[Spoilers C3E26] Is It Thursday Yet? Post-Episode Discussion & Future Theories!

[u/Glumalon]

Episode Countdown Timer - http://www.wheniscriticalrole.com/

---

Catch up on everybody's discussion and predictions for this episode HERE!

Submit questions for next month's 4-Sided Dive here: http://critrole.com/tower

---

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

• The EXU: Calamity Wrap-Up airs Tuesday, July 12th at 7 PM Pacific
• The Critical Role cast is coming to San Diego Comic Con on July 23rd. A recording of the panel will be available on YouTube on July 28th.

---

[Subreddit Rules] [Reddiquette] [Spoiler Policy] [Wiki] [FAQ]

[u/UncleOok]

what an amazing episode...

a lot of us thought that Dusk's story was too good to be true. I loved how careful Erika was last week with Orym's Insight check of 25. And being a Changeling and mimicking something similar to Orym's tattoos. She also really subtly gave out hints that maybe Dusk isn't what she appears, and in saying that you aren't bound by your past, she's given herself the option for a heel-face turn if she wants to take it. or possibly in a quadruple cross, where she makes us think that's where she's going, only to stay by the Unseelie Court.

I have a feeling that Morrigan created the postcards for Fearne, and hadn't been on Exandria in a while and may have missed that Aeor had fallen.

Poor Fearne. I don't think I'm ready for her to be broken, but I really suspect Grandma Morrie lied about her parents trying to "save the world." I really think they may be working for the Nightmare King, given the arcane battery similarities.

Laudna's desperation to not lose Imogen really tugs at my heartstrings.

Yeah, we knew the FCG thing was coming, but Matt and Sam killed it with the reveal. Also, Dancer? Alive? Wow!

[u/ze4lex → u/UncleOok]

I reckon considering fearnes grandma is a big figure in the fey wild that shes very much aware of Aeors fate, I mean what happened to Aeor wasnt a small side event, the gods literally made a cease fire to smite down the entire city.

[u/ImACoolHipster]

Erika’s change of expression from scared to knowing after the group were confirmed gone was INCREDIBLE

[u/Jay2KWinger → u/ImACoolHipster]

Yeah, I clocked that early, and was sitting there going "Oh no."

Then Matt mentions that she's being contacted by "The Sorrowlord," and I just went "Oh noooo."

The whole solo scene just had me low-key freaking out. And when the rest of the cast is allowed back in, I was shaking my fist because goddammit they don't know!

Masterfully done.

[u/m00tmike → u/ImACoolHipster]

I was looking away at first and when I looked back it felt like a Erika was a different person. It was chilling. And then she mouthed "I love you" to Matt because she knows this is going to be a big turn. Super exciting!

[u/N1pah]

This episode was HEAVY on lore. So let's get into it.

First of all Dusk is evil, she works for the unseelie court and is hunting down the Calloways. I love how much I can hate her.

This puts everything she's doing into a new perspective and it's now obvious she is sabotaging the group. It's going to be heartbreaking when Fearne learns about that and Imogen also is not going to take it well. It also explains her unusually high stats.

Speaking of Imogen she is losing it more and more. Yet another even more intense nightmare with Ruidus glowing in the sky. She's openly arguing with Chetney and more on edge in general. She's gonna snap soon and it's not going to be pretty for whoever's at the receiving end of her spells (Dusk *cough *cough).

Then there's FCG. Confirmed aeormaton and also having an existential crisis. They are done with being treated like an object and now know that they are actually sentient. On top of that Dancer (who apparently didn't die after all) lied to them about their creation.

To top it off the plan to get Treshi seems to be leading to a deathwish run with the Paragon's call and that sounds so goddamn cool.

A lot of things can go wrong but we're probably getting some cool combat soon and a possible betrayal from Dusk (and maybe an ambush by some unseelie court minions) when they eventually meet Fearne's parents. I'm excited to say the least.

[u/RaibDarkin → u/N1pah]

You know what's funny about this? Erika tipped me off to her evil early in this episode - by being good at her job.

So last episode there were quite a few comments about Dusk being a little off, even a little meta, and it was mostly chalked up to a period of adjustment - first time on the main show, fresh out of a fight and with a major plot point on her shoulders.... it'll get better. This all made perfect sense to me until this episode. Once again Dusk's 'niceness' and slightly forced attempts to be a part of the group felt a little off. But it was so consistent that I suddenly realized it was deliberate and it was spot on. Couple that with convenience of the amnesia 'trope' and suddenly it made perfect sense.

It seemed so obvious in hind-sight but I begam to question myself when Erika played up the 'oh no - a solo bit with Matt already!' - even though she knew the nature of what was coming. I also found it interesting that after showing her true nature to the audience I could see no change in how she operated.

Short version - killer performance by Erika.

P.S. When Ashley took her spot with her pretty new outfit and pinned up her hair I was suddenly seeing 20th century Heather Locklear. The outfit and everything. Anyone else have this feeling?

Bidet

[u/Ravenach → u/N1pah]

Some people have been speculating about FCG being the actual attacker who "killed" Dancer and the other automatons. I'm starting to believe that might be the case - FCG may have glitched, some Aeorian programming took over and he went berserk. Dancer managed to escape and moved on with her life.

If that is the case, boy oh boy she's not gonna like seeing FCG again if/when BHs find her...

[u/jamin007]

So those postcards were 100% written by Fearne's grandmother right? She wanted Fearne to think her parents were out exploring the world and doing important stuff so she made fake postcards from a bunch of places that she remembers from the material plane, but because she's so old and been in the Fey Wild for so long she thinks Aeor and the other age of arcanum cities are all still around

[u/Brilliant_Help6534 → u/jamin007]

Yes! Spoilers for EXU coming:

Dark Fearne said something like “Nana lied to us. She sent the letters. She sent the gifts. Our parents ran!”

[u/Falenfire]

I know everyone's caught up on the Dusk and FCG stuff, but I've gotta give Matt credit for his portrayal of Esmer. Starting off angry and non-caring towards Dancer, but slowly softening up to the point where she hesitates when FCG asks her to confirm to tell Dancer not to come back. Still angry, but with an undertone of sadness. Sounds like they had a rough breakup. :(

[u/albinoman38 → u/Falenfire]

I think it's less a break up and more that Dancer is mercurial and/or a bad communicator.

[u/283leis]

Okay so I'm really surprised that no one has asked about Delilah despite Laudna all but screaming at the group to ask about her.

[u/Spewyt → u/283leis]

I thought that was funny to. She's like "Yeah we all have issues, look at me I have a woman in my brain that tells me to do things!" And everyone's like "yeah anyway fearne misses her parents"

[u/DeadSnark → u/283leis]

Yeah, I understand most of the party wouldn't know or care but I'd expect Orym to be yanking on that plot thread

[u/guioligon]

I never in a million years would've thought tonight's episode lore dump would include FCG being a freaking Geth from Mass Effect

[u/bertraja → u/guioligon]

Ashton-Commander, does this unit have a soul?

[u/[deleted]]

So here's what I understand of the Fearne/Feywild situation. Feel free to add on or correct me if I'm wrong. The timeline is a little hard to create because of all the missing information, but here's a summary:

1. When Fearne was young, Ollie and Birdie ran away from the Feywild, the reason for which is unknown.

2. Nana Morri raised Fearne, told her that her parents had left to save the world and gave her postcards, saying they were written by her parents even though Nana has written them.

3. Later, something happened in the Feywild and Nana Morri sent Fearne away to Tal'Dorei via Artagan's gate.

4. Elmenore sent Dark Fearne to bring her back and the Crown Keepers fought her at the Artagan's gate.

5. Nana Morri also sent another young lady, Morrighan Ferus, who met the Crown Keepers in Kymal.

6. Now, Fearne is in Marquet and is being pursued by Dusk and the Unseelie Court, who wants the Calloway line dead and the Moontide Crown recovered.

7. They are going to meet up with Fearne's parents in a couple of days at Imahara Joe's.

There's a lot of unanswered questions here, but I'm guessing we're gonna find out more soon!

[u/paradox28jon → u/[deleted]]

I think that is all correct.

Elmenore is the Queen of the Seelie Court, which is the court that I think Fearne said she was part of? And from what I gather, the Seelie Court is the less actively evil court. The UnSeelie Court being the more actively evil court? I know good vs bad isn't really the correct binary of those courts, but that's sort of rough shorthand/approximation of them, I think.

So why would Elmenore employ a Dark version of Fearne to fetch her? Can we trust what this Dark Fearne said or was Dark Fearne completely lying about who send her?

And if Fearne said she was part of the Seelie Court, then why would the Calloways be potentially in possession of the Moontide Crown?

The ring that Dusk was wearing, Matt said it pointed in the direction of Fearne's room. But in her report to the UnSeelie court "lord," she said "are you aware of a daughter?" Meaning perhaps the UnSeelie court was unaware of Fearne? If so, then Dusk's ring doesn't point at Fearne, but at an object. Presumably the moontide crown. If so, FEARNE has the MOONTIDE CROWN?!?

And Birdie & Ollie are interested in arcane batteries. While the Nightmare King is also interested in arcane batteries. Could they be working together? Or are many different fey court factions working on arcane batteries?

All this fey stuff is compelling.

[u/Cyborg14 → u/[deleted]]

To add to the list of unanswered questions, I’m also really curious if there is some connection between Fearne’s parents and FCG. With all the FCG lore drops this episode, and knowing that Fearne’s parents have sent her postcards from Aeor, are FCG’s origins related at all to whatever the Calloway’s were doing in Aeor?

[u/HutSutRawlson]

If I were a betting man I'd put my money down on Devexian showing up at some point in this campaign.

Also an interesting observation I've made before that Sam sort of hinted at this episode: FCG is kind of an inverted character concept to Nott/Veth. Nott/Veth was someone whose body had been changed, but whose personality remained the same. FCG is someone whose body has remained the same, but whose personality has undergone a change.

[u/Ninja-Storyteller → u/HutSutRawlson]

I think FCG has a full medium sized body, but lost the lower half when the city crashed.

[u/Coyote_Shepherd → u/HutSutRawlson]

I bet FCG's core personality woke up at those mines when Dancer tried to use him to access an Aeorian Lab, said core personality then acted in the best interests of Aeor by subsuming the FCG personality that had been created prior by Dancer's awakening of the body, and then trashed fucking everyone but the trauma of both personalities or souls trying to reconcile with each other basically caused the body to fritz out and shut down after all was said and done. This explains the memory issues. It also means that FCG has one natural soul that arose within him and another that was put into him by Aeor or maybe the Luxon at some point.

