#adventures in tal'dorei

[the-hidden-writer]

Hide and Seek

Whumptober 2024 - Day 1

Guess what I decided to take part in! I'll do my best to complete the month but I'm going to have to write as I go since I only actually remembered it was a thing today. Starting off with an original piece based on my dnd campaign!

Prompt: Search Party / Panic Attack Fandom: Original (dnd campaign) Character(s): Rex Winterfall Words: 1,251 CW: panic attack, implied suicide idealisation, implied death AO3 Link: [Here!]

Hide and Seek

He can’t breathe.

He’s on the ground, wearing a fucking bearskin like a suit, and he can’t breathe.

Attempting to make as little movement as possible, he shifts his posture so that his head pokes out from underneath the skinned animal to allow him to take a shaky lungful of air. He makes a silent prayer that none of the guards (three of them, to his knowledge) noticed the wriggling of the large rug. It didn’t sound like there was anyone else in this room anyway. For now, at least.

A distant, muffled shout reaches his ears. “This room’s clear!”

Then another. “Kitchen is too!”

A third. “He must have moved. Have we checked the master bedroom again?”

“On it!” calls out a very non-distant voice, whose cry is soon followed by steady footsteps. A nearby floorboard creaks dangerously, a sound that feels as if it's reverberating straight through him, too. The guard has entered the room. A fourth. Shit. He must have miscounted.

Despite having just wrestled with a dead bear for air, he takes in one big breath before clenching his windpipe tightly shut and pulling his head further under the fur. As long as he doesn’t move a muscle, he should be fine. Hiding happens to be one of the greatest skills he possesses. He’s had a lifetime of experience. 

He can hear the guard searching the room. The squeak of the wardrobe, the rustle of bedsheets, the clicking of footsteps getting louder-

Oh no.

He squeezes his eyes shut and bites onto his tongue, suppressing a scream when he feels the pressure on his back. A heavy pressure that, thankfully, only lasts a few moments before the guard appears to move on. He feels the tense air leave his lungs like a deflating balloon. That was… painful. But he’s dealt with worse and it seems like they still haven’t discovered him.

“Sorry, Mr Bear,” he hears, and has to suppress a snort.

That’s when the stupidity of the situation hits him. He’s lying on his front under, practically in, a giant bearskin rug in the master bedroom of a stranger’s mansion, being pursued for a crime he didn’t commit. 

Well. A crime he was about to commit as a consequence of having to flee his home because of a crime he didn’t commit. He knows it isn’t his fault, not really. He’s just the victim of a hell of a lot of unfortunate circumstances. So he really doesn’t understand the guilt that he feels bubbling to the surface.

He took this job because he and his family had been displaced. They needed some income and jobs don’t come easily to fugitives. So when he caught wind of a search for someone stealthy for a theft with a hefty reward, he decided to offer his services, being good at hiding and all. What he would give to turn back the clock on that decision now that he knows it was a set-up.

It was a set-up. And he, the former detective, fell for it.

His chest feels tight. Maybe the guard’s foot broke something.

He can’t think of a more laughable position to be in. It’s so pathetic. What kind of example is he setting for his daughter? How could he ever begin to explain to her that her father is both simultaneously guilty and not-guilty, and has spent nearly his whole life on the run, simply because of bad luck? He doesn’t want to imagine the look on her face but the image springs forth anyway. He wants to physically shake it away, but can’t risk the movement.

The bearskin begins to feel very constricting, as if it hadn’t been before. The fur feels rough and prickly against his own clammy skin. It doesn’t tickle, though he does start to feel aware of every strand that brushes against him, like individual needles. It starts to feel painful to be under it. To be in it.

He’s suddenly hyper-aware that he’s lying in a corpse.

Every coherent thought flies out of his brain. He’s hiding in a corpse.

A corpse of an innocent creature.

A corpse.

A corpse. Like his sister. Like their friends. Like his workers, so many workers, all taken out just to get to him. Corpses. Dead.

He can’t breathe, no matter how hard he tries. He’s actively trying, now, to breathe. It doesn’t feel like it’s working. He might be making noise. It’s hard to tell over the sound of his heart thundering in his chest, over the blood rushing in his ears.

He doesn’t care anymore. If he stays like this, he’ll die. He’s sure of it.

He wrestles himself out of the bear, this time with no qualm about the amount of movement or noise it almost definitely makes. He just needs to get out.

