History Tropers / Captainmarkle

Hello. I am an EvilBrit and enjoy guitar. When I'm not busy plotting an insidious scheme to take over the world (and force-feed you all crumpets and scones), I'm at the gym, writing D&D campaigns, playing games, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and suffering bouts of existential despair]]. I spend too much time watching most things related to WebVideo/SovietWomble. I also love WebVideo/OutsideXbox and the works of Creator/TerryPratchett.

* [[Characters/RoosterTeeth Rooster Teeth character sheet]]
* [[Awesome/RoosterTeeth Their awesome page too]].

!!Regular editor on ([[TVTropesWillRuinYourLife much to my displeasure]]):
* Creator/AchievementHunter and Creator/RoosterTeeth
* LetsPlay/HatFilms.

[[folder:Tropes applying to me (Mostly Sarcastic)]]

Please note that a good chunk of this folder is badly-written sarcasm. If it's under Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease, it's almost certainly a bad joke.

* AmbiguousSyntax: I try my best to use ExactWords to my advantage, but I fall victim to this quite a lot. The example I give is from ''Literature/TheTruth'': "Patrician Attacks Clerk With Knife"; who had the knife? The patrician or the clerk?
* ExactWords: I CannotTellALie, so I will tell the truth in the most twisted and convoluted way possible. Only fitting that anyone who knows me will use it against me, leaving me to try and work out ''just'' what they mean.
* EvilBrit: My end vision is to see Britain restored to its former glory... with me at its helm. I haven't actually thought this through, and have no idea how this will come to be... [[BlatantLies it will work, I swear]].
* VillainsOutShopping: In this case, the "shopping" has taken over my life. My ambitions for conquest have been overshadowed by video games such as ''VideoGame/GarrysMod'', writing and exercising at the gym. And this damn wiki won't let me leave either.

[[/folder]]

This is a series of tropes for the Eurogamer ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' campaign ''The Break Quest Club'', which is another D&D campaign I'm following.

[[folder:The Break Quest Club]]

''The Break Quest Club'' is a ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' campaign on the Eurogamer Website/{{YouTube}} channel which began in 2020. It was originally hosted by Johnny Chiodini (then-head of video at Dicebreaker, formerly of Eurogamer themselves) as the DM. It focused on a party comprised of members from both Eurogamer and Dicebreaker as they also explore the land of G'eth, albeit in a different area. (Whether this means they're operating at the same time as [[WebVideo/{{Oxventure}} The Oxventurers Guild]] is not currently known, leaving any crossover ambiguous.)

After a three-year hiatus started by the COVID-19 pandemic, then exacerbated further when Johnny and then Lolies left Dicebreaker to go independent, ''Break Quest Club'' announced a relaunch in 2023. Although Johnny is no longer leading things, their replacement DM is Olivia Kennedy, also of Dicebreaker, with the cast also joined by Maddie Cullen.

The cast is currently:
* Olivia "Liv" Kennedy as the Dungeon Master
* '''Etain''' (Aoife Wilson): A human cleric in service to the god Pelor, accompanied by her dire-cat companion Pangur Ban (Ban for short);
* '''Morrigan Manafort''' (Zoe Delahunty-Light): A tiefling war jester without much control over their/her impulses.
* '''Robert. O Cop''' (Michael "Wheels" Whelan, of Dicebreaker): A Warforged artificer who tries to enforce the law and takes a dim view on crime, even being able to smell it despite having no nose.
* '''Goodbad the Badgood''' (Ian Higton): a half-orc barbarian who, despite everything, is rather friendly and prefers cooking to fights or adventuring.
* '''Currently TBC''' (Maddie Cullen, of Dicebreaker)

The original cast included:
* Johnny Chiodini as the DungeonMaster.
* '''Hel''' (Alex Lolies, also of Dicebreaker): a Shadar-kai rogue who tries to seem edgier than she really is. Left after the hiatus due to Lolies leaving Dicebreaker.


