My interpretation of Lilliana's conversation with Imogen... is that she doesn't like Ludinus and has her own agenda. She's only working with him because it's the only way to get what SHE (secretly) wants to get accomplished. Which may not necessarily involve destroying the gods. And the only reason she's not explicitly explaining her plan to Imogen is because she's afraid Ludinus will find out. I think she's an inside agent and probably wants to destroy Predathos, but it would require her to sacrifice her life. I think a lot of people are assuming that "You deserve to be free" is in reference to the gods, but I think it's in reference of Predathos's influence and corruption of the Ruidis Born. I'm also going to say that... I think the big skybeam was really only a means of transportation to the moon and not the main goal for Ludinus. He still needs to destroy the divine gate and I think Lilliana might try to use that same destructive energy to destroy Predathos. After all, anything strong enough to destroy the thing that's trapping it... will probably be strong enough to destroy Predathos itself. Perhaps she plans to use her abilities to overload... whatever device Ludinus constructs to accomplish his goal, sacrificing herself in the process.
Honestly, I got the exact same vibe from Lilliana when she said "You deserve to be free." There is definitely something deeper going on with her character.
Liliana DEFINITELY has something planned. That could also explain why she’s been trying to keep Imogen away instead of having her join the Vanguard along side her. She’s got something up her sleeve and we just gotta wait and see what that is.
Anyone else think that this Tree Keyleth is talking about is descendent or a remnant of the "Tree of Names" from EXU. The Arboreal Calix that Laerryn hated so much? It was trying to protect Exandria and failed, might make sense that now it's known for grief. Assuming anything of it survived the fall of Avalier.
Laerryn cast blight on the tree didn't she. Maybe that plus whatever magic was released during the crash cause the Tree to become one of death and grief but still grow and thrive in a sense.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the Tree of Names crash landed in the Shattered Teeth and now they need to find a powerful tree there associated with the Gau Drashari, watches over the cycle of life and death, and with a name like the Tree of Atrophy it’s probably been severely wounded at some point. Maybe it won’t be exactly the same tree, but they’ve got to be related. I’m really hoping it’s the same tree and when they find it they see the remains of an elven arm stuck within the bark.
I was so pleased Keyleth talked about Ashton's dunamis and titan blood clashing because it sets up the in-world mechanism for the line we know is coming at the very end of the campaign "And Ashton, for the first time in your living memory: you feel no pain. No pain at all".
@@fakjbf3129 Nice call back. Their goals aligned, but Kas was a lieutenant of Vecna who rebelled and wanted his power. In the long run I don't see daisies and sunshine between Grog and the Sword of Kas. It didn't fuck over the party, but it's still evil. But I don't know what happened to it after the end of C1, does anyone?
@@douglaslain5962 According to the wiki in the last episode where they wrapped up C1 Grog gave the sword to Highbearer Vord who promised to lock it away in the vaults of the Platinum Sanctuary.
My read on the harness is twofold: The Bells Hells want to have access to every possible edge towards Ludinus they can have. This is the same reason why they let Chetney keep the sword. Also even though they are aware that the harness was originally build to steal power from fey the way they talked about it sounded like they wanted it to function in such a way that Ashton could build up more Primodial energy. So they probably will want D to repurpose it.
While the conflict between his 2 different types of magic probably doesn't help his chronic pain, I doubt it's the source of it. Remember, Ashton was literally broken open and glued back together with gold and glass. And during the mind dive where FCG briefly inhabited Ashton's body, Taliesin mentioned that the pain was centered around the scars.
Considering how the Gau Drashari were concerned with keeping Elemental Titans bound within a mountain in ExU, it would be very strange if they turned out to be Titan worshippers.
To be fair, they've had a long time of exposure to the Titans to get converted around to their way of thinking which is not exactly an uncommon trope. Diablo, Skulduggery Pleasant and some of the Lovecraft stories off the top of my head.
I am so here for the Shattered Teeth and calamity lore drops! An entire part of the world ee havent seen, and its the bit that might have had input from BleeM. Like this can only be good.
I could see them finding willing powers (entities) to sacrifice their own power to protect the world and gods - essentially bestowing a "blessing" on adventurers in their quest. Also, the FCG and god talk was an amazing scene that Matt just played so well into for great payback as you said.
Now that we have learned Gau Drashari have put themselves into something called a tree on at least 2 occasions, it makes me wonder if the Calamity's Tree of Names had someone in it as well. In other news, I want to see the Shattered Teeth SO BAD
Awesome video!! I too am glad that we got some Ashton lore this time. I feel like Taliesin could have been a little bit more selfish in Issylra instead of just letting the story progress away at the cost of the opportunity to explore his character's backstory. The Kryn myth of creation kinda suggests that the primordials are the children/creations of the Luxon, so perhaps the reason the latter wasn't satisfied just with them was because they were too chaotic to engage with them in actual interactions? I don't know. In any case, although I would love for Ashton to have less pain if they find a balance between those powers (as someone who also suffers from chronic pain) I've seen some descriptions of it as something that just IS, instead of a wound or something to fix, so I guess there would be debate over what it represents, to take the pain away. About the harness, I've seen theories about people using it specifically against the Unseelie fey that chase Fearne, but now that we know it's supposed to imitate the way an archdruid prolongs their life, I wonder if they can actually use it on ANYTHING, or if only elementals and nymph-like fey can produce the desired effects. What do you think?
Tin foil cap time!!! What if they repaired ludinus's funnel vest and then gave it to ashton to absorb the remnnant titan powers from the earth titan body at ankheral, completing ashton's transformation to become a full titan.
If I am remembering right when Imogen and FCG went into Ashton's mind, he had flashes of himself as other people living other lives. So I am guessing that much of the Luxon myth seems to be true. Having a beacon in his head and cult leaders as parents has made for such juicy lore. I can't wait to learn more of his story.
Gotta admit-I’m never able to resist reading Flando’s chapter titles and after seeing Savior Blade at the end, I expected Grazz’tchar to take that name as it compelled Chetney to attack Keyleth. Like I was *fully* expecting a cliffhanger.
I WANT NEW ASHTON ART!! 😂 I loved this episode. The lore was great - I agree that Imogen may have taken Liliana's words wrong and may be staging a coup against Ludinus and or Predathos. She just can't focus on it since Otohan is likely psychicly spying on her a lot. - I want to know what the heck Ira is up to. - I really hope we get either a trip to Xhorhas or (a post M9 one shot) follow up with Caleb to talk Dunamancy to fill Ashton in on the other part of his brain. - I get why FCG wants to see Dancer but I think the party is right to guide it away after last time. In C2 Devexion said he was repairing and releasing his brethren so I curious and to who actually turned FCG back on. Did Devexion restore him and Dancer removed a memory piece to make adjustments when she got him? So many questions. - I really want them to go the the Menagerie coast to find Devexion but I also figure no M9 pending on when the episode would fall. Also I worry that there may be danger In Southern Wildemount with Ludinus and possibly Trent on the loose. - I'm excited/terrified of what could be in the shattered teeth. - All of the name stuff is something. We have what we are assuming is the blighted version of the tree of names in the shattered teeth, we have Ludinus looking for the Matrons name as a part of her ascension, and we have 2 Gods that until the Vassehiem papers were opened had forgotten names. Plus this entire party is trying to figure out their identity after suffering major life shifts which to be fair is most DnD parties but it rings different this time. What started as a group of slapdick NPCs has been uncovered as a group of people predestined for big things for better or worse.
Good god. I am really hoping they visit the Shattered Teeth and like find some sorta device, automaton recording, magical item, or heck even the original transcript that has Loquacious' last speech to the city of Avalir.
Personally, I think Dancer would be the better choice. The other's may be doing some meta-gaming because they want to confirm that "D" is Devexion. Also to visit a new area for the Bell's Hells. On the other hand, Matt giving them a detailed location of where D is, vs Dancer just being asleep in a room, could also be a clue from him for which place they should go.
