#definitely a modified version of the astral project spell in which the caster doesn't actually travel with the targets

[12pt-times-new-roman]

c3e36 — whitestone is for lovers

4+ hour episode!

"there's lots of lore in here because I have a problem" — quick someone find all the hidden lore in the tarot cards

oh my god please let Fearne try to steal from Keyleth

The reason Keyleth's attempt to resurrect Will and Derrig failed was because the swords were imbued with a toxin. It was a particular type of extremely rare venom, extremely expensive, designed to deny the working of divine magic.

That is for FUCKING SURE frigid woe.

Which is an Aeorian disease that the mages of Aeor manufactured to prevent magical healing, so that they could fight the agents of the gods without having to worry about their divine healing.

"Frigid woe is a special disease developed by Aeor's mages that cannot be cured by conventional treatment or magic. The only way a creature infected with the disease can be cured is by finding and drinking the manufactured antidote, a milky liquid stored in gold vials found in Eiselcross' ruins."

Cassandra is in Lyrengorn on business. This is a very small city in the northernmost reaches of Tal'dorei, and it's famous for the "Moonweaver's Ribbons," the northern lights.

The lord is in his office

one of the de Rolo children is stalking them through Castle Whitestone

Keyleth Got A Message

Her response— "Of course. Yes, no, I understand, I'll — I'll be there as soon as possible."

Vasselheim is planning a huge celebration on the solstice to reinforce and renew the divine wards around the city and to enact massive rituals not usually achievable.

There are also a lot of people doing a lot of things. Agents of the Betrayer Gods, mages, arcanists, people gathering rare materials and crafting usually-unachievable rituals — etc, etc, etc. Otohan and whatever the fuck she's up to is, for all she and the Hells know, a tiny blip on Keyleth's radar.

"My current focus with the other Ashari leaders is a rogue faction in Issylra, but the less you know, the better." that's definitely the place the Blightstar ship came from, yeah? or maybe whatever remains of the Hishari?

"[The Changebringer] is one of the good ones, one of the freer ones, one of the more fun ones... if you like where the winds can carry you, you might like the path that she leads. If faith is your thing."

Percy keeps his mask up on the wall so it's looking out over his office.

Talisein unconsciously mimicking Percy's mannerisms is so fucking funny to me, especially since it's pretty clear Matt is doing the same thing behind the screen

Percy is an excellent father and you cannot take this away from me.

"I know it's early, but if you would, please wake Pike Trickfoot and summon her to the castle. If she's not at home, she might be at the bakery."

my heart is so full

Gwen named the wolf Chetney carved for her Galdric ;-;

AND VEX??

oh that's right, Vex would age a bit slower than Percy because she's a half-elf

"She was the woman that Laudna was... she's very beautiful." Imogen my heart

we talk so so much about old adventuring parties helping out new ones and doing things for them, or about how the actions they take will affect future campaigns. but this is an instance of the Bells Hells, a level seven party, presenting an opportunity to 20th-level world leaders to at least partially undo something that has been plaguing them for decades. to make right something they thought would always be wrong, and to do it in a way that really, actually matters. "we have to help them. darling, we have to."

"I can feel her soul. It's adrift-- not yet beyond our reach, that's good. What... there's something else here. There's something... it's holding her back, I can't — Percy?"

"There's two souls bound to this body, and I can't separate them. Not like this." "Two souls?" "Yeah. And one of them is Delilah Briarwood."

akdjfgshj

yeeeeeah, Percy ain't gonna let this happen

"When you call a spirit back, you have to call out to the spirit and be like, 'hey, come back,' and they say 'yeah okay' or 'no thanks,' but I can't even talk to your friend because Delilah's there."

If Pike finishes the ritual, there's no telling which spirit will return.

Vex wants to find a solution, Percy doesn't want to take the risk

"Wasn't your soul held by another? What did your friends do?" GET HIS ASS ORYM

"What if we could get rid of her for good?" "Then do so. Without my aid."

