#thanks to Aylin's imprisonment

[slverblood]

I do actually think that a lot of what Balthazar harvested from Aylin was used to experiment with not only resurrecting Isobel but making her immortal. Hence digging up dead Thorms to practice on, and I still think the three we confront in-game should have something from Aylin in them. There would be something extremely poetic and romantic about Isobel being returned to life and even given immortality thanks to a literal piece of her true love grafted into her . . . except that neither of them is given a choice in the matter. Ketheric, by the end, was so obsessed with having his daughter alive that he didn't care if he destroyed everything that made her her in the process.

#OOC / HOLLY. #body horror tw #ask to tag #[gestures to her clearly being mind-controlled if he gets her back] #I have another theory that he wanted Aylin retrieved from the Shadowfell so he could give that invincibility to Isobel or share it with her #there was an earlier version of this storyline where she was tied to her father and was also invincible / immortal #thanks to Aylin's imprisonment #anyway how fucked up would it be if the darkness Isobel felt inside herself after resurrection #wasn't because Myrkul brought her back but because she had a part of Aylin #necromantically put inside her and she doesn't know it #not that I say we should go with it but it would be fucked up

[janearts]

I couldn't help myself from referencing Highlander. There can be only one [wielder of the Netherstones]!

Proper answer (and some character analysis for Roisia) under the read-more.

Roisia was surprised by Gortash, but pleasantly so. In the first place, as far as Roisia is concerned, Ketheric and Orin recall their respective gods in their appearance: Ketheric is withered, a husk of a person, but indomitable, and Orin... well, Orin looks like a flayed corpse with meat-suit clothes, but close enough. Roisia would have expected Bane's Chosen to be more... physically domineering. Terrifying. Intractable. ...Loud? Instead, here's this charming handsome fellow who is really rather ordinary. If Roisia met him on the street, he'd just be another debonair noble lusting for power. (Join the feckin' queue!)

And neither does Gortash behave as Roisia would have expected Bane's Chosen to behave. She would have expected a Banite to be a tyrant, a Faerûnian-version of the Machiavellian prince, who instils a terror of himself and who rules through fear. Instead, Gortash gently curates among the populace not a fear of him, but a xenophobic fear of The Outsider (whether that outsider is a cult like the Absolute or a group of people like the Coast's refugees).

Roisia—by all accounts an oppositional force to his own—encounters a man who is genuinely, fully, confidently willing to partner with her to achieve a common goal and is willing to swear a divine oath to secure that partnership...

Poor man. What a fool.

You see, Roisia is something of a Machiavellian prince. She would despise to think of herself in that way were she to read Il Principe, but she has within herself some (but not all!) of the traits and qualities that are described within. She is frequently a mirror: where she meets evil, she wields evil with aplomb. ("You desire me to kiss your foot? I think not. You shall kiss mine.") She would very much prefer to offer mercy, but if her mercy is rejected—like when Ketheric imprisons Dame Aylin once again before yeeting himself into the primordial soup—then she will dole out cruelty in equal measure. Most importantly of all, Roisia is a liar and a deceiver, all while appearing compassionate, guileless, and true to her word. Roisia only really keeps her word when it suits her purposes. Were she otherwise, she would have found that Gortash would have been faithful to his word to the last. But as the Machiavellian prince, she betrays and slays him.

Actually, having written all that, Roisia is more of an embodiment of the Machiavellian prince than I originally thought: she is virtuous and good, sure, but she is also intimately familiar with baser behaviours (lying, cruelty, conspiracy, etc.) and wields those base behaviours like a tool when and where she feels it is needed and necessary.

Which is why I was absolutely thrilled when I had her do what was only natural to her and had her speak to Gortash post-mortem. Roisia is a character who believes herself to be godless: damned and/or abandoned by Kelemvor, Lord of the Dead and Judge of the Damned, for being a Necromancer. She had a sliver of hope that she would find favour with Myrkul, but Myrkul thought only of the Chosen stolen from him. She thought, perhaps, that she might find favour with Bhaal because, let's face it, she had slaughtered and bloodied so many in her long journey to Baldur's Gate, but the skull only wept blood and that was that. Bane, however, actually speaks to her, acknowledges her, validates her. She won his favour the moment she betrayed and slayed Gortash. She is in her very nature a stellar Banite. Incredible! And absolutely absurd. Thank you to Larian for programming that opportunity in. 😂

#Baldur's Gate 3 #BG3 #BG3 Spoilers #Gortash #Enver Gortash #BG3 Roisia #Act III Spoilers #Roisiacanons #rosecanons #roisiacanons

[y-rhywbeth2]

Huh.

