Can confirm. Had a game once with like, 11-12 players and one DM. She stood the whole time, and she must have rolled 15 nat20s the whole session. Sucked that nearly most of these were attacks against one level 1 character, so e got very discouraged by the end, so he just let his character die and went to go lay down on a beanbag. We blamed the power of the Teemo hat that she was wearing.
In some groups, it's more dangerous because they may fall on the table and break it. I don't mean the "Fat DM nerd" stereotype, I just mean it certainly exists somewhere, and made a joke about it.
@@asedwadsa You don't take half damage if you succeed the saving throw for disintegrate, you take 0. And disintegrate is a Dex Saving throw, not a constitution one.
When Sam and Talesin are arguing about Sam not being willing to use Scanlan's counterspell at around 4:19:00 to protect Pike, Sam says "I want to save it, you'll see". He knows he needs it to Counterspell Vecna's own Counterspell when Keyleth is ready to Planeshift. He's such a MVP. Talesin later realizes this himself and says "You're a good man" to Sam just before Matt annouces his intentions.
This is likely my favorite "mechanics" moment of all the episodes I have watched so far in terms of sheer --- expertise. That's what this is: Sam's not proficient at this moment, he has expertise in playing this character - and it is so counter to the expressed reasons Scanlan left in the first place; he saved everybody - even going against a little peer pressure. Impressive. (And the defiance on that face! Freakin' checkmate - well, ok, if a checkmate during a tactical retreat is possible, lol.)
Always satisfying when Tal gets humbled into realizing he isn't the smartest in the room because he oftentimes comes off as though he thinks he is. Recycling quotes from movies and novels doesn't equate to intelligence
This concept makes me happy because all I can think is that is the same visual as a family thanksgiving with the one person no one knows/likes, except more nerdy
Travis standing up and yelling at Mathew not to do it, when he tried to disintegrate Pike was the cutest thing in this episode. He blocked her with his body in such a protective way.
@@charlie98378 Tarry had them made or made them himself in the year of downtime, I believe. Basically, they are hear rate monitors that activate whenever someone goes down.
Man, Scanlan was so fucking clutch with that last-minute counterspell. You can see Sam debating it with Taliesen a minute before it happens, cause Sam *knew.* Sam *knew* it was coming.
@@Yutah1981 If Liam/Vax had still been alive he might have been paying attention, but that level of detail is honestly only something Travis and Sam catch on to usually. Laura and Liam are right behind them but Travis and Sam really do play - especially in C1 - at a different level.
When he actually uses it. "7th level fireball... *silence* ... Power Word: Kill and Vex dies... *crickets* ... Disintegrate and Vax dies ... *nothing* "Wait Matt, can I retroactively Counterspell that?" Matt is probably the most merciful DM in existence.
TRAVIS: Taryon’s back in Whitestone having a fucking ball. TALIESIN: Taryon’s sitting with a cup of tea. SAM: No, Taryon’s on the floor, weeping, holding his necklace. That broke my fucking heart ;( It is one of the saddest things happened so far in the campaign...
At first I thought Sam was making a joke about him having to reconstruct Doty, but then I realized those damn necklaces pinging again and again with each death. Same fear Pike must've felt when they were fighting in Dis.
Somehow I was really impressed about Sam in the aftermath of the game. When Marisha said "we both just dumped our 9th level spells" (which she was kinda right with), everybody I can imagine, including me, would simply have said "Yeah, that sucked". However, Sam said: "Well, they're hard to use, we need to learn to use them better." and that right there is a level of understanding and wisdom that is really rare nowadays. Thank you, Sam. Thank you, Critical Role.
Darth Vader its even more impressive when you think of how badly scanlan fucks with vecna in the final fight he truly learned from this fight and had counter plans for almost all of vecnas BS.
He's got like a million hit points and 3 attacks in one turn. 9 Gloomstalkers? Grog would have been the Gloomstalker extinction event. But yes, need this fan art. Damn if only I could draw well
I love how Sam puts his head down and is visibly devastated at his best friend's death but then immediately snaps back into dealing with the next immediate problem, "Laura", when Pike is flustered and not sure what to do. Actually it's quite telling that he said "Laura" and not "Vex" - you can tell how real this felt for everyone involved ;;-;;
Sometimes when Scanlan and Vex interacts they might make you think that they're (Sam and Laura) not that close of friends IRL, but at times like these, you can clearly see that they are real good friends and really good actors as well
Taryon Darrington having just parted ways with his new family having just got home is working on Doty. Suddenly, as he works his necklace goes yellow. A knot twists into his stomach as the yellow suddenly transforms into a crimson red. Tary's heart speeds up and he clutches the necklace. "It'll be fine." he mumbles. The necklace begins to flash as another person goes down. He slips from his chair and still clutching his necklace. His mind running he wonders 'who's down? Vax? Percy? Pike? Grog? Vex? Perhaps their little friend?' He feels tears slip from his tears but he blinks them away "No, they'll get through this they always do!" However, the longer the necklace glowed the more his tears ran -What my mind thought when Sam said tary was on the floor weeping and clutching his necklace.....I feel they were under leveled to fight a wannabe god
A fight with an almost literal god and his two minions that can throw out disintegrate, power word kill, and banishment spells like they're candy and it still somehow wasn't as annoying as stressful as the Kraken's "you are now grappled" fight.
I swear if I had heard the words "and you are grappled" in that episode one more damned time, I would have exploded in purple goop. Damned Krakens. Too many arms and not enough soft spots lmao.
I mean ... a regular 3rd-level Fireball is already 8d6. A 7th-level Fireball is 12d6. That's only about a 50% increase in damage. An average roll of 12d6 is only about 42 damage. Ancient Dragon breaths are way more deadly.
Idofphoenix That’s very common of Critical Role, they cast spells at higher levels super often. Upcasting Cure Wounds at level 4 is really not worth it
I am so very happy they are doing the sitting at the same table setup now. And also that Matt is able to stand up and use body language. It gives me those old school D&D feelings.
It's not just Matt being able to stand, the smaller size of the same table and the fact that the battle map is now in the center of all of them makes them al act more dynamically. You see Travis stand up and lean often and Marisha getting up and walking in anxiousness just adds to the tension more than the face pulling and outcries. Getting the table from Wyrmwood has really upped the quality of Critical Role, making it feel more like they are actually playing the game at home and making it feel more natural and less production show like.
