#marisha's hand fan

[bixbiboom]

In lieu of a gas can gag tonight, Marisha has broken out the hand fan again to wish FCG a peaceful rest.

#marisha ray #marisha's hand fan #critical role #cr spoilers #cr c3e092

[burr-ell]

A Not-Necessarily-Exhaustive List of Good Moments from C1 1-27:

"I have an intelligence of 6, I know what I'm doing"

"We're here to right wrongs, and right lefts—" "And write comment cards"

Tiberius Kraghammer

Clarota

"We'll explain later. You're on the roof of Osama bin Laden's house"

"We'll be taking your weapons, your armor, and I believe your pride"

Percy making the first trick arrows for Vex after a shopkeep was a dick to her about arrows, which is canonically when she began to fall for him

Keyleth killing that one duergar from the TLOVM flashback

"I encourage violence"

Lady Kima being freed and then pulverizing the corpse of the duergar who'd been torturing her

Matt's fucked up body horror monsters

Scanlan taking a dump on a bed for the first time

Pike's crisis of faith when she slits a duergar's throat with her mace and her holy symbol breaks

When the limited T-shirt run went live and then sold out before Marisha could finish reading the announcement

Vax getting his foot burned off in lava

Scanlan the Kingslayer

"Can I use my Luck feat for this?" "You don't have any feet left"

Kima and Keyleth's argument (it was good, haters eat my shorts)

The origin of The Cube

"I'm Vax that's Vex ->" "I'm Vex that's Vax <-"

"Screw you, I want my final words with you to be indignant and irritated!"

"He has three-quarters cover" "I ignore three-quarters cover :)" "...then fuckin' fire!"

"Some people have no sense of fucking honor!"

Travis's notes that just say "I don't trust Clarota I don't trust Clarota I don't trust Clarota"

Percy reacting to the Briarwoods being namedropped during a council meeting

Meeting Gilmore on-stream for the first time

The Belt of Dwarvenkind and Grog's obsessive attempts to grow a beard

Scanlan's blue-shit-scrying potion

Grog "Philip" Strongjaw vs Kern

Vax giving Minxie!Keyleth a belly rub

The hydra fight and the beef with the Slayer's Take

Episodes 18 and 19, in their entirety, but specifically:

Zahra and Vex's initial rivalry-turned-friendship-turned-"I have a crush on Zahra"

Lyra. She's just. so much. idk of what but she is it

"I'm wearing the pajamas with the buttflap and the buttflap is down. The buttflap is DOWN"

Scanlan introducing himself to Rimefang as Burt Reynolds and then Matt, in his scary dragon voice, calling him "Burt"

"I'm sorry, I'm a genius, I'm sorry! Oh, god I'm clever!"

Zahra killing Rimefang

Percy and Vex working together on a history check (it's important To Me)

Wil Wheaton rolling five Nat 1s. In one session

Keyleth and Vax posing as a married couple to get information

Kash insight-checking Thorbir, believing he has to be actively sabotaging them because no one could possibly be that bad at their job (he's not, he really is just that unlucky)

Wil, playing a dwarven fighter, finally rolling a nat 20...for an insight check

The magic carpet losing its enchantment in a pit of acid and Laura's scream of horror from offscreen

"Rakshasaaaaaaa!" -jazz hands-

Kashaw and Keyleth, which was thankfully reworked in TLOVM but was also hilarious

Vex exasperatedly kissing Grog, portrayed by Laura kissing a bewildered Travis

Tyriok the cartographer

Grog, the Vasselheim merchant, and the first and only time Vex started beef with a retailer

Keyleth recounting a vision she had of her own death

The Aramente trial in Pyrah and a cameo from Thordak

Travis getting a medal from a fan for losing to Kern and Matt making it canon

Grog fighting Kern again and winning

Keyleth getting arrested. For the second time in Vasselheim alone

The first appearance of the man. The myth. The Viktor

Kynan's first appearance and Vax's idea of "tough love"

Percy telling his backstory to the party and them immediately affirming their support for him ("You don't have to get involved in this" "Oh, we are SO involved" "You said you wanted 'em dead!") and Taliesin himself being moved to tears over this

Percy creating Diplomacy

Vax and Keyleth bear-sitting Trinket and braiding pink ribbons into his fur

Gilmore finding out Vax wants to see him and teleporting in from half a continent away

Vax shaving half of Grog's beard and Travis breaking a mechanical pencil with one hand

The feast, where Percy actually threatens the Briarwoods to their faces while disguised as Vax

Vax and the Briarwoods. "Gosh you guys are good-looking"

Vax nearly dying and having a vision of the two people he cares about most: Vex and Keyleth

Sylas jumping out the window and doing a perfect 3-point landing...while Delilah blows the athletics check and faceplants in the dirt

"SYLAS"

Vex scoring two crits on Delilah

Tiberius getting Feebleminded

Percy's attack on Desmond. My horrid little skrunkly <3

"YOUR SOUL IS FORFEIT! DIE! DIE!" and Keyleth skipping her turn to just stare at Percy

Vox Moochina

Keyleth taking charge to save the ember roc

Keyleth conjuring a water elemental and Taliesin gargling water to translate her commands to it

And finally, the conversation between Keyleth and Percy where he privately confesses his own worries that he's going dark and that he's afraid of himself, and she expresses her concern for him and promises to be there for him

anyway c1 good

#critical role #vox machina #percy de rolo #vex'ahlia #vax'ildan #keyleth #grog strongjaw #pike trickfoot #scanlan shorthalt #if c1 is not getting lovemail assume i'm dead

[utilitycaster]

Level-up post: Bells Hells L13

girl help usually I draft these well in advance but I forgot about this one so it's going to be a little shorter and probably less pithy. Anyway as always: corrections on errors appreciated, but if I didn't list every single possible spell or feat someone could take then that's because I don't care. And, because we do the level-ups like this rather than at the end of a session, this will include L14 speculation. Without further ado:

Everyone's proficiency bonus goes up to +5, and the non-multiclassed full spellcasters (Imogen and FCG) get access to 7th level spells.

