Critical Role - Wildemount Things | 4-Sided Dive | Episode 12: Discussing Up To C3E58

Episode Date: May 23, 2023

Aabria Iyengar, Christian Navarro, Sam Riegel, and Travis Willingham pull questions from the Tower of Inquiry, get super smashed (literally) in Super Smash Bros., and catch you up on all the crazy shenanigans from Team Wildemount! 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. So, do you want to talk to us about the sunglasses? Because you look very cool right now, and I'm very into it. I don't feel cool, but I'm wearing them because I have light sensitivity at the moment. My eye is really fucked up.

They can all attest to it. Oh, you're turning into a werewolf. It's real protruding. It's that you're turning into a werewolf. I think that is extremely accurate. It's actually Marisha's abusive to the guests. Yeah. We told her to work on that.

The hazing regimen is getting a little elevated these days. I think it's really cool. It's a cool Hollywood look. Yeah, do you say that? I do. Thanks, I appreciate that. Sorry, guys. We should just do a sunglasses for a side of time.

We kind of messed this up. Why don't we all bring sunglasses? Okay, but now that we've established that and there's been talking, it's time for y'all to roll. Okay. All right. Please, your choice. I'm going to roll this guy.

I forget, is it high? Highest. Highest host. You win the right to tavern key. Oh, bastard. One. Now let me be very clear. I called my shot earlier.

Travis is the only one who fucking hosted. Wins it. Let me get over here. Get in there. Okay, do another intro. That's right. I've done this before. We're supposed to clear. I'm warm.

We cleared the brain. God bless Travis. Don't screw it up. Huh? I'm gonna get ready. Oh my right, I've done this before. We're supposed to clear. I'm warm. We cleared the brain. Don't screw it up. Want me to get ready? Oh my God, he's holding his hand. Should I just go? Uh-huh. Okay, we're ready. Welcome back to four...

Oh God, it just disappeared. The second I started talking, it just abandoned me. It did it again! It did it again! This is you sons of bitches. Welcome back to Foresighted Dive, folks. I'm Travis Willingham, and I'll be your tavern keeper for the evening.

We're about to jump into crazy talk show shenanigans, but first, I want to give a shout-out to our extraordinary producer, Kyle Shire, who's unfortunately not sick tonight. Aw. Aw, Kyle, we love you. Do not fret. An out-of-touch producer who hasn't caught

Critical Role in two months is writing this copy right now. I definitely don't know what's been going on. Wait, don't read that part out loud. Fuck. Okay, okay. Let me see here. The moon disappeared and the magic is super weird.

Robots kissed and it was awesome. We love that. What are you doing with your hands? I don't know. I should be steepling. This is Naruto or something. Someone is playing an ex-lover again, and there's another character with a gun.

These people wild mounted each other, and we had some lewdness lore drops. Who's that again? Wizard guy? I don't know. Danny! But instead of bombing, bumbling, my way through this, I thought I'd share something

I'm really, really passionate about. Slight pause. Catch. Oh, yes. The ancient art of ventriloquism. For those who don't know, Webster's Dictionary defines ventriloquism as the production of the voice in such a way. I think you're supposed to be doing it. Not yet!

The sound seems to come from the source other than the vocal organs of the voice in such a way. I think you're supposed to be doing it. Not yet! The sound seems to come from the source other than the vocal organs of the speaker. Pretty cool, right? Oh, okay. But why tell you about it when I can show you? And just to warn you, I'm definitely really good at this. Okay, here we go. Let me get in this zone one second.

This is perfect. What is it, French? I am a puppy to me, the strings and wool. What is it, French? I am a puppet made of strings and wool. Oh, boy. I feel alive as any human would. My roots are French. My heart beats with pride.

My strings pulled with care. My hands that glide. I think glide is better. With every move, a story is told of love, of laughter, of tales of old. That's why this is so long. It's very long.

Time is too in a puppetry, so if you see me on a Marquesian street, stop and watch the rhythm of my beat. It's such a long thing. For I am more than just a wolf who strives, and join us for tonight's four-sided dive. Nice transition. Thank you. Nice transition. Thank you. Nice transition.

Thank you. Impressive. Let's do a fucking show! Wait, what do we do now? Welcome back! Let's begin the night with our open discussion segment. What the fuck is up with that? Oh, that was perfectly fine.

That was really scary. That's what I do for my kids. Is it? I beep like when we're watching The Legend of Vox Machina, which they really should not watch. No, they really should. I know what lines are coming, and so I go, to cover up the cursing.

Is the sound low or hot? No, the sound's on. They can still hear it. Do you sit right behind them where they're sitting? You're like, Yeah. You must do that a lot

in certain episodes. I want the immersive experience of you just screaming behind me. That's 4D. Okay. Main topics. Guest, what? They want you to read that. Oh.

No, they don't. It was going up and down. There it goes. It was waggling. See? Yeah, the questions are on the menu. Okay. Which is right here.

Oh boy. Main topics. This is a mess. What was it like to have the guests on and to split the party? What was it like to have these two? What was it like to have the guests on and split the party?. What was it like to have these two? What was it like to have the guests on

and split the party? Really, you're just asking me this question. I'm pretty much asking the guests. This doesn't feel like an open discussion. And also, I feel like I can't honestly answer this with them here. No, of course you can. You have to leave.

Speak your mind. You have to go sit in the fireplace. Speak your mind, Sam. Go sit in the fire, thank you, Christian. I'll see you tomorrow. Thank you, I love your shoes. Christian's gonna come back with even bigger sunglasses. I don't know about you, Travis.

Yes. I loved having these guests. This feels insincere. And I'm not just saying that because they're here. Wasn't it a fun, cool dynamic to have some new blood at the table? I mean, I love Taliesin. I love Liam. I love the other one.

I love them.in. I love Liam. I love the other one. I love them. They're great. But it's fun to mix it up sometimes, right? I hated it. I hated every second of it. They're still here for some reason. And I don't know how. I mean, we went crazy in the trees.

And, you know, Christian's got sunglasses on. I don't know how to get rid of them. He's such a Hollywood D-bag. They were great! They were great! And it was right after we got dropped in the middle of nowhere. We didn't know where we were. We were stuck out in the middle of the wilderness.

They literally saved our asses. It's been, what, did we do seven episodes or eight? Seven. Seven? It was a really great, it was a really great section of the campaign. It was so fun to come in every week. It was just like a really cool, fun energy. Yeah, plus you never know what the character build is going to be.

And you see Aabria play something she's never played before. Christian comes in and rocks it. It was amazing. She played an ex. Like, that's something she's never done. I have a tie. I'm sorry to monopolize this. Do it.

No, you're not. How do we know you? Me personally? Yeah, like I know that you've been friends with everyone in Critical Role for a while, but like who met you first? How did it start? How did you meet up? Who met you first?

Who met who first? Yeah, like did you meet Matt? I played with Matt and Marisha in a Dimension 20 game. Oh, okay. We played Pirates of the Leviathan together. Okay. That's where it was. Yeah, that's where it all began.

And how did we meet, Christian? I slid in your DMs, Sam. He did! Wait, what? He slid in my DMs! Is that a thing you can do? I did, yeah. Well, don't leave his DMs alone.

Oh, my God! Did you post a little flick? Just a little pic? No, I was very sincere. I think I said that I'm a fan of the show and that I love what you guys do, how much it meant to me. And I think I just asked if we could have coffee

so that I could meet you and say thanks. And we did. Yep. And Marisha was there, too. Yes. After we had our little meet-up, we were like, we've got to get this guy on the show. Is that right?

Yeah, it was pretty fun. I thought it was just going to be Sam, and then I was surprised with Marisha, and I think I probably sounded like a little kid. That's amazing. So cool. I don't think I ever knew that. Yeah, so? You guys were just like, Christian Johnson.

So if you want to be on Chris, roll. Slide into Stan's DMs. Just DM me. No, no. Why would you do that to yourself? Don't do that. Are your DMs open? No, I don't know. I don't even check the ones that, like...

