#merlegaritaville

[natjennie]

FUCK I just remembered merlegaritaville.

[delaneytalks-tostatues]

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Wastin' away again in Merlegaritaville, Searchin' for my lost zone of truth. Some people claim that there's a Taako to blame, But I know it's nobody's fault. . #merlegaritaville #merlegaritavillecosplay #taz #tazbalance #tazcosplay #tazbalancecosplay #thezonecast #thezonecastcosplay (at Margaritaville) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bmg4gV9BoZk/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=7l3eg7ex1hlu

[lexiconofdreams]

TAZ Postmortem Thoughts

“The Adventure Zone” spoilers ahead.

I think when the writer of an in progress piece of fiction, like podcasts or video series or fan fic, finds out that their audience has figured out a twist, there is a very natural urge to quickly change the script to keep it fresh. Like when an author just goes and says “this character dies? Well now their sister dies!” or 

That’s why that style of writing sets off a red flag for me. It seems emblematic of a deep seated insecurity in your own abilities as an artist. You have to hold that urge up to the same scrutiny you hold any other writing instinct, you have to say “whoa now, this doesn’t contradict everything written so far, does it?” Because in those cases where it does, it really shows. Character development arcs are suddenly forgotten or reversed. Dramatic reveals lose important grandiose build up. The whole story rings hollow, and you can hear it in every rushed explanatory paragraph and silently pleading “eh? eehhh?” “I know this doesn’t make sense, but I did this for you? That means it’s good, right???”

Going into the campaign’s post-mortem, I was weirdly anxious. But when I found out that Griffin had so many particulars planned basically from the get go, it became obvious to me why TAZ is so resonant.

Magnus has always been the designated fightboy, and he gets to be a dog trainer through his retirement. Because that was really important.

Merle’s faith is only shaken because it was truly for a Pan who was eaten but the hunger, and he’s always had it in him to be a good father. Because that was really honestly important.

Taako’s first joke and his “purpose for creation,” was always reliant on meeting Jaoquin. That was more important than I thought.

Lup has always been Taako’s forgotten sister, and she has always been trans. That was so so so important.

Barry, who in any other work would have been a stupid one off character, was always coming back, was always The Lover. Because that was really important to me.

Lucretia wasn’t ever the Bad Guy™. She was their family, and she was trying so hard to save everything. God, that was so important it makes me choke up.

Davenport wasn’t just a wink to a friend from mbmbam, he had a heartbreaking backstory that made rethink the entire podcast up until that point. That was so important it probably made every one of these thoughts possible.

There are countless tiny moments throughout TAZ that only work because they feel so honest to the narrative, and that the narrative is so empathetic and honest works so well because of this. They communicate the boundless joy in each new discovery, and let us feel all the fun and excitement of playing D&D with a family that you love, and that loves you. Griffin cared in each and every moment, even when he stumbled, even the ones that were hard. So did Justin. So did Travis. And so did Clint, especially Clint. (Especially Clint, Mr. Merlegarita-ville and K-12 Quest Fighters Summer Camp.) They put so much earnestness and kindness and creative joy in their work that it can’t help but be infectious. And when I listen to The Adventure Zone, I can’t help but feel like I’m warm, at home, with friends. 

Also, Boy Detective Angus McDonald is my hero and I want to be him when I grow up.

[therightprometheanfire]

Merle: I wanna name this new area I’m governing Merlegaritaville

Lord Artemis Sterling:

[terezis]

For the john thing, Then again taako does date to the guy who crystallized Merles fuckin arm

the location: the dining area of kenny chesney’s, the bar, also known as merlegaritaville, built over the remains of the last fallen judge in bottlenose cove. 

the time: brunch.

john, for lack of any other clothing, has come downstairs in one of merle’s hawaiian shirts. unfortunately for john, merle is a dwarf, so it does fit like a crop top over his much larger form. everyone else is sitting at the table. merle is buttering some toast.

taako: you remember the part where johnny vore tried to vore us, right? like, that one major plot point where he wanted to gobble up reality, om nom nom, hungry hungry hippo style? did you forget that, old man?

lup: not that i disagree, because i for one do remember the vore, but didn’t kravitz vore merle’s arm? kravitz is also here.

kravitz, aghast, vaguely skeletal: i did not vore his - 

magnus, cheerily: no, that was taako!

merle, mouth full of buttered toast: yeah, but magnus was the one who chopped it off.

magnus: i saved your life, merle! john ended it! like, multiple times!

merle: he said he was sorry, it’s fine! you’re sorry, aren’t you, johnny boy?

john:

taako:

lup:

kravitz:

magnus:

john: …………………………………..yes

[barryjeanblues]

NEW KEPLERVILLE THIS IS FUCKING MERLEGARITAVILLE ALL OVER AGAIN

[castcharmperson]

The Dispel Magic Incident - Part 7

[shows up 15 weeks late with starbucks] hey friends, this is still a thing. Will also be updated on ao3 if you’d prefer to read it there. Check the notes for links.

