#BY THE WAY I had never watched vox machina before I made this character that really is pure coincidence

[totally-unshway]

Sometimes you have a dnd character who can go in two wildly different directions depending on how the campaign goes

[waltwhitmansbeard]

i have read a lot of criticisms of tlovm, particularly s3, and i've also read a lot of posts extolling its virtues. some of these posts i agree with, and some of them i don't. and as s3 rounds out, i've found myself needing to make an active choice about how i feel about this show as whole. i'm a deeply opinionated person, who cares and thinks a lot about narrative and the art of storytelling, and i find myself lacking many really strong opinions about tlovm, and i think i've finally figured out why.

tlovm is bonus content. tlovm is the icing on the cake. the perfect vox machina story already exists, and you can watch all 115 episodes (plus three one-shots) on youtube right now. i don't need or want tlovm to do what c1 did, bc c1 already did it! i've realized that i think of tlovm the way that i think of 4sd or the one-shots or the novels or any other ancillary piece of cr-related media: as ancillary media. it contributes to the overall story that i love, but it is not the core story itself.

BUT. this does not mean that tlovm is therefore exempt from criticism, or that i think that this show, as a show, is perfect and great and can't be improved upon. i have fun watching it, but i don't delude myself by thinking it's a rock-solid narrative. it's not. there are holes. there are things i'm confused by and i have infinitely more context than someone who watches tlovm and nothing else. the character development is severely lacking, and i would not understand the fandom's obsessive love of these seven characters if i had only ever watched this animated show. that's a problem. i think that in many ways, the cr team has done themselves and their groundbreaking storytelling efforts a disservice in the way they told this story in this medium.

and so i have to make a choice. i have to choose how i feel about this show, how much i love it, whether i get excited about it. and i've decided that i like this show. i don't love it, and tbqh, i won't be watching s3 again (or the other seasons) until right before s4 drops, as a refresher. this won't be something that i return to the way i return to the main campaigns. and that's okay. i'm not mad about it. i don't feel like my time has been wasted, and i don't feel like tlovm has in any way ruined my love for c1. i love the way that tlovm has reinvigorated the fandom, and i love talking with y'all and seeing everyone on my dash be excited for something new. i'm never gonna regret the existence of tlovm, but i'm also never gonna ask it to be something more than it is. i just don't think i care enough. i'm here for a good time, not a long time, and hey, each season isn't that long, so ig that works out. so as we head into the final 3 episodes of s3, i'm choosing to have fun with them, even the parts i don't like, even the parts i don't agree with, bc i love the people who made it and i love the community who watches and at the end of the day, it really ain't that serious.

[pokimoko]

@pizzee Thank you for the tagging me to join in on the TV show tag game! I have the exact opposite problem to you in that I watch way too many shows. There's so many I've watched in the last few months alone that I've absolutely loved (Andor, Severance, Poker Face, The Sandman, The Last of Us, Vox Machina, etc etc) but for this I think I'll stick with the ones that I've connected to and cherished the most of the years. It wasn't required or even asked for but all of you are getting Backstory™ for these whether you like it or not. Anyway, in no particular order, here they are:

Moon Knight: Wow, I like the show that is now my defining personality trait? Shocker. But, no, seriously, I don't think I've latched onto a show or group of characters so quickly in my life, or so intensely before. This show has (as of posting this) made me write almost 200k worth of fic about it. I got bloody Discord because of this show because the brainrot was so intense. I am part of a fandom community for really the first time in my life because of this show. It's no exaggeration to say that this show has had a huge impact on me; the dinosaurs got off easy in comparison.

Lucifer: I started watching this show when Season 2 premiered way back in 2016 and I was there watching it up until the end. It was silly and emotional and heartwarming and campy, and the characters were amazing (do I own shirts that Ella Lopez wore in the show? Yes, yes I do.) and the music was excellent. This show loved the heck out of metaphors, and I am not immune to that. Or Tom Ellis.

The Owl House: I used to be obsessed with owls when I was younger (the 'Owls of Ga'Hoole' movie was my jam, and—I'm sorry Zack Snyder directed that??? What the f—ahem, sorry, as I was saying:), and while that particular interest faded over the years, I do remember I was drawn to this show because of the name, and then the premise, and then the characters (Hunter gets a gold star for making me go "argh this guy is annoying" to "I would die for him" within a span of two appearances), and then so, so many things. I've loved a lot of cartoons, many of which deserve a spot on this list, but this one just hits so many of the right notes for me. I will die mad that Disney robbed us of a full season 3, but I will always cherish what we got.

Adventure Time: The first show I ever binged in full, and essentially what kickstarted my career as a Tumblrite (my logo was Marceline for many a year—if you find my *gag* Wattpad account it'll still be there). I still have doodles for this show from when I was 14 (many of which were Bubbline, which was also my first ship). I am the silly little Tumblr fool I am today because of this show.

Avengers: Earths Mightiest Heroes: I used to watch this show on TV as a kid, random episodes here and there, never enough to truly understand what was going on but enough to know the characters. It was how I first came to know Marvel, long before I even liked superheroes, and it was the reason I watched 'The Avengers', which in turn was the reason I went and saw 'Age of Ultron' (the first MCU movie I ever saw at the cinema) and then, well, the rest is history. But it all started here, with this show. (Also, let's be real, the theme song slaps.)

Doctor Who: specifically the Eleventh and Twelfth Doctor's seasons, though I love Ten's as well (even if 'Midnight' and the following Library episodes—episodes I now adore—scared me off from the show for almost 7 years). I might have also been a little in love with Clara. This show has made me sob with true and utter grief (musical motifs that will make you cry without warning and other secrets your Doctor won't tell you!) and also made me feel like I'm taking acid. It's got the range darling.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood: I've watched this whole thing three times. It's just…It's good. It's really good. The world, the characters, the animation/visuals, the god damn narrative. I'm still in awe of how masterful this anime was. I aspire to this level of multilayered, intelligent storytelling… and also the level of comedy. It too has the range. And god I love when shows can do that well.

Bee and Puppycat: I used to watch the YouTube series for this (along with 'Bravest Warriors' and a bunch of other Cartoon Hangover shorts) as a tween and it's just a very fond, cosy memory for me. And now there's the Netflix version and it's been wonderful to not only get more of what was already there, but more to the story in general. My childhood self is being tucked into bed and wrapped in a blanket, content in the knowledge that things left unfinished are not always over.

That really is the tip of the iceberg of all the shows I've loved over the years but we'd be here for a month of Sundays if I went on about all them, so I'll take my leave now and pass on the baton. I'm going to tag @yellowocaballero, @mockspector, @theophagism and @aster-o1d. Have fun! :3

[whoviancumberbunny]

Part Four: Percy and The Reap Maiden

Part One:  Stand and Be True  

Part Two: Ne’er-Do-Wells and Insufferable Bastards

Part Three:  No Room For Fear

Percy and The Reap Maiden [Return to Neo Gilead]

Percy De Rolo and Other Vox machina Characters Created by Critical Role

Annie Deschain Created By Melissa C. Scraper @whoviancumberbunny

 Her intention had been to visit the graveyard and then leave, but “Oh Hell. I didn’t realize I timed this for the reaping festival.”  She rubs the temples of her head. How long would it take for the mayor to appear to ask her yet again, Lady Annie would be this year’s reap maiden. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to she just didn’t  trust any of the young men in this town, to be the reaping lad.  That the maiden left with at the end of the night and she didn’t really think Percy would agree if she asked.  It wasn’t like they have never been to harvest festivals just none like the Reap Tide festival in Neo Gilead. It was tradition to usher In the cold months.  She and her brother had been conceived during the time of reaping festival.

 Percy “How long has been since the last time you were home?”

 “It hard to say time is soft, stretches out. The best I can say is five years.” Just then hands grab them and drag them into the alley. “Galen, you have gotten better at moving without making sounds.”

 “The mayor is still looking for someone to be this year’s reaping maiden. “ he said with a laugh “We all know he keeps asking you when you are here.”

 “Much obliged.  My friend.”

 Percy looks at them “You never explained what a reaping maiden is when you told me your mother was one in Mejis.”  

 “The reaping maiden is the physical embodiment of the passage into winter.  The chosen maiden has to change dresses twelve times and at the end of night she leaves with the reaping lad.   My problem is the best way to describe is most of the potential candidates for the reaping lad are like Scanlan when he’s drunk. I would rather not leave with a horny guy I barely know. “

 Percy looked at her “Does the reap lad have to be a born citizen of Neo Gilead?”  

 Galen “Come ot think of it. The ritual doesn’t specify that the Reaping Lad has to be a citizen. The mayor’s son has been attempting to court Serendipity.” Serendipity winces at the mention of the Mayor’s son she was actually in love with the town blacksmith.  And Annie was the only one who knew that.

 Percy leans against the wall and thinks on this “Perhaps if I can gain audience with the mayor I can convince him to let me be the reaping lad.” This was mostly just witness what this ritual was , he liked learning about other places.  It was obvious this place was still rebuilding after the fall during the battles when Annie and her Friends were young.   “Who plants all the flowers?”  Galen blushes “You have quite deft Touch Mister Allgood.”  

 Serendipity “Galen also tends the graves and makes sure they don’t get overgrown.  I hope my beloved returns before the last night of the reaping festival. In seven days.“

 Annie places her hand on her shoulder “He will. He would never leave you behind. Serendipity. And no the only day I will you Pity is your wedding day.” She said with smirk

 Annie and Galen “Because we pity the man who marries you.”  They laugh it felt good to break the tension.   It was easy for percy to forget that these were battle tested so warriors, he jus watched them being friends.

 “So this is Gilead’s version of Winter’s Crest?” Percy said, we was actually looking forward to this.  

 The 20th of Duscar after awkwardly rehearsing because the mayor had neglected to commission a ceremonial thrown for a human  because the previous years Read maiden had been a visitor from the Gnome Village and the thrown had been made for a half the size of Annie.   Percy hadnlt realized until that night he had never seen Annie in dress let alone 5. The final dress was white and trimmed in fur and on her head she wore crown of eld. He stood there speechless. Shein this moent was every inch heir a royal blood line, because she had lost feeling in heg sitting in the thrown as she was carried to the platform she stumbled and percy caught her “Marry Me?” he mumbled and blushed “you look like an angel.”   He said as yhe crowd cleared path for them to lead the final dance of the Reap festival

 “Gods I hope I don’t step on your feet by accident I have never done this dance before.”  Once he finally started following rhythm of the music “I am honored to be your reap lad.”  He took his hand tilted her lips up to meet his and gently kissed her on the lips,  as midnight approached almost no one was left “Shall we retire to the inn.” He said to her in low tone as she tossed off the shoes she had been wearing and he carried her

“you look really good in the reap lad suit. I have to admit with your hair you cute quite a figure in that all white suit.”  Whenthey get to the in he places her on her on the bed and nearly rolls off “I should really take off all the underlayers before I embarrass myself.”

 “I meant what I sad earlier you may not have heard me.”  He helps her off the floor “Anastasia Deschain, will you do me the greatest honor of becoming  Lady De Rolo?” he blushed as he realized where his hands were as he helped her remove the hoop skirt “this dress seems a bit much for  a winter’s Crest Ceremony.”