Which DM was it? This was on the gram. I probably shouldn't say that. It was on the gram. I don't know why I read it, but I read it, and I just felt like this guy had a really good heart and really bad eyes. I mean, I'm glad you did, so I don't want to discourage it. Were you both following each other?

No. Didn't know who he was. Do you know who he is now? I'm pretty sure he's a young actor. I don't know. He has no idea who I am. Not a goddamn clue. He's never watched a show.

It's cool. Wild. Christian is a mercenary, and you brought an international mercenary watched a show. It's cool. Wild. Christian is a mercenary, and you brought an international mercenary on the show. We don't do background checks on this. Not even a little bit. We blindly accept people to come in. We in the cut.

It happened. New main topic? Should we jump to another one? I don't know how this works. Do we jump to another topic? You can either, if you feel like you have finished that topic, you may jump to the next one. No, we're not done.

We're not done. We got to throw it to them. What was it like coming on as these guests? Tell us about how your characters were made. Did you all talk? What was it like? What was the experience? Were you welcomed?

Was it okay? Or was it high pressure? It's not like we're ruining the cast right now. We're going to drop you in the mix. You know, I think one of the coolest, it's been a dream come true to become friends with all of you and be here and play with all of you, but I got to meet Aabria beforehand,

before you all knew that we were all gonna be on this. Did you guys have a session zero or something? Yes, sort of, yeah. We did character gen at Matt. Yeah, at Matt's place, We went up there and did that. We vibed immediately. Then we had some lunch. Oh my gosh.

And we found out we're like kindred spirits. And it's my big sister now. So that happened. But it was really cool to build a character alongside of Ria. Because we were able to bounce ideas off of each other and sort of dive a little deeper than I think I would have had I been on my own, right?

Because she was able to poke holes and pick questions and things like that. So it was a lot of fun. Who came up with their character first? I think it was you. Oh, my God. Yeah, probably. I live in a, like, little wait and see. Like, I had a couple ideas I was kicking around.

The really nice thing is, as someone who occasionally GMs in Exandria, there's, like, little, like little ideas about intersections of abilities and lore in the world that I've wanted to explore. And I was like, oh, maybe I'll use this for an NPC in the future. So I had a couple ideas kicking around. And then when you started firming up Frida, I was like, oh, I know exactly what I want to do, which is play someone utterly devoted

to, like, the relationship between these two characters that, like, is just very much a caretaker, especially when you started talking about, like, sort of the background of Frida and having that, that, like, guardianship. And I was like, oh, we're going to have, like, a fun sort of, like, strangely parental dynamic that felt like it was going to be really cute.

And we didn't know which of you guys we would be with. So trying to, I think the fun thing about building it was kind of going, what's something in our backstory or in our builds that can connect to every one of Belle's Hells? Because you don't know who you're going to get when the split went down. It's just fun. Until I made a very specific choice,

and Matt went, people were going to have to give you Travis. And I went, do it. You came from my neck. Right out the gate. Yes, I did. She had that energy from day one, Travis. Never not had that energy.

And did you know you were going to be an Aor Matan from the start, or were you going forward? Yeah, I knew I wanted to play an Aor Matan. I really wanted to give Sam a gift or two. Yeah. Aw. Because he gave me the gift of meeting all of you. Aw.

And so I knew I wanted to be in the Ormiton. Sam's DMs. But I didn't know where it was going to go. I knew the color palette before anything. Oh, really? Hell yes. Color first? Yeah, and anything. Oh, really? Hell yes. Color first? Yeah.

And then everything else sort of fell into place. And I think it really revolved around the... We had lunch in Long Beach, and we were talking about... Oh, that was so fun. We were talking about gods in the world and religion in the world, and we started asking each other questions, and then everything sort of started to fall into place. So cool.

It was a lot of fun. How did you come up with the build? I'm just going to go up. The build for Frieda was a multi, right? Like, it was so good. Well, I knew I was going to do gunslinger because I had to, because of the arm. That was something that piqued my interest.

Yeah, we met early on. But I knew that having spent time alone in Uthodorn before I met Deanna, that I would have to have picked up some roguish skills. So I knew I was going to take a level of rogue. And then when I found out she was going all in on cleric, having spent now two years with her in Uthodorn, it made sense that I would sort of adopt

some of that religion. So you were a gunslinger, cleric, rogue? Yeah. One level of rogue, one level of rogue. Love it. Yeah, it's pretty stacked. It has its pluses, but I've also learned that, you know, multiclass is tricky, so I'm learning. You're the most healing cleric we've ever, ever had on the show. I was like, I'm going to come in.

Pike, Jester. I feel like crit roll stats should do an add-up and find out that you have actually healed more than every other cleric on the show. I kind of figured fans would expect me to come in and be kind of a butthole because of Laren. So I was like, what if I'm just the nicest cleric? And truly, I had like two offensive spells and everything else was just a ton of healing.

You were squishy. So squishy. That was fun. Tiny little feet. Tiny little feet. And playing with encumbrance rules because it was funny to only have 15 feet of movement. Why the Dawnfather? encumbrance rules because it was funny to only have 15 feet of movement. Why the Dawnfather?

Encumbrance rules. Ooh. Because I think out of the prime deities, he's the most hard line. Like when you think of that sort of Old Testament, like God, someone that... You guys have been playing so much in this space and everything, as everything was coming out with Predathos

and what you as everything was coming out with Predathos and like what you as a group wanted to do about aligning yourselves with deities, it felt really good to have just someone there with kind of a weird stance on religion. She is fully

a cleric and deeply invested in that relationship, but it's the vibe isn't quite there. I love the way FCG's relationship with the change bringer is very much of a supplicant, but I wanted someone that felt a little under the thumb of a deity, just to

explore and have another facet of what that relationship is like. Perpetual IOU. Yeah. That's rough. Yeah. Travis, you're doing a great job so far. You're doing so good. Oh, thanks. I was going to ask why Aabria decided to come for me like she did.

Because that's the funniest shit. You, I had no idea what was going on. You can watch my panic build as I'm like, at least Matt and Aabria know what's going on. Until you even pointed at your name at one point. And I was like, what? I don't know. Was that a name you had said before? Matt said it as one of the visions that Chetney had

when Ruudus was flashing. Oh. So it was like one of my past loves. That was his creation, not from my original story. So I kind of tracked it. Deanna and Fridell. Deanna, and, but like... Deanna and Fridell. Deanna, and it was literally just... Fridell?

Fridell. It was Deanna and her laughter, and that's all I had. And I was like, oh, cool, I'll be this fun ex from a relationship, and then found out, like, the day before we filmed, you sent more backstory to Matt that was like, it was a fling, and I was like, damn, I got downgraded before I watched it.

Damn. I had to go hard. When we landed in Uthodurn, I was like, all right, I gotgraded before I walked in. Damn. Ah! Damn. It hurts. I had to go hard. When we landed in Uthodurn, I was like, all right, I got a chart where Chetney started out, exactly how old he is, where he, I mean, he moved across some land, clearly. Wow. Yeah, so it became a thing.

I thought that was so exciting, though, that we were going to go to Uthodurn. When I found out that was where we were from and all that was probably, I was like, this is so cool. We get to see more of Chet. Because at that point, I think your character was sort of the most mysterious to me as a viewer, right?

I didn't know that much about Chetney, but I really wanted to. Deep lore. Mysterious is a very kind word. I would say underdeveloped. Deep? Yeah, 100%. I mean, I've said before,

I made a character for Campaign 3 that I was like, it's kind of cool, feels a little boring, I want to play a little bastard and stab Santa. I loved everything that we've done and I loved the whole, what was his name? Not Santa, Utgar? Altgar.

I loved how it ended up, but I gotta say, I really wanted to see you kill Santa Claus. I did too! I just wanted you to behead Santa Claus. He was being so nice. I know. Should have done it anyway.

If he started John, it was over. But it was Mercer. And he was like, I made some mistakes. I can't kill you now. I killed an innocent goat. You can kill whatever you want. Who did you threaten? Nothing matters.

