#also him kissing fearne to manipulate her and then saying 'that's never happening again' was AWFUL. absolutely awful.

[cloudprincesslady]

i'm sure a million people have already said this sorta thing but goddamn this is the most frustrating hour of critical role i've ever watched

#and i've been here a looooooooooooooooooooooooong time #like. taliesin acting like this was a choice that was gonna involve sacrifice and pain and then he would get to be something else #when matt all but explicitly said 'yeah so anybody BUT ashton taking this will be fine but if ashton does it he'll straight die' #like. like. like. honestly. #matt could not have been more clear that this one wasn't meant for ashton #it honestly feels like if keyleth had tried to claim fenthras. #or like. if vax had tried to claim the vestige that went to percy #like. sometimes you make choices in a roleplaying game because they're the right choice above the table. #it is not chill to hoard loot or to take things from other pcs and that's honestly what this situation feels like. #it couldve been literally anybody else. anyone. anyone at all. #admittedly lets be real this feels like the most fitting conclusion to ashton's story imo lmao he was born of hubris and he died of hubris #but like! theyre not gonna let this be the end of his story! #which sucks for me! a person who dislikes the character and is now watching him do the MOST FRUSTRATING THING EVER #and hes almost certainly not even gonna feel the consequences of it #also him kissing fearne to manipulate her and then saying 'that's never happening again' was AWFUL. absolutely awful. #i don't care how he meant it #also when matt said 5 rounds to go and taliesin was like oh i thought it was further #when matt said 'i was real clear yall' i FELT for him #he did EVERYTHING right as a dm! this isn't on him! #when your players go against your signposting... #also the fact that taliesin keeps asking for people to stay and heal him and keep him together? #when they're taking damage and probably gonna be destroyed by his death???? fuck me #look! i like taliesin as a person! but DAMN I hate the way he plays the game lmao! #the only character of his i've ever liked is caduceus #good for marisha saying NO to giving her supermassive new healing potion to ashton lmao #i would not have been NEARLY as gracious as matt about this lmao #im keeping my liveblogging to these tags bc i do not want to get caught up in discourse lmao #also matt wtf the DC in the last two rounds was only 15???? by the end it should absolutely be DC 20 cmon #hes trying to absorb the essence of a PRIMORDIAL TITAN into a body which is already holding the essence of a different primordial titan!!!! #god. i wish he didnt have that fucking ring. i desperately wish he died doing this.

[flurry-of-beaus-pop-pop]

Taliesin: "Ashton didn't know about Fearne's feelings for him so it couldn't have been manipulation"

Also Taliesin (as Ashton):

"You were thinking it, you were thinking it loud enough that it was practically vibrating this bench" - referencing knowing that Fearne was thinking about him being hot

"Still fucking got it, still fucking got it" - after Fearne calls him hot

"It's never happening again anyway" - referencing him kissing Fearne

Like, I completely recognize that Taliesin's intentions going into this situation with Fearne may have not been to manipulate her, but that is not what played out - it did not play out as someone that felt like they were unloveable and couldn't even fathom someone having feelings for them.

Even if you can make the argument that Ashton didn't know about Fearne's feelings for him during their initial conversation (which is a stretch considering bullet point one and two), he definitely knew about them right before they took the shard (because why else would he kiss her, why else would he say it was never going to happen) as a way to get her to do what they talked about because they saw her having second thoughts.

I have definitely come to the conclusion that this sequence of events is never going to quite click or make sense, because I definitely think what Taliesin intended to happen with this situation an what actually happened are two very completely different things, which happens sometimes, but I would rather someone just own it and be like "I tried a thing, it didn't work, I fucked up" then try to change the narrative, which I feel is a little bit of what we're getting here.

Edit: Even if, as some comments pointed out, Ashton wasn't aware that Fearne had a crush, and was only aware of/convinced of a physical attraction, he still used that to their advantage to get what they want, to get Fearne to do something they never should have convinced her to do, to stop her from telling the group and backing out when she clearly was having second thoughts. Whether malicious or not, Ashton went into that conversation with Fearne with the intention of doing whatever he could to convince her to help them and actively took steps to stop her from telling the rest of the party or not helping them when it was clear she was hesitant

#critical role #ashton greymoore #fearne calloway #i understand that you may disagree with this #and that's completely fine #this is never going to be anything that everyone agrees with #and if you want to discuss it like mature adults #gladly! #if you're just going to come attack me #just save yourself time and block me #i have a right to my thoughts #you have a right to yours #neither of those dictates nastiness

[crayistic]

I needed to come somewhere to rant.... so here it is. Critical role Campaign 3 Episode 77 spoilers ahead so please don't read if your not wanting spoilers.

