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c-is-for-circinate · 4 years

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The Mighty Nein have exactly three ways of dealing with enemies, and that is so fascinating to me.

Befriend. Between Essek and Isharnai, this has been pretty front-and-center lately, but it’s not actually a recent development. The M9 have been cozying up to potential threats and making nice as far back as Zadash, when they first discovered the Gentleman’s operations and then promptly decided to go to work for him. It happens in Hupperdook, when they spend all day swearing bloody murder and hunting down the pickpockets who robbed them, and then promptly adopt four more children and nearly die getting their parents out of prison. It happens in the Bright Queen’s throne room, when they walk into the innermost heart of the nation they’ve been told for fifty sessions is their enemy, and become heroes of the Dynasty. There’s a tribe of giants who owe them their home and their gratitude and a band of no-longer-bandits who owe them their lives and their pants-wetting terror, because sometimes that is just how the M9 roll. There are so few people this party actually has a stake in killing. Monsters, whatever, needs must, but like--who the hell are they to judge? (The first monsters and enemies they ever made friends with, after all, were each other.)

All-out slaughter. When the Nein do decide they really want to kill someone, they fucking go for the jugular. True, murder is pretty standard in D&D, but the Nein often throw both caution and reason out the window when something hits their kill button. This is almost everything about the pirate arc, starting that day in Nicodranas where they tried to talk threateningly to two guys and ended up committing domestic terrorism and then also murdering their way into ownership of a ship, ending that time they got kicked off Pirate Island in less than 24 hours because they decided to rend Avantika asunder the first instant they had the chance. It’s their entire brief enmity with Lorenzo--they would not wait, they would not plan, they would not stop, and they would not under any circumstances, no matter what Matt wanted of planned, let him go. Hell, this is how ‘prank call Essek in the middle of a dinner party’ turned into ‘paralyze, kidnap, and interrogate’ in the first place. This group does not do long games if they can possibly help it.

Absolute avoidance. There are, sometimes, enemies the Nein dislike too much to befriend and aren’t strong enough to kill. U’kotoa. Trent Ikithon. These opponents are relatively rare, because the Nein do absolutely everything player-ly possible to distance themselves from them at every opportunity. Don’t want to unleash an immense immortal sea serpent? Fuck just saying ‘no’, we’re headed to the opposite side of the continent from the ocean, and then we’re going to yeet that magic sword directly into a volcano for good measure. You can’t threaten or blackmail me. This party is very, very good at avoidance on both a personal and collective level. So much of the early game was built around getting the fuck away from the entire concept of war and law in general, once upon a time. They have all of them stayed away from their own families, steering clear around Felderwin and Kamordah until they couldn’t any more, putting off visiting the Menagerie, sleeping on the boat instead of going back to Marion’s for one more night. They run away from their own pasts and selves and inner demons. They are not all entirely fond of mirrors.

The thing is, I’m always so fascinated by the moments when the party seems to surprise or vex Matt by derailing his plans, and while he’s generally so proud of them for it, what I’m thinking about tonight is his endless, futile attempts to give them a fucking nemesis already. I’m thinking about why it just keeps not working. And I think it’s this!

This three-pronged approach to dealing with enemies, avoid-befriend-destroy, is basically a three-step guide to making sure you don’t have enemies any more. In fact, I would say not-having-enemies-anymore is one of the highest priorities the M9 hold, and it has been, almost accidentally, since before the game even started. The M9 have since the very beginning played what I can only describe as an extraordinarily defensive game. They don’t go looking for trouble unless it’s specifically connected to some immediate threat to themselves or someone else. The handful of mercenary contracts they��ve taken have almost universally been about, “hey, let’s do this thing for the Gentleman so he doesn’t decide to mistrust and kill us,” or, “let’s do this thing for the Gentleman so we can get the fuck out of town before they start conscripting to fight the Krynn Dynasty,” or, “hey, let’s do this thing for the Krynn Dynasty so they don’t decide to mistrust and kill us.”

And it’s not about trying to thwart Matt! It’s about a party of characters who are all extremely defensive and avoidant in their own ways. Some of it’s about the sheer trauma of everything to do with Molly, and some of it’s probably about the sheer trauma of everything to do with Vax and Raishan and Anna Ripley and every C1 mistake or villain that ever came back to haunt them, and some of it’s just baked into these new characters. Everyone in this party is so fucking hurt and defensive before they even start. The only thing that’s changed so far is the bit-by-bit careful broadening of their circle of ‘who to protect’ to include each other, and their friends, and maybe more or less half the world.

The one exception here is, of course, Obann, who has them on the ropes for almost 20 episodes--who they could not kill, and tried, and he had Yasha and they could not possibly join or befriend him, and he had Yasha and they could never forgive or ignore him, and he had Yasha and they could not kill him. And the thing is, all I can remember right now is how painful so much of that arc was. Everybody was so desperate. Everybody was so miserable. And still, and still, they could not think how to go around this problem any back way, could not recruit allies or head it off. They could only just distract themselves with brief side quests in hopes that it might help them next time they hurled themselves head-first into trying all-out slaughter again, and again, and again. It wasn’t like the Chroma Conclave. They didn’t back out of the first desperate battle and decide to take the long way around on purpose, to measure and trick and evaluate and gather specific resources and plan. They were so utterly lost. They were so desperate.

I think that probably, Matt’s hope for Essek was indeed that he’d become the party’s long-term nemesis that Lorenzo and Avantika didn’t have the chance to be. I think he was hoping the other night for Essek to get away and leave them all feeling suspicious and betrayed. I think he was hoping a month or two ago that the M9 would head off away from the peace talks and never even find out about Essek until he tried to call in some of those favors for increasingly suspicious things or it all came back around to bite them in the ass. I think he hoped for a very long time, maybe even a year ago when they met Essek in the first place, that this traitorous mole would become their Anna Ripley--the cold dark super-intelligent mirror to their own broken super-intelligent knifeblade of a friend, someone they could loathe and fear and despise and eventually, eventually destroy.

But the M9 don’t do nemeses if they have any way whatsoever to help it. Good luck, Matt. Pretty sure for this crew it is Trent Ikithon and U’kotoa and Tharizdun himself, and absolutely nobody else is big or bad enough for them to actually run up against for more than a single rematch, unless you get real fucking creative.

#CR spoilers #driveby meta attack #critical role

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gaawachan · 3 years

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Discord Convo: Yasha, Essek, Culture, Shadowgast Ramblings

Me: Man I wish Essek and Yasha could have - nvm I'll finish that thought later.

Sibling: I KNOW. I ALREADY KNOW WHAT YOU'RE GOING TO SAY AND I WISH YASHA HAD BEEN MORE PRESENT IN THE STORY

Me: Stop doing the hive mind thing. it's invasive. i feel violated.

Sibling: I can't help it.

Me: But yeah Essek and Yasha. I find it very interesting because there's actually a lot of crossover in their temperaments, but in terms of physical presentation, they couldn't be more different. They both came from completely different sub-cultures in Xhorhas, and it's like... that temperament among the Rosohna Drow. It makes me think that they learned how to like... Okay hang on this is hard to put into words... Right so from a meta perspective, it reads like Matt took Yasha's basic temperament and applied it to other people of Xhorhas. Like Yasha was a broader expression of typical mannerisms of Xhorhas (except that Yasha was no longer bound by the modesty of the cultures there, and having been exposed to Molly, was freer with her sexuality after it was stifled in the Wastes in her youth). Right? So with that thought in mind, look at Essek. Essek doesn't have the same trauma Yasha has so he doesn't have the same sort of dysfunctions, but when you first meet Yasha, she does display a casual arrogance/confidence about her power, and Essek has the temperament, but what he lacks is the freedom from modesty. He's extremely withdrawn.

Sibling: Are you saying he's going to become an e-boy? Because there's no promises that under that cloak, he isn't already one lmaoooo

Me: Well, I think it's interesting because this is actually one underrated area where I think Caleb would actually be really good for him and vice versa. It also says a lot about the odd intersections of culture in Xhorhas, because in old drow society, sex was uh... you know, let's not go into that.

Sibling: Just all of the nasty tags from AO3

Me: but my point is that it makes sense that the Kryn dynasty would be heavily influenced by and adopt a lot of the mannerisms and cultural relations from the people of Xhorhas because... they would be trying to distance themselves from the violence of their past by integrating stuff from the cultures they colonized. It makes sense that maybe the nomads of the wastes would impact their mannerisms and dynamics, though you can see echos of old drow culture in the dynasty, of course, with the dens and all.