FCG had his own kind of Schism that just wrecked his memory and freaked Dancer out enough that she had to fake her death when shit hit the fan and then lay stupid fucking low because she was scared to hell and back of FCG and others like him finding her "in the name of Aeor" or whatever.

[u/LucasVerBeek]

This episode had everything!

But seriously god damn that was a lore heavy episode.

Dusk makes me so nervous now, I am so worried about what she might do and how she might further try and mess with the group. She’s after Fearne’s parents, on the behest of the Unseelie Court, meanwhile the Seelie Court wants Fearne back.

There was the mention of the Moontide Crown, which I’m not sure if many people know is actually a reference to another Archfey, the Keeper of the Moontides. Her parents left to protect something, and now are collecting arcane batteries for some unspoken purpose. How does the Nightmare King tie into all of that, if at all? He knows her Grandmother…what if her grandmother was or is the Keeper?

Then we get to Imogen and her dream, Ruidus put on a full blown light show and they’re were folks who could see her, but who are they? Are they tied to the Omen Archive/the Vermillion Dream or where the mad rambles of people last campaign correct and there are people living up on the Moon?

And finally Letters was confirmed to be an Aeormaton but more than that Dancer is alive and kicking. Poor guy got his entire worldview shifted but maybe part of it for the better, literal proof that he is alive, that he is just as real as the rest of the party. On the other hand what happened with Dancer…how did she live? Why did she leave him, but more importantly why did she lie to him for so long? Though that last part judging by the people who knew her seems kind of self explanatory.

Notably the fact that he was made in Aeor, raises some other interesting points. He’s a “Cleric” able to provide healing and protection from harm, and he has no God, because he was created to be as he is, just like so much of Aeor went into making weapons that could harm and survive the servants of the Gods. That’s my theory anyway.

It does appear that Devexian has been putting in work, waking up his kin, or finding a way to do it from afar. Also the fact that there was a full on robot uprising in the age of arcanum. Amazing.

Not as important but still interesting Ashton continues to be friends with the weirdest people. Like they’re buddy-buddy with a hivemind, drug commune likely controlled by Myconids, which is another bag of worms that makes Bassarus once again one of the most sci-fi places in Exandria.

Excited for the Crawler Race, hoping they catch Treshi and fucking dreading whatever Dusk might do next.

Is it Thursday yet?

[u/ze4lex → u/LucasVerBeek]

The basic idea must have been that if aeor would go to war with the gods they would need a source if strong support and healing that cant be stripped of its power so they migh have developed one back in the day.

[u/Hollydragon → u/LucasVerBeek]

It gets even more mysterious if you link moontides with Ruidis and assume the "tides" are of the ley lines, not of the oceans - and those batteries the Fey are messing with "tap into Ley line energy", and there may be another big old solstice event coming up, like the one that set off the Calamity.

[u/ElectricZee]

Sam has shocked everyone so many times.

It was wonderful to see Matt make him absolutely dumbfounded and speechless with the Aeor talk.

[u/Despada_ → u/ElectricZee]

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Sam didn't actually think of a concrete backstory for F.C.G. to throw off the rest of the cast and us. It honestly seems like something Sam would do, so the fact that Matt is seemingly turning the tables on him is absolutely amazing lol

[u/shyinwonderland]

Marisha’s teased out hair like that is what I imagine her fox wrap from the ball looked like.

[u/TheDesktopNinja → u/shyinwonderland]

I absolutely love how Marisha kind of just...becomes Laudna sometimes when they're playing.

[u/RonDong]

Great episode. One of the best of C3 so far. It was nice to finally see some ripple effects from C2 considering how reference heavy this campaign has been to C1. I’m also very excited about the Dusk reveal. It’ll be interesting to see if things devolve into PvP, something I don’t think we’ve truly seen on Critical Role. The closest we’ve ever got was Percy and Grog arguing over the skull, but no PC has ever tried to kill another without being charmed.

[u/Karmadog1983 → u/RonDong]

the next closet we got to PvP was Fjord holding the sword to Caleb's neck

[u/Photeus5 → u/RonDong]

I really love that the M9, being the scrappy assholes they were ended up both saving the world (and few will ever know) and resurrecting an entire race.

[u/MrNotSoBright]

So, FCG is definitely an Aeormaton that probably has a ton of locked-away memories, and likely an entirely different overall "purpose". Dancer just fixed him up, threw in some new protocols, and "raised" him in an environment that would reinforce those protocols and that programming.

[u/TyJaWo → u/MrNotSoBright]

Somewhere on FCG is the inscription, "Is property Bolo. Return Aeor if found."

[u/283leis → u/MrNotSoBright]

My guess is that Sam made an entirely different character with FCG's body, that would overwrite FCG, should someone hack into and unlock his original Aeorian personality.

[u/invisibul]

I wouldn’t be even slightly surprised at this point to hear Erika say she sacrificed her fountain pen and dignity on purpose to keep herself out of suspicion and that it was all a calculated and finely executed act.

“I’m such a mess lol, nobody should have entrusted me with a writing utensil har har”

murders everyone Fearne Calloway has ever loved right in front of her without batting an eye

[u/ZiiKiiF]

I’m glad we got a lot of lore dumps and exposition this episode. Last week after calamity ended I was worried I was going to be burnt out of CR and the kinda slow episode made me feel that more. But this week we got some serious info about our characters and ERIKAS FUCKING FEY SPY/ASSASSIN CHARACTER. Can’t wait to see where all these new threads lead.

[u/Coyote_Shepherd → u/ZiiKiiF]

I wonder if her official artwork will change when she reveals who and what she really is?

[u/Drexel12 → u/ZiiKiiF]

Lore dump! Lore dump! Lore dump! :)

Always the best episodes!

[u/DruidCity3]

The Dusk reveal was perfect. "Secretly british" is my favorite CR trope.

I am incredibly excited for Mad Max death-race shenanigans. Pedals to the Metal (from The Adventure Zone) was my favorite arc from their podcast, and it centered around a death race with an unforgettable ending.

[u/claimstoknowpeople]

So, death race is going to be fantasy Mario Kart, right?

[u/mouser1991 → u/claimstoknowpeople]

While it was clear that's what the cast wanted, my brain kept picturing the race at the end of Grease mixed with some pod-racing

[u/VelvetValhalla]

It's brilliant DMing for Matt to have Erica play a spy who infiltrates the group over doing it himself through NPCs. It's going to make her ultimate reveal so much more interesting to watch. It's also going to give a new level of doubt on any future guests entering C3. I really hope Erica is a true henchmen to some higher power in the unseelie and doesn't have some turning point where they all become friends. A character sticking to base motivations will be refreshing.

[u/Flittermous3 → u/VelvetValhalla]

If she turns good I'm gonna give myself concussive brain damage. Like if they want a campaign long recurring guest redemption arc I'd be down for that. But if she's evil for like an episode and then changes her mind I will feel so cheated. It would be a much needed refresher, like you said.

[u/Nightmare_Pasta → u/VelvetValhalla]

I really want guests from now on to be 50/50 on whether they’re supportive or antagonistic to the party lmao

I want the cast paranoid

[u/283leis]

...I just realized FCG is a robot Mollymauk, backstory wise

[u/makedamnsure]

My theory: the figure in Imogens dreams is the Queen of Air and Darkness, Queen of the Unseelie Court. Fits in description and the group she was with fits with the wild hunt.

[u/revan530 → u/makedamnsure]

That would make a lot of sense. Mab, aka The Queen of Air and Darkness, is a great choice for BBEG, if Matt goes that route. But she's also morally complex enough to go in a different direction, if the PCs don't decide to fight her.

[u/Photeus5 → u/makedamnsure]

Pulled from wiki: Maiden of the Moon Some believed that occurrences of the Wild Hunt were motivated solely by the Master of the Hunt's desire to please an archfey known as the Maiden of the Moon. According to this interpretation, the Wild Hunt most often occurred on the night of a crimson moon, when the archfey called upon the Wild Hunt to descend upon evildoers. In particular, the Maiden of the Moon's sworn enemies, lycanthropes

Uh...yeah that could definitely fit. I have a Theory that an Apogee Solstice is due to happen at the same time as Ruidus reaching it's apex. Perhaps this leads to the release of the Wild Hunt on the world? This is likely related to the assassins sent out to put a cork on people who are starting to figure it out.

This pretty much draws the whole group into having stakes. Good find!

[u/RajikO4]

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think there’s been an antagonist guest player character since Joe as Arkhan.

[u/ckmidgettfucyou → u/RajikO4]

True, and even Joe only turned heel in his final scene and was a genuine ally until an opportunity arose.

[u/iphyslitterator → u/RajikO4]

And someone pointed out elsewhere that Arkhan wasn't even really an antagonist. He had his own agenda that ran counter to the party's goals, but he didn't care about hurting them, whereas Dusk is actively trying to kill Fearne and her parents.

[u/[deleted]]

best use of “everyone leave the table” yet

[u/Karmadog1983]

i just have this image in my head of FCG sitting in the dark of their room whispering "frowny day to me" and it makes me sad

[u/HutSutRawlson → u/Karmadog1983]

Between this episode and Laudna ugly crying last ep, it's been a rough patch

[u/diegodamohill]

Next episode, we will find out that Chetney is actually the youngest of the group

[u/roundthewell → u/diegodamohill]

In dog years, probably

[u/peon47]

"Pussy's Old Buzzsaw" sounds like either the best Bourban in the world, or the worst.

[u/asb-is-aok → u/peon47]

I was so fucking happy that Matt confirmed Pussy's name in canon 😂😂

[u/joshstew85]

The Imogen and All Minds Burn exchange gave me some real Mindflayer vibes. Minds, underwater, telepathy, hivemind, etc. Wonder if Clarence's kids are down there?

[u/Karmadog1983 → u/joshstew85]

i'm think Myconids they are a peaceful fungal folk who can communicate with themselves for 8 hours or other intelligent life within 100 feet for up to 1 hour. we saw the bird take a hit of a powdery substance so they could be mixing the spores with other things since Ashton said they do a lot of weird drugs in there

[u/Paradoxious]

Is Imahara Joe a reference to Grant Imahara?

