#save lydia barkrock

[tardismyrp]

HOLY SHIT CONSPIRACY BOARD:

All of this rage stars/poison is being spread throughout the soil not for the spring to grow, but because LYDIA IS BURIED BENEATH AGUEFORT STILL! It’s been mentioned multiple times that Lydia has a clone that was destroyed in sophomore year. I’m pretty sure that Arthur Aguefort never dug her up and just made another clone for her to continue living with everyone. They are poisoning the soil to get to Lydia and considering what Ragh said at the end of the episode, I think they got to her.

[18catsreading]

During the last episode recap

Emily: you ok there, Lou?

Lou: no

Brennan: ... Through deeply in character choices --

Lou: thank you

Brennan: we ended up seeing Fabian Aramaris Seacaster, blood and suspended from ropes at the bottom of crow's keep after having been cursed by Chungle-Down Bum and abandoning young Alistair Ash ...

And this is only like 1/3 of the fucking episode!! I'm upset again just listening to the recap 💀

[operationslipperypuppet]

you’ve been raging for a decade. at least. and your friends died because of the thing that requires you to rage for a decade. your son worries you. and he made some friends, and you’re living better for it. they ask you about your rage, and you can talk about it normally for the first time ever. they heal you, and you feel a bit better. then they name the god of the guy in your chest and suddenly you almost die again. but they talk to him. and then, miracle of miracles, they get him out. they save you. your quest is over. he’s contained.

your friends didn’t die for nothing. and you don’t have to rage anymore.

you’re lydia barkrock. and you can finally rest.

[let-me-sleep-or-die]

Anyone ever notice how similar Lydia Barkrock is to Gorgug? like just

Gorgug is a barbarian but is somehow the most gentle member of his party, the most thoughtful, easily the most in touch with his emotions. He only uses his rage to protect the people he cares about, his family is incredibly important to him, and his friends are family.

Lydia is another gentle giant. She is in a constant state of rage so she may protect her son (and the rest of the world). She is kind, she is nurturing she is a loving mother to Ragh and to everyone else who needs her. She also loved her party.

She and her friends set out to stop a fiend, to save the world. She’s clearly smart, even if she doesn’t have the classic knowledge that is associated with it she’s obviously intelligent. She didn’t need to know all the history, she had her friends for that. And then she was the last one standing, the only one alive, her friends were dead and she was holding the thing that killed them right next to her heart.

It makes me wonder if Gorgug could end up just the same. If the bad kids didn’t survive an adventure, he was left alone with his anger, his artificers instinct and a family to avenge. He uses his rage to protect people, he doesn’t like just lashing out, he makes machines so he can connect with loved ones, so he can understand the world. He’s so smart, but he doesn’t have to know all the history, he’s got Adaine and Riz for that, he doesn’t need to know about the way gods and the nine hells work, Kristen and Fig are right there. He doesn’t need to lead the Owlbears, Fabian his trusty captain will light the way.

What if they all were gone. And he was left,

a hole in his heart, an ache and a gentility not caused by an absence of anger, but by a deep deep understanding of it.

What does he do then? I think he does the only thing he can

after all

He’s Gorgug, he keeps going.

[imactinglikeanamateur]

Save me Lydia Barkrock

Lydia Barkrock save me

[rrat-king]

thank you lydia barkrock for being the first adult to tell these kids they don’t have to save the world

[dullgecko]

In a attempt to be a inclusive of everyone’s needs as possible Jawbone has turned room near the into only food storage there are areas for each races needs and dietary requirements along with areas in them if someone other needs.

There are also areas for common residents of the manor (non manorling bad kids)

Half orc area (Gorgug and the Barkrock)

Mainly meats and other high protein foods

Stocked by Lydia in an attempt to help Gorgug as he eats “too little”

Goblin area (Riz)

90% coffee

Sklonda also stocks it in an attempt to feed Riz some non coffee based foods.

Human area (Kristen, Tracker and Jawbone)

Stocked by Jawbone and Kristen.

What you would expect in the average home

Werewolf area (Tracker and Jawbone)

Stocked by Jawbone

Contains raw meats and dog treats for tracker ( Jawbone has tried to stop Trackrr eating them but can’t)

Infernal (originally tiefling but had to be changed as Fig became more devil than teifling) (Fig)

Stocked by FUg with the help of Gorthalax getting things she can’t

Hell based spices

Whatever hell based food Fig is trying this week

Elf (Adaine, Aelwyn, Sandra lynn)

Stocked by all three members

Similar to the human area but with stupid amounts of fallinel teas that Adaine and Aelwyn drink

Half-elf (Fabian)

Mainly snacks for when he is staying there and for movie nights

Fig steals from this one claiming that she is technically a half elf too. Fabain pretends to hate it but really doesn’t mind

Ghost (Zayn)

Stocked by Jawbone with items from Zayn’s requests

Ghost foods

Half phoenix (Ayda)

Jawbone added this one after Ayda started spending her not working time at Mordred more often than not

A lot of pirate based foods

Foods Ayda knows Fig likes as she knows when fig doesn’t like whatever new hell food she’s trying this week she doesn’t have much else in for herself

In the manor it is practically a crime to steal someone else food and they all respect this apart from fig with Fabian’s.