Ketheric Thorm: "True Soul! I was so hoping to thank you in person. [...] Isobel. You brought my daughter back to me. She's being introduced to the Absolute as we speak. Soon it will be as though we were never apart. You have our thanks for your part in our reunion." Player: "She wasn't overly keen on a reunion." Ketheric Thorm: "She was always stubborn. She clung to Selûne even after her mother's death."

This dude's never had the time of day for deities, has he?

Also:

Ketheric: "...Aylin was her name - an angel of Selûne's own brood, sent to guide and guard my line. Until she failed me."

HUH. My vague foundation for a headcanon about Isobel being pledged to the Moonmaiden (by her mother's request, I seem to recall) because her birth was considered some kind of blessing from Selûne, and Ketheric summarily losing his shit when Selûne doesn't give her back strengthens...

"The knight pledged to my service failed to protect my daughter from [mysterious danger] and so I decided that the only course of action was to imprison her in eternal torment." - one of many totally reasonable thought processes passing through Ketheric's brain, right next to; "razing the entire world is a legitimately rational response to the loss of a child and everybody else would do the same in my shoes."

#I want to shake his skull and hear it rattle - WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU #What is your damage?? #Why do you grieve *like this*?? #Can I find some way to transplant this “stop worshipping your god foolish child" - #- into another layer for his nightmare of a dynamic with Vel...? #/ketheric #babbling #villainous nonsense

[shera-dnd]

Once again trying to talk about Themes™ and probably just saying the obvious again BUT

Baldur's Gate 3 is a game about freedom of choice, both mechanically and thematically

Not in the "Your choices matter! (not really)" way most game market themselves on

But in a "The fact you can choose matters" way that is much spicier.

Like that's literally the core driving point of the plot. You shouldn't be able to choose, you shouldn't be free, but you are and now it's up to you to fight to maintain that freedom, and decide for yourself what to do with it

(funnily enough this is also why this game doesn't hit my trigger, because all the mind control is completely opt in)

And every single companion reinforces that in one way or another.

Gale freeing himself from his past and choosing who he wants to be now, without Mystra.

Astarion killing Cazador and stopping generations of abuse in their vampiric line

Karlach escaping Zariel and choosing to make the most of the life she still has

Wyll breaking his contract with Mizora so he can choose for himself what he fights for

Lae'zel and Shadowheart both unlearning years of indoctrination at the hands of their messed up cults

And if you're playing Dark Urge you get to reinforce this again with your conflict about trying to determine for yourself who you want to be, when every fiber of your being demands that you be a monster

It's not even just the main characters. Like how often do you get sent on quests to free people who have been imprisoned or enslaved.

Volo, Halsin, the deep gnomes, the tieflings, Aylin, Volo again, Minsc, Orpheus, even Hope itself

Hell, one of the main bad guys is the chosen champion of the God of Tyranny and is using a magical mind control mcguffin to control a giant magical mind control GIGA BRAIN!

I guess that's why it feels so obvious. Every last bit of this game is used to forward this theme of freedom vs control, but it's this consistent reinforcement that makes it so good for me

And then of course this all comes to a grand conclusion towards the ending. My own feelings about the ending's execution and the parts I felt were a bit... lackluster, can wait for a different day

But thematically speaking they managed to end with a real bang, and it's all thanks to the narration

Because whatever decision you make, that woman sells it. No matter what you want your ending to be, she will fucking deliver it in just as triumphant a way as any other

BG3 doesn't want you to leave the game thinking "did I make the right choice?" it wants you to feel like whatever you choose WAS the right choice for you

I literally had my character turn into a squid and them kill themself and she still managed to make that a glorious moment to finalize my story on.

"After so many deaths in the name of your father, this one is just for you"

(god so many lines from the durge playthrough have my brain in a vice grip)

And speaking of daddy dearest, the only endings that come across as being bad, are the ones where you surrender your freedom.