Didn't you threaten someone? Drixlish. Drixlish, yes. The bastard, the elf. The guy that came in and took him off of his woodworking ways. Yeah. And child labor. He was enforcing child labor.

He was real bad. He was real bad. Not a good person. Mercer makes it hard. So goats, not a problem. Yeah. Even some NPCs, he makes it real tough because they apologize, like genuinely. Yeah.

And I play video games a certain way. I'm a dark video game person. I mess with everyone. Are you? Oh, yeah. Well, I want to see what the people that have built the game are prepared for when I come in there and just ruin things. Uh-huh. Amazing.

So I try to do the same with Mercer, but there's so much heart in there when he does it. He knows us too well. I feel mad. That laugh, Mercer, but there's so much heart in there when he does it. He knows us too well. That laugh, I mean, it just melted me. Opgar's laugh, I was like, oh, we can't win. Within three syllables, he has us. If he just goes, well, all right, well, I love this guy.

Doesn't really matter what comes next. So true. Yeah, we saw, so we came back to a world that had the gods on mute. And then we got interactions by the time it was over with. Yeah. You got FaceTime. Yeah, you got a lot of cool change breakers. Sure, we'll get to that.

Oh, I've just stopped regarding the menu. It's not even on there. Bam! You have tankard questions! Oh, sorry. I don't know. No, not now. She's not even on there. Bam! You have tankard questions! Oh, sorry. I don't know. No, not now. She's saying later that happens.

Oh, okay. Okay. Sorry, I was just going off on a... Do better! We did a lot of cool god stuff. Probably more god advancement in the last seven episodes than we've had in the entire campaign

and the prior campaign as well. And the stuff with the chain bringer. So cool. It was some of the coolest stuff with the chain bringer. So cool. It was some of the coolest stuff. I can't wait to get into it more. I could go without the hair stuff. It's a little ring girl for me. I kind of like it for that, though.

She's like, oh, she's really cool. And then that thing. Yeah, it's so cool and terrifying. But I picture it's not like that sort of greasy ring hair. It's, like, beautiful, well-conditioned hair. I'm glad you go to a nice blowout. Yeah. She's fresh from the dry bar.

Yeah. What's a dry bar? Just kidding. I'm kidding. I actually know what that is. What is it? I'm proud of it. It's a bar of sand.

Cool, cool, cool. Things that are dry. Hellish. Hellish is it? I'm proud of it. It's a bar of sand. Cool, cool, cool. Things that are dropped. Hellish, hellish. Barks, barks of wood. Yeah, I'm excited to see where we go. Look, here's other stuff. Ludinus Lordrop, the Cerberus snake,

has been behind it from the start. So good. We discovered that in this arc also? I mean, we sort of knew that before. Well, I think just before we were split, we picked up that he mentioned a thousand years. He's obviously been doing this through all three campaigns, but knowing that he was in Molaesmir

and maybe what he's done and that his study was there now and how far it goes back and what the hell does the leather armor with the funnel do? Don't know. Ooh, yeah. I'm sad Fern didn't make, oh, she still has it, though.

I think it's not just putting it on. There's something else. You gotta do something to suck a soul into it. It's not just putting it on, right? This is my only wish in the future is that Fern puts it on. Oh, she's 100% gonna put it on. Yeah, does whatever it's in her heart to do.

Yeah. But so he, 500 years ago-ish, caused the corruption of the Savalir Woods? Like 350 or 400-ish, yeah. So it's, and it's related to what he did. He was trying to do this Pridathos thing back then, we think. He's been working on this for a long time.

I thought it was really fun playing a character where I was like, I don't know, anything's happening. Except a free does. Oh no! You know stuff. No, I've just been watching. I'm a critter. Yeah, but I'm in the show and I don't know what's going on. We know.

That's not surprising. I thought you were saying that you DM brain knew more. I'm not going to talk about that. Say it! What do you know? You're saying that you DM brain knew more. I'm not going to talk about that. Okay, fine. Say it. This is the place you're going to leave. I know a little bit.

What do you know? I'm not going to tell you. Do you know more than us? Or more than we should know from listening? I know more than you because you don't know very much about how this show works or what's going on. It seems like he's tried to bring the gods under heel before. He did it in Leia's mirror.

It either went wrong or right. It's hard to know. It fucked up the land. And then he left and he joined the Cerberus Assembly when it was first being formed. He made the Cerberus Assembly. He was one of the founders. Yeah, helped found it. He's constantly reaching back towards the Age of Arcanum and trying to rebuild those like...

Mage-ocracies. The like, Creator Hammer and some of the shit that Laren was working on. Yeah, whatever that contraption was that is, was in my memory. Yeah. He's probably trying to... That's right, you were there.

The Malleus Factor. For one of them, for something, yeah, for that Malleus. That was cool. I should add that word in my notes, thank God. Yeah, you did. But whatever he did, tried 300 years ago, it corrupted the woods and it turned a bunch of animals into altered beasts. The annihilation vibes were fucking immaculate.

Yes, the annihilation. Natalie Portman was in there somewhere. Just her and Tessa Thompson. Those creatures were wicked. Yeah, it feels like Matt made a list of animals, and then he made a list of numbers, and then he made a list of numbers, and then a list of body parts, and he just was like, okay, a wolf with four heads.

Yeah, exactly. Like a mad wolf. Eagle with 17 feet? All right, sure, why not? Yeah, goddamn deer had 10 legs, no eyes, like two baby arms dragging behind it. No, they were big arms. I'm pretty sure arms dragging behind it. No, they were big arms. I'm pretty sure they were baby arms.

Okay. They were big arms. They were big arms. They were big blacksmith arms. I'm so happy we didn't have to come up against that thing. That was terrifying just to hear. Bro, I was worried about the Wolf King. I was like, that's too many fucking heads, actually.

There's something fateful about the Wolf King in Chet, though? 100%. I think he wanted us to vote. Not every dog reference is about Chetney. Oh, well. It doesn't have to all be about him. Respect the alpha. Respect the alpha.

Recognize. Recognize. Oh, you mean the Rexentrum Toy Authority? What a beautiful moment! So good! It makes sense. It makes sense. You were never that cool.

Listen, I'm a founding member, just like Luda. Luda! Luda! Wow. You're a founding member and you got kicked out? I left because my clientele was up to some shady biz and I may or may not have had a falling out. It was a conscious uncoupling.

You had that tattoo, tattoo? Tattoo. Before you became a wolf. Yes. That's so funny. We should have known that. Well, you thought it was just recognize the elf? Yeah.

It seems. You bastard. Why would you come up with a three-letter moniker that was actually standing for something else? For the same... Wait, so did you know? Matt and I bandied about some ideas. Oh, that's cute.

That was a cool moment. We haven't figured out who you order 66'd though, right? We don't know what part of the world or what family. I'm very grateful to this arc because I feel like I've been asking so many questions this whole campaign. I want dreams, I want gods, I want answers. Open me up and look. And it's just so the information is very thin.

But I feel like these last seven episodes, my character has gotten such gifts and boons that he doesn't really care that much about the past anymore because he's got this bright future. He's got a connection with his god. He's got a connection with his wife. And he's like, he's on a path. I'm so sorry, did I miss something? He's on a path.

Hair tie. Now we're like, it doesn't really matter if he gets all the questions answered. But yeah, I don't know what fresh-cut grass was designed to kill, or who he was designed to kill, or if he was successful. I kind of hope he was, though. I think you probably were, or if he was successful. I kinda hope he was, though. I think you probably were.

You're crazy red eyes. By the way, so your death that happened 200 years ago, did we get all of that out? No. Is the time for that now? Do we save it? What do you mean, get that out? I wanna know, I wanna know.

