#c3 e77

[orym-blossoms]

Orym, with no magic, watching his friend die over and over.

Orym, who just bought healing potions an hour ago for the express reason of helping someone else, watching one evaporate.

Orym, voice so small, "Nonononono, why would he--?"

Orym, always the last man out of the door, backing up. Helpless to do anything to save his friend.

I'm so glad Ashton pulled through, but Orym is not okay.

[towards-toramunda]

I was curious so I rewatched the end of the episode and:

Ten rounds with an average con save of 18.6 and total damage of 391

Woof.

[lyuenger]

Fearne’s View

ETA, I may have giggled a bit when Mat Mercer described Ashton as having a hoofprint on his face, as that was the image that had stuck in my head after E77 (that I had to draw). I loved that he started E78 with it.

Also - what happens to your clothes and nail earrings when you burn from inside and also explode into thousands of pieces?! I assume at least his shirt is toast (thus I drew him without), unless it's magical.

Took a break from some Orym works to do this after that last episode…

[jimbodyson]

on a real many more 'should we save the gods or not' debates am i going to have to sit through because tbh i am so over it

bell's hells as a group have had the exact same conversation regarding whether or not they should or should not save the Gods and i am kinda tired of it (especially since they always just talk in a circle because they come to the same conclusion each time: maybe we don't save the Gods but we at least stop Ludinus)

they keep debating the nature of Predathos and it's like ,, it's called PREDATHOS. what do you think the nature of it is

+ it's kinda of hard to watch them all judge the Gods for being kind of shits sometimes when they're friends with Ira Wendagoth, the categorically evil entity that experimented on people for shits and gigs. like they're kinda so willing to excuse some people being bad but when it comes to the Gods it's like 'well maybe they should ALL die'

yes this can change. i'm only on episode 77. but it's getting kinda tiring when the only one there who actually cares about the Gods is FCG

[atlasascending]

Catching up on CR and my god. My fucking god. Of all the *stupid* things to do

[deneveve-is-lost]

No offence but nobody genuinely angry at Ashton rn knows what it's like to almost lose someone to their own reckless impulsive behaviour and be the one who has to shoulder the burden of saving them. They don't know what it's like to give trust to someone when you don't know if they're right, only for it to backfire and leave you the sole thing standing between them and their grave. If you did you couldn't genuinely be angry, you wouldn't be saying he's a bad person or that he's manipulative or that he doesn't deserve to be forgiven, because it just doesn't feel like that from Fearne's perspective. I have myself said the words "if he survives I'm going to kill him", instead I hugged him tighter than I ever have before. I nearly punched a hole through a wall but I've never been happier to hear the sound of someone's stupid, unserious, clearly fucking pleased with himself voice, even though I wanted to strangle him. Anger, yes, genuine hatred? Resentment? Feeling of betrayal that cannot be forgiven? Fuck no.

[merle-bookdragon]

okay the longer I think about it (and also see on tumblr that I am not alone with this opinion at the moment) the less scared I am to just say that I do not hope callowmoore becomes a thing anymore. I simply don't think it makes sense anymore and that really just developed in the last two episodes. before that, I was really all for the possibility.

[that-one-scared-gay]

"I don't see any harm in playing by her rules, because it's my game."

TELL 'EM LAUDNA

[lespetitesmortsde]

Anybody else having feelings about Imogen reaching out to divinity? I want to know what would happen if it was the Raven Queen that Imogen ended up chatting to, instead of Pelor. Laudna's in this, too, briefly, but she is the driving force of Imogen's actions, I'd say.

So this is that. Imogen tries reaching out to a god and the Matron reaches back.

There is angst, mentions of historical suicidal ideations, blood, knives, but nothing particularly graphic.

[hayleysayshay]

tal's giddiness at them going around whitestone castle with it's secret passages is so fun to see

[orym-blossoms]

Another powerful woman who is technically in this room once stood up and made a deal to save her undead love at the cost of the world.

Time is a flat circle.

[inconmess]

Takes in a deeep breath. Yeah man that was one episode indeed.

Angst loving part of me wants to write a time loop fic of Ashton taking the shard. Possibly from Ashton's perspective. Maybe someone else's. Idk. But rational me also knows that I don't have enough time rn to write it?

If anyone wants to pick it up, please so 🥺🥺🥺 I'd love to read it

Damn you real life.

