"4-Sided Dive: Why, Matthew?! Why?" (4SDx15) is the fifteenth episode of 4-Sided Dive, discussing episodes of the third campaign up through "Aid of the Tempest" (3x66) with guests Taliesin Jaffe, Matthew Mercer, Sam Riegel, and Travis Willingham.
Synopsis[]
Much to his dismay, Travis is the host this week.
- Sam asks for Matt's clarification on what magic works and what doesn't. It varies: some things work perfectly and others not at all. Sending is clearly borked because of the effects of the Apogee Solstice, and some spells may work in certain locations but not others. As Matt says, "Information is the villain to tension and stakes," and he wanted the party to feel lost and cut off.
- Fresh Cut Grass has been getting responses from The Changebringer lately, but he's not her Champion. The gods are pressing everyone they can into service while they're under threat. Matt gives a bit of Champion lore clarification.
- The players nail down who's where right now: Liliana Temult is on Ruidus with Ludinus Da'leth in the moon city. Ira Wendagoth is on Ruidus outside the city.
- Matt doesn't have a Predathos mini yet.
- Sam and Travis catch up with Taliesin's group, who helped the Loam and the Leaf in Hearthdell to get rid of the temple of the Dawnfather. Taliesin remembers it as the Dawnfather being a bad guy trying to force conversions or departures.
- Taliesin also shares limited info about the magic-scattering crystals they found in Hevestro's cave, linked to the Gau Drashari. He's briefly talked to some of the spellcasters about the crystals now inlaid in his hammer, but they're going to have to FAAFO exactly what they do. The handle also has a switch, but he's coy about its effect.
- Taliesin absolutely intends to return to Issylra to investigate the links to his backstory. Bor'Dor Dog'Son's betrayal and what Ashton learned of his past while there gave him for the first time a focus for his anger and allowed him to admit he now cares about the group, and that he wants to do good in the world. "The big thing is finally there's someone to blame."
- The vision of Vax'ildisk - they speculate whether Vax is being used up and there's a time deadline to rescue him,
- Matt clarifies that Ludinus Da'leth's ritual wasn't quite as successful as he was hoping it would be. They are probably now trying to close that gap and awaken the Red End.
- The tapestries in Keyleth's room depicting grim moments in her life were mostly gifts. Ashton thought she was really cool, so didn't steal anything. Sam once stole several mugs from a Ranch Which Will Not Be Named Here, to protect the guilty.
- Sam bought his shirt because it reminded him of Omar.
Tower of Inquiry[]
- Traits they're jealous of in each other's characters? Chetney wants to read thoughts; FCG envies Fearne being able to become animals (Sam is jealous of werewolves); Ashton is jealous of Fearne's family.
- How do they keep things fresh and fun? Maybe because the group came together and started playing offstream and they've maintained the non-professional demeanor. For Matt, it's the people at the table. Sam compares it to being in a marriage where you keep learning new things about your partners. Also they have sex with each other all the time.
The Deep Dive[]
- Taliesin: How's Ashton coping with learning Joan Abaddina was a Hishari? Does he want to go back and talk to her? Yes. To review, Ashton was born into the Hishari and the explosion that destroyed them teleported Ashton to Marquet. By the time they learned about Abaddina's connection the group was already far away. Once the moon is vaguely settled, Ashton wants to go back to Issylra and learn more.
- Sam: How's FCG coping with parting from FRIDA? The separation was hard and sad. He felt like FCG should leave the group, but Sam's already done that once. Plus he's the only member of Bells Hells that has a god connection. "All you people are atheist heathens." FRIDA and FCG live a long time, so they'll find each other again. If their batteries don't die. (Speaking of romance, all of them were surprised by The Kiss between Laudna and Imogen. They think Marisha was probably surprised by the timing as well.)
- Matt: WHERE ARE BEAU AND CALEB, MATTHEW?! Dunno. Maybe we'll find out later.
- Matt: How did you choose the locations and teams for the party split? He wanted to explore Chetney's backstory because it was geographically so far away from where they had been, plus it gave them proximity to Molaesmyr and Ludinus's history. For Issylra, it's a continent they'd explored very little and he wanted to flesh it out a bit, plus it's full of religious extremes. It also provided a chance to tease Ashton's backstory a little more.
