#been rewatching c2 and having Emotions

[stygius-cr-sideblog]

Thinking again about how much I love Jester Lavorre, and how different a party the Mighty Nein would have been without her.

The Mighty Nein, as a party, was very strongly characterized by their tendency to take in strays and make room for anyone who needed it, regardless of their circumstances. Compared to Vox Machina, whose vibe tends to distinguish strongly between "us" and "them", keeping VM a monolithic unit that others can be close to but not part of, the Mighty Nein are radically welcoming and quick to get on other people's level. 

This is true to the point where, already circa episode 20 of 141, there are jokes being made about the risk they run of actually getting nine members so they're no longer ironically "nein". "Welcome to the Mighty Nein" becomes a recurring phrase. And Jester is the one at the heart of that openness.

Think about the M9 at the start of the campaign. 

You have Caleb and Nott, who protect each other and only care about the group insofar as there is safety in numbers. Then, Molly and Yasha, who are also very much a unit even after leaving the circus (even if Ashley wasn't around for a lot of early episodes, it's very clear that they are each other's priority). There's Beau, who's on the run from the Cobalt Soul and not the most personable to begin with, to put it mildly. Fjord has the keenest group mentality at that point—understandably, as his adult life has been centered around life on a ship, where the needs of the group need to be placed above individual wants to ensure the survival of the ship. But he just doesn't have enough genuine openness in him at the start, when he's pretending to be someone else. Jester is the one who brings them all together and makes them feel like a true family.   

If Laura's character had been anyone but Jester, so much could have been different! Just to name a few examples that come to mind:

Jester was the first to rush into the swamp when they heard the sounds of a creature in distress and rescue Kiri. Kiri, one of the most iconic c2 NPCs, would have died without Jester.

Jester pushed Caleb to start trying to see himself in a kinder light, because of how staunchly she believed in him. As a friend, she brought him firmly into the Nein's support structure.

Jester was the one who made it her life's mission to befriend Essek. Imagine how much could have been different if she hadn't been around to peer-pressure him into awkwardly long hugs.

Jester carried on Molly's Oracle deck and was instrumental in getting under Lucien's skin with Molly's memories throughout that arc. 

For as much shit as Laura got during the campaign about "not healing enough to be a cleric" or whatever glaring dumbassery people were on about, if you pay attention, Jester is often at the core of the party's emotional healing throughout the campaign. Her whole-hearted support changes them for the better, and everyone they meet. And it's heartwarming when she finally allows herself to seek support from them when she's feeling bad, instead of putting on a brave face like she used to at the start of the campaign. 

All of this to say: I love Jester Lavorre.

[exandrianpunk]

i have rewatched campaign 2... many times now. the mighty nein are everything to me. it's my comfort show. it's usually not a great sign for my emotional state when i catch myself thinking "hmm is it time for another c2 rewatch?"

i started this run about a month ago. i've been doing... poorly. in all aspects of my being. and i have reached ep 26 again.

every. single. time. that i have rewatched this campaign. this episode comes around as i am at the lowest point of my current character arc.

it's my favorite episode. i hate it with every fiber of my soul. every single second is heartbreaking and gut-wrenching and. i love it so much.

of course it logically makes sense. i start watching the campaign when i start feeling bad and things continue to be bad and a month goes by and wow it's time for episode 26 what a surprise that everything is bad and i need to cry. it's not really that impressive.

it's the emotional catharsis that i so desperately need. every. single. time. and this time is no different.

it still somehow feels meaningful each time. this story is so important to me. and it hurts to watch the build-up and know what's coming. and to catch new little things each time (this time it's how tal talked about the tea that Jumnda offered the group).

but it still brings such relief to see it play out. for the cast to make it through. to know there is another episode that comes after and another after that and so many more stories for the nein and the rest of exandria to tell.

these nerdy-ass voice actors have helped me get through a lot. and i'll keep clawing at the hope that i can keep going through this too.

[captainsspnanon]

C2E62 - Domestic Respite - reaction

The things people don’t say about hyperfocusing is that it’s really fucking annoying when you are only interested in the one thing despite having other things you want to do.  I have been hyperfocused on a youtube channel for like, two or three weeks, and each time I’m like ‘hey I’d like to watch this other thing’ and my brain is just like NOPE THIS ONE CHANNEL ONLY.  Last night (future me note: last night being like almost three weeks ago lol) it finally broke (woohoo!) so back to the mighty nein!

(also I did end up buying the Nine Eyes of Lucien, so we’ll see how I like that.  And reunion special coming soon!!!! *intense vibrating*)

…...why do they all look super sexy this episode what the fuck

also top table blurry again :(  at least it’s not AS noticeable when they go to the stacked shot

though I’m also distracted because it looks like Matt’s wearing foundation?  That maybe doesn’t match his skin tone?  Not actually sure if this was a screen test experiment that just didn’t work, or if they’ve been doing it for ages and for whatever reason it’s just more noticeable this episode.

Sam’s bit starts with the dndbeyond bundle, and as someone who has looked at the prices of those, HOLY FUCK that’s a lot.  I was contemplating it once I started playing until I actually saw the price and said FUCK THAT.  The legendary bundle?  IT’S OVER 900!! /meme   sourcebook bundle is over 400, and it’s just like…..nope.  To be fair, prices make a bit more sense when you consider that a lot of the people who would buy it all would slowly accumulate it over time which makes the impact less, but if you’re like me and joined late, hell no.  I will save my cash for dice.

First – watching them slowly plan out the layout of the house warms my heart so much, it really makes me wish we could have seen Vox Machina planning out the keep.  Second – despite having only watched an episode of this a few weeks ago, I’m astonished how much I’ve MISSED these voices!  I’m genuinely loving C3, it’s my second favorite out of the three, but the Nein just means SO much to me.  I swear, I’m going to be so emotional with the reunion special!  Though I’m going to be very sad to be missing Caduceus T.T

The Xhorhaus isn’t the Xhorhouse until the tree has been planted.  *giant dopey grin* I love this so so so so much.  Soon the hot tub and the mural and life will be good.

Holy fuck Liam that creaking sound!!!  Sometimes these voice actors smack you across the face and remind you that they’re professionals.

Caduceus putting in micro-shrines for everybody MY HEART.  Also, is C2 the campaign with the most PCs with deific relations?  Fjord and the Wildmother, Caduceus and the Wildmother, Jester and the Traveler, Yasha and the Storm Lord, and then Caleb and Beau have respect for a deity without it being worship (the Archheart and the Knowing Mistress respectively), so only Nott without a connection.  Even Molly had a connection to the Moonweaver, unknown if it would have become more prominent than the few offhand mentions we originally got.  C1 had Pike and Sarenrae, Vax and the Raven Queen, and then Vex and Scanlan got ‘championships’ of Pelor and Ioun respectively, but I honestly consider that to be tangential considering how much it felt like last minute powerups versus any type of actual worship.  Keyleth has the staff of Melora but not any even tangential relationship there, and Percy was also solidly non-god.  Tary we never really got into the details of.  I don’t know how much I’d count Grog with whatever-the-actual-name-of-the-Stormlord-is-I-forget, he enjoyed the fighting, but I don’t know if there was ever any worship or godly respect there aside from fighting?  I’d have to wait til the rewatch.  Kord?  I think Kord. C3 seems to be getting into deific stuff now, but still less than the others.  Huh.  You know, I never would have thought of C2 being the ‘religious’ campaign.  To me, it feels more like VM would have been the worshippers, but it’s really not.  I don’t have analysis for this at the moment, this is something I have to chew over for a while.  (and also, there is a distinct possibility that I’ve come to this exact realization earlier in my rewatch and then completely forgot it.)

THE MURAL!!!!!! also, I just rewatched this bit again but only focusing on Travis’s face.  I miss so much by focusing only on the people RPing!   This is why, despite some of the nonsense I see, I do love following the fanbase on tumblr.  Because other people notice this shit and gif it so I can see it later.

Fast travel activated!  I’m glad that even with the options that they get, there’s still a lot of slow travel in C2.  C1 was so much fast travel all the time (wind walk and transport via plants), and C3 it feels like the travel is skipped over so much.  I love love love the slow travel.  Looking forwards to Eiselcross and its slow travel now.

I love Fjord so much.  Travis plays the dry wit SO well!

(for those watching C3 live right now, who else agrees that they need a decompression episode like this right now?  They need to breathe!)

Huh, head of the Gold Chain Mercenaries vanished into Darktown 10 years before the campaign began.  One shot NPC?  Honestly doubt it, but would be thrilled if that ended up being a bit of an easter egg.

One thing I adore about the Fjord and Jester RP scenes is that there’s this level of uncomfortableness to them from Fjord, a case of being unwilling to open up fully, even as he trusts Jester to a significant extent.  If I recall correctly, these RP moments get more and more open and honest as the campaign goes on and as Fjord slowly continues to shed his hesitation and bravado.

LOL at Liam being like “I have a bunch of RP stored up, gonna grab a few!”  I forgot about this letter conversation though.  Once again, fuck you Liam and your RP ripping out my heart. Talk about minute facial expressions and mannerisms to tell a whole fucking story.  I’m entitled to financial compensation for the distress he puts me through.

Calianna’s package!  I wonder how long it’s been sitting there.  I’ll be honest, the only gift of hers that I remember is the wand, and it’s because Caleb uses it for the tower.

I know Liam really likes to emphasize that Caleb was in a poly relationship with Astrid AND Eadwulf, but when he says things like Astrid was ‘the one’, I’m not surprised that people focused on that aspect and pushed away the Eadwulf part.   I’m actually trying to remember, at this point in time, I think it’s very reasonable to only think that he was in a relationship with Astrid.  She’s been brought up several times (best dancer, the letter, this comment) whereas Eadwulf has only been brought up in the initial story.  In fact, I’m wondering if the Eadwulf ‘reveal’ (which wasn’t even that much) was only when Caleb saw him guarding the beacon and asked Matt if his arms were still as sexy as he remembered (paraphrased).

HOW DID I MISS SAM’S REACTION WHEN CALEB DENIED BEING IN LOVE WITH NOTT!  These goofballs.

I do see why people may get irritated with Liam for his big RP stuff.  After all, here he’s doing three scenes back to back to back.  I get it, but at the same time, I also get Liam’s point of view.  How long has he been trying to have these conversations but there hasn’t been time for it.  They’re in two weeks of downtime now, but since it’s not played out in real time, he’s got to make sure to get the RP in before the group goes down a rabbit hole of another thread.  I honestly can’t say how I feel.  I really enjoy all the scenes, but I also feel for the other players.  It’s not super fun to just sit and spectate for a chunk of time!  With these three conversations, I most feel like the Beau and Caleb conversation could have been skipped, but you never now how things are going to turn out in the moment.  Hmmm.  Looking at the timestamps.  For those two scenes, it was still only 13 minutes, which actually isn’t bad.  The Caleb and Fjord (of which the other players interject a section before it happens) is under 10 minutes.  Okay, that’s actually not bad at all.

Not only that, but they’re all really respectful of each other and the time.  Laura interjects at a break in the scene, and Liam immediately gives a thumbs up to Matt and/or the table, indicating that he’s fully cool with sitting back and waiting before he hits his next point.  I recently saw a few clips from the second episode of VM, and oh boy things were so so SO much worse then.  So much talking over each other CONSTANTLY.  I know part of it was just them improving the show quality, but also I feel a lot of it was also them respecting it as a performance just for themselves.

Nott crafting things!!!  While Taliesin was always close to the chest with WHAT Percy was creating, I did enjoy having the PCs that actually made stuff.  And Matt being adorable and having Yeza and Veth act as partners instead of lead and assistant (which makes super sense).  We got some good crafting stuff from Nott, though I always could go for more.

Oh Yasha and your bracers.  Do they EVER get picked up after being enchanted??? …episode 91.  We’re in episode 62.  Okay (okay okay), she gets mind controlled.  That’s episodes 70 through 85.  (well, 86 and 87 as well I think?  Ashley is back as of 86, but that’s the fight where the mind control is broken, and then the Obann fight I THINK goes into 87 as well?)  And the bracers were still being enchanted during the first stretch.  SO.   Actually, that’s not that bad, is it?  That’s only like 3 or 4 episodes of her being back before she picks up the bracers.  Looking at the timeline, it’s maybe 6 in game days from when she is returned to her normal mental state? That’s actually super reasonable!!!  I guess it just feels so long because 29 episodes is over 6 months of actual play time.

3,000 gold and 10 weeks.  Hmmm, Beau’s were only 1200, I wonder if it’s a Rosohna markup?  Or maybe Beau’s are only plus one whereas Yasha’s are plus two?  Nope, they’re the same.  Huh.  One of the mysteries I’ll never know.  ALSO, I re-discovered that while Yasha picks up the bracers in 91, Ashley doesn’t have her swap them out until 110, so THAT explains that.  That’s 23 episodes from her being back to putting them on, nearly half a year AGAIN.  So almost a full YEAR between her purchasing them and using them.

LOL at Travis “no you need the defense.  I know, almost as if I was there and it was happening to me”

Also, considering my little spiel up there in regards to Liam and his RP?  I take most of it back, this was broken up very well with everyone being respectful. Any complaints of Liam this episode are invalid.  *slams gavel*

CALEB AND ESSEK CALEB AND ESSEK THE 12 PERSUASION AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

*cough* Look I’m not immune to Shadowgast, okay???  Anyhow, many many people have written about this moment, far better that I could even try.  My impressions are very muddled though.  I am not smart enough to keep up with the 20+ INT wizards and their layers and layers of subterfuge and veiled statements and hidden context and fear and enticement and strategy.  I’m akin to Jester, an open gasp when Essek even invites the idea of starting to teach Caleb.  Regardless, I love every second of it.  (I’m a fan of the honeypot4honeypot theory, even if it doesn’t meet actuality.)

(subtitles have Caleb saying “do come in”, but I think it’s actually “willkommen”)

(also I LOVE how everyone gets so stoked with Essek teaching Caleb magic.  Even though it’s technically only a bit moment for Caleb/Liam, it feels like a bit moment for everyone)

Oh man this conversation between Fjord and Caleb.  I truly wonder if Fjord would ever have come to Caleb if he hadn’t had his powers stripped away and been left defenseless.  Was it just a deflection?  Was it something that he was intending in the moment but then later changed his mind?  Was there just no time for it before his whole thing happened?

WAIT WHAT IS THIS PERCEPTION CHECK THAT FJORD FAILS AAAAAAAAAAAA

We’ve had hints, but this is the first real descent into Sprinkle’s memedom.  The entire thing just went SO BADLY, it’s PERFECT.  Everyone at the table just absolutely DYING as Laura keeps rolling bad and worse and it’s such a glorious disaster.

…….Fjord just called Professor Thaddeus a shithead.   …..PROBABLY NOTHING PROBABLY NOTHING

Whoops it’s now been over a week since I touched this episode again.  Will I finish it before the first episode of the M9 reunited?  WHO KNOWS (probably not).  Brain went and fucked me again.  It’s been a time.

Back almost a week after that week comment.  The first of the two parter airs tomorrow, I’M FINISHING THIS BITCH TODAY.

It’s funny, I’m honestly not sure if it was Fjord or Travis resisting using the flirting angle, but then he just goes whole hog into it and it’s amazing.  I don’t think I’d heard a clip of Travis singing before this, so I thought he couldn’t for a while.  I know better now XD

Thinking on it, I cannot recall if Grog flirted more than like one or two times in the entire C1.  I remember a goliath drummer when Tary was there, I think?  Fjord certainly used the tactic more (Avantika and Maruo), but Travis is such a good RPer that while I THINK it may have been him slowly getting more comfortable with it by leaning into the absurdity, it could just actually be how he’s playing Fjord and Travis had no reluctance at all (at least for the Fjord/NPC stuff. We know from Talks he was highly reluctant for the PC/PC stuff). ...insert relevant C3 comment here.

Sorry not sorry but the fact that Maruo’s name is spelled Maruo and not Mauro drives me nuts.  NUTS.