How she was killed? I've already answered all my other tankard questions, so go for it. Great. She's mad mad, and I like that. No, there was like a whole, again, it was that idea of like, depending on what the mix of the table was,

leaning more into like the dying and coming back. That was like very built in for like Laudna and Ashton and Orym especially, because the sort of secret was Deanna, because I know a lot of fans had questions about if Deanna wanted to come back or she was compelled to, but Deanna spent the majority of her husband's life waiting at the edge of the veil for him

and sending him back whenever he dropped to zero HP. So it was a lot like Will when Oram died, who was like there and was like, it's not your time yet, go back. So there was a little bit of a like, a little poke at what I think is the beginning of like Oram and Dorian's relationship and what that means for the person

that was left behind that died. Because in a world where you're like, I don't stop existing when I'm dead, I'm still watching and kind of playing with the awkwardness of like, you're moving on and I'm here and waiting and I'm dead so I don't change. And playing with all those weird, unresolved feelings before moving on was part of Deanna's backstory. But now the husband is dead, right?

He's like a billion. He's not really dead. He's just like old and decrepit and hanging out. So he's out there somewhere? So we could go find him? You can go find him. Kill his ass. Yeah.

Kill him. He's like a billion? Huh? He's super old? Yeah, he's like right around Chetney's age. Okay. So he's like retired from adventuring. What sort of...

Oh, there can only be one. We got to wrap this up. We got to... Take him out. There's gonna be a Highlander moment here in a second. Is he a gnome? Yeah. What was his name?

Dustle. Dustle. Dustle Limerick. He's going down. Gotta carve that into my forearm. Oh my god, are you fine? Oh, we'll seek him out. Please kill him.

Thank you. Also, shout out. I don't know if we're gonna cut this out later. Shout out to the D&D movie for literally doing a dead wife backstory. And I watched it and went, oh, they even made her black. How convenient. Hey!

Yeah, the trope exists. Nice. So that was very fun. Nice. We also have travels in the Savalirwood and Malleus Mirror. We talked about that already a little bit, but... What has it been like exploring these corrupted, haunted areas of Exandria?

It was good. Well, I thought it was crazy because we came through here once before for Caduceus. It was in the Blooming Grove, but we didn't go anywhere near the middle or north part of the forest. Malaeusmere's been on the map the whole time. It even says the ruins of Molaesmere,

but none of us, being good video game players, are like, ruins? What is up? We should go there. It's real dangerous. Where's Caduceus in relation to the north? Is he going south? Yeah, it's like halfway between

the middle of the Savalirwood and the Dunrock Mountains, I think it is, at the bottom. This guy just studies maps all the time. Lucien and the Tomb Takers went to the ruins of Molaesmir. It makes me very happy. Lucien and the Tomb Takers went to the ruins of Molaesmir? Mm-hmm. In a previous, that's how Marisha slash Beau

put the pieces together. Oh, that's right. They went there to get something? Uh-huh, they were hired by Vesteragna. During Campaign 2? No, before Campaign 2. Oh, okay's right. They went there to get something? Uh-huh, they were hired by Vess DeRogna. During campaign two? No, before campaign two. Before, before. Oh, okay, okay. This conspiracy goes three campaigns deep.

I learned a lot on this show. Every bit of information is against your will. Sam, we should have lunch every week. Yeah. We should. Just do a debrief. The stuff you've done for the last eight years, here's what happened.

But just like, wouldn't it be cool if like The stuff you've done for the last eight years, here's what happened. But just like, wouldn't it be cool if like in the Avengers, every once in a while, Tony Stark was like, wait, who's the bad guy again? I like that in this analogy, you're Tony Stark. I'm Tony Stark, of course I'm Tony Stark. I'm a rich asshole. Okay, okay. I'm a rich asshole.

Incredible. Oh, he's like Panther. It was good Averya. Incredible. Oh, he blacked out there. That was good. We had miasma, we had talking fish. They were fish, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Everything was a little wrong, because I even remembered going back and watching that the fish that Fern talks to doesn't have eyes. That's right. And it had a second mouth. Oh yeah, it had a little alien second mouth. Did we talk to a tree, too, or, it had a little alien second mouth in it. Did we touch a tree too? Or no?

We just saw that the trees were alive. Yeah, the trees were people. That's terrifying too. The faces in the trees and the hands coming out. The thing that came out of the carcass.

That's right. Which was scarier than the thing we found. The second monster. That was terrifying too. It looked like one of the clickers, right? One of those things.

Yeah. I'm trying to imagine that all of, right? One of those things. Yeah. I'm trying to imagine that. All of her telekinesis. What a badass. Stubborn back up into the pizza oven. When we were in the morning, she threw the rock, the boulder at the giants. Oh, my God. She's a one-man wrecking crew.

Fuck yeah. But she's not falling down backwards down a stairwell. But they're just falling over. That was very fun. Yeet. Just out. I love all those X-Men vibes you got going. It's just so cool.

There's something coming in. It's subtle. It's so subtle. Thank you. Oh, look at that. Tissues on order. We're all very emotional about this. Oh, don't cry.

Christian, don't. It's because Sam still doesn't know who I am. And now we have this kick-ass magic staff that's going to allow us teleportation that may or may not work. And Imogen took it, but I really think Fern should have it. Yeah, she didn't want it.

I think so. I think so just because I briefly looked at it and it looked like it has four or five different spells it can do, but three of them Imogen can already do. So it feels like, plus Fern being in three of them Imogen can already do. So it feels like, plus Fern being in charge of teleportation would be so funny. You always make the,

every druid is the designated driver of their party. So yeah, you got it. Yeah, we'll see. Maybe they can share. Maybe they can have joint custody. That was very cool. Did we find anything else of interest there? Oh, I got something.

Wait, did I get something? You got an armor upgrade when we were in. Yeah, but there was very cool. Did we find anything else of interest there? Oh, I got something. Wait, did I get something? You got an armor upgrade when we were in. Yeah, but there was something else. Oh wait, no, I got my coin! Oh, that's right, your coin's really good. What does your coin do? My coin, that's right, I didn't show it on stream. I guess we'll see when, I don't want to spoil it for the audience,

but I'll just say. Bleep all this out. Once a day it can do something cool. The change bringer can answer a question once a day with it, or I can throw it at someone, and it can hit them and distract them and give them disadvantage. So it's a coin?

Uh-huh. Which I guess a normal silver dollar could also do. Yes, my child, this coin is very special. And then it does something that you know I'm going to use it for. It's like one luck point. So you know. Oh, no. That's your favorite thing.

I'm going to be using that. Yeah, Sam Riegel, luck aficionado. It must be so rewarding to actually be able to ask a question and communicate that. It's so cool. Yeah, I mean, before I was just flipping a coin and I was going with whatever it said, but now I get an actual answer, which is much better.

That's very fun. It's encouraging that they are giving FaceTime and that they are present, urgently present. Yeah, but those last two interactions, the Dawnfather and my interaction with the change bringer, those were demands. Yeah. Those were not like, please help when you can.

It was like, if you don't help me, I will kill you. I thought I was dying the moment Matt was like, Deanna's getting sleepy. I'm like, oh, I guess that's my fucking time, y'all. Why? We just died quietly. Same, same. I was dying the moment Matt was like, Deanna's getting sleepy. I'm like, oh, I guess that's my fucking time, y'all. Why? We just died quietly. Same, same. I was worried.

And the one that they're after, it seems like they're after, is the Matron of Ravens, right? With Revivify still being out, we haven't had anybody be able to commune with her. We were fucking close to finding out what was going to happen. Yo.

Single-digit. Yeah, that's right. That was scary. And two death saves. Yeah, two death saves. And then Imogen. Yo. Single-digit. Fern went down. Yeah, that's right. That was scary. And two death saves. Yeah, two death saves. And then Imogen was in the single-digit suit. That was the one thing I did talk about with Matt before. He's like, yeah, we're going to start playing

and pulling back some of the resurrection rules, which is why I was a pure-life cleric, because I wanted that to come up in the game and be like, oh, cool, NPC died. I'm great at this. I'm sorry. That's what I do. Hi, I'm built to do one thing and that's off the table. Anyway, I'm more useless.

Oh God, that's true. Oh, and our goats. Our goats. I only remember Jerry now, but there was others. Jerry kind of stole the show. Jerry separated himself from the pack. I feel like really it was Donnyboy who stole the show. Donnyboy was incredible.

