#ljore tag

[currycurrie]

So I just checked the Tal'Dorei guide to see at what level Cree, as a blood domain cleric, would get the ability to track people. So unless things have been tweaked, you have to be a minimum of 6th level to use the Crimson Bond. Now, of the various resurrection spells clerics have access to, a 6th level cleric would only have access to 3rd level Revivify. With a time limit of 1 minute, that obviously couldn't be used to bring back Molly. In fact, even the 5th level Raise Dead would not be able to bring back Molly as it has a time limit of ten days after death. So taking into account the length of time it took the Nein to travel to Shadycreek, the time spent there, and the several weeks it took to travel back to Zadash, there is no way Cree could have got there in time to resurrect Molly. Even if we take into account Gentle Repose, there still isn't enough time.

So conclusions to be drawn, either Cree is a lot more powerful than she let on, being at least a minimum of 13th level at the time of Molly's death in order to be able to cast the 7th level Resurrection, Cree knows someone powerful rnough who was able to do that for her, Molly raised himself so to speak OR that all important ritual book was involved and Cree either had it in her possession or knew where to find it and used that to bring back Molly.

Considering that the Gentleman did not consider her particularly dangerous and he is known to be particularly insightful, I don't think it was Cree alone who raised Molly. This is much much bigger.

[justalittlebluetiefling]

This is probably going to end in a cliffhanger, but hopefully they’ll at least make it to the temple and then next episode (IN THREE WEEKS WTF) we can be done with this temple arc.

[yfere]

Shipping Calculus! Live Updates from C2E49

In which Jester is the true MVP of all shippers in what would otherwise be a desert wasteland of a mathless episode. This is also the episode, I believe, where by a fraction Jester manages to supplant Caleb in the role of Most Shippable Character. He occupies no top spots anymore! Happy anniversary! I mean--congratulations!

Masterpost is here.

+1 to Yasha/Jester. When Beau brings up Trent Ikithon having an eye on Yasha, Jester yells “WELL SHE’S REALLY HOT,” which is. Wonderful. In conjunction with the Yasha Ljore Drop and the contentious Yasha playlist, the potential of this ship is finally beginning to germinate.

+5 to Beau/Jester. “Are you in love with me?” Jester asks, to which Beau replies, “In a way.” Now that reply appears to be Platonic-ing the situation, but alongside that we also have Beau completely randomly getting the totally transparent urge to clarify to Jester that she wasn’t really roommates with Dairon, and she didn’t really sleep with her. But--you know who is her roommate?????? Do you know?????????????? Also, Beau talking to Jester about getting with her (are the rest of the M9 included? Who cares?) the beachfront retirement home of every gay couple’s dreams. Very...sisterly of her????????????????????????????????????????

+4 to Caleb/Jester. “Are you secretly in love with me?” Jester asks, grinning. Rather than platonic-ing it up though, Caleb masterfully ignores the question entirely, as he is apt to do when he doesn’t feel like being honest. Meanwhile, Fjord is frantically (desperately?) shaking his head at the idea. This could mean many things, some more interesting than others. Add to this Caleb’s hopeless smitten expression when he says “Oh, Jester. I’m glad that you see good in me.”

+0.5 (?) to Caleb/Jester/Fjord because Jester and Fjord manage to tag team well enough to get Caleb to admit that he cares about them! Yay!

+4 to Fjord/Jester on their own, because their tag-teaming is definitely at #married level now. “You’ll seduce one, I’ll seduce the other,” Fjord says, chivalrously offering to make them all sleep with magical elves to help out with Caleb’s Cerberus Assembly problems. (Is that another +0.5 to all three?). What a...weird gesture? Maybe Fjord has some screws loose about whether sleeping with other people for the good of the group is romantic or not after Avantika. (We know he’s joking, but how much of it is a joke?) Jester and Fjord are also Blink buddies! ALSO, the #married bickering is in full force between these two, including such gems as “Don’t minimize my shit,” and “If Fjord thinks that messing with it is a bad idea, then--” In their case, what would normally be a +2 or +3 (no mention of the word “love” unlike with Jester and Beau and Caleb) was bumped up because of Nott continuing her matchmaking shenanigans.