Did anyone notice that Sam was literally wiping tears out of his eyes at the end there? Like holy shit that's how you know when things are bad.... when sunshine Sam with his sunshine smile just starts weeping like Taryon.........
After the final episode everyone should check the Coalville video on Sam and the final fight it's a really good analysis obviously spoilers for the last episides
reposting for 2022: 5:58 Recap 8:30 Game start 14:00 Entering the city 24:30 Wafting the smoke helped :D 31:20 zombie survival mode 32:50 Oscillating druid fan 34:30 The bait 39:49 Who's laughing now? 50:17 A wild door appeared! 1:01:42 Scanlan does it again! 1:18:00 Grog smashing heads like they're melons 1:43:27 Break ends 2:17:24 Vecna's greeting 2:28:15 Laura Bailey : eloquence personified 2:34:10 The Undying King 2:37:28 Leeeroy Jenkins 2:38:50 kVecna's first turn 3:14:16 Complimenting the DM / "Sleep" 3:16:25 "You took him from me, I'm now going to take him from you" 3:18:11 Twins out ? 3:19:25 Retro-active counterspell 3:32:45 Dust in the wind 3:37:50 Percy vs Delilah 3:53:40 Taryon 3:54:30 Travis the human shield ("Baby don't hurt me no more") 4:10:55 Liam tries to give away his cards 4:12:30 Plate of the Dawn Martyr activates 4:18:30 Sam saving his reaction 4:20:20 Yo dog; I heard you like counterspell, so I'm counterspelling your counterspell
Good job! Always wish there was a way for one of us (people that endlessly rewatch old episodes & newcomers) to pin solid posts like this. Edit: You might consider changing the very ends description or such. Probably a little too detailed / spoilery, unlike the rest of your list.
I think its funny how Liam is the one with the most emotional scenes and even makes eye contact and real facial reactions when roleplaying but then the most casual about saying "It's just a game guys"
From the unpublished songs of Scanlan Shorthalt: 🎵Hey there Delilah, what's it like in Thar Amphala? Yeah the Whispered One's returned but I'm afraid we have to kill ya Yes we do, You and you creepy cultist crew And Vecna too Hey there Delilah, don't you worry about the distance If I'm sixty feet or less from you I'll counter all your castings Til you're dead Then I'll take a shit on all your beds That's what I said.🎵
🎵 Oh, no casting spells for thee, 🎵 No, no casting spells for thee, 🎵 Oh, no casting spells for thee, 🎵 No, no casting spells for thee, 🎵 Hey there, Delilah, I know magic's really hard, 🎵 But just believe me girl some day I'll break your soul, your mind, your heart, 🎵 Then I'll kill you all, 🎵 Down to The Nine Hells you will fall, 🎵 I'll send you all, 🎵 Hey there, Delilah, you're a cultist and a freak, 🎵 If by some means it were up to me, you wouldn't last a week, 🎵 You filthy wh*re, 🎵 And now it is, so breathe no more, 🎵 No, breathe no more, 🎵 Oh, no casting spells for thee, 🎵 No, no casting spells for thee, 🎵 Oh, no casting spells for thee, 🎵 No, no casting spells for thee, 🎵 Another bout? We've come this far, 🎵 And yet your mind runs slow like tar, 🎵 You'd think you'd learned your lesson here today, 🎵 You truly wish to walk this route, 🎵 My friends are here, let's duke it out, 🎵 You'll never again see the light of day, 🎵 Delilah, I can promise you, 🎵 That by the time that we are through 🎵 Your wretched face shall never look the same, 🎵 Your folly's blame, 🎵 Hey there, Delilah, turn to good 🎵 You'll go down in hist'ry, 🎵 But if you don't agree you should know, 🎵 We're poised to kill you quickly, 🎵 Close your eyes, 🎵 Your choices are good or demise, 🎵 Say your goodbyes... 🎵 Oh, no casting spells for thee, 🎵 No, no casting spells for thee, 🎵 Oh, no casting spells for thee, 🎵 No, no casting spells for thee, 🎵 Casting spells for thee... 🎵Oh, whoa, whoa, 🎵Oh, whoa, oh, 🎵Oh, Oh...
I love how the cast is sad, but accepting when Matt kills Vex and then same when he kills Vax, but the MOMENT he goes after Pike the ENTIRE table is just instantly "Dont You Dare!" "PIke is off limits!" lol
@@idontcheckmynotifsdontboth7753 she died pre stream once and theres a long running fan theory that Matt designed the Plate of the Dawn Martyr in such a way that Pike would never die again barring a TPK, which on CR is next to impossible to ever happen by design.
Whell... Counter spell....... Also the meat man can have shape chainge or any spell from any class..... Cuss bard Like he chod cast blade of disaster...... Insted of true polymorph.
From my experiences in pokemon - confusion means that Delilah should have been punching herself in the face *every* round until she knocks herself out.
Matt’s face the entire time they’re rushing into the tower is the face of a DM who knows his party is running into a death trap unprepared. You can tell he doesn’t want to do this to them, but I appreciate that he doesn’t pull any punches when they do go in there
He did pull his punches Sam had ample time c To counter disintegrate and did even ask until after the action resolved. He should not have been given that counter
4:19:45 just love how Sam starts intensely staring at Matt, knowing what is about to happen + Travis noticing it and knowing what Sam will do is just so awesome.
You could see it coming, since he told Taliesin earlier that he wouldn't counterspell that fire spell against Pike, because he still needed it this round. I especially enjoyed watching Sam wait and pounce because of that.
And Sam was still one step ahead, he knew he wont even have to roll. Which is pretty amazing considering he is the newbie and he was ahead of fucking everybody by like 2 moves.
Not just Travis, Laura noticed it as well judging from her reaction! I wish people gave Laura more credit - she picks up on things just as fast as Sam but the comments are always full of people gushing over the men :/
4:20:19 Travis knowing exactly what is in Sam's head is so fucking wonderful to see. This was the only problem with him having to play a dumb character, because he's SO fucking clever holy shit, he just KNOWS.
