Series Title: The Chaos Bringer

Parts:

- Act I (Where Darkness Hides)

- Act II (When Darkness Strikes)

- Act III (What Darkness Reveals)

Major characters: Original Female Character (Nyx), Female Tav, Astarion, GOAT Clive, Karlach, Gale, Shadowheart, Wyll, Lae'zel, Halsin, Scratch, Owlbear Cub, Jaheira, Minsc, Tara

Romances: Nyx/Astarion (Major), Tav/Gale (Minor)

PoV: Third person. Nyx (Major), Astarion (Mid) and Tav (Minor)

Updates: Once a week on a Friday or Saturday (when all goes well). Usually ~ 15:00 UTC.

Legend:

Italics used for thoughts and emphasis. Bold used for more emphasis.

--- is a scene/event breather

--- --- --- is for a PoV change

Why, hello there! It is that time again - so get your drinks, snacks and a soft sofa ready as we start up the next leg of our journey with Nyx, Astarion, Tav and the gang.

For those of you who are new readers & coming in from NovelEmber: Welcome! I would highly recommend starting with Act I. You can safely read Chapter 2 & 3 to get a feel for the writing, but more than that runs the risk of Spoilers for Act I and Act II.

Per usual, this introduction will give you some idea of what to expect for Act III and broadly how I plan to go about things:

- Plotting and planning went great. I think my system is coming along nicely and I felt like a scheming witch brewing my story in the narrative cauldron while cackling manically as I threw together my ideas, plot points and other ingredients. (㇏(•̀ᵥᵥ•́)ノ)

- Yes! I have managed to work in 17 out of the 19 neighbourhoods comprising Baldur's Gate city! The 2 orphans I couldn't establish a good narrative reason for why our group would be there, but 1 of them I may be able to work into Act IV. And yes, I hope to write a smallish Act IV as an epilogue to tie off all the character arcs and plot points. More on that later.

- The general mood and feel of Act III would be a blend of Act I and Act II (dark vs. light content). However, as previously mentioned, we are moving into populated areas and city neighbourhoods. Therefore, similarly to what I did for Act I and Act II, I'll align the vibes of Act III to best compliment its overarching environment. For instance, Act I was very outdoorsy and wilderness orientated, which meant more travel and questing things. Act II we got caught up in forsaken lands and cursed creatures, which meant more thriller and spooky vibes. For Act III, I'll be aligning to mystery, intrigue and external/internal socio-political conflicts.

- Not to fear! We will maintain a good representation of the usual shenanigans, battles and beasts.

- This also give me a great opportunity to experiment with a multitude of new things, since the city environment gives me access to things I wouldn't have had previously.

Then the usual trigger warnings and disclaimer: A blanket warning on triggers for Past Abuse, Trauma and general Dark Topics. However, my stories will never romanticise or fetishize sexual abuse. I feel compelled to make this clear in light of the trend in several popular books (fantasy + romance) to do the opposite. A trend I don't want to partake in as a reader/writer - I try not to shy away from discussing/wrestling with problematic or sensitive topics, but these I will always endeavour to handle with care, dignity and respect from my side. Once again, I'm not here to police or preach, I simply want to set the expectations for my stories in this regard so that we're all on the same page. Next, up...

Lots of goodies!  ⸜(｡˃ ᵕ ˂ )⸝♡

I have a lot of maps and other goodies I'd like to share with you as we move along the chapters.

I've made interactive maps for each of the city's neighbourhoods (2 of the maps have 2 neighbourhoods, so 17 maps in total), which I'll post and share when we reach these places in the story.

- Outer City: 7 maps

- Lower City: 6 maps

- Upper City: 3 maps

These were not only invaluable from a plotting perspective, but they are going to keep us all grounded logistics-wise too.

With all of this in mind, you can expect Act III to be a bit of a meandering marathon ... Elder brain, Smelder brain, right? It can wait for us to get to it once we're good and ready.

I'm going to do my best to keep the story tight and relevant to the main plot and subplots while remaining flexible as always (my planning board will keep me in line too). I really want to explore as much of what the original BG map has to offer - I don't think we'll get a chance to do something like this in upcoming games anytime soon and I'm not aware of another Forgotten Realm's fiction that has done this.

Thus, I'll have 2 interludes after major transition points in the story, and I'll likely take a break here before tackling the next section.

- Interlude One: When we move from Outer City -> Lower City

- Interlude Two: When we move from Lower City -> Upper City

I hope ya'll are ready to get stuck in!

A quick rehash to keep me honest:

Main focus:

- Real People

- Real Problems

- Real Stories

Emphasis on:

- Great characters

- Strong dialogue

- Immersive stories

Writing ingredients:

- Interpersonal relationships

- Inner conflict

- Monsters

- Battles

- Banter

- Symbolism

Let the madness begin! Mweh he he!

Manuscript cover and banners are generated using Canva AI tools. Royalties are paid to creators when their content is used for AI generation. Creators can either opt-in or opt-out of having their content used by AI models.
No AI is used during the writing of Act 3. ChatGPT is used to research parts of Act 3 lore.
ProWritingAid (the digital toolkit for storytellers, affiliate link) is used for editing and feedback on Act 3 chapters.

Manuscripts: Free to read, and distribute given attribution with link back. Not for commercial purposes or (re)sale.
All other content: Free to use, modify and distribute given attribution with link back. Not for commercial purposes or (re)sale.

Completed during: 2025-11-07 to xxx
Published during: 2025-11-07 to xxx