the internet has made people feel like their personal opinion on every topic is valuable and important and holds equal weight to everyone else’s but the truth is some spaces aren’t for you and some things you just can’t relate to or understand and that’s okay. learn when to stay quiet instead of inserting yourself into conversations that are actually nothing to do with you
"Think of an empire full of 1st-level sorcerers that can't fly, but can take a ladder 180 feet up to cast Mending on a bunch of big stone columns."
Tansul may have given all humans sorcery the way Sylandri gave all elves immortality, both "gifts" coming with a condition of control. The same way Sylandri got to determine which elves were allowed to reproduce, Tansul got to allocate the most potent magic to his favorite humans. The only sorcery to survive Tansul's death did not come exclusively from him.
Royce's magic came from fey, Einfasen's from giants, Cormoray's from djinn. Their sorcery, and thus their social mobility, was never fully under Tansul's boot—which probably factored into their decision to rebel.
As for the other non-rebel and non-Sundered bloodlines: Tansul turned House Tachonis into psychopomps, connecting them to the Tenebral Reaches on a fundamental level. Humans were shaped from existing life on Aramán, and House Tachonis essentially got double shaped. House Halovar had to get creative, taking from Tansul's construct what he was no longer around to offer and turning its scions into aasimar. Meanwhile, Azune's ancestors obviously had some draconic connection, and House Seremai seems connected to Aramán's version of Yuan Ti. I can't wait to learn about the role of the Navika'an in the Obridimian Empire, especially the meaning of Azune's "Have mercy on those I send you" ink (is it perhaps related to the Hall of Mercy?)
TDLR: The interplay between sorcery and humanity in cr4 is fascinating.
Evidenced by the official character art, Luis used "medium-brown" to describe Azune's skin as a tone between "medium" (one step darker than "fair") and brown—not "medium brown" as in a shade of brown between light and dark
That's not an excuse to paint Azune like a buff Caleb with sunset eyes, which way too many fan artists have done. If you have an aesthetic instinct to make him lighter than he is, you should interrogate that instinct
Holding up a big sign that says: " Thaisha and Occtis considering eachother family doesn't mean you always have to reduce them to a mother/son relationship. A) it's boring B) it's just not what's going on there."
Not gonna lie this makes me a bit irritated. Here's the real version of this photo:
Instead of a cutesie reference to film censorship it was an explicit statement of defiance of Maryland's criminalization gay sex, which was not repealed until 2002. This wasn't a guy saying "Oh they can't put what I do in the movies according to a completely voluntary industry code" he was saying "The State of Maryland wants to put me in jail for being gay and having gay sex."
It wasn't a guy being cheeky about sex in an ambiguous, cute way. It was a man stating, in no uncertain terms, that a whole state of the United States considered him a criminal for being homosexual.
Before I get into the actual episode, I must send my wish into the world: please let Julien stage an interrogation of the Seekers 2.0 like he did in this episode for the Seekers 1.0. It was such a useful way for us to nail down some character motivations and interactions, and it makes perfect sense for Julien to want to interrogate the new Seekers. Please let him ask the same cutting questions of Bolaire and Kattigan that he did of Vaelus and Occtis (I feel like Thimble might get put into the same pot as Thaisha of Julien going, "I understand and share several of your motivations" and so might get to skip the interrogation).
In the Cold Open of this episode, we get introduced to the deep grief that underlies Kattigan's backstory, when Tyranny looks into the knife and sees Marienna (who is described as "a beautiful woman, tall and fair", who calls out to "Esme", who we will later learn was Kattigan's daughter). Kattigan confirms, when asked by Tyranny, that his gift of the knife to her was very much not a romantic gesture, and there's an implication that he sees both Tyranny and Wick as 'kids'.
There's the double-meaning here of Kattigan saying, "Women are tough" (meaning difficult to figure out) which Tyranny interprets as "women are strong and capable", which Kattigan agrees with in general but questions if Tyranny actually feels that way about herself.
In the main episode, we have entered into a druidic encampment.
Thaisha is resisting the urge to be too familiar with the camp's commander so that he can be more formal and professional in front of Julien, and she wants to keep on with the current good vibes that she and Julien are enjoying.
It really is kinda funny how many acquaintances Julien and Thaisha have in common! They have friendly relationships with so many of the same people.
180 Barrowguard went to Tannesar. We learn later that a couple dozen died there, so that's still over a hundred, maybe, that went with Alogar to... somewhere unknown. They didn't come back to Castle Torch, or at least it wasn't mentioned in the Convergence if they did.
Amry Talter is a halfling cleric of the Totality, which is a place dedicated to bringing back clerical magic without using the Shapers as intermediaries. "Issues of faith tackled academically".
