#ruidis arc

[vestigesofperversion]

So turns out Imogen is allergic to the moon

😷 😶

[ludinusdaleth]

this is something ive had brewing in my mind for a while, but now that this aeor arc seems concluded, im really thinking on ludinus & other calamity survivors, and the idea of no perfect victim & moving forward.

ludinus & leylas are about the same age, have lived the same years. when we meet leylas, she is sending her soldiers to war in large part because she has seen the cycles of exandria unfold so consistently she cannot imagine peace until she defeats her enemy (quana still prays for it, and unity among everyone. but she holds her tongue). ludinus, on the opposite side of the mountains, knows the cycles too. and he thinks he must wage them to break them. leylas worships the luxon to free herself from the gods. ludinus despises the luxon for being seen as a god at all, that leylas as a survivor would dare worship it. both see the exact same thing but in opposite ways. but leylas gives a small smile of surprise when the m9 stop the war of ash & light. she is surprised, but happy to be wrong, in this one moment; her faith in these non dynasty folk paid off. all ludinus, one who hates cycles seeing a cycle caught short, sees, is a loss at taking more beacons, at destroying the "religious drivel" of the luxons religion. at least he can get to work on the big picture, the cycle he actually cares about, over any he enforces.

devexian & alyxian awaken the same year, devexian by the m9, in the ruins of his (and ludinus's) home. he can only laugh dryly at its fate, say it is a cruel joke of history. he picks up the pieces, tries to bring his people back to life. he wants them to start anew. he wants them to let go. if ludinus cant escape the day the city fell then it seems devexian wants nothing more than to leave it for tomorrow. alyxian has been caught in the hell of being a demigod of divinity & ruidis left to rot in half death. (depending on your netherdeep ending) he awakens to a new dawn, suddenly ancient & old in body, but.... free. freed by your party. he was torn asunder by avandra/correlon/sehanine & predathos within him, their powers festering in him as gruumsh destroyed him - and still he tries to be kind, and have faith, even if he is not the warrior he was, even if everything he ever knew was destroyed. he can see society flourish again, even after his & gruumsh's battle destroyed half of marquet. ludinus has seen society rebuild its entire course of time - and all he sees is a world never as brilliant as what it was before.

all of these calamity survivors are completely fucked. leylas is paranoid, losing her mind from living too long, and still haunted by lolth. quana is resigned to stay at her lovers side even as madness takes her when all she wants is unity with others. devexian is clearly so unwilling to face history repeating he wont tell other aeormatons their heritage. alyxian is broken & battered after an eon of nonstop torture.

but they had help from others, from kind souls, who reached a hand out. and they took that kindness and internalized it. and they have vowed to help their people any way they can. to spread that glimmer of hope. to rebuild.

ludinus hasnt. and i think there is deep tragedy in that. i dont know if he has much hope, ironically, beyond raging cleansing fire. in that broad big picture it is both incredibly real & also heartbreaking when recovery falls through the cracks so badly. to have so little of a support group of survivors around you that you smack the hand of those who came out of it differently, and not have known others who could show you it was okay to move on. you hurt other survivors in your refusal to breathe, and live too large to see the others choosing a small destiny. it is unfair to him to had to have suffered and unfair to inflict that on calamity survivors again for your own agenda.

i fixate on him not disagreeing with the bells finding a third option. deep down, he wants to have that hope the others share so fucking bad. we'll see if he ever finds it.

[druidposting]

The more i think about it, the more baffled i become at the people saying this campaign feels significantly more railroaded than the others.

I mean, i can see why people might think that. At a glance, its like, “wow, Matt’s really pushing hard for this moon plot, like everything’s connected to it and they have this date to meet and they cant get anyone else’s story in!” But i feel like thats such a surface level analysis, and is likely born from people who have never dmed before. As an avid dungeon master myself, the Ruidis plot reads quite clearly to me as a set piece - This is an event fixed in time, fixed in the world, and the villains orchestrating it will do what theyre gonna do no matter what. Its actually quite similar to the chroma conclave arc in C1, or even more poignantly, the whitestone arc with Percy as the “main character” focus for an extended period of time, an arc that was anchored to a set place and a set time because thats what the villains were doing.

