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0stentatia · 3 years ago

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A “Riz & Adaine being lowkey besties” fanfic

The morning after they rescue Adaine & Aelwyn from Calethriel Tower, after she restores Aelwyn’s memory to before she was captured, Adaine is sitting at the back of the Van trying not to spiral. Riz joins her, and they have a little chat.

(This is the first Fantasy High fic I’ve ever written & the first fanfic I’ve written in a hot minute so I’m sorry if it’s not the best but I needed this to exist because I love Riz & Adaine’s friendship sm.)

The songs of the Treants danced through the air around Kei Lumennura as Adaine sat at the back of the van with the doors open wide. Her sister was curled up and unconscious inside, restored back to her unfortunate past self. There had been an abundance of pain seeing her sister weak and broken and vulnerable, but there had also been hope. Hope that maybe this would be a new start for the sisters. Aelwyn had spoken to her in a way that made Adaine finally feel like her equal, finally feeling like she wanted to care for her instead of casting Ray of Sickness at any chance she got. But the world was cruel and unforgiving, so the walk through Aelwyn’s mind had torn her heart out and then had given her no time to grieve.

The old Aelwyn was back, her father was possibly dead, and her mother was working for somebody who definitely wasn’t good. The anxiety was mounting, quickly. She’d taken her meds upon waking up this morning but that just took the edge off enough to keep her from being incapacitated by her panic attacks. Holding Boggie tightly to her chest, she was lost in her own thoughts as the rest of the group carried on. After some time, she was interrupted by a familiar voice.

“So… It’s been a uh, wild few days, huh?” She lifted her eyes from the spot on the ground they’d been focused on to see Riz standing in front of her.

She scoffed lightly and nodded her head, not saying anything.

Riz didn’t say anything else for a long moment either. He moved to lift himself up and sit beside her in the back of the van, his legs swinging slightly as they dangled over the edge. There was a heaviness in her chest.

She wanted to be back home, with Jawbone there to help her through any crises she may have, or at least to have her group therapy once a week to keep her grounded. She wanted to be far away from Fallinel, far away from those who had captured her and were most likely going to execute her. Adaine missed Elmville terribly, and she missed the comfort of familiarity and regularity that it brought to her just as much.

“I’m really glad you’re back,” Riz finally spoke again. He rubbed the back of his neck and turned his head to look at her. “We weren’t really sure what was happening to you, or what they were going to do with you, and that was…” He sighed, “The not knowing was scary.”

“I’m pretty sure they were going to execute me.” Adaine said quietly.

Riz’s brow shot up in surprise. “What?!”

“Yeah. I mean.. I was basically given a choice. Either stay and be their Elven Oracle and do everything they told me to do.. Or they were going to kill me, so the gift of the Oracle could be passed on to somebody else, somebody who would stay in Fallinel and do what they wanted.” The weight of the words leaving her lips fell on her shoulders like boulders. She felt too numb to cry.

“Holy shit Adaine… And your dad was fine with that?”

“Of course he was, Riz. He’s a foul little worthless excuse of a man. We already knew that.” She spit the words out venomously.

Riz said nothing in response, just pursed his lips together and nodded his head silently.

Boggie let out a soft ribbet as she held him in her arms.

“They tortured my sister there for so long… She was like a shell of a person when I found her. So broken and helpless… When she woke up here she asked me if we escaped or if we died and honestly, I’m not sure which answer she was hoping to hear from me…” She was silent for a few seconds before continuing, “Then I thought maybe we’d have a chance to really get to know each other, for the first time like… ever? Maybe we could be on the same side for once… But now that version of Aelwyn is gone and she’s back to being exactly who I always hated her for being.” Adaine let out a shaky breath and pulled her feet up, crossing her legs criss-cross beneath her.

“Does that make me a bad person? For wishing she could be in pain again, and wishing she could remember what she went through these past few months just because it hurts me more if she doesn’t?” She turned her head to look at Riz.

He laughed and she furrowed her brow at him.

“Sorry, I’m not— I’m not trying to laugh at you.” He shook his head and turned to meet her eyes, “It’s just funny to me that you think you could ever be a bad person.” He offered a small smile.

She held his gaze for a moment, searching his face and finding nothing but genuine care and honesty. They’d talked about her family before. She’d told him bits and pieces about her parents, about how they were growing up, about her sister. There had been times when she’d even confided in him how she wished she and Aelwyn could’ve been close. He’d heard her say that it didn’t matter how much she hated and resented her sister, there would always be a part of her that wished things had gone differently. There would always be a part of her that longed to be close with her sister, and a part of her that loved her.

Riz knew what she struggled with. He knew how hard she tried to be the opposite of what her parents were, of what they’d turned her sister into. And he’d always been quick to reassure her that she was far from resembling anything close to them.

Adaine sighed softly before she looked out over the elven sanctuary, taking it all in.

“Are you okay?” He asked after a few more moments of quiet between them.

She scoffed again. “My shitty dad might be dead. I didn’t even get to have one nice day with my sister after saving her from being tortured for months on end. My mom is working for the Nightmare King or Kalina or whoever it is exactly that we’re dealing with. I almost got executed while I was in Elf prison and now I’m basically a fugitive, so,” She shrugged, throwing her hands up a bit as she did. Riz grimaced and she sighed heavily again, dropping her hands onto her lap. “I’m fine.”

Riz looked at her, skeptically raising his brow.

“You don’t seem fine.” He challenged. She turned her head and shot him a look, opening her mouth to say something, but he continued before she had a chance, “You don’t have to talk about it. I’m not here to be a dick, I was just worried about you. I was really worried about you while you were gone and I thought maybe that I’d feel better now that you’re back with us but… I’m still worried.” It was his turn to shrug, lifting his shoulders and letting them fall gently back down.

“I don’t know what’s gonna happen with you and your sister or you and your family and these fuckin’ elves. There are still so many things we don’t have answers for and I don’t.. I don’t like not having answers. But when you weren’t here it just became so much more clear to me that nobody—” He stopped himself short, scrunching her nose in thought for a moment before continuing, “We can’t— I can’t do this without you.” He adjusted the hat atop his head. “This isn’t gonna happen again. I won’t let it happen again.”

“Well we seem to have taken down Calethriel Tower so I don’t think it could even if you wanted it to.” She said teasingly.

“Yeah I wanted to ask what happened with all that but there hasn’t really felt like a right time?”

“Oh, Fig played her bass and it cracked a gem that made the whole thing come crumbling down. It was kind of rad, honestly.”

Riz chuckled softly. “Wild..”

“Yeah, but I didn’t really expect anything less.” Adaine laughed along with him.

Another silence, comfortable and soft, settled between them as they looked out into the sanctuary, Fabian still dancing as the rest of the group encouraged him.

Still looking forward, Riz spoke again, “I’m sorry you got kidnapped and held as a prisoner, Adaine. We should’ve protected you so much better than we did. I wanted to come break you out sooner but we had some hang ups when we first got here, a bit of culture shock that set us back longer than I wanted and then the usual nonsense that set us back even more. I didn’t want you feeling like we were partying and having a good time and enjoying ourselves while you were being tortured or whatever... It felt fucked up.”

“That’s because it probably was a little fucked up.” She said, an ever-so-slight grin on her face as she teased him.

