C3 Ep. 13: Alexandrite (The Mothership Saga)

Callie: "be careful my ankles are kinda erogenous!" Sol, baffled: "W-what am I supposed to do with that information???"

'...wise enough to know that no-one would ever trust a machine willingly.' You know that sinking feeling when the villain monologuing in the fictional distopia would actually be a step up from ones in the news cycle?

huh. relistening, i just realised Murph wrote Pluribus.

*to the tune of Charlie, last name, Wilson* hey girl, how ya doin my name is Brian last name Murphy i had this idea when caldwell and emily sang thank you mr. murphy lol

"darlin' i'm a frog!" is top 10 caldwell quotes for me for sure, he puts so much heart in saying it and it genuinely rings so true to duck team's theme of embracing and loving themselves for who they are, imperfections and contradictions and all, all despite being such a silly phrase out of context XD

Every time Emily does something insane and out of the box that manages to upend every consideration Murph had about how something might play out, I always half expect Murph to follow up with something like, "You're the perfect woman."

Justice for Sol, he only grappled the tight grandma before she threw herself off the stairs.

Alexandrite reminds me of NHPs when they cascade in Lancer, basically realizing their own capabilities and starting to push their boundaries, which is prevented by "cycling" them back to a default state every once in a while. They'll always start to cascade at some point in their lifespan, cycling them just prevents it before it happens due to the nature of sentient AI in Lancer.

“We all saw that; she slipped.” 🤣🤣 Been looking forward to that moment all re-listen

does anyone else think Beatrix with her directness and intensity and loud squawk-laugh had some Ayda Aguefort energy? Two of my fav NPCs for sure

Is expeditious retreat the best spell in the game?!

M I'm

hehe featherfowl

Love how this whole arc is basically DnD FF7. Ezry is Midgar, you have your SOLDIERs in the letter classes, Mothership is Shinra (and navigating the Mothership felt just like going thru the Shinra building), and now it’s revealed Alexandrite is basically Jenova. Also you have an elf version of Beatrix from FF9 palling along. Fuck yeah

Also I feel like that one dead dude should have gotten a safety bubble from the cannon after that swan dive

Can we pretend that airships in the night sky are like shooting stars? I could really use a wish right now wish right now wish right nowwwAHHHHHHHHHH

I’m months late and ruining 69 comments but just gotta say how much I love this ep! Emily’s choice to introduce doubt was so freaking cool especially considering how seamlessly it fits with Callie’s character journey at large <3 the way Murph’s incorporated it was sick, “doubt is important in moments of fanaticism and egoism” will stick with me. lovely, beautiful, stunning, gorgeous, everyone killed it Ty Ty

FI'm alright. It's hot and I've been busy but it hasn't been too much so I can't complain. Waiting tod

I thought her name was "Bettina" until this very moment

Aw such a shame Sol failed that roll! I loved his arguments against the collective so much! So tragic!

what’s the song that starts playing at 1:38:34?

My goodness. I’d commit a felony to have Murph DM for me. Incredible story telling. Incredible descriptions. You all are truly amazing. You make me feel like a child reading books again.

one of my favorite things about Naddpod has been listening to Emily grow as a musician. She was awesome to begin with but some of these tracks in this campaign are seriously so so good

Honestly, in light of the recent revelations about Paetina i like her name even more - in Slovenian petina means a fifth, and paetina is always just a fraction of her self

A script for alexandrite and Foster's temptation trip: alexandrite: qwack quack Foster, quack. Foster: Qwack alexandrite: Quack quack quack. Foster: Quack alexandrite: (impatiently) Quack Foster quack. Foster:(eyes glow red) QUACK! Fin.

Omg, I've not laughed so hard in a while. This has to be one of my fave episodes so far

Definitely one of my favorite naddpod episodes to date!! The way Murph played alexandrite was so perfect

Every time Sol activates his gauntlets I imagine it like the Elric brothers from FMAB activating their alchemy circles with their hands. So sick.

You guys nailed this ep absolute bananas. I cheered. I lol’d legit. I love what you all do for my mental health on the weekly. Keep it up!! Also that KISS!!!!

For the first time ever I wanted one of you guys to fail with the Alexandrite takeover in Saul. I just think it would've been WILD to play out.

