Critical Role - Critical Role Campaign 2 Wrap Up

Episode Date: June 24, 2021

Now that the Mighty Nein's Campaign 2 adventures have come to an end, the cast sits down for a roundtable discussion of every arc of their journey. To join in our live and moderated community chat, please head on over to our Twitch channel at: https://twitch.tv/criticalrole

Hello, spellcasters, sages, and spectators. I'm Ashley Johnson, and you're listening to the Critical Role Podcast Network. Tap into our magical narrative by watching Critical Role as it airs on Thursdays at 7 p.m. Pacific on twitch.tv slash criticalrole or youtube.com slash criticalrole. Twitch subscribers can watch the video on demand right away, or you can catch it the following Monday on YouTube. As always, Critical Role will be available right here in podcast form on Thursdays, a week after the initial broadcast. And now, let's scry into the story and see what mysteries it holds for us, shall we?

Hello everyone, and welcome to tonight's episode of Critical Role, where a bunch of us nerdy-ass voice actors sit around and talk about playing Dungeons & Dragons. We talk about playing Dungeons & Dragons! Exactly. Welcome to our campaign roundtable wrap-up chat. We're about to get into that, but before we do, we have some announcements to get through,

beginning with our sponsor for tonight, and our final sponsor of campaign two, NordVPN. Sam. I was not aware that we were doing a NordVPN ad. I don't have any hacker stuff. I have my car keys and a laser pointer, okay? That's going to be what we had on my phone. This episode is sponsored by our friends at NordVPN.

Sponsored providers of the highest quality encryption for your internet traffic and hides your IP and physical location. With 5,400 servers in 59 countries, it's easy to get better internet speed and protection with one simple click. Campaign three. Can I have, like, a teleprompter? Uh, no.

Okay. And it's available on every major platform, including Windows, iOS, Android, and Linux. Go to https colon slash slash nordvpn.com slash critical role or use code critical role to get a two-year plan plus a bonus gift with a huge discount.

And thanks to NordVPN for supporting our show. I apologize for not having any fun hacker shenanigans. But since this is a campaign to wrap up, I thought if the cast wants to ask me any lore questions about the Nordiverse, feel free to hit me and I'll answer everything that's been burning. Yeah, go ahead. You know what?

Yeah, yeah. I have a question. Why did you make me wear that ridiculous helmet? To mess up your beautiful hair. Is the Nordverse continuing in campaign three? And more importantly, does Techno Spice return? Let's just say, say you'll be there. What were the terms of my pact with Satan?

It was a freebie because Satan is a big Molly stan. What is Linux exactly? It's Linux, but no one knows what it is. How much fabric softener do you drink when you write these NordVPNs? None, but I do drink three pints of brake fluid. Why is BlackWillow69 the only man I've ever loved? Come on.

Ever since I ate that cake, I keep having nightmares about you laughing at me and throwing pickles at me. What was in the cake, Sam? It was a normal cake, but you really should check the vents of your house. I think some methane or carbon monoxide is getting in. Okay, I'll check it out.

Matt, hat to you monoxide is getting in. Okay, I'll check it out. Matt, hack to you. Thank you, Sam. We also have some announcements. Marisha, do you want to kick it off? Yes, yep, not that one. That one's done now. This one. Tune in tomorrow.

That's Friday. Tomorrow's Friday. Yeah, it is. June 18th at 7 p.m. Pacific on Twitch and YouTube for our special Vox Machina versus Mighty Nein Battle Royale. One shot. This was unlocked as a Kickstarter reward for the stretch goals during the Legend of Vox Machina Kickstarter campaign.

If you miss the stream, the VOD will be available YouTube on YouTube, not just YouTube, Sunday, June 30th, June 20th. I don't even know, are there 30 days in June? There are 30 days in June. Yes, there are. And join us next Thursday, this is a lot, for the premiere of Exandria Unlimited. Exandria Unlimited is an eight-episode mini campaign

set in Emon nearly 30 years after the Chroma Conclave attack. It's going to be awesome. Wait, did you just, is this where, did we just announce that now? No. Oh, okay, cool. It's wibbly wobbly, timey wimey. We're so excited to welcome Aabria Iyengar.

Yeah! To the GMC, as well as all of our amazing EXU cast, featuring fellow veteran voice actors, Amy Carrero, Robbie Damon, and of course, our very own Ashley Johnson, Liam O'Brien, and Matt Mercer. You're a player! Watch Exandria Unlimited Thursdays at 7 p.m. Pacific,

same bat time, same bat channel, here on Twitch and YouTube, starting next week on June 24th. VODs will be available YouTube on Mondays, so it's the same schedule that you're used to. See, it's the usual. And then, of course, the podcast version will be available one week after the episode airs.

For more information on Exandria Unlimited, check it out at critrole.com. I'm not going to hate you. Yes, it does. That was a lot. You just had to say out loud. I'm not a player. I just crushed it. I have a cotton mouth, no. All righty. Well, thank you, Marisha. I think with that, let's go ahead

and jump into tonight's round table wrap up of... Critical Role. I have not aimed for a long time. The adventure begins They were always beside you Your nerdy best friends Critical! Critical! Critical! Critical! The adventure begins They were always beside you Your nerdy best friends And the DM to guide you And they rise from the flames

For the battles ahead Villains beware Cause you're about to be dead They got magic and flair They got fouchions and cunning They don't see over there There's a monster incoming Inspiration is waiting Rise up, don't think twice

Put your fate in your hands Take a chance, roll the dice Roll the dice Roll the dice Roll the dice Roll the dice Roll the dice Roll the dice Roll the dice Can you answer the call?

Digging deep in your soul As the legend unfolds Now it's your turn Now it's your turn To roll To roll Roll! Hello. Well, how does Matt do it? Welcome back. There we go. Got it once. He invented that. Yes, he does Matt do it? Welcome back.

There we go. Got it once. He invented that. Yes, he did. He did. He invented the welcome back. We're doing this campaign wrap-up a little differently than last time. We're going to do it as a round table discussion with the eight of us here.

Answer each other's burning questions, answer the fans' burning questions, and yeah, check on some of the fantastic guests we've had over the course of the campaign as well. It's 141 episodes that we're covering, which is bananas. Well, it was like six episodes. Yep.

Yeah. You're not wrong. I will be lightly steering this roundtable discussion, making sure we get through as much as possible and that we don't spend three and a half hours talking about Vulgate. Although that would not be wasted. No, we could talk a lot about it.

We should spend more time on that. Yeah, yeah. We didn't spend enough in it. We've only just begun. Yeah. So here we are, guys. Hey. Arc one. All the way back at the circus.

Okay, so we're starting at arc one. Yeah, start from the beginning. Screw that! Who's on the top door? You guys are the worst! Oh damn, you didn't waste any time. We're in it. Are we aren't allowed to know that still?

Do we get to know that? Well, the last one just died, so. Last one just died? No! He said one died every time we asked a question and you just asked a question. We're not actually playing, the universe is paused. No, there are people on the council. I'll kill them all right now by repeatedly asking.

Wait, you don't have an answer? Who was on the Tal'Dorei council? Shay! In memoriam. My god. Why did we do that? Like, black and whites of the characters that have died in our campaign? That's actually pretty great.

We'll do that in post. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks for the Tal'Dorei Council. Yeah, no, they're all dead now. Next question. Holy shit. So we can't know yet. We really can't know, huh? Just give us one.

I thought you were giving us one. Think about it before the end, by the end. Okay, okay, okay. We get to ask him once an arc. Yeah. Okay, okay. Now what do we do? I want to start where we ended,

which was with Mollymauk, so I want to know how much you knew about Lucien and how much of your character build did Matt take or add to it? I agree. Nothing, motherfuckers! Lies, lies. So, yeah, no, I wrote nothing

that was previous of waking up in the ground. Anything that would happen before waking up in the ground, I was nothing, nothing. No name, no history, no nothing. It was completely blank. Started exactly from the moment that Molly woke up in the ground, found the carnival,

and took off from there. There was not a thing before it. Was the pitch for you, I want to make it all up as I go from a complete blank slate? Because that's what it felt like in the best way. So, oh boy. What was the infamous Starbucks conversation

that you guys talked about? Starbucks? So, it was during the tattoo incident, if you all recall. Oh yeah. And we went to go get Starbucks across the street. Oh wait, that far back? We were all getting our tattoos?

Yeah. Whoa! Wow. We all got tattoos, by the way. Wait, wait, back? We were all getting our tattoos? Yeah. Whoa! Wow! Yeah, we all got tattoos, by the way. Audience. Wait, wait, wait. Surprise. That was far back. That was a long time ago. Yeah. Because that was, we hadn't even,

Yeah, we started. We finished Vox Machina. Yeah. Have we started filming Mighty Nein yet? I don't think so. No. I don't think so. No, no, no, no, no. We had just wrapped Vox Machina. So you went to a generic coffee shop

and started talking? Generic, you know, non-branded coffee shop. This was the character I had started coming up with when Percy died. I was like, I've got a great idea for a character if Percy didn't come back, and this was the character I was going to bring in. Oh, that's why.

It was kind of a seed that started because a friend of ours asked me about mermaids, and a friend who is obviously a mermaid fan, you know exactly what I'm talking about, and was like, I want your me about mermaids and a friend who is obviously a mermaid fan, you know exactly what I'm talking about, and was like, your take on mermaids. Go do a bunch of research on mermaids and then I want to hear you talk about mermaids for a thing I'm working on.

And mermaids are fucked. Holy shit. Yeah, they are. And then it crossed into my whole feelings on alignment issues, which I don't, I mean, they're great if you, I'm not dissing alignment. I hate alignment, though, personally. And I got into a discussion of,

I want something that breaks alignment entirely. And so I wanted to make a character that had no alignment to the point that if I picked up a weapon that used alignment, like only chaotic evil or something, it wouldn't work. Just no matter what, it wouldn't work. And it eventually just came into the idea of,

I want a body that the soul left and the body just kept moving. Just whatever was in there got pulled out, went to the Raven Queen and the body just continued walking. And just no, kind of like the mermaid, like the idea of like no soul, none of that weird, no chaotic god elements or anything, just somebody who is a total blank slate.

And the tattoos. Oh, wow. The eyes and the tattoos. I was just coming up with shit. Yeah, he just took you to the backstory. And you just took that and ran? Yeah, woke up with it. He gave me a backstory. He said he woke up in the ground

with nine red eye tattoos on his body. Get the fuck out of here. That's it? Yep, it's he woke up in the ground with nine red eye tattoos on his body. Get the fuck out of here. That's it? Yep, it's a fucking gif. And did you, but did you take the nine tattoo eyes and you're like, that's going to be the big bad of the campaign? Kind of, yeah. Whoa! I had ideas. Like, a lot of the themes in the campaign dealt with dreams

and the power of dreams, the influence they have on people through instilling terror, inspiration for driving people to create or become something larger or keep them, you know, tied through trauma and experience and like all this. I would, dreams were a big, like through, you know, if you notice throughout the campaign, I use dreams a lot for interactions with deities and gods and powerful figures.

And like, that was very much a thing that I rooted before we even started playing. And then when he gave me his backstory, I was like, okay, I'll find a way to work this in. And then as we began to start the campaign and go forward, I had an idea for some novum and things, but tying it specifically to Molly's story kind of happened fairly early in the campaign,

the more I thought about it, I was like, that'd be kind of a fun thing to deal with. So if Molly hadn't died, it still would have come in in the same sort of way? We would just sort of dealt with that soul in a different way? How I initially had planned it was that Lucien, the original soul that was in Molly's body,

after being shattered, found its way back, but had to go into another body and is trying to get the original body with the nine eyes back. And so it was going to be, what was this movie? There was this old, I want to say Denzel Washington movie about this killer spirit that would transition from body to body through touch.

I can't, it was a film from the late 90s or something. Hunt for Red October. Yeah, sure, yeah. But anyway, I wanted Lucien to be this spirit that would jump from person to person and was a recurring antagonist trying to find a way to kill Molly to take the body back or find a way to remove Molly from the body

so you could take it back. And that was going to be a smaller ongoing villain until eventually things like the Sum Navum got revealed. And then Molly died and was like, fuck. Or. Or, yeah. And so I just let it sit and simmer in the background for a long time. And it took a long time for you guys to go back and check on the body,

or check on the gravesite. And so I was like, whenever they go back. You know, usually they don't move, so that's why. I know, that was what I was hoping for. Yeah, that's how that came together. I got a question, just because that has been burning in my head for a while. If anyone had ever cast Detect Undead around Molly,

what would have happened? It wouldn't have gone off. It wouldn't have gone off? He's not technically undead. Okay, I was wondering if it was like, I know that halfway thing that popped up. The hollow one? Yeah, the hollow one. No, the hollow one was kind of a halfway. Sure.

It was a halfway inspiration from Molly's story, but was also intended to be a cool way to introduce an undead archetype for races in the game. And a pseudo red herring for Molly's backstory. Because I knew everyone was going to be looking and pouring through the book on that. And I was like, let me put this in there because I want to do it anyway. It's fun.

And because people are going to start thinking that that's where it comes from, which I think you did as well. I was like, is this what you did? I mean, because yeah, we had that long conversation. I love the idea of, like, there's nothing in there, that it's just a total blank slate. And the Hollow Man was Jamedi Cosco, right? Yeah, the Hollow Man was Jamedi Cosco, yes.

Do we ever figure out where the fuck he came from or what his deal was? Is that this arc? We're not allowed to talk about that. Oh, sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. You're not there yet. It's loosey-goosey. It's fine.

Okay, I was just checking. Unless you have something burning. I do, but go. No, I wanted-goosey. It's fun. Okay, I was just checking. Unless you have something burning. I do, but go. No, I wanted to find out more about Travis's character, Ford Stone. You know what? Do you have a last name? Do you know more about yourself

that you never told us? Where did you meet Ukato? Was it a singles bar? Yeah, we never really found everything out about that, did we? Mm-mm, no, talk about the fucking dream sequences. That was the, did we ever have, in the first campaign, a moment where everybody left the table

except for one person? No. That was invented. That was fucking awful. No, we had that with you and the Raven Queen in campaign one. Oh, that's true, we did, okay. That was the first time that it happened. I was really glad that that happened to Liam before.

Did not like being the first. Those guys. He, yeah, there, he has, I have an idea of the two races that make up Fjord's half-orc lineage. Which were? I don't know. You're not going to say? I don't think I'm going to say. This is where we spill the tea. Yeah, I don't know. You're not going to say? I don't think I'm going to say. This is where we spill the tea.

Yeah, I don't know. I don't know who they are. I don't know if Mom or Dad was one or the other or where they went or what happened or what those circumstances were. I left that up to Matt. And I imagine at some point, I don't know when, I'll try and go back and right the wrongs of that orphanage.

Because there was a shit criminal underbelly at the orphanage. They were using the orphans to make goods and using orphan labor and all this stuff. And there were the Myriad and the Clovis Concord. It could have been any one of those seedy underbellies, but I'll back and we'll purge that at some point. I was going to say, yeah, would Fjord go back and Oh yeah. clean that up? I love it. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. We're going to scrub all that squeaky clean,

but I actually don't know how the pack happened. I left that up to him as well. Well, the name Stone, Fjord Stone, you just threw in your backstory and forgot about for the entire game. I did. It was the very first backstory I gave you and then I'd never said it.

Yep. So there was no real significance. Everyone tied it with like, oh, there's the Clay and the Stone family. Is he tied? I was like, nah. Yeah, I just remember introducing myself. I was like, well, that's a name that was given to him at the orphanage and they were usually,

they'd give like, you know, shit names. And I was like, well, I just won't say it. It's not mine. I don't claim any ownership to it. I just fucking forgot. Love it. Yeah. Nel, I remember looking at Taliesin and being like, I mean, that can't just be a coincidence. He's like, nothing is a coincidence.

Everything is a fucking coincidence. If this show and a lot of the things that happened are any sign, everything's a coincidence. I'm, I coincidence. I am. I am. Yeah, for Fjord, his pact, it was a simple, and I go into it, I guess, later with arcs and stuff like that as we go, but essentially, Vandran had entirely

cut himself off from Uk'otoa. It was the final vestiges of that relationship. And then when the ship went down and Vandran was set to drown, essentially, though he survived, that was the final cutoff. The Sword of Fathoms fell into the ocean to be lost forever.

And Uk'otoa went like, fine, you. Are we, do we have a deal? And in that floundering moment of panic and self-preservation, subconsciously, Fjord agreed to something and couldn't remember. And that's when he woke up on the shore with the Sword of Fathoms.

Makes sense to me. I don't know if Sabian, the guy that set off the explosion on the ship, was working for Uk'otoa or one of the pirating factions or whatever. So let's figure that out, too. And we'll figure that out, maybe, with a fan question. Oh god!

We probably won't. But to decide who's going to ask a fan question, I think we should roll for it. Ooh. I'm into it. Why not gamify it? Oh, like with our dice? Yeah. With our dice. Whoever rolls the highest gets to ask a fan question.

Not me, I rolled four. I just rolled a natural 20. Oh! There you go. Didn't roll many of those during the campaign. Oh my god. Been saving them for the end. Come on in, Fjordbatter.

All right, let's see here. Yeah. Oh my god, I mean, I think this is a question. This is a question for Matt. Okay my god. I mean, I think this is a question. This is a question for Matt. Okay, sure. By, or no, from, at PryingBlackbird. Who was the skeleton in the basement of the Leaky Tap, and was Claudia Sheed truly who she said she was?

Yes. Okay, okay. This is some old, okay. Yes. Yeah. I don't know who Claudia is. I'm trying to remember. So when you're saying that.

He was the one that I was like, are you having sex? Yeah. Yeah, in the very, very beginning. Caleb ended up with Nott underneath and did a whole little like, rah, rah, rah, I'm going crazy and talking to you. And that body belonged to somebody. That's where the shackles were, right?

Yes. Manacles. Shackle number one. Manacles. I'm trying to remember, you guys, I feel like I remember you guys knew that Claudia was using illusion magic, correct? Yes. Oh, sure. No, yes.

I think we did. It's been three years. Yeah. But yeah, actually, Claudia, who may have had a different name, if I remember my old notes, which I don't, was from the Dynasty, or at least originated from the Dynasty,

was a Dark Elf. Oh. And was a refugee from some of the conflicts of the Dynasty and came here seeking refuge underneath the Leaky Tap. And the previous owner, who I can't remember his name, basically was like, I'll take care of you. He was a terrible person

and basically like kept her in indentured servitude and was just like an abusive owner of this inn. And then eventually she got fed up with it, killed him. Oh, fuck. That body belonged to him, hid it, and then through the gentleman,

managed to get forged documents that gave her ownership over the inn. And so now she became, she basically took it over from the guy that was an asshole. Good for her. Which was a thread that might've come up, but you guys have stuff to do.

I'm glad we got to talk about it now. Damn, we were convinced that was some end game shit. We were like, dead skeleton in the basement. Before we move on from here, I have an arc one question as well. Up until the second to last episode, I was tempted at some point to, in a quiet moment, to take out the sending stone that I carried

for almost the entire campaign that we got in our heist job shit. Oh! Right around the time when Fjord held the sword to Caleb's throat in the other house, we found a sending stone. But just one. Just one. Yeah. Who did that go to?

Oh yeah! Almost talked into it like 10 times over the course of the entire campaign and never did because I'd get sidetracked. No, no, fair enough. I'm trying to remember who. That was when we were trying to set up the Marius LeBall.

Right, right, right, yeah, yeah, yeah. The rug, it almost killed him. It was in a merchant's home. Yes. Correct, yeah, that was at... Marius LeBall. The brain is falling apart now at this point. No, no, no, not Marius. Sutan. Sailor time. The sailor guy. Oh, no, no, not Marius. Sutan.

Sailor time. The sailor guy. Oh, that's right. No, it was Sutan. It was the... Lord Sutan. Exactly. That's right. Who had ties to Campaign One. At least the family line did. Wait, what? Did we know that?

We did. Do we know that? Yes. We heard it once before. Let me go through my notes here and find where, I know I can find it. Like, some of these things are kind of I haven't thought of in a long time. I love this episode is people poorly remembering things. Yeah.

If Liam were to try to talk into this ending stone, would you have to go through all of your notes or would you have like in-game gone, it's just taking too long, I'll just come up with something. I would have gone to break and then, and then come back. I want to say...

We talked about this because they had something commissioned. Oh, no, he also had the... We bought the... Was it the Ring of Fire Resistance was supposed to be for Lord Sutan? Yes. And then we bought it because he never came to pick it up because he got arrested.

Because he's super in jail. Yes. Because he's super in jail. Super in jail. Big time in jail. And then... While Matt looks it up, he got arrested. Because he's super in jail. Yes. Because he's super in jail. Super in jail. Should have baked it into a cake. Big time in jail. And then. While Matt looks it up, should we do another fan question?

Yeah! I'm almost there. I'm going through the old notes. While Matt searches for three years. Yeah. Let's roll, let's roll. Fan question. Oh yeah, roll, roll. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Oh, super not me.

11. Eight. No, roll, roll. Okay, okay, okay, okay. Oh, super not me. 11, eight. No, six. 13. You can't ask yourself a question. Sam, you got it. No, you had an 11. You did, too. I had a seven. Oh, fuck.

I was all comfortable. Ashley! That's what it was. Yes. Continue, I'll tell you afterward. You found out? I did. Too late, though. After this question. After this question. After this question.

After this question, at Alana, Alayna Danielle asks, what do you envision Yasha was doing in her times away from the Nine that weren't explained in the show? Oh, well, you know. I think... Had to be something important, you kept leaving. Well, I think... Had to be something important, you kept leaving. Oh yeah, it was certainly something.

Even in the carnival, you would wander off in the carnival. Yeah, I think, you know, I think... Wing it. Let me wing it. Do you need to check your notes? Yeah, let me check my notes, actually, because each time it was for a really good, good reason. I've already ruined it. We always ask two questions. I'm so sorry. And then answer two questions.

I mean, I think, keeping it in the story, I think that, you know, she went away because she was uncomfortable getting close to people and trying to deal with all of that. And I think would do little odd jobs here and there. I think she would visit brothels if she was lonely. Oh, shit. That's kind of what was going around in my head

in case it ever came up. But yeah, super, super important stuff that she kept having to leave for. But it was more like a mental health break than, than like a mission. And I think also it was just that every time Yasha would get in the group, there would be something like killing Bo or something would always come up. And I think she was for a really long time kind of in this shame spiral that finally she started to get out of because of the love and friendship of the group. To be fair, we did only kind of bring sadness

and destruction for like the first couple. Like if you think of it from Yasha's point of view, we rolled in your life and then got the circus arrested. Got your buddy murdered. Got your buddy murdered. Oh yeah. Got you kidnapped by a slave trader. Yeah, it was a rough go.

