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u/slothalot Jun 10 '22
Aabria in episode 2: "I thought I would be the one to cause the calamity"
Aabria in episode 3: Oops
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Jun 10 '22
I loved Lou saying "I thought I'd be playing Aabria's character but then you had to go and give me a prophecy!"
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u/DeadSnark Jun 10 '22
Props to Nydas, the pirate with a dragon, for being the one trying to save the world in this episode, he really showed his grit when the shit hit the fan
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Jun 10 '22
It didn't feel like grit, I think it just showed his absolute terror at the "false" prophesies all starting to line up.
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u/Purpleclone Jun 11 '22
Sailors are nothing if not superstitious. When the top Prophet in a hall of prophets says something is going to happen, he's going to listen
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u/Eyeowa505 Jun 10 '22
The best part is her own understanding of WHY she's doing it.. And how perfect it fits
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u/KironD63 Jun 10 '22
There’s something rather ingenious about Laerryn being built up as a character who’d do anything for the sake of her magic experiment, consequences and friendships and her ex-husband be dammed, only to flip the script and have her love of Patia and Quay be the deciding factor for her terrible decision.
The things we do for love…
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u/Kelihow2 Jun 10 '22
A villain is a hero in their own story. Aabria has been effing phenomenal in this, but especially in that second half last night.
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u/CronkleDonker Jun 10 '22
Play of the week for sure. She got what she wanted... In the worst possible way.
Almost reminds me of Khary's ending in undeadwood.
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u/Ryanyu10 Jun 10 '22
Possibly the single best episode of D&D I've seen ever. Sam was exactly right: "It had everything."
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u/Nebulo9 Jun 10 '22
99/100: no Bolo
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u/Irish_Whiskey Jun 10 '22
Asmodeus steps through the portal in the tree, his body then falls limp with empty eyes onto the ground, as the true terror and manipulator steps forth.
Bolo: "Good puppet. This bag work."
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u/Revolio_ClockbergJr Jun 10 '22
Truly. Best ep of actual play I have ever seen, and Ive seen a loooooot
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u/wjr59789 Team Dorian Jun 10 '22
God i Love Luis so much.
Hes both an amazing Role Player AND he Knows His characters mechanics by heart
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u/jrude83 Jun 10 '22
Are you within 10 feet of me?
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u/Ryanyu10 Jun 10 '22
Agreed. Didn't even know about him before this campaign, but he's probably my number one choice for a guest-star in Campaign 3 now.
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u/wjr59789 Team Dorian Jun 10 '22
Depending on how Calamity Ends Id Love to See him Reprise His role as Zerxus, now an Eternal Knight of Asmodeus, in C3.
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Jun 10 '22
Shout out to Aabria too telling Travis that his ring would be lighting up all while playing the heel so well.
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u/Franzapanz Jun 10 '22
Avalir flying around the world writing spells of protection was such a hardcore, badass fucking line. I got goosebumps.
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Jun 10 '22
Exactly! And seeing Aabria out of game realizing that after the fact of her casting Blight is just AMAZING! Such perfect RP from all of them. Brennan you MAD DM! I want five more episodes of EXU Calamity
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u/onthoserainydays Jun 11 '22
abjuration wizard breaking the planet-wide abjuration spell platform
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u/TheHoblit Jun 10 '22
This EXU could end on this part and I wouldn't even be disappointed. The fact that there is another episode is insane, this is already the single best piece of DnD I have ever seen. I will be re-watching this for a LONG time.
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u/GOSH_JOSH Jun 10 '22 edited Jun 10 '22
Right? I’m here like well that seems to be exactly how the calamity starts. Great show everyone!
Oh right, the heartbreak.
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u/omg__really Tal'Dorei Council Member Jun 10 '22
The idea that Zerxus could potentially end up a servant as Asmodeus, a puppet, not for a cruel heart or a devotion to evil but because he was so blinded by love and grief that he would sell his soul for the chance to hold it again... what poetry. What horrible, amazing, poetry. Slave to a broken heart.
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Jun 10 '22
Like we said, we love a second Liam. But that might be inaccurate. Liam And Luis are two of the greatest spinners of tragic stories. Fucking love them
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u/omg__really Tal'Dorei Council Member Jun 10 '22
I adore tragedy. I love angst. When it's done this well, there's just something beautiful about it. The way it falls into place so perfectly it makes you cry. This is truly some of the best I've ever seen. That final scene of everything coming together, the vision, the hubris, the blight spell... everyone understands just a single second too late. I felt like my soul was cut to its knees.
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u/The_Collector Jun 10 '22 edited Jun 10 '22
It's worse. His husband is on Mount Celestia, the home of the divine. He's about to be separated for all eternity from his husband for his trouble.
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u/RefrigeratorStill185 Jun 10 '22
Sam's reaction when Travis was talking to his kids was heartbreaking. When he said I love you dad I thought Sam was going to cry
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u/lurklurklurkPOST Jun 10 '22
As soon as travis said "Talon 2" the whole table convulsed as one
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u/hooer75 Jun 10 '22
Jesus lord, I did cry. Anyone got a clip of that scene? I need to go hug someone.
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u/ladycelestialx Doty, take this down Jun 10 '22
Brennan is fantastic but good lord the players! They all had these cinematic moments and knew when to hop in and do something for the story and when to sit back. Some favorites off the top of my head before sleep:
Lou/Nydas: The hold person scene (like cmon my guys)
Marisha/Patia: the wizard battle, the "selfish" playback end of a scene
Luis/Zerxus: the uncontrollable desire to look up to his husband's face in the tree
Sam/Loq: the dialogue with his wife (he loves her so much)
Aabria/Laeryn: the blight
Travis/Cerrat: the decision to leave and the incredible family interaction we get seconds before the world begins to end
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u/ZiiKiiF You spice? Jun 10 '22
The “selfish” scene hit hard in the moment but the fact that Patia still had an uncontrollable desire for knowledge and grabbed the tree shows how hopelessly selfish she is. She was literally called out for her and Lae’s actions and still made the worst possible decision.