Chetney: Chetney took another level in Blood Hunter, granting him an ASI/Feat. On the one hand, his wisdom score is odd and so an ASI to that makes sense. On the other hand fuck WIS forever and ever amen; CON, STR, and INT are all way more important for him and for this party. Orym can perceive enough for everyone. L13 Blood Hunter is a nice one that grants him an additional use of blood maledict, as well as the Brand of Tethering which is both thematically appropriate for the campaign and could REALLY ruin Ludinus's day.

Laudna: Another sorcerer level, which grants her more metamagic, and Marisha said in the video she'd be taking Empowered Spell. She also learns another spell up to 5th level, and another cantrip. Frankly I have no idea for cantrips since between two casting classes with cantrips, her subclasses, and spell sniper, she is Cantrips Georg, but Seeming and Teleportation Circle are both pragmatic options that would help the party; Creation and Insect Plague are both aesthetically apt; and Dominate Person, while coming from her sorcery, does have that touch of Delilah. Looking forward I must admit that warlock is infinitely more useful and interesting but it's probably wiser to get 6th level spells.

FCG: FCG's main improvement here is access to 7th level spells; these are pretty great for clerics. I am personally a fan of Divine Word, and Plane Shift seems likely quite useful, but Regenerate and Resurrection are good to have available. L14 for clerics is quiet and simply improves their ability to destroy undead, as is 15, which grants them 8th level spells.

Fearne: Fearne took a 10th level in Druid, granting her another cantrip and another 5th level spell. She gets Cauterizing Flames, which is a little like Wither and Bloom or some of the Circle of the Shepherd features: when a small or larger creature dies within 30 feet of her or Little Mister, she can use a reaction to either heal a creature within 30 feet of the dead creature, or deal fire damage to it. This may become immediately useful if we're fighting Liliana or Otohan. I am hoping she levels up to 11 in Druid at the next level up, which would give her Transport via Plants and Wind Walk access, making the party a little less reliant on Keyleth. As for her cantrip, I'm thinking Druidcraft would be fun since she doesn't have it and it's been so useful on Ruidus.

Imogen: Imogen gets 7th level spells, of which Teleport is a clear winner, particularly since FCG can take Plane Shift, but there are some of my favorite damage/fuckery spells in there (Prismatic Spray, Reverse Gravity, and Delayed Blast Fireball). Level 14 gives her Revelation in Flesh. I must admit I'd be more psyched about this if she'd leaned into the slime aspects of the subclass, but I am interested in seeing how it gets modified because I don't think she should get the swim speed if she won't grow weird cilia and gills; the other features can stay though.

Orym: In addition to having the stupidest passive perception score on the moon, he also gains another use of indomitable. Level 14 gives him an ASI/Feat and really he can't go wrong here; because he got feats from his pact I'm thinking an ASI to CON to make him even more of a tank would be fun, but fighters get so many feats that he can really go nuts.

Ashton: Base barbarian ability of Brutal Critical goes up to 2 dice from 1, giving them the ability to do more damage when they crit. Eyes peeled for his next level-up, when he gets his final Path of Fundamental Chaos feature!

#critical role #bells hells

[daddy-treville]

I love when CritRole tries a fun little one shot or a side project but mostly I feel about those kinds of things that it’s a fun little break in between the Main Attraction of the ongoing campaign. But fuckin. Candela Obscura, I’m shoveling you into my mouth with both hands like Chex Mix I will watch as many of these as you make thank you Queen Marisha for the spooky fucked up gift I’m a big fan please make infinity episodes.

#critical role #candela obscura

[waltwhitmansbeard]

so i just read a post explaining why the op (and, according to the op, a lot of other people, even tho the post in question only had 32 notes, some of which were from people who disagreed with them) didn't like the cut to the crown keepers in last week's episode. while i'm totally on board with people not jibing with stuff that just doesn't work for them, i wanted offer some reasons why this seemingly hard pivot to people who are not the main characters of the story being told was a good decision to make (note good decision, not inherently the best decision, which i believe no one, including the dm, at a ttrpg table should ever be expected to make).

matt had an extremely powerful, extremely unexpected character decision dropped in his lap in the final moments of the previous episode. we don't know exactly how much time matt has between recordings, maybe a full week, maybe not, but either way, there's a very real chance that matt just did not have enough time to fully prepare a session to deal with fcg's death and what comes next.

sam now has to create a new character that a) is of a level with the rest of the party and b) makes narrative sense for him to be there. that takes time for both him and matt, and they might just need some space to work on that. when laudna died, marisha was willing to sit away from the table for several weeks because she knew that she wanted laudna to be resurrected, but sam may not want the same thing, and that's okay!

matt may want to fold the crown keepers into his main story, some or all of them—particularly dorian, whom both liam and the fans have been asking to return for a while now. dorian is clearly important to orym and the story that liam is trying to tell, and bringing the crown keepers in may be matt's way to do that.

