Exandria Unlimited: Calamity Wrap-Up
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- čas přidán 12. 07. 2022
- Join the entire cast of Exandria Unlimited: Calamity as they wrap up and reminisce about the making of the show.
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#ExandriaUnlimited #CriticalRole #DungeonsAndDragons - Hry
It’s so poetic that the only non spell caster survived this campaign
Signifies the Age of ARCANUM ended with the magic users dying.
"Muscle wizard cast punch"
@@Jackie_Tikki_Tavi Cerrit was a rogue, so it's more like "stealth wizard cast knife"
Stealth wizard casts axe*
Travis: "I would like to cast Kill Person."
The fan theory that the Orb going to Cerrit’s daughter kickstarted the Cobalt Reserve is perfect as far as I’m concerned. I love it.
Exactly. And I don't care if some people claim how "unsound" it would be. Because canon, like time, is a weird soup. It is bound to be retconned eventually.
@View Bot let's all hope this ages well and CR never has to resort to sloppy time travel to make canon work.
@@joemarais7683 it hasn’t so far, If time travel ever did become a plot hook I don’t think it would be done in a sloppy way. Also I think that the time related stuff probably won’t be coming back as a main point for a while since it kinda underpinned all of C2
@View Bot you wrong
@View Bot
It's intrinsically linked to space, and space-time is a weird soup. Time absolutely does not operate in a set finite way, whatever that means. It's impossible to define a "current moment" shared by two different points in space, and velocity of any kind immediately changes how time progresses. The only issue with calling it soup is that it doesn't convey how tumultuous the reality is.
Aabria talking about Brennan not doing any affectation for Asmodeus is so on point. I showed some clips to my brother, a Dimension 20 fan, and he immediately went "oh, when brennan doesn't do any accent for the villain, those are the scariest ones"
Yeah Calroy was pretty fuckin scary
Except for Baron from the Baronies. That dude is the scariest. 😂
@@norsethenomad5978 calroy was just Brennan ranting that Lou was still alive
Kalina was pretty scary. She was the all knowing kind of scary in which she just seems to know everyone and everything before you were even aware of it.
I have to agree, Brennan's scariest villains have normal voices- which just makes it worse cuz they do the most terrible things sounding like someone you could meet on the street.
One of my favorite parts of Calamity was when Brennan nonchalantly brutally murdered Zerxus multiple times
"Cool, he counterspells with a ninth level spell slot, throws you into the ground and shatters your spine. Ressurection."
His whole rant at zerxus was just amazing, truly a villain who believes that he did nothing wrong
Brought his back so he didn't have to chastise a corpse lol.
And watching Marisha sinking further and further, until she's just peering from under the desk like 👀
@@ChainedFei man was tossing ninth level spells like they were cantrips. Made a legendary artifact like it was nothing. His mere presence exploded and destroyed magic items, and corroded a legendary item into nothing.
Cerrit using his detective skills to discover what his children were like was genuinely one of the saddest moments in the series and probably in Critical Role.
Thanks to Brennan Lee Mulligan for drop kicking my heart.
Seriously, it was devastating.
@@StevenIrwin1985 yes and it came off of Kir asking if he did anything wrong which already shattered my heart
@@Direwolf181 Yeah oh my goodness Brennan does not hold back with child characters
Dad, why is your ring glowing?
[me wheezing in the background]
I love that here Brennan is talking about how he's spamming Matt's phone and asking him about every little thing like that annoys him and in the GM roundtable Matt gushed about how nice it was to have a collaborator when it comes to worldbuilding. It's so nice :)
As someone who has made 5 settings in the last half year nothing is more fun then having someone to bounce ideas with
@@kaewierdoni4640true story! I just had a brainstorming session with a new writing partner- she helped me close out the planning for the rest of my campaign and flesh out side quests hooks. Amazing time.
Matt and Brennan are such wholesome dudes.
When Luis said that Zerxus red flag was his instant attachment issue, it gave me a pause. Most media romanticize the idea of love at first sight. Luis straight up spitting fact that this can be problematic.
Yesss!
I feel like that idea fortunately doesn't get much attention or sway these days but seeing this get said felt great, thank you.
It's an issue born of a writing necessity, I think. If you have a story to tell with only so much time to do it in (like the length of your average Disney animated film) stuff has to happen _fast_ . And "stuff" usually includeds characters falling in love. This in turn (even if it isn't the goal) promotes the idea of Love At First Sight being something to shoot for or something like a virtue.
This is why it's pretty awesome that animated media (especially for the younger set) is moving away from that. Not just because putting romantic love on a pedestal or portraying it as something everyone should aspire to isn't healthy for several reasons, but because it means the writers don't have to squeeze a romance that should take much longer to develop into such a small amount of time. Which inadvertently gives off the impression that that's what healthy relationships look like.
@@belindaluna2067 Those were some of the things I appreciated Frozen for: poking fun at the love-at-first-sight trope and making the "true love" that saved her in the end being sisterly love rather than romantic love.
Can we all just take a moment to do whatever the opposite of appreciate is for the use of the word "medias"?
@@bentlergerjamin2783 How about this. I appreciate that you pointed out my mistake. But you could have been nicer about it.
Sam Riegel being told he could pick essentially unlimited magical items for a mini campaign called CALAMITY and choosing a WAND OF SMILES is….very on brand.
Also, shouts to Lou for saying he couldn’t roll up to Critical Role as a fuckin’ bard, when he’s sitting at a couch with the bardiest bard to ever bard, a bard that fought Vecna, a bard that wore a pink leotard to a live show, a bard that sang about anal beads in an animated show on Amazon….
I think that might have partially influenced Lou's attitude on that, to be fair - how do you out-bard Sam Riegel? You can't show up as a fucking bard at a table that's had a bard of that legacy; you have to be THE Bard, have something to bring to it and something new to say, because otherwise you're just going to be compared and found wanting.
"I didnt want to be overpowered and feel like i was cheating"
*multiple uses of gift of gab, one of which was on an Archfey*
*rolled the save for the spell slot that saved Patia, possibly creating the cobalt soul (matt willing)*
*soloed an NPC of the ring of gold and made him watch as he destroyed their plans for self preservation*
*clutch bardic inspirations all campaign*
*readied a healing word, and sat on it for half an hour to save Laerynn and thus the plot*
*instrumental in saving Cerrit*
Sam is too powerful to be given magic items and he knows it.
A bard that wrote a broadway musical style ad about getting spondored
WOAH, when was the last one from this list lmaooo
@@dawiddulian2403 first episode of campaign 3
I was DESTROYED when Brennan flashed back to Nidus and his brother looking up at the city like "Do you think we'll ever get there?" That shit lives in my head rent free
Holy shit yes, that moment sucker punched the shit outta my heart
When Nidus said that it was ok if no one remembered his dream, since his dream would inspire others to dream even bigger, it left me shaking. What an incredibly genius direction to go with that.
Nydas saying that it's okay that no one would remember his dream because others would just dream bigger was beautiful.
I was fully sobbing during Nydas’ “epilogue” - nasty snot and all when his brother asked him if he got to safety and Nydas ✨lied✨ 😩😩😩
@@manjuxbun15 "Yes brother... All will be well."
Please for the love of Asmodeous can we have more Brennan, Lou and Luis. They are a welcome addition to the CR family
If ya grab Dropout you can get Lou and Brennan doin stuff
Really enjoyed having them at the CR table (spelled Luis I think!)
@@leachofsouls I'm too poor for dropout and I really want to watch Make Some Noise
@@johannfunn6962 Yeah I'm awful at spelling names
@@jamesmaceaveli6679 give the 1 week trial a chance and fall in love with it and get poorer. Just like me.
I love the reveal of Xerxes flaw. Half the cast is playing characters that scream their hubris to the world, literally planning to bridge between the heavens and earth because they believe that is the only thing that separates man and gods. In contrast, Xerxes, a godless redemption Paladin, is set up so beautifully as a forgiving, humble man of the people, tormented by tragedy, but not trying to unwind the fabric of reality to undo it. A paragon in contrast with the rest of the city. The reveal of his flaw in reviving the betrayer gods was brilliant. Laerryn believed she was equal to the gods, Xerxes pitied them. The moment where he shouted down at a god, scolding him even as his effortlessly ripped his skin from his body. What a brilliant idea for a character. Turning the ideals of redemption into the flow of believeing that you are grand enough to redeem even the gods. Such a subtle, honest, believable arrogance.
Yeah I love that Zerxus not being boastful misleads you into initially thinking that he isn’t the most hubristic of them all.
