#flip delilah briarwood

[xxwillowpotatox]

SPOILERS FOR CRITICAL ROLE EPISODE 65!!

SORRY FOR THE LOW QUALITY ITS THE ONLY WAY TUMBLR WOULD LET ME UPLOAD IT BUT HERE IS THE EDITED CLIP OF THE IMODNA KISS + MORE IMODNA TALK AFTER IT AND THE DELILAH THING

[waltwhitmansbeard]

go on, claim my heart: chapter thirty

see my masterpost for what came before this. for some additional context, reading turned my water into wine #30 is recommend but not required. tw: suicide

Percy doesn't hesitate. He wheels around and fires, arm and finger and gun all moving as one, as if he has always held this weapon, as if it were as much a part of him as his eyes or his lungs. He empties the barrel into Delilah Briarwood, except he doesn't; his blood goes cold when he once again sees his bullets scatter into various directions off of an invisible wall of some kind.

The tiger that is to be his future sovereign roars, pouncing to the left, where she is buffeted off of yet another unseen obstacle, Pike barely clinging on for dear life. Hand shaking, Percy stretches his arm out and touches a fourth, and he now knows that they are trapped, some arcane cage from which they are to watch this horror show.

Delilah's teeth gleam in the dim light from the torches behind Percy. "It seems you've arrived just in time to watch yet again, Percival." Her steps are slow, deliberate, as she circles around them, one corner of her mouth turned up in a smile that makes Percy see red. "I hope you enjoy this evening's entertainment as much as you did our last encounter."

The screaming. The blood. The teeth. Percy does not take his eyes off of her as he shoves more ammunition into his gun. "I will enjoy seeing the life drain from your eyes," he hisses, and he isn't sure he's even audible over the Keyleth's frantic pacing. Vax is pressed up against the invisible wall closest to the altar, and Percy's stomach sinks as Delilah saunters up to the dais, where Professor Anders deferentially gives up his space for her to stand behind the residuum glass. Her nose wrinkles at the sight of the bawling babe, but her disgust is not enough to stop her from beginning her work.

Keyleth's snarl echoes through the cavern as Delilah picks up the athame, but just when Percy is convinced she's going to swing it down into Vilya's tiny body, she instead slips off her gloves, brings the tip of the blade to the inside of her own arm and begins to carve into the flesh. His stomach flips, but he manages not to vomit. Delilah starts up a chant, low, guttural, in some tongue he cannot understand. He is mesmerized, he is horrified, and he cannot look away.

Keyleth hurls herself at the wall and bounces off harmlessly. Pike, the only one among them with sense, slides off of her back but keeps a hand twisted into her fur. "Keyleth! Shed this form and resume your natural state!"

The tiger's eyes narrow into slits, but after a beat, the tiger shrinks, white fur giving way to freckles and fiery hair, and there Keyleth is, shaking so violently it's a wonder she can stand. Pike grabs one of her hands in both of hers. "We need to get out of here." Keyleth opens her mouth, as if to snap at Pike for stating the obvious, but Pike continues. "If we combine our magic, I believe we can break free."

There is skepticism in Keyleth's face—and likely in Percy's too, if he were to guess—but she allows Pike to weave their fingers together. Pike settles one hand on the wall closest to the altar and nods for Keyleth to do the same on the wall adjacent. They both bow their heads, and Percy's attention is torn between them and the ominous chanting coming from the dais. After a few moments, he reaches his fingers out once more, touches the invisible wall to his side. It is hard beneath his fingertips, just a few degrees cooler than the already frigid air around them. He waits, his heart pounding with each passing second, sure that this isn't going to work, sure that he is about to watch his friend's child be sliced open like a pig at slaughter—

—and then he stumbles, the arcane wall no longer supporting his weight. They are free. Keyleth and Pike's heads snap up simultaneously, both of them aware of their success, and then everyone moves at once. Vax tears off first, heading not for the altar, as Percy would have guessed, but rather the cage Percy noticed when they first came into this heinous place. Vex's bow is raised in a heartbeat, arrows flying one by one through the cavern, and Percy is just a breath behind, raising his gun to fire at the center of Delilah's forehead. He curses under his breath as, with a simple wave of her hand, a smaller arcane ward appears before her, slightly shimmering in the torchlight, and once more their arrows and bullets are useless. Still he fires, satisfaction burning hot in his chest when Delilah turns to Professor Anders and snaps, "Do something!"

Keyleth and Pike charge forward together, and Percy and Vex continue to offer them cover. Professor Anders steps around in front of the altar, and in an officious voice, resonant and too loud for one so frail, commands, "STOP!"

Percy is horrified as his muscles seize up, his trigger finger stilling along the barrel of his weapon. Slowly, his gun drifts down, and he sees Vex's bow doing the same just beside him. They look at each other, confused and aghast, as their bodies obey Anders's command. They stand, frozen, as they watch Keyleth and Pike continue on with their assault.

Keyleth gets about halfway to the dais and throws a hand forward. A thick, green vine bursts from her palm, curling around Delilah's arcane shield to wrap around her wrist. She yanks on the vine, and Delilah lurches forward, barely catching herself before her face bashes into the edge of the altar. The two begin a furious tug-of-war just as Pike snags the mace off of her hip and swings it toward Anders's midsection. All Percy can do is stand there and watch as the women battle the two on the dais. Pike is far more formidable with a mace than Percy ever would have guessed, and his heart leaps into his throat as Keyleth tugs Delilah off to the side, farther away from the baby.