 Annie looks at him “You choose the most awkward moment to propose we are not telling Vox the way this happened.” She looked into his eyes “There is also a secondary reason I have been avoiding agreeing to be the reap maiden. As final stage of the rebirth of Gilead. They want me to take the thrown as Queen Annie of The House of Eld. This outfit is the outfit the mayor wants to me if agree to be coronated. “ in her mind she wasn’t worthy of ruling Gilead. She was willing to protect it as Gunslinger but not control the fates of the 1500 people who lived here, she started giggling as he fingers brushed against her thighs.   “Of course I will marry you Percival De Rolo.” He fell against the wardrobe as he helped her remove her stockings

 And afterwards he kissed her “Are you sure? You will be stuck with me after this.” He  looked at her “To them you are symbol of hope to me you are just someone who helped me see what is possible.”  Before he can say anting to her she falls asleep in his arms. She had barely slept In the last three days

 A few days later, they stand in front of two graves against the far end of the Gilead Graveyard,  One th grave of Steven Deschain, Annie’s Grandfather. The other Susan Delgado. “Today is New Dawn.  It is my father’s birthday I brought you to gilead to vit the graves of the people who are responsible for my earliest memories. My mother and grandfather. The memroies are hazy but Sir Steven Deschain 25th Generation Gunslinger. Lead the battle of Jericho Hill and witnessed the Fall of Gilead,  Suan Delgado, respected in Gilead. Burned as harlot in Mejis for  giving herself to man she loved instead of saving herself for the man her aunt sold her to. That is why I will not visit Mejis. Because places hold the energy of the events that occur there. By my calculations my brother and I were conceived Sometime in late Sydenstar. Because she was burned roughly 15 months before we arrived in Gilead.”  As she spoke Percy gently plucked roses growing near the graves and placed one on each grave.

 “Thank you for contributing to the formation of the woman I love.” Percy said as he placed the flowers. “he looked at her. I may have been slightly drunk on the local spirits. But I meant what I said, Will you marry me?” he said as he brushed himself off and looked at her

 “I said yes.  Did you think I was not telling the truth, Percival.”  she replied  as hse places flower that had fallen from the tree in his lapel “I want you to come with me when I return the crown to the castle vault.”  They carefully walk through the recently complete palace of Gilead.  “When we were kids we would sneak into the ruins and explore. And I always ended up In the room that was my father’s room.”

 It would take about two weeks for them to return to Whitestone “Everyone I would like to  introduce you to my future wife Annie.”

 “About fucking time!” everyone said in unison  

 “Have you plucked her flower?”  he flinches when pike hits him upside the head. “Where exactly have you been for almost six weeks.”

 “Scanlan like I would tell you that.”  They hadn’t. they had agreed to wait until the wedding night  “Before we left Gilead we neded up being invited to Serendipity’s  wedding . they decided on that custome of baking a gold band into the wedding cake. To see who gets married next…"  he blushed and stopped half way through the sentence blushed

 “Percy nearly choked on the ring baked into the cake. Which we thought was ironic considering it was three days after he proposed.” Later that night they have party to celebrate.

 Scanlan “Percy, may I have a dance with your future wife?”

 “Yes  short, dark and annoying,  but if you hands do anything they shouldn’t I will find a dungeon to lock you in.” everyone laughs  after everyone falls asleep

 “Percy, stay with me tonight.  I like to feel you near me.”  He understood exactly why amd they went into her bedroom and cuddled

 “Do you think he will show up at the wedding?”

 “I am not sure.  If ka wills it I suppose.”  She had no way to contact Roland and tell him because he was back on his quest for the tower. Probably in wastelands again facing the doors that would lead him to the Ka-Tet he always lost at the base of the tower.   “Continuing his endless chase to catch and destroy the man in black. When ka wills it, I want to name our first born son Steven Patrick.”

 “Why Patrick?”

 “It is the name of my maternal grandfather. He died when my mother was 12. Killed by his business partner who was in league with the way of the red.”  He  held her close

 “you could have left the dress in Gilead.”

 “I am going to see if Gilmore can make version without all the ornate decoration.” She said    “Promise you will always make time for me.”

 “I give you my word.  I wish you had met Alain and Cuthbert. They went to the clearing wen I was four. Cuthbert was Galen’s father and Alain was serendipity’s Father. They were injured In the battle of  Jericho hill and went ot the clearing when Galen and Serendipity were both 5.  Did you not wonder why in the story I told you I was one who called their names at the tower. Because the tower was calling my father and he didnlt stop to confirm if his best friends were dead. When my mother went to the clearing Galen’s mother took us in.”

 “ I have always wondered about the wrist band you have only having one carnal direction embossed on it. Declan, Galen and Serendipity have the other three, am I correct?”

 “Aye. “  she said they fell asleep after talking for two or three hours

 To be Continued

 Thursday, February 2nd. 2023

[darkmoonkestrel]

daily kestrel 45:

this morning it was 38 degrees outside and we actually had to turn on the heat last night, which was super nice. at work today I spent the morning part of the day helping out in the Pre-K class, which was actually pretty fun, aside from the fact that there are some four year olds who can't recognize any numbers. I could definitely see myself taking up an elem parapro job to get my foot in the door with a district on the way to a library job

I read some more of Night Watch over my lunch break, and after spending the afternoon with my normal class (who were extra crazy today, super full moon and all), I got off early enough to get home in time for all of us to ride together to the showings we went to today. the two places we saw were not it (second one could be for a much lower price but I'm not counting on it), but hopefully we've got another to see tomorrow

our options for dinner were to either come home and eat hotwurst (Paige said that apparently we have something that's between hot dogs and bratwurst so that's what we dubbed it) or eating out, and we decided to get Mexican on the way home instead of hotwurst. I've never said this before, but my quesadilla had too much cheese for being a chicken quesadilla

we watched four of the new eps of Vox Machina tonight before Peyton got sleepy, he finished his Gundam and I started working on the mini kit that I got, I made the desk so far and I'm loving it. tomorrow I get to go to the elementary school and take all of the wishlist items! I made Peyton a single moderately sized cookie in exchange for him loading it all into my car tonight. and if we hear back from the other house we want to go see, we might be able to do a showing there tomorrow. an extra showing got scheduled on Saturday, so now we have two a few hours apart, but at least we only have to get the house ready once for two showings

Paige and I stayed up watching a little bit of king of the hill before bed, which led me down a rabbit hole about boomhauer - apparently he speaks Spanish and French, and there's plenty of small character development trivia (he dyes his hair?) but it is never really addressed what he does for work (maybe a workers comp settlement in the past, or perhaps a Texas Ranger?) idk but there's your new knowledge for the day

[psychicdamaged]

I posted 475 times in 2022

That's 198 more posts than 2021!

123 posts created (26%)

352 posts reblogged (74%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@psychicdamaged

@viciousmollymaukery

@counterspelling

@freshcutgrasss

@slayerscake

I tagged 474 of my posts in 2022

#cr spoilers - 136 posts

#nat one - 125 posts

#critical role - 110 posts

#cr - 105 posts

#critrole - 100 posts

#vox machina - 87 posts

#tlovm - 65 posts

#cr3 - 55 posts

#bell’s hells - 46 posts

#percy de rolo - 46 posts

Longest Tag: 126 characters

#what really bothers me about is that the danger of this didn’t occur to marisha but im a pretentious stem major so thats on me

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

pov: your wife/bride just drowned in front of you and was resurrected by your friends while you were stuck to a cliff and in chains

807 notes - Posted January 4, 2022

#4

lines from vox machina that took me out instantly and still live rent-free in my head

"Percival. Sweet Percival."

"your sister lives, Percival"

"do not go far from me"

"Do you think this is what mother saw before she died?"

"It’s going to be all right. Pike is here, it’s going to be all right, it’s going to be all right. Gil?"

"take me instead you raven bitch"

"You are a good person and I have always seen that. Please see it, please. Oh god, my heart is breaking."

"I do not work in wood. I am not brave enough for that. There is a comfort in iron, a promise of safety, a second chance if mistakes are made. But a city is more a forest than a sword. No, it needs more tending than that. Perhaps a city is like a garden, then."

"sometimes breaking is making, even iron can start again, and there are many things that move through fire and find themselves much better for it afterward."

"I love you. If I can find you, I will. If not, stay alive."

I hear the voice of my mother in the morning. “Fuck you.”

"but if he's gone forever I won't be the same"

"I was gonna ask you what your mother’s name is." / "It was Juniper." / "I’m sorry I didn’t know that."

"Well that's just it. I'm a really good liar."

"all we found of her was her leg" / "that means she's still alive"

I think back to Percy's workshop in Greyskull Keep. And I say "I love you too."

"I have a feeling she's pulling our fate strings, anyway. ...mine's connected to yours. Where you go, I go."

"I am here because I have completed my Aramente, and I have come for my blessing." / "Yes, you have. I just wanted to hear it from your lips."

"You look like mother right now. You do."

"And I thought that was it. I had ruined it. But before dawn, she came back, she unrolled her bedding, and she went to sleep, and woke up the next morning and said "what's for breakfast, Dad?"

"Promise me you'll come back with me, no matter what." / "I promise."

Vax is watching, frozen.

"Where's Vax?"

"I thought you died. I watched you die." ... "It's a trick. It's a trick of the feywild."

He's physical. He's cold. But he's there.

"Look. Look at me. Just remember. Whatever happens, remember me. That's all that's important."

"I remember. (softer) I remember. See? It's all up here. So whatever happens, keep me there. All right?"

"She'll probably outlast you, but while you're around, keep her company for me?"

"What if there comes a day when I don't even recognize the name Vox Machina anymore?"

See the full post

1,245 notes - Posted January 1, 2022

#3

laura bailey killing deliliah briarwood in defence of her love interest part 2 electric boogaloo

1,319 notes - Posted October 14, 2022

#2

your honor the little bastard has made a friend

2,954 notes - Posted January 13, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Quotes from EXU Calamity I'll Be Thinking About for the Rest of Time

"Of course I'm safe. You'd never let anything happen to me." / "I would never let anything happen to you."

"Dad. You know I won't look like this when you get home."

There are a lot of stories in Exandria of mortals who stumbled their way into Feywild and fell in love with an enchanting fairy that they met there. But there's one story of a fairy who stumbled into this world and fell in love.

And in that instant realizes you can hold all the knowledge in the world. But if it dies with you, it doesn't matter.

"I promised you I'd never forget." / "I promised you I wouldn't either."

You hear in your heart, "Darling, no."

Do I know? Do I feel it? That he's gone? / You do.

Laerryn's screams fill whatever secret hallway she's in.

"No, baby. I'll always have my eye on you." And I squeeze their hands.

"I don't know how deeply you have sacrificed to do what must be done, but I know this: There is no god that strides this world that I worship more than I worship your heart... I bear your name. I bear it on this stone. And one day, I will bring you home."

In the kiss, I'll cast Cure Wounds on you.

"It's all on you, smart girl."

And I'll just turn my back on the door and let it close. / No! No, you have to go.

"I'm sorry, my lady. I love you, but I love another more" / "My child, my heart breaks. But I would rather mine break and yours be kept whole."

"But our two cities are like a married couple. We may have our differences. But we are connected by love for eternity. We made a promise to each other, and it's one we must fulfill."

"...and remember the Architect Arcane, Laerryn, the most beautiful woman in the world."

"Yes, it's me. Just look at my eyes. Don't look at anything else. Just look at my eyes, please."

I've kept so many of my thoughts and dreams and wishes for him. I hand it to him. I set it on the ground because I don't expect him to actually take it from my hands. "This is for you. Everything you've ever wanted to know about me and your father, it's here."

"Dad, dad, wait. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." "You have nothing to be sorry about." / "I do." You see, you haven't even looked in his hands. He's holding a basket with a spell kite attached.

"I don't know why I didn't send it." / "I know why, and it's okay. It's okay. Elias, I love you from the moment I laid eyes on you. Everything that I wished for you to know about me, it's in this book. Take it with you. You'll always be five years old to me no matter how much you grow."

You know me. I would never have let my guard down like that. I took those blows.

As I go down, I make sure I don’t miss

"I know what you gave. You found a path beyond the stars. I do not know whence the gods came from, but I know that you found it in your heart. I promise you, Zerxus, I will find that place. I will find the secret of how these worlds were made, and I will come and find you and bring you home."