One of my favorite moments playing a Paladin of Redemption was when he discussed with another PC about how hard it was for him to actually redeem people, and one of the two characters said "You can't redeem someone that doesn't want redemption" and that made me/my PC go 🤯
And I like to think candidly that's the strongest lesson I learned as a Redemption Paladin that Zerxus so masterfully worked as a foil: your only job as a redemption paladin is to take the extended hands of those who seek salvation, not force them into yours
@@fiorasvante6527 The thing is, knowing that fact is what gave Asmodeus power over Xerxes. He pretended to want redemption. He is the king of lies.
@@wolfofsummerbreeze I'm referring to the moment OP talked about, where it became clear that Asmodeus was lying and Zerxus kept berating him as a kid who didn't know what was good for him (and getting killed and brought back over and over)
I mean, Zerxus wasn't wrong to pity Asmodeus. What Redemption Paladin wouldn't pity someone so consumed by evil they don't even imagine that they could be wrong about any of it?
In every way that counts, Zerxus is better than Asmodeus. Asmodeus is just more powerful.
What really stood out at a moment for me, and has stuck with me since finishing watching, wasn't like the the overarching theme or the poignant ending or any of that; it was a throwaway moment in a long series of throwaway moments coughed forth from the endless Atheneum of Brennan's mind.
When all the people were fleeing and teleporting and whatnot, Brennan talked about a wizard that was working the teleportation circles and warning people not to crowd them for safety reasons, even though the sky was breaking and the world was ending. Then another fleeing wizard, who I guess outranked him, hit him with a Control Person spell and yelled "Get us out of here!" and shoved his way onto the circle before the flash went off, vivisecting several people due to overcrowding.
It's such a Blink And You'll Miss It moment that easily gets lost in a literal 6 hour feature film, but just the hard baked context and genuine desperation of the moment and Brennan's penchant for understanding people and the ways in which they act made for, imo, the rawest moment of the whole series, and one of the hardest in CR altogether. I still think about it.
I agree with you, but I also do think that moment was rather thematic. Even as their world is collapsing, the high-ranking wizards of this flying city are pushing the bounds of magic well past sense and safety.
Kind of fits with the theme of people's reach far exceeding their grasp.
THANK YOU for saying it!!! That moment truly fucked me up, it was so powerful
Oh god I love this part too. Also I love how Brennan gets creative with spells. Anyone who gets creative with spells in dnd always make me excited even if the end result was a whole group of desperate people get vivisected.
Oh, that's a terrific detail, and one I had forgotten. Brennan is fantastic.
it was such an effective and telling snapshot of raw selfish survival instinct. showing how the horror is not just at the godly level but that the mortals do it to themselves as well, betraying their fellow man even as betrayer gods threaten them all
i go absolutely wild for those kinds of details and brennan is damn good at making sure to include them
In a different time at a different place, Zerxus would be a very passionate fanfiction writer.
*I CAN CHANGE HIM*
All of his readers: mmmm, yum yum this is so hot and gay gay gayyyyyyyyy
Him: wth this is just a wholesome story about growing to be a better father :(
@@jackakimbo5718 I was definitely blinded by the tragic gayness of it all I'll admit it
That was my first thought!
He was literally the "I can fix him" trope
Zerxus: I can fix him
Asmodeus: I can make him worse
@@jackakimbo5718 Literally the amount of people in the chat chanting "KISS KISS KISS NOW KISS" was hilarious
The first scene with Orwyn, he asks Cerrit how the wife is doing and they should come over for dinner.
The last scene with Orwyn is him having the Rune of Recall potions for Cerrit’s kids, with the Rune set to bring them to their mother.
The first interaction seemed as if Cerrit had kept his partner in the dark, sharing nothing of what went on at home (furthering the pattern of these all being extremely lonely people).
But the fact that Orwyn knew sending the kids to their Mother meant getting them out of the city means that he did know that she and Cerrit had split. The first scene of them was Orwyn gently prodding. A casual ask. An open ended dinner invitation that could be construed as mostly small talk, but he was gently trying to bring them together.
Orwyn now favorite NPC. Even above Bolo
I have a similar love for Calum Staffwright, (who, great surname by the way, implying that this citizen of a mageocracy comes from a lineage of staff crafters).
His first appearance is as he bursts breathlessly into the chamber where Laerynn is standing, bringing her the calculations that tell her an Apogee Solstice is imminent. The way she talks down to him indicates the belief she holds that he, along with most everyone in Avalir, is her intellectual inferior.
Calum Staffwright spends his last moments with his life's blood spilling across the floor of the vandalised Eldritch Battery, having singlehandedly salvaged it and reconnected it to the network - a task Laerynn trusted that he was capable of, as she joined the rest of the Ring of Brass at the Astral Leywright.
I didn’t even get that Cerrit and his wife split up… that makes it all the sadder honestly.
In another, better world, there's a buddy cop movie featuring Cerrit and Orwyn without a calamity in sight.
YES.
*fanning myself* OOF
Brennan was absolutely right about “And Remember The Market Of Wonders” being a PERFECT joke, because it relieves us in the moment of genuine heartache without eroding what that heartache stood for.
Thanks for this, I've been trying to figure out what exactly seperates a joke that relieves tension/drama vs a joke that spits in the face of it. This is a good way to phrase it.
I saw the joke as being equally as heartbreaking as it was funny, because in my mind it was his way of trying to add something normal to the announcement, as if to say "Everything will be fine and return to normal soon, no need to panic."
@@LarkAlrion Yeah you’re so right- the other half of what made it perfect is that it was truly, perfectly 100% in-character and appropriate. It wasn’t a side gag that no one would think of in that moment, it funny in both its relief and its feasibility
@@AmbientSpectrum even more, he said that because he GENUINELY loved his job. He loved the indie reporting and the ad reads. But Avalir is crumbling, he's going to die. This is the last chance he has of doing what he truly loved.
@@samuelstensgaard4828 Sam is a MASTER at this (Spoilers for C1 below)
After Scanlan leaves the group during a Bard’s Lament, and everyone is clearly very put-off, both in game and irl from Sam’s performance just then, there’s a moment where Sam makes a little joke and you can literally watch the tension at the table melt.
I got so lost in the story, I thought that Zerxius was legitimately talking to a surviving good Celestial part of Asmodeus, that was trapped in this devil's body. I thought (I wanted) it could be possible to redeem some part of that Betrayer God.
I bought the idea that Asmodeus sided with the first people (the Primordials) of Exandria and only wanted to take the magic away from mortals, to return the world to the way it was before mortals had magic.
The father of lies got me.
Me, too! Brennan was AMAZING.
And you know what’s worse? I still kind of believe there’s a chance of a redemption for Asmodeus XD
He played us all too well XD
Even though it turned out to be lies I really like the idea of 'there's 2 sides to every story' what we've heard for so long is this black and white story betrayer gods bad, prime deities good, but we weren't there. we didn't see what actually happened. What Asmodeus said was plausible. He created bad things to strengthen the good things, to create the contrast of good and evil, but they hated him for it. Then they imposed on the primordials too far and turned on them so he and the other 'betrayers' stood up for their first people who had sheltered them and were struck down.
it was all so very plausible and such a good idea.
then when we learned it wasn't true that was just as satisfying. he's the lord of lies, of course he said those things for a reason!
It’s like Brennan said, you find the people that already want to believe, and boy did (do) we want to believe
@@katerinaciupova9227 but he didn't do anything WRONG 👿
An important part of the Cobalt Soul fan-theory that wasn't mentioned in the stream is that the symbol of the Cobalt Soul is entirely contained within a circle. You know, what happens when you take a (magic memory) sphere and represent it in 2D.
Also a callback to the RING of Brass. :O
... what if the Cobalt Soul, which is a library, is stemmed in Maya? 😯
I want this to be true so bad!
And circular stained-glass images seems to be a big cultural thing with Avalirian artwork.
Even if this wasn't a thing before, Matt could very easily ret-con it without having to change or alter anything already in the canon. It's too perfect not to!
I can honestly listen to them talk about this "behind the scenes" stuff FOR DAYS. I live for it
I think MANY of us live for it and yet CR seems to be so lost in wondering what we like lol. We only got this because of fan outreach but to practically everyone I've talked to this seemed like the NO BRAINER thing to do.
Same!!
@@trautsj Yeah, I'm surprised it took them this long.
how about it. this easily could have been 4 hours
@@trautsj more wrap-ups, more behind the scenes, bring back a full Talks Machina-like segment that's more regular than 4-Sided Dive or that 4-Sided continues to be as regular as it is.