matt—and dms generally—has always had to straddle a very fine line of making sure that his players are the main characters of their story who feel like their actions have real consequences and effects on the world, while also understanding that in reality, it doesn't make sense for half a dozen chucklefucks to have such an outsized effect on major cosmological goings-on like *checks notes* the potential release of a god-eater. this becomes especially true when you're on your third campaign set in the same world, and your players' previous ultra-powerful pcs are still around and definitely more adept and connected than their current pcs are. i, personally, think matt does a great job at walking that line, and one of the things he does that i appreciate is that he doesn't shy away from the fact that a) his players are powerful but not the most powerful and b) his players aren't the only one who care about what's going on in the world and who are taking actions to effect change. the current plotline re: ruidus is absolutely world-shaking and is causing all the divine girlies to cower in their demiplanes, so of course even the evil ones are going to be calling on their champions to help out. it makes more sense for opal to be involved (which, btw, matt has been hinting at for a while now) than not.

matt might need a fucking break! he's been doing this consistently for nine years now, and shit is complicated! handing over the reins to aabria for a week or two or three may be what he needs to not get burnt out.

dnd is an emotional game, and the entire cast might have been rocked hard by fcg's death. some space away for a week or two could help them process and regroup to get back into a story that is otherwise very stressful and action-packed.

or it's none of these! what do i know! i'm a random idiot on the internet! matt doesn't consult me on these matters! (though my dms are open if he wants to chat, i do have ideas)

i think it's tempting to think of the decisions made in and around critical role (or any ttrpg show) like those made for a television series, because the episodes are serialized and we love them so much. but this show is, first and foremost, a group of friends playing a game together, and not a carefully constructed narrative with the primary goal of entertaining an audience. the audience always has been and, frankly, always should be second to the wishes and fun of the people around that table. matt would not have asked aabria to step in and dm a crown keepers side arc if he didn't think it was a good decision for him and his players, and that priority is the correct one. we are being invited in to watch these friends have fun together, and that's a privilege that we're super lucky to have. as long as the cr story isn't doing things that are outright abusive or harmful to the cast or the audience, i don't think we should begrudge them the choices they make in the name of their own game.

again, it's okay if you're not vibing with the crown keepers! i didn't love the aeor arc of c2! not everything is for everyone! but i think accusing matt and the cast of narrative malfeasance is a bit much when, tbqh, they don't answer to us. they answer to each other.

#me #critical role #cr meta

[liamobrienlove]

My MCM Comic Con Experience

Oh y'all, i have been wanting to talk about this to anyone who will listen haha Sorry this post is a bit late but it's been busy at work since i got home.

Where do i even begin? I met Liam! Still seems surreal even though i have photo evidence haha Let's just start with meeting him!

First up on the Saturday morning was meeting up with the amazing @formulares - who is amazinnnng btwwwww! had so much fun! 10/10 would recommend being friends with him lmao

Next it was time to get in and get in line for the Liam autograph! CR had their own section for autos which was great because the queues were SO LONG. Luckily, we were like 5th in line! When they all came out, the whole room erupted and the cast looked utterly amazed and completely taken a back with the turnout. Here starts the whole Liam experience haha I made Ares go first because i just couldn't and to watch is conversation with Liam was special. Liam is a special guy, i'll say that.

When i got to him, i was so nervous and he just made me feel like we were old friends. I gave him some letters i had to give and then the dice i'd brought him and he was so happy and rolled them! got a Nat 1 on his first roll but rerolled because halfling luck hehe and got a much better number! i then was able to tell him how much his characters and he have helped me through a lot in recent years and he was so grateful and wrote a lovely message on my print i was getting signed (which i'm not going to share yet as i will most likely be getting it as a tattoo) and then that was the end of the auto portion! when i went in for my photo with him, he remembered me! ahhhh and then we had the cutest picture and he gave me a bug cuddle as i was leaving. Liam is an amazing human, so kind, sweet and humble. I'm hoping i get to meet him again in the near future because truly, one of the best moments i've ever had.

Then i had photos with Travis (who was making sure to ask everyone their names and shake their hand before the photo) and was thanking everyone as well once they were done. it was so sweet!

I did have a Sam photo op but because i was anxious about not making it to my Taliesin one (sam's was the same time as Travis), i gave my photo ticket to Ares who had a great picture with Sam (who is really tall!). Next it was time to have my photo with Taliesin who is just a super sweet man and was wonderful! i love my photo with Taliesin so much! he was so excited to meet everyone!

Now, onto meeting Matt! Bear in mind i queued for three and a half hours to meet him. One thing i will say is MCM need to work on their queuing system because the line for matt was 4 people wide and just didn't seem to go down! By the time i got to the front i was emotional and overwhelmed and i think Matt could see that right off the bat. He shook my hand and asked my name and then we jumped into what was a very amazing and sweet conversation, where when i started to get emotional, Matt took hold of my hands (he's an utter sweetheart) and when i told him how much this show, this world had changed my life, he was just so receptive and so humble about it all and just amazing. Then he got up to give me a hug and it was so sweet of him - that man just adores every single person/fan. He spent time talking to every single person and stayed late to make sure everyone got to meet him.

i cannot begin to put into words how amazing they all were. From seeing Travis, Laura, Ashley, Marisha, Sam and Tal interact with everyone when standing in line, to how they were in photo ops - this cast are genuine and amazing. I count myself lucky to have been able to see them in person and cannot wait until i'm able to again in the future. I just adore them and it's an experience i will never, ever forget.

#lottie rambles #critical role #liam o'brien

[renatogpadilla]

THOUGHTS ON CR3E92 IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER:

- FIRST EVER CR CROSSOVER EPISODE?!

LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

- Dariax said "This Flute doesn't play itself anymore." Doriax canon offscreen?

- "After all the handjobs, this is what we mean to you?!" Damn... I mean, I'm glad Opal and Cyrus found a way to relieve stress, Gods know they're both stressed, but damn.

- Ending the episode on Opal Twice-Crowned hitting phase 2 of the boss fight was EVIL!

I love it, @quiddie ! I feel like when this gets animated in a decade or so, we'll get this fight and the fight with Otohan Thull overlayed one on top of the other for a Season Finale or something!

