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#matt and taliesin looking at each other with SO much confusion
d3sertdream3r · 1 year
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I’ve noticed a lot of rancid takes about Taliesin’s characters that are annoying me, so I’m going to rant for a minute. 
Tal has perfected the art of creating paradoxical characters, and I think a lot of people end up getting lost and confused in the layers. This is not a “if you don't get it, you’re dumb” type of thing. It’s just that I wish people would truly ponder his characters and why they’re the way they are because they’re not the stereotypical protagonists that North American entertainment focuses on. They’re not strictly kind and generous, intelligent and charming, or hateful and arrogant. They’re all of the above. 
A lot of western media features characters that are fairly cut and dry and easy to understand. There isn’t a ton of complexity happening, and from what I’ve seen, the majority of the people hating on his characters and role-play style are from areas where they aren't used to Tal’s type of character. They’re not used to characters having multiple characteristics that seem to contradict each other all at once (even though that’s how people are in real life). I’m guessing that’s part of why they don't like them, but who knows. 
Caduceus is the least paradoxical of his characters, which is why I think most people say he’s their favorite of Tal’s characters. He is the personification of a fluffy blanket and a warm hug. What’s not to love?? Percy, Molly/Kingsley, and Ashton on the other hand, are all much rougher around the edges. The point of them is to provide the opposite of comfort for the audience; they're meant to make people a little uncomfortable. They hold up a mirror to the audience and force us to look at the parts of humanity that we try to avoid. Not the pure evil of mankind that Matt’s villains often show, but something even more sad and hard to swallow. 
Audiences tend to like characters that deal with trauma through humor and/or charm. People benefit from these types of characters by laughing at them or lusting over them. There’s nothing wrong with this by any means; that’s all part of the fun of fandom! However, characters that deal with their trauma in ways that are more raw and painful tend to be disliked. 
Percy is filled with constant fear that his past will haunt his future. He is convinced that wherever he goes, the darkness will follow and the pain awaits. He has horrible nightmares and lives with incessant paranoia, yet faces the deadliest monsters, demons, gods, etc with nothing but his wit and a gun. He can't stop inventing, not just to glorify himself but to protect everyone. He’s so many things at once, which is what makes him so real and complex and fascinating. 
Molly/Kingsley’s story is about wondering who you truly are and not meeting expectations of those you care about. Imagine that you’re not the only one comparing yourself to someone else; all your friends are too. You’re trying to figure out what defines you while feeling like everyone you know wants you to be someone else. His story is also filled with questions about nihilism and whether or not anything truly matters, including identity. 
Ashton represents the endless loneliness of abandonment and feeling like no matter what you do, those you love will never care about you as much as you care about them. He pushes people away and acts like he doesn’t have a care in the world while simultaneously doing everything he can to grip onto his friends. He is jealous of Laudna for the way she died because it showed how loved she was, and how sick is that? To be jealous of someone’s death? To try and force someone to admit that they haven’t gotten over their issues because you can’t accept that it’s possible to overcome yours? What's wrong with you? If it’s possible for people to do that, why can't you? What’s wrong with you? Why is it so hard for you when it seems so easy for others? What’s wrong with you? They represent not just the physical, but the emotional chronic pain that most people don’t have to think about every day. 
I have so much more to say about these amazing characters, but that would take an entire novel. They emotionally bleed all over the place. While they can still be lighthearted and humorous at times, they’re often really messy in various ways. But that doesn’t stop them from being so loving and wonderful at the same time! 
TL;DR, Taliesin’s characters are incredible and I’m so grateful that he is willing to play them in such a raw and real way for those of us that aren’t always funny or charming enough about our trauma to make society like us. 
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angelsndragons · 3 years
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*sing* it's been ~a while~
and i have been watching vm vs the nein a lot so let's talk about it. as always with me, this is a very long word vomit.
i said over on my mechanics post that the vm playbook requires urgency while the nein's playbook requires setup. here's what i mean. if the nein can make it to round 3-4 intact, that is if all of them are up, they are going to win. period. the nein simply have too many ways to steal turns from their enemies or to maximize their own effectiveness for things to go any other way.
if you want to see this in action even with a reduced roster, go watch the fire elemental fight in episode 129 and count the rounds. between caduceus' mass cure wounds and spirit guardians, caleb's slow, veth's sneak attacks, and jester's guiding bolts, the nein were able to scrape out a win thanks more to their bag of tricks than the damage output. veth only got sneak attack because of guiding bolt's secondary effects, slow kept veth safe from an opportunity attack and jester from a multi-attack, mass cure wounds gave caleb that round to cast slow, and the spirit guardians passively whittled down the enemies into KO range. the accumulated secondary effects were too much for the enemies to withstand and they fell hard. notice how everything built on one another here. that's what cockroach parties learn to do well. it was sloppier than a normal nein fight but they did it with a reduced roster AND with nearly all of their high level spell slots spent before the fight. yeah, they're fucking scary.
vm, however, is a whole different kind of scary. this team can put you down before you even know what's happening. it's harder to target the group's biggest damage dealers because you have a hulking barbarian and often an elemental up front locking down combatants. the dagger rogue can teleport and fly. oh, and give himself an extra action each round. the ranger and the gunslinger can stand back and just go to town. the freaking bear can maul you. the bard can make your life a living joke in your final moments. the cleric is a wildcard because the group is built to fight without her; if she's around, good luck because that's another round of attacks you have to take and an extra round vm can take. their DCs are ridiculous, as are their overall ACs.
but the thing to know about vm is that they have to put you down fast. they don't have the hit points for longer fights and they definitely don't have the utility for longer fights. their druid is offensively oriented, their cleric is often absent, and their bard is mostly support. he's often the only one running that bag of tricks. he can and will fuck up an opposing team given the chance and bolster his own, the problem is that he has almost no backup here. it's a giant hole that is begging to be exploited. it's an even bigger hole when that bard can only cast one spell per round.
so, going into the battle royale, the vm side had to down one member of the nein as fast as possible preferably in two rounds or fewer. it almost doesn't matter who, because if you down beau or fjord, that forces jester or fjord to spend their action or spell getting the downed member back up. if jester goes down, fjord has to do something about it. well, i say it almost doesn't matter but beau's deflect missiles makes her the worst target of the trio and yes, i'm including fjord's half-orc bounce back in that calculation. that gives you one round where the person healing isn't fucking up your team. vm's secondary objective was to monitor and control beau. her movement is nothing to compared to a hasted vax but her stunning strike is the most lethal weapon the nein brought into this fight. vm overall is not a melee group to begin with and their con saves are all garbage. vm has to find a way to keep her off their tails if they want a chance. we also know that vm's plan was to try to take out jester first so throw that objective into the mix as well.
all the nein have to do is survive the first couple rounds, monitor scanlan and pike, and get into position. that's basically it. the nein can absolutely withstand vax and percy's damage output for the first two rounds. pike and scanlan's damage output can be scary but pike in particular has to decide whether she wants to hold high level slots for healing. and she would need those higher level slots to get close to percy and vax's damage output. the nein know from experience that the support caster is where the real trouble will begin.
but before we kick things off, remember that matt specifically designed this battlefield to take turns away from the teams. the chests are an action to search and are located far out of the way in the field. the gem requires an action to activate, which basically means sacrificing your action for someone else's, and shifts between six designated points on the field. matt, who has a deep understanding of how both teams operate, decided to play on the nein's insecurities that they were at a severe item disadvantage and see if he could get them to bite. high risk, high reward. granted, this is me speculating but it does look like matt saw the fight very differently from the players and readjusted the field accordingly.
so we kick off and immediately scanlan proves why he is the top priority on the nein's list. he gets the gem, gets fjord prone on the ground, and comes within a hair's breadth of turning the fight into a five on two potential slaughter. travis brilliantly responds to these circumstances in the best of ways. see, fjord isn't the nein's utility magician for this fight; fjord's the bait. travis makes a very big spectacle of himself and fjord's predicament. and vm buys it hook, line, and sinker. ashley tries to continue with the original plan of gunning for jester only to discover that jester is who knows where.
vax, percy and scanlan? immediately take their shots at fjord. but fjord's on the ground which puts percy's awful misfire mechanic into reasonable play. so fjord gets lucky and doesn't take anywhere near the amount of damage he could have from percy. scanlan, after percy is removed from the field, decides he's better off trying to finish fjord but only hits a 3rd level thunder wave instead of a higher level one, which sam was probably saving for some counterspells or such. i don't think a higher level would have made that much of a difference but it is important to note.
more importantly, vax gets greedy. he got two good hits on fjord with his two actions, he could have left and hidden for the next turn. yes, vm has to down fjord as fast as possible. however that haste is going to be more effective over the long term if vax can keep it. but fjord's easy prey and he thinks vm can down him before jester can get over there to do anything about it. so he goes for the bonus action attack. pike eventually joins this mad dash scramble and like scanlan, she absolutely needed to throw something huge at fjord to get past his half-orc racial trait to have a prayer at downing him. but she did not because ashley seems to have been saving all her high levels for healing so fjord survives the round in honestly a very good position. vax can't target him from range with the cloud up, scanlan now has bigger problems than fjord with molly right up on him, and pike ran, taking damage and healing fjord in the process.
meanwhile, the nein's ladies are free to run and play the field as they see fit. jester has a big opening round flame strike. beau decides she can hold off on her round 2 blitz run to vm in favor of bringing molly onto the field. remember kids, never let a monk with 55ft of movement have the run of the place, it's bad for business. jester then makes a great play with her dispel magic at vax's haste. hashtag thanks, fjord. remember, kids, cockroach parties excel at taking turns and actions away from their opponents. in round 2 alone, the nein successfully remove percy from the field and remove vax's extra attack. that's both big damage dealers hobbled in one round. they also gave themselves an extra turn, adding molly onto the field. and oh boy, molly.
here we see the utility martial fighter molly could have been. sam's confused by the low damage that molly's doing his first round but the damage isn't really the point of the attacks. that brand of tethering is far more important, as are taliesin keeping an eye on which reactions will support the nein and molly's second attack wasting scanlan's reaction. counterspell is off the table for the back half of round 2-beginning of round 3, which is important if fjord wants to get the heck out of dodge.
in case it wasn't obvious earlier in the match that the nein are absolutely gunning for scanlan, round 3 begins with beau's blitz against scanlan. fjord's luck against the dominate person balances out with scanlan's save against the stun and beau missing one attack. here, vm starts to get distracted. they chose their focus fire target, fjord, but now do not, arguably cannot, follow through on it. we'll never know what could have happened had vm said to hell with beau and molly in our faces, we have to finish fjord.
vax tries to retaliate against beau but here's where the cockroach starts to come into play. molly blood curses vax, which saves beau a full sneak attack+ worth of damage. it also utterly wastes vax's turn. fjord manages to escape (and damage pike while he's at it) and regroup where it's safe. scanlan tries to dimension door but fails due to the brand. literally any other move scanlan could try on the pair of them had a better chance of success. instead, another vm turn is lost. taliesin recognizes the importance of getting beau advantage and supports her at the cost of two of his attacks missing, but not before scanlan is forced to cutting words one of them. another potential counterspell and cutting words lost. neither jester or pike contribute significantly to this round; the nein have done so much damage to pike in three rounds that she is forced to heal herself while jester chooses to dimension door herself to the gem and only a low damage roll lets it evade her.
beau takes molly's setup and gets the critical scanlan stun. he loses his full round. fjord takes the opportunity molly provided him to polymorph into a t-rex, bringing him fully back into the fight. vm is really going to have a time and a half trying to finish him now unless they can put up a big single damage attack. jester builds on beau's setup by casting flame strike, whose dex save scanlan automatically fails. he goes down. if you're the nein, this is exactly where you want pike focused, on her team and not on yours. she has access to most of the same spells that jester has and the more you pressure her to focus on her team, the better. it's not wasting her turn, precisely, but it is controlling what she can reasonably do with it.
now we come to percy versus beau. i don't want to diminish the insane good luck beau had to take only 26 points of damage from six shots because what matters here is that percy absolutely could not down beau. period. her hit points were too high and after she took almost nothing from the first two shots, it should have been clear that she was going to get her turn and she would absolutely attempt to stun and down pike and scanlan. i'm not going to monday morning quarterback this fight but i will point out that the more rolls travis has to make to maintain concentration, the greater the chance he fails and you get to hit fjord's actual hit point pool and trade fjord for scanlan. and if you can get him before he can get back into the fray, even better.
beau stuns the gnomes and drops scanlan again. her inner cockroach rears its head once more as she negates more than half the damage on vax's critical hit sneak attack. fjord-rex downs scanlan and grapples pike. the stun on pike here really helps negate that high AC of hers. after scanlan's death, it's a long slow death spiral. vax abandons the fight in the next critical round in favor of keeping the gem instead of targeting fjord. percy attacks beau once more instead of fjord due to fjord dangling pike over lava. he starts to focus on fjord only to get distracted by jester. pike goes down but vax gets caught by beau before he can get her back up. and so it goes with vm losing turn after turn after turn until finally the nein poof percy out of existence and bring molly back. a fitting end for the team who started their final boss fight with eight and came out nine.
bottom line here, the vm team played like they had way more time than they actually did. they had to commit to a target and see it dead as fast as possible. they had to control the battlefield quickly and keep it. they didn't so they couldn't. aside from building on damage dealt, they couldn't create advantages or opportunities for each other nearly as effectively as nein did. all of these factors meant that the nein did what they always do: grind their enemies under heel.
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eponymous-rose · 3 years
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A Critical Role Campaign 2 Mechanics Primer
Got a request from a new Critical Role viewer for some clarification re: rules and characters, and dang, yes, there’s so much stuff to deal with as a new viewer at the moment. So here’s an attempt at clarifying some stuff!
How does D&D work?
Fundamentally, one person (the DM) sets the scene and the players riff off that scene by acting out what their characters would do in response. Whenever a player’s actions would lead to an uncertain result, the DM can call for them to roll a die and try to hit a predetermined target number to see if they succeed. The players’ individual characters have abilities that boost certain categories of rolls and penalize others; a very strong character is more likely than a scrawny one to be able to open a jammed door, but they could still have an unlucky roll. It’s the DM’s job to incorporate the sometimes-absurd results of those die rolls into a coherent story.
Combat is the most “gamey” D&D gets, where everyone has a turn set aside to act (with an order determined by the “initiative” roll that starts combat). This is where character classes come in handy: magic-users cast spells, fighters jump in with their weapons of choice, and so forth. Each character has a set of hit points, and once those reach zero, the character is unconscious and possibly dying. But combat ain’t just hack-and-slash: there can be conversation, strategy, manipulation, collaboration, and all sorts of weird subtleties going on. Fundamentally, players’ actions are limited only by their imaginations.
It can be super weird getting into a D&D show even if you have played a bit because everyone plays the game a bit differently. Critical Role’s gameplay leans hard into roleplaying and character beats (there are episodes with basically no dice rolls) but also leans hard enough into the rules that a random bad or good roll can completely derail the story; rolls aren’t fudged or handwaved for the sake of a predetermined narrative, which means nobody playing (including the DM) knows how things are going to end up. This makes for a viewing experience that is a cross between dramedy improv and live sports; the cast plays out long scenes of conversation, but their characters could also permanently die at any time, adding to the high stakes. It’s also totally unedited, which accounts for the absurdly long runtime. 