+1 to Caleb/Caduceus because Caleb made sure to include Caduceus in the conversation when it came to admitting that he cared about them all. Also offering him his fucking spell components for Caduceus’ ritual.

+1,000,000 to Yeza/Nott because THEY HAVE A FUCKING LOVE STORY, MEET-CUTE AND EVERYTHING. MARRIAGE AND A BABY AND A BUSINESS THEY RAN TOGETHER. WHAT THE FUCK.

+5 Caduceus/The Chair. The only thing he was more concerned with than getting spices for the Wildmother was reconnecting to his mysterious, long-lost love in a furniture shop. Truly, a love story for the ages.

[currycurrie]

This is like the biggest of reaches, but Caleb was playing with that stained glass. Feeblemind has a material component of a handful of glass.

Planning some poetic justice for a certain archmage maybe? He doesn't get access to the spell for a few levels, but I wouldn't put it past him to be thinking about it this early.

[currycurrie]

Okay okay okay. The especially Tragic with a capital T thing about the whole Essek confession is that he said something along the lines of trying to keep the power of Dunamancy from falling into the wrong hands. He saw the potential and specifically the danger in unrealized potential. If he could just do the research. If he just had the resources. If he wasn’t held back by the powers that be. And in pursuing it all, he became the exact sort of person he was trying to keep this power from. He handed over a live grenade to the enemy. To the worst possible people to hold it. He fanned the flames of resentment between nations into a full on war. He allied himself with and became exactly that which he feared. Someone who would stop at nothing. Someone who would sacrifice the faceless masses and let the entire continent run red with their spilled blood. All for the power that knowledge brings. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, as they say. 

[currycurrie]

CR thoughts after finishing last night's ep:

Nott and Caleb butting heads is very good and I am super interested in a potential conflict between them. I wonder if now that Nott is Veth and doesn't technically "need" Caleb anymore, if that's going to have an impact on their dynamic. I'm just very excited to see where this schism between them goes.

I also wonder if Nott's assumption that they're going to punish Essek is in a small way a form of projection. The fandom has already written a lot of meta on the comparisons between Nott's offer to the hag and what Essek did. It's pretty extremely hypocritical of her to be the loudest voice condemning Essek, and I find that very interesting! Nott's whole character has kind of revolved around this idea of duality and juxtaposition and an exploration of being hypocritical. Once again excited to see how this goes!

Further, I am very surprised that Beau took such a hardline stance against Essek. It seems very out of nowhere. She did get that whisper about him so who knows her thoughts about it. But I'm very curious to hear her thought process especially if ever confronted about the similarities between Essek and Caleb in this regard.

Between Caleb's backstory and Essek's character progression it brings up a very interesting concept of guilt/punishment and time. Caleb has been completely accepted by those he reveals it to. Essek's acceptance is balanced on a knife's edge. Is it because the time that has passed for Caleb has lessened the impact of it? Because the Essek reveal was so recent does it hurt more because maybe the Nein could have done something and feel a little responsible? Is the personal nature of Essek's transgressions make it seem worse than the Assembly's crimes?

I don't know any answers to this but it's all an interesting thought experiment in grey areas and culpability.

[currycurrie]

Can I just say how much I treasure Nott and Jester's friendship? Despite all the flask drama which adds a delicious layer of angst and conflict to it, which I'm all for.

Anyway, how great is it that Nott who, because of her previous life as Veth, had to grow up so quickly now gets to cut loose because of Jester?

Nott is ~25 per Sam on Talks. And she is already a mother and manages her own business! She never got to have those carefree young twenties years! Oh you're of age? Time to get married and have kids and be a productive member of society ASAP! And that's before the horrors that befell her.

Jester on the other hand is around the same age, and has never had to grow up. And now these two women who have had such dramatically different lives have come together and be wonderful examples for each other. Nott gets to indulge in her proclivities towards chaos for the sake of it, and Jester has an example of the capabilities of someone her age to excel and succeed at growing up without sacrificing the childlike joy of life. Not to mention the unintentional coincidence of Jester gravitating towards a maternal figure when she misses her mom so much.

