#siobhan; ft; breaking free

[oceansrevenge]

Breaking Free || Solo ft. Siobhan

TIMING: Current PARTIES: @oceansrevenge ft @banisheed SUMMARY: An angry octopus nymph finally breaks free from her tank and has a bit of a murder spree. Thankfully, the murder spree attracted a banshee as an audience. We love girls supporting girls

For so many years, the rage that lived inside Marina felt like it was crushing her. It had to live imprisoned inside her the way she lived imprisoned inside the glass tank, a spectacle for the human world to see. The rage of a nymph was never meant to be stagnant. It was supposed to flow and crash like the waves of the sea she so longed to swim free in once again. The betrayal, the loss– it all had to stew and culminate within the confines of a box. There was no tide pulling her foes under, no pressure from the depths squeezing the last breath of life out from her victims as she brought them down to their watery graves. There was only the stillness.

Today that would finally change. The fact Moxfield had died of old age of all things only furthered the disgust Marina possessed for the warden. No warden worth their salt died of old age, but above all else, he was a coward– never truly bothered living his purpose unless he stood to make some sort of financial gain from it. While she held no love for wardens, they were meant to be part of a delicate balance and she could respect that. Andrew Moxfield, however, was a disgrace to his purpose and above all else, a liar. His death was a day she reveled in and she awaited the window of time where she’d be able to leave the wretched tank she all but rotted away in for the last fifty odd years.

The transporting of her tank had always been something Marina hated the most. The sloshing of the water as the bus, train, or plane moved about mirrored the movement of waves in a way that stung. But this time, she knew it was only a matter of days before she got to experience the real thing again. Her strength had dwindled over the years, but unsuspecting humans still stood no chance. The other cephalopods in their contaminants alongside her boosted her state, if only slightly. It’d take weeks back in the proper waters, nurturing it and the creatures she was drawn to protect before she was back at her full strength, but her size alone was enough to toss aside a few worthless humans like the rubbish they were. 

She’d watched them all for years as they passed her by or stared in awe. Over the decades, they had changed, grew more attached to their trinkets and inventions than the natural world around them. These humans that were preparing to move her from her travel tank to something larger were no different. The excitement buzzing in her felt foreign after so long and her tentacles itched to squeeze the life out of them. The annoying young man tapping on her glass would be first. He would look much better when his face turned the same shade of blue as his eyes. 

The moment the lid was removed, Marina moved swiftly. There was no way she’d allow herself to be imprisoned yet again and finally, all the rage that had been brewing for years had an outlet. The blue eyed one was the first her tentacles found purchase on. He writhed in her grasp and sputtered trying to draw in a breath. The struggle was something she missed. How many times before had she felt the same thrashing in her own waters as she drowned anyone who dared to enter uninvited? More than she could count, but it felt just as good each time. 

In one tentacle, the man’s life was fading away and in another, she grabbed another one of the staff members approaching her with a useless, large net. The way the dark brown of her ponytail waved around as she fought against the giant tentacle that held on tightly. The dark flash of her hair looked like a flag waving on a shit out at sea. It was almost as satisfying, too. 

Each new staff member that dared to approach and tried to take control of the situation met the same fate. Several knicks from assorted equipment scratched her skin and left small drops of blue blood on the floor amongst the fallen humans. It had been a flurry, like waves in a storm, whipping and swaying as fast as the wind. One, two, three, half a dozen– fallen at her tentacles. Foolish of them to believe they could contain a creature as stunning as she was against her will. Cruel to think they had the right to trap and display any creature from the beautiful blue sea for their own monetary gain. Humans and their filthy money. The disdain and anger was as strong as the satisfaction she felt. 

Marina was free. It was a relief she hadn’t allowed herself to truly dream of. She’d get to float away with the waves yet again, but she would not forget this place. It was disgraceful, abominable. There weren’t words that could adequately portray her disgust with the establishment, but she heard pleased sounds not far from her. The octopus looked up, prepared to attack when she realized the woman seemed to be… cheering her on? Curious. Then she felt it. A symphony of little bells, ringing under her skin in a way that felt as comforting as the waters on a warm summer day. Another fae. After so many years of misfortune, this was lucky indeed. 

