Call me Molly (she/her, useless millennial). BG3 Sideblog of @avantegarda. 18+. Expect significant amounts of Halsin. Profile picture commissioned from the amazing Tea
Murder at Moonrise: A Baldur's Gate Murder Mystery AU
On a warm summer night in 1933, a group of strangers gather for a house party at the estate of General Ketheric Thorm. What they expect is a week of drinking, dancing, and perhaps a little debauchery. What they get is a body in the library, and the unraveling of a conspiracy none of them could have guessed at.
Rating: M (for murder!)
Main ships: Halsin/Tav, Wyll/Karlach, Lae'zel/Shadowheart
Me playing fast and loose with British history: you better believe it
You heard that right: I've used my long weekend as a chance to write and post the last 2 chapters of Murder at Moonrise! I hope you're excited to find out who the killer is.
on my second avatar wyll run and i'm running through the creche- and how the fuck did i miss THIS line the first time??? WHAT are you talking about wyll. i'm madly obsessed with whatever's wrong with him.
it's also interesting to me how a lot of people also tends intentionally dumbify Halsin and if it has anything to do with stereotypes about men of the same appearance being mid intellectually at the very best oftenly shown in other media. cuz it's very interesting in the sad way to me that the fact of him being actually very smart, intelligent, curious and educated about his specific interests to the point of creating new ways of doing things, which is also repeatedly being told to the players by npcs and surroundings and, therefore, laying on the surface, still isn't fucking obvious for masses. like, i genuienly think this extent of skipping or ignoring stuff needs to be studied to some extent
Thank you for tagging me, @mesmerisingpurple, @blossom-adventures, @gibdethethirteenth, and @amuletspore!!
Last Song: "Yes" by Coldplay
Current Obsession: The Fallout tv show (I love Lucy and Max!) as well as the modern-au Silmarillion romcom I accidentally started writing.
Currently reading: Got an old copy of The Secret Garden at a yard sale and am rereading it for the millionth time <3
Currently working on: Aforementioned romcom, and my BG3 murder-mystery au, which is almost done!!!
Currently wearing: Pink-and-orange 60s-looking dress that I got for $5. I love it so much.
Last search: "Historically Black Colleges and Universities." it's for an original-writing project set in the 1870s, yadda yadda yadda
Favourite Flower: Tulips, both because they're cute and because they wrecked the Dutch economy that one time.
I tag @vividiana, @optimisticgrey, @andromedaancunin, @lyriumandbiotics, @bladesingerlily, @lucretiouswept, @lolthwoven, @our-very-souls-do-echo, and @annova
tags: modern AU, witness protection, strangers to friends to lovers (see AO3 for a more exhaustive list)
summary: It’s been over a year since Eve had to uproot her life and assume a new identity—anything to distance herself from the past she wishes she could forget. When an erratic, if oddly charming, newcomer stumbles into her place of work, she recognizes something familiar within him and the two can’t seem to stay away from each other. But Eve is not the only one running from her past.
An alternative, modern take on the Dark Urge x Astarion romance, filled with friendship, secrets, healing, and ABBA.
previous chapter · read on AO3 · dividers
(mid-chapter snippet to avoid spoilers)
She takes a shallow, shaky breath and calls Lae’zel.
“Hi, boludita,” she answers after a few signals that feel like eternity. “What’s up?”
It’s such a simple question, but when Eve is supposed to explain it all out loud, her eyes instantly fill with tears, throat constricted.
“…Eve?” Lae’zel asks after a few seconds. “Are you okay?”
“I just– I w–wanted to h–hear your v–voice,” she manages.
“Are you home? Do you want me to come over?”
Eve cannot force the words out, cannot bring herself to explain.
Always dragging her into your fucking mess…
She bursts into a sob and Lae’zel starts to speak in a soothing tone, a constant amidst all the chaos:
“It’s okay, Eve. I’m here. You can let it out. Imagine I’m hugging you right now. Can you try to picture that?”
Eve tries, she really does, but all she can think about is the nauseating reality of Astarion’s absence.
“Just don’t fixate too much on my beautiful muscular arms around you. We’re not single ladies anymore.”
Eve chuckles through the tears, and it breaks the cycle for just long enough to allow her to take a full breath.
“I– Thank you– You don’t– need to come here– I just–”
“Eve, just breathe with me for now. Can you do that? Inhale.”
She tries her best, chest trembling with the effort.
“Hold.”
Eve shuts her eyes, trying to drown out everything that is not her friend’s voice.
“Exhale.”
They repeat this a couple times, Eve’s heartbeat slowly coming back to normal, or at least something resembling it.
“That’s good, Eve, you’re doing great.”
