#attacked emon

[mayapapaya33]

Allura Vysoren and Gilmore better be level 20 by now so help me Matt Mercer. After he allowed the M9 and Essek to just skip straight to lvl 20 after only 7 years in which some of them had been RETIRED FROM ADVENTURING for the admittedly very fun one shot for C3. Allura and Gilmore have been helping save the world on and off for well over 30 years. They BETTER be level 20 or I will simply pass away from the sheer disrespect. They have EARNED level 20. Also Kima as well because she's definitely not letting Allura go into battle alone if she can help it.

This might have already been revealed somewhere lol. If it has, good. If not, come on Mercer, Allura and Gilmore have fought way more battles than the M9 by now! They must help save a city/ a continent at least once a year and all of Exandria at least once a decade (and that's my conservative estimate!) Especially Allura, adopting chucklefuck adventurers left and right, taking them under her wing. She's totally getting dragged into adventures off screen too lol. That and her eternal mom friend duties of apparently having to go rescue Yussa from his nonsense every so often, you just know that's dangerous and exhausting lmfao. Level 20!

[fairymonk]

KIKI ACCIDENTALLY HURTING VAX NO

[andi-o-geyser]

“Everyone gets a spotlight on them this season, and you know what that means! it’s trauma time for Vox Machina!” and “mental breakdowns are being handed out like we’re on fucking Oprah!! Every single one of your favs suffer!!” and i raise you a very no they aren’t shut up shut up shut up. they’re all perfectly fine, you hear me? we’re only at the beginning of the conclave, got it? nothing bad is happening yet. Raven Queen who? deep sources of past trauma coming back to bite them all in the ass who? Vecna who?? idk her. holding onto happy Vox Machina for as long as humanly possible like i’m mufasa clinging to a fucking cliff

[utilitycaster]

I know this is for the purposes of IP/copyright but "Emon's been attacked by Variegated dragons...which is of course why they are called the Chroma Conclave."

[awaytobeunshaken]

I really appreciate how they've been handling death and resurrection in LOVM. Especially coming to most of campaign 1 after campaign 2, the frequency of successful resurrection rituals felt a bit hard to swallow. (In campaign 2 every resurrection apart from the last one was via revivify, which just hits different somehow. Like an 'only mostly dead' kind of situation.)

Now I understand the meta reasons for this (they didn't have a cleric on-site in most of those cases), and it was at one point at least addressed in the fiction, but it still pulls me out of the story a bit. Ultimately, resurrection felt cheap.

There's a clear effort to undo that with the show. Vex is brought back specifically due to Vax's offer to the Raven Queen. Grog doesn't die to Craven Edge, he loses his strength. Scanlan's in a coma right now, but he wasn't killed. And Percy is dead, and treated as such, with no talk of potentially bringing him back.

Because how at odds would that be with scenes of laying the dragon attack's victims to rest in Whitestone, with seeing all the lives that were lost in the assault on Emon. Especially when Percy would rather they save any one of those souls over his.

Now I'm sure we're going to see Percy again; I doubt they would make that big a departure from the story. I suspect it's going to be tied to the fact that Ripley, and more importantly Orthax, are still at large. But it's not going to be cheap, and it's not going to be easy, and while emotionally I miss the terrible tinkerer of Tal'Dorei and wish he was in these last couple episodes, this is absolutely the right decision.

[your-turn-to-role]

took you two long enough to get to this one! but there it is!

(the og line was after the first dragon attack in emon)

[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 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.

[kilarthmac]

Let's talk about Caelum.

I'm gonna preface this with saying that everyone is entitled to their opinions, and if once you're done reading this you decide you don't want to follow me or you want to block me, that's completely up to you. I'm not trying to change your opinion or attack anyone who has a different one than mine, I just wanted to put my two cents out there.

I also wanted to say that whatever your opinion on the matter is, it's yours and yours alone, and you should respect the opinions of other people even if they don't match up. I personally do not sexualize Caelum, but I do think he is an adult with childlike characteristics, and those two statements are not mutually exclusive. He can be an adult, but he also doesnt have to be put in adult situations.

