#decided to use taliesin here for a challenge

[ofglories]

𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧𝐬

name; Taliesin

nickname; Tal, Songbird, Chief of Bards

gender; masc nonbinary

romantic orientation; demisexual

preferred pet names; No Preference

relationship status; Single

opinion on true love; He believes it exists as he's seen it happen to many people over his long life, however he doubts it is something he will ever experience personally

opinion on love at first sight; Having seen it in action he knows it exists, however again he doubts it is possible for him. Does very much enjoy writing and singing about it, however

how 'romantic' are they?; It depends entirely on how comfortable he would feel with the person. As a bard, former prince via adoption, and a deity he leans towards exceptionally romantic, though he's rarely ever shown it.

ideal physical traits; Muscular builds, warrior physiques, full lips and long eyelashes

ideal personality traits; Earnest, passionate, ambition, mercy

unattractive physical traits; otherworldly beauty such as in fae, lack of care in one's appearance, ragged nails

unattractive personality traits; disloyalty, pride to the point of blind arrogance, willful ignorance

ideal date; a dance and picnic beneath a full moon with stars on full display with warmed elderflower wine and sweet cakes waiting

do they have a type?; he's not aware of it but taliesin is drawn towards royalty, towards those who will make a heavy impression on the "anvil of the world" as he calls history. heroes, villains, and kings.

average relationship length; he's never had a "real" relationship due to his tendency in the past to use his charms just for information before leaving someone heartbroken. and the thing with uriens was purely born from boredom while being uriens' prisoner but... he'd likely be loyal for as long as his partner's life lasted, or as long as they wanted him there.

preferred non-sexual intimacy; resting his head in someone's lap, singing a ballad to them without his harp in hand

opinion of public affection; doesn't see what the big deal is with it and is willing to indulge in it

past relationships?; only one situationship of sorts with king uriens of rheged

tagged by: @pretty-little-teacup (thank you!) tagging: steal it!

[utilitycaster]

okay watched Cloak and Dagger and here are my thoughts in brief

I don't think showing Ripley's backstory is bad. Part of why Ripley is an interesting character to me in a way that, to use my favorite punching bag, Otohan, is not, is because we had hints of what made her this way - fleeing the Empire; a list of names on Animus that included Bertrand Dwendal. Part of why I mock Otohan relentlessly is because she is a one-dimension villain, and Ripley never was that, which is why she's an interesting villain. Tragic backstory, in my opinion, enhances one's villainy, rather than reduces it: what sort of monster suffers and decides to do the same to others, rather than is driven to work to improve the lot of others? That's essentially why Caleb is in the end a heroic character and Ludinus is the culminating BBEG more so than Predathos.

Glintshore is one of my favorite battles of Campaign 1 and it also would not, in my opinion, translate well to animation. There was a great line in the Midst Messages from Xen in reference to Moonward about how in most rules-heavy TTRPGs, when you enter a big battle, time stretches out significantly, but in a systemless game like Moonward, it goes very quickly, which gives it a very different vibe and makes players make very different decisions. The emotional weight derives largely from how the party enters combat already heavily drained and never regains their footing, and how the cast is well aware and the sense of dread (and belief that Percy might be permanently dead and Taliesin will have to roll up a new character) sets in long before the battle ends. [long tangent about good parasocial vs bad parasocial in actual play put off until I have time to actually read Watch Us Roll, but this is Good Parasocial]. It's actually an interesting test of the challenge we face for the finale of the series: you are not going to get as efficient an emotional punch as Sam saying "Nine" in a show that doesn't have a concept of spell levels. I had struggled with how one might recreate the Glintshore battle and the answer is "you don't".

Ripley's speech was great no notes, love her being fucking awful and consumed with vengeance to the end. I think just as the theme of "your resentment will destroy you" is an enduring one throughout Critical Role, so is "every mortal is in theory someone who could change and become better, but if you shoot the hand that's trying to help you, well, get rekt lol"

The music over Percy's death is corny as hell. However, I am already on the record as someone who mutes It's Thursday Night for being corny as hell and who pokes fun at Matt's more purple prose and I seem to have stuck around regardless. I have made my peace with the fact that a good chunk of the cast spent their formative years just absolutely immersed in anime, and given the Extreme Anime Vibes of Percy in TLOVM I can't say I love it, but I also can't say it's not sort of fitting. Please do cut that scene with different music though, because it would be funny as shit.

I need to watch episodes 8 and 9 (going to now!) but much as I love the glintshore fight, you know what I love more? Episode 1x69 (nice). Real Tragedy Enjoyers know the proof is in the aftermath. If 8 and 9 also suck then I'll be back here in like an hour but if they're good then it's whatever.

Grog is always on some level experiencing a Sitcom B Plot and if you ever find yourself disliking a TLOVM episode, remember you're watching a sitcom where Grog is dealing with a Bird that is Very Here (metaphorical).

[thedaselcor]

Late into the night, Gwen stayed perched on the edge of Morgana’s bed, running fingers gently through her hair, and telling her stories her father had told her when she was a girl.

“One more?” Morgana asked, filled with guilt and shame for asking, for being so afraid of sleep.

But Gwen didn’t judge her, or seem upset with the request, or make a show of impatience at being kept from her home for so long. She only smiled, and nodded, and searched her mind for the right story to end the night.

“Well,” she announced in a conspiratorial tone, when she found it, “I do have one more. It’s a very very special one, so you can’t tell anyone about it.” Then, she settled in close, and lowered her voice to a whisper, and began to tell her tale.

“A long long time ago, in a place not very far from here, there lived nine beautiful sisters: Morgen, Moronoe, Mazoe, Gliten, Glitonea, Glisten, Tyrione, Thiten, and Tithon--whose parents clearly had trouble thinking up enough unique names for their beautiful daughters.

“The nine sisters ruled a magical realm called Avalon, the Isle of Apples, and they were the kindest, most benevolent enchantress-sisters, famed for their abilities as shapeshifters, and as the greatest healers of all time.

“One day, the great bard Taliesin entered Avalon through a magical portal of water and dreams, a portal no mortal man before him had ever used alive. In his arms, he carried a great and fallen king.

“‘Please, oh wise and beautiful sisters,’ said Taliesin, ‘my king, he has fallen in battle. I beg of you, fair maidens of the Isle of Apples, bring my king back to life, I will give anything.’

“‘But why should we do this?’ the sisters asked. ‘Why should we get involved in the world of mortal kings, who are we to decide the fate of Albion?’

“‘Please,’ said Taliesin. ‘My king has been the greatest king that ever was. I know that if you return him to me, he will bring about a world where our two kingdoms could be at peace. A world of magic and beauty like no one has ever known.’

“‘But why should we believe you?’ asked the sisters. ‘You are known even to the kingdom of Avalon as a great bard, it is in your nature to speak falsehoods.’

“‘Not falsehood, my ladies,’ protested Taliesen. ‘Never falsehoods. The purpose of a great story is to guide, to speak the truth that no man wants to hear into his very soul so that it may live forever. Please, without my king my soul is sundered. Without my king, I can never again be complete.’

“Upon hearing Taliesen’s desperate plea, the sisters felt their hearts ache for him as they had never felt before. So, they devised a way to test both the goodness of the king, and the soul bond he allegedly shared with this bard.

“‘Very well, dear bard, let us put your theory of myth to the test,’ said the eldest sister Morgen, stepping forward as the leader of her sisters. ‘You will have one year in Albion, to tell the story of your once and future king, and then you  must return to us. Then, we will create a future for you and your king, and I will personally leave my memories here in Albion and join you.

“‘If your king is as good a person as you claim, and your story is strong enough to still be told in Albion to guide us, then I will carry him myself into Avalon the next time that he falls, and he shall be granted life enough to rule over this new, united Albion you promise. But if he isn’t, or if you fail, then you will be doomed to wait for him forever, never remembering this bargain, never knowing why your soul must forever remain sundered.’

