#aabria knew what she wanted and got what she got

[bastart13]

POV you are Deanna about to have the night of your monsterfucker dreams in the creepiest woods imaginable

[pippastrelle]

Bulletpoint liveblog of C3E91 let's go!

Second half: Crown Keepers

Oh, is this where the Crownkeepers come in? I heard that. Haha I always wonder what it's like at the studio hiding the fact that, like, Robbie is there.

AABRIA! God, I want to know how her hair and makeup is done. It's so different and so cool nearly every time I see her. She's got such style.

Moment to appreciate the music they play during the art reel at the end of the break.

CROWNKEEPERSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS! I actually never fully watched Kymal so the bunny woman was a surprise XD

The collaborativeness is nice, asking Anjali about her sister.

ahahaha god this platform. DON'T WHIPLASH MY EMOTIONS LIKE THIS! I'M CRYING OVER ORYM AND ALL!

….Me not having watched Kymal might confuse me for the next two hours.

Black lipstick will never not get me. Aimee.

Is Dorian going to reply to Orym's message??????

Good on Matt for starting off.

(Pleeeeease may they say this woman's name). Her character's Morrighan. Whoa, a champion of the Matron of Ravens.

The Crownkeepers have been having a real swell time.

(Fy'ra Rai has always been a great name to say). So, sent by the Wildmother to protect them.

Aww, Dorian feeling some consequences of his avoidance.

From an above-table perspective, I'm surprised they're all feeling so lost? I wonder if it was planned and if Aabria's going to suddenly give them a direction, or if they're reticent to set too much in stone?

OPAL'S BETRAYER GOD CHAMPION DESIGN IS SO SICK; I LOVE IT!

Sleep as an exhausting void… Creepy.

"Can I hear him?" "Make a wisdom save." Terrifying. "Shouting at you while running backwards." What a description.

I do love Opal, too. Such a situation but still trying to retain that image of her.

"We gotta get these chuckles out not." Whimper in terrified player.

I love Aabria's GM-ing in a lot of other things (ACOFAF is S-tier), but I think this highlights why I found EXU Prime harder to get into. The Crownkeepers tend to lack a motivating goal from the off-set, making it a bit hard for me to figure what they're trying to do and why.

Still, starting off with PVP might be the wakeup!

HA! Matt Mercer doing the ad read. Love it.

Spider Queen is intimidating and poor, poor Opal.

Holy shit, Opal's raising into the air and burning the forest. Hahaha make Aimee choose which friend to destroy. Awwww forcing her into PvP!

Goddddddd Aabria is the Betrayer God here.

Black eyessssssss. Magic second set of arms.

God, imagine being Aimee rn.

27 on initiative??????

THE DARIAX ROLLS RETURN!

At least Opal can communicate her panic.

HASTE ON OPAL???? HA! VENMO TO HASTE THE ENEMY!

The Dariax rolls balance Morrighan's.

Aw, sweet with Morrighan and Opal whispering telepathically.

Amazing image of stone cold Opal in contrast.

I like how Matt and Aabria pop in with lessons for the others. Nice to see players propping each other up.

CRYSTAL RAPIER? NICE!

"She's just a little guy."

Absolutely fair, seeing weird shit for your Betrayer God Champion friend and just wanting to knock her the fuck out.

Kind of Anjali to tally up the numbers as they roll.

Eeeeeek, ripping a rapier down her thigh.

OPAL DOESN'T TAKE THE DAMAGE????? IS THAT A REACTION OR????

TED!

Hahaha "if Opal did crossfit".

(I googled it. Morrighan is played Erica.)

Oh christ Ted's helping. I wonder how much Morrighan knows about Ted.

"NONONO STOP!" as verbal component for Shield is fantastic.

I don't trust that this is Ted?? Does Ted know Opal's fucked right now??

"Why's the first thing you do drawing blood?" Well, because it's D&D.

Haste lets you go get a hotdog from Arby's. Vax knew this well.

Aabria's English accent is so American-version-of-English but I like how it sounds anyway.

Let the ashhole return, cowards!

Yeah, Robbie, this is a weird situation. Dorian's just choking on his flute. Yeah, trying to restrain Opal is a good plan. NO! NAT 20 minus 1 + 4 plus 13. Aimee/Opal, go! Get! It!

Nice, Aabria, failing forward is a lesson we can all incorporate.

NAT ONE PLUS 13?? ROBBIE! Cannot catch a break.

T_T Fy'ra being betrayyyyyed again. Ooh, very very cool from Anjali calling for a flashback.

(We still never got the response to Orym. Has that happened yet or it that going to be the bookend? I'm curious what this is going to mean for the actual campaign. It's a really fun idea to bring in another GM for a section. Sure, more Actual PlayTM than homegame but Matt at least gets to play.)

Haha Anjali welcome to the DM club! I know about this from the Ginny Di video. Anjali DMed an official lego game.

Can they free Opal?

Ohhh. The Wildmother wants this? Am I misunderstanding? Shit.

They can't separate Opal from the crown.

Love how different people set their dice.

Never take advice from GM Aabria :P

Holy shit these guys roll high.

I hardly ever see people take the dodge action.

I do like Opal a lot.

So the Spider Queen is just trying to full take over Opal. I wonder if Teven or the other Betrayer God Champion had this sort of thing happen.

GO AWAY FOREVER??? THEIR MOTHER DID THIS TO OPAL AND TED?? Evalux? A splinter group? I'M SO CONFUSED AND INTRIGUED! THE BEACON'S INVOLVED??? How tf did they get it in Byroden? So there's a splinter of Luxon followers who split themselves in one life instead? God, I hope the main cast get to watch this.

…..And Opal has no memory of it. Will we ever get this information?

Erica continues to roll like a god.

The turns have felt both long and fast. I've still got, like, an hour and a half.

I love how Matt describes/contextualises things, even as a player.

HA! CYRUS IS HERE?!

ROLL PERFORMANCE FOR HANDJOB

A 7!!!!!

Bless is good. Dariax panicking is great.

XD God initiative takes a long time in a big group.

THE ROLLS! THE DARIAX ROLLS!

Ah! Dariax is a bard! Yeah! So cuuuute for the Double Ds. "THE PERFORMING ARTS IS WORTH IT!"

So. All of them are blind in the darkness. Awesome, awesome move, Aimee.

Hahhahahahaha right. Warlock. No spell slots.

XD It's such a long game. No loo breaks.

SQUIRREL SPIDER FTW

Gotta love Cyrus. "NO DON'T SHOOT!" The himbo persists.

….Matt, what did you get for the WIS save?

PALADIN COMES IN FOR THE SAVE!

Hahahaha "that could can see". Okay. Blind mistystep? …..I'm sure 8 will get it.

Aww, attacking your friend's going to leave a bad taste in your mouth. Lay on Hands is good.

I appreciate Aabria's helpfulness as a GM.

Fy'ra good teammate.

Opal, again, is amazing. I love how she tackles such complex things in her very Her way. Preserves drama and humour in her self-absorbtion.

I wonder how Opal washes her hair under that crown?

Well, some allowance for fighting when Opal attacked them? Obvs harder emotionally than logically.

Aww everyone got to see the memory of Opal and Morrighan bonding.

HA! LOVE FY'RA BEING COMMANDER!

Dorian is forever clanking with all the instruments he carries. T_T 9 to dispel fails. Good plan though. Until back into the darkness he goes.