You can tell it's a bad fight when Sam looks like he's gonna throw up, he was barely joking this episode, and most of the cast was shaking the whole time
dalanology Super in agreement with you, but do feel like the fight was heavily stacked against them. Matt posted on Reddit to say that if they'd waited then the city might have gone by the time they got there, then theyd have no idea what happened. They always suck at planning though, seems like all they do is just go in and wing it completely lol
+onlyinthe fandom, oh totally! Not only that, but--and I realize they're searching info on the master of secrets, their research on the subject has come up with almost nothing. They're mostly level 18, but it still seems a bit unreasonable that they're fighting Vecna, a character I'm not even sure has 5e stats anywhere. A wisdom DC of 24? Jesus Christ... these players, who I love, are not more clever or clear on game rules than a step above casual, at best. So, I don't know why I expected anything more when it was clear Venca was on the scene.
dalanology I know right! I have never played d&d but still feel like I know more than them sometimes? How many times Im shouting at the screen like 'you cant use a 4th level spell as a bonus action!!' is too many. Also the wisdom stat of 24 was absolutely brutal, Im not even sure if Grog or Scanlan have anything to add on to a wisdom save, they would have to roll a nat 20 to get out of that paralysis. Im hoping that this encounter means that theyll actually plan stuff some more and not just rely on another player to come up with a tactic in the middle of it. This was seriously nearly a tpk, theyre lucky that Keyleth didnt get targeted because they would have all died without plane shift.
Based on Matts posts on Reddit, this was very much a no-win fight. It was either going to be an assbeating worse than Raishan round 1, or Veckna would've bailed out if he was losing. He wasn't losing this fight. Not even close.
@@Hoovt I don't think everyone truly got how much he thought it out. he was the first to remember Pikes armors ability meaning he knew he didn't have to worry about her dying so he didn't even try to counter spell the disintegration Again with the flame bolt he knew grog would pick her up
4:18:38 Sam is my favorite player by far because, in spite of and including him playing "amusing" characters, he is on top of the game. He knows better than to listen to "overly emotional" Talesin! 4:20:02 Look at Sam! He's staring right at Matt, waiting for Vechna to counter spell so he can drop his 7th level counter spell!!! He has saved VM from countless disasters because, while playing scampy Scanlan, Sam thinks several moves ahead!
bananafish58 overthinking and over planning is a thing and I do it a lot. Scanlan actually remembers what the other’s abilities are so he plans better. He also knows how they’re gonna react. The 8th level spell he did not end up using from the Thordak fight was also a sign he was preparing for shit to go reaaaally south.
Taliesin is king of “I have a plan” and just making shit up on the fly and praying it works out and then attempting to act like he knew every move that was going to be made
I’m so late to this, but when Marisha is just saying “but I can! It says I can with true resurrection!!” And Matt just looks at her and says “Marisha, we will have a talk later.” The seriousness but also sadness of that sentence killed me.
He sounded like the Russian government with the stupid attempt at censorship. Everyone knows the True Resurrection spell. It's the most surefire way to get someone back to life, it's probably the second most well known 9th level spell behind Wish.
This is the episode that really show why VM want Scanlan back not only as a member of the group but how is usually the true MVP of the group. I like Trayon but Scanlan is so much better to have in the group than him.
3:33:42 Marisha/Keyleth's reaction to this is a nice echo of Delilah's reaction to Sylas getting killed in the Briarwood arc. Looks like Delilah got her poetic justice after all.
eerily similar, for anyone who is curious. it happens at 3:47:19 of the linked episode.... "Race to the Ziggurat" ua-cam.com/video/2AqLu-u-GcY/v-deo.html" The way Delilah is described to react to Silas' disintegration is almost exactly like how Keyleth reacts to Vax, I really think Keyleth having an eerie repeat of Delilah's life choices following their loved ones' deaths could've been a really cool plot element.
Got me thinking of another eerie parallel this one between delilah and vax: both made a deal to dedicate their life to a cause in order to save someone they love from death and they both died because of that.
@@Elaksomfan while it is nice I think it would have been a bad idea. If I recall correctly he was out of spell slots above 2nd after the final fight, he used his 9th because he had to, not to be on the safe side.
Rubikx Few turns, for sure. I think the biggest roll was a few episodes back. When Keyleth’s turn came in the halls of the 9 Hells prison and she had to make a death saving throw with 2 failed, Matt told them that a failed save would have been a TPK. Some intense moments in the late stages of Vox Machina’s campaign.
That was absolutely chilling. It's incredible how while everyone else thought they still had a fighting chance, Matt could already see the outcome of the battle and knew that "if Percy doesn't start moving towards Keyleth NOW you are all going to die".
@@Kamoflage7yeah, that was intense. And then after when Marisha is asking if anyone needs healed, Laura loses it a bit and says 'heal your fucking self!"lmao. They didn't know how close they were to being stuck in a prison in the 9 hells, and when they did they immediately went into panic mode.
gabthegreat01 yeah but you still have to try. There’s no leaving and grinding exp somewhere else. If they didn’t fight here they would have been in a worse situation later on.
Except they didn't do that badly, if they had thrown on some freedom of movement and Scanlan had been allowed to get Vecna in his eye cone, they probably would have won.
@@Kasino80 I've been burnt by autoplay beofre and even by the Playlist, almost. So I juat look it myself. Its not like I'm gonna be too bothered to do it by hand with 4 hour streams xD
Gamingwiz135 Matt has clarified on Reddit that he would never ban True Ressurection, as many incorrectly assumed. He explained that the discussion would be with the players and the deceased to help them map out their options. Hope this dispells any confusion.
2020 Crew bringing it up again 5:58 Recap 8:30 Game start 14:00 Entering the city 24:30 Wafting the smoke helped :D 31:20 zombie survival mode 32:50 Oscillating druid fan 34:30 The bait 39:49 Who's laughing now? 50:17 A wild door appeared! 1:01:42 Scanlan does it again! 1:18:00 Grog smashing heads like they're melons 1:43:27 Break ends 2:17:24 Vecna's greeting 2:28:15 Laura Bailey : eloquence personified 2:34:10 The Undying King 2:37:28 Leeeroy Jenkins 2:38:50 kVecna's first turn 3:14:16 Complimenting the DM / "Sleep" 3:16:25 "You took him from me, I'm now going to take him from you" 3:18:11 Twins out ? 3:19:25 Retro-active counterspell 3:32:45 Dust in the wind 3:37:50 Percy vs Delilah 3:53:40 Taryon 3:54:30 Travis the human shield ("Baby don't hurt me no more") 4:10:55 Liam tries to give away his cards 4:12:30 Plate of the Dawn Martyr activates 4:18:30 Sam saving his reaction 4:20:20 Yo dog; I heard you like counterspell, so I'm counterspelling your counterspell
Honestly I felt more fear with the Dragons because there was such a build up. I feel there wasn't enough for Vecna so knowing what was more then likely going to happen felt lacking to me. Still freaking but again something isn't there.