"Darling, at least let them try... I mean... we both have some fault in this, don't we?" "Then tell me if you find a way that is satisfactory, but do nothing without my approval. Delilah stays gone."

Beau would get into so many fucking fights with Percy, I would pay money to see them interact. Cobalt Soul Whitestone branch when?

Pike thinks there might be scripture of the Everlight that could help them with exorcism or separating the soul but it's not her specialty, so now they're all gonna go back to her house to look, I guess?? and then maybe to Vasselheim?

"Do we need the old guy? Do we need that fucker?" Ashton follows Percy as he leaves??

"I just wanna say a piece, maybe make an offer. I don't like to lose." "I suggest you get used to the idea." "Let me tell you, I have. I have lost everything, everybody. I have had a lifetime of bad hits, problems, lost people, promises broken, people died, it is the background of my daily life. I have died. This is madness up here, this is not something that just fucking happens. This is what happens when the universe really doesn't like you and decides it wants to keep you around a little while longer. And then I met these people, and life changed in a very intense way. Not in a lovey-dovey 'I've found love and friends' way. The world got weird, there is weird shit happening, and now I'm feeling very small in a very big world, when I used to feel very small in a very small world and that's where I was comfortable... I'm not here for love, or happiness, or joy, or whatever the fuck— I'm here because it's important." "Don't lose that anger. Use it to build. To create. And guard it with your life... I'm not sunsetting the idea. But I need certainties. My children will not grow up in a world where that woman exists. And if you bring [Delilah] back, I will send you all to the same place I will send her. For my family."

I really want to know how much of that was Ashton being genuine, and how much of it was them trying to convince Percy of something in a way they thought would work.

TRINKET!!! BABY TRINKETS!!!

"Must be nice to get people to do what you want them to do just by growling at them, not by having to explain yourself. I'm jealous."

I am rotating Ashton in my head like they are in a microwave. They have such an interesting brand of self-deprecating hubris, such a confidence in their fatalistic tendencies, I cannot wait for them to break. I cannot wait for the moment they just break the fuck down, 'cause Ashton's disposition is like stone -- they'll never bend, they'll never yield, but when they break it will be fucking catastrophic. And when they do, I really hope that they're forced to accept that people care about them and that they care about people. Caleb's journey to that conclusion was slow and gradual and we saw every step of the way— Ashton's, I think, will be a cliff that they're pushed off of before they learn to fly.

Pike has some ideas for rituals that could help!

One seems like an astral projection type thing, very old and very powerful. The Bells Hells would need to go to where Laudna is being held by Delilah, and then separate the two of them long enough for Pike to pull Laudna away.

When a soul passes on, they go to whatever realm best matches their faith or alignment. But Laudna was in a "cold, separate" space that Pike had never felt before, and it felt "very much like Delilah." Like a fucking demiplane or something?

FCG's soul is a "unique, strange, semi-translucent light... not as bright as hers, but present, this fuzzy sparkle. As you turn your hands, you can see them shifting and moving, almost like electrical pulses, but not electricity, not arcane— it's hard to explain. You just feel warm."

"It means that you're alive. And it looks like you already have eyes on you." FCG saw the symbol of the Changebringer on their soul.

did FCG just alert Vex that the party has residuum?

YEP

YES THEY DID

"And if it goes right, we are at your service." Hm. That's something I actually hadn't considered. Vox Machina would have no reason to intervene in something that the Bells Hells are dealing with if VM knew that they were handling it. So if the Hells tell them about Otohan and that they're confident they can deal with her, VM will have no reason to get involved until after the Hells have already failed (if they fail), at which point it's probably too late anyway.

.....The Hells didn't pass through the Divine Gate when they astral projected out to wherever Laudna and Delilah are.

They're standing on a stone floor that's covered in black fog.

FCG looks a little more amorphous; whereas everyone else is crisp and defined, the shape of them is more ethereal and fuzzy. "It's not the metal that's defining the spirit; it's more like the shape that resides within is taking form."

