#Taliesin and Laura when I find you

[spirit-of-beetlejuiceblues12]

I’m so unwell about this

[shorthaltsjester]

watching the sdcc panel and i am just very :) about how sweet their answers to “what are some of the micro moments from the game that have stuck with you the most over the years?” are. taliesin saying what the fuck is up with that which was the first like The Party Gets To Know Each Other moments of c3. travis saying asking his wife if he could kiss her in campaign. marisha going way back to the cannonball competition in campaign one. ashley choosing the beauyasha date but also just the silly goat noise matt made. liam adding onto that to compliment matt roleplaying grass so well and then saying his favourite moment was writing a story for laura and reading it to her as caleb for jester. and then matt saying that was his answer, and that his favourite moments of the game are when they find ways to give gifts to each other whether tangible or not. and sam saying his favourite moments have less to do with the story and is more so when he can just. see his friends across the table from him. when marisha perches and when laura and ashley are (badly) drawing dicks and liam saying he loves when sam sneezes and ashley tells him to stop it and just. yeah. they Are an extremely popular online powerhouse, but i’m so happy that they’re also friends building a world together out of gifts to and love for one another.

like i Am so enamoured with the characters and the world of exandria but the moments when you can feel the love that those people have for each other reach out from behind the stained glass of their performances (to steal a metaphor from brennan lee mulligan) are so extremely special and i am endlessly grateful that they decided to share their silly little home game with the world.

[demisexualemmaswan]

also I know we're all mentally screaming about episode 3

but I'd like to go back to episode 2 for just a second

"If we lose him, I..."

Vex being the one to cry out Percy's name when they go to rescue Percy

"I thought I lost you..." "I'm here, Vex'ahlia" - hey laura. taliesin. WHAT THE FUCk.

THE HUG????

literally this boy burrows into Vex every time they hug

like sorry taliesin you can tell me that percy's family didn't hug and therefore he doesn't like hugging but your animated show is telling me that Percy is a little touch starved baby boy

BUT ALSO

the tears IN HER EYES??? THE WAY SHE PUTS HER CHEEK IN HIS PALM????? WHAT THE FUCK YOU GUYS

the utter desperation in his voice at "Pike, a little help!" to get Pike to heal Vex

"You saved me...twice." "What would you do without me?"

BUT ALSO SHE FUCKING PUTS HER HEAD BACK ON HIS SHOULDER LIKE VEX YOU ARE DOWN SO BAD???????

"To be fair, we did break a decent amount of laws finding you" yeah because you'd break the world for him, vex

percy doesn't even let j'mon sa ord finish the sentence that they'll kill vm, baby boy is like "YEP THEY'RE INNOCENT LET 'EM GO SAVE 'EM"

percy stepping up so the frame is just focused on him and vex while percy is giving himself up to protect vm

"Percy, what are you doing?"

Vex calling for him as the doors close

"They're going to kill Percy!" the anguish, anger and desperation in her voice like vex u don't even know what's coming for you yet

THE HAND HOLDING IS SOMEHOW MORE INTIMATE THAN THE SEX U GUYS HAVE ONE EPISODE LATER????

(mildly related, I love seeing the others' relationship with percy get attention because it's very clear that like Percy's a little different from the rest of VM's attitude but he's still theirs and they love him)

"and above all else, I didn't want you to see me that way" what if I JUST

[fluidstatick]

FCG's sacrifice | Critical Role - Bells Hells ep 91

If you've not seen Sam's video on the Crit Role channel, It's Been Awhile, go watch it now. Then come back and watch this again. Then bear with me, I need to talk about this for a bit.

When I saw this the first time I thought it was odd that everyone was crying so much. Laudna's death gave everyone focus, and Molly's was met with solemnity, but few tears. Why did Sam's decision rock the table so much harder this time?

Everyone is crying when FCG decides to sign off. Matt cries harder than we've seen since the C2 signoff. Taliesin hides his face. Liam is visibly crushed, and then snarling with rage, and then numb. Marisha is bargaining, Ashley is protesting, Laura is speechless. At the time I wrote it off as the cast being tired, frustrated by the Otohan battle, disappointed by a rough run of ineffective strategies.

Most of all, I thought Travis' body language and quiet remark were so strange. He's smiling throughout this death scene, eyes sparkling, awed, and he says in a level, sincere voice - "I'm so proud of you." We all know Travis laughs when he's panicking, so I thought he was just enjoying the symmetry of FCG's character arc. But now that we know why the table was so broken up at this, I understand Travis' amazement and pride, too.

Everyone is in tears because they don't know if Sam is going to come back. They don't know if he'll make it. They know they can't make their fear and hurt explicit, because it'll breach Sam's privacy at a very dark and frightening time. But he takes this poetically timed opportunity to allow Bell's Hells to endure. He removes himself narratively, preserves his privacy, and lays a plot point that will allow the others to channel their grief and fear into the game in his absence. Travis sees what this decision does not just for the narrative, but for the health of the brand. That's CEO Travis telling Sam how proud he is. And when FCG bolts for Otohan at a full dash, thinking about Bertrand, and Dorian, and Frida -- That's Sam, squaring up to cancer, thinking of his predecessors in the fight, his comrades in his own battle, and the people who most need him to win.

When Matt said "The stakes are higher than ever", he wasn't talking about Exandria. He was talking about Sam, the table's one of a kind friendship, and the joyful soul of CR. And nobody knew when or how they'd come out the other side.

At the Greek, When Ashton failed his wisdom save against Dominox and it used FCG's voice to accuse them of letting him die, I was thrown a little by Tal's performance. If Ashton failed the wisdom save, why is he so strong in the face of this accusation? But now I see it's Taliesin asking cancer, how dare you try to make us feel guilty while our best friend kicks your ass? How dare you tell us that we've fucked up, when we've all done everything in our power to protect this man that we love?

I didn't like Braius when he debuted. I thought he was too vain, too brash, too pushy. I thought he was a goofy swing and an ill fit for the party. But now, in context with everything we didn't see before, he's perfect. He's a husky-voiced warrior of few words, a jittery fanboy, a wounded jester, a powerful healing force of darkness, a joyful slut with a slit throat, so alive, alive, alive.

I could say so much more but I'm emotionally exhausted. Get your HPV vaccine. If your body needs pelvic exams, get them, every year, no slacking. If your body tells you something is weird, listen to it, and find a doctor who will also listen to it.

If you're reading this, I love you. Go tell someone who needs to know that you love them.

Fuck Cancer.

[laterkatersays]

4 Sided Dive | Episode 29 The Tower | Thru C3 E113

Question: Did Ashton find Jester’s relationship advice helpful?

Taliesin: (Emphatically) Yes.

Question: Why did he seek advice on Fearne at this time?

Taliesin: Honestly, because between guilt, which has been kind of festering forever in Ashton’s head, and also that they don’t really, like, they don’t hit on people normally. When they hook up with people, people hook up with them. They’re not really-

Marisha: The initiator.

Laura: I could see that

Taliesin: They’re not the initiator. They’re just willing to be cool, and then be nonchalant about it, and like, whatever. Like it’s not, there’s not a lot of- And like, not that this was commitment either, but I’m like, I don’t hit on people.

Marisha: Uh-huh.

Taliesin: And also, I feel really bad about a bunch of shit, which also then adds a bunch of like- I don’t want to be guilty and I don’t also want to be going, “Hey babe, it’s the end of the world, want to?” Like, no, no, no, no, no, I’m into this! It just happens to be the worst time that there is for this.

Laura: Has Ashton ever pined for someone before?

Taliesin: No, no.

Laura: Is Ashton pining for Fearne?

Taliesin: (Like when you’re trying to express something and your friend hasn’t quite understood) No…

Sam: What is it about her that turns him on most?

Taliesin: It’s honestly, it’s the- it’s a mirror of their own recklessness.

Sam: (Indicating Fearne’s supposed marsupial pouch)

Taliesin: Yeah, well, that, it’s the pouch too.

Taliesin: But no, it’s very rare for them to meet somebody who is just as irresponsible, who like has that same irresponsibility. And like, the way in his head that it pops up is, like, she really hits him in the best of the worst of him. Like, very much the you bring out the best of my worst. Which, the worst is never going away, and I kind of know that. So, I feel like my chaos is better around you, and I like, I’m not used to really liking people that way. Like, it’s always a little messy, ‘cause family is just designed to disappoint you and go badly. So yeah, it’s a whole-

Taliesin: (Speaking about Ashton specifically, I think) They’re not healthy! At all!

Marisha: No, you just said a lot of really sad things.

Taliesin: Oh they’re sad, they’re sad. Yeah, life has not been kind. They’re doing their best.