The little nugget of genius that I want to point out is what Brennan did with Vespin Chloras. To completely flip the scrip on the concept of an evil wizard in a way that made perfect sense as a symbol of hubris was brillant !
We only got glimpses but the story was perfect :
1. The Matron of Ravens ascends, making a precedent that mortals can become gods by replacing existing ones.
2. The best wizards of the age try to replicate the Matron's ritual but keep failing, presumably because they can't find the right names.
3. Vespin Chloras tries to be smarter than anyone else by aiming to replace a betrayer god because he reasonned that he could become omnipotent AND destroy an evil entity in on fell swoop.
4. Vespin comes face to face with the Lord of Hells but the ritual would take away his own name and he just can't let that go, so he makes a bargain with the devil to never be forgotten.
5. Asmodeus fucks up everything and honestly he didn't even have to do any of the legwork.
6. Vespin Chloras has one last moment of realization where he just breaks down because of how much he messed up.
This little story in the story is so good and fucked up and I love it !
oh shit! I never put it together that vespin probably didn't want to give up his own name and tried to weasel out of it, which ultimately fucked him over. I love that
@@user-xb5bz4fu9o it's his great tragedy : he thought he could outsmart the whole age of arcanum, the gods themselves, but in the end he couldn't stand to loose his identity and his ego openned the door for the betrayers
I prefer the theory that the gods fucked it up for him. Everything was going right but he gets smited by a solar or whatever and then that thing gets smited by the god he just lost control of
Where did they talk about #4?
@@callumreilly9107 it goes pretty fast in episode 4 when Zerxus casts Remove Curse (I think) on Vespin and he comes back to himself and starts rambling. I'll look if I can find the exact quote
Man, knowing how established Brennan is in the sketch comedy/improv world, hearing him call something a perfect joke is a bigger compliment than I think even Sam realizes.
Sam is used to everyone telling him about his genius in Critical Role story scenes. I think he brushes off most compliments just to remain neutral and normal now.
As much experience as Sam has in the same field, I'm sure he understands.
Anyone got the time stamp on this?
@@TheMondobeyondo "The fucking Speech" - 01:06:50; Being acknowledged by Brennan - starting 01:09:08
Feels like you don’t know where Sam comes from 🤣
I don't know if I'll ever stop being giddy at seeing Brennan and Lou on the CR set.
My dream is to see Sam and Emily Axford at the same table bouncing chaos between each other at the table.
I would love to see all the cast of Dimension 20 have some time at the CR set, but I have to admit that Brennan and Lou were the two I was always hoping would end up on CR for a game session or one shot, and so lost my mind for a moment when they were on for Calamity
@@swiftraphael it’s going to happen at some point. CR and D20 essentially have a Venn diagram of shared players now.
Man, when the teaser dropped I was like giddy-grinning when I heard brennan’s voice and then I straight-up started CRYING when I saw lou’s name because it was like a dream I hadn’t even allowed myself to attempt to put any hope in happening
With Laura saying that she always wanted to play with Brendan, I'm excited to see them eventually at the same table
Talking abotu Patia being alone its even reflected in their deaths.
The Lovers die in each others arms, together.
The Men who were like Brothers died side by side, one takign his final act to do the only thing he could to prevent his freind and brother from becoming someting awful.
The Fater and survior flees to make it back to his family.
Patia? Patia dies alone on the floor.
It gets even better! Patia dies in the visage of Avalir from the stained glass window. She gave her whole life to the city and, in her last moments, that was the one thing she had to die next to. Really chilling stuff.
I was really surprised to find out that Brennan and Luis didn't know each other prior to the Calamity campaign. The way Luis kicked it off in the first episode I thought for sure they had been playing together many times before.
They were both on LA by Night prior to doing Calamity together, but i don't think they were in the same episodes, so they might not have met there, or only briefly backstage.
Those two just played off each other so well, and for all of the diff characters that Brennan played. Amazing chemistry.
Luis doubling down on the extremeness of redemption paladin was so good. Love Zerxus looking at the literal Father of Lies and being like: "I can fix him."
Abria built a character to survive the first moments of calamity, Sam built a character that made her character accept death.
As a Filipino who actually does practice Kali, hearing Travis explain his process for creating Cerrit brought a smile to my face.
The realization that Cerrit's a Philippine Eagle Aarakocra when he said that hit me like a truck 😂
@@ihaveaplan.ijustneedmoney.9777 OHMYGOD! I just looked up pictures and YES! I love that level of thought and connection in character creation.
I think they mentioned menudo too!
Bro, yeah,
literally: Philippines stuff is metioned
Every Filipino viewer: *Neuron Activation*
@@vecnasleg8786 True that, I heard it and was like
YES, GOOD, MORE
Bolo was clearly the previous god of death. When the Raven Queen ascended, Bolo fell but was never destroyed. Just forgotten.
So… she writes the obits?
Certainly a curious change for Nerull lolol
I wish we had lore about him
But it would sort of defeat the point.
The moment when brennen said the "and I didn't do anything wrong" line I literally had chills
That, and "Wake up Zerxes! YOU did this to me!"
Brennan's Asmodeus is about as perfect an interpretation as I can imagine
‘We don’t need an army, we just need One Guy’ Brennan is a gift
Aeor: "We have an army."
Avalir: "We have a Hulk... errm, First Knight." 😅
My favourite part of Brennan playing Asmodeus was Asmodeus saying how he created evil just so that people could appreciate the good times more. Like, I straight up believed him. I also in the back of my head knew that it was the father of lies, but still.
It's such an insanely good lie, because it's so believable as "MY side of the story that THEY don't want you to know". It's the exact kind of tactic manipulative abusers utilize in real life, getting you to believe that everyone else is just painting them in a bad light and they're actually perfect
I actually still believe it. I think Asmodeus created terrible things to make mortals suffer because that would make for a good story.
Perfectly happy lives make for boring stories.
His evil comes from not viewing mortals as real people that matter, they are just playthings for the actual real beings (the gods).
@@RJ_Ehlert the best paraphrasing of the Schism I ever heard was that Exandria is a game of the Sims that all the gods were playing, and they kicked Asmodeus out of the room once he started locking sims in pools without ladders.
@@icymoons That's a good one.
Zerxus was such a great flawed hero and Luis did a masterful job of playing "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" to it's most insane degrees. The whole cast really brought there A game in this game of flawed paragons but being so deep in "everyone can be redeemed" that he made a pact with Asmodeus... Masterfully played
Someone else’s quote but “the road to hell is paved with good intentions and Zerxus is going for a DRIVE”
I really, really, REALLY want to know what happened to Zerxus during the rest of the Calamity and after the Divergence. Did he become the premier Evil Champion of the Lord of the Hells? Was he feared by the forces of Good? Where is he now?
@@bludfyre I think his pathological need to nag on about hope and salvation to everyone in the nine hells becomes too annoying for Asmodeus. After killing and ressurrection him for the 3millioneth time L of the H realises it is no longer fun & kicks him out. Plus the constant salvation talk is not good for morale of the troops... Somewhere there is a sitcom that can be made on Zerxus in the nine hells
I feel like "The Road to Hell..." is such a strong theme of, not just Zerxus' story but, the entirety of ExU: Calamity. It's such a fantastic personification of that iconic hubris of the age and the myriad of forms it might take.
Laerryn may be a deeply flawed person but I think she did genuinely believe *good things* would come from her Leywright (in a very 'ends justify the means' sort of way).
Zerxus, the man who tries to save everyone he meets and, in doing so, accidentally dooms the world.
Even Vespin Chloris had good intentions-- in his mind, all he wanted was to replace a Bad God with a Good Man.
And the same mistake they all make is that they overreach. In their hubris, they push further than they can achieve or sustain. The mindset of the Age was a central villain in this mini-campaign and I absolutely loved it. A masterpiece of story telling.
(this is not me shitting on anyone in this talk they only has so much time) I think Lou didn't get enough love for being such a driving force not only of humor and energy but real emotion and incredible character acting. Lou, you're a legend.
Lou and Travis' characters were some of my favorite
Lou is truly a FORCE! He kills every role on Dimension20 and did the same here!
Something great about Lou is that he is an incredibly generous roleplayer! Like he knows how to hone in with other people’s characters and make them shine while also keeping it tight with his own character. I think that really comes through in this campaign as well as Misfits and Magic, in particular. He is so great!
That scene with the other pirate was fucking killer
@@lunarvisions7 Exactly, how well he can set up the other PCs reminds me a lot of Travis.
I can't believe Travis based Cerrit off of the Philippine eagle. That was an awesome progression of ideas from merely focusing on what cool weapon Cerrit could wield. These people are awesome! MORE, PLEASE! :D
That's a very cool insight into Travis' character design.
