time. not weeks, or years. it takes time.

bri / 25 / she•her / not spoiler free sorry/ bri.flow on ig! / main -> @goldensparrows / i apologize in advance for the chaos and unorganization of this shitty blog // critical role, dimension20, transformers, and the few odds and ends ✌🏽 icon by yours truly 💕

[foldbaron]

[zmeess]

*draws cartoons like one of your live action movies*

i'm still and forever on that Kryn Drow Are Bug Elves train, so i absolutely had to redraw that beautiful shot with my version of kryn armor. totally headcanon that Essek is wearing one of his mama's suits by the way, specially enchanted to facilitate being used by squishy wizards i assume

tip jar!

[foxxology]

that's rough buddy

[prismantis]

gif for whenever you need to lock in

[bloodraven55]

[adventuretfox]

My son got thee biggest stummy ache and he deserves some pjositive attention for being so bjrave and getting through it

[ihaveanaxe]

NEVER KILL YOURSELF !!!

[a-really-bad-decision]

I love the kryn dynasty, they really went “let’s make this 22 year old grad student the head of the FBI” and genuinely didn’t think he’d betray them when they denied his research grant

[sundayswiththeilluminati]

Hey like here’s the thing: literally everything about Essek’s entire deal is the platonic ideal of an espionage target.

First off he’s:

in a position of high access & authority with minimal oversight (in fact he would likely be the one assigned to investigate his own espionage)

socially isolated, having few family/friends to provide perspective, talk him out of it, or notice odd behavior

not personally invested in the assets the targeting agency wants to obtain, not being consecuted himself and therefore risking little by trading away the beacons

Then there’s his motives. For decades espionage officers have recruited targets based on the acronym MICE: Money, Ideology, Conscience, Ego. Essek is the definition of an ego-motivated asset. Essek:

is convinced of his own uniqueness and deserving nature

sees himself as unfairly denied or passed over

has no family or friends to whom he can vent frustration over these grievances

feels unheard or dismissed by superiors

believes he has no legitimate avenues to change the status quo or get back at those he resents

has no close personal associates who would be hurt by his actions (i.e. is insulated from the consequences)

He was perfect. The Cerberus Assembly couldn’t have dreamed of a better asset to recruit. 

But then. Then. Then the most amazing part is that when the M9 blew into town they accidentally laser-targeted every reason that made him such a good intelligence asset. They:

hit him rapid-fire with the consequences of his actions (Veth’s despair over losing her husband, the team being caught in the crossfire in Zadash, the dunamantic potions the Cerberus Assembly was creating with intent to distribute to the Empire’s army)

listened to him talk about his unorthodox ideas with genuine interest, proving that the Cerberus Assembly weren’t the only people who thought like he did slash were interested in what he was doing

let him vent his frustrations without judgement and even sympathized

made sure he knew they appreciated his assistance even when he was just “doing his job”

showed him the world beyond the rigid, inflexible society he felt trapped in and gave examples of people (Caleb, Beau, Yasha) who had escaped strict authorities to live their own lives. 

So while it might seem weird to say, “The drow traitor who was willing to sell out his country’s religious foundation for personal knowledge totally changed his mind because he found some friends,” the crew really were the exact impact he needed to shock him out of the mindset for espionage and into “oh god what have I done.”

Essek isn’t unusual among spies in this. In fact many assets say that they made their opening move for reasons they came to regret but at that point felt they were too far in to quit. Some attempt to sever the relationship and hope no one notices their past transgressions - the M9 caught Essek in the middle of trying to do just that with Ludinus at the peace treaty. But intelligence agencies aren’t in the business of doing what their assets want; they’re in the business of exploiting them to the fullest. Ludinus likely planned to wait a little while, let Essek stew in guilt and panic, then lean on him increasingly hard to force him either to spy for or defect to the Assembly using the dual threats of Scourger assassination & exposure of his crimes. 

But then the crew came in and ruined Ludinus’ plans by confronting Essek & making him confess (meaning he couldn’t return to spying) and by pulling him out of his ongoing panic attack up in Eiselcross and assuring him that he had allies who wanted to help and would back him up (showing him the Assembly was not the only way out of his situation). It’s hilariously textbook and as far as I can tell the crew did it entirely by accident. The M9 are unintentional counter-intelligence geniuses. I love it. I love them so much.

(This accidentally turned into a series on Essek & IRL espionage: Parts 1, 2, 3, 4)

[your-turn-to-role]

@theatricdawn here you go

[occidentalavian]

Campaign 4, Episode 2: Broken Wing

[cassafrasscr]

More evidence that Bolaire is a character specifically made for me...

As a former museum curator, Bolaire is right. If you don't know exactly where a new item came from and it looks even slightly suspect, you DO NOT touch that shit with your bare hands. Depending on what you're dealing with, you might need to suit up, or even call in a specialist.

Many items have to be quarantined and tested for various hazards depending on what they're made of. Old taxidermy that was treated with arsenic. Items contaminated with mold or pests. Silver nitrate photo negatives that can spontaneously combust. Biohazardous items. Chemical hazards. Radioactive materials. I've even heard of museums receiving unexploded munitions from the World Wars and having to call the bomb squad.

