#AND THEY'RE THE ONLY PEOPLE CAPABLE OF TAKING ON HER CURSE... CUZ THEY'RE THE ONLY ONES WHO CAN......

[spacetravels]

I am insane abt noah too… I’d love to know some of your hcs or thoughts or anything you have in that doc you’ve written, if you don’t mind sharing 💓

[insert sickos meme]

YEAH i think in my meta i just wrote too much about how the it lives series is like. the heart of it is mc & the marshall twins. i'll die on that hill. and also ofc the entirety of it lives being about breaking cycles. & like ofc bias here as a noah apologist but here have some paraphrased bullets frm my essay LOL I COULD TALK ABOUT THIS ALL DAY:

Essentially my thesis is like. The Marshall twins: Noah was Jane's whole world and he’ll always feel guilty that he couldn’t save her. MC’s her best friend and the love they had for each other was strong and real and MC will always feel guilt and blame for her her death.It’s a fucked up little circle of grief and blame because they’re both like: Why didn’t I stop this/Why didn’t I save her/Why was it not me/This is my fault

the way the horror genre is often about loss… like the horror of It Lives lies in how painful grief is, and exploring how grief can manifest itself and pain breeding pain and stuff. and it's so different across the book 1 cast but i think noah and mc are so similar in just. they blame themselves and carry jane's death the hardest... and uhhh

the fact they’re in their senior year. And how after this they’re “grown ups” and they have to go to college or get jobs or both. And how redfield/jane represents the youth they lost and will never have again. And red/jane bringing the gang all back for one last game because there’d be no games after that--all of jane’s friends will have to grow up. All of jane’s friends will become adults and she’ll be left behind in this terrible limbo state where she’ll never get to move on the way everyone else could. Like they have to grow up, they can’t stop and stay and play games in the woods like they used to anymore because then they'd never let go of what happened to them. And the end scene where everyone, if they're strong, can declare they're not scared--that's it. They've learned they can let go.

And it aches and it aches so much in the finale when you realize that this happens for everyone EXCEPT MC and Noah. everyone grows up. They played together. They finish the game. They can move on. Their arcs are wonderfully done. But these two people literally don't have the option of that!

so sacrifice MC and Noah have that choice to make that like. They both can’t make it out alive by this point, and they have to choose (assuming like. you get the choice lol the tragedy of noah flying off the handle and killing mc is another thing entirely re: nerve mechanic and whatnot)

And like definitely up to player perception and completely fair at this point if ppl make their choice becuz Fuck Noah Marshall or other reasons to save MC lol no judgement but my thoughts on like. the choice is like.

MC dies, because MC thinks Noah has to live. Despite it all and no matter what consequences he has to face, Noah Marshall has to keep being alive because he’s spent his entire youth stuck in a limbo state of wanting to disappear and be gone and he can’t even have the grace of dying now. He has to live.

Noah dies, because Noah thinks MC has to live, because MC saved him. He’s made peace with his death a long time ago, and this was his fault. MC has been nothing but grounded and carries in them the optimism and belief that grief does not end in pain, but you carry it with you, and you live. MC has to live for the person who can’t

anywyays i'm like. i'm TOTALLY fine and having a NORMAL one

[helly-watermelonsmellinfellon]

*SPOILERS* ARLECCHINO STORY QUEST!

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So, ppl are mad the Traveler lost to Arlecchino...

The Traveler bodied Childe and Signora in simple 1 V 1 fights. Even when their opponents got to use power-ups, the Traveler remained the same.

Scaramouche, when by himself and not capitalizing off of Tatarigami in the atmosphere, is not a threat to the Traveler despite what he thinks. The people was the most threat to were Fatui grunts and random civilians without Visions.

People need to be honest about his Boss Fight. It was cool and flashy, and also lame. When ppl try hyping him up as soooo dangerous because the Traveler failed to defeat him in a dream 168 times, they conveniently ignore how his ass got so easily tricked into a dream in the first place. They ignore a lot about his Boss Fight actually.

1.) His own body was insufficient for 'godhood'. He needed to rely on a group of 'feeble humans' to create a better puppet body for one. He couldn't do it.

