I noticed some interesting things about the spell
Decomposition that Caduceus used in Ep030. It spawned a bit of fiction based on
these transcripts.
Episode 028
The Mighty Nein approach Caduceus’ graveyard for the first
time.
0:43:05 Matt:
“Frumpkin begins to return, and a passing of one of the clouds gives more
sunlight that breaks through what was previously a very dense, grey sky. As the
light kind of passes between the small breaks in the tree canopies, the green
comes to light with color, numerous types of color. A rainbow of flowers, of
pigments you’ve never really seen before, begin to emerge as the light hits it.
Nearly every inch of these grave sites contain just a smattering scatter of
rainbow colors across petal & stamen.”
Episode 30
They stop at Molly’s grave on their way south again.
(Alpha uncut VOD times)
2:55:41 Beau:
“You know, I uh… I grabbed his stupid cards.” She mimics holding them
up.
Jester: “I
love those cards.”
Beau: “You
want to draw one?”
Jester, softly:
“Yeah.”
Liam: “Caleb
scoops Nott up out of the cart that she’s in, and, just, we watch from a
distance.”
Laura mimics reaching across for a card and looks at it.
Laura, to Matt:
“What did I pull?”
Matt, to Taliesin:
“What did she pull?”
Taliesin, after a
long pause thinking: “Mmm… Oh god, I’ve got to think about this… I think
you pulled The Moon again.”
Jester, smiling
at the card: “I pulled this the first time I met him.”
Beau: “Old
Faithful.”
Jester, after
staring at it a long time: “Well, this is his card.” She mimics
placing the card on the ground.
Laura: “I
put it next to the little stick.”
[…]
3:02:49 Caduceus:
“May I?”
Taliesin:
“I’m going to walk up, move a little bit of the snow, and dig my hand as
deep into the ground as I can. And attempt to do the full casting of Decompose
and see what I get.”
3:03:09 Matt:
“Okay.”
Jester, upset:
“Are you going to make Molly tea!?”
Taliesin mimics quietly concentrating on the spell.
Matt: “You
finish focusing on the cantrip. It feels like it sufficiently took root, though
you do not see any difference, as it is a bit beneath the dirt.”
Caduceus: “Something will be here.”
Beau: “What
did you just do?”
Caduceus: “I
made the earth remember him. Something will be here.”
Taliesin: “I
get back on the cart, and leave them.”
Decompose Cantrip
Decompose is a mainly-flavor cantrip Matt wrote for Caduceus.
(Twitter @matthewmercer 2018-08-09 11:02 PM [why can’t I put
links in the tags, Tumblr??])
Spell text: “You reach out and touch the corpse of a
creature. Over the next minute, the corpse begins to rapidly decompose,
sprouting fungus & moss as it begins to degrade into compost and mulch. An
off-colored flower or two may also spring from the corpse in this time.
Applicable requirements for resurrection are unaffected by this
decomposition.”
I’m unsure what that last sentence will really mean for the
current situation, but it’s certainly a clear signal from Taliesin to let
things be as they are and watch the next beautiful thing bloom.
Critical Analysis 