Quickly, Marina willed her humanistic glamour into place. The tank had never known her true form, and even so, her voice outside of the water would still be distorted. Wet braids hung from her head and water with specks of blood, both blue and red, dripped down her nude form. It was amusing to think the dead humans at her feet would be taken aback by nudity. Fae held no such inhibitions. 

She approached the woman with a sly grin on her face. “How lucky am I? Freedom and the presence of a beautiful fae in the same day?” 

The cheap folding chair Siobhan had purchased at the last minute creaked as she swung one leg over the other, leaning back into the nylon fabric. Her bag of popcorn would remain unopened, but she didn’t mind. “Yes,” she smirked, “you’re very lucky.” 

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High Sophomore Year Ep 8

Poor Little Rich Kids (in which Fabian Decidedly Does Not Get His Groove Back and Adaine Chooses a Nice Hill to Die On)

We are at the Row and the Ruction and the Bad Kids are in the fight of their lives, facing off not only against Captain James Wicklaw and his crew over the crown of the Pirate King, but also a contingent of elves from Falinel who have shown up to drag Adaine back with them and they’re commanding a huge air elemental. Not only that, Fabian is still suffering from two levels of exhaustion AND--due to his recent trauma--Fabian has lost the Champion sub-class and is not able to apply any class features. No second wind, no action surge, no extra attacks. Our boy has been nerfed to hell. And, to make matters worse, the Bad Kids didn’t roll stellar on initiative and they’ll continue to roll like trash all fight. And they haven’t rested since their last fight! Everyone is damaged and/or low on spell slots. 

Fabian rolled the best on initiative but, there’s not much he can do. At Cathilda’s urging, he falls back and fires his crossbow. The elves have the air elemental attack and then Banish Tracker which is not great for such a banged up party. Gorgug sends Gilear in the Van after Garthy and then wrecks some pirates. One of the elves casts Flesh to Stone on Adaine and she fails her save. She begins petrifying and has to roll death-like saves to keep from turning fully to stone. Cathilda gets a Nat 20 on one of her attacks and slices a tentacle off of Captain Wicklaw. Sandra-Lynn and Ragh also do well on their turns. 

Everyone but Riz (who is hiding in the rafters) has to make an Int save against Captain Wicklaw’s psionic hate blast and all of the PC’s fail and are stunned which means they can't move, can only barely speak (hindering even vocal only spells), and have attacks taken against them with advantage. They also auto fail Strength and Dex saves. Not a good condition to have at any time, but especially now.

After some attacks, the pirates are badly injured but not badly enough for the Bad Kids to have any comfort. Adaine makes her save to become unstunned but then rolls a Nat 1 on the petrification save. Riz shoots from the rafters to try and break the concentration of the elf who banished Tracker but she rolls exactly what she needs to save. Wicklaw takes a legendary action (because of course this dude has a legendary action, he’s a MINDFLAYER) and shoots Fabian before teleporting up to the Ruction. Fabian rolls a Nat 1 on his save for being stunned. Siobhan stages an impromptu Baptism for Lou’s dice irl. 

The elves’ elemental grabs Adaine and bring her up to the Ruction. Fig gives Adaine some Bardic. And then, plot twist! Adaine’s DAD (Anguin Abernant) drops Greater Invisibility and casts Dominate Person on Adaine. Adaine makes her Wisdom save (with a +6 mod and advantage plus her Bardic from Fig) and tells her dad to go to hell. 

Fig (who is at 9 HP at this point) gets attacked by a pirate and drops to zero, taking down a pirate with her with a Hellish Rebuke. Gorgug, the tank, is at 5 HP. Yeah, it’s that bad. With Cathilda’s help, Gorgug finally snaps out of his stunned condition. Sandra-Lynn brings Fig back up. Wicklaw shoots Fabian. Adaine fails a petrification save but makes her stun save. Then, she takes a Misty Step away from the elemental that has her. Riz tries to steal the crown from Wicklaw and fails but, luckily, Wicklaw fails on his retaliatory attack. Fabian and Kristen continue to fail their stun saves. 

