#also jun’s dramatic ass i s2g

[orderofthedyingstar]

RECAP: SESSION 11

SESSION ELEVEN

The party continues their journey down Elfslayer’s Run, briefly taking respite in a small rest area a few hours from Whitwood. The head North towards Mirror Lake, where Verrix recalls there being a small village at the edge of the lake. Verrrix struggles to recall why he’d been in this area before, the Voice in his head taunting him with annoying (Jeopardy) music the longer he takes to remember anything, making him completely lose his train of thought. Jun, cryptic as always, has a ‘theory’ that he’s unwilling to share, since he doesn’t feel very sure about it. Verrix (who was definitely eavesdropping) notices a few tell-tale signs that Jun’s casting a spell, but he doesn’t know what or on who.

Rhododendron: “Jun, if I knew your last name - ” 

Jun: “It’s for the best you don’t.” 

Rhododendron: “That’s what you think.” 

Jun: “No, that’s what I know.”

Rhododendron tries to annoy an answer out of Jun for an hour straight, Marlee bopping the back of her head with a book every time she gets too loud. After a while Rhododendron gives up, going over to Marlee to apologize for ‘being a bitch’ to her the day before, and Marlee announces that they’re ‘bro‘s now’, lending her a well-worn book titled Webs of Luscious Silk. When Rhododendron tries asking her about ‘Verrix’s’ book, Marlee warns her that they’ll officially be in a book club if she answers, and that Rhododendron will have to put up with any and all commentary she has about all of her books. When the group stops for a short rest, Rhododendron goes through the book Marlee lent her and finds that it depicts a …strange romance involving a drider love interest. 

They spend the next two days traveling towards the lake, looting an old bandit camp along the way for some supplies and gold. Rhododendron checks in on Verrix’s magic and its tendency for blowback, leading to a few jokes about it’s adverse effects causing Rhododendron to be short. She also tries to get Jun to talk about his theory again, but he says that he wants to hold on to it for a little longer to attempt to be ‘emotionally sensitive’. As the party moves through the more heavily wooded part of Elfslayer’s Run, Verrix takes point on leading them through the woods (21 Survival check) and gets them through it completely unharnessed. They arrive at Mirror Lake, easily the biggest body of water Rhododendron (and only her, actually) has seen - she tries to get Inigo to jog his memory and he immediately responds by stripping down to his underwear and jumping into the lake. He swims around in the lake a little, telling everyone else not to come in because of how cold it is and that he’ll probably be fine because of ‘aasimar stuff’. Marlee immediately heads towards the only tavern in the entire tiny village, cold and bored of watching Inigo swim around. 

Verrix, staring at Inigo’s pile of clothes: “Hey, is that what you meant by ‘center yourself’? Cause I’m not doing that.” 

Jun: “I don’t know, Verrix. It could be really helpful for magic. Could have mystical properties.” 

Rhododendron: “Don’t you trust Inigo?” 

Verrix: “I’m not gonna answer that.”

While Inigo is swimming around in the lake, Jun also reveals that he’s figured out that someone has put a spell on him preventing him from regaining all of his memories; repeated spells layered over and over each other. He expresses doubts that spell will fade on its own, but there might be some restorative magic that might help; Jun hasn’t wanted to bring it up to Inigo without trying to figure out a solution - another problem without an answer. Jun also compares the feeling on the spells on Inigo to Rhododendron’s curse, but is careful not to be too specific around Verrix since Rhododendron still doesn’t want anyone else to know, although Verrix can tell Rhododendron is hiding something from him. The three of them then realize that they haven’t heard from Inigo in a while, and spot him far off in the center of the lake. 

Rhododendron: “Verrix, you should go into the water and get him, it won’t affect you since you’re an aasimar.” 

Jun: “Sounds like a good idea.” 

Rhododendron: “See? When has Jun ever been wrong?” 

Jun: “OH - ” 

Rhododendron: “Hey. Shhh.”

After some half-hearted arguing Rhododendron finally just pushes Verrix into the lake, getting water and sand all over his hair and his cloak. Verrix mopes and makes vague threats at Rhododendron for a few minutes before going after Inigo, who doesn’t want to come back yet because he still has some ‘memory searching’ to do.

