Bells Hells - Tumblr Posts
You flip a coin.
Fair, is fair, is fair—you tell yourself. You blame luck, and fate, and gods you don’t rightly believe in. You cry when you meet Imogen’s gaze—her eyes cracking open and spilling despair, her lips pressing tight enough that those animal soft whimpers are only high pitched noise. Barely human, sadly real.
You don’t know what to do, you don’t know who to save—until you do.
You flip a coin.
Heads, you save Laudna. Tails, you save Orym.
You flip a coin.
Glinting like a prayer answered as it spins edge over edge in the air; you track it with your eyes, you see the edges of images etched into the metal. Heads, tails—heads, tails—heads, tails. Over and over; who lives, and who dies.
You don’t know what to do—until you do.
You slap a hand over the outcome, you squeeze your eyes shut and lift it just enough that you can peek under your palm. See the outcome, see the promise. You blink hard, your lips pinch and your ears flatten back and bristle.
You’re not good, but you’re not bad—you’re wild, and chaotic, and free. You’re a stranger in a strange land, a visitor in the stories of others—even when your own comes calling. You’re sideways, and bright, and endlessly messy.
You’re fey—which means, inherently, you’re selfish.
Tucking the coin away, you exhale and open your eyes, pressing hands against Laudna you promise her you’ll find a way to save her. You whisper un-truths because they’re hazy and thick on your tongue. You don’t know if you can save her—though you will try.
You only know that the coin landed on heads, and in that moment you knew fate didn’t matter. Luck didn’t matter. And above all else, gods didn’t matter. What matters is that Orym is yours, as readily as the trinkets stuck in your fur and the half-truths in your heart. A piece of you that is kind, and strong, and forgives you all your outlandish flaws.
Orym is yours, and it wasn’t until fate—or luck, or gods—said he deserved to die that you decided the choice was already made in your heart long before you flipped a coin.
Orym—the answer was always Orym.
fearne speaking is the vocal equivalent of putting the heart emoji at the end of all your sentences ❤️
Oh so when other people push back against price markups for basic necessities it's "direct action" but when I do it I'm "breaking and entering" and "a werewolf"
It was so incredibly smart of Matt to have a dramatic Imogen dream sequence immediately after the secret Dusk sequence. The cast's attention was immediately redirected to moon drama instead of trying to work out what happened with Dusk and alleviating the need for Erika to keep up the poker face. Love watching experienced DMs do their thing.
I love how ruthless Imogen is. She’s calculating and cold and I love it, it’s such a different kind of character for Laura.
There are so many instances now (the trap tile in the museum, how she approached taking out the other bikes in the Deathwish Run, setting the bomb off on the bandits AND lightening bolting the living daylights out of them...) of her being pragmatically violent, like Percy was. By that I mean she takes in a situation, decides the most efficient way to get the outcome she wants, and commits to it.
And it's a fascinating character trait for a person who has spent so long trying desperately not to read people's minds because of all the horrible things she's heard. She has had to detach herself from people pretty aggressively, and doesn't necessarily have the most positive view of people as a whole. So if someone gets in her way? Too bad for them, she's going through them. She, again like Percy, has a strong sense of protection for her immediate circle, but is much more emotionally disconnected when it comes to anyone outside her immediate relationships.
Happy birthday Critical Role! Here are some of favourite drawings of my favourite character from each campaign (tonal shift in the middle there)
“Is she your favorite?”
DO NOT EDIT OR REPOST TO OTHER SITES OR ACCOUNTS
I think the funniest thing that came out of this episode is the casual lore drop that Ira has no fucking money and has to do odd jobs to fund his research projects and that he has been doing this for DECADES. Like this goddamn fey creature who looks like a nine foot tall Jack Skellington cosplayer stumbles into the material plane and even he’s affected by the job crisis.
Matt is having the best time playing the bitterest gay exes this campaign, huh?