It was a rough time, wrote me a month. I think more of my texts, too, I suppose. But she wasn't flying off to tell Dory to join up with an acting troupe. No, I think it was all very private, and I think not getting close to people, just spending time alone, and... Yeah, I think that's where she was at,

at least in the beginning. But that changed. It did. Oh, yeah? When we stopped killing your friends, or getting them arrested. You ran out of friends to kill. To kill, yes, yeah. Well, yeah.

Process of elimination. Yeah. All right. Back to the Sending Stone. All right, to the Sending Stone. The other side, my brain was like, it's one of three people, but I got different things jumbled up.

It was Ionos Jagentoth of the Jagentoth House at Shady Creek. Oh, sweet. Lord Stutan had deals with the Jagentoths, and that was, like, a lot of this campaign was throwing out a lot of threads and seeing just which ones you guys Jumped at. Jumped at and went for, and that would become the story.

And so one of those was, if that sending stone began to happen, it would be a conversation with Ionos Jagentoth, and it would have led to probably a more Shady Creek-run-centric story and narrative there, and it would have led to probably a more Shady Creek Run-centric story and narrative there, and breaking apart that story thread element. The Jagentoths were enemies of the Gentleman?

The Jagentoths were who employed the Iron Shepherds. So they were bad people. Yeah. And the Iron Shepherds were fucking with the trade route. I am getting this right, right? The trade route that the gentleman ran. So the gentleman was like, not really, they weren't like rivals, but the gentleman was like, fuck these guys.

Yeah. Cool. What a last name. The Jagentots. You fuck with the Jagentots? Yeah. Before we get too far in, I also want to ask my best buddy, Sam, about the process of me just going, you know, it'd be cool.

It'd be like a goblin and a rogue. It wasn't an order. It was just an idea. It wasn't an order. Campaign three is an order. I instructed him what to do. But the second one wasn't. But how did you arrive at what you created?

And did you start with Veth Bernado or not the Brave? I started with a V name because in campaign one, I had said, wouldn't it be funny if in campaign two, I was called Vix as a joke? And then so for campaign two, I was like, okay, I'm going to be Vix. Just to fuck with Liam and Laura. You're the worst.

But I couldn't come up with a good anagram with that. So I was like, all right, at least I'll stick with the V. Phew! And so I came up with a V name, and then I, I don't know, I think I found Brave in there. And I came up with Veth first, and then retrofitted it to be Not the Brave. But no, my only motivating factor

in creating Not the Brave was, I know I was going to be a rogue, like you had just done. You had done such a brilliant rogue. And I don't know anything about D&D, but it seemed pretty archetypical in that you were a badass and you were an assassin and so cool and fast and you dealt all this damage

and you were so awesome. And I was like, I can't do that because, first of all, I won't be as good as you were, but also you just did that. So I wanted to be the opposite, like a nervous rogue or a scaredy cat rogue or just something, anything, anything else. So I just was like, okay, I'll be a neurotic jittery rogue.

That'll be my, that'll be my thing. And then I was like, okay, why, why is she jittery? And then I was like, oh, maybe she doesn't feel comfortable in her skin. And then I was like, okay, maybe it's not her skin. Maybe that's why. And then I was like, how would she deal with that? She would get drunk all the time. And so that's how I sort of came about it.

Sort of retrofitting it for just to be anything but Vax, basically. On a related note, the later game where you took on the fake name Bren, I thought I was losing my mind on camera, and my brain was like, did Mercer tell him all my shit? I was like, why does he know that name? What the fuck is going on? Of all the fake names, of all the fake names to just take on, Bren?

I used several fake names. I used Veth, which you guys hadn't heard before. And then the next time I used a fake name, I used Bren. And then the next time I used a fake name, I used Otto. Veth Bren Otto. Oh. Oh, you dick! I hate how smart you are.

It pisses me off. You're the worst. But yeah, but then I remember, I think I saw a smart you are. It pisses me off. You're the worst. But yeah, but then I remember, I think I saw a tweet about it, like what was going through Liam's head because your face went crazy in that moment and you were like. I was also thinking of our audience too.

But I couldn't figure out why you were doing that. I was thinking of our audience, however X number of episodes later when they would find out Caleb's real name, looking back at this moment. So I was going of our audience, however X number of episodes later when they would find out Caleb's real name, looking back at this moment. So I was going crazy and going, I'll see you in 60 episodes, guys. Well, you kind of did it with me too at one point

where you were making ain't no slow regard jokes. And you said like, Henry Thoreau regard. Yeah, and that's your brother's name. That's my dad's name. Oh, dad's name. Is Thoreau, yeah. And fully, because of the game that you were playing, I was like, he's kind of a narcissist. What rhymes with Beauregard?

Yeah, Thoreau. Yeah, Thoreau, yeah, I'll name him after Thoreau. Nice. And Thoreau was also kind of a narcissist, so it all works. So what we're saying is you're a moderate, medium, and or clairvoyant, so well done. There's no coincidences in our game.

It's all kismet. There you go, I like that. I have one for Matt. Yeah? That you just came up with? Yep, totally. I like this one. I see it and I'm taking it. So when we chose crime instead of the other thing.

Yeah, this is a good one. What would have happened if we had chosen to become the Lawmaster's mercenaries rather than the Gentleman's Offer of Crime? Oh, and Zadash. Like a whole other campaign. Yeah, because that was the big intersection. Yeah, that was a huge diversion.

So you guys had built up this relationship, a little bit with the Lawmaster, a lot with the new High Richter. And there was an option here where you could have pursued a very strong Empire-based story and basically becoming the classic mercenaries for hire by the better folk of the corrupt Empire. And that narrative would have brought you guys

probably deeper into Rexxentrum a lot earlier in other parts of the Empire and rooting out corrupt elements, beginning to get involved with the Cerberus Assembly a lot earlier. And I was planning for that to intersect with you guys beginning to work with the Augan Trust, which is essentially the secret spy network of the Empire,

who works for the Crown, but also works on their own at the Crown and kind of is butt heads with the Cobalt Soul, but also occasionally they work together on things. Yeah, that would have been fascinating. And the Ogden Trust, this is actually kind of funny, I can say it, the leader of it, Schreiber, who's in the campaign guide,

was supposed to be Matt Covill. Whenever you guys got to the Ogden Trust, he was going to drive up and basically guest NPC the head of the Ogden Trust to hire you guys on. And then we had lunch talking about it. We were throwing emails back and forth. He did this awesome write-up of the people

that work below him. And then you guys instead went to Jorahot's. Crime. See you, Cobbill! I text him and go, I was like, so things went a little differently. Oh. Oh my god.

So. Yeah, I mean. When they come back to it, whenever they get back in the Empire, no. Never did that. No, they've gone full Dynasty now. So, sorry, buddy. He's like, that's how it goes. So, yeah. Oh my god.

Wow. I had him on speed dial for that and just had to tell him, I don't think it's happening, buddy. He's like, that's how it goes. So, yeah. Oh my god. Wow. I had him on speed dial for that and just had to tell him, I don't think it's happening, man. I just remembered, and I have to hit this in, what the fuck was up with Gustav? I just have to know. I just have to know what the fuck was up with Gustav.

Gustav! Oh, okay. What the fuck was up with Gustav? Oh god, yeah, way back. Okay. So Gustav, he was the one who made the original deal with Kauri, the devil toad. And it wasn't because he was like, I want to work with a demon, but because when he encountered this thing

and they had a discussion, and like devils do, like certain fiends do, and essentially the Kauri said, I can make your carnival something great if you can bring me people to feed. Ooh. And at the time, the carnival was not doing well, and Gustav was like, I can't give you people. I can give you those that will likely not be missed

from his perspective, or those that are already on their way out. So the infirmed or the old, which is why if you look at all the notices, it says, you know, these people are not allowed because he wanted to make sure that nobody accidentally died during a performance. He would just bring them to him to feed him

as part of this deal they made. And then he lost control. And then Kauri caused all this horror and like everything went down. And essentially Gustav just felt genuinely guilty. He had locked himself into something at the time, not really thinking it through. And it went on so long and so many people,

very much like Seymour from Little Trouble of Horrors. Yeah, it just got too much for him. And then when you guys managed to take care of Kauri and free the carnival from this, he was like, I can't go forward with this guilt unless I do my time. And so you guys are like, we can get you out, you're free. He's like, nope, I'm going, this is where I do my time. And so you guys are like, we can get you out. You know, you're free. He's like, nope, I'm going, this is where I belong. Everyone else in the carnival is free to choose their paths.

And this is where I'll stay. So that was what was going on with Gustav. He was just wracked with guilt for making a terrible decision that led to many people dying. Yeah, okay. We tried to save his ass for forever. Yeah. We're like, we'll break him out. We're going to get the money. The light ends the game. Yeah, okay. We tried to save his ass for forever. Yeah. We're like, we'll break him out.

We're going to get the money. Yeah, he's like, I'm good. He's a shitty person. Yeah, he just really fucked up. Did the toys. Well, I think that is all the time we have for arc one, you guys. But we are going to take it to everyone's favorite

cabbage enthusiast, Brian W. Foster, for an interview to everyone's favorite cabbage enthusiast, Brian W. Foster, for an interview with everyone's favorite Estelle Getty stan, Kari Payton. Roll out beautiful cabbage footage. All right, I'm here with fan and cast favorite Kari Payton, who is zooming in from the lovely undisclosed location where he is being kept safe from the undead. Yeah. Yeah. We're, we're sort of out in the middle of nowhere,

which is actually kind of beautiful. It looks insanely gorgeous, man. And peaceful. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. I can't complain. Just a few questions about your time on critical role campaign to want to start with asking you what the inspiration was behind Shakasta. Oh, man. Well, I always loved Shaka Zulu. He is this great warrior king, African warrior king.

I always loved the name Shaka. And so I thought it can't just be Shaka, though. You got to give it a little spice, you gotta give it a little spice. Gotta give it a little something. Sha, shas, something, shakashakashakashakasta. I don't know, I just, it just sounded, it sounded good when it came out of my mouth, you know? Yeah, everything does.

Yeah, it does. And so that's kind of how I came up with the name. And as far as the character was concerned, does yeah it does uh-huh and so i and so that's kind of how i came up with the name and um and i as far as the the character was concerned i wanted him to be blind and i wanted him to see through the eyes of a bird and uh and and um i thought that that that i that a hummingbird would be would be perfect there there's so many in southern cal, you know, that, uh, that, that, that, um, you know, wherever I live, there always seem to be, you know, hummingbirds that fly in and out of your life.

The last thing that I wanted from, uh, Shikasa is that I wanted him to sound like Bootsy Collins. Yeah. Yeah. And, uh, and, and so those were, those were the, the, the three things, you know, that, that know, that that kind of, you know, pulled it together for me. And and with that voice, you can you know, it just kind of the characterization just comes right out. Yeah, exactly. You know, I love it. You were able to be on a few episodes of the show and even uh the live one of the live shows that we did yeah i got to do the live show and uh and i was so excited to be free i jumped on a plane i was like i am there you know just tell me where uh when and where and it was it was awesome we kept

you a we kept you a surprise for a couple of days and then uh i remember being uh upstairs at the live show and when matt described the bird flying around a lot of people in the crowd they knew they knew you were coming out at that moment they were like oh yeah it was so great it was so great that was i could feel it like like a like a hurricane i could feel it like like a like a gale force wind on yes is there anything about chacosta that didn't get revealed during your time on the show that you want either the critters and or the cast to know about him you know i think uh oddly enough for such a mysterious character i think that that you actually you actually got to know who he really was you know you know in those moments maybe not maybe not uh uh you know

you know concrete bits and pieces about where he was from and how he got there but but the essence of shakasta and that and and the is, is that you already know this without me saying it. But he's a lover, not a fighter. Yeah. Nefertiti. Yeah. What do you think Shikasta is up to now? And what do you think his legacy is or what would you want his legacy to be, you know, for him to be known for? And what do you think he's up to now? I always would go to this. I laid up this, this Charlie Rose interview with, with, with Deepak Chopra. Yeah. And he, and, and, and, and Charlie asked Deepak Chopra, he was like,

what do you want to be remembered for? And, and, and, and he said, Oh, I don't need to be remembered. And I just thought that that was, I thought that that was some next level shit, you know what I mean? But, but I feel like Shikasta, Shikasta, that's the way Shikasta lives his life, you know? He's, you know, you know, they're like, thank you. They're like, we appreciate it. And he says, he disappears into the mist, you know, and, you know, and, and, and giggles about it, you know, and giggles about it. Yeah, I love that. I love that, man. Thank you so much for catching up with us and talking about Shakasa. It was such a good time having him on the show and having you there. And I know that the cast loved it.

Absolutely. Yeah, he's absolutely one of my favorite things that I have ever been a part of creating and uh and and he will always hold uh an incredibly uh special place in my heart and uh and i love that i made him uh an an older fellow because i feel like i feel like one day uh you know you know i'm gonna i'm gonna have uh glassy eyes and uh and a big white afro, and I'm going to be floating over somebody. Yeah, you are.

Yeah, you are. That's amazing. Thank you, man. Appreciate it. Thank you, dude. Thank you so much, Kari and Brian. I miss Kari and Brian. I miss Kari.

It's been a while. I didn't want to be with Brian. Oh no. All right, y'all. Arc two, the bad guys. This is when shit started getting real. Started getting real. I know.

This is the arc that we disappeared. Yeah. Way to go, Laura. Yeah, you too, baby. It wasn't just me. Where did you get that, baby? You said you have a Kiri question. I did, I had a Kiri question,

but I don't know if it's like this arc or, but here's the thing. After we left and then I was messaging Kiri, one of the times that we were talking to her, she said that she had built something in Hupperduke. And I just want to know what it was that she built. That's right. Sure.

Meat grinder. That's a perfect example of one of the many things that wasn't planned, and then it came out. And then in my head, I was like, well, I got to figure out what that means. Yeah. You know, that happens a lot. And we never got back to Hupperduke. No, no, then in my head, I was like, well, I got to figure out what that means. Yeah. That happens a lot. And we never got back to Hubberdook.

No, no, you didn't. But I was like, what? I was trying to think, because it's Kiri, I'm like, what are things she would have heard based on where she was that she would say? I've built something because she'd been around Tinkertop and the tinkerer over there. And I was like, she'd say that.

Oh God, what did she build? And then I thought about it, I was like, honestly, it's a music box. That's what she was gifted when you guys left, and so she probably made her own music box. Here I was thinking she made some giant weapon of destruction and she made a music box! So it kills people.

Obviously. It plays the music, and then when it stops, it shoots a dagger out. Yeah. So it could learn a song to sing while she's on the staff. Exactly, yep. Boom, boom, boom, boom. That's all, that was my question I needed to ask. It's a good question.

Well, how about this? Let's start off with a fan question for this one. Sure, yeah. We rolling? Let's roll. Okay. Natural 20. Oh! Oh my god, 19.

I thought I was going to win that one. Uh-uh. Uh-uh. Take it, Matt. My rolls. All righty. Oh, interesting. Let's go ahead and do this one. So. He's going to ask himself a question, isn't he? Matt.

Yes. Yes! No. Laura and Travis. At Levinsome on Instagram writes, Travis and Laura welcomed their son during the early part of campaign two. Did their journey as parents influence how they approached their characters and relationships? Jester specifically saw a massive shift

in her relationship with her mother while Fjord changed patrons from the evil Uk'otoa to the more nurturing Wildmother. Uk'otoa. Oh man. I don't know if I even registered that it changed my relationship after Ronan was born, but I do know that I was pregnant with Ronan

at the tail end of Vox Machina campaign. Yeah. So I was thinking about that when I was creating Jester's full backstory. So I'm sure that influenced why she had such a tight relationship with her mother and everything. Yeah. I don't even think I realized that until just now. Yeah, we did Grog's one-shot,

and the two people that everybody went into the tavern and the first time met, there was a green half-orc gentleman and a blue tiefling. And they had a baby. And you were trying to kill the baby! I'm sorry I didn't get there. Is that why Jester didn't know who the dad was? Oh!

That's why Jester's father was really powerful. Yes. Oh, yeah, good answer. Good answer. I don't know if it affected, every parent knows this, there's the time before you had a kid and afterwards, and all of the moments that you see in movies and TV shows and stuff where a kid is part of the stakes

and the drama, it's so much different after you have a parent. I remember we saw Endgame after Rona was bored and I was like, You lost your shit. Weeping at the I love you 3000. I was like, I think just looking back at the backstory

and seeing how much is, you know, the idea of parents or somebody that didn't love him enough to keep him around or whatever the circumstances were, maybe it wasn't even a choice and they were just both killed. I think it just kind of deepened it a little bit. But with the wild mother, it wasn't so much about looking for a parent. He was looking for those like father figures in the game, which I could certainly identify with in my life. The people that you look and you're like, OK, who do I want to fill those positions for me as I'm learning about becoming a man and a friend and all those things?

And so it was interesting just moving around from Vandran to Caduceus to all these different people that could teach him something, because you always have to be learning. That's awesome. Yeah. Yeah, I like it. Good answers! It was scary when they were gone.

Oh, for sure. Didn't like it. Didn't like it at all. No. Well, of course, real hard. Yeah. I think, I don't know if we've talked about it, I think we've talked about it on Talks a little bit. We were sitting at home with a brand new baby and you guys are taking on Lorenzo

and it starts trending downwards and we're like, man, this is crazy to be here watching this unfold live. This is a weird feeling. Oh, this is going real fucking south. Do we text him? Do we text him? Do we like, do we? And it was just.

We're like, well, that happened. Just staring at the screen like, what do we do? Are we responsible for Molly's death? Were you like, god, they're so stupid? Yeah. Blame Taliesin. Stare.

Run away! Run away! Was he born on a Thursday? Was he born that day? No. No. Oh, he was born on a Thursday. But not that day. He was. He went to labor on Tuesday and he was born on Thursday.

But it wasn't that Thursday. It was the Thursday after. That's right. That's right. Because we weren't anticipating you guys being gone for that Thursday. You went into labor earlier than necessary. It was the fight against the robo-jailer in Hupperdue. That's right. Yeah, the ball.

And you guys were being like, I think we were still puppeting you guys. Mm-hmm. And then you guys got all the one. Yeah, the ball. Right. Yeah, the ball, yeah. And you guys were being like, I think we were still puppeting you guys. Mm-hmm. And then you guys got all the kidnaps. Yeah, it happened a lot earlier than expected. Yeah. I was like, cool, cool, I'll handle it. I had a sunset prepared!

Didn't make it, didn't make it. Game early. Oh well. Well, thank you, good question. And yeah, were you in New York? Or I feel like the time difference was wonky and you woke up to panic or something? Yes, I feel like there was something

where there were lots of texts. More than usual, where it's like, you look at our thread and it's like, 127 texts. And I'm like, you look at our thread and it's like, 127 texts. And I'm like, something bad happened. Oh no! Uh-oh! Yeah. No joke is that funny.

Did you get one text from Ashley Birch saying, I got you back. My revenge was well planned. Did not. Was Lorenzo supposed to die in that fight, or was he supposed to be a longer? He wasn't supposed to. Yeah, I had thought that if he could escape,

he was, once again, tying into more of the Dragontoth narrative. Like, if he had managed to escape and you guys were kind of tied a little more into the Shadycreek Run elements there, he would have been a recurring, vengeful creature, and now knowing the faces and the individuals that essentially ruined a very profitable portion

of the Jagged Toth's business structure, then they would begin seeking you down and you would now meet enemies of another criminal syndicate while working for a criminal syndicate. Like it just would have been its own, you know, unique narrative path, but then you managed to wipe him and everybody else in that stronghold out.

So there was nobody left to really report back about who had done it, just them to pick up the pieces. They just disappeared. Yeah. You guys just vanished into the night. So you nipped that thread at the moment. Can I just jump on a fan question? Sure. That I really want to know? Yeah. Alex.

You got to roll for it, though. La Maru. Oh, it's 14. You're the highest out of everyone that rolls. Well done. Alex LaMauroVA asks, the Mighty Nein encountered a mosaic relief of three creatures. Yes.

Huge thing. Each with three eyes, totaling nine eyes. These being Uk'otoa, the Leviathan Lord, Deserat, the Twilight Phoenix, and Q'jaz, the Undermaw. Undermaw. Did these have anything to do with the supposed nine-eye prophecy visions

that the nine had, or was it simply coincidence? And then I'm going to tag on my B question. Was there any path in this game where we would have had to face Uk'otoa? Yeah. Uk'otoa. Okay, there's a lot in that one. That was a lot of questions. Hey, don't blame Liam. Blame Alex LaMoureau.

Thanks, Alex. Thanks a lot, Alex. Ugh. So the nine eyes between those three entities was intentionally a red herring that early in the story, putting some parallels in there, because I like putting separate parallels that confuse things a bit until they begin to clarify.

So you, namely, because you picked up on it. Oh yeah. But there was a possibility if Uk'otoa had been released, that then you had still bound to a sea entity and one of its champions meant that you were now an indentured herald, essentially, to start helping him expand his domain and possibly help the other two entities

that he's pacted with between these three and helping them be released as well. Oh, they're buddies. Should have done that. Can I ask a side question? he's pacted with between these three and helping them be released as well. Oh, they're buddies. Should have done that. Can I ask a side question? A part B to Liam's, a part C to Liam's B? I don't think he's even finished the A and the B.

I know, but this is also, this is part of that one. Were the three, the song and the carnival that they were singing, was it talking about those three creatures? Yeah, those are all performances that essentially were early layering in the mythology of those three entities. Because I had actually written those three entities

before I had decided on the Somnovem being Nine Eyes. Once again, that inspiration came from Molly's backstory coming in. So I'd already kind of established their mythology and then the Sumnovum thing came in and then that became nine eyes. I was like, okay, we have nine eyes here and three creatures. I can go ahead and put against all

three of them nine eyes and just make it a weird parallel. Yeah, that kind of a vibe. So it was meant to kind of throw off the scent a little bit, but also just kind of make things seem maybe more connected. And when you chose a specific path, maybe that would be unveiled. And who knows, maybe if I got inspired down the road,

I could connect them all, but it didn't seem to, you know, nothing set in stone when you're damning. For those who know, if you DM, if players do something unexpected or something in the narrative comes up that's much cooler than what you had planned, then you're like, yes, that is now the story.

And so I could have very well have tied that all together, but there wasn't much, Uk'oto never got released, and there wasn't, every time, there wasn't much of a heavy pursuit for the other creatures other than just seeing the relief. So it wasn't a necessary thing to introduce. I seriously thought about it, but the vomiting seawater made it impossible.

If I could have kept it tucked under, I would have let that bitch out. You should. Really? I was really shocked you didn't. Knowing you, I was shocked. I'd wake up puking water and be like, you are the part of the family. Nothing's going wrong.

It's fine. I know it only firms up once you make it real and we didn't get there, but spitball, in your mind, Tarasque is here, Uk'otoa is here, here, here, here. Uk'otoa is about on par, if a little under, comparatively. Tarasque?

Yeah, he's a lesser idol. He's essentially around the demigod level. More than the kraken? Wait, wait, wait. Is that like? Probably equal to or a little higher than a kraken. Okay. Stronger than? Stronger than a kraken. Stronger than Arty? On par in some ways, if they were to go toe to toe.er than a kraken. Stronger than Arty?

On par in some ways. If they were to go toe to toe. Dang, can you imagine if we got an Arty fighting on our side in that final boss fight? Mother of beach. He's lazy. He's distracted. Damn you, Divine Intervention. He's got a lot going on. He's distracted. Too many white toys.

It's a balance standpoint, too. There's only a certain point where I'm like, yeah. If Eclair can just call their patron in to fight alongside them, the one who gives them all their power. Divine Intervention, though, would've helped. Well, Divine Intervention, that's a circumstance where you can give a momentary reprieve

to that balance rule, but yeah. That never works. Dun dun dun. I still cannot fucking believe that, you dark lord warlock son of a bitch. Did we have two? Yeah, shut up. Two successful Divine Interventions We're not in that arc yet. Shut up. Two successful divine interventions all campaign?

Three, I think. Three? Thank you, Dani. So one was you in Vokodo. Vokodo. No. The final one. And then there was the one to find the entrance. Find the door, also Caduceus.

Also Caduceus. Aeor, it's crazy. Final one, also Caduceus. Also Caduceus. Aor, it's crazy. All in one, also Caduceus. I never successfully. You never had any? No. If it was anybody else, I'd be like, how? You and I get it. Yeah, it really is.

I was just waiting. Finally found some. He's always with me, and yet he never fucking listens. And it's entirely on brand. Yes, it totally is. It's that kids in the hall sketch where the guy comes in to rob the house, and he's like, where's your stuff?

Over there. Not so far. Yeah, so Uk'otoa was never meant to be a combat encounter at the lower levels. If he was released, that would have been maybe a late game thing, or it would have been less about fighting and beating him and more about trying to reseal him.

It would have been more of a tactical series of role play encounters that would have, we're talking like, you know, God of War style, not even trying to damage the creature, just trying to get to these things and then reseal these bits. It would have been a whole different bit. It sounds like a fun strategy game involving Uk'otoa.

Oh, Jesus. Use your wits to keep them locked away and away from your tail. Keep them locked away. Anyway, next question. Lockery mode. I am curious, speaking of the pirate arc. Yeah, yeah.

Going to Darktow. So much fun. Darktow is the coolest. I wish we had more time. I know. One fucking day. One day we got tossed out on our asses. One day we're going back. We got to do a dark toe one shot or something, right?

We got to go back. Oh, I'm down for that. Oh my god, yes, please. All the shit that I threw out from Beau about being here tracking Avantika because I'm here with a cobalt soul, and I was just rattling all that shit off the top of my head to hope that he would believe that I was essentially a FED just looking for him.

And then he was like, oh yeah, I know some FEDs. They're great. What's his deal with the Cobalt Soul? Yeah, he's connected. Well, and to be fair, this is another moment of going, this wasn't a planned part of his backstory, but in the moment when you present information and the way you've created a character,

they connect in a way that makes sense. You go with that instinct. And so for him, I see the Plank King as a self-professed intellectual. He's somebody who tells people how smart he is and really reads the trades and likes to talk about all the trivia that he collects and probably hires a lot of people at Darktoe

to bring political information from the world to him and gives them a few golds just so he can feel like he's a little above the rest of the riffraff of Darktoe and can rattle off long words and lord over that aspect. So I see him as someone like that. You can tell by his scalped wig.

Yeah, well, that was the fun dynamic, is he is that, and then he's also a cutthroat killer. Yeah. And then I thought of the fact that the revelry had started by a bunch of merchant sailors and sailors who were completely over all the political corruption of the Clovis Concord and all the different merchantary guilds that were essentially squeezing all the sailors dry

who were shipping all throughout this coastal area and the revelry started with the people breaking away from that. So I think in his mind, uh, why it was like, over time was like, the Cobalt Soul,

they would have taken that down. They're doing the good thing and I think, honestly, they're probably cool with what we're doing. And he's just kind of picked up this kind of slow building respect over time for the Cobalt Soul as, as kind of, and I think, honestly, they're probably cool with what we're doing. And he's just picked up this slow-building respect over time for the Cobalt Soul as this entity

that he's built up in his mind that probably does not mirror at all the actual group, but in his head, he's like, yeah, they're the few good guys out there. And I bet if I got to meet somebody higher up there, we'd do some cool work together and fuck up these people in the Clovis Concord who've been bullshit.

That's how I envisioned it. So when you mentioned that, I was like. He has a parasocial relationship with the soul? Yeah, he has a parasocial relationship with the kobold soul. And was like, okay, you're cool. It's like someone who reads a bunch of nonsense stories somewhere and then somebody, their grandfather wrote them.

You're like, oh, I know nothing about you as a person, but this weird connection means you're cool in my book, and do what you want, that scenario. You work for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory? Dope. Yeah. Awesome. We're going back there. We never saw, I never saw any fan art of the Plane King. That was a little bit. Really?

Yeah. I never saw any! There's some cool ones, too. Yeah.. I was a little bit. I was a little bit. Really? Yeah. Oh, I never saw any. But a little. There's some cool ones, too. Yeah. Yeah. What I was going to say is one of my favorite things about this game

is that you can plan all this stuff and like I thought of, Caleb, ages before we started this campaign and the same thing for campaign three, ages before we started, but you can play and play and play and then mid-game, just off the cuff,

something will happen, you'll have an idea and you'll, in the moment, be like, this is a real thing. And then it just bounces back through your entire pass and becomes real, like Nott slash Veth with drowning, which I think you said was like never a thing you thought of initially, but you did it in the moment. Yeah. Jester with sweets.

Jester with sweets. Jester with sweets. Caleb didn't. Oh, you just came up with that? I never imagined Caleb being a good dancer. I just, in that. Word forgetting things. There you go. That's something that you just came up with on the fly, right?

Play with tea. Oh, that's right. Play with tea. Play with tea? Play with tea? Really? I was waiting to come on, and I'm like, what am I doing? I guess I'm making tea for everybody. Oh, cool. Oh, wow. I love it. That's so great. Yeah, I was like, I don't know what the, what? I guess I'm making tea for everybody. Oh, cool. Oh, wow. I love it. That's so great.

Yeah, I was like, I don't know what the, what? And that's central to Caduceus. Like, and you just pull it out of your butt and then it just solidifies. It's great. Yeah, it was only because you said, I've never seen you eat anything other than sweets. That's right. Well, that makes sense.

Sure, let's go with it. I love that. Sometimes 10 minutes into the game, one of the other players will create a defining characteristic about your character. Say that you're stinky. I love that. Sometimes 10 minutes into the game, one of the other players will create a defining characteristic about your character. You're stinky. Stinky cannon.

There it is! Dirt wizard! There it is, dirt wizard! Oh, look, he's covered in dirt and smells! I'm really not. Yes, you are! You do smell a lot, actually. It's true, though, you're riding backwards as you're riding forward. And then it stays forever. It's really cool.

Yeah. Like in the game in high school. Just happens. Yeah. That's what that was. Shall we roll for this last fan question? Yeah, let's do it. I'm switching the dice up.

Oh shit. Nope. Natural 20. Oh! Natural two. Bow before the eye. Sam! This is for you. From at Nicodrazian, Natural 20. Oh! Natural two. Bow before the eye. Sam! This is for you.

From at Nicodrazian, what was going through Nott's vet's head during the time Sumali was on the show as Nyla? Nila? Nila. Why did I say Nyla? Nila. Because he can't read. I'm in love with Nyla from The Lion King.

Oh, true. You also weren't there for her goat, though. That's true. Since she had a great goal of finding her husband and son, just like Nott, did she feel a drive to help her find her son and husband, or did it pain her to see them reunited again? A little of both.

First of all, Smollett was so good on the show. It was just fascinating to watch her work and act and be. Early on in the game, I think Nott was very motherly. Well, throughout the game, she was motherly, but it turns out when you play D&D for a while, you kill a lot of people. And so it got harder and harder to be like, I'm the mother who wants to protect all children

and value parenting and stuff, because you're just killing people nonstop. Yeah, it's one of the issues in the game that we need to work on as we go forward. Yeah. But I think she viewed Nila as a fellow mom on the right path as a fellow mom on the right path and wanted to help her along.

It probably made her feel bad that she wasn't making as much progress towards getting back to Luc and Yeza as she could. But she was playing the long game and waiting for Caleb to get strong enough to change her back, which I assumed would happen at some point, and then it did. Amazing.

It took a long-ass time, though. Yeah, something you got to earn. But it was totally worth it, and such a cool thing. Thanks, Matt. Yeah. You know, it's true. I don't even think we watched all of the episodes

during those first six to eight weeks of, all parents will know this, those first few weeks of a new child are like blackout. You just don't, you're not sleeping. Even if we had watched them, we wouldn't remember them. You might have. There's no sleep. Luke was, by the way, I almost named my son Luke.

That's why, in real life, that's why I chose him. Oh, no way. I love that. Wow, I feel real bad now. Oh shit. Like, I already felt bad. It's my son's great-grandfather's name. Oh, amazing.

Well, before we move on to arc three, to top off this discussion of arc two, I think we can all say the campaign would have been deeply different had it not been for a certain dwarf fighter. Brian had a chance to chat with good old Ashley Burch, AKA Keg. Keg. Yeah.

Take a look. All right, I am here with undoubtedly the fan favorite and cast favorite guest of Campaign 2, Ashley Burch. Welcome. How are you? Thanks for having me. I'm good. I'm very skeptical that I'm the fan favorite. Oh, well, I definitely haven't said that to everyone who's come on to be interviewed.

So it's not a big deal. Thank you for coming on to talk about your character, Keg, who was such a big part of this campaign. Unexpectedly. In so many ways that we will definitely get to. But first, share with the folks, if you can, a little bit of the inspiration behind Keg when you were first asked to come onto the show. Yeah, so my inspiration behind Keg was pretty simple.

I found out that female dwarves could have beards, could grow beards, and that was basically the entire motivation. That was just, I gotta do it. And I also liked the idea of her having sort of a tough front, but secretly being a coward. Yeah. That was really the combination.

Yeah. Had you played someone like that before? I know oftentimes with RPGs, sometimes we like to use that as a way to really explore something we haven't before. Have you played a character like that or was Keg kind of the first for you? I think Keg was kind of the first. I think, you know, I guessed it on Critical Role a few times before Keg.

So I also wanted her to feel distinct from the other characters that I had played as I guessed it. And most of those were pretty, you know, brazen, loud, whatever. And so yeah, I wanted to try role playing, which led into a very interesting occurrence. But I wanted to try role playing a character in that world that maybe isn't as apt to fight as everyone else's. What was your favorite moment of your time on Critical Role? And then I'll tell you mine of your time on the show. I have a feeling I know what yours is of your time on the show.

I have a feeling I know what yours is. No, I'm kidding. Yeah, because you were around for GemCon. You were around for an arc, a little bit of an arc there. So what moment was your favorite? And if it's different than Kegs, tell us what Kegs was as well. Well, Kegs is obvious. Kegs was getting lucky.

Getting a little action um my favorite i think was when i read my apology letter um i just had the thought that she would have little cracked glasses and and be kind of illiterate and i sort of yeah that endeared her to me so i liked that moment that endeared her to everybody. Not for long, though, unfortunately. Was there anything about Keg that didn't get revealed during the game that you want to make sure the Critters and or the cast, because the cast is watching this right now too, that the cast know, that the cast would want to know? I was kind of hoping that, um, Keg's friend, who sort of had the amulet that she gave to Sam's character, um, I was kind of hoping he would be imprisoned

in that prison at the end or something. Yeah. I just, I liked the idea of this relationship of someone who believed in Keg and was wrong, kind of. Yeah. Yeah. At first, you know? Yeah. Saw something in her that she wasn't ready to fulfill, sort of, uh, yeah. At first, you know, saw something in her

that she wasn't ready to fulfill, sort of that she was too scared to sort of, to sort of blaze that trail that that person had sort of set for her. What do you think Keg's up to now? I think she's trying to do good. I think she's probably taken a cue from her new friends and is trying to sort of

travel the world, righting wrongs where she can. And I think she's okay at it. I think it's like a 50-50 split where sometimes she's genuinely noble. Sometimes she makes things worse than when she got there. But her heart is in the right place in a way that it wasn't before. I'm going to write that down because you just described me perfectly. she got there um but her heart is in the right place in a way that it wasn't before i'm gonna write that down because you just described me perfectly what do you think uh what do you hope that keg's legacy is ultimately known for for doing what you just said i think so i mean i think the thing that i liked about keg as a character is that man does she fuck up i mean she fucked up pretty hard on her first game um and had really dire consequences yeah but i think the fun thing about her is that you get

to see her stumble and then try to not fuck up again and i think um hopefully by this point especially since molly uh was resurrected people have forgiven her yeah i think so i think that that being her sort of legacy of um of of being a up and then hopefully earning forgiveness with your actions thank you so much for coming on and spending a few minutes uh with us talking about keg and uh for for coming on critical Role and leaving such a legacy for two characters. Thank you, Ashley. You're so welcome. You're so welcome.

I hope she feels vindicated. That was adorable. She's so cute. I have messages on occasion of like, there's a Molly Mott cosplayer on this train. Should I move? What do I do? I apologize. Stay still.

They won't notice. Wait till they get off the train, no matter how far it goes. That's amazing. Occasion they get off the train, no matter how far it goes. That's amazing. Occasionally we get the best text. Well, now we're getting into arc three, which is the Bride Queen's Favor. This is full Xhorhas.

We met Essek. Yeah. Hot boy. Hot boy! And we walked through a worm tunnel to get there. Yeah, you did. Yeah, you traveled far beneath the surface. Oh, that's right. Yeah, it was so disorienting when we came out

on the side of a mountain and just watched Dunamancy for the first time, and it just seemed so strange. That was the chair and then the tunnel and then the tunnel and the tunnel and the tunnel. Yeah. Yeah. That whole section, like, going way into the darkness, felt like Disneyland to me.

It felt like when you're shifting to another land. Oh, sure. You're walking underneath the bridge and suddenly you're like, oh, it's New Orleans now, apparently. Yeah, yeah. Okay. It's also where you met Spurt. Aw. Aw.

Spurt. Spurt! For like two seconds. Yep. It felt very much you met Spurt. Aw, Spurt. Spurt! For like two seconds! Yep. It felt very much like that part in a video game where you get to an area and they go, you can't go this way, you can't go this way. And in a video game, you'd have to turn around and find another path, and we just kept going,

no, let's make this part work, you know? And did you have to completely rework a whole arc because we shoved ourselves into Xhorhas so quickly? I mean, yeah, but also that's why I love the game. You know, it's, my favorite moments are when I'm caught off guard or when, you know, I'm not trying to put up barriers to stop you guys, but I'm trying to logic out

the challenges that would be before you to make this really difficult choice. And if you guys continue to persist and find clever ways to bypass those barriers, then I'm going to reward you for it and just throw my shit out the window and figure something else up on the fly. Right. So yeah, like, you know,

other than, I think no one's more disappointed than Matt Colville that you guys went to Xhorhas. But, uh... But yeah, it was just an interesting path to follow and continue to go through the Underdark, to go through these tunnels and then find yourself in Xhorhas

and completely shift the direction of the campaign in a really cool way, getting involved with Xhorhasian terrain and the Dynasty a lot earlier than I initially anticipated. And from the perspective of just wandering into it, as opposed to any direct political impetus to get you there, it was really interesting, and I don't know what I was expecting, so yeah.

The more walls you put up, the more likely we are to be like, there's something that you're protecting over there. Oh, I know that! Yeah. You think I don't know that? Every challenge is like, clearly this is everything. What was the chair? What was the chair? What was the chair?

Yeah, you can fess up now. Tell us, tell us. Tell us what was the chair. Tell us the secret, all your secrets. So... No. Let me check my notes. There was a really, really nice mahogany tree once.

And somebody with some skill with a saw and a sander was like, I got an idea. I love this story. No, next question. Well, I'm curious because, and you've loosely touched on this before, that Essek was supposed to be a bad guy, and then we made friends with him

and his heart grew three sizes that day. Yeah, you probably grinched that motherfucker. Yeah. Yeah. What was his plan? Essek was designed to not be a major antagonist, but to be an antagonistic force in the world. You guys barged in to the Kryn Dynasty and gave this extremely sought-after,

thought-lost artifact that is intrinsic to their entire culture and religion. And as soon as you did that, Essek was like, well, first off, I know how they got that beacon and I'm attached to this. I'm the one that smuggled it out. So I need to get in real close with these people and keep an eye on everything they do,

because they're now the biggest loose end on my guarded person. You know, like, it's like committing murder, and someone walks in and says, I found a boot in your yard. And he's like, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. You guys brought this in? And he was like, I have to get the other mouse. So he immediately was like, I'll take care of them.

I'll work with their business. I'll figure out where they're going, and I'll be their chaperone, essentially. And so it was him just trying to cover his ass while also trying to figure out what you were up to, what your connections were, how much you knew. And then the more he got to know you guys, because his whole goal was just to keep this thing

going with the Dynasty. He was fed up with a lot of the political structure of the Dynasty, or keep this thing going, sorry, with the Assembly. He was fed up with a lot of the Dynasty's zealotry and he doesn't really have any formal interest in the Lux and he thinks that it's misguided. He thinks that there's a lack of interest

in seeing what Dunamancy can actually do because everything is regimented instead by the cultural history of it. He just wants to advance to see what is possible. And he found partnership in the Assembly that way. But you guys kept inviting him over for dinner and asking about it. We and asking about his eggs. Yeah.

For real. When we left him, I was like, well, I really hope that I see things that I have in common with him and I empathize, but he's going to need years to unpack his shit. Or he's not. Or he's just going to bend back and do all the things he was doing before without us.

And then one time we met up with him again, he was a changed man. Yeah. Well, he was still struggling. He didn't know who he was. And then one time we met up with him again, he was a changed man. Yeah, well, he was still struggling. He didn't know who he was. And at a certain point, your guys' interaction kind of showed him that he could be better.

And he was struggling with the, being convinced that it was too late for him. And so it was this idea of like, I've already fucked up my entire life. And I didn't realize it until I found people that actually cared to look past my position and my abilities. And he'd been kind of a solitary figure his whole life,

except for his relationship with his brother. He didn't get along with his parents. He didn't get along with most people in the Dynasty unless they helped him maintain and advance his position of power and influence. And so you guys fucked him up. Is that why he wasn't consecuted? Yeah, he refused to do it

because he didn't believe in it. And he had odd theories about how consecution would affect the dominance of use and manipulation of Dunamancy. Ooh. So his lying about it was just about going along with the zealotry and not Exactly, because he didn't want people

to think that there was something up. Yeah, staying part of the tapestry around him. Exactly. A large part of his early times was just trying to deflect and misdirect and like, don't look at me, I'm just here. Just here paying attention. I got nothing to do with any of this.

It's weird, huh? And then the more you got to know him, he eventually let that fall away. Yeah, I was just here, just here paying attention. I got nothing to do with any of this, it's weird, huh? You know, and then the more you got to know him, he eventually let that fall away. Yeah, I was not expecting any of that. Neither were we. He's such a cool character. He became so much more of a central character than I anticipated, too.

It was fun to role play. I really enjoyed whenever he got pulled into the story. It was awesome. You made him float, man. What else were we supposed to do? Yeah, I know, right? That's all you have to do. Nobody else floats in this campaign. The minute you described him and everyone's like,

he's hot, you know we're going to interact with That's all you have to do. Nobody else floats in this campaign. The minute you described him and everyone's like, he's hot. You know we're going to interact with him. All you have to do is make a character that does one cool thing and they don't attack us immediately and we'll love them forever. Right. It's so true. Are you powerful?

Essek and Vicar. Awesome. You're our friend. He reminds me of, remember in From Goth to Boss, an IT crowd, that guy, and how they would just, sometimes when he entered and exit rooms, they would just put him on the dolly and pull him out. Yep, yep.

It's kind of reminded me of when he just blowed. That's a good reference. Well, how about a fan question? Okay. Fan question? Roll those dice. Natural 20 again. What?

You just asked one. Wait, did you? I don't know. I answered one. Liam. Melin, I think it is, or Melin, my apologies, asks, while he never voiced this in-game, Caleb's feelings for Jester have been an important part of his journey.

Did he ever come close to confessing, or how was playing such a long-lasting, one-sided love after last campaign's bittersweet ending for Vax and Kiki? Dish. Dish girl. Ooh. I was never going to do romance of any kind, one-sided or otherwise, in this campaign,

because I felt like we really explored that pretty heavily. Campaign one. I think you'll remember that Jester Croft- Oh, you made eyes at her. I'm looking at the table. She's mine now. I think you'll remember that Jester drove Caleb nuts at the beginning of the campaign. So it was nothing that I ever expected at all. And then when they were in, was it Rexxentrum, wherever the dance hall was, and I alluded to this earlier, dancing was never anything that I imagined for Caleb.

It was just like, and you were asking him to dance. Jester was asking him to dance. I was like, oh, this could be an interesting way to like sort of seed my story that we're not really around yet. And there was something about not the dancing, but the way that Jester treated him kindly after the fact. Like his response was to be like, I'm going to go fucking vomit in a street and just be by myself. And she wouldn't let it happen. And that was just like this first little moment where someone was like everyone in the nine. I want to answer another question while I'm answering this.

Like, I wonder if we had gone that different direction that we talked about earlier where we didn't go crime and we had gone into rexentrum earlier. And if Caleb had started interfacing with his past earlier, I think he would have had a gnarlier, more severe trajectory in this campaign. If he had touched his past sooner, it would have changed what he was. But he spent way too much with the Nine for when we finally did catch up to them, it was too late. He'd already been kind of healed enough by the Nine that didn't matter.