As Filipino CR fan, my heart is bursting at this 😭❤
@@blumelodiez R E P R E S E N T!
It's really cool when that happens. I want this then how does it work ...this this and this and cascade fun coincidences
as a filipino cr fan, i screamed at this. philippine mythology is actually in cr2 since the animators of the opening were filipinos and had molly (who had passed on) represented as a butterfly which is actually a thing in our mytholog.
I love how all these flawed characters got to have some semblance of redemption at the end of the campaign.
Cerrit, the Eye that sees everything and everywhere but home, got to have a second chance to be with family. Zerxus with his compassion wrapped in arrogance, this time pursuing redemption for himself. Hell might have his soul, but his heart remained safe among the stars. Quay initially killed the truth in the name of love. Eventually, he found a love returned by championing the truth. Patia & Nydas were hoarding knowledge and riches. In the end, she choose the dreamers and he protected his most important hoard, the people. And Laerryn with her single minded ambition went from starting the calamity to giving the world a fighting chance.
Their stories came full circle in such a satisfying albeit tragic way. The level of character progression we got in just 4 episodes is beyond incredible. I want more!
Outstanding observations and summation! Love this juxtaposition! Thanks for sharing this perspective! 👏
@@Ringinthetrue17 I agree!
That was astoundingly poetic
"Quay initially killed the truth in the name of love. Eventually, he found a love returned by championing the truth."
I think I wouldn't quibble with this if it hadn't been for the fact that Quay never really embraced the truth. His final broadcast is still steeped in lies and deceit, right down to, as Brennan correctly described it, the perfect joke. He certainly moved closer to the truth, but I don't think he really championed it.
@@ThatSingingGuy To be fair, his mainly used his deceit in the past to protect the ruling class, but in the end he used his deceit to punish the ruling class.
Brennan: You can choose as many OP items as you want
Sam: I choose.... me
Oh my goodness. Adult Maya would be the most complicated character, because she has that history of a father that wasn’t there, then he was. But by then the whole world is messed up, and holds the entire knowledge of Patia inside the palm of her hand at any point in time, so what kind of trauma would she have? She would be such a cool character to play.
it's also crazy that maya has the memories of patia specifically, because Patia was up to really shady corrupt shit 24/7, and yet her dad was very close to her, despite the fact that his entire job (the job which was his entire excuse for not being at home and being a good father to his kids) was about taking down people like that
dammit, now you got me wanting to see adult maya in a campaign or one-shot now, or something
SHE’S FUCKING LUCINA GET LAURA TO PLAY HER
And then you have kir who's JACKED
Y'all are insane if you don't think Clear-Eye took hold of the orb from a literal child and then passed in on to somewhere like Vasselheim, where it could actually be safe.
Maya doesn't even have the magic to operate the orb, come on people. 🙄
Brennan saying “fuck a rest, they don’t need em” resonated with me on a spiritual level after my last session where the entire party had no spell slots, no bardic inspiration, no lucky uses, no ki points, single digit HP, and three of the five had between 4 and 2 levels of exhaustion, before they got a long rest. That was a long day for them
And it is utterly realistic, depending on what is happening and what the goals of the party are!
Just finished the roughest dungeon I've been through. 5 players. Not a single spellslot, rage, no lucky, even the ranger was down to 3 arrows.
Honestly I super recommend everyone try that. It was so fun getting pushed to the brink. Forced to be creative and smart rather that a charging bull
@@awesomeman8385 The funny thing is you're MEANT to do this to the players, the 'adventuring day' is 6-8 Medium or Hard encounters or 3 Deadly encounters with 2 short rests. By the time your players get to the 'end boss' of the dungeon they should be running on fumes or at least have spent a lot of their resources.
just did a few sessions where we ended up having 5 fights, no break, had a player die and be brought back by some infernal means (not anyone in the party) and then another player almost die. we were 100% spent and it was such a rollercoaster. the no rest thing is real
Depending on the world, and the experience of the players at the table, I often house rule that a short rest is 8 hours and long 2 full days. In the real world when you've had a long day of hard work you don't get back squat on a one hour sit down, and any athlete/military member...etc will tell you that when you've given it all down to your last fumes it takes days to get back to full. That's all with modern medicine and training techniques, the equivalent of fantasy magic in a medieval setting.
It makes for that feeling of real hard to come by resources being expended with every spell slot or use/rest item much more of something to be considered before being slung.
I think it also makes for some more believable story telling, makes it easier to flesh out the machinations of the antagonist(s), create connections between the players and the world, encourages role playing, and even cuts down on murder-hoboing, because all of these things take time in reality.
The immense trust between all of them is remarkable. Despite knowing that tragedy is inevitable, the players let themselves be emotionally invested in the story because they know Brennan will do their stories justice. And he did. What a beautiful story they weaved together.
Cerrit's nat 20 over Vespin and watching the entire team giving him all advantages they have left to help him flee Avalir before destruction was so amazing!
I just wanted to add one small shout out. Cerrit's old partner Orwyn using his last dying moments to provide his partner and friend with a way to save his children was heartwrenching and beautifully poetic. The fact that his friend was writing a last letter to him in his own blood and literally bled out while doing so was amazing and hurt on levels that I can't explain. As a father with lifelong friends who also have children, I know beyond any doubt that I would help protect my friends children at the cost of my life if need be and they would do the same. The humanity displayed in that scene and the pain written on Travis's face was palpable. Beautiful story telling, wonderfully roleplayed and that scene simply does not get the recognition and credit that it deserves. Bravo to everyone involved.
The humanity? Orwyn was an orc... jk jk
My head canon is definitely the theory that the "failure" of Patia's parents could very well have been that her mother actually became the Raven Queen, and her ascension to goddesshood didn't sit well with Patia's grandfather.
Oooooh I like it :D
This is good 👍🏻👍🏻
Do we know the race of the Raven Queen?
@@reesearterberry7380 I been for a few yrs elf or fey
“It's a woman that you knew as a child. You don't remember her name anymore because nobody does.”
I love this theory so much.
YES! I definitely thought that the Raven Queen was Patia's mother. I was also thinking that her ascension may have cost her husband's (Patia's father's) life, and that's why Imyr never wanted to talk about them.
I love how Brennan immediately yes ands Lou with Pizza Sashimi
And the non-improv actors all said no
@@parodycalfilms and then there's Travis going wait is that a real dish?!?
@@parodycalfilms they're all improv actors, but Lou and Brennan know each other well
Pizza sashimi is technically real
I think Lou said piece of sashimi and everyone heard pizza and he rolled with it.
I think we just need a thread of the rawest lines from Brennan. Mine was [Asmodeus to Xerxes] "you know the difference between you and the Dawnfather? The Dawnfather is a lot more humble"
“I hate to say I told you so!” lives in my head forever ^_^
"In the beginning, the gods made all the gold there ever will be. There will always be more people."
"You know why it didn't work? Because I did nothing wrong!"
"This your house."
"This your house."
Baby duck Zerxus is such an entertaining lens to rewatch this through.
"He attaches fast". Fuckin baby duck. Perfect. Hadn't picked up on it.
1:20:22 This just makes me want Sam on a D20 side campaign, though Sam at a table with Ally and Emily might unleash an actual chaos god upon the planet...
I'm here for it though
Brennan has shown he can handle Sam being Sam. But if Sam actively collaborated with Emily on a scheme to fuck Brennan's shit up? Oh yeah there'd be blood. It'd make Operation Slippery Puppet look quaint.
Asmodeus is *law* incarnate though 🤔
@@davidgomes4408 Who says it's a DnD God?
BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!
@@DefinitelyNotIU You kiddin' me?!?
Khorne is the most lawful of them all!
One single, absolute, law, that leaves no room for interpretation:
*kill*
Order in its purest form.
🤔
I might have issues...
I didn't realize Patia had her memory modified. When Brennan said it was something Patia learned from a women whose name she could not remember, I thought for sure Patia's mother was the Raven Queen. She's an elf. The ascension happened 120 years before. I put 2 and 2 together and got 5 I guess
No no THAT line was absolutely about the Raven Queen. Because NO ONE remembers that woman's name. Not just Patia. Everyone. So that line was about the Raven Queen. But additionally, her parents were erased from just her memory.
Now it's still kinda up in the air if that woman WAS also her mother or just a family friend/other caregiver in her life. We don't know the specifics of who that woman was or if she was biologically related to Patia.
@@AnxietyRat it could be her aunt, sister to her dad. meaning we could know the RQ's last name.
