#c4e25

[prizefiter]

me when i lie

[manasaysay]

"I am the first person since the fall of the Shapers to return from the dead," she says into the mic.

The crowd cheers. She begins to walk off the stage in triumph, when a voice speaks and commands silence from the room

"She's wrong."

Yanessa looks for the owner of the voice. There in the third row stands: Occtis Tachonis.

[mareastrorum]

It has been a rollercoaster.

[kiwimintlime]

fucking insane that Sergeant Sad Eyes over here had the better childhood of the Nayar siblings

[quiscuit]

Mayali come baaaaaack :(

This took a hot second to make, but I really enjoyed this combat and the whole Schemer's Arc in general! Very glad the hounds are safe :,D ALSO! I don't like asking for this sort of thing, but I'm trying to get onto VGen to start doing commissions, so any like or comment is greatly appreciated! <3

[masterqwertster]

I'm not going to argue that Bolaire casting Command on Azune to stop him from going after the executioner because he attacked Mayali was good or nice or kind. It is still mind-whammying your friend/ally while in a vulnerable state. But Bolaire could have been much more forceful, truly asked Azune to be a thing instead of a person, and he didn't.

The Command could have been "Halt", "Freeze", or most damningly after hearing "I'm not a thing. I'm a person" it could have been "No" like Bolaire did to Murray for the stone giant's hand. Halt is in the spell's description, so it has Rules as Written effects: no movement, no Action, no Bonus Action.

Any of those commands, had they landed, would have 100% taken the choice to attack out of Azune's hands. You think you're a person but I'm not giving you a choice nor respecting your autonomy. You cannot do this because I'm wielding you and I say no.

Instead, Bolaire's Command was "Calm". And as it is not in the spell description, Brennan has set the rule back in ep 4 that the affected creature gets to interpret the command as they see fit. You can attack calmly, kill calmly. Do what you want, but you must be calm.

Calm is an ask to take a breath, and think about whether or not this is the choice you really want to make. Because the choice to attack still exists, you just can't do it with overwhelming passion and feeling. Calm creates space to see if what you want is pure hurt for hurt, or the chance to wring answers out before laying on the hurt.

Is it kind to take away the burst of passion and feeling? Not really. Not when it drives the realization of personhood, grants the feeling of being a person.

But, in its small way, Calm says you have a choice, so let's not be blind to what happens in more than just this immediate moment.

And I can't say if Azune would have chosen to let any Command take him in that moment. If he would have willingly failed the Save and been forced to Halt, been a good little tool. But what Azune was told, commanded, was Calm, and that he accepted, to have a breath to process and consider before making his next choice.

[wastelanderscribeknight-raz]

Bolaire, Murray, and Hal have gone through this entire campaign without taking any damage. Wick has taken more damage than them. They are mint. Put them all in sleeves and have them graded.

[cassafrasscr]

My jaw was already on the floor when Murray tried to kill the Photarch by using a portent to make her fail a death save, 'cause not only is that an absolutely ENORMOUS swing, it's COLD AS FUCK.

But for that move to reveal that Yanessa was, in fact, faking her assassination, is fucking WILD. Like, I had an inkling that she might be faking to cover her ass and divert suspicion, but we wouldn't know that for sure without Murray's clutch move. It would all just be theorizing on our parts until we could maybe get confirmation later on.

The dice are telling a story and it's FUCKING INCREDIBLE.