Delilah once again shrieks, "Anders, stop them!" Nothing thrills Percy like the clear desperation in her voice. If Keyleth can kill her, surely Anders will surrender, and they can get the baby and go to Cassandra and be back in Zephrah before Lord Briarwood can regain his strength and come for them, and everything will be fine again, he's sure of it—

Anders kicks a leg out, sending Pike sprawling backward down the slope to the dais. At the same time, the cage door in the far corner of the cavern swings open. Percy doesn't know what Vax has planned, but he knows it won't happen soon enough as Anders straightens with a huff, tugging on his waistcoat. He points a trembling finger directly at Percy. "Kill yourself."

The world stops. Pike's body comes to a standstill, Keyleth freezes, Vex stops breathing. Percy's muscles understand the words before his mind does. His right hand shakes as the gun comes up to rest below his chin, the barrel pressing up into his jaw. There's a tear leaking from the corner of one eye; is this really the night the Briarwoods finally accomplish what they failed to do all those years ago? Will they come for Cassandra next, vulnerable even with Grog and Scanlan by her side? Does the de Rolo line truly end here?

He sees her, in the corner of his eye. Her face is wet, glimmering in the torchlight. Didn't he promise her? Didn't he tell her he would come home with her, that she would not lose him in this quest? Such fear in her eyes, such horror as the metal shivers beneath his skin. He sees her lips form words—Percival, no—but he cannot hear them over the rushing of blood in his ears.

A thousand things to tell her. No breath left in his body. She is crying. Her tears are the last thing he sees before his finger squeezes the trigger and the world goes black.

[non-neutoniangender]

Okay yea, fuck it, watching 34 right now because sleep is for nerds and Matt decided to leave off on something of the world's worst cliffhanger (that's not necessarily true, but it kinda feels like it)

WHY did Matt start this with FCG??? boy am I concerned

Memories of Aeor?!??!?!?????

A MAN YOU FEAR?????? oh no

Chetney?!?!?!

why is he going down the list......

lmao "wayward romances in your youth"

Why are there names......

Also I'm suspicious that this is because Imogen let go, this is the hint that they're all ruidis born, because I think thats the direction this campaign was going to go

Ashton... whooo boy... yea, I think this is probably pointing towards ruidis born (from a storytelling perspective, in world I understand that they would have difficulty just guessing they are all ruidis born yk)

Some kind of ritual....

Beyond the edge of death....... wow

WAIT YEA. the whole cast is there, even the ones who are dead dead....... huh

Not the dinner with the Briarwoods...... :/ God I hate Delilah

Good lord. oopsies. we just disappeared a bunch of dirt and shit

I do really love how invested they get in the game

oops there goes Laudna

"worry not Laudna, death is but a waiting game" oh my god

Knowing what happens lessens the impact for me, in a good way, it really helps with the anxiety, but having them so much with helping the stakes feel real.

I can get safely invested with them being so invested even if I know the result. its nice

"How do I know they're dead" asking the right questions

A revivify cockring omg

When the so many people die that initative starts to go at the normal speed. god thats so morbid

Holy shit Sam. not the exact 10 on the revivify ritual dear GOD

Fearne, the first person to when presented with a Revivify goes "what else" what a Fearne move... I love her, I love Ashley

oh my god not the slight action economy shuffling

rollies to see who lives good Gods

Liam is just depressed.......

It's so heartbreaking to see Fearne work through how to save her friends, and FCG having to work her through who is dead

"Who votes for Orym" noooooooo lmao

Are they actually about to flip a coin for who to rez........?

This has such a different vibe to the Molly death... I can't really put my finger on why? maybe because when molly died there were no healers

Will 😢

Orym's gonna be a wreck after this huh.

But the acting :'(

Marisha silently packing up.... then asking Matt is she should leave 😢😢😢

Oh. Imogen thinks its her fault.

I do like that Matt is calling an early break so the players can go cry in each others arms for a moment.

aaaaaand popsicle stick Laura is waaaay too cheery

good god after all that death they go straight to torture

What a macabre scene, Imogen grieving the death of Laudna as everyone else is torturing information out of Treshi

Grey fluid...... dunamancy.... GOD I hate Ludinus

WAIT jesus did Otohan just cast 4 resonant Echoes?!?!?!?

God its so surreal to hear them talking about consulting Delilah like its not the worst idea ever.

"Imogen, do you think someone needs to take care of Paté and Sashimi?" oh my god Sam you don't need to break my heart again!

I do really love how Fjord seems to have opened up the relationship floodgates for Travis, I like how unabashedly horny he is.

I love when Caleb came out to talk about magic

TWO fragments of possibility?!?!? science has been scienced

not the grog meatlocker of holding!! (honestly...... I've been wondering what all was in that )

He added a FEAT?!?!?!?!

A toolbox lmaoooooo God Sam, never change.

"And not hide money from each other......."

"I saw my parents" "I thought you were an orphan" "I'm going to give you 10 seconds to figure that out" pure gold lmao

Captain Xandis!!!!! I forgot how much I loved them!!!!

The spell definitely headed something off at the pass, good god. Matt you are trying to kill someone!!!!

I love that Travis still counts for Laura's Sending.

And that airship pickup was really one for the highlight reel.

[everystephoftheway]

camp cloudtop- chapter eight

Ehehehehehe things are happening!

This can be found on ao3 as well.

By the time all the campers left for the day and the counselors packed their things, Keyleth wasn’t quite sure how she was still standing without some kind of assistance. The training days were long, but they didn’t knock her out like this.

“Who knew entertaining kids was so exhausting?” she said as her and Vax walked toward the front exit, both of them with tired, forward rolled shoulders. 

“I warned you,” he chuckled. “But you did a great job for your first day. The kids seem to love you.” 

“Oh, well, thank you. They really like you too. Simon is like your best friend.”

Vax smiled. “He was in my group last year. We share some similarities, so I think he just took to me.” 

“And you took to him. It’s really sweet…” Keyleth tilted her head, contemplating whether or not to ask. “What kind of similarities do you guys share?”

They rounded the corner into the reception area and Vax’s eyes narrowed. Just outside the door stood Gilmore, again with the dark, tall, handsome couple.

“Who are they?” Vax’s posture immediately straightened, and Keyleth offered a shrug.

“I don’t know, but I saw Gilmore with them this morning. Do you think they were here all day?” 

“Let’s hang back a bit.” 

“What?”

Vax took Keyleth’s hand and brought her over to the bench she had sat on the other day, waiting for the couple to leave. Vex and Percy came around the corner within a few minutes, both looking equally as tired.

“You waited for me? How sweet, brother.”

“Shh. Come sit down.” 

Vax flicked his chin in the direction of the couple and Vex, no stranger to curiosity, sat down with no argument. Percy seemed less interested, though Keyleth noticed how his eyes didn’t stray from the couple once he saw them. 

It took ten minutes for the couple to finally leave, heading who knows where through the teleportation circle at the flagpole. As soon as they were gone, Gilmore’s posture sank, his usually bright expression giving away to a stressed frown, dark eyebrows pressed together as he pinched the top of his nose. Their little group headed out to him, Vax at the front.

“Gilmore,” he called, offering a kind smile. Gilmore picked his head up, and immediately did his best to readjust himself, pretending like everything was okay. “Who were those people? Were they here all day?”

Gilmore nodded, but waved a dismissive hand at the same time. “Do not worry about it, my darlings. They were just visiting.” 

“Do they have a kid in the camp?” Keyleth asked.

Gilmore shook his head.

“Then why would they be here?”

“Potential benefactors, perhaps?” Percy’s idea wasn’t bad at all, but why would Gilmore have looked so stressed if that were the case?

“Potential buyers?” Keyleth didn’t even like to say it out loud, but the corners of Gilmore’s smile downturned and Keyleth felt her stomach flip.

“Buyers?” Vax turned to look at their group before looking toward the director once more. “Gilmore, you don’t want to leave, do you?”

“Gods, no. I’d run this camp forever if I could…” He sighed. “Enrollment is significantly down from last year, and funds are, well, a bit tighter than I’d like.”

“Maybe buyers wouldn’t be so bad,” Keyleth shrugged. “If they can help with money, then you can just focus on running the camp.”

“Unfortunately, they do not want to buy the camp, dear. Just the land.” 

A silence fell over everyone, unsure what to do or what to say, too stunned.

“Like I said,” Gilmore finally sighed, “it is not for you to worry about. That is for me to contend with. All I ask of you turtle doves is to take good care of your campers and give them the best summer of their lives.” He clapped a hand on Vax’s shoulder. “Though, I do appreciate the concern.” 

Vax smiled back at him. “Best summer of their lives…Can you at least just tell us their names?”

“Delilah and Sylas Briarwood. They’ve been influential in this town for years. Why they want the land, who knows, but do the rich ever really need a reason to do anything?”

Vax offered a small laugh and a nod. “Well, it won’t matter because they’re not going to get it.” He said it with such confidence that Keyleth glanced over, wondering if maybe he had a plan.

Gilmore didn’t seem to share the same confidence, but he smiled all the same. “Get home, everyone. I want you bright eyed and bushy tailed for tomorrow.” 

With a final clap on Vax’s shoulder, Gilmore turned and headed back inside, leaving the group of counselors to themselves.

“Do you really think he’d sell the camp?” Keyleth asked as they started walking.

“He may not have a choice,” Percy said, always so matter of fact and logical.

“We’ll make sure he has one.” Vax looked over his shoulder at everyone. “Maybe we can–”

“Hey, K!” 

The group stopped, Keyleth turning around to see Kash running towards them. She smiled and waved. “Hey, Kash.”

“Glad I caught you before you left. I, uh, wanted to ask,” he glanced over at the trio standing behind Keyleth, but decided to pay no mind, “if you wanted to hang out after work on Folsen.”

“Oh. I…” This time, Keyleth looked back at everyone. Percy had his gaze toward the ground as if to give them some semblance of privacy, and Vex watched with an arched brow, arms crossed. She looked at Vax, silently hoping for something–what she wasn’t sure, maybe permission? A counter offer?–but his gaze looked to his sister, and Keyleth turned back around. “...Yeah, let’s do it.” 

Kash’s eyes lit up. “Great! We can figure out some of the details tomorrow. I’ll see you then.” 

“See you then.” 

Kash, now with a bounce in his step, headed out to his car, and Vex immediately started to laugh.

“What?”

“Nothing, nothing. That was very…cute.” 

“Come on, you two.” Vax grabbed his sister by the wrist, knowing Percy was sure to follow. “I’m exhausted. We’ll see you tomorrow, Keyleth.”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.” She smiled at her partner, and while he smiled back it didn’t seem…full, like the brightness reached his eyes.

