#this is but a setup for my Master Plan (Shartzel even-slower-burn)

[catcr4ft]

I’m thinking of a Tav and Durge run……. Canon appearance Durge lands on the shore next to the shipwreck and recruits Shart, Astarion and Gale and my horrible little feylost bard (wip) lands near the grove and recruits Lae’zel, Wyll and Karlach.

Team 2 has their hang ups about each other;

Wyll and Karlach are put on edge by Tav’s twisting of words + blatant lack of transparency about everything because they have significant trauma and experience dealing with devils

Lae’zel is the bluntest most open person to ever exist and dislikes deception, Tav is used to dealing with beings unable to be straightforward and speaks in riddles

Wyll and Karlach want to save the tieflings, Lae’zel thinks they should suck up and the goblins aren’t their problem and they should get to the creche before they all fucking die, Tav struggles with the concept of returnless charity and how the druids doing this is morally wrong

I think Wyll implies that he doesn’t like bards in one of his lines and I find that extremely funny. But yeah, it makes sense, he’s a folk hero, he’s probably been harassed by volo-esque people before.

But they generally get on pretty well-

Tav, being a bard tasked with regaling their Archfey with tales of the other realms, is very eager to hear about the astral plane and the Blade’s adventures. (And is immensely respectful of their boundaries since anything less is prone to be a sentence worse then death with the fey) Both of them love talking about it. Karlach jokingly calls them dorks (affectionate). Tav could also bond with Lae’zel over adjusting to different planes.

Tav also has ridiculously high charisma. Their original build is an Eloquence bard Fey wanderer lol. They’re very polite, charming and fun to be around in general.

Wyll, Lae’zel and Karlach just get along well canonically! Wyll and Lae’zel swap tales and like listening to each other. Lae’zel and Wyll both admire Karlach iirc. Karlach calls Lae’zel a lunatic (affectionate) who she couldn’t bear losing, and yeah really likes Wyll. He’s a ridiculously morally upstanding guy, and stuck his neck out for her at significant price to himself (which, as she tells you, hasn’t happened to her for… at least fifteen years? Not sure on the age)

And all in all- the group has a good sense of camaraderie and is pretty cheerful, considering their circumstances.

Group 1 on the other hand is a hot mess-

Durge oscillates wildly between gleefully indulging the urge and being terrified and confused about it. Is this normal? This isn’t normal. Why is this happening to him? Hates Fel.

Shadowheart trusts absolutely nobody here, and as they progress through the village gets increasingly stressed as to why her goddess is torturing her.

Astarion is having the best time he’s had in centuries, but is vaguely wary and on edge about everybody. (Yes, he is sleeping with the extremely powerful and dangerous dragonborn for security, but is that really a win when said dragonborn rips people’s guts out while cackling at the slightest inclination?) (Don’t get him wrong, it’s hilarious, he just thinks the ripping out guts could use a little more… discretion.)

Gale is going to explode. Gale is coming to terms with his inevitable demise, surrounded by people with barely an inkling of diplomacy in them.

They eventually meet, and Shadowheart (who fully assumed that she’d escaped the githyanki) despairs when she sees Lae’zel. It takes a few seconds for them to start arguing. The teams end up grouping up because of the tadpole threat, It’s all very tense. Tav is just happy they have a healer and a cook now.