apply. He wants revenge on Cazador. He wants to be safe. He wants power. The main difference here is that Nanne gives him stronger motivation to go all in. The stakes are higher. Astarion now has someone he can lose and he did almost lose them. Not only does he have reason to be terrified for himself, Nanne scares him, and he can't go through that again.

Which means that next chapter is going to be hell for Astarion lmao.

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The Cage - Chapter 18 Author's Notes

First of all, here's a link to the chapter in question! CW: Discussions of a relationship with power imbalance, discrimination based on sexual anatomy So, fun fact - everything with Yurgir was not in the original, second or even 4th draft of this fic (and when I mean draft, I basically mean "attempt to think this monster's details out," not an actual draft). Chapters 17 and 18 were supposed to be one chapter, but migraine + insane wordcount + me getting a new position at work basically nuked that idea. So I split it in two, and honestly, I believe it's for the better in terms of pacing.

Nanne's whole "I don't like to use charm-like magic" comes from seeing Da use it on other people. Friends was that guy's favorite cantrip, and while it can get you what you want, it can also burn you. Nanne's much less risk adverse than Da, so they avoid it. Enhance Ability though is fair game because it just makes you better at certain things.

The "homicidal hat trick" line by Gale is a shout-out to Mistborn, one of my favorite book trilogies.

And then we get to the second "twist" of Nanne's backstory: Maria. This is a part that wasn't in my first stab at writing Nanne. Originally, they had no experience with sex or romance at all. However, I realized that them having some romantic history gave them a lot better motivation for their behavior around Astarion pre-seduction. At the same time (and this was unintentional) their experience with Maria became a foil for Astarion's sexual encounters with patriars.

I also put a lot of myself into that story. I'm transmasc nonbinary, and when I wrote that scene, I wasn't out to anyone, including my husband. Thankfully, he's been extremely supportive of me and my identity, but it took a lot of courage to talk about it with him. It's extremely difficult to come out to people who have a certain expectation of who you are. Writing about Maria's rejection was a weird sort of catharsis.

It was also a story where I wanted it to be messy, especially from Nanne's POV and how they describe it. Nanne had zero intentions of having a relationship with their employer, it kind of just... happened. And while it was doomed to failure from the start, Maria was attracted to them. There was a "chance" of it working out. That's what makes it really sting, in my mind. It was problematic at best, coercive at worst, and Nanne wasn't in the wrong - but for so long, they've lived with an emotionally immature parent constantly talking about how difficult it was to raise them, the sacrifices, the burdens, etc. and that gets to you. So naturally, if something goes wrong, it is their fault. Finally, the song! This section ended up being a lot shorter than I expected it to be, but honestly, that's another thing that I've been working on in the "this is for me first" category: not being afraid to release chapters with wildly differing lengths. Yes, it will happen again, that is a promise lmao.

Like the Dawn is one of my favorite songs on the planet, and when I listened to it after playing BG3, I realized that it perfectly described Nanne's thoughts about Astarion in the sunlight, and the rest was history. This is a moment that I could rewrite a thousand different ways and still never be satisfied because how in the world do you write about a person SINGING without it coming off awkward as hell? In the end, I think it worked out okay. I'm not satisfied, but I'm content.

Nanne's using Faerie Fire here, because if bards can use singing to do magic, why not do magic to enhance the singing performance? I've always loved fic/media that's used the world's magic system for stuff like special effects in performances and plays - it makes the world feel alive and Nanne is a bard first and foremost. The bigger the spectacle, the more coin they get. Is there a bit of illusion magic thrown in? Maybe. Hey those Weave lessons with Gale paid off!

Astarion running off was also not in the script but it turned out that way. I don't think it's a bad thing for him to keep feeling guilt. I do worry that it comes off as repetitive and cyclical, but in my experience that's how guilt works in real life. You feel good, you forget about it, and then someone says or does something, and it all comes crashing down. It's tough... and next chapter's gonna be even worse lmao.