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utilitycaster · 8 months

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Whoaaaa holy shit something just snapped into place reading you mention the concept of creating a shape of negative space bc i've been thinking so long abt the "unspoken things/quiet part" of characters. I've often had this feeling that fandom will go a million and nine yards to red string board an ocean of depth for their favorite blorbo over.... what comes down to what's technically extrapolating based off of xyz canon, but said canon will be like "this character fidgets once, half his dialogue is quoting an in-universe play he tries to recreate (by ruining ppl's lives), and he doesn't understand why someone wouldn't want to be called a monster, therefore he is AUTISTIC and that drives his logic," or "this character has xyz vague background and is TRAUMATIZED because of WAR" inventing an entire character and it's like. Oh boy. This might be a matter of not being invested enough in these characters to TRY and delve so "deep" but I keep thinking that none of this is actually. written or feels purposeful in the context of How Storytelling Works/the Narrative to MAKE me invest or think that it's worth doing so. I always wonder how many people are trying so hard to project a better story onto something without understanding that the story actually needs to BE THERE and ADDRESSED, even subtly, and token moments aren't enough. But then that gets me thinking about how Thereness needs to exist for something to be subtle but written as opposed to Conspiracy off loose projection.

I was kinda thinking abt Laudna and how to use her as an example, because she's one of those characters for whom like, yeah I as a person totally understand the cycle of being upbeat and normal and everything and then having a random spiral of Bad Upstairs before being normal again, but narratively how do you portray that and why does everyone do it so much better than her. With equal screentime, everyone feels like they have so much more meat to their motivations and psychology despite some being significantly less fraught backstory wise. What's happening here because things just feel like they come out of nowhere with her with "oh so that matters all of a sudden?"

Hi anon,

Yes to all of this! With regards to your first paragraph - I feel that a lot too. It's a tricky situation because I think it's completely valid to project things onto characters and imagine them to have specific qualities that either you have or simply that you wish to see in fiction. It only becomes difficult in a fandom sphere when people insist that this is a fully evidence-based endeavor and not a personal interpretation (especially because a lot of that evidence is, as you say, either very much open to interpretation, or else totally spurious. The number of times I've had to shoo people off my posts for talking extensively about how an immensely self-absorbed character who never thinks about others unless forced to clearly has ADHD...but I digress). And as for the conspiracy element, especially when works aren't as good - absolutely. If you haven't read this, which I reblogged a few weeks ago (has Good Omens 2 spoilers) I highly recommend you do because what you're saying resonates a lot with OP's post, both in terms of our need as fans to project or find similarities with characters, and the fact that when people are disappointed by a work sometimes they try to create a better one, but instead of just writing fanfiction and calling it fanfiction they go full conspiracy theorist and assume there's some secret twist, and fall so hard into that all-crumbs-no-schnitzel (to borrow a metaphor from that post) fanon echo chamber they forget it is, in fact, only fanon.

Which brings us to Laudna. Before I go deeper I want to cover three things. First: for me at least, this criticism comes because I know Marisha is capable of doing this negative space work. It didn't come up much with Keyleth since we kind of knew her whole deal very early (which, to be clear, is valid; not every character needs this), but it's present with both Beau (her relationship to her father is masterfully done; the hallmark of good negative space work is that when the reveal comes you say oh of course) and to a lesser extent Patia, who, like all the Calamity characters, conveys a story much greater than the one that unfolds over a single night. Second: I think part of why a number of us in the fandom are so frustrated is that we have been doing that work of generously interpreting Laudna since the beginning, but nothing ever sticks, so it's becoming less and less worth the effort.

I'd have to go back through my archives pretty extensively, but early on, the going expectation for Laudna was that she would explore the idea of being one of the bystanders in a larger story as someone killed simply because of a passing resemblance to someone the Briarwoods wished to send a message to; that we'd get insight into Whitestone during the occupation from someone who wasn't freed by Vox Machina but rather killed, indirectly, because of them. However, not only have we not gotten that, but she also was chosen for being special: Delilah chose her as a vessel because of her inherent sorcery. So then it was perhaps about that tension between finding power in her sorcery vs. warlock levels - Pâté seemed like a clear setup for Pact of the Chain, after all - but then Marisha admitted she had no intention of taking that third warlock level, and always just planned to play Laudna as exclusively leveling in sorcerer, until FCG attacked. And meanwhile, there's no exploration of those sorcery powers, either.

Speaking only for myself, I've been interrogating "hey, why is her backstory that she was chased out of everywhere but for the most part everyone is mostly fine with her?" and "in 30 years she did nothing about Delilah? Really?" for quite some time. There's a number of questions that are not just unanswered, but lack the hints that this negative space work would provide. And to be clear there are ways to explain those things! This meta does a good job of talking through why she may have been chased out, and I've floated, in the past, that even Delilah's unwelcome presence was better than the absolute silence of being truly alone. But the work to support these fandom theories, again, is not really being done at the table, and moreover, even if it starts being done...it's episode 70. It should have come up in some capacity.

Marisha said (to be clear, somewhat jokingly) in the 2022 ComicCon panel that "Yeah. I don't want to think anymore. I'm tired," re: Laudna but the thing is...honestly, in my opinion? A character with Laudna's premise requires far more work than Beau or Keyleth to do well. Not only is she tied into one of the most famous events and entwined with one of the most famous villains of Campaign 1, but she's got 50 years of backstory! Beau and Keyleth are in their early 20s! (I could make a whole other post about this but character intelligence does not equal how hard they are to play; Imogen is an immensely tough concept that Laura's doing a good job with and she's lower INT than Laudna. I'd rather play a wizard than a character like Grog any day of the week because I genuinely believe that the acting burden for making a character like Grog sympathetic and believable without going into cheap mockery and parody is immense).

Going back to that statement, it really does feel as though every 4-Sided Dive episode or panel, when Marisha talks about Laudna, it's always just that she was envisioned as being over her trauma, and the premise was always just "make that creepy girl from her nightmare". And even then: it's fine if she'd done that - simply made a creepy character who was here to be creepy and cheerfully macabre - but through gameplay it's become clear that Laudna is not over that trauma (her arrested development being one of many options), and has acquired new traumas to boot, and for that matter never was really over it given that she displays intensely but they come up so inconsistently that there's never any follow-through. I agree with you completely that the idea of her often seeming fine and happy and then having spirals is believable and true to life, but one does need to actually follow through on the spirals - I think a lot of us finally threw up our hands when Laudna's believable, well-played, and justifiable anger and resentment after being thrown across the world away from half the party, essentially pushed into a fight that isn't her own, being betrayed by Bor'Dor, and feeling Delilah's return melted away without resolution. If you want to make a character who's over their trauma and go-with-the-flow, I feel as though step 1 is to not have an eternal reminder of one's trauma permanently stuck in one's head. "Warlock who dislikes their patron" is actually a premise that requires quite a lot of thinking and effort, and we are consistently not seeing it.

I think what's most telling is that the defense of Laudna for the weird freakout this past episode is both vehement, and in conflict with itself. Is Marisha just making a joke (that didn't really land with anyone at the table nor much of the fandom, and was taken at least semi-seriously by both)? Or is it actually great and good that Laudna is incredibly traumatized and clingy and we should all hope she becomes even more clingy and codependent? When even the people who are shielding Laudna from even a whisper of criticism can't agree what Marisha's doing, it's pretty dire, especially when that criticism is "this character feels directionless and incoherent."

So getting back to negative space: It's my hunch that there just...wasn't a lot of clarity to Laudna's motivations, and the questions in her backstory weren't answered. She's creepy and she's kooky, Sun Tree corpse, Delilah in her head, met Imogen two years ago, was friends with a little girl at some point (which we only know from 4-Sided Dive, which is, to be clear, bad that it's never come up in-game). We don't know how she feels about her sorcery powers other than a vague enjoyment of their creepiness...but she also sees them as a way out from Delilah...but she also barely engages with Delilah and hasn't done anything to get rid of her. We have no sense of how she got to "the worst thing that's happened to me already happened" because while it's completely fair to play her as feeling that way 30 years later, I highly doubt she felt that way as she cut herself down from the Sun Tree. So as a result, it's hard to pick a direction because that foundation is lacking.

The thing about that negative space is that to do it well, you really need to know what you're trying to convey. Which is also why, as you say, characters with much simpler backstories are fine; Fearne was basically hanging out at her grandmother's place until EXU and her parents left when she was very young; she is curious about her parents and loves her grandmother and is a chaotic fey entity who was sent into the Material Plane with the Weave Lens, and mostly she just wants to explore and have fun and hang out with her friends. Ashley just needs to...play Fearne like that, which she does with aplomb. The complex setup for Laudna demands a huge number of answers in the backstory, and my guess is that Marisha does not have them. I think the problem isn't with the acting (in fact, I'm fairly confident it isn't, because, again, I know from past characters Marisha can do this); it's that Laudna's concept prioritized the aesthetic, mechanics, and facts of the backstory, and didn't adequately fill in her beliefs and motivations, so she's just flailing. I also suspect from the most recent 4-Sided Dive and the most recent SDCC panel that Marisha is specifically looking for interparty conflict, and to be clear that's valid...but again, to do that believably and well, Laudna's philosophy and motivations and characterization need to be much more clearly established than they are.

#answered #Anonymous #cr tag #long post #critical role spoilers

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honourablejester · 2 years

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Okay, slightly more detailed and semi-thoughtful response to Episode 3. I’m going to do this by character because that seems sensible to me. Oh gosh. Okay.

Right. Let’s start with Patia. Because I haven’t really thought too much about her, but she finally stepped out and stepped up this episode. And, okay. Laerryn is still my ideal wizard, flaws and all, but I absolutely adore how Marisha approaches the Scribes subclass with Patia. The honour and responsibility of knowledge, the desire to be the one holding the key, the little orb that hoovers knowledge and memories and portrays them back to the world. On a more personal level. The loyalty, the jealousy, the edge-on approach to morality and honour, the need to write her own fate, the refusal to accept when she can’t. The viewing of everything through the lens of matching the Raven Queen. Mortal forms won’t matter anymore. Her pride, and how tactical it can be. Walking out looking put-together as fuck in the sure knowledge it will lure Lycretia to her. The real bond with these people, Laerryn her best fucking friend, opening the lock and using forbidden magic for Zerxus and Evandrin, not feeling she needs to defend herself to Nydas but offering her memories anyway. Patia is so shady, memory magic being slung like confetti, but she’s also so loyal and so proud and so determined to carry the people that matter with her. She wants to know. Laerryn wants to do, but Patia wants to know. She wants to open the door and look through. And she is smart and she catches things, but she views them through her own lens. She’s fascinating. Her voice breaking when she tells Zerxus his forgetting was his choice, not hers. The way her first thought was that Laerryn had somehow made Evandrin a god, because that’s her obsession, as much as the Leywright is Laerryn’s. The way she has to steel herself after Cerrit comments viciously on their selfishness, but then marches onwards anyway, spine straight. Of all of them, Patia is the most Age of Arcanum. The most beautiful and the most damned. And the first to realise it, through the tree. The first to fully realise what they’ve done. Perfect irony.

Then, let’s talk about Zerxus, since I’ve focused on him a lot. He’s so broken by Evandrin. So incredibly broken, as Patia’s reveal only hammered home. He made himself forget that he’d failed. That he’d failed. Not anyone else. There’s selfishness in him. He wants to forget the things he thinks are his fault. He demands everyone else’s secrets, but elides his own. There’s grief and desperation and selfishness in him, so much. But. He’s also … He is a redemption paladin. Because he gives so many chances, and instinctively. He backs down because his demand for truth made Nydas break, speak in a tone he’d never heard before. Laerryn is telling him how Evandrin died, Quay is panicking and telling her to stop, and Zerxus just asks her to give him a chance. And doesn’t fly off the handle and attack her. Later, when she’s on the opposite side of a fight from him and Nydas, his magic cannot mark her as an enemy, because his magic is instinctive to him and she’s not, she’s just not his enemy. Every single fight, he’s just trying to protect everyone in range. Even in the confusion, even when Evandrin’s right there, he’s just trying to pick his way through the morass with as few people hurt as possible. He opened his demand for truth by willingly failing his own save. If they had asked, before so many other things developed, he might have told them the full truth. Probably would have. And now his secrets are revealed, or about to be, in an apocalyptic way, and it’s gonna hurt so much. Because Asmodeus is here in the flesh, and he has Zerxus’ blood, and his devils will be honoured to serve Zerxus, and this just cannot go well.