When you surrender to the Absolute, when you do as Bhaal commands you, when you give the crown to Raphael

The entire game is one giant conflict between your freedom to self determine vs more powerful beings and their drive to take absolute control

And so the only way for your story to end "badly" is if you surrender to those powers and give up

...so yeah... that's all I got

Baldur's Gate 3 is a good game

Could use some work here and there, and my nitpicks could make their own needlessly long post, but it's still really good

Go play it

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 spoilers #bg3 spoilers

[makesometime]

prompt for Diina and Astarion: what was their (eventual) wedding like?

Ah, I’m so happy you asked this! Because it gave me an excuse to think about it in more certain terms than *shrug* I guess it happens. Thank you <3

This happens far far after the events of the game, which may explain why some of the squad are absent.

(G-rated, Astarion/Named Female Drow Tav, past Karlach/Tav (brief mention), ~1k, small weddings and friendship)

#

“I could do it.”

Diina looks up from her mug of cider, frowning at her friend. “Hmm?”

Shadowheart smiles, walking over to the table at which she and Astarion are sitting, putting a glass down with a lack of poise that suggests it’s not the first their wonderful cleric has imbibed.

“I could marry you, since you’re tying yourselves up in knots trying to solve an impossible riddle of the faithless.” She says. “I can do that.”

Astarion shoots her a look, the first hopeful one he’s worn for many hours. It’s been a long-standing sticking point of theirs. The selection of a place to make their bond formal was complicated enough given their general lack of allegiance to any of the gods. Adding to that Astarion’s lingering distaste for their inaction over his imprisonment paired with Diina’s recent familiarity with some of the worst of the deities, and they were feeling rather stumped by the whole affair.

“That is, if you can bear to have my lady bless your union.”

Astarion gives a fond little smile. “The moon has been my safe haven since we had our little friends removed from our heads. It seems fitting enough, given that we also know her daughter rather well.”

“Who are you going to invite?” Shadowheart asks, with all the lack of tact and fervent mischief that they know her for. “I imagine you could keep the guest list to what… two hundred of your closest friends?”

Diina groans, just about stopping herself from thumping her head against the table. “No, please. Don’t curse us with that.”

“Please don’t tell anyone, darling,” Astarion asks, the closest to wheedling she’s ever seen him. “Small is the operative word here. Private. Personal. I think you of all people understand the importance of secrets.”

“Yes, yes, of course.” She sighs, moodily swirling her wine as if she’s been denied the most wonderful of gifts. “As you wish.”

Diina chuckles, reaching across to hold Astarion’s hand. “How are you feeling?”

“Rather more settled now, love.” He admits. “Everything else should be a walk in the park, don’t you think?”

It is not precisely a curse. But it would be an overstatement to say that things go smoothly in the run-up to their nuptials. Minsc and Jaheira are out of town from almost the moment they settle on a date, and with a relatively short turnaround, it reduces their already small invite list by two.

Halsin writes a letter from the Grove announcing his plans for an extended sojourn in the once shadow-touched lands, only to immediately retract his plans once Diina lets him know the reason for her hurried arrival at the gates of the Grove the very next day.

With Aylin and Isobel delighted to attend, and Joi almost guaranteed (though she insists on a formal invite), they have all of their surviving friends save for Lae’zel, who is almost impossible to contact at the best of times.

They choose to hold the ceremony outside, high on the outcropping overlooking the city that Diina had stood upon, once another time, to breathe it all in. It’s strange to take the walk up there with her friends, skirting past the rebuilt site that used to be their camp. 

There were so many of them, once upon a time.

Now there’s the quiet chatter of old friends, Joi’s laughter as she skips along next to her wife, Astarion’s quiet jibes back to Halsin making her remember the good old days. Above them, they can hear the beating of Aylin’s wings and Isobel’s soft laughter as they fly through the night under the light of her mother’s moon.

She misses Karlach so much it aches, the realisation that she never got to have something like this with her first love sitting heavy in her heart in the week running up to this moment. The lack of her singing, her laughter, her frantic footwork as she played with Scratch… the absence sits heavier today, despite her bright mood.

Astarion must sense her wavering spirits because he walks a little closer and gently takes her hand. He knows well enough that she wouldn’t want a fuss made, but there’s no doubting his understanding of the thoughts that swirl through her head as they step into the next stage of their life together.