The air elemental grabs Adaine again. Fig Dimension Doors herself and Gorgug to where Adaine is and gives her Bardic. Anguin tries to Dominate Person on Adaine again and also to guilt trip her. Adaine makes the save, easy, and sidesteps the parental guilt trip even easier. A bunch of pirates have made it into the Ruction, Sandra-Lynn is looking bad and Kristen is at 3 HP. Things are looking bad. Real bad.

Which is why one of the elves offers Adaine a choice. Teleportation only works on a willing creature. If Adaine allows herself to be teleported to Falinel, the elves will stop helping Wicklaw and give her friends a fighting chance. Even though she technically has two options, Adaine only sees one. She’s defiant as ever but she goes with the elves. They poof away but, as they do, Adaine makes a petrification save (again, with Fig’s Bardic) and the casts Sending to tell Ayda that her friends are being attacked and ask for help. She gets a reply: “Your friends are my friends.” Ayda’s on her way. 

Gorgug does a bunch of damage on Wicklaw and goes down, but pops back up to 1 HP with Relentless Endurance. Cathilda kills some pirates then stays close to the still stunned Fabian to guard him. Wicklaw stuns Gorgug again, puts him in a grapple, and gets ready to eat his brains. Riz blasts an already badly injured Wicklaw for 25 damage. Kristen and Fabian fail their stun saves AGAIN. Fig fails her attack on Wicklaw but heals Gorgug for a few points. 

Sandra-Lynn rushes Wicklaw and knocks him out of the Ruction and into the Row (freeing Gorgug from his grapple) but then Wicklaw stabs her and she goes down. Riz hides and then shoots with a Nat 20! 47 damage! Wicklaw goes down...but we find that he’s not completely out when Riz runs to grab the crown and gets shot at point blank range and then slashed with Wicklaw’s saber. He drops and falls into the Row next to Sandra-Lynn, taking two death save fails from getting trampled. Emily weighs her in game loyalty to her mom against her out of game loyalty to Murph and then heals Sandra-Lynn. Then she and Gorgug tag-team the final chunk of damage and kill his ass. FINALLY. Fig also steals his soul because, why not? With Wicklaw dead, the pirates not affiliated with him quickly beat the tar out of the rest of his men and the gang take his hate-sword (which Fig gets later).

Tracker pops out of Banishment and passes out heals. Ragh and Cathilda snap Kristen and Fabian out of being stunned. Cathilda tries to comfort Fabian but he’s still feeling awful about Cathilda being forced to babysit him and him not being able to help Riz. Riz tries to give him a pep talk (eliciting probably the *second* saddest Hoot-Growl to date) but it doesn’t seem to stick. Fig, confusingly paranoid, insight checks Cathilda (finding nothing suspicious that she’s not making up in her own head). Jemina Joy shows up and informs everyone that Gilear has crashed the Van because Of Course he has. 

Riz asks Fabian what they should do with the Pirate King crown but he’s still uncharacteristically indecisive, deferring to Cathilda who suggests they mount the crown on Wicklaw’s head in Gibbety Square where the old one was. They do so. Then, they debate whether they should take a rest before going after Adaine and decide going after her ASAP is the best move, especially considering she sacrificed herself for them. Ayda agrees to teleport everyone to Falinel but first, they head back to the Gold Gardens to regroup. 

Gorgug takes Fabian aside to tell him that it’s OK that he didn’t get to be the hero this fight because that’s the whole point of being on a team but also that he needs to get it together for Adaine’s sake. Kristen also pulls Fabian aside (either before or after she and Tracker have a poorly times tryst upstairs) and tells him that, as the Queen of Being a Hot Mess, it’s OK for him to be a Hot Mess for a bit while he’s figuring things out because the party will have his back. She also apologizes for comparing him to Gilear. Then Gilear pulls Fabian aside and--nah, he doesn’t have a pep talk lined up. He needs money to pay someone off. Fabian gives him the gold.      