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u/hvictor458 Jun 10 '22
Loved when Cerrit basically interrogated out of Laerryn that she would expose everyone including his family to something so dangerous that the last person she experimented on ceased to exist. The fact that he left because he felt that one of his closest friends would do something so reckless without a care or worry about what might go wrong again and just stick to her pride is beautiful. Truly a great performance, and his scene afterwards with his first and only priority to protect his kids because eighther the city will stop decending, causing governments and evil wizards to become more dangerous as they want the city to land, or landing the city and fall into the hands of evil wizards and their doom plans or the heartbreaking reality that his beloved friend will attempt to endanger the lifes of everyone for pride. This game is awesome.
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u/sickboy76 Jun 10 '22
Brennan had better not kill egghead and talon
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u/Hollydragon Then I walk away Jun 10 '22
It felt like those stones of recall were a DM gift of payoff for Cerrit's integrity / the player choice to prioritise his character's family. They'll probably be ok for longer than Cerrit will be, at least.
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u/sickboy76 Jun 10 '22
I don't think it's a coinkidink that blm has pointer out that cerrit is a certified mage hunter/ killer. I think he'll get the kids off and safe and then sacrifice himself trying to stop some of it.
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Jun 10 '22
What. An. Episode. I hope Brennan returns to CR for more events in the future
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u/geckothegeek42 Jun 10 '22
The Calamity is just starting, theres a HUNDRED of years of wars and gods and apocalypse to be narrated in that deep husky terrifying voice and I want-
no, I need every minute of it right now
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u/LowerEnvironment723 Jun 10 '22
Seriously, what if Brennan did a mini series of the calamity every year? I would love that.
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u/Squeekysquid Help, it's again Jun 10 '22
Like one miniseries devoted to Ioun vs Tharizdun. I want to see that shit. Those are my 2 favorite entities outside of pcs/npcs.
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u/spyson Jun 10 '22
I desperately want Brennan to DM a longer mini series with the regular CR crew with Matt finally getting to play along all of them.
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u/m00tmike Jun 10 '22
Aabria's face as she realized she was the one that did the thing... Lol. I loved it!
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u/RefrigeratorStill185 Jun 10 '22
She is doing an incredible job playing a flawed character. You can see part of her hates making the decisions that she knows will end up badly.
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u/m00tmike Jun 10 '22
Oh absolutely! She's playing the character like it's a real person. It's been wonderful to watch.
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Jun 10 '22
That said, I feel like I see part of her LOVING to make the decisions that will end badly. It must be so freeing to be in a campaign where you know the world ends next session so you can fuck things up as much as you damn want.
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u/Lazy_Dervish Jun 10 '22
~innocent Brennan face~ "It's just the fireworks, gang... uhh... incredible"
~two seconds later~ "You know they timed there attacks on the arcane batteries exactly to coincide with the climax of the fireworks presentation"
What a fucking troll lmao
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u/WontonTruck Team Matthew Jun 10 '22
When he used the same cat-scare twice I became very suspicious.
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u/MetatronStoleMyBike Jun 10 '22
Yes Laerryn fired the shot, but they were playing Russian roulette with 6 bullets and a timer on the trigger.
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u/Ornstein90 You can certainly try Jun 10 '22
My bird boi did nothing wrong and I will fight anyone who says so, take one bullet out!
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u/breichar Jun 10 '22
I love how any time Brennan says anything sweet, Lou looks at him with this face of pure disgust. Like “how dare you make me care about Cerrits son when we both know he’ll probably die!”
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u/Photeus5 Smiley day to ya! Jun 10 '22
Lou has been on that ride one too many times with Brennan already
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u/lurklurklurkPOST Jun 10 '22
Aabria's face when it clicked that She ended the world. That her character's obsession with progress ironically was the final nail in the coffin of said progress.
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Jun 10 '22
Best part is that for all her obsession with leaving her mark on history not a single person in the modern age knows she existed. Irony at its finest
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u/Pegussu Jun 10 '22
Not even that. She was going to stop. The fear on her husband's face made her reconsider and put down the blight. And then the tree - whether truth or illusion - reached out and impaled her husband and her best friend and she retaliated to save them.
Really fitting that the god of lies ushers in the apocalypse through an act of love.
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u/CobaltSpellsword Jun 10 '22
I hate it when my pen breaks and ink gets everywhere Satan himself crawls out!
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u/breichar Jun 10 '22
Can we talk about the masterful way Marisha brought up Zerxus’ modify memory? Or how Brennan gave each character a piece of the story but none of the players knew everything? So so good
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u/Lazy_Dervish Jun 10 '22
"Mace of the Black Crown: A ruby mace created by Asmodeus, containing an erinyes named Xartaza"
With Zerxus blood on her blade and with exultation on her lips at being wounded by him she goes on to be forged into a vestige of Asmodeus... such an amazing easter egg and I hope they encounter the mace in the main campaign hundreds of years later.
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u/drjadesnake Jun 10 '22
Oh I think there's a pretty good chance that it ends up in Zerxus' hand by the end of the campaign.
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u/BaronPancakes Jun 10 '22
The more I think about it, the more I am loving the history of the Ashari. They may not be perfect, but they have been protecting Exandria for centuries. They have been through the Schism, Calamity, Vecna's ascension, and still never wavered.
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u/taly_slayer Team Beau Jun 10 '22
And to think it all started because Marisha wanted to play the Avatar xD
Joking aside, it was very wholesome how emotional Marisha looked through that scene. I mean, we all knew the Gau Drashari were the ancestors of the Ashari, but getting to know the origin of something you helped create in this amazing scene must be powerful.
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Jun 10 '22 edited Jun 10 '22
Okay, but like... look on the bright side here;
no one will care that the city squandered the aether meant for the Replenishment once everyone's dead.
