the power of friendship will [checks notes] somewhat mitigate the effects of the apocalypse

If the Tree of Atrophy really is the Tree of Names, I vote we bring Deanna to take a look at it and give Aabria the chance to do the funniest possible thing.

The Ring of Brass.

I have finished the rewatching of the series and its still top tier storytelling. One of my favourite short (ish) stories. 

I really had fun doing the Ring of Brass in this ukiyo-e(ish) style. They look cool all gathered together so here’s the full set (plus a Beau for the M9 live show). Individual images are on my blog.

Added Mx Rue from A Court of Fey and Flowers!

You think about heroic sacrifice. It doesn’t just give meaning to the person in the moment, but inspiration we have to carry with us. As this moment of tragedy washes over you, in ways that some of you already knew, the stakes are realer now than ever.

is right up there with

Why do we tell stories? To try to make sense of a world that can be terrifying and enormous. In Exandria, I don't know that your story will long be known. I don't know who will remain to tell it, but it did happen — and it did matter. And though the Calamity is here, because of you, it will not be here forever.

in terms of how hard they hit me and the levels of emotional damage they caused me.

And though Calamity is here, because of you it will not be here forever.

Guess who has two thumbs and made herself tear up re-watching the outro to transcribe some quotes?

Please let Calamity become an OVA or movie. I need my friends who don't watch actual plays to experience this story.

Bonus quote because it got me in a chokehold when I was listening for the first quote:

But at the end of it all: hope will return. As many times as it needs to.

"And though Calamity is here, because of you it will not be here forever."

Gonna be thinking about Calamity for a very long time my friends. 

The Ring of Brass and the soon to be the Saviors of Avalir… right? …right??

Does Nydas know I love him?

Something I really appreciate about Brennan during Calamity is how he awards players for their decisions. He tells them how their choices have rippled out and helped others, even if technically their characters may not be aware of what exactly became of their efforts.

He tells Luis that druids are opening up trees, allowing whole crowds to escape thanks to Zerxus calling off the fiends. He details to Sam how Loquatius’s order for the administration to go down with the ship resulted in all manners of magical transportation being organized and made available to people. He tells Marisha that right before passing on, Patia hears Maya message her dad saying she received a strange sphere. All these player decisions were more-or-less on the spot (or the GM only knew of them when they were described) and Brennan made sure to show how important they were.

While narrating all this devastation and pain, Brennan also reminds the players that despite how bad things are, people are also being saved and given another chance because of the Brass’s efforts to make things as right as possible.

I'm just - it was a reasonable response.

Destroying the thing that is stopping you from achieving your life's work is a reasonable response.

Destroying the thing that is hurting your best friend and your husband is a reasonable response.

Destroying the thing that is keeping your friend trapped in what could only be agony - even if he's not in pain is a reasonable response.

Destroying the thing that is taking energy, that was put there without your consent, which you haven't been allowed to learn about, which you don't know the purpose of only that it is taking. It's taking. It is hurting you. And your city.

Something that is this well guarded, that there are this many secrets around, that no one will let you get close to must be for someone else's gain and your loss. It must be evil. The druids must have some power, something their working on, they want to stop you, they want to stop progress.

It's a reasonable response.

And your reasonable response to your pain and your dreams and your love - is the end of the world.

You are a level 14 abjuration wizard with 142 hit points and are responsible for making sure the technology that keeps your floating city in the air works. You are secretly fucking with said technology so you can transport your floating city to other planes. You believe that gods are not special and have said so out loud. Your changeling ex husband is the face of the city’s news and he is insufferable but also you kept his last name and still actively wear perfume that smells like the flowers at your wedding. You also have accidentally almost oneshotted a man with a high level fireball. Every day Laerryn Coramar-Seelie wakes up.

Oh my god. Oh my god.

Like I know it’s been said already that the Real Villain Of This Brennan-DM’d Campagin Is Late Stage Capitalism Yet Again but I am genuinely BOWLED OVER by how poorly thought out the Astral Leywright Interdimensional Funtimes plan is.

I mean

Leaving off the fact that we the audience know the apocalypse is kicking off in like two hours, just imagine if Vespin Chloras and the Calamity hadn’t/weren’t going to happen and this unhinged scheme actually got to play out.

It’s bad enough that the “heroes” of this miniseries are a literal oligarchy of six privileged dickheads running an entire government with no public oversight or accountability, but this plan was cooked up by literally three of them. Three people! On their own! Have decided it’s a great idea to shift their entire city-state to other planes of reality!

I know they said the purpose of Avalir was exploration and research and knowledge but! This is not a research station! This is a city! You know! A place where civilians and kids live! Even if the world wasn't about to end, what were they going to do when people started objecting to relocating their kids and families to other dimensions that may or may not even be HOSPITABLE to life from the Prime Material Plane!

They have no idea what’s out there! They’re doing this BECAUSE they have no idea what’s out there! And they’re just going to shift their floating mountain city-state full of kids and civilians into literal parts unknown!

It's like if the Royal Society circa 1800 pointed to the city of London and said "guess what everybody, every single one of you is relocating to an exotic foreign locale! which exotic foreign locale? fuck if i know, we just spun a globe and picked at random! here’s hoping we don't wind up at the bottom of the ocean!"

Jesus H fucking Christ the hubris on these people is glorious and even without Betrayer Gods gunning for humanity’s ass it’s still so clear that this could only ever end in tragedy.

I’m crying. I’m laughing. These people are fundamentally awful and selfish. i love them so much. I’m going to fiddle while they burn.

Laerryn Coramar-Seelie, Architect Arcane of Avalir

the Ring of Brass as Onion headlines, because i still cant stop thinking about that episode and i need to do something with my life

bonus: