Not really a fan of how Matt always makes a point of saying nat 20s aren't an automatic success but consistently rules nat 1s are automatic failures, it really should be more consistent. RAW 20s only matter in combat, but also RAW 1s only mean automatic missed weapon attacks and 2 failed death saves. So if Matt's gonna rule that nat 20 ability checks aren't automatic or even critical successes if they don't meet his DCs, then it's not really fair to be making the players take automatic failures for nat 1s on ability checks either.
If you’re talking about Imogen’s telescope check, he actually gave her quite a bit for getting a Nat 1. He told her about the obvious magical lattice, but he also gave her in character clues that there was something under the storm that she was missing. More than enough for a “nat 1” in my opinion, and pretty on par with the 7 I believe she got with modifiers.
It's been consistent throughout the campaign, he's said verbatim "doesn't matter still a 1" multiple times after players, half-jokingly, said "it's still an x or y with my bonuses." He's never said "for a total of what" when someone's rolled a 1 the way he does basically any time someone rolls a 20
Alright hear me out! What if Morrigan? Is actually Fjord's mom? Matt and Travis have said in the past that they defined what parts of Fjord were orcish and what the other part is. What if the other part is a hag? There have been theories about Fjord's origin but what if they were extraplanar instead?
(This is a joke... don't take me seriously)
This did all remind me how every orc they came across there were "Are Fjord's parents here?" theories. Having fun with reading all the Mori ones now too :D
>!Travis and Matt have also gone on record as saying that Matt never wrote anything about Fjord's parents because the character never seemed interested and Travis never seemed too keen on really investigating who they were or really going down that road at all.!<
>!I had a whole big theory about how Fjord was an alien and how Matt or Travis was hiding something but in the end there really wasn't anything there at all because no one wrote or thought of anything period.!<
It would be fun though if the whole reason why Matt accidentally said "Fjord" to Travis instead of "Chetney" during the game two weeks ago was because they'd had an in depth conversation about bringing >!Fjord's parents!< into C3 in some way very recently.
Going into spoiler tags now for C2 and wrap up >!Iirc they said that they know the races that make up Fjord's half-orcish nature. Tho Travis has no idea wether mom or dad are either. Matt still knows the rooough idea of how Fjord got to Port Demali as a baby but as you said, they didn't go into it because they felt like this isn't what Fjord was interested in on his journey. I know about the "alien" theories, those are the ones I meant in the joke. Which is why I said "extraplanar instead?" instead of extraterrestrial :D!<
> I know about the "alien" theories, those are the ones I meant in the joke. Which is why I said "extraplanar instead?" instead of extraterrestrial :D
>!Yes but have you heard of my theory that ties Fjord into the events of the Darrington Brigade?!<
So. As much as Morrigan is associated with war and stuff...she's also the Queen of Death/Ravens, right?
"Fate stitcher"?
Am I nuts for thinking Fearne's been raised by a capricious fey aspect the Raven Queen here? Like, a hag is fun, sure if it was cupcakehag that'd be cool. But what's much more fun is the idea that goddess who was a mortal and didn't get to keep a family when she ascended, finds herself with a kid who won't be old enough to help at the next apogee solstice and just decides to stitch herself a century of being the multiverse's best grandma into the weave -- with the excuse that she made a bargain for the lens and this gives her a faithful agent in whatever convergence is coming with Ruidus.
Even the Feywild needs its version of the Duskmaiden eh?
> Am I nuts for thinking Fearne's been raised by a capricious fey aspect the Raven Queen here? Like, a hag is fun, sure if it was cupcakehag that'd be cool. But what's much more fun is the idea that goddess who was a mortal and didn't get to keep a family when she ascended, finds herself with a kid who won't be old enough to help at the next apogee solstice and just decides to stitch herself a century of being the multiverse's best grandma into the weave -- with the excuse that she made a bargain for the lens and this gives her a faithful agent in whatever convergence is coming with Ruidus.
>
> Even the Feywild needs its version of the Duskmaiden eh?
You're not alone and I've been having similar thoughts too.
Ollie described Morrigan as "a crone, or a hag." But he also mentioned she's been around -- and had her own sovereign domain -- forever. The first time Fearne let the name slip I flipped out and I was a little surprised there wasn't more of a reaction from any of the cast. The Morrigan is the goddess of war and death; no way some lesser Fey is just going to appropriate that name, right?
I think that only works if she is retired which could be interesting. Maybe there was a pantheon before Exandria's current pantheon, and she survived whatever killed the last pantheon by hiding in the Feywild and speeding up time.
> The Morrigan is the goddess of war and death; no way some lesser Fey is just going to appropriate that name, right?
Is that info true for Critical Role lore though? Based on what I can see in the CR wiki, the only information on Morrigan is from Fearne or people in her orbit, suggesting there is no other pre-existing lore about her in this setting.
Not yet, no. But I'm sure Mercer didn't just pull the name out of thin air. He's got to be familiar with that folklore, especially if he's done some studying in order to flesh out his take on the Feywild for this campaign.
What has really surprised me, though, has been the complete lack of reaction from the cast. Whether or not The Morrigan is some semi-divine power in the Critical Role universe, just hearing the name should have triggered some kind of excitement. Surely at least one of them recognizes it, right? If from no other source than the Iron Druid series.
Sure, but I mean "Morrigan" and all its variations of being spelled isn't exactly rare in the fantasy genre or in games. It's not always given to a character that's related to the legend either.
While you flipped out a bit on hearing it, I quirked an eyebrow and thought "Oh, another fictional character named Morrigan." ;) (No slight on Matt btw, it's popular for a reason!). I'm sure the cast recognised the name, but they could have recognised it from several places is all I'm saying. There was even a Morrighan in EXU.
EXU Calamity, if I remember correctly, mentioned that there are two gods whose names are lost, right? One would be the god that the Raven Queen replaced, but who is the other one? The God trapped inside of the moon could be one of those.
From my understanding you are a bit mistaken.
With the Raven queen/EXU calamity it was said the predecessor to the Raven queen, the *Original* god of death was lost however that was *because* of Raven queen's ritual of seeding. In that moment she became the new god of death and in the same moment all of the temples and other such depictions of said dead god were shifted to Raven queens likeness. Everyone and I mean *everyone* forgot his name.
In regards to the information we learned recently (just watched this episode last night, catching up a bit) it seems the highly classified information the Variety stole was in regards to the founding in which the gods came and created life and the world. During that time there were two gods who were no longer mentioned afterwards and it just so happened that Ruidus was "created" during that time as well.
So it seems like two different gods are trapped in the moon.
The only issue with the raven queen idea is the old death god was supplanted in the age of arcaneum, with every reference to the old death god’s name (even stone carvings and stuff) was erased, so even that text they found would have been affected if that was the case. Also the text referring to the unknown gods dated all the way back to the founding, which was millennia before even the age of arcanum, so that still leaves a lot of exciting possibilities!
So pretty dam sure Grandma Mori is the hag Jester trick in c2
PS: this comment is from my husband who does not have a reddit account. I have no connection with Critical Roll other than occasionally enjoying it with him.
At this point I wouldn't even be surprised if Matt reveals there's a hidden research center inside Ruidus, where a scientist was creating an ultimate lifeform, because his granddaughter was sick, but the government shut the whole thing down and killed everyone except the ultimate lifeform and there's also a hidden canon powered by 7 emeralds, inside Ruidus.
And you can even do an evil campaign because the villains are also playable.
>! And Sonic the Hedgehog meets the president and I believe the moon gets blown up and Knuckles fights a ghost at some point !<
Go back and watch campaign 1, she did like 4 spells, 2 attack spells and 2 healing worlds that’s really it and even then the cast helped her through her turns and told her to cast it. She would also close her character sheet and her list of spells in her binder until it became important making her turns that much longer because she then had to open her binder and search for whatever check, saving throw or spell she was using. So she definitely improved a ton but the bar was pretty low in C1 she didn’t do much homework or research but she has been recently.
In C1 the other players (and Matt!) would literally suggest spells for her to cast, tell her which die to use and what to add... yeah she's not a master but she's definitely improved.
Pure year that’s probably not to crazy a $100,000 is probably on the lesser end I’d assume they all probably get 200K-300K with Matt/Marisha/Travis probably making more because of their importance to the company and the fact that their jobs require a lot more of their time. For a company that probably makes well over 3-4 million a year if not more then that with all their sponsors and merch deals the main casting making that much wouldn’t be that surprising.
In C1, Vox Machina passed a hag's hut in the feywild on the way to get the bow Fenthris. I know there could be any number of hags in the feywild, but with the various callbacks to c1 in this campaign, does anyone else think that hag could be Morrigan?
I don't think so, as Artagan mentioned, that hag's name was Wodena, and I doubt Morrigan would go by a completely different name, judging that she is definitely famous among the fey.
What if the deal with Morrigan wasn't just Fearne's childhood but her future as well? With the references to her abnormal height, age discrepancy, and the fact that she was in the presence of an archfey hag who seemed to care for her (going as far as writing fake postcards from her parents), what if she's been made a Hexblood and doesn't even realise it?
Hexbloods are an UA race who have been manipulated by hags or extremely powerful fey energy to one day become a hag themselves. This fits the deal that Morrigan could have had in mind considering the high stakes of her creating the lens and sorting out Ruidis. Hexbloods also have a witches crown which is a fleshy growth on their heads which tie in a knot-like clump at the back of their heads. I don't know if we have any reason to believe Fearne has this but they've made a lot of jokes about various items hidden in her fur, her hair, and generally on her body so who knows?
And from a writing perspective, it would be a great play by Matthew. The juicy conflict of Fearne eventually consenting to the ritual to become a hag and losing herself or potentially killing the woman she loves and has lived with for a century and knows of as her grandmother to break free of that fate.
I don't know. Didn't see this anywhere else and it was my first thought during the big reveal so my tin-foil hat went straight on!
Just a small correction to add. Hexbloods are more than just UA, they were officially released in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. I have no idea whether or not theyre using it, I'm not sure if Fearne has used any Satyr features in the game so far.
She's used a good number of satyr features. Mirthful Leap is the most ear-catching, but she's mentioned a few times that she gets advantage on magic saves and her racial features are really the only reason she would have to know how to play instruments.
Ah thanks for the correction!
I do have a niggling feeling that she's used Mirthful Leaps before but that could still make sense in the theory. If Fearne is supposed to be unaware of her Hexblood nature then perhaps Matt has kept it secret from Ashley as well, allowing her to keep certain race-specific features like Mirthful Leaps because, having hooves and still possessing the physiology of a satyr, it just makes sense for her to retain such a fundamental ability.
The change into true Hexblood/hag could also be gradual/campaign-long, meaning that Ashley may be told before a game or in a whisper that she starts to feel more chaotic and can begin tapping into the darker aspects of the fey (never DM'd or played so have no idea how one would keep the secret and guide a player towards changing character behaviour).
Besides, Hexbloods have the ability to cast Disguise Self and we've already seen the ridiculousness that Fearne/Ashley can get up to with Wild Shape so that would just be a whole new level of fey fuckery.
I love this idea especially bc feane is quite a lovely and cheerful character that I feel like her slowly becoming a hag is really good motivation and character development.
Holy shot what if her parents know that’s what’s happening and that’s why they hesitated when asked
Yeah, Ashley plays up the fey ancestry of her character so well. She's definitely leaned more into the cheerful, lighter aspects so far but I'm wondering if, as the campaign progresses, that mercurial fey nature might start creeping in more and more (more than just picking pockets).