"Yes, brother. All will be well."

"You think we'll ever get there one day?" / "Of course we will. We're the Okiros."

When you think of the future and what people will say of this time, do you think anyone will talk about how beautiful your dream was? / No. But that's all right, because it was real for us. For those who survived, they will remember, and it will inspire them to dream of things far greater.

What are Patia's final thoughts? / Just that there are many more dreams to come.

"I've been able to become anyone I want my whole life, but I just want to be with you."

"And for whatever time we have left, I love you. I have always loved you, and I will always love you." / "I love you, too." I'll just kiss her.

See the full post

3,902 notes - Posted June 21, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[crystal-lillies]

Okay so first thoughts after watching Power of the Doctor, featuring some things I screamed while watching (Spoilers):

-start of the episode is a bit clunky but not a terrible reintroduction to the CyberMasters

-Sacha Dhawan absolutely fucking annihilates every scene he's in my god. Goes absolute apeshit nuts. I love it

-THE CLASSIC MASTER LINES

-AAAAAACE!!!!! TEEEEEGAAAAANNN!!!!

-CLASSIC COMPANIONS MY BELOVEDS!

-Dan...:( really got a short end of the stick I feel like. Kind of abrupt. He and Yaz def had a stronger bond so I like they had a nice goodbye but. Man that felt so cut off.

-I bet the Four inside Thirteen felt(tm) that poor Dalek, knowing that it was right that they failed their original purpose to help the Kaleds survive. "That poor Dalek" my god but I did feel so bad :(

-the way Ace calls The Master out on being a catboy cleared my acne, watered my crops, boosted my serotonin

-also the unhinged way The Master was so delighted that the armed troops were for him. Am I gOIng tO UNIT??? You doughnut. Bastard man. I can't help but enjoy watching you chew up every scene!!

-VINDER!!!!

-YAZ FLYING THE TARDIS YAZ FLYING THE TARDIS!!! THE TARDIS LISTENING TO YAZ!!!

-the fucking memes don't even do it justice. The Master fucking blasting Rasputin. Was playing Rasputin just a cover so he could blast this song? I would believe it. It's absolutely 10000% in character.

-oh SHIT OH SHIT OH SHIT!!!!!!!!!! DHAWAN!DOCTOR!MASTER???!!

-Don't mind me casually breaking the sound barrier when 5 shows up to Tegan and mentions Adric. A single word. A single name. And I screech loud enough to hear 10 miles away.

-KATE STEWART DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE AND YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO MAKE SURE YOUR PEOPLE ARE OKAY FIRST BEFORE YOU GO ANYWHERE YOU DOUGHNUT!!!!!!!

-Yaz my angel my beloved you rockstar FUCK HIM UP <3

-sidebar Sacha Dhawan rocks in 13's outfit (and maybe that's why the Beeb was afraid of DT in it...too much power 😔). And then that fucking mismatch. The SWEATER. I CAN'T.

-8 ILYSM bb your sass always appreciated. Bonus, CLASSIC DOCTORS BABEY!!!

-sideside note. Sentient energy creature thing? Cool af. Wish we got a tad bit more time exploring that but only so much time alas.

-Yaz you brilliant love. And VINDER!!! I'M FREELANCE!!! HELL YEAH YOU ARE GET HIS ASS!!!!

-RUTH FUGITIVE DOCTOR HELLO BB YOU SLAY EVEN AS A HOLOGRAM

-dont make me go back to being me ow wow that actually hurt a bit, and that's how this Master does actually come from Missy

-ACE!!!!!!! SEVEN!!!! AND GRAHAM!!!! GRAHAM BOY!!!!!!! HELLO!!! SHOW EM HOW YOU DID IT IN 1963!

-you made Adric proud Tegan....even if he would be too much of a little shit to say so off the bat, he'd be proud of you....

-Kate's point to herself. That "me?" Moment. My god. Did no one ever take her in the TARDIS? (Stares at 11 and 12)

-Using the Master's TARDIS against his plan (again), excellent. Actual solving of the whole CyberMasterDalek plan? A little shaky. But I'll allow it. Thanks to "a bit crowded. Just how I like it" 13. Honey. Are we having Journey's End flashbacks and missing all your friends in a TARDIS? :( is this a sign

-oof fuck ow ouch I half expected her to be sliced in half with that ray beam but fjdgkd watching too much Vox Machina lately and forgot for a sec that BBC would never be that brutal and I'm glad--

-because we got the CARRY!!! THE LIFT!!! THEM!!!!!!

-hi can you hear the sound of my heart breaking into one million pieces seeing Yaz finally start crying after being so brave and put together through everything. Knowing after everything she STILL loses her Doctor. I'm not okay. I'm not okay!!!!!!! I want more time with her too Yaz!!!! Right here with you!!!!

-"i loved being with you, Yaz" don't!! Mind!! Me!! Screaming crying throwing up!!!!

-still could have at least kissed her hand but. Mmmmmmm the way they look at each other. The way they both acknowledged the love they feel. But Chibnall and BBC are still cowards.

-classic companions!!!!!!!!! Way to bring back the OG holy fuck

-Dan sitting in a room as the newest companion with one of the FIRST companions. Iconic.

-"Look after the next one" HONEY!!!! I'M NOT READY!!!!!

-"Tag, you're it" WHAT A LINE. WHAT A LAST LINE. I'M STILL NOT READY BUT GOD DAMN.

-!and that sunrise regeneration shot!!! Absolutely fucking breathtaking!!!! In tears!!!

-aaannnd then the twist. Clothes regen def throws me a sign that This Is Wrong. We saw MULTIPLE REGENS here my dudes and clothes did not change. This is Important.

- Also fuck off RTD, respectfully, but DT is not Fourteen. He doesn't get to have two whole numbered lives after *everything else he got already.* Fourteen is Ncuti thank you the fuck much. He was announced first, and we all celebrated him as 14 first. So there.

[nochiquinn]

legend of vox machina episode 3: the feast of realms OR mercy machine broken

this is my THIRD time watching this, first w/mala right before the stream last night and then on my tv this morning bc I Could and now for this

the moment I realized what this was I just started going "oh. oh no. oh NO."

ptsd dreams really do be like this

also what kind of bloodborne-ass outfits

mask: happen me: I don't LIKE IT

"bad dream?" "is there any other kind?" while INCREDIBLY emo also means this is pretty much the only dream percy ever has, no wonder he never sleeps

the run-down old keep they were given vs grayskull being built for them

idk, something something thematically appropriate

PIGEONS

"seven to two" grog can only count when it's funny

percy in a shirt and vest is v nice

"maybe you should cut loose once in a while" remember you said that vex

I love vex's "oh shit, that's tonight"

see I didn't like scanlan going after pike in the stream so much bc he was so Scanlan about it but with the benefit of hindsight and character development him ONLY knowing how to Be Scanlan About It and that just not working on pike is much more fun to watch

percy: I swear I won't let them nutcheck a diplomat

(edit from the future: oops)

travis had way too much fun with grog's sobbing

so glad we got to work sam's live show costumes in

(grog's getup just makes me think of the wedding oneshot - "this is the most clothes I've ever worn in my life!")

vax probably having had pRoToCol drilled into him when they were living in syngorn and actively refusing to utilize any of it out of spite

(percy teaching them all things he started learning when he was in diapers and unconsciously imitatng his parents, only realizing what he said the moment after he said it and struggling not to visibly react)

all of the Elf Matts are the same character. he has 5 jobs bc the emon economy (emonomy) is in shambles.

his name is still matt but now it's short for matt'hew

kraghammer reference!!

I enjoy scanlan's eyeshadow

"or, y'know, do whatever" I don't know what you expected

"doofus."

I know the side-by-sides of this and taliesin the first time the name was said on-stream already exist but GOD the fisheye lens is the perfect representation of that

....was this on purpose. did they do this as a little "tee-hee giggle foreshadowing no one will ever see" moment or did I just pause in EXACTLY the right place

him instinctively going for his gun

making a safeword makes NO SENSE here bc they don't have the earrings but they couldn't not address "jenga"

like what was vax gonna do, scream it down the stairs (probably)

this is how I pictured allura all the time, with the one big braid and the cape and shit

I started re-watching the briarwoods arc in like october and I STILL forgot percy was disguised as vax. but they also took out vax's immediately-discarded plan with assum and also moved when percy told them everything, so it wouldn't have made sense

also percy just sitting across from them SEETHING for the whole meal, forgetting his manners (ha) even though he's the one who pestered everyone else about them so much

honestly it's probably only due to pRoToCoL that he didn't just jump over the table and start trying to choke delilah out with his bare hands

percy's little eye twitch

pike you have the worst stealth rolls in the game, why did you think that would work

(mala: that never stopped her from trying!)

(also I want whatever they're eating)

"walk over to the briarwoods, say hello to break the ice, and then punch them in the face"

love seeing vax's stealth actually in action

SIMON

he has an EYEPATCH

am I starving or does that steak look fucking AMAZING

I know he's charming uriel but please imagine what this looks like without context

just sensually stroking the king's hand all "haha nooo don't send troops to whitestone ur so sexy"

still absolutely baffled by the decision to include the twins' surname on the posters when they have not once used it in the show. and like yes it's only episode 3 but if vex was ever gonna leverage it I'd imagine it would be here? make it clear she Knows Somebody so delilah can't shrug her off without risking actual consequences?

fully believe the "beads" conversation is based on something that actually happened between sam and marisha

...keyleth would ONLY know what anal beads are because of scanlan, wouldn't she

NO vax you take everything out NEATLY so you can put it back without it being obvious it was moved

I want a pop-up altar >:(

ha, residuum d20 on the side table

...and what I assume have to be eyeballs

percy you were being baited :(

grog and pike holding onto percy :(

YES percy finally got the anime eyeshine he deserved BUT it just looked like they used the fill tool on his glasses

the only thing I would add here would maybe be a couple of flashes of the dream from the beginning of the episode, just to tie what he's saying more firmly to his night terrors. a pause to give the "murdered my entire family" slightly more punch.

stop staring at the firEPLACE VAX

something something parallels between vax and percy instinctively reaching for their weapons

"gosh you guys are good-looking"

I know it was a desperation move but I don't know why even in a panic vax thought he could barrel past sylas. look at him.

"plus he's got the squirts!"

according to the cast live-tweets sam dropped these songs on them completely unprepared. just showed up in the booth with them.

I've said this in like two other places but matt took sylas as his main role so he wouldn't have to give up flirting with liam

I know twinsense is an overplpayed trope but. twinsense.

pike just throwing grog at every problem they have in this episode

"C'MERE FUCKSTICK"

would also have loved vax's "keyleth, beautiful under the trees" death vision but it really would have felt out of place without 100+ hours of buildup lmao

keyleth getting punched out of wildshape was really smoothly animated

percy unjamming his gun in the background while vex shoots at delilah

"NO ONE KILLS VAX BUT ME" we love a pair of besties

"thanks, pickle" lays in the floor and cries

vax and pike are one of my favorite dynamics, so glad there'll be more chances for it

percy: [shoots silas in the shoulder] grog: :D sylas: [heals] grog: D:

BACON EDGE

'cause all craven edge ever has to do is death of a thousand cuts, even a little blood makes it embiggen

oh the mood whiplash

enjoy this way of showing a concentration spell

(I do not know what this would be, though. bless? is bless concentration? it's been 84 years)

keyleth's Panic Vines

desmond didn't deserve that. or anything that's about to happen to him.

