#where's that tweet that's like 'i cast spell of Bullet'

[cctinsleybaxter]

How is this a footnote

[bunnymcbunnister]

SPN Season 15 Spoiler Sheet, update 9/30

Some nuggets today! Some casting news, a con tidbit, some tweets from set, and an ep. 2 description. Enjoy!

General Info (oldest to newest)

There is likely to be 20 episodes

They are filming the 4th episode 1st, which Jensen is directing

Returning this year are: Rowena, Ketch, Eileen,Amara, Adam, and Kevin

Jared and Jensen know the ending. Jensen struggled with it at first. Misha does not know the ending as of SDCC

Matt Cohen and Richard Speight Jr. will direct

Sam, Dean, and Cas will struggle with the concept of free will and if they ever really had it

The focus will be more on Hell than Heaven

There is hope to wrap up some Wayward Daughters storylines in the back half of the season

They are adding a whole extra day to filming to do the final scene (Implies logistics- lots of returning people?)

Brad Bucker used the word “romance” when asked about Sam and Dean’s arcs. Did not specify who.

Chuck will be more of an absent protagonist in the 1st half of the season (but he in in ep 4)

At the beginning of the season Dean and Cas will still have a rift. They will reconcile “at some point”. Jensen claims as of script 4 they still have friction. This has been repeated several times, from Misha as well. He indicated Dean is still mad at Cas, but Cas doesn’t feel to blame for Mary’s death.

In an interview, Kripe indicated that the series ending would have “peace” for Sam and Dean

Not much new at the TCA’s, but it was said it is “unlikely” Jeffery Dean Morgan will be back since his last appearance was such a good end note. There were some jokes about a Castiel spin off. Hell, I’d watch.

There will be a special tribute ep, not clear if its one of the 20 or additional

Misha will be in 15 out of 20 episodes this season

According to Dabb, Sam and Dean are going to start to lose people who, in past seasons, we would’ve never lost — and lose them in a very real way. Our guys are going to realize there’s a certain finality, and some of the things they’ve relied on to get through the day — people, talents, things like that — they are no longer going to be able to roll out. And that’s going to throw them for a loop (Unfortunately, my guess in Rowena)

Also according to Dabb, Jack is still in the empty and “he’s not coming back in the near future” (this makes no sense. He’s on set for several episodes- interacting with the boys)

Cas’ deal with the Empty may come up later in the season.

Kevin will return.

Season 15 promo: https://youtu.be/V232RpcCdTY

Christan Kane (Leverage/Angel) will star as “Leo” an “old friend” of Deans. Unclear which ep (my guess is 7 because he used the present tense in a tweet). He is an old friend of Jensen’s. 

Episode 15x01

Title: Back and to the Future

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: Picking up where we left off last season, Sam, Dean and Castiel are left to defend the world after all the souls in hell have been released and are back on Earth and free to kill again.

Written by: Dabb

Director: Showwalter

Filming Dates:  7/30-8/9 (no filming 8/5 for Canadian holiday)

Airdate: Oct 10

Photos: http://www.ksitetv.com/supernatural/supernatural-season-premiere-photos-back-and-to-the-future/196183/

Promo: (for at least ep one and two) ttps://youtu.be/V232RpcCdTY

Sneak Peak:

Castiel? Yes Jack ? yes

Guest stars:

Other Spoilers/info:

The first episode will start right where the previous left off

Misha posed with the John Wayne Gacy clown

Jensen posted a series of pics- one clean shaven, one vid of him shaving, and one where he    appeared to be in character with blood and dirt on his face and in Dean plaid, but with his beard… confusing- some time jump theories are developing for ep 4.

Jensen was photoed filming (wearing an FBI jacket)outside with Alex

Misha and Jared filmed outside with a woman and young girl. They were running from the clown guy and a few other zombie looking creatures. CAS WAS NAKED (haha just no trench) and holding a shotgun. It could have been rehearsal and there was no camera in the clip shared by a fan which might explain the coat? Another fan said it was hot and Misha kept taking the coat off, so I’m sure this just a piece of rehearsal footage.

Alex was filming in white sunglasses. Other set photos indicate he had makeup on his eyes making them look burnt out. There is some spec that Jack will come back blind.

Misha posted a pic of the 4 of them in the impala

According to Variety, the boys will escape the zombies in a temp shelter. They are working together, but Cas feel “detached.” Misha seems to indicate that Cas feels unfairly blamed in Mary’s death and is deeply upset about Jack.