Donnyboy was good. We had Fabio. That's right. And Patchwork? That's my boy. And who was yours? I wonder where they are. They're dead.

We sent them back. They're not surviving that. I know they're like, oh, we can make a... We went by two giants. But they were like, we'll be fine. We'll be okay. Yeah, they were wrong.

They always die. They're giant food. You're right. They're giant food. They're done. They're just... 100%. They're like juggling.

Just floppy, floppy corpses now. Or they fell in the river or anything else. Should we have killed them all, Aabria? Is that what you're saying? We should have saved them the journey back?

Not Donny Boy. Donny Boy is different. Not Donny Boy. Okay. I'm so stressed out. They'll come back and maybe I'll be Donny Boy in campaign four. Oh my God. The sons of the goats you did not turn into stew.

You did not turn into stew. Look, Deanna heard she could share a goat with Chetney and she did what she needs to do. That's right. We tried to make a raft to put goats on it and we spent an unreasonable amount of time. I feel like it was you, Aabria,

who were confident in saying the raft is ten foot by ten foot. Yes. That is so tiny. It's very small. My rug at home is bigger than that. That's because you're a millionaire. Well, that's true.

You're a fancy lad. That's right, that's right. But Deanna is three feet tall. She built a massive raft. We were fine. Yeah. I had no concept of how big those goats were until Matt mentioned it.

I love how stupid we all were. We're like, wait, you mean goats? Mountain goats. Huge mountain goats. You're riding them. They're the size of a horse. We are small. We could have been on normal fuck-off goats.

100%. I don't think the small ones were responsible for that information. That's a tall kid problem. That's very true. Travis, what am I supposed to be? No! I feel like we're supposed to do? No!

I feel like we're supposed to talk about that big red winged thing with the streamers that had the eyeball on its chest that we did not pull down or fight or take a look at. Wait, that was the guy who was flopping around with the leather wing. Yeah, the pterodactyl guy? I feel bad we didn't get a close- yeah, with the scary feet. Did Maxi, he made a mini for that? I don't think he had one for that one.

I think he just assumed we would try to avoid it at all costs. I was deeply convinced. I thought I was going to kill Frida. The thing, the pyrotechnic thing? I was absolutely convinced. You were like, go, I'll wait in the tower. And I'm like, that's where Christian lives. You looked like you were about to do it for the squad. I think people who watch the show feel like I play recklessly,

but he's a chonky boy. Frida was made with a lot of HP, and so I feel like there's a certain amount of, like, my job is to take, especially traveling with Deanna, my job is to take some of that damage and make sure she's out of the line of fire. I'm never really, or I haven't thus far been really worried about going down.

And I also have some spells that sort of, or some feats that bring me health immediately, too. And you've been cast Death Ward most of the time. Yes. Most of the time. Everyone here got a Death Ward from Deanna at some point. How awesome was it that the one time you didn't cast it on me, he almost killed me?

Fucking stressful. That was pretty great. That was awesome. That was so perfect. I was like, I wonder how this is going to immediately badly. Can we offer compliments to Christian also on going after the werewolf in the first session? Yeah. I was like, oh no, this moon is changing.

Chetney, that's only happened one other time before. I'll get away from the guests and end up with them in danger. And then you went after him. And you might be a werebot. It was the most fun thing to do. Like, we were talking about this earlier. There's ways to play this. Everybody plays the game differently.

And you can optimize and play it that way. I think it's fun to be aware of that shit. But I want to make the most fun choice for everyone else at the table. And I thought it would be really cool to interact with you. I didn't know we were going to end up fighting, but you said it. High fantasy. Robot werewolf fight? Fuck it all. Hey, Travis, why are you all so

fucking high in PvP? It's kind of hilarious. I got one job, all right? And also, when you're made out of metal, I'm going to buy chairs. And see what happens. All of that happening, though, the oil, the smell of the oil and all of that, it's just such, it's a wonderful scene to watch unfold, right? I thought that was really, really cool.

Yeah. It was dope. That was so dope. We have a Tower of Inquiry time. It is time to pull. What a terrible transition. From the thing I just said. I saw it come up on the teleprompter, so I, listen, ADD goes to the thing that moves.

It's time to pull from the Tower of Inquiry. As some would say, it's been a while, so to remind you fine folks of how this works, one of us pulls a numbered block from the tower, reads the number out loud, and Danny tells us the corresponding question who asked it. Cool. Incredible. You can actually do this.

No, I'm just mouthing along with you. Okay. And if the Tower of Inquiry fails, consequences, well, I think it's fails. Consequences will follow the one who ruins it. Cold, conniving, and cruel consequences. That's alliteration. And so with that in mind, Aabria, why don't you pull the block?

I'm the favorite. Yeah! Come on, Abria. Go get it with those pink kicks. Let's go. I can't reach that high, Travis. Thank you for acknowledging my very cool shoes. She's going safe. Yeah, dude.

Yeah. It's early days. That was too easy. 22. Even that would make me nervous. What happens if it falls? If it all falls? I think you have to go over there and see that box marked consequences.

Oh. Oh, and then, yeah, you take. Oh. I've never met a consequence. Can I go sit down? Yes. Never met a consequence I didn't like. I will not ask all the questions. Yay. What is your favorite encounter so far in Campaign 3 and why?

And this is from Alex Rodriguez. Oh, nice. A-Rod. Oh, yeah, A-Rod. Damn it, it's real A-Rod. Why? Why, A-Rod. Damn it, A-Rod. Why, part of the show. Did not know. You're going to slide in your DMs in a day or two.

Want a good coffee? Favorite encounter so far? I can only remember the last two episodes. It's hard to beat the big lewdness showdown. Yeah. That's hard to beat the big lewdness showdown yeah that that's tough to tough to beat um i mean the one i am gonna say the one the one where lana died that was fun yeah just because it was so epic and so scary everyone was down and there was real real uh a real decision and a real like unknown about like which one of these people can we revivify and which can't we? It was so tense for us, and it came out of nowhere.

It was one of those classic Matt Mercer, like, you're lulled into a sense of calm, and then, WAPOW! Love it. Odahan is very cool. Yeah. And Imogen turned into a nuclear bomb. That's fun.

So cool. And Odahan was nasty's fun. So cool. And Otohan was nasty. Nasty. We still gotta take care of that stuff. Oh, that's right. I think I sent Matt a text like, can I be Otohan? He was like, what, no.

Yo. Don't ask that. As a player character with us? I don't know. You gotta ask. She's gonna come in and wipe the tables. Just come in. Yeah!

That would be bad. Thank you, Alex Rodriguez. And if you have a question. Did you answer? Go Yankees. Oh. Go Mets. Yeah.

My favorite encounter. It was the heist moment that you guys ran earlier on in the campaign where you guys, you were racing against that other group. Oh, that goofy fucking heist. Oh, the break into the museum or whatever yes the museum that was one where Ashton got the

the bust that he still has yeah that was really that was one of the coolest things I've seen you guys do this season

yeah I thought that was fun did you answer do you want to answer yeah no I I agreed with the fight yeah

that's not an answer I agree ditto plus one um no that's fine The fight. Yeah. That's not an answer. I agree. Ditto. Plus one. No, that's fine. You can do whatever you want. There's no rule.

Thanks, A-Rod. Alex Rodriguez. If you have an evergreen question for our Tower of Inquiry, you can enter it at critrole.com slash tower. There's an exclamation point, but I don't think that's part of it. Would you like to have someone go back to the tower for another one, or would you like to go to block B? No, I would like to send Christian to the tower of victory.

There we go. Team Pink Sneaks. Pink power. This is the last of the pink people. Yeah, are you finally out of pink clothing? I'm so out of pink fucking clothes. I have time to go shopping, so yes, but no.

Here we go. It's a great answer so yes, but no. Jesus. Here we go. It's a great answer. Okay, this feels judgmental. It is. Oh, that was a big wobble. Don't let me get in your head. You got this. I'm not even going to let you.

I'm so confident. One hand. Is that the rule? Yeah. Is that right? Yeah. You're supposed to only use one hand when you play. At a time or the same hand?