Of course, this is not without its own layers of angst. Jester is often putting on a front to hide the traumas of the adventuring lifestyle. And Nott's drinking is its own beast of hiding from consequences.

But yeah. Gosh I love their friendship with all my being, and I hope they'll be able to work things out.

[currycurrie]

This is like extreme galaxy brain hottest of takes here... But what if the Bright Queen herself is the traitor working with the empire.

Okay okay okay hear me out here. BQ is fucking ancient. Like been around since the Calamity ancient. And there's a certain narrative trope that when you get that old and amass that much power, your long term plans get kinda bananas. You lose the ability to assume a mortal, day-to-day perspective. So your plans no longer factor them or their shorter term priorities in.

So my thinking here is this: BQ has some sort of goal that we viewers can't conceive of yet due to lack of information, and cut a deal with the Cerberus Assembly. The Assembly gets temporary access to a Beacon, and BQ has an excuse to start an all out war. To what end? Maybe it's to do with the Luxon. Maybe it's just plain old imperial land aquisition. Maybe it has something to do with Yasha's demon friends. Maybe it ties into some Betrayer God nonsense. Maybe it's something entirely new and different! Who knows! Not me! But she has always struck me as suspiciously bloodthirsty and defensive of the war. You'd think all that ancient, overarching perspective might prevent her from getting into "petty" squabbles if she really cared about the long term health of her nation. War seems a little extreme when a single strike team could probably get the Beacon back like was attempted in Zadash.

So all that plus now actively spying on the Nein when basically all they talk about is ending the war? Well. I don't trust like that.

[currycurrie]

Hey guys? Hey? Hey guys?

The Cerberus Assembly is named after Cerberus who, according to Greek myth, guarded the gate to the underworld/afterlife.

The Kryn Dynasty have a society/religion built around reincarnation and never truly passing on to the afterlife.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH THIS SUDDEN EPIPHANY. MATTHEW. YOU SLY DOG.

[currycurrie]

rewatching that Fjord scene again. when he does the accent reveal he said he sounded fantasy english for “most of my life”. just most. not all. 

now it could be a slip of the tongue or a reference to copying Vandran for the past year BUT Travis was rather cagey on the following Talks. He was asked why his real accent sounded so posh/upper class and the accent he adopted sounded more working class. and he entirely passed answering the question. 

mark my words, folks. something went down at that orphanage. there’s more to it. and JESUS H MACY how far does this rabbit hole go Travis?! how many more layers? how many more secret accents?

i mentioned in a previous post how i thought that maybe Fjord was forced to speak a certain way cause it’s “proper” at the orphanage. we don’t know what age Fjord was when he got to the orphanage. it’s entirely possible he was already old enough to speak etc. and not just a baby on a doorstep type situation. 

this also lends credence to the Fjord came over from Tal’Dorei theories that have been pinging around in the tag. or perhaps the Myriad connection theories. it’s entirely possible Fjord had a good few years between leaving the orphanage and joining up with Vandran’s crew where he did some super shady shit and adopted yet another persona. we don’t know timeline specifics and its killing me. 

Fjord is the tiramisu of D&D characters. just layers upon layers upon layers and i love it.  

[currycurrie]

I'm feeling extremely vindicated right now because I totally fucking called Caleb's crystals being residuum. As soon as it was mentioned back in Felderwin, I was like, huh, wonder if it's that green glass from Whitestone cause that does some magical nonsense, then promptly forgot about it. But I was RIGHT. So now onto some speculation because that is my Brand.

So. Residuum has two main purposes. It can strengthen an enchantment onto an item as well as shorten the time required to imbue an item with magic. It can also just straight up replace material components in a spell. Particularly useful if the spell components have a high monetary cost.

So the obvious assumption here is that if it strengthens enchantments, what's not to say it'll do the same if you channel all your spells through it. Perhaps as an arcane focus you will never lose since it's, ya know, inside you. No fiddling around with a components pouch, no accidentally dropping your wand or staff and so on. Makes for some much more subtle spell casting since you're not doing the death macarena while smooshing around some bat shit in your hands or wildly swinging around a staff with a big glowy orb on top while screaming abraca-fuck you at the top of your lungs.