If any of that isn’t for you, there are a lot of great D&D podcasts out there (often labeled “actual play”) that run the gamut from silly with minimal rules to mechanically involved but edited down. It’s a cool time to get into D&D!
Okay, so how exactly do these characters do their thing?
One of the more confusing aspects for new viewers of the second campaign of Critical Role is that they’re using a fair amount of content that’s not in the baseline ruleset - some character races and classes are coming from expansion content, and some are from Matt Mercer (the DM’s) homebrew. Here’s a quick summary of what each character has going on at the start of the campaign, moving from left to right in the first episode’s seating arrangement.
Fjord (played by Travis Willingham)
If you’re watching the show in video form, Travis is the big guy who looks like he could throw a football real far. If you’re listening to the podcast, his character voice has a Texas twang.
Fjord is a half-orc warlock. A half-orc typically has green skin and tusks but otherwise looks fairly close to a garden-variety human. Warlocks are magic-users who gained their abilities from a bargain with a mysterious (generally somewhat malevolent) being of great power. Mechanically, they rely a lot on what are called cantrips (spells that can be cast an unlimited number of times a day) since the number of more powerful spells at their disposal is very limited. However, unlike most other casters that have to get a full night’s sleep to regain their stronger spells, warlocks just have to rest for an hour or so and they’re good to go. More specifically, Fjord is a hexblade warlock. Hexblades are warlocks who have a particularly strong bond with their weapon of choice and can summon it from nothing.
Beauregard (played by Marisha Ray)
If you’re watching the show in video form, Marisha is the woman who often perches on her chair like she’s about to take flight. If you’re listening to the podcast, her character voice is a bit gruff with a sarcastic drawl.
Beau is a human monk. Both humans in this campaign use a variant version of human that allows them to pick a feat at the start of the campaign: Beau has some extra expertise in investigative and athletic abilities. Monks are preternaturally powerful martial artists; what some classes do with magic, they do with unarmed combat. Mechanically, they rely on an ability called ki points, which are a stockpile of points that can be used for extra-powerful abilities such as being able to hit extra times on an attack or being able to stun an enemy. More specifically, Beau is a Way of the Cobalt Soul monk, which is a homebrew from Matt and means she’s essentially a warrior-monk-librarian whose key abilities center around rooting out useful information.
Caleb (played by Liam O’Brien)
If you’re watching the show in video form, Liam is the guy who perpetually looks like he’s about to launch into a Shakespearean monologue. If you’re listening to the podcast, his character voice is soft with a German accent.
Caleb is a human wizard. His variant human feat gives him an eidetic memory and the ability to always know what time it is. Wizards are magic-users who got to where they are with careful study; Caleb has to keep track of his spells by transcribing them into a spellbook. He also has a familiar in the form of the cat Frumpkin, although Frumpkin can also change forms. Mechanically, wizards can pick up spells from a lot of different sources to learn them, but again, the cost in time and materials of transcribing them into a spellbook can be substantial. More specifically, Caleb is a transmutation wizard, which means his wizardry focuses around the act of transforming one thing into another.
Nott (played by Sam Riegel)
If you’re watching the show in video form, Sam is the guy with an alarmingly big smile and a comically oversized flask. If you’re listening to the podcast, his character voice is high-pitched with varying levels of Cockney accent.
Nott is a goblin rogue. Goblins are small and quick, and may or may not be well-received depending on the location. Rogues are sneaky individuals who do best when striking from the shadows or scouting ahead to investigate potential traps and unlock doors. Mechanically, they get a huge bonus in combat if they attack when unseen or when an opponent is distracted by an ally. They’re also very good at avoiding attacks and at hiding from view. More specifically, Nott is an arcane trickster rogue, which means she also dabbles in magic related to illusions and enchantment.
Jester (played by Laura Bailey)
If you’re watching the show in video form, Laura is the one who may or may not be instigating every round of giggles at accidental innuendo. If you’re listening to the podcast, her character voice is bubbly with an Eastern European accent.
Jester is a tiefling cleric. Tieflings essentially look like brightly-colored humans (Jester has blue skin) with horns and a tail; they’re the result of infernal ancestry and also may or may not be well-received. Clerics are magic-users who derive their power from the blessing of a deity or other extremely powerful entity. Jester’s divine patron is the Traveler, a mysterious trickster with an affinity for phallic graffiti. Mechanically, clerics have a massive stable of spells from which they can choose a subset every morning; their abilities range from healing wounds to causing devastating harm. More specifically, Jester is a trickery domain cleric, which means her spells have a strong focus on illusions and pranks.
Mollymauk (played by Taliesin Jaffe)
If you’re watching the show in video form, Taliesin is the one who looks like he may be some sort of ancient fey creature who’s come to our realm to play D&D. If you’re listening to the podcast, his character voice has an Irish accent of varying intensity.
Molly is a tiefling blood hunter with purple skin. Blood hunters are a custom class Matt created that can use their own blood (in a process called hemocraft) to augment their combat abilities. Mechanically, blood hunters are high-risk high-reward; they can perform devastatingly brutal attacks, but often only at the cost of shedding some of their own blood to do so. More specifically, Molly is an Order of the Ghostslayer blood hunter, which means he’s got an affinity for things relating to the moment of death.
Yasha (played by Ashley Johnson)
If you’re watching the show in video form, Ashley is the one who isn’t around for a little bit (she was splitting her time with a TV show on the opposite coast) and then SHE’S BACK AND I’M STILL SO HAPPY ABOUT THAT. If you’re listening to the podcast, her character voice is soft with a faint Scandinavian accent.
Yasha is an aasimar barbarian. Aasimar are the semi-divine counterpart to tieflings, although Yasha is a fallen aasimar with a fairly different aesthetic. Barbarians use their rage to enhance their already fierce battle prowess. Mechanically, barbarians in a rage take less damage and deal more damage, and also embrace a high-risk high-reward playstyle as tanks in the middle of the fray. More specifically, Yasha is a Path of the Zealot barbarian, which means her battle rages are fueled by the influence of a divine being.
Interested in watching from the start of campaign 2? The show has a YouTube channel with each episode posted in its entirety, and all episodes are also available in podcast form (they did jump channels partway through, but you can usually find a playlist that has them all). If you want to delve into campaign 1, I highly recommend it, but be aware that they’re still figuring out tech stuff and you’re also jumping in partway through the game they started years earlier at home. Campaign 2 starts 20 years after campaign 1 on a different continent of the same world, and is intended to be an appropriate jumping-on point for new viewers.
Interested in catching up faster so you can watch live with friends? Search Critical Recap for a series of recap videos on YouTube, which then becomes a series of written summaries on the CritRole website after episode 88. There are also great summaries on the Wiki, and many people have put together catch-up guides for new viewers. 
There’s A LOT of content out there. Don’t let anyone make you feel bad for skimming the early stuff if you want to get in on the new episodes sooner. <3
Episodes air at 7 PM Pacific every Thursday on Critical Role’s Twitch and YouTube channels; the VOD goes up for free on YouTube the Monday after. In the last few months, the cast has been distanced at the studio (all on separate cameras) and episodes have been pre-recorded several weeks in advance; normally, the show is streamed live and everyone is around the same table.
Hope that helps! If you have any questions, let me know. This is a fun show to get into, and a great all-consuming massive body of entertainment if you have the time for it.
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the-punslinger · 2 years
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Critical Role Quotes and Memorable Moments - VM vs M9 (4/?)
Molly: "Okay, that's right, what is it? There's a bunch of new stuff, so I'm going to be a little clunky." Sam: "You know what, why don't you figure it out for the next time you're Mollymauk?" Matt: "You just see a blanket of fog in that space."
Beau: "You see me. Jester and I look at each other, and go [makes confused noises]." Jester: "I go: I'm a duplicate!" Beau: "That's so cool! Yeah, you look great!" Sam: "They're just eating." Ashley: "Get some fucking pastries."
Matt: "I mean, you still had a bead on him, and then all of a sudden Thunder Wave impacted. You heard the blast and he just vanished into the fog." Travis: "You probably heard [yelps]" Matt: "Yeah. Definitely heard that." Sam: "And is probably still hearing that." Travis: "So much blood!" Sam: "It was Fjord's duplicate the whole time! At level 15, he gets a duplicate!"
Travis: "It lowered your roll." Molly: "And you know what? I'm going to amplify that." Matt: "Okay." Marisha: "Amplify?" Taliesin: "So I take two points of damage." Sam: "Are you turning it up... to 11?"
Sam: "You guys seem like lovely people, and you're very close. You're invading my personal space. And if there's one thing you should know about Scanlan Shorthalt, he likes his privacy." Marisha: "Didn't you pitch the orgy? Didn't that come from you?" Sam: "Are you down?"
Sam: "Dimension Door. No, actually, before I Dimension Door, I'm going to cast a quick Inspiration to Vax." Matt: "Okay. Go ahead and speak the inspiration." Sam: "♪ What a rogue needs ♪ ♪ What a rogue wants ♪ ♪ Is my 12d Inspiration dice ♪ ♪ And I'm thanking you for fucking up ♪
Sam: "I'm going to use my movement to just circle around you." Liam: "The metagames." Sam: "I'm just going to go back and forth like this." Matt: "Yep, you are right there beneath them." Sam: "You got nothing. You can't hit me. You can't hit me. I'm too little. Look. I'm wearing glasses! I'll do Minor Illusion to make myself wearing glasses. I'm wearing glasses. You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses, would you? Come on. Come on." Matt: "That's fantastic."
Matt: "Two clerics, neither have healed anyone." Ashley: "I know." Laura: "Oh god." Sam: "Both the utility magicians are down hard."
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moderndaybard · 4 years
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Silly little thought/mental image that came after watching last night’s Narrative Telephone:
I was picturing the Mighty Nein either around some campfire in the hut, or hanging out on the rooftop garden of the Xorhouse, or huddled together in the cabin on the Ball Eater some night where they’re not too tired and nothing’s weighing too heavy on them, for once.
Someone (probably Jester) suggests they all take turns telling campfire stories, and the others either like the idea, or else like her enough to not want to let her down.
Jester goes first, and tells a story that sounds more like a treasure map and maybe even veiled instructions than a true story, and swears up and down that the Traveler himself told her the story (though, now that they’ve met Artagan, the others have moved from doubting his existence to doubting his motives, and don’t really press her for the moment).
Caleb goes next, and tells a ghost story (of sorts) from his childhood home that has Jester and Nott huddled together, and Fjord trying very hard to pretend that he is not also unsettled by the dark tale.
[Side note: As, at the time of writing, only Sam, Laura, and Liam (and Matt) have gone, these next few are pure speculation.]
Surprisingly, Yasha volunteers to go next, and her tale is definitely different, one born form the harsh landscape and harsher people of her youth, but easier to bear with this new family.
Fjord doesn’t feel up to recounting any of the few stories the children at the orphanage whispers to each other, so he dredges up one of the tall tales of the sea he heard later in life, ending with the same insisting of first-hand experience of the truth of it that the sailor who’d first told it to him had concluded with.
Caduceus relates the story of some interesting family buried in the Blooming Grove or other-or perhaps a story of the gods and their champions- or maybe it is Mollymauk there, and this scene is form much earlier, and the bloodhunter spins a tale overheard in some tavern or learned form another member of the circus, or just one he made up for himself and claimed to have found on some ancient scroll or other [honestly, I have no idea what Taliesin has planned when his turn comes around].
Beau grumbles a bit, just to say that she did, and while she may not like to think about Kamordah and her time there, there were local stories, or the really superstitious-y ones her dad would insist on her learning so that she ‘knew how to take precautions’. Eh, fuck that. maybe something she read at the Cobalt Soul? with her own spin, of course... 
And finally, everyone turns to Nott/Veth, whose eyes are darting around, either looking for inspiration or escape-who can say? at last, the rogue clears her throat, opens her mouth-
-and a different voice altogether spins the strangest tale of a poor inventor who discovers his lovers infidelity, a tale that ends with a song-a SONG of all things-and whoever it is telling this story, it is NOT Nott-or Veth.
[I have no idea how this ends/what they’d do, but I’d imagine at least one, lengthy, confused pause as they all stare at their equally-baffled rogue.]
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otdderamin · 5 years
Text
Transcript: Yasha struggles against her chains - Critical Role C2 Ep60 3:27:02
In light ep C2 Ep069, this seems like a good scene to bring back. There's a lot of set-up here to what happened.
Scenes runs:
1. A Dream from the Stormlord 3:27:02 to 3:32:26
2. Yasha, Nott, Jester, and Caduceus talk it out 3:32:26 to 3:41:09
3. Yasha Confronts the Stormlord 3:41:09 to 3:54:13
  1. A Dream from the Stormlord
3:27:02 Matt: "Yasha."
Ashley, touching different parts of her face: "Huuu! Immediately red." She hides in her hood.
Matt: "In your exhaustion, the darkness comes comfortably as a night's rest, and an evening's respite. And though you don't awaken, you can feel the thunder. You can feel it roll and vibrate through your body. With each impact, there's a flash of light behind your eyes, like a heartbeat of a dull blue glow."
3:27:43 Matt makes three low rumbling thunder sounds and then a louder, sharper one. "A deafening blast of thunder shakes your eyes awake, and you are soaked, standing on the precipice of a mountain. You can see the heavy clouds before you with slight little breaches between where moonlight and stars are briefly visible before they are consumed once more by the storm." Matt makes two more thunder noises mimicking lightening striking. "Arcs of lightening shoot across the Xhorhas sky. You're cold, shivering, your hair matted over your face, you're eyes barely peeking through.
3:28:34 Matt mimics another lightning strike and thunder. "Through another arc you think you see an arm through the clouds. And it's gone." Mimicked thunder. "Another flash of light, and you see what looks like a humanoid form reaching from the storm towards you. Your instinct is to turn and run, but you watch as the head kind of turns. Another flash of light and it's gone. You sense a presence behind you. What do you do?"
3:29:27 Ashley: "I turn around and walk towards it."
3:29:31 Matt: "You turn around from the space where you're standing, and the opposite side of this mountain range is just bodies. Corpses littered and stretched out before you. Dozens and dozens of them. You can't see their faces, you just see folded arms and legs, wounds. And there, standing behind you is a shaded figure." Thunder. "The flash of light behind you emanates and briefly frames the face you see. A familiar male figure. his curved horns back from the front. His wings folded over his shoulders. His sly, grinning yellow eyes peering at you. And just looks, shakes his head, and walks away."
Ashley: "Do I recognize any of the bodies? Anything on the bodies? Is anything about it familiar to me?"
Matt: "You go towards the bodies?"
Ashley: "Yeah."
Matt: "Make a wisdom saving throw."
[After the dice is cocked 3 times, Ashley rolls a 15.]
3:31:12 Matt: "15. This figure that is familiar to you, but you don't know why or where, causes something in your heart to freeze, and you feel the fear kind of welling up in your throat, this heavy lump that's making it hard to swallow. And you try and take a step, and you have to force yourself to move. And you take another step, and you go towards one of the bodies and turn it over, and it's Mollymauk."
Shocked gasps.