- Raven Queen going two for two on Rogues turned Paladin! Which is great, but now I have to replan Morrighan's moveset for that imaginary Critical Role fighting game that only exists in my head (somebody ask me about it please, I NEED to talk about it!) but at least she gets some Smite options out of the Bunny Hop command jump!

- Dariax is a Bard now too! That's honestly so perfect for Matt! And the fact that both Sorcerers and Bards are Charisma Casters makes me feel like the Synergies are gonna be great!

- Oh, Dorian, wonderful blue king... That's a lot of strength that your Dice will never agree to let you use for anything cool. I missed you SO MUCH!

- Speaking of that imaginary CR fighting game, this just solidified Opal as a puppet character. The tag combos with Ted would be WILD! Think Kenshi from MK1!

- Fy'ra Rai... Just... FY'RA RAI! Gods, I've missed Anjali at the table! Her memory with Opal, her tug-of-war with her thoughts about her sister... THE LAVA WHIP! Nothing sexier than Monks! Except a pissed off Wizard or Druid.

- On the other side of the table, I LOVE the moment the girls all collectively remembered they had to break the news to Frida... Oh, that's gonna hurt BAD!

- Anyone else noticed that Ashton is BURNT OUT and laying on the ground after his Titan form wears off, but Fearne just says she's really tired and just KEEPS GOING? Ashton is DONE for now, but Fearne needs to keep moving forward... Fuck, I love these two.

- Orym... Just... Orym. If you take a level in Barbarian after this, I wouldn't blame you.

- Side-Note: This means Dorian DID get Orym's last message before they went to the moon! He just didn't/couldn't answer! Which means, through the static and everything, Dorian COULD hear Orym! And now he's probably gonna get this message once the battle is over... Jesus, if they get to Zephra and Keyleth went to the Lodge next to the lake that's gonna be a problem...

- Side-Note Side-Note: Anyone else hoping to GOD that Allura called the Nein to help? Cause Beau and Caleb were involved, but now it feels like an "All Hands on Deck" situation, and we could use Kingsley's small army of pirates right about now...

- So much happened this episode between the grieving and the flashbacks and the rolling for handjobs that I didn't have time to process the splinter cell of Xhorhasians that split their soul in twain until I woke up... Opal may have forgotten, but maybe Ted hasn't? Though if they're the same person, maybe they both forgot...

- Aabria, the corrupting of the Memories was FOUL, I LOVE IT!!!

- Somebody needs to tell Essek about the soul-splitters. In fact, let's get to that while we deal with Ashton too!

- IF OPAL DIES, AMY CAN COME OVER AS DENI$E! Like, I don't WANT her to die, but Westruun isn't that far... 👀

- I just realized this is the first ever FULL episode of CR without Sam at the table... Fuck, man, when it hurts it hurts. Glad Marisha brought back the fan.

"Forgot the Consonants?" "No Letters." OUCH, MISS RAY, WHAT THE FUCK?!

- Raven Queen Paladins hasting themselves first thing in the fight. Vax is back, and he's a Bunny Girl now!

- I like that the Crownkeepers are a two-way Overwatch reunion (McCree Cassidy and Symmetra) and a three-way Persona 5 reunion (Yusuke, Ann Futaba and Akechi).

- Everything was so fucked this episode that everything with Liliana got knocked to the background for me, THAT'S how good it was!

- The SECOND Evoroa said Ludinos was on Exandria I knew EXACTLY where he would be! Now we HAVE to get the Nein involved, right? Unless the bastard makes the city float again...

I cannot WAIT for the next episode! And if Sam brings a new character when all the groups are together, it would be SPECTACULAR! I'm guessing he's going to play one of the moon races, because that just sounds cool... Either that or Tary!

#Critical Role #CR #CR3 #Bell's Hells #Exandria Unlimited #ExU #Crownkeepers #Crown Keepers #CR3 Spoilers #ExU Spoilers #CR3E92 #C3E92 #SO MANY TAGS! #AND WE HAVE TO WAIT TWO WEEKS FOR THE SECOND PART OF THE CROSSOVER?!?! AAAAAAAAAARGH!!! #critical role #cr #cr3 #bell's hells #crown keepers #crownkeepers #exu #exandria unlimited

[pocketgalaxies]

would u be able to describe how marishas body language as keyleth differs from e.g. laudna? like laudna does the creepy hands a lot and plays with her hair, what abt keyleth? (sorry i havent seen c1 but i love marisha and her roleplay style fascinates me🙏)

hmmmm i have a hard time putting it into words and it's been a minute since i last watched c1, i think there would be plenty of people out there better equipped to do this than me lol but i think it just comes down to the core tenets of each character and how that's reflected in the way they take up space in the world

keyleth is, esp early campaign, very jittery and anxious and naive about the world. she sits at the edge of her seat with wide eyes and a big smile, and she feels things to the extreme which often translates to big movements. but the movements often feel jittery too, like there's the slowness of awkwardness/hesitation combined with the high speed of anxiety, if that makes sense? she's also not particularly graceful a lot of the time, almost like she's got too much limb and she doesn't quite know what to do with it. i think she becomes a lot more fluid and settled late campaign, which is kinda cool bc her arc is literally about how she learns to take up space in the world with confidence and purpose, but the kind of open upright posture and awkward lanky movements are always there a little bit because that's just who she is

