Critical Role - Fly Into The Danger Zone | 4-Sided Dive | Episode 3: Discussing Up To C3E24

Episode Date: June 14, 2022

Join us live as Taliesin Jaffe, Liam O’Brien, Travis Willingham, and Matthew Mercer discuss the events of Campaign 3 and play a rigorous game of Exploding Kittens! 4-Sided Dive airs the first Tuesday of every month on http://twitch.tv/criticalrole and http://youtube.com/criticalrole Twitch subscribers gain instant access to VODs of our shows like Critical Role, 4-Sided Dive, and Exandria Unlimited. But don't worry: Twitch broadcasts will be uploaded to YouTube about 36 hours after airing live, with audio-only podcast versions of select shows on Spotify, Apple Podcasts & Google Podcasts following a week after the initial air date. Twitch subscribers also gain access to our official custom emote set and subscriber badges and the ability to post links in Twitch chat! "Let's Roll (4-Sided Dive Theme)" by Peter Habib and Sam Riegel Original Music by Omar Fadel and Hexany Audio Additional Music by Universal Production Music, Epidemic Sounds, and 5 Alarm

Welcome to Foresighted Dive, Critical Role's monthly talk show featuring a roundtable discussion about the events and characters of our current campaign, alongside a heavy helping of hijinks. Foresighted Dive airs the first Tuesday of every month at 7pm Pacific on Twitch.tv slash Critical Role and YouTube.com slash Critical Role, with the VOD available on YouTube the very next day. And of course, each episode releases right here on the Critical Role Podcast Network one week after the initial broadcast. Let's dive into the chaos. That's why I say only three times on the second date. I just... Really? Yeah.

I love it. That's why they made a rule about it. Yeah. Alright. I'm already calling this. Y'all gotta wait. I need more context. There was so much more to that faux conversation. Exactly. And you got yours?

I guess I'll take whatever's left over. That's what I'm used to. Just doing it? I'm going. Pray for low numbers. Yes. Oh god. Oh, we gotta have rolling. Yay! It was almost rolling.

I was like, I was almost ready. You know what, let's find out. Let's find out. We can't let it happen. Let's see who almost took the bullet. Feel defeat. Oh, natural turn. That means you have to do it now.

I'm pretty sure it's higher. You gotta dry mouth now. I'm pretty sure it's him. You gotta dry mouth out. I had a feeling it was gonna happen. Hey, everybody. Here we are together. And, uh, well, shit. It's another four-sided dive. The only show on the internet written by the world's most powerful sentient AI. This flesh form in front of you will be your third keeper of the tavern.

I have bones in me, I guess. Travis Willingham's whittling woodwhacker went to whittle too wild as a werewolf during the heist. Womp womp. And other surprising events. Matt Mercer, myself, was getting settled into his break from GMing, but we tricked him into coming back to work so he could grill him on the important campaign three questions.

Sorry, me. The pizza party was a ruse, and I'm stuck here now. Now, tell us who Escherosh the Secret crushes. In other news, we found out Ashton's brain is filled with time goop, but is Taliesin Jaffe going to share any of that pretty, pretty yum-yum goop

with the rest of the class? And is Liam O'Brien, and Liam O'Brien returns to the Tavern of Tales, but just for the slaps. Don't stray too far, because later on, we'll be playing Exploding Kittens, and whoever gets exploded will be asking our leftover tankard questions. I have so much excitement inside my human heart, which functions like this. Well, you know, there's like a bloodstream that goes through, and when it connects to like an aortic valve or through an aorta, and there are valves that keep it pumping as different, you know, there's like a bloodstream that goes through. And when it connects to like an aortic valve, or through an aorta, and there are valves that keep it pumping as different, you know, it's... Why is it so dark in here? I'm losing my vision.

I'm gonna pass out. Welcome to Foresighted Dives. Let's... Oh, oh, oh, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, one, end script. Welcome back! It's time for our first segment, our freeform rectangular table discussion. What the fuck is up with that? Let's see what's on the menu for tonight, because we have a menu now

Haha, all right. We got topics motherfuckers first up Skyship shenanigans. Yeah, we're in a skyship now. There's a new skyship Sorry, I'm really excited good. Then you start okay ship. Oh, oh, we had a new skyship I thought I actually thought that we were to get the old model from campaign one. Oh, the paper layout? I still have it. Yeah, like brought back out.

And then that thing with the gorgeous gills came on out. With the dinosaur frills. The dinosaur frills and the crystal battery. Yeah. Which glowed. It glowed. I was very happy. I've had that commissioned a while back. So back, so at some point in this campaign,

pretty early in, we did naval combat, naval maneuvering last campaign. We only had a touch of skyship in the last one. Eshteross, if they keep going with this patronage, there's likely a good chance that there might be a skyship in the future. So I went ahead and started to get the commission going. How long did that take? There might be a skyship in the future. So I went ahead and started to get the commission going. How long did that take? Maybe about, better part of three months. Casually, he wasn't like, I want to stay on it.

There's like planks of wood, if you get up close, remember there's grain and planks of wood. Yeah, beautiful planks of wood. It's the best part of every old JRPG. Get your skyship. Let's get your skyship. Honestly, uncover the map. Yeah.

Woo! If you're an adventuring party that's just driving to like a skyport and you keep getting thwarted, you're like, damn, what the fuck? Yeah.

I'm just trying to get on that skyship. Technically not yours. It's Eshteross. Not yet. We could take him out. Let's be pirates. We all keep trying to be pirates.

That worked so well for us last game. It really did. Let's just become the cruel all keep trying to be pirates. That worked so well for us last game. It really did. Let's just become the cruel but swarthy. Famous Teddy Ruxpin's in the side. Teddy Ruxpin got a skyship. We get one. Think about it.

We did. Trying not to reveal the big bad of Camp Mayfair. If you don't know what Teddy Ruxpin is, please look it up and marvel at its horror. And get one and put batteries in it and leave it in the corner of the room when the lights are low. And wait for those batteries to slowly die.

And then one night, I want to be your friend. Oh, nightmare fuel. I'm going to start like coring out some Teddy Ruxpins and start making minis out of them that you could fight through the campaign. I assume Sam had a bedroom made out of Teddy Ruxpins and start making minis out of them. You could fight through the campaign. I assume Sam had a bedroom made out of Teddy Ruxpins. Oh, yes.

I'm surprised he didn't voice him as a kid. Hanging from hooks. He also probably had like a circular like chute out of his room down to the front yard. Probably like a fireman's pole. Sure. And a train. And a train that like went out to the living room. A rideable train?

Yeah, somewhere between Mr. Rogers' neighborhood and Silver Spoon's. I can see the hint of Pee-wee's playing. The hint of Pee-wee. It's like when we all watch really long-term talk of Factory for the first time, and he first opens the doors, everyone's like, and Sam and his kid's like, cute. Yeah. Yeah, that tracks.

Yep. Watching Silver Spoon's as a kid, he's like, I guess that train's big. You know what's weird? Wow, he shows the data. Is that, yep's like, I guess that train's big. You know what's weird? Wow, he shows the data. Is that, yep, yep, I was addicted to that show. Yeah, it's a good show. Vax enjoyed the airship rides we took, but it wasn't like the end all and be all. Scanlan couldn't wait.

Percy couldn't wait. And Vax was like, yeah, it's cool, cool. I have no idea why. Orm is in love with airship. He is so excited to be up high, and I don't know why that is. I didn't decide it. It just happened. I noticed that you just said Orem is in love with Airship.

Not the Airship, but in love with Airship. Airship, the concept. Jefferson Airplane. You love Lamp. Speaking of Airship, your shirt, which is super cool, connected to your favorite movie, I can't help but I can't unsee the three jets at the top

really look like a propeller beanie on the top. A little bit. Oh no. No, don't do that. Did you just ruin my new favorite shirt?

No. Jet propeller on the head? I'll be nobody to get you for your birthday now. Somebody's going to the danger zone. God damn it. No. Each blade is still shaped like a jet, now. Somebody's going to the danger zone. God damn it. No.

Each blade is still shaped like a jet, bud. It's got a little graphic. It's got a little jet graphic on it. There's somebody at Seabed who can do that. It's my favorite movie. It's all of our favorite movies. Top Gun is the best. Is it, though?

I mean, it's very, for different reasons, I'm sure. Yes. Lots of us force each other to watch our favorite movies for our birthdays. That was Travis's. We can't continue this because we don't have the rights? No. No, yeah. I wore that VHS out.

That and Teen Wolf. Yeah. Michael J. Fox Teen Wolf. Yeah, yeah. Lost Boys is still above. We keep coming back to this movie as above Top Gun for me. But I only saw Top Gun recently. I haven't watched it 172 times.

How is it that you came to see the greatest movie ever made, Top Gun? One of my bestest friends forced me to watch it, Clockwork Ormstein. It's birthday movies. We have rules about birthday movies. You got to watch the birthday movie. No matter how heavy it is. So much ease, rock and roll. Oh, man.

Keep playing volleyball. It just never ends. Yeah. On a parking lot covered in sand. It's a, you know, there's so many great romances in that film that don't quite come to pass. I'm hoping Maverick can really kind of change the pace.

