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[mintywolf]

hope essek gets crushed with a boulder 15 seconds after he's introduced in the show and then all other possible screen time that could have been dedicated to him is replaced with yasha doing cool skateboard tricks

[mintywolf]

In relation to the ask game, monk?

Also btw your art is great it’s been so fun following it for so long :3

Thank you so much! <3

Monk: what is your favorite canon relationship?

Hahaha. :) In case this was somehow not obvious, it’s Laudna and Imogen. They had me by the throat within seconds of their introduction.

And okay here’s the thing I’ve only ever had one (1) character relationship dynamic that I really care about. Like, this isn’t my criteria for shipping or anything it’s just that ships I get hyperfixation-level attached to happen to fall in this one weirdly specific category and it is this: romantic friendship between two magical and/or monster ladies, one pastel and one goth. One of them is doomed or carrying around some kind of Destiny and the other one is Very Concerned about it.

Whether or not they’re actually kissing doesn’t matter*, it’s the strength of the bond between them that makes my heart try to escape my ribs. Bonded like shelter cats who can’t be adopted separately. No one else more important to them than each other. A love that can (and does) save or end worlds.

It’s had a few iterations over the years but it’s never been canon before. I’ve always had to do a lot of AU heavy lifting because there’s some canon heteronormative boyfriend in the way or the setting was mostly original content and characters because the source material didn’t have many so the ship was half fanon to begin with or something. So to have the exact thing I’ve been longing for for probably close to 20 years fully realized and canonical handed to me right at the start of the campaign permanently altered my psyche. I have not cared this much about fictional characters in ever.

And what’s really special about it is that they are BOTH the magical and monster ladies!! And they are both doomed by their destiny while being very concerned about the other’s and trying to undoom each other! They understand each other on a soul-deep level – Laudna is the only person whose thoughts don’t cause Imogen psychic pain and Imogen was the first person in her whole undeath to regard her with compassion rather than fear. They were each the unique antidote for the other’s loneliness. And it’s beautiful!!!!

And they absolutely check all of the romantic friendship boxes so it was everything I wanted right from the start. While everyone was (understandably) crowing “Imodna canon!!” after episode 65 because they kissed I was kind of like Oh! Okay! This is new. :) :) but it didn’t change me as a person because that had already happened. They were canon from the beginning. The bond was always there. Imogen would have gone into hell and dragged Laudna out of it regardless of whether she had romantic feelings for her. They can’t be adopted separately!!

(CR asks)

*(I actually kind of prefer it without the conventional-romantic “dating” aspect because fandom in general tends to value the romance over the friendship but it’s not as compelling to me because I'm ace and though romantic and sexual attraction are two different things, the prevailing cultural understanding of "romance" tends to presume both and I'm just not interested. Intense friendship used to be much more of a social norm but it fell out of favor with the rise of the Standard Nuclear Family in the 20th century. But whether or not they could have remained a Strong Platonic Female Friendship has already been examined. ;) )

[mintywolf]

Satyr, Goliath, and Warlock for the CR Ask game?

Satyr: how did you discover Critical Role?

Oh gosh I don’t even remember. It was probably through Fire Emblem tumblr fandom because almost the entire cast is in the 3DS games and that was my scene but I didn’t know how or where to begin with it because it already felt so huge so I kind of avoided it for awhile. I didn’t realize HOW many of them were in it though until one day I was taking a walk with my cousin who had recently started watching and he was listing the cast members and I was like omg at how many familiar names there were and then he said “Laura Bailey?” like he didn’t know who he was but I literally stopped in my tracks and went GAAASP because I have loved her characters in everything I have encountered her in since like 2005 and decided okay I guess I need to start watching.

Goliath: who is your favorite campaign 1 character?

Get your slings and arrows ready it’s Delilah Briarwood. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I’m not sorry!!

Though I guess Matilda also counts as having participated in C1 haha. :|

Warlock: what is your favorite Critical Role merch?

I really love the Jester bees dress and would wear it all the time but I don’t have it because it’s velvet and would get covered in cat hair and poked by little cat feet immediately. :’( Of the ones I do own I love my talking Kiri plushie. :) I also wear my Bells Hells hoodie a lot.

(CR Asks)

[mintywolf]

Hullo! Questions for the CR ask game: dwarf, aasimar, goblin, cleric, ranger.

Hello! :)

Dwarf: what is your favorite one-shot?