Once everyone (sans Adaine, of course) gets back together, Jemina Joy tells them that they’re welcome back any time. Garthy asks where specifically they want to go since Falinel is a big country. Because of the way Adaine was taken, their best guess for where she is is wherever Aelwyn is being held. They consult the dossier which says she’s being held in Calethiel Tower. Teleporting there is a no-go because of the heavy security but there are a number of adjoining provinces, one of which (the land of the Lomenelda) is actually where Fabian’s mom is from. They decide to poof in there. As they go (Ayda included, she’s not just sending them), Tracker (and Gilear for that matter) notices a strange, loaded goodbye between Garthy and Sandra-Lynn. What’s that about, asks Tracker. Uh, let’s put a pin in that, Kristen replies. 

Back with Adaine (who is now fully clear of petrification), she has been teleported to a very nice courtyard with these elven wizards and her dad. Her dad and one of the elves (whose name sounds like Kier to me but who the hell knows between the weird spelling and the low, breathy, elven talking) stay with her. Kier tells Adaine she made a noble choice but Adaine isn’t having it. She tries to Misty Step out of the room and her dad dispels her magic. She casts Greater Invisibility of herself. Boom, dispelled by Kier. Adaine refuses them even an inch of cooperation or cordiality, even when they volunteer the information that her friends made it out of the fight. Kier leaves Adaine alone with her dad and Adaine, again, absolutely refuses to play ball (don’t worry, I’m skimming because I’m coming back to this). Anguin tells Adaine to stop being obstinate. Falinel will have an oracle. And if they don’t have one, they will make one. Fine, says Adaine, with no pause at all. Kill me. Adaine is determined to be a thorn in her fathers’ side for the rest of her life and death if it comes to that. Anguin finds her response more annoying than actually frustrating and leaves.

An elf comes to take Adaine to her room but she does the little kid thing of lying down and refusing to engage so he handcuffs her instead and drags her away and up the tower. On the way up, she sees a beautiful marble chamber with a 15 ft diameter glass orb that is slightly rotating. Inside is Aelwyn, on her hands and knees, crawling as it rotates. Aelwyn doesn’t notice her but Adaine can tell she’s been kept from trancing for almost a year and is extremely “trance-deprived”.

Kier and Anguin come back in as Adaine hides under the blankets. On a failed Wis save, Kier lands a detect thoughts on her. Kier asks Adaine about the last time she saw her mom. Adaine doesn’t answer but runs into the “Don’t think about a pink elephant,” problem. Her thoughts betray her, even as she remains tight-lipped. As she’s being interrogated, she sees the stars through a window and can tell, more or less, where in Falinel she is (which could be helpful once she can cast Sending again). 

One last question for Adaine: Is she going to start cooperating or is she going to keep being a pain in their ass?

Take a wild guess at which option she picks. 

She picks the hard way. Fine, says Kier. Put her in a trance-deprivation Torture-Orb. Because F the Fantasy Geneva Convention I guess. 

Detention

Anguin for Being an Absolute Sunuvabitch and the WORST Father in the Kingdom and Any Other

I’m not giving him the dignity of more than a single sentence devoted to him so there. 

Honor Roll

Adaine for So Much

My Girl!

Adaine was on fire this episode, starting with the long overdue confrontation with her father. When he dropped Invisibility to try to Dominate Person her, I felt my stomach drop. Losing control of your character sucks in general but, in the context of Adaine’s relationship with her dad, it would have been that much more painful a loss, but she resisted like a champ both times!

Then, as I suspected might happen, she was given the opportunity to surrender to give her friends a better chance, and she took it without question. She didn’t even consider it a choice. She willingly walked into basically her worst case scenario, and not even for a guarantee at their safety. For a chance. To maybe turn the tide. She gave herself up for any advantage she could give them.

And THEN, when she cast Sending to Ayda--a SUPER clutch move by the way--she didn’t even say, “Hey, help me please.” She didn’t say anything about herself at all. She said, “My friends are in danger. Please help them.” And, because Adaine put the effort into building that bridge and making that friend last episode, even though she didn’t have to--they already had what they needed at that point--Ayda says yes. “Your friends are my friends.”

