diff --git a/d2m/converters/message-to-event.js b/d2m/converters/message-to-event.js
index 5994ff3..8a5ab17 100644
--- a/d2m/converters/message-to-event.js
+++ b/d2m/converters/message-to-event.js
@@ -52,11 +52,8 @@ function getDiscordParseCallbacks(message, guild, useHTML) {
 		emoji: node => {
 			if (useHTML) {
 				const mxc = select("emoji", "mxc_url", {emoji_id: node.id}).pluck().get()
-				if (mxc) {
+				assert(mxc) // All emojis should have been added ahead of time in the messageToEvent function.
 					return `<img data-mx-emoticon height="32" src="${mxc}" title=":${node.name}:" alt=":${node.name}:">`
-				} else { // We shouldn't get here since all emojis should have been added ahead of time in the messageToEvent function.
-					return `<img src="mxc://cadence.moe/${node.id}" data-mx-emoticon alt=":${node.name}:" title=":${node.name}:" height="24">`
-				}
 			} else {
 				return `:${node.name}:`
 			}
@@ -64,7 +61,9 @@ function getDiscordParseCallbacks(message, guild, useHTML) {
 		role: node => {
 			const role = guild.roles.find(r => r.id === node.id)
 			if (!role) {
-				return "@&" + node.id // fallback for if the cache breaks. if this happens, fix discord-packets.js to store the role info.
+				// This fallback should only trigger if somebody manually writes a silly message, or if the cache breaks (hasn't happened yet).
+				// If the cache breaks, fix discord-packets.js to store role info properly.
+				return "@&" + node.id
 			} else if (useHTML && role.color) {
 				return `<font color="#${role.color.toString(16)}">@${role.name}</font>`
 			} else if (useHTML) {
diff --git a/d2m/converters/message-to-event.test.js b/d2m/converters/message-to-event.test.js
index 8f89a43..d40dd72 100644
--- a/d2m/converters/message-to-event.test.js
+++ b/d2m/converters/message-to-event.test.js
@@ -85,6 +85,18 @@ test("message2event: simple role mentions", async t => {
 	}])
 })
 
+test("message2event: manually constructed unknown roles should use fallback", async t => {
+	const events = await messageToEvent(data.message.unknown_role, data.guild.general, {})
+	t.deepEqual(events, [{
+		$type: "m.room.message",
+		"m.mentions": {},
+		msgtype: "m.text",
+		body: "I'm just @&4 testing a few role pings <@&B> don't mind me",
+		format: "org.matrix.custom.html",
+		formatted_body: "I'm just @&4 testing a few role pings &lt;@&amp;B&gt; don't mind me"
+	}])
+})
+
 test("message2event: simple message link", async t => {
 	const events = await messageToEvent(data.message.simple_message_link, data.guild.general, {})
 	t.deepEqual(events, [{