#zerxus ord?

[elle-thereafter]

J'mon Sa Ord and Zerxus Ilerez as centuries-long poker buddies, I am living for this pair up. Do they have regular Tuesday games, just to catch up and shoot the shit? Does J'mon collect Exandrian artefacts just to gamble with Zerxus? What other things do they gamble with when J'mon runs out of priceless vestiges?

And, most importantly: do they fuck?

[deramin2]

The great thing about a show bursting with queer characters as a normalized part of the world is that the story can have sexy tragic queer villains without it being a homophobic trope.

Diversity win! The hot card shark antique collector demon is queer! But so are most of the heroes and the Emprix that sent them there. The middle age sapphics are having a moment, and so are the situationship bis.

[angelofdumpsterfires]

good to see Zerxus got a hobby over the centuries

[ludinusdaleth]

(un)holy SHIT you guys

J'mon Sa Ord (making me gasp) in The Legend of Vox Machina Season 3, Episode 2, "Prisoners of Ank'Harel"

[rabbit-exe]

discovering infinite love in my heart for j'mon "I did the only responsible thing" sa ord, who in actual fact went down to visit their buddy zerxus in the hells and gambled away a powerful holy artifact after having already lost games to him several decades in a row

[stardustedknuckles]

I also love the way they referred to Zerxus as an antiquities collector in the city of Dis like it's. A normal-ass city with regular people who go antiquing. Like is Dis on the Must Visit list for the most diehard antiquarians. Do people actually die in pursuit of Asmodeus's Left Boot (pre calamity, authentic dried viscera and calcified bone in the sole!). Are the souls of the screaming damned just flavor to the bucket list trip of the rich and retired communities. Is Zerxus well known and established among people who buy and sell antiques and who are not, I can't emphasize enough, living in the actual hells?

[quinn-of-aebradore]

I have SO MANY FEELINGS about these three episodes but for now. J’mon my beloved and Zerxus cameo incoming???

[your-turn-to-role]

you know i'll be honest, of all the things they changed about the plate of the dawnmartyr, i did not expect "the current owner won it in a bet" to be the only thing kept!

[shinraalpha]

I AM. CHEWING AT THE DRYWALL. WHAT THE FUCK DOES THAT MEAN J'MON. if they meet zerxus and he mentions the ring of brass i will level the surrounding 8 city blocks ijkskdjskjdk

don't mind me while I pierce the fucking sound barrier

WE GOT CALAMITY FOLKS!!! WE GOT ZERXUS!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[beawake]

Random thoughts and immediate impressions of the first three episodes of tlovm3, an incoherent list

Pock o'pea wooden house at Gilmore's wannabe and taste of taldor'ei chalice thing

Did I mention the Gilmore wannabe? His distaste, amazing

Gilmore's displeasure at being dragged into Vox Machina's schemes, and still going along with it

My boy just wants to be home and run his shop, not babysit adventurers

Speaking about gilmore, Vex offering to flirt with the guards, gilmore saying he already tried

Gilmore, I'll hold them off, immediately gets caught. Yeah your adventuring days are behind you with running from highly efficient guards

Scanlan drinking courage

They are all so bad at communicating help!

Soo Draconia? Draconia.. *fingers guns* I forgot if they were there for real but they were there in spirit for sure

Percy looked so young in that scene, you would so often forget he's like 18 or 19 but not then

Kiki: but we kissed. When vax was saying they couldn't be together. It was so innocent and it hurt so much. Communicate dammit. And then cutting to Percy and Vex having sex nextdoor

They kept in Percy going for a talk and Vex opening the door naked!

Aah Cassandra and Percy as siblings, and Percy being so smitten

Kiki feeling so alone and unsupported

Scanlan ruining his relationship with his daughter even more cause he worries for his friends and then feeling unappreciated the cracks are there

The misunderstanding with Pike and Scanlan, oh that hurt, both trying to do their best but Pike not knowing how to fix it

Grog with the kids, being a detective, finding Percy

Percy giving himself up not feeling like he lied because he feels so responsible for all the dead the guns cause

Vex "I care for you so this can only be a fling or you'll get hurt"

Keyleth "so the joy of today is not worth the pain of tomorrow?"

J'mon Sa Ord is so fucking hot I want that character design

Allura and Kima 10/10 no notes these lesbians continue to slay

The banter, the one liners

The songs!!! Matt/Drenzel singing about the Ruby of the Sea

Scanlan singing about the Spice

Matt NPC do you spice? Does your daughter spice?

Scanlans vulnerability that he barely shows to his friends

It is so good, only a little disappointed about missing the cat/tiger demon going after Vax as Gilmore

Oh and I can't forget about Gilmores flirting with Vax

I just really love Gilmore

And how they are giving the NPC's bigger roles

Oh and Percy not knowing orthax's name, buddy? How?

