#wizards of the synod mall

[verosvault]

🚨SPOILERS FOR FANTASY HIGH JUNIOR YEAR EPISODE 5!!!🚨

Dimension20 "Fantasy High Junior Year"

Episode 5 "Mall Madness"

Timestamp: 1:12:47

Video Length: 2min. & 6sec.

Fabian's older self in another dimension/timeline never got to be a Maximum Legend! 💀✋

Fabian climbs the clock!

Fabian saying they need to go now and wrap this up! 😂✋

Fabian with his bonus action yells at all of the wizards in here! 😂

Fabian asks the wizards if they want to beat up the jocks that made fun of them in high school 😂😂

Fabian fails on the persuasion check unfortunately 😭

Wizards of the mall: "But we have witnessed the rage stars take them over. Jocks at heart, we know they are not." 😂🤣💀

Fabian: "Oh! Come on!" 💀💀

Mall Cop: "I have to ask you not to stand on the clock!" 😂😂💀💀

Adaine apologizes to Fabian for summoning a mall cop! 😂😂🤣🤣💀💀 Immediately realizing that it was kind of a bad idea! 😂😂🤣🤣✋✋

[swingsetindecember]

the new wizard synod mall has all your shopping needs:

philosopher's scone

oodles of strudels

bloodbath and beyond

thaco bell

ochre jellious

bards & nobles tomevendors

armour zombie & lich

yarrbucks coffee

build a bugbear

[feelingtheaster99]

Oh my goodness I love the wizards of synod battle set! It’s so fun, it’s got a Bards and Noble and everything!!!

[emptyjunior]

[over speaker voice] There is a Cat loose in the wizard synod mall, will someone please come get their cat, it has Severely clawed several of us over at the front desk here-

Anyways I think wizard Boba would have the little sprite things from Ghibli films in it

[thisisnotthenerd]

great episode; some big story reveals tonight.

cassandra was possessed by some sort of rage spirit that caused her to mutate

that then spread around the mall, rampantly possessing wizards and making them buff

sidenote: the martial squad (fabian, gorgug, riz) did so well in this combat

fig's ancestral curse is from gilear; when she gives inspiration, profound bad luck happens either to her or her environment, accompanied by a sauce stain on her shirt. it is somehow related to the armor of pride that gilear used in the nightmare forest; maybe the curses melded? instead of dying when she gets too proud, fig tries to encourage others and is punished with bad luck.

the 'shatter-stars' are related to an unknown divinity that is somehow tied to the entity that lydia barkrock keeps trapped in her chest.

cassandra thought this entity was dead, and when she died in the time loop, she was 'summoned back to their side'. cassandra may be inaccessible for kristen if she's trapped by this entity.

we know galicaea and cassandra were sister goddesses that presided over the night (the moon, werewolves, patron of elves vs. mystery, night, doubt). perhaps the bbeg this season is an entity that presided over them?

it would tie into the night yorb; maybe the night yorb was a lesser being that gained power from cults in its name?

i could see the naming mechanic e.g. speak not of the night yorb if this was a dead god of some sort that transitioned into another state of being and then was brought back as a god.

the bad kids threw one hell of a party

the fact that aguefort is off on a jaunt means that all of the 'adventurous behavior' is being punished

also adaine doesn't have a job anymore if the synod is destroyed. girl's got to start getting all those elves from fallinel to pay for their prophecies.

[glitteringobliteration]

Porter Is The Enemy.

Fig was right this whole time! Hear me out:

When Fig was talking to Porter and Zara, it really made me feel kinda weird and upset for Fig when they (more specifically, Porter) started claiming that her powers weren’t manifesting for/from Cassandra. It made me pause for a second bc i felt like, who are they to tell her where her own powers are coming from?

Then it hit me. What did Porter say she needs to do? Stop focusing on doubt, and put more of her concentration into her fire and rage.

What have they been fighting this whole time?

🛎️ DING 🛎️ DING 🛎️ DING ‼️ Rage!!!!

My working theory is that Porter is somehow involved in the work for bringing back this dead rage god, and trying to bring out as much fire and anger and rage in the aguefort students as he can is part of that. He’s been so incredibly helpful to Fig and even Gorgug this year (honestly he seems to care more about the students of aguefort than most teachers there, save for maybe Yolanda), but there could absolutely be ulterior motives.

Like, just think of how powerful they could be with an archdevil of rebellion taken over by one of those rage stars from the Wizard’s synod mall on their side. We went through all of the fiendish connections Fig has during this episode and it’s a LOT; she has a ton of pull in Hell. She could summon an army from her own blood alone (see: Baby), not to mention all the other souls Fig has already influenced simply of her own volition (see: recording studio).

Then suddenly Fig is running security detail for the cleric of Cassandra’s presidential campaign? The spouse (ex-spouse?) of this rage god? If the Bad Kids are right on this one and they’re going to off Mazey next to get Kangaroo Cuntface the spot as principal, that’s a big problem. Kristen Applebees becoming wildly popular/successful despite her 3rd god basically dying, losing all her spells, and having no followers (except Craig i guess. and me) and teetering on the brink of expulsion = big problem for Big Rage God. Of COURSE Porter, a teacher they have come to put their trust into, would tell them to lean into their rage more, the Bad Kids are powerhouses now and he’s scared!

I’ll be really interested to see if any of my ramblings come true in the future episodes. I love unlocking more of this mystery and all in all i really just want cassandra to be ok. I’m mostly excited rn to figure out what spies tongue curse means but i guess we’ll have to wait for next week’s episode. See you at basrar’s!!

TLDR: I have a feeling Porter is secretly working for the rage god and pushing the Bad Kids to lean into their anger for his own/the god’s own personal agenda. Fig will be redeemed!

[queencaramilflinda]

@threetrenchcoatsinatrenchcoat asked on my main blog what my ideal Time Quangle pc/setting combination is, but I’m going to answer it here >:3

Setting: Spyre. I had a bit of a hard time choosing between Calorum and Spyre bc I love both of those worlds but I have to say Spyre bc of the modern aspects to it.