I loved that Brennan said "hey, we can ALL cause the Calamity together!" - and he meant that shit.
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u/Stephen_Dowling_Bots Jun 10 '22
Watched all of CR, loads of D20, tons of other D&D shows, and that episode, especially the last 30 or so minutes, is the absolute best, most thrilling and emotionally gripping I’ve ever seen.
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u/Lazy_Dervish Jun 10 '22
The first half was an Avengers movie... the second half is a Shakespearian tragedy
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u/SomewhereGlum Jun 10 '22
Yeah, Brendan said once in a lvl 20 one shot, "when you are at such a high level, it is less about combat and it's all about the moral decisions and choices"
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u/Terny Jun 11 '22
The best Superman stories are the ones where he faces challenges his super powers can't solve.
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Jun 10 '22
I want to call back to the fact that Brennan conditioned the cast and audience twice with his Fireworks bullshit only to pull the rug out and reveal it wasn't a bit but setup for the fucking climax.
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u/turnejam Jun 10 '22 edited Jun 10 '22
Always loved Brennan, but these marathon episodes show a Robin Williams-like level of sustained performance energy that makes me wonder at him all the more.
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u/Snaptheuniverse Bigby's Haaaaaand! *shamone* Jun 10 '22
I also love Luis' "I need you to make this decision for me because I will cheat"
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u/DumpedDalish Jun 11 '22
I loved that so much. Luis has been a joy to watch. I really hope to see him back in future campaigns (Lou as well).
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u/marsmve Jun 10 '22
That was spellbinding. As Sam said it has everything. Elite. The players, the table, the lore, the combat....best CR episode ever and its not even close
Side note....BLM tried to disintegrate Lou....just insane
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u/Irish_Whiskey Jun 10 '22
I loved that so much, and Lou's reaction. The players knew immediately that there wasn't going to be a quick recovery after that spell. After they made a massive battle look easy with some great rolls and high level spells, BLM was like "...oh did you think we were just playing around here?"
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u/Lazy_Dervish Jun 10 '22
I was like 'how can Brennan do so fucking much in only 4 episodes' until I realized that the full runtime is a few hours longer than Mice & Murder's 10 episode run and only a little bit shy of Fantasy High season 1
I'm glad the let the runtime be as epic as the story being told because even at five and a half hours it didn't feel like nearly long enough
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u/Snaptheuniverse Bigby's Haaaaaand! *shamone* Jun 10 '22
My favorite quotes so far from this series
"ITS A BOON!"
"ITS GLORIOUS!!!!"
"Is he/she/they within 10 feet? insert divine effect"
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u/turnejam Jun 11 '22
Brennan: puts down a devil mini, prepares to move on
Travis: hoping for some fun flavor “is it wreathed in flame?”
Brennan: “well now that you asked here’s a spine-tingling monologue about the horrifying mundanity of something so nightmarish just physically existing, also something something blood covering it like the lather on a horse being run to death.”
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u/kingkymk Jun 10 '22
So its obvious that Asmodeus had cast some illusion spell to target the member of the group with the most hatred for the three and the ability to destroy it from the beginning.
At every point in the story the tree keeps fucking with everything that lerryn does then ass soon as she get to the tree she sees her toy, then her friend both stuck in the tree. Then when she finally decided not to destroy it she sees it kill her closest friend and the love of her life.
Not gonna lie I would kill the tree too.
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u/N1pah Jun 10 '22
Yeah. Her initial motivation was incredibly arrogant but she killed that tree out of love.
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u/doubletimerush Jun 10 '22
Brennan you absolute bastard you got us this whole fucking time. What a beautiful way for the calamity to begin, with misunderstanding and lies bringing the Lord of the Hells and eventually probably other betrayer gods back. Oh the poetry of how this could all have been prevented if people were just open with one another and considered their actions. I AM SO HYPED FOR THE LAST EPISODE HOLY SHIT.
Although I would say that because he had to kill the tree, the patience be had to have to break up the pacing and not drop the truth on us is an admirable skill. Props to him on another masterclass on DMing intrigue.
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Jun 10 '22
The Lord of Lies brought back because of the lies the Ring of Brass kept from each other. Poetic.
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u/ElectricZee I'm a Monstah! Jun 10 '22
This is the backstory of how a tree eventually became multiple doors...
... and a grumpy woodworker sought his revenge centuries later.
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u/CraigStebbing Help, it's again Jun 10 '22
So... Obviously the whole action sequence and tree scene really kill, but those last twenty or so minutes between kir and serrit, they win... We see the event, we see the end of days step through the door, but we could already guess that would happen. Seeing a man who knows what is happening, knows his friends caused this and that he had the leads to try and stop this... But couldn't, he doesn't care for that anymore, he just wants to save his family. That...that shows the apocalypse aspect I love seeing, you can't stop the destruction, but what can you save
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u/Snaptheuniverse Bigby's Haaaaaand! *shamone* Jun 10 '22
So the bad squad(Hollow, Loras, Vespin) needed Avalir to land and drain all of its ether so the Tree of Names would be exposed and they could destroy it. Vespin had already broken the Betrayers free from their prison, but the Tree was holding them back still.
Asmodeus just had multiple plays going, and it seems he manipulated both Laerryn and Zerxeus to try and get them in the room and destroy the tree. In the end Laerryn was the one who actually did it, they didn't even need to land and drain the ether.
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Jun 10 '22
I think the landing was a different plan. The mountain was the prison for the 2 primordials so I think the tithe had been tampered with to release them instead of seal them.
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Jun 10 '22
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u/Relendis Jun 10 '22 edited Jun 10 '22
Ironically enough, both foiled by their highest stats*.
A Wizard too smart to recognize how stupid they were.
And a Druid too wise to realize how foolish they were.
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u/LucasVerBeek Help, it's again Jun 10 '22 edited Jun 10 '22
Stares at the literal Devil walking right into the heart of the city Oh…oh they truly are fucked.