Keyleth’s hands wrapped around the leather strap of her bag, and she turned for her tree; the further she walked the more butterflies filled her chest. Oh my gods, I think I have a date.

[wizardnuke]

delilah "I broke the world for you" briarwood would have an aneurysm if she found out some kid on the other side of the planet is repeatedly aligning the starts on accident thru the power of love n friendship. she also very much flipped some 120yr old evil war criminal wizards world upside down just by existing near him. miss jester lavorre regularly repeatedly steps into the coldest darkest most loveless places and paints curtains. makes a window where there wasn't one before. lets the light in. i love her.

artagan wasn't a god until jester decided he was. and then he was. do u ever think abt that. jester lavorre what are you

[sparring-spirals]

"Not yet" Well Delilah, MAYBE YOU SHOULD HAVE RESURRECTED HER INTO A FUCKING BARBARIAN IF YOU'VE GOT SO MANY OPINIONS ABOUT HER NEARLY DYING.

[catrassingletear]

Vex would be so proud.

[pocketgalaxies]

vex just lost 75 of her 76 hp

[b4rredteeth]

Matevos chuckled. Enjoying Fallon’s acting, and the way she was trying to sound high and mighty. He thought she did very well, though the behaviour made him cringe as well, as most rich people did. He had no idea who Delilah Briarwood was, perhaps she’d told him once, and he had listened, but he hadn’t remembered. He grinned, letting her go again and accepting her empty glass with a frown. Perhaps she was acting like he was her page, or she was too drunk to hold it. The pat on his cheek didn’t make it more clear, but it worked either way. “Si Senorita,” he said, stopping himself from poking Fallon on the arm. 

“No, I lost it, somewhere… no clue where. Must’ve put it down and not taken it up again,” he flipped back to British as if it was his natural accent, and then shook his head with a laugh. “Too much to drink,” he responded in a Spanish accent. “But no worries, I’m sound of mind, sharp as a knife.” He winked at her. “Do you want another drink?” He looked down at her dress, it was so long. He wanted to ask her if she’d heard anything from Cyrek… if Cyrek had spoken to her about his current reluctance, but nah, this was a party. “I also lost my mask, but I’m sure it’s still in the bathroom, it got itchy.” He chuckled. “Your dress must weight like… a ton.”

the manor was magnificent. if it weren't for the costume that donned fallon in the most regal attire she would never appear in another night after this, chronicling her a lady in addition, then she wouldn't have entertained the notion of cascading down the grand staircase with the very air trembling with the weight of her presence. casting a long shadow, black as night and just as foreboding, as though she wielded control of dark magics, tethered to her every fickle whim. barring the fact that there had been hours upon which to imbibe the many ( alcoholic ) potions of the eve, the raven felt intoxicated with the levity of her character. as if to that point, a muscled arm slung across the exposed line of her shoulders, a hand darting to clutch at the ( momentarily "borrowed" and excruciatingly authentic ) glitteringly beautiful necklace of diamond and emerald adorning her collarbone should the fabric of his handmade costume catch and break. surprising, given her non-concomitance to sobriety, that it would be the first thought to fly into her frontal lobe before throwing a languid smile upwards of matevos' towering figure. "'dressed up as?'" fallon performed in her best rendition of a posh, faintly mid-atlantic, accent. "why, dear, i am your lady delilah briarwood. do mind your manners." behind the foil, fallon cringed at just how well she could play the role of the rich. as the pair strolled along to the decorated parlour — fallon passing off her emptied glass to matevos' care as she detailed the merciless and indoctrinable persona that was her costume — she finished off with a docile pat to his unmasked cheek, "thankfully, i won't have to lift a finger tonight when i have the impressive zorro to do my bidding." after a pause and a reassessment of his person, "where is your rapier? there's no way you're drunk already, mattie, we've had more practice at the club than this."

[gorgynei]

ahh cr fandom. your absolutely terrible memory never ceases to amaze me

[britcision]

Ngl I suspect every single person who thinks VM wouldn’t want to res Laudna either hasn’t seen the first campaign at all, or hasn’t for a really long time

The fucking Guilt Patrol?

The same guys who Never let Keyleth live down accidentally killing a kid before they ever recorded the show?

They were fucking wrecked by how many innocent people were killed retaking Whitestone

The whole point of the Sun Tree was to horrify them with the representation of what the Briarwoods would do to Vox Machina, and that they killed innocent people to do it

Put a chance to restore the life of someone they failed in the hands of Professional Guilt Magnet Keyleth of the Air Ashari?

An extra way to flip Delilah off from beyond the grave by giving Laudna back her agency?

The people who EXPLICITLY KNOW Delilah is a necromancer and actual dead corpses are actually her most useful resource?

Nah, slam some Pelor up in there, lets consecrate this bitch while we’re at it and pee on Delilah’s grave

(Matt said that putting Laudna’s body in stasis prevented something from happening to it For A Reason)

Like yeah Vox Machina fucking hate Delilah Briarwood but it’s not like LAUDNA likes her either and they’re not going to blame the young woman THEY GOT KILLED when they can just go to the astral plane or wherever she is and kick Delilah’s ass directly

If nothing else, Laudna’s an excellent distraction while they hunt her down

[halcyon-writings]

continuing the herald!reader verse bc i got sucked into tlvom/cr and now here we are

i am sad bc we didn't get a winter's crest episode so i am writing a small snippet (it's also just slightly leaning towards romance but ultimately not the main stay of this fic, you can see it as platonic or romantic either way)

first post here

-

Delilah’s notes lie in front of you on your lap. Old texts accompanied by what you guessed was her recent add-ins scribbled in the margins filled the page. There were sketches of skulls and other totems of the whispered one accompanying them. Magic curls around your fingers as it flips the pages for you, you didn’t want to risk tearing it with how worn the book looked.

