#the PCs are struggling in this ep

[feelingtheaster99]

LEAVE. Why are you still talking and planning. She has JUMPED out the window and called out to arms; you do not have time to TALK.

[look-a-ghost]

i've gone through the Scott Pilgrim skeptic-to-fanatic pipeline (warp pipe?) and the trajectory was as follows:

watched the movie first and went "god why do people like this so much what the fuck am I missing"

read the comics and went "oh i guess this is what i was missing... yeah it's nice, but..."

binged tf out of Takes Off and lost my fucking mind at how good it was

I struggled a lot with my skepticism of the movie because despite me being firmly within the subcultural demographic (video games nerd who Got All The References; large fan of Edgar Wright) I could not truly bring myself to enjoy it without feeling residually icky. So honestly it weirdly felt like Takes Off was made to DIRECTLY address every single problem I had with both the movie and the comics... But in fairness to SP as a media entity, I do think that my viewing order was kind of skewed, as the movie shorthanded so much stuff and probably worked better as an encapsulation of the comics, and not so much as a full introduction to the overall story and characters (to me at least).

Within the first few minutes of the first ep of SPTO I was already feeling infinitely better about it

(MILD spoiler: what I appreciated most is that Scott actively places less emphasis on dating Knives, where I remember he was bragging more about it in both the movie and the comics, which immediately made me resent him MUCH less than I did),

so I knew for a fact the show was already moving in a smarter direction... little did I know that it would go absolutely batshit with being a fully meta, revisionist narrative to fix essentially all of the misgivings i had with the original source material, AND all while being a fucking blast to watch, no less. Hats off, a million salutes, holy jesus i don't think i've ever been cannonball converted so hard into rabidly loving a media series that i completely did not get at first...

more spoilers below to emphasize how super effective critical hit this was vs me personally

bro they even got simon pegg and nick frost to essentially be sgt. angle and pc butterman in this show like what the fuuuuuuck

even the movie didn't go this hard with the cornetto linking despite it being directed by edgar WRONG i am PERSONALLY UNDER ATTACK HSLJhbljdshbldfjh

[burr-ell]

Hi! Do you know where Taliesin said that he was struggling with his depression meds during campaign 1? I’ve seen a few people say that but I have no idea where it’s coming from.

i know for sure that taliesin talked about it broadly in this tweet. here's the screenshot:

as for when he specifically talks about it in relation to cr? that i don't know, though i'm fairly confident he's mentioned it on talks or between the sheets or another qna. evidently there was an episode of the wednesday club (a show where taliesin and some other friends of his talked comic books) where he outright said that if you want to know what being on the wrong meds is like you can go watch him in the first handful of kraghammer eps. tbh knowing that taliesin has struggled with depression puts his response to the other pcs' support of percy in a new light for me and makes me appreciate it a lot more.

(also i know a lot of people aren't keen on the orion episodes but honestly? if you can, watch them. they're much shorter than the average episodes now—the ones with long timecodes are usually that long bc they do a qna or something else at the end—and they give some neat context as to what early VM was like, and honestly at least for those first ~nine or ten eps, orion's really not that bad. plus it's where they meet kima!)

[kaylor]

as always you are so right on your opinions lmao.. cr will always have a special place in my hearth but since watching other (better) live plays and playing myself I cant sit through a single ep.. matt is great but he is almost too descriptive we dont need all of that matt please edit it down a little king, and the cast man i loved them but they are not decisive people like i feel like poking them with a stick (except travis thats my #1 rp on that table).. the most recent cr thing I watched was calamity and thats kinda cause brennan is great and the cast was stellar abria, lou travis! sam when he is actually playing of others <3 but idk it feels sad like I have outgrown them.. :/

anyway love your mind as always and what is your fave d20 season if you dont mind sharing? I have only watched A Court of Fey & Flowers and I loved it.. but I have no idea what to watch next hehe

calamity was SOOOOOO GOOD you're so right. brennan really rocked up at critrole HQ, showed everyone how it's done, killed 5/6 PCs and ruined the rest of CR forever because nothing will ever be that good ever again. the sexiest table we've ever seen. "this is going to be a to whom it may concern - i cast fireball" BITCH!!!!!!

i think campaign 3 would have really benefited from a more elaborate or expansive session zero because the vision matt has for the campaign does NOT align with the characters at all. it doesn't seem like they're on the same page at all. the mighty nein worked because they were all random people, they all had something unresolved or mysterious in their past, they all had secrets, and matt gave them a huge playground for them to develop those characters with plenty of scattered points of interest for them to choose. and even though it was just as chaotic as C3, it worked because they weren't on the clock.

i don't want to use the R word but bells hells are being railroaded into this predathos plot and NONE of them had ANY relationship with the gods, so it feels really unnatural for any of them to really pursue this beyond feeling like they should. orym and imogen have stronger motivations but orym is extremely passive and imogen just sits and whimpers about it making absolutely no decisions. it's very frustrating as a viewer and if i were DMing this i would be so frustrated with such indecisive players. but i think it's also on matt for inundating them with lore and plot so early on. all in all it's just not executed very well and it's disappointing.

oooh my fav d20 season i think is a court of fey and flowers or a crown of candy (not super keen on the ending, but i would have to rewatch and have a good think about what i would have done instead..). acofaf was just incredible, hats off to aabria for making me so invested in a fae bridgerton. WAIT ALSO MENTOPOLIS. i have never laughed so hard in my life. mike trapp and hank green were a DELIGHT. just absolutely incredible character choices all around. really enjoying fantasy high junior year so far, which is nice because sophomore year was a bit of a slog i'm ngl, probably because it was live and therefore unedited but i struggled sometimes to keep focused. junior year is fucking crisp though, everyone is on top form ❤️

[grigori77]

Critical Role, Campaign 3 Episode 66

Stray Gods? Ooooh ... yeah, that does look pretty cool. And yeah, shout-out indeed to our own girls on board! And ... oh boy, here we go ... Sam's singing ... great ... and it's bloody awful as always ... that's it, Sam, make my ears bleed ...

Yes, last Candela Obscura ep coming SOON ... but I heard it's only the FIRST story, apparently there are more on the way?

Oh sweet, Daggerheart? Cool. Can't wait ...

And so we begin. Again. And I'm like STUPID excited about this one ...

Yay! Zephrah! Sweet! I've missed this place ...

And yes, Orym is home ... I'm so happy for our boy ... super nostalgia for him ...

Wow, that's a SHIT roll for Chetney's sense of smell, Travis ...

Strength Save? Already? Gah ... roll good, guys ...

It fucken wimdy ... and now we're losing THREE OF OUR PEOPLE!!! AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!

Oh, so it's just a welcoming committee? Sort of?

Yes! Hello Orym, yes, he's a welcome defuser of tension, definitely.