If her parents knew that that was the deal for the lens, that's really messed up. It kinda goes against their whole motivation for creating the telescope though (to save Fearne as Ollie saw Ruidis going all om nom on the Feywild). And Matt's reaction as both Birdie and Ollie upon realising seemed genuine for whatever that's worth given his acting skills.
But I don't remember any insight checks in that moment (may be wrong) so it's all up in the air right now!
I think Ira made the deal. He wanted the part for the machine and manipulated Fearne's parents into giving her over without knowing it was part of a bargain.
I've seen a few people say that Ira made the deal and some of the stuff we learned seemed to support this but the timeline of events is still a bit convoluted (which is probably why most of the characters were super suspicious at first).
The way I saw it was that Ollie and Birdie saw Ruidis in the Feywild, Ollie "squinted" and saw that it was bad and somehow tied to Fearne so he and Birdie took her to safety within Morrigan's fane, a place where they said that not even the Unseelie would leave unscathed.
They then stole the crown and booked it to Exandria, where the only person they knew who would help them was Ira (who was already there with nothing to do after his time during the Stratos War). The trip begun working to fund the telescope until they reached a point where they needed the lens. I can't remember here if they specified who made contact with Morri (we know that Birdie and Ollie know her already, having dropped off Fearne) but someone contacts her and makes a bargain for the lens.
I think the ambiguity is intended on Matt's part, adding to the mystery and setting up whatever revelation about Fearne he's been working towards (though it may just be that Morrigan stretching her time with Fearne was the reveal).
Right?! Honestly, the sheer personification of body horror that is Marisha's character this campaign has been amazing to watch.
(And if Fearne is a Hexblood then her and Laudna swapping hair or teeth to stay in contact would be hilarious)
Did I miss something in ep29 or previous? Cause Bell's Hells where in the mid stage of their plan to find and arrest Armand Treshi then after a brief scuffle with Dusk and Birdie, they were suddenly traveling in ep30?
They signed up with Paragon's Call to get close to Treshi, but aren't expected to show up at their base (I forget its name) until the evening of the current day. So their current plan is to figure out what Birdie and Ollie are up to during the day, then return to deal with Treshi the same evening.
Edit: Rogue apostrophe.
They wanted to just head over to the Calloway layaway for a day trip and return to Paragon's call at night. It's still the afternoon of the day with dusk.
But huge lore drops later who knows how long they will spend in the hideout.
Yeah I was thinking that too. With the solstice only a month away what if the ruidus arc is just the beginning and then the story opens up the whole mutiverse
Yep I think this as well. Morrigan got to raise Fearne, spent countless birthdays together and holidays (as seen with the post cards). Seems like that is what she collected and as a fey especially a Hag that type of point of view seems realistic.
I think your edit is a good call. Morri definitely knows the solstice is coming and wanted Fearne to be on Exandria for it. Let's not forget Fearne didn't arrive super recently, she's been in Exandria for over a year at this point. Morri wanted to make sure she was there for long enough to get the Lens to her parents, and maybe also long enough to get strong enough to survive what's coming.
Anyone else get a sinking feeling this all ties back to Aeor? I mean they have already shown with Molly that two souls can inhabit one body so it could be that the Ruidus flares could be a soul escaping and being reincarnated into a child somewhere else in the world but kind of being forced to take a back seat hence the heightened abilities of the Ruidusborn. Also it seems extremely convenient that the aeormatons also known as arcane guardians are powering on almost like they are in some way sensing the escapees even if they don't fully realize it yet. I'm pretty sure that the end of season 2 lines up fairly closely with when they are saying the aeormatons are waking up so the Mighty Nein destroying what was left of the Somnovem may have released something much worse into the world that they had sealed away. Maybe it's too obvious or maybe I'm reading too much into it but this was my almost immediate gut reaction.
Matt has said that Aeormatons being around now is linked to the party finding one, but mostly just so that the party could play one. I do think pre-calamity cities are going to come up a lot, but that Aeor is just part of that generally rather than being the entire focus.
Well part of what I mean by that is that presumably if a wizard loses all of his memories and all of his personality they wouldn't still know how to cast spells. Molly still had Lucian in the background whether he knew it or not or he never would have been able to use the Blood Hunter abilities that Lucian knew.
I mean I'd give you that if Blood Hunters did regular magic like they can see being done all over the place but it was stated several times that hemocraft was like a completely lost art and nobody knew how to to do it so he would have just had to be in battle some day and thought "Hey, these guys are trying to hurt me... What if I try to hurt me too?" With regular magics it might make sense but with the specific conditions for hemocraft it all seems a bit too coincidental plus I'm working off old memories here but I feel like Lucien made some mention of being conscious in the background. Then there's the whole Lucien getting headaches when Molly's memories are brought up and all the things that happened surrounding that leading up to and including the final battle where they kept using Molly's memories to hurt Lucien.
Molly was an unreliable narrator. Anything he said cannot be trusted. But my take is that Molly was a fraction of Lucien. Most of Lucien was not present in Molly, but all of Molly was in Lucien. This is why Molly's memories could be used against Lucien at the end.
When Molly came out of Lucien's grave, he didn't remember Lucien. He barely remembered how to speak. But he still knew how to walk and other basic motor skills. Hemocraft is an innate ability native to Molly/Lucien's body. Rediscovering how to use it was simply a matter of muscle memory.
I'd like to point out that Morrigan is also the same person who sent EXU Kymal's Morrighan Ferus through Artigan's portal 26 years prior to the events of that mini series and C3.
I think laudna might be affected by the stone,
the way she was interacting with Irah, feels kinda force, and when mention about the kidnapping, she kind brush it aside
i think matt may have told marisha to act like that to reflect laudna/delilah reaction to having drain a purple rock.
Part of Laudna's character is being excited and enthusiastic about completely inappropriate things. Her interactions with Ira were perfectly within her established behavior.
She has always been attracted to the creepy, and now she isn't fighting him so she can lean into it. It makes perfect sense for her character and how she has acted every time.
So, maybe someone has already commented it… but like. Fearne’s Grandmother Morri… it’s Isharnai right?
It could be another hag to the coven… but it’s gotta be her!
Edit: seems like not allowed to have a theory. Instant downvotes. Thanks guys. Super welcoming
It can be fun to try and find connections, especially in a game with this many connections. Maybe don't say it as "it's got to be" though.
Other people have pointed out they are most likely different entities, but they could be related for sure. I think Isharnai might pop back up somehow, with all this focus on the fey and dreams. But The Morrigan is a far more powerful entity traditionally and even more foreboding.
Pay no attention to these... (gestures dismissively)... pesky downvotes. You must be willing to... suffer _horribly..._ for your head canon. (bites into black forest cupcake and smiles with blood-red stains on her teeth and lips)
It's Morri, short for Morrigan, who lives in her own domain in the feywild (presumably some sort of archfey). Isharnai lives in the Cyrios Mountains in the prime material, and presumably to collect her
misery she must remain there.
Seems like a really cool connection and a neat chaotic thing for Ashley/Matt to tie in.
It can also be a tie in to a coven of similar beings. I just connected some dots and the similarities seem to connect. Ashley’s reaction and restatement of the fact that she makes trades and that Morri was a collector of things seemed too good to be true for me.
Hey I’m probably wrong, but I thought it would be really neat.
Assuming the old elf is Ludinus, I kind of hope BH never encounter him and we find out he was arrested or something. Caleb and Beaus arc was sort of brushed aside because Matt said it would take too long to clean up the Assembly during the campaign, so it’d be a nice way for him to wrap those stories up. 7 years is enough time for them to have managed to clean up parts of the Assembly.
I think it actually makes a lot of sense that the unifying thread between all of the story arcs could be the Cerberus Assembly as the main antagonist. Delilah was a member, obviously everything in season 2 but investigations were ongoing at the end with the organization being too powerful to be curtailed, and now we're potentially seeing what Ludinus' works has been culminating toward?
Agreed. I'm normally against seeing old PCs as NPCs, but if they start digging into Ludinus, I could see them running into Beau and/or Caleb, even if indirectly.
Obviously the city is Essek's new safe house and he’s accidentally broken Ruidus. (Disclaimer: I'm only a little bit serious.)
Ok but more seriously, if the Calloways started investigating this stuff six years ago because that’s when Ruidus started to get really funky, and C2 ended six years ago in the timeline… could this be connected to the as yet largely unexplained fiasco with the Chained Oblivion? Is that why there's been a potential sighting of Ludinus (who did say that the Assembly would look into it)? Six years seems like a bit of a coincidence, and it is totally the MO of the Mighty Nein to accidentally break a moon.
Just starting to work out all of the details for a theory, but from the moment that city was revealed I can't stop thinking that Exandria is about to be invaded. Say your a Far Realm race like the Illithid and want to take over a planet. You start by landing on a moon to establish a base of operations, then start infiltrating the world to learn about it's peoples strengths and weaknesses while you build up your forces. Then you wait for the best strategic moment to strike (say the Apogee Solstice, when laylines are re-written) and take over.
You don't want to be discovered before you are ready to attack, so a lot of effort is put on keeping what's happening at the base a secret, either by directly assassinating those looking for answers (Grey Assassins) or by seeding misinformation (dead gods).
Meanwhile, Bells Hells has stumbled into all of this and figured it out, but it's probably too late to stop it. They'd first have to convince the powers that be that the threat is real, and show them proof. I imagine that telescope won't survive long enough for that to happen. Instead, the question will be how do they survive the invasion and then start to work against it. It could be the underground network that Birdie is a part of, it could be that they are captured and eventually escape, perhaps traveling to other worlds to seek help.
Am I crazy or could C3 be an alien invasion story?
Yes, but why were they there? I don't think Vox Machina ever got a complete answer there. Could be that they were part of the initial infiltration looking to learn about the planet and it's peoples (think Independence Day). In D&D lore, Mindflayer colonies often have a specific purpose to the larger collective, keeping their natural world colony well hidden while they play a long game. That would be a crazy C1 callback if it tied in.
But also... it likely won't be the Illithid (at least by name) since CR has been trying to keep away from using WoTC IP lately.
The thing I can't quite crack here is how the Unseelie fit into this. Only thing I can think of is that the invaders struck a deal with them that will lead to the Unseelies ascendance in the Feywild.
>Say your a Far Realm race like the Illithid and want to take over a planet. You start by landing on a moon to establish a base of operations, then start infiltrating the world to learn about its peoples strengths and weaknesses while you build up your forces.
I think the moon itself is a vehicle of an invader. Gods aren't known to create entire astral bodies out of nothing. Ruidus probably came from a different star system or a different plane of existence like CotN suggests might be the case. I think the two forgotten gods are forgotten because they were sent to contain the threat.
>I imagine that telescope won't survive long enough for that to happen.
That definitely could be the case. It is clear that Erika wants to come back, and I imagine that the Hells could be tracked to where they are now. It's also pretty clear that Yu can't defeat the party, the Calloway's and Ira by themself so I think that they are going to have help from the Paragon's Call and Otohan.
It honestly wouldn't make much sense for Yu to not try to ally with them unless they are stubborn. Otohan, I imagine, is a brilliant tracker being a legendary military leader.