Sibling: They're doing what the pirates from Wind Waker did once they found New Hyrule lol. "Yes, oh yes. We love technology"

Me: Yeah. So anyway, Yasha and Essek would have been interesting to have more interactions with.

Sibling: I mean, both are good characters? They just didn't have a lot of screentime, and it didn't really seem like Ashley was super interested in exploring her past. It doesn't help that Yasha was essentially silent for all major character interactions lol.

Me: They are both socially awkward, with casual confidence in their skills, and somewhat similar mannerisms, but Essek is very modest but manipulative, and Yasha is very upfront/blunt, and both of them have the guilt thing going on. Going back to Essek and Caleb. I think that their immediate positive effects on each other are obvious, but on this topic specifically... Caleb's only ever hesitant with his affection because of his trauma, really. You get the distinct impression that he used to be a lot more touchy feely (just look at his early game dynamic with Nott), and while he is usually very polite, he has no problem with being blunt about his sexuality when he thinks he can get away with it. At the same time, Caleb's history with sex and relationships is really twisted and complicated, so he needs a partner who is respectful of boundaries and willing to check what is going on at any given time. In other words, he needs someone who is not like Molly (no offense to widomauk shippers).

Sibling: I mean, that was the primary problem with Molly. They had no sense of boundaries and that was good for someone like Yasha. Not so much for people with trauma related to lack of boundaries.

Me: (text dump) No, Molly DID have a sense of boundaries; they deliberately crossed them in order to make people uncomfortable. THAT was my biggest problem with Molly. Molly knew exactly what they were doing. Taliesin said as much. It's why I never shipped widomauk, because it’s yet another relationship where casual disregard for Caleb's comfort is present. It's why if I had shipped Caleb with anyone other than Essek, it would have been Fjord or Caduceus (but he's a disinterested ace and I respect that) or Yasha (but she's gay and I respect that) simply because they were clearly the ones who appeared most cognizant of Caleb's social comfort levels and such (so basically widofjord is what I'm saying, lol). This isn’t a widomauk hate thing; it’s just not to my taste because I relate too much to hating having my personal boundaries deliberately treated with disrespect. That's going off on a tangent, though.

Essek, in contrast, needs someone who he can let his hair down with comfortably. Essek seems to only really feel that way around Caleb and Jester. Caleb's the only one Essek really initiates touch with. Caleb's the one who gets Essek to swear for the first time, like Caleb swearing gave Essek permission to do the same just for the hell of it. Caleb and Jester, more than the others, made it clear that he's allowed to be goofy when he's with them. The two of them joking around with Immovable Object (and Caleb openly participating in that clownery with Seeming and such when he and Essek have so much in common) makes Essek feel comfortable with exploring not having a stick up his ass 24/7, which is exactly what a clearly extremely repressed person like Essek could benefit from in a partner, a person who he can relax around and vent with, because he's very obviously never had that before, or at least not consistently. And how did he get to that point?

It's from a thing about Caleb that is extremely underrated. Caleb, be it from his natural personality or that coupled with his training, knows the value of being openly vulnerable. It's very clearly NOT something that Trent specifically taught him. Caleb recognizes that the best way to manipulate people is to be sweet and earnest and awkward and TRUTHFUL about his beliefs and vulnerabilities, but this pays off in ways unintended. Caleb expects it to just be transactional, but people end up genuinely forming bonds with him because of it, and what's more, that he does that with such regularity results in other people responding in kind (which is the goal). Someone as reserved as Essek could only stand to be vulnerable BECAUSE Caleb made HIMSELF vulnerable first. I think the best thing Liam ever did for Shadowgast was make it clear that everything he said to Essek may have been manipulative... but every word of it was also true, because Essek is clever enough to recognize that honesty.

The most underrated line in Essek's growth as a person doesn't even come from Essek, and it doesn't come from Caleb talking to Essek. I think people forget about this, but during the final conversation with the scourger, which Essek was present for... the scourger asks Caleb why he's bothering with her. And Caleb says (paraphrasing) "I think that I hoped if I could see one hint of change from you, I could believe that we aren't both damned." Imagine being Essek and hearing that. It recontextualizes everything about Essek's growth. The rapid change between the boat scene and Aeor isn't just because Essek wants to be a better person. It's because he wants to prove to Caleb that Caleb isn't damned, because no one has ever done that for Caleb. Caleb is so obviously drowning in his past during the Aeor arc. That sort of hope is something he desperately needed. It's one of the few things about the Aeor arc that isn't botched by the rush to end the series; Essek's consistent determination to be a positive influence on Caleb, for Caleb, was gold from start to finish. Remember too that by the time of the boat scene, Caleb had already met with Astrid and had that disheartening conversation. Essek's efforts to become a better person feel like he's trying to almost unknowingly undo the damage that the recent interactions with Astrid and Trent had done to Caleb's psyche.

... tldr, Caleb is going to teach Essek how to be a manslut... in private... jk but not really.

Sibling: I SAID THAT EBOY ESSEK LOL! Ugh... that final epilogue screwing over my favorite MLM ship... It's not canon. They went and made their own school, and lived forever in disguises to keep the scourgers coming after them.

*That was the end of this part of the conversation. On reflection, I ought to have noted that Essek’s modesty might not be so much a cultural thing as it is an “Essek trying to keep people away from him like a prickly porcupine” thing, but you never know. If it is cultural, that may be the result of the dynasty trying to distance themselves to the practices of those who worship Lolth, but I don’t know that Exandria lore has ever said anything about this? And if it is a cultural thing, is it limited to the nobility, like Essek? One could also argue that the cultural practices of Yasha’s people, with the arranged marriages and such, may have influenced the dynasty’s own cultural formation, but I feel like I didn’t make that clear enough? Anyway, that’s why it’s a ramble.

#critical role #critrole #critical role spoilers #critrole spoilers #shadowgast #essek thelyss #yasha nydoorin #caleb widogast

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e-one-seven · 4 years

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(I hate being a literature student. Just know that literature students have a bad habit of over-analyzing stuff, and apparently D&D games are not exceptions.)

Normally I don't talk about ships. I think that everybody is free to ship whoever character they want with who they want and I am no one to judge them. Especially if the characters in question are from a live role playing game and one of the ships in question involves a couple controlled by a couple who is married IRL. But this one. Oh boy. Laura Bailey is an absolute beast and she deserves all the respect in the world if even a fraction of what I think it's happening/going to happen will effectively happen in game.

Fjord kissed Jester. He asked for her permission and he got it. It was beautiful. And I am genuinely freaking out because I knew that was going to happen and it's even worse than I imagined it. Why am I talking about it like it is something bad? Because it's possible that Jester is not ready to be in a relationship right now, and that Jester herself is not aware of it. Let's talk about it from the beginning.

Jester likes Fjord from the beginning of the campaign, we all know that. When Jester met Fjord for the first time, she was a sheltered girl who, in her head, just met the perfect man: a proud and strong sailor who wants to live an adventurous life just like the heroes of her novels, and she easily identified herself as the heroine the hero will inevitably fall in love with. They meet the rest of the Nein, live on their adventures and Jester keeps on acting like she is the Guinevere of her personal love story inside her head, while Fjord is blissfully unaware of what is happening inside the skull of his new friend.

Then Fjord meets Avantika, a mature woman who seems to share many traits and interests with him. Jester is clearly jealous, especially after that they sleep together to seal their alliance. That is also the moment when Jester starts to see Fjord's flaws and she seems to be willing to accept them, which is actually a point in favor for a possible relationship between them. But Fjord is still unaware of what the special attention of the blue tiefling actually means.

Then she meets a real married couple, and she starts to realize that romance is not always like she imagined it was. Nott/Veth and Yeza are married and have a child, and they are not as dependent to each other like the heroes of her novels: Nott does her own things and she is a strong independent woman and Yeza is pretty much the same, they are not allowed to be as intimate as they used to be because of "Nott's condition", but they still love and support each other through and through. And at this point, Jester starts to notice that there is a member of the Mighty Nein that seems to show her that unconditional love and support that Nott and Yeza radiate with every action: Caleb Widogast.