This system has tripped up guests on many occasions when they accidentally open the wrong cupboard and are slightly confused why it’s only coffee in there.

Stealing food is not allowed but they definitly all share all the time as long as they're asked first. You just have to be careful when choosing snacks out of someone elses area (with permission) because it might be completely unpalatable to your species (or straight up inedible, many a manor resident has accidentally got food poisoning by sampling something they shouldnt).

Human food is the safest, because humans have THE blandest pallet and zero resistances to anything (tracker and jawbone have to stay away from the chocolate, grapes and onions though, they're very allergic).

Elven food is usually fine too, but some of the snacks have weird little magical effects for the 'aesthetics' that interact weirdly with some species. Gorgug had some sort of fancy fairy-bread, and was hiccuping butterflies made of bubbles for three hours afterwards (which was weird, it was SUPPOSED to make your hair change colour for a while before turning back to normal. Adaine wrote the manufacturer a letter stating that there should really be a warning on the label). Adaines cupboard is also stocked with little biscuits she made for fun. People are free to take a few but always try to save some just in case Aelwyn comes to visit.

Gorgug, Rahg and Riz are not allowed to share any of their food that has mushrooms in it except with eachother, especially if its something that has been specifically made for their species (goblin made cured meats are delicious but some species just cant handle a little toadstool). Some of the stuff they can eat is straight up toxic.

[noodlekru]

“You have saved Lydia Barkrock.”

Catching up on some art for the past couple episodes, Lydia deserves the world

[everywishway]

Some Dimension 20 Moments that give me too much emotions

Most of these are scenes that aren't talked about enough. feel free to reblog with yours so I can cry more. Spoilers for several seasons of D20: Neverafter, Unsleeping City, The Seven, Fantasy High and ACOFAF

Siobhan reading Emma Lazarus 'New Colossus' in Unsleeping City

Siobhan/Rowan's later conversation with the American Dream; telling it that it is already real so it doesn't need to cross the golden door

Sofie and Dale reuniting while in Nod, the Sixth Burrow

The hurt, then rage when Sofie Bikes finds out Isabella Infierno killed Dale

Kingston's "I WOULD'VE CONTINUED TO BE FAITHFUL"

Pete's heartbreak when Robert Moses shows him Kingston's reaction to Pete not controlling his powers

Kugrash's death

Fig's 'Your allowed to be a complex person with her mom

Fig and Sandra-lynn on the roof of the Hangvan smoking clove cigs and having a conversation about life

Riz after realizing his Dad was a secret agent and turns to his mom with tears in his eyes going, "hey mom, I know about dad"

Fabian watching his dad's video then smashing the crystal after his death

Hob's speech at the end of ACOFAF to Rue (we all know why

Meeting Lydia Barkrock for the first time and seeing she's a wheelchair user

Ayda realizes there is nothing wrong with her when Jawbone shows her what autism is and shows her how amazing and beautiful she is

Ostentasia's conversation with Logren

Ostentasia's whole interaction with her family, especially her dad

Sam is saved by the other members of the Seven from her dream about Penelope right before they fight Talura and the army

All of Neverafter, especially Gerard

[verosvault]

🚨SPOILERS FOR FANTASY HIGH JUNIOR YEAR EPISODE 8🚨

Dimension20 "Fantasy High Junior Year"

Episode 8 "Fracas at the Frostyfaire Folk Festival"

Timestamp: 00:00:48

Video Length: 4min. & 58sec.

The intro for episode 8 😂 (Ally and Zac lip-syncing!)

Brennan with Ally copying and Zac lip-syncing: "Hello, one and all! Welcome back to another thrilling episode of Dimension 20: Fantasy High Junior Year. I'm your humble dungeon master, Ally Beardsley."

Ally: *yells and points at Brennan*

Brennan: *laugh*

Siobhan: "He freaking got you, dude."

Brennan: "Freaking got you, dude."

Ally: "****, I got freaking got."

Emily: "I was so enraptured here that I didn't even catch you catching them." *points at Brennan and Ally*

Ally: "I was so enraptured here."

Brennan: "I see it all, okay? I never miss a bit, famously. Never absorbed in what's going on here. Folks, I'm your humble...(babbling intro rapidly) Our Intrepid Heroes! Say hi, Intrepid Heroes!"

Everyone: "Hi, Intrepid Heroes!"

