#Milo Cowst

[somewhatsentientspellbook]

There's just something so fascinating about the way the Exandrian pantheon has decided to handle the Aeor Situation™ - by electing a few of their kind to be born as mortals in order to infiltrate the city.

The first to bring herself low was Ioun, and I can only imagine how lonely that must have been for her. To feel infinite wisdom creeping into her adolescent mind? To rise through Aeor's ranks knowing what they'd do to her if the authorities discovered the truth of her existence? Waiting, hoping, perhaps even praying that the other gods would follow through with the plan.

Sarenrae has a husband and children as Trist. I can't help but consider the parallels to Liliana Temult, with a 'higher calling' pulling a mother away from her family. The conversations in the temple suggest that she would have been aware of what she was by the time she started her family. Yet she loves them, cherishes them, even knowing that she might not see them again. Will Amaris, Haylie, and Topher learn that Trist is a goddess? Or will that only be discovered when they find their way to her realm in Elysium?

The Matron was once mortal, and she willingly returned to that form in order to help her newfound siblings dismantle the Aeorian threat. Her steward since childhood was Purvan, helping raise and guide her despite his old age. Imagine being a little girl, guarded by the Champion of Ravens himself and his wolven companion, completely unaware of your own divinity until later in life. Imagine the night she woke up, remembering her ascendency, seeing Purvan and recognising him.

And what of the families that gave birth to and raised the four Betrayer Gods? What of the halfling family who watched their precocious daughter scale a fence with far too much ease than it should be? The day the tortle's parents found him crying in pain and tearing at his skin to distract himself from a memory so distant and yet so real? Or Milo, who became a priest, not to follow in the light of the Dawnfather (like his parents may have thought), but to mock his brother even as a mortal?

These gods spent entire childhoods with families and friends, taking refuge from the skirmishes caused by their other siblings. Who, despite those similarities, have very different opinions of humanity, of Aeor, and themselves.

[wardensantoineandevka]

Do not lie to me.

[pocketgalaxies]

"do you need help doing something dishonest?" "yes." i love that she just admits it and lets him do his thing. it is so interesting to me that this is a story about people but it's specifically a story about people who are confined through their own values and personhoods to individual domains. trist cannot break into this hospital because she can't bring herself to do a dishonest thing. but she understands that it is fundamentally in milo's wheelhouse, and she understands that that wheelhouse, although diametrically opposed to hers, is equally useful and important in the right circumstances. this is a family that has fought a civil war for centuries but it is also a family that understands they cannot lose each other, for losing any one of them will be detrimental to the holistically complex mortal experience

[ihaveatypeanditstrickstergods]

Slightly late but oh well

[saphira-artandoc]

Some designs of our lovely Betrayer Gods' mortal avatars, and binary codes!

Two are guesses, but anything is possible!

[smilelikeawolf]

Cassida: "How could the gods of good and the gods of evil work together?"

Milo: "Well. Your taxonomy is altered slightly. You perceive a world with the sharpest line between good and evil. The actual line is between the ones who matter and the ones who don't, little mortal. We are on the same side together. We're family."

Something inside Cassida breaks.

[spout1nk]

Posting doodles from watching ep1 and ep2 of Downfall. :p

[rabbit-exe]

purvan suul essentially raised the raven queen when she took mortal form, and consequently I am imagining zerxus being given the task of raising asmodeus' mortal form, because AUGH!!

[quinn-of-aebradore]

Downfall Moodboards

Asha, Avatar of Melora, the Wildmother

Ayden, Avatar of Pelor, the Dawnfather

Archmage Cassida Previn

Emhira, Avatar of the Raven Queen

Father Milo Cowst, Avatar of Asmodeus, the Lord of the Hells

SILAHA, Avatar of Corellon, the Archheart

The Emissary of Erathis, the Lawbearer

Trist, Avatar of Sarenrae, the Everlight

[ariadne-mouse]

"Milo Cowst was an illusion the entire time" holy bananas so Ioun was in a test tube the entire game and the Arcadia we knew was always Asmodeus? Incredible. I had wondered when the switch happened and to know it was before the cameras started rolling, and so that calm persona of Arcadia was actually poisoning the whole thing from the start, is SO excellently nauseating

[breathalyzerfail]

Dorian Storm shaking furiously in his theatre seat the moment Umleta showed up on-screen.

(Meanwhile, Braius has checked out and is writing the opening number to Milo Cowst Superstar.)

