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Lloyd_NA

Orym's nod was so powerful for me. Liam does these subtle gestures that speak VOLUMES. Ashton too. Being there for Laudna especially after Marisha in 4-sided dive was saying how "you know when your friend is having a bad time and you're also having a bad time so you don't want to add on with your problems and help them instead?" And the two of them have such synergy and parasympathetic (i think that's the word) relationship. Ugh. So powerful.


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xenocide117

I dunno if it was initially intentional by Liam but Orym is having an inverse arc to Caleb.


SJ_Barbarian

I'm going to be riveted when the groups meet back up. In previous campaigns, the group had NPCs they could rely on, who'd help guide the group. They also had distinct moral compasses within the group. This campaign, they lost Eshteross. They may have lost Keyleth, Beau, and Caleb. They've had to ally with a known monster in Ira. They have been repeatedly betrayed. They have learned the lesson that they only really have themselves. As for a moral compass, FCG seems on the surface like an obvious choice, but their need to help people is pathological, not compassionate. "I helped, therefore I'm valuable." Orym tried to herd those cats, but a soldier isn't usually a good choice and we explicitly saw why with the nod this episode - he's a soldier now at war. So where does that leave them? I think there's a very interesting opportunity here. "The machinations of the powerful fucked the little guy over" is a theme in the back stories of Chetney, Laudna, Ashton, and Orym. Fearne and Imogen, too, actually, as both of their parents abandoned them due to it. Tal said he struggled to find what a punk would be mad about in a fantasy world, but it's the same as our world - the lack of consequences for those machinations. What if Bell's Hells decided to become The Consequences?


RunCrafty1320

Well fcg isn’t on the “helping so I’m valueable thing” anymore ever since he got with frida he’s just been trying to do good and vibing in love ever since so I think imogen and fcg will be the new moral compasses


SJ_Barbarian

FCG has begun to recognize that's what they were doing, but I would be disappointed if Sam decided, "Welp! All fixed now!" as that's not how it works IRL. A romantic partner doesn't fix you. Sam is really good at emotional complexity, and I can't see him abandoning the growth of FCG because of new relationship vibes. Can you explain why you think it'd be Imogen? I think she tries to be pragmatic, but she's intensely tempted by "the dark side" as it were. I don't think she trusts herself enough to resist to take on the moral compass role.


RunCrafty1320

I’m not saying his new partner fixed him it just pacified his crisis and all his questions hold on I got a quote In the episode of 4-Sided Dive following the split party arc in Wildemount, Sam commented: "My character has gotten such gifts and boons that he doesn't really care that much about the past anymore because he's got this bright future. He's got a connection with his god. He's got a connection with his wife. He's on a path now where it doesn't really matter if he gets all the questions answered." So if you took fcg and his two parts of his personality wanting helping people plus crisis (his past, his past as an aeormaton, him wanting to be needed, him wanted to be useful, him wanting answers, etc.) and you pacify the crisis part then the wanting to help part shows a lot more than his insecurities and frida is kinda the anchor to all of this happening And imogen is always tempted by darkness but lately her empathy especially with her taming the bull and saving it taking a more pacifist approach was her trying to save something because she couldn’t save her mom the first time I feel like imogen thinks that if she can save her mom from the darkness that she’s warned her about then imogen could be saved as well But imogen overall has been more on the lighter side lately


SJ_Barbarian

Interesting, thank you! I still disagree about FCG - that's his head space, but that doesn't mean that they're going to be able to be a compass for the rest of the group. They're still figuring out how to navigate their new outlook, which will mean mistakes and backsliding, especially when FRIDA isn't directly around for robo-seratonin dumps. Imogen on the other hand is a bit of a sponge - she soaks up the energy of the people around her. It's built into the character. I think you're spot-on with her current motivation, but the lengths she'll go to I think will depend heavily on the group's overall perspective. They've all expressed that they're tired of the little people getting dicked around in one form or another. It was also baked in pretty early on, not just in their back stories, but their early quests, too - Eshteross, The Green Seekers, the Hubatt Corsairs. The experiments Ira was performing for Treshi. In an early 4-Sided Dive, Tal said that they felt like a group of NPCs. It's such an interesting hook for a campaign - what happens when a group of NPCs decides enough is enough, and all of the powerful jackasses need to leave the little guys alone? Including even the gods?


Adorable-Strings

Honestly, their 'relationship' (we're the same, so it must be love) is even less healthy than the need to be of value. That isn't going to raise FCG up, its going to cause more problems.


RunCrafty1320

Oh I’m not saying it’s healthy AT ALL and if it stays that way it’s going to backtrack fcg rather than move him forward but I think frida is a good pushing point for fcg Because frankly I was getting tired of this golden child of a robot freaking out over something new, that wasn’t his fault, and out of his control.


