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[ID: A digital illustration of Orym and Dorian Storm from Critical Role. Orym is in the centre of the image against a blue-grey background, wearing his level 10 outfit. He is in a floating sitting position with his sending stone hanging from his hip, glowing. His expression is pained, with his eyes closed and his hands pressed over his mouth. Around him, bordering the image, are 16 tiles, all showing Dorian, and most show Orym with him. The four tiles at the top show small close ups on Dorian, the tiles down each side transition from real interactions Orym and Dorian had before Dorian left Bells Hells to fantasies of romantic interactions, with the bottom row of tiles all showing fantasised interactions. End description.]

I really miss Dorian and sometimes I think that's okay and sometimes I think it isn't

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you know how some people sleep with guns or knives under their pillows for protection? KEEP YOUR KNIGHT IN YOUR BED INSTEAD!! FOR SAFETY REASONS!! THAT'S YOUR LIVING WEAPON!!!! #mylivingweapon

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TRINYVALE TRIPLETS DOING CURSE OF STRAHD. THAT'S SO FUCKIN FUNNY. I CAN'T WAIT.

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"Stuck in the timeloop as a punishment" is cool and all, but stuck in the timeloop voluntarily though? Oh, brother. Stuck in the timeloop cause you just can't move on. Stuck in the timeloop even if you know that it's not real and whatever should've happen already did. Stuck in the timeloop even if doesn't makes you happy. You just can't bear the thought of not being able to see them ever again. Stuck in the timeloop even if you know you should move on. Stuck in the timeloop even if you know they would want you to move on.

But maybe just a little while longer.

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[ID: fanart of the main PCs for the first four main campaigns of NADDPOD, posing together on a white background. the first shows Beverly, Hardwon, and Moonshine. the second shows Nyack, Jens, and Onyx. the third shows Fia, Henry, and Zirk. the last shows Callie, Sol, and Calder. END ID]

a very merry end of campaign 3 to all naddpoles out there!!! ive had these designs for the main teams done for a long while but never posted them, what better time to do so than now! excited to see what new stuff comes next 🦆

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something with exu calamity and 43 perhaps? 👀

"My dress was not made for stairs," Patia says petulantly. She can't see if Nydas reacts to the comment; he's at least twenty steps ahead of her, already vanishing around the next bend of the spiraling passage. Only the faint clinking sound of gold beads is proof that he hasn't abandoned her entirely. "This is terrible. This is the worst. This is why I prefer to teleport places. Are we there yet?"

"Aren't you hundreds of years of age?" Nydas muses. "Yet you're still so impatient. You should work on that, Archmage."

Ah, so he can hear her. Phenomenal. Patia rolls her eyes to the heavens and wonders if the gods are laughing. It seems like they'd get a kick out of this whole situation. "Are you calling me old now, Nydas? Very grown-up. Very endearing."

"Well, if the shoe fits...."

"Oh, shut up," Patia says. She winces as she realizes it's the same exasperated tone she tends to deploy with members of the Ring of Silver when they talk over her in meetings, or with disrespectful councilmen who yawn through her arcane presentations.

But Nydas just laughs - a friendly sound, warm and low, inclusive of her instead of barbed at her heart. It echoes off the tower walls like a peal of thunder. Something twists beneath her collarbone. The sensation is sharp, but not entirely painful.

"Almost there, Archmage," he says, and has the audacity to somehow make it sound gallant. "I promise, it'll be worth it."

A few moments later, his words become true. Patia steps out onto the top of the tower, lifting her emerald skirts around her ankles. She has to shield her eyes with one hand from the sudden blaze of afternoon light. The Sorcerer's University is located at one of the highest points in all of Avalir, directly north of the falls that bear her family's name. It's so high up that from the top of this belltower, the rest of the city isn't even visible.

Instead, Patia is treated to an endless expanse of clouds, a vast white ocean that eddies out in every direction. Rainbows glimmer in the far distance, catching every facet of the afternoon sun. Far below, she can catch glimpses of the university courtyard, lined with blossoming trees and red-brick dormitories.

Signs of construction are visible all around her, which makes sense. The last stone was laid on this belltower barely a week ago. The expensive marble beneath her heels is still slick with rain from the storm this morning. It's jadestone; Nydas must have imported it from Vasselheim. He's spent so much money to build this place. He acts like it's nothing whenever it comes up in council meetings though, downplaying the costs and shrugging off the labor.

Patia realizes, belatedly, that he must be doing so in order to keep it safe from politics. From interference. If he wanted to, he could levy the university in every city meeting, couldn't he? It would be a fantastic bargaining chip for Avalir's Guildmaster. But he doesn't want to do that. He actually wants to build something real up here.

Hmm. What a curious thought.

When she turns around, Nydas is lounging on the ground, heedless of the puddles. His boots are kicked up onto the outer wall. He's flipped down a pair of bifocal tinted lenses onto his nose to shield his eyes from the sun. It's disarmingly attractive. Worst of all, he doesn't even seem to notice the fact. What a terrible man. She really must stop learning to like him. It can't be good for her health.

"Do you like the view?" he says. "Highest point of the city, as of five days ago."