Curses are honestly the least of your worries, lol. 😂

[poqu]

floating~

[flowersforvax]

I love how- when Campaign 2 started we were like "IF YOU EVER WANTED TO START CRITICAL ROLE, NOW IS THE TIME BECAUSE IT'S A NEW CAMPAIGN WITH NEW CHARACTERS SO YOU DON'T NEED TO KNOW ANYTHING AND-" We were pretty chill, all things considered. And also we were right.

So when campaign 3 started we were like "IF YOU EVER WANTED TO START CRITICAL ROLE, NOW IS THE TIME BECAUSE IT'S A NEW CAMPAIGN WITH NEW CHARACTERS SO YOU DON'T NEED TO KNOW ANYTHING AND-" boy were we wrong. Insanely wrong. lmao.

Anyway! Nevermind all that! Campaign 4 of critical role starts soon and if you ever wanted to start getting into critical role NOW IS THE TIME! COME IN, THE WATER'S WARM, THE CAST IS EXPANDING, NEW CHARACTERS, NEW DM, NEW WORLD, NO PRIOR KNOWLEDGE NECESSARY THIS TIME, WE PROMISE

[occasionallysubtle]

bringin' back my gen 3 pokezodiac thru september 15th ~ AND if ya buy 2 archival prints from my sale section i'll include a FREE 12x16 gen 3 pokezodiac print of your choice ! just email me your order # and the pokezodiac print you'd like ~ bonus i'll lower the risk of damaging archival prints when i move lol

[diblmetta]

no-clipped

[kerosene-in-a-blender]

I've been watching Takes Unrolled (highly recommended, if anyone reading is considering it) and one thing I really like about it is how grounded in the community of Alma and their connections to each other the main party is. Something which has thrown to sharp relief how individualistic the ethos of Critical Role Campaign 3 ended up being.

Despite the stakes of the campaign being setting-reshaping, the main party was insular to the point that they never took the time to consider what everyone else in the world would want as an outcome for the gods, and when they had an idea of what the consensus of the peoples of the world was, via the plan created by the Exandrian Accord, they ultimately betrayed them for their own whims. They also never seriously considered what would be the most fair outcome for the Ruidians at the end of it all (indeed, when the time came to advocate for them, Bells Hells complained about having to do it), despite lamenting their lot after scouting the Red Moon. The party also never meaningfully built alliances or relationships outside their own ranks; of their major allies in the endgame, only one -Ira Wendagoth- was not a part of any character's backstory. And this was not for lack of options, Bells Hells could have built tighter connections with the Volition, or the Grim Verity, or any of the numerous other factions that had a stake in this, they simply did not.

Bells Hells, and indeed the narrative as a whole, also had an issue with conflating the individual with the systemic, something others have noted. Notably, the attempted takeover of the town of Hearthdell by worshipers on the Dawnfather from Vasselheim ultimately given less weight in the endless debates of whether or not the gods are worth saving than the gods not giving Imogen or Ashton everything they asked for the moment they asked for it. Indeed the meat of those debates themselves never touched on what the people of the world, worshipers of the gods or not, would want, and no effort was ever expended on the part of Bells Hells to ask. On the level of the narrative, there is no evidence in the text of the campaign of systemic religious abuses by the gods or their championing institutions beyond the single example of Hearthdell. While both Tuldus and Bor'dor experienced religiously motivated violence that drove them into the Vanguard, neither's experience points to systemic issues, rather they indiciate a family using religion as a means of abuse (Tuldus) or religion was ultimately ancillary to what was more an issue of social class (Bor'dor). The Exandrian Accord gives equal weight to the voices of those who follow the Exandrian Pantheon and those who don't; Keyleth's speech to the Accord before the final attack on the Malleus Key is just as important as the High Hierophant's. Despite gestures towards the idea that Ruidusborn may be persecuted by the religious, Fearne and Imogen are at worst distrusted, and in Imogen's case that has less to do with being Ruidusborn as it is being the daughter of one of Ludinus Da'leth's right hand women. And in this absence of portrayed systemic issues, the individual poor experiences of Tuldus or Bor'dor or Imogen and Ashton or even Ludinus himself in end, wind up being held up as examples of systemic problems when they simply are not.

Much has also been discussed about how the narrative of C3 had to warp itself in order to push Bells Hells through it in the role of the main characters, given their constant refusal to make decisions and constant attempts to abdicate their responsibilities. One thing that resulted from this is the narrative saying: These are the main characters because they are Special Individuals. The party gets to go to Ruidus because Imogen and Fearne are Ruidusborn and one is needed for this mission, likewise this is why they are ultimately sent after Ludinus. Rather then being sent because they are the best people for the job or because they are particularly passionate about it, they're simply Special and therefore get to do this big important thing. Again, others have noted how apt the title "Complicated Chosen" ended up being for them, and one aspect of that is it reflects how their role in the Red Solstice was dictated far more by who they were rather than what they did.

The result of all of the above is narrative that centres the individual person, who they are and what they want and what they have experienced, far beyond the wider community and how individual fits within it and contributes to it. And for a story with such world-shaking stakes and such a setting-altering outcome as Catatheosis, being so individual was ultimately to its detriment, because it ended up feeling like the protagonists imposing their will on the world, rather than doing what they did in service to it.

[undead-knick-knack]

[zhellers]

have a quick essek