"come visit sometime, percy! you're always welcome back home~" GOD she's such a BITCH

this is presumably the first time percy has truly *yelled* at any of them - been short-tempered and cranky and insufferable maybe, but not the way he is here, and definitely not at keyleth, and ESPECIALLY not for saving his life

a little bit orthax, a little bit trauma

also: pike :(

GOD whatever taliesin is doing with his voice here I am INTO

going from that bottomed-out bass when he spots desmond to panicky, cracking and breaking, back to the reverb bass when orthax takes over

also you just HAD THE MASK ON YOU

(would have dug a scene of him like. seeing the mask and hesitating before picking it up as they were leaving)

the orthax shadow!!

YOUR SOUL IS FORFEIT

aaaand pusheen-level whiplash going into the credits

are they gonna release a scanlan-only album. they could. whether or not they SHOULD is another question but they totally COULD.

[tiny-huts]

So I was initially pretty excited about the Delilah reveal and just the more I think about it in the context of this campaign I am just. Kind of dissapointed.

I know that exploring the effects your characters have had on the world can be exciting and fun for people and I don't want to rob the cast of their fun and ultimately my opinion does not matter. But if you are going to do a new campaign, do a new campaign. We have kind of reached the point where this is campaign one 2.0??

Like I was initially dissapointed in the exu characters being permanent (other than Dorian because Dorian is Marquesian so he fits really well here) ESPECIALLY Orym. This is both because I wanted another season of exandria unlimited and because I loved the exu characters as a team, like I miss Dariax and Opal. But also because Orym's ties to Tal'dorei worked really well in the context of exu. But in campaign three? He just serves to bring old things back into the spotlight. I don't want more Ashari I want a new campaign with new factions. All of the constant callbacks to Vox Machina feel fanservicey and the constant use of things we have seen before is just kind of tired. Like I loved the finding of Keyleth's mother in Cr2 because it was a lovely nod to Cr1 but it didn't overtake the plot. With Orym it is very in your face and constant and I cannot frankly bring myself to care?

Laudna's reveal kind of kind of? Just made it worse?? Like I aDORE her as a character and was fine with her being from Whitestone in the past but then the Delilah reveal is just. The Briarwoods feel like team rocket at this point, like they just keep coming back. Which is so annoying cause Whitestone is the best arc of Cr1? So it's annoying for them to not even feel like a threat anymore. Furthermore the constant inclusion of Cr1 things just makes the world feel small? One of the lovely things about Cr2 was feeling like you were discovering soemthing new everywhere they went? I really wanted to feel that about Cr3 and I was apprehensive about Marquet as a whole but at this point I'm like TELL ME ABOUT MARQUET?? If they wanted to make this campaign entirely Taldorei focused they should have just put it in Taldorei. I feel the same way about the characters too. Like cool is Delilah the only powerful necromancer in Exandria? Are the Ashari the only druids? Allura in Cr2 worked because again, she didn't take over the plot and it was a fun SMALL piece of fanservice. With Delilah I'm just kind of tired and I ADORE the Briarwoods.

I wish I was less dissapointed in the way things are going with this campaign but I am. And like I am going to keep watching of course but I wish things felt more original than they do. I am hoping Imogen, Ashton, F.C.G, and Trav's future character are more Marquet focused. And even though I want exu season two and want Dorian to be in it, I LOVE Dorian and what he is bringing to the table and I want Robbie to never leave.

[saphirered]

Hi there, I love your blog! Your writing is so good and feels so in line with the characters, if your request are still open I was wondering if you can do general hcs for vax? Nothing in particular just romantic dates or hanging around the keep or in battle etc. Bonus points for how the rest of vox machina treats vax x reader :) lots of love 💜

I hope this one’s to your liking 😘

Your first date was less of a date and more of a mission that turned into a date. Vox Machina had been employed to shadow some noble possibly involved with some kind of possibly dangerous cult. You had to blend into high society and couldn’t simply rely on the shadows Vax felt most comfortable around. Even though he may have been raised among respectable society in Syngorn, high society like the one you had to blend into was more your specialty. You were their ticket to the circles they needed to meddle with. Dressed to the nines you were quite the sight to behold managing to take the poor man’s breath away, among others. Vax made it a point to entwine his arm with yours whenever he had the chance and stick to your side for the whole event. After you proved the noble you were sent to watch innocent you stayed to enjoy the part. Such an invitation shouldn’t go to waste after all… At least that’s what Vax claimed. You’re pretty sure he appreciated the time away from the others.

More lowkey invitations found their way to you from Vax. An invitation to take you on a walk around town, some fun out in a less restricted setting than the high society parties, dinner and dancing, and even a night under the stars, made its way to you. You were more than happy to accept. Just as promised each and every date was perfect in its own way purely because you got to spend more time together. 

You had to find out the hard way Vax had been making excuses to the rest of Vox Machina why he was going out or didn’t come back to the keep some nights. You understood but would have preferred a heads up so you could get your stories straight before you were caught by Grog and Pike one night in the tavern. It took a Modify Memory spell to make Grog think he only saw the two of you together in some kind of drunken stupor. Pike was a bit easier to persuade to keep your ‘thing’ a secret and knowing her well enough, the both of you trusted her to keep the secret until the two of you were ready to figure out where this ‘thing’ was going. 

Defining what you were to each other was easy. You had feelings for each other. Love even and you could see yourselves spending your days together, however long that may be. Vax has a tendency to get stuck in his own head when it comes to planning a distant future but you put no pressure on him. No need for talks of getting married, having children or even grandchildren. You take it day by day acknowledging that every relationship has his ups and downs but as long as you have each other’s backs through it all and are supportive of each other you’re more than satisfied with what you have going. You bring each other happiness. 

You’re each other’s support system knowing you can trust on one another when the world looks bleak and the odds hopeless. You acknowledge that yes sometimes space and time is what the other needs to process, but you’re never far and know how to read each other’s tells when you do need support, be that a heartfelt conversation, a reality check, or a shoulder to cry on. You’re there for each other no matter what. 

Vax would often come back from far travels with a little gift he brought back for you wherever he went. A beautiful feather from a bird, a jewelled necklace, an odd trinket would be presented to you upon his return. Each one with a meaning, and every single one of them as valuable as the next. They held a special place in your heart as much as in your home. 

The siege of Emon happened. It was a terrifying experience but you knew how to handle yourself. Capable and resilient, your magic helped you bring several people to safety. You lost Vox Machina in the fray but knew they could take care of themselves. You had others to protect and get out of the city before it was too late. Gathering who you could you made your way to Greyskull Keep. You got there when the gates opened, people flooding in.

Seeing Vax among the crowd trying to organise the crowd you were relieved he was alive and well. Rushing over he kissed you the moment he saw you, caught up in the moment not caring who saw. Your reunion was cut short by the arrival of an ancient white dragon. Vax initially dragged you along behind a tree but you come in hot and the moment the dragon comes within range hit it with a Disintegrate spell. Your next actions show Vax very clearly you know exactly how to handle yourself. Though, from the corner of your eye you can see him cringe when you do get slammed into a wall and to the ground. You avoided getting frozen and get back up into the fight.

The aftermath Vax looks you over to make sure you’re alright. It took a lot to assure him you were fine. Even after getting thrown into a wall slightly bloody and bruised, you’d live. He helped clean up the blood and got Pike to heal your heavier injuries. He spent as much time at your side as he could and after he deemed you well enough let you come with him and help carrying heavier things for the people seeking refuge at the Keep. He got quite worried you might be overexerting yourself which gave you a good glimpse into his protective side. 

After some dragon hunting and things eventually calmed down you finally had more time to spend together, going back to your usual habits. Slowly but surely the two of you found you were ready to fully let the other’s know about your relationship, though some may have had suspicions before. You didn’t necessarily tell them directly. It started with you showing up for your little ‘date night’ with Vax and neither of you sneaking around or making up excuses anymore. Gradually the others caught on to what this meant. You’d be staying over at their place more often and while the two of you had managed to avoid the awkward conversations for the longest of times 

Sitting at the breakfast table one morning, Vax sitting down next to you and pressing a kiss to your temple with an ‘I love you’ may just have been a little too much for some of them. 

Pike of course was happy for you that you finally felt secure enough to share this news and made a little comment that how as a cleric of Sarenrae she legally would be able to officiate a wedding, with an all too innocent smile. 

Keyleth was very happy for the both of you gushing how you made the perfect couple and asking you if you had noticed all the ‘annoying little things’ Vax does and what you thought of them. She bombarded you with questions about how your relationship stared, how romantic it was until you told her you would gladly tell her in moderation or you might just run out of your ability to speak.

Grog didn’t get what was going on until Vax spelled it out for him. Grog came to the realisation that the time you used Modify Memory on him, a spell that had since faded, wasn’t a drunken vision after all and really did happen. He told you you could entrust him with all secrets, is an expert ‘silencer’ (his words) and wouldn’t have to use magic to get him to keep quiet anymore. 

Percy congratulated the two of you on not conforming to the norms of society and actually having a healthy happy relationship not based on the merits of politics and encouraged you to no longer try and bribe the Castle Whitestone staff when sneaking around because they’ll tell him all your dirty little secrets no matter how much you offer them, all jokingly of course. 

Scanlan, oh, Scanlan. How the both of you wished the earth would swallow you whole. Scanlan was being typical Scanlan congratulating for you pulling the stick out of Vax’s ass and loosen him up a bit, complimenting the wonders you must have showed him and speculating the things you must have done to get Vax much more at ease, not without ludicrous and inappropriate innuendoes and hand motions. 

Vex, throughout all of that breakfast hadn’t said a single thing and instead stared at you coldly, arms crossed. When Vax asked her to stop regardless of her opinions towards you or your relationship with her brother you stepped in saying that whatever she felt was valid but that you had no intend on replacing her place in his heart nor getting between them. She’d remain at his side and you from now on would just be on the other side. After that, a death threat followed, telling you you better not break Vax’s heart or a broken heart would be the least of your worries. You made sure that would never be your intention and you really did love her brother as much as he loved you. This seemed to ease her up with it. Over time she grew more accepting towards you to the point where you could call her a close friend, sister even. 

[jeannedarkterraguard]

Exandria unlimited episode 2 thoughts:

-matts glitter beard🤣

-are we getting an ankheg as a team pet?

-combat already

-Arthur seems wierdly into this

-and fearne seem very interested in opals rope skills😳

-lisa just said that vex and vax are also from byroden so this new information makes vex automatically my favorite character of vox machina... granted i only watched one episode so far but still...

-oh my god the fact that aimee thought she just made up a spider queen and everyone just goes: "Oh yeah Lolth"

-"we're a chaotic group" really matt? You just realised that now?

-ha! i've watched one episode of campaign 1 now i know who keyleth is!

-"i feel like the ashari are closer" than the feywild? Yeah! i would hope so!

-ok, i think we can all agree that bananas are an inherently chaotic fruit but i refuse to believe that grapes are in any way good-alligned. They are obviously lawful-evil... can you tell that i don’t like grapes?

-Opal arguing with ted... why does this sound like every argument i ever had with my sister?

-”You guys left a baby in a prison?” i mean... that’s technically not wrong...

-Athlete’s foot... really? that’s the best you could come up with?

-oh my god this whole conversation sounds like they’re about to go to the elemental plane of fire... hopefully they don’t bring a four-year-old this time...

-”we actually know very little” listen... i know she meant the whole crater thing but this sentence could sum up pretty much everything that’s happened so far

-i love that fearne just noticed an earthquake and didn’t tell anyone about it. like “eh, it’s probably nothing”

-”we volunteered for five minutes and the sky is on fire” at this point i could just quote everything that leaves the mouths of these idiots

-HE TOUCHED THE CROWN!!!!!

-unending breath. air genasi. we finally know all the races, subraces and (where applicable) subclasses for sure... also that was really clever

-opal: “well I can’t be alone” i feel like none of you guys can be left alone...

