#vanthampur

[defira85]

Not All That Glitters: The Golden Reign of Gortash

Day 6: Alternative Universe/Dealer's Choice

It was dark, and the stone under his feet was cold; he might have thought himself to be underground, in a cave perhaps, if the floor had not been so even, and his bare feet could feel the seams of flagstones. A tiled room, of sorts. A dungeon?

Had he gone from a cell in Avernus to a cell in Toril?

"Hello?" he called out, and he told himself that the crack in his voice was simply the lingering remnants of puberty, and not at all a sign of fear. He was Enver Gortash, survivor of Avernus, and he did not show fear.

He heard the sound of a boot scraping across the stone.

"Who's there?" he demanded, his voice slightly higher pitched than the first query. "Show yourself."

"My my, you are quite the spitfire, aren't you," came a voice from the shadows. There was a scratching sound, a match drawn against the coarse striking paper on the matchbox, and a small flare of orange light made him blink and squint as he tried to make out the features of the person before him. The match was lowered towards a lamp, and as the oiled wick took hold of the flickering flame, the cramped stone cell was filled with a warm orange glow that did nothing to offer comfort.

He was well and truly sick of the glow from a flame.

Read Day Six here, and subscribe to catch the final chapter coming soon!

This chapter was inspired by @the0verboss and their very cool concept for Day 6, with Enver as the Chosen of Bhaal. After he did an absolutely incredible trampy fashionista Enver based on the outfit in one of my chapters, I really wanted to reciprocate somehow, so this is partially for him!

[thedeadthree]

🌞 CYTHIA -`. the witcher • ♟️KAROLINA -`. btaj

🕯️ NYNEVE -`. vtm • 🐦‍⬛ IRINA (pre embrace) -`. vtm

🪩 ANAIS -`. vtm: night road • 🪞ILEANA -`. vtmb

🧚 ALKYONE -`. coral island • 🌪️ VAERMINA -`. bg3

TAGGED BY @crownrots, @corvosattano, @risingsh0t, @cloudofbutterflies92, @kyber-infinitygems, and @carlosoliveiraa to make a few of the dearies using this dollmaker !!!!! tyty!!

TAGGING: @seluneite, @jendoe, @sunites, @rosenfey, @lavampira, @leviiackrman, @unholymilf, @gwynbleidd, @queennymeria, @aezyrraeshh, @marazhaiaezyrraesh, @full---ofstarlight, @nightbloodbix, @jackiesarch, @florbelles, @marivenah, @socially-awkward-skeleton, @yharnams, @shadowglens, @anoras, @celticwoman, @pinkfey, @shellibisshe, @faerune, @alltoowelltv, @adelaidedrubman, @grapecaseschoices, @sussoro, @griffin-wood, @bloodofvalyria, @dickytwister, @loriane-elmuerto, @timdownie, @theviridianbunny, @riikugan, @vvanessaives, @raphaelsboudoir, @ryomenscurse, and you!!

[bharv]

Will you maybe share your Lady Vanthampur HC? 👀👉👈

I can't believe I never got to this in my mad Gortweek posting! But she featured or was name checked at least three times.

So I think (?) from the module she has a bathing house over a temple to the cult of the dead three in Heapside. The cult sprung up after the sundering when the worship of the three ceased to be a formal religion - most Mykulites started worshiping Kelemvor, most Banites went to Cyric, and most Bhaalists grew the fuck up did too - but there were small pockets of hangers-on that kept the faith alive. And because she is the master of the Drains and Underways she truly knows the whole network.

And she's pledged to Zariel, which is also interesting! Unlike Gortash who is a business partner and Wyll who is sort of pledged to Zariel by proxy, Thal is a full on fucking devil worshipper for power. Was she part of the brokering of Gortash's initial relationship with Zariel? She almost certainly knew of his connection to the hells, even if I go back-and-forth on her knowing he's the High Imperceptor of Bane.

But my main HC is that she is fucking no-nonsense, absolute wall of a woman, who shares Gortash's absolute distain for the Patriars and is in a race to the top against him. I would have LOVED her fingerprints to be all over BG3, but alas, it wasn't to be. I reckon her and Helsik regularly share a tipple, that she knows everything about the Bhaalists, whom she works closely with, and that if there's one thing she hates more than ridiculous snobbery... it's a bloody law-man like Ulder.

