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angelsndragons · 3 years

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Well, I don't know about you but I have watched Caduceus' conversations with Beau and Lucien about a dozen times each so let's compare and contrast.

So, the conversation with Beau highlights how far both of them have come since Caduceus joined the party. Beau is, dare I say it, downright gentle in her poking and prodding Caduceus' reactions. She's approaching Caduceus both from a place of concern and a place of equality; she doesn't feel the need to try to control the conversation or to find some angle to work. She pulls straight from Yasha's playbook back in the dance hall, making me wonder just how much of Caduceus and Yasha's conversation she actually got (that Observant feat is no joke, y'all). Beau approaches with a thank you for the healing, which by itself shows her growth, she acknowledges that she needed the help and is openly appreciative of it, then asks how Caduceus is doing. She gives him time and space to answer rather than impatiently jumping the gun, acknowledges his feelings, lightly prods his previous trauma, then finds a plan that everyone can presumably live with. She tries to speak Caduceus' language of fate, myth, and religion by harkening back to the Kiln and she lets him go when he’s obviously done. All in all, it is an amazing display of just how far asshole rebel without a cause, abrasive as fuck Beauregard Lionett has come. Props to her and Marisha.

But this meta is about Caduceus so let's talk about his growth. Because guys. Guys. If you need evidence that Caduceus has grown and let some of his walls down, this is it. He tells Beau he “doesn't like this” and goes as far as he can to explain what specifically is messing with him. Not only is this thing unnatural, it is a mockery of life. They are not alive, not truly, they go against everything he stands for. He expresses his desires clearly and plainly, “I want to burn it on the way out.” He acknowledges the rifts between himself and the others, then explains his thought process clearly and completely: that they are low on resources, that they might have to fight their way out anyway and the sooner they leave the better, and that he doesn't think the crest will just break. Anyone want to take a gander at the last time Caduceus laid out his deal like this? Trick question, he really hasn't. He has had a couple of moments where he talks out an idea but he rarely goes this in depth. Speaking this directly and specifically on his feelings and opinions just doesn't happen very often. For all that Caduceus believes other people need to talk about their feelings, he is very much a doer, not a talker, he doesn’t process that way. Caduceus doesn’t explain himself as a rule yet here he is, trying as hard as he can to make Beau understand.

Contrast that conversation with his talk with Lucien. So, first of all, we know that Caduceus loathes what Lucien is trying to accomplish and has nothing but contempt towards the city and efforts to bring it back to the Material Plane. At best, Caduceus pities Lucien; he’s willing to believe that Lucien Knows Not What He Does and is being manipulated by the city. At worst, well, there’s always a plant that needs compost and Caduceus is more than happy to make some. He tells Beau this episode that “there’s something very wrong with your friend.” Yet Caduceus does what he always does when faced with an unknown, currently non-hostile threat- he starts with polite small talk. From the Gentleman to Avantika, from Ludinus to Essek, from pirates to stone giants to yetis, Caduceus’ default mode for dealing with threats is to play nice and polite and to figure out what information he can glean to use against them. People underestimate Caduceus right up until he reads them for filth and he totally pushes that polite, harmless image.

Now, I need some nervous nellies to pause and ask themselves why in the world Caduceus would “open up” to Lucien mere seconds after threatening the man. Because that is what his comment “I’ve never met anybody who looks like you before. For the record,” is. It is as close to a threat as Caduceus will ever utter. And if you don’t believe me, please rewatch the Roasting of Trent Ickithon and then watch this conversation again; Caduceus has the exact same polite bitch face energy there that he does here. Well, there, he was scolding Ickithon, here he is straight up warning Lucien. I also need you all to remember that conversation he just had with Beau, the one where he delves into specifics and keeps pushing himself until Beau understands where he’s coming from. This conversation is not that. Caduceus spends this entire conversation playing into Lucien’s expectations and dodging around his real intent up here.

Actually, let’s talk about his ‘I’m confused’ bit here. He’s not confused about his ultimate goal. Caduceus has been driving the ‘we have to stop the Astral Sea City’ train from the literal moment it showed up. He’s the one who saw the Abyss stare back at them, he’s the one who insisted they ask Yussa, who asked Beau push her Cobalt Soul resources, who asked the literal Mother of All Nature for answers, who’s pushing for Essek’s help. Him, not the others. Hell, boy was asking Jester to ask the Traveler what the hell is going on, that is how anti-city he’s been this entire time. He knows what needs to be done, the question in the air is how. This changed because the Nein’s circumstances changed; they now have a crest and Lucien caught up to them much faster than they anticipated. Are they supposed to let Lucien summon the thing and take it out? Or is it better to wait for him to gather all the items and destroy them so they can never be used? What’s stopping the next guy from coming up here and doing the ritual themself? And what precisely is he supposed to do about Lucien and Molly? It speaks highly of Taliesin’s roleplay skills and the consistency with which he’s played Caduceus that Matt never once called for a deception check, despite the fact that Matt knows that Caduceus is directly opposed to Lucien and his goals AND is hiding that information. Taliesin and Caduceus danced so skillfully around that fact, it was a delight to watch.

Bottom line, Caduceus is very good at feigning vulnerability to get what he wants or to come off as a lesser threat. He told the Gentleman a bit about his worry for his family to induce the man to reconcile with Jester. He expressed his confusion and worry to the Nein and Essek at that dinner. Seriously, go watch those conversations and then go back to the Lucien conversation, it’s kind of eerie how well that playbook works. That pseudo-vulnerability was in direct service in getting the other person to do what Caduceus wanted them to do, it was not shared just because or in any real meaningful fashion. Both of those instances were direct manipulation tactics he learned at the Grove, comforting the bereaved. People are more comfortable sharing their issues and worries, after all, when you give them a little morsel of your own. People build a rapport around perceived sharing of vulnerabilities. People are more likely to do what you want when you have such a rapport. And that’s precisely what Caduceus did here; he didn’t tell Lucien anything Lucien didn’t know or couldn’t guess himself, he traded a small nugget about his own confusion for Lucien’s curiosity and it worked. The Tomb Takers and the Mighty Nein are stuck together for the foreseeable future and I for one can’t wait to see what growth awaits Caduceus next.

TL;DR: Caduceus has only ever been really openly vulnerable with the Nein, the rest is playing possum. Please don’t fall for it or worry that he’s actually unloading onto strangers when he’s actually unloaded quite a lot, for him at least, on his friends and loved ones. His growth is undeniable.

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paintedwarpony · 3 years

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And while we're on the subject of choice...

POST EPISODE ANALYSIS, EXHAUSTION AND PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS SUGGEST

That the Nein have a few glaring choices to go on now that they squeaked out an escape from the Tomb Takers. I would like to hope that the Tomb Takers would not actually give chase but they are literally hours from their goal and to go hunting off for another crest over hunting down the Nein is high risk, low reward. Plus lets be honest, its personal now and the Tomb Takers aren't going to take kindly to being dodged like that.

Barring player choice and shenanigans, of which there are endless, I see three pretty solid possible routes for the Nein to go.

1. B O L T : Both Jester and Caduceus have set up sanctuaries and Caleb has teleport. Its risky to try big magic like that in Eiselcross as we've seen, but it might be worth the risk and consequences to get a half a world of distance and time. That doesn't stop Lucien or the Tomb Takers but it does put a wrench in it and give the Nein time to regroup and plan. But they have to get far enough ahead or find someplace to hole up long enough to sleep and gain the spells to use in the first place.

2. J U K E M O V E : They make a mad dash to the Aeor ruins and cut the Tomb Takers off at the pass. Either to collapse the entrance they plan to use or work their way into the depths of Aeor to sabotage or set up an ambush for Lucien and the others. Super dangerous move. Its just asking to get trapped or cornered.

AND the one I really hope and feel like is most likely at this point...

3. GET THE CALVARY : Haul ass to the Vurmas Outpost. Alot has changed in the last 48HRS for the Nein, the trepidation that Beau and Caleb felt about pulling Essek into the whole situation is gone or the rest of the Nein have deemed themselves in dire enough straights that they don't have any choice now but to involve or summon Essek. The message sent with Dagen was meant to try and spur Essek into action to meet them at the ruins. Now they're on the run and most of them are wounded or severely depleted. There's no other place of promised safety they can reach and they are going to have to DASH to get there before the Tomb Takers catch up to them. But there's really no promise that once they get there they will actually be safe.

