#which season was riz at his best in?

[copper-ice-cube]

Main D20 Seasons Ultimate Ranking: part 9

(Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part X, Part XI)

[heytherecentaurs]

What a masterclass of D&D combat from the players and the DM.

Brennan did such a good job of making the combat engaging and dynamic. He juggled so many plates and kept his cards close to his chest regarding aspects no one was aware of until near the end.

The Bad Kids maximized their effectiveness and importantly, they stayed on top of their HP better than they ever have before.

Adaine did some really great spellcasting plus the exploding mephits. Her Bigby’s Hand (or whatever it’s called) dealt solid damage and using it as a bonus action after casting is great. Really helped whittle down the purple worm’s massive HP.

Gorgug took all the punishment from a CR 15 purple worm and beat it after already fighting other monsters. Zac was in crit city this episode and he needed to me to beat that fucker.

Fig got to smite and used Booming Blade and spirit guardians to fuck up enemies basically doubling (sometimes more) her damage output every round (Really effective against the swarms.) and she 1v1ed a Wyvern, which is only a CR 6 but she also had other monsters after her because was disguised as Gaven. Really the mix of hexblade, paladin and bard stuff she did was cool. (Bonus action heals were good.)

Fabian as sort of a floating fighter, getting into the mix and fighting monsters wherever needed was so helpful and his flourishes and using his spell slots for his magical sword were great. He didn’t necessarily get the biggest moments this fight but he was integral and they’d have sorely missed him because he killed a lot of creatures. Not to mention the Hangman’s breath and bite attacks.

Riz doing peak rogue shit with haste and coming in clutch sniping monsters. Saving Gavin’s life, being able to ready an action to shoot from hiding and just all the sneak attack goodness. Plus Murph was so good about the test parts. He and Riz both seem to really thrive in stressful situations.

And Kristen who took her role as the primary healer so seriously it kept everyone up and banished a monster for good. Ally has been far more diligent about using Kristen’s abilities this season and it’s been such a big help. Plus truesight wrecked Killerpally’s plot to fuck them.

And they did all of this while answering timed test questions. This is the best they’ve ever played from a technical standpoint. Bill Seacaster would be proud they took his afterschool lessons to heart.

[operationslipperypuppet]

Fantasy High: Junior Year predictions that aren’t as much based in things I think will logically happen, but ones that either should happen or would be very fun/funny

Loose Duke reminiscent perception checks from Lou, constantly looking for Chungledown Bim.

Related, the return of Chungledown Bim, but they successfully escape him yet again.

Either a wedding between Hallariel and Gilear, or them having a kid. I just think Fig and Fabian would make great older siblings but also that they’d have a real hard time handling it.

Garthy O’Brien is at Mordred and it’s immediately clear that there’s something poly happening between them and Jawbone and Sandra Lynn.

Riz has some serious beef with another young licensed PI. This beef is mostly shown through Riz hissing at someone on the street, and they don’t meet this other person until episode 15. They’re pretty normal and the beef does not make sense.

A reveal that Porter is not evil or plotting something but that he was a member of Sandra Lynn’s adventuring party that she got kicked out of. Bonus if he was a deciding vote or the one who pushed her to leave. This would be fun to justify Fig’s paranoia a bit, but her reasoning was completely wrong. The best way for this reveal to happen would be for him to apologize (sincerely) to Sandra Lynn.

Adaine actually tries to include Alewyn in a lot of things, and they actually learn some important lore from Alewyn and she doesn’t put it forward in a condescending way.

Gorgug rolls up to Riz’s office, drags him out, and they go throw rocks at the river (like Riz wanted in Boys’ Night).

Another crab party live stream. That’s actually how the season opens. Kristen is crowned Crab King.

Someone suggests they go to a Drisden party. The boys scream “no” at the proposal.

Kristen succeeds in her first ever divine intervention roll (#BeardsleyBlessed)

Aguefort says something to Gorgug in the first episode about how difficult he finds him.

Gorgug changes his subclass. We had a lot of subclass changes at the end of fhsy and I think him focusing on artificing a bit more may cause him to refocus and not be as lost in rage as berserker works. The I’m going into a worry helps me think this lol

they start at level 11, there were talks of them double leveling post nightmare king forest but that wasn’t what happened with the one shots (which logistically makes a lot of sense to me). I also just think Adaine should get 6th level spells.

And finally, Brennan homebrews the spell Ice Feast, but only Adaine can cast it.

[ratgrinders]

**spoilers for latest episode of junior year**

guys, what if the bad kids are in the astral plane right now?

so at the end of last episode they all end up in some weird, greyscale version of fig's room inside riz's briefcase, right? now, i know this is relying on meta knowledge a bit, but i know that brennan most likely didn't prepare this exact scenario for the event the bad kids all jump inside the briefcase, considering how luck-based that entire scenario was and how impulsive riz's initial decision was to save fig with the briefcase. as a dm you're probably just going to find the best place possible to insert your prepared encounter.

HOWEVER. the astral plane has been built up as a significant location throughout the season, what with it being heavily implied that cassandra being in the synod in the astral sea is what allowed the dead god to get a foothold into her that otherwise would not be possible. plus, the numerous mentions of gods dying and moving to the astral plane (specifically, i think yes! was stated to be on the astral plane after it died?)

and riz's briefcase is a modified bag of holding, a 5e item that has a direct connection to the astral plane, specifically:

"If the bag is overloaded, pierced, or torn, it ruptures and is destroyed, and its contents are scattered in the Astral Plane."

all i know is, at the end of that sequence and the bad kids are done falling there's no mention of the numerous papers riz has stored in his briefcase, which had all been scattering around them before. that sounds to me like the bag of holding was ruptured (possibly from the inside?) and all of its contents shunted elsewhere.

also, if a god was suddenly brought back from the dead (or at least, something significant occurring by adaine uttering its name) then i would imagine there's the possibility that would have significant repercussions on the astral plane where the god currently dwells, and this may be why riz's briefcase suddenly starts freaking out and vibrating afterwards. we also see certain elements of cassandra like her mirrors and baron, with baron specifically being inside the bag of holding. if cassandra is in the same place/plane as this dead god, being dead after being killed by them, then she may have an easier time getting her powers to work in areas that are closer to the astral plane.

brennan ends the episode saying "it is as silent as a graveyard". what could be a more apt description for the astral plane other than a giant graveyard?

[emptyjunior]

The concept of Riz dying decades or in some cases Centuries before his friends is too sad for me, anyways Riz isekai/regression au. 

So Riz, at the end of his life, I assume a decorated private investigator, maybe in and out of many agencies until he like unearthed corruption in them and got kicked out, you know just general Riz stuff.  

I think he would honestly get Jacked, but in like a wiry way, I think by the time he was old his combat sense and powers of deduction would be Insane even if his body cannot keep up with his mind anymore. 

And then I assume he’d die peacefully in bed OR in a dramatic and horrifying conspiracy, possibly on a sinking boat or a waterfall, that all his friends would have to investigate in his honour. 

So Riz dead, gone, finally at peace. 

Or at least he Thinks, BEEP BEEP annoying sound of alarm clock waking him up for his first day of school. 

Chronomancy is most likely to blame. 

So general premise is Riz instantly goes from an awkward teen scrambling to solve his babysitter’s disappearance, with no resources or social skills, twitchy and underfed to a calm and seasoned detective. I think that morning when Sklonda goes to see where he is, he’s made her breakfast, bacon and pancakes. And as she sits down in shock at the table, he quietly slides a file over to her which is every active case she’s working on, methodically solved with notes and clearly explained timelines to the culprit. And if she turns it over to the back, there’s also a resignation letter in there and an application to law school ready to be filled out. And when Sklonda looks up at Riz shaken, he just gives her a kiss on the forehead and a smile like he’s seeing someone he hasn’t seen for many years and then calmly goes to class. 

I also want: 

-Dealing with bullies that first day like Ragh and Fabian like he’s greeting loved ones. Darting out of their attempts to grab him with a dancer’s flourish that he could have only learnt from a high elf... 