Maeve? Half-elf? Wait ... HIS SISTER?!!! Really? Awesome! Awwwww ... hello, cutie! :3

Take forms? Oh, so she's a druid? Cool! I mean yeah, of course she is, but still ... COOL!!!

There's a Nexus close? Crap ...

Whoa ... Maeve was AT THE BATTLE!!! Okay then ... and now it's all fucken CRAZY ... yeah, it would be ...

No communication with Whitestone? Crap ... but not unexpected ... and folk got scattered? Again, not a surprise ...

YOUR mom ... oh, so she was WILL's sister ... yeah, I get it. But slso awwww ...

No, I'm ahead of you, FCG. They're IN-LAWS.

Yeah, he was in love, very much ... and my heart's breaking all over again just remembering ...

Matt once again reminding us that Zephrah is one of the most beautiful places in all of Exandria ...

Maeve (regarding Laudna): "Is that her? She looks cooler than I thought." Awwwww ... :3

More reunions ... yeah ... awkward ... but yeah, hello Leeta ...

Red dragon? Thordak, yeah ... cool ... Nice trip down Campaign 1 memory lane ...

KEYLETH!!! Yay!

FCG tries to bow and just faceplants cuz he ain't got knees ...

Ouch ... that's gotta hurt ... that looks NASTY ...

Oh yeah! THE Staff! Nice!

Yup, just as we thought, it's that nasty shit poison again ... a remedy? Blue Perennium flower? Oh boy ... no, not LIKE THAT!!! Matt is irritated by the smutty jokes that now ensue and I don't blame him ... oh, how many PCs is he gonna kill for this? XD

So this COULD heal her? Oh yes ... so ... quest time again, maybe?

It grows in places marked by strife? Hmmmm ...

So there are THREE others hurt like her? Two dozen more dead? Ouch ...

The last thing SHE saw ... yeah, OF COURSE it was Vax ... this is gonna be hurting her WAY worse than her wounds ...

The white light? Hmmm ... so what, Illianna might have sent them all away to SAVE THEM? Interesting ...

Ah yes ... so here we go ... revealing Imogen's connection indeed ... Keyleth: "But you're here to help?" Oh yes ...

So the Ruby Vanguard are OPENLY recruiting now? That can't be good ...

Orym: "I've been struggling with the blood in my eye for weeks now. I've never been so fucking angry!" Oof ...

Keyleth: "Sometimes it's just what you need, so don't let go of that anger. Learn how to use it."

Orym: "I promise you I'll give you every last breath to make this right."

Keyleth: "Together we'll rain the fury of every power in Exandria down on these ... shitheads."

Get hold of the toxin, reverse engineer an antidote? Smart, Chetney, smart.

Yeah, Keyleth never really had that much to do with the gods, generally.

"The Ascension and the Sealing". Oh yeah ... so cool ...

Letting the Voice of the Tempest rest, then ...

Laudna: "We dropped the airship." Leeta: "That was you? That was GREAT!!!" Yeah ... :3

Ah yes, finding out what happened after they all got shunted away at last ...

27 ... Whispers! Yay! What's Leeta hiding, Fearne?

Wait, MOLES? Really? Like another Bor'Dor situation? Hmmmm ...

Thollo? Okay ...

The Scattered War of Gwessar? Intriguing ... so the Grey Valley is ... a creepy, fucked up place ... sounds about right. And apparently this is the SAFEST place for them go look for the flower? Ye gods ...

Liam: "We all know what you WANT to hear, Travis Willingham." XD

The Hishari helmet? Intriguing ... oh, here we go, then ... so Ashton COULD finally get some answers after this? Cool ...

So, going to meet Orym's mum ... sweet ...

Home sweet home! Cottagecore? Cute! :3

Awwwwwwwww ... she's the sweetest mum ever, hi Alma! Oh yeah, she DOES know Fearne already. And she's definitely fascinated by FCG ...

Oh yeah, Laudna does love her some biscuits ...

Oh, intriguing, the possibility that Chetney might hit on Alma ... XD

Such a lovely cosy place, I love it ...

Muffins? Really? Cool ...

No stealing stuff, Fearne. "I would never steal from a mother." Okay then ...

Yum! Freshly baked goodies! Yay!

Alma: "I worry about you, Orym. You carry a lot of weight on your face."

Whoa ... the Ashari have means to delay births to prevent babies from becoming Ruidusborn? Intriguing ...

Alma:"Just don't be a hero if you don't have to." Orym: "I just do what I have to, mom."

So Orym was a truly TINY baby? I mean OF COURSE he would have been ... awwww, the cavalcade of baby memento-based embarrassment for Orym, I love it ... XD

Recipes to go for FCG? Adorable ...

Chetney's carved a little wooden Orym for her? That's so cute ... is this Chet flirting? Wait ... Orym ACTUALLY HAD C-POP toys when he was little? Oh my gods ...

Orym: "Did you invent Optimus Prime?" Chetney: "I killed him, too." LOL

FCG trying to work out if Orym looks a little like Chetney ... 4 perception roll? Yeah ...

To Torth's shop for fresh armour, now ...

Sage and herbs in the metal AS IT'S BEING TEMPERED?!!! Intriguing ...

Old Fanny Z? Hmmmm ...

Oh, this place looks FASCINATING ... oh, and Fanny is too ... wow ... oh yeah, she is just FABULOUS, definitely ... XD

Fanny: "Anti-hero chic?" Oh yes ... that's perfect Ashton, definitely ...

Marisha: "Whitestone's for lovers, Zephrah's for fuckers." LOL

Meanwhile Laudna's flying Pate on a string like a kite. Pate: "Hey, there's a big hawk up here, circling! I think he wants to be friends!" O.O

Big-ass backpack? Okay ... so they need to fill THIS with the flowers ...

Oh boy ... a shit ton of healing potions ... NEVER a good sign of things to come ...

Whoa ... so Orym's fighting style is like THE regimental style of Zephrah? That's so cool ...

Maeve can do the tree portal thing too? That's so cool!

Matt: "And we're gonna go to break!"

Oh, so they're actually Blue Perennum flowers? Ah ... so basically Matt dug his own grave there ...

Liam: "I'm just glad we don't have to find some Taintweed." Snort ...

Always nice to get to see a pair of Jesters drawing little cartoon dicks in the air ... XD

Back to the game ... and the Grey Valley ... hmmmmm ...

The smell of ash and BURNED FAT?!!! That's not, like, foreboding at all ...

The whole place is COMPLETELY monochrome ... fascinating ... in a really creepy way ...

Perception check for blue flowers ... 30? Fucking hell Orym ... no joy, though. Not here ...

FCG doing a Divination spell on the inside of Orym's shield to find the way from the Changebringer ... oh ... is it working? Intriguing ... cool, another genuine divine visitation ... ooooooh ... and a marker? Cool ... go west, young man!