[genderdotcom]

after the events of bg3.... ARE there any dukes left? bc portyr and stelmane both get killed... ravengard depending on ur choices... makes sense that if his dad dies wyll feels like he needs to become the new duke bc otherwise there wouldnt be ANY! after bg3 it's presumably (ulder/wyll) ravengard, possibly florrick... theres still two spaces missing!

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

My dnd group played Descent into Avernus, which starts off in Baldur’s Gate, so along with all of the fucked-up murder dungeons beneath manors and bathhouses and everything that the module included, my group further wrecked the city when one character

planted a magic bean in the yard of a duke we hated in the Upper City, which overnight grew into a massive stalk hundreds of feet tall.

in an entirely separate incident, caused that duke’s entire manor to become enveloped in a pyramid. I am still uncertain of the mechanics and reasoning behind this.

The beanstalk was cut down before we left the city but for all I know the pyramid is just going to be a fixture in the city forever.

And another character’s mother, who lived in the Upper City, made a devil contract that among other things caused her family’s manor to magically expand in size. I also do not know how this one shook out after the mother was killed and the contract broke.

Do not purchase real estate in Baldur’s Gate. You may wake up one day to find your manor has shrunk, because the previous owner made a deal with a devil for more square footage, and the devil finally remembered that the person on the other side of the deal is dead and they don’t need to keep using their devil magic on the house.

[thespacelizard]

I don't think I have a fic in me about it, but I'm rotating Amrik and Adanessa in my brain again. worst crime couple. middle aged nightmare duo. awful bisexuals

[plinchy]

Just a fun interaction from last session.

[cwowo]

Scene from my last dnd game.

Amrik Vanthampur and my little Fae Rot, she is a little babygirl.

[anderstrevelyan]

Why am I just noticing months later that Blaze Elin (who lets you over the bridge into Wyrm's Rock) confirms I was right in a single sentence??

Why has no one ever told me this???

Gortash murders the Parliament of Peers.

Have you ever wondered exactly what's going on with all the dead bodies in the Wyrm's Rock audience hall, if you leave and come back after Gortash's coronation?

I did some in-game research while working on a fic recently, and in the name of sparing anyone else from having to lay all this out, too—here's a list of the victims, and some notes-based educated guessing on Gortash's motivation here.

(Beyond Iron Counsul Nuff's summary in the screenshot above: "My lord requires a clear path to his magnificent future. We cut away the troublesome bramble.")

Lord Petric Amber

Lord Amber's Bodyguard

Lady Ailis Belt

Lady Haeril Birch

Baron Callem Bormul

Lady Alia Durinbold

Lady Durinbold's Bodyguard

Lady Durinbold's Attendant

Lord Sarken Eomane

Admiral Peil Hullhollyn

Lady Winstra Hullhollyn

Lord Raylen Jannath

Lord Jannath's Bodyguard

Duke Dillard Portyr

Lord Portyr's Attendant

Lord Portyr's Bodyguard

Lady Beatrice Provoss

Lord Myer Ravenshade

Lady Silifrey Sashenstar

Lord Rugger Shattershield

Lord Shattershield's Bodyguard

Lord Shattershield's Attendant

Lord Milton Tillerturn

Lord Randolf Vammas

Lady Madeline Whitburn

9 Unnamed Patriars

First I'll note that not everyone you see lingering after the coronation ends up dead: I could talk to Lady Eshvelt Guthmere, Lady Ruth Linnacker, and Lady Freida Oberon, and their bodies aren't present in the hall later.

It also doesn't seem to be connected to vocalizing support for Gortash or not—you can overhear Portyr and Shattershield challenging him in the ambient dialogue after the coronation, but when you walk around and talk to everyone else the only one who has anything negative to say is Silifrey Sashenstar. Everyone else on the list above sings Gortash's praises.

So, here's what I think it is!

In the corner of the audience hall, you can find this note:

The Parliament of Peers is the body that's responsible for electing new dukes, and they held a formal vote to raise Gortash as Archduke and dissolve their own political body. Note the numbers: there's 23 members.

So who are these members? Up in Gortash's study, you can find this note discussing bribing, blackmailing, and threatening members of the Peers, which gives us the names of eight:

Five of these eight end up dead in the audience hall (Portyr, Jannath, Whitburn, Sashenstar, and Eomane).