-I think Fabian would be a Big Part of his plans (because the most fun part of regression time travel stories is when they start Amassing wealth) so I think he honestly just goes straight to his house, tells Bill Seacaster that him and his son are best friends (which Fabian would SCREAM at if he got humiliated by this goblin earlier that day) and then challenges Bill to a shooting contest and thrashes him, which makes Bill keel over with laughter, offer him a place on his crew, offers him his son’s hand (Fabian is hitting critical levels of red anger embarrassed face at this point) 

-Other fun ways to gather wealth, Riz just robs Kalvaxus. Just remembers every little detail about the accounts from his files, goes to the bank, gives all the current passwords, transfers the Entire dragonhoard to his own account 

-And yes the plot would all be decimating Goldenhoard that first year, so Riz just saves every girl before they’re captured, the maidens that have already been taken, hunts them down. I think he goes to the gas station that Johnny Spells and his friend’s occupy, locks the door and walks right into this den of bikers, just full Kingsman fight sequence decimates them. Because I think he would feel So good getting a body back that hasn’t been rung with years of stress and Kristen Shenanigans that he is in like peak condition 

-First Day finds the rogue teacher which is why he has so much time for running around preparing everyone’s future

-I think, honestly, he shoots Coach Daybreak in the head on sight and gets sent to the principal’s office and Aguefort’s like “are you doing a chronomancy?” and he says yea and Aguefort’s like sweet, carry on 

I think he finds Jawbone taking terrible paying bouncer jobs, and just offers him a bodyguard/assistant job so he has a little buddy to investigate with.

Starts a full out war with Helio followers because they had way too much reach in town, and when they try to debate with him he has Way more knowledge about their scripture than they do and some truly dangerous deity blackmail locked and loaded and Helio himself comes down and says haha leave this kid alone he just implied he can reincarnate a God, let’s go, let’s go.

Finds some insane legal loophole that absolutely strips Adaine and Aelwyn’s parents of influence and gives their children power over all their assets. Weirdly becomes very close friends with Aelwyn, maybe it’s because they both have the same taste in liquor now.

I think he’d start an information guild that involves like Zayn Darkshadow, Fig in her many disguises, Aelwyn and surprisingly Kipperlilly. Also Kalina! And he knows exactly how to summon her and keeps saying things to her that are friendly yet intimidating and it freaks her out.

Walks up to gorgug, hands him a study plan pathway to MCAT and walks off leaving gorgug very confused (and probably asking if he was his dad) 

Just fun time travel future knowledge shenanigans! And I cannot restate again, we saw how quick a Junior Year Riz is at investigating and making leaps to the right answer. By the time he is at the end of his life, I feel like he’s reached moriarty levels of detective prowess. The many new enemies he keeps making keep coming to him and he just strips them down with his powers of deduction. He’s looking at how one person favours their left side, or the crumbs on their wrist and knows everything there is to know about them. 

So just Freshman Year, the perfect run, Riz with a lot of angst in a very satisfying detective story getting closure for a lot of things. 

[aeonknight]

People keep talking about Fantasy High Senior Year and what it might be. Here's my hot take. I don't think we need or should have a Senior Year. The bad kids are at the ends of their arcs, they don't have anywhere to go, really. Everything that's been set up has payed off. There's nothing to do in Senior Year.

Fabian is living up to his father's legacy and is an amazing sword fighter and is living up to his mother's by being a bard, plus he's accepted Gilear as his step dad. Whats his arc for season four? Having younger siblings? That's not a strong enough foundation for a season arc.

What about Fig? She's found love, she's found something she REALLY enjoys doing in life and a fulfilling existence, to the point where she doesn't even want to go to Agueforth anymore and Emily has expressed a ton of interest in retiring the character.

Riz's arc is all about learning to let go and to let himself drift away from the rest of the party, and he's done that by now. He's realized that always trying to be the best is not good for him via seeing himself in Kipperlilly. He needs a break, not another season of hard adventuring.

Kristen is all about recruiting people to the church fo Cassandra. When they inevitably defeat Ankarna and she's restored, the two religions are very likely to merge. At that point she'll have converted Fig and she's well on her way to recruiting Bucky and maybe even Buddy by the end of the season, and she knows now that a church with only a few dedicated members is possible, and she's seen in Wolfsong that expanding it is not always for the best.

Adaine's arc was about breaking away and living independently from her parents, learning to be an adult. She's fully done that. She's employed as the Elven Oracle full time, she's reconnected with her sister, and she's found a new family to love. Forcing her to go through another season when she's already grown up makes no sense.

Finally, Gorgug. Gorgug's arc has been about learning how to handle his rage since the very beginning, season one episode one. He's done that. He is the first person in history to be able to concentrate on spells while raging. He's learned to harness his rage and turn it towards protection instead of harm, and he's recently made the connection with his parents even stronger.

None of the Bad Kids have anywhere to go. Even though they have futures, stories to tell, those stories aren't going to happen in high school, and they're probably not going to happen together. There is no world in which the Bad Kids need a senior year, and I suspect that the ending of Junior Year will see them all either quitting school, graduating early, or graduating normally and going to college in an epilogue. They'll stay friends for life, maybe. Or they'll grow apart because who you are in high school doesn't define you. But they'll all live fulfilling and joyous and happy lives, finally free and self actualized.

[lpmurphy]

Of the Care and Keeping of Spartans Master List

Spring in Tchakova Park Full work on AO3 Spotify Playlist

Pairings: John-117/OC Status: Completed Summary:

Green was the color of the grass where he used to walk in Tchakova Park.

In which John meets a stranger in the park, Violet learns of the care and keeping of Spartans, and Cortana offers dating advice.

Chapter One: Lights on the Water

Chapter Two: The Jungle

Chapter Three: Goose

Chapter Four: The Rock

Chapter Five: Picture Frames

Chapter Six: Gold Visor, Hazel Eyes

Chapter Seven: First Aid

Chapter Eight: Headboards (NSFW)

Chapter Nine: Family Dynamics

Chapter Ten: Anthuriums

Chapter Eleven: Conversations

Chapter Twelve: Pillow Talk (NSFW)

Chapter Thirteen: Meet the Parents

Chapter Fourteen: Eavesdropping

Chapter Fifteen: Confessions

Chapter Sixteen: Arrivals

Chapter Seventeen: Downtown

Chapter Eighteen: Flashes and Blinks

Chapter Nineteen: Bathroom Conversations

Chapter Twenty: All Too Well

Chapter Twenty-One: Headboards Volume 2 (NSFW)

Chapter Twenty-Two: Girlhood

Chapter Twenty-Three: Fishies

Chapter Twenty-Four: Night Swim

Chapter Twenty-Five: Gúta (NSFW)

Chapter Twenty-Six: Carvings

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Persephone

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Sunshine

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Scarf

Chapter Thirty: Cultivation

Chapter Thirty-One: Incursion

Chapter Thirty-Two: Ignorant Innocence

Chapter Thirty-Three: Home

Chapter Thirty-Four: Epilogue- Spring in the Highland Mountains

Bonus Chapter: Stay (NSFW)

Something Borrowed: A Sequel AO3 Spotify Playlist

Pairings: John-117/OC, Background Riz/Vannak Status: Completed 8/6/24 Summary

Springtime on Reach had always been Violet's favorite season. She had always adored the mild temperatures, the flowers and greenery in constant bloom and the beauty it brought to Tchakova Park. Meeting John beside the pond the year before had only given her another reason to love the spring. But, on a May evening beside a lake in the Highland Mountains, Violet found yet another reason to love springtime.

In which the 117s tie the knot, Cortana becomes an unlicensed therapist, Kai and Vannak organize a bachelorette party, and Riz plans a wedding.

