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Watch Machina is giving me a lot of opportunities to pay attention to character moments and dynamics I didn't notice before, and I'm really intrigued by what Pike and Scanlan have going on so far. It's clear from what we see in the Underdark arc that there's no indication either from Pike the character or Ashley the player that Scanlan's behavior isn't just a joke they're both in on��she's often laughing with him and bantering back with his advances. But there's also a sense that whatever is mutually there, they're keeping themselves just out of reach.

This moment in 1x23, after Pike has left to rebuild the temple of Sarenrae and Scanlan is telling Vox Machina what he saw when scrying on her, is interesting to chew on. It's already a moment of emotional sincerity from a character who's rarely shown it, but it's also sincerity that Scanlan does not voice to Pike herself when she leaves the group in 1x16:

And even in that moment where he talks about Pike to the rest of the party, there are still things Scanlan doesn't say. He doesn't make it personal. He says Pike is "everything we think of her and more". He cuts the moment with jokes. And it's very interesting to compare with something Pike says during all the chaos in 1x11:

Like, it's wild that Pike straight up says this is what she does! She has a similar moment with Vex much later in the campaign, where Vex comments that she doesn't have to be strong all the time and Pike simply replies "Yeah, I do". Both of them put walls up, just different and less obvious or hurtful ones, and that is fascinating. Like Ashley said, they're always dancing with each other.

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episode 23 is the first time they started playing twin elms 😭

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me, literally last week: it doesn't matter what changes to format Critical Role makes and what anyone, including myself, thinks about that. I have gracefully bowed out of this fandom. I do not watch Critical Role. I do not engage with the fandom and its discourse. it cannot hurt me any more.

brennan lee mulligan: okay yeah, so we're sticking with d&d for the main campaign and I've got a dope new setting and we're doing a west marches-style campaign with smaller tables that are divided up by play style and one of those tables will be a more combat-focused party and—

me, already kicking down the critical role fandom's door: Y'ALL BETTER BLOCK ME NOW. TELL JESUS THE BITCH IS BACK, BABY!

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OK I'm trying to keep my posting here largely positive otherwise but it is immediately clear that a lot of the people who are defensive of Campaign 3 thought that the issue many of us took with it wasn't "the narrative a lot of Bells Hells ascribe re the gods to is completely unsupported not just by the previous state of the world but by the current state of the world" but was rather "wahhhhhhh the gods are my special little guys" which again speaks to the ongoing incapacity to understand character within the context of story most of them have demonstrated. Like...no man I think an orc revolution against gods who did not prioritize the survival of mortals in a world that had no schism fucking rules. I've run games in worlds where there are explicitly no deities and had a great time. I think Campaign 4 is telling a story in a setting that actually supports this premise, which Brennan has explicitly stated in both the intro video and the fireside chat, whereas Campaign 3 sort of half-assedly made stabs to tell it in a setting that did not and also Bells Hells were too indecisive to even commit to it, hence why I'm more excited about as of yet unseen orcs who actually had some fucking spines.

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wasnt jkr the guy who got assassinated by the president? why is he bad?

i. ive been thinking about how to reply to this for like ten minutes. i can’t even add anything. it’s already perfect .

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Man I am HYPE for C4, it really feels like they took extreme stock of their capacity and desires and arrived at an approach which addresses every change they really needed to make.

Huge world! More players! Cool high fantasy storytelling! Smaller tables to preserve DM energy.

October 2nd can’t come soon enough

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alright, so! the most consistent feedback i've gotten is that those who like style 2 would prefer it if it had colors more like style 1, so i've adjusted the colors on 2 and have made a new poll.

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Perc’ahlia Week 2025 Countdown – Day Two

Hi!! So. I’m already a little late for my ideal twice a week schedule, BUT I’m away from home rn so hopefully it’ll even out here soon!!

Day Two — Demons / Dragons

andddddd some ideas from the mod team!!

Demons

- Percy’s pact with Orthax, his deal with Ipkesh in the campaign, consequences of those (hi Gwen), hunting down Orthax post-campaign

- inner demons/nightmares, tiefling AUs, AUs where one of them is a demon, K-Pop Demon Hunters AU (we see you)

Dragons

- Vex’s favored enemy, any of the dragon fights (Chroma Conclave, Rimefang, etc), Percy’s dragon slayer long sword, Vex’s white dragon leather armor

- dragon AUs, dragon rider/tamer AUs, dragon hoards, dragon-like traits (greedy, protective, etc)

Kind of both

- anything focusing on their backstories, or role-swap AUs (i.e. Vex makes a pact with a demon while Percy is hunting dragons)

Day Two of Perc’ahlia Week 2025 will be Thursday September 30th!! A little over a month away - I hope you’re excited as I am!!!

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That post @captainofthetidesbreath made about the mothers surrounding Jonas to psychoanalyze him. Yeah.

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The cast for Campaign 4 (x)

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I'M A VISIONARY AND A GENIUS

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grog winning the kern fight using percy's dice. feels good feels organic

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mother bitch counter: 3

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yall cmon now

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also i wasn't able to post this when watching but TYRIOK GADSWORTH THE GOAT

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a mini perc'ahlia for your dash this fine morning 💙🤍