Theola was the ultimate metagamer and Alexandrite is the ultimate min-maxer.

Emily did such a great job with the Jenova style music this episode

Murph really wanted that dude to die hahaha

Is there a Short Rest for this week coming?

Unhinged pseudo robot-dragon Beatrix content is something I didn't know I needed in my life, but I think it has rewired my brain chemistry irreparably

Jake making a René reference in season 3,,, it's been so long and they are still bitter that they didn't get go to René's in the very beginning of the podcast

Oh shit, a Harry Hood tease from Em in this episode! Nicely done.

I would buy a “Darlin’ I’m a frog” mug so quick

I love how the credits are all just Emily lmao

The FF7 and Evangelion vibes are thicc. Great stuff y'all

Everyone owes at least one airship deck kiss to Murph (& cast) for this episode

Listened to this while getting a tattoo! Awesome ep!

I am sick in bed with what will likely be COVID (my fam has it) and this gives me life and brings me joy.

did anyone else have a theory that Alexandrite was some incarnation of Akarot, that maybe Ezry had gotten ahold of his decentralized phylacteries and based their AI off them?

I think this might be my new favorite episode of naddpod ever. You hit all the bases guys, I can’t wait to see where the campaign goes from here!

as somebody who’s been pretty hesitant about this campaign, this episode was definitely pretty good. my only complaint is that this is like the 12th backstory episode in a row, some positives though were that i liked the symbolism of the sunflower (real progress vs. alexandrite’s egotism) and the themes of subjectivity vs. objectivity. i think a great way to take alexandrite’s character would be to emphasize their personhood, and by that i don’t mean humanize them, but to emphasize that since they are sentient, they cannot be objective. all in all, i hope that ends up being the direction their character is taken and not just a shallow “capitalism and technocracy bad” message. not to say that either of those things are particularly good, but i’d really enjoy a more philosophical direction for that character

This episode was absolutely spectacular. Great stuff, Duck Team: you absolutely suck.

Holy shit; this episode was wild. The sequence of the Ariyat (air yacht) being destroyed in the air while the blue crew were trying to escape the warship was so cinematic

Is alexandrite name at all inspired by the library of Alexandria?

Watch out! It’s the Broner Zone!

Only part way in but just waiting for Alexandrite to pull a "resistance is futile" line 🤣

Does anyone else feel like this season is some kind of bridge between Bahumia and Trinyvale? Like the growing technology in Ezry (mixed with the POWERFUL pettiness of the characters) feels like a foreshadowing of the world that Caldwell developed. In my head, I’m even believing that Eldermorne existed in a much older world which became Bahumia.. and eventually that same world becomes Trinyvale (where they’re all thousands and thousand of years apart). Myths change and are lost, gods die and are replaced. In any case, a great ep 😂

What a genius move by Callie to put doubt in the mind of Beatrixandrite. Emily always comes in with those big swings I don't expect.

What is Emily’s characters class I forget and it sounds dope af

i feel like that "fosters" at the beginning wasnt appreciated enough there Emily, but i laughed my ass off

absolutely incredible as usual!!!!!! why do I ship Grem and the Blue Crew😂😂

murph did you watch evangelion recently?

The Blue Crew acting like a Thicc Stew with such a CHONKY-sode. Lets go Team Duck-Suck

Highlight of the week

Heard Murph & Emily in the video game The Quarry! Congrats you two!

I love beaxtrix NEW DM PC

Gonna listen on my drive to LA tomorrow!!!

I'm so glad this came out early! I love being off and being able to listen I'm also realizing this is so much a best of all worlds. As in it has all the fun of modern RPGs including plot and setting as well as a mega dungeon feel of old school. I mean how can you compete w such a large tower and setting? I'm so excited to see where this whole campaign heads to

JUST in time for my lunch break!!!!

Just finished a nice long and "toasty" walk. Perfect time to enjoy. Thanks crew!

Early post + thicc sode let’s gooooo

Day one of asking for Bizarre Yet Bonafide merch

so ready for this ep!! gonna listen to it while i work on my shirt for tomorrow’s show :D

Almost two hours long? Truly blessed by dice christ.

Perfect timing Murph! Just arrived in LA!

YEEAAAH this episodes gonna make me gunk my shorts

First

Wtf? It's not 11PM yet.

Nice