#I want to make a whole post about the thistlesprings

[ewwww-what]

Save me teenager who was never taught how to properly regulate his feelings and goes into emotionally distressing rage episodes as a result. You will be my hero always.

[dullgecko]

I realise I’ve been sending you a bunch of fig centric ones so have another that includes all the bad kids

Riz will eat anything and I mean anything like he’s eaten vegetables that were like 70% mould before and didn’t notice anything wrong. At worst he ate a rocks in a bet with Fabian and didn’t even have any adverse effects.

Gorgug can eat most things meat based as long as there not to out of date but when he ate raw chicken in front of the bad kids for the first time it gave all the bad kids a scare apart from Riz who thought it was completely normal.

Pre archdevil fig could eat more than the normal human but not by a huge amount but loved spicy things and you could not find a spice on the mortal plane that she could not tolerate.

Post archdevil is a different story all together now all mortal spices don’t even register as spicy and she has to start getting them from hell. Fig is altogether a good cook due to Sandra Lynn teaching her. So the first time she cooks with this new spices she literally nearly kills riz who’s nose is very sensitive to spices. she has since been banned from cooking spicy foods for other people as the stronger “hell spices” could knock out a normal human

Adaine and Fabian have mostly normal palettes but Fabian swears he can eat more spicy foods than fig and has had to have Kristen heal him on more than one occasion.

Kristen needs to be very careful when cooking because if she adds to much or corn a spiteful Helio will animate it. Though Helio also has issues if she puts not corn in her foods.

Riz and his mom both have mythril stomachs, and given how food-insecure they've been since his dad died he /hates/ wasting food. Goblins dont need to or even want to eat full meals every day but when they do they try to pack away as MUCH as possible. When he got really hungry as a kid he'd even dumpster dive outside their appartment because he didnt want to worry his mom by asking for more food and basically any food scraps he found in there were still good by goblin standards. Its also how he developed his crippling coffee habit, if he gets really hungry he's able to supress his appetite somewhat with it.

He can eat basically anything as long as its not poisonous, and has the jaw strength and tooth sharpness to grind down rocks into powder. Stale bread, bones, shells and even straight up wood don't stand a chance. He does have to be a little more careful about what plants he eats now though because he kept consuming things that he was allergic to and made his allergy reactions worse.

He's not eating random half-rotten or mouldy food as often now though because while at school he gets MOST of his meals from the caffeteria rather than at home because its free. He's less likely to injest something he shouldnt accidentally but just in case he does his whole party is primed and ready to dose him with his allergy meds if he starts developing hives.

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Gorgug and Riz sometimes have hangouts at the Thistlespring tree where they spend the whole time wilding out a little and ripping into raw meat with their bare hands and teeth (meat provided by Wilma and Digby after Lydia had a word with them about Gorgugs eating habits). Its fun and it satisfies a primal part of their brains to just go nuts on a fresh chunk of animal flesh. When with the other kids they'll, begrudgingly, eat their chicken and fish properly cooked though just because it makes some of them gag.

The other bad kids have caught both of them, on more than one occasion, licking blood off their hands after a particularly brutal fight. Gorgug slightly less often than Riz because he's using an ax, but the goblin if disarmed or unable to swing his sword will resort to biting and clawing. Everyone but Gorgug was initialy grossed out (What the FUCK the ball spit it out you dont know where they've been) but they got used to it eventually. They've started to develop a ranking system, based on taste, of the various creatures Riz has chomped on.

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Fig and Riz are spicy-food buddies, but ONLY if the spicyness itself is from chillis. Riz cant feel the heat from capsasium but he enjoys the taste, whereas Fig loves it for how hot it is so they'll often split some questionably edible mega-hot curries when they order takeaway. Fabian tried a bite once and was coughing and crying for hours afterwards (the second bite he took on a dare required healing afterwards).

Once she starts integrating more exotic spices into her meals is where the problem starts. Riz can finally TASTE the spicyness and he's of the opinion that she's insane if thats what she feels when she eats chilli. Fig accidentally tear-gassed him once by using a spice that, once she did some research, they worked out was a straight up goblin repellant. He walked into the kitchen as she took the lid off a pan full of chilli and immediatly had a coughing fit so bad they were worried they'd have to call an ambulance (he was fine after a while, he just had to sit outside on the lawn in the fresh air until his sinus stopped stinging and his eyes stopped watering... he may have also gotten Adaine to dump a full bottle of milk on his face).