Ooh that is a hard decision between Daggerheart and The Darrington Brigade but I think I have to give it to the Darrington Brigade. A party of characters each 100% committed to the bit (entirely separate from everyone else’s bit) and I love them all. Also I hope Hazel’s audiobooks caught on and are in the world somewhere. I was hoping she'd turn up at the Apogee Solstice recording everything for posterity (along with radio play sound effects) just so all of Marisha's characters could be there but considering what happened to the rest of them it's a good thing that she wasn't!

Aasimar: what is your favorite location in Exandria (or out of it)?

Oh man. They’ve been to so many cool and otherworldly places but I still really love Whitestone and I’m so happy whenever they go back there. (And not just because BH are inevitably going to find ways to torment Percy.) Especially the castle. I’d love to learn more about the historical de Rolos. And I REALLY want to know more about what was going on in Delilah’s secret laboratory and when Laudna was living in the tunnels underneath that was hinted at during their last visit.

Goblin: Who is your favorite non-main campaign character?

Dr. Nomen L. Frenno. The character concept of an uplifted lab animal was so cool (and sad). In retrospect this should have been my clue that Marisha can and will devastate you with a cute, cheerful, quirky character who is secretly heartbreaking but I was unprepared at the time. I think her (spoilers) death might actually be the one time I’ve cried in the moment while watching the show? Usually when Something Happens it takes a little while for me to process it but the loneliness of her end really got to me. :(

Ranger: who is your favorite animal companion?

Is Pâté an animal? He’s the disparate pieces of two animals with the soul of an imp (or possibly all of Bells Hells, or maybe a dead necromancer who is lying about it) but I think he counts. I love the scrungly boy.

(CR Asks)

[mintywolf]

eisfuura, bard and fighter?

(CR Asks)

Eisfuura: Who is your favorite NPC?

Appropriately enough (since this is a bird question) it’s Kiri!! She is one of my top favorite characters in the whole M9 campaign. I really hope we get to find out in C3 what she’s up to these days and I can’t wait to see her in the M9 animated series. (Also I’m glad we’ll get to see her goodbye to Jester animated because I can’t believe they parted ways with her while Laura wasn’t there! I understand why they did it, it would have been too dangerous for her where they were going, but I’m sad that Laura wasn’t there to RP Jester in that moment.)

Bard: What is your favorite “how do you want to do this?”

Ooh okay. I don’t know if it’s my favorite but the one most burned on my mind is Imogen lightning bolting Evil Sun Tree in Darkstone because that was the end of a MERCILESSLY INTENSE fight to determine whether my favorite character of all time was going to be allowed back in the game. And it was SUPER CLOSE, she was barely alive and only survived because she had to spend her last Mote of Possibility (which she was probably saving for Laudna’s resurrection ritual) to make Delilah reroll her last attack on her.

Also there was some really nice symbolism there because she opened the fight with the words “Delilah Briarwood, we’re gonna sunder you.” You know, like lightning does to a tree. And that was what she did in the end, with all the love and fury in her soul.

Fighter: What was your favorite funny moment?

Oh no there are too many individual moments to choose so this is more like “funniest running gag” even though most of the scenes involved with it are actually traumatic but is endlessly hilarious to me though how much of a ruckus Bells Hells cause whenever they go to Whitestone. Especially from Percy’s point of view. They barge into his office at 7am with a dead body demanding he bring it back to life, unwrap it to reveal what at first appears to be the corpse of his wife before he realizes that no it’s actually it’s the anonymous girl whose murder has been haunting her for 30 years why do they even have this?? also HOW is she somehow inhabited by the spirit of his worst nemesis? Against his protests they bring her back to life (?? this part is debatable) and she in turn immediately resurrects a dead rat which she insists is a long-lost relative of his, and then makes him hug a tree. They refuse his offers of hospitality but steal a bunch of linens from the castle and sleep outside in the main square. They leave. They come back and inform him they need to go to the moon. They break into a room in the castle that he has specifically sealed off and invoke the spirit of his worst nemesis IN HIS HOUSE. They destroy an armoire to make a sled and break all the castle windows with rocks. Before they leave for the moon one of them turns himself into a living bomb and detonates right underneath the thing that is the living heart of his city. Also, they picked a fight with a blameless crepe vendor in the street.

BH, why are you like this. (Don't ever change.)