He’s left there, panting in the middle of the room, his eyes wide and senses going crazy. He’s alone in here. That’s one blessing at least.

He stares down at the bear as he struggles to reclaim himself. When alive, the beast must have been massive. He can envision it: a predator that was top of the food chain, a master of the natural world, hunted down and reduced to a rug. A decoration for people to step all over. A corpse.

The surge of empathy he feels is alien and concerning.

This whole situation is absurd, he realises once sense starts to return to him. Yes, he’s good at hiding, but he’s never wanted to. It's never been by choice. He’s just been forced to hide by those various unfortunate circumstances. Those circumstances that have never really been his fault. This feels like another one.

What might happen if he doesn’t hide, this time? If he walks out of here with his head held high? Would that be the right thing to do? Would it make his daughter proud?

As the panic of escaping the bear subsides, so does his energy and any adrenaline he’d had. He’s tired. Twenty years he’s spent like this, hiding from something or other. Twenty years too long. He’s so, so tired.

With one last soulful look at the bear by his feet, he drags himself out of the bedroom.

The four guards in the hallway feel like they should be a surprise, but they aren’t. There isn’t really any strength left in him to feel surprised.

“He’s there!”

“Now!”

“Wait- is everyone ready?”

They’re young. They look practically like teenagers. He tuts quietly. If he was their boss, he would never send them out on a dangerous recapture mission at such a young age. That same image of his daughter comes back to mind. It's then that he knows that there's no chance he'll lay a finger against them.

They’re also standing in a line, the guards. The hallway isn’t particularly wide. Nowhere to run if he tried, not counting the enclosed bedroom. The one with the bear he’d just shared a private moment with. There’s already one too many corpses in that room, he thinks glumly.

Then it hits him. He’s not sure if it’s because of the thought of the bear corpse or the sight of gleaming axes in the guards’ hands, but he feels his heart stop all the same.

He’s cornered.

He’s going to die.

“Please.” It’s barely a whisper.

The guards seem to have gathered themselves, each with their axe raised and poised to throw.

“Now?”

“Now!”

He distantly hopes that no-one ever wears his skin.

Thanks for reading!

[occidentalavian]

If I had a nickel for every time a Critical Role D&D book introduced a female tiefling named Honor with adopted parents, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's really weird that it happened twice.

[evonflow]

Thunsheer 12th, Emon

It’s cold up here. All about stepping out of Shamal has been a rush, but the desert felt like a homecoming, and the swamp felt like a classroom. Tal’dorei feels liminal, like an interlude or a daydream.

We arrived at Emon via airship. Fancy things. Terrible security. In another life, maybe, we exploit the fact that the guards have neither light source nor dark-vision to aid their watch, tame a peryton, and come upon them in the dead of night, become proud owners of the Star Duster or some such nonsense.

Emon’s a different kind of sprawling than Ank’Harel. Absent’s the effervescent hustle and bustle of the markets and hagglers in the Jewel of Marquet—the blurry sense of rush and frenzy, winding and weaving, behind, around stalls and veils and smokes and perfumes. The air seems crisper here; a sense of order and hierarchy written in the walls and ways, the grime secreted away into who-knows-where. Emon’s not as massive as Ank’Harel, but it’s monumental—the port harrying about ten times the amount of traffic we saw in The Bay of Gifts, its palace protruding from the city like a crown jewel.

We, Agara Inc, are here for all your pick-up and delivery needs! I’m curious, read hopeful, to meet the dukeling. Get to know him and what he knows. Dyon did seem rather fond of him and they are not the kind of person to be easily impressed (though I suppose knowing someone from infancy does impose a sort of bias).

[burr-ell]

Something I just noticed and really enjoy about Campaign 1 is how often their story involves becoming incredibly powerful and accomplishing so much and yet still not being able to do what's truly important to them. It's not only the gutpunch of the final episode, it's a thematic underpinning throughout the campaign.