@@trevorcox63 Exactly. I, personally, assumed it was an aunt or family friend who babysat her or something...someone close but not in her immediate family...not her mother.
@@AnxietyRat I’m going teacher after her parents “failed” since she was still young
@purplerains yeah, as I said, I don't think it was her mom especially since we now know the memories of her parents were taken from her... OTHER people have been theorizing it was her mom...I never thought it was her mom. I thought it was an aunt or family friend/babysitter.
Here’s some timestamps:
0:50 Title sequence courtesy of Sam
1:42 Sam’s introduction
2:07 Brennan’s introduction
2:36 Lou’s introduction ft pizza sashimi
3:43 Travis’ introduction
4:17 Aabria’s introduction ft rock-paper-scissors
5:32 Q: Did knowing that this was the Calamity change character building?
6:57 Picking magical items
9:55 Sam and Lou’s multiclassing
12:08 Which class did the multiclassers start with?
13:24 What was Patia’s school of magic?
14:50 Brennan’s tangent on GMs giving free reign to players ft Wegolas
16:10 Travis’ character creation
18:59 Secret meetings of the nasties
23:40 Luis’ character creation
25:08 Two moments where Zerxus could’ve spilled the beans
27:36 “Luis is gone, there’s only Zerxus now” ft paladin discussion
30:52 Never trust a motherfucker with a cause
32:30 Loquatius lying to himself ft his motivations
34:11 Cerrit’s flaws
35:21 Travis pays attention to his wife
36:03 Cerrit is the one non-shady guy
39:04 Q: What made Travis and Luis want their characters to have kids? How did that affect their choices?
40:32 Travis and Jor-El
41:35 Travis’ analogy about kids
42:24 Luis honestly doesn’t think kids are gross
42:49 Luis’ reasoning about having a kid in game
44:35 Elias staying with Nydas’ brother
45:44 Sam and Aabria’s justification on not having kids
46:08 Early talks: Laerryn being Elias’ mom
47:33 Zerxus becoming the First Knight ft Kevin
48:48 What was it like for Brennan to RP kids?
50:40 Q: Does Nydas feel like his dreams were realized despite the fall of Avalir? ft Brennan, king of intros, outros and segues
52:15 Brennan is not the killer here (or is he?)
53:39 The moment of realization in a character arc
54:32 Can we please hit the brakes? (we can’t)
54:53 Brennan on Lou’s character shift
57:50 Cerrit being away for the Blight
1:00:14 Q: Was Laerryn’s urgency because of Quay or something else?
1:02:19 How much of Laerryn and Loquatius’ relationship was pre-planned? Ft Loquatius Hambrick-Zucker
1:04:41 Aabria did not expect the Sam Riegel emotional rollercoaster
1:06:49 Sam’s speech in episode 4!
1:09:06 The perfect joke
1:10:32 Aabria’s best game decision
1:11:40 Q: How does Patia feel about her grandfather’s deal?
1:14:09 Patia is lonely ft Brennan feeling emotions
1:16:47 The Gau Drashari and consulting with Matt
1:20:02 Love for Matt
1:20:22 Love for Brennan
1:21:36 Brennan discusses the lore
1:23:14 Love for Luis for starting off SO WELL
1:25:41 Zerxus establishes attachments fast
1:27:58 Character choices that made Brennan’s job easier
1:28:45 Zerxus never doubting the bad guy - who is not lying much ft “homeboy’s like ‘yeah, sure, man’”
1:30:51 The pure terror of Brennan as the Lord of the Hells
1:32:49 “You guys love it when people are hurting”
1:33:40 Brennan’s most terrifying choice of not doing an accent
1:34:07 Did Brennan have contingency plans? (He did. So many.)
1:37:53 The final roll of the campaign
1:39:17 The sphere going to Maya
1:40:16 “Is the orb okay?! The little library, where is it at?!”
1:40:56 Fan theory about Patia’s sphere
1:41:47 Future Kir is jacked
1:42:22 Bookends
1:44:03 The most burning question: WHAT HAPPENED TO BOLO?!
1:46:21 Best accent of all time
1:46:33 “How many beers are dragons out here grabbing?”
Thanks for these!
thanks for these, the titles of each segment are really good.
Yay! Thanks.
you're the best 😊
+
Luis either still being stiff/nervous around the group or having trouble to join the convo because there's a lot of hyper talker in the group. But whichever it is, lots of us know how that feels like. And it's so cool for Travis to keep pulling him whenever he have the chance. And as always, awesome cast, awesome game...
Deffo agree with you there! I really appreciate how both Travis and Brennan make efforts to acknowledge Luis every time, too. Maybe cause that nervousness is also something I see in myself sometimes (hence also a reason why I really like Luis) and am glad that there are people like Trav and Bren who give way for others like us to be able to talk.
Somehow luis reminded me so much of Taliesin in the first episodes of C1, because he looks just like this quiet dude who just shoots stuff, but when we got to put the spotlight on him, my mind was BLOWN everytime. I'd really love to see more of Luis and I'm really interested in his thought process in character building
Luis has intense anxiety, social and generalized. I share the same condition and recognize it in him. The silence, the constant and intense self-touch gestures, the downcast glances. He has a constant fear of saying the wrong thing, showing inappropriate emotion, missing social cues, embarrassing the cast or any number of other social issues, and the deflection of attention. I know how that feels. The more intense the interactions, the more intense the anxiety. This was overload, but he did very well sticking in and participating.
I have gotten up and left less intense social interactions.
I feel for the guy. It's difficult to interject when you're afraid to ruin the flow of the conversation and the overthinking just takes over. Glad the cast kept complimenting him as Zerxus cus it was just a masterclass on role-playing and character development. He deserves all the love ❤
He seems like a really awesome guy. Travis' pulling him in just shows again, what a considerate and kind man Travis is. He always tries to include others.
I just want Ashley to roll another 8 on the random encounter table, and for Matt to bring in a great wyrm with an Aeorian (Slavic) accent
YES
Nice to meet you. I am Bolodrafang. This your encounter?
@@jeffw991 Dis your party?
🤣🤣
@@jeffw991 "Dis cleric is giving me problem. Can you destroy?"
Just to touch on the talk about Zerxus believing and falling for the lies of the betrayer god was when they were interacting that first time- Brennan said something to the effect of 'I promise I'll never forget you' in response to Luis asking to not be forgotten AND to be spared. That was an IMMEDIATE red flag where I was like 'okay, some shady shit is going on' because I had totally fallen for the sob story that was being spun so elegantly but when Brennan masterfully sidestepped the mercy part of the request and was just like 'oh, I'll remember you alright' it was a biiiig moment of panic for me as the viewer but so exhilarating.
i love Brennan for having such deeply thought out points that still take him 27 false starts and tangents to convey
adhd mood
"It was supposed to be a bit" is one of the most powerful things in DnD I think
"Its a fan theory but what if the orb started the cobalt reserve"
*Matt off camera furiously writing out new lore for the cobalt reserve*
I feel that first scene with Zerxes saving Asmodeus fits in perfectly with something Brennan said in one of the Escape from the Bloodkeep Adventuring Academies: "When are villians at their most relatable? When they lose."
As a new dad myself, watching Cerrit had me absolutely glued to the screen. When he made it out of the city to see his kids and keep his promise I absolutely balled while holding my baby
My favorite moment is Laerryn giving her arcane ball to Loquatius. I remember thinking that was a terrible decision tactically because it should go to one of the wizards but it made perfect sense for her character, only for it to pay off later because it allowed Zerxus to revive Patia. I love it because it reminded me that D&D is first and foremost a ROLEplaying game, not a tactical one.
And how perfect it was that it was the only magic item that survived on him. The one thing he maybe unconsciously protected more than any glitzy item.
@@liamwhite3522 I missed that!
@@liamwhite3522what's cool is that he rolled a nat 20 for the save on that when his other items failed
Brennan + Matt has got to be something special. I need to see them collab actively on another one shot! ANOTHER!
Matt was on Escape from the Bloodkeep on Dimension 20 with Brennan DMing. The whole campaign is on CZcams. Enjoy!!
Matt was also in Pirates of Leviathan, another Dimension 20 campaign (Marisha was in that one as well)
@@silverkyrie4714 and Aabria too!
@@ZyloSprung Pirates of Leviathan had a pretty solid cast: Matt, Marisha, Aabria, B Dave, Krystina Arielle, and Carlos Luna.
Brennan was on that Elden Ring one-shot with Matt. Couldn't get enough of the "horse stacking".
