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Light and Dark

The Light-affinity students remain shrouded in mystery. Logistically, Rook's backstory is a two for one - we get to see his past AND we learn more about the Dark Mirror. Because Rook is the only character we know to have successfully switched dorms - which further implies that the Dark Mirror's decisions are not sacrosanct.

Which brings me to Kalim. The only character we've ever known to Transfer into NRC, and three months into the school year. I know Jamil thinks that his parents just paid off the principal. But for that money, they coulda done that on time so Kalim wouldn't start later than his peers. MORE IMPORTANTLY, Kalim was never sorted by the Dark Mirror. That's more suspect than anything else.

That's two out of three light kids. Which means Silver... What new info about the Dark Mirror can you bring?

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well you can run a train on someones genitalia

Taylor Swift is honestly just like any other Taylor, but faster

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Its so upsetting how the BH party didnt get the full context of FCG's sacrifice

They beat themselves up for FCG's death bc they think that they died out of misguided values

Thats not true! Thats not true!!! They died out of love for all of you!!! They died with your names on their lips!!! Please love yourselves as they loved you!!!!

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my main takeaway from last nights episode is "oh god they dont know"

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I mean... To be honest, barring the pc death, returning from the moon was always going to mean a recap episode I think

They would go to Keyleth et al, regurgitate everything they learned, then head over to Aeor possibly but Aeor is this Whole other arc

So switching to a different party feels appropriate bc lets be honest, we are going to spend the whole campaign combing over FCG's death like we're checking for fleas - I think we have time

I think the biggest problem the pivot does really is for the folks like me who didnt watch this EXU not really... understanding what the heck is going on, not even the intro is enough to gain the full context. Thats the con.

On the other side, theres always a bunch of folks who are not down with c3's party so youd think theyd be happy to follow a different party for like five episodes or something

the idea that any fandom has EVER been united in what they want from a show is laughable, whatever they do will cater to someone - thats just statistics at that point lol

Every time I’ve seen some entitled guy on Twitter this morning complain “maybe you should check in on what your FANS want” or say “glad to see the death of CR in real time, you’re shitting on your fans!” I grow more happy with CR for daring to be bold and do something unexpected and hope they are more quietly hostile to those fans and entitlement, tbh.

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Octa-Scarabia Switch

Personally, I think that both Jamil and Kalim would thrive if Jamil had to work with Azul and Kalim had to work with the twins

And by thrive, I mean someone's getting murdered. They'll die from fun.

The twins and Kalim will burn everything to the ground because the twins will let Kalim drive a project into the ground, and they will love every minute of it. Kalim might end up murdered by the end of the day though, but hey. They all thought it would be funny. And it was.

Azul and Jamil are just full on knives out. But the problem is - given a shared goal - they would gel better than a yankee's pompadour. Jamil might hate every minute of their time together. But Azul can match his fastidious nature and layer on top a level of competency that he's not used to working with. He will have a great time and he will murder Azul for the shame of it all.

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I inflicted emotional damage on myself because I thought that FCG's theme song would unironically be "Tomorrow" from the little orphan Annie musical.

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Remember to have a smiley day everyone

You may resume crying now

Loved trying out my new paints on the character that has made me cry a lot recently

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Naruto Vibes are Strong

They're on a moon with a giant eldritch being trapped inside. A bijuu if you weill

Who they can place inside a Vessel?

A jinchuuriki if you will.

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given the theories about the ruidian glass as predathos' "brain" i tried to map it onto a neural cell, but the shape and mass just didn't work. what it actually reminded me of shape-wise was a dendritic cell; and those are immune cells. either way, fun little editing project.

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Good point and also AAAAAAAAA

so what you're saying is: if the words were "see this through", and FCG's already dead now way before theyve seen anything through, then unless Orym ups the bargain bc Nana didn't come through on her commission, then technically Orym is already released - did i get that right?

AAAAAAAAA

Altho tbh I am not opposed to Orym staying with Nana. I think you mentioned before that neither would Fearne. Honestly, after this Fearne is more liable to trapping all her friends in a safe little mossy toybox so she never loses one again.

on a scale of 1 - 10, how much do you think Matt will hold Orym to his agreement with Nanna? given that FCG died but also given that they returned to exandria once before

1-2, honestly. I don't buy the claim that a short sojourn means that they've safely returned from their mission. The mission wasn't over! To use Nana's exact words they hadn't "seen this through". The fact that Nana (probably) intervened with the Weavemind means that she must still count this as the same endeavor. Orym worded his deal loosely to encompass a range of activities before it's "done", quite possibly up to killing Predathos. This campaign is far from over and Matt's going to save Nana's deal for a bittersweet epilogue, he's not going to kidnap a PC before the ends are tied up.