“‘Very well,’ said Taliesen, grasping to the fine thread of hope the sisters were able to offer, ‘I will face your challenge, for my king, for Albion, for all of us.’ 

“When he left to tell his story, Morgen turned to her sisters and wept. She knew, in her heart, that striking this bargain was the truly benevolent path, but she feared the immense loneliness she would face in Albion without her sisters. ‘Don’t worry,’ they told her, ‘wherever you go, we will follow in your dreams--in the place where Albion and Avalon touch--and we will guide you.’

“And so was born the gift and curse of every seer, to hear the guidance of the eight sisters of Avalon, waiting for the day their eldest sister will return with the great king, and guiding her from the shadows.”

[gawrkin]

The Death-song/Elegy of Uther Pendragon: New Translations

(Credit to @wandrenowle (awesome person) who gave me this excerpt from a recent translation of The Book of Taliesin)

A few points to make:

There's a certain ambiguity about whether or not the narrator here really is Uther Pendragon himself.

The part where Uther is named "Shining Armor" - I believe this is the translation for the original word in the poem, "Gorlassar". From what I can research online, "Gorlassar" could also mean "Bright Blue/Very Blue" or even "Higher than the sky". I've heard some theories online before that Geoffrey of Monmouth created the character "Duke Gorlois of Cornwall" from this epithet of Uther's.

If so, that means the possibility of Igraine always having been Uther's wife and Igraine only ever had one husband. Huh.

Wow, apparently Arthur is not as badass as his dad, being only a ninth of Uther's prowess. This is the very same Arthur who, in Welsh Myth, can destroy armies by the hundreds, go toe-to-toe with giants and is the standard of comparison for warrior excellence ("...although he was no Arthur"). This elegy implies Uther is leagues more powerful than that.

It reminds of Sir Branor, the Dragon Knight, from Palamedes, a 120-year old knight of the Round Table from Uther's era. When he shows up to Arthur's court, he challenges everyone in Camelot, including Lancelot, Gawain and Tristan, and soundly kicks their asses. The general impression is that however OP King Arthur and his knights are, Uther and his boys are waaaaaay more OP. Very Anime.

(It also has shades of Nestor from the Iliad, talking about how the heroes of the "Seven against Thebes" would kick anyone's ass in the Trojan War)

The part where Uther boasts of his Poetic Prowess - "as great as that, of seven score poets". This, in particular, fascinates me. See, in an older translation, that particular segment is phrased as such:

There is a tradition Uther Pendragon really does magical abilities:

In the new translation, Uther is primarily hyping his skills in the Bardic arts, but personally, I think that doesn't preclude Uther's magic powers.

In Celtic Myth, Bards, because their status as lore-keepers, often had magical powers, like Prophecy, shapeshifting (Taliesin and Myrddin/Merlin) or having the power to harm and curse using satires:

I believe there's even a term for Bardic Prophecy in Welsh: "Canu Darogan".

This sort of loops back to "Uther>Arthur" again, seeing as how Arthur is one of "the Three Frivolous Bards of the Island of Britain"

Jeez, can imagine being at your death bed, and like, decide " I'm gonna write an entire poem about how awesome I am and how my prophesized, magic son ain't shit compared to me"

[merlinfic]

Hey! I completely forgot the name of the fic where Merlin accidentally turns back time after Arthur’s death. He fixes everything and he and Morgana end up fighting Morgause. Thank you very much and you are doing amazing !!! I love your blog!

Hey, Anon! I’m not confident that I found the exact one, but here’s what I came up with (some are adjacently related) - 

Before The Worst

Summary:  When Taliesin gives him the power to go back in time, Merlin is faced with his biggest challenge yet: Morgana's fate in his hands. But what Merlin doesn't realize is that going back in time also means resurrecting his greatest enemies...but will it all be worth it if Morgana is on their side? Merlin soon finds out.

Changing Destiny

Summary:  At the Lake of Avalon, Merlin's challenge of the Triple Goddess leads to them offering a chance to change Arthur's destiny. Merlin is sent back in time to make the right decisions to bring about the Golden Age of Albion and the return of magic. Can his knowledge of the past help him change the future?

If I could Turn Back Time

Summary: "If you knew something bad was going to happen, wouldn't you try and stop it?" Merlin makes a final attempt to save his king.

The Immortal's Encore (3 Parts)

Summary: Believing that he has long since failed in his destiny, an immortal Merlin decides the only way to make things right is to break the barriers of time, rewrite history, and correct his mistakes. Unfortunately, such a task is not so simple in practice. The threads of time are a slippery opponent, and people are not easily made pawns in destiny's game. And perhaps the greatest threat of them all? Merlin himself. A millenium has left him greatly changed. Is he still the man that destiny chose, or will Merlin's return only bring a new doom to Camelot with it?

Complementarity, Entanglement and the Uncertainty of Destiny —or— A Feminist Mage in King Arthur's Court

Summary: Merlin was once told that Arthur would rise again at the hour of Camelot's greatest need. But a thousand years pass, with no Arthur. When the last war comes, and the world dies, and Arthur still doesn't return, Merlin suddenly realises that the hour of Camelot's greatest need… was a thousand years ago. Sometimes he's a bit slow on the uptake. Fortunately, he's figured out how to go back. What would YOU do if you had 2000 years of experience in the body of a 17 year old, and absolutely nothing left to lose?

BBC Merlin: Redux Episode 1

Summary: Hundreds of years post Arthur's death, Merlin finds himself reliving his time with Arthur, starting at their first street fight. Maybe this is his chance to change things! Maybe he's just finally lost his head and isn't back in time at all. Maybe someone just wanted to give Merlin more time with his soulmate.

Fremian ðæs

Summary: It was unexpected for both of them but once they found each other they knew that Arthur was not coming back. So they decided to go back to them, to Camelot. Maybe this time Merlin could save them, save Arthur. This time he didn't have to do it alone.

UPDATE: Thanks to thatonebookworm31 and anon as this is probably About Time by rosewatergold!

Summary: After losing Arthur, Merlin semi-accidentally travels back in time. In an attempt to change the future, Merlin takes Morgana under his wing and trains her in magic, all the while trying to pretend he's not still in love with an Arthur who doesn't remember that they used to be married (in the future, that is), keeping an eye out for Morgause, and juggling Camelot's run of the mill crises. You know, the usual manservant stuff.

[loquaciousquark]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E91 (Jan. 21, 2020)

Good evening, everyone! Sorry about missing last week; @eponymous-rose​ was out of town and I had some other commitments. Regardless, here we are! Brian is looking handsome and cold, as are Sam & Travis on the couch. Everyone is wearing coats. Is the heat broken?

That said, tonight’s guests are Travis Willingham & Sam Riegel.

Brian starts us off asking Sam if he’s remaking the Wire in Beverly Hills. Sam basically embodies that hello fellow kids meme tonight in a hand-knitted beanie from his wife, a bomber jacket, a yellow tee, and skinny jeans. They quickly photoshop in smoke trailing out of his mouth. We’re just a few minutes in and this is off the rails already.

Announcements: The next issue (#5) of Vox Machina comics comes out Wednesday, Feb. 19! It’s also available online at Dark Horse Digital and Comixology. And that’s it! Huh.

Episode 91: Stone to Clay

Brian tells us this is the first time ever to have Sam & Travis alone on Talks. I’m stunned and so are they. Sam says, “between me, Brian, Dani, and Travis right now, there’s four tens on this show right now.”

We’re already into questions less than ten minutes into the show. Truly this is a remarkable night.

63 in game days and 21 episodes passed between Caduceus’s first mention of Stone (episode 71) and Fjord connecting the dots. Travis blames the internet connection and his really bad ADHD night, as that was the night he and Laura remoted in from the hotel.

Brian tells us that when Ashley used to skype in, she could only see Matt & couldn’t see or really hear anyone else.

