Islay-31-User of this Hellsite (affectionate) since Dec 2010. (Ze/Her, assigned by Scrabble tiles 2026 baybee) "The Ex-Wife that you’ll always love to death" “An Alt Ms Frizzle” Writer, Illustrator, Songwriter. I’m back you sorry bastards!
I mean... I suspected, I gotta say I wasn't going to rule it out that Lucien wasn't right under their nose- but I assumed they'd maybe be ambushed or something? But no. That's actually a very smart villain. Lucien doesn't know shit about the Nein, doesn't care about the Nein- but he does care about DeRogna.
Also VERY clever on Matt's part for having it clear that DeRogna has a version of her own Portable Demiplane, ergo none of her so-called bodyguards actually thought to? You know? Protect her?
And this also makes it clear how powerful Lucien is BECAUSE HE AMBUSHED AND TOOK DOWN A MEMBER OF THE CERBERUS ASSEMBLY HOLY SHIT. (I'm assuming they're all lvl 16-20 wizards)
Ahhhhhhhhhhhh Lucien you tricky bastard! I love this shit.
…you know what? I hope someone else other than Matt does Lucien’s voice in the show.
Not that I dislike Matt. But I do think his voice is too disparate from Taliesin’s Molly voice. Ideally Taliesin does a Better & more Evil Irish Accent, but we know that won’t happen- so? Perhaps another VA?
Yeah so I just met Lucien properly and I can’t get a proper handle on him yet.
Yeah I’m about at 1 hour and 38 minutes in, and Lucien’s little snap is INTRIGUING. Also Matt delivering this all as Artagan is FUN.
Also Caddy’s coming out was earlier in the episode and it was so cute. I love him calling everyone else for being horny messes.
Au in which Molly comes back without any memories again , wanders into the Clay’s household and procceeds to eat everything there, puke, pass out. and then the Clays come back to this stranger making a MESS there and are like oh? he doesnt speak and he’s got a letter from the mighty nein! he must be their friend!
So the Clays start taking care of them until they can somehow contact the nein. He relearns to People there and works on remembering the nein, until one day Jester sends a message to them and freaks out when they say their friend is well and recovering and waiting for them. many shenanigans issue, Molly starts talking with the Clay accent, this AU is for ME
If you asked Molly, ages later who he owed his second go around to? Clarabelle Clay. Undoubtedly. Eternally. No one else would be as crazy. And gods above love her, she was nuts. Just Molly’s type of people.
—
Colton and her had scouted ahead, another one of the corrupted beasts threatening to breach the tree line despite the ebbing effects of all six of them returning to the Grove. Nila and her family did what they could, but it still took many hands to lighten the load of sprinkling parts of the rooted crystals through the entire Savalirwood.
Clarabelle was digging a hole, eyes tracking for movement of a bone white variety. She dropped the particles from her pouch before covering it with a hand to cast a touch of growth. When she stood up, she almost shrieked at the glowing red eyes that met her.
“MMmty,” The figure said, more of a mumbling of words than a proper word. Their lavender claws outstretched towards Clarabelle’s head with a wide stare of singular purpose.
The young firbolg almost shrieked, before covering her mouth as she realized she could draw creatures larger than a singular devil- were devils purple? The curling horns, the scarred skin- wait? Did devils have tattoos?
Her hesitation cost as the tiefling reached out and grabbed a handful of Clarabelle’s multicoloured hair (and surely it wasn’t imposing enough to be a devil). The creature’s features narrowed, peacock feather’s flexing along their jaw as they inspected Clarabelle’s tresses. She froze, unsure how to proceed.
The tiefling stuck their face into the colours and made a cooing noise.
Clarabelle couldn’t help but smile. “Oh, yeah you must like colours huh? We kinda match!”
As the tiefling petted her hair, entranced with the colours, Clarabelle was able to take in the rest of the tiefling’s appearance. They were filthy. Covered in mud and grime, with mulch along the creases of their once-lovely clothing. Slung around their neck clumsily was a giant bundle of maroon embroidery, with a silver and brown length draping down their front. Everything looked weathered. A couple toes peeked out from their boots, split along the seam and barely practical if not for the broken ground underfoot.
A small beetle crawled up and onto the tiefling’s curved black horn a touch away from her face, and Clarabelle’s eyebrows shot up: a Gravedigger’s Companion. They were round little insects who liked to feed on the dead; often making meals after the first signs of decay once the fly larvae had finished their first round of pupation. They were great friends to her in the Grove but she rarely saw them outside of graveyards.