I like the idea of going back to the Crownkeepers, especially as a perspective on Opal and Dorian, but I'm two hours into this section and still don't quite get the full significance of it. Which is a shame. I still have faith, but I think this encounter would be more enjoyable if I understood better why we were seeing it in the Bell's Hells campaign.

I've always respected Opal/Aimee going in on being the asshole sister. Getting to see that perspective.

The gem flashbacks are cool.

"We can both be coins." "And we're richer for it!" Amazing. Great pun. Love Fy'ra. Love Ted coaching Opal.

Max offering blind Dariax up on a plate. Respect.

I LOVE MATT AS DARIAX! SO FUNNY!

Con sorcerer is smart.

Aabria has no luck against Dariax.

I'm sure that 9 WIS will help perception.

BARDIC COMES IN CLUTCH!

DIMENSION DOOR IS A BONUS ACTION?!

I. Love. Opal. Aimee plays her and her struggles and her relationships with everyone so well and nuanced. Dariax is a well-done character too. Real even behind the humour.

I leapt too, Aimee. Holy shit what the fuck, Spider Queen?

(Fuck you, Twitch, for skipping, my god).

Oh god, Cyrus, don't die.

Nooooo, Dariax. Living nightmares. Him and Dorian seeing their nightmares.

Spider Queen Opal wtf.

Pick up next week? Huh. I… am confused by this. Interesting encounter. I liked the drama between the Crown Keepers. But, again, I don't understand the significance for the Bell's Hells? So I reckon next week will be first half Crown Keepers, second half Bell's Hells. Huh. Interesting episode. It was fun, though I really don't deny still being on the edge of my seat to find out what's happening with the BH.

[unsleepingtales]

Burrow’s End episode 8

Two minutes in and I’ve lost the plot this is delightful

I’m gonna be totally honest gang I am exhausted and distracted tonight so we’ll see how this goes

Let’s hear it for the muas btw. Knocking it out of the park every single time

We’ve skipped hat and gone straight to miter.

Oh yeah the hat chant was fun

SHES PUTTING ON THE POPES HAT

Siobhan I love you

Unsleeping city shirt!

She’s so chill about it lmao

Tula’s heart is still beating???

The name of their cop show 😭

My body is composed of tubes :)

What has happened to your family indeed

Erika <3

Oh goddamn okay

What

Revenant Tula confirmed! Fascinating

Oh I thought that was gonna be a comedic beat and then it Was Not

Oh is this a thing Geoffrey cast on her???

Wait when she said ‘the winter we had lost dad’ did she mean Kenji or Geoffrey?

This does not feel like the whole truth.

Jasper looks SO devastated

You cannot really blame them

Oh that’s some thoughts that sound a lot like suicidal ideation

Yeah just checked the warnings! Glad they put the warning in for it.

Oh Geoffrey info!

Avaaaa

DAMN

She has needed to snap for so long

Oh Rashawn 💜💜

We are EIGHTEEN minutes in Jesus Christ

Let’s hear it for ttrpg safety tools! And players that communicate with one another!

MeatWolf merch when

It is NOT kosher

God what is with GMs and the word viscera.

Bennet!

I mean you could have said like. Explain or something but go off

Oh nooooo

I’m very not alive :)

Ok good thank you

Good lord

Hello???

“Since we got here” you’ve been here One day but ok

No? That’s not at all what was said?

It really does seem like a magical hat

That seems like a good call yeah

How did we get here things were SO tense like two minutes ago

GIRL

That was NOT subtle

Thorn is so fucking creased 😭

If Bennet turns out evil I will cry

Guys maybe chill. You just got off the topic of the killing.

What point are you trying to make??

You cannot try to pull the ‘we’re new’ card right now

That makes me want to Die in My Body

What’s the DC on democracy?

Thorn cleric level??? Is that new or was that there last ep and I missed it??

Is this just a normal thing that happens??

If you didn’t want me to fuck it up you wouldn’t have had such a whimsical redwall-ass name I am DEAD

Yeah no it’s the accent and the whimsical name it has nothing to do with jwc’s Astronomical talent or storytelling ability

He’s reluctant but he is still a cult leader cmon now

Jesus

OH ok

That was wild few seconds

How is he rolling so well now?

What

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhh

Awwwwww

The DEEPEST betrayal from her husband

She’s already dead man

Nuclear radiation did that sweetheart.

What

How do they have guns

Horrifying!

MeatWolf Merch When

They’re coppers now? Maybe don’t? Idk idk idk

Just a thought!

Erika <3

No yeah sometimes you do just need the shit kicked out of you

So… are they gonna tell Bennet that they put spies in the police force

I saw that eye twitch

Gotta nudge the homies

That was such a muppet face Brennan just pulled

What a lovely moment actually

The name bit keeps getting me-

Oppenheimer 😭

Warby Parker is Not that affordable lmaoooo zennioptical.com forever

We’re getting so many sponsors this week

was that just a fritos bit sweetie or did you wanna do something in character I’m dead

Maybe it’s the week I’m having but the jokes are hitting harder this week

The sass

We’re roughhousing :)

After this season I’m gonna try and make an actual timeline of events

Oh god that was just this morning

Aww Erika’s face

That is so purely sweet

Oh they’re GONE

augh

Psychic damage in real life

The energy is wild rn

Lotta strong feelings

Okay here we go

He’s hot though.

Sabotage??? Like by stoats sabotage?

He’d already been exposed to the radiation

Oh my god

Five??

Oh that’s not gonna haunt me at ALL

SHE’LL BE BACK

What the fuck is happening Aabria. Aabria what.

Phoebe?

God I wish I knew more about this specific section of history so I could know what’s in historical context and what’s Burrow’s End lore

God radiation is so fucked up

The shadow puppet show! We found the light and began the world

Ooh I just noticed the gm screen changed and you can see inside now that’s so cool

An egg threat!

I’m

I’m gonna lose it I think

I need to have an in depth understanding of things please

I would like to know what is going on :) I am stressed and confused :)

Plot twist they’re all vegetarian now

Oh my god Aabria you’re brilliant

I am terrified!

Ok it’s 2 am I’m going to sleep and hopefully I don’t have nightmares about stoats I will be back to rewatch and re-freak out tomorrow!

[takaraphoenix]

There is something both poetic and ironic about the first Dimension 20 campaign I watched being Misfits and Magic and the last one I now had left to watch (until the next one airs) being A Court of Fey and Flowers.

Poetic because both are Aabria DMing season, ironic also for that reason, considering this is the Brennan Lee Mulligan show.

There were two reasons why I picked Misfits and Magic as my entry to Dimension 20, and to DnD in general actually. One was the obvious length - this was only one of two seasons that are four episodes long and as someone with no knowledge or experience with DnD, the thought of kicking it off with 20 episodes which each were like 2 hours was absolutely mortifying. This felt more... doable. Even if I don't entirely vibe with it, it's just 4 episodes, I will finish it. The other reason was Danielle Radford, actually, because I adore her and seeing her on this was really ?!?! to me.

Six months and 18 campaigns later, you could say that I got very hooked, on both Dimension 20 specifically and DnD in general.

The funny thing is that I saw Brennan as a player first, before I met him as a DM. And I loved him playing. I love him as a DM even more, but looking at how many campaigns I would get to see him DM vs how few D20 campaigns he is a player on, made me quickly put A Court of Fey and Flowers back.