Caleb used to be a stinky wizard, a brash individual who joined the group just because he was too squishy to survive on his own. But ever since they are in Xhorhas, he cleaned himself, he is kinder with everyone and he wants to help her organize the Traveler Con even if the event has nothing to do with him directly. Jester is visibly touched by his newfound beauty and kindness. But he still loves Astrid. He called Jester with her name when they danced together in Hupperdook. And he seems to be interested in Essek Thyless too, so she is probably imagining it. The Mighty Nein travel, grow more powerful, and Fjord manages to set himself free from Uk'utoa's influence and becomes a Paladin of the Wildmother. He finally becomes more similar to the hero Jester imagined he was when he met him for the first time, but she seems to be only minimally bothered by his change. She needs time to think because she feels that something is changing inside her. Fjord might not be the right one after all. Caleb is always there for here with all his support, and she starts to want to be there for him.

Eventually, they stop the war, they defeat a fire god and Caleb sets up wonderful magic and illusions so that the Traveler Con is a success. But then, during the last night of the gathering, something happens and Sehanine, the Moonweaver herself is angry. She is taking Artagan away, and Jester is willing to follow him in the Feywild and share his punishment... but Fjord grabs her and begs her not to go. She has still the Mighty Nein, she has still him. For the first time Fjord is being explicit about his feelings for her. Luckily everything goes well and the Mighty Nein are free to come back to Wildemount... Where she finds out about Caleb's past and his intent to save his friend Eadwulf and his former lover Astrid from Trent Ikithon. They go dance again, Caleb pushes her in Fjord's arms, and the half-orc gives her a present. There is definitely something. But there is Caleb too, but he is too busy trying to deal with his demons to pay attention to her.

Jester meets Astrid and she antagonizes her. She is jealous, she thinks that Astrid is Caleb's ideal woman and she realizes they are not alike at all. She is a talented and ambitious wizard, while she is just Jester, the cleric of an Archfey. Astrid is just like Essek, and Caleb is attracted by Essek. Jester understands if Caleb doesn't like her after all: why should he be interested into a childish cleric whose power is not even her own? They are just very good friends. That's all. He should be back with Astrid and she will support him if that will happen once that she will be free from Trent Ikithon's influence. But Caleb is still so kind, and loving, and supportive... she is really confused about it. But he is kind and loving with all of his friends, so in the end it might not be important.

And then, there is Eiselcross with its weird ancient magic. A magic as dangerous as the one they found in the Happy Fun Ball, which contained a Blue Dragon and a trap that managed to kill Nott without them being able to prevent it. Everything is dangerous and the Mighty Nein realize as the time passes by that not everyone of them could get out of there alive, especially given what and who they are trying to stop. And Jester herself falls into a trap: she is given a vision that confirms to the Mighty Nein that what they feared is true, that the Tomb Takers' objective is to bring an eldritch floating city scary enough to cause a Morkoth into voluntary exile back to Exandria, where it intends to absorb its inhabitants into its hive mind. The price to pay for the vision are 5 years of her life. "Growing old" is different than "growing up", and it happens to her in a matter of seconds. Jester is five years closer to death now, and it is possible that she is lucky they are just five. The minor changes in her appearance are a reminder of what it could have happened if she wasn't lucky, and she has no idea about what else changed about herself and what will change in her personal life and relationships because of that accident. All she knows right now is that these might be her last days alive and she is afraid she might be missing something before her untimely death.

(And she would not be silly to think about it. After all, who they are facing is reminding all of the Mighty Nein that even if they are becoming powerful they are still mortal beings.)

And when she is in the middle of a mild existential crisis and confusion reigns inside her head, Fjord declares. And Jester, still willing to believe that she is her old self, the young woman who left Nicodronas and miraculously met the man of her dreams that will lead her to live an exciting life full of love and adventures, accepts to kiss him. It is very likely that she was not thinking about anything in that moment, but one thing: "If I say yes to Fjord it means that I am still me, right? It is happening because it was supposed to happen from the beginning, because we were supposed to be together."

There is just one little problem: Jester is ignoring the fact that she has changed from the person she used to be back then, and it did not happen because a group of stone statues magically aged her up. There is still something for Fjord, she will never forget him as he is and he will always be her first love. But she has some feelings for Caleb too, and even if she is "a good liar" they might be too strong for her to simply ignoring them. After all, Caleb "I was trained to lie and kill for the Empire" Widogast did an excellent job when he was trying to hide them. There are some clues here and there that hint that Jester might love Caleb as much as he loves her and that she wants him to be happy, even with other people... just like he wants it for her. Add the trauma she is just starting to deal with, and there is almost no way that her current relationship with Fjord is going to evolve into something healthy and angst free right now. This if that kiss was the effective beginning of a serious relationship, and not the promise of a future relationship between them if she will be still available.

But these are the vibes that the beginning of a relationship between them is giving to me right now, and nothing will be confirmed until Laura Bailey will show up to Talks Machina to talk about it. I am also curious about how she will react when she will see Essek again: when the stakes were not high she used to tease him to be with Caleb... but now she has met Astrid, she might have feelings for him and being in a relationship with another person, and Caleb states that he doesn't trust him. I guess that if she still does, it will be mostly an attempt to show to everyone that nothing changed for her and that she is fine (and that would be a huge step back into her character development, but it was her defense mechanism until the Rumblecusp arc and she is dealing with a lot of serious stuff all together right now).

I'm not saying that the ship is going to die: I'm saying that because of the circumstances behind how it was made official and the relationship between all the character involved, I would say that it is very likely that it will lead to some cute moments, but that it eventually won't last. This is especially true if it will confirmed that Jester has feelings for Caleb too, as feelings for another person are not easy to get rid off, and I am fully expecting Jester to angst and talk to someone about them at some point. She needs to achieve true clarity and accept that she is going to break someone's heart in order to be in a healthy, happy relationship. Because, let's face it, we all imagined Jester would have been much happier if she'd ever entered into a relationship, shouting about it out loud so that everyone know. There is something weird here. So, or either the kiss is a promise, or Jester's heart is not fully into it and this means trouble.

But yes, Laura Bailey promised us that she would have romanced Travis's character and she is doing it. And whatever it will be the final result, she is still a legend for having achieved the impossible once more.

PS: Obviously this post in the end means nothing, as no one owns and knows the full truth behind the intent of these characters but the actors who control them. I just wanted to give my two cents about the question. It's more likely that this development will prevent Jester to suffer from a mental breakdown in Eiselcross instead of causing her to suffer from one, but I tend to over-analyze stuff. Please forgive me for this.

PS2: As a final note, it would have been the same even if Caleb would have been in Fjord's place, if not even worse: I wrote a post about Caleb in Eiselcross too, and between him and Jester I have no idea of who is the most messed up at the moment. Poor children...

#critical role #character analysis #jester lavorre #fjord #caleb widogast #fjorester #widojest #angst everywhere #why did i even write this #i just want them to be happy #cr meta

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pike-the-monstah · 3 years

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alright, so this is the silliest post i’ve ever made, but i think i will elaborate on the somnovem/bugsnax au, actually

(praying that tumblr doesn’t fuck up the readmore because this got long)

the au takes place in a world that’s a bizarro blend of both series, shortly after some version of the iron shepherds arc. please do not question anything about the logistics of this world, because there are no answers. molly dies, but for whatever reason, the mighty nein don’t cross paths with caduceus just yet. cree has been following the mighty nein a lot more closely in this au, so when the mighty nein visit molly’s grave on their way home, it’s already empty.

the tomb takers are on a mission to spread bugsnax to the rest of the world (instead of the somnovem)a. lucien, newly revived (god knows how that all went down), works with cree to rebuild the tomb takers and locate snaktooth island, while the mighty nein set out to track down molly. eventually, the tomb takers find their way to snaktooth, and once the mighty nein learn where the group has gone, they put together an expedition to follow.

their recruits:

shakaste, cali, and keg are obvious choices, as previous allies. i’d throw nila in there too, but, given how her mini-arc ended, i think the m9 would probably want her to stay with her family

reani hasn’t met the group yet, but she’s been receiving visions from samliel telling her of a great danger on snaktooth island. she’s already been searching for a way to get there, and happily joins up with the mighty nein.

essek also hasn’t met the group yet, but, like floofty, essek has somehow gotten whiff of the possibilities of the place and is intrigued. he’s looking for a way to get there that isn’t outright suicidal, and joining this group seems convenient enough.

and finally, the last member is twiggy- just like in canon, they meet her when she stows away on their ship.

