#CR NPCs

[amplexadversary]

Something fucked-up just occurred to me.

Downfall, being a flashback, needed to have resolved in a way that lined up with the present. That means Ioun needed to be alive at the end of it, and Aeor needed to be swatted out of the sky.

I think that this tells the audience something about Asmodeus/Milo that no-one in-universe is privy to, barring the devil himself. His little scheme of trapping the Knowing Mistress in the crosshairs of the Factorum Malleus would have been written with a contingency to it, for both lore and character reasons.

Asmodeus wanted to test the Primes' commitment to their family, whether they'd *actually* save one of the Betrayers if they were threatened. He figured that the party would assume that anyone targeted by the FM would be a Betrayer, after Cassidia had told them about the safeguard against targeting the Primes. So he crammed Arcadia/Ioun into a talisman, took her place, and waited.

What actually happened in-game, where the the Archeart/SILAHA saved the targeted deity, gave Selena the opportunity to tragically seal the city's doom, forcing the Primes to ensure the destruction of the city. Asmodeus didn't have to do anything at that point.

From a straightforward point of view, this is the result Asmodeus would have wanted, though it's possible that he was hoping the Primes wouldn't have intervened so that he could further justify his resentment and hostility.

But if SILAHA had chosen to counterspell Selena instead? The FM would have targeted the deity in the talisman, and Asmodeus would have his "proof" that the Primes no longer cared for them.

This is probably not the outcome that Asmodeus truly wanted, but he may have been hoping for it, to validate his pain and justify inflicting more in return.

Since the Betrayers' entire stance is that the gods come before mortals every time, it's questionable whether Asmodeus would have intentionally endangered Ioun. Given both his motivation and the out-of-game need for the flashback to make sense, I think that Asmodeus was either relying on the safeguard to work, or had set up some contingency to release Arcadia before the FM fired.

Either way, had the party failed to "save" her, he could come in, lambast them over how little he now knows they care, and try to drive the Primes against each other to hurt them.

And, of course, ensure the destruction of Aeor, because fuck your beloved little mortals, traitors.

[interstellarwizard2019]

May I offer you some solemn warriors during these trying times?

[amelieofgreengables]

there was an old lady who lived in a frog

[numbfandom]

I want all the wacky old women of Campaign 3 to hang out together. Jirana, Morri, Abaddina, etc

[amplexadversary]

(x)

Very on brand for Asmodeus to never return Braius's calls until there's a possibility of a prime answering it instead. Mental image of him holding Bahamut back with a hand on his forehead to snatch the cordless off the kitchen table and answer it all smooth and polite while staring into his brother's eyes. You know. Sibling stuff.

[sky-scribbles]

I love the difference in Essek's attitude accompanying the M9 and his attitude escorting the Hells. With the M9, he was still so desperate to prove himself, and still treading so carefully. He was cool with them wandering fucking wherever (and when he did have misgivings, he voiced them quietly) and he let them put their hands all over everything, because he was there to support them. Whatever they wanted.

Who is he to tell them what they should and should not do? If Fjord wants to step into a weird time tube, Essek hasn't the right to say no.Jester and Cad want to fix a robot? That's their decision. Sure, let's chat to all of these corpses. Essek is behind them, he loves them, he will support almost any dumbfuckery because he is still on the thinnest of ice.

Then he gets handed the Hells and he is fucking RESPONSIBLE for these idiots' safety. They see him as an authority and he is their first line of defence against being eaten by a sex monster. If they do something stupid, he has to tell them right fucking now, and oh, gods, they are doing so many somethings stupid. He will get pissed off and snarky and speedrun the entire Praesidis Ward because they have THINGS TO DO. He is grabbing them by the toddler leashes and yanking them toward the fucking plot.

In short, I'm wondering how much desperate screaming on the inside Essek was tamping down when he was following the Nein.

[brookesmartt]

Arcanist Allura Vysoren

[big-moon-little-moon]

Listen, Matt Mercer is, respectfully, a beautiful man as he is. But Matt Mercer as Amodeus? Holy fucking hells

[amplexadversary]

My brain read that as Aabria, aka Ioun for a second and I just completely accepted it, because that's probably how she would phrase it, yeah.

"If you die here, you don't die in real life, BUT IT WOULD BE REALLY FUCKING INCONVENIENT SO DON'T DO IT."- Arcadia, aka Ioun

[amplexadversary]

Wow, someone wasn't paying attention during their ecology class.