So there's that. But then I had another thought. Did Caleb ever confirm the crystals were removed? It's implied, yes, but nothing set in stone. Please correct me if I'm wrong though. I could be misremembering. In any case, do you think it's possible that the residuum is why Caleb has such an affinity for fire? You take a kid who already has a natural interest in evocation, and run with it. You further refine the residuum or place it strategically or enchant it or any other easily created narrative justification that it would be more attuned to fire to further weaponise an already talented evocation wizard.

Then I had a third thought. What if the residuum allows for casting of a specific spell. One spell that has costly components, but you will always have those components on you now. It creates almost a signature spell type thing.

Of course, this is all assuming that this was done to "benefit" the BlumenCrew. And not done to allow Trent to do something to them instead. Residuum is an excellent and extremely interesting concept both narratively and on a more meta, game rules level. I was always slightly disappointed that Vox Machina never found out more about it last campaign. Also I hope Tal realizes that now TWO of his Percy related creations are being used now for some excellent angst.

[currycurrie]

A small thought about Caleb that I realized while working on my one fic prompt about him giving his anti-scrying amulet to Yeza.

These past two episodes have had Caleb have this big shift in attitude regarding the Cereberus Assembly. Before it was constantly on the run. Don't rock the boat. Don't poke the bear. Etc. Etc. And now we see him stating outright he wants to go and kill these fuckers. A lot of that shift in attitude is thanks to the fact that they now have the backing (potentially) of the entire Dynasty behind them. Plus there's the slightly meta reasoning of having leveled up, and now being powerful enough to take them on.

But I think there's something else too. Nott/Veth and Yeza are now involved. Deeply involved. And regardless of if Caleb's assumptions about the Assembly's extreme pettiness and ability to hold a grudge are correct, Caleb thinks they are. If Caleb's general paranoia about basically being a dead man walking is accurate should he ever take that amulet off, then Yeza (and possibly Luke, but I don't wanna think about that) is in as much danger as Caleb is on a daily basis. Even if the Brenotto clan were to relocate out of the Empire, that's not going to stop a bunch of power hungry archmages with a cart load of divination magic and a grudge. So short of having the whole Brenotto clan relocating to a different plane entirely, the only way to have them ever be safe again is to kill the Cereberus Assembly.

I think it's very telling that Caleb wouldn't have even considered the option when he was the only one in danger. And sure, a lot of it is a confluence of factors that came together at the same moment as Nott's arc, but I highly doubt Caleb "Nott Fanclub President" Widogast isn't heavily weighing her future happiness in his newly found motivations. Even, potentially, to the extreme of trying to stop the war overall. He said it's to spare the innocents living in the Empire, but ya ain't that subtle with your subtext there, wizard boy.

Anyway, my heart is so full at Caleb being the #2 Nott stan (only behind Yeza who is too goddamn good for this shitty world) despite his whole "I'm a lone wolf. Look at how goddamn sad I am. I refuse to make genuine connections with people." schtick.

[currycurrie]

Reposting what Caleb learned in the library about the Kryn back in Ep. 31 for posterity’s sake! Copy and pasted from the episode transcript!

“Much of the recent studies into current drow society across Exandria speak of growing paranoia and madness that’s seeping in with the believed influence of Tharizdun, the Chained Oblivion. Whether it be by proximity of remnants of his power deep beneath the surface that have grown close to these societies, but there is whispers and research that say that some of these dark elf societies are being driven slowly mad by this influence. Strangely, what studies you’ve been able to find that talk about penetrating the Kryn Dynasty’s intense boundaries…what little is known of the Kryn Dynasty, there is little in iconography under Lolth or Tharizdun. And what remains of that is ancient and crumbling and largely ignored by the society.”

“However, it does speak of the dynasty worshiping something other, something that is new and dangerous as far as the Cobalt Soul is concerned, with what little research they have. They refer to it as “The Luxon” and seek to bring all under its burning banner. They’ve rallied to the surface of Ghor Dranas, casting the skies in eternal midnight that spreads with their dominion. They’ve begun taking the ravenous hordes of beast-men and terrors of the Xhorhasian wastes, and indoctrinate them under this new false god.”

