#ultru

[tays-version]

Do not trust this man! Do not leave your blorbos in his care! Do not listen to his work on public transit!

[sideblogdotjpeg]

I GOT TO THE TRACK JACKET EP. also trying to figure out how to draw dragons ...

[stone-stars]

Transcript:

Calder: Ultrus! Make a deal with me! [Mee Maw's Burden starts playing in the background.] Calder: I will let you go. I'll let you choose your side in this war. Just… don't let Glen hurt my friends. Ultrus: You would give up yourself? Caldwell, softy: No. Calder: If that's the choice you ask me to make. Ultrus: Perhaps you have a giant's heart after all, Calder Kildé. I have no wish to walk around as an elf. If you would be my vessel, I would take it. Calder: And if I'm your vessel… you can never use me to lay a hand on Callie or Sol. Ultrus: Mm. I do not see a reason to kill them. Calder: I never cared about being a giant. And I never cared about greatness. I just cared about making myself useful one day. And maybe… maybe it's now. Maybe that day has finally come. Do it. Ultrus: You have been useful, Calder Kildé. Murph: Uh, you see he um, reaches out his hand to shake yours. Jake: I give him that icy, iron grip. I shake his hand. Murph: (inhales sharply) You see the [whoosh] magical barrier goes up. You and Ultrus [whoosh] switch places. And Ultrus disappears, and you are left alone on this frozen plain. Jake: Calder… sits down, crosses his legs, and uh, starts to whistle an old familiar tune. Murph: As Calder whistles in the wind, you can just make out on the projection-- Ultrus entering the battlefield.

[operationslipperypuppet]

if cobb’s last stand had been delivered in any form other than a vision stored in the kingshammer, the prodigal sister would have been the backing track

[mistyunmoored]

caught up on the newest naddpod and i gotta say that was one of the most emotional fucking episodes i've ever listened to in my entire life, naddpod never beating the best pod of all time allegations

[one-little-nerd-stayed-home]

Extremely fucked up of Murph to make Ultrus 30 feet tall. Calder barely comes up to his KNEE how am I supposed to draw them in the same scene and have it look anywhere near normal Murph? MURPH???

[emiko-matsui]

im so sorry calder but you're simply gonna have to fuck off. i got my hardwon back and i just can't let him go again

[quitepossiblybamboozled]

Calder my beloved

[aasgardsreia]

What the fuck Murph?!?

[katiefratie]

2 hp..... I'm So nervous Sol can't go down too....

[operationslipperypuppet]

I’m going to throw some Lord Ultrus propaganda out there because it’s rapidly become one of my all time favorite encounters, on top of episodes. And maybe it’s recency bias but god is it fun.

First there’s the visual. It’s a sanctioned fight, in an arena, for the honor of Jaina vs the honor of King Ecktar, newly crowned king of the fire giants. There is an entire crowd, rooting against our heroes, because they want to believe their king. There’s the switcheroo, the claim was that they’d be fighting the king, but he pretends to be poisoned and chooses a champion, Ultrus. The long-believed-dead leader of frost giants. And they’re in an underground fire giant city. Wearing armor to prevent them from literally bursting into flame. And when Ultrus walks in, it starts to snow; hell freezes over.

Then there’s the encounter itself. Callie and Sol roll high, take on Ultrus head on. But then Sol takes a ton of damage, which he cannot take in a second round of attacks. So when Hardwon steps up, he shoves Sol aside, and faces the giant himself. A single man, staring down a near-god. A classic Hardwon stance. And then there’s the reveal of what’s happening inside Ultrus’ helm, where Jaina and Calder are trapped. That they simply have to tear down a series of barriers before they can free themselves from their prison. And that until they’re free, Ultrus can use their power to fight the rest of the party.

Then, of course, the cult members can join Jaina and Calder in the helm. So Callie follows them to help out. And then the battle is happening in two places, inside a helm and in the arena. The cultists are struggling when they call to Ultrus for help. And he swaps places with them, so Jaina, Calder, and Callie are fighting him, while Hardwon, Sol, and Kenna face the cultists.

It’s intense. Everyone is missing their hits. Ultrus is taking on the face of the god he worships, and of Cobb, taunting Hardwon. Hardwon goes down. Calder goes down. Kenna goes down. But then, Callie and Calder combine inside the helm to create an opening for Jaina to break the last barrier. And Jaina, wielding the Kingshammer since Hardwon retired and gave it to her, tosses it through the barrier with a shout. “Hardwon! Catch!”