Verrix: “This is worse than when I got shot.”

It takes Verrix several tries before he finally manages to convince a very distractible Inigo to come back to shore. Verrix dips cold water down Rhododendron’s back. The three of them (Jun left to join Marlee at the tavern) finally head into the small village town Reflections. Rhododendron asks their two other party members if they’ve found anything interesting in the tavern, to which both of them point out that the proprietor is weirdly obsessed with death: the place is covered in depictions of the Astral Plane and Nahaliel, the god of death and the arcane. Marlee also points out that the tavern looks like it used to be a temple, and she can tell where pews have been removed and the old cleric’s quarters used to be. Rhododendron goes over to the owner, who laughs when Rhododendron points out that the place’s death theme is a little strange for a tavern. The owner, Haley, admits that the place is a family business but her mother and grandmother were both clerics of Nahaliel whereas she wanted to make some money out of the place. Rhododendron asks if Haley has seen any fire genasi around, to which she says that one passed through with a dwarf the other day on their honeymoon and went off into the mountains about a week ago. Before Rhododendron goes back to her table, Haley offers her a small Nahaliel keychain, which she takes.

Rhododendron: “The bartender said that a fire genasi and a dwarf came through here on their…honeymoon.” 

Verrix: “They’re getting married?” 

Rhododendron: “I certainly hope not. No. If after three years of commitment he still won’t - he’s not gonna do it. But that’s besides the point…anyways…”

Rhododendron goes back up to the bar, where Haley offers Rhododendron a quarter of a shot of dwarven ale, putting it in a small vial and giving it to her on the house. The group gets their things together and starts to head up into the mountains, Jun pulling on a huge sweater over his other clothes and complaining that he doesn’t like the mountains. As they head up into the mountains, Verrix and Rhododendron keep pushing each other out of the way to try to prove who’s better at navigating, accidentally sprinting ahead of the rest of their party. Rhododendron tries tracking Umbra as they travel, noticing traces of fire genasi, a dwarf, and several gnolls in the area as well as local wildlife. 

The party spots a cave tucked away in a higher part of the mountains, and after some difficulty on Verrix’s end (resulting in Marlee throwing him up into the cave and straight into Jun) they start investigating the area. They sneak around towards an outcropping deeper in the cave and find a small group of gnolls, and after some debate they decide to leave the gnolls alone, since they technically haven’t done anything to the party.

Marlee: “Marlee ain’t about bloodlust.” 

Verrix: “We could talk to them, see if they’re evil?” 

Marlee: “And then what, bring divine judgement on them? That’s not our job.” 

Rhododendron: “Isn’t it your job?” 

Marlee: “(scoffs) …Sometimes. If you upset Nyvarstra.” 

Rhododendron: “Maybe you should pray and ask?” 

Marlee: “Nah, we’re not cool like that. It’s more like a one-way…thing. Always watching…”

The party creeps back towards an area closer to the cave entrance to get a few hours of sleep, rotating through with a careful watch to make sure the gnolls don’t notice them. During their watch, Rhododendron asks Jun a little about the hag, starting him off on an annoyed rant about the situation and that she should really tell Verrix about it. 

Jun: “You don’t know exactly what - it’s like prophecies, you don’t know what it is until it’s already hitting you in the face with your friend’s blood on your hands! To be, uh, hypothetical.”

Jun tells Rhododendron the specifics of the spell/curse cast on her: a Geas that she cannot act directly against without the possibility of dying. She asks if there’s a way to get rid of the curse, to which he says that there aren’t really many options outside of Wish (Jun: “Short of a miracle there isn’t much you can do to remove it”). Rhododendron also asks Jun about blood magic, to which he says that it is both potent and dangerous, and that it felt like divine energy when Umbra was using it on them - ’a direct link to the gods’. Jun also reminds Rhododendron that he wasn’t able to see into Inigo or Umbra’s minds back when he worked at the Cobalt Keep, and that he’s been able to pick up other aasimar’s thoughts just fine. Jun dodges several other questions before they drop the subject and go through the smut from Marlee book instead, amused and horrified at the ‘interesting’ scene depictions. 