I'm really excited. I'm genuinely excited for Maverick. So, back to Skyships. Skyships. I mean, speaking of the dangerous side. It's related. Yeah. It is, it is.

I never want to leave. Well, what to you guys is the most exciting thing about Skyship? I guess I should ask. We have four ballistas, first of all, on the Skyship versus, I think we only had like two? There's three in this one. Yeah, but in the first, oh. One in the back and then two on the side. Yeah.

That's right. Orm fell off. That's what it was. Yeah. Technically, you were a fourth ballista for a short time. I hope to again fell off. That's what it was. Yeah, yeah. Technically, you were a fourth ballista for a short time. I hope to again fall off. Yeah, I mean, it's just endless, expansive beauty in every direction.

And you can, again, see the whole world map, all the clouds apart, and you can see for miles. And I love the danger of someone falling off. You might remember that when Aurum got knocked off and people were like, what if I can? I'm like, nah, let it happen. Yeah. Just come save me.

Because it was just a titty, a titty bit close. We were just low enough to be like, uh-oh. Yeah. Yeah. Uh-oh. I had half a plan. I only had half a plan. I had zero.

I was like, I can teleport out there. And I'm like, that wouldn't have helped. I'm like, I got you. Oh, no. So. Thank God we had the witches on that ship, though, because everything with the worm and all that happening, I'm like, I don't know what to do. I'll just watch. I can't reach down there.

I can't go down there. Yeah. It's nice having a skyship at, airship, at lower levels, because we don't have, like, teleport. We can't, like, somewhere else. This is our quickest means of getting out of here, but it left us. You won't come back? For a day. Because you guys are in very different territory than previously.

It's only 24 hours? Yeah, we got shuttled in. We got to hurry up. They're having their own adventure where they're going to level up. It'll be great. Yeah, they're actually tackling the main story. You guys are just kind of chilling in the past.

They saw how hard we were doing and they were like, we'll take over. You know what, you got this. Capizanus is like, these are not the heroes. Yeah, no, it's fun. I'm excited to see where things go from here. I'm excited for whenever you guys go to wherever your next destination is. Well, as long as you have the skyship at your disposal.

Ship-to-ship combat. I'm just putting that out there. I'm ready for a boarding. I ruined the last time it almost happened. I ruined it. You did. Airship-to-airship combat. to... Airship to airship combat. Yeah, we need to, you know...

And you could jump ships and board and be on different levels and then fall down to the other one. Right. You swing the hook and you hook the two ships together and then you, you know... You can totally DM that, right? Two giant ships on a table. With a 500-foot height differential. Oh god. That's not another thing is. You just have to make enemies with people

that have skyships now. Done. Through the whole game, like, do you have a skyship? Nah, fuck it. Hey bitch, do you have an airship? No. We gotta. We just like specifically,

you just beat people and tell them your name. We gotta. Maybe we can find a roll. He's probably got one by now. Uh-huh, uh-huh. Yeah. Plus, how high can it go? Can we reach the moon?

Well, we asked. Oxygen's a thing. Oxygen at a certain point, but also just the sky ships travel quickly. Yes. And that's mostly what they're really useful for. They can travel very quickly over other forms of transportation for shipping, for personal travel.

But at a certain height, winds become an issue. They aren't anchored in the air. I got gust. Sure. You're right. You know what? Test that theory. Let's do that. Oof. Oof. Oof. Oof. Oof. Oof. It's like the cartoon with the penguin and the... I'm here for it.

Say there's a chance. Also, the next section of this fantastic menu is... Are there any sliders on there? Or like chicken wings? Yeah, can we get some sampler platter? Spicy with their tofu. Sampler.

We should put platters on it. New city, new friends. So I guess asking here, which is kind of fun that I get to ask you guys this as the host, what were your lasting impressions of Drusar? They haven't seen the good shit yet. Sorry.

Someday we'll eventually I'll sit down and actually talk about it. I know. I just didn't want to talk about it while we were walking. Well, there's the big unknown because like we chased away the nightmare King and then crazy spider sack woman, crazy. Yep. Shade Mother.

Shade Mother. But that's totally unresolved. Like, they just absconded and we ran and that's just still under there. Yeah, well, it's unresolved in the sense that you did turn in Lady Emoth, Katie. Yeah. They are following up on that

and they are aware of the Shade Mother's nest below, so they'll probably take care of it themselves. Probably take... That sounds like... They have real heroes when real player characters go in there and take care of it. They get real people to come in.

It's all the kids of Vox Machina are in there right now. It's Vox Machina babies. They're level nine. They're cleaning up. It feels to me like the spinning orb of death and we're like, there goes Keyleth's arm.

We're going to throw a chair at it. It's fine. Some holy people will take care of it. We'll leave and everything will just be cool. I mean, that was kind of right. I look at it like the happy fun ball. Like I want to know more about the inner caverns and tunnels that are in there

and what more could be in there. And if we could make Matt invented on the fly by rushing in and not dying. You can. Just like the fun ball, I could have spent another five games in the fun ball. Easily. Easily just turned around. Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

And I think we only saw the sections that had been mapped. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Of the fun ball. We got like 10% of it. About 20% of it. 20% of it. Yeah, there's- Damn! But potentially endless.

Damn! We'll release that as a video game. If we never wanted to, yeah. If we never wanted to go back to the world, we could've stayed in there, right? Hell, maybe one day we'll release like a supplement or something that'll have it in there. I don't know.

I don't know. With all of our copious amounts of free time. Time works crazy in the happy fun ball, right? It does. Right, Danny? Danny. Double thumbs. Oh, fine. Danny, Danny, does time work funny in the Happy Fun Ball, right? Right, Danny? Danny. Double thumbs. Oh, fine.

Danny, does time work funny in the... Yes, Travis. Time does work funny in the Happy Fun Ball. In fact, you can only do the time dilation. Time goes slower in the Happy Fun Ball than it does on the outside. But if you never go back, does it matter? Thanks, Danny.

You're welcome. See? It is slower, right? Slower? Yeah. Yeah. Sure. I'm really good at my job.

Danny, know everything. Know everything, Danny. Another thing I like about Drasar, and it's different for sure, but it reminds Orym of home in that you've got all these amazing structures and society built up, but there's so much nature

woven in and around it, which is totally different from Iman, which is just, you know, the king's English. That's true. It does pull kind of a more advanced version of Zephra in some ways. Sure. All built upon the peaks of a

kind of a cracked mountain, set ravine and everything. So much good stuff they don't know about yet. I'm so excited. I know. It's so much good stuff. Let's see if we ever get around to it. We will.

I'm going to force them. Marisha had a good page in her notes. It was near the front where she had the names of the spires and the relative location to each other, and I am still wholly without that document myself. I'm gonna make a note of myself I don't know where shit is map. I'm gonna email myself right now get Travis a man. I know I would I would call Yeah, sure I everybody I'm sorry you're right I'll get it around I apologize that is on me knowledge is power Just make it like a big like a big snowflake on the page and It'd be like, Spire by Fire.

Oh, that's a good idea. Or she's got like color-coded pins and shit. It's fucking bonkers. But could you do it like kids do like the Thanksgiving pictures where they trace their hands? Yeah, just use your hand for the turkey. Like, honestly, the turkey. That's it.

That'd be great. I could do that. The middle finger's the... Chorspire. Chorspire. Get a chart. It does kind of look kind of look like that. A little there. Sure.

There's your map. Oh no, it's going to happen now. We got it for you, buddy. It's all you need. Yay! I did it. Just a mold of Matt's hair. It's the shocker.

Korsmeyer. Yeah. It's going to be like a cat's cradle thing. It actually has the actual wires connecting them, too. We're professionals. Look, that's Drusar. Yeah. Are you guys excited about Vassaris?

Well, you're fucking from there. That's why. That's the crazy shit. Yeah, he knows some of the fun stuff there. Yeah, there's some crazy shit. It's interesting because Ashton hates this place. But at the same time, it's like going to your hometown with your friends. You're like, this place sucks.

I'm going to show you this amazing bar. Uh-huh. Yeah. It's like, this place is just shit. They serve reindeer meat here. Come on. Yeah, you're just... Reindeer meat.

I've been thinking about Alaska a little bit lately. It's been a while. Yeah. They put reindeer on pizza, and I'm like, that's cool. That is cool. I had reindeer in Sweden a while back. It was really good. That was a while back now. Yeah. Back when travel happened. It's different than deer. I had reindeer in Sweden a while back. It was like, that's really good. That was a while back now. Yeah

Back when travel happened. It's different than I loved Anchorage. Anchorage was lovely. Oh It's beautiful up there. It's rugged as but I went to an anime con in Anchorage. I went to the same one They were like do you want to do you want to go and it's like can I see a moose like yeah, I'm going yeah Sure we do. I want to see a moose. When I went there as a teenager, I went out on a boat and we were just looking at like, you know, ice

and I saw a bald eagle land on a jutting chunk of ice in the water and American flags just like exploded out my ears. You have to build a city there when that happens. America.