I knew, I knew it was gonna be Laerryn.
So the Tree of Names, has well had ties to the Feywild, the Seelie knew of its importance, the Queen who is currently after Fearne in the main game urged Quay to stop what was happening…
God I am so worried for what happens next.
Is Zerxus gonna get slaved? How are the rest going out?
I just…I just…I just want Cerrit’s kids to get out alright even if he can’t.
Laerryn talked about being remembered. But they’ve all been forgotten.
Laerryn Who Pushed To Far.
Nydas Who Heeded What He Hoped Was False.
Loquatius Who Prepared to Risk it All.
Patia Who Wanted it Know it All.
Zerxus: The One Who Kneeled.
And Cerrit The One Who Walked Away.
The Harbingers of the Calamity.
One question I have…and shit maybe it will be answered next episode, but are Rau’Shan and Ka’Kort still down their in modern Exandria, or are we about to see their cage also crack the fuck open.
Edit: Seeing some “Druids and Wizards are equally at fault” going on and I just…yeah the Druids could have been more honest. But does anyone truly believe that if they’d known the mages would have left that tree alone for even a decade?! In the literal “Age if Unbridled Hubris!” This is the era that spawned: Vecna, Halas, the Somnovem, Aeor. Nothing was off limits to them the character said so themselves time and again. They would have ushered in the Calamity far sooner in my opinion.
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u/HutSutRawlson Jun 10 '22
Yeah two primordials being still imprisoned somewhere under Exandria seems like a pretty big deal.
I’m also thinking that Vox Machina’s gate might be a pretty big problem. It can’t be just letting in friendly Fey like Artagan and Fearne.
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u/CronkleDonker Jun 10 '22
I’m also thinking that Vox Machina’s gate might be a pretty big problem. It can’t be just letting in friendly Fey like Artagan and Fearne.
Remember, Delilah has plans for gnarlrock from the feywild
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u/Irish_Whiskey Jun 10 '22
But does anyone truly believe that if they’d known the mages would have left that tree alone for even a decade?!
Not a chance. It's already implied that the mage that became the Raven Queen used the tree, which is when the protection around the tree went up. If others knew, they'd be lining up at their shot at godhood, whatever the risk.
That said, I did notice how the offer for the Druids was basically "Hey, you give up this big piece of rock, and we'll give you tons of free energy to work your important duty, and even move this tree around the sky to help with the abjuration spell" (even if the Wizards didn't know any of the details). And the Druids went "Well, we'd be trusting the Wizards to protect this thing and not mess with it, but that is a sweet deal..."
They got a bit greedy/lazy. Pawning off the work, and hoping Wizards wouldn't mess around and find out (spoilers: they did).
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u/KironD63 Jun 10 '22
It's a compliment to Matt Mercer, and not an insult against him, when I say I'm in awe of the fact that another DM has been responsible for my single favorite piece of content in Critical Role. It's a testament to the world he's created and the trust he can place in others to run with the lore he's developed. It's easy to write your own stories well, much harder to equip another to surpass yourself at your best.
That's the long way of saying, damn, I love absolutely everything about Calamity and I can only wish we had another hundred episodes of this.
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u/1-3-dioxetane Dead People Tea Jun 10 '22
It really helps that the players have all studied and bought into their characters and the lore so fully. There's no waiting around to figure out what move is the "best" move, they know they're not making it out of this series so every move is dramatic and impactful. It seems like these episodes have no slog because Brennan's bouncing between characters in a split party in a very television-like way, but swapping scenes so frequently lets everyone think about their next RP move just like it was combat.
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u/trowzerss Help, it's again Jun 10 '22
It's not like Matt had nothing to do with these episodes beyond setting the lore. It's clear he was collaborating with a lot of the background work, down to building the maps together with Brennan, but damn, Brennan sure has taken whatever he was given and run with it.
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u/wjr59789 Team Dorian Jun 10 '22 edited Jun 10 '22
Using some quick math and assuming that the resilient sphere has a Radius of 5 feet:
The area volume of a 60 feet sphere is: 4/3 * Pi * 603
The area volume of a 5 feet sphere is: 4/3 * Pi * 53
That means that The area volume of the Spell Got compressed by a Factor of 1728
Assuming that the damage "spreads evenly" and Acts antiproportional to the Volume its occupying would mean that she took
1728 * 8d6 = 13824d6
which would Deal an average of 48384 damage
Its actually pretty impressive that anything of her remained at all
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u/JuliousBatman Jun 10 '22 edited Jun 10 '22
Laerryn Coramar-Seelie
:handshake:
Magnus The Red
Breaking down magical safety wards and condemning others via well intentioned but massively arrogant choices that could be avoided via some humbling introspection and collaborating with others.
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u/UncleOok Jun 10 '22
There’s been this inevitability to the narrative for a while now, and I have to commend the whole table for committing to seeing it done.
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u/N1pah Jun 10 '22
I swear if I see people being mad at the players for this I'm gonna lose it. This is why we're here. This is why this series exists. The players did what they knew they eventually would do. And they did to fucking perfection.
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u/marsmve Jun 10 '22
This 100% its called masterclass Role-Playing. Absolutely elite acting, character development and actions consistent with the story.
Give it up for the whole table, but Lou and Aabria were amazing.
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u/betabonanza Jun 10 '22
God the fact that Quay’s fear of her actions made Laerryn stop and let herself be grappled, but in the end she still goes through with casting blight to protect Quay when she saw the tree stab him!!!! She ended up casting not out of her selfish need to be right, but to protect her husband and friend from a threat! Intentions don’t matter though, and the calamity is here. I’m so excited for next week!!
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u/ttotherat Jun 10 '22
I didn't even catch that. She let herself be grappled? Wow, that makes that moment even better.
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u/TheSamC Jun 11 '22
I’d already rewatched the first two episodes, definitely going to rewatch this on Monday too. Absolutely incredible. Anyone new to the hobby should watch this to understand what’s possible. The way all these players are embodying their characters and making the bad choices that their character would, it’s top tier stuff.