For some reason, he's lowered his voice down to a whisper, which is oceans away from its normal outlandish boom. Patia picks up her skirts and lowers herself to sit beside him.

"Why are we whispering, Nydas?"

"Classes are in session," Nydas says with a grin. "They officially started this morning. Sound carries, Archmage! We wouldn't want to disturb the children learning their first cantrips."

"Oh, cantrips." Patia puts a mocking twist on the word. "Shouldn't they know those already? I'm quite certain I was born with the ability to cast Dancing Lights."

"Not all of us can be so lucky, Archmage," Nydas says. He winks at her. "Some of us have to claw our way up. Don't begrudge them too much. After all, they're not yet as skilled as you."

Damn it, there he goes again! Using her proper title. Respecting her. Not rising to the bait. Terrible, terrible man. She can't believe they're going to be colleages.

"No one is," she says with a prim little sniff, just to regain a scrap of self-image in this whole mess. This whole strange, lovely mess, where they're sneaking onto rooftops like schoolchildren and giggling about it like lovers. Perish the thought. "No one will ever be as skilled as me. I am unparalleled, Guildmaster. Don't you forget it."

"Oh, I won't," Nydas says. "And I most certainly agree. The Archmage Por'co is the finest of us all."

He flicks his wrist, and suddenly, there's a glass goblet in his hand, seemingly out of nowhere. It's half-full with glittering golden wine. He passes her a matching one, and raises his own cup in a toast. His eyes are sparkling - humor, certainly, but no mockery. Damn it, damn it. She really doesn't want to like him.

It seems, unfortunately, that that ship might have just sailed.

She raises her cup, and clinks glass against glass. This is neither the time nor the place for sentimentality.

"Much appreciated, Guildmaster. I suspect we'll make an excellent team."

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[ID: fanart of Boggy, Welly, and Zudrick from NADDPOD Skaldova. Boggy holds up a shot glass and grins at it, Welly holds one hand to her chest and uses the other to lift up the skirt part of her tabard, and Zudrick holds a massive sword and has a crow perched on each shoulder. END ID]

Welcome to Skaldova

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haven't done much skaldova posting but ouugghh Welly's poem for Faye... that was so lovely...

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was curious cause there are so many now and c3 is over and skaldova almost is. lmk your top 3 in the comments or tags!

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Found family loveless marriage . Found family child abuse

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RUDE that i can't go on here and look at the tag for my homebrew dnd campaign :(

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[ID: fanart of Nia from Critical Role Divergence. she's standing with a unicorn, burying her face in the unicorn's mane, both of them peaceful with their eyes closed. END ID]

"I hope they believe in us still"

lovely moment from an episode full of lovely moments. thinking of making a decorated frame for this but i also like it plain, it feels more focused

(psst, i also have comms open,,, hehe)

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Of all the people to found the Cobalt Soul, it always had to be someone like Crokas. If you give the Orb of Avalir to someone seeking intelligence, seeking power, seeking mystery, or fame, you end up with the Cerberus Assembly at best. To be perfectly honest, I think in just about any other context it becomes a source of division rather than any kind of lasting foundation. It works because Crokas is the last person who would ever pursue it, but he's also the kind of person who is going to use it once he has it. He's not going to squirrel it away for someday because that's just not how he thinks and he doesn't see having it as something to brag about because he needs the time to understand what he has.

This whole order is built by a man who understood how to move through the world with strength alone but needed to learn how to learn, needed to discover what it meant to understand. For him, the ability to fight is innate, the ability to comprehend is earned. I would argue that for the large majority of people, this would be the other way around. In realms where knowledge is so sought after, most are taught to read and write, to think and to question before they are taught to fight because the priority of their pursuits is better served by the softer skills.

Crokas isn't like that. And so the place he builds is one where he is at home and where he is understood.

The Cobalt Soul, as we know it best, looks a little different now. It's had time to spread across nations and continents. It's grown to look a little more like you would expect at first glance. It's been built into a behemoth that obscures it's roots in a dragonborn monk with a complicated past, but there's still room for people like Crokas. Like Beauregard.

She comes to the Cobalt Soul with a complicated family background, no home to call her own, and more fire than patience. She knows how to fight, but not how to listen or understand. She needs to be taught the value of information and the possibilities that come from the vast wealth of knowledge at her fingertips. And it doesn't happen immediately because, again, behemoth, but she finds a place in this organization for a person who needs to learn how to learn. In spite of the fact that she doesn't fit naturally into an organization that prioritizes knowledge, she is afforded the time and opportunity to figure it out on her own terms. She is given a chance to find the balance.

They came to the Cobalt Soul a little bit broken, a little bit out of their element. They knew strength, they learned to listen. They became something great because they were given the space to be who they had always been, just with a little bit more. Crokas built a place for the people like him, and centuries later, Beauregard Lionett found it.

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[ID: Picture of Welly Hamdam, Boggy Rogers and Zudrick of the Murder from NaddPod's Skaldova Campaign. Welly holds a gauntlet with a sun rune, Boggy points an arrow and Zudrick is surrounded by crows. ]

Caldwell’s Skaldova art from his socials!

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the absolute dead silence for several seconds after emily said ossuary. i love her

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relistening to crown of dreams just to feel something. and let me tell you, i am feeling something