Well, rugged beauty. I've never been. My cousin Ashley, I think, still lives there. She's always been like, if you want to come visit, I'm like, one day. And so one day I'll get out. It's cold. It's cold. Yeah.

We used to go out there and do crazy fishing for weeks at a time. I did. Yeah. Well, okay. So some of the guys at Sucker in seattle go on this like salmon fishing trip and they're like we need a third our guy dropped out can you come i was like i like fishing i'll go flew to seattle seattle to ketchikan alaska and then you hop on a water plane and a water plane is just a coin toss that it lands correctly in the water. Like, we're going down.

I was like, this is it, fellas! Oh my god. It's dramatic. And they were like, shut him up! We land in the water and it skips. I was like, oh god, we made it, amazing. And it was like, you pull up to a dock in the middle of fucking nowhere

and you get on a boat at like five, no, 4.45 a.m. And as you're pulling out into the ocean, there's like whales cresting and otters holding hands because they're still asleep and fucking bald eagles and shit. And you're like, this is worth it alone. But it's also in the middle of nowhere. So there's no like crazy fishing or anything like that.

So you just drop a lure in the water and if it makes it to the end of the line, like it fully extends, that's pretty rare. They're just like fish everywhere, so it was amazing. Whoa, that's wild. Yeah. Just like in Basset. I know, we went off and it was worth it. Sorry, sorry, go fish in Alaska

if you ever get the chance. It was utterly worth it. There's very little fishing in Basset. Yeah, damn it, Well, all right. Yeah. I'm just expecting Blackrock City. It's not that nice. Well, it's...

Not that nice? Bass, it's visually maybe. Yeah. It's definitely... Death Guild, maybe, I don't know. Maybe. Yeah. Yeah, a lot of the visual inspiration for the city hits elements of Mad Max,

mixed with my favorite parts of Batuu and Galaxy's Edge. I was going to say, a little battle angel. A little battle angel, yeah. Very much this broken city that is built from the pieces that have shattered multiple times, and the people that go through there, and this lawless but unspoken rules type of a society. That's going gonna be fun.

Maybe escape to LA if like we were gonna, I'm gonna go into the Kurt Russell verse. Sure, sure, yeah, I could see that. I could see that. I'm gonna carry that with me into the next game. It's kinda wild when they thought we were gonna stand out there. You're like, oh, okay.

That says a lot already. And we wasted no time getting there. Theater troops passing through. Yeah, yep, yep. And we wasted no time getting there. Theater troops passing through. Yeah. Yep. Clearly, they have no money. And to that point, because we've only really gotten there

for half an episode, we're just kind of getting involved, but you did meet a new friend. Dusk. Dusk. Erica's character. Dusk. What are your guys' first impressions?

She teleported to the top of a roof. She did? She's not broken enough to be a local, which is really, I'm kind of curious to see what that whole story is about. Mostly just questions. I mean, we really just ran into her. Yeah, totally.

And then, like, got into it. Now you're heading over to a taste of Tal'Dorei to go get to know each other. Going to Planet Hollywood, baby. Yeah. D to Planet Hollywood, baby. Yeah. Dread and excitement intertwined. I love that I have the description of this place and nobody else other than Sam

has seen the description of this place. So no one else knows just how insane this is going to be. Only the characters that are from the city get to know the information. We're going to taste of Tal'Dorei. Oh, wow. Wait, so did you leave Vassaras by choice or were you forced out? I left by choice. So you leave Vassaras by choice, or were you forced out?

I left by choice. So you say. I left by choice. It's not a town where you, like, you can piss people off and have to leave, but, like, you know, it's kind of a good town for people who piss people off. Yeah.

Yeah. Actually, to that point, it has very much a, like, East Jesus Lab City vibe. Yeah, yeah, a little bit. You know, the people that get exiled from other major cities or break too many laws and rules in other places, this is where you go where you'll be fine. Yeah, and if they really don't like you, you'll just vanish one day.

You'll just vanish. Something will happen. Quietly. In the night. Concrete shoes. A little Deadwood-y? Kind of. Sure, a little bit. Concrete shoes. A little Dead Woody? Kind of. Sure, a little bit. Okay.

On a larger scale? You'll learn more about it as you go. It'll be fun. It's going to be a good time. That's a powerful people already. Yeah, well, it's like, you know how you go to places in the world where you're like, wow, like, what went wrong here? This is a place where nothing has ever gone right.

So it's never about what went wrong. It's like, why hasn't anything gone right? There's a big throwdown in the street and everybody just like watched and then it was over. Probably slightly disappointed that it wasn't bloodier. Yeah.

Picked up anything of worth that was left behind and went about the rest of their day. It's fine. You're going to be fine. Yeah, plus there's like people around here. There's all sorts of folks in the woods and surrounding areas. I'm sure we'll all make out at this point.

Probably safer to sleep out there, Gav. Who knows? That's true. I will also say, based on the travel that you've made in this campaign, other campaigns, and looking at this menu of fine topics to discuss, what would you say is your favorite form of fantasy or fictional travel? Oh, man, I do love the ship.

I'm loving the skyship. Now, fictional, regardless, if it's fantasy, it could be any sort of genre. What is your favorite form of fictional travel? Anything, anything. Ooh. Mm. I love a good teleport, an apparating, disapparating.

You know? And just the way that it's portrayed. I'm a Nemo kid. I love a submarine. I love being a fantasy submarine, which is interesting because you know my issues. But actually as part of it, Deep Underwater freaks me the fuck out.

I know. I love the idea that, you know. So is Abyss, the movie Abyss, a part of it? I really dig the Abyss. Or even like 20,000 Leagues, the old Disney one with that novelist that looks like, you know, like, you know. Buck Rogers, Rocket? Steampunk fever dream, yeah.

Two things come to mind. One is Blaine the monorail in the Dark Tower series. Oh, yeah. It's like a long-fallen futuristic civilization that's fallen, and in this one area they find like a monorail above, but the monorail is sentient and twisted, and it's scary right on the inside. So I'd like to be terrified inside Blaine. But the other thing I'm thinking of is those big

long-legged insect creatures in the Dark Crystal. Oh, yeah. Yeah, the land striders. Yeah. Those are cool. Which is really some guy in stil Crystal. Oh, yeah. The Landstriders. Yeah. Those are cool. Which is really some guy in stilts doing this, but... They've got these cute little bunny faces that are super adorable and horrifying beneath,

and I love the combination of it. Those things are gorgeous. Yeah. Damn. Now I'm really trying to... We've ruined everything, haven't we? Yeah, always. Yes.

Fighter Jet is your... Yeah, you like to fly. You mean Pinwheel? Pinwheel. Pinwheel hat. You need't we? Yeah. Always. Yes. Fighter jet is your... Yeah, you like to fly. You need pinwheel? You need pinwheel? You need pinwheel? Oh, God. And away! That is transportation.

Yep. With an upwind. I would say fan boats, because they can't be real. Oh, yeah. That's just weird. Fan boat? Fan boat. I grew up in Florida.

I know they're real, but they shouldn't be. Oh! Like Zartan and the Drennok? Zartan fanboat. Oh, no. Oh, the best worst G.I. Joe. We need some more fantasy fanboats. I'm going to have someone build that now in the next swamp you guys go to.

You're going to have to go ahead and forward your Exandrian fanboat adventure. Like a crystal behind the fan. I don't even know. Yeah, just a trapped elemental. They just prod. It's like, fine. It's a little magic circle that has points and there's just an air immense, but stuck in like a centrifuge Free him do we know it's been on a fan boat trip tour. I have when I was very you were I grew up in Florida man, or do you I it's not amazing. It's very loud

Can't they give you like I'm from Florida, please. I know! Don't they give you cans? They give you, like, earmuffs, right? They probably should have. Oh, no! It's a kindergarten. It explains a lot of damage now when you think about it. You were in kindergarten?

Oh, no! Just, like, going on a two-hour ride with a lawnmower right now. Yeah, okay. Florida. Sorry, anybody who lives in Florida, for many, many of. Florida. Sorry, anybody who lives in Florida, for many reasons. Anyway.

I think those are our nice round of the what the fuck is up with that topics. Nice. Which is awesome. So now it's time for a mandatory pull of a question from the Tower of Inquiry. Inquiry. Inquiry.

One of us must pull a block from the Tower. Andquiry. Inquiry. Inquiry. One of us must pull a block from the Tower of Inquiry. And they read the number and then he tells us the corresponding question and who asked it. And if the Tower

of Inquiry falls, there will be dire consequences for the one who ruins it. It will actually kill your character. No way. Whoa.

Again. All right. It's bound to happen soon. No, horrible, embarrassing consequences instead. And so with that in mind, Liam, why don't you go pull a block? Because I did. Because I did so well with the game at your house.

Yep, that was fun to watch. That was a lot of fun to watch. It's not the first time this week this has happened. Okay, be very, very quiet. I wouldn't even know where to start. I'm just gonna lean back a little, because I'm nervous. Way back.

Okay, so we're saying one. It's a good thing this is glued together, because it holds over the weeks and months. Is it still sticky? It's still sticky. Lessons learned. Yeah, I mean. Oh! Stalling turn! Stalling turn! I. Yeah, I mean. Oh!

