I've never seen an actual play that feels as much like a fantasy novel as this one other than possibly early Campaign 2, and I think the fact that the party is walking in small villages in the rain is why. We need more people being miserable in the rain early on in their story. It's not optional.
It’s a good time to be a Critical Role fan. Only a few days ago, Amazon Prime released the preview for Mighty Nein, the animated…
It’s not just the fact that these characters exist: it’s who they are. An allo viewer going into the series with misconceptions about all aspecs being cold, unattractive loners would have a hard time keeping that impression after watching Critical Role. Who could see us as uncaring after witnessing Keyleth’s huge heart, Caduceus’s kindness, Dariax’s cheerfulness, or Essek’s devotion to his friends?
Anyone else feel like it’s the night before their debut at an Olympic sport getting ready to try and secure live show tickets for their friend group tomorrow?
Imogen snorts into her drink at the thought, ludicrous as it is, and appraises the room around her. She’s tipsy, she realises, as her gaze moves languidly across the room like pulling a spoon through honey, her thoughts warm and hazy at the edges. The cool presence of Laudna presses into her left side, bony shoulder resting comfortably against her own. Laudna shoots her a quizzical glance, but Imogen just giggles again, and Laudna goes back to listening to Fearne’s story (Imogen has long since lost track of what insane adventure she’s recounting).
“Are you alright, dear?” Laudna leans over to press her lips to the side of Imogen’s head affectionately, whispering in her ear as she does.
“Yeah! Yeah. I’m ok. I just… I can’t hear anythin’.” Somewhere in the haze of her drunkenness, she feels a sharp pang in her chest, and decides to take another long glug from her tankard, fingers wrapped around it protectively.
Laudna smiles. “It’s quite the party in here, considering… well.” She glances around at the crowds of people clustered around tables and perched on barstools, drinking and talking away the calamitous events of the day. “Clearly the followers of the Everlight process change differently to the rest of this city.”
Imogen frowns. “Huh? Oh. Yeah.” She trails off, not sure of how to voice what she means. Her words burble out of her like hiccups. “It’s just so quiet.”
Laudna arches an eyebrow at her, confused. “I think that might be the mead talking.” She grins at Imogen, an adorable mix of relief and exhaustion on her face. “Which - speaking of - it looks like you’re running low, and if I hear Fearne tell one more story about what she plans to do with Teven Klask, I fear I’ll never get that image out of my brain. So I’ll take this opportunity to top you up.”
Oh. Imogen looks down, and realises she had emptied her tankard with that last draught. Laudna squeezes her forearm before extricating herself from the table, and Imogen pouts at the loss of the reassuring coolness of Laudna’s skin against her own. She rubs her temple instinctively: for the first time in her life, not because of the overwhelm of everyone else’s minds crowding into hers, but the abscence of it.
She watches Laudna float through the crowd towards the bar, trying to process her confusion, and the emptiness inside her mind.
It’s been a long time coming, but I’ve finally finished another chapter of Everything Else Is Just Noise. It’s been slow progress, but we’re nearly there! This is probably my favourite chapter yet, sp I hope you all enjoy it. Special thanks to anyone that interacted with my previous poll/post about my writing, you really helped spur me on to get this finished!
“Sorry. I’m talkin’ a lot. I’m sure you don’t wanna hear my ramblin’, after…” Imogen looked down, leaving the sentence unfinished. Not wanting to bring up the pain of Laudna’s traumatic few days - or the anguish Imogen had felt in her absence.
Leaving unspoken the fact that talking to Laudna was Imogen’s favourite thing in this world. That she hadn’t been sure if she was ever going to be able to do it again. That she’d spent days agonising over their last conversation and if they were the last words they would ever speak to each other, obsessing over every word, trying to recall every minute facial expression and engraving it into her memory in case it were the last she’d ever see of Laudna alive.
“Oh, that’s quite alright, dear.” More of that wine-warmth flushed through Imogen at that. “I love watching you with the horses - even if I’m not a huge fan myself,” she added, casting a narrowed eye back over her shoulder towards the barn. “It’s like… I can see the worry fade away from you, when you’re around them. You have this confidence, and I just…” This time Laudna trailed off. Imogen found herself leaning in slightly, hanging on to the end of the sentence. She couldn’t help but feel a small glow of pride in herself at Laudna’s words, and the feeling was addictive. It took all she had to focus on her mental walls, not wanting to intrude into Laudna’s thoughts, but desperate to chase that feeling.
Laudna’s voice was quiet; bashful, almost. “To be honest, I love watching you experience those little bits of joy. That mundane happiness, the simple pleasures that come with being around the animals. Nothing makes me happier.” This time it was Laudna’s turn to look down, embarrassed (though Imogen couldn’t understand why). “I - I hope that’s okay.”
Somewhere in the course of the conversation, the anxiety that had buzzed like flies around Imogen had transformed into butterflies erupting in her chest. Her breath shuddered in her ribcage, but when she breathed out, that cold, skittering feeling had disappeared, replaced by an eerie warmth. Perhaps it was down to the wine that seeped through her veins, but she felt the protective barriers she had so carefully constructed starting to unpick themselves, piece by piece. In that same instant, she recognised that as much as she tried to convince herself they were for Laudna’s privacy and protection, in reality, they were as much to shield her own mind - her own heart - from this strange ache that emanated from within her.
If you could fill out this survey for my school project it’ll be greatly appreciated!!
Microsoft Forms
I’m doing a project about identity community and mental health benefits of D&D for my HSC Personal Interest project for Society & Culture. If you can and have time please fill it out it’ll be greatly appreciated 🫶🫶 please also reblog I would love as many responses as possible :)
Putting myself out there since I have such huge writers block atm but have a week off to actually do some writing for fun, so I’ve decided to let tumblr help me decide!
Which of these WIPs should I work on next?
Imodna post-campaign epilogue - Imogen loses her powers, chapter 1
Vex/Keyleth - Keyleth goes to Whitestone the night after 1st Malleus Key fight
Imodna post Laudna’s resurrection in Whitestone (2 chapters left!)
Dorian/Dariax that’s also extremely Dorian/Orym even though Orym isn’t there
Imodna - on Ruidus the night before the assassination attempt on Liliana
Having (finally) just finished What Doesn’t Break, I am *shocked* it took Imodna 2+ years to realise they were in love with each other…
Their first interaction was Imogen risking her life in front of an angry mob to save Laudna whilst Laudna fantasised about holding her hand and running away with her
Asdfghjjk there is something so Tolkienesque about these grown men telling stories to each other and trying to one-up how to express how much they mean to each other, through the power of deep platonic love and storytelling.
Liam and Brennan and Matt have ripped out my heart in the best way 😭
not but I'm thinking about the fact that we're not going to see Laura Bailey look at Laudna like this every Thursday anymore and I don't actually know if I'm okay gang
Look in my headcanon Vexleth have been fucking since at least when Vax got orbed, if not before, so I can’t wait for that conversation now Vax is back for good
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