It's okay to have strong feelings one way or the other about this topic, but it is not okay to harass people or go on a witch hunt for those with the opposite opinion to give them shit about what they think. If you disagree with someone and do not want to see their stuff on your timeline, just block them or scroll away. You alone are responsible for your own dash, you cannot make other people responsible for what you see on your timeline.

All that being said, I do not like how the fandom treats Caelum and Empathy Daemons in general.

My stance on the matter is that Empathy Daemons as a whole are adults, but because of how E'Laetum created them, they tend to have childlike characteristics. Those who say that Empathy Daemons are ALL children blatantly ignore the fact that Regulus is an Empathy Daemon as well, and that he has been shown to have adult tendancies (his BA, getting possessive over his charge, etc) while also maintaining his childlike characteristics (telling his charge a bedtime story to sleep, having a very one dimensional view of himself and his charge, etc). This is where I have a problem whenever I see people try to say that all Empathy Daemons are children. Regulus is clearly an adult. There is no "reading between the lines" about this.

Caelum is also an Empathy Daemon, but he is a very different character than Regulus. He is a lot more childlike compared to Regulus. He gets his words mixed up, he likes sweets, he likes hugs, etc. But in his most recent video (Your Bakadere Empathy Daemon Friend Visits You), even he says that he almost went down a path similar to Regulus' until Delphinus stepped in and assigned him to Freelancer, and that stopped him from falling (timestamps from 2:40 - 3:18, and 8:45 in that video). It may be uncomfortable for some people to think of Caelum as going down the same path that Regulus did, but this video clearly shows that he had the potential to. Caelum and Regulus are not as different as one may think.

Erik has also said himself that D(a)emons step out of the Elision Well as adults and they do not age. Of course they don't know everything so they still have to learn, but that's not the same as being a child. On top of the most recent Redacted 101 video, take this screenshot from Wonderworld (previously Redacted Records, when Erik was still in the server) from 2020, where Erik talks about how D(a)emons coalesce.

He even mentions how in earlier Caelum videos he didn't know what he wanted the d(a)emon life cycle to be yet, and that's why he had Caelum state that he was a "kid daemon" at one point.

Not to mention the fact that in the official timeline, it shows that Caelum coalesced in 1999, and is even older than Damien.

At the end of the day, Caelum is a fictional character. Whatever someone ends up deciding to make of him is their choice, this is a fandom after all. If it really bothers you to see what certain people make, block them and move on. DO NOT berate them for their headcanons or fanart or whatever else. People are allowed to have their own headcanons, make their own fics, and draw their own fanart. This is a fandom space, and people are allowed their creative liberties.

Anyways, that has been my two cents. Feel free to voice your opinions in the comments if u want to, but please please be respectful and don't attack anyone.

TLDR; I don't sexualize Caelum but I do think he and all Empathy Daemons are adults (ex: Regulus), everyone should respect everyone else's opinions and just block what they don't want to see on their timelines, and the fandom needs to chill out lol

[hidden-page]

Shout out to Percy de Rolo who has had a couple really shitty last few days. First off Dragons attack Emon, then he gets covered in acid, then he has to ask his sister for help, then he fails twice at doing the whole noble diplomacy thing in front of his crush(and his crush teases him about it!!!!) then he finds out that his worst still alive enemy is buying the same powder that his guns use, a spinx mocks his trauma and he has to watch his crush flirt with a woman he’s pretty sure is her ex.

Then to finish the day off, he tries to playfully flirt with his crush over his and her mutual love of cool loot and accidentally sets off a trap that kills her. 

Like wtf did he do to deserve all that. Besides the murders of course.

[anonymousonlyanonymoud]

The Lost de Rolo

"I wonder... if you will ever find... Ciara?" Ciara de Rolo. Fourth-born child of the de Rolo Family, younger sister to Percy de Rolo, older sister to Cassandra de Rolo, and was believed to have been killed with the rest of the de Rolo family the night the Briarwoods attacked. But, Delilah Briarwood had choked on her blood to spit out those words. Whether to send them on an impossible search for someone who had survived the massacre, or send them on a goose chase for someone long dead.