(also yasha sticks with the mighty nein in this au, to find out what happened)

the gang arrives on snaktooth island, and at first, things are fine. this is early campaign, though, before a lot of character growth for everyone, so cracks quickly begin to show. it all comes to a head in a big fight that leads to most of the group going their separate ways, and this is where caduceus comes in.

caduceus serves the newcomer/pseudojournalist role, and he has probably not been having the best time. like in canon, the wildmother is pretty fucking concerned about this place and seems to want him to do something about it, but, unlike in canon, he doesn’t have the mighty nein to travel with. it’s not the easiest journey for anyone alone, and, of course, it ends with his airship crash-landing in the middle of a storm. he does, however, meet fjord and jester.

fjord and jester vaguely take on filbo’s role in this au- when the group split, they stayed in town, and are doing their best to bring the village back together. in the middle of the storm, they witnessed the crash, and hurried up to flavor falls to find the airship’s (former) occupant. pretty weird way to meet someone, but, after a bit of exposition, they enlist caduceus’s help.

on their way back to snaxburg, they meet keg in the garden grove. keg is not exactly good with difficult social situations, and the one that led to the group falling apart was a clusterfuck. now that things have calmed down, though, they manage to convince her to return, although probably after some wambus-style “get revenge on that annoying bunger” quests. they also run into shakaste here, but i don’t think he ever really left town- he honestly seems too level-headed.

the five of them reach snaxburg, and the quests to reunite everyone else begin:

caleb and veth are living in the simmering springs. even though their attachment to the group solidified after molly’s death, the transformative powers of the bugsnax and the possibilities for veth(/nott) were too tempting not to investigate. they maybe went a little overboard experimenting, though, leading to arguments with the rest of the group, who grew increasingly concerned and alarmed at what the pair were doing. caleb and veth left the village to continue their studies in peace, but, since they haven’t been having much success, it’s not too difficult to convince them to return.

essek is nearby in the boiling bay for similar reasons, and he, caleb, and veth formed a loose Science Collective in their time away from the rest of the group. this is early campaign essek, though, so he’s still kinda keeping to himself, and it takes longer for him to agree to come back.

cali and twiggy are in the scorched gorge. while investigating the island, cali found evidence of a past cult of the caustic heart presence (if triffany’s grandma and grumpbeard can both have inexplicably died on snaktooth, then so can a member of the cult of the caustic heart lmao), and left the village to investigate. i genuinely think twiggy and cali would be very fast friends, and with everyone going their separate ways, twiggy found someone to stay with rather than stick around for all the fighting. once a caustic heart artifact is located and destroyed, both are willing to come home.

reani is living out in the sizzling sands. the thing about reani is that, due to her dreams, she’s probably the first to suspect the real nature of the island, but, due to the canonical mind-warping powers of bugsnax, reani has a very difficult time convincing anyone else. this is early in her character arc, too, when she has a very strict view on morality, and as much as she liked everyone else initially, the others refusing to stop their bugsnax experimentation/consumption/etc would probably cause some friction. it takes the gang working through some shit for her to return later on.

beau is up in sugarpine woods. pre-kamordah, she’s still struggling with the “leave them before they leave you” mentality, and when the group fell apart, she went yeah, fuck it, guess that’s all i get, and bolted. now that everyone’s coming back together, though, they’re able to convince her to return.

and then, finally, yasha is the eggabell equivalent in frosted peak. as the group started to fracture, she felt they were all losing sight of the real goal of the trip, and did her early campaign yasha thing and just left. like eggabell, she’s been pushing herself hard to find molly, and she refuses to return to snaxburg until he’s rescued.

so the gang is all reunited, character growth takes place, interpersonal conflicts are resolved, and they even make progress on finding molly. great! too bad the volcano’s about to blow. yasha figures out how to get the door open, and the group splits up to defend the town and investigate the undersnax.

and in the undersnax, they discover lucien. turns out that when the tomb takers made it to the island, all of them were consumed except lucien, who managed to take control like lizbert. in a way, this was his plan- take control over the island to bring its powers to the mainland- but he’s struggling. the bugsnax do have mind-warping abilities and are fighting back, so it’s taking him longer than expected to achieve anything (which, despite the natural disasters, is sort of keeping the gang safe, since the island is focused on another threat). the appearance of his old friends destabilizes him even more, and shit starts to really go sideways. part of his mind starts to say, hey, if he lets the island win just a little bit and consume this group, then he can send them back to the mainland as patient zero(s), right? surely, now that he’s in power, they won’t just crumble to dust like the rest of the tomb takers, and he can remain behind to rule the island as a god. all he needs to do is let the island have what it wants, which, right now, is to go full aggro on the mighty nein.

so the bugsnax attack, beginning the “escape from snaktooth” sequence. the gang probably fights some giant monstrosities similar to not-cree, and there’s plenty of opportunity for parallels to gaining eye tattoos during battle. and for sentiment’s sake, right at the end when their airship is about to be knocked out of the sky, a little bit of molly returns just for a moment, and he fulfills lizbert and eggabell’s role as last-minute savior for the rest of the gang.

they all escape but, given who they are, i imagine it’s just to regroup before returning to solve the problem once and for all (and probably to see if that little bit of molly can be rescued in the process).

misc details: au is pretty ship-neutral but, yknow, maybe beau was following yasha up into the mountains, just a little bit. it’s probably also more ensemble-focused than the game, as opposed to the video game logic of caduceus just running around doing everything for everyone else. also, heavily considered a mighty-nein-never-met version of the au where journalist!beau investigates the island as an expositor, but ultimately, this version felt like it had stronger reasons for everyone to be there in the first place.

#cr spoilers #bugsnax spoilers #seriously couldnt decide whether to actually post this or not #but if you cant post a detailed summary of a bugsnax/critical role au on your own blog then what can you do

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luckyjak · 4 years

Text

abandoned fic: Caleb the Time Traveler

I’m not ever going to finish this fic (rest in peace Molly) but I like what I have, so I thought I’d share it with you all. The plan was for it to be an eventual Widomauk piece, but I’m just not inspired to write Widomauk anymore, given that Molly is dead and has been for 2 years now.

In the end, it was all frighteningly simple, really.

Killing Trent had been easy. Most things were for a high powered wizard, which Caleb was at this point in his life. And while disintegration was too quick and too kind of a death for a man who had caused as much pain at Trenk Ikithon had, Caleb didn’t dare try to take any chances.

He would have thought there would be more to it. Maybe the gods themselves would intervene and stop him, or maybe someone else, a mysterious figure from an even worse timeline would try to stop him, but no. One quick spell, and Caleb had altered the timeline for the better.

He sat on his hands for a while after that, not quite sure what to do now that Trent no longer existed and could be the focus of all evil in both the world and in Caleb’s mind. But there was still corruption in the Empire, and there was still darkness, even at the Soltryce Academy.

So he rolled up his sleeves, and he got to work.

Little by little, he changed the world. By the time a young Bren enrolled at the Academy, it was a legitimate school for magic learners, and the Empire was a brighter, better place. There was an Empress now instead, a distant cousin of King Bertrand, and while she made mistakes occasionally, she had a good heart--of that Caleb was deadly certain.

After that, he got more selfish in his pursuits. Traveling back to this time had been a one-time deal: he would never go back to his own timeline. Theoretically, such a timeline no longer existed. He would never see his friends again.

Therefore, he did what he could to make their lives better in this timeline.

Bren was taken care of: Bren would have parents and a girlfriend and a boyfriend and hopefully never be any more ambitious than teaching at the Academy for the rest of his days. Honestly, Caleb could hope for nothing more for his younger, alternate self.

But the rest of the Mighty Nein? He did what he could, for them and their happiness.

He couldn’t stop Fjord from being bullied or from being an orphan, but he could modify Vandren’s memory and make him think he was Fjord’s biological father. It was a lie, but a small one, and it ultimately made both men’s lives better. In Caleb’s world, that was a lie worth telling, a spell worth casting. From there, it took only the wise words of a “friend” to encourage Vandren to give up on the orbs for Ukatoa, and to take an interest in his young son instead. A gentle nudge, a small trade of coin, and the Tide’s Breath would find it’s port in Nicodronas instead of Port Damali instead. Another nudge, another slight but gentle push, and a young Fjord would find himself drawn into long midnight conversations with the mysterious Sapphire of the Sea, standing beneath the window to the Lavish Chateau one evening when he could not sleep, and neither could she. They would become fast friends, and while Caleb could not fix all the world’s problems, he could make sure that two of his friends were no longer lonely.