BUT THEY WILL GET HELP. Not tenuous, threatening, hostage holding mutual company.

H E L P

The desperation the Nein are starting to feel in their situation is suggested by the fact that Beau, previously against involving Essek, was the one that asked Caduceus to use one of his Commune questions to confirm if Essek would help them. Most of us could tell from Essek's rush to respond to messages, reaching out the Nein from his end, his repeated plead for them to come to him, his relief on hearing them send messages to him, was evidence that he would help them. It was all confirmed and backed up by the Wildmother in the Commune. Essek will help them. There's no question about that.

What that help entails is hoping that Lucien is COMPLETELY unprepared to face what we all hope is a high level Dunamantic Wizard in his prime. One that is not only familiar with the Nein but helped train their wizard. He's going to be able to fight and mesh with them in a way that Lucien never could hope to have done. From what we know about the Kryn Dynasty was that it rose after the Calamity and Divergence. Its hinted there was some knowledge of Dunamantic magic during the Age of Arcanum but the Kryn perfected the use of Echo magic and Dunamantic magic after the fact, so other than possible scrapes with Kryn here and there, considering how secret and isolationist the Kryn have been, Lucien himself and the Somnovum might have never encountered a full bore Dunamantic magic user. Even Caleb was conservative about using it around the Tomb Takers. Its a very real possibility that the powers granted by the Eyes of Nine will not hold up against Echoes, Graviturgy and Dunamancy. Essek really could be a true wildcard.

And hopefully, gods I really REALLY hope...

That Essek will have his own reserve of calvary there to help. Led by one Lawful Good Echo Knight Babey Brother Verin...

Gimme that baby brother. Please.

And now I am fully exhausted and have to go into work at 3am so I better call it a night honestly even though its only 4pm...

LET MANIFEST WEEK BEGIN.

#critical role #d&d shenanigans #the mighty nein #campaign 2 #d&d #cr spoilers #critical role spoilers #meta #cr predictions #essek thelyss #i stan verin thelyss and i don't care who knows it #i just love verin thelysss alright #verin thelyss #matthew mercer are you listening #please give me verin #give us essek's baby brother matthew #please please please #i made a dragon appear please gimme this

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centaurianthropology · 3 years

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Far-Too-Specific Predictions for Critical Role C3 that will Absolutely be Wrong (but I like)

Setting and Flavor

I would love to see a group of veterans after a massive war that left both sides devastated. Matt likes to play with difficult moral conundrums, and a setting where two warring parties both came off poorly, and now they’re both limping through a reconstruction could be really interesting for a long-play game. I would also really like to see both sides of the conflict represented in the group. The one thing I wanted to see more of in campaign 2 was a native Xorhasian perspective in the group (aside from Essek, who wasn’t a PC). I’m placing this as post-major Dynasty/Empire conflict at some point in the future, so it would be the same geographical setting as campaign 2, but time skipped enough that we don’t really have a ton of recurring characters. Cameos from the longer-lived Campaign 2 characters are still possible, though.

Player characters

These predictions are based on my perception of player preferences, interesting roleplay opportunities, and focusing on things that the players seem interested in but haven’t been able to explore yet. I have also built prior relationships, because I loved having PCs come in with relationships to build the group on and give early opportunities for trust and character building:

Travis: Human Cleric (Order), with possible multi-class Fighter (Battle master). I would love to lean into a tactical, Imperial battle-commander type character for Travis, who can hit, but leans more support. I also would love to see him play a cleric with wavering faith in how he used to believe and practice. He has seen too much of war, too much of dying, to be overly-devoted to a single law or side, and is on an active quest of faith to find a higher sense of order and morality. He maybe left the army in disgrace, or went AWOL, but either way he is persona non grata on his former side of the war, with only one ally having followed him into exile. Prior relationship: Ashley’s fighter. When he went AWOL or was driven into exile, she was the only soldier who followed him. He struggles with his choices and his faith, and she acts as his rock and has become far more of an equal because of that.

Ashley: Warforged Fighter (echo knight). Ashley loves a straightforward fighter, so I wanted to give her something without complex rules to stress her out, but one that still has some really interesting flavor and possibilities once she gets into the groove. Echo knight is ideal, because it’s not a hard subclass to play, but it can be seriously fun. I like the idea that her character was built as an answer to Xorhasian dunamancy, to double herself and fight as two. As she evolved and became less a machine and more a person, she became more and more attached to her commander rather than blind patriotism, to the point that when he left, she went with him. Prior relationship: Travis’ cleric. He was her commander, and she still tends to act as his soldier, despite his wavering faith. She followed him when he lost faith, and she continues to be the one who follows and believes in him.

Laura: Full Orc Barbarian (wild magic). Laura loves to hit things, and has clearly wanted to play a hardcore tank for a while. I want her to be able to wade into any fight and tank a ton of damage, and full orc and barbarian both play into that. I figure her character would be Xorhasian, was a soldier for a while, but could never fit in because of her taste for wild magic and her chaotic nature. Having her be a full orc would also allow her to explore playing a character who can’t be traditionally sexy, which would be a fun change from Vex and Jester. I see her as someone who rapidly went AWOL from the army, and is generally unaligned and doesn’t want to think about the war or what it did to her country or her people, and wallows in wild magic to avoid it. Maybe she went to the Menagerie Coast during the war to get away from the fighting and dive deeper into her path, at which point she met Sam’s character. Prior relationship: Sam’s sorcerer, as they walk the same path. They share a faith, and that drew them together before the campaign, and they’re chaotic, happy best friends.

Sam: Satyr Sorcerer (wild magic). Doubling up wild magic would be nuts, but would allow Sam and Laura to play with some crazy combos in roleplay and in combat. Sam loves unpredictability, and so I could really see him leaning into the dice roll and relishing when things go wrong as a wild magic sorcerer. Satyr would also lean into this chaotic bent, and would stack well with the charisma-based sorcerer build. I see him as being from the Menagerie Coast, unaligned in the war, but touched by it somehow (possibly lost someone / his home / etc to the fighting?). He and Laura’s character met due to their mutual inclination and tie to wild magic, and are very close friends who have tried to spend the entire war pretending there isn’t a war. Prior relationship: Laura’s barbarian. They are on the same wild path, but perhaps have different connections to it or opinions about it to give them different flavors and different approaches to the same chaos.

Marisha: Yuan-ti Pureblood Rogue (swashbuckler). Let Marisha play high charisma! Let her play a pirate! I would love to see a snake-y pirate lady, unaffiliated with everything, acting as a sarcastic outside observer. I would love to see her lean into snark and the scoundrel-with-a-heart-of-gold archetype, especially in a race than is stereotyped as evil. Maybe she’s getting out of the pirate’s life, or did something horrific that riddles her with guilt that she covers with snark. I would just love to have her get a dark, but non-political backstory. Prior relationship: None. She is a wildcard character, deliberately. She comes in and adds a very different flavor and perspective, and as such, probably shouldn’t have a relationship with any of the other characters.

Liam: High Elf Artificer (artillerist). Liam’s love of describing his spells’ mechanics in C2 was what inspired this. I think he would enjoy being an inventor steeped in tragedy, possibly as someone who invented a weapon of mass destruction for the Empire, and still wants to believe in his homeland, despite what he did and what they did. Give me Liam as the man who has become death, destroyer of worlds. It plays into his love of tragedy and redemption, and I am here for that. Prior relationship: Taliesin’s wizard. His shame has kept him a hermit, but chance brought Taliesin’s character to him, and he saw Taliesin’s character as a means of redemption or better understanding. Having his closest tie be to someone from the other side would also play into the tragedy of his character.

Taliesin: Drow Wizard (homebrew dunamancer). Taliesin has always been Matt’s go-to for exploring homebrew content, and introducing dunamancy into C2 was a ton of fun. I would love to see this get expanded and explored with a Xorhasian dunamancer character PC, and Taliesin has a talent for taking something Matt has played with (Firbolgs, blood hunters, etc.), and making it unique. He’s definitely the player I could see taking the dunamancer and making him very distinct from Essek and the pre-established notion of what a dunamancer is. This would also fit with my notion that his character was tightly tied to Dynasty politics, possibly a courtier background, prior to the war, and found himself tied up in it. I would love to see Taliesin play a character more politically tied to the central story than Caduceus was, as he has a talent for driving plot and being a lynchpin for Matt’s larger plans. So centering the deep-lore plot on Tal and Liam could be really great. Prior relationship: Liam’s artificer, though theirs is not a long acquaintance. They met shortly before the campaign, and though they have a bond, it’s new and somewhat untested. Not to mention that the combination of an artillerist who built a weapon of mass destruction and a dunamancer make for the potential for some explosive blowouts as secrets get revealed.