And, here’s the thing. Adaine isn’t stupid. She’s very much the opposite of that. I mentioned last recap that Adaine was potentially putting herself in dangerous waters by not cooperating seeing as Falinel could kill her to trigger a new elven Oracle being selected. I was concerned she might not have thought about that. Oh, no. She’s thought about it. She just doesn’t give a single damn. She is being obstinate in the face of her potential demise. She went with them, fully aware that her death was on the table. And, then, she proceeded to be as difficult a prisoner as she was capable of being.  

And, I have to give major, major, major props to Siobhan. In my opinion, one of her biggest strengths an an RP-er (besides being one of the Keepers of the Party Brain Cells) is her ability to string words together on the fly in just the most perfect way. Like her speech to the American Dream in Unsleeping City? She gave a small pause and then the exact perfect combination of words fell out of her mouth, like magic. But it wasn’t, she’s just that good. And that’s how I felt in this episode too. The second she was alone with Anguin, I thought, “Alright Siobhan, showtime.” And she delivered, as always. She went ALL the way back. It wasn’t, “I can’t believe you kidnapped me just now.” It was, “You abandoned me.” OF COURSE, that’s where Adaine would start. OF COURSE, she’s still raw about that. OF COURSE she wants to talk about her shitty childhood. But it wasn’t the meek, broken, childish tone from Promocalypse. This was cold, and hardened, and defiant to the core. Anguin hinting at her possible death and her basically spitting it back in his face was such a power move. Absolutely outstanding. And then her final line: “That unfinished business will remain unfinished because there is no level of an annoyance to you that will be satisfying to the ghost of me.” That sentence is constructed in such a way that it would have been very easy to trip over but Siobhan delivered it flawlessly and stuck the landing for maximum impact. 

Bravo to Adaine for being put in a situation that would have had her rolling for panic attacks in S1 and, instead, helping her friends and standing her ground.

Random Thoughts

Apologies that my fight play-by-play isn’t exact. People were getting stunned and unstunned all over the place and it was hard to keep track. Trust me, the details are less important than the fact that everyone had a bad time.  

We got new character art for Fabian and Cathilda here. 

Brennan, channel Big Cubby Energy: All laws are actually just structured threats.

What are the kids supposed to do for the last 2-3 months of school? Also, I ask again, are all of the quests going on at Aguefort right now this personal and entwined with emotional baggage? Or is it just the Bad Kids being forced to fight their family members and dead families' enemies and the like?

“Friends don’t let friends’ brains get eaten by their fathers’ mortal enemies.”

More than anyone, Emily was LIVING for Lou’s choice to nerf Fabian. Game respects game.  

Also, the mild panic and then relief from Emily when Zac said that he called for Gilear...to get in the Van and go get Garthy was so funny. Mark my words, Emily is going to die for an NPC eventually. It might be in NADDPOD, it might be in D20, but it’s gonna happen.

That bit where Adaine is like, “We can hear your music through your headphones,” and Gorgug is like, Oh no! Relatable. 

This was yet another fight where, after it was over, I was like, “I can’t believe all this happened in like 45 seconds of game time.” I mean, we had people dying or almost dying multiple times, they lost two party members (one for real), they were getting hit with so many status conditions, it was a whirlwind of a fight. And also a good example of how bad initiative can totally screw you. 

Having both healers incapacitated all fight also really screwed them. If they hadn’t both been down and could have provided some buffs, thrown up Spirit Guardians, and healed, that could have been an enormous help. Of course, I get the sense the elves could have thrown down a lot harder than they did if they’d had to, but it still would have been better to have at least one functioning cleric. 

And then the lack of rest between this fight and the last. RIP them.

Even though they spent most of the fight getting womped, I didn’t feel the energy drop that I did during some of the other hard fights they had. Everyone was still obviously having a good time, which is great because it makes it more fun for us as the audience. 

Fig: I’m kind of a closed book.

