celestialholz

[celestialholz]

What's an interesting yet not very well known Forgotten Realms fact that you would like to share?

Hello, dearest anon. I'm about to do to you what I've done to many people over the years and deeply disappoint you 🤣 I'm not especially familiar with the D&D setting outside of BG3 - I actually play WFRP in some of my spare time.

But in lieu of a Forgotten Realms fact, a handful of BG3 facts you may not know and that I think are very interesting, learned from my three and a half playthroughs. :)

1. Minthara's battle phrase 'sussun egg oloth' is Drow for 'light slays darkness', which is funky and appropriate for a paladin who has been exiled from her Underdark hometown. This is also written on Isobel's tomb - and Aylin is the source of both Ketheric's immortality and, potentially, his downfall.

2. Astarion's Persuasion check to stop him ascending is literally half of Shadowheart's not to kill Nightsong, provided you have to use her Persuasion check anyway. Which is absolutely wild to me.

3. A Storm Sorceror using Chain Lightning on a Wet target with Destructive Wrath and the Killer's Sweetheart auto-crit will do 320 damage in one turn if it isn't saved, assuming a 'normal' hit - i.e. lack of resistance/not being vulnerable.

4. Gortash's name is a play off the theme of radiance, hence his crossbow doing Radiant damage when he's my favourite bastard. :) His Hellfire Watcher-in-chief also carries Gontr Mael, the legendary longbow of this game that also does Radiant damage.

5. Gale is the only one of the tadfools whose guardian has a specific gender - he refers to them as she/her.

6. There's a second Dark Amethyst for the Necromancy of Thay in Mystic Carrion's basement.

7. There's a really cool axe behind the Illusion door in Sorcerous Sundries, but only if you destroy the door.

8. If you take one of the Drow twins in Sharess' Caress with you upstairs and Minthara is your partner, she will threaten to kill them if your sordid act goes ahead. Ignore her and go anyway, and Initiative will roll the second you speak to them in their quarters. (On god this is the funniest shit I've seen in a game crammed full of really funny shit.)

9. On arriving in Baldur's Gate, if you speak to a romanced Gale he'll tell you he's happy to support you if you're finding city life a bit overwhelming. This is supremely cute.

10. The Light of Creation doesn't stun you if you're naturally immune to Lightning.

11. An Embrace Durge can be targeted successfully by Hold Monster, even in humanoid form.

12. The Sunwalker's Gift doesn't work on console. My githyanki and dragonborn disapprove.

13. Ketheric's Netherstone is pink, the colour of feminity and adoration - presumably because he turned to the darkness after losing two women he loved.

14. If given free choice, even as a Selûnite Shadowheart will choose to kill her parents in the House of Grief.

15. Lorroakan keeps the best staff (and arguably the best robe) in the game in his basement, and uses a reasonable variant of both himself instead. A delightful showcase of his incompetence.

16. In Balanced, the Steel Watch are weak to lightning, and default Durge is a Storm Sorceror. This one's just fun. :)

17. Tactician Raphael has 865 health. Ew.

18. If you fight Gortash whilst the Steel Watch are still active, and try to give yourself an easier life by Arcane Locking the door to the three Watchers outside so they can't help, when the fight starts all three of them will be inexplicably surrounding Gortash.

19. You can pickpocket Withers. And he does not care how many times you fail it.

20. If you're struggling with the House of Grief fight, a Light Cleric can dispel magical darkness up to four times in the fight with the Amulet of the Devout.

:)

#fun facts with celestial #bg3 #ask #answered

[celestialholz]

minthara please....💀

#look right. #I have zero regret on redeem-Durge romancing the lovely lovely Gale #but now I'm going full evil #name me a better wife. #c'mon queen we're gonna rule the world <3333 #bg3

[celestialholz]

You know what baffles me? People who are so convinced that Ascended Astarion is some sort of romantic figure he just isn't.

Because there IS a character who wants to rule the world with you at his side, as equals. Who, when you pass the insight check, is genuine in his offer and doesn't consider it degrading for you. Who offers to swear on his body and soul never to harm you, but who is also so good at dominating that the god of tyranny chose him.

