#adventures in re-veth-ification

[quest-draws]

[ID: A four page black and white Critical Role fan comic titled "Adventures in Re-Veth-ification: Next Gen. Full transcript under the cut for length. End ID]

Getting this out at the literal last minute before it's immediately jossed.

Transcript:

Page 1

Panel 1

Jester and Fjord burst through a door way in a panic.

Jester: We're here, we're here! Are we too late!?

Panel 2

A wide shot of Veth and Yeza's bedroom. The room is filled with members of the Nein; Kingsley sits in the open window as it lets soft light spill into the room, Caduceus is sleeping on a stool, Essek is perusing the bookshelf, Veth is tucked into the bed with a bundle in her arms, Yeza beside and Caleb sitting on the end, Beau is squatting on a small rocking chair, Yasha leaning over the back.

Kingsley: Yeah. Lucky you.

Veth, weakly: Hey.

Beau: You're just in time for her to stop crying.

Panel 3

Jester carefully comes up to Veth's side

Jester: But, you're all right, right?

Veth: How could I not be?

Panel 4

Veth looks down at the bundle she's cradling- a baby halfling with little curls of black hair.

Veth: She's perfect.

Page 2

Panel 1

Fjord leans against the foot board, looking visibly relieved. Caleb let's Jester take his place at the foot of the bed as she holds the baby.

Jester: Ah! Veth! She's so beautiful! Have you decided on a name yet?

Yeza: Actually we wanted to talk to you about that...

Panel 2

Veth and Yeza look at each other, somewhat nervously.

Veth: So, it's usually bad luck to name a child after someone still living-

Panel 3

Jester listens to Veth, looking a little confused.

Veth, cont: - But you have a name you don't use anymore, so...

Panel 4

A wide shot of the room, but the rest of the Nein are rendered indistinctly, putting the focus on Jester, the baby, Veth, and Yeza.

Veth: Would you let us name her Genevieve?

Page 3

Panel 1

Jester stares, shocked-

Panel 2

-Then starts crying

Panel 3

Jester flops onto the thin slice of Bed beside Veth, cuddling her friend and the new baby.

Jester: Yes! yes, yes, of course you can! Aw, Veth, that really is perfect!

Panel 4

Jester wipes a tear out of her eye, smiling.

Jester: god, I'm so glad she's okay.

Panel 5

Veth looks confused.

Veth: Why wouldn't she be?

Page 4

Panel 1

Flashback to earlier on the ship, Jester is receiving a sending reply from Isharnai, the hag who once cursed Veth to be a goblin.

Isharnai: Oh, and give my love to your little halfling friend. i'm so excited about the new edition to her precious family!

Panel 2

Jester looks extremely nervous. Behind her, Fjord is also clearly freaking out.

Jester: Ha ha! No reason at all!

Panel 3

Later, Luc is holding Genevieve, looking at her in confusion. Small, spiky sticks seem to be sticking out of her temples. In the corner of the panel, there is a screenshot of the description for the Hexblood feature Heir of Hags. It reads;

One way hags create more of their kind is through the creation of hexbloods. Every hexblood exhibits features suggestive of the hag whose magic inspires their powers. This includes an unusual crown, often called an eldercross or a witch’s turn. This living, garland-like part of a hexblood’s body extends from their temples and wraps behind the head, serving as a visible mark of the bargain between hag and hexblood, a debt owed, or a change to come.

Yeza: Luc! Did you put sticks in Gen's hair?

Luc: No! They just kinda... showed up?

Transcript ends.

[yfere]

Nott’s procrastination strategy getting progressively more shitty “Oh but I haven’t really meditated yet LET’S GO DO A BUNCH OF OTHER STUFF AND NOT THIS SUPER EASY SPELL WE CAN DEFINITELY DO RIGHT NOW.” And it’s interesting because the “what she wants” question was more about whether she would stay with the M9 or not, and not at all about whether to go through with re-Veth-ification, since she’s made it so clear being a goblin doesn’t make her happy. And yet she’s tied up the question of her future with the question of her body when everyone else in her life has decoupled the issue multiple times. Yeza has said she’s free to stay with him or be a mercenary, and he would accept her as a goblin as well as support her efforts to gain back her old body. The Mighty Nein explicitly planned adventures with Nott post-halfling transformation, and secured her agreement the first time they tried to cast the spell to do everything up to Travelercon either way. On one level, it’s like she’s desperately trying to keep her food from touching, but the different parts of her life are folding into one another and blending--Beau talking about Luc and TJ being friends! Wild! 