3:31:51 Matt: "And you go look to the left and there's Jester. And you look past that, and you see Caleb. And you start to look around and every body is somebody who's crossed your path, somebody you've let in. You glance up and that figure just keeps walking away shaking his head." He tuts three times. Thunder. "You wake up, as the heavy thunder rolls through the hall."
Ashley: "Oh fuck."
2. Yasha, Nott, Jester, and Caduceus talk it out
3:32:26 Matt: "Nott, you kind of shake awake a little bit."
Nott: "Hn! What are you doing? You okay?"
Ashley: "Is anyone else awake?"
Nott: "Are you okay?"
Taliesin: "I am quietly awake."
Matt: "Jester's awake technically, too."
Nott: "What happened? Where are you? What's going on? What'd you do?"
Jester: "Are you okay?"
0:32:44 Yasha: "Uh, I had a… I had a very bad dream."
Nott: "Do you want some liquor?"
Jester: "Do you want to talk about it?"
Yasha: "No."
Jester: "Do you want a massage?"
Nott: "They're very hard."
Yasha, sounding distressed: "Uh, I think I'm okay."
3:33:08 Nott: "Is it a dream you've had before? Is it like one of Fjord's dreams that keep coming?"
0:33:16 Yasha: "I do keep having… dreams, but sometimes they feel like… they're very real or familiar. And I don't know if… They make me very scared."
Jester: "Is it about somebody you knew?"
Yasha: "Yes. Yes."
3:33:51 Nott: "Well, do you think it's something- sometimes dreams can be like a premonition, something in your future or could be something in your past. Did it feel like a past or a future?"
3:34:01 Yasha: "Well sometimes, they're both, but this one felt like… this was definitely not in the past, and I'm hoping that it's not in the future."
Jester: "Tell us about it. What happened?"
Nott: "We're good listeners. And also, you've woken us up."
Jester, softly giggling: "I was already awake. Don't worry about it."
3:34:30 Yasha, after a long pause: "I think I've done something very bad."
Jester: "What do you mean?"
Yasha: "I think I've done something very bad and I don't remember."
Nott: "You don't remember?"
Yasha: "Well…"
3:34:46 Jester: "Is this about when you left your- when you left your village?"
Yasha: "I don't know." She sighs. "I don't know. I'm very confused."
0:34:56 Caduceus, sleepily with his eyes closed: "What does the lord require of thee?"
Jester, poking him: "Are you asleep?"
Caduceus: "No."
Jester: "Oh."
3:35:08 Caduceus: "It's raining and there's lightening and thunder. Someone's trying to send you a message."
Yasha: "It's not a very positive message."
3:35:18 Caduceus: "That all depends on interpretations. What does the lord require of thee? Thunder and lightning. That's how I'd talk to you if I was a Stormlord."
Jester: "Is this storm just for you, Yasha?"
Yasha: "I don't think so, but if it is, I saw a…"
Jester, grinning: "Just say it. What was it?"
Nott: "Whatever it was, I'm sure it's fine."
Jester: "We can handle it."
3:35:57 Yasha: "I saw a lot of… dead bodies, and I saw… Mollymauk, and a lot of other people that I've known."
Jester: "That's very sad, Yasha."
Nott: "That's super fucked up."
Jester: "Maybe it's because we just fought a bunch of undead things, you know? Maybe you're just trying to process it."
Yasha: "It could be. It could be. It might be something that's just…"
Nott: "Do you think it could be that maybe you're doing something right or wrong or-?
Yasha: "I don't know. I think that's- that's- I…"
Nott: "Was it a warning? Was it a punishment?"
Yasha: "I feel like every time I have it it's very scary and I… It feels like I've caused something."
Jester: "Do you ever talk to the Stormlord and say like, 'Hey, what are you trying to tell me?'"
Nott: "Jester talks to her god all the time, yeah."
Jester: "Yeah."
Yasha: "No. I could try. I never really have."
Jester: "Yeah, give it a go."
3:37:05 Yasha: "But I have- I think… you both have very different relationships with your gods, and it feels much more personal, and I feel that with me it's- I've… I'm not scared of a lot of things but I'm a little bit scared of him."
Jester: "Really?"
Yasha: "But maybe that's just 'cause-"
Jester: "But you worship him?"
3:37:33 Yasha: "Well… I think he just… He pulled be out of something and saved my life so I feel like I owe him that."
Jester: "Well he seems to be paying a lot of attention to you."
Yasha, taking a nervous deep breath: "Yeah. I think I should maybe try to have some conversations-"
Nott: "Yeah, next time you have a dream, maybe you should, like, plan what you're going to say now, so you know."
Yasha: "Okay. Yeah."
0:38:02 Nott: "Like, what's your opening? You've got to have a strong opener."
Jester: "Yeah."
Yasha: "Ah…"
Nott: "'What do you want with me!'"
Yasha: "Okay."
Jester, yelling: '" Why are you being so creepy!? Just be nice, okay?"
Caduceus, making a lowering gesture: "Shh. Too loud, too loud, too loud."
0:38:16 Jester, quietly: "No I'm just kidding, I'm just… What if, Yasha, what if we- it's raining right now, it's stormy, what if we go outside and we, like, yell up at the sky right now, and you know, you can just like let it out and say like, 'Why are you trying to be creepy?'"
Nott: "He might hear you. He might hear you if he's part of the storm or something."
Yasha: "Yeah, yeah."
Jester: "Just say, 'Be nice to me! I just want to, you know…"
Nott, loudly: "Respect me!"
Jester: "Yeah. 'I'm here for you!'"
Yasha: "'Respect me! Witness me!'"
Nott & Jester: "Yeah."
Yasha: "'Why are you doing this to me?'"
Nott & Jester: "Yeah."
Yasha: "Yeah, well, okay, I'll think about it. If you guys want to sleep, I can take a watch, or, you know."
Nott: "Are you going to go out and stare- and scream at the sky?"
Jester: "If you do it, we'll just go with you just to be safe."
Nott: "Just to watch."
Yasha: "Yeah? Okay. Yeah, should we go?"
Jester: "Okay, yeah."
Nott: "Sure." Nott taps Jester's arm and leans in, "I think we just told her to go scream at the sky."
Jester: "It's going to be really cool."
Caduceus: "I'll say, actually, it's a pretty good idea. Although, I will say that I tend to have better luck finding what I need to know if I'm somewhere quiet and alone. As much as I appreciate company."
Jester: "Awe."
Nott: "Yeah, but you're the- you're like a garden god. She's the storm god, right?"
Jester: "What if what she needs is more people screaming!"
3:39:36 Yasha: "What if we just all start screaming?"
Jester: "Like, screaming like thunder."
Nott: "Yeah! Yeah!"
Yasha: "Yeah. We could try it."
Jester: "Yeah. And then we'll run back inside really fast because there could be things around that could attack us."
Yasha: "Sure. I don't know how this works, I am learning."
Nott: "Try it!"
Yasha: "I am definitely learning from this."
Nott: "Try it!"
0:39:49 Laura: "We just step right outside the door right down here."
Matt: "Okay."
Liam: "Caleb's cat creepily watches them go."
Caduceus: "Oh dear."
Matt: "So, you…?"
Ashley: "Is it still storming outside."
Matt, as the background track thunders: "Oh yeah. Very much so."
Sam and Laura: "Oh!"
Sam: "Oh, there are storm sound effects happening."
Jester: "Ooo, Yasha, it's really stormy!"
3:40:09 Yasha: "Okay, I'm gonna step forward just a little bit and… you know, just so it doesn't scare him off if you're all here."
Nott, patting Jester's hand: "Can you do something to, like, help her? Give her bravery or something? Can't you do- oh, you're out of spells, aren't you?"
Yasha: "Okay, I think-"
Jester: "I've got a first level left. I'm going to just Bless you.
Yasha: "Okay."
Jester: "I'm just going to cast Bless on you."
Yasha: "Okay, okay."
Jester, squeakily: "Just go and get- 'cause it's useful."
Yasha: "Okay."
Liam, quietly: "Just a happy little Bless. Just a happy little bless right here."
3:40:37 Yasha: "Um, I'll step out, just so I still see them, but far enough away where I feel like I have some privacy."
Matt: "Okay. So, you step beyond the exterior of the fortress. There's the courtyard and this little niche in the mountain range. The other side of the mountains kind of- as a descending V for your view before you actually head out into the mountain pass looking out over all of Xhorhas. So, you'd have to walk quite a few hundred feet to get out even into the mountain pass. You go that way?"
Yasha: "Yes."
3. Yasha Confronts the Stormlord
3:41:09 Matt: "Okay. You walk out there, cold rain drenching you in an eerily familiar way. Kind of causes you to feel a little bit of a crawling nervousness in your belly as you now begin to sensory recall-"
Ashley: "Like I am now."
Matt: "--the sensory recall of the dream you'd just woken up from. You feel the cold rain water soaking into all of your outfit and the back. You step out onto the mountain pass, you glance over your shoulder, and you can just barely see the silhouettes of Jester and Nott in the doorway."
Laura: "You see our," Jester and Nott give double thumbs up signs. Nott waves her on.
Yasha gives a thumbs up back.
3:42:00 Matt: "You go ahead and look, turn around, and you can now see, barely, the open northward barbed fields of this side of Xhorhas. The feint edges of the Vermaloch forest below you, the Wildwood. You can just in the distance see faint sparkles of light that represent Rosohna, Ghor Dranas, the capital of the Kryn Dynasty. And every few moments, arcs of lightning that spiral across the sky, through the clouds. Some down into- and tend to be focused towards the barbed fields to the north. What do you do?"
3:42:57 Yasha: "Hello? I don't quite know how to do this, but I'm trying to learn. I feel, and I know that you are trying to communicate with me, but I'm very confused. I don't know what these dreams mean, and I'm feeling scared. But I… I want to be an instrument for you. And you quite literally saved me and I want to do what I can and do whatever work that needs to be done. Are you there? I don't know if this is the right thing that I'm doing. I feel like I'm talking to nothing; are you there?"
3:44:21 Matt: "You stand there for a moment and see the flashes of light."
3:44:31 Yasha: "I think I'm… I think I'm most scared 'cause I did something… I feel like I did something bad, and I don't remember what it is. But I think I'm most nervous about what is to come, and if I will continue hurting people. and maybe that's what you've come to help me with."
Matt: "There's no response."
3:45:23 Yasha: "Well…  I will continue to follow. I will look for sings because I think that's what you're supposed to do. I know Jester draws things, draws dicks on things, `but that doesn't feel right." She sighs.
Ashley: "I kind of doodle a dick on the ground."
Laughter.
3:46:04 Yasha: "That might be something different. I think I'll sit out here tonight. Just in case you come back."
Matt: "And you stay out here?"
Ashley: "I'm gonna stay outside."
Matt: "Okay. Do you guys…?"
Nott: "She coming back?"
Jester shrugs and makes an "I don't know" sound.
Matt: "You watch Yasha kind of just sit down and lay against the side of the mountain."
Jester: "Maybe we should sleep, you know, near.
Nott: "Okay."
Jester: "Just in case something happens."
Nott: "Mmhm. Okay."
Jester: "Yeah."
Sam: "Find a little nook to- this sucks."
Laura: "Yeah underneath some leaves to try to keep dry."
Sam and Laura snuggle up together.
3:46:54 Matt: "Eventually you guys come to find. Thankfully- because the two of you can keep each other warm you manage to find some sleep." Turning to Yasha, "As do you. You're used to the rugged uncomfortable spaces of Xhorhas and living in the Theo Moorlands is not a comfortable place in comparison to where you've been with these people. But sleep comes to you.
3:47:15 Matt: "And in that sleep your wrists get cold. But not the rest of your body, just the wrists. And you try and move your body position, and you kind of glance down and you see irons on your wrists. You look and you have your withered wings draped over each of your shoulders. and you look forward and all you see is the storm, just roiling clouds. And with the next flash of light, you see the clouds part into two pale glowing eyes open before you."
3:48:17 Yasha: "You're there. Please… Please talk to me."
3:48:28 Matt: "You see no mouth, but with the next roll of thunder you hear beneath it this brimming, bassy voice, familiar from some of the visions in the past you've experienced. It says,"
3:48:43 Kord: "You are still shackled, child."
3:48:51 Yasha: "I know. Some reasons I know why, but other reasons I do not. Have I done something terrible?"
3:49:14 Kord: "We've all done terrible things."
3:49:22 Yasha: "These visions that you're giving me… where I see my friends, I don't know what that means."
3:49:41 Kord: "You have done terrible things. And you are capable of doing terrible things. Your strength is still not wholly your own. You are still shackled, child. Fight against them. Don't let the iron be your strength."
Yasha: "How do I fight against it?"
Kord: "Struggle. Push."
Yasha: "Okay."
Kord: "Struggle. Push."
Ashley: "I look down, and I try to start pulling it apart."
Matt: "You're pulling and pulling at those chains. Make a strength saving throw."
[Yasha rolls a 22.]
3:51:17 Matt: "The chains grow taught. Still freezing against your wrists. You pull and you pull, and you can hear the squeaking of iron tensing." He mimics metal squealing.
3:51:32 Ashley: "I start screaming and pulling as much as I can."
Matt: "You pull, and you yell into the storm, the rain smashing into your face, filling your mouth. You scream and you tense in anger as the storm rolls, the lightning flashing heavier, the eyes growing brighter."
Kord: "Struggle. Find what gives you your power. Where do you find your strength?"
3:52:09 Yasha: "I continue to think of… I think of Jester, and I think of Beau, and I think of Fjord, and Mollymauk, and Caduceus, and Nott, and Caleb, and Zuala, and I just keep pulling and screaming."
Matt: "Roll a strength saving throw with advantage."
[Yasha rolls a 22.]
3:52:46 Matt: "The previous weakening of the binds causes the links to pull and stretch and the metal itself begins to wain and twist. You can see your withered wings begin to feather."
Shocked happiness from the table.
Matt: "You pull and the binds to do break, and the feathers dissipate, and in that moment of sorrow and failure, the voice goes,"
Kord: "You grow stronger still. the shackles remain, but they weaken. You know your strength, use it, and struggle."
Matt: "The storm begins to pull away, the sound of the thunder dissipates, and you fall back into a night's rest."
3:54:13
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72 notes · View notes
readbythestarlight · 5 years
Text
c2e71
.....the table is all mixed up and it’s weird
The only presidential debate I will gladly watch
Ronin!! HI BABY BOY!
Matt is so ready for this to be over lol
Taliesin looks significantly less sick which is nice
[[MORE]]
Ohhh boy here we go with Dairon
J: "Let’s go to the hottub!"
B: "...is this conversation appropriate to have in a hot tub?"
"Cuuuure wooouuunds"
Dairon has so many valid questions but the one about the tree is the most valid
D: "I’m not upset I’m just confused, I know for me the two look very similar."
The fact that Dairon isn’t angry is great and listen I love the fact that they keep thinking they’re gonna be in so much trouble but then they’re not. It’s nice and probably good for them because they all need a self-confidence boost and confirmation that they’re not total fuck ups.