Chapter One: The Desert

Chapter Two: Sisters

Chapter Three: The View From Tchakova Park

Chapter Four: Cinnamon Whiskey (NSFW)

Chapter Five: Housekeeping

Chapter Six: Tests

Chapter Seven: Cleansing

Chapter Eight: Discoveries

Chapter Nine: Orange Juice

Chapter Ten: Mer

Chapter Eleven: Something in the Orange

Chapter Twelve: Best Friends

Chapter Thirteen: Fog

Chapter Fourteen: Q&A

Chapter Fifteen: Group Message

Chapter Sixteen: Nightmares

Chapter Seventeen: Last Minute (NSFW)

Chapter Eighteen: Threads

Chapter Nineteen: Lamby

Chapter Twenty: Balloons and Streamers

Chapter Twenty One: Marco Polo

Chapter Twenty Two: Bachelorette Part 1

Chapter Twenty Three: Bachelorette Part 2

Chapter Twenty Four: The Morning After

Chapter Twenty Five: Bubbe Fran

Chapter Twenty Six: Becoming

Chapter Twenty Seven: Promises

Chapter Twenty Eight: Empty Chair

Chapter Twenty Nine: 117

Chapter Thirty: Epilogue- Someday Came Two Years Later

The View Between Villages Read on AO3

Status: In Progress (2/4)

Summary:

'This wasn’t home. It felt like someone else belonged here, and perhaps someone else did. He stopped being the boy who did the moment he called on that coin. Childhood came spinning to an end as soon as it came up heads.'

In which Violet receives orders to Eridanus II, and John brings his wife home.

Part One: Cold

Part Two: Ghosts

All Better Read on AO3

Status: Complete

Summary: Violet always left the lamp on in the living room.

Of Mothers and Bedtime Stories Read on AO3

Status: Complete Summary:

“Daddy?” Hailey called. “Yeah, babygirl?” “What’s your mommy’s name?” “Catherine.”

A line of questioning from a very curious five year old forces Violet to consider her feelings towards the woman that created her husband, and what she means to him.

[soleminisanction]

I kinda joked about this a few weeks ago, but the more I think about it, the more convinced I become that the Bad Kids are Pathfinder 2e characters trapped in a Dungeons & Dragons 5e world.

Gonna start with Riz here because he's the one who put the idea in my head in the first place. Riz Gukgak and his parents are clearly closer in concept and design to the green, sneaky, tech-and-fire loving Pathfinder Goblins than they are the yellow, burly mobs of the official D&D goblins. (This is probably because most of the art you find when you google "Dungeons & Dragons goblins" is actually of Pathfinder goblins.) Riz also uses guns, weapons which are uncommon but well-established in Pathfinder, but barely exist at all in D&D.

Most importantly, Riz is fundamentally an Investigator, which exists as its own class in Pathfinder but not in D&D. You know what other classes D&D doesn't have? Oracle and Swashbuckler. The former of which is mechanically way closer to the way Brennan already plays Adaine's oracle powers narratively (and has its own built-in narrative hook to play with, a curse), while the latter has entire fighting styles built around dance and makes you a more effective fighter the more you show off.

For Gorgug you have to dig a little into the gritty details, because Barbarian is a class shared by both systems, but the big one is that unlike D&D, Pathfinder has actual technology rules. Non-magical technology rules, so taking on the Artificer equivalent, the Inventor, as an archetype wouldn't have had that particular synergy problem. There's also a feat, Adopted Ancestry, that would give him mechanical access to culture-based gnome feats to reflect his upbringing with his adopted parents.

Similarly, with Fig, Bards exist in both games (Warlocks don't, but multiclassing into Hexblade is mechanically similar to taking the Magus archetype) but you know what doesn't, RAW? Tieflings that are also elves, because of how D&D's races work. In Pathfinder, however, the tiefling equivalent (nephilim, specifically hellspawn) are a versatile heritage, a secondary template that can be applied to any ancestry, so "elf hellspawn nephilim" is legal RAW. And it's something where you can choose how much of that heritage is expressed in your character's appearance so, again, the mechanics line up better with the narrative re: it only being something she learned about later in life.

Finally, you've got Kristen, who is, on paper, the one who fits comfortably in either game -- a human cleric. But I will attest that, given what she's capable of, she's not just a human cleric. Given the shit Kristen has pulled off over the last three seasons, I maintain that she would be best represented by, at bare minimum, taking the archetype for the upcoming Exemplar class (playtested last year and releasing officially in War of the Immortals, Oct 2024), the only rare class in Pathfinder 2e because they're meant to be literal, actual demi-gods, legendary heroes on the same level as Hercules, Gilgamesh, Cú Chulainn and Maui. It's a class designed to essentially break the game in select ways to make the players feel awesome (hence why it's rare, so GMs can restrict access if they choose), and well. Tell me that doesn't sound like Kristen Applebees.

So yeah, there's the rational behind my crack theory that makes way too much sense: the Bad Kids are Pathfinder characters. Or growing up to be Pathfinder characters. Something like that.

[velvetvexations]

Re: Aabria. I agree. And also, I've never in my life felt worse for a creator than I did watching Aabria try and fail to get her players to consider The First Stoats as nuanced characters in that one AP. It ruined the season for me. I feel like she had such cool ambitious ideas around politics and morality and the players (although I feel like Erika and Jasper were game if they had had more support) just didn't bite

Yeah all of Last Bast was fucking crazy.

There's nothing wrong from a friends-at-the-table perspective with Brennan's style of DMing where it feels like the number one goal is to maximize the Fun meter, but Aabria's DMing seems more focused on challenging the players from a storytelling perspective, and one of those styles is much more fun to watch unless the parasocial has consumed you so thoroughly that the heroes getting the hi-score at Dungeons & Dragoning is all you care about as well. Which is like, most of this fandom.

But even saying that, Brennan's campaigns are usually amazing even from the perspective of the audience. I think the reason it went so wrong here is that he was trying really hard to make this season focus on a lot of real world issues and providing opportunities to explore them but the Intrepid Heroes remained solidly goal-oriented.

Like, maybe I'm being biased because my own parasocial with BLeeM specifically is very deep and I'm just throwing everyone else under the bus, but I do truly believe he always meant the Rat Grinders to be sympathetic, because like:

"She's not a bad kid."

Eugenia emphasizing Kipperlilly and Riz are not too different

literally what would be the point to Henry even being Ruben's uncle otherwise? like, at best he was maybe a brief red herring when Gorgug found out he was the one who made Grix, but that was like, immediately dropped and never brought up again

Kipperlilly having "a tremendous fondness" for Lucy (again, why did that even come up otherwise?)

But the IHs just did not give a fuck and Brennan's inclination is to just roll with whatever vibe they're riding.

[veddabredda]

Hero Forge copies of The Bad Kids in FHJY! Links below!

I've painstakingly recreated The Bad Kids in HeroForge!

In the screenshot above, all the kids appear to be carrying weird little details like mushrooms or skulls which their minis don't normally have. I'm also pretty sure there are different poses for the Fig minis in various states of rocking out. That said, this was the best pic of all six of them together! (The colors are aproximations, especially patterns like Fabian's jacket and Fig's skirt.)

NOTES: Riz is a pretty decent replica. Fabian is missing his battle sheet. Fig's guitar is missing its horns, and the amp is also missing. Kristen has short hair here. I'm certain this is the style Kristen had and the longer hair was added afterwards (maybe Ally wanted her to have short hair and then changed their mind after the minis were printed? maybe Kristen cuts her hair short midway through the season?) because that is the only available hair option with those exact bangs and none of the longer hair options look right. Kristen's staff has also been altered to create the question mark, which I indicated with a green for the bit that would be cut off / altered. Gorgug is missing his headphones, and the bandolier. Adaine is pretty spot on apart from the wool details on her jacket, her pins, and of course Boggy. Although some versions of her mini are Boggy free.

[bloodyshadow1]

just my feelings on the bad kids and their class levels/classes right now. It's just my opinion, I am not bashing the multiclasses or the players choices

Adaine- Love it, she's an 11th level wizard, i get that multiclassing can be fun, but for some classes it's just better, imo, to just stay the course because having access to upper level spells can be more useful than a multiclass. I'm sure there's a broken wizard multiclass, but I think it just fits her better to stay a wizard throughout. Sometimes with full casters, I could see dipping into monk or Barbarian for the ac buff, but neither would help her so It's probably best for her to stay a wizard since she has access to 6th level spells since leveling up

Kristen- Same as Adaine, I personally like full casters to stay the course and keep on keeping on. again I'm sure there's a broken cleric other class build, like Saccharina from ACOC, but I'm not sure anything other than paladin would fit Kristen. A lot of her issues are mental and Tracker was right about her not wanting to do the boring stuff. I like her having to discover what she wants out of being a cleric rather than her dropping it because it's not exactly what she wants for something new.