Episode 15x02

Title: Raising Hell

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS: SENDING OUT AN SOS – Sam (Jared Padalecki), Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Castiel (Misha Collins) call on Rowena (Guest Star Ruth Connell) to help keep the evil souls at bay and get an unexpected assist from Ketch (Guest Star David Haydn-Jones). Robert Singer directed the episode written by Brad Buckner & Eugenie Ross-Leming (#1503). Original airdate 10/17/2019.

Written by: Buckleming

Director: Singer

Filming Dates:  8/12- 8/21

Airdate: 10/17

Photos:

Promo:

Sneak Peak:

Castiel? YES Jack ? YES

Guest stars: Ruth Connell, David Haydn-Jones, Rob Benedict, Emily Swallow (?)

Other Spoilers/info (newest to oldest):

A set was a high school set up to be a shelter.

Chuck, Ketch and Rowena will be in this. Maybe Amara too. Emily Swallow was in town for only a short time, so I imagine it would just be a scene or two

Ghosts/zombies were seen on set. There will be a scene with Rowena attacking them that includes at least Dean and Cas.

There will be one longer scene in a park.

Alex was in sunglasses again - not sure if this is a costume thing or an Alex thing

Ruth posted two vids of Misha claiming that he had filmed several scenes, but had no dialog - over three days so it must be a scripted reason (A spell? Chuck? Is he giving Dean the silent treatment?)

Ruth posted a video with her trailer, but the video showed Alex’s as well, so Jack

Misha posted from set in costume. Minus the coat again, but I’m still blaming the heat…. But he was without in the two Ruthie videos as well… soo……? I don’t know. I still think it’s a heat issue.

Night shoots are scheduled in a warehouse. Hand painted signs indicating quarantine were nearby

Episode 15x03

Title: The Rupture

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS:

Written by: Berens

Director: Charles Beeson

Filming Dates:  8/22-9/2

Airdate: 10/24

Photos:

Promo:

Sneak Peak:

Castiel? yes Jack? yes

Guest stars:  Ruthie Connell

Other Spoilers/info (newest to oldest):

Part of this ep will take place in hell as well as the cemetery where Jack died at the end of last season

Misha mentioned a scene at VanCon with him, Sam, Dean, Rowena, and Jack

Sam Smith was on set, but I would imagine she was visiting as she was in town for VanCon

Episode 15x04 (filmed out of order)

Title: Atomic Monsters

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS:

Written by:

Director: Jensen Ackles

Filming Dates:  7/18-7/29

Airdate:

Photos:

Promo:

Sneak Peak:

Castiel? Probably not  Jack? Probably not

Guest stars:  Rob Benedict

Other Spoilers/info (newest to oldest):

Jensen mentioned  a guest star “fan favorite”  that hasn’t been seen since season 7 that is no longer in the business. Guesses include Becky, who hasn’t acted in a while but isn’t exactly a fan favorite, Meg, who hasn’t acted but she was in season 8, and Balthazar or Frank or Jo or Rufus, but all act frequently. Jensen doesn’t always have the most accurate season memory, so he could be off on the season. Since this seems like a Chuck episode, my guess is Becky but I hope for Meg. SOURCE UNCONFIRMED- I haven’t seen this in a reliable source, so take it with a grain of salt.

There was a beaver mascot on set… it looks like they are filming at a school called Beaverdale

Jensen and Jared filed outside in fed suits

Chuck will be in this one. Jensen directed him first alone with his beard unshaved (so maybe a solo Chuck scene or him interacting with others/not the boys). There are also theories of a time jump in this ep.

This will be a one off, classic monster hunting episode with some ties to ongoing storylines. Sam and Dean will leave the bunker to keep their skills sharp

Jensen directed

Misha will not be in this ep

SD Comic Con was during filming

Episode 15x05

Title: Proverbs 17:3

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS:

Written by: Yockey

Director: Speight

Filming Dates:  9/4-9/13

Airdate:

Photos:

Promo:

Sneak Peak:

Castiel? No  Jack? doubtful

Guest stars:

Other Spoilers/info (newest to oldest):

This will most likely be Yockey’s last episode.

Matt Cohen was around, but I imagine he is following directors to prep for his own debut directing.

Scenes were filmed in the bunker and in a wooded area. A woman could be heard screaming in the outside scene.