-holy shit! that map is... cool but probably a nightmare to clean up.

-kansas is in tal’dorei apparently

-so that’s now the second time a warlock pissed their patron off and got their powers taken away... why does this keep happening?

-”she want’s me to appologize but i’m not going to” yep another direct quote from at least one argument between my sister and me

-ASHHOLE?!?

-Inspiration? No Aabria don’t encourage this

-you know. i thought “it can’t be that hard to say ‘fist the ashhole’ with a straight face” but lisa and i have been trying for five minutes now and actually had to give up and rewind because we just can’t... we’re 27... this is the humour of a twelve year old

-”What’s the goal here?” we’re three and a half hours into the episode and NOW you ask?

-she wants to go into the ashhole? this is just cognouza all over again

-INITIATIVE!!!

-hey! dariax finally gets to fight mister!

-mister’s back!!!!

-Dariax no!

-okay, opal making sure that ted is listening just to apologize to mister for throwing a dagger at him is both hillarious and relatable

-come on matt you’ve played this game before you know you should never ask “what did we learn” best case scenario: nothing. worst case scenario (to qoute lisas babarian in our last campaign): we learned what the inside of our monk looks like.

-i wish i could show you guys how exited lisa just got when aabria mentioned this gilmore because honestly there are no words to describe it. like i’ve known her for 20 years and i’ve never seen her this exited about a show before

-opal is definitely gonna get herself killed if she keeps this up. not all NPCs are gonna be this... calm?... i still love her though

[peach-the-owl]

Far From Home pt. 2

Vox Machina & Child!Reader

Might not completely follow canon but I kept it as close as I could and I apologize in advance if the characters aren’t accurate either as I’m not fully familiar with campaign 1, but anyways… PART 2 HAS FINALLY ARRIVED!!! If you haven’t yet, find part 1 here

Hold onto your hats, this is a long one

Salda rushes towards the opening but keeps herself back enough to avoid the rain that you could now see pouring in.

"Whoever you are, leave! Run away or I-I swear I’ll kill you!" Her voice wavered slightly, but she held her ground holding out her blade threateningly. You hear a bit of murmuring before one of the voices from above speaks just loud enough for you to hear from your position.

"Sherri it’s us!" There’s a few other voices but they were softer and harder to make out the words of, Salda then looks over her shoulder.

"Sherri?"she calls for the half-elf, who cautiously makes her way over looking up once she's close enough.

"My god. Come in quick, please." Sherri starts ushering in the new arrivals who all made their way into this little bunker. What a colourful bunch they were, these must’ve been the friends Gilmore had mentioned to you while searching through the city. It seemed the other kids knew who they were as their faces lit up in both hope and recognition to this group. You decided to stay quiet and as out of sight as possible for now not wanting to draw attention to yourself as you were still grappling with your whole being lost in time problem.

"I don’t believe my husband made it… But we're alive." You still listen in on the conversation to try and distract yourself though.

"Did you see him fall?" The male half-elf, dressed in all black asks.

"No," Salda pauses a second, "he-he saved us." You did feel a little left out since you had helped too but then again you were a stranger to these people and still didn’t feel the need to involve yourself in the conversation. They all look over to where Gilmore was laying and the male half-elf immediately rushes to him placing a hand under his chin and quickly inspecting the wounded area.

"Pike! Pike, Keyleth come over here!" He says with urgency. A gnome with white hair quickly steps forward, you could only assume this was Pike since Keyleth was a more elvish name. The other two half-elves in the group also step in quickly helping to patch up the wound, you weren’t sure which of those two was supposed to Keyleth but honestly that wasn’t the biggest concern right now. Pike places her hands on her holy symbol and you watch as light emits from it before gently placing her hands on Gilmore the light transferring from her hands into his body. The room is illuminated as the magic heals the nasty wound on Gilmore, you take a quick look around and see the half-orc that's with the party now staring at you. There’s a small thud that draws your attention back to Gilmore as the magic had finished its job, he curls over a little before the male half-elf carefully places him on his lap.

"Is he alright?! Is he alright?" Sherri asks, looking over and placing on her glasses.

"I think so." The male half-elf responds softly, Sherri then notices that half-orc with them.

"Who's this one? What’s he doing here?" She questions with a threatening tone. The others mumble over there words a bit until the male gnome gives a proper responce.

"He’s a friend, he fought with us. He’s… he's not corrupted by the dragons influence."

"If I could know your name orcish sir."

"It’s really cool." The gnome quickly adds.

"I’m Garthok." The half-orc gives a bow.

"Keep your distance, I don’t trust you yet." She gives him a weary side look.

"Of course," he then turns to Salda as Sherri directs her attention back onto Gilmore. "If I may ask you, I don’t recall you having four children." You raise your head up seeing now that all eyes have turned to you making you feel a little uneasy as you try to press yourself into the wall more.

"They're not mine. But they helped in our rescue too." Salda comments. There’s more chatter amongst the group as the white haired gnome now walks over to you.

"Hello there." Her voice is gentle and sweet, easing away some of the fear and tension that you’ve built up. You give a soft greeting back and wait for her to speak again. "My name's Pike, what’s your name?"

"I’m (y/n), it’s nice to meet you Pike." You hold your hand out for her to shake making her notice the concerning burns and bruises on you.

"Oh, you poor child. Here let me help." She takes your hand and once again you see a soft light emit from her, though defiantly not as strong as what she used to heal Gilmore. The small light travels from her hand into yours making its way up your arm and to the rest of your body, you instantly feel a lot better and a little more energized as the burns and bruises slowly disappear. Pike then helps you to your feet and you both scuffle back over towards everyone else. You sit yourself down again and try to get a better look at the still unconscious Gilmore quickly noticing the stares from the male half-elf.

"We were told you were the one who ran back in to save him. Is this true?" He questions, gaining your full attention. He had a bit of an intimidating look to himself but you were used to people like that, having travelled around with Beau and Yasha so much.

"I mean he saved me from being crushed so I owed him… I guess? But mostly he was in a lot of trouble, someone had to help." You scratch the back of your head sheepishly, not sure how to explain yourself pausing in your actions and redirecting your attention when you feel his hand on your shoulder.

"Thank you." He gives you a small but genuine smile of gratitiude, you return the gesture with your own small smile.

"What’s your name mister?" You suddenly ask, now realizing you never got it. He gives a soft, feathery laugh at your newfound curiosity.

"Call me Vax."

"Hi Vax, I’m (y/n)." If you paid close attention you could see his smile rise slightly. There’s a cough and the attention was switched back to Gilmore as he slowly regained consciousness. His head lulls back and you can see him smile a little as his eyes train onto Vax's.

"Ah… it's always what I’d assume I’d see in my last moments." He give a soft chuckle mixed with light coughing.

"Bad day, huh."

"Strangely enough I’m pretty sure I’ve had worse." You catch yourself giggle a little at his comment.

"No offence darling but you look like shit." The one who spoke looked a lot like Vax, you could easily conclude they were siblings, probably twins if you really had to guess.

"We can’t have that can we." He then raises his hand, attempting to conjure some magic but a fit of coughs causes it to sputter away. He pauses a second to regain his breath. "Sooo, either we're all dead or all alive… I’d like an answer."

"Alive." The female Vax answers, you were really curious what her name was now mostly so you wouldn’t have to keep thinking of her as female Vax.

"Good, I was hoping you’d say that." Gilmore let’s out a halfhearted laugh before continuing. You zoned out a little since the conversation wasn’t really directed at you and looked at the different members of this group. You already knew who Pike and Vax were as well as the half-orc Garthok, then there was Vax's twin, next to her was the other half-elf who looked like some sorta forest princess to you, then there was the big goliath and the fanciful gnome you could tell was defiantly a bard, and finally the nicely dressed man with glasses and silver hair. You wondered if they could help you get back to your time, but then again was it really a good idea to tell them you were actually from the future? They might think you’re crazy, plus they already had a lot on their plate with these dragons now roaming around so you decided it was best to keep your mouth shut for now. You notice the other kids had tears screaming down their faces, from what you picked up in the background it could only be because of their fathers fate. You scoot over towards them and tap Illiya's shoulder, she looks at you with red puffy eyes.

"I’m sorry that happened." She nods a little and you end up giving her a hug, the other two joining in to gain some form of ground and comfort.

"After finding this little one here, I went to the dragon just in case you’d been your usual foolish selves and run into hell itself." You chimed back into the conversation when you hear this, seeing Gilmore turn to look at you. "Suppose I do have you to thank as well, for me still being here."

"Well… I couldn’t just leave you there, and you saved me too. It was only fair." You weren’t used to getting so much credit for something since it was always someone else from the Nein who'd end up coming in clutch for the rest of the team, it felt nice for sure but you also couldn’t help feel a little embarrassed too.

"This kid's got guts, I like 'em." The goliath says, they went on to ask questions to things you weren’t familiar with, also trying not to remember the many burnt and dead bodies you’d encountered when they asked Gilmore about other survivors. Going back to your own thoughts you battled with the idea of telling these strangers about your situation and if they could in any way help or simple wait it out and hope that when or if the spell wears off you’ll be sent back home no problem. After all it’s only been a day some spells last much longer then that, still though the sooner you could get home the better.

There's some movement as everyone starts to get up, you quickly follow along with everyone and start making your way up top. You follow the group soon noticing that Vax, his sister, the male gnome, and Garthok head off in one direction while everyone else head in another. The walk starts silent as you trudge through the muddy streets, rain pouring down on you. It would've been fine but you’d been sitting in silence all day and was getting tired of having your thoughts keep you down, plus you were curious about this group of adventurers you were with. With a deep breath and a feeling of courage you walk up to the half-elf.

"Are you a princess?" You let your curiosity break the ice, the woman stalls her movements slightly then looks down at you.

"S-sorry?" She seemed surprised, you ask your question again and she blinks a few times, processing your words. "I suppose I am, in a way. Why do you ask?"

"It’s just you look so pretty and you have this look of like a leader to you." She blushes at your comment and smiles, actually this may be the first time you’ve seen her smile since you met her.

"Well thank you. I’m Keyleth." She holds her hand out for you to shake. So this was the Keyleth mentioned earlier, that was good to know.

"It’s very nice to meet you, I’m (y/n)." You accept the handshake, already feeling a sense of comfort around her you walk along side her. "So who are your other friends?"

"You mean you don’t know?" She looked at you confused.

"Well," you pause a second and make sure what you say doesn’t reveal too much information yet. "I’m not from around here, so I don’t know that much." You say satisfied with your answer, it wasn’t like you were lying after all.

"Oh! Umm… well let’s see… you already know who Pike is I’m sure." You nod.

"And Vax." You quickly pipe in.

"And Vax," she repeats with confirmation, "then there’s his twin Vex."

"There names sound the same, that must be confusing."

"It can be sometimes. Now Vex has a pet bear named Trinket."

"She owns that cool bear!" You have to stop yourself from shouting with excitement while pointing at the armoured bear that’s been traveling with you, earning a small giggle from Keyleth.

"Yes, she does, he’s very friendly if you want to pet him later." You can hardly contain your smile, having something to look forward to after this conversation. Keyleth clears her throat a little to regain your attention. "Then there’s Scanlan, he’s the other gnome in our group and he’s really good at making up songs." You nod and let her continue. "Next is Percy over there," she points to the man with the silvery hair. "He’s had a lot to deal with recently so don’t mind him if he seems a little stand off-ish with you. There’s myself of course, and finally there’s Grog, he’s not the sharpest tool but he is the heaviest. Together we are Vox Machina." She finishes her explanation with a proud look on her face.

"That’s a really cool name, my friends have a cool name for our adventure group too." You stop realizing it may not have been wise to have said that last part aloud.

