#God’s vengeance

[gastonjerry]

YOUTH STS LESSON 120 DEFEAT OF THE MIDIANITES AND DEATH OF BALAAM

MEMORY VERSE: “And they slew the kings of Midian, beside the rest of them that were slain; namely, Evi, and Rekem, and Zur, and Hur, and Reba, five kings of Midian: Balaam also the son of Beor they slew with the sword” (Numbers 31:8).   TEXT: Numbers 31:1-54   Today’s text opens with word “avenge”, which means to retaliate. Immediately after the act of immorality and idolatry of Israel with…

[caemidraws]

[Prejudice]

[moritzarts]

HERA!

I had to overcome major face block with her 😭

Not sure if I am 100% happy still, but at least I can post it! What you think?

[koipalm]

i want a new zagreus design so bad

[letsplaythermalnuclearwar]

hey you know what would be like. the WORST possible thing? if no time had passed for mortals during God Games. if the entire time, Odysseus had just been frozen on that ledge. and at the start of the Vengeance Saga, Ody's still on the ledge. he looks to the skies, to the trees, out over the ocean. he looks for an owl with knowing eyes and strains to hear her voice over the waves, because surely, surely she'd come for him. the haven't spoken in nine years and he ruined whatever relationship they had when he stupidly, foolishly let the cyclops live, but she has to still care, right? she was his mentor. she was his patron. he meant something to her. he's sure of it

but she's not there. he waits, but she's not there. he closes his eyes, sparing himself the view, and steps off the ledge

and is saved by Hermes. and Odysseus briefly thinks that he has died, since Hermes escorts souls to the underworld. but Hermes assures him that, no, he's alive, Athena heard him, she bargained with Zeus, he can go home now. he can finally go home

his friend came through

[blorbologist]

Y'know, I think I figured out why the Hells still feel like a new low-level party to me, even though they're level 13 and almost 100 episodes in.

I don't quite think it's the lack of conversations, or the fact half the party's plot hooks are big ties to past campaigns - though that definitely plays a part.

... Bell's Hells still primarily rely on quest givers.

Most of their goals are given to them and do not feel organic to the party, and constantly remind us that the Hells are pretty much never the most powerful people in the room. Which is usually something you see with a low-level party.

NPCs offering jobs is not a bad thing; it's a very common plot hook. Matt has been extremely skilled with using NPC quest givers in those two campaigns. Not only do they provide an obvious plot thread, but they can put the party in the path of others (say, the Nein running into the Iron Shepherds while doing a job for the Gentleman and everything that came of that). And the Hells had a solid start with it too - Eshteross was an excellent quest giver!

The problem is that Bell's Hells have never really not had a quest giver.

Maybe it's a byproduct of the more plot-heavy structure of this campaign? But while prior parties have felt like they decided on their course of action and what they prioritized, Bell's Hells feels less like level 13 (13! Level 13!) experienced adventurers and more like an MMO group clicking on the exclamation point over an NPC's head. Where does the plot demand we go next? Who do we report back to?

They're level 13.

At level 13, Vox Machina had just defeated a necromantic city-state to clear their name and Percy's conscience. And, you know, the Conclave just destroyed Emon. No one was explicitly telling the group to gather Vestiges and save the world (though Matt guided them there), and they were usually among the most powerful people in the room. They chose which Vestiges to prioritize, which dragons to tackle when, even if the over-all plot was pretty clear.

At level 13, the Mighty Nein were celebrating Traveler Con (another PC goal, I'll note) after brokering peace between two nations, accidentally becoming pirates and heroes of the Dynasty. The Nein regularly chose what to do based on personal goals, not grand ones. Though definitely smaller fish than Vox Machina at this level, they were very independent and gaining solid political clout.

While we're at it: level 13 is one level lower than the Ring of Brass, who had a huge amount of sway over Avalir. They ended the world, and also saved it, while in the grand scheme of things being only a smidge more powerful than Bell's Hells are now.

Can you really see the Hells wielding that amount of influence, when they're constantly being told what to do next?

The god-eater might be unleashed, so Bell's Hells have no time to do anything but what is asked of them. No time for therapy unless stolen from Feywild time, no travel on foot and late-night watches. They haven't even had time to grieve FCG. Percy was grieved in the middle of the Conclave arc. Molly was grieved when half the party was still in irons.

Matt is in the very unfortunate spot of not being able to give the Hells the same agency as the other two parties. Not only because of the world-ending plot introduced so early on; they are surrounded by characters they know (and the cast knows) are stronger and wiser than them - the familiarity of the past PCs and NPCs is to their disadvantage.