Also something about the contrast between how Laudna is perceived by the de Rolos when she's dead -- she's this object of pathos, a symbol of the guilt and trauma of a horrible thing that happened 30 years ago that they feel both responsible for and a victim of, and can never fully atone for -- and when she's revived like oh she's not just a dead doll that looks like Vex there's a whole personality there and it's bonkers and delightful and she has a pet dead rat and friends who love her so much they crossed continents to bring her back to life -- is so good. (Not necessarily funny just really good.)

[mintywolf]

Critical Role Ask Game

satyr: how did you discover critical role

dragonborn: when did you start watching

human: what is your favorite main campaign

elf: what is your favorite side campaign

dwarf: what is your favorite one-shot

tiefling: who is your favorite female player

gnome: who is your favorite male player

halfling: who is your favorite dm

half-elf: who is your favorite guest player

goliath: who is your favorite campaign 1 character

changeling: who is your favorite campaign 2 character

genasi: who is your favorite campaign 3 character (so far)

goblin: who is your favorite non-main campaign character

aasimar: what is your favorite location in exandria (or out of it)

eisfuura: who is your favorite npc

wizard: what is your favorite party name

paladin: what is your favorite friendship

monk: what is your favorite canon relationship 

druid: what is your favorite non-canon ship

bard: what is your favorite “how do you want to do this?”

rogue: what was a moment that made you cry

fighter: what was your favorite funny moment 

paladin: what was your favorite badass moment

cleric: what is your favorite battle

barbarian: who is your favorite villain

ranger: who is your favorite animal companion

warlock: what is your favorite critical role merch 

sorcerer: what is your favorite sam commercial skit

[mintywolf]

Page 60

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(Author Notes)

Panel 1: Early morning. Laudna is making her way slowly alongside an empty country road running through a wildflower meadow, running her hand idly through the tall flowers. Rolling hills. An abandoned fort. Mountains in the distance. She is weeping silently.

Panel 2:  She stops and half-turns, hearing Imogen’s voice in her head, but from her position at the top of a hill we can’t see her.

Imogen: Laudna!!

Panel 3: (wide middle panel) Imogen slams into her at full speed, knocking them both off the road into the meadow.

Panel 4: Lying on her back amid the flowers, Laudna smiles up at Imogen sheepishly.

Laudna: Oh . . . hello.

Panel 5: Imogen leans over her, in a reverse position of how they first met.

Imogen: (out of breath) Why . . . why did you . . . why did you leave?

[mintywolf]

A Long Road Home - Page 60 Author Notes

Page 60

I was going to make a "Running Up That Hill" reference here but I don't remember what it was (other than that she did indeed run up that hill). Incidentally my parents recently were wondering when the last season of Stranger Things had been and I knew EXACTLY when it was because we were all in our Laudna Is Dead era at the time that that song was having its cultural resurgence and it had become a Southern Gothic anthem.

It’s improbable that they’d end up in that position from the angle that Imogen knocked them over but it’s a deliberate callback to this page that you might have recognized.

I wrote this almost two years ago and just trusted that I’d be able to pull off the final set piece I imagined for this chapter by the time I got to it, haha. (Though again I can’t take credit for the brushes I’ve been using for Gelvaan, they are here.) I think that middle panel especially came out very nice!

This was before we learned that Laudna’s response to fearing that she is a danger to those she loves is, in fact, to run away (as she does in episode 78) so I’ve been both feeling validated and screaming internally. (Even more so when she later said some things verbatim that I have written for the next page but we’ll see that next week.) It’s arguably worse here because she spent 50 years looking for Imogen and now she’s too afraid she’ll force her to share her doomed narrative to stay with her.

Imogen of course, having the soul of Laura Bailey -- she whose love undooms narratives -- refuses to accept this.

[mintywolf]

hey!!!! i'm open for commissions and would love to draw your stuff! Please check out my Kofi if you're interested!

[mintywolf]

Page 59

Next 💜 Back 🖤 First

(Author Notes)

Panel 1: Imogen eases Laudna down onto the bed.

Imogen: You just rest here a while, sweetheart. I’m gonna go see to the animals and pack up a few things, then I’ll be back, all right?

Laudna: I’m so sorry about your barn. If I . . . if I hadn’t been here, they wouldn’t have . . . I’m so sorry.

Imogen: It can be rebuilt, in time. We saved the animals, that’s the important thing. Gonna have to board ‘em at Faramore’s stable for a while though.

Laudna: I’m glad we could spare them the same fate as poor Wellington.

Imogen: Poor ol’ Wellington.

Panel 2: Finding Flora out in the field, Imogen hugs her for what she expects to be the last time in a long while.

Panel 3: In the pantry she regards the shelves doubtfully, debating what she can fit in the rucksack she’s holding.

Panel 4: She comes back up the stairs, but Laudna is gone.

Imogen: Been a while since I’ve gone campin’, do you think we’ll need . . . Laudna?

Panel 5: She runs outside into the yard. The rain has let up and the sky is lightening, but there’s no sign of Laudna.

[mintywolf]

Hey! I'm opening commissions on my Kofi. please check them out if you're interested!

[mintywolf]

Page 59

Next 💜 Back 🖤 First

(Author Notes)

Panel 1: Imogen eases Laudna down onto the bed.

Imogen: You just rest here a while, sweetheart. I’m gonna go see to the animals and pack up a few things, then I’ll be back, all right?

Laudna: I’m so sorry about your barn. If I . . . if I hadn’t been here, they wouldn’t have . . . I’m so sorry.

Imogen: It can be rebuilt, in time. We saved the animals, that’s the important thing. Gonna have to board ‘em at Faramore’s stable for a while though.

Laudna: I’m glad we could spare them the same fate as poor Wellington.

Imogen: Poor ol’ Wellington.

Panel 2: Finding Flora out in the field, Imogen hugs her for what she expects to be the last time in a long while.

Panel 3: In the pantry she regards the shelves doubtfully, debating what she can fit in the rucksack she’s holding.

Panel 4: She comes back up the stairs, but Laudna is gone.

Imogen: Been a while since I’ve gone campin’, do you think we’ll need . . . Laudna?

Panel 5: She runs outside into the yard. The rain has let up and the sky is lightening, but there’s no sign of Laudna.

[mintywolf]

A Long Road Home - Page 59 Author Notes

(Page 59)

She at least tried to make the bed before she left. :')

Imogen is being patient with Laudna’s equating the threat of her very real horses being burned alive to her wooden toy goat suffering the same fate because she understands that the comfort and company she gets from her dolls is the same to her that other people’s pets are to them. (She also understands that she’s had a very rough night and deserves a little patience.)

As previously alluded to, this chapter had a slightly different resolution where instead of leaving immediately they both fell asleep on Imogen’s bed, but Imogen woke up to find herself alone. There was then this scene:

Panel 1: Going outside, she finds her father mending a scorched fence, observed by a curious Flora (who is wearing some bandages. Imogen: Daddy? Have you seen Laudna? Relvin: Probably best if you don’t show your face in town for a while, Imogen. Imogen: Where’s Laudna? Panel 2: Relvin: She’s gone. Leastways, I saw a weird shadowy somethin’ slinkin’ off through the fields this mornin’. It’s for the best. Imogen: No! Where’d she go? How long ago? Did she say where she was goin’? Relvin: I’m sorry, Genny. I know she . . . meant somethin’ to you. Panel 3: Imogen sinks down to the ground against the fence, looking overwhelmed. Imogen: No . . . no . . . no . . . Relvin: Listen. There’s a little money put by in the jar on the sideboard. Take it. She left about an hour ago. Headin’ north into the Dureni Fields. If you hurry, you might be able to catch up with her yet. Panel 4: For a tense, silent moment, they regard each other. Imogen, with her arms half open, seems to want to reach out to him for a hug, or a goodbye, but as he offers neither, neither does she. Panel 5: Instead, she kisses Flora’s nose. Panel 6: And starts to run.

Which offers at least a little bit of closure and a more uplifting ending with Relvin. (It also established that Flora didn’t come with them because she was injured, resolving the question of why they wouldn’t bring along a very convenient horse instead of spending two years walking across the continent.) But it really didn’t make sense for them not to leave before the mob can regroup and come back with reinforcements. So alas.

[mintywolf]

Far away in Gelvaan, amid the Taloned Highlands of Marquet, the birth of Liliana and Relvin Temult’s baby girl is overshadowed by misfortune. The poor thing is thrust into the world under a flare of the unlucky moon, and covered in dead poppy flowers. The dead blooms crumble away as she’s cleaned up and swaddled by the midwife, falling from her ears, in scattered patches all over her little body, a ring of them around her neck. These ones are the last to fall, and the impression of them remains like a scar, a band of poppies on her throat. -- In all her life, Matilda has never found a single flower on herself, which must mean that she has no soulmate. Imogen is born in withered blossoms, which must mean that hers is already dead. When a first bloom appears on Laudna five years after her death, she sets out to find the person destiny has bound her to, no matter how long it takes.