Way back in their prestream adventures, the party was strong enough to defeat the Dread Emperor and save all the kidnapped children from Tal'Dorei—except one, a child Keyleth killed by accident, an act which haunts her through at least much of the early campaign. The party defeats the Briarwoods and reclaims Whitestone, but Ripley still escapes and 19 still misses, and the Chroma Conclave raze half the continent. Percy has great intellect and access to a powerful magical amplifier and forced out a demon through sheer force of will, but his carelessness still killed Vex and he only rolls a 6 to try to save her. The party has slain a dragon and is armed with four Vestiges of Divergence, but they couldn't save Tiberius and can't even give him the proper burial they want to. They brutally slaughter Ripley, but not before she gets the revenge she wants; she kills Percy, sending him to Orthax, and spreads guns throughout Exandria. The Conclave is slain, the whole party made it out alive, but Scanlan is forever scarred by the experience and leaves, tearing the party down as he goes. Even Vilya, prior to the campaign's beginning, was at the very end of her Aramente, likely a level 16-17 druid like Keyleth was, and still failed the trial of the Water Plane and was gone for almost 40 years.

And of course, Vox Machina became some of the most powerful people in the world, slayers of a god, legends to be immortalized for centuries...and none of their power could save their brother.

Percy points out to Bell's Hells, thirty years later, that fate isn't always kind and not everyone gets a second chance, and to me that's underscored by what we don't see. Elaina is still dead. Juniper is still dead. Percy's parents and five siblings are all still dead.

I mean, if any or all of their bodies are intact, it wouldn't even require True Resurrection to bring them back—not that Keyleth or Percy are averse to a little heresy, but hey, conserve your resources. If there are bodies, all they'd need is 7th-level Resurrection; none of those people have been dead for over a century, and if they need to find the bodies, well, Vex has Locate Object and Pike gets a Divine Intervention freebie once a week, right? Even if they did need True Resurrection, it's a heftier cost but probably not something too difficult to pay over time for one of the wealthiest families in the world.

But none of them have ever done that, nor do we get an indication that they've pursued it. Vox Machina is, probably more than any other CR party, defined by grief—how individual PCs respond to their own profound losses; how they succeed and fail to shoulder each others' burdens; and at the end of their story, how they deal with one of the most painful losses imaginable, and how they move forward and find peace in spite of it. Campaign 1 is just as much about how to deal with what you couldn't do as it is about what you now can do.

[geekcavepodcast]

Dark Horse Reveals Free Comic Book Day 2025 Titles

Dark Horse has announced its Silver and Gold issues for 2025's Free Comic Book Day on May 3, 2025. 2025's issues feature new stories from the worlds of Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins, Black Hammer, Young Jedi Adventures, and Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Dark Horse's Free Comic Book Day Silver issue features two original stories: Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins - Acquired Taste and Black Hammer: To Tomorrow!

Critical Role: The Mighty Nein Origins - Acquired Taste from writer Sam Maggs, artist, colorist, and cover artist Leonardo Cino, and letterer Ariana Maher will see Beau and Caleb heading to Bassuras where they've heard that an individual they are searching for will be at the Taste of Tal'Dorei. "When they arrive, the pair are surprised to be treated to some dinner theater and decor themed around a legendary band of adventurers from the area. They get entranced by the story, even experiencing it themselves, only to be interrupted by some interesting new faces entering the restaurant . . ." (Dark Horse)

Black Hammer: To Tomorrow! hails from writer Jeff Lemire, artist Letizia Cadonici, colorist Dave Stewart, and letterer Nate Piekos of Blambot. "Colonel Weird takes a jaunt through the ages, passing old friends and foes along the way. He travels from the beginning when pulp heroes stalked the streets, through the Golden Age of heroes, the fall of Black Hammer, and the rise of a new set of heroes. This is a look at the past and potential future of Black Hammer!" (Dark Horse)

Dark Horse's Free Comic Book Day Gold issue features two new stories for all ages: Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures - Scavenger Hunt and Avatar: The Last Airbender - Ramen Rumble.

Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures - Scavenger Hunt from writer Dave Scheidt, artist and cover artist Andy Duggan, colorist Dan Jackson, and letterer Comicraft sees "Jedi younglings, Kai, Lys, and Nubs, travel to a mysterious (and smelly) swamp, where Jedi Master Yoda has set up an elaborate scavenger hunt. As the younglings look for clues, they find an unexpected friend and learn an important lesson about what it means to be a Jedi." (Dark Horse)

Avatar: The Last Airbender - Ramen Rumble, a comic short from writer Brandon Hoáng, artist BelBessa, colorist C.E. Chant, and letterer Jimmy Betancourt from Comicraft, stars Samurai Appa and Ronin Momo. Appa and Momo "find themselves at a besieged Fire Nation noodle house where some of the clientele are tougher customers than the owner would like. Can the duo bring some order to chaos—and maybe earn themselves lunch in the process? Or will they be out on their tails?" (Dark Horse)

(Images via Dark Horse)

[finn-writes-stuff]

Jack of All Trades (pt 2)

A follow-up to -this- post, with the rest of the party. The Original Request: Hello. If you're willing and have the time, I jumbly request a TLOVM headcannon for the team having an s/o who steals their weapons and tries to figure out to use them. What would their reactions be and would they/how would they teach them to use the weapons?