Travis says there was a huge delay for him between mouths moving and the audio coming through, and then that audio was pretty distorted. Laura could handle it okay, but Travis just heard a jumble and couldn’t parse it.

Sam took a CBD bath the other day and found it exactly as relaxing as a normal bath. Sam & Travis commiserate about taking baths only to have their knees pop out of the water. Tall people problems smh

Caleb & Nott completed the spell in less than a week, including dealing with the Angel of Irons & brokering peace treaties. Travis though the laughter was going to be Helas.

Travis says he definitely didn’t hear the name the first time (he remembered dust but not stone from the lava pits). “Look! Yes! No, I was not listening before! Thursday nights are my times to enjoy my friends and food! Marisha is an amazing note-taker; why would I ever take my own? This is how I got through college!”

Sam says he keeps a mission checklist in his head and has for ages. He has a page in his notebook labeled “To Do” that includes things like visiting Kiri or Shakaste, in case they have downtime and need ideas.

Travis asks if he continues writing in his (apparently) very small handwriting, and Sam says he has to leave room for Laura to draw all her dicks. They all marvel that she is actually a very good artist.

Travis honestly still thinks the Stone name is a huge coincidence, especially since Taliesin didn’t have access to Fjord’s last name when he created Caduceus’s last name and backstory. Sam challenges Travis that even if that were true, doesn’t he think Matt will find a way to tie it together?

Travis says Fjord doesn’t want anything to do with the last name and it’s not even his real name. He’s not convinced this isn’t a coincidence.

Travis did a lot of research into orphanage naming conventions when coming up with Stone. He does have a backstory as to how the orphanage manager picked Stone as his name.

Travis thinks Matt would have emphasized the Stone name more sooner if it had been a true connection and not coincidence.

Brian: “He does like to take credit for coincidences, doesn’t he?”

Nott didn’t think there was a catch in the ritual; Sam was more surprised they were allowed to achieve the milestone at all. He was shocked it happened so soon in the story and that the spell is relatively easy to cast.

He didn’t know it would fail, but there was a moment when he wasn’t sure if he wanted to go through with it. Travis agrees everyone was shocked when it didn’t work.

Fjord’s current stance on faith and destiny hasn’t changed since the last time he discussed it. Faith is a slow thing for Fjord and he really does think the name is a coincidence.

Sam as a player is excited to see what comes next for Nott; “if she had been transformed into Veth at that moment, I would have been excited to see what comes next. The fact that it’s still Nott makes me excited too. I’m excited to see more of Nott since she’s the best character in the M9.” He also confesses he was a bit relieved, in part because it’s delayed the inevitable. At some point she must decide if she is going to stay or go with the M9.

Cosplay of the Week: @kajicosplays​ on instagram of a lovely lady Percy. Brian: “Isn’t it fun when Taliesin’s characters live?”

Deep down, Nott knows she will do the transformation at some point, but at that last moment where she had to make a decision she had to check in with herself to make sure she was ready. Sam Riegel as a D&D player also knows that you have to trust your DM and make choices.

Brian misreads the word “ribbing.” Sam teaches Travis what rimming is. We all learn a lot about each other.

Sam thinks Fjord can realize when the time comes to set jokes aside. He thinks Fjord was very respectful. Travis has honestly forgotten that the conversation took place.

Travis has Dani answer from Fjord’s perspective. It’s actually pretty insightful, talking about how Fjord recognized someone hesitant to give up these newfound powers that have become intrinsically tied to self-worth.

Fjord has always been loyal, and Travis sees his protectiveness of the M9 as a logical extension of this.

Right now, he has found some agency & self-direction and is hopeful to share that sense with everyone else (he especially mentions Yasha).

Sam & Travis start quoting from Half-Baked. This is chaos.

Nott does want to stay with the M9, but she also wants to go home for sure, both of those things. The kiss with Caleb wasn’t necessarily a goodbye; it felt like the closing of a chapter. It felt like something to mark the end of the experience.

Now they’re quoting Beverly Hills Cop. Oh, boy.

“You look like you wrote Pitch Perfect.” When did this turn into a roast?

Fjord has no memories earlier than the orphanage (The Driftwood Asylum). There were a couple dozen kids there aside from him; Travis thinks some of them might have been named Stone. It also operated as a small child-labor workshop for carpentry & woodshop stuff. “It was a terrible place all around.” He has no images of parents or being dropped off.

Sam thought the Nott transformation would be more endgame, though he feels it makes sense that it’s not. “While Nott transforming into Veth was my original goal, what’s great about these long games is that your goals can change two or three times before the end. Now I can explore all these other things: does she want to go back and be a housewife? How does she rectify her obligations to her husband and child to the life that she’s made with the M9? It’s so exciting and interesting.”

Brian asks a hypothetical: if she could transform back but lose all Nott’s memories, would she do it? Sam: “Oh, that’s tough. I don’t know.”

Fanart of the Week: a lovely piece by @pen_draws with everyone in the hot tub.

Travis is very trepidatious about returning to the open ocean after rejecting Uk’otoa. He wants to make sure the third temple is sealed. It feels like it would be too easy for someone not to come and try to collect the job he left half-finished. He also wants to go back to Darktow.

Sam doesn’t know if Nott is still in love with Yeza, although she definitely still loves him. He’s playing with the idea of a high school sweetheart being exposed to the world and then going back home. But Yeza’s amazing, a great guy, perfect. “I guess we’ll find out when/if she turns back into Veth.” Sam feels guilty talking about him. “He’s a fictional character and I feel guilty that he might be watching the show.”

Neither Nott nor Fjord trust Essek. Travis: “He just went from being cold and aloof to being really warm. I know there’s been time and he’s lived an isolated life, but...time will show if he’s being genuine. All of our haunches were up. All of us were on level five alert.” He’s being so helpful that Travis doesn’t trust Mercer with him.

Fjord never ever considered becoming a paladin of the Traveler. “No. Fuck no!” The Wildmother reached out and directly intervened to save him. Travis gets super creepy bad vibes from the Traveler’s relationship with Jester (Sam agrees).

Nott feels more pressure when her own problems become the focus. It’s hard for her to open up and talk about her feelings. She’d rather pick up on other people’s problems. Sam also acknowledges it’s more pressure on him (and anyone) as a player when the whole table is looking at you.

And that’s that! Is it Thursday yet?

[teriwrites]

2020 Writing Wrap-Up

Something that I do every year on the 1st is go back through absolutely everything I’ve written throughout the previous year and compile it into one massive word document. Everything from outlining notes to unfinished short stories to my NaNo project wind up in that file, where I like to read back and reflect on what I’ve gotten done through the year. 

Every year, I end up having written more than I expected, and this year was no different! 

Total for 2020: 203,119!

This is the first recorded year (I think it’s year 4 that I’ve done this for?) in which I’ve cracked 200K! It’s also the first year I’ve ever actually followed through on my resolution to share some of my writing online! So as rough as 2020 has been, I still somehow managed to break some personal records in writing. Which probably has everything to do with the fact that I joined this community earlier this year, and it’s been incredibly encouraging and supportive!

I also branched out a bit more this year in a few ways. I worked on some poetry and prose, which is not something I’ve put a lot of time into before so tends to be a challenge. It’s nothing that I’ll be posting anytime soon, but it was fun to work on in the moment, which is especially important in such a wild year as 2020.

One snag that I definitely hit was the fact that I have a lot more unfinished work than most years. A majority of the short stories I started working on never got finished. But I can’t even be too upset about that, because I totally loved being able to read back on even the fragmented pieces I ended up with. And while I do think a large part of that (for me) is discipline over inspiration, I’m willing to accept that, sometimes, things will remain unfinished. And it’s okay to stop working on them. 

