#and marisha won on this day

[laurasbailey]

ONE CRITICAL ROLE SCENE PER EPISODE C2E5: The Open Road

[1908jmd]

Alex Newell, London 1 Sept 2024

I just got back from a fabulous Night watching Tony award Winning Alex Newell performing a two hour set at the Cadogan Hall, London.

What a privilege to be there, what an amazing singer, self-deprecating humour and great story telling.

She did refer to herself throughout in a most humorous way about being Tony award winning, which she's immensely proud of, and rightly so, and totally over the top hilarious about it. She talked about her heroes, and whilst i don't half the full set list in memory, she sang 17 complete bangers.

I will put the full list of songs up, when I've looked them all up.

She talked about not winning the Glee project, despite Ryan Murphy telling her she embodied everything Glee was about. (and joked he asked her to step out of the spotlight whilst he spoke to the winner. She laughed and said she was right there singing at the end of Glee, when the others weren't. She mentioned the End of Twerk, and the dubious bathroom plot and knocked us for six with If I were a Boy.

She talked about being so sure she'd secured a role as a stand in for the lead in a Broadway musical in about 2012 only to be told she's "too big", and talked about the difficulties in being a large, colored, transgender person. (she has only done about four episodes of Glee by then). And how she hoped Broadway was moving on from that, but it hasn't yet completely. (The director who turned her down in 2012 sat across the aisle from her when she won her Tony!)

After a break, she sung Independently Owned from Shucked, her Tony winning role.

Her guest was Star Marisha Wallace, and together they sung "Get happy/happy days are here again, and a diva off of "And i am telling you, I'm not going". Two mega watt voices.

She finished with "I know where I've been", and the beautiful Meadowlark song from The Baker's Wife.

A great evening!

[tangent101]

Technically... Imogen was freaking out something fierce and is really unsure if Laudna is alive or not. That never changed, even at the end when they were teleporting back to Jrusar. In fact, Fearne was the first to broach the thought that the others might be dead.

Here's another thing: Liam never told the others what happened. While Matt told the group what happened... we honestly don't know how much Ashton and Laudna knows. Laudna and Ashton were just appearing at the end of the round. They may very well not know about what happened to Keyleth, or of the strange Raven-themed black-clad entity who appeared to save her.

Ashton went from "we won!" and then in under a minute that hope was dashed away. They couldn't contact the others. They were alone. And the heart of the group, the man who essentially had convinced Ashton to actually try once again... he is acting like someone who has been in a war. Someone who was in a war and saw his leader cut down as part of a plot that essentially said "everything you did was used to lure your leader in here to die, and you led her to the chopping block."

But honestly? That first game session for Team A after they failed to stop Ludinus was also one of anxiety and not knowing what had happened to the others. The only reason they didn't dwell on it much was they were also stressing over the fact they were going to freeze to death. Hell, Imogen was even wondering if they were the last people in the world. (For that matter, Laura and Sam were going to keep using up spell slots using Sending until Matt told them that the spell would never work. That really says something about the pure desperation that Team A were suffering at this point.)

The only reason that they were not dwelling on it more is that they had two massive distractions with a second aeormaton (FRIDA) and Chetney's old lover Deanna. That was a big distraction for FCG due to the tensions between Deanna and Chetney (and Fearne is able to find amusement and distraction with Chetney's suffering). But just before the mid-game break Imogen was still stressing about her friends and was scared something bad had happened. When Chetney went running off (due to that time of the month), Imogen again commented on maybe their friends being dead. That second night, Imogen used her dream-talents to try and find Laudna. She contemplated looking at the Key and decided learning about Laudna was more important.

So... no. I honestly don't think Team A took it better than Team B. The main difference is we have seen Team A over an 11-day period and through seven game sessions taking two months of our time, where they were dealing with multiple threats and also found themselves in a position to learn more about Ludinus and thus they have a purpose once again even as they fret about their friends.

(As an aside, Aabria made a "monsterfucker" comment when Christian asked if Chetney grew and Sam commented "all over" and what happens on the last game session? Yup!)

We'll have the next game in two weeks. And what about the game after that, and the game beyond that? How will Liam, Marisha, and Taliesin roleplay this? We'll have to wait and see. But in six more game sessions, will folk be commenting on how well Ashton, Orym, and Laudna are taking being apart from the others?

just thinking about how it makes perfect sense for team AOL to be so demoralized compared to team Uthodurn and it HURTS. im having too many feelings.

Team Uthodurn had:

A familiar location. Not just any familiar location, but one that one of them was from! Chet may have been on the lam from his past, but that was small potatoes. They got to learn very quickly the extent of what was going on with magic - but was assured that the world was still spinning. Very grounding.

Three PCs with sending!! Again, made very clear that while it was very distressing to not be able to reach their friends and know for a fact they were okay, it was triple assured that magic is weird right now, so that can help arrest the panic.

Two PCs who were also from there who could assure them, again, the world was still spinning.

Three party members who are typically very good at rolling with the punches and are pretty unflappable when the unexpected occurs.

Both ruidusborn members of the party alive! and in one piece! no worse for wear despite the red energy that was being siphoned off of them during the ritual.

This is doubled down because they had Imogen! If anyone was going to be effected by that and, as the other team (especially laudna) is concerned about, could have been taken or killed by that ritual it would have been her. But they had her, so the worst didn't happen. And if Imogen was okay, then surely the others are just as okay as them, right?

All four of them were standing before Ludinus, witnessing the impossibility of fighting him first hand. They can rationalized that in that moment, there was nothing more they could have done.

Team AOL had:

Appeared suddenly in the pitch dark on the edge of a sharp cliff to the abyss (as far as they could see), feeling steam and smelling sulfur - very apocalyptic. Two thirds of the party did not have darkvison, making this all the more disorienting!

They could see ruidus tethered on the horizon. Immediate confirmation that they failed. Adds to the immediate disorienting effect that maybe the world really did end.

Received no sending from their friends who they know would try if they could. (if they were alive - dont think about it, dont think about it, compartmentalized). Also, no way to try themselves to discover that that magic is just weird right now.

Oops! no fearne or imogen. No way to know if they were vaporized or shunted into space!!! no way to know at all!! (and no sending - dont think about it, dont think about it).

Two PCs who were directly, up to the last minute, doing the only thing that could have maybe stopped this in their eyes. They were trying to destroy the batteries that would power the damn thing. So when it all went sideways, all they can think is we could have done more. We could have maybe stopped it. We were not enough. We failed.

One PC witnessed the leader of their people, undeniably one of the strongest people in the world, who they love and admire absolutely bodied and very possibly (from what Orym could see in that moment) killed by Ludinus and Otohan after walking into an unavoidable trap.

Eventually they realize that of all the places in the world they ended up it was Issylra - a world away from anywhere any of them have ever been. Including the three equally displaced PCs who were shunted at random who have no clue what is going on beside one who was deputized the day before to try to get information on what the effects of the apogee solstice has been. But she has also never been in a fight before.

[booksandwillowtrees]

I’m thinking about the cupcake thing again.

Imo it’s one of the most impressive moves in the whole campaign (if not the most) because at that moment Jester and Laura are doing the same thing.

When Beau swings a solid punch or Caleb casts a spell its cool becuase they planned to do that or maybe because the dice were nice. But they aren’t actually doing the thing.

Marisha isn’t throwing a punch with her own hands, Liam didn’t put years of study into that spell. And there’s nothing wrong with that, it’s the whole point of the game. It’s a made up story and it’s incredible.

But when Jester does the Cupcake thing? Laura does it all too. There’s the cool spell ofc but at it’s core that move worked because of the acting.

It worked because Jester/Laura was so heartbreakingly earnest that everyone was too concerned to be suspicious.

I think Matt days it explicitly later on in a Talks. Something like “the hag didn’t use her resistance becuase she didn’t see it coming, because I didn’t see it coming.” (I’m paraphrasing but you get the gist.)

And that’s why it’s so cool! Because it wasn’t just Jester fooling the Hag, it was Laura fooling Matt. And none of that was fabricated or built using dice, it was just done by Laura and her incredible acting chops.