[somewhatsentientspellbook]

dawn daddy is holding it together by a goddamn thread

[mareastrorum]

How to Deceive Enemies and Manipulate Gods: A Bard method to Asmodeus's body-swapping bullshit in Critical Role's Downfall

Of course, SPOILERS for Downfall (C3 E99-101) follow.

In 4 Sided Dive episode 26 (through C3E101), Brennan said that Father Milo Cowst was an illusion the entire time. This is a fun theorycrafting post about how to emulate Asmodeus's ploy to create an illusion of an (un)friendly spellcaster tagging along while impersonating a friendly spellcaster in the same group. Unless someone casts Truesight, at least. All the same, this could make for some fun bullshit in your own game.

As a prelude, this assumes that you have a Bard, any subclass. The exact number of class levels needed will vary depending on the options chosen. Perhaps there is a multiclass combination that could pull this off, but this is a fairly straightforward way of doing it.

This post will go through each of the interactions involving Arcadia Cerenvetorix and Father Milo Cowst that required an explanation. I also tried to include some discussion of alternatives when they were available.

Initial note: At 10th, 14th, and 18th levels, Bards are able to learn 2 spells from other class lists. I will note when that option is necessary to gain access to a particular spell.

Impersonating Arcadia Cerenvetorix

This achievement is fairly straightforward. There are a lot of spells and items that would allow a caster to impersonate the appearance of another person. The strategy, however, would be to choose a method that doesn't use up concentration so that spellcasting isn't limited.

Disguise Self is a good option that doesn't require concentration. A Hat of Disguise would save a spell slot, but it's only a 1st level spell, so that isn't too dire for a Level 20 character. Even a moment to break line of sight would be enough to refresh the illusion.

Alternatively, Seeming would achieve the same effect, also without requiring concentration, and would last 8 hours. This would require fewer spell slots and eliminate the worry of not being able to duck away to refresh the spell.

The Actor feat may have been necessary to impersonate Arcadia. While it seems that most of the others had never previously met Arcadia, it’s unclear whether S.I.L.A.H.A. had in person. He may have recognized her voice. In that case, the ability to mimic voices was mandatory. As a bonus, the feat gives advantage on checks for impersonation.

The Illusion of Father Milo Cowst

This one was fun to reverse engineer. It needed to be some kind of deception that would be revealed when the players gained Truesight in E101, but also accounted for everything the PCs thought they saw Father Milo do:

Talk in a manner that his voice seemed to come from his body.

React to events around him.

Appear to interact with objects in the world.

Appear to cast spells.

At first, I thought, maybe Asmodeus must have done Mislead like Emhira had later in Downfall. However, that spell requires concentration, lasts 1 hour, copies the current appearance, and also adds invisibility to the caster. The illusion would require Asmodeus to reapply the illusion of Arcadia every hour after refreshing Mislead. That gets really expensive for spell slots.

Simulacrum seems like an obvious option, and it would be available via Magical Secrets. However, there is no mechanism by which a Simulacrum is revealed other than killing it or Detect Magic. It's a spell in the school of Illusion, but it's not a visual trick—the simulacrum is an actual creature. So that wouldn't work for the reveal in E101. However, it might be useful for your own game.

Next, I considered Major Image—or, more specifically, the upcast version which is Permanent Image. When cast at 6th level or higher, the spell does not require concentration and lasts until it is dispelled. This spell can also be used to create the illusion of a person capable of carrying on a conversation. The illusion can move with the caster and be adjusted on the fly. However, there is no accounting for situations where the illusion is within range but out of earshot or line of sight.

Project Image would work best for situations where the illusion would be separated from the caster and still need to be convincing. That spell allows the caster to move their consciousness to the illusion, so Asmodeus would be able to have conversation as Arcadia or Milo if they split up. The duration is 1 day with a range of 500 miles, so that's more than enough to last the entire mission without recasting. Unfortunately, it requires concentration, which severely limits other spellcasting options.

There's two decent ways to game this: Glyph of Warding and Wish.

Glyph of Warding is a ridiculous trap spell that is highly customizable. Theoretically, It could be used to upcast for Permanent Image or cast Project Image. Asmodeus could pre-cast it a day earlier, rest to get spell slots, then he wouldn't need to trigger it until the Primes were close. Best of all, when Glyph of Warding is used for a spell, "If the spell requires concentration, it lasts until the end of its full duration." In other words, the caster doesn't have to maintain concentration on the triggered spell. (This is a very broken spell RAW, so discuss with your DM about what limits might apply in your game.)