Somehow it seems really fitting that Nott can’t pick the lock but CAN blindly cast mage hand to flip the latch.  I’ve mentioned this before, but Sam for a lot of the campaign never really felt to me like he was super interested in rogue.  Based off of the subclass and seeing C1, it made a good argument that he enjoys playing a support caster a LOT. While Nott certainly swiped a lot of things early on the campaign, she really did reduce her stealing pretty dramatically, rarely remembered to search for traps, and frequently got prodded to scout ahead or to pick locks.  I don’t want to call her a bad rogue because she certainly isn’t, but it’s a very interesting take on a non-standard way of playing one.  It works incredibly well with her character and the choices that Sam ends up making throughout.  He mentioned early on in a Talks that he hadn’t planned her subclass, had been considering Thief, but ended up going Arcane Trickster based off of the RP he had with Liam.  It’s very hard for me to picture Nott as a Thief Rogue, one of those curious What Ifs that will never be explored.  (looking at the features on dndbeyond right now, I REALLY can’t picture it.  I’m sure Sam would have played it well, but these don’t feel like they would lend to Nott at all.  The only thing I can think of off the top of my head would have been using Fast Hands as a bonus action when fighting the Iron Shepherds the first time, which would have let Nott attack and then try to lock pick, possibly helping to keep Molly alive?)

LOL they only got the residuum and suude because they weren’t sure what they should be doing and so were like ‘yeah we’ll just pry some random shit open’.  Also, first time watching I 100% missed Matt saying it was spices and them whispering it was suude.  I get the reference now XD

Huh, I forgot that Caleb/Liam pushed to have the Xhorhouse called the MT House for Molly.  Sorry dude, Xhorhouse is a million times better, and I’m pretty sure the MT House / MT Spa literally never comes up again XD

MAP!!!! MAP MAP MAP MAP MAP!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Matt did a pretty good Shakaste.  He couldn’t nail the exactness of how Khary spoke, but he captured a lot of the personality.  Ended up being a little ‘sexier’, but that’s probably just how they took in Khary’s performance XD

One – the fact that Caleb had to roll a history check and didn’t know what a Scourger was seemed bullshit, but Matt explained it nicely by clarifying that Caleb knew the term Volstrucker and didn’t initially piece the two together.  Two – ‘royal assassins’.  So this is something known by the crown.  In the fan base (and I feel like by the end of the campaign as well?) it’s more understood almost to be Trent’s private army.  I’ll have to pay attention and see if this is just fan interpretation forgetting things, or if this was genuinely altered during the campaign.  It certainly adds a new level of complexity to the story...though perhaps it’s only Trent’s METHODS that are what gets him tossed under the bus, not the existence of Scourgers themselves.

Holy shit I’m checking out the wiki and it talks about how Volstrucker can send messages to each other through sending letters through the fire and I TOTALLY thought that was just an invention in one fan fic that I read!!  Also, looks like they report directly to Trent – not stated necessarily in the campaign but confirmed in the EGtW.

Once again, I forgot how hard Caleb was pushing to essentially be a double/triple agent. It doesn’t happen, but he typically went there first when thinking about strategy and plans for moving forwards.  Once again, props to Liam for how deep he leans into the RP of his characters, holy shit. Layers upon layers upon layers….and he always jokes that he’s dumb.

“Real question, do you care about the Empire?  No judgement.”  “I didn’t think I did.” FUCKING STAB ME THROUGH THE HEART MARISHA RAY FUCK YOU I love beau so much it’s not even funny

Ending the episode on the Brjeaus being emotional and supportive, and then Matt and Marisha being adorable about her birthday.  GOOD EPISODE.

[otdderamin]

Analysis: Fjord's reaction to Wursh – CR C2 Ep058 0:29:14

Doing something a bit different. Instead of a full transcript this will be a body language read of Fjord after the analysis. I highly recommend rewatching the scene and just watching Fjord. He takes an epic face journey throughout that gives off a lot of his emotions while trying (badly) to mask them. All of Wursh's conversation with him outside and his friends talking to him afterwards is transcribed. This is a long analysis as well, but I finally feel like I really get Fjord.

The dynamics of how Fjord interacted with Wursh in Ep 58 stem from his childhood insecurities. Fjord tells The Mighty Nein afterward that he was an orphan raised in Driftwood Asylum, and mostly by other kids. (Ep 58 0:46:44) He was the only half-orc (Ep 58 0:48:11), probably the only orc at all. We know from Ep 11 he was judged a lot on his appearance. He grew faster than the other kids, but he was Stumpy, short. Big teeth. […] Just sort of mis-proportioned." (Ep 11 3:05:23) Nott calls him "pretty handsome, you know, for, like, a half-monster thing." (Ep 11 3:04:51) Fjords trying to stay reserved, but you can tell that stung, and he gets more uncomfortable the more she belabors her view of him as a monster.

Growing up the only half-orc in an institution, it's very likely that Fjord was treated as a monster and a threat by everyone growing up and that played into him being picked on (0:48:11). He viewed himself as, "A kid, just like anyone else," (Ep 11 3:05:14) but I doubt he was viewed that way. His orcish side was viewed as a brutish disposition to be overcome, but he was never allowed to be human, either. Other kids were afraid of him just for existing. The adults probably treated him like he was the aggressor in way more fights than he was, quick to assume his violence. Any kid that wanted to establish dominance in the pecking order would go after him to prove they were stronger than the monster. His height also made him more intimidating. We can see with Wursh he has a very child-like threat assessment around height. But Fjord wasn't strong, and he couldn't take too many punches, so mostly he just got the shit beaten out of him all the time and blamed for it by adults.

So, Fjord learned to view every interaction with people as a threat he needed to be prepared for. He wasn't good in a fight, and he didn't have anywhere to run as a kid, so he tries to flatter or intimidate to protect himself. He's an asshole because being a half-orc is seen as intimidating. He learned kids who are afraid of him are more likely to leave him alone. This is the easiest and most passive technique he has, so he relies on it. But if he knows he can't intimidate, he'll turn to being very charming. Make himself useful enough to keep around. This is why we see such duality in his interactions.

Vandran's crew is probably the first time he ever felt treated like an equal, like he belonged. That meant to world to him and he let down some of those barriers. Then everything went wrong. His sense of peace was blown apart that night. Angry, heartbroken, drowning, and desperate, Uk'otoa found him. Offered him salvation and power enough to stop people from threatening him. It seemed like just a dream, even when he washed up on the beach with the sword. He couldn't fight it, so he ingratiated himself.

He's aware that he's under this thing's power and threat. He doesn't want to do what it wants, but he's terrified of disobeying, of being outright crushed. But he's also afraid of being abandoned by that power. For once in his life he feels powerful and not just scared. That power has gained him strong allies who have his back. He's afraid the Mighty Nein will abandon him as useless without that power. He fits with this merry band of assholes. He's starting to trust them, even, terrifyingly, love them. They're all keeping the world at bay by being assholes (except Caduceus) and he feels like he fits. So, he's trapped. Ignoring it for a while was the best resistance he could muster.

Fjord was raised by human-folk. (Ep 58 0:41:46), it's the only culture he knows, but he was never allowed to be one of them. He was always treated as an orc. But he's painfully aware that he knows nothing about orcs, either. His interaction with Wursh came out of those deep-seated insecurities. All he knows about orcs is what humans told him. He knows it's bigoted and inaccurate, he's trying to learn the truth and keep an open mind, but it's also ingrained in his threat assessment. He thinks orcish culture values strength and dominance, so he went into the conversation with Wursh expecting he had to prove himself. He desperately wants to be respected and accepted by other orcs.

He wanted Wursh to see him as strong, but he also wanted to learn what it was like to be an orc from him. What's their culture like? It's a big missing piece of his sense of self. Wursh picked up on his desperation and bullshit right away. When Fjord said he was from the Menagerie Coast, Wursh realized exactly what was going on with Fjord, and Fjord realized he gave himself away. (Ep 58 0:35:39) But he had no backup plan, so he just dug in his heels and tried to play it cool. It didn't work. He didn't find Fjord threatening at all, more like a growling puppy.

When it started going south, Wursh tried to encourage him, but instead it felt like condescending pity. It made him feel weak. Caduceus also tried to bolster him, but again, he only made him feel pitied and weak because his friends didn't understand what was going on. Nott saw him struggling to hold up the mask and wanted to show him he didn't need it by teasing him and poking holes in it. But to Fjord, especially as a very bullied kid, that just made him feel even weaker, more insecure, and hurt. The teasing never feels like it could come from anyplace other than wanting to see him hurt, even if he's intellectually aware Nott cares for him on some level. He feels like he needs to give as good as he gets with her. But in this moment, he needed desperately to not look like she could hurt him. He needed to look stronger, so he exaggerated the tough guy routine.

When Fjord brushes off giving his name and abruptly leaves (Ep 58 0:40:59), Wursh feels like he's doing a disservice to this kid if he lets him get away with it. He tells Fjord he knows he's acting like this because he feels like he has something to prove, and he doesn't have to. I can read what Wursh is saying two different ways. Either he was saying don't let the temperament and traits of either your human or orc side rule you. Or don't let how people perceive you based on your blood rule you. Or, most likely, both. You are who you are, you feel what you feel. You are part of both, even when you're made to feel like you're part of neither. You're enough as you are. Trying to act tough will just get the attention of someone powerful enough to hurt you. Fjord knows he's right and the game is up, so he finally backs down.

It remains to be seen how much this lesson will change Fjord's behavior. But it did get him talking about his past to his friends. I don't think they quite understand yet. None of them went through the same thing. But Beau might understand some of the abandonment. Caleb may understand some of the daily fear. One day Nott may understand why he doesn't want to be seen as a monster for the body he's in (this will be tied to her own growth). Yasha understands his sense of loss and his fear of letting people get close. Caduceus may piece all of this together from that conversation. And Fjord may keep learning to trust not just his friend's power, but their compassion.

Scene runs:  0:29:14 to 0:45:31

Fjord is politely disinterested when they get to Wursh's smithy, quietly going over his notes.

0:29:28 Matt: "A tall and built half-orc. You see a thick chin beard of tough, course, black hair, bald head, arms covered in tattoos from, like, mid bicep down to the wrist."

Travis has a delayed reaction, and it isn't until "thick chin beard" that he starts looking uncomfortable. He shifts uncomfortably at the mention of tattoos.

Matt: "Wearing thick leather apron, trousers, no shirt under the apron under the vest and is just kind of sweating on the very edges."

As Matt describes his appearance, Travis has to remember to breathe from nerves. He starts fidgeting with his beard. He's happy to let Caduceus take the lead, although he stays tense.

0:30:27 Matt: "And standing up, he's pushing about 7-foot. He's a very tall bugger."

Fjord starts looking even more intimidated and insecure.

0:30:31 Matt, indicating Caduceus: "So, he's about as tall as you are eye to eye. And just- This guy's been doing a forge for a long time. The immediate comparison of half-orc him to half-orc Fjord is- it's a Laurel and Hardy sketch."

Fjord looks even more uncomfortable.

Taliesin: "His neck has a 6-pack kind of thing?"

Matt: "Yeah"

Travis mimics strongly puffing out his neck and looking mean.

As Caduceus talks, Fjord looks nervously between them. His posture is closed off and tense. When Wursh speaks, it's with the same Texas accent Fjord uses. Fjord raises his eyebrow in surprise, blinks a lot, and manages to look even more anxious.

As Caduceus and Wursh talks, Fjord starts to calm down a bit.

Caduceus suggests Jester would like to see Wursh's tattoos.

0:32:37 Wursh: "Well, she's certainly able to look, but not something you can really teach. These are important to my home town, so wouldn't recommend her giving them out."

"Home town" catches Fjord's ear.

Caduceus: "Oh no, I just think she would really enjoy seeing them."

Fjord tries to sound casual, but it comes off a bit forced and over-inquisitive.

0:32:53 Fjord: "Your, uh, your home town? Where you from?"

Wursh eyes him suspiciously.

Matt: "He kind of gives you a look over. Make a persuasion check."

Travis rolls a 23 and looks quite pleased.

0:33:10 Matt: "He looks you over, kind of grins, and goes,"

Wursh: "You're an inquisitive runt. I like it."

Fjord looks frustrated and put out. He shakes his head in a "yeah, okay, that hurt and was unnecessary" way.

He takes notes as Wursh says his from the Greying Wildlands in the village of Araftcra [sp?] out in the Rhyme Plains [sp?]. Fjord does show genuine interest. Wursh says the tattoos are of the nearby Dunrock Mountains. Caduceus says it's their first day in the city.

0:34:03 Fjord tries to get into the conversation, but Wursh talks over him and cuts him off, talking specifically to Caduceus. It shakes him a bit, and he backs off to regroup.

Wursh asks where they're from. Caduceus says all-over, then talks about where he's from. Wursh thinks Caduceus is a crazy motherfucker for living in the Savalierwood.

0:35:12 Fjord: "You're, uh, so vertically challenged. Everyone like you from the… Araftcra? The same stature?"

0:35:26 Wursh: "Generally, yeah. We're big."

Fjord looks put out.

0:35:29 Wursh: "You should see the full-blooded orcs up there. Plenty of them, and they're a little bigger. Well, one of the clans, anyway."

Fjord looks like he feels very small.

0:35:39 Fjord, obviously feeling insecure and trying to brush it off: "Yeah, not as, uh," he clears his throat," not as huge down in the Menagerie Coast. I'm from Port Damali."

Wursh, with dawning realization: "Oh! You went and grown up in some of that human territory."

Fjord looks like he realized he gave too much away.

0:35:50 Fjord, still trying to play it cool: "Yeah, not too many of us, uh-"

He's cut off by Wursh again.

0:35:53 Wursh: "Explains a lot."

Fjord's beginning to look defeated.

0:35:56 Fjord, resigned: "Yep, well, you do the best you can with what you got. Um…"

0:35:59 Wursh, looking slightly perplexed: "Don't be ashamed of that, son."

Fjord is mildly surprised.

Fjord: "No, I ain't ashamed."

Wursh: "Now look at you; you're mobile. Me, I hit things real hard, but I spend most of my day in here where it's bothering me with the heat. You being from the Menagerie coast, I imagine you've seen quite a bit, too, in your days."

Fjord slightly nods along but looks a bit haunted."

0:36:22 Fjord, trying to sound cocky: "Yeah, it doesn't… bother me so much."

Wursh, looking through him: "Good."

0:36:27 Caduceus: "Mr. Fjord has saved my life on a couple of occasions, actually."

Fjord looks assured by this and more confident.

0:36:33 Nott: "Yeah, it's true. He can carry a barrel with only- just a little bit of assistance from one of our ladies."

Fjord, very annoyed. "Okay! You know, disregard my little goblin friend over here. She's excited by big muscular types."

Nott: "I've seen it, sir. he can lift almost-"

Fjord: "Many barrels."

Nott: "Almost one.

Fjord: "Many barrels by himself."

Nott: "Almost one my himself."

Fjord: "Unaided."

Nott: "Almost one, yeah."

Wursh has stopped paying attention and is looking over the broken sword. He suggests the origin is Uthadernian [sp?].

0:37:28 Fjord: "Luthegernian?"

Wursh: "Uthadernian."

0:37:31 Fjord: "Luthedernian. Sorry, short ears."

Wursh explains it's where the Dwarves and Elves live together. Fjord concentrates on his notes. Wursh says be careful up there. His people are just surviving, but the orcs are bloodthirsty. Fjord listens tensely.

Caduceus asks about a jeweler. Wursh suggests Faton's gems. He isn't a gem wearing person and he's not a master craftsman, so he doesn't have a lot of need. Fjord's posture shifts to be broader and slightly more confrontational.

0:38:59 Fjord, trying to sound and gruff: "Yeah, jewelry wearing's for softer folk."

Fjord screws up his face and spits on the ground. He looks back at Wursh's toughly, but it's obviously an exaggerated act. Wursh laughs.

Caduceus thanks him for his time. Jester comes in because they're taking so long. Fjords watches the exchange uncertainly. She shows the medallion and boasts they're friends of the Dynasty and really cool. Fjord watched Wursh's reaction.

0:39:56 Wursh, not sure what to make of it: "Alrighty, well, I didn't realize I was in the presence of such… whatever the word is for your people."

Fjord, feigning arrogance: "Yeah, don't judge a book by its cover, friend."

Caduceus thanks him for his help and tips a gold piece. Yasha asks his name, and he gives it as Wursh the Tapper. Jester and Caduceus give their names.

0:40:58 Wursh to Fjord: "What's your name?"

0:40:59 Travis, gruffly: "I leave."

There's a long pause.

Wursh: "Alright."

0:41:06 Nott: "His name's Fjord."

Wursh: "Fjord."

0:41:09 Nott: "Yeah. Fjord Tough."

Wursh nods and mulls it over.

Matt: "And he kind of-"

Nott: "Have you heard of him or something?"

Matt: "No, he just-"

Taliesin: "I'm watching this."

