#c2e04

[ariadne-mouse]

it's so funny this occurs in episode 4 considering where the M9 end up, but also, more like: unsung heroes whose identities are in no way secret, just. not given much mind, and simply have enough notoriety with a very small number of the right people that they get voluntold in absentia to go to the moon and take out a centuries-old dictatorship

[songofwizardry]

ok I’ve gotten to Beau’s training montage with Dairon in my nein again watch, and that scene is suuuper interesting to me with some hindsight and time!

the early M9 habit of scenes without other people there is something I find very interesting. like, I can get why they stopped, but they lend themselves to a fascinating sort of intensity that I’m not sure we’d get with the whole table there.

I do love Dairon’s whole spiel here. like, I love how fuck-off Beau is about it (the whole “I have a burn from you blowing smoke up my ass” bit is incredible), but also Dairon just like. fucking takes it in stride and keeps going? idk, I think this moment is both a great character introduction to Dairon and really just. starts off and underpins Beau’s whole arc for the whole campaign (and it’s why it’s in my favourite-quotes-re-Beau-and-authority post, but I hadn’t actually listened to it in a while)

on the note of authority: damn, Beau is right on the fucking nose re what happened with Thoreau and Zeenoth. it’s literally one of the first things she says about her backstory, in episode 4! it speaks a lot to how she views the Soul at that moment: they are a corrupt institution/authority, she pretty much knows what happened, and she’s saying it because has no faith in that getting dealt with or her ever seeing justice or that authority held to account

which makes the payoff in a hundred-ish episodes even better, I think. Dairon took this asshole of a trainee monk who they’d just fucking met at her word when she said she’d been fucked over by the Soul, and followed that through, right to the very end. it makes me think of how Matt (I think? Or it could’ve been Marisha? In a Talks?) said this was… essentially a fantasy of “what would it look like if people were believed when they said they were abused by someone in power” and. yeah.

speaking of Dairon: I had managed to forget that this was Beau and Dairon’s first meeting. like, Beau did not even recognise Dairon before this. what a first meeting, but also, I think the way Dairon responds to Beau (and the bond that they develop) maybe explains why I think of them having known each other for much longer

lol I also forget that the expositors are technically mentioned here as being the “bogeymen” of the Soul. not sure that holds up with later campaign lore but it is interesting to remember!

Beau is such a fucking asshole and I love her for it. and I love Dairon’s whole “you need assholes get shit done” bit. it’s been really interesting for me to listen to how… standoffish and brusque early-campaign Beau is, but also like… how much genuine emotion is behind that? idk it’s very well played I think

ok on the note of emotion: immediately after Beau goes to the rest of the party and is like “I got recruited to join this secret thing that I totally can’t tell you about” and proceeds to tell them the whole thing. incredible. no notes. fucking adorable and a good reminder that Beau is… really quite young and these are kinda the first people she’s connected with in a while! but also hilarious

(also yes, I am incredibly behind on my nein again relisten. I will catch up. eventually.)

[ashleyinwondrland]

Mystery figure “Beau can you come with us”

Fjord about to defend his very new buddy “are you ok with this?”

Beau “yea I’m ok”

Mystery figure “don’t worry we will bring her right back”

Molly “it’s ok, we aren’t that attached yet”

Not sure if that was in character or just Taliesin but it had me laughing.

[acebender]

God bless Dairon for giving Beau, the very first night they met, the opportunity to beat the shit out of Zeenoth.

[ariadne-mouse]

Sam is such a hilarious little shit when Ashley is having Yasha bow out of traveling (because of course Ashley herself has schedule commitments and will be gone for a bit), and he loudly replies as Nott, "WHY? WHATCHA DOIN?" and continues to press for the details of an answer that absolutely isn't there in-game lmao

[ariadne-mouse]

Beau getting TWO natural 20s on her attacks against Dairon once she unleashes her anger - connected to the memory of her father - is such a great moment of the dice helping tell the story

[ariadne-mouse]

Kentucky Beauregard, hefting the massive severed head of the nergaliid and grinning: told ya we were gonna go frog giggin'

[ariadne-mouse]

The amount of "making my ways" in these early M9 episodes that are just. stated and moved on from. Truly, a different time