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The Darkened Wheel

...is a Minthara-centric epilogue to BG3 in which she and Tav (F!Drow) return to Menzoberranzan for the purpose of conquest and vengeance. Across decades they navigate a deadly world and its precarious trappings of politics, war, legacy, and religion. As the power of their new House grows, Minthara is targeted by the ultimate authority of drow fate: Lolth herself. An inscrutable surfeit of evil temptations, powers, and omen-dreams shadow her, demanding that she return to the Spider Queen's fold or face an eternity of torment. The harder Minthara resists Lolth, the harder it becomes to free herself of her influence. For the horrifying nature of the spider in possession of prey is to not let go.

Rated M Length: 200k+ words (WIP)

Read on AO3

Darkness befell the world, then from a sinister pale light unspooled a magnificent form in the shape of drow perdition. This specter of Lolth perched upon the discarnate paling of doom and creation. “My fascinating little Baenre,” she hummed, her voice an atrocity. “You come to submit to me. As would any seeking the key to my domain. Embrace me now, and your reign will surpass a millennium if you wrest control from your kin. I would make a majestic thing of you.”  Fear rattled Minthara’s chest. She defied its grip to reply solemn and tremulous, “And if I do not submit to you?”  “Then your reign may last a century. And when I return to this city in meteoric might and calamity, my blessèd apostles will deliver you to me, flayed and bereaved of all that you ever loved.”

1) whose face she has never seen

and

2) who has *literally* tortured her

Boycotters of za/um are facing the fact that their new game is actually a very good work of art. rough around the edges in a few spots, but *very* good, and not the slightest bit creatively or soulfully bankrupt. Supporters of za/um must rationalize their monetary support of a disgraced studio

Biggest flaws: some of the skills writing needed improvement, there were numerous passages that tried to sound deep but fell flat; gotta master that balance/rhythm of lush language with succinct and simple cleverness, each are excellent complements of each other, and when left alone without their counterpart they can suffer. It is not easy to do though, so not too much shade there. Also, while I really did take a liking to Cascade, I didn't feel as intimately invested in and connected to her as I did with Harry Du Bois. You accompany Harry in his quest to solve the murder and remember his past and as you reconstruct the disaster of his life, you really bond with him and a lot of his experiences are so vivid that they can make you cry as you relate to him with your own fuck-ups. Cascade is also fucked up (in distinctly different ways than Harry), but too many vital snippets of her history and complexes are locked behind ZP's equivalent of the Thought Cabinet, so you have to invest points if you want to get to know her a little better. I can appreciate the moments of implication and subtlety in regular dialog that characterized her, but such things like her struggles with identity and interpersonal impotence really deserved more exploration.

Twilight Princess Dusk Bloom Control