!!This series contains examples of:
* AntiHeroTeam: Though the titular team are ''reasonably'' moral, at least to start with, Hel is an unrepentant rogue who'll steal things if convenient, Morrigan can be quick to anger and Robert will punish some crimes with death (although this tends to be for repeat offenders). Etain was a minor delinquent and rascal as a child (though nothing too severe) and Goodbad, possibly the moral compass of the team, has a dark past as a more bloodthirsty barbarian.
* TheAtoner:
** Goodbad isn't proud of his history as a barbarian, which among other things involved his eating a cat.
** Wheels has implied that Robert's adherence to the law is partly down to being made to do some crimes by his masters before he broke free.
* BlatantLies: One bandit tries to pretend to Robert that he's a first-time offender and just joined up out of desperation for some quick cash. Thanks to a perception roll, Wheels is told that's absolutely false and Robert crushes the bandit's head.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: In "Con Voy", [[spoiler:Morrigan manages to tame one of the hippogrifs set loose by Magnus and Freya, and recruits it as her pet.]]
* DidntThinkThisThrough: One of Morrigan's major flaws is that her impulsiveness sometimes lands the party in the crapper, chiefly in "Family Duels" where she leapt into a fight without considering the ramifications.
* TheDragon: In "Family Duels", [[spoiler:Frederick Dinsdale is this to his father, who uses him as a way of taking out business competition]].
* DuelToTheDeath: In "Family Duels", the town has gotten rid of the law and uses a duel to settle differences and punish wrongdoers, although it isn't ''always'' to the death. [[spoiler:In practice, however, the competition is rigged so that Frederick Dinsdale can inflict a CurbStompBattle and kill anyone so quickly they don't have time to yield]].
* EpicFail:
** When attempting to talk down one of the villains in "Con Voy", Wheels rolls a natural 1 and Robert only angers said antagonist into a final act of defiance. Wheels imagines that Robert tried threatening [[spoiler:Magnus]] into submission by threatening their spouse, which naturally ended poorly.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes:
** The villains of the first arc are HappilyMarried.
** The ArcVillain for "Family Duels", [[spoiler:Dinsdale senior]], is persuaded to give up his plans and reluctantly join the church of Paelor in exchange for his son being healed.
* EveryoneHasStandards: Hel would consider ''robbing'' people, but brutalising said civilians in the process is too much.
* EvilAllAlong: In "Con Voy", [[spoiler:Magnus and Freya turn out to be a Bonnie and Clyde-style robbing duo who unleash dangerous wild animals as a distraction, then rob the helpless civilians.]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}: In "Con Voy", [[spoiler:a major clue that Freya isn't just a harmless old woman is how she takes the crossbow off Magnus and proves more proficient with it than he is]].
* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: In "Con Voy", [[spoiler:Hel joins with Magnus and Freya in robbing some civilians, but then relents when Freya brutalises them on top of the robbery; Hel subsequently tries to kill her]].
* {{Jerkass}}: Frederick Dinsdale has understandable reason to be pissed off at Morrigan for attacking him unprovoked (although this was due to [[PoorCommunicationKills not knowing local pseudo-laws]]), but even outside of that he's rude and surly towards the party, even when Goodbad is offering to buy him a drink without an ulterior motive. His dad, while loving his son, is also passively condescending to Etain when she tries to spread the good word about Paelor.
* KindheartedCatLover: Etain, the cleric, is a slight scoundrel but loves cats, especially Pangur Ban (Pan for short). She's understandably not happy to hear Goodbad once ate a cat, though in all fairness, he's not proud of it either.
* MilesGloriosus: Frederick Dinsdale might have ''some'' legitimate talent, but is too much of a braggart even accounting for that. [[spoiler:Even more so when it turns out the duels are rigged in his favour. Once the tables are turned, Morrigan beats him without too much trouble.]]
* MuggingTheMonster: Naturally, the party, plus Magnus and Freya, are held up by bandits; also naturally, said bandits are surprised to find they've bitten off more than they could chew.
* MysteriousPast: Goodbad deliberately withholds his history from the others as he isn't proud of it in the slightest. He mentions at one point that he ended up eating a cat, but is ashamed of it.
* NiceGuy: Goodbad the Badgood, the team's barbarian, who is much more friendly and soft-spoken than that would imply.
* OhCrap:
** The town guards react in ''panic'' when [[spoiler:Magnus and Freya arrive, and knock the gates down]] in "Con Voy".
** An anonymous bandit visibly panics when Robert doesn't buy the BlatantLies about being a desperate man recently forced into banditry.
* PragmaticHero: Robert O. Cop is ostensibly a ByTheBookCop, but he will occasionally let smaller crimes be ignored if it leads to a bigger or more serious offence.
* ShoutOut: Wheels' character, "Robert O. Cop", is a clear nod to ''Franchise/RoboCop''.
* SmugSnake: Both Dinsdale family members are a ''bit'' too confident for their own good.
* TeamPet: [[spoiler:At the end of "Con Voy", Morrigan gets a pet hippogriff]].
* TokenEvilTeammate: Hel served this role at least to begin with, being the only one of the gang who was willing to rob civilians.

[[/folder]]

Hello. I am an EvilBrit and enjoy guitar. When I'm not busy plotting an insidious scheme to take over the world (and force-feed you all crumpets and scones), I'm at the gym, writing D&D campaigns, playing games, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick and suffering bouts of existential despair]]. I spend too much time watching most things related to Creator/AchievementHunter or WebVideo/SovietWomble. I also love WebVideo/OutsideXbox and the works of Creator/TerryPratchett.

''The Break Quest Club'' is a ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' campaign on the Eurogamer Website/YouTube channel, with Johnny Chiodini (head of video at Dicebreaker, formerly of Eurogamer himself) as the DM.

* '''Morrigan Manafort''' (Zoe Delahunty-Light): A tiefling war jester.

* '''Hel''' (Alex Lolies, also of Dicebreaker): a Shadar-kai rogue who tries to seem edgier than she really is.