I had a whacky and random ranking system by which I watched them, it started out by length (well, more or less; the second campaign I watched was Mice and Murder for the all College Humor cast, since College Humor was what introduced me to Brennan and why I came to Dimension 20 to begin with), but after the first four campaigns, I knew I was hooked on this style of storytelling, so it became more like "this premise sounds particularly promising, I want to save that for later", so I saved what I hoped would be the best for last.

(And I more or less did; A Starstruck Odyssey and A Court of Fey and Flowers were the last two left and they absolutely will make it into my top three.)

And A Court of Fey and Flowers is genuinely such a good place to "end" (it's not really an ending, the next campaign literally dropped a trailer last week), I am enjoying this so much.

And that is partially due to loving Brennan's player energy, it is also very very much my growing love for Aabria's storytelling and world building, it's the incredibly dynamic that Lou and Emily chose for their characters, it's the incredible Rue/Hob romance because I didn't think I'd ever be invested in a PC/PC romance, it's the whole setting and fairy theme that is something I love already, and it's also the lack of fighting.

I know DnD is a lot about fighting. But I think I prefer it when it's more roleplay and less fighting (and it doesn't have to be no fighting, I just think 50/50 is too much fighting, and with many fight heavy campaigns, this was very refreshing and delightful to watch).

The point, to get back on track, is that A Court of Fey and Flowers really hits all of the right spots. I am deeply in love with this campaign and I know I will be revisiting this a lot and I'm grateful for the beautiful world Aabria crafted, and for the talented lineup of players she invited to take part in it. And I'm grateful to her for being my introduction to DnD, to begin with.

[loquaciousquark]

4-Sided Dive Highlights - Critical Role C3 up to E58 (May. 17, 2023)

Rolling right into the next one, tonight’s guests are Aabria, Christian, Sam, and Travis. We open with Christian wearing sunglasses inside due to one eye being very light sensitive. Travis wins host and hulas his way into a monologue about an increasingly frantic recap of the recent plot, capping off with a ventriloquism segment and a French puppet wolf. It's...not...good, haha.

What the Fuck is Up with That? Sam reveals he verbally bleeps curse words when his kids watch the show, ha. Sam absolutely loves having the guests and mixing up the company. Sam to Aabria: "How do I know you?" Aabria: "What?" It turns out he means how did they meet? Aabria did a D20 game with Matt and Marisha (Pirates of Leviathan). Christian slid into Sam's DMs on Instagram, ahahahaha, and asked him for coffee with Marisha. Incredible! He just felt that Christian had a good heart! Sam, what in the world!

Aww, Christian is still such a fan of the show! (The way he's talking right now is very much like Jeremy Dooley from AH right after he first got hired.) He & Aabria got together for a Session Zero at Matt's place and feel like brother/sister now. They built the characters together. FRIDA came first & Aabria wanted to explore some holes in the world and was able to match elements around FRIDA's build. Plus they didn't know which members of the regular cast they'd be with. As Aabria developed the character Matt instantly decided she'd be paired with Travis. Christian knew FRIDA's color palette before anything else, ha! He knew he wanted to build a complementary character for Sam because he's grateful to the opportunities Sam had given him.

FRIDA has the level of rogue because they'd wandered around for a while on their own, and the cleric levels from Deanna's influence.

Aabria was determined to be a nice generous cleric to counteract any expectations of hard-ass-ness from Laerryn, ha! She picked the Dawnfather because he's one of the most hardline Prime Deities; she's a full cleric with off vibes. She wanted a contrast to FCG, who's in the position of a supplicant; she wanted someone more under the thumb of a deity in order to bring more facets of those relationships. Travis: "A perpetual IOU."

Deanna was one of the names from Chetney's vision; she was fully a Matt invention. Aabria loved the idea of being a past relationship and sent notes to Matt; then the day before they started filming Travis sent more notes to Matt saying she was a fling. "Damn it, I got downgraded to a fling before I even walked in!" Travis had to firm out Chet's backstory as they got to Uthodurn.

Sam really wanted to see Travis kill Santa, but Matt made Oltgar too regretful. Travis loves taking the dark routes in video games when available, but "with Mercer there's so much heart. I feel bad."

They had probably more god advancement in the last seven episodes than the entire campaign. I'm realizing this is about where I am in my show watch, which is why it all feels so current to me! Everyone loved the Changebringer stuff, except Travis could do without the Ring girl hair.

Ludinus was behind it from the start?! What the hell does the leather armor do? He caused the corruption of the Savalirwood 500 years ago, which means he's been planning this for a long time. He tried to kill them with Molaesmyr and corrupted the land, founded the Cerberus Assembly; he's constantly reaching back for the glory of the Age of Arcanum. Everyone hated the freaky animals.

The Rexxentrum Toy Authority was a beautiful moment! Sam: "Why would you come up with a three-letter moniker that was actually standing for something else??"

Sam is very grateful for this arc because it gave a lot of meat to his character. He feels that he's been asking so many questions: who am I, what are dreams, am I alive, who are the gods, I want answers. Now he has a connection with his god, a connection with FRIDA--it doesn't really matter what his original design to kill was for because he has such a bright path forward.

Deanna was built to complement many characters, and Aabria leaned into certain facets for this party over others. "The dying and come back was very built in for Laudna and Ashton and Orym especially" because she spent a lot of her life constantly bringing her husband back from 0 hp. She liked playing with the weird, unresolved feelings of knowing that the dead person isn't gone, just static and waiting. The husband is still alive but is super old???? Ha! "Dustyl" is his name.

Everyone's enjoyed exploring the haunted areas of Exandria. Travis describes several locations on the maps in detail from memory and everyone ribs him a little; it's really cute! Everything was a little wrong in the Savalirwood.

Sam thinks Fearne should have the staff. Fearne having teleportation would be incredible. FCG's coin has a once-a-day power that can cause distractions, ask the Changebringer a question, or get a luck point (which everyone's sure he'll use right away).

The last two interactions with the gods were fascinating because they weren't requests for help, they were demands. Deanna thought she'd died for a second at the end.

Aabria went pure life cleric specifically because she wanted to lean into the drama of resurrection magic being off the table. "Someone's dead? Oh, I'm great at this! Oh...wait..."

Jerry stole the show. Everyone agrees the goats are giant food.

Travis is sad they didn't fight the pterodactyl thing. FRIDA is intentionally built like a tank & has had Death Ward most of the time, so they intentionally drew aggro.

Travis intentionally pulled Chet away from the group when the moon started changing him specifically to avoid endangering the guests, and then Christian went after him! I have spelled "intentionally" wrong as "intentially" every single time. Christian knew it wasn't a "smart" play but thought it would be fun to interact with Chet, and that'll trump optimization every time for him.

The Tower of Inquiry! Favorite encounter so far? Travis: the Ludinus showdown. Sam: Laudna going down and not knowing how to Revivify. (Aabria asked if she could play Otohan and Matt was like, what? No!) Christian: the heist race where Ashton got the bust! Aabria: the same fight as Sam.

How does it feel being part of a larger group? Sam: FCG's entire first group died, so this new group is a lot of pressure. FCG's been one event away from berserkness multiple times. Every time they long rest, Sam can roll a d4 to reduce stress points, but he's self-imposed a rule that he doesn't do so on non-active days.