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Its a delicate balancing act for Kristen trying to make things without what she's cooking become sentient and hostile. Luckily it seems to only be isolated to things that get heated up, so she's safe making sandwiches and salads, but anything that requires the use of the oven or pans needs a quick dusting of cornflower to appease Helio or there are consequences.

[emthepotatocat]

I talked about this during the live discussion but my theory for the reason the RatGrinders where so interested in the Thistlespring Tree and the soil is because by infecting the soil, they can infect the pollen of the plants of Elmville. Then, that infected rage pollen would be used to make the Devil’s Honey that Gertie was talking about. It will then be used to infect the whole school through the food trucks. In their state of rage infection (where they worship the rage god), the devil’s honey would cause their worship and belief to be much more stronger as the infected will have no doubt that they ever worshiped anyone else and will start believing the lie.

I agree with most theories that the party died in the Mountains of Chaos and were brought alive by the rage god, but I find it more interesting how this god is operating. I’m not too sure if they’re directly controlling the actions of the RatGrinders or if it’s by proxy and the RatGrinders can control themselves to some degree, but the theme of loopholes and fairness is still prevalent in this plan. We have seen other gods be changed by their followers, like Cassandra and Tracker’s goddess, but what happens if the followers are essentially mind controlled into worship a certain god? especially one that is unnamed and largely unknown? Their plan is to actively shape the identity of their followers into being rageful and make those followers believe in the lie that they have always worshiped this rage god. Is this a loophole to the way worship in the FH universe works? Because based on what we have been shown, all worshipers were in some degree willing participates in their worship of any specific god, only social pressures and manipulations to keep them worshiping rather than being literally forced. So is this god trying to essentially build a brainwashed rage army to worship them in order to become a powerful god rather than building up followers? Is this rage god buying bots to artificially inflate their follower count rather than posting good-quality shit posts and amassing a loyal fan base?

Going over the whole villain plan so far: KettlePitty CopperFucker already has preexisting rage and jealousy toward the Bad Kids and specifically Riz. Her rage stems from her understanding how she’s an NPC in a DnD game. She’s essentially she’s an incel, wanting the world to revolve around her but not doing what’s necessary and thinking her conflict free life is boring and wanting the trauma of the Bad Kids. The idea of it all was much cooler in Kipperlilly’s head than it actually was for the Bad Kids, and the Bad Kids actually were able to work through that Trauma, leading them to be who they are. Anyway, Kipperlilly is a vulnerable teen who got too lost in her own emotions, and drove herself insane with her own jealousy, making her into the easy target for the Rage God. The Rat grinders’ treck into the mountains of chaos was most likely KipperLilly’s attempt at replacing the Bad Kids’ cool adventures but something went wrong, they weren’t prepared as they lacked experience with big threats, causing themselves to die. They all then chose to be revived by Rage God (TM), minus Lucy who stayed dead and who they hexed into never going into the afterlife as revenge(?) for not following the Rage God. (Begs the question of why they brought her to the Elmville forest rather than leaving her behind?). Anyways they go back to Elmville and slowly begin their plan, consisting of 2 steps.

1. Expel the Bad Kids as revenge.

2. Make everyone worship the Rage God.

The second step is much easier to explain. Kipperlilly sets up the food trucks and establishes them as legit. Then, at Frosty Fair, Ruben was supposed to infect all of Elmville’s soil through his ritual at the Root Guardian, being the Thistlespring residents. As discussed earlier, this would have caused all the soil and thus pollen and thus Devil’s Honey to be corrupted with Rage God and spread amongst the Aguefort student body. This creates a super army of Angy Bois who would all worship this one god. Now I’m not to sure if the ritual actually worked, but this sure seems like the original plan. Also somehow all of this is related to Ankarna and Cassandra and their marriage but I’m not sure how specifically. The Rat Grinders going back to the Mountains of Chaos might be for a ritual or meeting of some kind and we might get to see the Rage God in action as the RatGrinders report how their plan is not doing great, especially with the Bad Kids catching on and surviving. Also the Sky Engine stolen from Fabian’s basement might have something to do with the expulsion plan, but I’m leaning toward it relating to their trip to the Mountains of Chaos.

