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                                           things i just think are neat                                                             main: io-kj

[asmeesh]

New! Posters

Got early access to InPRNT's new poster prints! They've also got a sweet special on.

See my poster selection here :)

[quinn-of-aebradore]

So Mark Hulmes posted some thoughts on post-campaign Calianna on Twitter the other day and I for one am emotional

Calianna naming her children after Jester and Caleb may just be one of my favorite things now 🥺 Also dragon wives beloved

Hulmes considers this headcanon because it didn’t happen in game and Matt hasn’t approved it, technically, but it’s very sweet and Calianna is his soooooo. Canon. Yeah.

(I attempted to add alt text for all images but tumblr started replacing every image with the first one so… text transcripts would be greatly appreciated! 🥲)

[utilitycaster]

Pro tip: never start idly wondering which PC would win in a one-on-one match for each member of the CR cast between their campaign 1 and 2 characters

[utilitycaster]

physically L10 Percy could shoot L10 Caduceus but emotionally? imagine the toll

[your-turn-to-role]

You probably weren’t expecting someone to actually work this out, but I have no self control and love analysing D&D mechanics, especially my favourite characters, so I actually wrote it up!

Not every class is ideally suited for battle, especially not one on one fights, they all have different skills and some are going to be naturally way better at this than others. Still, here we go (under the cut to save people’s dashboards):

Keep reading

[bardly-working]

In response to Shadowgast nation desperate for Essek to show up and have dramatic/romantic moments with Caleb, I imagined something completely different:

Essek meets up with the Mighty Nein and very pointedly proceeds to comfort Fjord about his predicament: he’s sure the others will forgive him, after all. Oh, they might not call him for a month or two and give him no end of grief when they finally do see him (Veth and Beau in particular, of course), but they’ll come around! All he has to do is perform a few feats of magic so profound they might as well be considered miracles and then they’ll consider him one of the Nein again! After all, Essek gave away an artifact of religious and cultural significance as well! Granted, he didn’t give it to an entity that meant to unleash an evil demigod, but still, they’ll come around…

This surprisingly does make Fjord feel a little better, from as he takes comfort in both a) the fact that Essek is joking about it so he clearly thinks it’ll be okay, and b) the PURE INDIGNATION on Veth and Beau’s faces. Fjord and Essek spend the rest of the episode having overly dramatic “yes, we understand each other, we are both people who have done terrible things,” conversations.

[bardly-working]

Beau:  Essek, what the fuck, dude, I thought you actually felt bad, don’t try to trivialize— Essek:  Trivialize?  Absolutely not!  Light forbid such a thing, why, I have committed such an atrocity that none could possibly understand, except, of course, my good compatriot here. Fjord:  Yes, no one else could possibly understand the burden— Jester:  What?!  I was there, Fjord, I was literally there, I totally unders— Fjord:  The IMPOSSIBLE burden we carry, Yes, Essek, this weight is simply… simply too much to bear, some days. It is as though my very soul is rotten, my blood replaced with brine that draws me back to— Veth:  Oh my GOD give it a REST. Essek:  But know, my friend that… you were not born with brine in your veins. Fjord:  Oh! Did I learn it? Essek:  You learned it. Fjord:  Indeed. Do… do I have to go to Eiselcross now? Is that how this works?

In the background: Caleb:  Why are they making fun of me now?  I thought that was a very good speech… Jester: It was, Caleb! It was! Veth:  Yeah, y’know, especially for being off the cuff and everything— Kingsley:  I don’t understand anything that just happened but I think I hate it.

[bardly-working]

Yasha:  You know… I mean, I joined a Betrayer God once too— Fjord:  Oh my god, you did!  Come here! Essek:  Ah, yes, my Xhorhassian comrade, you understand our sorrow as well. Yasha:  Yes!  Our… sorrow! <Fjord nods encouragingly> Yasha:  It fills me with… anguish!  And lots of… bad feelings! Essek:  Truly, no one suffers as you suffer.

Seriously, I know it will never happen, but I just love the idea of Fjord (the butt of every joke), Yasha (the most awkward woman in Exandria), and Essek (who only knows one joke and it’s lying) teaming up to decide that they’re fucking hilarious.  This is their new running gag, and no they won’t stop.  They will run this bit into the fucking ground.

[ariadne-mouse]

This is all hilarious but I also like the idea in serious, because Fjord went over to comfort Essek when the first resurrection of Mollymauk failed.

[salamoonder]

ok i know there’s a lot of debate about the m9 vs vm and what kind of family they are and the whole ~dynamic~ and everything, so here’s my take:

the biggest difference is that vox machina consists of enough siblings to form a pseudo-family dynamic, while the mighty nein is made up almost entirely of extremely awkward only children who are making up the whole dynamic as they go along.

in vox machina, you’ve got keyleth and scanlan, only children.

pike and grog, together for long enough pre campaign that they are essentially siblings.

percy, vax, and vex, all intimately familiar with the sibling experience.

the thing about vox machina is that the siblings can keep the only children in check (who are of course always demoted to youngest in a friend group setting) as well as each other–since percy is a middle child, the twins are twins, and pike and grog are of similar ages, none of them would ever allow anyone to usurp the position of oldest child. keyleth and scanlan both have enough of the confidence of only children to keep themselves from being knocked down too far. it’s a perfect system of sibling and nonsibling checks and balances.

the mighty nein, on the other hand, consist entirely of only children (or functionally only children in beau’s case), with the exception of caduceus.

which means that the m9 is entirely “how does found family?? hugging? relationships? i was flirting and then it was RECIPROCATED?? are we allowed to fight??? is….jealousy?? how does forgiveness? awkward? why awkward??”

they’re building a unique dynamic entirely from the ground up. beau and caleb were the first ones to figure it out wrt the sibling system of checks and balances.

and in the MEANTIME, caduceus, being a middle child suddenly in a position to seize the position of eldest child, has tricked all of them into thinking that he knows what he’s talking about, and none of them know any better because they have never witnessed a middle child grab for power before.

[theoutcastrogue]

“Cerrit looks at the symbol of the Eyes of Avalir on his ring. The eye is sculpted to look down, ever watchful, the eyes of a city in the clouds.

On a 26 insight, you found many threats to the city of Avalir, long years of being exceptional, perceptive, intelligent, clever, your eyes ever peering down, cultists and criminals, even some magisters, some corrupt officials – but on a 26 insight, often ones without friends or connections.

The Eyes of Avalir never looked up.

And the price you paid was that here at the end of things, you still don’t get to hear the laughter of your children in this home, as was the case so many long nights of devotion and service.”

— Brennan Lee Mulligan, Exandria Unlimited: Calamity finale

See what Brennan did there? Brennan said, on a 26 insight, you finally understand what’s wrong with law enforcement: it enforces only downwards. It investigates and hounds the little people and the outcasts, and leaves the corridors of power unchecked. And it’s not a failure of individuals (this cop is corrupt, that one’s incompetent); that would be easily solved with better individuals, individuals like Cerrit, brilliant and honest and devoted. But it’s an institutional failure. The Eyes of Avalir were meant and made to look down, and never up.

Brennan said, y’all thought that because Cerrit’s the only non-magical guy in the Ring of Brass of the floating city of Avalir in the Age of Arcanum, he’s blameless? Think again! Everyone unwittingly contributed to the Calamity. The Leywright trio by hubris, the paladin by zeal and conviction, the fey by love (if Loquatius hadn’t killed the truth about Evandrin to protect Laerryn, she’d have to explain what she’s building in there, and crucial information could have come to light in time), and the cop by being a normal-ass cop, and thus missing every single clue that could prevent this – because every single clue was up above, and the Eyes of Avalir never looked up.

And then Brennan “I came here to hurt people” Lee Mulligan twists the knife and says, Cerrit, this is what you devoted your whole life to, this is what you spent all your energy on, this is why you missed on your own children growing up. For an institutional failure.

And on a 26 insight, here at the end of things, Cerrit finally takes off his badge ring and sets his fucking office on fire.

[jadeandquartzes]

[ID: The official Critical Role art of the city of Avalir, shown in daylight with fireworks bursting all around it.]

[essektheylyss]

I'm frankly so sick of the "Caleb was just sad" narrative, because it's such a reductive misreading of both his personality and his narrative. He is deeply self-destructive for much of the campaign, yes, but it's a by-product of guiltily smothering his righteous fury for as long as he has, and when he is not burning with that rage, he is simply tired with everything instead.

Fundamentally, he exists within the paradox of the fact that there is no end that he can see that would satisfy both the fury and the exhaustion. But at no point is he merely sad.

[thefriendlymurderer]

Obviously discussed to a degree with the idea of how fucking lonely Patia was in the end, but can you imagine what kind of childhood a person would have when their grandfather was the conceited founder of the city, and whatever happened with her parents was such that they were literally wiped from her memory and how goddamn fucked up a childhood that must have been.

[silverskyy]

#patia’s loneliness was haunting #one of the saddest things about calamity to me #it’s the kind of thing that isn’t romantically dramatically tragic. there’s very little catharsis to be gained #from loneliness and separation that never quite leaves a person even to the end #as mentioned in the wrap-up everyone else found or deepened connections in calamity — laerrryn & loquatious + zerxus & asmo & evandrin #nydas & his crew & zerxus & his brother and cerrit & his family #and at the end patia… didn’t. she reckoned with her harm and her hollowness but seemed just as almost-alone as she started #no one — pc or npc — was knocking on patia’s door for a final moment before the end. she made her own moment with a statue and a memory #sent off a plea for avalir to be remembered but not emulated and then went to die protecting her friend as she saved the city #patia the person was no one’s first priority including patia’s and including the narrative as a whole