He could only help Jester so much: he respected Marion too much to modify her memories, and no silver tongue could convince the woman to let her daughter have just a bit more freedom. So he sent Fjord her way instead, and before that, when she was younger, Caleb would visit her, often, under the guise of night and with a heavy cloak of magic. It was a small thing, keeping a young girl company, and he liked the tricks and jokes she learned to play from him. If she happened to call him the Traveler--well, that was her name for him, not his. As far as the actual Traveler was concerned, he must have found it amusing, because Jester still became a cleric in the end. When she ran away from Nicodronas, Fjord’s father offered her a job on his ship, and she learned all she needed to from a Tortle named Orly.

Beauregard was a trickier friend to help: he could not make her parents into better people, nor could he ever guarantee that they would love her the way she deserved. So instead he kidnapped her as a baby, and left her with his own parents instead. A rational decision that took little convincing, in his mind. It was surprisingly easy, no more difficult that killing Trent, and Beau would be happier for it. His parents were loving and kind and had always wanted another child, although they had never been able to afford one. They were surprised to find the infant girl and the sack of gold on their front steps, but they loved her nonetheless. And Bren could do with a sister: lord knows it had helped Caleb, in time. The only oddity was when he stopped by occasionally to check in, and heard Beau’s rough voice grow up with a Zemnian accent.

He fixed other things, too. When Caduceus Clay was eleven, making mud pies in the backyard with his sisters, his parents received a letter telling them exactly what was causing the corruption in their woods, and how to fix it. When the goblins attacked Felderwyn, Veth and Yeza Brenatto were on their honeymoon in Whitestone, an unexpected gift they hadn’t planned on that they had received anonymously in the mail. When Yasha and Zuela ran away to be together, they found they suddenly had the money and transportation and paperwork to make it to the Empire together, far from the consequences of their clan.

Caleb was, at last, at peace. The world would be well.

He “retired” after that, finding his way back to the Academy in a nice, quiet teaching position, content to live out the rest of his days as a silent guardian of Exandria. It was lonely at times--there was no one he could ever tell his story to, and no one would ever believe him.

He had forgotten nothing, left no stone unturned, had fixed every problem he could think of. His world was, for once, finally perfect.

Which was why the purple tiefling in front of him startled him so.

“Mollymauk,” he said out loud, on reflex, although the man before him wasn’t Molly, and wouldn’t be for another few years, at least. He was young, tall and lanky, no older than 20, if he was even that old. The man’s hair was shorter, shaved down so that only the barest bit of black fuzz showed, and there was nothing ornate about him: there was no jewelry in his horns, and the clothes he wore were plain and simple and dark. There were no bright tattoos to catch his eye and no flashy tricks or smiles, and yet there was no mistaking it: the man before him was Mollymauk Tealeaf, or would be, one day.

He seemed impossibly young, full of energy, and just looking at him made Caleb feel like an ancient dragon, staring at an impossible, unearned hoard.

(He had forgotten Molly. How could he have forgotten Molly? He had killed Lorenzo and the Iron Sheppards when they were so young and yet he never once thought to check in on Mollymauk. But Mollymauk didn’t exist in this timeline yet, did he? He would be Lucien now, and Caleb had no idea how to find Lucien--except that he was here, now, in front of him. And in his timeline, the one he came from, Molly had been dead for five years, and yet the universe saw fit to send this other Molly his direction anyway.)

“Er, no?” The voice was mostly the same, but different--a different accent, at least, as far as Caleb could tell from what little he’d said. “Sorry?”

“My apologies,” Caleb said quietly. “You--ah, you reminded me of someone. My mistake.”

Shorter hair, no tattoos, darker clothes--but still fundamentally Molly. The same eyes, the same horns, the same crooked grin--that’s what really sealed it for him. “A good someone?” The non-Molly asked, sharp teeth pointed out of his smile.

“An old friend,” Caleb answered honestly. “A dead one.”

The not-Molly cocked an eyebrow at that, but didn’t question him further. “Perhaps it’s fortune, then. I’ve been meaning to speak with you, Master Widogast.”

That was interesting. “Oh?”

“I’m told you are the brightest wizard the Empire has to offer,” The not-Molly was certainly charming, he’d give him that, although his voice had more of a Krynn inflection than what Caleb remembered-- “My name is Essek Thelyss--”

“It is not.” Caleb stopped him, not letting the not-Molly speak.

The not-Molly, not-Essek didn’t move, but he didn’t stop smiling either, as if he was used to being caught in a fib and knew how to get out of it. “Oh? What’s my name then?”

“I do not know, but I have met Essek Thelyss, and you are not him,”

Again, the not-Molly didn’t seem stirred. “How do you know I’m not Essek Thelyss, and whoever you met just happened to steal my name?”

He didn’t have a good or clever response to that. “Something tells me that’s not the case, however,”

The not-Molly’s eyes sparkled as he talked. “Then what’s my name?”

“Lucien,” He took a stab in the dark, the name of Molly’s past life, and that got him a hearty laugh.

“I’m afraid that’s not my name, either, darling, but I do like it more than Essek. Easier to spell. I think I’ll keep it.” He grinned, and held out his hand for Caleb to shake. “Call me Lucien.”

“Mr. Lucien,” Old habits died hard, it seemed; Caleb shut his book, finally. “How might I help you?”

“I’m in need of a wizard of a particular caliber of skill, and I’m told you are the best the Academy has to offer. Unparalleled in his field, they told me.”

“It won’t work,” Caleb brushed him off.

“I haven’t even told you my plan yet!”

“You don’t have to. I know it ends with you in an early grave,” Caleb shook his head. “You are no wizard, Mr. Lucien, and I doubt you have the temperament to start now. Whatever you are trying to do, you’d be better off if you stopped it now.”

“You must help me,” Lucien pleaded, his voice desperate. “If you don’t, I--I know your secret,”

“I rather doubt that.”

“You’re a time traveler, from the future.” That stopped Caleb dead in his tracks. “That, or you are the most convincing seer I’ve ever met.”

It was dead silent for a moment as Caleb’s thoughts raced through his head. How? How did he know? How was it even possible that this not-Molly would have even the slightest idea of who he was?

“Holy shit, I’m right?” Lucien laughed, louder than Caleb thought he might’ve intended. “You are a time traveler. I was just guessing, but I’m right, aren’t I?” He cackled. “Luxon above, you’re from the goddamn future. It’s why you recognized me. You called me--Molly? Mollymauk? Not the best name I’ve ever used for a con but honestly not the worst either. It’s growing on me, actually. Tell me, was I still handsome in the future? It’s a very important question--”

The hold person spell was up before Caleb even though to cast it. “Shut. Up.” A moment, then two, the not-Molly’s face frozen in time as Caleb struggled to catch his breath.

He took that moment, and then he released the spell. He expected another barrage of inane questions, but the not-Molly was silent, waiting expectantly.

“How did you know?”

Not-Molly smiled, not unkindly. “Essek Thelyss is a not even a hundred years old in the Krynn Dynasty. He’s a smart but reclusive boy, doesn’t have a lot of friends and most people wouldn’t know him because he keeps to himself. His mother is currently grooming him to be the next shadowhand, a fact that is not known to many. For you to know him well enough to recognize on sight that I’m not him? He must have an impressive future indeed.”

“What’s your name, really?”

Not-Molly didn’t want to answer that one. “Some call me the Nonagan. That will suffice.”

“That’s not an answer.”

“It’s the only one I have for you.”

“Hmm,” Caleb sat back down at his desk, trying to appear calmer than he felt. “So what if I am from the future? I won’t help you. I already told you that your plan doesn’t work--it ends with you in a grave.”

“Well, Mr. Caleb--can I call you Mr. Caleb? Master Widogast seems so terribly formal--”

“No,”

“-- from what it sounds like, it sounds like my plan works perfectly.” The Nonagan batted his eyelashes. “You see, my plan is to die. Permanently.”

“What are you on about, exactly?”