My overall focus shifted a bit this year, too, which was interesting. I worked more on longer things than most years - started out the year by finishing my first draft of Castle on the Hill, continued making some edits and reworking its outline, did a large part of Beneath Alder Creek’s first draft in November. Right now, I’m working on what I expect to be a novella by the time I’m done with it. It’s a big contrast to the usual, short and snappy short stories that fill most of my previous wrap-up files. But I still definitely write those sometimes, and it’s nice to be able to try stretching and testing my own boundaries. 

This is the part of my wrap-up where I go ham throwing in some of my favorite out-of-context quotes from a variety of different things I’ve worked on. Some of them might be familiar, a lot probably won’t. I’m going to post it beneath the thing so this doesn’t become even more absurdly long!

Some of the ~highlights~ of 2020:

First Thoughts in the Morning: wow the sexual tension between me and the alarm clock right now. Later Reflection: wtf? (a literal note on my notes app that I included because I Cannot remember writing any of this and it made me laugh)

Edriele’s gaze trailed down to the woman’s armor, and her stomach twisted. “Where did you find your attire?” The woman glanced down in surprise, as though she’d forgotten she was wearing it. “It was fitted to me when I gained my ranking. I suppose it draws attention, but after my confrontation at… you mean to ask me whether I’m impersonating a Knight!” “The thought had crossed my mind,” the Sister replied dryly. (novella WIP)

“Do you need to make a stop at your house before we head to the chapel?” Leslie asked as they started off. “What for?” Winnie asked. Leslie looked pointedly at the tip of her galoshes poking out from beneath her dress. With another roll of her eyes, Winnie sighed. “Oh, I suppose so.” (Beneath Alder Creek)

When the third meeting for the Society of the Hidden Immortal Tribe was called for the decade, I knew heads would roll. Gathering the entire society together took months. Everything had to be hush-hush; that was the entire point of spreading ourselves out. Plus, every time a letter arrived in the mail, it was a reminder of the idiot who had decided we needed a name change. Everybody agreed that being deemed the ‘S.H.I.T.’ was humiliating, but nobody could agree on a better title, so it had remained the same for nearly a full century. That was the problem with living forever. You always had more time to make decisions, and, in the end, nothing ever got done. (S.H.I.T.)

When she leaves, I’m not sure I remember a word of what she’s said. But as the stresses of the semester wash back in, and my mind clears like being pulled out of a dream, I suddenly understand how one could crash upon the rocks without realizing they’d ever changed their course. (A Modern Siren)

When Georg arrived later, he found Klaus leaning forwards onto the table, staring vacuously at one of his textbooks. "Studying hard?" he taunted as he approached and dropped into the seat Ingrid had been occupying. "I talked with Ingrid," Klaus explained. Georg's eyebrows shot up in genuine surprise, but he quickly recovered and looked pointedly at Klaus' posture. "Go that well, then?" "She said I'm arrogant and completely self-involved and that I never take what a girl says into account whenever I'm on a date." With a haunted gleam in his eye, Klaus stared up at his friend. "I think she's right." "Well then it's a good thing somebody pointed it out," Georg offered, and he turned to his work. (Castle on the Hill)

Takemoto Hana rested a hand over her face. She couldn’t see the swirling of darkness over her head, but she heard the whine behind its words. With a wry smile, she asked, ‘Do you not know how to brew tea?’ ‘Of course I know how to brew tea!’ The dark spirit’s voice boomed with a defensive defiance that rang false in the funny little woman’s ears.  (The Funny Little Woman)

��None of us want to be here right now,” Edgar called out to the hall. “None of us want to go back through the handbook and listen to the steps of proper etiquette in immortality. But it seems that, once again, it’s necessary.” “Dammit, Dave,” muttered the man next to me. I said nothing, but I couldn’t help but agree with the sentiment. Dave was… how do I describe Dave? To call him an idiot would be underestimating his craftiness. To call him a genius, I’d have to ignore all of his dumb antics. Cruel was too strong. Misguided was too innocent. Mischievous fit best, but even that fell short. Dave was a trickster god, if ever one existed. (S.H.I.T.)

Ridiculous, he told me with a self-conscious laugh of someone who didn't expect to be believed. I smiled, but I didn't join in. (The Little Roads)

“Hey, where did Alina go?” Lorelai asked. Zoe shrugged, but Jaiden cleared his throat. “I think you crossed one of her boundaries, Lo. She specifically asked not to involve her girlfriend in this, and then you did anyways. I know we needed the help, but friendships have to be built on mutual trust, my dude. You should’ve at least let her know your plan before you went behind her back.” The two women stopped and shared a look. “Hey, Jaiden,” Zoe asked. “Do you know the capital of Canada?” He shook his head. “I dunno, Ontario?” “Amazing.” (Mirror, Mirror)

"We had a bet going over whether you'd make it in time," Hans told him. "Did you win or lose?" Josef replied. Hans flipped a 5-Deutsche Mark coin over to Peter, who grinned as he pocketed it. "I'm glad you have so much faith in me." Josef's voice dripped with sarcasm. (Castle on the Hill)

Taliesin reached over his head and grabbed at one of the low-hanging bows, picking leaves from it. “I’m not sure.” Winnie stopped. “What do you mean?” “I mean that I don’t know.” (Beneath Alder Creek)

While she attended to these, the man beside her began to stir. Ella could see him out of the corner of her eye, attempting to push himself up into a sitting position. ‘You may want to lie back down,’ she told him, scrubbing uselessly at her skirt. The man continued to sit up anyways, pressing a hand against the side of his face. ‘Am I killed?’ ‘No, but your savior may be.’ Ella threw her skirt back to the ground. ‘When the Madame sees the state of me, I’ll be spending my future afternoons off making a new dress out of the fabric scraps.’ A frown crossed the man’s face as he considered her words, followed by a scowl of understanding. ‘You work for them. The bourgeoisie.’ (Cinderella)

Ingrid took the seat and began digging through her bag for a book. As she did so, she explained, "There were no other tables open in the building - even in the quiet section upstairs - so I figured that I would just ask the first person I recognized if I could sit with them, and well... here we are." "Don't worry about it," Georg answered when Klaus found himself dumbstruck again. "Just ignore the oaf, he'll leave you alone." Ingrid shot a grin at Georg, and Klaus suddenly wondered whether it was a good idea to have the two of them sit together. (Castle on the Hill)

Up ahead, I could see the glass walls of the bus stop. Usually, I waited for the bus leaning against the metal frame of the stop, leaving the seats inside open for children on their way to school. But the seats were empty now. I still avoided them. (Flo’s Magical Emporium: The Pandemic)

Now, I ask that you do not feel too much self-pity. For as easy an error as it may be to mistake a visiting aristocrat’s son for the hired help, the true talent in such a display causing his immediate departure lies within you alone. And to think that the meeting was the work of your father’s tenuous sway over the court! Well, I am sure the time away will do him some good, lest you begin to consider that you’ve ruined his position as well as your prospects. (Dearly Detested,)

Edgar was at the front of the lecture hall, and standing beside him was Dave, smirking as though at some private joke that only he was in on. He was wearing sunglasses, despite the dim lighting of the room, probably because he thought he looked cool. I rolled my eyes. What a tool. (S.H.I.T.)