0:41:23 Matt: "He walks towards the edge and kind of looks out the door and goes,"

0:41:27 Wursh, looking stern: "Hey, come here a second. Wanna talk to you."

Fjord hesitates and doesn't want to give ground. His answers are curt and standoffish.

Fjord: "What do you need?"

Wursh looks mildly disappointed in the response.

0:41:42 Wursh: "So you said you grew up in the Menagerie coast, right?"

Fjord: "Right."

0:41:46 Wursh: "Around hoity-toity human folk?"

Fjord slightly winces.

Fjord: "Yep."

0:41:52 Wursh: "And you walk around like you got something to prove?"

Fjord: "Is that what it looks like?"

0:41:56 Wursh, nodding, slightly sad: "From where I'm standing, yeah. 'Cause I'm'a tell you something: they don't matter. Yeah, we got a history. But some of us, we don't let that blood rule us, huh?"

Human blood?

0:42:19 Wursh: "I know you feel the anger there, every now and then, but… don't let them define you."

Orc blood? Do you not want to be defined by humans or orcs?

0:42:28 Fjord: "What blood you talking about?"

0:42:30 Wursh: "What? This blood."

Matt: "He kind of scratches the side of his shoulder and bleeds a bit from his finger nails. They're kind of grimy and you can see, like, the coal and dirt and stuff that's under them."

0:42:41 Wursh: "The blood that we came from. Don't be ashamed of that."

Fjord looks briefly confused. He pieces together Wursh means half-orc blood. Don't let orcs or humans define you.

0:42:48 Fjord: "They don't look unkindly on our kind where you come from?"

0:42:53 Wursh: "Don't get too many human folk up north."

Fjord nods.

0:42:58 Fjord: "Why'd you come here, anyway?"

Wursh: "Well, I had an apprenticeship up north, or was trying to go for it. But they, uh, it's a bit dangerous in the alps to get to the sanctum, so I headed south."

0:43:11 Fjord: "Dangerous for someone your size?"

Wursh: "When you're traveling solo, yeah."

Fjord looks down, thinking something over.

0:43:20 Fjord: "If you had the right folk heading up that way, would you consider heading up there again?"

Matt: "He looks around the shop."

Wursh: "Maybe. Making easy money here. Not too bad. Feeling a little… I don't know, stifled by all this night, but, you know, I'm learning, I'm training."

Fjord nods.

0:43:59 Wursh: "Look, I don't want to take too much of your time. I'm just saying… you walking everywhere with your pelvis forward like that and looking to start a fight with anybody that calls you on, well, that attitude, you're going to end up shivved."

Fjord contemplates that.

0:44:18 Fjord: "And I appreciate you looking out."

0:44:21 Wursh: "I'm just saying, don't let any of that bullshit affect you. Just be confident in who you are. Don't try and prove anything."

Fjord, nodding: "Try not to let the heat get to you in here. I'm sure we'll see each other again, Wursh."

Wursh: "Maybe, Fjord, maybe."

0:44:43 Travis: "I reach out my hand."

Matt: "He, like, goes, turns, stops, kind of goes like,"

Wursh makes an affirmative sound and grips Fjord's hand.

Travis: "His fingers wrap around."

Matt: "Yeah. It's like a-" he demonstrates a firm hand clench. "He heads out inside and kind of shoulders past you all."

0:44:58 Jester: "Woah."

0:44:59 Caduceus: "I don't know how he did that. that was amazing."

0:45:00 Jester: "That was- I mean, like, did you see how… many abs he had."

0:45:05 Caduceus: "I mean… I mean even his advice had abs. That was crazy."

Jester: "That was crazy."

Travis, laughing: "His advice?"

0:45:09 Caduceus: "He just… It just like, broke through layers of walls with that guy. I mean, he just never just… I mean… How did that happen?"

0:45:18 Fjord: "Cool tattoos, huh?"

Jester: "Really cool tattoos."

Caduceus: "Super cool tattoos. they were very good, I mean, very impressive.

Yasha: "Yeah, that was amazing."

Jester: "He's pretty cool."

Caduceus: "Yeah."

Fjord looks at them quizzically.

Yasha: "He seemed like a super nice guy."

Caduceus, nodding to Fjord: "He seemed really nice."

Fjord makes a face and scratches his nose to cover it.

0:45:30 Fjord: "What else do we need?"

They discuss what they need to buy.

0:45:51 Laura: "As we walk, I pat Fjord's shoulder, and I say,"

Jester: "Don't worry, Fjord, you have really good abs, too. I felt them."

Fjord, waving her off: "Jester, you don't have to make me feel better about my abs."

Jester: "And you're taller than me. You're really tall in comparison to me."

Fjord, scratching his head uncomfortably: "Yeah, I- Yep, I sure am.'

Jester: "Yeah."

0:46:07 Fjord: "That was just a very large gentleman in there."

Jester: "Yeah. He was pretty big. But sometimes that's not a good thing, you know? Sometimes being a normal size is good, too."

Fjord narrows his eyes and looks like he doesn't know where she's going and he's not sure he likes it.

Caduceus: "What a normal size?"

Fjord: "A normal size?"

Jester: "Yeah, like me. That's a good thing."

Fjord, sarcastically: "I have to be above average. Just so you're aware"

Jester, realizing she's digging herself in a hole: "And then somebody that's even bigger than normal like you are is really good, too, it's like a nice thing! Shit; help me, Yasha."

Yasha: "No, it's okay. You look great."

Travis: "I look up at Yasha."

Fjord looks slightly put-out.

Yasha: "Yes, you're so close to me in size."

Fjord: "Mmhm."

Yasha: "Wait, is some of your… family as big as him?"

0:46:44 Fjord, cluelessly shaking his head: "I don't know who my family is, so I don't think so."

Taliesin, with a skeptical smile: "Insight check."

Taliesin was waiting for something. He rolls a 22.

0:47:02 Travis: "I don't know who my family is."

Taliesin: "Cool. Alright."

Yasha: "You've never known your family?"

0:47:06 Fjord, shrugging: "No. I'm an orphan."

Caduceus: "Really? Huh."

Nott: "So that guy could have been your cousin or something. You don't know."

Caduceus: "I mean, I don't see a resemblance, but…"

Jester: "He did have an accent similar to yours."

Nott: "He did."

Fjord, tensely and annoyed: "Uh huh. Little bit of a, you know, difference." He makes a swap gesture.

Jester: "Just in height."

Nott: "Yeah."

Jester: "But, you know, you looked pretty similar in teeth." Immediate look of regret. "Nope, your teeth are not- I don't- You really didn't look alike. But you had similar accents!"

Fjord, pulling his shirt down and looking really uncomfortable: "Boy!"

Caduceus: "[Could] plant a tree in that hole."

Nott: "The accent was a good tell, yeah, it's true."

Fjord crosses his arms.

Yasha: "It's- who raised you then?"

0:47:46 Fjord: "Uh… The kids around me, I guess. Just kind of learned from being around other orphans."

Caduceus studies him and process that sadly.

Caduceus: "Wow."

0:47:54 Fjord: "Yeah, it wasn't a great place. Driftwood Asylum is very…" He waves off his hand.

Jester: "Asylum!?"

Nott: "Like an orphanage?"

Fjord: "Yeah."

Yasha: "Driftwood Asylum?"

Fjord: "Mmhm."

0:48:04 Nott: "And you didn't even have, you know, like, your muscles to protect you. So, you had to rely on wits and cleverness."

Fjord scratches his face uncomfortably.

0:48:11 Fjord: "I mean, to be fair, I actually was a bit bigger than other kids when I was younger. Half-orcs tend to grow a bit faster, but yeah, I just tend to get picked on a lot. Only one of me around."

Caduceus: "Driftwood Asylum?"

Fjord: "Yeah."

0:48:25 Caduceus: "Someone named an orphanage after wood that needs to be somewhere else or really just wants to go somewhere else? That's just-"

Nott: "It’s also wood that if you find it, you know, it's nice. Sometimes they make art out of it and stuff."

0:48:36 Fjord: "I didn't say it was a great place."

Caduceus: "Wow."

Fjord: "Yeah."

Caduceus: "You lave layers. I feel I just learn something new every day."

Fjord eyes him suspiciously.

Yasha: "Yeah."

0:48:47 Caduceus: "Uh, where to, captain?"

0:48:50

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[linzerj]

Golden Gate’s Heroes -c2

Yo so i finally finished part 2! Sorry it took so long but the dialogue really threw me off and i’m still not sure i’m happy with it. also I’m bad at writing and updating consistently so. uh. yeah please don’t get your hopes up for a speedy update i’m sorry. also sorry about the lack of venom i really just gotta rewatch the movies when i get the chance 

So after that first awkward babysitting thing where they discovered ‘oh hey you have a secret identity I have a secret identity too’, Eddie and Scott met up a grand total of three times. Two of those times were just Eddie babysitting Cassie again, because Cassie really liked him and Venom and they weren’t going to say no to that adorable kid. The first of those times was really just Eddie and Cassie hanging out again, this time at Eddie’s much-less-nice apartment. They did arts and crafts while Cassie asked Venom questions about themself, and throughout the evening Venom slowly acquired more and more glittery cut-out crowns and ribbons. They looked absolutely ridiculous, but it made Cassie happy and Eddie thought it was cute, and so they tolerated the decorations.

The second time, Scott actually invited Eddie out to dinner with him and Cassie after babysitting. It was a bit awkward, but as Eddie recalled stories from his time on The Eddie Brock Show and Scott told him stories about life before and after prison, they found more and more common ground. By the end of it, they weren’t best friends per say, but a lot of the awkwardness and tension had definitely faded down.

The third time they met up, Cassie was still there because she was great at keeping them from being too awkward and weird, but Eddie met them at Pier 39. It was just a casual time hanging out, really, but as they talked in hushed tones about Scott’s experiences as Ant-Man and how Eddie and Venom were still learning to be a functional ‘we’, Eddie figured he would definitely call Scott a friend.

Which was definitely a good thing, given his only other friends were Anne and Dan, and while they were great it was still weird to hang out with his ex-fiancée and her super nice doctor boyfriend sometimes.

Eddie figured he should introduce Scott and Cassie to Anne and Dan sometime. They’d be so proud that he had managed to make new friends, even if one of them was still only a kid who liked giving Venom flower crowns.

But first, he apparently had to meet Scott’s new girlfriend and her parents, the people who gave Scott the Ant-Man suit.

“Dude come on,” Scott was saying. This was now the fourth time they were talking face-to-face, once again after Eddie had babysat Cassie. “They’re super nice, I swear.”

“Man, I still…we still don’t know.” Eddie sighed, scrubbing his face.

“Cassie will be there if that helps, my dude.”

“I mean.” Eddie made a vague gesture. “I guess? But still.”

“Is this about not wanting to make a bad first impression, because believe me, they won’t care that much. I mean they still like me, so.”

Eddie just leveled an unimpressed look at Scott, to which Scott shrugged. “Alright so I may have also mentioned you once or twice to Hope and Hank and Jan and now they really want to meet you.”

“Dude you are the worst. Just give it a bit longer, okay?”

And the conversation effectively ended, at least for a while.

---

As much as Eddie was trying to avoid other superheroes or people who might want to tear them apart, neither he nor Venom were going to say no to Cassie’s birthday party.

We’re going to get cornered here you idiot, Venom was hissing into Eddie’s brain.

“Yeah but it’s Cassie you asshole. You really gonna say no to her?”

…no…

“So we’re sucking it up and finally doing this,” Eddie said, knocking on the door to Scott’s place. They were immediately greeted by their grinning friend.

“Hey, you made it! Cool cool, c’mon in!”

And it was normal, for a bit. Scott’s ex and her new boyfriend reminded Eddie of Anne and Dan a bit, but they didn’t pry about anything – either because they didn’t know or didn’t care. Eddie didn’t know which it was but was grateful either way.

He tried to distract himself with cake (lots of cake, chocolate cake, the best kind of cake, especially if you asked Vee), but was more than well aware of a man and two women watching with mixed looks of curiosity and anxiety from another corner of the room. They were distracted enough by Cassie too, but as the party began to wind down, guests left, and Cassie’s mom took her home, Eddie was left with Scott and the staring trio.

“Well,” Eddie said, directed mostly to Scott, “this was great, thanks for the invite, I’ll just get out of your hair now—“

“Actually, we’ve been waiting to talk to you,” the younger of the two women said, and Eddie groaned internally. He could feel Venom stirring beneath his skin, curious but also ready to protect them if needed.

“Uh, Eddie, that’s my girlfriend Hope, and her parents Hank and Janet,” Scott interjected, seeming as nervous as Eddie felt. “Guys, this is Eddie.”

“Brock, yeah,” Hank said. “Nice work taking down Drake. I knew there was something fishy going on with him but we were a bit distracted during that whole fiasco of yours.”

“Uh, thanks?” Eddie was fairly certain that was not the correct response, but it got a chuckle out of Janet, so that was fine, he supposed.

“But there is the issue of you having been – fused, or bonded, or whatever, with one of those alien symbiotes Drake was experimenting on,” Hope stated, and next to her Scott bit his lip. “The reports you gave after the incident state that you lost it, or it burned in the explosion, but there have been some reports of a large dark figure throughout the city since then – one that occasionally eats its targets. And then Scott told us about you starting to babysit for Cassie, and at the same time he started showing reluctance over tracking down the giant maneating creature. So, anything to add, Mr. Brock?”

“Hope I told you to go easy on him,” Scott muttered as Eddie blinked, and Janet rolled her eyes.

“She takes after her dad,” she said, and Hank looked affronted. But, still.

They know, Venom was hissing in his head, but their emotions were confused, unsure of if they should trust Scott’s friends, or if they should just eat them all.

Not really, Eddie thought back. From what she said, Scott never said anything specific, they all just put the pieces together on their own, and he’s trying to make everything better for us.

Hm. Cassie may like them, and Scott is okay, but still. Don’t know about what they want.

Yeah, well, let’s see, shall we? Out loud, he asked, “What if what I said isn’t true?”

“Well, legally speaking, you’d fall under the Sokovia Accords, like my daughter and this idiot here,” Hank said. Eddie was a bit offended on Scott’s behalf at the idiot comment. “If that alien is still bonded to you, you’d count as an enhanced individual, and if you were going out fighting crime and whatnot on your own, you’d be in direct violation of the Accords.”

“That’s fair. The Accords were put into place with the intention of protecting the general public, even if the first draft was rushed and had lots of loopholes that could be exploited. The current version is more sound and willing to work with the individuals who work under it. But it also requires that anyone who signs the Accords be drafted as an official Avengers member, which, y’know, some people might want to help, but they might not want to be in the spotlight like that, and just stick to what they’re doing.” This, Eddie could do. He was a reporter, after all; he’d covered the story of the original Accords, and the little ‘civil war’ that had followed it. He’d read the documents when they first came out, even if he’d had to have Anne explain the finer points and legalese to him back then. And then with Venom, he’d read the newest draft.

It wasn’t a bad thing, certainly, but they had agreed that they didn’t want to be part of the Avengers. They weren’t cut out for big-time heroics like that, and such a spotlight would make their occasional diet of humans even harder to hide, or justify.

But. Scott had proven he was willing to overlook that stuff after Eddie and Vee had explained that it was an essential part of their diet, their survival. And these people were still involved with ironing out the Accords, and could probably put in a good word on their behalf if they were nice and cooperated. But that was a risk they weren’t sure they were willing to take, at least not yet.

Janet interrupted their thoughts. “That’s why we’re working with Tony and the Accords Panel to add more amendments for people like that. We are also trying to include people who maybe go a bit too far with their vigilantism, who have killed to protect others. Right now the Accords Panel doesn’t think those types of people should be allowed unless they change completely, stop killing altogether, but even the original Avengers members had killed – look at the Black Widow and Hawkeye, for example. They both had impressive kill counts working for SHIELD, and the Widow, at least, has continued to use lethal force since joining the Avengers.”

“She’s an outlier though, Jan, we talked about that,” Hank cut in. “She’s a Russian assassin-“

“What does her being Russian have to do with anything, Hank, don’t let old grudges cloud your judgment we’ve talked about this-“

“Anyway,” Hope said, rolling her eyes at her parents, “The earlier you join, the more … uh, forgiving the Accords Panel will be about any … less than savory things you may or may not have done while trying to protect the planet, the town, your loved ones, or just yourself.”

“That’s still assuming I have the alien, though,” Eddie pointed out, trying not to laugh. Venom was snickering in the back of his mind, swirling around his body, and very much enjoying this game of cat and mouse.