“I know,” He sighed, not completely acknowledging her teasing tone, “I couldn’t enjoy any of it. Fabian’s grandpa is too much to handle, honestly, and I thought the trees were kind of a nice vibe but then they started singing and it’s just…” He shook his head, clearing his thoughts and refocusing, “I’m just glad you’re with us again… This whole thing,” He gestured around to the rest of the party, to the van, to their surroundings, “Isn’t the same without you.”

She pursed her lips and gave a small smile, nodding her head slightly.

“I’m here if you ever want to talk, you know that, right?” He turned his head again to look at her, holding eye contact with her.

“I know,” She parroted the words he’d said not but a few seconds before, but sounding much gentler. “Thanks, Riz.” She smiled at him. It was a saddened, anxious, and broken smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

“Anything for my best friend.” He replied, giving her a small smile and nudging her side gently with his elbow.

After a few more seconds of silent eye contact, communicating thoughts of understanding and concern and care that Adaine felt too exhausted to have exchanged out loud, they both looked forward again. Sitting in silence, no longer alone, the comfort of Riz Gukgak’s presence beside her helped her feel like maybe she’d be alright outside of Elmville for a little while longer after all.

#fantasy high #fantasy high fanfic #riz gukgak #adaine abernant #dimension 20 #adaine and riz #riz and adaine #is this good? no #am i proud of it? no #did it finally break my year long writers block? yes #so i will post it #my writing

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cactusnymph · 4 years ago

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Prompt fill #6 for @dimension20alphabet:

Family / Home / Healing / Introspection

Mordred Manor is loud.

Growing up in a household where it is considered improper to raise your voice never prepared Aelwyn to move into a house where people are shouting all the time—not the angry kind of shouting, just the loud kind where someone yells at the top of their lungs that dinner is ready or if anyone has seen their lucky pair of socks—, or playing music that can be heard all through the garden or people howling with laughter that drips out of open windows.

Mordred Manor is a complete mess.

Growing up in a household where it would be considered a crime to ever leave some worn socks lying around Aelwyn has to get used to the fact that, in this house, nothing ever stays orderly for more than ten minutes. Jawbone might do his best to tidy up the kitchen, but soon after there will be people piling in, leaving cereal bowls, empty cookie packages, lunch boxes or books everywhere. With so many people living in this house, the laundry machine is always running and barely a day goes by where there is not at least one shirt and a pair of socks lying around on any of the stairs.

And, most importantly, Mordred Manor is full of love.

This one is certainly the one that takes the most getting used to, the strangest difference from her old house, the thing that somehow makes her feel like an alien presence on a strange new world with Adaine being the only remnant of a life long past, of a world that was burned to the ground but still lives in her memory so vividly that Aelwyn doesn’t think she’ll ever be able to let it go completely.

There are all different kinds of love, none of which Aelwyn is sure that she ever really experienced before, or at least not until Adaine reached her hands out for her.

There is love in the way Fig plays the piano way too late in the evening and sings her heart out to Ayda who cries fiery tears while Sandralynn shouts from upstairs to tone it down that late at night.

There is love in the way that Jawbone insists on preparing breakfast for all of them in the morning and how Lydia takes over dinners instead to make sure that they’re all well fed every single day.

There is love in the way that Lydia and Sandralynn kiss and hug their children and also in the way that Jawbone treats all of them despite not being the biological father to anyone in this house.

There is love in the way The Bad Kids have slumber parties and push mattresses together so they can all form a cuddle pile in the living room, even Fabian who is still kind of officially annoyed about this but still he lies on the bed of mattresses next to Gorgug or Riz and sleeps there despite all his eye-rolling beforehand.

There is love in the way Fig shouts “I love you like a sister but also fuck you”, as she chases Kristen through the house for using up her favorite shampoo.

Aelwyn sometimes feels like she might suffocate from being surrounded by all this love that she doesn’t feel a part of, or deserving of. She feels like a spectator, standing outside in the dark and looking in through windows lit brightly, like she can watch everything but no one can see her standing outside.

Adaine is an insistent presence in all of this, though.

She drags Aelwyn down to mealtime with the whole household, she insists that Aelwyn joins “game night”, she volunteers Aelwyn’s help for work in the garden with Jawbone, she tells people that Aelwyn can help them with their homework because “she’s really smart” and she somehow manages to fill out the chores-schedule that’s pinned on the wall in the kitchen in such a way that forces Aelwyn to do chores in turn with each and every single member of this household.

Aelwyn is sure that she is merely tolerated in this household on Adaine’s behalf.

And yet.

Both Jawbone and Lydia insist on finding out what kind of food Aelwyn enjoys.

Fig asks her what her favorite song is and a few days later the sounds of someone practicing that song on the piano float through the whole house.

Kristen helps her fix a tear in one of her skirts.

Sandralynn offers to fly her to her therapy sessions as often as she can.

One time Gorgug comes by and he has oranges for everyone—including Aelwyn.

Ragh drags her along when he goes out to find new sports gear because apparently she has “impeccable taste, dude” and Zayn asks her for her opinions on some spellwork he’s doing.

Aelwyn wonders if there was ever any chance of escape from this patchwork blanket of a family at all.

“Hey Aelwyn”, Adaine says one evening while they’re both lying in their beds with a book in hand while a gentle autumn breeze floats through the window. “Are you okay?”

Aelwyn thinks about it for a long while as she listens to a commotion somewhere outside in the garden that sounds a lot like a water balloon fight.

“Hm”, she says eventually and turns a page. “I will be.”

#aelwyn abernant #fanfiction #dimension 20 #fantasy high #d20alphabet21 #mi writes #yet again i am having feelings for aelwyn #what's new

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jamiebluewind · 5 years ago

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On Aelwen...

I've been thinking about her. She's been imprisoned a year and sleep deprived. Is she malnourished too? Have her muscles atrophied from crawling around inside an orb? What status conditions have they put on her? We can assume Exhaustion of 4 or 5. That means disadvantage on ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws as well as halved hit point maximum and speed with speed reduced to 0 at level 5! We can assume she's not Blinded (can't see, auto fail ability checks that require sight, disadvantage on attacks, and gives advantage to enemies attacks) AND Deafened (can't hear and auto fail ability checks that require hearing) because there was the possibility for her to notice Adaine, but she could be one or the other. She probably gets Frightened (or has to roll for it) when she is around her torturers. She's stuck in Prone which only allows her to crawl, gives disadvantage on attacks, and give advantage to enemies that attack her within 5 feet (disadvantage if further away). She could be Incapacitated (unable to take actions or reactions) or even Stunned (incapacitated plus speed 0, takes away almost all their ablility to speak, makes str and dex saving throws auto fail, and gives advantage to enemy attacks). She could be Charmed which means she couldn't harm the charmer and the charmer would have advantage on social based ability checks. She could be magically Restrained somehow which would make her speed 0 (so she wouldn't even have to have Exhaustion 5 to be unable to move outside a 5 foot square), disadvantage on attack rolls, disadvantage on dex saving throws, and gives advantage to enemy attack rolls.

What does all this mean? She is a teenager who...

Has been imprisoned for a year, some (if not most) of which was spent trapped in a small space within an orb (ironic punishment considering, but still wrong on so many levels)

Is SEVERELY trance deprived and exhausted

Has half her max hit points AT MOST (they could be keeping her one hit from incapacitation/death saves or even killing and reviving her as a form of torture/punishment)

Can only move half speed at BEST and unable to move outside a 5 foot square at worst

Stuck in prone and only able to crawl

Intermittently frightened (while unable to get away)

Has disadvantage on all ability checks, attack rolls, and saving throws with the possibility of auto-failing dexterity and strength save

Whose enemies get advantage on their attacks on her.