Anyway, have some Merle

The furious clicking of the new umbrastaff was similar enough to the old umbrastaff, so Merle didn’t even flinch when it was replaced with shouting. “Where the fuck have you been?!” 

Davenport snickered across the table from him and Merle couldn’t help but join him. “Taako, I’ve been in here all afternoon.” He was sure whatever Taako was upset about was important, but honestly he had a really good hand right now that he’d love to finish.

“I blame you for this,” Taako glared at Davenport and the Captain just laughed more. “Merle, can I borrow you to do your fuckin’ job for a second?”

“We only need a few more minutes to wrap up this game.”

“Oh my gods, fine!” Taako pulled out a third chair and dropped down into it. “Cap’n’s going to win.”

“You don’t know that…” Merle muttered, but he was probably right. He couldn’t remember the last time Taako had joined in a game of cards, let alone just sat and watched the two of them play. Of course Merle thought their games were interesting, two masterminds battling it out, but none of the crew usually agreed with him.

He threw the game. Davenport knew it, Taako did too, but Merle couldn’t really care less. “Next time, Dav.”

“Of course, Merle.” Their Captain looked at Taako for a moment, then left the kitchen.

“This really isn’t the best place to do this…” Taako had leaned his body back, tilting the chair dangerously as Davenport left. The house was still full of people, some packing after a long week of Candlenights, but Merle was sure the majority of them were going to be here for the foreseeable future. It was nice that Dav was staying as long as he had been.

“What exactly are we doing, Taako?” Merle didn’t bother beating around the bush. He wouldn’t be aggressive with any bush, for that matter. He knew Taako would rather dance around the subject, but if it was cards watching serious, Taako must be in a hurry too.

He still wouldn’t look at him, though. The chair was back on four legs but Taako was focused on the door. “Hey, Barrold!”

“Hm?” Barry walked back from halfway down the hall until he could poke his head through the kitchen door. His eyes shifted between the two of them before his eyebrows shot into his receding hairline. Merle had thought for sure that the pack bond or whatever with the Raven Queen would fix that. He’d picked his god for the looks, among other things. He was surprised Barry hadn’t developed the deadly cheekbones Kravitz seemed blessed with.

“Oh.” Barry seemed to know what was going on.

“Yeah. We need a lift to my office.”

“I can do that.”

“Okay hold on.” Merle held up his hands. “The last time you two needed me to do something, I was getting stabbed with forks.”

Barry rolled his eyes but Taako nodded. “No, no, the old man has a point.” At least one of these kids had sense. Taako looked up from where he’d been focused on the umbrastaff, still in his grip. Oh shit, this really was important. Merle sat up a little straighter, missing the gleam in Taako’s eyes of a goof on the horizon. “Merle, I know you’ve literally never done this before, but we need you to pretend to be a cleric.”

Merle huffed, sliding off the chair. “Ha ha, very funny. Now what is going on.”

Barry had already carved open a rip between the planes and Merle was walking through it. The Astral Plane, if this one was anything like what they’d studied back at the IPRE, was technically closer to the Celestial Plane than the Prime Material was. Geographically speaking, he should feel closer to Pan. Maybe this reality was different than their homeworld’s, maybe not, but Merle never really liked the Astral Plane. The crisp chill from walking across it lingered, long after the portal closed. At least Kravitz didn’t have death radiating off of him like this, despite being Death.

“Not that I don’t love spending time with Barry, but why isn’t your boyfriend plane-hopping with you?” Merle asked as the portal closed up and Taako pushed aside a few papers on his desk. He nearly dropped something, before aiming the umbrastaff at the office door and Mage Handing it closed. “Pan damnit, if you two wanted more blood, you really didn’t have to kidnap me.”

“I don’t want your fucking blood!” Taako snapped, but Barry put a hand on his shoulder. The scythe was gone, just their regular goth boy in denim, looking more grim than he ever did when he told Merle about his work. Taako placed his hand over Barry’s, squeezing once, before pushing him off. He took a deep breath. “Merle, you remember Wonderland, right?”

“Been trying not to.” The words slipped out before he could think twice about them. But it was true! That quest was easily their worst. Sure, Pan’s radio silence wasn’t caused by the liches, but Merle didn’t know that at the time. And everyone can say what they want about his healing abilities but…

At the end of the day, they were all alive. That’s what mattered, that’s what he tried to remember. It was a little hard, knowing they all got their memories back and Magnus still had some missing. Aside from that though, they didn’t lose too much. Right?