Percy, Vax, Scanlan & Grog x Reader

Fandom: The Legend of Vox Machina/ Critical Role

Format: Headcanons

Gender Neutral Reader

Masterlist

Some credit to my lovely partner for giving me accurate info about their specific weapons. As well as a discussion on whether or not you can say Percy or Orthax invented Guns. -Finn

Percy

With anyone else in the party, there's a good chance you may have used a weapon like theirs before. But not Percy and his guns. These are his own inventions, new to Tal'Dorei completely.

They are also powered by exploding gunpowder. He is a little bit worried about letting you handle them.

Hearing a gunshot when he isn't causing it is a deep cause of concern for him, please don't steal his guns, just ask.

Percy will absolutely teach you! It's a chance to have his arms around you as he steadies your aim and stance.

He's a very...specific teacher. You have to make sure he doesn't get too wrapped up in the fine details. Keep him on track with how to shoot and he won't get way into the actual mechanics of the hammer of the gun.

Let him watch you shoot after you get the hang of it. He'll start to understand why you like watching him so much.

Vax

This man owns so many knives. He has a full-out collection of daggers. Hugging him is a dangerous prospect because you never know where one is hiding.

And with all the different daggers, it can't be that hard to steal one or two of them. How could he even notice?

Stealing them proves to be surprisingly hard. He doesn't store many of them, they always seem to be on his person.

But once you manage it, it's quite a lot of fun to handle a truly well-made dagger. In a fantasy world like this, every adventurer has held a dagger, but Vax turns it into an art and his tools reflect that.

They are also insanely sharp. Don't get too cocky with them.

He swipes them out of your hands when he finds you with them, and it's obvious just how experienced he is with handling knives. He can twist and spin them without a glance or a nick.

"Well, well, someone's got sticky fingers, hey love?"

He'll teach you how to throw them accurately and how to spin them without hitting your fingers. He will also tease you while you practice before you get the hang of it.

Scanlan

Scanlan doesn't particularly use a weapon! He's fairly strictly a spellcaster.

That being said, his instruments are likely the next best thing, particularly his lute. And that is his baby, best of luck stealing it.

If you ask him, he'll let you play it and he'll teach you during downtime. He will also serenade you for demonstrations.

He'll be annoyed if you take it without asking though. His music is a source of safety for him as much as a source of joy.

Let him teach you songs around the fire at night and serenade him in return. He won't stop smiling for ages.

Grog

Grog has had some...questionable weapons. Perhaps don't borrow Craven's Edge.

But borrowing his axe or his gauntlets is a world of fun. Even if they might not be well weighted for anyone who isn't as strong as he is.

You will quickly realize how much work goes into swinging his axe and it puts his effortless attacks into a very different light for you.

Grog laughs out loud when he sees you using his weapons, but it's full of fondness and affection.

Even if he isn't exactly academically clever, this is his skill set, he knows how to fight and he does it well. So he's a really good teacher as he corrects your stance and grip.

His teaching method also includes encouraging you to just swing at him, so you'll need a bit of courage and faith that you won't hurt him.

[eldritchblep]

When the @artists-guild-of-exandria decided this season we would be doing the Tourists Guide to Northwest Tal'Dorei, I chose to use it as an opportunity to document the adventures of everyone's favorite (?) tourist, Evon Hytroga. From being told not to touch the forge guardian in Kraghammer, posing in front of Umbrasyl's corpse in Gatshadow, to finding personalized souvenirs in the gift shops that definitely exist, I hope you too enjoy his adventures.

[tatooine92]

I am ECSTATIC about this commission from @artofzofia. It's Gale and my Tav, who is, of course, the BG3 version of my all-time favorite D&D character Vesper!

Vesper was developed for a Tal'Dorei campaign so she has all kinds of Vox Machina AU goodness going on, and in my BG3 headcanons, all those things remain true. The idea is that she accidentally fell through a Plane Shift-type situation with her old adventuring party and ended up in Faerun by accident, where she got kidnapped by the illithid and ended up tadpoled. So she gets the added bonus of "Hey I'm not from here" on top of everything else.