And, on the subject of things not going well. Laerryn. My favourite mono-maniacal astronaut wizardess, this perfect lesson on the sunk cost fallacy, desperate to the point of absolute obsession to make everything the Leywright has cost worth it. It killed Evandrin, or as it turned out got Evandrin stuck in a tree, she’s been living in terror of Zerxus discovering this, she’s sold a decade of her life and her relationship with the person who matters most to her for this machine, it was for him in the first place, for him and for her pride, her need to see and explore and know and do, and it’s cost her everything, it will cost her more again, and to the very last gasp she’s trying to finish it. Because at this point it has to be worth it. There has to be a way to stop the betrayers without sacrificing the apogee and the leywright, because this is her one chance, and can you give your entire world for years, the thing that has cost your friend and your marriage, can you sacrifice all of that, for something out of the fucking blue that just shows up one day and attacks everything? But the thing is, she does. She fights it all the way down, but she does. She saw that Quay was afraid, and she let Nydas grapple her. All that calculation and semi-willingness to let the city fall and fury at the druids, and she still stopped. And then the fucking tree stabbed Quay and Patia, and she can’t lose anymore, and thus the world is doomed. She was willing to back down. But not at the cost of Quay’s life. Because none of this matters if he doesn’t make it.

And Quay. Fucking Loquatius Seelie. This fucking episode. Sam Reigel, fuck you so much. There’s one story in Exandria of a fairy coming through to this plane and falling in love. Setting himself up to take the fall for her. Lying to everyone, even their friends for her. Immediately scrambling for a scapegoat for the city, because she’s all that matters. But she isn’t. He’s been protecting all of them from the sort of reputational crossfire he fears. He listens to Nydas for Avalir’s sake. He’s going along with Laerryn, choosing her first and foremost, but he’s also arguing with her every step, playing devil’s advocate (or, in this case, mostly not devil’s advocate). He’s the first one to want to warn the world of what’s happening. In the midst of the confusion of the final fight between the party, when he’s released from Hold Person and doesn’t know what to do, he goes to help Patia. He’s been playing insight and deception against himself for Laerryn’s sake, because he’ll do horrible things for her, but his first instincts are mostly in favour of the world and protection in general. But his first methods are lies and illusions and sacrificing other people to protect the ones he loves. And, too, to sacrifice himself. If necessary. What a ball of contradictions and deceptively simple motivations is this man. He'll be the villain in her story if it protects her and gets her what she wants. He doesn’t agree with her, but he’ll do everything he can for her anyway. That’s … That’s a whole thing. Okay then.

And Cerrit … will not make the same allowances. Not as Quay, not even as Zerxus. He won’t forgive Laerryn the same way. Because, much as Laerryn herself, Cerrit’s motivations boil down to one very simple priority. Laerryn would have risked his children as she risked Evandrin. And Cerrit just flat nopes out. Leaves completely. He’s there with them, he’s willing to figure this out, but Laerryn is holding to her guns, trying to keep that ball afloat, and Cerrit just breaks. Because she would have risked his children. That was such a shocker moment. Cerrit, of all of them, whose been so reasonable and such a rock for the others. His breaking point is so simple and so sudden and so complete. He’s been rolling insight, rolling investigation, guiding them along, not pressing too many wounds, not pressing Nydas, but he presses her, because that’s the sticking point, and because he’s been sensing catastrophe build and if these people aren’t going to fix it, if they’re going to risk it for Laerryn’s dream, then he has to grab his kids and get them out. So he leaves. And … finds the body of his friend and subordinate, who died thinking of him and his children and helping them in a way the Ring of Brass hasn’t. Oof. There’s … something in that. The non-magical sticking together against and around the arrogance of wizards.

And then. To finish. Nydas. I’ve been enraptured with him this entire episode. Because he’s afraid, and he doesn’t know what’s happening, and to a large extent he’s just caught up in other people’s priorities, and then he’s the one who holds the line. He’s the one who snaps Zerxus back, he’s the one who defends the tree, he’s the one who nearly dies when Laerryn’s lair actions take exception to his defense. He’s so afraid. The prophecy has rattled him to hell. He’s leaning on Cerrit’s tacit approval for his clinging to hope and lies, he’s leaning on Zerxus’ friendship and protection and honesty, he wants this to be simple. To be clean. To be fixable. But when push comes to shove, he stands up to all of them, for the sake of something he doesn’t want to be true. Just in case it is. He will die for this city, and he’ll die for the world. He values these people, even when they’ve maybe betrayed him (Patia), he values them so much, he doesn’t want to hurt them, uses every non-lethal trick he has, but he still fights them. Nobody expected the merchant, the ex-pirate, to be the one standing there, holding the line, not even his player, but Nydas does. You’ve no idea how much I love him this moment.

And … a similar thing, with Nydas and Zerxus in particular, and contrasted with Cerrit, but one thing I’m amazed by through so much of this episode, is how much they are holding together. Like, this episode went to PvP, one of the characters just flat noped out, but they still … Secrets came out. Priorities were argued. Actual blows were come to. But nobody except Cerrit actually broke from the others, and Cerrit had an extremely understandable overriding priority, if doomsday’s arrived. And the others, they held, to such an amazing degree. Zerxus rolled with what Laerryn had done to Evandrin. Nydas understood why Patia had to compromise on his dreams. Quay listened to Nydas even through his devotion to Laerryn. Laerryn was relieved Dweomer hadn’t disintegrated Nydas. Quay ran to protect Patia. Zerxus couldn’t mark Quay and Laerryn as enemies, even with them and Nydas actively fighting around him. Laerryn backed down because Quay was afraid, gave up her whole dream for him. They held so much. Given the sheer magnitude of the secrets and revelations this episode, I was amazed how well they held. How much leeway they were willing to give each other. Like, even their arguments are to protect each other from each other, and they all instinctively swing if anything else threatens any of the others. It’s … their best and worst feature. They’ll all damn the world for their loves and loyalties.

Except, possibly, Nydas. You amazing terrified ex-pirate you. God I love him.

This was such an episode. Such an episode. I’m still only barely verbal. I love these beautiful damned idiots so much. How many of them are going to die the day after tomorrow? I both do and desperately don’t want to know.

I’m so glad I decided to pick up this little mini-campaign. It will be the death of me, but I’m loving it.

#exu calamity #exandria unlimited calamity #episode 3 #spoilers #reaction #mostly character babbling #the ring of brass #help

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waltwhitmansbeard · 6 months

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a my fair lady playlist

a year ago today i posted the first chapter of my fair lady, which was supposed to be a little thing that i just needed to get out of my head after reading @romeoandjulietyouwish's for the love of a princess. 144 chapters and one year of obsession later, what i got is my biggest writing project to date. it was also my first real foray into the cr fandom, which has since become, frankly, the biggest part of my life, and i'm just endlessly grateful to each of you who read and interacted with mfl in any way. i'm so lucky to have gotten to share this with all of you.

so to celebrate, i have assembled a way-too-long playlist inspired by the events of mfl. the songs represent the moments and feelings that most stood out to me (or that i could find an appropriate song for, lol). it was fun trying to remember everything that happened (as of rn the entire fic is 450 pages in google docs so...there's a lot) and piece together the story through song. i've written a little blurb to justify each choice in the cut below, but you can listen to the playlist on spotify here! thanks again for sticking around!

1. "My Fair Lady" - KALEO as the song from which i took all the titles for the series, i couldn't not start off with this one. i can't even hear this song now without thinking of mfl.

2. "Security" - Joss Stone since this is a song about being there for a friend in a time of crisis, i thought it was the perfect choice for the beginning of keyleth and percy's lifelong friendship. percy showed up in zephrah traumatized and barely holding it together, and keyleth was the rock that kept him from collapsing.

3. "Best of Friends" - Pearl Bailey marisha put this one on one of her keyleth playlists to represent keyleth and percy, and she was right! is there any better song for those two growing up as best friends?

4. "Fountain" - Sara Lov keyleth grew up under the shadow of her mother's loss and the pressure of a nation's expectations. someone give this child a BREAK!

5. "Uptown Girl" - Billy Joel oh, you think this is about vax and keyleth? WRONG. percy is an uptown girl and vex is his downtown man coming to shake his world.

6. "Stay Awake" - London Grammar how many nights did keyleth and vax stay up with the moon, learning to love each other? who did they become with no one but the shadows and each other to watch them grow?

7. "goodnight n go" - Ariana Grande this song just gives me such intense vex vibes. she wants so bad to get percy out from under her skin but no dice, he's there to stay.

8. "Foolish Thing" - Darren Criss vax knows that he absolutely cannot be catching feelings for the princess for any number of reasons. but that doesn't stop him from being a dumbfuck in love!

9. "Sacrilege" - The Yeah Yeah Yeahs keyleth knows that she absolutely cannot be catching feelings for her guard for any number of reasons. but that doesn't stop her from being a dumbfuck in love!

10. "You Get Me" - Michelle Branch even though she grew up royalty, keyleth never felt like she fit in in her own world. she was always different, out of place. but vax sees her strange edges and knows the shape they make.

11. "Dreams" - Caroline Glaser keyleth is down bad! she can't sleep without vax there, and vax is more than happy to reassure her that she's it for him.

12. "Take Me to Church" - Hozier this is my pick for some night just seem forever lasting, because if there's one thing vax is gonna do it's worship on his knees at keyleth's altar.

13. "Holy" - King Princess keyleth is busy with a nation and a war but she has time at the end of the day to fuck her man, and that's what really matters.

14. "Into You" - Ariana Grande this one is for the true sluts of the castle, vex and percy. stay horny, you absolute lovesick fools.

15. "River of Tears" - Alessia Cara just absolute depression and forlorn longing from vax and keyleth both when they're forced to be apart. drama queens, the both of them.

16. "The Lightning Strike (Part I: What If This Storm Ends?)" - Snow Patrol remember that time keyleth summoned lightning and used it to strike a bunch of attackers dead? so do i, and so does vax. it was his first time being confronted with the possibilities of the wild power she wields, and it definitely isn't something he was ever going to forget.

17. "Rich Youth" - Hayley Kiyoko keyleth and tiberius were both raised in the shadow of powerful fathers, and they came together to advocate for a future that represents the nations they want to lead.

18. "My Immortal" - Evanescence thank you to @ravendruid for the suggestion! does anything say vaxleth more than melodramatic longing? this song is for all the lingering heartbreak as they tried (and ultimately failed) to stay apart for so long.

19. "I Don't Mind" - Darren Criss one of my favorite pieces of writing from mfl was keyleth's proposal to vax. he's so convinced that she'd be better off without him, and all she wants to do is convince him that he's worth all the trouble waiting them.

20. "Love Story" - Taylor Swift forgive me for adding taylor swift to this list but you gotta admit, it's very appropriate for the vaxleth wedding.

21. "Dancing in the Rain" - Johannes Bornlöf let me be indulgent! this is the song i picked to play while reading the wedding chapter, so ofc it makes the list.

22. "The Deal" - Mitski thank you to @crispysnake for the suggestion! i mean, this is absolutely vax carrying his dead wife's body beneath the castle and striking a deal with the raven queen to bring her back. it's like it's what the song was written for.

23. "Castle" - Halsey just big keyleth charging to the throne room to demand her father release vax energy with this one.

24. "Growing, Growing, Gone" - Theo Katzman korrin was confronted very suddenly with the reality that his little girl wasn't a little girl anymore. she has a whole life ahead of her that is outside of him, and that's hard for a dad to come to terms with.

25. "Kiki (feat. Iron and Wine)" - Rett Madison y'all, the way i SCREAMED when i first heard this song on rett's new album!!! i just imagine vilya trying to reach out to keyleth, to let her know that she's been watching and of course, of course she's proud of her, of course she approves of vax, of course she wants nothing more than for her baby girl to happy.

26. "Wildflowers (Tom Petty Cover)" - Miley Cyrus this song makes me thing of the little cottage on the hill, and of korrin's wish for his daughter to have a place where she feels free. he knows that the castle has never really felt like her home, and so he gives her and her new husband a place they can build a home for themselves.

27. "Bubbly" - Colbie Caillat this song is just the pinnacle of happy love. it's vax and keyleth waking up in their bed, in their house, in their love's arms. it's happiness.

28. "Sunday Morning" - Maroon 5 remember that time vex was like "this was fun but i gotta go home" and percy was like "but what if i was home?" and fluttered his lashes like a harlot? me too.

29. "Family Tree" - Matthew West pending fatherhood is terrifying, especially when your own father is a sack of shit. of course vax would doubt his own ability to be for his child what syldor couldn't be for him and vex.

30. "A Woman's Work" - Kate Bush the definitive anthem for women creating life. keyleth is a goddess for so many reason but especially for making a literal person.

31. "Dear Theodosia" - Original Broadway Cast of Hamilton just DAD feelings up in this bitch! vax is a dad and korrin is a dad and percy (eventually) is a dad! also there's a new nation coming just around the corner! the perfect song!

32. "Brother Run Fast" - KALEO to me, this song represents vax and percy's understanding that the horrors of percy's past are coming for vax's present, and the two of them will stop at nothing to fix what was broken. they are both desperate for forgiveness they do not need, and they are both determined to keep the other on course.