"You’re with another group? What do they call themselves?" She looks at you with genuine curiosity. Before you answer her a small group of individuals step out, armed with various blades.

"Hey! Drop your stuff! Give us what you’ve got." One starts, to which Keyleth leaves your side and socks them in the jaw. You hold back a laugh, that looked like something Beau would do. Sherri pulls out her wand and unleashes a bolt of lightning, blasting off a piece of nearby wall making it crumble to the ground. Gilmore supports his own weight for a moment and slowly raises his arm, bolts of arcane energy whipped around him making him look really cool and powerful.

"Do you gentlemen seriously wish to start this ruckus?" He says with a threatening tone, the men pause and share a look.

"No." They all sheath their weapons and scurry off again.

"Yeah you better run!" Keyleth shouts at the retreating forms.

"Yeah, you tell 'em Kiki." Grog compliments.

"Thank you. I’m trying to get better at it." She smiles at him. You were just glad you could avoid any conflicts, not wanting to deal with any at this time. You traverse through the streets some more seeing folks working to dig mass graves for the ones who perished, you avert your eyes from the sight having already seen enough death for one day. You walk over to the bear, Trinket if you remember correctly and he immediately gives you a sniff, puffing air into your face making you brighten up a little and pet him on the muzzle.

"Did you say secret passage!?" You hear a very excited Gren say eagerly, you perk up more at the idea of a secret passage too.

"I did! I did!" Keyleth replies with a smile at the boys excitement. "Did you want to go see it?" You get closer and start a little chant.

"Secret passage secret passage." Gren quickly joining in, even his sisters joined your little chant making Salda smile for the first time since you’d met her.

"We can't dissappoint the children." Keyleth looks to Grog expectantly.

"Fine. Secret passage it is." He says in a half-joking kinda way. You all make your way down through the secret passage, which wasn't as exciting as you thought I’d be but it did it’s job and you safely make it to the party's base. As you start making your way up and out of the passageway you see some attendants, who looked worked to the bone, come over and greet the party before turning to you and the other kids.

"Oh, and children. You’ve got children have ya." One kneels down, you shrink back a bit unable to hide behind someone for protection like the other three. You all walk into the next room where hundreds of others were already settled and the panic you’ve been setting aside this whole time crept in again. You didn’t know anyone here, what were you supposed to do now? It had already taken a lot of your courage to put blind trust in the people who brought you here but now they could easily walk away and you’d be left with no one. Not to mention you still had no idea how to get back to your own time. You could feel the tears pricking at the edges of your eyes and a few spill over.

"Hey, kid." You quickly wipe your eyes and look over to see that Percy had called your attention. "I have a few questions I’d like to ask you." You give a nod and follow him as he leads you away from the large group of people, well the entire place was crowded but you managed to find a less populated area. You shuffle in place a bit as you wait for him to speak again. "Alright first off, where did you come from?"

"Wh-what do you mean?" You give him a confused look, he sighs and rubs the bridge of his nose.

"I overheard you talking to Keyleth, you said you weren’t from around here. So where are you from?" You could tell he was trying to be patient with you, which you appreciated since you were sure he probably had other things he wanted to do.

"Oh! Ummm, well I’m from Wildemount."

"From Wildemount? How could child from Wildemount be here all alone, where are parents?" He gives you almost a suspicious look making you knaw at your lip, not sure if now was a good time to fess up about everything or not.

"Well that’s a long and, ummm… crazy story. You probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you."

"Kid-"

"My name's (y/n)." You weren’t sure if that came off as rude but you figured he might as well know your name since you knew his.

"Right, (y/n) then, I have seen and done countless things in my life. So whatever it is you’re hiding may not be as crazy as you think." You take a deep breath and try to think of a good way to explain this.

"Ok, well my friend Caleb was working on a spell that I think shifts space and time or something but it went wrong and I wasn’t looking so I got hit with it and then I wake up in a place I never been in before and then dragons came out of nowhere so I ran then I met that nice man Gilmore and then I met you guys and I don’t know how to get home." You suck in some air after blurting it out in one breath, your well thought out explaination broken the second you opened your mouth the words just tumbling out. Percy just stares at you for a moment, maybe you spoke too fast for him to catch everything so you quickly add a shortened version to your story. "What I’m saying is I’m… from the future."

"Well you were right, I do find this crazy and I'm having a very hard time believing your story."

"It’s true though." You pout a little, you figured he wouldn’t believe you but he was the one to coax the story out of you in the first place.

"Percy! There you are." Vex ran over and embraces Percy, leaving you to stand there awkwardly. When she lets go of him she notices your presents. "Hello there darling." She gives you a kind smile.

"Hi, you’re Vex right?" You wanted to make sure you said the right name, she gives you a nod.

"Indeed I am, and you are?"

"I’m (y/n). I really like your bear." She laughs a little at your comment.

"He’s pretty great isn’t he," she then looks back to Percy. "What are you doing here with them, if I may ask."

"Well, (y/n) here says they're from Wildemount, which I can believe. What I don’t believe is their claim of being from the future." Percy explains.

"But it’s true, I’ve read stories that have mentioned a Gren, Illiya and Odessa Tal’Dorei but they’re much older in those stories then they are here." Even with your attempt at an explanation neither looked like they really believed you.

"Well, truth or not I have question of my own for you." You look at Vex and wait for her to continue. "You were with Gilmore when he went to face the Cinder King, what I’d like to know is if you saw anything that may have been odd or different about about this dragon. I know it’s a lot to ask you but anything will do if you saw something." You dig though your thoughts trying to think if there was anything at all, then you remeber something you did catch before the dragon was out of view.

"Uhhh, there was his weird belly scales."

"What about them would you say was weird?" Vex crouches down to your height and gives you a patient look, you try really hard to rummage with your thoughts to figure out why they looked weird to you not wanting to let these people down for some reason.

"Oh! I think it was because they didn’t look like real scales, they looked more like armour trying to protect something… I mean, I think so anyways. Sorry, I know it’s not a lot."

"No no darling, you’re doing fine." She gives you a calming smile. "So you think he’s wearing armour that look like scales in order to protect something, is that right?" You nod and she gives you a gentle pat on the head. "Good to know, that could be very helpful in the future."

"Speaking of future, I need to find a way back home." They both look to you and Percy gives a sigh.

"This again-" he’s cut off by Vex lightly smacking him in the gut.

"Percy," she gives him a look, "the least we can do is help this poor child reunite with their family." He looks between you and her for a second then nods.

"You’re right. Maybe Pike can help if magic is indeed involved." The two of them then lead you to a sorta chapel area where some people were bowed in deep prayer while others seemed to just be using the space to sleep for the night. You find Pike in front of a statue of a feminine figure you'd never seen before, you were positive they were some sort of goddess though. She turns to face you upon hearing your approach.

"Hi guys, what can I do for you?" She greets the three of you. Percy gives a quick summery of what you'd told him to her and she places a hand under her chin in thought. "You know, actually that could explain the strange magical aura I felt around them when I touched their hand."

"Really?!" You, Vex and Percy all say at once, yours was more in excitement while theirs was in shock.

"Do you think you could reverse it and send me home?" You happily ask, bouncing on the balls of your feet. Pike turns to you and gives you a faint smile.

"I could, but you’re gonna have to wait until tomorrow. I already used a lot of my divine magic today." You deflate a little with a sigh but nod in understanding, Pike places a hand gently on your shoulder. "It’ll be ok, I promise you’ll be back where you belong before you know it." She reassures and a small smile returns to you with those words. As the evening draws to a close you decide to stay in the little chapel for the night, it’s a bit of a struggle but you do eventually drift off to sleep.

Sunshine peeking through the windows cause you to wince as you awaken with a yawn and stretch out your limbs. Taking a look around you were still in the chapel, others there still waking themselves up, were already awake or bowed in prayer. The doors open and you bring your attention to the group you’d met yesterday walking in.

"I’m just saying if this child really is from the future, like you said, then they must know what 'appens." You hear the goliath say.

"Here’s the thing Grog, they’re from Wildemount they most likely don’t know Tal'Doren (don’t know if that’s the correct term) history, and what purpose would we have going there?" Percy argues, you slowly get up off the bench you’d been sleeping on and approach them.

"Good morning," Keyleth addresses you, "you ready to finally go home." You respond by eagerly nodding.

"Wait! Before anything else, I have to know… am I known worldwide in the future?" You blink a few times at the male gnomes question.

"I’m sorry, what was your name again?" This gets a few laughs from the other members as he gives a sigh of defeat but quickly brightening up again.

"I am the great Scanlan Shorthalt, ring any bells now?" You try to think if you’ve heard or seen that name anywhere before.

"You know I think I have seen your name on a book before. But I never got to read it, my friends were busy and we couldn’t stay in the shop long but I’m sure I saw a book with your name on it." This seemed to brighten him up more before he’s pulled away by Vax and Pike steps forward.

"Ready to go?" She asks sweetly. Once again you nod eagerly. "Okay, here goes." She starts casting a spell and you feel your body start to tingle a little, your arms starting to shimmer. The light around you glows brighter and brighter.

"If you have time, you should come and visit some time in the future!" You weren’t able to tell who said that as your vision goes white………

When your able to open your eyes again your back in the Xhorhaus, you pick yourself up off the floor and hear a loud squee as your tackled into a hug.

"Oh my gosh, (y/n) your back! We were soooo worried about you!" It was so reliving to hear Jesters bubbly voice again. Her shouts of joy alert the rest of the Nein as they rush to your location and instantly start bombarding you questions, they quickly die down noticing your lack of responce. You feeling overwhelmed with relief and joy just start bawling your eyes out, no longer containing all the tears you’d been holding back. They quickly realize now wasn’t the time for questions and settle with bringing you into a comforting group hug which you return. You were so happy to finally be home, but you couldn’t help but wonder about that other adventuring group you’d met, Vox Machina is what they’d called themselves right? You wondered what happened to them, sure for you it’s maybe been a minute but it’s been maybe over 20 years since they’d met you. Did they even remeber you? Maybe one day you’ll get a chance to find out, but right now you savoured in the moment of being home.

[whoviancumberbunny]

Part Six: It’s All Or Nothing At All

Part One:  Stand and Be True  

Part Two: Ne’er-Do-Wells and Insufferable Bastards

Part Three:    No Room For Fear  

Part Four:  Percy and the Reap Maiden

Part Five: Knight of Crowns

Wedding vows are from this shutterfly list 

The Man in Black

Bacchus from the Magicians [one of my favorite recurring characters]

It is All Or Nothing At All

Percy De Rolo & other Vox Machina Characters Created by Critical Role

Roland Deschain, King Peter of Delain and the Man In Black Created by Stephen King

Magicians Characters Created by Lev  Grossman [I can’t remember if Bacchus is In the books]

Annie Deschain -De Rolo ,  other second generation dark tower characters created by Melissa C. Scraper @whoviancumberbunny

 It was small group probably around 20 people at the wedding, they look back as roland awkward holds Annie;s hair while she throws up in the bushes.  Annie was now five months pregnant with twins the morning sickness wasn’t predictable.   He takes off his neckerchief and hands it to wipe her mouth “Da,  I can’t believe you bought new clothes just for my wedding.”

 “I didn’t buy them, they were gift from jovial wizard in the purple robes.”

 “Of course, Gilmore gifted clothes. Though I wonder how he exactly knew your measurements. He’s never met you before.” She said as roland walks her down the aisle she notices Declan sitting with an awkward amount of space between himself and galen  and kicks him as she walks past him, she whispers “You better dance with him today or I’ll kick you again.”