She is a half-elf druid and she and Gale fall in love SO fast. They're just idiots who take a hundred years to admit it to each other. But they love deep and true and they are going to have the most beautiful babies.

*chinhands* I love them, your honor.

[elementalladymallorie]

So now for the Bells Hells we have Braius to continue the the Flower Arrangement.

I thing for him we have Dahlias and roses.

Dahlias meanings change based on the color and black dahlia represents sadness and betrayal.

Braius was likely saddened by his being ostracized from the Platinum Dragon's service and he most certain felt betrayed. He also ends in the service of a betrayer god, and there were questions on what his ultimate decision will be with the Hells. He's also a bard in the college of tragedy, and sadness and betrayal are often components of a tragedy.

White dahlia's on the other hand represent new beginnings and enlightenment.

Braius is standing on the cusp of a new beginning with the Hells, one that ironically may take him back tot his old path. His experiences and the new adventures with this group will likely bring to a new sense of enlightenment as well. As he's learning by observing the gods and their choices, he's forging his path forward possibly towards a new one.

Roses are classical flower and the meanings of it vary greatly through out history and based on the color as well.

In general roses can mean love and secrecy.

Briaus is both a man (Minotaur) deeply entwined with secrecy and with love. One of the first things Braius does is lie about who he serves, and later than lies to a whole council of some of the most important people in Tal'dorei. Secrecy is what helps to give him an advantage and keep him out of potential fights with those that would disagree with who he champions. He is also a very amorous person who really wants love. He's constantly flirting and seeking affection, though he does know when to back down and checks if the objects of his flirtations are single.

Orange roses can symbolize admiration while black represent death.

Braius seems to work (at least from the brief glimpses we can tell) on a system of admiration. He admires Treven greatly, and seems to admire Orym fairly decently as well. His admiration may also be what lead him to follow his respective gods. Braius came to the Hells after they had experienced a great loss, helped them to kill a demon and then help to stop a ghost. While it's the most defining characteristic of his, it's one heck of an introduction.

So now we have the most current Hells added to the list!

If you'd like to read the others, you can find them here.

[fenthrasandbluefeather]

Shadows left behind

closed starter for @featherstcnes - Percival de Rolo

Emon. Being back in the bustling heart of Tal'dorei still felt like a dream after breaking free from the hazardous nightmare that had been rescuing Whitestone.

The Briarwoods seemed to have left a mark on all of them, Percy most of all. Vex'ahlia wasn't a stranger to the terrors of the darkness but the Vampire and his necromantically inclined wife might have left even her a little shaken. The keep helped. After they'd cleaned what remained of the destrucion caused by Delilah's minions as well as the city guard truly started to feel like home. Her own room held a specific place for her bow and quiver, there were more then one change of clothes in the makeshift wardrobe and the bed was comfortable. Something inside her couldn't wait to fill it with memories and trinkets from their adventures, even though her own, most important Trinket slept soundly right outside her window.

She wasn't the only one that started to feel more at ease. Percy seemed to barely leave his workshop, always excited for new projects, Scanlan and Grog were out most of the time, surely causing some kind of mischief and her brother... well he spent his time moping or visiting Gilmore whatever good that could bring about.

A couple of hours after dawn she decided to knock on the door to Percy's workshop in the east wing. Their rooms lay next to each other and she hadn't heard him come or go during the night. After given entry permission she set down a cup with morning brew infront of him. "Percy, Dear. You might want to sleep in an actual bed then just knock out at your workbench eventually." Vex suggested, her voice mostly teasing but it held a sense of worry. "I'm heading into Emon for market day, care to join me? I'm sure you're running low on... everything? by now?"

The workshop was filled with piles of gears, blackpowder, mechanisms, mostly things she couldn't even place but it felt like a good idea to get him out of this room for a bit.

