A/N: Blatant Asmodeus propaganda. After betraying Raphael in the HoH to save Baldur's Gate, they steal his corpse back from Meph and entreat Asmodeus. Also. A Dracula gif. To push my agenda.
Raph x GN!Tav: A Pact Struck, A Contract Sealed
Ages have passed, and empires have risen and fallen since a mortal last attempted to bind his Aspect. Asmodeus feels a tickling in the back of his psyche, barely a drag at his near-infinite energy. His awareness fragments and then shifts, searching for the source of the petition. The words come second, the feelings first.
Desperation. Pain. A soul-deep grief. Physical hurt, too, but it's a stinging afterthought. The Lord of the Nine Hells cocks his head to the side, eyes closed. They are petitioning his avatar. They whisper in the darkness. A chill winter breeze howls around them, bowing the branches of dead trees. How fitting, he thinks, that this little creature should surround itself with such things. They wear death like a shroud.
He is not in the habit of entertaining such low-hanging fruit…but there is a touch of something in their desperation, a sweetness Asmodeus has not sampled in many years. It amuses him. And he is not above indulging his amusement—the Archdevil motions with his right hand, passing a fraction of his awareness to the Aspect. The darkness of his throne room fades in favor of a moonlit night—the sickly sweet tang of blood colors the air.
Ah, and there is his petitioner. They sit with their back pressed to an ancient white birch, skin badly frostbitten. Cania's stink lingers across their skin, brimstone and hellfire marrying together. They curl around their prize, clutching a badly mangled figure to their chest. Asmodeus hums, kneeling. Its wings are broken. So many bones shattered.
"Tell me, child." His voice is low and pleasant in the chill air, a warmth chasing along the baritone. "Do you know whose name you have called? The attention you would court?"
They nod, grip tightening on their prince. Tears cut through the mess of dirt on their skin. Crying, he thinks, and what a charming little oddity. Who shed tears for a devil? How curious. How delightful. "Lord Asmodeus, Prince of the Darkness. Lord of Lies."
"Indeed, I am. Pretty titles, aren't they?"
"I thought…" they catch themselves. Asmodeus notes the tremor in their right hand and the way they struggle to stay upright. His presence is overpowering at the best of times; the wounded little creature is fighting valiantly not to succumb to darkness, mind breaking under the weight of his Aspect's attention.
"My apologies, little one. It has been some since I treated with your kind. Allow me." He reaches out with one clawed hand, tapping his nail to the center of their forehead. The ward will protect them from the worst of it. They blink at him. "Continue, please."
Their right hand tightens in the corpse's dark hair. "My Lord, I had hoped to make a deal with you. I know…I am beneath your attention…"
"Most are. The benefit of being a god, I suppose. But it has never stopped me in the past."
Despite themself, they smile. Shuffling, the adventurer turns their burden outwards. Though badly burned, cheekbones shattered, he recognizes the features—so much of the father in the son, an agony to both parties. Mephistopheles' boy stares blankly forward—a hollow shell of himself, a waste of potential.
It pains the Prince to see so promising a resource wasted.
"I made a mistake. I…" they swallow. "There was something that had to be done. And it came at a cost. Raphael…”
"The boy is known to me, child. If I may?" They hesitate. Asmodeus forces his temper down, the air around them heating. He is a god and not in the habit of being denied. But the Hero of Baldur's Gate relents, shifting their burden into his arms. The Lord of the Ninth cups his hand over the pretender-king's mouth, his forehead. Asmodeus shuts his eyes. "Such a waste."
"Can you help him?"
"Do you doubt me, little one?" They shift back, dropping their eyes at the sharpness of his tone—a warning, barely veiled. "Mephistopheles has devoured that which he gave—the infernal. The mortal soul…is uncontested. Lost somewhere in Avernus. It could be located…for a price."
"Anything."
Asmodeus chuckles. He is not ignorant of the sudden rush of color in the little creature's cheeks or how the sound makes them avert their eyes. This guise is pleasant, after all, tall and angular and dark. The wind catches in the blackness of his hair, the long strands falling well below his shoulders. "How dearly naive. I've half a mind to take advantage of such generosity." They shiver under the force of his stare, reality undoubtedly going dark around the edges. He hums. "But…the alternative could prove a more pleasurable distraction still."
The Lord of the Ninth stands, holding out his hand. The hero, Tav, sets their palm in his. He helps them to their feet, settling his other hand on their shoulders. So close, he can feel the weight of their exhaustion and desperation rolling off them, an ambrosia. The depth of their affection for the boy-king. Interesting and useful. Asmodeus touches their cheek.