- Travis: Tuyen Otwana's bounty hunter - how did that feel? Travis loved it, but Chetney doesn't like loose threads. At first he thought it was the Claret Orders because he'd bitten FRIDA. Sam wants FRIDA to be a werebot.
- Taliesin: What inspired Ashton's new desire to be a hero? After watching what went down with Bor'Dor and Laudna, Ashton's ready to commit. "Well, I guess I fucking care now." The moment Ashton pulled Prism away so she wouldn't watch Bor'Dor die, and then immediately went to Laudna's side, was one of Dani Carr's favorites in the campaign because it was emblamatic of how the punk hard core scene protects its own. Ashton's also now aware there's a supervillain to stop. Dani thinks Ashton is Taliesin's most "comic book character".
- Sam: Since The Changebringer has become more communicative, how's FCG feeling about her?" Great. It's been interesting for Sam to get into god-stuff since he hasn't, in prior campaigns. Travis is creeped out by her long hair, but Dani assures him it's clean hair. Matt clarifies it's symbolic of the many possible roads ahead. Sam considers long hair for FCG. Everyone encourages him to talk to her more.
- Matt: How did you make sure the two betrayers Bor'Dor and Yu Suffiad were different? Discussed how it might play out with the guest players first. Matt was really impressed with how well Utkarsh Ambudkar played innocent naivety while also dropping breadcrumbs to the truth. He was saving his 5th-level spell for the party from the start.
- Travis: Chetney made Orym's childhood toys? Of course he did. Chetney's been around a long time and made a lot of stuff. Travis regrets Chetney didn't get a Hag wish from Nana Morri while they were there. Maybe later.
- Taliesin: What did Ashton think about Hearthdell and the Eidolons? A bit provincial. But the connection is starting to get under their skin (which was normal skin when Ashton was born, turning rocky only after the teleportation to Marquet). It was a little overwhelming.
- Sam: Did FCG feel guilty during Laudna's outburst about Team Wildemount having a good time? Probably. Stress points are a bitch. If the party wants to go against the gods, that'll be a conflict. FCG wants to figure out who hates the gods so he can kill them.
- Matt: How's it been exploring religions in Exandria? Definitely faith and what it means is a theme of this Campaign. He's enjoying exploring what would happen if the mortals could destroy the gods.
- Travis: How'd it feel being bait for the demon while gathering perennem flowers? Inbetweenus flowers? Taint root? Grundle greens? He loved it, but they need a lot more flowers.
Tower of Inquiry[]
- If your character had to pull from the Tower, what would their technique be? FCG would channel R2-D2; Ashton would channel Mr. Wizard. Chetney would seduce the wood. How would Ludinus approach? From 121 feet away.
- Dani gets a question! Has anything in game totally surprised her? Everything! But a big one was The Cupcake. Taliesin's still kicking himself for not spotting Bor'Dor earlier, and Matt confirms when Bor'Dor smoked the Pipe of Remembrance and revealed his proudest moment was himself among the party, it was because he had succeeded in infiltrating his enemies.
Superfight[]
- Let... them... fight. First: Taliesin's moose wearing a suit of armor vs. Travis's flying hippo. Dani breaks the tie and declares the moose the victor.
- Question for Taliesin: What did it mean to get in touch with his earth side by speaking Promordial and communicating with the Earth Guardian? It's a whole new perspective and Ashton's starting to feel connected to something bigger than themself.
- Round Two: Matthew's Ghenghis Khan with the power to summon anything from a hardware store vs. Sam's marshmallow man made of guacamole. The debate goes as one might expect, with Ghenghis the unanimous winner. Sam reveals he could have been a werewolf with a nail gun.
- Question for Matt: How was it exploring concepts introduced during Exandria Unlimited: Calamity? Matt loves collaboration and tying together threads from the whole history of Exandria.
- Championship Round: Taliesin's three hipsters vs. Matt's nudist piloting an attack drone. It's very close, but Dani breaks the tie because she feels the hipsters could annoy the nudist to death.
- For winning, Taliesin gets another question: What about these new Chaos Burst abilities? They're additional reactions to an attack that he picked up at level 10, and there are four of them determined by a d4 roll. So far, he's used the teleport one. Taliesin also gets a prize: a stop-smoking recording for Nintendo DS.
- Travis grabs Moppo and starts cleaning up while they all "enjoy" their refreshing Canned Bits.
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