When you DM, one of the key things you learn is that when the players arent engaging with a plot thread, that thread continues to run its course in the background. Its what breaths life into the world, its what makes it feel real. Its also what nudges your players to engage with the world. When you telegraph this to them, they pretty quickly learn that if they hear of something bad thats gonna happen, and they choose not to engage for whatever reason, then that bad thing is Going To happen, and they will then be playing in the consequences.

The other part of this misperception of c3 being railroaded i think comes from the players having a much stronger and more cohesive sense of morals. The c2 gang was characterized by a rag-tag group of miss-fits with nebulous morals and motivations and histories, and who were much more self serving in their group goals. None of this is bad!! It made for a very interesting game to watch, and even more interesting characters. But this is very different from the way ive seen Bells Hells act as a team. BH has been seen to be at least somewhat altruistic in their motives - maybe individually theyre more self-serving - but as a team, theyve consistently made decisions that benefit “the greater good” without much question of whats in it for them (giving up Treshi to the government and helping the Greenseekers in the mines come to mind). So of course theyre going to chase the Big Bads when they hear about a world ending plot!! And this doesnt even factor in that like, as players, why the fuck wouldnt you want to chase the evil moon plot? The campaign i run is explicitly a sandbox, and yet my players have latched on to the main intrigue and have been following it as if “on a railroad”. When your main intrigue is constructed well, the players will want to follow it, because this is a game to be played for fun, afterall.

With these two facts in mind, this isnt Matt forcing them down a particular path, nor have the Bells Hells been bound to it by him at any point in the campaign. At any moment they could jump off this thread and go do something else. And maybe you’d say “but if they dont stop Ludinus, then the world will go to catastrophe!!!” Yeah. It would. Thats dnd, baby. That outcome would be just as beautiful as the Bells Hells success.

As an aside, i could see several paths this Apogee Solstice day could go. Everything could go off without a hitch, BH destroys the key, crashes the missile ship, and gets out unscathed. Or they could completely fail, Ryn destroyed, Predathos released, TPK. Or they fail in stopping Ludinus but manage to get out alive and have to deal with the consequences. Or they succeed but Ludinus and his lackies live and chase the Hells through to the end of campaign with an eternal burning hatred. There are endless possibilities here because Matt is a good DM who clearly values player agency and choice.

[dontgofarfromme]

Dark Fearne to Fearne: [Grandma] is fine, for now. The warqueen wants you back. We cannot be the outcasts our parents are. Come home.

Then later after Dark Fearne is defeated:

Aabria: and then a voice and a figure stands like a sentinal at the back of your mind. And a couple of words, recurring, a name, a title to this figure pass through your mind. The Unforgiving, High Warqueen of of the Burning Vale, Matriarch of the Seelie Court. And you feel her displeasure, intense burning bright hot, for the failure of that other strange Fearne.

Of note, Dark Fearne's primary intention from the very beginning is stated to be not to killing Fearne or any of the CK, but to convince Fearne to return to the feywild with her immediately, apparently on the direction of the Queen of the Seelie Court, which is interesting. I unfortunately skipped a ton of cr3 esp the arc with Fearne's parents but what's the likelihood the Seelies wanted her back for a reason related to why the Unseelie Court were also looking for her? Something related to her parents? Her being Ruidis born? Does the Warqueen have a specific purpose in mind for Fearne?

[youngbloodbuzz]

Comment from yesterdays ep if you haven’t finished it please skip! Matt last campaign, would be cool to make some backstories come together at once. Matt this campaign, it’s all the same backstory.

matthew has for real been building up to this arc for years now I just Know it there are too many coincidences and connected plot points I'm literally sitting here like

MATTHEW! HOW LONG HAVE YOU PLANNED THIS!! ARE THEY ALL RUIDIS BORN?? ANSWER ME MATTHEW!

[vethbrenatto]

I’m not sure how to explain it properly but the 2nd half felt very imogen centric which I guess is fine for the circumstance but like the other hells besides imogen felt like background?? I dunno. The hells presence didn’t feel like it was unique as if you could put a different character there and they’d have the same feel? I’m not sure I really liked this episode but it just felt off especially towards the end

I really have been debating on this and I don't know where I stand yet.

To address what you actually said: was the back half of the episode Imogen-centric? Yes and no. Clearly, Otohan's focus was on getting Imogen to embrace the storm. So, it was. But I also don't felt she got a crazy lopsided amount of screentime considering, everyone else was acting also. As I touched on in another ask, they didn't put a lot of emotion into it, which is odd for CR, but I think that makes it feel more Imogen-centric than it actually was- because no one else was really being that emotional in-character about it.

But more generally on the Imogen C3 main character thing: Jury's still out. Critical Role has always had arcs that focus on certain characters. We all know the Whitestone Arc is Percy's and the Pirate Arc is Fjord's.

It's interesting because I don't really think Laura has had a character that really got a centric-arc before. Arguably Jester with Travelercon, but Travelercon doesn't feel Jester's the way the Pirate Arc's feels like Fjord's. So, it's really fun to see a Laura-character centric arc.

That said, it feels like there's been an Imogen focus for a while and I'm interested to see the story move and weirdly this last episode feels like the catalyst. I'm hoping this is going to lead to the partial wrapping of the arc. I do want other characters to get plot hooks. I want to see an Ashton arc or a Chet arc. Ruidis feels like it's going to be a campaign long plot device, so I hope it starts to tie to more than just Imogen and Fearne. Even Fearne being Ruidisborn doesn't feel like it's become that important yet, so I'm ready to see that manifest.

[bottled-campaign]

Fellow Orb-Ponderers,

we in the Critter community have been occupied with a certain Red orb (fuckin moon city) and rightfully so. Ruidis has been weird and mysterious since the beginning.

But what the fuck is up with our other favorite orb? THE HAPPY FUN BALL

(Everything from here on is pure theory)

With all the talk of Apogee Solstices and the harnessing of great power to make great works, i cant help but to think of the Tower Machine and its time manipulation.

Given the timeline of events laid out in the Permaheart Arc of CR2, we know Halas came around after the fall of Aeor, which fell AFTER the events of EXU:Calamity. And according to Halas himself, he started his "timeskip plan" during the Calamity but before the Divergence.

The other Archmage of that era that was known for their mastery of magical engineering was our best girl, LAERRYN CORA MARSEELIE

And her best friend also sent a GOLDEN ORB (full of the Entire Knoweledge of Avalir) to a family of birds.

Could Halas have eventually obtained that orb during the chaos of the era? Learned how to harness the power of laylines into great works? Used the Knoweledge of Avalir to create the Halls?

[inkofamethyst]

September 15, 2022

Sometimes Critical Role just doesn’t cut it. Sometimes I need to stab something a million times, get the tips of my fingers a little bloody, and have a waistcoat come out from all of it. Anyway, I’m spiraling a little, if you couldn’t tell.

[a few hours later] OH LOL I mean I was spiraling (in class :D) but it was definitely at least partly because I was hormonal (I’m exhausted rn but I’ll talk through my emotions some other day).  I swear to god I have the literal worst pain tolerance and you’d think I’d understand how this goes but I handle it just as badly as I did when I was a middle schooler who wouldn’t swallow pills because I was afraid of choking on them.

