#no Thordak gets no spot in this

[aspiringsophrosyne]

Vox Machina and The Mighty Nein: which has the easiest story to adapt?

In the wake of the CRew announcing the Mighty Nein animated series, a perplexing take keeps surfacing and resurfacing.

The consensus is that adapting the first Critical Role stream will be simpler than adapting the second. The protagonists of the former are more traditionally heroic and badass, there’s more to the plot of their story, and the pacing is better suited to an animated show.

However, is all that true? And if it is, does it make adapting C2 harder?

Let's look at that first point. Is Vox Machina more traditionally heroic and badass than the Nein?

(spoilers for both campaigns under the cut)

What they have in common.

The Nein:

Came up with several wacky schemes, most notably their multiple attempts to neutralize enemies with polymorph. These only worked about half the time. The other half, the enemies stayed just as big a problem, or became even more of a problem. For example: the fire giant turned cow that attacked Fjord, the zombie giant turned giant snapping turtle that bit Caleb, and the Dragon Turtle turned into a regular sea turtle that was faster and thus harder to outrun.

Missed spot checks when making plans. This landed them in progressively hotter water that they could only escape through luck, quick thinking, and improv: stealing Avantika’s journal, meeting with the Bright Queen, the Asylum heist, and the King’s Cage.

They ran from fights when things got pear-shaped: the blue dragon in the Happy Fun Ball, again the King’s Cage, and the Tomb Takers.

But what about Vox Machina? Vox Machina’s concocted wacky schemes of their own.

They dropped in from above on a boss to bypass a dungeon, Vax and Scanlan poorly deployed Dimension Door to fight Umbrasyl, and the group summoned a Goristro to fight Vorugal for them and ended up fighting both.

Vox Machina has also missed spot checks. There was Scanlan’s ill-planned mission at the Duke’s place in Whitestone, Vax’s attack on Raishan right after finishing Thordak (which prompted her to dump a Meteor Swarm, which does 20d6 fire damage and 20d6 bludgeoning damage on a failed save, on their brutalized and depleted heads) and the group used up two resurrection spells before the final battle after falling for Vecna’s trick.

Vox Machina has shown their own hesitancy and has also run from fights. They tried everything they could to not directly confront Grog's herd until their deceptions failed. They gave Umbrasyl time to rest so that they could rest. They retreated from Whitestone before Keyleth turned back and Pike returned. They ran from a Pit Fiend who only had 22 hit points left. And they fled after their first disastrous fight with Vecna.

In terms of wackiness, that's not even getting into the shit Grog and Tary got up to in Vasselheim. Or Scanlan’s fruitless pursuit of Marquesian drugs. Or pre-stream events, like Vox Machina killing that kid.

VM can be equally as wacky, unheroic, and gun-shy as the Nein.

Where they differentiate 1: plot points.

As for their respective narratives, while Vox Machina was less of a sandbox and had a more defined plot than The Mighty Nein did, that isn’t necessarily an advantage or disadvantage in an adaptation. In the first two seasons of TLOVM, for example, there was never a shortage of dangerous encounters or events to animate. And because the show only has so much time, the pace was pretty brisk, so there isn't a lot of time for things to get dull, slow or boring. On the other hand, even with multiple events cut or moved, Vox Machina had almost no time for talking to each other (and what time they had, the show didn't make particular use of) or character development.

For the Mighty Nein, the pacing is slower, but if they want to, the writers and editors can move events around in the timeline and add or lengthen action sequences to keep the pace brisk. And this gives the character moments more time, which is good because these are essential for both casts but will be especially important for the Nein. Especially early on, given what's going to happen. The Nein's story is far more character-focused, so while a slower pace can be negated, it might not be desired, because it might serve a different kind of story better.

Where they differentiate 2: thematic consistency.

One thing the Mighty Nein inarguably has over Vox Machina is incredibly strong theming: autonomy in general (and bodily autonomy specifically), identity, freedom, redemption, trauma, and healing from it… Almost every major enemy (Lorenzo, Avantika/Uk’otoa, Obann/TCO, Isharnei, Trent, Vokodo, and the Somonvem/the Nonagon) is a subverter of these goals and themes.

On the other hand, Vox Machina's story has no similarly clear-cut themes. That's not necessarily a bad thing! But it gives the animated series less to build itself around or use as a lodestar. You can see TLOVM trying to shoehorn “Let’s stop running away from our problems,“ into that role, but it just doesn’t work. Because that wasn’t a theme of the original stream and because animated VM hasn't actually run from anything. So that makes for an ill-fitting theme and a poor foundation for the rest of the story.

Where they differentiate 3: power and privilege.

VM had many people backing them up: the lovely lady Allura, they had the ear of the good King Uriel, and later Kima, Zahra, Kashaw, and Kerrek. And while Vox Machina fought hard-won battles and suffered the heartache of defeat and loss, their influential allies gave Vox Machina support, officially lauded them, and recognized them for their victories.

The Nein, in contrast, had almost no unambiguously trustworthy patrons or allies. (Their contacts: the Gentlemen, Avantika, Essek in particular, the Bright Queen’s court in general, and Yussa, to name just a few.) Contrasting Vox Machina’s relationship with Uriel, King Dwendal and his court came this close to scapegoating the Nein for the catastrophe at the Chantry of the Dawn, and their subsequent accomplishments go largely unnoticed by the world.

Vox Machina had (and still has) privileges that the Nein did not, including people in authority who helped them, fought with them, and acknowledged their great deeds and sacrifices.

My theory is that the Nein and Vox Machina are seen as being more different than they are because of how each respective group is treated in their universe. Some fans take Vox Machina's hype and esteem (and the Nein’s lack thereof) at face value instead of scrutinizing who these characters actually are. Or taking their circumstances into account.

Too few consider how much harder it is to be a hero in Wildemount as opposed to Tal'dorei. And that's a pretty big factor in why the two groups are the way they are. And why they're perceived, in-universe and out, the way they are.

This is not to say this makes one better than the other. What I love about both VM and TM9 is that they're packs of perpetually feral disaster children. Disparate fuckups who become ride-or-die for their chosen family and save their world from The Horrors despite all their personal hang-ups. To me, discounting VM’s fuck-uppery discounts a significant part of their appeal and relatability, which does them a disservice.

And this aspect that both groups share isn't as huge of a problem for their respective adaptations as people think.

[demonologue]

Can we talk about the dragons some more?

I will be. Forever.

Many have already noted the care and detail that went into the design of each dragon, and I love watching the fall of Emon over and over to see new details each time.

But we also see so much of their personalities in this scene, and I love it so much?

Thordak is there to establish dominance, show his power, and accept worshipers, like a true red. He focuses on property damage (yes, people die, too, but that will happen when you nuke a mountain!) and showing off, because he wants lots of the ants in the city to survive. He needs their terrified adoration. We stan all of his "Is this your king?" speeches as he claims his throne.

Umbrasyl is doing what they've been told to do. As the least powerful of the remaining Conclave members, they are raining death from above but not overdoing it. Thordak has no domain and subjects if they melt it all. Bonus content fight between Umbrasyl and KimAllura. (P.S. they're not dead, guys!) I have a big soft spot for Umbrasyl, and I'm curious how much we will get to see the dynamic between the dragons as the story moves forward. They barely get along, and I hope we get to see them interacting with each other more. Something went down between them after Umbrasyl took over Gatshadow, and I want to know what it is that left the black dragon alone and stranded out there with busted palantiri.

Vorugal, it's been mentioned, we don't see a lot of in the fall of Emon. But that's exactly as it should be. Think about it: Vorugal is an elite hunter. They live a solitary life, always seeking more challenging prey to indulge in their favourite pastime. What is the point of destroying a city of helpless ants to Vorugal? So they go for the most challenging targets first, i.e. Allura. I'm disappointed that we didn't get the iconic shot of Vorugal perched on the side of her tower before they destroy it, but at least Vorugal still destroyed it in this version. Then it's almost like they're searching the city for worthy prey, doing the bare minimum to satisfy Thordak's orders. Of course Vorugal tracks them to Greyskull Keep. VM are worthy targets for the white dragon. I'm sad we didn't get to see Vorugal wrestle Thordak for dominance there. That was such a fantastic scene in campaign. Hopefully we'll get to see the two of them butting heads in a different way later on.

And Raishan, clever little pixie. She's just having fun with it. You see her casually flying around the city, blowing smoke here and there before she eats Scanlan's biggest fan. But she knows what she's doing. She killed Uriel with her first attack, and after that she's pretty much like a cat. What can I do that will satisfy Thordak's command but is the most amusing to me? Playing with VM, for one. She makes sure they know who she is, and that she knows who they are. After that, she's going to do what a green dragon does: be sneaky and infiltrate their keep even before they flee to Whitestone. She was a lot more subtle about it in campaign than she is about it here, but we want new viewers to feel like they've spotted something hidden, too (LARKIN WATCH!). Good job. Raishan was the first to give her name during the attack in the campaign, and of course she gave it to us here in the fall of Emon as well. We stan a queen. You'd better put some respect on her name.

Really looking forward to seeing more of her--and all the dragons--this season. Even if they just do cut-aways to their territory or Pike has dream sequences to show what's going on with them, I'll take it. We deserve more than just their death scenes. They are legendary villains and deserve as much love as the Briarwoods.

[criticalrolenpctournament]

ROUND 5: POLL 1

Propaganda

Gilmore: He's fabulous, he's powerful, he dueled the Cinder King and lived to tell the tale, he's fucking gorgeous, he had a really close relationship with Vox Machina that survived being rejected by Vax romantically, he held the barrier over Whitestone and smushed an assassin and over 30 years later he's still Glorious

Kima: Lady Kima dueled Thordak while he was being sealed into the Plane of Fire. She received equipment directly from Bahamut. She endured privation and torment at the hands of the duergar of Emberhold. And she married Allura Vysoren.

I love that her oath canonically changes from Devotion to Vengeance. Like Thordak came back and she took one look and was like omg fuck that one red dragon in particular and Bahamut went like yeah you go I got your back. Secondly, she is such a good spin on a class that is widely considered somewhat boring and stiff (rp wise, not mechanically)but I feel like the 'lawful good' aspect is usually very polarizing and there's a lot of prejudice towards it being uninteresting? and Kima is such a fresh fucking spin on the lawful good paladin trope? thirdly, Kima getting gifted a cool sword by Grog (a barbarian) in campaign one. Kima lending out that same cool sword to Yasha (a barbarian) in campaign two. I just love Kima and her soft spot for barbarians :D. fourth... ly? Kima is canonically taller than Scanlan, which is interesting because according to the PHB halflings are on average significantly smaller than gnomes, so even if we assume that Scanlan is somewhat short for a gnome, still means that Kima is a TALL halfling. so technically Allura & Kima are not tol & smol, but in fact both tall queens :D

[blorbologist]

😭 if you are still doing it *because apparently, I can never get enough of your angst*

Of course <33 I'll assume this is for Percy and/or Vex.

So I've lamented that, in canon, we never hear of the twins returning to Byroden, but can assume Vex likely did, right?

... what if she never came home? What if it was too painful, after Vax. The thought of being there without her mother? Devastating. Being there without *Vax*? It would kill her, kill her as surely as his loss all over again.

Of course Byroden's leadership reaches out to the hero of Vox Machina who hails from there. Sends kind gifts for her wedding. Eventually stops, because Vex'ahlia cannot answer a single one.

She frankly doesn't care about Byroden. Of course it has people, good people living there. But Byroden as a town, as a place, is not important to her, not without Elaina and Vax. Whitestone is her home, she tells herself. Byroden isn't, just like Syngorn isn't. It's easier to wall off the pain that way.

And maybe she hates that she might see people she knows, people who survived, and envy them for it.

Sineath, right?

(Percy asks her, once, if she'd like to go. With the children. There's a statue of the twins there, so he's heard, and apparently some monument to those lost to Thordak's fire. The little ones might want to see. Might she want the closure?)

(She only returns from the woods late that night and falls into his arms, devoid of tears left to cry. He decides to drop it - she's let him refuse certain sore spots too, after all.)

[vexing-imogen]

Hi! For the fluff prompts, may I ask for Person A taking Person B hiking, please? Any pairing of your choice ^_^

prompt list here

"How much longer is this going to take?"

Kima stops to look back, her grin widening at the sight of Allura leaning against a tree, trying to catch her breath. She's the only one that gets to see Allie like this; sweaty, disheveled, abso-fucking-lutely gorgeous. And even for her it's been a while. Since Thordak. Since they buried half their party, and Allura got swept up in a whirlwind of politics and desperately trying to prove that she's earned her place on Uriel's council.

(Kima's pretty damn sure that Allie hasn't properly relaxed in months. She hasn't either, really, but hey at least she tries.)

"Your legs are twice as long as mine," Kima says. "How are you struggling to keep up?"

She wants to kiss the petulant scowl off of Allie's lips. Wouldn't be the first time.

"I spent a great deal of my time indoors as a child," Allura mutters, pushing off the tree to catch up. Kima winces as she stumbles almost immediately, her stupid wizards robes catching on the bramble. "I hate this forest," she declares as she untangles herself. "And I'm fairly certain the feeling is mutual."

Kima laughs loud enough to startle some nesting birds. "You could have worn pants, Allie," she points out. "I know you own pants. I've seen you wear them. I've taken them off of you."

Allura un-rumples herself with a quick Prestidigitation that will likely be rendered useless in approximately two minutes. "In my defense, this was not where I imagined I would be spending my day," she says. "I was perfectly content to wait at the library while you attended to your business at the temple."

"I know you were," Kima says, ignoring the churning in her gut at the mention of her temple. "But it isn't often that we're both in Westruun, and I promise the spot I'm taking you to is worth the hike."

Allie bends to kiss her, slow and sweet. "You know I trust you, Ki," she says, all pouting replaced by soft sincerity. "I wouldn't be hiking through the damn Bramblewood if I didn't."

The letter from Highbearer Vord sits heavy in Kima's pocket as she takes Allura's hand; the summons inside and her dreams as of late shoving her down a path that she can't ignore, but in the exact opposite direction of where she wants to be.

"C'mon, love," she says with a half smile, "it'll be over before you know it."

[essayofthoughts]

I'd love to hear more about the fem!percy au, and about the Elaina lives au? What is it about those changes to canon that interest you?

I've talked a little about what intrigues me with fem!Percy before, over Here! But for a tl;dr it's that Percy in canon is very much a noble polymath young man, and while Exandria is better at gender than our world, it's also not perfect and upper classes and especially more stratified social groups (authoritarian cultures like the Dwendalian Empire of Wildemount and we know the de Rolos originally came from Wildemount!) would still be likely to have some Gender Bullshit going on and I'd really love to see how those changes would affect things.

As for the Elaina Lives AU...

The Elaina Lives AU is more a specific small plot idea that grabbed me back when I first got into the fandom rather than a straightforward canon-divergence AU but. In that case it's that I think it would be really interesting if, one way or another, Elaina did live - some quirk of fate, perhaps, and because it's fate, the Raven Queen and from that...

So the basic premise of the Elaina Lives AU is an idea I had kicking around for a while which is that... we know basically nothing about her except that the twins loved her and felt loved by her. And given how, when the twins left Syngorn, they went immediately back to Byroden, it implies despite their experiences at Syngorn they were quite confident that their mother would want them back and give them a home - even though being a single mother with two children isn't going to be easy! One could say that they were naive - but after years in Syngorn I kind of doubt it? It's the kind of thing Syldor would have brought up, them being a burden on their mother and while Vax would dismiss Syldor out of hand, Vex would actually think about it and the fact they both, nonetheless, went straight back home, suggests to me that they had some kind of certainty that they would be welcomed.

So... I think it's possible that Elaina didn't want to give up her children to Syldor? It's possible he either stepped in on finding out about them (he's a diplomat, he travels, passing through Byroden again and spotting them, promising a better home) or was asked for help (because it isn't easy being a single mother to twins) and responded to that by taking them. I don't think Elaina wanted them gone, I think if anything she maybe wanted a bit of support.

But... not having the power to stop one's children being taken away is a pretty strong incentive to find some way to become strong enough to get them back, right? And we've seen how driven the twins are; I'd be shocked if some of that didn't come from Elaina.

So Elaina dabbling in magic. Elaina, when Thordak attacks Byroden, experimenting with Misty Step or Dimension Door and the sudden surge of draconic magic as she's casting doing something funky to the spell, and the thread of fate goes awry - and she ends up in the Raven's Crest temple in Vasselheim.

Elaina becoming a cleric or acolyte of of the Raven Queen, Elaina being at the temple when Vox Machina comes seeking vestiges to fight Thordak with, Elaina going with them because those are her children there, as part of Vox Machina. Perhaps it's just excused as the tomb of the Raven Queen's champion meaning a priestess should go with them - but go she does.

And what kind of loving mother, what kind of mother who raised the twins, would let her son chance his life for her daughter? It's not the duty of siblings to protect each other like that - it is the duty of the parent.

[estelanel]

personal top 10 dragon encounters on Critical Role, a stream about dungeons and dragons (up to c2e75). yes I ranked them (bottom to top).

Vex, polymorphed into a red dragon, in c1e104 (because of Vex’lan solidarity)

four ancient chromatic dragons at once, in c1e39/40 (with Matthew Mercer showing off his various dragon minis, casually demolishing the largest city on the continent)

nameless young blue dragon, in c2e45 (I’m putting this before the Chroma Conclave for the sheer amount of dumbness present in the string of events that unfolded for the M9 to meet that dragon. accidentally finished off by Twiggy on her way out. may they rest in peace.)

J’mon Sa Ord / Dev’ossa, ancient brass dragon, in c1e113 (with me being super scared about undead J’mon for a heartbeat before they swooped in with a bunch of wyvern riders like Gandalf and the Rohirrim)

Gelidon, ancient white dragon, in c2e75 (with a surprisingly well thought-out exit strategy that effectively had the dragon right outside a 10 by 10 foot shark cage threatening the M9 for a whole minute while Caleb was drawing chalk circles)

Rimefang, adult white dragon, in c1e19 (with Trinket, Burt Reynolds, and the loudest librarian on God’s green earth)

Umbrasyl, ancient black dragon, in c1e54/55 (with the galaxy brain moment of teleporting the bard and the rogue inside of the dragon - which, in all fairness, also probably deserves a spot in the top 10 dumbest plans VM ever came up with. it’s right up there.)

Raishan, ancient green dragon, in c1e (with the most poetic use of Feeblemind, finishing off VM’s arguably cleverest antagonist at an INT of 1)

Vorugal, ancient white dragon, in c1e71 (with Scanlan casting a 9th level spell to summon and then dominate a giant fucking demon straight from the Abyss)

Raishan, ancient green dragon, in c1e69 (with one of the biggest plot twists of campaign 1 that I entirely did not anticipate. yes I’m putting her reveal above her final battle. fight me. :D)

bonus points for c1e70 (because there wasn’t actually any dragon present but the Kima-Raishan slip-up will forever be fondly remembered by me as also one of the dumbest things VM ever did) and for Raishan’s guest appearance in c1e71 (because a) I wasn’t going to put three Raishan moments, and b) it was less of a Raishan and more of a Vax moment anyway, but also, when will Larkin return from the war).

[justalittlebluetiefling]

Not to put the cart before the horse or anything, but since we now have a good idea of what we’ll see in season 2 what do you think will be the main beats of season 3? Is there any chance we’ll get some side stories in between finishing the fight against Thordak and the other Conclave dragons?

So, looking at the cadence of season 2, I think it's likely we'll see something like the following for season 3. It's possible that we'll end with them heading to Draconia or with the hints of heading to Ank'Harel.

Okay, keep in mind this is just a very wild guess and I'm open to being wrong. With the way they are mixing up the timeline a bit in season 2, it's possible some of these will be shuffled around. That being said, here is what I think could be a general guideline for next season.

Go to Draconia, realize Vorugal is too strong, decide to go to Ank'Harel

Find Ripley's trail, chase after her and kill her, get Percy's cloak

I guess we'll find out in season 2, but assuming they decide to deal with the resurrections, we could see Percy's death and subsequent resurrection

Taking out Vorugal in the first third of the season, get Keyleth's staff

Go to the Fire Plane, hopefully meet Senokir because I love to be creeped out by that dude, get Pike's armor

We'll definitely see the fight at Daxio

The march into Emon to take out Thordak

Betraying Raishan

They could probably make an entire season out of those points. I'm a little torn on where I think they'll end it though. There are a couple really good spots to end a season in that chain of episodes.

They could end right after Thordak's defeat, but I think it's more likely that'll be the penultimate episode and then the final episode will be their attempt to fight Raishan in Thordak's lair before she takes off.

Another option is making Raishan stuff take up the last two-ish episdoes. Betray her, fight her, chase after her and end with Scanlan's death.

And then, my final thought is that it could end with Scanlan's resurrection and subsequent departure from the party. That had to be delayed at the table, because of Sam's absence, but that won't be a problem with a TV show, so that can be expedited.

If they want to completely wrap up the Chroma Conclave stuff, my guess would option 2 or 3 here. The most likely side story I could see them pulling into season 3 would be Grog fighting Earthbreaker Groon. But yeah. These are the plot points I think they'll cover. I also think there will need to be a reminder of The Whispered One somewhere in seasons 3 and 4 so that the audience isn't surprised when it's brought back around to that. Look at me saying seasons 3 and 4 like I'm assuming this is going to be a 5 season run lol. But yeah. You didn't ask this, but I'm assuming a 5 season run for TLOVM.

Anyway, these are my thoughts. I could ramble on forever, is the problem, so I'm just going to stop here!

[aercaenist]

778 PD : she’s two days old when she’s adopted by lord & lady vysoren . lady vysoren desperate for a child & lord vysoren’s last chance for an heir until his wife falls in love with a bright-eyed baby girl . 785 PD : she’s seven when lady vysoren passes away . 788 PD : she’s ten when lord vysoren passes away & she’s an orphan once again but with an inheritance this time & the arcana pansophical offers her a spot within it’s walls . drake is in his first century when he meets this whisp of a girl with keen eyes & too much power for her to possibly understand this young . 794 PD : she’s sixteen when she begs them to let her join an adventuring party . to use her magic for good . to have a life outside of magic lessons & the propriety she’d had drilled in her for most of her life . she’s surprised when they say yes, their one stipulation is that drake go with her .  she & drake meet kima & sirus & dohla & ghenn , full of colorful stories from colorful lives that she’s only dreamed of having until now . she’s quickly got her own stories & a real family for the first time in her life . 795 PD : she’s seventeen & she has a problem . she has a crush . her first crush . on a girl who frustrates her more than anyone ever has , who doesn’t feel the way she does , who doesn’t look at her the way she wants her to . who never will . 795 PD : she’s seventeen & nothing else matters because an ancient red dragon is murdering hundreds of innocent people & only they can do what needs to be done . sirus & dohla & ghenn pay for it with their lives . 796 PD : she’s eighteen & sovereign uriel himself has offered her a place on his council . a place she’s not sure she’s earned , not even close when she couldn’t kill thordak & three people lost their lives but she takes it . she takes it because she doesn’t want to do this anymore . she doesn’t want to watch people she loves die . she had it right . she can help tal’dorei from the council & from her tower & she’s selfish to beg kima to stay but she does it anyway , knowing the answer even before she asks . 782 PD : she’s twenty-four & she goes on a date for the first time in her life & he’s very nice , he’s very courteous & proper . all she can think about is kima . 810 PD : she’s thirty-two when she meets vox machina & almost dies trying to save sovereign uriel . they steal her magic carpet but they save kima & the sovereign & she thinks it’s small price to pay . 810 PD : her worst nightmare comes true & it’s her fault . she’s actually had the nightmare that thordak escapes the fire plane & comes for her . finally getting his revenge for her mistakes . she hadn’t been strong enough to kill him them - she’ll die alongside vox machina & kima doing it now . 810 PD : she spends most of the year looking for vestiges , researching the ziggurat & vecna , protecting whitestone with gilmore , reconnecting with kima . 811 PD : they kill thordak & raishan & she swears the weight on her shoulders physically lightens . 812 PD : allura is smart , a genius even , but the smartest thing she thinks she’s ever done is marry kima . 836 PD : meets the mighty nein when she’s fifty-eight years old , too old to fall in love with an adventuring party but they worm their way past her walls anyway . 

[cankarmawrite]

For the prompts: kimallura, "it wasn't like this before."

VAGUE SPOILERS FROM CR 1 and RECENT CR 2 EPISODES

“I cannot lose you again.”

“Allie-”

The blonde woman fell to her knees on the plush rug beside their bed, hands gripping Kima’s tightly as she spoke, “If things start looking worse you know we’ll be there to help them if needed. Until we reach that point, I beg you not to join fights before you’re needed.”

Kima frowned and crossed her arms over her chest, “I know my limits Allie.”

Allura snorted in laughter as she bent forward to kiss away the furrow between Kima’s brows, “I know you do, but my love you are stubborn. Age and experience have made you less reckless, but I don’t doubt for a second that you would have followed that motley crew into battle without so much as a second thought if I hadn’t insisted.”

The bronze skin across the halfling’s cheeks darkened minutely at this and she ducked her head in shame, “They looked scared Allura. It reminded me too much of fighting alongside Vox Machina...of the fear we all felt staring down impossible odds?”

The human sighed and rose slowly to her feet, blue eyes looking years older for a moment as memories of Thordak, the Briarwoods, and Vecna filled her mind.

“It wasn’t like this before.”

“Hm?”

Allura motioned for Kima to scoot further onto the bed so they could get under the covers, drawing the halfling’s form close as soon as the blankets settled around them.

“Once upon a time I wouldn’t have stopped you- asked you to stay,” Allura’s arms tightened momentarily around Kima, her voice quavering as she continued.

“Kima you’ve been tortured...turned to stone...you’ve almost died multiple times...I have almost lost you so many times and after 25 years of boring politics I don’t think I can stand the thought of it happening again.”

The darker-skinned woman wiggled out of Allura’s grasp to sit up in bed, urging Allura to sit up as well. Once she had complied, Kima took Allura’s face between her hands and looked her dead in the eye before grinning cockily, “I’m super tough and Bahamut loves me. What’s the worse that could happen?”

“Kima!”

She winced as her wife smacked her bicep before leaning in to press her forehead against Allura’s.

“I’m sorry, Allie. I understand why you’re scared...I just want-”

“-To help,” The arcanist finished with a watery smile. “I know, and we’ll still be helping the Mighty Nein, just not by being on the battlefield.”

“Yet-”

Allura smacked Kima again and huffed a sigh as she shuffled back down on the bed until she laid pouting up at her wife, “You’re incorrigible.”

“That’s why you love me!” Kima crowed happily as she snuggled into the familiar curve of Allura’s body.

Allura huffed a sigh and wrapped her arms around her wife, “It is one of many reasons.”

Silence stretched between them as the tension bled out of the conversation and the weight of all the information they’d been told settled in.

“It wasn’t like this before,” Kima sleepily echoed with a dopey smile. “You weren’t my wife and I couldn’t hold you like this.”

“Mm, that’s also true,” Allura agreed before yawning.

“I promise I’ll stay with you Allie, despite knowing how much you love watching me fight.”

This earned Kima a pinch to the very ticklish spot on the back of her thigh. Allura smiled as she kissed Kima good night and began to drift off to sleep.

It hadn’t been like this before, but Allura wouldn’t trade the life she had now for all the money in the world.

[atlasburdenedarchive]

778 PD : she’s two days old when she’s adopted by lord & lady vysoren . lady vysoren desperate for a child & lord vysoren’s last chance for an heir until his wife falls in love with a bright-eyed baby girl . 785 PD : she’s seven when lady vysoren passes away . 788 PD : she’s ten when lord vysoren passes away & she’s an orphan once again but with an inheritance this time & the arcana pansophical offers her a spot within it’s walls . drake is in his first century when he meets this whisp of a girl with keen eyes & too much power for her to possibly understand this young . 794 PD : she’s sixteen when she begs them to let her join an adventuring party . to use her magic for good . to have a life outside of magic lessons & the propriety she’d had drilled in her for most of her life . she’s surprised when they say yes, their one stipulation is that drake go with her .  she & drake meet kima & sirus & dohla & ghenn , full of colorful stories from colorful lives that she’s only dreamed of having until now . she’s quickly got her own stories & a real family for the first time in her life . 795 PD : she’s seventeen & she has a problem . she has a crush . her first crush . on a girl who frustrates her more than anyone ever has , who doesn’t feel the way she does , who doesn’t look at her the way she wants her to . who never will . 795 PD : she’s seventeen & nothing else matters because an ancient red dragon is murdering hundreds of innocent people & only they can do what needs to be done . sirus & dohla & ghenn pay for it with their lives . 796 PD : she’s eighteen & sovereign uriel himself has offered her a place on his council . a place she’s not sure she’s earned , not even close when she couldn’t kill thordak & three people lost their lives but she takes it . she takes it because she doesn’t want to do this anymore . she doesn’t want to watch people she loves die . she had it right . she can help tal’dorei from the council & from her tower & she’s selfish to beg kima to stay but she does it anyway , knowing the answer even before she asks . 782 PD : she’s twenty-four & she goes on a date for the first time in her life & he’s very nice , he’s very courteous & proper . all she can think about is kima . 810 PD : she’s thirty-two when she meets vox machina & almost dies trying to save sovereign uriel . they steal her magic carpet but they save kima & the sovereign & she thinks it’s small price to pay . 810 PD : her worst nightmare comes true & it’s her fault . she’s actually had the nightmare that thordak escapes the fire plane & comes for her . finally getting his revenge for her mistakes . she hadn’t been strong enough to kill him them - she’ll die alongside vox machina & kima doing it now . 810 PD : she spends most of the year looking for vestiges , researching the ziggurat & vecna , protecting whitestone with gilmore , reconnecting with kima . 811 PD : they kill thordak & raishan & she swears the weight on her shoulders physically lightens . 812 PD : allura is smart , a genius even , but the smartest thing she does is marry kima . 836 PD : meets the mighty nein at 58 years old & she’s reminded of vox machina so immensely she has to sit down .

[moderndaybard]

CR Inktober, Day 7

FAVORITE SPELL: (VEX’AHLIA’S) SPEAK WITH ANIMALS

 (AN: As I don’t have a favorite of my own, I just went with what I assumed a character’s fav would be—even if it’s not the one we see them cast most often.)

 Vex’s hands were running through his fur, finding all his favorite spots, petting and scratching with her usual gentleness. And, as usually happened, he began to speak to him. “Trinket, darling, you know I love you, right?”

She wouldn’t understand his words, but he’d respond anyway: he knew she understood what he meant. “Of course I do.”

Abruptly, the petting stopped as Vex covered her mouth with a little gasp. Trinket look to her, instantly alert. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing—nothing’s wrong,” she choked out, grabbing the sides of his face and pressing their foreheads together. “Absolutely nothing.”

But she was crying, and he pointed out as much—he could feel it in his fur.

“I can hear you,” she sobbed out at last, even as he licked at her tears. “I can understand you.”

Oh. That made sense, he supposed. He would be overwhelmed, too, if he could suddenly understand Vex after an entire lifetime of only being able to work out her meaning based on tone. What should he say to her next? Well, there was really only one thing to say, even if it was something that they both already knew:

“I love you, too, Vex.”

…

“We’re in for a big fight tomorrow, buddy. Thordak.”

“I know, Vex. And I won’t let him hurt you—I will fight him for you!”

She threw her arms around his neck and hugged him tight, even though her arms didn’t quite go all the way around. It was still strange to him, sometimes, how much bigger than her he’d grown, given how little he’d felt when they first met.

“Not for—together, buddy. But I don’t like seeing you hurt. You could stay—”

“No.” it wasn’t that he hated the necklace, per se—he just hated the thought of her walking into danger without him. “I can fight. I will fight.”

“I love you, buddy.”

“I love you, too, Vex.”

After a bit, she went to clean up, undress, and do the other dozen silly things humanoids did before sleeping, and she seemed to be feeling better. In fact, by the time the knock at the door came, you couldn’t tell she’d been crying into his fur mere moments ago.

“Percy? Are you here for our ‘later’ talk?”

…

Vex had cast that spell again—the one that let her hear him. She still did it from time to time, ‘just because’, but this seemed different—his Vex was nervous.

“Buddy?”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing! Nothing at all.” She sounded certain, but her voice was higher-pitched than normal. He waited, frowning, for her to continue. “Percy and I—that is, we—”

It was rare to see Vex at a loss for words, and Trinket had no idea what to say. So, he didn’t.

“Do you know what marriage is, Trinket?”

“Sort of.” He’d been raised among humanoids, after all, but he was admittedly a little fuzzy on the subject.

Vex rocked back on her heels. “Well, I’m getting married. To Percy. Tomorrow.”

He looked at her for a long, long time. He liked Percy—the funny human was good to vex and good for her. But still, he had to be sure: “This makes you happy.”

“Yes.” This came with no hesitation.

“Good.” Then: “I love you, Vex.”

“I love you, too, Buddy. I always will.”

…

“Any sign of him, Trinket?”

“No.”

Vex rested her hand on his shoulder absently. “He’ll be back. Vax said he’ll be back, so he’ll be back.”

“Okay.”

“He’ll be back, then we’ll have a feast and a rest, then go back and fight Vecna.”

Trinket snorted angrily at the name of their current enemy, but Vex just kept talking. He didn’t mind: she needed this, right now.

“And we’ll be fine, because we have the trammels, and the book, and a plan—sort of—so, we’ll win. We’ll win and we won’t let the Raven Queen take Vax, no matter what either of them say. So, everything will work out and we’ll all be happy.”

“Okay.” It seemed straightforward enough, when she put it that way. He didn’t understand why she was worried, so he offered the only comfort he could:

“I love you, Vex.”

“I love you, too, Trinket.”

…

This time, she didn’t cast the spell at first; this time, she just clung to him and cried while Percy hovered some distance away, at the edge of the wooded clearing.

Moaning low at her distress, he nudged the sobbing half-elf with his nose, but she didn’t answer, only held tighter. Trinket looked past her to Percy, tried to make the human understand his question as he moaned again.

“Vax—” Percy began, then glanced at Vex, swallowed hard and looked away, falling silent.

For once, Trinket wished he didn’t understand people quite so well, and his own grief for the loss of his ‘uncle’ was voiced in bass whimpers and huffs as he pressed closer to Vex’ahlia.