Might be blinded or deafened

Might be muted or unable to speak above a broken whisper

Might be unable to use actions or reactions

Might be unable to harm her captors

Might give advantage to her enemies on social based ability checks on her

Regardless of how you feel about Aelwen, you can't look at that and say ANY of that is okay! Let me make this clear; I'm not excusing what Aelwen did. She deserved just punishment for her crime, therapy, and rehabilitation, but this... do you know what solitary confinement does to your brain? It can cause hallucinations, depression, anxiety, anger, cognitive disturbances, perceptual distortions, obsessive thoughts, paranoia, psychosis, substantial increased instances of self harm and suicidal ideations, inability to tell how much time has passed, the development of previously nonexistent mental illnesses, and exacerbation of symptoms in those who already have a mental illness going in!!! And this doesn't just go away once released. Oh no. There are long term effects with their severity amplified by how long and how often the solitary confinement occurred. Discomfort around people, atrophy of social skills, panic attacks, anxiety, depression, a lingering sense of hopelessness, decrease in the size of the hippocampus, increase in the size of the amygdala,... all long term effects of solitary confinement. The possibility of all these horrifying negative short and long term effects increases if the person has a brain that is still developing. Regardless of what she did, THIS *gestures to the above* is objectively wrong. She went through a YEAR of sleep deprivation, isolation, and torture. She might survive it and get back to being herself (if she has support and gets help), but even if she acts "normal" and seems like herself, she's not. People can survive and somehow hold on to who they were. Others don't. And nobody comes out of it unaffected.

PS: There is the possibility that she blames Adaine for what happened to her. I know that sounds messed up, but it might be what kept her going. I hope that she blames her father and wants to make amends with her sister. I hope that she's still mostly herself. I hope that they didn't tamper with her memory or use brainwashing to try and mold her into what they thought she should be. I want her to be safe and loved like any kid deserves.

#aelwen abernant #tinfoil time #fantasy high #fantasy high live #tw isolation #tw imprisonment #tw self harm mention #dimension 20

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jq37 · 5 years ago

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The Report Card – Fantasy High Sophomore Year Ep 19

The Ties That Bind

The penultimate Fantasy High: Sophomore Year episode is upon us and not a moment too soon. Seems a little counter-intuitive to seek comfort from these objectively wild current events we’re experiencing from a fictional Nightmare Forest but we know what we’re about so let’s jump back in and start with the death of a beloved main character.

Yay.

Rewinding back to two episodes ago, last we saw Kristen, she got stabbed through by a skeletal unicorn and died. We pick back up there and, as she’s dying, she feels a sense of pain, betrayal, and anger--very similar emotions to what Brennan told her the goddess was feeling with her Nat 20 Religion Check. Kristen gets a vision of the goddess being destroyed in cracks of lightning by her own followers--the same vision Fig saw in the dream scrying pool when she scry-ed on Kristen last week--and then she wakes up on the chapel floor.

She’s not...dead exactly. But she’s not super alive either. She’s bleeding, but more oozing blood than the normal mechanical way of bleeding out because her heart isn’t beating. There’s a hole in her chest and, within it, her heart is crushed. Her skin is pale because the blood isn’t pumping through it properly anymore. Her breathing isn’t regular. And a piece of her finger tip (the piece taken by her friends for a possible Revivify) is missing.

She sees evidence of her friends having been in the room--footprints and the smashed wall--and to place this in the timeline, she can’t remember Fabian right now. When she checks her crystal, she sees it’s been 90 minutes since they walked into the forest. She does Cure Wounds on herself to stop the blood from dripping. Then she heads out towards the forest, passing the Oracular Pool Fig used in the last episode as she goes. She stops as she sees it and something in her heart glows with golden light. When she looks into the pool, she sees the sun reflected in the pool (and also Fig’s boot prints leading up to it). That’s weird because it is super not a Sol/Helio aligned Chapel/Area they’re in. She also sees the moon reflected and she feels like she’s being called in. It doesn’t necessarily feel safe but it feels like she might get some answers and also she already died today so how much worse can it get? She dives in and come up and when she does, she’s suddenly in the outer planes. Specifically, she’s in Elysium which is like the Neutral Good heaven. She hears a voice that she mistakes for her dad’s because of the major dad energy she’s getting from it: You can come home.

As she walks, she finds herself--as Kristen weirdly often does for some reason--in the presence of gods. Specifically, Sol (god of the Sun) and Galakaya (goddess of the Moon and his sister as we find out). Helio is also there, like the screw-up son of a CEO, hanging out in his office. Both of them are good gods but not neutral good so Kristen gets the sense that they brought her here to have a neutral place to talk to her.

Kristen is hilariously nonplussed by being personally Uber-d to heaven by arguably the biggest gods in the pantheon and when she is asked to take a walk with Helio so she can get some important information, she’s like, “Nooooo, can literally anyone else do it?” Galakaya agrees to do it instead.

They take a lap and she asks about Tracker. Galakaya says that Tracker isn’t dead but she’s in major danger. Then, she changes the subject. Has Kristen ever wondered where her spells have been coming from when she’s been between gods? Because, as Galakaya says, doubt is nothing. She reveals that even though Kristen rejected him, Helio has been providing Kristen spells this entire time. He sent the philosophers and the grad students to be her spirit guardians. Kristen rejected him but not the light. Galakaya likens it to a child running away from home to the front yard. Kristen isn’t too far gone. She can still come back to the fold. And, if she doesn’t want to be Helio’s champion, she can be hers instead and become a Moon Cleric, which would still be keeping it in the family. But that’s the problem Kristen has with it. Helio to Galakaya? It seems like more of the same--especially the way she’s been acting, like she would fit right in at a brunch table with Arianwyn and Anguin. Except, when Tracker comes up, Kristen notices she gets a little snarly, almost like a tic she’s trying to keep under control.

Kristen asks for her pitch, and it’s basically the same deal she was getting with Helio but with different window dressing. The Moon, sisterhood, and unquestioning obedience. Galakaya can’t see into Sylvere to check on Tracker like Kristen asks but if she had a Champion, say Kristen, she could send her all kitted up with new powers. She says she wants the Nightmare King dead more than anyone seeing as the Nightmare King killed her baby sister (the Mystery Goddess). She calls her baby sister sweet and sometimes confused, seeing as she thought destroying her name would make her more powerful. But Kristen knows that’s not what happened. It was her followers who destroyed her name as she desperately warned them not to. Some chicanery is going on.

She says she will take the job as Galakaya’s champion and when she makes like she’s going to pray to her to seal the deal, she instead reaches out to the mystery goddess again. The golden light in her chest disappears and is replaced with cool shadow. She feels shock from the goddess, that Kristen would still choose to reach out to her after she died at her hand. The goddess says, emotionally, “I’m sorry, I’m just so scar--” But, before she can finish the word, Galakaya grabs Kristen by the shoulder and snaps her out of it, face snarling and wolfed out. After a second, she composes herself and seems almost embarrassed that Kristen saw that, which makes Kristen realize what’s going on with her. Tracker is a cleric of Galakaya, but knowing Tracker, she wouldn’t worship someone so reeking of high elven prim and proper-ness. And she also knows what the number one rule of godhood is: As above, so below. Galakaya has basically been claimed as a high elven goddess. Which means that the vast majority of her followers aren’t like Tracker. They’re snooty high elves. Which means so is she and her wolf part is still there, but it’s buried and distasteful to her now.