on the other hand laudna is more comfortable in her own skin and is quite intentional about the way she presents herself, which translates to more fluid and idiosyncratic gestures that are often flourished and sweeping. laudna and keyleth are both start-and-stop with their movement, but with keyleth it feels more like she doesn't know what she's going to do until she does it, whereas laudna's abrupt and exaggerated movements from stillness are often controlled and appear to be her preferred way of getting from position A to B, if that makes sense. also just in terms of Anxiety, laudna's translates more physically to pulling on her hair etc while keyleth doesn't necessarily change her physicality as much as she just talks and talks and talks dkfjsdf. and for completion's sake laudna also sits with a different posture from keyleth, often hunched over with her shoulders raised a bit. more closed off, ready to pounce (and scare u) sort of vibe

not that you asked but beau is also v different from keyleth and laudna which is to be expected! i obviously haven't made it super far in c2 yet but from what i've seen, beau's physicality is all about Stillness and confidence, which tracks with both her personality and her monk background. i think one of the anchoring postures for beau is definitely leaning back in the chair, arms crossed, chin up - a bit protective of herself but also aggressive in the way that she's non-verbally DARING you to do that shit. there's not a lot of extraneous movement with beau, just like there's not a lot of extraneous words spoken by her. she's also a fan of extremely direct eye contact, similarly unmoving like laudna's but a lot less creepy/unsettling and a lot more piercing into the center of your soul to carve the truth out of your chest sort of thing

anyway not sure if that explains anything at all for you but a lot of it is just the Vibes that she puts out so it's hard to explain for someone who isn't actually analyzing this stuff or well-practiced at putting it into words dkfjskdfs

#this was fun to think about and write though thanks for asking anon! #anonymous #ask #answered #critical role #cr meta #cr1 #cr2 #cr3 #marisha ray #keyleth cr #beauregard lionett #laudna cr #nova shh #marisha ray supremacy

[feathered-serpents]

The power of Imodna is everyone spreading the screenshots of Imogen and Laudna hugging and holding hands and crying with enough emotion that fans go absolutely FERAL enough to forget that Marisha and Laura were dressed like X-Men characters the entire time

#imodna #critical role

[mak-1338]

Patia Por'co Past and Future

Alright, so I have not been able to stop thinking about the wonderful and complicated Patia Por'co, Keeper of Scrolls for the Library of Incantatum. Obviously I will never be able to ask Mathew Mercer and Marisha Ray in person. So this will have to do.

I know there is a theory about Patia, possibly being her daughter, but I've seen others pick plotholes in this and I agree there are some I can't explain away.

Personally, I fully believe it was a mentor/student bond the two shared, but was there something more? Not romantically. More like a pseudo motherly figure for Patia, because we know she lost the memory of her parents. It was also basically confirmed they were taken by Imyr Por'co and not the mind wiping of the previous god of death and the Matrons name.

I ask this question from the pov of the Matron. Because if I worked my entire life to do this one thing that could change the very fabric of Exandria. Why would I tell my random student about it? So there has to be more that only Matthew or Marisha could say. Right?

In my opinion and Travis has talked about this a little bit in talks about Fjord. But if you are missing a person in your life like a mom or dad or teacher or friend, etc. We sort of go looking for replacements to fill in those gaps. We can even see this a little bit with Imogen and Deanna. Trying to replicate what Liliana and Imogen could of possibly had. So it isn't out of the ballpark for Patia to go looking for the same connections.

All that being said, what is their Relationship? Depending on the answer, it could make Patia's view of the gods even more tragic. She cared greatly for this motherly mentor figure and just like everyone else in her life up to that point, she leaves as well.

My second question is about her orb she sent to Maya. I think we've all heard the theory at this point. It's very popular for a reason amongst the fans. If you haven't heard it basically Patia had a hand to play in creating the Cobalt Soul.

I love this theory because it's so Meta. Marisha has crafted a connection (possibly unknowingly) to all of her characters. If you don't beleive me, Patia had a hand to play in destroying the tree. As well as finding out the secret meetimg between the Gau Drashari. A group who would later be known as the Ashari aka our favorite Voice of the Tempest, Keyleth. She was there at the kick start of the Calamity which leads to many battles one of which Pelor plants a tree for Ioun after being very wounded. To people setting there aka Whitestone. (This one is more of a stretch I know, but it ties really well to the raven queen and the distint connection both Patia and Laudna has to their respective Death deities.) Sorry for the rant.

Getting back to the actual topic and connection Patia has to Beau. So my theory is that She gave the orb to Maya, but like previously stated. This theory also has several plotholes and it kind of unrealistic. The calamity was this massive century spanning war killing 3/4ths the population and Eisfuura do not live long. So maybe instead of Maya building the Cobalt Soul. The Agrupnin family seek out protection through the Prime deities. Ioun would be the most fitting for the family just because of Cerrit's views and skill set about knowledge. (Finding it and Protecting it.)

I also theorize Maya would learn to view the memories of Patia, making her push for the end of corruption for future generations. It was out of hand and hurt alot of people. Including a factor in starting the war. Still like I said, it's a little unrealistic because they don't live long. In spite of that Cerrit could still train a group possibly including the kids with his to go find information about any threats. Betrayer gods, their armies, etc. In hopes of one day ending the war. The techniques, the orb, the information, and overall message to stop corruption could have slowly passed down in time until someone could fully begin the organization.

I would even be fine with the orb not being with them currently. We saw a mysterious village in the mountains with the Wildmount group in C3 during the teleportation mishap. It could be there. As long as the message was passed down and Maya and Patia had a hand to play in the beginning of our favorite Expositor's story. That's all I ask.

I know this was a long read. I rambled a lot. So if you made it this far. Thank you for reading my Ted talk. Also please forgive any spelling/grammical errors. I would love to hear your opinions, because I've had this thought in my brain for as long as the calamity has been around.

P.S. any and all theories could/will very much likely be disproven by Matt and future CR. In fact I expect it too and will be ecstatic when we do find the canon explanations. Also sorry if this doesn't make any sense. This is my first time interacting on Tumblr.