The more you read the further you grew horrified. The way she held no qualms over unleashing a potentially world-ending thing and the fact that she seemed even gleeful made you angry. (You resist the urge to shudder at the memory of her calling you its herald.)

A knock at the door makes you jump, and quickly you shut the book and hide beneath the mattress of your room; pretending to take one of the unfolded blankets that lie on it into your hands like you were making your bed.

The knock sounds again.

“It’s open!” you call, raising up the blanket as you bring the corners together. Simultaneously you're trying to steady your breathing so you didn't look like you were caught doing something you weren't supposed to.

The door opens just a little more forcefully than needed, with a loud creak of the wood making you wince just slightly.

A sheepish Percival stands behind it, entering the bedroom you were given in order to rest up after the ordeal with the Briarwoods. Sleeping on a comfortable bed for the past few days was much appreciated after being away from the keep for so long.

"Good morning," you greet, finishing in folding the blanket and leaving it on the corner of the bed, "Did you sleep alright?"

"Ah, yes, ahem, I have," you quirk an eyebrow at his stammering. surprised that Percy, of all people, is stammering out his words for some reason.

You give him a curious glance, "Is everything alright?"

"Perfectly in order, the preparations for the festival are well underway and-"

You suddenly gasp, startling both yourself and Percy, "Oh no, I completely forgot I was going to help Keeper Yennen with the some final preparations today. You don't think she's still waiting is she?" You worry at your lip, serves you right for staying up as you read over the notes. Helping the holy woman completely split your mind.

"Oh god, I'm sorry Percy, here I am rambling in front of you, did you need anything?"

At this, Percy smiles, or at least tries to in his own Percy-unique way. But then he shakes his head, "Not right now anyway, but I could accompany you to the square, I know we've only been in Whitestone for a few days but I feel like it was focused more on recovery and resting."

You can't help but feel a little embarrassed because he was right. You all hadn't really had time to explore the city in between making sure none of the Briarwoods lackeys remained to threaten the tentative safety of the city again.

So you put on your coat, already changed into much more appropriate clothing for the day, as well as your gloves. You both step out into the chilly day.

(Percy offers you his arm after you nearly slip, and you hold it with a near iron grip, failing to notice the flustered tint to his ears).

Thankfully, the city of Whitestone seems to just be waking up now too. And wake up it did!

A few stalls lining up on the Main Street, vendors that had received word of Whitestone’s safer atmosphere gladly coming to help in what way they could, along with a few tourists they brought along. Locals who had recognized you quickly approached with grateful looks. One elderly woman took your hands into her own, gently giving them a squeeze and then hugging you tightly (if you looked misty-eyes after that, Percy didn’t say anything).

Children were peering at you curiously, bursting into giggles as your magic gently sparked like small fire crackers safely before them. They seemed to look at Percy with as much awe too. Too young to truly understand who he was but knowing he was why it was no longer dark and gloomy.

You look at Percy from the corner of your eye and see his shoulders relaxed for the first time in a long time. The corners of your eyes crinkle as you grin.

“What are you smiling at?” He jests.

“You.”

Your answer takes him aback, which causes you to laugh. “To think just about a week ago we were fighting off the undead to free this city and now here we are, enjoying Winter’s Crest.”

He hums, “Yes. I... I almost can’t believe it.” Something in his voice sounds sad, but free, in a way that the grief that had been shrouding him for so long could weigh him down so heavily now, but now lifted because he had been able to avenge his family.

Your free hand reaches up and gives his arm a squeeze, “I think they’d be really proud of you, Percy.” It didn’t take much to realize who “they” were.

He swallows, and nods.

You both continue on your way to meet Keeper Yennen, the city of Whitestone still waking up and preparing for the festival.

-

“Are you sure this is no issue for you?” Percy’s expression seems almost troubled.

Your hands are raised before you, decorations floating upwards to the Sun Tree, where bodies had previously been left to serve as “demonstrations” finally being removed and laid to rest, tying slowly around the branches. Blue and white ribbons along with some fresh flowers (courtesy of Keyleth) were added alongside them, in honor of their memories.

You turn your head to meet his look, while still assisting the team decorators, “Percival. When I said I could, I meant it. It’s nothing strenuous, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

“Fine, but do let me know if you begin to feel fatigued,” He huffs.

You nod with some laughter, “Alright.”

The decorations are fastened by those waiting in the trees, and with a flick or two more of your wrists, the decorations that were a bit too high to reach previously were now easily fastened.

"Besides, I can't be too tired, when I know I'm being treated to the VIP tour treatment by the Lord of Whitestone himself," You grin, "I'm sure that's a rare opportunity in of itself."

Percy laughs, looking abashed, but he doesn't seem to disagree with your words.

"Well, when you're done, we can continue the tour."

This time it's your turn to laugh.

Arm in arm with him once more, you both continue your "tour" through Whitestone, the joys of the Winter's Crest festival accompanied by your friends enjoyment through the different games and entertainment, any doubts about what you had found in Delilah's notes began to fade from your mind.

[12pt-times-new-roman]

I've made a post already and you know what actually, no, I'm not done talking about this.