Adaine: "See you at Basrar's!"

Brennan: "See you at Basrar's. Short episode."

Emily: "Wow, okay."

Brennan: "Okay, moving along."

Murph: "Short 'Adventuring Party.'"

Brennan: "Short 'Adventuring Party.' Last we left off, our Intrepid Heroes were grinding through the fall semester at the Aguefort Adventuring Academy. We had some high highs, some low lows. We discovered some interesting information, with Lydia Barkrock returning with data about Bakur the demon and a sort of ritual that had occurred tagged onto the end of a mystery that Riz had noted and that had been followed up on by Kristen around the disappearance of Lucy Frostblade, who seemed to have submitted paperwork to change her deity at the end of the last school year and then suddenly withdrew it. Riz also found the last place that she was observed before she went missing, although she has been confirmed by magic to be dead. We also discovered that Kipperlilly Copperkettle was getting food trucks with some little subliminal ads in the wax paper. There was a sort of fraught confrontation between Kristen and the other presidential candidate."

Emily: "Was it a confrontation? It was more of a conversation."

Ally: "Yeah, Yeah. I really came out on top, I think."

Brennan: "Yes, absolutely. We had some incredibly high academic achievements. Actually, A+'s across the board, save for our party cleric."

Ally: "I'll take it!"

Siobhan: "Hey, if you're failing, a C is an A+."

Ally: "A C is really good for Kristen."

Brennan: "Also a C in barbarian."

Zac: "A bit of a C."

Brennan: *laughs* "A bit of a C. But huge achievements in your artificer classes, and we also had huge achievements in warlock classes as Fig actually went on a quick impromptu field trip to Hell with her warlock class."

Emily: "They're building a recording studio."

Ally: "That sounded so sick, honestly."

Brennan: "Honestly, so sick."

Siobhan: "So sick."

Lou: "And licking Baby?"

Brennan: "Licking Baby."

Siobhan: "Fabian played the bass."

Emily: "I don't know how much to put my foot down about that."

Ally: "I think that needs to be the only merch that comes out of this season."

Siobhan: "Everybody lick Baby."

Ally: "Just a shirt that says, 'Lick Me,' and in the back, 'Everybody lick Baby.'"

Siobhan: "No context. No picture of Baby."

Brennan: "Everybody lick Baby. We also saw a new sort of, like, the coolest kid on campus, Fabian Seacaster, double A+'s, captain of the Owlbears, running study hall at Seacaster Manor. Never mind the rapidly piling boxes of takeout stinking it up in the kitchen."

Lou: "Hey, you know, we clean those out right before everyone comes over. I have to spend the day with them."

Brennan: *laughs* "As well as our Elven Oracle having to fend off ancient high elves in search of arcane wisdom at her job at Basrar's, working as a waitress, helping to serve that ice cream."

Siobhan pretending to serve ice cream and Zac pretending to eat it! 😂🤣

Brennan: "What incredible... It's finally time for Basrar to hire help, given that he has literally no overhead. He generates the ice cream from another dimension."

Emily: "Oh."

Brennan: "That's been all profit, except for what he pays on the mortgage for the shop itself. Incredible."

Zac: "His books are good.

Brennan: "His books are good. He's doing well."

Lou: "My man's in the black."

Brennan: "In the black, okay? We return back to Mordred Manor. And actually, I want to confirm with all of you as we come back here and find you, on the day of the Frostyfaire Folk Festival, a little sort of loose thread of a connection between something that is occurring at Gorgug's house, occurring at the Thistlespring Tree, that you had seen some information that your mom was working on connected to, but got away from you. Junior Year, pretty ****ing busy, gang. And speaking of how busy it is, we also introduced last episode our system for academic stress here in junior year."

Everyone: *holding up stress tokens*

Brennan: "Some of our students barely scathed by the monster that is cortisol as Fig began some paladin classes, both with the paladin teacher Halo St. Croix, and also some tutoring with Porter Cliffbreaker who, due to your incredible attunement with the principles of barbarianism if not any of the actual class features-"

Ally: "That's true, actually."

Brennan: "Porter signed your MCAT when your actual Bard teacher flew into the sky, weeping."

Emily: "I call him Sir."

Ally: "Yeah, finally you give him a shred of respect."

Brennan: "A shred of respect as he's like,"

Porter: "I have no idea why. What have I ever done?"

