in the shadow of the Candles

Briar | he/they | finally not lurking | cr blogging for the foreseeable future

[wodestonemanor]

HASTE!!!

Marisha's confirmed Haste as one of Murray's third-level spells, along with Counterspell. We're all CR fans here we know how sexy a counterspell is so I'm focusing on the other one. Fantastic spell for the Schemers table to have since they're so low on martials. Haste adds +2 to AC, doubles Speed, and gives an extra action (dash/disengage/hide/attack/item). Marisha has consistently made amazing utility/support decisions throughout this campaign. She gave up the 19 Portent roll, which could have been an incredibly cool or powerful moment for her character, to persuade Gus. She hid under a table, invisible, for several rounds to improve the Schemers' chances of actually achieving their objectives. Not only is Haste one of my favorite spells it also significantly improves the survivability and mobility of other PCs (or Murray, if she's in a rush!), which are things the largely squishy Schemers table has been suffering for. Because of the extra attack, it can even up damage potential for a martial. in short: there's a REASON Luis got wide-eyed and excited. It's beautiful tactical play. What's sexier than a wizard with a utility-casting build? NOTHING.

[wodestonemanor]

two things:

one. what a beautiful speech to end a fantastic episode and set the damn scene for a ritual based on the spirit of a people and the memories of those who died while striving towards freedom.

two. I caught that "what's past is prologue" liam you can't slip that Shakespeare past me. the theater kid will out.

[wodestonemanor]

that's CAPTAIN sad eyes to you.

[wodestonemanor]

Caleb Widogast 🤝 Murray Mag'Nesson Hot redheads turning down the role of Archmage

[chillinglikeashilling]

While I think part of Thimble and Thaisha being Thjazi's biggest defenders in the group scene can partially be ascribed to they're both being people relatively close to him who have not had to deal with trying to put together the pieces of his plan re: the paint et al., and all the machinations on his part that it exposed, I think there's more to it as well.

Thimble and Thaisha being the ones who defended Thjazi against Bolaire is also bolstered by the fact that they both knew Thjazi best in the context of his current work as a revolutionary.

Hal, and even to some extent Azune, seen to have largely been kept out of the loop on Thjazi's current activities. So they know Thjazi as a person but they were kept separate from his own actions and activities in the interest of keeping them both 'clean'. Murray largely knew him as a fence. Occtis was doing him a favor because Thjazi helped get him into magical school etc.

This was happening with everyone Thjazi was close with to some extent, as demonstrated by the cold open where he and Thimble agree to seperate their spheres of knowledge and influence, and in the fact that no one in the room had known about The Cloak and Thjazi being a part of it.

And yet Thimble was still his partner in crime. Thimble was able to arrange payment for the paints which means she had access to a substantial amount of their shared finances. They had stolen the Stone together recently.

Similarly not only was Thaisha tapped to aid Occtis in retrieving the coffin from Venatus, Thjazi also mentioned her as already moving to take action in the Fang brother's flashback right before the Rebellion. The two of them have kept in contact even through Hal and Thaisha's changing relationship and he clearly saw her as someone he could rely on, and I believe as someone with very similar goals and priorities (albeit on a different scale).

Which is all to say that I understand why the rest of the table had reasonable doubts about Thjazi's motive and methods.

But the people who knew him the best in the context that we're talking about- is the Thjazi of today someone who would sacrifice not just 5000 people in general, but a substantial portion of the Rungjani? Is he a person that would sacrifice his allies without warning, who would burn them on pyre for his own vision? Is he a person who would work with the Sundered Houses to any extent?

The people who knew Thjazi the revolutionary the best and most recently said 'No.'

I think that's worth keeping in mind.

[iwilltryalittlearter]

Yep

[wodestonemanor]

Wick gets so underestimated on the manipulation front and man I gotta say he's doing GREAT with the questions game so far. Know nothing about the source of power while Tyranny stands next to him knowing it all. Spot a question she didn't mean to ask and use it against her (and, quite honestly, Brennan's vocal patterns! Leading questions are great as a DM except for when it gets ya!) Genuinely fantastic timing and play going on here and I love it!

The thing about comedic and dramatic timing is that they're the same and the song Sam Riegel is playing might have clown honks but he's killing it.

[wodestonemanor]

oh, who are you bringing to the high-stakes Villa Aurora meeting? Hal Fang, advantage on all deception. Thaisha Lloy, Druid of the Old Path who Yanessa needs to (pretend to) respect.

and kattigan vale who will be blowing up their spot in 0.5 seconds flat. he's got a magic snake in his pants and nat 1s all over.

[revvethasmythh]

man, the thing is that mag'nayar really is the successor to widobrave 🚬🚬🚬

[wodestonemanor]

The two-layer table is so funny because in the Julien Thimble cutaway Matt is so out of focus. This studio is perfectly set up for the exact depth of the table and Julien is just! Nice and blurry about it!

[wodestonemanor]

Azune "I have a list" Nayar I love you

Nothing before the task! Always ready for the next step of a war he's been waiting to fight! He has a list!

[utilitycaster]

I...do not think that's what the paint situation is? like I don't think it is at all? And I'm not sure why they think it is?

[wodestonemanor]

It seems like maybe "the paint came from the celestial of House Halovar" got twisted to "House Halovar was involved with this" but it's a really weird direction to pull when Thjazi was clearly working with the black market/people outside the pull of the Houses/the Druids to make it happen...

[wodestonemanor]

aaand it's not even that blood. Well. That was a very well-timed Brennan clarification!

[utilitycaster]

I...do not think that's what the paint situation is? like I don't think it is at all? And I'm not sure why they think it is?

[wodestonemanor]

It seems like maybe "the paint came from the celestial of House Halovar" got twisted to "House Halovar was involved with this" but it's a really weird direction to pull when Thjazi was clearly working with the black market/people outside the pull of the Houses/the Druids to make it happen...

[wodestonemanor]

Thaisha is having one of the days of all time. Breathing exercises will not fix her problems. But she is putting ALL her effort into trying.

[wodestonemanor]

Brennan really said i am NOT recapping. you all have fun doing that yourselves.

[wingkink]

beaustrid is so good for a lot of reasons but partially because I think it would make beau really mad to have the same taste in women as caleb

[warmer-gaze]

night falls at the blooming grove