That here is only the innitial build up for Vecna.Even if they somehow kill him he is a lich god with a phylactery so to destroy him will be an entire ark.Never mind his army.If you look between the lines they scored a grate victory.They destroyed his HQ.They killed hundreds of cultists.They killed one of his generals and possibly got the eye of Vecna unknowingly(eye-Deleila).All this with only one death witch at their lvl is like getting the flu.
You know what is wild? If Sam had the opportunity to counterspell Vecna's Disintegration of Vax, he wouldn't have had a counterspell left for their exit. So in a way... Vax really did end up sacrificing himself to save his sister, like he always wanted.
@@dakotafwebster8062 i have a question cus a lot of people say that or complain about spoilers. What do people expect the comments to be about if not what happens during the episods
Is it just me or is that mask he wears in the intro very similar to the ravenqueen's face... plus that line Matt mentioned "pulling the strings of fate" last time the RQ had a major part...
8:34 Game starts 1:43:28 break ends 4:06:32 Travis jogging on the spot out of excitement/tension has got to be one of my favourite parts this episode xD
I really feel that this episode is the reason they are so much better in C2. They ate a huge helping of humble pie. And it makes me think that they finally realize that if they dont want Matt to kill them then they need to take combat and especially preparation more seriously.
You say that, and yet I feel like they did a very similar thing with Obon and the cursed tree. They *forced* that fight and were very lucky to walk away from it without leaving anyone behind.
@@govirdrauka7116 nah, that Obon fight they gambled to beat them to the punch and not fight them at all. That was the gamble they made, and it failed, so they had to fight not rested.
LMAO no. They didn't get better in C2 until they lost Mollymauk due to terrible planning and were forced to live with consequences they couldn't undo. And even afterward their typical battle plans are more scattershot than real strategy.
@Danan "Robin Nelsen They honestly don't have the ability or predisposition to plan better, it's not just arrogance or inability." They don't have the ability or predisposition, but it's not just inability? Come again? That's EXACTLY what it means to say it's inability, my guy.
@@govirdrauka7116 Matt admitted that Oban rolled VERY well in that fight to accomplish his goal in the first or second round, if he was stuck with the tree it would have been different. Not saying it would have been easy, but like this fight, early rolls decided it (all it takes is vecna rolling bad initiative and things look very different). Thats dnd though
[SPOILER] Pike: You guys, are we not gonna do a hero's feast? Vex: It's an hour. It takes an hour, right? Scanlan: We can't. Can't risk it. Vax: What do you think is going to happen in an hour? Everything is going to kick off in an hour? "EVERYTHING KICKS OFF IN AN HOUR" It's Always Sunny in Exandria
Timestamps gathered from other comments, for re-watching purposes. Spoilers ahead. 1:18:00 Grog smashing heads like they're melons 1:43:27 Break ends 2:17:24 Vecna's greeting 2:28:15 Laura Bailey : eloquence personified 2:34:10 The Undying King 2:37:28 Leeeroy Jenkins 2:38:50 Vecna's first turn 3:14:16 Complimenting the DM / "Sleep" 3:16:25 "You took him from me, I'm now going to take him from you" 3:18:11 Twins out ? 3:19:25 Retro-active counterspell 3:32:45 Dust in the wind 3:37:50 Percy vs Delilah 3:53:40 Taryon 3:54:30 Travis the human shield ("Baby don't hurt me no more") 4:10:55 Liam tries to give away his cards 4:12:30 Plate of the Dawn Martyr activates 4:18:30 Sam saving his reaction 4:20:20 Yo dog; I heard you like counterspell, so I'm counterspelling your counterspell
A standing DM is way more dangerous than a sitting DM.
You're like the David Attenborough of D&D.
Ha & You're the Luminous orange sunglasses of the comments
My players always get scared when I stand up. It's fun to watch their faces as I start to get out of my chair :P
Can confirm. Had a game once with like, 11-12 players and one DM. She stood the whole time, and she must have rolled 15 nat20s the whole session.
Sucked that nearly most of these were attacks against one level 1 character, so e got very discouraged by the end, so he just let his character die and went to go lay down on a beanbag.
We blamed the power of the Teemo hat that she was wearing.
In some groups, it's more dangerous because they may fall on the table and break it.
I don't mean the "Fat DM nerd" stereotype, I just mean it certainly exists somewhere, and made a joke about it.
"Taryon is on the floor, weeping, holding his necklace."
That may be the saddest thing Sam has said this entire campaign.
FoolishAnonymous with a broken Doty at his side.
I cried
i laughed in response to with a broken doty
After watching the end of this campaign, this is not the saddest thing Sam has said. The saddest thing he's said is "Nine."
DMN YOU! My heart cant handle that!
There are three things all wise men fear; the sea in storm, the anger of a gentle man and a standing DM.
McB12329 haha!
They don’t fear the Oxford comma, it seems.
Most people don't fear unnecessary things.
🤣🍃🌬🖤
This is 2 years too late but still: Nice King Killer Chronicles reference!
Vex: "Where's Vax?"
Matt: "That's where we'll end tonight's session."
Matt you sadistic bastard, I love you!
Lol
"Magic can't put me to sleep"
"Power word kill"
hahahaha that was such a great moment
Followed by Disintegrate played in the wrong way >_
@@cyclonicoverride4337 What do you mean?
They should’ve known that they were walking into a high level necromancers place both spells were on the table
@@asedwadsa You don't take half damage if you succeed the saving throw for disintegrate, you take 0. And disintegrate is a Dex Saving throw, not a constitution one.
★ Percy should arm Trinket with his gun "Bad News".