[quest-draws]

[Image description: A black and white comic titled Adventures in Re-Veth-ification: It's Been A While. Luc Brenatto, a white passing 20 year old halfling with a curly dark ponytail and short beard, a loose fitting shirt, and a button earing, is sitting in the kitchen of the Xhorhaus with Beau Lionet, a scarred asian woman with short hair who still looks in her twenties despite being much older.

 In the background Fjord, an older half-orc with graying hair and beard, both loosely tied into tails, is pouring himself a cup of tea while Caduceus Clay, a firbold with a long mohawk piled into an updo, chops vegetables at a counter.  

“...And that's when she shot me in the ass,”  says Beau, smirking.

“Holy shit,” Luc replies. “That's pretty crazy.”

“Heh, c'mon kid, you know your mom.” Beau says. She makes a dismissive gesture, “Though she was still a goblin at that point. She calmed down a bit after she changed back”

Luc stares at Beau, confused. “When she... sorry what?”

“When Caleb turned her back into a halfling?” She says. She smiles a little awkwardly. In the background, Caduceus stops chopping to look at them, concerned. “... After we lifted the curse?” Beau continues. 

Luc just looks baffled, bordering on alarmed, “Lifted the- Mom got cursed!? When the fuck did that happen?” He says

Beau, Fjord, and Caduceus all freeze, looking at Luc with pained and awkward expressions as he waits for them to answer his question. 

Fjord breaks the silence first. “Well, this will be terrible,” he deadpans “I'll get Veth.”

“I'll make more tea,” says Caduceus. 

“I'll be real with you-” says Beau, putting her hand on Luc’s shoulder. “This conversation is gonna suck balls.”

A short jump in time later, Luc is sitting with his head in his hands, yelling a long drawn out “Aaah” while his mother Veth, a chubby halfling woman with partially braided hair and facial tattoos, tries to comfort him. 

“... you were just so young, Luc, and it was confusing enough with me just showing up again and I was so worried I would scare you- I was scary! And you were so young-” she rambles. Fjord and Beau are beside them, with Beau leaning on the back of Luc’s chair and Fjord gesturing emphatically by Veth. 

“I mean, you knew she didn't come home right away, what did you think she was doing when she was Nott? Why'd you think we called her that?” Fjord says.

Luc slams his hands down on the table. “I was five I thought fuck all!” he shouts. “ And even if I had thought about it I wouldn't have gotten to 'goblin curse' from 'Nott the Brave' because that's fucking insane! That's like expecting me to get to 'Ex-Wizard Assassin' from 'Caleb'!”

“Wait, you know about the wizard assassins?” says Veth. Beau looks at him from over the back of the chair. 

“Damn, how'd you get to wizard assassins before goblin curses?” She says. 

"I don’t fucking know, Beau!” Luc yells. Caduceus takes Veth’s empty tea cup without comment. 

Veth puts her arm around her son. “Oh, baby, I'm so sorry,” she says. “If it means anything, it's not just you I kept it from- It took months to tell the Nein. Hell, I didn't tell you're father everything until...” She trails off, a look of realization creeping over her face. “Until, uh....”

Veth suddenly hops down from the table and rushes off, speaking so fast her words slur together “Fuck, okay, hang on a second i'm gonna go get him-” 

Many cups of tea later, Yeza, a halfling man who looks like an older version of Luc with no beard and large glasses, and the rest of the Mighty Nein have joined the others in the kitchen. The Brenattos are all at the table- Yeza and Luc are staring off into space, while Veth has both hands on the table ans is looking to the two of them with a slightly manic expression. Beau is still leaning against Luc’s chair, now with a cup of tea in hand. Fjord is sitting with Jester, a middle aged tiefling with short dark hair and one broken horn, on the counter eating sandwiches. 

Yasha, a middle aged aasimar with white hair braided with flowers and an eyepatch, sits on the far end of the counter, straining to see over the people closer to the table, namely Caduceus, who is pouring more tea to add to the plethora of mugs now littering the table, and Caleb, a middle aged human with glasses and long hair in a side ponytail, who is standing behind Veth with his hands on her shoulders. 