Sam literally leans over to Travis about his old age rules. Travis has to roll a 100 on the dice (three 0s) in order for Chet to drop dead. He's not concerned at all that it'll happen; Sam is hilariously concerned.

The Deep Dive, sooner than usual! Sam absolutely loved the interaction with the bull. He's delighted "the power of friendship" mattered.

Travis has been sitting on the RTC reveal for a while. He sat down a while back and really mapped out a lot of Chet's backstory and where he traveled, and again pulls out tons of map details like the Wuyun Gorge. The one place he hasn't been yet is Issylra.

FRIDA is a little nervous about turning into a werewolf; being around the group made them more comfortable, but the reveal of killing all those people is concerning. FRIDA also felt they were able to see Chet inside the beast during that fight & loves the idea of being unadulterated & free. Christian texted Matt & asked what it all meant that night, and just got in return, "ahahahahahahahaha". Ha!

Aabria is fascinated that developing these relationships with Bell's Hells has changed the previously friendly ease Deanna had with FRIDA. It's not quite a strain, but it is a reevaluation which is not settled; it's painful. FRIDAY had a strong opinion on the absence of pain and the absence of sadness; he hadn't appreciated how important current relationships were before FCG. Sam: "We have so much in common. We're both metal. We're both murderers."

Sam butchers the FRIDA acronym, which Aabria of course nails. Far-Ranging Integrated Defense Aeormaton. FCG is scared about the Changebringer's lack of clarity, and fears for the future. Travis suggests that if FRIDA dies, FCG should incorporate their body parts. Christian: I'd give you FRIDA's legs.

Everyone laughs at the size differences/similarities in their partners. Dani's (female) SO and she share clothes. Sam shrinks things in the dryer and gives them to Quyen. Alissa is taller than Christian so she can't wear his clothes; same for Aabria and her husband. Travis rolling over in bed is a literal health hazard for Laura, ha!

It took Travis forever to realize Deanna was his Deanna; Aabria even pointed to her name & he didn't get it. When it did click, the panic was real; he had acid reflux and realized she knew the backstory and he didn't! He didn't know if he should be angry or happy or neutral to see her; he had to wait until he had more context clues.

The romance for FCG and FRIDA was organic in nature. Originally they'd thought Deanna & FRIDA might have something, but it didn't pan out. Sam did text Christian to make sure they could lean in after.

Aabria loved getting to play with a character she helped develop in ExU (Fearne).

Tower of Inquiry, Redux: character's favorite board games? Chet: Chutes & Ladders. Deanna: Pandemic. FRIDA: Risk. FCG: Operation.

Post-Break Shenanigans: Super Smash Brothers! Sam: Dark Samus. Travis: Wolf. Aabria: Kirby. Christian: ROB.

Travis thought Oltgar was going to be more of a shit, but he's 100% okay tracking Drixlich instead.

Deanna is concerned after the conversation with the Dawnfather because while it's on brand, she fears losing her powers/life. She'd rather pay it forward first.

Sam wins round one! Huh! Round two: Sam: random (Falco), Travis: Ganondorf, Aabria: Ganondorf, Christian: ROB again.

FCG is weirdly comforted to have direction from the Changebringer; Sam likes her vibe. He was little freaked out by how demanding she was at the end but looks forward to exploring that relationship.

Christian wonders if FRIDA belonged to Ludinus. All he gave Matt was the dream of the child's legs. Time runs out on the second round and Christian takes it by percentage!

Round three: everyone picks random. Sam: Diddy Kong, Travis: Terry, Aabria: Kirby, Christian: Bayonetta.

How does Chet feel about the gods? It's only a matter of time before Chetney takes the gods' place.

FRIDA was very freaked out by fighting Aeormatons, but Chet's gift especially helped a lot.

Deanna feels that while the gods aren't a nascent part of the world, if it weren't them, it'd be someone else. Sam found it hard to play a religious character because his instinct is to be subversive.

Sam asked Matt if FCG had his initials carved on him somewhere after FRIDA revealed theirs. Matt said, "you don't know," then let Sam throw out a handful of suggestions for what the acronym stood for. He didn't know which until the moment, though. The entire conversation was inspired by Christian's play; "Christian did a cool thing and I wanted to steal it."

Christian's best friend Jack was helping him with acronyms; Christian had come up with "FRIDA" and Jack defined it in about thirty seconds, haha. Backronyms!

Travis loved the first Catha transformation. Now he has to decide who to transform into a werewolf. Everyone loves "Bells Heals" as a minigroup name, and "LoveLetters" and "Body Count" for the FRIDA/FCG ship.

Aabria found the two relationships with Deanna/Laerryn very different; with Sam she planned it out, and with Travis she knew she was surprising him. She is fully embracing the "we've already banged" dynamic for all her characters now.

The post-credits scene is a cutout of Sam spinning into the abyss.

That's that! One more 4SD is out right now (came out yesterday), but I'm going to catch up on the show first!

[thequeenofmyownscreen]

Finally got time to watch episode 1 ("Excelsior") of Exandria Unlimited : Calamity, and I couldn't stay silent, because I loved it so much and I'm obsessed ???!!!! Very quickly random things I was gathering :

Brennan Lee Mulligan is an awesome DM, I know the whole wolrd knew, but I didn't ! (I have to watch Dimension 20 in the future) And he is !!! The things that got me is : here is a masterful narrator, exceptional at setting scenes, just so fun to listen and watch... and a disaster when it comes to opening or ending the episode, what was that ?? (affectionate. He must have been stressed.)

Whoever thought to seat Travis and Aabria together deserves a damn raise. THEIR REACTIONS !!

The opening scene with Zerxus. Yeah.... Words are unnecessery.

Me ??? Obsessed with Marisha's character ??! It's more likely than you think !!!! (I'm joking but I'm not but I am because also their characters are so so GOOD. Travis that accent ?? Sam being once again a bard ??? Aabria coming in with all the power she's got ?? Nydas and his embarassment of riches ?? Zerxus being the only one closing in emotionally on the truth of the calamities to come ??? come on !!)

Loquatius and Laerryn's relation and scenes together are *chef's kiss* in second-hand embarassment, I want to watch it all again thrice. Sam once again displays his masterfyl ability to come with an exagerated character and whamming us with feelings when we don't expect it.

PURVAN SUUL ??????!!!! (just... in that moment I was the Beyonce meme) (and the three of them from Campaign 1 that are laughing and us with them oh my god) (and Sam, who can't help himself, with "Free advice, change your first name !")

The way they are all very established, but just on the cusp of more power (Patia, Laerryn, Loquatius) or more information and stuff (Nydas, Cerritt) or more sense and connection (Zerxus) and they won't have that. That's why I love tragedies : because you can litterally see the future and you know it's gonna be too late, but still !! and you enjoy the fall still !! while it hurts you so much.

I'm gonna be obsessed. There's no other way. Bye-bye, I'm gonna reblog a bunch of stuff now.

[inkofamethyst]

June 17, 2022

I’ve got nothing to say right now so I’ll clear out the draft of this almost year-old post in honor of the new Calamity-based miniseries that Critical Role’s finishing up, I guess.  I sort of just wrote this all out and then never continued it because I never actually finished the original EXU miniseries.  Honestly?  I still kind of feel bad about that.

[August 15, 2021]

I just read through a long, long reddit post/thread thingy about EXU and like,,, I have thoughts, I think.