Which, coincidentally, is how Kristen feels about this entire godly family. She “respectfully declines” both of their offers. And by “respectfully declines” I mean she socks Helio in the face and makes a run for it. Sol, full of rage, says, “I told you that kid was trash! Now get her!” The philosophers on Sol’s payroll look at each other and instead mob him (why is the literal sun god so easy to 1v1?) and help Kristen escape. As she does, Helio calls out after Kristen something she kind of already sensed upon arriving in Elysium. Most people are a soul in a body. But Kristen, at the moment, is a soul *as* a body. If she dies again, with no god to intercede for her, she’s dead-dead. No afterlife. But that’s not enough to make her stay. She keeps running and makes it to the pool. For the first time, she feels herself fully cut off from her spells.

Back in the cave in Sylvere, Kristen chats with the Philosophers. They tell her they were working for Sol so they couldn’t tell her what the deal was but they were always rooting for her. One of the philosophers quotes her own words back to her: Doubt can’t be a belief but it can be a practice. And as she says this, she turns Kristen’s Shepherd's Crook cool and metallic and turns it into a question mark. She can’t hold doubt in her heart but she can hold it in her hand (stats for the Staff of Doubt below; also what a sick line from Brennan).

She knows that to get to the center of the forest where she needs to be, she has to follow her fear, so she goes in the direction she doesn’t expect to find Tracker.

Shifting gears, we find Gorgug and Fabian at the mouth of the cave (and no longer high on duskmoss) in their floating rock island surrounded by the others. They see that there are other openings and decide to check them to see if they can find any of their friends. They spend a good two hours, tied together and climbing this rock face which is some extremely solid male bonding. When they reach the cave they were aiming for, they find Baxter, riddled with arrows they know to be Sandra-Lynn’s. He’s dying but not dead. I am outraged at Brennan until I learn a fact that I don’t think has come up until now: Artificers get spell slots. Which means that Gorgug has Cure Wounds. He only cures him for 3 points but that’s enough to stabilize him at least so we can all stop sharpening the pitchforks. However, Baxter is clearly dejected and confused. He has no idea why Sandra-Lynn would suddenly turn on him. So maybe the pitchforks are still called for.

They want to leave Baxter in the cave so he can rest up but, on a 1 Animal Handling, Baxter absolutely demands to follow them. It’s faster than climbing at least. They do so.

And we switch again, this time to the Abernants.

Adaine is still trapped in a prison orb and barred from doing most of her spells. She can, however, do the Message cantrip and Aelwyn is still in the room along with Anguin. She Messages Aelwyn and asks, What’s going on? Why is she working with their parents still? Aelwyn replies that she doesn’t like her parents but she does love them. Doesn’t Adaine? “They don’t love me,” Adaine shoots back. Aelwyn parrots back ideology that she’s clearly learned from her parents: Love has to be earned. What value does something that hasn’t been earned have? Adaine, fresh off of therapy and with full knowledge of Aelwyn’s broken psyche, fully calls her out. She is so closed off to love, to everything that abjuration is her school of magic. Aelwyn tries to wave her off but Adaine, very seriously, says, “I don’t love our parents but despite the fact that you have not earned it, I do love you.” Aelwyn fully dissociates (and I’m not far behind).

Adaine notices that Anguin is readying some kind of Sending spell and that he’s wearing a sword that he usually doesn’t have. He tells Aelwyn to ransack her sister’s brain for the info they need from her while he prepares her punishment. Aelwyn, clearly in a slight panic, tries to (not at all) casually persuade Anguin to just leave Adaine in the orb, unharmed, when they are done with her. She tries to do it in a, “This isn’t worth our time,” kind of way but betrays herself when she blurts out, “She’s a baby!” Anguin raises a hand at her and she flinches, apologetically casting Detect Thoughts on Adaine who has already (via Message) said she’d support her no matter what she did.

Enter, Adaine’s Mindscape: A series of interconnected rooms--and her Aelwyn’s rooms--repeated over and over. Adaine has her surface thoughts be all of her memories of Aelwyn *almost* being nice to her and then pulling back at the last second for fear of her parents. Aelwyn doesn’t press deeper than these thoughts and says that if Adaine’s goal was to humiliate her then she’s done so. But that’s not what Adaine wants. She wants to rebuild their relationship. They’re gonna be sisters for the rest of their quasi-immortal lives. These memories suck but they can make new ones.

And then, through a window, Aelwyn sees another memory. The memory of herself in the hot-tub post Calethriel Tower rescue mission. She doesn’t remember this because of the events in the memory itself. Adaine went into her mind and, at her written instructions, reboot her memory and personality. They’re able to Inception themselves into Adaine’s memory of Aelwyn’s mind and they walk through it. Aelwyn is confronted with the knowledge that this is how she is and that Adaine knows this. Siobhan, from her sniper perch, gets the kill order from Brennan to take the shot directly into my chest.

“Would you be my big sister? I would really, really love to have you as a big sister.”

So now it’s both Kristen and me who have crushed hearts this episode.

Aelwyn fully loses concentration on the spell and snaps out of it. When Anguin asks for the information, she, on full glassy-eyed autopilot, says she didn’t find it. Anguin decides to go for the nuclear option, readying a bolt of magic to throw at Adaine. “Prepare to be better, dear, sweet daughter.”

The magic races at her, ready to do something Stepford-ian to her mind I’m sure, but, suddenly, Aelwyn steps forward, still out of it but following her true, deeply buried but natural protective instincts. Protective magic covers Adaine and the spell is Counterspelled.

Adaine quickly dispels her orb but then it’s Anguin’s turn and he goes for Aelwyn. Adaine attempts to return the favor she has just been given and Counterspells but Anguin Counterspells her Counterspell and Lightning Bolts Aelwyn. The second before she’s hit, Aelwyn looks at Adaine and says, “I’m sorry”. She goes down.

Adaine’s turn.

And, if you recall, Adaine just received two boons: A bonus to her Strength score and a little spell called Adaine’s Furious Fists.

And, my dude, if Adaine has ever been furious in her life, it’s now.

5th Level. And it’s a strength saving throw but, just to be certain of her success, Adaine gives her undoubtedly weak father her 4 Portent roll. That’s 10d10 damage.

77 points of damage.

She charges forward at Anguin.

“Guess what bitch? I’m strong now.”

And she full Dragon Ball Z energy punches her dad, dealing more than double his max HP. You know what that means? Ding Dong the bitch is FULLY DEAD.

Deed done, she rushes to Aelwyn’s side and gives her her 11 portent roll for her first death save (super clutch use of a mediocre portent). Then, on an 18 Medicine check, stabilizes her without the need for any more checks. Aelwyn is immediately weepy about how she doesn’t deserve the kindness she’s being shown. Adaine, again, gently says that love isn’t about deserving or not deserving, though she definitely doesn’t deserve the crappy situation she’s in right now. And, maybe when this is over, she can exchange her bed for a bunk bed and Aelwyn can move in? If Aelwyn wasn’t crying before, she super is now, and spilling her guts. She’s the one who sank she ship the previous elven oracle was on, she worked for Kalvaxus and Kalina--things Adaine is willing to attribute to being under the thumb of evil, abusive people but that Aelwyn seems desperate to atone for. She gives Adaine an important piece of information for their mission: In the past, heroes going after the Nightmare King have failed because they failed to undo all five curses. They need to make sure they do that.