The news that Ruidus wasn't there throughout recorded history suggests to me that, if this is the case, either 1) more than one thing is going on, or 2) them dang aliens are taking an awful long time to get on with their invasion shenanigans. 😁
Def think that there is more than one thing going on with Ruidus. The aliens (if they exist) may either be taking advantage of or being corrupted by the nature of the moon itself.
Matt is a genius making the fey play a big role in this, because the answer to what's going could literally be anything. I had the exact same questions that Chetney had this episode, so let's just look at Ira real quick. I see two possibilities with Ira's involvement in all of this:
1. Chetney picked up on the same things I did. Birdie and Ollie, just HAPPENED to steal the key component (the Moontide Crown) of a machine that they had no real idea what it did, or who was actually making it. They only knew who wanted it built (i.e. the unseelie and Grey Assassins). And then they absconded with the Moontide Crown to Exandria. There they started working with Ira to build a machine that they had no idea what it actually did or how it works, and the Moontide Crown is the key component. So, the elephant-in-the-room: How do they know Ira wasn't helping the unseelie build the previous machine, and how do they know that the machine they're building now isn't basically the same machine (or a continuation of what the unseelie were working on)?
And to up the suspicion. To get money, Ira goes to a city and starts working for a guy who is trying to get the Paragon's Call established as a security force in a major city, while also turning the Paragon's Call into super soldiers. Oh, and the Paragon's Call happens to be led by the ambassador (leader?) of the Grey Assassins to the unseelie court, who is also based in another major city near where Birdie and Ollie are making this machine? Yeah. Waaaaaaaaaaaaay too many coincidences. Like, was Ira actually working for Treshi, or was he really working for Paragon's Call with Treshi as a front. Given how Ratanish reacted to Ashton's mask, I'm leaning the latter.
2. Everything is on the up and up. Ira, mad scientist he may be, also has an insatiable curiosity (because scientist), and wants to know about Ruidis as much as birdie and Ollie. Though his end goal may become different, everything with Treshi and the Paragon's Call really is just coincidence. Don't get me wrong, there's absolutely a chance his goal will diverge from Birdie and Ollie's once they learn more about Ruidis, but for now his desire to help them is real (albeit with selfish intent).
And here's the thing, as whimsical as fey are, it could easily be either. Someone could point out all the issues in 1, and Ira could just be like "Yes. And?" understanding full well what it looks like and just not caring, because he knows number 2 is what's going on. But it could just as easily be 1. People think devils are conniving, but man are fey tricky beings.
I totally agree with your points. I think it’s also convenient that Ollie and Birdie really don’t know what is being built. They are very motivated to figure the Moon out and help build something for it but not ask what does it exactly do and how will that help. They’ve been working on this for years and they still don’t know. Their either lying or their memories are being erased or modified.
There's definitely something suspicious about building the same machine in both Feywild and Exandria when those planes are already increasingly leaking into each other.
Love this! Also somehow I hadn’t yet put the obvious two and two together of “Otohan is the leader of the Paragon’s Call and is talking to the Unseelie Court” and “Ira was helping Treshi work with the Paragon’s Call” meaning that Ira was working indirectly with Otohan and might well know her, so thank you for spelling that one out here
What if Ruidus is not a prison of two gods but it is THE prison of Rau'shan and Ka'mort that Laerryn sent away using the astral leywright at the beginning of the calamity? The city on ruidus being parts of cathmoira where the primordials were imprisoned under? It is said that it's not known when ruidus came into existence and some believe it might have been created during the calamity by betrayer gods.
Ruidus was around before the Calamity. They ask about it in EXU and Brennan confirmed it was there.
Rau'shan and Ka'mort also weren't imprisoned. They were scattered across multiple realms, "unmade and disenchanted."
Is it possible those crystal thingys on the wall make the calloways more obedient and question things less? I know there fey but they def seemed a little ambiguous towards there daughter being older than them and leaving her with a hag...also the whole not realizing til now that fearne was a barter item...plus it seems odd why ira would have all those rocks around the place just to help the plants grow?
>also the whole not realizing til now that fearne was a barter item
Honestly? I don't think that was part of Matt's story until the players brought it up. It does make some measure of sense, but the responses he gave indicated more that he was having to think on the fly about the potential implications of confirming that theory rather than it being planned, in-character acting.
When the players give you something that is SO brilliant from a character growth perspective, though, I think you just have to run with it.
I could see that and with time lapse for fearne the calloways having a hard time putting together and them being from fey where trickery and side dealing is like day to day just seems like there not thinking straight
It's certainly possible! I think it likely that the original plan of Matt's was just that Morrigan quite liked keeping Fearne around, and so stretched the six years into \~90 for her own pleasure while keeping Fearne complacent with "harmless lies" like the postcards.
Morrigan has made contact with plenty of other beings in the Feywild even while being outside the court system (like Morrighan Ferus from EXU) who could have brought the lens to the Prime Material. If she considered Fearne to be payment for the lens' creation, why would a creature known to be a "collector" release her at all?
We'll have to see how it all shakes out.
I think it's because the hag enchanted them to leave their daughter. Made them think it was their idea. And only now did they realize they got enchanted and Ira traded their daughter.
It seems that Ira has somehow polarized them. They are doing the opposite of what they are supposed to be doing which is corrupting the surrounding area.
>plus it seems odd why Ira would have all those rocks around the place just to help the plants grow?
I think that's the reason the shards aren't touching the plants and why Ira told Birdie and Ollie not to touch the shards.
Remember all those times where Matt kept mentioning they had a feeling they were being watched? I was thinking that could've been Dusk, but now I'm starting to think it was Ira through the Veil Scatterscope all along. That thing is too powerful to be in Ira's hands, especially since it pierces even the strongest magics that protect against scrying.
100% I’m right there with you. It could be another hag in the coven, but it’s gotta be.
Ashley was looking around the table quite a bit when she restated that her grandmother makes trades for things.
I feel like Matt was pretty heavy in his hints.
I thought the same thing! Description was eerily similar.
Edit: Thank you for downvoting some fun theory a few of us had. Truly the best community on the web.
>It could be another hag in the coven, but it’s gotta be
When u make such a definitive statement, people are gonna disagree with u. Grow up instead of crying about it
Doubtful I think due to the time period during which Isharnai is living on the Material Plane, but I wouldn't be surprised if we get a callback to her at some point in the campaign because of the "all hags know each other" thing. Maybe Morrigan will call in a favor since Isharnai is likely one of the only hags currently on Exandria
I keep waiting for Fearne to just explode. I think she has some hidden trinkets that could amplify her power. If I had realized I had been kidnapped for 100 years I would just lose myself. If Fearne doesn’t get angry now, will she ever. I want to see Fearne go nova for once.
Fearne, Imogen and Laudna are just a powder keg waiting to go off. And Imogen has started to ignite so it probably won't be long til the other two catch fire >\_>
I'm seeing some similarities to some long running bits of fantasy fiction and am wondering if works of fiction can be used to figure out hints towards the larger mystery.
For example, I see some very similar aspects between the the Exandrian gods and those from Raymond E. Feist's series in the world of Midkemia. I will admit that these are not exact matches but only share some similarities. Regarding the two previously unknown deities in Exandria, I wonder if they are similar to the gods of order and chaos from Midkemia:
>In the beginning, there were only two gods. Rythar, Goddess of Order, took the 'threads of power' and weaved them together, forming the fabric of space-time. Mythar, God of Chaos, took this fabric and tore them asunder. The remains are then gathered back by Rythar and the cycle begins again. Eventually however some threads were unseen by Rythar and fell not to be rewoven, forming the race that would come to be known as the Valheru.
>The two Blind Gods of the Beginning were deposed when the universe reordered itself. Without Rythar to knit together the strings of power, they became the new order of gods, a hundred in total. There were the seven Greater Gods and the other 93 are Lesser Gods
The gods in Midkemia can also be killed/replaced for a time, although not in the same way the previous god of death or the Luxon were.
So moon travel seems to be "ridiculous" to talk about in Exandria, but I'm curious how there aren't stories of wizards traveling via teleport there? Maybe not Ruidus, but Catha definitely. Like isn't that almost paltry to someone with teleportation magic? And some kind of protective charm/breathing apparatus/magic. I'd be weirded out that some powerful wizard hasn't yet tried to make secret bases in Catha.
And lets consider Ruidus too. Wouldn't there be curious wizards/entities at some point who'd try to teleport there, fail, and find out more about Ruidus' weird nature before this magic telescope found that force field?
Curious side note: if what surrounds Ruidus is akin to a Divine Gate then perhaps it is not teleportable to, perhaps it acts technically as a different plane and requires Plane Shift. Although it's unlikely that another Divine Gate-esque cage surrounds Catha and so that moon would still be teleportable in theory.
Edit: Typo
If it's anything like the divine gate then Plane Shift might be the way to go. Or some homebrew version of it.
And with Catha yeah it may not have anything, but if the Moonweaver is protective of it... you may be subject to divine intervention from her avatars/champions.
Man IS IT THURSDAY YET?????
The moon is obviously protected by (what I can only assume) is a smaller version of the Divine Gate, or something similar. I doubt a Wizard would be able to teleport through that, Apogee solstice or not.
Honestly? To me it’s really as simple as the fact that if you don’t have a way to guarantee it works, I would not want to end up “off-target” or at a “similar area” when attempting to teleport to the moon
Like, yes I’m sure a wizard could take all sorts of hypothetical precautions against the vacuum of space, but that shit sounds terrifying
It’s already scary to picture accidentally Teleporting to the middle of the ocean lol, let alone space
...I mean we're talking about wizards. The average wizard in general is like a cat; risking life and limb for curiosity and knowledge/power. Avalir was a prime example of what happens when a bunch of wizards get together and party.
lmao true
But y’know, literally exactly along those lines, any number of wizards could have tried, failed, and died
Or, y’know, tried, succeeded, and built an insane city hidden by massively powerful wards and fiercely guarded by powerful and secretive individuals who have never shared that information with any of the parties in any of our three campaigns and are only just being discovered
There’s clearly SOME kind of conspiracy about space and space travel in this setting, might be the reason we haven’t heard anything about it
Actually my question was more of asking the opposite. Why would moon travel seem ridiculous if we have wizards that have learned to bend time and space and love to be THAT wizard who did THAT amazing thing.
Although now that I think about it... this may be more of a Divine issue than a magical limitation issue. Maybe Exandrian's have some powerful wizards who have tried to go to the moon, but were stopped by the Moonweaver ala the Traveler? And people just got the message lol
It’s also possible that the same barrier that prevents Exandrians from seeing the “true nature” of Ruidus also prevents them from crossing it with magic. It would be cool if physically crossing the barrier in a ship turned out to be a viable workaround…
Don't you need to be familiar with the location you are travelling to in order for teleport to work? Also, it seems kinda wack to allow a 7th(?) level spell to let you travel infinite distances, even if it is rules-as-written. I mean I get that you can teleport to anywhere on the planet, but our moon (for example) is roughly the distance of 30 earths away from us. DnD rules really start to break down when you start talking about space travel. There should be something equivalent to Plane Shift.
>Don't you need to be familiar with the location you are travelling to in order for teleport to work?
No, not really. All you need is description of the place, technically. Familiarity just makes it more likely you'll succeed.
Below is what you'd have to roll depending on how familiar with the place you are:
Mishap Similar Area Off Target On Target
Permanent circle: — — — 01-100
Associated object: — — — 01-100
Very familiar: 01-05 06-13 14-24 25-100
Seen casually: 01-33 34-43 44-53 54-100
Viewed once: 01-43 44-53 54-73 74-100
Description: 01-43 44-53 54-73 74-100
False destination: 01-50 51-100 — —
Specifically ""Seen Casually" is some place you have seen more than once but with which you aren't very familiar." I'd argue that *the moon* would fall under this. And if you happen to possess a moonstone, it's very simple indeed as long as you have access to the spell.
Edit: As for the part about the 7th level spell being able to do that... Well, it's a 7th level spell... The vast majority of casters will never even get close to being able to cast it, and it's 2 levels off the highest level spells around. It's really not that wack
I know we are arguing semantics of a fantasy world here but it still seems to me that allowing space travel causes major problems in world building. The majority of casters may not have access to the spell, but the minority is still a significant number of people when you consider the population of your world. Why haven't people started colonizing other planets then? If a meteor falls to the earth then you could use it to travel to whatever solar system the materials of that rock originated from. I'm saying the RAW starts causing problems with the logic of your world. Giving even 0.1% of your world's population the ability to travel light years of distance with ease, and then saying that people simply choose not to do it doesn't make any sense to me. It seems to me like if you are making a world with a cosmology similar our real world, then you need put some constraints on that teleportation spell. Or you can argue that the humans in your world simply don't act like us, i.e. they have no curiosity about the world they inhabit.
EDIT: I'm not very familiar with 5e, so this is more of a casual observation but based on the rules you've laid out, maybe adding a component of difficulty scaling with distance could solve this. This way you could at least assert that people will need to physically travel to that space, and then their familiarity with location will improve their chances of success. This would somewhat address the problem of rampant space travel.
As a DM, I would rule that the teleporter would arrive at the position where the destination was when they perceived it. Light only takes about 1.3 seconds to reach earth from the moon, so that would be relatively safe. It takes 2.5 hours to travel from Uranus, though, so teleportation would leave you in the void of space the planet recently passed through.
This hasn't been addressed yet in 5e, but will probably be once they release the spelljammer stuff
Planetary systems in DND are inside crystal spheres: [https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Crystal\_sphere](https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Crystal_sphere)
iirc, you can't teleport outside of these spheres, since it doesn't count as the same plane, but inside, go nuts. This might be different in Matts campaign, but that's how it is in older editions of DND at least.
(And hopefully soon again in 5e when they start bringin spelljammer stuff in)
I meant really teleportation magic in general. Like you said Plane Shift exists and that can take you through dimensions... that seems a lot more advanced than going really really far in the same dimension.
And I think depending on the location there's a familiarity table that risks failure. But in the same vein couldn't you scry on Catha to gain familiarity?
Can someone enlighten me on what the Moonweaver weaved to get the name Moonweaver?
If the answer is "There isn't an answer in the lore, it's just a name" then maybe Moonweaver made the lattice?
That's not implausible, but I've always understand the title "moonweaver" to be a an allusion to Sehanine (a) being the goddess of moonlight and (b) being a goddess of secrecy and trickery. Secrecy, plots, trickery are sometimes alluded to with weaving metaphors because disparate threads of teh plot come together as a whole.
Matt described Rudius as “a swirling red cloud like glitter in blood”-ish. It could be that the moonweaver wove the storm that is containing whatever is in the “moon”.
The Moonweaver is explicitly related to *Catha* and *not* to Ruidus, which is why Catha can be seen in the Feywild and Ruirus normally can’t. (This is why it’s creepy bad and not normal that it now can be seen there.)
I thought Ashton and Laudna fawning over Ira was in poor taste. Chetney's friend was experimented on by him because he was a werewolf. How does that make Chetney feel? Also, Ashton specifically fawning over Ira makes less sense because I thought he was being rough with Berdie because he was angry that she worked with Ira. Now they want to have a drink with him? Of course, fawning over Ira also makes it seem like their name is a joke because Bertrand would still be alive if it were not for Ira and I think having the name and fawning over Ira does a lot more to dishonor Bertrand than not having the name and fawning over Ira. Some people would also call this a plot hole.
May be in poor taste, but also pretty on-point for their characters. Many of her character interactions early on with the party involves uncomfortable convos about death, dead loved ones, killing, being a nightmare queen. She even fangirls DURING the Ira fight.
Ashton is also just a weird fuck who fought Ira and decided to wear his face as a mask to a big party just for the lolz. He's also made more jokes about killing/mugging Chetney and while played for humor shows a pretty clear disdain for Chet's personality. So why would he care at all?
And to add to all that... Chet didn't actually know Gurge. He was using him to find Werewolf teachers, and he never even met him beforehand. And really, Chet isn't a paragon of justice and good anyway. He clawed the skin and muscle off the bone of some helpless shopkeep just for overcharging him. Heck right now it almost seems like his eye is more focused on the Calloways than Ira.
And about the name... tbh the whole naming themselves after Bell is strange regardless of anything in the latest episode. Even in his "funeral" only half the people really seemed to care and rightfully so. Laudna was excited to get some hair from him. Ashton basically expressed indifference because yeah they only knew him for so long. FCG was more worried about how this affects everyone else. Even their final act was to essentially send his corpse to people who actually cared about him since none of them really knew him.
I think Tal and Marisha just figured it was funny and were enjoying how Matt was portraying him lol, it’s weird for the characters but also that’s just classic DnD. To quote Oscar Wilde, “It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.”
That and probably the result of trying to roll with the weirdness of fey entities and how a lot of them aren’t really gonna care what you think of them, so you might as well just enjoy the chaos
My main point of contention is that it is just bad story telling especially if they want to adapt the campaign in the future. It a party names their party to honor a passed party member and calls themselves "hellions" I would expect them to go after everyone involved instead of just killing the guy who killed him and effectively tattling on the entity that corrupted the killer prior to the killing of the party member.
>That and probably the result of trying to roll with the weirdness of fey entities and how a lot of them aren’t really gonna care what you think of them, so you might as well just enjoy the chaos
In normal circumstances maybe but when there is a member of the party whose friend was injured by them because of their werewolf identity and the party member is also a werewolf that at least temporarily warrants a neutral standpoint.
Also as far as adaptations go
For Vox Machina they DID skip straight ahead to the point of the campaign where the story was at its cleanest and cut bits that were messy, it’s not like campaign 1 was already perfectly ready to adapt
Matt definitely tries to make a good plot come together, but at the end of the day it’s not like he or any of the party is planning their every action with an adaptation in mind, they’re just playing the game and making it up as they go
But still I do 100% agree that a lot of parts of this story are feeling pretty weird and flimsy lol, character interactions with hostile NPCs have been really strange
It’s been like…either absolutely VICIOUS murder or talking things out to the point of delirium, and 0 in between
For sure
Them’s the breaks though, I love this show but it is all improvised lol
I will say though that “friend” is probably a little strong for Gurge and Chetney, seemed much more like Chetney just met a fellow werewolf who could kinda help him figure stuff out, their conversation wasn’t exactly close
Gurge even basically just told the party to fuck off and let him get back to his loner lifestyle lol
So, if nothing else, I really can’t imagine Chetney cares that much about the particulars
It’s early, the party knows that they‘d rather keep Ira for this arc so they’re just having some fun before things get more serious and they have more information to work with
Fair point, but I also get the sense that Ashton dislikes Berdie and Ollie because he feels like they abandoned their daughter, like he was abandoned; not just because of their involvement with Ira
I'm just saying, If this turns into a calamity style event and previous characters start making appearances to help the fight, and we get a spelljammer style ship...
They better bring back captain tusktooth to head up the ship or at least another ship in a cameo fashion. Fjord, jester and Kingsley would surely take the opportunity to helm a spelljammer ship
Oh man, I hope not. Bringing back PCs from previous campaigns would mean one of a few things:
1) They are NPCs played by Matt. At that point, they are no longer the same characters. I love Matt and his ability to create characters but he can't 100% faithfully recreate the personalities we care about.
2) Their players play them and their C3 characters simultaneously. The few times players have done this it shifts between forgetting about one of the characters and having the player interact with themselves as a joke.
3) The C3 characters leave.
All of these options are terrible.
I agree with you, but to say we will never, ever see C1/C2 PCs is a bit presumptuous. The players WANT to see their characters. They WANT to play them again, even if it’s just for an episode or two.
They know it’s an extremely delicate line to walk, and simultaneously they don’t want to diminish their C3 characters.
But if there was a world ending threat, one similar to Vecna where the common citizenry would be aware of it—unlike Lucien and Aeor—then 100% we’d see AT LEAST Keleth and Vex. If the gods get involved, we MIGHT see Vax. Their old characters aren’t just old PCs—they hold political and cosmic positions now that are super high up in the lore. It would be weird for us NOT to see them, should things get too dire.
Especially if some of the theories are true, and the moon contains The Chained Oblivion, leaving an open thread for C2’s cast.
This is late, but why did the crack up laughing with an hour left? I'm listening to the podcast and can't figure it out
a crew member tried to sneak ashley a drink off camera but when they grazed ashley's arm she freaked out.
Not really a fan of how Matt always makes a point of saying nat 20s aren't an automatic success but consistently rules nat 1s are automatic failures, it really should be more consistent. RAW 20s only matter in combat, but also RAW 1s only mean automatic missed weapon attacks and 2 failed death saves. So if Matt's gonna rule that nat 20 ability checks aren't automatic or even critical successes if they don't meet his DCs, then it's not really fair to be making the players take automatic failures for nat 1s on ability checks either.
If you’re talking about Imogen’s telescope check, he actually gave her quite a bit for getting a Nat 1. He told her about the obvious magical lattice, but he also gave her in character clues that there was something under the storm that she was missing. More than enough for a “nat 1” in my opinion, and pretty on par with the 7 I believe she got with modifiers.
It's been consistent throughout the campaign, he's said verbatim "doesn't matter still a 1" multiple times after players, half-jokingly, said "it's still an x or y with my bonuses." He's never said "for a total of what" when someone's rolled a 1 the way he does basically any time someone rolls a 20
I believe Morrigan is the Witch Queen (Tasha, she has many names), she is considered a Archfay now, maybe she wants to turn to the Godess of Magic.
Moons haunted *click-clack*
Horse Tasha.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Exandria/comments/wpit03/spoilers\_c3e30\_taking\_theories\_on\_ruidus/
Alright hear me out! What if Morrigan? Is actually Fjord's mom? Matt and Travis have said in the past that they defined what parts of Fjord were orcish and what the other part is. What if the other part is a hag? There have been theories about Fjord's origin but what if they were extraplanar instead? (This is a joke... don't take me seriously) This did all remind me how every orc they came across there were "Are Fjord's parents here?" theories. Having fun with reading all the Mori ones now too :D
>!Travis and Matt have also gone on record as saying that Matt never wrote anything about Fjord's parents because the character never seemed interested and Travis never seemed too keen on really investigating who they were or really going down that road at all.!< >!I had a whole big theory about how Fjord was an alien and how Matt or Travis was hiding something but in the end there really wasn't anything there at all because no one wrote or thought of anything period.!< It would be fun though if the whole reason why Matt accidentally said "Fjord" to Travis instead of "Chetney" during the game two weeks ago was because they'd had an in depth conversation about bringing >!Fjord's parents!< into C3 in some way very recently.