33. "Yours & Mine" - Lucy Dacus imagine telling keyleth of the air ashari to sit at home while her family and friends venture out to save her daughter's life. IMAGINE!

34. "Trials - Demo" - London Grammar what is keyleth and vax's relationship if not an endless gauntlet of trials from which they must continually find their way back to each other?

35. "Delilah" - Florence + the Machine this song is just...everything. it's delilah and sylas. it's cass and the ghosts of the castle she's caged in. it's vilya, crying out for her mother. it's keyleth, coming to kick ass with a daylight spell. it's percy, reclaiming what was his all along.

36. "Show Me the Way" - Styx vax went THRU IT during gocmh, and his turning to the raven queen was a move of absolute desperation. he needed his matron's guidance not only to get his daughter back, but to put the pieces of his life back together.

37. "Glory and Gore" - Lorde what can i say? vox machina fucks shit up.

38. "Work Song" - Hozier percy may die twice but that ain't gonna stop him from simping for vex.

39. "Happiness" - The Fray this song is about happiness, but it has such a melancholic sound to it, which really works for baby vilya's return to zephrah. yes she's home, which is an immense relief, but she's brought home to a tragedy. nothing is simple.

40. "Kingdom of One" - Maren Morris hey vallen: get fucked.

41. "Lullabye (Goodnight, My Angel)" - Billy Joel this is, to me, the ultimate father-daughter song, and in the context of mfl it makes me think of the unfinished letter keyleth found in her father's room after his death. just a reminder that even after someone dies, their love for those they leave behind never will.

42. "Starts With Goodbye" - Carrie Underwood i don't know what it's like to fundamentally reshape the structure of an entire nation in order to secure a more stable future for your child, but i imagine it feels like this!

43. "Matchstick" - American Royalty thank you to @ravendruid for the suggestion! sometimes self-care is setting the man who murdered your parents and helped kidnap your daughter on fire.

44. "Chords" - The Amazing Devil parents play such a big part in the story of mfl. the absence of keyleth's mother, the fact that her father is also a king, korrin being a father to percy, the twins confronting the father they fled, and of course, vaxleth and perc'ahlia becoming parents themselves. if there's anything they can take away from all of the heartbreak, it's wanting the best for their children, at the cost of everything else.

45. "Everywhere, Everything" - Noah Kahan had to end on some noah kahan in order to keep @crispysnake from gnawing at the bars of their enclosure. again, just the absolute vaxleth melodrama of "wanna love you til we're food for the worms to eat, til our fingers decompose." disgusting. i love them so much.

#my fair lady #critical role #mfl 1yr

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rosemarydisaster · 1 year

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Hi Hello, I know I haven't talked a lot about CR lately (my brain won't let me watch it for some reason) but I'm back to talk about The Legend of Vox Machina, particularly: Grog.

Spoilers for The Legend of Vox Machina episode 9 below. There will be spoilers for the stream too, but I will also mark down where those start.

I love love love all the changes. Not only do I think they're a great way to adapt the absolute beast of content that CR is. Some are good sacrifices, there's shit gotta leave out, no matter how entertaining. I think they've pick very well what to leave completely out. Also, they're really smart in the way they've fused different adventures so they can have a two for one (like adding stuff from the rakshasa fight to the dungeon crawl at the Matron's temple so they can have that Kashaw-Kiki interactions). And of course there's the switching the order so it's more streamlined thing too, like Pyra. But what I thought was the best decision was the party splitting on the past three episodes.

Sure, you should never split the party and I hope they don't abuse that solution or that at least they play with the different combinations because it can be a detriment to the group dynamic. But this time?? They nailed it.

The fey wild group was perfect, you have all the development you need for the ships and also Vax and Percy get to patch things up a little and the twins are together for the family reunion. you have all the people important for a Vex Arc on one side.

On the other hand, you have Grog go through his arc with the two people most important to him. I love the Vax-Grog Dynamic, but like in the OG fight against the Earth breaker, his first choice will always be Pike and his second Scanlan. Also, you get some cute gnome flirting and a bit more development for Scanlan since Pike is the one that challenges more his flirty nature. Vex and Percy are permanently done with him, but they treat it like something that's just intrinsic to Scanlan. You can't change the weather, you simply complain about it. Pike on the other hand is the one that gets frustrated at the fact that Scanlan is unable to have a proper heart to heart or to be sentimental without defusing the tension. And Grog bringing out Scanlan's more caring nature is a nice touch. So it is the perfect team for Scanlan progress too.

But going back to what I actually wanted to talk about (because my Scanlan Meta will come too, but most likely next week) Grog. I love what they did with Craven Edge, I love how the show allows them to have this more "feelings based" resolution to Craven Edge's exhaustion. Because in game greater restoration or a night's sleep heal literally anything unless the DM specifically requests it.

What this does is it gives them the chance to introduce the whole "where does your strength come from?" Question in a place where the stakes are super high and it's thematically appropriate. That whole speech about how Grog considers strength helping those who can't help themselves...chills.

Now spoilers for the stream

I think it also Segways brilliantly into the whole "My strength are my friends" by maybe combining it with the whole "Vox Machina...Fuck shit up". If that happens, I'm gonna cry so hard I will dehydrate. I love the fact that they are giving so much attention to Grog, his growth his emotions because they're often brushed off. Travis wasn't still super comfortable roleplaying emotional scenes in campaign one and Tal, Liam and Marisha had a lot os experience and really angsty characters. Also Laura and Sam are just that powerful, you can't expect most people's experience first character to be that emotionally vulnerable (specially while streaming).

Ashley was also more nervous with the streaming and stuff, so Pike and Grog while not underdeveloped at all, usually didn't have the emotional spotlight on them the way we're seeing in the show. I think giving Grog the physical vulnerability and stripping most of his companions away is a great way to allow that depth to shine. When you don't have four extra characters each making questions and each proposing solutions, the spotlight shines directly on Grog and I love it.

I've always treasured those rare moments were Grog gets to open up and show his heart. I really love that trope of big dumb character also has emotional complexity, so I really enjoyed the last episode and I can't wait for the next one.

#critical role #critical role meta #the legend of vox machina spoilers #the legend of vox machina #tlovm spoilers #tlovm #grog strongjaw #scanlan shorthalt #pike trickfoot #cr

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captainsspnanon · 7 months

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C3E75 - reaction

WHAT an episode!!!

Starts off 'strong', what with the party trying to figure out how to get to a cave entrance....that turned out to be 150-200 feet away. XD AKA - like 30 seconds of walking, a minute if it's consider difficult terrain. Obviously it was more than that considering the vertical climb, but the reveal of the distance was very funny to me.

Honestly, the climb down the tunnel ended up being easier than I expected it to be! I was expecting a few more checks at least, but there were good tactics to get down.

I appreciate that Sam is using Message the way it's intended. I remember at the beginning of the campaign he used it to just send a feeling, rather than words. I think the latest 4SD may have helped him feel more comfortable with reusing things that previous PCs have done without feeling like he's stepping on their toes. I definitely don't think it was WRONG the way he was doing it before, but it's also good that he doesn't feel like he has to Do It Different, even if it makes things More Difficult.

The little fire creatures were so adorable, I can't wait to see the fanart of it! (My mom likened the voices and short lives with Spurt, RIP 11 days)

They got the shard of Rau'shan! Seems like the cast has a similar idea of having Fearne be the one to integrate the shard, but they've got a bit yet before they figure out how to do it (and especially how to awaken both of them).

I miss the more devastating consequences of lava/magma. Vax melted his foot after just a brief dip, meanwhile Ashton is absolutely fine after 18 seconds being fully submerged, same with Fearne even though she was only in for 6. I wonder if this was discussed out of game as feeling too punishing, but I would have loved to see some long term consequences for the trip, rather than just losing some clothes and briefly superheated skin.

I will admit, I do not understand at all why Ludinus is here. What does he need the shard for? The Hells are getting it because of Ashton backstory purposes, how does it tie in to the Ruidus stuff? Also why was Ludinus scrying on the party to begin with? Aside from at the initial combat, they really haven't done anything else to mess with his plans, right? This totally might just be a me thing of missing something obvious.

EPIC combat!!! Liam's turn with the pushing attacks deserved all the table energy it got, and the counterspell-off was PERFECT. (Side note, I'm a bit sad that I know the rules better now. Ludinus didn't need to roll at all for his counterspell, right? Because Laudna only cast at third level, so it should have instantly worked. BUT IT WAS STILL AN EPIC MOMENT even if I'm pretty sure it's against RAW)

also LOL Ashton's just fully Donald Ducking the combat XD I am also looking forwards to fanart of this.

I really appreciated the fact that the table was very tactics heavy with this combat, even if it didn't all play out the way they wanted. Actually, Travis seemed a bit off this entire episode - being a lot more against the first whole initial journey down the tunnel and into the cavern way more than expected, and then getting very upset once he realized he was trying to do two bonus actions. Nothing bad about this, but just off from him typical behavior.

The bit below is going to be a bit negative towards Taliesin, so only click if you want to read it. It definitely gets a bit discourse-y.

Sadly, this episode ended up hitting a lot of my personal pet peeves with Taliesin's play style. Please note that these are my PERSONAL SUBJECTIVE feelings, not some objective truth. They are play style aspects which very much clash with how I play, and so bother me even though I'm not the one playing at the table.

First - I rewatched the section to make sure I didn't miss something. Going down the tunnel, Marisha talks to Matt that she's using Spider Climb, rolls, and gets a bad result. Then Matt turns to Tal to get his number, Taliesin gives his idea of using rage and widening the tunnel (a great idea, don't get me wrong!), Marisha indicates that she's already climbing, and then Tal goes "I thought I was going first"

No. He didn't say before that he was going, I watched the second again! He saw Marisha go, get a bad roll, and then try to make it so that he actually went first so her bad roll wouldn't have impact. I've said this during my C2 rewatch for stuff with other players, including Liam, but if he wanted to go first, he should have interrupted at any point BEFORE Marisha announced her result of failing.

Second - Someone sees something, I think it was Orym with his 31 passive?, but Ashton/Taliesin is the one to react about seeing it. Matt even shut it down this time, making it clear that Ashton didn't see it. He's done this now every campaign, and I'm pretty sure multiple times. It just really hits me the wrong way.

Third - He has Ashton just stand up and go to the lava pool on his own without getting input or waiting for the other players. 100% fine! Everyone does this, and it's in character to do so. BUT then he's like 'i'm doing it, i'm just going off on my own and doing it! but if you wanna help! yeah i'm going off on my own no waiting but yes help me help me cast spells and benefits but i'm just going off of my own no waiting'. Yes, that is clearly exaggerated, but when players go off and do things on their own, I want them to be going off and doing things on their own! Multiple times in all three campaigns, a player will have their PC go off and do something, and usually the verbal conversation is "too late i'm doing it" or "can't stop me I already said it" or something to the equivalent. This? Honestly it doesn't feel like a PC going off and doing something on their own, it feels like Taliesin interrupting the stuff going on at the table and demanding front and center.

And the thing is that Taliesin has had MANY times in the campaigns where his PC has gone off and done something on his own WITHOUT this feeling! But just how it was portrayed here really got to me.

I recognize all of the above is personal nitpicks, and it is their table, and many people will disagree with me. But I just wanted to vent.

#cr spoilers #critical role #bells hells

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mintywolf · 1 year

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AO3 Tag Game Thing

Tagged by @astoriacolumnstaircase. Thank you!

How many fandoms have you written for?

Ever? I mean my first ever was a Sound of Music sequel that I wrote in kindergarten. But if you mean like posted online, five. Chronologically: Phantom of the Opera, BloodRayne, Final Fantasy X, Fire Emblem Fates, and Critical Role. On AO3 right now though I only have FE and CR because some of those were before I came to AO3 and I also have a(n admittedly bad) habit of destroying old or unfinished works that I don’t think I’m going to come back to. :\ (RIP The Heretic’s Daughter, you just never found your audience.)

What’s your favorite fic on your Ao3?

The one I’m most excited about is A Long Road Home, although it’s a comic that I’m crossposting to there from tumblr. Definitely the one that’s taking the highest level of dedication and the one with upcoming plot developments that I’m most eager to get to!! I’ve been really happy about how kindly it’s been received by the fandom and how many people seem to be enjoying it. I am too.

Although I’ve kind of moved on from the fandom I’m still pretty proud of Nohrian Lullaby, because it’s a complete novel (with illustrations!). While it stands on its own it was however the first part of a planned trilogy but now that I’ve gotten into Critical Role I think I’d have a hard time going back to it, haha. It was Fire Emblem’s voice cast that led me to CR but now that I’ve gotten to know them all I feel like I’d have a hard time approaching e.g. King Garon and Queen Mikoto with the solemnity they have in the game knowing now what Travis and Marisha are like at the table. XD

Have you posted elsewhere? If yes, which of those fics is your favorite?