You want your bad boy who will command you to kneel when you want, but also genuinely respects you? Gortash is right there.

#honestly though. #a!astarion fans genuinely concern me even as a gortash fangirl lmao #bg3

[celestialholz]

For what it's worth, I liked you too.

#scream #durgetash #bg3

[celestialholz]

The thought that after Astarion ascends he’s still… in there, somewhere, screaming? That keeps me up at night

#... oh fucking wow. #as if i wasn't already set ENOUGH on never ascending him lmao #astarion #bg3

[celestialholz]

me @ astarion: go pick this lock

astarion: easyyyyyy *twirls hair and rolls a 2*

#I feel the need to have a tags conversation about this. #Now I'm a Bardstarion truther right #(thank you good wife Porg for showing me the light <3 #but when I got to the Counting House in my Durge run #I know you can Knock most of the vaults but not the enchanted ones. #So I briefly respecced him back to Thief right. #He had a 16-19 bonus with Guidance on every single roll on a DC30. #My man took THIRTY-EIGHT ATTEMPTS. #Including 3 nat 1s. #I was losing my fucking mind. #and if that ain't payback for me screwing him then moving onto Gale I don't know what fucking is to be honest. #absolutely bloody hate it here. #bg3

[celestialholz]

I think too much about this moment when if you say "We could be good for each other", then Gortash's brain just freezes for a second and his "GOOD FOR EACH OTHER??? Don't be--" makes me laugh every time

#lmao #he really said 'HOLD UP-' #the simp of all time #bg3

[celestialholz]

Honestly though, this makes too much sense.

Man who very likely never had a kind word from his 'loved ones' in his life and grew up in Disney Satan's house: can't lace. Never got shown, and doesn't care enough now despite his overwhelming IQ because he's too busy doing Bane shit and overcoming his own powerless childhood. Will rock the finest intricate drip for show, but fuck the part where he'd have to actually care and pay attention to himself. Hence the hair, the trash panda aesthetic... he's all about the theatre with none of the actual giving a damn.

Wyll: probably can lace because noble, lawful good house, but doesn't actually bother because he's too busy doing hero shit. He ain't saving the frontiers whilst he's lacing a shirt that's gonna get unlaced in ten minutes flat.

Astarion: absolutely sure he once knew how to lace, but two hundred years of patching together the same clothing and being tortured will a. ruin your old knowledge and b. just not seem especially important anymore. It's a lovely example of a man who looks put-together but actually has literally none of his shit sorted.

I need everyone to see just how bad Gortash is at lacing his shirts.

Look at it. Look at this man.

This man is an archduke. He's president of Baldurs Gate.

And he cannot lace his own clothing.

#bg3

[celestialholz]

just found out that the sunflora brassius trades you has trailblaze in its moveset. its not revolutionary but its just more ties to the move and him

its also got a brave nature but idk if thats anything

GOD do I ever need to leave Baldur's Gate alone for ten minutes and analyse these men again 😅🤣

Also have I taught you folks nothing, OF COURSE it has meaning darling. Of course you need to be brave to blaze a trail with your husband after being lethally depressed.

Of course you fucking do.

(P.S. completely irrelevant first rando shiny catch of Blueberry attached. For completely irrelevant reasons.)

#ephemeralartshipping #hassius #hassel x brassius #how is my first shiny gonna be bicon #thank god we're done with gen 9 lmao I am gonna DIE if this shit carries on... #ask #answered

[celestialholz]

they would be insufferable and the culmination of solas' worst fears

#... oh to be a sandwich filling. #yes i am aware that dorian is gay - i've romanced him twice with the same guy - and that i am a girl. #but a girl can motherfucking DREAM. #fictional husbands who deserve all the love in the world T_T #dorian pavus #astarion #dai #bg3

[celestialholz]

The apple of my eye (or 'oh good, there's ANOTHER one')

*yeets into the conversation a week late with Starbucks*

Sorry, sorry. Been trying to save a dukedom from a giant brain and live my best happily ever with a vampire twink. Very distracting.