Merle hadn’t even realized he’d glanced down at his feet, face twisted in frustration before intentionally smoothing back out again, until he looked back up at Taako.

He’d meant it when he offered to take the extra spin for Taako. He really wished one of them had followed through; Magnus could have afforded to lose another finger since he got his whole body back anyway.

Taako looked fine, better than that if Merle’s being honest. What had Taako said, looking better than ninety percent of Faerun? It was true, still was. But he’d be very plain if they’d gone back to their original plane. The difference was significant, now that Merle could compare him to Lup.

“I can’t--”

“Not that.” Taako stepped around from the desk. Ah, shorts and a crop top in winter made a lot more sense now. Not that Merle knew much about winter fashion-- it was always shorts weather back at Merlegaritaville.

“Those do not look good.” He stepped closer and Taako met him half way, Barry right behind him.

“I promise you, they feel worse.” That would explain the new umbrastaff. Merle looked at Barry. Of course Taako told Lup, but why did Barry know first? It wasn’t like they could kill Taako and bring him back with a new body. Who else knew?

“Okay, could you not with the face? I’m sure you can do your cleric shit with my spell still up, this is a courtesy.”

“It would be a lot harder without a visual reference,” Barry tried, but Merle had heard enough.

“Don’t tell me how to do my job.” He held his soulwood arm to the gash across Taako’s stomach and the budding leaves curled backwards. “Any issues with this one?”

“Uuh, dex mostly. Loss of appetite? That could be from other stuff though.”

Barry made an inquisitive noise at that, which made Merle feel at least a little bit better. Taako had talked to him about that already. Merle let the two of them go on whatever half spoken face journey they were going on, and focused on the biggest wound at hand. The knees were important, but this one was near vital organs. Merle had seen first hand how many hit points this had knocked out and it somehow managed to look worse than it did before.

“Barry and I figured it’s necrotic scarring.” Taako rushed out, Barry grumbling something beside him.

“Yeah,” Merle nodded softly. What he was finding aligned with that. He took a step back, able to look Taako in the eye without craning his neck. “I’m not death domain, Taako. I can’t reverse this. We could try to find a cleric who is--”

“They wouldn’t have a hundred cycles of experience. I’m not interested in letting them look at this.”

Huh. Merle didn’t bother to fight down the smile pulling at the edges of his beard. Taako didn’t return it by any means, but he scoffed and rolled his eyes, which Merle knew was basically the same thing.

“Merle, I…” Barry started, fidgeting with nothing for a moment. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m worried he’s getting worse.”

Just based on what he was seeing, what he knew of the wounds, that sounded right. But Merle looked to Taako instead. He seemed occupied fixing the hem of his shirt, fidgeting with the cuff of his sleeves. He didn’t notice the silence right away. When he did, he frowned. “What?”

“Has it been getting worse?” Merle asked.

If it had been literally any other conversation, Merle could have laughed at the face Taako pulled. Even with how serious he knew this conversation was, he was still tempted. Taako shifted his weight, leaning back slightly on the umbrastaff like he used to.

“It’s… uh…” His eyes seemed to go unfocused for a moment, as he stared at Merle. Merle knew that look from a copy he was familiar with over his own face. Seeing two versions of the same person, one you shared a century with and the other was your strange adventuring buddy.

Sometimes it was easier when they were just three idiots running around collecting magical items and laughing together as they nearly avoided death.

The person he was, when he met Taako the second time, was not someone Taako would trust with this confession. Merle wasn’t proud of that, but it was what it was. All he could do was take a deep breath and wait for which version of him Taako saw today.

Instead, Taako closed his eyes. They were screwed up tight, like if he couldn’t see, no one would hear his confession. “It’s worse. I didn’t have trouble walking a year ago.”

“Alright, glad we’re on the same page.” Taako opened one eye, glaring at Merle without much heat, but Merle continued. “And I’m glad you’re not waiting another year to tell me because this thing is going to kill you.”

Barry blanched at that, though Merle didn’t really understand his shock. The guy was a necromancer, this was how that arcana worked. Hell, he made the dang Bell, didn’t he know what it did?

Taako opened both eyes, expression blank for a moment until he moved the umbrastaff in front of him and leaning forward. His stance, his voice, his face, all of it was more certain and serious that Merle had heard in a while. “I don’t want to die.”

“Good.”

[shadow-and-purgatory]

Hey in your taz swap au is merle the grim reaper??

I’m glad you asked, Mouse! He is not, although that would be hilarious! The grim reaper Is taako. Merle runs a bar in refuge called merlegaritaville, and he grows weed in little flower window boxes. 

[sludgesoup-archive]

ohhh my god i forgot about merlegaritaville

[wrathoftherandom]

for the taz thing-9,11,17

9) Which “seven bird” would you have been? Or what would your role have been on the Starblaster?