As for the three Peers listed who don't end up in dead in the hall—Lady Ruth Linnacker, Lord Hir Rillyn, and Lady Haeril Vanthampur—let's look to this note:

Gortash has leverage against Ruth Linnacker through the abduction of her granddaughter, and I don't think it's unfair to assume Hir Rillyn and Haeril Vanthampur are similarly under Gortash's control, whether tadpoled or blackmailed (this is the one big assumption I had to make—bear with me!).

The other two with non-murderous leverage against them in the note above do end up dead, but I think there's some added context: I imagine Raylen Jannath is the husband of Wisteria Jannath, who Gortash canonically had an affair with (maybe it's personal? Maybe Raylen didn't care enough about the leverage of his own affair, if he knew she'd had one too?). For Portyr, there's the following in Gortash's study, noting he considers him a threat that shouldn't be underestimated, so he may not have wanted to stop at threats:

The inclusion of Portyr on the list of eight Peers could imply that the other three dukes are members of the Parliament of Peers, too. There's a book in Franc Peartree's house about the current state of who the dukes are, which I don't have my own screenshot of, but here's the relevant text from the wiki:

We know Belynne Stelmane is dead as part of the Bhaalist plot. Ulder Ravengard is tadpoled. The fourth duke was Thalamra Vanthampur, who's dead. They were waiting to replace her until Ravengard was found or confirmed gone—and Gortash was given this seat.

So, back to the original list of people murdered after the coronation. I bolded the names of those who aren't seemingly collateral damage (the bodyguards and attendants, and the unnamed patriars): there's 17.

17 killed after the coronation

Plus three Peers controlled through blackmail or other means

Plus Duke Stelmane and Duke Ravengard, dead and tadpoled respectively

That adds up to 22.

Add in Gortash's own vote, which he would have from taking (Thalamra) Vanthampur's seat, and you get 23.

The same number as the members of the Parliament of Peers.

Gortash didn't just orchestrate the Peers naming him the city's first Archduke, and he didn't just influence them to dissolve the political body that could vote another duke in. He made sure the individuals were destroyed, too.

[thedeadthree]

-`. WHAT FORM OF LOVE IS YOUR OC?

TAGGED BY @corvosattano, @chuckhansen, @jillvalentinesday, @leviiackrman, @jackiesarch, @marivenah and @nightbloodbix to take this quiz!!! thank you !!!! ❦

TAGGING: @flymm, @bloodofvalyria, @griffin-wood, @dekarios, @lavinet, @gortash, @fragilestorm, @dameayliins, @risingsh0t, @moonmothers, @cptcassian, @marivenah, @faerune, @mrdekarios, @queennymeria, @unholymilf, @florbelles, @jendoe, @jackiesarch, @adelaidedrubman, @theviridianbunny, @yennefre, @vanoefucks, @katsigian, @yennas, @fenharel, @full---ofstarlight, @baldursgate2, @druidgroves, @anoras, @lavampira, @bg3, @grapecaseschoices, @sstewyhosseini, @gwynbleidd, @shadowglens, @quickhacked, @malefiicarum, @minaharkers, @envergothash, @feypacts, @themalkavian and you!

-`. LOVE THAT HEALS.

your love is healing. it burns you with every bit of your soul, but you choose to heal, nevertheless. you are so, so so strong and i hope you know that. i send you peace. i send you calm. i hope things will become better for you in time, just as you have made others better in time as well.

-`. LOVE THAT LASTS.

love unconditional, love unfailing. you love no matter what happens because you believe in the best – of you, and them. it will hurt and it will fail you, but this love tastes so sweet – you can never believe that it bitters sometimes. the way you choose to love unconditionally is incredible.

-`. LOVE THAT PROTECTS.

you love so fiercely, with every fibre of your being. maybe you were wounded by love in the past ; such that you choose to love and love and love so wonderfully that the next person who comes into your life never doubts that they are loved by you.

-`. LOVE THAT STRENGTHENS.

you make sure that people know that they are loved, and you give them strength when they need it the most. this is an ability that is rare; the love that you hold speaks wonders of yourself. i hope you're doing alright. isn't it exhausting always being the bigger person?

-`. LOVE THAT CALMS.

this is sweet. i hope you know that you make others feel at ease around you. you're a gem, a blessing, a treasure – and you should know it. it's comfortable loving you. it's a privilege to be around you and to be let into your world.

[bharv]

*gasp* Did someone say Thalamra Vanthampur headcanons?? If I may;

She absolutely had a hand in at least one of her husbands' deaths out of the three. As soon as she had her perfect heir and back-up, she didn't have any use for being married anymore.