The battle is then in one place, the arena. Ultrus has spirits surrounding him, he is effectively untouchable. Hardwon does the only thing he thinks will help, and calls the Dwarf Daddies, asking for help avenging their old friend (Cobb). When the spirits appear, it’s not just the dwarven kings. It’s Hardwon’s parents, Ulfgar, beasts of the wild, eladrin and dwarves and giants who stood up against Ultrus the first time. An army to match his. And on top of it all, Cobb.

The hammer had stored Cobb’s final words to Hardwon, and they played back in this moment. He told Hardwon to keep fighting, to let him die knowing that the kids would be alright. And he charged, a ghostly reflection of his last stand, but this time he wasn’t alone.

It then became a skill check. They had to just hit a 30, to trap Ultrus inside the hammer. Sol missed. Callie couldn’t quite make it. When it came around to Ultrus’ turn, he struck both of them down. Calder made the choice to bring up his friends instead of attacking. And then, with a help action from Jaina, a bardic from Callie, and a squire inspiration from Kenna, Hardwon landed one last hit. And Ultrus was gone.

A lot happens in this fight and I just think it’s so wonderful and intense. The hell fight rips but god is Lord Ultrus an intense composition of encounter design elements working hard together.

Option 1:

Enemy: Lord Ultrus and the Order of the Runny Eye

Episode: C3 E44: Trial by Steel and C3 E45: Lord Ultrus

Time: 1:04:08 (44) - 1:42:08 (45)

Finish: Hardwon (traps Ultrus in the Kingshammer)

Notes: Hardwon starts the battle with a Battlemaster ability. Jaina and Calder finally get involved in a fight (from inside the helm!!). Callie joins them inside the helm, and Ultrus and the cultists keep swapping who is inside the helm and who is outside the helm. Hardwon has a real Hardwon moment of standing alone, facing down a god (or a giant who made a deal with a god and has the powers of a god, who was responsible for the death of his best friend). Sol does some shenanigans and kind of keeps missing but is also impossible to hit. Kenna keeps saving lives. I cannot actually describe in words the moment where Hardwon regains the Kingshammer, casts Spirit Guardians, and an army joins them, as we get to finally see Cobb's final moments and the memory that was stored in the hammer. Jake is playing 2 PCs wonderfully. Also: "Hardwon! Catch!"

Propaganda: (anonymous) The concurrent battles in the material plane and in the demiplane, Ultrus's ability to switch between the two so everyone got to fight both him and the warlock goons, the extra abilities stolen from the trapped prisoners, the mechanics for breaking out of the helm, HARDWON AND JAINA AND THE DWARF DADDIES

Option 2:

Enemy: Dragon Wilhelm Bronzebeard, Marabelle's Pretender, Beverly Toegold IV

Episodes: C1 E81: Greed, Anger, Heresy

Time: 7:31-56:33

Finish: everybody gets their guy (Moonshine first, then Hardwon, then Bev)

Notes: 3 separate one on one battles. Moonshine has to save Paw Paw, defend her role as fungal queen, and her spores damage changes (permanently option to change as well) to adapt to the circumstance. She also finishes with the dope max damage mechanic from Blight. Hardwon has to fight a dragon with just his dads, the dragon steals his hammer so he finds the Bronzebeard one. Bronzebeard is rejected by the hammer, even when he has it, and Hardwon gets to prove that he's the better man, once and for all. Bev is fighting his dad. It's not great. He smites his dad, hastes himself, and crits because of his casino drink. He then goes unconscious and is brought back up due to his dad storing Lay on Hands in the Devil Book long ago. He then sends his dad to Shadowfell and the Dusk Mother.

Propaganda: (anonymous) i literally dont even feel the need to say anything about it because the encounter speaks for itself. it's absolutely incredible

[qbull]

My pieces for the NADDPod campaign 3 collab: Lord Ultrus and Advisor Zeline!! I'm so grateful for this community and all the other artists who helped bring these characters to life <3<3

[stone-stars]

murph when cobb almost died in the purge: "i was gonna give him last words but it was gonna be you knocked out watching him as he bleeds out"

[operationslipperypuppet]

Thinking about how Calder Kilde, when given the opportunity to take down the man who had stored him in a helmet, chose to save his friends, following through on the commitment that was him going into the helmet in the first place. He never cared about greatness. He just cared about making himself useful.