100% I agree with your theory that the reason for Ashton’s chronic pain is a result of the conflict between their primordial blood, and the effect the Luxon has on their brain. I wonder if that means there could be a potential solution to their pain, or at least some way to ease its effects. Theory I have about Imogen. It really seems like Imogen has the potential to be even stronger than her mother- I wonder if Ludinus will at some point try to harm Liliana, or even kill her, in order to try and harness whatever power Imogen might unleash. Imogen’s power seems proportional to her emotional state- as when Laudna was killed, she blew apart an entire street. I wonder if perhaps it was Imogen that teleported Bells Hells away from the battlefield, and separated the group by accident. What I don’t get, is what Liliana has against the gods. Like Ludinus, sure, he just wants to be all powerful, fair enough. But he started a whole cult essentially to recruit people who have a grudge against the gods. That makes me wonder about Liliana’s feelings towards them. Or has her motivations been discussed before and I just missed it? Either way, I’m so relieved to see Orym reunite with his family and to see his home in good spirits again, he needed that So badly. Hopefully this helped reaffirm his faith in his cause and his will to continue, and to still try and be the best person he can be. Bc man, seeing him so hopeless and defeated was rough. But then again, nobody does sad boi better than Liam.
Agree, ever since they found out he’s been tryna funnel power I’ve been thinking all he wants to do is drain imogen’s power like a capri sun. I’m thinking either that or even Ashton… maybe it helps him balance the fighting forces within him? I don’t know, maybe it’s like regeneration energy in doctor who that heals but also destroys? Im rambling, sorry. I agree with you abt imogen and think that if he attempts to drain Ashton, it’s gonna backfire wonderfully. Would love to see it.
I feel like them talking about using the harness is the latest in a series hints of a dark side to these characters, I find it fascinating in a potentially horrific way.
Oh absolutely. I mean, it's pretty much the most common message for this campaign, right? 4 out of the 7 have the potential to "turn evil" and lose control of themselves at any moment. And with Matt confirming that the betrayer gods are willing to help fight Ludinus... there's always been this combined theme of darkness and light working together.
To me its not about a dark side… it’s about a feeling of desperation, knowing the stakes are literally the highest they could be and feeling completely inadequate. Seemed like they all agreed they didn’t want to use it to hurt anybody and their whole goal of finding one of the Ds was in hopes of finding a way of making it work in a way that won’t be damaging.
@@majorzipf8947I think that's the interesting thing about darkness. It's about pushing people until they decide it's justified. Sometimes it's just getting a bad deal at a store and sometimes it's just "one bad day" (Punisher/Daredevil reference).
The harness , ultimately, seems like a 'red herring' hope I'm wrong. Awesome Lore drop. I'm hoping the M9 reunion in October has some shenanigans with Ludinous while he is back in the empire visiting King Dwendyl. Or a rescue mission of Bo/Caleb....ah too much lore in 1 episode!!!!
I'm hoping that since the harness is going to Dancer and Joe that it gets harnessed, pun intended, so Dancer can extend her life, with joe build an army of automatons, and help save Exandria from whatever rival army D is assembling for C4.
As I was watching the scene when Keyleth put on her crown, someone in the chat mentioned that 'Risha was sitting in front of the window with blue light, and it appeared as though she had antlers sprouting from her head and the blue glow of magical power surrounding her. That blew my mind. More knowledge gained by Bells Hells, and maybe combining primordial forces with the gods power is the way to play this. Excellent video Luna, glad to see you added the intro :)
Could "the seeds we bear still pull us" be a reflection of Imogen, having been born by Liliana, still perhaps having a chance of turning her mother away from Predathos et al.?
I read it like this too. “The seeds” makes me think of Imogen certainly and “Still pull us” means that perhaps Imogen may have already started. So Liliana would have done something much worse if Imogen hadn’t of kept trying with her.
Thanks for the recap. The last CR episode was lacking a bit of action yet so packed with lore, funny role play and emotional powerful moments. As for theory, now I just hope for an all out gods vs titans vs Predathos vs Ludinus deathmatch!
So happy we finally got Ashton lore! MORE LORE! So is the tree the same that was in EXU Calamity? I was really confused why they wanted to fix the harness. Why fix something they know is bad?
“The seeds we bear still pull us,” seems like a way for Liliana to tell Imogen (the “seed” she “bore”) that she is still in there, that there is still hope.
I just read a passage on the Tal'Dorei Campaing Setting Reborn (pag. 190) that clicked a thought about why Ludinus is 'using' Vax. I'll put here "The Surviving Chronicles of The Age of Arcannum are filled with tales of magical hierarchs who enslaved those they took for Fate-Touched - or worse, ateempted to extract the essence of fate of them by the most horrid means." Vax, as fate touched himself, and the thingy they are trying to repair that 'extract power' made me think that at some point Ludinus was trying to do that with Vax to affect in some way the Raven Queen (and he suceeded). I don't know but this is ringing in my mind since
Excellent earrings as always :D Wait wait wait, the Butcher's Bib actually DOES things, mechanic wise? I thought it was literally just here for the aesthetic. Needing to attune to it makes more sense now, I was confused when Travis mentioned that last week, but honestly respected the choice to commit to The Look, lol. (I must have missed the breakdown of the bib when they got it. This is why I need these recaps.). Travis leaning into yet another cursed weapon brings me so much joy. I love when they all seem to be having so much fun putting their characters through the wringer, it pleases my angst-with-a-good-outcome-fic loving soul :p Looking forward to watching Chetney fall into indulgence and then defeat it heroically. 5:53: I also wonder if she suspects Ludinus can eavesdrop on her dream conversations, ("I must be careful..." etc) so she's being deliberately ambiguous here, while trying to get the message to Imogen that her goal is Predathos' end? I am ALSO maybe just HOPING that's the case, because I love a redemption arc (except for Bor'Dor, fuck that guy :p [/humor]) and Liliana seems like she's been manipulated, but also, she's made some hecking choices, so I wouldn't be sad if it turns out she's beyond saving, either, both are good stories. I am SO ready for the Derrig visit, give me ALL of Liam acting his entire heart out. Delicious delicious angst. *eats popcorn * But also, someone PLEASE hug Orym. No, more than that. ALL the hugs for the tiny action hero. His reunion with Nell was everything, Matt does SUCH good parental characters (both the lovely and the not-so good). Keyleth is BACK! HECK YESSS! I also always watch Marisha when Matt is piloting Keyleth, it's so cool how much trust they all have, and I think, of the VM members he's inhabited, Matt's Keyleth is the most dialed-in. (I hate to admit it, but I... don't love his Percy and Vex, ngl. Not the voices, they're fine, just Matt-ified, I mean the characterization felt a bit off? They weren't bad! Just not as on point as Keyleth. Pike was good too. ... buuut I've tangented, and obviously ymmv. Just having opinions on the internet over here.) Titanstone Ashton! Let's goooo! SO hyped! I LOVE their character arc these past few episodes, it's finally... arcing! (? that makes sense I think.) And it seems like, given this episode, their lore is tied in to SO MUCH Exandrian lore, AND into the main plot. I feel like Matt has been sitting on ALL of this information that links to the Calamity, and the Shattered Teeth, AND whatever is going on in the Dwendalian Empire and Xhorhas with the late war and the beacons, AND the M9 stuff and... everything else, and he's just been WAITING for Ashton to grab one of the many threads, and it's taken SIXTY-EIGHT EPISODES to finally unveil some of it. 😂 I feel like the previous 4SD might have provided some out-of-game nudging to Taliesin prior to this episode, because it's the most active Ashton has been in pursuing their past. I am HERE for it, Ashton is the character I'm most curious to learn more about (with Chetney a close second, but we got a lot of his stuff in the party split.) There HAVE to be some hidden remnants of Avaliir at the Shattered Teeth, I feel like Matt won't be able to resist that lore weaving, and it would bring the table so much delight to stumble over them. They HAVE to, right? (Or I might just be really hoping that all of that is true :p Though I'm still convinced that the Eisfurra settlement they accidentally teleported to was also somehow linked to Cerrit's descendants. ...Buuut also maybe the Eisfurra in general are linked to Aeor, which became Eiselcross? We know that name fragments are often clues? Maybe? I dunno, getting buried in red thread over here, don't mind me). Bruumstone shenanigans! 100%, it sounded like the mountain was full of the stuff, it has to have some effect when you mess with the leylines and teleportation and stuff while also like, kind of exploding a city? I'm picturing Dracula's Castle being forcefully teleported in Castlevania, sort of phasing in and out maybe? Or blinking from place to place? You could see why maybe it's not prime real-estate nowadays, getting anything delivered would be a nightmare :p But also, this reminds me, I watched a reaction to Calamity the other day and Patia's description of the Palazzo Por'co, with its stone of white and green marble-like stuff, and that sounds a lot like ...whitestone (the substance not the place, the source of residuum. It would make sense to me that there might have been a concentration of residuum in Avaliir too)? Irrelevant to this video, but sharing because I had forgotten the passing thought, and now I remember it so I'm dropping it here before it vanishes again, like the moving islands (See? See? I bought it back around!. Um. *buries self in red thread again * ) That harness gives me CONCERN as well, but also I still think it's somehow connected to the tech/magic in Otohan's backpack? (They HAVE to break that thing) Also, maybe they could siphon Ira, that could solve more than one problem at once :p (I love Ira, but they are definitely A Problem waiting to reappear.) The entire sequence with FCG repeatedly texting the Changebringer was pure chaos and I loved it. I picture this god sitting there trying to deal with potential ruin on the horizon, and her phone is just going *ping* every 5 minutes. Also Matt is a troll and it's delightful. Orymmmmm! Savior Blade of the Tempest!