Anyway Critical Role??????  Episode 31????  Wild.  Sam is such an amazing creative.  Easily the most arc-focused actor on Critical Role, even from C1.  Like sure, De Rolo and Imogen have intrinsic story ties to the world around them, but they also come with a heaping load of Main Character Syndrome (Percy: dead parents, white hair, former royalty, quest for revenge that wraps into saving others from a despotic rule; Imogen: dead mom, purple hair, superpowers, grew up in a place that didn’t understand her (my dnd-friend said the whole Ruidis-born thing also gave her Chosen One Energy and I agree) (and it’s not that these things are bad, they’re just very... outshiney) (and even though Jester for sure had a monopoly on interactions in C2, it wasn’t Main Character Syndrome to me)).  The other players just seem to fall into their arcs (especially Travis).  Idk I just think Sam is something special and it’s really easy to underestimate the funnyman.  Laudna is still my favorite though, I think, I just can’t get how she revealed her backstory out of my head.  That was masterful.

I managed to guess the murderer and a bit of the motive for the last episode with the original Barnaby.  Feeling extremely accomplished.

Today I’m thankful that it’s Thursday I guess and also that my presentation in my ecoanth class went well today :)

[vividxp]

Yet another ‘are we reaching the endpoint’ post

I know this topic has been opined on to death but I have thoughts

Here’s a list of things that I think don’t need to be resolved by the Campaign’s end

Tharizdun - He’s a fact of the universe, there is no ending him. There is always going to be somebody or some group of people or some cult trying to free him long after the M9 is dead and gone. My favorite Critical Role recap show has been theorizing that Matt is going to throw a Tarrasque at the players and this would be the opening and while that’s amusing, I don’t think it’s gonna happen

Uk’otoa - Fjord’s oath was not to kill Uk’otoa or anything like that. And he has already went through the arc of rejecting him. There are still plenty of backstory questions like wtf is Sabien doing, but I could see this resolved through a oneshot or two. The stakes are decidedly lessened especially since we have no idea where the third orb is. Maybe the Tomb Takers still have it, maybe they threw it in a ditch in a ruin somewhere on Eiselcross. Honestly, now that I mention it, Fjord should probably find a ditch in the astral plane and chuck the orb there if he gets his hand on it again. 

Isharnai (The Hag) - Jester tricked her fair and square. Sure she can be a sore loser and make something out of it, but does she really? And heck, maybe game recognizes game, especially after the cupcake delivery. Also people forget the goal w/ the hag was to remove the curse from Veth. While honestly I would be here for further exploration of the curse (and the goblins who asked for Veth to get it), I don’t think there’s appetite for that. I think the perception is that it serves Beau’s father right for fucking with shit beyond him.

Zeenoth trial - I understand that Beau has gotten the short end of the stick in the sense that her development has always been squeezed in w/ other characters. But I’m skeptical about whether the players would be interested in RPing the full trial. 

Ruidis/The Moon - This doesn’t have to be the M9′s fight. They’ve gotten a bunch of lore about it, but nothing has really been set in motion and it doesn’t need to happen in Campaign 2. 

The Dolorov Tribe -  I think other than visiting Zuala’s grave, Yasha doesn’t really think all that much about the tribe that killed her wife. She killed the leaders after all. (And she doesn’t particularly feel any sort of way about that). It’s something that doesn’t necessarily have to play out outside an epilogue mention, even though it would be super interesting for Yasha to be confronted with the recovering tribe 

Molaesmyr - Cad found a way to fight back the corruption in the Savalier Wood, maybe he can inform Reani and/or Uthodurn the requirements for that so that more can be done to reclaim the lost city. It’s not Cad’s obligation to do this right now...especially the city has been corrupted for decades. 

I think the only pressing issue that absolutely needs to be resolved post Eyes of Nein (assuming shit doesn’t go down there) is some movement towards abolishing the Cerberus Assembly. In Episode 131, the message from Astrid revealed that the King may not know the full scope of the Scourger program (even though he knows of their existence). If the M9 survive, there is very little stopping them from going public about this. Side note: I also still think the beacon experimentation on Felderwin citizen is a big fucking deal and should be mentioned as well but it’s been almost a hundred episodes since they got that evidence so....

