#we got: BELLS

[lil-lemon-snails]

I think I settled on a design for my Divine Circus AU sun :3c

[lotus-pear]

he's so crazy we can't take him anywhere 😭🤣

[sweetlullabyebye]

insert incoherrent sobbing

[veronicaneptunes]

A long time ago, we used to be friends... The Veronica Mars pilot aired 20 years ago today- on the 22nd of September, 2004.

[katsinspats]

Since I got into the IDW comics recently, I wanted to draw Tangle and Whisper together!! I couldn't decide on the design, so I just did both🤪

(These are totally unrelated to the Tangle and Whisper miniseries I just thought the faux-comic cover would be cute)

[royalarchivist]

Cellbit: There's Eggs! THERE'S A BRAZILIAN EGG!

Quackity: Do you guys have a name for it? Do you guys have a name for it?

Cellbit: [After asking Chat for name ideas] Richarlyson! Richarlyson, please!

[Less than 5 minutes later]

Cellbit: Richarlyson tried to kill me! 😨

Quackity: Why is your Egg so violent?!

2 years ago today, the Brazilians joined QSMP, and on that same day, we were introduced to our favorite charming little rascal: Richarlyson! Feliz aniversário Richarlyson 🇧🇷💛

[cinuol]

oh taliesin... you crazy wonderful eldritch horror <3

[blorbologist]

Y'know, I think I figured out why the Hells still feel like a new low-level party to me, even though they're level 13 and almost 100 episodes in.

I don't quite think it's the lack of conversations, or the fact half the party's plot hooks are big ties to past campaigns - though that definitely plays a part.

... Bell's Hells still primarily rely on quest givers.

Most of their goals are given to them and do not feel organic to the party, and constantly remind us that the Hells are pretty much never the most powerful people in the room. Which is usually something you see with a low-level party.

NPCs offering jobs is not a bad thing; it's a very common plot hook. Matt has been extremely skilled with using NPC quest givers in those two campaigns. Not only do they provide an obvious plot thread, but they can put the party in the path of others (say, the Nein running into the Iron Shepherds while doing a job for the Gentleman and everything that came of that). And the Hells had a solid start with it too - Eshteross was an excellent quest giver!

The problem is that Bell's Hells have never really not had a quest giver.

Maybe it's a byproduct of the more plot-heavy structure of this campaign? But while prior parties have felt like they decided on their course of action and what they prioritized, Bell's Hells feels less like level 13 (13! Level 13!) experienced adventurers and more like an MMO group clicking on the exclamation point over an NPC's head. Where does the plot demand we go next? Who do we report back to?

They're level 13.

At level 13, Vox Machina had just defeated a necromantic city-state to clear their name and Percy's conscience. And, you know, the Conclave just destroyed Emon. No one was explicitly telling the group to gather Vestiges and save the world (though Matt guided them there), and they were usually among the most powerful people in the room. They chose which Vestiges to prioritize, which dragons to tackle when, even if the over-all plot was pretty clear.

At level 13, the Mighty Nein were celebrating Traveler Con (another PC goal, I'll note) after brokering peace between two nations, accidentally becoming pirates and heroes of the Dynasty. The Nein regularly chose what to do based on personal goals, not grand ones. Though definitely smaller fish than Vox Machina at this level, they were very independent and gaining solid political clout.

While we're at it: level 13 is one level lower than the Ring of Brass, who had a huge amount of sway over Avalir. They ended the world, and also saved it, while in the grand scheme of things being only a smidge more powerful than Bell's Hells are now.

Can you really see the Hells wielding that amount of influence, when they're constantly being told what to do next?

The god-eater might be unleashed, so Bell's Hells have no time to do anything but what is asked of them. No time for therapy unless stolen from Feywild time, no travel on foot and late-night watches. They haven't even had time to grieve FCG. Percy was grieved in the middle of the Conclave arc. Molly was grieved when half the party was still in irons.

Matt is in the very unfortunate spot of not being able to give the Hells the same agency as the other two parties. Not only because of the world-ending plot introduced so early on; they are surrounded by characters they know (and the cast knows) are stronger and wiser than them - the familiarity of the past PCs and NPCs is to their disadvantage.

Why would the party reasonably ignore Keyleth's task that will help save the world and go off on a romp? Why would the cast when they know well Keyleth has to be sensible and with the best intentions in mind? The stakes are just too high.

It means that the Hells still feel like they're running errands instead of pursuing their own destiny. Their accomplishments are diminished as just being parts of a to-do list, and any stakes feel padded by several level 20 PCs/NPCs standing 5 steps away ready to catch them.

This isn't Bell's Hell's fault, nor is it Matt's. It could be amended, I think, if the Hells are really left to their own devices for a long period of time without support and shortcuts (like during the party split)... which would be really tricky to pull off at this point in the campaign.

They're level 13. They're big fish, but they're stuck in a pond full of friendly sharks, so they don't feel big at all.

[somewhatsentientspellbook]

after a brief intermission, we're back to our regularly scheduled show

[robo-milky]

“I’m sure President Rollo doesn’t mind. He’ll forgive me a~nyways.”