Riz- 11 levels of rogue, though from the beginning of the season he's now an arcane trickster instead of an inquisitor which I think is more helpful and just a better fit. He's still a detective, but he's also kind of a secret agent so having access to magic helps and fits his character growth. Also he never really used a lot of the inquisitor abilities that often and his perception wasn't that good to justify the subclass. I'm also glad he is staying a full rogue so far, I think given the mechanics of Junior year so far, it would put a lot of strain on him to try and do more than just a single course track

Now for the multiclassers

Fabian- I think both taking levels of bard and going from champion fighter to battlemaster was the best choice for him. I think overall he was a fighter because he was taught to be one, but overall the boy is a bard at his core. The flourishes the spells, the charisma proficiency, they're what Fabian wants more than what he gets from being a fighter. Fabian has always wanted to be popular and stand out while being a great warrior and a swords college bard fits that better than being a fighter, a class he seems to have very little attachment to. Currently he is a 6 fighter 5 bard, since he was a level 8 fighter and gave up 3 levels to take in bard when he was depressed he has boosted up 2 levels in that class vs 1 in fighter. After the initial class level trading he hasn't decreased his levels in fighter, but I wouldn't be surprised if he does in the future.

Gorgug- this is where I get a bit critical, I don't really know if Artificer Barbarian is a good multiclass. I've seen some people say it's amazing while others say it's terrible, I have no clue. from what I can tell it doesn't look like it's super good, it's a support class and a tinkerer so it does fit Gorgug, but I don't think it really is that efficient with the Bad Kid's party comp. Fabian and Gorgug were the front line fighters, Gorgug being the tank and DPS while Fabian was a striker dps with a good hp pool and ac, but Barbarians soak up damage better than any class. It's also hard to be a caster (even a half/third caster like Artificier, and be a barbarian because you can't cast spells or even concentrate on them when you rage which is obviously a problem. It's just hard to imagine gorgug as an battlesmith, which I assume he is, since other than the steeldefender it doesn't give him anything he doesn't already have as a barbarian. We also don't know any of his infusions so it's hard to really be attached to Gorgug as an artificer when we don't really seem him artifice. That being said, he's Zac's character so whatever he wants is gonna happen. Since Gorgug has been trading an additional level in barbarian for artificer (6 barb/5 art) I wouldn't be surprised if he eventually drops barbarian all together. I think a barbarian is more useful, but I can understand why Zac would want Gorgug to go down the artificer path instead and I support it.

Fig- Honestly, Fig's multiclassing is the strangest to me because I can't really wrap my head around it. She so far only has 2 levels of warlock to her 9 of bard, even last level up she took another level of Bard, the two levels she took of warlock were in freshman year and she never really looked back. That being said, from the recent eps, it seems like she likes the warlock classes better, she isn't even sure if she wants to be a bard anymore. which I find kind of a shame because she also liked the 1 bard class she took. Emily is a master multiclasser so I'm sure Fig is gonna be great whatever and will be who Emily wants her to be. I'm hoping she doesn't become a paladin because, even if it's to replace her levels in Bard, despite hexblade being one of the best combos with paladin. It just feels like Fig as the character took levels/are planning to take levels in other classes to make other people happy. She became a warlock because she found her devil father and wanted to be closer to him, she offered to become a paladin for Cassandra to help out Kristen, but I think that's selfless, but it doesn't help her as a person. Sometimes you can be too selfless to a point where it's bad for you. Emily can of course do whatever, but I'll be a bit sad if has Fig giving up on being a bard. Like with Kristen it seems like Fig just doesn't want to do the uncool stuff and that's gonna be with anything she tries. I think she's running away from what she wants herself to be to make things easier/more exciting and I think it's going to backfire.

I will also say, it's not exactly fair for Brennan to poison her bardic abilities. I'll say more on the topic on another post but it's still how I feel.

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High Junior Year Ep 7

Fast Times at Aguefort High

Welcome back to Fantasy High where the Bad Kids are, as the episode’s title suggests, being stress tested in a major way! Before we hop into that though, we have a few short scenes at school to get through, starting with a surprise assembly called by Principal Grix. 

There’s two main orders of business. The first is to introduce Agent Clark who is going to be investigating because of Fig’s shenanigans over the past 2 seasons. Fig Disguises herself as Kristen causing a scene that forces Adaine to burn a portent roll to cancel a Nat 20 and Agent Clark to go off on a very intense rant about the improper use of Disguises, which we mostly don’t hear because the Bad Kids are busy doing bits. 

After that’s done, Grix subjects all of the students to a mandatory drug test and starts literally throwing bolo nets at the students who fail—including Max Durden of course. VP Jace is alarmed and chases after him as he chases after students. Riz was already hella suspicious of Max pushing gorgenfern on them iat the party and now interrogates him about his motives as he cuts him out of the net. Max insists that his only motive was that smoking fantasy weed is awesome and that he’s never gotten in trouble like this before. Riz asks if any of the Rat Grinders were down in the basement with him and he says that they weren’t but Ivy was supposed to be down there. She was the one who hooked him up with the fern. Everyone notes that with suspicion. 

The conversation pivots to the fact that KP has a fleet of food trucks outside offering free food as part of her campaign. Riz is on guard but everyone else kinda wants to chow down–for recon reasons of course. After a quick aside where the idea of Adaine solving her money problems by dealing drugs is discussed and quickly rebuffed–they check out the food trucks and find that the food, unfortunately, slaps. Adaine ritual casts Detect Magic to see if the food is charmed in any way and she finds that it’s not but that the paper the food is in has some vote for KP subliminal messages implanted. Which is, como se dice, INTENSE for a school election even though they brush it off.

They discuss going over to KP (who is campaigning with a bullhorn while Mary Ann hands out flyers) and intimidating her but Kristen decides to take the high road. Of course, her version of the high road involves going over in a cowboy hat full of salsa and offering to let KP dip chips into it because this is still Kristen we’re talking about. 

Kristen and KP have a very smiley but catty conversation. Kristen implies KP was at the shrimp party but KP denies and says she was busy. Kristen shoots back that she thought she was done with all her classes because the rogue teacher found her (info she got from Riz via Jawbone you’ll remember). KP gives a tight smile at that and Kristen later on a 14 Insight sees that not only is she not rattled or insulted, she’s actually the kind of person who loves breaking the spirit of the law and getting a technical success over a traditional one. Hate that! KP says that it’s nice to be able to focus and asks how things are going with Kristen’s goddess. Kristen, for reasons I can’t fathom, says that her goddess passed and then immediately backpedals and changes it to “passed the test to give me more spells” and tries to “Spiderman away”.

????????????

Luckily she has the best friends in the world and they all team up with various spells to help her make a flashy, magical escape that’s so bombastic a bunch of the food trucks drive off in terror. 

As this happens, KP says into the bullhorn, “Your goddess passed? How can you cast spells?” So it looks like that is now public knowledge. 

Also, as an aside, Riz brings this subliminal message to Max since he’s a conspiracy head and, by their estimation, a pretty cool guy. Max says he’s on the case.  

OK, Now let’s jump into downtime! The way this works is that for the clump of time time that each bit of downtime runs for (this one is from the start of the school year to the beginning of November) each Bad Kid can make a series of rolls in the following categories: Academics, Popularity, Money, Job/Money, Extracurriculars, Relationships, and Mystery. Each roll they make, the DC goes up by 5 and failing some tracks have higher consequences than others.

Having a signed MCAT means you get to roll advantage on all Academic tracks after your first. Succeeding wildly means you get extra fun stuff. 

Fig and Kristen are in danger of expulsion and if they fail their Academics by more than 5, they’ll be expelled. And Brennan says Kristen’s Academics rolls will be hard without a god

Adaine is rolling her Academic track with disadvantage until she can get enough money to get to “well off”--diamonds aren’t cheap! (Girl, take Oisin’s diamonds, I’m begging you).

And, if at any point they want to reroll, they can by taking a stress token. They can only take 2 for each roll. The players can’t see this but whenever they take one there is a countdown to 5 and it’s parked by increasingly bigger and gnarlier red crystals which, considering the theme of this season is Concerning. 