[exandriacityshowdown]

Final Round

Nicodranas, Wildemount: Nicodranas is a bustling port city on the Menagerie Coast. It is the hometown of The Mighty Nein's Jester Lavorre, and the party visited multiple times. C2 NPC Yussa Erennis lives here.

image is official art by adragonswinging, from explorer's guide to wildemount

Zephrah, Tal'Dorei: Zephrah is the home of the Air Ashari. It is situated in western Tal’Dorei. It is the hometown of Keyleth of Vox Machina, and Orym of Bells Hells. Both parties have spent time there during their adventures.

image from tal'dorei campaign setting reborn / link

Rosohna, Wildemount: Rosohna is the capital of the Kryn Dynasty in Xhorhas. Due in part to the sunlight sensitivity of its majority-drow population, the city’s mages maintain a blanket of eternal night in the sky above the city. This magical effect is seen as a hallmark of the Kryn Dynasty, especially as it is also cast at contentious points along the Dwendalian border to reduce the disadvantage to drow soldiers fighting during the day. Rosohna is built on the ruins of the calamity-era city Ghor Dranas, the capital of the betrayer gods’ alliance during this conflict. Sometimes Rosohna is still erroneously called Ghor Dranas, especially by political opponents of the Dynasty. Rosohna is the centre of the Dynasty’s secret religion worshiping the Luxon.

image from the postcard merch by pretty useful co

[ghoulishlygrey]

The Legend of Vox Machina Roleplay Group!

Hello everyone! A friend of mine and I decided to make a Discord roleplay server based all around The Legend of Vox Machina.

Here’s the ad for it after the cutoff, please message me if you’re interested in joining. The taken characters right now are Percy and Vex, and Keyleth. OCs are allowed!

Do YOU like Vox Machina? Or maybe just OCs and Dungeons and Dragons in general?? I've got the place for you!

In a pre-established fantasy world teeming with new adventures and possibilities, who will you be?

Things you can look forward to if you join:

1) OCs! You can create your own character and have your own journeys in the flushed out world of Exandria. Create your own teams, fight your own battles, build your own lore!

2) Canon characters! There's plenty of canon characters to choose from while the server is still fresh! Pop in and see if your favorite is waiting for you!

3) 18+ Server!

4)LGBTQIA+ safe space!

And much more! Come and check out this expansive server and start your adventure today!

Here's a little peak of the lore;

After the events of season three come to an end, the members of Vox Machina say their tearful goodbyes as they go their separate ways. Keyleth and Vax go pursue her aramente, Vex and Percy return to Whitestone to live amongst the high society, Scanlan and his newly discovered daughter Kaylie leave for their world tour, leaving Grog and Pike to stay behind.

Months have passed over the lands since the departure, the towns of Exandria have known peace since The Chroma Conclave's demise. But the peace is not permanent and every villager, noble, and king knows it. The other shoe drops one day when a rift in the sky opens above the town of Westruun, vomiting sickly flying imps and creatures onto the population, leaving a massacre by the time the beasts decided to move on. Both sides numbers were dwindled, sending each of them retreating to lick their wounds.

While this seemed like a one time event, a weird glitch in the celestial timeline, the people were worried. They were scared of the implications of the attack; what if they came back for more? Who, or what, was behind these attacks? Their fears would turn out to be warranted when the portal rifts began to rip through Exandria, first in Tal'Dorei before quickly expanding throughout the lands.

Currently, the attacks have been going on for about two weeks, and are still considered "first wave" attacks. These attacks consist of low HP enemies in swarms but the feeling that lingers is ever present. The feeling is one of discomfort, dread as everyone knows... this isn't over. Whatever's out there isn't done with the people of this land, and kingdoms, villages, and towns must prepare accordingly for the second wave, something promised but never clear on when it'll arrive.

[occidentalavian]

Full map of Exandria, 2024 update!

Map images and Wonderdraft file download [HERE]

Hi everyone! It's been about 4 years since my last map. In that time more of Exandria has revealed itself to us, and while it is still not a complete picture, we now have enough that I felt it was time to make an update.

The biggest change from my previous map is that I am no longer using the Elven Tower Cartography assets. This is because previously I installed them incorrectly, in a way that meant that people who downloaded the map file were unable to see the assets unless they installed it in the same weird way that I did. Rather than fixing this, I instead opted to use the default Wonderdraft assets, that way it can be viewed out of the box without having to download something else first!

As before, Tal'Dorei and Wildemount are the most accurate to official maps, and we also have an official map of at least one arrangement of the Shattered Teeth, which is re-created here. We have a portion of Marquet via the Oderan Wilds and Hellcatch Valley maps, but the rest, including all of Issylra is still mostly made up, based loosely on a very old and tiny map briefly shown on screen by Sam in episode 103 of Campaign 1! Naturally when any new maps come out, this map will (eventually) be updated to reflect them.