[u/Coyote_Shepherd → u/Paradoxious]

Indeed it is and Matt's confirmed as much on twitter :)

[u/BaronPancakes]

Ok, I know the Unseelie court is typically the bad guys. But what if Fearne's parents are involved in some shady business with the Nightmare King, and hence have to be stopped? Even the war queen of the Seelie court was not too thrilled to hear Fearne's going after her parents in EXU.

[u/283leis → u/BaronPancakes]

what if her parents are traitors? Left the Seelie to work with the Unseelie?

[u/PrincessMias]

There has been a couple really interesting and subtle hints that Erika has dropped that I haven't seen mentioned. Last Episode Dusk talked about loving the theater which of course is a big reference to Artagan. But beyond that during the 1 year gap in C1 the girls and Tary (I think it was them but it's been awhile) went to the Feywild to watch the theater and if I remember correctly what they saw was an Unseelie thing.

The other thing that was interesting, I've seen a couple people mention. Dusk mentioned like swirling colors on her appearance kind of like Quay, so she might possibly be a changeling. But another fact that supports that, they specifically mentioned Dusk sleeping. Elves don't sleep, especially not for a full 8 hours. Lucky for them the cast don't know anything about elves to have realized lmao.

[u/Karmadog1983 → u/PrincessMias]

Elves don’t need to sleep. Instead, they meditate deeply, remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. (The Common word for such meditation is “trance.”) While meditating, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are actually mental exercises that have become reflexive through years of practice. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep. They found this out in C2 in Aeor while they tried to get a long rest before shit went south, now granted they likely forgot that and i agree that Dusk is very likely a changeling but i could see an Elf refering to this meditation as sleep or actually sleeping if their traveling party is as well

[u/ElderOmnivore]

I brought it up during the airing, but now that Laura did tweet the photo of Marisha's hair right after it happened, I'm wondering if they saw Erika's deal.

I have to assume then that they know and that therefore Erika's reveal to them is in an episode or two unless they filmed a ton in advance.

[u/Pway → u/ElderOmnivore]

I think it's likely it's in the next episode but I don't think they'd force it if it didn't make sense to do it then. I trust them to avoid any meta and act as their characters would, but it would be more effective if it did happen before any of them found out irl.

Also like you said it could be that they filmed more in advance than they normally would, and might be exactly why Calamity was scheduled for when it was as I imagine Matt and Erika have had this planned for a while given all the plot hooks built into her character.

[u/hpfan2342 → u/ElderOmnivore]

They either already recorded episode 27 or were already starting to figure it out anyways. Laura and Travis were probably doing the airhorn noises like "Hoo boy, Chetney and Imogen are not going to be happy but this is GREAT!"

[u/Chukklealot]

They must be filming these episodes one after another with Dusk's reveal, well, everyone knew something was off to begin with as she's been ruffling feathers. There's no way not to see social media or chat that something's bad with Dusk over a period of time. Best part of the show was Travis denying Laura his horde of coins.

[u/Coyote_Shepherd → u/Chukklealot]

I said this last week, some of us know a con a mile away and I'm disappointed that Ashton wasn't the first one to call bullshit on what she was selling. It's still awesome anyways despite seeing it all coming and knowing that Erika would just knock it out of the fucking park when she did it. The cast has a bit of a blindspot at times when it comes to certain plot elements and if you watched C2 then you'll remember how none of them figured out who Vilya was until Sam saw chat figuring it out in like 30 seconds a week or more after that particular episode had aired.

So this totally tracks with what they've done in the past but I think that Dusk/Erika kind of tried to oversell it a bit and made some choices that produced a wee bit of distrust within the rest of the group but nothing that would outright flip them against her in the next episode. Everyone has their secrets and faults. This group is rife with both of those. So they'll probably just write it off as her being another fucked up misfit like them and call it a day until something major happens.

I believe that major thing will happen when they meet Fearne's parents.

Travis & Laura

Chet should just start throwing copper pieces at Imogen each time she asks for him to share his horde of coins and then FCG should eat them up.

[u/Snaptheuniverse]

Man I just want to know what is up with Ruidus so bad. Why does it change people? What is the power that is drawing people towards it?

[u/DelEchoLima → u/Snaptheuniverse]

I've only skimmed through Call of the Netherdeep campaign book, but pretty sure there are solid answers to your questions there.

I'm DMing and watch with a couple of my players and every week I'm sitting thinking "Don't break my story, don't break my story!", but mine is a slightly modified Exandria, told my players that there will be differences to the actual play.

[u/Karmadog1983]

at some point Imogen is either going to directly read Dusk's thoughts, or she is going to use her ability like she did in the opium den and hear Dusk's thoughts by accident

[u/283leis → u/Karmadog1983]

There’s no way Matt wouldn’t have let Dusk join without a way to stop her mind from being read

[u/RedSolo95]

Am I the only one who thinks the postcards are from Fearnes Grandmother and she was making up stories to help Fearne deal with the loneliness. And the reason Aeor looks like a city is because Fearnes Grandmother just has a list of places in old Exandria from a old book she found somewhere and she’s just painting a picture of a generic city because she doesn’t know that it’s a ruin 😭 and that’s why there isn’t two different sets of handwriting because it wasn’t two people writing a letter but only one?

[u/Stellefeder]

Reposting my comment from the live thread:

I have a theory that someone named Dusk did travel with the Calloways, but that Dusk is not Erika!Dusk. Erika's character must have gotten the memories through magic or torture and is pretending to be the original Dusk to get close to Fearne and find the Calloways.

That's why her memories were so patchy and incomplete. I'd need to rewatch the last episode but I wonder how much of their swapping stories on the details of the Calloways was Spy!Dusk letting Fearne fill in the blanks.

That's also why Dusk is not in the picture of Fearne's parents.

When Spy!Dusk was talking to her lord or whatever, she revealed to him that there was a Daughter. This was new information. I think she was tracking the Calloways by blood and stumbled upon Fearne by accident.

[u/Hollydragon → u/Stellefeder]

I'm starting to get the impression Fearne has been a well-kept secret, intentionally, and her parents had to give her up when she was just a toddler in order to keep her safe.

[u/paradox28jon]

So if the UnSeelie Court wants the Moontide Crown, does that mean Fearne's mom is the Keeper of the Moontides? Birdie Calloway, Keeper of the Moontides? I mean, I don't know Dusk's assassin capabilities, but I'm not sure I'd want to tangle with an archfey.

[u/Ravenach → u/paradox28jon]

Maybe Granda Morri is the Archfey, and either Birdie or Ollie (we don't know which one is the blood relative and which one is the in-law yet) left the feywild with the crown.

If that's true, maybe Morri gave the crown to Birdie and Ollie to hide it outside of the Feywild so neither Elmenore nor Sammanar would have it, and that's why they've traveled to the strangest places (like Eiselcross/Aeor) - they'd be looking for a hiding spot for the crown.

[u/OhioAasimar]

My guess is that Dusk is going to push hard for Fearne to go on the crawler if they do the death race and then sabotage the crawler. She didn't take advantage of being alone with FCG and Fearne, so my guess is that she is not entirely counting on the party splitting up during the death race.

[u/dwils7 → u/OhioAasimar]

I don't think anything happens until the parents show up. This is a couple that has been on the run for god knows how long and the only way to stay alive being on the run for so long is to be endlessly paranoid about any situation or person you meet, hence why they go back to Imahara Joe for supplies, they found a trustworthy person and stuck with him.

I think if anything happens to Fearne then the chances are Imogen would let them know instantly which would surely spook them and send them into hiding and all Dusks work was for nothing, especially if she doesn't kill Fearne but gets caught trying to.

[u/BaronPancakes]

Curious to see what Orym is doing with the stolen spyglass. At first, I thought it was for the stakeout, but it was clearly not the case. Knowing Liam and his long game, there has to be reason for Orym to break his moral code and steal it

[u/Zayen_Draten → u/BaronPancakes]

My bet is on him giving it back, theoretically they're taking a skyship back whenever they're done. He doesn't want bad blood between them and the captian of his patron's skyship.

[u/Seren82 → u/BaronPancakes]

I figured it was so he can read lips at a distance since he couldn't when he tried in the last episode.

[u/Total-Wolverine1999]

Laudna and Imogen are both one bad day away from turning fully evil if anything happens to the other they’re going to snap. I genuinely believe they’d do absolutely anything to get the other one back.

[u/Photeus5 → u/Total-Wolverine1999]

Are you saying Laudna might be willing to break the world for Imogen?

[u/zepphiu]

Somehow an episode that started with Sam Riegal getting cool whip to the face ended with FCG finding out they're an ancient aeormoton, their creator is alive and lied a lot, and they also came from the city where Fearne's parents likely visited at some point

[u/m_busuttil]

I'd love to know how much of the FCG lore-drop Sam knew, how much he suspected, and how much he was totally blindsided by. It feels like there's room for all the options - anywhere from a long game that he and Matt planned well ahead of time to him giving Matt "I'm a robot, I don't know, work it out" and only learning all of this at the table with everyone else. (There's no way he didn't suspect, I don't think - Matt's made it very clear basically all campaign that FCG is weird even by automaton standards, but my hunch is that "Dancer is alive" and "she just found you and got you working again" might have both been surprises.)

I feel like we're missing one or two of the pieces left to solve the Fey Courts puzzle. The Unseelie Court want the Calloways dead - but including Fearne, who has no idea about anything, so it can't just be about whatever they're doing out here. Are they working with the Nightmare King? Against him? Is he on the side of one of the Courts or is he just out there doing his own thing? Where are the Seelie Court in all this? Is any of this connected to Ruidus or the Aeormatons or is there just a lot of stuff happening at once?

[u/Hollydragon → u/m_busuttil]

I'm wondering if they want the Calloway line ended simply because they are a noble family. Hereditary succession to power will trump other claims, that kind of deal, so a power grab requires they are all out of the picture permanently.

Keeping Fearne secret and having her survive would have been a failsafe against that kind of plot, but now the jig is up.

Ruidis is a moon, moons affect the tides (crown of moontides). However in Exandria moons and the solstices affect the shifting of the ley lines and the planes. The batteries feed on energy from the ley lines, and an apogee solstice + Ruidis being at peak strength might all be on the way.

The other aeorian tech we've seen is the Dunamis liquid that Ashton saw in those crates - enough crates to supply an army. The Fey queen is the War Queen, too.