Fabian gives Bardics to everyone but Riz and Riz takes one of Fig’s corrupted Bardics. Even though this is a long period of time, they’re each only allowed one Bardic (not sure if that’s per person–like they could get one from Fig and from Fabe–or period). Likewise, Adaine can only get help from Boggy once. 

OK, that’s all the nitty gritty. Let’s jump into everyone's rolls!

ROUND ONE

Riz predictably knocks out Academics with his DC 5 roll. He gets a 24. Boom, A+ in Rogue class and he’s not breaking a sweat. 

Adaine rolls for a job and rolls an 11 which passes but she needs a 25 to get to well off. Her passing roll is enough to get her a job as Basrar’s with Aelwyn as her one reference. 

Fabian rolls Popularity and gets a 20 which is a high enough success to get a perk: He’ll now get advantage on charisma whenever he meets someone new at school AND he’ll get advantage rolling on another track because some other student will just help him. 

Gorgug rolls all four of his Academic tracks at once–3 Artificers and 1 Barbarian. He doesn’t have an MCAT so it’s way harder than it should be. 

AND YET. 

His first roll is a 21. A+ no Sweat. His second roll is a 13 which is a C. He takes a Stress token. Nat 1. He takes another stress token. Nat 20! Another A+. He rolls his third Artificer track with advantage because of the last roll.. NAT 20 AGAIN!!! Ayda would be so proud! AND Brennan said that if he crit he’d get something super secret and special (some kind of academic resource). Excited to find out what it is so soon! His Barbarian roll is a 23 which is high but just a C since the DC keeps going up. He decides he’s cool with that. 

Kristen, before she rolls, goes to her cleric teacher Yolanda and fills her in on everything re: Cassandra. Yolanda says that if she wants to stay on the cleric track she’s going to need to do extra papers and academic stuff to make up for the lack of magic. She’ll need to get her spells back by the end of fall semester or else she’ll fail just as a matter of course And she needs to perform a miracle. You know, casual stuff. Although this is Kristen so maybe it is kind of casual. 

Yolanda does a divination spell on the Cassandra shards and we don’t learn what, if any, info she gleans from that but she does tell Kristen that as long as she still believes in Cass, she shouldn’t be fully gone. Cass can’t work through her right now so she’ll have to step up and work through Cass. 

After confirming that the Shrimp Jump doesn’t count as a miracle, she meditates on Cass and doubt and how it’s helped her in her life. When she thinks about doubt as the first step of escaping a bad situation, all the doors and windows in the room she’s in unlock–a minor bit of magic which means that she’s not totally cut off from Cass. The feeling she gets is that the cable is still there, there’s just not any juice running through it. This–tending to her religion–counts as her Extracurricular roll btw and she got a 22 on a DC 5. 

She hosts a little ceremony as almost an apology and tribute to Cass and Craig shows up! Good old Craig. 

Moving on to Fig, she suddenly has the idea that I’ve been wondering about all season: why not become a paladin to Cassandra? She needs followers. And Rebellion and Doubt go hand in hand. She seems wary cause it’s such a rash decision but Kristen encourages her to go with it.

She goes to Warlock classes where Zara once again offers her a signed MCAT before they take a field trip to the Bottomless Pit–Fig’s domain taken from Gorthalax. It’s backed up with work she’s ignoring and she tells everyone to just build a giant recording studio. Sure. 

Fig tells Zara that she’s kind of her own source of warlock power which Zara says is dangerous because it’s super easy to break a promise you made to yourself. She advises Fig to find a promise that she can make to herself that she won’t break. 

Fig then sees the Pride Armor behind her which says, “Ruin you have brought here.” Fig tells Baby to check in on who owns that armor and what its deal is. (Which is good because this is definitely the kind of thing that will SERIOUSLY bite you in the butt if you don’t stay on top of it). 

Then she rolls for her Warlock classes: 24! Fig’s an A+ student! 

ROUND TWO

DCs are higher now and we’re gonna start with Gorgug this time. 

He rolls for the Owlbears and is now at a DC 25. He fails and is told then if he fails this track 2 more times, he’ll be kicked off the team. He takes a stress but still fails, playing a truly trash game against the Hudol Hellions. 

Fabian rolls for Academics next and tries to get help from Mazey. Brennan makes him roll for the boldness of getting help from her after blowing her off but with a 22, he’s successful and has a flirty conversation with him. He also rolls a 22 on the DC 10 Bard Academic track. 

Then, he does his Fighter roll (DC 15 but with Advantage cause he has a signed MCAT) and gets a THIRTY TWO. 

His DC 20 Owlbears check? TWENTY THREE.

Fabian is the most popular kid in school, maximum party legend, lofi study nights at his house every weekday, captain of the Owlbears, and straight A student. You truly hate to see it gang.

Adaine rolls Academics next and takes the Help action from Boggy so she can roll flat. That’s a 22 on her DC 10 check. Party nerd, keeping it together even without diamonds (and eggs). 

Then, she decides she wants to put her jacket to use and become the school dealer, not of drugs but of things like extra pencils and erasers. Brennan lets her make another Job track check and with a 22 (DC 15) makes 2d10 gold. 

She does another roll (DC 20) to try and get the AV club’s help checking the Seacaster Manor security footage for info on the suspicious Mephits but even with a stress token, she can’t find anything. She does know that if they WERE her mephits then they must have been compelled because they wouldn’t have acted like that naturally. 

Also, she absolutely isn’t doing her oracle gig even though elves keep showing up at her job. Adaine, just charge them! They’re rich!  Take money from the Falinel 1%! It’s easy and ethical! 

Finally, Brennan makes her roll to keep her panic in check with all the stress and she succeeds. 

Riz rolls for his Extracurriculars next at a DC 10. Brennan allows him to do all of them at once if he takes Disadvantage. He does so and rolls a Nat 1 but with Reliable Talent, that becomes a 10+9=19. He’s doing every club he can and he’s acing it! 

October is apparently Riz and Gorgug’s Birthday (which I thought was supposed to be at the folk fairy but either I misunderstood or Brennan misspoke–either way just chalk it up to the time quangle, gang) and they have a joint Ice Cream party at Basrar’s. Gorgug gets an artificing gift card from his bio-parents who are coming down to see him at the Frosty Folk Fair which is coming up. 

Fig tells her bard teacher that she wants to do an independent study, causing her to float away in tears (though she absolutely allows it, apologizes for her behavior via email, and says she’s welcome back any time). 

Gorgug is having a harder time with his teachers (or at least with Porter because Henry loves him). He asks Fig what to do and she tries to trick Porter into signing Gorgug’s MCAT. He sees right through her and, to Gorgug’s dismay, signs Fig’s MCAT instead, saying that she’s been such a good student just from auditing. In contrast, he tells Gorgug that he needs to get an A+ or he’ll be kicked out. “Must be nice,” Gorgug laments to a baffled Fig who truly was just trying to help her friend. The signed MCAT confers the same benefits to her even though she’s not officially going for Barb levels. She is officially on the books as a Barb/Warlock multiclass. 

She does check out Paladin classes however. The poncy knight Halo St. Croix (love these names Brennan) isn’t really her speed so she checks in with one of the multiclass teachers at Brennan’s suggestion. Guess who the paladin/barb specialist is? Lmao, it’s Porter and Zac is so over it. Like, not Gorgug I felt that annoyance coming from Zac Oyama the real life person. Porter tells her that Rage and an Oath are two sides of the same coin because you’re raging to keep the oath to protect the people you care about. He does a very cool Divine Smite to demonstrate his abilities and Fig is on board for private lessons, calling him “sir” and rolling a 22 on this track (I think a DC 10 right now). A+ in Paladin. Insane. 

Kristen rolls for Popularity. It’s a DC 10 and she rolls a 12. Riz asks to take stress for her and Brennan says yes but he’s the only one who can do that for other people. I wonder if that’s an in the moment judgment to keep the whole table from taking bullets for each other or a true Riz special but, either way, it totally checks out. She rolls worse and Riz takes another stress which puts her roll at a 21. She gets the same Charisma perk as Fabian. 