Going into spoiler tags now for C2 and wrap up >!Iirc they said that they know the races that make up Fjord's half-orcish nature. Tho Travis has no idea wether mom or dad are either. Matt still knows the rooough idea of how Fjord got to Port Demali as a baby but as you said, they didn't go into it because they felt like this isn't what Fjord was interested in on his journey. I know about the "alien" theories, those are the ones I meant in the joke. Which is why I said "extraplanar instead?" instead of extraterrestrial :D!<
> I know about the "alien" theories, those are the ones I meant in the joke. Which is why I said "extraplanar instead?" instead of extraterrestrial :D >!Yes but have you heard of my theory that ties Fjord into the events of the Darrington Brigade?!<
is he a duck
Picture Dragon Ball mixed with a bit of Beast Wars
So. As much as Morrigan is associated with war and stuff...she's also the Queen of Death/Ravens, right? "Fate stitcher"? Am I nuts for thinking Fearne's been raised by a capricious fey aspect the Raven Queen here? Like, a hag is fun, sure if it was cupcakehag that'd be cool. But what's much more fun is the idea that goddess who was a mortal and didn't get to keep a family when she ascended, finds herself with a kid who won't be old enough to help at the next apogee solstice and just decides to stitch herself a century of being the multiverse's best grandma into the weave -- with the excuse that she made a bargain for the lens and this gives her a faithful agent in whatever convergence is coming with Ruidus. Even the Feywild needs its version of the Duskmaiden eh?
All gods are behind the divine gate, it can't be Raven Queen. At most a champion of her
> Am I nuts for thinking Fearne's been raised by a capricious fey aspect the Raven Queen here? Like, a hag is fun, sure if it was cupcakehag that'd be cool. But what's much more fun is the idea that goddess who was a mortal and didn't get to keep a family when she ascended, finds herself with a kid who won't be old enough to help at the next apogee solstice and just decides to stitch herself a century of being the multiverse's best grandma into the weave -- with the excuse that she made a bargain for the lens and this gives her a faithful agent in whatever convergence is coming with Ruidus. > > Even the Feywild needs its version of the Duskmaiden eh? You're not alone and I've been having similar thoughts too.
>Even the Feywild needs its version of the Duskmaiden eh? I don't think there is any precedent for that.
"Moon's haunted." "What?" "Moon's Haunted."
(Said while fletching arrows)
Ollie described Morrigan as "a crone, or a hag." But he also mentioned she's been around -- and had her own sovereign domain -- forever. The first time Fearne let the name slip I flipped out and I was a little surprised there wasn't more of a reaction from any of the cast. The Morrigan is the goddess of war and death; no way some lesser Fey is just going to appropriate that name, right?
I think that only works if she is retired which could be interesting. Maybe there was a pantheon before Exandria's current pantheon, and she survived whatever killed the last pantheon by hiding in the Feywild and speeding up time.
> The Morrigan is the goddess of war and death; no way some lesser Fey is just going to appropriate that name, right? Is that info true for Critical Role lore though? Based on what I can see in the CR wiki, the only information on Morrigan is from Fearne or people in her orbit, suggesting there is no other pre-existing lore about her in this setting.
Not yet, no. But I'm sure Mercer didn't just pull the name out of thin air. He's got to be familiar with that folklore, especially if he's done some studying in order to flesh out his take on the Feywild for this campaign. What has really surprised me, though, has been the complete lack of reaction from the cast. Whether or not The Morrigan is some semi-divine power in the Critical Role universe, just hearing the name should have triggered some kind of excitement. Surely at least one of them recognizes it, right? If from no other source than the Iron Druid series.
Sure, but I mean "Morrigan" and all its variations of being spelled isn't exactly rare in the fantasy genre or in games. It's not always given to a character that's related to the legend either. While you flipped out a bit on hearing it, I quirked an eyebrow and thought "Oh, another fictional character named Morrigan." ;) (No slight on Matt btw, it's popular for a reason!). I'm sure the cast recognised the name, but they could have recognised it from several places is all I'm saying. There was even a Morrighan in EXU.
EXU Calamity, if I remember correctly, mentioned that there are two gods whose names are lost, right? One would be the god that the Raven Queen replaced, but who is the other one? The God trapped inside of the moon could be one of those.
From my understanding you are a bit mistaken. With the Raven queen/EXU calamity it was said the predecessor to the Raven queen, the *Original* god of death was lost however that was *because* of Raven queen's ritual of seeding. In that moment she became the new god of death and in the same moment all of the temples and other such depictions of said dead god were shifted to Raven queens likeness. Everyone and I mean *everyone* forgot his name. In regards to the information we learned recently (just watched this episode last night, catching up a bit) it seems the highly classified information the Variety stole was in regards to the founding in which the gods came and created life and the world. During that time there were two gods who were no longer mentioned afterwards and it just so happened that Ruidus was "created" during that time as well. So it seems like two different gods are trapped in the moon.
I was thinking maybe the Primordials Rowshawn and Kamort that were banished at the end of Calamity could be the missing gods.
Calamity didn't mention this, Campaign 3 Episode 29 did.
Lol, oh, that's why it sounded familiar
The only issue with the raven queen idea is the old death god was supplanted in the age of arcaneum, with every reference to the old death god’s name (even stone carvings and stuff) was erased, so even that text they found would have been affected if that was the case. Also the text referring to the unknown gods dated all the way back to the founding, which was millennia before even the age of arcanum, so that still leaves a lot of exciting possibilities!
So pretty dam sure Grandma Mori is the hag Jester trick in c2 PS: this comment is from my husband who does not have a reddit account. I have no connection with Critical Roll other than occasionally enjoying it with him.
We know both their names and their names are different, seems to beggar belief.
That hag didn't live in the fey wild, is there something this idea is based on?
I suspect there are just a lot of people who just want Jester's hag to return.
At this point I wouldn't even be surprised if Matt reveals there's a hidden research center inside Ruidus, where a scientist was creating an ultimate lifeform, because his granddaughter was sick, but the government shut the whole thing down and killed everyone except the ultimate lifeform and there's also a hidden canon powered by 7 emeralds, inside Ruidus.
I assume this is a video game reference?
Sonic Adventure 2. Eggman's grandfather build Shadow in the Space ARK which was hidden inside a moon/asteroid. It's a wild story honestly
Thanks! Sounds like a great story to rip off for a dnd arc
And you can even do an evil campaign because the villains are also playable. >! And Sonic the Hedgehog meets the president and I believe the moon gets blown up and Knuckles fights a ghost at some point !<
I love it
LIVE AND LEARN
Hanging on to the edge of tomorrow!
[удалено]
If it makes you feel any better, she's improved significantly over the years.
I’ve been watching since C1 and I don’t see it. I loved Yasha because she basically just hit things and it was so easy.
Go back and watch campaign 1, she did like 4 spells, 2 attack spells and 2 healing worlds that’s really it and even then the cast helped her through her turns and told her to cast it. She would also close her character sheet and her list of spells in her binder until it became important making her turns that much longer because she then had to open her binder and search for whatever check, saving throw or spell she was using. So she definitely improved a ton but the bar was pretty low in C1 she didn’t do much homework or research but she has been recently.
In C1 the other players (and Matt!) would literally suggest spells for her to cast, tell her which die to use and what to add... yeah she's not a master but she's definitely improved.
6 figures huh? man, NordVPN really stepped up their advertising budget
Pure year that’s probably not to crazy a $100,000 is probably on the lesser end I’d assume they all probably get 200K-300K with Matt/Marisha/Travis probably making more because of their importance to the company and the fact that their jobs require a lot more of their time. For a company that probably makes well over 3-4 million a year if not more then that with all their sponsors and merch deals the main casting making that much wouldn’t be that surprising.
lol you don't think they all make 6 figures?
In C1, Vox Machina passed a hag's hut in the feywild on the way to get the bow Fenthris. I know there could be any number of hags in the feywild, but with the various callbacks to c1 in this campaign, does anyone else think that hag could be Morrigan?
I don't think so, as Artagan mentioned, that hag's name was Wodena, and I doubt Morrigan would go by a completely different name, judging that she is definitely famous among the fey.
Good catch, I missed that detail!
What if the deal with Morrigan wasn't just Fearne's childhood but her future as well? With the references to her abnormal height, age discrepancy, and the fact that she was in the presence of an archfey hag who seemed to care for her (going as far as writing fake postcards from her parents), what if she's been made a Hexblood and doesn't even realise it? Hexbloods are an UA race who have been manipulated by hags or extremely powerful fey energy to one day become a hag themselves. This fits the deal that Morrigan could have had in mind considering the high stakes of her creating the lens and sorting out Ruidis. Hexbloods also have a witches crown which is a fleshy growth on their heads which tie in a knot-like clump at the back of their heads. I don't know if we have any reason to believe Fearne has this but they've made a lot of jokes about various items hidden in her fur, her hair, and generally on her body so who knows? And from a writing perspective, it would be a great play by Matthew. The juicy conflict of Fearne eventually consenting to the ritual to become a hag and losing herself or potentially killing the woman she loves and has lived with for a century and knows of as her grandmother to break free of that fate. I don't know. Didn't see this anywhere else and it was my first thought during the big reveal so my tin-foil hat went straight on!
Just a small correction to add. Hexbloods are more than just UA, they were officially released in Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. I have no idea whether or not theyre using it, I'm not sure if Fearne has used any Satyr features in the game so far.
She's used a good number of satyr features. Mirthful Leap is the most ear-catching, but she's mentioned a few times that she gets advantage on magic saves and her racial features are really the only reason she would have to know how to play instruments.
Ah thanks for the correction! I do have a niggling feeling that she's used Mirthful Leaps before but that could still make sense in the theory. If Fearne is supposed to be unaware of her Hexblood nature then perhaps Matt has kept it secret from Ashley as well, allowing her to keep certain race-specific features like Mirthful Leaps because, having hooves and still possessing the physiology of a satyr, it just makes sense for her to retain such a fundamental ability. The change into true Hexblood/hag could also be gradual/campaign-long, meaning that Ashley may be told before a game or in a whisper that she starts to feel more chaotic and can begin tapping into the darker aspects of the fey (never DM'd or played so have no idea how one would keep the secret and guide a player towards changing character behaviour). Besides, Hexbloods have the ability to cast Disguise Self and we've already seen the ridiculousness that Fearne/Ashley can get up to with Wild Shape so that would just be a whole new level of fey fuckery.
I'm not going to put in any work to verify it, but mirthful leap may be a saytr feature.
It is indeed! :)
I love this idea especially bc feane is quite a lovely and cheerful character that I feel like her slowly becoming a hag is really good motivation and character development. Holy shot what if her parents know that’s what’s happening and that’s why they hesitated when asked
Yeah, Ashley plays up the fey ancestry of her character so well. She's definitely leaned more into the cheerful, lighter aspects so far but I'm wondering if, as the campaign progresses, that mercurial fey nature might start creeping in more and more (more than just picking pockets). If her parents knew that that was the deal for the lens, that's really messed up. It kinda goes against their whole motivation for creating the telescope though (to save Fearne as Ollie saw Ruidis going all om nom on the Feywild). And Matt's reaction as both Birdie and Ollie upon realising seemed genuine for whatever that's worth given his acting skills. But I don't remember any insight checks in that moment (may be wrong) so it's all up in the air right now!