Jester encouraging them to talk is so cute xD
No no
Bad idea
Don’t give her a sigle
Nononono
Don’t do it
Dairon stop asking
I like Dairon and I want them to be able to trust her because she’s so important to Beau and I desperately want Beau to be able to trust and have one good authority figure in her life
Also please don’t die Dairon this doesn’t have to be a suicide mission
"Jester, Fjord, Nott, Caleb, Yasha, ...Mollymauk" owwwwww
Caduceus has just been making them live off a vegetarian diet and that’s cute
B: "Did you bone someone last night?"
Cad: "Did you kidnap somebody?"
Poor Beau is so nervous about this lol
Everyone: "how did she find us?"
B: "uhhhhhh well I called her..."
N, supportive mom: "that’s fine she’s your friend!"
Everyone’s being supportive of Beau including Dairon and that’s so great!
Cad shouting for her to come down lol
B: "oh thank god my friends like each other oh thank fuck"
Caduceus being so delighted by Dairon’s "positive attitude" lol
God I really don’t want them to split up
Fjord stay away from the water
Caleb is so worried Nott’s gonna leave
Also Yeza and Luc should go live on the ship
I love hot boi Essek as much as anyone but I’m not sure they should trust him with so much. I want to trust him but I’m scared to.
And now we’re off to Nicodranus and I’m nervous
Maybe Yussah won’t be home that would be great
No no don’t retrieve Yussah just leave
Don’t tell him anything
Caduceus
Darlin’
Honey bunches of oats
I get what you’re aiming for but please don’t start mentioning things that happened to y’all in the Dynasty
Now you stepped in it
Oh thank god Beau is a good liar
Oh frick it’s happening in the Empire too?
Okay that went so much better than I expected
I keep expecting horrible things to happen and then they don’t and I’m both glad and anxious because the other show is gonna drop one of these days
lol still in Xhorhas clothes they did not plan this at all
Which means holy shit did Yussah notice??
I can’t believe we’re gonna have a nice family beach day before they have to go back to Xhorhas
They deserve it
Marion gonna make me cryyyyy WE MISSED YOU MOM
I’m gonna cry Luc reuniting with his parents yep here we go I’m weeping
Luc nerding out about Dutchess Anastasia
Yeza: "I think you should know your mother here is quite the adventurer. I’ve been watching her fighting monsters..." I’m cryyyyying
Veth being a mom like "no it’s DANGEROUS you can’t—you can’t touch it"
28 and she obliterates the orange
I’m so happy
So many reunions I’m so happy I’m gonna cry
Nuggets like "MOM!!!" and honestly same
Jester’s like "you can BORROW my dog"
Please wear one of Jester’s dresses Beau I’m begging
IM GONNA NEED ART OF BEAU IN THE RED DRESS Y’ALL
"I’ll wear it for Jester" that’s love
Oh god and a hat
Art of Beau and Jester in their cute dresses please please
Wow just
Just gonna come out of left field and slap me with these Nott and Caleb feels huh
"I love you" and "I don’t want to leave you/be anywhere without you" whatever the exact words were because I just was having feelings
"You would be strong enough to kill me with fire and change my body like they did" FUCK THAT’S. OUCH.
That whole conversation hurt but I’m glad they had it
Meanwhile at the beach, Cad is just watching Fjord waiting for something weird to happen
B: "This conch shell is weird, it just keeps saying ‘Fjord’!"
N: "Mine says ‘consume’!"
Aw Jester :(
Oh yeah!
Oh darn
I want the package
Did an actual package get sent??
That’s so cute!
Wow y’all just really slapping me in the face with the Molly feels tonight huh?
That’s so cute that he actually sent actual things tho
Aw guys I want Caliana to come back
"You kept saying how you and the M9 were assholes, not good people. I don’t know much, Mr. Caleb, but I know that’s not true at all." I’M CRYING WHY Y’ALL COMING AT ME WITH ALL THESE SOFT FEELINGS RIGHT NOW
"Be kind to yourself, Mr. Caleb, I don’t want your pockets to get too heavy." ;_;
Omg potpourri to help with his allergies so he can cuddle Frumpkin
Yeza loves his wife so much
She’s giving him the mask she used to wear I’m crying
Is Caleb doing some sort of magic to connect/protect them???
Is he?? Making?? A teleportation circle??
What is he doing??
Oh okay it’s just the thing for them to leave okay
There we go there’s U’kotoa
Heyyyy hot boi!
Essek is so endlessly amused by them
Oh no what did that 32 roll do
Ouch
Taliesin looks delighted
Oh my god Matt why do that to yourself
The ultimate DM, prepping tons of different locations just in case
I’m glad Taliesin feels better
Love you too Matt!!
Gosh this episode was good. Soft and feelsy but not TOTALLY heartbreaking at least
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leadpaintrose · 4 years
Text
Ok, So How Do We Want To Do This
A Critical Role (Vox Machina) ficlet. Look, this is a really stupid, self-indulgent piece of fic, but I’m also really pleased with it and I’m trying to at least put stuff up here, so there you go. All of it under the cut. 
Inspiration 
 At the beginning of the most recent episode I watched (Episode 22, I think), Matthew Mercer made a comment about how the Critters were slowly “turning us into our characters”, and I just had to run with it. I had recently found their second intro video, albeit one that was quite a few episodes in the future of where I was up to, but it immediately inspired me as well.  
 So, How Do We Want to Do This? 
 The darkness rang with their groans well before any light blossomed. They called out to each other, seeking reassurance that they weren’t alone. Those who had been sitting together reached out, grabbing hands and shoulders and sighing with relief. Matthew, alone at the DM’s table as he had been, spoke loudly.  
 “Everyone still here? All accounted for?” he asked, hopeful and afraid. One by one, they all responded, everyone relieved to hear to each distinct voice, though most of them were tinged with some pain from the unceremonious fall.  
 “Where the hell are we?” Travis asked the room at large.  
 “I don’t know,” Liam responded, “But, more importantly, how do we get out of here?” 
 “So many would be delighted to be where you find yourself.” 
 A voice sounded in the darkness, the direction from which it spoke impossible to follow. It wasn’t coming from everywhere, it wasn’t surrounding them, but each direction seemed just as likely as the others. Sam spoke into the darkness, clinging to Marisha’s hand.  
 “Well, we aren’t them. We’d like to leave. Can you help us?” 
 “Though, I suppose,” the voice continued, ignoring his question, “so many would also be terrified to be brought to this place.” 
 The room suddenly filled with light, and the group closed their eyes against the sharp brightness. The warm glow of tallow candles shone around them, though they couldn’t spot any individual candlesticks. The walls were a rich wood, and the room they stood in was almost perfectly circular. It was totally devoid of any furniture, and the roof rose high overhead, but no-one spared a glance upwards. All eight of them stared at the figure in the centre of the room, a mix of fear, confusion, and some intrigue in their face.  
 The figure – a woman, tall, fiercely red-headed and pale – smiled at them, her hands folded neatly in front of her. She slowly turned as she spoke, taking them all in, and meeting each of their eyes.  
 “Welcome. No doubt you have many questions. As do I.” 
 Working from instincts he did not know he had, Liam pulled a blade from his belt and threw it at the woman standing in the center of the circle. She casually turned to face him, plucking the blade out of the air as it sped towards her. A quick movement of her fingers sent it shooting back, flying an inch to the left of his face to embed itself into the wood behind him. He swore, flinching away from the blade, speaking in a language he had not taught his tongue. The confusion and blossoming realization in his eyes were matched by the shocked understanding on Laura and Marisha’s faces, as all three realized he had sworn in Elvish.  
 “That was the very height of rudeness, Vax’ildan. I would have expected at least some of your upbringing to force better habits into your instincts. Though, half-elves always were a tricky breed to predict, hm?” 
 Small blue sparks flickered around Sam’s fingertips, coalescing into a writhing ball of bluish-purple lightning. He opened his palm, throwing a bolt of thick lightning at her back. She held her hand up behind her, and the energy fizzled into nothingness inches from her palm. She turned to him, blue lightning now crackling from her eyes. He took an involuntary step back, holding his hands up in a placating gesture.  
 “Anyone else want to try attacking me?” she asked the room at large, turning to look square at Travis, holding a large axe comfortably across one shoulder. He shook his head, calmness in his stance betrayed by wildly darting eyes and a twitching vein in his forehead. Seeming to finally realize the weight on his shoulder, he looked at the axe in shock.  “Good. Glad to see you all learn eventually.  
 “I see you, Rogue!” the woman declared, turning back to Vax, a conjured gust of wind throwing back his hood as he attempted to sneak around her. “Do not presume to be able to surprise me.” 
 “What is going on?” Ashley asked, falteringly. The woman snarled at Liam, forcing him back into his spot, before turning to smile, almost gently, at Ashely. “A good start, young Cleric. Not the best question, but often important to at least try.” 
 “Who are you?” Laura spoke, “And why do you talk to us like we are our characters?” The woman looked at her, clearly amused.  
 “Why, simply because you are them. In form, in skills, in memories, in actions. They are you, just as you are them. You chose them, you created them, did you not?” 
 “But, they aren’t who we really are!” Marisha shouted in desperate panic, releasing all her nervous energy at once. The woman turned her gaze on Marisha, and the she shied back from the blazing fire in the strange woman's eyes.  
 “Aren’t they? Then why, Druid, were you able to so effectively cast Grasping Vine on me?” she asked, pointing slowly to the ground, and cocking her head to one side. A small ring of vines had burst from the ground at the woman’s feet, and had woven themselves around her ankles and up her legs. A bright flash, and the tendrils were burning, writhing away to fall in charred piles on the floor. Marisha clutched her head as the pained cries of the plants echoed in her mind– she seemingly the only one who could hear them.  
 “Those are characters – they aren’t our names, or what we are!” Taliesin interjected angrily, though with no little fear.  
 The woman stepped closer to him, moving with slightly unnatural grace. “And yet, gunslinger” she said, almost seeming to spit the word, “you all wear the robes of those of Vox Machina.” 
 Almost as one, the eight of them turned their gazes first downwards, and then outwards to their friends. Indeed, all of them were wearing the clothes that they had worn in the introduction video they had shot for the game. But these felt different. Each outfit was perfectly tailored to them, fitting with clean lines and a sense of real belonging. A magical electricity pulsed through the items that they knew to be magical, though they had been simple props in their world.  
 “And you,” the woman said suddenly, spinning and taking quick steps towards Matthew. He was wearing the Dungeon Master robes he had been in the introduction video, but there was a shimmering quality to them. Parts of them faded in and out of existence slowly, sometimes changing to look completely different. “He of the Pretty Face, and Many, Many Voices. You lead these all so well.” 
 “No,” he said, swallowing down the fear. “I am not the leader here.” 
 “Yeah,” Sam piped up nervously, unable to stop himself, “we all do our own thing. Just together.” 
 The woman did not move her gaze, seemingly completely ignoring Sam, though a shock of electricity through his body caused him to sink to one knee, crying out in pain. Ashley hurried next to him, clutching the holy symbol around her neck, closing her eyes, and laying a hand on him. They looked at each other in shock as light spilled from between her fingers, and his pain faded.   
 “No. You don’t lead, do you? No, you...you control them. You are their Master. You create, and they step so willingly into what you create for them to face. Without fear, yes, but without much choice either. How quickly you could destroy them all, rob them of everything, of their lives. Of other things far, far more important. 
 “What would you be in this?” 
 Matthew swallowed again, panting faintly, unable to break the lock she held on his gaze. “Whatever is needed.”  
 She paused, then broke out into silvery laughter, peals of it rising and falling delicately. The laughter quickly turned scornful and mocking.  
 “Just a good answer. So honourable and helpful and disgustingly honest. We shall see what you really are. Although....” she paused, considering. She cocked her head again, seeming to gaze at his soul itself. “The cloth still ripples, even now. Perhaps that really is who you are...” 
 She flipped a hand, and the tension left Matthew’s body, causing him to sag slightly, and pant heavily. “No matter. We will find out soon enough.” 
 “Now,” she said, clasping hands together, and slowly turning to look at each of them, “Ask your questions.” 
 “What are you?” Liam asked. The woman turned delighted eyes on him. 
 “Ah, finally. A good question. So much better than “Who?” You always were my favourite.” 
 She settled into a relaxed pose. “I am... a guide, of sorts.” she answered. “Here to assist through what is to come – as much as I am able to, of course. I am, perhaps, the only friendly face you will see here.” 
 “Friendly?!” Travis asked, incredulously, “Dumping us all here, attacking us, demanding questions – you call that friendly?!” 
 Laura put a hand on Travis’ arm. “What are we doing here?” she asked.  
 “What indeed?” the woman responded, face a careful study of neutrality.  
 “Why did you bring us here?” Sam asked. 
 She shook her head. “I did not bring you here, Bard. Those Who Watch brought you here. I am merely their servant.” 
 Ashley gasped softly, the sharp intake of air drawing the woman’s eyes.  “Then you are the One Who Knows. The Keeper.” 
 The woman inclined her head towards Ashley. “A keen mind, young Gnome. Sarenrae teaches her Clerics well.”  
 Marisha's eyes widened at the woman’s titles, hands moving in the first motions of a spell, a few leaves gathering against her feet. The loud click of Taliesin’s gun cocking echoed in the still air. The woman, The Keeper, looked at both of them with disapproval, as the rest of their friends looked at them with shocked concern, those with weapons quickly finding their hilts and handles.  
 “If you know my name, you know that it will take a lot to kill me.” the woman cautioned. “If you even can. Are you really willing to take that fight, and lose any chance of my assistance and kindness?”  
 Marisha released a soft growl, but the magical energy pulsing between her palms dissipated. Taliesin did not lower his gun, keeping it firmly trained on the woman’s chest. She once again inclined her head, acknowledging his right to the gesture.  
 She turned suddenly, grabbing Liam’s arm as it pushed a dagger dripping black poison towards her neck. The colour fled from his face as she glared at him from inches away. “Even your advantage cannot impact me, little half-elf.” His fingers twitched as she tightened her fingers around his wrist.  
 “But with his other hand, while she was distracted, Vax slid his dagger of life-stealing into the creature’s side.” Matthew’s words ran out through the room, a sense of power behind them. Liam’s hand moved of its own accord, driving the dagger towards her waist. He cried out in pain as the dagger dropped to the ground from suddenly loose fingers, a soft thud on the dirt floor before the dagger reappeared on his belt. Still staring into his eyes, she released her grip, and Liam dropped to the ground as well. He scrabbled away from her, rubbing his wrists and working his fingers.  
 “Excellent attempt, sir,” she acknowledged, looking at Matthew, who stooped over, grimacing and rubbing massaging fingers into his temples. “Unfortunately, this is not your game. You are not the Master here.” 
 Ashley approached Liam, pausing for a second, checking that The Keeper would not stop her. When the woman did not look at her, Ashley knelt down beside Liam, grasping his hand and her holy symbol, pouring healing energy through him. He gasped as the cold washed over him. The effort drained her far less than she expected.   
 “Well then. If there are no more questions.” the Keeper said, clasping her hands, completely ignoring the few who tried to speak, “it is time that you began.” The shape of a door suddenly burned itself into the wood behind Matthew, swinging open silently as the ornately carved door sprung into existence. The Keeper pointed towards it. “That way lies your quest. I look forward to seeing how you succeed.” She grinned, teeth perfectly white and straight. “As I’m sure you all will.” 