I am So Excited for the shattered teeth!! Ive wanted to go there since i found out abt it like aaahh!!! I am awaiting the oportunity to play my fantasy archeologist ♡♡
Ashton theory: The Shattered Teeth were originally the continent of Dominus. Avalier and Cathmoira from EXU Calamity were originally Mount Ygora on the continent of Dominus. Mount Ygora was where the primordials the Emperor of Fire and the Empress of Earth were sealed. In the calamity they may have been vaporized and mixed into the atmosphere of the Shattered Teeth. What Ashton's father brought back could have been something heavily infused with the Empress of Earth's essence. That is where the titan blood comes from and the (basically) earth genasi body come from. I'm giving myself flash back to ColdStone from the Gargoyles animated show.
The thing I don't understand is that creations of the gods (humans, elves, dwarves, etc) keep showing up who worship the Titans / Primordials - or those with the remnants of their powers like the Eidolons. Lore as we know it, the Titans regarded the gods' creations as invaders and hunted them - eventually joining forces with the Betrayers (i.e. Asmodeus, Lord of the Nine Hells, Tharizdun, The Chained Oblivion, etc.) to destroy them. That hardly paints them as benevolent / friendly entities. Something doesn't add up yet. But I'm also reminded that the primary difference between Ludinus and Essek is that the party liked Essek. Both were evil alignment, war criminals involved in the very same plot, but one was forgiven and became an ally and the other is now the primary antagonist in campaign 3. Point being, Matt can change this world based on the direction his players are gravitating. In other words, the Titans may become whatever the players want them to be. And D or Dancer may boil down to whatever Sam actually wants it to be. From a DM standpoint, tailoring the game to the players makes sense to a point, but... there's times I really want the hard truth of this world to push back. Speaking of... is Graz'tchar going to end up compelling Chetney to kill Vex if Keyleth brings Vox Machina into this? She is on the Council of Tal'Dorei. Would Travis and Laura's marriage survive that?
Ashton also mentioned that they weren't always like this. With having Titan blood in them, I believe that their pain and form change is probably experiments that were done as a child. Which may be why their parents sent them away, maybe to save them from further experiments. If I recall correctly, they talked about the pain being there before the Luxon sauce was poured in their head.
Great episode. im fairly confident with Oryms tittle upgrade hes going to get some new feats/features, but they dont really like "i leveled up i got this fancy new thing". They kinda do those types of things with some lore tie-ins. I think well see orym do some of his morning zephra routine stuff { forget what he calls it } with his family or maybe even with keyleth and tie in w.e new powers that way. Side note also super excited to learn more about Ashtons Primordial/titan blood backstory because Talesin always has some wildly interesting shit going on with his characters and loves too slow play it
I didn't even consider that Leliana was probably talking about Ludinus I thought she meant Predathos with the "he's older and wiser than most" I straight up thought Leliana was trying to play Predathos in the ultimate show of Arcane spellcaster vanity. I read a lot simpler into the "two not getting along yet" part, I think it's just a personal quest for Ashton to find a way to unite the power of Dunamancy with the power of the Titans for a big boost in power (hopefully, I love barbarians i want to see them be op O:) ) I love that Travis rolling to see if he dies started as a joke from I believe either Sam, Taliesin or Robbie about how old Chetney was and the average lifespan of gnomes but has now become a canon part of the sessions for every day that Travis and the cast remembers it at least xD Part of me wants to see if they'll go through with it if or when Travis rolls a 00-0 or if they'll just ignore it because on the one hand it would feel kinda lame for one of the party members to randomly die of old age but on the other hand it feels like they have to commit to the bit now.
When Keyleth was talking about the different temples being attacked, could she be including the one half of the party that helped attacked the dawn father's temple? I was waiting for Matt to mention the dawn father's temple when she was asked which temples had been attacked 😆
They saw Ludinous on Ruidous right? When they scryed on Lilliana. Did they all forget when they were talking about him being in the Dwendallian empire?
I feel like there is something important that we are missing. We learned in campaign 2 that the people in the age of arcanum believed that the gods actually didn’t create them but that the people created the gods. Thought their believe. Just like they create fire or other magic through that. Xerxis also belived this in exu telling asmodeus that the people were on earth before the gods. And it makes sense. We know from the traveler that it’s possible. We also know from the everlight that the less followers you have the less power you have. So how could the gods have created the humans when there was no humans to worship them and give them power in the first place. Weather the theory is try or not we know that it was belived in the age of arcanum. And guess who is also from that age. Ludanis would have definitely heard of this and by his actions it looks like he believes it too. My theory is that this will become very important later maybe even get revealed as true by ludanis or even predathos
Did anyone else get the feeling that when Imogen's mom said "I want you to be free" it gave some heavy implications that Imogen has some stronger connection to Predathos other than just being born under the red moon? My theory: Ruidus born are actually parts of Predathos' spirit that broke free and reborn into Ruidus born. Imogen's mom knows this, and knows that when Predathos is free, it's spirit that is latched on to Imogen will return to its own body and possibly strip Imogen of some, if not all, of her power 🫨
So Sir Chad, Graz'tChar, yes definitely our sexy boi Graz'zt involved. He is a demon prince who is rumored to maybe be a son of Asmodeus (different editions tells his backtstoy differently). He definitely had a love affair with Tasha, the one that one book cover, at one point. In the Greyhawk setting their son is basically one of the main villains.
I have 3 theories about Imogen, her mom and Perdathos (idk if i spelled right😅) 1. Imogen and her Mom are coming from Perdathos blood so Perdathos needs someone to be sacrificed from his blood to reborn. 2. Imogen or her mom will be a vessel to perdathos for him to be reborn. 3. Either 2 of the theories above happens the one who is sacrificed or becomes the vessel or other things, they can have a wish from Perdathos so Imogen's mom can have her wish to keep Imogen safe.
The whole people in trees reminds me of the elven man that vex and them fought in the fey wild to get the bow. Which means that there may be many others across the different planes 😶
I wonder if Imogen the Key to releasing Pordathos, shes the only person on the planet to be a Rudis Born born to a Rudis Born. and that's why her moms wants her to resist, she knows what will happen if Imogen surrenders to teh Red Moon's will.
Not gonna lie, the whole "oh there's a whole ecosystem on the moon" gives me the vibes of Final Fantasy XIV. If you don't know the plot, it is basically the Warrior of Light/Meteor (Protag of FFXIV) looking up to the moon saying "MOONS HAUNTED" and (Spoilers for EW) Finding out Zodiark, our literal enemy is being kept locked in the moon, monitored by a white cloaked lady in a castle alongside working with MOON RABBITS WHO ARE TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED THAN THE WORLD OF EORZEA ITSELF.