Chetney trying to get a read on the burned fat smell ... what ... a Religion check? Hmmmm ... oh, it's a smell of demons? Oh shit ... not great ...

Hello again, Pate ... he turns invisible and goes looking for possible demons and blue flowers ...

Single file, to hide their numbers ... and Pass Without A Trace? Okay ... sneaky sneaky ...

Lightning split trees? Yeesh ...

Bits of tarnished metal? Hmmmm ... that's suspicious ... not fresh, at least, but ...

So it's a helmet ... with a skull still in it? Not good ...

Nothing inherently fancy about any of it ...

Pate sees fuck all ... with a Nat 1 ... oof ...

FCG casts Death Ward on Orym in order to make sure they can get him back to his mum ...

Something's flying in ... TWO somethings, in fact ... bug and black ... black SMOKE?!!! Oh hell ... they don't spot thd party, but ... creepy ...

Chetney climbing a big rock to get a look round ...

Smells like a volcano? Lovely ... that's not a good sign ... and part of the forest is smoking ... great ...

Everybody's doing Pate impressions while Matt looks stuff up ... it's adorable. XD

Oh, the TREES are smoking? Hmmmm ...

FCG casts Owl's Wisdom on Fearne? Intriguing ...

Orange glow under the tree bark? Hmmmm ... FCG casts Detect Thoughts ... nothing in particular ...

Some kind of potential damage site? Hmmmm ...

An ash MARSH?!!! Seriously? Urgh ... hard going now ... no surprise there ...

Back onto solid ground without incident ... phew ... or not ... some kind of ancient battlefield now ... lovely ...

Something got badly charred here ... and there's some kind of dark crater? Hmmm ... AND there are flowers ... okay ... is it a trap?

Bollocks ... turns out Pate is colourblind ... THAT'S not exactly useful for finding the flowers ...

Pate land on the bush ... and falls into it. "They're thorny!"

Chetney goes in to try and see what's what ... and starts doing an English accent when he finds himself interacting with Pate.

So THESE are the flowers ... BINGO!!! Chetney starts cutting blooms, also casts Hunter's Bane just in case ... and he gets a little prickle of SOMETHING ... hmmmm ...

Oh fuck ... some of the bodies start moving ... great, it's undead time ... and there's something else there too ...

Okay, this thing definitely SOUNDS like a demon ...

Chetney pretends he doesn't actually see this thing znd starts to nonchalantly walk away ... yeah, this thing ain't convinced at all ...

Oh yeah ... "Roll initiative." HERE WE GO!!!

Battlemap time! Wow, that shit is BLEAK!!!

Top of the round, then ...

Here come the undead! Aaaaaaaah! Chetney's under attack ... crap, and he is now GRAPPLED ... oh shit, they're Ashari! It's some of the missing warriors!

Chetney: "Nuke us!" FCG: "I'm a healer! I don't Nuke!" Chetney: "Bring the falling fire!"

FCG casts Compulsion and they both FAIL!!! Now they're dragging Chetney through the nasty ashen mud ...

Imogen's up ... Laura has a very dubious plan ... Watery Sphere? Interesting ... she tries it on the demon ... a strength save? 17 plus more ... nuts ... then she uses her Telekinetic Shove to try snd free Chetney ... nope, it's like FREAKISHLY strong ...

The demon just SINKS INTO THE GROUND ... andnow it's FUCKING CLOSE to them all ... CRAAAAAAAP!!! A Soul Rend Vortex? WHAT THE FUCK?!!!

38 points of Necrotic damage to Orym and FCG, 19 to Fearne ... ouch!

Ashton RAGES!!! YEAH!!! Yeah, he's making some crazy gravitational wave as he charges the thing ... Density Well? So cool ... BOOM!!! 18 points of bludgeoning damage AND it's knocked prone ... AND some fire damage? 8 points! Nice .. but it's fiendish, so not yhat much of zn effect ... another attack ... another 19 points of damage because it's BIGGER than he is? Awesome ...

Orym performs a Disarming Attack to free Chetney ... yes! Success! AND 11 damage on the undead! Second hit ... only 8 points more? Not so good ...

Oh man ... Orym KNEW this guy? Crap ...

Chetney wolfs out ... he charges and while taking damage from the undead (8 Necrotic) as he moves away, inflicts LESS damage on the demon within ice attack than he'd like ... hmmm ... how CAN they kill this thing?

Fearne speaks Infernal? Of course she does ... "Stop it!" And here comes Mister ...

Laudna casts Mirror Image on herself, then ... oh man, that is HORRIFYING ... oh! Hey! It's the wolf! Laura is DEEPLY impressed! Matt: "That's your girlfriend!"

Here we go ... the wolf attacks the demon ... 14 piercing damage! Nice!

Oh crap ... now there are creepy shadow wraiths coming out of the marsh... great ...

A TOTAL MISS on Imogen! Phew ... now Ashton ... Erratic Defence? What is THAT?!!! Cuts it down to 11 points of Necrotic damage, but Fearne's fancy aura softens it ... now he's just chucking one of the wraiths around ...

An attack on FCG ... but Silvery Barbs from Laudna AND Fearne's spell saves the day AGAIN!!!

Undead longbow attack? Really? Both miss, though ... but the other one hits Orym with its sword ... crap!

Orym strikes back HARD!!! 15 points of damage! Nice ...

Spiritual Weapon from FCG ... a chainsaw? Really? Crazy ... attack on the undead! 7 points of radiant damage? Hmmm ... not THAT impressive ...

Imogen tries to get the Watery Sphere to actually DO SOMETHING this time ... okay, that's more like it ... ooh ... 4th Level Lightning Bolt AND it's Quickened by Ashton? Wow ... double hit INCLUDING the demon ... okay ... NINE D6 OF DAMAGE?!!! Fucking hell ... 24 points ... wow ...

Demon boy VANISHES again and reappears in front of Fearne? NO!!! Shit ... 10 slashing damage PLUS 13 Necrotic? Oof ... second attack CRITS ... 13 slashing and 21 Necrotic? AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!! Damn, that hurts ...

Soul Rend? Crap ... EVERYBODY but FCG has to save ... oh man, this is all round SO BAD ... pain all round, but SOMEHOW Fearne still maintains her concentration ...

Ashton hits HARD on one of the wraiths ... POW!!!

Orym jumps over Mister and charges in to pull Bait and Switch on Fearne, then attacks the demon! POW!!! 18 points of damage all round! Oh shit ... another Ashari inside the demon? Not good ...

Chetney tries to just JUMP attack the demon ... in the end just GRAPPLES it ... okay ... second attack then ... still not that heavy with the ice damage ... hmmm ...

Fearne casts Daylight right on its chest ... oh shit! Oh, and that HURTS IT BAD!!! Nice! AND it repels EVERYTHING!!! Okay, then!

Mister chucks some flaming shit! XD 7 points of damage ... meh ...