#Critical Role #C3 Predictions #travis willingham #taliesin jaffe #marisha ray #liam o'brien #sam riegel #laura bailey #ashley johnson #These predictions are far too specific #and absolutely pulled out of my ass #so I don't expect any of them to actually happen #I just had a fun time trying to fill all the necessary party slots and cater to apparent player interests #feel free to add your own thoughts #can you tell I just dove into CR finally #and am really enjoying getting back to my TTRPG roots?#matt mercer

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draconpyrothayan · 3 years

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Okay, so I’m actually going a little obsessive about guessing what the party comp for C3 will be. Reblog with your own guesses and theories, please!

To look forward, I tend to look back, so let’s see what folks have played so far:

Ashley : Between War Cleric and Aasimar Zealot, homegirl is circling a Paladin like a stalking panther. She likes to be a damage monster, and she likes to have a divine connection. We also haven’t had any mainclass Paladins in the campaign thus far - both Fjord and Vax went at least 9 levels as non-pally first. This also allows Ashley to be charismatic, which lets her glory in the fact that she’s allowed to be here all campaign this time.

Laura : Vex and Jester are a study in contrasts, and I am fairly certain that C3′s character will also be different. Having gone through my entire list of characters with her as a Wildcard, I realized the group doesn’t have a Barbarian yet - between Grog and Yasha, they really do love having them in the party, and imagine how hype Travis would be when she rages the first time.

Liam : After Vax and Caleb, I’m guessing that Liam’s character in campaign 3 will also be dark. I’m further guessing that he will either take an early Actor, Alert, or Observant feat, because he does seem to delight in finding ways to make Matt have to think very quickly on his toes. However, his statement that his character is “Just some guy” makes me think he’ll be a Changeling Fighter or Ranger - he clearly enjoys being a backliner, and he’s aware enough of the mechanics to know the *massive* boost to Ranger that was given in Tasha’s. He’d avoid Beastmaster to stay away from Vex/Frumpkin parallels though. As far as Changeling is concerned... yeah. You don’t go from a human to saying “I’m just some guy” as your next character without it being an in-character protestation.

Marisha : She’s been wise. She’s been smart. And now, she’s going to actually have proficiency in Persuasion. It’s no coincidence that Beau was fashioned out of Keyleth’s pain-points, and this particular issue was her most common plead with Beau. Moreover, there is a class that the party hasn’t really gotten to play with in some time that would fit the Charismatic role quite well that still gets to be an efficient note-taker. A role that I like to call the Arcanist (Full-caster of an arcane tradition, like Scanlan and Caleb have been) that gets to go ham with Identify and Sending and general arcana... I think Marisha’s going to be a Sorcerer. Possibly Shadow or Clockwork - Draconic’s too Tiberius, Storm’s too Keyleth, Wild Magic’s too Chaos Crew, and Aberrant Mind’s too Eyes of Nine. Possibly Divine, if they wind up not getting a Cleric.

Sam : The only character he actually built for himself was a UA class that changed heavily between his c1 appearance and its eventual printing. However, he confirmed that Liam made his character again, so this time we are definitely looking at Scanlan and Veth moreso than Tary for this question. So to that end - Either he’ll be another small race, or one of the absolute massive folks. And he’ll be a class that can easily lead to in-character jokes, but with High Wisdom this time (to match previous Charisma and Intelligence). Thus, either Druid or Cleric.

Talesin : Mollymauk was a mirror of Percy. Their souls and appearances were yin and yang. A study in contrast, designed to be as different from the former and from first impressions as possible. Caduceus was a mirror of Mollymauk. Their souls and appearances were yin and yang. Et c. et c. The fact that he managed this without making Percy again shows that he reflected himself across a different axis. I suspect we will see a character that is the opposite of Caduceus along another axis. Intelligent. Foolish. A different chaotic energy than Mollymauk. A mad scientist, of a different discipline than Percy. An Armorer.

Travis: As with Ashley, this is a guy who likes the big numbers. And there is one infamous variety of big numbers he’s not played yet - Sneak Attack. He got a taste with Chutney, and tried to crit Santa Claus, so he’ll be back for more! Give the big guy a Rogue

TL:DR

Ashley - Paladin Laura - Barbarian Liam - Fighter/Ranger, also Changeling Marisha - Sorcerer Sam - Druid or Cleric Talesin - Artificer (Armorer) Travis - Rogue

#critical role #campaign 3 #wild mass guessing #conspiracy

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utilitycaster · 3 years

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also while I think Yasha is the most narratively interesting person to get the Lucien HDYWTDT, our options are:

immensely satisfying: Beau, Fjord, Caleb

immensely satisfying but kind of fucked up on a meta level, which I think is great: Caduceus

heartbreaking but narratively the most interesting because I love suffering: Yasha, Jester

almost certainly aesthetically phenomenal, but also anticlimactic and less interesting: Essek

bold of you to assume I know what the fuck Sam will do here: Veth

wildcard but almost certainly heartbreaking because this has previously indicated everyone going absolutely murderous after a PC death: Mighty Nein as a group (although technically in this campaign the one time it happened it was just like ‘yeah as a group I trust you can get rid of this monster when it pops back from banishment’)

#critical role #when will the nonagon...be nonagone

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theunwrittenman · 3 years

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Critical Role X Hades

So, why not combine two of my current fandom obsessions and throw in a random bit of theoretical game design for fun?

Full spoilers: this was inspired by the amazing art of @nosnexus, @glimmer.co.vu, @sashthesloth, and @viktormaru

So, here’s a full list of The Mighty Nein and what boons I think they’d give if they were Olympians from Hades.

Beau: Is all about getting up close and personal. Her boons grant you additional speed, extra damage from movement, and secondary close range attacks that proc when you land a hit. Her rarer boons tap into her knowledgebase and figure out what rewards are likely to spawn in upcoming chambers. Her wrath ability stuns opponents letting you get in backstabs or focus on other targets.

Caduceus: Growth, Healing, and Decay. Clay’s boons add poison on attacks or in an aoe while slowly restoring your own health. His rare “teabreak” boons grant big bonuses when you meet a story character or take a break at a fountain. His god gage ability lets you too become a maker of fine graves, and root all enemies in place.

Caleb: Fire & Flux. Caleb’s basic boons are all about that AOE fire damage, or turning your projectiles into seeking cat’s ire claws that stick around and dish out some damage. Rarer boons involve creating walls of fire where you walk/cast, or offering hospitality form the Nein sided tower. Caleb’s wrath ability is polymorph, which transforms you into a random big creature for the duration of the ability. Hope you can adapt quickly.

Fjord: Not wanting to make this a straight Poseidon rehash ( because lets be clear, that’s exactly what Fjord’s boons would be), lets instead focus on our captain’s swordsmanship skills: summoning a secondary weapon that you can switch to and buff through Fjord’s different boons. Secondary boons involve growing stronger with each foe slain (Sword of fathoms style), or creating pockets of “depth” where enemies and projectiles move slower . Fjord’s wrath ability summons a tidal wave that pushes foes away and pins them against a surface, giving you time to breathe.

Molly: Always unpredictable wildcards, functioning almost like chaos boons. base abilities include: granting you additional health but increase the damage you take, increasing crit damage and chance, but taking a little damage each time you do, throwing out random curses onto the battlefield that you might stumble over later, or suffering damage upon accepting the boon for raw damage increase. His wrath ability seeks you bouncing recklessly around the battlefield like a top dealing increasingly high damage in a hard to steer maneuver.

Jester: Let chaos REIGN! Jester’s abilities are big and hectic and random, involving a lot of bouncing projectiles or swingy damage numbers. Her advanced boons involve receiving delicious snacks ( boosting health, boon strength etc.) or bouncing unexpectedly around the battlefield. Her wrath ability invokes duplicity, spawning a second Zag equipped with all the same boons to cause twice the chaos on the battlefield.

Veth: All about those backstabs baybe. Veth’s boons reward you for striking first or getting the drop on your opponents, including turning temporarily invisible after you dash, or throwing out strobing button decoys onto the battlefield. Her wrath ability is “Voltaic Strike”, a massive bolt of destructive energy that you best hope you’ve got your opponents in the right position for.