With his upgraded kit, Trinket is:
☆ *The Bearer of Bad News*
Extremely underrated pun
And this one@Harry Chisholm
Oh my god
HOLY SHIT UNDERRATED COMMENT I'M DYING
I like this
When Sam and Talesin are arguing about Sam not being willing to use Scanlan's counterspell at around 4:19:00 to protect Pike, Sam says "I want to save it, you'll see". He knows he needs it to Counterspell Vecna's own Counterspell when Keyleth is ready to Planeshift. He's such a MVP. Talesin later realizes this himself and says "You're a good man" to Sam just before Matt annouces his intentions.
This is likely my favorite "mechanics" moment of all the episodes I have watched so far in terms of sheer --- expertise. That's what this is: Sam's not proficient at this moment, he has expertise in playing this character - and it is so counter to the expressed reasons Scanlan left in the first place; he saved everybody - even going against a little peer pressure. Impressive. (And the defiance on that face! Freakin' checkmate - well, ok, if a checkmate during a tactical retreat is possible, lol.)
Sam looking at Matt in expectancy, because he knows his DM very well...is wonderful to watch!
Always satisfying when Tal gets humbled into realizing he isn't the smartest in the room because he oftentimes comes off as though he thinks he is. Recycling quotes from movies and novels doesn't equate to intelligence
@@padenbang7375 glad that you know him personally...
@@padenbang7375 one day youll look back at this comment and be embarrased, and I hope that day is soon
"Be mindful of your choices" A DMs way to say: You´re 1 round away from a TPK.
He went so easy on the players, it doesn't make sense
@@rittov320 As a DM your job isn't to kill your party, it's to tell a story.
Play how you like.
@@rittov320 I mean he killed two of them and even pulled out a Power Word Kill, sure he wasn't trying to TPK but he let them walk into a meat grinder.
@@timr6318 He didn't let anybody, they did it themselves. He basically warned them off as best he could without giving everything away.
@@Ailieorz When was this warning? Sincerely, I didn't hear anything that signaled a warning to me.
*vox machina eating the heroes' feast*
*vecna comes in and calmly sits down to eat at the table*
Hey guys, what's up? Mind if I drop in and drop this 7th level fireball. Also delilah is coming later.
This concept makes me happy because all I can think is that is the same visual as a family thanksgiving with the one person no one knows/likes, except more nerdy
Something about that sounds like Darth Vader in Cloud City
@@jonathankowatch6947 She's his +1
Travis standing up and yelling at Mathew not to do it, when he tried to disintegrate Pike was the cutest thing in this episode. He blocked her with his body in such a protective way.
Time stap?
When is this?
Raven Queen 3:54:33 nvm I found it for you
Heavy is the head that ...sits behind the screen.
Travis is the ultimate Big Brother, his love is so pure
When Sam says that Tarry is just back at Whitestone, on the floor sobbing with his necklace in hand, Matt had some serious feels, and serious regret.
When did the characters get the necklaces?
@@charlie98378 Tarry had them made or made them himself in the year of downtime, I believe. Basically, they are hear rate monitors that activate whenever someone goes down.
@@charlie98378 Keyleth had them made to celebrate her completing her Aramente
@@fleacosmos66 Actually they were made well before that, she just gave them out when that happened.
This happens @ 3:53:44 for those who are interested.
When the DM says "I'll let you do it because you're gonna need to take everything you can get" you know you're fucked
Man, Scanlan was so fucking clutch with that last-minute counterspell. You can see Sam debating it with Taliesen a minute before it happens, cause Sam *knew.* Sam *knew* it was coming.
Taliesin was saying "this is it" but Sam was so right
...you think THIS counterspell is good? Boy, do I have news for you...
I'm kinda amazed nobody else knew except Travis. I immediately thought of that.
@@Yutah1981 If Liam/Vax had still been alive he might have been paying attention, but that level of detail is honestly only something Travis and Sam catch on to usually. Laura and Liam are right behind them but Travis and Sam really do play - especially in C1 - at a different level.
@@JDOTczar TBH, I don't have this impression, it's pretty subjective
Travis laughs hysterically when he's in severe pain so by that logic, he must have been freaking terrified.
I love that Scanlan's counter spell is literally him confusing people
Exactly
The most powerful innate ability in DnD: the power to confuse any being with words.
@@therods9645 if you can't blind them with your brilliance baffle them with your bullshit
@@jodah_eternal and your aliteration!
When he actually uses it. "7th level fireball... *silence* ... Power Word: Kill and Vex dies... *crickets* ... Disintegrate and Vax dies ... *nothing* "Wait Matt, can I retroactively Counterspell that?" Matt is probably the most merciful DM in existence.
TRAVIS: Taryon’s back in Whitestone having a
fucking ball.
TALIESIN: Taryon’s sitting with a cup of tea.
SAM: No, Taryon’s on the floor, weeping, holding
his necklace.
That broke my fucking heart ;( It is one of the saddest things happened so far in the campaign...
Taryon would have been so helpful during their Shadowfell trip
I hope this gets animated
timestamp?
@@brandon6485
3:53:40
At first I thought Sam was making a joke about him having to reconstruct Doty, but then I realized those damn necklaces pinging again and again with each death. Same fear Pike must've felt when they were fighting in Dis.
I'm a simple necromancer.
I see Vex, I cast Finger of Death
nice.
Well played :)
ahahahaa
lmao
Gotta do something with that finger. 😉
Somehow I was really impressed about Sam in the aftermath of the game. When Marisha said "we both just dumped our 9th level spells" (which she was kinda right with), everybody I can imagine, including me, would simply have said "Yeah, that sucked".
However, Sam said: "Well, they're hard to use, we need to learn to use them better." and that right there is a level of understanding and wisdom that is really rare nowadays.
Thank you, Sam. Thank you, Critical Role.
Darth Vader its even more impressive when you think of how badly scanlan fucks with vecna in the final fight he truly learned from this fight and had counter plans for almost all of vecnas BS.
This comment is better coming from Lord Vader
@Danny Dolan you do not get to cry about spoilers years later, if you dont want spoilers dont read the comments
I mean, sam riegel is kind of the genius of the cast so...
Sam might legitimately be the best D&D player I've ever seen.
… You know Travis is getting serious when he's not using the grog voice...
That or it's a shopping episode 😁
@Callie Johnson Travis is a smart man. He knows the only thing more deadly than Vecna is Laura Bailey if Trinket dies.