I’m most proud of Guardian (another comic) because that was a huge undertaking and in order to do it I had to forcibly overcome the SEVERE executive dysfunction that had been hindering me for my entire life. (Absolutely trashed my school performance and for some reason none of the adults around me seemed to think that this might be a symptom of a larger problem? I was just repeatedly told “But you’re smart! You just need to work harder!” and could not figure out why I just couldn’t.) But when I started working on that and was kind of floundering at the beginning having a hard time keeping up with it, I told myself that if I wanted to see it exist in the world, then I had to be the one to create it, and basically brute-forced myself out of a lifetime habit of destructive procrastination. I taught myself to break a huge task (200+ page comic) into smaller tasks (one page at a time) and set a schedule to make that workable (day one sketch, day two lineart, and so on). And now I sincerely don’t allow myself to procrastinate anymore. If I’m given a task to do I know to get it done ASAP before it starts to seem unconquerably huge and that is honestly as much as an accomplishment as the comic itself. It’s still a struggle but it has improved the quality of my life by a lot. (Still have not received diagnosis or treatment for whatever is causing the executive dysfunction! But at least I’ve managed to wrestle that beast to the ground and am continuing to hold it there.)

How many bookmarks do you have on AO3?

I only recently figured out what they are for, haha, so 6.

How many unread comments do you have?

None! See the above procrastination thing. I have already replied to them all. :)

Any subscriptions?

About as many as the bookmarks. Currently I’m most looking forward to updates from Consequences of a Bleeding Heart and The Madness from the Salt. :D

Any favorite tags?

Laudna & Imogen Temult, Laudna/Imogen Temult, and within those I tend to comb through for AUs with an interesting premise. (Judging by my bookmarks my definition of “interesting” seems to trend towards “vampires” haha.)

I don’t know if she’s still active on tumblr but I’m gonna tag @auronlu bc she has had a very respectable fic writing career! (Feel free to ignore this, however.)

#tag game

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eldritchamy · 2 years

Note

Is it crazy to wonder if Marisha will play Keyleth next episode?

Not at all, I’ve thought about it too.

Keyleth and Vex were my favorite characters in Campaign 1, and GOD I’m so excited for the next episode, cause you KNOW the person Keyleth needs to consult with about this is Vex.

But as much fun as it would be to see Marisha do that Kiki fluster again (and blush a little at Vex), it would be REALLY hard for her to step back into the role at this point in the story. Everything that’s happened in the last 30 years (apart from what the players decided for the Tal’Dorei Reborn book) is all on Matt. Everything about where Keyleth is now, what she’s up to, where her head’s at with all of this?

That can’t come from Marisha without her getting what amounts to significant spoilers from Matt.

And while I trust the players of Critical Role to HANDLE meta information without it affecting their gameplay (as we’ve seen with all the other previous-campaign references in C3 like Vespin Chloras, Ludinus Da’leth, Orym’s limited application of what he knows about Vox Machina, Laudna barely knowing anything about Whitestone because she ran away from it and never looked back, their knowledge of Aeor and Devexian, etc etc), giving a player that kind of meta information is still a BIG deal.

No matter how talented they are as roleplayers, it still puts pressure on their decision making when they have to question whether their own decisions are being affected by what their characters don’t know.

Would THIS TABLE still come to the right decisions when faced with that problem? Yeah. They’re professional D&D players. I trust them to play the game. But it’s still a PRESSURE that the players ultimately shouldn’t have to deal with, and I can’t realistically see Matt wanting to do that to Marisha.

It can also take a lot of the fun out of the surprises (and consequences) when you know what’s coming. And Matt loooooves to give them fun twists. Not knowing what to expect is SOOOO much fun in D&D. I LOVE being surprised. I’m one of those players like Marisha who likes to take good notes and starts putting things together (my DM recently asked me for the name of one of her own NPCs because I’m the campaign’s wiki), and there’s no better feeling for me than when I absolutely did not expect something.

Also, if things go well, Marisha should be coming back to the table next session anyway (likely after some of the most emotionally traumatizing Laura Bailey roleplay we’ve ever seen). I have some thoughts about how it’s gonna go.

We’re going to have some emotions.

God I can’t wait.

NGL I’m also really excited to see Matt do Vex’s “Darling...”

#critical role #spoilers #critical role spoilers #crspoilers #cr3

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kingofterrors · 2 years

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Post ep 34 resurrection thoughts

Which is one hell of a title.

Lots of wonderful juicy stuff in ep 34, none of which I’m going to go into here, because this is just speculating on what might be coming.

I’ve seen a bunch of hopeful posts with people confidently expecting Laudna to return, and although I love that optimism, I just can’t embrace it yet. There are so many things that can happen, so many narrative beats that have to be hit, to allow that to be the outcome that I just can’t tie my hopes up like that. Even for the gremlin angst-lover that I am, that would hurt a little too much.

My thinking goes like this:

Step one - there needs to be a resurrection ritual. Which means the gang need to get to a powerful cleric/druid who both can cast resurrection magic, and is prepared to do so. Those are three pretty big steps. Narratively, it would be an immense kick in the teeth for the gang to be working so hard to make a res ritual happen, and for that to be denied, so I don’t think Matt will take us down that road, but it’s still a possibility.

Step two - the ritual needs to work. Do I need to say more? A resurrection ritual on CR hasn’t failed yet, but we’re three campaigns in, and the possibility is THERE. Just because it hasn’t yet happened is absolutely no guarantee it never will. Can you imagine the ritual happening and failing? And the emotional devastation that would follow? Cos I can.

Step three - Laudna has to want to come back. Do I think she does? Yes. Do I think Marisha does? Yes. Is that a guarantee it’ll happen? Nope.

On a side note I’m also seeing a lot of hopeful notes that this will be True Love’s Crit 2: Electric Boogaloo, and hoo boy I don’t want to get anywhere near that hope either. Of course it would be wonderful for this to be the setting of a confession of love from Imogen, but I CANNOT hope for that. I am managing my expectations. In my mind, Imogen clearly loves Laudna, that’s been shown virtually every episode of this campaign (although the nature of that love is up for debate), and I’ll be happy with that until we can know more.

I am terrified for ep 35 for all these reasons and more. Can my heart take it? Guess we’ll find out...

#critical role #critical role spoilers #critical role campaign 3 #critical role meta #imogen temult #laudna #thinking about a resurrection ritual is making me crazy #don't jinx it!#let whatever happens happen but I can't hope in any direction #the fallout will be too much for this fragile little heart to take #critical role c3e34

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samcarter34 · 2 years

Note

honestly it's a catch 22 situation for cr. no matter what they do, someone's going to get mad about it. and reddit is honestly the worst culprit of it.

i only visited that subreddit for discussion, but i've been completely avoiding it to due to all the brain dead takes on there.

starting with the end of c2, to the absolute dogshit treatment of aabria and aimee during exu, and then just not being able to take any changes with some fucking nuance, that place has become a cesspool of toxicity.

It’s definitely true that people will get mad no matter what, but I think at this point CR’s probably figured out what voices are worth listening to and which are worth ignoring. And like I said before, we don’t even know if the costume criticism is what resulted in the change, and we never will, unless CR comes out and says it.

Yeah their treatment of Aabria was the ‘I need to not be here’ moment for me too. The fandom’s reaction in general was awful enough that I just went ‘I’m not going to say any criticisms I have of EXU because I’m legit worried people will use it to horrible to her. Also, did you know that Undeadwood did worse numbers than EXU? Yet people kept saying EXU should be cancelled because of ‘the numbers’ yet wanted Undeadwood back. And Aimee…It’s kind of incredible how it’s become such common knowledge how badly Marisha was treated in the early days, but the second Aimee showed up people went right back to ‘anything a woman creates is inherently autobiographical so I diagnose Aimee and Aabria with hysteria because they raised their voices’

Their resistance to change has also unfortunately coincided with their learning the word ‘corporate’ which has resulted in everything they don’t like being blamed on that. New set? Going corporate. New intro? Going corporate. New talk show? Going corporate.

If they went into C2 with the attitude they had now, they’d probably complain about how awful it is they’re starting at level 2 and not whatever VM was at.

#critical role #cr discourse #this one I’ll give the discourse tag to since it’s a rant #I think this time I’m just not going back #it’s weird that they used to have the reputation for toxic positivity #because literally everything they say is do damn negative

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thequeenofmyownscreen · 2 years

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Twenty-two things I noted about the one-shot “Dalen's Closet” :

(look, this deserves to be long)

Oh no I might cry, because other than the battle royale with the Mighty Nein (but.. it counts less), this is it. There's no more new Vox Machina content for me. Well, or I have to wait an undeterminate amount of time and I know it will be long ! before The Legend of Vox Machina season 2. So yes, I'm a little emottional. This feels like the end of a journey.

THEY LOOK SO BEAUTIFUL AND ASHLEY'S THERE I'M SO HAPPY (no joke though Laura looks hot. There's no other way to say this)

Keyleth freaking out and insisting that everything has to be perfect is another strong actor choice from Mrs Ray, it's hilarious and too real.

Laura : "I'm going to go look for Pike and Scanlan's room ? (high-pitched) Are they in the same room or different rooms ?" Sam, even higher-pitched : "I don't know! We didn't discuss it ahead of time !" Laura, somehow even higher-pitched and to the limits of human sounds : "Ok, they're still different rooms, maybe ! I don't know !!"

Kaylie invented BitCoins in Exandria. It's canon.

Percy : "Half of your outfit seems to be missing." Grog, wearing only a vest and nothing else underneath, plus a hat, and I hope some pants at least : "This is the most clothes I've ever worn in my life !"

Kima and Allura !!! Oh how I've missed them.

I love how everyone is so suspicious of Derrig, they immediately assault him with questions, but each in their turn, it's so fucking funny.

I'm gonna need that gif of Pike and Grog getting shitfaced with good wine.

Keyleth's speech was so her, and the fact that they gain temporary hit points from it is hilarious. Taryon's speech was like him : over the top but heartful, and pronunced with an exagerated accent from the 40's.

I can't say I know Matt, because that would be ridiculous, false, and unatteignable ; but I did watch 400 hours and more of Critical Role, and this was lovely and all, but I was waiting for the other shoe to drop. So when he said "I need everyone to make a constitution saving throw", I knew we were IN IT.

The ad with Travis calling Marisha in the highest-pitch voice because he saw ghosts in the studio and want her to protect him. I love them.

Ok but how funny is it to see Lord Sylas Briarwood, dramatic bitch that he is, with his cape billowing in the wind of the cliff, revealing himself as the villain of this one-shot, while the rest of Vox Machina goes SYLAS ??? (like the Beyonce ???? meme), fully believing he was dead, and having absolutely forgotten him.

Vex DIED AGAIN ? AT HER OWN RENEWAL OF VOWS ??

I think Matt was trying to be nice, when he saw that Vex died... but also yes, Vex would wear 400 gold diamonds earrings at her wedding reception, are you kidding me ?

I think Vex has died 3 times before... regardless, with Matt's rules, the DC13 was just enough, but still... no more adventures for Vex ! It's too dangerous now.

"Hey, be glad it wasn't the kraken returning !" MATTHEW

I had to rewind to see the fabulous action of Sam taking a bill out of his wallet, pass it to Taliesin, who passed it to Marisha, who passed it to Liam, who passed it to Laura, who passed it to Ashley, who put it in Travis' jarretière on his arm, like he was a stripper.

Vex, dripping saltwater, coming back from the dead at her own wedding, furious : "SYLAS !! Delilah Briarwood was a BITCH !!" oh my god I love her so much

Vex got the HDYWTDT on Sylas Briarwood. poetic cinema

I started crying at the vows and haven't stopped after. The vows. Sam ripping my fucking heart. Vax Vax & Vex. the fucking music which was the same as the ending from Campaign 1. Vax & Keyleth. "I'll never get over you" "Nor I. But you will live. And your life will touch thousands."

what a nice story. let's do it again

#my thoughts #critical role #cr campaign 1 #Dalen's closet

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grigori77 · 1 year

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Critical Role, Campaign 3 Episode 40

Got him again, clearly. Wow, he looks ESPECIALLY frustrated with this time's intro.

Sam's new skit being styled like THE WORST RADIO PRESENTATION EVER is absolutely priceless. Letting Sam loose on the sampling board was a trip, the others are dying of laughter. Marisha in particular is just paralytic ... I love it.

Ugly Christmas sweater! Matt: "That us delightfully ugly!" And A CHETNEY HAT!!! I WANT ONE!!!

Love them geeking on the action figures too. So adorable!

Sam us clearly getting too enamoured of that soundboard, by the way ...

Ah ... AAAAAAAAAH!!! That's right! Imogen's mum's alive! Okay! Here we go!