 With a final inclination of her head, she was gone.  
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Fjorester in Episode 43
I watched this ep live which means it was 4-7am to me and I might have missed stuff, but here’s what I remember
When Jester wants to start a bar fight and Fjord knows she’s going for it, so his first comment about it, before she even says she wants to fight is “No killing, Jester.”
And then the others keep trying to talk her out of it but the only opinion she asks is Fjord’s saying “Tusktooth?”
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But, like, Fjord (as I’ve yelled about so many times before) enjoys Jester’s shenanigans even when he pretends to be frustrated by them, so instead of talking her out of it, he pretends to be chugging on his ale, which Jester correctly takes as a “go ahead”.
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heart eyeeeees
“One gold on the blue one!” Awesome callback to their fight in the Gentleman’s speakeasy, further proof that Fjord is just a chaotic prankster at heart and a reminder that he’s constantly in awe by how badass Jester is.
Fjord’s soft-ass smile after the fight when Jester excitedly declares “Hey, I made a friend!” “Yeah, you kept all your teeth!”
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When they are talking about the Divers Grave and they are discussing what kind of monster might be in there and then Jester says “It’s an underwater banshee, for sure.” 
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“Is that a thing?” 
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“Yeah.”
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*knowing full well he’s being fucked with* “Hmmmm.”
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I don’t know why that exchange feels so flirty to me, and like the fact that they keep zeroing in on each other during group conversations like they live in their own little bubble, kills me.
The Caleb and Jester talk!!!!!!!!
(I will make a whole separate post dissecting this conversation later)
“Really, none of us like it here but Fjord” “I don’t even know if he likes it a lot” 
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Yes! Give me Jester picking up on Fjord’s general discomfort with the situation and how stressed and uneasy he is with how everything’s gone down!
For real though, if I have to see one more post talking about how Jester doesn’t actually care about the real Fjord or how he feels about this whole situation, this talk is one of the very many scenes imma shove on their faces passive-aggressively. 
“Well, there’s parts of it that he likes.” “Like Avantika” “I don’t know”
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Rip my heart out, Laura Bailey, why don’t you!
“You’re sweet on him, ja?” “I don’t know...” “Yeah.” “It feels funny.” “How do you mean?”
THIS WHOLE THING WAS SUCH CALL BACK TO VEX AND VAX TALKING ABOUT PERCY THO
“Well, you know when you really like somebody but then you start to know them and you go ‘do I like them, or do I like what I thought they were’? And you don’t know.”
Mfking laura bailey giving us that character growth arc with sheltered naive Jester who believes in love at first sight and the romance all her books talked about and is now beginning to realize that real deep feelings are much stronger and complicated than all of that.
Like the way she says it “feels funny” really says so much.
And I know some people might take this as “oh so she never liked him for real” but I think that would mean taking this conversation entirely out of context. 
This whole arc, Fjord and Jester have had some very big moments together, and I think Jester’s confusion does not stem from being disillusioned with Fjord...
I think the fact is that she’s feeling more than she expected, she’s discovering she likes Fjord in a way she has no words for, in a way that makes her hurt when he talks to Avantika, that makes her confused about their interactions, second guessing his intentions and whether he’s fliriting back with her or not, overanalyzing what his gestures mean, like the kiss...
Jester is in Love with capital L and none of her mother’s teachings and experience have prepared her to handle it.
What I want to talk about here, though, is not about Jester’s confusion per se but how Travis and Matt react to this. Since if anyone is aware of what Fjord feels about this it would be the two of them.
“Do I like them or do I like what I thought they were?”
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This is the face of a man who just realized his wife is taking her funny character’s crush and turning it into real feelings and he’s going to be fucked.
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WHAT IS THAT LOOK YOU TWO. I CAN SEE YOU. WHAT DO YOU KNOW.
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That is the face of a DM who is ready to take the most advantage of this situation in the future.
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Bonus: Taliesin “I’ve been in the receiving end of this” Jaffe is enjoying this too much. He is just shaming Travis/Fjord for his bad choices.
“And then you think they are flirting with you but then you find out they probably weren’t, you know?”
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Travis’s blush just tells me that there was flirting (which was pretty obvious, and Laura knows it)
“And you feel kinda sad about it and maybe a little stupid?”
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LOOK AT THOSE FACES
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Travis after that talk contemplating his life choices.
But for real, what kills me about that talk is how familiar it feels, and how confused Jester seems by Fjord’s hot and cold attitude, but she’s not ever blaming him for not liking her, or not living up to her fantasy standards, not even for leading her on,  instead, she’s blaming herself and feeling stupid for not comprehending right away all of these complicated emotions.
Caleb: “Tomorrow we get sorted out, we help Fjord figure out his shit.”
Jester: “Yeah, that’s important to him.”
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TELL ME SHE DOESN’T CARE YOU DEMONS I’M WAITING
Also, thank god that Jester talked to Caleb about this because he’s the one person who gave her some sensible advice: let’s focus on surviving and once back on main land you can take your time to figure your feelings out.
He also brings up that this is important for Fjord, which she agrees on. So no matter what, feelings or not, they will support him through this as best as they can.
Which brings us to Caduceus’s an and Fjord’s talk.
I love this conversation in light of what Tal’s said about Caduceus’ point of view during last weeks Talks: he’s aware of how Fjord’s decision to sleep will Avantika will create friction within the group, especially with Jester.
C: “I think this place is dangerous. She is dangerous.” F: “That she is.” 
And Fjord tries to avoid the subject, but now that they are there, you can see Caduceus scrunch his face and take a stab at the subject:
C: “Fjord, you know why everybody is doing this, why we’re all here, right?”
And Fjord sighs heavily because, to a degree, I don’t think he understand the answer is “because we care about you and want to help you”. To Fjord, the answer is: “this is your fault, your responsibility”
F: “Yeah. I mean, I think.” C: “I think you know. I just wanna point it out ‘cause that woman, she doesn’t care what any of us want. I’m sure she’d be interested, but it’s way low in her priorities and I don’t trust anybody who keeps other people’s needs that low in the list. You should keep in mind all that, while you’re getting in bed with her, so to speak.”
Fjord: *panics*
Fjord: *desperately tries to convince Caduceus to keep this knowledge to himself*
And I think, Caduceus with his high AF perception, can tell why Fjord cares so much that this is kept from the others. It’s not like it’s something bad, it’s actually beneficial for their group as a whole (as iffy as that makes me because of the unequal power dynamic), and it has been suggested multiple times.... so what reason does Fjord have to keep it so fiercely in the down-low? 
Friction. 
“I think I get it. I’m not gonna talk out of term. I trust your intentions, so...”
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And here’s a good part:
C: “You’re asking if I can tell that you’re conflicted?”
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F: “No, I think that’s pretty clear.”
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C: “You would be amazed, but alright.”
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Because Caduceus knows that not everyone in the M9 —cough, Jester, cough— is convinced that this is all just a play on his part. 
Fjord goes on to reaffirm that he’s trying to keep Avantika close for the party’s good. 
okokokokok
MOVING ON
LET’S TALK ABOUT VERA’S TALK GO JESTER
LET’S TALK ABOUT VERA AFTER KNOWING THEM FOR LIKE 2 WEEKS SINGLING OUT JESTER AS THE PERSON WHO LOOKS AFTER FJORD
LET’S TALK ABOUT VERA TELLING JESTER TO LOOK AFTER FJORD BECAUSE AVANTIKA WILL HURT HIM
“He would not be the first she’s left in ruin. He would not be the last. I would take care of him, if he cannot.”
i am so frustrated that Laura/Jester seemed to misinterpret Vera’s warning help me god someone please bring it up on Talks or something because it will bother me forever
When they are planning: 
Caleb: What if Fjord keeps Avantika busy... 
Beau: Do we need to have him distract Avantika? Can’t we just go now?
...
Beau: And we can have [Caleb] make sure that [Fjord and Avantika] are busy. If you [Fjord] are comfortable with that. You don’t have a lot of a choice. 
FJORD
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JESTER
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*Nott keeps planning*
JESTER
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J: Well, Caduceus is very perceptive. 
F *having flashbacks of Jester going down in the jungle*: THE TWO CLERICS ARE NOT GOING ON THE MISSION TOGETHER.
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J: So we all wait until Fjord starts boning....
Fjord’s face journey tho
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he is so confused help him
when your crush who was jealous is suddenly ok with u sleeping with someone else
wait i thought she liked me
Fjord’s worried overprotective mode ON as soon as Caduceus casually mentions that two guards stabbed each other and probably everything is pandemonium 
Jester saying they should frame Vera was clearly rooted on her misunderstanding Vera’s warning, but I really like that as soon as she thought someone was a direct threat to Fjord she was like “nope gotta get rid of them”.
Avantika’s notes talk about her having dreams about people who were close to her “chaining her back” and how she had to get rid of them...
...and we’ve seen hints of that with Vandrin and Sabien in Fjord’s dream the other time....
...but I’m calling it that we’ll eventually see Uk’otoa try to pit him against the M9 and the one he’s closest to is Jester by far and I’m sure we’re gonna get some dramatic moment out of it I can’t waiiiit
*After reading the journal*
J: Fjord, as you as crazy as she is? Because holy shit.
Fjord:
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I LOVE THEM GOOFING AROUND PLS MAKE EACH OTHER SMILE IN THIS TRYING TIMES
and likek
thanks i love them
anyway
in two weeks
if they don’t die
tune in to see me keep screaming about this two, and cross your fingers for a one on one talk if they manage to get a breather away from Avantika
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littlecajunlady · 5 years
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Episode thumbnail stats for Campaign 1
Critical Role was on a break again this week so I decided to do this after all. I’ve already done this for campaign 2, eps 1-76, part 1 and part 2. Just like those posts, I simply counted how many thumbnails each of the cast has and came up with some bits of trivia. 
The stats I’m counting are from episodes 10-115, except for 12 because it’s not an actual episode (but Matt is in that thumbnail if you’re curious). That means I’m not counting the illustrated ones (though there will be trivia),  non-canon oneshots, or battle royales. 
Now, in order from most thumbnails to least, here is how many thumbnails each castmember has (total, solo, and group), along with the episode numbers too.
Marisha - 25 total; 12 solo (eps 19, 28, 39, 49, 56, 64, 75, 81, 88, 97, 105, 112);                 13 group (25, 29, 35, 50, 67, 69, 79, 83, 95, 100, 109, 114, 115)
Laura - 25 total; 9 solo (13, 21, 38, 54, 63, 72, 82, 93, 108);        16 group (25, 26, 34, 44, 50, 60, 69, 79, 83, 89, 95, 100, 102, 109, 114, 115)   Liam - 24 total; 8 solo (20, 33, 43, 57, 73, 86, 98, 110);        16 group (25, 26, 35, 44, 50, 60, 67, 83, 89, 95, 100, 102, 109, 114, 115)
Travis - 23 total; 12 solo (15, 31, 41, 45, 52, 70, 77, 84, 91, 99, 106);              11 group (25, 50, 62, 79, 83, 95, 96, 100, 109, 114, 115)
Taliesin - 22 total; 11 solo (14, 22, 42, 55, 59, 68, 78, 87, 92, 103, 111);                  11 group (25, 29, 34, 50, 79, 83, 95, 100, 109, 114, 115)
Sam - 20 total; 10 solo (17, 30, 37, 46, 61, 66, 74, 85, 101, 107);            10 group (50, 53, 79, 80, 83, 95, 100, 109, 114, 115)
Ashley - 20 total; 7 solo (11, 32, 58, 71, 94, 104, 113);                13 group (50, 53, 62, 69, 79, 80, 83, 85, 95, 96, 100, 109, 114, 115)
Matt - 15 total; 10 solo (10, 24, 27, 36, 40, 48, 51, 65, 76, 90);            5 group (25, 26, 50, 100, 109)
I haven’t come up with much trivia but I’ll still put the rest in a read more because this is already getting long. 
- Out of 105 thumbnails (from eps 10-115), 82 have just one castmember in them. There are only 23 group pictures, “group” meaning 2 or more castmembers. 
- There are 3 full cast photos (50, 100, 109), there are 5 group photos with everyone but Matt (79, 83, 95, 114, 115), there is 1 photo with 6 of the cast - Matt, Marisha, Laura, Travis, Taliesin, and Liam (25), and 2 photos with 3 castmembers - Matt, Laura, and Liam (26) and Laura, Ashley, Marisha (69)
- There are 12 illustrated thumbnails, episodes 1-9, The Search for Grog, The Search for Bob, and Dalen’s Closet. In 2-9, each of the 8 members of Vox Machina get their own solo thumbnail. The very first thumbnail is a full group illustration, and so is the last one (so far), Dalen’s Closet.
- Orion was in 2 thumbnails, episodes 16 and 23. Yeah, I didn’t want to include him with the rest of the cast.
- Felicia Day is the only guest to get a thumbnail, episode 18. - Marisha is not in episode 19 but she is in the thumbnail. Laura is not in episode 21 but she is in the thumbnail. I didn’t look for more like this, these particular episodes stand out to me because the thumbnails confuse me for a moment every time I try to remember which groups are in which eps for Trial of the Take.
- Other than group shots, Sam is not in a thumbnail the entire time Scanlan is gone, eps 86 - 100, which of course makes sense.
- Laura and Liam are paired together the most with 4 (44, 60, 89, 102). Travis and Ashley were paired together twice (62, 96). Marisha and Liam were paired twice (35, 67). Sam and Ashley were paired twice (53, 80). Marisha and Taliesin were paired once (29). Laura and Taliesin were paired once (34). There are no other pairings.
And I’m done!  Even though I probably like the full cosplay of campaign 1′s thumbnails a lot more, I think I prefer the variety and pairings of campaign 2′s. I’m kinda hoping they’ll do a full cosplay of campaign 2 eventually, if it goes on so long that they run out of photos.
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critgemhero · 5 years
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I met the Critical Role gang and it went... mostly okay!!!
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So yes, it happened. I got my autographs from everyone (except Ashely cuz she is not there) from Critical Role! Below I will go into detail my interactions with each. Sadly, as I suspected, my nerves take over my memory and I have forgotten what they mostly said outside of the typical reactions and a few key moments, but here is how it went down!
Mary Elizabeth McGlynn - I was first in line for her and facing away from her and down when she came out behind the curtain to start and was not ready at all I turned around like the dramatic friggin Chipmunk. I kept apologizing for some reason and then I got her autograph! She was trying to remember the name of Allura, who I was cosplaying and she recognized, and I forgot what we first talked about but she was the first to sign the book! I told her how much I adored her work directing Cowboy Bebop and asked if she directed Tangled The Series (which I had read online she did) and she said yes and said how much I loved that! I actually chose to get a selfie with her which I didn't do for ANYONE else except Matt, which honestly IDK why it just felt like an impulse decision. At least it looks 1000x better than my Matt one... oh god. 