I do find it quite ironic how the foreshadowing in this show ended up working. I think it's very ironic that Brennan mentions how Zerxus just fed the lord of hells the lies he in turn spits back at him at the Hall of Prophecy, considering that is literally how they got in that building just moments before.
Sofyra literally says "oh you're friends with Loras?" and Nydas just says "Yeah, sure, that." And it's like a cool little accidental mirroring of the bigger thing to come.
can you please explain this i feel like its really cool and i wanna have my mind blown but i dont understand lol
@@nj.7325 Nydas repeated back what the NPC said to him to get what they wanted (entrance to the oracle place). Then the Lord of Lies did the same to Zerxus right after.
@@nj.7325 Brennan says that the lord of the hells doesn't actually have to come up with a lie himself. Zerxus has this idea that the Betrayer god was once something else; something that might have once been good. If I understood what Brennan was saying correctly, Zerxus created the lie that Asmodeus told him.
The irony comes from the accidental foreshadowing the players created just before Zerxus disappeared behind the mirror.
When they were getting into the Hall of Prophecy, they were met by the oracle, Sofyra. She and Nydas did the exact same thing Zerxus and the lord of hells did. Sofyra asked Nydas if he and Zerxus were there because Loras asked them to come. The cast even laughed about this here, because that was literally the extent of the lie, was Nydas just said yes, that was why they were there, and then rolled a really good deception check.
I just thought it was interesting how through the total chance of rolling dice, and the brilliant dming of Brennan, Luis, Lou, and Brennan were able to create a very cool little bit of mirroring and foreshadowing.
This is one of the more interesting instances where this sort of unplanned foreshadowing happens because of a player's rolls and actions. There's also another case involving Cerrit and Vespin. At Patia's party, when Cerrit shows the others the room where he met Vespin in the mirror, he shows them the body, and Cerrit/Travis mentions that he managed to kill the guy with his hawks, not magic.
And then what does he do to Vespin in the last session?
OMG i am obsessed with this comment
Luis deserves all the praise and love srsly. His role-playing is just so theatrical and dramatic and you can SEE from the table during the series that that's what bonded Marisha and Luis cus she's someone whos also so into the role-playing and the narrative aspect of dnd. Love these dramatic dorks so much
I still come back to Calamity every few months. I truly think that this series was the best short form game of DnD that I've ever seen. Just beautiful and brilliant beginning to end.
Same. 🙌🏻
Easily the greatest game of DnD ever played. Like it was so flawless that i could picture in my head 4K HD this story. Like i just watched the greatest films, through my ears.
My only critique of this video is that it isn’t 12 hours long.
Still cracks me up we all kinda thought Zerxes and Asmodius were being very homoerotic when really he's just "I'M GONNA GET SO MANY GOOD DAD POINTS" when seeing Asmodeus lol
Daddy points 👀
My favorite little moment in-game there was Aabria making instant little "kiss-kiss" gestures (totally instantly shipping them).
I think there was homoerotic energy there. Luis very briefly touches on the point that the love of his life, Evandrin, looks just like their son Elias (because that's how genetics work). Luis said that aspect really confused Zerxes emotionally.
Luis only talks about this briefly because it's icky, but it's a weird part of reality.
Zerxes and Asmodeus continually shift relationship roles throughout the story. Zerxes thinks of Asmodeus as a father (when Asmodeus was huge-man), as a lover when Asmodeus looked like Evandrin and needed TLC, and as a son when Asmodeus looked like Zerxes himself.
The fact that this feels weird, confusing, and icky is the point, because Asmodeus is evil and wanted to manipulate Zerxes from every angle.
@@RJ_Ehlert Oh I totally get ya. Tumblr was just allllllllll about the homoerotic part which eh I don't blame them. Its spicy and they roleplayed really well.
@@RJ_Ehlert This is so well analysed and described, kudos!
Paesha was by far my favourite character because it was so subtle but when Brennan asked if she had any last thoughts before she died she had nothing to say. She had nothing except her career, nothing to say. She died in a way that completely cancelled out her life’s work to a net zero and she had milliseconds to confront that. She probably just felt relief and exhaustion that it was all over. I selfishly wish she had a chance to look at that and articulate it before she died, but honestly the silence was beautiful too.
We didn't get much of it, but I loved the brotherly childhood friends battle-brothers dynamic with Xerxus and Nydus, and I wish we could see a longer campaign with Luis and Lou playing characters with a relationship like that.
Spread the word spread the word we need Luis in dimension 20
@@loglorn YES
Heck yeah! I love the visualization of those two charging into battle with swords aloft riding their majestic flying mounts.
Calamity really is my favourite 4 episodes Critical role has ever done. Especially episode 4! 6 hours but every minute jam packed of awesome stuff
Agreed.
Agreed. I love Matt, but this was an absolute masterpiece
It was INTENSE
So much tugging my heartstrings are sore. Perfection.
That 1 second lasting an hour
I can watch Brennan saying "Greeves are for the legs" in his head like a bunch while Travis was talking like over and over again in his head
greaves, but yeah
@@bowyer10 gravy, but sure
@@gwaldar7300 groovy, but okay.
@@YourMumGreen Grove, but fine
@@FeedMeezz Grøøves, but alright
Stupid theory: Bolo survived and went through a teleportation circle. However, the circle messed up and sent her and a group of randos to Wildmount.
The group asks "Where are we?"
Bolo asks "this your house?"
The randos don't understand that this is a question, due to her accent.
The randos then say "Oh? She says this place is called Xhorhas, I guess?"
And that is how Xhorhas came to be.
That wouldn't work because Xhorhas and east of it is where the Betrayer Gods and their armies camped during the Calamity tbf lol
Thats why Rosohna is the way it is
@@uninterruptedrhythm4104 Bolo was clearly a Betrayer God that they just somehow missed, makes perfect sense.
Watching this for the umpteenth time and I’ve only just noticed how stupid I was that all of Luis’ character building went completely over my head. Brennan said he got so immersed he only saw Zerxus but as someone who never knew Luis Carazzo I thought that’s just what he was like! Committing to the character so much you completely disappear from the table is seriously impressive and I am at awe of his storytelling ability!
Marisha does that on every campaign. People don't really appreciate it though because they don't realize it.
@mr.e7541
For real. People complained about Marisha figuring out the plot in C2, but like, that’s literally the exact thing Beau trained her whole life to do? Literally her entire job is investigating and preventing bad magic stuff. It would be extremely lame if she *weren’t* the first person to put the pieces together.
Same thing with Keyleth moralizing throughout C1. That wasn’t Marisha making some kind of mistake, that’s just the character.
idk, I think Laudna is popular enough that she gets a little more credit nowadays.
Brennan, Lou, and Luis HAVE TO COME BACK. They are incredible additions to make a beautiful story!
Luis and Brenan jeez
It's not just powerful combo, it's like they read each other exactly what's needed to say or do and allow each other to work with that smoothly
I love the idea that Bola was an Aeorian spy. Imagine she sneaks down into the labyrinth and finds the ASTRAL leywright, technology which she is able to somehow note down and report back to the leaders of the Cognouza ward...
I'm screaming. That would make SO much sense.
Yes, but I liked the dragon thing more
And the Somnovem are like “Yes, now we can travel to other planes *where nothing bad will happen* .”
Come to think, Aeorian military espionage would be an AMAZING excuse to drop a Taxmen fight into the main campaign timeline. I admittedly love the energy of using something that gnarly exactly once for two and a half rounds of combat, and it's easy for that kind of tieback to feel forced, but... the damage output keyed to the *target's* available spell slots is so wild. (Think about the way people were frantically shedding their remaining high-level spells left and right, and then imagine four or five of those big cute boys as a palace guard encounter *immediately* before a late-campaign boss fight.)
@@emthatyourefuse2494 The Taxmen kinda remind me the Anti Magic Golems from the happy fun ball. Maybe Halas took some inspiration.
Can we get a “Betrayer’s” game with Matt, Aabria, and Brennan playing as the gods they have embodied. I don’t know who’s DMING this but I think it would be a sick one shot.
I vote Travis or Laura as the DM
Oh god please no that would be so jarring. Matt's and Brennan's god felt so grand while Aabria's felt like a divine influencer.
Wildcard....It's Taliesin.
What about someone like TJ Storm? He was an awesome player in Liam's The Song of the Lorelei one-shot, and in that episode they casually mentioned that he's been playing and DM'ing for "over three decades" or something...
@@henkmalan13 B Dave Walters could be a good pick also. He runs a lot of high level stuff.
Travis admitting with his entire chest that he wore a black t-shirt in an effort to not get food on himself when he ate dinner is the ADHD mood of a lifetime
Travis threw that game of Rock, Paper, Scissors.
