#“(?)” ⸻ anonymous guest.

[incognitopolls]

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[canisalbus]

You mentioned before that the people who would have access to Machete's bedchamber would likely already know about Vasco. How did that come up in your mind? Did they get caught in the act or was the subject broached with enough trust? How did those people handle it? Sorry if this is a bit vague but I thought about it today and I'm very interested. :)

I think it just has to be the case, I can't imagine how they could manage to hide the fact Vasco is bunking with him from everyone, for years and years. Machete doesn't live alone, he has staff and servants who do his housekeeping and run his errands. Even if Vasco didn't stay there for any extended periods of time and snuck out the back door to avoid attention, I'm assuming at least the people who do his laundry and change his sheets would eventually detect that some sort of funny business had happened. But the number of people who are in on it is still very very small and tightly controlled. His assistant Vittorio definitely knows and helps to manage this situation, so does his personal doctor, and on top of that maybe a handful of most trusted high-ranking emplyees, which he has vetted extremely carefully and pays handsomely for their discreetness and prudence.

[nonasbirthday]

so what order do all of these extra stories go in? I'm confused, I know there's others beside the unwanted guest

Yeah, it's a lot to sort out! (What a lovely problem - to have lots of bonus content!) If you have already read GTN, HTN, and NTN I wouldn't stress too much about the reading order; the short stories don't interface with each other as much as they interface with the novels. But if you were to line up the novels and the short stories chronologically, it would look something like this:

The Mysterious Study of Dr. Sex - takes place pre-GTN

Gideon the Ninth

As Yet Unsent - takes place between the end of GTN and the middle of HTN

Harrow the Ninth

Nona the Ninth

The Unwanted Guest - takes place during the latter part of NTN

And then of course there is some additional content at the end of the first two books which are not quite official short stories (I don't think) but have some valuable tidbits in them! Even the glossaries and pronunciation guides have me doing double-takes sometimes as I reread. GTN has "A Sermon on Cavaliers and Necromancers" and "Cohort Intelligence Files." HTN has a "Blood of Eden Memorandum for Record." I have the paperbacks of GTN and HTN so I am not sure if these are included in the hardcovers. (Edit: it seems the extra content is not included in the hardcovers or the audiobooks.) But in any case I would say these are best read exactly where they are at the end of each book.

I don't think I'm forgetting anything, but I hope folks will add on if I am!

[armagnac-army]

LANNES, SOULT TURNED INTO A KITTY CAT HE CAN NOW BE HEAD-PATTED IVE TRIED SUCCESSFULLY

BONJOURMONSIEURKITTYYOUAREVERYSOFTANDCUDDLYDOYOUHAVEAFAMILYWHATISITLIKEBEINGACAT

🐱: MIAO. *

*Translator’s note: “What is happening. What is this kitten doing.”

[utilitycaster]

do you think that the arkhan/hand of vecna plotline will ever come back up again? or does arkhans ascent into published dnd canon make this unlikely? curious on your take on this part of the lore

I am concerned that you have in some way hacked into my discord conversations because I said this like an hour and a half ago.

I have only ever thought of Arkhan in the sense of "ah, right, the days when G&S could be like 'hey guys we need to have this famous person with ties to D&D and/or other Nerdy Pursuits on the show" and Matt presumably had to be like "um it's the finale battle of a campaign we've been playing as friends for five years? but sure, I guess." Joe Manganiello seems like a lovely person but it was an profoundly awkward and badly placed appearance. Sam Riegel fully sobbing in the club while some guy with zero context for why half the table has burst into tears over a high level Counterspell is just like *Nic Cage in National Treasure Voice* "I NEED TO STEAL THE HAND OF VECNA." It is a moment of pure, unbridled high camp surrealism. It feels like it comes from a mockumentary sitcom about a fictional actual play show rather than as part of the final battle of a highly popular and successful existing actual play show. This, too, is Goncharov.

Anyway. That is my take on this part of the lore.

[justsescape]

Can a cow be too fat?

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOURP!!"

Nyx had become a proverbial mountain of fat; her body filled the capacity of an airplane hangar. Rolling waves of skin resembled the dimples and folds of raw pancake batter as they piled themselves atop the concrete. Breasts -- each large enough to rival entire biplanes -- lurched themselves over the only thing bigger than them: her gut. Its rumbling was like thunder. Perhaps she had buried a couple of buildings underneath its weight.

"BWOOOOOOUUUURRRRRRRP-HYIUCK!" Nyx's head emerged from her body the same way someone's would if they were buried in sand at the beach. Every gaseous expulsion left the flabby flesh surrounding it rippling like a pond. "HIC! HIC-URP-HIC!"

Lips, dripping with drool, opened and closed rhythmically almost as if she was chewing gum -- not that she was chewing anything at all. At least, not yet. Her dull, hazy gaze craned upward toward a distant feeding tube connected to the ceiling. Unable to lift her tree-trunk arms, all Nyx could do to vocalize her appetite was belch, hiccup, or moo. Sometimes, all three at once.