Episode 15x06

Title: Golden Time

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS:

Written by: Meredith Glynn

Director: Steve Boyum

Filming Dates:  9/16-9/25

Airdate:

Photos:

Promo:

Sneak Peak:

Castiel? Yes Jack? Not sure

Guest stars:

Other Spoilers/info (newest to oldest):

Misha tweeted from set in costume, so Cas.

Misha also tweeted a pic in blood spatter with two bullet holes in his shirt

Ruth also posted a pic of herself covered in blood

At least Ruth and Jared filmed in Rowena’s apartment 

Episode 15x07

Title: Last Call

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS:

Written by: Jeremy Adams? (total guess, but he posted about things going on in the SPN offices and he hasn’t written one yet, plus he tweeted about being a “Kaniac”)

Director: Amyn Kaderali

Filming Dates:  

Airdate:

Photos:

Promo:

Sneak Peak:

Castiel ? Jack ?

Guest stars: maybe Christian Kane? Maybe?

Other Spoilers/info (newest to oldest):

Misha posted from set in new shoes- very shiny with well tailored pants. (The next day he posted in full Cas costume,so just new shoes?? Another outfit with new shoes?)

Misha and Jensen made a video from set. I feel like if Jared was around he would have been in it since it was about money raised? This was on a Friday, and J2 usually don’t work Fridays. Maybe a Dean Cas scene?

There will be a battle scene in this that Jensen mentioned he was looking forward to and we would enjoy. 

Episode 15x08

Title: 

OFFICIAL SYNOPSIS:

Written by:

Director:

Filming Dates:  

Airdate:

Photos:

Promo:

Sneak Peak:

Castiel ? Jack ?

Guest stars:

Other Spoilers/info (newest to oldest):

[megatentious]

Shin Megami Tensei 3 Nocturne is still incredible

I just finished a replay of Shin Megami Tensei 3 for the first time in a decade, so I felt compelled to write a big long unstructured essay about it where I’m going to sound like an overwrought crazy person. That’s okay though. There’s just something about this game that really speaks to those of us who find our way in. When you sound like a hyperbolic cultist writing soaring prose to try to meet the game at its level, it’s not a unique reaction. We’ve all been spellbound in the same way, the game is designed to do it. How is it designed to do this? Basically, in every conceivable way! The music and sound composition, the moment-to-moment battling, the environmental art and location choices, the progression systems for both the protagonist and demon fusions, the scope and method of storytelling, the density and depth of the mythological references, everything fits together like a symphony to inspire these feelings. Tension, immersion (lol), and utter absorption. Nocturne is a clinic in how to structure every aspect of your game around a unified vision (finding the strength to survive in a cruel and barren land) without hugely compromising ambition. That this level of design can be sustained over the course of 50 hours for the average playthrough and 70 for those of us determined to reach the lowest depths of the game’s enormous optional (!) Amala dungeon is insanely remarkable. Some of the more adolescent fans of the Shin Megami Tensei series and the broader Megaten franchise lionize this one in particular as being the most “dark” but that’s a kind of stupid and narrow way of looking at it. If you’re a cool person you don’t love Nocturne because it’s “dark” you love it because the game makes you feel like you’re hallucinating. SMT3 is unconcerned with providing detailed exposition and light-hearted character moments, but it’s a game that is overrun with “story” at every turn. And not just in the environmental, piece-it-together Souls series storytelling sense people love to talk about, there are actually a bunch more NPCs around straight up delivering dialogue for you than you’d think! Pair that up with the demon chatting, the compendium entries, the audiovisual cues and the gorgeously directed cutscenes, and the common complaint that SMT3 has no story just seems like nonsense to me. The game isn’t necessarily just dour or unambiguously somber either. Megami Tensei’s roots are in the pulpy trash of 80s light novels, and you see this in some of the humorous demon-focused crassness, the bits of comedic negotiation dialogue, and the seeming mish-mash of myth as aesthetic influences. But the funny paradox of SMT3 is that it’s a game built on a punk-rock foundation of rebelling against what’s proper and mainstream (see any interview with the creators) that is also simultaneously downright austere by today’s standards. Grand and lonely and visionary in tone, careful, measured and meticulous in its design, without an ounce of bloat, nothing wasted or incoherent, it’s just so impressive on every level (I promise I’ll get more specific with my gushing soon). There’s an attitude among some Megaten fans that Nocturne is the one that doesn’t fit in the series, that it’s too different from previous Shin Megami Tensei games, but I don’t think that’s right. To me there’s a very clear throughline, it’s just Nocturne’s antecedents aren’t necessarily found in its immediate numbered predecessor. When it comes to the main and numbered games in this series, you can very easily see the path from Megami Tensei 2 -> Shin Megami Tensei 2 -> Shin Megami Tensei 4, all of which begin years after the apocalypse has occurred and concern themselves with how society persists and political factions collide decades and even centuries into the aftermath. They are the three most readily described as “cyberpunk”, they’re chattier, they’re a bit more clichéd in their own ways (amnesiac gladiator and military academy recruit openings for SMT2 and SMT4 respectively), they let you use guns and their general sensibilities are similar.  