And everyone in the Nine had an effect on Caleb. They all had their love, like, in different ways. Yasha, he could relate to. Caduceus was like a guru that confused but inspired. Ford, who Caleb thought was real hot at the beginning of the campaign, was like a great leader. And like, just, I don't know,

I feel like he was his closest friend outside of Nott early in the campaign. Beau brought tough love. Veth was this ultimate support no matter what happened. But what started to happen with Jester was that she was treating Caleb like the person he, she was treating him as if he was the person he was, he should have been. Like none of it had happened. And he became like, it just got in him. And, and he, but he would have never wanted to saddle her with all his shit. And the difference, like, there was also a point in the campaign where I could see, in Yasha's absence, Beauregard warming up to her.

And I, and I already quietly been thinking and going like, well, I'll just have this little thing that I'll like, maybe fans will see. And some did early on. Like, it was silent silent it was all silent and then and I was like well Travis is never gonna do it oh Travis just came online so the entire side of the table was like quietly like at Jester for a while

hey Jester when do you have a second but Caleb knew that Beau and Ford would have been far better for her because they would have put aside anything for Jester and made her their number one. And Caleb knew that as much as she changed him and helped him in a very specific way, and he quietly fell in love with her in like a Jane Austen, I'm never going to say it, that he would never have set aside the things that he was trying to do. He would never have set aside trying to either get back to his parents and fix that. He would never set aside trying to undo the Cerberus Assembly if he were strong enough.

So like that was too all consuming. And so he would never want to saddle her with it. So it was always going to stay inside. And there were multiple times in the campaign where Jester teasingly like needled Caleb. And I was terrified that you would say the word insight check multiple times. I think I did at once. Well, you must've rolled really low when you did

because I did my best to like pull faces at you and poo poo it and do something silly to like dodge out of those situations. Are you secretly in love with me? And I, and yeah, you said that, and I went like, that's fucking ridiculous with my face, and we moved on. Oh, shoot. It's so funny that you joke about the whole table

being in love with Jester, because Jester had no concept of it at all. Her whole upbringing was everybody being in love with her mother. And, like, her whole, and she knew, like, she's so different from Marion in, like, her appearance and the way she presents herself

that, like, to her, like, that is what people want. That's what everybody would be in love with. And so, like, there was never, like, she would never have thought in a million years that Beau would have been interested or that Caleb would have been interested or that Fjord would have been interested.

Like, she tried to be Marion when she was coming on to him in the early campaign and obviously it did not work. So she was like, okay, then, nobody's, that's not going to happen for me. So it just, like, turned off in her brain. Like nobody will. There was a moment where that's, where that stopped too,

because like you doing the thing that you thought your mom did and that worked, you know, Ford's like, I remember flirting with before. I don't know what this is. Stop doing it. All that behavior stopped and you kind of like let the, like the happy gesture fall away. Like, I think it was like on the sea, right? Like with the jellyfish scene and then it all kind of happened. behavior stopped and you let the happy Jester fall away. I think it was on the sea, right? With the jellyfish scene and then it all happened. That's where you started crying.

There was a few times where there was these moments of Jester smiling, but tears were streaming down her face, trying to be the happiest person in the room. And then, yeah. I don't know. Jester always had this, but I think why Jester is so enigmatic and so easy to fall in love with

is because she is the purest person in the room. So it invites this kind of... Which doesn't even mean innocent. It just means the purest person. Pure, yeah. It's just very endearing and kind of in the way, and this is almost going to sound condescending, but almost in the way that a child is,

where if a little girl runs up to you and they're like, look at this card, I think I want to cover the whole thing in glitter. You have no choice but to be like, Yeah. That's a great idea. Yeah. Cover the whole thing, even if it's bad. She felt like almost the perfect exercise for yes-anding,

like the concept of yes-anding, because half of them were terrible ideas, but you were like, yeah, brilliant. Don't do it in the car. Oh, you did it in the car. It's okay. We can vacuum it up. Never say it's great for your children, animals,

or Jester Lavorre. Yeah, there you go. You also, I feel like people are drawn to somebody who sees the best in them, right? Like, you're drawn to somebody that loves you and she just has like an unconditional love for like everybody in the group. She changes everyone she meets,

including a hag and a hut. Yeah. Yes. Which was why it's so surprising that you told me that you were having an illicit affair with Orly the whole time. Like an illicit sexual affair. I did not think that was going to come up in this particular. Turtle power. That's why he dressed up as Orly for Halloween. Well, even, I think. Still the weirdest episode I've ever role-played.

There's one last element that I want to touch on that. And because the way it relates to Essek and Ostred and Eadwulf. Caleb's start with Ostred and Eadwulf was like, they were aggressively intelligent and driven as fuck and hot. And that, and that did not go well for Caleb. That fucking burned him worse than anything ever could have. And Essek, who, who Caleb thought was so intellectually attractive and sexually attractive, and he was really drawn to him, but that was like, I've done that,

and I put my hand on that stove and it fucking burned my hand off, I can't. Jester was so different than anything that he'd been wrapped up in before that it was like Aikido. It just disarmed all of his defenses. Anyway, that's the end of that. We'll take the question.

How about another fan question? Another fan question. Sure, why not? Nope, why does that keep happening? Oh. 12. Five. 12. Four. Four balls. 14.

Eight. Ooh, Taliesin. Taliesin, go. I've got one from Matt from BlueSnake462. It was mentioned that everyone was surprised when Liam gave up the Luxon, that's true. What were your original plans for the party and the Luxon and how were they changed in the moment of handing it over to the Bright Queen?

And as an extension, how would the campaign have been different if the party had never gained the favor of the Bright Queen? I imagine we'd be dead, but I'm not, yeah. That would have gone very poorly. That's an interesting point. So I'd introduced the beacon to your path, hoping that you guys would take it

because it would just be this constant magnet for trouble, to have this extremely important focal point to this growing conflict between two political, you know, nations, essentially, and having to keep it secret, keep it safe while everyone is looking for it and people who happen to catch it are like, what's that?

You know, it's just, it's trying to hide something that does not want to be hidden in a lot of ways. Very One Ring-esque. And so I was excited that you guys ran with it. And it was, there was a lot of ways. Very One Ring-esque. And so I was excited that you guys ran with it. And it was, there was a lot of unique bartering that it could allow you based on how long you maintained it, and any of the interactions you went with,

both within the Empire or within the Dynasty. But you were the caretakers of it, you could have kept it your own, it could have led to a lot of research and creation of dunamantic spells and abilities for multiple people, if it had been held for a long time, and all of you could have, in some way, shape, or form, begun to dabble in dunamancy beyond just, you know, the arcane casting elements there.

But it would have had the challenge of you constantly looking over your shoulders, constantly in the threat of being hunted down and having characters come into your life that would have probably eventually either discovered or been seeking it within your space. And that was going to be the interesting pull of it. So when you gave it to the Bright Queen,

that all went away. But conversely, you immediately bought, you game-shirked the enemy side. We're like, part of the intent was to go into Xhorhas and realize after all this propaganda from the Empire that's been fed to you about the Dynasty and how bad they were and how Xhorhas is a place of demons and murderers and such.

And you go there and you meet these people and realize, no, they're actually just like everyone on the other side. In some cases, even better. And that's all just bullshit propaganda. But it was going to be a way of you earning your way up through the structure and meeting people and possibly doing jobs and earning favor in certain spaces and maybe even never even encounter the Bright Queen

beyond one time. But then you immediately got caught, brought to her, and I was like, well, this would be the one time they meet her if they can manage to convince her to take her under and assign them to somebody or break free or whatever. You gave her the beacon and became immediate heroes. Yeah. So yeah, it greatly changed the trajectory

in a really, really cool way. And it went from this empire-based narrative and the slow discovery of how things are not what you thought on the other side to fuck the empire, now we're here! Now we're on this side! And then that led to the discovery of, over time, that, you know, things are bad

in the empire, but there are still good people there, and it became this kind of straddling the line of, you know, what do you ally with, if at all? So yeah, it made a really, really cool story that I wasn't expecting to hit a lot of those layers. It was so cool to be on both sides of that because we had backstage passes to both concerts.

Yeah. First, it was Dynasty and we thought it would be Empire, and then we went back to the Empire and we were like, hey, we have this thing. You want to fuck with us or what? Yeah, that's true. They gave us all this clout.

Yeah, it changed things a lot. I think how it would have been different, to go off my earlier point on that, too, is it would, climbing through the Dynasty as people mostly from the Empire, outward facing, would have been a climb. It would have been challenging and it would have been making a lot of allies

and trying to continuously prove yourselves as not the enemy, not working for the Empire, as spies. And yeah, it would have been a much harder path, but you cheated it. I love Xhorhas. I loved the Dynasty. Oh, me too. I wish we could have spent more time there. I mean, we spent a lot of time, but.

We have a winter home now. You have a house there. Yeah. I know, but we never got to go back. That's what I time there. I mean, we spent a lot of time, but. We have a winter home now. You have a house there. I know, but we never got to go back. That's what I'm saying. I know, whatever happened to our housekeeper? The one in our car. Yeah. How's our housekeeper? Oh, the fucking housekeeper. Oh, housekeeper, quick.

No! She quit? Why didn't you stop paying her? What's the point of a free house to live in? The back pay, though. You got to hang around. We paid her a bit in advance. You did. I think we paid her like one month in advance. Yeah, so, yeah. That hang around. We paid her a bit in advance. I think we paid her one month in advance.

Yeah. That was so cheap. In my mind, she left, but if you were to return in payback pay with some on top, she'd probably come back. And the Xhorhas is still there. You guys still have friendship and station. Free growing out of the roof.

Yeah, that house is still yours. It's trimming. The worst neighbors, just like everybody hates us. Never mow the lawn. Once or twice a year, they get together for a week and reconvene. Don't we have daylight coming out of our tree, something that everybody hates there,

and it's like, ah, I don't know. There's lanterns in the tree that make it glow, but it's not like it's, I'm sure it attracts a lot of insects. So we're not like National Anthem's Christmas vacation. It'd be so gross, like algae all over it. But the dude is just like, yes, perfect. Self-maintaining. It's like when you're living in a humble neighborhood

and all of a sudden like this giant house gets built in the corner and like some 20-year-old YouTuber moves in and just keeps throwing parties. Like, that's you guys. It influences the house. Oh, I hate it. No!

I hate it. That's not cool. You take that back. Hey, everybody! Yeah. Check it out. Oh, I hate it. Nice Linux phone.

Do we need to ask this last fan question? I'm going to just do it. Sure, do it. At ArvYarv, or ArvyArv, asks, who exactly was in the pile of bones that Caleb instantly incinerated with a flaming sphere leading to the tearing of a character sheet on camera. Oh! Oh yeah.

Didn't that happen in the first campaign, too? Yeah, in the underdark. Liam, did you kill somebody who was important? Yeah. Tomb of the Unknown NPC. Yeah. So who's this one? If I recall correctly,

this is when you guys were going in the giants. Caleb's aunt and uncle. Right, yeah. Oh god, finishing the job. No, I think this was in Jor-Hasn, you guys were leaving Rosohna to go inspect the giants' den in the Vermaloc. We went to a fort, right?

Yeah. And from the fort, we went to? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Correct, because the giants were forced out of their home and then occupied the mining camp there, the fort. So you went there, and yeah, there was a goblin that essentially was quietly and secretly living in there and living off the scraps that the giants left behind and was just this looming NPC

that was going to be a source of information about what dangers you could face here, about what's happened to the giants. It's a character, right? Yeah, and present information about Vence, Nuthalis, who was, that was when you started finally following the thread that led to Obann, that led to everything there,

and the device that he had placed in it. The goblin was like, saw him place it and was going to begin to give all this information to set you on that path, and then ashes. Yeah, man. I was like, I have a purpose. Two flopped ears. Who's it going to be in Kingdom Hearts VIII, I wonder?

Your character. You still eventually found the thread in a roundabout way, but I was like, well, okay. That's a temporary dead end, too. Speaking of the new Thalysses, before we move on from this arc, I have to know, I know Danny Carr has to know, who was Varyn, Essek's brother?

We never got to meet Essek's brother. Yeah, you didn't. And in my head, he's also super hot. Obviously. Obviously. Yeah, he's the himbo of the family, in my mind. I'll keep going. You know, he's the younger, taller, the more athletic brother of the family.

No clothes. Shirtless all the time. No, no, no, he walks on the ground. Oh. He was float, but at a side angle, like a one-leaf. Right. Yeah, yeah. What's up, Drew?

Essek floats. He wears Vans. Yeah. Just like. Oh my god. Yeah. He's just constantly drifting. He's just like. Oh, cool.

No, no, he's just, as opposed to his brother, who's very much eschewed the Dynasty culture, and his parents were very deeply steeped in the culture, Varyn rides the line where he understands why his brother is the way he is, but he also believes a lot in the Dynasty and the faith that the Luxon and the whole idea gives. And he partially believes it, but he's like,

yeah, I'm Christian, because I was raised on it, but I'm also not evangelical. They have a Luxon rock band? Probably, yeah. Yes? Yeah. He's got a little pooch shell necklace with a little symbol of the Bright Queen on it. Luxon talk. The beacon will rise.

But yeah, he's, he's, oh god. This has gotten away from me entirely. To no one's surprise. I love this. I love this. I love this headcanon. Yeah, no, he's stationed at Bazazan. We say here that I'm a beacon for you. Oh wow.

Oh wow. I'm a beacon for you. Somebody was real deep. Oof. Oh man. We'll leave it there. Yeah, he's stationed in Bazzozan. He's not an upper-ranking warrior,

but he's pretty well respected. And he, the only bond that Essek had before any of you was with him growing up. He's the brother that got him and they got along okay in a family that Essek did not get along with at all and was surrounded by people he didn't get along with. Would we have ever crossed paths with him? You would have if you had probably spent more time

or asked around for more people of station in Bazzozan. But you guys only stayed there for a night and then defaced property and then left. Which happens. That's what we do. Yeah, no, it makes all the sense. Sure we left a dick in our wake. You did. Sure.

Yeah. Yeah, we did. And you changed the sign of the inn you were staying with. Yeah, what was the, what did I change the name to? I don't remember. I don't remember either. Al-Zazan? Probably. Sounds about right.

So many dick signs. Low-hanging. Well, before we move on to arc four, we should check in with Sumali Montano, the fear-bulg druid that reminds us why you should never piss off your mother. Let's take a look. All right, I'm here with Sumali, the cast and fan favorite guest of Campaign 2,

known undisputed. How are you, my friend? I'm doing okay, thank you. Good, it's so wonderful to have you back. Thanks. And talking about your wonderful to have you back. Thanks. And talking about your wonderful character from Campaign 2. I know we've talked a little bit about this before, but for those who don't know and haven't seen you on Talks Machina,

tell us about the inspiration behind Nila, if you will. Definitely part of what inspired me is my dad. He's for sure the guy who instilled in me my love of nature and my love of animals and trees. And he's literally a tree hugger. And so funny. Yeah. Like when I found out that I was pregnant, like in real life, not as me alone, but in real life, I went out to the woods. I went out to these like amazing, uh, to Muir woods actually in Northern California. And I literally just like

hugged the tree. No way. I love it. Literally like, okay, give me, give me your goodness. Give me, you know, share with me. And I like, ah, that's just where, yeah. So my dad, my dad definitely instilled that in me what was your what was your favorite moment of your time on the show I'll kind of roll it up into one thing which is which is how much everyone embraced me and made me feel so like at the table made me feel so welcome and so comfortable to do something that i'd never done and literally like between between matt guiding me through the character creation between his amazing storytelling and then the gifts that that would that always came up like i mean ashley

i can't remember exactly what she did but she basically was like will you say the word and i'm like oh yeah that was like the perfect like setup i like you know and you can't you can't skirt things like that you can't expect things like that but when you're playing with people who are so generous and so understanding of of the game i just felt like everybody you know, it felt like a big warm hug when I was on. Yes. Yes. Is there anything about Nila that you didn't get to reveal during the game that you want the critters and the cast to know? Every once in a while when Nila gets bored, she's tempted to nibble on stuff in her smell bag. What kind of stuff?

She has it. Yeah, yeah. You know, because the smell bag has a whole, you know, it has all sorts of things in there. We had talked about this on talks before. A litany. that you know mosses and bones of of of creatures or animals that you know i had a special relationship with or you know but everyone you know it smells good to nila and yes in there you know sometimes nothing to do yeah curiosity yeah you smell it and you just like, hmm, if I just tasted not on that bone, just a little bit.

I thought of that with a couple of dog treats. It looked really appealing. Right? It's exactly the same thing. What do you think Neil is up to now? I think I decided that I wanted to have another baby. so like i have we have another baby for a bowl again okay i think we've gone back to our i think we've gone back to our home tribe however before we left we grafted this cool like plant that was able to protect the temple but and and keep it keep anything like any

of the encroaching evil plants and evilness away mmm like I checked in with the smell bag to make sure that it was gonna hold and that we would be okay going back once we had another baby it was like I'm gonna go back to the you know go back to the home tribe yeah but check it you know check in and come back every so often but we use the smell bag to make sure that everything is is okay they'll stay safe what do you uh hope that nila's legacy is you know family family comes to mind first i think not just not just your family you're born into, but your found family. You know, people always talk about, you know, how important that is. And to me, like, The Mighty Nine were Neela's found family.

Yeah. Well, you played such a memorable character. And I know the cast was so lucky to have you and grateful to have you on the show for Campaign 2. And thanks for coming today to talk about, to talk about Nila some more. We really appreciate it. It's absolutely, it's absolutely my pleasure. And because of you guys, I have become a huge D and D fan. So I'm like, I play it with my family now.

My son is totally into it. And that is such a, that's such a lovely gift for me. That's mission accomplished. That's mission accomplished. Then thank you so much. Sumali. Thanks.

I love that. She's playing with her family. Oh, I love it. All right, you guys, before we jump into arc four, we're going to take a quick break.

See you back in a second. We interrupt this Critical Role Podcast Network broadcast to bring you news of dangerous treasures that lie sealed within the Critical Role shops. Only the heartiest of adventurers should dare seek them out.

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back. Jumping into arc four. This is Yasha's big arc. This is Obann and the Chained Oblivion, and was this all happy fun ball stuff? No. Almost. A little bit. Thank you, Danny. A little bit, we went back to the happy fun ball. I think. Yeah. Almost. A little bit, thank you, Dani, a little bit, we went back to the happy fun ball.

I think. Yeah. Yes. We played this game for a lot of fun years. We did. Whoa! So many. Well, the Warp doesn't separate at all, because it all is just one, I mean, yeah.

An amorphous jumble. Yep. Yeah. It's part of the fun. For a year, it was the only thing that happened, so it really is strange on that level. Yeah. Yeah. You of the fun. For a year, it was the only thing that happened, so it really is strange on that level. Yeah. Yeah. You're not wrong. Oh god. That's so true.

The only more time I have. I could kick it off. I want to know what Yasha and Obann's history was. I might be curious about that, too. Because a lot of it, obviously, Yasha was, I mean, there for, but mind-controlled and puppeted. Yeah, so from how I interpreted the story was

after Yasha had left the Dolarav and had a bit of a psychological break at some point, from just the trauma and the wastes. Kind of went feral in the wastes of Xhorhas. Very much not using language much, living by killing and eating whatever came her way and aimless and wandering. And Obann, who had begun the plotting

in the name of the Angel of Irons. He didn't know it was the Chain of Bolivia. It was just this entity that came to him and spoke to him. This being that promised an undying future. If he could just begin to corrupt these fanes and call together these undying warriors that were brought to him through visions. And the one that was closest to him at the time, he could just begin to corrupt these feigns and call together these undying warriors that were brought to him through visions.

And the one that was closest to him at the time, as he was traveling through Xhorhas, when these came to him, was this lost, feral, undying proto-angel, this being that wasn't quite at the level of strength to resist death, but had the promise to do so. And it was his charge to kind of train her up. And so that's when he found Yasha as this feral being

and left his mark and essentially took her mind and will as his own and began to train her up by sending her as kind of his bodyguard and also going to all these different fanes of just general arcane leyline power, much like how there are these leylines of magical energy that shift and cruise across Exandria, almost like the Northern Lights in an invisible spectrum, except for those who can understand magic.

Like the Ziggurat beneath Whitestone was at one of these nexuses, you know, a lot of these older structures were built to to kind of gather and use these spaces where the magic is strongest and where things converge. He would use Yasha to begin to corrupt some of these fanes in the name of the Angel of Irons, and in doing so kind of began to lead this this kind of hungering, subtle hunger corruption throughout the land. That's why the early parts of the campaign

had this theme of things going mad over the need to devour and the need to just consume and grow. So keeping that theme going. But yeah, so in this time, Yasha was essentially his right hand man. I think I've said it before, but very much like Purple Man and Jessica Jones.

He would just be like, all right, kill that for me. And she would go and do it. But a lot of that, and the trauma of that experience, her brain protected her by not recording this time period until eventually she took, it went too far and she broke free and he lost her in the wastes. And that was where she found the Stormlord. The Stormlord was the first entity to kind of reach out

at this broken statue of the Stormlord and helped kind of heal her mind a bit and give her a direction to go. When we've been working on the comic book, and I forgot about this in the last game that we played, but you had said the amount of time that she was with Obann that I didn't realize it was that long.

Can we say how long it was, or do you want to? I gave a vague space. I mean, I considered it to be the period of like, like a year or two. Which was longer than I thought. Yeah. Yeah, it's a long time to have somebody in your head. So the way I interpreted it was

there was a lot of growth of Yasha's during that time as this controlled persona that was lost when she broke free and became herself. That experience was essentially shunted from her mind to heal. So there is a time period in that lost time where Yasha was operating at a very powerful level under his control.

But that's how I interpreted it, at least. So that was my intent for it. Juice. Juice. Yeah, and he wasn't looking for her. He thought she was lost and was like, well, I have to go find out what the next, you know, undying champions of the Angel of Irons are.

And then when you crossed paths with him again in Xhorhas, outside of Rosohna, he was like, or in Asaryas. No, it was Rosohna. He was just like, oh, oh, well that's convenient. Yeah. I wonder where you got off to. Hmm.