Percy eventually came near and joined them, putting his arms around his wife as she cried herself out. After what felt like—and may well have been—hours Trinket nudged Vex’s hands with his nose, not stopping until she cast the spell.

She might not want to talk, but he needed her to hear:

“We love you, Vex.”

….

“Trinket, darling, be gentle: she’s very little.”

He shuffled his paws excitedly, then forced himself to stand extremely still as Vex approached, tiny, squirming bundle in her arms. Percy followed not far behind, still looking dazed and a little frazzled, but beaming nonetheless.

At last, Vex shifted, allowing him to peer down into the face of the tiny quarter-elf in her arms, and Trinket felt an immediate surge of protectiveness and love for this little girl, who was so much like his Vex, but so different and so new!

He was more aware than ever of just how large he was, and how easily he could break and destroy things, and he started to pull back, afraid his mere proximity could somehow hurt the baby.

Before he could, two tiny hands shot out, reaching for his muzzle, and the little girl cooed and giggled as she reached for the startled, enamored bear.

“I love her.”

He must have missed Vex casting the spell, or maybe, after all this time, she just knew.

“And it seems she loves you already, too.”

…

Vex was nothing more than a shadow in front of him, but then, his eyes had been fading for years, he could still feel her hands in his fur, though, and still hear her. It was enough.

“How are you feeling, Trinket?”

“…Tired.”

A slight sob. He wished he could do something to make her not cry—he never liked it when his Vex was sad. But now, that would be up to Percy and their children.

“Do you want to sleep, buddy?”

“…I don’t know.” He did, but he didn’t want to leave her all alone.

“You have to give him permission, Vex; he loves you too much,” someone urged quietly from the shadows—it smelled and sounded like Keyleth, older and much more grounded than she had once been—how many years ago, now?

“I can’t.” vex sounded so small—he tried to press closer to her, but age-weakened limbs refused to respond.

“Yes, you can,” Percy all but whispered. That’s right: she wouldn’t be alone—she had Percy, her children, her friends. They’d be there for her, when he couldn’t.

Another sob now, and she was leaning against him. “If you need to sleep—” Her voice broke, but then she rallied. “—then it’s okay... You can rest, now.”

“Okay.”

They were all there now, hugging or stroking him—even Keyleth and Pike, who’d been hovering in the background.

“I love you so much, Trinket. You know that—right?”

“Yes.” He’d always known. It was the first thing he’d ever known.

But sometimes, it needed to be said, needed to be heard, and, at heart, Trinket had always been a simple bear: he didn’t mind repetition.

“I love you, Vex’ahlia.”

And really—what more was there to say?

[criticalrolenpctournament]

ROUND 3: POLL 3

Propaganda

Kima:

Lady Kima dueled Thordak while he was being sealed into the Plane of Fire. She received equipment directly from Bahamut. She endured privation and torment at the hands of the duergar of Emberhold. And she married Allura Vysoren.

I love that her oath canonically changes from Devotion to Vengeance. Like Thordak came back and she took one look and was like omg fuck that one red dragon in particular and Bahamut went like yeah you go I got your back. Secondly, she is such a good spin on a class that is widely considered somewhat boring and stiff (rp wise, not mechanically)but I feel like the 'lawful good' aspect is usually very polarizing and there's a lot of prejudice towards it being uninteresting? and Kima is such a fresh fucking spin on the lawful good paladin trope? thirdly, Kima getting gifted a cool sword by Grog (a barbarian) in campaign one. Kima lending out that same cool sword to Yasha (a barbarian) in campaign two. I just love Kima and her soft spot for barbarians :D. fourth... ly? Kima is canonically taller than Scanlan, which is interesting because according to the PHB halflings are on average significantly smaller than gnomes, so even if we assume that Scanlan is somewhat short for a gnome, still means that Kima is a TALL halfling. so technically Allura & Kima are not tol & smol, but in fact both tall queens :D

The Calloways: N/A

[blorbologist]

Hi Maggie!! Congrats on 1500, this is HUGE!

I'm here for the rolls! Let's see what the dice gods have in store today:

Of course gotta ask for Percy and Vax'ildan, both HCs?

And then maybe two rolls of the d8??

Congrats again! And thank you!! I hope you have a lovely rest of your day. ☺️💕

Thank you so much! You're always a delight to see in my notes, reminds me to get a little chaotic. Keep em guessing >:D

Miss Thing is really helping out with rolling dice:

Let's say the blueish with silver is Percy and the edgy is for Vax:

2.Angst for Percy

God, what rock haven't I turned over with him? ... ah: I think he'd initially have a lot of difficulty handling when the children Not as babies, though baby howls are practically designed to cause distress. No, it's when they're older: teenagers sobbing over heartbreak, or raising their voice to talk back, or whimpering after a hunting accident. Even a laugh that turns into a shriek of delight can be too close on some days. (The screams from the dungeon, from the cells next door, from across the dining room, from his own throat. And just enough of Vex (and thys Vax) in the tones to turn them from memory to nightmare)

3.Fluff for Vax

I fucking adore Vax cutting Kiki's hair after the Thordak fight!!! so!! much!! I HC that Vax is the main hair guy for VM during their early days - he's the most at ease with daggers and knives, and likely already has experience tending to his and Vex's hair on the road (potentially learned from Elaina giving them haircuts at home). Of course Percy will not let him touch a hair, and Keyleth never really wants a cut until then - but I like him sprucing up Scanlan before a bar crawl, cutting burrs off Trinket, keeping Pike's hair from getting too long and messing with her armor, making sure Grog didn't miss a spot shaving his head (he's never allowed to do it again after shaving half the beard tho 🤣). And then following Kiki's initial cut he cleans it up a bit in the days after, less of a necessary job and more getting it to her liking.

This but ~magic~

I think more druid magic should feature plant communication and mycorrhizal networks! They already feel so close to magic, it's fascinating. Waterbending plants and Caduceus' fungal-flavored healing are favorites of mine, but just consider: a lesser version of Transport via Plants limited to plants who are, if distantly, connected to the sane network, or specific plants used for Grasping Vines and other such spells to cause photosensitive blisters, or nasty thorns, or just fucking trigger allergies.

Hot take or tea

I don't care how many degrees someone has, if they start spouting 'oh we can exterminate all of X species I don't like itd be fine'. Even in a hypothetical magic world where you can bamf all mosquitoes out of existence, a huge host of insectivores are now without a huge amount of biomass to eat and larger animals' movements (to avoid mosquitoes) are impacted, resulting in changes in browsing/hunting/use of that environment. In a more realistic scenario, there's huge financial and manpower costs to factor in, as well as problems of specificity. We're struggling to deal with the invasive, 100% destructive species in many ecosystems (ignoring for this those that are actually not entirely detrimental) - how do you expect we'll erradicate X pest you don't want? It's also just so arrogant to assume we know everything and know what's best- I think of that parasite driveb to extinction because their endangered hosts were given treatments to remove them.

[criticalcoruscant]

I’ve had time to absorb last week’s episode and here’s my thoughts as i have ranted them to my poor husband (who knows nothing about d&d or critical role) that goes in addition to my personal headcanon that the dynasty is beginning to realize that these people aren’t as powerful as they originally thought. (but that’s another long ramble)

THE PROBLEM WITH THE LOTUSDEN ENCOUNTER:

The M9 performed perfectly average 

Stinky pants Obann performed SPECTACULARLY WELL

If both sides performed average. If both sides performed spectacularly. If one side did average and the other did HORRIDLY it would have been a different outcome for sure and that’s the biggest frustration for me - THEY DID FINE! None of the options were great, but they did the best with what they could and with how the dice rolled (there weren’t any dramatic fails at a clutch moment besides maybe nott during the attempted swipe of obann’s belt and maybe jester’s perception for a landing spot, but lets be real there was no stealthy landing there) they performed pretty well. pretty on-brand. against a normal foe - it might have been close but they’d have mopped the floor with them. 

for something so important for the resurrection? reconstitution? summoning? of a demon assassin from the calamity or whatever - that heart was bizarrely easy to obtain. The tree wasn’t very threatening and obann performed heart surgery ridiculously fast. If by some miracle the M9 had gotten there first, they’d have had to battle that tree until it was mulch and then try to figure out how to get the heart just in time for the murder trio to show up after the m9′s health had been beaten down even further and more spells depleted.

I don’t remember who said it, but someone here said this is like if vox machina had been aware of the chroma conclave before it happened and were trying to stop raishan before she broke thordak out. VM would have massively failed - and vox machina had allies. The M9 have no one. They are just lil scared level 10 babes trying to stop the apocalypse before it happens and getting no backup from anyone powerful because everyone is too focused on the war

[ofsinnersandsaints]

where do you run, chp. 2

AO3

Takes place during episode 71, where instead of Vex and Percy kissing while Keyleth replenished the ground, they have sex the night they defeat Vorugal which is unfortunate for Grog who, in this timeline, shares a wall with Vex.

For bed sharing reasons.

Grog stared at the wall and finally gave up on the sounds coming from next door stopping anytime soon.

When Scanlan made this mansion it would have made sense to give it soundproof walls, but nope, Grog could all too easily hear what was going on next door.

He left his room, glaring at Vex’s bedroom door as he passed it, and wound his way down the hallway to Keyleth’s door. When he knocked, he heard her say come in without even asking who it was.

She was sitting on her floor with books and glass jars surrounding her when he came in. There was a weird urge to lock the door when he shut it but he ignored it, putting his hands on his hips instead. “I’m here to cash in my favor.”

She looked up at him, a confused and distracted expression on her face. “I owe you a favor?”

He nodded and sat down on her bed. It wasn’t as big as his, but it would do for the night. “Yeah, remember the time you barged into my room in the middle of the night and then hogged the bed?”

“I think I remember something about that. It was yesterday, wasn’t it?” Keyleth smiled, shaking her head as she went back to whatever druid project she was working on, “Why? You hoping to hog my bed?”

“Vex is having sex in her room,” he told her dryly. “I don’t feel like listening to it.”

Her brows furrowed in a way which would have been adorable if he thought about her like that. Which he didn’t. “Who is she having sex with?”

“I assume Percy, but maybe gnomes are more her type.”

“And they’re being…loud?”

“She’s being loud, Percy I assume is laying back and thinking of Emon.” Keyleth laughed loudly at the joke, hiccupping as she brought her hand to her mouth and he considered it a personal victory to bring out that sudden burst of joy, especially considering how tough the day had been. “What are you doing?”

“Making healing potions,” she answered, laughter still in her voice as she held up one of the corked vials which had the same coloring as the stuff he routinely poured down all their throats. Not Keyleth though, he suddenly realized with a surprise. He couldn’t remember ever needing to save her. “Pike went down while we were fighting Vorugal, and if we’d all had healing potions we could have brought her back a little bit sooner, and maybe a little stronger.”

She was thinking of Pike, and there were fewer things which hit him closer to the heart than that. He was at a loss for words and cleared his throat, his eyes catching on her new prize. “Guess your fancy new stick doesn’t do everything.”

Keyleth followed his gaze to where the weird piece of wood was propped up in the corner. It was a twisty piece of magic and even he could feel the power emanating from it. “It doesn’t heal, just does damage,” she said, her mouth twisting in a kind of grimace as she looked at him. “Or at least it’s supposed to.”

Grog couldn’t help the grin, realizing his suspicions had been right. Down in the practice pit he’d pretended her earth elemental had injured him, and the bop she’d given him on his forehead had hurt, but she’d obviously realized the truth. They shared an easy smile, comradery and humor flashing between them. “The lightning was pretty vicious, those dummies didn’t know what hit them.”

“We’ll see how it does in a real combat,” she evaded. “Thanks, by the way.”

Grog looked down at her, and belatedly realized she must have taken a bath at some point.

When he’d seen in her in the foyer, with bits of dragon spread out at her feet, she’d been covered in blood up to her elbows. Once glance at most folk would take in their group and think he was the gruesome, violent one, but they vastly underestimated the pretty druid who would happily eviscerate a creature and then dissect it.

But now her skin was scrubbed clean enough he could count the freckles on her face, if he could count that high. Her hair was still a little damp at the ends and there was a clean smell filling his nostrils; the battered leather armor replaced by something dark green and soft.

“Thanks for what?”

“For the Spire.” Her smile was a little crooked as she got up, putting her hand on his knee to give herself leverage. He’d seen her create lightning, seen her pull it down from the sky to hurt the enemy, but this was the first time he believed she had it under her skin.

There was no other explanation for the sharp and electric sizzle from her skin touching his.

She sat next to him while he tried to find his balance. “You basically took on the Yenk all by yourself. If it hadn’t been for you tearing him in half, I might not have a Vestige.”

“I had to fight him,” Grog pointed out, still grumpy about how most of the fight had gone. “That fucker of a dragon kept flying off and I couldn’t get to him. You can turn into air and punch him-her?-in the face. I’m stuck on the ground.”

“But there’s a downside to magic, even with my spire,” she pointed out. “I can only use so much and then I’m depleted, but you? You can hit as many times as you want and nothing can stop you.”

“Unless, of course, I’m fighting something that can fly,” he argued.

“That’s why we’re a team,” she reminded him, bumping his shoulder with hers. “I’ll hit what’s far away and you can finish it off once I bring it down.”

It was pretty good plan and made him feel a little better. “Team badass.”

“Team badass,” she repeated with a grin. “And I haven’t forgotten you promised to teach me how to fight.”

Grog snorted. “I did, and as soon as we get a minute when we’re not actively running for our lives we’ll do just that.”

“Fair enough,” she conceded and they just… sat like that. Quiet and comfortable, hips nearly touching, for a full minute until she sighed.

“Well, I still have an hour left before I’m done with the potions,” but she didn’t sound excited about it. “You’re more than welcome to sleep, if you want. I just have to finish this batch or it goes bad.”