Next Kristen has to do her homework which she does with advantage because of her newly gained perk. It’s a DC 15 and she gets an 18 to pass (with a C) and then an 11 on her actual research which is on Osmir, the god of magic and secrets. While doing this research, she learns that there is a lot of value in faith that’s not evangelistic and evergrowing (something common in Helioism and the Moon religion) and it can be just as powerful to have one follower who prays every day or monasteries that do their own thing and don’t do converts (which seems kind of like what Osmir’s vibe is).

ROUND THREE

Fig rolls Mystery (DC 15) to find out what Ruben’s type is so she can continue her infiltration mission. She takes a stress to reroll to get a 19 and learns he isn’t picky and actually has a big crush on Wanda Childa and hopes she’ll be at the Frosty Fair that he’s headlining. She’s delighted and magically inserts herself into his dreams to keep that fire burning. 

Fabian does a DC 25 relationship roll on Ivy and fails. He takes 2 stress tokens but fails twice more, leaving her unimpressed with him and his friendship with Mazey. She sneers and says that if it gets cold he can “wear her like a sweater”. Fabian is absolutely taken aback by the cruelty and Emily’s disgusted, “Oh my God,” at the table really sums up my feelings. I knew I never liked that bitch. Before Fabian can make a hasty retreat with an excuse about getting a phone call, Ivy gets close to Fabian’s ear and says, “You missed your shot playboy.” 

He also gets 10k gold for being a trust fund baby. Yay for Fabian. 

Riz does a DC 15 Mystery Roll for the crystal stuff and gets a 23 (2 away from a bigger clue). He learns that Ragh was in middle school when the crystal was put into Lydia so there’s no danger of him being an avatar of any kind of bad magic. 

He does another roll to research Lucy (DC 20) and a Nat 1 becomes a 21. Rogues are so good you guys. 

He learns that they never found a body but scrying magic confirmed her dead. However, it was low level scrying so all it really confirmed was that she wasn’t alive on the material plane. That still leaves a lot of options that are not quite dead. 

More info: She went missing near Lake Shimmerstone which is near the woods the Ratgrinders grind rats at. And, most notably, in that two week period where grades didn’t count anymore, she submitted paperwork to change her god but then submitted paperwork to cancel the first set of paperwork. Riz doesn’t see who she wanted to change her god to though. There’s nothing written there. 

Adaine does a Mystery roll to see what’s up with Grix. It’s a DC 25 and even with a stress she doesn’t make it. She’s not grasping anything but the uptick in bureaucracy is very weird and worrying. 

Finally, Kristen rolls Mystery to try and find out more about Lucy. It’s a DC 20 and she gets a 19 after taking a stress token. With Fig’s sketchy bardic that takes it up to a 27. 

She goes to talk to her teacher again and asks about Lucy and whatever happened to her. Yolanda gets somber and says Lucy was a wonderful student, sad but very kind. She worshiped a goddess named Ruvina who was an ancestral goddess of giants and giant-kin. Her domain is winter and sorrow. 

Kristen asks if she was thinking about switching and Yolanda is confused and alarmed. Lucy never would have switched to another god. She was extremely devoted. Kristen mentions the request form and Yolanda says she never got it and didn’t give approval–she wouldn’t have been at school when the form was sent. She thanks Kristen for bringing this to her attention and when Kristen rolls insight, a 27 tells her that her teacher is sincerely upset and frightened at what this info might mean. 

Yolanda says she’s going to talk to Grix but Kristen points out that the guy who throws nets at kids probably isn’t the best person to confide in. Yolanda agrees and plans to talk to VP Jace instead. Before she leaves, she gives Kristen a token that says “When the only thing you can believe in is believing.”

Listening to this conversation gives Riz a brain blast. What if the name on the god change form wasn’t blank or redacted. What if it was invisible, like the name of a god you can’t say? He uses some of his dad’s celestial spy gear and, sure enough, there’s something there that can’t be read by mortal eyes. 

This is where we exit downtime and everyone has taken some level of stress. Fig has one. Riz and Adaine have two. Kristen, Gorgug, and Fabian have three. They’re all fried and coping in ways that range from being hermits (Adaine) to not slowing down lest the wheels fall off (Riz). There’s a way to reduce stress but Ally says it's hard and Brennan says they can’t try till next time. Based on their stress, they’ll have to pick certain things to have disadvantage on (which isn't great considering there’s def gonna be a fight next episode and we don’t know how long until the next downtime period). 

We finish off the day of the Frosty Folk Fair which will be held at Gorgug’s house. Riz realizes he forgot to look into the fraud case his mom is defending but it’s too late now. 

At Mordred, Lydia is making a killer breakfast and she also has all the stuff the party asked her to get about her Bakur quest. Since he’s a fiend, they all expected it to be written in Infernal but no. The texts are written in the language of the Giants. 

Honor Roll

Gorgug for Acing His Artificing Classes

It’s honestly absurd how proud I am of Gorgug for this. Like I fully recognize that this is a fictional character and these were just random rolls but guys, he’s doing it! 

Detention 

Ivy for Minitaur Racism and Extreme Bitchiness 

Ok look. I love characters who are bitches. Aelwyn is my favorite FH NPC. That’s well known information. But this is a nuanced thing. I’m not out here for any character who just shows up and is mean. You need style. You need flair. You need a decade of family trauma and suppressed affection you don’t know how to express. 

Ivy just showing up to be full on racist to Mazey? Jail. 

It was like Brennan looked Lou right in the eyes and was like, “If you pursue this character after this point I absolve myself from any responsibility.”

Fabian, my guy, you are under absolutely no obligation to date Mazey if you don’t see her that way but for the love of whoever Kristen is praying to right now, don’t pursue Ivy! 

Random Thoughts

Kristen’s range is such that in one breath she can be telling Max that “if we all do drugs he can’t net everyone” isn’t a union and then in the next breath she’s encouraging Adaine to sell drugs.

A little surprised Fig didn’t run into Bucky when she crashed Paladin classes. 

Curious if when KP said, “Your god passed, how are you casting spells?” in the bullhorn if that was purely to spill her secrets or if she was also genuinely baffled by that. 

I didn’t mention this before but Fig is purposefully tanking her Popularity track to focus on other things/be more stealthy. It’s good she’s not prioritizing it because it seems like she’s doing literally everything else she can! It’s interesting how right as Gorgug is digging more into techy things and magic, she’s dipping more into martial classes. I am so curious to know what her character sheet looks like by the end of the season. If she doesn’t want to take full levels, she can always take the Magic Initiate feat for some paladin spells. 

In a clutch bit of detective work from Riz, we learn that the god’s name on Lucy’s sheet can’t be read by mortal eyes. I know Kristen would be loath to do this, but I bet she could get Helio on the phone pretty easily and get him to read it for her, maybe for a price. Maybe he’d even do it pro bono if he’s not mad at her–Kristen thought he sucked but from what I remember he was pretty chill. 

The timeline of Lucy’s supposed death is throwing me off. If she’d died Freshmen year the Rat Grinders would make sense to me–why leave the woods if your cleric died the first week of school? But this seems like it was their M.O. even before whatever happened to Lucy. So what’s the deal? 

I also can’t get a read on whether the Rat Grinders (by which I mean KP and Ivy–the ones I trust the least) are pro or anti Lucy. Like, is whatever they’re going now a ploy to bring back Lucy (if she’s even dead at all which seems doubtful) or is it a second attempt at whatever did her in, now with Buddy as the sacrifice? I’ve seen people speculate that the Rat Grinders are mad that Kristen and Gorgug were resurrected by Aguefort while their cleric was not and that’s why they hate the system but that theory hinges on whether they cared about Lucy or not. So curious to know what their group dynamics are when they’re alone. 

If Lucy’s got is a god of sorrow I wonder if this nameless god was a god of rage.  Also wondering if there is any connection between the frost giant thing and the frosty folk fair thing.

I sincerely love this downtime system and I think it’s great that we’re getting more of the high school experience this season. I wonder how many times we’ll get to do this. 

I was expecting to have to ask Brennan in a Q&A what Gorgug’s nat 20 would mean, not that it would happen twice back to back on his first set of rolls! I can’t wait to see what he unlocked! 

On another note, Porter really needs to let Gorgug get his MCAT. Yes, his grades are slipping like Porter said they would but that’s kind of a self fulfilling prophecy from forcing him into this position.