Probably. You got some friends with you. You know what? Follow me. Maybe you can do some of this work for me type thing. I have a ques- Oh, sorry. No, go. Okay, going off of this, this is technically, I think, an arc one question,

but it was Trent Dickathon, right? That eyeballed Yasha up and down and was like, oh, you, come talk to me. I want more with what you're about. What did Trent want with Yasha? So Trent is the kind of individual that will subtly cast Detect Thoughts or his variation of the Detect Thoughts spell

in mixed company, just to see what's behind everybody's exterior. Oh, interesting. So he just, in party atmospheres and social atmospheres, Creepy. he has a way of doing that in a subtle way where he'll just be like, people are talking, he'll just lean over

and then pierce into their thoughts a bit just to get a feel. Sometimes to draw secrets that are useful for blackmail in the future, or to figure out what things might be secretly being planned behind the scenes so he can be ready. You know, he's just one of those paranoid-type individuals. And with Yasha, there was just something about her presence

that he was like, she's curious. So he did that and picked up shreds of her past that even she probably had lying dormant, which he was like, that's, So he did that and picked up shreds of her past that even she probably had lying dormant, which he was like, that's, there is, for an individual that was in the middle of this Zadash Harvest Close Festival celebration, and now we're sitting in this room, there is some dark shit in your past.

And he sends the angelic blood, the celestial blood, and was like, you are intriguing, and I don't fully know why, but I'm just curious. And that was as far as it got, because then you guys ran off and he clocked it, but that was what went down there. Be honest, he read Veth's thoughts and he heard, Never going to give you up.

Never going to let you go. Yeah, essentially. Kind of a side note to all of that. The Laughing Hand, who was with him, was very similar to a lot of the things that you ran into in Aeor. Mm-hmm. What was the connection there?

Like, was it, did the Lefting Hand come from that? Oh, that's right. No, different entity, but there, hmm, how do I put this? There is an intentional, subtle threads of connection. Cognouza, the Living City, the Somnovem, and the whole Cognouza Ward, that was happenstance. That was circumstantial, it's creation.

The scattering of the thousands of minds that lived there and the combining them in madness and destruction and then slowly climbing their way back to a semblance of combined sentience and emergence wasn't the Chain of Oblivion's doing by any means. But as time went on, it had a unique enough parallel where it caught his attention. And so he was just helping it along in ways,

helping form those dreams, helping inform the shape it would eventually take. I like to imagine the Chain of Oblivion as not this extremely and inform the shape it would eventually take. I like to imagine the Chain of Oblivion as not this extremely, how do I put it? This extremely well plotted out entity of will that has machinations of intricate plans

upon plans upon plans. It is more of just a force of destruction, devouring and nothingness. And anything that fits into that realm, it will twist intent, it will twist perspective. It will do whatever it can to seep into it subtly. And the Angel of Irons was one path that, honestly, was more informed by Obann than the Angel of,

I mean, than the Chain of Oblivion. The idea of, this is a little esoteric, but the idea that if you... Stephen King's it. The creature takes the form of whatever is the scariest to whoever perceives it. And there are different stories that tell that. The Chain of Oblivion, when it begins to corrupt somebody,

this corruption, this entity, this thing that is the Chain of Oblivion, when it begins to corrupt somebody, this corruption, this entity, this thing that is the Chain of Oblivion's influence takes the form of whatever the creature thinks it might be looking for. And that's how it ends up masquerading in my mind, in my world, as different cults, as different figures, as different ways that it just undermines society. Cool. And so the Angel of Irons was a creation of Obann different ways that it just undermines society.

Cool. And so the Angel of Irons was a creation of Obann looking for something to follow and it allowed him to create this entity that he was looking to without knowing really what it was. And at the same point, Cognouza became something that he just subtly wanted to happen because it had a similar,

he knew it would come to a goal of his, which is the annihilation of everything and darkness forever. And so that was actually why Kingston, or not Kingston, Kingsley's, towards the end of the campaign, that one little memory I threw in there of, you know, a weird lingering memory of the birth of the city.

You see these black chains shattering in this ancient will. That was the Chain of Oblivion losing its subtle investment in Cognouza. Oh, cool. So it was my way of tying some things together, but not making it, you know, aha, the bad guy the whole time has still been the Chain of Oblivion.

I wanted it to stand on its own, but still be subtly influenced by. So it's like creative human subconscious gone horribly awry. Yeah, that's how I believe it operates. You know, it doesn't. Oh, sorry. No, go ahead, go ahead.

Was there ever a time you guys thought that the Traveler was influenced by the Chained Oblivion as well? The Traveler? Yeah. Did you guys always know that it was going to be Arty? Fuck no. No. Well, I feel like I had an inkling.

I had an inkling. I wasn't afraid it was connected to the Chain of Oblivion, though. Not like a bad guy parading as a semi-good entity? I didn't think it was the Chain of Oblivion. I definitely thought it was something nefarious. Yes, nefarious, yes. Like there was an evil force

that had been sort of puppeting you your whole life and we were going to figure out it was evil and fight it away and then free you. But no, it's just doofus. Yeah. Well, wait, wait, to that, because there was something that we missed that I wanted to ask.

When did you decide to have Sprinkle be inhabited, occasionally by Artagan? And then were there other NPCs that were also secretly Artagan? Okay. That's a good question. Oh shit. The introduction of a Crimson Weasel,

which doesn't exist in D&D lore, was intentional from the very beginning to be Artagan's anchor to her. What if we hadn't bought him? You just knew. Oh, I knew you were going to buy that. There was no way you weren't going to buy it. You're not a blink dog.

You bought a fucking owl. You're going to go pet shopping. And if you didn't buy it, and this is part of what I had planned, even if you didn't buy it, you would have ridden away, and an hour later, it had stowed away in your bag.

It would have, you know, indentured you. I wasted money. That's the Vex coming through on this. That's campaign bleed. I think that's the lore of the takeaway. Your final takeaway of Sprinkle is what a waste of cash. After everything he's been through. Immortals, stuck around you the whole time.

But yeah, so it was the idea of, like, because of the unique relationship with Artagan, or the Traveler, he couldn't be around all the time, and it didn't make sense for him to be continuously focused on you, because he had a lot of things going on with everyone else, so he had kind of taken into the fold and kind of dealing with his own crisis

of the mess he had made unintentionally, that that was kind of his, well, here's your, you know, kind of walkie-talkie band where I can just check in on my app and be like, oh, she's okay. And occasionally come through her. So yeah, and I was planning to have more NPCs show up

as our tagging references, but a lot of time I just forgot about them in the middle of the scene, because that's what happens when you're playing. Yeah. Yeah. But there were a couple of NPCs throughout the game. Oh shit. I think there was a child,

I believe there was a child at one point in the game, I can't remember where, that was green eyes, red hair. And there was the innkeeper in Shadycreek Run who was Artagen guiding you towards Caduceus. Oh wow. In that area. Another individual with pale skin, red hair, green eyes, who was very interested in what you were doing

and guiding you in the direction. That was when we were kidnapped. And I think when we were watching that at home, I was like, I think that's Artagan. I think that's the Traveler. I thought you were just pregnant, or just both parts of the delirium. I thought you were pregnant.

Still pregnant. Sure, it's the three hours of sleep we're getting every day. Yeah, I'd intended to weave him into NPCs more than that, but just never got around to it. I think two's fine. It worked out as a fun reveal. How about a fan question? Let's do it! Let's do it!

I'm rolling. 19. 12. Natural 20. Oh! 20 is well. Oh! Roll again. Natural 20. Oh! 20 is well. Oh! Roll off. Whose dexterity is higher?

No. Okay. Whose dexterity is higher? Motherfucker. Nine. Three. Oh well. How about you get the first one and you get the second one? I like it. That feels good. There we go.

Okay, I'll take this one for Marisha from alexanderdean__ig. I don't know, there's a lot happening there. But I don't know how to say it. How do you envision Beau moving forward with the Colmont Soul? Could you picture her taking a leadership position, or would she want to continue adventuring and exploring? Well, Alexander, you sound super hot.

Thank you. I am. Yeah, I envision Beau, as now that she's gone through all of this with the Mighty Nein and gone through this coming-of-age journey, because you know me, I love my coming-of-age journey, because you know me, I love my coming-of-age stories, that she's in her Saturn rising years now,

where she's like, oh, no, this is what I want to do. This is my career path. When someone gets out of like, ah, fuck this day job, I hate it, and now they're like, it's no longer a job, now it's a career. And I think Beau is willing to go in on that

for a little bit. So, I mean, even in the pirate arc, I was like, I don't know, maybe she'll still adventure and be loosely involved with the soul. But I think after everything, and the corruption in the Empire that we want to try and seed out, I think for a while, she's going to be

a full working class, shoulder pads, stilettos, pencil skirt. She's going to be a career woman. Yes. Amazing. We made a great pirate. Top end expositor. Charlie Simon, working girl? Yes, yeah.

Well, kind of. Perm? You can put her a perm? Kind of, yeah. She would look great with a perm, but so like, you know, maybe like the half up thing, you know, but a poof? She would be a perm. No, that's terrible, that sounds terrible.

Let's encourage it. No. Well, Ash and I were talking a little bit, kind of at the end of game, and you know, We had some textings. Yeah. Did you? We did. About like, what's there? Just, yeah, planning of what our, you know,

it's obviously ending the campaign. We were together, you know, and seeing where would we go with that? And Marisha being like, what do you, what does Yasha want? And what does Beau want? You know, and I think, you know, we talked about it and Bo wanting to be a career woman

and going hard with the Cobalt Soul. And I think just Yasha being supportive, which we kind of talked about at the end of the game. I think Yasha was really tired and just tired of fighting and sort of, you know, getting to the place of just being like, I just kind of want I want to just chill out for a while. Yeah.

We discussed some other stuff, which maybe I don't know. Yeah, we'll see. What is it? Tell us. This is the time, please. I want to know. In your healthy relationship. Yeah, Yasha embraces her domestic side. Yeah. It's more or less.

Yeah. I was like, will you? It's going to be a lot of long hours, this new job. Why are you really dramatic texting? I might be coming home late, but if you'll be there for me. Yeah. Keep a plate of food at this table. I really think Yasha would be there for her. And I really think that we just went with it, but. That's amazing.

Are you comfortable living in Rexxentrum? I know it's not, you know, would you move there for me? I want to talk this with you. It's a big job opportunity. We talked about a lot of it. I think there was also another thing that I was like toying with for, I think, we were kind of funny texting about it with other stuff,

but I think eventually I feel like Yasha probably would have approached Bo at some point, or together they would have decided of, maybe we want to adopt, you know? Like, I think being the orphan maker was kind of a weird thing for her, and I think she wanted to sort of like repair that. Yeah.

So yeah, that was something we kind of discussed of like, I don't know, maybe. In so many ways, we were like, should we adopt Kiri? Should we like, we were just talking about. We were like, well, maybe Ciri is happy with the Schusters and her life in Hopperduck. Wouldn't want to uproot her life, you know? She's just about to start middle school.

That's such a big time for her. Like. You're going to come live with a fuck-yourself. Yeah. Okay, all right. No, you're happy here. But I mean, it's just the two of us to be like, what do we want? Like, what do we want for our lives?

Babe, anything, anything. Anything, I just want to be with you, you know? I just want to be like, what do we want? Like, what do we want for our lives? Babe, anything, anything. Anything, I just want to be with you, you know? I just want to be supportive. Yeah. So sweet. The best, the best. Love it. Could you imagine, like, Yasha in, like,

a little apron, though? And I'm like, honey, I'm home. In your pencil skirt and your shoulder pads. You're a much better parent than what you were exposed to. Exactly. If Fjord goes and tries to fix the orphanage, maybe we're like, we'll take two.

Yeah. Yeah, we'll take two. The orphan taker, yeah. Give them a better life. The orphan taker? I like it. Yeah. That's so cute. I feel like that's the unexpected path, but I feel like there's a part of Yasha that's like,

I'm going to be a mama now. Like, just take everybody in. Take care and protect. I'm a big fan of just like the, on top of your guys' relationship, but like the Beau and Caleb kind of sunsetting as a team to take on the corruption, the Assembly. Because that's the thing, like, I had thought about

how far we would explore that in our game. And like, you know, we've all talked a little bit like on an independent basis about like what you wanted out of the thing, I thought about how far we would explore that in our game. And we've all talked a little bit on an independent basis about what you wanted out of the game, where things were going, what your characters' interests were, and what things you wanted to resolve. And I knew that the immediate element of your arc, the constant fear of Trent Ikithon

was going to conclude to a certain degree sooner than later. And so the moment you guys took those necklaces off, I was like, this is going to be interesting. But the rest of that job, I was thinking about would that be a worthy post-arc to pursue? But so much of the group, the characters had already gone through major arcs and had gotten to a point of comfort and rest and completion with their story.

And to go after the Empire and the Cerberus Assembly is such a big goal that would take a lot of time and a lot of careful bureaucracy. It would have felt weird to try and shoehorn that in as an arc where only some of the group is really heavily, like, firely invested in it. It's really a Beau and Caleb thing. Yeah, and we're filing so much paperwork and we're going to court hearings.

It's super bureaucratic. There are delays and delays. Yeah, getting permits, you know how tough that is. Go play zoning. Yeah, but I like that as a sunsetting gesture of, you know. Awful. You know, as this major story comes to a close, their story just begins to the intense process

of really tearing things down from the inside. And who knows, maybe one day we'll want to come back and explore something like that down the road, but I don't know. I thought it was a fun beat that you both ended that on and will be it'll be interesting to peek in in Some some way like five years later ten years later and see where things are at. Mm-hmm I got one on resolving the only creature I think in both campaigns that we fought twice But didn't go and kill or get killed by was that fucking white dragon? Oh my god. Gelidon. Oh yeah, yeah.

Like, can you tell us now what the glowing shit in his cave was? Her, fuck, I did it every time! Her. Yes. In her cave. We found some tech, right? Correct. The Gelidon's Lair, like a lot of dragons' lairs, are just collections of things

that they've either stolen victoriously or recovered that seem to have worth and interest to them. And as you know, Gelidon hunts to the north around Eiselcross and that various region. So at some point in the past, Gelidon had uncovered, whether intentionally or in passing, some Aeorian weapon that still had some functionality to it

and brought it back to her lair and kept it as a trophy, decoration, and if anything she really felt was an intense threat, maybe try and see if it's functional. But namely, just a decoration. How big was it? A few lights. Yeah, kind of. It was two big purple pulsing things, right?

Yeah, two big lights. It was encased in mostly ice because the whole layer is under ice, but beneath it, you could see this metallic structure with the pulsing lights behind it. That was just this. Were they like those proximity things near the end of the campaign that would go off

if you got too close to it? No, no, they were two parts of an arcane cannon. Dang. Not unlike the one that you guys saw in the Happy Fun Ball, but a larger siege version of that. Oh. Would we have been able to put it together

and use it against her? If you had somehow found, if you had somehow investigated deeply what it was about, come up with a clever way to get her out of her lair in time to figure it out and set it up, then yeah, you could have totally used it against her. Dang.

That wasn't going to happen. That was not going to happen. That was never going to happen. No, we were in too much terror and panic to ever. Yeah. Ancient dragons live forever. We'll know about this. Yeah, and three of our characters will just be like,

let's go! Let's go hunt some white dragons for now. Can I ask my fan question? Did I roll a 24? Oh, yeah, go for it. Okay, good, because I really want to ask this. Matt, from at JasonLee007

on Instagram. What would have happened if the party had released Halas? Because I've been dying to know this one, too. That's a great one. That's a good question. Halas, purely selfish entity

that would have been thankful that he was released, whether it be in his body or whatever body he took. Yeah, would he have tried to take over one of ours? Oh yeah, until he got back to his body. And then after the body was gone, who knows what would have happened. Whether he would have transitioned into the automaton that you had created or something else.

Like, he would have found a body and gone off, but Halas would have just gone. Halas would have been a campaign three problem. Oh shit. Oh! Yeah. We love doing that. We keep making it not three problem. Oh shit. Oh! Yeah. You love doing that, we keep making it not happen. That's okay. Yeah.

That's okay. But that's part of, like, they're- Three problem, what is that? Meaning it's a creature that has no interest in what you're doing here. And from Halas' perspective, you let him free, he's like, cool, thank you, I don't know who the fuck you are,

but I have more things to deal with right now, bye. Yeah, we've got over thousands of years, or thousand years. Yeah. Yeah. And then that becomes a possible antagonist force in the next campaign. And Halas still exists, right? Just is locked away in another dimension that no one knows about.

We just left him on hold for eternity. I could spend a whole campaign in that ball, by the way. That's amazing. Oh my god. That's like getting locked in a TARDIS. I mean, I could spend a hundred years. You guys only saw like 28, 25% of the ball. Do you know all of the rest of the ball? Did you have it mapped out in your head?

I have the loose structure mapped out, just a very, very loose idea, and then I detailed out the area that you guys were focused on. Yeah. And had just enough where if you began to wander off that path, I could roll with it off the seat of my pants. But I haven't had time nor reason

to flesh out the entire thing. But who knows? Maybe if the, once again, such artifacts tend to trade hands often through time. Maybe there'll be opportunities in future games. Would you want to speak to why, maybe you want to keep this secret in case you could use it later,

but why he was in the gem at that moment? Like, did he whoopsy himself in there? Was it? I think that's what you said, he had accidentally. Here's the thing. When you're a creature that is that powerful and you have created your own domain on this level, there sometimes the simplest things get overlooked.

And this was purely as part of this intent to create this ritual that required this specific kind of gem. And he went and had it custom made. He's focusing on all this stuff, goes like, I got this, built this thing. I now have this domain of this chained astral dreadnought. Within here is the perfect hidden chamber

for me to go ahead and create this ritual to further expand my domain and capabilities. All right, for this ritual, I need the specific gem. I'm going to hire this person to make this gem. All right, I'm going to focus on this. And somebody that he really pissed off, somebody that was deeply, deeply against Talas, got wind of what he had commissioned

and essentially had this gem cursed in a very, very hard-to-read way. So when he tried to complete his ritual, instead, magic jarred him. It pulled his soul out of his body and imprisoned it in this gem. And he was just stuck there until somebody managed to find the ball and then wander into an astral dreadnought

and check on him. Like you do. Like you do. That's us. So one more big thing before we move on, because I know we're getting long on this chunk, but I feel like it's just too big of a thing to not address, is Fjord and the intimidation of holding the sword over the kiln

and all of that connecting with Caduceus and the Star Razor and piecing. It was kind of like a cool combination of the two of you coming together, All of that connecting with Caduceus and the Star Razor and piecing, it was a cool combination of the two of you coming together. But I don't know, I think I just, I'm curious what would have happened if that would have all backfired. Like if he had actually intimidated Uk'otoa instead?

Yeah. Uk'otoa. Uk'otoa. Like, is there a chance that Fjord could have continued with Ukatoa? That would have even worked. Yeah. Would have even worked? It wouldn't have worked in the way that you would have scared Ukatoa down and been like, yes, sir, Fjord, whatever you want, sir.

Like, Ukatoa's not going to do that. But I think with a high enough intimidation check, it would have gained his respect for the will that you exhibited in the face of something that he knows is much larger than you are. So if anything, it would have made him go, and this is what I was thinking

in the moment, he would have been like, okay, here are your powers back. Now I really want to keep you. And it would have, because at that moment, the situation was so strained that while there was still

kind of his hooks in Fjord, there was enough of that, we don't like each other, are we going to break up type of a feel that it was just enough room for the Wild Mother to swoop in and go like, Child, I've got you. If you had done that and really pushed that intensity with Uk'otoa, Uk'otoa probably would have wanted

to keep you even more. And they processed the Wild Mother, and conversely, becoming a paladin would have been a much harder process of now trying to absolve yourself of Uk'otoa. Because right now, Uk'otoa is less interested in you as a person and more interested in what you carry. That's fucked up, man. The key to freedom.

I'm a great person. No, I think that's totally it. Uk'otoa is over you, buddy. If he'd gotten his powers back, I don't think I would have done the Wildmother Paladin thing at all. Like, he just wanted them back. The first time was in Xhorhas,

and I told you at the break when the powers were gone and I ran outside and was looking in the rain puddle or whatever, I was like, what if I just leave? And you were like, do you want to? And I was like, kinda. And he was like, then do it. And we'll see where it goes. Because I was just going to like,

go put the third orb in and summon Ukatola and get my fucking powers back. Yeah. And it was just like a matter of what, I can't remember what happened after the break, but like they came back relatively fast. That first time was like a threat, like a shot across the bow.

And I was like, oh shit, I need to have a backup plan if that happens again. Like, what do I do to try and leverage my powers back? And it didn't work at all, but I was also like, I don't like this position. Like, fuck this, this deal sucks. Let's just wipe the slate.

Yeah, it was fascinating. I mean, that's still like a reflection of the entire campaign and maybe our show, like one of the coolest things. And I don't know, I think I just, That's still a reflection of the entire campaign and maybe our show, one of the coolest things. I don't know. I think the balls of throwing away your class is just fucking amazing.

And I don't know if I could do it. Dude. Into a little. I mean, we always leave those little holes in our backstory for him to come in and do his thing. And so I was just like, what if you just wipe it? Let's see what happens. Hard drive rebate. Yeah.

That was great. Best purchase, best purchase ever. I love the red button, even if it means delete. So proud of you for. Oh, well, I mean, it's the secret gift of Caduceus Clay. And he explained it to you at one point of how fate works, of the notion of watering the tree, because you know what kind of tree it is. And maybe it's going to,

which if you actually like think about it for 20 minutes is basically clay going, this is a D and D game. Like literally he's just, he's just explaining that this is a D and D game. So if you, yeah. If you believe in that kind of fate in this world,

you understand it's like animal man, you know exactly that you're in a comic book. So it was like, oh, a broken sword. Well, clearly I need that. Yeah, it was just... Clearly this is important. Or else it wouldn't have been for sale. Exactly, like a ring of fire resistance.

It will pay off in the end. Okay, we have to move on, because there's a lot to get to. But first, Mika Burton spills the tea on her time in the campaign. Rule number one, evil dies. Rule number two, roll the clip. Hello, I am here with undoubtedly

the fan and cast favorite guest of Campaign 2, Mika Burton. Hello, Mika. Hi, Brian. Let's talk about Rini, your character from Campaign 2 that you later named your cute little puppy after. Yes, I did. Tell the folks at home about your inspiration behind her. Hilariously, my inspiration was just, I don't want to play something that I always play in Dungeons and Dragons. So let's play a race I've never played, a class I've never played,

a personality I've never played, and an alignment I've never played, and see what happens. Across the board, yeah. Across the board. In hindsight, it was hilarious because I was nervous as hell, obviously. It's a critical role. And I was like, let's just go outside the box let's just do something I've never done before and then day of I sat down at the table and I was like fuck I don't know what I'm doing yep but I think it was fun to flex my my role-playing muscles and do something super

super different and try an ASMR try a a druid, you know, it was awesome. And also to sitting there at that table with those nerves, knowing that everyone there has also felt that moment, usually like the first five episodes of a campaign or whatever, just like, why, what am I, what is my character? What am I doing? Why did I? Yeah. It's so hard because I thought I was only going to have one episode. So I was like, how do I get comfortable and used to who Rini is right now? I have five minutes go. And I think that was the most nerve wracking part of it. I honestly like what she sounded like came to me at the table.

