Overlapping Lines vol.6 - Masquerade

Welcome!

“You will learn at your own expense that in the long course of your life you’ll meet many masks and few faces,” said Luigi Pirandello, one of the most famous Italian dramatists. The claim was that most people were wearing a mask (or multiple) in front of others, rather than their real face. Without venturing so philosophically in the theme of the fragmentation of the self, it is widely known to any member of any fandom just how much we love masked balls. They are, after all, the perfect setting for intrigue, romance, passionate encounters, with the added benefit of performing it all in a colourful outfit and behind a mysterious mask.

Many games offer a similar setting for their stories, but they all somehow fall short of our unabridged fantasy, and so it has always been such a prolific theme in the art and writing community.

This issue of our zine brings it all together with a varied offer of short stories, artworks and even mods you can add to your own game. With the release date of Baldur’s Gate 3 looming over our creative effort, we hope it helps to finally manifest the ultimate dream of the fandom denizen: a ballroom mission with a customisable outfit.

Have fun and enjoy our little collection of works and remember to reshare and praise the authors and artists so they know how much you appreciated their effort. See you in a few months with our next issue!

Opposite: Illithid Masquerade

@Labotor She/Her

Editor/Cover: Pinku

@pinkupixels She/They

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DBTRcommunity

Tumblr: https://downbytherivercommunity. tumblr.com/

@padme4000 She/They

I love to be creative in different ways. Whether it be mods, drawing, singing, coding, video making or other things I find to do. All the things that I consider creative and art.

https://www.nexusmods.com/ baldursgate3/mods/442

Hard to see what they all truly mean, Hard for them to see they are the Daisy of my dreams.

Dancing, masks all under the moonlight, Hoping they truly see *me* tonight. A Masquerade that brings them near, Maybe I can finally say; you are all I need my dear.

Munnmo

@munmomuu She/They

Chaotic creative with totally-normal feelings towards Gale

“We should dance more often.” Don’t push your luck, love.”

Just One Dance

A fruity undertone lingered in Gale’s mouth after he sipped his glass of aged Exeltis wine from one of the last bottles left in the Sword Coast. A dull chatter filled the room and his ears as he struggled to keep his head up. Maybe he had one too many glasses after all.

He looked around for companionship, someone who would share with him the awkwardness of being at a party where he did not know anyone. Even Astarion would do. The vampire spawn was, however, well connected in the city, so someone else had stolen him. A man with a humongous wig, a jewelled mask, and dressed in elven silks, a merchant, perhaps. The elf barely paid attention to him, but it would have been rude to separate them. Besides, his spiritless gaze pleased him so much that he was not inclined to save him from that situation.

Just as he was about to surrender, a loud laugh pierced the ballroom noise and forced him to turn around. Rayne. He should have guessed. She looked like she was drenched in starlight, blessed by Mystra herself. Her dress and mask sparkled thanks to the enchanted stars that peppered the fabric. A simple Incantation, but it was enough to set her apart from everyone else. She was holding her sister’s hands, and her smile was as wide as it had not been for quite a while. Who

She/Her Schrodinger

knew what joke elicited that reaction. Her laugh had attracted unexpected attention and by the time he had closed the distance between them, the ballroom had grown quiet. When her eyes raised to meet his, he knew he had not thought this through. He felt like an apprentice being tested by his master. Nonsense.

“I trust you are enjoying the ball, ladies,” he said. It did not come through as he would have liked. He was aiming for casually charming, but he could perceive his own hesitation, and so must have everyone else. He

“I’m gonna go grab something to drink,” said the sister, and she left without waiting for a reaction.

“It’s been a while since we’ve been able to just… enjoy ourselves, for an evening. I mean, somewhere with a floor and a ceiling,” said Rayne, her smile almost completely fainted from her lips and she looked down, away from him.

“The last time we celebrated something…”

“Things were different back then,” she interrupted him.

His mind wandered to their party with the tiefling refugees. Memories of bad wine, sweet lips, morning dew.

“I am not the kind of man to force the matter,” he said, “so I won’t insist further, but if I’m not mistaken I remember you promising a dance when we would get the chance.”

He observed her, anticipating a slap or, worse, for her to conjure a well deserved cold shower on his head, instead she simply looked back at him, a timid smile peeking from her lips.

“You remember correctly,” she said. He offered his hand, hoping she would take it.

“I’d be a terrible person if I didn’t honour my promises,” she said, taking his hand. She moved closer and he could smell the faint scent of lemongrass in her hair and feel her body against his again, always a little warmer than everyone else. It was like coming home from a long journey and smelling the dusty books in the library, where he belonged.