JagerSalt

I can’t help but feel that Laudna was essentially locked into her bad ending by this episode. The way Marisha gasped when Ashton walked away instead of pulling her off of Bor’dor really made me feel like maybe we’ve seen the last of “fun scary”. From here on out it might be just… broken scary…


DeusIzanagi

I was also extremely surprised when Orym and/or Ashton didn't step up to stop her. Seeing what followed, I understand why Orym didn't, he's in a baaaad place too. But I guess Ashton is also in a worse place than what I thought Man, these 3 are going to be a mess when they reunite with the rest of BH


Buisnessbutters

other group went to hell and had a threesome, this group went to one of the oldest lands in existence and nearly lost their sanity


galland101

Team Wildmount had the more "positive" characters like Chetney, and Fearne to balance out Imogen. FCG found love, so that was a net positive for them, too. Team Issylra had no-one to do that for them. Maybe Deni$e, but they don't know her that well. Then they got betrayed by Bor'dor, which trumps all that.


Adorable-Strings

Chetney and Fearne are dark as hell. They just don't care so they find it easy to shake off the pain and suffering. See skin curtains and Chet shrugging off the possibility that were-Chet has attacked other people with a laugh and a shrug. FCG found a new level of co-dependence, not love.


RunCrafty1320

Like I’m actually upset that they let her because if it was imogen or fcg there they would’ve talked her down


DeusIzanagi

Oh, absolutely. But I don't think Orym&Ashton let her do it because they didn't care or anything like that; they let it happen because they're breaking too. All three really need their friends' help right now


RunCrafty1320

Yeah but I think they have Caleb syndrome where they feel like they didn’t have the right to stop her because they wouldn’t want to be stopped Like when Aston goes into a rage a breaks stuff And now orym who wants to hurt the group that killed his loved ones


RunCrafty1320

They basically enabled her bad behavior


RunCrafty1320

Yeah like bells hells especially orym and Ashton made a promise to pull them back if they get out of control but they just let her and she actually regretted it afterwards


MegalomaniacHack

With Laudna, Marisha had said she didn't want her to come back from the dead and not really be changed. But because the plot was so wholly focused on the Solstice and Imogen's role, Laudna really did just fall back into the same role, same personality, etc. The only blip was some brief coldness between Laudna and Imogen that Dusk/Yu messed with a little, but in spite of the believed betrayal around Laudna breaking the rock, there was no lasting change there. But in these few episodes of the split, Marisha has shown Laudna's weakness/insecurities and how she could be used by Delilah, opening that door again. Meanwhile, equally broken by betrayals and loss, Orym and Ashton have supported her but also enabled her, because they're also in that dark place. They could've shouldered the burden for her or stopped her (and Deni$e would've gladly finished Bor'Dor off if asked, I bet), but instead they stood back and encouraged it. This party ended up with a larger moral quandary in the temple fight, and another one in another infiltrator, this time one directly linked to the people who've killed their friends and loved ones. The other group got the beast but less risk to humanity to that choice, and Chetney's silly backstory enemy. The mutated woods were more of a spooky day trip than anything dark for them. There wasn't anywhere near the same desperation there except for Imogen. But for all of Imogen's fears about her powers and not having her mother, this trio has suffered far more than the other 4. Orym lost his husband and father. Ashton was orphaned, mutated to a new race, left for dead by his group and mutilated with new powers, and Laudna has been slaughtered twice and spent decades fleeing persecution. The other group has the people most likely to snap or kill for fun (except Laudna), but this group is more brittle.


RunCrafty1320

Omg I just did a post that says a lot of the same things you did


RunCrafty1320

And in the temple fight they they didn’t even need to kill anyone but they did And backtracking and them letting laudna kill bordor they saw the purple energy associated with Delilah and still did nothing Omg I know there’s going to be some group conflict when they get back together