FORM OF DREAD!!! YES!!! Always awesome ... Laudna sends Pate into the Watery Sphere and then twins a Shocking Grasp through him ... NAT 20!!! Oh shit! Pate: "Special delivery!" She electrocutes the guy ... and gets the HDYWTDT!!! Nice ... oh shit ... TWO kills? Way to go, dead girl!

Now the wolf attacks the demon again ... 11 damage! Sweet!

Undead attack on Fearne! Crap ... Laudna casts Silvery Barbs, but it still hits ... 12 slashing damage! Double crap ... and she's unconscious! NO!!!

FCG casts Mass Cure Wounds! Phew! 16 points all round! Nice! Fearne's back up!

Buzzsaw attack from FCG! Oh, Divine Strike? No ... ALMOST killed that zombie ...

Imogen chucks a 4th Level Witchbolt at the demon ... 42 points of damage ... and she gets the HDYWTDT!!! YESSSSSSS!!! Oh yeah, she full on LIGHTS THIS FUCKER UP!!! Oh yeah, the demon is TOAST.

For the sake of brevity, Matt lets the rest of the thralls die ... yeah, seems fitting ...

Orym finds a fading spirit within the demon's body ... oh man ... it's tragic, but bittersweet ... at least he gets to put her to rest in the end.

Ah, they at least found enough flowers before they died to fill a 3rd of the satchel ... cool. Meanwhile Orym's looking for personal effects, then performs last rites in the Ashari manner.

Moody, mournful wind ... hmmm ...

Matt: "And that's where we're gonna end the night."

All round, EVERYBODY is in awe of Ashley saving the day so it wasn't a TPK ...

[intertexts]

GMORNING !!!!! u know what time it is

EPISODE 8 TRIVIA:

- the big monster they fought in the beginning was called a Crawling Apocalypse which looks like this. terrifying !!!

- bizly really liked that william banished it. he was originally not gonna let him do that but then "i realized your character can do so little and that was cool so i said fuck it" we love william pity points he is such a loser and he rolls so terribly <3

- they start talking about one piece because grizzlys saying things abt how certain parts of dakota are inspired by luffy and bizly goes "ive never watched anime" which is the biggest lie in the world

- grizzly: "yknow we were about an hour into the episode before i realized wow i havent done anything productive yet"

condi: "you just hit on vyncents mom for like 20 minutes!!!!"

- and then they start talking about how dakota and chip (bizlys pc from riptide) would either be best friends or hate each other which is really funny bc there are now MULTIPLE what if crossover episodes where they meet and interact and thats exactly the dynamic . i love them

- condi wasnt expecting his dad to be dead, he thought theyd have to fight him

- he kind of hesitated taking the sword !! vyncent doesnt really know how to feel about using something that belonged to his father

- he wasnt entirely Present for the part where his dad betrayed the party, he was sort of fading in and out of consciousness so theres a chance he didnt actually get the full picture. condi knows this out of character and vyncent knows it in the back of his mind somewhere that his dad might not actually be fully evil but hes too angry to come to terms with that yet

- hes struggling a lot with the fact that his mom.doesnt know about the betrayal. he doesnt want to tell her because "its not his fathers pride at stake, its his mother's memory of him" and that makes me so . :(

- THE GREATS!!!!!!!! THE GREATS ARE HERE i love the greats. surely nothing bad is happening to them

- they have a couple theories as to whats going on with the greats:

-- condi: theyre in this state because vyncent took too long getting them back here out of his head

-- condi: they were killed when they got transported to the other world and there was no way to get them back completely

-- charlie: something happened in the time where vyncent was transported to prime and the greats had died, so someone did something to keep them alive by putting them in his head. maybe they could only be kept alive by being in vyncents head

- grizzly tries to insight check bizly irl to see if any of their theories are close so far. this does not work . he rolled a 17 btw

- none of them trust minerva they think she might be secretly working with the lich. bizly defends her by saying "shes also in the middle of basically an apocalypse i think shes allowed to be a little mean to you"

- le frog is the only french person ever. this is brought up with NO context no explanation

- bizly is sharing some of the thumbnail art from youtube because this was right around the time the first few episodes were being put up publically !! most of them are just the same as the official refs but the most important one is le frog bc im not actually sure if youve seen his offical design yet . also tide used to be white. we dont have to talk about white tide

- bizly says pd feels more like a DC comic than a Marvel comic. hes right about this

- charlie starts talking about marissa meyer books and this is important 2 me because the lunar chronicles was an extremely formative piece of media for me . she apparently has a book called renegades thats superhero themed and i have not read it yet but i put it on my list specifically because of this. wahoo!

tgis is SUCH good trivia for this ep thank u dude... ouagh. really solid meal here. i love these last couple episodes so much.. there's so much fun stuff happening here i'm enjoying all of the greats stuff & getting like a solid Vyncent Moment for a while.

i LOVE the william pity points its great! it WAS cool as fuck!! also i gain +5 hp every time a gm goes "who give a shit if this isn't technically how the game mechanics should work, it's fun for everyone at the table & makes for something cool and makes sense narratively."

that being said. i DID take SO MUCH PSYCHIC DAMAGE from how long dakota spent hitting on his fucking mom. Please. Please king !!! sob.

I ALSO WAS EXPECTING THEM TO FIGHT VYN'S DAD???? still not unconvinced that some lich undead bullshit isn't going to happen with that. god i'm so invested in figuring out what HAPPENED there... i love this type of murder mystery situation. & i also was genuinely unsure if he would take the sword or not!! really kind of an ohhh shit! moment when he did. imo. vyncent virion sol i love u.... also it's still INCREDIBLY funny 2 me that he's still in his normal clothes. i have not forgotten that he is just doin his fantasy bullshit thing in the just some guy drip. (<- i might have forgotten something but i've been assuming they no longer have/wear Official Hero Drip since they're no longer really sanctioned or on great terms w/ them? also i've been assuming that the episode-specific clothes & shit isn't really permanent... now that im thinking about it though please tell me wiwi hardcore blue flame black leather kickass spiky biker jacket remains. it's too cool for him. but. still.)

I LOVE THE GREATS SO MUCH... i hope nothing permanently bad happens to them :( i like them so dearly..... you know they r really solid folks because they spent a YEAR and change living in a teenager's brain & came out of the experience still bein so nice 2 him.... augh. also in general big fan of the system-adjacent bullshit :] i love it when theres. guy with guys in his head. etc. will b sad ab their departure but i hope they r OKAY and return 2 Being Alive & shit!! nervous laughter. also god i can't wait to find out what Actually Happened with them. hhrhrghghgghh.

THIS IS SO TRUE ALSO???? free my girl minerva she did nothing but have Literally Normal Reactions to TERRIBLE things happening!!!