Adaine gives Aelwyn the tincture she has on her, freeing her from Kalina’s influence, and then Aelwyn gives her one more piece of information before she slips into unconsciousness. Before Aelwyn had the previous Oracle killed, she was sure that Adaine was going to be the next Oracle and she told Kalvaxus that. Why was she sure? Because the elf that becomes the next Oracle is always the most skilled Diviner alive at the time.

“I love you too,” Adaine replies.

Then she nicks the dope sword (and 30 gp) off her dad’s corpse, leaves Aelwyn there to rest, and goes to find her friends.

And, speaking of, let’s pop over to see how Riz and Fig are doing.

In a word, bad.

They’re still tied up and cornered by the skeletal unicorn who says they’re captured and soon their friends will be too. Nightmare Fig shows up with Baby (who is shortly tied up as well) and reveals herself to actually be this many-armed, snake-woman demon. A whole army of demons show up, ready to start wrecking house as soon as they’re ordered to.

Fig wants to try and use her lighter to set her bonds on fire and Riz wants to use his spy-watch to laser her bonds off. They both fail but Riz notices they’re not being stopped from trying. It’s like the demons want them to escape so they have an excuse to chase and kill them. He also notices a jiggling from his briefcase.

At the same time, Fig gets a Sending from Bill saying he just hawked all of Gorthalx’s stuff, including the six suits of magic armor. But, wait a minute. There were seven suits. On a Nat 1, she thinks Bill is screwing her over.

But then.

All of a sudden.

Riz’s briefcase of holding springs open and out pops a figure in gleaming gold Pride Armor. The armored figure, holding a brilliantly gold halberd, cleaves through some demons and the raises his visor showing that it’s none other than the chosen one himself--GILEAR! You see, the Deadly Sin armor feeds on its respective sin in the user and consumes them, but, as Gilear puts it, he has no pride.

He absolutely wrecks house, killing demon after demon. Riz records it on his tie-camera for posterity. Gorgug and Fabian on Baxter see the commotion and fly down, seeing the tail end of the fight. Gilear kills the last of the demons then gets spit out of the armor like it’s an Iron Man suit, fully dead. Again. He may have had no pride when he put the armor on but watching himself kick ass have him just enough to be fatal.

Fig gets free from her bindings and, on a 27 with Bardic from Fabian, beats the 25 DC she needs to make an illusory diamond (which turns into a real one) of high enough quality to cast Revivify. She does so, after a heartfelt statement about being proud to be like him and a sick lick on her bass.

Gilear comes back up and we learn that he’d been hiding in RIz’s briefcase with the armor since they sent him away because it was the only way he could think of to be useful to them and protect Fig. Fabian and Riz (along with the audience) also unfortunately learn that Gilear is hung like a horse when they fail their saves to look away quickly enough.

Adaine rushes in with her new sword and the information that she killed her dad which everyone congratulates her for. She then ritual casts Identify on the sword. Aelwyn told her earlier that it’s the sword that belongs to whoever the current Oracle is and she also learns it’s called the Sword of Sight, it can be used as an arcane focus, and was made by Fabian’s Grandad (full stats below).

Riz gets the footage from his tie onto his crystal and posts it on Fig’s account which has got to be the wildest social media account on Magic Facebook.

The Bad Kids are mainly reunited, but let’s get back to the final missing member.

Kristen, alone in the woods, starts using her blood to draw a picture of the Mystery goddess. She hears a creepy voice say, “Be careful what you give a face,” and some other ominous stuff. But Kristen ignores it as she lies prostrate in front of her drawing because she understands something extremely important.

As above, so below.

Galakaya is worshiped primarily by stuck up high elves, so she has become that.

If Kristen is now the only follower of the Mystery goddess and she says that she’s real and she’s good then as above, so below. The math checks out.

The bloody image changes to a beautiful woman’s face. The Mystery goddess. She says she only ever wanted to comfort her followers and tell them that the night itself was nothing to fear. Kristen sees flashes of the chained Court of Elders--the representatives of the five races who worshiped the Mystery Goddess and were convinced to destroy her name (ignoring her warnings not to). Among them are the unicorn and the decaying elf Adaine saw in her Scry.

Fear of the NK breaks her out of the vision and she finds herself surrounded by Twilight (that she’s generating) with Tracker in front of her, fully wolfed out with a bloody muzzle. Tracker is going feral, all, “You’re so selfish, everything is always about you.” Something is going wrong with her. Now, good news/bad news:

Good News: Kristen is fully committed to this Mystery Goddess so she gets her spells back and she is now a Twilight Domain Cleric.

Bad News: She goes Invisible (eliciting a, “Why are you running? I knew you would leave me. Why won’t you accept me like I am?” from Tracker) and tries to cast Greater Restoration but all she needs is a 4 and she rolls a 3. Tragic.

She finds that she is insubstantial still and is whisked away from a snarling and lamenting Tracker. As she is traveling, she sees the face of the Nightmare King who asks why she would follow a dead goddess whose path is just going to make her life harder. Kristen feels a pang of doubt and fear that she has just done exactly what her religious upbringing warned her against and put herself and her friends in grave danger for no reason by straying from the path, but then she has another classic Kristen-ism: Everyone is basic and wrong. She’d rather follow a goddess who is like, “Hey y’all, I also don’t have it all figured out but I will for sure do all I can to help you navigate it,” than a god who demands unquestioning faith and loyalty. And with that, she finds herself floating above her friends.

She feels the pull of her missing finger bone in Adaine’s pocket and she feels like it might be impossible for her to fully, properly, come back but on the other hand, she’s died like three times at this point. What does impossible even mean? She gets the sense that she can cast Raise Dead on herself and she does so.

Welcome back to the Bad Kids, St. Kristen Applebees of [REDACTED], halo aglow, newly reattached finger shedding a bit of light.

(“That’s hot for being gay,” Ally says about Kristen’s new glow.)

Everyone hugs everyone and catches up everyone on everything. Kristen heals up Baxter for 20 HP and gets a +2 bump on her Intelligence mod for her ordeals in the forest. They all make a plan to get everyone in one place so Kristen can put some of her new AoE healing spells to use. Fig wants to go on Baxter to get Ayda. Adaine, bringing us full circle, invites Fabian on a rescue mission to get her sister.

And we take a break.

Deep breath y’all.

Detention

Brennan for Cursing us With Knowledge About Gilear’s Penis

@allsevenmaidens put this very reasonable request in and I have to concur because what’s the alternative? Giving Anguin this spot AGAIN? Like, I don’t even want to give him the satisfaction of being the best of the worst. Adaine gave him the death penalty which is what he deserves and all he’s gonna get.

So, Brennan gets this spot for forcing me to hear the words “Gilear” and “hung like a horse” in the same sentence.

Honor Roll

Gilear for Kicking SERIOUS Ass

Listen, SO many Honor Roll-worthy moments happened this episode. Kristen’s Amazing As Above, So Below moment. Aelwyn finally stepping up to protect Adaine. Adaine absolutely obliterating Anguin in a single punch.

But, at the end of the day, I have to give it to Gilear “Just a Guy” Faeth for cramming himself and a suit of cursed armor into a mostly airless briefcase out of desperate need to do whatever he could to help protect his daughter and her friends who are basically demigods. He truly is the Anti-Anguin and I’m so glad Riz got that on tape for posterity. Way to go man.