I'm wondering if Laura wants to get Ludinus to wear the vest again and have the power siphoned OUT of him. Maybe she'll give him a cupcake first and then convince him to put it on and use it, thinking it will siphon the power from a creature, but instead they empower a creature like Fearne or Ashton or all of them.
This is so heading to Calamity 2.0. Long game on long game. I slowly get the feeling the reason they made EXU calamity was so audiences would get prober insight into it, so we can witness in horror as history repeats itself....
I wonder if the fact that “those two” don’t get along is why Ashton is always in pain… maybe when they find a way to harmonize the two magics, they won’t be in pain anymore…. Op, I paused too soon. You just said the same thing. 😅
I'm wondering if Lilliana's plan is actually to *destroy* Predathos to free herself, Imogen and all the Ruidus-born from its influence, even if doing so 'depowers' them all. The being Imogen cannot be free of isn't a god, it's Predathos.
I thought the episode was great, it felt like a win in all the right ways. We got lore, we got party consensus, and we got a backstory side quest away from the very deep long campaign plot. For the Dancer or D question, I felt more aligned with FCG's view of it being Dancer. Since from FCG's own admission, Dancer woke FCG up. Devexian just delivered metal bodies to a scrap yard where Dancer purchased and restored FCG. Plus during this game FCG has tried to contact Dancer where they've talked about FCG wanting to grow to not be a threat, and maybe they can rebuild a connection like they once did. Awesome recap!
Pertaining to her mother, even good people can do bad things for the right reasons.. then you look on the tother side of that coin, the pathway to hell is paved with good intentions lol... Idk.. the underpinned feelings in every campaign is hope.. even if slivers of.
Dont know why, but hearing Kiki talk about Ashtons parents and what they had to do with him or to him. Being hes of Titan blood. Maybe a titan lives inside him? Anyone else getting Naruto vibes? Might just be me.
What if Imogen's dad isn't Imogen's dad? What if Predathos is her father after her mother immaculately conceived Imogen under a flare or something? Imogen could simply be Raven from Teen Titans. Wait are they all the Teen Titans? Orym is Robin, Chetney is Beast Boy, F.C.G. is Cyborg. Oh no, Fearne is Starfire too. But Laudna, she's not... She kinda has that dark Raven look, and Imogen's hair has Starfiresque qualities, and Fearne finishes the multiple animal transformations that Beast Boy has... Omg Ashton's got that Cyborg in him too and is an actual Titan. Nope it's confirmed they're the Teen Titans.
@@Luboffin thanks for the info. Love what you do btw. Also I got a theory that Ludinus is the boy from F.R.I.D.A.'s past that they were supposed to protect. Perhaps the Calamity was the catalyst that sent Ludinus on his path of research and destruction. 🤔
Having been playing Baldur's Gate 3 as my half-orc, it was an amusing experience to hear the sword mention being a king but having lost their memory and hearing my half-orc immediately go "Hang on.... If you don't have your memories, how do you know you were a king?"
@@Luboffin They brought him, remember. Not to the Seat of Disdain, but to where Vax got orbed. Ira and Xandis teleported down just before the airship crashed. We still don't know what happened to Xandis.
Do you mean because the white light thing happened during the fight with Otohan as well? I don't know that they're the same thing, but do recall that they had faced off with Ira the day before that at the veilscatter scope and he ran off with the Moontide Crown. Could be he was tailing them, maybe trying to retrieve the lens, unaware Ashtyn had... er... dropped the hammer.
I was kind of disappointed how the entire party seemed to grasp the 'idiot ball' (TM - Hank Azaria) regarding the sentient sword they found & subsequently gave to Chetney. Just seemed to be for the 'lols' & role-play - not that is won't be good role-play, just seemed forced in my mind. Ashton was the hardest against it & then just acquiesced. Sadly, however, it is quite on-brand for this group to ignore al the red flags with regards to this sword and then figure that even if they are wrong it'll be a dawdle for them to get rid of the sword. Maybe I'm not feeling it as the previous two campaigns had this dynamic in them. A little of the 'been there, done that' for me I guess. Kato
Why is that sad? It’s something they all think is fun so they want to play with it. This is a game after all. 😁 D&D is not a game that gets better by avoiding red flags
@@jenniferiantorno8372 same here. But it is Matthews DM style to make it completely obvious while gaining mystery. Does it work in the timeline? No. But can it work? I believe it could.
I'll happily and quite stubbornly be on my tin foil hat theory that Imogen IS Predathos until we definitively see otherwise 😊 Can you imagine the chaos??
I was getting pretty frustrated with the group's insistence that D was much more important to FCG, when they thought of Dancer instead. I understand from the metagame sense, it's a fun thread to pull eventually, but they know almost nothing about D, and it almost felt like they were trying to gaslight FCG into how important D was, which I found it perturbing. That the whole conversation about visiting them or Dancer revolved around repairing this evil siphoning device is a really weird in-game justification too. I keep hoping an NPC destroys the item or just tells them flatly that their pursuit is evil. Hopefully I am wrong and they find someone that can repair it for less sinister purposes.
The way they reacted to the sword seemed far too meta for me. I'd much rather if they'd just played it straight instead of knowing it was evil from the start.
I think they only knew about it being evil because of FCG's Legend Lore (but also since there is such a strong history of cursed swords in CR I can understand them being a little meta)
Somwhere the Changebringer's interns that handles the hotline are like "why does this robot keep prank calling us"?
The intern:”come on man, I just work here”
My interpretation of Lilliana's conversation with Imogen... is that she doesn't like Ludinus and has her own agenda. She's only working with him because it's the only way to get what SHE (secretly) wants to get accomplished. Which may not necessarily involve destroying the gods. And the only reason she's not explicitly explaining her plan to Imogen is because she's afraid Ludinus will find out.
I think she's an inside agent and probably wants to destroy Predathos, but it would require her to sacrifice her life. I think a lot of people are assuming that "You deserve to be free" is in reference to the gods, but I think it's in reference of Predathos's influence and corruption of the Ruidis Born.
I'm also going to say that... I think the big skybeam was really only a means of transportation to the moon and not the main goal for Ludinus. He still needs to destroy the divine gate and I think Lilliana might try to use that same destructive energy to destroy Predathos. After all, anything strong enough to destroy the thing that's trapping it... will probably be strong enough to destroy Predathos itself. Perhaps she plans to use her abilities to overload... whatever device Ludinus constructs to accomplish his goal, sacrificing herself in the process.
Honestly, I got the exact same vibe from Lilliana when she said "You deserve to be free." There is definitely something deeper going on with her character.
Liliana DEFINITELY has something planned. That could also explain why she’s been trying to keep Imogen away instead of having her join the Vanguard along side her. She’s got something up her sleeve and we just gotta wait and see what that is.
Oh my gawd, this makes so much sense. I think you might be right!
Anyone else think that this Tree Keyleth is talking about is descendent or a remnant of the "Tree of Names" from EXU. The Arboreal Calix that Laerryn hated so much? It was trying to protect Exandria and failed, might make sense that now it's known for grief. Assuming anything of it survived the fall of Avalier.
Laerryn cast blight on the tree didn't she. Maybe that plus whatever magic was released during the crash cause the Tree to become one of death and grief but still grow and thrive in a sense.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the Tree of Names crash landed in the Shattered Teeth and now they need to find a powerful tree there associated with the Gau Drashari, watches over the cycle of life and death, and with a name like the Tree of Atrophy it’s probably been severely wounded at some point. Maybe it won’t be exactly the same tree, but they’ve got to be related. I’m really hoping it’s the same tree and when they find it they see the remains of an elven arm stuck within the bark.
Since Sam took Legend Lore for F.C.G. maybe we'll get confirmation.
Ooh! Tree of Atrophy because Laeryn cast Blight on it!!
I was so pleased Keyleth talked about Ashton's dunamis and titan blood clashing because it sets up the in-world mechanism for the line we know is coming at the very end of the campaign "And Ashton, for the first time in your living memory: you feel no pain. No pain at all".