Yeah. You know what she personified came to me kind of at the table because I did a lot of backstory and a lot of work on who Rini was but I thought that if I got too into my head I would fuck up and then everybody would hate me so I was like some of it has to be spontaneous don't pre-plan everything do you have a favorite moment from the

episodes that you were on that sticks out and if there's a different if Rini has a different favorite moment then share that with us as well oh no our moments are the exact same okay which was sleeping with beau okay yeah i figured i figured yeah i knew since i've known marisha i was like i know that marisha plays a disaster lesbian and the only thing i had in my mind was like reeney's by i'm sure marisha plays a hot character i really hope that they get along and through the three episodes we kind of naturally got along and reeney's disaster bisexualness ended up crushing on bow yeah and so i think that having all of the stars align on my

last episode that bow returned her advances even if it was just for one sweet night, I was like, yes. If I could complete anything in my stint at Critical Role, it would be fucking Bo. You know? Is there anything about Rini that didn't get revealed during the game that you want the cast and the fans to know? I think it kind of got more revealed during talks,

but I want everybody especially the cast and and everybody playing those characters to know that the mighty nine changed reni a hundred percent like she came out of the gate with this black and white morality follow your god and listen to no one else and this this and that and just in the three episodes of hanging out with them knowing how they think feeling attracted to bow knowing that like also seeing caleb and feeling like there's something behind his sad eyes because she's very intuitive and having that on her there is her angel that things are okay it's okay to not completely follow him to a t she makes some morally great decisions now. Like in my mind,

she went on to probably do some things that she may not have done before meeting them. You know, she doesn't think all evil deserves death necessarily, but she does want to, you know, still continue to fight crime and do good. Yeah. Yeah. Makes sense. Makes sense. What do you hope Rini's legacy is? I mean, other than fucking Bo, I hope her legacy is just kind of like this bright spot of sunshine and an otherwise, you know, can be kind of harsh campaign. Yeah. You know, I always see people drawing Rini with sunflowers and she has the sparkles and she's very peppy and she has a high pitched voice and she's blonde, you know? So I think that in our literal world of sadness and darkness and the campaign's world of sadness and darkness, I hope that Rini was this bright, sparkly sunflower of gay energy that brought the smiles to people's faces and um i don't know also she took on a dragon and lived so like that's a dope legacy like she that's true she is i i don't want to toot my own horn but reeney's a big part of the reason that they survived that encounter

i think somebody probably wrote a song about her i would hope so it's canon it's in there hashtag it's canon they boned just everyone's trophy just crossing them off my list oh everyone's trophy, just crossing them off my list. Oh jeez. Just stop. Talk about me some more. You're everybody's favorite moment. I am everyone's legacy. Oh god.

You know, she made interesting points, many interesting points, but one was that it's interesting that the Mighty Nein, who are these morally ambiguous characters and who make bad decisions all the time, had influenced a lot of characters in positive ways, even though we weren't making good decisions. Yeah, so good.

But I think our bad decision-making showed all these other characters, guest characters and NPCs and stuff that, it's okay to mess up or something. Or something. We have enough to do. Somehow we were not a cautionary tale. We should have been a cautionary tale over and over again,

but we kept not being a certainly. I wouldn't say you avoided being a cautionary tale, but it definitely didn't become your calling card. No, certainly a catalyst for change. Yeah. Yes, yes, I agree with that. Wasn't there a pretty good fan breakdown like halfway through the campaign, probably over a year now,

about like the Mighty Nein are kind of the Robin Hoods of D&D campaigns. Like we did morally gray things, but we also more or less kind of always had the best intentions of the civilians and the populace and, I mean, point in case, how many people, how many NPCs were supposed to be villains that we turned into our friends?

It was more than just Essek. That's true. We're the definition of chaotic good. Yeah. We also killed a bunch of innocent people. We did. Mangled a horse. Oh, we did. Oh my god. Yeah. We also killed a bunch of innocent people. We did. Mangled a horse. Oh, we did.

Oh my god. Yeah. We're going out for Waterloo and Toilet. And WC. And WC. Yeah. Oh, buddies. Horses we killed. Look, man, having mounts in this game is rough. Yeah. What happened to our moorbounders? Oh. Our moorbounders? Oh.

Our moorbounders! Oh, wait. We heard them get eaten by harpies. Was that the moorbounders? No, we said that was the horses. Or no, those were horses. Those were horses in campaign one. Wait!

On the way to Whitestone before the Bahir. That was the... Oh, fuck! That was six years ago, Marisha. Oh no! Oh no! We've gone back, Marisha. Oh no! We've gone back, we've cycled back! Where's my horse?

No! You are off and on! Just the D&D version of I left the baby on the bus. I totally thought they were eaten by harpies. We totally murdered these horses. How did these horses die? I think they just died. They were having a fight.

They were just horses. Yeah, they just died. Like every mount in every D&D game, they die of starvation or not eat. Yeah, both mounters just get set free. That's what happens. I have to look back. I don't know.

I don't remember what happened to the fucking moorbounders. I've got a lot to concentrate on. The whereabouts of your pets, not my problem. Well, didn't we, we left the moorbounders in Bazzozan, right? We traveled across the barb. Yeah, yeah, and we left them,

and then we never got back. And we left them and never came back. I think they probably nod through their ropes and just went out. They were wild. After a while, some nice couple in Bazzozan were like, well, nobody's picking them up. I guess they're ours now.

And then the more bounders hate them. Yeah, yeah. Come here, little guy! Weirdest Unsolved Mysteries episode ever. Hey! We also befriended yetis. Ah! The weirdest Unsolved Mysteries episode ever. Jeez! We also befriended yetis. Yeah. And owlbears. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

All kinds of friends along the way. And a particular witch. Yeah. That's right. Oh, this was the Asharn-I arc. Oh, yeah. This was the cupcake. Right? Another epic moment. Is Asharnai ever going to snap out of it,

realize what happened, or just send postcards to Jester? I know, I always wondered, and we never really checked. Like, I did send her cupcakes. You did? Does the spell keep going forever? Yeah, it just takes hold until they, but she's so powerful, who knows?

Hags keep things close to the chest. Ah. What does that mean? I don't know, what does that mean? I know, I'm terrified. Like, that's how Jester ends, like, years later. I'll say, campaign is over, you're right. All I will say is,

no, the hag is no longer under the spell. Oh. But she still loves Jester. We're friends. She loves her cupcakes. I don't like her. There is a level of respect and interest in being outmaneuvered

that doesn't absolve their attention. So yeah, in my mind's eye, yeah, they'll probably cross paths again. Okay! Ooh, boy! You have a nemesis. Maybe don't pass through there again. Yeah, just leave it.

Yeah, she totally has a nemesis, yeah. Oh my god. The anti-gester is the hack. Yeah. It's exciting. It is. Well, I still keep sending cupcakes. So what about sending messages to her?

Would she have let on if I was sending her messages? Like, so what are you doing? Miss you so much. She probably would have responded in kind, just as you would have expected. Okay. Oh no. I'll see you in the least expected.

Can we talk about? Enjoy your breakfast. In late campaign, we kept seeing corrupted woods in many different places. So what's the connection? Is there a connection between the corrupted wood in the Aeorian ruins and in the woods? Correct, yeah. Blooming Grove stuff?

Yeah, in the Sevillier Woods. So the lore never, the areas where more of the lore would unveil weren't necessarily pursued. And I like the idea of there being, I don't like every answer being answered. I like there being intriguing tidbits that you find, and if you go down that rabbit hole,

you might find more information, but also it just adds more to the uniqueness and mystery of it. But in my head, there was likely an Aeorian experiment during its heyday that was trying to create purely arcane plant life. Like, imagine creating a type of bush or algae that in its own right could be consumed or processed

and almost in a residuum-type way enhance someone's magical capabilities or be utilized to replace components, expensive components for spells. And so there was a lot of odd experimentation with creating this new form of life that continued to fail and continued to fail. And it got closer and it continued to fail.

And before I had a chance to complete and actually succeed in their experimentation, Aeor was destroyed. But there were facets, relics of this research that were still kind of maintained and locked, untouched in this time. And some so these relics found their way southward or fell out of the city while it was being destroyed. And so one of these artifacts from this research period

was uncovered or brought to Molaesmyr, the major elven city in the Salvalier Woods. And along with it was some sort of arcane detonation. Like I'm keeping the details of it vague because like a lot of things here, they are plot threads in like the Wildemount Guide. And I want people to be able to explore them in their home campaigns without feeling like

now I'm completely wiping away whatever they created for their story, you know, because now it's canon. But something was uncovered and accidentally detonated in Molaes Myr. And when it did, it unleashed one of these failed experiments that didn't necessarily create new life, but it just corrupted it wholly.

And that changed the entire forest. And it would have spread even further beyond that, but since then, the destruction of Molaes Myr, some of the sentinels and druids left over that went to Viseas Teal, which is one of the refugee elven cities that was developed thereafter from the ruins of it, they send sentinels out to cut the woods back and to keep it from spreading beyond while they try and figure out maybe some way to reverse it. But it's still such an aggressive thing that doesn't get enough funding and interest from the Empire, and it's utilized by the Shady Creek powers as essentially a fog blanket

from being pursued by Empire interests and those that would stop them in their criminal activities. So it just remains this. Pursue them into that area because it's so fucked up. Yeah, and that's why Shady Creek Run is built within the edge of the forest. So if anyone tries to come in, they're like, follow us in, you know?

Still sounds like Shadycreek. Was it just the dimming of the power of the Blooming Grove was why it was getting eaten up, or? Well, essentially, as this corruption continued, it began to gain power or began to find unique ways to mutate and push past the protective boundaries of the Blooming Grove and began to push into it. And would eventually take it,

in which all presence of the Wild Mother would be completely dissolved from within there. All of life would be taken over and it would have just become another part of the Savalirwood and this leftover, empty ruin of a once sacred place. And so it was through the Wildmother's visions and through your doing and the help of the Mighty Nein

that you were able to find a way to essentially reverse and keep at bay this corruption and might even end up being, in my mind, if, depending on what Caduceus wanted to do or interact with, what you discovered and placed there with the Wildmother might be a key to maybe eventually reversing the corruption in the entirety of this Halloween. But this is just the first step in that process.

Once again, another long-term goal, should he want to do it, or he interfaces with an elven scholar that comes there being like, how is this still here? And Caduceus is like, I don't know. And then together, you maybe help them out. But that was kind of the ideas behind that corruption.

It was meant to be this unanswered, fully unanswered mystery, alluded to, elements discovered, and a fun little lingering facet. Just terrible hydroponic experiments gone horribly wrong. Yeah, pretty much. Okay, they're trying to just, this is what happens when you try and hydroponic wheat gone horribly wrong. Yeah, pretty much. Okay, they're trying to just, this is what happens when you try

and hydroponic wheatgrass, apparently, or something. Magic wheatgrass, whatever. Yep. Can I ask you a question, Marisha? Sure. Unrelated to the campaign, though. Completely unrelated. What are you doing later?

Making out with both of them. Keep it in the game! Watch everybody! No, it's okay. You too. Okay. You said on your date, I think it was on your date,

that you said, I fell in love with you in Kamordah, to Yasha. Like, what was the exact moment? Is there an exact moment? Because you said it was, you know. I fell in love with Beau in Kamarda. You fell in love with Beau? Yes. Yeah, okay.

I was like, what did I say? When did you fall in love with Yasha? There's an element of a little bit of, it's tough because Beau was attracted to Yasha out of the gate. And was a pig about it in those early games. Because that's the only way the boat knew how to have any type of meaningful romantic discussion,

was to just be like, I'm going to be a pig about this. But there was, I think it was when we. This is my love language. Yeah, yeah. I think it was when she really started taking note when you talked about collecting the flowers for Zuella. Zuella.

Zuella. And I should know the name of your dead wife. And seeing- You guys are getting a kiss? Yeah. I should know the name of your dead wife. And kind of seeing. You guys are going to get pissed. Yeah. That's a pretty big monster. Yeah, seeing that, and then there was this other moment later on

that I think locked it in, when it was when you bought the dog statue in Rexxentrum. Oh. Just something about that moment. Well, that's the sweetest. Being in this magic shop and everyone's buying things. I think that's where we bought the Celebones.

Yeah, and the Oops. And the Oops stones. And the Chuckle Dust. The dealer who was actually three kobolds in a- No, no, no, no. No, no. That was great, though. I forgot about that. Okay, since I remembered it wrong,

you didn't say it, you said it. Well then, what was your moment? I love how aggressive that question was. Well, I'm just saying. I want to know romance. I love you! Just answer something. I don't even know what I'm asking. Just answer it.

Oh god! Talk about romance and love. Okay, so that moment when we spent time with your family and sort of- Great family. Great, great, great fam. Very healthy. Yeah. I think I was just so frustrated

with how your dad was with you. And I was so, just me, just so frustrated. And I'm like, why is this happening? Why am I, why am I, why am I? Oh, because I love her. So I think it was just like a, it was sort of the beginning of that, like, I need to protect my people,

but this is a little bit more of a, it's crossed over to something else. So did you fully recognize at the time, like it was love or did you, were like, I have this emotion and what, why do I feel protective of? I mean, that's so hard to say. I know, it's like, you don't,

it doesn't sound like a switch for most people. I think I mean, that's so hard to say. I know. It's like, you don't, it doesn't sound like a switch for most people. Yeah, I think I was, I mean, Yasha was clearly already feeling some kind of thing for Beau, but I think having that feeling of like, oh, I'm going to tell your dad off or do something negative in this moment because I have a lot of feelings in here

and I don't really know what this fully means. But I think, I don't know, I think she probably went very thinking about it internally and was like, oh, this is a lot. This is a lot more than I thought it was. Oh, wow. Oh wow. Yeah, I think I have a similar moment, because I think learning about you collecting the flowers

and learning the sensitive side of Yasha, and then you left because of the Obann stuff when you got mind controlled and there was the big debate about, is this, is it Yasha? Is it really Yasha? Or is it something else? And Fjord and I were team, nah, fuck that. Maybe she's evil. Maybe she's been, we don't know her.

We don't know her at all. And Beau jumped on that train because she was hurt in the same way. And Beau responds to those things by being like, fuck that person if she's deeply hurt. And same thing, I had a similar reflective moment of like, why am I taking this so personal? Ooh.

Oh, wow. Ooh. Let's ask a fan question. These are so much fun to do. Fan question? Fan question. Gun roll. Oh, roll. First question. Question. Natural one.

Natural one. Five. Seven. 16. 18. Oh! Matt. Sam.

Yes, Matt? Oh, you shouldn't have done that. At SafikYu, I believe I said that right, or I didn't, and I'm sorry. Is that wrong? How do you think Veth slash Nott's relationship with the Nine and her family would have changed if she was incapable of breaking her curse?

Would she have ever entertained the idea of leaving the group if she did not break the curse? You guys know this from playing with me. I'm always entertaining the idea of leaving the group. It's like my default thing. Yeah. No, I've talked about this in years past. I think in any campaign, if you really think about it,

all the characters should leave. I mean, it's horrible. You're like on an endless nightmare. It's full of death and pain and anguish and near death. At some point, you should just leave. It's bad. This is toxic. If not, couldn't be changed back.

I mean, she was hopeful. She was confident that Caleb would find a way eventually, once Caleb got strong enough. So I think she was in it for the long haul. But towards the middle of the campaign, I was definitely thinking about, all right, well, what if this doesn't happen? And I was playing this concept of maybe

she'll just become full goblin and let it take over her. Not intentionally let it take over her, but after, I just assumed that if you're a goblin for so long, then you start forgetting what it's like to not be a goblin. And so I don't think she would have left the Mighty Nein because

that wouldn't have solved anything. But I think she might have just sort of given up on, just kind of given up or started to forget who she was in the past. Maybe even forget about her family and stuff. Which would have been super sad.

But luckily Caleb is the greatest wizard ever and so smart and so about her family and stuff, which would have been super sad. But luckily, Caleb is the greatest wizard ever and so smart and so handsome and figured out a way to do it. I also got worried mid to late campaign that the only way that Nott was going to be able to change is if Caleb found the power that he was looking for, which is the power

to go back and change the past, go back in time and alter stuff. I thought that was maybe the way that he would have solved Nott's predicament and his own. And that made me super scared because I did not want you to do that, like to go back and change anything, even if it meant me.

Because I felt like all the growth that Caleb had made and all of the new person he had become, if he went back and tried to undo some of it, he would have accidentally undone all of it or undone the good bits. And so that would have been an interesting choice if he wanted to use that technology on me, I probably would have resisted

because that was my one big thing. Like, I did not want you to do, and I'm so proud of you in the last game there for burning your past. It was perfect. Let's talk about time travel, because I will, part of me will always regret not having pushed that button

because it's so fun to push the red button. And I've been planning it. Didn't know if I would do it, but I've been planning it since the beginning of this campaign and had what I thought was a really good plan that would work. And I shared it with Matt over time,

because I'm like, this is like a crazy thing to like try to like go back and I'm not going back to kill myself. I have an idea to make everything work, but I want you to be aware of what I'm planning. And every spell that I picked had a purpose. Widogast's Vault of Amber was designed to be a refrigerator to carry two bodies back with me.

What? What? To replace my mother and father with. I wasn't dead set on this, but I thought there was a very good chance that Caleb would have been forced to fight Ostrad and Eadwulf, and they would be the dead bodies that I would bring back with me. Oh shit!

Dang! After a while, that seemed... Yes! After a while, that wasn't it, so I thought, well, maybe there'll be two bodies from the Aeorian Ruins, or maybe I'll have Jester paint me two skeletons. All the illusion magic, which Caleb did beautiful, lovely things with,

were so that he could disguise himself as a random student and create a teenage bren and walk up to the house and have the illusionary bren talk to mom and dad and invite us in and break the news and then we were going to go outside and be invisible and watch it happen from the distance so that they would realize that i was telling the truth and then i was going to take them to tell dory and have them live in Iman or something quietly. And I was going to shove a bunch of jewels in their hands so they could take care of themselves and say, all right, come here every Tuesday,

every week of your life. Well, not every week of your life. In like 17 years, start coming to this fountain and eventually I'll be here. And it would have worked. It would have worked, but I couldn't. If I had done it earlier, he might have risked it maybe,

but the bigger things got, and the bigger things got, and the bigger things got, like there's a chance that Trent could have had someone speak to the bodies if he was that paranoid a person to go speak to those bodies in the ruins. And that could have fucked things up in some way and changed something somehow,

or something that I'm not even imagining. So wait, you're saying that Caleb did not do it because of logistics, of practical concerns, of it not working? No, no, the repercussions would have been devastating to the world. To the world, but what about to Caleb? That's all that my character cared about,

was saving you from fucking with your past because you didn't need to. You need to look forward. Well, that happened, too, because what Trent's fucked with Bren's mind and made him think that his... Bren was trying to be a patriot for his country. He was, he was gung-ho to do whatever the empire needed, going in not knowing that it would be that.

And his parents sent him off to do that. And in his mind in present day, he did the opposite. Like he betrayed the people of the empire. If you can't protect your own parents, if you're going to have children murder their parents based on lies to create hardened assassins and super soldiers, what are we even fighting for? So ultimately, Caleb, in his mind, became a patriot, not in the way that he imagined,

but in the right way. And while he'll never lose the wound that he caused himself because somebody abused him, undoing the government, fixing things in the present day and teaching responsibility and stewardship to people that would follow in the same kind of path that he did is way more of a service to the people of the land that he's from.

So it was both those things. But then step back from it as a D&D player, I like to go back and fucking try to mess with time and see what happens. And my question for you is, now that I've spit all that out, is what was it like just to have a player with a backstory and a goal

that could potentially unravel everything? And what were you thinking about all this time? He already had that with Grog. Grog could unravel everything with just a single draw of a card. I mean. There was no planning for that. That's a pretty good analogy, actually. It's scary as fuck.

You're welcome. So it was very much a... I'm more invested in giving you the opportunity to make the choices that you want to with your character than I am to guard any sort of fear I have of how it may change the story that I've worked on, if that makes sense. So as we got closer to the end of the campaign,

I'm not going to lie, I spent a lot of time reading research papers on time travel and diverging timelines, single timelines, trying to shore up a lot of time reading research papers on time travel and diverging timelines, single timelines, trying to shore up a lot of my past understanding of a lot of theories based around its capabilities or lack thereof, and consider what avenues it may be, and even enforce unexpected limitations on it

that would cause you to have to think on your feet if you were to attempt it. Some of the earlier notes you uncovered in Aeor spoke how some people came back and said it was very physically taxing to do so within their own timeline, and others just didn't come back. So I wanted to definitely institute a challenge to it

as opposed to just a thing that would happen. Whether that would be a stopgap to Caleb doing anything too crazy and unraveling the whole timeline or keeping it consistent enough because you only had a certain amount of time to do what you wanted to do. Like, I was considering these checks and balances,

but I knew it would be a late game opportunity. And at that point, I wasn't going to deny something that you had long built your character to want to explore. So I just kind of did my best to try and prepare for the possibility, and when we crossed that bridge, see what happened. I've been scared the entire campaign of it,

wanting to go toward it. I was waiting in our final episode for you to pull a fucking card from the deck of many things by actually time traveling with Essek in that final bit. I was like, all right, here we go. Let's see where this goes. I've rehearsed it in my mind 50 times and I agonized for the six months

lead up to the end of this campaign. And I think that Caleb did that to take it out of his own hands and Essek's and anyone else. But I also think that for the next 20 years, once a day, he'll go, maybe it would have worked. You broke the Elder Wand. You would have found out You broke the Elder Wand.

You would have found out that you can't travel back in time further than the point that you learned the spell. Then you're like, well, there's the wall. What were the other rooms? Oh, the Einstein Theory. I know we only saw two of them. You can't travel further back than when time travel is invented.