Yasha: Strike with the fury of the gods, gaining a powerful stack of divine energy that rewards building up your rage before you strike. Additional boons grant you yasha’s wings, letting you hover out of touch in the air before striking, or let out a terrifying warcry when you breach a certain health threshold, sending enemies running scared. Her wrath ability is “blind rage”, massively increasing your damage output but shrouding everything beyond your direct strike range in darkness.

hope you folks like it, if you do, I’ll do another one for our old friends at Vox Machina!

#Hades #hades supergiant #critical role #the mighty nein #yasha #nott #veth brenatto #jester #jester lavorre #Molly #mollymauk #fjord #caleb #caleb widogast #cadeuces clay #beau #hades game

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heyyoueverwonderwhywerehere · 4 years

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Okay, Okay, hear me out...Mighty Nein Persona AU. I’ve already got some ideas.

Fjord would be the leader, an orphan who’s foster dad died mysteriously and now lives with Yeza, his biological children and Caleb later on. His Codename would be Buccaneer. He would have a much more sea captain look in Mementos, tricorn hat included, with a simple black domino mask. His Persona in my mind can only be Edward Thatch himself, Blackbeard.

The first person to get dragged into after Fjord Mementos is Beau obviously, his childhood friend and only person who doesn’t treat him with pity, her codename would be Fist. Her look would probably reflect a martial artist from an old Chinese movie, like 1950’s Chinese fighting films and instead of a mask, she’d wear a blue blindfold. Her Persona would be Bellona, the Roman goddess of war, that Romans would pray to before each battle.

They meet Nott, a Goblin woman that turns into a lizard outside of Mementos. She wants free of her curse and offers to help. Her Codename would be Green and she would be dressed in a dark hood with her dollface as her mask. Her Persona would be Verappan, a thief who robbed most of Southern India blind for 20 years

Next up, you know it’s gonna be Jester Lavorre, who managed to sneak into Mementos to see what mischief the other two were up to. Her Codename, Wildcard. Very much a flashy harlequin suit with the diamond pattern and mismatched colours, her mask would be the Comedy mask from theatres. Her Persona, Anansi, African Spider God of Trickery, known for being an underdog.

Probably next, would be Caleb, A bookworm who’s professor had been stealing his thesis’s before The Mighty Nein showed him the truth, who’s codename would have to be Blaze. He would be dressed in classic gentleman’s attire with a top hat and a red masquerade mask embroidered with flames. And what better Persona then Nero, the man who watched his city burn.

Mollymauk or Codenamed Peacock, a man who was left for dead in a hospital and treated inhumanly until The Nein came and he Awakened his Persona. Would probably dress like a Brazilian line dancer, complete with absurd feather boa mask. His Persona would be Casanova, the bisexual who literally was exiled from Italy twice.

Yasha, a woman forced to work as an enforcer until she Awakened on her own and fought back. She’d be Codenamed Thunder and her outfit would be red leather in a look reminiscent of Michael Jackson, Her mask being straight up red lightning. I think the Persona that’d fit her best is Genghis Khan, a man known to be relentless in battle.

And Caduceus, the boy who just wants to save his families clinic from getting bought out by pharmaceutical companies. His Codename would be Fleur. His look would be that of an old plague doctor with flowers coming out of his masks beak. His Persona would be Asclepius, a Greek demigod that was such an accomplished healer, Zeus killed him for bringing someone back from the dead.

So, the story goes that, Fjord rolls up to his new school after meeting his new foster dad. Surprise, surprise, Beauregard goes here and he hasn’t seen her in years, they chat and get interrupted by a teacher who waves Fjord past and starts chewing into Beau. Fjord eavesdrops from the corner, and hears the teacher drop the n-word a shit-ton. Which A- Doesn’t make sense, because while dark skinned Beau is Navajo, not black. Eventually they find their way into the teachers Palace which is like a full blown Fifth fuckin Reich, where the meet a small scaly creature and the story continues from there.

Any criticism is welcome.

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hurlumerlu · 4 years

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for the character ask thingy: the blue lesbian from that one dnd podcast? i don't know a single thing about her but the fanarts are great, i love her design!

What’s kinda funny is that your ask could refer to three characters from that show, Beauregard (wears blue, is a lesbian), Yasha (blue facepaint, was gay-married) and Jester (litteraly blue, probably not a lesbian). I assume you mean Jester though ! So here we go :

Sexuality Headcanon : I go back and forth between “bisexual” and “hasn’t realized she’s gay yet”. I would also be interested in ace!Jester (yes she’s a cute, odd, somewhat sheltered character and that could play into bad tropes, but she was also raised in a bordello so I do think we’re avoiding the tropes here) Gender Headcanon : she seems very comfortable in her gender ! It looks like a total non-issue for her. A ship I have with said character : I lowkey ship everyone with her (and half of the party has a huge crush on her) but so far there has been no ship I want to be endgame. I am a bit more partial to Jester/Caduceus (giant pink humanoid cow), Jester/Yasha, Jester/Caliana (green scally nice girl) and Jester/Beauregard. A BROTP I have with said character : Nott (tiny goblin rogue) ! They’re a dream team of pranksters and are completely ride or die for each other. Whenever they start whispering together you know things are going to be very entertaining, very soon. But their quiet conversations can also be extremely cute, I’m super fond of them. But I love every friendship Jester has with the other women in the party, they’re all gold. A NOTP I have with said characters : no NOTP ! she just charms everyone and lets herself be charmed by so many people, there’s really no ship I strongly dislike. A random headcanon : she doesn’t canonically wears glasses but I ! think ! she should ! so she have them in my head. General opinion over said character : is there anybody who doesn’t like Jester ? She’s sweet, brave and kind and just flawed enough to be more lovable. Her player called her “a protector” once and I love that for her. Also she is a true wildcard and I can’t count the times she made me laugh out loud. I honnestly think she’s the one character whose permadeath would truly destroy the party.

thank you :D

#ask game #critical role

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dungeonsanddragonsfifthedition · 4 years

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okay gang we’ve got a day before critrole’s back so here are my official cr predictions for 2020

jester, beau, and cad “arcs.” this isn’t just because they’re my favorites–they’re the three characters who haven’t really had much pressure put on their personal stuff, and considering that we’ve got travellercon coming up, empire politics coming into play, and npcs as well as several guest pcs in the savalirwood, we’re headed toward some shit for all of them.

beaujes full canon. i’m not kidding. fjorclay half-canon (cad has a crush). beauyasha half-canon (yasha has a crush).

clerical errors incoming! both clerics cried (cad once, jester several times) in 2019, of course, but we’re gonna get more than just that. the traveller situation will get complicated, the clays will come back into the picture,

at level 12, beau and caduceus will both take the observant feat, bringing beau to 18 wisdom and cad to 10 intelligence. caleb is honestly a wildcard for me. fjord will be at paladin level 3, and he’ll take oath of the ancients. (he will use speak with animals to talk to sprinkle). jester will take war caster or another combat-related feat. nott will raise her int to 18. and yasha will take her strength to 20 and EITHER her dex to 16 or her wisdom to 10.

caleb will tell the others about his parents. jester and fjord will have the most… complicated reactions. cad and yasha are both gentle about it. this will lead to caleb finding out that yasha already knows.

if anyone multiclasses–beau blood hunter, cad bard, caleb sorcerer, fjord’s already doing this he’s fine, jester barbarian, nott wizard, yasha does not have the stats to multiclass right now but if matt gives her something akin to the fjord treatment i’d say cleric or druid.

i repeat: UNCOMFORTABLE FAMILY REUNIONS ARE AFOOT! we are gonna get CLAYS (cad says fuck) we are gonna get LIONETTS and i am hoping so badly that we are getting VANDRAN AND OR SABIEN

sabien warlock. sabien is fjord’s ex

return of guest pcs! i’m rooting for keg and nila coming back of course but all of them would be so good. also i want reani and yasha to meet. and kiss

essek come back baby i miss you so bad

#original #text #cr

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conceptstage · 5 years

Text

Dustringer’s Spellery {Chapter One}

Jester walked solemnly down the stairs, wiping at the dry tear tracks on her cheeks and clearing the despair from her throat. Everyone looked up hopefully as she got near but she shook her head. “She won’t wake up. Cad and I have tried everything.”