“And that's everything!” Veth shouts, far to excitedly. “All on the same page! Everyone good?”

The rest of her family look profoundly nonplussed. 

Luc leans back in his chair. “Ah,” he says. 

End description.]

Being in your twenties is just like *accidentally unearths repressed family trauma in a casual conversation* *accidentally unearths repressed family trauma in a casual conversation* *accidentally unearths repressed family trauma in a casual conversa-*

[quest-draws]

[Image description: A black and white comic titled Adventures in Re-Veth-ification: Hissing Fits. Fjord, a slim half-orc with an undercut, stretches and yawns as he finishes his watch inside the tiny hut. He leans backward and flicks Nott, a chubby halfling woman with braided hair and facial tattoos, waking her from her sleep. “Good morning, Nott, you’re up for watch.”

Nott startles awake, hissing loudly, but her hissing soon devolves into a choking cough. “Gods, that was pathetic,” Fjord says. “I’m not even remotely threatened.”

“I don’t think my throat DOES that anymore,” Nott says, wincing. 

“I dunno, I think it's doable,” Fjord says.“You just have to get more guttural. Like, *intense guttural hissing noise with a j sound thrown in* !” 

“ *less intense hiss* ?” She hisses. From the other side of the dome, Beau stirs and glares at them.

Unwittingly, Fjord continues. “No, you need to get your diaphragm into it. Like, *chunky hiss with no real ‘s’ sounds, more ‘k’ and ‘ch’ elements* !”

“ *chunky quizzical hiss, better emulating Fjord’s* ?” 

Gesturing to his diaphragm, “Yeah, *Equally grating but more intense hissing* !!”

“ *Horrible, drawn-out, j filled hissing sounds* !!” 

“BOTH OF YOU SHUT THE FU-*HISSING NOISES* -CK UP!!” Beau shouts, hurling her shurikens at the two of them. Nott with her +5 DEX just manages to dodge, while poor Fjord with his +0 get’s popped in the shoulder. End description.]

Last night was not(t) the night we got our girl back in her old body, but that just means I have more time before all my comics get jossed! 

[quest-draws]

[Image description: A black and white comic titled Adventures in Re-Veth-ification: Flowers. Veth the Brave, a chubby halfling with facial tattoos and braided hair, is sitting at a desk making a flower crown. From off-screen, someone says, “I’ve been wondering...” 

Caleb comes up behind her and picks up a stray flower. “...you have not worn so many flowers since our little trick.” Veth smiles, “Yeah, I don’t need ‘em so much now.”

She picks up the crown and looks at it fondly. “Flowers are for luck, with me back to normal, my family safe, and all of you with me... how could I be any luckier?” 

Caleb leans over her, smiling. “Well, I would not snub a little extra luck... and I’d suppose you agree, with what you’re making. Unless they’re just for decoration?” 

“Nope!” Veth says, standing up on her chair and cramming the flower crown onto Caleb’s head. “I’m doing great; you are still made of wet paper.” 

Caleb touches the crown hesitantly and Veth kisses his cheek. “And even though you certainly don’t need it, I’d never snub a little extra decoration.” She hops down and leaves Caleb blushing at the desk. “See ya, handsome wizard!” 

End description.]

Widobrave week day 3: Flowers!

(Feel like I should make a joke about getting lucky but it might not fit the tone.) 

[quest-draws]

A black and white comic titled Adventures in Re-Veth-ification: You Again! Nott, a chubby halfling woman with braided hair and facial tattoos, can’t stop smiling at her own reflection. Looking into a mirror, she smooshes her cheeks together in satisfaction. In the kitchen, she catches sight of herself in a frying pan and beams. As she walks past a shop she grins at her image in the window. In the street, she even kneels down to look at herself reflected in a puddle of water. As she does, FJord, a slim half-orc with an undercut, comes up behind her. 

“Heh, look at you! Finally warming up to the water,” He says. 

“Well, it turns out it’s good for two things,” Nott replies, still staring at the puddle. 

“Two things-?” Fjord starts, but then Fwoooosh! The puddle magically reels up to splash Fjord right in the face. Nott smiles, content. End description.] 

Veth, smooshing her chubby ‘lil cheeks together: It me.