Though nothing has been confirmed, the campaign was confirmed as set in the Kingdom of G'eth, leading to speculation that it takes place in the ''Oxventure'' world.

* TheAtoner: Goodbad isn't proud of his history as a barbarian, which among other things involved his eating a cat.

**

* EvilAllAlong: In "Con Voy", [[spoiler:Magnus and Freya turn out to be a Bonnie and Clyde style robbing duo who unleash dangerous wild animals as a distraction, then rob the helpless civilians.]]
* {{Foreshadowing}}:
** In "Con Voy", [[spoiler:a major clue that Freya isn't just a harmless old woman is how she takes the crossbow off Magnus and proves more proficient with it than he is]].

* MilesGloriosus: Frederick Dinsdale might have ''some'' legitimate talent, but is too bragful even accounting for that. [[spoiler:Even more so when it turns out the duels are rigged in his favour. Once the tables are turned, Morrigan beats him without too much trouble.]]

EP – TERRAX

My candidate here is not someone that strikes out as immediately heinous, but instead someone who, much like Jackal in the Gargoyles cartoon, starts off small and in his final appearance, escalates to something truly reprehensible. I present to you Terrax “the Tamer”!

What is the work?

Fantastic Four was one of the Marvel animated shows to grace the nineties, focusing on Marvels First Family, including how they came to be. The first series was a bit hit and miss, but the second is considered a case of GrowingTheBeard, being less goofy in tone and generally higher production value; a side-effect of this was some BroadStrokes continuity and a retcon for this particular villain. This EP relates to the episodes “To Battle the Living Planet” and “When Calls Galactus”, the latter of which would reveal most of Terrax’s backstory.


WHO IS TERRAX? What does he do?

[Note: In the first series, Terrax appears as one of three Heralds to Galactus, alongside Silver Surfer and Fire-Lord. Pretty much all of this episode got retconned out except for Surfer defecting to Earth and Galactus reluctantly agreeing to leave Earth alone but punishing Surfer by exiling him to the planet. Terrax would appear as detailed below, Fire-Lord basically disappeared from continuity.]

Terrax (voiced by Creator/TonyJay in the semi-retconned episode The Silver Surfer and the Coming of Galactus, Part II for all of one or two lines, then by Ron Feinberg for Season 2) started life as Tyros, the warlord of a planet who ruled through brute force. A flashback / his origin story in “When Calls Galactus” shows him sitting on a throne, surrounded by several scantily-clad women (looks like a harem, although a kids show obviously cant call it that) just before he draws an axe to personally execute a prisoner brought before him, which he and the prisoner-dragging guards seemed used to doing, ignoring the silent protests of the chained up ladies. The poor sod gets an [[HopeSpot apparent reprieve on his unfair death sentence]] when Galactus arrives at his homeworld, now devoid of a herald (previously Silver Surfer) and looking for a replacement who will get the job (finding planets that support or can support life) done without a risk of defecting on moral grounds, thus risking his death, as Surfer did; Tyros willingly takes up the position and is granted his powers to [[DishingOutDirt manipulate ground, earth and rocks]] with the Power Cosmic and an enhanced axe, then laughed as Galactus consumed his planet, all the people on it and even his family. (This is not offscreen, we see the terrifying start to this process as the planet starts to be ripped apart and its people scream in fear and futilely run to escape). The world explodes, and Terrax surfs away with a SlasherSmile.

In "To Battle the Living Planet", Terrax briefly harasses Thor and Reed Richards when they reluctantly arrive on his ship, seeking Galactuss help against the titular Living Planet. Though he cuts it out when his master tells him to, he remains callously amused that Reed is so desperate for help to stop Ego and save his world. Nothing too heinous, but it does serve as foreshadowing that Terrax sold out his world for his own gain, and establish him as a massive {{Jerkass}}. From there, he accompanies his master, Thor and Reed in stopping Ego, but largely remains on the sidelines and leaves them, his master and Thor to do the bulk of the work (granted, Ego ''was'' powerful enough to take on his master directly). Galactus and the Four part, but Galactus warns Reed that as part of the deal, the next time Earth is in his path, it's back on the proverbial menu.

In "When Calls Galactus", Johnny meets Frankie Ray aka Nova, and things look like they might be on the up for him after Maximus separated him and Crystal (causing a severe depression), when Terrax becomes a major MomentKiller, interrupting their sky kiss and charging straight at them, shooting them out the way before descending to Earth and attacking the Baxter Building, knocking the top two floors off and demanding the shocked Four KneelBeforeZod (or Terrax). They initially assume his presence is a sign that Galactus is back to finish the Earth off and a fight breaks out, during which Johnny is swatted out the sky and he tries to force Sue and Reed to kneel again. Briefly knocked into the ground by Thing, Terrax rises out after crushing a cab. Seeing the cabbie react in shock, Terrax lifts the car up and throws it onto the ground (possibly crushing the cabbie to death? Not 100% clear). Using the Power Cosmic after growing tired of the brawl, he lifts the entire island of Manhattan and forces Sue to summon a giant force-field to stop the millions on it suffocating/freezing to death. Commanding the Four to obey him under penalty of the population dying, Terrax smugly reveals he has cut ways with his former master when Reed angrily asks why he'd threaten a city when Galactus could end the world himself. Revealing that he desires Galactus killed (ostensibly to “end the menace”), he forces the Four (Reed, Johnny, Ben and Nova; Sue stays behind to keep the force-field up) to board his ship when it arrives.