As for the PCs…

Zac - Gorgug. Gorgug can be so chill but also so pissed in a way that is hilarious to me. He will get mad at a moments notice at the smallest things. I think he would hate the rest of the lineup.

Ally - Margaret Encino. Now is Margaret my favorite Ally PC? No. However I do think she is the funniest one. As a cringefail lesbian girlboss in the world of Spyre there is an 80% chance she would sleep with Sandra Lynn and that is hilarious to me.

Lou - Pinocchio. This high voiced boy puppet is also not my favorite Lou character however I think the dynamics he would have with this group would be bonkers. Margaret would be confused and maybe horrified by him. Gorgug would think he’s creepy and annoying. It would be a madhouse.

Murph - Cody. He’s a mall goth in the only other setting that would have a mall that he would even vaguely recognize or understand. Spyre has so many cool swords. He would make deals with every devil he meets, including Bill Seacaster.

Siobhan - Adaine. I think she and Margaret would get on OK, but with the exception of Gorgug I think she would be at the others throats. She would treat Cody like a Biz type and be exhausted by Pinocchios antics.

Emily - Jet Rocks. Jet and Pinocchio together would destroy Spyre with their chaos. She would flirt with Cody who would be disturbed by the fact she is made of licorice and knows nothing about my chemical romance. It would be perfect.

I imagine the plot would be them all going to the synod astral plane mall to try to find a wizard powerful enough to send everyone back to their homes, however they end up in the strudel dimension fighting sentient strudel-taurs who guard the one true interdimensional gateway

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High Junior Year Ep 4 Shrimp and Strudel 

Welcome back to the Report Card where we’re gonna waste no time with just getting into it as the last ep ended on a big cliffhanger. 

We pick up where we left off–Kristen talking to Cass who is petting Kalina–currently in her cat form and claiming that she’s not bad anymore (with a verbal “meow” which is so unsettling/funny). Kristen isn’t buying it but it’s not a crazy claim. If Cass is bad, she should be bad and if Cass is good, likewise. 

Good or bad, she is still very eyes on the prize and immediately starts grilling Kristen on what her plans are as Cass’s sole cleric–a fair question considering she’s all that stands between Cass (and Kalina by extension) and oblivion. Cass tries to keep the peace between her familiar and her cleric and even gives Kristen an out: she’s gotten invitations to quit being a god and be an archfey of the Autumn Court instead. But Kristen doesn’t seem to want to take it. She says she does believe in Cass but she’s kind of hard to evangelize for because her whole deal is a hard pill to swallow even if it’s more true and deeper than the certainty other religions provide. Kalina’s eyes narrow and she says that Kristen’s a shitty saleswoman. 

Kalina instead wants to go with a pitch of, “Hey? Do you wanna wield sick ass night magic and crush your enemies?” Which Kristen thinks is kind of a betrayal of Cass’ whole ethos. Kalina thinks they can quibble over details once Cass has more than TWO followers (shoutout Craig) and Cass on one level gets where Kristen is coming from but on a deeper level REALLY doesn’t wanna die. She says that their plans aren’t actually conflicting and they can work on both of them! She asks Kristen when she has the bandwidth to talk about this and Kristen is like, right now! All she cares about is Cass…and her campaign. Kalina is clearly so over this and reminds Cass that though they can’t actually go to the material plane, there are places they can talk to mortals outside of the material plane like the Synod of Spyre (wizard hub where they incidentally just put in a new mall!). Wizards like magic and mystery and stars, right? Cass is all about all of those things! It’s an untapped market! 

A plan is set for them to head to the mall over the weekend and Kristen sincerely apologizes for dropping the ball and hurting Cass’s feelings. Cass tells her that she doesn’t need to be sorry, that she’s there for her when things are uncertain, and that she believes in her. She kisses Kristen on the forehead and sends her back to school. 

At lunch, Adaine tries to call Aelwyn but gets her answering machine. Aelwyn texts to ask what’s up (she’s in class “looking after bozos”) and Adaine says she’ll call her later. She texts an “I love you” and then deletes it, causing a torrent of divination spells to come in as Aelwyn tries to figure out what the deleted message was. 

Before Fabian heads to lunch, he has a banking interlude with his banker at KVX (Alston) who tells him his trust is worth 20 million gold and he gets an allowance of 5k gold a month. Rich as he is, Fabian is staggered by the amount of money and asks if there’s a way to cash it all out now. Alston says that due to a clause left by his dad (meant to encourage him to forge his own path), he can cash out 2 million but then the rest would go to his various nemeses (with a small cut to the bank). They apparently have a whole department just for tracking the nemeses of their clients. Chungledown Bim is listed as one of Fabian’s nemeses so he immediately shuts down talk of cashing out. Chungledown Bim with 18 million gold? Terrifying. Alston offers Fabian a free trial of Nemesis Alert which lets you know if anyone on your planet has sworn vengeance on you but Fabian declines, having the foresight to know that he’ll forget to cancel. 

Once everyone is at lunch, Riz uses the Message cantrip to tell everyone that Kipperlily Copperkettle (KP) was spying on them and overheard them talking about Kristen’s god dying. They look around to check if she’s spying on them right down and don’t see her but, on a Nat 20, Fabian senses…something. He immediately signs up for that free trial of nemesis alert and is told that no one has sworn vengeance on him in the last 30 days (but what about before that Alston???? What about before 30 days ago?????). Adaine turns on her wizard feature that lets her see invisibility and walks around the cafeteria, but doesn’t clock anyone. 

Gorthalax shows up to hype up the boys for Bloodrush tryouts later in the day and Fabian asks about the Rat Grinders. Gorthalax says that their Barbarian (Mary Ann) is trying out later and offers to tell them where the name comes from. It’s just what we speculated last week. These posers are literally level grinding! They’re farming XP by going to the woods just outside of school (Where the week 2 freshman go to practice) and killing rats, spiders, and twig gremlins. They made it to Junior Year by just killing rattatas on route 1! Apparently, they do this for 3 hours at the end of every day and 9 hours every weekend. Riz is HISSING with rage at how against the spirit of the rules this is. But here’s the thing. Grinding low level monsters to get this far is very uncool. But the focus it takes? Kind of impressive. And that thought strikes Riz through the rage. 

After lunch, Gorgug goes to talk to Henry Hopclap (gnomish Artificer teacher with the same last name as the Rat Grinder bard btw). He sees an equation on the board and tries to have a Good Will Hunting moment but ends up just trying to solve for Henry’s email address and phone number. Minor mathematical blunder aside, Henry tells Gorgug that he actually approved his MCAT, but Porter had the last word. He tells Gorgug that he doesn’t actually have to be an Artificer in a school sanctioned capacity just because he’s passionate about it. He can just do it on his own time. But Gorgug is determined so Henry tells him that there’s technically another way: he can take three years of Artificing at the same time and withdraw from Barbarian classes. 

I took psychic damage from hearing that and I took even more when Gorgug decided to do that AND take Barb classes (which Henry says that he can do but he has to run that by Porter). 

Though Henry is way more supportive than Porter, he still tells Gorgug that this is gonna be an uphill battle. Junior Year artificing is already very hard and there’s never been a Barb/Art multiclass at Aguefort before. Like Porter, he says that he doesn’t really see how the passion you need to be a good Barbarian and the dispassionate focus you need to be a good Artificer mesh together, but he’s rooting for him. The other students filter in and, based on how well equipped they are, it seems like our boy has a lot of catching up to do. 

Meanwhile, Fabian gets the other half of his MCAT paperwork signed off by his Fighting teacher (Corsisca Jones who looks a LOT like Aabria who played her younger sister Antiope Jones in The Seven) with barely any conversation or pushback about it. Must be nice! 

During a break period, the Bad Kids are hanging out on the quad. Riz and Kristen work together on Kristen’s paperwork and his applications for as many clubs as possible while they both down coffee. Fig is trying to see if she can figure out where in time the fossils Ayda sent her are from so she can send a message but she’s beaten to punch when a weary knight from “Order of the Sacred Scroll” shows up with a message his order has protected for 1500 years. One that he killed his brother for peeking at. One that he’s devoted his life to. Fig opens it up and it’s literally just a “Love you, Miss you,”  postcard from Ayda. 

Porter (who we learn loves Fig despite the fact and honestly largely because of the fact that she hates him and he appreciates a good rage) shows up and Gorgug goes to tell him that he’s going to triple down on his classes. His friends say that he’s really smart and he can handle it. Porter says that he’ll let Gorgug do it if one of his friends audits the class with him to help him and Fig happily agrees.

After school, Aelwyn calls Adaine and we learn exactly what kind of teacher Aelwyn is as she says that she got sent to the principal’s office for making some of her students cry. Thank you for letting her stay in Elmville, Brennan. Anyway, Adaine rattles off the list of insanely expensive things she needs for class and Aelwyn suggests some solutions: (1) They can find and kill their mom in order to inherit, (2) they can sell drugs, (3) they can sell weapons, (4) Adaine can maybe…get a job? Adaine doesn’t know how to get a job and asks Aelwyn how she got hers. Apparently, she blackmailed the principal. With what, asks Adaine. Photographs Aelwyn says with a coy smile and Adaine requests that Aelwyn not enlighten her any further. Adaine laments the fact that she had to give up all her dragon madness gold and then signs off with a verbal “I love you” that she tries to take back. Aelwyn pounces on it like one of her five cats. “I heard you say it!” she says with a villainous laugh. “I win. You've exposed yourself to me.” She hangs up and, once again, Brennan, thank you. 

We cut to Bloodrush tryouts where Fabian gives an honestly really good speech to the team and prospective recruits (tres Jammer). Riz is also at tryouts because, remember, he’s trying out for literally everything. We see a drow student (Hexblade Warlock Max Durden) give a really good showing and Riz give a not so great performance. Then, Mary Ann Skuttle shows up–the Barbarian of the Rat Grinders who’s this tiny kobold girl with aesthetic, kawaii plushies on her backpack. None of that energy is on her face though and she seems very unenthused to be there, answering all questions with short, monotone answers. On the field though? She’s a monster. She absolutely bodies Gorgug, sending him flying across in the field in a way that no one has before (Brennan says that he needed to beat a 33). And she didn’t even get a running start! Gorthalax is thrilled to get her on the team so that they can finally beat their rivals (the Hellions). Riz uses one of his gadgets to cast detect magic and sees that she was buffed with magic (but that’s not illegal in Bloodrush). Gorthalax breaks the news to him that he didn’t make the team and he just runs to the next club on his list. Gotta pad that resume! 

After school, Kristen meets up with Bucky who has a lot of the same energy she had on her first day. He’s a Helioic Paladin as we suspected and he’s been telling people they’re going to hell. Kristen doesn’t *love* that but she does tell Bucky to campaign for KP while he’s proselytizing to try to poison the waters a bit. Bucky says that he really misses her and that he hasn’t told their parents about all the gold she sent. Kristen tries to convince him that maybe the concept of hell they grew up with isn’t real, but that’s hard to argue when two separate devils (Fig and Gorthalax) are literally in the room with them. Bucky recognizes the Rat Grinders symbol on the pin Kristen gives him and says the new Helioic cleric from Highcourt (who their parents love) has one of those. We don’t get any more info from him though because Kristen drops an F bomb in front of him and he runs away like a scared puppy. 

Fabian drops some hints that he’s lonely in his big empty house so the gang heads to Seacaster Manor for a study party. They Doordash some pad thai and Adaine gets a text from Aelwyn which has a link to job listings at the Synod mall. On a pretty low Investigation check (6) she finds an ad for a place called Oodles of Strudel that pays 2 silver a day and doesn’t require a resume, just an interview.  

A lot happens during this study party so I’m gonna go through it rapid fire:

Kristen tells everyone that Kalina is back. 

Riz learns (as a residual part of his 30 Investigation roll from last ep) that party comp is announced at the end of their first day and if it changes (ie: someone leaves the party or dies) everyone else goes pass/fail which excludes them from extra credit which would exclude them from scholarships and such. So everyone has to stick together and not die!

Adaine goes to the Synod mall and interviews with a dude named Biff at Oodles of Strudel (where they pump strudel in from a strudel dimension because sure). She gets the job! Though idk if that’s worth celebrating because it’s 8 hour shifts and she has to work the night shift because of school. 

Fabian texts Mazey and determines that if he’s going to be a maximum legend like he wants, he has to host a party on the first weekend back and he’s committed. 

Fig, shockingly, goes to class AGAIN. It must have been cut from last episode but she learned that warlock classes meet at night and decided to check them out. The teacher is a hot vampire lady with a celestial paramour patron so Fig is like, all in right away. Not only that, she rolls a Nat 20 to catch up and it turns out that, as we already know, when she’s dialed in, she’s really good at this stuff! Plus, warlock is a charisma class and she has charisma for days. With warlocks it seems like it’s all about paperwork but really it’s about relationships, bargains, and exchange. As Zara tells Fig after class is over, these are things that everyone deals with every day, the power is just more potent when the bargains are struck consciously. Zara says she’ll approve her MCAT if she wants and Fig, eager to avoid work on her Sophomore album and genuinely taken by the class, agrees. 

Ragh shows up at the manor and Adaine asks how Tracker is doing. He says she’s doing great and the four months of night were honestly great for her whole situation as cleric of the moon goddess. Kristen GRILLS his ass about the “bitch on her lap” on her socials and Ragh (who was supposed to let Tracker break this news but cracks under Kristen’s manic energy) says it’s her new girlfriend, elven princess Naradriel–Nara for short (another girl with a dog name Kristen laments as though her first girlfriend isn’t named TRACKER). Ragh says Nara has been trying to have Tracker and her go Facebook official for a while and that photo she saw was her compromise. Kristen gives Rgh the go-ahead to tell Tracker she can reach out. Ragh says she’s cooler than Nara and he’s rooting for her. 

And that’s about it! The next week is hella busy for the whole crew. School crashes down on them like a tidal wave. There’s their actual classes, extracurriculars, and the campaign which everyone is super invested in. They recruit Torek Railgrinder (skater dwarf in the LGBT club and Drama club) to build a ramp off Fabain’s roof so Kristen can ride it off his roof into the pool which he will have filled with tartar sauce because it’s going to be the Ultimate Shrimp Party obviously. The party planning is also in full swing and EVERYONE is invited. That includes freshmen, Hudol kids, even cool middle schoolers. Ragh is buying them beer. The idea is that they can two birds this and make Fabian a Maximum Legend and Kristen super cool at the same time so people will vote for her. 

(Also, this doesn’t matter to the plot but Kristen gives a campaign speech at a steel mill for some reason–like a steel mill with adult workers–where Kristen is injured by a buzzsaw and Fig is once again questioned by Agent Clark (who she throws off the scent by saying Wanda left for the Red Waste). Not plot relevant but I HAD to mention it for the sake of posterity.)

But we quickly see the seams start to show. Fabian is forced to skip Bloodrush practice so he can set up the party. Adaine gets the new work schedule and sees that she has to work during the party. She texts Fabian that she has to work but she’ll show up later and doesn’t get a response back. Then she texts everyone else to ask if Fabian is mad at her. 

We follow Adaine to work where she’s met by none other than Kalina (in tabaxi form) who is there handing out pamphlets with Cassandra. She asks if Kristen is on her way and Adaine doesn’t know what she’s talking about. As far as she knows, Kristen can’t even get to the Synod without her help. Kalina asks if she can go grab her but Adaine says she’s at work and she can’t just leave. 

Back at the Manor, Kristen gets a brain ping from Cass who asks Kristen if she’ll be there soon. Kristen is full deer in headlights–she didn’t realize that she was supposed to be helping with that. She thought she was Team Material Plane and they were Team Synod. (And, in fairness to her, in this instance I understand how she could have thought that if the only conversation they had about this was the one that we saw but wild that they wouldn’t check in day before when Cass can talk in her mind) She quickly tries to finesse the situation and claims that with such a big crowd gathered, she’ll be able to spread the word to tons of people. Cass is briefly excited until she sees through Kristen’s eyes that her supposed recruitment drive is actually an Ultimate Shrimp Party. 

Back at the mall, Adaine watches red light burst through Cass’s chest as she cries out in pain and collapses to the ground. At Kalina’s behest, Adaine texts Kristen to get her ass to the mall right away. The non-Adaine Bad Kids try to make a plan to save the party–maybe Fig can do the shrimp jump disguised as Kristen–but the situation at the mall gets more dire. Cassandra, still in agony, yells, "This isn't fair!" She bleeds indigo and the light from her chest sails out and hits a nearby wizard. That wizard grows crazed and buff and kills his friend by smashing his skull open with his quarterstaff. Kalina is horrified. Adaine is horrified. The other mall patrons are horrified–the ones who aren’t getting possessed at least. Cass is on all fours, growing larger, and there are three more of those red light things coming out of her.

Adaine, who now has a special Synod key as an employee, opens a portal so her friends can join her. Everyone (including a kind of reluctant Fabian) joins right as the portal Adaine closes and that’s it for the ep! Next week, showdown at the Synod! 

Honor Roll

Kalina for Having Cassandra’s Back 

I never thought I’d give this to her but who else is looking out for Cass like Kalina right now? Nobody. I felt so bad for her handing out pamphlets at the mall. I’ve had to do that and it’s NOT fun. I’m glad she has someone sticking up for her and diligently looking out for her interests, even though it’s someone who I referred to as “the bitch” last week, lol. 

(Honorable mention to Fig for honestly being a great student. Way to go girl, you might just graduate yet.)

Detention 

Aelwyn for Blackmailing the Middle School Principal with Photographs To Get A Job

This is entirely affectionate. Also, unlike Adaine, I’m curious about what the level of blackmail is that allows you to strongarm your way into a job but still subjects you to being reprimanded by the person you’re blackmailing. 

((Dis)honorable to Fabian for his rich boy shenanigans which I touch on below.)

Random Thoughts

“Meat mama”

Insane that KVX Bank still exists and they literally just changed their logo from red to blue.

Was anyone else getting Berries and Cream vibes from the new lunch lad? (if you know, you know)

Fig got hurt yet again in this episode and stuck her hand in construction putty. Last episode I called out that both mishaps so far had involved construction equipment but now we’re officially out of two nickels territory and into rule of threes. Brennan, what are you playing at?

She also got food on herself twice (creamed corn and pad thai) and mimed eating it both times. Emilyyyyyyy grossssssss. 

Fabian got the confirmation that no one has declared him as a nemesis for the past 30 days but I would have asked for a full list. We know they have one because CDB is from like a year ago at least. 

I thought it was odd that Henry said that what was needed for artificing was “dispassionate focus” when I feel like a lot of people I know who tinker irl are actually intensely passionate about what they do. 

As a side note, Henry said that Porter couldn’t stop Gorgug from tripling down while taking Barb classes–just that he wanted Gorgug to tell him as a professional courtesy. So I’m not sure why Porter was able to attach a condition to Gorgug’s being there. 

Porter’s, “God this sucks” when Gorgug started talking about his feelings was extremely unprofesh but objectively funny. 

Actually, roundup of all the funniest parts of this episode:

1)The entire Adaine and Aelwyn conversation but especially (1) The bit about Fig being attached to Ayda’s feathers, (2) Photographs :), and (3) Jawbone no-selling her sinister flirting followed by her immediately moving out. 

2)Bloodbath and Beyond

3)Adaine not wanting to use a ladle at her job because of the Trauma (™) from Freshman Year (RIP Doreen). 

4)Fabian nodding knowingly when Adaine talks about killing her dad like it’s a normal, relatable experience. 

5)“What's the drinking age in Solace, if you're a pirate?”/“You guys have murdered so many people.”

6)“You find Siobhan Thompson.”

Don’t know if this matters but both the Artificing teacher and the Warlock teacher are new hires. Henry is said to be fresh out of college and Zara took over because the last guy (Evan Freem) failed his warlock pact and was devoured. I suspect out of game it’s just so Brennan can bring in interesting new NPCs that fit the plot for this season and he had to retcon whatever names he gave them for the faculty in Freshman Year. Not sure if there’s an in-game angle though. 

Brennan asks Fig where she thinks she gets her warlock powers from and she says, “I think it's from my dad or my bloodline or my legacy” That answer isn’t weird but I dunno the fact that he asked about a thing that I thought was already established struck me as off so it’s going on the list of notes. 

I loved Fig being rewarded for sneaking her name onto the class list by Zara who rightfully says that when it comes to warlocks, it’s all about what’s on the page. Brennan really invented a teacher to force Fig/Emily to get invested in class. 

Kristen trying to talk Bucky out of being scared of hell is another instance of the metaphor of Kristen’s arc brushing up against the reality of their world because some of y’all have *literally* been to hell. This isn’t real life where religion is all nebulous and personal. Hell is a place you can just go and, again, several of you HAVE BEEN. It’s not a silly thing for him to be scared of. 

Lol at Adaine who drank half a beer one time getting Bucky starry eyed by her Bad Kid exploits (said exploits being drinking that half a beer). 

So the new Helioic Cleric. What’s his deal? Have we been to Highcourt before? I don’t think so but it’s been mentioned as the place that the Applebees want to send their kids for school so they don’t turn out heathens so maybe it’s a bit theocratic or traditional? Also, did the Rat Grinders lose their OG cleric or did they just never have one seeing as they’re just fighting weenie monsters? Why did they suddenly decide to pick up a cleric? To round out their party comp or because they know they’ll be needing one soon? How did they convince this guy to join up with them first day? I wish Kristen had gotten more info but I’m excited to see where this is going. 

I wanna get your votes in now. Are the Rat Grinders evil or do their vibes just suck? Because it really could go either way. I really can’t wait to see what the rest of them are like and how they contrast their corresponding BK members. 

Sidenote: So far, every time we’ve met a Rat Grinder they’ve been alone. As opposed to the Bad Kids who hang out as much as possible. I wonder if we’re just never catching them together or if they literally don’t hang out when they don’t have to. 

The Hangman is so adorable when he’s like, “I don’t wanna do a shrimp jump but if you ask I will because I love you :(“ Big sad puppy energy. Be nicer to your bike Fabian!

Also, I said this in an ask earlier but despite the fact that Adaien’s financial situation isn’t Fabian’s problem–even if he’s 18 he’s still a child–he can’t be mad at her for not going to his party from his pirate ship mansion with his 5000 gold a month allowance. Come on now. The girl is filtering gold flakes from discounted liquor. 

I didn’t mention it in the recap proper because school is also kicking my ass right now but we learn in this episode that the Kristen/Tracker breakup was amicable, followed by 3 months of radio silence, followed by WHO IS THAT BITCH ON HER LAP RAGH??? Curious to know what Nara’s vibe is. I want her to be chill but the little disagreement over whether to be public gives me pause. Not that that’s a relationship ender of course, but I’m wondering if it’s meant to hint at further discord or if Tracker just didn't want Kristen to find out like that or something else innocuous. 

Nothing was outright stated but for like a second I felt like I caught a vibe that Ragh maybe felt bad about just being used to buy beer? But I could have imagined it. 

I really love Kalina being in this episode to just really cut to the heart of the matter re: things involving Cass. Like it’s hard to use humor to deflect when there’s a steely eyed cat there who will just very evenly say exactly what the situation is. I also really love that Kalina can just be casually encountered at the mall. I cannot imagine being Adaine and getting jump scared by that. 

(Sidenote: I wonder what Adaine’s other job options were if she didn’t go for the first one she found or if she’d rolled better.)