Has there ever been a nonevil talking sword in Exandria? Travis has a type. And just like Percy, FCG ignores many red flags because it would be fun.
Yeah I was wondering the same! Evil swords are more fun though haha
The Sword of Kas which Grog wielded at the end of C1 isn’t evil as far as I know, it’s only goal is to kill Vecna.
@@fakjbf3129 Nice call back. Their goals aligned, but Kas was a lieutenant of Vecna who rebelled and wanted his power. In the long run I don't see daisies and sunshine between Grog and the Sword of Kas. It didn't fuck over the party, but it's still evil. But I don't know what happened to it after the end of C1, does anyone?
@@douglaslain5962 According to the wiki in the last episode where they wrapped up C1 Grog gave the sword to Highbearer Vord who promised to lock it away in the vaults of the Platinum Sanctuary.
My read on the harness is twofold: The Bells Hells want to have access to every possible edge towards Ludinus they can have. This is the same reason why they let Chetney keep the sword. Also even though they are aware that the harness was originally build to steal power from fey the way they talked about it sounded like they wanted it to function in such a way that Ashton could build up more Primodial energy. So they probably will want D to repurpose it.
Yeah fingers crossed they will not use it in the same way as Ludinus!
Exactly just like Laudna wanting Delilah and Imogen struggling with wanting to embrace her power without being lost to it
While the conflict between his 2 different types of magic probably doesn't help his chronic pain, I doubt it's the source of it. Remember, Ashton was literally broken open and glued back together with gold and glass. And during the mind dive where FCG briefly inhabited Ashton's body, Taliesin mentioned that the pain was centered around the scars.
Considering how the Gau Drashari were concerned with keeping Elemental Titans bound within a mountain in ExU, it would be very strange if they turned out to be Titan worshippers.
To be fair, they've had a long time of exposure to the Titans to get converted around to their way of thinking which is not exactly an uncommon trope. Diablo, Skulduggery Pleasant and some of the Lovecraft stories off the top of my head.
Yeah it will be interesting to see if there are both gau drashari and primordial factions and how that could play out
I am so here for the Shattered Teeth and calamity lore drops!
An entire part of the world ee havent seen, and its the bit that might have had input from BleeM. Like this can only be good.
I could see them finding willing powers (entities) to sacrifice their own power to protect the world and gods - essentially bestowing a "blessing" on adventurers in their quest.
Also, the FCG and god talk was an amazing scene that Matt just played so well into for great payback as you said.
Now that we have learned Gau Drashari have put themselves into something called a tree on at least 2 occasions, it makes me wonder if the Calamity's Tree of Names had someone in it as well.
In other news, I want to see the Shattered Teeth SO BAD
Look forward to these recaps to help me stay in the loop. Thank you so much!
You're very welcome!
Awesome video!!
I too am glad that we got some Ashton lore this time. I feel like Taliesin could have been a little bit more selfish in Issylra instead of just letting the story progress away at the cost of the opportunity to explore his character's backstory.
The Kryn myth of creation kinda suggests that the primordials are the children/creations of the Luxon, so perhaps the reason the latter wasn't satisfied just with them was because they were too chaotic to engage with them in actual interactions? I don't know. In any case, although I would love for Ashton to have less pain if they find a balance between those powers (as someone who also suffers from chronic pain) I've seen some descriptions of it as something that just IS, instead of a wound or something to fix, so I guess there would be debate over what it represents, to take the pain away.
About the harness, I've seen theories about people using it specifically against the Unseelie fey that chase Fearne, but now that we know it's supposed to imitate the way an archdruid prolongs their life, I wonder if they can actually use it on ANYTHING, or if only elementals and nymph-like fey can produce the desired effects.
What do you think?
Tin foil cap time!!! What if they repaired ludinus's funnel vest and then gave it to ashton to absorb the remnnant titan powers from the earth titan body at ankheral, completing ashton's transformation to become a full titan.
I love it and hope this happens
I assume you meant Vasselheim -- but yeah that would be amazing if the earth titan actually still had powers in it!
If I am remembering right when Imogen and FCG went into Ashton's mind, he had flashes of himself as other people living other lives. So I am guessing that much of the Luxon myth seems to be true. Having a beacon in his head and cult leaders as parents has made for such juicy lore. I can't wait to learn more of his story.
Gotta admit-I’m never able to resist reading Flando’s chapter titles and after seeing Savior Blade at the end, I expected Grazz’tchar to take that name as it compelled Chetney to attack Keyleth. Like I was *fully* expecting a cliffhanger.
I think it could have gone really different if the sword was out of the bag of holding!
I WANT NEW ASHTON ART!! 😂
I loved this episode. The lore was great
- I agree that Imogen may have taken Liliana's words wrong and may be staging a coup against Ludinus and or Predathos. She just can't focus on it since Otohan is likely psychicly spying on her a lot.
- I want to know what the heck Ira is up to.
- I really hope we get either a trip to Xhorhas or (a post M9 one shot) follow up with Caleb to talk Dunamancy to fill Ashton in on the other part of his brain.
- I get why FCG wants to see Dancer but I think the party is right to guide it away after last time. In C2 Devexion said he was repairing and releasing his brethren so I curious and to who actually turned FCG back on. Did Devexion restore him and Dancer removed a memory piece to make adjustments when she got him? So many questions.
- I really want them to go the the Menagerie coast to find Devexion but I also figure no M9 pending on when the episode would fall. Also I worry that there may be danger In Southern Wildemount with Ludinus and possibly Trent on the loose.
- I'm excited/terrified of what could be in the shattered teeth.
- All of the name stuff is something. We have what we are assuming is the blighted version of the tree of names in the shattered teeth, we have Ludinus looking for the Matrons name as a part of her ascension, and we have 2 Gods that until the Vassehiem papers were opened had forgotten names. Plus this entire party is trying to figure out their identity after suffering major life shifts which to be fair is most DnD parties but it rings different this time. What started as a group of slapdick NPCs has been uncovered as a group of people predestined for big things for better or worse.
Good god. I am really hoping they visit the Shattered Teeth and like find some sorta device, automaton recording, magical item, or heck even the original transcript that has Loquacious' last speech to the city of Avalir.
Just echoing… on repeat… across the decimated isles…
Personally, I think Dancer would be the better choice. The other's may be doing some meta-gaming because they want to confirm that "D" is Devexion. Also to visit a new area for the Bell's Hells.
On the other hand, Matt giving them a detailed location of where D is, vs Dancer just being asleep in a room, could also be a clue from him for which place they should go.
100% I agree with your theory that the reason for Ashton’s chronic pain is a result of the conflict between their primordial blood, and the effect the Luxon has on their brain. I wonder if that means there could be a potential solution to their pain, or at least some way to ease its effects.
Theory I have about Imogen. It really seems like Imogen has the potential to be even stronger than her mother- I wonder if Ludinus will at some point try to harm Liliana, or even kill her, in order to try and harness whatever power Imogen might unleash. Imogen’s power seems proportional to her emotional state- as when Laudna was killed, she blew apart an entire street. I wonder if perhaps it was Imogen that teleported Bells Hells away from the battlefield, and separated the group by accident.
What I don’t get, is what Liliana has against the gods. Like Ludinus, sure, he just wants to be all powerful, fair enough. But he started a whole cult essentially to recruit people who have a grudge against the gods. That makes me wonder about Liliana’s feelings towards them. Or has her motivations been discussed before and I just missed it?
Either way, I’m so relieved to see Orym reunite with his family and to see his home in good spirits again, he needed that So badly. Hopefully this helped reaffirm his faith in his cause and his will to continue, and to still try and be the best person he can be. Bc man, seeing him so hopeless and defeated was rough. But then again, nobody does sad boi better than Liam.
Agree, ever since they found out he’s been tryna funnel power I’ve been thinking all he wants to do is drain imogen’s power like a capri sun. I’m thinking either that or even Ashton… maybe it helps him balance the fighting forces within him? I don’t know, maybe it’s like regeneration energy in doctor who that heals but also destroys? Im rambling, sorry. I agree with you abt imogen and think that if he attempts to drain Ashton, it’s gonna backfire wonderfully. Would love to see it.