Also Fig, Midfight to Adaine: Love you girl! 

Also Fig, Upon Being Given Permission to do an AoE Attack the Would hit Adaine: NOOOO!

Also Fig, Distraught: I used my everything to try and save you!

Also Fig, Who Knows the NK can and Has Controlled People, specifically Her and Ragh: The Nightmare King could be anyone except my six friends.

Man, Ally invoked their nat20 summoning powers a bunch this ep but it just wasn’t happening. The dice really were not on the party’s side at all this ep. 

Like Emily, I thought for a sec at the end of the fight that Brennan was saying Anguin was left behind, not referring to Gilear. I would have LOVED to see the crew gang up on him post-fight. Remember when Riz was interrogating Biz and started blasting off fingers? Good times. 

I also low key thought Fig was gonna do something to torture Wicklaw’s soul. I’ve been trying to figure out why she can do that. I think she said it’s a racial ability, but I haven’t figured out what it is yet.

The whole group telling Ayda that her formal friendship declaration is weird, but objectively less confusing than the typical way of doing it. 

Also, I told you making friends was gonna pay dividends! The secret (“secret”) goal of every D&D campaign is to make as many friends as possible, starting with your party members and the sky’s the limit after that. And it works out perfectly since Adaine is gone but they have another high level wizard with the same specialty filling in.  

Gilear shaking down Fabian for 250g instead of giving him a pep talk was low key hysterical. The comic timing on that from Brennan was so good.

I wonder what Riz was going to tell Fabian during his pull aside. I think this is like the second time Riz was going to pull him aside and then it ended up not happening. He’d already talked to him earlier so I wonder what else he wanted to say that would have required a pull-aside.   

Wild that Kristen took the Warding Bond to help Fabian and then both of them were basically out the entire fight. Lol, maybe that’s why Ally couldn’t dicemance this episode. Their luck was tied to Lou’s terrible streak. 

Looks like we’re finally gonna get some insight on Fabian’s mom’s side of the family. We really don’t know much about her. Wouldn’t it be wild if all of them were essentially country/farmer elves and Halariel is the only one who’s Like That because she moved away and “made it”.

“Minus 3 to Dex, also in real life.”

As much as I loved every choice Adaine made in this episode, (1) I feel like I would have at least counter-offered the elves something like, “Help us win then I’ll go,” and (2) I couldn’t help but worry about the position she was putting herself in by not playing along at least a little, although it would only have helped her so much because outright lying to someone who has detect thoughts on you is damn near impossible. She at least could have saved herself the torture of trance-deprivation. But, like, is she gonna be able to take her meds? Because this very much seems like an Anxiety Inducing Situation. 

I’m gonna fight Kristen and Tracker for stopping to have sex in the middle of this and I’m gonna fight Brennan for ending this episode on a sex joke. 

Also, looks like the whole Sandra-Lynn/Garthy/Jawbone situation is finally about to come to a head. So just add that to the list of things you’re bracing for. 

Sandra-Lynn re: Fig Stealing A Pirate’s Soul: Horrifying, You’re wonderful. 

“My friend’s a rock star!”

I love that Fig consistently says, “You wanna go for a ride?” before she uses Dimension Door with someone. 

“Is almost died the same as having died?”

“I think I have a lot of friends but then everyone is mean to me.” Rizzzzz. But also, all my closest friendships in high school could easily be mistaken for my enemies for all the time we spent clowning on each other. 

Lol at that one elf trying to turn Adaine’s words back on her as a zinger (“Must not be a great oracle.”) but failing twice because Adaine/Siobhan’s genuinely did not remember what she said before. 

As blunt as Ayda is, her, “Your friends are my friends,” was one of the sweetest moments of the episodes. There is something really touching about plainly stating emotional information. 