A Southern Gothic soulmate flowers AU!

[mintywolf]

Far away in Gelvaan, amid the Taloned Highlands of Marquet, the birth of Liliana and Relvin Temult’s baby girl is overshadowed by misfortune. The poor thing is thrust into the world under a flare of the unlucky moon, and covered in dead poppy flowers. The dead blooms crumble away as she’s cleaned up and swaddled by the midwife, falling from her ears, in scattered patches all over her little body, a ring of them around her neck. These ones are the last to fall, and the impression of them remains like a scar, a band of poppies on her throat. -- In all her life, Matilda has never found a single flower on herself, which must mean that she has no soulmate. Imogen is born in withered blossoms, which must mean that hers is already dead. When a first bloom appears on Laudna five years after her death, she sets out to find the person destiny has bound her to, no matter how long it takes.

A Southern Gothic soulmate flowers AU!

[mintywolf]

Page 58

Next 💜 Back 🖤 First

(Author Notes)

Panel 1 : Imogen steadies Laudna, who is looking woozy.

Imogen: C’mon. You’re not lookin’ too good. Let’s get you inside.

Laudna: I’m all right. I just need . . . whoo. Back in a moment.

Panel 2: She passes out.

Panel 3: In Imogen’s room. Laudna is hunched on the bed, wrapped in her quilt. Imogen returns with a bottled potion and holds it out to her.

Imogen: Here, honey. Drink this, you’ll feel better.

Laudna: Oh! I can’t take that. They’re so scarce nowadays, it must have cost a fortune.

Imogen: We’ve just been savin’ it for a rainy day. And well, look outside. Please. I want you to have it.

Panel 4: Imogen joins her under the blanket, continuing to press the potion on her.

Laudna: You should keep saving it. Such things are better spent on the living.

Imogen: What’s that supposed to mean?

Laudna: Oh. Nothing.

Imogen: Laudna, don’t make me pour this down your gullet by force. Because I will.

Panel 5: Laudna meekly uncorks the potion. They both regard Imogen’s hands, where the lines of lightning are still glowing in the dim light.

Laudna: Your hands . . . 

Imogen: Yeah.

Laudna: That magic you did, the-the lightning, and parting the mob like that? And whatever you did to that horrid self-appointed sheriff. That. was. incredible! I’ve never seen anything like it.

Imogen: Neither had I, before tonight. Didn’t know I had it in me.

Laudna: You’re a wonder, Imogen.

Panel 6: We see what they're looking at.

Imogen: Don’t think the rest of the town’s gonna agree.

[mintywolf]

Page 58

Next 💜 Back 🖤 First

(Author Notes)

Panel 1 : Imogen steadies Laudna, who is looking woozy.

Imogen: C’mon. You’re not lookin’ too good. Let’s get you inside.

Laudna: I’m all right. I just need . . . whoo. Back in a moment.

Panel 2: She passes out.

Panel 3: In Imogen’s room. Laudna is hunched on the bed, wrapped in her quilt. Imogen returns with a bottled potion and holds it out to her.

Imogen: Here, honey. Drink this, you’ll feel better.

Laudna: Oh! I can’t take that. They’re so scarce nowadays, it must have cost a fortune.

Imogen: We’ve just been savin’ it for a rainy day. And well, look outside. Please. I want you to have it.

Panel 4: Imogen joins her under the blanket, continuing to press the potion on her.

Laudna: You should keep saving it. Such things are better spent on the living.

Imogen: What’s that supposed to mean?

Laudna: Oh. Nothing.

Imogen: Laudna, don’t make me pour this down your gullet by force. Because I will.

Panel 5: Laudna meekly uncorks the potion. They both regard Imogen’s hands, where the lines of lightning are still glowing in the dim light.

Laudna: Your hands . . . 

Imogen: Yeah.

Laudna: That magic you did, the-the lightning, and parting the mob like that? And whatever you did to that horrid self-appointed sheriff. That. was. incredible! I’ve never seen anything like it.

Imogen: Neither had I, before tonight. Didn’t know I had it in me.

Laudna: You’re a wonder, Imogen.

Panel 6: We see what they're looking at.

Imogen: Don’t think the rest of the town’s gonna agree.