I DON'T LIKE THAT LEFROG FACT. it raises the question of is he actually even french or like, is there even a point of reference for his behavior. like. What is going on there. Horrifying thank you!!!! also man this entire degree im working on would be useless! well. maybe prime quebec exists. somehow. independently of a hypothetical europe. HIS DESIGN IS SO FUN BTW. its so cute.. i WAS kind of imagining a mutant Big Real Fucking Frog situation but i think this is a lot more reasonable. also literally ignoring white tide I Do Not See it. It Does Not Exist.

ALSO. NOT GOING TO START TALKING AB COMICS FOR EVEN MORE PARAGRAPHS. BUT. he is so so so right. (<- dc comics guy with Opinions. well. technically im not even much of a dc guy im just a vertigo guy. but. still.) hghghghbhgh.

[vethbrenatto]

okay curious about your thoughts on this observation: i feel like most of the people who have a lot of strongly negative feelings about the last ep (not people who are sad; people who are unhappy with how it was handled) are people who really enjoyed c2, but are bouncing off c3 a bit. i only say this as someone who struggled a lot with the narrative and aesthetic changes between c1 + c2 - i never connected with the m9 - and i remember always having pretty harsh reactions to stressful situations which always boiled down to some version of, 'this isn't how vox machina (or the table) would have handled this'. on the other end of the spectrum, I clicked immediately with bell's hells within the first ep. i found myself really enjoying the fight last night, and getting caught up in the dynamics and stress of combat.

I understand where you're coming from, but I'm going to have to disagree.

I know the phenomenon you're talking about and it's certainly real- and it goes both ways. I've seen BH truthers (who a lot of the time tend to VM fans, but not always) who say that the cast is finally having fun after M9 was such a downer. I've seen M9 truthers who say that the BH campaign is a drag and they can't connect with the characters and the plot is going nowhere. Secondhand, I've heard of the VM-->M9 pipeline where people at the time couldn't connect to the M9 because they were too close to VM. I think that exists in just about every possible configuration.

But I don't think that is this. The frustrations I've seen have ranged a lot, but the central focus is tending to be around Matt's handling of the encounter. It has nothing to do with the characters or their actions. It's not about how BH responded- because they couldn't have responded much better than they did. People don't like the level of brutality Matt used with Otohan (like killing off a character with legendary actions) and a feeling of the fight being predetermined or unwinnable. (More genuinely, some people just don't like PC death, but those aren't the people I'm talking about.) That to me feels extremely unconnected to the Hells themselves but to a very specific DM-thing, if that makes sense.

[nimblelizard]

I genuinely enjoyed seeing everyone's reactions. Imma say a few words below the cut!

Starting off hot with Fuego, omg is she one of my favorites to watch when things go down. Even though she is about the same age as Rey and Serif she seems so much more interested in all the possibilities she has as a kindred. Everyday she is learning something new she can do or how she can use her power and Aabria does a phenomenal job with showing and not telling. Her body language is *chefs kiss* I could go on forever about how talented Aabria is but I alas that's not why you're here. Not only that but the realization with Rey and how she wants to tame that type of feral power was so eye opening to knowing now what Fuego is looking for as a kindred. It's a great way to see that she is still a ventrue at heart even if she disagrees with a lot of people in power.

Now Isaac, let me just said ALEX WARD YOU ARE DOING SO GOOD. I love love love the attitude that this character has towards the party. He has been around long enough to not allow them to try and push him around when they are in the wrong. But he is also very good at not coddling them like in labn the coterie had to do with Annabelle. He wants them to learn the hard way essentially and it's such a good perspective to see. It is hard to not step in as a player when you think something could go poorly for another pc but seeing him just sit there and watch things transpire takes a lot of willpower that I admire quite a bit! Not only that but Alex has been coming in with some great lines so far this season! I can not wait for him to unravel a bit more, it's so entertaining to see a kindred lose their cool.

Oh Rey. I love you and your poor choices <3 BUT IM SO HAPPY HE WENT INTO THE PIT OKAY? I absolutely love to see the more physical struggle that he has with his Beast compared to Fuego and her mental struggle. Every ep he has to fight it back and I love that he is still trying to figure it out. It was a one time deal of "oh it will never happen again I will control myself" no! He. Is. Struggling. And that's so important for pc development! You can't always win! I'm so glad Joey is playing Rey this way. It gives the character so much more dimension. Plus who doesn't love an impulsive character? They are usually the ones who help push the plot forward. Can't always talk pretty and get things moving. (But also that frenzy was hella hot I won't lie)

Now Serif is the one I am honestly most interested about when it comes to her home life and sire. She obviously has a lot of issues with free will (especially since her mom seems to be a ghoul) and it comes across so well in Mayanna's acting. Not only that but removing herself from situations that she dislikes or upset her is so good! It's nice to see a character who knows that making a big deal about you being upset in the heat of the moment won't fix the problem. She needs to blow off steam and redirect her feelings until she can talk about it more freely. I need need need a one on one conversation with her and Isaac. I think they have more in common than they realize and could probably benefit from just talking to each other about what has happened so far. Anyways, I am so excited to see where she goes, because as of right now I love her! (Not only that she seems to be the one making connections more on a lower level than the others which is such a plus. Get those thin bloods on your side girl!)

[serjn]

BRO I COMPLETELY FORGOT ABT HOW MUCH HE DIDNT LET THE PLAYERS GOOF BUT AAAAAA i remember being sooo annoyed with that shit

also literally any and all interactions with orianna (or just any female character for that matter) was literally Not it. lmao. like one of the early episodes the stupid goblin (i forgot his name) remarks how he wants to basically sa orianna while shes unconscious and its just??? treated as a joke??? like,,,,,

NO EXACTLY. oriana deserved so much better!!!!! i think she and velrissa should kiss :3

ugh its so frustrating to watch the pcs struggle to make ANY progress because of jared’s stupid high dc checks. i’ve noticed that they come up with super cool ideas that fail instantly because they have to pass multiple check with flying colors.

condi commented during a fight that it was the third time sylnaan had been unconscious for the whole battle - that’s just bad dming!! the point of d&d is for your players to play the game!!!!

i’m (somehow) on ep 20 right now, which is right after sylnaan dies. which! that whole scene was so confusing?? i thought obnok’shai was gonna revive sylnaan or his creepy venom shit was gonna bring him back??? NOTHING. which!! okay! glad condi is playing sylnaan’s character and refusing the possession! but jared could’ve made sylnaan get forcefully taken over?? and why is obnok’shai not doing shit when i’m sure he’d love to take advantage of br’aad??

the part w jared roleplaying events that happened at different times happening simultaneously was dogshit too. and now br’aad is on some bs sidequest where he SOMEHOW has to get thousands of gold in diamonds within ten days while being hunted down by the king??

at this point, just let sylnaan die for gods sake. don’t get me wrong i LOVE sylnaan and the vengolor brother’s dynamic as a whole. but in other campaigns that had pc death early on, i.e. critical role, the dm didn’t send the rest of the party on bullshit impossible sidequests to bring the pc back. hell, the dm didn’t even give the player a chance to revive themselves with some consequences. condi had a chance to bring sylnaan back, and he knew that his character would refuse the possession, SO THATS WHAT HE DID.

at this point i’m absolutely rambling. but jesus dude this is reminding me of the feywild arc of riptide. as a wise tumblr user once said, your d&d campaign is not the onepiece you think it is!!! it’s ridiculously hard for players to keep track of so many sideplots, let alone your audiance!!