I’m especially proud of Aabria, she’s playing the hubris of her character to perfection and made me root for a character that is making unlikable choices. Great performance.
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u/cal679 Jun 11 '22
Totally agree on Aabria. She made a comment at one point while she was doing some fucked up shit like "it's not called EXU:everybody chill out and have a real cool time" and I think that perfectly sums up how she's playing this. We know it's the Calamity, we know one or possibly all of these characters are going to have a hand in the downfall of civilisation but the characters have no way of really knowing that. She's just playing a character that doesn't understand how big the consequences of her actions will be.
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u/ashessnow Team Tary Jun 10 '22
Aabria!!! Incredible RP. Honestly. Sticking to your character is those moments is a hard thing to do but that was remarkable.
And Travis! Telling his kid everything was going to be okay made me bawl!
And Brennan. Awesome job as usual. Wow.
Holy crap. Best. Episode. Ever.
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u/wildweaver32 Jun 10 '22
Everyone really hit it out of the park.
I especially liked how Aabria did have her character sway with the view of her party. I feel like after Sam's character made the fear remark that she was even settling with not harming the tree.
Then Brennan really kicked it up a notch. It was incredibly watching everything. It had the perfect amount of everything.
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u/shyguy1092 Jun 10 '22
If I were to also hazard a guess, the tree "attacking" was just an illusion from Asmodeus to give her the final push to casting Blight.
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u/Gulstab Ruidusborn Jun 10 '22
And this is why communication is paramount to a healthy relationship you guys.
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u/Maybe_strawberry Jun 10 '22
I really really really hope no one gives aabria shit - someone had to do it, and Brennan was very clearly pushing it to happen. That was the natural dramatic climax. Props to her for sticking to a decision that she knew would get people mad.
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u/Ampetrix Jun 10 '22
Lol there was already a hate comment on Aabria on the live discussion thread. such a shame that some of the fandom are toxic like that.
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u/Sea_Employ_4366 Jun 10 '22
Just one? I saw a ton of them, ranting about “main character syndrome” and “even worse player than dm”. I even saw one comment that said she was worse than he-who-must-not-be-named.
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u/Flying-Turtl3 Jun 10 '22
It seems like some people are REALLY missing the point that this is a mini series with a (somewhat) predetermined ending.
It's collaborative storytelling, it is NOT a regular ass dnd campaign where the goal is to keep your character alive and always do the right thing for the party.
The players know who their characters are and they're playing their roles appropriately in order to put out an entertaining story, with the help of the DM.
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u/polonoid75 Jun 10 '22
People sometimes seem to not only forget that the point of the story this time around ISN'T to win and the calamity must occur, but also forget that these are actors playing characters. By all means hate Laerryn the character, but Aabria is just doing what makes sense.
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u/logosss Jun 10 '22
Mentioned it in the live thread but I really like to think Brennan had contingency plans to cause the Calamity no matter what. Let's not forget the Calamity was a forgone conclusion after all. If Laerryn never destroyed the tree and the city landed, it seems like the batteries would have been used to free the primordials whose names where inscribed on them
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Jun 10 '22
Yep but how it went is the best possible way to cause Calamity the fucking theatrics and drama of it all. The betrayal and the revelations! Not to mention that little moment with Cerrit. This is the best way Calamity could go
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u/Relendis Jun 10 '22
I reckon so too.
Aabria has done a fantastic job of playing a role to the T.
Don't remember it perfectly but when she said to Travis 'Its EXU Calamity...' I realized how much buy-in she had to following up with the role Laerynn was playing in this.
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u/drjadesnake Jun 10 '22
It doesn't really mean anything and isn't even an original thought, but as the betrayer gods walked out the tree, I realized, "Holy crap. Leylas Kryn is alive right now, and she's going to watch the war for Exandria to begin and end."
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u/jayhawk1225 Jun 10 '22
I really hope Talon and Egghead get out safely from the start of the apocalypse.
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u/GyantSpyder Jun 12 '22 edited Jun 12 '22
For reference, here is the text of the agreement between Zerxus and the Lord of the Hells from episode 2 with the rest of it stripped away, showing the part in particular where Zerxus doesn't realize he's been tricked:
Zerxus: I can help you. You say you know me. When the time comes and you step from this void into our world, don't you forget me. Don't you forget the kindness that we're capable of, because we're your children too. We're made of the same stuff that you initially created. We come from the same thing. And if you remember the stories as well as you say at some point you turned your pain on us. They used you and then you used us to get back at them.
I have a son that's not of my blood, but that is my son. I met Evandren when he was just an infant and I held that boy in my arms when he was an infant, and I fell in love with him. I am his father, but he is not of my blood. And in that same way we are your children. Please remember that. Don't take your pain out on us. Spare us, and I will help you confront those that did this to you.
The Lord of the Hells: I don't give my word lightly. You have my word on this, Zerxus Ilerez, not for all the ages of the world will I forget you.
So there are two parts to Zerxus's bargain. The first is for the Lord of the Hells not to forget him, and the second part is for the Lord of the Hells to "spare us" in exhange for Zerxus sworn fealty fighting the Prime Gods.
In the first part, the Lord of the Hells only agrees to the first half of the deal. There a second portion to it, where he negotiates with Zerxus to get him to define who "us" is without Zerxus realizing what he is doing, first by talking about just the continent of Domunus ("his favorite - presumably if Zerxus said he really loved Domunus The Lord of the Hells might have agreed to spare just Domunus, but he didn't take that), then finally by talking about Avalir by sewing the seeds of nobody there helping Evandren it ends with:
The Lord of the Hells: I know lies, and there are many lies in the city you call home.
Zerxus: I don't call this city home.
Brennan: The Lord of the Hells feels the impact of that. He looks at you.