I think I would have been a Lucretia. Not to be uwu but I tend to do things on my own, and I take many matters way too seriously. If I think that there is only one way out of a situation, I’ll stick to it. 11) What are some of the parts that made you the most emotional (whether it be crying, laughing, etc.)?

You can bet your ass I cried like a baby during the finale. Those 3 episode were probably my favorite, considering that they were emotional, but they also had the wonderful humor that I loved. Lup coming back?? The Taakitz reunion???Magnus’ death??? Julia??????????? Sobbed. But then I laughed like an idiot at the dmb shit like Merlegaritaville. The runner-ups are probably Kravitz being stuck in the astral plane, when everyone “died” in the 11th Hour, AND LUP FUJJHCKIN LEAVING AND DYING KJHFHGJKJ.............sorry. As far as goofs go Magnus stealing arms, how Taako acquired the flaming raging sword of doom, and every goddamn interaction with Leon.

17) What animal would have been your “disguise” in Petals to the Metal? 

Uuuuuuuummmmmm I honestly don’t know??? Maybe a slow loris?? They’re hella cute but also have poisonous teeth. Idk. I’m open for suggestions on that one lol

[megneato]

"MERLEGARITAVILLE"

[waitineedaname]

I'm so in love with the chat log type drabbles it just feels so natural

dlfjdlkjksdjk THANK YOU I’m having a lot of fun writing them. Here’s a little more about the group chat bc I’ve been talking about it w/ a friend

Lucretia either holds admin privileges or is the only one who uses them, and whenever Merle starts making too many sex jokes, she removes him from the chat to put him in a virtual time out corner until he learns his lesson, which usually ends this way:

Cap'n'port: Can you add Merle back to the chat? He keeps nagging me about it 

Lucretia: It’s been three minutes. Has he learned his lesson? 

Cap'n'port: He says he won’t do it again, he just has something important to tell you. 

[Merlegaritaville has been added to the chat] 

[Merlegaritaville sent an image] 

Merlegaritaville: Hey guys I found a tree root that looks like a dick 

[Merlegaritaville has been removed from the chat] 

[unquestionably-questionable]

Please, for a moment, imagine:

Taako and Kravitz have been to balls, they’ve waltzed.

They’ve been to Merlegaritaville and swayed to to those light summer songs.

They’ve been to Refuge to two-step, danced to folks songs at festivals in Ravens Roost.

Taako is delighted every time Kravitz spins him onto a dance floor. He’s not really surprised that Kravitz is an amazing dancer in all situations, the man used to be a bard and has been around for centuries as a Reaper besides, of course he can dance.

One night Taako and Lup drag Kravitz and Barry to a kind of trashy club they both love in Neverwinter. Partially because they both really do love the club, and partially because they’re both kind of excited about the opportunity to watch their respective partners be sort of flustered and out of place.

So imagine how delighted, how fucking please and proud and hot Taako’s gonna be when he goes into this club and Kravitz grins at him and then just starts fucking voguing.

[bumbleteacos]

Wastin away again in Merlegaritaville

[corvigae]

i shared this with discord but i still keep thinking abt it so i'm gonna dump it on y'all too - taakitz kids.

i love the idea of krav and taako finding out they're gonna be dads (either with trans taako or trans krav, i love either hc really) and at first they're afraid that maybe krav being technically dead could affect the pregnancy somehow so they go to a healer to make sure everything is going alright, and that's when they find out that twins definitely run in the family. so fast forward, and now they have two beautiful little babies, named minerva and millicent (after kravitz's mother and taako's aunt, respectively), nicknamed minnie and missy. and they are TERRORS. they're every bit as bad and their father and aunt, if not worse because of the copious amount of enabling aunts and uncles.

taako plans on them both going to his wizard school one day, but then minnie tells her dads that she actually wants to be a bard, and krav boasts about it for a MONTH. taako groans and make jokes about how missy is his favorite now, but he also is totally willing to buy every instrument in existence until she finds the one she likes.

one time merle's watching them and he leaves them alone in merlegaritaville for ten minutes and comes back to them running the bar and making cocktails, having heckled the bartender into quitting. merle's only problem is that "your dads would kill me if they found out!" but they assure him that they didn't drink any, just served. of course taako and krav DO find out, and taako's actually proud. hell yeah, of course those are his kids! krav is...less proud.

at first krav is a bit of a hovering parent, he worries, okay? but eventually between the ages of toddlers to preteens he goes from "overly worried dad" to "oh, you're skateboarding on the roof? okay, just make sure your sister spots you and be back in time for dinner, your dad's cooking."

[saltyavaswani]

Merlegaritaville