 The work is different now. Countryside pathways winding through the forest lie forgotten for years without the familiar steps of a traveler. Off beaten paths in the city are never unknown for long, and sometimes streets that were once crossed by thousands a day fall back into obscurity. (The Little Roads)

“How much time will you give me to think on it?” she asked suspiciously, wrapping her arms around herself as though afraid they’d reach out to him if not kept in check. “You have all the time in the world,” the golden man said. “The boy’s, however, runs out with every passing second.” He extended his hand. (Beneath Alder Creek)

You ever met a rich person? Not comfortably wealthy. Not ‘my Uncle Kenny is a lawyer’ rich. Not even ‘widow answering the door to her manor on a hill dressed in fine silk’ rich. No, I mean proper, so-much-money-you-literally-can’t-spend-it-fast-enough rich. They say it isn’t worth Bill Gates’ time to pick up a $100 bill off the floor because he’ll have earned more in the time it takes to grab it. That kind of rich. They seem to be bred for times like these. Their houses are a source of endless entertainment – movie theaters, bowling alleys, personal gyms with a view of the sprawling landscape they overlook like cruel dictators. There’s no need for them to leave during a pandemic; they have access to the equivalent of a luxury resort most families have to save up month to visit. Necessities can be stockpiled in one of the useless extra spaces in the house. I mean, I once had to hide out in a luggage room for a contract. That’s right. An entire room dedicated to holding luggage, bigger than some of the apartments I’ve rented. I thought their residential labyrinths were my greatest source of grief. But social distancing? I’m one bad contract away from retirement. (Bounty Hunter During a Pandemic)

Shaking his head, Detlef pulled a new sheet from his notebook. “Look, I’m just saying, if we can get the satire right, we can be a modern Jonathan Swift.” “I don’t want to be a modern Jonathan Swift, I want to be a student actually passing his debate course!” Peter snapped. (Castle on the Hill)

Moonlight illuminated the German’s fair hair and pale skin, the effect more malevolent apparition than man. (Face on the Other Side of a Dark Window)

Back then, he’d been known for commissioning the exact same portrait of himself every hundred years, hanging them in a hallway in his manor and trying to pass them off as his line of ancestors to any of the locals. It had been a far less skeptical age, and Dave had earned himself a small band of worshipers before Jeff Goldblum himself had been forced to intervene. (S.H.I.T.)

Clara stood before the board of advisors assisting with her thesis. She was one, very intense paper away from her M.A., and she wasn’t about to risk it all by being too proud to ask for help. When she’d made the appointment to meet with them, she expected a series of questions surrounding her topic. Instead, they’d opened by offering her a job. “You want me to steal from the school?” Dr. Pye wrinkled her nose at the suggestion. Next to her, Dr. Pritchard said, “Don’t think of it as theft, dear. It’s merely redistribution.” Clara hadn’t amassed tens of thousands of dollars in debt to be lectured on the definition of robbery. “Either way, it involves me sneaking into the Chemistry department and taking a huge risk to get you some new toys to play with.” (Origins: The Ghost)

“Why is undermining Pryderi so important to Queen Ceridwen that she would risk breaking a timeless alliance just to dismantle them?” Her stomach twisted into a knot, protesting against the answer. “There are few members of the Dusk Court that we know by title.” A shadow passed over Enid’s expression. “The Lord of the Undernell is second only to the Queen.” “Great deeds build the reputation of one in their own court. Cruelty builds it in both.” Taliesin buckled under Winnie’s weight as she suddenly leaned against him. (Beneath Alder Creek)

“Why are all my friends so quick to endanger themselves?” I muttered as I packed up Midas’ crate. Natalie swiveled around from the candy aisle. “So you’re finally willing to admit that we’re friends?” “Save it.” (Flo’s Magical Emporium: The Pandemic)

[done-dm]

Talks Machina Summary, Episode 50

*SPOILERS*

Welp, didn't think I'd be doing this again, but here we go!

•Taliesin and Matt featured on tonight's show.

•They also decided to drink 21-year-old scotch with coke (the soda kind) out of crappy containers, much to Brian’s dismay.

•A reminder that the cast is taking a break from Critical Role and Talks Machina for a week.

•Fjord got the 50th “how do you want to do this?”

•If it hadn’t been for Caduceus, one of the hits Caleb took would have knocked him unconscious.

•Spurt is the first on-screen guest player character death in the history of the show.

•Matt wasn’t aware Chris Perkins was going to be on the show until last minute.

•Spurt was originally an NPC character Matt was going to play until Chris Perkins showed up.

•Caduceus is on edge being underground, but he’s not against it (better than being on the ocean).

•The party is not deep enough to be in the Underdark yet. They’re skimming it though.

•Matt doesn’t plan on taking the party through the exact same route as they did last campaign at around the same level.

•Caduceus sees the rest of the Mighty Nein as people who did not have the option to open up emotionally to others and not as inherently deceitful for hiding their pasts. He actually really likes them.

•Spurt had, like, 12 hit points.

•The fire giants weren’t meant to be a battle encounter, deciding how to get across and what to do with Spurt was originally part of the challenge for the Mighty Nein (Spurt solved that problem for them by provoking the fight and subsequently dying).

•Caduceus doesn’t really comprehend just how bad things were for Nott and Caleb when they talked about what they've been through. He knows it's rough, but can't fully understand it.

•Dani really liked the NPC interaction with Caduceus hugging the blacksmith.

•Matt and Taliesin tried to explain why it’s more common for people to use tragic backstories for their characters (easier to push unhappy people to adventure, cathartic, interesting interactions, etc).

•Matt pulled some inspiration for his kobolds from his work on Kobolds and Catacombs

•Brian almost did a British accent (so close).

•Caduceus is still pretty lanky and thin, even after travelling with the Mighty Nein for so long.

•According to Taliesin, the food Caduceus makes for himself is “basically tofu.”

•The parallels to the last campaign are a complete coincidence (Underdark, doomed native, halfling rescue mission, rogue in the lava, etc).

•A grave cleric is more suited to healing than the trickster cleric, which means Caduceus is more inclined to the healing side of cleric duties than Jester.

•Taliesin has prepared for another character death, just in case.

•Matt says Spurt’s death was very fulfilling as far as character purpose goes.

•The other kobolds don’t know how Spurt got a skunk.

•Caduceus enjoyed the romance novel being read aloud, but the idea has not entirely clicked with him. According to Taliesin, “It’s not really in his wheelhouse.”

•Matt was proud to see the Mighty Nein make a good plan to avoid the giants and was sad to see it fall apart so quickly.

•“No plan survives contact with the enemy”

•Caduceus took the War Caster feat which gives advantage on concentration checks and allows you to cast a spell as a reaction opportunity attack.

•Marisha practices drawing for Pub Draw

•Matt didn’t expect the Mighty Nein to charge into Xhorhas so quickly, but he’s excited about where the story is going.

•Matt expected them to be more involved in the empire’s affairs

•Taliesin said Vox Machina would have been more involved with the war plotline, but the Mighty Nein kind of noped out of that.

•Taliesin really wants to fix Caduceus’ sword.

•The group really needed a Caduceus (or at least an emotionally stable character).

•Beau is Caduceus’ favorite at the moment.

•Cad considers Fjord to be an angsty teen.

•Cad thinks Caleb is “up his own butt a bit.”

•Cad hasn’t figured out Jester is an adult yet/doesn’t really see her as one. He thinks Jester is happy and hasn’t really gone looking for more to her because everyone else in the group is already so messed up.

•Cad is also disappointed in Nott for all of her drinking, but would never say anything about it.

•Cad understands that there is great wisdom that comes from dangerous things, which is one of the reasons he’s more likely to ask questions instead of attacking first.

•The crystal in Cad’s staff came from the land he lived on. He made his staff with the help of his siblings.

•The staff is basically its own miniature ecosystem.

•The bees from Cad’s staff that attacked the fire giant all perished (there are more though, don't worry).

[eponymous-rose]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E12 (Apr 3, 2018)

Happy 60th episode, Talks Machina! Take that, only-12-episodes-of-Critical-Role! (NB: Brian made the same joke like five minutes into the episode. I don’t know what this says about me.)

Tonight’s guests are Pillow Matt Mercer, Matt Mercer, and Marisha Ray!

Announcements: the first five episodes of Key Question are available on Alpha, Dani Carr’s Critical Recap will be on Thursdays before the show, C2E12′s podcast will be available this Thursday (”How neat!”), Wednesday Club will be on tomorrow, Critical Role will be attending C2E2 in Chicago on April 7-8.

Matt names all the episodes (he now comes up with a name right after the episode, which may or may not match his working title for the session) and Dani writes the descriptions (for early episodes, it was Taliesin).