While she's built up her son, Amrik, as the heir to the Vanthampur legacy, she does not trust him to handle anything she's built, and knows that he's a spineless coward (hence why the players in the module can find him running a loan shark operation out of the Low Lantern. He can't touch any of mother's toys, so he settles for being a big fish in a puddle).

I waffle on whether her worship of Zariel is genuine in any way before her death and transformation into a devil, but I think she was at least genuine in her belief that Zariel is the most competent ruler Avernus would get, and decided to bet on the winning horse/angel. If nothing else, she thought it would give her a favourable position in Zariel's court when she delivered Baldur's Gate to the Archdevil, much like Elturel.

You're SO RIGHT for all of this I completely completely agree! I don't view her as motivated sexually at all lmao husbands served their purpose and then were OUT OF THERE. And yeah Amrik is the best of the bunch eh but I agree, he's nothing on his mother.

And yeah I wonder if the support of Zariel is partially genuine admiration. I always go back and forth on this. On the one hand, it's worshipping a devil lol, but despite what we learn in BG3 about Zariel there's like... there's a LOT of potential there I feel, that a woman like Thal might really admire?

[yesistolethisurl]

how funny would it be if i just fully borrowed amrik vanthampur for an evil campaign

like fully resurrected as a warlock with his mom as his patron, somehow failing upwards all the way to the top

[truly-sincerely]

All of this, but to your last point: he could have!

According to the Descent into Avernus adventure, Thalamra Vanthampur, who worships Zariel, was using Dead Three cultists in exactly the same way that Gortash was using Bhaalists (to freak people out and undermine the Flaming Fist).

Gortash, being the head of 1/3rd of the Dead Three cults in Baldur's Gate, probably got looped in on the plan (tho he either did not know that she also planned on sending Baldur's Gate to Avernus or he had reason to be confident that she wouldn't succeed) and knowing Vanthampur's plan meant he could have reasonably timed the Absolute's rise to coincide with the arrival of the refugees.

Gortash's Explosive Toys

Okay, I have found that at least some people are apparently confused about this quest.

One of the first quests you can get in Act 3 of BG3 is the one about the suspicious toys. And, spoiler, if you investigate the quest, you will find that the strange toys explode, and that Gortash is in fact behind it.

And people seem to be confused why Gortash is doing it, coming to the conclusion that it must be in there to just make sure everyone gets that he is evil.

But... Okay, here is the thing: Gortash's thing to become a tyrant kinda is rooted in him using a classic right wing playbook. Basically, a big part of Gortash's plan is, that he creates a politically unstable situation that he can exploit to build himself up as the savior and his tyrannical ways as the only valid option.

You know how Trump in the US will not shut up about the Southern border and the "immigrants" (most of them refugees) coming in? Yeah, that is what Gortash is doing here.

Through the entire Absolute army, he creates chaos in the land along the Chionthar. This chaos in turn produces a wave of refugees, who flock to the city of Baldur's Gate for its perceived safety. He then does not let them enter, forcing them to form a ghetto, forcing them to live in instability and desperate conditions. And then his plan is to distribute those toys to make the people angry, creating a situation in which the refugees rise up against the city. Basically creating a refugee vs Baldurians situation.

His plan is to then come in, be the strong man who solves the situation through force and violence, and through this create compliance in the people of the city.

That is the end goal of that plan. It is to rile people up. Create an atmosphere of fear and anger.

And I mean, sure. Gorts could not have planned for the Descent of Elturel - but man, it did fit his plan really well, didn't it?

[thespacelizard]

Velvet

time for @fluffbruary! read it on AO3 here

In which Amrik has a surprise for Adanessa

Sunset painted the summer-warm streets of Eastway in burning orange, almost red—almost enough to trick the eye into mistaking the light for blood. Baldur’s Gate being what it was, one could forgive such poetic notions.

“Amrik, if I find myself in a room full of nobles trying to pretend they know how to drink wine, I’m going to sculpt the lot of them.”

Amrik laughed, and squeezed Adanessa’s hand. Lace against his leather, slim, strong fingers in his own blunt ones. “I promise, my dear, I would never inflict such a torture upon you.”

“You would, if it would upset your brother’s plans.”

“Don’t tempt me.”

Adanessa hooked her arm into his, pressing up against his side as they continued through the darkening streets. Not warm, never quite that, but living and solid and willing to be seen in public with him, even after all that had happened. Well. For certain values of seen in public, anyway.