I know these are high schoolers, full children, but the idea that you would even be thinking about the shrimp party when your friend’s goddess is going supernova and your other friend is already on sight and in danger is WILD to me. People are dying Kim.

I also already said this in another post but my best guess about what’s happening to Cass is that she’s being affected by Kristen’s whole deal–Kristen has been obsessed with getting jacked, hence the buff wizards. It could be something totally different of course but that’s the best connection I can make with the info we currently have. 

I understand why this can’t happen mechanically but it seems pretty low commitment to be a follower of Cass and I don’t think she’d be opposed to giving the Bad Kids a level of cleric for their trouble. Like, literally Adaine calling for a medic for Cass is as much if not more than we’ve seen Kristen for her so far this season. Why not help Cass not die and pick up some free healing spells in the process? Like they don’t even need to become clerics, just give them one low level healing spell like magic initiate for the cleric class. It’s not like any of the Bad Kids seem overly religious/like there’s another god they’re loyal to that would prevent them from doing this. Idk man, if I was in this position Cass would just have one more follower is what I’m saying.

[lgbtqforeverything]

we are now more than halfway through fhjy (fucking wild) and a few days ago i went back to the trailer to reference it against what we’ve seen so far this season!

i discovered that every bit of dialogue in the trailer we’ve seen already (and that most of it happened in the first 5 episodes, if not the first 10).

i also discovered that (with last week’s episode) we’ve seen most of the mini shots! there are a few left we’ve yet to see so let’s get into it!

of the mini shots we have left to see, this board is shown the most. with this latest episode (#13) we know that this is the battle map for the Last Stand Test that the Bad Kids have to take next week in order to pass their classes.

then there’a these shots of a battle between a pirate ship and a dragon. i’m expecting this to between the Goldenrod and whatever dragon they encounter. however, now that i think about it, this could be connected to why the rat grinders broke the cloud rider engine specifically and that could be fabian’s house up there, not the Goldenrod

thirdly, there’s this single shot of kristen’s mini on a board with black, volcanic rocks and lava. i’m think that this has something to do with either Sol, Ankarna, or that dead-god-fire-stomach realm kristen saw into in episode 11. this is purely bc fire and lava are related.

lastly, there’s this single image of a wizard on a battle board. the wizard looks to me like arthur aguefort and the board like the synod mall. suspicious. also there’s writing on one of the columns back there and if anyone can read it please let me know bc i can not!!

while we’ve seen all but four of the maps so far (and know what all but three relate to), it’s clear that a lot of shit’s going to go down in the next seven weeks and there will probably be at least four more battle episodes (including next week with the last stand test). props to the d20 art team for creating such masterpieces!!

[thisisnotthenerd]

ok it's time for some level updates from the latest episode:

fig faeth:

initial level: lore bard 8, hexblade warlock 2

current level: lore bard 9, hexblade warlock 2

gorgug thistlespring:

initial level: berserker barbarian 7, alchemist artificer 3

current level: berserker barbarian 6, alchemist artificer 5

adaine abernant:

initial level: divination wizard 10

current level: divination wizard 11

fabian seacaster:

initial level: battlemaster fighter 6, swords bard 4

current level: battlemaster fighter 6, swords bard 5

kristen applebees:

initial level: twilight cleric 11

current level: twilight cleric 11

riz gukgak:

initial level: arcane trickster rogue 11

current level: arcane trickster rogue 11

not too many big changes, except for gorgug, who's shifted focus to artificer classes, with an alchemy subclass. on the barbarian side, he loses feral instinct, which grants advantage on initiative, but doesn't lose his rages or any of his current subclass features. on the artificer side he gets 2nd level spells, alchemist's supplies proficiency, and buffs in the form of experimental elixirs.

most of these choices are indicative of what the party has been doing in their classes and the fact that they just had a big battle at the mall. we've seen some discussion of fig not wanting to be a bard, of kristen having to do the leg work of being a cleric, so there may be other major changes.

by my calculations, they got enough XP in the mall fight to be just at the cusp of leveling up. literally 5 XP away for each of them, so i'd say they probably get enough from regular class activities to push them over the edge.

other mechanics-wise; this season doesn't seem like it's going to be quite like freshman year in terms of how the bad kids leveled up; they have more to do in school, as well as specific social responsibilities that prevent them from just going around town and popping off. battles are likely to be much more complicated, instead of pure hit point sinks. not that they were in the first place, but they're dealing with a lot more. they also have a lot more downtime, much like in the unsleeping city chapter ii, but they are making a bunch more rolls for what they're doing with that downtime in order to simulate the stress of the scenario.

so, i think it's going to be a major progression season, but they're only going from level 10 to ~level 13-14. they may do something like tucii and go from 10-12. we've already seen the night yorb battle and synod battle; we have yet to see the thistlespring tree (folk festival), the ship (probably fabian's house, as referenced by the cloud engine thing), or the graveyard (cravencroft, just outside of mordred manor).

i have a feeling that the stress tokens are going to be like an elevated version of what brennan did with the red tokens from neverafter; the more stress they take on from letting things slip, the harder it is for them to be emotionally stable and contain the rage of existence in junior year. maybe something that can be used to inflict disadvantage on wisdom checks for the rage stars?

anyway, that's all for this update!

[verosvault]

🚨SPOILERS FOR FANTASY HIGH JUNIOR YEAR EPISODE 5!!!🚨

Dimension20 "Fantasy High Junior Year"

Episode 5 "Mall Madness"

Timestamp: 1:42:53

Video Length: 3min. & 9sec.

Conor Counterspell saves the Bad Kids! + The Understanding of Time Loops! 😆👏

Fig: "Was that you?" 😂🤣💀

Conor Counterspell: "Remember me!"

Conor hurls his quarterstaff into the center of the clock! ;0

Shatters it! ;0

Fabian begins to fall.

Fig: "This was not part of the Suggestion!" 😂🤣💀

Conor Counterspell: "I have always loved you! Wait, how old are you?" 🤣😂

Fig: "45!" 😂

Conor Counterspell: "Oh, Gross!" 😂💀

They all are falling through shifting clocks!

