Critical Role - Fun Scary | 4-Sided Dive | Episode 7: Discussing Up To C3E35

Episode Date: October 11, 2022

Happy Spooky Season! In our Halloween themed episode of 4-FRIGHTED Dive, Laura Bailey, Matthew Mercer, Marisha Ray and Travis Willingham pull questions from the “Tower of Inquiry” and play “Five Nights at Freddy’s” – A virtual reality game that is as terrifying as it is entertaining! 4-Sided Dive airs one Tuesday a 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. Hey guys, you're live! Can we just have a minute? Yeah. Okay. I'm still a bit the show, though.

Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sorry. I know, it's sad. Oh, straight into it. Yeah, you've got to roll. I'm sorry. What if I roll a one again? Is it lowest is the host? Oh, straight into it. Yeah, you gotta roll, I'm sorry. What if I roll a one again? Is it lowest is the host? Wouldn't be the first time.

Lowest is the host. Highest is the host, although it's Halloween. Should we flip that shit? Should we flip it and reverse it? Yeah, lowest is the host. Lowest is the host, okay. Lowest is the host. Shut up!

I don't want the red die. The red die fucked us. Give me my dice. Here you go, Matt. One, two, three. Mine's off. Oh, who had the red? Fuck, I did.

Have you hosted before? No. It's about time! It's so funny! All right. Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! Where do we go? What do we do?

I already forget. Get out of my way! Okay, okay, okay, okay. I'm coming. Oh, and he's doing this in those teeth. This is going to be the best fucking stop. Fingers are so stupid. Hey! Oh no. No! stop fingers are so stupid hey

no these teeth are a part of me hey buddies I'm your seventh tavern keeper and on behalf of Critical Role I just want to ask y'all doing okay

I know we promised y'all a fun Halloween episode, a four-sided dive, and we were all set up to do so, but the dice, they had other plans. Belzels was finally able to nab Arman Treshi, but soon after went toe-to-toe with Odahan, and in the process, they almost lost Fern and Orm. And tragically, they did lose Laudna.

It's a sad thing. The lasers shouldn't be here. And though Bell's Hells is doing everything they can to bring Laudna back, there's no way of knowing what story the dice will tell. And we thought, there's no way we're doing a fun Halloween four-sided dive. Not after that. But then we asked ourselves, what would Ladna want?

We thought, she's dead, who gives a shit? No, she'd want us to enjoy the time we have and remember that even our darkest days give way to the best of times. That's right. So before we dive into tonight's episode, let's have a moment of silence for our fallen queen of scary fun.

Fun scary. Fun scary. I just flipped it. Is this a spooky episode? Should I, I'll go, I got it. Is this a spooky episode? I got it, I got it. Oh no! We got a lot. Pate has a delivery!

That's so cute. Buddy! Fucking shut the door. That's such a good pate! Air conditioning costs so much in California. Wait, don't break him! Here, take Pate. Oh, oh, oh!

Someone should have me. Morning. Pick me up and read this note on your mark, written in blood. Well, hello, governors. It's me, Pate DeRollo. Just checking out this here four-sided dive thing I've been hearing about. Who wrote this? Think I'll hang my ear and have a drink while you all sort out this load of business. Just please put me somewhere fun where I can see all the action.

Even though I'm grieving, I'm still painfully whore. Act disgusted. Read the rest. Painfully whole. Okay, Pate. We can't say any of that on Twitch. Welcome to Foresighted Dive. Let's do a fucking spooky show. Welcome back! Let's begin the night... Oh no. I was hanging in there. What are you gonna do? Let's begin the night. Oh no. I was hanging in there. What are you going to do?

Let's begin the night with our open discussion segment. What the fuck is up with that? Working great. Read the main topics on the menu. Oh, what the fuck is up with that topics? The clash with Otohan. Yeah. Otohan. Yeah. Otohan. So.

Put him back in, just don't do it. It's like halfway. Oh, look, the smoke's coming up between your legs. What the, really? It's like your balls are on fire. The fur is growing up out of my pants. It gets real aggressive this summer. The southern hemisphere is a little overgrown.

They don't make manscaping products for this shit. Oh my god. What the fuck is up with our grand exit from the Seat of Disdain? You know, I thought it was going okay. Yeah. Yeah, we had a sandstorm blow through. We had good cover.

We were also aided by an assault from parties unknown. Yeah. Yeah. All of the entire first half, like, good chaos. Good chaos. Yeah, I think all of us felt kind of indestructible. We probably shouldn't have tried to get the crawler out. We probably should have just bolted.

We probably should have just left that one alone and tried to sneak instead of making a very loud, slow exit. Tried to get the crawler out. We probably should have just bolted. Probably should have just left that one alone and tried to sneak, instead of making a very loud, slow exit. The big diesel-fueled, slow-rolling tank that's easy to trace with its enormous tracks. And then it took Fearne and Ashton 20 minutes to open the damn gate.

Yeah. That's so true. There are a few factors that took a little bit. Well, that was at that point. We also happened to spider climb up into Otohan's grill. Uh-huh, uh-huh. Uh-huh. Just to get her attention in case she wasn't aware of us.

You know, when I did that, I thought I was maybe going to sneak into someone's empty hotel room, buying their toiletry bag, their little overnight bag, and just slip it in there. I was not anticipating a... A balcony visit? A balcony, right in her face.

I wasn't expecting to pop up right in front of her face. So... All things considered, I think you handled it very well. The darkness was clutch. Yes. Right? I had a cool three-point landing. You did. Jumping off the balcony. So that was cool.

Mm-hmm, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Yep. We probably should have been a little alarmed after that, though, and not like, you know. Just chill. Dilly-dally. I mean, yeah, you guys had just joined, and not like, you know. Just chill, dilly-dally. I mean, yeah, you guys just joined, and you were, you know, your presence was aware. They were aware of your presence.

I think... Her presence was aware. Yes, your presence was aware. Hi, man. It has begun. My brain doesn't work anymore, because I'm a robot. Why not? He's just being cooked.

I'm a robot. I'm a robot. You not? He's just being cut cut and fall. I'm a robot. You're so cute as a robot. You really are. Thank you. But yeah, you know, the... I'm trying to be serious, guys. Hold on, focus. Eyes up here.

No, like the... You don't want it staring at your box? I'm pretty free with it, let's be real. Oh, it's open source? Yeah. Open source box. Sorry. But yeah, like, the distracting attack

on the Seat of Disdain definitely, like, started off intense and then quickly began to turn against its favor, and Otohan was keeping watch on it to see at which point if it really was a threat or a distraction, like she figured out it might've been. I think it was the darkness spell that really set her off to be like, it got you away.

Definitely put her in a moment of like, hmm. Little personal? Little personal. She wasn't supposed to be there. I know. Our recon failed us. It's all good. Bad intelligence. Very bad intelligence.

It wasn't just that. I think it was the combination of the darkness spell, the signs that this was intended to be a distraction. It was nowhere near a force that could actually really break through and attack the Seat of Disdain, which wasn't its intent to begin with. And then the crawler escaping, the slow exit. It was a handful of things.

We probably could have scattered immediately and then been harder to track. Oh yeah, that would've been smart. But also on the flip, if she had found one of us, that person's smoked. First super dead. That's true. Smoked. That's true. Yeah, that's true. You would've lost one. You were talking.

Close to three. We were kind of, sort of unpacking it on the way back. It kind of sounded like she was coming after us, no matter what. Not necessarily. If you guys had managed to escape without being seen or noticed. That would have been, we would have been fine.

It would have been a manhunt for who was responsible for it. Oops. That's okay. But that's how it works That's fair I was legitimately, when I was going up to that balcony I was looking for like, Ratanish Or like any other lieutenant I wasn't The goal was not to find

Her Oh of course, but what makes the most sense and is most striking In the moment, than for you to run face-to-face with her? Yep. You did go up to the penthouse suite. Yeah. Mm-hmm. What did you think when you first came face-to-face with Holda on coming up over the railing?

Oops. I was like, that's not what I wanted. Not good. I'm not here, darkness. Shh, go to sleep, go to sleep, go to sleep. Don't see me, don't see me. Just kidding! Don't see me.

And then you had the ballsy move to plant a tracking device. I did, yeah. Well, I figure I had I figure I was there. Yeah, you committed at that point. I was committed. So I wanted to try and get something out of it. I'm trying to, I'm still have yet to find out if that paid off.

Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. Yeah, not yet. I was just thinking, in her mind, crazy-ass death woman crawls up over the balcony, fwoomp, darkness, and then she doesn't just leave. You hear like, Yeah. Beep!

What the fuck? Don't touch me! You didn't just run. You came in and started fucking with shit. She was like, okay, listen. Yeah, in hindsight, maybe I should have been like, Girl Scout cookies? I don't know.

Yeah, it's like catching the kids that run for like ding-dong dance. Yeah. Open the door and run for like ding-dong dance. Yeah. They open the door and they're like, toilet paper. Have you considered putting solar panels on your house? Like literally anything else. Very true, very true.

What was our, did we have strategy? How did it go? Did anybody have any particular strategy? We had strategy-ish going in. I mean, we did divide and conquer. We did? Yeah. We got Treshi out pretty smoothly. Treshi, actually, once again, that first half went pretty well up until the very end.