You can't switch hands? No, I think it's supposed to just be. Like, can you Pikachu-ing a hand once in your life? You Pikachu-ing a hand. Once in your life. Nice, Christian. 42. 42.

Then I put it back on top, right? Yeah. This is an interesting one, especially later on in the game. How is your character handling the dynamics and potential risks of being a part of a larger group after operating in much cozier duo slash trio situations? From at the Van Man Ran on Twitter. The Van Man Ran. The Van Man Ran. The Van Man Ran.

Hell yeah. How does your character feel about being in more of a group dynamic? Yeah. Yes. Because almost every doll had a... All of us came together in fun little pairs. Yeah, you and Ashton. We're part of a pair or a trio, except for Jackie. Yeah, didn't the groups all get divided across?

They're like, everyone's pair got split up. Imogen, I don't know. It was very fun, yeah. Chet and his wood. That's right. But he found his wood. That's right. But he found new wood. There's always wood. There's always wood.

This feels so dirty. I love working with wood. So does Deanna. Oh, God. Dang! What? The Van Manran, to answer your question.

Say it real fast. The Van Manran? The Van Manran? Are you smelling toast right now? Are Man Ran? The Van Man Ran? Are you smelling toast right now? Are you okay? The Van Man Ran. Oh! Way to be right.

I mean, my character started with a group before the campaign started. The group died. Because? Because of me. Uh-huh. Not because of you, because you... Killed them?

Yes, thank you. I always forget that. It's horrifying. A relationship is looking so good. Oh my god. Just don't leave him. All of those red flags, and you wear those little rose-colored glasses,

and you're like, sure, exactly. With another group, it's a lot of pressure. Don't want to make those same mistakes. Luckily, I've managed to barely avoid going berserk lately. Didn't you get really close? Oh, wow. I really thought about going up and just smacking him one more time. Literally, if one more thing had happened, that was it.

I would have been on the hunt. That would have been so it. I would have been on the hunt. That would have been so fun. I know! I was desperate for us to get, when we were trying to scuttle over that wall and get away, I was like, maybe we'll fail this and I'll just fucking go kill the...

How do you get it to go away? Is it a certain time period until you hit enough? You can, so every full night's rest, every long rest, I can roll a d4 to reduce my stress points by a certain number. However, and this is a rule I've made for myself, this is not rules as written, when we go on long traveling spells

like we did through the Savalier Wood, it took like four or five days to get there, right? I don't roll during those. Because I feel like that's a cheat. Keep it up. You gotta keep it up. That's a cheat. Like, oh, I get five days off,

I'm back to zero again. For sure. That's the most... You can't fully rest in your travel. I don't roll. I only do it on, like, active. Self-imposed rules are the best. Yeah, you both are playing

with, like, little extra economies of, like, maybe I die today. Every time you roll those dice, my anxiety. You're gonna die. I don't think so. Do you roll those dice, my anxiety. You're going to die. You're going to die. I'm so angry. I don't think so.

Do you know that these campaigns that we play last more than 100 episodes? It is statistically likely that you will roll and die. That is so funny. Chetney has lived a long, full life and has beat the odds at every turn. What do you have to roll? 100. Have you ever been possible? I thought it was going to be a 69.

No, you can roll one. There's one chance. If you roll trip zero, it's it was going to be a 69. No, you can roll one. There's one chance. If you roll trip zeros, like a zero and a zero zero. Yeah. You can't roll it. Because you can't roll a zero, but that's the representation of a hundred. Okay, so it's a zero zero and a zero. Yeah.

That's a hundred. Trip zeros. And you're dead. Yeah. You ever come really close? I did a 96 one time. That's so funny. That doesn't feel very close.

There's like four more numbers between us. Live dangerously, my friend. Maybe we answered the Van Man Rands. I'm sure we did. Thank you, The Van Man Rand on Twitter. What was the question? I don't know anymore. How did y'all like how was it being in a group instead of in a duo?

Oh, that's right. Deanna's a team player. She enjoyed it. The group dynamic's the best. Yeah, 100%. Then you can also hide better. And there's so much to play off of I enjoyed it. The group dynamic's the best. Yeah, 100%. And then you can also hide better. And there's so much to play off of and play with and all of that.

I like being in there. Again, if you have an evergreen question for our tower of gripper, you can enter into the critrole.com slot tower. Block B. And with that, let's dive into the deep dive. Ooh, the voice. Dani, would you kindly bring over the lovely...

Turnicates? Tankards. Turnicates? I'm not bringing you a tourniquet unless you need one. That would make this show much different. Carry a TQ in your car, folks. I got a belt. Oh, thank you. There you go.

Oh, that's so cool. I know. I like everyone's little cups. And these are sharesies. Hi, we're gonna go through this. These are one of a kind. We 3D printed cool. I know. I like everyone's little cups. And these are sharesies. Hi, we're going to go through this. These are one of a kind. Sharesies. We 3D printed them, I think. I have too much crit roll merch now.

Poll questions out one by one. Sam, you go first because you're already reaching. Let's see. How did it feel to have the power of friendship save the day when handling Umidara the Sentinel Beast? Hell yeah. It was sweet, sweet retribution. Because I was just joking and it turned out to be the way.

That is very funny. And it so suits my character. And I love it when that happens in this game that we play. You say something as a joke and it becomes a real thing. And it was so great. What a cool character that beast was. We got to meet him. It's another one of those classic Matt...

Will. You're like, okay, I love it. That's all he has to do is roll his head. He was going to gore and smear everybody. And then he, I mean, I don't know where I am. I must guard you with my life. And get you to the entrance before the spells wear off and you kill all of us all over again.

I was so nervous that the whole town was just gonna kill that thing or it was gonna kill everyone else. I was so nervous. I'd love to check in with that character again, too. I wasn't sure if we were gonna see us. I mean, let's assume. It did, it went into the Savalirwood.

Or at least south. It went through. I like to think that Umbadara found Cadizus and they're just fucking by. Or maybe Umbadara found ouruceus, and they're just fucking vibing. Or maybe Umbadara found our goats and ate them. That's good. I also want that. Oh my god.

I want that. Me, right? Yep. Neep, neep, neep. Yep. Bloop, bloop, bloop. How long have you been sitting on the Rexxentrum Toy Authority reveal?

It changes. Things get added all the time, but it's been around for a minute. I know people were like, oh, I can't believe he made a character that recognizes the alpha structure in the Wolfpack, but of course that little asshole does.

So perfect. 100%. But yeah, for a minute. There's, um, once I figured out exactly how old he was, again, I had to chart where he, if he ended up in Uthodurn and had the Savalir Wood and came up through Wildemount and then down through the,

what's the pass called, Menagerie Coast, up into Wildemount? Oh, the, there's the Amber Road and then there's the Wuyan Gorge. Wuyan Gorge, that's what it was. Sorry, I had to literally map in my brain. And then a little connecting thing that goes over into Tal'Dorei. So he's been all over the place.

Except Isilra. Neither have we. I tried to get us to go there. You're going to send all that information. It's not very hard to get us to go to Vassal High. Yeah. Yeah, no. Travis, you're going to send all that information to your lore keeper, right?

Totes. Okay. It was very fun building a character tied to your backstory and Matt's like, mm. Well, at some point we fucked on the beach. 100%. Great.

It was very smart to come out with a character. I love that y'all basically had the backstory from Greece. Truly. Oh my gosh. So good. Summer lovin' had me a blast. Okay, no, we're gonna take that. Then she died.

Happened so fast. Then she died. Happened so fast. Then she died. By the way, side note, the alpha structure of wolf packs is a lie. Right. You know this, right? Yeah.