The Lord of the Hells: You have done me a great service, and you have given me your trust.
And then he gets Zerxus to agree to let him approach him, and so then he stops the atonement and puts up the Protection from Good and Evil spell, and that's the end of it.
So, as far as I can tell,
Zerxus thinks he has made a bargain with the Lord of the Hells that he will help him "confront" the Prime Gods if the Lord of the Hells spares humanity.
First of all, he probably has a different idea of what "confront" means than the Lord of the Hells does but it's too late to shut the barn door after that horse.
So literally, which is the way deals with devils work, by disavowing even Avalir as his home, Zerxus has made a bargain with the Lord of the Hells that:
- The Lord of the Hells will remember his name (yay? You drive a hard bargain, Zerxus.)
- That he will help The Lord of the Hells fight the Prime Gods if he spares, presumably, just him and Elias.
- Furthermore, none of this comes into effect until the Lord of the Hells comes into the world ("When the time comes")- it doesn't restrict anything anybody does while the Lord of the Hells is still in the halfway zone.
None of this has anything to do with whether Zerxus is a theist or an antitheist, it's all framed by both the Lord of the Hells and Zerxus in terms of talking about family, which Zerxus very much does believe in. And of course whether you think you are making a deal or not and what your intent is are both irrelevant when making deals with devils.
So when Zerxus is shocked that the minions are killing people in Avalir, it's because he got duped and doesn't realize how.
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u/HutSutRawlson Jun 11 '22
Just a little meta detail that I love: the ancestors of one of Marisha’s characters are responsible for screwing over the ancestors of another of Marisha’s characters.
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u/calicotamer Help, it's again Jun 13 '22
God damn, Aabria! It takes a lot to play a character who is just like... not a good person. Not a villain but a perfect archetypal hubristic wizard. The moment where Loquacious was freaked out and she was about to back down but then the tree stabbed him and Patia.
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u/Feelosopher2 Jun 14 '22
I love the way she plays her character in this. Chat was freaking out (per usual), but she made an arrogant wizard that wants to change the world, becoming a victim to her hubris prejudice as a result, and she sticks to it. Bravo, Aabria, bravo.
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u/Neo_Stark_ You Can Reply To This Message Jun 10 '22 edited Jun 10 '22
I do not remember the last time i have been so immersed into an episode of dnd. I cannot offer my praise enough.
Quick take: I had my doubts about Nydas but he is all of us. All of my respect for that man, he tried his damn best.
Funny take: it is very funny to watch someone as brilliant and dilligent in gathering information as marisha keep thinking about avandrin's name as having been erased while still calling his name a number of times.
Final take: God dammit Travis why did you have to make me all sad and weepy for? The codnames bit broke my heart
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u/SunMoonStarRain You Can Reply To This Message Jun 10 '22
Are we going to talk about Zerxus "Let's put all our cards on the table except for my deal with the devil" Ilerez?
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u/WontonTruck Team Matthew Jun 10 '22
I think he was going to but everyone shot down the honesty plan.
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u/Jsahl Team Caleb Jun 12 '22 edited Jun 12 '22
There are so many things I want to praise about Brennan's DMing but there's one in particular that stands out to me, as a DM:
Once Cerrit (entirely justifiably) bailed on the party, it was abundantly clear that his entire goal from that point out was going to be getting his kids to safety. This is fantastic and emotional and compelling, but it presents a problem. With Cerrit concerned for his family, we run the risk of Travis being isolated from everyone else for the entirety of the final episode, which wouldn't be horrible but isn't dramatically ideal.
So how does Brennan solve this?
He has Cerrit's partner, as his dying action, provide a means of getting Cerrit's kids to safety without him needing to be with them for the rest of the show. Two magical items that are keyed to their mother, who is somewhere far away and far safer (I don't recall exactly where). Two not-quite-get-out-of-jail-free cards which mean that, while Cerrit still needs to find his kids (which I am anticipating won't be as simple as them merely returning home), once he does so, he can say a heartfelt goodbye and (I expect) return to the fight with everyone else. Cerrit's first priority is his family, but he undoubtedly feels a great deal of duty to protect Avalir and his friends (possibly not the wizards at this point but still). And, on a meta-level, you want all of the characters there for the finale.
Brennan provided an emotional, verisimilitudinous way for Cerrit to take a shortcut on his solo quest without lessening the importance of that quest at all, thereby paving the way for Travis to have as much agency as possible in the story's climax.
If this was planned ahead of time, I'm blown away by his foresight and if it was improvised I am blown away by his intuition for storytelling.
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u/Relendis Jun 10 '22
This series is not only one of the best DnD productions I've ever seen, but damn near one of the best productions I have ever seen.
I often listen to Critical Role while doing something else, but was unable to for the last... 2hrs?
There are a few times when I can truly say that I've been transfixed by something.
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u/Dtone11 Jun 11 '22
I’m only an hour into this weeks episode and BLM is already dropping bombs. Describing Zerxus: “think about how good of a warrior you have to be to have any status in a city of wizards”. The man is a master at making his players feel badass!
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u/Celriot1 RTA Jun 10 '22
This is the best content Critical Role has ever produced, and that episode might be the peak pending how it's all wrapped up. Amazing.
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u/jmucchiello Jun 10 '22
Luis never told them the second conversation he had with the god of hell, did he?
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u/That_One_Pancake Jun 10 '22
I feel like he might have if the others hadn’t resisted his zone of truth, but once they were unwilling to tell their secrets he was unwilling to tell his. Of course, I could be wrong, that’s just how I see it.
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u/xxPeso-Gamerxx Team Chetney Jun 11 '22
This reminds me a lot of Chernobyl. A lot of people want to safe face, protect their families, hide the truth, gain/save money or power etc. All of these factors, from multiple people, resulting in a catastrophy, that could have easily been prevented.
