#mythcarver

[narukyuu]

I love him so, so much.

[biblicallyaccuratesandworm]

You know, always felt like Mythcarver was the least interesting of the Vestiges in the stream. First, Matt made it specifically for Scanlan, so it’s locked to work with Lore Bard abilities, which kinda sucks for an important magical item but it doesn’t even mesh well with Sam’s style of play anyway. Scanlan is a pure support, using his spells and bardic inspiration in combat to buff allies and debuff ennemies. He rarely used Mythcarver as an actual weapon and mostly took advantage of the Cutting Word buff.

But the fact that it was used in the show to reveal the locations of the other vestiges, instead of having Kamaljiori just tell them, is really cool. I love the idea of Mythcarver as “linked to all myths”. I’d definitely revamp it as a reskined staff that allows to use cool thematic spells like Heroism, Beacon of Hope and Legend Lore.

[tatzelwyrm]

Can I talk about the Swamp Boy for a moment? Because I love that Umbrasyl's involved in Ripley's hunt for the Vestiges because a) it keeps him more involved I the main plot and makes the confrontation between him and the party more personal, but also because b) he's kinda dorky.

Like, I understand Thordak's point, I'm on his side here (what a sentence). Umbrasyl is a dragon, why does he need a sword or a bow?

But... but... look at him!

When he first gains Mythcarver, being a quadruped, he holds it with his tail like he thinks he's a Dark Souls boss!

It's adorable!

Next time we see him the sword is strapped to his forelegs with a chain?

That can't be comfortable. Also, he sure didn't put that there himself. Ripley, was that the best you could for him? Like, I know she doesn't actually care, but this is so disrespectful.

Also I appreciate Mythcarver's efforts to grow a few feet for Swampy after shrinking down for Scanlan, but Umbrasyl is still a dragon and it's strapped to his leg. It's doing nothing!

This week, Ripley brings up how powerful he'll be with the Titanstone Knuckles, a set of gauntlets.

Gauntlets. Gauntlets?!

How is he going to wear them, Anna? He doesn't have hands!

And now I can't shake off the image of what it would have looked like if Umbrasyl had actually acquired all of the Vestiges. I'm sure he would have found ways to strap them to his body.

He would have walked up to Thardak and gone "look who's more powerful now" Just... covered in trash he can't actually use.

It would have been glorious.

[andi-o-geyser]

Okay, but when Mythcarver appeared I honest-to-god screamed its name like a teenage girl at a Harry Styles concert and like. It is. A fucking sword. A literal fucking sword. It’s not even a talking sword; I feel like I cannot stress enough that it does not have a personality. It is a normal ass enchanted sword that Scanlan will use 1 (one) time and then never again, but I apparently could not care less because it’s my blorbo now

[ankorhead]

Swordtember Day 18: Bard

[criticalpolls]

Part One will consist of Vestiges found by Vox Machina and will be judged by its Exalted state. Below is a link to each Vestiges page on Encyclopedia Exandria, if you need a refresher on it's abilities. This poll is basically asking, which of these items do you think is the best to bring into a high level battle?

Cabal's Ruin

Deathwalker's Ward

Fenthras

Mythcarver

Plate of the Dawnmartyr

Spire of Conflux

Titanstone Knuckles

Whisper

[gorgynei]

there was one shot in the trailer of scanlan with mythcarver but not sure what ep that could be

you are right!! i totally missed that the first 100 times i watched the trailer, but scanlan does have a sword in these shots, which is probably mythcarver. its when theyre beginning the attack on umbrasyl so if i had to guess its episode e11

[flowersforvax]

I liked how they merged some of the magical items together to keep the show moving quicker, like the boots of haste/death walker's ward and Mythcarver/the potion of shit scrying

[playerkingsley]

I am enjoying the sort of useless & comedic role percy has been relegated for tlovm season 2 thus far (barring y’know. the drama), but I do also hope the new glove device doubles as diplomacy & missile-snaring so we get all the potential projectile catching to come

[dyketrickfoot]

"why can't you ever just be sincere" looks into the camera so painfully

[diabeticgirl4]

So Much is going on I can't liveblog fast enough omg

[the-french-belphegor]

Me and Pike, she could be on my shoulders and we could share one cloak. (I almost feel like it should be the other way around.) Oh, it absolutely should. To make it look like our arms can reach the ends of the cloak (…), I'm going to hold a flute and my sword. Mythcarver! You used Mythcarver to pull a Little Rascals!

I took a little break from listening to/(re)watching Vox Machina because I was working on a bunch of stuff, including fic (and I'm 10 episodes from "The Chapter Closes" and I'm not ready to see the end of the campaign 😭) and I had several drawing ideas I needed to see through. And here's one of them! With probably too bright colours because my new laptop is just Like That. I need to figure out how to tweak the colours...

Sometimes a fellow Vecna cultist is actually two gnomes in a trenchcoat cloak and a sword and flute to hold up the sleeves. Nothing to see, move along!

[aspiringwarriorlibrarian]

Umbrasyl: *flies off with Mythcarver*

Raven Queen: See, this is why I superglued the Deathwalker’s Ward on you.

[blorbologist]

Confession time:

In the campaign, I loathe Mythcarver.

Vox Machina are given the Vestige as a sidenote - 'here are the locations of a ton of cool ancient weapons, and also this sword I can just give you guys'. While every other Vestige involves a quest for it, or at least some planning, often with some degree of expectation of who will get it (Fenthras, the Titanstone Knuckles, Whisper, the Plate of the Dawnmartyr, the Spire of Conflux - they all really fit one party member well. Cabal's Ruin is more up in the air until we find out who has it, and the Ward has already been given to Vax by this point). Many of them are tied to character moments for the party members in question - 'take me instead you raven bitch', the killbox, 'my heart is someone else's', 'i forgive you, but I cannot let you leave'.