Why would the party reasonably ignore Keyleth's task that will help save the world and go off on a romp? Why would the cast when they know well Keyleth has to be sensible and with the best intentions in mind? The stakes are just too high.

It means that the Hells still feel like they're running errands instead of pursuing their own destiny. Their accomplishments are diminished as just being parts of a to-do list, and any stakes feel padded by several level 20 PCs/NPCs standing 5 steps away ready to catch them.

This isn't Bell's Hell's fault, nor is it Matt's. It could be amended, I think, if the Hells are really left to their own devices for a long period of time without support and shortcuts (like during the party split)... which would be really tricky to pull off at this point in the campaign.

They're level 13. They're big fish, but they're stuck in a pond full of friendly sharks, so they don't feel big at all.

[whatimdoing-here]

Nicole "fuck this shit" Haught vs DarkAngel!Waverly

[corseque]

As I'm replaying Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2 and Dragon Age: Inquisition, I'm going to use the conversation toolkit each time and in each area that Elven is used in the series.

I've already found several bits of elven that are not on the wiki at all. And for many of the text that never had a translation before, there are translations in the localization comments.

I did a poll on twitter asking people if they thought this was good enough evidence to update the elven wiki, and got a 99% yes answer, so I updated the dragon age elven wiki, with an explanation in the /talk section. (Anyone can open Origins dialogue tree files in the DA Toolkit and see that these translated comments are in their own version of Origins)

All of this to say, we finally can say we know the canon words for "mother" and "no" and "brother" and "sister" in elven in Dragon Age. And several new long phrases.

Ghostly Boy in the Lair of the Undead in Dragon Age: Origins

"Mamae? Mamae na mara san…" VO/Localization Comment: the young boy is crying pitifully, he asks "mah-MAY?" in a hopeful manner and then says "mah-MAY nah-MAH-rah san" hoplessly (as if saying "mother is gone")

"Mamae! Mamae, se vara sal!" VO/Localization Comment: phonetically: mah-MAY! mah-MAY! suh VAH-rah sawl! he is calling out for his mother as he says this, crying pitifully

"Mamae! Mamae! Mamae!" VO/Localization Comment: The child begins calling out in a strange language for someone. He begins to sob uncontrollably and shouts louder. "mah-MAY" = mother

shade in the Lair of the Undead in Dragon Age: Origins

"Ma halani! Se vara lassa'val! Nae mal!" VO/Localization Comment: the elf is caling for help, terrified, and then screams and calls on her gods to save her. phonetic breakdown: mah hah-LAWN-ee! suh VARE-ah luh-suh-VAHL! nay mahl! The last phrase "nay mahl" should be shrieked in terror as the elf turns and run

ghostly elf in the Lair of the Undead in Dragon Age: Origins

"Viran se lan'aan? Ir annala for ros…" VO/Localization Comment: "Who are you? I cannot see you…" veer-AHN suh lah-NAWN? Eer ah-NAH-lah fohr rohs… said hesitantly -- she cannot quite make out the player

"Nae! Ga rahn s'dael! Ga rahn!" VO/Localization Comment: "No! Get away from me! Get away!" Nay! Gah rawn suh-DALE! Gah rawn! Suddenly realizes that the player is an enemy, terrified, backed into a corner

"Ir emah'la shal! Ir emah'la shal!" VO/Localization Comment: "I will kill you! I will kill you!" eer ay-MAY-la shahl! eer ay-MAY-la shahl! she turns on the player in terror, savagely attacking him (combat begins)

[soaring-trash]

Ishta the summit blade

[murderandcoffee]

jonah magnus founded his institute to collect two things:

-statements of fear to feed the eye

-offputting queers

[slidy-stasis]

Thought it would be cool to incorporate some aspects from her hive god form!!! I wasn't active on destiny during that season so I missed her glorious vengeance (⁠ ⁠≧⁠Д⁠≦⁠) I love the design though it's so cool!!

[lunarwednesday]

[ The Living Flame ]

[drathe]

"Look not upon our sins, Master of Scales, but measure the worth of your most grateful dead."

Iah, Paladin of Kelemvor, Oath of Vengeance

[moritzarts]

I did warn you….

And Im sorry…. But after all that work I HAD TO leave him shirtless. LOOK. AT. THOSE. ABS.

[voltaical-art]

urghh im just gonna post this… some Bishop lore…

[nynehells]

SISTER VENGEANCE

Eris is finally done, 8 months after Season of the Witch 😅 Anyway commissions are open @ nyne.art