Yeah I am interested in Liliana's motivations as well! We really don't know much about her
I feel like them talking about using the harness is the latest in a series hints of a dark side to these characters, I find it fascinating in a potentially horrific way.
Oh absolutely. I mean, it's pretty much the most common message for this campaign, right? 4 out of the 7 have the potential to "turn evil" and lose control of themselves at any moment. And with Matt confirming that the betrayer gods are willing to help fight Ludinus... there's always been this combined theme of darkness and light working together.
@@CheckersMcGavern Depending on how you look at it, 7 out of 7
To me its not about a dark side… it’s about a feeling of desperation, knowing the stakes are literally the highest they could be and feeling completely inadequate. Seemed like they all agreed they didn’t want to use it to hurt anybody and their whole goal of finding one of the Ds was in hopes of finding a way of making it work in a way that won’t be damaging.
@@majorzipf8947I think that's the interesting thing about darkness. It's about pushing people until they decide it's justified. Sometimes it's just getting a bad deal at a store and sometimes it's just "one bad day" (Punisher/Daredevil reference).
@@twothirdsanexplosive Yeah, desperation can often lead to ends justify the means, which is definitely a step toward bad.
It'll be nice to see if Orym's new title comes with new fancy garb as well
The harness , ultimately, seems like a 'red herring' hope I'm wrong. Awesome Lore drop.
I'm hoping the M9 reunion in October has some shenanigans with Ludinous while he is back in the empire visiting King Dwendyl. Or a rescue mission of Bo/Caleb....ah too much lore in 1 episode!!!!
I'm hoping that since the harness is going to Dancer and Joe that it gets harnessed, pun intended, so Dancer can extend her life, with joe build an army of automatons, and help save Exandria from whatever rival army D is assembling for C4.
am I the only one who can see Ashton taking a couple levels in Rune Knight Fighter- just so we can get Titan Ashton?
As I was watching the scene when Keyleth put on her crown, someone in the chat mentioned that 'Risha was sitting in front of the window with blue light, and it appeared as though she had antlers sprouting from her head and the blue glow of magical power surrounding her. That blew my mind. More knowledge gained by Bells Hells, and maybe combining primordial forces with the gods power is the way to play this. Excellent video Luna, glad to see you added the intro :)
Who is Rush’s again?
Marisha Rey, or "Risha Rey. Thats her nickname :)@@majorzipf8947
Could "the seeds we bear still pull us" be a reflection of Imogen, having been born by Liliana, still perhaps having a chance of turning her mother away from Predathos et al.?
I read it like this too. “The seeds” makes me think of Imogen certainly and “Still pull us” means that perhaps Imogen may have already started. So Liliana would have done something much worse if Imogen hadn’t of kept trying with her.
Thanks for the recap. The last CR episode was lacking a bit of action yet so packed with lore, funny role play and emotional powerful moments.
As for theory, now I just hope for an all out gods vs titans vs Predathos vs Ludinus deathmatch!
THE LOOOOOOORE
ALL HAIL THE LORE!
I’m so behind on C3. I super appreciate your recaps! I still go back and listen but it helps me keep up to date!
So happy we finally got Ashton lore! MORE LORE!
So is the tree the same that was in EXU Calamity?
I was really confused why they wanted to fix the harness. Why fix something they know is bad?
Thanks for this! Helped me to better understand everything that happened since there is so much information to sort through and remember.
I'm wondering if the harness can be repurposed to pull energy/power from Ludinus. From a meta level it would be a cool mechanic in a fight with him.
Another great recap. Ooh loving this Ashton lore!!! Really excited to see where they go next
Love a lore episode. I really want to learn more about Ashton
“The seeds we bear still pull us,” seems like a way for Liliana to tell Imogen (the “seed” she “bore”) that she is still in there, that there is still hope.
I also thought the constant pain is result of his 2 opposing sides
I just read a passage on the Tal'Dorei Campaing Setting Reborn (pag. 190) that clicked a thought about why Ludinus is 'using' Vax. I'll put here "The Surviving Chronicles of The Age of Arcannum are filled with tales of magical hierarchs who enslaved those they took for Fate-Touched - or worse, ateempted to extract the essence of fate of them by the most horrid means." Vax, as fate touched himself, and the thingy they are trying to repair that 'extract power' made me think that at some point Ludinus was trying to do that with Vax to affect in some way the Raven Queen (and he suceeded). I don't know but this is ringing in my mind since
Excellent earrings as always :D
Wait wait wait, the Butcher's Bib actually DOES things, mechanic wise? I thought it was literally just here for the aesthetic. Needing to attune to it makes more sense now, I was confused when Travis mentioned that last week, but honestly respected the choice to commit to The Look, lol. (I must have missed the breakdown of the bib when they got it. This is why I need these recaps.).
Travis leaning into yet another cursed weapon brings me so much joy. I love when they all seem to be having so much fun putting their characters through the wringer, it pleases my angst-with-a-good-outcome-fic loving soul :p Looking forward to watching Chetney fall into indulgence and then defeat it heroically.
5:53: I also wonder if she suspects Ludinus can eavesdrop on her dream conversations, ("I must be careful..." etc) so she's being deliberately ambiguous here, while trying to get the message to Imogen that her goal is Predathos' end?
I am ALSO maybe just HOPING that's the case, because I love a redemption arc (except for Bor'Dor, fuck that guy :p [/humor]) and Liliana seems like she's been manipulated, but also, she's made some hecking choices, so I wouldn't be sad if it turns out she's beyond saving, either, both are good stories.
I am SO ready for the Derrig visit, give me ALL of Liam acting his entire heart out. Delicious delicious angst. *eats popcorn * But also, someone PLEASE hug Orym. No, more than that. ALL the hugs for the tiny action hero. His reunion with Nell was everything, Matt does SUCH good parental characters (both the lovely and the not-so good).
Keyleth is BACK! HECK YESSS!
I also always watch Marisha when Matt is piloting Keyleth, it's so cool how much trust they all have, and I think, of the VM members he's inhabited, Matt's Keyleth is the most dialed-in. (I hate to admit it, but I... don't love his Percy and Vex, ngl. Not the voices, they're fine, just Matt-ified, I mean the characterization felt a bit off? They weren't bad! Just not as on point as Keyleth. Pike was good too. ... buuut I've tangented, and obviously ymmv. Just having opinions on the internet over here.)
Titanstone Ashton! Let's goooo! SO hyped! I LOVE their character arc these past few episodes, it's finally... arcing! (? that makes sense I think.)
And it seems like, given this episode, their lore is tied in to SO MUCH Exandrian lore, AND into the main plot. I feel like Matt has been sitting on ALL of this information that links to the Calamity, and the Shattered Teeth, AND whatever is going on in the Dwendalian Empire and Xhorhas with the late war and the beacons, AND the M9 stuff and... everything else, and he's just been WAITING for Ashton to grab one of the many threads, and it's taken SIXTY-EIGHT EPISODES to finally unveil some of it. 😂
I feel like the previous 4SD might have provided some out-of-game nudging to Taliesin prior to this episode, because it's the most active Ashton has been in pursuing their past. I am HERE for it, Ashton is the character I'm most curious to learn more about (with Chetney a close second, but we got a lot of his stuff in the party split.)
There HAVE to be some hidden remnants of Avaliir at the Shattered Teeth, I feel like Matt won't be able to resist that lore weaving, and it would bring the table so much delight to stumble over them. They HAVE to, right? (Or I might just be really hoping that all of that is true :p Though I'm still convinced that the Eisfurra settlement they accidentally teleported to was also somehow linked to Cerrit's descendants. ...Buuut also maybe the Eisfurra in general are linked to Aeor, which became Eiselcross? We know that name fragments are often clues? Maybe? I dunno, getting buried in red thread over here, don't mind me).
