#also oh my god Aabria if you somehow see this

[wanderinthedeep]

why am I not surprised that @quiddie has a Tumblr

[pstelwitchcraft]

Critical Role - C3EP52 (After the break)

We're back with more Sending fails!

F.r.i.d.a looks so cool i love themmm

Also the kids are starting to get strong i love it

Feels like yesterday when imogen had like, 10 hit points

Also this is absolutely the leylines being fucked

Something happened and magic everywhere is going heywire

I'm now convinced the exaltants are being "awakened" to be Predathos' army and it's all gonna go balls to the wall

Imogen has to be this campaign's double agent right? They're absolutely gonna have to fight her at some point and it's gonna wreck me

Now that I think about it does it mean they'll have to fight fearne too??? 😳

i'm getting vibes from imogen and f.r.i.d.a and i don't hate it? 👀

Exandria's Greatest Bake-Off: Pike Trickfoot vs. FCG and their easy-bake oven

Ooooo fearne has pass without a trace now? Thank God

Once again i got sad we won't see marisha, liam and tal tonight 😔 hope we have robbie with them tho, maybe even more people from EXU?? I hope we get to see Opal!

Chetney still struggling 😅

I don't know Dustel but I f*cking hate him 🤬

Chetney backstory finally!

Don't get me wrong I'm very excited but I knew it was gonna be some bullshit 🤣

Travis is NOT here for anything serious this campaign AT ALL

He "kneecaped" someone?????

Aabria somehow has great chemistry with everybody she ever roleplays with it's the Iyengar effect istg

That little talk with chet was so cute

And then... fearne tells deanna he has horrible diarrhea

They keep making it worse 😅

This IS indeed a wild group to meet out of nowhere

"Be nice to us, we're trying our best" 🤣 they're so stupid but I love them sm 💖

This is probably the most vulnerable and reasonable FCG has been all campaign for real

I don't think the real problem here is whether or not the gods are good, it's whether or not the Godeater is good, and even before we worry about that, it's about whether or not its gonna wreck everything and everyone in it's path to the Gods

Imogen herself is most likely gonna die for whatever this whole thing is if they let it happen

Like are we really willing to do all this shit and possibly extinguish all life on Exandria when you could like... not worship the Gods? It's not like they're forced to or smtg

Wait. WAIT. So if Ruidus is wherever (whenever?) the other half of the group is and it's NOT in Exandria anymore there are really only two possibilities for where the others are: back in time or in another realm and both are big problems for us

Matt please let my babies see each other I'm getting sad rn

Oh shiiiiiit this is a big big mess yall 😳

So ruidus is in exandria it just doesn't move?? So the others are actually still in Marquet then

It's the Reilora 😱 this is baaad

Yup, they're already trying to pull her to the dark side. This is gonna be a mess. I'm preemptively so upset for how much this is going to hurt.

I have a feeling this is how they really got to Liliana and all those people. Whatever Predathos is, it has some sort of pull on people that makes them want to give into it, specially the ruidusborn and even more specially the exaltants.

Do not listen to the robot right now

Laudna would be slapping yall in the face for even SUGGESTING IT

Do NOT let Imogen go into the freaking alien godeater hivemind or so help me GOD

See? This is why I get worried when they're separated they're like each other's emotional support pet, two days and Imogen is already considering going into the damn light

This scene with f.r.i.d.a is giving that scene from twilight without the homoerotic undressing

Why, why would he go to chetney alone like that?? He has almost taken half the party once this is BAD!

Tho we know robot boy is a heavy hitter so I guess it could go either way🤷

This is the only place where we can get heartfelt, beautiful monologues about the meaning of death and life and morning toot in the same episode and that's why I love this show

This fight is giving one of those old chihuahuas that keep snapping at your ankles but that has for some reason taken a burning passion rage against your robot vacuum

Also you can't convince me a dog wouldn't absolutely hate this thing

It would just feel like a threat, this weird human that isn't human and it can mimick stuff but also it sounds weird? My dogs would go NUTS

Listen. I'll be a chetney apologist for this one. I'm a wildlife veterinarian and animal behaviorist and idk where dude thought he was gonna get off approaching a wolf like that, or honestly approaching him alone at all