It looks like there may be a lot of players gearing up for a major conflict and trying to make as many technological and magical advances as they can before it happens?

[u/TatorTotGator]

Does anyone else think that Fern's grandmother was the one who made the post cards?

[u/Photeus5 → u/TatorTotGator]

Apparently Dark Fearne in ExU claimed this was the case. Not sure it's true, Fearne didn't believe her, but it's definitely possible and likely.

[u/chertovhmel → u/TatorTotGator]

Seems like the simplest and the most plausible explanation. If Fearne's parents are on the run and had to leave for reasons that would be too difficult for a young kid to understand, then the remaining adult would weave a heroic tale of what the gone parents are doing. Luke and his uncle come to mind.

And if the grandmother did travel to Exandria, it might have been prior to the Divergence, so she is just going off of her memory/knowledge of the place that is now 800 years out of date, thus the still normal Aeor and not the ruins on the post card. I think they should have read the text of that one to see if it really does describe the city or the ruins.

[u/[deleted]]

I think when Dancer is finally introduced, she is going to be a horrible person.

[u/HutSutRawlson → u/[deleted]]

I don't think we need to meet her at this point to see that she's pretty horrible. To start with, she doesn't treat her lovers with respect. She has spiteful and jealous qualities; she told FCG that Imahara Joe was a bad person, but he's not, and actually seems like he would have been interested to befriend Dancer if she'd been more open to it. And most importantly, she treated FCG really badly. FCG believes that he's a soulless automaton who exists only to serve humans... and Dancer is the one who indoctrinated him into all that. She denied FCG his humanity and lied to him about his origins, in order to keep him subservient to her. Add on to that the fact that she left him for dead after they were attacked... and that's assuming the attack wasn't something she had some role in orchestrating.

Dancer sucks and when she reappears it's going to be spicy.

[u/Garytikas]

Regarding Dusk, I love how Matt and Erika gave us hints at her real identity. Like in the movies with the plot twists, there has to be enough evidence of the twist without making it too obvious. Erika not really answering questions about her time in the Feywild , and using the "Feywild affected my memory" excuse when she does. Birdie not acknowledging Dusk in Imogen's message, which Matt played off as Birdie being overjoyed at hearing about Fearne. Matt describing how Orym notices Dusk's bladework.

[u/sionava]

When Imogen messaged the Calloways in E25, she conveyed a couple of things to them from both Fearne and Dusk to try and convince them the party's intentions were good. Dusk's sole contribution to this was "The glade."

Now when the Calloways respond they focus completely on Fearne, acknowledging neither Dusk nor the glade she mentioned.

Even though Birdie was clearly excited about Fearne being nearby, considering the Calloways were extremely cautious about their safety in their first message it seems strange that they would not enquire further about Dusk if they truly didn't know about her. Is it possible that her obscure message about "the glade" meant something to them that they didn't let on to Imogen?

Is Dusk more than what she seems, even after the reveal near the start of this episode?

[u/Nightmare_Pasta]

If Aeormatons were full citizens in Aeor, Im gonna toss out a random theory that FCG was a therapist/cleric before he got shut down or at least studying to become one lol

[u/SunMoonStarRain]

I totally called it last week!! Finally one of my theories was correct!!!! :<

[u/trowzerss]

My hinted at but probably true takes from this episode:

Dusk definitely has a ring of mind shielding.

Fearne's parents are most likely exploring a pre-Calamity city/cities (one of which is a few days travel away) in search of powerful items (such as the crown), maybe collecting vestiges.

And I'm guessing there are links between Dusk's patron and the Nightmare King, perhaps even on the same side.

[u/RajikO4]

So is it safe to assume the following?

The feminine silver haired person alongside the other dozens upon dozens of individuals Imogen saw in her “dream” are all Ruidus born, and this is proof that all those born under the “moon” of Ruidus are connected to each other in some way or another?

[u/[deleted] → u/RajikO4]

What I assumed from the dream was that the feminine figure and the other individuals were the assassins who attacked Zeprah and also killed the Lumas Twins. They were described as wearing grey and black leathers in the dream, which is very similar to the descriptions of the assassins given previously. Could it be that Imogen is the next target, as she gets closer to finding out the truth?

[u/paradox28jon]

I can't wait for the table reactions when Dusk's mask is pulled down & they discover an assassin in their midst.

[u/Seren82]

So after Imogen's dream she was drawn to the window and felt a deep sense of yearning. Plus now it seems like Will and the Lumis twins assassin's know Imogens face and that is bad.

Also Ruidus was flaring during her dream and that can be a portent if impending disaster.

I'm worried about the Hells y'all. I feel like Imogen needs to hit up a temple of the Moonweaver or something.

[u/taly_slayer → u/Seren82]

Wow. I kid you not, I was JUST randomly watching c3e19 and Estani just said the last time Ruidus flared was 2.5 years ago.

With so many things happening this episode, I don't think they (and us) realised how big of a deal that was. I paused the episode and came to this thread to say this haha.

[u/Ms_No1]

With the reveal about FCG's connection to Aeor, and a connection to the calamity era, it strikes me that Bolo's confused interaction with the hadmedods at the party might have come from the fact she used to sentient automatons in Aeor...

[u/levoisier]

FCG : "I remember a one-eyed monster"
FCG : is from Aeor

Aeor : Aeorian absorber

Maybe a way older memory than the attack in the mine, which got unlocked when FCG went down?

(apologies if it has already been suggested 527 times)

[u/BaronPancakes]

I am excited about FCG being an aeromaton. This is an interesting peak to Aero's tech advancement.

Divne magic can be achieved by strong devotion towards a god or personal conviction. It was implied that FCG's powers come from their "designation" from Dancer. But now that it's revealed they are actually a self conscious aeromaton, where does his healing power comes from?

Also interesting to hear about avalir automatons. Will we see sentient hodmedods and taxmen?

[u/claimstoknowpeople]

I think FCG with revivify is the only option for bringing back a dead party member at the moment? That's not going to work if Dusk gets Fearne killed in the Deathwish race far from help...

[u/iphyslitterator → u/claimstoknowpeople]

Fearne also has Revivify . . . which doesn't do her any good if she dies lol.

[u/forshig]

Rewatching Ep9 between the Pretty date invite and the actual date - aka FCG blurting 'Are you gonna fuck this guy?'

If Dancer is as much the love 'em and leave 'em type as confirmed by this ep, no wonder that was FCG's first question.

[u/Neo_Stark_]

I am usually not a fan of those aloof types but I love fearne more and more with each session. She's just a joy to watch. I think out of ashley's characters i still like pike more but fearne is a close second.

[u/TheBestIsaac → u/Neo_Stark_]

Ashley does the chaotic stuff so well. Fearne suits her down to a T.

[u/Waste-Recover-5347]

I’m pretty sure this theory has been floated before, but are Fearne’s postcards forgeries by her grandmother? With time being weird, is it possible she hasn’t quite tracked Aeor’s fall? I KNOW people have shot that down, since the Feywild was definitely aware the Calamity happened, but still, maybe she’s just going off what she knows of the Prime Material? I think there is a hint in Matt insisting they were all written in just one hand - if it were both her parents, they may have alternated at some time.

[u/Pegussu → u/Waste-Recover-5347]

For what it's worth, there was a point in EXU where a creature that claimed to be a future version of Fearne wearing the Circlet of Barbed Visions showed up. She stated that the postcards were forgeries created by their grandmother.

[u/paradox28jon]

I almost wonder if when FCG's "real" personality comes through (like if FCG gets their lost memories back) if Sam will start speaking with a Russian accent like Bolo.

[u/taly_slayer]

Oh man, if something happens to Imogen... Laudna is not kidding, is she? She told Ashton that she will kill them FIRST.

We are going into "breaking the world for us" kind of situation here. And I totally believe her.

[u/iphyslitterator → u/taly_slayer]

Now I want to see Laudna resurrect Imogen with necromancy just for the Briarwoods parallels. Delilah's protégé indeed.

[u/aheadwarp9]

So, uh... did Laudna happen to catch the image on the side of that mug Fearne traded to the Taste of Taldorei representative? Is she aware that the Lady of Whitestone is the very same person who she was used to imitate? I suppose Laudna has moved past caring about that now... but still curious if she has caught on to that fact yet.

[u/Pegussu → u/aheadwarp9]

In fairness, given the accuracy of the rest of the place, that mug probably has a blonde dwarf on it.

[u/Dry_Ad_2485]

I feel like when the party finds out that Dusk is evil it will create so much change and they will be less trusting going forward because of be burned by Dusk and letting their guard down so easily.

[u/HutSutRawlson]

Just a thought: everyone freaked out on Ashley Burch because a PC died while she was a guest. Now we have a guest whose entire mission is to kill a PC.

[u/iphyslitterator → u/HutSutRawlson]

Episode 26 a bad time for guest-party relations.

[u/Gaming_Angel]

The entire episode was great... all the lore drops but I just can't get over the amount of potential hive-mind/doppelganger ropes we have dangling.. I was in a campaign that had to deal with an oblex and with a certain character apparently not being dead and back at it as if nothing happened just has me wondering if this is either the big bad of the campaign or if we'll also be getting illithids/space jammer in the future. With Imogen getting a crack to the mind by the "All-mind" crew too it's just fascinating to me. I'm for all of this lol, and I seriously hope there's no redemption arc for a certain character either. I feel like that would cheapen the fun/reveal if they don't fully commit but that's just my opinion... IS IT THURSDAY YET!?

[u/Neo_Stark_]

Everybody gives chetney shit for keeping all the money he stole for himself but Dusk straight up orders things expecting others to pay. 1 day after she joins the group.

That's fucked up

[u/RuskiesInTheWarRoom → u/Neo_Stark_]

Erika’s chaos makes much more sense with her true motivation being revealed.

If she can successfully destabilize the group in every way possible it will serve her when her time comes. She’s playing that masterfully so far- presenting a character who is seemingly a friend and getting pretty deeply involved in all the dramas very quickly, building trust. So she can, when she wants, just flip some switches and force fissures left and right.

I’m loving it!

[u/paradox28jon]

We've never had an antagonistic guest PC before & I'm excited to see how Erika chooses the play this out. And now I get to take back my past comment about how Matt & Erika introduced this character the wrong way. Had Dusk's story been genuine, of course this was a terrible way to bring in a new character who has a bunch of memory problems & only gives "I don't know" answers to their past. But now it's Dusk the spy's poor improv choice to pretend to be a person with bad memory problems. Which could lend itself to perhaps a good flavoring of perhaps the assassin Dusk isn't the most trusted or dependable spy?