Sam Riegel - What compelled me to jump in and get Sam’s first, I have no idea. But I did. Anyway, this one went okay! I don’t remember much sadly, but I made a decision to tell the whole cast about my video editing and how they inspired me so much to get back into it and about my VFX video I did! I told Sam himself, the star, and he looked confused at first and I got nervous but I could tell when it clicked for him and he looked in SHOCK. He was like that, “that was YOU??? That was so good oh my god!” Pretty much all the cast had that reaction but only 3 are super memorable to me and he was definitely one of them. I remember he said something about how much hard work that must have been and to keep doing what I am doing or something along those lines. Then I tried quickly saying how much I love his voice work like Teddie from Persona, and while walking away said I was excited for Ducktales season 2 and he seemed happy by that and we parted ways!! I am sure there was more nuance too it but again, I FORGOT A LOT FROM MY NERVES.
Marisha Ray - I did these signings in SUCH a weird order, but I decided to get Marisha next. The sad part is that the most memorable moment was Matthew sitting right next to her doing her OWN signings and he randomly pointed to me and said “Hey just wanted to say you did such a great job on your cosplay! You look amazing!!! ” And I pretty much died right then and there like OH MY GOD. Then I actually got her autograph and she was super chill. I again kept anchoring to the inspiration to do my video editing thing so I told the same story to her and she recognized the video too! For some odd reason, I can’t remember her reaction and this really bums me out. I do remember her saying something along the lines of keep doing my best when making my work, but I also remember the incredibly endearing smile on her face when walking away.
Brian W. Foster - He was super chill and personable! There is a reason he is a good host on between the sheets for sure. I made the same video editing inspiration schpiel, but I feel like I worded myself better with him that time around? He was also super surprised and happy to learn it was me too! Sadly, can’t remember much after that, but once again it was all smiles and sweet words because anything bad or awkward would have stood out to me... trust me on that one later. 
Taliesin Jaffe - Taliesin was such a unique interaction! Beforehand he was having some kind of deep and emotional conversation with the woman before me, and I heard him saying something along the lines as “it's been hard” and “I'm getting by day by day” and I my nerves were kinda overcome by compassion. When it was my turn to speak I said hi and while he was smiling he genuinely looked like he was about to cry???? I was starting to talk but I interrupted myself and genuinely asked if he was okay. He said yeah and that it was all just kinda overwhelming. I kinda forgot this middle part, though I feel like I did bring up the video editing thing. He recognized it too and said that the industry needs way more talented and passionate editors and emphasized how important they are. I can’t remember if it was HIM or TRAVIS who said this, but he said something along the lines of the industry really needing people like editors with how hard it is to do and how they basically MAKE the stories into movies themselves. The more I think about it the more I think it was Travis who said it... a lot of my interaction memories are mixed up from my nerves. Either way, I did something very out of character and asked if I could give him a hug. He had seemed so upset earlier and I saw that other woman give him a hug, so I told myself, hey if you are gonna get a hug from a cast member today, Taliesin is a great choice who would probably say yes (but I wanted to hug Marisha so badly too you have no idea, she was so sweet and endearing and made me feel better. Most others did but she was so huggable looking at the time) We hugged tight and I was on my way!
Liam O Brien - ... okay, things sadly got weird here and it kinda puts my mood down. I won’t lie to you guys, Liam seemed really off. Maybe he was overwhelmed by something or very reserved from being shy, but it seemed more like disinterest and... acting rudely? I feel kinda awful implying he was a jerk or something, but I did a really bad job trying to hold a conversation with him and I can’t even remember IF I told him about the video. He was very quiet, and seemed put off by my nervousness in some way? Like he did say something along the lines of “its okay we’re just people” but I barely remember if we made eye contact at all? I thought it was me at first, but I remember when looking up at him after a bit he was the one looking away a lot and I am unsure if I did something to make him uncomfortable or what. What really threw me off the most was his kinda strange remark about me saying how I grew up watching Naruto and loved Gaara. He just kinda nodded and said, “yep, I was a voice of your childhood” like... in disdain as if he has heard that 100 times before? Look... I am NOT saying everyone has to have the same reactions or super happy cheery demeanors (Ex. Taliesin) but something was so disconnected about all of it. Maybe I am only remembering the minor bad parts and am forgetting the good parts, but still. As much as I still love Liam for what he does, he was not having a good time that day and I can only hope I didn't make it worse or even somehow cause it :(
Travis Willingham - Boy this one has the highest and the lowest points. When meeting him I said how nervous I was with these and started rambling and it got pretty bad but he anchored me back in by doing Grog’s voice!!! I told him yes it helped and made me laugh. That was able to get me into saying how much I loved his voice work as Roy Mustang and others, and eventually, I got to my video editing schpiel and he had a similar reaction to Sam! Again, HE may have been the person to tell me everything about how hard editing is and how they are the ones that really make the film, not Taliesin. Then we parted ways... and I realized I had missed SO FUCKING MUCH. I didn’t get to tell him how much I empathized with him recently, or how Fjord was my favorite character, how my favorite acting he did was in Infamous Second Son with Troy Baker. Seconds after walking away I literally yelled “Oh I forGOT TO SAY HOW MUCH I LOVE FJORD” Like really awkwardly as he was already on to the next person but yikes. Great middle, horrible beginning/end.
LAURA BAILEY - I reached a point where I was actually SO nervous I was normal. Like, on the edge of tears but not really so I acted normal but was screaming inside. Luckily she was super personable and I told her she was my favorite voice actress of all time. She asked me what were some of my favorite roles and I was like oh god there are so many but I said Maka from Soul Eater was huge for me and how she was my first cosplay. She said I would make a fantastic Maka and I was so friggin happy!! Then I told her about my editing and Sam video edit and she was so friggin delighted and told me how the WHOLE CAST had seen them because they shared it with each other on a group text chat! She looked so happy and endeared by my words and encouraged me to keep doing what I do. I wish I could remember her words specifically, this is LAURA BAILEY we are talking about!!!
Matthew Mercer - Oh boy here is the big one. Everyone kept saying how he was a long talker and had long conversations with everyone so I was so friggin ready for that. Sadly, I think they started speeding things up with me and I didn't get that long convo. Still, Matt once again complimented my cosplay and I said thank you. I said I forgot the earings which really bugged me but he said if it helps he didn't notice! Then I revealed I almost cried over it and mentally punched myself because why the fuck did I say that out loud. Anyway I immediately went into my video editing schpeil, but I made sure to talk slower and more clearly since people said he made more time. I remember specifically saying thank you for retweeting it and then he recognized it and said how hard that must have been and how amazing it was. He went into this story about how got into editing himself a bit with using final cut pro and adobe after effects and how difficult and tiring it was for him to edit a project he was working on and commended me on how amazing the job was and how we need more editors out there to do that kind of work. I elaborated more on how much he and the rest meant to me and how they got me out of this rutt and helped me find a way to make something for myself and he held my hands real tight and reassured me. Again, WISH I COULD REMEMBER THE FUCKING WORDS, but he looked so happy and emotional for me and all of it felt extremely genuine. What a god damn sweetheart. Here is where things get bad and awkward tho... I forgot my selfie. I paid for a selfie and realized I had FORGOTTON to take it like 10 seconds later after the next person already started talking. I panicked and walked back to the guy managing the lines and he was like OH okay but I apologized to the people on line and him and he said “HEY GUYS are you alright with this young lady getting her selfie??” and they all were like YES and I felt embarrassed but better. Then he told Matt and he was like OH of course okay!! And I gave him my phone because I was confused and nervous and NOT READY or composed like I would have been before. I look awful with my neck way too far back, but it could have been worse... except the moment he took the photo I dropped my prop staff into my face and knocked my head back... I was friggin humiliated. He was like ah are you okay and I literally just said bye have a good day and rushed off almost dropping all my shit without looking at him at all. What a way for me to RUIN a perfectly decent signing... I hope he didn't think I was rude and understood I was kinda hugely embarrassed.
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This is seconds before tragedy strikes.
Will Friedle - Yes oddly enough Matthew was not my last signing like I wanted, Will had a different schedule so he was last!  Anyway I was kinda feeling bad cause I never watched Boy Meets World and I didn’t remember much about Kashaw other than he was kinda a jerk but a loveable one who was played really funny, and oh yeah he is RON STOPPABLE. So I refrained from saying and Crit Role stuff since the woman before me already asked all of that and got cool answers to (Vex and Vax would not be Zarha and Kashaw’s kid's names, he would let them have Teifling names) Anyway I was thrown off by him ROLLING A D20 outta nowhere and getting a 7. He rolled again so quickly and I said “Oh man a natural 1?” on the 7 because I didn't see it correctly, less than a second later guess what?? HE ROLLED A 1!! I laughed so hard I felt like I jinxed him! Either way, ALL my nerves were gone from that and it felt a lot better to get his autograph. I told him how much I loved Kim Possible growing up and Ron Stoppable, and how I always used to sing the naked mole rap with my family as a kid and how the bendy straw joke from the movie still kills me. It was way more relaxed then I expected. Then he said okay before you go let me roll and break the curse one last time. Right before he did he said you know what? YOU roll it and see if I could break his curse! I happily took it wishing for the best... I rolled a friggin 2. He said “well at least its better than 1″ and we were both so amused by it as I left! All things considering his went very well!! Anyway, that was my experience with CR autographs today! Some big highs, some big lows, and many content smiles and awkward silence. Overall I consider it a success... but barely. I did fuck up and missed most of their live show floor panel and I'm still kicking myself in the ass for that one. 
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angelsndragons · 3 years
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Well, I don't know about you but I have watched Caduceus' conversations with Beau and Lucien about a dozen times each so let's compare and contrast.
So, the conversation with Beau highlights how far both of them have come since Caduceus joined the party. Beau is, dare I say it, downright gentle in her poking and prodding Caduceus' reactions. She's approaching Caduceus both from a place of concern and a place of equality; she doesn't feel the need to try to control the conversation or to find some angle to work. She pulls straight from Yasha's playbook back in the dance hall, making me wonder just how much of Caduceus and Yasha's conversation she actually got (that Observant feat is no joke, y'all). Beau approaches with a thank you for the healing, which by itself shows her growth, she acknowledges that she needed the help and is openly appreciative of it, then asks how Caduceus is doing. She gives him time and space to answer rather than impatiently jumping the gun, acknowledges his feelings, lightly prods his previous trauma, then finds a plan that everyone can presumably live with. She tries to speak Caduceus' language of fate, myth, and religion by harkening back to the Kiln and she lets him go when he’s obviously done. All in all, it is an amazing display of just how far asshole rebel without a cause, abrasive as fuck Beauregard Lionett has come. Props to her and Marisha.
But this meta is about Caduceus so let's talk about his growth. Because guys. Guys. If you need evidence that Caduceus has grown and let some of his walls down, this is it. He tells Beau he “doesn't like this” and goes as far as he can to explain what specifically is messing with him. Not only is this thing unnatural, it is a mockery of life. They are not alive, not truly, they go against everything he stands for. He expresses his desires clearly and plainly, “I want to burn it on the way out.” He acknowledges the rifts between himself and the others, then explains his thought process clearly and completely: that they are low on resources, that they might have to fight their way out anyway and the sooner they leave the better, and that he doesn't think the crest will just break. Anyone want to take a gander at the last time Caduceus laid out his deal like this? Trick question, he really hasn't. He has had a couple of moments where he talks out an idea but he rarely goes this in depth. Speaking this directly and specifically on his feelings and opinions just doesn't happen very often. For all that Caduceus believes other people need to talk about their feelings, he is very much a doer, not a talker, he doesn’t process that way. Caduceus doesn’t explain himself as a rule yet here he is, trying as hard as he can to make Beau understand. 
Contrast that conversation with his talk with Lucien. So, first of all, we know that Caduceus loathes what Lucien is trying to accomplish and has nothing but contempt towards the city and efforts to bring it back to the Material Plane. At best, Caduceus pities Lucien; he’s willing to believe that Lucien Knows Not What He Does and is being manipulated by the city. At worst, well, there’s always a plant that needs compost and Caduceus is more than happy to make some. He tells Beau this episode that “there’s something very wrong with your friend.” Yet Caduceus does what he always does when faced with an unknown, currently non-hostile threat- he starts with polite small talk. From the Gentleman to Avantika, from Ludinus to Essek, from pirates to stone giants to yetis, Caduceus’ default mode for dealing with threats is to play nice and polite and to figure out what information he can glean to use against them. People underestimate Caduceus right up until he reads them for filth and he totally pushes that polite, harmless image.
Now, I need some nervous nellies to pause and ask themselves why in the world Caduceus would “open up” to Lucien mere seconds after threatening the man. Because that is what his comment “I’ve never met anybody who looks like you before. For the record,” is. It is as close to a threat as Caduceus will ever utter. And if you don’t believe me, please rewatch the Roasting of Trent Ickithon and then watch this conversation again; Caduceus has the exact same polite bitch face energy there that he does here. Well, there, he was scolding Ickithon, here he is straight up warning Lucien. I also need you all to remember that conversation he just had with Beau, the one where he delves into specifics and keeps pushing himself until Beau understands where he’s coming from. This conversation is not that. Caduceus spends this entire conversation playing into Lucien’s expectations and dodging around his real intent up here. 
Actually, let’s talk about his ‘I’m confused’ bit here. He’s not confused about his ultimate goal. Caduceus has been driving the ‘we have to stop the Astral Sea City’ train from the literal moment it showed up. He’s the one who saw the Abyss stare back at them, he’s the one who insisted they ask Yussa, who asked Beau push her Cobalt Soul resources, who asked the literal Mother of All Nature for answers, who’s pushing for Essek’s help. Him, not the others. Hell, boy was asking Jester to ask the Traveler what the hell is going on, that is how anti-city he’s been this entire time. He knows what needs to be done, the question in the air is how. This changed because the Nein’s circumstances changed; they now have a crest and Lucien caught up to them much faster than they anticipated. Are they supposed to let Lucien summon the thing and take it out? Or is it better to wait for him to gather all the items and destroy them so they can never be used? What’s stopping the next guy from coming up here and doing the ritual themself? And what precisely is he supposed to do about Lucien and Molly? It speaks highly of Taliesin’s roleplay skills and the consistency with which he’s played Caduceus that Matt never once called for a deception check, despite the fact that Matt knows that Caduceus is directly opposed to Lucien and his goals AND is hiding that information. Taliesin and Caduceus danced so skillfully around that fact, it was a delight to watch.
Bottom line, Caduceus is very good at feigning vulnerability to get what he wants or to come off as a lesser threat. He told the Gentleman a bit about his worry for his family to induce the man to reconcile with Jester. He expressed his confusion and worry to the Nein and Essek at that dinner. Seriously, go watch those conversations and then go back to the Lucien conversation, it’s kind of eerie how well that playbook works. That pseudo-vulnerability was in direct service in getting the other person to do what Caduceus wanted them to do, it was not shared just because or in any real meaningful fashion. Both of those instances were direct manipulation tactics he learned at the Grove, comforting the bereaved. People are more comfortable sharing their issues and worries, after all, when you give them a little morsel of your own. People build a rapport around perceived sharing of vulnerabilities. People are more likely to do what you want when you have such a rapport. And that’s precisely what Caduceus did here; he didn’t tell Lucien anything Lucien didn’t know or couldn’t guess himself, he traded a small nugget about his own confusion for Lucien’s curiosity and it worked. The Tomb Takers and the Mighty Nein are stuck together for the foreseeable future and I for one can’t wait to see what growth awaits Caduceus next.