There are some locations that are new to this map as well, such as the Demithore Valley in Issylra from Campaign 3 and all the towns visited in The Re-Slayer's Take up to episode 10, these being Himblewood, Josgren's Hollow, Shoresight Isle, and the Hug Hive. Ta'Dorei has a few new towns, Mooren and Heldenfaire, which were mentioned in Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn, as well as a few unnamed village clusters, the Foramere and Vues'dal villages. For these and the Mornset Countryside I included some non-canonical paths connecting them to the main roadways. Also included in Mornset is Roch Mar, the village that Vox Moronica visited all the way back in Episode 12 of Campaign 1, before Critical Role even did separate numbering for one-shots and thus included this unrelated episode in the campaign. This town isn't officially confirmed to actually exist in Exandria, so consider it my headcanon and a paper town. Moving on to Wildemount, Vo Village got upgraded to proper town status, and I've also included Yardel from The Nine Eyes of Lucien, Ghostwall from The Tales of Exandria: The Bright Queen, and Galgarad from the Dark Star adventure on DnDBeyond!

I want to give a special thanks to Don Farland for his original fan map of Exandria, created all the way before the release of Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, upon which I originally based my map of the Shattered Teeth. Incidentally, I believe that this depiction of those islands was the basis upon which the official map by Andy Law is based upon. I would also like to thank Niko Vanhala for his fan-made maps of Marquet and Issylra, upon which I have loosely based my maps of those continents. And of course thank you to Andy Law and Deven Rue for the official cartography of Exandria!

[blorbologist]

Its stupid stupid stupid STUPID how emotional im getting over these fictional characters having a baby

After all she went through - unwanted daughter unproven ally - bastard daughter. lost her mother. lost her brother. frosty with her father. her sister is far away. flirting and friendly smiles to keep people at a distance to keep her safe to use as tools - selfish and cruel - labeled greedy and mean for using the only means she can to find security. Greedy greedy greedy to keep it all close, except her heart was not her own and it was terrifying and she could not speak truth to the terrifying weakness until he was dead and almost gone and somehow he came back. Always half of a pair - did not go far from him - always together and now broken in half for his loss, his loss because he saved her, because he loved her. How she is secure in her achievements and busy because she wants to be because shes skilled because she loves it because she has the luxury of freedom, did I mention she can fly? She can fly! How family was her mother (gone) was her twin (gone) and now she gets to build a new one and they're safe and loved and her child is not a bastard not a scorned halfbreed not *not enough* like she was, her child is not, her child is not motherless like she was, her child will have a host of siblings and her child will have that family, whole and at ease, or so help her.

After all he went through - smoke and fire and iron and bullets and bullets and bullets - orphan coward a lit fuse looking only to take them down with me signed his own death certificate and that of thousands more and being *fine with it* so long as he worked down his list and checked off vengeance for each. How it mattered but did not but did because it all was a dream. How he achieved it and was saved and had to live with what he had done and nearly not, nearly not - he was ready to go he was fine with going but lo and behold, behold, against all expectations her heart was his?! - and build a new legacy. How in the end he tried, tried, tried to sign this new future away for a friend, a brother, a man who deserved better - last words indignant and irritated - and he could not. He could not fix it. Faced with the loss and the death and the mourning and finally, finally, finally finding time to grieve and heal and grow. And he can put away his weapons and make clocks to tell time and watch it advance and not worry for what it brings. How his family tree was so neatly pruned - so many names - but two. And three when she said yes. And now four, then six, seven, eight, nine, perhaps?

And.

Her.

she's his sister and her mother and only one middle name, starting off simple, her daughter is super cute, his daughter is adorable, their daughter is the future that almost slipped through their fingers or bled out or was left unsaid a hundred times over. And she was carried (because morning sickness was after the end of the world and an adventure and not much time at all) through death and through the Feywild and through the belly of a dragon and a bird in her father's pocket and she survived, against the odds she survived and she thrived and she's loved so completely by hearts that never thought they could. Selfish and cruel, tal'doreis terrible tinkerer, and they made this, and there has to be more good to them than they thought. They have to have made it out (when he didnt when he didn't at his expense even) for a reason.

(And somehow the vampires did not find her, the last de rolos they said, saying nothing of his sister of their baby and she Knew and she kept quiet and she died hoping he would get help and their baby would be safe and perhaps seeing her mother, her mother, gone too soon, and knowing she could not do that to her daughter)

Yes im listening to dalens closet and had to pause and tear up 5 minutes in why you ask

[burr-ell]

What do you mean by 'trying to mighty nein-ify vm instead of having actual character moments'? Not intending to be hostile or aggressive, I just saw those tags and got curious.