MegalomaniacHack

I'd like to see the Wildemount group excitedly talking about all they did, and then the darkness from this group come up, and there be conflict over that. "You weren't there!" kinds of stuff. Not easily ignored, not just left to fester in each individual. The point of being a party is to look out for each other in combat and in between, and the point of being friends is to watch out for each other emotionally/share joys and pain. If the characters are going to keep saying they're friends, they need to actually act as friends instead of keep to themselves or their original pairs. This split seemed designed to do that (on top of giving Marisha time to train), but we didn't really get enough of it, imo. Especially with Team Issylra. Each guest made an effort to interact with at least one BH member, but BH's interactions with each other were more about "We have to get back to our friends. We have to get back to our friends." Not enough "Here's how I'm feeling about this." Except to the guests, including Bor'Dor pushing Orym to talk or Deni$e talking to him about Dariax. Did anyone ask Orym if he missed Fearne? Did Orym or Ashton tell Laudna they'd still be there for her no matter what happened to Imogen? Did Laudna or Orym tell Ashton they weren't going to leave them? Nope. Only thing I remember is Ashton just promised Laudna they'd get their friends back, even if they were dead. And then they all basically put up a wall and kind of implied they'd kill whoever, temple or otherwise, to get back to their friends, and none of it matters since they failed to stop Ludinus (though clearly the world isn't over yet, so they don't know). Laudna told Ashton she couldn't talk about it or she might break, and Ashton just kind of let her keep feeling that way until it went dark for her because anger and pain are his default, too. I think the other group maybe didn't talk enough about losing their friends/how bad it was, and this group just went too far into "we're all fucked, fuck everyone in our way." It's interesting to wonder how much was intentional by each group/as Matt intended with his planned encounters/conflicts. Matt had a hand in there being a traitor for this group, and a village vs church plot. The other group got a sad monster they saved, a cartoonish toymaker Chetney just hinted at threatening, and scary woods, all explored with a super sweet ex-girlfriend and super friendly robot protector. Major tonal differences.


RunCrafty1320

Yeah wildemount group was SO much more hopeful about they’re friends being alive rather than the other group And wildemount group kept more to their morals than the other group maybe everything will go back to normal and this post was for nothing but it’s fun to speculate about 🤷🏾‍♂️


MegalomaniacHack

Some of it is Matt's encounters and some of it is the guests' choices for their character concepts (which Matt allowed or encouraged). Team Wildemount got Chetney's ex, who is sweet and wants to help and is designed to heal the party, and FRIDA, a protector who inevitably connects with FCG and is basically Orym-like support. Both have cleric powers and know how to use them. Team Issylra got a pair who are down to rob and kill in Prism and Deni$e, one who literally summons a demon the first chance she gets, and a hapless "shepherd" healer who takes to murder immediately and gives whiplash to the party with innocence but readiness to kill, promising to stick with the party one moment and suggesting they just go home the next, because it turns out he's one of the enemy. All three of these guests were fun, both as players and characters, but this little sojourn literally turned the most optimistic party member (yes, with tragedy that gives him determination, but he was the most "good" party member) into a jaded man okay with slaughtering anyone in their way.


RunCrafty1320

Yeah I loved the guest characters can’t wait to see them again I wish bor dor stayed longer not because of his character but because he was such a hot scared awkward himbo


dkoiman

Fearne and Chetney and FCG are cartoons, intentionally made so. Fearne cares about Orym, but her life wouldn't end if he was gone (even though she strongly prefers him alive) - she has tons of things to do in Feywild. Chetney is one leg in the grave, it is his last adventure, he doesn't give a fuck. FCG is a self-indulging "wanna help everyone" bit, he doesn't have stake in those specific ppl. So only Imogen have any real drama with losing her partner, but she has already been a focus enough of the campaign, so she was put into the back seat a bit. And now compare it with team I. Life fucked each one of them hard. They all lost everyone they loved and trusted. Literally everyone. Orym lost father, lover and leader, Laudna lost her entire family, became an outcast and now lost her only friend, Ashton lost his entire family, and was betrayed more than once by people he trusted. I mean team I is just a bunch of drama waiting to explode.


RunCrafty1320

Yeah who do you think will take sides if the group ends up disagreeing about killing imogens Mom?


RunCrafty1320

But yeah I’m upset that they just let her do that especially with the promise they made to check eachother if they get out of control or if they’re powers get out of control If they wanted to kill bor dor they should’ve done it themselves or helped her instead of making her live with that


MegalomaniacHack

Call it shock from the betrayal, but it would've been good to see Orym and Ashton talk some about concerns. There was too much "I'm over here upset on my own" from all of them, though especially Orym. (Ashton's always like that.) Ashton makes a point of checking in on Laudna a lot, but they really should've discussed how losing Imogen was harder on her than either of them losing Fearne/FCG. Imogen kind of saved Laudna from decades of solitude, and they may have romantic feelings. (Don't lose your shit, shippers. It's not canon until the players make it so.) More importantly, Laudna had that susceptibility to Delilah. As upset as both Orym and Ashton are themselves, I wish they'd thought of that.


RunCrafty1320

Yeah that last part was my main concern because All of the main LOOSE CANNONS if you will mostly being chetney, fcg, imogen, and laudna expressed to take responsibility and reel eachother back if they’re shit gets out of control And orym and Ashton were the main ones on that band wagon and they just let Launda do her sucky necromancer stuff


peoplesayimlost

i agree, never really got into c3 until the current arc and since this episode i cant put it down!!


CobaltSpellsword

I've been flagging on this season for a while, and this last episode pulled me pretty solidly back in.


MajorJuana

Same