"MoooOOUHOUROKUOOOOORP!!!"

The call was heard. The pipe descended. Nyx's gaping mouth wrapped thoughtlessly around it. Gulp... gulp... gulp... Drooping nipples lazily produced milk that ran like little streams down the folds of her lard-laden body. Her fat had long since found its way into her lactation: it wasn't so much milk that she was making as much as it was heavy cream. It clumped up in the countless crevices that wrapped around her entire gluttonous frame.

From Nyx's limited perspective, the world was but a pale, endless horizon of lard below, and a cold, metal ceiling above. The feeding tube delivered euphoric sensations. It was her escape. The bigger she grew, the more she pressed into the walls. The more she pressed into the walls, the less they could do to confine her. The less confined she was, the more she could grow. The cycle repeated. Fat was freedom.

Nyx swelled like a balloon connected to a garden hose.

[badlydrawndashstrider]

so did you have any specific queer awakening, john? an event or person???

EB: i took a very long look at myself and my childhood and realized that i am in fact a homosexual.

TT: I thought it was Mothman. EB: it was egon spengler and you KNOW that. EB: moth man is a close second though.

[ascendedofthesea]

Bantia

Well... kinda. I mean, she didn't actually... say yes to a date yet... and we didn't... have a full conversation that was more than 'hello's' and 'how are youse' and 'you're needed in the northern sector', BUT Once she undastands my suave flirting techniques and falls for my undeniable charms, then I'll be spoken for!

Kou

You seem... confident.

Bantia

Like I said, I'm wearing 'er down! Only a matter of time before I get to hold those beautiful intangible claws and take 'er to the fanciest dumpster this side of tha lake!

Kou

That wasn't a compliment...

[grimalkinmessor]

you should enable anonymous ao3 comments

No 🖤

[incognitopolls]

We ask your questions so you don’t have to! Submit your questions to have them posted anonymously as polls.

[canisalbus]

Machete reminds me of those unhinged little dogs that screech at everything except the single person they like (Vasco)

He's a Creachure and I love him

.

[incorrectx-menquotes]

Namor: Apocalypse is like a real, legit bad guy.

Mystique: Dude, we're all bad guys.

Namor: Uh, first of all, I care about the ocean, okay? I don't know what about that makes me a bad guy.

Mystique: Yeah. Says the guy who dissolved the head of Marine Chemicals in a bath of his own toxic waste.

Namor: Best Earth Day ever.

[deadpanwalking]

What was Steve Joyce’s fucking problem

Don't get me fucking started on that man. Churlish, greedy shitheel who fucked over almost every Joyce scholar in some way, including our mutual friend, Kate Bush. Imagine pissing off so many people that you become known as the Darth Vader of a literary legacy.

[utilitycaster]

Do you think the guest pcs will return before the campaign ends? Some were sent on a research quest and Yu is still sorta kinda involved with the things we learned about Zathuda.

There was a bigger tendency of reoccurring guests back in c1 but it's become less frequent since then. Then there's also the challenge of chaos table with ten people that didn't work all that well.

Anyway, I just wanted to know your opinion.

I truly have no idea. I think it would make a lot sense to bring back Deanna, FRIDA, and Prism should schedules work out! Their research is relevant and Deanna and FRIDA especially have very strong ties to Chetney and FCG, so at the very least it would be nice to see them again, but it is true that all three at once is a lot. I'd also like to see Dorian again if possible but I don't know if there's as natural an entry point. I must admit, I don't really see what Yu can provide that Zathuda himself wouldn't be able to provide, but also I notably don't care for Yu and don't spend time thinking about them unless directly asked.

For what it's worth the reason it wasn't frequent in Campaign 2 was almost certainly due to COVID restrictions; I know they planned to have Aimee on, and probably would have had others back. With that said, this might be unpopular but I think I am less excited about guests than many. Now that we have EXU and Candela, there are opportunities for non-main cast actors to come on a CR show and actually have a starring role in this series, rather than serve as a brief guest in someone else's full campaign, and I suspect the CR main cast is cognizant of this balance. I also think that guests are fun but this is a full table - with Ashley no longer away much of the time, even one person makes 8 players which is quite a lot; it was actually rare for a guest to be present while Ashley was also present during C1-C2. So I think the best way to continue having guests is to do it as with Trial of the Take in C1, the Iron Shepherds arc in C2, and the solstice split in C3 and do it when only some of the CR table is present, and I'm not sure that's likely to happen with Bells Hells at this point.

[deadandphilgames]

Do you have that one clip of Dan and Phil on stereo talking about playing D&D and getting kicked out of the game because they got way to into the role-playing part? I need it for science.

22:40 from the phil and phriends: Dan episode

[badlydrawndashstrider]

NICE BRACELETS GAYLORD. -CG

TT: ! TT: Oh. Hi Karkat. I was wondering where you went. TT: Glad you like them, because one of them's yours.

TT: Here ya go. I'm gonna go find John.