But tangent aside, Trent and the Cerberus Assembly are at a disadvantage here. Thanks to the pendants against divination/scrying, it’s almost impossible to track the M9 down, and they’ve also made moves to protect their immediate families and associates from retaliation. The M9, Essek and Yeza should all be trying to testify against the Cerberus Assembly as soon as they’re able to. 

And unless the Cerberus Assembly has a coup against the king ready to go (I wouldn’t be surprised if they did), they’d have few other options other than taking the scrutiny. Though I could see Trent or Ludinus deciding to make a run for it and the M9 making sure they face some sort of justice. 

[amurih]

What happens when you watch Beau’s theories (ep 111) and then the moon theories video.

Ok, but what if Ruidis is the eyes of nine/Aeor. it’s just floating there in its redish-purple maroon color behind the moon. It’s cruising around all year long slowly in the sky. Ruidis came out of nowhere, and various cultures believe that it never actually had been there before and is considered a bad omen. Another thing, artifacts have been falling from the sky all over Wildmount, most likely from Ruidis, that are well beyond anything the current people have made. We know from our Rumblecusp arc that things and beings can be shunted to the prime dimension.

There was the pre-Calamity stuff that caused Aeor to crash happened. But the main kicker is this; Why did both Prime and Betrayer Gods make a truce to destroy Aeor? Why would the Gods want to destroy a floating city if there wasn’t anything that didn’t threaten their existences. Because Aeor IS the weapon that can destroy a God’s divinity. The God’s wanted it destroyed, but didn’t think that there was a way for the city to save itself.

But what if instead of crashing into Eiselcross it used the last of it’s arcana/advanced magic to transport the entire city to the astral plane. Now Aeor is fishing for people, for some time, to come find it by dropping some of its artifacts across Wildmount over time.

THE LIVING CITY IS DROPING ITS BREAD CRUMBS FOR PEOPLE TO COME FIND IT BY HAVING ITS ARTIFACTS BEING SHUNTED INTO THE PRIME MATERIAL WORLD.

[utilitycaster]

To make this less vague, now that I have a little more time: w/r/t the upcoming finale I think it's been hard to find examples of the viewpoint I hold, which is that I both trust the cast to find an ending that is satisfying to them, and also I think there is a very real possibility the ending will not be satisfying to me, and that these two things do coexist peacefully.

There are some unresolved items. The nature of that lack of resolution is definitely something with a lot of room for differing opinions, as is the method by which people would like to see things resolved, as is the opinion on whether people would prefer it to remain open-ended or if they want a definitive answer. I have also seen a lot of discussion of so-called unresolved items that really aren't (eg: Ruidis; not that this might not come up in future campaigns but despite a lot of fandom theories, the Mighty Nein never actually demonstrated any particular interest in it; Molaesmyr is one that I personally would have loved to see but also always felt like it could serve equally as a hook for a Nein arc, or could be part of say, Calliope's story after the campaign, or could be something that remained in the world in the future). I think that's definitely muddying the waters.

I guess what I'm trying to say is you're allowed to let yourself want things for the finale! There are six to seven hours more in the campaign, and if you feel they genuinely could end the story without that time, that's completely up to you, but it just feels a lot like people are refusing to get their hopes up for anything and that's not how I like to engage with media (and indeed I don't think constantly guarding your hopes and predicating all opinions on avoiding any disappointment is a fun way to engage with media!)

You don't have to like every last choice and detail to have loved the story! There are TV shows or books that I felt really didn't stick the landing for which I still loved the journey and that I still count as among my favorites. I've always disliked the idea that a less-than-perfect finale, or even a bad one, ruins everything. I mean...take chances! get mistakes! get messy!

And I might be making some wild assumptions about where these feelings are coming from, in which case ignore me, but I think the thing fandom, as a concept, would benefit from the most is the idea that you can want things, and not get them, and that the wanting of things (whether it's ships or arcs or tiny story beats) makes the experience more fun, but also if or when you do not get them it does not negate the fun of anticipation, or the journey, and if you don't get an ending you love, at any point, it's not a betrayal and it wasn't a waste.