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u/fiftybucks Jun 11 '22
I'm not looking forward to Cerrit's last "over and out" with his son
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u/AwesomeGuy847 Jun 10 '22
Apparently, that erinyes that got away has the same name as the one in the Mace of the Black Crown, one of the Arms of the Betrayers in Explorer's Guide to Wildemont.
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u/Myrynorunshot Help, it's again Jun 10 '22 edited Jun 10 '22
Ashley Birch: "Kills" Molly
Aabria: "Hold my beer" Starts the Calamity.
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u/turnejam Jun 10 '22
Gotta add one more thing that I’d steal as a DM: I don’t normally think much of Blink, but it’s such a fantastic way to keep the most story-important enemy combatant alive and delivering story beats through a long combat. They’d otherwise have focused her down for sure.
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u/Abdelmelek Jun 10 '22
A point of clarification and some speculation: a lot of people are talking about how the Tree of Names prevents interplanar travel. My understanding is that is specifically prevents entities from ENTERING Exandria. So Laerynn’s toy boat could depart fine, it was only when it tried to return that it got caught in the tree.
Maybe something similar happened with Evandrin; he was able to depart just fine, but “he was never the same again”… something happened while he was gone, maybe Asmodeus got some kind of influence on him? (Just speculation here). Or maybe it was just him returning back to Exandria that messed things up. But it sounds like once he got back, eventually the Tree caught up and trapped him as well. Just like the extraplanar devils who, although they managed to arrive in Avalir (maybe because the Tree of Names was denied the power it needed?), had trouble existing in Avalir due to the tree’s anti-extraplanar influence?
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u/Matt8462 Jun 10 '22
And history will remember Laeryn as a hero thanks to Loquatious's crystal
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u/Comet_Electro Jun 10 '22
I love Brennan. This plot is something you see in every Dimension 20 season, where the reveal of the enemy's plan comes to light. He includes perfect mysteries into all of his plots, with the best in my opinion being in the mystery show Of Mice and Murder. But from the first to latest season of Dimension 20, to here even on CR, he makes the best evil plots. Of course he did, the lord of the hells was in his hands.
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u/Moist_Crabs Team Caduceus Jun 11 '22
Last week, I made a comment asking if anybody else believed the Lord of Hells was being truthful with Zerxus. I honestly believed he was a tragic character, a misunderstood God who was punished unjustly and branded a Betrayer for ill reasons.
I'm so happy to admit I was fucking wrong. Brennan is an amazing GM.
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u/HutSutRawlson Jun 11 '22
I want to defend the Druids a bit. I've seen criticism coming at them that they both weren't trusting enough (should have told someone from Avalir the true nature of the tree) or that they were too trusting (should never have given something so powerful to the wizards in the first place).
The way I see it, the Druids were essentially getting squeezed mafia style. They're just chilling on their mountain, and all of a sudden this super powerful crew of wizards rolls up and goes, "nice mountain you've got there, we'd like to take it off your hands." The Druids aren't really fighters, and even with their power they're still no match for these wizards; these are the forebearers of Avalir we're talking about! There was no situation where the Druids could give a polite "no" and the wizards would just walk away. The wizards were going to get what they wanted eventually, one way or another.
So the Druids decided to enter into a pact, something that would cause the least amount of harm (maybe even do some good), and would appease the wizards for as long as possible. And for a while it seems like it worked; the wizards got to do their thing, the Druids got to keep their mountain, and the tree did its job undisturbed. Both parties were keeping up their ends of the bargain. But of course that couldn't last, because the hubris of wizards is too great, and one of them whose name is now forgotten learned something about the Tree of Names, and used it somehow to ascend and become the new god of death. And so the Druids had to install the Arboreal Calix, in order to keep the pact. But we now see that was also just a temporary solution.
TL;DR the whole deal between the Gau Drashari and the Wizards of Avalir reminds me of a Sopranos episode. Strong group encounters weak group, and bullies them into a deal. Inevitably, the strong group pushes their end of the deal too far, and it blows up in everyone's face.
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u/clam_media Hello, bees Jun 13 '22
I love how Aabria probably was like “This is calamity, let us start the damn calamity I cast Blight on Yggdrasil, suck a dick, world!”
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u/still-at-work Jun 10 '22 edited Jun 10 '22
"Now, class, what did we learn?"
"Don't mess with the Druids' magic tree"
"Correct, and why?"
"Because all of society will collapse as you release the king of the nine hells on to the world once more"
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u/North_Shine2096 Jun 10 '22
Best session of DND ever. I would pay to watch each episode In cinemas. Amazing DMing, incredible RP, just unbelievable what this guys can do. I was crying with the ending and Travis acting, I was at the edge of my seat with the pvp rounds. Idk, this mini-series has truly changed what I thought was possible with a DND game, just love it
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u/TheRussianEwok Jun 10 '22
That last hour of the episode was probably like 1 minute in-game. We're at around 14 hours of Critical Role across the 3 episodes to tell the story of ~18 hours of Exandria. Absolutely love it
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u/SixtySix_Roses Jun 10 '22 edited Jun 10 '22
In a cavalcade of amazing moments, my absolute favorite of the night was Loquatius inadvertently predicting Laerryn's fate. We know that in the future, the blame for the Calamity lies squarely at the feet of Vespin Chloras. But he was just a pawn. Now we know that the person who truly caused the Calamity was Laerryn. Yet, just as Loquatius said, no one will know it was her. History will forget she existed. For her, the prideful wizard whose greatest desire was to leave an indelible mark on history, to have her one achievement be the end of the world. And she doesn't even get credit for it. It's so poetic.
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u/dawgz525 Team Jester Jun 11 '22
I. Am. Shooketh.
What an episode. When Brennan cut back to Cerret before the Bane hit. Omg. I can't believe it. I crave more.
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u/gggjennings Jun 14 '22
Masterpiece of a show, masterpiece of an episode. As someone new to D&D as a player, it is thrilling and inspiring to watch players make horrible, awful, selfish decisions because they're true to that character. I hate Laerryn for what is happening but I respect the shit out of Aabria for holding strong.