“I am over a thousand years of the Krynn Dynasty’s attempts at perfect consecutation. I am a Beacon made flesh. I am the Luxon’s divine light, and the closest thing this world has ever seen to genuine immortality. I cannot die.” He paused. “Well, I can, I suppose, as any creature made flesh can die. But I always come back,” he rolled up his sleeves, and showed Caleb a tattoo of a red eye on his wrist. “It takes a while. And I don’t remember anything at first. But with enough time, the memories come back. And I would, with your help, like them to stop, if you please.”

#critical role #widomauk #my fic #abandoned fic #cr fic

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byooregard · 4 years

Text

It wasn’t all at once, like Jester had always figured.

In all the stories, the heroes defeated the big terrible bad guy, and then they all went back to their lives. Jester had always thought that the Mighty Nein would be like that, that they would defeat some big evil bad guy, like maybe a dragon, or one of those gross ball eye thingies with the other eyes that Beau had showed her in a book one time…

Of course, she really should've figured that it wouldn’t go at all like the stories. She’d been adventuring for like, at least four years by then, when they’d started leaving. Veth was the first to go. Which was, fine. It was great, really! She had a whole family, and Jester knew how much they missed her, and she had a lot of money and stuff, so it wasn’t like she needed to make more of that… and Jester could still message her! In fact, she did it every day, for the first few weeks! And then every other day, cause Veth was busy. And then they had to fight that one kraken, and Jester needed to save spells, and well... she kind of sort of forgot to, after that. But it was okay, cause they still sent letters, and pastries! When they could.

It actually took Fjord dying three times before they all decided it was better that he, well, she didn’t want to say retired, but half-orcs aged a bit faster than humans did, and he’d been technically the oldest of them when they’d all met, and, well, no one wanted him to die again. Obviously. Jester just kind of sort of wished that Caduceus hadn’t insisted on going with him, cause then she was the only cleric left in the party! It had taken her a while to get used to having to prepare healing spells whenever they went into battle, instead of cool ones, like Control Weather. And she also kind of missed waking up every morning to Caduceus’s on-sea attempts at baking (he’d really actually gotten pretty good).

He and Fjord had an entire orphanage to bake for now, so really, it was totally fine. If only they sent her more pastries… then she might be able to fill all the empty space left on the Ball Eater. The entire Nein (there were only five of them now) had felt the absence of their captain, too. Beau had to learn how to sail a ship, actually, not just repeat whatever Fjord said in a dramatic voice. It was Jester, actually, who had to do most of the dramatic yelling now. and even though it was actually really fun (she couldn’t believe Beau had been stealing that job for so long), it didn’t feel right.

Jester always knew that Caleb and Essek would leave too, eventually. It really shouldn’t have been a surprise at all, really, when they stopped pretending that they didn’t like their fancy wizard books and things― Jester still couldn’t make sense of any of them― more than fighting monsters. She understood. Kind of. But… Like, really, c’mon. She knew they were squishy, but wasn’t it even exciting anymore? Didn’t they like fighting monsters, and ending wars (even if they’d started one or two of those wars― but that wasn’t the point)?

Who was supposed to turn her into wooly mammoths, or make her float everywhere, or let her draw dicks in their spellbooks now that they were doing all their fancy wizard things? She knew that keeping peace in Wildemount, and ‘teaching the next generation of mages’ or whatever Caleb kept telling her he was doing was really important and all. She had just thought that maybe the Mighty Nein was important too, you know?

Beau and Yasha never left though. Jester thought that they would, by then. Everyone else had left, so obviously this was going to end like everything else did. Everyone on an adventure, with Jester… alone again. But it was okay, cause she was really good at entertaining herself alone, and she had the Traveler, didn’t she? Even if he didn’t talk to her as much anymore. She kind of wished she hadn’t done so much to spread the religion, now.

She’d asked Yasha and Beau, one night, what they were going to do when they left, too.

Why would we leave? Yasha had said. It had made Jester pause, for a moment. She’d never really thought about that part, just, well, Everyone’s left, you know? Veth went back to her family and Caduceus, and Fjord went to start their orphanage, and you know, get more people to follow the Wildmother and Caleb and Essek went to go keep peace or whatever, and I guess that’s all great and all, really cool, really, and I just figured, you know, that you would―

Jester hadn’t really realized how many tears were stuck in her throat until they started making it hard to talk. That you’d have… cooler things to do too, I guess.

Beau had wrapped an arm around her then, and turned away from the sunset over the water to look at Jester.

C’mon Jes, what could be cooler than being a pirate captain? She’d asked.

Well, we’re not really pirates… They hadn’t technically raided any boats in a long time by then. Mostly just the lairs of big snea snakes, and krakens, and sometimes even a dragon.

Whatever. It’s the thought that counts.

You wouldn’t ever want to go back and like… be a monk who spies on like, evil people and kicks ass?

Nah, I kick plenty of ass here.

Jester had laughed a bit, at that. You wouldn’t want to go home, Yasha? To Xhorhas? Or… I don’t know…

Yasha hadn’t said anything, at first, but Jester had known her long enough to know she didn’t need to hurry to speak like other people did. My home has always been where my family is. And you are all my family.

That’d made Jester smile. Even Marius?

He has gotten quite good at killing people since we first met him, don’t you think?

They’d all laughed at that, and Jester had slept easier that night, with Yasha and Beau next to her, knowing they wouldn’t leave, at least for a while.

A few weeks later, when they’d docked in Nicodranas to see Caduceus and Fjord and Momma, they’d seen a familiar face at the Open Quay.

I am Kiri! she’d said, and it was pretty weird hearing her own voice come out of the mouth of a not-so-little-anymore Kenku.

Kiri was looking for a job, on a ship. She’d said it all in a mix of different voices, and none of them were familiar, and it was reminding Jester how, wow, she’d grown up so fast and all without them. But then Kiri had pulled out a dagger, which she was actually really good at (Beau was lucky Kiri wasn’t trying to hurt her, she definitely would’ve gotten stabbed), and said It’s sharp! in that accent that Fjord used to use, and sure, Kiri was all grown up now, but she was still Kiri.

Welcome to the Mighty Nein! She’d crowed, and so then there were four.

And when they’d met another little tiefling girl, looking for money, and a family after that dragon turtle had capsized her ship, well, that was five of them!

Another ex-scourger in Rexxentrum, a paladin of the Traveler, and that was six… Seven… and then eight…

And now it was years and years later, and there weren’t really just three of them, or just nine even. There were ten or so, and like, at least sixteen if you counted everyone on the crew, and if you counted everyone, like Calianna, and Reani, and Keg, and Nila, and Twiggy, and Molly, and Caleb and Fjord and Essek and Caduceus and Veth, cause they were still part of the Mighty Nein, even if they were doing other things now, and everyone else they’d welcomed over all the years they’d been doing this, well, it was a lot.

#i have not written anything in a very long time so... forgive me #it has a happy ending oKAy #anyways #how on brand of me is it that i write the first thing in months and its about jester lavorre #aha #jester lavorre #all the usual ships but you dont really have to read it that way #the mighty nein #jules writes things #?#i know its wild #my writing #kind of beau/jester/yasha #cr #m9

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church-of-lavorre · 4 years

Note

(Ignore this ask if the "only one of these types of questions per person" rule is in play) 6, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 for the Tiberius/Caleb/Essek poly ship please cause I love these dorky spellcasters as a ship.

ask as many times as you’d like! i love writing headcanons and Tiberius/Caleb/Essek is a fun dynamic!