During Verrix and Marlee’s watch, Marlee gets bored and starts throwing pieces of her bedroll at the wall, where they land next to Rhododendron’s face in a small pile. Marlee lights the pile on fire after she runs out of breadcrumbs, and Verrix puts his hand between the fire and Rhododendron’s face. Their watch is otherwise uneventful, as is Inigo and Rhododendron’s second watch after that. Although during their watch Inigo manages to remember that the cave they’re looking for is somewhere on Lord Grah’s Peak, and that while he feels like he’s known Umbra for a while it still doesn’t sound right to say that they’ve been around since he was a child either. 

After everyone has slept they set off for the area Inigo talked about, wary of the giants that Haley back at the Reflections tavern mentioned. As they travel higher into the mountain range they hear loud crashing noises, and they try to be quiet with the exception of Marlee (Stealth 2), who is freezing in her armor. As the party climbs higher they see two giants tossing boulders around at each other, and they try to figure out a way to get around them without getting squashed. Marlee offers to try talking to the giants, saying she knows how in theory, but none of them feel confident in the plan. Eventually they decide to use Inigo as a distraction, making him promise not to fight the giants without Rhododendron asking him to. Rhododendron and Jun cast Longstrider and Invisibility on Inigo, and he gets the giants’ attention with some surprisingly good flute playing as the rest of the party starts to sneak up the mountain path. As they’re climbing up the mountain Rhododendron spots a crack in the mountain that cool air is coming out of - when Verrix takes a look inside he sees ornate dragon statues lining the walls. The continue further up the path and find a large boulder (the size of a small car) blocking the cave entrance and after a few tries Marlee manages to shove it out of the way. 

The giants start to catch up to Inigo, with Rhododendron and Verrix launching some arrows and Fire Bolts respectively to cover him. Just as Inigo reaches the cave entrance, the giants catch up to the party and snatch up Rhododendron and Verrix in the process. The party gets into an unwilling fight with the giants, Verrix and Rhododendron trapped in the giants’ grip until Jun casts Mind Spike on the giant holding Verrix and the rest of the party wails on the other giant until Jun can set its feet on fire. Verrix completely incinerates one of the giants, and while he and Inigo try and finish of the last giant Rhododendron insists that the (badly wounded) Inigo retreat into the cave with the rest of the party. Jun finally manages to snap Inigo out of his rage by placing him in the center of a Fog Cloud, covering his and Rhododendron’s escape into the cave.

The hall of the cave is lined with statues of Nyvarstra every few feet, which is strange considering its location in a mountain range sacred to Ardrin, god of creation and the Material Plane. Marlee says that she can feel that Nyvarstra has been angered with whatever has happened here, an all-consuming divine anger ��like when she smites’. She also notes that she can feel the presence of other divine energies but isn’t in tune with them enough to identify them.

Marlee: “What, I can’t be religious and horny? Nyvarstra.”

Despite his reluctance, Jun casts Locate Object and manages to sense that Raz’s amulet of Nyvarstra is somewhere nearby, below them. The party takes a brief break to lick their wounds before continuing onward. They try to sneak through the halls of the cave but keep running into each other. Verrix, despite all of this, manages to spot a trap and gets the party (plus Rhododendron, who extinguished her light for stealth purposes and can’t see) to sneak around it. The hall opens up to a large room lined with unlit sconces and an alter at the far end flanked by another statue of Nyvarstra. They light the sconces while Jun casts Detect Magic; Marlee examines the altar and says that it feels like blasphemous magic was cast here. The table near the altar is covered in old blood, along with other items such as a dagger and bird bones. Marlee also manages to find a small onyx statue of Zelia, the god of war, justice, and sacrifice. Inigo examines the statue and says that something about it seems familiar, but that there isn’t anything about the room specifically that he recognizes. Marlee says that while she thinks there were magical rituals done here, she doesn’t sense anything tied to necromancy or sacrificing people. 

Marlee: “Kinda seems like someone was just trying to get attention. Talk, commune.”

Jun finally manages to uncover a trapdoor beneath their feet, although the hole is too deep to see the bottom. Verrix and Jun tie some rope to the large statue of Nyvarstra in the room and the party climbs down into the trapdoor.

Inigo: “There was a war god up there?” 

Rhododendron: “I mean, he wasn’t just chilling up there.” 