SMT3’s lineage is, I feel, more directly traced from two other games. SMT1 and (hear me out!) Revelations: Persona. I think it’s easy to link these three games together for several reasons. In all three you begin in relative peace in a current day city, in all three the inciting incident is an occultist ritual, and interestingly in all three the hospital is your first dungeon, deliberately chosen for its uncanny familiarity to create an immediate sense of unease (and also the pretty obvious birth/death location symbolism). These are games centered around the immediacy of disaster and apocalypse, and take modern day locations that are meant to be familiar and subvert them to make them unnerving. Atmosphere is a word I see frequently used to praise all three games (yes there are at least 1 dozens of us, [dozens!] who like Persona 1) and the dream-like, surreal atmosphere in these three games can be strikingly similar. 

So yeah, good lord, Nocturne’s atmosphere. This game is simply filled with astonishing imagery at every point. The art directors managed to make each scene feel somehow weighty and mesmerizing, with aesthetic choices made throughout that are just so thoughtful and cultured. Angels and demons look terrifying and awesome, in that they inspire terror and awe. Gods and goddesses appear benevolent, their facial expressions neutral and lacking in human emotion. Jack Frost remains the best mascot in videogames. There’s well-researched details in the animations and all aspects of appearance (see here for a bit on Baphomet’s posing). The vocal and sonic choices are perfect, like that unsettling blaring soundblast when the statue of Gozu-Tennoh speaks, as if a great and mighty terror is deigning to communicate across worlds.

There are posts that dissect the spiral imagery of the vortex world that repeats over the course of the game. There are entire sites devoted to breaking down the wide range of inspirations for the game's transcendental demon design. Random tumblr people compare the cutscene direction to Ingmar Bergman films, and it’s interesting to see how the cutscenes are frequently in first person or otherwise hide the protagonist, which not only hearkens back to series roots (while saving budget $$$) but also conveys solitude and makes the scenes with multiple demons and figures appear that much more spectacular. On any given day you’ll find a tweet or two or three of people overwhelmed by the game’s aesthetic choices, its virtuoso game over sequence, or title sequence, or pretty much any sequence. It’s the purest expression of a world class artist’s singular vision and is the reason why all of us sound so annoying whining for Kazuma Kaneko to return from his flower field exile.

There’s also a very ingenious way SMT3 supports its themes and that is through the combat. Nocturne is a game about stealing turns. It’s the fundamental principle of the battling, it’s why everyone tells you to keep the skill Fog Breath, and it’s a carryover from the simpler system in SMT1 where the method of stealing turns was using charm bullets or casting Zio to paralyze the enemy before they even have a chance to act. The battle system has a famous Engrish name called “Press Turn,” which is distinct and not to be confused with the One More system from newer Persona games or the alignment based combat bonuses of Strange Journey.

In SMT3, any given press turn encounter depends upon the party composition choices you’ve made, not only the resistances and repels/drains you enter with (two very different things in terms of battle consequences!) but also the moment to moment decision-making of turn management, weighing how to strategically pass to maximize damage output over the course of the fight. Every battle is an opportunity to demonstrate your efficiency and mastery of the systems, and the goal of each encounter is to use foresight and preparation to demolish your foes before they have the chance to even act. Steal turns and survive in a barren land of death upon death, this is the elegance of Press Turn. You’ll hear endless discussion around this game’s difficulty, and encounters generally have teeth to them yeah, but there is a very principled fairness to the battling where combat swings do not occur as dramatically as they do in say, SMT4. SMT3 is balanced perfectly by virtue of its lack of save anywhere option, providing you with tension at all times but also most importantly the tools to mitigate disaster over the long term, which is a deeply deeply rewarding way to survive.