#i think it’s sort of poetic that her ‘the city comes first’ outlook became so thoroughly true that it became her story #most of the others have stories about *them* — lovers reconciling - paladin’s fall from grace - father finally seeing family he overlooked #but what is patia’s story? she gave herself to the city and in the end that’s all there was. she was a mover in other people’s stories #but never really a main character in her own. she inhabited the margins & background on the assumption that it would be worth it For Avalir #and it wasn’t — at least in the way she likely thought precampaign. but what do you do when you understand that #you have nothing of yourself and the idea you gave everything to is falling down around you - rotten from the start #that the best hope for you is to be a side character in some other story that might end better than your own #you take whatever’s left around the hollowness and find the story you can change and you change it even if it’s from the margins #patia’s final actions & death powered other people’s narratives and that had to be enough bc in the end it was all she’d left herself to be #tl;dr patia’s aloneness is striking. it’s tragic in a small sad ugly way that never gets fixed. it informs who Patia is to the story #and sticks with me as i think about it obv 😂

[radsity]

her new dress is so beautiful [image description: an illustration of Laudna, from Critical Role. She is standing against a backdrop of creepy trees. She is wearing her new dress, and Pâté is on her shoulder. Her Hound of Ill Omen is standing by her side, staring ominously towards the viewer. She looks creepy and confident and very sexy because she has a girlfriend. End ID]

[counterspelling]

Endless Bells Hells

[sylvanfreckles]

I really want the Mighty Nein animated series to start with the fight with Lorenzo. Zoom in on Molly and freeze-frame, and he starts narrating. "I'm sure you're wondering how I got here. To answer that, we need to start at the beginning."

Smash-cut to Mollymauk waking up in the snow. "Too far back! Too far back! Closer to the middle, maybe."

Then the Nestled Nook. He's giving Jester a tarot reading while he narrates about meeting them and the beginnings of their adventure.

End of the season, back to the fight with Lorenzo. "So that's how we got here. And these people, these assholes, had finally become the family I'd always been searching for. And no one was going to keep me fr-"

Dies mid narration. Season close. 1000 points emotional damage.

[fey-wanderer]

by Couple of Kooks ( Linktree )

[fannish-tendencies]

I’m making a thing. I learned how to make stained glass so I could make this. The exu art is so amazing I want to make all of it in glass.

It’s going to nycc as a present for Travis.

Now to find a way to get it to him.

I think the original is by @agarthanguide. Go follow them. Their art is amazing.

[kroovv]

✨ Have a little fun before they put us in the ground✨

[pandaspwnz]

just finished rewatching EXU: Calamity and once again cried so much. It really is one of the most masterful stories I've ever seen/heard, and absolutely the best actual play series ever done, bar none. I'm in such awe of Brennan's dm'ing skills, I adore Marisha's beautiful showing of emotions, I love seeing how much Sam and Travis love their children via how much they feel for these fictional ones, Luis' portrayal of Zerxus was so heartfelt and grounded, Lou always brings his whole soul into what he does and this was no exception, and Aabria being willing to make the difficult choices and how she shows Laerryn's dedication is just. Ugh. chefs kiss. Not to mention the group dynamics, the Aabria-Travis hype man squad, the Marisha-Lou/Marisha-Luis grabby shenanigans, how Sam and Aabria play the perfect divorcees, they're all just so fantastic and did such a good job, etc etc. I truly love Calamity so much, I can't believe it's a real show, I can't believe how fucking GOOD it is. Every single one of those people brought their A-game, but I really do especially have to call out Brennan Lee Mulligan. The way that man portrays people and humanity, how even in the end of things he speaks of the importance of hope, how he narrates and weaves the most beautiful tales and makes it so alive and tangible, how he knows exactly when to drop in some comedy amidst tragedy without detracting from it... he's simply fantastic. I'm in awe of them all!!

[nowitsromeo]

“i’ve been thinking counterspell for a fucking hour!”

[wizardnuke]

do we think soltryce professors wear "traditional" wizard robes as a dress code. like soltryce prof business casual is probably wizard robes. caleb would not follow that. his students go thru like three classes where the profs are dressed like normal wizards and then walk into caleb "combat ready is my business casual" widogasts room, book holsters stormrider boots and all

[wizardnuke]

wizard-heavy social event ft. the assembly members and soltryce profs and everyone in the room is in full stereotypical wizard regalia except caleb and astrid are in their combat clothes. it's not that they think it's acceptable business casual they just like making everyone nervous, as they should be,

[wizardnuke]

actually to add to this bc i think about it a lot. why the hell wouldn't astrid and caleb go about their days in their usual combat-ready clothes. why wouldn't they let it be known, every single day, by everyone that they interact with, that they're seasoned fighters.

caleb would wear his holsters and his boots and his components to his classes and say, i am teaching you a skillset that you can use to keep yourself and your loved ones safe. bro's talking about the ethics and fallacies of wizardry with his sleeves rolled up to the elbow. there's no better way to engage with students than to prove to them that what they're learning can be used later in their lives, there's no better way to put a suspicion of authority and a fear of doing wrong in a kid than to show his scars and tell the stories (i was your age when he-) of how it went wrong, what to watch for, the when why and how of it and physical proof. and to show what he's learned since! to show how he's grown and how he, caleb fuuucking widogast, took down an archmage!

meanwhile. astrid, successor and usuper of trent ikithon, rocks up to every assembly meeting in her volstrucker regalia, no illusions over her scars and tattoos, and stares really, really hard at whoever's talking.