Curious to see where that goes with Ripley, who is very cool

And the intro reminds me so much of anime intros and I love it, it is amazing

Things my friend noticed

J'mon Sa Ord and the creepily too big hands and feet, like trying for human and just missing the mark

Zerxus!!! Are we gonna see him all demon??? I am not ready

I might come up with more but first thoughts and excitements are here and good and there were a lot of changes but I don't mind any of them at the moment, I just trust that they love this as much as us and will go where needed

[loud-n]

Legend of Vox Machina season 3 episodes 1-3 thoughts (in no particular order):

Very good first 3 episodes. Obviously some clear changes for the format but all of them worked quite well for me

If Anna Ripley bad why sexy

J'Mon Sa Ord's design is absolutely incredible. They look amazing

Angry Kiki >:)

I knew the in memoriam for Lance Reddick was coming but it still almost made me cry

Allura's draconia outfit 😍

Probably the biggest one: Zerxus?!?! ZERXUS?!?!?!?!

I paused at the end of episode 2 and sat there for like 10 minutes trying to process before watching episode 3 because of that drop

That's probably the biggest change and it works SO WELL god I am so excited to see him

[deramin2]

You are Vox Machina, and you've been sent by the prosperous and benevolent Emperex J'mon Sa Ord to the cardshark devil Zerxus Ilreze in the Nine Hells to retrieve a suit of armor made by the Dawnfather, a god Asmodeus hates.

Turns out the Emprex has a long-running gambling problem with the devil, and only a vast hoard of wealth stands between this being an inconvenience vs. Exandrian Uncut Gems. The devil then purposes a card game that's basically a mind games hard mode Go Fish hack. (Impressively abbreviated fast bluffing game.)

This servant of Asmodeus, whose name strikes fear into other denizens of the Hells, talks like a jaded former ex-military gay who got sucked into a violent conspiracy cult after becoming estranged from his family.

After upping the ante to the souls of the entire party (far more than Zerxus ever gambled), Pike tries to psych him out through asking for his life story. He tells a sob story about how his love and trust in his friends led to several colossal failures in judgement that destroyed the world. Then he lost even his surviving family who he’d given up everything to be reunited with. They never came back for him and they never tried.

Pike manages to read this correctly as his deep seated desire to have his family join him here because he can't leave. No matter what that does to them. He’s only focused on his own feelings and desires.

The whole time he is constantly repeating the most bad faith interpretation doomerist bullshit you've ever heard about how everything in the world is horrible and everyone deserves to suffer like he's suffering.

After all that, do you believe Zerxus is a reliable narrator of even his own history? Or is he telling you the version built on lies he tells himself because that's what he was manipulated to believe?

Personally I think Zerxus told us his interpretation of reality that he fully believes and shapes his actions around. But that doesn't mean he's correct. Especially about what he thinks happened in the absence of facts.

How often could he check on his family? What might might he have missed and then interpreted as never happening? How much did Asmodeus control what Zerxus saw, and his memories of it, through both manipulation and mind magic?

Right at the beginning of the episode, the Everlight warns Pike that beings in the Hells will try to corrupt her and redemption doesn’t exist for the people there.

Zerxus is an unreliable narrator, not a change in the story the audience knows. His narrative is a manifestation of his own corruption and his desire to spread it to others. Misinformation is the method the Lord of Lies uses to corrupt people.

[shobogan]

I like to think it's a bit of both, in that they are truly, genuinely not very good at this but they COULD be making more of an effort - if they cared more about keeping the artefacts than drawing out the interaction.

(Now, whether Zerxus has noticed this over the past however many decades is a true toss up.)

So that was bullshit then

But lets talk about that because I love how this characterizes J'mon

Every 10ish years J'mon seeks out Zerxus to loose a game of cards against him.

Frankly I already love that for them, what a stupid thing to do and I love the idea that they collect rare artifacts for this reason (even though I do not think that is true).

Its even better when you look at the game they play. It's a talking game, a game of questions, and one with reasonably high stakes.

When you know The Thing About J'mon^tm this makes perfect sense and it's so funny to me

Spoilers under the cut, so if you don't know The Thing About J'mon come back later

Fucking brass-dragon-ass behavior there, Emprex. These fuckers just like to talk SO MUCH. A few examples from Fizban's Treasures- Dragonomicon:

Brass dragons seek out the company of other creatures that can carry on an intelligent conversation. They favor the company of such creatures over all others, often to the point of not bothering to gather minions to do their bidding and ignoring worshipers who fawn over them.

Talkative Denizens. Creatures within 1 mile of the dragon’s lair find pleasure in hearing the sound of their own voices. The air is filled with a deafening chorus of birds and small animals, and sapient creatures talk extensively.