Swimming astral sea.

Kristen watches as Cassandra grows taller, and taller, screaming! ;0

As they're all beginning to fall, Cassandra reaches out, throws a spell of some kind of attack at Kristen! ;0

But glimmering shards of twilight energy follow Kristen out through the astral clocks! ;0 (I can't tell if this has relations to Tracker/Galicaea or not! ;0)

They all suddenly land through a Synod door.

Brennan: "Immediately outside of Seacaster Manor, at the time 10 seconds prior to all of you going through the portal, except Adaine, who at this time was already in Oodles of Strudel working her shift. So you have 10 seconds to talk to your former selves before they jump."

Lou, Ally and Murph go CRAZY! 😂🤣💀

Emily, Zac, and Siobhan are SO QUIET! 😂🤣💀

Brennan: "All of them go 'Don't eat Shrimp!' and jump through the portal!" 😂🤣💀

Fabian: "What did you say, The Ball?"

Riz: "I was saying don't let the red things go!" 😂🤣💀

Ally said to cast bless immediately! 🤣 So, hopefully they cast a 3rd level bless! 🤣

Kristen: "Support your friends!" 😂🤣💀

They're now all in front of Seacaster Manor and they hear the first cars opening! ;0

Mazey!!!

Fig: "You ready for the shrimp jump?"

Everyone is so confused 😂

Lou: "Wait, we just went through everything we went through...right?"

Brennan: "Yeah."

Emily: "But we're 10 seconds before. It's just time to throw the party."

Murph looks like he didn't get it and then he GOT IT! 😂 I LOVE to see him process new information! 😂🤣💀

Ally: "Wait, we're not going back?"

Brennan: "Conor Counterspell threw a staff through the clock to get all of you out of there before whatever happened, happened. Cassandra is back in that fight. In other words...In other words, Conor Counterspell has just saved all of you from whatever was just about to happen in the wizards' mall."

Zac: "Wait, is Adaine still there?"

Brennan: "Nope"

Zac: "Okay."

Brennan: "Anyone can make an arcana check to understand time loops" 😭✋

The WAY BRENNAN SAYS IT! SKAKXKSKXW

Emily gets a NAT20! 😭✋ Lou gets a NAT1! 😭💀

It's so funny how Fig is cursed this season but Emily really got some extremely poetic rolls in this episode! 😭✋

Fig: "What are you guys talking about? Wait, I get it!" 😂🤣💀

Brennan: "Fig. All of those events are going to unfold in there, leading back to this moment with you guys coming out through here, with the exception of, as you guys all jumped through there, in this version of events, you got yelled at briefly and confusingly by six of you before jumping in there and having this exact encounter."

Murph: "Ok...so...did we win?"

Bro! This part was so hard for me to process! 😭✋ Just the fact that they lost the battle was just- SO INSANE FOR ME! 😭✋ LIKE HUH?! WHAT?! 😭✋

My confusion was the same as Murph's here fr! Asking like "Wait...so...did they win?"

But no! As a matter of fact, they lost! 😭✋ And they had to have Conor Counterspell save them from whatever was about to happen in that mall!!!! 😭😭✋✋

CRYING, SCREAMING, WEEPING, SHAKING! 😭✋🥲

[verosvault]

🚨SPOILERS FOR FANTASY HIGH JUNIOR YEAR EPISODE 5!!!🚨

Dimension20 "Fantasy High Junior Year"

Episode 5 "Mall Madness"

Timestamp: 1:46:04

Video Length: 4min. & 59sec.

Kristen tries to reach out to Cassandra

Brennan: "Yeah, you can reach out and talk to Cassandra."

Ally: "I don't wanna say anything. Can I just listen?"

Brennan: "You listen."

Ally: "Can I just open up the channel of communication and-"

Brennan: "Listen-"

NOT BRENNAN ADJUSTING HIMSELF IN HIS SEAT!!! 😭😭😭✋✋✋ THAT'S WHEN YOU KNOW IT'S GONNA GET BAD!!! 😭😭✋✋

BRENNAN'S "I'M EVIL" SIT!!! 😭✋

The Amazing Caption Team: "(Brennan exhales ominously)"

MYSTERY VOICE?!: "She is at my side once more.

Ally: "So she is the death?"

Zac: "Is that Cassandra?"

Ally: "That's the- That's the Nightmare King talking about Kalina?"

Siobhan: "No"

Ally: "No?"

Emily: "Cassandra?"

Ally: "Did Cassandra turn back into the Nightmare King and someone is by her side once more?"

Siobhan: "Is Cassandra a lesser god serving a more powerful god?"

MYSTERY VOICE?!: "Do you wish for divinity?"

Kristen: "To serve, or to be, myself?"

I loved Ally's answer there! I wanna dissect that line SO BADLY but I'm too dumb to do that! 😂🤣💀 I don't know how I would! 💀✋

MYSTERY VOICE?!: "You have opened yourself to listen. Do you wish to listen?"

Kristen: "Yes"

MYSTERY VOICE?!: "Good. I shall give you a master you deserve."

Brennan: "Red, crackling light. And a slimy, rotting set of block letters that says "Yes!" with an exclamation mark is shunted out of the portal. (squelches)"

1. I love Zac's reaction! That's LITERALLY ME! 😭✋

2. Brennan's "Squelch" sound was too good! 😭✋

Fig: "We've got to clear this before the party."

Kristen casts banishment on the "YES!" 😭✋

Kristen: "Thank you, kind master. I will cherish it. Who do I serve? Who am I speaking to?"

Lou: *laughs* "Serve?" *Covers his face* 😂😂

MYSTERY VOICE?!: "I am coming for you."

Lou's reaction! 😭😭 LITERALLY ME! 😭✋ It's just so funny that Lou is making that face when that voice is talking to Kristen! Not Fabian! 😂🤣💀😭✋

MYSTERY VOICE?!: "And when I find you, I will break you in a way that none who loved you will recognize the ruin I have wrought."