"I will treat with you, little one, and more fairly than I ought. Your dear one's potential: a few more centuries, a stern hand, and Raphael might have made a powerful piece on the board. His sire is…" Asmodeus tapped his chin. "Increasingly irrelevant. Immutable and tiresome."
Tav stares up at him, such a little thing. And there is potential there, too, the ability to warp and mold this boy-king into something suitable to his grand design. He touches their cheek with a claw. "I will give the means to locate Raphael's soul. In retrieving it, you will prove your worth and dedication. I have no use for the faint of heart. Is this clear?"
"Yes, my Lord."
"Clever pet, very clever." He smiles, chucking them under the chin. "You bring the boy to my court in Nessus, where he shall be given the means to decide his fate. Is that clear?"
"Yes."
What an amusing twist of fate. He bends, collecting the Prince's mangled body in his arms. Tav looks ready to protest, to fight for their dear one (and again, how delightful; Asmodeus cannot help but feel charmed), only to remember what precisely stands before them: a god in truth, the Lord of all the Nine Hells. Asmodeus smiles at them, bowing his head. "I shall keep him for you, little one. You have my oath. Collect his soul, and we will meet again."
He leaves them without another word, a touch of the dramatic, a hint of mystery to whet their palette. Asmodeus inspects the corpse in his arm.
Sweet Prince, broken and bloodied.
Asmodeus will make him whole again.
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Shounen protag Firestar is awesome and cool and I love those types of designs, especially with the fire motif lending well to anime hair, but I know when I get to him, I want to make him look kind of like a geek? At least when he's Firepaw/Fireheart. I always saw him as the type that, while gullible and easy to persuade, is always questioning things and seeking out knowledge. He wants to learn each and every type of clan job there is, and he's all too willing to sniff around when Tigerclaw is acting suspicious. He's definitely an action guy, but he uses his head a lot and takes special care when making tough decisions, something that he honed when he became deputy.
So in my hypo-rewrite au, I wanna lean into this a bit. He joins the clan ready to stuff his brain with every bit of clan culture, their festivities, their training, their contruction, their meals, their practices, and he even becomes a bit of a medic assistant, spending a lot of time with Spottedleaf in the medic's den (NOT romantically like in canon, I wanna retool Spotty as well, but she's a mentor figure the same way Bluestar and Yellowfang are). He's ambitious, he is that guy who is striving for that 4.0 GPA, he wants to prove himself and be in every single type of patrol. And this combined with his knowledge from when he was a kittypet, makes it easier for him to note when things don't line up, and when that happens, he's shoving his nose in it.
But he's book smart, but not street smart. When he goes into a conversation unprepared, he can be tricked pretty easily with "Um, Tigerclaw was obviously at the border with brokenstar's lackeys cause he was telling em off, DUH." Because he still wants to see the best in people despite that- and that can be a double edged sword. So while he's a little detective, yeah he needs the help sometimes. He's also not great with thinking on the spot, he needs a lot of time to ponder what action he's going to take on sniffing out evidence for his case. He doesn't really hone this until he's deputy.
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in another bout of nat can't decide for herself ..
Spoilers for bg3 [Wyll!romance, durge!PT]; Details Below.
So, I'm undecided if I should have Kaeliana [my durgewyll PT/Tav] a) take the deal with Gortash and become an Oathbreaker. OR b) save Ulder Ravengard for her boo thang [after breaking the pact with Mizora].
On the one hand, for all Kae does want power she has been fairly [sorta] mindful of her oath/being a Paladin. It is basically the only thing that is HERS and she remembers. And I don't know if I want that for her, BUT I think the path of using the darkness in you/doing bad things for a 'good' ending/result fits her [ie, my only tadpole consuming Tav]. I also want to see the fuss between DurgeTash [It's been kind of disappointing so far? Is it fandom hyping it up or does good shit happen?]
As for Wyll, well she is Team Let Ulder Die [because this fits her get the cake and eat it too dreams: Having her prince charming and having influence/power]. And I know [I believe?] apparently he will die anyway [fuck you Mizora]. BUT I hear you get a quest with him alive that gives good lore [I'm assuming with Wyll. I hear you CAN do it if he dies, but it is BETTER if he lives].
I mean I have other PTs and other characters who would easily say fuck you Gortash. [I MAY do another durge!PT in the future] But I only have one durgewyllmance.
tl:dr: I guess it's a three part poll:
Take Gortash's deal and become an oathbreaker
Don't take Gortash's deal [forever considering it] but don't save Ulder
Save Ulder and lose the deal
So, make my decisions for me please and thanks.
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