2.) That larger puppet body was capable of channeling multiple elements, which he was not shown to be capable of at all in any of the times he showed up prior to that. Signora even said he only had his rank because he could take more pain and suffering than most and was effectively impossible to kill/destroy.

3.) The puppet body was powered by a Gnosis, which was not his and was not original intended for his use specifically. The Gnosis was used to amplify the larger puppet's elemental abilities.

4.) He was hooked up to that larger puppet for months and had the scholars funneling all kinds of canned knowledge into his vessel to make a new god. None of that information was learned by himself. He needed humans to hook him up to a system they created and needed them to inject it into his mind for him. He did none of that work.

5.) The Shouki no Kami was a result of the efforts of a bunch of humans. All he did was sit there and let them shove tubes in his back. It was probably painful but becoming a 'god' was through barely any personal effort of his own. It was other people doing all the work.

6.) The people of Sumeru City were forced into a 168-day Samsara to collect knowledge, wisdom, and jnana energy for the larger puppet body. Dragging the Traveler for needing all 168 versions of the dream fight to be in their mind and having 1K ppl crowd-source a solution for the official fight, isn't it. Scaramouche needed 168 days of content from those same 1K people to help power his fancy mech suit in the first place.

The Traveler defeating him makes complete sense. Dude somehow lost even with a Gnosis in his possession and the Traveler didn't have a Gnosis to use. The Traveler wasn't even using all the Elements they have access to. Or a better weapon.

Arlecchino has her Blood Fire Curse, a Pyro Vision, and a Pyro Delusion all going at once. She is way more powerful than Childe, Signora, and base Scaramouche all put together. Her curse thing gives her power we don't even understand. We cannot properly evaluate her true threat level because we don't know what it does, or how it works.

The other three were predictable in battle once the Traveler got used to them. That's cuz the power sources make enough sense. Vision = primitive Gnosis that grants specific Elemental Power. Delusion = Vision Wannabe + negative health effects. Gnosis = Elemental Power Amplifier for gods. But the Blood Fire Curse thing? That's new. There's nothing like it anywhere else for the Traveler to learn about it or compare it to.

Also, the Traveler was not going all out because Arlecchino was not going all out either. The Traveler knew that she was testing her children and also knew the fight wasn't really theirs. She had already planned for the fight to happen and wanted the Traveler to protect the children if the time came, but it was not really their fight because they were not enemies. That's why Lyney, Lynette, and Freminet's attacks all appear during the battle and why they're talking the whole time. This was their fight with the Traveler as a back-up.

The children had to show a sufficient level of skill and improvement for Arlecchino to change the punishment they were due, but she was the one to choose when the demonstration ended. The Traveler was the only one still standing by the end, and Arlecchino used her curse to make eye contact and Tsukuyomi them and then manipulated their body into being unable to move(bloodbending???) to defend themself while she came at them.

How do you fight what you do not know? The twins got bodied by the Sustainer... because they didn't know what her powers were or what they were capable of. If they went into that battle with all the knowledge already, it probably would have ended very differently. That's just how it goes. That's why everyone wonders what the rematch will be like, especially with all the Elements and that weird golden power on the Traveler's side.

Ranks actually matter for the Harbingers. Arlecchino being #4 means she's very high up there. The Traveler has defeated every Harbinger Boss up until now and it's actually good that they didn't win this one. Even if it wasn't a real fight on their behalf, they got a good look into what the highest-ranking Harbingers are capable of. And that will serve as a lesson. She was only #4, could do all of that shit, and there are still 3 people above her.

This served as a good lesson on the dangers of hubris imo. If the Traveler beat her with all that shit she did while the Traveler wasn't trying their best, I'd be pissed.