Oh! Oh! Scrolling turn! I love it, I love it. It builds up the tension. Nope, nope. Sup, baby? Get out of there.

I'm so nervous for you. Yeah! All right. Zex, number six. What? Oh. Yeah, I was like, excuse you. Here, now? Oh, I put it at the top, right? You know how to play Jenga. Do What? Oh. Yeah, I was like, excuse you. Here, now. Oh, I put it at the top, right? You know how to play Changa.

Do I? Yeah. Yes, I've seen you do it. Not well. Nope. Number six. If your character was a part of the modern day era, what job would they have,

or what job would they like to have? Like a teacher, a doctor, a YouTuber. That's a fun question. Wolfgirlstuart at Twitter. Thank you, Wolfgirlstuart. Wolfgirlstuart. That's a fun question. Wolf Girl Stewart at Twitter. Thank you, Wolf Girl Stewart. Wolf Girl Stewart. That's for all, right? For all.

For all? Oh gosh. A modern day occupation? Yes. Oh jeez. I think that Orm would either be in the New York Ballet in Swan Lake, or he might be like a coach for track and field.

Or an athlete himself in the Olympics. I like that. I think I'd go ballet. I think I'd go ballet. Water, synchronized swimming? Synchronized swimming? Synchronized swimming is always an option. Only if Ashton came with him.

Well, that's made of rock, probably sink. Don't think it would go well. I think Chetney would be a woodworker, because that's the normal occupation. Or like a dentist. But like, would really enjoy it. Like Dan Aykroyd, Little Shop of Horrors. Steve Martin.

Steve Martin, yeah, sorry. Yeah, just, you'll need a dance. A singing dentist. Oh my goodness. Oh, they all gotta go. Uh-huh. One at a time. This wood cavity's giving me a problem.

Sorry, the whole backside has to go. Oh, I slipped! I need suction! Oh my god. I'm just going to put my knee on your chest. Jeez. Jesus, that face. What about Ashton?

I mean, that's pretty easy, because I will say, the most punk- ass asshole i knew growing up in in high school uh had the same uh job that like henry rollins had before he before he like went to be in a band which is he would work in an ice cream parlor that's really like he would just he would just serve ice cream it would be like just fucking like stone stone coal whatever you know hate it yeah hate it and have no customer service whatsoever but that's that's like the best shit job for a bunker that i can think of snotty little kid i dig that out of there crying it's just like yeah you can steal some off the end of your shift

yeah yeah just the kids you like you just kind of give them some scoops when making up stories if you don't like them you lick the ice cream before you give it to them. Perfect. Yeah. That's valid. I'm just going to believe you, kid. Yeah. Go cry. I don't really have a character. Don't you, though? What's an NPC that you think would be a good choice to answer this question for?

Well, Eshteross. Eshteross is a good one. Yeah, actually, yeah, Eshteross. Eshteross would be... He'd be like a mysterious VC. Venture capitalist. Yeah. Okay. He'd be like a mysterious VC. Venture capitalist? Yeah. Okay.

He'd be like the kind of guy that would show up at some coffee shop somewhere outside of a pub to some young upstarts out of college that are trying to put together their startup. And he'd be like, So, are you into crypto? That ruins the character. That ruins the character. That ruins the character. Yeah, he lost me there.

Have you heard of this thing called the internet? Oh my goodness. No. Yeah? Yeah, he, venture capitalist is pretty. Venture capitalist, I think, would work for him. He'd definitely just look,

looking for things to invest in and bring up. I could do my own Cold Stone Ice Cream. Now that I'm thinking about it, I could just freeze up and just... Oh, my God. You would be your own Cold Stone Ice Cream, right? What about the Shade Mother? What would she do in today's society? Ooh, yeah.

She'd be in season four of Stranger Things. Okay. Character actor. Yeah, character actor. She and Alex Ward just hanging out backstage. Getting pissed when they steal each other's roles. What's up, Spooky Boy? Spooky Boy.

That's pretty good. Can we pull another one? Or should we move on into another section? I think we should pull another one. But thank you Wolf Girl Stewart for your question. I got another thing. Make Travis suffer. Travis, pull one. Thank you, Wolf Girl Stewart, for your question. All the names there, yeah. Yeah, I got another thing.

Yeah, look at that. Make Travis suffer. Travis Pullen. I really have to go? Yeah, he said so. Suffer! Oh, no. Dad said so.

You got to do it. No good ones. No, Dad, today, listen to me. You have to do what I say. Oh, it really does look like a propeller. Oh, boy. Don't say that! This is my greatest day. Wow, Liam.

Dude, I don't even. Tip tap, tip tap, tip tap. It's moving. That was loose-ish. Oh, there you go. Okay. Look at that. Like an expert woodworker. Oh god. It's good to jerk it. Oh!

It's too late now! Concern. You're committed. Maybe send it back and maybe you gotta, yeah, uh-huh. Tiny vibrations. Oh no! Tiny vibrations. Oh god. Oh Jesus, don't do this.

I don't think we were meant to see this. Hold your breath and just. Oh! Yay! Good job, buddy. Uh-oh. 20, release. 20.

Do you need a second? I do. Okay. Fuck! Well done, I'm proud of you. Do you need a second? I do. Okay. Fuck. Well done. Do I stand here? Only if you want to. Yeah, that's fine. What would your character's Twitter bio look like

from at trash with a name on Instagram? Oh, man. Name, thank you. What would your character's Twitter bio say? Oh, man. That's hard. Yeah, I don't know. It wouldn't have his real name.

It would be Seapock. Would it just be an egg? Seapock. Yeah, it would be a clever handle. Seapock Industries. It'd be an anime character. Yeah, anime character. Anime character. Yeah, anime character. Anime character.

Nothing but obnoxious political retweets. I actually might just say that in the bio. Nothing but obnoxious political retweets. And bans you've never heard of.

I'd say he, him, no instant gratification. 18 plus. What other? I'm going to link to your Etsy page. That did it. That did it. That was it.

Oh, man. Oh, God, you'd be blocked so fast. Oh, I know. You'd be blocked terrible.. Oh no. Terrible. Yeah, I'd have a SoundCloud. I feel like you'd have a Tumblr, or I don't know if that's a thing anymore. No, Tumblr's been a refuge.

God, since the dark days of Musk. It would be a lot of workout routine stuff. It would say, pie is better than cake. Yeah, that's fair. That's fair. Oh, that's funny. Which is true. It is true.

That's true. I'm sorry for everyone who disagrees and is wrong, but it's true. I'm so sorry. I put the wrong handle. It was actually from Scarfooloo on Twitter. Oh, Scarfooloo. But we love you too, Trash With a Name.

Trash With a Name, you're great. And we'll get to your question. Thank you to most of you. But also, Scarfooloo, you're great you too, Trash with a Name. Trash with a Name, you're great. And we'll get to your question right after this. Thank you to most of you. But also, Scarfooloo, you're great, and thank you for the question. Mm-hmm. What else? Continue answering the question we chose.

That one. I want a shitty SoundCloud. I feel like that would also be good. You'd have a shitty SoundCloud? Oh yeah, definitely. Does that go on a bio? Sometimes, you put the link in your bio, or you put the link if something blows up,

but I would never actually tweet anything interesting. I thought you pinned it or something. Mine might have a link to a YouTube channel of different workouts, probably. I could see that. That's good. I'm going to go to social media at some point. A fitness guru online. I could see that. Oh yeah, you could be a nutritionist trainer, celebrity trainer. 100%. You'd make some good vegetarian, high protein stuff.

You know what I think it would be? It would be your Twitter would mostly just steer people over to your Instagram, which would have all the videos of you training in the morning. Yeah. Halfling your way to health. Halfling your way to health. Oh.

Yeah. Sorry, don't like it. This is awful. Coin it. Boy, I wish I was just. Oh! Yeah. Sorry. I don't like it. This is awful. Coin it. Boy, I wish I was just shredded as Orim. That'd be great. Oh yeah. Oh boy, who's got the time?

You just start with a big arm sleeve first. Just one thing at a time. Just one arm? Just work on one? Oh, tattoos? Sleeve, yeah. I'm in, I'm in. You know that when you get a full sleeve,

it instantly makes you more buff. Does it? I think so. Okay, I guess I gotta do it. I mean, look at Robbie David. Yeah, that's true. He's got both sleeves and he is hot. Yeah, but he was, and he makes you more buff. Does it? I think so. Okay, I guess I got to do it. I mean, look at Robbie Dabler. Yeah, that's true. He's got both of those and he is hot. Yeah, but he doesn't work out at all.

He hiked a mountain the other day! Endlessly hiking. Just because you put it on the internet doesn't mean you actually did it. That's true. He didn't. You think he had himself flown in? He was covered in, he was covered in sun.

Took a picture. He's like, the snow, once you get above 26,000 feet, makes it difficult. Here are my shoe chains. I was like, where the fuck is Robbie? Man, there's a shop in the mall where they'll photograph you in anything you want. Hold on, let me get my glycerin spray.