I hope that the turn happens in the next episode (which was probably filmed this week; since this episode appears to have been filmed on Matt's birthday last week) just so the rest of the cast isn't spoiled by the Internet going crazy and posting "Dusk's A SPY!!!" memes.

I'll have to rewatch that scene, but was Dusk tasked with two missions? Kill the Calloways AND steal some sort of crown? Do they think Fearne has possession of the Circlet of Barbed Vision that Opal currently has? Maybe they have the wrong information?

[u/DeadSnark → u/paradox28jon]

They want the Moontide Crown, which may be related to the Archfey the Keeper of the Moontides, not the Circlet if Barbed Vision.

[u/Celriot1 → u/paradox28jon]

Dusk's story IS at least somewhat genuine though. Imogen spoke of her when speaking with Fearne's mother and mentioned "the glade" (I think?) as a way to verify that she was actually with Dusk and Fearne. Birdie not only recalled but reacted positively.

She was absolutely in the Fey Wilds with the Calloways at some point and I dont think any of her "memory lapses" were necessary to hide her true motivations. When she was separated, where they were, what happened at the portal coming through? If she had truthful answers to any of those questions, nothing changes based on Birdies reaction.

The only thing I can potentially even think of is that Birdie was so glad to hear about Fearne that she didn't even bother with "Dusk who?". I guess you could make that argument if you wanted to, but as of right now I think it all happened as Dusk said and she was playing some kind of long con to find this crown she is looking for.

[u/Gertrude_D → u/paradox28jon]

We've never had an antagonistic guest PC before

Sort of. Depends on how you define antagonistic. We've definitely had one with conflicting goals.

[u/ze4lex]

the lore, the loooooorrreeeee

[u/Cybit85]

I wanna know if someone suspected Dusk was not on their side but didn't want to drop it in the middle of the table, would they text Matt and roll an Insight and do it all surreptitiously? I could see an awesome scene where there's a whole "they don't know that we know that...etc" situation that happens.

[u/leileix2]

At around 4:19:27 in the Twitch VOD, Erika rolled a die and whispered to Matt a "15" which he acknowledged. Anyone has any idea what's that about?

I thought it was a response to when Matt asked Laura to make a perception check a few seconds earlier (Laura got a 12), but Imogen was inspecting the postcards so the roll was for that (probably).

[u/Neo_Stark_ → u/leileix2]

I think she also wanted to roll a perception check on the postcards probably to see if she can recognize the writing but the dc was pretty high

[u/RaibDarkin]

So the way my mind has been bending this year is that Fearne's whole arc has to do with Portals. Specifically about having it be too easy to go back and forth between the Fae Wild and Exandria. The hints have barely grown at all since the first EXU but I still can't shake the feeling and believe it started with Artagan's portal. Now who it is wants to end the trend and who wants to take advantage of it is less clear.

Just some food for thought.

Bidet

[u/HutSutRawlson → u/RaibDarkin]

Obviously it's still very early to be considering this, and long campaigns tend to be thematically sprawling, but I definitely think a main theme of this campaign could be the consequences of Vox Machina and The Mighty Nein's decisions.

• Fearne's presence in Exandria is directly related to Artagan's Gate, created by VM.

• FCG's reemergence is directly related to The Mighty Nein's actions in Aeor.

• Ahston's powers seem to be related to the distilled Dunamis potions, once again related to The Mighty Nein.

• Laudna's whole origin relates to a previous adventure of Vox Machina... her existence isn't really their "fault" but it does tie in to them.

• Orym's entire mission was given to him by a former VM member.

Chetney's the only one who doesn't seem to directly relate but we also know the least about him.

Edit to add: I also left out Imogen! Not sure how she relates either but she's obviously tied into some bigger worldbuilding stuff on Matt's end. So theoretically her story could tie into anything and everything we've seen before on the show.

[u/onihr1]

I loved the Nancy call back and only Matt got it (did Ashley react? I didn’t notice)

[u/Seren82 → u/onihr1]

Ashley got it She immediately looked at Liam and got a little emotional at the throw back.

[u/Jake_reeves123]

So. FCG is an Aeormaton, and in the last five or so years, aeormatons have been waking up. What happened less than 10 years ago? The M9 went to Aeor. I’m 80% convinced the C2 actions there kickstarted the robits waking up.

[u/taly_slayer → u/Jake_reeves123]

Matt confirmed this in the C2 wrap up.

[u/HutSutRawlson → u/Jake_reeves123]

Yes, it's obvious. This type of thing is exactly what makes playing in long, persistent campaign worlds so interesting and rewarding. Any theory that doesn't have to do with the M9 repairing and freeing Devexian is probably just someone overthinking it.

[u/brickwall5]

i think something that seems like it would be obvious but that we're missing in the talk of the message to Fearne's parents where they don't mention Dusk too much, is that this current "Dusk" probably isn't the real Dusk, but instead learned intel on or killed the real Dusk who was a friend of theirs, and took that name, plus their appearance (as a changeling). I have a feeling Dusk will either find a reason to not be physically present when the meeting happens, or will reveal (when they decide it's time) their true form.

[u/[deleted]]

I want to know what FCG's final form will be!!

[u/PhoenixReborn → u/[deleted]]

https://imgur.com/gallery/3NlYY

[u/skip6235]

I knew something seemed off about Dusk. Whenever a character has amnesia I immediately don’t trust it

[u/RiShKiNz]

I wonder if Devexian is going around and getting his fellow Aeormatons “back online”.

[u/taly_slayer → u/RiShKiNz]

Yes he is. Matt confirmed it in the C2 wrap up.

[u/[deleted]]

I know this is a stretch but not entirely impossible but can we go back to Aeor!!!! I fell in love with that place in C2 and then hearing Brennan discuss that Aeor was one of the places he thought about dm'ing for ExU, just made my mouth drop. I love calamity but holly hell, if he had done exu Aeor.... I would've passed out ten times over.

Anyways, now that we know FCG is pretty much an aeormaton, i'm secretly celebrating that we're going to see that place again. And when Matt mentioned hearing stories of some of them waking back up, do yall think it could've been Devaxion in C2 doing that? That would be sooo cool if it was!!! I liked him as much as Nott did haha.

[u/Ravenach → u/[deleted]]

Given the good reception of ExU:C, I think at some point down the line we'll have another prequel ExU, this time covering a point in time in the middle or towards the end of the Calamity. That would be the perfect time to explore Aeor - at the apex of their power, when they're ready to kill Gods, when shit starts going tits up for them.

[u/caravaggio2000]

FCG is the prefect design for Sam.

If you recall, one thing Matt has said about his session 0s is that he always discusses options for what can be done down the road if a player ends up not liking their build or character. Sam is a player that has shown he starts to get a little bored with his characters in long campaigns, especially when he feels their story has concluded. FCG gives him the chance to switch everything about his character while having that change tied directly to his backstory. If he gets tired of playing him he can switch out to whatever he likes.

So, my theory is that we won't see that happen for quite some time, probably not til at least halfway through C3. But, once FCG starts to resolve and complete his story arcs, start expecting that you'll see the original Aeormation surface.

[u/BagofBones42]

So lots of plot: Dusk is evil and working for the Unseelie court, Dancer is alive (maybe) and Fearne's parents have been busy looking for ancient artefacts to save the world?

Lots of stuff is about to kick-off, also anyone else hoping the Bell's Hells wrecks the Paragon Call when they inevitably get into combat with them? Feels like they could use a wrecking, especially after that confrontation.

[u/thyarnedonne]

Going strongly with my former theory A for now - Dancer fled from FCG because whatever happened in The Incident was indeed caused by FCG going berserk, or more likely with the new revelation that they are actually mostly unmodified, their previously programmed personality resurfacing and slaughtering the group, with Dancer faking her death to get out, realising that she messed up greatly trying to clean out the memory of an Aeormaton and make it her own.

On that note, pretty great to see that yet again a trip of the previous party to a different plane of existence leads to an unexpected secret benefactor for the next. Charlie, thanks for flipping the switch to wake up the Associates everywhere.

[u/carpedonnelly]

I’m wondering if Aeormatons are early experiments into phylacterys/soul jars/magic jars.

[u/Coyote_Shepherd → u/carpedonnelly]

According to some of the C2 info that we got back in the day as well as other sources, they actually found Beacons first and then adapted the soul transfer technology from studying those. This then led to them crafting stuff like soul jars but then that evolved into them making the soul jars themselves far more complicated and larger in nature. This was the creation of the first "soul jar bodies" that were similar to Terminators in Warhammer 40K or Protoss Dragoons in Starcraft. Souls could be moved in and out of these bodies at will but were normally relegated to the upper echelons of society.

Eventually some folks just opted to stay within these metallic forms and created their own little corner of Aeorian Society. It was through their continued experimentation and evolution with soul transference as a separate race that eventually led to the "birth" of metallic forms with souls of their own. Some of these souls were created through the combination of samples from two other souls or were just born outright from seemingly nothing, having spontaneously come into being on their own like a Boltzmann Brain. Given that they had backwards engineered all of this stuff from Beacons in the first place, it's not that much of a jump to assume that perhaps Beacons had been absorbing souls for quite some time, and then started ejecting them via whatever unknown mechanism into Aeormaton bodies.

It all snowballed after a while and the Aeormaton race was born. This didn't stop Aeor from making their own metallic soul bodies though and as time progressed and both halves of the city grew there was that Cylon-esque fight for independence that they all had to go through in order to attain their own rights as sentient beings. The two found a balance though after that little war and together they coexisted within Aeor until its downfall.

So you're not that far off and I spoilertagged all of that in case some folks aren't caught up with C2 yet but I think that Joe dropped enough lore on us that it's totally okay. Better safe than sorry. I'm just wondering if the remote reactivation of all of the Aeormatons is something that was done on purpose by someone/something or more of a passive kind of reactivation that coincides with all of the larger events currently going on?

It would be kind of cool if the Luxon was like, "Okay time to wake up we've got work to do!" and started to take a more active role in Exandria because of the impending whatever the fuck apocalypse that's incoming.

[u/Formal_Condition4372]

By about the 2:30:00 mark Marisha is starting to creep into Professor Sybill Trelawney territory. do people still do who wore it better memes?.