Scott was looking between everyone with nervous eyes. Hank was just staring at Eddie with a kind of blank expression of disbelief; Janet was smiling conspiratorially; and Hope rolled her eyes with a huff. “Yeah, of course.”

“When you assume you make an ass out of you and me,” Scott blurted, and that, at least, earned a chuckle from Hank.

“Scott,” Hope started, but Eddie cut her off.

“Well, look, I’d love to continue this chat, but I actually have stuff to do for my job, so…”

“Yeah, man, let me show you out,” Scott said, clapping Eddie on the back and steering him toward the door. “Sorry about them,” he said in a lower, quieter tone. “I didn’t say anything but they can put two and two together and they can also be super persistent.”

“It’s fine,” Eddie said, even though it didn’t really feel fine. “It was probably going to happen sooner or later anyway. Talk to you later, man.” And Eddie and Venom made their escape.

--

It was another few weeks until Eddie and Venom saw Hope van Dyne again. They hadn’t forgotten about the conversation with her and her family, per say, just… been sufficiently distracted to let it fall to the wayside.

But having Scott walk in with Hope at the end of a day of babysitting Cassie was, well. Unexpected, to say the least. Venom, who had been providing helpful commentary to Cassie as she colored and was wearing no less than 3 flower crowns, made an attempt to duck back into Eddie before being spotted, but it was too little too late.

Hope, for her part, just leveled an unimpressed and expectant stare at Eddie, who just grinned sheepishly back. Scott, bless his innocent self, took one look at both of them and then ignored them in favor of flopping onto the floor next to Cassie and admiring her drawings. Cassie just tossed one of the dropped flower crowns at Eddie and giggled when it landed on his shoulder.

“We, uh, I… can explain?” Eddie said. Scott just shook his head.

“No you can’t.”

“Yeah no I probably can’t.”

“To be fair, I knew from the minute Scott started slipping up that something was amiss,” Hope said, “but you acting a bit weird at Cassie’s party was what really gave it away.”

“So, uh, are you gonna arrest us or something, then? Cuz like, you probably… don’t wanna do that.”

“No, you’re fine,” Hope said. “Although you probably don’t believe that, and I can understand why. But, look, if Scott trusts you, I’m willing to give you a chance.”

Everyone else blinked. “Really?” Scott asked, lighting up like a Christmas tree. “Aw, Hope! You’re the best!”

“And you’re adorable, Scott. Anyway,” Hope continued, turning back to face Eddie, “you and your alien friend or whatever should very much consider reading and signing these.” And with a flash, a huge stack of papers materialized – no, grew – in front of them.

“The freaking Accords?” Eddie snorted. “Dude, I have read them-“

“I’m aware, it’s a legal thing, your ex is a lawyer so I’m sure you understand.”

Eddie made a disgruntled sound. “We really don’t want to be an Avenger,” he said finally.

“Aw, but you guys are a hero!” Cassie piped up, finally tuning back in to the adult conversation. Eddie flashed her a grateful smile, and because they adore Cassie, Venom poked a small head out from Eddie’s shoulder to give her a toothy grin.

Scott gave them an encouraging thumbs up from next to Cassie, and even Hope looked – bemused, perhaps, at all of this. But, still. “We have, uh. Y’know.”

“Eaten people? Yeah, you’re the new local cryptid,” Hope said. “But as has been said, plenty of the Avengers have killed for one reason or another. Whatever, people will deal with it. Also, if you do sign, it’s not like you’re going to be required to move back to NYC or anything – look at Scott and myself, we’re still here.”

“Yeah but they probably will make him go out for an orientation or initiation or whatever they called it,” Scott piped up.

Eddie, Vee said into Eddie’s brain, we know we are reluctant, but also… we should give it a try. We could be better than ever! And we can meet many other superheroes too, get more friends. Eat them if they try to hurt us.

Eddie sighed. “We’ll think about it and get back to you, okay? That’s all I can promise right now.”

---

It wasn’t even a week before Eddie was giving Hope and Scott their signed copy of the Accords.

[captainsspnanon]

C2E53 - Cornered - rewatch reaction

What’s this? I’m actually watching CR C2 again!  

I don’t even know why I needed the break from it, it was pretty much from CR overall, though I’ve been watching Calamity.  Probably just needed mindless watching, I can let smarter, more eloquent people on tumblr do my reactions for me XD

Oh man, the dndbeyond sponsorship hits differently now that I actually have and use a dndbeyond account XD

I miss having the unconnected ad bits.  C3 ads have been fine for the most part, but so many of them are linked together, it loses a bit of the fun. Probably easier for Sam, but if you don’t like one in C2, it’s fine, the next one will be different.  If you don’t like one in C3, you’re probably stuck with it for a good number of episodes.

I FORGOT THAT THIS IS RIGHT BEFORE THE KICKSTARTER!!!!!!!!  Three days away, OMG.  YOU GUYS DON’T EVEN KNOW.

lol at Matt going “Fjord” and Travis going “mm?” then a moments pause of silence, and then everyone realizing at the exact same moment that this is gonna be a dream sequence and flailing XD

First instance of “Punish”, and once again Fjord is vomiting seawater.  I have to find the post, I’ve reblogged it before, which speculates that Uk’otoa never actually saved Fjord but instead kept him slowly drowning, until the greater restoration and all the seawater comes up at once.  I don’t recall if this is also going to be the first instance of Fjord losing his powers or if that’s a later dream. (ha HA!  https://captainsspnanon.tumblr.com/post/686512624057401344)

Considering that mechanically, a warlock breaking their pact actually does NOT lose their warlock abilities, I do still like how Matt did it with Fjord temporarily losing his powers.  This is also one of those moments where I’m also curious about the behind-the-scenes aspects of this. Did Matt discuss with Travis if he would be okay with losing certain mechanics of his class?  Judging by Travis’s reactions when it occurs, I’m assuming it is not something that was discussed beforehand, but was considered and implemented after having played in the same group for years and knowing the comfort levels.  I admit, I’m thinking about this a bit more ‘real life’ now that I’ve started my own game (and already dealt with drama), because I’m wondering how I would have reacted had my DM removed my class mechanics without discussing it with me.  Now, to be fair, and assuming I’m remember correctly, Travis doesn’t lose his mechanics for any significantly long period of time (I think the first time it’s returned within the same game?  And the second time may have been mid-late episode and returned the  next one?), until he voluntarily makes the decision to forfeit it.  So it’s not like Matt is stripping him of his mechanics for several games at a stretch.

Episode 53, Caleb talks to Nott and tells her that he is not the leader of the group. Nott says she’ll drop it ‘for now’.  Episode 114, Caleb tells Veth to stop calling him the leader of the group, he doesn’t need the emotional boost from it anymore.  Veth finally listens and accepts.  *finger pinch* Growth.

Also I have so many feels that when Fjord is talking about who is intelligent or a good leader, he lists Beau first off and multiple times.  For as much of the Brjeau’s relationship is Captain/First Mate dynamic, with Beau having a hell of a lot of respect for Fjord, there is equally the same amount of respect and admiration the other direction as well. He teaches her how to use her words, she teaches him how to use his body, and they are both super intelligent and utter dumbfucks at the exact same time.

I love the gentle little moment of friendship where Sam and Laura are asking Matt if they can do a brief flashback “when was the last time you checked in with yeza?  Remember last night?  Just before bed?” with the puppy dog eyes and they give him, and Matt with this little smile on his face and saying faux-reluctantly “alright I’ll allow it” and then just being so excited.  It’s just a sweet moment of friends goofing off (if Matt had said no, I would have been genuinely astonished), and it’s such a big reason why I watch CR.

This is one of Jester’s funniest sendings, just because of Laura’s sheer panic after she says “um” and ends up wasting a word.  While ‘you pooping’ and ‘hmm hmm donuts!’ are funny, it’s in character funny instead of the sheer terror of a player realizing they may be fucked.

….with Sam’s joke that Yeza has the deepest voice in town, I wonder if Yeza’s voice influence Liam choosing how Orym would sound.  ….it’s probably just Halflings = small = higher pitched voice, but I like the idea of Sam influencing Matt influencing Liam.

Caleb taking the opportunity to use some of his spell components and smearing it on Beau’s face, but just to fuck with her.  Early campaign Caleb would SO not do this, if only because of fear of Beau!  But after so many different levels of opening up to each other, he can do this and Beau doesn’t give the slightest of shits.  In fact, she even asks for his bat shit!  (Imagine if he HAD actually given her the full amount. He couldn’t have been mind-controlled into fireballing them, as he wouldn’t have had the components!  You KNOW Liam would have held to that.) (I don’t know if the fireballing happens the same day or not though.)

Minor foreshadowing! When the party re-enters Zorth’s for the moorbounders, Matt describes the bell jangling above them, and Caduceus looks so pleased and delighted as he looks up by it.  No wonder he insists on a bell at the Xhorhaus.

I admit, I’m not sure why Cad claims that his moorbounder is definitely a Clarabelle. When we see her in game, she’s very sweet!  I know Matt said that the moorbounder was a bit more kitten like (I typed moor kitten like by mistake first), but it’s still a gruff beast when Cad’s deciding the name.  I wonder if it’s a case where Taliesin had an idea for how Clarabelle would be, but then Matt ended up playing her a different way than expected.  Or maybe it really is more that the moorbounder is more playful than the rest, like with licking up the side of Cad’s face.

“Timoch and Ude Make Things” WHY DID WE NEVER GO HERE. WHYYYYY.  (Because this is also where Madame Musk’s is and she’s amazing)

Why is Beau so unnerved and frighted by Madame Musk?  Fjord is obvious, he’s played by Travis.  But as far as we’ve seen, Marisha doesn’t seem to be easily freaked out, so this is a deliberate choice she’s making for Beau.  But Beau has seen ghosts and will continue to do so, and doesn’t show this same fear to them (at least not that I can recall).  Maybe it’s just that this isn’t easily quantifiable?  I’m here for it!  I just don’t get it XD

Oh, side quests that never got done.  Collecting “Tumor Moss” for Madame Musk.  I wonder if there may have been another rift there, or at least something that would lead back to the main rift quest, or if it was just a full on side quest to get like another healing potion or two.

I feel like this works best in C2, it’s known as the most rambling campaign for a reason, but it works well.  C1 was very structured with very clear Go To Point A, Do Thing 1, Go To Point B, Do Thing 2, which isn’t a bad thing!  The world still felt living and breathing, but it certainly followed a bit more of a video game progress, beating a level and facing a boss, then beating a harder level and facing another boss.  C2 is full on open sandbox, which I know I prefer but I am aware that it lost some viewers who felt like it was TOO unstructured, leading to a lot of faffing around.  C3 seems to be a mix of the two so far, but leaning a bit closer to C1.  I feel like we could 100% have Madame Musk in C1 and C3, but if we did, she wouldn’t have the Tumor Moss side quest the same way she does in C2.

I also feel like only in C2 would be where you could have the party getting a map a la Aeor and actively spend time just exploring, even a bit reluctant to follow the plot because they want to keep exploring, versus C1 and C3 where a map may present enticing options but doesn’t detract from the path they’re traveling on.  (actually, do they even get physical maps in C1?   Hmm… looking at CRstats, nope.  There’s an overall continent map which was probably after the game, and greyskull keep layout, which I don’t think I’d count.  C2 has 7 maps on their site, but I’m pretty sure there’s the one more that the PCs got with all the A1, A2, A?, so I’m calling it 8.  C3 so far has 3 maps...though I think only 2 have been in game?)  (also looking at the keep map, why does Vex have the smallest room???  I know I’m not on the C1 rewatch yet, but with her eventual characterization and sense of self-worth tied to the material? Smallest room HURTS a little bit)

I really look forwards to whatever shenanigans that Travis and Sam get up to in C3. Scanlan/Grog and Tary/Grog were chaotic, sure, but NOTHING beats the Nott/Fjord dynamic.  EVER.  I love it so so much, and I adore the fact that it started purely because Travis was poking at Sam, and then Sam decided to take it in character rather than out of game ribbing.

I’m glad Marisha decided to make Beau a seeker of knowledge.  She seems to THRIVE when she’s able to ask questions or search for things, even when the dice don’t go her way.

Hello Drow!Dairon! ILU

….I never rewatched this conversation after finding out it was Dairon.  OMG IT’S SO FUCKING AWKWARD NOW.  Like, it’s awkward to begin with, but then Dairon must be just SCREAMING at Beau in her head for just utterly FAILING to do a good job. XDDD

Matt!Yasha is great in her own way, but it’s so absolutely different than Ashley!Yasha that it almost feels like two different characters.  It’s not easy for Matt, because he’s going off of what Ashley has presented Yasha to be with the backstory that she has, but Ashley is SUCH a chaos gremlin (which I super didn’t realize until end of C2/C3, at which point I’m retroactively seeing it much more in C2 and thinking about C1) that her reactions just don’t match what Matt’s speculating it to be.  It works that for most of C2 when Ashley is gone that Yasha is gone as well, what with Lorenzo and then leaving after Molly, and then Obann.  Pike missing always felt a bit awkward, it didn’t feel right that she wasn’t accompanying the group. Honestly, Matt always seemed to play up Pike’s devotion to Sarenrae a lot more than Ashley did.  Again, chaos gremlin wanting to be in the fights – so, from what I recall, it felt much more like just ‘whelp, Ashley’s missing gotta have Pike gone’, and also made the skyping in make much more sense.  With Yasha, it feels genuine to the story when she’s gone.  Unfortunately, it does mean that we’ve got this long stretch here from Uk’otoa to half of the Xhorhas before Obann where she’s ‘technically’ here, but she’s basically on hold – a cardboard cutout waiting to come to life when the player is here.  I do think it was the right choice though...so much HAPPENS in this massive stretch of episodes (almost 30, I think?) that it helps that Yasha would actually know the things that happened and be there for it, allowing the PCs to have more of a connection to her.  If Yasha was truly not there except when Ashley was, not only would it lead to her being unaware of so many things, but also with THIS group of suspicious assholes, it would be very very difficult for her to form the tight bonds that she is able to. (and personally, I really feel that unfortunately she still wasn’t able to form many tight bonds.  Her and Beau are great, but all the other relationships are unfortunately a bit more shallow, just from lack of time together to build it)

TANGENT – I feel so bad for Liam and Ashley.  I can’t tell if they both want to RP together, or if Liam just badly wants to RP with Ashley, but it just ends up falling through so much!  Liam wants more with Ashley in C1, so Vax starts to be influenced by her for possible worship of Sarenrae and then oops shit Raven Queen shit be here.  He gets little bits in, like the fun buns, but that’s always when Ashley’s not actually there, and when she is, she’s normally interacting with the other PCs.  C2, Caleb and Yasha have like...ONE amazing scene together, and it just could have been so much more.  These two PCs carry so much guilt and have so many odd parallels in their pasts, and yet we really only ever get the one conversation and then Liam/Caleb making a few comments or gestures.  And then in C3!!! Minor minor spoilers, but Liam and Ashley SHOULD have the best way to have close PCs with lots of RP potential!  And yet even now, 24 episodes in, we don’t actually have much in depth between the two as RP.  There’s lots implied, and little tiny scenes that build up, but no long conversations or RP.  GIVE LIAM AND ASHLEY LOTS OF SCENES TOGETHER PLEASE AND THANK YOU

Wait, I just remembered – doesn’t Dairon ONLY give back the diamond?  Meaning she keeps the gold (at least it was only 10g, but this is a broke ass party) and the jade???  Caleb could have used that jade!  I mean, not til Rumblecusp, but still.  He would have had his own instead of having to destroy Veth’s figure (was it a little rabbit?  CAN’T REMEMBER).  (oh geez, this jade is from the happy fun ball!  I didn’t even remember, I had to look it up.   I know it’s just inventory to them, but I love how it feels like a callback, like how the dust of deliciousness feels like a callback, even though Laura was just using what she had available)

I miss top table SO MUCH.  There’s something about the combination of Travis, Marisha, and Liam where they all end up feeding into each other’s touchy-feely and thus you get them being very physical in all sorts of ways through the campaign.  Hugs, shoves, punches, hands, it’s wonderful.  Then in C3 you’ve got Travis, Marisha, Sam, which somehow just doesn’t provide the same level.  In fact, it makes Travis and Marisha LESS touchy-feely than C2.  Maybe it’s just the PCs, but a lot of time it’s out of character touching so I feel like it shouldn’t influence.  It might also just be still a little bit of covid concerns, but these guys are hanging out in and out of game without masks, so I’m assuming they’re comfortable enough now.  Liam and Taliesin and Liam and Laura have some, but not as much (and Liam and Laura are nowhere near like they were in C1).  To be fair, it’s probably PCs and may get more as the campaign goes on, but it doesn’t make me miss C2 top table the most.  BEST grouping. BEST.