Yes! Talk to her again! Come on, girl! No time to waste! Yes, I know it's a lot but SERIOUSLY, this us a big deal! And Laudna's just being SO SWEET about it ...

She's being so evasive ... I mean loving and concerned but also really evasive ... one more chance at a message ... yes, force the point!

She "couldn't stay without knowing what she is" ... that is LOADED. She sends too ... yeah, I thought so, she's trying to keep Imogen safe by staying incognito. Yeah, she ain't budging on this, but then neither is Imogen. Wow, she really is her mother's daughter.

Come on Laudna, cheer our girl up! That's it! Yes! God this undead lady's just so lovable. :3

Stop sleeping in the supply closet you two!

So they go up on deck and walk STRAIGHT INTO the aftermath of that crazy Chetney scrap ... Imogen's reaction I'd priceless and totally understandable.

Boy is this a night for EXTREME REVELATIONS or what?

Oh yeah, Orym and Fearne still need healing too. Like all this heart to heart is goi g on and they're just stood there bleeding on the deck.

Fearne STILL likes the idea of becoming a werewolf faun, that's so wild ...

Orym continues to be the warm calm centre to this whole thing snd I love it.

Chetney's like FALLING DOWN exhausted on his feet ... oof ... they wake FCG and Ashton up znd Ashton's just ANNOYED he missed it all! XD FCG heals Chet and he wakes up SO HIGH ...

Ashton: "Raise your hand if you think you might turn on all of us." Fearne insists she wouldn't. NOBODY believes her. No, I don't either. She's like a TOTAL chaos gremlin, that's only gonna get MORE dangerous ...

Pate! Okay ... the now living Pate is giving FCG a massive existential crisis. XD "Am I just THAT but with a wheel?"

The group wonder who's gonna be next to glair up ... once again votes are cast for Fearne. No surprise there ...

Orym sends a message to Dorian through the Stone ... oh man ... come on Liam, don't do this to us right now.

Ashton and Orym have a heart to heart ... angry rock man trying to be sweet snd supportive is weird but also surprisingly effective. And it's kind of working too, Orym is OPENING UP to him! Oh man ... little man SEEMS LIKE he has it so together and yet ...

Ashton really just hopes he gets to punch a werewolf sometime. Yes, mate. We hope you will too.

And Orym hugs Ashton. :3

Matt's gonna have Robbie record a message back to Orym ... that's so cute, I can't wait ...

Next day ... Laura rolls 7 ... mild turbulence but otherwise all us well. Phew ...

Oooh ... beautiful scary country ...

Day 5 and Liam rolls the Ruidus dice to get them bad times ... but he rolls WELL. Smooth sailing.

Next day ... Bassuras again ... familiar ground ... Taliesin rolls a 3 ... Matt has him roll again ... 2. OOF!!! Bad wind! Not good!

Okay, they are now in A FLAT SPIN!!! But they get out of it ... once again still no MAJOR problems ...

Desk comes and Chetney wants somebody to TIE HIM UP!!! XD He gets some manacles ... here we go. Oh boy, this us getting all kinds of kinky all of a sudden ...

New day ... 3 ... okay ...

Dog sized bird creatures ... hmmm ... not good. A dozen or so ... Laura: "Sam doesn't know what a dozen is." Sam: "So that's like twenty?"

FCG attempts to communicate with them to ward them off znd they don't respond, instead attacking ... argh, 3 points of piercing damage! AND HE'S POISONED?!!! Shit!

Okay, COMBAT!!! Here comes OH MY GOD THAT IS ANOTHER AWESOME BATTLE MAP!!! Matt's craft powers have done him proud this time!

Roll initiative!

Top of the round and it's Orym! Yes, DASH MAN!!! DASH!!! Bait and Switch! Action Surge! Goading attack, and the creature fails to resist znd he DECAPITATES IT!!! Nice!

Fearne summons Mister and conjures her Flame Blade, then holds action. One of them moves into range and she ATTACKS ... ooop, rule check ... roll a D8 ... Ashley: "Oh, that's so terrible!" Still does dome damage, though ...

Oh shit ... Fearne is hit and POISONED!!! AAAAAH!!!

Orym takes a hit but gives as good as he gets ... and he manages to NOT get poisoned? Sweet!

Ashton swings and HITS!!! Holy fuck, he just PUNTED that fucker into oblivion! And ANOTHER HIT! He Gallaghers it's head!

Imogen uses a Sorcery point so she can Witchbolt TWO AT ONCE!!! But misses one ... bugger ... inflicts 21 points of damage on the other one, though!

Oh fuck ... turns out these things AREN'T attacking the ship, they're just RUNNING AWAY from something? Oh gods ...

Wait ... RONIN chose the monster? Really, Matt?

A CHIMERA!!! HOLY FUCK!!! This is SO BAD!!!

Chetney and Laudna are now SERIOUSLY messed up ALREADY!!! Oh gods ... and Imogen takes 9 points of slashing damage! Nooooo ...

Oh nice, FCG halves her damage ...

Laudna goes STRAIGHT into her Form of Dread! Crazy scary tree Form again, nice, she's totally adopting a holdover from Whitestone! Spiderclimb! AND Bane! Sweet!

Aha! Chetney unleashes the Scythe! Nice! Blood Curse of Bloated Agony? Holy fuck that sounds CRAZY ... and then he goes invisible! Nice, and no attack of opportunity cuz it can't see him!

FCG uses their sawblade on one of the creatures ... wait how does he get an advantage when his OPPONENT rolls a Nat 20? Hmmm ... clerics, man! Attack of opportunity ... MISS!!! Healing Word on Laudna for 13 points! Nice!

Whoa, do because she's within 100 feet of Pate due gets FULL HEALTH POINTS BACK?!!! Nice.

What? He's RESTRAINED? So NONE OF THAT HAPPENED? Seriously, Matt?

Okay, so he's no longer restrained ... but still messed up ...

Orym fucks ip another creature then makes a pushing attack so he PUNTS IT over the side ... doesn't kill it but it's MESSED UP.

Ah, so Fearne has magical resistance ... Nice, straight 20 means she shrugs off the effect! Goody ... THREE HITS on the Chimera! Okay, ANOTHER rule check ... Ashley's getting SO POWERFUL she doesn't know what she's capable of now! I love that ...

66 POINTS of fire damage! Sweet!

Mister gets to use his crazy little Percy pistol! Yay!

Now the Chimera's distracted the other beasties are BOOKING!!! That's helpful at least ...

Ashton slides in and rages as he tries to smash it in the leg ... 13 points of damage! And another 15! Nice one! Chimera is trashed but still kicking ...

Imogen ... whoa, super red glowy craziness? Whoa ... WHAT DID SHE JUST SUMMON?!!! SERIOUSLY, that thing is TERRIFYING!!!

Laura is doing some crazy scary stuff that we can't fathom while still wearing THAT HAT!!! It's so surreal ... 0.0

Chimera tries to attack the Shade (so THAT'S what it is) and fails ... but HITS on Imogen! Ooof ... but Laudna uses Silvery Babs and reduces the attack roll and it MISSES Imogen after all! Beautiful!

Laudna rolls a NAT 20 and FUCKS UP the goat head! Nice one! She dispatches Pate to deliver Shocking Grasp on it! Ooooooh! But rolls 12 ... miss! Bollocks ...

Chetney licks Turmoil's blade ... okay ... but now the blade's ON FIRE!!! Double hit! 23 points of damage? Ooof ... and TWELVE POINTS OF THUNDER DAMAGE!!! Holy shit ...

But Chetney's within range if the Shade, is he affected by its range effect? Oh thank the gods, he saves ...

More Spiritual Weapon badassery from FCG!

Stay Puft flaming hand escape! I love it!

Orym gets 14 points if slashing damage and one of the heads is just HANGING OFF right now! Sweet.

Fearnd gets a POING BLANK shot on the Chimera with the ballista ... 19 points of damage ... Matt: "How do you wanna do this?"

She KEBABS IT. Fearne: "Get off my airship."

Chetney tries to touch the Shade and takes 2 D6 of psychic damage! Oops ...

Imogen doesn't know how to get rid of the Shade ... so she just asks it to go away AND IT WORKS!!! Okay ... they're all concerned and I can't blame them. Although Ashton thinks it's cool, so ...

Ashton asks what it felt like to Chetney and he says it was like all the children jn the world were giving him their toy orders at the same time. "As if one mind could handle that all at once ..."

Another day down and they get a long rest do they're healed up again ... phew ...

Weird coloured jungle ahead ... oh, so THIS is the Gloomed Jungle? Okay ... creepy.

Matt: "And that's where we're gonna take a break!"

Laura was trying to draw it and it ended up just looking like a mouth with loads of pubes ... hmmm ...

Wait ... I don't think I've seen that Matt Mercer figurine before ... that's a new bit, I swear! Ashley: "Loot his corpse and take his vest!" XD

Back to the game ... and Matt is once again having to deal with their unruliness. "Look, I'm hollow inside."

Shit roll ... okay, this should be fun ...

Ooooh ... it's getting all dark and moody ... this is not a good sign, is it?

Chetney needs some new clothes, it seems ...

Lightning? Eep! Not good ... the rain's making the deck all slick, too. They lose half a day's travel because of this. Nuts.

So just ... "land in the jungle and howl?" That's it? Seriously? Oh, at dusk. Okay ...

Wow ... Chetney's getting SO EXCITED about this, it's kind of adorable but also a little disturbing at the same time. Hmmm ... Travis coming up with all this poetic stuff for how they all smell to Chetney. I love that.

This is a moody place, but also kind of beautiful. I might actually start liking this place.

Fearne just looks over Chetney's head and spots EXACT signs of civilisation ... or maybe not. Hmm ...

Oh, so they're landing at the ruins. Okay ...

Wait ... so this might not actually go how they want? I mean these guys are WEREWOLVES, people! Are you still set on this plan of action?

Whoa, so Chetney KILLED the werewolf that turned him ... crazy backstory goodness! XD

Hahaha ... Chetney clearly has NO IDEA how old he is. Did Travis just ROLL to see how old Chetney is? Ah ... apparently he is 700 YEARS OLD now ...

The return of Recognise The Alpha ...

I love how Fearne is just humouring Chetney on his building himself up, it's really quite cute.

Matt says the top of the tower FEELS STABLE ... oh, he's making THAT FACE again, what are you planning, Matthew?

FCG still has no sense of smell, of course ...

Ashton casts Pass Without A Trace and then they make a shit load of noise climbing down so it's kind of negated ...

Oh, so this is a FUNGAL jungle, then ... ba-dum-tish! XD

Chetney: "Okay, we're gonna light this candle." He tears off his skin at his Adam's apple and FCG casts Eagle's Splendour on him ... yeah, that is a MAGNIFICENT howl.

Okay, this is taking a little while, clearly ... AN HOUR?!!! Really? This is NOT looking good.

Fearne transforms into a wolf to help him. Fearne: "Okay ... I'm a wolf." Everybody cracks up. XD

They ALL howl ... and NOW they get a response. Okay, they're A LONG WAY off fight now. They're gonna wait, it seems.

Night falls but the shitty weather continues. Laudna says a fire. Orym sits with Wolf Fearne to keep an eye out ... and Imogen uses Mage Hand to keep the rain off them! :3

Oh, okay ... somebody's coming. Something, anyway ... hmm ... is it stalking Laudna? Oh dear ...

Laudna asks Pate to do an interpretative dance ... oh my gods Marisha is beatboxing and Matt is dancing like a lunatic. That's love, baybee! XD

Okay, now there's TWO of them ... fuck, this guy is BIG. Ooh ... okay, he's definitely got a big barbarian thing going on ... WERETIGER?!!! Holy fuck ...

Divasheela ... cool name. Wow, she's pretty awesome ... oh, now there's a PANTHER one too! And another werewolf. A WEREBOAR!!! AND A WEREBEAR!!! Fuck, this is so cool ...

Chetney does a Magic Mike and wolfs out! XD

Divasheela is ... less than impressed, it seems. Hmmm ... that said, they seem receptive enough.

Whoa ... did Chetney really just almost make them all attack the airship? Oops, I guess?

Okay, so they're going into the woods, then ...

Now Imogen is RIDING THE WEREBOAR. Okay ...

"The Zigzag Return?"

Awwwww ... Orym is riding Fearne. :3 and Laudna is riding the panther. Okay ... is he FLIRTING WITH HER?!!! Laudna turns herself into crazy creepy bark armour on him and he finds it scary but he's also into it. XD

Aaaaaaaand now they're lost. Or maybe not ...

Okay, normal forms! Here we go ... yeah, they seem like a nice, likeable bunch now, actually. Oh, so here we are. Barinak. It's pretty cool here, actually.

Yeah, from the look of it this is just PEOPLE. Like a regular community, really. I can see why they're so dead set on keeping it secret, then.