The one way I can see it being relevant now is if Orym leverages it for some sort of hard fey intervention to return FCG to life. A True Resurrection in return for the parameters being considered met isn't out of the picture, provided Sam is interested in it.

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the thing that gets me is that very soon before Sam makes his move Matt literally is like "well, it's an opportunity" while the rest of the cast is freaking out over what seems like a very possible TPK, he's completely emotionally prepared for that, but he's not even a little emotionally prepared for what ACTUALLY happened.

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I genuinely hope

That Nana Morri becomes a god

Listen, she didnt come through on her end to bring everyone back home alive (the second time) - and maybe she will hold orym to to their bargain

It would suck, but the wording of the deal does mean that their bargain was fulfilled the first time they returned to exandria

THAT SAID, my god nana morri did more for this group than ANY of the gods. I am looking at you changebringer. She did directly interfere with the Weave Mind to give them a chance to escape. And no roll necessary. Thats some divine intervention shit

Honestly Nana has my vote. I like her.

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"I'm alive because they made me alive."

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FCG's Next Gas Can Bit

Where Sam would usually sit, instead, there is a gas can decorated to resemble a gravestone

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I do have to give credit where credit is due. Chetney was Down for that fight. He did fuck all. And he, as the proto-semi-quasi tank did have some binding abilities - the blood curse of binding. They needed One round to unleash hell on her or they were fucked. But one of their teammates was dead on arrival.

Also they really did waste so many of their debilitating spells in the fights before. Imogen could have cast that mind whammy she did on the Shrike etc. But I think Fearnie had a shot with Polymorph or FCG with Banishment

This would have been if like the Mighty Nein faced Otohan at lvl 13 at half capacity.

But goddamn what they really needed was a proper "Hold her down" moment. And honestly only FCG or Fearne could have given them that.

DnD Combat and Critiques

Hey, so I have thoughts. I know! How unfortunate.

Combat in DnD is not always going to translate nicely into a narrative that follows storybeats. Like in a good fight, there's a plan - the plan fucks up - then there's a callback to some earlier themes that gets implemented into the finishing blow.

FCG did the last part.

It's the before that's the problem.

BH don't have a lot of synergy. Let's go back to the whole Dungeons and Dragons for all the roleplay - it's still a fighting game. And fighting games require some strategy.

BH does have a strategy. Hit the thing until it stops moving. And they usually do this through raw, brute strength. But when you're facing a high-level, Smart character, it's going to take more than bruteforce

I'm gonna out myself as a LoL player here. I know! It's really quite tragic.

But in teamfights, you do need some characters - like the tank or the support - who can pin down those highly mobile characters so they can just start hitting.

Yes. She had legendary resistances. But her resistances are limited. They had to burn those. Ideally, FCG or Fearne would have done that. Hell, maybe Ashton could have picked her up and squeezed - or tried to. Likewise, Laudna could have cast darkness and it would have crippled everyone but it would be some advantage.

This team desperately needed some way to limit her movement or ability to target them. But without that, FCG had no choice but to remain on healing duty and unable to chance spells like Banishment or fucking Plane Shift. Fearne needed to stay away from damage - let those better at it try - and focus on running utility. Aura of Life came way too late - not that it mattered bc again Otohan's hyper mobility.

I think it wasn't Otohan that was the problem. A lot of babies are kicking and crying that she was too hard. And yeah. She was. And arguably she wasn't the best villain for the audience bc yeah we know fuck all about her. Here's something to consider: Otohan was for the players, not the audience. At most, the audience gets a kick out of BH's reactions whenever she comes up. But her main job was to freak out the players - and she does.

Because BH is not prepared for high level combat. There. That's my critique.

When your healer goes into a rage if he heals too much, that's a liability in a fight. When neither of your tank-utility players have any reliable capture and crowd control capabilities, that's a problem. The most they had was Ashton's gravity well but she could clear that 10 ft difference with ease. They didn't need a fucking slow - they needed a stun.

This team is not equipped for a fight beyond brute force. They don't have a toolkit that lends itself well to tactics.

Otohan was absolutely beatable and I will die on that hill. They just didn't know how to fight her with the weapons they have. Outside of character growth, they really might need a good old fashioned shounen training arc.