Exactly what a good dad would do
Pure dad move
It’s just as hard to lose at Rock Paper Scissors as it is to lose
@@TartarusHimself Yes, losing is as hard as losing :P I know what you were going for, but that's a pretty funny mistake
either that or neither of them are any good at roshambo, at all
I need more Brennan with the crit role crew right now
Might see it during dimension 20s off season
After watching the wrap-up and reflecting upon mini-campaign a little bit, I've came to a conclusion about Zerxus (especially after Luis mentioned character's flaw in forming attachments way too fast). His heart and amounts of love in this heart were too big for his chest. And he was deprived from the opportunity to properly express that feeling. His husband died, he was far away from his son, and stuck in this goddamn tower, alone.
It feels like Zerxus was made to be a caring person, a someone who shines this light of love all around. Instead, he was "imprisoned" in these First Knight's quarters during the age of mageocracy and ultimate selfishness. And this need to care about someone played a terrible trick with him. Like, seeing a wounded fiend would instantly trigger the instinct "I must help, I must save this one from suffering".
Luis played this incredible character so good it hurts.
(Edit: a couple of typos.)
P.S. I hope there aren't a lot of mistakes :D
The only thing about him that was negative beyond his trust, was his absolute narcissism and savior complex hubris...
@@Nikotheleepic I might've gotten some things wrong (since English is not my native language and I am still in the process of learning it, thus might miss some "seconds layers" of narrative), but for me Zerxus rather seems slightly naive. By this word I mean "too quick to trust strangers and assume they are good people". Not sure about narcissism (may be a little bit of egoism or self-centrism, but not narcissism), and completely agree with saviour complex.
P.S. Need to find more examples of use for "hubris". Can't clearly grasp it's meaning. Seems like I slightly misinterpreted it and can't find the right way to translate...
i think you absolutely nailed it. zerxus is my favorite character and his drive to "fix" or "save" asmodeus was so compelling to me
@@helenkeller9182 hubris is like sort of arrogance or ignorance of one's owns capacities and ability.
@@Nikotheleepic oh, thanks! A little bit of thesaurus is always useful :)
As a Filipino, hearing that Cerrit was inspired by the Philippine eagle really brings a smile to my face.
Me, too. I had no idea and I love it.
I think its the second time they've been inspired by Filipino culture. The most recent one before Cerrit was Matt's mention of Balintawak back in C3's fashion episode.
(and probably "Basuras" as well, but still no confirmation on that)
If there was anything else before that, I can't remember anymore. 😂 It's been years with nearly a thousand hours of content to recall.
@@ihaveaplan.ijustneedmoney.9777 OMFG, I NEVER EVEN CONSIDERED THE POSSIBILITY OF 'BASSURAS' BEING DERIVED FROM 'BASURA'. (Which means 'trash, garbage' in Filipino, if anyone wanted to know.)
@@CalmThyPalm Oh, I love it so much. I'm Filipina-American and really excited to see more and more pop culture references to my ancestral nation appear in the fiction I enjoy.
12:10 Brennan says “Hey GMs, fuck a rest”. In my home game my character just got out of a dungeon crawl over 3 sessions with 1HP remaining and no healing in the party available. So in other words I dig a rest.
That sounds so goddamned thrilling. I LOVE playing long stretches with limited resources
in my home game we are in a castle. our cleric (only one with healing spells) and our wizard had no spell slots available, most of us with less than third of our hit points and we couldn't get the whole 8 hours for a long rest 'cause there were freaking bashees screaming and waking all of us up. it was stessfull. we ended up with a PC with three levels of exhaustion but the rest of us healed up.
I figured he meant to give people their spell slots and abilities back without a rest. Rests create a block for character features
This wrapup is brilliant. I really love the chemistry the cast and crew clearly had with each other. The layers and complex narrative arcs they wove together as a unit are so impressive. Brennan Lee Mulligan is a force of nature, and him and Matt Mercer collaborating was something spectacular to behold.
sobbing bc the entire time they’re talking about children Brennan is playing with his engagement ring :,)))
His now wife Izzy said on an episode of Game Changer that Brennan wants “more than anything in the world to be a dad.” Honestly, he’d make a great father.
He's a dad now. Announced on Worlds Beyond Number patreon!
@@_Moe I'm not crying, you're crying! 😭😭😭 major congratulations to Brennan and his family!
1:23:16 I am so glad that Travis brought this up!! when I saw that Brennan chose Luis to start in episode one I immediately had a theory as to why and now I get to share it with someone else 😂
My theory as to how Brennan plays at the table is that he wants to make sure everyone feels included, no one feels left out, and everyone is given their time to shine.
he knew that three of them are core members of the CR team, one player had also DMed a series for CR, and one player was one of his best friends. the logical choice for who should start, from that perspective, is Luis. it immediately brings him into the fold and gives him the opportunities to show what he’s got and set the tone.
brilliant DMing from the first decision to the last. BLeeM is a treasure among men.
MUST. MAKE. DIVERGENCE ONE-SHOT. BRING BACK . LUIS AND LOU.
YES
Its gotta be another episodic campaign, at this point a one shot would not be enough for most fans. Guilty of this
Hear! Hear!
God this was so good. Brennan, the cast, the setting, just YES. Critical Role, this was exquisite. Thank you so much, and please make more.
More....MORE!
ima be honest. I was all in with Zerxus. Asmodeus seemed like a good guy who'd been f'd over. Absolutely went gold when we turned around with the 'I didn't do anything wrong!'
Even that, though, is consistent with the story he told earlier. If everything he told Zerxus was the literal truth, with the only lie him being wounded, why wouldn't he think he did nothing wrong? Would you think you did something wrong if you acted as he claimed he did?
To quote Brennan: “Incredible!” I could listen to these guys talk about this perfect run of dnd forever. I wish I could cast modify memory on myself so I could watch it all for the first time again!
Brennan's "Incredible." is just how he vocalizes commas.
@@liamwhite3522 lmao incredible Liam. You nailed it. He loves commas incredible probably more than other punctuation incredible and there's nothing wrong with that!!
It's just as good the second, third, and fourth times. You catch stuff you missed the previous times and that makes it even better and, if possible, increases the admiration for all at the table. And after four runs, still sobbed through it.
This group of people was perfect for the story.
Also, glad they did this as I had no idea the Twitter Spaces wrap up was a thing
Even they made fun of the twitter spaces thing lop
Having watched C1 -> C3, and the One-Shots... Marisha has flourished in C3 playing Laudna, but my god - in this Calamity series she smashed it. Really grown as a player and her timing, touch and sensitivity to the plot, and how she moved the story - incredible.
I appreciate dnd players like Luis and Marisha so much cus they're so into the narrative and role-playing aspect, it makes me less embarrassed for being just like them. Most players are more into combat and exploring which is NOT a bad thing; I just get too shy to be really immersed and really be my character. Luis just giving his all in every dialogue and Marisha just loving every second, God I felt so validated lmao. Thank you for this ❤
Something that I think gets missed often is how much Travis loves a lore drop. I think most people still align him with Grog and wanting to fight everything - so they don't see it. When there's a poignant moment he's often one of the first people to get there. Liam taking a level in druid at the end of C1, The Vilya reveal in C2, Purvan turning up in EXU: Calamity. The guy just gushes when stuff like this happens!
The Plight of Bolo: A EXU One-shot following our favorite Aeroian Spy, the dragon necromancer played by Brennan!
I think you mean the Dragon Necromancer from Aeor who wants to be a reporter... some day.
The cobalt soul being a legacy of Cerrit and Paris’s family legacies is so crazy good I would love if it was true
0:50 Title sequence courtesy of Sam
1:42 Sam’s introduction
2:07 Brennan’s introduction
2:36 Lou’s introduction ft pizza sashimi
3:43 Travis’ introduction
4:17 Aabria’s introduction ft rock-paper-scissors
5:32 Q: Did knowing that this was the Calamity change character building?
6:57 Picking magical items
9:55 Sam and Lou’s multiclassing
12:08 Which class did the multiclassers start with?
13:24 What was Patia’s school of magic?
14:50 Brennan’s tangent on GMs giving free reign to players ft Wegolas
16:10 Travis’ character creation
18:59 Secret meetings of the nasties
23:40 Luis’ character creation
25:08 Two moments where Zerxus could’ve spilled the beans
27:36 “Luis is gone, there’s only Zerxus now” ft paladin discussion
30:52 Never trust a motherfucker with a cause
32:30 Loquatius lying to himself ft his motivations
34:11 Cerrit’s flaws
35:21 Travis pays attention to his wife
36:03 Cerrit is the one non-shady guy
39:04 Q: What made Travis and Luis want their characters to have kids? How did that affect their choices?