I really love the post about how no matter what the dice result, the cast will make it work, as storytellers, because it's incredibly true. There is no singular 'correct' story; many outcomes can make sense and be satisfying.

I also think it's true in all fiction, scripted or otherwise, that, for better or for worse, fandom will find ways to make the story make sense whether out of a desire for meaning, sunk-cost fallacy, or just good-old wish-fulfillment. This is the concept of fanon; it's why people attribute deeper meaning to genuine continuity errors or slip-ups, or hang on to ships or theories that have long since diverged from canon.

[ludinusdaleth]

i hope not to discourse here, but i have an observation: there was a poll around here about ludinus, and 60% agreed lud was "just lying" about aeor. when otohan destroyed the bells, tons of people hoped it was a dream sequence.

im wondering.... why are people desperate for boring answers?

the idea ludinus is just a poser despite some of us gathering years of evidence, is weird. saying otohan's massacre must have been a dream when there wasnt a single point anyone could have passed out, was weird. it is taking direct evidence and discarding it for a kinder answer.

often fan's reactions, especially led by fandom leaders & sometimes literal wiki admins, is just bizarre. "fcg cant be an aeormaton" "d cant be devexian" "laudna isnt connected to the briarwoods, you dolts"

i cannot grasp that idealogy. it feels genuinely intrinsically opposed to any fun. and 90% of the time it's wrong. they end up incredibly wrong, and those they lambasted as crazy & far fetched got it right. i know this because ive lived 3 whole fucking years being told artagan wouldnt save jester & couldnt change, that robots were a stupid thing to ask for in the aeor arc, that ruidis wasnt important, that ludinus wasnt something much larger than we thought. shot down every time. as if pondering was stupid. they beg for critical analysis while seeming to absolutely despise any curiosity whatsoever.

id prefer no one really make this post a big deal as i dont mean to start a fight. but i need to express my bafflement for a moment. i prefer here to twitter, but when you see some of the most popular users here touting ideas like "punk is an inherently selfish scene so ashton must be selfish" or "how dare the protagonist question her allegiance for a moment, yknow, like a normal story does" i get concerned, and worry how many people actually analyze for themselves, because lord, yall have to.

[youngbloodbuzz]

Buzzy, Laudna and Imogen are giving me life rn, like Marisha and Laura are just killing the role playing and their acting choices are perfection, I wanted to ask you what is your oppinion about all that is going on right now with their fight and everything else? Because at the beginning I was like well maybe they are platonic, we'll see, but as of now there is no way this is platonic, like they couldn't be more romantic about it and loving each other so much, both of their arcs are looking so good and I'm scared, don't know what and when to expect. The beauty of crit role.

i also don't know what to expect! they are clearly having SO much fun with this conflict and so am I, it's making for incredible tension and entertainment. i feel like they definitely do understand the complicated depth of imogen and laudna's feelings for each other and both went into the campaign knowing something may or may not happen. but also I just......i just KNOW imogen is down bad, and dusk is playing so hard into that by sowing jealousy and further conflict into their fight etc. she's Yearning and Pining and laudna wants so much for imogen to be happy that she can't even see the depth of her own feelings yet.

but even if they don't go there, there's absolutely no denying how important they are to each other and how that still makes for something incredible and moving to watch. the angst of dealing with each other's personal issues is gonna break me, what with the ruidis and imogen apparently causing a red flare??? and then just....all of fucking delilah's problems lmao it's gonna be so good I'm so excited but also I'm scared

[youngbloodbuzz]