TW: Death and murder

Next Chapter

Chapter One: At the Start

Vox Machina had defeated an army of the undead and killed a vampire and his necromantic wife which stopped them from unleashing an entity they called the 'Whispered One.' They had avenged Percy's family and liberated the people of Whitestone.

And helped rid their friend of his literal inner demon.

They had returned to Emon via Sun Tree teleportation thanks to Keyleth and cleared their names to Uriel and his council.

Afterward, they were allowed back to their Keep, given a parade, and seats on the Sovereign's Council. The taverns and brothels were once again open to them and they were awarded a small fortune for their work against the Briarwoods.

The Sovereign had even taken Percy aside and apologized to him personally for bringing the Briarwoods to Emon. And while Percy stiffly accepted it, the rest of the team could see that much still weighed on his mind.

He returned to his workshop in the Keep and began work on a gun to replace his original pepperbox and an electric glove he had dubbed 'Diplomacy.' The metallic clang of his hammer echoed from the basement, louder than before they had left for Whitestone since he kept the door open and did not lock himself in.

But as his creations took shape, his mind became more tangled as Delilah Briarwoods' last words rang in his thoughts. In all of theirs.

"I wonder... if you will ever find... Ciara?"

Ciara de Rolo.

Fourth-born child of the de Rolo Family, younger sister to Percival de Rolo, older sister to Cassandra de Rolo, and was believed to have been killed with the rest of the de Rolo family the night the Briarwoods attacked. 

But, Delilah Briarwood had choked on her blood to spit out those words. Whether to send them on an impossible search for someone who had survived the massacre, or send them on a goose chase for someone long dead.

Either way, Delilah Briarwood had found a way to haunt the siblings until they died.

Percy and Cassandra had spoken on the matter for hours before Vox Machina left Whitestone, on the possibility that their sister was still alive.

The siblings agreed that since Cassandra would be staying in Whitestone to help rebuild and lead the people, Percy would look for any sign of Ciara.

But, there had been an agreed-upon deadline of three months. Cassandra had insisted on it,

"You've spent your life devoted to avenging our family, Percival. While I do wish for our sister to be alive and have her found, I don't want you to be devoured by this quest either,"

He could not fault her worry, and agreed, asking that the three months only began when he had replaced the weapons he had lost.

That bargain had been struck, and now, with Percy carefully placing the four-barreled pistol on the table before him and staring at the jeweled glove on his left hand, he knew it was time.

Originally, Percy had intended on going alone as he felt that his friends had done enough when it came to his family. But, when he declared his intentions to Vox Machina the next morning, Percy was met with disagreements from all sides,

"You honestly think we would let you do this alone?!" Vex questioned in disbelief as Trinket growled from where he sat,

"Vex... Look, I appreciate everything you have done-"

"You better fucking be! We've fought zombies, vampires, and even a fucking demon!" Scanlan exclaimed while Grog piped up,

"Yeah! And I let you shoot me!"

Pike put her hand on Grog's arm and turned to Percy, "What they mean, is that you shouldn't expect us to let you do this alone,"

"They're right, Percy," Vax nodded, his tired gaze meeting the equally exhausted eyes of Percy,

"I mean, it's like Scanlan said, we just defeated an army of the undead. So how hard can finding one person be?" Keyleth asked with a slight laugh.

Percy sighed while placing his hands on the table,

"Given the fact that no one has seen her since, the Briarwoods attacked, and all we have to go on is the dying words of Delilah, very hard, Keyleth,"

The druid's expression fell at his words as Vax rolled his eyes,

"Well, Percival, if you were planning on doing this alone, what was your first step?"

Percy didn't have an answer,

"Could scrying work to find her?" Pike questioned, "I've never attempted to do it myself, but we could ask someone at the Temple of the Everlight. Or Lady Allura?"

"Yeah, but, I think we don't exactly have the best relationship with Allura?"

"What? C'mon, Scanlan!" Exclaimed Grog, "She totally likes us!"

