Ready for Traveler Con 2k19 @criticalfrumpkin - Tumblr Blog

Yasha’s narrative: freeing herself from the binds of her past, so she can go on living her life. And finally she will be the one in control of her actions.

The Dice: 💖no💖

kalasie

Beau: *offers Vilya whiskey*

Vilya: no thank you, my family doesn't drink

Beau and Keyleth, briefly sharing Marisha's body: WHAT???

criticalrolo

The only one who's actually benefiting from their time on Rumblecusp is Sprinkles, who's probably failed his wisdom saves and has forgotten all, if not most, of his trauma by now.

GOOD FOR HIM NOT GONNA LIE

redjennies

I like how Grog's death by Craven Edge is so tense for the cast but the actions they're taking are actually hilarious? like Vex and Scanlan are desperately pouring ale and potions down his throat. Vax is off in the snow praying to the god of Death "hey maybe don't do your thing?" and the Raven Queen's just like "oh honey. no. :)" meanwhile, Pike's holding onto Grog's soul by a thread and Percy's basically yelling "drop it! drop it!" at a legendary cursed sword like it's a dog that's chewing on something it shouldn't be.

pocket-dragon

‘Here, let me carry you’

icouldbeherpocketbacon

A reveal and a realization

justalittlebluetiefling

The Mighty Nein: Campaign 2, Episode 102

Thanks, I’ll um…. I’ll keep my eyes open. But he’s a really good guy. He’s shown us nothing to the contrary.

dathen

#this is fjord manipulated by ukotoa stone#this is fjord stabbed himself to break free stone#this if fjord once betrayed by someone very close to him stone#this is fjord his mentor never trusted him with the truth stone (via @sockablock )

fjordfocused

Fjord: -heals Beau-

Yasha: Move I’m gay -heals Beau for 7x the amount-

fivegoldpieces

and if we get jester offering to message keyleth for vilya??

saintdollyparton

Keyleth just shows up and fucking wrecks Vokodo for keeping her mom hostage for 25 years.

sockablock

the fact that Travis is trying to commune with a gem-encrusted god of flame while Matt is wearing a shirt that says "I Love Eating Ass" and Sam is hitting Liam with a punching glove on a stick is exactly what dnd is about

disastervaxildan

matt: describes a super scary monster in great detail

my brain:

jonthethinker

There’s something just utterly fascinating about Yasha as character, and I think I finally want to put it in to words.

I hate to admit this, but I can go huge sections of an episode almost forgetting she is there. I don’t know whether I believe the Watsonian explanation, that she is shy and quiet and tends to stick to the back out of the spotlight, or the Doylist explanation, that Ashley is too nervous about over injecting herself into the action or just likes watching her friends or her natural introversion, or if it’s some combination of these things. but I’m always lured into a state where I just don’t think about her while everybody else is doing their thing.

But then, a Yasha moment happens, and as if I fell into a Gravity Well, I’m utterly consumed by thoughts of Yasha. When she is in the spotlight, everybody else may as well be the adults from Charlie Brown. All I can think of is Yasha.

It doesn’t help that Ashley has like a perfect batting average for her scenes. It feels like every time Yasha is the center of attention, it is one of the most memorable moments in the episode, if not the campaign in its entirety. It is as if she were a sniper, timing out those perfect shots, because she does not miss. But I don’t even think Ashley is doing this intentionally; it just is.

I mean every little detail I learn about her is so impossibly fascinating. When Ashley drops the lore, or when Matt hints at something with his exposition, there is nothing more important than crystallizing that information in my mind. Any little fact about her tribe or her wife or time with Obann feels like the most important information in the world.

I get caught up in this sombre, gentle giant, who likes flowers and has the most disarming sense of humor of the entire Mighty Nein, and then she just goes feral and eats a spider, or talks about how best to prepare a rat, or is bragging about sexual conquests that I can’t actually believe ever happened. She purposely gets the shit kicked out of her in an underground fighting ring as a form of self-punishment and release, but then just a little while latter just gets impossibly flustered because Jester talks about her arms or Beau says she’s beautiful. She’s fascinating.

Then the spotlight shifts and she slips from my mind back into the background, the wallflower growing in the cracks of an alley reclaimed by nature that I’m just passing through, that I admire the beauty of but as I exit the alley slips from my mind to be replaced by the noise of traffic and street barkers.

I’m happy that Ashley is back for the long haul, and I wonder if this feeling will fade, as Ashley grows more confident at the table, as Yasha allows herself to be tangled into the lives of her new family. I look forward to finding out.

luckthebard

I’m fascinated by the fact that, per in-game conversations as well as both of their meta playlists, Caleb and Veth have one of the deepest and most important relationships within the Mighty Nein, but fandom tends to not engage with it.

And I think it’s because it’s so unclear what that relationship actually is. And that’s not helped by the fact that the characters themselves seem to struggle with a label for it, and might not be on the same page.

Caleb assumes he must be less important to Veth now than she is to him because she’s been reunited with her family. Veth, on the other hand, still feels as strongly for Caleb as ever and is even harboring a crush on him that she’s not acting on because of her marriage. They feel like “family” to each other, but there’s no easily transferable familial label either of them have found to help clarify or codify that feeling. Veth, while once using “parental” to make a point to the rest of the group about the fact that she was not a child (back in the days when everyone assumed Caleb was like a father-figure), immediately after that conversation and ever since has rejected “motherly” labels for their relationship at every turn. Caleb once used the word “sister,” but tentatively, and hasn’t tried that label on since. Veth feels something romantic for Caleb, but will likely never act on it due to her history and present relationship with Yeza, even as she’s uncertain if, while she loves him, she might not be in love with Yeza anymore. Caleb shut down an inquiry from Beau about if he was “in love” with Veth in a romantic sense, but it’s entirely possible he just refuses to entertain the possibility because he knows she’s married. Caleb does excel at putting his feelings into controlled boxes.

We know more what they think they aren’t than what they are to each other. And there’s pining there right now, from both sides, but it’s hard to call it strictly either platonic or romantic. So I can’t help thinking that fandom at large, getting frustrated as every label they try to put on Caleb and Veth’s relationship has been overwritten or rejected or transformed as we’ve moved through the campaign, has reached a place where it honestly doesn’t know how to define their love for each other, and so just doesn’t engage with it.

lostsometime

that conversation they had at the menagerie, when caleb said “it’s a blessing to have family again” really really supports this. because veth’s response was something like “yeah… i don’t really know what our family is… you’re not my…” and then sort of trailed off, and caleb suggested “work in progress” and she sort of accepted that and let it go, but… she was definitely searching for a word there. “you’re not my…” son, brother, father, lover - none of the clear labels for familial relationships work here. yeza is her husband. luc is her son. caleb is… she doesn’t know. but he’s her something. or anyway, he’s hers, in some hard-to-define way. and she also kind of decides not to engage with it, at least for a while.

i think caleb’s a little more comfortable not having a definition, possibly because he doesn’t have any of the more “traditional” family labels left in his life? He knows he loves her, he knows the Nein are a family, and as for the rest, “sometimes words ruin it.” Which is quite a thing to say for mr. caleb “20 INT” widogast, but there it is and here we are!

luckthebard

Yes, that conversation directly speaks to this! These quotes are a very useful addition.

fadedlovemp3

everybody’s all “be gay do crime” this and “be gay do crime” that until essek steals some beacons and then it’s “that’s a war crime essek” and “that’s treason essek” and “people are dying essek” 🙄