#harpersoath. — an independent, mutuals only, and low activity roleplay blog for neyvin shieldheart, an original baldur's gate 3 companion / dungeons and dragons based character, with a variety of verses available. exploring tropes and themes of beware the nice ones, tanking as love, the gentle giant, good is not nice, forgiving but not forgetting, and flock guardians. defended by bee (28, he/they, cst, full time librarian & grad student) since may 2024. please, do not interact if you are under 18.
[ CARRD. || MEMES. || HEADCANONS. || CHARACTER RELEVANT. ]
There has been a lot of changes all at once in my life!
Finishing up summer classes! Then, I will have one more semester left in the master's degree.
I am moving from my current place to a nicer apartment.
Summer Reading Hell,
Our children's librarian left, and I have been taking over her position, but we are still without my position, so things in the children's department are a little hellish right now
There has been a lot of changes all at once in my life!
Finishing up summer classes! Then, I will have one more semester left in the master's degree.
I am moving from my current place to a nicer apartment.
Summer Reading Hell,
Our children's librarian left, and I have been taking over her position, but we are still without my position, so things in the children's department are a little hellish right now
❛ you seem somewhat familiar. have i threatened you before? ❜
"...do you threaten enough people to forget their faces?" neyvin asked, amusement coloring his warm tone.
being forgotten would be a new one. they weren't self-absorbed about it, but they had always been told that they were memorable. granted, that was mostly because they were the only firbolg most had ever seen. it also didn't help that even when they tried to slouch ane not to be, they were usually a good two and a half feet above the rest of those around them.
she shrugs, "i don't remember being threatened by you -- if that helps?"
the more wits mordred regained, the more she withdrew from the others. long hours did she devote to this avocation, basking in the fading splendour of her former self, trying to remember something, anything. when did she last share a meal? slept near the fire? not since @harpersoath joined the party, at the very least.
she gave half a thought to neyvin's shock, and gently sighed to mark her presence. it was not a shadow-cursed snake in his tent. perhaps such a pest would have been preferable.
❝ i can not sleep... tell me a bedtime story. ❞ the taint of narcissism remained. it was just so much easier to command than to ask. ❝ tell me about… love. ❞
neyvin was caught off guard by mordred's appearance in their tent. they were not asleep yet, and they likely would not have been for at least a few hours. too many things kept their mind occupied. but it was surprising. they had not been sure she had any feeling beyond the minimal tolerance for them.
(but they had also noticed that mordred had been withdrawn from most of the camp, and not just them, so they hadn't taken it too personally.)
"good evenin' to you to, then." he mutters in mild amusement, setting his project aside. at the demand, neyvin blinks a couple of times, processing the request. "i...alright." he thought for a moment about chiding her for manners, but neyvin knew some things were a battle not worth picking.
she sits up, easily and instinctively, folding herself up slightly to make more room for mordred to come inside. she gestures for their leader to come in. the tent would seem spacious by the standards of most... unless you were the 8'7" tall occupant. in which case, neyvin found the tent to sometimes be a little squished, but they also often didn't bother. if they were not currently in the shadow cursed lands, she wouldn't have even bothered with the tent.
"if this is gonna be a bedtime story, you'd be best off getting comfortable." they said, their voice warm and only slightly amused. they gesture to the extra blankets they have folded and tucked into a pile. always a worried, always prepared. they waited for mordred to settle somewhere. "were you hoping for a fictional story, or are you alright with a real tale?" neyvin asks, already wracking their brain for a story in either case.
It wasn't easy to manage the shop when Verathandi was out. She was the druid, not Faenethra. And in a florist's shop with a tearoom, a druid's skills were quite helpful. It was Verathandi who was able to design the shop, with its naturalistic flair, the flower-covered vines growing over the walls, the warm, dark oak furnishings...
In truth, Faenethra just worked here. That's all she could do. She couldn't grow the flowers before the customer's eyes, and she couldn't encourage the tea leaves to grow as a patron requested that certain blend. But she knew how to make the tea. She knew how to arrange the flowers. That's all that really mattered, right?
" Welcome. Are there any particular flowers you're looking for? We also offer an assortment of tea brewed in-house for our tearoom. " She didn't recognize this stranger's face, so she assumed them to be a new customer. A shame... Faenethra always hated having new customers while Verathandi was out. Faenethra wasn't the best first face to see...
neyvin usually just picked up what flowers he found in the small garden by the cemetery. but he had passed by the shop a few times on his monthly pilgrimage to visit ke'laun, and the large firbolg decided to stop in. it was coming up on ten years. and he did want to make that special. he looks around at the different offerings — both flowers and teas.
she gives a warm smile to faenethra. "ah, yes! i've never been in here before, though i've walked past several times." she said, with a warm chuckle, rubbing the back of her neck. neyvin looked at the different bundles of florals, recognizing most. "hang on — I think I got a list somewhere..." she said, digging in her pocket, before pulling out a piece of paper, worn and crumpled, and worried over. the handwriting is legible, but smudged. "here it is!"