Press Turn’s UI really adds to this rewarding feeling.  How terrifying is it when a boss casts Beast or Dragon Eye, and suddenly a string of new turn icons appear? How satisfying is it to see a row of flashing turns, knowing that you’ve fully exploited your enemy? The enemy composition really accentuates this as well, with encounters often designed to avoid easy spam of single elements or physical skills to mindlessly coast to victory. SMT3 doesn’t want you taking any shortcuts, if you want to take advantage of a given demon or magatama’s skillset, you need to pair your choices to mitigate the corresponding weakness, or the enemy’s AI will press their advantage in the exact way you would. It’s a really satisfying symmetry.

There are also other paths to battle that are just as viable. Exploiting weaknesses with a multipurpose magic build is another way to steal turns. Building battlers around skills that maximize critical hits is another way. And if you are terrified of the infamous one-shot deaths that people like to say are the franchise trademark? Equip null-death magatama in between level ups. Raise your luck. Resolve battles before enemies even have the chance to use the spell against you. Raise your speed so enemies don’t get the chance to go first. Get endure as soon as possible. The tools for success are all right there for you! Nocturne tasks you with growing strong enough in this world to ascend to creation, and it provides you with multiple paths to reach this goal.

So, about these multiple paths, let me talk to you a bit about SMT3’s famously unique alignment system. Other games are lauded for their ultimately fairly stupid morality systems but Nocturne breezily operates on a completely different level. Instead of RESCUE and HARVEST in dumb giant gothic font or literally color-coded paragon and renegade meters, in SMT3 you align yourself naturally through story progression with factions concerned with stillness, power, solitude, freedom, or rebellion. Instead of the grand binary moral choice being telegraphed through hideous-looking “Little Sisters” (god I hated that stupid name haha) there’s a rough analogue in  the actually sympathetic but far more complex unsettling-looking Manikins, whose character motif is described by the creators as representing those who lose themselves to the strength of numbers. There’s unfortunately a tiny amount of material in the game to support extremely tedious “canon” discussion, but the game actually works best and most purely as an abstract, impressionistic vision of grand universal themes. Playing through any one of SMT3’s six endings makes the universe feel vast and overwhelming, and asks you to contend with a broader suite of philosophies than ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ and that’s ultimately what I think the developers were most interested in going for.

Something about the prose in Nocturne is also special in a way that is extremely difficult to accurately describe. Like everything else in this game it feels elegant and detached, gods and goddesses are appropriately otherworldly without sounding like haughty stereotypes, lower demons are funny and crass in a way that’s not so on-the-nose. Again it’s very difficult to pinpoint but something has been lost in the writing of the newer games, even a bit as small as how angels and demons in the game actually never name anything directly as God, but instead refer obliquely to a Lord, an Absolute, or a Great Will, Nocturne just gets all the little details right.

As I run out of steam from this braindump, I notice there’s still an essay’s worth of observations in so many other topics that deserve to be discussed. The Tokyo-focused but somehow universal theming of the game’s alignment principles and locale visuals. The insanely expansive but unfortunately compressed soundtrack (see over three hours of unreleased material alone here), where dungeon music regularly evolves to indicate progression, and battle and boss music quantity is generously varied both between and within song. The extremely rewarding fusion system can be plumbed to frankly insane depths, with a demon bestiary that is reasonable to 100%, and the lack of “use it or lose it” demon quality that hits other SMT series games contributing to a better feeling of progression and customization opportunities. The demon negotiation, which rewards your knowledge of mythological connections among pantheons with unique one-time only dialogue. The dungeons, the DUNGEONS. With the exception of an early set of sewers, an apparent shitty dungeon theme RPG tradition, each of these are little masterpieces of aesthetics and design, with their own thoughtfully introduced and iterated gimmick, planned wonderfully for both third and first person, often wrapping in and around themselves in spirals in that very Shin Megami Tensei-specific way.

Even if you think a game like Nocturne seems too dense or impenetrable or boring or random-encounter filled or whatever, it’s worth giving it a real shot for yourself to see if it manages to grab you. We’re no longer in those days in the late 2000s where the game cost exorbitant amounts of money to get, a digital version can be found on PS3 for $10 (with only rare emulation issues in certain dungeon sections), and the disc itself was reprinted and can be found brand new on Amazon if you have a PS2 or want to emulate on PCSX2, where the game looks even more breathtaking. Either way, find a way to treat yourself to an RPG where it is actually appropriate to throw around the term masterpiece. I didn’t really write any of this text no one’s going to read to make a persuasive case to anyone, but sometimes games will inspire you and it feels good to ramble about them. Games like this one are nearly impossible to make nowadays, and SMT3 is something worth cherishing.