@critrolestats for this episode:

Sam held his pose for 12 minutes and 12 seconds. Travis’ thumbs-up moment in C1E61 was 7 minutes and 51 seconds.

Episode 12 had the first point of damage dealt by Frumpkin.

This was the first time this campaign we’ve had a friendly KO.

There were 21 bird calls made in this episode.

This campaign has now passed 1,000 d20 rolls. 1,052 total!

This campaign has also now passed 50 natural 20s. 55 total!

Joe Manganiello pops up on FaceTime, calling from the very fancy Gary Gygax Memorial DM Chair. As one does. There’s a brief discussion about amazing minis and casting him as Wolverine. Brian: “Dude, can you believe... that guy’s a nerd.”

Had Beau been involved in the infirmary debacle, Marisha suspects she’d be a lot less nice than Fjord.

If the team hadn’t picked up Ulog, he would’ve tried to infiltrate the High Richter’s house by himself partway through, and possibly could’ve ended up in an altercation with the party. There was also the chance of developing a rift with the Knights of Requital if things had gone badly in a different way.

Beau can step up to a leadership role when the group’s goals are in jeopardy, but it’s still generally rooted in selfish reasons.

Was the Rug of Smothering revenge for the magic carpet-related antics in the first campaign? Matt: “In hindsight, subconsciously, maybe?”

There was another chamber with some extra information they could’ve acquired, there were some challenges they avoided, but Matt doesn’t want to get into specifics in case the party decides to go back at some point.

Gif of the week: a valiant struggle against a flying foe.

Matt briefly considered having the Metagaming Pigeon make an appearance to drop a hint about mage hand, but decided it was more fun to bring it up after the fact.

If Fjord and Caleb had been actively in combat when she arrived, the High Richter would’ve turned around and brought in the guards instead of coming in alone. Many of the group could’ve wound up being arrested.

Matt is enjoying being able to space out the intense moments and give people a chance to explore their characters, especially after the constant intensity of high-level D&D at the end of the last campaign.

Everyone is delighted at the second username of the night that ends with a “69″.

Marisha suspects that Beau and Fjord might have similar morality beats, although Fjord’s better at holding his cards close to his chest.

Ulog’s item was a Necklace of Fireballs with only one use left. His final fatal attack was a last-ditch secondary plan in case things went south.

Marisha points out that Beau doesn’t know yet that Ulog’s dead.

Fanart of the week: a glimpse at the events at the end of the episode.

Matt placed the scroll purposely as an invitation for character drama: “I put it there knowing it was going to cause a ruckus... but I didn’t think it was going to cause that much of a ruckus.” Marisha: “Fuckin’ reality show director here.”

Marisha’s reaction to the ending was: “Wow, that escalated quickly!” Beau’s still in shock over all this, and right now her only thought is, “Run.”

Matt is a little defensive over people pointing out how many towers he’s brought down between the two campaigns (there’s a great back-and-forth where he points out that one of them was the party’s fault, but Marisha insists that they were inspired by a previous tower falling, and I’m really dodging spoilers here so let’s get out of this parenthetical). Marisha gets into how a tower is generally a symbol of power and established order.

Marisha points out that the whole party is trying to keep in mind that they’re just level 3 and they’re not established heroes, so they can’t run towards the problem the way VM could. Brian points out that VM was also already at will-die-for-each-other levels of loyalty at their big crisis point, whereas MN are still begrudging allies for the most part.

Matt, on the players now knowing to look for plot clues in smut: “I am so excited for them to be hoarding all the smut and have none of it inform anything for the rest of the campaign.” Later: “Please... please don’t keep doing that.” He loves the idea of some ultra-powerful future-seer in-universe hiding all this stuff in smut.

Matt is continually surprised at the weird parallels between the campaigns that keep creeping in here and there, like the intra-party conflict right before the big upheaval.

Marisha tries to RP her combat and find in-universe reasons to do new things. She’s looking forward to having the Cobalt Soul abilities really start to kick in. Matt points out that the Cobalt Soul abilities are situationally useful.

Asked about Lord Sutan being from the same family that lost the Plate of the Dawnmartyr in a game of cards last campaign, Matt says: “...maybe.”

Matt put in a few red flags for Ulog to see if the party would pick up on just how desperate he was (like giving away his life’s savings to the party).

There was an alternate plan out there for the party to learn about the Crick (that they can still avail themselves of), but the smut plot was made up on the spot as a tease of information.

Who does Beau trust the most in the Mighty Nein? Marisha: “Probably Jester, believe it or not. Jester’s the most open book thus far.” Brian asks to what extent she trusts what Jester says. “Beau thinks that Jester believes what she believes, and that’s enough for Beau. She sees her as being 100% forthright.”

Matt is enjoying being able to bring in these lower-level enemies he didn’t get a chance to use in the last campaign.

Dark Times at Talks Machina High on Alpha:

Pillow Matt is the true power behind the throne and gets his own splitscreen.

Matt had a plan in mind if the party had opted to turn in the Knights of Requital. They would’ve received a reward, gotten in good with the Crownsguard and the High Richter, and probably would’ve been invited to the Gala. It was possible that they could’ve taken plot hooks that took them further from the tower, and they may have only heard about the events of that night the next day.

Marisha feels like, compared to the other team, she and Jester did “pretty fuckin’ okay” at casing their building, and they even managed to retain their dignity.

Of everybody, Matt most fears the notion of Jester getting her hands on a Deck of Many Things.

Matt’s priority as a DM is always to keep his players excited and engaged. He finds D&D to be a great exercise in renewing friendships and relationships. Marisha has really come to appreciate the problem-solving aspects of the game.

Matt’s moving mouth has been superimposed on Pillow Matt. “What have you done.”

Information about VM is not common knowledge in the Empire, especially since Wildemount either wasn’t directly involved in or didn’t really believe a lot of the threats they faced. It would be a history roll for the current characters to learn more about them.

Matt does an alarmingly good Keyleth impression when Brian points out that Marisha’s perfect attendance means Matt’s never had to play her character.

Marisha recommends getting Dwarven Forge by running a D&D game at your work as a corporate team-building exercise. Some talk of tax fraud gets bandied around. It’s fine.

[otdderamin]

Analysis Critical Role C2 Ep014 Molly's Backstory Part 6: Disciple of The Moonweaver

This post is part 6 in a 7-part series examining everything we learned about Molly's backstory in Critical Role Campaign 2 Episode 014. They are meant to be read together in sequence, but 9 pages seemed a little long for Tumblr, so I've broken them up into separate posts. You can also find links to this series, as well as further reading, on my Molly Index.

Disciple of The Moonweaver

Building himself as Molly was about more than the practical consideration of not being recognized.

"Can you imagine what it would feel like to not feel anything about anything that had happened to you so far? […] It's very freeing. It's the best thing- It's the thing that happened to me. It's not the best thing that happened to me, it's the thing that happened to me. I found peace in building a new person. The Moonweaver-" (CR C2 Ep014 2:10:36)

It was probably the people of the circus who introduced him to The Moonweaver, a chaotic good goddess of the Trickery domain. "[She] is considered to be the deity of love, protecting the trysts of lovers with shadows of her own making. Those who work in darkness and trickery often ask for her blessing." Her commandments are, "Seize your own destiny by pursuing your passions. Let the shadows protect you from the burning light of fanatical good and the absolute darkness of evil. Walk unbridled and untethered, finding and forging new memories and experiences." (Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, page 17) To someone starting over from scratch building a new life, these are very appealing commandments, and have probably deeply shaped who he's become.