Half the letter that Veth wrote to her son was to you saying, don't do it. Yeah. Whatever you do. The rooms of the tower were, so his childhood home, which you guys saw. Number two was his first classroom at Soltrys, which would have looked like an old medical amphitheater,

where he just learned a lot of the ropes. Third was the dance hall that you guys had been to. Nice. And if you stood in there long enough, you would start to faintly hear music play. Fourth was Astrid's bedroom at the Academy, where the three of them and the two of them would spend nights together.

And then, that's right, studying too. Five, I guess I should have flipped the order of these, but five was an abandoned tower at the academy that Trent used when he was trying to punish them or tell them they were worthless. He would shove the three of them into this abandoned tower with no insulation or heating at night and they would be freezing to death and

that's how they became intertwined romantically because they were huddling together just for warmth, trying not to die at night. And they just, no. And they just held each other through the night more than once, and it just kind of grew out of that.

Sure. Not in that tower, but because of the intimacy that formed there. Six was a locked chamber in Trent's private estate outside of Rexxentrum, where they got the crystal shoved in and where they did really awful, awful things. Nope.

Seven was his sanatorium cell and a tethered bed. It was just a squalid, lonely hospital room. Eight was the one-room podunk jail where Caleb met Nott. Yay! Aw. Good times. Nine was the nestled nook, which where Caleb met Nott. Yay! Aw. Good times. Nine was the nestled nook, which you saw. You talked to somebody up there. You talked to somebody one time.

In the jail cell? One of the gang. Myself? Yeah. He talked to himself. To myself. It was just you? Yeah. Okay. And you. Didn't you walk into the fourth room? It was the fourth room. I don't know, man.

Could be anything. You walked into a room and you said you saw a crumpled bed or something. That was Astrid's bedroom. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, I remember. Hey, Sam. Did you have a poster of O-Town up?

O-Town. Wow! 98 degrees in O-Town. I'm a butterfly. You rolled a... Is that O-Town? Liquid Dreams, I believe? Sugar, baby.

I'm a butterfly. Sugar, baby. Is that O-Town? Come, my lady. Come, come, my lady. Not O-Town. That's not O-Town? I don't know. Whatever. Danny!

Did you know O-Town? Danny! You have to tell me. I want to see the rest of your powers, Danny! Danny, we need O-Town lyrics now! Sam, you were up in initiative. Why don't you ask our last fan question? Okay, Marisha, at Poddling Songs asks Marisha,

how does Beau feel about her little brother after meeting him? Does she have any plans to remove him from the horrible home environment she grew up in? Judgmental. So he doesn't end up with as many problems as she does? Oh yeah. Oh man, old TJ.

Yeah, definitely. Oh man, this is probably going to get too real for a second. TJ is loosely named after my younger younger cousin who is also named tj but thoreau jr ended up work my cousin's name was timothy jr and he died of an overdose several years ago very young age on his dad's couch it was ridiculous like he was like 19, died of an overdose. So yeah, I kind of unintentionally slash intentionally kind of named TJ after my cousin. And in a weird roundabout way, to answer the question, yeah, kind of.

Like, maybe it was a little bit of my own way to kind of get a little bit of closure. And I don't even know if I realized I was really doing it at the time. And, you know, so there was a moment even when I was thinking about leaving as Beau or if with Isharnai and everything. And if Beau didn't make it,

that's kind of why I had that conversation with Veth. And it was like, hey, if anything ever happens to me, you're a mom. Mm-hmm. You've got a kid that's kind of the same age as TJ, or at least close to it. Will you watch him? Will you take over? Will you do, I don't know, just something? So yeah, there was definitely a time

that I was considering totally projecting as Beau, if I could have done something to maybe save him out of this fantasy hell that he was in, kind of doing my own rewriting of time and nothing that I got to do in real life. I didn't get to save TJ or pull him out of the shitty circumstance that he was in. So, yeah.

Yeah, I didn't really, and I didn't put that much weight into it in the moment. But then, or in backstory writing. But then, kind of in the moment, I think it kind of just hit me a little bit harder. Because I was anticipating going in with resentment to the whole situation. Like, fuck you, Mom, fuck you, Dad, fuck you, new kid. I don't know you either. You're not my brother. And then it was just this whole

totally different reaction of, Oh no, I love you. Uh-oh. Yeah, oh no. Uh-oh. Yeah, exactly. Uh-oh. I love you. Oh no. Need to protect. That type of thing., exactly. Uh-oh. I love you. Oh no. Need to protect. That type of thing. Oh god.

You are my flesh and blood, and there is that deeper connection there. So yeah, what ended up starting off as just this own way in my head to honor my cousin and let him live on in this weird fantasy crossover world. Yeah, it ended up translating into those ways a little bit more.

But anyway, that got way heavier than I was anticipating. I love it. I love it. Maybe we can invite him to Rexxentrum for two weeks and he can never go home. Yeah. Yeah, I envision that. Like, let him get through school,

you know, when you're an adult, and I want to be your cool older sister, and I'll show you the big city when you're old enough. I'm going to take you out drinking. I'm going to be your first beer. You know, like, yeah, let's, whenever, you know. It's fantasy world, so I'm sure the drinking age is like 14.

You know? I'm not commenting. You never asked. You're going to godmom that. I'm going to drinking age is like 14, you know? I'm not commenting. You never asked. You're going to godmom that. I'm going to godmom, yeah. I'm not specifying any drinking ages in Exandria. They vary from place to place and not by my choosing. Some people live to be like 2000,

so it's written some only 80 years. It's kind of hard to say. It's hard to say. Yeah, in Kraghammer, it's like four. Depends on where you're from, yeah. It's like four. Well, on that happy note. Yeah. How about we move on?

Sure. We're kind of in the home stretch, you guys. This is the final arc we're about to talk about. But before that, we have a very special, very special guest interview for you. Take a look. All right.

I'm here with the legendary Chris Perkins, obviously the fan and cast favorite guest star of Campaign 2. Chris, tell us a little bit about your favorite moment or your favorite part about guesting on a critical role campaign too. Hello, Brian. Absolutely. Uh, I think, I think that's pretty much it. I think that's all we had for you today. So thanks.

Thanks for coming on Chris. Appreciate it. It was three days from retirement. Oh no. Wait, 14 days is retirement? I'd love to stay in chat, but I gotta poo. Okay. Thanks for joining us, Chris. Appreciate it.

Bye! Yay! His interview is about as long as his time in the campaign. Yay! Amazing. Come on! His interview is about as long as his time in the campaign. I love it. That's amazing. Learn bright, learn briefly. Yeah.

Yep. Live fast, die young. Spurt. I'm so glad he was game for that. Yeah. Oh my god. Better to spurt out than to fade away. Is that the only time we've had somebody die,

stand up and walk out of the table? Like walk away from the table? Yeah, I think so. Well, no. Oh. Yeah! He wasn't even supposed to be a guest in the show. He was just there to do between the sheets. Yeah, yeah.

And that kobold was just an NPC that you guys were going to encounter, and he was here in the studio, and I was like, hey, you want to be a kobold tonight? You know what? I handed him the sheet, he went, okay. And he made magic. Amazing. I love it, I love it so much. I only regret that I couldn't one-shot him

before we had a chance to talk. It was always next campaign. One-shot NPCs, I just need a PC. And out. Six. Well, we are now in the final arc of the campaign. I do have a huge question to kick this off with. Yeah?

If we would have gone back to see Henry Crabgrass, how's he doing? I'm not terribly, I think I looked it up at one point, at the lifespan of Crabgrass. Don't you dare. He doesn't die, he's dead. Don't you dare. He lives on. He's got roots.

Yes. Generations. What I was going to say is upon looking at the lifespan of Crabgrass, which I believe is a few weeks. What? What's that? A monster.

You wouldn't find Henry Crabgrass, but you'd find later generations of Henry Jrs and other Crabgrass that have spread and continue to speak on the joys of consent and the wonderful people that came by that one time in the rain and talked about things and asked how they were doing. So. It would have been

a generational legend at that point. Yeah. Yeah. Jester would have been a god to Hedrick at that point. For a square 15 feet. In this one patch on this hill. I think once every year, Jester goes back to that spot just to hang out with the crabgrass. I dig that.

And Fjord is worried. Have you heard the good word of the old ones? It does feel like she's got to be their god, right? To Travis's point? Four generations between visions at that point. My grandpa told me about you. I didn't think you'd be this pretty. Can I pet you?

Good scent, please. Amazing. We'll find the punk that came from. Best character ever. On final arc, we were getting eyes. What was the highest we got to, six? Five, I think. Five? Beau.

You had eyes, and I didn't. You. Five? Beau. You had the highest, no. You both had five eyes. Both ended with five. Yeah, what happens if you hit nine? What would happen? Oh, hold on, I have a list. We had a text thread, by the way, you two don't know this.

Oh yeah. We had a text thread that didn't have you two on how to kill you motherfuckers. Or what? Yeah, yeah. What, are you serious? We had a whole plan to take both of you out. Me too! We assumed you were plan to take both of you out.

We assumed you were going to be turning on us. Go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep. My plan, not to bring it back to the darker place, like, my plan was to make you think that your brother was there. Yeah. And like, in peril, so that you would just be distracted and go after him.

It would've worked, yeah. That's why I was on Caleb duty. Yeah. Yeah. Not to protect. Yeah, we switched it up. We switched it up. We swapped the roles. Fjord would've gone after you, Yasha would've gone after you.

I had a spell that would've pretty much ended you. You probably would've thought Yasha was going to end you. The one where depending on how many HP you have has a different effect. Traits. Oh, right, right, right. I respect the fuck out of that. All right, if someone hit nine eyes, Matthew. All right, so the path right, right, right. I respect the fuck out of that. All right, if someone hit nine eyes, Matthew.

All right, so the path incrementally increased. So one was mild telepathy, 120 feet to somebody else with an eye. Dark vision at two. You can see through illusions at three. You can choose to peer into the ethereal plane at four. At five, you can scry into the eye of another person, not their eyes, but another eye on their body.

Wow. Which Lucien was using you both to keep tabs on. Oh my god, yeah. At six, you could sense all beings with minds within 300 feet of you. So anything that had a mind and a consciousness, you just at all times knew where they were. Stealth or not. Nosebleeds.

Oh jeez. At seven, you get his ability, Rend Mind, where you can grab something and do 10d10 psychic damage, I think it was, the grapple. The thing that he killed Vess with and did to you. At seven, at eight, you can control the minds of other people with eyes. And then at nine, you got the C minds of other people with eyes. Wow. And then at nine, you got the cone of anti-magic.

Wow. But at nine, you also became an NPC under my control. Yeah! So when I said there was a timer, that's what I meant. Because eventually, if all of you started getting enough eyes, the tides would have begun to shift. That would have been brutal. Would there be more than one with nine?

Or is that just like, there can only be one Highlander-style? In this instance, Could there be more than one with nine? Or is that just like, there can only be one Highlander style? In this instance, there could be more than, you're not the Nonagon, you're not the Chosen, but you can, at that point, you are completely under the influence of the, what was then the Neo-Somnovum or Cognosa Incarnate. So yeah.

And reading the book jump-started it. Yeah. Yeah. To view the pattern. Did the amulets work at all? Yeah, that was my question. Yeah, with Lucien? With Lucien?

It worked when Cree tried to scry on you, but when it came to the eyes, it was less divination and more of an astral connection. So the necklaces did not necessarily prevent Lucien from looking in on the two of you. No. It did half its job. Trent looking in on the two of you. No. They did half its job. Trent did, no, for a while.

Yeah. It kept Trent at bay for a long time. Clutch. That'll do. Yeah. So Cree ended up having five eyes, or did she also have nine eyes? She had five. She had five, I think, yeah.

So what did he, because I was afraid that after a certain point, the threshold would get lower and lower and eventually I could just, you know, Molly or Lucien could turn any of us into a Cronenberg monster. Is that what he did to her? She was something else.

She was. What? No, I mean in the sense that she had been someone bound to him so strongly and for so long that this had less to do with the eyes and more like when she was brought within a moment of her life, he was able to unleash

the chaos of the pattern within her. Which means in theory, technically, if any of you had nine eye or a large amount of eyes and then went to zero and he had the inclination, maybe you could have done that, but that would've been unfair from a balance standpoint. He'd be like, oh, you took a lot of damage and now you're a flesh beast in the final battle

for no reason that you could have expected necessarily. That would have been a little unfair from a balance standpoint. Long-term exposure kind of thing. Yeah, it was intended to be more of like, because Cree was so connected for so long that it enabled him that extra step. Did Cree have the tattoos when we met Cree?

Did Cree have eye tattoos that we didn't see? Oh, yes, but they were hidden. Okay, cool. Correct. They were hidden? They were hidden. Does it matter where the eyes are, or is it random? No, it's random. Legitimately, I was just trying to pick interesting places

every time they came up. That wasn't the gooch. I know some people were like, I'll let you know of. There were some in the final battle I didn't specify. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Lucien's like,

Oh! Oh! Just trying to. Just trying, yeah, yeah. It's so moist. It's so moist and dark here. It's salty, it's salty, vinegar. But no, I just started just choosing locations at random

because often there wasn't a pattern to it and often I didn't expect an eye to happen or things like that, so I just threw it out there, which is so funny when I said forehead for you, I didn't even think about Scanlan in season one. And then I saw that in some of the fan art, I was like, oh fuck, that's really funny. Completely unintentional.

Campaign three. Completely unintentional. Campaign three. Completely unintentional. Just got to get an eye. Got to get that eye. But yeah. What about an Aeor? Steve Rogers. What was the damn robot's name? Divexian. Divexian. Whatever happened to that? How's he doing?

Divexian is doing great. Divexian managed to bring about and rouse a number of other long slumbering or dormant Aeormatons. And they had a big attack. And you have now officially reintroduced the Exandrian version of the Warforged into Exandria. Sick! Wait, where did we lose to vaccine?

In Eiselcross. Yeah, in Aeor. Wow. And with that, there is now a slew of freshly awoken Aeormitons, many with new memories that are walking out into the icy fields of Eiselcross to find their future and fate in the world.

About how many would you guess? I don't know. Nice enough to describe. On a scale of one to Terminator. On a scale of one to T100. Oh my god. Other Aeorian stuff, and maybe Luxon stuff, too. First, the Blue Bubbles.

Yes, the Blue Bubbles! Yeah! The Blue Bubbles. Oh my god. Okay, so they were created by an errant attempt at protecting the city in its moments of destruction. As with Aeor and Eiselcross, magic is strange, especially around Aeor specifically. And there were a number of wards,

protective wards that didn't function as intended. And then when the ruin crashed, they malfunctioned through something, a combination of odd, localized, arcane, you know, bullshit, essentially. I'm trying to think of the word and it escapes me, so bullshit's what I went with, there you go. But what it did was it sealed a number,

a random assortment of people around the city into stasis, indefinitely. As to how these fields can be brought down, there are ways to do so, but they're extremely challenging to ascertain. And I'm being vague on it because it is another plot thread left in the Wildemount Guide for those who explore Aeor,

and I don't want to define something that people can interpret for their own campaign in different ways. And is it 100% from the city? I had always wondered if the woman in the theater had tried to do it herself, or if she was just going like, my people, and then she got bubbled by the city.

That wasn't, well, she got bubbled in the middle of doing something else. The bubbles weren't her creation, but she was in the process of trying to protect people. I regret not breaking her out of the bubble. I bet that would have been a terrible, terrible mistake. It would have been interesting. I mean, who knows?

Maybe they would have become a friend. Maybe they would have become an enemy. Maybe they would have rapidly aged and turned to dust in a matter of seconds. Who knows? But that mystery remains in the ruins of April. Ooh, what if we let all the spirits free? They came out of stasis in the bubble,

but they're just trapped in the bubble for eternity. Oh, that would suck. In theory, it's better. Yeah. I would rather be in the bubble than in the city, to be fair. For eternity? Can we ask for any more clarity on

the Luxon and its dispersal through the world, or is that still shrouded for future generations? Sure, we can talk a little bit on it, yeah. So as it stands, the Luxon was an entity, is an entity that existed pre-Pantheon, pre-founding of Exandria. Essentially, a being of light that was born

at the point of creation of the universe, as it may be, couldn't understand itself. It just knew it was and was light and heading into darkness. Occasionally, it would pass by other things of light. And eventually, it came upon this lonely rock and it felt lonely and this rock seemed lonely, but together, maybe they could do something.

And the Luxon began to embrace this world and the world began to essentially fight back in a weird way. It gave its warmth and light to this planet and then the elements began to erupt. This is all the creation myth of the Dynasty and the Luxon idea, but essentially, the Luxon wanted to understand itself.

It was like, what am I? And if I can bring life to other things, maybe it can tell me what I am. You know, I'm only defined by the observations of things outside, if I don't know what I am. So if I can create things that could look back and be like, you are this, then I can know what I am. But there were the issues of this elemental chaos,

this planet that began to just roil with nothing. There was nothing there that it could grab ahold of and speak with. There was no consciousness here. So it essentially broke itself up and scattered itself throughout the world in hopes that one day, Gesundheit. Thank you. Gesundheit.

One day, something would. Thank you. Gesundheit, one day, something would find and reassemble it. And when it did, it could then ask the question, what am I? Like, this is going to be a long philosophical conversation, but this is the really, really truncated version of it. And so with each of these beacons that are found, the Luxon gets closer to being reassembled.

Jeez, that's some long game shit. Wow. And who knows how many beacons there are in exactly three. Pre-Pantheon? Yeah. Pre-Calamity? Yeah. Matthew! Brain bubbles. I don't need it.

Which, to be perfectly honest, it can be a very beautiful time of enlightenment. It could be like End of Evangelion, where Ray just takes up the spirits and goes away. Like, who knows? Like, it can go in many... There's a lot of theories that I like to keep vague about on what that might be in the long run

kind of lore of Exandria, of what the Luxon being reborn would mean for the world. It could be a very good thing. It could be a very bad thing. Who knows? But that mystery is what rides, is what keeps the Dynasty excited to bring about this new place of enlightenment

and what these Umavi, these perfect souls, are the ones that are essentially, through the life cycle, the continuous learning of becoming a perfect soul, can be the ones to impart this knowledge into the Luxon once it's born. And conversely, people who are on the outside of the culture are like, this is almost a doomsday cult.

They're going to build their god and then end all life? Like, what's the end game here? It's a big Prometheus shit. Yeah, so that's very much kind of the vague esoteric philosophies behind the Luxon and the dynasty. Yeah.

So we were toting around in the sewers a moat of an ancient sentient light. Life force. Yeah, primordial. Of Cosmo. Primordial intelligence. Correct. In a suitcase. Correct. That's us, that's what we do.

Love it. So that's that. That's a lot to unpack. You asked me. You asked me. I didn't think you were going to answer. How about a fan question while we unpack that? Let's do that!

Yeah, let's roll. Give that a week. That's six. While we roll, I would like to thank TrishaGeekGirl7924 for more or less asking who are the people in the blue domes question that we already got to. Hey, check it out.

Shout out to you, Trisha. You're ahead of the curve. 15 over here. 17. Natural 20. Oh! Oh! 20 on every fan question?

Yes, because fans are all over the place. That means something. Where were these rolls? We do have a 40% chance of a... Shut up. Still. I'm going to, this question 40% chance of. Shut up, still. I'm going to, this question's for Laura. It's from, yeah. Kaodos?

C-A-E-O-D-O-S. Oh my gosh. The Traveler told Jester that he would be able to take her to other realms. Do you think in the future, Jester would go on an adventure to other realms with Ardagan? And if so, where do you think they would visit first? Oh man. I mean, yes, definitely.

I think so, yeah. Yeah. I mean, she really wants to go to the Feywild. She really, really wants to see it. I know, at least I imagined that when they were growing up together, he would entertain her with stories of the craziness that happens there. And so she just has all these fantasies in her mind of what it must look like and be like,

so she really wants to see it. Which is hilarious when you consider that you telling Artagan, take me to the Feywild is like meeting a person in the big city who got out of a small podunk town. You're like, take me to your parents' house in the middle of Minnesota. Please, no. Yeah. He's like, no.

No, I don't ever want to go. There's a war in there for my arrest, I'm not going back. Yeah. Yeah. What about afterwards? Like, what about after? What other realm? I don't know.

I don't actually know all the realms. I don't know all the realms. I don't know how to play D&D. Can we go to the Waterworld? Sure, Kevin Costner. Didn't we get an invite to them? Where would Artie want to? Yeah, we have an invite to go see that gen

in the Waterworld. Yep, the Marid. Oh, yeah, the dude that was powering the steam. In Nicodranas? Yeah. The power supply? By the way, I totally thought when I was creating my backstory that my dad was a djinn.

Like, I thought he was a genie that had turned himself human-looking to go and got entertained and it ended up being a thing. And so I was just completely- Based on what? The backstory that I wrote. Oh, you put that in the backstory? I don't know if I did, but in my brain, in my brain, I was like, yeah, that makes perfect sense.

I don't know, did I write it in my backstory? Are you my mother? I think you alluded to something, but you didn't specifically say, like, my dad was a genie. I don't think you were that overt about it. Yeah, so yeah, I just didn't expect it to be the gentleman. Side note, that doesn't happen.

But yeah. Wherever he would want to go, Jester would be pretty much up for it. Yeah, he, honestly, the Jester and our tagging relationship is very much crossing into Doctor Who territory. Like straight up, like, where would you like to go? Oh my god, that's amazing. It's straight up what it is.

Well, I know Fjord's going to like, we're going to, there's stuff to do with Darktoe and to stay on the scene, so what is Jester going to do? In her later life, where would she want to be? I mean, you can chill with me if you want, baby, but you know. I know, you guys have this whole text thread, and me and Travis haven't talked at all

about what our future entails. I know, I feel like we fucked up, except we live together, so. Yeah. Step one, moving in. I have this text thread, but he's just not responding to it. I don't know what it means.

I'm literally in the same room! You think they'll stay together? I mean, I think so, yeah. I think they definitely are, would they? What does Fjord think? Are they staying together? Oh, totally, but I mean, you had things you wanted to do.