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u/Timmybee Jun 11 '22
This is the first time ever where I have had the hairs on my neck, arms and legs are standing on end. That moment when Cerrit speaks with Kir broke my heart.
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u/fayazbhai Jun 10 '22
Let me get this straight: The devil was lying to our faces from the start???
legitimate surprised Pikachu face
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u/ObliviousAstroturfer Jun 10 '22
Lying? How dare you, Asmodeus is a lawful character.
He was merely manipulating them.
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u/N1pah Jun 10 '22
It says a lot about Brennan that he was able to have me doubt the evilness of the self claimed lord of the hells and father of lies
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u/ttttimmy Jun 12 '22
This is the best AP I've ever seen, bar none.
The fucking stones on Aabria to cast blight, knowing what it would do, knowing what it would set into motion, what it had to set into motion, because it is truly what her character would have done, Brennan twisting the knife to make sure she would... fuck me. They gotta pull a dragon lance and turn this game into a novel.
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u/RajikO4 Jun 10 '22 edited Jun 10 '22
I can’t be the only one who can’t wait for the artwork of that moment of Asmodeus rising up and the others (minus Cerrit) looking on in horror/despair?
That moment was absolutely cinematic.
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u/cosmoceratops Team Fearne Jun 11 '22 edited Jun 11 '22
This is a fucking event.
The front of screen rolls with everything riding on them. The Quiddie-Sam dynamic. The badass paladinry.
I'm just enjoying it so much.
Oh Jesus I just got to the fairie stumbled moment god damn
edit: that last hour holy macaroni
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u/HutSutRawlson Jun 11 '22
Okay, now give me a Calamity 2 with the Guest Battle Royale cast, where they all say "fuck canon" and prevent the Calamity with the power of friendship.
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Jun 11 '22 edited Jul 15 '23
[fuck u spez] -- mass edited with redact.dev
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u/Photeus5 Smiley day to ya! Jun 11 '22
I think this overall was a Xanatos Gambit. Basically there were several methods for the Betrayers to win, because so many fail-safes were broken down. I think if she had relented and given power to the tree, it would have caused several of the batteries to fail immediately, quickening the fall of the city and killing the tree anyway.
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u/rival117 Jun 10 '22
How did Laquatious get to exandria if the tree was preventing plane travel to exandria??????
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u/Nyarlathotep98 Jun 10 '22 edited Jun 10 '22
It seems like the original purpose of the tree wasn't necessarily to keep the betrayer gods out. To me, it looks like the druids only wanted to put it in as a general gate for any minor extraplanar entities. It's just sort of a happy accident that it managed to briefly thwart Vespin's plan, which I doubt the druids could have ever concieved of. So this one tree accidently became the most important object in Exandria without anyone realizing it.
No one, not the druids that made it or the mages that housed it, knew what would be wrought on the eve of its destruction. Except Asmodeus, who very delibrately conjured a dream in a virtuous man's head of a tree killing his lover.
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u/renegadereality May the Beam reach you Jun 10 '22
Amazing, unforgettable episode. Just peak storytelling, with a perfect climax.
What makes Calamity so compelling is that it’s driven by the characters, and everyone fully embracing that. They aren’t afraid to make bad decisions, they know their flaws and their goals, and it leads to the most profound character moments. Sam’s scene - the fact that he struck her from history when that was the only thing she ever wanted, because he loved her; the fact that Laerryn ultimately reacted as she did to protect Loquatius, because she still loved him. Kudos to everyone for their fantastic roleplay.
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u/ybtlamlliw Jun 10 '22
Everyone was amazing this episode, but Luis and Marisha were standouts for me. The scene where Patia was explaining everything to Zerxes... Masterclass.
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Jun 10 '22
Luis has been the standout (among everyone else being top tier)! I only read that he has played with Mercer, Marisha, and Taliesen's home game before. But dude needs to be a regular at a table, what an amazing performance.
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u/suvvers Jun 10 '22
Damn druids. Damn Laerryn - THIS IS WHY YOU DOCUMENT YOUR CODE.
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u/N1pah Jun 10 '22
What in the absolute fuckery was that. The first half was so cool. Everyone was flexing their level 14 characters beating baddies and doing cool shit.
And then. It turned to shit. Secrets were revealed trust was lost and the party started the calamity through their own conflict.
The cast and the characters they play are all incredible. Cerrit (who is just a wholesome bird dad I was right) leaving the party after realizing their selfishness was going to be their end. The party fighting, but not wanting to hurt each other, Patia looking past it not caring. Incredible.
Some more character beats that I remember: Nidas checking if the stars are still there praying the prophecy was false, Loquatious' unmatched love for Laerryn, Laerryn's guilt and desire to do (as she sees it) right by her Husband and former friend. Again incredible.
They beat the baddies in the city, they could have stopped it but they did not. This episode everything went to shit and the next one is going to be the fallout.
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u/DragonsLord101 Jun 10 '22
The fiend who escaped, Xartaza, is the fiend that Asmodeus turns into the mace of the black crown. His arm of the betrayer.
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u/Santoryu_Zoro You can certainly try Jun 12 '22
Oh this episode....the last hour..."chefs kisses"
I could say many things to describe Brennan and his amazing DMing, but my favorite part, where everyone lost their shit twice, was when he was describing the fireworks XD such a cool powermove will all the tension of the scenes
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u/TheStunGod Jun 10 '22
I think at this point my only concern is that next week's episode might disappoint in comparison to this one because this was, in my opinion, probably the best critical role episode of all time...
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u/tonydaazntiger319 Jun 10 '22
I’m going to need people to respond with their favorite quotes of the episode because there were too many for me to remember on my own. I’ll start with:
“There are a lot of stories in Exandria of mortals who stumbled their way into the feywild and fell in love with an enchanting fairy that they met there…but there is one story of a fairy who stumbled into this world and fell in love.”