6) do i have any fankids for this ship?

well, until your first ask i hadn’t really thought about it! shadowgast didn’t feel like the sort of pairing where they’d want children, the two of them being more focused on study and research than family but with the inclusion of Tiberius i can definitely see them as parents! as of right now, i have 2 fankids for WidoStormHand, a boy and a girl. the little girl is named Kiva and has a mowgli-jungle book-esque vibe about her, she’s a baby half-elf druid that they stumbled upon one day while researching some ancient ruins. Tiberius couldn’t stand the thought of her being out in the world all alone so he got Caleb to use Frumpkin to calm her down; Essek allowed Caleb and Tiberius to bring Kiva home but kept saying that she couldn’t stay with them and that they’d have to find her a family soon that could take care of her properly and give her a childhood. of course, it never actually happened and it was only when Kiva was 14 that Essek realised that he’d never actually made true on his threats to give her to a family that could take care of her and, at this point, he loved her too much to bear the thought of sending her away. being a druid, Kiva’s magic was at the other end of the spectrum to Tiberius and Caleb’s so she spent most of her days learning magic with Essek or Caduceus when he could spare the time. she calls Caleb ‘Papa’, Tiberius ‘Dad’ and Essek ‘Father’. the boy’s name is August and he’s a human sorcerer; Caleb went to the empire for a short period of time to sort some things out and, while in Rexxentrum, had August attempt to pick his pocket. used to how sticky fingered Veth is, Caleb recognised the tug of someone going through his coat and caught August by the hand. Releasing a burst of bright light directly into Caleb’s face, August ran for it but Caleb soon tracked him down and asked where he’d learned to do that. August explained that he didn’t know, Caleb asked where his parents were and August admitted that they’d abandoned him so Caleb offered for August to come back to Roshona with him, the little boy agreeing. Essek and Tiberius hadn’t been expecting their boyfriend to come home with a child but the way that August clung to Caleb’s coat and looked at the two shyly had them warm up to him almost immediately. Kiva was confused as to where this little boy had come from and why he now had the room next to hers but she soon got used to the idea of having a little brother and they proceeded to steal any shreds of sanity their parents might have had left. when Caleb brought August home, Kiva was 12 and August was 5.

12) who brings home a bunch of rescue animals and who has to send them back?

Caleb, with his love of cats, once adopted 17 cats from the local animal shelter and tried to convince Essek that they were all the same cat, just really fast and of the faerie variety like Frumpkin. Essek knew that something was up but didn’t question it because Tiberius had yet to realise that not only did they have 2 children but they had an over abundance of cats. it took 2 months for Tiberius to realise the cats, but only after he tripped over one while reading and sipping a mug of coffee, spilling the coffee down his robe and all over his book. Tiberius loved animals, after all he had traveled for quite a while with Trinket, but once he’d become aware of the cats it was hard for him to ignore the way their fur stuck to everything and the incessant, never ending meowing so he put his foot down and said that they had to go. Caleb tried desperately to convince his boyfriends to let him keep all the cats but his pleas fell on deaf ears because Essek had long since gotten sick of the cats.

14) who gets cold and who offers them their jacket?

Caleb, being the fragile human that he is, often forgets how cold it gets in Roshona. Essek is used to plummeting temperatures and Tiberius has a naturally high core temperature, it comes with being a red dragonborn, so neither of them are as bad with the cold as Caleb. out of the three of them, Essek is generally the only one wearing cloaks to spare, Tiberius almost always forgetting to put one on before leaving because he’s so scatterbrained but also because he’s always warm, so he has to lend them to Caleb when the human starts to feel the chill. on the rare occasions that Tiberius actually has a cloak, Caleb prefers to steal his because it’s already very very warm from the dragonborn’s body temperature but taking Tiberius’ cloaks always end in a long lecture from the dragonborn about human body temperatures, fragility, the human immune system, weather patterns and meteorology. Essek doesn’t mind when this happens but Caleb sometimes does as all he wants is the cloak and Tiberius hasn’t given it to him yet because he’s talking so passionately.

15) who tucks who into bed after a long night of studying?

Essek and Tiberius are able to study for hours without needing sleep, though Essek as an elf always outlasts Tiberius but Tiberius can stay awake for a disturbingly long amount of time. Caleb always falls asleep first, his boyfriends letting him nap on the books as they keep studying for a little while before Tiberius gets excited about something and his voice raises considerably, almost shocking Caleb awake. at this point, Essek carries Caleb off to bed and tucks him in with a kiss on the forehead before returning to Tiberius in the library. they’ll spend a while discussing Tiberius’ find before Caleb appears in the doorway, hair sleep mussed, and demands that the two of them get their asses to bed because he’s cold.

16) who organises most of the dates?

Tiberius! Tiberius likes doing nice things for his boyfriends and always goes to great lengths to organise the best dates possible whether it be the three of them going on a picnic or getting Beau to let them into one of the Cobalt Soul libraries through a transportation circle and some fast talking. no matter what they do or where they go, Tiberius always makes sure to include elements of discovery and learning things in the dates because nothing is more fun than a little debate between himself and two of the most beautiful magical minds he’s ever met.

17) who gets them banned from their favourite restaurant and why?

this one was both Caleb and Tiberius’ fault though neither of them will accept that they had any part in it. sick of cooking, Essek made a reservation at their favourite restaurant in Roshona, at their favourite table overlooking the koi pond, and had both his boyfriends dressed nicely by 6:30 so they would arrive on time. they got to the restaurant, sat down and Caleb, unintentionally, summoned Frumpkin who was set purring around his shoulders. a waiter came over and notified the trio that animals weren’t allowed in the establishment and if they would be so kind as to remove it they could continue their evening. immediately, Tiberius stood up, throwing his chair back into the pond and demanded to know what the waiter’s issue was with the cat. the poor waiter just tried to explain that this was a restaurant and they could get shut down for having animals in there; still not understanding what the waiter was saying so the waiter went to get the owner of the restaurant. the owner tried to explain to Tiberius why Frumpkin couldn’t be in the restaurant, Essek behind him with his face in his hands and a tomato red Caleb. eventually calming Tiberius down, the owner went back to her work and so did the waiter. Caleb dismissed Frumpkin and the trio ate their meal in relative peace. as they were leaving the owner of the restaurant came up to them and politely asked that they never come back, Tiberius was furious but Essek immediately shut him up and replied with “trust me, we won’t be, i am so sorry”. Caleb then may or may not have bamfed Frumpkin into the kitchen of the restaurant and set all hell loose.

18) AUs i’ve seen for this ship?

i haven’t actually seen any AUs for this ship but i hope i start seeing some soon! if not, i’ll have to annoy some people until they do!

19) AUs i have for this ship?

i really like the idea of a college/university AU for Tiberius/Essek/Caleb. Caleb being brand new and in his first year of uni while Tiberius is a teachers assistant and one of the RAs in Caleb’s dorm. Essek is this genius student who is studying like 20 degrees at once and struggles with social interaction, Tiberius is completely unaware that Essek is in his form until he’s helping Caleb move in, opens a door and finds Essek sitting in almost complete darkness reading the biggest damn book he’s ever seen. for the first couple of months, no matter how hard he tries to interact with Essek, Caleb just can’t breach the other man’s walls. they have a couple of classes together and it turns out that one half of Caleb’s degree is the same as one of Essek’s. the entire time, Essek has been unable to communicate with Caleb because he goes into gay panic™️ whenever Caleb opens his mouth. still at a loss for how to make friends with Essek, Caleb goes to Tiberius and starts venting his concerns, the dragonborn trying and failing to provide emotional support. it’s fine though because Caleb finds this endearing. just before winter break, when caleb is planning on going home, Essek musters enough courage up to ask Caleb to get a coffee with him but he’s so awkward that he ends up inviting Tiberius along too, the dragonborn having been in the hallway at the same time to make sure anyone who needed to catch a train off campus was ready to go, having recognised him as the dorm RA and Caleb’s friend(?). the three go and get coffee, all of them very awkward at first until Tiberius starts rambling on about baking and chemistry and the importance of using the correct flour. soon, the three of them are in a deep conversation about molecular biochemistry (1/2 of Caleb’s double degree and one of Essek’s degrees) and quantum biomechanics (Tiberius’ degree and the other half of Caleb’s degree). from there the three of them fall in love! i just love the idea of that as an AU for them because they’re all so smart and i just wanna see the three magic boys as uni students! also, a hogwarts AU would be amazing! Essek and Caleb as Slytherins with Tiberius as their delightful Hufflepuff!

#the church of lavorre #critical role #dnd #the mighty nein #critical role campaign 2 #critical role campaign 1 #vox machina #caleb widogast #tiberius stormwind #essek thelyss #widostormhand #answered asks

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readbythestarlight · 3 years

Text

c2e141 (part 2)

(It was too long for Tumblr to allow so there will also be a part 3)

Aaaaaand we’re back!

Oh my god they’re actually gluing his hands together

Should that be allowed to work?

“See? You aren’t a failure. Now, finish the job, and fulfill your destiny.” Bitch shut UP

[[MORE]]

No you can’t, Astrid

No but Caleb knows

And you still made a lot of your own choices girl

Byeeeee Wulf

I mean tho that seems extreme he just wants to be done with it why be more of a dick to him than Astrid

Oh damn Caduceus

Caleb using fire magic to SAVE his friend’s family home I’m

Aw…

Okay. Fine. Astrid can have her redemption arc too. Because she went through a LOT.