Diina watches Shadowheart swan past them as they approach the cliff edge, her hair glowing in the moonlight just as brightly as Diina and Astarion’s. And, while the group hasn’t really practised anything, everyone falls into a natural arc around them as they take their slightly awkward place in front of her. 

Diina suddenly feels a little uncomfortable being the centre of attention after so long in relative anonymity, not quite sure where to look or how to stand when doing something as momentous as getting married…

Then, Astarion ducks his head to catch her eye, holding out his hand with a small smile. 

The world melts away. Diina can’t take her eyes off of his, linking their fingers and stepping a little closer to feel the familiar sensation of his closeness. 

She hears most of what Shadowheart intones, the sweet unevenness of her speech betraying her own nerves. But Diina can’t honestly say she takes in much of the meaning, beyond the obvious. 

Love. Love. By the gods, she adores this man.

Aylin cheers loudest when they kiss, Diina’s arms winding tight around Astarion’s neck and not wanting him to step away until she lets him. A bold move, perhaps, to challenge a vampire to a battle of breath. But when she pulls back with an airy gasp, his eyes shine with barely-repressed glee.

The rings on their fingers glow brightly in the moonlight, a strangely cool heat radiating against her skin. Astarion smirks, bringing hers to his lips and pressing another kiss there.

“Wife.” He says, no little possession in that simple word.

Diina chuckles, turning her hand and cupping his cheek. “Husband. After all this time.”

Astarion nods. “And forever more, pet.” 

#baldur's gate 3 #bg3 #astarion #tav x astarion #astarion x tav #bg3 fanfiction #thank youuuuu #always open to prompts <3

[nokikissa]

Whoaahhh finished Baldur's Gate 3, it only took me like nearly 120 hours haha!

Putting some stuff about like the ending I got/decisions I made under the cut because spoilers, obviously.

I decided to free Orpheus instead of going with the Emperor. Partly cos I do quite like Lae'zel even though I didn't use her that much during the game, so I did want to complete like her storyline. And I did bring her along for the final fight and she was very mvp in that, slashed through most of the netherbrains health with one turn thanks to me saving action surge haha.

And like character motivation wise I'd say it makes some sense as well, ever since the Emperor revealed them to be Mindflayer and was all "yeah I know you wanna be cure of the tadpole but actually you should totally become illithid tho it's the superior lifeform" I've been trying to pick kinda avoidant wishy washy options when interacting with him as Runo, like not outright hostile but bit unsure about that all, And it's kinda fucked up Orpheus was imprisoned. So decided to free him.

I think that might've made the final battle harder haha? Since the Emperor goes all oh okay then I'll join the elderbrain I guess and is in the fight alongside with his dream guard people, and those guys were rather annoying with their constant silencing my dudes and making them drop their weapons etc.

I had gathered very many allies during the game so I summoned a lot of those to even the playing field, tho I did not want to summon some of the like singular character ones cos like what if they die??? I dunno if there'd actually be repercussions for them dying but still because of that I did not summon Dame Aylin or the Owlbear, that owlbear is my baby cannot let him be hurt???

So yeah ending wise the Netherbrain and tadpoles got killed, Lae'zel got tasked to become the saviour of Githyanki by Orpheus before he had us mercy kill him as he had to become a mindflayer to destroy the netherbrain, so Lae'zel flew off with red dragons to do that.

Karlach and Wyll headed off to Avernus so Karlach doesn't die.

Runo and Astarion went off to continue be together and have their own adventures :3

All around it was a very good game, had a lot of fun! Already planning the next playthrough lmaoo

I was thinking of doing a playthough as my Halfling Monk character Mara, but at the end of the day the events would probably play very similarily since Mara is a good leaning character as well, maybe just bit more fighting since she wouldn't really be talking her way through stuff and would be more inclined to start fights... but then I've been seeing many article titles saying that the Dark Urge origin feels like the intended main character story, that it can be the most heroic playthrough or whatever, so I kinda wanna do that...

So I might be doing a Dark Urge origin playthrough with Mara tbh. Maybe her resurrection and falling through dimensions into bg3 went a bit wrong lol. And it'd seem interesting to play her while trying to deal with the dark urge stuff.

And also almost every time I see someone's dark urge character it's like a dragonborn or edgy looking tiefling or something, it's be funny to play a in general positive small halfling woman who is actually kinda fucked up lol?

#pointless text post is pointless