#considering they're an npc in a campaign we had with friends back then and their lore mentioned that their mom is a bhaalspawn

[halichor]

Scourge of the Seas

Just started another save with durge Jehan since I missed that last time, and I'm /still/ not done with Karythos and Vesna's saves aaaaaa 🫠

[bad-exo-imagines]

EXO AND WHAT DND PLAYER THEY WOULD BE

No I do not accept any other opinions

XIUMIN

Neutral Good Human Bard

Now here me out. Xiumin is a pal, a buddy, a friend. He won't actively go out of his way to start trouble he's just trying to live his life. As for a bard, he just uses his powers to make other people smile. One of the weakest players in terms of combat but for sure a valuable asset considering he has one of the highest wisdom stats.

Just here to vibe with others. Probably brings snacks to share and is just an overall vibey kinda person.

SUHO

True Neutral Human Rogue

Doesn't know what he's doing but saw the game as a way to bond. Is only a rogue because he thought being anything else was too complicated. Thinks things out logically and rationally, kinda being a buzz kill in a sense because he's constantly trying to outsmart the dungeon master by using logic.

DM: You encounter a misty forest that is haunted due to all the people who go in there-

Suho: THEN WHY DID WE EVEN GO NEAR HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE?

Is a note taker. You best believe he has a whole notebook dedicated to this campaign and probably has started making notebooks for the others as well. Outside players think its cause he's immersed in the story and everything, but in reality its cause he will forget and will ask the other guys for help on things later.

Would end the campaign as an NPC Inn Keeper because he got to confused and overwhelmed.

LAY

Neutral Good Firbolg Druid

Thinks speaking to animals would be a fun thing to do and he likes how the Firbolg look. He thinks they're the cutest things in the world. Is the kind to want to attempt to befriend and name every animal they meet, even if they're a huge monster.

DM: In the distance you hear the roar of a mighty dragon-yes Lay?

Lay: Is he friendly?

DM: no he is not.

Lay: I want to try to be friends with him

DM: Lay no-

Lay: His name is now 龙.

DM: *sighs* what does that mean?

Lay: Dragon :)

Raises his hand in the meeting and waits patiently until called on. Another vibes person. Likes to add sound effects to combat scenes. Puts in just enough of his attention span to understand what's happening currently, but will immediately forget once he leaves the table. If he's healing someone he will literally make sounds as if he's healing them irl. Very immersive player.

BAEKHYUN

Chaotic Good Elf Wizard

No surprise that his alignment is a bit on the chaotic side, but he likes to do the whole Robin Hood bit where he makes his own laws and has his own morals, but still respects the laws if he sees fit. And if those laws don't coincide with his morals a.k.a are not put in place to help those who are less fortunate than those making the laws...well have fun trying to recover from your home suddenly burning down and you now have to life as a beggar.

Definitely has a preference for fire elemental spells, but primarily uses light spells because he feels that blinding the enemy in combat is better than to kill them directly because according to him "if we don't manage to leave a scratch on him, at least he'll never see the light again."

Hyperactive player. Very loud and wants to talk to all of the NPCs. Very high charisma stats so he's the information gatherer. And he's just also a huge gossip and is more involved with everyone's stories than his own. Poor DM had to make a whole separate list of notes for all the NPCs and their backstories in case Baekhyun asked. Other than that he's chill.

CHEN

Lawful Neutral High-Elf Archer

Wanted something more aestheticslly pleasing for once, seeing as he usually plays fighters above anything else. Loves the grace and height that comes with being a High-Elf, but he mainly uses his character to refer to Baekhyuns character as a "cretin" and no matter how much Baekhyun will beg the DM to have him stop, the DM will never disallow something that entertaining. Chen also likes to not engage directly in combat so he mostly likes to play the back and talks shit.

Hes just a shit talker. He loves to do it. It fuels him, but the minute they match the energy back he turns whiny and annoying, much to the annoyance of the DM. Sometimes brings his baby to the meeting because he couldn't get a babysitter. Has to constantly make sure that his baby isn't trying to pick up the dice to eat it, but should she roll the dice or place it down on the table covered in drool, the DM will honor whatever number it landed on.

CHANYEOL

The Dungeon Master

Here me out. He likes to tell exaggerated stories and is actually really good at telling them. Everyone in the group loves him and he makes sure that everyone goes to meetings by reminding them (aka he blows up the group chat 2 days, one day, and every hour of the day of). Is the only one who could handle everything but still have a goofy smile on his face. He just likes to play with his best friends and in turn he makes the game as enjoyable as possible.