 Serendipity’s husband, Rook Robins, whispers “So it is obvious to other people.” She nods  

  Pike “Is with all events in our loves nothing is ordinary about the lives and loves of our friends.   I have known Anastasia Deschain for three give or take and we all knew from them moment Percival brought her into our lives she wasnlt going to be leaving it soon, today  in Front of the Sun Tree, as witnessed by the gods of creation. We will witness the Joining of Lord Percival  Fredrickstein Von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III and Lady Anastasia Gabrielle Jenna Delgado Deschain in marriage.”

 Annie whispered “Percy are you wearing a wreath of Flowers on your head?”

 “Yes.” He said

 Pike “Annie and Percy have written their on vows.”  

 Percy had spent so many hours trying to find the perfect words. “I cannot say I forsake all others in love. I love my family, I love our friends, I will love our children, but I love you above all others, with a passion and fire that will never be quenched and burns brightly so that all around can see how much I burn for you.”

 Annie “I offer myself to you as I am, all my flaws and all my strengths, safe in the knowledge that you complement me perfectly, will raise me up when I am weary, and allow me to take you by the hand when you need to be ushered through darkness. I trust in you and in us completely.” She paused “I wanted so hard in a broad stroke to say your full name, but all of our friends know it took Pike several tried to make it all the way through in rehearsal blaming you for your name being so long.  But I digress.“ as Percy lifts her wedding weil they take eachothers hands “As we take each other’s hands, let the intertwining of our fingers be a symbol of our conjoined life as we walk together hand in hand from now until the end of our days.”

 Scanlan whispers to Vax “this explains all those days where he was staring into the fire mumbling to himself he was trying to write his wedding vows.”

 Vax “Likely.” He had been slightly distracted it made no sense why was he still alive. Annie had told them about the previous time loops, was it possible he was alive based purely on the fact that Roland had suggested she not follow him on his journey this time. “Someone has been watching us.” He Whispers to Vex

 The odd thing was they had made plans in case, the person hiding In the shadows showed up. King Peter of Delain, felt a cold chill as a voice simply said the words “Aww you  have all made it to easy for me to bring an end to line of eld.”

 He went by many names in his life. Peter knew him as Walter O’Dim, Some knew him as Randall Flagg but Roland of Gilead, knew him simply as “The man in black.”  He grumbled “I am not letting you harm my children, It is me you want.”

 Vax “He’s a user of Arcane magic,   likely more than one, he has an air death dealer around him.”

 Galen and Declan looked at Rook “Get Serendipity to safety. She is pregnant too.”  The man  in black didnlt look like much, but only people who had dealt with death could tell this who had allied to a demon known as the Crimson King, his only goal was to make sure the knights of the round table were forgotten, the gunslingers made that difficult especially those from the line Deschain

Annie whispered to Percy, “He is Dangerous. If you choose to fight him he will choose to only kill you.” She knew Percy still had his gun and diplomacy.

 “I’ll be okay, love.” He kisses her “Good thing we technically got married last night.”  After all they had survived surely it wouldn’t be that difficult  for 13 adults to fight one dark wizard.

 Several hours later “Damn it!  He must have weakness!”

 Declan “His weakness has always been that the blood line of the eld exists.  In one of the previous time loops he held me prisoner for six months and used me to power dimensional portals.” He easily dodges a direct attack

 Vax “we may not be able to kill him. But we can end this battle.”

 Vex “Brother, your plan is insane. But I know you well enough this is your final option.”  She begins to help them corner Flagg on a cliff

 Vax “Percival De Rolo. If I donlt return from this,  I wish you all the best as your family begins anew.” He pauses “thank you for being my friend in spite of my seeming indifference to everyone but my sister. I have always felt blessed to have you all as my friends.”

 Gilmore “What are you talking about?”  before he can ask another question vex runs full on at the man in black and plants his daggers in the side of the dark wizard as they plumet off the cliff

 In unison everyone shouted ‘VAX!”

 Roland looks quizzically at Percy and Percy responded “He’s the champion of the matron of Ravens, hopefully she won’t let him die. “this is the first time I have ever seen you in battle, Roland of Gilead. It is easy to understand why the Man in Black fears you.”  He winced a little as they shook hands, Vax would return it wasnlt clear when but he was certain this would end the battle.

 As everyone else manages to  celebrate the wedding, the cave of Lady Dragon. “You Vax’ildan Vessar. Are man of nobility.  You may be the champion of the matron of ravens. But you are also the champion of Lady Anastasia.” She uses a single claw to slide a mysterious weapon towards him. Use this in service of your Loyalty, to her. Your assumptions are correct she is reason you are still tied to the mortal plane. Also I hold nothing against you attacking fellow dragons.   They are as you and your sister put it. Asshats.”

 Vax “Is this a dagger carved from dragon’s tooth? I thought these were weapons of Myth.”

 “So is the knowledge that anyone possesses the egg shell of newborn dragon controls it. But Annie and Declan possess that knowledge, you can rest here if you would like but as soon as you are ready to return to Whitestone that tunnel over there leads to a cave near the sun tree.”

 Eliot Waugh, tall slender. Dark hair and a habit of drinking to avoid things. “I am sure you are wondering why I didnlt use magic. When Annie has mentioned I am a magician. The fact is this is magical copy of my body.  My body is tied to fillory.”

 Annie “El, no one really cares. It only matters that we survived the Man in Black.  I am guessing Margo isn’t hear because she is on the quest where she makes her axes.”  

 A figure in ruffly shirt wearing top hat covered with feathers “Either that or the author of your reality doesn’t like Margo and Alice very much.” The god interjected

 Quentin sighs “Of course anyplace where this is alcohol and celebration.  You show up, Bacchus.”

 “I am the god of wine, women and song. Whenever there is a party, I will pop whether invited or not.”  He chimed in  

 The next Day Vax stumbles into the castle “Vax’ildan! How?”

 “Lady Dragon saved me.” He kneels before Annie “She said I am meant to be your champion as well as the matron of raven. But I have only ever desired to have you trust me.” He admitted.

 Annie looked at King Peter “Peter may I borrow your sword for a moment?” he hands it to her “Largey ceremonial in nature because I have never thought of myself as royal I am  and will always be a gunslinger, a protector and defender of the way of the white.” She knights him “Arise sir Vax’ildan Vessar.  Knight of Truth, defender of Whitestone and Ally of the House of Eld. And most importantly my friend.”

 Percy Whispers to Declan “She knows how to use swords?”

 Declan nods an affirmative “The first hard calibers were forged from Arthur Eld’s sword. The first gunslingers were the knights of the round table. Asked to lay down their swords and take up arms in another way.”

 To Be Continued….

 Thursday, February 9, 2023

[your-turn-to-role]

This is coming from a place of genuine confusion....but why does a sect of the fandom dislike Marisha so much?? Like, I haven't seen it for ANY of the other players. Is it a "wife/girlfriend of the DM" complex, because I've seen that before. Idk, I don't get it, and no amount of googling has made me understand lol.

yeahhhhhhh

okay, to preface, i absolutely disagree with all of the marisha hate, i think she's a great player and is really unfairly treated

but a couple reasons why this tends to be a thing:

1) just plain old regular misogyny, yeah. all the girls on cr get it to an extent, but it's stronger with marisha - the idea that dnd is inherently a man's game and therefore no woman could be good at it is pervasive even in this fandom, not outright, but in subtle things, like how people give the guys a lot more leeway to do dumb shit than the girls, and on dnd posts in the past i've seen comments like "this reads like how laura and marisha would describe dnd while their husbands facepalm in the background", which like... isn't really harmful on the surface, but i have a hard time imagining matt and especially travis ever facepalming at their wives genuine ideas? like if it's obviously meant to be something ridiculous and not taken seriously, sure, but otherwise, that subtle implication that they see travis as a better player than laura is just way off. (and matt has more dnd experience than marisha but like... she's still a very good player)

2) the keyleth instinct. so here's the thing about campaign one and the characters they chose to play - the majority of the cast played within their comfort zone. they branched out a lot for c2, and obviously they as people aren't identical to their vox machina counterparts, but they're not too far away either. liam's stated he irl would be a rogue, taliesin likes playing intelligent edgy teenage assholes bc he was one, laura is a bit more goofy than vex but she still thinks a lot the same, scanlan is very sam, travis is obviously a lot smarter than grog but he still fell very in line with the kind of character travis is comfortable playing and the things he wants to explore.

but marisha chose a character in campaign one who was completely the opposite of her natural self. marisha is confident and very take no shit and a natural leader, keyleth is awkward and shy and doubts herself and overthinks things and has really bad luck in basically everything she ever tries. and people watched campaign one and assumed all of those traits were just the way marisha was. if you aren't drawn to keyleth as a character, it's relatively easy to find ways to hate her (which again circles back to the misogyny a bit). they see keyleth constantly fuck up due to awkwardness and think "marisha doesn't know how to play the game". they see keyleth be a mess of a person socially and think "wow marisha's not a very good actor if she can't handle this", completely ignoring the fact that she is acting very well and it's proven by the fact that they think keyleth is marisha

(and while she still gets hate as either character, the keyleth hate was far worse than the beau hate)

3) people just, not getting what she's doing. i wasn't in the fandom for the early days of cr2, but i have friends who were, and they've said there were circles of the fandom where everything marisha did was in question, even people not believing beau was a lesbian when it's made obvious in episode one, because what if she's doing it on purpose as a scam? and like, to broaden that a bit, i think marisha's characters and their decisions get misread a lot. i personally happen to find both beau and keyleth very relatable, so i usually get where they're coming from (mostly, bowlgate i was more on caleb's side there, but i still don't think she deserves hate for it), but to people who don't, or just haven't put effort into trying to understand marisha's characters, then between keyleth's awkwardness and beau's abrasiveness i think the majority of what they pick up from marisha's characters is negative

which is a shame, because they're both really good, well thought out, interesting characters.

4) this is going into my own meta for a bit, but, something i've found about marisha's characters is they're quite down to earth and very easily the viewpoint character of the group, in a way? like obviously it's an ensemble cast, but like... let's take keyleth. campaign one starts and ends with her. the very first adventure is triggered by her leaving home for the first time, to start her aramente. she's led a sheltered life up to this point, she doesn't know the world she's walking into - so we learn about this fantasy world at the same time she does. she has the most linear and easy to follow development, her aramente spans most of the story, and once it's done things only get more centered on her. she's now a leader of her people, she's fulfilled her destiny, but that means she lives so long all her worst fears are coming true - that she'll have to spend the rest of her life alone. how did we learn this was her biggest fear? because she's been scared since the start of losing vax, but the reason she has him at all is she resolved to not let that fear control her. and then as the endgame comes in, she suddenly has to face that head on. vax has a week left to live. barely two days after, they run into sprigg - someone who lived so long after all his friends died that he's lost himself, forgotten them, become a hermit of a person who's just living because he's got nothing better to do - everything keyleth believes she will become, and fears so much. but he proves she can still choose to remember them, and choose to live in their absence, not just survive. keyleth is the one who seals away vecna, who's grown so much in her power since that little scared druid girl, she can banish a god. and our story ends with her, and her father, and a raven - she's moving on, she's living, she's thriving, but she'll never forget.

if i was gonna write out vox machina's story as a novel, there is no character who would better suit being the protagonist than her

it's a bit less strong with beau, but she's still one of the more relatable characters, she's a human, who had a rebellious teenage years because of shitty overbearing parents, she's not a magic user, she's from the country we start in (and doesn't have a dark dangerous mystical secret like caleb and veth), a lot of the big turning points in the story have had her take the lead, it's the relative mundanity that gives a contrast to and lifts up the others, while still being a highly interesting character in her own right. beau is a grounding force of the mighty nein.

i personally like those kinds of characters, but i've noticed in almost all fandoms with a main character and then a group of side characters, the main character is rarely anyone's fave, overlooked in favour more (subjectively) interesting side characters, but then because the story puts the focus on the main character, people get sick of them and start to hate them? and in this form of storytelling, there is no main character, but people sorta do that to those kinds of characters anyway. and in addition to all the other marisha stuff, that probably contributes

[eponymous-rose]

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E96 (February 25, 2020)

Tonight’s guests are Taliesin Jaffe and Liam O’Brien!

