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[spectral-cats]

Feeling a lot of feelings about how Hadestown doesn't present the story as "Orpheus turned around and everything fell apart and there was nothing anyone could do to fix it" and instead presents a story that says "he turned around, he doubted, he failed, but if we keep telling his story maybe one day Orpheus won't" and it's not just about Orpheus as a single character, it's a bout every Orpheus, everyone who runs up against a system they can't change and fails and everyone who sees that failure and gets back up and says "maybe I can change it now" and tries again. That Orpheus failed isn't the takeaway of the story. The takeaway is that one day he might succeed.

[spectral-cats]

A good man at war

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do you guys think anyone on ruidus was getting cognouza dreams for a minute there? like imagine being the yak farmer assigned to yussa errenis. for a while there you go to sleep and it's

A̶̶̛̟̝͍̖̟̻͖̘͔̺̳͌͌͊̋̂͑ͬ̓̄͌̋ͣ͑͛̿͊̈͋ͯ̅̾̚͢͟͢͢͜͟͝͞͡A̞͎̤̟͐̇̇ͦͩ̈́ͤ̏A̜̙̣͓̪̽̀ͩͨ̈́͂̉͟A̸̤̩̘̬ͨ̔̇̀̋̍͗̀ͩ̔̐ͅḀ̵̛̹̼̥̞̞̦̰̘͚͓̦͕̬̐̉͆͐ͣͯͪ̓̓͗͆͘͠Ã̛͖͎͌̀A̵̴̛͇̹̼̯̥͉̬̥̹ͮͬͩ̊́̀ͭ̀̎͆́ͤ͐̇͛̌̍͠A̵̵̗̦͙̖͚̰͚̩̻̥̟̼̘͈̩̻̳̬͉̮͔̰͊̿̑̓̄̑̊͘͝Ả̷̷̧̡̤̹̞͎͇̲̠̼͕̠̊̍ͧͫ̈́ͩͬ͆͛ͤ̄͒ͧ̑͛̒͘̕͝ͅA͔̮͗̌ͬ͢A̧̛̯̣͔͎̪̭̠̲̪̼̟͎̙͕͉̖̓ͨ̀͗͑ͣ̏̎̎ͪͣ͑̽ͬ͛̿̈́̽̚͜͡͝͝͡ͅ F̸̨̛͎̝̳̺̖͎͉͔͕͔̝̻̙͎̈́͂͛̎͋͂͛ͪ͊̀ͧ̒̒̈ͬ̅́ͫ̀ͦ͘̚͠͡Ļ̵̷̵̩̰̭̥̟͇͚̬ͪ̾ͭ̀͋͋́̃̈́̚͞Ę̶̵̵̶̶̤͈̖͓̟̭͓͆̓ͯ͛͂̒͌ͫ͊̃͐ͦ̍̆̏̅͐̏̑̚͢͠ͅS̛̲̥̬ͭ̉̀ͧ̍H̸̶̛͓͖̗̬̰͖̩̥͔͕͕̅ͪ̈́͆̊̃͊̋ͧ̕͜ͅ Hͬ͆ͣ̂ͤ̉͑Ọ̷̤̮̙̫̯͍̊̆̽͛ͧ̓̎̊̈́ͫ́ͭ̑̔́̂͢͜͟͠R̶̴̦͙̮̥̫̠͊̐̅ͫͦ̍͒͛͐͒ͩ̄̉͐͊R̨̦̪͖͔͍͔̠͖̍̿̐ͥ́̊ͨ̎ͮ̾́ͦ́̀ͬ̓͂ͫ̌̚͟͞Ŏ̡͎̝͍̹ͬ̅̚͘Ṟ̡̢̢̦͇̫̣̩͉̬̝͔̩͌ͯͤ̽̓͂́̄̈́͛́ͮ͂̀͆̇̕͜͜͢͠ F̠̄̇ͪL̸͔̲̞̟͙͍̻ͥ̅̇̐͞͝_̵̢͍͙̼̠̰̘ͫͩ̆͒̈ͨ̈́̈́̉͟ͅͅĘ̡̨̫̻͚̤͖͓͉̆ͫͭ̈Ș̸̟̤̦̥̩́̾ͣ̉͜͠͝H̛̛͙͕͈̱͉̦͔͍̄̂̈̾ͭͯ̂̿̔͘

but then you wake up and go to work. on the moon

[spectral-cats]

I was looking through some older CR art I've done, and was reminded of a jesties piece I did. I love it so very much and may as well put it here on Tumblr too for yall <3 Jester and Essek's friendship makes my heart mushy and means the world to me.

[spectral-cats]

za dash

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I think a lot has been said about the switch in ep 92, but I think a couple particularly head-scratching bits I'm still a little confused by are

- for Dorian to be the link we have from BH to CK, he had remarkably little 'screen time' in the second half.