When he's not Dungeon Master however he is 100% an Chaotic Neutral Orc Fighter.

D.O

Chaotic Evil Dwarf Monk

He missed the first meeting and Chanyeol made him his character. He rarely shows up frankly. Chanyeol basically has his character burn down towns and then reclaim their soil using the charred bits of human remains as a fertilizer. D.O is 100% okay with this.

When he does show up D.O is just very quiet the entire time. He likes to listen to the stories unfold but he's a listener more so than a player.

KAI

Neutral Good Tiefling Barbarian

Another big, strong, softie character. Is only a Tiefling cause he wanted to stand out and be different. Being a Barbarian he's the physically strongest character out there, and is very intimidating looking, but has the biggest soft spot for children in game. Man damn near adopted a whole ass orphanage. What Lay is to animals, Kai is to children he wants them ALL and by the end of the game he's adopted at least 25 kids.

As a player he loves to inhale all the snacks Xuimin bought and is a very expressive person. He has a horrible HORRIBLE habit of laughing whenever he's not supposed to though. He laughed the first time Chanyeol announced D.O's character, but quickly stopped after his character bit Kais' character's ankles.

SEHUN

Lawful Evil High-Elf Fighter

He believes he should have been the Dungeon Master and in turn has decided that his main goal of the game is to get as many people to believe that the current law system is garbage and that he is the only leader they should follow. Has a massive following because of this.

Honestly makes Chanyeol rip his hair out. He hates this character so much because of how good Sehun is at playing him. Hes an argumentative little shit and a brat on top of it so hes constantly throwing fits when things don't go his way. Hes great at charming the pants off of people though, much to Chanyeols bitterness.

[done-dm]

Talks Machina Summary: Episodes 76, 77, and Dalen's Closet

In lieu of the usual pre-show entertainment, we were graced with lovely imagery and music from Sounds of the Wildmother Vol. 1.

Announcements

The next episode of Between the Sheets is Monday, September 26 with Felisha Day. The VOD is available the following Wednesday.

There is NO episode of Critical Role this week. There will also be no episode of Talks Machina the following week (because no episode), but the Tavern Keeper Builder livestream will take up that timeslot.

Critrole Stats

Bread was mentioned 52 times in episode 76.

Jester's 100th message spell was cast during episode 77.

Ten days passed between Caleb's first and last conversation with the scourger.

Episode 76 and 77 tie for most dm face palms with 14 each.

Questions

Laura took the longest to come up with Jester's new character art. She drew out the outfit (somewhat poorly) and the artist took it from there. Laura wanted her to look more and more like the Traveler and dress a little more like an adult

Liam wanted Caleb to look less frazzled and more grim/determined in his new character art.

Jester is not aware that sharing your problems is not something to be ashamed of despite helping the other members of the M9 do exactly that. She doesn't want to acknowledge the fact that she has problems in the first place.

Caleb isn't sure that Essek trusts him, and he doesn't really trust Essek either. He thinks Essek has his own reasons for helping Caleb. Essek could be trying to stack up favors, get him under his thumb, acting as a mole, etc.

Jester's perspective on the Traveler has not changed despite her hearing the Traveler's following referred to as a cult.

Caleb feels like the group is clever enough to meet the needs of everyone that they're dealing with (despite the fact that they've been calling in several favors, particularly from Essek). It's a longshot, but he's trying to broker some kind of peace and needs to stay in everyone's good graces in order to do so.

Essek hurt Jester's feelings when he said he had nothing to learn from her. She tried to hide it from the others. Jester doesn't know who she is right now and that's starting to register with her for the first time.

Caleb has been thinking about the Scourgers for years. He wondered what state somebody would be in after years as a Scourger since he escaped that life early. He also wanted to know if anyone who had gone through that was a lost cause (Astrid and Eowulf in particular). There's still a lot of self-loathing, but Caleb understands that he was manipulated. The Scourger he interrogated was younger than him, so if he was any hope for himself he had to offer that to her as well. He also thinks about Yasha and would be quicker to make excuses for her than he would for himself.

Jester fully believes the Gentleman is her father. She thinks he doesn't care about her, but thinks she can convince him that he is her father eventually. She has no plans to tell the others about his refusal to acknowledge her.