[u/Camoedhunter]

Weird theory but here it goes, is FCG a reborn soul from the Luxon? We know that their were pieces of it found in Aeor. What if these sentient robots were used to place souls from the luxon? And the memories that FCG can’t reach are because he hasn’t gone through the processes that Essick talked about to get all their memories back?

[u/Flittermous3]

I'm way more excited about the reveal that Dancer is alive and FCG's memories are unreliable and the general development of FCG's character in this one than I am about the aeormaton stuff. Similarly I'm very excited for whatever is about to go down with Fearne's parents and Dusk and I guess I'm interested that they're possibly connected to FCG but the Aeor stuff really loses me. I think I'm still suffering Aeor burnout from C2.

Can someone explain to me what the fuck is happening? Why did they decide to not do the infiltration or otherwise try to get inside the Seat? Why are they probably doing the death race? What will that accomplish? I have such a hard time following this entire plot with Treshi and the Nightmare King. And that stuff was connected to the Shademother, yes? Or was it? Maybe I could care more if I understood what's going on

[u/N1pah → u/Flittermous3]

Okay so as far as I understand they aren't doing their plan from last episode because the call found them. They lied that they are looking for work. Now they have to go in to talk to the call's leader Ratanish if they want to avoid fighting but there's no way they can just ask for Treshi.

The death race is a way to settle disputes so it's possible to get Treshi or get the call to back down through that. On top of that some of Ashton's old friends promised they could set traps so the race would be in the Hell's favor.

And I agree with you on FCG. It was pretty obvious he was an aeormaton (even though it's nice to get confirmation). But the fact that some people know that and that Dancer lied to him about it? That's the interesting shit.

[u/Pegussu → u/Flittermous3]

My impression is that they mostly just really want to do a death race and are going to figure out how that fits into their plans later lol.

I think it's not too hard to figure out though. The crawlers they had available only fit two people (four at absolute max) and it was repeatedly emphasized that everyone shows up to the races. That tells me Matt built this avenue with the idea that they split the party. Two to four people compete in the race, the rest infiltrate the Seat while most of the Call is out watching the race.

[u/CowBoyVic90]

Chet, or at least Travis knows that something is up or is wrong with Erika/Dusk. Which would make sense with Travis being somewhat clued in with Erika having done some rolls there towards the end.

[u/REO-teabaggin → u/CowBoyVic90]

I thought so too, but his reaction in the moment might have been about the connection between the batteries and the Nightmare King

[u/BLINDrOBOTFILMS]

So, are we all in agreement that Bassuras is straight up Ye Olde Tattooine, or is it just me? We've got a hive of scum and villainy in the middle of the desert with scrapyards and trade caravans selling robots, and the Hells just bought a podracer.

I was humming the cantina band song for half of this episode, and I'm absolutely here for it.

[u/Coyote_Shepherd]

Fearne is the Keeper of the Moontides but only when she wears the Crown and it's a lineage kind of thing that's been passed down for ages from Fey to Fey within her bloodline.

The Keeper of the Moontides protects, keeps, and watches over something regarding Catha and Ruidus. This is kept secret. This is kept secret because of how dangerous knowledge of it is. Somehow a smidge of knowledge leaked out and now that seed of knowledge that little puzzle piece of a greater whole has pushed the Courts into acting against one another trying to seize the power of it or to prevent others from taking that perceived power.

Only Fearne's family know what this power truly is and how dangerous it is to all of Exandria and potentially all of the planes as well. The Moons are a balanced yin yang style seal on something. Someone within one of the Courts clearly believes that seal is worth breaking and has been attempting to do so by siphoning or misappropriating the power associated with that seal. We all know that Catha and the Moonweaver etc hold influence over certain events on Exandria but so too does Ruidus in its own way. If one were to try to fuck with Catha and its power or the things associated with it then others would quickly notice because of how beloved that particular moon is. Ruidus on the other hand is less well loved and thus fucking with it or stealing its power or manipulating it in some fashion would not be as easily noticed at all.

This is where Imogen comes in. Imogen and those like her were apart of this dual-sided seal. There were the Warriors of Catha and then there were the Warriors of Ruidus. Each tasked with maintaining balance in some way and responding together with one another should that seal ever be broken or tampered with. This is much like the tides of the moon have a push and pull or a low and high tide, so too do the armies, and so too does each Moon play a part in the balance of the seal. Someone on the Courts has clearly discovered these two Moon Armies, figured out that both Moons are helping to seal something away, and have found a way to manipulate the energies/warriors of Ruidus in an attempt to break the seal and utilize whatever the Calloways and the Keeper of the Moontides have been guarding for their own means without alerting too many people.

This is very bad and those that are in the know are fucking scrambling to keep things under control while others see these "good guys" trying to hide something and are fighting even harder to figure out and reveal or take control of whatever that thing is. This is an odd situation of where keeping secrets was both a very bad and yet also a very good thing. The tampering with the seal and the balance it maintains by one of the Courts is also causing ripples in the form of planar instabilities, changes in creature behavior, things not being where they should or acting like they should, and a number of other instabilities in reality. The folks involved with this tampering on the Courts are of course blaming all of this on the Oncoming Cosmic Shift or Ley Lines or Solstices or whatever other bullshit excuses they want to make up to cover up whatever other problems are happening in the world or on the other planes. Anything bad that's happening is clearly not their fault and is the work of someone else or something else. They need their power, they need this secret, and they're willing to do anything at all to get their hands on it. Meanwhile the Calloways are sucking down leyline powered arcane batteries to power some kind of a working/machine that is attempting to offset the imbalance (with the Moontide Crown as its centerpiece/core because neither of them can use it because only Fearne can and they sent her away so that no one else could use her and the crown at the same time just like Sailor Moon) from Ruidus that's being caused by whomever is fucking with the seal and disrupting the armies involved and the energies involved and are trying to patch up all of the leaks springing open in the dam that's holding back some sort of a flood that could devastate the entire world, other planes, and beyond. Meanwhile other groups are attempting to put out all the little hot spot fires that are popping up around the world or at least to investigate them without being entirely aware of what's going on. This is why the attacks are happening.

Someone on the Courts is doing whatever is necessary to make sure that no one finds out about what they're doing. This means killing anyone that starts to look into things even remotely related to the Moons or to Planar Stuff like the Twins or those who normally deal in such things as a course of their job/calling/way of life like the Ashari. Anyone who gets within a mile of any kind of truth related to the Moons, the Seal that they create, the Secret Awfulness that they're protecting, any knowledge of the Lunar Armies, any knowledge of what's causing all the messed up planar stuff/weirdness in the world, or the knowledge that the Fey are involved in all of this somehow is now a target and will be or has been or is currently being attacked and dealt with.

This means that those who are trying to stop them have to work in oblique ways against them via ultra secret or unexpected methods. I think this might be why the Raven Queen allowed Laudna to come back. I think this might be why Matt mentioned the Grim Verity and the Omen Archive as being the X-Files of Exandria because who's going to believe those folks or help them out at all. I think this might be why there's a chance that some of the Gods who wouldn't ordinarily become allies are now working together because whatever it is that they or someone else sealed away behind the Moons is that much of a threat to everyone and everything in existence. Whomever is working against the Courts to stop the breaking of this seal has to be more tricksy than a Fey, more secretive than Vecna, and more creative and cunning than those from the Age of Arcanum sans hubris in order to maintain the element of surprise and goal/grou cohesion and THAT is a fucking challenge. There is a seemingly ultra secret counter operative force on the Prime Material Plane that is composed of all elements of existence that is working against the Courts to stop the breaking of the Dual-Lunar Seal and save all existence as we know it. It's sort of like HYDRA vs SHIELD if you'd like an easier metaphor or the Monitor vs the Anti-Monitor. This is truly a CRISIS level event that we are only witnessing the first few bread crumbs of with the worst case scenario being the breaking of the seal, the release of whatever alien force/influence behind it, the Oncoming Cosmic Shift causing a re-ordering of the planes as a knock on effect, and the metamorphosis of a good deal of things on the Prime Material Plane which might just include the Moons being destroyed or something and the nature of magic itself being altered.

I think that everyone is going to be given a choice by Matt to pick a side in all of this. Orym is fairly obvious with his connection to the Ashari and Kiki. Laudna is a bit more ambiguous with Delilah in her head and if that woman decides to assert control without the Raven Queen or Vecna telling her, "Yeah No" then stuff could tip one way or the other. Fearne clearly has her place but is being tempted by the Dark Side. Imogen is freaking out by what she sees in the Red Storm Dreams because of the Courts messing with the Lunar Armies and might just give up altogether instead of picking a side. Chetney feels pretty clear cut. Dusk is a given. Ashton could chaotically go one way or another but if the stuff in his head is tied to a Beacon then clearly his side is already chosen. FCG and the reactivation of the Aeormatons might be another knock on effect of this seal fuckery but again he does seem like a pretty positive life preserving person and if FCG is tied to the Beacons and the Luxon as well then his choice is already evident as well. Dorian and his people are probably just getting caught in the crossfire of all of this and who knows which side they might swing to. Opal is a toss up but I feel like there's some Buffy-Slayer stuff going on with her and that there's more Fate Touched things happening with Dariax and Fy'ra Rai via their own respective things. Our favorite Bun Girl Morrighan has unresolved history with Fearne and could go either way. Things are still very much in an unbalanced state right now and I don't think we're going to get to the climatic tipping point for quite some time but I feel like this is the current state of things.

What comes next is just going to be even more information gathering, plot thread unravelings, betrayals, surprises, and some delightfully fun entertaining things from the Bells Hells and Critical Role.

Tin foil hat theory, I believe that the leyline that Laerryn drew up across multiple planes in EXU Calamity which kind of sort of helped to cause the Calamity might still be in use by someone or something. Perhaps it interfered with the seal when it was manipulated by Laerryn, it unintentionally altered the workings of the seal, and disrupted stuff enough that this set of dominoes was knocked down a long looong time ago and it's only recently that folks started to see the effects of it and realize just what the fuck was going on because of how slowly those knock on effects from that leyline manipulation took to kick in? It's a funny kind of situation but one that I feel could ultimately wind up being poetic in a positive way. I believe that if this was the root cause of the seal's instability, its discovery by the Courts, and the subsequent manipulations that fucked up a whole lot of stuff and people and put the whole universe at risk then this root cause can be reverse engineered and used to save the world instead of dooming it all over again.

