#i had the dwarves... and the final mission.... thats it......

[clonewarsahsoka]

I just realized that I've lost my dao saves....... because I got a new computer.... and steam doesn't cloud save for dao.......

[grahamcarmen]

Hi, I hope you're doing great, and I hope this isn't weird but you seem to really hate season 3's ending, and I was wondering why cause personally I've always liked it.

i'm doing well enough !!! XD thanks and i hope you are too!!

I'm sorry to report that it is almost entirely irrational.

when it comes to theming its a conclusion that underlines the necessity of VILE being uncovered for the villains they are to the world when they've been so successfully in the shadows so far and the imminent undeniability of Carmen's own goodness in the coming season going along with the mask themes of that seasons: RIP THE MASK OFF TO REVEAL WHATS INSIDE! [darkest part music plays]

timeline wise its the second proof needed for Chase to completely confirm what Carmen let him know, that she is on the side fighting against people like roundabout and thus someone he needs to help not chase*(ha) around and make her life harder

fun tidbits wise: one of the all time shadowsan moments where he just dwarves whatever ego roundabout has in his abilities with his own experience " i was yakuza", zack and ivy in mustaches, carmen going sorry mate when she steals from le chevre, and gray being the ending note <3333 [my squishy fave i love him made me so happy to get that crumb in the gray desert that was s3] AND CARMEN IN GREEN AND BLUE AND SUNGLASSES AND LOCKPICKING!

hero win wise it actually is a big deal that its not just hurting their wallets and neutralizing their malicious deeds that she accomplishes this time, its taking out their tool for allowing them to bounce right back into the real world like weeds

looks wise i think it might be in the upper half of the series for me

but...

very funny to note that you sent this when my queue had spit out my trap gifset! /because lowkey thats probably the cause of my irritation

there is a constant enough through-line in the show about traps and being captured that happens often enough in the series that it caught my attention.

usually the mention of a trap is more to emphasize carmen's own daring and altruism as it doesn't matter if its a trap because there's something more important at stake so i don't pay it more mind than that-> Carmen will go because its worth fighting against any odds to do whats right

and it isn't like carmen is infallible shown by how many times she has been in genuine danger by getting trapped by VILE because she's outnumbered, outmatched, or her own caring is her undoing, this actually just happens in normal missions more often [with the brunt trap being the bigger outlier in the moment with roudabout SUPPOSEDLY THE NEXT...the actual next time is during julia's rescue for a little]

so. Odds CAN be stacked against her and sometimes it might be too much for her [see even within this season where lupe helps her with brunt and sonia helps her escape spintrap]

so then roundabout's case come up with the mwahaha we shall bait her ! and its another trap that carmen puts herself into for the greater good of keeping VILE from getting more money while roudabout thinks of the pomp of what is being stolen but makes it out because of her team and...thats...hmmm idk how to explain it

the episode tees a little bit into "wow what IF this trap was too much for Carmen" in the beginning for me before revealing there isn't actually any stakes , its a run of the mill carmen always had control of the situation so roundabout wasn't even competent enough to give her little trouble.

the worst thing was just probably the shock from the cop for speaking out of turn and like that's more the cop than roundabout

it does a good season finale job of THE POLICE FORCE GETS INVOLVED! THE IMPOSSIBLE MISSION! THE HELICOPTERS SURROUND AND THE FIREWORKS HAIL ITS END!!!! aaaaaaand...i know. i know that man isn't just ineffective but nuclear ineffective.

...GAH the episode where she got electrocuted and nearly flown over to VILE by spintrap because a one shot villain got to her was in this very season...Brunt marching herself down to show how helpless carmen COULD be if she hadn't had help was in this season...

i didn't even really care about the trap thing never super bearing any fruit during the series usually [again its more to highlight her heroic nature than be a threat and im ok with our main character of course surviving to steal another day instead] BUT it is a finale so - and then

in the end i just find myself bored and irritated by roundabout being played for the cheap kazoo he is for a season finale to appreciate all the good the episode does for the overall narrative

like shadowsan may have rescued her in s1 but Brunt WAS too much for Carmen alone and the shock of the near death hug was effective for me as a finale for bringing a new challenge and then a new ally for Carmen while teein up the next season

gah...he's also the last candidate for the faculty promotion before they just vote in a brainwashed carmen...hhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

it has a lot of fun flash moments and carries the plot as admirably as the writing team has revealed themselves to be capable of doing, the animation remains beautiful and the theming is really fun to pick at and if i remember to start s4 before i quit for the day so i can keep following the unmasking true intentions theme i swallow it down better...