TL;DR: Caduceus has only ever been really openly vulnerable with the Nein, the rest is playing possum. Please don’t fall for it or worry that he’s actually unloading onto strangers when he’s actually unloaded quite a lot, for him at least, on his friends and loved ones. His growth is undeniable.
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eponymous-rose · 5 years
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Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E55
This week’s guests are Laura Bailey and Taliesin Jaffe! This week’s theme: leaning hard into the post-con tired. This week’s conspiracy: beards. Why? How? WHEN?! 
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Announcements: General Admission tickets for Gen Con on August 2nd go on sale tomorrow at 10 AM Eastern Time! Everyone was really blown away by the love at ECCC (over 200 people were at one of the CR cosplay meetups!). Kickstarter update: with 30 days left in the campaign, over $7.6m has been raised thus far. If the next stretch goal is hit, there will be an entire 10-episode series. Brian and Laura also know Ashley’s idea for a one-shot and he’s excited to see it happen.
There will be no episode on Thursday, March 28th and no TM on the following Tuesday due to family commitments and half the cast being out of town.
Without further ado, it’s time to discuss Episode 55: Duplicity!
This episode sets the campaign 2 record for most player d20 rolls at 211. 230 was the record number of d20 rolls in campaign 1, in episode 114. 752 damage was dealt by the Mighty Nein, 280 of which was against each other. Jester and Caduceus both dealt 44 damage, none of which was friendly fire. By the end of the episode, the M9 had 8 spell slots left among them (of 45 total).
Taliesin’s reaction to last episode: “Maaaan. Ow. That hurt.” 
For Clay, Taliesin only keeps notes for things he thinks he’d pay attention to. He occasionally peeks at Laura’s notes, mostly for entertainment value. Sam has the most detailed notes at that table right now.
Laura’s strong reaction to Caleb going bad was partly Laura just “giving Liam a lot of shit, because we’re actually siblings,” but this kind of betrayal was also a new experience for Jester.
Are they feeling betrayed by the M9? Taliesin: “Nah, he had siblings, man. He’s fine.” Laura: “Jester does not have siblings. She was pretty distraught about Caleb doing that.”
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“This doll definitely comes alive at night.” 
There is a very strange puppet show with Laura playing Caleb and Taliesin playing Jester until they decide it maybe makes more sense to swap.
Taliesin’s first thought with the explosive arrow was “Fuck, that’s expensive.” He knew Jester had the spell slot and he knew Clay would be okay. “That was not dumb. It would’ve been worse to be at the mercy of that creature there for a moment. I was toast no matter what. Better to do that there so we could get it in right away.” Laura points out that Sam had the explosive arrow prepped for that action regardless.
Jester is “definitely fighting the fear that she faces during battles now, because she feels mortal,” especially after seeing Caduceus fall. But at the same time, she is “at her core, a protector, both physically and emotionally, of people.”
Laura points out that she doesn’t heal in battle as much because she knows that she won’t be able to overcome the damage enemies are doing; it makes more sense to save lower-level spell slots to bring people back from unconsciousness than to heal people who are nearly down.
Gif of the Week: an extensive (and amazing) dice fail compilation!
Taliesin: “Oh man, that vision from the Wildmother was really good. That was Matt just giving me a big hug for everything that happened.” He’s excited to see some backstory hints there. “This is not what rattles him. Other things rattle him.” He’s of the opinion that grave clerics have probably been pushed to this place in ceremony a few times before.
Jester feels good about the revivify spell, but it’s also made the power of her abilities feel a lot more real. “Healing’s always second for her.”
Clay’s death experience was mainly just significant to him because it involved the Wildmother basically giving him a thumbs-up. “He definitely has a philosophy on the notion of destiny that’s very specific.” Taliesin’s excited to see how Caduceus will act if and when siblings show up. “I think he’s a trash fire. I don’t think this is the Caduceus you get when his siblings are around.”
Laura mentions the blood lust that comes up whenever Matt mentions that a baddie is “looking pretty rough”; it tends to make it tough to concentrate on anything else.
Fan Art of the Week: the revivify spell and Caduceus’ vision.
Jester’s bravery pre-dragon came from naiveté. Now it comes from love, and the people she surrounds herself with. “It’s like she’s trying to find the bravery herself.”
A question points out that Percy’s inventions indirectly led to Nott firing that explosive arrow... and hence he was somewhat responsible for killing his own character. “This is literally what the character was intended to do. This is literally what Percy was invented to do.” He absolutely thought last campaign that he may be killing a future character with his actions as Percy.
“Jester believes in the other gods. She just thinks that the Traveler is way cooler than any of them.” In her mind, the Wildmother has the same sort of relationship with Clay as she does with the Traveler. That’s why she immediately took the “go get his mom, he needs help” approach with her plea to the Traveler.
Is Caduceus holding a grudge against Nott? “I think there’ll be a little bit of a ‘hey, little buddy, be a little more careful there going forward’ talk.” But things happen.
Jester has had a bit of a “Fuck, I should have been there for Molly, too” reaction after the revivify.
In Clay’s mind, fiends are slightly better than the undead. “They’re better, but they don’t belong here. It’s like having an infestation in your home.”
“In retrospect, Nugget really should’ve stayed with Momma a little longer.” Sprinkle’s well-protected. “That’s how I’m saying Sprinkle is not dead.”
Taliesin has really been enjoying his first experience as a cleric. "There’s a lot of satisfaction to looking Matt in the eye and ruining something he’s been working on.”
Search for Grog Questions! CR1 SPOILERS ENSUE!
Taliesin and Laura felt like they didn’t miss a beat going back to Vex/Percy: “Fuckin’ power couple, man.”
Laura had no recollection of the joke about Percy losing his arm in the original episode and was extremely confused. Taliesin honestly didn’t believe Matt was going to do it, but he respects Sam’s commitment to the bit.
The Golden Snitch actually got stolen at some point when Matt’s car got broken into. Taliesin now has an Anti-Snitch that’s been working pretty well.
There’s some ideas thrown around about what to do with Percy’s arm. Some sort of greeter/wacky inflatable tube guy is the general consensus.
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otdderamin · 5 years
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Analysis: Caduceus and Caleb build their relationship – CR C2 Ep47 2:40:07
REVISED: The original article was written before Talks Machina 2019-01-15 where Taliesin clarified that Caduceus' feeling for Caleb are platonic. This article was written on that assumption anyway. It's been lightly revised to include that certainty and include the Talks Machina Transcript.
The two flattering exchanges between Caduceus and Caleb caught my ear as much as anyone. There's clearly some stronger, closer relationship forming there. Maybe it will come to something else one day, but on review, I was not reading it as romantic overtures so much as two socially awkward people trying to communicate kindness, which Taliesin confirmed on Talks Machina 2019-01-15 (0:39:18). Taliesin: "I will say he doesn't feel that way [about Caleb], though, but yeah. Yeah, he don't- he doesn't have a thing going on in that direction, but he's definitely like, 'Yeah, you're cool.'" I really like the idea of an ace/aro Caduceus who basically doesn't understand the concept of flirting. He just thinks you should be kind and supportive to all living things and ease their insecurities, but other people reserve that for ulterior motives.
Caduceus' comment that Caleb smells nice (3:23:42) came directly after Jester was projecting all her insecurities & making Cad feel insecure himself before she tried to correct (3:22:56). Caduceus could see that the joke about Caleb being stinky was really bothering & hurting Caleb in the same way. So, Caduceus was partly trying to reassure Caleb that wasn't the case and passive-aggressively put an end to the joke with the others. And doing that with his disarmingly frank honesty and supportive personality. Taliesin said on Talks, "I think that it's more the teasing that he smells bad." (0:38:03)
Caduceus is flattering to plants and animals he wants to reassure and persuade to be kind to them in exactly the same tone. And Caleb was irritated enough to be withholding magic from them until they apologized (3:23:46), so there's a similar motive here.
Also, this is Taliesin. He tried to flatter sentient grass with Percy and it came off as flirting (CRC1 Ep060 2:21:56). He's expressed before (on Gather Your Party, I think) that he sees flirting as a way of making people feel good about themselves without necessarily expecting it to be reciprocated.
Caleb offering Caduceus the book I've a harder time reading, as did Caduceus. He's clearly stumbling his way through trying to build a positive relationship of some kind. Caleb's been socially isolating himself for such a long time that any attempt to peak out of his shell is a bit startling. Caleb saw Caduceus being very kind to him when his best friend was being an asshole, and he had something he could offer in return. He was trying to practice returning kindness that wasn't so transactional, which he is very, very rusty at and unsure about.
Caleb was also unsure what value it would have to Caduceus. Caduceus is as backwoods as you can get, and clearly not that bright. Caleb was probably unsure if books were something that would ever interest him or be of any use to him. Remember that Molly was barely literate, so I can see why he wouldn't want to make assumptions. Also, this is Caleb making himself even more vulnerable by trying to share his dearest passion with someone else he feared would reject it.
There's clearly some form of attraction there from both of them, but let's look at a multi-layered attraction model view of it. It could be romantic or sexual from Caleb, but those seem to be tied up in a lot of old baggage. Taliesin explicitly said Caduceus isn't sexually or romantically attracted to Caleb (0:39:18), and Caduceus has frankly never expressed having either attraction at all.
We're clearly seeing emotional attraction, the desire to get to know someone better as a result of their personality. Both Caleb & Caduceus have been isolated and struggle expressing this in general. Caleb by withdrawing and not getting close, Caduceus by being overly friendly.
Caleb seems to have been testing intellectual attraction by offering the book. Caduceus is wise in ways Caleb is not; Caleb is smart in ways Caduceus is not. They complement each other. Intellectual attraction is the desire to explore how someone thinks and know them that way.
Caduceus obviously shows high sensual attraction to everyone. The desire to tactilely interact with people in a non-sexual way like hugging and cuddling (frankly, this is also just Taliesin). Caleb shies away from a lot of physical contact with people.
The UNC-Chapel Hill LGBT Center has a great article on multilayered attraction called "Asexuality, Attraction, and Romantic Orientation." It's linked on the Critical Role Campaign 2 Index, but Tumblr punishes external links. It's something developed in ace/aro discourse that applies to everyone and everyone should be aware of to better understand themselves and others. People can be attracted to certain genders more than others in any of these ways, and they might not line up. Gay ace and aro people exist and are just as valid, even if there's strict limits on the sort of relationship or physicality they want.
In examining character interrelationships, I think it's important to examine the context they've already given for their preferences. I've written an analysis of Caduceus already. He not only expressed no interest (or experience) in sex, he's tried to firmly avoid the subject every time it comes up and seems completely mystified that anyone thinks he should engage that way. Even in this conversation with Jester, he's lost for how to respond when she asks, "So, like, if you think something dirty, [Melora] knows?" (3:22:56)
Given that he's been clear, be it celibacy or asexuality, it makes me extremely uncomfortable when other people decide he should want sex (even as a joke) because that's a microaggression against ace and celibate people that happens CONSTANTLY. It's rape culture and gross.
Caduceus has also not particularly expressed any romantic attraction to anyone past or present, and he doesn't feel that way for Caleb. He was perfectly content on his own. He seems to just want friends. He hasn't expressed being against the idea, so this is uncertain.
Caleb, I don't have a clear read on, but he shows many signs of feeling too damaged for relationships at the moment. He has his hands full with friendships he's still scared of. It's possible he doesn't know what he's feeling at this point.
So, this is not to step on anyone's ship, but there are other equally interesting motivations & desires that could be at play here, which frankly line up with more evidence, & which have MUCH less representation. It'd be nice to not see those possibilities drowned out, especially given that we have a canonical answer.
The character growth here is significant, whatever the subtext. Caduceus reached out to comfort Caleb when everyone else was giving him a hard time. Caleb reached out as the very first person to offer Caduceus help on the quest he left home for. No one else has cared.
Some stronger bond was formed here between them. Some greater trust. Caduceus is getting through like Beau has, and it's built on a base of greater comfort, healing, and respect for goals. However it plays out will be fascinating.
3:38:57 Caleb: "I'm glad you are traveling with us." Caduceus: "Me too, I'm... I've never felt so helpful." It's brief, but Caleb actually warmly smiles.
Transcripts
Scenes run:
1. CR C2 Ep47 Jester asks what Melora knows, Caleb smells nice:  3:22:50 to 3:24:16
2. CR C2 Ep47 Caleb gives Caduceus to book: 3:38:12 to 3:39:09
3. TM 2019-01-15 How Caleb smells to Caduceus and attraction: 0:38:09 to 0:39:57
1. CR C2 Ep47 Jester asks what Melora knows, Caleb smells nice
3:22:50 Jester to Caduceus: "Do you think the Wildmother can hear your thoughts?"
Caduceus: "Well, I know the Wildmother can- knows everything."
3:22:56 Jester: "So, like, if you think something dirty, she knows?"
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GIF: Caduceus looks confused.
Jester: "What if, like, you're thinking like, 'Oh mom, I've really got to poop?'"
Caduceus: "That's- I don't- I mean… Sure?"
Jester: "What if you're thinking, 'Oh man, you know, I think I smell a little bit today,"
Caduceus: "I've never really thought that."
Jester: "but what-I've got a booger in my nose…"
Caduceus, more anxiously: "Now I'm thinking about that. Oh man, I've got a booger in my nose." He curls in to one side rubbing the side of his nose."
Jester: "What if you think like, 'Ah, does my breath smell bad?' Do you think she thinks-"
Caduceus, alarmed: "No, does it?"
Jester: "Do you think- No, your breath smells fine, but I'm just won-"
Caduceus: "You're sure?"
Jester: "No, you smell pretty good."
Caduceus: "Oh, that's nice." He rubs the bridge of his nose again. "Ah, think about this."
3:23:31 Nott: "Speaking of stinky, Caleb, what'd we get? What's our stuff?"
3:23:37 Caleb, incredulous and perplexed: "I have been in the ocean for days, and days, and days, and days."
Travis: "He's the most sterile he's ever been."
3:23:42 Caduceus: "I think he smells great."
Jester, excitedly: "What did we get; what did we get; what did we get!"
3:23:46 Caleb: "Well, first I want you to admit that I have been washed from top to bottom for a month."
3:23:51 Caduceus, firmly: "I think you smell fantastic."
Jester: "Yeah, if anything you smell briny now."
Caleb, pointedly to Caduceus: "Well you're- You are a nice fellow."
3:23:57 Caduceus: "Thank you. But no, really, I do actually think you smell very nice."
3:24:03 Caleb, satisfied: "You see?"
Jester: "Yeah. I didn't say you were stinky. Nott said you were stinky, Caleb. I think you smell like salt and fresh air."
Nott: "Like a douche."
Caleb: "Revved up."
3:24:16
2. CR C2 Ep47 Caleb gives Caduceus to book
3:38:12 Taliesin: "I'm going to gather some of my stuff and go to the crow's nest."
Matt: "Okay."
Taliesin: "Big everybody good-"
Caleb: "Oh, uh…"
Caduceus: "Yeah?"
Caleb: "You're going up?"
Caduceus: "Yeah."
3:38:21 Caleb: "Do you like a good book?"