Not just her acting chops tho, also her character building and storytelling. Because everyone at the table was fully ready to believe Jester, because of how Laura had built Jester as a character that is sweet and kind, and so often underestimated and misunderstood.

It’s just so so so so so good. The critical role cast is constantly telling incredible stories but here it really feels like Laura won. And that’s incredible.

(Another moment with similar vibes is Beau/Marisha putting all the plot points together at the end, bc yet again it was The actor just as much as the character, Marisha actually did all the notetaking and thinking, not just Beau.)

[vestigesofperversion]

That was one of the best combat encounters I have ever watched on Critical Role

(CAMPAIGN 3, EPISODE 16, v. SHADE FAM)

Tbh, maybe Top 10. That might not seem high, but think about the total number of combats they’ve had over 3 campaigns to-date. Mind you I really don’t remember them all but this one just like, hit different

Just, to begin with. The number of senses engaged. An enormous psychic slug modded with brumestone underglow, Tokyo Drifting around the nest’s family room. Fearne’s round 1 game-changing moment of pure controller badassery. All the flavor injected into every single interaction, like Ashton straight up yeeting shade creepers about, then basking in the splatter and pain of their explosive demise. Multiple crucial Nat 20’s. The added benefit of 2 Very Cool magical Pinkertons wielding one of the sickest arcane items I have ever heard described in D&D. Fascinating demonstrations of how physical strength doesn’t always rely on the physical bit. Powerful minds being used by/for good and evil. FCG blindly pulling random levers. Drills gone wild. Mid-combat cooler talk. And as it came to a close, the audience’s anticipation of a party absolutely drenched in poisonous slime surfacing like the fucking Ghostbusters and just turning to the foreman and Gus’ ex like, “welp, it turns out you’ve got a bit of a slug problem 🤠🙃”

It was all so well-suited for the party’s abilities, but only because they were clever and made calls that worked, and the dice gods (you, you, not you Laudna, you) mostly smiled upon their efforts. A fight thought to be too hard and nearly avoided, bravely initiated and won through luck and, dare I say, maybe some planning? Fearne emerged as the clear MVP and fully fucking rode the sphere containing Emoth out of the chamber in the end I mean srsly. But Orym with his gnarly rope trick, Ashton serving a slo-mo bludgeon-fest set over blaring punk music (get them a walkman like Star Lord and let’s make this headcanon real, pls thx), Chet tearing himself into a werewolf and lifting an impossibly immense boulder like a mom rage-lifting a car, Imogen discharging every ion of lightning coursing through her and sizzling each creature in its ray of carnage to a crisp… On the whole each member of the party got at least one incredibly cinematic moment of pure anime-style fantasy combat in. And that ultimately may prove to be more transformative for them at this level than them having played it safe or having learned from (what seemed like inevitable) failure, as it will likely increase their confidence in future fights (disclaimer: may lead to a period of cockiness and/or carelessness, followed by a great tragedy that then sets the pendulum swinging back again). More than anything I think Olly and Gus deputizing them as honorary detectives for the Green Sleeves* before they pursued the investigation together is what made such an epic fight possible and really gave them a glimpse of what Tier 2 could be like for them if they keep adventuring once their first arc as a party is finally resolved.

[*Definitely 💯 happened, I’m sure of it & yes I’m also sure it’s Sleeves, Fearne told me]

Not everyone in this fight had a smiley day though. I really felt for poor Laudna/Marisha. Not only did she get boned by bad rolls, but injury was nearly added to insult when we all clenched our butts for the impact of the stinger into her unaware back (did you catch that Shady Mom was physically mocking Laudna right before the stinger swipe.. ??? 😂😂😂 cold ass Slug Shrug, your creepy petty ass really earned that Nat 1 dinnit). I haven’t watched past the end of combat yet but I really hope she doesn’t end up with a negative perspective of what was otherwise a wildly successful mission. Stay strong my twitchy witch, you are cooler than a hellish recuke and you will get your moment in the shadows, just you wait!

[xombigirl]

*puts on tinfoil conspiracy hat and adjusts string board*

So I'm here to talk about who is going to be/might be in the Colbert one shot that Critical Role is doing for Red Nose Day this year.

Various and sundry crew members have been posting from New York for the last few days and the lovely Jerry(Project Coordinator at CR) confirmed that last night was the "Cast/Crew's" last night in New York City. From this and past posts from him, Schmidt(the Director of Photography at CR who rocks a Unicorn hoodie incredibly well) and Chris Willmott(Audio Engineer at CR)we know that at least the crew has been in NYC for most of this past week.

There have been many photos of them on subways and in New Jersey(WHY JERSEY???)and at Home Depot so I'm intensely curious about what's going on there(Maybe Matt couldn't get his Dwarven Forge through security this time??)

My guess is they likely filmed the one shot yesterday(Friday April 8th)and they're all coming back to LA today(Saturday April 9th). Now, as to who is going to be in this one shot along with Colbert...I have some thoughts.

1. Matt is running it and their one shots seem to have a total of five players plus the DM

2. Colbert accounts for one player which leaves four spots open for cast members.

3. Marisha is going to be there regardless so I have a feeling she will be one of the four cast members that will be playing in this one shot.

4. Sam is one of the other players. I have this on incredibly good authority(thanks inside source 🤫)and I'm honestly stoked to see Veth/Nott again.

5. This leaves two open slots: I do not believe it's Aimee or Robbie as they have both been spotted in LA in the last 24-48 hours. Robbie hiking for his Mt. Whitney training and Aimee being seen at a Billie Eilish concert along with her husband and Quyen. My guesses are Liam and possibly Travis or Ashley. (Yes I just want the Husbands to have gone to New York together okay? I'm predictable)Again I could be way off base but it just feels like it should be Liam and Ashley tbh. More Yasha content is always good(since the M9 won the poll)and I'm a sucker for Liam just in general.

If anyone has any other predictions for cast members please let me know!! This is just me going off some information and some hunches

[thequeenofmyownscreen]

Fourteen things I noted about CR2E88 “Unwanted Reunions” and the Talks Machina about it :

Laura is at the Video Game Awards for the beginning of the episode, but makes her grand entrance 40 minutes in, dressed up and looking BEAUTIFUL. I thought Travis' heart eyes at his wife were the greatest thing. Turns out, she just left the award show without waiting to see if she won her category, because she saw on Twitter than Sam was using her dice ! And she wanted to play D&D with her friends. ICONS ONLY. STAND-UP OVATION FOR MRS. LAURA BAILEY. Sam, 100% serious : "I think we all admire your priorities."

Jester, very cheerfully, about Trent : "We could just kill him, chop him up into little tiny pieces, and then we escape to Xhorhas and we never come back !!" Seems like a good plan, honestly. If anyone deserves that, it's Trent. Also love that Caleb flash-backed to the time where Jester just put an axe through a dude's head.

The Mighty Demands : 1) to not be forced to go anywhere on the spot 2) they will not go back to Xhorhas supervised 3) they will not go until they see the beacon the Assembly claims to have 4) they want to know what the Empire and the Cerberus Assembly actually want, because if they doin't want something, what does that mean ? what's the logic ?... this line is not a hard line actually it's a paragraph by Caduceus 5) a 1000 platinum 6) the Empire should cover their incidentals at the hotel, come on ! 7) chocolate 8) armements, not almond mints 9) the Empire should not be alone in charge of the fane under the Cathedral of Pelor 10) pastries !

Oooooh, how I like how Caleb is lying to the Martinet about the Mighty Nein's journey into Xhorhas ! The best lies have some truth in them, and that is absolutely what he's doing, he's just twisting some details.

The Mighty Nein finally have a good idea for the neutral territory in which to hold peace talks, and that is : in the middle of the ocean, on their boat ! The Martinus Ludin'eth Deleth : "What's it called ?" The Mighty Nein, immediately realizing their mistake : "... It's called The Balleater."

Jester called Trent "Mr. Icky-Thong". POWER MOVE !!

WOOPS Nott tried to let the Beacon take her mind and grant her a re-roll, and Trent immediately guessed the Mighty Nein were familiar of how the beacon works. WOOPS. If he's intelligent (and he is many things but stupid is not one of them) I think he can now know what happened to the beacon lost in Zadash.