but 😫😫😫😫😫 sorry no matter how many times i give myself the "you're being unreasonable about this" speech i get angry during it BECAUSE its a finale and its the first time i'd felt asked to consider the word trap more seriously only to go nvm treat it like you always did ...and i was likeBOOOO I WOULDVE DONE THAT IF YOU JUST BOTHERED TO PUT THE CARMEN EXPLANATION WHERE IT WAS INSTEAD OF SMUGLY PULLING IT OUT LATER TO PUT ROUNDABOUT DOWN LIKE IDGAF ABOUT SHAKING HIS EGO DOWN I BARELY KNOW HIM

....

and the situation WAS going to be maybe too much for carmen if she hadn't worked with her team as effectively as she did

like a bait and switch [carmen overwhelmed alone recklessly trying to protect something from VILE bait switching to the solid power of having a cool team red who knew what they were doing]

i really wish i could appreciate more that zack, ivy, and shadowsan were all in on the plan vs s1 where he unceremoniously revealed himself and salvaged carmen's rescue plan [and save her] and s2 where carmen went recklessly to VILE isle while only letting zack and ivy in enough to know they needed to drive her to VILE isle

[and mind you i TRIED to appreciate that the dialogue isn't actually clunky and super playing to the audience to hide the reveal that "her being captured isn't a big deal" OK LIKE IT TECHNICALLY SHOULD GIVE ME ROOM TO PAY ATTENTION INSTEAD TO THE EVERYTHING ELSE, they didn't make a whole circus of deceiving the audience and yet even the mild song and dance they must do to deceive rounadbout!!! grr!!]

I REALLY WISH I DID APPRECIATE ALL THAT!!! but 😖😖😖😫im so mad i don't actually like that trope at all the structuring frustrates the hell out of me. watching carmen walk into the room and auto fail to be arrested has no bite for me since its just a little farce to keep him quiet and keeps me from eating the rest of the deliciousness the episode has to offer, i'm zoning out as shadowsan explains what they actually did this caper...

and as a finale the other half to the reoccuring pattern in cs structure is not there

....yet

but if i make sure to start s4 asap i can recognize it as as the trap ineffective but carmen isn't invulnerable theme halved because the s4 final batch of 3 episodes is the follow up where carmen just straight up gets kidnapped while she was chilling by the cleaners

->not untouchable

...im doing my best to clear the feeling , i just need like 7 more watches T.T and more chalking up the positives in my heart

like if i watch the gray selfie scene more there will only be love and peace on earth, if i take out my little cardboard sign to cheer for shadowsan to rarara home team maybe...

TLDR:

ITS SIMPLY IRRATIONAL DISTASTE IN MY HEART! SHADOWSAN UNVEILING THE REAAAAAL PLAN AT ROUNDABOUT BORES ME!!! THE ACTUAL CAPER PART OF THE CAPER IS NOT INTERESTING TO ME SO WELP!

i wish i had a better reason but i just do not have a good time with it <3

:D i'm glad you like it tho, whats most fun for you about it?

[jazzmckay]

davg day 11:

another roller-coaster of a day! this post is looooong

started with an outing with davrin and assan :> assan helping the sick halla was so sweet ;w;

blessed

the ending discussion about peoples nature and if they could change was really nice. considering rook's backstory, she relates to both davrin and assan and was definitely in support of the idea that people can change <3

then jumped into some main story stuff--i still had some companion quests open and i was nervous about accidentally cutting them off by progressing too far but hoooo boy, i had to keep going after discovering the dalish were going to be ritually sacrificed, yikes!! i have to say, davg does a good job of making certain quests feel urgent. it's the complete opposite of skyrim where i completely fuck off for 50 levels worth of gameplay and then go "right. so. the dragons. guess i should see what thats all about" lol when intense stuff happens, im like oh SHIT i cannot afford to wait!!! even though games will generally tell you if there will be consequences for taking too long. but i get so immersed and i really CARE about what's happening, about my companions too and how they feel about it all, so i really do feel that "we gotta take care of this NOW" vibe.