[z1mmie]

oooooooo!!!!

i'm binging fantasy high junior year and it's sooooo good!! this is such a cool plot line but I keep getting frustrated that the party is not seeing what i'm seeing 😭😭

(spoilers up to A Very Merry Moonar Yulenear + theorizing)

in other news i'm so convinced that the ratgrinders are trying to bring back a dead god but in like a terribly self-serving rage way.

however i think cassandra and her wife (?) are sooooo interesting. i feel like fig has stumbled into the exact correct feeling/dynamic. like cassandra and her german sheppard rage wife. but the party keeps MISSING THIS ASPECT!

we had soo many examples and talks about the good that comes from rage!! lydia barkrock, Porter, Gorgug, etc. etc. etc. and they're MISSING IT !!! AGHHHH

also they really need to look into the step-downs from gods that exist---that fiend, celestial, monstrosity stuff. i have a feeling if they explore that they might find a name more easily. it'd maybe be easier since that'd be presumably more recent in history which gives you a better chance of finding record.

(also they're missing the point of the devils nectar---it's for LYING!! Kippercopper or whatever is using it to lie to a god/deity-like power and it's fucking with her memory and motivations!! just a guess but i feel weirdly confident about it)

i play dnd---i'm a dm so i think that's the main reason I'm noticing this but then again i know that stuff that seems obvious from the outside is so much harder to see when you're up close and personal but oh my GOD

the sol stuff on the other hand is almost impossible for me to parse thru 😅

the god lore is SO COOL THO!!! Brennan ur brain!!!!!

final guess: fig is gonna choose Cassandra's wife AND Cassandra as her deity/patron which will be a sort of mirror of kristen from sophomore year, Gorgug makes a thing to save Lydia from her eternal fucking work of keeping the fiend dude contained, their friendship is gonna break (well get some dark night of the soul shit)

[operationslipperypuppet]

to expand lightly on my theory post regarding some of what might be afoot this season (devised and parsed through in collaboration with @stone-stars)

the actions against cassandra and kristen are a revenge plot, orchestrated by a combination of sol, galicaea, and helio. they each have their own vendettas contributing to this. sol has beef with kristen due to the “wholeheartedly reject all offers” scene, where he does turn on her first. he also was incapacitated in freshman year because she let aguefort into his domain. i imagine a sun god isn’t super pleased that there were 4 months of endless night. he also might not like cassandra due to who she used to be. helio once chose kristen and continued to supply her with spells despite her rejection of him and his teachings. she refused to spend any time with him and literally punched him in the face. he’s got some baggage there, for sure. galicaea experienced the first time kristen and cassandra connected, her attempt at convincing kristen was disrupted by the goddess eventually known as cassandra. her followers were responsible for killing the initial version of cassandra. her followers are now facing a revival due to tracker’s pilgrimage (kristen’s ex) and she’s just petty enough to blame kristen for that. plus, her snooty self hated her wolfy side. this revival would arguably make the snootier elves double down on that hatred. as above, so below.

the goings on against fig and the establishment of her cool new horrible luck are probably coming from a devil. the pride armor vision showed that it had ties to that sort of thing. and devils are lawful. fig is not. her ascension into the seat of the bottomless pit was on a technicality and the people who presided over it immediately hated that it happened. she’s been busy (she’s a mortal teen attempting to save the world) and has neglected her hellish domain on a similar level to her father, who lost his job about it. the lawful operatives running hell would not take kindly to that. so they could (would) reach out to her in a moment of her weakness and hand off a curse, as punishment. because hell is also about punishment.

now, i’m sure you’re thinking: why are these in the same post? easy. because i think they’re connected.

the rage stones that were corrupting cassandra and the mages were similar to what happened to ragh’s mom, as zac figured out. lydia is in a medically prolonged state of rage to keep the devil in her chest at bay. (there are some discrepancies over whether it’s a devil or a demon. but i trust ragh to know those minor details over arthur “i forgot to tell lydia i was doing this” aguefort). if something kept back by a prolonged state of rage was given leave to attempt its influence on something (on the astral plane, no less, where rules are almost always different), perhaps its influence would be rage inducing. and, just as she was taken over by one of these stones, kalina, who knew about lydia’s status in sophomore year since she did try to kill lydia, called out “ragh barkrock!”, bringing up another clear and direct connection.

the nightmare king sided with demons during the blood wars. the devils trapped the nightmare king in the forest (this is why arianwen needed gorthalax and why fig’s promotion was vital to their success). the devils would probably want to fight back. the gods we’ve met would probably dislike the imbalance that comes from establishing a new god, especially one who is a riff on one they already destroyed (cassandra establishes that she is not the same goddess she was before her sister killed her. but there have to be similarities. and maybe galicaea doesn’t know that).

the first time we meet our beloved garthy o’brien, they talk about how devils (they say fiends but are explicitly talking about devils and not demons) and celestials and gods are not simply opposed. they’re part of a system that balances out all its parts. angels fall. devils could rise. they work together as part of a bigger system.

so. so. if two specific mortals and their merry band of idiot friends are in direct opposition to some of the most powerful and petty entities in the universe, would they not want to perhaps join forces to attempt to take them down? especially if it could come from freeing one (“important”) devil from decades of being trapped, restoring balance further?

bonus here is the idea that bill seacaster’s goal in hell is to “kill the devil himself”, and perhaps he’s getting too close for comfort and balance must be maintained somehow. and what better way to distract him than by threatening his son?

plus, we know cassandra’s “i thought you were dead” wasn’t directed at kalina or the nightmare king. but maybe, in her brief time back as a god, she noticed the absence of a particular devil. and thought they might have died, when they were actually just trapped.

all that being said, it’s a fun theory to me and maybe we’re completely wrong. but everything we thought about more made it make more sense, which is a wild experience.