“Just one, though,” she said with a smile that betrayed a lie.

“Just one,” he replied.

She collapsed into gales of laughter

Julia Bamboolia

@juliabamboozled She/They

I’m a Japanese-American artist who loves romance and shoujo/josei manga (can you tell from my illustration? Lol)

Draw your Own Mask!

Feel free to print/download this page to colour in, and design your own mask for the mindflayer

Charlatans

Chimera

@iwoszareba He/She/They

Character on the left belongs to Labotor!

A Shadow Reflection

“Just embrace it, Shadowheart,” her sisters said. And she tried, and she would someday accept that her body knew everything it needed to accomplish her mission, even if she didn’t. At the beginning it felt wrong, like watching a limb move and being unable to feel it or control it, but she soon found out how liberating that was. There was no morality to her actions, no judgement. Only her duty and the taste of sweet oblivion.

The jewel, Shadowheart, focus. The half elf’s feet knew where her current mission took her and so she followed. A trial run, before committing to her real purpose, the reason why she was reborn as Shadowheart, a body without memory, a faithful with no soul. She slipped silent as the night between the shadows cast in the mansion by a moonless sky, invisible to the guards. Each step a word of an incantation, each breath a second closer to the Heart. The priestess stopped at a door draped in the same brocade that lined the corridors, hidden in plain sight from a passer-by’s distracted gaze. Her eyes, though, knew where to look, and her nimble fingers knew where to touch to dispose of any obstacle between her and her mark.

The Heart of Shar, a black opal that shimmered with purple iridescent flickers, sat in a turquoise cloth that protected it from impurities and dust. The gem’s glow

She/Her Schrodinger

betrayed its almost sentience. It was rumoured it held the soul of one of Shar’s chosen, trapped forever in a state of catharsis, in an alternate dimension devoid of any mundane distraction. So much beauty in such a sacrilegious gift, it was a pity that it was kept away from where it truly belonged for such a long time. The priestess known as Shadowheart hid the treasure in a pocket of her black gown and whispered a few magical words. Now the jewel would be lost, gone, forever. Or at least until she got back to the temple.

Her footsteps paced the way back, as the guards slowly regained consciousness, and everything resumed as usual behind her. Not a clue of what had happened tonight. She crossed the ballroom where masked strangers participated in the frivolous art of conversation, or even danced. How dare they. All dressed in black, like the faithful. The owner of the mansion shared a taste for the dark aesthetics that belong to the cult of the dark lady, but owned none of the qualities to be worthy of her gifts. They were just a polished pretender, a disappointing buffoon.

As she approached the doors that led to the street, she caught a glimpse of her own reflection in one of the windows.

The face that stared from the glass was not hers, not quite. It still caught her off guard how alien those pointy ears and her dark smooth hair seemed. She picked the mask off her face

and looked closer. Faint freckles peppered her nose and an old scar cut her features. The Lady only knew how she got that. A severe scowl rested idly on her lips. Her eyes met those of the reflection on the window. ‘Who are you?’ She wondered, following her own gaze. Her irises were green as a spring leaf, and glistening of fresh tears. Was it the cold night breeze that made her tear up, or… or? She looked away. Recalling any memory was like trying to empty the seas with a teaspoon. There were shadows at the edge of her conscience, but they were destined to remain in the background for a while longer.

A mystery to uncover, or a prize to earn. Only fate would tell.

Shadowheart touched the Heart of Shar in her hidden pocket for comfort and straightened her shoulders. Soon, she thought, as she disappeared into the night.

Moonlit (Heart)

@scattermyhearts She/He

Autistic artist/aspiring illustrator from Mexico. Fantasy and vampire fan.

Point ofNo Return

@muitamaita She/Her

Artist and escapist from the north

Astarion of the camp Down By The River

Agnieszka

An artist who sold her soul to the Hag

Entanglement ofDragons

Jellybearby

@jellybearby She/Her

Creative Chaotic Being, love to write, draw, sing and make music.

Illithid Masquerade

Labotor

@labotor She/Her

Also created a mod that lets you dress up for your very own Illithid Masquerade! As seen in the art, contains a mask with a mindlflayer design + a recolored fancy outfit

https://www.nexusmods.com/

baldursgate3/mods/329?tab=files

Kissing you

They/Them Eggsy

Shadowheart is having her “Romeo and Juliet”

moment

A Dragon’s Mask

Astarion hiding in mask

Missy The artist of chaos

@missytigernerd She/Her

I love makeing art and cosplay and some chaos