[double-barrel-paintbrush]

more Curse of Strahd ideas you can steal {for dms}

(again spoiler warning for the campaign also sorry I haven't given out more ideas had a bit of creative block for like...a long time also dear god this is really long so brace yourself)

Gadof Blinksy is an artificer (maybe multiclassed?) that uses his magic skills to help make toys and also has enchantments on some to help protect the children of the country well as make his toys more fantastical for the children. {I kinda fixated for a while on this silly man and wrote way too much stuff about him. I imagine he knows spells like Mending for fixing porcelain dolls and like heat metal for making toys out of well metal. As for the protective spells these enchanted toys hold one spell and can activate once per day like a banshee doll that casts Alarm or a rabbit plush that can cast expeditious retreat. Spells that also work for this are guidance, invisibility, lesser and greater restoration, rope trick, darkvision, aid, sanctuary and so on and so forth. Cuz for the love of god SOMEBODY has to protect the kids.}

The consorts of Strahd each have a magical item that tethers them to him in a sort of telepathic link so if something happens to them he'll know IMMEDIATELY. {Part of my campaign is gonna be taking down the consorts one by one either from killing them or making them turn on Strahd. And something about my version of Strahd is despite the fact his consorts are only there to fill the hole Tatyana's death created truly cares for them so anytime one of those two options happens Strahd kinda sorta maybe goes on a rampage á la Vlad Dracula Tepes from Castlevania}

The Morning Lord and Mother Night are twin deities. As well as they're also deities of the past and the future respectively. {Just thought it'd be cute. And also to explain why the Mother Night gave Madam Eva her accurate divinations. The church of the Morning Lord deal in things like funerals and memories for the past. The church of the Mother Night deals with things like weddings or births for the future. Could also be part of why Baba Lysaga worships the Mother Night)

Father Donavich's first name is Gabriel and which makes Doru's last name Gabrilovich. {Just because Father Donavich in the module doesn't really have a first name. And neither does Doru have a last name so uh yeah.}

Some characters like Victor are now neutral. As well as Helga and Piddlewick II. {Thought it'd be more interesting if these characters weren't fully evil that's all}

The older consorts Strahd has like Ludmilla are full on vampires for he trusts her not to betray him. {This is mostly so the consorts have the full capability to betray Strahd. Both the monster manual and Baldur's Gate 3 have vampire spawns be fully loyal no matter what to the vampire that sired them}

A couple group names I came up with but haven't finished making the groups are The Coven of Blood and the Court of Rats do what you will with those. {Just thought it'd be cool}

The horses that carry Ez's magic wagon are named Rubinus and Safir respectively. {They're both words for Ruby and Sapphire in different languages just like Ez's name is another language's word for emerald. Thought that'd be cute}

Also Ezmeralda has a gun as well as a crossbow that shoots wooden stakes. {I saw somebody I think on youtube have the idea that Ez has a gun to give the concept of her being the future of monster hunting while Van Richten is the past I added the crossbow as part of my own spin on that idea}

The people with souls tend to be younger as the soul gets taken to a baby maybe within a few minutes after birth and sticks there within five years. {Cuz people die all the time in Barovia the opposite I think is also true that people get born all the time in Barovia. And because of that more children tend to have souls more often than the adults. The soul not really sticking til five years is based off the idea of people "gaining consciousness" around five or six. and also to give magic users a time window to try reviving whoever had died as well as an explanation for babies dying from SIDS as the soul had returned to the body via revivify.)

Wereolf Ireena? Just a thought. {An intrusive thought I had a couple days ago}

Strahd's goal maybe instead of making Ireena into a vampire bride could try to tie the soul of Tatyana into a vessel that won't ever leave him. Aka Vasilka. {As an add on to the idea of Ireena being a werewolf Strahd may see the fact she is one as a deal breaker because Tatyana surely wasn't a werewolf. Also because I think after four or five times of getting Tatyana and then losing her has probably made him and everyone in his court tired of the cycle. So Strahd would rather end it entirely.}

the name "mongrel"folk (not sure if I'm gonna have that as their actual race name maybe like chimerafolk or something) was an insult to the Belviews by the Abbot because he just despises the poor things so much. He also created the first of this race using the bodies of the Belviews and animal corpses as an experiment for making a flesh golem that was perfect for Strahd's undead bride. {That's honestly about it. Tho if I do call them chimerafolk I will have to probably hear Nina Tucker jokes so yeh}

Volenta has a fight club. That's it.

People in Vallaki gossip that Rudolph van Richten is in the country. Maybe making jokes about him killing Strahd. {Just wanted a reason for 1 Strahd to know about van Richten being in the country and 2 so I can have a bit of npcs making Chuck Norris jokes but with van Richten}

That's about it hope this helps