Now the first step is much more complicated and visible. First time, they try to expel them using the robit principal and catching the Bad Kids doing drugs at the Frosty Fair. This fails due to robit murder. This also leaves a power vacuum and due to Aguefort’s dumbass and Aguefort (the schools) lack of plan Cs, the Class President becomes the true principal in case of emergencies, leading Kipperlilly into furiously campaigning for President to become principal. I’m not sure if this is because she wants to expel the Bad Kids herself, a gun for more power, or something relating to the Rage God plan, or maybe all three? Idk. She is also most likely colluding with Jace Stardiamond, who we can assume gunned for Kristen to be failed for step 1 and for the bot not to be rebuilt for the above. The failing of Kristen also forced them to the Last Stand-ard Exam, where Buddy was probably planted by Stardiamond at the request of Kipperlilly and where Buddy and the Bad Kids were probably were going to be left for dead, hoping they may take the Rage God’s deal for life in exchange for worship and further indoctrination. Stardiamond is may be rage-compromised or is just being manipulated idk.

[utilitycaster]

fav npcs of all time?

I’ll do one from each actual play I watch/listen to (until I say otherwise, assume I haven’t listened to enough Rusty Quill Gaming to start answering questions)

TAZ: Balance - Lucretia. She’s got these messy, dubious choices at the core of her character, which I find fascinating, and she changes so much and she’s lost so much and in general is interesting and complicated and tragic and yet manages to get off some killer one-liners.

TAZ: Amnesty - Barclay. I will always defend Amnesty to anyone who wrote it off simply because it wasn’t D&D, because I think Griffin’s storytelling was top-notch and the worldbuilding, while in some ways much more contained, was intricate and delightful. Anyway, I chose Barclay because he’s kind of an enigma. We eventually learn why Mama is who she is but why did Barclay join her instead of chill with the rest of amnesty lodge (did we learn that? I could have forgotten). Also he is bigfoot and he ends up dating the FBI agent who was sent to investigate him which is the biggest power move I can imagine.

TAZ: Graduation - it’s early on but so far I really love Rainier, who is so kind and creative and I think will be cool to follow, because due to her powers she’s assigned to the villain category in this weird bread and circuses world despite being probably one of the nicest NPCs so far.

Critical Role Campaign 1 - much as it pains me to not say Allura (and I am not cheating and including her as a campaign 2 NPC even though she has made an appearance), I think I have to go with Gilmore. He just has such an exuberant personality and gets so many excellent scenes, particularly with Vax. I think the post-dragon fight scene, the post-rakshasa fight scene, and (if you count it) the post-Vecna fight scene are what clinched it. Seeing him give everything to try to save the Tal’Dorei family, destroy some assassins and then help the man he still harbors feelings for with no rancor, and then put aside his mourning to help people after a tragedy...this was a guy who left his home and hasn’t been able to go back (or possibly hasn’t wanted to, despite loving his parents very much), who developed a whole persona, probably changed his accent, and set up shop and just never stopped being a wonderful person who would give it all up if he had to if it made the world a better place.

Critical Role Campaign 2 - this is very difficult because there are far fewer clear “this is your awesome ally Allura or Gilmore or Kima” characters. I think I have to say Dairon. They manage to be very formal and prickly and yet after Xhorhas she starts to change her mind and rethink their positions on the drow, which is impressive. And she is probably the closest anyone in the Mighty Nein has to an unambiguously good mentor (unless I suppose you count Caduceus mentoring Fjord). I love that Dairon saw Beau and didn’t write her off as pointlessly rebellious, and that despite telling Beau not to get attached, also is clearly pretty attached to Beau as a mentor (sidebar: if Beau ever gets killed and resurrected, if her reunion with Dairon isn’t “I am so sorry, I broke my promise and died but like, I got better” I will be disappointed.)

Relics and Rarities is hard because they don’t have that many recurring NPCs and there’s just not enough screentime for those they have. I mean Professor Roundland seems very cool but we don’t know enough.

Fantasy High: Fantasy High’s strength is in the NPCs and everyone in the Bad Kids’ retinue on their sophomore mission is an excellent NPC (also Aguefort, who is actually what the head of a school of magic should be because he doesn’t lie to himself unlike some Dumbledores I could mention; also Jawbone, the Thistlesprings, Sklonda, and too many other students and villains to list - I mean, Fantasy High Live managed to make me desperately want to help Aelwyn), but I think Gilear, as a much needed representative of all the NPCs who truly are just innocent bystanders, he of the endless string of terrible luck, is my favorite.

Escape from the Bloodkeep: It does pain me not to say John Feathers but I think I have to pick one non-ally NPC on this list, and that is, of course, Avanash. Anyone not worried about spoilers please watch this to understand Avanash, a man who just has some concerns about his bones.

The Unsleeping City: I do love me some Alejandro the old and wise vape wizard. Big Gandalf energy indeed.