Oh my god. We made it to the top. Glycerin sweat. I call it a little shit. I'm not engaging in this conversation. This is for you, Robbie. You piece of shit. Stop summoning stuff. Stop being so fit and hot.

It makes us feel bad. With your kids. No, it doesn't. It makes us thirsty. Okay, yeah. No, that was good. What NPC should we pick? Oh, good question.

Oh, wow. What about the ship captain? Oh, that's cool, yeah. Oh, they would have all pronouns at the top, all caps. Infinite pronouns. Yeah, infinite pronouns. Free spirit,

see in the world, we'll do it all again. That voice, I can't. With the punctuation, too. We'll do it all again. Link tree to my OnlyFans. But it's mostly them just making food.

You can't say OnlyFans. I was about to say, I can't say that on Twitter. What about our museum curator? Oh, yes. Hytroga? Yeah. Even Hytroga. Got a TikTok.

No, his would be... No, his would be like the quintessential boomer Twitter where it's not quite done right. It's just a picture of him from high school, and there's way too much text, and he signs it at the end of it, and all of a sudden he signs. Oh, wow. There are poorly filtered photos

that have been scanned in, but not properly. You can see the white on the outside. Like, yeah, it's real bad. Ow. Some of them are in all caps. This is, links to his GeoCities page. This is the deepest lore.

I mean, this is good, lore i mean this is good you guys we really should do this as like a marketing coverage it's a good character exercise in actually yeah like just what what was your character social media page playlists out yeah i love this plan Selena Gomez bye bye exactly still keeping their MySpace page alive I mean is that up yeah

yeah it is Tom's like the one dude that made it out okay in the end nice nice MySpace he's out there

seeing the world Tom wherever you are thank you we're still friends doing the work yeah the drama of who was

in your top 10 in my heart indeed you need to pull one out too oh my god. Oh, is it time for you to pull one out? You made a move. It was like a thing. Yeah.

How do I go last? I really fucked with the stability of the overall thing. So I'm sorry. That's okay, Dani, harass him. Oh, I, you're weird. You're not, though. I'm not weird. That's great.

You're weird, but you're not. You're really cool. You're really wonderful and I love you. I love you. You're weird. She said, I've been around. That was great. You're weird, but you're not. You're really wonderful and I love you. I love you. You're weird. I apologize. You've been around for a thousand years. Oh! It scared me.

You can't do that. That was forceful and authoritative. Thank you, baby. 25. 25, okay. Way it goes on the top. Are you gonna throw it? Don't mess it up. I am so scared right now. Oh, Taliesin. Next person who throws it out is dead. Well done, that was Lord of Darkness. If your character was a candle,

what scent would they be? Lord. From Amy Von Lewin. Amy Von Lewin from Australia. Thank you, Amy Von Lewin. Unique question. Oh man. I got nothing but bad suggestions.

I mean, there's some good, I mean, like, what I can... The scent of rusted pennies. The scent of birch, pine, oak, cherry. I mean, some of those are real candle scents right there. Rusted pennies, I don't know if that exists. No, not that I've found, unless, you know, bad candle. There's probably a bad candle. I'm sure there's a shitty-smelling candle.

Specifically, intentionally bad. From City Area Bedragon. Yeah, oh, wow, bad candle. No's probably a bad candle. I'm sure there's a shitty-smelling candle. Specifically, intentionally bad. City area bed dragon. Yeah, oh, wow. Bad candle. No. No. No. No.

I hate you. No, don't take it and run. Put it down. Drop it. You can homebrew anything, okay? The magic of RPGs. I was going to say sandalwood is definitely in the, but yeah, any of the plant ones.

Sandalwood. I feel like, again, like such basic, Nag Champa, if they like make a candle that just is like overpowering in that direction. I don't know what that is. Nag Champa, that's like the OG, well, I should say college incense. That is the college incense of the 1990s.

Every head shop at every college, you're like, I'm going to burn some incense. Yeah, it's in a little blue box and it's like, I probably smelled it and just didn't know what it was. It is. and every college. Yeah, it's in a little blue box, and it's like, I probably smelled it and just didn't know what it was. It is the incense smell of someone who knows nothing. It's the Budweiser.

I'm mean to it because I love it. I do love it. Yeah, they sell a starter kit at a head shop, and it's like a pair of bongo drums, knock-chop-a, like, your own little drum. Interesting. It's a hacky sack, roll a little. Hacky sack. Yeah, yeah. Uh-huh. Interesting.

It's a hacky sack of. It's a hacky sack. Let's be real. Yeah, I feel bad because I really like the smell of it quite a bit.

I honestly don't. It's a good choice. I really love it. It's a good choice. I thought it was real progressive. I don't know, I don't know what it would have actually be.

How would you mix sweat and cherry blossoms? What would encapsulate that? I don't know. Sweat and cherry. We can just say cherry blossom. I mean, cherry blossoms are really. Just say cherry blossom,

I don't even know if it has to be sweaty. I kind of want cherry blossom. With a little salt in it? Yeah. A sea breeze cherry blossom? Smell like the beach. Ooh. Beach and spring.

That was inspired. Thanks, I dug real deep. That's all I got. I'm useless for the rest of the day. Well, I'm glad we got that out. Thank you. Wow. And we're going to come to Australia?

Hey! Next question? Wait, wait, wait. I want to know what Eshteroth smells like, too. Oh, that's right. I get to it. I'm super curious about what he smells like. I mean, he'd be...

He's a musky bastard. Yeah, yeah. He's got, like, sex panther. Uh-huh. Where it stings the nostrils. Yep. 60% of the time, it works every time. When you put it on, it stings like...

Fuck, oh yeah. Ugh. People are arsed. You have to yell. Ah! This is where my knowledge of the diverse plethora of incense types and names does not come to my aid, because I have none.

I could be like, the one that one time that Marisha lit when we were on vacation. Does Marisha have a shitload of incense? Yeah. Mm-hmm. We pick them up whenever we're round about, but I never remember what they're called. So you just smell nice things at the house, but you don't know what they are.

Yes. You could throw two words together and probably name a couple accidentally. Sure, yeah. You know what? Pumpkin pie can. That's immediately where I would go with that. Oh. Those smell real good. I will say a ginger spice for the baker aspects of him, probably, because those scents do carry on him from his baking time.

God, pine is nice. Beyond that, I would say a musky cedar for the inside of his dark, you know, his study where he trains as well. That would make sense, I think. It's like book leather. So his study where he trains as well, that would make sense, I think. The book leather. I was a real simple bitch in college, and so I would buy vanilla cinnamon candles for my apartment. I thought I was so cultured. But just holy vanilla cinnamon over and over and over.

I think I also got one of those little rock fountains. You start having sense memory when you walk into a Bed Bath & Beyond, and you're just like, whoa. I don't know what feels worse, the fact that it's true or the fact that I can utterly see it right now. I feel bad by how well I can see it. Listen, guys.

Culture happens one step at a time sometimes. You take it where you can get it. Dang right. Fuck! We're measuring your progress in decades, Travis. It's okay, Mav! It's okay! If you have a quick and dirty evergreen question for our slightly less sticky Tower of Inquiry,

you can enter it at critrole.com slash tower. Oh boy. Damn. And now I think you move into the next segment of our, the next phase of our four-set of dive, the deep dive. Now we're going to take turns pulling questions from our tankards, and since I'm the tavern keeper, I'll be kicking this one off. Dani, what's on the menu for today?

Yeah, Dani! Hey, Dani. Dani Carr. It's tankards, and they have questions in them. Tankards! Thank you, Dani. Oh, look, I beat the fucking... Thanks, guys.

That one's yours. Oh, that's me. Stare at it for a second. I'm like, what am I holding? Curds away. Oh, yours is nice. Yours kind of has that like... Holy grail from Indiana Jones. That's exactly...

Yes! Up of a carpenter. I was just trying to get there. That was exactly... Damn! The thing I asked for. I can see what's going on in your mind. I'm glad you guys picked that one wisely.

Yay, I'm glad people picked up on that. That makes me happy. What happens now? Well, first, we all take turns pulling one by one the questions and answering it. So we'll just go clockwise with you, Liam. Why not? Real clockwise this time. Yes.

Okay. I got one. Bizarro. What you got? Vax was closely connected to the clasp in campaign one. What is it like to see clasp connections pop up with spiraling Shen and Janna Hexum

all the way in Marquette? I mean, not specific just to that thread, but I can't really fathom, Matty, how all the little lines, little golden threads going back to Campaign 1 and even to the home game that have run all the way, all the way up to here in everything we do.

So, I mean, of course, fucking dope seeing Spiraling Shen, who's someone we've been talking about to the home game that have run all the way, all the way up to here in everything we do. So, I mean, of course, fucking dope seeing Spiraling Shen, who's someone we've been talking about for a long time, suddenly pop up

like a gopher. But I love it. I love, with everything we do, it just feels like the tapestry gets a little richer and grows,

but it's all connected to each other. Plus, I think we get a little bit more about the Spiralings, because I remember them from Campaign One. I remember they were in the beginning of the very first comic book issue.