Liam mimes using a shake weight. I expect the gifs to be entertaining.

Caleb has a newfound confidence in facing his past now that he has powerful friends, lots of assets, are in the pocket of a queen, etc. Liam wasn't sure where Caleb would be at this point in the campaign. The group is too persuasive as a family for him to walk away and cause Caleb to go down the other paths Liam thought were a possibility.

Jester thinks it's weird that no one else can see the Traveler, but she chalks it up to him being awesome and powerful.

Caleb made himself look like Trent to avoid looking at him and because Trent is enemy #1, so it made sense to Caleb to put that on hinself.

Jester's main example of people helping others is her mom, so she tries to emulate that: hence the motherly behavior towards her friends in the more recent episodes.

There was a question about Caleb's use of the transmuter's stone that I totally missed, whoops!

Jester expects the Traveler Con to be a really awesome celebration where she will be asked to host a few panels. Although, she obviously doesn't know all the details yet.

Liam pulled that line about the porcelain cats out of his ass. Now it's cannon that Caleb has 9 of them.

Jester finds it hard to be the messenger that everyone relies on. Scrying on Yasha was particularly difficult for her (considering the recent... incident). Laura is thankful Matt will repeat information instead of only relying solely on Jester's ability to convey it.

Caleb wants dunamancy knowledge for the sake of knowledge and also because he wants to manipulate time.

Jester feels like she's doing a pretty lousy job of getting more followers for the Traveler, especially since Fjord was actively looking for a god to follow.

Dalen's Closet Stats/Questions

Vex is the only member of vox machina to get hdywtdt on both Sylas an Delilah Briarwood.

Grog called Derrig four names other than his actual name during the course of the episode.

Liam did know that Sam intended to make Vax the wedding gift. Sam texted Matt and Liam to be sure they were okay with it first. Liam felt like he was playing Vax as an NPC at this point. Matt has told him a little bit about where Vax is at, but it was up to Liam to decide exactly what Vax was at this point.

Laura says it feels "fucking awesome" to be responsible for the deaths of both Briarwoods. Laura thinks of Vex/Percy and Delilah/Sylas as two side of the same coin since she would "pull a Delilah" if something happened to Percy.

The bone on Vax's shoulder was a physical manifestation of his tattoo of Keyleth's antlers. It was the one part of his humanity the Raven Queen couldn't control.

Liam was inspired by the short story "The Jaunt" when deciding how Vax was going to appear at the wedding. Vax has been gone for a year, but that doesn't mean he's experiencing time the same way as the rest of Vox Machina.

Laura fully thought Vax would come back exactly the same as he was when he died. Liam thought that all of Vax's decisions needed to have consequences.

Laura and Liam both feel like this one shot was the end of Vox Machina's story.

It felt good for Laura and Liam to be "twinsies" again.

Vex would have reacted differently if Vesper was at the wedding instead of alseep. She didn't bring it up to avoid giving Sylas another weakness to exploit.

Liam could accept every other member of Vox Machina dying except for Vex because "he made a deal."

Names of Derrig's family members (please note that I totally guessed on spelling): his wife is Nell; his three girls are Baroni(?), Litan, and Maeve; and his son is named Will.

Sam and Marisha both thought they were Taliesin's/Percy's best man. They told Sam he was next to Vex and he had to rewrite his speech (he had one prepared Percy). Laura didn't write down the wedding vows ahead of time, but did prepare them beforehand .

[c-is-for-circinate]

Yes beautiful!

I think there's also an element in it of...we don't want to mess with the party. If Dusk were some random NPC they were considering maybe working with, they'd be all about catty gossip and suspicion. But Dusk is to some degree part of the group now. She and Fearne have declared full siblinghood! Laudna's all in a twitter about getting asked out! Orym gave them a sword and they hijacked a car together! Voicing suspicions of Dusk wouldn't just add more information to a group understanding of a scenario, it would upset people. Whether they believed you or not, they'd be upset! Fearne's sort of a mess right now, and Imogen doesn't want to destabilize things with Laudna right after their fight, especially if it might be out of her own jealousy. Dusk wormed in among the group deliberately and well, specifically targeting particular individuals and befriending them as hard (and as slyly divisively) as possible.