Bruumstone shenanigans! 100%, it sounded like the mountain was full of the stuff, it has to have some effect when you mess with the leylines and teleportation and stuff while also like, kind of exploding a city? I'm picturing Dracula's Castle being forcefully teleported in Castlevania, sort of phasing in and out maybe? Or blinking from place to place? You could see why maybe it's not prime real-estate nowadays, getting anything delivered would be a nightmare :p
But also, this reminds me, I watched a reaction to Calamity the other day and Patia's description of the Palazzo Por'co, with its stone of white and green marble-like stuff, and that sounds a lot like ...whitestone (the substance not the place, the source of residuum. It would make sense to me that there might have been a concentration of residuum in Avaliir too)? Irrelevant to this video, but sharing because I had forgotten the passing thought, and now I remember it so I'm dropping it here before it vanishes again, like the moving islands (See? See? I bought it back around!. Um. *buries self in red thread again * )
That harness gives me CONCERN as well, but also I still think it's somehow connected to the tech/magic in Otohan's backpack? (They HAVE to break that thing) Also, maybe they could siphon Ira, that could solve more than one problem at once :p (I love Ira, but they are definitely A Problem waiting to reappear.)
The entire sequence with FCG repeatedly texting the Changebringer was pure chaos and I loved it. I picture this god sitting there trying to deal with potential ruin on the horizon, and her phone is just going *ping* every 5 minutes. Also Matt is a troll and it's delightful.
Orymmmmm! Savior Blade of the Tempest!
Taking bets that Sam is teasing us with Legend Lore on the sword but wont cast it on the tree to find out if it used to be the tree of names.
I am So Excited for the shattered teeth!! Ive wanted to go there since i found out abt it like aaahh!!! I am awaiting the oportunity to play my fantasy archeologist ♡♡
Ashton theory: The Shattered Teeth were originally the continent of Dominus. Avalier and Cathmoira from EXU Calamity were originally Mount Ygora on the continent of Dominus. Mount Ygora was where the primordials the Emperor of Fire and the Empress of Earth were sealed. In the calamity they may have been vaporized and mixed into the atmosphere of the Shattered Teeth. What Ashton's father brought back could have been something heavily infused with the Empress of Earth's essence. That is where the titan blood comes from and the (basically) earth genasi body come from.
I'm giving myself flash back to ColdStone from the Gargoyles animated show.
i love that Matt always ties in some deep lore with Taliesens characters backstories :V
The thing I don't understand is that creations of the gods (humans, elves, dwarves, etc) keep showing up who worship the Titans / Primordials - or those with the remnants of their powers like the Eidolons. Lore as we know it, the Titans regarded the gods' creations as invaders and hunted them - eventually joining forces with the Betrayers (i.e. Asmodeus, Lord of the Nine Hells, Tharizdun, The Chained Oblivion, etc.) to destroy them. That hardly paints them as benevolent / friendly entities. Something doesn't add up yet.
But I'm also reminded that the primary difference between Ludinus and Essek is that the party liked Essek. Both were evil alignment, war criminals involved in the very same plot, but one was forgiven and became an ally and the other is now the primary antagonist in campaign 3. Point being, Matt can change this world based on the direction his players are gravitating. In other words, the Titans may become whatever the players want them to be. And D or Dancer may boil down to whatever Sam actually wants it to be. From a DM standpoint, tailoring the game to the players makes sense to a point, but... there's times I really want the hard truth of this world to push back.
Speaking of... is Graz'tchar going to end up compelling Chetney to kill Vex if Keyleth brings Vox Machina into this? She is on the Council of Tal'Dorei. Would Travis and Laura's marriage survive that?
Ashton also mentioned that they weren't always like this. With having Titan blood in them, I believe that their pain and form change is probably experiments that were done as a child. Which may be why their parents sent them away, maybe to save them from further experiments. If I recall correctly, they talked about the pain being there before the Luxon sauce was poured in their head.
God I hope we get an animated Bells Hells…
Great episode. im fairly confident with Oryms tittle upgrade hes going to get some new feats/features, but they dont really like "i leveled up i got this fancy new thing". They kinda do those types of things with some lore tie-ins. I think well see orym do some of his morning zephra routine stuff { forget what he calls it } with his family or maybe even with keyleth and tie in w.e new powers that way.
Side note also super excited to learn more about Ashtons Primordial/titan blood backstory because Talesin always has some wildly interesting shit going on with his characters and loves too slow play it
I didn't even consider that Leliana was probably talking about Ludinus I thought she meant Predathos with the "he's older and wiser than most" I straight up thought Leliana was trying to play Predathos in the ultimate show of Arcane spellcaster vanity.
I read a lot simpler into the "two not getting along yet" part, I think it's just a personal quest for Ashton to find a way to unite the power of Dunamancy with the power of the Titans for a big boost in power (hopefully, I love barbarians i want to see them be op O:) )
I love that Travis rolling to see if he dies started as a joke from I believe either Sam, Taliesin or Robbie about how old Chetney was and the average lifespan of gnomes but has now become a canon part of the sessions for every day that Travis and the cast remembers it at least xD Part of me wants to see if they'll go through with it if or when Travis rolls a 00-0 or if they'll just ignore it because on the one hand it would feel kinda lame for one of the party members to randomly die of old age but on the other hand it feels like they have to commit to the bit now.
Hey Luna, Can we talk about the first part of the episode where Chetney carried a bag of holding into a portable hole?
Let's hope Vax & Kiki are reunited with Marisha & Liam because it would be super weird Matt romancing himself. 😂😂
I mean, he's done it before in C1 with Kima and Allura...
When Keyleth was talking about the different temples being attacked, could she be including the one half of the party that helped attacked the dawn father's temple? I was waiting for Matt to mention the dawn father's temple when she was asked which temples had been attacked 😆
They saw Ludinous on Ruidous right? When they scryed on Lilliana. Did they all forget when they were talking about him being in the Dwendallian empire?
I think they just assume Ludinus can zip around with teleporting pretty easily
I feel like there is something important that we are missing. We learned in campaign 2 that the people in the age of arcanum believed that the gods actually didn’t create them but that the people created the gods. Thought their believe. Just like they create fire or other magic through that. Xerxis also belived this in exu telling asmodeus that the people were on earth before the gods.
And it makes sense. We know from the traveler that it’s possible. We also know from the everlight that the less followers you have the less power you have. So how could the gods have created the humans when there was no humans to worship them and give them power in the first place.
Weather the theory is try or not we know that it was belived in the age of arcanum. And guess who is also from that age. Ludanis would have definitely heard of this and by his actions it looks like he believes it too.
My theory is that this will become very important later maybe even get revealed as true by ludanis or even predathos
Oh that’s right….. oh man… what a monkey wrench all of that would be
Did anyone else get the feeling that when Imogen's mom said "I want you to be free" it gave some heavy implications that Imogen has some stronger connection to Predathos other than just being born under the red moon?
My theory:
Ruidus born are actually parts of Predathos' spirit that broke free and reborn into Ruidus born. Imogen's mom knows this, and knows that when Predathos is free, it's spirit that is latched on to Imogen will return to its own body and possibly strip Imogen of some, if not all, of her power 🫨
So Sir Chad, Graz'tChar, yes definitely our sexy boi Graz'zt involved. He is a demon prince who is rumored to maybe be a son of Asmodeus (different editions tells his backtstoy differently). He definitely had a love affair with Tasha, the one that one book cover, at one point. In the Greyhawk setting their son is basically one of the main villains.
It was during the clip here of FCG's divination spell that I realized that Sam is wearing a Trasnformers shirt :D
I have 3 theories about Imogen, her mom and Perdathos (idk if i spelled right😅)
1. Imogen and her Mom are coming from Perdathos blood so Perdathos needs someone to be sacrificed from his blood to reborn.
2. Imogen or her mom will be a vessel to perdathos for him to be reborn.
3. Either 2 of the theories above happens the one who is sacrificed or becomes the vessel or other things, they can have a wish from Perdathos so Imogen's mom can have her wish to keep Imogen safe.
The whole people in trees reminds me of the elven man that vex and them fought in the fey wild to get the bow. Which means that there may be many others across the different planes 😶
I wonder if Imogen the Key to releasing Pordathos, shes the only person on the planet to be a Rudis Born born to a Rudis Born. and that's why her moms wants her to resist, she knows what will happen if Imogen surrenders to teh Red Moon's will.
omg thank you for this !!!