“Where are we going?” she asked. They were halfway through Heapside now, the lamplighters scurrying out of the growing gloom. The wall of the Upper City was nearer with every step, the last dregs of sunlight streaking the stone.

“Trust me a minute more,” he said. She huffed, fluttering the storm-grey veil that concealed her face today. Gods, he wished it were dark enough to tempt her into lifting it, he wanted to kiss her already. He should have stolen one before they’d left her house, but he knew if he had, they never would have gotten past the door.

At Heap Gate, the guards gave Amrik a nod. Young nobles dragging in whichever handsome prospect they’d found in the Lower City were a common enough sight of an evening, though Amrik supposed he could only be called young any more by those who measured lives in centuries rather than decades. But, as Adanessa had no visible weapons on her, the guards had no reason not to let one of the world’s more dangerous creatures past their post.

A few twists and turns took them through the better-kept and better-lit Upper City streets until there it was, ostensibly closed, the little dressmaker’s shop he’d spent the past tenday courting. He rapped on the door.

“Master Vanthampur?” asked the gnomish woman who opened it.

“The very one.”

She beamed. “I was beginning to think you weren’t coming. Right this way.”

Amrik held the door and motioned for Adanessa to enter. He couldn’t see her face behind the veil, but he knew her well enough to feel her roll her eyes regardless. And to feel her smile. She went past him cautiously, as any good Eastway girl would on being thrown into an Upper City boutique. Less that she didn’t think she belonged there—Adanessa Vidrid belonged wherever she pleased, and had better taste than most—more that if someone wanted her dead, this would have been a very good place to get away with it.

“Here you are sir, as requested.” The dressmaker patted a bundle laid out on the counter. “You just get yourself changed, my lady, and I’ll get right to work, though you’ve such a lovely figure I’m sure it won’t take but a moment.”

“Changed?”

Adanessa could go very, very still when she was distressed, and did so now. One hand brushed the silk hood covering her head, lingered at the edge of her veil. Amrik put his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder.

“You can’t very well put on a new dress without taking the old one off,” he murmured. He ran his palm up her bodice; her head twitched in the direction of the dressmaker. Amrik raised his hand until he felt without looking the eyelets that attached her veil to her hood and began, very carefully, to unhook them.

“She,” he said, voice the low purr he knew she liked, “is the only blind dressmaker in Baldur’s Gate.”

Her veil fell free and Adanessa turned in his arms, instinctively hiding her face from the open world. Amrik tipped her chin up and drew back her hood—her snakes swarmed free with a grateful hiss. One nudged at his palm with its blunt nose; he trailed his fingers along the familiar verdant scales. Adanessa wore a mixture of fear and annoyance and disbelief and, very prettily, hope.

The dressmaker coughed. “Is she ready, Master Vanthampur?”

“How does she know how lovely my figure is if she’s blind?” Adanessa whispered. Amrik kissed her nose.

“She says that to everyone, my dear. Upper City boutiques like to compliment their clients—especially the ones with plenty of coin.”

Adanessa stared at him. Blinked her lovely golden eyes. Then the hope won out—she laughed and slipped from his arms and her clothes. “I’m ready, madam dressmaker,” she said. She glanced over her shoulder at Amrik, snakes writhing about her neck, their golden tongues flicking at her pale back. A coy smile curved her lips. “Show me what Lord Vanthampur has picked out for me.”

Oh, now she was teasing. Amrik didn’t care. He folded his arms and chewed his lip as the gnome helped Adanessa into the dress. Red velvet, subtle brocade, a long and luscious fall of a skirt and a cunning sort of long-sleeved shift underneath of golden lace studded with crimson beads, carefully shown through in artful slits and loops of sleeve. He wasn’t entirely certain how it all worked, only that he had been certain when he’d seen the design that Adanessa would make it look phenomenal.

He’d been right. Adanessa twirled, arms out, eyes bright, snakes all a-slither with her delight.

“Well, Master Vanthampur, what do you think?” she asked. “Does it meet your expectations?”

“Exceedingly.”

She put her palms on his chest, slid them up his neck, tangled her fingers in his hair. The whisper of her breath at his ear sent a shiver down his spine.

“Then take me home so I can thank you.”

Amrik bent to kiss her.

“As you wish, my dear.”

[plinchy]

One of my players said something last weekend and I'm still recovering.

[slowpokegamer]

Two things that happened within literal minutes of each other during our last session