@@mawile8329 If you think about it, trinket didn’t get touched for literally the entire fight.
Taleisin: "YOU HAVE A REACTION, USE IT"
Sam: "Wait for it"
Taleisin: "WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW, YOU STRANG... ah. You're a good man"
So I just learned the only way to re-balance a character with lots of magic items, just disintegrate him
Pro tip!
You can't disintegrate someone who is immune to force damage.
I'm dead lmao
@@sofialaya596 I'm a little late here, but so is Vax
DarkEspeon frick you 🙃🙃🙃
Where is the fan art of Grog, standing in a massive crater, full on rage, fearlessly preparing for an onslaught of gloomstalkers in a full dive?
This.... I need this
Damn I wanna see that fan art..
YES.
Let's be honest he would have destoryed them
He's got like a million hit points and 3 attacks in one turn. 9 Gloomstalkers? Grog would have been the Gloomstalker extinction event.
But yes, need this fan art. Damn if only I could draw well
Percy's new quote "We'll keep doing terrible shit until terrible shit stops happening!"
"Life needs things to live, death can't exist without life, so if we do all we can to not live, we can stop death!"
-Vox Machina, in general.
Percy “I have a plan” literally does not have a plan
At this moment I thought: "Of course terrible shit will stop happening because you all are going to die"
@@retro_dystopian963Attack IS a plan, come now Tony Stark was very clear about this lol
"Where's Vax?" CUT hot damn
I love how much fun Travis has even when things are going to shit.
According to what he said on last night's Talks Machina, he has the *most* fun when things go to shit! :D
eightyfour I believe it
I'm all about Sam and Travis's shit-eating grins when things are going completely off the rails wrong.
He understands that the goal isn’t to win, is to fight and tell the story.
@@Sanyaenyenwa It shows, and I love him for it :D
Matt: "...not really a top or bottom situation."
Liam: "Depends on the day."
What an overlooked line .. no one even laughed!
During that entire scene i was just saying "Vax is such a bi-disaster"
That was adorable. A delightful little moment in this trashfire of an episode
@@SocialistSadako I wouldn't call it that.
Which was itself a callback to Pike giving Taryon sex advice in the tavern.
I laughed.
I love how Sam puts his head down and is visibly devastated at his best friend's death but then immediately snaps back into dealing with the next immediate problem, "Laura", when Pike is flustered and not sure what to do. Actually it's quite telling that he said "Laura" and not "Vex" - you can tell how real this felt for everyone involved ;;-;;
Sometimes when Scanlan and Vex interacts they might make you think that they're (Sam and Laura) not that close of friends IRL, but at times like these, you can clearly see that they are real good friends and really good actors as well
Good to see that Sam can still break our hearts with Taryon even when he's not there xD
Taryon Darrington having just parted ways with his new family having just got home is working on Doty. Suddenly, as he works his necklace goes yellow. A knot twists into his stomach as the yellow suddenly transforms into a crimson red. Tary's heart speeds up and he clutches the necklace. "It'll be fine." he mumbles. The necklace begins to flash as another person goes down. He slips from his chair and still clutching his necklace. His mind running he wonders 'who's down? Vax? Percy? Pike? Grog? Vex? Perhaps their little friend?' He feels tears slip from his tears but he blinks them away "No, they'll get through this they always do!" However, the longer the necklace glowed the more his tears ran -What my mind thought when Sam said tary was on the floor weeping and clutching his necklace.....I feel they were under leveled to fight a wannabe god
The you remember that this fight took all of maybe 30+ seconds? That really isn't much time.
They where underleveled, as with the attack of the chroma conclave Matt expected them to withdraw and regroup.
@@Ginric99 They should've stopped the ritual
Damm... you got me tear eyed
damn this made me cry all over again
A fight with an almost literal god and his two minions that can throw out disintegrate, power word kill, and banishment spells like they're candy and it still somehow wasn't as annoying as stressful as the Kraken's "you are now grappled" fight.
this is hilariously true
Well, one's a fight, and one's a one-sided massacre. Of course the latter's going to go faster. xD
I swear if I had heard the words "and you are grappled" in that episode one more damned time, I would have exploded in purple goop. Damned Krakens. Too many arms and not enough soft spots lmao.
Yeah plus with 1000% less alcohol 😬
I still found it annoying as I listened to Marisha babble incoherently round after round
3:43:42 Liam telling Marisha "I'm gone. There's no finding me, I'm gone. You cut and run, you live." I wanted to cry.
Very late response, but I legit cried. She wanted to save him so badly!
"Vecna is going to cast a 7th level fireball"... Nuke, Vecna is going to cast nuke
A nuke that couldn't level a small tree.
I mean ... a regular 3rd-level Fireball is already 8d6. A 7th-level Fireball is 12d6. That's only about a 50% increase in damage. An average roll of 12d6 is only about 42 damage. Ancient Dragon breaths are way more deadly.
LMAO
Idofphoenix That’s very common of Critical Role, they cast spells at higher levels super often. Upcasting Cure Wounds at level 4 is really not worth it
For a nuke, it's not that devastating lmao
I am so very happy they are doing the sitting at the same table setup now. And also that Matt is able to stand up and use body language. It gives me those old school D&D feelings.
I definitely missed Matt being able to stand up like he did in the K'Varn arc. So glad it's finally back.
It's not just Matt being able to stand, the smaller size of the same table and the fact that the battle map is now in the center of all of them makes them al act more dynamically. You see Travis stand up and lean often and Marisha getting up and walking in anxiousness just adds to the tension more than the face pulling and outcries. Getting the table from Wyrmwood has really upped the quality of Critical Role, making it feel more like they are actually playing the game at home and making it feel more natural and less production show like.
Did anyone notice that Sam was literally wiping tears out of his eyes at the end there? Like holy shit that's how you know when things are bad.... when sunshine Sam with his sunshine smile just starts weeping like Taryon.........
Tary is just Sam's inner child speaking
After the final episode everyone should check the Coalville video on Sam and the final fight it's a really good analysis obviously spoilers for the last episides
reposting for 2022:
5:58 Recap
8:30 Game start
14:00 Entering the city
24:30 Wafting the smoke helped :D
31:20 zombie survival mode
32:50 Oscillating druid fan
34:30 The bait
39:49 Who's laughing now?