#critical role #patia por'co #exu calamity #raven queen #maya agrupnin

[bixbiboom]

Marisha’s fan tonight reads “Separate church & state”.

#marisha ray #marisha's hand fan #critical role #cr spoilers #cr c3e061

[captainsspnanon]

C3E67 reaction

What a fan-fucking-tastic episode!!!!!! I LOVED IT!!!

Though it started off poorly, with my pet peeve of Sam. STOP telling other players what their PCs are doing. And STOP metagaming to try to have people RP a scene that you want to see. Nothing Marisha RPed in the past episode indicated that she was 'glowing', and in the episode before it could very much have been read as excitement over a new dress. And just because you saw Laura and Marisha roleplay their PCs kissing, doesn't mean that FCG suddenly can tell.

*grumbles* Sorry, like I said, pet peeve. He's done it multiple times in C3 (to the point where players had to actively contradict him trying to tell them that their PCs were doing something or had something happen to him), he did it a bunch in C2, and while I can't remember, he probably did it in C1 too. And several times when he does it, he ends up completely changing the characterization that the player was RPing- ie Fearne confidently flirting with the were-panther, and then he tells her that she's blushing and nervous, completely the opposite of how Ashley was doing it. (he also does it later again in the episode implying that they slept together. seriously fuck off with this sam.)

(on the other hand, I cannot deny that Laura just absolutely losing her shit while Laudna was stuttering was hysterical)

Why am I not upset at Marisha for doing a very similar thing afterwards (forcing Taliesin to talk about backstory)? One, it was information that her PC knew, and two, it wasn't presented as a good or funny thing. It was a clear deflection, and very angrily done. It is perfectly reasonable to imagine Ashton calling her out later for doing so.

Honestly, everyone's opinion on the gods make sense for me EXCEPT for Orym. Iunno, maybe Keyleth's attitude rubbed off on him during his training, and that influences the fact that he's had several positive interactions with gods and makes it more neutral?

Let me be very very clear. All the jokes about the flower names? 10000 percent worth it for the 25ish temp HP that the boss got at the end. Some of these were SO clever! Plus, Matt's exasperated face is always fun XD

Three nat 1s for stealth!! I cannot remember the last time that this happened, unless it was Travis with the three nat 1s for Fjord at the festival way back at the beginning of C2. DELICIOUS!

The combat was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING! I do kinda wish I could see two different versions, one where Fearne's persuasion failed, and one where the enemies actually rolled decent. Because the group was freaking out a lot, but I'm actually gonna go back and do calculations, 'cause I'm pretty sure most of them were really good on HP? Like, I genuinely think only Imogen was in true danger.

Okay, before the short rest from last episode/start of this one - Fearne was at 16 HP, Ashton at 88, Orym at 79, Laudna around 72 depending on temp HP gain, Chetney 82, FCG 19, and Imogen at full. Unknown how much healing with short rest.

After the short rest, Fearne took no damage in her regular form, Ashton only took 16 points, Orym only took 22, Chetney took 14, FCG took 19, and Laudna took none. Imogen went down and was brought back to 4 HP.

So.....Yeah, I don't get why they were freaking out so hard, when basically all of them had a bunch of HP. (I also don't get why Tal tends not to tank despite having the best HP and having rage damage reduction.) Ah well. Still entertaining! Plus seeing them freak out is always fun, even if at times confusing.

Travis and cursed swords, what is a better pairing?

ASHLEY. FEARNE. BOTH OF YOU. WHAT ARE YOU DOING, THIS IS AMAZING, I LOVE THIS AND CAN'T WAIT TO SEE THE FALLOUT OMG (also you totally should have just propositioned him right then and there! XD)

#cr spoilers #critical role #bells hells

[utilitycaster]

Regarding Editing and Innovating in the space, 2 people who get a Fraction of the credit they deserve are Ivan Van Norman & Marisha Ray. I mean, they created and developed one of the original mixed media cinematic interactive actual plays, Sagas of Sundry: Dread, and then Sagas of Sundry: Madness, and Marisha (later hiring Ivan as well) has continued that trajectory in some of the more intriguingly edited mixed format Actual plays at CR, like Call of Cthulhu, Undeadwood, and others, and being Instrumental in the developments at CR. Like, when you do watch the interviews you get a sense of just how Much of CR's current content designs, ttrpg intentions, and series are marisha's brainchilds, and it sucks that she doesnt get the credit others involved in similar projects, and even those projects, do.

This is a great point. I've mentioned this before w/r/t the fandom - Marisha, perhaps more than anyone, gets reduced even by many fans to "she's pretty and her characters are like what if a girlboss were a girlfailure" and her creative direction goes unheralded. It feels like this has gotten worse in recent years; I was baffled at how many people seemingly resented Calamity or Candela for taking up space they felt should go only to the main campaign when those were not only showcases for Marisha as a performer but also clearly something in which she had a strong hand in designing. Whenever people whine about there only being two main campaign episodes in a month because of Candela Obscura, I do think "You realize this was probably Marisha's call?"

I was focused in my response much more on Daggerheart, and so on the game design side (quick side note - reviews of A Familiar Problem, which Marisha worked on, were pretty positive; I wonder if something's happened in the past 2 years since that's when I've really felt this Damn Critical Role energy among actual play journalists), but I had been thinking about Sagas of Sundry and Undeadwood! I think I mentioned Sagas of Sundry in one of my posts about how Kollok isn't, in my mind, impressive. I loved Dread but never finished Madness before Alpha folded, but actually I was imagining something like Madness - fully on a set, people walking around like it's a play - for Kollok! When I saw everyone at a table with that rotating rock I was like "is this...it?" And, you know, Sagas: Madness wasn't entirely for me, but you can't fault the innovation. Similarly, when I think about the (baffling) criticism from one of the prominent actual play journalists I've had in mind while writing this, that Candela Obscura the show did not fully teach people Candela Obscura the game, I think about how Ivan Van Norman did straight up teach Savage Worlds during Undeadwood. Whenever people gush over the shadow puppets in Burrow's End I think it's deserved, but when they claim it's utterly new? Nah. Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Crystal Palace did it first. And Marisha had a guiding hand in the creative direction of all of these.