Yeah, we were rolling so well in the first half. I mean, using the weather to your advantage, using the distraction to your advantage, a lot of things were going your way. Ashton and Fearne got some crates. Yeah? Yeah. We saw who the crates were going to. Huge. Saw what was in the crates.

Uh-huh. Well, okay, so that was the other thing. I was going to plant the ring on the crawler. Yeah, and then it went down. And then the crawler went down. And I was like, okay, well, there's no way they're taking this crawler out in the next 30 days. They would just switch to another crawler went down. And I was like, okay, well, there's no way they're taking this crawler out in the next 30 days.

Yeah. They would just switch to another crawler. So that was when I switched the plan to like, well, what if I put it on like a general or like one of like Rotanish or something. But I was literally going to put it, I was looking for like, because I was asking where they were moving the crates.

Where are the crates? So that was the original plan, was maybe I could find one of the fancy black crates and slip it in a crate, and then I just ran into Otohan. Yeah. Whoops. Sorry.

And that was the, when you were sneaking around, that was the second time that we realized that she had a magic rocketeer backpack. Yeah, the jet pack. Or something, or whatever that is. Right, yeah. Her shadow pack. But it was darkness, so we couldn't see it. Yeah, her shadow pack. Her lucky shadow pack.

Yeah. It makes shadows, but we don't know what it is or how it works. Well, it gives her the lucky shadows. It makes her her shadows. How does she make them? Is it dunamis? Of course it is. Dunamis juice.

It's the dunamantic juice that she's got in the- Juice? Yeah, juice. Anybody need some dunamancy juice? Is there a dunamancy tree? Is there a dunamantic fruit? It's the potions. It's the potions of possibility. Yeah, but is there fruit now? Is there a dunamancy tree? I there a Dunamantic fruit? It's the potions. It's the potions of possibility. Yeah, but is there fruit now?

Is there a Dunamancy tree? I don't know. I don't know. Yes, that's how shit gets started. If you can pour Dunamancy juice in Ashton's head, why can't you pour Dunamancy juice on a fig tree and have gravity figs? Try it out. Oh my god, we could have gravity figs. Try it out.

Oh my god, we could have gravity figs. They ripen and then they just go. Yeah. And I'm like, fuck. This was not conceived properly. Just taking out seed balls from above. Chop down the tree. Yeah. No, but seriously, if you could pour it into Ashton

and he's living with the Dunamantic properties, couldn't you grow plants from that same Dunamantic properties? You try to take a bite out of a fruit and it just like- Science! This is viable. Dimension jumps. We should definitely try this. Into somebody else's mouth.

Whatever we do, we should skip- Telefeed people? All of the Voice of the tempest stuff and just focus on Dunamancy fruit. Yeah. There it is. I mean, we're in a plant place right now, so maybe we just...

We're given to the druid. You have said the secret word and you have to pull from the Tower of Inquiry. Wait, who said the word? I did. Druid? Nah. Juice? Nah. Trees? Juice would have been fun, who said the word? I did. Druid? Nah. Juice?

Nah. Trees? Juice would have been fun, though. No. Uh-oh. Oh, what did he say? Oh, yeah. Shake that furry tail.

What did he say? Tempest. Huh? Tempest? It only has one. Tempest? Yeah, it only has one thing, so. Why is this shit already leaning?

What the fuck? Okay. I can't. Okay, there we go. Did it fall? Did it start over? It did. Oh. Yeah, it's a new way.

I mean, I know, I watched this. We killed it last time. What's your strategy, Travis? I don't have a strategy. I suck at this game. You should have a strategy. You went for a middle piece? Safe.

Well, yeah. Look, I'm not a dexterous person. I am all strength-based. Oh god. Are they still really sticky? There's no way you can know if this is a Freshie. A Freshie that's not sticky. Get back in there, illiterate bitch. 41! 41! Put it back at 41.

Yes. Oh no. Do I have to go sit down? Yes. You have to listen to me. Why? Because it's making me insane. If only you knew how often I hear that at home. Because it's making me insane. Here, I'm going to look.

Look, this is a FCG flesh tongue moment for our show. I hate it. I hate it. Gross. That's actually... All right, ready? Question 41. Yep. To any player who's been sent out of the room

while secret business happens at the table, how do you avoid seeing spoilers from critters? From Joanne Hartnett. Oh. Harnett, sorry. Good question. I have a great solution for it. We stay off Twitter. Don't look at social media. Yeah.

Don't look at Twitter. It's kind of a, when that happens, we do have to stay on social media in order to not be spoiled. When Dusk slash You was on, we all did not watch the episode that night. Because we are still pre-taped. Still pre-taped. So that makes it easy to know ahead of time

when to avoid it. Yeah, for a buffer at least, and then that goes on. I just remind you guys, don't watch it! Yes. Don't watch it, though. Yeah. Plus, I think also, half the time when there's a question, if you didn't watch the segment, then you don't really know what they're talking about,

so even if you see it, I'm like, you don't really know what they're talking about. So even if you see it, I'm like, I don't know what that means anyway. And then I don't go looking. It's a good tactic. Well done. Thank you. Thank you, robot. Hey, robot. Yeah.

Shut down. Pew. Robot. Good morning. I'm a robot. If you fart in that thing, it's going to be real trouble. Oh, I know. Oh, hey, this is me.

Thank you, Joanna Hartnett. And if I have an evergreen, no. And if you have an evergreen question for our Tower of Infantry, the word's not there. You can enter it, stop changing it, live! You can enter it at gritroll.com slash tower! Exclamation point.

They're editing the prompter. I'm the worst person to do that, too. Yes. Do you need glasses? I mean, you started, would've been. You need to wear my glasses? Not your, sure, let's make this worse. That's a thousand miles away. Okay, back to, what the fuck is up with that?

You got this, Travis. So apparently, Otohan has mind powers and she wanted something with Imogen. Yo, what the fuck is up with that? I don't know. She had seen you in the visions. Yeah, she's in my dreams. She recognized you. She thought you were, you weren't called the one,

but she was like, join us, or those that are ready or something like that? I think it's just like, I know he's hiding. I feel like the little hard hat guys in Mega Man. I'm just like. That's great, you don't have to not make a face as we're discussing it. It's true.

Poker face is great. No, yeah, she's, I don't know, she just has an army in my dreams, and then the only thing she said to me is, that's interesting, right? That's all she's said to me so far in my dream. Stop. And then...

Yeah. And then she's terrible. She's a terrible, terrible. Do you think she knows your mom's? What? I do. Yeah, I think she does. Like, does my mom, I haven't intentionally,

I haven't called my mom yet. I haven't sent her a message. Oh! Oh yeah, that's true. I hadn't even thought about that. I know. Because your mom's got to be alive, right? Well, that's happening next week.

All right, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, she's got to be alive, right? That's happening next week. All right, yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, she's got to be alive. I thought she was dead. I was told she was dead. I didn't remember anything about her. I thought she died when I was born, in childbirth. And then I have a memory of her from when I was, like, how old was I in that memory? You were close to maybe one, one and a half.

You were barely toppling. So like a memory that I would never have remembered. So she was around, and then somebody said they saw her within 12 years. Do you think you're... That was almost so dangerous, you guys. I know. Dangerous like this. Oh, it didn't pop.

It's making me thirsty. That's what that was. I know, that was pretty great. I love the one around your neck is barely hanging on, too. So yoked. Some Gaston shit. I don't remember what the question that you asked was. What does she want with Imogen?

I don't know. If your mom's still alive, why haven't you sent her a message? I don't know. I do. Why are you the destroyer of worlds? Yeah. I'm not! Also, where did you go?

Did you go to the moon? I don't know! Did you? Yeah, we reappeared. Yeah, so, yeah, everybody was gone. Uh-huh. Everyone was gone. And the buildings were demolished. Yeah, you disappeared buildings.

Yeah, so does Imogen have the ability to, in the moment of chaos, she was still able to go, make my friends safe before I destroy everything? Or was it some other force that caused everybody to disappear? Find safety within the mind, because then, and then we just did the thing with Ashton. With Ashton!

We were in his brain, but we're still in the room. Bro, that shit was crazy. So you can exist in two places at once. That shit was crazy. I was watching. Being able to see him from the outside. I was watching by myself, just, I just started getting closer to the screen going,

what the fuck? Didn't know what to do, I was so weird. I just started getting closer to the screen going, what the fuck? I didn't know what to do. I was so weird. What the fuck is up with that? What is up with that? What's in the moon? The city?

What's the city in the moon? Is it a god? Is it a person? We don't have any answers. Is it a bad city? Is it an old city? It's a space station. It's a forgotten god.

There's two unknown gods. I'm just going to give you a little, does it go around twice? Answer box. I'm thirsty. I got it. Oh no! Didn't work. Fair enough.

Hi. Thanks. Do you want some water, Matt? No, I just had some. I could... Here. Yeah, I feel like you're cooking, like a... What's that thing where you put the meat in the bag and then it goes in the water?

I feel like, oh no, oh no, look at this. Please have a close- Oh! Worked like a charm. Thank you, Marisha. You're going to drown your husband in his robot costume. The next part is? I can't even wipe my chin. There it is. Thank you. Perfect. Happy Halloween.