Percy sighed and glanced at Pike, "If, you are willing, would you go with me to the temple this afternoon?"

The gnome smiled and nodded, "I'd be happy to,"

A hand was placed on his shoulder as Vex said, "You're not going through this alone, darling. We won't let you,"

Agreements were heard around the table as Percy sank into his seat, disbelief crashing over him.

He'd thought that, after what happened, they would agree to let him go on his own.

What happened at the Ziggarut was a bit of a blur, but most prominent was when he'd pointed the pepperbox at his friends. As the barrel spun, and that thing showed him name after name in fiery lettering.

The names of his friends, and Cassandra.

The only family he had, this new one he had built and what remained of his old one, and he had almost killed them! 

But each of them was willing to put their trust back into him.

Percy didn't think he deserved it, but he would not squander this second chance. He didn't know what would happen if he lost it.

Again,

"Thinking about your sister?"

He looked up at Vex's question, realizing that everyone else had left the room which left him and the ranger by themselves,

"Yes," He sighed, placing his head in his hands, "With Cassandra... I, could at least begin to understand what she went through. Since the two of us were kept together before our attempted escape. But, Ciara, I... know next to nothing,"

Vex carefully reached out, grasping Percy's gloved hand, and held it tightly with silent encouragement,

"The last time I saw her, was at that, damned dinner," Percy hissed, "She was standing next to Julius. She'd... Ciara had..."

The ranger squeezed the hand she was holding as Trinket nuzzled against Percy, placing his armored head in the gunslinger's lap with a huff,

"Darling?"

Percy slumped further against the table, his free hand resting on Trinket's head as he returned the grip Vex had on his fingers,

"They killed our parents first. A sword through the chest for my father, two bolts to the neck for my mother," The hand Vex held was shaking, "Julius saw what happened and tried reaching us. But, he had been next. Ciara had been standing next to him, his blood hit her face, and she froze. I..." Percy glanced up at Vex, "The last I saw of her, was when our sister Vesper grabber her and Whitney's hand, and ran out of the room,"

The kitchen was now silent as Percy's arms shook while he attempted to gather what fragile grip on his emotions he had,

"Then I saw Whitney being, tossed onto a pile with Ludwig and Oliver as if they were nothing more than trash and then- Vesper..." His glasses fogged from the tears as he forced out, "I heard her scream, followed by her body hitting the courtyard,"

Percy's voice fell into a broken whisper, "I never saw Ciara's body. But I'd...

Vex closed her eyes, once again imagining the horrors her Percy had faced before pressing her lips to the cold metal on his left hand,

"If Ciara is alive, we'll find her, Percy,"

"And what if she's dead? What if she'd been killed?"

"Then we find who killed her, and give them the same treatment as the Briarwoods,"

The determination in her voice brought a small smile to Percy's face, but it fell as quickly as it appeared when he asked,

"And what if it was the Briarwoods who killed her?"

The ranger, as if expecting this question, answered quickly,

"Then you and Cassandra mourn Ciara. Without either the Briarwoods or Orthax hanging over your minds,"

Trinket let out a light grunt as he licked Percy's hand, then nuzzled the man hard enough that he fell into Vex's side as she wrapped her arm over his shoulder,

"One way or another, Darling, you will get answers to what happened to her,"

"I... Thank you, Vex'ahlia,"

[unicyclehippo]

spare some vexleth? maybe? "i don't believe this"

‘i don’t believe this. i don’t believe you. you should have told us.’

‘and when was i - ow - supposed to do that? how? maybe when you were all the way across the continent in emon organising the armies, doing exactly what i was trying to do? maybe i should have - ah - told you then! can you please stop trying to make me sit!’ she growls at her helper—someone left behind by her right hand, who doesn’t deserve to be growled at, but if they touch her one more time… her growl deepens.

they scurry to the door, yanking it shut behind them to “give the tempest time with her guest” she hears from the antechamber.

across the room, vex purses her lips to keep from smiling; she’s upset, still, about keyleth’s wounds and finding out from esqoult of all people—whom vex considers an “idiotic blowhard tight-fisted hateful byblow of a rock” at the best of times—and the attack at the red centre and vax. unceasingly she is upset about vax. unceasingly, his death follows them both like feathers in their hair; he is their constant, dark companion. keyleth’s near death, however, is far more recent and unclosing wounds is a new and hellish experience that hurts them both.

anger crackles in her gut. she hasn’t the energy to shift forms but smoke curls in tendrils out of her nose, sparks smoulder in the one fist she can actually close. her other hand aches, split to bone.