[ofsvnlightt]

ok, with the news that cr’s final episode (141) is SEVEN hours long (compared to the normal 4ish), i’m just going to update jester now and have a small (hopefully lol) addendum after the ep airs. 

so memory update for jes! episodes 137-140 tw: body horror not that you wouldn’t but please take this tw seriously. matt is a genius and his mind is something else. but the shit he came up with for these 4 episodes is messed up...amazing if you’re into that kinda stuff or it doesn’t bother you, but still pretty messed up. crazy.

once again, bolded numbers in parentheses are the episode numbers. rather than somewhat short bullet points, this one has a lot of paragraphs...just an fyi. this is mostly because i’m copying and pasting from crit recaps, which are much easier to skim through than trying to decipher my live tweets or watching a whole 4 hour episode again. i tried to shorten things as best i could though. (even if it doesn’t look like it lol)

floating in the astral sea, the mighty nein figure out that they can just move using their mind (137)

in the distance they see lucien and cree, and further yet the city- the cognoza ward of aeor. 

lucien and cree split off and go to opposite ends of the city, to place the final threshold crests so the city can be teleported to the material plane. the nein can only follow one, so they take the left. they are too far away to be able to tell which one they’re following.

as they approach the city, patterns can be seen..like the city is repeating itself. they can see people walking around, but not interacting, like they’re just going through the motions.

TW STARTS HERE

the city seems to be made of flesh

[this is kind of unimportant in the sense of jester, but important for what overall happened in these eps]   caleb attempts to talk to a citizen but only gets a terrifying scream in response. this is followed by someone telepathically telling him they must talk. the citizen’s eye swells and the voice starts talking to him. they introduce themselves and timorei, one of the somnovem -- the Somnovem must destroy oblivion in order to endure. Elatis and Luctus plot to end their march to bring darkness and nothing. They embrace the unknown and must be stopped. Timorei asks the Nein to find them in the Aether Crux, where their essence resides

The eye dissolves and the man liquefies into the street.

fjord flies down and lands on the street. it looks like flesh but feels and sounds like stone. a woman approaches him, an eye appears from her mouth - ira - asking who they were just talking to. mirimus? gaudius? caleb lies and says gaudius, ira believes him and says not to trust gaudius. the eye pops and the woman turns into a fleshy horror, along with six other people. they’re made of eyes and teeth and muscle and tentacles. a battle ensues.

every time one of these things is defeated, a sigh of relief comes from it. when caleb kills the final one, it sighs and thanks him.

the Nein discuss trying to pit the Somnovem against each other. Finding one whose goals align with theirs, like Gaudius, who seems to want oblivion.

whoever the somnovem were, they seem to have devolved into base emotions

the nein split up momentarily into groups of two and investigate some of the nearby houses. Each one contains a lazy recreation of the interior of a building, as though the memory of what it should look like is hazy. Half-formed furniture and unfinished interiors. Fjord and Jester find a room that’s very drippy and the floor is the same texture as a tongue. jester collects some of the saliva or whatever’s dripping in a vial for veth. (she sneakily drops it and jes doesn’t notice) rip

Caleb investigates the gazebo area, where there are featureless statues that copy each other. Where the stairs meet the ground, there’s a folding dip. Caleb touches the dip and it opens into another mouth, showing stairs that continue down. The Nein go down the stairs, to warmer temperatures and metallic walls that remind them of Aeorian tunnels. Cad casts decompose – it takes a moment but the wall does begin to grey. Cad thinks this is a stronger memory that knows what it’s supposed to be.The corridor splits off into three different directions. To the right is the ‘Presidius Junction’. The middle, where the hall corkscrews, is the ‘Crest Vault’. To the left…it simply says ‘help’, over and over.

they decide to go to the crest vault since that seems like where one would go to place a threshold crest

They hear footsteps coming down the hall from the direction they’re traveling, and try to hide themselves in crevasses of the wall. The footsteps stop and red light fills the hallway as the eyes on Beau and Caleb begin to glow. Cree: “i was wondering when you would catch up.”