Scanlan doesn't get a noble quest with his friends to power him up. Scanlan does's even do anything of particular note in Kamaljiori's canon trial. He's just... given this Vestige as loot, and because it's made with bards in mind and he's the bard so he should get it.

Except Mythcarver doesn't suit *Scanlan's* style of bard, at all, and I can count the number of times he uses it on one hand, one of which required heavy prompting by Matt because Sam was so used to ignoring the thing. It's a glorified stat stick that buffs some abilities but never sees use because Scanlan is so heavily focused on support spells. It can't match the damage output or utility of his spells, so it just sits on his belt looking pretty. He gets one cool moment with it, against a minor boss, and that's it.

(Notably, he pulls it out and tries poking for a Blinked enemy during a critical fight which I'm not naming due to spoilers, and he just... still doesn't get to do anything with it. That one round could have prevented a death - sinking a turn into trying to use that sword actively hurt the party. It sucks.)

Credit where credit is due: I really appreciate the vision Matt had for the weapon and the intent behind it! On the other hand, it just... further fed into Scanlan feeling like he was an afterthought to the party. They didn't go on a quest for him. They didn't even think of getting him a Vestige - he's just handed one, in a fairly forgettable sidebar, and then hardly ever uses it again. It sucks. I hate that stupid sword.

So when I tell you I was grinning so, so massively during episide 6 of season 2 -

Mythcarver isn't given to Scanlan by default - it's given to him, specifically, by a friend. Kamaljiori is the first person to see through his exterior, his many masks, who bonds with him over love and longing and sincerity. It's not an offhand 'oh while you're here take this' it's for him. He gets a cool moment with it!! It reveals the locations of the other Vestiges!

Here, now, Mythcarver represents what Scanlan wants to be: a hero, a valued friend, someone who matters and has an impact on the world. Someone loved.

(And also noteworthy that this happened not long after Pike was dismissive of him, too. Whistles.)

And then Umbrasyl swoops in to take it, singling Scanlan out for what he carries - and Kami fights for him. Kamaljiori protects him, over and over and over, not for Mythcarver but because it’s Scanlan, it's his friend. He's going toe to toe with an ancient black dragon for Scanlan. And dies for it.

Not only does Umbrasyl kill Kamaljiori but he steals this Vestige. This gift for Scanlan alone, this first fucking testament to having mattered to someone, to being valued and cared for. Mythcarver isn't just a reward, it actively pushes the plot and Scanlan's character development forward, gives Scanlan what he's been quietly looking for in the background, and then viciously takes it away.

(This also gives Scanlan a bigger motivation to be part of that one stupid plan with Vax that's in the trailer: Umbrasyl killed his friend and stole something representing everything Scanlan wants. And he wants it badly and he wants it back, you flying fuck.)

I can't wait to see what's in store. This was, I think, my favorite change to TLOVM so far after 'darling take off the mask' getting a bigger Moment. I can't believe they gave weight and meaning to that stupid sword and I'm here for it.

[gorgynei]

With the latest batch of episodes, it seems like they really are tweaking all of the Vestiges. Fenthras MAYBE got the blazing bowstring (with those fire arrows)? And it seemed like the bramble shot might be more frequent? Couldn’t tell what might be functionally different with the Titanstone Knuckles, but I adore that the punches have a thunder sound effect.

(combining these bc they're similiar)

i definitely think fenthras has blazing bowstring added in! saundor/fenthras did not have a fire attack in c1. overall it seems like they're playing up the elemental power of fenthras and using that as an opportunity to add in vex's blazing bowstring! i love that theyre combining the character's iconic abilities into the vestiges :)) its a great way to naturally let them get more powerful and its fun. plus the minor aesthetic changes to the festiges are fun

like! its a literal blazing bowstring! i also noticed that fenthras has no actual bowstring in tlovm, various types of magic just appeared to hold the arrow whenever saundor pulled back. in c1 fenthras had a very powerful and easy to pull back string but it was still physical, so im curious if vex will add her own string or if the magical string is staying

saundor used an electric charged arrow and brambleshot, but in slightly different ways than they appear in c1. fenthras RAW has electric damage added to every attack and brambleshot could only be shot once per rest (in it's awakened state), but they changed it so the electric damage is like an elemental attack and brambleshot is used a looot more than once. i definitely expect the brambleshots to be nerfed when vex has fenthras though so she'll probably be lowered down to once per day

for the knuckles i actually dont think they're gonna see much change for it's abilities/stat bonuses! most/all of its abilities are pretty easy to show with animation (enlarge, strength boost, increased damage) and we've seen most of it already on kevdak. some of the reason why deathwalker's ward and fenthras had other abilities added in might be because their bonuses are a bit more amorphous (AC boost, bonus to hit/dmg, adv on death saving throws, etc.) and harder to obviously visualize. but the knuckles are simpler! i love already what they've done with it, the knuckles feel terrifying on kevdak

i cant wait to see the rest of the vestiges :-3

[thequeenofmyownscreen]

In celebration of me getting polls, let's do this !

Those titles are maybe not the true ones, and were invented by me. Also this is totally a dignified plea from me to Sam Riegel to PLEASE release the season 2 soundtrack !!

Please do reblog for a break of containment and subsequent larger sample of results, etc etc. you know how it goes.