I mean, Travis knows this. Okay. But it is 100% verifiable science to Chetney. Incredible. That's why there's a king. Yeah. They're like bees bees they can recognize authority that's right

okay I'm gonna grab line oh this is for Christian I'm just gonna read you a question how is Frida handling the potential that they might be turning into a werewolf

yeah man is there an excitement to the idea or is it too early for that well when it happened Travis and I made eye contact and it was like this is one of the

coolest fucking things truly I think for Frida the implication is a bit nerve wrecking I think being around it happened, Travis and I made eye contact. And it was like, this is one of the coolest fucking things. Truly. I think for Frida, the implication is a bit nerve-wracking. I think being around the group makes them feel a bit more comfortable. And watching Chet handle it and how his friends support him with it, I think that he would feel supported and not

so in the woods about it. But with the dream sequence and learning that I killed all of those people in the past, it, but with the dream sequence and learning that I killed all of those people in the past, I think that makes... Said so casually. So chill. But I think it makes them a little bit more nervous

about that prospect. But also, during the fight, I kept trying to see Chet inside the beast, and I was able to here and there. That's right. And I think able to, here and there. That's right. And I think one of the coolest things for Frida is the idea of being that unadulterated and free. Yeah.

Because I also saw that, that he was happy. Chet was happy and sort of in the moment in a way that maybe you can't be as who you are. So I think it's cool. I think the internet would explode if Frida becomes Robo-Wolf. Does the hair come out? Yeah, like wooden, like metal spikes.

Ooh. What'd it look like? Yeah, we need to be more overt about this. It doesn't just need to be one bite, like, we gotta bite every long rest. Yeah. Just keep trying. Do it.

You'd be like one of the, you know, like vampiric concubines with bites all over the arm. Just feeding all the time. It was cool to have the clarification that it's a, you know, like a curse instead of, or a disease. It's a curse instead of a disease. A disease, yes. But it's related to blood, so I'm not really sure.

Yeah, it'd be interesting. But, you know, Matt. I'm a craft. I asked Matt, I remember sending him a text when I got home from that session. What does it mean? You know, blah, know, Matt. Game of craft. I asked Matt, I remember sending him a text when I got home from that session. What does it mean, you know, blah, blah, blah. And I just got like, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha. Good job, Matt.

No follow-up text, nothing. Perfect. I was like, okay, that's how we play this, all right. Good, sir. Good, super, sir. I think Frida's nervous and excited about it. So I'll pick one now. Yeah, yeah.

That's cool. Look I'll pick one now. Yeah, yeah. That's cool. Look how pretty your mug is. Yeah, look at that really good drawing. Man, draw attention to the sunglasses. Draw attention to the drawing. You should draw little sunglasses on it. I'm going to add them later. Okay.

How was Frida and Deanna's friendship, how has Frida and Deanna's friendship evolved over these sessions? Do they feel closer, or do they feel like they're pulling apart? We were just talking about this. This is very good. I think there's something very interesting.

I guess I'll kind of like, I'm not going to bury the lead. I think there's something very interesting about the way we left things off. Because that was the first time that Frida had rejected physical affection from Deanna. And then she was real fucked up about it. Like, there's something very interesting that, like, our characters came in with such, like, effortless companionship. Like, very, like, I love you.

I want good things for you. Like, there's no weird static in the way of this. And then finding new relationships within, like, Belle's hells in this dynamic i it's interesting because it's it's not quite a strain but it's like a re-evaluating of their relationship that i think is like not it's not settled and it's not like oh it's fine and easily assimilated but it's a bit painful i think yeah the reality of it's a bit painful, I think. Yeah. That's what the reality of it is, a bit painful. But I think that Frida had such an opinion on being brought back

and the absence of pain and the absence of sadness when you're gone that I don't think he ever really appreciated that what matters is the relationships you make now. Yeah. And then this happened with FCG and the friendships we've made along the way and all of that. Now, what happened with FCG? Be specific. It's my boo, my boo thing.

My serial killing boo thing. We have a lot in common. Yeah. We're both metal. We're both murderers. Yeah, there's usually, you know, there's body count and then there's body count. No! Hey, hey!

I'm learning! Zoot suit daddy! No, daddy! Zaddy. I'm getting there. I'm seeing... I'm betting 500. Zoot suit daddy.

Yep. Zoot suit daddy! Nope, nope! Boom! Uh, yeah. Do we do another round? Sure. Why not?

I want to know. I love that the prompter has said, pull questions clockwise. Abrea, take your hair off your mic. Over and over, because I keep obliterating it. I know, it's either your hair or our beard touches the mic, and Wilmot dies. Sorry, Wilmot.

Is that the first time you've got beard mic notes, Travis? I think so. Or it's been a minute. In a minute. FCG, that's Fresh Cut Grass, chose to tell Frida that's you. Oh, boy. What's Frida's full name?

Free. This is your boo. Free roaming. No. Independent. I'm already fucked up. Daring. Oh, awesome. Awesome.

That's so interesting that, like, whatever we had going on... Is this your name? Re-ranging. Far-ranging. Far-ranging. Far-ranging. Uh-huh.

The D is... Well, there's an I. There's an I? Defense. Yeah, but before that, there's an I. Uh-huh. Re-ranging. I just want to be clear.

I've always known what your name is. Independence? Defense? Nope. A-Armaton? Close. Very close. It's not that close.

International? Defense? What is that? What is that? Gripping? No, that's a crab. Integrated? What are you integrated with?

Far-ranging integrated defense. What are you integrated with? This is fucked up because our characters could have absolutely showed up banging, but no, you wanted that. Wild. Yeah. Wild. Yeah. I'm bad with names and faces. SCG chose to tell Frida that the change bringer

chose to tell Frida that the change bringer said that they would be together a long time. How does he feel about her answer? How does he feel about her answer? How does he feel about her answer that the future is uncertain? Ring girl's answer. Yes.

She has a name. Changie? Jessica. No, Samara. Oh, Samara. The ring girl. Say her name, Annie. You're the one

who keeps ringing up the ring girl. That's what makes her show up. Wait, the ring girl has a name? Yeah. Yeah, Samara girl has a name? Yeah. Yeah, Samara. I've never seen that.

Unfortunate Samara. Don't do it, Abrea. I would break records out of the studio. Is she Beetlejuice? I've said it three times. Does she appear out of the vanity? You don't know what the rules are. They were not explicit.

She was on a VHS tape. It's been updated. Oh, I'm out. I think that FCG is scared about the Changebringers' lack of clarity in that sense. Just as Sam Riegel is scared about the future. I want Christian to be on the show forever, and I'm sad that maybe he won't be.

But yeah, it's very scary to love something and then not know in this topsy turvy world if you're ever going to see that person again or if you might die in the line of of of duty or if you might go crazy and kill them what if you kill your love. And take their body parts and integrate them with myself? Oh, my God. Oh, that would be so hot. Where are the parts of your lover? The idea of the eye and Frida being like a called shot, and we're integrating, we'll be together forever.

That feels right. That feels poetic. Matt Mercer, if you're watching. No, Matt, turn it off. Go to bed. I mean, FCG's always wanted legs. That's one way to get them. Oh, man.

No! I'll tell you what. If FCG asked Frida for their legs, I'd switch and give you the wheels for the legs. Wow. That's low. Dude, if y'all could switch it out, that would be awesome.

If you could make an Ae Matan pit stop and just like... Like relationships where they share each other's clothes and stuff? Sure. I guess that's a thing. Y'all went from zero to booed the fuck up. Does anyone else think this is toxic as hell? Do couples share clothes? If they're the right size.

Danny, you know. Danny, you know. This is like the best part of being in a relationship with a woman. We get to share shoes. We steal each other's hoodies all the time. We get to like trade belts. It's great. I love it.

Highly recommend. Whenever I accidentally put one of my sweaters in the dryer and it shrinks, Quien gets to wear it. It's the opposite for me and Alyssa. Same. I was going to say, I'm taller than my husband, so I steal his shit all the opposite for me and Alyssa. Same. I was gonna say, I'm taller than my husband, so I steal his shit all the time, but it's like the same. Yeah, there's no size similarity.

I mean, just me turning over in the bed in the middle of the night is like a hazardous thing for her. Then she'll wake up and be like, get the bat off! She should wear one of those things that skiers wear in case they're in an avalanche. If they're smothered, it starts pinging. I like that you said that.