Molly's had to learn or relearn everything in the last two years. Language seems to have come back fairly quickly, so some of his old mental mapping had to have, too. But even things that came back must have been spotty and needed to be filled in. Which means he's had to actively think through every abstract concept we take for granted because the rest of us learn them through social osmosis. He had to ask himself questions like "Do I like purple? Why do I like purple? Am I a person that likes plaid?" So, he reached ideas around things like gender and absolutely had to think through all of them, individually, how he associates himself with them, and why. (Gender specifically I'll be talking about later in another article. My current thinking is that his demonstrated preferences for colors and patterns tell us a lot about gender identity, too.)

"I had rather have a fool to make me merry than experience to make me sad, and to travel for it too!" (Shakespeare, "As You Like It" act 4, scene 1, line 25) Building a new person became a way of asserting control over his life and seizing his own destiny. Faced with no memories and only vague clues about his former life, he had to choose between picking through the mystery for a sense of self he might never fully relate to, or letting it go entirely. What he did know was nothing he wanted to be associated with. "Whoever that was came to that end. And I want nothing to do with that. Whatever it was, it doesn't feel good when I- the moments when something creeps through, I don't like it. I don't want anything to do with it." (CR C2 Ep014 2:05:05) "Some asshole got buried in the dirt. Fuck him. I am enjoying what I'm doing. I want nothing to do with that. Anything that came before, I was happy to just leave it be." (CR C2 Ep014 2:01:36)

Feeling beholden to a past that you can't be part of and can't connect to is a lot like having a phone number that used to belong to a shady person. You don't have anything to do with them, but other people occasionally bother you with the misapprehension that you're the same. For Molly it was easier to just cut ties, change his number again, and move on. “New identity, who did?” The directive to "Walk unbridled and untethered, finding and forging new memories and experiences" was permission to build a new life wholly his own. He worries, "What if [my past] feels that it- that I owe it something?" (CR C2 Ep014 2:11:36) "I don't want to remember anything, I don't want anybody else's baggage in my head, I don't want anybody else's problems, thoughts, ideas." (CR C2 Ep014 2:09:45) Taliesin said:

“[Molly] doesn't care who Lucian was. […] It doesn't matter if he was a good person or a bad person. It's, 'I'm me now, and I have decided this is what I'm doing.' This was, 'I am made of nothing but decisions that have led me to be this person, and if you think I need to add a bunch of decisions to be more complete, or if a bunch of stuff that happened in my past is more important to who I am than who I am now, that's wrong. That's just- That's fucked up and stupid. I mean, that's madness.' You get to decide who you are, and he has very much decided who he is. And there's this little tangent, and wherever it leads, good or bad, is possibly to someone who- or to a person who's going to change- want to fundamentally change who he is and overwrite a lot of that. That's yeah, no. He wants nothing to do with it." (TM 2018-04-17 0:39:24)

He added later:

"I have friends who travel with the circus, and I have friends who live kind of that lifestyle, and who travel. I just saw a couple of them a few days ago. And there is a joyous freedom to not owing the world anything of yourself. Of just being, just- And it's not even just being responsible only for yourself, but just choosing not to just let yourself get bogged down with a bunch of stuff that doesn't really doesn't matter to you." (TM 2018-04-17 0:41:35)

Molly is an interesting character because he is a synthesis of the philosophical debate around what constitutes personal identity. (Which is far outside the scope of this analysis, but I encourage you to look it up.) It was performers who helped him shape his identity, and that has had a profound effect on how he views the purpose of his "self." The goal of a circus is to lie, impress, entertain, and delight in a way that convinces people to further your survival (give you money). He says, "I like pretending. Pretending's great. Who cares where anybody came from?" (CR C2 Ep014 2:03:26) "I spent two years, before I met you all cajoling people, occasionally ripping them off, occasionally doing a good turn here or there; never trust the truth. Truth is vicious; the truth thinks that you owe it something; none of that. I like my bullshit. It's good, it's happy, it makes other people happy. […] It is exactly who I am!" (CR C2 Ep014 2:11:59) Telling others the semi- to wholly- fictitious story of who we are and what we are comprised of is how all of us interact with other and shape how they see us. Molly just does this very deliberately and without pretense.

Molly's understands that other people deal with their impression of you rather than your impression of you. I elaborated on this in my earlier articles "How Molly uses appearance to assess people" and "How Molly manipulates the way people see him" Keenly aware that he's an outsider, he's shaped his appearance to challenge people. If they have an immediate recoil reaction, even if they cover it after a moment and act cordial, he knows not to trust them and their bullshit. If they take his appearance in stride, he knows they're open to outsiders and might be worth engaging. He also makes his appearance overwhelming so people focus on that and don't actually focus on him or his abilities too closely.

Part 1: Separating Molly and Lucian Part 2: Cree Part 3: The Tomb Takers Part 4: The Ritual Part 5: Molly Awakens Part 6: Disciple of The Moonweaver Part 7: Weird Blood Powers

If you like this transcript, please consider donating your time to Critical Role Transcripts, @CRTranscript on Twitter, to help them provide closed captioning to Critical Role. We’d like to share this wonderful show with as many people as possible, regardless of hearing ability or English language skills.

 Also, consider buying my a coffee (ko-fi.com/otdderamin). I’ve been working on these while struggling to adjust to disability. Donating helps me justify spending time on these projects.

References  

Mercer, M. (2018). Blood Hunter Class Details.  Retrieved from D&D Beyond.

Mercer, M., & Haeck, J. (2017). Tal'Dorei  Campaign Setting. Seattle: Green Ronin Publishing.

Analysis Critical Role C2 Ep014 How Molly manipulates the way people see him

Transcript Critical Role C2 Ep014 0:13:00 Molly’s Backstory 

Transcript Talks Machina 2018-02-20 0:20:50 How Molly uses appearance to assess people

Transcript Talks Machina 2018-04-17 Alpha 0:35:07 Molly’s notion of identity

[thedaselcor]

Late into the night, Gwen stayed perched on the edge of Morgana’s bed, running fingers gently through her hair and telling her stories her father had told her when she was a girl.

“One more?” Morgana asked, filled with guilt and shame for asking, for being so afraid of sleep.

But Gwen didn’t judge her, or seem upset with the request, or make a show of impatience at being kept from her home for so long. She only smiled, and nodded, and searched her mind for the right story to end the night.

“Well,” she announced in a conspiratorial tone, when she found it, “I do have one more. It’s a very very special one, so you can’t tell anyone about it.” Then, she settled in close, and lowered her voice to a whisper, and began to tell her tale.

(Gwen's story below the cut)

“A long long time ago, in a place not very far from here, there lived nine beautiful sisters: Morgen, Moronoe, Mazoe, Gluten, Glitonea, Gluten, Tyrone, Thiten, and Tithon--whose parents clearly had trouble thinking up enough unique names for their beautiful daughters.

“The nine sisters ruled a magical realm called Avalon, the Isle of Apples, and they were the kindest, most benevolent enchantress-sisters, famed for their abilities as shapeshifters, and as the greatest healers of all time.

“One day, the great bard Taliesin entered Avalon through a magical portal of water and dreams, a portal no mortal man before him had ever used alive. In his arms, he carried a great and fallen king.

“‘Please, oh wise and beautiful sisters,’ said Taliesin, ‘my king, he has fallen in battle. I beg of you, fair maidens of the Isle of Apples, bring my king back to life, I will give anything.’

“‘But why should we do this?’ the sisters asked. ‘Why should we get involved in the world of mortal kings, who are we to decide the fate of Albion?’

“‘Please,’ said Taliesin. ‘My king has been the greatest king that ever was. I know that if you return him to me, he will bring about a world where our two kingdoms could be at peace. A world of magic and beauty like no one has ever known.’

“‘But why should we believe you?’ asked the sisters. ‘You are known even to the kingdom of Avalon as a great bard, it is in your nature to speak falsehoods.’

“‘Not falsehood, my ladies,’ protested Taliesen. ‘Never falsehoods. The purpose of a great story is to guide, to speak the truth that no man wants to hear into his very soul so that it may live forever. Please, without my king my soul is sundered. Without my king, I can never again be complete.’