Man! I have been wanting to see what exactly is going on with Aelwyn for AGES and we finally caught a glimpse. I was wondering whether she was in a country club prison or more of a Gitmo situation and I forgot that elves are so into The Aesthetic that they will put you in a torture device in a country club. But yeah, they def aren’t pulling their punches. They’re been torturing her for almost a year. That’s brutal (and mechanically bad because even if they break her out, she’s gonna have zero spell slots and 5 levels of exhaustion probably which is one less than it takes to kill you). And I’m curious. Is it a means to an end or is the torture the end itself? Is there information she refused to give them or is this just how they punish people in Falinel? In any case, you don’t get tortured for a year without at least a little mind-breakage. Very interested to see where is on a scale from 0 to Avanash and how she reacts to Adaine when they inevitably meet again. And I’m curious to see if Adaine softens to her sister at all under the circumstances. That Aelwyn redemption arc is within our grasp.

Likewise, this gives us more information we can use to make guesses about what’s going on with Adaine’s mom. She pretty clearly isn’t working with Falinel seeing as the don’t know where she is and Aelwyn is being held under bad conditions. All signs seem to point to her going rogue and breaking from both her husband and Falinel to try and spring her daughter. I want Adaine to have at least one half-decent parent and I also want the Drama of it All so I really hope that’s what we end up seeing. 

F Adaine’s dad, man. Like, truly and from the bottom of my heart. To make a kid--your kid--feel so unloved is frankly a travesty. And to be able to do something this terrible to your kid without showing any emotion really in either direction is heartless and cruel in such a casual way. I hope he has enough capacity for emotion to feel properly brought low when the Bad Kids kick his ass. 

And I’m very ready to see all the rest of the Bad Kids [Edit: Just Realized I never finished this thought. All I was gonna say was I’m excited to see the rest of the Bad Kids torn up/angry/determined/whatever over this. A character getting kidnapped is great for any found family story because then you get to watch everyone else move heaven and earth to try and rescue them which is very my jam.]   

Everyone calling for Fabian (particularly Riz who was like Dying-dying) and Fabian just not being able to do anything was so rough. And even rougher because, out of game, Stunned is a status condition but, in game, there’s really nothing actually stopping you. It’s not like you’re being physically held back. It’s all in your head. So Fabian knowing he can run over and help but simply not being able to is just so painful.

“Usually I drive an automatic. This is...also an automatic but it’s slightly different.” (Gorgug, zero judgement: Oh, OK.)

“You’re rich, I’m not. Help me.”

Man, D&D y’all. Can you imagine how differently this story could be going if they’d just gone straight to Falinel and not stopped in Leviathan? At the very least, Fabian’s arc would be going very differently. 

And speaking of, Fabian is still having such a rough go at it. Having another fight in two days where he was basically reduced to firing a crossbow once and retreating while his allies got smacked down must have been rough. And now he’s got to go straight into another emergency situation with basically no downtime. This isn’t gonna be good for his psyche. Maybe there’s someone at his mom’s old stomping grounds that can help him get on the road to a better headspace. Or maybe he’ll end up in a situation where he has to step up or something will die and he’ll go with option A. Or maybe Lou will sell his soul for dice powers like Allie did. Only time will tell. 

Kristen and Fabian are bagging on Gilear. The camera shifts slightly to the left and he’s standing barely 5 feet away from them. 

Also, I love the detail of Garthy’s aura around the Gold Gardens softening Fig’s deafen curse on Gilear.

Adaine blowing all her spell slots to be as annoying as possible is so on brand. Adaine is so funny to me because, on a normal day, she’s the most polite and easiest to deal with Bad Kid but she is just as prone to childish taunting or dedicating her life to making yours a living hell if given half a reason.   

Loved Ally’s callback to the “this is also a forest” metaphor from a few eps back.

Again, just to make sure no one is blindsided, we have one more episode to go before the Holiday break. I estimate they the kids probably won’t get to Adaine in that time or will just barely get to her with little time to interact (though D&D is hard to predict due to the high probability of unexpected player moves). Anyway, my point is, I’m bracing for a maddening cliffhanger between the next ep and the one after that.

Riz and Cathilda both got Nat 20s this episode. Fabian, Gorgug, and Adaine all got Nat 1s (1 apiece) and Brennan as I think Wicklaw got 2 Nat 1s.