Nonnative species don't tend to just sit and starve when there isn't anything from their home habitat around to eat. They start consuming local prey.

That's one hell of an assumption Ludinus is riding on to not get eaten himself.

[chaosgenasi]

I was wherever you go next.

[astrid-beck]

Something insanity inducing about jester and veth trying to comfort caleb after the vergessen heist by telling him that the people he killed were bad people, they were evil, they obviously deserved it, we're the good guys, he had to do it, he had to do it for the greater good, the chosen few made the hard choice and do what few have the will to do—

[amplexadversary]

It took me reading this for it to click that Nana Morri is low-key on some Manfred von Karma bullshit and I'm here for it.

(I'd argue this take gives her a little more credit for engineering these circumstances than I'd say is fair from what we know but the comparison delights me.)

Nana Morri queen shit for stealing and raising her infuriating neighbour's only daughter, sending her back on a field trip to fuck up his red moon plans, all while grooming her to eventually become the third in her Nana's coven. Revenge is your speciality? You don't say

[brittle-doughie]

I honestly want to know about the resident Faeries and their thoughts on Y/N. (And surprisingly, Shadow Milk Cookie turned them into clowns.)

With how Elder Faerie wants you to get acquainted with how the Silver Kingdom works, it’s only natural that he’d want you to get to know its residence. If Elder Faerie had given his day, the residents had no reason not to give you a good welcome, they’d want you to join them in gracing the almighty Silver along with them..

It wouldn’t be until Shadow Milk Cookie had arrived and allowed his influence to take them over that familiar behavior of cookies before them start to show. They’ll use any opportunity to drag you away from your friends, to join them in acts of tomfoolery and deceit, laughing mad all the while.

What are you waiting for, Y/N Cookie? The fun’s only begun! Your “friends” are completely downers! Why settle for them when you can have your very own family here in the Kingdom of Deceit!

JOIN US.

[notabitlikecagney]

I’m gonna miss my favorite merry band of idiots so much.

Thanks for a wild 3+ years, Bell’s Hells.

[revvethasmythh]

Your post about Rashinna made me realise...who are our notable NPCs in Cr3?

Like... Cr1 had Allura, Kima, Gilmore, Cassandra, Jarrett, Kynan, Kaylie, Artagan

And Cr2 had Essek, Yeza, Marion, The Gentleman, Astrid, Yussa, Pumat, Orly, Dairon, Artagan again

But Cr3 has Ira, the Calloways, Liliana, Xandis (I guess if you really want to buff it out you could include the PCs and NPCs from previous campaigns)

But I guess the point still stands. For a campaign that is as long as Vox Machina's streaming time, and almost as long as Mighty Nein's, why have we got so few NPCs that we're attached to?

Yeah, there are some notable NPCs in C3 (those you've mentioned), but significantly fewer than in previous campaigns. I mean, you can see it even with shopkeepers--the only shopkeeper I can really think of by name is Marwa Endalia and she hasn't so much as been mentioned by name since episode 23. That is SUCH a stark difference from the Nein's relationship with Pumat (and just, the variety of random, colorful shopkeepers many of us can still name *sheila bobsnopper my beloved*), and even the Hells' attachment to Xandis feels somewhat surface-level compared to how involved and invested the Nein were in Orly's life (and continued survival).

Tbh, I think the lack of notable C3 NPCs is an unfortunate casualty of the Hells either running to Vox Machina for a lot of things (giving up a potential plot line with Jiana Hexum in favor of one with Pike, Percy, and Vex when Laudna died) or having those NPCs killed off (NOTABLY this happened to Estheross. This also effectively happened to Planerider Ryn, who didn't die, per se, but was completely taken out of commission for like. the whole story). Not staying in any particular place long enough to establish any real roots (missed opportunities for major NPCs in Jrusar, Bassuras and especially in Yios with Kadija Sumal and Vitro Isham to name a couple) also plays a part. C1 and C2 were both much more rooted in their home locations, or locations that eventually became a home for the characters, and we just have none of that in C3. There is no place that feels like Bells Hells' home base the way Emon/Whitestone did for VM or Zadash/Rosohna did for the Nein. Without those integral locations, we lose the connecting NPCs that bring those places to life. In that, a lot of the flaws of C3 become interconnected, imo