50:17 A wild door appeared!
1:01:42 Scanlan does it again!
1:18:00 Grog smashing heads like they're melons
1:43:27 Break ends
2:17:24 Vecna's greeting
2:28:15 Laura Bailey : eloquence personified
2:34:10 The Undying King
2:37:28 Leeeroy Jenkins
2:38:50 kVecna's first turn
3:14:16 Complimenting the DM / "Sleep"
3:16:25 "You took him from me, I'm now going to take him from you"
3:18:11 Twins out ?
3:19:25 Retro-active counterspell
3:32:45 Dust in the wind 3:37:50 Percy vs Delilah
3:53:40 Taryon 3:54:30 Travis the human shield ("Baby don't hurt me no more")
4:10:55 Liam tries to give away his cards 4:12:30 Plate of the Dawn Martyr activates
4:18:30 Sam saving his reaction
4:20:20 Yo dog; I heard you like counterspell, so I'm counterspelling your counterspell
Duuuude thanks! It was impossible to find without a million spoilers 😬
Thanks! Glad I’m not the only one watching for the first time in 2022.
Bump
BUMP GOD BLESS YOU
Good job! Always wish there was a way for one of us (people that endlessly rewatch old episodes & newcomers) to pin solid posts like this.
Edit: You might consider changing the very ends description or such. Probably a little too detailed / spoilery, unlike the rest of your list.
Without Sam, this show would be a lot darker. Damn, he's amazing.
Without Sam, this show wouldn't exist.
@@aliince9372 100% agree 🖤 love Sam
He was trying so hard to elevate the mood.
I think its funny how Liam is the one with the most emotional scenes and even makes eye contact and real facial reactions when roleplaying but then the most casual about saying "It's just a game guys"
From the unpublished songs of Scanlan Shorthalt:
🎵Hey there Delilah, what's it like in Thar Amphala?
Yeah the Whispered One's returned but I'm afraid we have to kill ya
Yes we do,
You and you creepy cultist crew
And Vecna too
Hey there Delilah, don't you worry about the distance
If I'm sixty feet or less from you I'll counter all your castings
Til you're dead
Then I'll take a shit on all your beds
That's what I said.🎵
Wowww! Bravo!!
🎵 Oh, no casting spells for thee,
🎵 No, no casting spells for thee,
🎵 Oh, no casting spells for thee,
🎵 No, no casting spells for thee,
🎵 Hey there, Delilah, I know magic's really hard,
🎵 But just believe me girl some day I'll break your soul, your mind, your heart,
🎵 Then I'll kill you all,
🎵 Down to The Nine Hells you will fall,
🎵 I'll send you all,
🎵 Hey there, Delilah, you're a cultist and a freak,
🎵 If by some means it were up to me, you wouldn't last a week,
🎵 You filthy wh*re,
🎵 And now it is, so breathe no more,
🎵 No, breathe no more,
🎵 Oh, no casting spells for thee,
🎵 No, no casting spells for thee,
🎵 Oh, no casting spells for thee,
🎵 No, no casting spells for thee,
🎵 Another bout? We've come this far,
🎵 And yet your mind runs slow like tar,
🎵 You'd think you'd learned your lesson here today,
🎵 You truly wish to walk this route,
🎵 My friends are here, let's duke it out,
🎵 You'll never again see the light of day,
🎵 Delilah, I can promise you,
🎵 That by the time that we are through
🎵 Your wretched face shall never look the same,
🎵 Your folly's blame,
🎵 Hey there, Delilah, turn to good
🎵 You'll go down in hist'ry,
🎵 But if you don't agree you should know,
🎵 We're poised to kill you quickly,
🎵 Close your eyes,
🎵 Your choices are good or demise,
🎵 Say your goodbyes...
🎵 Oh, no casting spells for thee,
🎵 No, no casting spells for thee,
🎵 Oh, no casting spells for thee,
🎵 No, no casting spells for thee,
🎵 Casting spells for thee...
🎵Oh, whoa, whoa,
🎵Oh, whoa, oh,
🎵Oh, Oh...
👏👏👏
Bra fucking vo
@@James_Irish So, how's that later date coming along?
I love how the cast is sad, but accepting when Matt kills Vex and then same when he kills Vax, but the MOMENT he goes after Pike the ENTIRE table is just instantly "Dont You Dare!" "PIke is off limits!" lol
To be fair, the twins die literally all the time. Always those two. But has pike, on screen? I don’t remember
@@idontcheckmynotifsdontboth7753 she died pre stream once and theres a long running fan theory that Matt designed the Plate of the Dawn Martyr in such a way that Pike would never die again barring a TPK, which on CR is next to impossible to ever happen by design.
#1 rule of warfare: NEVER mess with the medic.
Travis throwing his arms in front of Ashley got me almost as good as "FIX HIM"
Grog will protect his Monstah at all costs.
As someone who listens while driving, I've not seen this happen so fix him hits harder
DAMN Scanlan is powerful--and as their sole arcane caster, he's so vital to the group.
Whell... Counter spell....... Also the meat man can have shape chainge or any spell from any class..... Cuss bard
Like he chod cast blade of disaster...... Insted of true polymorph.
@@snakeinabox7220 blade of diaster didn't even exist back then.
From my experiences in pokemon - confusion means that Delilah should have been punching herself in the face *every* round until she knocks herself out.
Also, Pike and Keyleth’s earthquakes should’ve only done 100 damage each.
Your experience with Pokemon is not enough. It's only a 30% chance per turn.
@@HenriqueErzinger Unless it's your pokemon that is confused and not the other trainer's, in which case it is a 100% chance per turn.
@@jtroxler8 no, the earthquakes didn't extend to the top of the tower, hence why it stayed floating
@@jtroxler8 no, actually read the spell. The damage happens every turn for the entire duration.
Matt’s face the entire time they’re rushing into the tower is the face of a DM who knows his party is running into a death trap unprepared. You can tell he doesn’t want to do this to them, but I appreciate that he doesn’t pull any punches when they do go in there
Well, there was a tiny chance if they had speedier methods of travel that they could've somehow tried to stop the ritual.
Normally it's "How do you want to do this?", but this time, silently he was thinking "Why do you want to do this?"
Is it bad that I want to hear Liam yell "YOU ARE NOT PREPARED!"