Oh, shit. Oh, no. Oh, I don't... By the way, we haven't explained what the fuck we're doing in these costumes. We have to explain? Oh, yeah. It's Halloween. Oh, good. If you didn't watch the last episode,

we drew these costumes randomly out of a bucket. And now we're here in them. So that's what we're doing. You're what, a trash bot? I'm a trash robot. I'm a disco dino. I'm a laser werewolf. I'm an art school demon.

Yeah. Hell yeah. Okay, now we can continue with what the fuck is up with that. One more what's up the fuck with, I mean, there's a couple more, but. Yeah, let's go, let's go. Let's keep going. We got a lot to talk about, yo.

Thoughts when Fern, Orym, and Ladna all went down. In your brain, what were you thinking? We're doomed! I thought that the entire party was going down. That was the closest we've gotten to a TPK search. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I thought that was it. But I told Matt this, too. I thought, I'm always looking at Matt

for fidget energy while it's going down. Like something that's like, oh god, guys, please find the thing that I'm trying to throw you. Or like, I don't know where this is going, but you were calm as shit. I was nervous as shit. Like a dairy cow. It did not look that way. You were stoic. All according to plan.

And that was wild, bro. That was wild. I was like, this is it. Everyone's going down. It was interesting, because like, Otohan is a... Otohan is an important figure in the campaign, and wanting to set the mood for a legendary figure

and how dangerous they are, both from a historical standpoint and the capabilities, you can always talk about it so much, but when the opportunity arises for them to show that off, you want this to be an interesting encounter. If it goes to combat, so be it, but putting signs in of how dangerous they are. Initially, when I built the encounter for this scenario,

it was like, depending on what you guys do, there's an escape scenario. Like you said, a scatter or possibly go by unseen and it becomes a manhunt. Maybe most of you get away and it becomes continuous manhunt or holding somebody as essentially as a hostage to try and draw the others back.

Oh yeah, shit. And then, I mean, you got her pretty low, like I will say. It was meant to be a very, very hard encounter, intentionally. But not impossible. Even just a few rounds that actually some people managed to focus for a bit,

took her down a pretty decent amount. And I'd considered at a certain percentage of a hit point, she was going to leave. That's true. And we all said we're running. Yeah, that was the problem. We all said we were running. But then we couldn't get away. Yeah, and then I think that was the problem,

is that we said we were going to run, so then a couple people ran, and then other people couldn't get away, and then we weren't able to hit her and save the people that were going down. It was just a bad thing. And we were very far apart from each other. Yeah. And Ashton was off the map.

He fully got away. And then that moment that she did her 80-foot jump or whatever. Oh, dude. That was the moment I was like... Oops. Yeah, uh-oh. Because I don't think any of us were expecting her

to be able to clear that much. There are limitations to how many times she can do a lot of these things. She was pretty spent, pretty close to spent by the end of that encounter, too. But, like, the initiative rolls were real poor. We got real fucked on.

That's why I kept telling you to run, too, because I thought once she called you out, I was like, oh, she'll chase after Imogen and then who cares what happens to her? We'll all be alive. But that didn't happen. No, she just stood and jacked everybody up.

It reminded me of White Dragon in the first campaign. It reminded me of Vorgal. Oh, yeah. When it landed and we were like 19 misses. And we were like, what? What do you mean? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And I think you or Taliesin was like, running is an option.

It was like early days for us. So we were like, how do we do that? How do we get out of here? I know, and I think the reason we all said, let's run, is because I think we were traumatized from Molly, right? Sure. And going, this villain is way beyond our means.

Like, the smart move here is to get away. Yeah. There's no getting away. And we did, and there was no getting away. There was getting away. There are options, depending on what you guys want to do, but it's also hard to make those choices in the moment, too, when unexpected encounters happen.

A conversation was beginning, and then it turned into a battle, a battle where everyone was divided at the get-go and had a hard time coming together. It reminded me of our old home campaign, where the group immediately after those ghouls, they all separated as opposed to focusing as a group on individual creatures.

That was the famous story. Focused on different creatures individually and just one by one got paralyzed and taken down to a near TPK. And it's a lesson in tactics and keeping those things in mind depending on what you're facing, but it also made for some great narrative moments.

And it was one of those things, too, where, from my standpoint as Otohan, initially she wasn't trying to murder everybody she was trying to disable and figure out what the fuck was going on you know who are these people that attack the place there's no good in killing anyone that has information if it's interesting oh right

but then the minute that she recognized you for whatever reason her interest shifted and it became trying to push you to a place. Right. And at first it was like, these are hired mercenaries. And then seeing the reactions and the camaraderie, it was like, oh, this is a personal connection.

I'm going to start taking them down. And push, and push, and push. And, uh, but she was pretty low, like, you know, given all the circumstances, there were some good hits in there. I was sitting here waiting for what was going to happen, and then there's multiple different clocks going in the battle to see what would kick first, and we got to that. See, I love that, though, because after seven, eight years of playing now, we've never come

close to a TPK. We, we've never had that. I mean, not that close. Not that bad. You've ridden the Edge of the Death Spiral a few times, but this one was real dire. At one point, there was, well, there was almost four down, because I went down, too, and then came up a teeny bit. But it's such a lauded thing in TTRPGs

that I've never experienced, so I feel like we almost earned half a merit badge by getting that close to it. Yeah, that's a good point. I loved it as a player because that feeling of hopelessness is so rare when you have a character sheet with all of those spells and all

these features and all these options and you've got like, especially for us at a packed table, like six, seven other people. You're like, we can handle anything. Let's just keep our wits about us, right? Even at the end of the second campaign. But I mean, there was a moment where I was like, doing the math and the little bit of advanced chess,

and you're like, oh shit. This is bad. Oh no. Yeah. I know you've talked about that, too. We're a bigger party that have also been playing for a long time. So we got a decent amount. Much to the debated, so we got a decent amount. Much to, you know, the debated, sometimes we are smart.

We're extremely smart. You have trivialized calendars that I thought would be much harder. That's the challenge on my side of things, too, is like, it's a large group, it's a combat system in 5th edition D&D that begins to become unwieldy at a certain number of players,

so there's a lot of customization that has to be involved, but without turning it into a slog, and wanting to raise the stakes. We've been playing for years together, and you guys have done such a good job in the past of decimating encounters that I thought would be much more interesting and dynamic,

and then trying to find ways to challenge you and raise the stakes. And we all talked before this campaign started, you know, what do we want to do? What are our focuses in this? And it was like... You said it was going to be more deadly. It was going to be more deadly, more dangerous

because we want that thrill. Otherwise, if the stakes aren't there, you don't feel the threat is real, then in some cases, I know some people will talk like, well, we're supposed to feel like at least it's a safe space for friends. And I'm like, yeah, if that's what you all find your fun in, that's true. But for us,

and correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel that challenge, that danger, also makes the victories that much more worthwhile because you know you've actually earned that victory. It's not just me handing it to you as we go, and that's just the way we like to play. Yeah, I don't think it needs to be said for us, but if anyone was confused,

I think we were all okay with everything that went down at that table. Yes. It's still a safe space at the table with a bunch of friends sitting around playing. And while it was, of course, dramatic and shocking, it was still

fucking awesome. Yeah, that's what you want. And experiences that we haven't had before. Yes. Which is awesome. We're close to the characters because of time spent with them and the history and everything. But also, like, especially this campaign, I feel like we made some characters that are, like, we're down to fuck around. Yeah. You know, like, we want to see the crazy shit. Yeah.

That's what we're poking everything for, you know? We're not doing anything safe. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I love it. The previous campaign, everybody was, like, a serious character. We had a couple, beings. This entire party is chaos beings with a couple of people that are like,

what the fuck is happening? Yeah, it's totally like a bunch of us running around, booping the nose of the bull to see if it'll charge, and then the bull grows fucking eight arms and a scorpion tail, and you're like, I'm sorry! Yeah. I regret it! Chaos beings and Orym.

Yeah. The rest of you are the rest of the cast of Arrested Development around Orym. Yeah. Have we talked about, have we talked how Orym has to have, he has some evil backstory? Something, right?

He can't just be this wholesome. Right, he's got like a- It can't be this chill. He's got some sort of weird vice or some sort of deep, dark secret. Insight check. He's a homicidal maniac. All right, I'm going to come and whisper at him. He is out, he's recouping a bounty

on the voice of the Tempest. Sure. Mark my words. I can't scratch my cheek. I got the, here, I got some claws. There you go. Thanks, if you don't mind, this is great. I hate it, I hate it. I hate it. I hate it.

I hate it. Did you put it in his mouth? Everything smells like balloons now, I hate it. Balloon fingers, Willingham, that's what they call me. Next question. Okay. What the fuck is up with what? Well, there was really only one,

well, not one, but an enormous part after the three deaths rolled down into just one, which was Laudna's death. Oops, dead Laudna. What the fuck is up with that? Oops, dead Laudna. Oops, no Laudna's. Oops, no Laudna's.