Alternatively, at level 18, a Bard can gain Wish through Magical Secrets. Wish does a lot of things, but the key text reads:

The basic use of this spell is to duplicate any other spell of 8th level or lower. You don't need to meet any requirements in that spell, including costly components. The spell simply takes effect.

Concentration is a spell requirement. Casting Wish provides an option to replicate Project Image without needing to maintain concentration. Further, since it lasts a day, Asmodeus could have cast it hours earlier, taken a long rest, and gotten his 9th level spell slot back with plenty of time to spare. That does seem rather drastic just to create an illusion, but since he gets the spell slot back anyway, it's basically free, and then Asmodeus also has Wish.

Either Permanent Image or Project Image would be the best options because they would allow Asmodeus (as Arcadia) to control Father Milo so they can participate in the same conversation. I think Project Image is better for reasons discussed further below.

Invisibility

In E100, Arcadia cast "a Sphere of Invisibility" on Zaharzht, Tishar, Asha, and the Emissary when they left on a tram. Since it was just four of them, that may have simply been an upcast Invisibility spell, which requires concentration. There aren't any items that would cast on that many people (plenty cast it on 1), nor can spells cast from items be upcast. There also aren’t any items that would allow a caster to hold concentration on two different spells for an extended period of time. Finally, it’s possible that Asmodeus prepared an upcast Invisibility via Glyph of Warding and triggered it somehow, but that’s such a niche thing to trigger at the tram on exactly 4 people (given the larger group size) that I doubt that was the case.

Unless Brennan homebrewed something, it seems like Asmodeus had to hold concentration on Invisibility. That would eliminate any illusion options that also require concentration, and casting a later concentration spell would break the invisibility. As far as we know, it lasted as long as the other team needed it to, but we don't know how the scenes line up. Just because the scene with that team took place after the hospital scene doesn't mean that they happened sequentially. Brennan also mentioned that the invisibility should last nearly an hour when that team's scene began, so the tram trip didn't take very long.

Still, the best explanations for the hospital scene will involve spells that would not compromise concentration on Invisibility, and those would allow for more flexibility for your own nonsense.

Melting the Hospital Gate Lock

In E100, Father Milo appeared to hold and melt a lock on the gate to the hospital. Ayden, Trist, and Arcadia were there at the time.

Of all the spells that could destroy a lock, I think Heat Metal would be the most applicable. It has a range of 60 feet, so Arcadia could have done it from the back of the group, out of line of sight of the others.

Shatter and Knock make noise, so even if the illusion was adjusted to mask the visual effect, there’s obvious cues. Unless there’s a Silence effect (which requires concentration) in the area, they are both suboptimal.

Opening the Hospital Gate

Next, Father Milo appeared to push the gate open for the others. None of the spell options listed above allow the illusion to interact with objects. That had to be a separate spell or ability.

One good option for this would be the Telekinetic feat. It gives the caster an invisible Mage Hand that can be cast without verbal or somatic components, essentially mimicking telekinetic abilities. Mage hand does not require concentration and can open doors, but without the feat, it wouldn't be invisible, and that wouldn't be easy to hide or disguise in this specific circumstance. An invisible mage hand would also be useful for stealing from party members, so it may have been a contingency if anyone took something that Asmodeus needed to use the Factorum Malleus. However, Ayden also has blindsight, so a mage hand would need to stay out of that range to avoid detection.

Alternatively, 3 levels into Rogue to become an Arcane Trickster would also grant an invisible Mage Hand. Even better: cunning action can be used to control the Mage Hand as a bonus action, eliminating any conflict of using an action to control the illusion. However, the verbal and somatic components would need to be hidden with deception and/or sleight of hand, and that would eliminate the option to use Wish in the strategies outlined above (Bards can’t get Wish without 18 class levels).

Unseen Servant is also a good idea, though it costs a 1st level slot. Because it’s shapeless, it would not be detected by Ayden’s blindsight. Like mage hand, it does not require concentration, but unlike mage hand, it is always commanded with a bonus action, which is better for use in conjunction with a controlled illusion. That said, it can only move 15 feet per round, so it will not keep up with a moving group and will have to be recast on location. Also, it costs an action to cast, so you would need to cast it in advance of the round that you command the illusion and have the servant work in conjunction with it.