Aabria was very different from Matt in her GM style.  I thought it was fun and funky, you know, more... approachable?  Less... corporate?  Doesn’t mean there weren’t some times when I wasn’t feeling it (there are times when I’m not super engaged when Matt’s DMing either, mind you).

The thing I liked least about EXU wasn’t Aabria’s style (and I mean there are valid critiques of how she disregarded rules, I think, but I rarely rarely ever found it grossly distracting).  Honestly it was the storyline.  I was so down for a miniseries.  I adored Undeadwood.  I didn’t know that Undeadwood was partially scripted until today.  I think that approach is effective for a miniseries that incorporates improv.  I imagine that it’s similar to how I imagine the DSMP was scripted, in that certain plot points had to happen and certain character interactions had to take place (but, of course, I don’t actually know how these partially scripted series, whether long or short form, are done, so).  But we all know of Exandria as a literal open world.  A sandbox game.  Aabria gave them a storyline from the start, but the players noped their way out of it which was totally within their right.  And Aabria couldn’t do much about it without coming off as wrangling their free choice.  So then we enter Tal’dore and the party just sort of goes about traveling and meeting people and conversing with gods (which, my dnd-friend and I both noted, was very different from the standard Matt had set for how the divine interacted with mortals, especially level three nobody mortals lol).  The plot was just, like, not there.  I like open-world games.  I like wanderings and encounters with new people.  I just felt like, as far as a completed arc goes,,, I didn’t get that.  

I liked the characters!  I liked the encounters!  I liked the open-world!  I liked how each character had a full, legit backstory!   I liked the threads!  I didn’t like the loose ends.  Aabria presented a number of potential storyline paths (and like, good on her for that).  She (obviously, I think) had a preference, but the characters subverted all of them which, honestly, was a little wild to watch/listen to.  I remember in episode 6 I think where Dorian was like “well what if we went south to help the tetrarch” and the tetrarch was like “I hadn’t considered that as an option” and even though I was only listening I knew that was not the GM’s intention for the party at all.  But it’s improv!  “Yes, and!”  At that point, what can you do but give the party the choice?  Like, even from the first episode or two, Aabria would be like “roll a perception check” and the player would be like “three! :D” and this would happen like, five times in a row and Aabria would just kinda be stuck, unable to give them threads no matter how hard she tried because they just couldn’t pass perception checks.  I felt bad for her tbh.

Those wouldn’t’ve been issues if EXU (s1?) hadn’t been limited to eight episodes.

I also heard that some people didn’t like Opal like, a lot.  It reminds me of how people didn’t like Keyleth (I mean, I mostly thought Keyleth was cute if perhaps a little naive for her wisdom score) and Matt had to say on stream that negative things about Marisha would not be tolerated.  I thought Opal’s character was fun and very I-may-be-a-teenager-but-I-know-more-than-you.  An argumentative popular girl from high school.  Sometimes over the top, perhaps, but within character bounds, I’d say.

I don’t necessarily want to pull a misogyny/racism card here, I really don’t.  But I mean, hey, if we as a society that went through the social justice movement of 2020 learned anything, well, one of those things is that unconscious biases affect almost everything we do.  I’ve admitted to having them to; everyone does.  They do affect the lens with which we view media and how/whether we’re able to relate to it.

I think the conversation on Reddit was pretty tame (I did learn that apparently C1 + C2 is like 900 hours of content which is crazy (and that person also noted that it wouldn’t be unreasonable for individuals who’ve followed both to have developed a sort of parasocial relationship with the cast (I can confidently say that I most certainly have not, but it is a valid thought, I’d say))), though I didn’t read through it all and the mods did turn off comments to keep the conversation from veering too far away from civility.  Apparently Twitter was pretty vapid.  Twitch subs went down pretty drastically these past two months, I read.  According to some redditors, ig and tumblr tend to have more of a toxically positive view of CR in which the main cast/crew can do no wrong (an interesting observation).

[Today]

I don’t really have anything more to add.  I’m thinking of downloading the available Calamity episodes (I don’t actually know what the series is called lol) and having them for when I travel.  I also still need to finish the very end of that last Ursula K LeGuin book.  More urgently, I need to finish packing and also clean my room.

Today I’m thankful for patient parents.  So, so thankful.

[edit: oh also I’m thankful that making two hunned a week this summer for doing ~almost nothing~ for a prof last semester... like this is quite literally the best deal ever]

[morgansplorgan]

Sept. 3, 2023

Holy shit, today was a good day!

I shared some art with the CR fandom, and they seemed to like it. Got a lot of attention from LoveLetters fans. Look, I'm just saying that if you put two robots in the same world and let them kiss, people will cheer for them! Also, I tripped over my own ankles and stumbled onto Aabria's tumblr page, so that was fucking cool.

I did not write as much as I wanted to due to a virus that I got from my mother. She's a preschool teacher, so. Yeah, that was bound to happen. She's on the mend, and I mostly slept it off, which is my response to most illness. Sleep good. Yes.

Anyway. So Pieces of You is going to be late tomorrow on fanfiction.net, since chapter 36 is still in progress. AO3 is updating to chapter 33, though, so I'm going to go post that one as soon as I'm done writing this.

Good news: this is only the second day I've done this, but it worked well yesterday. I was super relaxed and not bogged down by "what am I doing next" that normally keeps me up at night. I was asleep before I even knew my show was playing. It was awesome. I have followers that aren't bots now, though, so we're going to play this by ear. This isn't something I need likes on, so ignore it. It'll probably actually make me more stressed if you like these ramblings. Why are they public then? Because it gives me the sense of having promised something to keep me on task.

Also, I'm a freaking weirdo. Welcome to my wacky world!

Anyway, see you guys tomorrow. I'll share a few paragraphs of Pieces of You and link to the FanFiction page. Instead, have a small excerpt of what I did write today from my CR fanfic, Along the Way.

Briarwood Academy simply never reopened. The accusers stayed anonymous, and someone interviewed Laudna. Yes, the beatings were real. Yes, they took measurements weekly to make sure no one was indulging… well, no one who wasn’t granted the privilege. How did you get it? By tattling. Betraying your peers. Selling them out for a pastry with supper. Did anyone sell you out? Oh, yes. Many times. Her little bonsai companion was found and burned alive. A notebook of doodles confiscated, probably destroyed. Not like the smarter kids, who had their ideas stolen. Her drawings were landscapes. Still life. The mayor's boy, though… everyone knew he had whole inventions in his books later published under Miss Ripley's name before he ran away. He was one of the few.

Sweet dreams!

[senkovi]

A nagging critique (Spoilers up until episode 3)

originally posted on reddit by u/ContrarionesMerchant:

OK to preface this, I am really enjoying misfits and magic, it is probably one of my favourite seasons and I'm having a blast. That being said, I really need to get this off my chest and vent a bit.

Dimension 20's Misfits and Magic (MisMag) has a main character, and I think that's a problem. Evan is by far the most important and most present member of the party, although it is a very slice of life-y show, the vast majority of actual plot developments happen because of or surrounding Evan. Evan's solo scenes take up more time than anyone else's and he's got a lot more of them.

