shinypieceofdice

[shinypieceofdice]

You know, I really appreciate Robbie for playing a bard and just saying "I perform" or "I sing a song for the group" and then confidently going "hell no!" when asked if he was actually going to do it at the table.

And it's not like he can't sing! I think he's put videos of himself playing music online before. He was just very comfortable and firm in his boundary of "I am not doing that in improv lol" and I really like that as an example for viewers of how playing a bard doesn't mean you need to be "on" all the time on another level as a performer.

[shinypieceofdice]

About those eleven years

So almost since the beginning of Campaign 2, I was waiting for a reveal about the eleven years Caleb spent in the asylum following his Big Trauma, because it never made sense by itself–brains just Do Not Work Like That, where you are fully functional and then experience a Big Trauma (even as the cap to a year of unacknowledged slightly less big traumas) and then go into a fugue state for eleven years. Just like. No????

And the explanation that it ended when he was in some fashion healed/restored by a strange cleric supported that! Obviously it ended some curse or spell effect, along with the memory modification!

Except… that’s… never addressed. There’s definitely time when Trent could have done it–Astrid’s mention that there were times when they thought Caleb was improving, and then he lapsed back into the same state, sure sounded to me like he briefly shook Feeblemind or a similar spell, only to have it re-inflicted as soon as a report reached Trent of him becoming dangerously lucid.

Except… why, then? And also there’s never any reveal that that is what happened, or even that Caleb thinks that’s what happened. So canon was just “…yeah, uh, Caleb’s brain just… stopped… for eleven years… and then he got his memory modification broken and he’s fine now other than the PTSD and flashbacks!”

And then along came Mighty Nein Origins: Caleb Widogast, and the explanation that I feel like no one is talking about. It took me a while to recognize it myself, even though I have still been kind of hankering for some explanation! So in case anyone else just didn’t realize what they put on the page for us…

Keep reading

[shinypieceofdice]

“For her—for you—I don the mask of a god.”

[Image description: Digital illustration of Jester and the Traveler from Critical Role campaign 2, episode 94. They stand together in an archway formed by two trees. Jester, whose back is to the viewer, is a blue tiefling with shoulder-length dark blue hair, a blue dress, and a spade-tipped tail. She is illuminated in moonlight. The Traveller stands in shadow, backlit by light, with his hood lowered to reveal an elven visage, bright green eyes, and long, curly red hair. Pink and blue hibiscus flowers grow towards their feet. End ID.]

[shinypieceofdice]

Tea time with Caduceus. Hundreds of years later. Remembering old friends.

[shinypieceofdice]

Mighty Nein Rooms! @pbraisinbread

[shinypieceofdice]

A non-exhaustive list of random things in the Caleb Origins comic I haven't really seen people talk about

Spoilers under the break

Young, beardless Bren looks exactly like his mom and now I’m wondering if Caleb still sees her face every time he looks into a mirror

Astrid wears purple whenever we see her in civilian clothing, continuing the trend of purple-themed magical love interests for Liam’s characters

When we first see Eadwulf he has a large dog with him, and the thought of Caleb “I’ll gladly rearrange my entire extra-dimensional magic tower so two of my friends can have a date, but temporarily turning my fey cat servants into dogs is almost crossing a line” Widogast falling for a dog person is more hilarious than it should be

Apparently Astrid’s last name is spelled “Becke”, but that’s stupid and I refuse to acknowledge this new information (if we stick by “Zemnian” = “fantasy German” it doesn’t make sense since “Beck” and “Becke” would be pronounced very differently in German and the former is how both Matt and Liam said it on stream)

Matt plays Trent with a German/Zemnian accent, but he never actually speaks Zemnian in the comic (even though the Blumentrio do when they’re among themselves) and I feel like that has to be an intentional decision, but I can’t put my finger on the significance

The fact that Ikithon makes his students cut their hair while his is long and flowy is just urgggh. He strips them of their individuality and identity while at the same time flaunting his own and I HATE HIM SO MUCH UGH

(also the fact that they suddenly look ~5 years older with their short hair just hurts)

The insertion of the Residuum crystals is a lot less surgical and a lot more brutal than I imagined it, holy shit

Bren and Wulf (and presumably Astrid too) went to regular classes at Soltryce with the bandages on their arms visible and you’re telling me nobody ever questioned that? Wtf? Were the teachers all in on the whole Volstrucker training thing (to a certain extent, at least)? Or did they just not give a fuck about their students’ wellbeing?

Random thought, but I love that the comic replaced the dance hall with a beergarden

Lol at Wulf immediately getting chatted up by a cute tiefling the second Bren and Astrid leave him alone to dance

It’s interesting how both Astrid and Trent himself explicitly state that Caleb/Bren was Trent’s favourite, however in the comic Trent never really shows any sort of favouritism towards him (or maybe I just didn’t pick up on it?)

Bren wears bracers at home to hide his scars. Part of him knows that what Trent is doing to them is not what Bren’s parents would want for him (despite what Trent claims) and that they would never allow him to go back if they found out

There is a raven next to Trent when the three students return from visiting their parents and that has to be an omen of impending death, right?

Speaking of ravens, there is no indication of Wulf being religious whatsoever, so I guess that supports the theory that he turned to the Raven Queen as a coping mechanism after killing his parents

So, Trent is shown holding a key ring with three keys that match the respective hair colours of his three students lol right before the Modify Memory sequence. Does this imply they locked their bedroom doors at night but Trent took advantage of his position as master of the house to gain access to their private chambers without their consent and mess with their minds while they were asleep? Yeah? Okay. Did I mention I despise this man?

And then the next morning at breakfast he has the audacity to call them out and shame them for not immediately confessing to having “witnessed” their parents’ treasonous talk aaaarggghhh this piece of human garbage

I’m like 95% sure Liam mentioned on Talks that OG Frumpkin died of old age while Bren was at the Academy and they retconned that to make this fucking comic even more heartbreaking by burning the poor innocent cat (as if that was necessary)

I wonder if Wulf was trying to kill Bren in the end. I realize he was protecting Astrid, but I’m sure someone as physically strong and magically capable as Wulf would’ve had better means of knocking someone unconscious than hitting them over the head with a huge-ass rock

That sanatorium looks very different (read: worse) than I expected. I imagined something sterile and clinical, not a dirty, unfurnished, literal jail cell

Caleb and Nott, face to face, holding each other’s bandaged hands was an amazing way to end this story <3