Yolanda Badgood is weirdly comfortable talking to a student about others students' private business but maybe it's an adventuring school so it would be weird if students weren't breaking into school records from time to time. They literally teach students to be rogues after all.  

EDIT: Coming back a day later to make this edit because I can't believe I forgot to mention my new favorite corruption of KP's name: Littledoggy Girlcollar. Chef's kiss. No notes. They are really dragging Brennan's ass for this name--the name of one of his ACTUAL PCs. Lmao, brutal.

The main additions to the Conspiracy Board from this ep:

Not from the ep but we learned from the just released map that KP’s family owns a real estate company (thanks to the anon who gave me the heads up). I wonder if that’s why they keep grinding in that one specific plot of land. Maybe she knows something about the land that others don’t because of intel from her parents. 

Lucy seems like she was a good person and switching her god is so out of character that it was deeply worrying for her teacher. We have to wonder if she even sent the form or if one or both of them were forgeries, perhaps by a rogue. And if she did send the form, was she coerced and then quickly changed her mind? 

The dead god Bakur was trying to raise seems related to giants and Lucy worshiped an ancestral giant god. We need more to go on but that’s an obvious connection. Did KP learn about this nameless god via Lucy and decide to use it to her advantage?

No idea if this is at all relevant but Lucy's people are said to be from the Mountain's of Chaos in this episode. That's also where Tiberia Runestaff--Adaine's divination teacher who kinda sucks--is from. Doesn't necessarily mean she's implicated but it does mean she might know some information.

[deconstructthesoup]

All right, okay, poll's done, I've given myself permission to ramble about my ideas for a next-gen season of the Unsleeping City and there is no going back!

So, the story would theoretically take place about fourteen years after the end of UC2 (which would, yes, make it slightly harder to write as it'd be set in the actual future of our world, but I've never once made anything easy on myself), making our cast a combination of teens inspired to take on the world and young adults desperately attempting to keep them under control. I'm not sure who the antagonist would be (though, finding out that there's literally a warlock subclass called "Ghost in the Machine" where your patron is a full-blown rogue AI has definitely given me some ideas), but I do know about the characters:

Langston Brown is now sixteen years old---though, with the combined factors of his parents being in their early seventies and him quite literally being a spirit that's meant to safeguard the past, he's very much an "old soul" kinda guy who doesn't keep up with the trends and marches to the beat of his own drum (I'm imagining Riz meets Gunnie in terms of aesthetics and personality). He is aware of the magic of the Unsleeping City, but he's kind of just accepted it as something that's normal and that he doesn't really need to be that involved in... that is, until his draconic powers start manifesting, and Kingston and Liz finally give him the talk. Langston is, of course, very thrown for a loop about being an incredibly important part of the Unsleeping City, especially since he's fairly introverted and humble, but it soon becomes clear that he's going to have to accept his abilities to save New York. Obviously, Langston's a Draconic Bloodline sorcerer, and though he'd look human most of the time, it'd make sense for him to at least mechanically be a dragonborn.

Alejandra "Al" Matsui has been raised in the Gramercy Occult Society her whole life, but rather than become a wizard like her mom---or a paladin like her dad---she's learned more from J.J. and is incredibly interested in mixing science with magic, becoming an Alchemist artificer. She's inherited her dad's love of helping people, and her primary motivation is to use her knowledge of alchemy to become a magical doctor---kind of in the same vein as Kingston, except she's very much of the mindset that everything can be solved with science, magic, or a combo of the two. Al tends to put herself under a lot of pressure, and the fact that she has big ideas and fully intends to execute them all means that she's more than a little overwhelmed at all times... not that she'd show it.

Catherine "Cat" Lee, on the other hand, is completely carefree, energetic, and an absolute ray of sunshine. Being an indestructible aasimar and the daughter of not one but two First Fists, she knows how to handle herself in a fight, and having La Grande Gata basically be her guardian angel since birth means that she walks around NYC with almost no fear at all. Cat's a cheerleader and a total social butterfly, but her boundless enthusiasm and badassery makes her think that she can automatically handle anything entirely on her own, and she's still learning that being physically indestructible doesn't mean that she doesn't have limits. But she's got her best buds Langston and Al, and she's absolutely positive that together, they can not only take on New York, but the entire world. As for class, I initially had her down as a Sun Soul Monk, but after watching the final UC2 Adventuring Party and hearing Emily say that Cat would probably do something different than her parents, I think she'd absolutely be an Oath of Glory paladin---with a couple levels of Divine Soul sorcerer thrown in there for good measure, of course.

Coming from the exact opposite vibes of Cat, Jessica Lisowski is now twenty-eight, working part-time at the Met and part-time at Gramercy, and is the most tired, burnt-out, and cynical she's ever been. Against Iga's advice, she's been keeping her mundane and magical lives as separate from each other as possible, and the stress of maintaining a strict double life has caused her to lose a lot of the childlike wonder she used to have for magic, now just seeing it as something that helps her get through the day at best and an actual danger at worst. It definitely doesn't help the fact that both her mother and her brother have their whole magic-and-reality thing balanced out pretty well, and the only thing keeping Jessica from cutting herself off from the magic entirely is the lasting friendships she's made at Gramercy---including her friendship with Al, who she's been helping out and mentoring since Al was old enough to cast her first cantrip. And to stay in line with the "closed off from everyone around her" vibes, Jessica is a School of Abjuration wizard. Debated School of Illusion, but I think it fits.

Adding another experienced-adult-type to the party, we've got Matt Kugrich---grandson of Rat Jesus, nephew of Wally Claus, and freelancing vampire hunter. Inspired by his dad's own efforts in taking down the more corrupt vampires running amok in New York, Matt's been giving him a hand... though, he's mostly been working through the Dream Team, and David may or may not exactly know what his son is up to. Since we don't really know a lot about him in canon, I like to think that he's got a little bit of a smartass vibe to him, but he's also very down-to-earth, relaxed, and a go-with-the-energy kinda dude. For class, the idea of Matt being a Swarmkeeper ranger with Urban being his favored terrain, vampires being his favored enemy, and his swarm being entirely composed out of rats in honor of Kugrash came almost immediately---and if we're going with the whole "vampire slayer" thing, I think it'd make sense for him to also be a Soulknife rogue. (As funny as the idea of Murph just playing an older version of Cody for this hypothetical next-gen season is, Kugrash has grandkids, and I think they deserve the spotlight. I'd say that Delia probably has some UC ties, too.)

And rounding out the roster with the only OC in the bunch, we have Riley Conlan-Park---a young faerie who was found wandering around the Fairyland amusement park as a little kid with zero memory of who they were or where they came from, and after several months of trying to figure out who the hell this kid was, they were subsequently adopted by Pete and Maddie. When the story starts, they're fifteen years old---though they've been out of high school for a few years due to skipping several grades---and have decided that their life passion is a solid mixture of DJing for underground parties and digging up dirt on companies like Gladiator through the power of hacking. Riley has a lot of confidence, both earned and unearned, and they prefer to just let loose and be the crazy, irresponsible one rather than stop and actually let themselves think deeper about their past and all their underlying issues that they've worked very hard to keep shoved down---and they're pretty sure they can live like that forever. Of course, all that poking around in the dark web will awaken something in the Unsleeping City, and it doesn't take long before Riley makes a connection with something... other in their trips through the backrooms. Mechanically, they're an Eladrin who relies on the Umbral Arcana to make themselves look human, and class-wise, they're a College of Creation bard and a Ghost in the Machine warlock.

And, uh... that's what I got, now I gotta go to sleep.

[vultures-yay-or-nay]

Award for Best Parent Per Fantasy High Junior Year Episode (as decided by me a biased freak)

Please keep in mind that this is who I thought brought the most value to their kids (or the bad kids collectively) in each episode and not who the actual best parents are, I love all of the ones who scored in the positive pretty equally. Some parents did not get mentioned who deserved to be on this list but such is life.

This took all season to make so I hope you enjoy my efforts, it's long and it has a whole scoring system so all that's below the cut

Episode 1 - This one is pretty parent-less but I gotta give it to Balthazar who is probably a better parent to parrots than Duggan is to actual children. Also in later episodes it's stated he has actual children

Episode 2 - Tie for Sandra Lynn and Jawbone for making the girls a lovely little birthday cake! Honorable mention to Sklonda for doing her absolute best in the face of some serious injustice.

