"We will bind them to their word and we will not tell them what we have done..."

I will give Abria credit. Her character essentially was designed to cause the calamity. It’s not easy to knowingly play the definition of “the road to hell is paved with good intensions”

aabria goes through all the stages of "ive done fucked up" and "not like this"

Can we give a shoutout to Aabria and how she managed to make her character both sympathetic and unsympathetic at the same time? That is a very tricky path to navigate, and she aced it.

**raises hand to face** ITS BEAUTIFUL! THE STORY IS INCREDIBLE!

I am absolutely haunted by Marisha in this scene. Learning what she learned in this moment, you can see Patia fall away, and just a deep well of understanding actually -twitch- through her. It's good the episode sort of ends shortly after this without really needing to return to the cast for like, RP, I don't know how well Marisha could've but Patia back on.

Isn't this series incredible? Aabria's regret is such a beautiful moment. And it's so spectacular because for a moment, when Loquatious looked at her with fear, she recognized her folly and actually stopped. Her act of destroying the tree came only when it threatened the lives of her husband and best friend. It wasn't ambition but love that dealt the final blow and started the Calamity.

Even centuries before... Keyleth's people had been protecting Exandria. And now, in her time, she continues to uphold that ancient task, even with the Ashari divided into four tribes. If anything, she is the apotheosis of the Gau Drashari. She encouraged her people to restore their trust in the outside world. Because of what she experienced during her Aramente. Her empathy and her resolve kept her from being so bitter and hardened. She had every reason to hate the world, but she didn't. Because she saw the good in it, and in its people. "I don't think it's the faces that keep this light from fading. I think it is what it is. We're lucky to experience it, a few are lucky to think it's beautiful. You taught me that. I don't have to appreciate this. Especially not after what I've seen. But I do. Only BECAUSE of what I've seen.” -Keyleth of the Air Ashari, “The Chapter Closes”

Travis nodding towards Aabria with a "ya dun goofed" look

When Laeryn said that she can make Avalir to go to another dimension/world, I immediately thought of Cognouza. And boy, that will not end up good for everyone.

Also, I'd been wondering about that Ashari/Gaodrashari connection the whole run, so it's cool to have that just... explicitly stated.

If this campaign showed me one thing, it showed me that Brennan is an absolute genius. A vicious manipulative mad genius, and the second best GM I've seen in life. Aabria danced around his finger and in the end felt responsible for doing what he had been egging her to do all along. Genius.

On the one hand, they fucked it up anyway, on the other hand, they would have definitely fucked up the tree much earlier if they knew what it was.

I always love the plot of what I prefer to call the "Icarus Concept" where a certain person or community reaches way too far of their reach, only to suffer greatly from it. Brennan and the cast did it perfectly in this sub series and I can't wait for more.

Just watching Aabria slowly taking in all the damage she just did with her epic role-playing. Such a queen 🙌

The druids were probably right in that had they told the wizards about the tree it would have only become a tool for them. It wouldn't still be writing the protection runes if the wizards had a say

2:51 "and you see a floating globe" FCG HAS ENTERED THE CHAT "Smiley day to ya"

What I love about all this is that the Gau Drashari assumed the worst in the wizards, saying that they can't be trusted with the amount of power before them. And nearly *immediately* after the mention of an influx of magic to the primordial seal, the Gau Drashari leader became interested. Both parties had a vast love and reverence for magic, and I don't doubt they would've become great allies if an attempt at a dialogue was made.

You see Patia literally fade and so did Marisha. Keyleth is super sad and super pissed. Look at her face. Keyleth was fuming and honestly Marisha was not wheeling the helm in that moment, that was Keyleth. Omg Brennan this is beyond brilliant. This is some of best DnD every made point blank.

i love how well Brennen and Matt played the cast so good

I just love Brennan stopping to make sure we knew just how hot Patia’s grandpa was

This part gave me and still gives me full body goosebumps. Holy fuck Brennan

Laerryn may have pulled the trigger but the druids cocked the gun.

God, I wish I knew how to make gifs. Because I'd make AAAAALLLL the reaction gifs of Aabria's reactions to stuff.

I love this!

Oh the crestfallen hopelessness and dread on some of these faces at the end! 😦😣😆

Abria: Wait Im I the bad guy! Everyone of the critters: "It was at this moment... she knew... she F**K UP!" Abria: Oh! I F**ked Up!

Hehehe. I always hated wizards and their hubris (I played the class just to make a lazy wizard). "We are the best class." "All the others are dumb." Get wrecked bby. I mean, I know that their characters had reasons to act like they did and that Brennan designed this to go fucking boom, but it was clear what decisions would obviously fuck it up. Pride comes before the fall and I love it.

Some people are so good at what they do that they inspire you. Brennan is one of those few whose talent has the opposite effect. He's such an amazing DM that he sets the bar impossibly high and makes you want to quit.

1000!!!!!

What is the tree of names anybody cause I'm missing something

@ Everyone talking about abria fucking up... she chose not to attack the tree. She only ended up doing so after the tree stabbed two of her friends, which is a natural response. The tree attacked because Patia touched it. Patia is more at fault than Abria's character (whose name escapes me momentarily) . (to be clear, I don't blame any of them, there were things going on that none of them knew about. I'm just saying that putting the blame on Laerryn (that's her name), whether for the attack on the tree or her experiments, is not correct.) (You can certainly judge her for her experiments themself, though i believe she had good intentions, she certainly went about things wrong, but her experiments, or any of her actions, did not cause the calamity... other than perhaps that blight spell hitting the tree, which, again, is more Patia's fault than Laerryn's, as someone would certainly have hit the tree after it stabbed Patia and sam, and she was just first)

I will blame the Gau Drashari for not disclosing what they were doing

Aabria, nice fail. You literally doomed the world.