[burr-ell]

A Not-Necessarily-Exhaustive List of Good Moments from C1 1-27:

"I have an intelligence of 6, I know what I'm doing"

"We're here to right wrongs, and right lefts—" "And write comment cards"

Tiberius Kraghammer

Clarota

"We'll explain later. You're on the roof of Osama bin Laden's house"

"We'll be taking your weapons, your armor, and I believe your pride"

Percy making the first trick arrows for Vex after a shopkeep was a dick to her about arrows, which is canonically when she began to fall for him

Keyleth killing that one duergar from the TLOVM flashback

"I encourage violence"

Lady Kima being freed and then pulverizing the corpse of the duergar who'd been torturing her

Matt's fucked up body horror monsters

Scanlan taking a dump on a bed for the first time

Pike's crisis of faith when she slits a duergar's throat with her mace and her holy symbol breaks

When the limited T-shirt run went live and then sold out before Marisha could finish reading the announcement

Vax getting his foot burned off in lava

Scanlan the Kingslayer

"Can I use my Luck feat for this?" "You don't have any feet left"

Kima and Keyleth's argument (it was good, haters eat my shorts)

The origin of The Cube

"I'm Vax that's Vex ->" "I'm Vex that's Vax <-"

"Screw you, I want my final words with you to be indignant and irritated!"

"He has three-quarters cover" "I ignore three-quarters cover :)" "...then fuckin' fire!"

"Some people have no sense of fucking honor!"

Travis's notes that just say "I don't trust Clarota I don't trust Clarota I don't trust Clarota"

Percy reacting to the Briarwoods being namedropped during a council meeting

Meeting Gilmore on-stream for the first time

The Belt of Dwarvenkind and Grog's obsessive attempts to grow a beard

Scanlan's blue-shit-scrying potion

Grog "Philip" Strongjaw vs Kern

Vax giving Minxie!Keyleth a belly rub

The hydra fight and the beef with the Slayer's Take

Episodes 18 and 19, in their entirety, but specifically:

Zahra and Vex's initial rivalry-turned-friendship-turned-"I have a crush on Zahra"

Lyra. She's just. so much. idk of what but she is it

"I'm wearing the pajamas with the buttflap and the buttflap is down. The buttflap is DOWN"

Scanlan introducing himself to Rimefang as Burt Reynolds and then Matt, in his scary dragon voice, calling him "Burt"

"I'm sorry, I'm a genius, I'm sorry! Oh, god I'm clever!"

Zahra killing Rimefang

Percy and Vex working together on a history check (it's important To Me)

Wil Wheaton rolling five Nat 1s. In one session

Keyleth and Vax posing as a married couple to get information

Kash insight-checking Thorbir, believing he has to be actively sabotaging them because no one could possibly be that bad at their job (he's not, he really is just that unlucky)

Wil, playing a dwarven fighter, finally rolling a nat 20...for an insight check

The magic carpet losing its enchantment in a pit of acid and Laura's scream of horror from offscreen

"Rakshasaaaaaaa!" -jazz hands-

Kashaw and Keyleth, which was thankfully reworked in TLOVM but was also hilarious

Vex exasperatedly kissing Grog, portrayed by Laura kissing a bewildered Travis

Tyriok the cartographer

Grog, the Vasselheim merchant, and the first and only time Vex started beef with a retailer

Keyleth recounting a vision she had of her own death

The Aramente trial in Pyrah and a cameo from Thordak

Travis getting a medal from a fan for losing to Kern and Matt making it canon

Grog fighting Kern again and winning

Keyleth getting arrested. For the second time in Vasselheim alone

The first appearance of the man. The myth. The Viktor

Kynan's first appearance and Vax's idea of "tough love"

Percy telling his backstory to the party and them immediately affirming their support for him ("You don't have to get involved in this" "Oh, we are SO involved" "You said you wanted 'em dead!") and Taliesin himself being moved to tears over this

Percy creating Diplomacy

Vax and Keyleth bear-sitting Trinket and braiding pink ribbons into his fur

Gilmore finding out Vax wants to see him and teleporting in from half a continent away

Vax shaving half of Grog's beard and Travis breaking a mechanical pencil with one hand

The feast, where Percy actually threatens the Briarwoods to their faces while disguised as Vax

Vax and the Briarwoods. "Gosh you guys are good-looking"

Vax nearly dying and having a vision of the two people he cares about most: Vex and Keyleth

Sylas jumping out the window and doing a perfect 3-point landing...while Delilah blows the athletics check and faceplants in the dirt

"SYLAS"

Vex scoring two crits on Delilah

Tiberius getting Feebleminded

Percy's attack on Desmond. My horrid little skrunkly <3

"YOUR SOUL IS FORFEIT! DIE! DIE!" and Keyleth skipping her turn to just stare at Percy

Vox Moochina

Keyleth taking charge to save the ember roc

Keyleth conjuring a water elemental and Taliesin gargling water to translate her commands to it

And finally, the conversation between Keyleth and Percy where he privately confesses his own worries that he's going dark and that he's afraid of himself, and she expresses her concern for him and promises to be there for him

anyway c1 good

[utilitycaster]

On the heels of your critique of C3's pacing and the sludginess of it all—something I have been contemplating lately is how the perceived need (certainly ICly and seemingly OOCly) for BH to move at a breakneck speed from event to event has had an effect on inter-party discussions and bonding that I find really pretty tragic. I can't help but wonder, would we be dealing with the indecision and rehashed circular debates we're seeing now if the party had been able to take the downtime they needed to really get to know themselves and each other, and to better define what's important to them? I often see people expressing frustration about how badly certain characters "need to TALK to each other!!!" but to date, I just don't know if the pace of the campaign has created many opportunities for that. And that's the thing I miss the most about the previous campaigns, just having more breathing room to let the characters and their relationships develop organically. I dunno. Increasingly I feel like these are interconnected issues.

I think I've talked about this before so I don't want to get too in the weeds but: yes. I think at this point Matt is like...making space deliberately for them to talk in-game, but at this point the party has spent so long not really talking and we're so late in the game that no one really takes him up on it or when they do it's the old Gods Debate again.

I really think the problem is once again what I've been saying for like, well over a year now. I don't think the cast was given as much direction as they were for campaign 2, nor was the campaign deliberately tailored to this party, so it has always been ill-fitting. Even some of the pre-planned elements have fallen flat (I have innumerable reservations about the Laudna book, but I do want to read it if only because I still could tell you basically nothing about her and Imogen's time together pre-campaign - it's one incident in Gelvaan, helping Zhudanna one time in Jrusar which wasn't even pre-planned but rather their "session zero", and apparently they saw someone with boob tassels one time). Things like Ashton and Imogen's relationships with the gods feel tacked on after Taliesin and Laura realized that having some sort of pre-existing opinion on the gods was in fact deeply relevant to this campaign; I do genuinely want an answer from both of them of whether "I had prayed to the gods and they never answered" existed in their backstories more than 5 minutes before it came up in game because I'd bet good money it was "no, I threw that in on the fly." So you have characters that are a little more broadly sketched, which would normally be fine (I mean, I don't think most of Vox Machina in the original birthday party one-shot had a terribly deep backstory to start), except for the fact that they never had to take watch, they had a patron giving them jobs and a generous stipend from the start of episode 2 until his demise in episode 38, and both Imogen and Laudna; and FCG and Ashton already had apartments in the city so no one needed to bunk up with anyone they didn't already know. The party did not need to take watches; they did not need to decide on a direction; and they didn't have to learn to resolve conflicts and make choices as a collective group. And yes, the pace has been pretty breakneck throughout, so there wasn't space early on for the cast to feel out their characters and what motivated them and how they'd act. I think the first time I saw a large number of people in the fandom going "MAKE A FUCKING DECISION ALREADY I DON'T CARE WHICH ONE" was with the party doing a similar endless handwringing about Dusk in episode 29, and I don't think they've really gotten better. Like, I do think episode 29 is already on the late side anyway, even for a long-running campaign with a lot of wiggle-room; for a long-running campaign with some very specific plot beats planned, this really needed to be done in character creation.

So now that there is more room to debrief and talk, because in-character they're still on a deadline and the world's been ending all campaign, and because that groundwork wasn't laid, they don't talk about anything except the task at hand. Like...I think a defense I've seen of this campaign is that it's about a group of people who really aren't suited for what has been laid before them, but the problem is that's kind of every D&D campaign that starts from a low level and this is a particularly weak example thereof. Vox Machina didn't show up ready to kill dragons nor Vecna, and the Mighty Nein are still Wildemount's best kept secret; both of them grew into their current hypercompetence. Bells Hells don't really belong to their story, nor does it to them, so yeah, hard to talk within that framework.

[hazelcephalopod]

Ok tbc. This is a bit pessimism but mostly a joke.