Random Thoughts

I already wrote so many words and we have a five hour finale tomorrow so I’m going to try and keep this section brief.

We’re staring down the barrel of the last episode (coming Friday at 8PM EST) and I want to say this now rather than later: thanks for reading these and leaving nice comments in the tags and stuff like that. I’m not always the most confident person and the support really means a lot.

We’re also staring down the barrel of a global crisis right now so, you know, be nice to yourself and escape through fiction when you need to, reach out to people, and eat a vegetable if you can. Read a 5000 word recap of an episode you presumably already watched. Whatever you need to do.

The Staff of Doubt has ten charges and can cast the following spells at the cost of the amount of charges listed: Detect Magic (1), Lesser Restoration (2), Dispel Magic (3), Banishment (4), Greater Restoration (5).

The Sword of Sight gives +1 to attack and damage rolls. It gives a base 12 AC which bumps Adaine’s to 15. It lets her cast Divination cantrips as bonus actions. She gets to take the Dodge action when she casts a Divination spell. And she gets no disadvantage on attacks on Invisible creatures (seems very useful against Kalina possibly).

EDIT: I forgot to say! Gorgug saying very sincerely to Kristen, “I’m sorry I wasn’t there,” “there” being, “at her most recent death” broke me.

Where in the World is Ragh Backrock? We have at least an approximate idea of where the rest of the hirelings are but nothing on Ragh. I’m concerned. His vision was asking Gorgug if he was his dad. Maybe it has something to do with that?

Very curious about what the mechanics of the final confrontation will be. What Aelwyn said seems like it could be setting up for some shenanigans. Plus, there are still all the hirelings to worry about.

Another question, I feel like we still have almost no idea what’s going on with the NK. Half of me is almost expecting some kind of Te Fiti/Te Ka situation. On another day I might try to speculate and play detective but that’s not where I’m at today so I’m just gonna leave it at that.

I feel like Kristen is always negging deities to their faces. Like, girl. Her Axe/Dove metaphor was *chef’s kiss* though. Anyway, when (hopefully) Tracker is back to normal, I hope Kristen has a take that’s different than, “I met your goddess and she sucked.”

Kristen makes me feel bad for Helio. He’s just a surfer dude who likes corn, OK. He never did anything to her except give her magic!

Didn’t have a good place to mention this earlier but Fig alerted Bill to their situation and location so if there’s a Bill Ex-Machina next ep, it’s not out of nowhere.

(Also, just a small point of order, Gorgug did say he had a bone from Kristen last ep but so did Adaine. Doesn’t really matter but just wanted to explain the mismatch with my last recap).

Making everyone roll a save to not see Gilear’s dick is so funny. As was Zac invoking danger sense to roll with advantage.

“I cast Spare the Dying on Gilear’s Penis.”

“I am no man,” from LOTR but instead it’s Gilear saying, “I have no pride.”

“Drink deeply Gilear.”

Why is Kalina working for the NK? She’s supposed to be the Mystery Goddess’s familiar, right? Just another thing that doesn’t add up. Where’s that puzzle piece we’re missing?

The thought of Baxter being so confused and dejected and fatally injured, not understanding what he did so wrong to have his mistress riddle him with arrows makes me wanna throw down with Brennan IRL. Also, I’m Concerned about Sandra-Lynn.

I need to say this on the record. Ally Beadsley does some bonkers things in D&D that I could not even begin to understand but that As Above So Below Gambit was Galaxy Brained.

You knew this was coming. Abernant Time Bay-Bee (the abridged version because I need to get this out before Friday)!

First off, I am very happy to say that basically exactly what I predicted/hoped for in my last recap for this scene is what happened, with Anguin making Aelwyn cast Detect Thoughts on Adaine. And basically EVERYTHING I had on my Abernant Sisters Reconciliation checklist was checked. The Detect Thoughts. The pointing out that they’re gonna live for a long time and do they want to do it at each other's throats? Aelwyn finally stepping up to the plate and leaning into her Abjurative Instincts in a positive way and shielding Adaine from their father. And then the stuff that I wanted so bad but didn’t know it. The bunk beds moment? The “I love you too” moment. “She’s a baby!” I mean, “Will you be my big sister?” F off Siobhan. That was beautiful.

A little concerned about Adaine having left Aelwyn unconscious so close to where their mom is but I am glad she remembered to cure her of Kalina.

When Brennan said, “In Aelwyn’s last moment,” for a second I thought he meant she was about to be perma-dead and my heart legit stopped.

I was up until about 2 AM last night, popping bottles with @camwritery (my Abernant Sisters confidant) about Brennan and Siobhan giving us everything we wanted and I’m going to get yelled at by her if I don’t mention something I said while we were talking. Last week, during the fireside chat, all of the players talked about what future lives/jobs they’d want for their characters. I posited the same question for Aelwyn and offered my answer--CPS Case Worker. Because, like, think about it. She is an extremely protective person. She wants to atone for what she did and failed to do for Adaine. When she gets all the therapy she needs, she’s going to be equipped with deep, personal knowledge of what abuse looks like/what it can do to a child and an extremely long lifespan. Can’t you see an adult Aelwyn, in the living room of a well appointed house, speaking cordially to some high class A-hole with his terrified kid sitting next to him, trying not to say anything or do anything that will get them punished and Aelwyn does a surface level Detect Thoughts at the same time so she can mentally kneel before the kid and tell them, “I’m on your side. You can be honest with me. I’m here to protect you. I promise. Don’t be scared.” This is all I want for her.

This episode Fig rolled one Nat 1 and Gorgug rolled two but one was cancelled with advantage. No Nat 20s were rolled.

#fantasy high #fantasy high spoilers #dimension 20 #dimension 20 spoilers #fantasy high live #(kind of a rush job bc the next ep is so soon so def hit up my asks if I missed s/t you wanted to hear about)

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jamiebluewind · 5 years ago

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D20 Fabian and Fig my two darling children

Here goes!

Fig

Favorite thing about them: How much she looks after Gilear and Gorgug. To almost everyone else, she acts like the crazy little sister of the group. I love how it flips with them and she's making sure Gilear eats, having Gorgug's back, and just being their biggest cheerleader.

Least favorite thing about them: Disguises herself as other people to get her kisses in. Consent is important and it really creeps me out.

Favorite line: "Do you know how hard it is to be yourself? To think anyone would love you for who you are? So yes do I take some solace in feeling loved as the medical student that I'm not actually?... It's the only way I know how to interact with people emotionally. Is to be someone else. But yes. I totally. I absolutely betrayed your trust." and the whole conversation with Gilear in the van

brOTP: with Gorgug

OTP: with herself. I think she needs to learn to love herself before she can be in a healthy relationship. She's crossed a lot of boundaries (flirting with people old enough to be her parents and older, disguising herself to get affection from people who can't give their consent,...). Otherwise, with Adaine (who is most likely ace, but currently not aro).

nOTP: with Kristen or Gorgug (or anyone she has to use a disguise to kiss)

Random headcanon: She actually still loves big soft stuffed animals, but doesn't keep them around because aesthetic. She keeps headache pills on her because of how often she banged her horns on stuff.

Unpopular opinion: What I said under least favorite thing and OTP. She needs therapy and to be single a while (or at the very least to stop her toxic behavior before getting into a relationship).

