#the tadpole thing

[pizzabox-box]

Tadpole and Boxxino?

They’re equally puzzled by each other. To Boxinno, the Tadpole smells like his pizza maker, but... it's not him? And it's not one of his clones either. What is going on? Why is Fake Pep scared of this small, spherical... creature that kind of looks like him?

Meanwhile, the Tadpole is just thinking: hmmm, pizza.

(You can't expect too much from it, it started existing like..idk.. two days ago)

[mittthrawnuruodo]

"Once you take an illithid by the talon, there's no telling how deep into the abyss it might drag you." (for @theemperorweek)

[universefrogg]

Hmmm squid

[garlic-and-vanilla]

“You feel the Emperor's fear as if it were your own. An elder brain enslaved is one thing, an elder brain unleashed will be the end of everything.”

This is a quote from early in the long rest scene you get after discovering that Stelmane has been murdered.

The Emperor is afraid because it knows that if the Absolute breaks free of the stones’ control, it will be the end of everything, everywhere, as everyone knows it.

This isn’t some kind of recent revelation, there’s no reason to believe Emps didn’t know this from the start.

So why didn’t it take the protection of the prism and that nautiloid Gortash put it in command of and get the fuck out of dodge? Why didn’t it just hop planes until it was as far from Toril as possible and start a new life? The Absolute would usher in the Grand Design, sure, but that’s not a process that would happen quickly. At least, not quickly enough to reach a rogue illithid who had parked itself at the opposite end of the universe before said illithid died of old age.

Hell, why not try eating Orpheus too? The Emperor will say it’s too risky, if Tav asks it about doing so in act 2, but that becomes a gamble it’s willing to take by the end of act 3.

So why doesn’t the Emperor just give up its life in Baldur’s Gate, retire to the farthest plane it can find, and find out if making Orpheus its lunch will confer the Power to itself. What are the downsides? If it doesn’t work then all Emps has to do is stay outside the Absolute’s zone of influence until something else eventually kills him. Not ideal, but pretty doable considering it would have a spelljamming nautiloid at its disposal.

But guess what? The Emperor doesn’t do that. It says “this elder brain unleashed will be the end of everything” and it scrapes together a plan to kill the Absolute while it’s still able to be killed.

The Emperor had the means and ability to nope the hell out, and instead it put itself at the mercy of strangers with nothing but the hope that they would help it stop this apocalyptic threat. It spends the events of the game in a cage of its own making, with its life, its freedom, and the fate of Toril and ultimately every other world lying in the player’s hands.

And at the end, it doesn’t want control of the Absolute. You have to pass a persuasion check to get it to do anything but command the Brain to die. It wants that threat dead.

Then people want to try and argue that the Emperor is evil and only wants to manipulate Tav into taking over the world.

Yeah okay buddy. Sure. Guess we’re playing different games.

[rainbow-femme]

Of all the companion pairings, I hadn’t expected Wyll/Karlach being my favorite but I just love the dynamic

Because obviously you’ve got the whole thing of him wanting to kill her because he thought she was evil and then realized she was also a victim and was willing to be turned into a demon because he wasn’t willing to sacrifice an innocent person for himself, and her then being willing to stand up to the devils who want her dead on his behalf

But I also feel like as far as a relationship dynamic they would be a Prince Charming/damsel thing except they both think they’re the Prince Charming and the other is the damsel

Wyll lamenting how his endlessly kind wife who only wants to live a simple life where she is treated equally kindly was tricked, sold, had her heart replaced with an infernal engine that keeps her trapped in basically hell, and was forced to be the first line of attack for the devil who did this to her. Meanwhile behind him Karlach is looking at a locked metal gate and just decides to open it by bending the bars with her bare hands, melting the iron as she does because she has flames inside of her body

Karlach talking about her poor husband Wyll who gave up a comfortable life as the son of a duke to be entered into a devil’s pact and made into a homeless hero who would always protect people but never really get to exist as his own person outside of his pact and his folk hero perception. Meanwhile Wyll is eldritch blasting a demon in the face behind her with an entirely casual and unbothered look on his face

They fix Karlach to the point where she can leave Avernus and Wyll goes to his family and friends to prepare them for meeting her, telling them that she can be very sensitive and has gone through some rough times and grew up on the streets so she’s going to be more rough around the edges than they’re used to and it would probably upset her to come back home only to be made fun of, so please be kind. And in walks his 7 foot tall wife who is as wide as the door with her big giant muscles, battle ax strapped to her back, slapping Duke Ravengard on the shoulder and asking “How the hell are ya?”

Karlach goes to her old Baldur’s Gate friends and says she wants them to meet her husband but he’s the son of nobility and spent a long time living in that more polished world so he talks very formal and polite and isn’t really used to how they talk and interact so please don’t make fun of him if you think he speaks funny. And in walks the Blade of the Frontiers with a suspicious amount of not quite dried blood on his pants

They both think they’re the “They said no pickles” part of the relationship but actually if they asked for no pickles and were given pickles they would make eye contact with the person who did it while using their biggest two handed weapon to scrape the pickles off onto the floor

[ilikedetectives]

Tadpole Communication

by @barbozari ^o^

[thefloatingstone]

I was doing the "Just one more thing" style of gaming where I was at a point to finish off for the night but kept skulking around and such when Tav called me the fuck out

Moonstone: can we fucking go to BED already???