they had never been druidically inclined as many of their family were. they loved nature but lacked the affinity for flora and fauna that many of their siblings had. they could tend a garden, recognize toxic plants and fungi, and brew a rather terrible tasting healing tonic (but the last should really only be used in a pinch).
he flattens the paper out...or tries to, before resding aloud, "bellflowers, purple hyacinth, lavender, white tulips, and blue violets." he offers the paper, slighlty anxiously, to faenethra.
they shift their stance, going through the usual motions of subtly trying to make themselves as small and unobtrustive as they could. it was a bit hard, given their size, but they did try. most places and buildings, despite some considerations, just weren't built for folks his size to not feel like a bull in a china shop.
"do you sell bags of the teas, for brewing at home?" he queries, with a small smile. "you've got a lovely shop."
it always delights be to see bar.ovia chat on the dash because neyvin's was originally my PC for curse of strah.d.
i feel like the fact they looked around and pointed at van ric.hten and said "i am gonna fuck that cursed old man with so many emotional issues that is wanted by the government." says a lot about her.
APPROVAL | NEUTRAL | DISAPROVAL (results in Neyvin leaving the party. and if in the active party, becoming hostile.)
if neyvin is in the active party, a short cutscene would always plays before jaheria's:
NEYVIN: "i...i thought i could trust you. i thought you cared...it's all falling...oh Gods... they're going to die! i have to help them..."
neyvin then runs from the room, and the cut scene fades into the cut scene with jaheria. however, unlike with jaheria, who she will work alongside you for one last fight (against the shadow cursed harpers, et al.), neyvin will not. he will fight against you, prioritizing attacking the player character/tav/durge.
if neyvin is not in the active party
upon killing isobel, the next time you return to camp, there will be a letter where neyvin's tent was, as well as a backpack with everything in the inventory that was not being worn / equipped. there are two versions of the letter (durge & non-durge). upon reading the letter, you will get a journal update: "Quest Complete: The Gentle Giant".
for more details, see below the cut! (content warning for suicidal ideation & suicide)
the journal entry reads: "neyvin has left to to lay flowers for ke'laun one last time."
DURGE'S LETTER:
[player name],
i've gone to lay flowers for ke'laun one last time. twice now, this lands and this curse has taken everything from me. and i can't bear the thought of standing beside the one who caused it this time.
you killed so many innocent people. you doomed so many because you couldn't control yourself. i thought you were getting better. i thought you were fighting whatever is in you. i can't trust you to fight it anymore. i wanted to think you were more than those urges. i was wrong. it's my fault, i suppose. for believing you weren't a monster.
i hope you defeat ketheric, defeat this cult. but i doubt you could be trusted to not take their place if the whim fancied you. may you find peace of mind and forgiveness granted to you from someone else. i will not give you it.
- neyvin
NON-DURGE PLAYER CHARACTER LETTER:
player name],
i've gone to lay flowers for ke'laun one last time. twice now, this lands and this curse has taken everything from me. and i can't bear the thought of standing beside the one who caused it this time.
i won't even pretend to understand why you chose to do such a senseless act. even ketheric was driven by his grief. you simply chose to for no reason. you killed so many innocent people. you doomed so many. and for what? it's my fault, i suppose. for believing you weren't a monster. i won't make that mistake again.
i hope you defeat ketheric, defeat this cult. but i doubt you could be trusted to not take their place if the whim fancied you. may you find peace of mind and forgiveness granted to you from someone else. i will not give you it.
- neyvin
leaving camp after this, (regardless of finding the note or not), you can return to last light inn. there is a 'secret marker' icon on the map now, by the graves to the northeast of last light inn. following the marker you can find neyvin's body, curled on top of one of the graves, ke'laun's name carved into the marker. there is a small bouquet of herbs/flowers beside him. looting neyvin's body will return any equipment he was wearing, and his wedding band. looting the grave, you can find a matching band.
reasoning and explanation:
when you kill isobel, aside from the fact it is killing an innocent, it also is dooming those at last light to die. after ke'laun died, the only reason neyvin was pulled back from the brink was the other harpers. those are his family. dooming all of them to die? he can't deal with that.
the thing is, neyvin isn't stupid. she knows that she cannot win against the party / you. but...she doesn't care. if you kill isobel, the protection falls. the harpers, tieflings, and anyone else left in the inn dies / falls to the curse. all the people she cares about, and has sworn to protect are lost. and this time, she doesn't have anyone else left to pull her back. and she doesn't want to be pulled back. she has lost those she loves to this curse again, and she doesn't want to move forward from that. neyvin fights you after you kill isobel because he wants you to kill him. he doesn't expect he will win, but he doesn't want to win.