I don't really want to put this on Brennan but on some level I do think it's kinda irresponsible character building because there isn't really any way to do an Evan style character without him dominating the story, especially when you contrast him to the rest of the gang who are a lot more subdued, especially Jammer and Sam. That kinda brings me to my main issue with all this, its a 4 episode season and Evan taking up all the time that he does seriously shafts the rest of the cast. Dream does get a fair bit of development but that's because she's also got a pretty gimmicky magic "curse" and her development is really linked to Evan. The other two get things here and there, Lou is really good at sharing the space so Jammer has gotten a lot of amazing moments but I really don't think Sam has had nearly as much opportunity to shine, which is a shame because she is AMAZING.

This part, I might get hate for and you know what, that's fine but I really do need to address the elephant in the room. It does kinda suck when you have a majority PoC and on top of that majority women of colour group (including Aabria) and the one most in the limelight is the white guy. I am not in any way saying this was done one purpose with any malice but it is a thing that does impact the show and not even just in a "representation is an inherent good" perspective (but yes that), things get better when different experiences inform them. Just look at Lou running with "muggle" as a bit.

I know that next episode could center on the group more evenly and that maybe there'll be a Season 2 but I think this post is still justified because for the vast majority of this Season, MisMag has been Evan's story.

This hasn't really stopped me from enjoying the season, despite everything I do think Evan's a fun character and obviously Brennan is amazing but this has been bugging me.

Orion’s response:

You're 100% correct. I noticed at the end of episode 3, and we knew that fans like you would notice as well. Brennan and I talked about it and broke down several aspects as to how we got to that point, and it's a major focus in our shows from here on.

Here's a portion of what we came to understand. I am only sharing this because it's a beneficial lesson for people, and because it's not "spilling secrets". It's something important to see and analyze.

First of all, no one is at fault for this. Brennan could have been more conscious of becoming the "main character", but it isn't his fault for falling into that situation. Nor is it Erika's for tying their character into Evan's story, or Jammer or Sam for being more sharing with their moments. I truly believe that it was a combined (myself included) act of subconscious white supremacy. Notice that I'm not calling anyone a white supremacist, because I don't work with any of those and neither does D20 or CH Media. Fuck them. What I'm saying is that we noticed a social issue unfold that is baked into most of the media we consume, and so it is easy to replicate without noticing.

Brennan, as the only GM, creator of the show, and as a white cishet man, is used to being the center of attention, and that's not a call out. He is aware of his privilege and works hard to do right by marginalized people. But that does not mean that he is always going to do the right thing. In this case, we didn't even notice until it was mostly finished. Let's take this and turn it into completely speculative math that only exists to paint a picture.

Let's say that each player has a % chance of becoming the "main character". Based on racism, colorism, gender, social dynamics, the breakdown would be very vaguely like,

Brennan 80%Erika 40%Lou 20%Danielle 5%.

As people of color, we have to intentionally push ourselves into the center, even when the ratio is 4/1, otherwise things go as mass media (the way we know to absorb and perform) intends, with Brennan at that 80%. Is it the fault of any of the players of color? Even less so.

The dynamics between white characters and characters of color are often a "the white person is MC and the PoC is support of some kind", and that's just baked into our minds. You have to consciously act against that, or it happens. That's what white supremacy is. The KKK are scary but subconscious white supremacy is far, FAR more terrifying. Because a group of amazing humans who are exceptionally kind to one another and to the world, they try their best to juggle all of the social complexities and politics that exist on so many different levels in so many different places and can still fall into these situations. It happens all the time, everywhere. All we can do is learn from it now that we see it, and install systems in our process that prevent the "white MC" focus from happening. And that's what we did, and what we're going to continue to do.

This is not an easy thing to break down and fix immediately. It's a PoV we've been raised with, and people don't change behaviors flawlessly in a day, or weeks, or months. But there will continue to be progress, and we will continue to redefine these situations by arming our GMs and writers and cast with these counter-systems, and continue to expand our cast and crew's growth into more diverse backgrounds.

Thank you for bringing this up. It is truly important.

Also, spread all that Evan love over to the other characters. We failed in spreading out the focus as much as we wanted to (and everyone deserved to have), but your influence as fans, the support that these players of color get, it helps. A lot.

[utilitycaster]

EXU finale thoughts

I think basically everything I said last week stands; loved the characters, loved the world and the descriptions, for the most part a huge fan of Aabria’s DM calls re rules/mechanics (granting boons, allowing for a lot of flexibility but also making the characters justify and roll for it), but the plot/pacing really fell flat for me,

I want to stave off the “not all things need to be answered” criticism here; I’m not asking for that. I am however asking for enough details to get me emotionally invested in the final fight, and I didn’t feel like I had that. Myr’atta’s attack felt no different than the party running into a corrupted treant in the jungle - I was far more interested in the weird cube last week. I still don’t know why she felt it necessary to have Ted for herself. I can accept not knowing how Ted became a patron, but the idea that she could be lost to Opal lacked any weight because it wasn’t present as a threat until it was already happening.

I don’t mind the stingers - in fact I think the one with Poska at the end, had this been a story that felt contained but also included hooks for future EXU seasons, would have been fantastic! But if the buildup to the final battle is almost entirely stingers meant for the audience, the main characters feel disengaged from what's supposed to be the main plot. It felt like a surprise to them, which means there was no tension buildup and that it was hard to care.

I think the same story structure, honestly, could have existed - the biggest flaw was that the party never really knew what was going on so they were just reacting rather than planning. I honestly think a single reveal that Myr’atta was after them and behind the attacks near Gilmore’s store, and a second reveal that she was trying to control Ted, would have changed my opinion entirely. If the party left Emon not just because of Poska and the need to investigate the rune, but because Myr’atta was chasing them, and if they kept moving south because of this; then even though there would still be all these different threads and the events would have played out similarly, Myr’atta would actually feel like the main villain and the other elements would have added additional pressure and time restraints. As is, Myr’atta felt like an annoying distraction from far more intriguing elements.

To compare to campaign 2: I thought Lucien had the most rancid vibes that have ever existed - like, truly, zero positive traits - and wanted him dead - but I knew why he was doing what he was doing and that made me deeply invested in the story. Here, it felt like the party was being pursued by a bear and Myr’atta was a mosquito that was bothering them. It felt like Poska’s crew or servants of Lolth or some threat from the plane of fire or even the Iron Authority with an imprisoned Umeji could have shown up as the BBEG, and I’d have felt it was equally plausible and in several of those cases, more narratively fitting and emotionally engaging.

In short: there were several different plotlines, which is fine and even good, but the one the final battle and emotional beats hinged on was the one I cared about the least. Even the inclusion of the circlet and hints that Myr’atta was perhaps responsible for the earthquake near Emon didn’t fully land; Opal was (other than Orym) the party member least tied to the circlet, with no prior interactions with Lolth specifically because she’d spent those dream sequences with Ted.

The hook for existing fans regarding Thordak’s Crater also failed to pay off and I need to stress that “but Matt probably gave that as a starting point” is not a good explanation; either work within the restrictions, or don’t, but a vague inclusion with no payoff in a limited run series really cannot be spun into anything good. I actually think including past lore is good, but because there was no payoff, both new potential viewers and existing fans didn’t get anything out of this. Let’s be real: this is a fandom where people got loudly emotional on social media at the mere idea of Vax showing up in a non-canon one-shot where he would almost certainly be murdered in like three rounds. You don’t really need to sell this to existing fans beyond saying "Emon."

This isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy myself, because for the most part I did (although the finale for me, because of the reasons I stated, was by far the weakest episode). I also completely acknowledge this is their first attempt at this shorter format, which is much less forgiving of digressions and tangents, and there probably were a lot of competing expectations. In the end, the main problem was, as I’ve said before, a lot of enthusiasm for the world and trying to be all things to all people. I can’t fault anyone for that; neither can I deny it led to a somewhat rocky and disappointing result.

I’d watch a new season. I’d even be excited for a more tightly plotted follow-up to this one. But also I’ve been a fan of the show for 3+ years and have seen Aabria in several other shows so there’s a lot of built-up goodwill. If I had a friend who was interested in checking out CR but intimidated by the amount of material, or a friend who had taken a break after campaign 2, I would probably recommend they just wait for C3 or hold off to see if EXU season 2 is more tightly plotted.

[nochiquinn]

exandria unlimited episode 2: there is no witty title for this that they didn’t already do IN THE EPISODE and I’m upset about it

OH NO PLATEAU

Dorian Stagename

"a simple faun druid" made of poison flowers

dwarf himbo

omar: NOT AGAIN

oh THAT'S why matt did that to his face

THE BROKEN GLASS IN THE INTRO IS RESIDUUM

A Baby Left In Prison

please turn the baby ankheg loose in emon, please please please

aw man

"people take care of expensive things"

perception check for the MASSIVE CLOUD OF SMOKE

"to be honest we're all very attractive"

"making erratic choices" you've nailed that part already

my mom's voice yelling "YARD SALE"

liam is carrying this group on melee, stealth, AND brain cells

oh no is this just the kids scrambling around the school in breakfast club

I LOVE THEM

I love the mental image of Opal Elle Woodsing while Dorian gets flailed around in the background

gaslight gatekeep girlboss

when there was only one set of footprints, it was when you were being thrown around by a probable assassin

ashley looked at caduceus' staff and said "gimme"

1/3 nelson

aabria accidentally does her dating sim after all

just squiggle out of the grapple

"his head that I wanna punch is so far away"

aimee carrero is a national treasure

broad rainlight

POINT BLANK ELDRITCH BLAST

"the sophie's choice of warlocks"

"roll your real dice! coward!"

"all the girls get rope training" I was gonna insinuate something about vex and percy but I feel like we knew

opal can help, she's clearly good at tying knots

til the name for a pergola

like I knew what it WAS but I didn't know the name for it

he drinks and he knows things

VIBRANIUM

you could SEE the realization on her face

"first giggle fit of the show" SOMEHOW

do you spice

whitestone: is it drugs yet

oh no.

god bless matt committing to this bit

cool I hate it

"we're a chaotic group" you just noticed

"we're all nonsense!"

aabria mouthing "the shade!" at the camera

the image of sparkly pink and purple opal with the black onyx crown is very nice

opal(/aimee?) just stumbling her way through the plot

"you nailed it! but you don't know that, because you rolled like dirt!"

every time aabria side eyes the camera three years are added to my life

I know We Knew but it's nice to hear keyleth's name again

feywild field trip FEYWILD FIELD TRIP

I can't figure out if I want this animated bc it would be SO much fun or if I don't bc I don't want this chaos confined to a script

"what is the alignment of a banana"

"the grapes are FUCKED"

syngorn crest??? arty get out of here

"her hooves are made for walking"

ugh ugh ugh too real dial it back

ashley WILL find an animal to give scritches, even if she has to make it herself

man I want that pride shirt

dariax

"non-binary halfling" oh, same

I swear I've been listening, something is Fucking Up with the Fire Plane and all I can think about is Allura

OH NO PLATEAU

"you grabbed the crown but you couldn't grab a little more FOOD?!"

IT'S A CROWN IN A BOX

Athlete's Foot of the Spider Queen

it's the starter area from botw

fearne needs advantage, she gots goat feet

ashley burn your dice

"darian" VALIDATION that's what I keep trying to say

(robbie IS "darien" lmao) (huehuehue sailor moon joke)

how. how often have you been almost-stabbed, opal.

"I grab Faun - Fearne - DAMN YOU ALL"

"you're YOUR OWN PAIR"

"it's for windy boys ONLY"

"I'll take a ribbon from somewhere" "BE SPECIFIC"

beans for the time soup

[dbza voice] SEN-ZU BEAN!

mister stop eating the weird sky ash

Why Don't You Just Shoot It

"I made such a mess and it's not my problem to clean it up"

big mister??

I came back to opal's magic not working??

"did I STUTTER??"

no it's because you GOT IN A BITCH FIGHT WITH YOUR PATRON

TOLD YOU

"I AM your magic, BITCH!"

"I have a twin sister" "who's a mountain?"

The Ash Hole

they broke aabria

they broke matt

they broke

"I'm really banking on the fact that my parents will not be watching"

"this is so stupid" "yes this is dungeons and dragons, what's your point"

"I will kill you in two episodes bc you turned my cool sigil into a butthole"

oh no!! vapor mister!!

also it is 1:20 am

SEE OPAL

wait a dire what, I zoned out bc of the aforementioned 1:20 am

"math! ever heard of it? NO!!"

"come back to fearne. and away from me."

"did you roll a natural 20?" "nooooo"

see, dariax, this is what happens when you attack the monkey

opAL

lmao matt calling liam out for vexnvax

dariax has monkeyphobia

wait fearne WHAT

"the scientific method" he's not...totally wrong

HEY. HEY I KNOW THAT WORD. HEY.

MY BOYYYYYYYYYY

liam don't FLIRT with him this time

opal just apologize to your sister

aimee forgot the word residuum again

the iranian yogurt is not the issue here

excited to see a. aabria’s take on gilmore 2. liam flirt out of instinct

[riahpariah]

Okay so stardustedknuckles asked what people felt about the EXU characters we’re currently projecting on. I know we’ve got episodes left and don’t have all the info but I have thoughts about Fearne and I just wanna put them down real quick okay cool.

I love having a Fey PC on the team, and Ashley really is nailing the alien but magnetic weirdness, first of all. In a realm where time kind of sort of doesn’t matter, and memory is tricky and may or may not be real or present when it should be, where stories are born and willed into being, the stuff of fairy tales and nightmares alike...well, that’s just like, normal shit for the fey races, and there’s an innate chaos to the people who emerge from that. Like when Fearne didn’t realize that being 112 years old is weirdly old, or maybe she was lying and fucking with everyone--either are likely, though Fearne tends to point out when she’s joking, something I’ll get to. 

So she’s inherently different from the others in a really delightful way, and it rings of neurodivergence in a way I enjoy immensely. Her quiet, gentle, softly smiling delivery of some truly wild lines, her tendency to occasionally just go feral for a hot minute, her bluntness and willingness to be awkward or even embarrassing, she doesn’t seem to care. And as she spends time with the group, we see her start to point out when she’s lying for fun. Several times she’s said something batshit totally straight faced, let the others have their moment of uhhhhhh, and then just gleefully declared “Oh no I’m only joking.” I do this myself, so I’m probably projecting on her a bit, but the delight in absurdity and confusion and playing on the humor of the unexpected feels very autistic to me and I’m a sucker for fey characters that feel like that, given the real world connection between fair folk and autistic kids, which I could talk about at length but won’t right now.