[heytherecentaurs]

NADDPOD C3 Musings

There's a lot under the cut.

Most of these could have been their own posts, but I'm going to just touch on a lot of them here.

Murph's encounter design is at it's best throughout. There are multiple battles that could've been the finale battle in most campaigns. High King Durretar, The Crick, Ultrus, Alexandrite in Tsunare, Ice Knife and the Jovyre battles are all spectacular.

Murph does a great job at giving us new NPCs to love like Albin and Kenna, and his returning NPCs don't overshadow or steal spotlight from the new story. Meeting Big Bev 200 years later was really incredible. The expansion of Cooter's story and the tragedy of it is a highlight for me. He's such a sympathetic character.

The players continue to become more and more skilled as D&D players. Their chemistry is always great, but they built really strong characters mechanically (especially Callie, because it's Emily, duh) and really strong characterization. I really feel like I understand their characters and it took less time in C3 for me to get a grasp on everyone's deal.

C3 is my least favourite of the main campaigns. It has some of the highest peeks of the podcast. But I was less invested overall. That could very well be down to the release schedule. Or it just not hitting for me as hard. But I still love it. Least favourite is still a favourite.

Mothership/Alexandrite made for a better BBEG than Jovyre. The ubiquitous tech corporation being the de facto multinational government superpower, the ultra-capitalist oligarchical oppressor led by a resource consuming A.I. resulting in the rise and spread of authoritarian fascism feels relevant. It would have even made more sense for Glen, a wannabe fascist dictator, to align with Mothership.

Thematically, I understand Jovyre's role. She is a younger sibling who never learned to grow from feeling trapped in her sister's shadow and who let those feelings fester for centuries. It's a thematic parallel to Callie but Jovyre should have been the reflection of how broken Callie could become if she didn't reconcile with Cyra. It's the wrong thematic thread to follow all the way to the endgame.

I'm not against Jovyre as a villain. But she feels more like a personal villain for Callie in a similar way as Marabelle was to Moonshine. Structurally, it's not as satisfying because Jovyre is less scary than fascism sweeping through Bahumia.

I could've used more time with the characters. I love them all but the pacing really limited the downtime. Downtime is important for characterization. I like "filler" episodes. Give me an hour and a half of the characters hanging out. Give me slower beats in which characters are just roleplaying dramatic moments.

I really hoped there would be a romance. We get silly bits but this is a point I've reiterated. I'd love for Naddpod to explore a serious romantic relationship.

The locations of this campaign are wonderful. I loved revisiting places and Murph's description of them and how 200 years reshaped them. The living wood changed so much it was wild. Getting to see Irondeep rebuilt was great given that we mostly saw it as rubble in C1. The new places like Tsunare and the Ice Knife were among my favourites.

Emily's music has only gotten better. Every campaign it's better produced. Her vocals have gotten stronger. I'm so enamoured of her music that I will push it on people even if they aren't into D&D. You don't need to know D&D to listen to "Home Is Where the Hearth Is" or "Riverboat Shanty". I return to her tunes again and again.

Jake returning as Hardwon was unexpected. I really can't stop thinking about how manic Hardwon got the second he heard Moonshine in trouble. That was such a magical moment. And his acting rocked.

Caldwell's lil frog guy had such potential for hijinks, but gives us a special character study in how childhood hardship shapes one's adulthood. I would've loved more exploration of this and how his entire character is about building a family he never had and taking care of them.

Listening to Emily take Callie on a journey of growth, acceptance of herself and gaining self-confidence was really lovely. I would love 10 more episodes in the campaign to explore that.

The theme of siblings, especially YOUNGER siblings throughout the campaign is really good. I also think it's relevant that C3 is the younger sibling of C1 and how the themes of younger siblings striving to live up to their older siblings plays out.

Overall, I loved the campaign. I have my criticisms but I do appreciate that no amount of planning can prepare Murph for what the characters will do and how the collaborative and improvisational aspects of D&D don't lend themselves to cohesion. So while I say these things, I have way more understanding and give way more leeway for messiness in the stories.

[one-little-nerd-stayed-home]

I do love it on the short rest... Idk if it's 18 or 22 but when Murph is like "nah nah we don't kill characters on the short rest... Except Hardwon who is dead As Hell" cause I'm sitting here knowing the future like 😏