“Clarabelle! I’ve got you!” Colton’s voice sounded from behind her. She and the tiefling turned to see Colton running forward and readying his sword.
She tucked her hand over the horn of the suddenly shaking Tiefling, shielding them and the special beetle. She tucked both behind her quickly as she tried to get between them and Colton.
“Colton, stop. I’m fine!” She tried not to be too loud even as she felt the excitement well up inside her. She’d discovered something special. A tiefling with a Gravedigger’s Companion. This was a sign just for her. She felt it in her heart.
“Step away from that guy. He could be corrupted.” Colton levelled his sword, sure of himself even when he didn’t have all the facts.
Clarabelle stomped her foot. “I’m going to tell mom you left me alone if you don’t put that sword away right now!”
“‘Belle, he could be dangerous.” He wasn’t letting up.
The tiefling whimpered, tugging at her hair. The scarred, snake-decorated hand clutched onto her as they pleaded without words for safety. Clarabelle was a Clay, she was a guardian of the Blooming Grove.
“I am offering this stranger sanctuary in the Grove.” Clarabelle declared, sounding very grown up if she did say so herself.
Colton made a noise of disbelief, “You can’t make a decision like that. You’re not old enough-“
“I’ve seen fifty winters. I can absolutely make that decision. Pilgrimage outside the Grove was far more dangerous than this,” Clarabelle reached down to take the tiefling’s small hand out of her hair and hold it firmly, smiling reassuringly down at them. “This is a sign from the Wildmother. He’s got a Gravedigger’s Companion on him. She sent this tiefling to me.”
Colton gave her a look of disbelief. “You can’t just bring a random tiefling who tries to grab you in the woods back to the Grove. He could be a zombie. A wraith. A devil.”
“Don’t be so judgemental.” Clarabelle stuck out her tongue. She heard a soft giggle from the tiefling at her side. Quick as a whip, the tiefling ducked their head into her side and smiled bashfully. “See? They… he? She? It? Oh dear- either way, I’m the favourite.”
“Okay, but Calliope is running all the detections before we pass the third gate. We can’t threaten Nila’s family. They have a kid.” Colton said warily, finally sheathing his sword. He still looked down at the scarred forearm clutching his sister’s hand under the piles of rusty brown fabric. There was something wrong here
“What’s your name, Lilac?” Clarabelle asked, taking up her staff in her free hand to begin the walk back to the Grove.
Colton followed at a steady pace, clearly not pointing out lilacs were a different shade. But it was less syllables.
“MMmmly.” The mumbling was more frustrated this time. Like the tiefling had an idea of how language worked, but couldn’t quite figure out how it flowed from mind to mouth to air.
Clarabelle squeezed their hand reassuringly. “It’s okay, we’ll figure something out. Can you sign? Maybe it’s common. I speak Slyvan? Giant?”
The frown deepened, the tiefling looking like they were trying to piece together what Clarabelle would understand and what could even be said. Their red eyes flared for a moment, but nothing happened. Their mouth opened and closed but the same “Mmm-“
Her soft grey fur made a nice match for the tiefling’s soft violet skin as she brought their combined hands up to her chest. It was like moonlight and mist at twilight, perfect for catching beetles. She could sense a kinship for colour, for curiosity, and for kindness from the soft way the tiefling looked up at her shushing him with a broad grin.
“Hey, it’s okay Lilac. We’ll figure something else out. You don’t have to tell us everything. Just trust that you and me are going to be great friends.” Clarabelle said, plucking her hat off and placing it over the mess of dirty violet curls. “Can I call you Lilac, until we know your name? Just nod.”
The tiefling nodded. Seeming relieved to have some way to get their thoughts across.
“Good. Now we’re going to go back to our home. My name is Clarabelle. This is my stinky older brother Colton. We’re Clays of the Blooming Grove and we’re going to take care of you. Our ministry is anything in these woods, and guess what? You’re that.” She said cheerfully, seeing that same beetle crawl off the horn onto the brim of the hat as if assuring her this was the right move.
The red eyes softened. They nodded.
“Good!” Clarabelle tugged the tiefling closer, “I can tell we’re going to get along just fine.”
In moving her new friend, Colton’s sharp breath made her look down to trace his sudden look of horror.