“Upon hearing Taliesen’s desperate plea, the sisters felt their hearts ache for him as they had never felt before. So, they devised a way to test both the goodness of the king, and the soul bond he allegedly shared with this bard.

“‘Very well, dear bard, let us put your theory of myth to the test,’ said the eldest sister Morgen, stepping forward as the leader of her sisters. ‘You will have one year in Albion, to tell the story of your once and future king, and then you must return to us. Then, we will create a future for you and your king, and I will personally leave my memories here in Albion and join you.

“‘If your king is as good a person as you claim, and your story is strong enough to still be told in Albion to guide us, then I will carry him myself into Avalon the next time that he falls, and he shall be granted life enough to rule over this new, united Albion you promise. But if he isn’t, or if you fail, then you will be doomed to wait for him forever, never remembering this bargain, never knowing why your soul must forever remain sundered.’

“‘Very well,’ said Taliesen, grasping to the fine thread of hope the sisters were able to offer, ‘I will face your challenge, for my king, for Albion, for all of us.’

“When he left to tell his story, Morgen turned to her sisters and wept. She knew, in her heart, that striking this bargain was the truly benevolent path, but she feared the immense loneliness she would face in Albion without her sisters. ‘Don’t worry,’ they told her, ‘wherever you go, we will follow in your dreams--in the place where Albion and Avalon touch--and we will guide you.’

“And so was born the gift and curse of every seer, to hear the guidance of the eight sisters of Avalon, waiting for the day their eldest sister will return with the great king, and guiding her from the shadows.”

[eponymous-rose]

Talks Machina (Episode 88 spoilers!)

Highlights from this week’s episode:

This week’s pre-show message from Denise: “Brian is a puppet and I’m pulling the strings.”

Overwatch mention! Brian shout-outs D.Va, Marisha’s all about Symmetra, Matt breaks out the McCree voice.

1PM Saturday, much of CR will be playing Mansions of Madness on the stream, and Matt will be guesting on a show at 11AM as well.

Brian: Our special guest, Gil Ramirez. Marisha: (whispers) Don’t fuck us, Gil.

Gil was helping out in the twitch chat from episode one. He’s also been smithing for sixteen years!

Gil uses liquid mercury to balance his steel dice. Travis: ...you just have liquid mercury hanging around?

Gil and Taliesin both have a periodic table collection.

Gil takes off his button-down to reveal a t-shirt that just reads “Don’t fuck me, Gil.” with “Dammit Gil!” on the back.

Gil pulls out cards that read “Malks Tachina” that are all sick burns on Brian.

4:46:50 total gameplay time last week. VM had 936 total HP at the start of the kraken battle, ended with 70 total HP.

A fan points out the similarities between the kraken fight and the Kobayashi Maru in Star Trek--an unwinnable fight to see how you do under great pressure. Marisha points out that nobody is expected to do the Aramente alone, but they’re never told that explicitly, so Keyleth’s been figuring that out, and that was one of the big lessons here. When she decided to planeshift out, she had to trust that Grog was going to finish it without her. She’s been moving beyond her previous urge to be self-sacrificial.

Matt points out that if Keyleth had stayed, Grog probably would’ve stayed until the end, too, and things would’ve gone a lot worse.

Matt wasn’t playing the kraken to full intelligence (his argument being that the rules-as-written version is better suited to being a full-arc villain kind of deal), but if they’d decided to talk to it, it probably would’ve stalled long enough to get everyone exactly where it wanted them.

Travis on Tary not using Luck to reroll: Either he is the most genius, maniacal character in a long-running arc... or he just rolled shitty dice because Gil fucked him.

Keyleth would’ve rather failed the Aramente than kill the kraken or lose her party.

A question on screen flashes twice. Laura (who isn’t even on the show this week) immediately tweets “Two flashes!! Free Denise.”

Grog was trying to abide by Keyleth’s rules of not killing the thing, but his whole priority was getting Vax out, because he realized that not getting him out while he was unconscious might’ve meant losing his body for good. Matt points out that it worked out well that it was always Grog getting eaten, because he was more likely than most of the other party members to deal enough damage to get out.

Why didn’t the water ashari let Korren and Keyleth know Vilya was suspected dead? Matt starts to answer, then admits it’s mostly just to maintain narrative drama, because that’s how storytelling works.

Gil wonders whether one of the lodestones could be Keyleth’s mom. Marisha: ...my mom is octopoo?

Grog’s decision on leaving Tary mostly boiled down to “...eh.” Grog didn’t mind too much that Percy made him go back for Tary, because he didn’t feel too strongly about leaving him behind, but there might be consequences once Friends wears off.

Keyleth would’ve definitely still planeshifted out if Grog and Vax’s positions had been reversed. She trusted that Vax would’ve managed to get out, too.

Travis’ wise words on the Raven Queen: “Didn’t she need the blood jacuzzi to get the thing going?”

Travis thinks Grog would be interested in participating in Vax’s ritual.

Travis was stoked for Vax to join the Dead Club, but he has no idea how it’s going to go because of the Raven Queen.

Matt re: people yelling about revivify/resurrection no matter the outcome: “I... mostly don’t care. I’m still a sensitive boy.”

Brian brings back the intro to the first episode, in which Matt points out that this is the continuation of a home-game and number-crunching shouldn’t be the priority. Of course, Critrolestats is an exception: “They keep track of the numbers we like.”

Brian: “Discussions are great, and we love talking about the show even if we disagree... but when it gets to be this weird thing where people are... it’s like, guys, you’re kind of embarrassing yourself. Like, give me a break, dad. Maybe intense scrutiny of a D&D game that’s on the internet isn’t the best way to live your life.”

Travis: “I’ll never go on [reddit]. It requires reading, right?”

Matt thinks the kraken was probably watching the party for a while, and then Tary’s natural one was a focus point. If they hadn’t failed that challenge, they might’ve had to fight it as they were escaping.

The one spell Marisha forgot to write down on her spell sheet was Freedom of Movement, which would’ve been incredibly clutch in the fight. Matt forgot about it, too.

Matt points out that everyone had an extremely stressful week leading up to that episode. Brian mentions that he’s known everyone for a while, now, and they all generally act the same on-screen as they do off-screen, so they’re not gonna be putting on an act. Sometimes you just get a bit of a slog playing D&D when everyone’s exhausted, but it can still be fun as long as people aren’t going over every decision with a magnifying glass.

SURPRISE ASHLEY WITH AMAZING HAT ON AFTER-DARK

After dark:

The first shot after the break is just a close-up of Trinket.

Matt to Travis, in one of the best out-of-context quotes thus far: “So what you’re saying is that your deviantart is full of vore?”

If Grog had an intelligence of 20 for 24 hours, he’d probably go down to Percy’s workshop and build something.

Matt ran a session pre-stream that was just Pike and Vax, in which the two of them had to fight a chimera. There was also one that was just Vax, Scanlan, and Pike.

If Grog had been left behind and died, Ashley thinks Pike would’ve pulled a Scanlan and left the party, then would’ve gone to go live under the sea until she found him, and would’ve kept his body until she got True Resurrection, “even if it took a hundred years”, so she could bring him back.

Matt re: Keyleth being the only one who hasn’t died: “No, there’s a reason for that. Because she’s my fiancee and I give her special treatment.” Marisha: “Don’t say that even in jest!” Matt: “No, if that were true, I wouldn’t sleep on the couch as often.” Marisha: “They’ll believe that, too! They’ll actually think that’s true!”

Ten or higher on that saving throw and Grog would’ve died in the kraken. Matt rolled a nine (which is why he tweeted the picture).

Marisha’s biggest fear re: ways for her character to die was tripping and falling in lava, which just about happened, so almost anything else would’ve been okay in comparison. Brian: “Keyleth died doing what she loved: a series of errors.” Marisha: “Failing.”

Travis’s Xbox gamertag is MeatyAlbatross.