BRO! THAT LINE!! YIKES!! SHIVERS!! 😭😭✋✋

MYSTERY VOICE?!: "Lean your soul in closer, that I might give you more than words." 😭✋

Ally cuts this off! 😭✋

HOW DOES BRENNAN LAUGH AFTER THAT FR THOUGH!?!?!?!? 😭😭😭✋✋✋

Kristen gets some images of a shattered mall, of fractions of these red glass stars collecting shards of blue astral mall, the corpses of dead wizards floating in astral space, strudel streaming out of a portal endlessly in sort of- oblivion.

Ally makes a Religion check and gets a 19!

Brennan: "Looking at all of this here, you do not feel the presence of another divinity, but yet something divine has happened. I think what you know is that there is some rage working within Cassandra that was prompted by those stars, that was prompted by those shattering things. So, I think all of your questions come back to them. Like- That's what started this. Obviously, it began within Cassandra's chest, though, and you keep coming back to that term, 'I thought you were dead', you hear 'I thought you were dead,' and you look down and see this dead- or- you banished it, but you see the slime left by the dead, rotting god that you summoned in your Freshman Year, and you suddenly remember that the Wizard Synod, the Synod of Spire, this mall, was in the Astral Realm."

Zac: "When Cassandra was saying, 'I thought you were dead,' would she be talking about 'Yes!', or is that something else?"

Emily: "I think so"

Ally: "She knew very much about 'Yes!'"

Murph: "That's why she, that's the example of-"

Emily says that the rotting "Yes!" means that Kristen's god turned into toxic positivity!! 😂🤣💀

Ally just laughs! 😂🤣💀

Ally: "I think so. Oh no...okay, okay..."

The Bad Kids wanna go find Ragh to talk to him about this maybe. 🥲

Brennan: "As you say that, I don't think it would be intuitive that it's "Yes!", because "Yes!" slid out like a dead, flat joke."

Ally: "Okay."

Brennan: "You think whatever that voice was slid 'Yes!' out to you and said, 'I'll give you a master you deserve.' and it was like a- you know what I mean? It's like- It's like a humiliation. It's like 'Here's your god.'"

Ally: "So when she said, 'I thought you were dead', it wasn't to 'Yes!'"

Brennan: "It wasn't to 'Yes!', you don't think it was."

[verosvault]

🚨SPOILERS FOR FANTASY HIGH JUNIOR YEAR EPISODE 4!!!🚨

Dimension20 "Fantasy High Junior Year"

Episode 4 "Under Pressure"

Timestamp: 00:15:46

Video Length: 4min. & 30sec.

Kristen talks to Cassandra & Kalina (Pt.1/3 | Pt.2/3 | ‣Pt.3/3)

OMG! KALINA JUST CALLED KRISTEN IRRESPONSIBLE!!! 😭😭😭😭✋✋✋✋

Kalina: "Mistress, we can't interfere in the material world of Spyre, but- your worship is just based on mortal beings. There are mortals that are not in the material world of Spyre. We could absolutely go find followers without needing to further burden Kristen with the terrible weight of responsibility."

Kristen immediately disagrees with Kalina.

Kristen calls Cassandra her Meat Mama!!! 😭😭😭

Cassandra trying to be an intermediary and saying that Kristen can do her thing and Kalina can do another thing! Both things can happen!

Kristen: "Mine is about the beauty of how little control we actually have, and hers is about utmost harnessing as much control for yourself as you possibly can."

💀💀💀

Another Kristen Insight Check

Brennan: "Cassandra tries to process that what you're saying is true...and really doesn't want to die."

🥲🥲🥲 That was put so nicely, but it's also so sad. 🥲🥲🥲

Kalina tells Kristen that she doesn't think they're at odds here!

Kristen: *attempts to scratch Kalina again*

Kalina: "Are you trying to scratch me again?"

Kristen: "Of course not."

Kalina: "Can I scratch you?"

Kristen: "Please don't"

Kalina: "Okay, I have before."

😭😭😭😭😭😭 KALINA CHILL!!! JEEZ!!! 😭😭😭😭 JDJSKCKSD!!!

EVERYONE AT THE TABLE SAYING "OOOOOHHH!" AFTER KALINA SAYS THAT!!! AAA!!! YIKES!!! THE TENSION IS SO HIGH!!! 😭✋

No Emily! Don't say it's good to have Kalina back! 😭✋ Bro! I'm SHAKING! 😭✋

Ally: "A little pepper in the soup"

Brennan: "A little pepper in the soup. Ooh! That soup is seasoned!"

Brennan totally knows what he's doing by bringing Kalina back fr! 😭✋

Kalina: "There are a number of extradimensional spaces in and around Spyre that are not the material world itself that have mortals in them. They just built a mall in the Synod of Spyre, the Wizard Citadel, so that's a place that you can go find, you know."

Cassandra getting excited about having potential wizard followers! 🥺 So sweet fr! 🥺

Cassandra wants to help wizards! 🥺🥺

Kristen is trying to rein it in and she's gonna be going from 0 to 100! And Cassandra hasn't even seen anything above 0 yet! 😭✋

Wizards love mystery! They're always wearing big cloaks!! 😂🤣

Cassandra: "They have stars on their hats! So many of them have stars on their hats, and I have stars in my body."

Kristen is writing this down! 😂🤣💀 Kristen is trying to be super proactive now about Cassandra! We love to see it! 😂🤣👏💀

Kalina saying that they can do some pamphleting at the Synod Mall on the weekends since that's when they're usually busier!

They have a team going! Yay team! 😆

Kristen apologizes to Cassandra for hurting her feelings. 🥺 It's because Kristen was grouchy. 🥺

Cassandra says that Kristen doesn't have to be sorry and that she believes in Kristen! 🥺🥺✋✋

Cassandra: "When you're in the dark, I'm there holding your hand."

Kristen: "Thanks, Thank you."

🥺🥺🥺🥺

Cassandra gives Kristen a kiss on the forehead! 🥺🥺🥺❤️❤️❤️

Kristen comes back in her prayer room 🥺🥺👏👏🙏🙏