Surprising he survived all this time in wildemont tbh but I'll give him a pass bc it's is D&D

Love that Deanna is so horrified by them when this is not even the full party 😅 like, ma'am we're missing- *checks notes* one tree/cadaver/goo person, a magic rock rainbow sparkle barbarian and a 4ft tall widowed ballerina that is prob covered in monster blood as we speak 😀

Final thoughts:

Overall I loved this one, it was light and fun and everything I needed after all the stress from the last few weeks

I also enjoyed the split party dynamic more than I thought it would and I am hopeful it's gonna lead to some good things in the long run

It's a bold move ngl. One of the quintessential, funnest things about D&D parties is the found family, the unity of it all, it's seeing them spend time with each other and develop different dynamics, games, inside jokes

In any other situation it might alienate party members from each other and make it not feel as cohesive, maybe even jeopardize the forming of a tight bond.

But with Bell's Hells we have such close pairings that this almost feels like it has to be done

Fearne and Orym, FCG and Ashton, Laudna and Imogen are all pairings that came together and rely deeply on each other, to the point where it felt a little stiffening to the other members of the group bc these people very rarely sought deeper companionship and support from anyone other than their initial pairing

Also we can get a closer look at Chetney's backstory and hopefully Ashton's next episode when I'm hoping we'll see how the others are doing

I also was hoping there would be some time fuckery or realm travel and still kind of am, but it's sounding like the other half of the Hells were still in Marquet by the end of 52

If they are still in close proximity to the beam it's going to be a mess and I have no idea what to expect but chaos, specially since they can't call the others and I'm guessing shit is going DOWN over there

If they are indeed in the shadowfell, close to the key that Beau and Caleb tried to take down, I wonder if they could go after that connection and weaken whatever they are doing to Ruidus, hopefully even sever that connection completely.

[sanvitheartificer]

i really, really loved imbalance. i fully ran around the house when I got to the motes part, like several times. my whole family was around and i was not capable of explaining the emotions i was feeling at that moment LOVE that Taako and Davenport are just two different amazing fucking setups for fun things to explore more in fic??? Davenport's especially, because I am predictable. I have MANY THOUGHTS. 1. That being his regret HURTS SO MUCH. this crew loves each other SO MUCH and i love, love love that we get to see it. i left the end of TAZ Balance feeling a little like, after everything, they just sort of all split up, the trope where, yeah, found family is important, but really they have their own lives with their romantic partners or hobbies or whatever and that's more important. imbalance brought me a lot of closure because I feel, at the end of it, that it showed that they may have their own lives and romantic partners and hobbies, but just because the finale focused on those things doesn't mean they abandoned each other. They're still a HUGE part of each other's lives and that's... i really, really deeply appreciate that. It honestly makes me feel I can go back to the whole story with more peace; it makes the whole thing matter more to me. 2. "Back soon" OKAY COOL THANKS DAVENPORT COOL COOL COOL 3. but seriously, i have to wonder if exploring this possibility will actually bring Davenport closure, or if it will just hurt him. Because the thing is, ... i do feel like, if he listened in that moment, they could've gotten to the solution they eventually found a lot faster -- if they really prodded at Lucretia's idea, I think they would have figured it out. and they might... lose some things, in that. Would Taako meet Kravitz? Would Magnus meet Julia? would Merle ever have kids? I don't know. Maybe, maybe not? but i just feel like..... regret isn't really about a logical pros and cons list. Would his family being more grounded really measure up to the weight of ten years of suffering avoided? And if it did, is he going to return to the timeline where he, and the world, were lost for ten years, for the sake of making things a little better? It's ironic, maybe, because I adore time travel, but I usually read stories where once you go, you're stuck with the world you have. And as this has been set up, it's more like forcing Davenport to make a horrible choice between two worlds that each have their own benefits, and to be haunted by the ghost of another timeline either way. Or, if he’s trapped just viewing the alternate timeline, without being able to choose to live there, I don’t feel that is much better -- maybe it would allow him to see that there are things that would be lost in that timeline, too, and that would be enough, or maybe living it would let him put away the possibility, but I’m worried that it would just haunt him more.