Song i associate with them: Look What You Made Me Do but the Kristen Collins and KHS cover, Stupid Girl by Garbage, I Think I'm Paranoid by Garbage, and Don't Let Me Get Me by Pink

Favorite picture of them:

Fabian

Favorite thing about them: How he found the courage to stand up to his father and desire to be his own person instead of a carbon copy of Bill Seacaster. Yes he still wants to live up to his father and the legacy he had drilled into his head his entire life, but he also found a way to stand up and want things for himself that stood in opposition to what his parents wanted for him.

Least favorite thing about them: his rich people problems

Favorite line: (during the fight when their homes were on fire) "Mama I'm so sorry, but you have to fucking pull yourself together. You have to be some kind of person alright? You can't just be some... thing that lies around my house!", (when Riz was taking too long to open a door) "We have things to do, The Ball. Let's do them." (and then kicks the door in), and "Father, um, you're a pirate. And I'm not. But I am your son and that means more to me than anything."

brOTP: with Riz and Ragh

OTP: with Riz (but I think I would also be okay with Ragh)

nOTP: for the longest, I would have said with Aelwin, but now I'm more neutral about it.

Random headcanon: He's a picky eater boarding on having a mild eating disorder. He refused a prosthetic eye because his dad didn't have one despite tinkerers being able to make him a working one using archano-tech.

Unpopular opinion: First off, while he's grown on me, I wanted to yeet the boy out of a window when he was first introduced. Second, I'm behind Tracker with her assessment. I think Fabian does have depression and has had it a long time. It's just never manifested to the point that it couldn't be ignored before. The warning signs were all there. I think he also has anxiety, but it's a different type from Adaine's and manifests differently from hers (which would make it hard for her to understand). Perhaps PTSD and some OCD (picky eating, texture sensitivities, general hum of anxiety, doing things the same way multiple times despite a lack of benefit, obsessive thoughts, fixations, impulsiveness, repeditive movements or actions, intrusive thoughts...) as well. He honestly survived a lot of childhood neglect, abuse, and trauma (Cathilda being the only reason he's as okay as he is) and as a fellow survivor, I can tell you that that stuff always comes back to bite you in the butt sooner or later.

Song i associate with them: Handyman by AWOLNATION, Things I Don't Understand by Coldplay, and Personal Space Invader by Sugar Ray

Favorite picture of them:

#fantasy high #dimension 20 #fig faeth #fabian seacaster #bluewind answers #fantasy high live

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jq37 · 5 years ago

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What do you think is going to happen to aelwyn???

(took a break from packing to answer this. hopefully it’s all coherent.)

Great question and, honestly, hard to say.

I’m gonna assume that all the information we have is correct at face value for the purposes of this question.

So far we know that Aelwyn’s been locked up for almost a full year being tortured. And we saw Adaine’s reaction to learning that info which was basically just a tired/annoyed, “OF COURSE, this is happening.” But also, she was mid (justifiable) tantrum so, if she were going to show any sympathy, I wouldn’t expect that to be the time for her to do it.

I’m also guessing they’re not gonna put them in adjacent torture orbs because that seems like asking for trouble. Unless they think that it will enhance the torture–either by being forced to be with the sister they know she hates or by being forced to watch her sister who is still her family be tortured. Anyway, my point was, I dunno when they would have a chance to talk but I assume they will at some point–maybe during the jailbreak at the latest.

Based on my read of the situation, the most likely series of events is Adaine stays as angry as she was last episode for as long as she can stand it while trying to escape/contact her friends, At some point she has to interact with Aelwyn in some way and Aelwyn in pretty freaking F’d up by the year of torture, Adaine softens either right away or gradually depending on where she is on the rage scale at that point (and, if nothing else, she’d align w/ Aelwyn to spite their dad I’m sure), Jailbreak in which Aelwyn is also sprung, they get the info they need from her–and then things get a little messy because I’m guessing that their mom is also after Aelwyn and idk if she wants to spirit her away or something because I feel like Aelwyn is still a criminal in Solace and idk if the gang would just let her loose.

But it’s also possible that Aelwyn’s capacity to be a bitch transcends 5 levels of exhaustion and the lack of any bargaining power. I kinda doubt it based on her reaction post-arrest in S1 but if she decides to be a bitch, they’ll still spring her but the end up at cross purposes with Adaine’s mom.

I think Brennan likes redemption and rehabilitation narratives (see eg: Ragh and Jawbone) and Aelwyn, I think, has big redemption potential because she is very much a product of her environment--which doesn’t excuse her actions but it does explain the and lead me to believe that she’s not inherently cruel/beyond changing.

But, like, this is D&D where half of everything is decided by in the moment character choices and the other half is random dice rolls. Like, imagine a scenario where Aelwyn is pretty contrite but Adaine decides to hold a grudge a little bit longer (which would be in character) and, before she can tamp it down enough to really talk to her, Aelwyn gets merc’d by one of the prison guards and fails all her saves? That could totally happen. There’s still so much we don’t know and the inherent chaos of D&D makes it hard to accurately predict anything. I mean, look at this prediction from the episode before Fabian decided to make the worst decision of his life:

lol, something else did happen. Oh man, did it happen.

I’d like to see Aelwyn and Adaine team up against their dad because, let’s face it, he screwed both of them up. And I’d like to see Aelwyn get some serious therapy, preferably with Jawbone. I think all of those things are in the cards potentially, but it’s also possible that upon breaking her out Aelwyn goes totally feral and blames Adaine for her getting arrested and put in the situation in the first place. It’s a total tossup and I can’t wait to see what ends up happening either way. Aelwyn is a fascinating character and I’m glad we’re getting more of her.

#Anonymous #asks #fantasy high #fantasy high live #spoilers #i hope they get to talk a bunch both bc I wanna watch siobhan and brennan rp at each other #and bc I think the longer they talk the more likely they'll come to the conclusion that it makes more sense to work together v. their dad

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jq37 · 6 years ago

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I'll be the one that bites the bullet. Fantasy High episode 11--thoughts?

**spoilers for cool kids, cold case**

Hoo boy.

That could be my entire write up honestly because, geez ya'll.

Let's break it down.

Sidenote, I just got mildly into Overwatch so every time I say that and I say it a fair amount, I hear Lucio in my head.

Anyway, like I said in an earlier post, I'm now pretty sure that the bloodrush fight didn't go the way Brennan expected. Like either he didn't expect them to win or that they would win but not kill Daybreak because there was so much exposition and change and repositioning in this episode. It was a lot like the first session with all the setup. It's like he needed to get them on a new trajectory so he took an episode to time jump and change the status quo before--BAM. But we're getting to that.

In another show or even another episode of this show, the opening convo with Ragh might have been the wildest part of the ep. There’s just so much to unpack there.

Fig making him kowtow to Gorgug and everyone being like dude, stop making it weird.

Before she did that, Emily paused and you could just see every other person looking like “What insane thing is gonna come out of her mouth now?”

Kristen getting the scoop on his super gay dreams.

Adaine trying to get him to got to therapy (and also to realize that he's gay).

The group whole ass making him cry for possibly the first time?

Fabian trying to shut everything down.

“You’re cumming from your eyes.”

Kristen, please stop. I’m begging you.

As I suspected, the group reached the point of yeah, we NEED to call Riz's mom this ep. Like, they *had* to call her. You can only realistically take shenanigans so far before it becomes straight unrealistic to not just call a responsible adult.