Oh my God. Oh no. Well, I mean, okay. So sitting next to you, I think we all thought we were like, oh, there's a stair step of things that will happen, right? A couple of if-thens before we know that we're really fucked,

but at least we'll kick it off with a chance to roll a 10 or higher where it's not. You're dying, like right out of the gate. Instant, instant. Fucked by the rudest die. A one, the fucking rudest die. That fucked me on the willpower save, and then you on the death save. Yes, fuck fucking rudest die. That fucked me on the willpower save, and then you on the death save.

Yes. Fuck that rudest die. That was unbelievable. I looked over and I saw it. I leaned forward and then I looked back at you and I was like, that's a seven, right? That's not a one. Yep, nope, just there. We just stared at each other for a second.

I was like, even if it was a seven, still dead. Well, and that's the crazy thing with Laudna, why in the past when I've gone down, and if multiple one of us have gone down, I'm like, take care of the other people first, because I technically have plenty of things in my toolbox to help get me back up, which you'd already used. You have a lot of resistance to going unconscious,

and then you have a benefit to get back up. I have Strength of the Grave, and then fuck, what's the other one? Creepy as shit. Creepy as shit. There's the ability where you gain a hit point on a 16 or higher on a death save. So you have a 25% chance to get back up on a death save. Damn.

Oh, dang. Damn, you were sad. So that could have been way better. So realistically, I could have, but she hit me when I was down, so that was two death saves. And then I rolled the one on the last one. So even if I rolled above a 10,

the next time, as long as I kept rolling above 10s, I could have theoretically Stabilized. Stabilized and bopped back up, but then. Yeah. Can I applaud you again for the realism for that? Because again, over the past seven years, there have been times where somebody drops and you can see maybe the logic of the creature being like,

oh, that one's down. I'm going to focus on the rest of its friends rather than stomping on it and making sure it's extinguished. That was exactly what she was doing because she was trying to get to her. Yeah. It was brutal. Well, I feel like she started

by just knocking us unconscious, but then when we kept getting back up. Yeah, once you prove that you were becoming a nuisance and there was an emotional connection between Imogen and the other people in the group, her priorities changed. Yeah. And for the record, Sam Row on the river if I die,

the baseline DC getting like. Oh yeah, because he would have rolled one lower, right? Then nobody. None of them would have got up. And you would now be working to try and resurrect three people. Yeah, we went from like, oh, we've got maybe two river fives if it works.

Laudna might be able to roll out of it, so everybody will be fine. And you died on your first roll, so somebody was staying down. And then at seven, we were like, holy shit, we almost lost half the table. Yes. Yes.

I only laugh because it's funny. Well, I mean, even in that death spiral situation, like, to your point, what gets so tricky about it is instead of attacking, you have to make that choice Well, I mean, even in that death spiral situation, like to your point, what gets so tricky about it is instead of attacking, you have to make that choice to heal instead of attack. Yeah.

But then you heal one and you get hit again and you're instantly down. And then it doesn't matter. And then it doesn't matter. And negates one hit, but. Yeah. And I will say a little peek behind the curtain, too. Like as a DM for a campaign, when you're prepping combat and encounters

that you are intending to be dangerous like this, it behooves you to know and recall what your players have at their disposal. And so you guys have a bunch of healers and people with the capability of getting other people up. You have two people with Revivify pretty much prepared almost all the time. That's true.

I have to push a little more lethal, otherwise that danger isn't there. And so for this type of encounter, you know, keeping in mind that, knowing, like, you have some resources, I think you have some gems and diamonds. As long as they have the spell slots available, you know, if they're smart about it

and, you know, keep those resources at bay, I can really lean into the threat of this encounter. And so I don't feel bad. I think that was awesome. Yeah. Dude, it was great. It was cool. What. Dude, it was great. What was wild, too, was...

And you never really know how emotional it's going to hit you when you're knowing your character is going to die. But that, I don't know, that moment that Ashley flipped the coin, the change bringer coin, which is also wild. That was awesome. And like, I don't know,

and I guess everyone gets fatalistic and you just assume the worst, but in between the two games, the whole time I was like, I don't have a good feeling about this. I just don't feel like that's, I don't think I'm going to make it out of this. So I was already kind of rocking with that disposition. And then I leaned over and I whispered to you at one point and I was like, they should really res Orym.

Like if they're going to res anybody. You did, yeah. Because, and I don't know, I don't know a lot in this shit. No. Like how she's going to get back up. But you're not typical. Yeah, but I'm not typical. Right. Whereas with Orym, I'm like, I don't know.

Death is but a doorway. I don't know. Once already, hopefully again. Yes. But when Ashley was like, sorry, Laudna, you'll find your way back to us again. Oh, brutal delivery. Oh! So good, too, because you start with the name and then the rug pull.

And then the, yes, Laudna. Yes, she did it. She did it. She did it. She'll find our way back to us. As painfully as possible. I was the exact opposite. I was like, I had come to terms almost with Fearne and Orym, but I was like, Laudna's fine.

She'll be fine. She'll be fine. Marisha's lucky. She'll roll high. Everything will be great. And had not thought about it at all. And then, so when it happened, it was like, I go, my god! What? Yeah. No!

Well, yeah, I mean, yeah. I realistically should have gotten back, no, not realistically, but I had, I was a little bit more able to. You had a better chance than most. Better chance than most. But I did have this wave of almost relief and relaxation after Ashley was like, you're staying down.

And I was just like, yes, this was meant to be. I accept that. I accept this. This is fine. But it was kind of crazy. And I was texting Danny back and forth, like off to the side, because like watching everyone else

be so busted up and emotional, that was kind of like, aw. Yeah. I get to watch your own funeral. It was that. I was like, this feels like watching your own funeral. And it was fucking wild. Well, I also thought like,

I thought there would be some Delilah shit. I mean, there was after you messaged her. I really thought that that was going to be the play. Yeah. We were texting, I thought that rock, I think she's going to latch onto that. We're going to figure this out. And then Delilah's like, no.

Well, it wasn't that. Remember, she was like, do whatever you need to or whatever it takes, but then also, when Sam did the repose spell. What was that? She was like, or you said, you notice that something has been halted

or something has been stopped. God, what was the thing that got stopped? And it didn't feel like it was just the natural decay of an already dead woman. No, there's something else going on. Dude, Delilah was doing the old body transfer. She was doing the old body snatcher. I don't even know, I don't know.

You don't know. Is that still, because the stuff, the thing he did only lasts like 10 days or whatever. It extends the duration of any resurrection spells and staves off undead transformations and keeps the body held together and not decomposing. Yeah, and your conversations with Delilah

when you spoke to her, definitely you weren't expecting an individual, at least of her repute, to be seeming so powerless in this circumstance. No, I was not. That's as much as I'll say. Damn. And I guess we'll see

what the fuck happens when you drag her body back to Whitestone! Uh-huh. Oh, shit, god. We had, I think, as we were discussing, what are the plans for saving Laudna? Delilah's pretty fucking high up there, and then it was like, whoop! Oh, shit. Well, that's cool, we know Eshteross. We know all these people. And Delilah was pretty fucking high up there, and then it was like, whoop.

Oh shit. Well, that's cool. We know Eshteross. We know all these people. They'll know somebody. It's like, it's pretty rare. It's rare. I don't have magic. Here's the thing. Well, think about it. Like, in a logistical standpoint,

if resurrection magic was readily available, death would have no purpose in society. 100%. And so, you know, aside from heroic characters that utilize it and high-ranking figures, even the people that can resurrect are likely paid or relegated to keep it within certain social circles

or within certain noble circles or very rare circumstances. Power structures. I had that realization and just like, how fucked must this be for Orym in this moment? Because, God, contacting Keyleth to bring Laudna back. But not his husband. When his husband died next to Keyleth.

I didn't want to ask, and I was glad that he talked about it in the last session because I was like, did you not ask about your husband and your father? He had to have. But he said the wounds or something about it. Something didn't work. I'm sure he had to do those mental.

Something about that assassination attempt that those that were killed were unable to be brought back. But that was Otohan and her shadow people, right? He didn't see Otohan, he just saw the shadow. He just saw the shadow. Shadow Assassin. Correct. Yeah, so something like that. This is a no. This is a no?

No, I can't move it. You're too big for your costume, boy. It's how big? No, it's really hard to snap. I got it. I broke it. Cut back on the awesomeness. Nope. Hold on.

Yeah, so now. Nope. We're going with the voice of the Tempest. Holy shit. Keyleth of the Arishari. I'm just like, I just keep imagining like Vox Machina, like, you know, burying Delilah, putting her in an iron box,

throwing that into the deep ocean only for Bell's Hells to be like, Fuck your mom. To be like, hey! What's this? What if we open this up? But also, we really want to open it up. Let's definitely bring her back,

because she knows shit. Yeah. This isn't complicated at all. How many people from Vox Magna are we going to meet? I don't know. Oh, it's so exciting. It's funny, when you guys created your characters for this campaign, one with a link to Whitestone,

and one with Orm, a pretty direct link to Keyleth, I was like, there's probably a fair chance at some point in the campaign, they might cross over with Keyleth at one point. I'm a little nervous and hoping to try and, you know. Steer away from that. Well, to pay homage to it and also not turn it into an Essex scenario

where it's like, you know, Keyleth is our taxi. Yeah. And to that point, which I don't want to say too much, but, like, you know, everyone's busy. There's all sorts of shit going on in the world. Oh, yeah.

Everyone's busy. Yeah. Yeah. But especially with the coming Apogee Solstice. Oh, shit, yeah, she did sound pretty distracted. There's a lot of things going on in the world and leading up to that. But I wasn't expecting Keyleth's arrival

to be as a means of getting a character to Whitestone. So now I'm... Yeah, I'm getting ready to figure out what that's going to look like. It's going to be interesting. Yeah, we can't stay because we got shit to do, but also, who all is there? Lord and Lady DeRollo.

Is Pike there? Is Pike the one that can do a resurrection? Well, Pike and Scanlan are not necessarily in Whitestone. But Pike settled in Whitestone. Oh, okay. Oh, Jesus. And then there's the Grand Poobah. Trinkets and Whitestone. Maybe, I mean, he could be out gallivanting, you know.

Sure, sure. Spreading knowledge and joy. Yeah. Going to all the children's hospitals and just making everybody so little. Living his best dad bod. Yeah. All to sale. Ramifications.

I do want to see you just like, just talk to yourself as all of us. As all of your old characters? Yeah, don't think that isn't been keeping me up at night. Can we just get like a giant Costco order of popcorn for next week? Yeah, yeah. So we can just all be. We'll make a list.

Oh boy. Watch Matt Mercer's Vox Machina, the one-man play. Goddamn it. It's like we're all at Taste of Tal'Dorei. Yeah! Yeah! Fancy drinks, like ludicrous fishbowl drinks during the game. At the very least, I mean,

I've been excited at the prospect of any crossovers with Vox Machina, partially because I've never been able to have campaigns concurrent in the same world and all the time I've been playing in D&D because groups just dissipate. Yeah. But all the groups I've been with have always talked about the cool idea of finishing a campaign, retiring that character, and then eventually possibly meeting them later on in future games. It's always been something in the back of my head. And so now that we've been able to spend so much time in Exandria, this is the first time that we really have had a chance for the players

to bump into an old PC down the line. And it's, I don't know, it's really cool. I'm enjoying it. Oh yeah. It was strangely emotional. It was emotional. Like, it's always fun to watch you jump into a character though, but like, it was a really good Keyleth. And it felt so... It was, like the instant visual

of like seeing her come out. It was like. Yeah. It was good. It was almost like you know the person that plays that character intimately or something. Weird. That's weird. Okay, so I've got one more what the fuck is up with that topic.

What you got? What is your favorite scary movie? Ooh, good question. Favorite scary movie. Oh, I have a couple, but we have to just name one. I really like The Descent. Oh, that's a good choice. The original British one, with the proper ending. That's definitely a fave, proper ending. The, that's a good choice. The original British one with the proper ending?

That's definitely a fave, proper ending. The claustrophobia of it. Yeah. I have a soft spot in my heart for the original Amityville Horror, because it was one of my mom's favorites and we watched it every year. It's not the most scary, but.

Favorite scary movie doesn't mean the scariest movie. Yeah. No, yeah. It's pretty great. What about you? I'm tempted to say Hereditary, just because it's one of the more recent horror films that really got to me and is really well shot and put together, but I grew up, and to this day,

still love the original Poltergeist. I had a feeling you were going to say Poltergeist. The original Poltergeist. That's a great call. It's real, real good. So good. All the practical effects still hold up pretty well compared to other movies of that time. For sure.

I was going to say, I was fascinated by The Exorcist only because I had to watch it in increments. I couldn't do it. Same for John Carpenter's The Thing, the original. Oh yeah, that was a good choice. I tried to watch it with my dad and ran out of there two or three different times. They make it scary.

You ran out of never ending stories. I know! Okay, listen. The only movies I ever ran out of in a theater were never-ending story in Jurassic Park, which I was way too old for. I was 12 or 13, and I totally bitched out on John Carpenter's The Thing.

When those legs came out of the dog in the kennel, I had a problem. It's a scary movie. Let's take another question. What are the movies that you ran out of the theater for? kennel, I had a problem. It's a scary movie. Let's take another question. What are the movies that you ran out of the theater for? Those are mine. Those are yours. I didn't ever run out of a theater. Well, fine. I guess you're great.

But I did, so my grandma made me watch Poltergeist when I was six years old. Yeah, your grandma's awesome. She was sitting in her lap and she's like, we have to watch this, you know? I just saw your grandma. Yeah, exactly. And yeah, I was terrified and ended up kicking and screaming

until she released me from her lap and ran into the kitchen. She held you hostage? My grandma was so much fun. She was awesome. Did you come back in and finish the movie? I don't, eventually. I think I watched from the doorway for a bit.

So I have flashes of the movie. See, I tried to come back in a moment later down the movie in the thing, and then they're doing the defibrillator on the guy, and they're like, clear, and his arms go through the dude's chest, and then the teeth cut off the guy's arms, and I was like, Dad! How old were you when you watched The Thing?

A little younger, like 10 or 11, I think. That's pretty young for The Thing. Yeah, I'm a big bitch. That's fine. You're not, you're not. And the ring is just no good. No ring. Okay, enough of this scary movie. Oh, shit, yeah, yeah, yours. I ain't run out of any movies. Okay,, yours. I ain't run out of any movies.

Okay, never mind. You haven't run out of any? No! I'm a tough-ass bitch. You? The original Ghostbusters when I was very young. At the moment where it goes, ready, ready? You saw it in the theater?

Yeah. Wow. I was very young for that. Yes, you were. It might've been like a back of theater or something like that, because I remember the memory, but it was the, ready, ready, get her in the, I was, nope, I'm done.

I'm out. No, no, no. And the other one was Beetlejuice in the theater. The opening scene when they're trying to scare the family, but they don't see them, and Geena Davis pulls her face off in the middle of the closet. Yeah. Nope, out of the theater.

That is scary. Gone. Were you with friends or parents? Parents. Right. Did they come with you or leave you in the lobby next to the session? No, they of the theater. That is scary. Gone. Were you with friends or parents? Parents. Right. Did they come with you or leave you in the lobby? No, they came with me. Oh, that's nice of them.

I eventually got back into the theater and watched the rest of the movie, both times. But that was the times that I ran out screaming. My friend at dress park left me next to the concession stand. And the guy was like, Did he abandon you? Did you leave the movie? And I was like, yes.

And he goes, are you going back in? And I was like, no. And he was like, do you want some Reese's Pieces? I was like, yes. And he goes, are you going back in? And I was like, no. And he was like, do you want some Reese's Pieces? I was like, yes. Yes. And we hung out until the end of that movie. That's the cutest thing. I love that.

Yes. That's so cute. Yeah, my mom was born on Halloween, so Halloween was always, like, a huge to-do, even since I was a kid. So all sorts of those scary movies. She started me young. She'd be like, you're fine.

Plus she sees those ghosts. Yeah, yeah. 13 Ghosts style. Puts on the glasses. All right. It's time for a poll from the Tower of Inquiry! Inquiry, inquiry, inquiry! Soggy gloves.

One of us pulls a block from the tower, reads the number, and Dani tells us the corresponding question, and who asked it. And if the Tower of Inquiry falls, consequences will befall, or befail, for the one who ruins it. I need glasses. Rotted, unspeakable consequences. Oh boy. Rotted? Yeah. And so with that in mind, I choose Laura.

Yes. Why don't you pull the block? I love pulling. Hiding in my box over here. You're such a cute robot. You really are. Thank you. I appreciate it. You're so adorable.

This is a new tower, so you really can't screw this up, right? Plus, you're good at this stuff. Oh shit. The doubt's creeping in. Yeah. I got no doubts. Oh!

That was awesome! Did you see the slip? Yeah! Oh my god. Woo, the face! I have too much Jenga conf, I mean, Tower of Inquiry confidence. You mean Changa. Changa.

Changa. One hand, never touch it with two. Don't you forget the rules, everyone. That one is easy to get back. Oh, I need to say the number eight. It's number eight! Number eight? This is already so gravity challenge.

Number eight. Whoever's up, I challenge them to do that one. What? Oh, man. Are we all taking turns on it, or is it just one person? Right now it's just one, because I have to ask you a question. Okay.

What would be- Love you, Dani. You look cute as a 19-year-old. You look so cute. Yeah, you do. Thanks. I also picked last week, I don't know where the camera is. I'm very good at my job. Where is it? I don't know.

What would be your character's minor day-to-day superpower? cutting onions without crying, always waking up on time without an alarm. Who can do that? Never gets lost in cities. And this is from DuckTapeWolf on Twitter. DuckTapeWolf, woo! Minor.

Day-to-day superpower. Superpower. That's pretty good. That is a good one. Us or our character? Our character? I think Us or our character? Our character? I think it was our character. Okay, our character.

Oh no. Imogen can... She never has to change a light bulb. She can just bring them back. That's good, that's good. Dang. It's really helpful when light bulbs start. Chetney's fingernails would be made out of adamantine,

so he wouldn't need instruments. He would just claw and nail pick at wood. Edward scissorhands his way through it. Yeah. That's pretty good. And then cut people. I feel like... I like that your day-to-day, easy, daily superpower is to cut people. It's fingernails!

