If the Artagan theory is correct I would expect him to try to protect his new playground. I mean, he has only been enjoying Exandria for a short time, why would he let some eldritch horror destroy his new toy?
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Critical Role |OT| Is It Thursday Yet?
- Thread starter Dream Machine
- Start date
- Video/Streaming OT
If the Artagan theory is correct I would expect him to try to protect his new playground. I mean, he has only been enjoying Exandria for a short time, why would he let some eldritch horror destroy his new toy?
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I'm having trouble even guessing where the traveler plot is going. Maybe like a fight club thing, where domestic terrorism is the biggest prank of all? If he's an actual god of trickery, it seems like the escalation can only get worse and worse. But if he's an Archfey like Artagon, travlercon might be something frivolous and dumb, he gets bored, and moves onto something completely different rather than escalating. If it's Artagon specifically, i have to assume it will be something to do with that door to the feywild that Vox Machina opened for him 20 years ago that has gone uncommented on up until now. Like keeping it open, or weakening the barrier between planes even more.
Well, at least they have previous experience helping in blowing up a goverment official. Now that I remembering their inital adventures in Zadash, didn't the dwarven that blew himself up gave Caleb the documents needed to help his wife get out of prison? Caleb didn't follow up on that right? They are such a bunch of assholes in this campaign hahahaha.
I thought the gentleman handled that, but it's been quite a bit so I don't really remember.
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It's hard to know what the Traveller will do or who he really is. I wonder if Matt realizes his portrayal and the whole setup sounds as creepy as we think he does. The dude has always been a creepster in my eyes, kind of predatory. Grooming Jester since she was a young girl to follow him.
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Yeah, anybody who looks at the Jester Traveler relationship and thinks it's healthy gets the side eye from me. Matt has to know, right?
I would think so, but there's been a couple tender moments between them lately that make me wonder if Matt sees him as mostly good. I'd like to know what Laura thinks of the Traveller, if she gets the same vibe we do.
I mean, I wouldn't call it a super healthy relationship but I'm not sure what a super healthy relationship looks like with a being that gives you power in their world other then the few times we hear the Wild Mother. Nothing from Jester's past seems healthy but it seems like both sides in this relationship care for and value each other.
Interested in seeing where they take it. It clearly has hues of creepy but nothing bad seems to have come from it.
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They definitely value each other, but whether or not the traveler actually cares for her still remains unknown to me. He could easily just value her as a means to an end. And the way Laura plays it, Jester is a very insecure and sad person under the surface doing whatever it takes to get approval from the power figure/dad/best friend/god in her life that has been exerting constant influence over her since childhood. "Do you like my again?" "Am I good enough for you?" etc
As for nothing bad coming of it. His influence on her, and her trying to please him by causing trouble, got her marked for death and kicked out of her own home right before the campaign started. So not great. And everything after that has been a very bloody, dangerous road
If I had to bet, I think the Traveler has some nasty plans, and similar to Ukatoa, has been manipulating and using people on the material plane to achieve his goals. He's been waiting for Jester to get powerful enough to do something bigger for him.
Because from a meta perspective, I don't think Matt would have everyone else's god/patron be this epic undertaking, but give Laura something that's just sort of a running joke. I think Matt has designed a significant arc for each person and Laura's will start at Traveler Con. That's my guess anyway.
Because from a meta perspective, I don't think Matt would have everyone else's god/patron be this epic undertaking, but give Laura something that's just sort of a running joke. I think Matt has designed a significant arc for each person and Laura's will start at Traveler Con. That's my guess anyway.
I'm assuming The Traveler is not an evil deity. He is a trickster though so I could see Traveler Con as one big gag in some way.
As for he and Jester. She's a Cleric. She offers worship and spreads his word in exchange for powers and a sense of belonging. They both get something out of the relationship.
As for he and Jester. She's a Cleric. She offers worship and spreads his word in exchange for powers and a sense of belonging. They both get something out of the relationship.
Yeah despite the creep factor, I don't think the Traveler will be revealed to be evil.
I don't know, the deities typically have power over a specific domain. I don't think the traveler is content being just a trickster. I think he wants to angle for power over a domain (like the raven queen ascending to power). Just jumping into this thread I guess I hadn't been too focused on Jester; Beau's the one we know so little about.
Also with all the Traveler stuff looming, keep in mind we still haven't had a face-to-face between Jester and The Gentleman yet. Hoooo boy that's gonna be some real heavy shit.
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It's been so long since they were in Zadash, by the time they finally go back, they could probably throw their weight around and kick everyone's ass in the gentleman's hangout if they really need to get some answers out of him.
If the Gentleman is Jester's father the answers are going to be a complete shit sandwich. I mean, Jester finding her father for him to be a slave trader that is possibly related with the Crawling King? Fuuuuuck, that is going to hit Jester hard.
Wait, what's the theory on him being caught up with the Crawling King? I totally missed that.
Is only personal speculation (I'm not sure if I should be spoilering this, just in case):
I feel that Matt was laying it on pretty thick with all the caves and manacles. This is an extract from the Taldorei Campaign Setting book that describes the Crawling King:
"The dark god of the endless tunnels and caverns beneath Exandria, the Crawling King acts as patron to torturers, slavers, and jailers across the realm. His tears of pain and anger carved the pathways under the world, and his realm of imprisonment is a network of deadly caves and manacles where few return. Those who rob others of their freedom offer prayers to him in cellars and other subterranean domains, and other creatures who live in the darkness below worship him and seek his guidance."
