I believe that we Bolaire scholars of the Halaire Enjoyers discord are onto something here, so I'm sharing the theory now so we can say we called it if we're right:
The play that killed the trickster goddess Rauwyn was not performed by halflings. It was performed by her own celestials. The masks of the panto were crafted to be able to bodysnatch celestials and make them perform the play against their will.
Most likely the halfling conspirators presented the masks to the celestials as gifts, and then the runes inside the masks did their work and took them over: Trojan masks. A grand trick the halflings pulled on the tricksters who ruled them.
There's quite a lot of evidence to support this theory. Includes spoilers through episode 17.
Why is there a coffin for a halfling celestial (Olbalad) with a creepy magic mask in it? Explanation: that's the mask that took over Olbalad for the play.
If the masks were worn by willing halfling actors, then why are they sentient and why can they body snatch people? If they were worn by halflings, they wouldn't need to be sentient or bodysnatching, just magical, like the staves of night or the Last Arrow. But if they were meant to be worn by Rauwyn's celestials, they would need to be sentient and bodysnatching.
There's several points where Bolaire appears to be able to detect celestial vibes specifically. Brennan describes him reacting viscerally to the coffin. When he sees the lights of the Palazzo Davinos go out in episode 4, Brennan says Bolaire gets very bad vibes from it. We now know from episode 17 that the ritual the Tachonis did with Occtis in there was to summon a celestial.
Brennan called the fatal play "opening and closing night of the greatest play Aramán has ever known but no mortal witnessed." That's because the audience was not mortal (Rauwyn) but also because the actors were not mortal (celestials).
In the scene where Murray and Bolaire study the coffin, when Brennan says "Olbalad", Taliesin looks down at his notebook and gets an "oh shit" expression on his face and quietly says "oh no". Why does he recognize that name? Because he knows which masks went with which celestials.
This theory also would explain why Lady Cormoray is onto Bolaire and clearly wants him for herself. As a mask capable of controlling a celestial, Bolaire would be an amazing check on the power of the Halovars for any rival House that's aware of what they have in the basement.
This theory also explains why Bolaire is so rough on mortal bodies, degrading them over time: he was designed to be worn by a celestial, not a mortal.
Shoutout to @miladydragon, @schemer-aishama, and tareacel for brainstorming this theory with me. It was so much fun.
I've avoided the anti-Aabria shit by having moots who are better than that, but I've been seeing some of the backlash that seems to miss the point a smidge.
Thaisha is not being rational. She's being emotional. That's part of what makes this choice by Aabria interesting.
When my friend's son died, I was angry at everything and everyone. I was irritable. I knew it, and I avoided being around people, so I wouldn't take it out on them. I can't imagine the horrible things I would have said if I'd been stuck with a group of 4+ other people for 48 hours straight. It would have been nasty. If my child was in danger, and I couldn't find him, and the people around me were slowing me down? I would be so ugly.
All things considered, Thaisha's keeping it together rather well. But that doesn't mean that it's OK that she's taking it out on Occtis. He's correct that she "shouldn't" be snapping at him about things that aren't his fault.
And Occtis takes it personally because he's young and hasn't experienced anything like this before. He assumes that she's mad at him for what he's saying. It doesn't occur to him that she's scared and frustrated, and that's why she's angry. He has no frame of reference for watching other people treat someone who is Going Through It with grace. That's something he needs to learn, and it's the kind of thing Thaisha probably would teach him, if she weren't so very angry.
She knows she's taking it out on him, and she knows that "if you need me to be a calm, motherly figure and not jump on your ass about this, I'm happy to do that" isn't the only alternative. But she's too angry to be rational about it, and that's so real.
It's not that Thaisha's wrong and Occtis is right, nor that Occtis is wrong and Thaisha is right. It's that they're both right and both wrong at the same time, and that's why Aabria & Alex's choices are so interesting to watch.
never lose hope. somewhere, a middle-aged, gender ambiguous person with an advanced degree in an esoteric field and a fiber arts hobby could be crashing out and pinning all their remaining mental health on getting obsessed with your otp. any day now, the most elegantly written 100k fanfic you have ever read is going to hit ao3. it could happen. it has happened.
and then they found ancient magic that held the key to each of their life’s work! and it was based on their two schools of magic intertwined!! and it was bound up with each of their greatest regrets!!!! and they set it aside to save the world together knowing that they would come back! that they must come back!! together!!!!!!! and then they agreed to destroy it and stop looking backward and seek to heal each other and the world instead! and then they fell in love!!!!!!!!
Ever wonder what the top spell cast during Campaign 3 was? What about who rolled the most nat 20s, how many healing potions got used, or how long Bells Hells were adventuring for? At long last, we are thrilled to share ~C3 At A Glance!~
Before we get started: all of this data is available at omenarchive.com/c3, and there’s MUCH more—each of these categories is linked to a page with detailed breakdowns, rankings, time stamps, transcript excerpts, descriptions, and the like. For now, though, we wanted to give you a basic tour of what’s new.
(This is a long one—click below to keep reading!)
Let’s start with time. C3 took place over 1,205 real-world days, mapping to a round 100 days in-game: from 17 Brussendar to 24 Quen’pillar of 843 PD (dates confirmed by CR). That’s a little over 14 weeks, or three months.