Ah, so Divasheela was originally Annaline. Okay.

Oh boy ... so Chetney's not the only one who's having problems with Ruidus of late. Hmmm ...

She recognises Chetney as another Blood Hunter. Cool. Oh, so this training is gonna take WEEKS?!!! Yeah, that's not gonna work ...

Okay ... so Chetney losing his cool is Zbigniew deal ... but NOT a deal breaker, at least. That's good, I guess. FCG suggests they leave him here for a few weeks ... ummm ... okay, is that an option right now?

Court of the Lambent Path? Okay ... sounds fancy ...

Oooh, statue symbolism ... hmm ... is this a major clue? Sayhaadon? Okay ...

Orym is currently just sizing everybody up - Know Your Enemy - as potential opponents, and some of them look pretty dangerous ...

Ah, so Sayhaadon is an aspect of the Wildmother. Cool. I wonder if FCG can do something with that, then.

Tiny Steve Brule gnome ... okay ... is this someone I should know about? ^^; What do you want? I'm not the most well informed person ever, guys ... oh, Tarad. Okay.

Ah ... yeah, so Imogen's like YUCK over this food, then. Backstory ...

Not three heads but three SNOUTS ... well that's just even weirder, then.

Ashton wants a drink. They offer him water ... oh, is he going to kick off about that? Oh, so they have wine? Yeah, all right. That'll do.

So if someone completely loses it the Gorgynei are charged with making sure they don't become a danger to others. Yeah, kind of figured as much. And chains! Yeah. Also makes sense.

Chetney is really making out that he's more confident than he is. "Willpower is 10 out of 10!" Yeah ...

Divasheela asks if they're willing to take Chetney out if he becomes a threat ... oh boy, this doesn't bode well. Oh, so they're gonna stick around for him to do the training after all? 2 and half weeks ... oh yeah, that could work, actually.

Ashley rolls high for insight and gets whispers! Sam has a plug prepared for once! Much better!

Yeah, it's getting LATE. Find somewhere to sleep. They call for Tarad ... FCG, what the hell was THAT noise?

Treehouse guest houses? Sweet! Oooh, and furs! Cool.

Okay, I really don't know if I KNOW that particular quote actually ...

Bedtime, then. Tree cave Tweecave? Cue Matt pretending to have a speech impediment.

Matt: "And THAT'S where we're gonna call it a night."

So what IS Tarad's were form? Damn it, now I'm curious. Votes are being cast for weresquirrel, apparently ...

#critical role #campaign 3 spoilers #crit role campaign 3 #campaign 3 episode 40 #matt mercer #marisha ray #laudna #travis willingham #chetney pock o'pea #laura bailey #imogen temult #liam o'brien #orym of the air ashari #ashley johnson #fearne calloway #taliesin jaffe #ashton greymoore #sam riegel #fresh cut grass

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utilitycaster · 1 year

Note

The Beaujester/Widojest stuff actually reminds me of why I almost wasn't on board with Fjord/Jester at first - I really don't like ships where it feels like one party has to wear down the other, and at first, I thought that was the vibe. So I get really stumped on why people are pushing for closure here. It reminds me of that wild d&d court case. Why would they needlessly burden their friend (Jester) with this information? What do fans think would happen after???

Hi anon,

You are 100% right in that I also think of that D&D Court Case (for those wondering, it's the one that starts here and basically, a couple is playing in a D&D game together and the DM some time ago confessed drunkenly to the player who is writing in that he has feelings for the player's girlfriend...and is now romancing her in-game as an NPC). Like, for real, keep that to yourself! It's so awkward and for what! Tell your therapist! Tell other friends outside this social circle! Do some weird art about it! Have weird feelings! But do not say that to the actual couple involved, holy fuck.

It would require someone with far more knowledge of fandom history to back up my hunch here, so I am presenting it as just a hunch, but it feels like there has been a very heavy drive in the past maybe five or six years towards, rather than "oh man, I wish this ship had happened instead, and here are my AUs and fics in which it did" to "here's why the story is BAD and UNRESOLVED and WRONG." And I don't quite know how it came to be, since internet forums have been around for quite some time, and maybe I'm just clueless because I have come relatively late to every social media ever and it was always like this and the volume has just increased. My personal theory is that people saw all those quirky letter writing campaigns of the 2000s and didn't realize that mailing potato chips or whatever to an NBC exec who was cutting the show because it wasn't getting enough viewers by metrics that were well behind current technology and who would see this and say "oh, shit, this has fans, maybe we can make money off it" is very different than writing hate mail to actual creators, but I could be totally wrong.

But anyway, it is pretty apparent that Uk'otoa was left unresolved! Travis actually had laid the groundwork in-character as Fjord (the bounty hunter hire for Sabian, telling Jester in 2x117 he wanted to deal with Uk'otoa before other things) to return, but it made sense for the show to end after Aeor. Meanwhile, it's not unresolved for someone to quietly nurse a crush, and I'd argue, actually, that both Beau and Caleb's feelings were largely resolved in show. Beau outright told Fjord that she'd had a crush on Jester, but her feelings for Yasha were deeper and more real (and in general this tracks with Beau's repeated self-sabotage when things felt too good to be true). And if you take off the Widojest shipping goggles, it's hard to see Caleb's actions following the party's return from Rumblecusp as anything but quietly admitting that this is not going to happen, as he pushes Jester to dance with Fjord and finally tells her about his past. The goal post of "resolved" secretly means "the preferred ship happens instead."

And then no one ever has an answer for what happens after. Does Beau break up with Yasha? Does the entire scene in Aeor with Essek in 141 - absolutely pivotal, despite coming so late, to Caleb's arc - just not happen, because you really cannot read that as anything but romantic? Does Jester break up with Fjord? How do we reconcile that Jester does not wish to live in Rexxentrum as a housewife, and does want to continue to see the world and be able to regularly spend lots of time in Nicodranas? Do Caleb or Beau make even the slightest concession to Jester's wants and needs, in this fantasy?

I guess I'll wrap this up with this thought: I think that Beau and Caleb's romantic feelings for Jester and how they deal with them are very well played by Marisha and Liam and are incredibly important - indeed, crucial - to understanding their respective character development. But that's the thing in the end. The romantic feelings are deeply important to the stories of Beau and Caleb. They are a footnote on the story of the Mighty Nein. And they are utterly irrelevant to the story of Jester.

#answered #Anonymous #cr discourse #i was actually pretty generous and one day i shall write the meta of why those stories are so important

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alloutofgoddesses · 1 year

Text

C3 E50 - It’s the middle of the semester so I have no free time ever and I’m reconsidering all of my life choices leading to this moment

Gale!

Fun fact I tried watching this last night and only got about an hour and half in when I realised I was way too tired and distracted so I turned it off

Jester I miss you

NOPE vibes

Why is Liam so little

Off topic but anybody else have a grey cat? I have a nearly 11 month old grey feline and I would love to know if they’re all Like This or if mines a special (basket) case

Aahhhhhhhh oh my god I’m so happy for Imogen

Planning is an essential part of DND but guess what. I am not paying attention to a whole lot of it unless I myself am planning

RIP Silver Sun? I don’t understand why this is necessary oops

Travis bud when was the last time you got your eyes checked

Fly in studio AGAIN (why are there so many flies in the Critical Role studio)

Miss your merk

…and I guess I’m done with my tea now thanks Hermes

Gnome sinkholes

Also there’s no way they’re coming back with a better ship lol

Laura please don’t do math problems

Keyleth I love you

Nothing bad is going to happen, this plan will go as expected

Awww Fearne gave Ashton a forehead kiss

Shout out to Travis for continuing to wear the sweat bands

Oh boy oh boy

I love seeing Travis “Aabria was only scared of me” Willingham in his element

My tummy feels weird lol… idk why this isn’t very high stakes at all

Hello who are you

Scary Laura scary Laura

Okay but how “high up” is Lilliana for that to work

Oof buddies

Oh hey I own those sweatpants

Just filibuster, that’ll stop the apocalypse from happening

Don’t look at your wife like that Matt

Oh no - I feel like it’s a bad idea to run

Does Travis need the sweatbands because I think I do

WEREWOLF TIMEEEW

OH THAT’S VERY BIG

Get em Laudna

How much attention do we think this combat is drawing. Also who’s hiding in the tent

Casual Lizzo ref

Bye Ashton

The warder is gonna die via electrocution!

Is it Otohan or her mom

AH SHIT I WAS RIGHT ABOUT SOMEONE BEING IN THE TENT

Wait a minute wait a minute wait a minute

Fingers crossed fingers crossed this is a blorbo from our shows

This has to be someone very dexterous

That’s monk shit right that has to be monk shit

THATS EXPOSITOR BEAUREGARD LIONETT

Me too Liam

Ashley I love you - try your absolute damndest please

That’s my second favourite Critical Role lesbian!!!!!!

ASHLEY SHE IS SO HOT

That’s Beau!!

THAT’S MY BABYGIRL

ME TOO LIAM!!!!!!

Multi-campaign crossover!!!!!!!!!

ME TOO DANI

In the words of Liam AND Aabria, what’s sexier than wizards? NOTHING

Oh Caleb is so respectful I love hims

Yeah you have baby

Probably Beau 😬

I would love to see Beau and Caleb in Vasselheim

Hey it’s her!

Very excited for the people who woke up Devexian to meet FCG honestly

Awww where’s the rest of the Mighty Nein

- Who didn’t make it out? I would like to know Caleb

When is Chet gonna become small again. I feel like it’s gonna make Beau laugh

Ashton has been silent the entire time 🧐

Ashton bby speak up ask questionssss

Which of his romantic partners is he referring to

Oh shit third wizard?

Yeah Travis the meta levels are out of this world

There’s Ashton hi buddy

Ajshshsjaj BEAU

I want Ashton and Beau to be passive aggressive together PLEASE

Be careful with that fourth wall it doesn’t look super stable right now

Okay but I would prefer if we move forward with the full team here

Desperately want Beau and Caleb to meet FCG

[THEY] XANDIS IS THEY REMEMBER PRONOUNS MARISHA

Ah goddammit. See y’all next week

#critical role #cr spoilers #bells hells

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honourablejester · 2 years

Text

Calamity Episode 2: Thoughts as we go

(Literally thoughts I was typing into a word document as I watched the episode)

(LONG POST) (SPOILERS)

Fucking Cerrit’s kids are too adorable, omg, and he’s standing over a body in a doomed city, I can’t

Tiny proud dad competition, adorable

Zerxus thinks Purvan is a coward for not being willing to speak directly of enemy gods, there definitely is some pride and contempt going on here

Zerxus immediately runs for Nydas

I love Alessander and all the city flavour we get from Nydas’ mere existence

Travis taking notes alarms people

Prototype automata called taxmen, nothing potentially big brother here at all

Quarter mile warehouse of fleets of automata motivator cores

The taxmen are 12ft tall bladed war machines with state-of-the-art programming and reflexes

Nydas and Patia have been casually memory wiping everyday people of the city, oh good

Loquatius is an innocent reporter, and he definitely looks it by comparison right now

Loquatius ‘guards his face’ by becoming Cerrit’s face

Terrifying beak teeth, lovely

‘You killed someone at Patia’s party?’ ‘I did. They were no one important, I wouldn’t repeat that mistake.’ How many people do this party kill and/or mind wipe on the regular?

Loquatius: bad gods, city destroyed within a few hours, it’s fine, let’s just ignore it

292 years Avalir has been flying

The city has a lot of engines, and Laerryn has made a new one

Laerryn has a locket from her old friend Evandrin. Luis is freaking out in the corner. Laerryn remembers the panic of not knowing how to help him and not knowing how responsible she was.