battle begins    jester immediately takes caleb and dimension doors 500 feet, behind cree, towards a faint blue light they could see behind her. they are now in a chamber, familiar and similar to one they’ve seen before in the ruins of aeor. and up near the ceiling, is a threshold crest, set in place and glowing. caleb casts disintegrate on the prongs holding it and it begins to fall, but doesn’t get far before fleshy tendrils from the ceiling catch it and begin pulling it back up. jester polymorphs into a giant ape and tries to pull it down, but the tendrils are too strong. she lifts caleb up so he can be closer to it and he casts immovable object on the crest. it’s now suspended in the air, the tendrils unable to pull it anymore. (138)

during all this, the other six are fighting cree. she goes down surprisingly fast (rip for having a low initiative), her dying breath asking the nonagon for help. he says (which only beau can hear) he needs her to hold them off a little longer, and she turns into a monstrosity of flesh, teeth, and eyes. (similar but bigger than the ira one) 

they fight her for a little longer and with the help of caduceus’s path to the grave spell, veth gets the killing blow on it.

the monstrosity is called a vessel of the pattern, and because fjord, veth, cad, and essek could see the patterns within it/cree, they all got an eye. jester and yasha are now the only ones without eyes.

The others join Caleb and Jester in the threshold vault. Caduceus casts blight on the flesh tendrils, releasing the crest and allowing Caleb to move it. After a conversation about their options, the Nein decide to plane shift the crest away to the Plane of Fire, which Caduceus does. Now Lucien can no longer bring Cognouza to Exandria, but they still have to deal with the Nonagon himself. They need to rest, but they’re out of time.

essek brings up the gem that they had found in the rejuvenation room (ep 135) and suggests destroying it, thus giving them the rest they need. it’s risky, but possible, if it works. caleb pulls it out and the two of them use their remaining magic to do so. the stone shatters and reality briefly cracks, surrounding them in darkness and stillness. But then their vision returns, and they each feel as if they have received the best night’s sleep of their lives. only seconds have passed, instead of 8 hours.

Beau meditates and senses something notice her, so she disconnects and informs the others. However, an eye begins to give chase, so the Nein race back to the surface of the city. But the voice tells them to wait, asking where they are going.This is Gaudius, who can sense the love that has brought them here. While everyone else searches for the Nonagon, Gaudius seeks the Nein. Gaudius wants to bring their love to everyone, to have them all come together, but Fastidan and Culpasi allow their shame and disgust to rule them, seeking to maintain the separation of life in the cosmos. Gaudius asks the Nein to find Fastidan and Culpasi in the Aether Crux and separate them from reality. The Aether Crux is where the Somnovem join together. Fjord convinces Gaudius that the Nein will carry out this request and Gaudius leaves, pleased.

heading to the aether crux, the nein see a red pulsing light. the tunnel gives way to a massive, aorta-like chamber made of errant rock and towers and buildings. In the middle sits a tall column, which holds a bulbous nest of nine faintly glowing orbs, stretched like tendons across the column. 

they hear Lucien’s voice from the other side of the chamber. He’s glad they came and thanks the Nein for distracting the Somnovem for him. he has ten glowing intuit charges, pooled into a floating, pulsing pile. He summons a flesh throne for himself to sit upon.

[enter villain monologue] “i invite you to stay for the show, but i think you’d prefer to run”

The intuit charges glow and Jester casts earthquake as the Nein run. The city begins to come down around Lucien, who laughs maniacally. The flashes go off behind the Nein, who are out of range. They can feel the city flex as the Somnovem are bombarded by psychic energy until all is quiet.

The Mighty Nein assess the situation: Lucien’s attack on the Somnovem has critically injured them, but Jester’s attack appears to have slowed him down a bit. Lucien and the nine faintly glowing orbs of the Somnovem float up and out of the Aether Crux, heading topside, so the Nein decide to take the time for a short rest and a heroes feast. jester’s been anxious about getting another one in so she’s relieved that it’s finally happening. all of the nein are now immune to poison and being frightened. (and have advantage on wisdom saving throws as well as 2d10 additional hit points- laura rolled 17) (139)

willing a tunnel into existence, the nein float through it to the surface of the city, where they see a red pulsing cocoon. It peels open and Lucien emerges, with nine stalks protruding from his back – each ending in a red eye. He lifts himself into the sky as the people of Cognouza stare up at him. He speaks to the Nein and beckons them to join him, which they do, flying up above the city.

 An intense aerial battle ensues between the Nein and the Nonagon. Jester throws out the arcane field generator to illuminate the anti-magic field, which is emitted by the ninth Somnovem eye, Vigilan. 