Reluctantly confronting Big G, we see the flashback I described in the first paragraph. We then find out, through another flashback, that Terrax finally grew tired of being subservient after having been a king beforehand, and decided to become TheStarscream, tricking him into the poisoned world Antos while pretending to be his faithful servant still. When Galactus attempted to absorb the world, its highly toxic/ “anti-life” polluted atmosphere and extreme levels of radiation left him extremely weakened, though not killed as expected. Terrax flees to Earth to escape his masters wrath, laughing as he does so.

Cut back to present, where Galactus is so weak he doesn’t seem capable of fighting. Terrax notices the lack of a brawl and cuts his way into the ship, angrily storming the throne room in an attempt to finish the job, but is stopped by Nova. The fight breaks out again, where Thing notices that the longer Terrax fights, the more Galactus’ equipemtn uses Terraxs Power Cosmic. Spotting this, Reed, Ben and Johnny start a fight with the intent of stalling him long enough to get Galactus back up. It works and he gets enough strength to blast an astonished Terrax to the floor. He cowers, begging for mercy before making a final shot at his former master, which fails as Galactus reclaims the Power Cosmic, leaves him begging for mercy again (screaming in BigNo), then sending him out the window and into the atmosphere, where he transforms into a giant worm and is left plummeting into the earth, burning up as he hits the ground with a thud.

Terrax is dead at this point, with Galactus restoring Manhattan to its rightful place in gratitude. Unfortunately, the poisoning catches up and leaves him desperate to survive, at which point Thor, the Four (hehe) and Ghost Rider are forced to subdue him. They are eventually persuaded to let him live by Nova, who takes Terraxs place as herald and leads him towards a cluster of uninhabited worlds Reed offers to direct them to. Out of gratitude, Galactus agrees to spare Earth once again and thanks them before leaving.

Heinous standard?

Okay, ol’ Terrax isnt given loads of screentime, but given that relative lack of time he does a surprisingly horrific amount. For a start shown to be a bloodthirsty tyrant willing to personally execute prisoners, and with an all-but-stated-harem, he then sells out his own planet and even his own family (I’m pretty sure this isnt something any other Marvel baddie in the nineties did apart from Creed Sr and Jr trying to kill each other in X-Men, though I could be wrong), laughing at the destruction and their terror. He then proceeds to singlehandedly kidnap millions of people and hold them hostage to force the Four to fight his boss so he can be king once again. Id say he does enough with all that, eclipsing most of the Fours other villains.

In the show proper, Galactus is treated as a force of nature rather than a true villain. Even when the first series treated him as literally dining when eating planets (urgh), the show makes a point he doesn’t want to end life, but has no choice in the matter; when given a choice to go for unoccupied worlds, he happily agrees. He can also show mercy and gratitude. Terrax? Couldnt give a fuck.

'''Mitigating Factors?'''

I can confidently say, ''absolutely'' none. He isn't a comedic villain, willingly sold out his own family to increase his power so no redeeming traits, and the Power Cosmic doesnt affect agency (others like Surfer, Nova and Doom remained largely unaffected whenever they got hold of it, although Doom was clearly relishing the power he got). No GenericDoomsdayVillain issues either; he's spiteful, opportunistic, greedy, smug, grandiose and bloodthirsty, with a malicious streak a mile wide, and deceptive when he wants to be.


'''Conclusion?'''

I feel most conmfortable with him and would like to give a [tup]. As always, your verdict!

* {{Jerkass}}: Frederick Dinsdale has understandable reason to be pissed off at Morrigan for attacking him unprovoked, but even outside of that he's rude and surly towards the party, even when Goodbad is offering to buy him a drink without an ulterior motive. His dad, while loving his son, is also passively condescending to Etain when she tries to spread the good word about Paelor.

None so far.

Though nothing has been confirmed, the campaign was confirmed as set in the Kingdom of G'eth, leading to speculation that it takes place in the ''Oxventure''.

* AntiHeroTeam: Though the titular team are ''reasonably'' moral, at least to start with, Hel is an unrepentant rogue who'll steal things if convenient, Morrigan can be quick to anger and Robert will punish some crimes with death (although this tends to be for repeat offenders).

** Misunderstanding how his transformations work (they think he always turns back into a dog after transforming once) means he causes a riot when he turns from a goat into a troll. The party agrees that he needs to remain hidden in towns or villages from that point on...

* EveryoneHasStandards: Hel would consider ''robbing'' people, but brutalising innocent civilians in the process is too much.

* The pages for LetsPlay/{{Strippin}} and LetsPlay/{{Turpster}}

!!EP for Lady Liliana

OK, here is my second EP for the Oxventure, the current BigBad and ArchEnemy to the Guild, Lady Liliana, who debuted in the episode "Spell Check" and menaces the adventurers through her later actions even if not directly present. I was going to EP this a while back but decided to hold on it to see what she would get up to next, and hoo boy, following the latest adventure, am I glad I did.

'''Who is Lady Liliana? What does she do?'''
Lady Liliana is a Drow sorcereress with the desire to TakeOverTheWorld. She first enters the story directly in the adventure "Spell Check", where the Oxventurers Guild look for a place to rest after their attempts in restoring the town of Bumble go [[{{Understatement}} poorly to say the least]]. They come upon the tavern the Scratched Parchment and, realising they could desperately do with a drink as most D&D adventurers do, go inside. The tavern appears remarkably quiet, something the guild initially assume is due to the relative remoteness of the tavern as they go to order a round of drinks. The bartender/innkeeper takes interest in realising all of the Guild are magic users and offers them a free drink each. SURPRISE, each drink is spiked to knock the guild out and they black out. When they reawaken, four of the guild (Corazon the human rogue, Prudence the tiefling warlock, Merilwen the Wood Elf druid and Dob the half-orc bard) are in a cell together, opposite dragonborn paladin Egbert, [[OrganTheft who is in an icy bathtub and missing one of his kidneys]].

As the guild discover when they try to break out, the facility saps the magic out of anyone trying to use it to escape, and each time someone tries that they feel themselves being drained (I guess you could compare it to a magicka-drain spell in Skyrim). Eventually luring in a PunchClockVillain jailor, Christopher Engelbert the Seventeenth (the name was improvised by the DM Johnny who had not intended for him to be a major NPC) and persuading him to make a HeelFaceTurn, they go through the dungeon facility and find only one weakened survivor, the dwarf Berun who was part of the Tunnel Wyverns before his gang were all captured and the rest drained. They find out from Berun that the organs of magic users are harvested for Lelianas gain while their magic energy is drained with the magical pipes, and any unlucky non-magical person might have their organs harvested and sold for profit on the black market anyway. The rest of the Wyverns are just husks in the cell. Recruiting him along with the jailor, they come up with a plan where Dob will try and pretend to have a message for Lady Liliana, pretending to distract her by being madly in love while the others break into the facility and ambush her. Christopher brings in the PlayAlongPrisoner Dob and pretends to have a messenger. Liliana responds by [[DisproportionateRetribution letting Dob talk but ordering her underlings to harvest Christopher's organs for sale]]. Dob manages to distract the room just long enough for the adventurers to break in - Corazon accidentally summoning a swarm of sandwiches with the excess magic energy - and a boss fight ensues when Liliana is hit by a magically-empowered Dob who uses [[ShockAndAwe an upgraded Thunder Wave]]. Apparently injured but not severely inconvenienced, Liliana grabs Egbert's kidney and vows that WeWillMeetAgain before [[KnowWhenToFoldEm teleporting away]]. Thus ends Spell Check.

The next adventure is almost entirely unrelated, focusing on Egbert and his pretty severe post-Liliana depression from losing a kidney while also working on his atonement. He works through it when they foil the next plot to poison his old paladin order (which is confirmed as unrelated to Liliana), but just as that adventure ends, DM Johnny describes a WhamShot of Liliana spying on the guild leaving Mistmire through a scrying pool. Nothing inherently heinous, but it shows she isn't done with the guild and will make good on her threat.

The next two adventures are entirely unrelated, but the one after these, titled Rolling in the Deep, is. Under threat from the hermit order of Prudences EvilMentor and AbusiveParent (surrogate parent), Prudence and co must reclaim said mentors cave for the order or be threatened with death. After traversing through the cave and coming across a group of republican Grell creatures (this D&D show is way DenserAndWackier than some, just go with it), they come across a lair where Egbert's kidney has been used up to generate a (not fully developed) CloneArmy of Dragonborn designed to serve Liliana in her conquest of Geth. The lair is staffed by a not-so-bright troll, and in the ensuing pandemonium the Guild end up fighting with and eventually defeating a berserker clone (which was trying to make a HeelFaceTurn but was sorta mad and got offed by the pirate). The troll then ends up dying too, and Prudence uses the poison from the paladin episode to poison the clones. Adventure over.

Subsequent adventures ''Peak Performance'', a heist arc for Corazon and and ''Faire Trial'' are completely unrelated to Liliana (though Performance is where the sole confirmed CM thus far, Vex, appears). However, the next adventure Sect Appeal sees the Guild visit a town where a curfew is in place because some of the people have gone missing. At the same time, the {{Team Pet}}s go missing, so the party goes off looking for them, coming to the cave of [[{{Cult}} The Order of the Blessed Lady]], where they are mistaken for new recruits, given food and then inducted into the order to do chores. Most of it goes okay, barring some bullying from other initiates... except when Egbert produces a pamphlet and a JerkJock warns against him doing that, since the cult consider any other religious discussion heretical and punish it severely. Once the apparent (well-meaning but completely misled) head of the Cult, Miss Ashridge, realises they are adventurers, however, the party are sent to retrieve some herbs which they do, fighting a demon on the way and then returning. The herb, it turns out, is needed for a ritual to mutate the captive townspeople, all clearly terrified and begging for help, into Dragonborn themselves, upon which they will be brainwashed and trained into an army; Miss Ashridge mentions here that the Blessed Lady had tried to make a clone army but it just proved too resource intensive - - at this point the group realise just who the Lady really is - - so they opted to just kidnap people and mutate them, which was cheaper than growing clones. The plan is foiled when A) Merilwen destroys the scrying pool to stop Liliana being clued in to the Oxventurers being there – she spots Corazon just in time for him to [[FlippingTheBird flip her off]] and for her to shout [[SuddenlyShouting KILL THE-]] before being cut off, and B) when the concoction designed to turn the humans into Dragonborn is eaten by Egbert -- [[OffTheRails at this point Johnny, DM, facepalms and eventually decides this means Egbert spawns a load of clone babies, because he had no idea what to do in that scenario]]. A successful persuasion roll gets the Cult to believe Egbert is the Chosen One and free all the prisoners who run back to town, though it is unclear if the Cult turns away from Liliana or remains loyal to her in some fashion. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking And then the adventurers leave to find the team pets had gone elsewhere all along]]. Liliana remains at large, however.


'''Heinous Standard?'''

Even accounting for any party in D&D / Pathfinder likely being an AntiHeroTeam (from both my own experience and from watching it online), Liliana is one of only a very few threats outside a particular localised area, and the only one, to date, to set her sights on conquering the Kingdom of Geth entirely. Most others, even confirmed CM Vex, are confined to a particular locale; the few not doing that are too LaughablyEvil, ObliviouslyEvil incompetent etc.

Aside from TakeOverTheWorld, Liliana is a BadBoss even by the standards of the show, threatening an underling with organ theft purely for delivering a messenger and having her cult enforce the image of her as a divine figure to the point that any genuine religious pamphlets etc are seen as heretical and potentially a capital offence; one of the JerkJock members who had previously bullied and bossed around the undercover Guild outright relents because he doesn't want them tortured or killed, suggesting it ends poorly either way. Growing a CloneArmy isn't itself heinous (although stealing an unwilling participant's organ for the process is pretty nasty), but when that gets ruined, she instead opts to raise a cult, order them to kidnap innocent townsfolk and plan to forcibly mutate them into soldiers for her army, a process that is meant to be painful. Liliana is also, to date, one of two recurring villain after the first BigBad (BigBadWannabe in a way) M. Channail meets his end; the other lack agency to count. (Two groups resurface in a HazyFeelTurn but not actively trying to kill the protagonists). The heinous standard was my only real objection at first, hence why this EP has been brewing in my mind for half a year, but I think the kidnapping of people to mutate them into unwitting soldiers pushes her over.

'''Mitigating Factors?'''

Nothing redeeming, certainly. She treats most of her initial underlings like total crap, and while she doesn't outright abuse the Cult founded in her name there is no indication she actually ''cares'' for them, enforcing a Cult of Personality where any religious discussion not about her is met with a nasty and unspecified punishment; the cult in turn are entirely unaware of her true intentions, [[WellIntentionedExtremist genuinely seeming to believe that they are doing good]] [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist despite Liliana being utterly full of crap]]. No sort of standards, either -- she's behind kidnapping, organ black marketeering and painful conscription.

Liliana isn't entirely devoid of humour, but almost all of said humour comes from VileVillainLaughableLackey (which I don’t think is disqualifying given that Hela from ''Film/ThorRagnarok'' went up despite her constantly face palming at Skurge). There is a degree of BlackComedy in the initial OrganTheft from Egbert, but that's partly because of standard D&D ComedicSociopathy from the others (also it was a live show so I can't tell entirely if the laughter was OMG THATS HORRIBLE, genuine humour or both;), and her plan to harvest the minions organs is met with genuine horror. The humour from the clone army mostly comes from the only directly fought clone being confused about what to do and then being offed by the pirate (in a particularly cruel way, granted), plus the troll being an absolute moron. The mutating townsfolk plan? MassOhCrap from the party when they realise who theyre dealing with; the subsequent OffTheRails is hilarious, but not through her.


'''Verdict'''

I held on doing this EP after Rolling in the Deep because I was sure Leliana would do something more heinous to meet the threshold, and after Sect Appeal I feel more confident in giving a [tup]. Given that she will almost certainly reappear when the OX crew do another game (they've been hosting these on livestreams over a video call app every two weeks), I'm happy if people think we should hold, having said that.

!!EP for Erowin

OK, my next EP is for the ArcVillain of [[WebVideo/OutsideXbox the Oxventure]] episode [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0xHhJzxbKI Elf Hazard - watch here if you like]], which came out on 29th May.

'''Who is Erowin?''' Erowin is the elder of the elf village from which Merilwen, the party druid, comes from originally. Merilwen eventually went to go adventuring after rescuing a wildcat, Simon, and eventually met the party after Simon died. The village sends summons to Merilwen that take a while to arrive; [[RealityEnsues turns out that a tortoise is a slow messenger]] [[AwesomeButImpractical and this took 2 years]].

It transpires, however, that the Elder has much nastier designs than initially made apparent.

'''What does he do?'''

For some time, the village has held naming ceremonies, for when an elf reaches the age of 100 they are legally deemed an adult and must go through a naming ceremony, in which they discard their child name and pick an adult one. In theory, the elf in question can decide on their own name and always pick one from a tombola if they struggle (and will be rewarded with a sort of elf!jewellery headband; and if that doesn't satisfy then they can always decide to leave while keeping their own "birth" name (though [[YouCantGoHomeAgain they will be forbidden from returning and sent off with an iron broach]], wished the best on their adventures and sorely missed etc.). However, Erowin has actually been cursing the iron broach so that whenever it is gifted to an elf, the unlucky recipient will be tracked down by multiple banshees and cruelly torn apart shortly after leaving the village (remember that this is a standard elf who would be a trained hunter but not really capable of fighting one of these off, let alone a whole goddamn swarm of them). The result is essentially the village being under his thumb.

When party rogue and {{Pirate}} Corazon breaks into the elders house (ostensibly to find out whats going on, but really because his anti-tiefling racism pissed the group off), he finds a ledger with a long list of names. A few appear fine with a list of locations, but a LOT of them have an ominous '''X''' written next to their name and no place listed, which the group agree is unnerving and very suspicious.

Upon discovering that the competition has been rigged by the party so Merilwen can keep her name (the bard and clueless paladin made a fake tombola, ItMakesSenseInContext), he angrily asks if this is a joke and declares that the same name is forbidden (couldn't have said this earlier, arsehole?) and slaps the Iron Broach on her, causing Merilwen's parents to start crying in horror as they know what's about to happen. Corazon appears to turn invisible when the bard desperately attempts to protect him (the Iron Broach now known to be cursed), but Erowin just mutters "[[DissonantSerenity he isn't dead. Not yet"]]. Cue the sound of banshees screeching ''immediately'' hitting everyone (not close enough that it would damage, but enough for a MassOhCrap to ensue) as they advance towards the town and the residents, bar Merilwen's parents who cant bear to abandon their daughter, flee for shelter.

Ultimately, upon realising the Iron Broach is cursed, Corazon slaps Erowin with the Iron Broach and he [[DirtyCoward desperately attempts to flee]], but Merilwen casts [[GreenThumb Entangle]] on him to trap him, [[AintTooProudToBeg leaving him begging to be released]]. [[EntitledBastard This gets him nowhere considering she's just had her life endangered by him no less]], [[KarmicDeath just before the banshees kill him]].

After the broach of Merilwen is taken off her, the banshees (minus one that the party had killed in self-defence) leave, their attention now going elsewhere. Dob (after briefly considering weaponising the banshee homing bracelet, immediately deciding this is a bad idea) heats the broaches to destroy them, and the town immediately declares that the naming ceremony will be changed altogether to allow elves the choice to actually keep their name (while still being allowed back), happy to be free of the elders influence and [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing glad he is dead]] (Merilwen's mum drops [[PardonMyKlingon a nasty word in Elvish implied to be on par with motherfucker or the C-bomb]], [[SpeakIllOfTheDead within minutes of his dying no less]]). Merilwen ultimately does take a different name for whenever she visits the village, but keeps her own for any other businesses.

'''Heinous Standard''':

Another standalone ArcVillain, but one who heads an elf town and abuses his authority to kill anyone that defies his tradition with no concern for compromise, with a ledger detailing the many deaths hes directly arranging (even if he never draws a sword himself)? I think he makes it. Merilwen is just the latest would-be victim, and he is more than happy for Corazón to die as well. Hes got resources and happily abuses them, and though hes another minor villain like Vex (the sole confirmed CM thus far, the ArcVillain of Peak Performance) I think he just about clears the baseline. The crimes are played genuinely seriously, and the party collectively treats him like the monster he is.

This ''is'' D&D, and the Oxventurers series runs more on comedy, a lot of it from the gang being an AntiHeroTeam (which as far as I can tell is par for the course). With that said? They wouldn't seriously attempt ''anything'' like this (the bard is comically unaware hence brief experimenting with the broaches, and he quickly gives up and decides EvilisNotAToy).

Other one-shot villains from the most recent campaigns, to give you some perspective:

* A group of hunters HuntingTheMostDangerousGame, who kidnapped anyone who came to help a "damsel in distress"; they can't count because nobody in that group is especially heinous and most of them are genuinely AffablyEvil.
* A bandit chief who's easily steamrolled and comically out of his depth, who gets burned alive by the villagers.
* A paladin trials guy who really isn't a villain at all.
* Part of a cult for [[BigBad Lady Liliana]] who can't qualify as a group.
* Skeletons powered/cursed by blood magic who don't have agency.

'''Redeeming Traits? Mitigating Qualities?'''

He initially seems like a NobleBigot who is prejudiced against Tieflings owing to relative isolation but still acts polite, but the sadness he reportedly shows at seeing his people leave is fake, given that he is happy to sic banshees on them (he couldn't have just poisoned their drink or had them killed in their sleep so they wouldn't have to suffer, or y'know ''just banished them''?), plus how he'll willingly get Corazon, an outsider, killed as well. Though one could make an argument he just takes tradition too far, Im not convinced, especially when the rest of the village decides screw tradition, not killing our people is more important.

He seems to treat the village kindly, but that seems to be PragmaticVillainy; they're scared shitless of him slapping a cursed broach on them and turning them into banshee chow.

As for humour? Not in his crimes. That I can tell, at least.

Verdict

I think he just about earns a [tup]. With that said, I'll wait to hear the threads' thoughts and I have a major villain to propose even if he doesn't qualify.

* VillainsOutShopping: In this case, the "shopping" has taken over my life. My ambitions for conquest have been overshadowed by video games such as ''VideoGame/GarrysMod'', writing fanfiction and exercising at the gym. And this damn wiki won't let me leave either.

* TaughtFromExperience: The various escapades Shoggy gets up to cause the party to adapt their plans accordingly, though even as they do there tends to be something else they weren't prepared for:

* GetBackHereBoss: Shane, AKA "Shane the Sly / Shy", who never once fought for himself but always seems to have multiple escape routes planned and used before the party can get close. It takes them ''months'' to track him down and put him down for good.

* {{Hypocrite}}: One of the players who joined but didn't stay - referred to as "that guy" - used a ChaoticNeutral warlock character, which promptly attempted to have sex with Shoggy when he transformed into a female elf. When the Kobold cleric healed said Warlock from the ensuing GroinAttack and gave a lecture on morality, "that guy" called the entire party "dog-fucking faggots" [sic] and stormed off in real-life... completely oblivious to the fact that his character literally attempted to bed a (transformed) dog. Lampshaded in the thread where the story was being told, where OP even admits he has no idea what "that guy" was talking about.
* KillerGameMaster: OP notes that the DM, while being [[DownplayedTrope firm but fair]] on many matters, ended up killing quite a few of the party off; anyone familiar with ''Fanfic/TheAllGuardsmanParty'' will recognise this. With that said, he was seemingly fond of Shoggy and gave him some degree of PlotArmour.

* StupidEvil: The party thief who joined up at one point is noted by OP as being stupid (and unwilling to learn from his mistakes) to mind blowing degrees, notably pissing off his fellow thieves by serving as TheStoolPigeon, while also conning the clergy and trying to swindle anyone he comes across. He was also notably lax on camp security, which almost resulted in him being kidnapped and brainwashed by some scions. Ultimately, he plans a theft on the wizards college which backfires and forces him into early retirement; none of the party desperately miss him, except for Shoggy.

Please note that a good chunk of this folder is badly-written sarcasm. If it's under NoRealLifeExamplesPlease, it's almost certainly a bad joke.

* ExactWords: I CannotTellALie, so I will tell the truth in the most twisted and convoluted way possible.

[[folder: Shoggy Main Page]]

[[folder:Shoggy Main Page]]
->''"I’d like to share the story of one of my favorite NPCs: a party pet called Shoggy the Seldom Dog. A friendly dog that randomly polymorphed every few hours."''

The "Shoggy the Seldom Dog" saga is a collection of stories from the same ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' campaign, run by the same GameMaster who would later run ''Fanfic/TheAllGuardsmenParty''. The most famous story, as the title would imply, is that of the party pet named Shoggy, a shapeshifting dog, though other stories like "Tommy the Bard" and "Shane the Sly" also exist from the same continuity.

** Many of the traits were kept, but received a {{Nerf}} that gave them, for example, 50% chances to backfire; OP notes that the revised rules weren't ''that'' harsh, but that Tommy's player was too reckless to make them work as they were now.
** One of the traits Tommy wanted was to be more recognisable based off his past exploits. While the DM had to tone down many of the more zany, overpowered traits (in ways that came to bite Tommy in the arse), this one ''didn't'' change, if only because Tommy's player hadn't realised how badly he could have been screwed over.

** The eponymous TeamPet would very rarely fight ''anything'', but

* KillerGameMaster: OP notes that the DM, while being [[DownplayedTrope firm but fair]] on many matters, ended up killing quite a few of the party off; anyone familiar with ''Fanfic/TheAllGuardsmenParty'' will recognise this. With that said, he was seemingly fond of Shoggy and gave him some degree of PlotArmour.

** Shoggy's escapades start as amusing, but the party eventually have to get him a permanent and experienced pet-sitter because as funny as it is, he risks killing them all. Finding said pet-sitter also takes quite a while, as not many people are prepared for, or willing to deal with, a polymorphing pet; at least one group of druids view him as an abomination and recommend euthanising him.