Animate Objects and Telekinesis (Magical Secrets at 10th level) are viable options, but both seem like overkill given that they cost 6th and 5th level spell slots, respectively. They are also concentration spells, so they’re not viable if Asmodeus had to maintain invisibility on the other team.

Father Milo and Ayden Chat

In the hospital, Father Milo left the room when Trist was about to heal Hallis. Father Milo walked down the hall, then turned to speak to Ayden, who had followed him. There had to be some way for the illusion to respond to Ayden in conversation.

We don't know how far away they got. It was distant enough that Trist didn't have reason to overhear the conversation. However, with her attention on Hallis and Cassida, Arcadia could have walked to the door and watched/listened from a distance to manipulate the illusion of Father Milo.

Alternatively, Project Image would have allowed Asmodeus to shift his consciousness from Arcadia to the illusion of Father Milo. That would have allowed him to see and hear from that perspective, and no one would have noticed that Arcadia had checked out.

Torturing Dr. Bezel

While speaking to Ayden, Father Milo appeared to touch Dr. Bezel and take control of her body, contorting it and causing her harm. Since we know Milo is an illusion, it couldn't have been a spell requiring touch, and it must have been something Arcadia could cast at a distance. Since she was behind Ayden, there's no concern about sleight of hand.

Dominate Person was my initial favorite. It grants the caster total control over the target, so that seems appropriate for forcing Dr. Bezel to harm herself. However, it requires concentration, so that would have ended the invisibility on the other team of gods. Maybe Asmodeus sensed that they had already dropped invisibility, but that's not confirmed.

If a 14th level Bard used Magical Secrets, Power Word: Pain might also be a viable option, but expensive for spell slots. While the spell doesn't do damage, this is also a RP moment, and it's not that much of a stretch to break a doctor's wrists. It doesn't require concentration.

Telekineses would allow Arcadia to manipulate Dr. Bezel's body. Unfortunately, it requires concentration, so there's a similar issue with invisibility.

It may be possible that Dr. Bezel was an extension of the illusion if Ayden lost sight of her at some point. Because the illusion spells are each adjustable and pretty flexible, it wouldn’t be out of bounds to do this. However, it would have been revealed if Ayden had touched Dr. Bezel, which is a serious risk given his inclination to heal and that they were all in close quarters. There is also the chance that the real Dr. Bezel could have walked in. That said, it would not surprise me in the least that Asmodeus would make an illusion of himself tormenting a mortal and then tell Ayden, “they’re not real.” That would be so incredibly on brand to tell the truth while so layered in deceptive illusions. Regardless, that may be a good option for your own illusion shenanigans: you’re already two people, so you may as well be three! (Discuss with your DM whether it would need to be recast to account for a second person—which can be done by ducking out of sight for a few seconds.)

Ayden cast Protection from Evil and Good... which shouldn't have worked to dispel the effect. There is a separate spell Dispel Evil and Good to do that. That said, since it's an RP moment, I don't think Brennan cared to force Nick to expend a 5th level slot for this. Further, if it really was an illusion, then Asmodeus didn’t have reason to recognize which spell was cast and adjusted the illusion to pretend it fixed everything.

Milo "Teleports" Back Inside

After the chat with Ayden, Father Milo stalked off to sulk by the gate. Once things pop off with the other teams, Ayden communicates over the telepathic bond that everyone needs to meet up. Brennan described that "there's a little smell of brimstone and Milo is standing in the room as well."

Asmodeus would have been able to add smell via Major Image, but not Project Image. However, a cantrip like Prestidigitation could add the smell. Either spell could achieve whatever visual effect was needed.

Cassida Teleports the Team / Arcane Gate Escape

Cassida made a split-second decision to go "full traitor" and teleport the team to the others at the Obtenebrator Engine. If she had been paying attention, maybe she would have noticed that 4 people teleported instead of 5, but it's sensible that it wasn't her focus at the moment.

Neither Father Milo nor Arcadia took any actions or noticeable movement in the subsequent combat. They then escaped the Engine with the others via an Arcane Gate.

If the illusion was broken by the teleport or gate (since it has a range), Asmodeus could have recast it with a sleight of hand check, assuming he was in anyone's line of sight. However, the illusion can follow the caster, so it depends on whether the DM would rule how an illusion mimics traveling or if there’s any interference. In either case, being the last to go through to cover any hiccups or recast unseen would be optimal.

Arcadia and Father Milo Split Up

For the final fight, Arcadia accompanied Trist, Umleta, and Cassida to retrieve the scrolls containing the information on the Factorum Malleus. Meanwhile, Father Milo joined the rest to destroy the weapon.