and this story mission was fucking awesome. one of my favourites :> being sneaky, getting to see what "business as usual" is like for the venatori, and then when shit hit the fan, it hit epically hard.

rook: oh shit, we gonna roleplay about this later? ;)

honestly amazing this crew was able to sneak in like this. two qunari, two elves with vallaslin, a dwarf? how'd we pull this off LOL but it didn't exactly last long anyway

ANYWAY THATS A BIG FUCKING DRAGON

so naive of me to have assumed initially that the 2 dragons who attacked minrathous and treviso were The Evanuris Archdemon Dragons(tm). i already had that cleared up for me, but yeah, uh, elgar's dragon is........ very big. much bigger than those other blighted dragons. am i gonna get to fight that thing later? am i gonna get to fucking fight that fucking thing? [vibrates] im blowing a kiss to davg for giving me lots of big things to fight

and !!!!!

the hype was real...... and it was perfect. solas and elgar'nan fucking WENT AT each other and i was eating popcorn the whole time. im intrigued by the fact that solas called elgar'nan 'lethallin'. i need a full translation for whatever the fuck solas first said to get elgar's attention so thoroughly lol

hehe

maybe ill cry about it ;w; so happy about this relationship development. ftr i do absolutely ship rook/solas, at least this rook. my next one might not feel as much connection, but this one really does. she started to trust him at a steady pace through the story and she reflects a lot on everything she's learned about him, how she relates to him. and this conversation felt like a whole new stage above that. trust and respect babey.

great line

then solas talking about cole, josephine, and cassandra ;w; i wasn't expecting that!

after this, rook finally shaved her hair off :> she's feeling a bit more secure and in control now, between reaching a good place with solas and helping the others with their unfinished business. ooooh yeah its all coming together. solas 🤝 rook, team shaved heads is back together again.

then lace got me emotional AGAIN. twice. first when we talked about how she felt with the titan's anger inside her, and then after when we went to visit the kal-sharok dwarves. lace sympathizing with how solas must feel under the weight of his sorrow... augh. it hits even harder with how anti-solas she started out. she has really come around. it means a lot ;w;

did a lil memorial for the shadow dragons we lost :( the viper is really holding on, man, dude has a high constitution stat lmao

some kickass views

😭😭😭 she can't keep getting away with itttt this was so good

FUCK YEA!!!!!

this bit cracked me up lmao idk if it was intentionally a reference to fandom.... but i was like "hehe well i thought it was very likely >:3" (still not over the headcanon becoming canon there omg) emmrich and bellara talking about writing a paper together tho was lovelyyyy.

then i finally got to do bellara's personal quests and she became the second companion to make me cry

oughh. this was a damn whirlwind. thinking we'd have to kill him, then him betraying anaris, then getting flung into the wall so hard i didnt know if he was still alive, and then he was, but oh no not for long AAAA poor bellara

hardest decision since minrathous vs treviso. not the second-hardest decision i've had to make, though... that one is still coming up later in this post. in the end, i went with freeing the archive, but it was a struggle. i just figured that the dalish can carve their own path now, and given time, they can create something even better than what they had in the past, hopefully without the dark parts overshadowing it. there was a good line later, at the funeral, that i liked a lot too--everything the dalish have been through can't be erased, and those hardships shaped them. who they are now means a lot too, even if they had so much taken from them. yknow, its the idea that going through trauma can teach you a lot, can make you stronger. no one should have to go through that, but a lot of people who've experienced certain kinds of trauma wouldn't actually erase what happened to them because it's just too much an integral part of who they've become. it's terrible, how much the dalish lost, but i think looking to the future is a pretty good way forward. i really did consider both though. in bellara's hands, that knowledge could have done good. but it was also a risk, and bellara is just as capable of doing good all from her own heart and mind <3

the funeral is the part where i cried a bit. particularly when neve showed up

criiiiiess. i love this fucking team so much.