Be warned, this is long, Really Long... i have been think about this for WEEKS
I can agree with the general standpoint. From a 4 Sided Dive episode that included both Matt and Laura, they were talking about characters and their development before the campaign. This is where Matt inferred to us that Imogen wasn’t originally gonna be a Ruidusborn. Fearne was originally the sole Ruidusborn, and was gonna be a standpoint for the lore, but when Laura said that Imogen was having nightmares about storms, that’s where Matt created Imogen as an Ruidousborn. I don’t think this was explicitly said and confirmed but Laura didn’t really know that Imogen was Ruidusborn, thus not knowing that she would be intertwined more into the lore. I say that she was more connected to the campaign 3 lore more because we didn’t know about Fearne being Ruidusborn until much later in the game. I think Matt realised that the cast wouldn’t get that information unless they went to the FeyWild so he directed the attention to Imogen as the “main character”. It was referred a lot by everyone, including the cast and Matt as a DM and that Imogen was kind of the main drive along with Orym because of the death of those he cared for because of Otohan for Bells Hells to continue on and would later open more opportunities for character development for the rest of the characters. I think it Laura and maybe Matt wanted to backstep because it was already such a forefront so early and had so much attention towards it. Yes, I do want Imogen to be more of a stand out point because how close she is with the whole situation (which I really want) but I do get why. She isn’t as involved with conversation like this because of her character growth of trying to disconnect to her mother’s past actions
It was kind of shown in Episode 104 & 105 (Spoilers)
When they were presented in front of the leaders and everyone. Everyone didn't know that Imogen and even Fearne were Ruidusborn, Matt just acted it like people like the Bright Queen seemed to already known about their connections with the Ruidus which they shouldn't because this was their first time meeting her. This can be debunked with Keyleth or Allura telling them about the both Ruidusborne but nothing was mentioned about this. Episode 105 showed that when no one asked her questions even thought she was a giant part of this, no one reacted when Imogen her title of 'Exaltant Hope of the Red Storm' which summarizes her part in this. Showing that they already knew she was Exaltant Ruidusborn.
(End Spoilers)
But also because of how more important she would be in the future episodes, especially with featuring Liliana, Predathos, Ludinus, and the casts thoughts/predictions about her being a potential vessel.
I hope Imogen plays a bigger part but I do get it. See you all next Thursday!
Still wondering why Imogen wasn't questioned when, at face value, she is the most likely to betray and turn to Predathos. Even last episode, at the splinter meeting, she wasn't asked. The only reason I can think of is maybe Laura's trying not to take up too much airtime, and asked Matt not too? Imogen's balked at the idea of being a 'chosen one' (and so has Laura) so it's understandable, I just wish we could've seen it- she undoubtedly is the most tied to the overarching narrative.
My Opinion on Episode 107, Conversation between the Arc Heart & Bells Hells
So basically, the Arc Heart is leaning towards team Ludinous. The Arc heart is one of the two divine gods who want to move on, we don’t know the other god. They are basically saying that they want to run, but they know that the others would only run if they had something to fear. The only thing that they will fear would be Predathos. He is practically telling them a plan that he wants to happen. Imogen and/or Fearne since they are the only Ruidousborn who know this plan would take Predathos, take that sacrifice, not know what would happen to them. They don’t know anything about a vessel, they think that Imogen and Fearne could take control, using Laudna as an example. They would become one with Predathos, take control, and make the gods fear them so that gods would want to fear.
I think this is a little selfish, in the perspective of someone who is just hearing this conversation. But for someone who watched the faults and hardships of the god in Downall, this is selfish, but I kind of get it. The Arc Heart had feelings like his children, like mortals, he cares for his family and thinks that need to move on. They think that mortals could evolve, if they didn’t rely on the gods. They don’t know what would happen to the vessels that would take Predathos, but he is still asking for them to make that sacrifice, he is asking for help, he realises that the gods need help. I think this makes the cast as players and as Bells Hells, especially Imogen/Laura and Ferne/Ashley. I think Matt wants them to think how to approach Predathos and their decision of being Ruidusborn. I think that Laura and/or Ashley would need to make complicated saves and decisions when it comes to Predathos, and Matt wants to expose these different perspectives to build up the complex decisions they would need to make in the end.
I’m writing this as the conversation goes on, the Arc Heart is sounding more selfish. He said that Predathos wouldn’t care about the mortals because they are like ants to us, small and worthless but there would be mass destruction and cataclysms. He is basically saying that the gods are all he wants, he wants the Ruidusborn to possess him so they would have a head start.
This is the build up and I think this comes back to the opinion about Imogen’s current position in the narrative in a reblog. Matt is basically building up the narrative and we have known that Laura/Imogen will greatly impact the narrative, that’s why she is currently taking a backspot when the topic could refer to Bells Hells as a whole or individuals. Ashley is becoming more of a central character because her father and they are currently in the Feywild and might need to do the same as Laura and take a backspot before that arc where Predathos and their decisions would be very important, especially with the current arc where Bells Hells would be in direct contact with the gods. Fearne as a Ruidusborn wasn’t really built up as much as Imogen, partly because we didn’t know that she was Ruidusborn until later and again with her position as a Ruidusborn until everything was revealed with her backstory and it is still being built up.
With all of this, especially with this plan, Bells Hells would most likely be presented with a few perspectives of the gods. We know 2, to fight Predathos or to use Predathos as a subject of fear so the gods would run. With their already split opinions, these perspectives would change on how they think and their decisions in these final arcs
I just want to voice my opinion about this and I do want to be a little more social on this account so voice your opinion on this if you agree or not! See you all next Thursday!
two versions of the same ashton :)
hair down fcg!