That's okay! Mighty Nein-ification is a bit of a misnomer (especially because it's unnecessarily hostile to the Nein). The problem isn't so much making Vox Machina like the Mighty Nein (all indications are that VM was just as rough around the edges as the Nein were when they were starting out), it's that I think they retreated to old shorthands they were familiar with that work well with the Nein and don't work with VM in the time they had.

So when we first meet Vox Machina in the stream, they're already established and respected adventurers at level 9 sent on a quest by a member of the Council of Tal'dorei. They've already killed Brimscythe and the Dread Emperor and saved the Sovereign and his family; while we see their scrappier beginnings in the Origins comics, it's purely backstory in the campaign. With the Nein it's the opposite, where we actually follow them through their low-level adventures as they get to know each other, watching them argue and mistrust each other and slowly build up both their friendships and their clout within the political factions of Wildemount. We watch them go from a gang of slapdicks who no one likes or respects and are constantly fighting to a strong and cohesive team of movers and shakers.

Here's the problem: the cast is now producing an animated adaptation of Vox Machina's campaign, which is almost universally agreed to really pick up around episode 24, the beginning of the Briarwood arc. Between the slower-paced first 20 episodes and the red dragonborn in the room, the Briarwood arc makes the most sense as the starter story. We can't just jump right into that without taking some time to establish VM as a party, right? That's what the opening two-parter of season 1 is for: they need to establish who Vox Machina are as individuals and a party so we have a baseline understanding of them before following them through an iconic storyline. There are different ways they could do this!

And the way they chose to do it was "gang of slapdicks who no one likes or respects and are constantly fighting".

This would have been fine if they weren't starting with the Briarwood arc and leading into the Conclave arcs, which both require VM to have some rapport with each other and the Tal'Dorei Council to work. Instead VM are still on thin ice with the council and honestly don't give anyone a reason not to think of them that way even before everything goes wrong at the feast. (Like, I don't think Scanlan's antics in 1x03 are funny; I think they make him look like a dumbass and they make VM look like dumbasses by association.) Allura and Kima barely tolerate them and Allura is reluctant to speak in their defense when the Sovereign puts them under arrest. I can understand that they thought this kind of conflict would be more interesting, but this is the lead-in to the Briarwood arc. There's PLENTY of conflict here to be interesting! Why not try to build up Vox Machina as a competent party with friendly allies who struggle with but still overcome a difficult challenge, maybe straight-up open on them killing Brimscythe and then lead into a truncated Kraghammer arc?

Because this doesn't just make for a lackluster opening two-parter. Emon being so hostile to the party means they have very little investment in or connection to the city, and then for the Briarwood arc they spend the rest of their time in Whitestone. As a result, when the Conclave attacks, it lacks emotional weight. Keyleth has a line in season 2 about their home being destroyed that falls flat because Emon wasn't their home; they were kicked out of every tavern and multiple people pointed out how bad their reputation was. The lack of friendship with Kima and Allura makes their meeting in Season 2 Episode 5 very jarring, because they greet each other like old friends when they're not. (I think Seasons 2 and 3 did a good job developing Allura and Kima's friendship with VM, but this is work that should have had its foundation laid sooner.) When Keyleth asks the question of "why are we even together", it's never really answered in the emotional sense in which it's asked. Why are they together? Because at the eleventh hour they finally started acting competent, I guess. Don't get too attached to the idea of that theme, because it's not gonna come up again all season.

You see what I'm saying here? They didn't go for what would most efficiently tell the story in a way that made sense; they went for tropes—archetypal stories of scrappy underdogs pulling together for a common goal. And while it seems like a quick fix that solves the problem of distilling the first twelve levels of Vox Machina's campaign into a 12-episode season, in the long term it undercuts what the show intends to do later because the groundwork they laid was too focused on using familiar adventure story imagery to try to push audience reaction buttons. That's a problem that has hung over this show for three seasons now, and I think the metapigeons have come home to roost.

[artists-guild-of-exandria]

Today we take our first step on our adventure round Southern Tal'Dorei!

The beautiful rolling hills of the Mornset Countryside, home to the Free Folk of Mornset, are a tranquil respite from the hustle and bustle of big city life.

----------------------------------- If you would like to join this or future fan art projects, please check out our Carrd and send us a DM for more info!