Now the cast even in the best of times seems to half remember what happened last week. Much less a month of episodes. And I get it. I barely remember yesterday. They clearly have so much going on. But Downfall is three probably long lore packed episodes. I’m sure Dani will summarize everything for them as needed. Which is a lot tho.

But tbh... I’d find it so funny if upon flashing back. They are like.-

Sam- “Huh. So what do you guys think of uh. All that?” (Briaus clearly has no idea what’s happening. Maybe??? I mean… obviously Sam doesn’t watch the show /j.) Liam- “Orym is gripping his sword so hard his hands are bleeding. He’s seen nothing but red the entire time Ludinus was speaking.”

Travis- “Chet’s snoring’. Should I roll?” (Quite possibly Travis makin a joke before saying something serious.)

… Laudna may have her hatred of the gods confirmed??? Maybe Delilah will break out. Who knows?!

Ashley, Laura, and Taliesin are playing, but A) who knows when they tape. B) Fearne has never in her life paid attention in class, Ashton usually does not, Imogen probably does but is stressed beyond belief the entire time. So how this shakes out is going to be… interesting and probably funny.

And tbh I have full faith in Robbie. Dorian however is a wildcard. He’s been thru a LOT. He could go hard against Ludinus or be swayed right then or put on the path to Ol’Luddy’s dark side.

[grigori77]

The Mighty Nein: Echoes of the Solstice (Live Show from Mo-fucking WEMBLEY!)

Ah, a hype man ... okay then ...

My ... he's quite salty really, isn't he?

"All the bar staff are like: What team is this? I don't know, but none of them make eye-contact."

He's got a point, we are better at swearing ...

"In this country, the sentence: I twatted the twat in the twat ... makes perfect grammatical sense!"

Ah yes, the first ĺive show since the Pandemic ...

Oh, here we go ...

Fuck me, look at that FUCKING CROWD ... O.O

Ye gods, Ashley what the fuck are you doing to us AGAIN?!!! Bloody hell ... then Liam ... and Taliesin? Look at that SWAG!!! MARISHA!!! Incredible ... Laura! Wow ... that's like ... AND Travis ... basically Jester and Fjord in the flesh ... just a shame Laura's not blue ...

And then we we have SAM FUCKING RIEGEL ... never misses an opportunity, does he?

Matt's going nuts and I don't blame him ...

Ah yes ... what fresh hell is Riegel gonna unleash upon us THIS TIME? The audience are ahead of us already ... oh gods ... no, you really AREN'T Freddie Mercury, mate ...

Bloody hell ... that actually WORKED ... I'm extremely surprised ...

Ashley has an announcement? Blimey ... no wonder she's a little nervous ... oh, but she's getting into it already ... Nice ... and yeah, Crit Role Red Nose Day, always fun ...

Cosplayer nod! Nice! Liam: "Oh man, so many Sprinkles!"

Yay! Animated intro WITH AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION!!!

Liam: "I've had this dream!" Matt: "Thank you all so much for the trauma!"

Recap! Nice!

Oh, so they WERE just Shunted, then? Okay, so what happened then?

So we're about to find out ... where are they? Shush, sound effects problems! Blightshore? Intriguing ...

Ah, so he CAN talk ... Caleb: "It's been a while." No shit, mate!

Oh, so the magical disruption has knackered the collar too ... batter that thing off, Beau! "You know, your wife has shaved me with a greatsword, this should not be too challenging for you." Oh, NOW he's rethinking this plan? Minor Alchemy?

Sam: "No, I want her to punch you!" Liam (as Caleb): "I'm sitting right next to her, it's going to happen!"

Oh crap ... Matt, what are you saying? What the fuck is THAT shit supposed to mean?

Ah, Imogen ... Beau: "She was kind of cute." Caleb: "Don't cross the streams!"

SNAP!!! Thankfully collar not neck, at least ...

Yes! Get her to Yasha! Go! With Caduceus? Awesome ...

Hey! The Blooming Grove! They made it ... oh, this is PRETTY!!! Calliope! Awwwwww ...

BABYYYYYYYYY!!! :3 Ashley: "I touch her everywhere, make sure she's fine! Well ... maybe not EVERYWHERE ..." Caleb: "I've seen them like this when they've been apart for a few hours."

CADUCEUS!!! Yeah, boy!

Ooh! Munchies!

New armour? Sweet ... the "Oh no, I have to leave in a hurry kit"? Intriguing ...

Dream Beau can be an asshole, apparently ... Beau: "But if you felt like exploring, maybe ..." Yasha: "Oh, I didn't know that was on the table!"

Oh yeah, Veth has, like, PRIORITIES now ...

Beau's accidental kleptomania ... XD

A splinter from the Nein Heroes? Intriguing ... and they're on the ship! Yay ... docked? Oh, hey, Nicodranas! Sweet!

Good lord, what are they doing? Matt: "How did we start this so horny?"

REUNION!!! Yay!

Jester's been getting headaches from her Sending ... yeah, that's right, makes sense ...

Perception check? Oh, first roll ... Travis: "Nine!" The crowd cheers! Of course they do ...

ALL of the Assembly ... yeah ... Trent Ikithon, of course, I thought so ...

Yeah, get Veth! Yay ...

Weird dead seabeast? What is that shit?

Matt: "Interrupt MY story, why don't you?"

A Message to the Ruby ... and she has to roll a D100? Nuts ... 48? 14 points of Psychic damage? Oof ...

Yes, she COULD heal herself, but it's par for thd course, really ...

Blud! Hi!

Spooked seabeasts ... hmmm ...

The Brenatto residence ... here we go ...

VETH!!! Yay!

Veth: "The world has been turned upside down!" Beau: "What's wrong?" Veth: "I HAVE A FUCKING TEENAGER!!!"

Luc wants to be an adventurer? Of course he does ... yeah ... how old IS he? Veth: "Whatever feels right!"

Veth: "To be fair, I was drunk for most of his childhood." XD

So what's the plan?

Oh, Scrying? Yeah, try it!

I love how Jester's being do sweet about Ludinus, it's hilarious ... oh, NOW she gets it? Jester: "He's a douche, I hate him!" Yeah ...

Here we go then, go Jester ... Travis: "That's right, use the 5th Level, nothing can possibly go wrong ..."

Jester has a DICK COLLECTION now? LOL

Reminding Jester who Trent is ...

Oh hey, here's Artigan! Nice! Oh ... how rude!

Caduceus: "We're not big problem people." Jester: "Are you saying we're NOT going to push the Moon back into the sky?"

Oh wait ... is Veth NOT coming?

Jester: "Um ... the Lavish Chateau is NOT a whorehouse." Veth: "A speakeasy with benefits?"

Luc? Hi! Wow ... he's an EMO TEEN now? Interesting ...

Veth making fun of Fjord being the weakest of the Nein ...

UNCLE Caleb ... :3

Jester! DO NOT give Luc a tattoo!

Wow ... Veth REALLY IS bowing out ... that's so sad ...

Veth makes Jester take another 8 points of Psychic damage ... XD

Wow ... AWKWARD goodbye ...

To the Cobalt Soul in Rexxentrum? Okay ...

Everybody runs into the circle ... wait ... WHST THE FUCK?!!!

Luc? Seriously? Wow ... he even has a Character Sheet! He's do cute ... :3

Here we are, then ... and they've just realised they're not alone ...

Sam's doing an emo teen voice now ... I love it ... this is gonna be SO MUCH FUN ...

Are we EVER gonna learn howold he is?

Yasha: "Hit me!" Seriously?

Oh, so we're doing this ... and she CATCHES his punch ... of course she does. Adorable ...

And now he's in a huff ...

And now he's gonna try and hex Beau instead ... this really is getting funny now ... Beau: "I'll cover my eyes to make it more fair." XD

Ah ... Caleb gives him THE TALKING TO ...

Wow ... he's really good at THIS ... oh, totally working the heartstrings, definitely ...

Oh wow ... they're coming around ... oh, so they're giving CAD the deciding vote? This'll be interesting ... and he makes a good point.

Ground rules from Caleb ... as it should be ...

Caduceus casts Death Ward on Luc just to be safe ... Nice one, mate.

Ovedo? Okay ... apparently things are chaotic ... oh, this doesn't sound good ...

Matt once again using the feedback constructively ...

Ah, teenage bravado ...

Volither ... hmm, nice hair.

Aggy? Who's that?

Dark tunnel? Okay ... no, DEFINITELY not Luc in the lead ... an extra luck roll for him? Nice one, Caleb!

Oh shit ... the magic seals are DEAD. Not a good sign ...

Crap ... what the hell is THIS shit? Oh, that's fucking CREEPY ... scary monster monologue ...