Buzzy hi, I'm here with a crit role question if you are okay with it. So the last couple of episodes a Lot has happened, a lot of lore was dropped, especially the last two episodes and I didn't see Fearne's connection to Rudius coming. And I've seen a lot of posts lately about how people are feeling about the pacing of this campaign in comparison with the VM and MN and that it is different in more than one way, for examples more characters with well established relationships pre campaign, also they all seemed to click with each other faster and the backstories were revealed earlier and there was a clear goal for most of them. So first I wanted to ask you what is your take on that? Because to me it doesn't feel like they are speedrunning, I think they are setting the stage for something bigger. Secondly, there is no denying that Imogen has the greatest main character vibes. And I love it, I mean I love her very much, Laura is really killing with this role. Also when they came to Bassuras all that had connections to this place, their stories moved forward which is what was expected to happen of course and Matt's storytelling is brilliant. But that leaves out Laudna and Chetney. And more than anything I'm worried about Laudna and her story. Worried is a strong word probably but yeah. I don't want her to be in the background and the supportive character because I know how much she loves Imogen and that they came to Jrusar because she wanted to help Imogen find out more about herself. But I have so many question about Laudna and things that I'd like to ask Marisha. For example I'm pretty sure Imogen is in love with Laudna because of all the hints Laura's been dropping but I don't know about Laudna I see it I see that she loves her but also it feels like Laudna herself has never thought about it?? I don't know what I'm talking about but like with Dusk Marisha had her suspicions, she and Travis were sharing glances and stuff but Laudna had no suspicions, she was the most open and welcoming towards Dusk so I'm just here like miss Ray I'd like to have a word with you? Sorry this ask got a lot longer than I intended it to be. If you want to share your thoughts/feelings on any of this, thank you!

oof yea that's a lot so much is happening I don't even know where to start.

i think...people underestimate just how much meandering goes on in a sandbox campaign at the early levels. it happens in every game but with BH it feels like matt's been building up to something big since day one with everyone's backstories and the political backdrop in jrusar (and now bassuras). and yea i don't think matt's speedrunning, it only feels like it is only because matt's dumping a Lot of lore, and that's because like....there's just...So much fucking lore with what they're dealing with regarding backstories (and I bet matt's been dying to go on about it since cr1). plus, this arc is almost piggybacking off of exu calamity because of the upcoming apogee solstice and we all know how well that went in calamity lol what the fuck.gif

i was telling a friend that this ruidis arc feels almost exactly like the briarwood arc and molly/lucien's arc, it's a stepping stone to something bigger much much later down the road. defeat delilah/lose molly, and find out a year later that delilah's ritual was successful/lucien rose from the dead almost a year later and is bringing basically the apocalypse. this arc here feels kinda like that. a small pebble in a lake with ripple effects that'll influence the rest of the campaign. i have no clue what to expect or just how much BH will have to do to prevent......whatever is happening cause god knows we still don't know shit for all the lore we got lmao.

so yea, i don't mind the pacing. it's dnd. things can be slow for ages and then suddenly crank up the gears to 11 without warning. vm went through it and so did tm9. and besides like, the crew did say that all bets were off in this campaign. expect everything and nothing.

oh god yea imogen's main character vibes is off the fucking charts, I'm so glad laura gets to show off her acting chops even more this campaign she's nailing it. and imogen is so fucking fascinating, it feels like how percy and fjord had main character vibes with arcs that lasted throughout the entire campaign, I'm so excited.

as for laudna though, i'm...i understand the worry. she is very much personally disconnected from this arc but I think we're all forgetting the little friend that lives inside her brain who still clearly craves power and vored a gnarlrock which did....Something. and guess what they're surrounded by right now? lol everything is fine. delilah isn't getting a front row seat to all this potential worldbreaking shit and thoughtfully steepling her evil fingers. she's not buying her time to absorb more power and take over laudna's body as her own at all. (yall I wonder if she knows that sylas is Dead lmao). honestly....i'd say not to worry about laudna getting a centerstage arc but also lmao I'm shaking in my fucking boots matt pls don't hurt me or my dead girl

and, we can't predict how relationships will pan out on cr but...i think laudna will figure it out. this is a slow burn to end all slow burns, but either way I just...want them to have a happy ending together so bad.