#mareastrorum

[revvethasmythh]

Where did you find the Talks? I’d love to watch them again for C2.

If you go to the talks machina page on the fandom wiki, next to each episode there's a VOD link that'll take you to an archived version of them. i literally just found this last night, so idk if there's a better way to access them, but that's what i've found!

[wizardnuke]

For the ask game: 13 and 17!

13. worst blorboification

this is a setup. we know my answer to this. there are not words to describe the depth of my fiery hatred for some of the essek takes i see on here. he did not do all that because his mommy was mean to him. he also did not and will not ever be "good" in the way of being kind and gentle and remorseful about everything he ever did.

you don't redemption arc a villain by having them repent for their sins via community service. villains can't just. file down their fangs and put on a kitchen apron and pretend to be a well-adjusted member of society with a husband and a garden and a research job. he's never going to swear to never turn a person inside-out again. he wouldn't flinch if he had to, i dunno, do open-heart surgery on a very awake and aware patient. the kitchen apron has tomato sauce stains on it. he planted mint in the garden four years ago, not knowing that it spreads as wildly as it does, and still keeps finding new growth after he thinks he's ripped it all out. sometimes he hates the mighty nein for everything they took from him. wouldn't you miss being so powerful? choosing kindness is exhausting and sometimes he doesn't. sometimes he and caleb fight. sometimes one or both of them are out on seperate missions for a long time and that's okay. he's still proud and angry and ruthless.

tl;dr essek didnt do all that because his mommy was mean to him and he didn't get aaaall betterrrrr because the m9 were niceys to him. get real. they gave him a glimpse of what it looks like to actually live, an ultimatum and a bit of help on where to start, and sometimes he wishes that that volstrucker girl had actually managed to kill caleb. the venom in his veins has a very long half-life. that's okay. it's keeping him alive. do u get it. do u get it

17. there should be more of this kind of fic/art

what the fuck happened to whump fics, guys. what happened. what happened. bring it back. i need that character bleeding out on the ground. get real

choose violence ask game

[triaelf9]

Your art for the pre-show trivia was super cute!

Thank you so much!!!

[stickandthorn]

Give us the spice! 💀

💀: If you had to choose one major character to die, who would you choose?

Ooooh boy, unfortunately I have a very immediate answer, and that’s Laudna. She feels stagnant to me, and I’m so disinterested in a Delilah plot line that I wouldn’t care if I never got to see how that unfolded. I just feel like she’s been at odds with the story for a long time, whereas the other characters all eventually found a way to personally connect to the main plot. I think Marisha could make a much more compelling, mechanically rewarding, and plot relevant character now. Also, to be honest, I think it would be a really interesting direction for Imogen’s character arc. So, as it stands, Laudna would be my top pick.

[utilitycaster]

I am ignorant and squinting; do you mind saying what your new icon is?

It's the Grandmother Merciful from the animation from the latest episode of Midst (here). The aesthetic is great and the philosophy of the Mothers Merciful is extremely up my alley so I was like "what other kind of unsettling but also very cool entity could I have as an icon."

[mtg-player1]

[gif description: boop animation with the black paw. /description end]

fuck it homebrew boop button. reblog this post to boop the person you reblogged from.

[prismantis]

a tarot card fic cover art commission of molly and body-haunting-ghost lucien for the fanfiction The Fool and the Soldier by @mareastrorum 👻😈

[tatersdoesstuff]

@mareastrorum 's werechair/chairwolf idea from this poll has haunted me for days so i caved and drew this cursed visual thats been in my head since the poll got posted. its hilariously stupid

[grayintogreen]

Brennan drops the Infiltrator’s Key in the lap of a halfling rogue and then a BRAND NEW Moonweaver mirror after all the mirror/moon stuff in TFTS. @mareastrorum and I are in the LitMoR chat fucking LOSING IT.

[arowizards]

tagged by @butchboromir HI JACK!!!!!! yay :]

favourite colour: dont make me pick. but its #272736

last song: wollen wir trinken by dartagnan but i did play fegefeuer by feuerschwanz like 7 times in a row while writing this post and i do just want to mention that too. this also functions as a second shoutout. hi jack ur tunes serve me well

last movie: good fucking question i have no idea. probably like an mlp movie @milkteahoneyyy put on vc months ago. i dont do a lot

last tv show: critical role campaign 2 who could've guessed. jester just got sprinkle. love and absolutely no peace ever on planet exandria

sweet, spicy, savory? SAVORY !!!!!!! love of my life

i thought the relationship status question was boring* so instead im changing it to two things i aspen arowizards find very interesting

1. three animals that match ur vibe? or however many as u want doesnt rlly matter. my answers are stoat flying squirrel and long-tailed tit

2. favorite "unpopular" animal? i like deep sea fish a lot <3 viperfish are my favs & stoplight loosejaws are also high up there

last google search: "tumblr find tags" <- i was trying to see if i could use findtags (which i didnt remember the name of or have in my bookmarks) to check how i tag original posts that are for tag games bc i didnt feel like waiting for original post finder to do its thing. but im just not going to bother. who cares abt whatever precedent ive set previously :P

current obsessions: critical role & the used as im sure you all know very well by now. i also think im going to start a third spiritfarer 100% soon and that WILL take over my life very fast

looking forward to: aforementioned spiritfarer save, soon-to-resume anime night vcs, GOOD TIME SOCIETY BLOOD ON THE CLOCKTOWER!!!!