i continued on to emmrich's questline. which is where i encountered the second-hardest decision in the game so far lmao

as we're hunting johanna down....

lucanis please loool

good lord this thing... both cool and spooky. reminds me of the human reaper in mass effect 2.

i was compleeeetely blindsided by manfred's sacrifice T_T i didn't even think to worry about such an outcome. bioware how could you!! not manfred!!! baahh the relationship between emmrich and manfred is so good actually...

my heart

thus, the second-hardest decision in the game so far! i felt so unqualified to make this choice. but i thought about it a lot and in the end, i encouraged emmrich to become a lich. this is a choice where im SUPER curious to know what other people did. i may also end up writing some meta about it eventually. it definitely got the thinkpan spinning.

and the teams reaction to it was fucking hilarious.

incredible

and thiiis

is actually SO ideal for me. im also a necrotic bitch and zevran's sword means i've got necrotic weapons constantly. oh emmrich and i are gonna fuck enemies up together.

went onto neve's questline next! i loved the part in the cobbled swan where we were sitting in between elek and rana in this train of people all planning a mission together from different tables. it made me feel like a spy 😂

the blood puppeting was sooo creepy. and i hadn't realized halos was one of the missing people D: hal no! but it was a fun and badass fight.

fear.jpg

but it went okay! neve was badass. the game kinda plays up working with the threads as being some kind of risky, renegade option which i dont entirely understand, honestly! i didn't have a choice because i chose to save treviso before, but i liked it this way regardless. it felt right to work with the threads. waaay back when i had the option to make a deal with them, i didnt even think twice. perhaps i forgot an important detail about the threads haha i know they're criminals but i'm the wrong person to give a shit about breaking tevinter laws. the threads lost just as much as the shadow dragons here, and i VIBE with elek's "this is our city" statements. hell yeah, this is our city, we're both protecting it from the shadows, lets fucking go.

FELLAS....

ohh its so rewarding to see the whole team bonding, even the ones who didn't get along at all initially. my heart is full of love every time i make the rounds through the lighthouse to see what everyone is up to. i'm gonna start sounding like a broken record eventually with how often i gush about the character dynamics but this is just!!! the best shit ever!!!!! and it feels like it never runs out?? mass effect 3 had this as well, but there were only so many moments, otherwise the characters were just in their usual spot and didnt have anything to say. but no matter how many times i go around, there are new scenes and dialogues i cannot believe it... so many!! finally some good fucking food.

so yes. it was a big day :> next time i'm gonna start with taash's questline. so excited for it.

[dunamanticarchivist]

Critical Role C2E34 side notes

Ok that episode left me super pumped. I mean usually I don’t stop thinking about the episode until the evening where I go for a swim and stuff. But today? Nah I won’t stop thinking until I write. Write. Write. Same compulsion that made me start this lil blog. 

Whew ok, going to do a thorough mental recap without referring of what the actual living fuck happened today. So obviously, super spoilers, look away if shy

Tortle NPC bard. Super cool Cajun accent. Mild stuttering. Shellpipes. Good info dump at the bar.

ASHLEY IS BACK. That was definitely a treat

Yasha still being secretive as ever. A combination of RL needs and RP I think. 

Fjord getting a lead on Sabien. 

Beau’s inner Traci coming out. Disturbing. Cute. The Bjeaus have been working out on their people skills. 

Caleb casting suggestion on Nott to overcome fear? Not sure if well intention-ed nudge, or overbearing manipulation. Little of both or in between perhaps. Well placed narratively for sure

Yasha strong. Jester strong. Beau also pretty ripped. This is a series with very strong women. Not just representation. But literally strong women. 

Frumpkin = Octupus. Familiars must be a DMs worst nightmare

Mini water elemental fight. Easy peasy. (I believe Tal’s cleric warded off a critical hit with his feature,  and cursed another with vulnerability, both were super cool) They didn’t rest. Fair enough, maybe just a casual scouting mission

ABORT ABORT ABORT NOT CASUAL

Creeper has a water genie at his command. With a water elemental at its command. Also 2 dwarf guards. Hard fight ahead

Fjord’s bampf-ing act (misty step into thunder step) is the coolest thing I have been dreamed of seeing and actually happened. Asdfkhugiglhweuf I mean, Fjord has got to be my favourite character now (except when he goes shopping)

Well but then Caleb sends a fireball and just nukes half the underground chamber. 