Marisha has a theory after Beau gets stunned.  Does she suspect Dairon?  I can’t tell!

I admit I’m a tad confused why Dairon goes for Beau and Jester rather than the ogre.  I suspect it’s an ‘I can knock them out rather than kill them’, but it feels like it would make more sense for her to work on taking out the one that she knew was the most risk.  *shrugs*

I’m still glad that Marisha messed up and rolled lower damage dice than she should have been, because it works out so much better narratively.  It’s like the Kern fight.  Travis effed up his damage, but it ended up making a better story.

This is the episode that starts the real human bias that I was remembering from Asarius. I was surprised by the bugbear, but this is back to what I expected.

@suicidallyreckless

[captainsspnanon]

C2E46 - A Storm of Memories - rewatch reaction

I’m 100% okay with episodes being pre-recorded, it has never bothered me in the slightest and I tend not to feel like it being live actually adds anything to it.  But there is a bit of charm of Laura coming in late, demanding to know if she’s got a doughnut, eating her dinner ‘sneakily’...so I guess I do get it a little bit.  

If I remember correctly, we only get a little bit of sad!Caleb this episode, but I think I need it. I’ve had a rough few days and I need the emotional catharsis of feeling my feels by my heart breaking for my sad boi.   Then I can be cheered up by Hello Bees!

Nott offering to stay, Caduceus giving a book, Fjord asking about paper, they all care about him and he’s starting to see it and it’s making him SO uncomfortable and I love it all so much.

Jester’s insistence that Fjord left them, making it sound more voluntary than it was, it breaking my heart.  It feels very similar to when she feels abandoned by the Traveler, except this time it’s a person she’s traveling with, not a god floating about on their whims.

I cannot tell if Travis is just being a dick with the whole ‘you didn’t immediately come after me?’ schtick, or if Fjord is genuinely feeling a little betrayed and abandoned.  I’m supposing it’s probably a 75/25 split with Travis trolling hard.  Just because it’s trolling doesn’t mean that it might not come from a secret insecurity of Fjord though.  Belonging is always something that’s been hard for him to accept as much as he desperately wants it.  Think of how quickly he was willing to accept that the group would abandon him when he lost his powers (both involuntarily and when he broke the patron bond).  He’d been with the group for months at that point, probably over half a year at least, and still was expecting to be kicked to the curb, though he would never suggest kicking anyone else.  It applies for many of the PCs in C2, but he’s definitely a ‘but not me though’ type person.  “It’s okay for everyone to struggle with this!  ...but not me though.”  “It’s okay for someone to feel overwhelmed at times.  ...but not me though.”  (I personally feel like Caleb, Nott, Beau, and Yasha also fall into this group frequently.  Jester and Cad do at times, but I feel like to a lesser extent, Jester more than Cad though.)

I barely put together the fact that Caleb was feeling really bad ALSO because he was the one who was fiddling with the sphere only a minute or two before he said it himself.

Nott’s gasp as realizing that Felderwin was attacked (and Sam’s wide eyes at realizing that his story’s up next XD)

Didn’t Travis already pay out the 130 to Marius?  And now another 225?  I wouldn’t be so concerned if this were VM, but M9 is poor AF for an adventuring party!  They are so dnd!poor!  130 gold is a LOT!

I didn’t realize this was the first mention of Caduceus’s veganism.  I could have sworn it came up before!  Maybe it had just been Taliesin making a joke about the Conjure Food and Water making tofu-like food in the sense of ‘not very good’ rather than ‘vegan’.  (tofu is fucking amazing by the way.  You don’t need to be a vegan to find that shit absolutely delicious.  Just gotta find a good brand, and unfortunately the grocery store that I go to now has two TERRIBLE brands which taste awful.  I miss my old grocery store)

All the fucking kudos to Ashley, my god.  I’ve mentioned this before, but I really didn’t feel much of Yasha’s character at all until Ashley was back full time, mainly because I wasn’t used to Ashley yet and couldn’t tell the difference between her and Yasha a lot.  But now??  HOLY SHIT, this quiet pain that she’s presenting as Yasha, her desire to just go with the flow and not ask for things of her own, MY HEART.  This is so much more poignant than Jester or Fjord’s feelings of abandonment, as legitimate as they are.  With such a nomadic character too, Yasha leaves people on HER terms.  But this time they left her, and with no notice at all.  Include the fact that Yasha’s not super close to any of them yet (much more due to Blindspot than anything within game itself), this definitely shook her badly.  I’m having so many Yasha feels right now.  (also this is one point where watching C1 first would have had it’s benefits, because Pike is SO different from Yasha, and having had time to see Ashley riff with Sam and Travis would have added a clear distinction between her and Yasha.  I got there eventually.  I’m not sure if it was during the Xhorhas stretch or if it was after Obann that I really began feeling her, but I know that it came.)

Just checked the attendance, this is the last one-off with Ashley! They’ll still be jaegering her for the next chunk of episodes, but then she’s there for 12, is taken by Obann, then back for good! I’m SOOOOOOO fucking ecstatic that we have her for all of C3, unless she ends up picking up another role, which I highly doubt she intends to.

Oh the whiplash from Sam/Nott shouting indignant about not having a funeral when everybody else did to Yasha admitting that she thought that they didn’t want her to be part of the group, and then immediately trying to cover it up.  MY HEAAART

The blacksmith who just wants a hug from Caduceus is ADORABLE.  

I’ve tried honey comb before, but I just prefer honey.  Much easier to deal with.  Unfortunately, due to the pandemic, I haven’t been able to stock up on my good honey supply from a farmers market that I go to during a festival in [location redacted] and [time of year redacted] and [way too much personal information that I shouldn’t put in the internet redacted].  I tried a different vendor a few years ago which was absolutely lovely, bu the honey crystalized pretty quickly, and has been very difficult to fully decrystalize. I’ll get it mostly smooth again, but the bits that remain lead the honey to have a slightly off flavor.  And of course I don’t want to microwave the jar so long that it risks breaking, and having it sit in a pot of hot water works but take aaages, and still has the same issues.  So I just need to wait until [information redacted] to see if we’ll be able to go again in [information redacted].

UGH Caleb feeeeeeels.  Also, the foreshadowing!  Corrupted plant life?  Caduceus!  Debate records for both Xhorhas and Cognouza stuff! And then book number three is Eiselcross.  MATT YOU FRICKEN GENIUS. Seriously!  On a rewatch, you can see things that he is dropping in which become HUGE later on!  And I’m just referring to the ones that he deliberately plans, not the ones which due to the nature of the improv show end up being much more important than expected (nine, anyone?).

Out of the three, the Mistake, the Balleater, and the Nein Heroz, I think I like the Mistake the most.  It feels most appropriate for the Nein.  The Balleater is a dirty joke that a few of the PCs weren’t too fond of, and the Nein Heroz just feels too grand a name for this group XD.  The Mistake is juuuust right.

Dammit now I have Beau feels!  She’s right smack dab in the midst of her character growth, and this episode is hitting so many beats for her.  She’s taking on leadership aspects while still respecting a hierarchy (first mate to captain), she’s caring about people (making sure the crew is okay, checking in with Jester emotionally), she’s opening up instead of bringing up walls (sharing her childhood, expression admiration for Jester, saying ‘love you’), UGH I LOVE BEAU SO MUCH.  There is a REASON that she is only a hair away from being my favorite C2 PC (Caleb then Beau) (then Fjord, Jester, and Caduceus tied.  Then Nott and Yasha tied, and I’m expecting the rewatch to bump Nott and Yasha up to tying with everyone else).  Marisha is just fucking awesome.  Even when I didn’t like Keyleth, I appreciated what Marisha was doing with her, and Beau and C3 PC were just insta-hits with me from the start.

(also Jester feels that are there but hidden by the BEAU FEELS on top of it)

Ashley’s instant recognition of Zuala before her name is even said, with her hand over her mouth and eyes closing.  UGH and the rest of the cast not recognizing how big this moment is!!  Those are some of the best moments to me in a rewatch, seeing a PC react to something huge and no one else seeing it, and then they find out later and it’s the retroactive realization.

WAIT OBANN IS IN THE FLASHBACK AAAAAAAAAAAHHHH (also Orphan Maker name drop) (also also I think this is flashing back to her slaughtering a number of her tribe, at least the leader, which we never really find out even happens until the finale, and even then it’s not super clear.)

Do I go into my Orphan Maker ramble here?  SURE, why not.  I don’t get it.  Like, it’s a fucking badass name, and Yasha is metal as FUCK and Ashley picked Orphan Maker (I’m 99% sure on that, I don’t think it was Matt) buuuuuut.  Why Orphan Maker??  Had Yasha shown herself to be bloodthirsty in any way before?  As per her telling, she enjoyed fighting but she also enjoyed more peaceful aspects.  The level of fighting seemed to just be what was needed in her tribe.  So as much as I love the name Orphan Maker, I am super confused as to why that ended up being her tribe name.  Especially since Zuala is always referred to as Zuala and not any other title.  In fact, we don’t hear any others aside from the Skyspear.  So are they all super hardcore and violent sounding names?  Orphan Maker, Bone Crusher (nope that’s the name of the sword, isn’t it?), Skull Splitter, Torture McKillkill.  I honestly wish we had at least one or two other names for context.  If they were all like that, I think I’d be more comfortable with Yasha getting Orphan Maker, rather than feeling that it’s off in some way.  (I have no clue if other names are covered in the origins comic)  (oh, it isn’t be published for a few months, no wonder I didn’t know! XD  I knew it’s been announced ages ago, hadn’t realized that the pandemic pushed comic released back)

(completely off topic, but I don’t know how canon I consider the comics.  Jester’s had multiple contradictions to her campaign situation, including not having seen the Traveler’s face, having him show up around the same age as her since she was a child and growing up with her, him never having called himself a god but Jester deciding he was one, all things that are different in the comic. *shrugs* I don’t particularly care either way, because I do consider the campaigns to be the main canon regardless, but every once in a while it will bug me.)

The thunder sound effect is cool but distracting, and the lighting effect is barely noticeable.  Though it does make me really excited to see if/how a thunderstorm will be handled in C3.  C2 does a LOT right, but this is one of the instances where it misses more than succeeds.  Maybe if the thunder sound was about half as loud.

I do feel bad for Ashley when she’s only back for one episode and the spotlight AND combat is thrust upon her.  I get it’s to keep her involved in the story, both her and the PC, but OH BOY that instant pressure and stress, when you haven’t been thinking of dnd in AGES.  POP QUIZ remember your combat mechanics when you last played like, three months ago???  At least???  (i’m not bothering to look up the attendance again to count the actual episodes) It’s ROUGH

Narratively, I’m not sure what purpose this fight serves.  The Stormlord was just speaking to her about how the pain from loss can cause her to push people away and she shouldn’t do it, but then the fight is clearly meant to be a one on one, with her getting penalized for it when Jester gets involved.  Sure, she’s a barbarian, and sure, one of the Stormlord’s aspects is about combat and challenging oneself, but I dunno.  Oddly, it never seemed to fit with Yasha.  I don’t think I can consider a different class for her, but she’s not your typical barbarian, and I always felt like her trials by combat just didn’t mesh well.  I think a highlight of that is her purposely losing in the fighting ring, THAT felt so true to Yasha.  A reluctant fighter, in many senses.  I feel like had more of her background with her tribe been explored during the campaign, we may have seen more of this reluctant fighter aspect.

I both appreciate and feel bad about Travis giving her hints for the combat.  Appreciate it because of the reasons given above with JUST GOT BACK, but feel bad because it’s a bit of “let her play!”, a sense of ‘she’s playing wrong so must correct her’.  And OBVIOUSLY we know Travis isn’t thinking the latter and is just trying to assist, but there’s that little feeling there anyway.

I am surprised that she won, because I absolutely remember her losing.  But I think that’s because Ashley had miscounted damage and SHOULD have lost, which doesn’t bother me but I remember reading a bunch of comments about it, and the animated recap shows her losing.  Whether it’s via comment cleanup, or just comments getting up/down voted, the comments don’t even mention it during this viewing.  (similar to how when I watched C1, there was Marisha hate, but it did seem like a lot of the worst of it had gotten cleaned up)

Huh, did we ever find out if Molly knew about Zuala?  Because Ashley and Taliesin knew that they knew parts of each other’s backstories.

Caduceus asking to see Yasha’s sword….was Taliesin originally considering the broken sword to go to her??  Once he gave it to Fjord, it seemed as if it had always been planned that way.  I wonder if this is the sign of a different path.  (Or maybe just Tal forgot that Yasha had picked up her sword again and thought it was still on the deck)

I am having so many Yasha feels right now.  ILU YASHAAAAAAAAA

Ooooo, Yasha saying that there’s months she can’t account for, and she woke up months later, and then during the wrap up we find out it was actually more like 1-2 YEARS and Ashley’s like THAT’S SO MUCH LONGER THAN I THOUGHT

Nott and Fjord bickery is the best bickery.  “this fucker” I LOVE IT SO MUCH

lolling at Sam trying to get spell info from Liam NEVER GONNA HAPPEN but then immediately followed by Caleb saying that because he was getting closer and caring more for the group, he was forgetting him and Nott, and I am genuinely surprised by how much that actually hurt to hear it.  It’s hard to imagine because of how close they are, but it’s true, there’s been less one on one interactions between the two of them.  Not so much that Caleb is forgetting about Nott, but more that Caleb is now caring for the group and counting Nott as part of the group, rather than holding her to a more special standard.  This is also really interesting because (which I could be wrong) I think that Veth ends up being a bit less close with Caleb? More that she considers him the same level of the group, rather than to a higher standard.  I’m looking forwards to seeing if that’s accurate or not, I admit that because it’s been so long I’m influenced by what I see online and read, which doesn’t necessarily mean it’s canon.  I do remember Caleb being a bit jealous of Yeza due to him taking Nott’s attention away, but also a lot of Veth specific stuff tends to escape me.  I think of the character as a whole, Nott/Veth, but it’s also easier for me to remember Nott specific things because of the rewatching.  I look forwards to relearning the Veth specific things.

WHAT ARE THESE HORRIBLE ROLLS omg I’m laughing so hard

Oh shit!  Accursed Spector number 2!  (and last, I think)  I forgot about this one!  Doesn’t he use it as like a forward person? MEMORY = shot  *checks stats* Yup, only twice!  Also lol marine layer is only four times???  I feel like it was so much more than that, considering how heavily it was heckled until it was actually badass

@suicidallyreckless

[captainsspnanon]

C3E11 - liveblog

Oh I love that Sam bit, so earnest and adorable

Being honest, I expected this to immediately go into combat, so the fact that there was a little discussion at the beginning?  Genuinely surprising.

As soon as Chetney took off the beanie and the jacket, I think everyone knew what was coming.  The reveal was FANTASTIC though!  The sad thing is that in a home game this reveal would have worked very well because Travis never said ‘rogue’, just implied via his skill set.  However, since there are cards for each character, we were informed ‘rogue’ even though it was false.  It’s something where in a home game, it’s a surprise, in a live streamed game, it’s a lie.  *shrugs* To be fair, I’m not actually bothered by it, and there’s really nothing that they could have done because they couldn’t have left the class blank, but maybe that would be an option for if they do a fourth campaign, only fill in the classes when we see it in combat. I was also slightly expecting a multiclass reveal, so the straight bloodhunter was a surprise.

For anyone who has been reading my C2 rewatch reactions, you know that I was wondering how bloodhunter would actually work as we didn’t get to see too much of it, so this will answer my questions!  A different subclass, sure, but from what I can tell most subclasses still are very clearly the main class (rogue subclasses all still have the sneak attack and such, casting subclasses will still have the main spell lists, etc. etc.), so should get an interesting idea.

I’m honestly not sure how I feel about the furniture fighting.  Now they at least know where it’s coming from, but even though it can still attack and do significant damage, it just doesn’t have the same emotional impact as fighting a living creature.  The shade creepers provided more stress than the table and chairs.  I am hoping that this is early campaign only, I don’t know how I’d feel about the BBEG being a full dining room set. XD

WHY DOES IRA KNOW FEARNE.  Or at least “Calloway”!!!

