#beacon hell

[ravendruid]

[eldritchpalette]

I cried.

[erandraws]

Save me hot boi, save me

[fearnesbells]

“Imogen and Dorian are one of my favorite friendships in Campaign 3. What’s your favorite part of those two characters working together?”

my question! imogen and dorian confirmed girlfails. all i wanted ever :)

[somewhatsentientspellbook]

the conflict, the drama, the angst, catch it all next time on CR

[septembermonologues]

"just let me comfort you for once". implying that dorian doesn't realize that he's been regularly comforting orym since they first started working together? in one of the first episodes of exu he told orym that he didn't have to be involved in stealing for poska if it made him uncomfortable while everyone else was going on about how it wasn't that big of a deal. it's confirmed that the exu trio slept in a pile together when they started traveling alone- did he convince himself that any time he might have fallen asleep holding orym before was purely out of convenience and there was no chance being able to have fearne and dorian within arms reach helped orym rest easier? the idea that dorian might not realize that even just a 25 word message helped orym ground himself while they were apart, let alone what being there with him in person might mean to him, is so crushing.

[doctorwhommm]

torchwood doodles (i definitely don’t have a favourite character)

[dysfunctional-cryptid]

! NO SPOILERS !

Full disclosure: I haven't finished the Mighty Nein yet. I just REALLY love Ashton's and Fearne's designs. I had to doodle them.

[dolphelecat]

The moment Laura started talking

[thisisnotthenerd]

the thing that stuck out to me about this finale is the theme of new starts and redemptions

because it is a release for the gods in many ways. it is a release for the protagonists of the story we're following.

but in many ways it has turned into the reversal and softening of consequences/stakes that have dogged this campaign consistently.

a list of pulled punches/backtracks in the finale (in no particular order):

divine magic functioning exactly the same post-catatheosis. i think this contributes to bell's hells' reaction; if the magic is still there and the gods are gone, that still means it's okay, right? meanwhile people are grieving the loss of the beings that have defined their lives, especially in vasselheim. i guess this implies that the gods' energies have been tied to the world of exandria; those who attune to and hold faith in the particular creed of the deities can pull on their power as it was released into the world. or they pull purely from faith in other mortals, or smaller gods/beings. but they barely had any sympathy for those losing the object of their lives' purpose.

ashton sacrificing themself and not dying or losing any semblance of their powers. i get the sacrifice. i get the mirroring of fcg's sacrifice. i get wanting to go out with a bang. i also get bell's hells wanting him back. but what i want to know, is why exactly they had to be recreated with dunamis. why not be resurrected and have to grapple with the loss of that source of power and yet be in less pain because of it?

imogen (& the other ruidusborn) not losing power after predathos' release. yes i know why in the doylist sense. but it takes away the power of that decision if the source of the aberration in 'aberrant mind' goes away and nothing changes.

laudna being re-alived in a marriage ceremony/divine intervention. it feels like a little bit of a cop-out when her previous conversation with the matron implied work through time, but maybe that's just my interpretation. perhaps it's due to the reworking of magic and the expression of divine intervention.

bell’s hells threatening their way through vasselheim and getting zero flack for it even after they lost the leverage of predathos. i get the ‘heroes of the realm’ thing. i get it. did they have to intimidate their way through as much of it as possible.

orym's pact. i get why it would have constituted a break; the way it was played off felt a little flippant. it would be one thing for it to be acknowledged as him escaping a real pact that he did get powers from. instead it's more of a comedic moment.

liliana not facing public scrutiny. maybe she did, but it really seems like she recovered and just walked away. i'm aware of what she went through as an audience member; i wish we had gotten to see what imogen vouching for her on trial would have looked like. for that matter, we don't really see a resolution of the ruby vanguard at all.

opal being partially released from the circlet. this one actually makes sense to me. not protesting this one. the spider queen can't live in the circlet all the time if she's in mortal manifestation. also, opal is fully still stuck with the crown.

vax and morrighan as champions of the matron. i do think the matron's actions fit. in this scenario, she's weighing the possibilities of her champions having to run her realm against her own experience and trying to spare them both the loneliness she herself felt. it fits. i take issue with her saying she kept him greedily, rather than what it was, which was a pact fairly made that he faithfully served, which she is adjusting in a moment of mercy at the end of the world as they know it.

the gods are back on exandria. it's been treated as a bit, with reminders of evil babies and what you could do to them. recall the last time they were there the time period was called the calamity. and also, can you imagine what the followers of either betrayer gods or prime deities would do knowing that the god who ostensibly opposed theirs was out there somewhere as a vulnerable mortal? they've started an ages-long arms race of who can find the reincarnated gods first. braius stepped away from asmodeus and was promised a lifetime of being followed for his betrayal, and yet ashton was literally followed more by the kryn dynasty.

it comes across as a lot of wish fulfillment without the legwork to get there. it's not that bell's hells haven't been through the worst and come back from it; it's that the closer we've come to a conclusion, the less it seems like bell's hells have had a stake in all of it.

even their conclusions: the primary goals have been freedom and adventuring.

vox machina's original epilogues came with grief, but also a level of responsibility to their communities (whitestone, zephrah, the faith of the everlight). they had fame from their exploits because they happened on a very grand scale.

the mighty nein's epilogues came with a resurrection, and the desire to live their lives to the fullest. as the 'heroes no one knows about', they were able to step down and live quieter lives. they pursued specific purposes, whether it's beau with the cobalt soul & caleb at the academy pursuing the assembly, fjord captaining his fleet and jester pursuing her art and faith, veth and her family and camp, kingsley as the plank king, caduceus stewarding the blooming grove, yasha tending her home, and etc.

the epilogues for bell's hells focus on them achieving individual goals of freedom to travel and adventure. sometimes they have a place where they settle, but it's generally undefined. it feels as though they're not done yet, because the finality is taken out with the stakes.

everyone lives happily ever after, and the world keeps spinning. it’s like a fluffy fix-it fic, except this is fully the canon of the world.

i’ll discuss my thoughts on the greater implications for exandria another day.

[ravendruid]

This is your daily reminder Keyleth has been angry for 30 years. Her boyfriend is a marble. She doesn't care who is in attendance, she will swear.

[crabridgedart]

Keyleth, Voice of the Tempest - Art by Jonah Baumann, featured on CR Abridged

Source: Beacon

[mythalsknickers]

Lucanis enjoyers, Rookanis Hell Dwellers. I come to you with angst.

Lucanis Dellamorte

Luc leukos (Greek: λευκός), meaning "white" Lux (gen. lucis), meaning "light"  Canis lykos (Greek: λύκος), meaning "wolf" Dellamorte of death

Or we could dig deeper Dell/della Italian for Of Amor italian/latin for love te latin for you His name MEANS WHITE WOLF OF LOVE [for] YOU

[song-of-baldy-ron]

After watching the cooldown I'm convinced that Nana Morri's deal with Chetney has made him unable to die

[mushroom11090]

*Tailsen talking about Percys gun cane being based on a real weapon*

Travis, clocking the autism: Well tell us what it is

I love them. This is why I pay for beacon, these little behind the scenes peaks at the casts individual friendships. So cute and so fun

[matt-mercer-wannabe]

I can't think of a single CR moment that has caused such a visceral emotional reaction from me like the dorym confession scene just did. The slow burn has been so incredibly immaculate the whole campaign and this confession was just PERFECT.

Robbie's monologue was so incredibly amazing and heartfelt and I'm still processing it omg