When she eventually calms down enough, the first thing to leave her mouth is an apology.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Lae’zel protests. “It’s good that you called. My best friend does not get to suffer in silence, not on my watch.”
(read the rest on AO3)
taglist: @roguishcat @amouseyoucanhold @nerdalmighty @irondeficienttav @hellethil @funniestbitchinfaerun @andromedaancunin @deadly-diminuendo @mesmerisingpurple @dramatiquechipmunk ✨ (lmk if you'd like to be added or removed)
btw the reason i haven't been doing WIP wednesdays lately is because the 3 things i've been working on lately are:
BG3 murder-mystery fic where everything i could possibly post is a huge spoiler
Original novel that I meant to finish 2 years ago but i kept getting distracted oops
Modern-au romcom for the Silmarillion fandom (which, if you're not familiar, is the prequel/mythology collection that goes with the Lord of the Rings novels, and has no business being a modern romcom) that I accidentally started in March and has taken over my brain
so i fear posting excerpts from any of those would shock and bewilder you. let me know if this is not the case
A little late due to a busy day yesterday but I am here with the fic recs!
First set from @vividiana
hi! I have some recommendations for AU fics:
ceremony by @eraserspiral (Gale/Astarion, explicit, no archive warnings, complete)
a modern AU in which Astarion asks his long-time friend, Gale, to pretend to be his boyfriend for his sister's wedding (what could go wrong?). great writing with copious amounts of pining.
Catch Me If You Can by @dramatiquechipmunk (Astarion/female Tav, explicit, graphic depictions of violence, complete)
set in 1950s new york city, featuring detective Astarion and jewel thief Tav coming together to bring down a common enemy. an emotional rollercoaster with lots of twists and turns and, again, lots of pining.
Murder at Moonrise by @avantegarda (Halsin/female Tav, mature, major character death, WIP)
an Agatha Christe–esque tale set in 1930s England that features a party with a mysterious host, a body in the library, and a mystery that gets more complicated with every chapter.
I Think I Might Push My Luck With You by @andromedaancunin (Astarion/female Tav, explicit, no archive warnings, WIP)
an emotional friends-to-lovers slowburn set in modern-age Baldur's Gate about two people who have suffered immense trauma growing to find comfort and safety in one another.
Second from @morose-idealist
AU fic recs- No doubt these have been mentioned before, but:
The Pale Elf by @coyote-mint
The Accountant’s Guide to Taking Down an Evil Vampire Lord (and maybe bagging Astarion while you are at it) by @cinnamontails-ff
A self-rec from the lovely @core-ene
Oh hey I have an AU I can self-rec! @coreene
What if they were never kidnapped? - https://archiveofourown.org/works/66267313/chapters/170840920
Looking at Astarion and Lorelei (Tav) and how they could meet if they were not kidnapped and there was no Absolute plot.
Warnings: graphic violence and nothing else yet
Finally from @ancuninbrainrot
@linnetagain 's The Season https://archiveofourown.org/works/52493239
Thanks everyone for the recs and I'll post the next category in a bit!
Sometimes I wonder if some people's hate or wariness towards Halsin comes from the fact that they never actually had a smart, respectful, mentally healed, emotionally mature and intellectual in both academic and emotional way man in their fucking lives, because... Like, sometimes it gives that ngl. As if some people can't really recognise an actual green flag cuz not that they had a basis for developing this kind of pattern recognition.
Thank you to @blossom-adventures, @optimisticgrey, and @amuletspore for tagging me in this over the past couple weeks! I'm sorry I haven't posted much, everything I've been writing lately is either 1. spoilers for my 1930s murder mystery or 2. non-BG3 related. Oops.
Anyway here are some random ominous lines from Murder at Moonrise.
“Mr. Caesar,” she said. “Can we help you?”
The chauffeur nodded. “Excuse me for interrupting,” he said quietly. “I believe I can shed some light on this situation.”
And, slowly and deliberately, he unwound his scarf.
--
Kestrel gasped, so intensely that she started coughing. Astarion rolled his eyes and patted her on the back a few times, probably to ensure that she didn’t choke.
“I know who did it,” Kestrel said hoarsely, when she had recovered her breath. “I know who killed General Thorm.”
--
“Look, I nearly forgot why I came in here. You’ve got a visitor downstairs.”
She frowned. “What sort of visitor? Not Lakrissa, was it?”
“Gad, no. Big strapping fellow in a tweed suit, very good-looking. Boyfriend of yours?”
Kestrel’s stomach turned a backflip. “Not…quite,” she managed. “It’s complicated.”
“Well, I would suggest going down and un-complicating it,” said Branthos. “Go on, talk to him. Work can wait.”