Oooof, that was a kind DM move, had the fight gone on for real, I’m sure a TPK would be incoming, but good on Matt for finally being able to create a re-occurring villain!  Here’s hoping the party doesn’t kill him in like, three episodes XD

Hmmm...I just checked, and Chetney could transform as of level 3.  The reason I (and I think many) were suspecting multiclass is because then it could be 1 rogue and 3 bloodhunter, therefore why Travis came in late to the story.  But with being full on bloodhunter, I don’t get why Chetney wasn’t there from the start.

Claret Orders again. Is that where all bloodhunters come from?  I don’t recall if it was mentioned during C1, but that’s C2 and C3 set.

Man, C3 is really jumping hard into plot stuff waaaay faster than C2 did (though C2 was more shorter things connected with the PC growth being the main ‘story’).  Same with C1 even, because C1 didn’t really get going until Briarwoods for main plot connectedness.  But C3 seems like this could even be leading to eventual BBEG, and we’re only episode 11!

Reasons that I think this could be:

   the cast and/or Matt wanted a more definite plot after C2

   Matt really wants to make sure he has villains that last more than a handful of episodes or a single arc

   maybe the cast wants to play to level 20 again?  They did start at 3.  Or at least maybe go higher than the C2 cast (which I would say capped at level 15, the level 16 was like half an episode) so maybe like to 17 or 18?

   or maybe they are just tailoring it for a show versus a game, which is a valid thing to do, but also I’d feel mixed about it.  Well, I guess as long as they were still having fun, but I didn’t feel like too much of C2 ever felt like they forced it in a certain way due to an audience, and I really hope they don’t for C3 either.  The inclusion of Bell and the formatting of the first episode felt that way, but I’m hoping they just go for fun.

LOL Matt took their teasing about the bathhouse and ran with it.  And of course they spend a nice little character moment each in it, I adore it so much.

Ooooo, Liam plot! Tying into the same location as Ashton’s deal, more incentive to head there.  And going after the ball, so going in five days?  Should fit perfectly in with Jiana’s timeline.

IMOGEN PLOT.

I don’t mind The New Nobodies, but I’m also not super vibing with it.

@suicidallyreckless

[captainsspnanon]

@heritage367, you asked me a question - and I answered.  I apologize.

Just so you’re aware, I have been going through this answer so much in my head before I’ve written it down.  Unfortunately, I’m very fluent and awesome in my own thoughts, but time to speak or write it, and I lose the thread.  This is the best that I can do.

First of all, I want to clarify a few things.  As always, all the below is only my opinion and the way I view things.  This does not mean that it’s objectively correct in any way.  I hope that I don’t offend anyone or think that I’m hating on any of the players in any way.  As always, I truly enjoy them all!

Taliesin.  I want to clarify the lack of vulnerable emotions.  I definitely don’t mean that he’s incapable of playing the emotions, or lacks skill in it. The way I’m viewing things, he’s made a deliberate choice not to play certain emotions at the table, for whatever reason he may have. Maybe he doesn’t want to deal with those feelings in a game, who knows.

He’s good at playing a wide range of emotions, but when it comes to things like grief or fear, he doesn’t play them outright.  He’ll do the stunned silence, as I’ve mentioned, but I have two problems with it and it’s why I’m not counting it.  One – since it’s just silence, it’s even more subjective and up to the viewer as to what emotions may be felt.  And two, and this is the big one – with eight players at the table, I WILL NOT NOTICE SILENCE.  I don’t care who it’s from!  I’ve missed it from Liam, I’ve missed it from Sam, and I’ve missed it from Taliesin, and on and on.  There’s too much action at the table for me to focus on every player, so my focus tends to be on who is talking and who is actively participating in a scene.  Silence is a very valid reaction from PCs to a scene, but it’s not going to draw my eye when watching.  In C1 and C2 it was more okay because I’d frequently look at youtube comments and see people mention it, so either rewatch the section or make sure to focus on the faces when I watched.  But since I’m watching C3 as close to live as I can, and always before the youtube release, I’m just watching what’s waving in my face.  I TRY to focus on other faces, but it’s hard when you’re actively invested in the story that’s being told by those who are waiving their hands.  In my opinion, it kind of only works either 1) during a rewatch where you’re deliberately focusing on it, or 2) when it becomes a point – such as when Caduceus was in his silent feels on the boat and Jester had to go over and comfort him.  Once again, a lot of the silence, while there and present, got buried under the rest of the RP, until it was brought up and dealt with.  This is the very rare occasion where I think Taliesin actually did act a vulnerable emotion – a bit, until it ends up getting resolved REALLY really quickly.  Like, I feel that even before Laura was finished with Jester’s speech, Taliesin had already decided that it was good enough and he wasn’t gonna do the emotion anymore.  (Cad’s alleged dislike of the ocean and how he wasn’t going to let the few bad experiences tarnish his opinion of it so he trained himself to like it?  Don’t recall actually seeing it roleplayed every in the campaign, just talked about on Talks.)

The biggest issue with Tal not playing the vulnerable emotions though, is that he always talks about how his PCs are feeling it.  Percy was allegedly going through a nervous breakdown the entire campaign, I never saw it.  Percy allegedly feared Ripley.  Never saw it.  Taliesin says that Molly goes and has a panic attack, we never saw any of the emotion, nor lead in for it, nor aftermath of it.  Etc. etc.  So I get a lot of ‘telling not showing’ with Tal’s PCs in terms of vulnerable emotions, which ends up frustrating me, because I’m sure he would be fucking FANTASTIC at showing it, but it choosing not to. It also ends up making it much harder for me to relate to his PCs. If everything has to be analyzed and subtext, it’s just frustrating rather than fun.  Not everything needs to be surface level, but a lot needs to be seen at least some times at surface level to make the effort of deeper review even worth it.  (It’s an issue I tend to have with Sam’s PCs as the start of the campaign, but he eventually allows the more true emotions to be seen on the surface and then I like them much more.)

Again, biggest thing here, THIS IS NOT A BAD THING.  I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, I WANT the players to play how they want to play, because I personally think that Critical Role will only survive as long as the cast is still having honest fun.  So am I disappointed that I don’t get Taliesin acting out the emotions that he’s claiming his PCs have?  Yes.  But I need to learn to let that go, because it’s a choice that he is making, and I want him to make choices for his own fun rather than choices for an audience.

OKAY, I’ve rambled fucking enough, on to the rest!

Matt!   Matt has portrayed pretty much every single emotion that there is to experience through all his NPCs.  About the only emotion I can think of that he may not have done (remembering that my memory is not SUPER great and I can absolutely have missed things) is having an NPC express grief with tears.  I think the closest we get is with Essek’s ‘it’s not fair’ speech?  Grief is certainly used in many of his PCs, but in some ways it’s almost a little distant – that recognition of being a side player in the story and not wanting to take the limelight from the main characters.  Matt himself has cried several times on stream, but again, I don’t think any of it was in character – except for maybe that end Essek moment (which I can’t remember clearly).  Aside from that one specific thing (which I also don’t think is a necessity – I don’t require any of these players to actually cry!), I’m pretty sure he’s done the whole gambit in all levels and spectrums of emotion.

Marisha.  She plays every emotion her PCs feel to 110% and it’s GLORIOUS.  Keyleth, Beau, Laudna, they all are very different in the emotions they feel and they all portray them to the absolute depths.  While Keyleth didn’t always hit for me, I could never deny the level of which Marisha sank into her emotions, and made sure that they were seen – whether they were subtle or loud.  I admit, I don’t really get people who don’t like Beau.  I can kinda understand a bit, but Beau was so full of such a depth of emotion, and without getting ‘in your face’ about it, I’m certain that Marisha made sure that every emotion was seen, even when it was being smothered by cockiness.

Laura – Let’s talk about *harp music* Laura Fucking Bailey.  She’s right up there with Marisha in feeling her feels and putting them all out on display.  Honestly?  I’d love to see some solid fucking RAGE from her.  (I kinda was hoping she’s play a barbarian, but I’m loving Imogen so much that I was clearly wrong).  I’m trying to think through her PCs, and I do think that the emotions that she hasn’t played so much have been sheer fucking anger, maybe some of the ‘nastier’ emotions like pure spite?  Vex certainly had anger and spite in her, but I feel like Laura would love going further, taking the emotions and really CHEWING on them.  Maybe I’ve forgotten something from C1, but I don’t recall Laura ever having one of her PCs full on yelling in rage.

Sam is Sam.  Which means that for the start of his PCs, he deliberately shows them very shallowly, a few characteristics which make them feel a little more cardboard cutout rather than the rest of the cast.  Nott, I’d say, is the one who started the most ‘in depth’, and even then it really was just ‘drunk’, ‘jittery’, ‘steals shit’, ‘caleb’s the best’.   However, he also very deliberately adds more and more as the campaign goes on to where you forget how shallow the PC started at the beginning.  He’s another one I’m sure has shown the entire range of emotion.  It’s a little odd though, because there’s a bunch of scenes with him where the emotions are serious but because it’s SAM and the way he does things that it comes off a bit or more than a bit jokey regardless (‘is that my baby girl?’), but then there are the scenes where he just wants to remind you that he IS a professional actor thank you very much, and he’s going to punch you in the gut whether you like it or not.   Also, just putting it out there, he is another one who I don’t think has cried in character, and again I don’t think it adds or detracts from the emotions, because the grief is still heavily present without the need for actual tears.  Like Matt, he’s cried a few times out of character, but not in.

Ashley next!  You know, despite having so few episodes to her in the first two campaigns, I do feel like she really got the opportunity to showcase everything regardless.  Maybe not in the first campaign, but by where she is now, she’s really hit all across the spectrum.  Pike, Yasha, and Fearne are just SO different with how they portray themselves and the ‘base’ emotions that they feel, that she ended up hitting everything just because it was all there!  I am looking forwards to seeing bigger emotions (if that makes any sense) that I think she’ll be hitting with Fearne.  Yasha, while full of so many emotions, was played so quietly, and poor Pike was just not there SO much!  My biggest complaint about her roleplay is there’s so many moments where she just feels uncertain with it, and immediately backs off of her choice.  How many times has she had a great moment and then immediately backed off with an ‘i’m joking’?  She’s done it a bit with Fearne too, but seems to be getting more comfortable with taking her decision and running with it.  I really cannot fucking wait to see where she is going to go, and I am 100% here for the ride.

Travis deserves props for taking an emotion that he was uncomfortable with playing in C2 and allowing himself to be coaxed into it, and then taking it and running it the full course.  I am assuming (and honestly hoping) that the way he talked about Laura forcing him into it on Talks was an exaggeration and that she genuinely made sure he was comfortable with it along the entire way.  Especially considering that she dropped it from her PC eventually and let him take the lead going forwards.  And I have no complaints about him seemingly picking a PC for C3 designed to not have that emotion used!  It goes back to what I said with Taliesin, I want Travis to play something because he finds it fun to play, not because the audience wants to see it.  I do think we also got the full range of emotion from Travis during the course of the campaigns.  Grog and Fjord’s grief at times may not have been sobbing (again, not asking for real tears!), but they were noticeable and present!  To be fair, I wouldn’t say no to more of an exploration of grief with Chetney, just because it was an emotion that he leaned into the least (unless there’s something from C2 that I’m strongly forgetting) and maybe also didn’t lean into as hard.  I don’t want to sound like a dick here, and I apologize if I do, but it also comes down to the fact that I felt the grief with ‘fix him’ and a lot of Fjord without Travis needing to say ‘Fjord is sad’, and that’s an aspect that I didn’t get with a lot of Taliesin’s moments.  So while I would enjoy more exploration or leaning into emotions from other players, I still saw that the emotions were there and didn’t need a Talks to tell me out of character what they were feeling.

Liam is last, and maybe not for what you would expect?  So, to get it out of the way, Liam HAS shown the entire range of emotions.  I didn’t expect so, before I saw C1, just because I knew Vax Was Angsty Boy, but then I watched C1 and realized that Vax was a jokester, a pranker, a bit of a jerk, a lot more levels than just SAD.  There’s the running joke of people wanting Liam to have played a jovial PC for C3, ignoring the fact that Vax WAS the jovial PC for at least two long stretches of the campaign (before the dragon attack, after dragons but before vecna), but it got overshadowed by the intense emotions during the conclave arc, Vex’s tragedy, his deal to end vecna, etc. etc.  I’m actually enjoying Orym being very placid, because that isn’t something that he had played before – his other PCs were very intense most of the time. 

My biggest criticism of Liam’s RP?  As much as I love it, sometimes he needs to STOP.  I’m not a huge fan of when he has to interject ‘just one more thing’, especially when it’s something so small that I feel like it wasn’t needed. The first thought coming to mind, because of it’s relatively recency, is when the unnamed C3 party was in the theater and Dorian went off on his own and came back, Matt is closing out the episode, and then Liam interrupts to quickly say about how Orym lets go of the sending stone and realizes how tightly he was clutching it.  A nice moment?  Sure.  One that the shippers loved?  Absolutely!  One that was needed, especially when interrupting Matt?  Nope.  And I do think that this happens in all three campaigns.  Sometimes it’s fine – just a bit of an eyeroll like the moment just mentioned.  It’s quick and over and whatever.  Other times it’s moments of ‘man I hope the other cast is cool with this’.  And let’s be clear, I’m sure they are!  (and I usually end up enjoying all the scenes anyway) but it can be rough sometimes.

The other thing that I HATED about Liam’s role play, which luckily he can’t do at ALL in C3 (so far, and I hope I don’t jinx it) is when he has his PC drag another player’s PC to Do A Thing, without really seeing if other player is actually interested or maybe had their own thing they wanted to do.  He did it with Vex/Laura SO MUCH in campaign one, it honestly infuriated me at times.  He did it a lesser amount with Nott/Sam in campaign two, to the point where I didn’t notice it was a trait of his that bugged me until after I started C1, and now it jumps out at me in my C2 rewatches.  Luckily, it IS a lot less and did seem to be mostly early campaign.  (here’s hoping I don’t have an unpleasant surprise reminder during my rewatch.)  But to my delight, Orym is so NOT a PC that can do the dragging thing, because LOL good luck doing that with Fearne!

……………….WELL THAT WAS A LOT.  Hope you liked it!

(also tagging @suicidallyreckless in case you wanted any more CR ramblings from me)

[captainsspnanon]

C2E44 - The Diver’s Grave - rewatch reaction

Watching Talks, they’re hinting about something big at the start of next episode….I think we’re getting the animated intro!!

IT ISSSSSS they just played little clippets (clips, snippets, the fuck am I saying) AAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!

LET’S DO THIS

Hello Taliesin, your mohawk is particularly fantastic this episode!

I think top table has fuzzy camera again.  They’ve been cutting to it a bit and they look more 720p.

Also, you can see Sam’s dice really clearly during his ad bit, and MAN I wish the green ones were Nott’s dice!  I can still hope, they haven’t been released yet!  So something similar, please???

Huh, I actually didn’t get super hyped when watching the intro?  I guess I’ve just seen it so many times that the intensity has worn off.  (also it felt slower than normal, which is really weird because the only times I ever watched through C2 at a faster speed was during the first phase of Lucien climax battle, where I watched at 1.25x.  AH WELL.) I told myself when I first saw it, and was suitably hyped, that I’d never skip it, but because I was binging the episodes HARD I ended up skipping it after just a few episodes.  This time around I probably won’t skip it because I’m taking this rewatch at a much more reasonable pace.

(though all the hype loss might be because I have MANY times watched and rewatched user uploads of live shows singing along to the opening, so that may be my new level of hype for it)

LOL Travis panicking because he can’t remember the name of his own ship, and Sam just roasting him for it.

I do love the suspension of disbelief that you have to have in order for a campaign to work.  They confirm that this is salt water, the magic is letting them breathe underwater, but what allows them to have their eyes open?  IT’S A CAMPAIGN IT DON’T MATTER they can see and aren’t suffering the pain of SALT TO EYES.

Mmmph, unfortunately the Sabian aspect of Fjord’s backstory really is the only aspect that was left unexplored in the campaign.  Sure the orphanage wasn’t touched either, but Fjord/Travis never really brought it up, so I don’t consider it a loose thread.  Unlike the majority (I think?) of the fanbase, I’m not actually bothered by where the Uk’otoa thread ended up.  If Fjord remained on land he would not be bothered any more, if Fjord got rid of the crystal literally ANYWHERE he wouldn’t be bothered any more, but by continuing to go on sea while still being in possession of the crystal, he keeps Uk’otoa’s eye on him, until eventually it’s stolen or he dies.  While it’s not tied in a nice neat bow, it’s resolved ENOUGH, at least if there weren’t options of one shots after.  Whereas everyone elses’ stories seems to have been resolved from major or minor points, the Sabian thread still bothers me.  Not that he got away scot free, but because we never find out WHY Sabian blew up the ship.  Was it for Uk’otoa?  Avantika?  Some nefarious scheme for himself?  Revenge on Vandren because Fjord got better positions?  We don’t know!