[veryutils]

VeryUtils EMF to Vector Converter Command Line Software can be used to convert from EMF and WMF Metafile files to PDF, Postscript, EPS, SVG, SWF, XPS, HPGL, PCL, TIFF, JPG, BMP, PNG, GIF, etc. formats.

VeryUtils EMF to Vector Converter Command Line Software can be used to convert from EMF and WMF Metafile files to PDF, Postscript, EPS, SVG, SWF, XPS, HPGL, PCL, TIFF, JPG, BMP, PNG, GIF, etc. formats.

Are you tired of struggling with incompatible file formats and the loss of vector and text information during conversions? Look no further! VeryUtils EMF to Vector Converter (EMF2Vector) is your comprehensive solution for converting enhanced metafiles (EMF) and Windows metafiles (WMF) into a wide array of vector and raster formats while preserving their original quality. Let's dive deep into the features and benefits of this versatile software.

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[micah-xiii]

a life update. (t.w. mental health, body dysmorphia)

i haven't posted anything on here in a minute. not sure if imma be posting frequently on here but in the meantime, i guess i can tell you all where i've been since i've been gone:

i'm 23 now. still kinda blows my mind how time just goes by so fast haha.

i work in retail now after 5 years of working in fast food (thank god lmao). i swear, i thought i was gonna be working in fast food for the rest of my life but finally, i found an opportunity where i'm actually working with the right people and that i'm being treated like a human being there???

i go by he/they pronouns and it took me awhile to be comfortable with that change tbh. the main reason why i wanted to make that change was bc i just see myself as a human being and that's it. i always hated it whenever i feel the pressure of being a certain way in order to be called 'a man' even though i feel comfortable with my male counterparts but at the end of the day, i'm just micah. and that should be that imo haha.

i'm FINALLY coming out with a debut EP under the name Micah XIII which is super exciting for me! it's called 'Time of Day' and the lead single for the EP is out and it would rly mean a lot if u guys share it and listen to it. here's the pre-order link for the EP and here's the link where you can stream the lead single on anywhere u stream ur music :) it's about my personal struggles including lack of self-worth, imposter syndrome, and my lack of trust within people while also talking about romance every now and then. I'm super proud of this project and I hope that this can relate to you guys and that you enjoy this project once it comes out!

i'm getting back into gaming!! i finally got my first ever custom PC built that I've set up with the help of my family and I'm so glad I finally get to play all the games I've wanted to try for the longest time. i've been playing a lot of overwatch and i have never been so obsessed with a game in a long time (and if ur curious, sojourn is my main lol). i also have been playing a lot of valorant and honestly, it's so annoying trying to level up like i'm trying to get fade in hopes i can make her my main but like it rly do be hard out here lmao.

i've been a LOT better mentally. like, a LOT. when i first started using tumblr, i was so depressed and insecure. i would always vent about wanting to be in a relationship so bad, how i feel like i don't amount to anyone or anything, and that I will always be stagnant in life. and now that i've been taking my mental health more seriously, i've made some life changes that i'm honestly pretty proud of.

i've been going to the gym for a year and 7-8 months so that i can feel more comfortable with my body and to put more focus on my physical health (and my mental health, of course).

i've also been going to therapy!!! i was talking to one therapist during the beginning of 2021 for about a year and then he had to leave since he was going to study abroad and since then, i've been seeing a different therapist and i like him a lot more if i have to be quite honest haha. i feel like he's very interactive and i also like his personality a lot more and also asks really interesting questions no matter how many tangents I get into.

i've also took a step back in venting to people as well as interacting with artists within the music space since it was a very huge habit of me to vent and tr*uma dump without asking the other person if it's okay which i've definitely learned over time for sure.

do i still have bad days? hell yeah, of course. who doesn't? but i'm very grateful i'm at a point in my life where i can take a step back and realize that it isn't the end of the world since i've been in these situations before. i never would have thought i'd be in a place where i've gained such clarity in my life and i'm so glad i've grown since then. i'm super excited for what's to come in the future and i hope to share more content (maybe even more music haha) with you guys in the near future ;)

with love: - XIII

[sounmashnews]

[ad_1] A Nvidia emblem is seen on the corporate's constructing at an business park on February 7, 2019 in Tianjin, China.VCG | Visual China Group | Getty ImagesCheck out the businesses making headlines in noon buying and selling.Nvidia — Nvidia's inventory sank 7.7% amid news that the government is restricting the sale of some of its chips to China. Shares of Advanced Micro Devices, which was additionally ordered to cease promoting synthetic intelligence chips to China, fell 6%. Micron Technology misplaced greater than 1%. Broadcom dropped greater than 2%, and Qualcomm slid 4%.associated investing informationDaiwa downgrades Nvidia, says valuation is still too high given the weak economyBed Bath & Beyond — Shares of residence retailer and meme inventory fell 8.6% noon after a handful of analysts mentioned its turnaround plan, introduced Wednesday, isn't enough to fix its struggling business. Raymond James downgraded the stock Thursday, saying new financing and company plans to shut shops and lay off staff "only kicks the can down the road." Hormel Foods — Shares of Hormel dropped 6.5% after the corporate lowered its earnings outlook for the 12 months. The maker of Spam and Skippy, amongst others, dropped its EPS steering to a variety of $1.78 - $1.85 from $1.87 - $1.97. CEO Jim Snee cited elevated price inflation as an element, however mentioned the pressures are transient and prone to subside over the approaching quarters.Okta — Okta shares cratered 33.7% regardless of a high and backside line beat within the current quarter. A slew of Wall Street banks downgraded shares of the cybersecurity software program firm, citing troubles because it integrates Auth0, which it acquired final 12 months.HP — Shares of the PC maker fell 1.8% as Loop Capital downgraded the stock to a hold rating from buy. The Wall Street agency cited probably softening industrial PC demand and the necessity for traders to evaluate the corporate's pending transformation plan. Earlier this week, HP reported a income miss amid a slowdown in spending on electronics.Campbell Soup — Campbell Soup misplaced 2% after sharing outcomes that fell according to Wall Street's expectations within the current quarter. The firm mentioned it expects continued demand for its merchandise as inflation stays elevated.Five Below — Shares of the worth retailer rose 6.3% even after earnings and income for the current quarter fell in need of Wall Street's expectations. Five Below additionally issued weak steering for the third quarter and the complete 12 months.MongoDB — MongoDB's inventory shed 25.3% after the cloud computing firm mentioned it expects a wider-than-expected loss within the third quarter. The firm beat Wall Street's high and backside line expectations and shared robust income steering.Nutanix — Nutanix's inventory soared 29% following a income beat within the current quarter. The firm additionally shared a smaller-than-expected loss and shared robust steering.Ciena Corporation – Shares of telecommunications firm Ciena Corporation slipped 10.4% Thursday after it reported quarterly earnings that missed Wall Street expectations. The firm disillusioned on each the highest and backside traces. The agency mentioned that whereas it is seeing robust buyer demand, part shortages have affected gross sales.Signet Jewelers — Shares of the jewellery retailer sank 12% regardless of better-than-expected earnings within the current quarter. Comparable retailer gross sales have been down greater than anticipated.Lands' End — The attire inventory slid 15.3% regardless of the corporate posting a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss and income that beat expectations. It got here as Lands' End lower its steering for the complete 12 months because it grapples with ongoing provide chain points.Pure Storage — Shares of Pure Storage traded 2.6% decrease regardless of a second-quarter high and backside line beat. The firm additionally shared robust income steering for the third quarter and full 12 months.