It's not like Baraka from Mortal Kombat, it's just fingernails. Okay. It's more Ray from Fist of the North Star. I'm a weeb. Continue. Weeb robot. Weeb bot. Weeb bot, that's me. Oh.

Bakakoei-chan. Go. Help me. I feel like... That's it, that's it. Laudna's would be like, as she walks by flower beds, flowers just wilt and die or something sad.

That's just sad. Ooh, it's atmospheric. I don't know, it's kind of cool. She hates flowers. It's like an ability, but that's rough. What's... I can't think of any happy superpowers. For Laudna? For Laudna. She never has to use a ladder.

Oh, no, that's pretty good. That's cool. Spider climb. As somebody who can't reach tall things ever, I think that's cool. That's pretty good. Yeah. That's pretty good. She could play lots of contact sports

and then just pop all of her joints back into place. That's true. Yep. She'd be a good crash test dummy. Oh, that's, yeah. She makes her money doing crash test dummy, and then she can then audibly give feedback. Every time results are sent to the client, they're like, oh my god.

Yep. We've got to fix this. At least I'm safe. Look at her. That's awesome. We really need to fix this. At least I'm safe. Look at her. That's awesome. We really need to fix this. Should we choose? Eshteross.

Eshteross. Eshteross would want the day-to-day power to always bake the perfect cookies. Not a little too hard, soft, but not too soft, where they fall apart when you pick them up. Like that perfect consistency that's hard to maintain, especially with large batches. That'd be what you want. Soft in the middle,

but crispy on the outside. Yeah, yeah. Basically like any of Qian's cookies. Yes, her cooking is unfortunately divine, because I want to eat it all the time. It's really good. Yeah, next level cookies. Next level sourdough. Q, if you could send

some bread or pastries. If you ever want to just make some bread for us. Great. Send it up. Some more bread, rather, because I've- Glad you got the Pantheon. Hell yeah. Travis, why don't you pull with your gloves? Thank you, Duck Tape Wolf.

Let's pull another. Who should go up? And if you have an evergreen question for our Tower of Inquiry, you can enter it at critrole.com slash tower. I do the choosing over here. You do. My hat won't stay on. And because you aimed your Dilophosaurus spit at me,

you go. Oh no. And your little gloves are gonna get in the way. I'm saving Matt for last because it just seems impossible. I'm here for hard mode. Oh no. And your little gloves are going to get in the way. I'm saving Matt for last because it just seems impossible. I'm here for hard mode. Oh no. Here for it. Plus I already visited the tower. I went first.

You've got a feather stuck to your inner thigh. Oh shit. Your head almost knocked over the tower. It somehow went up my shorts. What is happening here? Pat Day was shedding on you, I think. That's true.

Well, this one was real easy. Okay, well, oh god. Oh buddy. Oh, you got dino hands in the way. Hey! Oh, she's using it to- Yeah, that was the easy one. That was awesome! Noice! That was- Click. that was the easy one. That was awesome! Noise!

That was- Click. Disco! Too careful. It falls. What's the number? Oh. 14.

14! I saw it wibble. If you would have knocked it over on the disco, that would have laughed my ass off. Oh boy. Okay. If your character teamed up with an existing character in TV or film, who would best compliment

your character as a partner? From Auren Young. Good question. If your character teamed up with any character in media or from... An existing character in TV or film. Oh. Damn.

Best compliment. Nah. That's a hard, a really hard question. That is a hard, a really hard question. That is a hard one. I'm thinking. I want to join up with Bilbo Baggins. Oh my god. Oh, hell yeah.

Because he'd be all idealistic and full of virtue, and then Chetney would just take the fucking ring. Maybe like, Danny, full of virtue, and then Chetney would just take the fucking ring. And then roll them all. Dani, you can tell me if this makes sense. Like John Constantine. Hot. Oh. So hot.

Sorry. Good pairing, good pairing. I'm still me. I'm still me. If it was a road trip scenario, I'd say Elvira. Elvira! Elvira, that's a good one. That's a good one. Both scary fun. You and Constantine

share a birthday. Very. You and Constantine? You and Constantine share a birthday. Me and Constantine? May 10th? Mm-hmm. Oh, that's cool. Yay. Hey.

Could join up with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and be like, let's talk about where your loyalties lie. Yes. Don't tell me you're not tired of his shit, too. Yeah, just help them reunite. Yeah. Break them down from the inside. Yes.

What about you, Laura? Gem? Gem. What about you, Laura? Jem. Jem. My brain instantly went to Jean Grey. Yeah. Oh, yeah. And it's just like, talking back and forth nonstop. Scarlet Witch is also an obvious one. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah. I like Jem. Jem is fun. Jem is fun. Yeah, that's less on your nose. Chudy, Chudy, Chudy. Yeah. fun. Yeah, that's less on your nose. Chew-dee, chew-dee, chew-dee. Good answer, good answer. Oh, sorry. Thank you, Erin Young.

And if you have an evergreen question for our Tower of Inquiry, you can enter it at critworld.com slash. Oh, that's stinky. Slash tower. No, it's not. Yes, it is, I was going to put it on, but it smells. No, it smells more like balloons

than like a salad bar at Olive Garden. And if you, I already said that. For the third time. Listen. Listen. I thank Daren Young. The screen's moving around a lot. And now, and with that, let's slide into the deep dive.

Nope, yes? Yes. Ah, 90s mermaid, you got some tubular questions for us to answer? I always have tubular questions for y'all to answer. Thank you. Hell yeah. I love your 90s blossom hat. Thank you. It's so great. Probably should have done the robot last.

No, it's fine. Nope. There, I got my hand. Oh, yeah, nice. There we go. Hey. Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. It's so sharp. Thank you, my dear. You're welcome. So we're going to take turns

pulling questions from our tankers. Breaking the costume. And since I'm the tavern keeper, I will be kicking this off. Robot, since you got your hands now, why don't you go first? Okay. I'm a robot.

I can't. Yeah! I can't! Hold on. Oh my god. Hold on. You got it. What has it been like to introduce elements from Campaign 2, such as the Cerberus Assembly, Ludinus, and Dunamis?

Oh. It's been cool. I've been sitting on this shit for a long time. I've been thinking about these threads since the beginning of Campaign 2, and I'm excited we're getting to them now. I have a lot of ideas that have been floating in my head since Campaign 1 that are now starting to come together.

Really? Wow. I've been excited for campaign three for a while. You can keep it a secret, man. Yeah, well, it's just fun little thread drops like that to make it fun, because it shows that one, your actions from previous campaigns have effects in future campaigns and the way that the world develops of Exandria.

And I just find it a fun time. So, yay. Yay. Who's next? Clockwise, so. Clockwise, okay. Oh god, nope, nope, that's prohibitive. Prohibitive. Marisha, what is it like to see Keyleth come back,

but not be there at the table? Like a... Turn the blade! Yes! My bad! Like being in a fucking fugue state. The fucking salt factory. That's what it felt like. I was like, what is happening?

I literally texted the group. I was like, this is really fucking weird. Uh-huh. 100%. It was very bizarre, but you did a good job being Kiki. Thank you. You have her weird staccato...

She's still nervous sometimes. She's much better than she used to be. She has 30 years of wisdom since we last really saw her in campaign one, but it doesn't make her stop being her. She's just a far more experienced, wiser, and politically incorporated figure into the world of Exandria, who still carries her personality.

Her personality, yeah. It was cute. It was good. Thank you. Now do vex, do vex! Shut down. I'm shut down. All right, I got one. Travis!

This is for me. Chetney had some interesting memories come back during the Whiteout. Can you tell us anything about the wayward romances or the love life that Chetney had some interesting memories come back during the whiteout. Can you tell us anything about the wayward romances or the love life that Chetney recalled? Ooh. Why, yes. Yes, I can.

Both of those names did not ring a bell. But, you know, when you've been crushing like the big pun for 400 years, you can't really just remember two names. So, you know. What were the names again? I don't know. I wrote them down. Deanna and Fenella or something?

Oh, those two. No, I got nothing. I wasn't expecting you to remember. Nope. I got nothing, but yeah, I don't know. Maybe I'll go and meditate on it or recall some of my greatest hits. Imogen hasn't done a deep dive into Chetney's brain yet, right?

Nope. You don't want to go in there. Obviously, I don't know. It's like a greatest hits album that you can't unsubscribe from. It's like Time Life doesn't even want that. She hasn't done a deep dive into anybody really except for Ashton. Ashton. People have to. In the party.

Holy fuck. Ashton's the only one who really gave consent for it. Ashton and Fresh Cut Grass maybe as gave consent for it. Ashton and, uh. Yeah. Fresh cut grass, maybe, as well. Yes, and fresh cut grass. Yeah, she's not, unless it's somebody that, nobody that she's a friend with,

she would just do that to willy-nilly. Yeah. Until she goes evil and broke. Until she just does, yeah. Nice, you're up. I already pulled it. Oh, you did? I could pretend.

You can't pre-screen your mug question. Well, I pulled it, and I didn't put it back. I kept it in my hand. I believe you. Laura. Imogen destroyed the purple crystal Fern gave Laudna, but kept her own, even attempting to use it to save Laudna.