I really appreciate how Matt doesn’t punish a player for rolling a nat 1 outside of combat.  Fjord doesn’t fall through the floor or get muck in his eyes or whatever else he could have when trying to go through Vandren’s room.  Instead, he’s caught by emotion and memories, which prevents him from searching as thoroughly as he should.  It’s a moment that leads to beautiful roleplay, and not just a fail of a roll.  (though poor Travis is rolling like shit omg)

I’ll admit, I’m going slowly through this episode with lots of pauses and breaks, mainly because I don’t want to jump into ANOTHER big combat with Dashilla.  Fjord’s arc is really good, but it also has a LOT of combat.  (2, 9, 11, 14, 24, 27, 30, 31, 33, 37, 42, 48, 49, 56, 57, 58, 61, 62, 70, 71, 72, 74, 76, 77, 78, 83, 84, 88, 90, 91, 92, 97, 99, 101, 103, 108, 109, 110, 111, 114, 118, 121, 122, 124, 125, 130. So, to be fair, there are 46 episodes in the campaign without combat, which is nearly a third of the episodes!  Totally thought there was less, so I shouldn’t be as complainy as I am.  I do enjoy combat I’d say about half of the time.  Then about half of the remaining time I’m not bothered by it, and for the remaining section I get bored and zone out during it.  Maybe it’s just because this section has BIG combats with long lead ins…. We had the hydra battle, but with the jungle combat getting there and the escape sequence out of it.  We had the Avantika battle, with the break in getting there and the tense negotiations after.  We’re going to have the Dashilla battle with the ghosty creatures getting there.  Checked CR status for the next, we get happy fun ball next episode YAY!  There’s combat in it, but it doesn’t feel as BIG, per se.  And then after that we have two epsidoes of combat where Fjord is placing the crystal.  It’s GOOD SHIT, it all is!  But OOF does it feel exhausting to me at times.   Which is 100% a viewer criticism, because PLAYING it would be engaging on the level that viewing isn’t.)

(out of curiosity… 12, 14, 20, 24, 36, 38, 45, 47, 50, 53, 56, 57, 59, 60, 64, 65, 67, 69, 70, 73, 74, 75, 78, 81, 84, 89, 90, 91, 95, 101, 103, 104, 106, 109, 112.  So 35 episodes in C1 with no combat, for just above 30% without combat [not counting the one shots which all had combat]. Huh, honestly more than I thought as well!  I suppose in C1 we had a lot of ‘prepping for combat’ episodes too, which may have made it feel MORE.  Though I admit the fact that I didn’t connect as much with C1 also played a part, less emotionally invested in some of the combats.)

Sabien, Sabian. Vandran, Vandren.  Goddamn these names and me ALWAYS spelling them wrong.  I try to go back and correct, but apologies, it’s gonna happen.

I have mixed feelings about underwater combat in D&D.  It pretty much falls under the same category as a water level in a video game.  It’s usually in a gorgeous setting, it imposes some set of realistic disadvantages, and because of that it’s kinda sucky and gets really frustrating.  XD  Disadvantage on all melee attacks?  Ranged attacks auto-miss if outside the first distance range?  Makes 1000% sense! Also super annoying.  Movement halved?  Total sense!  Super annoying!

Despite having multiple clerics in campaigns and one shots, Prayer of Healing totally just feels like an Iconic Caduceus spell.  I don’t want any other clerics to have it (despite how beneficial it is!)!  ...Then again, I fall in the trap of not wanting anyone else to have Spiritual Weapon (used by multiple clerics) because it seems so iconically Jester, no one else using ...well, a LOT of spells that feel iconically Caleb, despite being fairly standard wizard spells (at least the dunamancy is new for him, though that doesn’t mean that any casters going forwards couldn’t use it).  It’s my C2 bias coming in to play.  Seeing Pike cast Spiritual Weapon felt wrong…..but Guiding Bolt is totally an iconic Pike spell, regardless of it being a very common cleric spell.  I think even Cad used it?

Does anyone think that Nott actually starts believing in Buttonbeard?  Her switching her tune on the legend was always a little jarring to me, as I interpreted it as her joking, but Sam says it with a level of sincerity to the point where if he said that Nott ended up believing it, I wouldn’t be surprised.  I don’t remember if there’s ever an answer to this in campaign or Talks, but I’ve read it as her going along with the joke once she’s calmed down a little from her anxiety.

As they go to break – I will never buy Wyrmwood for myself because they are expensive as shit, but I do like their full dice trays, with the little section for dice at top and then the full tray?  I like it a lot. :)  But when you can use something like the lid of a shoe box as a tray, spending around $150 on a tray seems….excessive.  LOL nope, $90 for the cheapest, but $328 for the most expensive, fuuuuck that.  Even their ‘little’ dice trays (which I don’t personally like because they seem too cramped for me) are $70 to $276.  Their resin dice are at least reasonable, but if I’m spending money on dice I’m buying the CR dice :)  (can’t comment as to the price of their gemstone dice, I’ve never actually bought really pricey dice so have no clue if it’s reasonable or not)

(apropos of nothing at all, if Sam had a beard this episode, I’d be thirsting after everyone.  They are just ON POINT)

I’m glad that Taliesin frequently had Caduceus speak to plants and animals, because with the amount that he does so, it feels like the few times that Matt had the flora/fauna listen to him and respond in a noticeable way felt very reasonable.  It gives a strong sense that Cad is always making requests, and just every once in a while it works out. (*gives a little salute to the fly that would have*)  A very reasonable balance.

Watching Travis absolutely lose his shit is DELIGHTFUL, though it does make me wonder.  This is a very respectful group, who would 100% respect each others limits and discomforts.  I could speculate on some things which the group does not play and if it’s related to someone’s discomfort or not, but I’m not going to.  But I wonder if Travis has ever explicitly told Matt that he was fine with all the ghost/scary stuff before it came up in game, considering his extreme reactions to it.  I don’t doubt that he’s fine with it!  I can’t see Matt NOT following up with Travis after a session had he not known beforehand, but it’s a curious thing.  Because it’s something that Travis is clearly uncomfortable with, but also something that he seems to be okay with?  Akin to the reaction of someone who is very frightened by horror movies and so watches them to feel that fear rush.   ...I think this is more that I wish I knew the limits that the group has put on the game, which I fully admit comes from a somewhat voyeuristic place.  I don’t need to know what makes them so uncomfortable or what topics may be so sensitive that they don’t put them in the game!  It’s something that’s super personal to them, if they even have ANY.   ….butikindawanttoknow.   *sigh* at least I can acknowledge when I’m being a creep.  (and for the record, the only place that I post about CR stuff is here or if I send a message to suicidallyreckless.  I don’t tweet, I don’t reach out to the cast, I don’t post on youtube or on twitch.  So at the very least, my grossness is very limited in the audience that it reaches.)

I also admit that I want to know a LOT of the behind the scenes stuff that I have no reason to actually be privy to.  Like what are post game conversations like?  What does on in the group thread?  Did any of them actually ever speak to another, whether player or Matt, saying that something that happened wasn’t cool and either want an apology or clarification?  Was there ever something Matt planned that he had to back off of because he realized it would come across poorly?  Were there lines crossed?   ….as much as I hate to admit it, I do have a little gossipy corner of my soul and I WANT TO KNOW.  But also, I absolutely should never know, because that is not information that anyone who isn’t part of the game should be privy to.  It’s like when fans ask an actor during a Q and A what’s the worst experience they’ve had on set/with a fan/whatever.  The person is never going to answer honestly, because they’re in the public eye and speaking publicly.  They’re never going to say ‘my co star was a complete jackass and had their head up their butt and should get punched in the face’, they’re never going to say ‘a fan was completely inappropriate and crossed so many boundaries that I wanted to say screw all fans forever you guys are creepy AF’.  But that doesn’t stop the little deep seated inappropriate curiosity inside us.  ….i’m just making myself look veeeery bad right now.  Again, this shit never leaves my head!  I never actually approach or ask anyone!  (I don’t know why I’m so concerned about what y’all think of me, but apparently I am XD)

...so I have my captions set to be 50% size, and every once in a while youtube will reset them to 100% and I am shocked by how big they are.  And I had them at 100% for aaaaages!  It was only during the rewatch that I shrunk them down.  Never going back!

“Fuck off, ghost!” Taliesin has said that he regrets having Cad curse here, but honestly?  He said it in his normal voice, so I always read it as Tal saying it, not Cad.

I love that Jester is super scared of ghosts (though I remember her being fine with them during the porn scene), and I love to think that it’s just Laura poking fun at Travis by making a scaredy cat character.

Paying close attention to the table, because I just rewatched the tower reveal last night.  That is such a comfort scene for me, and is basically the only section from C2 that I rewatch all the time.  Watching Liam shout “I love you” at his friends in character never gets old.  I only regret that he didn’t have something for Matt at the time as well.

Sam is so pleased that everyone else is so excited that Nott is immune to fear when drunk.

I really like that Caleb was the one who ended up scared to death, because imo when Matt is saying he feels his deepest fear well up inside of him, YEAH I THINK CALEB HAS THE WORST DEEPEST FEAR OF THE BUNCH.  Makes sense he’d be the one PTSD’d to death!

Sam lending Laura a d8 and then singing that his die rolled the best of the three.  ILU YOU GOOBER

Even though Dashilla should have died (poor math kept her alive), I’m really glad she’s still around.  There’s a sense of naturalness about her, she’s something that is existing in the world and having impact on her own. I like that she still remains, still causing her shipwrecks, still stealing her treasure.  I have similar feelings about Gelidon still being alive.  It makes sense that these powerful creatures that are in some ways a force of nature upon the world aren’t just resolved by a small group of assholes swinging some blades and doing some magic.  I consider it once of the big differences between the M9 and VM, and it’s appreciated.  Smaller heros doesn’t make them less heroic.

Ooooof, Liam is giving me the CREEPS here, his face is so fucking intense.  Caleb is being so calculating at this moment, and it really does play out so well.  It also pays off by 111 where the altar of Dashilla is no more than a book table for Fjord because of how much Caleb cares, as compared to a transactional exchange for favors and support that it was here.  (also I love that Liam is willing to go to 1hp for this XD He’s not AS much of a button pusher, but he sure does love the results of having buttons pushed)

OOoo I REALLY like how Travis and Liam play the handshake moment.  You can TELL that to Fjord, the cut palms touching really is a blood brothers thing, there is so much meaning to it in that moment, for past and future relations.  And you can see that Caleb, while not disrespecting it, doesn’t attach the same emotions to it (and we find out in Talks that he don’t give a crap at all, except for knowing it matter to Fjord, which gives him leverage).  THEY ARE ALL SUCH GOOD ACTORS

I wonder if Ashley had been there, if Yasha would have donated blood.  I can’t see Yasha deciding to do that this early on, but Ashley is a big button pusher too.

Best way to end an episode, Travis fucking LOSING it when he realizes how badly he nearly fucked them over.

….nope it ends with Caleb spending hours writing letters to his dead parents.  OUCH MY HEART

@suicidallyreckless

[captainsspnanon]

C2E21 - Stalker in the Swamp - rewatch/liveblog

Ah, bowlgate.  The place where people are either reasonably upset about PC choices and are upset with the characters, or the place where Liam and Marisha are the worst people ever and clearly hate each other and Marisha should be kicked off the show and blah blah blah blah BLAH.  I even trawled the comments a bit, thankfully MOST of them are about the PCs, not about the players, but there’s still some.  And this isn’t even the original video from G&S, this is the one reloaded months later!

Also the comments all appear to be either bowlgate, Bren, or “caleb also likes to burn his friends”

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

IT’S THE DNDBEYOND ANIMATED INTRO!!!!!!!!!

...how are NONE of the comments about THAT?!??!!?

And I don’t think, when I was watching this the first time, that I knew about the animated show yet!  UUUUUGHHHHHH so emotional

And Laura goes “we’re an 80s cartoon, you guys” AND YOU WILL BE!!!!!  ...Well, a 20’s cartoon.  I don’t know how flavored it’s going to be, it didn’t look very 80s based off of the live read and trailer.

Ooo, this episode is going to be a little weird to watch.  Top camera is not only better quality than bottom camera (which was fine to deal with last episode), but now top camera also looks a lot better lit than bottom camera.  Probably not true and just an effect of the quality, but it makes bottom camera feel much more shaded than the rest of the group.

I wonder where the bit of Liam not liking Mark came from?  It’s a running joke and happens again, but I have no clue where or how it started.

8 on the screen and it feels cramped!  They feel like they are SO smushed together, honestly I feel like this set fix 6 PCs much better, I always felt a bit sorry for bottom screen when Ashley was here just because of how tightly they needed to sit.  Granted, no clue how it compares to when they were playing in the home game (some of the videos we have look PACKED and others look more spaced out).  I just hope they’re all comfortable.

Oh FUCK Matt’s Mark impression was REALLY fucking good

Eventually I will watch High Rollers, or at least give it a try.  I have it and Dimension 20 and Dice, Camera, Action bookmarked.  I bookmarked it early into my CR watching when I got excited by the format and wanted to find more, but now I’m not sure if I’ll like it, just because it won’t be the people I’m used to seeing.  I’ll give it a go at some point!  Probably after my C2 rewatch.

I do like how suspicious Caleb is of Calianna from the very beginning, but it’s also interesting to note that after all this goes down and he gets ripped by Beau and others about his suspicious, Caleb is at least outwardly less suspicious of guest PCs.  It’s tricky to tell how much this impacted his perception of people or how he behaves, as 1) a lot of time passes between the guest PCs where Caleb just continues to improve overall, and 2) Calianna actually does feel like the most suspicious guest PC that they had.  She eavesdropped and is then asking for help retrieving a magic item used for ritual (something that might super set Caleb off), whereas Nila and Keg were both on a quest for vengeance, Twiggy was a stowaway but very easily submitted to Caleb’s questioning and watching, and Reani was so blatant in her ‘good vs evil’ view that the only real risk was her seeing the M9 as evil. Granted, that doesn’t mean that they couldn’t have been suspicious, but it’s very interesting to see how Caleb processed it.

I feel like a lot of the other PCs processed the guests in the same way, meaning that they’re interactions with Calianna are very similar to their interactions with the other guest PCs in terms of trust, insight checking, belief, etc. etc.

‘Scaled Tyrant’ is Tiamat renamed, right?

I know I’ve mentioned this before, but I’m not the biggest champion for guest players for CR.  I really like the cast as it, and I feel like one of my problems with the guests is on full display right now, as Cali dumps her entire backstory.  With the PCs, the exposition comes very slowly and smoothly, so it feels very clean.  With the guest PCs, they’ve only got one episode typically, so everything has to be RUSHED to get out.  Sometimes it’s okay if the guest doesn’t have or doesn’t share a detailed backstory, or if they are multiple episode guests and so can space it out.  This is a problem that continued when I watched C1, though at least the C2 guests really kept to the atmosphere of C2, whereas C1 it would sometimes feel like comic bullshit out of nowhere.  *shrugs*  I don’t HATE guests per se, but I was very happy with covid-time C2 where it was just main cast.  I prefer C2 guests more than C1 for several reasons, 1) less of them, 2) better integrated with the story, and 3) I ended up liking all the guests from C2, whereas I think there were two? two or three, guests from C1 where I just didn’t like them or wasn’t into what they were doing.

“Bren.”  I cannot tell you how many times I’ve watched a video where they have clips of this interspersed with clips from the wrap up of Liam saying that he felt like he was losing his mind.  Honestly, I’m wondering how I’m going to get through this episode, because I KNOW I’ve going to be staring at Liam’s face to see all the microreactions, but then I need to, you know, actually pay attention to everything else!  Probably gonna be a lot of rewinding moments to look at reactions.

Sam loving trinkets again.  “always have been” which immediately breaks Matt.

Ugh, I ADORE Yasha threatening Cali by saying she would take her scales to make an arm cover.  SO GOOD.

I’m pretty sure there was a sneaky text between Liam and Matt, and now Liam (and/or?) Caleb is just STARING at Sam (and/or?) Nott.  It’s so interesting knowing how hard this hit Liam in the moment, trying to tell how much of it is Caleb versus Liam confusion.  (it’s probably mostly Caleb, but let me speculate)

Fjord really showing leadership right now, I like it!  I do miss this, he used to take charge quite a lot.