Golly that marid has the spellcasters on lock-down. Nasty encounter for Mr Clay, yo-yo-ing between states of consciousness. 

Jester actually heals? And now has a razor edged lollipop of doom. Dangerous. 

Yasha steadily chopping her way through the elemental and finally slaying it takes a lot of the pressure off. Not particularly complex. But definitely helpful. 

Fjord really going for the mvp plays with Hunger of Hadar pinning Algar and his guards (RIP dwarves 25 ft movement with difficult terrain + dragging -> movement / 4) Note to self, do not employ dwarven guards if you hope for them to haul your ass out of the fire. Or dark inky tentacles. 

And then he follows up with eldritch blasts to the face, a tormented spectre and finally chopping off the poor sod’s hand. Very intimidating (which he is proficient in btw). Definitely don’t want to be on the side he is not. RIP Sabien when Mr Vore finds you. 

Admittedly he could have wrestled the bracelet off. And I have seen discussions whether this makes him bad or good. At the time I simply thought it was narrative-ly convenient (Beau had him pinned so he could not willingly remove it) + it was a greater guarantee than attempting to force a tight bracelet off Algar’s hand. Still super cool.

Interesting question would be what they want to do with Algar, assuming the Marid (whose name I will never be able to spell) doesn’t just murder him outright. That would be rather convenient for the Nein though. Rogue elemental pet kills master and guards. Oh well, thats what you get when you mess with magic. Would be hard to explain the missing hand though. 

But keeping him alive? He is going to nurse that grudge like a century old whiskey. Agonizing over his phantom hand. Cursing the sea-faring half-orc and all things aquatic. Dangerous. 

“ If an injury has to be done to a man it should be so severe that his vengeance need not be feared.” -Niccolo Machiavelli

At this point, they probably need to dump them into the sea (bad idea, its a port town they’ll find his body in no time). Or have Caduceus do his thing and obliterate all evidence. After they squeeze all information out of him I suppose. 

And of course they’ll need to convince the Marid to leave them, alive. Because they are not in a good place for a fight. Caduceus and Caleb has low tweens amount of HP, Fjord and Beau have taken some hits and are cleaned out of slots and Ki points. Caleb and Jester have burned some of their highest spell slots. Yasha could potentially hold it up while Jester gets the rest up to fighting shape. But this is the Marid’s home turf essentially. They do not want to be fighting here I think.

I want to be frustrated with Matt for leaving it off at that point. But cliffhangers are meant to build suspense. And they’ve been running for 5 hours at that point. And since cliffhangers are good for a show if well done, im glad and excited it turned out that way. Shame about the 2 weeks wait for the next episode though. 

Edit:  My god I’m so glad to be mistaken, I'm at GMT +8 so I watch critrole on friday so assumed the one shot would replace critrole. So no 2 week wait. HYPEEEEE

[bedlamgames]

Q&A #22

Anonymous: I love the lore of the world for No Haven and Whorelock's Revenge. Even if it's only shown in bits in those games, it feels like a lot of thought has gone into the world setting. Would it be possible at some point to have all the lore bits posted somewhere where they can be enjoyed outside of the games? Also, more out of curiosity, but do you have a name for the world No Haven and Whorelock's are set in? Finally, what's your stance on fan works (ie: fanfiction or games)?

Thank you! If a wiki was set up that seems a good place for it. 

Don’t have a name for the setting so No Haven will do for now. 

Fanfiction and fanart absolutely yes! Games I’m a bit more leery on, but if you did want to do one then at least I’d appreciate a pm before hand so I could give some input. 

More questions answered under the break.

Anonymous: Seems like the difficulty of Whores for the Whore Makers is way too high. I keep losing slavers and slavers to it with no returns, making it feel like it's very much not worth it. Even when successfully the gold you gain seems low. The high difficulty seems justified if selling a slaver, but way too high for something that should be as routine as selling a slave.