Brennan describes Evandrin fading away to the point that when the funeral happened there was nothing to bury, and Luis is gently crying at the table, and Marisha sneaks away for a second to get him a tissue, oh wow

I love how casually Laerryn just throws spells around like confetti

Laerryn is not involved in the taxmen and whatever they’re for, also good to know

Nydas is fanboying over Laerryn’s work, amazing

Laerryn wants to do this now so that the others will live to see it, the ones who don’t have an elven lifespan

Aw, they’re adorable, Nydas wanted to be there for this so much

They’ve been stealing Avalir’s energy for this, obviously

I love Brennan’s sound effects so much

The Astral Leywright engine, what a name

This entire description of the machine working is fantastic, you can feel the wonder, and I love Aabria’s face

Standing in the bloodstream of the cosmos

God I love Nydas, he’s suddenly shouting because it’s amazing, because he was a cabin boy sky pirate and this is the dream

Look, okay, Laerryn is a mad fucking scientist and this is the Age of Hubris, but good god you can see the wonder of magic this moment, so fucking much

I love how Brennan feeds it, how he speaks so much to Aabria’s wonder and Lou’s

‘It was worth it’ and grabbing Evandrin’s locket, god

Nydas has a fanboy meltdown, I love him

We’re going flying after the month, without telling anyone

Oops! Power issues. 8% of the city’s power to send a toy extraplanar. Oof is right, Aabria

Oh, it’s not the sending, it’s the Arboreal Calix reacting to the sending

The Calix was set by the Drashari Tithe

(Sam has secrets and Brennan knows this)

Toramunda was absolutely supercharged by being a primordial burial site

The Replenishment was a tithe to the druids of the mountain for taking Avalir off flying, because the druids wanted the magic for specific things

Laerryn only has ¾ of the energy, the Arboreal Calix is the utility bill, but the Calix takes up 12.5% of the city’s magic on its own, half the tithe

(Aabria: fuck druids)

She didn’t expect the Calix to do shit and she doesn’t know how it works or what its connected to

Laerryn immediately is just trying to cut it out of the system

Calix is 119 years old, the date of the last Replenishment (apogee 120 years ago), the last time the treaty was updated (Magisterium law), the first Replenishment after Raven Queen

I need to know where it’s taking my energy, god I love possessive scientists

Nydas: is there a chance this can wait? Laerryn: death glare Nydas: okay, that’s a no, got it

Brennan: I want to go to Zerxus really briefly. Luis: uh huh

Life is good in Avalir

Alessander cannot dissemble at all

Zerxus is not the kinda person to lean on people with intimidation (persuasion instead)

Nydas and Laerryn about to be revealed, but Zerxus ain’t listening to warnings, and also needs to decompress so much because he hates Avalir

Laerryn: it’s called a labyrinth, not a hallway

But also here’s maps because I might need you

Dweomer the Aeormaton is surrounded by four huge hulking taxmen and is all casual ‘all will be well, may I offer congratulations?’ Aeormatons ain’t scared of shit

Evandrin was First Knight before Zerxus

30 deception check from Nydas sweeps the board

Zerxus is being lied to and he wipes Laerryn’s remaining tears to ask her if she’s okay

And echoes his dead husband’s once words of support to her, FUCK

Nydas shouted ITS GLORIOUS at a magical phenomenon and lived, he’s a mad scientist anomaly, Brennan would like to comment

Lou and Aabria do not approve of Marisha’s dismissiveness of their toy boat sending

Inquisition Rogues can fucking see space-time, those checks, Brennan’s gotta keep making shit up to explain how Cerrit just knows shit

Patia is really good at controlling and directing attention from her activities, which is not at all concerning on a mind-wiping big brother lady

I was bang on when I said circles within circles, Nydas, Laerryn and Patia on the inside, Cerrit, Loquatius and Zerxus on the outside, I called that last episode

Loquatius is deliberately trying not to be involved, mind you, what with his Beverage Ball and doing his absolute best to piss Laerryn all the way off and not have to be involved in plots and magical workings and plane hops and murdered god wizard corpses

Laerryn wants to technologically just skip godhood entirely and manage by raw magic what divinity could give. Which, respect

Patia is 100% on board with this

Nydas: nothing’s wrong with this plane, but why are we limited to this plane. Laerryn: THAT

Zerxus’ contempt for the city is really peaking

Loquatius is not enthused about planar travel

Zerxus is not impressed by anyone’s priorities, possibly because Laerryn’s talking about other people’s sacrifices

Patia is talking about immense power and resources, but she’s also concerned about Aeor’s weapons and Aeor superceding them

The circles realise their separation

Laerryn apologises. Ish. Patia straight up says she only was going to tell anyone if it worked

Zerxus has security concerns, Cerrit congratulates them for successfully lying to him

Laerryn is still over the moon because it worked and everyone else is like ‘wait, as in you tried already?’

The Calix is possible straight up to prevent apotheosis attempts

Patia: what good is loyalty to a dead person. Zerxus: thousand yard death glare

Party filling each other in, too many coincidences

Quay, do you have to pick every opportunity to needle Laerryn? (What for, does he actually have a reason to throw her off?)

Cerrit and Patia trying to keep control of the divorcees

Laerryn doesn’t think Quay can keep a world changing secret, Quay has kept secrets for her

Sam Deception 32 not for a lie

Patia learned about apogee solstices from the Raven Queen as was (Mom?)

Wait, Laerryn’s trying to move Exandria’s leylines extraplanar??? The leys themselves??? She’s trying to directly hook Exandria itself up to the other planes? Because Avalir flies on leys, so she’s not moving the train to the celestial plane, she’s moving the track? Holy fuck lady. Talk about going all in and all out. Fuck. This is why it has to be apogee, when the veil is thin?

(The Calamity ends with the Divine Gate, is this why? Is this part of why the gods try to directly lock off the planes from each other?)

(She called the Engine the Astral Leywright. Not ley rudder, let wright. As in ley maker)

Nydas playing chairman of the board to get things back on track

Zerxus, Cerrit and Quay trying to be diplomatic about no, we do need to worry about strange murderous god rituals right here at the same time huge fucking magical workings, including yours, are all going down

Zerxus is angry at Purvan for being scared of gods, because being scared of one is being scared of all, and he feels the betrayers are a threat, and the ring of brass needs to deal with them

As soon as you kneel to one god you kneel to them all, this is not going to bite later, no sir

Inspiring Leader on Zerxus, I love it

Cerrit would like to remind everyone that he killed the infernal corpse with melee weapons, actually, no magic, just saying

Paladin rolling to match Inspiring Leader

Zerxus hears Ghor Dranas in his head looking at the corpse, that’s not good

This was a cleric hyper-pumped with power because a betrayer just needed a job on the ground done now and just flooded the man with cancerous power uncaring that it’d kill him to use

K’nauth is infernal for puppet

Became a cleric 2 weeks ago, Vespin Chloras, the betrayers have been back on this plane 2 weeks ago and needed ground troops now

Zerxus feeling grief that this man was betrayed and his devotion taken advantage of, this is going fine

‘I’m going to point out the runes to those of an arcane understanding’ (Cerrit in the background gestures oh, okay, I’ll just vanish, it’s fine, Nydas gestures nah, nah, we appreciate you man)

Patia takes notes in her orb, I love it

Vespin released the betrayers, okay good, everybody’s checking if they know much about them, the boogeymen from fairy stories, opposed to the cause of mortals

Brennan is going to improvise an important piece of canon right now, and saying that betrayers have never managed to break through before

Zerxus trying to use Lay on Hands as psychometry on the body, I love that so much

Getting all the bad vibes, of course

Nydas is actually good at planning and arranging, this makes so much sense for a guildmaster, but I love how he takes leadership control and management

Quay doesn’t have opinions, he just reports, totally

Quay is insighting the world, there’s a conspiracy because the betrayer gods still need something to actually kick-start the apocalypse/their full escape

Patia finally twigs and questions her physical security breach

Dean Lycretia Hollow smuggled a hodmedod in to do stuff (cultists disguised as hodmedods, and nobody noticed, because they’re not expecting such low level magic to affect them)

Hollow was using Purvan as a mockery and distraction to get stuff in and done?

While they’re asking, Cerrit’s hodmedod had to have been disanimated by someone in the guildhall, the energy is remote fed to the constructs and had to have been cut off at the source

(Alessander? Also, that’s not worrying when there’s a fleet of fucking taxmen ready to go)

Fireworks! Brennan really likes stressing everybody out, yessiree bob, Lou has left the table

BREAK

Marisha deeply enjoys goth necromancer gift wrapping

Note from necromancer on a vial of poison: when the time comes, this will be the easier way out. All things end, lives, stories, even ages.

Laerryn: Necromancers have such a penchant for the dramatic

Patia: So poetic

Ladies.

Laerryn casually drops and shatters the vial with no care for potential consequences, Patia thinks ‘badass’ at her for this

Patia’s orb also scrys, Lycretia has mindshielding, Avalir is so casually magical at all times

Laerryn doesn’t pay attention to people dumber than her, even if they’re her assistants, Patia thinks this is incredibly fair

Ladies powerwalk intimidation of witness, who just ‘yeps’, petrified

Lycretia followed Purvan, and Cormorant mindwiped people behind her sloppily

Lycretia was about break invisibility with an attack, and then Quay and Zerxus interrupted

Quay and Zerxus saved someone’s life today, all smug

Purvan Suul is alive due to these two, saving the future of Exandria

(Laerryn: no one tell him)

Cormorant was mentally summoned off to sort something out

Laerryn basically verbally shreds the poor woman for just being in the area, and Patia rolls with it, jeez, way to crush a random woman girls

They’re so casually magical, playing memories in spheres,

Laerryn might have been needlessly harsh with a subordinate, Patia disagrees because she dressed bad, Laerryn is fine with that

Nearly midnight, time crunch

Nydas is trying to mind Zerxus, investigate his visions as a priority, so Hall of Prophecy

Quay was going to check his own records, with Cerrit along

Girls chasing Cormorant to the Magisterium

Only six people in town who work, yessir

I love the insight into how the Herald’s Tome works, I love how this city works, all the little details about pre-recorded stories, etc

Sam throws Brennan a mention with Mulligan’s tavern, lovely

I fucking love Cerrit’s noir schtick

And I love Laerryn asking for them to make it a private telepathic chat, the details

Cerrit accidentally found one of Quay’s secrets?

(Aabria/Laerryn’s been calling him a betrayer god for years and no one’s been listening, I love them)

Vespin had somewhat moral reasons for replacing a betrayer, to remove and replace a nefarious force from the world

Vespin had links to Lycretia and the Silver Circle guy (Loras of the mask)

‘This city has every tome in the world, and the thing that might save Exandria is in the back of some b-roll footage colour commentary’ but that makes sense, that’s how these things are caught

(Everybody taking notes like crazy)

The Gal Drashari are about stopping things like the apotheoses. The city of crowns bears the tree of names (Avalir holds something important to them)

Is Travis incapable of rolling under 30 on Cerrit???

Though it’s on Quay for the inspiration.

I love that Brennan just keeps having to bullshit how Cerrit knows everything

Tree of Names was protected 120 years ago by the Arboreal Calix, the Calix was built around it, Zerxus immediately jumped to the tree in his dream and Evandrin touching it, and thinks it was what made Evandrin sick

(Laerryn is quietly freaking the fuck out as Zerxus says this)

Also, Vespin knew about and was talking about the tree in relation to apotheosis 9 years ago

(Laerryn is trying to shut down the calix for her engine and it’s possibly something the betrayers need to remove to get into the world)

(Laerryn’s life’s work has to be now, and it’s possibly a trigger for the apocalypse)

The reporter working on Vespin was also working on Evandrin and someone vanished her files

And possibly her, Quay dismissed her

Travis has been rolling amazing, but Quay rolls higher, at least when its deception (bards y’all)

(Aabria is freaking out for Laerryn)

It’s this specific reporter only, not Evandrin in general, so she found something specific

Herald’s Tome, as a sidenote, has a media monopoly in Avalir

Sam and Travis play Quay’s complete innocence to the hilt, and Lou in the background goes ‘stop’

Laerryn loves this man

Cerrit’s Columbo just ran up against the one reporter he couldn’t crack

At the Magisterium, Laerryn’s contempt and envy for her court of workings (4 people in a box) vs the massive grandeur of the magisterium of 380 people that get a fraction done but have such a nice building

Patia soothes her with the notion of pagentry to cover insufficiency

Patia talks a good game about stealth, but then doesn’t actually bother with it

‘I don’t trust it’ *attempts to open the door anyway*

Laerryn completely ditches stealth and summons the biggest statue she can see as summon construct to just punch the door down

‘roll initiative’ *everyone freaks out*

Map Mercer

Whole top table stands

Age of Arcanum, combat in evening gowns

Patia runs through every magic countering spell she has, ends up on detect magic instead

Tosses it to Laerryn

This is going to be a ‘to whom it may concern’ fireball, hot damn

Travis immediately questions counterspell, Brennan graciously allows the roll

‘I like that, that feels fun to me’, then Lou immediately mockingly echoing him

Let us play a beautiful game

Oh he quite failed the dex save

Laerryn: I get very mad

Perfect fireball, so spherical

Laerryn absolutely channelling her inner barbarian

The Architect Arcane gets shit done, Cormorrant is dead in one turn

Ladies don’t have healing magic

‘we killed the magister’ ‘did you question him first?’ ‘zerxus?’ ‘is he unconscious or dead?’ ‘dead’ ‘okay’

Patia has tried casting mending on corpses before, it doesn’t work

Oh, an evoker? Anyone can cast fireball bitch, you’re not special!