The actual timeline of events in this encounter feels off. Otohan was fuckin' stacked, yes, but that didn't make the fight unbalanced — that made it difficult. This was a very difficult fight, to be sure, but I'm confident that the Hells had a chance here if they had grouped up. However.

Otohan had a goal. She went into that fight wanting to break Imogen, wanting her to surrender to her nature, wanting her to unleash the storm in her chest. Matt kept describing it like the same feeling as what she felt in her dream.

The dust storm rolled in at this precise moment, just as the Hells were trying to come up with a plan and searching for a distraction to get Treshi.

The mammoth crawler got attacked at this exact moment too, by masked and deliberately unrecognizable assailants.

And Otohan was just.... standing up there on a balcony, watching it all, as members of her organizations dropped like flies and everyone inside the compound was panicking and chaos was erupting everywhere. The walls were coming down from gunfire, explosions destroyed the mammoth crawler and presumably the majority of its contents, the dunamis potions were spilled and incredibly easy to steal, one of the crates marked with the symbol of the Cerberus Assembly just got picked up and carried off in a skirmish crawler.

In the middle of a goddamn siege assault, the back door to the compound was not only unguarded and unmanned, but it was also unassailed, and apparently trivially easy to open from the inside. And yet, none of the attackers had scaled the wall to open the (unguarded!) door for the rest of them, and none of the Paragon's Call had gone to guard it. I find this super unbelievable, and it's something that I highly doubt Matt would've ever overlooked.

They leave the gate, go along the wall of the Seat of Disdain, find Otohan standing immediately outside of it (a corner of the walls was on the map!), and...... suddenly everything else is gone? No more explosions, no Paragon's Call people or assailants running around or darting through the streets, no gunfire, no sound of the crawlers? What the fuck is up with that?

Otohan was not trying to get Imogen to surrender to her, to give in to her, to go somewhere with her — she was murdering her friends right in front of her to build up that hatred and rage and white-hot fury so that the storm would be unleashed and Imogen would realize her "true power," her "true purpose." And she hasn't only realized it — it's now impossible for her to deny it. But what did that actually achieve? Are we about to see another Care and Culling, where all the "realized" Ruidusborn have a switch in their head that Otohan is gonna use the solstice to flip?

I don't think this is a dream sequence. Not in the traditional sense, at least. I don't think any of these people are asleep right now. But I also don't think any of them are permanently dead. For starters, if FCG gets Fearne up then Fearne can get Orym up. We know FCG has revivify, and Fearne always has it prepared because it's a circle spell for her. IIRC they have more than one diamond. About 3 rounds have passed since Orym's death if I counted right, so there's time. And Laudna still has one death save left, which means that they have time to get to her with a potion or with spare the dying (Ashton has a potion they didn't use, they're up, and they're fast). I also think that all of this was set up in advance by Otohan, because she knew exactly what she needed to do in order to get Imogen to break (hence the unguarded door). Also, Imogen still has a piece of the gnarlrock, and can you imagine the angst of a newly-powerful Imogen not only giving up this piece of safety to bring Laudna back to life, but also intentionally strengthening Delilah Briarwood in order to do it?

This fight is still going to have consequences. There is still going to be a chance that some of these people will die. But I do think that this fight was intentionally very difficult because Matt has something up his sleeve. Maybe it is a dream sequence, or an illusion, or all in Imogen's head. Maybe it's something similar to the way Matt introduced Yasha's rage beyond death ability. Or maybe they just got transported to a place where the revivify time limit doesn't matter anymore because time stops and matter does not age, and now they have to survive the night to get their spells back or go find another diamond somewhere. Or maybe the reason for and intent of Imogen's implosion — fear at losing someone she loves, needing to protect her "favorite," needing to protect her friends and her loves and the lives around her — will break through the anger that Otohan has instilled in her, will overcome the base nature of her power, and will bring everyone back by sheer force of will (which would be incredibly cinematic, by the way, and which would totally fit with the themes of the campaign. It also would not wholly erase the impacts of the deaths, because these guys are most definitely going to play out the repercussions and the trauma of dying if they come back).

I dunno. With the deaths, I think it could go either way. But I am absolutely certain that this is not over yet.

[utilitycaster]

Please elaborate on Laudna's deal if you're up to it. I'm not sure I agree that her whole deal doesn't make sense but at least what you've said so far has made sense. Regardless, I always like seeing your thoughts on ideas because you come at things from angles I don't even think about.

Thank you anon!

in reference to this post:

I've been pretty open in saying that I feel this campaign's character creation process was lacking in some way in general, but Laudna has increasingly felt half-baked to me. I know Marisha talked about wanting to create a creepy character, and she has! But like, beyond "she's creepy...Delilah is here" it just feels like she's not entirely realized, on several levels.

This gets pretty long and quite critical of Laudna's build so I'm putting it below a cut.

Narrative

What we know is that Laudna had a normal-ish childhood on the outskirts of Whitestone, though she was kind of weird and had some strange innate magic of her own. She was then called to the castle by the Briarwoods during the occupation of Whitestone, Delilah did some soul-tethering stuff during the dinner, killed Laudna and made her look vaguely like Vex for a Sun Tree effigy, and Laudna then woke up shortly afterward in her Hollow One form. All of this roughly tracks, though see the Mechanics section below for some issues.