Caleb frowned and stared at his hands, Nott fiddled with the jade bracelet on her wrist, Fjord leaned silently against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest, and Yasha stared sullenly out the window. “There’s nothing we can do?” Nott asked. “We just have to, what? Wait and hope she fights through it on her own? That’s bullshit!”

Jester nodded. “Cad says she’s fighting it. He doesn’t know anything about this curse.”

Caleb cleared his throat. “There’s…” he sighed and took a moment to look around the empty tavern. The only other person there was the barkeep, sleeping and snoring heavily in a chair behind the bar. “There’s someone who might be able to help. I know her… from when I was student. She was an older student, a bit of a wildcard. She wasn’t chosen for the same program that I was but I heard she ran away shortly before… well, before.”

“What makes you think she can help?” Yasha asked.

“She was a poor student and kind of a bitch, but she was, by far, the most talented curse breaker to ever grace the halls of the Academy. If she’d been a bit more studious it’s entirely likely she’d be head of the curse breaking department there right now.”

Jester gasped in excitement. “Caleb! Why did you mention her earlier?”

He cleared his throat and shifted awkwardly in his chair. “I had hoped that we would be able to handle it on our own and I was reluctant to turn to someone from my past. I trust her to keep her word but still… But now it’s been too long, much longer and Beau will starve to death. I can’t… I can’t let her die just because I’m scared of old ghosts. I’ll stay here with Beau and you can all go talk to her.”

“Where is she? Is she in town?”

Caleb frowned. “She has a shop in town. Whether she will actually be there… I’m not sure.”

“We should go try at least,” Jester said and Nott nodded. “I’ll go get Cad.”

Fjord moved to sit across from the wizard. “Can you give me directions to this shop? A name?”

“I don’t know where it is but I do know it’s name. It’s called Dustringer’s Spellery. Tell her that Bren is calling in his favor. And please, keep my real name as quiet as possible. I don’t know who all will be there.”

In the end, the shop was fairly easy to find. Most people in Hupperduke knew it as the one shop in town to avoid. It was on the edge of the lower part of town, a brick building with crumbling walls and walkways. The door was sitting slightly ajar on its hinges. There was sign hanging above the door, just under the second floor dark, dusted window. ‘Dustringer’s’. The ‘Spellery’ part had fallen off at some point it seemed. Jester cleared her throat and moved to open the door but Fjord gently held her wrist. “Yasha and I’ll go first,” he said.

“But Fjord, I’m stronger than you are.”

He winced and his cheeks flushed. “Yeah, I know, but I’m taller than you are.”

“That doesn’t mean anything.”

“I will go first,” Yasha said, pushing open the door. She could feel the hum of magic down to her bones as she stepped through the threshold. Fjord followed next, then Cad, Jester, and Nott. The interior was far different than the exterior made it seem. The walls were structurally sound for one thing, with shelves and shelves and books and magical whatsits. There was a big window in the back with morning sunlight shining in.

That wasn’t right, Jester realized as she stepped up to the window. “It was overcast,” she mumbled. The city outside was not Hupperduke. It was a bustling main street with shops and stalls littering the cobblestones. The sun was low, giving the world a pinkish glow. “And it was afternoon.”

“Come in through the portal?” Asked a voice. Everyone followed it to find a young gnome in big round spectacles shelving books on the far wall. She didn’t even look at them. “Where you in from?”

“Uh… Hupperduke,” Nott called.

The young woman paused and finally turned to them. “Hupperduke? They canceled my business license there years ago. Huh, they must have left the enchantment up.” She huffed and hopped down onto the floor. “So, what can I do you for?” As she walked over, they got a better look at her. She was wearing a crisp white shirt under a ruddy pair of overalls with glasses that took up nearly half her face. Her long brown hair was braided over one shoulder and her cheeks were dotted with freckles.

“Where are we?” Fjord asked instead of answering her.

“Emon, in Tal Dorei.”

Jester gasped. “We’re not even in the Empire anymore,” she said, a smile curling across her cheeks. “Oh, this is so cool!”

“You have a name?” Yasha asked, towering over the young gnome.

The gnome grinned. “Talia Dustringer, at your service. Come with me and we can talk about what you need.” She walked over the counter and climbed up a set of stairs to perch behind the register. There was a painting directly behind her head of a young gnome noble woman with two babies in her lap and flowers around her feet.

“That’s a lovely painting,” Yasha said, pointing to it.

Talia glanced back and smiled. “That’s my mum. Raised me and my twin sister alone after her parents disowned her for getting pregnant out of wedlock.”

“No father?” Jester asked. “I’m trying to find mine too”

Talia shrugged. “He was some traveling musician or some shite. Never cared enough about him to look for him. Anyway, I’m sure you didn’t travel all the way from Hupperduke to hear a shopkeep’s sob story. What do you need from little ol me?”

Jester cleared her throat and stepped right up the counter. “Our very, very dear friend got hit with a curse. We heard you were an expert curse breaker and we were hoping you could help.”

She raised a bushy, unkempt eyebrow. “Now, where exactly did you hear something like that?”

“From a friend of ours. He knew you from the Academy.” She whispered conspiratorially.

Talia paused and then cleared her throat. “You have the wrong gnome. That’s my sister you’re after.” She leaned back. “Jaena!” she called at the top of the lungs. “You’ve got visitors!” She leaned towards Jester again and grinned. “Just a tip? She doesn’t look back on her Academy days favorably. Maybe keep it short?” There was some movement behind the curtain and they heard footsteps coming around the side of the counter. Talia smiled. “Morning, Jae. You look like shit.”

“Fuck you.” A second gnome came into view and leaned against the counter. She was dressed in all black with dark purple lipstick and nails. Her brown hair was completely shorn and there was a tattoo behind her pierced ear of a kraken. “The fuck you want?”

“Ah, hi, hello,” Caduceus said, kneeling down to look her in the eye. “It’s very nice to meet you.”

Nott came up beside him. “We need your help. A friend of ours is cursed and we heard you could help us.”

She sneered. “I don’t do that shite for just anyone. Who told you I was a curse breaker?”

“A friend. He said he knew you from the Academy and that you were the best-”

“Out.” She turned and started back around the counter. “Get out!”

“Ah- no! Wait! Please, we need your help!” Jester exclaimed

“No one from the Academy is worth my time or attention. Fuck your friend and fuck them all, I’m done with that shite.”

“Waitwaitwait! Please, Caleb said- Bren!” Jester called, leaning over the counter to look down at her. Talia was just leaning off to the side, watching with interest. “His name was Bren! He said you owed him a favor!”

The gnome paused and turned to her. “Bren?”

Jester bit her lip and nodded. She hadn't meant to call it out so loudly. “He- uh… He goes by Caleb now.”

“I heard he was dead.”

“Not dead,” said Nott, climbing up to Jester’s shoulders. “Just lost himself a bit.”

Jaena looked thoughtful for a moment before sighing. “That fucker. Fine, come on back.” She stepped through the curtains, muttering curses to herself. Jester and Fjord exchanged a look and then then all filed passed Talia to follow the gnome into the back.

When it got to Caduceus, Talia held up a hand to stop him. “You’re probably not gonna fit, mate. Even the goth one is gonna be squeezing a bit. You mind hanging out here and helping me stock the high shelves?”

Cad looked after his friends but nodded and smiled. “Certainly.”

“You gonna be okay out here?” Jester asked.

He nodded. “Call if you need me, I will crawl to you if need be.”

Jester giggled. “Will do! Thanks.” They followed Jaena deeper into the building. Fjord flinched when someone in a room he passed screamed.

“He’s fine,” Jaena called to him, not stopping or looking back. “Some curses have to broken literally.” She didn’t elaborate but continued forward wordlessly. Finally she brought them to a large room with a round table in the direct center and cushions all over the floor and stacked up against the wall. She hopped up on the table and walked across it before falling into a pile of cushions on the other side. She got comfortable while they all started finding seats, Jester directly across the table from her, Fjord to her left, Nott to her right, with Yasha standing resolute in the doorway. She pulled a pipe out of her pocket and stuffed it full of a purple leaf from the tin on the table. She sat it precariously between her teeth and lit it with a match. “Anyone partake?” she asked, thought she didn’t seem to care about the answer. “Tell me about this curse. Who, what, when, and where?”

“Our friend Beau,” Fjord answered. “We were fighting this necromancer outside of Hupperduke in a ruined temple of Vecna. The necromancer is dead, we triple checked, but then Beau opened a box and was hit by this blue energy. She went unconscious and hasn’t woken up for two days. She still drinks water that we put in her mouth, sort of on auto pilot, but when we tried to same with food she choked on it, so she hasn’t eaten in almost forty-eight hours.”