3:38:23 Caduceus: "I- I'm not going to be reading up there, but…"
3:38:25 Caleb: "I don't mean for tonight, in general."
3:38:27 Caduceus: "I- I'll admit I'm not the best reader, but… I've read a couple books."
3:38:33 Caleb: "But you have? Um… One of the books that we found in that… ball-o-fun is about the corruption of plants."
3:38:45 Caduceus: "I would be curious."
3:38:47 Caleb: "I thought you might be."
3:38:49 Caduceus: "I'll… If you could leave it in my- my quarters, that would be most agreeable."
3:38:54 Caleb: "Surely."
3:38:56 Caduceus: "Thank you."
3:38:57 Caleb: "Mmhm. I'm glad you are traveling with us."
3:39:00 Caduceus: "Me too. I'm uh… I've uh… never felt so helpful." He gives a half bow.
3:39:09
3. TM 2019-01-15 How Caleb smells to Caduceus and attraction
0:38:09 Brian: "[@asahi_azumane] Caduceus has mentioned in a couple of episodes that he likes how Caleb smells, is this just to refute the teasing from the others or does he find something comforting in Caleb's smell like Nila […] with her smell bag?"
0:38:36 Taliesin: "I'll actually, I've often just assumed that Caleb smells a little bit like peat moss."
Brian: "Oh, really?"
Taliesin: "Or just peaty and dirty…"
Travis: "Oh! Not manure, or fertilizer but…"
Taliesin: "Not manure…"
Brian: "No no, Pete Moss, the tennis player."
Taliesin: "but like peat moss, earthy. Just from, from… Yeah, Pete Moss."
Travis: "Yean he has the soil in his hands, and…"
0:38:03 Taliesin: "Yeah, well, 'cause he's got a pocket full of weird things that he uses and they're all kind of like interest- I don't- I think that it's more the teasing that he smells bad, I don't think he actually does."
Travis: "It's not a sandalwood fragrance?"
0:39:03 Taliesin: "I wish. That would be amazing! But, like, I actually think it's legitimately from a, 'No, I think he smells pretty good. I dunno.'"
Travis: "Yeah, earthy fellow. Alright."
Dani: "I appreciate Liam hitting his breaking point with that last episode, and be like, 'You HAVE to admit that I smell fine now!'"
0:39:18 Taliesin: "Yeah, no and, like, I think Clay is always… And it's not like a sexy thing, like, 'Woo, hey!' But like, you know, 'No, you smell great.'"
Travis: "You can compliment I fellow on his…"
0:39:27 Taliesin, firmly: "I will say he doesn't feel that way, though, but yeah. Yeah, he don't- he doesn't have a thing going on in that direction, but he's definitely like, 'Yeah, you're cool.'"
Travis: "Try telling Tumblr that."
Taliesin: "Tumblr is welcome to their own opinion, and I'm not going to disagree with them."
Travis: "Boy, I tell you."
Taliesin: "I am not going to stop anybody from having a good time with their…"
Dani: "Everyone can ship whatever they want to ship."
Taliesin: "Yep. Nope."
Brian: "Except female presenting nipples."
Dani: "Yep. No, Tumblr has a really bad problem…"
Travis: "Or lithium batteries. Most couriers have a problem with."
Brian: "They cracked down on that."
0:39:57
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eponymous-rose · 6 years
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Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E13 (Apr 4, 2018)
Tonight’s guests are Liam O’Brien and Sam Riegel, via Skype! (Okay, okay, he’s there in person, too.)
Announcements: Pillars of Eternity II will be featuring all the characters from Vox Machina (it’s now possible to play with three different Matt-voiced characters in your party), the season finale of Key Question has just aired and is available on Project Alpha, C2E13′s podcast episode will be available on Thursday, issue 6 of the Vox Machina: Origins comic book will be released on April 18th (strong hints of more to come) and the printed anthology will be available soon, Wednesday Club tomorrow will be about Thunderbolts, Critical Recap airs at the start of the art crawl before the episode starts on Thursdays, and Ashley Johnson will be back for the entire between-seasons hiatus starting next week!
@critrolestats for this episode:
Marisha held Beau’s smile for 2 minutes and 10 seconds.
Caleb cast seven ritual spells this episode.
Nott has cast Message 18 times in the series so far.
“Reply to this message” has been used 12 times, starting in episode 11.
Liam mentions that it always felt a little weird in the first campaign that his best friend wasn’t as close in the game. They’re really excited to be playing characters with more of a built-in connection this time around.
Caleb was not expecting Fjord to turn on him and just wanted to walk out of there. Sam: “I would’ve killed him. I would’ve fucking killed him.”
Molly and Fjord’s interrogation of Nott was the start of Nott beginning to speak up and have an opinion and really be herself. Liam and Sam both mention that while the party is pretty convinced they don’t trust each other, when the going gets rough, they’re genuinely beginning to confide in each other. 
Liam really wanted to be in the argument while Caleb was down in the basement, but Caleb’s reasons for staying down there were very deliberate... and are going to remain a mystery for now, as Liam changes the subject.
Gif of the Week: The Daring Trials and Tribulations...
Nott only brought up the relationship dynamics with Caleb because he wasn’t in the room at the time. Liam loves that the rest of the group knows it but Caleb doesn’t. He notes that Caleb doesn’t feel like a father figure toward her, more of a companion.
Caleb wasn’t planning on sharing the little snippets of his backstory, but Nott giving him the spell scrolls so earnestly after the heated confrontation was enough to tip the balance.
Nott and Caleb saw similarities in each other’s guardedness when they first met in prison (after he and Sam hashed out the details, Liam wrote up a story for their shared backstory and sent it to Matt). In the escape, Caleb had Frumpkin get out of the cell and come back with a wire, which Nott used to pick a lock, but they left the door closed. When a guard went out to take a leak, Caleb set the inside of the jail on fire, and they begged and screamed for help. The guards just left them behind, so they snuck out.
Caleb admires Fjord, is impressed by Beauregard, is charmed by Jester, his curiosity is piqued by Molly, and he sees something kindred in Yasha, but “he’s torn between staying in the shadows and coming out of the shadows, I guess, in a way.” But he does want them to be friends.
Sam wrote out a long backstory for Nott, and now he’s just playing and being in the moment. He talks about occasionally having to sacrifice true-to-backstory moments to help move the story along or set up a good moment for another character. Sam’s fleshed out Nott’s backstory a lot more in-depth as the show’s gone on; mostly finding motive or putting together interstitial information that fits between the events he already established.
Liam loved putting together an elaborate backstory, but knew that as soon as they got started, it would shift the way it wanted; he loves being out of control of some elements of the character. He had something specific in mind originally, but the last-minute decision to link Caleb and Nott meant that suddenly Caleb had this person he cared about a lot, which really flipped Liam’s original plans on their head. Caleb also really admires Fjord’s mind and his ability to get shit done and stay in control.
Nott decided in the heat of the moment that they needed to start digging into some deeper conversation to get anything done (otherwise the argument would’ve just been going in circles), so she volunteered the information.
Liam didn’t know Nott thought of Caleb like a son and was delighted. Liam: “Caleb would see it as perfectly okay for her to think it. He might not see it the same way, but that wouldn’t matter.” He thinks of Nott as a partner-in-crime.
On Nott’s thoughts on Caleb: “She’s not humoring him or manipulating him or playing him because she looks down on him or anything, it’s just very basic rehabilitation. She sees that he’s broken in some way.”
Fanart of the week: Nott and Caleb.
Nott and Caleb have been together six months (and ten or so days with the Nein---Sam: “That’s confusing.”), and the way Nott sees Caleb has evolved gradually through that time.
Liam was not expecting what happened in his solo scene. Liam: “It meant a lot... it was great. Matt did great.”
Nott is happy to leave the dodecahedron to Caleb, since he’s so much more knowledgeable about magic. He’s told her that magical objects will help him on his path, so she hopes it’ll be helpful for him.
Stats-wise, Liam points out that Nott has the second-highest intelligence in the group, but she’s very hard to read between the drunkenness and moments of panic and overall strangeness of being a goblin. Liam figures that Caleb has noticed this intelligence and is very aware of it.
Liam’s theories on what the dodecahedron might mean for Xhorhas include that it might have some sort of hive-mind influence on them.
Every Friday, Sam tells his five-year-old son the story of what happened on the show at bedtime (he was scared of the Crick fight); both of his kids have been coloring pictures of the Nein. His son’s theory is that if you look at the dodecahedron too long, it’ll suck you in and transport it to another one. Liam’s kids also know all about the show (minus the dick humor), and his son knows most of Caleb’s backstory. Matt Colville also knows Caleb’s entire backstory.
Sam’s t-shirt running joke is starting to unravel because he missed several episodes early in the first campaign---he thinks it’s only going to keep going for a few more episodes and then he’ll sunset it. Liam: “I think Taliesin speaks for all of us when he said ‘What are you?’” Sam even shaved the same weeks he shaved in the first campaign. His wife was baffled that, not only was it for a joke, it was for a joke that by design almost nobody would notice.
Both Liam and Sam sum up that their wives’ thoughts on the game as “...what?” Brian talks about having a similar reaction when Ashley would talk about the game while they were playing at home.
Sam on Taliesin: “It’s less of him being a good liar and more of him being so all over the map in both his personal and professional life that nothing surprises you... but everything surprises you.”
Fast Times at Talks Machina After Dark High:
When asked what kind of mom Nott is, Sam eventually settles on: “...soccer mom?”
Liam really wants Caleb to stare into the beacon more deeply, but isn’t sure what’ll happen in the next episode. Sometimes the “fuck it, it’ll be fun” factor outweighs in-character choices, sometimes it’s the other way around: game vs. story. Fortunately, D&D is both.
Sam and Liam throw around some theories about Mollymauk. It’s probably best worth summing it up as: they have absolutely no idea what to expect next week.
Sam’s custom shirts are about $40 (”I don’t get reimbursed!”) and take many weeks to arrive, so he has to plan ahead.
Liam mentions that a few invites to that initial game went out that were declined. They all reflect on how strange it would be if it had worked out to be a different group. Liam: “I don’t know why it was this group of kids that wandered into the wardrobe into Narnia.”
When asked, they confirm that there are zero similarities between the Liam-Sam and the Caleb-Nott relationships.
If in the modern day, Liam thinks Caleb would be working for DARPA. “All that information-gathering.”
Sam recommended that Liam spell ‘Caleb’ in a weird way, and Liam didn’t listen to him, so now when you search for ‘Caleb’, you apparently find ~some things~.
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littlecajunlady · 6 years
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Critical Role Episode 44: The Sunken Tomb
Uggghhhh. :(
Well this one started out fun but then the thing happened. I’d watched that moment many times before, but I never knew just 30 minutes before that they fought a fucking beholder. I like that I’m still being surprised. 
Small nitpick that I don’t even know if I should mention, but I kinda feel like Vex’s trap check should’ve counted. She announced it and rolled for it before Taliesin said what he wanted to do. But whatever, I obviously can’t imagine it going any other way, but it’s crazy how that one moment completely changed everything.
I think this one has the most timestamps so far. So much happened!
11:25 – Game starts, Grog's uncle Kevdak has the titan stone knuckles 15:05 – Percy "There's money in my body" 16:40 - Zahra and Kash introduce themselves to Kima (again) (Kima is confusing everyone, they try to figure out what order to get things done) 21:30 – Grog thinks getting the vestiges will be easy 29:10 - Vex tries to haggle for a book & fails, pays full 30 gold for it  32:22 – Matt's at the end of his list of good names (Purvan) 34:35 – Kashaw's holy shit, he tells Vex a little about his wife/god 35:35 – Zahra gives Grog the moonhammer, 36:45 – he tries to hit Scanlan 37:34 – Scanlan makes a fake Vax, Grog thinks he killed Vax (Keyleth turns them into mist and they make it to the loch, Zahra talks to Trinket) 50:10 – Grog smashes his head into the ice trying to look at the water 51:20 – Laura makes a 31, no 41, no 71 on perception (actually 31) (The twins turn themselves back to mist but it's not good for underwater travel, Kash doesn't leave the side of the lake while he waits for Zahra, Zahra is an alligator and investigates) 59:30 – Kash throws his cloak on Zahra & she whacks him with her tail, Vax braids Vex's hair   1:08:15 – Vex makes sure Trinket sleeps between Keyleth and Kash 1:12:00 – Zahra and Vex see owlbears, the real tootsie pop villain 1:15:15 –Vax and Percy conversation 1:19:05 – Kima's trying to sleep, they see the bird they helped from ep 26 1:22:25 - Scanlan and Kash keep watch 1:27:00 – Kash sees Grog's dick (Keyleth casts control water and takes all the water out of the lake) 1:33:35 – The twins start to sink in the mud, Scanlan finally saves them 1:42:15 - Break starts 2:01:05 – Break ends 2:10:40 - Grog prank, Vax could've easily fallen to his death 2:13:35 – Scanlan uses the earring without touching it but for some reason it doesn't work (Go down a spiral staircase, Vex finds raven feathers, they find a trap with swinging blades) 2:26:05 – Scanlan gets nominated to disarm trap, they'll all get two tries each, he succeeds! 2:29:28 – Kash to Scanlan "If it weren't for Vax you'd be my man" 2:36:45 – They find a door, Liam "We should just leave" 2:37:25 – Travis rolls a 1 to jump over a hole, Trinket tries to save Grog 2:50:10 – Tomb fight begins 2:59:20 – A beholder!! 3:06:00 - Scanlan inspires Zahra ♪   3:12:25 – Kima gets thrown into the hole, 3:18:25 - Kima alive but out of the fight 3:23:10 – Sam points out Vex can move a bit faster because of the 30 gold spent on that book 3:37:35 - Scanlan inspires Percy ♪ (Talking Body – Tove Lo) 3:38:35 – Percy "Sorry, I don't speak fish" 3:51:45 – Move Trinket! 4:02:00 – Scanlan picks up Grog with Bigby's hand & swings him like a hammer 4:05:25 – Scanlan inspires Vex with a one year anniversary limerick 4:15:40 – Zahra gets the HDYWTDT on the beholder ( Vax and Grog work on getting Kima out of the hole, Percy and Trinket go over to the altar, Vex goes over to look in the sarcophagus) 4:21:55 – Kima may have peed her underoos 4:23:20 – Percy grabs for the armor before Vex can investigate 4:24:20 – Vex dies 4:27:35 – Kash agrees to revive Vex, ritual begins 4:30:25 – Vax "Take me instead you raven bitch", the Raven Queen shows up 4:32:45 -  Vex lives! 4:34:00 – Vax not crying, Kash "You people suck", Scanlan gives Vex 30 gold 4:34:20 – Honest Grog "You fucking died!", Trinket kisses 4:35:20 – Vex asks Percy if he set off trap, Keyleth asks Kash why he saved Vex (They get the armor and there's a brief history lesson on the Raven Queen) 4:41:45 – Keyleth tells Vex that Vax really loves her 4:43:10 – Zahra gives Vex an arrow of dragon slaying 4:44:30 - Keyleth & Kash, "Vax would've killed me" at 4:45:50, 4:47:20 – kiss talk 4:49:45 - Kima guilts Zahra and Kash into helping in Whitestone, they all go back to Whitestone 4:51:58 – Game ends
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