40:32 Travis and Jor-El
41:35 Travis’ analogy about kids
42:24 Luis honestly doesn’t think kids are gross
42:49 Luis’ reasoning about having a kid in game
44:35 Elias staying with Nydas’ brother
45:44 Sam and Aabria’s justification on not having kids
46:08 Early talks: Laerryn being Elias’ mom
47:33 Zerxus becoming the First Knight ft Kevin
48:48 What was it like for Brennan to RP kids?
50:40 Q: Does Nydas feel like his dreams were realized despite the fall of Avalir? ft Brennan, king of intros, outros and segues
52:15 Brennan is not the killer here (or is he?)
53:39 The moment of realization in a character arc
54:32 Can we please hit the brakes? (we can’t)
54:53 Brennan on Lou’s character shift
57:50 Cerrit being away for the Blight
1:00:14 Q: Was Laerryn’s urgency because of Quay or something else?
1:02:19 How much of Laerryn and Loquatius’ relationship was pre-planned? Ft Loquatius Hambrick-Zucker
1:04:41 Aabria did not expect the Sam Riegel emotional rollercoaster
1:06:49 Sam’s speech in episode 4!
1:09:06 The perfect joke
1:10:32 Aabria’s best game decision
1:11:40 Q: How does Patia feel about her grandfather’s deal?
1:14:09 Patia is lonely ft Brennan feeling emotions
1:16:47 The Gau Drashari and consulting with Matt
1:20:02 Love for Matt
1:20:22 Love for Brennan
1:21:36 Brennan discusses the lore
1:23:14 Love for Luis for starting off SO WELL
1:25:41 Zerxus establishes attachments fast
1:27:58 Character choices that made Brennan’s job easier
1:28:45 Zerxus never doubting the bad guy - who is not lying much ft “homeboy’s like ‘yeah, sure, man’”
1:30:51 The pure terror of Brennan as the Lord of the Hells
1:32:49 “You guys love it when people are hurting”
1:33:40 Brennan’s most terrifying choice of not doing an accent
1:34:07 Did Brennan have contingency plans? (He did. So many.)
1:37:53 The final roll of the campaign
1:39:17 The sphere going to Maya
1:40:16 “Is the orb okay?! The little library, where is it at?!”
1:40:56 Fan theory about Patia’s sphere
1:41:47 Future Kir is jacked
1:42:22 Bookends
1:44:03 The most burning question: WHAT HAPPENED TO BOLO?!
1:46:21 Best accent of all time
1:46:33 “How many beers are dragons out here grabbing?”
Dude, the best part for me, was when Lou / Nydas, summoned his dragon dude "Shak" the last time. and Shak tried to say his piece, the same thing he says everytime he's summoned - and friggin... Nydas just goes: "No! Shut the fuck up! We don't have time for this!"
I had to pause the video cuz I was laughing so damn hard I could barely see. It was fantastic.
Thank you for being brave and saying this. I agree wholeheartedly but I try to be cool and say it's my fav funny moment
1:33:04 This is so fucked up yet so brilliant. And I love the reveal by Luis Carazo that Zerxus has attachment issues. His attachment to his dead husband, his attachment to his estranged son that is only his husband's blood, and the immediate "bond" that he formed to Asmodeus.
And the hot take I have is that Zerxus and Jester are very, very similar as people.
They both have this toxic idea is "Everyone can be better as long as I make them happy/better." They have this concerning mindset that "I can fix them". It is a very scary mindset to have in any relationship when you're going in with the attempt to change that person. Both were sheltered and isolated, Zerxus when he was First Knight and Jester during her childhood. And Jester and Zerxus had no knowledge of the other deities and their realms of influence.
The only difference is that Zerxus wanted to redeem others out of his own hubris, because "anyone can be redeemed". Meanwhile Jester did everything with and for Artagan because she's a people-pleaser, she wants people to like her. She wants attention from the people that know her, she wants to make people happy to make herself happy.
Not to mention their bond with their patrons is very similar. And their patrons are very similar. Both Artagan and Asmodeus are very similar in their ability to manipulate others and "comfort" the people they're tricking. Jester "loved" Artagan because he was her only "friend", Artagan simply saw her as a chess piece in his whole game. Asmodeus saw Zerxus as a tool to getting what he wants while also hating him, and Asmodeus hated Zerxus because of his arrogance.
You're kinda mischaracterizing what Artagan and Jester saw in one another. Jester didn't become chaotic to become friends with Artagan, Artagan chose to become Jester's "god" because of how chaotic she was. He does value her immensely, and as more than a pawn. Heck, the climax of traveler con sees him sacrifice himself to stop Jester and Fjord from being dragged into the Feywild and imprisoned alongside him.
@@Birthday888 What campaign is this?
@@radioactivedetective6876 The video is about Exandria Calamity. The campaign in my post is Campaign 2 of Critical Role.
@@Birthday888 No no, I know about Calamity. I was asking about Jester and Artagan. Thanks.
Putting on my DM hat, there is a lot of meat on the bone to introduce some very special potential villians, The Nagpa, to Exandria. 13 evil wizards who were cursed by the Raven Queen for betraying her in the hour of her ascension. They can only learn new magics from dead civilizations.. which is perfect when a mcguffin like the Orb of Avalier in the world.
If the Orb is central to the origins of the Cobalt Soul, then they were unable to access the vast information within, or they've decided to hide it away so that a second Age of Arcanum could never occur. Either way, it is possible for players and NPCs in the world to dramatically change the face of Exandria going forward.
Also, Cerrit was very close to the explosion of two powerful concentrations of Arcane and Druidic magic, and the destruction of both a Fire and Earth Primordial. I can imagine him going on to father more kids, and starting a sorcerous blood lineage unique to Exandria. Calamitous Bloodline Sorcerer maybe.
I would have imagined a full nod to the homebrew "Runechild" bloodline that's common in Exandria. At some point, you're becoming a mana battery.
@@cj9964 Fascinating perspectives, both of you. I'll be plotting around these ideas for some time. Thank you. 🙂
Ok so like, I'm gonna NEED both Lou Wilson AND Luis Carazo back as guest characters at some point down the line. they are both FUCKING INCREDIBLE
And Brennan as gm again
All of these people are incredible storytellers, but something about Luis‘ approach is so uniquely beautiful to me. I’m very grateful to hear him talk about what themes and emotions and flaws he used to structure his character! He has a very profound and poetic perspective that I find incredibly inspiring
If I could ask Mat Mercer for one thing it would be for some day to have one of the main campaigns discover just a few of the stories of those legendary heroes of the Calamity Talon and Egghead. As recorded by the greatest reporter of the age: Bolo of Aeor.
I feel like we are gonna have an ExU: Aeor down the pipeline. Let it be known, this is my prediction. We now have a setup, the story will begin with the return of Bolo to the city of Aeor
... After that bit about how maybe the trouble troika might have enabled someone's lich quest, I cannot decide whether it's funnier if the Por'co family had the occasional side deal going with Vecna, or if like two random people in Avalir even knew the guy and both of them thought he was exceptionally cringe even for a necromancer.
is it terrible that i still want to know more? like i have so many questions and i just want to know EVERYTHING! this was so good.
Yeah, that's usually how I feel after these wrap ups ... Every time...but, unfortunately, we never get more. This is it. It sucks...but such is life.
@@AnxietyRat We do get more, but almost never in such a condensed way. They drip feed us more info whenever it becomes relevant to another point they are making, so you never stop learning, it just becomes less and more spread out over time, until you have to scrub through thousands of hours to collect all the tidbits. Like, Travis just dropped how he created Fjord, something I can't remember having ever heard before, and we are fully into a new campaign and just finished this side story.
Can't wait for 13 years down the line, when Lou has just finished his part of a narrative telephone game and he just casually mentions that he knew his pirate friend would betray him in that moment or something XD
Part of me hopes they make another book for the age of ARCANUM or just a little expansion
They need to release a commentary edition of calamity
Bolo from Aeor theory:
She WAS a polymorphed Chromatic Dragon...she knew what was going down and wanted to see Tiamat's arrival firsthand.
Bolo, learning that Asmodeus got dibs: "Great. All this waste of time. Got in good dress and everything."
Me, experiencing the heartbreak that is Crown of Candy and Unsleeping City: oh, boy! A Brennan Lee Mulligan dm'ed campaign! I won't cry this time.
Narrator: Mikey did in fact cry and they cried many many times for each episode.