Jaena huffed and a puff of gray smoke left her mouth. The smoke smelled sweet, like honey flowers. “There are a million things that could be. Blue energy, you said? That narrows it down a bit, though there are more sleeping related curses than hairs on your head and each one is broken in a different way. I’ll know more once I see her. Bring her in to me.”

“How much is this gonna cost us?” Nott asked.

Jaena considered for a moment. “You said this was a favor for Bren?” Nott nodded. “Free of charge.”

“What do you owe him?” Fjord asked. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

Jaena opened her mouth to say something snarky and he saw her have to physically hold it in. She swallowed the salt like a lump in her throat and shook her head. “I wasn’t cut out for that life. Magic… It was different for me than for the others. They got stronger by learning, I got stronger by doing, and the Academy didn’t really cater to that sort of training. I wanted to leave, but I knew they wouldn’t just let me. They were big on secrecy there, so once you’re part of their cult you never get to be free again. He helped me leave. Not for free, of course, Bren doesn’t do shite for free. He made me owe him a favor. I thought since he was dead he’d never come to collect, but that fucker won’t even let death keep him from getting what he’s owed. Will he be coming with you?”

Jester and Fjord exchanged another glance but it was Yasha who spoke. “Perhaps. He goes by Caleb now, I’m sure he’d prefer it if you didn’t throw his name around.”

Jaena snorted and smoke came out her nose. “What, he thinks I’ve got spying eyes around here? Fuck no, this entire block is protected from divination spells. What the fuck does he take me for, a novice? Naw, bring that fucker here so he can say that shite to my face.”

As they left through the door they’d entered- “Make sure you say what town you’re going to before you go in or else you’ll just pop right back out here” Talia called- Fjord leaned over to Jester.

“Am I the only one who thinks that she and Beau will either get along incredibly well or they’ll have a fight to the death within five minutes of meeting?”

Yasha held Beau tightly in her arms and Beau wasn’t even awake to enjoy it. Caleb frowned as he stared at the decrepit building. “Here?”

Jester nodded. “It looks gnarly but it’s actually a portal to a very nice store in Tal Dorei,” she, opening the door.

Fjord stepped up first. “Let’s go.”

“And you said she warded the whole block, right?”

“Well, that’s what she said, but honestly, there was so much magic in that building I couldn’t feel any wards even if they were there.”

Strangely, that seemed to make him feel better. “Alright, he said, stepping after Fjord through the door. Yasha followed next with Beau in her arms. Then Cad and Nott followed with Jester bringing up the rear. The room hadn’t changed at all in the hour they’d been gone, but there were several people inside now, browsing the shelves. Caleb curled on himself and scratched nervously at his bare arms but none of them paid the group any mind.

Talia looked up from where she was finishing a customer’s order and waved them back. “Come on through, she’s got the room set up.” They moved passed her towards the back and suddenly the bookish gnome wobbed in place and nearly fell off the stairs she was using the reach the counter. Cad reached around Yasha’s body to hold her up. “Oh, dear,” she said, looking at Beau with wide, fearful eyes. “That’s some powerful stuff. How are you all still standing after being around it for so long?”

Caleb looked confused. “It hasn’t affected us in such a way,” he said, turning his face away when she looked at him.

She frowned and held onto the counter so tightly her knuckles turned white. “Get her out of here. I feel faint. Are you telling me you don’t feel that… that evil? Gods, I’m gonna be sick.” Yasha hurriedly carried Beau into the back and away from Talia.

“I’ll stay out here,” Cad called again, helping the young gnome stay on her feet.

Yasha carried Beau in front down to the room they’d been taken to before. There was still someone screaming in that room they passed but now there was also a quiet, male voice whispering soothingly. The room from before with the cushions was empty and they all stood around awkwardly for a moment before Jaena stepped out of a door farther down the hall.

“Ah, there you are. I was beginning to think you weren’t coming back.” Caleb curled his shoulders up by his ears and tried to bury his face in his scarf but his movement caught Jaena’s eyes. She raised an eyebrow. “Bren? What happened to you, man? You look… like shit.”

Caleb cleared his throat and nodded to her. “You look well also, Jaena. You’ve done quite well for yourself, I’m impressed. Thank you for helping.”

She was still looking him up and down. “Is this what dying does to you?”

“Ah, I’ve never died. Gotten close but, no, this is me.”

“What was he like when you knew him?” Jester asked, grinning mischievously. “Was he very different?”

“Like night and day, holy shit. I barely recognized him with his hair like that. I used to tease him that he spent more time getting ready in the morning than I did. Damn, Bren.”

“You have not changed in the least, Jaena. And it’s Caleb, now. If you please.”

She waved her hand dismissively. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. You don’t have to use fake names here.”

“Please,” he said again. “Caleb. It’s not a fake name anymore, it’s my name.”

She seemed thrown by his seriousness but shrugged. “Well, alright then. Caleb, bring her on back.” She stood in the doorway to hold it open as they got near.

“Your sister got sick when Beau got near,” Jester warned.

Jaena nodded. “Yeah, I feel it too. I’m more used to it than she is, I’ll be fine. Just sit her on the table there.” The room that they stepped into was far more stark and sterile looking than the last. There was nothing on the walls and chairs instead of cushions. There was a single table in the center with a blue piece of cloth paid over it. Yasha gently laid Beau on top of the table and then took a seat nearby. Everyone else did the same and Jaena brought up the rear. “Alright, let’s see what we can learn right here.” She hopped up on a step stool until she was tall enough to see them over Beau’s body. She closed her eyes and her hands hovered over Beau’s body, glowing a faint white light. “Oh… shite. This is a new one. I thought I’d seen every sleeping curse known to mortal kind, but this... “ She frowned and opened her eyes. “It’s not a sleeping curse.”

“But she’s sleeping,” Fjord said.

“Side effect. The actual curse is inside of her instead of around her. Usually curses will be on the surface of a person. A good tug in one way or another and they just fall away. It’s like… how to describe this… It’s like metaphysical tissue paper. Sleeping curses are the weakest on the curse hierarchy, they can usually be broken by a kiss or some fuckery like that, but this is deeper than anything I’ve ever seen. I can’t reach the curse from here.”

“Can’t reach it?” Fjord asked. “Where do you need to go to get it?”

“Not me,” she said, looking up at them. “You. Once you get close enough you should be able to convince her to tear it down herself. She’s the only one who can affect the world once you’re inside, the only hard part is getting to it. You’ll have to go in.”

“In…? Inside her?” Jester asked. “Like, in a sexy way because I don’t think Beau would like that too much.”

“No,” Caleb said next, not taking his eyes from Beau’s body. “Inside her mind. We’ll have to send our consciousness into hers, is that right?” He stood up and stepped up to the table, meeting Jaena’s stare. “What exactly is the nature of the curse? If sleeping isn’t the point, what is it doing to her?”

“It’s making her face her deepest fears and demons. One after another after another until the end of time or until she dies, whichever comes first. The sleeping is because the curse turned all nonessential parts of the brain on standby, to keep her focused on the trauma.”

“She’s been like that for so long,” Yasha said, standing up to stand beside Caleb. He turned to meet her concerned eyes. “It must be like a constant nightmare.”

“It is,” Jaena said, without comfort. She hopped off of her stool and started towards the door. “I’m going to fetch the spell. Wait here and discuss among yourselves. I can only send one person in.”

“Just one?” Nott asked, confused.

“A mind can usually only handle a single consciousness. Putting two in there and things get a little dicey, a strong mind like your Beau’s should be able to handle it. Any more than that and the chance for permanent damage triples with each new person. Best not to risk it just yet.” Then she left them alone.

“Who should go?” Fjord asked. “I can barely handle being in my own mind sometimes, I don’t know-”

“Caleb will go,” Nott said.

“I- What?” Caleb stuttered. “No.”

Jester frowned. “I could go. I know Beau probably the best.”

“Caleb, Caleb will go.”

“Nott-”

“Yasha could go,” Jester said next, turning to her. “You’re very strong, you could protect her.”

Yasha frowned. “This magic stuff… I don’t trust it. I would prefer to stay out here and protect her body.”

“Caleb.”

“Should Cad go?” Fjord asked. “This is all about emotions, right? And trauma. He’s good with that stuff.”