Anonymous: Hi! Thank you for your work! 2 questions: 1) How can I complete such a task "Mandatory: Male - Human Cathayan - Slutty - Weak - No Training (Preferable: Human Fancy - Advanced Lesbian Training - Magic: Biomancy)" - mean Cathayan / Fancy and No Training / Advanced Lesbian Training mutually exclusive? And 2nd one - Ensnared Rose say doesn't accept slave that fulfill her request. There no messages like "That slave is not currently in good enough condition to fulfill this request" or any other.

Two connected questions so I’m answering them together. Whore Makers is intentionally bad as it’s to encourage you to find other options in the city and unlocking the auctions. The problem is it’s possibly toned too high, I need to rework how slavers are selected rather than based on their traits, and more importantly the requests are far, far, far too hard to fulfil and apparently bugged too.

First step towards fixing this is next update I’m going to completely rework listening to whispers so that you can try to fulfil the opportunity with any slave and the close you can get to what was requested the easier and more profitable it will be.

xcomcommander12: I've been using Dominator on the sub slaver, so I can try to break them into a slave but the person will always accept the job in encampment.

Ah gotcha. Too slutty clothing or getting them to drink shakko sounds like the answer then. 

Anonymous: Bug Report: Upon a failed recapture slave mission where I sent out two of my slavers, it brought back a bugged slaver version of the slave with no name, even though the log refers to him by name.

The slave that escaped and reappeared as a slaver without a name but listed with it's name in the logs also can't be sold, apparently, and comes back even after being auctioned at the docks.

Nasty one. Okay will check it out. 

fieltor: [BUG] NoHaven 0.7032 : On caracter creation as a Demi-angel Fallen if you take Biomancer, the game force on you to take Corrupter too. Seems to only be the case for fallen demi-angel.

[BUG] NoHaven 0.7032 : Caracter creation, Biomancer trait reduction cost for Keldan is not working.

NoHaven 0.7032 : Caracter creation (again ^^), you cannot select any traits after you have the max even if you points left, the game only allow you to validate or repick. (example : (Current points: 2, Negatives Taken: 10/12, Traits Taken: 9/9)). We should be able to still pick green traits to consumme the remaining points.

[BUG] NoHaven0.7032 : Basic Obedience Training, wrong slave indicated after the slaver : "Your slave Traci tried as hard as they could to resist the tender ministrations of Carmen, but were soon broken down to the point that they followed every order and command without complaint. Carmen Moescher - Competent Mistress - High Morale (90+) - (Dom)(Sed) - 50 xp earned Slave - Celleste Greygood - (Partial)(Slt)(Sub)(Sex) - Basic Obedience Training "

[BUG?] NoHaven 0.7032 : Does Biomancy can create wing on random error? Seems like one of my slave got wing after a biomancy effects thats should have ass expends or breast don't remember but now she got decorative wing that she didn't have before when i got throught ealier logs of her estimate.

Thank you for the work you’ve put in finding those! I really do appreciate it. The last one is from corruption only.

Anonymous: I would like to ask about characters with "Sex addict" trait. Those guys from time to time got overwhelmed with desire and end up losing morale. Sex addicted neko slave loses moral from the trait even if she had sexual activity that day. And what about slavers? Why those sex addicted slavers don't make use of slaves? Instead they end up losing moral from being "overwhelmed with desire"

Yeah, that’s an inconsistency that I need to apparently take another swing at. It’s basically a timing issue where I want the chance for sex addicts to be treated as slaves but if there are slaves available they should have a chance to use them instead. 

Anonymous: Are you planning to add huge customization, like the opportunity to "create" your own dungeon in Whorelocks Revenge, when you can choose which race may appear and which may not(Like I would like to play without dwarves, goblins, maybe orcs), opportunity to choose their position on the map or being able to randomize it for better experience in new game instead of static one, or being able to choose which encounters you dont want to see (like if you dont want to see male sex scenes).

Theoretically yes? I mean that’s all possible, but I’d say it’s a long way off as the game would need to be done to do that and I have a huge amount of work to do on WR to get it from RAGS to Twine.