[spicyraeman]

Am I the only one who thinks its weird that despite being the most resistant to using the tadpoles powers, the first thing lae'zel does after the nautiloid crash is use the tadpole link to talk to you

[perryabbott]

By the Sundering... The parasite allows us to influence others.

[myrkulitescourge]

imo karlach’s soul coin usage seems like it should have been a little more significant than it was.

she only ever really stops to consider the magnitude of burning through a person’s soul for power during an origin playthrough—otherwise she rationalizes to the player that they’re doomed anyway, and if using them gives her an edge in combat, why not use them for good instead of leaving them to be used by evil? the dialogue with lann tarv in act 2, where he tells the story of each soul he's handing over to her, tries to humanize each soul coin, and still she doesn’t really budge and disapproves pretty heavily if she's told no in regards to using them.

it just seems like something that could have caused some kind of conflict between her and wyll, given he sold his soul to a devil in dire circumstances and takes issue with the player for sleeping with mizora, because she 1) is mizora, and 2) similarly expends tormented souls during her romance scene, even if for a different purpose. but it just... never really comes up?

i love karlach. but that seems like it should have gone Somewhere, from a writing standpoint? karlach values wyll as a person but is willing to use currency forged from souls like his for the sake of a temporary power up. she knows the soul is consumed when she uses them. that whole exchange with lann tarv is there to emphasize that every soul coin she destroys was a person once. but it all kind of loses narrative purpose if this combination of factors doesn't mean anything? karlach doesn't change at all in her willingness to use soul coins, no matter what the player says or how much she cares for wyll.

idk. missed opportunity that wyll doesn't have any dialogue about this, of all things.

[engagemythrusters]

Karlach should be immune to fire damage, while Gale and Astarion should be resistant to necrotic.

[hugforslug]

Exploring my little pond

[flymmsy]

Durgetash Baby (Headcanon/Bullet Fic)

The Dark Urge sees Enver Gortash with his child in his arms. Notes: Dark. TW infanticide (Non-descriptive but could be triggering for some). Nsfw. Slight dub-con but ultimately consensual. Imagined with a fem Durge in mind.

I can absolutely see Gortash in an arranged marriage situation which Durge would of course have very complicated feelings about. ‎‎‎‎‎‎ㅤㅤ

But Gortash is not one to shrug off appearances. He fulfills his husbandly duties and his wife provides him with an heir. ㅤ

Throughout the pregnancy, Durge is very distant. The violent urges and jealousy (which they tell themselves is merely due to their Bhaalspawn breeding instinct) are an extreme threat to their alliance with Gortash. ㅤ

When the child is finally born, Durge and Gortash fall back into their old routine for a time. Patriar children are rarely around their parents anyway, Durge does not anticipate it to be an issue. ㅤ

But one night, Durge slips into Gortash’s chambers (through the window, as they usually would), and sees him with the child in his arms. A tiny babe. And Gortash speaks to it like it is the whole world, like he would give it the whole world. Durge slips back out completely unnoticed. ㅤ

The next thing Durge can remember, it is night again and they are standing in the nursery of Gortash’s estate, their hands covered in blood. The Urge begins to recede from their mind, and they faintly hear a woman’s scream receding down the hall. ㅤ

By the time Gortash arrives in the doorway, their mind is clear. He is measured, but there is something in his eyes that Durge has not seen before. Boots clatter down the hall, but they are waved away by Gortash as he steps inside and closes the door. ㅤ

Once they are alone, Gortash lunges forward. Admittedly, it catches Durge by surprise, and Gortash gets much further than he should in his attack because of it. They slam into the ground together, a flurry of fists. It is their first real, physical fight against each other. ㅤ

All movement ceases when Durge's knife glints in the dim light. They have managed to get Gortash beneath them, knife pressing into his throat. He is covered in streaks of blood - his blood, Durge's blood, and the blood of his child. ㅤ

Durge's head is pounding as they begin to roll their hips against Gortash's body, knife still firmly at his throat. His voice is venomous as he chokes, "What are you--" ㅤ

"Mine." Durge's voice is sharp and dangerous as they press their hips down harder against Gortash, "You are mine, Gortash." ㅤ

They throw their knife to the side and replace it with their hand around Gortash's throat, the blood of his child on their hands now mixing with his own from his wound. Anger still burns in his eyes, but he does not move. Durge knows this - knows him - knows he is assessing, trying to understand. ㅤ

They kiss him then, but he remains stiff against them. It is only when their other hand begins to slide down his body does he begin to stir. ㅤ

"You are mine, Gortash," Durge repeats, a whisper against Gortash's lips, "And your children will be mine." ㅤ

He pauses for just a moment longer before meeting them in a suddenly charged kiss. Durge is unsurprised to feel him harden quickly at their words. ㅤ

He takes them there, on the floor of the nursery. He brutally fucks his seed into them, a demand for a child to replace the one he lost. ㅤ

The Dark Urge is satisfied, but they are never truly forgiven.

[csphire]

Stay strong, darling.

My all-time favorite image of him. It's been on my desktop for months now and I spend an embarrassing amount of time staring at it while going through some pretty hard things right now. May he lend you some strength too. <3

[kheyys-worms]

Eepy babie eel

Based on this tweet:

[yellowplumfruit]

i see a lot of people planning their dark urge characters to always be merciless and never resisting the urges which is still very cool as it’s own thing

but i really like the idea of the dark urge being very charming and unassuming (a bard maybe) that does all the right things to charm their party and the people they save but behind the scenes satisfies the need for violence and then eventually when everyone trusts each other they betray them in the most hurtful way