‘sending stones aren’t working. our earrings aren’t working. sending—‘ she takes a moment to breathe. it hurts. ‘sending spells aren’t working, not that i have that anyway. and a bird,’ she grunts, propping herself against the headboard, ‘would take days at the very least. so tell me, lady vex’ahlia, when exactly was i supposed to tell you?’

‘i don’t know! but when you’re nearly dead, you make the effort!’ vex commands.

it looks good on her. keyleth can admit that in very private thoughts and fever dreams. maybe a death bed. she stares across at vex, who has only ever grown into her considerable beauty, and manages a shaky smile. command has always looked good on vex.

‘missed you. if that - i don’t know - helps.’

vex snorts. ‘yes, darling, i missed you too. obviously. i’m furious with you that you nearly died, oh and also we really must meet up when the world isn’t alarmingly close to being obliterated.’

‘brunch?’

‘girls day. i’ll invite pike.’

‘i thought - just you and me,’ keyleth says, trying on a flirtatious smile. it’s been a long time since she wore it last, some fifteen, twenty years. it feels weird so she stops trying. ‘ignore that. ignore me. i’m- death bed propositions.’

‘stop it. you’re not in your death bed.’

keyleth glances around the room. it’s empty, just her and vex, so she can admit, ‘feels like it.’

vex softens. she always does. she gets angry first, angry and scared, because she’s lost a lot in her time and she learned early and harder than most that the only way to stop that was to fight back with everything, anything. she does bitter and snide and bitchy and mocking better than anyone keyleth knows, but that’s because vex is better than anyone keyleth knows, and it all comes from the same heart. vex softens, and she comes to sit lightly on the side of keyleth’s bed.

‘what can i do?’

‘nothing. nothing. it’s all - there’s people helping me already. cursed flowers and potion stuff. bells hells.’

vex starts. ‘the ones who came to us? with her?’

‘did you -‘ she can move, a little. it hurts but hell, what in life doesn’t hurt? she covers vex’s hand with hers. ‘did you talk to her? i saw her - alive this time. she’s…sweet. strange but sweet.’

‘i know. at least, i thought so.’

keyleth slid her fingers over vex’s. ‘you gave her your ring.’

vex laughs, bitter-edged. ‘yes, and it made up entirely for all the shit that poor girl has been through.’

‘not your fault. it isn’t,’ she insists, when vex goes all stone-jawed and stubborn. ‘didn’t you - tell percy that? it’s true for him too. isn’t it?’

vex rolls her eyes to the ceiling. makes a wet, disgusted noise. ‘i suppose.’ after a long moment, she says, ‘how did she look? delilah’s doll?’

‘don’t call her that.’

‘my lookalike.’

‘she doesn’t look much like you,’ keyleth tells her. it’s a lie. she looks so much like vex had, like vax does in their memories. young. ‘i don’t know. they’re due back today, maybe tomorrow. stay. you can - ow - talk to her.’

vex nods. strokes keyleth’s clenched hand. ‘i’ll stay until you’re well.’

‘you’re a hero, vex. you’re needed elsewhere, i’m sure,’

‘keyleth, it’s war. the treasury is open. they don’t need me for that—they need my very expert clerks, gods bless them. i’m here with you.’ the stubborn look resolidifies. vex tilts her head in such a way that keyleth is sure her heart is about to fall right out of her split-open chest, and leans forward to press a kiss to the corner of her mouth. pulling back, she searches keyleth’s eyes; whatever she finds there makes her nod, quite satisfied, and she smiles. ‘besides, your assistants are going to need a hero to keep you in bed and resting. i volunteer, as it happens.’