In the middle of her new charge’s chest, previously hidden by the streaked, once fine silver brocade, was a deep black and rust flaked wound in the centre of their chest. Between two soft planes, nestled right beside the heart. It was a mark no one could come back from.
Well. That explained the beetle. Mom was going to kill her. But wasn’t this exciting?
Okay, so Caleb’s unhinged impulsivity is going a LITTLE overboard. MY GOOD DUDE WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO BANG A SEA MONSTER!?
That being said, this makes a lot of other shit make a ton of sense.
Caleb is a freak. I hope Essek knows what he’s getting himself into.
This is also proving to me that Caleb, if Nott had propositioned him, probably wouldn’t have said no even confronted with those teeth. What a freak (affectionate).
May I also say, The Internet Archive DOES also have all these files! In multiple forms beyond page readers!
I say this as someone who DOES own every single one of these books in hard copy, but it's ludicrous to me that I can't access a pdf form of this- especially as I could share the resources via a DNDBeyond account. And yet?
Also shit I had a collection of drawings I’d nearly finished of some of the Yikes Empire folks/late campaign adversaries and MY BROTHER CRASHED MY COMPUTER DAMMIT I forgot I still don’t have autosave! After all these years!
WHY DOES THE LIGHTSWITCH CONTROL THE COMPUTER AND NOT THE LIGHTS?!
Anyways, played Daggerheart tonight and I love the card mechanic. And that I get to use d12s, those ones usually sit unused in my dice divider when I’m futzing. Im so tempted to pick up a copy. Pretty art.
Memorable moments from the game:
- I played a Faun with Brother-fell-off-a-cliff trauma, I immediately got to use some of my features to scale a cliffface with my nimble hooves and save my new psuedo brother from falling off a cliff.
- My fellow PC played a cowardly chanterelle mushroom 🍄
- I got to make up some Eldritch Underdark Donkeys with GM (purple, too many eyes, tentacles for teats) and I named them Melbourne, Sydney, and Victoria.
- Actually had a severe moment of dread when we put together the pieces that our NPCs had been taken over by freaky bug creatures & I was TERRIFIED!
- without a “here is a prescribed type of action you can do” it felt more creative to work together and problem solve, rather than just smash the bugs
- learning the strategy of the Fear vs Hope mechanics was interesting! And seeing how Fear worked story wise for our Cowardly Mushroom becoming a hero! And also how we can improve, with my own Experiences being more mechanically useful, but Mushroom nerfing themselves a lil more for story.
Vess DeRogna is the one bit of the Lucien storyline I was spoiled on (well, whatever the Cartoon reveals- which isn’t much bc I was also confused what was adaptational difference and what was true to the original campaign). So right now I’m aware Vess is suspicious, but I don’t know what her end goal is. I am absolutely hooked.
Either way, burn down every member of the Assembly for being a dick to Pumat Sol. That was so uncalled for of Vess.
I had it once where we had a rush order at work, and my boss usually leaves me alone. I was ahead of the deadline, but suddenly she barges into my station and starts “helping”. She never helps. I was so flustered and put off that my work was NOT my best because suddenly I had the horrid woman.
Anyways… Justice for Pumat Sol, second shadiest firbolg in the campaign.
Vess also is not currently helping in Episode 112 but also GUESS WHO IS BACK? EVERYONE GETS TO RISE FROM THEIR GRAVE IT SEEMS!
(No but really? Throwing toonies at strippers is actually really awful. I’m gonna give her a pass bc Americans have dollar bills, but it’s a huge thing up here to NOT throw coins at performers. Usually burlesque shows will have buckets or unique ways to tip if you don’t want to give $5 or more- but you DO NOT throw coins)
They’re about to dig ... I have a fucking feeling this grave is gonna be empty. It’s gonna be empty. Holy shit it’s gonna be empty. I feel it in my bones.
I mean? Mollymauk did have decompose set on him by Caduceus, but also… like? His bones should be here. HIS BONES ARE MISSING AREN’T THEY!? LUCIEN LIVES. MY DEAR FUCKING GOD.
They’re about to dig ... I have a fucking feeling this grave is gonna be empty. It’s gonna be empty. Holy shit it’s gonna be empty. I feel it in my bones.
They’re about to dig ... I have a fucking feeling this grave is gonna be empty. It’s gonna be empty. Holy shit it’s gonna be empty. I feel it in my bones.