(I do desperately want to write that fic now, though. the fic where he listens.  Maybe it’s less that Davenport from Imbalance is living this, and more like he’s watching an alternate timeline version of himself play this out -- watching a world where things went better and worse in different ways, and where he’s better and worse, in different ways, and then returning home.) All that said, holy shit Aabria is a good DM. the questions she asked them were just... so, so so SO much. Beautiful, and made me feel like i wanted to cry, and just -- ahhh, it's just that she really gave them exactly what was the... most gift, for them? The kindest thing she could have possibly given each of them. Also, Taako the ranger. whatever his other name was. fjsdklfjdslfdsjfdskl just. God. I'm just kind of imagining like, outsider POV fic, somehow???? like this fucking NEWBIE ADVENTURING PARTY needs a ranger and fucking taako shows up. oh my god. i feel like what i would want to do is the party having this ongoing bet about whether that is actually Taako, or merely a crazy fan, or merely, like, the wildest coincidence to ever coincidence? And one of the party members is TOTALLY convinced it's DEFINITELY not Taako c'mon oh my god what if taako takes down the glamour from wonderland to really sell the bit. i don't know if he would do that because that feels like a little much for him, but maybe if he could sell it as, like, horrible disfigurement??? like, add some makeup scars? Not glamour scars the glamour's a diff thing this is totally a new whole deal! AND ALSO. it does kind of suck that Aabria wasn't able to make much of a hit on these wildly OP boys, even with Taako fucking being basically a level 1 ranger off in the corner, but i appreciate it in terms of "they have literally a hundred years of experience" -- it makes a lot of sense that not much is going to faze them and it makes it easier for me to reconcile my headcanons of sort of where they're at, given all they've experienced. and it was still really entertaining, even though Magnus just like. fucking intimidates an actual god in like the first five minutes, fjdsklfdsjkl. honestly it's kind of on-brand because Griffin's always been a pretty chill DM i feel like; i feel like the boys have rarely faced something that massively outclasses them without a pretty good escape route built in (I realize as I type this that there's the Purple Worm and the Hunger and Wonderland, but like, they had a lot of hints there, so), and that's relaxing to listen to! Anyway I have rarely been as excited as I was to listen to TAZ Imbalance, and it did not disappoint me at all.

[swarmkeepers]

specifically i will keep rewatching pirates of leviathan because there is no equal to:

sunny’s concentrated big sister energy and enthusiasm, relentless pursuit of the pirate code (what a good way to play lawful good oh my god), fighting like a demon and clearing the horizon of storm through pure force of awesomeness

every note of bob’s songs, krystina arielle’s commitment to That Voice, everything poured into bob’s relationship with her parents, the sweetest most musical flavor to every spell combined with some truly gruesome powerful effects, and every single “is that barbarella sasparilla gainglynn?!”

cheese’s incredible growth from being the first one knocked out on the ground to the one who gets this crew a ship and the wizard who decides he’s not going to make himself disappear anymore, all with carlos luna’s incredible reactions and embodiment and puns and curated playlists and references that make it so easy to put ourselves right where cheese is

myrtle’s ungodly reactions, fully renaming npcs in order to flirt with them, making that one hitpoint truly the one that matters most, bringing together the party in so few words but in such amazing actions, every aabria iyengar joke that we didn’t get to see in the skype chat that matters so much regardless, and a seeming inability to ever break character that must have required a warlock pact somehow

jack’s makeover montage that all of us were looking for, absolutely narratively beautiful and cathartic combat, the cutest flirting, and entire arcs of family and legacy and revenge and living better after it all fitting into six eps

and of course the bugbear who is the kindest possible villain, every roll where the dice love you back, always making the fun decision but also the BADASS decision, all of b. dave walters’ ability to play an antihero while balancing STRONG dad vibes and flirting with myrtle and hilarious deadpan one-liners, and of course beating that motherfucker with the other motherfucker

[cadaceus]

EXU 02: The Oh No Plateau

Okay, I did watch this episode live, but I forgot to publish my liveblogs the day after! But here are my liveblogs for Episode 2 of Exandria Unlimited--the aptly titled “Oh No Plateau.” I absolutely loved some of the character lore that we got in this episode, and I’m so curious (and excited!) to see what will happen in the next episode!