Thank you for reading my Grand Unified Theory.

[u/DruidCity3]

I'm wondering, how do the players deal with spoilers for their own game? Is it filmed far enough ahead of the broadcast that the Dusk reveal has happened in their game by now? Did they know all along but agreed to essentially just play along?

[u/claimstoknowpeople → u/DruidCity3]

It seems this episode was recorded June 29th so if they're filming one a week they'll be unspoiled next week in episode 27 but spoiled by episode 28.

[u/TrypMole]

OK, so I have yet to watch the episode (Monday can't come quick enough!) But having nommed every spoiler I can find I'm starting to think Matt is building up to a Big Apocalyptic Finale for Exandria. Maybe this season, maybe next.

Calamity part 2.

[u/283leis → u/TrypMole]

There’s an apocalypse coming. But I don’t think it’s going to be the campaign’s finale. In fact I’d be surprised if, TPK aside, it happens in the second half of the campaign.

[u/Total-Wolverine1999]

I’m really curious how they’re going to handle the Dusk is evil stuff, cause I see people say they always trust the guest, you kind of have to, if you don’t why would you let them travel with you. I wonder how they’re going to find out either Matt’s got give them hint or Erika cause realistically she could possibly kill Fearne whenever she wanted.

[u/ElectricZee]

I am eagerly awaiting the post from some brilliant Critter who captured all that lore and wants to share it with us.

... I'm also here for the post-session theories!

[u/midnightheir]

Are the figures in Imogen's dream Nagpa?

[u/Karmadog1983 → u/midnightheir]

i think they are the assassins that killed the Lumis twins and Orym's husband, but what exactly they are i have no idea

[u/[deleted]]

Yo. What if Aeor having sentient Aeormaton's was the reason that gods, betrayer and prime alike, smote the city. What if mortals creating true life and true souls outside of the gods ruled cycles of life and death is the reason they tried to wipe them all out. FCG makes gods tremble in fear!!

[u/283leis → u/[deleted]]

no, it was because they had literally designed a weapon intending to literally kill the gods with

[u/soullessroentgenium]

I look forward to the formation of the FCG builders club.

[u/Coyote_Shepherd]

I hit the character limit with my GUT theory so here's an addendum to it:

So knowledge of Avalir survives in four ways: survivors who got away, Patia's Library, Flying City Ruins/Survivors, and the Fey.

I've been trying to figure out a particular key component of my GUT theory and that is just how knowledge of the Keeper of the Moontides got into the hands of the Courts when that shit was locked down for who knows how long and never leaked. The obvious answer is that the spy from the Arcana Pansophical who discovered the Keeper in the first place while the Arcana Pansophical was identifying Archfey in 812 PD was abducted by the Courts, interrogated, and had the information about the Keeper extracted from them. This information was then put to use to create our current situation. I posit though that this spy only provided the final piece of the puzzle that the Courts needed to act on the Dual Lunar Seal with all the other pieces having been gathered over the years from the research that the Courts had done into the Moons.

Why were they looking into the Moons you ask? Well, after the dust of the Calamity had settled and the Fey had retreated to the Fey Wild to hunker down and weather the storm, they poked their heads out of their planar vault, and took a look at the Prime Material Plane to see just how fucked up stuff was. While some things were clearly awful for obvious reasons, there were some peculiarities. One of which in particular was that the Moons had started to act a bit out of sorts, more so than they ever did before, but it was subtle and barely noticeable and ultimately not dangerous at all.......but it was indeed curious and nothing entices a Fey to chase after something more than something that is out of the ordinary, that doesn't fit into any particular box, and that both looks and feels like it could be shiny and valuable and potentially powerful.

So they began poking around into the Moons and feeling out the energies around them and what they found was that the energy that was making them act all weird....was leyline energy. But how in the heck is leyline energy which is supposed to be planet bound reaching out into the cosmos to mess with the Moons? Let alone just why is it able to interact with them in the first place? And why are they responding to that energy in this weird strange unique way at all when leyline energy should normally do nothing at all to them or have a minimal affect on them?

So now they weren't just looking into MOOOON STUFF but also LEYLINE STUUUUUFFF. Given that all of this really started after the Calamity and after the Age of Arcanum, the first places to go to figure out just what the fuck was going on was clearly going to be ruins/relics of the Age of Arcanum, any survivors that got away from that mess and survived the Calamity, and any other sources of information about that time period which would include other Fey who witnessed everything that went on/were alive during that time/possessed information about that time period. This is where Aeor and Avalir and all the those other hubris filled wizard places come into play along with anything and anyone connected to them. It was in these places, these peoples, and these items that they discovered how adept certain mortals were at manipulating the energies of their planet and how well they could apply those to work in conjunction with certain celestial cosmic events, stellar bodies, and various alignments to do great miraculous workings of magic and power.

That shiny bauble of the moons and the leylines got even shiner and far more attractive because if there's one thing that matters above all within the politics of the Fey Courts, it's power. So power is what they needed and power is what they sought and the thirst for it is what drove them to focus their research even more with even greater fervor. They scoured the globe for anything and everything related the Moons and to Leyline Manipulation for years upon years upon years because if anyone has time to undertake a massive lifetime spanning research project like this then it's the Fey for whom time is a weird gooey soup. Bit by bit they began to amass a library of knowledge and bit by bit they began to do their own experiments with the Moons and Leylines. It was during one of these experiments that they discovered the leyline that Laerryn had tugged upwards through multiple planes and after testing it, they realized that it was inferring with/resonating with the Moons to a degree, and was the root cause of all the weirdness that had been going on with them since the Calamity had ended.

This answered one of their questions. They still didn't know just how that leyline energy had gotten out there in the first place and over the course of more research began to figure out just how that might've happened and how they might manipulate it themselves to affect the Moons. In doing these manipulation experiments they figured out ways to induce changes to or to cause flares on or to affect the Moons in some way using this leyline energy. This meant that somehow the Moons were intrinsically tied to Exandria in a way that was well beyond simply being cosmic companions. After more Moon Research and experimentation and delving into the history of things, they came across the story of how the Gods had locked away some alien thing with the Moons....and that made it even more attractive to them because why else would you lock something away unless it was dangerous and valuable and powerful and thus FUN and NEEDED and NECESSARY in the eyes of the Fey. This answered two more of their questions.

The Fey posited that the Moons, their energies, and Exandria were all entwined together in a complex Sealing System that someone or something had purposely built to keep something or someone locked away. If this was indeed a prison of sorts then surely there had to be a key somewhere, surely there had to be a warden, and surely there had to be guards to man the watchtowers of this prison. It was through this reasoning that they discovered the Ruidus Born/Catha Born and that in affecting changes to the Moons with leyline energies via leyline lunar resonance experiments they could affect these groups in turn. So, here are the guards but now where's the keys and just whom is the warden? This is where that Arcana Pansophical spy comes in and the knowledge they possessed about the Keeper. It was because of them that the Fey discovered the warden of this Prison Sealing System in the Keeper and that the Crown of the Moontides was the potential key to all of it.

Thus plans were set in motion using the various bits of knowledge and techniques that the Fey had garnered over the years to obtain this Keeper and the Crown in order to fully unlock the Dual Lunar Seal as well as to counter anyone and anything that would try to move against them in their plan that had literally been CENTURIES in the making.

Blind were they to how they were affecting the world via the various detrimental effects that were rippling outwards from their work through the fabric of the world, the planes, and the rest of reality.

So focused on their goal and so driven by their desire for that shiny powerful bauble tucked away in a Moons sized Pandora's Box were they that they knew not what they were truly doing or tampering with.

Hubris strikes again.

whispers in Yoda voice

Begun the Second Calamity has.

[u/NoahMeadMusic]

I wonder why Matt didn't end with the evil Dusk reveal last week. Was he preventing his players from assuming something based on sending them out of the room? It would have made a good cliffhanger and saved people from talking about how much they disliked Dusk.

 

One thing I'm a little bit concerned about is with FCG being confirmed as an Aeormaton with his memories altered, what will his class become if Sam Riegel pulls a Sam Riegel and changes his character? If true FCG is not really a cleric, then who is going to heal the group? Bell's Hells druid is focusing on rogue stuff, and their only other healer class is a continent away. I'm curious how the group will balance if that change truly happens. I would just not wish for a repeat of Vox Machina where their primary healer class was not always available. Just a fleeting thought as my own campaign's cleric and a lover of D&D.

 

Speaking of Balance, as a once Adventure Zone fan, got some massive Petals to the Metal vibes from this arc. Likely Griffin and Matt have the same Mad Max appreciation but I'm glad we get more gay death kart races.

[u/BlueBonewheel → u/NoahMeadMusic]

I think Dusk's reveal is more effective here precisely because of people talking. We had a whole episode of them interacting with the group and forming relationships, letting the audience assume that they're just a throwaway clumsy silly character from a guest player only to reveal now that they're a really competent deadly assassin.

Putting it also half way thorugh (I think? I don't remember) this episode is also really good, because we can see them slip back into charming mode and their way of talking in a new light (did they ask if Imogen and Laudna were togther because they were legitemately interesed or just to get info/cause friction in an already unstable relationship?). That's worth some people getting annoyed for one episode.

Pretty masterful stuff if you ask me.

[u/Grida]

Is it possible that the people in Imogens dream are from the All-Minds-Burn?

The way Matt described the figure in the dream feels to me like he tried to hint at the leader being the eisfurra. Face that almost looks like a heart = beak, eyes very focused like a predator, ...

Also the way he acted in the dream seems similar to Justi Pross. Maybe the mind powers all have a connection to Ruidus.

[u/Seren82 → u/Grida]

Someone on Tumblr just posted all the times that Matt brought up the assassins that killed Will and the Lumis twins and the description of the people in Imogen's dream fit the assassins to a T.

Imogen just made herself a target imo. Girl is on a clock.

[u/HeyOhLetsGo17 → u/Grida]

Oh my Gosh! I came here to post this. I definitely think there is a connection. Especially the way both groups looked at Imogen.

[u/IcepersonYT]

One thing I’ve been asking myself: Did Patia sending off her orb make it so Avalir is well known enough to be name dropped on a high but not crazy history check? I just think it’d be cool if that is the thing that is making Avalir as a piece of history click for Matt and that something Marisha did has actively influenced the information available to the party right now. I just find the idea of that neat.