Episode 3 - Lydia Barkrock for making lunches for the Bad Kids. Dishonorable mention to Mac and Donna for making things hard for Bucky and Kristen

Episode 4 - Gorthalax for being there for his daughter and his team

Episode 5 - There's not anyone close to being a parent here but dishonorable mention to the mall cop who was the most unhelpful

Episode 6 - Lydia Barkrock wins once again for loving her son and the bad kids and for making just the best Chicken Parms. Honorable mention to Jawbone for being there for Kristen and making sure everyone's parents knew they were alive

Episode 7 - Giving this one Sandra Lynn and Jawbone for supporting Fig as she finds an academic pathway that works for her, Honorable mention for Gorbag and Roz for supporting their son in his artificing endeavors and making an effort to be in his life (And Wilma and Digby's lives but that's a matter for the next episode lol)

Episode 8 - Lydia for helping the Bad Kids with the mystery even though it's probably hard to dig through her past like that. Dishonorable mention for Gorthalax by crossing a boundary with Gorgug by using Fig to spy on him

Episode 9 - Sklonda for making time for her son who is so busy and so tired. Of course they can talk about the case! Everything is going to be okay :3

Episode 10 - Sklonda for checking in on Riz and defending him even when she was a little bit wrong about who she should be defending him from. Dishonorable mention to Hallariel who has never had a conversation with Fig before and won't stay on the line to talk to Fabian

Episode 11 - Sandra Lynn for listening to Fig and being there for her as her curse and identity crisis comes to a head, even if it's hard for her to watch her daughter struggle. Honorable mention to Sklonda for bonding with Riz and Fig at Loam Farm (technically she's still dating Gorthalax so it's probably nice for her to get to bond with Fig)

Episode 12 - There was only one parent in this episode but even if there were more Gilear would win for his tearful "Daughter!!!"

Episode 13 - Lot of good dads in this episode but I have to give it to Gilear for his touching speech to Fig (and Fabian). Honorable mention to Bill Seacaster who loves his darling boy

Episode 14 - I have to give it to Jawbone for continuing to show Adaine that she doesn't have to go through life alone. Dishonorable mention to Mac and Donna who can go to hell

Episode 15 - "There were no parents in this one" false this one goes out to Fig's future father-in-law Arthur Aguefort for believing in them specifically and saying fuck you to authority. Honorable mention to Gavin Pundle who may or may not be a parent but is at the very least a decent adult which can sometimes be hard to come by in Elmville

Episode 16 - Another Sandra Lynn win for being there for Adaine as much as she could be.

Episode 17 - Sandra Lynn for helping out with the quest and stepping in as the adult when things got too heavy. Honorable mention to Wilma and Digby for working on the van with their son (they missed him!!!) (If this happened in episode 16 I'm sorry. They are the same episode, to me)

Episode 18 - Jawbone for steering the boat and the vote in the right direction. Dishonorable menrion for Grandma Dragon

Episode 19 - Jawbone for protecting his kids (including Ragh) and their home even though he absolutely would have stayed and fought his interim boss if they'd asked him to

Episode 20 - It was a close race between winner and honorable mention but this episode we will give it to Bill Seacaster for choosing his son (maximum legend or not) over all of his wealth and glory. Honorable mention for Sandra Lynn who was there for Fig in the way she needed to be, while also learning from Fig, helping them both move forward.

Point check! 1 point per win, .5 points for honorable mention and -.5 points for dishonorable mention

In the negatives we have

Mac and Donna with -1

Mall cop with -.5

Grandma Dragon with -.5

Hallariel with -.5

In the positives we have

Gavin Pundle with .5

Gorthalax with .5

Roz and Gorbag with .5

Wilma and Digby with .5

Balthazar with 1

Arthur Aguefort with 1

Bill Seacaster with 1.5

Gilear with 2

Lydia with 3

Sklonda with 3

Jawbone with 5.5

And Sandra Lynn with 5.5

Thank god Sandra Lynn and Jawbone both won bc they have the most children lol. I almost miscounted and thought Sandra Lynn won but turns out they're perfectly matched

[ratgrinders]

Kipperlily truthers unite, I totally agree tho with everything you said in your post about her, she's SO interesting. I don't think Brennan would put in a character who's motivations are so inscrutable and deliberately hidden just to have them be like.... oh I don't like these popular kids, or oh I just am a massive overachiever. I think she is actually meant to make the bad kids kind of see themselves, and I have a real feeling her whole shit is gonna revolve around some bit they forgot about that went on for .3 seconds but have it be a kind of "You guys are the protagonists in your story, but you do so much shit as an adventurer AND a comedian that is downright awful"

yes, ditto on the motivations thing!! theres still a lot we dont know about her whole deal, and i doubt its gonna be some as simple as JUST being jealous.

to be completely honest i have no idea what couldve sparked her beef with the bad kids, especially since it seems centered on riz specifically and since freshman year at that. i mean, the bad kids were out half the year in jail which RLY limits what they could've even done to her. the best ive got is that riz was the one to get the old guidance counselor on the first day (someone kipperlily mustve been seeing since shes been seeing a counselor for anger issues since the first day) which directly resulted in his death since arthur killed him to bring back kristin and gorgug. then i guess years of resentment compounded it. even that though feels like a shot in the dark

it may be something that kipperlily could have a genuine grievance with, or it could be over something extremely petty. who knows! but whatever it is i WOULD like it to be in response to something the players themselves did in the first two seasons, because thats more interesting to me as a villain then some girl who just has beef for no reason.

we'll see!

[the-everqueen]

I saw your post about the Sandman season 2 casting and I hope it's ok to ask what your dream cast for the Endless siblings would be? (also any other characters in the show! I know there will be a lot of new faces this season)

oh this is a delightful ask - i have a whole "alt face cast" tag that currently largely serves a human Matthew (Assad Zaman) but i love thinking through casting as someone who literally wrote a dissertation on diverse/colorblind/nontraditional casting in theater. that's definitely influencing a lot of my choices here - i tried to go with West End actors where possible, but i didn't limit myself to the UK. i also, uh. just picked all nonwhite actors because why not!

Destiny: to be clear i do like Adrian Lester as a choice! i feel like Chiwetel Ejiofor has similar gravitas as an actor, but i'd like to see Giles Terera in the role (he played Burr on Hamilton West End, and i think that shows an ability to balance Destiny's solemnness with dry, understated humor). Lemuel Knights would also be fun to watch take on the oldest Endless sibling.

Death: Kirby is obviously !!! we love Kirby. Vidya Makan feels like she has a similar older sister / responsible-but-kind vibe. Olivia Washington (currently starring in the West End's production of "Slave Play") would absolutely be able to portray Death on the other side of having hated her function (i'd LOVE to see a subtle take on Death as someone who has clawed back a sense of personal fulfillment in work that really takes a toll on her).

Dream: remember how Riz Ahmed voiced the Corinthian in the Audible Sandman? remember Riz Ahmed doing all those Shakespeare monologues? yeah.

Desire: Alex Newell! they won a Tony for best actor in a musical and they were one of the first nonbinary actors to be nominated for the award! (they're an excellent singer and also...i think it would be special to have a fat person play Desire.)

Despair: Kaguya. Minami Gessel. Patricia Fa'asua.

Destruction: okay so my ideal would be Toshiro Mifune. i understand that's impossible because Mifune is no longer alive. in which case...Rahul Kohli, or Beulah Koale (these are two entirely different approaches to Destruction - Kohli i could see as the sort of secretive, quiet man who's close to his sister Despair, while Koale i could see as the person who gets into painting after ditching his function and who likes talking to Barnabas).

Delirium: i had a silly but persistent hope that we'd get Bailey Bass as Del. (that scene in the 2022 iwtv where she's talking about her new life as a vampire gives the kind of unhinged/dangerous/sad vibes i get from Delirium as someone who used to be Delight and is now...fragmented.) alternative (but equally good) choices included Stephanie Hsu, Ruibo Qian, Priya Kansara, and (after seeing dead boy detectives) Yuyu Kitamura.