Rogue teleportation circles that aren’t registered with the porters guild

With infernal runes instead of draconic

He’s been inviting people into the magisterium and/or city

Cormorrant was interested in the Calix and the laws behind the treaty

Letter 119 years old on birch bark – ‘honourable’ magister, we do not trust you in the slightest, wizards have no chill and no limits, so I ain’t telling you shit about the tree, just mind it and mind your business

Gau Drashari have a point, to be fair to them

Druids came aboard after RQ and fixed up the tree of names in the Calix

Rituals involving the imprisoned primordials in Cormorant’s office too

I adore Patia’s library sphere that just hoovers knowledge wherever she is

Patia acts so much as Laerryn’s devil-on-her-shoulder

People who are given everything do not know how to fight – Patia, I have questions

Paladin here, by the time you deliver the corpse there’s gonna be shit I can do for him

We’re hiding bodies in carpets around the place

The statue is so happy to be woken up by the Architect Arcane and named ‘scrabbles’

Hall of the Oracles, order of clerics without gods, manifested a connection to the divine but requires a lot of hermitage, sacrifice and difficulty to deliver divination

Zerxus knows a woman there named Sofyra

(Can I just say I love how Nydas uses everyone’s title, but like warmly, like its respect)

Hall has been closed, Nydas wants to know why

The Oracle has been crying. A lot. This is fine

Loras has closed the hall, because of course he has, conspiracy central tonight baby

‘has he given you permission to enter?’ Nydas: he has

Just that, just ‘yes’, let’s go

Deception on bards, always brilliant

Way out on a limb, yeah, Loras and me, we cool, but 26 deception …

It works because everyone in this building is scared and frazzled to heck

Zerxus really does the solid comforting thing to everyone, but it’s so often with such intent, like he uses it so much as a tool

I love Brennan’s mood and sensation descriptors of places and events

There’s not many oracles left

Loras took over yesterday, timing timing, something kicked off the last couple days

The magister(?) who stepped down to possibly make space for Patia was here with the Oracles and bad stuff happened to her so she left forever, and Loras is moving around her absence

She broke her staff and renounced magic forever

‘it has been a troubled time here at the hall of prophecy’ understatement of the year

2 weeks ago, oracles started going mad

Karwen first

Everyone who tried to heal her went mad too

Over Gwessar (Tal’Dorei) they started reaching out for help, the Chair of Divination, then the Ring of Gold so Volucia, the lady who snapped her staff, came over the last week

A few days ago they let Karwen come back out and she spoke to the other Oracles, and now Sofyra is the only one left sane (Why? Why is she still sane? What made her different?)

Volucia renounced magic after arguing with Loras: if these gifts harm us, then we should not accept them (gifts from betrayer gods maybe?)

Volucia built a rune circle to protect Karwen’s mind so they could talk to her, but just before she left they brought Karwen out to bathe

Nydas is going to see the bathing chamber Karwen went to, and Lou is going to take a bath

Karwen was laughing a little as she got to the bathroom, joking about being a ‘bad oracle’ and making false prophecies and then

One of the mirrors has a big crack in it. You know. Like the one after Cerrit saw Vespin

Karwen’s whole room, furniture and all, has been compressed into the rune circle, I love the Alice-in-Wonderland dark whimsical vibes

Karwen looks oddly fine and sleeping peacefully

There’s a mirror under her bed (Aabria: vibe check!) oh dear

As Zerxus pulls divine sense he clutches his and Evandrin’s dog tags

Wall of water in the room with masses of fiendish energy, the first Zerxus has ever felt

In the reflection in this wall of water, Karwen isn’t in the bed, Asmodeus is, bleeding and dying

(Everyone at the table is having a fit)

Karwen is real in the bed, she pings his senses as an oracle, the wall is the fiendish part

Asmodeus, in the reflection, calls out for Zerxus to show himself (acting very wounded)

Zerxus shoots the command straight back, Asmodeus is trying to show himself

Asmodeus calls him by name

He knows him because Zerxus saved him (Travis and Aabria are clinging to each other, I adore them sitting together)

Zerxus goes through the wall into the reflection. Like a numpty. While the tables go insane

The reflection is in another time and another realm

Aabria: this is why you don’t leave your buddy! Buddy system! Lou!

Lou is taking a bath, they all insisted Karwen only see one, it’s not on him!

Zerxus sees silver mist (astral plane?)

Asmodeus says he can’t die, he’s just in pain

Zerxus saved him before the Dawnfather could destroy it (what’s it? The tree?)

Zerxus finally asks who he is, Asmodeus answers the Lord of the Hells

Zerxus responds that he doesn’t believe in the gods (dude)

Asmodeus says he doesn’t either lately

Zerxus asks for his hand, Aabria flails, Zerxus casts cure wounds on the Lord of the Hells

Zerxus asks if he chose his title or it was given to him, Asmodeus answers ‘when you get to the table and there’s nothing left but scraps, you take what you’re given’

‘Why are you here?’ ‘I don’t know, I don’t know. I left where I was and now I’m here’

Zerxus tries to scan for what hurt him: he was expecting broken and is just getting hurt and bewildered, but he has experience of people hiding how broken they are on first meeting

‘What have they done to you? I want to know everything.’ (dude)

The Lord of the Hells is beautiful and Zerxus notices that he looks like Evandrin (Aabria tries to climb over the back of her seat)

Evandrin?

I don’t look the same to everybody. Before it all went wrong, they said I was the most beautiful of them all

You were (fuck)

But as we all know, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and so I sometimes look like the most beautiful face that mortals have ever seen

Holy shit

Sam: then why doesn’t he look like me? (table collapses)

Asmodeus never knows who he’s going to look like to people in advance, apparently

Zerxus twigs that this could be the trick and asks

Asmodeus sidesteps that everyone always thinks he’s tricking them, he can’t give an answer Zerxus will trust

Asmodeus doesn’t know Evandrin but he must have been a good man because he’s not in the Hells

Okay (agreed Travis)

Zerxus: Lets get you cleaned up

Asmodeus starts crying

Zerxus: what, shit, what!?

Asmodeus: I’ve never known kindness before (jesus, lay it on thick)

Luis takes this hit and then Zerxus immediately: that’s a shame and that will change. This is your home and don’t forget that. You belong here.

What home??? Avalir??? Dude. What?

(whole table in various flinching poses)

Zerxus cleans him up and dresses his wounds ‘with utmost care’

Asmodeus, smiling: well, while you’re cleaning up a god of darkness and fire, is there anything I can do to repay the favour? (I cannot with this right now, don’t flirt, jeez)

This is not Exandria yet, I’m not where I was but I’m not home yet

Zerxus jumps on it, he definitely is trying to pump Asmodeus for information: you’re in between, something’s happened, someone broke you out?

Asmodeus: the door opened explosively and we all tumbled out (all, lovely)

There was pressure behind the door, it was made to teach a lesson

Zerxus: what did you do to earn it?

Asmodeus starts to explain the creation

Zerxus asks him to kneel with him. I

Luis: I cast ceremony

Sam: Marriage? (fair question)

Luis: Atonement

Sam: Ah!

Gonna go back to this speech later in full, but this line:

I thought to help. I had seen the gifts of love and courage and truth and honour and sacrifice, and I said, these are the greatest gifts we could create, and we must make them matter.

My gifts were not seen for what I intended them to be

In that time of pain and sorrow, the other gods gave more gifts, they gave magic.

We had already leant on the hospitality of the primordials enough. We had leant on it enough.

Our promises were to the primordials, and we were called betrayers.

Some notes about Zerxus response: when the time comes and you step from this void, don’t you forget me, don’t you forget the kindness we are capable of. We are your children too.

(Elias isn’t his blood son, he met him as a toddler when he met Evandrin, but he loves him as his child, please stop hurting everybody Luis)

Please remember that we’re your children the same way, don’t take your pain out on us.

Zerxus is begging. Spare us and I will help you, against those who did this to you. He doesn’t know how Asmodeus is going to get out, so he’s trying to get ahead of it, in case they can’t stop it. I was nice to you, the first in forever. When you get out, don’t hurt me and mine.

The gods can go fuck themselves, he never cared about them anyway. Asmodeus can go to town on those if he wants, Zerxus probably even thinks he has cause. But the dark god needs not to hurt mortals.

Asmodeus gives his word: Not for all the ages of the world will I forget you.

Asmodeus tells him his flaw: that he’s very trusting. You say I am being used. You are being used. (YOU THINK RIGHT NOW ASMODEUS)

By you? No. I am the father of lies. You are being lied to, and not by any god.

(Yes, this is going to be about sowing seeds of doubt in the party, with good cause, because Laerryn and Quay and Evandrin – Aabria is trying to gently climb the ceiling in her seat)

Zerxus looks back and sees himself seizing on the floor beyond the portal, he’s having a vision. He’s an oracle.

Asmodeus looks through the portal too and asks is that it, is that the world out there? He would like location details.

Zerxus won’t lie to him, it’s called Avalir.

Avalir flying over Domunas, yes? Is Domunas still beautiful? (so he knows where he is, either because a name gives him a location or more likely because he’s been infiltrating Avalir with cultists for the past 2 goddamned weeks)

Domunas was Asmodeus’ favourite, the smile of Exandria

Zerxus is noping out, time to go, this was a lot

Asmodeus: what became of Evandrin? (driving the point home with a sledgehammer)

Zerxus: I don’t know. The vision I had with you showed him walking toward a tree

Asmodeus: there are some less than kind workings on the trees of old (he’s angling to destroy the Calix?)

Zerxus: he was spitting up something that became intangible. I felt him sort of fading, when I picked him up, desperately trying to find some sort of a cure that was nowhere to be found. It wasn’t anything from this world that I could understand. Nobody could help.

(Stop telling your worst agonies to the Lord of the Motherfucking Hells, man!)

Why was he in the dream?

Asmodeus: Connection. His spirit was somehow near. I don’t know how to describe it. Did you ever try after his passing to bring him back? (!!!)

(One of the conspiracy is a necromancer)

Zerxus: I tried to stop it from happening, and I never found him really when he passed. But I did everything I could to stop it.

Asmodeus: Great and many are the powers of mortals to stop poisons, diseases, afflictions and curses.

Zerxus: I know. Nobody would help. I know that city had some way of bringing him back. (Aabria praying to herself)

Asmodeus: How could they not? There are few you can trust, very few. I don’t know much (really???), I’ve been away for quite some time, but of my domain I am certain. I am the father of lies, and there are many lies in the city you call home. (he’s so good at this, fuck)

Zerxus: I don’t call this city home.

The Lord of Hells feels the impact of that.

Asmodeus: You have done me a great service, and you have given me your trust. But I understand that mortals will always have a part of their soul that recoils from me. It is the nature of the gifts I gave them.

Zerxus: Then you made me wrong. (shit dude! Stop flirting with the Lord of the Hells)

Asmodeus puts a hand on his shoulder and interrupts Atonement and puts Protection from Evil and Good on him, against fiends, celestials and fey. Because Zerxus will need that later.

There is a poison in your city and I think you know the shape of it.

Zerxus: walks out and invites the Lord of Hells to come find him

Wakes up in a body that’s been seizing in religious ecstasy (not at all worrying given the remains of a cleric we saw earlier, nope)

Luis having a little moment as Brennan moves onto Lou instead to take some deep breaths and release the intensity while Marisha socks him on the shoulder

Karwen’s first prophecy, shown to Nydas, first ‘false’ prophecy

Brennan sends it to Lou’s phone so he can read it out and they can all enjoy it first hand

Marisha, hand on Luis’ shoulder: I feel like I need a cigarette and I don’t smoke

Prophecy: Reply to the council: The stars are leaving us, our hands cannot reach the limbs of the tree, can no longer scribe the name of our deliverance. We will soon be as broken as our promises. Avalir shall fall. All shall fall. And from our folly will the hands that forge the world banish themselves.”

Nydas: this was deemed false?

The Octothurge and the Chair of Divination declared it false, because it obviously can’t be true.

Nydas: Obviously

Sofyra: That was the right decision, wasn’t it? Something went wrong. They all went mad.

Nydas: (… yeah, sure) I think we should continue to consider that false. No, I misspoke. That is false.

Sofyra: Guildmaster, is everything all right?

Nydas: totally

Its 1am in Avalir, and the Helmswoman of Avalir wants a word. We’re in position above Cathmoira, and all is well. Descent has begun.

She went to deactivate the ley rudder, but Laerryn has a block on it

Laerryn: Yup! That’s fine! Ignore that!

Helmswoman: okay, I’m just going to stay here in case-- *starts choking and line goes dead*

Marisha: What the fuck

We all need to go to the helm now. Lycretia Hollow is waiting for the Ring of Brass, because of course she is, and not just her.

Brennan: I’m going to need everyone here to roll initiative

END EPISODE

Travis, to Luis: what did you do

Luis: I don’t know!

Aabria: I spent this whole time thinking I blew what --- You did it!

Brennan: we can all take turns causing the apocalypse together!

Marisha: we all had a hand in this crucifixion.

#exu calamity #exandria unlimited calamity #episode reaction #episode 2 #spoilers

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