And then other than that, I'm still a little bit in the dark on how that whole structure works. I think me and Sam both. Sam was like, was that Spiraling what? Each major city that has CLAP, Clasp involvement, has a, yeah, everyone gets the CLAP. Each major city that has clasp involvement has a... Everyone has to clap. They have to have the clasp come in.

Part of the induction. Exactly. Yeah, the druids usually help, but since the Ashari absconded, they've got to work with whoever they can get. The Spirelings are essentially the collection of leaders that maintain and organize those different sects of the clasp, wherever they are.

And we've seen quite a few of them through the adventures as the years go on. Shin has definitely been one of the power players in Amon for quite some time. I mean, I knew that. I'm glad everybody else knows that, yeah. Yeah. And they're popping up in Kamek books,

and they popped up in Kamek. Look, I will say my dream, since I was very young and started playing these games, was to have a campaign or a series of campaigns that went long enough that I could begin to connect threads and have elements of the world continue to feed into each other and feel real and breathing. And the fact that we're now going into campaign three

and I get to do more of this is the most fun I'm having. And yeah, so anyway. I just wish it showed. I'm so fucking miserable. Maybe you should put some of that enthusiasm in your actual GM. I'm having. And yeah. So anyway. I just wish it showed. I'm so fucking miserable. Maybe you should put some of that enthusiasm into your actual GM. I'm sorry.

Can't I be Bradley Mulligan, okay? Jesus. No, I love it. I mean, I even love just in my own small little way in putting together Orym and taking what Matt and Marisha made with Zephyr and everything

is just taking the knitting needles and going like, oh, I'm just going to knit a little a little line of warriors that live there too. They're just in the corner. It's not the overall end all and be all of that society. But they're there now and I've woven them in

to everybody that existed before and I love, I don't know, I love this collaboration. It's years long collaboration. It makes me so happy. It's like self-sustaining, too, right? Like, that's the best part, is you can add to it, and then it, like, creates another wrinkle,

and then another wrinkle, and another ripple, another ripple. Every character backstory I get, whenever anyone makes a new character for a campaign or to replace a character that dies, like, it's another cool facet and opportunity for you guys to pass the ball to me, and then to me, eventually, the the story pass it back to you.

And I just, I love this collaboration so much. That's what was so great about having Robbie come in. Cause it had so much attached to it. And so like when Erica's character comes in and like dusk and jumps to her roof, she's got a sword and you're like, okay, but gimme, who are you and what do you know? Hand it over. I will RP it next time. But who are you and what do you know? Hand it over. I'll RP it next time.

It's, who are you? Just want it now. Just got to finish up Calamity shit first and then we'll get back to it. Oh. We're going to win, don't worry. We're going to win. Yeah, you guys are going to stop the Calamity.

That Coby action is going to be just fine. Yep, I'm going to show it my maroo. Everybody in this building is really randy about calamity right now. Yeah, that's true. It's so good. Oh, God. All of you. All of you are doing so well.

It's doing so good. I did not respect the calamity enough. I just don't think I understood it. Well, I think it was actually just vague or just removed enough from history to not give it the credence that it deserved. And being able to see it through this lens, it's so telling because you understand what happened, but you understand also what was normal in that time,

and that has all just been erased, gone from history. The entire understanding is just... I'm trying to remember, how many years ago was the Calamity at this point? all just been erased, gone from history. The entire understanding is just... How many years ago was the Calamity at this point? The Calamity is well over a thousand years ago. And the Calamity was a period of time. It wasn't like a major battle. It was a series of things.

So it's the equivalent of us going into history class and learning about the Crusades or learning about the Fall of Troy. Things that are practically mythological at this point. So unless you're a very deeply invested historian, you know, the fall of Troy. Like things that are practically mythological to this point. So unless you're a very deeply invested historian, you kind of have a passing knowledge. Oh, yeah, that happened a while back.

That's kind of wild. And even those that are historians are still scrapping together information because based on who survived, who wrote the books, and who wanted what elements of the calamity to be remembered. Yeah. Because Victor's right. Exactly.

It's like the quantum leap version of history class where you actually are in it. It's not what people know or what was said or what was written down. It's like, it's fucking happening. Yeah. And you're like, oh God, how do I, what do I fix? Yeah.

It's everything that we were crawling through in Aeor and then suddenly rapid fire rewind. Yes. Yes. It's so hard turning that part of your brain off, too, because you're like, it's just... I don't know anything. And that'll get a little

inside baseball here, but I've wanted to have something happen in that era, the Age of Arcanum calamity, for a long time, and it wasn't until we were talking with Brendan about possibly writing something a while back, and we were talking about different things and mentioning the Age of Arcanum Calamity, and he just went like, we'll talk about that one. And then he just continued to create this amazing

thing. We've been collaborating here and there on lore stuff and building it out together, but this is, I take no credit beyond just helping build lore and keep everything in line and giving ideas and stuff like that, but he's just running with it and doing such a good job. From Aabria and him, just other great examples of other ways to play the game and how to run it,

how to tell stories with your players, and I'm just so excited that this is happening. Fucking wizards. Fucking wizards. Fucking wizards. New storytellers, storytelling wizards. Oh, god. I'm so proud. I'm so proud. Dude, it's awesome. Anyway.

Clockwise. Oh. They're all the same, it doesn't matter. Here we go. Not that they're all the same, it just doesn't matter. How is Ashton feeling about returning to Basras and the prospect of finding the Nobodies? Well, I don't necessarily think they're there, first of all. Maybe somebody went back, but like,

they could be anywhere. I certainly don't know if I would want to go back if I'd gotten out. This is not where I'd be going if it weren't for you fuckers. Sorry. Not sorry. Yeah, not really a person who likes to look back or ever deal with things that were in the past

or really touch any of that because it's uncomfortable and the future is always there already. So this is not... What kind of terms did you leave on with them? I mean, everything went bad, they put you back together. I haven't seen them since. So like that night, bunch of hazy ass memories,

and then everybody was just out. Yeah, everybody but Milo just booked out, like the worst bank heist gone wrong, and they just dumped you. Oh, that's primed for... I just assumed that they scattered to the four winds. I don't know, but that's what I would have done, is just scatter into the four winds.

And we saw some flashes in their faces, right? So it wasn't like they just left you for dead. No, they got me out of there, and then you were out. Yeah, but they knew that I can't stay in town. I couldn't get out anyway, so... Yeah, that will be a conversation that happens. Were you close with anybody in the Nobodies? All of them.

No, I mean like close. Like close. All of them. No. Ashton I can't speak to, but me, yes. Okay, okay. No, and it's going to be interesting because there's going to be some terrible,

there's some really irritating history there. But also, again, I said this earlier, it is like going into your hometown with your friends, where you're like, this place is shit. Oh, this bar is amazing. So there's a bit of that, like, this is a shit bar, I've got to take you. Which also has a 10% chance of maybe you'll find somebody in that place. There's definitely some people around who probably... It's a hard face to forget, so.

Yeah, and Matt's already looking at me like he's gonna murder me, so that's okay. So, yeah, I have a lot of characters. I like writing characters who don't want to deal with their shit. Like, I really enjoy characters who are not, like, out on a quest. They are just running from shit.

Yeah. Percy was running from shit, had no interest. Molly, no interest in their shit. Like, actively was like, don't know, don't care, fuck off. And like, yeah. Cad was the exception that proves that we're all right. Cad was the exception because he wasn't, like, there was nothing to run from.

He was Captain America, there was nothing wrong with him, it was a world that's broken. We're all shit. Yeah. There's nothing wrong. Yeah, you don't have to fix he was already fixed it was like you know

he's fine oh gosh made him the perfect addition to that part yeah he was like we needed someone who was grounded enough not to have a personal issue

so it worked out well I love it yeah fuck the past anyway I should probably pull in okay

question there you go oh we're heading into Basiris I should probably pull one. Okay. Question. There you go. We're heading into Basaris and the Hellcatch Valley now and experiencing a very different culture from Drusar and Heartmoor. What was it like to create and collaborate on this Lawless Valley? Ooh, yes, this is a great question.

Lawless. I've had the fantastic opportunity since before even the campaign started to begin collaborating with some amazing people to kind of flesh out the cultures and spaces of Marquette. Both because I don't have a lot of time and also I want to make sure that everything is done with respect and that people can actually create and speak from their own cultural backgrounds, too. And so for the Hellcatch Valley in particular, the wonderful Bashir Gauss has been helping right with this. And the collaboration process for me has been, I've outlined essentially the continent's main regions.

And certain ones, I definitely kind of, like Drusar and elements of the Oderan Wilds are primarily my creations and then go through consulting and stuff like that. But other regions that I basically laid out on the table and spoke to each of these collaborators and went, which one speaks to you? Which one do you want to go ahead and run with? And Bashir specifically was like Hellcatch Valley.

That's right up my alley. Damn. And so from there, it was me then having multiple meetings with them and talking about this is kind of the vibe I want for it. This is how it sits between the other regions and how it connects and kind of interacts with the other cultures nearby. Here's some of the history to the space and kind of the general biomes and geography of it.