Inigo: “Be kinda funny if he was though.” 

Rhododendron: “No, no -” 

Inigo (laughing): “Fight a god.” 

Rhododendron: “No, no, no.” 

Inigo: “Kind of funny.” 

Rhododendron: “That’s an incredibly terrible idea.”

The party eventually makes it to a split in the hallway and can see sunlight streaming through some small cracks in the walls. They take the hall on the left first, which opens up into a balcony displaying a large valley far below the mountain, the entire valley lined by statues of soldiers facing an ancient set of some enormous creature’s bones. The path on the right leads to a bedroom with some travel equipment scattered on the ground (including Raz’s statue) and a boulder sitting in the middle of the bed. Verrix and Marlee are both kind of creeped out by the boulder, and they start bothering it until the rock monster awakens and slaps the shit out of Marlee. Jun sets the bed on fire, distressing the creature, and Rhododendron uses the distraction to go through all of Raz’s stuff on the floor - it’s a pile of rations, traveling supplies, old hole-filed underwear, and their clerical journal. She snatches the journal and tells the party that it’s time to leave, trapping the boulder-creature in the room.

Inigo: “Did you find everything you were looking for?” 

Rhododendron: “Not really, no.”

Rhododendron is crushed, admitting that they’ve exhausted their only real lead. Verrix and Marlee point out that Raz might have left notes in their journal, but Rhododendron is still too upset about not finding them to really put any effort into it yet. They decide to rest in a safer spot in the cave, and Rhododendron finally leafs through the journal after resting for a while, finding that Raz talks about where they’ve travelled with Umbra and him wanting to head North towards the capital of So’Joh. Rhododendron realizes that there is only one major city (Brackenwood) between here and So’Joh’s capital, and that a journey on the Long Road would take at least a month. Raz also has some brief descriptions on Zelia, the war god, in the journal, and they question Umbra’s connections to the god and their weird obsession with Nyvarstra and aasimar. Rhododendron fills Verrix in on what she’s found out, and that in order to follow them she would have to go to the capital of So’Joh. She also tells Verrix that she doesn’t think Jun will come with them.Verrix and Rhododendron confer with Inigo a little bit, discussing the impending journey on the Long Road and potentially get horses to speed along the journey a little bit. After that, Rhododendron wakes up Jun and tells him that she plans on going to the capital of So’Joh, and is surprised when he says he’s coming along regardless of his past there.

Jun: “So before you head to So’Joh, there’s probably a story I should tell you.”

[bringhimbackandhidehimthere]

The Untamed: Episode 3

1. so did mianmian have a crush on jin or was she just that dedicated to her boss? i respect her either way i just always wanted to know how he felt about her in return too

2. yanli’s face at the mention of her promised one!!! she’s so soft.

3. i forgot that wwx took it upon himself to get them a room from mianmian and that it almost worked wow. and then HE MAKES A SEX JOKE ABOUT HIM AND MIANMIAN THAT WENT SO FAR OVER MY HEAD LAST TIME. he’s so adorable when he’s trying to manipulate people

4. when he leans in to listen to their private conversation. crying. keep your nose in your lane sir

5. lmao when yanli suggests they fight each other and jiang cheng is like... lmao maybe. he looks so tempted im tearing up 

6. no offense but why does jin zixuan actually need his whole entourage and shit. you need everyone to watch you drink tea or what?

7. yanli and jz first meeting is!! cute but wwx still looks like an imp the whole time.

8. is he wrong when he says that jin clan is ostentatious. i think no. but also from the beginning wwx has been all like i stand by my actions but dont blame my clan and i think thats very heartbreaking of him 

9. why did i have to wait forty episodes for yanli to be happy with this jx idiot when i COULD HAVE HAD IT BACK THEN IF EVERYONE WERENT SO STUPID

10. the fact that wwx has literally no chill when it comes to yanli is so on brand

11. the only more on brand thing is that he actually left the invitation back in the hotel.

12. i love when siblings agree to hate other people because they’re messing with the siblings. that’s amor

13. why is wwx the guy who would get you kicked out from the club right when you finally got in

14. THIS IS THE SCENE WWX REMEMBERS LATER!! THEIR FIRST MEETING!! im the guy staring literally open mouthed as lwj walks past

15. i know this is me being dumb but. is lwj older than wwx?