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First of all want to say the episode was brilliant, in terms of the story and the hopefully future animation for sure. However I have so many issues.... I have seen alot of people and shippers getting g happy about the fact thatAshton kissed Fearne... and saying things like he is being the barbarian and is wanting to be the one to take the pain and damage... so on and so forth and I couldn't disagree with this more.

First of all, from a players perspective... i know there is trust and love between the crit cast and they are all about support and aftercare... but thus choice by ashton as a player with other players made me feel quite uncomfortable. It was such a horrible place to put Ashley in and it was easy enough to see how angry and how rediculous most of the cast thought the choice was. Not only that but Matt himself making comments about how he gave them clear warnings. It would jave been less painful for others if he had let Fearne take the shard (or gave her some support or time to think about it for herself) that put her and the others through what he did. He knew how risky it was and he was very prerered to die, so anyone saying he was doing it for his friends? Like what... how? Because the pain of losing someone and having to carry that with you, when you also played a part in it MAJORLY out weights phitjcal pain. Then chockyness with the end result when it was all fluke and luck. If it wasn't for fearnes spell and randomly swaping the ring with chet... yes these are all great story points but I do think he crossed the line alittle.

Now the missed opportunity for the story. Mat wad clearly setting up the emperor and empress, giving them clear signs and opportunities to gain power for two of the bells hells. Now what? Will ashton be completely OP, and how is that fair to the other characters. Mat is now going to have to find away to limit him and again yes, the game is about the players, not everything goes to plan and things can change in an instant but again I do think there are lines. If he had died, there is a big change Ashley would have blamed herself for saying she didn't want the shard (however i also think she was influenced by Tals persistent pushing and comments for him to have it). I was really looking forward to seeing what it would be like to have two of them tighed to eachother by ancient power and what that would mean for them. Not to mention how stressed and upset she was at the table, I get that shit can happen in game but when another player is doing it to you without any type of warning for over 40 mins of play... it seemed abit messed up.

Moving into the shipping aspect of things. I'm a lover of romance in d&d and I had a forst class ticket aboard the Imogen/Laudna and the Fearne/Ashton boat. I was looking forward to being able to see Fearnes vulnerable side. She is usually so ladeda about flirting, intimacy and so on but this... this was kind of gross and it almost felt like she was being used and manipulated. While this could have been tal not recognising fearne was going down that path for ashton and him rushing to implement things last moment or whatever was going on... it just felt wrong.

Out of nowhere he's calling her hot after she's referencing him saying he wants a sister... and the horrible thing is you can tell she has feelings for him because ots almost like she is to wrapped up in the slight attention that she doesn't even see how he's acting. Saying she's hot while lased in the request to lie to all of their friends, aid him in doing something stupid, very much from the begning never planning on fearne having the shard... saying how he trusts her more?... It felt like love bombing to confuse her and get her to do what he wanted. Her returning his hot comment and running away... there was no recognition to how she doesn't normally act like that... what did it mean and so on, he just sat back and made a cocky comment

Then the whole thing, grabbing her and kissing her right before it happened. He actually made a comment saying to just do it because it will never happen again and it's the only one she gets. Like imagin if you actually loved or was falling fir someone... it felt like she was nothing but a tool and none of the others would do it for him because it was fucking STUPID but fearne also wouldn't have done it to any oof the others... so what's the difference? Well maybe ots the fact she has feelings for him. The people saying he wanted to do it to take the pain over his friends... I just don't get it. His actions were nothing but selfish. Doing something so crazy and actually telling people to heal him. Saying he needed this like having one shard wasn't enough. Putting fearne in that position, someone he clearly knows cares for him more than a friend and she had to stand there and watch him fucking shatter into pieces and come back... nearly dying over and over and worst of all at the aid of her own hands. Now I don't see how they could have any chance of a romance because he kicked it in the ass before it even began... or he doesn't even see her that way and did completely use her... because if it was the only kiss she was getting... then why do it unlessbyour trying to love bomb her?...

It was all abit twisted and fucked uo to me and I really don't know how to actually feel about the whole thing... definitely the most controversial point of bells hells to me. Oh man what I would give to be a fly in the wall after that. The following pics sums up my emotional roller coaster through that ep....

#critical role #critters #bells hells #campain 3 #ashley johnson #taliesin jaffe #fearne calloway #ashton greymoore #callomoore #cr3e77 #what the fuck is up with that #critical role spoilers