But beyond that, what inspires you? Go. And so, like, Vassaris was the one city there that I really kind of, because it was based on your backstory, that I had a lot of kind of strong feelings for. But I thought it was just letting him go. Then you come back with all these cool areas and spaces and ideas. And we do notes back and forth and then have meetings and kind of talk about what things you wanted to develop more, what things need to be tweaked a little bit. Begin to connect some of the other collaborators and writers to make sure that areas where their regions

kind of intersected and stuff, we were all on the same page for. And that was kind of the process. And as we began to kind of bring together, didn't have a lot of major notes because Bashir is super talented and is an amazing creator and writer. And he's very excited to see you guys

getting to explore some of the spaces that we've created together, and it's going to be fun. So if we find ourselves in mortal danger, we're not just cursing your name, we're cursing Ashir's name. Yes. Okay. We are both at fault for everything that happens.

I need his number so I can get a text thread where we can accost him. We'll protect him. Because he is wonderful and should be protected. I'm excited for the greater exploration because it's that moment where you spend the early part of a campaign usually in one place and then you start to branch out and it feels, especially with an airship, it just feels like any direction, limitless. So I can't wait to dig in because, again, we just got there. That's the worst and best part about getting a new map is that,

especially after the ruins of Aeor, when it was like A1, A2, A question mark, now we look at a map and we're like, what does it say? What are the hidden things? Are there little things in the drawing? Why did you draw that? Why is there nothing here?

It doesn't make any sense. There's never nothing. Well, it's also, not every map you get is going to have everything on it. That's true. It's just a time of drawing. Yep, or whatever's important to the person that had the map permission. It's always different coming into a different topographical area that has inherent, like, repellent barriers around where you're trying to go.

You know, like, being up in Jorhas was, like, big spires and everything was deadly and, like, gravity in the area was weird. But, you know, like but giant fucking holes in the ground that you can see from the sky. Why? I don't know. I mean, aside from the giant worm. Oh yeah, the Deathstraw. We're obviously gonna have to try and ride.

You really want to do that, don't you? Two chisels and it's back and right. Yeah, yeah. I'm waiting for the moment where we're walking along the ground and we feel a little... And it just starts to go... Right where we are. Yep.

Yep, and then we do just belly of the whale. I should be glad you guys have a skyship. Just don't fly it too high and don't get caught in a dust storm. In a what storm? Dust storm. Yeah, it's a storm. I know what it is. I'm just saying...

You were looking very... No, I'm just trying to figure out what it is. I'm just saying. You were looking very confused. No, I'm just trying to figure out what it means. Is there like a dust dragon that comes with it? Is there a dust giant that's got wings? Maybe it's a jetpack. It'll be fine. I cast Feather Fall. You're just like zip lining down.

Where's Orym? Oh, God. He's off the boat. Oh, my God. All right, you're up the boat! Oh my god. All right, you're up. Oh, I'm up. Yeah.

Okay. Dig, dig, dig. Oh, give us a peek behind the EXU curtain. Tell us about Seret Pinch Aggrothnin and what it's been like experiencing the Age of Arcanum. Woo! Well, first of all, there were a bunch of people picking magic classes, obviously because it's the age of Arcanum, and there's wizards, and there's sorcerers, and there's bards. So I felt like I had to rep a little bit of just that straight melee class.

But as we were talking about it, and as Brennan started to give us the basic foundation of what we were going to be covering and how fucking detailed it was I was like okay I want to be I want to try and be like an investigator

that's trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together because if everybody is like large captains or key players of the city there needs to be somebody that's trying to connect the dots that others are missing and as the story started to take shape and that fucking name came across vespen chloris i was like wait so in the timeline has this just happened he's like yes very recently and i'm like does anybody care and he's like you can find out like that's that's what I want to do. I want to be like, I based him off of John Cusack in Con Air.

Wait for it. Because if you remember, John Cusack's like the shitty FBI agent that nobody takes seriously, but he goes into John Malkovich's cell and he starts putting it all together. He tries to tell everybody, it's going to blow up,

look out for the lunchbox, but they up, look out for the lunchbox, but they don't look out for the lunchbox. I'm John Cusack. Why didn't you have him in that white suit then? Wasn't it like a white, like a linen suit? Yeah. I don't know. There are only some things you just can't do.

And then outside of that, like, Saret is, he's a bird person he's a nice furor so i have always thought they were fucking really really cool along with cat folk even though i'm allergic to them so i thought it was a great excuse to do that and play a rogue because it's a plus to dex racial bonus right yeah so uh that mixed with making an Inquisitor rogue. Holy shit, the stuff you get as a rogue is crazy. Yeah. Like his perception, investigation, insight,

and I think stealth. Like you can't roll below a 10 for proficiency. Yeah, whatever you choose, you cannot fail. Minimum 23 on most things. It's nuts. Like I rolled a 31 or two in my first roll. I was like, what? God! Whatever you choose, you cannot fail. Minimum 23 on most things. It's nuts. Like, I rolled a 31 or two in my first roll. I was like, my God!

Now, if a fight breaks out, I can only hit you once. Bip. But, you know, the rest of it is all built to be like, on Kenny Dodge, this reaction. Or you can drop somebody with one toss. That's true. That's true. You're talking about sneak attack.

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. What you did. What happened. There's a bonus action. I don't know if you know this. No.

Go on. Go on. Insightful fighting where you can roll to beat someone's deception check and then you just get sneak attacking. Yeah. Regardless. Yeah. I was like, that's fucking nasty.

But I mean, the bonus. Anyway, it's cool. My guy's fun. And during the character creation stage, I joked for five seconds that he would be like a gumshoe. Like, nah, the dirty rats in the city torn down on the side.

I was like, just kidding. And they're like, you coward. Do it. Do it. Abrea bullied Vietone. I was like, all right, fine. Let's do it. Hell yeah.

But it's been amazing. Little Cagney. Watching the episodes, there are two full wizards and there's you doing fucking rogue shit. I am just heart eyes the whole time going like, I'm watching you in Calamity

and I'm like, well, I just got to do a rogue again. I got to do a rogue again. I'm going back to the well. You know, at least for me, the most brilliant thing about it is that you could tell me what the premise of the story would be. You could write it down, and I could read it. It would not have the same delivery and absorption as playing it. Because we have all the facts, as they were known, in front of us.

We have all of the clues, as they're available to us, and we're still getting it wrong. Like, we're not putting it together. We're like, I'm doing my fucking best, and it's still, like, slipping through our fingers. And it's happening real fucking time! That and betrayal and selfishness. I love it.

It has that feeling of, like, of two shipmen looking out at night in the sea going, that kind of looks like an iceberg. That can't be right. It's planet Venus. Let me check my notes. It's planet Venus. It's like you're figuring it out, but just not fast enough.

I love it. I love it so much. Because Rogue is my favorite type of Rogue, too. I'm happy to see one played at that level because it's exactly what it's about. It is the best build to be a skeptic and a seeker of truth. Yes. I don't know what a,

I mean, Lawful Good feels like how he's supposed to be like a bastion of moral principle, you know, upstanding code in a city that's just

amuck with ambition and power, but man. Yeah, I envision the Cobalt Soul actually trains up a lot of inquisitive rogues if we're looking at the class implementation there. Are the Spirelings the

dark mirror of that? In a way. You could say. They're more the masterminds. And inquisitives as well for the other purposes of protecting their own shit. I will also say, before we finish up talking on the Calamity 2, also a big shoutout to our amazing Dani Carr, who's been helping as our lore keeper to help us as well and keep things going

well. Dani Carr! You're amazing! As a lore keeper! Yeah! I don't know why I'm curtsying behind a bar. That's just silly. Dani, you're invaluable. You have golden threads in everything we do. Love you. Thanks, man. I love you guys, too. Do we have time to do one more lightning round? Sure, fast.

Let's do it. Make them quick. Oh, yeah, sorry. How has it been bonding with Chetney? Orym told him about his tattoos and gave him the alarm horn, but also saw his tense interaction with the woodworker Zadro. What does he think of his Lycan friend? Yeah, I mean, I think he was rightly super skeptical of Chetney, first blush, but oddly finds himself really getting along with him. What do I want to say, too? I also feel like Chetney...

Getting there. Chetney... You love me. Getting there. Chetney kind of feels like a casual grandpa slot for him. And that's fun to be around. That's comforting to be around. There's some issues. We've got to work through some things. You might have some anger issues. What? But Pop uh... What?

But Pop-Pop's got a good heart in there. Pop-Pop. Yeah. Just need his fiber. And, you know, I'll say this, too. Like, Orym is, compared to a lot of this group and compared to my other, to Vax, certainly, is reserved and respectful. Just, like, he's not there to be like let me

burden you with all my shit so he's just carrying it around and it's it's doesn't it you know he's he's fine he's he's dealing with his own personal stuff and chetney's really the only person who's gone poking in i he's not see oram's not secretive he's just not like listen man i gotta yeah yeah no it's accessible that was accessible. That was great. Like, it was great sitting in that treetop and having that combo and it just, like, coming out. And, like, to me, no worse person to have that conversation with than Chetney. But it just, like, took on the best shape because Chetney really is interested in, like, the good people being good. And in his mind, the bad people being bad.