“I don’t mind staying up,” he assured her. “As long as you don’t moan while you do it.”

She turned to look at him, mischief in her eyes as she tried not to smile. “Oh, didn’t you know? That’s step three.”

“Very funny.”

Keyleth grinned, proud of her little joke, and slid back down to the floor to settle near his feet. She started grabbing ingredients and bringing them closer to her as she spoke. “You can’t blame them for it, can you? Vex and Percy, I mean. After everything we’ve been through the past couple of months, I get why they’re doing the now-or-never thing.”

“I enjoy a good now-or-never myself, but I at least have the decency to do it out of the house.”

“I’ve always said you were the most selfless one of the group.” She shifted on the ground, tucking one leg beneath her and stretching out her other leg, the nightshirt barely covered her thighs and he could see a couple of scars decorating her skin.

He tried to remember where she got them, but they’d been in so many fights it was hard to keep track.

“When we get back to civilization you can now-or-never all you want,” she was saying as she added some of the herbs to her metal bowl.  Grog shrugged, uninterested in the prospect and not willing to wonder why.

“Heck, before all is said and done I might now-or-never. I want to at least once before we go up against Thordak.”

It took him a moment to understand what she was saying, and he wished he could see her face but she was staring down at her book. “Say again?”

Keyleth pushed her hair over her shoulder and shrugged, “I’m just saying if I’m going to die, I’d like to understand what the fuss about sex is before I go.”

“Don’t go to a bawdy house,” he advised her.

“Why,” she looked at him with a challenge in her eyes. “And if you say anything along the lines of my being too good-“

“No,” he interrupted, confused by her sudden flash of anger. “Who the fuck said that?”

Her green eyes narrowed at him for a moment before she let out a breath on a frustrated huff. “It doesn’t matter.”

Someone had obviously pissed her off and he’d ask her about it, but she said it didn’t matter, and he had to trust her on that. If someone needed their ass kicked, she could handle it. “I just meant, don’t find some rando because you don’t know if they’re going to be any good. If you’re going to die, the worse way to do it is after bad sex.”

“Duly noted.”

“Now that that’s settled, where are your boots?”

“I don’t know,” she went back to her potions. “I think I threw them over by the bed, why?”

Because she was clean and smelled good and they were talking about sex; he fucking needed something to do with his hands. “When we were trying to get the skin into the bag of holding you tripped.”

“I did?” she glanced up at him. “I don’t remember that.”

“It was your boots,” he told her, and got up to find them. “I figure while you’re making sure we don’t die, I’ll make sure you don’t trip in battle and make a fool of yourself.”

“Thanks,” and she sounded sincere about it. “I always forget you can do that.”

He looked at her, boots in his hand. “Do what?”

“Make things,” she answered as she lit one of her fingers on fire and held it up to the metal bowl. “It’s impressive.”

“You’re literally making life saving potions and lighting yourself on fire.”

Her eyes met his, “Yeah? And? There are a dozen people in my tribe alone who can do this. You’re the only person I know who can make boots.”

“You need to get out more,” he grumbled, searching in the bag of holding for his tools.

“You’re not wrong.”

Grog sat on the ground a few feet away from her and together they worked in silence for the rest of the hour. He was able to fix the broken sole easily enough, but there were a few holes on the sides, and the thread was kind of loose in spots, so he did what he could to patch them up.

She’d need a new pair sooner rather than later though.

“Done,” she announced and he looked up in time to see her rolling her neck and shoulders and when that little gesture got him going he knew he was in a world trouble.

It had just been a while, he told himself, a few months without a woman would do this to any red-blooded male. The fact he hadn’t once thought about biting Vex’s neck, and hearing her have sex right door had caused him irritation instead of arousal, didn’t mean anything.

Next to him, completely oblivious to his internal struggle, Keyleth stared at the mess on the floor. “Screw it, I’ll clean it up in the morning. Are you ready to sleep?”

There was a flash of leg as she stood up and he didn’t trust himself to say anything more than, “Yep.”

Grog got up and headed straight for the bed; when he’d been a kid he’d slept and lived in his clothes. It wasn’t until he’d moved in Pike and Wilhand that he learned some people slept in nothing, or next to, but he could never quite get to that point. If he anything happened, he wanted to be ready, so he wore his pants to bed and usually kept his axe under his pillow.

But nothing could get to them in Scanlan’s mansion so he’d left his weapons in his room, and had walked barefoot to Keyleth’s. The only thing he still wore were his pants.

“Are you okay with the lights off?”

“I can sleep in a hailstorm, Keyleth. It don’t matter to me.”

“I wish I was like that,” she complained, and the room went dark. He didn’t have the belt on so he couldn’t see anything but he could hear her footsteps, the movement of the blankets being pulled back, and the added heat of her body when she settled a few inches away from him. “It always takes me an hour to get to sleep after lying down and if it’s too quiet or too loud I can’t sleep at all.”

Grog was surprised by the complaint because he remembered the night before, he’d gotten into bed and within a few minutes he’d heard her breath even out. He’d been paying close attention, worried she’d have a nightmare or something, but she’d slept soundly until he’d gotten up in the morning.

“Uh, I have an idea.”

“Okay?”

The bed wasn’t big, so it was an easy enough thing to reach out and find her arm, and she was a wisp of a thing so he just pulled her across the mattress towards him. “You know, when you asked me not to jump you yesterday, I kind of figured the agreement was a mutual.”

“Keyleth,” he started, his words clear, if a little sharp. “If I jump you, it’ll be with the lights on.”

“Oh.”

“After Pike died,” the words caught, and his heart squeezed painfully in his chest. It would always be a hard thing to remember, how he’d lost her and almost hadn’t gotten her back. Grog cleared his throat and tried again for casual, “She had trouble sleeping when it was too quiet, she said it reminded her of the black, so she’d sleep on my chest and listen to my heart. It helped.”

Keyleth cleared her throat and while she was still stiff as a board next to him she didn’t pull away or try to wiggle back to her side of the bed. After a second, which he figured she used to talk herself in and out of it, she pressed against his side.

Grog sighed because she wasn’t breathing. “You’re making this weird, Keyleth.”

He heard her snort but she relaxed a bit against him. “I don’t know why you expected me to be anything else but awkward.”

“You can do this,” he deadpanned. “I believe in you.”

She huffed out a laugh and moved next to him. This was a really fucking bad idea on his part, but he’d seen the proof of her sleepless nights and it was only smart to make sure they were all ready to fight at a moment’s notice.

Yeah, he told himself dryly as he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, sharing a bed with the druid, her head on his chest, was definitely for the greater good.

“G’night, Keyleth.”

She murmured her good night, her breath warm against his chest as her body slowly molded itself around him.

He could feel her body relaxing, muscle by muscle. The whole point had been to help her, but having her next so close calmed him too. Settled him.

Her breathing slowed along with his heart beats and he was half way to sleep himself when her arm moved against his side and then drape over his stomach.

There was only one conclusion to come to as his heart stumbled inside his chest: He was fucked.