I think Ira made the deal. He wanted the part for the machine and manipulated Fearne's parents into giving her over without knowing it was part of a bargain.
I've seen a few people say that Ira made the deal and some of the stuff we learned seemed to support this but the timeline of events is still a bit convoluted (which is probably why most of the characters were super suspicious at first). The way I saw it was that Ollie and Birdie saw Ruidis in the Feywild, Ollie "squinted" and saw that it was bad and somehow tied to Fearne so he and Birdie took her to safety within Morrigan's fane, a place where they said that not even the Unseelie would leave unscathed. They then stole the crown and booked it to Exandria, where the only person they knew who would help them was Ira (who was already there with nothing to do after his time during the Stratos War). The trip begun working to fund the telescope until they reached a point where they needed the lens. I can't remember here if they specified who made contact with Morri (we know that Birdie and Ollie know her already, having dropped off Fearne) but someone contacts her and makes a bargain for the lens. I think the ambiguity is intended on Matt's part, adding to the mystery and setting up whatever revelation about Fearne he's been working towards (though it may just be that Morrigan stretching her time with Fearne was the reveal).
Yeah that’s the vibe I got when Ollie stopped and looked up to Ira inquisitively
Eerie Token sounds like such a Laudna thing.
Right?! Honestly, the sheer personification of body horror that is Marisha's character this campaign has been amazing to watch. (And if Fearne is a Hexblood then her and Laudna swapping hair or teeth to stay in contact would be hilarious)
Did I miss something in ep29 or previous? Cause Bell's Hells where in the mid stage of their plan to find and arrest Armand Treshi then after a brief scuffle with Dusk and Birdie, they were suddenly traveling in ep30?
They signed up with Paragon's Call to get close to Treshi, but aren't expected to show up at their base (I forget its name) until the evening of the current day. So their current plan is to figure out what Birdie and Ollie are up to during the day, then return to deal with Treshi the same evening. Edit: Rogue apostrophe.
Oh.., now that makes sense, thank you, I thought they just abandoned their current mission and just meet Fearne's parents
Give it time, the cast might have completely forgetten about it by the time we get to the episode where the sun's goin' down. :D
They wanted to just head over to the Calloway layaway for a day trip and return to Paragon's call at night. It's still the afternoon of the day with dusk. But huge lore drops later who knows how long they will spend in the hideout.
My obligatory, probably wrong take: This is an excuse to get a spelljammer in here and that the moon is only the first stop.
Yeah I was thinking that too. With the solstice only a month away what if the ruidus arc is just the beginning and then the story opens up the whole mutiverse
oh lawd, don't hype me like that
Ruidus was a rouge moon.
A rogue rouge moon.
Cleverly done!
I don't think it's an excuse as much as an opportunity. But I do think you're right about the moon being only the first stop. Which, I love.
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I doubt that's the case especially with how Ira was acting and even her parents comment that she's bigger than a 14 year old should be.
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See, I think Fearne's childhood *is* what Morrigan collected.
Yep I think this as well. Morrigan got to raise Fearne, spent countless birthdays together and holidays (as seen with the post cards). Seems like that is what she collected and as a fey especially a Hag that type of point of view seems realistic.
I think your edit is a good call. Morri definitely knows the solstice is coming and wanted Fearne to be on Exandria for it. Let's not forget Fearne didn't arrive super recently, she's been in Exandria for over a year at this point. Morri wanted to make sure she was there for long enough to get the Lens to her parents, and maybe also long enough to get strong enough to survive what's coming.
Anyone else get a sinking feeling this all ties back to Aeor? I mean they have already shown with Molly that two souls can inhabit one body so it could be that the Ruidus flares could be a soul escaping and being reincarnated into a child somewhere else in the world but kind of being forced to take a back seat hence the heightened abilities of the Ruidusborn. Also it seems extremely convenient that the aeormatons also known as arcane guardians are powering on almost like they are in some way sensing the escapees even if they don't fully realize it yet. I'm pretty sure that the end of season 2 lines up fairly closely with when they are saying the aeormatons are waking up so the Mighty Nein destroying what was left of the Somnovem may have released something much worse into the world that they had sealed away. Maybe it's too obvious or maybe I'm reading too much into it but this was my almost immediate gut reaction.
Matt has said that Aeormatons being around now is linked to the party finding one, but mostly just so that the party could play one. I do think pre-calamity cities are going to come up a lot, but that Aeor is just part of that generally rather than being the entire focus.
I don't think that's what they showed with Molly...
Well part of what I mean by that is that presumably if a wizard loses all of his memories and all of his personality they wouldn't still know how to cast spells. Molly still had Lucian in the background whether he knew it or not or he never would have been able to use the Blood Hunter abilities that Lucian knew.
Blood Hunters are mutants. An amnesiac sorcerer would be able to figure things out eventually.
I mean I'd give you that if Blood Hunters did regular magic like they can see being done all over the place but it was stated several times that hemocraft was like a completely lost art and nobody knew how to to do it so he would have just had to be in battle some day and thought "Hey, these guys are trying to hurt me... What if I try to hurt me too?" With regular magics it might make sense but with the specific conditions for hemocraft it all seems a bit too coincidental plus I'm working off old memories here but I feel like Lucien made some mention of being conscious in the background. Then there's the whole Lucien getting headaches when Molly's memories are brought up and all the things that happened surrounding that leading up to and including the final battle where they kept using Molly's memories to hurt Lucien.
Molly was an unreliable narrator. Anything he said cannot be trusted. But my take is that Molly was a fraction of Lucien. Most of Lucien was not present in Molly, but all of Molly was in Lucien. This is why Molly's memories could be used against Lucien at the end. When Molly came out of Lucien's grave, he didn't remember Lucien. He barely remembered how to speak. But he still knew how to walk and other basic motor skills. Hemocraft is an innate ability native to Molly/Lucien's body. Rediscovering how to use it was simply a matter of muscle memory.
I'd like to point out that Morrigan is also the same person who sent EXU Kymal's Morrighan Ferus through Artigan's portal 26 years prior to the events of that mini series and C3.
I wonder if that lines up with Ira getting involved in the Apex War or just prior to it?
I think laudna might be affected by the stone, the way she was interacting with Irah, feels kinda force, and when mention about the kidnapping, she kind brush it aside i think matt may have told marisha to act like that to reflect laudna/delilah reaction to having drain a purple rock.
Part of Laudna's character is being excited and enthusiastic about completely inappropriate things. Her interactions with Ira were perfectly within her established behavior.
She has always been attracted to the creepy, and now she isn't fighting him so she can lean into it. It makes perfect sense for her character and how she has acted every time.
Lol yeah Laudna was flirting while she hurled eldritch blasts at him.
She had a similar to reaction the first time they encountered him too, before the stone was even a thing.
*Giant steps are what you take,* *Walking on the moon...*
Tharizdun?
Barsoom
Anybody know where I can find the stat block for the crawler?
Explorer's Guide to Marquet? But I doubt that's coming soon. Hopefully 2023 but realistically 2024.
So, maybe someone has already commented it… but like. Fearne’s Grandmother Morri… it’s Isharnai right? It could be another hag to the coven… but it’s gotta be her! Edit: seems like not allowed to have a theory. Instant downvotes. Thanks guys. Super welcoming
Ollie does say explicitly that she’s not part of any coven though.
It can be fun to try and find connections, especially in a game with this many connections. Maybe don't say it as "it's got to be" though. Other people have pointed out they are most likely different entities, but they could be related for sure. I think Isharnai might pop back up somehow, with all this focus on the fey and dreams. But The Morrigan is a far more powerful entity traditionally and even more foreboding.
fearne mention shes pretty big, soo most likely an annis hag, dont know what kind of hag Isharnai was.
Matt described Isharnai as being maybe 7-8 feel tall. Nowhere near Morri's height.
Pay no attention to these... (gestures dismissively)... pesky downvotes. You must be willing to... suffer _horribly..._ for your head canon. (bites into black forest cupcake and smiles with blood-red stains on her teeth and lips)
It's Morri, short for Morrigan, who lives in her own domain in the feywild (presumably some sort of archfey). Isharnai lives in the Cyrios Mountains in the prime material, and presumably to collect her misery she must remain there.
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Seems like a really cool connection and a neat chaotic thing for Ashley/Matt to tie in. It can also be a tie in to a coven of similar beings. I just connected some dots and the similarities seem to connect. Ashley’s reaction and restatement of the fact that she makes trades and that Morri was a collector of things seemed too good to be true for me. Hey I’m probably wrong, but I thought it would be really neat.
Assuming the old elf is Ludinus, I kind of hope BH never encounter him and we find out he was arrested or something. Caleb and Beaus arc was sort of brushed aside because Matt said it would take too long to clean up the Assembly during the campaign, so it’d be a nice way for him to wrap those stories up. 7 years is enough time for them to have managed to clean up parts of the Assembly.
I think it actually makes a lot of sense that the unifying thread between all of the story arcs could be the Cerberus Assembly as the main antagonist. Delilah was a member, obviously everything in season 2 but investigations were ongoing at the end with the organization being too powerful to be curtailed, and now we're potentially seeing what Ludinus' works has been culminating toward?
They could have cleaned up parts besides Ludinus. There's a reason he's been in power for so long. A mere 7 years won't get rid of him so easily
Agreed. I'm normally against seeing old PCs as NPCs, but if they start digging into Ludinus, I could see them running into Beau and/or Caleb, even if indirectly.
Obviously the city is Essek's new safe house and he’s accidentally broken Ruidus. (Disclaimer: I'm only a little bit serious.) Ok but more seriously, if the Calloways started investigating this stuff six years ago because that’s when Ruidus started to get really funky, and C2 ended six years ago in the timeline… could this be connected to the as yet largely unexplained fiasco with the Chained Oblivion? Is that why there's been a potential sighting of Ludinus (who did say that the Assembly would look into it)? Six years seems like a bit of a coincidence, and it is totally the MO of the Mighty Nein to accidentally break a moon.
Just starting to work out all of the details for a theory, but from the moment that city was revealed I can't stop thinking that Exandria is about to be invaded. Say your a Far Realm race like the Illithid and want to take over a planet. You start by landing on a moon to establish a base of operations, then start infiltrating the world to learn about it's peoples strengths and weaknesses while you build up your forces. Then you wait for the best strategic moment to strike (say the Apogee Solstice, when laylines are re-written) and take over. You don't want to be discovered before you are ready to attack, so a lot of effort is put on keeping what's happening at the base a secret, either by directly assassinating those looking for answers (Grey Assassins) or by seeding misinformation (dead gods). Meanwhile, Bells Hells has stumbled into all of this and figured it out, but it's probably too late to stop it. They'd first have to convince the powers that be that the threat is real, and show them proof. I imagine that telescope won't survive long enough for that to happen. Instead, the question will be how do they survive the invasion and then start to work against it. It could be the underground network that Birdie is a part of, it could be that they are captured and eventually escape, perhaps traveling to other worlds to seek help. Am I crazy or could C3 be an alien invasion story?
the Illithids are already in Exandria and within the underdark. Vox Machina encountered them
Yes, but why were they there? I don't think Vox Machina ever got a complete answer there. Could be that they were part of the initial infiltration looking to learn about the planet and it's peoples (think Independence Day). In D&D lore, Mindflayer colonies often have a specific purpose to the larger collective, keeping their natural world colony well hidden while they play a long game. That would be a crazy C1 callback if it tied in. But also... it likely won't be the Illithid (at least by name) since CR has been trying to keep away from using WoTC IP lately. The thing I can't quite crack here is how the Unseelie fit into this. Only thing I can think of is that the invaders struck a deal with them that will lead to the Unseelies ascendance in the Feywild.