And, speaking of, yay! We got to see a little of everyone’s parents just like I wanted/predicted.

We actually got a lot of stuff from my wishlist. There’s so much time jumping and stuff in this episode I don’t even know where to start.

This is probably the wrong place to start but I remember wondering what their Christmas equivalent was because they can’t have Christmas because of the Christ thing so when they were like Solstice I was like, oh duh. It’s literally right there. How could I miss it.

OK I guess

Christmas Solstice party at Gorgug’s house! I knew his house would end up being the hang house.

Sklonda handled the situation pretty close to how I thought she would. I really think Brennan was forced into a, “This adult is too responsible to not wipe out my next ten plot points over the course of a week,” corner and that’s why he had to pivot. More on that later.

Fabian just refusing to eat any of the fast food she got them.

I totally forgot Adaine has diplomatic immunity. Which actually means she’s the ideal Bad Kid to do anything shady they need done, even though that’s not really her style.

Unlike, other people

We’re getting there

I’m glad Brennan drew the line at Kristen’s parents actively being in a cult. He was like, OK no. They’re willfully ignorant but they’re not PART OF THE CULT.

I also think it’s interesting that they didn’t actually kick her out? Like they sorta kinda did but not really because it seems like she’s couch surfing of her own volition a little and staying home sometimes too? I wonder how her brothers are doing.

Both of Fig’s dads just work at her school now. I wonder is they commiserate about her w/ Goldenhoard.

I can’t believe Brennan is letting her just ruin the life of this random, full-adult dwarf doctor. Like, imagine if any adult in her life found out about that.

Brennan says bud a lot. Almost as much as he says rad.

Gorgug choosing playing the drums as his proficiency, but not well. Just, like, a simple drum beat. Bro. Why.

Adaine’s makeover!

I knew we were gonna get to see that. Or at least I really hoped we would.

And it was in boutique setting similar to what I imagined. A little surprised that she went straight for the jeans and t-shirt thing but dope. I want fan-art.

Also, if I hadn’t already been convinced, that scene would have convinced me that Fabian got everyone the gifts (before it was confirmed later).

“You’d look nice as a sailor.” Is that like a pirate thing, bro?

Real talk, does Fabian for-real, for-real have a crush on Adaine low key?He’s complimented her looks more than once, which he hasn’t done with the other girls. They’re at a similar social class which might be a factor. And he clearly has a thing for blond elves.

WE’LL GET TO IT.

I am Concerned about Adaine’s jean jacket, regardless of how dope it is.

Someone needs to talk to Fig about the rat thing. Possibly also Emily.

42069 LANE (or whatever it was). I hate that I love Brennan for that.

“The worst thing about you is that you’re rich.”

But aww, Fabian. I’m glad it ended up being him (and shoutout to the anon who pointed that out to me). This is exactly the character growth I wanted from him.

When Gorthalax said that tryouts had already happened, I was legit upset for Fabian for a sec. Also, how did I know Gorgug was gonna somehow end up on the bloodrush team?

Guys I feel like there’s still a million more things to talk about.

Adaine finding out about Riz’s dad. God I hope there’s a heart to heart soon but she won’t just drop that info unless she has a really good reason.

GILEAR. I can’t believe that was him on a NAT 20. God, he has zero game. Also, imagine Fig and Riz as siblings. Lord.

The return of Tracker. I was concerned that she was in college but she’s like a Sophomore so Kristen is good to go as soon as she stops being a total disaster so actually that’s probably a moot point.

Sidenote, kinda surprised that she’s a cleric. I thought she was off religion totally but I guess she just switched. But I feel like it’s hard to be totally non-religious in a world where gods 100% for sure exist?

Adaine going, “Mrs. Gukgak. Actually Captain Gukgak,” to her racist-ass dad gave me life.

OK so re: the whole conversation about perditional contradoxy and treaties and war and such. How much of that was in the plan and how much of that was last minute retooling by Brennan? Because, I’m going to be honest. If it wasn’t for that comment by Siobhan, I would never have guessed that we were off the rails. But, with that in mind, this feels like the work of a GM who needs to keep the game going because things ended up moving too quickly.

It does answer the question of where the story is going now that the Harvestmen seem to be taken care of. I was a little surprised when Brennan was like, “Yeah Riz’s mom gets them all arrested,” because I’d assumed that the bad guy was going to be just the higher guy on the totem pole.

OK, I’m sure I’m missing some things because this was a JAM PACKED ep so, if I missed something you wanted my thoughts on, please tell me and I’ll be super happy to write more words but let’s get into that scene.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

OK OK OK

Before we start, I’m so pumped about all of this development but I hate how often I’m going to have to type the word Eolwyn because my fingers refuse to accept that that’s how that’s spelled.

ANYWAY

Dude, the pacing, switching between Adaine and home and the rest of the gang at the party. Like, I knew what the reveal had to be as soon as she walked in but I was still like, “Oh my God. Oh my GOD.”

Sidenote: It was very convenient for Brennan that Adaine never actually read those books because it was an easy and non-cheating way to dole out exposition now, later in the game.

What were the mechanics of Adaine not being invited to that party? Did Eolwyn specifically get her not invited? Did she actually get invited but couldn’t go because of the dinner at home? Did all her friends still decide to go, knowing she wasn’t invited? Was she OK with that? How exactly did that go down?

EOLWYN

BUSTING into that party

Magicking up a bunch of LOVE SLAVE PUPPETS

SNORTING magic coke

Playing Spin the Bottle DEATH ROULETTE

MAKING OUT WITH FABIAN

CUT TO: I’M GOING TO KILL MY SISTER

DAMN BRENNAN, I did NOT Expect you to go THAT hard.

AND THEN IT KEPT GOING

Assuming they all live, I can’t WAIT for the, “YOU KISSED MY SISTER????” conversation.

Which means they’ve either never met Eolwyn or only in passing and not enough to remember her.

Shoutout to Riz for being the only person to give Adaine a heads up.

Her eyes glow blue when she does certain types of magic so I’m just picturing her walking into that room, eyes blazing blue, ready to F up her sister (even BEFORE she finds out what’s going on).

I don’t remember if she called Eolwyn a c**t in this ep or the promo for next but I was like, “Oh damn.” Like you got her to escalate her cursing that much that quickly? Damn.

Also, I love that when she’s really upset, Adaine skips the magic and just starts hitting people.

OK, so remember in the first ep when Eolwyn tried to have Adaine steal that book? The book that I’m pretty sure is the one they mentioned as having wards on it to keep monster stuff from happening at school? So, here’s what I want to know. Has Eolwyn always been a part of this? Because, clearly, it looks like she is right now. But it’s possible the original intent was that she wanted to get Adaine to do it as a prank, not knowing it was important and then, Brennan checked his notes while salvaging the plot and decided to work it in.

Also, unlikely, but imagine if Eolwyn somehow induced Adaine’s panic attack during her entrance exam to Hudol specifically so she would fail, have to go to Augefort, and steal the book for her. Wouldn’t that be wild?

Idek what else to say about that last ten minutes or so that isn’t just incoherent, Ally-esque screeching.

I have to say, battle eps are never my faves but I’m looking forward to this one more than any other one so far.

Man, I can’t believe I thought Eolwyn asking for that textbook might turn into a sister bonding moment. Lol @ past me.

Anyway, kick her ass Adaine!

#fantasy high #asks #anon #idk which anon #y'all can always ask me more questions if you have them #on or off anon #anonymous

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