Narrative

What we know is that Laudna had a normal-ish childhood on the outskirts of Whitestone, though she was kind of weird and had some strange innate magic of her own. She was then called to the castle by the Briarwoods during the occupation of Whitestone, Delilah did some soul-tethering stuff during the dinner, killed Laudna and made her look vaguely like Vex for a Sun Tree effigy, and Laudna then woke up shortly afterward in her Hollow One form. All of this roughly tracks, though see the Mechanics section below for some issues.

It's the next 30 years that doesn't make sense. She wakes up as a Hollow One and Whitestone is in the midst of a huge attack, so sure, I get her running away. I get spending that first year just traumatized and confused, and then not knowing what to do when Delilah shows up in her head. But then...30 years is a long fucking time, and I have the following questions:

Why didn't she make any attempts to learn what's going on with Delilah? She seems to be just starting to look into this in early Campaign 3.

Why was she chased out of town? Again, it makes no sense in this world, based on how people have responded to Laudna in the campaign and based on the general existence of magic and various races, for them to do anything but say 'hmmm that cabin on the outskirts has a weirdo in it, best stay away'.

Why, after a few times, did she not go to a city? Not to be flip about it but she'd honestly get double-takes in NYC but probably not triple-takes, and magic isn't even real in our world.

How did she get to Marquet, if that's a difficult and expensive journey and she's constantly being run out of town for the mere act of existing?

What has she been doing other than getting kicked out, vaguely wandering, and making Pate? like, Fearne and Chetney also have pretty long backstories but there is a weight there. I can't think of a single anecdote Laudna has brought up from those 3 decades; even her flashback at the top of episode 34 was not, like everyone else's, about new information, but just a reiteration of the Delilah story we already knew. And sure, maybe she spent most of it profoundly depressed but that raises more questions: how did she keep on surviving if it was that hard and she didn't care? How did she get to Gelvaan?

What have she and Imogen been doing for two years if Imogen doesn't really understand who Delilah was, Laudna doesn't seem to understand Imogen's discomfort with her own powers, and neither of them has learned anything about their abilities prior to the campaign? Literally, what the fuck have they been talking about over the campfire for TWO FUCKING YEARS with no one else? Why do they feel like they know each other less than Molly and Yasha, Fjord and Jester, Caleb and Veth, or even FCG and Ashton?

Like...there's just no drive. There's no story. People keep saying she has so much to live for but honestly, other than "maybe have a relationship with Imogen" what does she have? What are her goals? What are her dreams? I could tell you what everyone else in the party is doing both in terms of a character arc and in terms of what they are materially trying to achieve and for Laudna...I got nothing. Genuinely, if you are not sold on "Marisha plays this character" and "I think Laura and Marisha's characters should date" on their own - and it's fine if you are, but personally, I am not sold on those alone- there's no reason to care. I mean, she's fun! There have been a lot of good moments! Marisha does a great job describing the creepiness! But in terms of emotional investment as a character in an ongoing story, I don't know what there is. Not to sound like Percy but this is D&D. Half the party has a deeply traumatic and sympathetic backstory. Why is Laudna special? I've missed Marisha being at the table, but truthfully, I haven't missed Laudna one bit, and every single other Marisha character in stories set in Exandria (Keyleth, Beau, Patia, and even Hazel) has felt easily ten times more real.

So: I'm actually genuinely interested if someone can give me the elevator pitch on Laudna because I found Bells Hells' platitudes about her to Percy - their inability to give him anything concrete other than "we love her and she's nice" - immensely revealing.

Mechanics (with some narrative as well)

So sorcerer/warlock is considered a decent build; there's a lot of spell overlap but it's dependent on only one stat (Charisma), you can use sorcery points on Eldritch Blast/cast sorcery spells with your fast-recharging warlock spells. It's not the greatest multiclass of all time - all caster multiclasses take something of a hit towards spell progression - but it's not bad. But somehow, Laudna is kind of directionless, again beyond "this spell is creepy". What makes the most sense would be to lean into utility, since Imogen is heavily skewed towards DPS outside of her subclass spells and has a very consistent lightning+psychic theme and Fearne also skews heavily towards damage. We don't have a utility arcane caster. Of course, to be fair, Laudna also doesn't even have 3rd level spells yet so that's a bit of a detriment because taking Dispel Magic, for example, would be really useful, but like, Hold Person and Detect Magic would both be good calls and she has neither. Spider Climb and Feather Fall are good, as is Wither and Bloom and Bane, but why have Silent Image except to be creepy? Why take Hellish Rebuke when you literally have like 10 cantrips to do damage with? Instead of taking Blur, Mirror Image, and Shield, why not take Mage Armor, which lasts 8 hours without concentration and which would give her a 15 AC instead of 13? I know this seems nitpicky but given that the story aspects of the character aren't working it puts the mechanics rather more in focus and they are weirdly off.

Then there's the fact that she's a warlock. I am truly baffled by Marisha's statement that she didn't intend to lean into the narrative aspects of warlock or take warlock levels because that's the whole fucking deal with warlock. It's the same concept as why FCG was irritating to me for a long time due to the total lack of a source of powers. And for what it's worth it's fine if you want to back out of the pact - that is the narrative aspect of being a warlock, after all - but that circles back to "why have you dragged Delilah Briarwood back into this if you're not going to commit hard."

Which brings me to the next part: if Laudna had innate magical abilities and was established to have them prior to ...shouldn't she be a sorcerer base? Sure, warlock gives you the d8 initial maxed out hit die and Wis save proficiency and better proficiencies, but story-wise, this makes no sense, and it's made worse by the unimpressiveness of the build.