— CNBC's Michelle Fox, Yun Li, Carmen Reinicke and Tanaya Macheel contributed reporting. [ad_2] Source link

[trcelyneart]

OBAN Star Racers 15th Anniversary

Hi fellow Oban fans!

As I said in a previous post, today was the celebration of Oban’s 15th anniversary, which was held in Paris in a little cinema. It was obviously hosted by Savin Yeatman-Eiffel himself, as well as Stanislas Brunet who worked on the mecha and background designs.

So it went like this: Savin made a presentation about the series in itself, how the idea came to be, the first sketches made by himself and his friends, and all the struggles he and Sav! The World studios faced during the production. The hardest part was finding funds to produce the series, since making a single episode can cost up to half a millions euros.

The French VAs of Molly and Aikka were there too, and they redubbed one of the scenes live! The funniest part was that the guy who did Aikka’s voice is a tall, bearded, burly guy with the kind of voice you’d expect from a dude with that build; and yet when he did Aikka’s part I was speechless!!! Then Savin invited two people in stage to redo the dub for fun. The girl who did it had a voice that strangely sounded like Molly’s, but the poor guy who did Aikka’s part probably didn’t remember the passage well despite the subtitles and stammered a lot. But it was nice!

Savin had planned to talk about The Two Queens movie but he didn’t have the time. I asked him about the project afterwards, and he told me that he still wanted to do it, but like Oban, he had troubles funding it. By the time he pitched it, Netflix was not into funding indie projects yet. He also started working on other projects with several studios so The Two Queens had to unfortunately be put on stand-by.

And then. OH THEN. He talked about the thing we ALL wanted to know:

The Sequel

Savin explicitly asked us to not film or take pictures, so I won’t talk about it in detail. But basically there is not one, but THREE project ideas:

1) A sequel based on the picture released back in 2017 with a brand-new plot but still related to the Oban lore. He doesn’t know if the girl would be Molly or Molly’s descendant.

2) An Aikka spin-off prequel. I WAS SO HYPED.

3) A sequel where Molly takes up on Aikka’s offer to visit his planet.

He tested the waters to see which project seemed to please us the most, which was project 1 - I told him, to quote my own words “I’m team Aikka, so my hype for the second project is HELLA BIG, but I honestly won’t care I’m willing to pull out the chekbook as long as it’s Oban related” - and project 2 was rather popular but we suggested he switched media (like making a comic).

I asked him the same question I asked Thomas Romain when I met him at the Japan Expo Sud back in 2018: could we help funding it through Kickstarter for example? Unfortunately, like the original series, we’re talking about millions of euros here so we can’t help that much.

Then we moved on to the next part: VIDEO GAMES. There was a Nintendo DS game originally planned but the studio let him down at the last minute. He showed us some footage of the game which looked quite good (mid-2000s DS game relatively speaking).

He also officially announced that today was released an Oban fangame via Playstation Dreams called Oban Star Racers Dreams by Sky Isle Studios.

There’s also another game - still in its project phase - for PC which would hopefully be released in a few years.

Last but not least: if you guys follow Savin Yeatman-Eiffel on twitter, you might know that he got back the rights of Oban and has been gradually collecting the dubs that had been made (apparently the Brazilian release stopped at ep 18, which means they never got the end!!) to re-release the series as blu-ray. The said blu-ray collection will be up on Kickstarter in Frebruary 2022, with several stretch goals and packs - from the complete OST digital release to packs with original drawings and figurines - so stay tuned!

Although he knows the fandom never died, Savin hopes that we can gather new people and touch a larger public. I suggested for example to release the show on Netflix, because it will find some new public!

[kaylor]

Is campaign 3 worth watching 😭 im somewhere near ep 45 and there have just been so many arcs that do nothing for me. The stakes feel absurdly high for uhh level .. 6? and i thought it would get good at some point but if they still cant make a plan by ep 80 i dont think i care to waste my time 😭😭

yuhhhh i don't know man. the malleus key and the fallout of it is pretty dope, and idk how many spoilers you've seen so i'll leave it there. but after that it gets very boring again i can't lie.

you're so right about the high stakes!! these characters haven't had any space to breathe or grow since like episode 20 or whenever it was they found out about predathos and the world ending. they've been chasing a plot they're not ready for without doing any of the character work that makes you care about their goal. it's difficult to see why the party is together in the first place because they don't talk to each other or have any reason care about each other (except fearne/orym and imogen/laudna but the latter is so bland it's actually painful).

the party doesn't gel, there's no motivations from anyone beyond orym having a personal stake in it. imogen is so wishywashy about everything. none of them care about the gods except FCG, and no one in the party cares about FCG. except ashton, who is played so passively and unpleasantly that it doesn't even matter. there's no caleb/vax doing his biweekly checkins with each party member to unlock new dialogue. there's no fjord/grog to make a buckwild (yet thematically relevant) decision to direct the party in any direction. there's no driving force behind any of these characters like sorry liam and travis, turns out if you take a backseat to let your friends have the spotlight, they will do sweet fuck all!!

another problem i think is how they're given so many pieces of the puzzle at once, whilst the big bad is already in play. i don't know if that was matt's intention, but it's led to them barely following up on any character driven plot points because, well, the world might end. so any extracurricular character development is nixed in favor of chasing a maxxed out uberbaddy who is almost definitely going to kill them. any cool character moments kind of happen in spite of rather than thanks to the events, and honestly feel a bit forced sometimes because the characters have all been so stagnant for so long, and honestly the most interesting things about the characters are their backstories, which have already happened. their current motivations are a mystery and none of them seem interested in learning more about each other. it just feels very awkward and stale.