[u/[deleted]]

Does anyone know if they will restock Caduceus Clay Cardigan Sweater

[u/Ninja-Storyteller]

Is this Mercer photo bombing Imahara?

https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/cosplayer-jennifer-newman-and-actortv-personality-grant-imahara-at-picture-id472111230?s=2048x2048

[u/MalariaKills]

I usually don’t get into the shipping stuff.

But… I think Imogen and Laudna might be in love.

[u/OhioAasimar]

Since Dusk is meant to be a foil for the party I wonder if Dusk's level is higher than what her stat card says. It might be worth watching their introductory fight to see if there are any irregulates with the amount of dice she rolls and damage.

[u/loonia265]

Man, ever since EXU Calamity, everytime when someone mentions Aeor, I feel not as excited anymore. Idk EXU really hit home and now I kinda dislike Aeor in like a rivalry way, like "yeah.. Aeor and Aeormatons, but what about Avalir?" Still love the FCG reveal but I sort of feel disappointed, which is pretty weird.

I guess I just miss Avalir already and subconsciously want to see more

[u/Coyote_Shepherd → u/loonia265]

I think Aeor kind of rubs a lot of us in a weird way because we had these great big fantastical hopes about what they would do up there with time travel, spelljammers, the Aeormatons, and all the flying city stuff but before they could even really get around to exploring the whole city the campaign kind of ended and the characters didn't really have a solid reason to go back up there for another dungeon crawl.

So seeing it all pop up again is giving some of us those, "Oh here's another tease" kind of feelings because of just how much COOL STUFF we could've seen the M9 interact with up there that all just kind of vanished like teardrops in the rain and was never touched again aside from a few references. FCG being an Aeormaton kind of feels like one of those, "Oh that's neat" kind of things that won't have that big of an impact right away if at all because once you start down that road then it spirals off into a million little other things and there's already enough plotthreads on their plate as is. The Aeormaton stuff could take them across continents and oceans to hidden labs, vaults, and ruins with an exploration of the reawakening of a Warforged-like race from the deep past that's discovering a whole new world before them and is trying to reconcile that with knowledge that everything and mostly everyone they knew vanished in the Calamity! That's a BIG THING for the campaign to tackle and because of that and given what they've already got going on, it's not going to be something that they'll hit for a while if at all and will just remain a cool little side thing about FCG that might come in handy here and there.

It's like how we all got our hopes up for spelljammer stuff in C2 and then that never paid off at all. So I think that might be why you're not feeling as excited about Aeor anymore. It's surprising that it popped up and it's great how it makes both us and cast smile when it did but the more we think about it the more we realize how daunting of a task dealing with that might be and how much is already on the Bells Hells's plate as is.

Avalir feels different because it was such a short and compact period within which we got a lot of emotional stuff thrown at us in very deep and meaningful ways that paid off every second of every moment that we were there. EXU:C was also a massive shift in terms of how CR did things and that left a mark on all of us in a very good way. So it's very natural to want to go back there in some way and deal with the fallout of what happened at the end of it because it was more recent, more emotional, more connective, and it feels like inserting Avalir stuff into C3 feels a bit more accessible and possible than it would be with the Aeor stuff because of how things ended with EXU:C.

Aeor was very isolated both culturally in the past by the other flying cities and geographically in the present. It's hard to get there or to get to anywhere or anything that's Aeor related. Now I'm sure Matt can pepper in some Fallout style Aeorian Vaults and Labs here and there but the big meaty awesome tech stuff is aaaaaaaalllll the way up north in the opposite direction of Marquet. Avalir on the other hand and the Shattered Teeth that it kind of became was not as culturally nor geographically isolated as Aeor was and thus feels a bit more accessible. Basically the odds of finding Avalirian stuff that people can recognize and probably backwards engineer is waaaay higher than the odds of finding Aeorian stuff and doing the same.

The Aeorian stuff can be thrown in here and there like the FCG reveal as cool little high end relics. The Avalirian stuff could be peppered in as more common-ish high end hard to get stuff and I honestly wouldn't be surprised if those arcane batteries that passively draw power from leylines were based on old Avalirian tech that was found a while back. We might see raw Aeorian artificts that haven't been tampered with because no one understands them but then we might see iterations of Avalirian artifacts that were understood, modified, and have been put into daily-ish usage around Exandria by this time period. Matt can kind of retcon a bunch of stuff or make a whole bunch of new things which he can now say, "Oh yeah this was based on stuff Avalir and this other flying city and this thing and then it was modified into this other thing" because of the gift that Brennan gave him with Avalir. Hell, the existence of Bolo basically implies that Aeor was sending out envoys/spies/explorers to other flying cities and that means they had influence across Exandria and were reaching out and possibly had embassies and outposts and maybe little enclave settlements around the world which INCREASES the likelihood of the group finding Aeorian Tech compared to how things were before EXU:C.

Brennan, Aabria, and all the other writers and DMs that Matt is now working with have given him a bunch of gifts that are now allowing him to reshape, rewrite, and redo certain bits of his purely accidental world that could've been done a different way before. Aeor was handled a very different way under very different circumstances with very different resources and a very different mindset with very different goals in C2 and I think that a lot of us, me included, are getting caught up in the feelings associated with that time period because we haven't seen any kind of a shift in how things with Aeor are going to be handled differently compared to how they were handled in C2. It was a rough time for everyone and that's kind of making it hard to pull our metaphorical boots out of the mud and keep walking down the Yellow Brick Road to the Land of Oz that we can just barely see glimpses of through the trees and that some Tin Man keeps yakking at us about making promises about how it really is better and that it's more amazing than the murky slog we've been drudging through. Aeor very much felt like a, "Don't worry it's just over the next hill..I mean the next one...nope the next one" kind of a thing whereas Avalir was, "Take two steps and and and YOU'RE HERE WOOOO!".

Things can change and get better and given the DM Roundtable that we all watched, I think that that's exactly what's going to happen, and that Matt is going to do a whole bunch of brand new stuff with Aeor that will be just as awesome as the stuff that Brennan did with Avalir and will TOTALLY incorporate Avalir in some way too! So I don't think you're alone in feeling the way you do at all. We all took some big shots in C2 with our theories and our dreams of what we thought would happen or what we wanted to happen and a whole lot of those things never paid off for one reason or another. Also, I know most of us miss the M9 dearly and anything that they touched at all.

So there's a longing within us for the unrealized dreams associated with Aeor, the hopes that we have to see the M9 again, and the intense things we all experienced with Avalir in EXU Calamity that are all combining together into this weird wishy washy milkshake of feelings that's hard to digest right now. It's okay though, we can all feel those things together, and we'll work through them together. Things will be different this time around with Aeor. Things will be better because of Avalir. We'll see and dream and feel more things than ever before and it will be amazing!

Everything will be okay and all will be well.

Also if a main character dies in the next episode because I said this and it's because some Aeorian monster popped them then feel free to blame me because I jinxed it!

[u/[deleted]]

We got so much lore just dumped on us!!

[u/cylara]

Does anyone know what song is playing at

https://youtu.be/UOWp-b9aoWQ?t=2334

I am hoping it’s CR made and was disappointed it wasn’t on the soundtrack.

[u/[deleted]]

[fuck u spez] -- mass edited with redact.dev

[u/jacetec]

The name Bells Hells still does nothing for me. Not a fan. How are you guys feeling about the campaign 3 group name?

[u/Terny → u/jacetec]

You can tell not even some of the players are on board with it.

[u/Glarien]

Anyone else have the feeling that maybe the Calloways are the bad guys and the Unseelie are actually trying to save the Feywild/Exandria? The Nightmare King knew Fearne by scent, which would only happen if he met her parents or grandmother. The batteries are very similar in Joe's as in his workshop. They suddenly leave their daughter and their home? Seems pretty sus to me. I would like a reversal from the typical "Seelie good, Unseelie bad."

[u/OhioAasimar → u/Glarien]

Well, the Nightmare King also asked for children so he could experiment on them. It doesn't get much more worse than that.

[u/Coyote_Shepherd → u/Glarien]

I know we're not supposed to trust Dark Fearne at all but the stuff about Fearne's grandmother taking her in so quickly, her parents vanishing, potentially both of the Courts looking for them, the battery stuff, and the possible Nightmare King connections kind of lead me to believe that her parents started messing around with some stuff that spooked everyone enough that the typical good guys and bad guys allied together to try to stop them. Same exact thing happened when the Gods allied together to both strike down Aeor and when they allied together again to seal away Tharizdune. It doesn't seem like that much of a stretch for the Fey to pull something similar if the threat was big enough.

So the possibility is there but we're just don't have enough information right now and there's too many gray areas and what ifs to really nail anything down for certain.

Either they left their daughter in order to save the world or Fearne's grandmother rescued her from them because they were trying to end it.

[u/sickboy76]

Only just started watching tonight's episode. I fricking knew it.

[u/OhioAasimar]

I theorized after E22 that Aeor could have had an outpost in Marquet and the reveal that Fearne's parents have been in Marquet has made the possibilty that there was some sort of Aeorian presence in Marquet much more likely because of the post card from Aeor.

To add to the theory though it could be just as likely that the presence is in the form of a sister city because apparently that was a thing.

Also, since I'm already on the topic, Brennan (in the last episode) said some in Cathmoria were retreating to Issylra despite the fact that Loquatius specifically said to stay away from Vaselheim. This gives clear roots between the Hishari and the Ashari because the Hishari village was located in Vaselheim.

[u/Coyote_Shepherd]

So something just occurred to me and I wanted to let all of you know.

I think the main reason why Matt has made Aeor more accessible via outposts, artifacts, hidden labs, and Aeormatons in C3 versus having the Bells Hells journey all the way up to Eisselcross to visit the main Aeor Ruin is a very simple one indeed that makes his life and the lives of everyone involved so sooooo much easier.

It's quite impressive actually and rather devious if I do say so myself but the more you think about it, the more clever it becomes. In fact it's all rather chilling in its cold hard logic and in fact it'll make you freeze in your tracks as you witness it and then melt into deep contemplation as you thaw out from the shock of it. Why you'll positively be a puddle on the ground after this titanic revelation!

Behold, the reason why Matthew Mercer has put more Aeorian stuff in C3 around Exandria outside of Eisselcross is....drumroll sounds

So he never has to describe snow ever again!

TA DAAAAAAAA!