Having NBC! Cloche brainrot atm… the worst version of her but I encourage all her wrongs-

[emry-stars-oc]

Now that mermay is over. I have more mermay content. Much thanks to my buddy silvermasquerade who I wanted to talk about a mermaid au with (specifically their twin oc girlies who feature heavily here) and who had a hundred good ideas because now I’m terminally obsessed

So what if there were merfolk dolphins and they lived in an aquarium that does shows and stuff and most of them have an assigned human “handler” to help manage things and maybe to perform with. I think the merfolk are mostly like rescues or relocations?? At any rate the current set up of humans they work with are largely tolerable and even likeable so that’s a plus 🙏 and yes I’m unlearning embarrassment so you get to see my whole sketchbook layouts

(In this specific au the list of names and animals on the top left (above) are the merms, the right side list is the reverse timeline but we’ll get to that later)

Anyway I’ll put some ‘who’s who’ + rambles under the cut, for now @silvermasquerade GET OVER HERE I HAVE YOUR CHILDREN AND SECRET OTHER ART

Ok so. The merfolk are: silvermasquerade’s girls Adaline and Alyssa, the two black haired dusky dolphins

Alyssa (ponytail)’s human is Bo, Adaline won’t take an assigned handler but if she needs an assistant for her performances she’ll borrow someone (usually also Bo). They’re beautiful and so much fun to play dolls with and I love them. I also love forcing Bo and Alyssa to get through the initial absolute refusal to cooperate bc once they figure each other out they are so funny to me

(The rest of these aren’t going to have pics accompanying them because I’m hitting image limit smh)

My contributions to the merms are Quinton, the spotted dolphin who’s (current) human is a yet un-designed and completely un-introduced dude named Rhydian (annoying, sometimes pretends that the merfolk aren’t as sentient as they are bc it’s ‘convenient for him’). Luckily I’m thinking Q eventually gets put with Kallistos instead, who’s one of his besties in canon. He’s also mercilessly, lovingly teased for not being overly subtle by merfolk standards with how intrigued he is by Alyssa’s handler

Estes, a nondescript seal who doesn’t perform atm but ended up taking to one of the employees (Lolo) who was therefore given defacto responsibility of Estes bc she’s so snappy with anyone else. Lolo also happens to be someone that frequently helps train new employees so when Taorna is hired, he also accidentally gets on Estes’ good side. Oops 💕

Mercer, the unreasonably large orca that was brought in who also doesn’t yet perform because they have no one to work with him on it. He’s not quite built for the elegant types of shows they put on anyway, if they ever do a pirate drama he’d make a great sea monster tho.

And Liana, the common dolphin with the yellow ribbon in her hair. Her handler is Ambrose (eyepatch guy) which means she’s almost immediately teased/razzed by the other merfolk for how well the two of them get along. “He’s handsome and kind and -“ “girl please. he’s a HUMAN” but you best believe they are the media darlings and look so cute in their matching costumes

One day I’ll draw them with their humans bc you absolutely have not seen the last of them, I’m obsessed almost to the point of concern, I also need to figure out how to get Betony in here fr. If you thought Mercer towered over them before oh boy

[prince--esque]

Throws these and simply vanishes

[swagveryswagamazinf]

los wiwis❤️.....

[velveteenoutlaw]

I wonder what Arthur could be staring so longingly at

it’s John. of course it’s John.

ignore my horsey slorpin up Arthur's brain

[screechingfromthevoid]

nothing (besides everyone ignoring Orym's deal) has made me angrier than watching Dorian keep up this facade. Dorian Storm has always been a type of mask he's worn. At first he called himself a liar because of it. The happy go lucky bard was a way of escaping for him. He was escaping Brontë so he created Dorian. He didn't believe he was Dorian. Until the Crown Keepers made Dorian real. And for a while, he really believed he was Dorian. That he has this new family and new life and he could be who he truly wanted to be.

And then his brother came back and made his problems Dorian's problems. Until he had to put Brontë back on. Because even if the Crown Keepers + Cyrus called him Dorian, he was Brontë. He had to be who his brother thought he was.

When Cyrus dies, the thread to Brontë had snapped. He was going to see Orym, back to the Bells Hells, back to Dorian Storm. But the foundation of Dorian had shattered. Dorian was created in order to run from his place in life, family, Cyrus. Now he was gone. The Crown Keepers had fallen apart. His friends fell through his fingers and he couldn't do anything to stop it. He was once ready to side with a betrayer god for these people and now they're in the wind.

So Dorian shows back up to Bells Hella and he's completely broken. The foundation of both of his lives has been thoroughly rocked. No brother. No Crown Keepers. The two things that forged Dorian Storm. He wears that mask so fucking well. Because he still wants to believe in it. He said it live on stage that he should "believe his own backstory". The one he made up. The one where he was a bard.

He wants to be Dorian so bad. He spends all his money on Orym, he spins the bottle so he can kiss his friends, he flirts, he blushes and giggles at compliments. Exactly how Dorian would, should.

But he wears the gold of the heir. He has a festering animosity inside his chest. He doesn't sleep. He's thinner than he was. He doesn't sleep. He sicks abominations after their creators. He talks to God's without an ounce of self preservation, daring them to strike him down. He does not acknowledge them as they taunt him.

The god of beauty and magic calls him beautiful and he does not smile.

[king-lena]

it isn’t clogging up his brain but the next thing he is quoted as saying is “roger’s got this fabulous chin dimple in his chin…” after looking wistfully at an old pink floyd photo LIKE GIRL COME AWNNNN and then like twenty years later he puts out his album on roger’s birthday and then like two months after that brings him up unprompted in an interview by lowkey calling him a heartthrob while trying to get a dig in at him and then saying that the interviewer should ask roger how he feels about david being a heartthrob lmao like sir i am afraid you are losing the idgaf war and bad 💀