Julien and Thaisha both seem somewhat disdainful of prophecies, though for different reasons. Julien believes that prophecies are bullshit in general, that it's basically throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what sticks, while Thaisha believes "we need to find something new. I don't think the past is gonna save us."
We learn that Hannan had another reason to following them -- he's also warning the main druid here (Masha) about Occtis and about him being undead.
He believes that Vaelus is an "ill-omen" wanting to return them all to "a world of darkness".
He further says, "You look at the injuries of those who were wronged, and call it proof that those who harmed them were right." Vaelus denies that she believes that. Yes, she believes that it was a mistake, she says, but not one that she blames mortals for making.
Talking to Thaisha about Occtis, Masha says "I will not meet this moment of fear with more fear" (I do love all the druids so much; I feel like we get to see their higher wisdom scores reflected in their willingness to slow down and reflect). We get reminded here that Thaisha is going to need to explain her choices to the Circle of Ancients, so that's a little bit of set-up for later.
"We are traveling under the authority of revenge." Oh, Julien.
I do really like Julien's discussion with the fellow knight here (who I think is a paladin) -- "Virtues hold well until you lose what makes you virtuous". But despite his jaded attitude, Julien does keep the flower that the other knight gives him.
Great conversations all around.
During the next bit, Matt plays Julien as distracted by getting his list and his items together, but then tuning back into the group discussion once Occtis starts talking about what death was like for him, and this is an extremely fascinating little conversation.
Julien: "Were you scared?"
Occtis: "Yes. I watched my brother open my whole chest open and take my heart out while five ghouls held me down."
Julien: "Are you still scared?"
Occtis: "Mm, difficult feeling. It doesn't feel the same. No."
Julien: "That's interesting. When I was younger than you, it was my first time seeing war. And in that time, I watched many soldiers, some as young as me, many decades my senior, carved and bleed in the battlefield. Years of training, honor, bravery, and almost consistently in those moments, you always see fear in their eyes, before they go. I don't know if it was that way before the gods were dead. Because who knows what awaits on the other side if they aren't embraced by the great druidic path? But if you have come from death, you're not afraid anymore? Then maybe you're ready to keep going this path here."
Occtis: "Hmm. I will offer a caveat that it might be that I'm not scared anymore because I'm incapable of feeling the feeling."
A lot of this episode is Julien feeling out his companions to see how far he can trust them. And he doesn't do it in the kindest way, so he doesn't leave the best impression when he does it, but he's doing an on-the-fly risk assessment analysis, basically.
Occtis says that what Thaisha did for him in that place between places is remind him that he had a choice, and Julien notes, "Choice is good" (Julien and choices, man!), which Thaisha says is the point of the Path but... it isn't?
The point of the Old Path is the cycle of reincarnation, at least from what we've seen. Occtis exercising his choice to leave the path is shown very much as against the tradition of the Old Path. Like if the traditional options are "you do my Path or you face a horrible wasting existence as you slowly turn into a shadow of your former self" that doesn't actually seem like options, you know? That's "you're screwed if you don't follow the Path".
We do get more into alternative ways ~through the Woods~ as we continue into the campaign.
It is fascinating what a driver Thaisha is of the NPC->PC romances that we get in the Seekers table (both intentional and accidental). She's the one who tells Ingrid to go flirt with Julien in 4x026 and she's the one who drives basically all of Occtis's interactions with Talter in this episode (who will develop a big crush on Occtis that he never becomes aware of). Occtis notes that "the lovely professor" is on completely the wrong track, and Thaisha pushes him to go talk to Talter and tell her that the prophecy was already fulfilled (and she also tried to push Shadia towards Occtis back in the Overture. Is Thaisha secretly a matchmaker in her heart of hearts?).
Occtis is incredibly kind and polite to Talter, so I don't blame her for getting a crush, but the experience was nerve-wracking for Occtis because he just went and told someone that their big breakthrough is trash and he feels very guilty over it ("That was terrible!").
We learn that Talter's area of expertise is Celestials, which does come in handy later. There's speculation that the Shapers learned how to create Celestials from the Primordials. Occtis does pick her name and address up as a potential future contact here, but that was it when it came to his intentions. And we do get a mention all the way back here that the Tachonis partially fund the Totality.
Occtis explaining his feelings about Frons's death to Julien: "I'm not saying you're wrong in your actions but it is a little weird for me."
And then we have The Interrogation, my beloved. Please let us get Interrogation 2.0 in the next Seekers arc! Julien will want to analyze Kattigan and Bolaire's motives for traveling with them, I am sure!
He starts the process by laying out his own motives for being here and then probes Vaelus and Occtis for their reasons (Thaisha gets a pass because he knows that her motives overlap with his own. and she returns his show of trust by giving him guidance for his insight check on Vaelus).