I think this is sort of elaboration on one of my points in my original post: I think a lot of the journalists are really out of their depth. I don't remember seeing their names when I first started watching CR in 2018, or when I got deeper into the fandom in 2019. My first actual play was TAZ, which I binged in late 2017. I really think a lot of the journalists flat-out don't know Sagas of Sundry or Undeadwood because they didn't show up until after Alpha folded. I've mentioned this elsewhere but so much of the claims of novelty and innovation are completely incorrect and not even terribly obscure. Look, I've seen/listened to most or all of 9 actual plays (this is counting D20 and CR each as one single unit, by the way - I've seen all but scattered one-offs from either), and seen or heard an episode or two of many more. I think that simply by doing that? I know more than a lot of these journalists.

Again: Worlds Beyond Number? The innovation is with the Witch class and the Wizard of the Citadel subclasses, and the allowance of extremely long downtime, but: longform podcast actual play with sound design? RQG did it starting in 2015. Griffin McElroy and Emily Axford have been composing their own music since 2017 or 2018 for their respective shows, both of which are also longform podcast actual plays. Again, Brennan pretty explicitly said "I don't think D20 is new, nor longform" in a quote and the article that quotes him argues that Fantasy High is new and longform...and that article also talks about how before D20 most AP video was livestreamed before talking about how boundary-breaking D20 was for having a livestreamed second season (you know, the thing that they just called old hat a paragraph earlier) that quickly pivoted to remote (even though remote livestreaming was actually quite common in smaller productions well before the pandemic, since you don't need anything but laptop cameras to produce it). I don't even keep up with much in the really indie AP scene, but those people I know who do are even less impressed by the state of Actual Play journalism than I, because D20 executes a lot of things extremely well, has a very talented roster of performers, and a budget most productions cannot hope to match, but a good deal of what it's credited for inventing (and which, again, it never claims to have invented. I want to be clear that the journalists decided to be like this for no clear reason) already existed. And, by placing this heavy emphasis on production, they are automatically making it hard for indie productions to impress them. For all they claim to be going after the 700 lb gorilla, they are simply cozying up to the 600 lb gorilla. It's real "um, why don't you try this little indie game called Pathfinder" hours.

I am fairly sure a lot of the people in prominent journalistic positions in the actual play sphere today came in only after the collapse of Geek and Sundry, is my point, and so I think they literally do not realize how much the medium owes to, for example, Marisha Ray and Ivan Van Norman, because they weren't watching in 2016 nor even skipping through the G&S archives, as I did as a new CR fan. I think they're absolutely out of their depth, and most of them don't even realize it.

#answered #Anonymous #long post #cr tag

[littlebosslady7]

Linda Codega: i gotta tell you doing Real Reporter shit like this was… very fucking fun. Sure we talked #TheLegendOfVoxMachina. We also talked about future-proofing @.CriticalRole and how CR will always put fans first.

[ID: IO9 and Gizmodo Reporter Linda Codega sitting down with Matthew Mercer and Marisha Ray to interview them about Critical Role and TLoVM season. All of them are sitting cross legged in plush blue leather chairs. In between Linda and Matt, there's the Vox Machina season 2 banner on a monitor. There's a wooden table with a bowl of green fruit and a sports drink nearby the couple.]

Linda Codega: Bonus goofer outtakes

[ID: L-R OP thinks Matt is channeling his outer NPC black powder merchant Victor with hilarious crazy eyes and a raised eyebrow. One hand is in the pocket of his blue jeans. His other arm is around reporter Linda. He's wearing a black zip up jacket, well fitted, and sans hood with a black graphic t-shirt and dark blue jeans. Reporter Linda has a purposefully funny eye roll expression. She's wearing a long over sized yellow plaid shirt, a black and yellow graphic t-shirt and dark jeans with a brownish yellow wash. Last is Marisha wearing a black jacket with white stripes, a black crop top, and matching skinny jeans. OP thinks she's channeling her outer Laudna "fun scary" with an open mouthed smile. She's got one arm around Linda while pointing to the reporter with her opposite hand.]

#matthew mercer #marisha ray #tlovm s2

[tangent101]

Critical Role: What About Team B?

When Matt Mercer broke the party in two at the end of the second story Arc, speculation grew as to what might happen with the short-handed crew of Laudna, Orym, and Ashton. Initially I'd thought that Matt might switch between groups during break or every other game, but we stuck with Team A instead through several breaks. But now… I'm starting to think that we're just going to meet up with Team B and learn of their adventures after-the-fact, rather than watching their adventures on Critical Role.

Two things in the latest episode have strongly suggested this. First, we had the perfect opportunity for Team B to take the reins at the end of this last episode when Imogen teleported the group to Jrusar. It is the perfect fade-to-black opportunity to move to Team B… but instead, Matt chose to end the game without our knowing if they made it or not.

The second element that has me quite sure we're not going to see episodes of Team B happened during FCG's Divination with the Changebringer, when he asked if his friends were alive (more specifically "are they alive?" but I think that the Goddess understood who he was talking about) and the Changebringer didn't waffle, but said "yes" outright.

There's only two reasons why Matt would have the Changebringer undeniably answer in the positive for this. First, he already ran adventures for the other three players… either off-screen, or recorded and kept on reserve for a later time to be revealed. Second, Matt just handwaved that the other three characters made it to Jrusar on their own.