OMG what if the tree artifact thingy has something to do with the Tree of Names? Its remains might still be in the ruins of Avalir!
those earrings are amazing!
Not gonna lie, the whole "oh there's a whole ecosystem on the moon" gives me the vibes of Final Fantasy XIV. If you don't know the plot, it is basically the Warrior of Light/Meteor (Protag of FFXIV) looking up to the moon saying "MOONS HAUNTED" and
(Spoilers for EW)
Finding out Zodiark, our literal enemy is being kept locked in the moon, monitored by a white cloaked lady in a castle alongside working with MOON RABBITS WHO ARE TECHNOLOGICALLY ADVANCED THAN THE WORLD OF EORZEA ITSELF.
Bells hells animated series, with how much people love Kiki from LOVM, people gunna lose it.
I'm wondering if Laura wants to get Ludinus to wear the vest again and have the power siphoned OUT of him. Maybe she'll give him a cupcake first and then convince him to put it on and use it, thinking it will siphon the power from a creature, but instead they empower a creature like Fearne or Ashton or all of them.
This is so heading to Calamity 2.0. Long game on long game. I slowly get the feeling the reason they made EXU calamity was so audiences would get prober insight into it, so we can witness in horror as history repeats itself....
I wonder if the fact that “those two” don’t get along is why Ashton is always in pain… maybe when they find a way to harmonize the two magics, they won’t be in pain anymore…. Op, I paused too soon. You just said the same thing. 😅
One thing on stream was that everyone was like "wait, D is Devexion?!" and "No D isn't Devexion"
I’m a little confused. When did D become Devexian? There’s nothing about that on the wiki so when was that revealed?
I'm wondering if Lilliana's plan is actually to *destroy* Predathos to free herself, Imogen and all the Ruidus-born from its influence, even if doing so 'depowers' them all. The being Imogen cannot be free of isn't a god, it's Predathos.
Am I the only one who hopes that Sumalee Montano plays Keyleth's friend. Or anyone, I miss her.
Orym really went "tatakae" lol
At this point i need to ask, is there any sentient talking weapon outhere that is not a cursed item?
I thought the episode was great, it felt like a win in all the right ways. We got lore, we got party consensus, and we got a backstory side quest away from the very deep long campaign plot.
For the Dancer or D question, I felt more aligned with FCG's view of it being Dancer. Since from FCG's own admission, Dancer woke FCG up. Devexian just delivered metal bodies to a scrap yard where Dancer purchased and restored FCG. Plus during this game FCG has tried to contact Dancer where they've talked about FCG wanting to grow to not be a threat, and maybe they can rebuild a connection like they once did.
Awesome recap!
Pertaining to her mother, even good people can do bad things for the right reasons.. then you look on the tother side of that coin, the pathway to hell is paved with good intentions lol...
Idk.. the underpinned feelings in every campaign is hope.. even if slivers of.
I've been a little "disappointed" that they don't put more focus on the damage taken from teleporting with the staff, feels like it is a cool rp tool
Yeah I keep forgetting that's a thing!
@@Luboffin Imorgen, took 20 points of damage this go around, and I was expecting her to take a knee and then brush it off, and FCG gets no warning?
Dont know why, but hearing Kiki talk about Ashtons parents and what they had to do with him or to him. Being hes of Titan blood. Maybe a titan lives inside him? Anyone else getting Naruto vibes? Might just be me.
did travises character yet again pick up a cursed sword?! wtf?!
What if Imogen's dad isn't Imogen's dad? What if Predathos is her father after her mother immaculately conceived Imogen under a flare or something?
Imogen could simply be Raven from Teen Titans.
Wait are they all the Teen Titans? Orym is Robin, Chetney is Beast Boy, F.C.G. is Cyborg. Oh no, Fearne is Starfire too.
But Laudna, she's not... She kinda has that dark Raven look, and Imogen's hair has Starfiresque qualities, and Fearne finishes the multiple animal transformations that Beast Boy has... Omg Ashton's got that Cyborg in him too and is an actual Titan.
Nope it's confirmed they're the Teen Titans.
Oh no, I don't know anything about Teen Titans haha
I love your earrings! Where'd you get them!? 💖
they're from _this_kawaii_life on insta
@@Luboffin thanks for the info. Love what you do btw. Also I got a theory that Ludinus is the boy from F.R.I.D.A.'s past that they were supposed to protect. Perhaps the Calamity was the catalyst that sent Ludinus on his path of research and destruction. 🤔
I knew ashton was my favorite for a reason
Anyone else think prodothos is a agent of Hadar? Like hunger if Hadar
Having been playing Baldur's Gate 3 as my half-orc, it was an amusing experience to hear the sword mention being a king but having lost their memory and hearing my half-orc immediately go "Hang on.... If you don't have your memories, how do you know you were a king?"
What does ‘Titan of Blood’ mean? Making I’m overthinking it, but the phrase doesn’t make sense to me.
I think it's just a fancy way of saying he has Titan blood
I'd bet $500 that Ira was behind the teleport, mostly based on the fact that Matt made a point to retroactively say they had seen Ira alive.
Hmm I don't see why Ira would have been at the seat of disdain that day though...🤔
@@Luboffin They brought him, remember. Not to the Seat of Disdain, but to where Vax got orbed. Ira and Xandis teleported down just before the airship crashed. We still don't know what happened to Xandis.
Do you mean because the white light thing happened during the fight with Otohan as well? I don't know that they're the same thing, but do recall that they had faced off with Ira the day before that at the veilscatter scope and he ran off with the Moontide Crown. Could be he was tailing them, maybe trying to retrieve the lens, unaware Ashtyn had... er... dropped the hammer.
LORE!
Wasn't a fan of Taliesin falling back into his old habits of meta gaming with what he was doing with the sword...
I don't feel bad if Otohan gets zapped or Ludines, or Liliana.
I was kind of disappointed how the entire party seemed to grasp the 'idiot ball' (TM - Hank Azaria) regarding the sentient sword they found & subsequently gave to Chetney. Just seemed to be for the 'lols' & role-play - not that is won't be good role-play, just seemed forced in my mind. Ashton was the hardest against it & then just acquiesced.
Sadly, however, it is quite on-brand for this group to ignore al the red flags with regards to this sword and then figure that even if they are wrong it'll be a dawdle for them to get rid of the sword.
Maybe I'm not feeling it as the previous two campaigns had this dynamic in them. A little of the 'been there, done that' for me I guess.
Kato
Why is that sad? It’s something they all think is fun so they want to play with it. This is a game after all. 😁 D&D is not a game that gets better by avoiding red flags
Nana Mori gonna feed the root... 🤷♂
Notification crew!
Are you setting him free?
You deserve to be free....
HHHMMMMM
I picked up on that too but I have been finding ways to make sense of it.
@@jenniferiantorno8372 same here. But it is Matthews DM style to make it completely obvious while gaining mystery.
Does it work in the timeline? No. But can it work? I believe it could.
Oh f.
I'll happily and quite stubbornly be on my tin foil hat theory that Imogen IS Predathos until we definitively see otherwise 😊 Can you imagine the chaos??
I was getting pretty frustrated with the group's insistence that D was much more important to FCG, when they thought of Dancer instead. I understand from the metagame sense, it's a fun thread to pull eventually, but they know almost nothing about D, and it almost felt like they were trying to gaslight FCG into how important D was, which I found it perturbing. That the whole conversation about visiting them or Dancer revolved around repairing this evil siphoning device is a really weird in-game justification too. I keep hoping an NPC destroys the item or just tells them flatly that their pursuit is evil. Hopefully I am wrong and they find someone that can repair it for less sinister purposes.
so much D
The way they reacted to the sword seemed far too meta for me. I'd much rather if they'd just played it straight instead of knowing it was evil from the start.
I think they only knew about it being evil because of FCG's Legend Lore (but also since there is such a strong history of cursed swords in CR I can understand them being a little meta)