PLUS, the stakes are absurdly high but also there are no consequences for anything!! laudna dying didn't feel important because it wasn't permanent! because they can apparently just ask a member of vox machina for a resurrection!!! absolutely bizarre choice from matt to allow that, if i'm being completely honest. like sorry i know that's your wife but marisha should be 40 episodes deep into her backup character by now because there's absolutely no way anyone in VM would agree to resurrecting a delilah briarwood puppet let's be so serious. the party (especially imogen) dealing with a PC death would have made for some really interesting development, and would have created an opportunity for imogen to either take a leadership role to get revenge on otohan, OR break bad and turn on the rest of the party. some delicious pvp. but unfortunately laura doesn't seem to know what to do with her character and therefore does nothing, so it felt extremely flat and meaningless, which kind of sums up c3 tbh. some of the highest stakes but barely a PC who gives a shit.

the past say 10 episodes have been a slog for only a handful of cool moments, so i really hope post episode 82 it picks up a bit. plot is fun and situations are fun but i'm struggling to care about any of these characters because it doesn't seem like any of the cast care about them either. which is a shame because some of them have huge potential, FCG is literally an aeormaton!!!! my god you have GOT to get into it. why is no one getting into it!!!! will someone PLEASE pick up what sam is putting down!!! the payoff is always so good!!!

[rabdoidal]

Honorable Judge rabdoidal, I have a D&D Court submission. Well, it’s more like I’m looking for DM advice but I figured I’d take advantage of this opportunity. Soon, I will be running a short mini campaign, 3 or 4 sessions, for my group while our regular DM takes a break and joins as a player. The campaign is centered around a heist, so I was wondering if you had any general advice? Specifically, how can I introduce social situations and other encounters for players who may not be good at or want to engage in the theft, infiltration, and combat scenarios?

Thanks in advance!

Great question, and one that is so hard to answer!

First off, if you haven't watched Dimension 20's Tiny Heist, definitely do that - Brennan managed to really wonderfully balance how heisting can work in 5e. The first ep is up on YouTube here.

If you want to incentivise, more generally, players roleplaying with NPCs (a lot of people struggle to roleplay of their own volition), then offering things like DM inspiration (a d6 to their next roll) or advantage on particular checks after they talk to an NPC. Also, just making NPCs goofy or weird or have a silly voice helps cut the tension a lot and make conversation easier - give the NPCs one weird ass character trait and the players will at least be curious.

If you want, more specifically, for social interactions to have as much importance/weight to it as the physical aspects of the heist, here's some ideas:

The longer your charismatic PCs are keeping people distracted successfully, the longer your dexterous PCs have to crack the safe. Think of it like death saves - for each round your charisma PCs make a successful performance/persuasion/deception check, your safecrackers also get a round at making a sleight of hand check. If your charisma PCs fail the DC, the safecrackers get disadvantage on their check as they have to rush themselves. The players have to get 3 successful charisma and dexterity checks before 3 fails to get the safe open without guards noticing - the charisma and dexterity checks don't have to line up 1:1, but both need to get 3 wins.

The safecrackers get to the safe but instead of a combination, its a bunch of password locks all based on personal information about your target. Your charisma PCs have to ask subtly ask questions of the person/people you're robbing in order to get the correct password information (things like "first pet" or "mothers maiden name" a great starting points).

Your charisma PCs are doing their best to stay hidden and monitor the NPCs, but they catch wind of something happening on a different floor of the building: someone else is trying to rob the guy you guys are already robbing. Your charisma PCs need to simultaneously stay on lookout and convince the other heisters not to go through with it while not revealing the fact that they're already part of a heist. Getting them caught up in completely separate shenanigans can really up the tension. Maybe they accidentally get caught in the middle of a love triangle fight and they have to be relationship therapists while still being part of the heist!

[c-is-for-circinate]

Post-ep #136

Oh that last fight was just what I needed to cope with the skeevy, skin-crawly feeling of the party interacting with Lucien again. We went through the entire run of Aeor without any Wild Magic surges that were significant in combat--with only Fjord's (admittedly excellent and hilarious) hair loss affecting anything at all!--and I am just so grateful that we got to see mini-Veth and Sheepleb in such a tense moment after all.

Y'all, I hate Lucien. I hate him, I think, more than any other villain in either campaign. More than Trent, even. Because Lucien, like no other villain we've met, plays only and always on Lucien's terms.

And you know, the more I think about it, the more I think my visceral dislike for Lucien comes from the exact same place as my general love for all of Taliesin's characters--it's his certainty. He knows, just like Molly always knew (like Percy usually knew, and Caduceus still often does) that of course what he's doing is the right thing to be doing, and what other course could there even be? Of course his understanding of the universe is superior to everyone else around him. Yes, he's the smartest, wisest, most in-the-know person in every single room; yes, of course it gets exhausting, being so much more aware of how everything in the world works than everybody else. And yet he likes these people, he supposes, so he'll wait patiently for them now and again, and tsk and sigh at their bad manners as they refuse to give in to common sense and basic decency, but what can you do? That's people, I suppose.

And when we see those tendencies in Taliesin's PCs, I find them so utterly compelling, because no matter how sure Percy or Molly or Caduceus have ever been about anything, the narrative universe still knows they're not the ultimate authority. Sometimes the things they predict do not come to pass and sometimes the forces of the world do not act as the characters think they should and sometimes they are simply wrong. They have exactly as much agency as the other PCs around them, no more and no less, and when there are clashes they lose as much as they win. They find themselves in the midst of a compromise more often than they do either.

Because, most importantly, they love their friends: enough to sacrifice for them. Enough to compromise for them. Enough to admit they're wrong, even, sometimes, on very rare and very excellent occasions, because sometimes the people you love are worth admitting that you don't actually know how the world works, it turns out, at all. At least for a minute.

And I love that. I love the back-and-forth struggle of certain philosophy trying to hammer itself against a world that doesn't have to follow anybody's rules. That's a really compelling story to me, and it's part of why I've enjoyed watching Cad so much these past hundred-odd eps.

Lucien, though? Lucien has all of the ego, the steel clarity of understanding and purpose, the conviction of Molly or someone like Molly. Except that for Lucien, Nonagon of the Cognoza? The universe doesn't call him out on it.

Lucien is so powerful. He's so powerful, and that doesn't just make him dangerous because he can take the party in a fight--something we don't even necessarily know is true. It makes him dangerous because he knows he's powerful, and the party knows he's powerful, and he uses that as an excuse to steamroll situations, and the team is afraid enough of him to let him.

And I have more to say about that, I think, but also I can't keep my eyes open and it has been a very long day, so I think I am going to bed now. More CR thoughts, maybe, in the morning. And damn Lucien to hell etc etc and all that, anyway.