Also, sorry about my break in streak of Inktober but my laptop crashed and didn't stay open long enough for me to actually work on anything. So I won't be able to get back into it until next week or two. Maybe more considering exams so 🥲

[towards-toramunda]

How is it already Wednesday I feel like Thursday was just yesterday my god this last week’s episode felt like a fever dream

[mayapapaya33]

Exactly! And actions speak louder than words. They aren't good at talking, they are abrasive, but since day one they have been a solid support, a kind presence helping everyone in the group and a lot of NPC's they run across too. The group (other than Orym and Fearne) seems to have partially fallen for Ashton's persona and not noticed all of their actions up to this point. They really take Ashton's quiet kindness for granted a lot. Orym and Ashton are the group's moral compasses. Think of how kind and gentle Ashton was with that poor professor that Ludinus mind wiped at the school.

Laudna's random severe distrust of Ashton when he and Imogen went off in Bassuras together when Ashton had done nothing but be kind to Laudna, really felt so strange. I know she had Delilah up there causing problems, but I also think it was just Laudna not noticing how gentle Ashton has been with her specifically. It actually really hurt to watch the group turn on Ashton when he fucked up with the titan shard. They didn't notice the pattern of self-destructiveness that led up to this point. The fact that anyone was surprised by Ashton trying to absorb the stone is what surprised me. Sure, him hiding it was shitty, he shouldn't have done that. But once Fearne turned it down, I was totally waiting for Ashton to try to absorb it. (And btw, I totally got a high risk, high reward vibe from it so I 100% get why Ashley and Tal misread Matt's intent, one of the rare few Matt fumbles imho, it has to happen occasionally, the dude it technically mortal).

The group telling Ashton he should leave, Laudna saying she'd kill him, etc. You just know that reinforced some negative views about the world and Ashton himself with their reaction. Those abandonment issues got nicely reinforced. The only person who handled it well was Orym, the only person who ever consistently handles Ashton well is Orym frankly, and usually Fearne. (She didn't this time but in this particular instance I don't blame her).

It especially sucks when you compare the groups handling of Ashton's mental health to their handling of Laudna's. Sure, she's more obviously damaged, talking to Delilah out in the open, but Ashton is CLEARLY struggling and being met with rejection and anger after they just endangered themselves AGAIN was really not helpful. The group is so nice and understanding with Laudna, no matter what she does, even when she literally attacks them, but spare little compassion for the abrasive punk rock. (Not to mention the times the other members of the group endangered everyone through their own willful actions cough cough Chetney choosing not to cure his lycanthropy and then turning into a werewolf and trying to eat his friends cough cough). By comparison Ashton really only endangered themselves, Allura was there to contain any fallout if they fucked it up too badly, and the rest of the group was safe behind the barrier until they chose not to be, and everyone could go back behind it whenever they wanted to. Ultimately the only person Ashton was physically hurting was Ashton. (Emotionally is a different story).

They also don't seem to spare much time for our poor stalwart Orym and his frailty either, it seems like if you aren't actively having a very obvious mental breakdown, you're shit out of luck and isn't that a little too real.

Taliesin on 4SD: "Orym is the only one in this group with a working moral compass."

Ashton: Never take copper. You take gold regardless, and silver if they're an asshole, but you never take copper.

Ashton: It doesn't matter if the Ruby Vanguard are making good points about the gods. They're hurting innocent people to get what they want, and that's reason enough to stop them.

Ashton: *is super apologetic and upset that they have to knock out Elder Barthie to protect him from being discovered by the Imperium*

Ashton: Remember that we're here as guests. We are going to follow the instructions of the people who have already figured out what they need.

Me: *side-eyeing Ashton real hard* Orym’s the only one with a working moral compass? Mm'kay. 🤨

[deramin2]

Orym and the Hag

I made a compilation to clips about where Orym's head was at going into that deal with Morri. They really hit harder for me seeing them back to back.

Clips:

E77 Orym and Fearne the morning after the girls' night Whitestone Underground Tour. Later that day Ashton absorbed the shard.

E79 Orym talks to Ashton for the first time after the shard incident.

E79 Morrigan lays out the rules of the Honesty trial.

E79 Orym tells his two truths in the Honesty trial.

E80 Bell's Hells decompress after the trial. Everyone has powder keg issues to work on, even Orym.

E81 Orym makes a self-sacrificing deal with Mori.

[merle-bookdragon]

It's been a day since I finished watching c3e77, but I still can't stop thinking about it.

but right now specifically, Imogen saying "I know that you're more powerful, I know you are. I guess I could call that faith" is rotating in my brain and it's ruining me.

i have so many thoughts and feelings about this episode and that moment... so. many. layers.