The Gentleman using caves to smuggle the slaves, the manacles that the M9 were encountering all around... I don't know, maybe I'm just seing things, but it looks bad.
"The dark god of the endless tunnels and caverns beneath Exandria, the Crawling King acts as patron to torturers, slavers, and jailers across the realm. His tears of pain and anger carved the pathways under the world, and his realm of imprisonment is a network of deadly caves and manacles where few return. Those who rob others of their freedom offer prayers to him in cellars and other subterranean domains, and other creatures who live in the darkness below worship him and seek his guidance."
The Gentleman using caves to smuggle the slaves, the manacles that the M9 were encountering all around... I don't know, maybe I'm just seing things, but it looks bad.
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I'm still wondering what was up with the sketchy head of the carnival. Is it just chance that he employed Yasha (angel of irons), Molly (unnamed blood cult), and the demon toad guy? Maybe. But maybe he was building his own group with a purpose in mind.
Ah, that makes sense. Pretty sure Jester would have an anxiety attack / meltdown if that turned out to be true. Since she's left Nicodranus (sp?) everything she's come across has been terrible / not lived up to expectations in some way.
The carnival lead was the big bad all along!
If they bring back that carnival lead (or Beau's mail fraud) in some meaningful way by the end of this campaign that would be incredibly impressive.
I love that one of the most exciting and climactic moments of episode 74 was Travis clapping the fly out of midair.
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Laura's bardic inspiration was clutch in that encounter
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everything about jester has this vibe to it that everything is cool on the surface but really fucked up underneath. i'm ready to find out.
Finally finished the episode. So we all get an Ancient White Dragon will be attacking TravelerCon, right?
Jester pretty much left a "please come find me" calling card after stealing from the horde.
Jester pretty much left a "please come find me" calling card after stealing from the horde.
Traveler is so obscure that I would be shocked if the dragon managed to 1) figure out what that statue is of and 2) figure out that there's a gathering and 3) figure out the location of said gathering.
Matt ruled that the dragon didn't think to burrow under the dome, but could have...so I don't think it will be making an appearance at TravellerCon at this point.
At 10 INT though, maybe it'd demand a yeti shaman or something scry for it. I'm sure it'll come back around at some point...and confident Matt won't let it just be a loot piñata for the party when they're high level.
At 10 INT though, maybe it'd demand a yeti shaman or something scry for it. I'm sure it'll come back around at some point...and confident Matt won't let it just be a loot piñata for the party when they're high level.
Wouldn't have mattered if it burrowed.
That's a fair point. I've seen the two Crawford tweets, because I've been debating which way to rule in my game. Missed the retraction, I'd just read his twitter post with:
Can't figure out how to embed the tweet on my phone, but that's what I was going by.
"Mercer's Twitter" said:
Can't figure out how to embed the tweet on my phone, but that's what I was going by.
And that's fair. But I think that if the hut is temperature controlled, which it appears to be to some degree, it only makes sense if it's a sealed environment. If there's no floor, they'd be sleeping in the snow.
Yeah, I do think meeting the Gentleman again / something happening to the Ruby of the Sea would open up some serious Jester backstory / emotion we haven't seen before.
Gah, this campaign has started picking up but it still feels like it hasn't really taken off yet. Come on already!
Yeah, especially given Crawford's track record on certain rulings, it's best if you as a DM just take a stance and decide on what the ruling is at your table. It's usually pretty edge case anyway and won't apply for 95% of scenarios.
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Especially if you aren't streaming your game and subject to tons of pedants, just do whatever you want in your home game.
It takes these guys so long to decide if they want to take short rests that they could have taken a short rest in real time while discussing it.
I swear to God I've seen two year olds throw smaller tantrums at the idea of taking a nap than this group.
I swear to God I've seen two year olds throw smaller tantrums at the idea of taking a nap than this group.
"does this intense 30min debate on what we want to do count as a short rest?"
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Matt: (exasperated) Sure? (looks down and pretends to read notes while waiting for argument to finish)
Matt's innate ability to keep his face in a passive and attentive expression during these debates is what amazes me.
As soon as my players start coming up with some horseshit that could get them killed I can't keep a poker face
As soon as my players start coming up with some horseshit that could get them killed I can't keep a poker face
Especially in the most recent episode! I'm pretty sure there was 2 hours of planning at least.
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I wonder if Mica/Reani is going to only be in the beginning of the next episode, or around for the whole thing
it feels like they either have too much or not enough for her to do in one episode, depending on what they choose to do.
it feels like they either have too much or not enough for her to do in one episode, depending on what they choose to do.
Not a big fan of Reani. She feels like a parody of a D&D character, too bidimensional and exaggerated.
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Yeah, Mica's great but I'm not a big fan of Reani the character. Mica said on Talks this character is the exact opposite of what she typically plays and it kinda shows.
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Reani kind of feels like she's being played at the player in every group who is strictly lawful good
Next one shot is August 29th, titled Dalen's Closet, where Vox Machina returns to celebrate the marriage of the Lady and Lord of Whitestone one year after the campaign/The Search for Grog/Bob.