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High Junior Year Ep 5

Attack of the Rage Mages

Welcome back to the Report Card where the Bad Kids are ready to fucking fight dude! Even the battle episodes this season are super beefy and I am having a crazy busy week so I’m going to do my best to try and strike a balance between giving y’all all the key details and being efficient. 

To remind you guys of the setup: The Bad Kids have just been portaled to the Synod Mall by Adaine who was working there when Cassandra (there with Kalina to pamphlet) suddenly cried out in pain and started expelling crystal shards that are turning the mages that interact with them into beefy rage monsters who are attacking indiscriminately.

Also, a detail I didn’t mention last recap but is relevant in this one, hanging from the ceiling, kinda looking like the one in Grand Central Station, is a shifting interdimensional clock (since people visit the Synod from lots of places/dimensions and need to know their specific time). 

OK, that’s everything you need to know! I’m gonna do this fight in bullets and focus on just the key points, and then jump into the things that matter more in the thoughts section. Onward!

Adaine clocks the crystals as being from the school of Enchantment. She uses Dimension Door to get Kristen right next to Cass who is getting bigger and more pissed. She’s even MORE pissed when Adaine asks Kristen if she should hit her with her sword. 

Cass tries to cast Hold Monster on Kristen (ow) and Fig dispels it. Cass is also not happy about that and her skull flashes to her Nightmare King form for a moment. 

Fabian clocks that things are about to get real and then does a TON of very cool, very impressive combo fighter/bard stuff. Everyone is playing really mechanically smart this episode but I have to say, he especially impressed me. 

Riz checks the clock and sees that even though it’s only been a few seconds in the Synod, it’s been like 40 minutes in Spyre. Fabian checks in with the Hangman telepathically so he can do damage control and Fig wonders if they can use the clock to go back in time and not be late for the party. 

Kalina goes invisible but Adaine can see her with her Divination powers and can see that her eyes are slitted and narrow and her tail is twitching. 

Several of the red crystals have infected mages at this point and after Riz goes, using Tasha’s Hideous Laughter to distract one of the mages, the crystals whisper Cass’s name and the mages who aren’t distracted go for her. 

Fabian attacks one (an attack of opportunity I believe) and Brennan notes as he slices them that they seem to have way more blood than usual under a lot of pressure, which is odd enough that I wanted to note it. 

One of the mages does a whirlwind attack that hits Kristen, Adaine, Kalina and Cass. Cass and Kristen have at least this in common: they both fail the save and take the full 30 points. Cass yells for the mages to stop attacking and the red within her glows brighter.

Fig uses Suggestion to recruit one of the uninfected mages to help by Counterspelling anything harmful cast on Kristen. Luckily, Conor Counterpsell happened to be at the mall that day and is now at her service! She also hits Cass with a bardic saying that they’re there for her and that she doesn’t think she’s scared so much as pissed which is totally valid. Very rock and roll. 

Cass commands everyone to get back and does a wave of necrotic damage to everyone around her. It seems a bit indiscriminate–even Kalina is hit which she wouldn’t usually do on purpose even as the NK. 

Gorgug asks for an insight check to know if the crystals here are in any way related to the crystal in Lydia Barkrock’s chest that is keeping some evil at bay with her constant rage. Brennan gives a surprised but pleased Cheshire Cat grin. No roll necessary: they’re def related in some way. These pulse and move much more rapidly though. Hers pulses like a heartbeat. 

On Kristen’s turn, she gives Cass a heartfelt apology about dropping the ball in general and missing this meeting specifically. She says she didn’t realize she was supposed to be here this time and she understands Cass being upset. Because this is season 3, I don’t even need to tell you what Ally rolls on this Persuasion check. But I will, because that’s what a recap is. 

On Kristen’s Nat 20 (this is why she keeps getting gods despite her track record), Cassandra is instantly calmed and brought down to her regular size. She expels 7 more of those shatter star crystals and she’s bleeding and scared. She clearly internalized what Fig told her though because she also says that she’s pissed. All she wanted was to help! The red in her pulses as she says, “It isn’t f–” She doesn’t seem to be able to get out the word “fair”. And she sees that she’s freaking out Kristen with the red pulse so she tries to calm down. 