- Stage name?? Is Robbie trolling us or is Dorian Storm actually just a pseudonym?? 

- The Dariax vs. Mister rivalry is so funny dghdjkl and I love Matt’s mannerisms as Dariax so much

- DEXTERITY SAVING THROW? A DART TOWARDS FEARNE? UM...

- Opal: “My brother and I...” Dorian: “Adopted brother!” has the same vibes as that one scene in Ragnarok where Thor goes “We’re brothers” and Loki responds with “Adopted” DFGHJK

- DORIAN TAKING A SWING AT THE UNCHARMED GUY RUH ROH

- “Praise Taliesin, this is a good die” HELP this is my new favorite phrase, I love Aabria so much!

- This Arthur guy just going along with Opal tying him up is so funny... also “whip it out” is definitely a um, phrase in this situation

- “I’ll teach you later” ;)

- “You know a lot.” “I know a few things!” “That’s what I said, I’m trying to compliment you!” I loved this Dariax and Orym exchange so much lmaooo

- VIBRANIUM, I AM READY FOR THIS CROSSOVER

- Dorian saying “before my people fell,” is he referring to genasi/genie-kin or like his specific kingdom of people? I’m looking very curiously

- KEYLETH MENTION

- “I made this bitch magic and she’s asking me to leave” so Opal’s twin sister is her patron? I wonder how that works/how that happened...!

- I love Fearne so much, just her voice and personality are so soothing and lovely (Also, the fact that she is chaotic neutral is so funny dfghdjkl I cannot wait to see that manifest even more throughout these episodes!)

- “We killed a couple of people” “Well, we killed their vibe” “By killing them” LMAO DFGHDJKL OPAL TRIED SO HARD TO SAVE IT

- Wait, did they find Little Mister in the murderous crater?? Did Fearne somehow...create him, with some druidic ability? I want to know more about Session Zero, I wonder if they will have a “Talks Machina” Wrap-Up for EXU!

- Dorian: “If Orym wants to help you, I want to help you.” / Dariax: “And if [Dorian] wants to help you, I want to help you.” / Opal: “Me too.” I love how ride or die this whole crew is for each other already, it’s so precious!

- AN EARTHQUAKE?? This must be one of the tremors that Jhosso and Reyan were talking about earlier!

- Dariax touching the crown and his eyes going black WHAT DOES IT MEAN

- Okay I wasn’t liveblogging this part but now I am because Little Mister has been forced into his true fire elemental form, that’s so freaking cool actually

- Fearne holding onto Opal’s belt to protect her 🥰

- “I’m sorry, did I fucking stutter?” ASHJKLDJ I LOVE AABRIA SO MUCH

- “Maybe don’t yell at it” “Oh wow, from you?” Dariax and Opal have such a good friendship looool, I love their chaos vibes so much (and yes I know like half of these liveblogs are just quotations but so many of them are iconic)

- WHAT IS THE TED AND OPAL RELATIONSHIP, I WANT TO KNOW WHAT IS GOING ON

- I love how freely Aabria gives away inspiration, it’s genuinely so fun!

- This entire “ash hole” conversation has gone off the rails so quickly DHJKDLHNFJ LITERAL CHAOS CREW

- Oh god, Orym has two points of Exhaustion now, doesn’t he? What happens when it gets to three points of Exhaustion...?

- I love Dorian so much, this Dissonant Whispers play on Mister is so great, Robbie plays bards so well!

- DARIAX JUST ATTACKING MISTER AFTER THIS DRAMATIC MOMENT

- Oh he got a Natural 1, okay 🤣

- “I probably died many times” um. is Fearne okay??

- I have not seen Campaign 1 yet but GILMORE !!!!! 

- Ted is in a low, dark, place? And frustrated? And saying/thinking that Opal will always be protected from herself by Ted? What goes on on this here day, I am so curious about that relationship and I remember Aabria mentioning in an interview that Opal’s backstory played a bigger part in these eight episodes than initially expected so I can’t wait to see how that unfolds!