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easays · 2 years ago

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ravening war, ep. 4

writing about actual play is infinitely easier with show notes, but live tweeting feels much more stressful than just continually editing a Tumblr post

so spoilers for episode 4 of the ravening war below the line

Okay, going into this episode, I'm hoping for more revelations regarding Colin Provolone's place in all of the mess, in particular his connection to Deli. I'm also tracking Karna and Amangeaux's relationship--their dynamic feels interwoven but not in a typical straightforward way.

Episode time: 2h30min

Narrative time: five years!

Already starting off with an impressive time coverage in one episode, tracking five years in game time.

Directly after the battle where Pamela Rocks falls, Amangeaux is so shaken, she takes her child and flees. She encounters Karna, who reminds her that war has always been there, even if she, the Queen, has not been in it.

Aabria's portrayal of Karna's betrayed emotions is powerful.

K: "You wanted to stay queen. And I put my life on the line to give you that shot...I won't spend my life chasing you, hoping that you make enough right choices to keep me safe, happy. This is a transaction, and you're welching on your end."

Karna threatens to reveal the child's existence, showing that she's known all along that the child exists.

A: "There's nothing special about the royalty!"

K: "I'm glad you finally fucking caught up."

BRUTAL. Just...absolute brutal roleplaying going on here.

K: "I'm going to lose everything."

A: "You're not going to lose me."

Karna leaves, parting ways with Amangeaux, and A leaves with her child to Uvano, the place of her family home (though no family to speak of). She spends her next five years learning everything she can about the enemy, to try and figure a way out of this alive.

Karna is ruined. She has to start over, and she heads to Ceresia to see what she can do there. She corresponds with Deli and Raphaniel.

While in Ceresia, we learn that Karna has become a True Believer in the Hungry One, and she spends five years trying to figure out how to serve the Sanctus Putris in her new place. She catches the smell from the Sanctus Putris meeting and follows it to Senator Ariana Gemilli, a kept Senator of the Imperator (?).

The description of the succulent fruit and feet rubbing is oddly sensual and sexual, the players fanning themselves (and the break providing a moment of relief in what has been an incredibly tense game already so far). Karna (or Aabria? can't tell) almost has a hard time looking Ariana in the face, Matt taking on this fluid, femme voice and body styling that I (as a studier of all things femme) find fucking fascinating.

Tomate falls, and King Belvedere Cabbage ascends and joins forces with Ceresia, creating a truly terrifying force.

The Bishop is unwell, physically. Immediately after the battle, as Amangeaux and the child flee, Karna explodes at Raphaniel and tells him about the child and Amangeaux's flight. A true unnerving exchange between Karna and Raphaniel, as they each are trying to send the other off but both are inherently suspicious of the other. In a hug, Raphaniel realizes that there are literal rot-holes in Karna's body.

R: "It is a cruel thing, I think, to discover that our gifts are capable of devouring us."

K: "It's weird to be afraid to die when that's already happened."

Cabbage's rise to power has a rallying effect, and Raphaniel struggles to get face time with the Archbishop. Finally, Raphaniel gets face time with her Archbishop Camille Colliflower. She looks frail but also, on closer inspection, healthy and in almost a casual stance for those within the Bulbian clerical hierarchy.

Raphaniel is coming unravelled in front of the Archbishop.

R: "I cannot maintain this mask, Your Grace. We were there, under the pyramid together, in the light of blueberries, under the great pyramid of food...I spent years, years, searching for any sign of the fellowship only to discover this is a ruse! The Sanctus Putris, all of this, does it further the cause of the church to see Queen Rocks killed? I cannot imagine how. serve the church?...Help me see. We have spoken for years of service, about the profligacy of licentiousness and heresy. A wicked, Godless Calorum! If there was a plan, why did you not trust me as your servant?...Please. Please. Let me into the light."

Her response is disconcerting and chilling on the deepest level.

ACC: "The Church exists amongst the necessity of politics. And it is utilized like a tool. For the great will of the Bulb. But we do not bow to the politics of the land. We are greater than the ambitions of these godless, heathenistic entities than fill these lands. We who have been given the truth, the truth long hidden, 'tis dangerous to expose our intent to the light of others. And so, without enough time to trust, and knowing you and all of yours years, your patience, it wasn't right yet to show you this true intent. And you've proven quite useful, Raphaniel. And I'm ever thankful. However, there are things that exist beyond the shadows where the light cannot reach. You are not ready. You'll never be ready, Raphaniel. We do what we must to present the mask to the world, to do the true work. Perhaps in time, should you live long enough, I can show you. But you're not ready."