Round 2 (Breaking This Up Because Tumblr Hates Big Text Blocks)

Adaine summons a mall cop but even a wizard mall cap is still a mall cop and thus, useless. Adaine offers to Dimension Door Cass away but Cass wants to stay and fight. “How are they back here?” Cass says about the stars. “I thought you were dead.” (On an Insight check, Kirsten doesn’t think that this is NK related).  

Adaine has her coolest moment of the episode here (imo) where she casts True Strike and Steel Wind strike and then attacks again and again and again with her Sword of SIght doing 41 damage each to 4 of the stars. Brennan narrates it as the hits being foretold by her divination. It’s very cool and I’m glad Adaine can do melee attacks now. 

Kalina turns back visible as it looks like the battle is turning in their favor. She shoots Riz  a low, playful , “Hey Riz,” because of course she does. 

It’s now Cass’s turn. She’s back to herself, she’s a goddess, it looks like she’s about to end this fight super early into the runtime. But then…

OK, things go bonkers for a sec. Stick with me. 

Cass thanks Fig for the advice–seemingly utilizing her Bardic. She’s about to do some kind of Mass Dispelling. But then Fig starts to feel all weird and hot and her stomach gurgles. A fire elemental who I assume is on autopilot offers Fig a sample of shrimp and, for SOME REASON, despite her stomach feeling weird and them being in PITCHED COMBAT (Ally’s words lol), Fig takes a shrimp. The plate flips which starts a series of Rube Goldberg ass events that end with Cass choking on a piece of shrimp/having an allergic reaction (a thing that can apparently happen to a god) and going unconscious. At the table, the Intrepid Heroes are baffled except for Emily who is laughing hysterically. 

Riz notices a drip of tartar sauce on Fig's shirt and finally realizes that she’s exhibiting some real Gilear behavior. He puts together that the effect that Cass didn’t save from (hmmm) was somehow connected to Fig giving her Bardic. 

Fig quickly explains what happened with her unlocking something to help with the Night Yorb fight in ep 1 (she calls it an ancestral curse which is funny bc she’s not blood related to Gilear. Diversity win! This ancestral curse recognizes that non-traditional family structures are still just as valid!). Conor Counterspell is like Y’ALL there is a FIGHT happening to try and get them back on task. Before she does though, Fig (and Adaine) see a vision of the gleaming, golden Pride armor from the Bottomless Pit that Gilear wore back in SY. A voice says, “It was not yours to take” Ominous! Adaine’s vision has a fun Oracle bonus: Fig in the Pride armor, years in the future, causing Gilear-esque bullshit to happen on an apocalyptic scale. Goofy yet still ominous! 

Adaine almost gets all raged up by a shatter star but she saves. Conor gets hit (much to Emily’s dismay) but he doesn’t turn on them. Put a pin in that. 

Kalina yells for her mistress as she goes down but then also gets hit with a shatter star. Before the rage overtakes her she struggles to get out last words to Riz, “Ragh Barkrock.” And then she doesn’t grow, but she becomes very still. 

Fabian is still VERY shrimp party focused and wants to try and use the clock to turn back time or something similar. He climbs up and sees a vision of an old version of himself lamenting the fact that he never got to be a maximum legend. Now he’s even MORE party focused. He tries to get the wizards to fight on the premise that they finally have the chance to beat up some jocks but they refrain because they know the rage mage’s are possessed and not true jocks. Welp, worth a shot! 

Kalina gets the shrimp out of Cass’s throat to bring her back up which is enough time for Cass to give a hazy, “Kalina,” before her familiar says, “I liked you better as the Nightmare King” and slits her throat. Cass drops to zero. 

Riz casts Compelled Duel on Kalina and Adaine uses a portent roll to make Kalina fail her save. He then hides. Some attacks happen, Kalina vanishes–away from Adaine’s 10 feet of vision but still within range of Riz because of the Compelled Duel. 

The mages attack, dropping Kristen. Cass does a TON of saves and only fails one with a Nat 1. But that’s enough to trigger her partial transformation. She comes to, once again getting huge and riddled with red light through her veins. 

Fig brings up Kristen. Cass gets even bigger and redder. She’s furious, but not at them anymore. She looks like she wants to murder Kalina. Kristen, with decent Insight, sees that the Rage is giving her power but it’s making her unstable. This isn’t like healthy embracing of valid emotions, this needs to be stopped. 

She jumps on Cass’s back and says, “There's plenty of time to be angry! We can definitely talk this through, and your anger is not scary to me. I totally understand.” She casts Dispel Magic with her Staff of Doubt. A DC 23 is needed and she rolls with advantage. She missed by ONE. Brennan lets her roll again with advantage. Even worse rolls. She gets two more chances with Advantage. Nope. She rolls AGAIN, with an added d4. STILL NO. By my account that’s NINE rolls, none of them successes. Adaine tries as well and just misses. The dice REALLY don’t want this to happen it seems. 