I resent the forehead touch though.

Oh okay then just go

I hope they find peace somewhere, somehow

Not-Molly where the heck have you been

Oh for the love of his someone punch him

Yasha that’s hot

Caleb I don’t think you’re on the chopping block at this point babe

“I love you too”

KISSES IM THE RAAAAAIN I’m so SOFT

Oh dear what is Cad gonna do

Oh DAMN Caduceus!

Keep going babe come on

Jesus he’s just gonna keep succeeding

Trent is such a fucked human being that he is incapable of empathy is how I’m interpreting it

lol Not-Molly

“WHAT is WRONG with you” xD

Awww Veth giving up her flask!!

“You are now the best friend I’ve ever had—and I walk away”

God okay we still have like 3ish hours what else can HAPPEN

Whooooo is it

Oh damn they came back ALREADY?

That was quick

I’m glad tbh

Even tho I still don’t really like Astrid but give me time

No mention in their accounts of any other members of the CA huh

Cad is NOT forgiving them for this easily DAMN

Do it, intimidate them!

Yep there it is, he can’t empathize

Oh NO the spooky book!

It’s Gotta be useless now tho right

Valid point Jester

Oh Veth :((((

I’m not ready for the goodbyes!!

I’m crying goddd

Cad NO

Godddd there’s so much TIME left and I have to go through it without Caduceus??

“But it doesn’t feel separate from the family he’s made”

I’m crying

“You comin’ hot boi?”

you can’t take him from me too right now

NO please god

Yes Caleb talk him into staying!!

ESSEK

THELYSS

PLEASE

no no please caleb ask him again please

Stop breaking up my found family

Essek I don’t understand OR accept this PLEASE

Fuck I’m just gonna lay here in a puddle of my own tears

I hate this I hate this I hate this

Huuuugs

Group huggggggs

Artists I need Essek in a flower crown art to heal my shattered soul please

“Don’t take too long because, um, connection is what saves us”

Thank you Yasha

KISS

ON CHEEK

AND HUG

“Don’t be a stranger”

“Try to be kind to yourself”

“YOURE the one who showed me that trauma doesn’t define you”

“Stay safe”

“You too, Caleb Widogast”

Fuck

FUCK

FUUUCK

Caleb gonna teach Luc I’m fine

“He’s his godfather, yes” this is fine

God Astrid just go with them

Y’all I’m not ready

Yes let’s check on Yussah good idea

“Friends, I was hoping you were going to make your way here” I’m so glad they went to see him

Awww he’s so HAPPY!!

They’re YOUR heroic knuckleheads and you love them

Beau you’re silly

Caleb and Yussah study buddies! I’ve been wanting that since we met Yussah

Not as good as Caleb and Essek study buddies but I’ll take what I can get :’)

Fjorjester water tower date

I want you to close that chapter yes

And YES good y’all go together

Oh man Fjord so desperately wants to be on the ocean and he so wants Jester with him and this is everything I want for them if it’s also what she wants

I’m crying

I love them so much

Fjord’s like “I wanna live with you”

God YAAAAAAALLL they’re so unbearably cute

Aww the Nein Heroes is there

Oh god and now goodbye to Veth

I’m gonna cry all over again

Fjord and Veth making me laugh-cry

please roll well

Yay!

Oh no not the Veth and Caleb goodbye

Yep here I go weeping again

“Veth the Brave” OKAY SURE FINE

Veth please please I can’t I’m crying I’m already crying you don’t have to make it worse

“Yes, you’ve convinced me I’m brave. But you are mighty.”

FUCK STOP

I don’t know that I can watch a third campaign because I don’t know that I can go through this again

“For most of my life, I’ve wanted to be a pirate.”

“Most of your life…?”

“Since I heard you have a ship.”

Thank you for that laugh Tal I needed it

I’m glad he’ll be with them

OH MY GOD ITS THE BANDITS

“I was sleeping…” I love Orli

You’re alright, Kingsley, I hope we see you more in the future

I keep worrying they’re gonna get up and leave the table and I can’t have that

Oh boy here we go

“What have you done?” lol

Udolaphon fixing to help end this man’s whole career

God I hope he doesn’t hurt them one last time by spilling about Essek I just thought of that

Yessss give Beau the credit she deserves!!

I’m so PROUND of her! LOOK at our girl.

“If we need any subcontractors I know a pretty good detective agency.”

Looking after her family members who aren’t present <3

Good, let him rot there

NICE they left him glued and powerless

They’re gonna offer him a spot in the Assembly

Called it

Atta boy don’t you fall into that pit of vipers

He’s coming for you next

Astrid, of fucking course

I knew it

Alriiiiiight time for Beau to get her justice

SUCK IT YOU SHITTY FATHER

Niiiiiiiiice

Beau has earned all the honor he never believed she could be worthy of

“Give this to TJ for me”

YES girl

Zenoth going to jail hell yeaahhhhhh!

JUSTICE FOE BEAU HELL YEAHHHH

And Yasha was there to support her the whole way and I’m crying again

No no no

If Artagan says goodbye I quit

I kid you not Matthew don’t do it

“I wanted you to be my friend, and you were”

Yes please stop using past tense

Okay thank god

Matthew you just about gave me a heart attack and Laura a heart attack

Don’t leave okay don’t leave

Don’t GO

Please

She’s grown beyond him and he knows it and he’s trying to tell her and let her go gently and I’m crying AGAIN

I’m so bad with goodbyes y’all this is really just tearing me up inside

“There’s still so much of Exandria to fuck with” what a goodbye I love him

Okay okay Fjord closure time

I can’t believe I was ever fool enough to think they wouldn’t give us these moments of closure

And now I’m just a wreck

“Do you remember me?”

“I do, boy. What brings ye here?”

“I came to find you.”

I’m fine this is fine

Please hug him

Fjord sounds so happy

I’m crying guys

Fjord finally getting his answers

The awkward “I slept with the same woman as my dad figure” reveal

I’m so glad we’re finally getting the backstory on this

“Guide you away from his path”

Adopted dad vibes

Only to lose Fjord and think he’d failed twice

“I thought about you every day, since that night. The life I had before working with you, is one I don’t care to recall, and you showed me kindness and love and honor and it meant the world to me. It fills my heart with joy to see you here, pleased, at peace. I suppose my last question is: is it your desire to stay here. We do—we have a ship.”

Gonna try to unseat the Plank King and become Pirate King huh? xD

“As my captain, you will always have a seat on my ship.” This is fine

Aw :(

Yeeeeeah!

Take a couple of trips, get to know your future daughter in law better, it’s fine

YAY

“You know that power. It’ll eat you in town. U’kotoa’s a hungry beast.”

“I believe you. We’ll have to do something about that.”

“Maybe.”

Yasha’s turn

Beau okay good start definitely we want Beau along

Let Yasha have a nice long vacation

GETTING A PLACE TOGETHER YES

gardening yes

Making you food for when you come home from work, my expositor

I’m crying that’s so SOFT

Beau stop being horny for 3 seconds challenge xD

“I never want to hold you back from anything, I want to be here to support you in everything that you do.”

“I want to be your Yeza” omg

Mmmm yes let’s get some Yasha past answers maybe please?

Drop the book off for Zuella ;_;

“I’ve never known anyone deeper than I know you, and yet I feel like there’s still so much more to learn. A lifetime to learn. And I’m so excited to explore every—every bit of you. In multiple layers. Your past doesn’t scare me.”

“You sure?”

“It only makes you beautiful”

Okay OKAY STOP y’all I JUST got done crying

Can you believe we got the perfect lesbian couple y’all

Oh god here we go

Oh my god

Oh no??

Greet??

Oh no

Jadek? Okay okay

Oh NO

Spread your wings!! Show them your new wings!!

YES good kneeling is a good choice

Ozone

Yessss Storm Lord yesssss

Y’all suck not marking her grave

Ouch

Beau that’s clearly NOT awesome

Shoutout to the Storm Lord

Oh they found her </3

Yasha no I can’t handle YOU crying

I was not emotionally prepared for this at all

I love the way Beau gives her space and then is also there with her and supporting her in the way she grieves

Just gotta love the healthy relationships they’ve given us

I’m cryinggggg

Y’all need to get some sending stones

(More in part 3)

#cr spoilers #emi watches critical role #critical role #critical role spoilers

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