All I could think of was the dogs that wear the barrels of cow dung. She should also wear one of those. 100%, yeah. Travis, do you want a little top? You know those movies where like a really tall pillar starts to fall and the main characters just run towards camera

instead of running to the left or the right? When I turn over and my arms go like this, it's like... It's like, where's it gonna fall? Some like slow motion doves are in the background. Oh, Laura. Some juggling doves. Oh, Laura. We're off topic. All right, here we go. Oh, Laura. Some juggling. Oh, Laura.

We're off topic. All right, here we go. Hazard play. Hazard. Listen, you know, sleep with a mouthpiece. Big flick. Oh.

That's what they say. Oh, God. Oh, we talked about this. What was it like to have a Bria come in as Chetney's surprise ex and how did you enjoy that dynamic?

First of all, it was a solid number of minutes before I realized what the fuck was going on. You came in and you were like, do I hear him say this? I was like, why does she care? If she hears Chetney talking about them. And then you were being familiar

and I couldn't figure it out. And you even pointed at your name once and I did not put it together. I love that name. It was one of the names that Matt mentioned, and the dawning realization was such a slow burn, but it induced the best panic.

Like, I had the best acid reflux. I don't know what this backstory is at all, and I'm pretty sure she does, so I can't do anything. I can't be like, it's good to see you. We're like, you bitch So I can't do anything. I can't be like, it's good to see you. We're like, you bitch. I didn't know anything. You looked so concerned that entire episode and I've never been happier.

I just got to stand there and wait and have a neutral stance. Yep. Knowing it was going to go one way or the other. Thanks, Kyle, for sitting me between both of my exits. Yay. That was good. That was real good.

It was fun. I sit across from you and it's one of the best experiences. I mean, there's just so many times where I look up and catch your eye and I can't hold it together. It's fucked. We have no fun on this show. Absolutely zero, zero fun.

What you got over there? Oh, shit. Yeah, real. I'll go, I'll go, I'll go. Top one. I will ask you? Oh, shit. Yeah, Ria. I'll go, I'll go, I'll go. Top one. I will ask you another question, Christian. Oh. Tell us. Put it back and grab one piece.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Do that. Throw it back in there. No. We don't get to answer that one. No, you don't get that one. Sorry. All right.

Sorry to ask this question. This is for Sam and Christian. Hey, are there any about me in here? I'm sorry. Just keep going. I'm not going back down. You looked at your questions early in in here? Just keep going. You looked at your questions early in the show. Just ask it, it's fine. We'll get to all of them eventually.

Sam and Christian, what was it like to be robots in love? How did the romance come about behind the scenes and how was it to play? We kind of talked about it a little bit, but keep going. Well, the romance blossoms organically. We didn't, there wasn't part of the plan.

At least it wasn't, I didn't know it was part of the plan. Was it part of your plan coming in? You were like, I'm going to romance Sam Riegel. No. No? No. One thing I wanted to do with Frida was challenge everyone's viewpoint on God. Right?

On the gods. I wanted to come in and offer the idea that it wouldn't be so bad if they were powered off. And Deanna and I had discussed the possibility of developing a romance as we were on this arc. With each other? Yeah, because we spent so much time with each other and we had never thought about it. That didn't go that way, did it?

But I think there's something really... You know, it happened fast, right? You were saying it happened really fast. It was funny. But we've been alive for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years. And so I think that there's something organic about it happening now. When you've seen the world end, I've come back from the abyss, right?

We've both done that. And knowing that it could happen at any moment again, it feels like, well, this might be worth living for. Staying around for, right? Yeah, it was cool. After our romance started to organically blossom on the show, I did text Christian afterwards, and I was like,

is this a thing? We're doing this thing? And he was like, yeah, man. Let's go. Lean in, lean in. It was so cool. Who knew that Fresh Cut Grass would have the first kiss on the campaign?

You guys have been dancing around each other for episodes. Yeah, because they have to maintain it for their hundreds of thousands of episodes. We're in here. Literal sparks fly. And we listen through the door. Yeah, we screwed. It was nice. This one's got Aabria's name on it.

Aw, thanks. And I'm curious about the answer. Aabria, what was it like for you to come in as a PC and interact with Fern, a character that you had previously DM'd for, Exandria Unlimited?

Yeah. Oh, God. Very, very cool. I think that was one of the things I was actually most excited about was, again,

not knowing what the table layout was going to be initially. I was like, oh, my God, I'm going to actually get a chance to play with these characters I helped kind of bring up

because we did character kind of gen and work in advance of EXU with the idea that maybe they would be bringing them into Campaign 3. So there was a lot of that very weird excitement of like, oh my gosh, I've been watching because I am a critter. But the idea of like, well, now I get to meet your characters and we're on the same level. It's not this weird like God kind of coming in and like prompting you

in a direction. I will say there is nothing cooler than banging a character that you helped bring into the world. Oh my god. We're phrasing. Bang a character that you helped bring into the world. Oh, God. With phrasing. Phrasing.

No. Buying a character that helps bring into this world. A fake fantasy character. But very fun. And I think the first time Ashley brought out Mister, I almost cried. Because I like the little guy so much. That was my favorite little NPC to do during the X2. Is it Mercer's Mr. Sounds Like Crazy?

It's so good. Once again, one of us looked up what a monkey sounds like and the other would just scream when prompted. So it was very cool. And if you're not looking at him when he does it, it can be a jar. Yes. He's like, ah!

You're like, oh! That's your terms. Is that us? One more? No, we're... It's time. It's time for another... Actually, you do it.

You've got such a velvety soft voice. I'll do it like Travis. It's time. Is that my face? Is that what you smell like? It's time for another pull from the Tower of Inquiry. You sounded like... You've got to name somebody. You're in slow motion. You go. No, I Inquiry. You sounded like Oopka. You gotta name somebody.

You're in slow motion, you go. No, I'm not, you have to go. All right, I'll go. Go, Sam. Go, Sam, pull. Oh, wow. One hand, what the fuck about one hand? Sorry, you're right.

What is wrong with you? Ge-ge-ge-ge-ge-ge-ge-ge-ge. Ah, that was easy. 23. 23. Michael Jordan. Put it back on the top. Oh, that was easy. 23! Because he used two days. Michael Jordan. Put it back on the top! Oh, sorry.

Like, he's done this before. We don't, Dany, we don't know these things. Sir. You can't be left alone. What board game do you think your character would be most into? From Beastman. Ooh. From, oh.

I thought it was a board game from Beastman. I thought that was a game maker. Chutes and ladders, because there's lots of wood. Is there? Aren't ladders made of wood? I guess so, yeah. These ladders are, they're not aluminum. Yeah, yeah, you're right.

They're like Scrabble for the same reason. Yeah, Pandemic, because she's a life cleric. Oh, that's good, too. That's a life cleric. Oh, that's good, too. That's a fun goof. Oh, boy. What are robot games? Reach through your extensive knowledge. Of board games. Have you ever played Ricochet Robots?

No. No, it's actually a game. You have to figure out a certain number of moves knowing the physics of the board to get a robot from one place to another. Anyway, it was more just for the name pun. Get in the comments. Please validate me on this one.

I named a cool thing and no one here got it, and that's fine. At least you know more, Gann. Maybe Operation, because he investigates his body. Or how about Till the Last Gasp, available now from Darian. Wow. It's a great two-player role-playing.

Because your robots are going to kill each other. Yeah, sure. Perfect. Very nice. I mean, I think Risk would be something that he would be into. That's good. Also because I'm into it.

My toxic trait as a D&D player is that every character is Batman. How is that a toxic trait? That's a great quality. Gets me in some trouble in my home campaigns, friend. I love that. Thank you, Beastman. And remember, if you have a burning question for our tower,

you can enter critical.com slash tower. It's off to the third power. We are going to take a quick break, but don't go too far, because when we come back, we will be going head to head to head to head. Head to head to head to head. Yes, in some Super Smash. Whoa!

Is that a board game? Yes. Zippity-doo-dah, Zoo Daddies. 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.