“Caleb.”

Jester finally turned to Nott. “Nott, he doesn’t want to go. I’ll-”

“I will go,” Caleb said finally. The others quieted as he cleared his throat. “I will do it, I’ll go in.” He fiddled with the edge of his sleeve nervously. “This is sure to be a very intimate experience. Whoever goes in will see a part of Beau that she has never shown anyone. They will see all her deepest dreams and insecurities. I don’t think- I don’t think she would want you to see that side of her, Jester. It won’t always be pretty, it won’t make you like her more. I’m not sure that I would personally want to be around someone who had seen me at my most vulnerable. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

Jester frowned and stared down at her hands as the curled into fists. “You’re saying that she might hate whoever goes in there after they come back out.”

“I think so. It would be understandable, it’s a violation of sorts. And I think she would miss me being in her life the least, so it should be me.”

“That’s not true,” Jester insisted. “She loves you, she does.”

Caleb gave her a sad smile. “She doesn’t. But thank you, Jester. I will go in.”

The door opened and Jaena stepped inside once more, holding a book in her left hand. “There we go. Made a decision?”

Caleb nodded. “I will go.”

Jaena seemed put off by that. “Well, that’s awfully kind of you, Bren. You won’t come out of this experience unchanged either, you know. It’s not gonna be sunshine and daisies, it’ll be several layers of horror shows. What exactly is she going to owe you for this?”

Caleb frowned. “Nothing. She will not owe me a thing. I’m not like anymore, Jae. And it’s Caleb. Please.”

Jaena stared into his eyes, looking for a break, for a sign of lying, but then seemed to find what she wanted in his gaze and shrug. “Well, alright, Caleb. If they trust you with her, then I’ll trust their judgement.”

“We trust him,” Fjord said. Out of the entire group, it was Fjord’s trust in him that surprised him the most. “He’ll take good care of her.” He turned his eyes to Caleb. “And we’ll take care of you. We’ll make sure you don’t die of dehydration while you’re empty.”

Caleb nodded and Jester giggled. “Not gonna lie, this whole conversation sounds super dirty.” Caleb was pretty sure the humor was just to cover up for her nervousness, because then she reached up to wipe a tear from the corner of her eye.

“It did sound super dirty,” Caleb agreed. He retook his seat and tried to relax it so that he didn’t fall over. “We should get started then, yeah?”

“Oh!” Jester exclaimed, reaching into her bag. “You should eat something! We don’t know when the next time you’ll be able to eat will be!” She pulled out a crusty, stale doughnut and waved it under his nose. He ate it in a few quick bites.

“Thanks,” he said, relaxing once more. “Here we go. Jaena, whenever you’re ready.”

She sat a moldy piece of bread and a marble cube about the size of her two fists in his lap. “Components,” she said to Fjord’s confused stare. “Alright. Here we go. Hang onto your asses.”

#critical role #critical role fic #beauregard #caleb widogast #jester lavorre #fjord #yasha #nott the brave #this will a shortish two or three chapter

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nilim · 5 years

Note

What conflicts do you see happening in the future and which ones are you excited for? (crit role)

Disclaimer: I’m sliiiightly tipsy, take my words with a grain of salt.

Conflicts… There’s a couple of obvious ones. Like I said yesterday, I foresee Caleb and Nott having some conflict at one point down the road, due to their goals and priorities not being 100% aligned, but I also feel just as easily they’ll work it out and end up on the same page, so I’m not completely sure that one will end up in actual big disagreements.

However, there are some other obvious ones:

1) Fjord. His patron. I think it’s easy to see that the rest of the M9 would think setting an ancient leviathan free just miiiiight be a bad idea. Depending on what kind of path Fjord wants to walk, this one obviously might lead to conflict down the road. If Fjord does choose to follow through with whatever his patron desires of him, this thing might turn out to be reaaally interesting. I’m also curious to see how the M9 will react, but just as curious to see what Matt has planned if Fjord - potentially, if this is what he really wants to do - does succeed in freeing his patron. Like, what’s the end game here?

I think Caduceus would obviously be opposed (Wildmother vs Zehir – the Cloaked Serpent, the one who created Uk’otoa) , but I also feel like the rest of the M9 – for various reasons, most obviously Beau – will take a step back and be like, yo, what the fuck are we actually trying to accomplish here?

Right now I feel like they’re seeking out the orbs to keep them out of the hands of more nefarious people, but I also feel like Fjord is getting more… impulsive with every turn of the narrative, so I’m curious to see where this is whole thing is going to lead. The wildcard in my mind is Caleb, especially after that bloodpact he made with Fjord. Maybe setting a leviathan free is just a bump in the road for him in his quest to undo what Trent has done, as long as he gets a favour out of it. I mean, a promised favour from someone who is the avatar of an immensely powerful being might even proof very tempting to him. Who knows.

2) Traveler-Con. This one is bloody difficult to predict, because who the fuck is the Traveler? What is he up to? What are his end goals? Nobody knows, but somehow, I doubt it’s as easy a goal as just ‘some mischief’ as we’ve been led to belief up to now. The fact there’s a very specific date already given to Jester (and the audience) when Traveler-Con will occur feels like a time bomb ticking down. To me, it makes this an obvious candidate for major conflict, depending on what the consequences are of this little… meeting. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again; I don’t necessarily think the Traveler is evil, but just that he’s not the best thing for Jester. I feel like she has to choose her own destiny. I want her to live her best life, and not his, and I feel like the M9 might feel the same way. We’ll see.

3) CALEB. I mean. This stuff feels end game. His struggling between choosing between the group and his own goals has been a major theme in the first half of the campaign, and last week’s episode showed an interesting shift (him choosing the group over the books), but to me his backstory has felt like end game stuff from the very beginning. It feels like he’s walking a tight rope walk, and the fate of more and more people might be caught up in the type of decisions he makes and is going to make as he continues to grow in power. Nobody is sure what exactly he is up to, but there’s a lot of valid speculation, and to me it feels like right now he’s motivated slightly more by revenge or ‘turning back’ his own mistakes, than necessarily taking into consideration what is the best decision for the majority of people. This is a concern™.

4) Yasha. This is a wildcard. What’s up with her? Who knows. There’s some deep hidden lore there, and I’m Afraid™. Did you see the new animated intro, all those corpses? Fuck man. I mean, there’s a war going on between the Dwendalian Empire and Xhorhas, and it feels like Yasha’s backstory might have at least something to do with it. I have no idea what to expect here, and I’m not necessarily pessimistic, but consider me… suspicious.

#critical role #cr questions #anonymous #meta

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angelsndragons · 3 years

Text

*sing* it's been ~a while~

and i have been watching vm vs the nein a lot so let's talk about it. as always with me, this is a very long word vomit.

i said over on my mechanics post that the vm playbook requires urgency while the nein's playbook requires setup. here's what i mean. if the nein can make it to round 3-4 intact, that is if all of them are up, they are going to win. period. the nein simply have too many ways to steal turns from their enemies or to maximize their own effectiveness for things to go any other way.

if you want to see this in action even with a reduced roster, go watch the fire elemental fight in episode 129 and count the rounds. between caduceus' mass cure wounds and spirit guardians, caleb's slow, veth's sneak attacks, and jester's guiding bolts, the nein were able to scrape out a win thanks more to their bag of tricks than the damage output. veth only got sneak attack because of guiding bolt's secondary effects, slow kept veth safe from an opportunity attack and jester from a multi-attack, mass cure wounds gave caleb that round to cast slow, and the spirit guardians passively whittled down the enemies into KO range. the accumulated secondary effects were too much for the enemies to withstand and they fell hard. notice how everything built on one another here. that's what cockroach parties learn to do well. it was sloppier than a normal nein fight but they did it with a reduced roster AND with nearly all of their high level spell slots spent before the fight. yeah, they're fucking scary.

vm, however, is a whole different kind of scary. this team can put you down before you even know what's happening. it's harder to target the group's biggest damage dealers because you have a hulking barbarian and often an elemental up front locking down combatants. the dagger rogue can teleport and fly. oh, and give himself an extra action each round. the ranger and the gunslinger can stand back and just go to town. the freaking bear can maul you. the bard can make your life a living joke in your final moments. the cleric is a wildcard because the group is built to fight without her; if she's around, good luck because that's another round of attacks you have to take and an extra round vm can take. their DCs are ridiculous, as are their overall ACs.