[free-boundsoul]

Okay I got some thoughts after finally listening to Hush's newest audio (I have no excuse from delaying it) and I've thought of a crack theory that came to mind because I like thinking of bois sharing listener character.

So I've seen the theory that Avior is Hush's brother. And Brachium. What if his brother is Caelum? He's been absent for so long what if he rifted to the Meridean on accident? It wouldn't be the first time he stumbled into someone else's story.

M'nara and E'laetum use Caelun as a frame to build Hush. Hush's priority is to free the Drove Sovereigns so M'nara and E'laetum can absorb them into the Meridian to prevent what happened in the Imperium. Caelum was chosen because he had a connection to E'laetum.

Caelum senses that part of Hush that is linked directly to the Sovereigns, that ancient fragment that a d(a)emon would instinctively know to fear after being enslaved. The last time that Caelum had felt that sort of power he'd been beaten until his bones broke and his charge was threatened. He attacks out of fear.

Now to the idea of characters sharing listeners. It'd be so crazy if Doc was Freelancer. (It's definitely not plausible but I think it'd be neat). Freelancer hearing the sound of fighting, they stumbled upon someone with a similar appearance of their little brother daemon they hadn't seen in awhile and immediately go to defend him. Freelancer would help protect a stranger from a demon, they'd stood against Vega. Freelancer took a special interest in healing and would try to repair the damage Hush had experienced. Doc just always made me think of an older Freelancer.

When Hush had them put their hand on his chest, Doc thought they were going to Bridge. They answered Hush's questions because they were used to Caelum asking all kinds of questions.

If Doc was Freelancer, imagine Hush coming to them about killing Vega. This strange entity with Caelum's face telling them he killed Vega and now he was going to revived them. Their questions about Vega being mad at Hush more protective when they knew how powerful Vega was. They're ready to put up a ward between them the moment Vega showed any aggression and shocked that Vega asked them for their opinion of Hush.

[drinkingdeadpeopletea]

i haven't been in the tag so someone may have said this already but for those of you who have been watching the legend of vox machina but have never seen campaign one of critical role: once you've watched season two episode one, i SO highly recommend watching the original attack on emon. it only takes about half an hour and it's one of the most bonkers reveals/adventure hooks/Events to ever happen in an actual play. SEEING the dragons swoop in in animation is cool and all but my god the slow dawning horror as everything goes south...the counting the colors of what they've seen....19 misses....a MOMENT.

start at 3:28:50, the link should take you right there. important context you'll need immediately is that vex's favored enemy is dragons and she has the observant feat, allowing her to read lips and therefore catch things everyone else misses.

[mayapapaya33]

Things they better put in TLOVM in no particular order pt 4 of ?

Senokir! The fire Genasi jeweler they met in the City of Brass when they were trying to get Pike's armor. He's one of my favorite weirdos! I love him. I love his laugh, I love his stilted cadence, I love that he's never quite making eye contact. He's so fun and morbid and strange and truly like someone who's from another plane of existence. I love that he WASN'T a bad guy after all! He just enjoyed messing with them! He loved his wife. I need to see him in all his animated glory. (Voiced by Matt!)

The Aasimar children Vex saved from the slave market, Hunin and Kyor. This would be an easy thing to skip but I REALLY hope they don't. I think it's a good Vex moment for a variety of reasons I shan't get into. I also think it's a good way of deepening Salda Tal'Dorei's character. Because they skipped ahead so much and cut straight to the Briarwood arc, Uriel and Salda kind of got short changed story wise a tad. Her taking Hunin and Kyor in is one cannon moment for her that I think would be nice to keep. They already cut out her and Gilmore in the basement of his shop, these are the only two times we talk to her that I remember after the dragon's attack Emon.

I also want this to happen because I want to see the debate Vex had about adopting them be animated. Salda stepping in to take care of them because Vex was clearly busy slaying Dragons. I want the art of Hunin and Kyor babysitting their little De Rolos cousins.