The campaign ran 506 hours, 36 minutes, and 9 seconds long. The average episode was 4:11:12 long, with an average gameplay length of 3:46:50. Our total gameplay time spent with Bells Hells was 421:43:21, which is about 17.57 days.
The top episode for critical successes was C3E120, with 18 PC nat 20s, and the top-critting PC was Orym, with 89. All in all, Bells Hells rolled 519 natural 20s... and 336 natural 1s, with Orym again taking the lead at 57.
The party cast 1862 spells and 1162 cantrips, with the favorite spells being Sending, Cure Wounds, and Detect Thoughts, and the favorite cantrips being Guidance, Druidcraft, and Prestidigitation. The top caster was Imogen with 667 spells/cantrips followed by FCG with 574.
We’ve got every spell logged, which means lists of top spells/cantrips by caster! Yes, even Ashton (thanks to Pass Without Trace). There’s too much to summarize, so see below for details—it's worth a look. And visit each individual character’s page for their full list. (Chetney / Laudna / Dorian / FCG / Braius / Fearne / Imogen / Orym / Ashton)
Time for some battle stats! First, it’s worth noting that we’ve divided up the data to clarify which stats refer only to Bells Hells, which include guests, and which are for the campaign as a whole. In some cases, we’ve listed both overall rankings and BH-exclusive rankings.
Our top damage dealers for C3 were Imogen (5271 HP), Orym (4321), and Ashton (4081). The top BH episodes by damage dealt were C3E120 (3231 HP), C3E117 (936) and C3E91 (904). Collectively, BH + guests dealt 26493 HP of damage.
That damage added up to 225 kills by BH + guests, with the top killers being Ashton (38), Imogen (37.33), and FCG (31.5). Matt asked “How do you want to do this?” for 88 of those kills.
As for damage taken, Ashton and Orym lead the pack with 2651 HP and 2440 HP. The top BH episodes by damage taken were C3E120 (1239 HP), C3E091 (950), and C3E80 (614). In total, the party (including guests) took 16991 HP of damage.
Over the course of the campaign, 34 healing potions were used, 243 HP of suffering were transferred, and PCs gave out 5862 HP of healing. The top healers were FCG (1451 HP), Trist (770), Deanna (711), Dorian (706), and Fearne (443).
Of course, the campaign wasn’t without casualties. There were 61 KOs during Campaign 3, with Orym knocked out most often (10 times) followed by Ashton and Fearne (9 times each). C3E033 and C3E091, the two Otohan fights, led in PC KOs, with 9 and 8 respectively.
There were 10 PC deaths, 3 of which were permanent. Interestingly, Ashton is the only PC to have died more than once (neither time in combat!), and Imogen and Dorian are the only founding members of BH never to have died at all.
Now, here comes the fun stuff! They say the dice tell a story, but numbers do too.
We’ve collected data—lots and lots of it—on things like which maneuvers Orym used most often (Goading Attack, 66 times, and Bait and Switch, 41 times), how many times Imogen and FCG read minds (67 and 24 respectively), and how many times Laudna used her Form of Dread (41).
We’ve also got detailed data on uses of Sending (159, with 91 by Imogen) and Druidcraft (53, 50 by Orym), instances of Fearne’s Wild Shape (58, 28 of which turned her into animals like a slow loris and a giant shoebill), and Ashton’s rages (gravity was the most frequent type).
Plus, of course, kisses, of which there were a heartwarming 81.
We highly recommend clicking through to the main pages for each of these data types, as there’s a LOT more than meets the eye.
During the course of the campaign, Chetney carved 42 items, Laudna called people capable 29 times (26 of them were Imogen), Dorian used Bardic Inspiration 21 times, Imogen had 17 dreams, and FCG and those who loved him said “smiley day” 88 times.
FCG also baked 34 items and made and/or inspired 68 mentions of their flesh tongue, as well as 35 references to the planet being flat. Sorry, Matt.
Braius painted 7 portraits (we have time stamps!), Imogen’s eyes flashed 31 times (we have descriptions!), and Fearne successfully stole 30 items (she probably still has most of those!).
She also referred to herself by eight titles, our favorite of which is Professor Princess Fearne Calloway, Fey Scion of the Ancient Flame.
As for Ashton, they said “fuck” a total of 1401 times, plus 329 more in Taliesin’s character narration. We’ve got a list of them all.
The Quintessence Array was used ten times, on eight objects and two people. Delilah Briarwood was mentioned 152 times, and the Matron of Ravens 211 times. (Those are both subjective numbers—check out our charts for detailed lists of occurrences.)
1531 items were exchanged, and the episode with the most items exchanged was C3E012 Make it Fashion, with 67 items.
There were 89 whispers, Sam wore 22 different shirts with the cast’s faces on them, Marisha waved 14 fans, and Matt made 81 beautiful battle maps.
We saw 42 beloved PCs, all of whose first and last scenes are catalogued here.
Last but not least, Matt facepalmed a grand total of 343 times, with the most facepalmworthy episode being C3E032. We don’t know about you, but we think it’s time for a full rewatch. Is it Thursday yet?
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