- such an intimately personal and important character moment as Opal's possession by Lolth feels like the *worst* moment to do a cold open into the CK, especially so given the fact like 75% of the current watchers of C3 probably never watched ExU Prime or Kymal. It'd be like being dropped into the moment Caleb attempts to bring Veth back into her true body, like dawg this kills dramatic tension in *two* campaigns at once, as well as does disservice to both FCG's sacrifice *and* Opal as a character who just had her entire arc cannonballed through to the climax (seemingly, without ever being notified beforehand!)

[spectral-cats]

Gale of Waterdeep

[spectral-cats]

It's hard for me to fathom why you think that whatever comes next isn't bad.

+bonus:

[spectral-cats]

So imagine if you were, as a surprise, given tickets to see Hamlet in a week, and you were really excited! And all your friends who were going with you were really excited! And you all looked forward to it all week and talked about what creative choices might be made and were generally absolutely hyped up and thrilled. And so when the day finally comes you show up, and you watch the first act, and it's incredible and you all love it. it. And then without any indication, rather than moving into Act II, the director is like "Hey! In lieu of the rest of our production of Hamlet, we will now see half of a high school performance of Shear Madness, but we will be performing the rest of Hamlet! In two weeks."

[spectral-cats]

me arriving to tonight's episode, ready for horror and grief and rage and hopelessness

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How do you want to do this?

—

Goodbye, Faithful Caregiver.

[spectral-cats]

Okay but you know what's really clever about the choice to include off-screen campaign content in the Nein animated show, is that it puts the audience on far more equal footing.

There's a lot of intrigue going on in Wildemount behind the scenes, and those of us who've seen the campaign have an idea of what that is, but rarely a clear answer. There are a lot of interpersonal dynamics that we don't see but that make a major impact on outcomes for the character: not only Essek's dealings with the Assembly but his relationship to the rest of the Dynasty's upper echelon, the Assemblies' interactions amongst themselves, Astrid and Eadwulf's dynamic with Trent or other scourgers, or Lucien's relationship with Cree and the other Tomb Takers. These alliances make or break the characters' decisions with regard to the Nein depending on how much loyalty or trust they share, and they shift a lot while the Nein aren't present.

I think there's a bit of this in tlovm with the happenings in Whitestone and the dynamic among the Chroma Conclave, but these exist primarily to ground the antagonists, because it's not the same kind of story; Vox Machina's story is about how they become Big Damn Heroes. There is political action happening, but while it does have an influence on them, it always exists to an extent to be either a boon or an obstacle to them, because it cannot deal with the threats at hand without heroes (not necessarily Vox, but in the archetypal sense). The Nein, in contrast, are in a story about being the tangential players to numerous plots of intrigue that occupy no small position of power in the world, plots that in fact actively resist the role of heroes, and the struggle for personal agency that comes with that.

So giving more information to the audience about those other happenings means new fans get a lot of the information that existing fans will go into the show with much sooner, while existing fans are receiving new information at the same time. By the time the characters find out what the audience knows, the audience is more or less on the same page waiting for that shoe to drop.

[spectral-cats]

Everyone else has already made great posts about all the other reasons why they hope FCG’s death is permanent, which I agree with, but here’s my additional two cents. I hope their death is permanent because you loose all semblance of stakes if you never have any permanent deaths. Dnd is designed for people to come back from the dead sometimes, but there are mechanisms to make sure that sometimes is not all the time. Death as a possibility anchors the stakes of the game, the risk that it *could* happen, even if there’s a bigger chance it won’t, is necessary for anything else to feel real. If there’s no worry of permanent death, why are we doing anything at all? Where are the walls of this story, what’s at stake, why do we even care about rushing into danger anymore if we can all just come back? There’s no emotional weight. We’ve already had Laudna come back even though by many accounts she should’ve permanently died in that situation, and while I don’t think it was bad she was able to be brought back, I think there was narrative groundwork that made her coming back make sense (and I think a permanent death from that specific fight would’ve been… not a very fun move from a DMing perspective but that’s a different post). But if FCG comes back too, it means the precedent is now that there is always a way to skirt death. I think that precedent would make the story a lot less fun, and I think Sam understands that, and I don’t think FCG will or should come back. That death was really emotionally weighty and I don’t want to lose that, or the chance of that in the future.

[spectral-cats]

LoveLetters + Kisses 😘💛💚

C3E55 | C3E56 | C3E64

[spectral-cats]

of all the party, fcg was the one who most believed in everyone working together and trusting each other—they're the one who helped with the team-building in the fey realm—but the party never really did, even after that mini arc. there are still things they're holding back from each other and things they won't face up to or talk about. and now the one person who really believed in the party as a team is gone, and the stakes are higher than ever. what does this mean for them?

[spectral-cats]

If nothing else, you have to remember that Otohan is a full grown adult who’s a very high up leader in a cult who has to wear a backpack everyday like a high schooler. If nothing else.