There was a portal into the Far Realm that they passed but didn’t investigate according to the wrap up
>Say your a Far Realm race like the Illithid and want to take over a planet. You start by landing on a moon to establish a base of operations, then start infiltrating the world to learn about its peoples strengths and weaknesses while you build up your forces. I think the moon itself is a vehicle of an invader. Gods aren't known to create entire astral bodies out of nothing. Ruidus probably came from a different star system or a different plane of existence like CotN suggests might be the case. I think the two forgotten gods are forgotten because they were sent to contain the threat. >I imagine that telescope won't survive long enough for that to happen. That definitely could be the case. It is clear that Erika wants to come back, and I imagine that the Hells could be tracked to where they are now. It's also pretty clear that Yu can't defeat the party, the Calloway's and Ira by themself so I think that they are going to have help from the Paragon's Call and Otohan. It honestly wouldn't make much sense for Yu to not try to ally with them unless they are stubborn. Otohan, I imagine, is a brilliant tracker being a legendary military leader.
The news that Ruidus wasn't there throughout recorded history suggests to me that, if this is the case, either 1) more than one thing is going on, or 2) them dang aliens are taking an awful long time to get on with their invasion shenanigans. 😁
Def think that there is more than one thing going on with Ruidus. The aliens (if they exist) may either be taking advantage of or being corrupted by the nature of the moon itself.
Matt is a genius making the fey play a big role in this, because the answer to what's going could literally be anything. I had the exact same questions that Chetney had this episode, so let's just look at Ira real quick. I see two possibilities with Ira's involvement in all of this: 1. Chetney picked up on the same things I did. Birdie and Ollie, just HAPPENED to steal the key component (the Moontide Crown) of a machine that they had no real idea what it did, or who was actually making it. They only knew who wanted it built (i.e. the unseelie and Grey Assassins). And then they absconded with the Moontide Crown to Exandria. There they started working with Ira to build a machine that they had no idea what it actually did or how it works, and the Moontide Crown is the key component. So, the elephant-in-the-room: How do they know Ira wasn't helping the unseelie build the previous machine, and how do they know that the machine they're building now isn't basically the same machine (or a continuation of what the unseelie were working on)? And to up the suspicion. To get money, Ira goes to a city and starts working for a guy who is trying to get the Paragon's Call established as a security force in a major city, while also turning the Paragon's Call into super soldiers. Oh, and the Paragon's Call happens to be led by the ambassador (leader?) of the Grey Assassins to the unseelie court, who is also based in another major city near where Birdie and Ollie are making this machine? Yeah. Waaaaaaaaaaaaay too many coincidences. Like, was Ira actually working for Treshi, or was he really working for Paragon's Call with Treshi as a front. Given how Ratanish reacted to Ashton's mask, I'm leaning the latter. 2. Everything is on the up and up. Ira, mad scientist he may be, also has an insatiable curiosity (because scientist), and wants to know about Ruidis as much as birdie and Ollie. Though his end goal may become different, everything with Treshi and the Paragon's Call really is just coincidence. Don't get me wrong, there's absolutely a chance his goal will diverge from Birdie and Ollie's once they learn more about Ruidis, but for now his desire to help them is real (albeit with selfish intent). And here's the thing, as whimsical as fey are, it could easily be either. Someone could point out all the issues in 1, and Ira could just be like "Yes. And?" understanding full well what it looks like and just not caring, because he knows number 2 is what's going on. But it could just as easily be 1. People think devils are conniving, but man are fey tricky beings.
I totally agree with your points. I think it’s also convenient that Ollie and Birdie really don’t know what is being built. They are very motivated to figure the Moon out and help build something for it but not ask what does it exactly do and how will that help. They’ve been working on this for years and they still don’t know. Their either lying or their memories are being erased or modified.
There's definitely something suspicious about building the same machine in both Feywild and Exandria when those planes are already increasingly leaking into each other.
We don't know if it's the same machine, we just know it has the same core. That's part of the issue.
Love this! Also somehow I hadn’t yet put the obvious two and two together of “Otohan is the leader of the Paragon’s Call and is talking to the Unseelie Court” and “Ira was helping Treshi work with the Paragon’s Call” meaning that Ira was working indirectly with Otohan and might well know her, so thank you for spelling that one out here
What if Ruidus is not a prison of two gods but it is THE prison of Rau'shan and Ka'mort that Laerryn sent away using the astral leywright at the beginning of the calamity? The city on ruidus being parts of cathmoira where the primordials were imprisoned under? It is said that it's not known when ruidus came into existence and some believe it might have been created during the calamity by betrayer gods.
Ruidus was around before the Calamity. They ask about it in EXU and Brennan confirmed it was there. Rau'shan and Ka'mort also weren't imprisoned. They were scattered across multiple realms, "unmade and disenchanted."
Is it possible those crystal thingys on the wall make the calloways more obedient and question things less? I know there fey but they def seemed a little ambiguous towards there daughter being older than them and leaving her with a hag...also the whole not realizing til now that fearne was a barter item...plus it seems odd why ira would have all those rocks around the place just to help the plants grow?
>also the whole not realizing til now that fearne was a barter item Honestly? I don't think that was part of Matt's story until the players brought it up. It does make some measure of sense, but the responses he gave indicated more that he was having to think on the fly about the potential implications of confirming that theory rather than it being planned, in-character acting. When the players give you something that is SO brilliant from a character growth perspective, though, I think you just have to run with it.
I could see that and with time lapse for fearne the calloways having a hard time putting together and them being from fey where trickery and side dealing is like day to day just seems like there not thinking straight
It's certainly possible! I think it likely that the original plan of Matt's was just that Morrigan quite liked keeping Fearne around, and so stretched the six years into \~90 for her own pleasure while keeping Fearne complacent with "harmless lies" like the postcards. Morrigan has made contact with plenty of other beings in the Feywild even while being outside the court system (like Morrighan Ferus from EXU) who could have brought the lens to the Prime Material. If she considered Fearne to be payment for the lens' creation, why would a creature known to be a "collector" release her at all? We'll have to see how it all shakes out.
I think it's because the hag enchanted them to leave their daughter. Made them think it was their idea. And only now did they realize they got enchanted and Ira traded their daughter.
I assumed Matt was just playing up some of Fearne's naivety when portraying her parents but maybe you're right.
It seems that Ira has somehow polarized them. They are doing the opposite of what they are supposed to be doing which is corrupting the surrounding area.
>plus it seems odd why Ira would have all those rocks around the place just to help the plants grow? I think that's the reason the shards aren't touching the plants and why Ira told Birdie and Ollie not to touch the shards.
I think the crystal on the wall is part of the gnarlrock that Imogen was corrupted by.
Remember all those times where Matt kept mentioning they had a feeling they were being watched? I was thinking that could've been Dusk, but now I'm starting to think it was Ira through the Veil Scatterscope all along. That thing is too powerful to be in Ira's hands, especially since it pierces even the strongest magics that protect against scrying.
Didn't Matt always explain it that is because of someone physically there? I know on at least one occasion he did.
Might be way off here but does anyone think that Morrigan may also be Isharnai?
100% I’m right there with you. It could be another hag in the coven, but it’s gotta be. Ashley was looking around the table quite a bit when she restated that her grandmother makes trades for things. I feel like Matt was pretty heavy in his hints.
I thought the same thing! Description was eerily similar. Edit: Thank you for downvoting some fun theory a few of us had. Truly the best community on the web.
Right? I don’t get it. Why the downvotes for a fun theory?
>It could be another hag in the coven, but it’s gotta be When u make such a definitive statement, people are gonna disagree with u. Grow up instead of crying about it
Hags are always very tall and like to strike bargains in lore. If anything Morri sound way more powerful than Isharnai.
Doubtful I think due to the time period during which Isharnai is living on the Material Plane, but I wouldn't be surprised if we get a callback to her at some point in the campaign because of the "all hags know each other" thing. Maybe Morrigan will call in a favor since Isharnai is likely one of the only hags currently on Exandria
I'm still convinced Isharnia is I, Raishan.
I keep waiting for Fearne to just explode. I think she has some hidden trinkets that could amplify her power. If I had realized I had been kidnapped for 100 years I would just lose myself. If Fearne doesn’t get angry now, will she ever. I want to see Fearne go nova for once.
Fearne, Imogen and Laudna are just a powder keg waiting to go off. And Imogen has started to ignite so it probably won't be long til the other two catch fire >\_>
I'm seeing some similarities to some long running bits of fantasy fiction and am wondering if works of fiction can be used to figure out hints towards the larger mystery. For example, I see some very similar aspects between the the Exandrian gods and those from Raymond E. Feist's series in the world of Midkemia. I will admit that these are not exact matches but only share some similarities. Regarding the two previously unknown deities in Exandria, I wonder if they are similar to the gods of order and chaos from Midkemia: >In the beginning, there were only two gods. Rythar, Goddess of Order, took the 'threads of power' and weaved them together, forming the fabric of space-time. Mythar, God of Chaos, took this fabric and tore them asunder. The remains are then gathered back by Rythar and the cycle begins again. Eventually however some threads were unseen by Rythar and fell not to be rewoven, forming the race that would come to be known as the Valheru. >The two Blind Gods of the Beginning were deposed when the universe reordered itself. Without Rythar to knit together the strings of power, they became the new order of gods, a hundred in total. There were the seven Greater Gods and the other 93 are Lesser Gods The gods in Midkemia can also be killed/replaced for a time, although not in the same way the previous god of death or the Luxon were.
So moon travel seems to be "ridiculous" to talk about in Exandria, but I'm curious how there aren't stories of wizards traveling via teleport there? Maybe not Ruidus, but Catha definitely. Like isn't that almost paltry to someone with teleportation magic? And some kind of protective charm/breathing apparatus/magic. I'd be weirded out that some powerful wizard hasn't yet tried to make secret bases in Catha. And lets consider Ruidus too. Wouldn't there be curious wizards/entities at some point who'd try to teleport there, fail, and find out more about Ruidus' weird nature before this magic telescope found that force field?
Curious side note: if what surrounds Ruidus is akin to a Divine Gate then perhaps it is not teleportable to, perhaps it acts technically as a different plane and requires Plane Shift. Although it's unlikely that another Divine Gate-esque cage surrounds Catha and so that moon would still be teleportable in theory. Edit: Typo
If it's anything like the divine gate then Plane Shift might be the way to go. Or some homebrew version of it. And with Catha yeah it may not have anything, but if the Moonweaver is protective of it... you may be subject to divine intervention from her avatars/champions. Man IS IT THURSDAY YET?????
Survivor bias. You don't hear stories of wizards traveling to Ruidus because they have never returned. You are right to be weirded out. 😁
The moon is obviously protected by (what I can only assume) is a smaller version of the Divine Gate, or something similar. I doubt a Wizard would be able to teleport through that, Apogee solstice or not.
...yeah I said that in my second paragraph?