Beau just closes the door on whatever the fuck THAT was ...

Oh, it's still going? He does love to go on and on ...

Hello who's this?

Wait ... a guest? Oh shit! It's Daniel! You sneaky bastard ...

A dwarf? Intriguing ... a blue kilt? Even more so ... and WINE? Hmmmm ... a bit tipsy, apparently ...

Whoa ... he bested Beau? Wow ... and then he offers her a DRINK ... of course she accepts. XD

Aggy: "Is that a little boy?" Luc: "I don't trust this guy, he looks over 30."

Luc: "Hey! Don't insult me and then explain it to me!"

Yes, Matthew, what HAS HE found?

"Unattended baggage" ... SNORT ...

See Invisibility ... oh, hello, Star Razor ...

Eldritch Blast! Yay!

Aggy HEADBUTTS the wall Fjord just attacked ... wow, and he just NUTTED a dozen open. Cute ...

Constitution check? 9? Oh, and what does THIS mean? Oh dear ...

He thinks Caduceus is a horse ... I love that ...

Daniel: "I look like a very small, short John Wick, by the way." XD

Aggy just walks RIGHT IN ... and now there's more illusory nonsense ... wait ... the Shadowhand? Ooooh ...

Ah, so ... going down, then? Hmmm ...

Oh dear, this doesn't look too good ... what now, then?

Wow .. clearly Aggy is NOT particularly bright ...

Whoops? Holy shit ... Nice dodge! He's now tumbling down the stairs and FLASHING EVERYBODY ... oh dear, what now? Another dexterity roll? NAT20!!! Nice ... he is UNSCATHED ...

Daniel: "I am just sucking the Dice Gods' dick!"

He is almost ACCIDENTALLY good at this ... oh, here we go ... CRITICAL FAIL!!! Finally ...

Oh dear, what has he gotten into now? 76 points of Force Damage? Holy fuck ... is Aggy DEAD ALREADY?!!! Fuck ... a DISINTEGRATION TRAP?!!! Shit ... so that's it? Aggy is DUST ...

Farewell, Daniel ...

Oh yes, that's right, technically he IS an Admiral ... Admiral Tusktooth. Nice ...

DO NOT let Luc check for traps ... oh yeah! Mage Hand ... and Jester Guides him too ... :3

Wow ... that's a lot of traps ...

Another magic mouth ... for the gods' sake ... he's so full of himself ...

Another door? Okay ... check for traps again ... and ANOTHER mouth ... even MATT is now acknowledging that Trent is full of himself ...

Oh you ARSEHOLE ... not cool to taunt Caleb like that ...

Ah yes, the Tower? Sweet ... yes, rest.

The Aeorian Security Cannon ... and a FLUFFERNUTTER?!!! Holy fuck ...

True Seeing ... oh dear ... now Caduceus has Beau tripping balls again ... fuck, a Nat20 for a full 27 perception ... sweet fuck ...

Athtiri Menthal ... huh?

Beau has a +16 to her Arcana? Fucking hell ...

Ashley once again Stop It-ing Sam when he sneezes. VERY LOUDLY this time, too ...

They're fighting Trent AND a thing, or Trent AS a thing ... lovely ...

Okay, so rest and regrouping, then ... back to Caleb's tower, then head out in the morning ...

Mahogany? Hmmm ... certain dirty minds, I swear ...

Okay, then ... and time for a break! Well then ...

Aaaaaah ... Welcome To Wildemount returns ... always fun ...

And we're back ... Heroes' Feast! Nice ...

Caleb has a personal talk with Luc, and gives him his Luck stone? Wow ... oh fuck, WISH?!!! Seriously? 5th Level Simulacrum ... so he's now CLONED himself ...

Yasha: "Whoa! There's no riding going on! Except on me ..."

"Beth"? Hmmmm ... typical teenage boy, clearly ...

Beau and Yasha and AT IT ... of course they do. And Fjord and Jester. Liam: "No-one more competitive than Laura Bailey."

Good night's rest ...

Beau finds TWO Calebs TWICE as insufferable ...

Luc chugs the weird Potion ... oh boy, what's this shit gonna do? Oh crap ...

Whoa ... wait, what ... oh no ... extra confidence? Oh that's not good ... crap ... Luc is DEFINITELY gonna be even more reckless now ...

Death Wards on both Luc AND Fjord, then ...

Crown of Stars? Crazy ...

Caleb 2 is now a sabertooth cat ... of course ...

And so now Caleb has come home ... group stealth check! Blessing of the Trickster to Yasha? And she doesn't even need it ... but Beau TANKS it ... at least everybody else rolls spectacular ...

Now what?

Ring of Telepathy ... and Trent is still insufferable ... and fucking NASTY with it too ...

This is just gonna be a fucking RECKONING ...

No ... Caleb, DO NOT say your fucking goodbyes right now ...

Assault of memories ... ouch ... this is just CRUEL ...

Two undead presences? Oh you fucking evil bastard ...

Jester goes in with Caleb ... Beau and Yasha go round back ...

"Uncle Deuce" ... Caduceus: "Oh, I'd forgotten about that ..."

The bastard REALLY HAS brought Caleb's parents back ... that's fucking monstrous ...

Insight check ... oh yeah, they're not right, definitely ...

Jester just goes STRAIGHT to Turn Undead ... and they BOTH fail? Fuck ... that's effective, at least ...

I'm sorry ... the house just EXPLODES?!!! Fuck ...

34 points of Fire damage? Oh wait ... no, Fjord has some protection! Nice ... just 17, then. Same for Jester, too ...

Well, they're definitely NOT his parents anymore ...

BATTLEMAP!!! YAY!!! Cue Sam's plug for Wizzkids ...

And ROLL FOR INITIATIVE!!!

Jester Invokes Duplicity! :3 Awwwww ... tiny voice Laura doing the Jester voice is adorable as she directs Matt ...

She attacks Trent with her Spiritual Weapon and HITS!!! Nice ... but it just MISSES him? WHAT?!!! Meanwhile while the duplicates scatter, she bolts out the door ...

Yasha Rages and bamfs out her wings for Radiant Soul! Nice ... charging in to get ready for attack next turn ...

Beau POWERWALKS inside ... and attacks Trent from behind ... but the punch does NOTHING?!!! Seriously, what the hell?

She attacks the dad ghoul instead ... POP POP!!! But it resists the Stun ... Flurry of BLOWS, then ... and Patient Defense.

A METEOR SWARM?!!! Seriously?

And that is just OUCH all round ... crap ... thank fuck for saves for most ... Caduceus takes THE FULL DAMAGE ... and so does Luc? Crap ... but he has Evasion? Oh, so just half, then ...

Fjord casts Hexblade's Curse on Trent, then throws FOUR Eldritch Blasts ... a miss on Trent, first misses on the dead dad, but the other 2 HIT!!! Boof-boof!

The undead back off but Beau gets an Attack of Opportunity ... daddy is FUCKED UP ...

Mind of Mercury? Nice, Beau! And she gets the first HDYWTDT! On the dad ... oh dear ... well, it's a mercy, really ...

Rapid Cast of Chain Lightning from Trent ... oh no, Caleb just Counterspells ... but he can't actually see him, so it misses? Ow ...

Shit ... Caleb is DOWN ...

Caleb 2 turns into a T-Rex! Okay then!

Death Save 1 fails? Oof ...

Luc casts See Invisibility ... Trent is ACTUALLY hiding behind the tree ... Laura: "Like a little bitch!"

Caduceus casts Mass Heal ... 100 each? Holy fuck ... that is all round a SWEET FUCKING SAVE!!!

Jester runs to find Trent ... Fortune's Favour? Nice ... something that doesn't need line of sight? So she just casts Anti-Magic Field his magic! Nice ... that's it, he's now REVEALED!!!

Yasha charges in best she can ... but she can't attack now ... crap ... so she just casts Zealous Presence and YELLS in his face while flowering everybody else ...

Beau charges in too and just SWINGS for him with her staff ... and TANKS the attack roll! Okay ... second strike ... Fortune's Favour! Oof ... Flurry of Blows! FINALLY hits ... 14 damage plus Stunning Strike ... but he shrugs it off ... then 17 and another Stunning Strike ... but he uses Legendary Resistance even though he Crit Fails ... Extract Aspects ... he's resistant to ALL magic? Interesting ...

Fuck, is he running? What is this thing? An artifact ... oh shit, is he changing? What's he doing?

Sam: "Guys, we're fighting Trent Ikithon in Wembley Stadium!"

Everybody's blasted back ...

An orb of black shadow is just growing ... and now he's just a great horrible black shadow creature ...

Whoa ... a SECOND Battlemap? Fuck ...

It's the whole town ... Trent is a FUCKING KAIJU!!! He's suckimg the life out of people and stuff ...

Hexblade's Curse! Go, Fjord!

Caleb stays prone, jnstead turns into Gelidon the Nightmare in Ivory? Whoa ... and Matt has the miniature ready! Wow ...

Caleb 2 charges in with Luc still on his Dino back ... but they keep a safe enough distance ...

Luc casts Enlarge on the T-Rex! Fuck ... Matt doesn't have a larger model for THAT ... Godzilla is now loose in the streets!

It attacks Fjord with a tendril ... Liam: "Keep your hentai out of this!"

Caduceus runs to Yasha ... Holy Weapon to her, so she has boosts to all her weaponry! Nice ...

Jester casts Gate to pull Artigan through in front of the creature. SHIT!!! And he is suitably SHOCKED by what she's got him into!

Arty casts Chain Lightning on it ... 38 points of lightning damage! Nice ...

Yasha charges in and attacks! Lots of damage maths, apparently ... 101 points of damage in ONE FUCKING HIT!!! The crowd goes wild! She attacks again! Another hit! 59 points this time! Bloody hell ...

Beau rushes in znd attacks ... Nat20! Yeah! And another hit! 19 damage, then 16! Flurry of Blows ... 20 misses? Oof ... Debilitating Damage? Oh, okay ... and now it's vulnerable to Ice Damage? Nice, Beau!

Oh fuck ... EVERYBODY takes 31 points of Necrotic damage? Ouch ... now it concentrates on Yasha ... Ire of Oblivion? Oof ... a Nat20 save? So she only takes 70 damage? Oh great ...

There's a weak spot? Okay then ...

Even Sentinel with a Nat20 doesn't stop it? Crap ...

Fjord takes 2 swipes with the Star Razor ... both hit! 42 points of damage, snd a Divine Smite for an extra 16! Nice ...

It responds with a Void Claw ... Fjord just hits the brakes and it just MISSES him ... phew!

Caleb just brings his whole dragon mass down on it and vomits ice into its face! 77 points of Ice Damage! Nice ... and he has a Frightening Presence? Okay then ...

Caleb 2-zilla bites the thing's arse ... no joy! Claw strike! Hits! 21 points, then 14!

Luc looks for the egg ... he casts Brenatto's Voltaic Bolt, then shoots the gun into the egg! 26 points of damage to the artifact! Okay ... that looks to be the sweet spot!

Caduceus prays to the Wildmother, makes the creature's ichor turn into ice ... now he can see through it to find out how it works ... he pulls out Yasha's Holy Weapon and inflicts 26 points of Radiant damage on the creature! Cool ...

Jester teams up with Arty to hold her spell with him ... Guiding Bolt with his Enhancement ... balls ... shit roll spoils the shot ... crap ...

Yasha flies up and goes RIGHT for the egg ... and misses! Agh! Reckless! Go again! Another miss! FUCK!!! Oh Fortune's Favour! Okay ... balls! That was ALMOST awesome ...

Beau RUNS UP the creature! Holy shit ... she tries go reach into the chest snd tear the egg free ... strength check! Marisha: "WITNESS ME!!! NATURAL 20!!!" The crowd EXPLODES!!!

Matt: "Beauregard Lionett, how do you want do this?" AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!

She tears the egg free, which pulls Trent into it, throws it into Caleb's mouth, and he BITES IT TO FUCK!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!

Caleb has his vengeance at long last ... the survivors of the town applaud (as does the crowd). Nice ...

Jester congratulates Arty for saving the day ... oh flattery ... he gushes in response ... then she drags him into helping with the clean-up ...

The Calebs return to normal, Caleb sends what's left of the egg into some kind of nether realm. Then they big Luc up a bit, while still zlso grounding him.

Fuck ... Fjord just PROPOSED TO JESTER!!! AAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!! Matt: "You motherfucker!" Jester OF COURSE accepts ...

Caleb's cats prepare a feast for all, and there is celebration, but only a small victory against the larger backdrop of CHAOS from the Apogee Solstice ...

And that's it! Everybody takes a bow!

Well, this was a whole hell of a lot more epic than usual ... but altogether just the AWESOME reunion we wanted. I just hope it won't be the LAST time ...

[flurry-of-beaus-pop-pop]

Regarding the current discourse in the Critical Role fandom about the current storyline occurring in Campaign 3, I just want to address some of the main arguments I’ve seen...

Argument 1: The “gods are bad and should be destroyed” view is tiring and overdone and just attacks religion.

First of all, if you have the expectation that Critical Role should start paying attention to what all other popular shows do that stream their D&D Campaigns, then you may need to re-examine your expectations. 

Why do I say this? Because in regards to Critical Role, Campaign 1 was very heavy on worshipping the deities and Campaign 2 was very heavy on worshipping the deities. Like, I never watched Campaign 1, but in Campaign 2, I can’t remember a single point where someone questioned the purposes/importance of the deities, even when they themselves, didn’t believe. 

Campaign 3 is the first campaign where the majority of the party don’t have some sort of religious connection, so to say that the “gods are bad and should be destroyed” argument is overdone, is simply ludicrous because this is quite literally the first time it HAS been done on Critical Role. 

Argument 2: This entire storyline is ridiculous because it’s obvious that Predathos destroying the Gods/Goddesses would be bad and there’s no argument one could make as to why it would be good. 

Here’s the thing. To us? It’s obviously clear that releasing Predathos and allowing him to destroy all the gods/goddesses would be horrific and a tremendous mistake. Hell, I’m sure that to Travis, Marisha, Sam, Ashley, Laura, Liam, Taliesin, Christian, Aabria, Utkarsh, Emily, and Aimee, the idea of releasing Predathos to destroy the deities is a bad idea. But that’s because we have literally all of the background information on what the deities do and how instrumental they are into how everything works. 

The characters that are present in this campaign? They aren’t us, and they aren’t the players that are playing them. 

The decisions that are being made in this campaign are being made based on what the characters know not what the players know or the audience knows. And unfortunately, most of the players in the campaign don’t have any sort of connection to the deities and therefore, don’t have any sort of framework for why destroying the deities would be bad. They’re operating based on the information that they are given, and what they can deduce. 

Unfortunately, that might mean that when push comes to shove, they may make the decision to allow Predathos to be released because someone presents them with information that makes that decision make the most sense. 

Argument 3: Critical Role obviously has an agenda with this storyline because Laudna, Bor’Dor, Prism, Deni$e, Orym, and Ashton just blindly agreeing to help this group of villagers makes no sense

Except it does make sense. And if you were paying attention, they explained why it made sense. 

Right now, Laudna, Orym, and Ashton’s main goal is to get back to their friends and stop whatever is happening with Ludinous. 

In order to do that, they need to know where their friends are. How can they find out where their friends are? By using the scrying well and in order to use the scrying well, they had to help. 

As was pointed out, whether they helped or not, this coup was going to happen and so they might as well, especially since it was very clear that the presence of these individuals from the temple were not a positive presence. Plus if they participated, they could have some semblance of control over what happened. 

Honestly? I’m excited for this storyline. It’s not offering a fresh perspective that hasn’t been present in these campaigns (as mentioned before C1 and C2 were very heavily Pro-Deities), but it’s offering a very realistic depiction of the variety of moral dilemmas that arise when something VERY BAD is possibly about to happen and the lengths that you’ll go to in order to stop that bad thing from happening, sometimes to the point of doing things that you wouldn’t otherwise do. 

I’m excited to see where this goes, and even more excited to see what happens when the two parties reunite, especially if this second group ends up going down the road of “the gods should be destroyed” since Team Wildemount landed on doing whatever they could to stop Ludinous. It would be super interesting to see what happens if the party is truly split on a big decision like this because for the most part, they’ve always agreed, at least on the major stuff

[limeyjellybean]

Downfall episode 1 watching, with thoughts and spoilers below

~ ~ ~

- Weird effect over the names, but I like it. Makes sense if humans can't comprehend what their names are *supposed* to be

- Descriptions of the characters are pretty cool, again with trying to describe something that's beyond comprehension

- It feels kind of like what I imagine the Big Bang to be like

- Ah, another Brennan opening but not just centred on one person this time (hard cut)

- Wait, the colours/shapes weren't characters? Jesus

- Awh shit, there's kids

- And families, shit

- Is Laura's mentor/guardian Purvan?? (Totally is)

- Interesting character for Taliesin - the 'interesting' monk he teased? Talking in other people's heads??

- Aeormaton character is also pretty cool as well

- And again so far my favourite is Taliesin's character. How does he do this??

- Nick's character seems the definition of good but there has to be a catch, surely

- "Should be a day or two". No. No it won't

- Purvan. Knew it

- Captain Marcus is a prick on a power trip

- Need to protect The Emissary at all costs

- Wait. They're still the light/colour/shape constructs but in human form??

- Welp, man overboard

- Human wild shape? If that was any other player, that wouldn't make any sense

- Do I hope they go to Cognoza? ... A little bit

- Noshir, you are close to taking my favourite character spot with this 'apple crate'

- Wait. What if these 6 are the reason for that crater The Mighty Nein encountered in Aeor?

- ...Are they consecuted? Like, Kryn consecuted? Is that how it started?

- Taliesin falls in and out of the sad, sallow character so quickly, it looks like an actual physical change in him

- Had a feeling as soon as Brennan said chains that the Chained Oblivion would be mentioned

- This dual-esque character thing is kinda cool

- Are they the Prime Deities and Betrayer Gods??

- These have to be the reason behind the crater... They *have* to...

- Even families of Gods fight like normal families, that's nice

- The Emissary really is 'no thoughts, head empty'

- Curious to find out which God everyone actually is when it gets to it

- Genesis Ward, I know that one

- Laura is the Matron of Ravens???

- Yeah, cause all healers in one party has never gone wrong before

- Somehow forgot how abruptly Brennan ends episodes but excited to see where this goes and how quickly plans could go wrong

[silentsockfeet]

my favorite moments from critrole c2 up to e22

marisha’s two nat20s in a row fighting against that monk teacher chick (e004)

fjord’s first dream and then the convo after when he makes his sword appear and disappear in his hand (e005)

when laura discovered the ipads fit in the dice tray (?) and then spent the next two minutes whispering instructions to marisha on how to fold the ipad case for it to fit, with bonus funnies of travis trying to fold it and then giving up lol (e006)

matt saying “the shaft curves to the right” and travis immediately looking to laura who’s giggling to the side while sam just goes “wow.” and then travis going “it normally curves to the left” and sam replies with “not from her perspective” the dick jokes in this show are so great (e007)

laura going from a hilarious explanation of drawing a dead baby manticore to talking to the traveler saying “i know i have friends now but if you want me to be alone so that you’ll be here with me i will” in the must gut wrenching way.. and then the traveler reaching out to her and comforting her i love it laura is so good (e008)

jester bribing that uhh one guy to get fjord a letter for the academy and then getting her backstory laura is just crushing it this ep (e008)

the completely botched bandit burglary (e008)

I AM OBSESSED WITH PUMAT SOL

marisha rolling two nat 1s in a row and dropping the dice down in front of laura and saying “laura put it in jail” (e010)

travis chucking cookies across the table to laura and ashley after they were giving him puppy eyes (e010)

nott trying to steal fjord’s letter and molly catching her (e010)

the follow up where fjord sets a trap for nott to find out why she’s rifling through his stuff and we get a hint of nott’s backstory. sam’s acting during that whole sequence was killer (e011)

nott’s “he’s MY boy” speech talking about how she cares for caleb (e013)

marisha accidentally misgendering nott saying “you caught him stealing your stuff” and sam, laura, and taliesin all going “her!” at the exact same time (e013)

everyone hitting level 4 right before matt banishes them from the table for narrative reasons so they’re all scrambling to grab their gear before leaving and laura just rushes back in going “you don’t roll a d20 for hit points sam!” in the most mom voice LMAO and then matt right after being like “i told y’all not to roll hit points til you get back smh” (e013)

liam saying “here come closer” so everyone leans towards him and right at that moment travis lets out just the biggest burp (e013)

ashley’s little welcome home party at the beginning of ep014 🥺🥺

molly’s backstory just turns out to be the plot of nona the ninth?? (e014)

molly explaining his tats and then marisha pulls out a blindspot reference and says “hey patterson can’t you help with this” LOL (e014)

matt introducing a giant acidic jello cube (???) as a boss fight and then proceeding to make the most uncomfortable squelching sound effects for it (e015)

laura, pregnant: i’m not supposed to have tuna *takes another bite of her tuna mac and cheese salad casserole thing* (e017)

then later matt describing a woman who’s hair grows past “the chest area” and laura goes “hahaha the chest area” and matt’s like “i’m trying to be respectful what do you want me to say!! ‘her heaping bosom’ ??” and taliesin takes her bowl away and says “i think you’ve had enough, it’s making you weird” (e017)

travis rolling THREE nat1s in a row trying to play some fucking carnival game, culminating in yasha and jester chucking fjord across a field (e017)

caleb revealing his backstory to beau and nott and both of them comforting him. i liked that beau was still kind of abrasive with it but still empathetic and nott basically said “it’s not up to me to forgive you it’s up to yourself to do it” (e018)

beau and jester starting a fight in the gentleman’s bar for literally no reason other than because they thought a fight club was cool and then beau going absolutely ham on jester (e019)

caleb casting scorching ray on a troll and nearly killing beau in the process, then liam joking about it later saying “caleb always knows what time it is, but liam likes to burn his friends” and then sam saying “caleb burns his friends too” 💀💀 (e020)

liam’s metal die getting stuck to a magnet and then marisha discovering that her gil die is also magnetic and gets excited by it and then the pop up on the side of the screen changes to say “magnets: how do they work” LOL (e020)

I LOVE KIRI THAT IS MY CHILD

poor laura continuously rolling badly throughout a big fight and getting so upset about it that she has to leave the table yelling “i’m pregnant!” as she storms off 😭😭 bad rolls and pregnancy hormones cannot be a good mix (e022)

and then rolling bad AGAIN after the fight trying to heal everyone and she’s just like half shrieking in anger and travis yells at her THINK OF THE BABY (e022)

laura saying ashley’s little “okay okay okay” and then kiri repeating it later on and ashley watching on like 🥹🥰 (e022)

the pop up on the side of the screen that said “fun with manacles: [redacted]” LMFAOOO (e022)

[shorthaltsjester]

there are literally no standouts in downfall because everyone sat down at that table and said hey you wanna see something cool and proceeded to Become their characters but idk if it’s because they’re beside each other and that aids the dynamic or just because it’s the delicious similarities and insurmountable distance between the god of death and the god of (in various ways) life but ayden and emhira’s interactions were so chewy and delicious. i’ll be thinking of their exchange fairly early on after ayden cast lesser restoration on that old man and emhira not cruelly but just simply stating “you cannot heal everything.” and ayden’s equally simple reply “we can always try.” emhira seeing the family trist has built and wondering at the presence of children, “surprised there is laughter in such a horrible place” and i know she’s speaking of hawk’s hill but i wonder if she is also speaking of exandria itself in some ways. the delicious space between in and out of character that only really happens in improv stories where as brennan is narrating and says “in this dark room” and nick interrupts and adds “it is not dark.” brennan’s incisive point in the cooldown that while the love that ayden and trist have for mortals and for exandria is warm and the kind of love someone would likely Want from gods, there is something maybe more honest or whole about emhira who says . actually these mortals are little shits that will kill you not because they fear you but because they hate you. whose very existence should be (and still often fails to be) a reminder that the gods can be usurped by mortals. the insight nick shared in the cooldown that ayden does not forget emhira’s origins but in a way dismisses them, that the god of death is a different beast. ayden wanting to find. way to save the people of aeor, insisting that the prime deities Win if they can find a way to do so. emhira reminding everyone that death is inevitable (and she does not add anything to clarify that she intends such a statement to only exist for mortals) as she argues for them to work to take down aeor and the people in it. the fact that the god with the most present connection to mortality is also the one given the most explicit clarification that she Is the god we know as SILAHA calls her the matron, brennan’s narration clarifies purvon is her champion, taliesin as asha asks for clarification on the recognition of emhira as a god and prompting the familiar spectre of a woman in a white mask.

i want to be very clear that when i say there are no standouts i Mean it because i’ve been awed and endeared and intrigued by every single character choice everyone made and as always brennan’s narration is so incredibly well suited for the mission impossible greek tragedy vibes that comes with this story and i’m so fucking delighted by the fact that laura, ashley, and taliesin are playing gods that their characters have known quite well in the past. i’m incredibly excited by what we’ve already gotten to see from abubakar, nashir, and nick and cannot imagine what other greatness is to come. i’m psyched to see the relationship between asha and the law bearer and am delighted that (perhaps for now perhaps for the whole arc) it is being seen through the lens of “my wife promised me a visit with apples and all i got was a rock ice emissary”. i also have many incoherent thoughts about the fact that, of the players who appeared as the same character in the opening and the story, taliesin’s ash and asha are the ones whose name remains the most unchanged.

i’m obsessed with the fact that this creature sent as a stand in by the god of law and duty believes his primary gift is love. while there is a certain mourning and sadness to every god we see, that SILAHA has a certain playful whimsy and jofyful curiosity about the world. that the only one of them who has been mortal before stops to steal an imp necklace from the neck of a drunk on the train (and that moment between brennan’s narration that this man will be dead by morning but, with death standing invisible in front of him, he is incapable of seeing it coming, and then laura as emhira breathing in deeply and brennan having that spark a coughing fit. they are Story Telling). asha seeing the erased image of a god, of a family member and saying “there’s a hole in all of us.” brennan narrating “this is a place where they tried to kill a story. it’s a very frightened thing to do.” (and god. the motif of fear. especially given the very present fear felt by the gods in current day exandria. they’re doing insane things in the critical role 3 part departure).

trist reminding ayden “he never tells the truth” and asha contesting “he only tells the truth, it’s just rotting.” emhira and asha both as perhaps the less Good™ much more neutral but doing so in such different ways, asha as bitter and hungry while emhira seems uncomfortable but there’s a familiarity and a certainty in her discomfort with mortality (the law bearer would also be included here but the emissary seems much more like trist and ayden (for now) than emhira or asha). something as insignificant as trist and her husband speaking to their children and affirming that little lies are okay while trist has lead a significant part of her life likely dishonest about who she is. the fact that there’s a certain childlike quality to the emissary who they’re all charged with ensuring makes it to the end of things even if they cannot. the fact that nahal (unclear which god they were, and i’m assuming it’s the first god of death but regardless still an absolutely compelling development in a short amount of time) in those opening moments is horrified by the concept of away which is unfamiliar to them only to soon after look upon their family and say. maybe away was better. Especially if those were words spoken by the god who would one day be replaced. these three episodes are going to haunt me and i’m excited to meet the ghosts.

[its-mekjt]

Favourite parts of 3×96 (potential spoilers below the break)

in this episode of critical role, i was joined by bairn (my highland cow stuffed teddy), a bottle of water, an attempt at psychology revision (which failed), a few malted milk biscuits and a sense of impending doom because i agreed to work 12 to 10 tomorrow.

PART ONE

▪︎ this is caleb widogast in an alternate universe btw

▪︎ WHAT LITTLE COTTAGE. WHAT DO YOU MEAN.

▪︎ laura just pulling out a box of tissues.

▪︎ dorian just finding out about the lesbians

▪︎ "fearne and i had a threesome-" // "excuse me?"

▪︎ YES, LAUDNA IS POWERFUL WITHOUT HER, AND IT MAKES ME SOB THAT SHE THINKS SHE ISN'T.

▪︎ fearne loml. she can do no wrong. she's here for EVERYONE. SHE LOVES THEM ALL.

▪︎ "normally, i avert my gaze by looking down, but he's under me." (looks at ceiling instead).

▪︎ travis just slapping marisha and immediately thinking he's hurt her. CSCKLUNG.

▪︎ ah yes. the sibling life. beating the SHIT out of one another. (me and my sister did this bit she got taller than me, and i forgot my own strength, so we were forced to stop)

▪︎ i need the laura bailey vs delilah briarwood one shot.

▪︎ CHETNEY IS ME.

▪︎ bells bells plays spin the bottle when

▪︎ imogen and laudna NOOOO.

▪︎ ashton and fearne YESSSSS.

▪︎ BERTRANDS BLADE. i'm SOBBING.

▪︎ dorian is committed to the aesthetic (the blue)

▪︎ "it's like pulp in my orange juice, get it the fuck out." i'm using that.

▪︎ SUIT UP MONTAGE LETS GO.

▪︎ me looking at dorian's new fit: since when did this become a WHORE HOUSE

▪︎ fearne and ashton's fabric swap

▪︎ they're all going to freeze, but they're all going to look great doing it

▪︎ 'seth' is a bitch about timetables

▪︎ OH GOD HE'S BEHIND THE DOOR

▪︎ dorian blew them up

▪︎ why do i think gelidon is about to appear

▪︎ orym made them go near tal'dorei

▪︎ at least they're in eiselcross now.

PART TWO

▪︎ everybody FUCKING RUN

▪︎ essek swearing

▪︎ "stop fucking floating and lie down essek." fjord stone has entered the chat.

▪︎ guidance, it's nice to have.

▪︎ ESSEK USING ONE OF CALEB'S SPELLS. AWWWWW.

▪︎ of course essek has a face mask.

▪︎ ashton cannot climb trees. too buff.

▪︎ panocy top.

▪︎ JESUS CHRIST +12 TO STEALTH? (also matt's face)

▪︎ what the fuck is happening in aeor

▪︎ oh! bones!

▪︎ OH MY GOD THE TOMB TAKERS

▪︎ essek was a salmon. caleb had to carry him.

▪︎ GRIM PSYCHOMETRY (morbid geometry) ON THE DOME WOOOO

▪︎ creepy slow moving skeleton

▪︎ THEY'RE SINGING THAT SONG (https://youtu.be/ZjlYFWLUDBQ?si=jJlkyaksau0pcsmt)

▪︎ essek is a nursery teacher dealing with a group of children who won't stop touching everything

▪︎ arcane eye let's go

▪︎ who killed those vanguard members?

▪︎ peeking into that tent, then popping out like: nah, i don't need that seered into my mind

▪︎ a fight between them? oh. mind control?

▪︎ oh my giddy aunt, what the hell happened here?

▪︎ well. that's a violent way to go. love it.

▪︎ 🎶asmodeus🎶

▪︎ CHESTY MCCARVEY

▪︎ "there's a faint grinding sound-" // "son of a bitch."

▪︎ the witches + ashton

▪︎ NATURAL 1

▪︎ NOTHING NEEDS TO BE THAT TALL

▪︎ it's giving pale man from pan's labyrinth (oh my god, i have to write a 40 mark essay on pan's labyrinth and city of god in my film exam)

▪︎ MAW.

▪︎ SOMETHING CRAWLING OUT OF IT? FUCK OFF.

▪︎ robbie and taliesin are so hyped for this.

▪︎ two weeks of emotional damage, a week of physical damage.

▪︎ MY LORD THAT MAP IS GORGEOUS

there's a week long break, so there won't be one of these next friday/saturday. see y'all in a couple weeks!

[thequeenofmyownscreen]

I took time to watch the second and third seasons of “Narrative Telephone”.

I previously described this wonderful show as "pure serotonin injected in your veins" and guess what. IT STILL IS ! It's just so good, y'all.

(Under the cut is a summary of my reaction for each episode)

Round 2, Episode 1 and 2 featured BWF and they have been removed from the channel. If ever you want to, know that you can still find them via the Wayback Machine. I have watched them this way, because I'm nothing if not curious ; but I will not say anything on them. damnatio memoriae

Round 2, Episode 3 : aka Laura Bailey remembered she finished last season by blacking out completely, and came back with a vengeance... RHYMES ! Not but the story was lovely at first, but the combo of Taliesin's panick attack and Ashley's.. 'Ashley-ing' this story was fatal to it (bonus point for "Not for you Nott/Don't be jelly !"). Travis brought it back like a champion. We love to see Mica Burton's chimney covered with Emmy awards, also her voice get progressively higher and higher, it's so funny. Sam just re-wrote the rhymes and the story. Marisha did her best. Liam tried to re-write the rhymes, and made Matt's job easier, but... the moral of the story was already lost. Love that Sam said that the Emmys from Mica's videos distracted him so much that he forgot half of what she was saying, and then everyone agrees that's the worst turn Sam ever did ALL BECAUSE OF THOSE EMMYS (on point). "Mica totaled the car, drove it to the auto body shop, Sam said 'I'll take care of this', poured gasoline and set it off on fire, and Marisha was like 'Yeah ! This drives !'" (Travis). As always, I immensely enjoy when they're complimenting each other : this time, it was Matt, whom Laura said he was "date night Matthew Mercer". "You know what ? This is what the holiday is all about ! It starts wholesome and pure and perfect, and by the end, it's 9 drunk people making a big mess and blaming each other !" (Sam).

Round 2, Episode 4 : aka Mica Burton speaks Elvish, and no one else does, and also, remember that sitcom, Alf ? Travis was good as always, Liam kept the story but added the killer detail about ALF. And that derailed Taliesin and everybody after that. Taliesin' "Elvish" sounded less like Nordic language and more like absolute nonsense. Marisha just speculated wildly about Anathanel's profession and physicality (is she a centaur ??? who knows !!), and Matt doubles down on that, and also the "Elvish" continues to be -somehow- worse. Sam doesn't know what ALF is, because of course he doesn't, so it gets wayyyy worse than the constant references of ALF. Ashley : "Once upon a time, there was a princess, and her name was... Enfamil... (to herself) no, that's not it, that's baby formula." Laura closes with questionning if there's a moral to this story : spoiler alert, there isn't, because there isn't much of a story anymore. Tears, tears of laughter. I was not expecting ALF, and the half-princess, half-centaur, maybe a mermaid (?) but extremely super-sad heroïne of this story. Also Travis deserves the shit he got for not putting on the flowers and make-up.

Round 2, Episode 5 : aka Liam doesn't tell a story. They all did pretty well ! Considering, again, that there wasn't a story ! The duck names were changing, but were all very cute. The fact that Laura didn't realise that it was NOT Dani's story and kept thinking she was doing some experimental storytelling was so fucking funny. Also love every time they're demonstrating their various abilities or inabilities to do certain voices.

Round 2, Episode 6 : aka IT'S FRUMPKIN, BITCH (*Won't Get Fooled Again by The Who plays in the distance*). Taliesin added wayyyyyy to many letters in the acronyms. Sam returns with adding a moral and an ending to a story that didn't needed them. I feel like this is the most they threw ones and anothers under the bus, thanks to the Pacific thing. Love that the Show & Tell started by them revealing what their middle names were, and discovering that Sam's full name is Samuel Brent Oscar Riegel, as if they didn't work together and were friends since 2010 or before. Ashley, being real : "That must be nice, having sometimes the feeling that you've nailed it !". I loved that they were almost always silent during the re-watching of Dani's story. Respect. It was a good story.

Round 2, Episode 7 : aka Chutney, my beloved, still wants to kill Santa. The story hooks are progressively lost (because of Liam, let's be honest), but the genius plan of killing Santa via fire is not, so that's a progress, I guess. Aabria goes all in, like the queen she is, and makes Chuntney somehow even more creepy ?? "I want this to be you Campaign 3 character", says Matt, about Taliesin's version of Chutney, while I am laughing my ass off thinking that's how Travis got the idea.

Round 2, Episode 8 : aka ¡Viva la Revolución! Aabria brings in the in medias res vibe with the leader of a crime band looking for some quick way of getting rich. Aaaaand the gang transforms this tale, because of course they do. Laura tries her best to salvage her own story thanks to her eyebrows, but alas it doesn't work. Matt plays it like some kind of senile and drunk Gilmore, it's hilarious. Taliesin goes full creepy babushka, and Liam somehow makes it worse, delaying the narrative so much by repeating and whispering the key words at least 3 times, that, by the time it arrives to Ashley and Sam, there's just nothing to do but to go with the flow. "If you like to join this plan, please check YES in this box right here". During the Show & Tell, Travis as the Number 1 Aabria fan is always the best. Laura repeating than Marisha did so good, throwing herself in front of the bus because she knew she did way worse. The rest is just me laughing my ass off for 40 minutes. What a way to end the season !

Round 3, Episode 1 : aka Everyone Is Turned On By Robbie's Voice. Liam is second and immediately goes into hysterics, and does the classic Liam Rewind. Aabria is judging the narrative pretty heavily while telling it, and we almost lost the goblin part, which seems important. By the time we're going to Ashley and Matt, the story has lost almost all elements, including : the goblin part, the good looks, the implication of a threesome, and some of the names, but we added chiseled nips into the mix ! Aimée is a genius and starts with A GUITAR and frames the thing as open mic night, which is... honestly a good choice, at this point ! "You are the Riegel of this group" said Liam about Aimée. Love that in the end, all everybody cared about was openly lusting after Robbie's voice

Round 3, Episode 2 : aka DENI$E IS HERE. I'm so happy I got to watch the infamous origin story of Deni$e, Dariax's ex ! Aimée is crazy good, and everyone does their best effort to bring the trashy and ridiculous and loving vibe to this "Breakup Lettah". Everyone is impressed by Anjali, as they should be, and Liam calls her version "a Scorcese retelling" with how much emotion she's injected in it. Aimée did so much research and thinking on her story, I'm glad she got to use all of her research in Campaign 3. I want to see Deni$e again at some point.

That was wonderful, and whenever, in the future, I feel sad, those viedos will be on my watch list, for sure.

[locuas642]

Mighty Nein: Finished Episode 99

I feel comfortable doing a major update on my journey through Critical Role campaign 2.

Some might ask "Why episode 99 instead of 100?" and the reason should be obvious for those who already watched the show but in case you havent there are two major reasons.

First of all, episode 99 feel like a good cutting-off point. This episode shows the culmination of the campaign longest Plot thread that had been looming since the beginning and does so in a satisfying (if not action-packed) manner with most of the characters in the campaign reaching a point you could theoretically end it and you would feel they got some degree of closure if not a complete arc and only one or two major plot threads remaining.

the second reason is that episode 99, which btw was their HUGE celebration of FIVE YEARS of doing Critical Role and cheering for another five, was the last episode before the Pandemic forced a months long hiatus and having the group having to re-work things to be able to operate safely.

Because of this I feel justified in marking down episode 99 as a sort of "end of part 1" deal to give my thoughts in an orderly manner.

For starters I had heard the early criticisms of the campaign starting off un-focused, which was blamed to a more "open-world" format with the characters constantly changing idea of where to go next. Having witnessed it, I can say for certain the show was a bit unfocused at the beginning. This is in part due to the players not really knowing yet what they wanted to do or still finding the group's dynamic, but I think it is also in part due to the conflict of, as described by Liam at one point, the players dying to give out details about their characters, but most of the characters keeping their stuff close to their chest and not trusting anyone just yet.

In this regard, the character of Jester was essential, I feel, to keep the campaign moving, since she was a really good pillar for this early part as someone very upfront about herself and also an agent of chaos who was really good at actually building a dynamic with the rest of the group. it's not surprising she became such an iconic character.

I think it says something about Jester that I find her the easiest to picture as she is, rather than as Laura Bailey. Also, as a tiefling, I feel I cant imagine her as anything BUT a tiefling, while I might sometimes need to be reminded which race are some of the other characters.

Speaking of tiefling, I feel like I should mention Mollymaurk, a character who I wasnt really aware of his existence until I began preparing to watch Campaign 2, since I have believed Cadeuceus had always been Taliesin's character for campaign 2. Molly is... a character who existed.

I think Taliesin's Molly was the one who nailed the best the whole "Anti-Hero" nature of the Mighty Nein. Someone who wasn't a hero, was here to hopefully make some coin. That being said, I dont think he was as charming as Taliesin wanted him to be, I kept forgetting he was in the group and I did not feel he had as many memorable moments as the rest of the Nein.

He was, however, a perfect example of a character whose death progresses the story. Because his demise shifts the entire party's dynamic and, unlike some npc, his abscence is inescapable for the rest of the campaign moving forward, forcing a situation nobody, not even Matt, had planned for their character arcs. Including the introduction of Caduceus, who ended being what I felt was the thing that was lacking in the group. The biggest irony of Caduceus being quieter than Molly is that Caduceus had a lot more of a pressence than Molly. and his relationship with Fjord was something I did not see coming.

Mostly because Fjord was only slightly ahead than Molly in terms of me knowing they existed. Mostly because Fjord was in the opening (okay, molly technically is, but you get me) and Fjord was... honestly, He was just there right until way later, when I finally realized he was supposed to be a dork, and we got into his arc to become a Paladin. that was when his character really picked up for me and became a lot more interesting. His arc into becoming a Paladin was also so different from Vax's last campaign that it was fun to watch.

Beau was the character I was looking forward the most. because as a monk she felt she would have some fun combat. and it is in fact a bit interesting the minor, unplanned arc she goes through of Stunning Strike initially failing to quite connect every time until the Lorenzo fight when stunning him with her last Ki point completely shifted the combat in their favor.

Yasha I always knew I would like however, remember when I said I could not imagine Jester as anything BUT a tiefling? I often find myself forgetting Yasha is non-human, mostly becaus eher status as an Aasimar fely more like a mechanical thing than something that quite fits her. Unlike Nott, which everything regarding her race informs everything about her character arc.

It is, however, hilarious that Sam restoring Nott into Veth leads to the character technically becoming worse due to losing an awesome trait and Sam vowing to not use the new one. Her relationship with Caleb was something I did not see coming.

Which speaking of Caleb. Liam plays Caleb exactly how I would play them, by which I mean I am the weirdo who sees no reason to play Wizard if you are not constantly filling your spellbook with spells you will probably become too overwhelmed to use.

Overall. I do think the beginning of the show is a bit of a bore. it takes time for everything to take into place. and there are a few times when I think in hindsight the party took the least interesting route. I do think the point when the series picks up is when they steal their first ship, the Mistake. The arc that follows helped a lot in making me endear to the group. and then going to Xorhas was probably when I definitely felt on board with this.

Those are my overall thoughts so far that I can tihnk of. I might do more stuff if I cant put more stuff into words, but that is it until I can think of something