Cass prepares to cast a 9th Level Circle of Death (14d6 necrotic or half on a save). Fig and Adaine both try to Counterspell it and Fig tells Conor to do it as well. He says he has bigger fish to fry. She doesn’t see how that can be possible, but they’re OK because Adaine succeeds. 

Conor then throws his staff at the clocks and shatters it, sending them through a trippy Labyrinth-esque (think Sarah falling out of the World Falls Down ball) scene that lands them back at Seacaster manor, ten seconds before they left. As they leave, Cass is getting bigger and bigger and she throws some kind of twilight energy spell at Kristen that follows them out. It seems like Conor saved them from something major that was about to go down. 

But now, they’re back at the manor, watching themselves about to walk into the Synod fight. They yell some advice and their doubles disappear. Fig rolls a Nat 20 to understand time loops. She’s been a secret honor student this whole time is what I’m getting from this season.  

Riz questions whether they won or not but this feels like a situation where if you have to ask, the answer is no. 

OK, phew. That was a lot, but we still have a bit more to go. 

Kristen tries to check in with Cass and she gets this ominous message: “She is at my side once more.” The Bad Kids try to parse that but don’t come up with a clear answer. The voice asks Kristen if she wishes for divinity and says they’ll give her the master she deserves. A portal opens and a slimy, rotted, Yes! slides out like a sick joke. Kristen dispels it and when the voice says, “I am coming for you. And when I find you, I will break you in a way that none who loved you will recognize the ruin I have wrought. Lean your soul in closer, that I might give you more than words,” she breaks the connection. 

She also gets some images of the shattered mall, the dead mages floating in Astral Space, and she puts together that the Astral Realm is both where the mall is (*was) and where dead gods go. 

Ragh shows up all buttered (sure) to tell them that the ramp is buttered (sure) and though Riz wants to question him right away (both because of Gorgug’s epiphany and Kalina’s last words), this party is HAPPENING so it’s gonna have to wait. They decide to go with the Fig Disguised As Kristen plan for the shrimp jump because Kristen is, very understandably, having an existential crisis. Riz makes her invisible and Fig goes to do the jump (much to the Hangman’s delight who likes her much better than Kristen). 

Everyone gives Fig buffs but she does need it as she rolls a NAT 20. She uses her leftover spell slots to do some flashy pyrotechnics and leaves the tartar sauce filled pooled “like Daenerys”. The crow is in tearful awe. They cheer, they cry, they declare Fabian a minimum legend. They know for a fact that this is gonna be a killer year. 

Honor Roll

Gorgug for Some Serious Sleuthing 

At least once per season Zac has a genuine Jimmy Neutron Brain Blast about a plot thing and this was it for Junior Year. What a pull. He def beat me to it by a WIDE margin. And it ties in super neatly to things Gorgug would notice and have a sense about since he knows Lydia and knows rage. I don’t care what any of his teachers say; he’s smart in all the ways that count. 

Detention 

Adaine for Poor Timing

Adaine I love you so much but mayhaps, “Your God is dying again, you’re gonna fail junior year” isn’t the most helpful thing to say in the middle of a traumatic life event that is also a life or death battle. 

Random Thoughts

Unironically the biggest W of this combat? Adaine losing her job. That was gonna cause more issues than it solved and she CAN get a better one. Or, you know, road trip with Aelwyn for some light matricide. Either would be better than her leaving school to work an 8 hour graveyard shift. 

I wonder if Brennan meant for that clock to have time traveling properties and the party just clocked it (ha) before it came up or if they said it and then he used it to snatch them out of the fight that it didn’t seem like he wanted them to auto fail because he gave them so many rolls to try and save Cass! I really badly wanna know what he was hoping for out of this fight. 

OK so I’m Pepe Silvia-ing a bit. In the previous episodes, there have been at least two moments where Brennan describes a character getting kinda hot under the collar. One is when Kristen is confronting her parents and the other is when Riz is mad about the Rat Grinders. And in the Kristen instance, she then got advantage on her next roll but Brennan didn’t say why. It struck me as odd both times and now I’m wondering if it’s related to whatever these shatter stars are.

Speaking of, we get a lot of tidbits about them but no real info. Cass saying, “I thought you were dead,” and also there’s a moment that didn’t make the recap where the stars almost go for something but then don’t because it wouldn’t be tactically the smartest and that feels like a level of active sentence, right? Plus the fact that they literally said Cass’s name to get the wizards to attack her. I wonder what a Detect Thoughts would have gleaned. 

Lmao at Brennan making Emily profile the minis. 

“By the laws of this ancient mall.” Bruh, it JUST opened! 