I can't stress this enough but MORE Gilmore and specifically more VAX AND GILMORE. I said it before, and I'll say it again. We all know Vaxleth is endgame, we know we know. blah blah blah. Give us our Vaxmore lol. But more seriously, it is deeply important to the character of Vax that he cares for and loves both these people, and he deeply regrets hurting Gilmore's feelings and leading him on. You need to set it up TLOVM! Come on, load that chekov's gun of feels, we have a rakshasa and a "Whispered one" tower to see animated, and it's not going to hit right if you don't GET ON IT!

[utilitycaster]

Something I haven't really gotten the point of is the weird resurgence of focus on whether Vex is aware that Vax is in the marble and arguing that it's against her characterization to not be there. I think it's actually entirely possible that, as a kindness, Keyleth hasn't told her. What could Vex meaningfully do here? I don't think she can just break him out, and even if she could, that, as Keyleth says, destroys their ability to travel to Ruidus and potentially stop the Vanguard. She'd be telling Vex her brother is suffering endlessly and they need to keep him there, which is only going to hurt her. And even If Keyleth has told her, isn't it more effective for Vex to focus on amassing Tal'Dorei's political power and ensuring the country is prepared for disaster? I mean, I'd love to see Vex, but the idea she's in Emon, as a key figure in Tal'Dorei's government, makes perfect sense. It feels like the desire for Vex to be there comes from the idea that the only valid way to show affection or loyalty or grief is through physical presence.

More generally, I think it's worth pointing out that Vax choosing to protect Keyleth in the way he did is why the Ruby Vanguard's plan succeeded and why she was attacked in the first place. It's not portrayed as a good thing that he visits her like this—in fact it's pretty explicitly portrayed as unhealthy for both of them. It's inhibited her ability to move on, whereas Vex, while she will always grieve, seems to have adjusted much better to her loss in the 30 years since Vax's death. I think the "better version" of post-Campaign 1 is not one in which Vax is constantly sending ravens to Vex; it's one in which he lets Keyleth have the distance she needs to process and heal.

[selene-lunette]

Comparison between Shadow of the Colossus and Dororo

I've been a Dororo fan for years now and I just recently played Team Ico's games for the first time. So, here I'll try to list things that Shadow of the Colossus and Dororo have in common. My theory is that Fumito Ueda was inspired by Osamu Tezuka's work and, vice versa, Ueda's works inspired the 2019 anime adaptation of Dororo. Now, if this was common knowledge, then my bad! If that's not the case, these will be just lots of comparisons. Spoilers ahead!

First of all, both Wander and Hyakkimaru have a goal, and they are determined to reach it, no matter what. Wander wants to bring Mono back to life, while Hyakkimaru wants to collect his bodyparts, that were taken by evil spirits at birth due to a contract his father made to gain power. The demons in Dororo are 48, which is the number of Colossi Ueda initially planned to have in his game.

Now, we know that within the colossi lie severed segments of Dormin's body. As Hyakkimaru defeats a demon, he collects a body part back. So, both the fiends in Dororo and the Colossi in Shadow of the Colossus hold a piece of body. But while in Dororo once these creatures are slayed the body part goes back to its original owner, in Shadow of the Colossus Wander is the vessel of Dormin's body, which is collected through those dark trails that pierce him after each battle.

At the beginning of Dororo's original manga from 1967, Lord Daigo, Hyakkimaru's dad, enters a shrine and finds various devil statues. Here, he makes a contract with the evil spirits, the 48 devil gods. He seeks power, but the price to pay is the body of his own child. Doesn't that sound familiar? Wander also enters a shrine adorned with various idols, where he asks Dormin, the being that controls the souls of the dead, for Mono to be revived. But Dormin warns him that the price he'll pay would be heavy. Both the evil gods and Dormin, while promising what the human desires, ask for something important in return. They are also kind of making fun of the mortals for their requests.

I'd also like to add that, as the Dororo manga continues and picks up with Hyakkimaru now being 14 years old, his lover, Mio, is already dead. We just see her through flashbacks, as the boy tells his story to Dororo. We don't know what's the relationship between Mono and Wander, but it's clear that he deeply cares about her, either as a lover, friend or sister.