During the combat, Milo didn't do anything noticeable. He seemed to have to make saving throws against some attacks (Brennan listed him when saying who would be affected), and he spoke during his "turn," but Milo didn't cast anything. That wouldn't necessarily require active, attentive control by Asmodeus from afar. Switching consciousnesses for a few seconds (like when Trist was distracted) would have been feasible as well.

What about Telepathic Bond?

Just to head off a question that I expect some people might have, Ayden's Telepathic Bond would not have given Asmodeus away. It allows telepathic communication, but it's voluntary communication. It's not Detect Thoughts, and it wouldn't do something like detect locations of connected minds.

It also turns out that Arcadia and Milo never communicated over the telepathic bond. They only spoke “in person,” so there was no chance for some indication that would give away either of them for seeming similar.

Improving Your Chances of Success

Bards are great for not only having the spells to pull this off, but having access to the skill set to back them up. Their spellcasting ability is Charisma, which lines up well with necessary skills. Taking proficiency or expertise in Deception, Sleight of Hand, and Stealth would be solid choices, especially given their utility for this build outside of pretending to be two people.

As mentioned above, a 3 level dip into Rogue for Arcane Trickster is a good way to manage action economy (action and bonus action) for simultaneously using Mage Hand and either Major Image or Project Image. Mage hand is also more flexible than Unseen Servant, so it depends on what you anticipate in your game. If you intend to rely heavily on this combination, maybe go 4 levels for another ASI/feat too. Cunning Action is also great for keeping up with the group on the run (the others are using a Dash action) without letting an illusion fall behind (which takes up your action).

Why not a Wizard? Pretty much everything above could be done by a Wizard except Heat Metal. An Illusion specialist also gets some bonuses like being able to adjust illusions or temporarily make them real. However, the primary downsides to trying this with a wizard is the lack of expertise benefits and the need to stack both Intelligence and Charisma instead of only Charisma. Taking the Skilled and Skill Expert feats could compensate for some of that, but a MAD build that is only MAD for this specific purpose seems like a waste of a build, whereas the Bard version has a lot more utility outside of being 2 people.

As stated above, the Actor feat is practically a necessity for impersonating people your targets have met before because you can perfectly mimic voices. DMs would probably set higher DCs otherwise. The feat also grants advantage for related checks, making your ploy much easier to achieve.

As a final thought, it might be worth taking the Metamagic Adept feat for Subtle Spell. It can help you pull off spell casts when all eyes are on you or you’re occupied/restrained. It’s a very situational option, but you also get to pick a second Metamagic as well, so it’s not too niche.

And that's about it! It's a rather cumbersome thing to orchestrate, and there were a lot of ways to detect Asmodeus's scheme—with proactive investigation. If you suspect this bullshit is being used against you, go poke them in the face. Really, that would have been enough to expose the illusions.

Maybe this will inspire someone to try some shenanigans in your own game. :D

[pocketgalaxies]

the beef between milo and ayden actually deeply rooted in asmodeus' betrayal of sarenrae, that's what i call the reverse bechdel test can i get a hell yeah!

[ihaveatypeanditstrickstergods]

Special place in my heart for Brennan Lee Mulligan playing shifty old holy men

[life-ephemeral]

So, to get this straight, in order to take on mortal form, the Gods had to be born and raised as mortal beings!? Super cool if true.

I initially thought that Serenrae (Trist) had taken on a mortal form because she fell in love with a mortal, and this mission came to her later. But then Purvan said he was tasked with protecting Emhira since before she was born, and that boggled the brain a bit.

The ages of these mortal forms may allude to some fascinating things, like how long this plan has been in motion and when each God got on board...

- Serenrae was the first of the PC's to gain a mortal form, Trist is 39.

-Melora was not far behind, Asha is 38

-Corellon's mortal form S.I.L.A.H.A is 30.

-Pelor was the last to join... Ayden is 15. Why so late to the party, I wonder?

- Ioun A.K.A Arcadia's age was not stated, she's described as a beautiful woman, but no descriptors that denote age.

- The betrayers ages are also not clear... except for...

- Asmodeus, whose mortal form Milo Cowst was described as having the appearance of a kindly old man. This means, as far as we know, he's been a mortal for the longest.

I don't know why, but Asmodeus being the oldest mortal fascinates me. Was this his idea? If so, how did he get the Prime Deities on board and when? So many questions!