What are her thoughts on this crystal? And how is she feeling towards it now? I've struggled with it because, like, part of me in that moment wanted to, like, keep it on Laudna. And I think if Ashton hadn't been like, I'm moving the body, I probably would have kept it on her. But then it was like, this is weird, it's going to fall.

I don't know how this is going to work. Is it in the hole? I'm like, this is impaled in. Oh shit. Stuffing it in there. Dodging the wound. Yep. So yeah, and then I was like, I'm going to leave it underneath Jow's. And then I didn't. and then I was like, I'm going to leave it underneath Joe's,

and then I didn't. And then I was like, I'm going to throw it off the airship, and then I didn't. And I don't know why I keep holding onto it. You don't know why? I mean, she doesn't want to let it go. But at the same time, it's like, you know, I feel like that first one

kind of started to make her feel a little, like have more erratic thoughts. Insane in the memory. Yeah, it made her feel more suddenly powerful, but, and now based on everything else that's happened, I feel like that is such a small tickle compared to everything else. Who knows, maybe it's adding to it,

but I don't think she's registering it that way. She don't throw away magic stuff. Especially when you know that Delilah wants it so much. Yes. In these moments. Good question. Good question. Is it my turn again?

Yeah, it's you again. You can do it. You can do it, Trobot. Trash robot. I got it. You're actually a Trobot. Hold on. Yeah, okay. I did it. Matt, you've mentioned that you have conversations with players after character death to see what they want. What were those conversations like

with Liam, Ashley, and Marisha? Was it a different experience than when Molly died? It was the same conversation, generally. In my games, I mean, you know, it changes from table to table what players want, but, you know, I'm being serious. No, no, no, no, no. This is fucking hilarious.

I know. But no, like, the purpose of, no, no. This is fucking hilarious. I know. But no, the purpose of my game, at the very least, and most games out there, I believe, are for the players to enjoy the game and have the most fun. If a player's character dies prematurely, I don't want to just tell them, sorry, they're gone, regardless of what you want.

I want to open the opportunities for the different types of stories that can progress from there and be like, if you really want to continue to pursue this character, I can find narrative reasons and additional adventures and quests and stories and unique memories surrounding the recovery of this missed figure. See if that is a possibility down the road. recovery of this missed figure, you know?

See if that is a possibility down the road. Or you could take this as an opportunity to let that rest for a bit and try out a new character and a new story. Or create a new character that continues your original character's story in some way. Maybe they're related to them or had a history with them. And so then story keeps going, but you get to experience a new character.

These are all different, unique, fun things that players in the past have done in games that I've run and in games that I've played in. And so I ask those questions every time. With Taliesin, I asked him that question. He said, no, Molly's not coming back. Dang. He's like, I intentionally,

he said he intentionally made Molly as a character that if he died, he's gone. And so I asked him that and he's like, no, I'm going to start working on my next character. And that's where Caduceus came from. Another great example of character death being a very, you know, harrowing but important shift in story tone and character bonding and, you know,

intense buy-in to a narrative. And then out of that, a great character like Caduceus that no one really realized how badly the Mighty Nein needed him until he was there for a time, showed up. And so you kind of, sometimes embracing that loss can lead to incredible opportunities down the road that you wouldn't see otherwise.

But to that same point, I asked each of them, what do you want to do? And they all began to, well, all of them began to think of secondary characters, I think, except for you. Well, I mean. You began to think of some a little bit. You've been contemplating. I of secondary characters, I think, except for you. Well, I'm. You begin to think of some a little bit. You've been contemplating.

I've got ideas, but also, I'm also not necessarily interested in Laudna coming back and just being a-okay and being the same. Like, for me, it's a little bit of this weird Pandora's box of, anyway, I guess we actually need to talk about it. We haven't talked, the same. For me, it's a little bit of this weird Pandora's box of... Anyway, I guess we actually need to talk about it. We haven't talked, because I didn't know what the group was going to do. Yeah.

And I still don't know what's going to go on. No, there's still... What's in the box? What's in the box? Yeah, we can talk more, but like... Yeah. Yeah. Primarily, my question to you was, do you want to continue to pursue Laudna's story as Laudna? Is that the most fun path for you?

And you said yes, and I was like, okay, then we will incorporate a path to perhaps doing that. Yeah, I want to see where it goes, but it doesn't mean it's going to be the same. It's not going to be easy, and everything has consequences, and you get to choose, and we both get to discuss where that leads,

depending on the choices the rest of the players make on that path, which excites me. And then Liam and Ashley made secondary characters, but they were kind of still deciding, kind of waiting to see what would happen. They were down the road a little bit? Oh, yeah. Liam sent me a whole email with this write-up

of his secondary character. He was like, well, we'll see how it goes. Liam is always the most prepared of all of us when it comes to that. He had chosen magical items and everything. I was like, all right,'ll see how it goes. Yeah, Liam is always the most prepared of all of us when it comes to that. Yeah. He had chosen magical items and everything. I was like, all right, man. Damn, really? Yep. Wow. Come on now.

You still got him on deck in case something happens to Worm to get down the road. We'll take care of him. We'll see. I went the extreme opposite. Venni and the production team were like, oh, I need your description. We're going to get art cooking immediately. And I was like, no.

I refuse. Yeah, basically. And they're like, well, we need you to be on standby. And I was like, I'll sit refuse. Yeah, basically, and they're like, but we need you to be in standby, and I was like, I'll sit out as long as I need to. No. And they were like, but we should get it. No. That's basically how it went.

I said no. I checked, yeah. All right, your turn. I almost took a drop. Marisha. No. Do you have thoughts, oh. Do you have thoughts on what you might roll

for another character? No! Or are you planning to see what happens over the next few episodes first? No! Pick a new one. No, okay. Sorry, dude.

Marisha! What are your thoughts on Laudna returning to Whitestone to potentially be resurrected once more? Y'all, that shit's fucked up. Come on. That shit's going to be fucked up, and I can't wait to see how it goes. Oh, God.

We did try every other solution. Drama to wake up there again. Yes. No, it's going to be fine. We tried a handful of solutions. And I am considering all of that. It's a lot of layers. Like, what the... It's a lot of layers. It's a lot to unpack.

It's a lot of layers. So, and I still don't know. I'm just waiting in the wings because I don't know what y'all are going to do. So. Yeah. Or if we're going to succeed at what we do. Or if we're going to succeed, or how it's going to go. And I also keep thinking of the fact that,

what's gone on with the ziggurat in the past 30, 40 years? Oh my god. Yeah. I'm sure it's all good. Plus, there's only an Apogee Solstice coming, so I'm sure it's fine. Okay. Here, hold my hand while I draw.

Yeah. Ew! Oh, that's awful! John Carpenter's the thing! I thought you were being sweet. No. Laser Werewolf doesn't want sweet. Laser Werewolf wants to get funky.

Chetney is a bit of a detective, sniffing out used double-cross and guessing that Ira's arcade telescope was originally for the Unseelie. Yeah, well, respect. Is Chetney, amateur sleuth, an aspect you intended to explore for him, or has this come about from roleplay? Guys, I played an idiot for my first character. And I think just over time, like, A, there are some, you guys are really good at playing this game, so I've just learned from watching people do their thing. But also after seven years, there are like little things that just kind of pop up. The you thing was literally me watching our friend Patrick Fugate was in a show called Treadstone on USA and when they would

activate like one of the sleeper cells they would send the cell phone like a picture with a symbol on it and they'd go like and then go after the target. I was like on the treadmill like watching it and I was like, oh shit! She's gonna kill her family! So that's how

Oh yeah, because she had the locket with the picture. Yeah, total. Wow, I didn't know that's how that happened. Oh yeah, because she had the locket with the picture. Yeah, total ADD moment. Wow, I didn't know that's how you connect. I didn't know that was how you... Yeah, I was doing something else and it just happened and I was like, oh god. And then the telescope thing, I don't know.

It just, Fern is, I don't trust Fern as far as I could throw her, which is not very far, even though Chetney's swole for an old dude. Sure. He's pretty strong. All-man strength. All-man strength, yeah. But it just felt like the Nightmare King was just waiting to do something shitty. I just wish we had taken the little green lens

and looked at him before we gave it to him. I can't believe Ashton broke the little fucking lens immediately. Well, I love how right afterwards, he was like, if it's a magical item, you can't break it. It was just. Taliesin's like, oh fuck. Whoops.

Yeah, I was hoping we'd look at him, expend it, we'd have to spend another day, we could poke him with stuff. This is the funniest thing, this little trinket that was written into, written into Fearne's backstory when Ashley handed it into Aabria back in EXU. This little thing, this little trinket,

this little green thing that she's been carrying and finally revealed and immediately shattered. I was like, fuck your backstory. Yep, fuck your backstory. It's perfect. It's perfect. Yeah, we could have used it so many wonderful ways. Yeah, I feel like a 400-year-old gnome has a little bit of insight when it comes to those things,

so maybe we'll just call it that. You have high wisdom? Wisdom of the ages. You have high wisdom, don't you? No. Oh, really? High intelligence. High intelligence.