Love that the Mighty Nein are deflecting this line of questioning by being assholes about the tripod. Very MN behavior.

Obsessed, Obsessed I say ! with the way Jester is 1) aware of her cheerfull behavior and kindness 2) aware that she's not on the same level as "normal people" regarding said kindness and behavior 3) will USE KINDNESS AS A WEAPON or at least a means to an end. She really managed to distract the Martinet and Trent. i JUST !! love her so much. It takes courage, it takes spirit, it takes kindness and care to do that.

I love Caduceus, and I respect his "the truth will set you free" approach, and it has indeed worked very well with the Mighty Nein, because they were so used to being shifty motherfuckers, but ! In this instance, with the Assembly, inside of the political nest of vipes that is Rexxentrum, I trully think that proposing to tell the truth is a bad idea. The Mighty Nein needs to be shifty motherfuckers once again.

Did Marisha had the early idea for Laudna with this crazy cool shopkeeper character Matt put on ? I wouldn't bet money against it.

Fjord : "Well, if we're not going to Pride's Call, and we need to kill a few days in town... Should we enter a fighting tournament ?" Matt, forgetting his impartial role as the DM : "Yes !! FUCK YES !" Fjord : "Does such a thing exist in this town ?" Matt, still not impartial : "I can make one !" This is so rare too see of Matt that I laughed so much.

Dani : "This... mayb be the horniest episode of Talks Machina. And I've been keeping track !"

Sam trying to get answers out of Liam about Caleb and Eodwulf and Astrid's relationship is so fun. He tries and tries and tries but Liam wants the answers to fall naturally in the game.

[c-is-for-circinate]

Man, I liked this episode.

Such great character moments!  Really exciting lore.  Plans for the future!  That ending, though!  Yay!

In no particular order, some moments I really appreciated:

Literally everything at the tavern, oh MAN.  Every single one of those conversations was SO GOOD, you know what I actually need to break this down further:

CADUCEUS AND YASHA, holy cow, right?  (it is late enough at night that ‘holy cow’ is doubly amusing, because Caduceus is, in fact, actually a...anyway, never mind.)  But HER HAIR!!!  Caduceus trying to be supportive, trying to Give Advice (Caduceus always thinks it’s his job to Give Advice, but usually it helps), but also falling just enough into actually admitting some of his own feelings.  Hope and worry.  I love them so much.

Beau and Caleb admitting/reminiscing about the early days when they didn’t like each other at all (except that even then, even when Caleb was being driven up a wall and Beau was angry and annoyed and kind of hated the guy, even then, they always liked each other at least a little bit, they never would’ve gotten so angry otherwise).  You know, sometimes it fades away for a while, but every so often I remember just how much I love Beau and Caleb as friends, because it is such a complicated, layered, hard-won friendship.  They both worked so hard for this relationship!  We call them the empire siblings, and it’s true, sometimes, but also it’s not true at all, because they worked so hard to get here, without any blood or parents or shared childhood joys telling them they should.  They built this friendship all on their own.  (And how often do you see such utterly platonic male-female friendships that are this hard-won and this concrete, in fiction?)

Okay I admit it, I made a NOISE at the unicorn thing.  It was just so utterly sweet, so deliberately ‘I know this little thing will make the person I care about smile,’ with no pretense or requirements after that, just because.  It felt like a little bit of Travis and Laura bleeding through, not in an out-of-character way, but in this bright reflection of all the little moments we’ve seen them just be honestly in love on screen.  It reminds me of the time Travis ordered an entire box of doughnuts via PostMates mid-episode delivered to the studio and didn’t say anything until they showed up.  And yes, obviously Travis and Laura’s characters can do and romance whoever they want--but if the honest emotion is there, it’s there, and it’s adorable.

Likewise: Beau and Jester both giggling and a little bit giddy about their respective potential love interests, both genuinely happy for each other.  Is there a sense of loss there?  Maybe, maybe not, who knows--but that mutual happiness is so genuine, and the “Agh, you know I’m scared of my future!” is so real in every direction, I love it.   

All of the shopping this episode made me really happy.  There’s something really special about a party hitting the level where they no longer have to care about money, and get to run kid-in-a-candy-store wild.  Buy ALL the diamonds!  Buy every piece of wizard-grade paper in Nicodranas.  Buy an entire wheelbarrow of fireworks, why not, just fucking do it, we’ve got the cash.  (Side note: as someone from Illinois, ‘going to Indiana to buy fireworks’ is such a familiar and obvious thing to me that I had a whole disorientation moment of ‘wait, Marisha isn’t from--oh my god people do that from the other side of Indiana too?’  I had not realized Indiana was such a national hub for fireworks, although I probably should have, given Indiana.)  Seriously though, the M9 do not care about money-- ‘here, take some of mine to pay for that thing, I’ve got so much I won’t use, just get it, it’s fine.’  But they get so much joy out of buying hundreds of gold worth of joke shop supplies, it’s so delightful, the entire two-city shopping trip was so delightful and I love them all.   

I covered all of my ‘oh man Beau’s imposter syndrome and self-esteem issues’ feelings in an earlier post, but I’m just going to reiterate: fuck, my feelings.   

I love the Eiselcross hook, and I cannot wait for what they find up there.  For one thing, I love me a good fictional deicide.  (I have some THOUGHTS about any potential god-killing weapons, and their potential uses against, say, life-devouring cities or angry sea serpents with a more than conventional number of eyes.  Also man that would’ve been useful for Vox Machina circa their own episode 109 or so.)  I am deeply curious to see what traveling with Vess de Rogna will be like--especially knowing that she was one of the people dealing with Yeza, and now I’m thinking about the fact that Veth was the only person NOT there to meet her today, which, hmmmmm.  I want to see so many things up there.  

There’s an almost-unfamiliar increasing seriousness and maturity to the Mighty Nein lately, and it’s so fascinating to me to watch.  They named their ship the Nein Heroes.  After the Mistake and the Ball-Eater, they went with a name that, beyond just not being a self-deprecating pun, almost sounds like they’re proud of themselves.  And yes, tonight they bought out an entire joke shop’s worth of magical novelties--but they also Sending’ed ahead to two teleportation circles in a row.  Yes, Jester set off a magical stink bomb in a tavern at lunch--but there were multiple healthy and emotionally honest conversations going on during that scene, too.  They thought ahead about their clothes.  They’re not just respected at the Cobalt Soul, they’re respectable. At first glance it just seems like they’ve learned to plan ahead, but it’s not that, or it’s not just that.  Rather, the M9 are doing things, sending messages, picking names, changing clothes, that affect the way they present themselves to others.  They’re not playing games of respectability politics, it’s not like they’re deliberately trying to convince other people that they’re any better than they are--but I wonder if, maybe, they’re doing just a little bit less self-sabotaging in the opposite direction.  If maybe they’re starting to suspect that they can be respected, and it’s not just a lost cause from the beginning. I really want to see where this goes in the coming weeks, whether they go back to chaos crew fuck-it again or this continues to build.  I’ll be curious to see where (and for whom!) it seems to apply, and where it slips.

[cranesofibycus]

CR Ask Game: 90, 92,95,110,111,115!

90. Bathhouses and Bastions: What was your favorite episode this year and why?

I’m gonna go with Misery Loves Company (aka the Jester Cupcake episode) on this one. The first half was a quintessentially good CR episode: lots of laughs and silly moments, combat featuring some cool spells, some great RP moments (it was the first time that the rest of the Nein saw the Traveler), and then the second half was the most interesting, meta-provoking succession of one-on-one interviews with the Mighty Nein we could’ve ever hoped for. We learnt so much about each of their value systems in those conversations with Isharnai. To this day there are people who can’t forgive Nott for offering the peace talks. I am still not over Beau offering all her happiness. And then Jester walked in and Laura Bailey won D&D. So yeah. A solid episode, I’d say.  