Well, yeah, I imagine that Jester would be an artist. She would just keep getting better at painting. I want her to open an art gallery in Nicodranas and paint giant murals of all of the crazy landscapes that she's seen in her life, of different battles, of things that people wouldn't believe are real, but they all are. On buildings you don't own

and have not gotten permission to paint. Yes. I mean, partially. I know, that's kind of what I was hoping for. Jester going Banksy makes all the sense. Yeah, I'm so here for this. Like, I think I texted you that I wanted her to have all these really, really rich clients

that she just kind of fucks with because... Yeah. They're like, I want a portrait, and you give some sort of modern art piece that's just a bunch of shapes, and you're like, that is important. There you go. One day, I was saying, until the one day, your most vibrant piece gets purchased for too much money

and you're excited to meet the seller, and a young woman with short blonde hair whose hands are behind your back shows up. I'm here to pick up my pee. That'd be cool. And then she stabs you. Yep. She's sharpened the edge of it into a dick shit.

A dick tank? You just got div. That's a sharp dick. I am so nervous! That's a dick dick! Oh my god. Let's be fair. This is amazing. Baba Yaga and Gold Dick.

I feel like this is like a Birds of Prey movie waiting to happen. I know! They become a girl group of crime fighters. This is amazing. What was an alpha? What was an A? A question mark. A question mark. It was another Aeorian Ruin. But why did it? A question mark. A question mark. A question mark. Seven, eight.

There was another Aeorian Ruin. But why did it have a question mark? Because it was a newly discovered one. Meaning like, yeah, the previous ones were like confirmed ruins where people had already delved and was confirmed. The question marks next to A were because somebody recently had discovered what they believed

to be an Aeorian Ruin, but it hadn't what they believed to be an Orian ruin, but it hadn't been confirmed enough to be included as a confirmed destination on the map. But those have been far more dangerous to go down into. Yes, because that one had been barely uncovered and would have probably. It kills me that we didn't get to explore all of it. I know. Yeah, believe it or not,

I don't flesh out each of those locations unless you go there, because I have my limits and I like occasionally having time to eat and sleep. Don't do the illusion. We expect that you do all this stuff and if you don't tell us, we just will believe. Right, but occasionally, I also want to remind people out there,

be human. Yeah. Self-care. Yeah. I have a question that I have been dying to ask since it happened in the campaign. And you even said, save it for the wrap up. It's also a fan question from Aiden Mitchell.

What would have happened if Essek and Caleb failed on that check? Oh my god. With the mini beacon. With the little rock. Oh, oh, with the dunamis gem? And he was like, we're going to try and reverse time and get our one little refresh, and we're all going to hold hands and kumbaya and... Yeah, it was a natural 20

and a super high roll from Caleb. But if they had a two and a three from us. So it was a 40 DC check. It was super high. If you had failed it, what it would have done was it would have sent all of you one day forward instantly. So as opposed to getting a day of rest in a second,

you would have had no rest a day later. Oh god. Which by then... Three points of exhaustion? Well, no, no time would have passed for you necessarily, but you would be a day later, which means Lucien and Cree would have already gone to Cognouza.

They would have already installed the gems and you would have gotten to the Astral Sea to realize that it's not there and would have discovered that it's already made its way to Exandria and would have been visible in the stratosphere in beginning the process of converting and consuming. Whoa!

Was there? Whoa! If the city came back to Alexandria, was there a path for us to try to fight it? The same encounter, yeah. But it would have been steadily stronger, but you would have had the process now of gathering allies and really getting eyes on this. Because it's one thing if you're telling a few people, we're going to fight this weird city in the Astral Sea, and most people are like, cool,

good luck with that. If you're like, we're fighting that thing right there that is visibly devouring the world, then you can call in the horns and get people to help out. But at that point also, it becomes a much bigger threat. You guys basically cut it off in the horns and get people to help out. But at that point also, it becomes a much bigger threat. Like, you guys basically cut it off in the larva, like just after the emergent stage, like the egg had just hatched, if you will. That would have put you in a place where it would have been adolescent and hungry.

So it would have been a very different circumstance. Well, let's hear it for the nerds. Wow. Play with time magic, weird shit. I've got the IFB in, so I think only I could hear it was Dani under her breath just now going, that would have been really bad. It would have been cool.

It would have been really cool, but it would have been really bad. Did Dani whisper to you about O-Town yet? It was crazy. Crazy Town was the band. Crazy. Crazy Town. Not the same as O-Town. Hang on, Danny, what were you going to say? You were about to impart some Lore Keeper knowledge?

We checked with Vahk how it happened after Friul was dead, and after all the ROT people were gone. Oh, right, right. Then... Really? We were already in the city? Wasn't it? That's how I remember. That's right, you were.

Yeah. You were. So what would it have been? How did we have the time travel thing? Oh, because they brought it with them. We had the Marble with us. That's right. It was before you came through. That was you guys were actually in the city. So it still would have skipped a day.

That's right, no, because I could that. You were actually in Molly, right? No. Right, no. That would have been set for when you guys first acquired it in the city, which is when I had set that path. Oh. Then at that point.

The city still would have had the beacon. He wouldn't have been able to get back, though. Oh, because we got rid of one of the beacons. One of the threshold crests, unless he had more than we knew about, which is possible. No, no, that's a valid point. He could have created anything he wanted out of dreams. But he could have gone back in that day,

got another threshold crest. There could have been. I wouldn't have wanted to have cheated you out of you, out of the. But he could have gone back in that day, got another threshold crest. There could have been. I wouldn't have wanted to have cheated you out of the process of denying one of the crests, necessarily. Bad stuff would happen. But still. Yeah, I would have had to figure it out. Sorry. That setup was what I had written in my notes

when I had first introduced that time gem as what would have likely happened, but it happened much later in the process, so I would have had to figure out what would have transpired at that point. It probably would have been less dangerous, but still would have been complicated. I mean, he would have had a day on us.

A day in those, 24 hours is a lot of time in those moments. There's a lot you could do with a living city. In 24 hours. Can I ask you a question? Those statues that were all out in the open wastes, like, that were seated in that circle, the circuit? Yeah. Where the hell did those come from? What the fuck were those?

That was just some weird old magic. Okay. That was like the seer magic, right? That's how I aged. Yeah. Yeah, that legitimately was an ancient ritual site from the founding, as old as the gods, that just, in my mind, just appears at places in the world at odd times.

And whenever that question is asked and that, that, that, wow, that's what I'm looking for, that transaction is given and it grants whatever the request was, then it just disappears and then appears somewhere else in the world spontaneously. It's very Phantom Tollbooth-esque.

But yeah. Ooh, we might find it again. Wait, what were those big old, in the barbed fields, the huge spires that we couldn't figure out what they were, but they were, did those mean anything? Yeah, the big spikes? Yeah. That's just part of the Barbed Fields. Those were created during the Calamity,

during some of the greater battles between the Betrayer Gods and the Prime Deities. Some of the forces were unleashed in ways that essentially flash eroded the landscape and left behind only the hardiest of stonework, and in some cases, blasting upward in these curves. Imagine these things were much thicker in time, and then over time began to just erode away

into these thinner spires. And some of them were just jagged bits that were jammed up from impacts in the ground. Cool. A thousand years before, it might've looked a little more like thick rock, and now it's just begun to erode away and leave these weird hook-like spires and points. That's how I envisioned it to leave.

The ice spider in the cave that we never fought. The ice spider. That bitch that we never fought. The ice spider. That bitch was dead. It was dead? Yeah, it passed away in its cave. Oh, because we sealed it in? No, it was already dead. It was already dead.

It was just staring forward because it had just died in its own nest and you guys saw it and snuck out. Was there stuff in the room we could have totally gotten? Yeah, there was stuff in there. Oh! Oh! Make any moves!

Fill it up! Ugh! Just a dead corpse of a spider. Yeah. I mean, it was a spider. It was. To be fair. Giant. It was very nice of you to entomb it

and give it a proper burial. Oh! Did you know? Is that what you thought? I just thought it wasn't doing anything. Yeah, he was going to have to. It was one of those of? I just, I thought he wasn't doing anything. Yeah, he was not. He was one of those of like, you're still, you're not doing anything. Are you looking at me? No, you're not. You are, but, ah!

Yeah. Would Trent Ikithon have come to help us? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We went on a run on that one a lot. Yeah. He would have? Yeah. Yeah, but. Gross. But like, sincerely? Yeah. But. He would have? Yeah. Yeah, but. But sincerely?

But. Not sincerely, like, I'm here to help you. But he would have accepted the invitation and probably brought along Astrid and Adewulf out of genuine interest in one, learning more about you all directly, especially based on the dinner that you had. Like basically being able to directly,

psychologically profile each of you to continue to work into Caleb's psyche and essentially reinforce the trauma and convince him to begin to question himself and wish to entwine himself with the old pack, if you will, and to use you all as a guide towards some of these secrets in Aeor that you seem to be stumbling towards or uncovering.

So yeah, he would have definitely agreed and gone with it, and it would have made for an extremely gross, extremely tense, very unique dynamic as you went in, and likely, depending on how you reacted, or if there was too much of a threat, or a point where he decided that this was no longer going to be a beneficial venture for him and his crew, would have staged an ambush,

not unlike the one that in the final episode was. Like, his eventual plan was, I'm going to get Caleb to break and come back, or show me that he's a liability and wipe him out. I pitched that idea to Essek, because Caleb believed that Trent, if they survived what they were doing, Trent was going to make a run at him eventually,

and better that it happened in an survived what they were doing, Trent was going to make a run at him eventually, and better that it happened in an icy field in the open, not in his tower and not at the sanatorium, and not in any of his haunts where he knows the battlefield. And there was reason to believe that Astrid and Eddowulf were going to fall the way they did. So I thought, better to get all three of them away from the established world that they know, it'd be easier for Astrid and Eddowulf to turn on him

way far away from home. So it seemed like we could kill two birds with one stone. In that final battle, when I used the charm spell on Astrid when I was controlling her, and you said there wasn't really a big change, was she fully planning on betraying him from the get-go, or? She was following the winds. Yeah, yeah. Okay.

It was, Astrid's a complicated character. I love those two. Me too. Yeah. I'm a little bit sad they didn't travel with you only because it would have made for some drama. Let's play it again. Let's just do like a number.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, load the older save. Yeah. Back it up. But yeah, no, Astrid still definitely has a connection to Caleb, to Bren, as is Adewulf, but it's like having an old flame you haven't seen in 10 years, and you've changed so much in those 10 years

that it's just that memory of something you once had is there, but you're not who you were. No. And so. That was never going to get. That was never going to be a thing unless Caleb really went in on it. But it was, yeah, she is, she has goals.

She wants to climb that ladder. She has her reasons. And she hates Trent, she has goals. She wants to climb that ladder. She has her reasons. And she hates Trent, as anybody who's undergone what you all did does, but also knows how useful it is to be that close to him until either he helps her get to a level that she couldn't accomplish without him, or he shows enough of a moment of weakness

that she can take it from him. And she was full on going along with the destruction of you all until the tides changed and then switched. So by the time you cast that spell, it just further cemented where she was teetering. Nice. Also a related question, this is backing way up. In my backstory, I left something kind of vague

and I don't know what it really ended up being in your mind, but a woman snapped Bren out of it after 11 years in the sanatorium. Who did you decide that was? I thought that was Trent in disguise, no? Trent wanted you to believe that. I believe that was Trent in disguise, no? Trent wanted you to believe that. I believe it was genuinely a boon from the Moonweaver. It was this individual who, through fate,

through a moment of clarity, a lucid moment, which this individual did have from time to time, but in this lucid moment saw your sadness and recalled some of their clerical past and freed you from that mind state before coming to it. But of course, Trent claimed it as part of his manipulation because he wanted you to believe

that he orchestrated everything in your life. Because if you began to feel like all you've done was stumble forward through his plan, then why is there any reason to buck against it? I mean, hats off to you, because after first contact, not early in the campaign, but first solid, in the open contact, you had me thinking like, well, whatever I do is, he was gaming it to be,

so what do I do? Yeah, and to an extent. Job well done. Some of it was. You know, that's how he works. That's why he's such a horrible, horrible, horrible person. The one villain we won't try to convert. Yeah. Yeah. Fuck that guy. Yeah, fuck that guy.

He's one of the worst in the campaign. But yeah, like a lot of very abusive people in power, you know, will take actions to control the lives and thoughts of others and then take credit for things that they have no involvement with to even further solidify that idea. That's exactly what he was trying to do. Is there any special meaning to the fact

that I was given a handkerchief from Dulin Tversky before the campaign began? So if you look in the player's handbook, if you look in the player's handbook, they have a list of trinkets you can roll for, like one out of a hundred. And I think you rolled for that when you were creating your character

to see just what random trinket you started the game with. And it was a handkerchief with a random name monogrammed on it. I think it's in the Player's Handbook, I'm pretty sure. I think there's one here. I want to pull it up because I'm now wanting to make sure that I'm thinking of the right thing. In the OG Player's Handbook?

Yeah. The PHP? PHP, yeah. That's why I had a sequined glove with me. Oh! What? That was my random thing I rolled. Oh my god. I love that he can turn to the page with like, he just grabs a place to open and like five steps.

There it is, it's a blank book. Yeah, you rolled an 81. A purple handkerchief embroidered with the name of a powerful archmage. And that was one, that was a powerful archmage. That was a member of the Cerberus Assembly and not one of the ones that is steeped in evil corruption. I'm not saying they're good necessarily,

but they're more of one of the quirkier members of the Assembly. But there's no crazy backstory on how I got it. It was just, it changed hands a bunch of times. It changed hands a bunch of times. You stole it off somebody or picked it from a place. Somebody might've like, this would've been like, you know,

it dropped on the ground during an event as a dash. Like, I got the Archmage's handkerchief and they keep it in their house on a shelf unit and you just stole it from them, not knowing. I got one from way back. Episode 19, the orc that was in the house as we were traveling, he had all the tanned hides and stuff. What was his deal? Was he my dad?

No, he was not. But he was a retired warrior for the Empire who had earned his way up and then honestly hated its political structure, hated the bigotry inherent, hated just the history around it and decided to just build a cabin out in the middle of nowhere. Had earned enough respect within the Empire

that nobody bothered him. And he just lived the simple life out there. And I placed it there as a possible encounter. And if Fjord had interacted with it to become a possible mentor figure or to help him learn about embracing his heritage Because you know you had written in Ford's backstory about the how he was picked on in the orphanage for his you know lineage and Stuff so I wanted I wanted this to be a possible mentor like character

If that ever happened, but you just hid the whole time I did so you never interacted blacksmith popped up later than Jor-Haz Yeah, well the blacksmith kind of became my like well I never got this character, so I'll take some of these threads and these themes and carry them over into this NPC, sorry. Very thoughtful. Sorry, microphone. Sorry, microphone. I apologize for the mic a lot.

I tend to bludgeon him a little. Very well-worn. Yeah, so that was the intent. So Kris Kristofferson was in there and you just walked on by. I fucking, I thought about that forever afterwards. I was like, why did I get rid? Did you have a whole backstory for Fjord's,

how he ended up in the orphanage? Was that stuff that you had already decided and we just never got to that thread? I decided it in vague bits, but also I didn't want to flesh it out too much unless he wanted to pursue it. Right. I followed your lead in this

and we talked about it a little bit, but I never got the sense that Fjord was super eager to get the details of where he originally came from as much as he was about the people that made him who he is. Yeah. And so there's always a curiosity, and if you really wanted to pursue it, then I was willing to flesh that out.

But I always gauge, based on our conversations, that Fjord was a little more immediate to flesh that out, but I always gauge, based on our conversations, that you, Fjord was a little more immediate and forward-thinking about who he was and who forged him into his formative years. No matter who his father was back then, and I've hit the theme a couple times in the campaign, that doesn't make you a father, that makes you a donor.

Yeah. You know, the father's the person that was around to help make you who you are, and for him, that was very much Vandran. So that, to me, was more important to flesh out. Agreed. In his service to the, I'm sure we have to wrap this up soon. In his service to the Matron of Ravens, has Vax'ildan ever seen any,

or witnessed any of our exploits of the Mighty Nein? Probably. Oh my gosh, he was around and we didn't know it. I mean, none of you had necessarily the connection or the impetus to look for a being who kind of walked between the planes like that, but I would imagine some of the more important villains that befell you,

those whose spirit wasn't locked in an existing pact like Avantika and such, were probably ushered across by a masked figure clad in black that just walked between where the eyes could see. Did Eadwulf serve the Raven Queen? Eadwulf did, yeah. Yeah. Oh.

Vax was probably around for Trent's death then. Trent's not dead. He's not dead. Trent's not dead! His hands are glued together. His hands are glued shut and so is his anus. Ah! In my brain! But in Max's timeline, he's dead. In my brain, we killed him because I hate him so much.

You thoroughly ruined him. Yeah. Yeah. He's going to wish he was dead. How is it? Is that going to haunt Caleb forever, to know he's alive, or do you feel good about the fact that he's dead? No, I mean, there's no good about it, but the right thing was done, and it's, he would rather be dead.

The collar's around his neck, but you can turn it on and off, yes? Like, can you take the? It auto-tunes him. Eternal T-Pain? Do it. It has an LEDs in it. Lights up, depending on the music.

We just throw Celebones. I was going to say, just glue a few Celebones to it. Yeah, that's right. Turn around. Party train! Garbage. Yeah. My god.

It turns into a garment. Who is on the Tal'Dorei Council? Who is on the Tal'Dorei? Do we want this to be the last question? Yeah, I think so. Sure. Any other burning questions? I have one more. Go.

Did Marianne and the Gentleman? Oh, yes! I think. What becomes of them? I think that they re-sparked their romance and spent some time together and then began to really realize that their lives have diverged to a point where his lifestyle is dangerous

and he is intrinsically tied to it. And so they went their separate ways. She went back to Nicodranas and he stayed there. Then orchestrated his false demise a few years later and left his crew under the care of Ophelia Mardune, who wanted to be done with Shady Creek Run. It's like Princess Bride faking his death. Yeah.

And so now his previous crew have become part of Ophelia Mardoon's network and she's absconded from Shady Creek around to take over for him. And eventually he shows up as a patron looking a little different at the Chateau. And there he retired incognito with her in Nicodranas.

That's the most beautiful story. Danny's losing it. I'm losing it. Good, well. Hackneyed, maybe? I don't know. I was accepting it, I was accepting it. Now. Now the Tatooine Council.

At least one member. All of them. I know, well. I'll give you a few members, how about that? I won't give you the full council, but I'll give you a few. This is everything. The full council?

Huh? There are officially six figures of the main council. Six figures now? And a number of ambassadors. You know, there's like Ambassador Diedrich Greyspine from Kraghammer, there's Ambassador Sildur Vassar from Syngorn, but they're not members of the council.

They're like, they're peripheral. They're lesser than. Correct. There is still Guardian Topher Brotoris, is the Master of Defense still from Campaign 1. Getting a little older in the years, but still a sturdy, stern figure. There is the hearthmaker, Edelburn Clear Eyes, who's the Master of Development,

a goliath from the Rivermaw tribe, which was what eventually the herd returned to. And then they left with a penchant for trying to make society better and joined and worked their way up to the council. What? Arcanist Allura Vysoren, we know, is the master of Arcana.

Yeah. Match. Seeker Assume is no longer there. Seeker Assume stepped down from the role of the Master of Information. I assume. Yeah, there you go. To this day, it still haunts me. But the mantle was taken up

and he mentored the new Master of Information, Seeker Odessa Tal'Dorei, the daughter of Uriel and Salvatore. Who has taken up charge to be the new Master of Information in the memory of her father of Yriel and Salma. Oh! Wow, cool! Who has taken up charge to be the new Master of Information in the memory of her father who gave his life during the fall of the Chroma Conclave.

That's beautiful. Wow. Oh. I love that. And let's see, who else is? Oh, there's Arbiter Brom Goldhand, the Master of Law. Yeah, he's still there. Still around, getting real old now. He's like the real old crotchety one of the whole council

that the rest deal with, but he's fine. And there is, last but not least, the master of commerce, the coin mistress, Vex'ahlia DeRolo. Yay! Master of coin! Oh! Fuck! More title. Oh yeah. More title.

Oh yeah. More title. Boy, you're strong. Goddammit! I don't need this, Matt! Do you know what you've done? So happy. Oh. Uctail's theme song, she's swimming in gold.

Life is like a hurricane. Wow. 30 years later, they're still both fucking Oh, no! It's like a hurricane! Wow. Oh shit. 30 years later, they're still both fucking in their gold coin bin. Yep, yep, yep. Bitch people. Yeah. Damn!

She glowed up. We know too much. Yeah. The kids are fun, though. The kids are really much. Yeah. The kids are fun, though. Yeah, the kids are really fun. Anyway. Well, I guess that's it, you guys. Another campaign come to a close.

Oh man. Oh man. Oh wow. Oh, wow. That's Howden's. Not with a bang, but a terrible impression. Not like this. Not like this. Boy, but we terrible impression. Not like this. Not like this. Boy, but we really are putting it to bed.

Let's come back and do some one-shots sometime. Go to Darktoe. Yeah. Yeah. Kingsley will be happy to see you once he's blanking. Honestly, I'm totally down for revisiting some of the Mighty Nein maybe down the road. Maybe a ways into Campaign 3, maybe take a short arc or something

and revisit these characters a few years down the line. I think there's a lot of fun things to come back to that aren't major unresolved plot threads, just fun future things maybe we can touch on. Yeah, we did a summer trip to Dolan's Closet with Veeam. I feel like a summer trip back to Rumblecusp and maybe a Dark Toe. Dark Toe.

The Barragar, what was it called? Oh yeah, the Beaurebar. Beaurebar, that's what it is. The fucking Beaurebar. The fucking Beaurebar, yeah. Yeah, I imagine after Beau does 10, 15 years for the Cobalt Soul, her and Yasha are like, we're so tired, let's just retire.

And then Beau just ends up selling timeshares on RumbleCust. Oh my god! Okay, but wait. What if all of the Mighty Nein eventually just retires on RumbleCust? I love this for them. Yeah. That's great. Caleb could take the time to put in a circle

on the island, a teleportation circle. We can just run the fucking resort. Yes! Yes. Yes, that's our thing. Live music on Friday nights. Do we want to run it? Or just have someone run it? I want to. Jesus.

They own the resort, how about that? Thank you, thank you. I can get behind that. Founders. They found it in LLC, and it's managed by a nice person. Oh my god. Nope. I hate this. I hate this now. This is a mistake. All this was a mistake.

The world's BS for perjury. It's fine. Turn it all down. And on that note. Fresh garbage. And on that note. And on that note. Check in with your local real estate agent. Look at the tied shares.

And that's all the time we have for today. Thank you so much for joining us. Don't forget to love each other. And is it Thursday yet? and that's all the time we have for today. Thank you so much for joining us. Don't forget to love each other and is it Thursday yet? Whoa. Oh, man. Love you guys. Yeah.

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