Well, mediocre intelligence, but the highest in the group. I'm the smartest fucking person in the group. What's your intellect? My intellect? Your intellect? Your group. What's your intellect? My intellect? Your intellect? Your intellect? What's your intellect? I think it's a plus two. That's like a 14 or...

14. 14. Oh yeah, and Orym is 13. So yeah, before you joined Orym, he's the smartest. Bow down, bitches. 13. I'm going to be five. Well, you're also, you are a good strategist. Strategist? Yeah, sometimes. Strategist.

Strategists. Sometimes, sometimes. So it is fun to watch you play a character that is Also, Calamity wrecked me in a beautiful way. Because y'all had schemes and secret meetings and shit, and I was trying to figure stuff out, and it was left to Mark. Yeah. You're up.

That's been fun. Imogen, Laura. How does Imogen feel about Ashton calling her a superhero versus Chetney wondering if she is someone to be afraid of? Oh, yeah. She definitely does not feel

like a superhero. I think she's leaning more towards the Chetney vibe. Oh. There's a lot of guilt there. Why? Why? Fuck.

Yeah. Aw. Well, you know, this crazy powerful thing happened that you have absolutely no control over. Yeah. You know, it's this crazy powerful thing happened that you have absolutely no control over. Yeah. And it could happen who knows when. Yeah. But your role-playing as Imogen after it

has just been so good. And so sad. Don't say it. I have crazy conspiracy theories about Imogen, you guys. That you're not sharing with us? No, no, no. No, we talk about it all the time on the way over the game. I 100, that's okay.

I don't want to call it. I don't want to be right again. You don't want to be right again? You're the destroyer of worlds. You are... You are the moon. Uh-huh. I am the moon. This whole time.

I am the moon. You're time. I am the moon. You're gonna go again? Is it my turn now? Are we going? Are we keeping going? Oh, look out! The teleprompter! It says, Ah! Listen!

Did you hear that? It sounds like it's time to pull another question from the Tower of Inquiry! Inquiry! Robot. Sure. Robot. Hold my tankard. You can do it, robot.

Can you stand up? Do you need help? I can't really turn my head in this thing. Thank you, teleprompter, for moving in a very creepy way and the scary noise. How? Come here, Petya. Oh, buddy. Oh my god. I have many things, aren't you? You teleprompter from moving in a very creepy way, and the scary noise. How? Come here, buddy. Oh my god. Oh my god. I have many pay terms. I'm so here for this right now. You got it, man.

Okay. This is a precarious tower. This tower's already fucked. That's Laura's fault. She did you dirty. I went sad. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the one. Let's go, robot. I went sad. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's the one. Let's go, robot. Okay, 45.

45? It's not over yet, it's not over yet. That reach is... I'm proud of you, robot. Yay. Yay, robot. I hate it. How much did you all know about each other's characters

before C3 started? To those who coordinated their backstories, how was the idea approached? Sivzy at Tumblr. How much did we know? That's been a minute. I think we shared what classes we were going to be so that we didn't have overlap.

And we knew going in that we didn't want to be as secretive as we were going into campaign two. Correct. Me and you, of course, chatted a decent amount. We ended up pairing up our backstories because we both wanted to be sorcerers. Yes. It's really like, let's just be witches together.

Witchy bitches. And then... Everything's blue. Oh, yeah. I'm going to put these back on. Oh, shit. I put these back on. Oh, shit. Okay, there we go. Then, of course, like, Orym and Fearne went into EXU,

so we knew a little bit more about them going into EXU first. Yeah, and then Taliesin and Sam coordinated for Ashen FCG. But their backstory. That's right. So, yeah, it was kind of like three sets of... three crews that came together as a singular crew. Yeah. And then you fucking died. And Bertrand was an already established thing.

Yeah. I actually knew a little bit about Ashley's backstory before EXU, because when we were coming up with our Campaign 3 characters, I accidentally knew a little bit about Ashley's backstory before EXU, because when we were coming up with our Campaign 3 characters, I accidentally created a character that was very similar to Ashley's character. That's right. And I was telling her a little bit about it, and she was like, that's me!

Because you're originally going to have some, like, Feywald connection stuff, right? Yeah, and, like, the hag stuff, too. Yeah, that's crazy. I had a different character originally, before we even got to the Bertrand thing. That's right! Which maybe I'll save as a backup so I won't talk about it too much, but I was like,

I was like, ah, yeah, I guess. I love that character. I want to be more chaotic. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, do whatever. Be what you want, man. Well, you came out with Fjord playing someone so captain-y and leadership-y, so.

Fuck that. Yeah, yeah. Done that. It's really hard to play somebody that's logical and reserved hard. You got to be in the mood for that. How are you having fun with that? Yeah, you have to be in the mood for it

and you have to be the kind of person that enjoys that leadership position, whether it be because you don You got to be in the mood for that. How are you having fun with that? Yeah, you have to be in the mood for it and you have to be the kind of person that enjoys that leadership position, whether it be because you don't get to be that in life too often or you just, that sense of control in a group of people that look to that or don't have that, it can work out really well. But if you've done it for a bit,

like, be Chetney. Yeah, fuck yeah. Thank you, Sibsy. You got it. Is that right? yeah. Thank you, Sibsy. You got it. Is that right? Yeah. Thank you, Sibsy. Thanks, Sibsy. Let's pull one more. Does that mean from the Tower of Terror?

Yeah, you haven't gone yet. I was the first. Let's go try this. You're up again. You were the first? Yeah, I went first. Oh, well, that's because you said the secret word. That's not because of... Oh.

That's fine. I still say you got to do it with the gloves. With the gloves? Hard mode. Yeah, with your gloved hand. Guys, I suck at this game. No, you're gonna do so good. That's not moving at all.

Oh, you're gonna do it. You got this. Oh no. Come on, buddy. Come on. Oh, what the fuck? I know their fucking laugh. I know who that is. I know who that is. And they almost got fucking elbowed. I hate the fucking ring so much.

That's amazing. I love you literally preface with how much you hate the ring. I hate it so much. Oh, god. You got it. 36. 36. God, my butthole is up inside my large intestines.

You like how I just froze in absolute preternatural fear? Sit down so I can hide the dookie stain in my pants. One of these days, we got to get you in a bria and a haunted maze. You son of a bitch. Oh my god, I'm so glad I saw that before. It was right next to me. That would've been real bad.

So close. We got so close. Oh my god. How did you come up with your character's name slash does it have any special meaning from Dylan Daniels? Oh, that's a good one. Yeah. Oh, I can actually start this.

Oh yes. So Chutney is not Chetney. They have no relation, of course. They're not nearly the same character. But his last name, have we talked about this? Oh, I don't know, have we? Pock-a-pee? I don't know if you have. Yeah, so Pock-a-pee is,

when Ronan was growing up, there were only a couple of things that he would babble or murmur or say. Oh, uh, oh, uh. But at a young age, he started going, Pock-a-pee. Pock-a-pee. And we were like, what's Pock-a-pee, buddy? And we'd be at the breakfast table eating,

and then he would look up in the corner of the room and go, Pock-a-pee. And we were like, no, no, no. There's no instant ghost that is named Pock-a-pee. And then I was like, hey, you know what Chani's last name should be? Fucking Pocky P. And Laura goes, you're going to give it power.

You're manifesting it every time you speak it out loud. Exactly. This is what it's wanting. We created this sinkhole ourselves. So there you go. I love poltergeists. Yeah. Pocky P. I had a massive list for potential Laudna names, if you remember. Yeah.

We were doing our Vanity Fair photo shoot. Yeah. And I had, like, a dozen. And it ended up on Laudna, because I wanted something Laudna's in reference to Laudnum. I've seen a couple of people ask that and you are correct, but just wanted something that sounded a little weird and hazy and yeah, I don't know. Fucks with your head.

So it became Laudna. Fucking Brittany. You really did just freeze. Well, you know, you could try and punch the ring girl, but you might lose that hand. That's all I'm saying. She didn't say seven days,

and I didn't see her eyes. Yeah. That's where I would've gone for that. If she'd have been in a white dress. If there had been a TV with static, that would have been worse. Let's stop talking about it. I don't know. I don't know how I got,

you're just terrified. You're sure it's gonna happen again? It's a little, when it gets too fucking quiet, I don't trust you people now! I just really like the name Imogen. Yeah. That's it.

That's a good reason. I just like the name Imogen. And I wanted it to be flowy and soft-sounding, and it is. Yeah. And you know what Imogen spells backwards? Worldender. Ah. Ruidus.

Dangerous. Ruidus. Thank you, Dylan Daniels. I'm going to squint. I feel like you keep forgetting that you're the host. Yeah. I do, I don't ever, I don't know. You're just sitting here and you'll start going I got a lot of responsibilities during the day.

I was thinking about one of them. Remember, if you have a subtly suggestive question for us, you can enter your question for the Tower of Inquiry at critrole.com slash tower. Alright folks, we're gonna take a quick break, but don't go too far because when we come back, we are gonna be playing Five Nights at Freddy's!

Wait, we're actually playing Five Nights at Freddy's? What is that? This is awesome. It's a great game. Why are you acting like that? I don't know. Go to break. We're going to take a break.

Break, break, break. I'm about to break. 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. Buh-bye.