So yeah, as I said in the tags...Laudna is fun when she's there but I know Marisha could absolutely make a character who's much, much better. Like, puns fully intended, just as FCG has increasingly felt more fleshed out, Laudna has increasingly felt more hollow.

[vividfriend]

hey! I was actually the anon in that last one! But yeah, Otohan showing up again would definitely make Imogen lose control again. Especially if Laudna is threatened again. And it will always be that way as she is Imogen's one weakness.

Thus why it's the flip side of Cadudeus Clay's claim.

Yes. It's love that saves people. Because it can also damn them.

We saw that with Delilah Briarwood and how her devotion to Sylas made her subservient to the Whispered One and thus she was unable to escape her fate. And now Imogen is on the verge of following suit. The only difference is that Imogen doesn't want to destroy the world with her powers... but what if she is yet again provoked by Laudna's life being at risk?

Her overprotectiveness would thus end up becoming a double-edged Sword of Damocles that will always threaten to cut her down, and that is equal parts terrifying and heartbreaking.

Oh hi friend! :)

The fact that Imogen is wrapped in a cross-campaign parallel with Delilah fucking Briarwood both feeds my soul and bleeds it, in the best way possible. I really love the example of the Sword of Damocles there bc MAN that fits so well in this scenario. You’re right, it’s both equally terrifying and heartbreaking.

It also raises the question, how much does Laudna know about Delilah Briarwood? She obviously knows of her as Lady Briarwood of Whitestone but she also sees her as the murderer living in her head that she fears may or may not be puppeteering her actions.

We’ve got around 28ish years of Laudna wondering the world with just her murderer-companion and unfortunately we haven’t gotten to the point where it’s been explored too much yet in the show. Makes me wonder how much has been revealed to Laudna? (How much is Marisha showing the audience?)

Will Laudna make that terrifying connection between Delilah and Imogen?

Will she do so before it’s too late? Before Imogen goes too far? (I mean, Imogen is already at a precipice here and if she finds another dead end when trying to get Laudna back…)

But also what the fuck is Delilah’s end game here?

[delilahbriarwood]

a lot of briarwood moments were extremely enjoyable and expanded/improved upon in legend of vox machina, but there are a couple of things i’ll never forgive, namely:

delilah gracefully appearing in the courtyard after sylas in her classy purple smoke instead of falling flat on her ass like she actually did rolling a nat 1 with a dexterity of 20 (i said what i said, the score is correct, i have the reverse math to show for it based on the fight, bitch had 20 dex, EAT IT)

delilah speedrunning necromancy, iconic as it was - there is a reason why their story hits 50x harder if you know that she went out there, FOUND A CURE for sylas’ disease when it was thought to be incurable, and HE WAS DEAD by the time she’d returned. like. she actually tried to do the impossible and succeceed but it was just a little too late. depending on whether she tried to magically contact him or not on her way back, imagine her just showing up extremely happy and full of hope and blissfully oblivious and just finding homeboy sylas lifeless upon her arrival. IT! HITS! DIFFERENT! also, just, vecna’s secret laboratory was across the fucking shady forest next to their estate? really? i get that it’s 20 min episodes and there wasn’t enough time to get into the nitty gritty BUT MATT HOW COULD YOU?! you replaced her going feral, doing wizardly activites and SCREAMING INTO THE ASTRAL SEA, bordering on insanity and all-consuming grief with just, vecna casually sliding into her DMs once sylas had lost some boob volume so she can anime run to some convenient location and flip open a book?! COWARDS.

the fact that they’ve made delilah seem like she was an actual devout follower of vecna. once again, i get that the 20 mins runtime doesn’t allow a deep dive into supporting characters’ motives, and it was just easier to write her off as a full on cultist, but that’s factually incorrect. the quote itself ‘i broke the world for us’ means delilah fully realizes that what she’s doing is not beneficial to the world. that she’s causing great harm for her own selfish reasons, which she’s okay with, as long as she gets her end of the deal. as later supported by the ‘honor our bargain’ line as well. i can talk about numerous things from C1 that would highlight a transactional relationship between vecna & delilah rather than a familiar one, but that feels like it should be its own post. that being said, i reject the idea that the self-made boss bitch who was already in a position of power before sylas’ untimely demise would feel the need to strongly align herself with a lich because she believes in his cause. na-uh besties, that does not check out. delilah briarwood did NOT spend her entire life investing in the academic path “an accomplished practitioner of the arcane arts, a long-trained wizard as far as I know and been through quite a few different schools” (as per asum) just so she can be a mindless fanatic looking to use her own resources to lift someone else up. her one and only reason of serving vecna was always sylas, and the fact that the little lichshit bound sylas to him to hold it over delilah’s head. probably if vecna felt it was neccessary to have insurance like that, he didn’t really trust delilah to be a blind follower either... STOP EMBARRASSING YOURSELVES @ WRITERS. LET DELILAH BE HORRIBLE ON HER OWN MERIT.

the show does get brownie points for malewife sylas & the soft moments & THE PROPER DISPLAY OF THE CHOKER, FINALLY!!! i can’t believe matt pointed it out once (1) during the camapign and it was never alluded to after??? i still headcanon that it’s a vecna-related modified blood claw choker (remember how C1 transitioned from pathfinder which is a 3.5 adjacent system and this is a 3.5 item??? i see you matt.) or something because you know SHE WOULD.

probably there are other things as well but i’m ANGERY now and i need some ORANGE JUICE to calm down.