Caleb calling Nott “Bren”!

Oh noooooo Fjord why are you wasting a spell on the plant?????   I doubt they get a short rest before the troll

I like when Caleb sends Frumpkin to do something extra dangerous, he readies his fingers to snap as fast as possible, just in case

No C3 spoilers – but with Vax and Caleb/Frumpkin combination of people the main person who checks out an area, I hope a new person in C3 is the ‘exploratory’ person.  Or even no real lead person and just the group exploring things as they come to it.  I have nothing wrong with Liam being the one to do it for C1 and C2, it’s just one of those things where I wonder if other players want to be able to explore at their own pacing, rather than having Liam determine the pace each time.

“Salty Pete” …. that feels reaaaally familiar.  Was it a one shot PC?  A member of Vox Moronica?

Oooooo, Febron resisting Suggestion!!!!!

Also, seriously.  I don’t mean to Caleb gush, but some of these moments just hit so differently.  Him casting Suggestion and the way he phrases his request?  It seems completely innocuous at the moment, and in hindsight it’s SUPER FUCKING SCARY.  Like, you could 100% see Trent doing that exact thing.  And it’s not something that registered AT ALL to me!  AT ALL.  It just seemed like clever annoyed Caleb, not fucking interrogator Bren.

I want to know what Marisha’s mental picture was where miming a beak/elephant trunk equaled troll.   ...also, I had to google “elephant nose name” because my brain was going ‘elephant trumpet’ and I knew that wasn’t correct.

I love sassy Fjord so much.  This rewatch is REALLY upping my appreciation of Fjord. Not so much for Nott though, which surprises me.  Granted, I still adore all of the M9 minus Molly, so it’s not like I don’t already love Nott.  But I had her, Fjord, and Yasha on sort of a ‘second rung’, and Fjord has really moved up to ‘first rung’, while Nott is still staying on second.

Once again, Nott is prompted to check for traps.  Vax may have been the ‘reckless’ rogue, but he always checks.  Nott leans more (at least in combat) to the hiding and stealthing, but I feel like not too much of the utility aspect without being prompted.  It’s a very weird aspect of me kind of not liking it, because then why pick a rogue if you don’t like it?, but also really liking it because it’s a good twist on the stereotypical rogue, so where I fall in the moments varies from episode to episode.

LOL I feel like Laura legit yelped when Matt did his creepy dead person gasp.  Also Jester casting Speak with Dead had a very Sending feel to it, I love how she rambles SO MUCH.

They’re still using the fancy initiative tracker!  Gonna keep my eye out, see if they lose it when they move (only a few more episodes), or if it goes all the way to pandemic time (I REALLY don’t think so!)

“all words I’ve never heard before”.  So either Tiberius never used quicken spell, they forgot because it was so long ago, they are actively removing him from their mental equation, or Sam is making a fun joke.  EITHER WAY

“I cast Regret” YAAASSSS

Also holy shit Caleb with the horrified facial expressions!

OMG MARISHA PUTTING ON DEODORANT!!  

WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT GIGANTIC DIE, ASHLEY.  THAT’S THE SIZE OF A SNOWBALL

“You’re levitating” *immediately gets song stuck in head*

I wonder how much of Calianna was planned separately from Caleb’s revealed backstory. It almost feels like Mark deliberately made something paralleling to maybe help Caleb learn to forgive himself.  Also with all these parallels, that's an even stronger justification for Caleb not trusting her, because he wouldn’t trust himself.

Do we know that Jester was stuck inside all the time yet?  Rewatch dilemmas, I’m not sure!  Oh, questions answered, Caleb at least knows, so I’m assuming all of them do.

I love Beau and Nott’s relationship so much.  I just love all of the relationship’s that Beau has.  Beau is just barely not my favorite, and it’s sooo friggen close, just by a microscopic hair.

FEATHER FALL YESSSSSSS

I like how Matt handled them losing the surprise round, I feel like it was the right way to go.

HUNGER OF HADAR!!! Only got used a few times, but never used after becoming a paladin I don’t think, which just feels right.

SWOLEREGARD!!!! Still no custom mini, but sooooon

I like how Beau magically knows that Travis hits his head all the time being too tall.

Ugh, I miss 20 INT Caleb.  And we’re not gonna get 19 INT Beau for a while, but in hindsight?  I think she does play into the RP of it!  *deletes sentence I just typed*  Okay, she doesn’t actually get it until episode 81.  Hrmm…...well now I’ll need to pay more attention. For NOW, I remember her showing stronger intellect later campaign, but it’s going to be interesting to see if that’s Marisha RPing the headband, or if it’s just natural progression of Beau’s character.   (I forgot and thought she got it with Twiggy, but nope!)

Manacles showing up again!  And the cast definitely sees the trend now.

LOL so the start of Bowlgate is actually kicked off by Nott hiding the bowl!  I wonder if/how Caleb may have protested had she not and just handed the bowl to Cali in the first place.

I feel so bad that Laura is so huffy over this, because I KNOW it’s from people tearing her to shreds for the broom situation.  :(

GOD I LOVE MARISHA. Holding an imaginary bowl in one hand up in the air, needs to take notes, mimes bringing the bowl down, moving it to the other hand, raising the other hand, so that she can write.

And walk away LOLOLOL

See, as much as I’m sad that they feel like they have to do it during other ‘fights’, there is a benefit to after having a tense scene, immediately having a visible checking in with each other (hugging, nudging, giggling) that makes the audience feel a bit better.   ...and honestly I kinda hate that it make me feel better?  Cause I feel like I should trust the cast to know each others boundaries, and I DO, but they’re also REALLY FUCKING GOOD ROLEPLAYERS so when PC boundaries are crossed it’s hard to see that it’s not crossing the players.  And the really sad thing?  I think they started having those visual check ins with each other BECAUSE of the bullshit backlash that this episode got, which really fucking sucks.

ALSO ALSO!  I hate the people who act like this is Marisha being a dick.  No.  BEAU is being a dick.  BEAU.  Who is specifically created as a character who is a dick!  Who has low charisma!  Who has REPEATEDLY had scenes both serious and humorous about failing to clearly communicate or respectfully communicate!  This scene was 100% in character from both sides!

YAASHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA ILU ILU ILU

awww, she says “sorry” instead of “FUCK THIS BOWL”.  ...i think I prefer the animated version slightly, though it’s also super IC for her to apologize instead

LOL at them all cracking up with the fact that cultists will now be after Yasha. Which never comes up ever again.  But THEY don’t know that!

You know, I’m sad that Caleb couldn’t transcribe invisibility, but I think it really added impact and tension to when he did use it to rescue Fjord, Jester, and Yasha.

They even cuddle at the end of the episode!!!  But I guess it wasn’t enough.

I will give credit though, a lot of the comments DO keep it with the characters Beau and Caleb, which is great.  It’s absolutely a tense moment for them! And it’s very easy for people to pick which side feels more ‘right’ than the other!  Props to these debates!

Awwww, the baby kicked and Sam looks more excited than Laura XD

@suicidallyreckless

[captainsspnanon]

C2E33 - The Ruby and The Sapphire - rewatch/liveblog

My brain is currently mush from a variety of RL things (boo RL), let’s see if I have any focus for CR.

(LOL I TYPED THAT ALMOST A WEEK AGO that says a lot)

(also off topic, but I’ve been thinking.  Fanfic!Caleb loves endearments, ‘schatz’, ‘leibling’, ‘Blueberry’ if specifically referring to Jester, etc.  But my brain caught on it last night and I went trawling the transcripts.   Caleb...doesn’t use nicknames, like, ever.  It’s almost always “Beauregard”, almost always “Mollymauk”, almost always “Caduceus”, almost always “Jester”.  The ONLY person that he uses a nickname for?  Wulf.  And unless looking for zemnian terms is harder in the transcripts, he NEVER says schatz or lieb or liebling once in canon.   ...granted, I’m not going to get rid of my delight of reading this stuff in fanfic, but it’s a totally fanon behavior.)

(ALSO ALSO!  I most likely will NOT be making a reaction post for Legends of Vox Machina, or it’ll be a very small one.  C1 really didn’t grab me the way C2 did, I found myself zoning out frequently and watching it at fast pace to get through it.  The only PC who stood up to the C2 PCs for me was Grog, but even then, C2s are just [imo] a billion times better.  ...and also I’m kinda meh on the clips we’ve seen so far?  Like, the trailer just released looks great, but the toothpick clip?  *shrugs*  Plus, I like CR for the roleplay aspect, not so much the combat aspect, so don’t know how well that’ll translate for me into the show.  I’m excited for it, I’m absolutely thrilled for CR for it, but I suspect my enjoyment of it will be somewhere around a 5-7 out of 10.)

(last post before I start watching, I PROMISE.  I’ve been fic diving the past few days because BRAIN, and unfortunately one of the fics that I was reading did a bit of a go through of the current arc, just a bit.  Which had the downside of reminding me of things just as Jamedi Cosko, sending Marion’s suitor handless to Marquet, the yuan-ti, the psychedelic fruit and blood trees and puzzle and eggs, members of Avantika’s crew…. I’m a bit disappointed because it would have been a fun remembering moment during the episode.  Ah well)

I love them all dying because the cowboy blood bit went totally wrong XD

“that’s why you wouldn’t hug me before the show”, can I just say I got stupid emotional friendship feels with the fact that these guys hug before the show?

Ugh I love this beach bit.  Beau meditating!  Caleb stripping and going into the water.  Nott hunting seagulls!

Fun fact, first watch through I thought the one thing Caleb didn’t take off was his bandages, and then got very confused when Liam mimed rewrapping them afterwards.  Now I know he’s referring to his amulet.  I’m preeeeetty sure that while he mimed it when talking to Beau and Nott during the backstory dump, he never actually SAID it was an amulet or necklace at any point, and I didn’t figure it out until he actually spelled it out in the campaign (which I think was during the Nott backstory bit).

The lighthouse!!!!! And it only meaning something to Cad right now (TAL’S FACE) but it will mean something to Fjord toooooooo

STEVEN SEAGULL taliesin this hurts me ilu

I love how expressive they all are OOC.  Jester announces herself as The Little Sapphire and EVERYONE is touched

I love Marion Lavorre SO MUCH.  Actually, all the family NPCs aside from Beau’s are freaking awesome in C2.  Marion, the Gentleman, Yeza, Luc, C., C., C., C., and C. Clay (and also C. Clay the aunt).  And I’m super under the assumption that if Caleb did manage to do his reverse the past thing, that Leofric and Una would be wonderful as well (I CANNOT see Matt having Liam go through his whole arc and then punish him by having the parents hate Caleb)

THE UTTER DELIGHT when the music singing is cued perfectly

Oh hello creepo.  I don’t remember your name at the moment, but you MORE THAN get what’s coming to you.  

LOL Matt’s confused about why top table is joking about Marquis being pronounced Mar-queez and such, not realizing that they’re poking him about pronouncing Quay as Kway rather than Key.  (to be fully fair to Matt, I thought it was pronounced as Quay too!  One of those things where I’ll hear it aloud as Key, but not realize that the spelling of it is quay XD)

It’s so fun watching this knowing that Matt doesn’t even realize he’s keeping the vest closed for her.  Also, every introduction is great, every flirt is great, and Nott/Sam saying that Jester CAN heal is hysterical.

And Laura gets him right back by going to get an aerator XD

For some reason Cad’s voice feels a bit off to me this episode.  It sounds a little more sleep graveley rather than the normal low rumble.

I love how the story beat of Jester finding out that her father is the Gentleman (something supposed to come later on) happens because Marion calls Fjord a gentleman, and then Beau just starts riffing from there. Matt must have been like COME ON MAN why did I say gentleman

THE DELIGHTED FREAKOUT FROM EVERYONE I just serious love how these guys are all so invested in everyone’s stories

Thank you google images for bringing me to Laura’s drawing.  Can’t find if Matt posted his though, which makes me sad.  I want to see!!! https://twitter.com/samriegel/status/1037923593588375553

“is that 20?  OH AH SHIT BALLS”

Also it’s so weird to see Taliesin tracking the word count rather than Travis.  I wonder when that switches over.  (they very rarely get the actual count right anyway, but it works well enough for the concept and narrative. I know crstats has actually counted out the messages and shown that both Laura AND Matt have gone over at times)

I love the running joke this episode of wanting to know how old Jester is (I don’t think we actually ever find out, more than just generalities).

WHAT is going through Caleb’s mind when Marion is talking about how love is a funny thing?  She’s talking about it in terms of romantic love, but it 100% seems like he’s interpreting it as familial love and just destroying himself on the inside.  Liam’s FACE.

While I knew that Caleb was suspicious about the relationship between Marion and Jester (Liam brought it up during Talks at least once), I forgot that Liam wanted to basically insight check Jester for the whole time. Unfortunately didn’t get to, but I do think that Jester really wore her heart on her sleeve for the most part, so he got most of it regardless.  Would have been nice to see if a nat 20 insight would have gotten anything deeper or different.

I FORGOT NOTT OFFERED TO GO SWIMMING WITH JESTER oh my heart

BRJEAUS!  ...goddamn that spelling.  BRJOS

I didn’t realize how frequently Matt really describes someone having hair or a beard that poofs out in a big frizz.  I think he just likes making the PFAH noise with his mouth XD

Hindsight, a lot of the ‘accents’ that Fjord does to disguise himself are just a slightly modified version of his real voice.  I actually like that, it’s both a subtle hint to his real voice, but also a very cool trait of being ‘good at accents’ that maybe isn’t even necessarily true!  IIRC, he only does the Texan, English, and then modified English as old person.

Lol at Travis rolling advantage on the deception check and Matt asking about it, then Travis being very confused as to why he rolled with advantage. It’s not really spoilers to say I think he’s done this once or twice in C3 already. XD

*snerk*  I forgot that even the NPCs thought that Marius was useless.  I wonder if this attitude helped influence how the party ended up treating him?

(had a fucking awful mental health night last night, ended up trawling the live reaction thread on reddit to C3E10.  So, I spoiled myself, but at the same time nothing seemed like a really big spoiler?  So I don’t actually mind it.  At least for that episode XD  I’m trying to be SO GOOD about avoiding all spoilers with C3, and I honestly have for the most part)

I checked CR Transcripts to confirm, and yup, this is the only episode where Caduceus refers to the Wildmother as Mother.  It didn’t feel weird first watch, but it feels SO awkward now, because it’s not IC now, though it was at the time XD  Joys of watching a player poke through their PC and figure out all the traits and speech patterns and such. And it’s something of a delight watching it now because the rest of the PCs are fairly established in terms of that (not 100%, but very solid), whereas Cad is still very new, so his growing pains are all immediately noticeable because he’s the only one.  Also interesting – between ‘wildmother’ and ‘wild mother’, Tal only says it 57 times through the entire campaign!

Liam cuddling into Marisha and slapping Travis after Sam’s ‘fore-pony’ joke just really REALLY makes me miss these three at top table.  ...I’m gonna get really sad once we get into the pandemic episodes, aren’t I? LOOK I JUST LOVE PLATONIC PHYSICAL AFFECTION AND THIS ENTIRE GROUP HAS IT IN SPADES

And then immediately into the Al Gore joke, and it’s just a sign of why Liam and Sam work as best friends so well that Liam is just DYING  I legit don’t think anyone else makes him laugh as hard as Sam does

*hears Matt say ‘marine layer’* *snerks*

...apparently today is just me having top table feels.  LOOK AT THEM WHISPER TO EACH OTHER

(also, the mug that Liam’s using today?  I totally feel like it could work for his C3 PC.)

Hello Yussa’s tower.  Also lol at Liam very quickly and silently patting his hands together with excitement

https://thechekhov.tumblr.com/post/664342481306042368/i-have-no-idea-what-im-even-doing-anymore-but-i

LOL Fjord diving out of the way when Beau falls  ALSO LOL at the fall damage, but yay first use of slow fall!

ORLY ORLY ORLY ORLY ORLY ORLY ORLY I am SOOOOO happy that Orly became this full fleshed NPC and not just a one off

Hello Adella.  I didn’t get the excitement that much when I found out you were a C1 NPC, even now because you were only in three episodes.  But it’s more just the fact that you are someone from C1 that’s exciting, more than your NPCness itself.

Oh lol we don’t even get their names this episode I WAS JUMPING AHEAD

also I seriously miss the full table camera shots at the end of the episode.  Can we bring that back please?  PLEASE?

@suicidallyreckless