but the thing to know about vm is that they have to put you down fast. they don't have the hit points for longer fights and they definitely don't have the utility for longer fights. their druid is offensively oriented, their cleric is often absent, and their bard is mostly support. he's often the only one running that bag of tricks. he can and will fuck up an opposing team given the chance and bolster his own, the problem is that he has almost no backup here. it's a giant hole that is begging to be exploited. it's an even bigger hole when that bard can only cast one spell per round.

so, going into the battle royale, the vm side had to down one member of the nein as fast as possible preferably in two rounds or fewer. it almost doesn't matter who, because if you down beau or fjord, that forces jester or fjord to spend their action or spell getting the downed member back up. if jester goes down, fjord has to do something about it. well, i say it almost doesn't matter but beau's deflect missiles makes her the worst target of the trio and yes, i'm including fjord's half-orc bounce back in that calculation. that gives you one round where the person healing isn't fucking up your team. vm's secondary objective was to monitor and control beau. her movement is nothing to compared to a hasted vax but her stunning strike is the most lethal weapon the nein brought into this fight. vm overall is not a melee group to begin with and their con saves are all garbage. vm has to find a way to keep her off their tails if they want a chance. we also know that vm's plan was to try to take out jester first so throw that objective into the mix as well.

all the nein have to do is survive the first couple rounds, monitor scanlan and pike, and get into position. that's basically it. the nein can absolutely withstand vax and percy's damage output for the first two rounds. pike and scanlan's damage output can be scary but pike in particular has to decide whether she wants to hold high level slots for healing. and she would need those higher level slots to get close to percy and vax's damage output. the nein know from experience that the support caster is where the real trouble will begin.

but before we kick things off, remember that matt specifically designed this battlefield to take turns away from the teams. the chests are an action to search and are located far out of the way in the field. the gem requires an action to activate, which basically means sacrificing your action for someone else's, and shifts between six designated points on the field. matt, who has a deep understanding of how both teams operate, decided to play on the nein's insecurities that they were at a severe item disadvantage and see if he could get them to bite. high risk, high reward. granted, this is me speculating but it does look like matt saw the fight very differently from the players and readjusted the field accordingly.

so we kick off and immediately scanlan proves why he is the top priority on the nein's list. he gets the gem, gets fjord prone on the ground, and comes within a hair's breadth of turning the fight into a five on two potential slaughter. travis brilliantly responds to these circumstances in the best of ways. see, fjord isn't the nein's utility magician for this fight; fjord's the bait. travis makes a very big spectacle of himself and fjord's predicament. and vm buys it hook, line, and sinker. ashley tries to continue with the original plan of gunning for jester only to discover that jester is who knows where.

vax, percy and scanlan? immediately take their shots at fjord. but fjord's on the ground which puts percy's awful misfire mechanic into reasonable play. so fjord gets lucky and doesn't take anywhere near the amount of damage he could have from percy. scanlan, after percy is removed from the field, decides he's better off trying to finish fjord but only hits a 3rd level thunder wave instead of a higher level one, which sam was probably saving for some counterspells or such. i don't think a higher level would have made that much of a difference but it is important to note.

more importantly, vax gets greedy. he got two good hits on fjord with his two actions, he could have left and hidden for the next turn. yes, vm has to down fjord as fast as possible. however that haste is going to be more effective over the long term if vax can keep it. but fjord's easy prey and he thinks vm can down him before jester can get over there to do anything about it. so he goes for the bonus action attack. pike eventually joins this mad dash scramble and like scanlan, she absolutely needed to throw something huge at fjord to get past his half-orc racial trait to have a prayer at downing him. but she did not because ashley seems to have been saving all her high levels for healing so fjord survives the round in honestly a very good position. vax can't target him from range with the cloud up, scanlan now has bigger problems than fjord with molly right up on him, and pike ran, taking damage and healing fjord in the process.

meanwhile, the nein's ladies are free to run and play the field as they see fit. jester has a big opening round flame strike. beau decides she can hold off on her round 2 blitz run to vm in favor of bringing molly onto the field. remember kids, never let a monk with 55ft of movement have the run of the place, it's bad for business. jester then makes a great play with her dispel magic at vax's haste. hashtag thanks, fjord. remember, kids, cockroach parties excel at taking turns and actions away from their opponents. in round 2 alone, the nein successfully remove percy from the field and remove vax's extra attack. that's both big damage dealers hobbled in one round. they also gave themselves an extra turn, adding molly onto the field. and oh boy, molly.

here we see the utility martial fighter molly could have been. sam's confused by the low damage that molly's doing his first round but the damage isn't really the point of the attacks. that brand of tethering is far more important, as are taliesin keeping an eye on which reactions will support the nein and molly's second attack wasting scanlan's reaction. counterspell is off the table for the back half of round 2-beginning of round 3, which is important if fjord wants to get the heck out of dodge.

in case it wasn't obvious earlier in the match that the nein are absolutely gunning for scanlan, round 3 begins with beau's blitz against scanlan. fjord's luck against the dominate person balances out with scanlan's save against the stun and beau missing one attack. here, vm starts to get distracted. they chose their focus fire target, fjord, but now do not, arguably cannot, follow through on it. we'll never know what could have happened had vm said to hell with beau and molly in our faces, we have to finish fjord.

vax tries to retaliate against beau but here's where the cockroach starts to come into play. molly blood curses vax, which saves beau a full sneak attack+ worth of damage. it also utterly wastes vax's turn. fjord manages to escape (and damage pike while he's at it) and regroup where it's safe. scanlan tries to dimension door but fails due to the brand. literally any other move scanlan could try on the pair of them had a better chance of success. instead, another vm turn is lost. taliesin recognizes the importance of getting beau advantage and supports her at the cost of two of his attacks missing, but not before scanlan is forced to cutting words one of them. another potential counterspell and cutting words lost. neither jester or pike contribute significantly to this round; the nein have done so much damage to pike in three rounds that she is forced to heal herself while jester chooses to dimension door herself to the gem and only a low damage roll lets it evade her.

beau takes molly's setup and gets the critical scanlan stun. he loses his full round. fjord takes the opportunity molly provided him to polymorph into a t-rex, bringing him fully back into the fight. vm is really going to have a time and a half trying to finish him now unless they can put up a big single damage attack. jester builds on beau's setup by casting flame strike, whose dex save scanlan automatically fails. he goes down. if you're the nein, this is exactly where you want pike focused, on her team and not on yours. she has access to most of the same spells that jester has and the more you pressure her to focus on her team, the better. it's not wasting her turn, precisely, but it is controlling what she can reasonably do with it.

now we come to percy versus beau. i don't want to diminish the insane good luck beau had to take only 26 points of damage from six shots because what matters here is that percy absolutely could not down beau. period. her hit points were too high and after she took almost nothing from the first two shots, it should have been clear that she was going to get her turn and she would absolutely attempt to stun and down pike and scanlan. i'm not going to monday morning quarterback this fight but i will point out that the more rolls travis has to make to maintain concentration, the greater the chance he fails and you get to hit fjord's actual hit point pool and trade fjord for scanlan. and if you can get him before he can get back into the fray, even better.

beau stuns the gnomes and drops scanlan again. her inner cockroach rears its head once more as she negates more than half the damage on vax's critical hit sneak attack. fjord-rex downs scanlan and grapples pike. the stun on pike here really helps negate that high AC of hers. after scanlan's death, it's a long slow death spiral. vax abandons the fight in the next critical round in favor of keeping the gem instead of targeting fjord. percy attacks beau once more instead of fjord due to fjord dangling pike over lava. he starts to focus on fjord only to get distracted by jester. pike goes down but vax gets caught by beau before he can get her back up. and so it goes with vm losing turn after turn after turn until finally the nein poof percy out of existence and bring molly back. a fitting end for the team who started their final boss fight with eight and came out nine.

bottom line here, the vm team played like they had way more time than they actually did. they had to commit to a target and see it dead as fast as possible. they had to control the battlefield quickly and keep it. they didn't so they couldn't. aside from building on damage dealt, they couldn't create advantages or opportunities for each other nearly as effectively as nein did. all of these factors meant that the nein did what they always do: grind their enemies under heel.

#critical role #cr meta #critical role spoilers #vm vs m9 #vox machina vs mighty nein #d&d mechanics #vox machina #mighty nein #the mighty nein #cr spoilers #my meta #long post #don't let your opponents run circles around you kids #control the battlefield or the enemy will control you #teamwork makes the dream work

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