16. i would die for lwj. he’s so BABEY

17. name a more iconic meet cute than: you’re at my uncle’s house for a lecture and i don’t let you in because you don’t have an invitation and then i cast a silencing spell on you as i walk away because you’re THAT annoying

18. WAIT. what was that look. was that... amusement. is our second young master... vindictive?  

19. the scene where jiang cheng is reassuring yanli about wwx. he says wwx is probably out having some fun with a mianmian or yuandao. wwx said his name was yuandao to mianmian earlier. is it a boy’s name? is wwx implied to be rowdy here? am i reading to much into this?

20. the fact that no one stays behind to let wwx know that lwj let them in! im hollering is anyone going to actually blame him for breaking in 

21. okay except he definitely comes in carrying zero (0) invitations and two (2) bottles of emperor’s smile

22. how long was lwj standing there. did he know wwx was coming. once again this kid aims for peak drama and executes it effortlessly. how is wwx considered the most dramatic person in this show in any way compared to this fucker. he literally silences people he doesn’t want to listen to. name something more petty and powerful. 

23. what about lwj made it seem like he could be bribed with alcohol. like wwx. you moron. 

24. isn’t there something sexy about wwx sheathing lwj’s sword for him. just me? cool

25. the romantic music is what makes this scene s2g. like i know im supposed to take away that they’re well matched and equals but all i can think is that they’re stupid in the exact opposite ways and that’s the only reason they survive as long as they do.

26. the horror in wwx’s face when he notices the 3000 principles. “lets count how many violations you broke tonight” kind of sounds like something lwj would actually do as foreplay so. you know whatever

27. just to summarize, because my head is spinning, wwx offends lwj’s clan, lwj’s clan’s principles, lwj himself and then takes a sip of his liquor

28. so lwj was actually offended by wwx thinking he’s undesirable... casual

29. the silencing charm strikes again. thats twice in this episode. wwx is 0 for 2. who’s going to try and tell me that lwj didn’t take those insults personally and that’s why he used the silencing charm instead of just saying “my uncle and your siblings are waiting for you”

30. ZEWU JUNNNNNNN. i missed my baby. 

31. wwx is so fucking. annoying. like, you idiot. hotheaded fool. the first thing he says to lwj’s brother is “your brother is a fool.” the lack of respect when he approaches lan qiren. stunning display of impudence. i also love that wangji is just kind of like “now you see what im dealing with”

32. i literally forgot that lwj is the reason wwx has to copy the principles 300 times. like thats so funny. 

33. im wwx justifying to the clan leadership why i purchase two bottles of alc when i was on a rescue mission

34. the fact that wangji doesn’t want wei ying to know that he helped his sibs get in. and how touched wei ying is when he finds out. so cute

35. i forget sometimes that like. wwx really was a prodigy. kid was smart. kid was talented. 

36. WEN QING MAKES MY HEART SKIP A BEAT EVERY TIME

37. i know the reason we never see wen qing use that hot ass sword she bows with in this ep is cuz she’s a doctor and she’s proud of it but. i think i would kill for some footage of her swinging that onto to someone’s neck. maybe wen chao’s or something 

38. wei wuxian makes me want to launch myself into a chasm of some kind. he’s so smart and dumb all at once. how can someone so good at cultivation also stick his foot in his mouth 24/7

39. compare the lan siblings to our disaster trio for a second. “i trust you to look into it but be safe use your judgement” “don’t worry ill listen to you” “am i putting too much on your shoulders?” “i want to help you” VS “please find him” “be assured. ill find him and break his legs” 

40. i like that zewu jun immediately likes wwx for lwj. it’s just so big bro of him. also him describing wwx as “even though he does some excessive things” is like. big brain. biggest brain. 

41. lwj being pessimistic about making friends makes me :(

42. ZEWU JUN YOU ICON “you were tied weren’t you? doesn’t he have skill?” like drag your brother 

43. oh. i forgot that xue yang is here. frustrating as per usual. 

tl;dr

sometimes you meet your soulmate when you insult his entire being and he casts a silencing spell on you after dumping your liquor stash