Brass dragons often invest items in their hoards with imagined personality. A wyrmling might have a favorite marble bust or onyx cameo to converse with, while an ancient dragon might have lively dialogues with an entire gallery of paintings, statues, and tapestries.

Considered to be the most gregarious of the true dragons, brass dragons famously, or infamously, loved to talk and would engage friends and foes alike in hours of long-winded conversation... Brass dragons could not stand to let any intelligent being miss the benefit of their company and their great conversation skills because they thought themselves so great at it.

Glad to see that Devo'ssa has the opportunity to practice their natural dragon behaviors

[coetiroedd]

Your thirst over animated Zerxus 🤝my thirst over animated J'mon Sa Ord.

THEY MADE HIM SO OBSCENELY ATTRACTIVE. IT'S JUST NOT FAIR.

[thessalian]

Thess vs TLOVM S3, Ep 4

It's still mostly been Wildermyth today, but of course yesterday was the day the next few episodes of TLOVM dropped. So here we go with Ep 4, still rationing episodes so there's not too long to wait between drops.

C'mon, Pike. get it togeth-- oh. Oooooooh. This ... is a bad bad thing. Especially since I read the episode teasers and for someone who needs to treat her soul as precious ... using it as a bargaining chip in a card game feels like not the best call.

I know that Matt's voice is in that chorus of damned souls ... but I'm pretty sure at least some of the others are in there too.

...So do we know when the S3 soundtrack is going to drop? I looked it up on Spotify but there was a random playlist under that name so either they're holding that name for the time being or someone was an absolute asshole. Anyway, point is, that one belongs right up there with "Mighty Scanlan, riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiise!" as something that just needs to randomly turn up on my Liked Songs playlist-- Um. What is Keyleth supposed to be, exactly?

Closest Google gives me is a wendigo. I doubt they looked all that closely, though - they just needed something creepy-looking with antlers, because Keyleth always has antlers.

Okay, dunno what's calling for Pike at this point but it ain't good.

"Lots of people have told me to come here". Oh, Grog, never change.

Oh, Keyleth, EWWWWWWWW.

The second-hand embarrassment is strooooong.

Wait. Is Zerxus the one calling Pike?!?

Oh, Vax. Oh, Vax, you are going to look back on that and ask Percy to return that punch in the face you gave him after the Deathwalker's Ward Incident because you have earned it.

Vex, Percy, you two are still so adorable.

Oh. Oh Vorugal, you have no idea who you pissed off.

Pike. Pike NO. ...Oh, honey...

So it is Zerxus calling to Pike.

Why. Did. You. Not. Keep. FLYING?!?

Ah, I was right! Now. Luis Carazo. Who he? Well, he was in Calamity, that's a start. Candela Obscura ... EXU as Zerxus himself, so I no longer feel bad about spoilers because any of you who watched EXU probably already knew from the voice ... clearly a WoD fan... Cool. Moving on.

Ah. J'mon Sa Ord not always the honest type.

Oh. Oh, she is using her soul as a precious thing. If only an exquisite offer would get them the Plate, that's exactly how she's treating her soul.

Zerxus, I know you're a devil and everything, but you are also, for all your manners and not immediately going to the murder, an asshole.

Okay, maybe I shouldn't have read what happened in EXU, but ... that explains a lot. He's looking for redemption and ... I wonder if he thinks she can really give it to him. And if she really can, whatever he believes she can or not.

Pike, the fuck?!?

Pike, the fuck?!?

PIKE, FOR PITY'S SAKE; ASK HIM SOMETHING NOT ABOUT THE CARDS!

THANK YOU.

Aaaaand they're using the art style of the EXU opening credits.

Took you long enough, Pike.

And there's his tell.

YEEEEEENK! ...He's not losing graciously, is he.

Noooooooope. Though I do wonder whether, when he says "His ascension is at hand, we are of his blood", he means Thordak through the gem in his chest or ... possibly the Whispered One. Vox Machina have been a barrier to the plans of both parties, after all, and the Whispered One has ... ambitions.

Huh. Different simplified art style in the end credits. Neat.

That's a cliffhanger I can leave it on, definitely. I didn't remember the details of the whole trip to the hells (partly because it was seriously de-emphasised in the campaign and mostly I remember Vex buying a couple of aasimar children to free them from slavery, which I think bumped her to either Chaotic Good or Neutral Good from True Neutral but I'm not entirely sure; set the stage for her being a champion of the Dawnfather, anyway), but those details were obviously changed to fit Zerxus into it anyway, as well as weaving it into how Yenk ends up beating on Vorugal, so works for me. Honestly, I think the way they're reorganising the campaign to fit a shorter episodic structure (both shorter in terms of number of episodes and length of the episodes themselves) with the addition of stuff from other campaigns works remarkably well.

So more of that in a couple of days, and for now ... decisions about dinner. I am still fucking tired, and don't feel like cooking. *whine*