The Optimistic Authour

ashton: my magic has nothing to do with a god

the luxon: *has entered the chat*

thank you Matthew Mercer

braius: *impressively coherent, confident, and meaningful description of a saint that strategically avoided telling any outright lies*

sam, who had to make that shit up on the spot:

I really do love that Taliesin was like "Ashton's charisma 6 isn't about being unattractive, or awkward, or unimpressive; it's about having the universe's worst fucking timing and never knowing when it might be wiser to shut the fuck up."

When the only thing you remember from the very dramatic and grandiose 3 episodes of Downfall is this - Pelor's Executioner!

Thank you brainrot for your service XD

BTW : The executioner is indeed the name of the zapper.

As an aside it is funny that Essek very briefly insinuates he picked up Teleportation Circle from Caleb—specifically, "I have something my partner has shown me," which suggests to me that he is referring to the spell itself, not that Caleb is the one who built the circle (which is possible).

And while he did seem to use Teleport as his primary form of transport in c2, that was primarily because the Nein called upon him when they were traveling somewhere without a circle, as Caleb was already capable of it otherwise. And in particular, how could we forget:

The closest Essek has ever come to personally murdering the Mighty Nein.

I am so full of love and light about how the episode ended, getting to see the home the wizards have built together, all the little details of their shared life (Essek wearing and sniffing one of Caleb’s scarves, the farmhouse painting, the couples portrait, the vegetable garden) laid out before us. Matt handing over describing the house to Liam, describing some of the paintings himself but also letting Liam do some too, that collaboration in creating the place their characters live and love in. Laura chiming in too with the dicks on the walls from Jester! XD it feels so lived in and well-loved and it makes my heart so happy.

Molaesmyr, or "Why wiping out a city is okay if you're me", by Ludinus Da'leth.

I was waiting for a drop like that, to be honest. To find out that Ludinus has already done what was, for the gods, their darkest moment, and for him it was Tuesday.

The gods destroyed Aeor because Aeor was pointing a gun at their heads, for them it was self-defence and they still tried to find other options first. Ludinus destroyed Molaesmyr to try and reach the moon, and wrote it off as an acceptable loss.

And the thing is, the people of Molaesmyr were just as, if not more helpless against Ludinus than Aeor was against the gods! Aeor had a god-killing weapon in their basement that they were gearing up to use! And when the gods did attack Aeor, they had to do so in mortal form, which rendered them much weaker. For the first half of the battle in the Factorum Malleus, Aeor is winning, the gods are losing HP and falling to bad saving throws and getting interrupted at every turn. It's only once SILAHA gets free of the stun and manages to drop his Meteor Swarm on the wards that the tide turns.

There was no such chance for Molaesmyr. They probably didn't even know what he was doing until he'd already exploded their homes. They weren't pointing a gun at him. They were just in the way.

But it's okay when Ludinus has vastly more power than anyone else and throws their lives away to achieve his goals.

I think gods like the Dawnfather, the Everlight, the Arch Heart, the Lawbearer, the Knowing Mistress, and the Matron of Ravens care vastly more about the mortals that Ludinus claims to champion than he does. I think it broke their hearts to kill as many as they did, while for Ludinus, it was easy.

It is a rule that Essek can never look cool for too long.

THE GOAT FLOATS

I will keep your promise. I will be worthy.

—

Goodbye, Emissary 😢😢

~Family~

Lies on floor, face down

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THE FACTORUM MALLEUS

asmodeus spitting that "i will ALWAYS hate you", pelor just thundering "do not lie to me" and assuming his true form, asmodeus's presence dissipating. just shot after shot without missing

The Betrayers turned to their siblings and said, "Your creations are flawed and broken, they disappoint you, they hurt you. We have to destroy them."

And the Prime Deities replied, "No, they are our children. We won't destroy them. We love them too much."

The faithful of Aeor turned to their gods and said, "We believe in you. Let us help you. The Betrayer Gods are cruel and evil. We will use the Factorum Malleus to kill them all to end this war and make the world better."

And the Prime Deities replied, "No, they are our siblings. We won't kill them. We love them too much."

There's nothing like a tragedy born from love.