But anyway, I haven't even gotten the boys in my clubroom yet, so more analysis incoming, but I have finished Indigo Disk's main story, and I couldn't help but notice something deeply awful when fighting our little buddy Kieran.

... Oh god THEY'RE MULTIPLYING. How many apples do we need? How much more homosexuality does this game need? (Yes. The answer is 'yes.')

Meet Hydrapple everyone, the latest gay marriage mascot. Truly wish you all could've seen my face when. And it evolves from the last gay marriage mascot! I have quickly become homophobic again, how do they keep managing this?!

So, naturally, we need to break this loveable bastard and its symbolism down, or I might have to start passing the meta queen crown off to someone else. (I vote @prince-kallisto. Friend spare me. 🤣)

Well, we'll begin with the obvious: this thing is a hydra, a multiple-headed dragon in Greek myth. This one in particular has seven, so says the all-knowing dex:

But we'll do the seven part in a minute. The one major thing you should all know is that in most tales, removing one of this thing's heads respawns two in its place - and killing one of these creatures was the second labour of Hercules, the God of Strength. There's that fucking number two again in connection with our boys...

And now, let's take the Greek and easternize it to our lovely Japanese creators with the number seven.

Seven in Japanese culture, like in the western, is seen as a lucky number, and also the number symbolising the cycle of life and death.

... Which, if you recall, is a running theme with our silly men.

Get your life saved, idiot. Be lucky. 🥰

There are also Seven Gods of Fortune in Buddhism, Japan's primary religion. And there's one that rings more than a few ceremonial bells - Fukurokokuju. Bit of a Buddhist lore deepcut here for you:

> He is the god of wisdom, luck, longevity, wealth and happiness. Moreover, he is the only god who was said to have the ability to resurrect the dead. Fukurokuju is characterized by the size of his head, being almost as large as the size of his whole body.

... Hmm. Wisdom, happiness. Luck. 'Resurrecting.' The one that has a large head, like our good pal Hydrapple here... it's all very interesting, isn't it, how it ties together?

And all this goes a long way to explaining the evolution method of this fun little apple-y bastard. Because in order to be lucky, to be brought back to life, to heal and to love and to find yourself... one must have support. A cheerleader, if you will. Not one with pom-poms (although slay Hass babes, you'd look great in that drip), but one cheering you on. Always being in your corner.

... And here we find Dragon Cheer, Hydrapple's evolution move. Brassius can pursue his dreams as passionately as he likes, because there's always a husband at his side to be on his side.

It's a whole narrative, my friends. We have the romantic gift of the Applin; we have the adorableness of the Flapple, and its dusk portrait; we have the total harmony of Dipplin...

... And now we have the result of that harmony. Look, it's even running away from the Ice of the Polar Biome, a type both Grass and Dragon can't stand. The emotional cold.

Y'know, I'm sure someone would have DM'd me by now if Hass and Brass' clubroom banter confirmed their marriage, so I'm going to assume that isn't a thing.

... But at the same time, it's definitely a thing. All you have to do is read the narrative, darlings.

#ephemeralartshipping #hassius #hassel x brassius #hassel #brassius #pokemon scarlet and violet #indigo disk dlc #pokemon spoilers #hydrapple is the final piece of the puzzle #and I for one think that's fucking beautiful. 😭😭 #... fucking apples. I'll write a fic about this shit someday on arceus #I have missed meta y'know. Great to be back. 😍

[celestialholz]

The new trailer not only said that we could invite other characters to our room, but that they can interact with each other.

The shipping is going to be wild my friend.

#hassius #ephemeralartshipping #pokemon scarlet and violet #so fun fact. #I've been in baldur's gate hell. #and I emerge to THIS. #I am going to fucking perish lmao. #I mean I HOPED for this but actual confirmation... #dw. meta queen's about to come home. 🥰 #ask #answered

[celestialholz]

father Brown crack pt.2 ✨

#well I've found my favourite thing on the internet today and it's only lunchtime lmao #father brown

[celestialholz]

i dont know if youre interested in shiny pokemon, but did you know shiny applin is green and shiny dipplin is a nice golden yellow?

theyd look really nice beside brassius and hassel

... Oh my god. Hold on...