He gets Vaelus to admit that she's following Occtis because she thinks he might be able to bring back Sylandri! Huge information that was suspected by some but is now confirmed and out in the open. "If he could be brought back, do you know what that means? I could bring back my family. I could bring back maybe Sylandri!"
Julien immediately challenges her on what lengths she would be willing to go in order to bring Sylandri back, and Vaelus insists that she would not betray any of them, but she would be willing to sacrifice herself. And this plays out when we get to her choosing what to do with the Stone of Nightsong in the Convergence. She's placed in the moment of choosing her own wishes and her own family versus what is best for her allies and this city, and she chooses not to sacrifice other people for the sake of her own desires. Vaelus was being honest here, when she spoke to Julien.
And that leads us to the "could or would" conversation between Thaisha and Occtis, which also is very juicy.
Then we get to Julien's questioning of Occtis, which is fascinating because Occtis does two separate things here while he's being defensive of himself, and then Matt mentions that Julien recenters himself and takes his questioning from a different (and imo softer and kinder) angle, but I'm not certain which thing Occtis mentions does it. Or maybe it's a combination of both. That might be the most likely.
a) Occtis reminds Julien that he was also a victim (and we know that this sticks with Julien, because he brings it up to Koral in the Convergence, before he kills him). "I didn't kill your family nor did I have a part in it. I died along with them."
b) Occtis reminds Julien that he is a noble of a higher rank than Julien's. (which is probably not an argument that won him points with Thaisha)
I mentioned in my meta about Julien and the importance of choice that it really feels like he's treating Occtis very similarly to how he approaches Aranessa, at least once we get to the latter part of the Convergence. I will keep an eye out to see if the change starts here or if it happened in the Convergence. Because Julien pushes back against both of Occtis's points but then stops here to shift his approach, and Matt specifically notes this moment in the narration, and then he acknowledges his own faults to Occtis ("my tendency to lash out") before continuing their conversation.
Thaisha is the one who goes back to Talter to try to encourage her to keep adventuring, which leads to Talter's vision and her being voluntold to come along to Tannesar. Her vision is very similar to Occtis's -- an orcish Barrowguard facing the undead.
Both Halovar and Tachonis (the priestly houses) were associated with Tannesar, "the place of wings", which was a location designed to create Celestials.
Julien does NOT want new people in his life right now. He just went through a whole interrogation and now there's a new person. Poor Talter did not deserve a sword to the throat, but Julien is also right that things in the Eternal Night will be worse than just a guy with a sword.
Occtis putting his foot in his mouth with Talter: "A person of faith, I always assumed, lacked a certain degree of intelligence."
Julien believing Thaisha when she says she blessed a rock to help keep away sandstorms and putting it in his pocket next to the flower that the knight gave him. Oh no. Oh that's so sweet.
They run into a sign of the Barrowguard at a frozen lake that was mined for fresh water, which is a cool note about how the Barrowguard survives in the Eternal Night when they have to come here.
Then we have the shadow attack. Or, to put it more accurately, we have Thjazi attacking Julien (per what Brennan said in the 4x031 cooldown). Because the whispering shades do not appear to do any physical damage here. They only whisper.
It's Thjazi who drags Julien off his horse (revenge for unhorsing him at Maharlian Falls?) and towards the darkness of the Eternal Night, giving him a whopping 19 points of damage. "Choked and crushed by your own shadow on your throat." Julien was still level 3 at this point, so he had a total of 39 hit points, which means that Thjazi almost knocked him down to bloodied with a single strike.
When Thaisha does Detect Magic, Julien is surrounded on all sides by spirits, while the other people have much fewer shades around them (this might be because Julien got a Nat 1, which is a 0 for him, on his Wisdom Saving throw). Thaisha can also sense the malice of the dead Shaper here.
Once Julien is saved from Thjazi, the group books it towards the ruins of the city, where they make camp and Occtis uses the book of stones. He receives a vision of an ancient sorcerous emperor creating this city by moving huge blocks of stone with telekinesis, and believes this was a member of the Sundered and Broken House of Kalystra. This leads to an even more ancient memory from the stone, where a Halovar priest spoke directly to Tansul, who wanted to give them the power to create Celestials, to guard against the possibility that his brother, Azgra, would strike him down.
"Why would you give us tools to use in an age without you?"
"A day may come when I will be gone but a day will come when I return."
"My dearest materials" = his human followers
Specifically pointing at the heart, which makes Occtis speculate that his family killed him and took his heart in an attempt to create a Celestial (correct!). Thaisha gives him a hug. <3
Occtis saying, "At least there was a reason why I died" is just heartbreaking.
When they reach the excavation site, it is an ancient obsidian temple, where they find the bodies of a dozen fallen Barrowguard. None of whom are Alogar. One of the bodies, revealed to be skeletal, was housing a hundred nightingales, which lift Vaelus up into the air.
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