Hi can we maybe talk about how no one talks about what the Temporal Chalice offered Merle? Everyone focuses on crying over Magnus and pitying Taako and that’s all well and good but… Merle faced severe trauma?? He was tricked by (what he thought was) his god (a figure that he trusts deeply and has always helped him and was a huge part of his childhood and development) and then went through his arm solidifying into rock and then chopped off brutally and w/o warning or prep, and then just had to live with a prosthetic. It was brushed off but that is some deep mental and physical trauma. I’m sure the event gave him some type of PTSD and the fact that no one gives Merle more credit for turning down the Chalice’s offer with such a “life goes on” attitude is heartbreaking. Merle is a deep character too, he is not just comedic relief or w/o his trauma he too is a fully realized creation! Fuck!!
this is so good…
[image description: a tweet from @/travismcelroy. it reads, “Well, Bebe just pulled the Graphic Novel out of my hands and started “reading”. I asked her if she thought it was a good book and she gave me an enthusiastic “YEAH”. What other endorsement do you need? #TheZoneCast”. /end id]
-“I GAVE YOU LIFE!” / “yeah you gave me life apparently Mom gave me D&D skills!”
-when Justin is annoyed and calls his dad “Clinton.”
-“I went to all of Travis’s wrestling matches and watched him lose every time except the ONE time I didn’t go he beat a kid with the flu.”
-when they make fun of Griffin for not being able to sleep unless he builds a pillow fort.
-“you’re my brother and I love you but [string of insults].”
-when the brothers call Clint “daddy.”
-when Justin or Travis calls Griffin “Griffy.”
-when Justin or Travis calls Griffin “Ditto.”
-“wow that’s really low!” / “is it?! is it, Griffin?! is it almost like some fucking liches of your imagination sucked the life out of me a wizard?!” / “yeah that’s like real low!”
-when Justin has Taako do some gamebreaking shit and Griffin is like “oh my God, Justiiiiiiiin!”
-*Griffin does something sinister as a DM* “I forgot ONE birthday, Griffin!”
-*Clint does something childish* “hey are we sure we’re not Dad’s dad?”
-“hey Dad, remember every Christmas when we sat around the tree near the fire, singing songs of yule and basking in each other’s love?” / “no.” / “okay I’m gonna try that again and this time you say yes to my fucking bit.”
-when Merle spins “Mind” on the wheel and the vogue elves say “if you choose to take this sacrifice, you will lose the memory of… the birth of your children” and without missing a fucking beat Clint goes “I’ll take the penalty.”
-*after the boys finish a fight in the swamp* Griffin: “Dad you look like some sort of weird shit monster-” Justin: “and your character in this game looks pretty bad too.”
-Clint, sincerely: “Travis you aren’t mad at me for not going along with your decision in the game, right?” Travis, also sincerely “Dad, I could not give two shits.”
[image description: a two panel digitally illustrated comic in which each picture serves as a single panel. The only visible character is Taako, an elf from The Adventure Zone. He has a dark complexion, freckles across his nose, pointed ears, huge black natural hair, and painted black fingernails. He is rather slender, with a slight hourglass figure. He is wearing a dress composed of a light dusky pink top, lilac purple skirt, and mauve belt. He is wearing an over-sized purple wizard’s hat and carrying a dark purple umbrella. In the first image, Taako has a slightly aloof expression, and someone off screen is asking, “”and you, wizardly-looking fellow, what is your name?” The second image is zoomed in on Taako’s head and shoulders, he is grinning and looking towards the “camera” or viewer of the illustration. He is saying, “Justin.” the text has switched from a typed, neat font to handwriting, perhaps to distinguish the different voices of the speakers. end i.d.]
so, bonus closeups of johan and avi stuck in the spider free ball
[Image Description:
Image 1: A close up of Lucretia, a dark skinned woman with short white hair in a light blue tabard, looking around and saying “So.”
Image 2: Zoom out, to show Lucretia standing in a room full of terrariums, piled on every flat surface, on the floor, at the top of stairs. She is standing holding her white staff, and Magic Brian walks past carrying another terrarium. He is a dark skinned drow with white hair, a turquoise jumper, and a plaid coat tied around his waist. Lucretia is saying “you’ve brought approximately 200,000 spiders into my Moon base,”
Image 3: a close up of Lucretia, looking like she does not care for these many spiders. Lucretia says “which,” and after a pause, “is a cool thing.” The words ‘cool thing’ are underlined.
Image 4: A close up of Magic Brian who turns to Lucretia, he has white eyes and purple glasses. Magic brian says “Oh!” The word Oh is underlined, with dots over the O.
Image 5: Magic Brian rushes over to a huge spider, twice as tall as himself. The spider has hearts in its eyes, is black with blue eyes and pincers, and has a pink bow around its spider neck. Magic Brian is now shown to be wearing a sweater with a pink spider on the chest, long ears, and his hair is in long white braids. He puts an arm around the spiders neck and says: “Ja, Ja, Ja! Right, so this one-” with many accent marks and dots, and the letter S is replaced with the letter Z.
Image 6: A close up of Lucretia, deadpan. Lucretia says “Oh. That’s such a big spider.” The words big and spider are underlined. In th background Johan and Avi are huddled together in a cannon pod, which is being used as a spider free zone. There is a partially obscured sign inside the pod which says “NO SPIDERS.”
Image 7: A close up of Lucretia, squinting, her knuckles brought up to her lips as if in careful thought. Lucretia says “Hey.” And after a pause. “I just had an interesting thought.” The word interested is underlined. Johan in the cannon pod has held his hands out to indicate how huge the spider is, looking distressed, and Avi has covered his eyes.
Image 8: Magic Brian looks excited, his hands clasped in front of his chest, smiling widely, there are little hearts around his head. Magic Brian says “Ja!?” With a circle over the letter A.
Image 9: Lucretia had splayed her fingers out and has a relaxed expression on he face. She says “Actually.” And after a pause. “FUCK THIS.” In blue. In the background slightly out of focus a huge spider is rolling a cannon pod containing Avi and Johan, who are screaming.
Image 10: Magic Brian looks heartbroken, his ears droop, and a big broken heart appears behind him. He says “Ohhh…” with dots over the letter O.
Bonus close ups: close ups of Johan and Avi in the spider pod as described in images 6, 7, and 9.
merganfm 