92. Home is Where the Heart is: How much did you engage with the CR fandom during the hiatus?

I made a ton of gif sets in the first few weeks and then bought myself a Switch and fell into an Animal Crossing shaped hole. I was fully back by May, I think, when they began releasing a ton of new socially distanced content, but there were definitely a few weeks where I stopped interacting with the fandom. I think I had to take a step back at that point - I just missed the show way too much. 

95. Blessing in Disguise: What was your favorite new CR show they premiered this year?

Narrative Telephone is the only right answer, though I gotta say that the Mighty Vibes episodes rank among my most rewatched (relistened?) CR content this year. 

110. Dinner with the Devil: It’s December 2021. How did Trent Ikithon die?

Eadwulf hits him over the head and uses Wrathful Smite, Astrid pierces his eye out with a dagger, Caleb deals the killing blow with Disintegrate - straight to the heart.  

111. New Homes and Old Friends: What are your hopes for the fandom in 2021?

Let’s just leave all kinds of “the cast owes us xyz” discourse in 2020. That includes, but is not limited to: Liam owing anyone mlm representation, Marisha and Ashley owing anyone ‘perfect lesbian’ representation, Sam owing anyone ‘good’ mother representation and Matt owing anyone more nb rep. That’s not how it works and it’s the kind of discourse that really exhausted me this year.

115. Fetching Fables & Frosty Friends: If you could choose anyone to come in as a guest on CR in 2021, who would it be?

ME! (serious answer: I want Sam’s mom as a guest! :D)

[hope-whispers]

I didn’t plan on doing this again but then things just kept making me smile and you know what this is my blog and my tags and knowing I was gonna watch episode 2 tonight is the only thing that got me through the day so here we go

-Vex petting squirrel-Keyleth, Marisha being adorable and stupid and shameless with her acting, they’re all so adorable

-the moment when Sam looks down the camera and says “yeah, we have a magic carpet.” As weird as it is jumping into the adventure nine levels in, it’s totally worth it for moments like this

-Marisha’s bad dwarven accent is her bad Caleb voice and I’m so glad I know this now

-Liam: clearly we are idiots

--again, some things never change

-“take five everyone while Vex haggles” –I’ve been WAITING for this

-the different table arrangement throws me it really does but after watching Taliesin and Marisha giggle about period jokes I’m absolutely sold, sign me up, I love them all

--side note, those two are gonna kill me with the physical affection this campaign, I can already tell

-there was a moment where one of them said something that could so easily have turned into a Hamilton reference and for a moment I was waiting for it before I remembered that in March 2015 Hamilton was still months out from being a musical phenomenon. time is weird, y’all.

-also forgot to mention this last time but Critical Role’s first episode aired the night Ashley fucking Johnson won her BAFTA? what kind of career

--I love her so much, I can’t wait to meet Pike

-on a similar note, I can’t wait to meet Kima

-Keyleth is claustrophobic

--grace, are you going to comment on everything Keyleth/Marisha does?

--yes, yes I am and I am valid for it

-lol @ the giveaway for reaching 1k subscribers. look at where you are, look at where you started

--I made that joke last night too

--it’s okay it still stands

-can I just say I love druids. bc I fucking love druids

--oh my god should I be a druid when I play?

-Marisha: I’m gonna eliminate the threat and put myself in danger in a creative yet reckless move

Matt, describing the resulting situation: and then you find yourself tangled up with an umber hulk

-Marisha: hey brah, sup?

--I have heart eyes

[the-punslinger]

Critical Role Quotes and Funny Moments (59/?)

[Grog and Scanlan buying a hat with a pointy end] Saleswoman: “It’s all right. It can be sharpened.” Matt: “It’s more for decor. It’s not meant to slice somebody in half.” Grog: “Yeah. It could be sharpened?” Saleswoman: “Well, I mean, what are you intending to do with this hat?” Grog: “Nothing, just look sharp.”

[After a few seconds of thinking the stream was offline] Liam: “We were in the Feywild.” Matt: “You guys missed six episodes. Everything turned out okay.” Laura: “We got the warden thing.” Liam: “Dragons are dead.” Marisha: “Guys, I’m so glad we won DnD. We beat it.” Taliesin: “Roll the credits scroll.”

[Talking on not having their names be used for the safety of Whitestone] Allura: “[...] we could help instil the idea that it’s for the better good that you are not mentioned.” Percy: “Best be nameless at this point.” Vex: “We-who-must-not-be-named.” Scanlan: “The Unmentionables.”

[Talking about a person in history named Joran the Sea-Speaker] Scanlan: “He speaks to the sea?” Matt: “Perhaps.” Percy: “Or just the letter ‘c’.”

[Keyleth having another conversation with the Sun Tree, asking about a sick tree in the Feywild] Sun Tree: “Sounds sad, but no [I can’t help you.] I’ve been in Whitestone since day one.” Taliesin: “Born and raised.” Matt: “So I graduated from Berkeley and made my way to Whitestone.” Travis: “My twigs smoke the doob.” Sam: “Barkeley.” Ashley: “Put a pair of Birkenstocks on its branches.” Travis: “Birkenstalks.”

[bestfriendforhire]

Children of BFFH, Entry 100

 “Hello, Marisha.  Seeing you again is a pleasure.” stated Aiden just after I was shown from James’ office.  “Would you mind coming with me?” he asked with a small smile.  Aiden had dark blue eyes, but he had his mother’s auburn hair, seeming dark red in bright light.

 “Of course.  Thank you, Aiden.” I told him, following him when he started to walk.

 “Please, call me ‘Aid’.  Everyone does.” he replied, still smiling as he glanced at me.

 “Oh.  Sorry.  I do remember hearing the different nicknames you have for each other, but I didn’t want to appear too casual.” I explained, not wanting him to think I was forgetful.

 “I understand completely, but you’ll be more endeared to everyone here if you use our nicknames instead.  Only some of the adults ever use one of our actual names.” he insisted, seeming to consider the matter settled by how he went silent afterward.  He really was handsome and walked with the casual grace that I associated with the powerful.

 “Aid,” I started experimentally, “you inherited your mother’s gift with heat, correct?”

 He glanced back at me and brushed his hand through his hair bashfully, which was actually really cute.  “Not fully, honestly.  Mother’s gifts come from fey heritage amplified by the corresponding dragon magic.  I received the fey heritage with no trace of the raw strength of dragons.  Sure, I’d be considered extremely strong by your… er… our family’s standards, but I’ll never hold a candle to Mother.”

 “Luckily, there’s no need to destroy cities these days.” I assured him, remembering the estimates of Alma’s power.  I did wonder at the slip.  Did he not think of himself as part of the Slayer family, or was he making a mental distinction between my nuclear family and his own.  The latter seemed more likely, since he couldn’t rightly consider himself powerful next to his parents.

 “True, but Mother can do far more than that these days.  She’s grown considerably from what I’ve been told.” he insisted with no hint of deception.

 If he spoke the truth, Alma might truly have exceeded the power of any known Slayer, which was just a bit terrifying with her lack of aging.  The wiser families had always feared her power back when she was still very active.  I wondered what they would do if they had a clue she had grown.  How would Father react?

 “Is Luce’s water magic also from the fey?” I questioned, interested in his opinion.

 Aid shook his head as he guided me down the stairs.  “Luce purely gained the power of dragons.  She lacks the telepathy of the fey, but I have no doubt she’ll be physically stronger than me eventually, and her strength in magic has continued to grow as well.” he informed me.

 “Hold on, so you have telepathy, like Alaric?” I asked in surprise.

 He shook his head.

 Despite the wards on me, I suddenly saw him standing out in his yard, telling me that fey telepathy was a different beast entirely.  I remembered this from when Doc was showing us history, but Aid’s version made everything seem even more real.  In my disorientation as my mind compared what I was actually seeing to what he was showing me, I missed a step.  He caught me before I even had time to decide what to do.

 “Thank you.  I wasn’t prepared for that.” I told him, feeling a little embarrassed.

 “I apologize for distracting you.  That was not my intent.” he assured me as he released me.  Continuing down the stairs, he said, “Since you’re no doubt more interested in Four than Luce or me, I’ll tell you that his magic comes primarily from Father as far as I can tell.  As such, he’s studied the uses of residual energy extensively and has a stronger connection to the energy than anyone save for father.  If you attempt to use such magic around him, he can stop you with a thought.”

 “I wouldn’t say I’m more interested in Four than the rest of you.” I argued, knowing I wasn’t being honest.

 Aid glanced back to smile at me as he said, “No, but you are.  Like Father, Four emits a spell that causes everyone to think of him favorably.  This can’t be helped and makes fighting him all the more difficult.  If not for the additional protection around you, you might find yourself wanting to show off for him or suffering from an inability to attack due to his face being too charming.  Oh.  My parents did warn you not to attack Messy with intent to do harm during our battle, didn’t they?”

 I shook my head.  “I didn’t even know she participated.  Isn’t that unfair?”

 He nodded, saying, “Quite, if she used her full strength, but she doesn’t.  We follow the tradition of holding back against anyone physically or magically weaker than yourself, so that we might grow more in skill rather than just winning with overwhelming power.  That being said, you must never attack Messy with intent to harm or kill.  Despite the futility of such an attack, you’d die instantly.  Messy cannot help this.  A bullet from any gun, enchanted or otherwise, cannot harm Messy, but an army would be wiped out if everyone attempted to harm her.”

 “Are you serious!?” I asked in shock.

 He looked at me curiously as he asked “You were informed who her mother is, correct?”

 I nodded.

 “Then you shouldn’t be surprised.  Not everyone here knows, so don’t mention that fact.” he warned, his tone almost sounding threatening.

 “I know.” I told him, having been warned by Father that I would simply cease to exist if I betrayed Death’s secrets.

 Apparently believing me, he continued walking as he said, “Then there’s Crazy.  Despite what fighting her will be like if you’re on opposing sides, she is holding back, rarely even exceeding what her mother is capable of doing.  She’s extremely formidable, but she isn’t unbeatable in a restricted fight.  Neither Messy nor Crazy have won every single battle.”

 “You assume I’m trying to prepare myself?” I asked, somewhat amused.  I was really just wanting to compare my family’s records with a firsthand account.

 Aid stopped again, spinning around to look at me.  “I understand that you’ve trained your whole life and have considerable power, but you’re not prepared, not even close.  If Four had been sent to collect you, he would have coddled you and let you find out for yourself.  My parents knew that I wouldn’t, especially not with the reactions of Rona and Layla.  Did you feel you fought well against my sister?”

 “I didn’t do terribly.” I argued, feeling defensive.

 “She was holding back.  Even when your father arrived, she held back.  That’s what we’re trained to do.  If you and your father had used any serious magic, she would have ripped the water straight out of your bodies to save Ella instead of asking for help.  She can.  You’ll never see her do that in practice, thankfully, but she can.  Don’t underestimate any of us, okay?” he asked, gazing into my eyes.  His eyes were actually really pretty too.

 “As you said, I’ve been trained.  I won’t be caught off-guard so easily.” I assured him, though I hadn’t even considered that Luce might have been able to kill Father and me together.

 “You won’t be allowed wards in our battles other than the one placed on you here.  That means Ella will be able to control you if you’re not careful, and I’d wager she’s more skilled at fighting than you are.  You’ll need to be careful.” he insisted.

 “She’s really that good?” I asked dubiously.

 He nodded as he said, “More often than not, Ella is our commander in fights, and she won’t even remember the fight two seconds after we’ve won.  Where the rest of us think about what we could have done better after a fight, Ella typically can’t.  Her memory won’t work that way without extreme focus on Ella’s part.  She had to spend hours on end studying tactics.  What she can do is be exceptionally aware of the present, modeling the movement of everything around her as she acts and seeing how to outmaneuver every last person at once.  I have far better reaction speed than Ella and can sense everyone around me, but I usually can’t arrive at a successful outcome as fast as she can.  The craziest part is that she doesn’t even have to try to do it.”

 That did sound fairly impressive.  Thinking back on it, Ella did seem to be tracking my movements even though she couldn’t physically keep up with me.  “Okay, so what else should I look out for?” I asked, feeling the excitement rising once again.  My fight with Luce had taught me that Aid or Four could probably beat me with relative ease.  Hearing Aid speak so highly of his friends made this sound quite fun.

 “Valeria’s a beginner, but her magic is very versatile with a bit of creativity.  Expect her to redirect attacks, trap people, and attack from your blind spots.” he told me, apparently expecting me to know what sort of magic Valeria had.

 “I’m not really familiar with her, other than knowing that she’s a vampire.” I admitted, interested in hearing what sort of magic she used.

 “Valeria has a limited form of spatial magic.  She can open a doorway from any point into a sort of room and create another door out to a different location, effectively allowing her to teleport herself, others, and whatever else she likes.  We’re not certain what sort of range she has yet.  If she’s tested it, she hasn’t told us, but I imagine Momma Cosette would have had her test it.  I’m a bit curious what happens if she shuts the door before something is fully through, but that hasn’t happened to any of us yet.” he explained, appearing too nonchalant for such a terrifying thought.

 “And how do you escape these rooms of hers if you’re trapped inside?” I questioned, just to be prudent, not because I worried about getting caught.

 “Interdimensional travel, from what Messy told me, though Crazy couldn’t manage it in ten minutes.  That might seem like a short time to you, but I assure you Crazy is a super genius by Slayer standards.  No, that might still be underestimating her.  You’re fairly safe to assume that things she can’t figure out are simply impossible to do with equivalent information.” he assured me, though the idea wasn’t very reassuring.

 Aid continued his explanations as we strolled along the hall of the first floor, and I found myself wondering if even my father knew about the strength of the people here.  James effectively had a personal army under his roof even without considering the adults, and I had heard rumors of a half-demon of tremendous power living here.  Of course, even a demon paled to Death as a tenant, but I was still amazed.  All of the branches of the Slayer family prided themselves on strength, but Best Friend For Hire was in its own league.

[krissbeekrema]

I’ve had a couple days to wind down from Thursday’s episode, but I still have thoughts.

I went into the fight knowing exactly what a lvl 20 druid was capable of. Not only do I play a druid myself in my home game but I’ve also managed to pick up the context clues the Critical Role cast has been putting down anytime they talk about Keyleth for the past 3 years.

It’s because of this that I knew two things,

1) Of course Marisha is going to utilize wild shape as often as possible it’s the most broken thing in all of dnd and no one can say shit cause it’s in the book. If you’re an arch druid and you’re NOT spamming wildshape THATS when you’re doing it wrong. Don’t tell me you’d be fair and try to balance that away cause you’re boring and you’re lying.

2) If they didn’t ALL gang up on her they had no chance. I don’t care what kind of solo plan you got, taking down an arch druid is not a solo mission. They’ve got unlimited wildshape! You’re crazy if you think you can solo kill that without having a plan to get rid of the wildshape altogether. You’d have to do 260 points of damage before it got back to her turn where she could just wildshape again as a BONUS ACTIONNNN

The minute I saw Talesin decided to test out Percy’s premeditated Scanlan murder I knew the whole fight was over and everything that followed was legit just biding time till keyleth won. Liam made it super clear he was just attempting to stay alive, Travis was on board with the team up plan but Grog faced his season long problem of being flightless (that honestly is always so sad, give the poor baby some tiny wings), and poor Scanlan he’s a support class that could never do 260 points of damage alone and Sam Riegel knew that.

So am I mad about how it went down? Yes. Is it cause of Keyleth or Marisha? Hell no as far as I’m concerned she did her job and she did it well.

I’m mad at Percy and to an extent Talesin for deciding battle royal was the best day to let Percy spite murder Scanlan. Partly because he’s right and partly cause I really wanted to see them work as a team and THEN slaughter each other. He did it for story reasons which is great, and I actually think it’s really cool, we got to see sniper/navy seal Percy but man did his completely valid choice in target take away the mystery of that fight.

I’m still itching to see a team try to actually take down a lvl 20 arch druid and this curiosity might just develop into a one shot of my own. Cause man would it be so cool, and man would it be so brutal, especially if we don’t have our shit together

[eponymous-rose]

Talks Machina Highlights: Critical Role - Thursday By Night

Guests are Travis Willingham, Sam Riegel, and Taliesin Jaffe. Full video on Project Alpha!

No Talks Machina next week due to Halloween! There will be another event in its place to be announced soon.

Laura did a tour of the studio for context for the episode!

@critrolestats counted 8 “stanimas” by Taliesin (and 8 more by everyone else teasing him over it).

Taliesin first encountered V:TM in a LARP in high school---a couple different games ran on and off for years, but before last week he hadn’t played in 20 years or so.

Sam points out that he’s never played with Matt in a game where Matt was playing a character rather than just himself. Travis mentions how Matt is still very game-oriented as a player and tends to instinctively wrangle the rest of the players back toward the objective.

Taliesin talks about how basing the game in the studio was in part inspired by a Vampire game he participated in where the DM just set them loose to murder their way through Disneyland.

Sam knows basically nothing about the set and was fairly confused for much of the descriptions.

Travis’s attitude re: not having killed anyone yet: “Life needs things to live, and I’ve gotta protect it.”

Matt and Marisha called in advance to warn Taliesin that they had a meeting that night with the wedding planner and obviously wouldn’t be able to play for the second part, but still wanted to play if possible, so Taliesin just told them to make increasingly bad decisions and everything would work itself out. Matt immediately realized when he had no reflection that he was a Lasombra vampire and that it would just take sunlight to kill himself off.

Puzzling out what the TT in TTRPG stands for. Brian: “Totally Taliesin?” Travis: “Team Tactics?” Sam: “Three-Titted?” Dani to the rescue: “Tabletop.”

Taliesin was delighted by the reactions from the people who had cameos as NPCs.

Travis: “I don’t know about you, but I got Twitter thank-yous and chocolates sent to my house by Amy for not killing her.” Sam: “Is that true?” Travis: “No.”

Sam finds it harder to play himself than a character. Taliesin: “It’s definitely worse when you’re doing it wrong. I was really irritated by how poorly you were playing yourself.” 

Travis becomes more way risk-averse playing a version of himself than he is when he plays a character. Taliesin: “I feel like that’s what you would do, that seems pretty reasonable.” Travis: “Taliesin, I would put myself in front of traffic for you.” Brian: “Yeah, on the 405 about 9:30AM.”

Character stats were based on personality of the player and a bit of last-minute desperation on Taliesin’s part (he enlisted his brother to help). Sam has max Wit, but has less Intelligence than Travis and is mildly irritated at that. Taliesin wasn’t too worried about balance because (a) it’s a short game, and (b) he was already axing a lot of the complexity of the game and at that point balance was out the window anyway.

Sam tells all re: his complicated web of alliances: “I think it’s no secret that one of my alliances... is true... and the others... are not.” Travis: “Is there a chance in hell that it’s not the one with Liam?” Sam: “No. No, it is the one with Liam.” Brian: “Well, still leaving it open to interpretation, I see.” Sam: “No spoilers, guys. It’s Liam.”

There really is a framed map of the studio on the wall next to the women’s bathroom that they could’ve found. Taliesin’s the only one who knew about it. “I’m gonna be the only one who survives an 8.4 earthquake, aren’t I?” “Probably.” “God, it’s gonna be great. Can’t wait.”

Ivan was a throwback to the Mage: the Ascension Technomancers.

Brian thought the Father was Darin de Paul, Sam and Travis thought it was going to be Taliesin.

Re: the server room: “Yeah, it was a bit of a human centipede.” It was integrating into the server, building a weird little sentient AI. Travis: “Would it have messed us up if we went in there?” Taliesin: “Yeah. It would’ve been great.” The boiler-room would also have led to weirdness.

Travis wants to be friends with the werewolves. “I wanna have awesome tats like Rachel had and I want them to show up in my fur and I want to walk around bipedal-style, howl at the moon, cause terror, and generally thrash people apart. That’s all I want.”

What was the worst card? Sam: “The void.” Seriously, though, there was a card that would’ve reset reality.

Travis: “If I had picked up the crucifix without the t-shirt, would it have burned my hand?” Taliesin: “Probably.” Travis: “I am the greatest player alive.”

Someone points out that Sam and Travis always wind up trying to kill each other in these games. “It’s always beneath the surface.”

Sam thinks there’s a apocalyptic hellscape outside, Travis thinks it’s just normal LA out there.

Taliesin was looking for opportunities for the players to “fall into” their clans based on their gameplay.

Talks Stanima In The Dark

Sam is hosting, cannot find the camera.

What’s up with Liam’s papier-maché skin? He’s Nosferatu clan.

Worst Halloween costumes? Travis: in 5th grade, an upside-down clown (it didn’t work out). Taliesin: Tyler Durden. Brian: last year, showed up with no socks, no shoes, no shirt, just slacks. When asked what he was: “I just came in my pants”. He won sexiest costume at the party.

Dani technically died in the explosion. She appears on camera and somehow the show turns into her performance review. Biggest criticism: her feet don’t touch the ground when she’s sitting on the couch.

They also drag Max on screen. Sam has him act out being dead to help the audience better visualize the sequence of events last week.

Brian realizes belatedly that none of their guests are mic’ed up.

Who wrote “something is wrong”? Travis thinks it was Taliesin, because he came up out of the floor first. Sam thinks it’s Ashley.

Steph is brought on set. Sam has actually never met her. Introductions all around. He immediately forgets her name.

The ending is a minor disaster all around. “And don’t forget... is it the day before Thursday yet?” “Oh my god.” “What was your name again?”

[amberrileynews]

Onetime Glee star Amber Riley has caused a sensation in her first major theatrical role, winning this year's musical actress Olivier Award for her performance as Effie White in Dreamgirls at the Savoy Theatre—a production said to be heading for Broadway. One recent evening found the performer sporting newly shorn locks and joining her colleagues for a late-night celebration of music and song at London's W Hotel in Leicester Square, the event part of a series known as West End Unplugged. So, it was impressive barely 12 hours after she had finished her roof-raising set (Chaka Khan's "Tell Me Something Good" among the songs covered) to find Riley up for an early-afternoon chat embracing any number of topics, including the release this week of the new Dreamgirls cast album, which was recorded live. Riley was in fine, expansive form, as is evident below.

How are you doing today after giving your all at the W Hotel into the wee hours last night? You know, as soon as we finished, I was outta there, but it was so much fun. Doing things like West End Unplugged kind of recharges you because it can be a little bit difficult doing the same thing every night. How are you finding the show some six months or so into the run? I can't believe I've actually been [in London] since last September! I really feel as if my job is to try to give something different each night but to also try to stay in the moment as the character every single night. The show, we hope, is exciting to the audience because they've never seen it, and because it's new for them, it's new for me. Have you settled into a routine? It's taken me a while to kind of come up with one, but it's really about going to the gym because when your body is warm then your voice is warm. I steam twice a day, do vocal exercises, and there are certain teas that I drink throughout the day. I came here to do a job, not to socialize or be on holiday, so everything I do during the day is for the show that evening. And I really enjoy being in the show, so for me it's not a burden to do those things. Singing is my life's joy.

Are you aware of your voice perhaps changing—even strengthening—as the run has gone on? It has! The voice honestly does get stronger if you take care of it. [Maintaining it] requires a certain amount of cardio and energy, and I'm finding as I go on that there are different places in my voice that I didn't realize were there; I'd never initially thought of myself as a belter. Is it useful having several alternate Effies [Marisha Wallace and Karen Mav] with whom you can trade notes? I've seen both of them do [the part], which actually really helped me because when you're in a show, you don't really see it. So, I was able to go, "Oh that's a laugh there," or "I need to be turned out right there." What's fascinating is that all three of us do Effie completely differently and sing the songs differently. Was it weird for those audiences watching you watch the show? [Laughs] I was hiding in the booth with the sound engineer. Was your very first experience of Dreamgirls the celebrated Tony Awards clip on YouTube of Jennifer Holliday from 1982? That was it! I watched that online and then I saw the movie when it came out and that was when I was really, like, "Oh my God!" Dreamgirls has always been my favorite musical, and I have always been enamored with the music from it. I had been completely blown away by Jennifer Holliday and then to see Jennifer Hudson, who's like my generation, in this movie was, like, "Yes!"  I was obsessed with the movie and could recite the whole thing, word for word, lyric for lyric.

Were you counting the years until you could do it? I truly never thought this show was in the realm of possibility. Number one, I never considered myself a belter: I don't sound like Jennifer Holliday or Jennifer Hudson; I don't sing like them, and I don't have that belt like they have. I remember toward the end of season one on Glee when Ryan Murphy said to me, "OK, you're going to sing `And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going,'" I said, "Please don't make me!" But he was, like, "Oh, it will be fine," and when I recorded it in the studio, my legs gave out. I had never sung like that in my life, so it was about kind of discovering that part of my voice on that show. Was a stage version the obvious next step? At the time, no one was talking about putting it back on Broadway; that wasn't the conversation. It was my agency who told me that they were doing Dreamgirls on the West End. My agent is [director-choreographer] Casey Nicholaw's agent, so I was asked if I would come to New York and audition. I had literally just had surgery and had to fly and my voice was not all the way there and they wanted me to sing "And I Am Telling You ..." and "I Am Changing," and I said that I couldn't sing both of them, so they said, "OK, do one or the other," and then they loved it. After that, I had to come to London to audition for the producers and I had to do both songs and had a cast on my foot and bronchitis, but somehow I got through them. That was one hell of a year!

What about the acting side of it, which must have been a separate issue? I was actually a lot more concerned about the acting. I wanted to prove myself as an actor and get out of this pigeonhole realm of thought that I can only sing because on Glee I was considered a singer: I was the one that came on with a song and took it home. That's why Casey was, like, "Here's why we are having you do all these lines" [at the audition]. Effie has to be able to carry the acting part as well. How do you feel about the cast album coming out this week? What's great is that they literally just recorded the show live at three different shows and then they put in whatever they felt was the best. I asked Sonia Friedman Productions if they could put a listening party together for everyone in the show so that they can hear it, and it was so amazing. There were so many tearful moments and so many laughs. Do you like listening to yourself sing? I don't hate it, but it's not like I go online to listen to myself sing or listen to myself in the car. At times, you do kind of cringe because you can hear things that maybe other people can't. When I listen to myself, I think I'm more likely to criticize it than enjoy it. What are your memories of this year's Olivier Awards, where you brought down the house as a performer—and won the musical actress trophy? It was all just so surreal. My mom was here and my sister. I try to take every experience how it is and, of course, part of you knows that nobody is going to care in a couple of days, but, to me, that [night] is going to be something I remember for the rest of my life. I may get to sing at the Royal Albert Hall again or I may not, but it was about just taking in the moment while I was there. Any thoughts on Broadway, where this production is rumored to be heading? I know the reception would be great if this production does go there and that it would be a great move. We've had so many people from America at the show here and when I go to the stage door to sign, there are people from New York or North Carolina, Texas and Florida and all over. And you want to be part of it in New York? If it goes, absolutely!

[tiamat-zx]

Charred

Welp, I got inspiration from last week’s episode to write this one. It’s a re-enactment and expansion of that heartwarming final scene before the end.

Keep in mind that this is the first draft, and that I may need to expand on it further before posting this to ao3. But please let me know what you think of it, because feedback is what keeps me going as a Critter and as a writer.

Also, thank you Liam and Marisha for such a tender scene. I was so happy that it happened.

It was a horribly exhausting day, a day spent within the sulfurous and volcanic city that used to be Emon. A day spent fighting for survival against the Cinder King and the dangers that loomed within the Cloudtop District. But even though Thordak had fallen, there was still an even greater danger on the horizon.

In her room in Castle Whitestone, standing in front of the mirror of the vanity table in her nightgown, Keyleth held her charred circlet in her hands, lamenting over the day’s events. The Cinder King had proven to be an even more terrifying and dangerous opponent than they thought, but at the very least they had two months to prepare for this endeavor, which included gathering allies and the Vestiges of the Divergence. After a long, harrowing two months—and many, many near-misses along the way—their preparations were complete... or so they thought.

They did not win the battle by their combined might alone because while they had the assistance of Zahra, Kashaw, Kima, Gilmore, and Jarett, there was another individual that they had forged an alliance with. And that individual was the one who released Thordak from the Plane of Fire in the first place which caused the destruction of Pyrah and most of the Fire Ashari to be exterminated. The one who attacked them first in Emon and forced them to flee because her might was too great. The one who used Whitestone and Vox Machina’s beleaguered state as leverage to ensure their allegiance in destroying Thordak. The one who ultimately turned on them all once the battle was won and Vax chose to attack her, to try to stop her from achieving her own goals.

The one who called herself the Diseased Deceiver, Raishan.

Keyleth’s eyes began to water, thinking back to that horrible confrontation. They were wounded and spent, most of their strength expended on Thordak. And yet, even though she told Vax to wait for her before attacking, even though her exact words were to not let Raishan touch the Cinder King’s corpse, Vax chose to strike first. And then when she flew even further into the tunnel and Keyleth and the twins chose to pursue, that was when everything began to go wrong starting with the impact of those meteors.

They clearly underestimated Raishan’s power as she used her magic to disappear and systematically remove the protection of the Heroes’ Feast that would’ve shielded them from her poisonous breath. And even after the rest of the group—sans Kash and Zahra who stayed behind to stop the fire giants from interfering—managed to catch up and Devo’ssa was finally summoned by Scanlan, she had then proceeded to lay waste to them all, unleashing spell after powerful spell on them. They struggled to keep each other alive, but despite their best efforts Raishan had managed to slay Vex and Scanlan temporarily before Pike managed to revive them. She nearly killed Vax as well and would have if Keyleth hadn’t managed to save him from the burning lava. And when Raishan attempted to flee while clutching two dragon eggs, Keyleth tried to follow to give chase and aid the party best she could... only to have the ground break beneath her and have her plummet into a river of lava below her.

Keyleth could still feel the horrible pain that she endured from that fluke of a circumstance. She had managed to crawl out of the river but not without suffering some severe damage that was fortunately lessened by the fire resistance potion she drank earlier. And to make matters worse, they were repelled by an invisible wall. And by the time they figured out how to make the wall vanish, Raishan and Thordak’s corpse were already gone. The Diseased Deceiver had escaped with her prizes in tow. Keyleth stood there in silence upon witnessing the absence of both, her vengeance having been ripped from her fingers when she was so close to achieving it. She tried so hard to remain strong and not break down, to try to focus on their next course of action, and it was only when Vax and Kerr—the blacksmith who acted as a mentor to her in Westruun—tried to comfort her did she allow herself to cry from the pain and exhaustion.

Keyleth stood there in front of the vanity table mirror, still clutching onto her circlet and staring at herself and the state she was in. She was still horribly burned by her sudden lava bath, though most of the burns were fortunately healed by Vax and Kerr’s healing magic. Her beautiful red hair, once long, was scorched and mostly gone, the blackened ends reaching down to her shoulders. Keyleth felt that this was karma at work, punishing her for her own hubris. At the very least, she was still alive for the moment before they would all head out to fight Raishan once more in the evening. She felt so tired and exhausted from the events of the day. It took all of her remaining willpower to stay standing and not collapse, to remain focused on the task at hand.

They had been presented with a very difficult choice: to either pursue Raishan straight away while both sides were depleted but with a higher risk of someone dying permanently, or pursue her after resting in the hopes that they manage to catch her before she fully recovers. Keyleth herself had to make the call, and as far as she was concerned, she made the right choice; nearly dying in Thordak’s lair made her more cautious and wary of what was to come, especially after witnessing Raishan’s magical prowess even though she was diseased. She underestimated her once before, but not again.

But did I truly make the right call?

She continued to stand in front of the mirror, lost in her own thoughts, when a soft knock sounded out from her door.

“Come in,” she called out. The door soon opened, and in the mirror she could see Vax walk in, out of his armor and looking equally exhausted.

“Hi,” was all Vax said as he approached her.

“Hi,” she replied, not even needing to look back due to his reflection.

Keyleth soon noticed that Vax was clutching a bottle in his hand which he soon placed on the table. He then pulled out Whisper and as soon as the blade came into view she shuddered briefly, thinking back to when that weapon was plunged into her back by Kynan at Glintshore. That small, legendary dagger had nearly stolen her life, but now it was in the hands of the man she loved with all her heart. Knowing that made her relax a little more.

Vax’s other hand soon caressed the remnants of her charred locks as he said softly, “Have a seat.”

“Okay,” she replied just as softly. She did as she was told and sat down on the chair next to her, placing the circlet on the table. She continued to stare at herself in the mirror as Vax held both Whisper and her locks in his hands. And then, to her surprise, he started to grab hold of the edges and used the dagger to slowly cut the charred and burnt locks away. Keyleth could see Vax’s pained expression as he worked, the thought of having to cut her beautiful hair no doubt hurting him.

“Do you like it shorter?” she asked as he continued his work. She had never felt so self-conscious about her hair before, as fashion wasn’t necessarily a priority for her in the past other than the time where she went shopping for clothes with Vax so they could infiltrate the Velvet Cabaret in Vasselheim. The memory brought a smile to her face, as did the moment when Vax “proposed” to her. It was so silly at the time, yet it felt... right. She knew it was merely a ruse, but still, it made her feel happy that Vax wanted to do it. And she had accepted without much difficulty.

Vax thought for a moment before answering her question, and then replied, “I like you.”

Keyleth smiled again at his thoughtfulness. But then her smile faded as she noticed his furrowed brow, a constant for Vax that she had noticed having traveled with him for the better part of two years now.

“You know, I see you doubting yourself,” Vax told her as he kept cutting, his tone soft and soothing. “I see it, Kiki. But I’ve no doubts in you. I’ve known you for a long time now. And I have seen the strength in you growing. And I’m a fan. You’re going to make a great leader someday.”

Keyleth could feel herself shrink ever so slightly into herself. It was flattering and so sweet of Vax to think that highly of her. But at the same time, she felt as if she still wasn’t worthy enough to be a leader just yet, not after her desire to want to kill Raishan ended up costing so many people their lives, including Vex and Scanlan. And despite Vax’s and Kerr’s words to her, she still felt so much guilt.

“I just feel like there’s so many people I can easily disappoint, and I don’t want to,” she admitted. She was going to be the leader of her tribe once her Aramente was complete. All she had left to do was to go to the Water Ashari and complete her training. And after that, she wasn’t sure what would happen. She would probably have to part ways with Vox Machina, a thought that frightened her. They were her family for the better part of two years now, and despite the arguments and infighting they occasionally got into, they were still tied to the hip. But thinking of the possibility that she would eventually have to leave them all to return to Zephra to continue where her father left off made Keyleth feel very unsure of herself.

I’m not ready to go back, I can feel it. I don’t want to leave any of them. And yet, I will have to eventually once there’s no reason for any of us to stick together.

Vax paused for a moment, still gripping her burnt hair, and soon said back to her as he continued cutting, “You’re doing the very best you can with what you’ve been given. And I have seen you rise again and again and not stop and not back down. And you fucking blow me away with the things you can do out there. You are beautiful, you are talented, and you are strong as fuck. And I can’t take the doubt away. I can’t do that. But mix in with that my faith in you. Percy’s faith in you. Grog’s faith in you. Kerr’s. Vex’ahlia’s. Scanlan’s. Allura’s. All of ours. We are all behind you and we all believe in you. And we all love you. And obviously I love you.”

Keyleth smiled faintly. She could easily feel the conviction behind Vax’s words, the meaning behind them. He had faith in her. They all had faith in her, a young woman who was easily prone to making rash decisions and having occasionally poor judgment. A woman who was led by what her heart was telling her and not her mind. And yet... they all had faith in her. It made her want to cry.

It was then that Keyleth thought of a circumstance similar to this moment, the time when she talked about her distrust of Kima while they were in the Underdark and Vax spoke up, telling her that she was not alone. That she had a family with her. She remembered how understanding he was, and how supportive he was even long before he confessed his love to her. And she remembered how it felt for her to love him and yet not have the courage to say it. It was not until after Tiberius had died that she found that courage. And now she wasn’t afraid to explore that love with him.

“And I love you,” she replied. She then went on to say, “You know, um, everyone comes from these backgrounds and having all these well-ventured and traveled pasts. You were the first people that I knew and met. So not only are you the longest, I don’t really have any other friends. You are my family. I’ll try not to let you down.”

Vax smiled at her in the mirror as he put away Whisper and moved around the chair to kneel down in front of her, running a hand through her hair. She could see in her reflection that the burnt locks were cut away, leaving the rest of what remained clean. It was a rather uneven cut, but she didn’t mind. Besides, wild and uneven suited her considering her status as a druid.

“I’ve no worries. Look at you. Don’t you look like royalty?”

“I’m not a princess, remember?” Keyleth reminded him. She really didn’t like being called a “princess” as she didn’t think of herself as one. Still, that didn’t stop the others from treating her like one, especially Tiberius when he was still with the group.

“That’s kinda what I like about you,” Vax replied with a smile. Keyleth couldn’t help but chuckle a little. He was so sweet, and she was so happy that out of all the people she met in her life, Vax was the one she fell in love with. They were clearly alike in so many ways. Perhaps they were too much alike. But still, it allowed them to relate to each other so well. She lamented on how they could’ve had a lot more time to be happy if not for the dragons, the Raven Queen, and all the unfortunate events that transpired in-between. Despite them, however, it allowed them all to grow into the people they are now.

“Would you do me a favor?” Vax soon asked. “Down the line, once all this is behind us... will you go back to the theater with me?”

His sudden and rather non-sequitur request caught Keyleth off-guard for a moment as she stared at him, utterly confused as to why he would say that now of all times. “What is it with you and the theater? Why?”

Vax shrugged. “I don’t understand it, either.”

Keyleth shrugged herself as she brought her hand up to match his hand that was still caressing her hair and stared at him with longing eyes. “Just as long as you go back to Zephra with me. Maybe?”

Vax replied with a smile, “You don’t have to ask.”

Keyleth smiled back, happy at his decision to go back with her when they had the chance. Ever since she first showed him the village from a distance, and ever since their reunion with her father, she had wanted to show him everything. But now that promise was set, assuming they survived the coming battle first.

“Does my hair look okay?” Keyleth then asked Vax, still feeling self-conscious about it.

“You kidding me?” Vax asked with an incredulous look on his face, puzzled at her statement.

“The short thing kinda works? It works with my bone structure? The antlers aren’t overpowering it, right? The length kinda balanced out this, you know? Maybe bangs? Actually, no. No bangs.”

Keyleth continued to babble nervously about her uncertainty regarding her new look as Vax abruptly kissed her, silencing the thoughts in her head. She knew she had a tendency to talk too much, and a part of her was thankful that Vax found a rather direct way to calm her down.

Vax broke the kiss and Keyleth soon found herself feeling really tired.

“Tired?” Vax asked.

“Yeah,” she muttered. “I’m exhausted.”

“Come on, then. To bed you go,” he told her as she could feel herself being picked up by Vax and carried to her bed. She could barely keep her eyes open as Vax tucked her in.

“Rest well, love. We have a big night ahead of us,” Vax said with the gentlest of tones. “And hopefully we’ll all make it out of this alive.”

“I hope so, too,” Keyleth replied as she found herself drifting further and further into sleep. She then managed to pull Vax’s head close to her as she gave him one last kiss before succumbing to slumber. “I love you, Vax.”

“I love you, too.”

Keyleth smiled as she finally surrendered to the exhaustion of the day, her eyes closing. Their rematch with Raishan was coming, and she needed to be at her best so they could finish her off. They had to finish things, or else something far worse could occur.

She will pay for what she did. That’s a promise to you, my brothers and sisters, and a promise to myself.

Keyleth soon fell asleep, and for the first time in a long while, her dreams were peaceful. She had no doubt that right beside her, Vax was dreaming the same dreams. Dreams of the two of them living a peaceful life free of dragons and death. Dreams of a future where they even raised a family together.

They were dreams worth making come true.