#cr3e29

[counterspelling]

Endless Bells Hells

[justalittlebluetiefling]

Laura, who lives with Travis and has watched him get gifts for the rest of the table: WHERE IS MY PRESENT 

[a-couple-of-notes]

I said in this post that the showdown with Yu revealed some juicy stuff about how Bells Hells operates separately and together, and after watching it back on YouTube...yeah, I absolutely stand by that. Let's talk about it.

Imogen, Information, and Self-Control

As much as we love to talk about Imogen's moments of rage, or whether or not she'll crack and go ham on the moon, Imogen's actions here remind us that she operates on a baseline of extraordinary self-control. Imogen doesn't blast Yu to bits, even when Yu turns into Imogen to manipulate Laudna. I don't think this is out of character or Laura going easy on a guest PC. I think this is Imogen exerting an iron grip on herself because Yu has information, and Imogen's priority is getting information.

All of Imogen's moves here - starting with knowledge-seeking questions ("What the heck is the Unseelie Court?" [0:18:44]), Mage Handing the door, casting Detect Thoughts, Commanding Yu - are about controlling the situation long enough to get all the information.

If there hadn't been information in the balance, it would have been a very different thing, because then all of Imogen's need for control would have gone to "how to end the fight efficiently." This is what we saw in the fight at the museum and the Deathwish Run.

Chetney and Emotional Distance

Like Imogen, Chetney first digs for information, and he seems to give Yu the most benefit of the doubt. He's either less attuned to Yu's manipulation (constantly telling the party that Yu has told them the truth and isn't attacking anyone), or - more likely - he doesn't care about Yu's manipulation as much as he cares about people not getting killed.

I wonder (though this is pure speculation) whether he's willing to give Yu more leeway because he (thinks he) knows how assassins operate, while being less sure of how Birdie operates. A devil you know situation.

Chetney also comes up with the deal - it's an objective move that neatly resolves the situation but also depends on him not really being attached to either Birdie or Yu. He absolutely offers Birdie up to Yu ("If in a month, you bring the heat, you take her and the item, and we'll see" [1:20:13]). Chetney operates objectively, and his priority is keeping things stable long-term.

Laudna and Emotional Blindness

Where Chetney keeps an astonishing amount of emotional distance and objectivity, Laudna...does not. Other people have already written about Laudna's trust/susceptibility to manipulation and its potential liability to the party, so I just want to add a couple of things here.

First: yes, absolutely, Laudna gets attached fast, and that could lead to dangerous indecisiveness in the future (here, she gives up on deciding and Banes Yu, Fearne, and Birdie). Laudna operates emotionally, according to personal bonds, and her priority is keeping the group together.

However, Laudna is also the only one of Bells Hells willing to call out Yu's emotional manipulation directly. She also gets extremely uncomfortable when Yu turns into Imogen, not being swayed at all. I get the feeling that, on some level, she understands how susceptible she is to this sort of thing, and she hates that it still works.

Orym, Fearne, and the Present Moment

Orym and Fearne act the most aggressively toward Yu, and I think that's for pretty similar reasons. Orym and Fearne do not care about what's going to happen in the future; they don't care about long-term politics or information they can gather or even what this means for the party. Both Orym and Fearne operate in the present moment, according to what is necessary right now.

Fearne's priority is whatever she wants in that moment. This is why Yu can trip Fearne up massively one moment, while hitting a complete block the next. When Fearne is emotionally rattled and doesn't know who to trust, she can't decide on a priority. But the moment she goes, "nope, actually, we can take on the assassins," Yu doesn't have a hold anymore.

Orym's priority is keeping the party safe. This is why he gets so stabby one minute and then de-escalates the next. The moment he and his party are threatened, he'll respond; likewise, the moment things seem to be calming down, he'll honor that.

Ashton and FCG

Ashton's pretty quiet this whole fight. I think that's partly due to Ashton not having a relationship with Yu prior to the reveal (and thus Taliesin stepping back to let the others RP). But it also speaks to Ashton's willingness to go along and support whatever shit the party decides to get into. Ashton, like Orym, operates in the present moment, and their priority is taking care of the party.

FCG is also pretty straightforward. They heal Yu. FCG's priority is helping whoever they can, and they operate as such. Like Laudna, this form of emotional blindness could be (and has been) a strain on the party.

Almost done, folks!

So What? (Or, Applying This to Bells Hells)

So, why did I write all of this, and what can we extrapolate from it?

First, Bells Hells is an extremely fragmented group right now. Everyone - everyone - in this confrontation was going off their own internal priorities. There was no unified party stance, fractured between the need for information (Imogen and Chetney), the emotional turmoil (Laudna and Fearne), and the going-with-the-flow-I-guess-we're-doing-this (Ashton and FCG).

Second, as fascinating as it is that Laudna describes them as family, they're not. They are friendly coworkers who are good at pulling each other through scrapes. See above: the fact that everyone pretty much takes their own course of action regarding the conflict and no one objects/pulls them together means that Bells Hells still need a bunch of time to cohere properly.

Third, though the assertion that "Bells Hells are less violent than the Mighty Nein/other DnD parties" is not true, I do think Bells Hells has a significant investment in information. Imogen is driven by it, Chetney likes to use it, and the rest of the party will follow along as long as no current threat is being posed. This means that if an NPC can give them information, Bells Hells are more likely to try to get it from them than fight straight out.

Fourth, Yu did exactly what I wanted an antagonist PC to do for this party: expose the fractures, blow them open, and make it clear that they need to address them. If we could just get a tiny pause in the lore to do that...

[demigoddessqueens]

Born under the moon, meeting Yu and still having FCG-Avalir arc in the background

[critrolec3-cumulativefckcounter]

Total F-bombs Critical Role Campaign 3 Episode 29 Dark Portents

Per Character:

Ashton: 7

Chetney: 9

Fearne:

Fresh Cut Grass: 1

Imogen: 1

Laudna: 2

Orym: 1

Total Fucks for Campaign So Far:

Fearne: 6

Orym: 23

Fresh Cut Grass: 31

Imogen: 74

Laudna: 75

Chetney: 212

Ashton: 480

Dorian: 18

Numbers collected from watching and following transcripts and are subject to when the curse is said in character. I'm only human so these counts might not be perfect if I didn't hear something or thought a f*ck was being said by the player not the character.

[shriekshrike]

STILL reeling from the ruidus is terrestrial to exandria and then 7 yrs ago suddenly it flashed and its light came into the feywild the place where there is permanent moonglow of catha and the moon weaver and ruidus is a product of either the founding or durinf calamity....sm to consider

[renatogpadilla]

Yu Siffaiad

YUSIFFIAD

"YASSIFIED"

Is that what we're playing at, MISS ISHII?

[anxietiefling]

there needs to be a rule established: no more magical items for orym. only stabby stab. no stuff. a moment of silence for our fallen coin, rope, and bead comrades.

[winniewins10]

Critical Role fans rn:

[glass-posts]

Okay, so after watching the last few episodes of Critical Role Bells Hells campaign, I have developed a completely unrealistic theory (that Aeor’s offshoot, Cognouza the flesh city, was the city on the face of ruidus) simply so that i could terrorize my friends with this image:

have a good day everyone :)

[komaeda-nagayto]

Can’t believe the moon is haunted by two long-forgotten gods

[counterspelling]

Endless Bells Hells

[justalittlebluetiefling]

My desire for lore is at odds with my desire for stabbing.

[revvethasmythh]

YES Sam is wearing the live show outfit!

[renatogpadilla]

I KNEW it wasn't just me!

Yassifed

[shriekshrike]

MORRI IS THE ONE WHO FUCKED W THE TIME??? HER FANE IS HER DOMAIN??? IS SHE A FUCKINF HAG??? LIKE AN ACTUAL FACTUAL HAG??? IM NERVOUS