It's kind of funny to me when people say, "If your don't understand the complexity and nuance of Campaign 3, you should go watch a Marvel movie," because C3 is more similar structurally and stylistically to Avengers: Endgame then the prior 2 campaigns. We've been watching CR's version of a crossover event for 2 and half years now.

Yasha I don't honestly know what compelled me to draw, just thought, eh, I'm going to draw Yasha today

Tree Swallow

After the conversation with Liliana this last episode, it is so obvious that the 'the gods are bad! we're getting rid of them!' argument has absolutely nothing going for it. We now have confirmation that Predathos is doing EVERYTHING that people criticize the gods for doing. He directly communicates with his chosen and not others, he directs those people to do violence to achieve his ends, and he has the ability to possess the bodies of any and all of his chosen. He is already doing all this. What makes you think he will stop once he destroys all the other gods?

There is no freedom in their plans; just a sole tyrant and the delusion that he's one of the good ones.

Imogen is really just walking proof that the things Liliana did were not “necessary.” And I kind of think Liliana’s deference to her daughter in their last conversation is indicative that she is slowly realizing this. Being confronted with the essentially younger version of herself who also left home to seek out answers, who has pretty successfully avoided the pull of Perdathos (something Liliana told her to do, weird that), and who is proof that Ruidiusborn can successfully work with those on Exandria aligned with the gods and not be “persecuted,” like Ludinus told her, all really shines a light on how weak her justifications to herself have been. 

And that's the tragedy here! Liliana thinks she's made this huge sacrifice for her daughter and for people like her, but she's been taking the easier path this whole time. And now she is seeing that! Imogen is making the bigger sacrifice by fighting to keep Perdathos at bay, despite the pull and the welcoming feeling and it (possibly) being a literal part of her. So like, if we want to talk about why Imogen is a counter to a lot of great CR villains because she choses to do good, well, we need to acknowledge that Liliana is one those villains. And Orym and Ashton and the rest of BH have every right to dunk on her because they see someone just like her make better choices every day.

🌊

Linocut prints by William Hays. ~ Dawn ~ After the Storm, 2016.

Oh nice, the spider web set lighting is great.

Level 13 too? Oh nice.

Ahhhhhhh!!! THE CROWN KEEPERS! HI BABIES!

Ahhhhhhh!!! THE CROWN KEEPERS! HI BABIES!

@quiddie HELLO???

WTF???? I LOVE IT. I knew this was a possibility at some point, but not midway through the episode.

calling 911 on sam riegel for emotional damage 😭😭😭😭

OH GOD I JUST REMEMBERED FRIDA

With respect to the previous reblog—I sped up almost all of the Otohan combat to 1.5 and only put it back to normal when Sam started FCG's last turn. And it's not that I can't be invested in climactic combat or even really difficult climactic combat! I watched the fights with Ripley, Thordak, Raishan, Vecna, the Iron Shepherds, Uk'otoa, and Vespin Chloras, some of them multiple times, and I was invested the entire way through.

But here's the thing: I do not currently play DnD, and prior to watching CR I knew very little about the mechanics. I learned with the cast as I was watching C1, and as the show went on I paid more and more attention because I could see how the mechanics of combat interacted with the story. When there's a moment where the crunch of combat powerfully reflects a character's arc? That hits, even as someone with little personal knowledge of the PHB. I am not, however, invested in just watching three hours of combat for its own sake...and Otohan's build feels like combat for its own sake.

Obviously the cast is really invested in the story; it's their characters and they're the ones making the choices and rolling the dice. They've been doing this together for over a decade, and they're really impressed by the raw power of Otohan's build. But as a viewer? This simply is not fun to watch. I mean, there are some great moments for the Hells—all of Orym's nat 20s, Fearne using the power of Rau'shan and deliberately casting Blight through touch, Chetney's last words—but I don't know anything about Otohan. I don't know why she's here. I don't know what her motives are. I don't know why exactly she's so OP—"Legend of the Peaks" is just set dressing to me because none of the characters care about the Apex War and Matt has never forced the issue.

Like, sure, they're an exaltant Ruidusborn, but...okay? Why do they get legendary actions and resistances? Where'd their goofyass lil Lands End backpack even come from? Why are they here? No one can do a swagless villain monologue like Ludinus; no one can evade child support like Liliana. But who cares about Otohan, as a character and not just the scary hero-killer? That role in the story could be occupied by any well-built level 20 melee combatant and the narrative wouldn't miss anything.

Without all of the necessary development to get me invested, this just seems like she's OP just to make her "hardcore" or whatever—and Matt's never made a villain like that, so I know this could have been portrayed better and simply wasn't. As it stands, she's had more presence in the stupid Moon Moms fanon (which seems to have been found dead on Ruidus anyway) than she has in the actual canon of the show. I'm always happy when a villain dies, but in this case, it's just good riddance.

Finally finished the last episode. Goddamn it Sam.

Eclipse of the Sun in Venice in July 8, 1842 by Ippolito Caffi.