Even as they fight, the Nein continue to try to reach out to the Molly part of Lucien, with quotes and memories and nicknames. Successes result in Lucien losing Legendary actions and physically twitching, but his anger leads him to taunt the Nein, telling them that Molly is dead and never really existed. Despite charms and slow spells, necrotic damage and fireballs, the Nein continue to whittle away at Lucien and keep each other alive.

Eventually, Lucien decides that he has had enough of fighting this battle alone. He wants to use the city’s full power. He dives down into a hole in the ground, which opens up to accept him. The Nein quickly follow him down, getting healed by Jester and Caduceus. They return to the Aether Crux and see another pulsing cocoon. As they descend, the cocoon breaks open – Lucien appears, but his lower half is now twisted and connected to Cognouza. The red eye stalks are gone and three sets of giant, muscular wings now sprout from his back.

A chaotic battle breaks out immediately. Lucien is able to send the Somnovem’s eye stalks around the room, and even control parts of the city itself; he is now more dangerous than ever. Some of the Somnovem eyes are able to bestow a red eye upon their target as part of their attack, eventually leading to each member of the Nein having at least one eye. (140)

Due to the nature of Cognouza and the Astral Sea, the Nein begin using their imagination to will things into existence to both hurt Lucien and remind him of Molly, summoning glaives, circus tents, and more. they discover that destroying Somnovem eyes hurts Lucien as well.

during this fight, jester is killed. her last words calling out to artagan, hoping he’ll help.  pinned under a building, caleb is pulled free by essek. he stands up, seeing jester’s corpse. crying out her name, he uses the influence of the city to will her closer to caduceus. it works and she appears close to him. he revives her and pulls her into the cover of fjord’s marine layer.

a few rounds later, lucien teleports closer to where everyone is and uses his wing attacks against caleb, killing him.

Finally it is Jester’s turn, and with Caduceus having hit Lucien with path to the grave, she sends out a guiding bolt, telling Molly that she knows he is in there, that he is loved, and that Lucien doesn’t deserve him. As the magic burns him, Lucien physically tears himself in twain. The Neo-Somnovem is defeated. 

As the Nein reel from the battle’s end, they begin to hear voices in their minds, thousands of voices all saying the same thing – thank you. They see motes of light floating up and out of the city, lives now able to rest after a thousand years of suffering. Jester and Caduceus race to Caleb’s side. Jester (aided by a finally present Artagan) is able to revive Caleb.

focus is then set on the now dead lucien and the city. caduceus casts decompose, and it take hold..he knows in time the city will rot away to nothing.

there is trepidation, but the nein decide they should at least try to bring molly back. yasha, with help from beau, begin tearing and cutting the body free of the fleshy city. a resurrection ritual begins. yasha, jester, and beau partake. 

with an unfortunate natural 1 roll from matt, lucien, or in this case molly, is not brought back.

caduceus decides to try divine intervention. taliesin somehow rolls a 2% and thus it works!! (you have to roll a d100 and get your level or lower for it to work.) “whoever it was, just put it back. i think they deserve it. just put it back.”

and for the first time in 114 episodes, molly - truly molly - is back. he opens his eyes and bolts, confused and with no memory. he repeats “empty” over and over again, just like when yasha first met him at the circus (pre-stream)

yasha tells him that his name is mollymauk tealeaf. he looks at her. “love?”  this is in reference to the tarot deck molly always carried with him. he’d made a card for every member of the mighty nein, yasha’s being love. he then looks around the group, not knowing who they are or their names, but knowing the cards he’d assigned to each of them.

Magician (caleb)

Tinkerer (veth)

Joy (jester) 

Sea (fjord) 

Rumor (beau) 

with some magical paint, jester draws some clothes for molly to wear. yasha gives him his ostentatious coat that she’s kept with her since veth decided to take it from his grave in ep 111. 

and with that, the mighty nein, finally NINE, plane shift back to the material plane, to the blooming grove. 

and that’s it!! again sorry for the paragraphs. 140 was an insane episode and very emotional. and i’ll be thinking about it for a long time. until 141 tomorrow! rip me for staying up to watch a 7 hour stream, which i definitely wouldn’t do if it weren’t the finale. i promise jester’s 141 update won’t be this long, but depending on what happens in 7 hours of rp, i have a feeling it’ll still be a decent length.

anyways, shoutout to you if you read all of this. ily