On top of that, we know she loves babies. I know that’s a lot of Ashley leaking in, but Fearne is someone who worries and cares for a weird big larva thing, who indulgently mothers a wild fire spirit monkey that flings poo as well as flame. She likes the ugly as well as the beautiful, treasures life in a unique way that’s less about preserving life and more about respecting it--being totally willing to let an angry and dangerous ankheg loose on the city, for instance, because she knew it was just a suffering mother who wanted her baby. What an icon.

As for her purposes, we know she’s searching for people, I am assuming family. She and Aabria as DM have revealed a little about her quest to find people, and she’s mentioned growing up with her grandmother but she did mention her parents at one point. I wonder if she’s looking for her parents myself, but the details at this point are still a mystery so all we know is that she has a greater purpose that she seems in no hurry to prioritize. She’s seeking something but whether it’s because of her perception of time as a fey creature (soup, whatnot) or because she’s just stuck for the moment, or whether she trusts her road will reveal things to her as long as she keeps going, I don’t know. I’m fascinated by it because she’s so very willing to just go along with the group, familiar herself with flights of whimsy and intuition as guides. Again, reading neurodivergency, because y’all know the ADHD mood of needing to do something but not being able to do it til the time is right? If you know, you know.

Anyway that’s a lot of text and I’m not gonna tie it all up pretty but Fearne is ND and a great character and I’m thrilled to find out more okay bye.

[critrolecalm]

I knew as soon as I heard Aabria’s description of this lovely little grove with a gateway that Fearne was inexplicibly drawn to that I wanted to make a clip of it. Aabria’s description, Fearne’s soft voice, and the choral music in the background made it sound magical.

I’ve been getting better about editing the clips, taking out higher-energy banter or laughter, out-of-place background noises, or accidentally repeated phrases. I realized for the latter you could actually look for the similar waveform to see where to clip a repeated phrase, rather than having to listen for it. Here Aabria says, “[Y]ou head into the woods and you walk for a solid 40 minutes until the terrain gets” - at which point the others speak, and then she picks up again at “The terrain gets...” So practically speaking you can look at the waveform of her saying, “the terrain gets”, visually look ahead, see where it shows up again, and then clip one and everything in between.

But I wanted to point it out because I just think it really cool that you can see what it looks like when Aabria says, “the terrain gets.”

[Image ID: a screenshot of digital audio editing software Ocenaudio, showing a window with two waveforms for left and right stereo, with time on the x axis and amplitude on the y axis. Two areas are highlighted in red: a waveform in a particular shape that looks basically the same except the one on the right is stretched a little higher up and down on the y axis.]

As usual, I’ve also uploaded the clip to YouTube, and have included the transcript both there as captions as well as here below the cut.

AABRIA: [Y]ou head into the woods and you walk for a solid 40 minutes until the terrain gets really rocky and craggly, and it seems almost to rise up on both sides. You're moving through this extremely narrow pass, but it's the middle of the day and it's still fairly bright. And then you reach it, the end of the pass, and there's a little clearing. And somewhere, off in the distance, you can hear running water, but you don't see it. And as you move through, you arrive here, just an open glade. And at the center of it, a strange... gate? A little mound of vines, wrapped up columns, stairs, a little pillar, a plinth. And Fearne, this is where you came through to the Prime Material Plane. It was lost to you, forgotten, fuzzy, but this was it. This entire place radiates with fey energy and all of you feel it. Though it's peaceful and it's quiet, and the longer you stare, the little orange buds begin to open up and turn to face you, Fearne.

ASHLEY: This is-- this is the gate that I went through and how I got here. I think that's what was pulling me, because I feel-- I feel my home. I feel my-- I feel my Nana.

AIMEE: Aww.

LIAM: Are you wanting to go back?

ASHLEY: I always want to go back, but I-- I don't know if it's time yet. I have some things to do. And I don't think I should return empty-handed. But it feels so nice. It smells like home, it feels like home.

LIAM: It's pretty.

ASHLEY: Thank you.

[thequeenofmyownscreen]

Some highlights and thoughts for episode 5 of Exandria Unlimited :

Opal didn't exactly apologized to Ted, but said she loved her. The necklace that serves as a connection to her sister was warm and comforting. I'll admit, at first I thought that Ted could be evil but now I'm convinced that she is not and she is trying her best to protect her sister. Also apparently the mysterious Fy'ra Rai has a twin sister, and this is why she feels a connection to Opal and her sister problem.

"My experience with jewelry is mostly just ... taking it."

The Asholes. Yeah, I like it.

Dreams ! Mysterious dreams, at first I didn't understand what Dariax was seeing, but when the two fleshy hands built a crown out of thorns, it was clear this was related to the evil circlet.

So the Spider Queen herself is tempting both Dariax and Dorian with the circlet. Interesting to see they both got close, and both were visited. Even more interesting to see who is dumb but with good sense and heart (Dariax) and who is ready to do "almost anything" to be rid of this burden (Dorian).

I forgot that Fy'ra Rai does not know about the circlet. When she asked what everyone was talking about, it's Dorian who answered with, surprising everyone, a clear "None of your business".

Backstory ! Fy'Ra Rai indeed had a young twin sister, that died. And she feels close to Dorian, enough to call him "little brother". But she still doesn't reveal exactly why they should trust her.

The Spider Queen asked for Poska, for whom she has no need for, now, but got what she truly wanted from Dorian : a commitment. An agreement. HE GOT PLAYED. But he also got the memories the godess promised him : they indeed knew Fy'Ra Rai ! She sacrificed herself for them, hence the emotion we can sense in her voice when she talks about her mission of protection. They all forgot (because of the magic of the Feywild I guess) except her.

I love that Dorian did not even try to hide the fact that in the morning, he did not react to the crown like he used to.

Exandria Unlimited without context : "I cannot rub an entire 10 foot obelisk" says Dorian. A concerto of euphemisms follows, but not as legenderay as the ash-hole scene. Still, this dialogue : Dariax : "Trust me" Dorian : "I don't !" Dariax : "I'll help get this rubbing. Just let me touch you !"

So the deity that Fy'Ra Rai was talking to is the Wildmother. But that is revealed after her voice creapily says to each of them there is more writings and information further, and also why are they here. Also the ruins are a lie ??? What. Does. It. Mean.

The goddess : "Ted was within you all long, my child." Opal : "I SWALLOWED MY TWIN ?!!???"

Who is "him", Orym ??????

The final test of the Wildmother is a big-ass crocodile ! We learn crocodile facts with Aimee, who grew up in Florida (I love that those nerds checked the truth on their phones since Aabria didn't believe flipping a crocodile would work).

Aabria threw her dice halfway across the room when it rolled a nat1 on her crocodile's saving throw. The subtitles with the "dice clatters on the floor" were sending me.

"Flip the crocodile" should have been the title of this episode.

Dorian managed to hogtie the crocodile. Aabria made a face that was 110 % proud and 110 % defeated.

I thought the episode would end with what is basically the scene in The Fellowhsip of the Ring with Boromir, Aragorn and Frodo on the moutain, when Boromir picks up the Ring in the snow. Here we have Orym as Aragorn, who do not hesitate to show his sword, since he saw clearly that Dorian has changed.

Interesting though, Orym saw a threat, and Fy'Ra Rai saw a power growing in Dorian (it could still be bad). But like Fy'Ra Rai said later in her prayers, Dorin will not make the same choice - of giving back the crown - twice.

Ted is not dead, is indeed inside Opal, and doesn't really know where her body is. Disturbing.

Aabria and Aimee have wonderful chemistry as the bickering sisters.