tagging: @wizardnuke @mareastrorum @aq2003 @g1ngerbeer @jadeandquartzes @grasslandgirl @compnion @skeletonthecreator @iotaqizm @mordaurum @ulysses-but-somehow-more-transer @pseudospectre @stripeyzebra ?? idk lets go with that. and anyone else who wants to obv. mwah <3

[revvethasmythh]

Character ask curve ball: Yeza Brenatto, 3 and/or 12

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

Tbh? His passivity. Passivity in any character is something I find frustrating, which is why I think I sympathized quite a bit during the campaign when Sam was frustrated that Yeza wouldn't, like, argue with Veth. Obviously, there are reasons why he was like that, but I would LOVE if Yeza pushed back or snapped at anyone over anything. He's a great guy and a great character, but on a personal level I find that sort of passivity absolutely maddening

Character ask game

[wizardnuke]

But how do you even know when they’re ripe?

the bananas? or the lemons? i only recently started liking bananas when they're fully yellow and a little bit brown (previously i only liked them like. halfway green). like is actually a strong word. i tolerate yellow/bruised bananas. bananas just arent my thang. lemons are always ripe if you appreciate sourness. ill eat a raw lemon stone-faced unbothered. theyre usually ripe when theyve gotten sliiightly squishy. like an avocado. i <3 sour

[cpprcoyote]

I was commissioned by the always lovely @mareastrorum to design Fastidan for "The Fool and the Soldier"

[piratespencil]

Ten people id like to get to know better

Tagged by @glitterinlowgravity! 💖

Last song: Glory and Gore by Lorde (because it's on my in-progress Beauregard Lionett playlist and I've been trying to finish up that playlist!!)

Favorite color: I love that @glitterinlowgravity said purple and green because SAME. 💜💚

Last book: Just finished The Only Light Left Burning by Erik J. Brown this morning! Really solid post-apocalyptic queer YA romance - it's a sequel and I enjoyed it even more than the first one tbh.

Last movie: Legally Blonde lol... I haven't been watching many movies lately but @awittylemon and I watched it around Halloween haha.

Last TV show: Arcane!!!! I finished season 2 and immediately did a full season 1 & 2 rewatch... This show has a chokehold on me again oops.

Sweet/Savory/Spicy: Sweet? All three are good tho.

Relationship status: Single. ✌️ Too busy watching Arcane (and getting my Master's I guess) to date.

Last thing I googled: My university's radio station website so I could send someone the link to the radio show I interviewed them for!! Working for student radio is fun. :)

Current obsession: Arcane lolol... Specifically Jayce Talis. Accidentally fell head over heels into Favourite Character territory.

Looking forward to: Christmas parties/hangouts with friends!! I have a bunch of plans scheduled for the rest of December it's gonna be really nice. :)

No pressure tags (just going through my notes and picking out people I see in my activity a lot!! hi 👋): @blorbologist @diamondsheep @revvethasmythh @kanawolf @wolf-eared-fangirl @exasperatedfey @mareastrorum @zealousvalkyrie @warehouseorphandanvers @thetinygnome

[utilitycaster]

Several of Matt's answers started with basically "I thought you guys would follow this thread and then you didn't!" about complete arcs and planned plots which is all D&D but also bears out the idea that Matt simply did not adjust to nudge the players/characters more early on when the signs were there that they were not going to pick these things up of their own volition. It felt like further confirmation of C3 critics' analysis.

yup I haven't finished it, and I may not get a chance for a while - I've got evening plans and work is taking longer than I'd hoped it would, but thus far there's been a lot of fun reveals but especially showing the early vs. late campaign clips it just feels like the plot went limp halfway through in a campaign that was entirely about plot.

Again, I really do think the biggest problem of all was that fundamentally, this was a campaign structured very differently than C1 or C2. Campaign 1 was a home game that grew from a one-shot that ultimately became Critical Role, but it was very much designed for the characters the party created. The world was very much built for and around them, as I think a homebrewed home game should be! Campaign 2 was both a campaign where the cast knew they had to prove they weren't just Vox Machina, and one where the goal was to flesh out a specific part of the world and some of the underlying cosmology, and so by requiring the players to be from Wildemount and tied to it as a place, they had the luxury of character study-focused plotlines rather than something big and overarching, because a character study into, for example, Caleb, allowed insight into understanding wizardry and the Dwendalian Empire. @mareastrorum also has some great tags on one of my posts about how the villains of those respective campaigns were either created or selected to fit the characters.

Campaign 3 was, as Matt intended, a campaign with a very specific plotline. That was not communicated to the players at the start nor like, later on, and I think most of them struggled, understandably, to pivot from character concepts that were profoundly ill-suited.

What gets me is that I think Matt's mentioned that he's run Curse of Strahd, and I know he was involved in Call of the Netherdeep, and fundamentally C3 functions as a module! I think because it's his homebrewed world with his friends who are familiar with the setting and he had two great campaigns under his belt he did not realize this was going to be a problem, but ultimately, it really was.

[luddlestons]

orym may not be horni but IS polite though so he just gets a stepstool to help fearne

Yeah in the end it’s only Orym who gets it done. Everyone else keeps trying to sneakily unlace then further.

@mareastrorum had some good thoughts on Orym being helpful also: