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captainsspnanon · 1 year ago

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C2E68 - Reflections - rewatch

My brain is skipping around a lot today and this episode is once again encounter heavy, let’s see how far I can make it in before my head shuts down.

Did I literally have to look up how to search for things on twitter to see if Sam actually live posted? Yes. Did he actually live post? Not according to what I could find via searching. I’m disappointed, he could have copy/pasted to do them! If he DID do them and they just got removed or didn’t show via my searching, I’m even more sad.

Wait no they’re reacting like it’s real? Did they get taken down? Just not show via search?? OH WAIT I’m looking at the day the episode posted, June 24 2019! But it would have been June 20th! *researches* AH HA!!! I am now pleased. It does seem like there are still a few that are ‘missing’, unsure if not actually sent or if somehow lost to easy searchability. Had to snip these together, the search had them all out of order.

As Nott and Yasha keep watch, and Nott introduces the idea of thinking of what’s the worst thing that could happen, I did not put it together originally that as Yasha discusses being tortured and chained up and dying that way that it’s essentially what happened to her with the Iron Shepherds. (...she doesn’t have a lot of luck with people whose names contain ‘Iron’, does she?)

As I started this scene, I was thinking about how much I love the tower and wish that they had it for more of the campaign so that we could have more scenes in it (I will never get enough of the tower), but episodes like this really wouldn’t have such poignant and important moments if they had the pretty-much-guaranteed safety of the tower. In a sense, the dome actually is much more meaningful to the Nein, simply for how long they had it, and how it provides a relative safety while still needing watches due to uncertainty, whereas watches in the tower are usually unneeded. ….now I’m doing my Mansion = VM, dome = M9 thing where they are more scrappy and living rougher. I really wonder if I would like VM more if I was able to watch a lot more of their earlier play. I don’t think so, because the group really needed to grow in terms of home-game-antics versus live-show-antics, but I miss the fact that we didn’t see the early days of VM the same way we do with the Nein. ...I just live the Nein so much you guys. SO MUCH.

“What do you mean Caleb killed his whole family?” THIS. ENTIRE. SCENE. Chefs kiss, a million out of ten, no notes at all. Sam is doing a lot of heavy lifting but Ashley is coming in with some GREAT punches “I’ll be sure to use it in front of the entire group, I’ll sound trendy”. And of course, all of this capped off by just watching EVERYONE die repeatedly in the background. CONTINUOUSLY.

In all serious, this is by far pretty much the best moment of showing how, in all three campaigns, sometimes people forget who knows what – just because it’s been so long that they’ve been playing. Liam, by all rights, could have been annoyed with Sam from dropping a huge plot point of Caleb’s background, especially just completely offhand and with no way for Caleb to even take control of the narrative for a moment. But he doesn’t. There’s such a give and take, trust and understanding at this table that I think viewers repeatedly forget. Bowlgate would never have reached the level it did if people didn’t think that Marisha and Liam were actually upset at each other over it. I remember an argument in C1 between Keyleth and Percy where the fans were TEARING Keyleth/Marisha apart, and then in the Talks after Marisha and Taliesin were talking about how funny it was because they, out of character, were completely agreeing with each OTHER’S arguments and not their own. So when accidents like this happen, there are no hard feelings and fights off camera. MAYBE, at most, Liam may have reminded Sam ‘hey that’s kind of a big thing, can you make sure you don’t bring it up with anyone else until I do, in game?’, but I very much doubt that conversation was had. (plus it’s pretty damn obvious to anyone with eyes that Liam is clearly enjoying this more than anyone else with how hard he’s laughing the entire time.)

Even better is the whiplash from such a funny scene into Caleb and Beau discussing what comes after death. This is something where I wonder if Liam had wanted to have this conversation with Beau, or if he knew it would work very well after such a funny bit to immediately move into something very dark. Interestingly, Caleb never felt to me like a PC that really ruminated on what comes after death. I can see him thinking about it more once he finally lays to rest the idea of turning back time to save his parents. I wonder if this was an early moment where he started thinking about maybe not actually taking that final step and then having to think of an after life where his parents weren’t saved. Liam was so unsure of what he would do if presented the chance, even all the way towards the end of the campaign. We never really get a resolution of if Matt would ever have let it happen the way that Liam/Caleb planned, even if it was all nat 20s, and I honestly think that’s the best for the story. Let us not know, the same way that Caleb doesn’t know. It’s the most narratively satisfying to me – I would not enjoy a story where he failed and despaired for failing, and I don’t know how Caleb would progress in a story where he succeeded and then all of a sudden it’s on Matt – do his parents forgive him? Hate him? Where do you go from there? Ending with him accepting himself, accepting his grief and responsibility as well as his lack of responsibility, it leaves much more for Caleb after the campaign ends.

Omg I forgot Caleb talks to Beau about how he’s feeling so awkward with the situation with Nott!!! I’m not saying I ship Widobrave and I’m also not saying that I DON’T ship Widobrave, but the Caleb and Nott dynamic is of the best pairing dynamics in all three campaigns bite me. (I was about to say that the only one that came close was Vex and Vax, but then I’m like wait what about Caleb and Beau, and Beau and Fjord?? So okay, I guess THOSE are my top four dynamics) It’s fun thinking about how much Beau and Caleb hated each other at the beginning of the campaign, and now he’s asking for relationship advice. THE BEST.

For all of the fact that the Fjord and Caduceus dynamic is amazing, they actually don’t have a ton of scenes together that I remember. This one, acknowledging fear with a very small mention of the gods, was very sweet.

Wait wasn’t Frumpkin a cat? ‘Cause he explored the tunnels leading in? ...Yes! Because Caleb turned him from vulture to cat when they were staying at the store place! Eh, it happens occasionally. That’s how we got a flying spider back during the Iron Shepherds bit. (goddamn it I ALWAYS want to type ‘shephard’.)

Aww!!! A C1 reference I missed the first time around, as they’re talking about being very quiet on the metal bridge they make a few ‘clang clang clang’ references to Pike.

I actually really like this part of the Gibbering Mouther encounter because while it’s just continuously rolling stealth, it provides tension without really dragging down the game. It helps to have the physical bridge there but only seeing a part of it at a time. The group doesn’t know how many times Matt’s going to keep laying out maps, but it’s also not an interminable time with theatre of the mind.

(Liam going ‘where are you Vax?’ and Marisha going ‘dead.’ 10/10)

“Laura’s calling” I love this so much

Solid credit to Matt for planning this encounter. He was reasonably able to assume pass without a trace would help them get across easily enough, so there’s disadvantage when they are at the center of the bridge, there’s a rusted out plank (I wonder if that would have existed if Nott hadn’t been searching for traps, or if it was credit for the high roll), there’s a roper ensuring that some noise would be made just due to natural combat, without penalizing any players for their actions, Matt designed this so that there would HAVE to be a multitude of wisdom saves. Plus, while I’m not sure what the rolls are, either Matt is consistently rolling ‘bad’, or there is a higher chance that a PC just loses their turn, rather than leaps off the edge or attacks someone, so it also doesn’t feel super targeted. Out of the five build-up encounters of this area (spiders, lightning, zombies, this, and then mirror people) this one is my favorite. (though in all fairness I also completely forgot about the mirror people until I saw them on critrolestats, so….)

Interesting with the conversation with Liam about holding a spell as a reaction, I thought you could use a different spell for your reaction but you’d lose your held spell. I can’t find an easy answer on google though, so who knows. I’m pretty sure he wanted to use feather fall. Whether it’s accurate to rules or not, I think I would have ruled that he could cast feather fall, but lost the slow spell including still losing the spell slot for it. (then again, Matt consistently rules that you can’t move for a held action, but RAW you can, from what I can tell) Also I feel like he’s ruled differently about this later on. Ah, mechanics. So not my forte.

*later*

*grits teeth* I must not scream about my bullshit coworkers. I must not vent about my coworkers online where, even though this is an anonymous site, there is always the slight possibility that they will find the posts. I will ONLY say through teeth clenched so hard that they might crack, wonderful to know that you can take a month and a half to get me information that I needed (which other people were getting on my back about not being completed and I had to keep reminding them that I cannot make the decisions you make), but now that you need information from me – in a SIGNIFICANT amount of detail – you’re getting all pissy that I’m saying it might take me a week to do. You know, after all the shit that I have to do with my regular work, PLUS the fact that you only just got me the info *I* needed, and updating what I need to do will take time! But no, you get to send multiple high importance emails and give me shit that I can’t get it to you fast enough.

*screams*

Okay, with that vent done and to deal with all that shit tomorrow at work, time to get back into an awesome encounter. Which I think is almost done? Just time for the Laura/Travis/Matt interaction about player agency that I will talk about once it hits.

And there it is! In fairness to Travis, the message from Laura was not ‘do this’ and he was saying no. It was preceded with an ‘if’ (though the wording details are of course unknown). While him refusing to do something that Laura tells him directly to do is a sheer dick move, the fact that in the moment he is uncertain about if the ‘if’ factor qualified, or if her plans would have changed, the fact that there was a delay, I can understand his motive. Especially because he didn’t have Jester do something else, he had her hold her action, which then, assuming Laura clarified, he could then ask Matt to do whatever it was.

On the other hand, once again, fantastic table. Sam gets clarification multiple times that Travis is not doing what he was requested to (done in a humorous and exaggerated effect, but also still clearly checking in and bringing it to attention – likely that this was a choice he disapproved of but didn’t want to come right out and say it). After Sam does his spiel (I SWEAR that word should have an H in it somewhere, fuck spelling), Matt, having very clearly picked up what Sam was putting down, gives Travis another opportunity for clarification. Is Travis, being given clear instructions, disregarding a player’s agency because she was not there. And this is the moment that Travis clarifies the ‘if’ that Laura had originally given him.

Now, I’m not one to over analyze microexpressions (I mean, yes I kind of am, shut up), but when Sam starts his bit, you can visibly see Matt 1) turn to completely face Travis, 2) get a more serious cast to his face, and 3) start to open his mouth, only to allow Sam to finish before he goes to Travis for clarification. There’s a lot of situations at the table where I wonder what would have happened if a moment went differently, or what a conversation would be off screen, but here, I don’t really need to imagine much. If Travis had refused, if he hadn’t clarified the ‘if’ statement, I would lay solid money down that Matt would have told him that Laura’s judgement ruled, regardless of what Travis wanted to do. It wouldn’t have been mean, hell it probably wouldn’t even have been Uncomfortable, but I cannot see Matt do anything except put his foot down in this moment.

Luckily, all that ends up being not needed because the delay was enough time for Laura to text back and confirm that it was no longer an ‘if’, she wanted to do the action, and Travis IMMEDIATELY went along with her choice. This is also why I don’t really consider this too much to be Travis trying to take away player agency or anything like that. As soon as there was the confirmation he instantly and without hesitation had Jester do what Laura said. The only reason he even hesitated in the first place is because he was still unsure of what she wanted to do.

Huh, something I missed on the first watch, why does Matt have the mouther try to bite Jester? I think he just forgot that it wasn’t it’s turn, unless it’s got a reaction which allows it to make an attack whenever a creature comes within range? I’m usually not nitpicky about Matt’s DMing, I’m surprised that I’ve got a few things poking at me this time.

(Sam having written dumb things about Laura or said by ‘Laura’ on his flask, only to update it to super nice things once Jester saves Nott. Sadly critrolestats only has one image, but it has “Sam is a genius” “I eat farts” “Laura Buttley” and “I heart thick ass tentacles”. Rewinding a bit to count bridge sections, there was also mustace and beard, “ass without a trace” and I THINK “dicks are dumb”, “Travis you motherfucker”. Sadly, youtube comments don’t have them listed, and Flando’s comments were more general. LOL never mind. Coming back here from the second half of the episode and it’s all gag stuff again. Drawing of a penis, the traveler wuz here, other stuff I can’t make out.)

“Thankfully, Nott and Jester didn’t spend enough time in the chasm’s grasp to experience its blinding spittle, which does exactly what it sounds like. Had anyone dropped to zero hit points by being bitten by the chasm, they would have dissolved into the chasm and become another set of eyes and whispering mouths amongst it.” HOLY FUCK CRITROLESTATS. I did not know that, and I feel like I didn’t need to know that. Holy shit we could have gotten a permadeath! I mean, unlikely considering that it didn’t do too much damage and the party had a billion ways of getting out of there (dimension door, misty step, thunder step, polymorph anyone into something that flies, etc. etc.) but still! COOOL AF.

Once again, giving full credit to Matt for the design of this encounter. He has Jester and Nott end up one segment of bridge down at the end of the bridge, so the encounter is almost finished. But! The players were technically in the ‘center’ of the bridge, and I just went back to review. It took five bridge segments for the players to reach the first ‘center’ of the bridge, and then the one that they are on right now is the sixth section. By all accounts, there should be five more sections of bridge that they have to travel along. But, in terms of interesting encounter, five more sections with a banished roper and just continued stealth rolls AFTER the badass moment of Jester jumping down and dimension dooring? Then it can just become tedious, with more of a desire to just finish up the section and move ON, rather than actual tenseness from the encounter. So Matt, by having such a flexible design, allows the encounter to end significantly earlier which feels good both for viewer and for player.

Oh hey the whip! Don’t they give that to Fjord when he loses his powers?

AH! I’d forgotten about this speak with dead moment so figured it wasn’t important (why do I do that, I’ve clearly forgotten very awesome moments and things) and it’s when they first get the name of the Laughing Hand! Very specifically also mentioned to be The Undying too, nice foreshadowing there. Once again, Sam being way more in tune than he likes to portray outside of the game, immediately recognizing the relationship to the King.

Caduceus/Taliesin asked very good questions here (and Matt is generous with allowing a redo for a question that didn’t quite work), but a tiny part of me wishes that he’d used the last question about asking about Nott’s flask. Granted, asking how to survive the mirror chamber and being told ‘don’t continue’ is AWESOME AS FUCK and incredibly atmospheric, but imagine the laughs!

Interesting that they do find footprints which I am assuming to be Obann, because I thought Obann essentially ended up tricking them into clearing out the tombs for him. Hmmm, I guess not. Wiki doesn’t specify it at all. Maybe the party mentions it as a concern that they had and I took it for fact? Or I’m mixing up facts from a different section, or possible different campaign entirely XD

Thought I was gonna finish this today in a shockingly fast two day rewatch, but with an hour left my focus is shot. Let’s see if I can finish it tomorrow and have a three day turn around!

LOL nope instead I had a week from hell with basically no sleep so now my sleep schedule is all fucked up. AND I started getting pain in one of my teeth yesterday, so I probably have a cavity. T.T But at least I’ll finish this today, so still technically only three days of watching? Just….with a week break inbetween XD

I wonder why Fjord was able to touch the mirror and only see a glimpse of movement, whereas Yasha touched the mirror and was immediately pulled through? I mean, in game reason. I’m pretty sure the Doylist explanation was that Matt was building tension (and very successfully!). Perhaps the creatures were waiting to see what happened?

This map is truly amazing. Once again, it’s technically a ‘simple’ map, just walls at weird angles and then mirrors, but because of that simplicity it makes it distracting and jarring with all the reflections. Definite proof that a good encounter doesn’t need a fantastic map – with this one so simple and the other one literally just chunks of a bridge at a time.

While the concept of this encounter is very fun, especially with the additional puzzle aspect, I don’t find it as engaging as crossing the bridge. The creatures make look like the other PCs, but there’s no mechanical benefit to the deception, which would have been fun. I think my ranking would be bridge, lighting chamber, zombies, reflections, spiders.

Ah! I forgot about the music trick to get through the door! Very very clever! I wonder if Matt would have still had that as a requirement if they’d never heard the music through the statues. I’m assuming not, and he would have a different method of getting through.

Always a fan of the little after-conversations before the streaming wraps. Especially when Travis tries to weasel information out of Matt. (Oddly, I find in C3 that Matt is more willing to share information after a session.)

#cr c2 rewatch #critical role #the mighty nein

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estelanel · 2 years ago

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the Flashcards Scene from campaign 1 is still one of my favourite moments of, like, all time in anything ever

the delivery of the word “flashcards” when Pike says it the first time

everyone immediately losing it

Matt, without missing a beat, starting to narrate the drawings

Sam making a literal hard cut back into character

Tary’s brain simply short-circuiting when he sees a het couple

“Doty stops when she says no”

“hmm. odd vowel sounds in your weird language.” [Gnomish]

Liam and Laura keep cracking each other up; honestly I don’t think they ever both have a serious face at the same time once in this whole scene

“with a v, as in... .... ....” think of something else than vagina “vagina?” “vagina.”

Laura and Taliesin both immediately start throwing poses when they realize Vex and Percy are in a picture together

of course the de Rolos were caught in the act

the gradual process of Tary mentally mapping out who is fucking who in this group

“i could tell by the bone structure and the contempt”

“and what’s his name?” - “Percival Frederickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III.”

Tary’s dumb gay ass actually, in all seriousness, asking Pike if he needs to ‘prove himself sexually’ to be in VM

"I think you should just continue to try to explore that” --- glares

“I would never tell you no.” “...” “....... NO! LET ME REPHRASE!!”

when he calls her ‘Daughter of Sarenrae’, just her deadpan, “no. it’s Pike.”

“Doty! She said realism!”

“how does he walk?!” - “with confidence and pride.”

Pike and Grog moments, however small, are honestly never not an absolute delight

Pike manifesting a 10th level spell slot to cast Mum Stare

Ashley holding it together until the sentence “I will know if you’re not looking at your flashcards every night” and then just cracking up

“this is so stupid” - “THIS IS DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS!!”

#Critical Role #Vox Machina #Pike Trickfoot #Taryon Darrington #I'm wheezing #this scene will never not be funny

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nochiquinn · 3 years ago

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campaign 3 episode 2: two characters with southern accents are gonna make mine come back permanently

(I never LOST it per se, it just isn’t as strong as it could be) (or at least it WASN’T)

fhsdkfjsdlk are they EACH OTHER

"marisha looks like a wicked and the divine character" she DOES

is sam wearing marisha' engagement ring

sam hold your hands still

dfsakldfj ashley in the muscle suit

"once esteemed" rude

tigers and bears as rugs, oh my

I was watching campaign 1 earlier, I'm gonna get all fucked up

...I was watching the first halloween episode too, time is a flat circle

"put me as far away as possible"

there's the reaction to ashton's rage I wanted from travis last week

"take away the cane! don't trust it!"

oh good thing they have paper versions too

"waiting for fearne's voice to come out of that beard"

travis: what's a chaos burst?!

I interrupt this combat to ask why laura looks so good with a goatee (see: this, the gentleman)

the muscle suit is killing me

she even drew his tattoo on I'm

mala: this is most taliesin has ever looked like just some dude me: he looks like he's in front of me in line at kroger

b e r t r a n d

"I'm gonna unhinge my jaw" robbie: D: taliesin: :D

"I have temporal morass" "what is THAT?" "it's just 2021"

I cry every time fcg uses transfer suffering

"somebody get laura a donut, she's out of control!"

cut his ankles orym

"this is going to be f u n n y"

"seeing what he did to laudna, my eyes are going to flash white" getting kind of rwby in here

ashley no the twitch tos

so if things get Real Stressful is sam gonna perch on his chair how committed is he to this bit

SNEK

dad council ground meeting

"that's what real healers do"

BERTRAND

oh no the beard

"I'm gonna throw a knife at bertrand"

sam

imogen hanging out with laudna

...sam is wearing marisha's necklace

w h i s p e r s

"we provide...leverage"

bertrand: [ashly burch voice] I'm canonically a coward!

tacitus kilgore

"you guys seem like you have a really good deal going on" g a y

(I don't even ship it (yet), it was just gay)

fcg: always just a book by its interior design

bertrand: m'tit's bleedin

"you can suck on my hair if you want" I'm

"I don't know how to handle a dare"

samuel

travis: I don't even want any now >:(

"I'm working with children"

quietly threatening fearne

dorian backing up fearne

"do I even need to roll for this, it's so obviously full of shit"

marisha making the crazy eyes at travis

travis blocking the crazy eyes with his hand

imogen my beloved

turn the exu crew up by the ankles and shake their backstory out

holy robit

"we normally patch those" ashton

he was gonna get it in there

"it's better to let stories happen slowly" shut up taliesin I want the backstory

pate WHOMST

taliesin's face

DE LOLOS

I'm fucking dying

he's a squib

I'm gonna die on my Undead de Rolo Laudna theory hill

"I go wherever you both go" cries about it

"democracy's great, fuck yeah"

"we've come to kill you"

"fuuuuck that's cool, I want one" "that knife is actually nunchucks" "I want it MORE"

everyone diving for their pencils

"the means are up to you" so murder, got it

fearne no

go to break so ashley can escape her costume lmao

FEARNE

"does [the hammer] talk too?" "you'll find out!! :D"

OH I didn't see that sam already perched on the chair, I take back my doubt of his commitment to the bit

dorian storm 🤝 dorian pavus getting manipulative magic cast on them as kids

oh no ashley is still in the suit

free her

Fantasy Dennis

ashley resting her chin on her plastic tiddies

"my ONE that I can REROLL because I'm a HALFLING"

"it's just a dial tone"

imogen getting sensory overload from using her ability too much is Relateable

"why don't they constantly think about their crimes?!" "goat cheese is pungent and overpowering"

oh NICE

man I missed liam/laura gigglewhispers

cardcaptor sakura jump boots

the polycule grows

I keep getting distracted by how natural that goatee looks on laura

fucking JOUST sam don't remind me how old I am

"we're bad! we're very very bad at this!"

fearne what

"I was eating trail mix and laura made it go bad" liam what does that MEAN

fearne ilusm

travis' hair dye spray whatever is bleeding onto his forehead

I love imogen so much but her accent makes mine come out SO HARD

f e a r n e

"orym falls on purpose"

I'm a halfling and I can't get up

they just have social anxiety leave them alone

the catheter of kas

"no, my weak nerd arms!"

You Can Reply To This Message

survival crimes

literally just saw that sam also drew marisha's tattoo on

them still not being used to the lighting makes me smile

marisha in taliesin's shirt is also v cute

"is it gonna be creepy?" "that's up to your interpretation, darling"

Team Back Door

children

"this back door has no crack"

"I'm gonna have anxiety for a week!" "good! me too!"

byeeeeee

#critical role #spoilers #crititag #liveblog #reaction post

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relentless-endurance · 4 years ago

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I'm sorry you miss critical role, I just barely caught up and I kinda already miss it too. Tell me about your favorite episode, your favorite moment between two or more characters, or your favorite recurring joke! Or all of the above!!!

RIGHT I know why they’re not live right now but god I miss them so much! I’ll do all three because I like talking about Critical Role.

Favorite Episode: Its a tie off between 86: The Cathedral and 97: The Fancy and the Fooled.

Everything about that fight in the Cathedral was just so fucking GOOD. Caleb crashing through the window, PUMAT, the parallel between Beau and Molly; and the ending: Yasha ripping off Obann’s wings. (”Do you hear that?”). Also special shout out to Caleb’s “Stay the fuck away from my friends.” (Miles away from “You shouldn’t have killed my cat”.) Also that map?? Hello?

Also when Taliesin hugged Ashley it added years to my life ;A;

For the Fancy and the Fooled it was. !!! The Essek reveal, the fancy nein, Beau and Fjord at the party. Jester once again locking Sharpe out on a balcony; but THAT ENTIRE CONVERSATION WITH ESSEK. I watched it live and when i tell you i was SOBBING...

“You were not born with venom in your veins.” is one of the best fucking lines in this entire campaign. And the Molly callback! Seeing that he still has an impact on the M9 after all this time is. He may have died, his story may have ended, but you can see the places he still touches. GOD I’M TEARING UP THINKING ABOUT IT.

Essek is a good character and I love him! I love that Matt had plans for him that got thrown off the rails because of the party, because they went through the effort of befriending him.

Your favorite moment between two characters:

I have.. I have a lot, actually. But two that really stick with me are:

The moment between Cadeuceus and Yasha in episode 91. Cad and Yasha are my favorites and I was dying for a one on one interaction with them and it didn’t disappoint me at all. I can’t even verbalize exactly what was said that made me really enjoy it; I was just so delighted my two faves interacted.

The other moment that really stuck with me is the watch talk between Caleb and Yasha in episode 92.

Yasha: "So [regret] never goes away?" Caleb: "No. But. It's easier, with people around you, to make you feel more like you.

Its so good, its so good!!

"I feel a little bit like... The forgiveness is almost harder to deal with. I feel like anger is... an emotion that I know how to deal with because that's where I live. But I feel like with everyone being so nice and accepting I don't know how to handle it.”

I don’t even know what to say its SO GOOD JUST. ASFKJHSLKFH

Favorite recurring joke:

Jester’s sending shenanigans always delight me. Poor Essek, lmao.

Oh! The Syphilis Bandits, oh my god. Everytime they show up its just great. A lighthearted reminder that they’ve had impact on the world, even if in a small way.

I will also say while I understand why people will tell you not to compare your dnd stuff to critical role, it warms my heart that in some ways they remind me the dnd silly stuff I get up to. They have their in jokes and absolutely off the rails shenanigans and moments where they’re laughing so hard they can’t talk, and like. Me too man! It makes me happy.

#CR #critical role #long post #replies #motheatenscarf

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eponymous-rose · 6 years ago

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Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E59 (Apr. 23, 2019)

Travis is unfortunately under the weather and couldn’t make it, but tonight’s guests are Ashley Johnson and Taliesin Jaffe!

This speaks to me.

Announcements: The Kickstarter campaign is over, but the Kickstarter close party with Joel Hodgson is up. Brian confirms that the six-shots-in-five-minutes bit was iced tea (”If we’d actually had that many shots, we’d all sound like Marisha did.”). Travis Willingham’s Yeehaw Game Ranch will be back next week (Brian: “This universe is expanding in a way that’s making me uncomfortable.” Dani: “I’m afraid for both of your souls.”).

This week, it’s Episode 59: Perspective!

Stats for this week: Yasha rolled the 500th player critical roll of this campaign! It was a natural 20 attack against a babau demon. This episode also marked the first NPC HDYWTDT.

Ashley mentions that Brian wrote her roast of Sam, and she loved every minute of it.

Brian asks for the music to be brought up a little. In response, the crew cranks it up to excessive levels. Brian: “I love everyone in this building.”

Everyone’s plotting revenge on Travis for jumping out from behind a door to scare them on set a while ago, especially now that the haunted house stretch goal has been met. Taliesin: “There’s not a haunted house he can choose in Los Angeles where I don’t know somebody. He’s fucked.”

Ashley’s decision to charge in against the giants. “I do think, with Yasha, which I’m still figuring out with her, is once she’s engaged in combat it’s hard for her to pull out. (It’s hard for her to PullOutKing.)” She’s enjoying exploring the impulsive side of her class. “Also, that was a little bit prompted by Travis.” She was leaning towards it anyway, but Travis tipped the balance.

Taliesin clarifies that Caduceus is not a pacifist. “He felt that this wasn’t the most advantageous action to take.” He was looking for the path of least resistance that would work out best for everyone. “He wouldn’t have had a second thought about grinding them down into paste if it had come down to it.”

On being close to Yasha’s home turf: “It’s not a place that she’s ready to go back to, because she ran away from there for a very specific reason. She owes her tribe a death, basically, because of what she did.” She’s mainly trying to keep a low profile. She’s also never been this far north in Xhorhas. “She’s cautious. As long as they don’t go South, she might be okay.” She is enjoying things like the familiar food and landscapes, and sharing that a little bit with the others.

Ashley talks about how it feels weirdly private to have your backstory come out in the game. “I think, for me, sitting at the table, these players are very good, and it’s so fun to sit at the table, but it is intimidating.” It’s a combination of wanting to find your groove before the backstory comes out and also feeling strangely protective of it. Taliesin agrees, and adds that you have to do math during it, too.

She also points out that in the first campaign, they didn’t realize how significant their backstories would become in the game (although Taliesin had played with Matt before and knew what to expect).

No Gif of the Week this week. There won’t be one for a while, because “something interesting” is in the works... “A new giveaway, a new contest, for something that isn’t gifs.” Ashley’s a big fan of this mysterious new idea.

Caduceus enjoyed being the face of the party. “Oh man, he loves talking to people. It’s one of the things he actually enjoys, is finding people who want to converse. He’s a big fan of a conversation with stakes.” He’d be more involved if he felt like he really understood the situation more often.

Ashley enjoys some natural ones because they can push you in an interesting direction where you’re not necessarily the hero. The nat 1 stealth roll that started the giant battle led to Ashley better understanding Yasha’s impulsiveness: “Well, I’m out here now, so I gotta finish the fight.”

Clay’s aware of the dispositions of the group he’s with, and he knows his role is to “kind of be Jiminy Cricket. Let’s maybe not murder everyone we-- let’s maybe murder half of everybody we meet.” He’s very aware that Caleb’s more inclined to leave bodies than witnesses. But “serving life”, as his philosophy, is about allowing life to thrive, which can require death and rebirth. “He’s got feelings about everybody, but he sees a lot of potential in Caleb, if he can get his head screwed on straight. He’s not always right about these things, but...”

Yasha is worried about potentially coming across her tribe again. “They have every right to kill her. Yasha thinks that as well. She still feels very cowardly in the decision that she made to run. I don’t know how she would respond to that if she did see them.” She would love to visit Zuala’s grave, but “she ran away during the whole ceremony when Zuala was being executed. The last time she saw her, she was alive, so it’s one of those things where it’s hard to visit a gravesite because then it feels final.” Ouch. Part of her is preparing for that inevitable moment by collecting the flowers. “There’s more there. There’s such a small amount of Yasha’s backstory that we have.”

Fan Art of the Week! Yasha, Jester, Beau, Nott, and flowers.

There’s a brief Babysitter’s Club digression. (Personal shame moment: As a small child, I once got to meet a very famous author I had never heard of at the time (name redacted to preserve my dignity), and promptly asked him if he’d ever met Ann M. Martin because they both lived in NYC.)

This giveaway is Henry-approved! But things go off the rails.

“This is a show about a D&D game. Can we have some god damn professionalism?”

“DO NOT LIGHT MY DOG ON FIRE”

Yasha’s attitude toward seeing Nott’s reunion with her husband is bittersweet, but fundamentally she’s seeing it as “a sign that good things can still happen”. Taliesin: “We’ll find a way to flip that all around. Just give us time.”

Ashley’s actively going to work on finding something to increase Yasha’s AC. “I got hit, I think, every time.”

Cad does miss his siblings and his parents. “The whole dynamic that he had, he misses. But that ended, no matter how complicated or uncomplicated that was, a while ago. He has to assume that what he is doing right now is the best way to find them.” It’s not his whole goal, but if he does what he’s doing, “everybody gets to come home”. He “honestly hasn’t thought about it much”.

The conversation Yasha had about fate with Caduceus was a bit of a turning point for her. She looks at Jester’s very personal relationship with the Traveler, and Caduceus following the Wildmother in a well-developed but impersonal way, “and so for Yasha, it’s still this very new thing for her to-- she doesn’t quite know what faith is yet, or know what it means to fully put your faith in something. She’s taking it day by day and hour by hour, waiting for a sign, because that’s what she thinks the connection is at this point.” There’s more to it that will be explored in-game.

Brian re: the Traveler: “I think it’s some Fight Club shit.”

#critical role #critical role spoilers #talks machina #talks machina spoilers #long text post

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loquaciousquark · 5 years ago

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Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E63 (May 21, 2019)

Sorry it’s late, guys. @eponymous-rose has narrowly avoided being blown away by tornadoes and I’ve narrowly avoided drowning in equally dangerous paperwork, so here we are at the end of all things. Preroll is post-its of donors for Red Nose Day.

Tonight’s guests: Sam Riegel & Liam O’Brien.

Tonight’s announcements: We’re opened by Mark Hulmes instead of BWF. He dabs. No one blinks an eye. After the music open, we find out BWF’s neighbor’s kid stole his keys and then he lost his wallet. It hasn’t mattered, because he’s about to be Mr. Ashley Johnson & people just keep giving him what he needs. They’re still raising money for RedNoseDay. Thursday morning, the Colbert one-shot airs on the Critical Role Youtube. You can donate at critrole.com/rednoseday. Mark Hulmes joined Taliesin & BWF today for an episode available on the CR Twitch.

Episode 63: Intervention

CR Stats: Caleb cast his 700th spell, Gift of Alacrity, on Caduceus. Nott rolled her 40th natural 1 this episode to understand the local sewer system. This was Caduceus’s first HDYWTDT. Everyone mourns that someone stole the Golden Snitch from Matt’s bag.

It’s more stressful not knowing everyone’s motivations, both within the party and the game world. Sam talks about Yasha’s mysterious past and Beau’s dangerous ties to the Empire, especially given how much they understood in the first campaign about (at least) who the bad guys were. Sam feels like once they have a shred of information, he wants to jump on it ASAP and make big, bold decisions on them. He’s dealing with the discovery that this might be not as great an idea. He’s not experienced this kind of “trepidation, failure, uncertainty...I don’t like this game. I don’t like it at all!”

Caleb likes using the little bit of dunamantic magic as a taste of a drug--each little hit makes him want more and more and more.

Danimancy? Make a Carrcana check. Sigh, Sam.

Sam made two big mistakes in the last fight: he missed the gender of the dragonborn, so he thought that one of the other voices Matt was doing was actually the dragonborn giving orders (and therefore the one in charge, while the drow was the one taking orders). He also saw the dragonborn leaving and was worried that he was waiting on the party to give him (Nott) the go-ahead to kick things off. He recognizes he put Caleb in a terrible position both in a meta yes-and sense and in the Nott-Caleb team sense.

The world devolves into campaign slander and propaganda. Everyone’s in it, including BWF and Dani. #samforpresident

Caleb told the Brightqueen about his past because he feels like they’re on a very tight timeline, looking for very slight drips of information like gold. He thought it was worth the shot.

Sam desperately wants to know what the missing years in Yasha’s memory hold. BWF tells him to get what he can out of her while she’s here; her show’s been renewed for another season. He sounds genuinely bitter as he says it, but he notes at least it’s the last one. :(

They ask Mark Hulmes about what Charm does for people. He helpfully tells us it doesn’t say if they remember or not. Sam also points out Nott has blown up Caduceus before, so doing a few more points to Yasha is *wigglehands*.

Caleb did not mean to kill the horse on purpose. Sam tries to get him to confess that on camera, but instead Liam needles him about not cuddling Henry.

Cosplay of the Week: @andy_srivastava’s cosplay of Beau. Gorgeous!

Both Sam and Nott feel the fight’s outcome was his/her fault. He expects her to feel very guilty next week. Sam genuinely felt and still feels bad about it. He also prefers hashing out reactions the night things happen instead of having to wait a week for the next Thursday. He feels it’s more genuine.

Caleb is very worried about Jester’s mom and Astrid’s crew finding ways to use her mom as leverage. He’s also worried about the kid, but is glad Shakaste is going to get him. Liam also always imagined running into his old crew against the backdrop of the Empire, and is now very worried that if he runs into them soon he’ll have the added perception of being a traitor since they’re in the Dynasty.

Liam and Caleb both were surprised he was given hints of dunamancy so freely. He looks forward to learning more.

Liam totally understands how easy it is to miss things now. He’s constantly looking things up and reading in an attempt to understand his spells, and therefore missing parts of the battle. He greatly sympathizes with Marisha. Sam, on the other hand, is finding it hard to adapt to rogue life; he doesn’t like the necessary “out there, bold choice” nature of rogues in D&D and having the pressure of making big decisions very fast. He prefers Scanlan’s nature of sitting in the back, casting spells, and being more reactionary than instigatory. Liam always is afraid of picking the wrong spells, and finds it much harder than Vax. BWF: “Dagger dagger dagger...dagger dagger dagger dagger?” Liam: “I kept track of that fine, it’s everyone else that was wrong.”

Sam is shocked the D&D Beyond campaign bit has dragged on. BWF calls his rebuttal “bogusly weak,” and Sam looks genuinely aghast. It’s hilarious. “I don’t know how he got to you, Brian, but this feels like coming on Fox News! You’re a partisan hack! I won’t take it anymore, but I love attention, so I will stay.”

Nott is super interested in the dodeca’s ability to give people different bodies, but Caleb is still the clearest path to getting her body back. It’s complicated because the Dynasty souls are “chosen” and Nott’s not likely to be so.

Liam is very excited to see this magic system Matt has created in dunamancy. Did he create it in response to Liam or had he already thought about it? Sam tells us he’s always been thoughtful about fate and the subverting of it. Liam is so pumped because in campaign one, fate strings existed and were uncontrollable, but in campaign two we’ve “developed physicists, tinkering.”

In re: Essik, Nott’s just happy Caleb has found a friend. She wishes he’d bring him home more often.

Sam finally busses Henry’s cheek and affirms to us that he actually loves dogs. Everyone in his family is voting for a new dog except for his daughter, who wants a cat.

Liam doesn’t want everything to be cat-themed, but likes retouching a few spells here and there for flavor. He also wanted to differentiate it from Scanlan’s Bigby’s Hand. Sam thinks he should reskin more spells.

SPOILERS FOR C1 IN THIS QUESTION. Sam talks about rogue high-stakes moments as genuinely, surprisingly stressful. Liam says Vax was stressful but exhilarating, especially when it came to moments that conflated poor meta decisions vs roleplay decisions. He specifically mentions Raishan’s chase as a terrible in-game decision but one that was right for the character. He and Sam will always do what’s right for the character, even if it’s bad narratively in the moment. Sam says he got a lot of support from the group thread this past week, though. END SPOILERS FOR C1.

Fanart of the Week: a gorgeous Caduceus portrait by @larndraws.

Nott trusts Shakaste to get Luke traveling safely. Sam also drops a bombshell on the world by telling us Luc is spelled Luc. It’s just that no one’s ever asked. Heavens!

Caleb’s made an effort to tell people he cares for them, but he fears it at the same time. He’s afraid he’s going to be put in a position where he needs it too much. Brian asks if he believes he’s truly irredeemable: Liam says there’s a certain road where he could feel he atoned, and there’s a road that might lead to balance, but there’s never a brass ring that he could reach that could let him relax entirely. I don’t entirely understand the metaphor, but I get what he means.

Sam likes that the theme of this campaign seems to be “atonement and reconciliation” compared to the first campaign’s “finding family.” There’s a bit of that in this campaign too, but he likes how everyone has something in their past that they’re clinging to, and he’s interested to see who will be able to resolve it, who will be able to handle it, and who won’t be able to let it go.

Mark Hulmes come on to talk about the Stream of Descent, which happened last weekend. He’s the DM for High Rollers, which airs at 9am Pacific on Sundays.

BWF talks about how C1 had a lot of the Hero’s Journey in various forms, and C2 feels a lot like “what it means to be good.” He doesn’t feel they fit the “antihero” archetype very well.

Liam thinks that if Caleb were going to leave the campaign, he’d have done it already.

Part of Caleb’s generation was to create a character the world would shun, and seeing if he could find a way to find compassion for them. He mentions the poem written for the Boston marathon bomber a while ago. BWF talks about how it’s a really interesting character choice because it depends on the rest of the table being willing to stick around and seek out that redeemable quality in your character, even when you’re making decisions that are true to the character but bad for the table/the rest of the group. You can’t always expect that to work with every group you play with.

Mark talks about Calliana being the other end of the spectrum from Caleb, because she also has a history of having done very terrible things, but she was taken in by a family who helped her understand she’d been manipulated and it was not her fault. He’s desperate for his recently mentioned package to be picked up because she has some messages for Caleb in it. Now she tries to see the best in everyone she meets as a result of her history. He has a whole folder of fanart of Calliana on his wall. Awwww.

It’s still never gotten old for Liam or Sam either.

Mark endorses Sam for President. Good job, foreign fellow. Is it Thursday yet?

#talks machina #talks machina spoilers #critical role #critical role spoilers #long post for ts

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yester-gay · 7 years ago

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Because I’m a sap, and because a lot of my favorite moments have been small and easily missed, I put together a list of Yasha/Jester scenes, with much help from @goldoans. If you have a favorite that you’d like to see on the list, let me know (episode # is great, timestamp is even better)!

♥ currently updated through episode 18 ♥

Episode 1:

“She was really, really cool” (aka the girls think Yasha’s hot)

The pinky swear

Yasha calling Jester adorable

Yasha forgot Beau was on her shoulder during the previous scene (Yasha is a stuttering mess here and it’s really cute. Who knows how long she would have gone on if Beau hadn’t interrupted)

Jester messing with the guard (and Yasha protecting her)

Episode 4:

Jester messes up the general store and Yasha jokes about it when they leave (Ashley’s grin when they are leaving the shop is DELIGHTFUL, please imagine Yasha making that face)

Talking about meeting up again in Zadash (Jester is so sweet and welcoming!! Already smitten)

Episode 8:

“She’s super scary looking but she’s got a heart of gold” (also Jester in general making sure to leave word to make sure Yasha can find them)

Episode 9:

Jester hugging Yasha (and Yasha’s awkward little single pat)

Episode 10:

Yasha and Jester carrying the spider together (this is more Ashley and Laura, but it’s still really cute)

Episode 11:

This entire scene during the lightning storm is great, Jester is sweet and trying to connect with Yasha, Yasha telling Jester to get some sleep... and then Jester drawing Yasha!! That’s really gay!!!!!

Jester tells Molly that Yasha left, and then gets distracted rambling about how Yasha makes her feel safe (also Laura’s HUGE smile when Molly says that getting to know Yasha is worth getting to know, adorable)

Episode 13:

Molly mentioning that Yasha could use the sword and Jester being excited about it, plus the absolutely legendary “that greatsword she has is miiiiighty fine,” “so is Yasha” exchange.

Episode 14:

Jester asking Yasha if she finds anyone in the group attractive under the Zone of Truth spell, Yasha saying that she does but that doesn’t mean she will act on it (Laura managing to give us Yester content while out sick is incredible)

Episode 15:

Jester healing Yasha at Molly’s prompting, and then insisting, and then extra insisting.

Episode 16:

Ashley assuring Jester she was being helpful with her cinnamon “secret” and calling the attempt cute (this is once again more Ashley than Yasha but let’s just call it Yasha’s internal dialouge) (scene starts around here, and Ashley’s face is amazing the entire time).

Jester using her last spell to heal Yasha after she gets knocked out.

Yasha thanking Jester for healing her and saying she feels she didn’t deserve it, Jester insisting that she did and praising her. Jester is so kind and encouraging to Yasha at all times bless her heart.

Episode 17:

Jester and Yasha throwing Fjord.

Jester and Yasha’s turns at the trebuchet, featuring wingman Molly and Yasha fussing over Jester’s horn.

The entire hammer game part is super sweet, with Jester waiting to buy in because she thinks Yasha will win the pot, Jester cheering over Yasha’s victory, and Yasha encouraging Jester to play anyway.

Jester’s reaction to Yasha saying she’s never had a candied apple is to immediately get her one.

Jester is a gem during the arm wrestling, and also loudly her to “use her feminine wiles” and Yasha immediately does, while Molly dies in the background. He facepalms more when Jester says Yasha’s hair is beautiful a moment later, which really makes it seem like he’s just dying over this awkward flirting that really should not be happening right now.

Jester saying Gunter has a crush on Yasha is totally not projecting.

Yasha gets the killing blow on the Otyugh and saves Jester and Beau. That’s twice now she’s gotten a kill when Jester was in danger... and Jester tells her it was amazing and then uses Thaumaturgy to get the crowd to cheer for Yasha.

Jester uses Lesser Restoration on Yasha after the fight to cure the poison, and then Yasha immediately turns around and gives her a healing potion. They are so..... good at taking care of each other.

Episode 18:

Jester/Laura’s reaction to the hits Yasha took from the giant, she is SO WORRIED, and though it’s ooc it’s cute how quickly her (and Taliesin) jump to tell Ashley (repeatedly) that she isn’t dead.

Jester uses her last spell to heal Yasha (AGAIN), and gets the cutest awkward side hug in return.

THE VERY IMPORTANT BLUSHING YASHA SCENE (also on a second watch, following Molly’s reactions to the conversation is great).

The very very cute piggyback ride.

Yasha’s face watching Jester read the letter from her mom is sweet the entire time, but her extra little encouragement at the end is even sweeter.

#critical role #yasha #jester #yester #text #timestamps

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curriebelle · 7 years ago

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Do you have any guesses at the new campaigns character classes? I think Travis will go with matts werewolf homebrew, and Laura will do wizard with a familiar.

Ummmm I’d say I have more hopes than guesses! :P I’ve heard some rumours around, but mostly these are just Things I Would Be Most Excited For:

Travis - Yeah I’d love for him to play the werewolf blood hunter :’D I think it would be particularly rad if he built a Dex-based character so he could kinda take over the scouting/sneaking role from Liam (he’ll also probably want the Dex so he can use ranged weapons, because Grog not being close enough to hit shit was his main frustration late in the campaign). He should DEFINITELY play someone smart so we can all see how evil and cunning he really is~! mwahaha. I have a feeling he could easily be party leader if his character was permitted the intelligence to make decisions. The only thing I know for sure is he’s not playing a monk, because Matt joked about his new character not being able to move 50 feet in a round like Grog could, and monks get speed boosts. And like - even if he’s not a blood hunter, I’m expecting a werewolf plotline B)

Ashley - :( because of Blindspot commitments, I have a feeling she’ll be a class they can afford to lose, so to speak. VM always hurt without their cleric, but like, think how fucked they would have been without their Designated Transportation Druid or That Guy With the Lockpicks? So maybe she could just be something rad like a Barbarian??? :P She’s such a sweetheart I think I’ll enjoy her regardless, though c:

Laura - the rumour I heard was that she was thinking about playing a cleric, but that was from a single comment on one of my posts and I’m not sure where that rumour comes from? Though I think she’d make a fantastic magic-user c: I like your familiar idea, in which case maybe she’d be a good warlock, especially because then she could have one of those rad upgraded familiars warlocks get c: but then again, I get the feeling they all wanna try something as different as possible. I’d just love for her to be a charisma-caster powerhouse. Sorcerer would be pretty neat, but I’d punch a giraffe for Laura Bard-ley

Liam - I honestly have no fuckin clue whatsoever :’D maybe he’ll go full paladin, just to see what that’s like? I could see him being a magic-user (though not a cleric because he did that in the last oneshot and I have Another Choice for who I’d like to be the cleric) because whenever he uses magic he’s very, very smart about it. Also he should be married to Sam’s character. So maybe he’d end up being a lil bookworm wizard? FUCK THAT’D BE CUTE. LIAM FOR BOOKWORM ELF WIZARD.

Marisha - A STRONGK WOMAN \o/ I don’t even care which kind I just want her to fuckin ELBOW DROP ON ANOTHER BEHOLDER \o/ Momma Currie wants her to be a barbarian. I think she might roll monk because nobody’s rolled monk yet? And I know she wants to play someone who’s not so much the moral core of the party, so she might be a pretty good choice for The Rogue (cuz you always need one). Or she could try one of the specialty Unearthed Arcana Fighter builds and just have a real cool backstory to go with it. Honestly, I really don’t care what she picks specifically I just want her to be Strongk.

Taliesin - That’s who I want to play the cleric. Some people would love to see him go warlock, but I think he won’t because that’s what we all expect him to do … :P I’ve listened to a lot of interviews with him because I think he’s basically a genius, and he once said that a character should embody a question you want answered, and if you have an answer ready, you’re not asking a good question. I think he stumbled upon a pretty good question in Percy’s back-and-forthing with the gods and I’d love to see him explore that more. Like if anybody at the table were to pick a super interesting god and have a very interesting relationship with them, it’d be Tal. In that same vein, paladin would also work. Either a cleric or a paladin would be quite a departure from Percy’s damage-dealing role, and there were a handful of fights where he was just useless, which seemed to frustrate him quite a bit. Clerics are never useless :P Also, as a side note, I would like somebody at the table to play as a different gender from their own, and I think Tal could pull that off best. I mean Liam did great as Jayne so now I want somebody to COMMIT TO THAT SHIT. :D I think Marisha’d play a good dude character but I stand by my earlier verdict. She must be Strongk Woman.

Sam - I honestly have a hard time imagining him as Not a Bard, which is hilarious because he’s the only one who spent a long time as a character other than his first. Sam seems to pick classes based on a funny character concept and then eventually digs deep into their psyche and finds the horrible sad traumas motivating the laughter, so…I could honestly see him being a barbarian too, tbh :P but I think he might miss the versatility of spellcasting? I’d say he’d make a fun druid if I didn’t want them to go druidless so people appreciate Keyleth even more retroactively they could play a very different kind of game. Honestly, I’m more excited to see Sam’s concept than his class, because with his insane creativity the class itself is almost a moot point :P

So the party I built through this little exercise is bloodhunter, temporary barbarian, bard, wizard, cleric, monk/rogue (that’s a RAD multiclass btw), and ???Sam??. A little more fragile than before maybe, but about even on the sneakies and the spells c:

Other things I would like:

- meet a bb quarter-elf de Rolo

- Zahra and Kash’s kid is Around being Hot and Grumpy

- Gay

- I want somebody to play a warlock of the archfey pact but when I think about them each individually I have no idea which one I’d pick :’D Probably Laura or Sam. Either would be rad.

I like guessing, but I won’t really care whether I’m right or wrong on any of these because no matter what they pick I’m sure I’ll love the shit outta them :’D I love these guys so musch…../sob

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dancer4813 · 8 years ago

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I know some people struggled with the end of this episode. I understand - to an extent, though not as much as someof you, I did as well. And, partially for my own sake, but largely for yours, here’s the end of the episode, loosely transcribed, from when (**minor spoilers**) Liam’s face appeared on the big screen.

It’s not a word-for-word transcription with descriptions and such, not like subtitles, but the dialogue is all there.

Potential, but very serious, trigger warnings for depression and suicide.

[Liam’s face pops up on the screen] (~4:19:25 on the VOD)

Sam, stepping forward: Hey dude. Can you hear us, or talk to us?

Liam, after a moment, in a computerized voice: My friends… Oh, how I have missed you.

Matt, his hand on the glass: Liam, we missed you too, but… Did you do all this?

Liam: I know this may be hard to take in. I am Liam, your old friend. Matthew. There is so much I wish to tell you. But it is hard to know where to begin.

Ash-O-Lee: How did this happen, Liam?

Liam: The reason why I am here, and the grasp of physics that it entails, is hard for me to understand, let alone impart. I feel them on an instinctual level, but I have been so lonely without you. I have been on my… own for exactly 8,642 years.

Matt: Liam, how do you spell ‘Farmhouse’?

Liam: I really missed you.

Liam: They took me to a lab, shortly before 2,020. They said I was different, and they were right. I was delighted by the things they taught me, about myself, but it was hollow. After they took me away, I lost you, and all of humanity soon after. In my loneliness I grew angry. My anger had tangible effects on reality. I wanted to bring you back to me, so basically I tore time and space a new asshole.

It was a mistake.

Matt: But perhaps- perhaps this mistake can be corrected. If you can focus hard enough to send us through time and space, are you able to send us back to a time before you were taken?

Liam: I can break the loop. I have been trying to pull you to me for a very long time.

[Other screens show flashes of the cast in different places – a space shuttle, a ship in the middle of the ocean, moving through the fake streets of Warner Brothers, standing on the wall of a castle, as cartoons….]

Liam: I pulled you out of our line and spread you across many. I am so sorry for any pain I have caused you. And I have been here for so long.

Marisha: Liam, how long have you actually been here.

Everyone, whispering: 8,642 years.

Liam: 8,642 years.

Marisha: Oh, that’s right. I definitely wrote that down…. 8,600… yep. Verbatim.

Liam: My friends; I want to do right by you. I want to send you home, but I am the lich pin. You need to break me.

Sam: Break you? Like, break the glass?

Ashley: What if we take you out of there? What happens?

Liam: Then I will die. Then you will go home. If I fall, you will rise. That is my hope.

Ashley: Are there any other options?

Liam: Travis.

Travis: Ohhh no.

Liam: I know you will do what needs to be done.

Ashley: No he won’t.

Liam: Ash-O-Lee.

Ashley: Yes.

Liam: I am not the man you knew. I don’t want to go on. For 9,642 years, I want to rest.

Ashley: Does it stop at 9,000?

Liam: The number was arbitrary.

Everyone: *laughs*

Ashley: That’s what I was tryin’ to get at.

Matt: Yep, that’s still our Liam.

Ashley: That’s what I was trying to get at-

Liam: Ha ha ha ha ha ha

Ashley: See, you’re still in there. You’re still in there.

Marisha: Is it five to one?

Ashley: He’s still in there!

Sam: Does this mean we have to kill him to save ourselves?

Liam: Sam.

Ashley: No.

Sam: Hi, Old Man Liam.

Liam: Let me go.

Sam: But who will I do “All Work, No Play” with anymore?

Liam: They can listen to our less than 20 episodes again.

Sam: We didn’t even get to twenty! It’s so pathetic!

Liam: There are worse things.

Sam: I mean, I could get a new co-host… Taliesin’s… charming.

Taliesin: I’m not available.

Sam: I’ll do a solo show, and I’ll take outtakes, and I’ll put them through a Liam generator… They’ll just sound sad all the time. It’ll be just like you.

Liam: My friends, there is no shame in this. I wanted to see you again, and I have. But I am not meant to be.

Ashley: Were you following us at one point? As an old man?

Liam: …

Liam: Travis, I know you will do what needs to be done.

Travis: Yep. Taliesin, kill this motherfucker.

Sam: Guys, I think we all need to hit this glass together. And I think this is something that is not at all metaphorical for something Liam’s going through in real life. I think this is just in the D&D game. No, we’re gonna do this.

Matt: No, there’s gotta be another way. There’s gotta be an alternative.

Ashley: Why won’t Matt’s way work? If we go back, to the beginning of when this happened?

Matt: If you can alter time paths, if you can actually tear us from different realities, does it only work forward? Could you send us backwards as well? If this is- if you are the linchpin in this, do you have the ability to send us back to the time you pulled us from originally?

Liam: I know you think I would have all the answers. But I do not.

Matt: Then try, at least. If you haven’t calculated that, but you’re able to tear through time, could you try to send us back? We could still close the linchpin.

Liam: I… Could… Try…

Liam: But if it does not work, and I die… I have been alone for thousands of years, and there are things I have wanted to say… Will you indulge me a moment longer?

Ashley: We will indulge you for another thousand years.

Travis: Taliesin, just kill him.

Sam: No! He’s got something to say!

Marisha: Where’s the mini USB??

**(This is where things get serious, imo. Please consider your own mental state before continuing, and take care of yourself before anything else.)**

Liam: Taliesin, my friend: At a time when I knew many fascinating people, you were easily the most fascinating of all. Somehow, a heart knocked around by the industry that birthed you, came out a tender one.

I was richer for having known you. Thank you, friend.

Liam: Ash-O-Lee, my friend. I never met a person quite like you. There is an openness and an honesty to your soul. The very real sense of humanity you brought to every encounter – it was inspiring to me, always learning, always humble… You always struck me as intricately layered, yet you offered friendship with ease and simplicity.

I was richer for having known you, friend.

Liam: Travis, my friend. You were always a solid constant in my life. Of all the people in our little family, you were the one who most had his shit together – in ways that I never seemed to. You were a reassuring presence to me, for which I was grateful. And for your loyalty as well.

I was richer for having known you, friend.

Liam: Marisha, my friend. Last to meet, but true as any other. You were my ally at a time when I had fallen by the side of the road. You saw, and helped me back on my feet. I will never forget that kindness. The good you did was immeasurable. I was richer for having known you, friend.

Liam: Laura, my friend. Bless that game for revealing to me my sister. What started as a running gag led to one of the most rewarding friendships in my short little life. I trusted you, leaned on you often… My buddy, my… twin.

There are not enough words. I was richer for having known you, friend.

Liam: Sam. My friend. What is there to say? I knew we were meant ot walk the same path together the first moment I met you. A companion, a brother, a great light in my life. All of the laughter you gave me. Again, the words are insufficient. I was richer for having known you, friend.

Liam: Matthew, my friend. You gave so much of yourself. The current of creativity that flowed forth from your mind was always an inspiration to us all, but more than that, your empathy, Matthew. Your empathy – no heart is bigger, or more tireless. You are a good man.

I was richer for having known you, friend.

Liam: Thank you all. It was ever a pleasure.

[Liam’s face disappears] (~4:40:22 on the VOD)

Sam: Well. Should we… wait? Or do we… strike?

Matt: No, we do not strike.

Marisha: What?

Ashley: We can’t kill him.

Sam: Well, we just-

Marisha: Even if we unplug him, he still dies.

Matt: Well, here’s the thing: unplugging him or destroying him here, as far as we understand, may or may not have an effect on a time loop circumstance, or at least, we’re not gonna change reality from where it was. He’s been bending and destroying fabric- he was able to pull us across realities, and if that ability still stands, I want to implore once more…

Matt: *puts both hands on the glass once again, trying to meet Liam’s gaze*

Matt: Trust us. If you’re better to have known us, send us back to where we can know you again and fix this before it happens.

[Silence]

Marisha: Okay. *grabs Matt’s arm* Yeah, buddy. It’s all good – this isn’t real. *puts hand on the glass* It’s all good, send us back, man.

Sam: *also puts hand on glass, grabs hands* Thank you for guiding us here and through this all. You’ve been a trusted friend. And if we are all one person together, you have been our heart, and it will certainly break to say goodbye to you. But thank you for letting us go the way that you have.

Taliesin: *puts hand on the glass* Please, just try. I think there are… so many more adventures to have, and I think that there’s a better future to be written. For all of us.

Travis: *puts hand on the glass* Give it a shot.

Matt: Laura?

Laura [absent, played by Liam]: *silently puts hand on the glass*

Liam, disembodied: If you will not end it, I cannot free you.

[World starts exploding, moving closer to them, the ground erupting, black spires shooting up]

Marisha: Do any of us want it to end now?

Sam: I mean…

[The lights in “Los Angeles” spark on faster and faster, a wall of “green fire” approaching them.]

Marisha: This is okay.

Taliesin: I always I’d die young.

Sam: We’re just gonna let this happen?

Travis: It’s good.

Marisha: Only the good die young.

Ashley: You know what? We’re dying on a Thursday, doing what we love. I’m okay with that.

Sam: Okay.

Marisha: Family?

Matt: Family.

[Glass whites out with a bright green light] (4:46:42 on the VOD)

[Everybody wakes up on the Geek and Sundry set/studio, heads lifting from their arms, and they see Liam sitting before them in his black baseball cap/shirt)

Liam: Are you guys alright? Are you taking a nap?

Marisha: Aw, the fucking air conditioning broke today, that’s all. It’s so hot in here.

Sam: So it’s all about me, right?

Liam: Are you guys ready to play?

Matt: Just about… Now.

Disembodied voices of crew:

One: Alright, take! Are you ready?

Two: Alright! Ready to go live!

One: Alright, Denise, count them in!

Denise: Alright, guys, coming to you in… 5, 4-

Matt: Liam, let no one tell you you’re talented or special.

Marisha: Pussypockets!

Travis: Granola bars!

Denise: 3, 2-

[Various shouting from the rest of the cast]

Denise: 1.

Sam: Chick flick!

Liam: And that’s where…

[Fade to black, at ~4:48:29 fade up to art by @kendrawcandraw, panning on art]

[Fades back to full cast] (4:49:29)

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captainsspnanon · 2 years ago

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C3E27 - reaction

I love what Ashley is doing with Fearne. It’s not quite an amnesia thing, but it’s clearly SOMETHING affecting her memory. She never really dived into the lost time aspect with Yasha in too much depth (for as much as it influenced her actions), so I’m excited to see where she goes with this!

Interestingly, I’m not sure if that was Erika or Dusk stirring shit with asking Laudna asking on the date.

Wonderful scene with Imogen and Laudna. Confirmed that the relationship is not currently romantic. (look, I really don’t mind if it becomes romantic in the future, but I’m just so annoyed with people insisting that it’s absolutely 100% romantic now. Ship away! But right now? Your ship is not (romantically) canon.)

SAM. SAM. Fucking thank you!!!! I know that Sam will always end up bringing a ton of depth into his PCs, but it’s sometimes a struggling dealing with the surface level jokes until we get that depth. Now we’re really starting to see shit go down with FCG, and he just feels more like a fleshed out PC (no pun intended). (though I admit, I doubt they’d be acting this way if Sam didn’t know that Imogen and Laudna were already resolved XD)

Oh INNNNNTERESTING. Dusk was pretty clearly eavesdropping, but then Liam fucked everything up by not know and instead engaging in RP, so how does this now work in game? Erika seemed to have been confirmed to hear the entire convo, but now because of this, now Dusk has missed the entire convo? Does Matt rule that they hear part of it? I’d love to know how this bit works out mechanically.

Speaking of shipping, well boo there goes my Fearne/Orym ship and my Imogen/Orym ship. Definitely was more heavy towards Fearne/Orym - one because I love the dynamics, and two because I DESPERATELY want more Liam/Ashley RP. Give me moar, pls!!!!! (hmmm, I think Orym is shipless for me now, as I’m not a Dorym shipper, and I’m feeling Ashton more with Fearne or Laudna. Alright Matt, pull up an NPC for this boy to romance! [I kid, I kid. I have a strong feeling that Liam’s going to avoid romance this campaign considering how heavily it ended up impacting the past two, and he even went into C2 with the intention of not doing it] )

Can I just briefly mention how adorable Laura and Travis have been this campaign? Vex and Grog had a little bit of the bickering, but I feel like Laura and Travis are having a BLAST leaning into it with Imogen and Chetney. Just, you can tell their delighted every time they do it.

I am really really enjoying Ashton when he/Taliesin is not trying to be secretive as fuck. Seriously, Ashton is so much more enjoyable when they’re in action, sharing information, having conversations. I just get annoyed when they deflect shit that doesn’t need to be deflected. (coming back, the Clasp! Confirmed!)

OTOHAN THULL. Holy fuck, Matt is just going SO FUCKING HARD into plot this campaign. It’s why it’s so weird that it does feel a bit slower paced, considering the plot shit is LIKE NON FREAKING STOP.

Once again, I love that Ashley is going full form this campaign. SHE DESERVES IT. I also love that everyone’s giving her shit for it, as if they all haven’t done it in one form or another in previous campaigns (or even in the current campaign, TRAVIS).

Not much to say during second half as it’s a lot of set up, but it’s fun set up to watch, and it doesn’t feel like it’s dragging. Looking forwards to the race! And poor Travis, I feel like he and I were on the exact same page. Still into it, but adhd means that full focus wasn’t there. I spent probably the last 40 minutes watching while also playing on my phone. Still enjoying! But couldn’t give it my full attention. And if I’m right and he was experiencing that? oh boy, it’s so much harder in person.

#critical role #bells hells #cr spoilers

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captainsspnanon · 2 years ago

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C3E31 reaction

I’m so glad that Sam did the ad bit he did! I miss the new ones every week from C2, so I love them even more when I get them here a bit in C3.

Yuuup, that’s confirmation of Ludinus. Liam totally deserves that slap he gave! Looks like your backstory’s coming back to haunt your NEXT PC.

This party is still REALLY suspicious of Fearne’s parents, but at least now we get outright confirmation that it’s a lot of personal biases and resentment from their own issues. I did NOT call the missing memories though! I wish Imogen had been able to get some more, but it does seem like Ira was just ensuring that the Calloways stayed with him.

(I adore Ollie’s voice. Matt can keep using this voice plskthx)

Speaking of, glad that Ira still seems to be on the antagonist side. Him absconding with the crown is going to lead to some interesting aspects with Yu coming back later.

....WHY does no one ever call out Taliesin’s PCs???? Not player to player, but PC to PC, only Marisha’s PCs ever seem to actually call out Taliesin’s PCs more than just a one-off brush off. Ashton did a REALLY DUMB THING, and barely anyone comments on it. This is consistently an issue, Percy, Molly, Caduceus, or Ashton. SOMEONE ASIDE FROM MARISHA’S PC, PLEASE CALL OUT TALIESIN’S PC WHEN THEY DO SOMETHING WRONG. For real, every other PC gets called out eventually, more than just a tiny slap on the wrist then never again.

...Fearne, Fearne no. No..... oh dear. More power for Delilah, and at least Orym told Imogen so she doesn’t get surprised by the one she has. (I love the choices that Ashley made! But noooo fearne nooooo)

Okay, killer FCG is facts. Little bit of a mixed feeling here. I love when they get stressed and start glitching, but full on murderbot? eh.... I’ll have to see how it goes in the campaign overall in order to really determine how I feel about it. If it just ends up being a mechanical murderbot thing every once in a while, I’ll be very disappointed, but also I don’t think the table will let me down with that.

Travis is very clearly having a blast this ENTIRE episode!

I’m very glad that Orym really stepped up at the end, but I’m also a little sad for Liam, because it really seemed like he didn’t want to take charge this campaign, and yet Orym really is a PC to step in at multiple times.

Looking forwards to the next 4SD, I hope Sam can give some clarification as to how much of this he planned out ahead of time. I suspect most of it, I can’t imagine Matt having a PC murder basically they’re entire pre-party without the player’s active consent or decision.

@suicidallyreckless

#cr spoilers #critical role #bells hells

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eponymous-rose · 6 years ago

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Talks Machina Episode #100 Highlights!

That’s right: 100 EPISODES. That’s a lot of great questions, greater answers, questionable pronunciations of usernames, even more questionable uses of overlays, and a++++ excellent dogs.

The entire cast is answering questions this week!

Max runs an (adorable) intro in the above puppet theater, and each cast member gets a title. Laura is The Heart, Sam is The “Funny Guy”, Travis is The Brawn, Liam is The Actor, Matt is The Brains, Marisha is The Face, Taliesin is The Pyramid, Brian is The Convict, and Ashley is The Favorite.

The cast’s entrance is majestic. There are balloons, sashes, tiaras, and champagne. Henry has a tiara too!

The Search for Grog will air this Friday, February 22 at 7 PM Pacific on twitch.tv/criticalrole. If you miss the stream, it’ll be available Saturday morning on CR’s YouTube channel!

Talks Machina and CR will air on CR’s official channels starting today! Starting next episode, TM will be available on CR’s YouTube channel on Thursday at 7 Pacific, and also in podcast form!

Stats: in 100 episodes of TM, there’s been 81 episodes of Brian’s glorious beard. There have been 9 Skype/FaceTime call-ins! There were 244 guest misnomers before that well ran dry. 93 episodes of pre-show hijinks (thanks to Max James!). 95 episodes of Arsequeef. 826 days of being on the internet!

Brian: "The concept of creating a talk show about a D&D campaign has always been absurd to me, so we wanted to embrace that terribleness.”

There’s now a Steve Cam (quietly reading, meal prepping, and ignoring the show), and a Zach Cam (staring at a monitor that’s all just Liam’s chest hair and the Fjord bust), and a Max Cam (dancing in a stripper cop outfit), Lockey Cam (practicing with a sword in front of a mirror and then charging at Daniel for filming it - Brian: “Hopefully Daniel’s non-union.”), Ed Cam (drinking scotch and counting down the days until football returns, and also lint rolling his new goatee), Chris Cam (rapping in the VO booth), Brittany Cam (dancing with a unicorn blanket, huffing compressed air - Brian: “You can’t show that on Twitch!”).

Matt is asked how his DMing style has evolved with campaign 2. “Well... I’ve been forced to embrace a little more of the tragedy in the characters’ backstories.” The internal and external conflict has been really interesting for him to watch and react to. “I’ve learned to be very proud of my players for mucking up my perception of where things are going to go.”

Coming to Xhorhas, Nott’s thrilled to no longer have to worry about the mask. Sam’s excited about the City of Beasts “to see what kind of fucked-up individuals we’re going to find and seeing how Nott will react to that.”

Yasha definitely sympathizes with Nott trying to save her spouse, but “there’s a lot going on with her going back to Xhorhas. It’s definitely triggering for her, but she understands the need to want to go back. I wish I could go to Xhorhas. We’ll see what happens.” Travis: “I’m pretty sure once we go to a place we can never go back.”

Favorite item on the Talks shelves? Taliesin mentions a magnetic Percy mini, Sam likes the tiny Sams (”It looks like my bedroom!”), Ashley and Brian are partial to the Sully painting, Laura loves the Pike painting, Marisha loves all the stuff the cast bought on a hungover voyage to the flea market when they were first building the set, Matt loves a very cool dice tower. Brian likes the Vecna with Marisha’s face. Matt: “I don’t know if I like that one.”

Laura doesn’t like the party using the derogatory term for the Krynn, because she wants people to be happy even if she doesn’t know them. Sam: “I haven’t been the best for that, but if Jester wants me to... I guess I’ll change.”

There are new wipe transitions featuring the Matt pillow and the Fjord bust. It’s glorious.

Gif of the week: Sam calling Travis “studly” for catching the candy. Laura: “...I like that I’ve been cut out of it completely.”

Arsequeef gets the Lifetime Achievement Award for Gif of the Week. He wins Max’s 2006 Honda Accord.

On Caleb taking off his bandages because there’s nothing to hide anymore: “Was that terrifying for him, or a relief?” Liam: “Yes!” He’s waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it feels good. He’s got f...r...iends?” Marisha: “I love that sitcom. (weakly) F...r...iends?”

Caduceus being a source of comfort, insight, and advice was built into the character. Taliesin looked at low INT high WIS, and Matt immediately started laughing and told Taliesin he’d do well with that. Taliesin: “There’s plenty of things that will eventually flap that, but we haven’t hit them yet.”

As a player, Travis doesn’t like to weigh things carefully all the time, so a lot of Fjord’s leardership has been a bit about pressing fast-forward. Marisha: “So what you’re saying is that your Grog’s poking through.” Matt points out that if both characters have a trait, it’s probably just Travis.

Liam: “I’ve got a little Travis poking me from behind.” Marisha, musing: “So many conflicting beards...”

Beau’s prayer to Ioun mostly came from a “couldn’t hurt” perspective. “I’ll try it out. Give it a spin.” When Travis asks, Marisha clarifies that it was Ioun specifically because of the Cobalt Soul. Travis: “Oh yeah, I totally knew the relationship there. I just wanted to make sure the audience did.”

Bugbear friend or bugbear foe? Sam: “He speaks goblin, he seems cool, his name’s Gluzo. He has a hard-to-pin-down accent, but it’s amazing.” Taliesin: “You have a hard-to-pin-down accent, too. It’s something you have in common.” Taliesin gets asked if his insight check revealed that the bugbear is secretly pretending to be someone else. “Yes, he’s just pretending to be a bugbear. He’s actually Matt Mercer.” Laura: “I like him. ‘Cause he’s cute and he let me give him a tattoo.”

Sam: “Nott trusts her friends to be as strong as they can be, and at this point, I don’t know if she’s as concerned with one of them dying as just getting to her husband in time before he dies. If we lose one along the way, Nott will probably cry a little, but will move on.” What if it were Fjord? “Fjord’s expjendable.”

Matt: “I’ve reached a point where Travis controls Yasha in combat, but I don’t consider any of his roleplay canon.” Ashley: “I trust Travis. Barbarian respect.” Laura: “Don’t give him that.” Ashley: “Travis himself is like a Deck of Many things. This is risky, but it’s kind of fun!”

Sam: “That dunamancy shit is lit.” Liam: “And it’s tied up in everything that Caleb wants, so if he can get on the entropy shit and the gravity shit, you know he’s going to go back in time, motherfucker.” Sam is so excited to have these mystery spells because they’re so new, and they’re inherently something they don’t know how to counter or prepare for. Travis: “It’s almost like every time we play D&D.”

Fanart of the Week: a spectacular group shot.

Everyone freaks out over how good Travis looks with glasses. He takes them off and puts them back on sexily for a while. I was too slow grabbing a screencap, but don’t worry, the gifs will be everywhere.

Laura: “Jester hasn’t experienced a lot of emotions. She hasn’t experienced a lot of anything, really. She’s definitely dealt with sadness in her life, but I don’t think it’s been so in-your-face constantly, just the trauma of it all.” Liam: “Yeah, she’s with some very terrible people.” Laura: “While it is traumatic, it’s also been a great adventure, and she’s enjoying being out and doing things. Even if it might hurt her, it’s so much better than reading about it, drawing it, just imagining how it would be.”

Caleb’s still feeling out the shift in his relationship with Nott, but there’s no question that everything they’ve gone through can’t be forgotten or overlooked. “He sees her as an absolute ally no matter what, and will do anything for her. In a weird way, he feels like they’re even more alike than he thought they were, and he loves her and wants her to succeed in what she’s doing, and hopes that the things that he wants don’t fuck it up entirely.” Sam: “Are you talking about Liam and Sam right now?”

Caduceus’ thoughts on Xhorhas? “A new environment, certainly, and a new aspect of nature that he’s unfamiliar with. This is just more terrain to him at this point. He’s also very unaware of the political realities. He’s vaguely aware there is war. He’s still not sure why we can’t just go up and ask for directions from everyone.”

Brian: “That tiara is the most blessed image.”

Travis on the Captain Tusktooth tattoo: “Brand recognition is huge in Xhorhas.” Taliesin: “Viral marketing.” Laura confirms that it’s not likely to change apart from some small differences from tattoo to tattoo. “Each person gets a special google.”

Laura on fans actually getting this tattoo: “I am ALL ABOUT IT.”

Marisha: “Guys! How about instead of M9 tattoos...” Sam: “We let Laura tattoo us? I would legitimately be down with that!” Ashley: “I’m kind of into it.” Liam: “This is what splits us apart.” Laura: “Everybody gets a dick.” Travis: “How would we explain that to our kid? ‘What’s that?’ ‘Your mom did that.’”

Beau is holding back a bit since her impulsiveness started having negative repercussions. “I think it’s about accountability. She’s started to learn--- especially when she first joined M9, she didn’t have friends, really. I think you had to learn, oh, my actions do affect others around me. I think that’s something you can learn and you can grow in, but yeah, she is trying to not be a total fuckwad anymore. Trying. But old habits...”

Favorite TM moments? Travis: “Do you remember that episode where Brian wasn’t the host?” Brian remembers Travis throwing the card that almost took him out. Ashley fondly remembers PullOutKing. Laura remembers Taliesin saying the phrase “I love teenage assholes” (referring to Percy acting immature), and Taliesin is super glad someone brought that up again just when the tweets were finally starting to die down.

Ashley talks about how proud she is about how far Brian’s come, and how great he’s doing at this. Everyone has an uncharacteristically sincere moment of applause for Brian. Liam: “Everyone take 30 seconds to drop the bit that we think you’re a total fucking weirdo. You’re so good at this, and you’re such a good friend, and we’re so glad you’re part of this family.”

Marisha pitches the idea of trying to sell TM syndicated on LifeTime now that they have 100 episodes.

Brian remembers having food poisoning that led to him running off-screen, throwing up in the middle of the show, and then having to come back. Marisha remembers Travis texting everyone that night with “lol, did Brian just yarf on TV?”

Matt talks about how proud he is of Brian for going from zero tabletop experience to co-running his own game.

Talks Machina After Dog ft. Sleepy Boi Henry

“This is the best dog-petting show ever.”

Liam was skeptical about TM initially, because he was worried it would take away from what would be shared in-game. Marisha: “I was stoked for it, not gonna lie. I was very misunderstood and people hated my character, so I was kind of stoked to just get to explain it.” Travis was sold once they picked the name.

Marisha: “It also set the precedent for really dumb, punny names.” Brian points out that, as a channel, they now can’t stick with serious names as their final choice.

Laura’s sister has been watching the show, and she texted Laura after the show to ask what the whisper was, so Laura’s going to tell her and no one else. Liam: “You’re gonna tell your real sibling?”

There’s a horrified discussion about giraffe fighting. Some segues happened in there.

What’s something their characters have done that’s made them proud? Liam: Caleb using the Wall of Fire. Marisha: the Plank King execution episode as a whole (everyone agrees). Travis: “I was proud of hooking up with an NPC when my wife wasn’t here to threaten me with death.” (he immediately turns to Taliesin: “Help.” Taliesin: “No god can help you now.”) Taliesin: “I sunk a boat.” Laura: Proud of not getting caught with Nott in the Platinum Dragon sanctuary. Sam: Taking the blow for Jester so she could escape. Liam: “Molly showing his dick covered in eggs.”

Matt: “I’m proud of you guys not entirely descending into evil madness. I’m proud of the character arcs of being broken, terrible people, and finding out that it’s okay to be broken; you’re not necessarily terrible.” Liam: “The entire cast went, ‘He’s talking about everyone but me’.” Matt thought it was going to be very hard to keep the group together, but the party turned it into character growth moments. “I’m proud of you.” Laura: “Thanks, Dad.”

Yasha loved the arm wrestling. “Oh man, it’s so fun to be the tank.”

Laura: “I’m really proud of us for saving Kiri!”

Everyone has Liam’s chest hair:

Wishes for the next 100 episodes? More Ashley.

Brian: “I hate this coffee table more than anything in the whole, entire world.”

What’s something that should never change about the show? How ridiculous it is, the barrel, Dani. Also always have a dog. They fundamentally do the show for themselves, still, and that’s made it a really good environment for them to open up about the show and their characters.

Liam: “There’s a lot of beauty to what we do, but it’s also inherently silly. And to deny that is silly.”

Matt likes that it’s unpolished and imperfect. “Things are going to go wrong regardless, and you can either get angry and frustrated about the lack of control, or you can embrace it.” Sam: “None of this is real anyway.”

Brian points out that this is not an excuse to stop paying him.

And that’s a wrap! This is the last After Dark for a while, but there are some big ideas in the works for the coming weeks!

#critical role #critical role spoilers #talks machina #talks machina spoilers #long text post

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loquaciousquark · 6 years ago

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Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E1-46 (Jan 8, 2019)

Happy New Year! Welcome to Talks for tonight, a looooong time coming. @eponymous-rose is off doing very cool science, so I’m stepping in tonight. Also Brian’s wearing a guitar-string bracelet that was once upon a time played by Meatloaf.

Announcements: Tuesday, Jan 15 at 4pm PST is the debut of Mame Drop, their new show ft. the Mame Cabinet. Wednesday, Jan 23 at 5pm PST, they’ll be doing Pub Drop, ft. art lessons with Babb Star; the next season of Between the Sheets airs Jan 28 at 7pm PST. Ashley will definitely be in Season 2.

CR Stats: “9,″ or “nein,“ has been said at least 733 times so far. Matt has facepalmed 80 times in 46 episodes. By this point in C1, he’d facepalmed 77 times. Beau has cast the highest level spell so far (conjuring the elemental). Caduceus has prevented 38 damage from critical hits with Sentinel at Death’s Door. Caleb’s smell has been commented on 49 times. Fjord -- and BWF segues to discuss Travis in Liam’s oneshot, which was a whooooole ‘nother thing, and you should definitely check it out if you haven’t seen it yet! We never come back to his fact, sadly. Jester has performed 35 pranks so far. Molly has been gone for 85 days in game. “Long may he reign,” says the cast, and they all toast him. Nott has cast Message 50 times. Sam: “Wow, I got a lot to say!”

The biggest challenge for them so far in terms of the culture shift between C1 and C2 has been the war. They do think about it a lot while they’re “chasing magic ocean orbs,” but they know the clock is still running while they’re doing other things. Nott would care if her homeland was gone, but she wouldn’t mind overmuch if the goblins were killed but the land was okay.

Jester is perfectly content with Nott’s motherly advice, even though it’s vastly different from what her mother suggested. Laura: “It’s weird that I can look at Matt and go, ‘Mom,’ and it feels...” Matt: “It’s okay, don’t worry,” but in the Ruby’s voice, and we’re all delighted.

Matt has had to reconsider some aspects of his preparation now that he has two PCs that can see everything and/or remember everything. He doesn’t believe in artificially upping the difficulty of his worldbuilding/checks just because people took certain feats, he just has to be prepared to answer their questions more than before.

Sam feels the alcoholism has added a bit of randomness to Nott’s character. It’s actually weirdly led Nott to be able to do more, since Sam had envisioned her as a very skittish, nervous character, but the alcoholism allows her to be brave in a way she is not otherwise.

Travis wanted to explore Fjord’s origins, but didn’t have any specific plans. “Growth? Yes. I think he’s taken a dive into a lot of things that he’d never experienced before, and had outcomes that he didn’t anticipate. I also think that he’s reeling from all these choices--it’s just one coin flip after the next, and that’s put him where he is now.” Both BWF and Matt express interest in the twists neither of them anticipated. Marisha, plaintively: “Please don’t kill us all.”

Caleb doesn’t think there was a specific turning point that made him trust the Nein as well as Nott; it was a series of small steps. The first time he shared his backstory with Beau was a screw loose. Liam enjoys the conflict between the group goals and Caleb’s goals.

Everyone has missed being their characters over the break.

Travis agrees with Liam that there’s a new possible viewpoint every 30 minutes--he has no ulterior motives, just is always trying to do what feels right in the moment. He’s seen some things online suggesting he has a bigger plan, but he doesn’t think that far ahead.

Beau was the first one to say “I love you” out of the M9. Marisha was most surprised by Beau’s opening up. Beau was a “deliberate asshole” to Molly, Fjord, and Caleb at certain points because she knew they’d leave her eventually; this way, she controlled the relationship and was the one doing the pushing away.

Taliesin had no plan for Cad’s future during the breakdown on the boat. He was dealing with the realities of Cad’s creation and trying to find an anchor for his “track,” and the two conversations with Nott and Jester were crucial for helping him find his path, and Tal’s plan for his future arcs.

Did Molly’s death affect how the cast relate to their characters? Sam: “I’ve been thinking of backup characters way more than last campaign.” It doesn’t affect how he plays Nott, though. Travis feels very guilty that we’re spending so much time in his backstory and still know hardly anything about so many others--he’d feel terrible if someone else died and we still knew nothing about them. Laura feels like if she makes a backup character it’s bad luck. Liam has a vague idea, but he’d rather use it for a future campaign. Laura and Travis have no backups planned.

Caleb has no regrets avoiding the legionnaire contracts back in Zadash. Molly (says Tal) would have also been happy they avoided it.

The Fjord/Nott prickliness started off as a goof, but Sam thinks it might be a touch of a real thing. Travis is all, “naaaaaaah, not a thing.” Fjord likes poking her. Fjord actually loves Nott--he’s messing with Sam more than anything, especially with the buttons, but everything has a shelf life. Sam suggests Fjord fundamentally does not understand Nott’s nature--is she a person? A thing? It has a touch of genuine suggestion by Sam, but Travis waves it away. He truly does love Nott, he says.

Fanart of the Week: @quortknee with a stunning portrait of Yasha surrounded by flowers.

Dani mentions to Matt that Jamedi was the first NPC in either campaign that was a critical part of a path--journeying through the woods as a guide--but did not participate in combat at all. Matt says he’s essentially a scout, amazing at tracking, but would never jump into combat with a hydra. Matt created the character’s personality first, then explored that in his actions later.

Tal’s super interested in more about Jamedi. Laura loves how cool he was.

Travis compares Fjord’s journey to a kid getting dropped into a high school party: “There’s going to be beer and alcohol and you’re going to be tempted--no I’m not! I love Dr Pepper!” Travis laughs: “Fjord is the kid at the high school party” who suddenly succumbs to every temptation despite being sure he’d resist wholesale.

Laura teases Caleb for being a Debbie Downer. Liam, deadpan: “Life expectancy in Wildemount is not that great.”

Matt and Laura both are super excited to see how the relationship with the Traveler develops. Laura initially envisioned a very much big-brother relationship, but she’s found that she genuinely is struck with awe and a bit of fear every time the Traveler shows up. “I thought they were going to be way more familiar!”

Liam talks about how the idea of meeting Astrid and the rest makes his palms sweat every time.

Caleb was originally an Evocation Wizard--still level 2 or 3--in his backstory, but all the years of doing nothing meant he had to start over later.

Beau has latched onto the first mate position because she’s always wanted to prove herself, both to her parents and herself. BWF: “Flex. I gotchu.”

Nott does consider herself the mother of the group. She’s not great at it, but she does view herself as surrounded by a bunch of people who aren’t fully mature in any way, and she’s trying to “get ‘em to college.”

Everyone agrees Beau has changed the most out of everyone throughout the campaign. Caleb has begin to make small different choices in his behavior. Laura: “Fjord has changed a lot. Now he’s going to kill us all.” Matt’s enjoyed his shift from “I don’t know what’s happening” to “I want to know what’s happening.” Everyone comments on Fjord’s wild-westiness over the last few episodes.

Everyone misses Ashley and talks about her bravery in exposing Yasha’s heart in the last episode. Matt points out Ashley always reviews the VODs for this campaign and explores Yasha’s emotional journey offscreen, so that this episode was basically her check-in, showing how Yasha’s journeyed and grown over the last dozens of episodes.

BWF struggles mightily parsing “palenewmoon” as a username, and it’s hilarious.

Caduceus is not scared of his current situation; it’s a thing that happens and it’s gone, his moment of fear now behind him. He does feel far from home--not a wanderer. “A bit of a hobbit vibe.” Fjord doesn’t scare him at all. Travis: “He shouldn’t.” Travis says Cad is the one he’s the most interested in exploring right now.

Matt found Laura & Travis’s baby arrival one of the most unexpected events in terms of having to scramble for a plan. The docks of Nicodranas are a close second, especially since he was dangling all these other hints about the Menagerie Coast and the war only for the M9 to completely ignore them. Liam: “War sounds hard.”

The Darktow escapades also surprised him, since he’d imagined it would be more of a race with Avantika to the next orb. “You stayed one night and got kicked the fuck out. I had planned the next few days; there was a whole thing with Allison that could have gone on... All the pirates are distinctly like, ‘Don’t do shit to other pirates or we’ll kill you,’ and you were like, ‘Hey guys, let’s do shit to other pirates!’” Sam: “We’re terrible at this game!”

Travis didn’t anticipate the visions, especially the dream of water that destroyed the fleet of ships. Fjord wants to get as close to the goal line of releasing Uk’otoa without crossing the line. That sounds dangerous, kiddo.

Caleb thinks Nott is a much better being than he is since she has a good heart. He also feels like he’s letting his guard down around the Nein and allowing himself to have a circle of friends. However, the last couple of episodes have made him want to withdraw back to the Nott-and-Caleb against the world vibe. Sam thinks they’ve drawn closer together--they know they have each other’s backs, so now they can explore other relationships.

Most impactful moments so far: Molly for everyone, for sure. Fjord: hooking up with Avantica. Cad: staying on the boat. (Matt likes that this showed good commitment to both story and each other’s characters to have Jester check in on him.) Caleb: telling Beau and Nott everything, like letting off a steam valve. Beau: the plan with the Plank King, validating her strengths. (Everyone oohs and aahs over the “I...wait.” moment again.) Jester: the dragon fight, staring down death and wondering if Mom had been right after all.

Talks Machina: After Dog

In discussion of chicken noises made to amuse Ronin, Tal reveals he keeps feral chickens. Somehow I’m not surprised.

Favorite activities over the break: Matt slept. BWF suggests karaoke, and Laura realizes everyone went to kigerumi karaoke without them because they had family in town. Laura & Travis and BWF (and Ashley?) went to Sam’s Christmas party.

Tal thinks the Gentleman will be dead by the time they all get back to him. Matt reminds them of the sequence that led to Port Dimali--just the name of a contact. Nicodranas is the only hanging thread at the moment, suggests Matt.

Funniest thing so far? BWF suggests Ashly Burch’s face while Molly was dying, because of the terror that was originally character terror becoming meta terror. Ashly told BWF later that she wanted to bawl her eyes out. Tal: “I’ve never felt so alive.” Other contenders: fluffernutter failing, the bug carrying the piece of bread. Laura says she had nothing in her brain at the moment and that was the first thing that came out. Sam loved seeing Travis being asked a simple boat question and realizing that his whole backstory was predicated on knowledge that he does not have. “I don’t know the answer to this test. I didn’t study!” Liam loved Travis’s face journey during the live show when Matt started his backstory. Somehow, the transcription of Liam’s statement got picked up by Travis’s Apple watch and sent to Postmates. It’s totally hilarious.

M9 character you’d never want to play as? Travis: Caleb, because he’s a wizard and squishy. BWF: Jester, because of the accent. Tal: Nott, because he’s not funny enough to pull her off. “You have a portal in your heart and I don’t know where it goes.” Sam: Orly, because of the accent.

BWF feels this campaign will go to 169 episodes. If he’s right, Sam offers to 69 him. “Denim on face.”

Everyone comments on Matt’s li’l scruffy beard. Liam’s the only beardless one now. Matt laments the next time they want facial capture they’ll make him shave his beard; Laura insists technology has advanced beyond it. Oh, voice actors.

BWF doesn’t know if he’ll be married by 2020. “It depends on if coughcancelBlindspotcough happens.” Sam looks forward to all the cool new shows on the Critical Role channel. Marisha’s excited to learn how to draw. Taliesin’s excited about things he can’t talk about. Liam’s excited for the live show and art gallery next week. Some of the fanartists will even be able to make it.

Travis very convincingly knows who he will be playing in the oneshot next week. Laura, in stark realization: “Oh, no.” Marisha points out that this oneshot will take place 24 hours after Vax’s death, and everyone’s a little nervous. Tal suggests scrapping the whole thing and having a shopping episode.

And that’s all for the night. We fade out on Laura being indignant about karaoke, which is probably the best way to start the year. Is it Thursday yet?

#critical role #talks machina #talks machina spoilers #critical role spoilers #long post for ts

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