... This is why it isn't caramel-coloured. :O

I did wonder, because caramel... isn't yellow. It's this:

You make caramel in a pot at home, you're getting brown. In fact, most candy apples - or toffee apples, as we call them in the UK - already look like regular Dipplin.

But the shiny one... is yellow and green.

Shiny Dipplin is sunshine; shiny Dipplin is two beings living in harmony... shiny Dipplin fucking looks like Hassel.

:O

#... holy fuck. #mind = blown #never stop doing this guys. #absolutely love collaborative meta. :D #also yes... I have forty shinies in paldea. #21 have been full odds. #I have found two full odds in twenty years before this cracked-ass region #and I don't have a shiny charm and I don't hatch eggs. #and in all of that... still don't have a fucking Applin. My entire meta career is a lie lmao #ephemeralartshipping #hassius #ask #answered

[celestialholz]

An apple a Kitakam-day keeps the doctor away (or 'they have fields of them now oh my god')

Guys. Guys. I am at my upper limit and Brassius hasn't even graced my clubhouse yet. I'm going to yeet myself off clifftops without a dragon. (No Rotom buddy, don't save me. It's not worth it.)

Warning: this post contains no story spoilers for Kitakami, but it does contain a certain Pokemon, and a DLC-specific location, and the occasional mention of a sidequest or two. If you want to go in totally spoiler-free, just be wary. :)

Now, we all know Applin as the gay mascot Pokemon, so what did they feel like doing for our first DLC?

What is this. What IS THIS. Note the unamused expression on mini Holz - mood, honey. Biggest mood.

This is Kitakami's Apple Fields, which are so painfully obviously a Hassius honeymoon destination that they're even winking at me.

THE AUDACITY.

... I'm glad you do, because personally, I've become allergic to them. Whatever the apple version of homophobia is, I have a terminal case.

But anyway, if you happen to scale these lovely cliffs off to the side:

You will be able to count how many fields there are here. It's difficult at ground level because the fences are stupid, but there's sixteen of them. TM16 in this game is Acrobatics, which is - and you can choose, I'm easy - either a reference to Brassius jumping off windmills because he has the confidence now through love, or me jumping off this ledge without a dragon and no Rotom Phone. (Yes, I will do a flip.)

Wasn't enough for you to give me a core-wyrm and a fore-wyrm, a marital signpost of a Pokemon, was it Game Freak, or stick a heart around Harvest C, or give Hassel a Flapple? Nope. FIELDS OF APPLIN. Yeah no, I'm fine...

Look at this little bastard. Look at her. She knows what she is.

You also find the simp Glitterati here by the way, twice, so... mmm, simps, enjoying apples, on two separate occasions. Can't mean anything guys, don't worry about it...

And as though all this wasn't bullshit enough, this is what happens when you show a Dipplin to the guys in Mossui Town who wish they had a romance half as compelling as Hassius:

ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME I WILL FIGHT YOU BOTH NEXT TO THE CRYSTAL POOL YOU F -

#ephemeralartshipping #hassius #brassius x hassel #brassius #hassel #pokemon scarlet and violet #teal mask dlc #teal mask dlc spoilers #... god I hate it here. #fucking FIELDS OF THEM #;((((((( #I will say the fact that bug bite is next to those crates is hilarious but also FUCK THIS DLC lmao #/j it's great #kieran analysis incoming ;)

[celestialholz]

We fucking did it lads, this is Qcard Hell 👏👏👏

#qcard #ao3 #i would like to formally thank all those involved and implore that we must collectively never post qcard on ao3 again

[celestialholz]

Look, I haven't even played the DLC yet (getting on tonight dw guys) but sometimes you've just gotta ask yourself a deeply important question in life:

Who's the core-wyrm and who's the fore-wyrm?

(Also I know that 'place' is gonna be Kitakami but also I WONDER WHAT PLACE THAT'S A REFERENCE TO.) 😒

#ephemeralartshipping #hassius #teal mask dlc #pokemon scarlet and violet #... at least it doesn't evolve via union circle. i was going to lose my whole shit on arceus.