And so, like, he relishes the people that are virtuous and upstanding and all those things. A very Eddie Brock of you. Eddie. That's it, lightning, you're up, Ash. Oh yeah, lightning's there. Shit, fuck, piss, all right. This is what this character has done to me.

What was the inspiration behind Ashton as well? This is a big one, as well as the fundamental chaos aspect of your class. Oh, wow. To sum this up pretty quick because we're trying to go fast. Gotta go fast. At the end of the last campaign,

I was looking at all the subcultures that I grew up around as a kid in LA and was like, I hadn't done punk yet. I'd done the kind of the hippie kids.

I'd done the goth kids. And I'm like, I guess I did the carny kids. So I guess I gotta do punk now. And so I guess I've got to do punk now. And then I was like, well... That's great. I started making a playlist. I was like, what the fuck does punk look like

in a fantasy realm where they're really... It's not really as bad over there as it is out here. There's just less to be super angry about. And I was like, hmm. I don't know. I don't know about that. I had to figure it out. I was like, I don't know. I don't know about that. I mean, there's like, but like there's, I had to figure it out. I was like, I gotta figure this out.

So I like, I watched a bunch of Henry Rollins talking about his life and was like, okay, I think I got a notion of how to do this. And then I went back and this amazing woman, Penelope Spheres, made a couple documentaries in LA about the punk scene in either, both the early 80s and the early 90s. And the early 90s was the one with like

the kids that I remember seeing on the outskirts I wasn't a punk but like I knew that everyone went to the same parties back then and so it was like yeah you know I need a little refresher and the one of her movies I watched everything she made but the movie that the documentary she made

The Decline of Western Civilization Part 3 which is the most that the documentary she made, The Decline of Western Civilization Part 3, which is the most depressing fucking documentary on God's green earth. You will not feel okay. And it's just punk kids in the 90s being interviewed and they are all, it's horrible. Damn.

And I just watched this. I watched that and then with the Henry Rollins stuff, I was like, okay, I think I've got a weird idea. And then, yeah, that was just kind of the build. And for Fundamental Chaos, that was just me wanting to literally just create something terrible and difficult. I remember the text. You texted me

and were like, the Wild Magic Barbarian sucks. I wasn't going to say that out loud, but yes. Yeah, it wasn't cooked right. As you get better with it, the less chaos it has. Like, it's like, it's why?

Why would you say that? I was like, I want to be nuts. I want to be stupid. Yeah. And you sent me a list of a bunch of ideas. I went,

these are all broken, but let me work with it. They were so broken. There was some shit that was so broken. I like where you're going with this. Let me pull it apart and put it back together. Let me throw some of these pieces together.

Experiment 2.0. There was some stuff that was a little insane. Thank you for reeling it in. Oh, it's been so much fun to work on. Yeah, it's been like a year before I even handed you that. The rest of the six months. We're seeing some of the fun stuff now, the level six stuff. I know, I'm so excited.

There's some stupid that's going to come up. Fwoomp, fwoomp. Portal gun action. The portal fight. Jesus. That's some of my favorite shit. I love the portal fight. Yeah, that's my vibe. All right, cool.

You. Reach into the chalice. I'm going to do it. Okay, okay. That's too many. There's been a lot of fate influence so far in this campaign. Was that brought on by the characters

the cast presented to you, or was that always a theme you planned to play with in campaign three? I will say, it was not necessarily a large theme I was planning to pull into the campaign, necessarily. Fae. Oh, Fae. The Fae realm. But between Fern as a character, just having

such a fascinating presence of fake chaos, and elements of her story, and then some of the characters in the campaign also having some fey-touched aspects. I was like, okay, it's really a vibe we haven't touched on too much, aside from a brief trip to the Feywild in Campaign 1

and Artagan being a figure that is present through parts of Campaign 2. We haven't really delved into some of the weird fey shit. And so through Fern, I just kind of got inspired and started weaving some of that in. And we'll see if any of that continues to come out in the story. And I'm super excited. I want to go back.

Yeah. I want to go back. I want to know where she came from. I don't know very much. I want all my powers to break when we switch dimensions. Maybe you'll go there. Maybe you won't. Who knows? Nothing to work anymore. One of these holes in the ground goes to the Fey Realm.

You're up. We'll jump in first. One of these answers in the cup goes to the Fey Realm. What is it like to think of toys for all of the characters? Do you have a creative process for what Chetney makes for everyone? What would Chetney make for the illustrious DM?

Oh, that's a good question. It didn't occur to me. I literally thought you were about to fart on me as you adjusted us. That's what he'd make for him. I get it. Side sit pose. I forget who said it. It was like, you can pay us with toys in one of the first

episodes where he was around. I was like, oh my God, now I have to. What's that? That might have been Robbie. I think it was Robbie. Maybe it was, yeah. It sounds like a Robbie vibe. So now there have been multiple nights where I'll get on and just search wooden

and then like a bunch of different words and see what comes up. I have ordered things that require more time than I thought humanly possible. That little fucking shit took hours. I was up until like 3 in the morning really fucking SS broad day.

But I love that you did that. Oh yeah. Everything has a time. You found the time for that. There's a couple coming up that are of the gnarlier variety. What would you make for the illustrious DM? Oh, I would probably make a wooden solar system or a wooden...

Orrery? Orrery, yeah, that one. Oh, that's cool. Super simple, though, because it would just be a flat plate, right? Yeah. 100%. And you align all the planets and the little pole just... I would love a little Ori that actually had the two moons,

so you had the... Wouldn't that be... That would be... That'd be cool. Yeah. Where's Travis? Isn't he supposed to be in this Zoom meeting? Cut to Travis asleep at the kitchen table,

pressed seven slats of wood. Sam paper. All right. Good question. That was our last question. We did it. Landing round. And now it's time to pull one more question

from the Tower of Inquiry. What number am I thinking between one and ten? Go. You. Five. That's not a number. I wanted five. Four.

Three. Six. God! No shit! I thought I was being safe going in the middle. You guys insulated me. Oh. Between five and six. Thought I was gonna make it out of here without doing this again. Almost.

I already shook it up. Now you gotta shake it again, boy. Let's do what I did, give it a quick slap. Shake it for a strap. No, that's not gonna work. Entertaining. It likes it. Go ahead. Show us how it's done, boy.

I'm sweatless. I'm also sweating this. I don't even have to do anything. Then parry. I already messed up my one job. I said somebody's username wrong. I'm so sorry. Tip tap tip.

Not that one. Oh no. Tip tap tip. Oh my god. Oh my god. Are you serious? Go back home. Kind of committed at this point.

I mean, I think you might be okay. Or you gotta put it back. Oh man. Yeah! Ooh, how old to wait? 20? Wow. Oh. 20. 20? Wow. It's a shame.

Oh my god. If gold didn't matter, what would be your character's first purchase? From Effie Aaron. Ooh, thank you, Effie. Gold doesn't matter. Somebody else. Somebody else.

What do you think? Man. I think Orm would buy the group a skyship outright. Oh man, let's just buy a skyship. Yeah. Fuck that shit. You get all- Sleek one.

His sleuthing done faster, and then they could just travel the world and see all the flat plate of Exandria. Fast one with five canyons. Chutney would make a hostile takeover bid for all of theandria. Fast one with five cannons. Chetney would make a hostile takeover bid for all of the toy stores. And half of the continents, so that there's still some left to be conquered.

Oh, wow. I'm kind of serious. I know you are, that's why I respect that. I believe that. Fuck, I... What about you? I believe that. Fuck. What about you? I think that Ash would just buy that whole chunk of property that currently they've been living in in the spires. And just buy the whole thing outright, just to make sure that everyone had to fuck off.

Okay, the Fonzie Hollow. Yeah, that's ours now. You can piss off. Yeah, no more problems anywhere. I kind of like that. That's cool. Yeah, I's ours now. You can piss off. Yeah, just, just, yeah, no more problems anywhere. I kind of like that. Yeah, I know. That's cool. Yeah, done. I dig that. Big line in the sand. Good answer.

Yeah. Good answer, everybody. Thank you, F.E. Aaron. Mm-hmm. If you have an evergreen question for us, you can enter your questions to the Tower of Inquiry at gridroll.com slash tower.

And all right, folks, we're going to take a quick break, but stick around, because when we come back, we're going to be playing some Exploding Kittens. We'll be fine. Thank you so much. We'll see you in a few minutes.

Oh my god, my adrenaline. That's it for the podcast version of this episode of Foresighted Dive. In the video version, we wrap up each episode by playing some games, which don't always translate well to an audio only format. Honestly, it's mostly yelling, truly.

So be sure to check out the rest of the episode via the VOD for the full chaos. If you've enjoyed this deep dive into the campaign, be sure to drop us a rating and a review on whatever podcast platform you're using. Your thoughts may just encourage a new critter to take the plunge. Foresighted Dive airs the first Tuesday of every month at 7 p.m. Pacific on twitch.tv slash Critical Role and youtube.com slash Critical Role, with the VOD available on YouTube the very next day. And of course, each episode releases right here on the Critical Role Podcast Network one week after the initial broadcast. We'll see you again next month. Bye-bye.