Announcements: The Chicago live show and C2E2 are imminent! The live show will be on Thursday night, but an hour earlier than usual, at 6 PM Pacific/8 PM Central! Liam will be at the live show, but unfortunately has to leave C2E2 early and won’t be able to make it on Sunday. On Friday, the first behind-the-scenes video for The Legend of Vox Machina animated series was posted on YouTube, introducing the writing team!

Episode 96: Family Shatters

Stats for this week’s episode! Of the 16 times Caleb has cast Teleportation Circle, the M9 have remembered to contact someone prior to their arrival 7 times. Of those 7 times, they were successful at contacting someone at the location only 3. Taliesin: “We’re playing this game like Skyrim, we’re just going through people’s houses breaking pottery.” Caduceus got the straw hat that he gave to Clarabelle in episode 31, about 188 in-game days ago. There were 17 cow-related puns. Dani: “Is that above or below average for a Critical Role episode?”

“Clay was kind of built relatively quickly. I didn’t give Matt a ton to play with. I gave him the order in which they left, I gave him Clay’s attitude and his impression of his family members, which was usually just one sentence, and some basic idea of what their power set might be if they had one. I always thought of him as, from a family perspective, of what would have happened to Percy if nothing went wrong.” He was happy to be the one to run the family business and just hang around at home and run the shrine. “I think the rest of the kids’ wanderlust probably put them at odds quite a bit.” He liked being able to play that conflict and show what Caduceus was like when he was annoyed. Cad took after his father, the girls generally wanted to leave, and Colton is “just sort of a doofus.”

Caleb was an only child, so seeing this many kids was a lot. “They clearly had their grudges and their different dynamics with each other, but that’s normal, for sure. Caleb’s very unfamiliar with it.” He also keeps looking at Nott and thinking about how everything he’s doing is about wanting to rebuild his family, whereas Nott is so conflicted about going back to hers. “He doesn’t understand it, but he doesn’t want to push it” or judge her for it. “I thought I had a really defined direction at the start of the campaign, but my seven best friends have knocked it silly.”

What’s keeping Cad with the Nein? “Caduceus is not ready to go home at all. He’s not done with his walkabout. He feels like he wants to see a bit more. He feels he has an intense debt to pay. He feels he has a mission to see everybody else through, at the very least. Or at least he’s telling himself that. So he’s saved his home, or at least he thinks he’s saved his home, and his family’s all right, so now it’s debts that must be paid. He’s not somebody who thinks you can just get off the bus.”

“Caleb was going to ask [the hag] about the ability to travel backward through time, not really believing that she could do that, but was still like, show me what you’ve got.” Even if she’d said it, he would have thought she was a liar. “Probably would’ve offered to kill the M9″ in exchange, then would’ve turned around to hit her with a surprise Disintegrate. Liam notes repeatedly that nothing could possibly have been as cool as what Laura wound up doing.

On the Nein not worrying about places Cad considered sacred ground, Caduceus “is fine with conflict. He doesn’t even really have to have conflict, he could assert himself if he were so inclined. It’s that he’s aware that there are limits to what these people can do. It’s very much the philosophy of ‘children and drunks can do no wrong’.” He’s picking his battles.

Was there a defining moment where Caleb started seeing the Nein as family? No single moment. “It’s like love by a thousand cuts.” Liam notes that he’s still not sure how Caleb would react if he suddenly had the means to carry out his plans. “He’s got the recovering-addict mentality.”

Cosplay of the Week: an amazing Pumat! (CriticalHitical, photo by Minniemooncos on Twitter)

Taliesin notes that Caduceus is definitely feeling more connected to the group. “If anything, Caduceus is really embracing his role as the spiritual guide to the group. He feels like he really has a lot to offer from that perspective of being the roving therapist. Or at least, he thinks he’s a roving therapist.” Liam notes that Cad is the most mysterious of the group to Caleb. “He’s the most religious character I’ve ever played, too. He’s fun! He really came together very nicely.”

On Caleb being more lighthearted on occasion: “He’s been out of practice being a human being for a long time.” The Nein’s brand of ridiculousness is rubbing off on him.

Why hasn’t Cad been pranking the Nein? “They don’t treat him poorly in that way yet. Siblings, man. I have quite a few siblings, and there is an energy. It’s the same way like when you’re around your parents, you revert to a 15-year-old.” Same with siblings. “There’s just something-- just the urge to torture them is so overpowering.” The moment he got the whistle, he knew exactly what he was going to do with it. Liam was reminded of Taliesin’s real-life siblings while watching these interactions in the game.

On Caleb’s laying on compliments for the Traveler: “The thing about time travel is it’s so implausible. It’s so implausible that I could see us finishing this campaign and Caleb will still have it in the back of his head for the rest of his life. But maybe Artagan could help with that. He certainly sees the potential in Artagan, and it was a balance between wanting to support everything Jester has devoted her life to, so it just felt like everyone was ready to write it off. Life is often like this, life isn’t what you thought it would be, it is what it is. Let’s not damn this yet, let’s feel it out. And if I can use this situation to possibly eradicate ultimate evil, that’s a win.”

Cad found it tough to have family and friends in the same room and play both roles. “I don’t know how much it came across that he was trying to keep them, not necessarily separated, but ‘family, guys, guys, family, ANYWAY.’” He did want to get his family on their way as quickly as possible. Cad is the equivalent of his early 20s, so something like 85-120 years old for a firbolg. 

Liam is asked about the conversation between Caleb and Yasha on watch several episodes ago. "You know what one of the best parts of that scene that played out was, is about 20 minutes or 30 minutes before that happened, I texted Ashley at the table and said, ‘Want to take watch? I have nothing planned, it could be fun.’” He wasn’t expecting it to go that far. “I think he had such an extreme reaction because he felt that he had done a good job of hiding things, and he was suddenly worried that he was transparent, that everyone had been able to read him this whole time when he’d thought that he was-- well, he’s a little in love with Jester Lavorre, and has been for a while, uselessly in love with her. The waltz was probably a little pebble. And in that moment-- this doesn’t play out verbally too much in the show, but he just was worried that this thing that he’s never going to admit to because it’s useless, she’s finding herself, and has her whole life ahead of her, and has other people around her who care about her and are a whole lot better for her than he is. And he’s aware of the way those two [Fjord and Beau] feel as well. It’s just there in the background fucking up his shit. It’s really just a problem. Big fucking problem.” 

Fan art of the week: a gorgeous Clay family portrait! (by Teaweltzer on Twitter)

On Clay being absent for the renewal of his home: “I don’t think his arc’s ending off-screen. I think his arc ends when he comes home to see what’s become of it.”

Is Caleb worried about Beau since the confrontation with her father? “Of course he is. She’s ignoring all the advice that she gave him. He doesn’t like to see her that hard on herself when she’s so competent and probably the backbone of the group. It’s the most judgey Caleb’s been of anybody, really, but he’s very aware of the pain of family and personal stuff. She knows her, and even though he broke his shit in half, he could still see the dynamic in the room when we visited his family, so he feels for her. We need you and we love you and we will miss you, you don’t fucking get to go.”

Each of the temples has a secondary god; what was the Blooming Grove’s other god? “The Blooming Grove is for the Archeart because it is a gift of beauty. It’s the Allhammer, the Changebringer, and the Archeart. It’s kind of a powerplay from the Wildmother, in my opinion. They’re all three based off of very specific types of funereal practices that are common throughout the world.”

Caleb saw giving over the transformation spell to Essek as a returning of one of his many favors. “Caleb likes Essek a lot. They’re like two highly gifted kids at school together. And, you know, he’s quirkily charming and handsome. There’s just no reason not to, in his mind. Outside of the M9, he’s probably the only person that Caleb would see as a friend that he’s made. Everyone else is just sort of scenery around the M9.”

What’s next for Cad? “It’s a little bit of finding himself, or at least finishing himself would be the way to put it.” (cue snickering from off-camera) “He’s also vaguely aware of some of the things that are going to possibly emotionally damage the party on the horizon, and he wants to be ready to deal with, in vague order, whatever’s going to happen to Jester, and then whatever’s going to happen to Fjord, and then whatever’s going to happen to Nott, and Yasha, and Caleb. He doesn’t know how to deal with what Beau’s going through. It’s the one thing he has no experience of, because he has no experience with that family dynamic. When he met people with that family dynamic, it was always at the end of it.”

Some fans sent in death whistles. Brian encourages Taliesin to play one on the plane.

The hat for Calliope was a last-minute thought. The flute could also have gone for Colton, depending on “who I could sneak up on”.

Caleb took a symbol of the Archeart from the Labenda Swamp. “I think it was familiar to me. I think I might have either correctly or mistakenly thought it reminded me of the woman who helped Caleb in the Sanatorium.”

[stellaseas]

I was reading article about Critical Role and I can only speak from my own experience but I just don’t understand the criticism that it’s “too hard to get into” 

The first episode of Critical Role I ever watched live was the very last episode of the first campaign. Before watching it, I had not watched a full episode. What I had watched were fan compilations “Best of” moments for each of the characters starting with Laura and Travis because I knew them from their anime voice work. I knew I was missing some information but it didn’t stem my enjoyment. The cast is so emotionally open and free I could still experience the finale with them. 

I was endlessly excited to watch the new campaign and followed it closely. Missing an episode live made me feel sad, but they were available a couple days later on YouTube. For free. I never needed a streaming service or cable contract to catch up. There was no pirating or guilt involved. No money being doled out for some new streaming platform (there are many new shows I’d *like* to watch but damned if I’m going to wrack up more bills or Apple TV or Paramount+)

The argument that it’s meandering or boring at times...just speaks to the realities of playing DND? I get that some shows edit out the occasional talking in circles or awkward moments, but I’d argue that such actions can misrepresent the realities of the game. The first time I played DND I think I did remarkably well. I didn’t feel unease (even though I was playing with strangers) because I’d watched hours of good players playing and I understood what I was getting into. I learned to play DND solely from watching Critical Role. 

All this to say, I’ve had a harder time “getting into” six-episode limited series than I ever did with Critical Role (even when I fell behind a dozen episodes and felt overwhelmed). I never finished Loki, despite being a huge Marvel fan. I never finished Mandolorian either. For some reason, those I’ve been disappointed more often by scads of Hollywood writers taking fantasy and trying to make it something it’s not (or just..completely blowing any character or emotional arc for the sake of “surprising” the audience and maintaining their weird intellectual high ground). I love that people want to get into Critical Role, I love that the Amazon series will probably help more people do that, but...if the format isn’t connecting for someone, it may just not be for them and I don’t think it’s fair to rule that a criticism of the content. I don’t criticize Loki because I personally couldn’t connect with it even though I really wanted to. With Critical Role, I think it’s because I connect with the players and because I connect with the players, I can connect with their characters that it has become a beloved story to me. I want to see them play as naturally as possible because well, it’s the CR cast! They make every moment count. The hours and hours of content (especially in the middle of a pandemic or a depressive episode) often times feels more like a gift than a disadvantage. 

This is my hope for the Amazon series, that the more streamlined, narrative version of Vox Machina’s story will be able to draw in those people that couldn’t connect to the live show. The team behind it is so passionate and so dedicated to what they are doing, I have a feeling it will open the door to those that are facing that very-Vox Machina-esque problem (i.e. doors lol) and they will find their way through. If I know the critters, they’ll all be welcomed with open arms.