In this landscape, there are bits of gravel and dark gray stone, all in grayscale. There are cliffs that drop off, and areas where the fog just... stops. Beyond the immediate vicinity, sound cannot travel, like the void does not allow vibrations to transmit.

Oh this is super fucking inspired by Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. If anyone has played that game, this sounds very very similar to Aryshulae's dream realm.

There's a faint smell of vegetable rot, like a bog or compost. The wind is voices. Whispers. Multitudes. Sourceless, genderless, distant and beyond the fog.

yo that is an awesome use of the immovable rod. Ashton has affixed it underneath their bracers, so they can activate it and hold on if they fall.

As they move forward, spire-like rock formations get taller and more frequent — a valley of rock needles, until eventually they push up past beyond the fog. Some of them begin to grow branches and the whispers grow louder. "There she is." "Get her." Eventually, they get to a petrified forest — petrified or mimicked by stone, they can't tell. The ground is mimicking pitfalls, bushes, ferns — but it's all stone.

There's a built structure, like a cabin or hut, and there's a firelight coming through the window. Near it, the whispers get louder. "Hit her! She's here! Where? Gather them up, burn it down. The witch, the witch is here."

oh.

oh no.

how long has Laudna been here? hollow ones don't have a soul. so has Laudna's soul been here ever since she died, trapped by Delilah?

"There is a cot, a stone fireplace resembling the stones gathered from the forest, and within it a small fire burns. There is a small table and a stool, and on the table, you see tools— a pair of scissors, a knife. The body of a rat. On the stool, you see a shadow shape, a black flame barely holding there, flickering in and out of existence... you don't feel like she's there, but you see the shape of Laudna sitting there, making something at the table... you see a small purple light that just kind of sits in her chest."

The whispers get louder. "There she is! There's the witch, burn her!" The black flame vanishes, the fire curls up, and the stone cabin begins to burn. A bunch of shadows converge on the cabin, and start initiative!

ohhhh. maybe these are Laudna's memories (making it even more inspired by Pathfinder WotR btw). maybe she tried to make a life for herself outside of Whitestone or some other city and got chased away for being a "witch." maybe that's why she was on the run when she found Imogen. maybe we'll get to see the scene when she and Imogen met.

and that would also track. because what if all of this shit is stone and grayscale because these aren't actual memories, but neurological imprints left on the physical form of Laudna? things that were never experienced by the soul, never imprinted on the soul, but were in the body, so now they're here like echoes?

Ashton rage build update: Tal finally rolled possibility! also, their entire astral form flickers with the energy of their rage, not just their head. an ally within 10 feet of Ashton (including themself) can add 1d4 to attacks and saving throws. it's essentially a 10-foot radial bless that lasts for as long as they maintain their rage. know your enemy is Liam's keen mind of C3, and the possibility rage build is Tal's bless of C3.

yeah. yeahyeahyeah. Imogen said "they always-- that's how they always ran her out of town." so this is a memory of the Laudna we know -- Laudna after she died the first time.

combat done!

maybe it's because the lighting is making it easier to envision all of this in my adhd/asd brain, but it feels like early C3 is much more cinematic than early C2 was.

there's a little alcove underneath the house with roots. the roots lead to a tunnel. this goes to a ziggurat, right? like, this is some kind of fucked up amalgamation of Laudna and Delilah's memories because they were intwined in undeath?

"You're going down, but as you step out, you see sky facing you. A purplish, faintly obscured starscape, like a night sky with purple nebulous cloud in the distance, like you're staring into a cosmic shadow. On the sides, you see more roots, pushing downward. As you step forward, the gravity seems to shift, and suddenly you're emerging from the floor of another forest-like realm around you... you see more of these trees, and then beyond them, a wall, partially crumbled. Rooftops. Not far beyond them, a massive leafless tree, hundreds and hundreds of bare branches looming over this shaded city, with a faint bit of green light drifting out like a mist, filling the city and lighting it from underneath."