Given that Marisha Ray was training for her charity boxing event for a period of time during the Separation, I'm unsure how many episodes (if any) that Team B would get to play. Part of the Separation may have been planned specifically because Liam, Taliesin, and Marisha had other things on their plates that might have gotten in the way of being available to record episodes of CR.

Personally, I hope that Team B did get to do a couple adventures at least, whether we learn of these adventures with our other players explaining what they had done upon being separated or actual episodes being released at a later time, either of this short group (maybe with a couple guest players joining in as they try to flee the devastation Ludinus unleashed) in place of episodes with Team A on Thursdays, or on YouTube for fans to watch on their own time. I suppose we won't know until the next episode on Thursday.

#critical role spoilers #critical role commentary #critical role speculation

[topaz-mutiny]

Folks seem to be interested in my random and extremely sporadic word vomit (and my tempo is unlikely to change - it may be I even just go silent for a couple months) so I’d thought I’d gather some of my guessworks for the upcoming Season 3 of Vox Machina.

Having seen the campaign already and knowing what points they need to hit gives me some ideas on what might happen.

The first thing to note is that what will happen likely depends pretty strongly on if the Chroma Conclave arc extends into Season 4 or not. If CC ends in Season 3, thats one dragon dead every 4 episodes. Which doesn’t sound bad until you account for everything that happens in between - 3 more people need vestiges, potential plane-hopping, downtime scenes, romance scenes, villain scenes, character progression scenes (like the Twins finding out it was Thordak that killed their mom). Is a lot. But it could be done - a lot would probably need to get cut or condensed.

So, with that in mind, here’s what I think is going to get cut and changed if the Conclave ends in S3:

Kynan Leore is cut entirely. Vax already has plenty of storypoints on his plate, adding in Syndrome isn’t too necessary especially since Ripley can just hire anybody she wants. There’s also not been any buildup to it, and while it could happen entirely in S3, that would be time better served to the other members of Vox.

Hotis is cut entirely. Again, Vax has already had a lot happen and while Hotis’ conclusion didn’t happen until after the Conclave, what we’ve seen of Hotis seemed to just purely be an easter egg for fans of the actual-play. So this also would mean Vox Machina Does Not Go To Hell. Percy may make a deal with a devil somewhere else.

City of Brass might be cut. We’ve just seen two major moments of Scanlan (jumping from a height with Mythcarver in order to save his friends and getting a devastating hit (from Hotis’ attempted assassination), and Awakening Mythcarver by standing his ground and not running away (killing blow on a devil in the City of Brass)) so the only really important thing left there is the Plate of the Dawnmartyr, which could be moved. I can see the City of Brass staying but being greatly changed, especially if the Conclave extends into S4.

Keyleth’s Earth Aramente will be shown. This is something that happened pre-stream and during a timeskip, so no one but Matt and Marisha really have had details on this before. But the show has indicated that Keyleth still needs to go to Terra for her Aramente, so it seems like it will be shown here and she will gain her Keyteor Earth Elemental form here. Possibly could also be combined with getting the Spire of Conflux, depending on what happens with Vorugal.

Vorugal is a big heaping question mark. I have doubts they will ever show Draconia (and the ravine tree was used as their entry to Vasselheim), and a straight assault on Whitestone seems unlikely (what with the magic barrier and Raishan’s alleged help), so it’s really up in the air as to where they’ll be taking his fight (beyond being near a forest for that Anything Can Happen In the Woods scene post-battle, if it maintains its place in the timeline (it might move, honestly, as it seems too quick to have All Them Ripley Scenes in the first 3-4 episodes and then kill Vorugal since he’s definitely the second dragon that will be taken down)). Possibly the dragon fight I’m most interested in since it’s such an unknown.

Ripley might have more vestiges. For the sake of condensing things, Ripley could not only start stealing Cabal’s Ruin and Whisper, but the Plate of the Dawnmartyr as well and maybe even the Spire of Conflux. She seems WAY more involved in the show than in the streams and we’ve gotten to see her perspective fairly frequently. Having more than 1 or 2 vestiges (some part of me thinks Whisper might be cut since Show Vax is fast enough that teleporting on a knife hit seems redundant, plus it would work better having 1 vestige per character) on hand would also make her and her crew an even more interesting and dangerous Mirror Match for the party. It will also help lead the show party into discovering she’s involved, discovering she’s making guns, and letting Percy feel like shit for multiple episodes.

I do expect the Thordak and Raishan fights to go pretty much like they did on stream (barring the deaths, which all but one will be removed). Speaking of deaths...

While I really, really, REALLY want it to happen, it is still possible Percy’s Glintshore death will be replaced with something equally dire, like Orthax kidnapping his soul or something and torturing him a little, and after Orthax is gone his soul is separated from his body and is contemplating going with the Matron of Ravens until Someone calls his soul back to his body.

Unlike by brother, I still think Scanlan’s FIX HIM death is still going to happen. They’ve really been focusing on giving Scanlan a five-star treatment during the show (which, not gonna lie, I’m a little annoyed at), and that death and his team’s prank cements his decision to leave Vox Machina. It would also be a great point to allow Pike to perform her first resurrection rite, based off of how she saw Kashaw perform one, and set up for how Vax’s upcoming death is a death Pike cannot fix.

And then they might do something to set up the Whispered One / return of That Bitch arc, but I’m not sure what it could be. A villain scene, perhaps.

So, that’s it for my thoughts on the major plot beats.

#critical role #tlovm #tlovm spoilers #legend of vox machina #the legend of vox machina #yes I know it seems like I changed a lot but so has the show so far #vox machina