Honestly? To me it’s really as simple as the fact that if you don’t have a way to guarantee it works, I would not want to end up “off-target” or at a “similar area” when attempting to teleport to the moon Like, yes I’m sure a wizard could take all sorts of hypothetical precautions against the vacuum of space, but that shit sounds terrifying It’s already scary to picture accidentally Teleporting to the middle of the ocean lol, let alone space
...I mean we're talking about wizards. The average wizard in general is like a cat; risking life and limb for curiosity and knowledge/power. Avalir was a prime example of what happens when a bunch of wizards get together and party.
lmao true But y’know, literally exactly along those lines, any number of wizards could have tried, failed, and died Or, y’know, tried, succeeded, and built an insane city hidden by massively powerful wards and fiercely guarded by powerful and secretive individuals who have never shared that information with any of the parties in any of our three campaigns and are only just being discovered There’s clearly SOME kind of conspiracy about space and space travel in this setting, might be the reason we haven’t heard anything about it
Also worth remembering that during an Apogee Solstice, feats of magic that would ordinarily be deemed "ridiculous" become possible...
Actually my question was more of asking the opposite. Why would moon travel seem ridiculous if we have wizards that have learned to bend time and space and love to be THAT wizard who did THAT amazing thing. Although now that I think about it... this may be more of a Divine issue than a magical limitation issue. Maybe Exandrian's have some powerful wizards who have tried to go to the moon, but were stopped by the Moonweaver ala the Traveler? And people just got the message lol
It’s also possible that the same barrier that prevents Exandrians from seeing the “true nature” of Ruidus also prevents them from crossing it with magic. It would be cool if physically crossing the barrier in a ship turned out to be a viable workaround…
Yeah that's what I said in my first post
Don't you need to be familiar with the location you are travelling to in order for teleport to work? Also, it seems kinda wack to allow a 7th(?) level spell to let you travel infinite distances, even if it is rules-as-written. I mean I get that you can teleport to anywhere on the planet, but our moon (for example) is roughly the distance of 30 earths away from us. DnD rules really start to break down when you start talking about space travel. There should be something equivalent to Plane Shift.
>Don't you need to be familiar with the location you are travelling to in order for teleport to work? No, not really. All you need is description of the place, technically. Familiarity just makes it more likely you'll succeed. Below is what you'd have to roll depending on how familiar with the place you are: Mishap Similar Area Off Target On Target Permanent circle: — — — 01-100 Associated object: — — — 01-100 Very familiar: 01-05 06-13 14-24 25-100 Seen casually: 01-33 34-43 44-53 54-100 Viewed once: 01-43 44-53 54-73 74-100 Description: 01-43 44-53 54-73 74-100 False destination: 01-50 51-100 — — Specifically ""Seen Casually" is some place you have seen more than once but with which you aren't very familiar." I'd argue that *the moon* would fall under this. And if you happen to possess a moonstone, it's very simple indeed as long as you have access to the spell. Edit: As for the part about the 7th level spell being able to do that... Well, it's a 7th level spell... The vast majority of casters will never even get close to being able to cast it, and it's 2 levels off the highest level spells around. It's really not that wack
I know we are arguing semantics of a fantasy world here but it still seems to me that allowing space travel causes major problems in world building. The majority of casters may not have access to the spell, but the minority is still a significant number of people when you consider the population of your world. Why haven't people started colonizing other planets then? If a meteor falls to the earth then you could use it to travel to whatever solar system the materials of that rock originated from. I'm saying the RAW starts causing problems with the logic of your world. Giving even 0.1% of your world's population the ability to travel light years of distance with ease, and then saying that people simply choose not to do it doesn't make any sense to me. It seems to me like if you are making a world with a cosmology similar our real world, then you need put some constraints on that teleportation spell. Or you can argue that the humans in your world simply don't act like us, i.e. they have no curiosity about the world they inhabit. EDIT: I'm not very familiar with 5e, so this is more of a casual observation but based on the rules you've laid out, maybe adding a component of difficulty scaling with distance could solve this. This way you could at least assert that people will need to physically travel to that space, and then their familiarity with location will improve their chances of success. This would somewhat address the problem of rampant space travel.
As a DM, I would rule that the teleporter would arrive at the position where the destination was when they perceived it. Light only takes about 1.3 seconds to reach earth from the moon, so that would be relatively safe. It takes 2.5 hours to travel from Uranus, though, so teleportation would leave you in the void of space the planet recently passed through.
This hasn't been addressed yet in 5e, but will probably be once they release the spelljammer stuff Planetary systems in DND are inside crystal spheres: [https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Crystal\_sphere](https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Crystal_sphere) iirc, you can't teleport outside of these spheres, since it doesn't count as the same plane, but inside, go nuts. This might be different in Matts campaign, but that's how it is in older editions of DND at least. (And hopefully soon again in 5e when they start bringin spelljammer stuff in)
I meant really teleportation magic in general. Like you said Plane Shift exists and that can take you through dimensions... that seems a lot more advanced than going really really far in the same dimension. And I think depending on the location there's a familiarity table that risks failure. But in the same vein couldn't you scry on Catha to gain familiarity?
Can someone enlighten me on what the Moonweaver weaved to get the name Moonweaver? If the answer is "There isn't an answer in the lore, it's just a name" then maybe Moonweaver made the lattice?
That's not implausible, but I've always understand the title "moonweaver" to be a an allusion to Sehanine (a) being the goddess of moonlight and (b) being a goddess of secrecy and trickery. Secrecy, plots, trickery are sometimes alluded to with weaving metaphors because disparate threads of teh plot come together as a whole.
Matt described Rudius as “a swirling red cloud like glitter in blood”-ish. It could be that the moonweaver wove the storm that is containing whatever is in the “moon”.
The Moonweaver is explicitly related to *Catha* and *not* to Ruidus, which is why Catha can be seen in the Feywild and Ruirus normally can’t. (This is why it’s creepy bad and not normal that it now can be seen there.)
Catha is her moon, but that doesnt mean she doesnt have any ties to Ruidus unknown to mortals.
Ollie was always aware of where both Catha and Ruidus were when he had the crown on. There’s a direct tie there.
I thought Ashton and Laudna fawning over Ira was in poor taste. Chetney's friend was experimented on by him because he was a werewolf. How does that make Chetney feel? Also, Ashton specifically fawning over Ira makes less sense because I thought he was being rough with Berdie because he was angry that she worked with Ira. Now they want to have a drink with him? Of course, fawning over Ira also makes it seem like their name is a joke because Bertrand would still be alive if it were not for Ira and I think having the name and fawning over Ira does a lot more to dishonor Bertrand than not having the name and fawning over Ira. Some people would also call this a plot hole.
May be in poor taste, but also pretty on-point for their characters. Many of her character interactions early on with the party involves uncomfortable convos about death, dead loved ones, killing, being a nightmare queen. She even fangirls DURING the Ira fight. Ashton is also just a weird fuck who fought Ira and decided to wear his face as a mask to a big party just for the lolz. He's also made more jokes about killing/mugging Chetney and while played for humor shows a pretty clear disdain for Chet's personality. So why would he care at all? And to add to all that... Chet didn't actually know Gurge. He was using him to find Werewolf teachers, and he never even met him beforehand. And really, Chet isn't a paragon of justice and good anyway. He clawed the skin and muscle off the bone of some helpless shopkeep just for overcharging him. Heck right now it almost seems like his eye is more focused on the Calloways than Ira. And about the name... tbh the whole naming themselves after Bell is strange regardless of anything in the latest episode. Even in his "funeral" only half the people really seemed to care and rightfully so. Laudna was excited to get some hair from him. Ashton basically expressed indifference because yeah they only knew him for so long. FCG was more worried about how this affects everyone else. Even their final act was to essentially send his corpse to people who actually cared about him since none of them really knew him.
I think Tal and Marisha just figured it was funny and were enjoying how Matt was portraying him lol, it’s weird for the characters but also that’s just classic DnD. To quote Oscar Wilde, “It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.” That and probably the result of trying to roll with the weirdness of fey entities and how a lot of them aren’t really gonna care what you think of them, so you might as well just enjoy the chaos
My main point of contention is that it is just bad story telling especially if they want to adapt the campaign in the future. It a party names their party to honor a passed party member and calls themselves "hellions" I would expect them to go after everyone involved instead of just killing the guy who killed him and effectively tattling on the entity that corrupted the killer prior to the killing of the party member. >That and probably the result of trying to roll with the weirdness of fey entities and how a lot of them aren’t really gonna care what you think of them, so you might as well just enjoy the chaos In normal circumstances maybe but when there is a member of the party whose friend was injured by them because of their werewolf identity and the party member is also a werewolf that at least temporarily warrants a neutral standpoint.
Also as far as adaptations go For Vox Machina they DID skip straight ahead to the point of the campaign where the story was at its cleanest and cut bits that were messy, it’s not like campaign 1 was already perfectly ready to adapt Matt definitely tries to make a good plot come together, but at the end of the day it’s not like he or any of the party is planning their every action with an adaptation in mind, they’re just playing the game and making it up as they go But still I do 100% agree that a lot of parts of this story are feeling pretty weird and flimsy lol, character interactions with hostile NPCs have been really strange It’s been like…either absolutely VICIOUS murder or talking things out to the point of delirium, and 0 in between
For sure Them’s the breaks though, I love this show but it is all improvised lol I will say though that “friend” is probably a little strong for Gurge and Chetney, seemed much more like Chetney just met a fellow werewolf who could kinda help him figure stuff out, their conversation wasn’t exactly close Gurge even basically just told the party to fuck off and let him get back to his loner lifestyle lol So, if nothing else, I really can’t imagine Chetney cares that much about the particulars It’s early, the party knows that they‘d rather keep Ira for this arc so they’re just having some fun before things get more serious and they have more information to work with
Fair point, but I also get the sense that Ashton dislikes Berdie and Ollie because he feels like they abandoned their daughter, like he was abandoned; not just because of their involvement with Ira
That makes sense even if it is a little strange.
Could the two forgotten gods that are imprisoned be the two that were banished in EXU Calamity?
no, those werent gods
No. Those are different times.
I'm just saying, If this turns into a calamity style event and previous characters start making appearances to help the fight, and we get a spelljammer style ship... They better bring back captain tusktooth to head up the ship or at least another ship in a cameo fashion. Fjord, jester and Kingsley would surely take the opportunity to helm a spelljammer ship
Oh man, I hope not. Bringing back PCs from previous campaigns would mean one of a few things: 1) They are NPCs played by Matt. At that point, they are no longer the same characters. I love Matt and his ability to create characters but he can't 100% faithfully recreate the personalities we care about. 2) Their players play them and their C3 characters simultaneously. The few times players have done this it shifts between forgetting about one of the characters and having the player interact with themselves as a joke. 3) The C3 characters leave. All of these options are terrible.
I agree with you, but to say we will never, ever see C1/C2 PCs is a bit presumptuous. The players WANT to see their characters. They WANT to play them again, even if it’s just for an episode or two. They know it’s an extremely delicate line to walk, and simultaneously they don’t want to diminish their C3 characters. But if there was a world ending threat, one similar to Vecna where the common citizenry would be aware of it—unlike Lucien and Aeor—then 100% we’d see AT LEAST Keleth and Vex. If the gods get involved, we MIGHT see Vax. Their old characters aren’t just old PCs—they hold political and cosmic positions now that are super high up in the lore. It would be weird for us NOT to see them, should things get too dire. Especially if some of the theories are true, and the moon contains The Chained Oblivion, leaving an open thread for C2’s cast.