Which means that when the not trusting themselves kicks in -- because you are 100% right, that's such a core of this -- it's not just, 'I'm not sure, what if they don't believe me?' It's, 'I'm not sure, what if I'm wrong and I hurt my friends because of it?' What if I make a mess? What if I am right, but I say it in the wrong way or to the wrong person, and it creates catastrophe that Dusk can take advantage of to hurt us?

This group has always been very much on the side of "hands off my friends' various businesses unless they invite me there" (FCG's constant attempts to help aside). In a lot of ways -- and I talked about this at the start of campaign three -- that's a very healthy attitude! Having some boundaries with brand new friends/coworkers, even (especially!) ones you literally live with is really important. But we're starting to see the places where those boundaries are maybe a little too strong. When you think your friend's new friend might secretly be an assassin out to kill her parents, you should butt into your friend's business.

Nobody in this group wants to intrude on one another, not really. (Imogen, who can't stop intruding into peoples' heads without even trying; Laudna, who's been chased out of more towns than some people have had warm beds; Ashton, who's so sure they've pissed off literally everybody they've ever met; FCG, who's convinced they're made to serve; Orym, who's spent his life in service of a different kind; Chetney, who knows himself to be unlikable and rejected and refuses to care; Fearne, at the center of all this. Fearne, who barely knows what boundaries are, and doesn't notice when her friends have drawn some for themselves, to hold back from intruding on her.) I think that's what they don't trust themselves to do.

y’know what’s really interesting about last night’s episode is that it really revealed the BIGGEST flaw that bells hells has as a party:

they don’t fucking trust each other enough. or rather, they don’t trust themselves.

sure, they have the “you can have my back, you can save my life, you can heal me and switch places with me in a fight, you can head into danger and come out just fine” trust because if they didnt, they wouldn’t have made it this far. literally.

but they’re all so fucking careful when it comes to their suspicions! chet never says anything to anyone about dusk, orym doesn’t say shit about reading chet’s and dusk’s lips, imogen doesn’t say boo about not being able to read dusk’s mind. it’s not that they don’t think the others aren’t capable, but more like “if i don’t get all my ducks in a row no one will believe me” which!! is so much. to think about.

because when it’s said like that it’s not like they don’t trust one another, it’s more like they DON’T TRUST THEMSELVES individually! which makes so much sense! ashton got betrayed by ppl they thought they knew better than anyone else in the world, FCG finds out someone they thought was dead is actually alive and never bothered to get them back and they’re also fucking glitching more and more often and he finds out not only did dancer not make them but also they are MUCH MUCH older than anything or anyone else they’ve ever met (pre divergence BABY aeor is for LOVERS nd robits), imogen was a hermit in her own fucking home bc no one wanted to be around the girl who could get into your head (not like she had a choice sometimes) and she doesn’t trust herself not to somehow cross lines with people whether that be on accident or on purpose, laudna licherally spent 30 years post-death being ousted from town to town because people found her a freak and a witch and has a DEAD NECROMANCER WHO KILLED HER IN HER HEAD, fearne is slowly coming to realization that her parents maybe weren’t sending her post cards all those years and that her life really wasn’t all it was cracked up to be and her memory is a little fucky (that feywild shit, huh), orym still probably feels residual survivor’s guilt in being unable to protect the one person who really truly mattered to him and sees it as a failing in himself rather than just something that happened, chet is a werewolf who literally gets run out of towns because of what he is and he could literally lose control if he’s too hurt or out of it and hurt someone else (as seen w orym)

like they’re so…aware of the trust they have for one another, but because they don’t trust themselves, they never SAY SHIT bc they’re always second guessing their suspicions which is so fascinating to watch; they don’t trust themselves enough to follow their instincts to trust one another even moreso. they’ve all got like folie a deaux but it’s mass imposter syndrome instead.

and it’s not like dusk knew that abt the bells, but it worked so well in dusk’s favor bc even if it was an 11th hour realization and discovery for the pc’s who did start to get suspicious, it would have been enough time to maybe do something. but they DIDN’T and it kinda doomed them!

after this i hope they get more…confident in their own capabilities. or at least learn to trust their own guts without needing confirmation or waiting for all the chips to land. sometimes, you just gotta listen to the sirens in ur head because that’s the part of u that wants u to survive no matter what.

dusk says a lot of shit and idk how much was truth laced with the sweetness of lies you wanna hear, but they got one thing fucking right. bells hells are special. and they gotta realize it before it really lands them in hotter fucking water.