(While I'm not sure if this is simply fan speculation or not, wasn't an alternative ending gonna feature Mono come back to life but blind, and she would've slowly regained her eyesight? If this was an actual scrapped ending, it would literally reference a core theme in Hyakkimaru's journey).

As for the rest, the two stories are completely different, but the beginning is pretty similar, at least in my opinion. I feel like Ueda could've been influenced by Osamu Tezuka's work. Back in 2019 a Dororo anime remake aired, a retelling of the story. Just like all the other Dororo adaptations, a lot of things were changed from the original manga. The 48 demons were cut to 12, and another major change is the additional grey morality that envelops the entirety of the show. In the original manga, Daigo wanted to be a powerful ruler and gave his son away without regret. Here, he seeks help from the demons to archieve that, yes, but his lands are being destroyed by famines and epidemics. While he has egoistical ambitions, he's also helping his people. As you watch the anime, you start to question: who is right and who is wrong? Who is truly evil here? Which are questions we all asked ourselves while playing Shadow of the Colossus. While you play, you know why you're slaying the Colossi, but you do start to wonder if you're really doing the right thing. They are just giant creatures, some peaceful if not attacked, and are the only inhabitants of the Forbidden Lands. Is Wander the true villain, is it Dormin, or is it Emon? Is there even a true villain at all, or just characters at cross purpouses?

In Dororo, you root for Hyakkimaru, deprived of his own body. But, as he kills more and more demons, the lands are yet again subjected to droughts and floods. And, on his first encounter with Lord Daigo, his father asks him to stop collecting his body for the sake of the lands. The morally grey character of Hyakkimaru, I feel like, could be inspired by Fumito Ueda's work. There's a major difference in the ending though. As Wander's journey makes him loose his humanity, Hyakkimaru's is the opposite. Withing him, he also has bits of evil spirits enbedded into his soul, much like Wander.

But while Hyakkimaru is plagued by doubts, and sometimes lets the demonic part of him loose, he ultimately reaches his goal to be whole again. With the death of all the demons, the natural disasters stop, starting a period of peace. He gets his humanity back, something that Wander only archieves after being reborn.

Also, this is totally just speculation, but the thing about Hyakkimaru's demon slaying causing illnesses and epidemics might be a reference to ICO. In the PS2 manual (at least in the italian one I own) it is stated that the horned children are believed to be cursed, bringing misfortunes to befall the villages. Another thing added to the 2019 anime adaptation of Dororo is the fact that with each evil spirit Hyakkimaru kills, the idol that represents it at the shrine (where Daigo made the contract) breaks. Which is literally what happens in Shadow of the Colossus.

I'd also like to add that Dororo also has a videogame adaptation for the PS2 called Blood will tell, that contains 48 fiends to defeat in order to retrieve Hyakkimaru's body parts. It came out just a year before Shadow of the Colossus did, and it's such a fun game. It has some amazing looking fiends and, fun fact, Blood will tell's japanese cover art is also a beautiful drawing (made by Hiroaki Samura), while the western box art is a 3D rendition of the main character, much like ICO. Though, not as ugly ;)

I can't tell if this game actually influenced Shadow of the Colossus or not, but it's pretty fun to spot the similarities between the two. The final boss, Behemoth, is the biggest out of the 48 fiends, and its fight is divided in various sections. In one of these, you have to stand on Behemoth's hand so that it can bring you close to its face to attack. It reminded me of the Malus fight.

In another section, you have to climb the fiend's back to destroy its weak spots, which are horns with a very familiar blue tint that shoot lightings. This reminded me a lot of Pelagia (but also of Basaran and Quadratus).

And the last section features Behemoth charging at you while it flies, which of course reminded me of the Avion fight.

Thank you for reading all my yapping about pieces of media I love deeply! After not being able to find many comparison between Dororo and Shadow of the Colossus online, I just had to make one myself. This is my first time making a post like this, so I hope this isn't worded too badly—