So it seems to me from what we learned tonight, that the Tal’Dorei Drow were previously experiencing what the people in this city are only just now experiencing. For whatever reason, this corruption is only just now happening. Perhaps it is a natural progression. Or perhaps something is helping the Kryn resist this. Maybe the Luxon? Maybe Dunamis? Most likely both? The Luxon and Dunamis seemed to be completely tied together seeing as how its holy symbol is the dodecahedron itself. Or perhaps the Kryn, when they moved to the surface of Ghor Dranas, awoke something pertaining to the Chained Oblivion there. A reminder that Ghor Dranas is essentially the holy land of the Betrayer Gods, and it is where the barrier between the Material Plane and the Lower Planes (Like the flipping Abyss!) is thinnest. The Chained Oblivion doesn’t just live in the Abyss, it IS the Abyss. In the Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting states it is less like a god and more like another world, it dreams the infinite depths of the Abyss into reality along with all its demonic legions. If it is busting through the Divine Gate anywhere, it’s gonna be in or around Ghor Dranas. 

Also, are we ever gonna figure out the truth behind the Empire propaganda that the Kryn are stealing Empire children? We have seen absolutely nothing so far supporting the Empire’s claim on this. Mark my words, something fuckardly is going on here and I don’t think the Kryn are truly behind the kidnappings. Or if they are, it goes way, way deeper than just doing it for the war effort etc. Or it’s a small subsection of higher up assholes doing something dastardly. Almost like a fun narrative parallel with a certain bastard archmage we all know and love to hate. 

We got so much lore this episode and my brain is reeling!! I cannot flipping wait until next Thursday! I live for this nonsense!! 

[currycurrie]

Last night was A Lot™️ and there's lots and lots I wanna write about it but I've kinda got analysis paralysis so I'll just say this.

This is not the last we've seen of the Sword of Fathoms. Cad cast detect magic on the lava pool. And didn't pick up anything inside. Cad even vaguely said the same thing, "This fight isn't over". My immediate assumption was that our old pal Snake Eyes bamfed it away. Fjord didn't stay to watch it sink. It takes a lot to destroy a magical item. Etc.

To make matters worse, the sword has the orb in it. Mark my words, they're gonna come across some asshole with the same sword (my bet is Sabien for ultimate angst potential) on their way to unlock the final barrier holding back the apocalyptic danger noodle. Or they don't come across anyone and the apocalypse just fucking starts randomly ala Chroma Conclave.

As much as Fjord's intentions were good, I think he just cut the brake line on a runaway truck.

[currycurrie]

Further implications/speculation/questions on the Blumencrew being trained specifically to be ROYAL assassins as opposed to Trent’s secret minions:

There must be some sort of official way of choosing candidates. Some list of qualities to look out for as deigned from on high. Which makes the fact that the Blumencrew were specifically chosen even more suspect. I’m getting some weird Truman Show vibes from the whole situation, and it’s making me feel quite ill. 

Why wizards? Why not, say, the official actual assassin rogue subclass? Does this mean that there are factions within the Vollstreckers? Different specialties for different sorts of jobs? And by extension does this mean that more than Trent is training up a bunch of child soldiers? Does it extend to the rest of the Cerberus Assembly? Does it extend outside of the Assembly? Is what we know of Trent’s training tactics typical across the board? 

We were already suspicious of the fact that Caleb wasn’t just killed after he failed his training. This reveal makes the fact that Caleb is alive even crazier. What in the actual hell is going on? 

More questions than answers here. In the words of the infamous Mr. Foster: This whole thing is fuckardly. 

[currycurrie]

Cursory thoughts on the Angel of Irons:

Crawling King - Blondie known to be involved in some degree with it. Patron saint of jailers and slavers. Probably not the god itself. Maybe the worm creature from the mural in the Uk’Otoa temple? 

Chained Oblivion - Chains is in the name, yall. Heavily associated with the Abyss, AKA where all the demon portals lead to. An ancient betrayer god imprisoned in the Abyss so long it has basically become the Abyss. 

Just throwing this all out here for posterity only, at this point.