#fy'ra rai

[fear-ne]

You all feel the breaking of something as you go your separate ways. But not everything is forever. Not every story gets ground down to a bitter end. Most of you left standing, scattered across the world, to start telling new stories.

[bixbiboom]

And we catch up with the Crown Keepers…

[ludinusdaleth]

"It's all I wanted. Whatever it would take, to be able to keep [Opal] safe."

-Critical Role Campaign 3, Episode 93, "Bittersweet Reunions"

[teaweltzer]

wonder what Dorian's up to

[sparring-spirals]

Still emotional about Fy'ra Rai and Opal, actually. Thought dump time bc i. dont have the energy to cut this down effectively.

Because at that point in the episode, Opal is doomed. Not in the fun little "oh things are getting worse ;)" kind of way we'd been experiencing leading up to the fight, or even IN the fight. At that point in the fight, Cyrus is dead. Dorian and Dariax have their minds twisted, bodies clambering away from the fight. Morrighan has felt, firsthand, just how far gone Opal is, holes in her mind, her friend broken. The heartbreaking sentence of. "You can always come back." understands that she is gone already. She's lost already. Opal has forgotten Ted. Opal has forgotten herself.

So at that point in the fight, we know Opal is doomed. Us as the audience, the cast, the characters. Aabria is running through each of the other crownkeepers and it is more of a goodbye than a round of combat. Defying the Spider Queen invites death, with zero hesitation- Cyrus's body as physical evidence of that. The terms were very clearly set: You leave Opal, you let her be lost. Or you die. (Leaving Opal anyway).

and Fy'ra Rai then. Grasps the crown, understands intimately that she can break it off and it will kill Opal. (I will free you, if you want me to. We would lose you but you would not be taken). And asks, what do you want me to do. What do you want.

and Opal says, I want you to leave. (I want you to live.) and Fy'ra Rai functionally says. No. Sorry. That's not one of the options.

If you wanted to go. I will do that (your blood on my hands). If you want me to stay, I will. But I'm not going to leave you.

There was the point where Fy'ra Rai broke into the communication and I felt my insides sink because. Look. Lets be real, Aabria had already demonstrated the stakes here. The gesture would not be rewarded for the gesture alone. The Spider Queen's terms were: You leave Opal. Or you die.

And Fy'ra Rai said: no.

I don't think I'm overstepping to assume that if Fy'ra Rai had failed the intimidation check, she would have died. This entire thing hits me so hard because I think Anjali knew that too. I think Fy'ra Rai knew that too. Yes, Fy'ra Rai convinced a Betrayer God to negotiate. She carved a third option out of a non-negotiable situation. She knew what would happen if she failed and did it anyway, with no fear, no regret, no waver in her resolve. She had lost enough sisters. She wasn't going to lose anymore, no matter the personal cost. That's part of why it succeeded, I'm sure, but.

Just. Fuck me. The amount of resolve. The amount of love. The amount of conviction. "I am. A protector." You know your friend- your sister- is doomed. So no more negotiating away from that. You step to her side and you grasp her hand and say- doom me with her.

And in some, sideways way, this saves you both, at least for a little while.

Because this story is a tragedy. This ending is a sad one. We know this already. But think about- Opal, under Lolth's bidding, alone in the dark. Think about Fy'ra Rai, alive, intimately aware that she had failed to protect yet another sister.

And think about what we got, instead: the two of them, in deep darkness, danger encroaching- holding hands. Someone they love at their side. A champion. And her champion.

This is still a sad story. But it's not the same one. Fy'ra Rai stared down a Betrayer God and made her change her mind. She stared down a Betrayer God, and her love and conviction changed the nature of the story. It shouldn't have been able to. But she did.

Fy'ra Rai chose to doom 2 people instead of one, and the sheer strength of her love and will managed to save them both, at least for a little while. Isn't it funny how that works? Isn't it devastating? Isn't it. fucking incredible?

[colealexart]

okay, i lied, THIS is the last one. how i think the exu characters would write their names. (minus orym, dorian and fearne because i already did them)

[twinklestarss]

“I've always known who Fy'ra Kai is. She's my sister, but she's also always been, how do you say? A bit of an asshole. But I never thought that she would, that she would want to kill me. I don't know who she is, and she has been so much a part of who I am, even when I thought she was gone.”-Fy'ra Rai

Campaign 3 Episode 92: Broken Roads Bonus Aabria: 💛🥰💚

[burr-ell]

you can follow a trend two months late right

[venator-signum]

the fucking whiplash i got from going into a Liam O'Brien induced crying session on the couch to cackling at the crown keepers not knowing shit

[hemisphaericas]

Crown Keepers! Was planning on posting this with an eventual sketch dump but figured I'd do it early since they're still in-game.

[clar-a-m]

Fy'ra Rai is always so much fun to draw

[fia-bonkginya]

"don't you have a sister to go kill?"

"no. i have a sister to walk beside."

[ludinusdaleth]

"I just want you to know, I'll fight for you, too. I'll beat your sister's ass if I have to. Although, she could probably beat my ass, but-"

-Critical Role Campaign 3, Episode 92, "Broken Roads"

[teaweltzer]

[countslimeula]

I watched EXU: Kymal and Opal was so real for this tbh.

[sparring-spirals]

UHHHH. OKAY. SO. HEY. i need to really just. Absorb. the fact. that. Fy'ra Rai's sheer strength of will, her sense of purpose as a protector, her stubbornness. Was powerful enough to make a Betrayer God of Lies And Deceit go "damn okay FINE ill try being. honest or whatever. this time. fine. she can fucking stay". Like HELLO. Where is Anjali Bhimani so i can so i send her all these flowers and adoration and awe.