Shocked that when Brennan described the crystals moving like a flock of birds, he resisted the opportunity to use the word “murmuration”. 

Cass doesn’t seem able to get the word “Fair” out. She’s struggling like there’s a geas spell on her or something else compelling her. The obvious thing to jump to is KP’s campaign which emphasized “fairness under the rules” but it’s hard to see how those things are connected yet. Just throwing some stuff up on the conspiracy board for later.

Also, while pseudo-connections are being made, I wonder if Gorgug’s rage storyline is going to intertwine with whatever is happening with these rage stars.  There was mention of like rage that is helpful vs rage that makes you unstable and that reminded me of Porter talking about how Gorgug only really rages to protect his friends. I dunno. We’ll see if it ends up going further than just the parallels. 

My favorite moment of the ep didn’t make the recap but I wanted to highlight it here. When Adaine is targeted by the rage star, she saves but Brennan asks her what the world would look like if she was consumed by rage and she said Falinel would be destroyed as revenge and Sylvaire would be destroyed–not on purpose but as collateral damage in the quest to hunt her mother. I think questions like that for flavor and character insight are so fun! 

The Hangman’s adoration of Fig is so cute. He was lamenting his shrimp costume that he of course had to wear for the shrimp jump (shoutout Torek) but when Fig said she thought it was cute he got all blushy. I love him. 

I have to mention that Riz cast Tasha’s Hideous Laughter by flossing (like the dance). Who taught that goblin how to floss? Is Riz on Fantasy TikTok?

Lmao at Kristen suddenly being like, Shh, don’t mention the arty-Pay in from of ass-Cay in this fight as if she hasn’t been putting her foot in her mouth for the past four eps. Took 5 eps but her tact finally arrived. 

“Your anger isn’t scary to me,” is a genuinely sweet sentiment in this context. 

When the Bad Kids are speculating about what the hell happened after the fight, someone asks Kristen if Cass has a dad or something she can talk to. Idk if she has a dad exactly but closest would be that Sol and Galicaea are her older siblings, right? (I thiiink that’s right. Def about Gal. Taking the wiki's word for it re Sol). I’m more and more suspicious about this turning into a family affair. And it would make sense for them to get involved right? It parallels Kristen’s relationship with her family coming back to the forefront. And Tracker is still in the mix as Gal’s cleric. I dunno, it feels like it’s gonna be important. 

It’s likely that Kalina prob met whatever fate Cass did but we’ve seen that Kalina can operate kinda separated from Cass (like she did in SY) and Brennan said that Cass can’t truly die unless Kristen and Craig do so I guess we’ll see where that goes. 

Are Fig’s Bardics now a game of Russian Roulette? If so, uh-oh! We don’t have a ton to go on for the exact mechanics of what’s going on yet, but it seems certain that a trip to hell is gonna be necessary to start getting this sorted (which she really needs to do anyway being an archdevil with responsibilities and all). 

These have been getting too long for Tumblr to handle lately so I’ll end on these last two bullets. In the AP, Ally said that Kristen really does want to be a cleric to Cass, she’s just suffering for lack of organization. And at least to me, that’s not how it’s come across so far, but taking that into account puts her actions in a different light. It’s still all irresponsible of course but if it’s supposed to be more just genuinely scattered than callous/indifferent then this feels more like a storyline about looking for middle ground than finding yet another new path whole cloth. She was for sure more in serious mode this ep than she has been the last four eps so we’ll see if this side of her sticks around.

I ended the last recap by saying I was worried for Cass and, guess what? Still am! Galicaea, help your sister!  

[several-ravens]

two nat 1 to save lydia barkrock from lou

thank you ally for your legendary nat 20 coming in cluch as always

[pldubrahs]

THANK YOU SIOBHAN FOR BEING SO CAUTIOUS ABT RAGH

[swarmkeepers]

Rating: Gen Tags: Gorgug centric, 5+1 things, multiclassing as character growth, Donospring fluff, Bad Kids shenanigans, post sophomore year Summary:  There is a power in a personal quest, not one big enough to earn 60% of your grade or save your life, but one that’s small and comfortable. One that fills all the empty spaces in your chest with the potential of whirring gears and thumping pistons and humming magic. His heart feels like it’s wearing spring-loaded Converse, and he’s confident he could jump to the moon right now.

[5 times Gorgug was glad for that one level of Artificer + 1 time it wasn't just for him]

Vaguely based on that one time Zac Oyama said Gorgug would probably end up being a teacher/advisor for kids who want to multiclass! I wrote more fic for Camp NaNoWriMo! Here, have almost 9k of Gorgug loving his one level of multiclass and building cool things with his friends. Bonus points for tooth-rotting Donospring fluff, Gorgug & Ayda friendship, Gorgug making sweet potato fries with Lydia Barkrock, and Fig wielding a boba straw blowgun!