Raphaniel verbally commits to pursuing this path, but in his heart of hearts, he commits himself to use every breath to destroy this woman and burn every bit of her and her companions from Calorum. That night, Raphaniel burns every bit of his notes on the Fellowship. He uses Heroism on himself to put his hand directly into the fire and fully commits himself into a monomania for years, needing to trigger the apocalypse. He must bring the great conflict between the Bulb and the Hungry One must happen so the Blender of the Void can cleanse all.

Raphaniel goes fuuuuuuull conspiracy mania. He is digging up dead bodies and uses their bodies (with the help of magic) to create a network of the dead to better understand those running the Sanctus Putris. He calls in favors that he's held onto for years, but on a failed contested roll (Brennan's 22 to Matt's 25), the Archbishop cottons on to what he's doing. He is demoted to the Archdeacon and leaves to the Glucian Road.

Annnnnnd we cut to Colin Provolone, who is going into a conversation with Deli. Deli insists that war is about to come. The Meat Lands will be united, and will fight, and Deli demands Colin to be with him. Colin's response is to take off his belt and dagger and drop them at Deli's feet.

C: "At one point, I promised the Chieftess that I would watch your back... She thought you would make a great leader. I think in some ways you're good at whatever this is. I don't know that I agree that that is the kind of leader that I want to be with."

D: "If you are unsure, then I am not the kind of leader that needs you. If you want to turn your back on whatever this is, then I don't need you. In fact, I'm better without you."

C: "My grandfather tried to - tried to lead the people of the Dairy Islands against some -some royals who were putting their boot on the neck of the people. For a while it seemed like he might actually make a difference, but then everyone turned on him. In the middle of Place, he was melted down, screaming in front of everyone. Then, no one knew that he had a secret child, who was my father, and he raised me in the streets of Place without anything. I had to steal, cheat and do everything that my horrible father wanted me to. And then one day, he let everyone -- all of his drinking buddies-- know that he was Fontina's son, and then the same thing happened to him. I've been scared this whole time that people would know that that was the truth of me. And I just don't care anymore. You can keep your skald. I hope you find what you're looking for, but I don't think I can be a part of it."

Deli kicks Colin's dagger hard, turns, and tells Colin to leave. The smartest person he knows in this situation is, unfortunately, Raphaniel, so the join up right at the moment that Raphaniel is at his lowest becoming the Archdeacon.

This is true an unparalleled level of storytelling and playing. Brennan's religious fervor is uncomfortably palpable at certain points. The man casts Shatter with no defense! He bloodies his little radish man fists just hitting the rocks! Brennan simulates sobbing in a fetal position and I am....truly unwell.

Colin has an adorable interaction with the banana boy, gifting him gold (very Robin Hood vibes).

Deli is fucking losing it. He's alone, truly without family, and it's freeing: he is the tool of destiny, so it's him who must be taken care of, there can be no consideration of other people. Lou active seeks out Basha Myaso, a warlord of the Beef and opponent of his mothers for the Meatlands, and he throws his lot in with Basha. It is a deadly move, but not for Deli: as he becomes head of his own clan, his mother takes her leave to the north, never to be seen again.

Karla comes to Deli's side as he calls, but as years have passed, they both come back together in their hot bitch shit. They're both incredibly hot. He's a full Meatlander now, and she's rocking lotion and red hair and deadly beauty. Deli admits so quickly that he's trying to kill Sapphria? Like, damn, he just came out with it!

Worth noting that at this point, Aabria has adopted a bit of a sultrier voice for Karna; she assents, without hesitation, to aid Deli in assassinating Sapphria. Karna is beyond successful.

Karna's scenes, particularly her assassinations, really do drip with sensuality in ways I gotta explore more deeply at some point.

Basha takes his place as War Lord; Cirtrina is martyred in the streets; peace talks between Fructera and Vegetania begin, ending the war between Fructera and Vegetania. Cirtina's death leads Vegetania not only to withdraw from the Fructeran conflict, but from the conflict entirely. Candia raises and pushes more, seizing the Vegetanian withdrawal as a moment to move against Ceresia. We are now fully five years from the last episode, and the Fructerans, Candia, the Meat Lands, as well as the Dairy Islands, move against Ceresia, surrounding Pangranos for the final assault to end this Ravening War.

Here's where our Scrumptious Scoundrels are now, five years hence:

Amangeaux realizes she (and the child) cannot hide in the castle forever. She throws herself at the mercies of the Uvanos, claiming to have fled Vegetania with no friends or allies. She admits to Uvano that a one-night stand with a mutual friend led to her child, who looks far more like an Uvano, and asks the Uvanos to raise him as a child of the family. She becomes, in the meantime, quite the warrior. She marches under the Uvano banner.

Karna stays with Deli; he is the "first thing she has desired beyond her own survival." She's fully ripened, bright red with red curly hair and sacrificed her eye to the Hungry One in an attempt to keep the Hungry One from consuming a battle-injured Deli.

Deli is in the vanguard from the Meat Lands to Pangranos. Deli is so imbued in war, and only war, for months, if not years, at this point.

Colin has risen in the ranks of the Bulbian order of Knights, which means less than nothing to him as it's a means to an end. He is mostly following Raphaniel. He tries to communicate to Raphaniel that there's such a thing as being too ambitious; there's a benefit to patience.

Raphaniel, however, is mostly following Colin. He realized his obsession with the Sanctus Putris and the devotion of the end-times cannot happen quickly. It may not happen in his lifetime. He writes, obsessively, saving his theological treatises for the right time to widen disseminate them. He hitches himself to Colin and the Uvanos: "the church is here to help!"

Raphaniel warns Deli about needing something to hold people together, which he believes Basha is ill-suited to do. Raphaniel proposes the church, but Karna proposes Deli as the unifying factor: "Be bold."

Amangeaux encounters Colin and Raphaniel on the road, and she's panicking; but catching Raphaniel looking smaller and frailer brings back Amangeaux's fond remembrances of Raphaniel's comfort after her husband's death. Their exchange feels very loaded; Amangeaux feels guilty for leaving Raphaniel, and Raphaniel lets her feel guilty, wallows in it. Was it for her protection or his that she never wrote, in all these long five years?

Deli is called to Basha's side, bringing SKALD Karna with him. Skald! Like fuck, Deli, are you just giving that shit out to anyone you have a crush on? I'm already preparing for the triad shippers to get in on some Deli-Karna-Colin action. What would the ship name be? Spicy Meat 'n Cheese? DeKarnLin?

Side note: all these mother fuckers are at level 9 now. This is going to get buck wild.

The night stretches before battle the next day, and Raphaniel is high key losing it. His sleep brings on the teeth and tearing, the blender effect from earlier in the episode returning. A name tries to eek through the sounds and images, but Colin disrupts before Raphaniel can fully grasp onto it.

R: "Do you think someone ever made a smoothie with cheese and radish in it?"

Are we going...full Donnie Darko here? Just absolute nonsensical energy that will possibly make sense only after the entire season is over.

Uvano goes full Theoden in his inspiration of the troops pre-battle. He brings Amangeaux to the war tents, meeting up with Deli.

K: "Chief."

D: "Skald."

K: "Ah, damn."

Anjali continues to be my favorite for her Devil Wears Prada reference.

Uvano brings Amangeaux to the war tents and greets Deli as if the two have never met. Karna forces a re-roll for Amangeaux with Silvery Barbs. This is the beginning of an incredibly odd reunion.

Telepathic communication begins! This such a useful trick in this series, tbh.

Raphaniel fucking...takes off? He has CUNNING ACTION? Everyone is now booking it towards this fucking cave. Raphaniel is fully transcendent from the world and has convinced himself that now the cave will know him, it took time, but now it will recognize him.

The opposed athletic checks between Raphaniel and Amangeaux go poorly. Raphaniel has moved so fast he comes out of his cloak, and he is apparently...naked under the cloak? The hi jinks here are wild.

There are three fungal creatures Raphaniel encounters in the cave, but when Raphaniel casts Detect Thoughts, he gets nothing but emotions. No actual thoughts. One releases spores directly in front of Raphaniel, and as he ingests them, the emotions begin to become actual words.

FC: "You touch the heart of the world. You touch the mycelium?"

Cue Raphaniel losing his shit.

D: "I think they're trying to protect us from something we should not have."

R: "I must have it!"

FC: "Saprophus must be protected."

The Sanctus Putris mother fuckers round the corner, crashing this party, and as Raphaniel casts shatter, we cut for next week.

WOO. A heavy episode!

#the ravening war #dimension 20 #dimension twenty

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