He did pull his punches Sam had ample time c
To counter disintegrate and did even ask until after the action resolved. He should not have been given that counter
He made so many errors in the playthrough. Screwed up on so many rules, watch it again.
4:19:45 just love how Sam starts intensely staring at Matt, knowing what is about to happen + Travis noticing it and knowing what Sam will do is just so awesome.
You could see it coming, since he told Taliesin earlier that he wouldn't counterspell that fire spell against Pike, because he still needed it this round.
I especially enjoyed watching Sam wait and pounce because of that.
Talesin even realizes it as they are starting to plane shift and says something like "roll the dice good job" and laughs
And Sam was still one step ahead, he knew he wont even have to roll. Which is pretty amazing considering he is the newbie and he was ahead of fucking everybody by like 2 moves.
Not just Travis, Laura noticed it as well judging from her reaction! I wish people gave Laura more credit - she picks up on things just as fast as Sam but the comments are always full of people gushing over the men :/
@@SocialistSadako after the cupcake, I don't think we can ignore her any more.
"Where's Vax?" *CURTAINS*
Love Taliesin's "O yes you're very clever" at Sam when he realizes why Sam didn't counterspell
Sam is amazing
4:20:19 Travis knowing exactly what is in Sam's head is so fucking wonderful to see. This was the only problem with him having to play a dumb character, because he's SO fucking clever holy shit, he just KNOWS.
Him playing fjord makes this comment shine his combat and plays he commits to in campaign 2 shows how smart of a player he is
Travis throwing his arms out to protect Ashley/Pike from Vecna is just the cutest thing ever. I love Grog and Pike's bond so very much.
3:54:34 watching laura get up and yell NO MATT NO and seeing "good vibes only" on her shirt made me laugh for a minute straight.
I've been rewatching CR as I fall asleep recently, and I finally made it to this episode...
It's 6am and I'm still awake
I do this too. It's a bit unsettling to look up and see sunlight after watching it in shadows for hours.
Watching Liam slowly clean up his portion of the table as everyone is escaping and gentle putting his items in front of Laura is the saddest thing
"Best five years of my life" made me cry. I turned to comment to my husband how heartbreaking that line was and just started *crying*
😭
and Laura got so upset when he did that! It was heartbreaking.
I love every time someone's died they just clean up and head out it really makes the death show
Deserve it. Should all have been dead for dumbly waltzing into vecna
You can tell it's a bad fight when Sam looks like he's gonna throw up, he was barely joking this episode, and most of the cast was shaking the whole time
+onlyinthe fandom, yeah it was pretty bad. Their prep was kind of abysmal though.
dalanology Super in agreement with you, but do feel like the fight was heavily stacked against them. Matt posted on Reddit to say that if they'd waited then the city might have gone by the time they got there, then theyd have no idea what happened. They always suck at planning though, seems like all they do is just go in and wing it completely lol
+onlyinthe fandom, oh totally! Not only that, but--and I realize they're searching info on the master of secrets, their research on the subject has come up with almost nothing. They're mostly level 18, but it still seems a bit unreasonable that they're fighting Vecna, a character I'm not even sure has 5e stats anywhere. A wisdom DC of 24? Jesus Christ... these players, who I love, are not more clever or clear on game rules than a step above casual, at best. So, I don't know why I expected anything more when it was clear Venca was on the scene.
dalanology I know right! I have never played d&d but still feel like I know more than them sometimes? How many times Im shouting at the screen like 'you cant use a 4th level spell as a bonus action!!' is too many. Also the wisdom stat of 24 was absolutely brutal, Im not even sure if Grog or Scanlan have anything to add on to a wisdom save, they would have to roll a nat 20 to get out of that paralysis. Im hoping that this encounter means that theyll actually plan stuff some more and not just rely on another player to come up with a tactic in the middle of it. This was seriously nearly a tpk, theyre lucky that Keyleth didnt get targeted because they would have all died without plane shift.
Based on Matts posts on Reddit, this was very much a no-win fight. It was either going to be an assbeating worse than Raishan round 1, or Veckna would've bailed out if he was losing.
He wasn't losing this fight. Not even close.
Love how Sam refused to give in to Taliesin's peer pressure. That's some smart play!
Yup, Sam is way smarter.
@@Hoovt I don't think everyone truly got how much he thought it out.
he was the first to remember Pikes armors ability
meaning he knew he didn't have to worry about her dying so he didn't even try to counter spell the disintegration
Again with the flame bolt he knew grog would pick her up
4:18:38 Sam is my favorite player by far because, in spite of and including him playing "amusing" characters, he is on top of the game. He knows better than to listen to "overly emotional" Talesin! 4:20:02 Look at Sam! He's staring right at Matt, waiting for Vechna to counter spell so he can drop his 7th level counter spell!!! He has saved VM from countless disasters because, while playing scampy Scanlan, Sam thinks several moves ahead!
bananafish58 overthinking and over planning is a thing and I do it a lot. Scanlan actually remembers what the other’s abilities are so he plans better. He also knows how they’re gonna react. The 8th level spell he did not end up using from the Thordak fight was also a sign he was preparing for shit to go reaaaally south.
Taliesin is king of “I have a plan” and just making shit up on the fly and praying it works out and then attempting to act like he knew every move that was going to be made
I’m so late to this, but when Marisha is just saying “but I can! It says I can with true resurrection!!” And Matt just looks at her and says “Marisha, we will have a talk later.” The seriousness but also sadness of that sentence killed me.
He used his dad voice.
He sounded like the Russian government with the stupid attempt at censorship. Everyone knows the True Resurrection spell. It's the most surefire way to get someone back to life, it's probably the second most well known 9th level spell behind Wish.
"what do you mean?" And she just stares at him with what looks like a combination of confusion and disbelief, it broke my heart 😭
I felt so bad for her! Not mad at Matt AT ALL! But just seeing how sad she was and confused, I felt for her! Poor girlie ❤
Vecna: "I would ask you to listen before you make fools of yourselves."
"Vox Machina: "Why would we start doing that now?"
Hehehe
Sam/Scanlan Play Of The Game...Once an MVP always an MVP
GRANDScanlan!
get down with the quickness
This is the episode that really show why VM want Scanlan back not only as a member of the group but how is usually the true MVP of the group. I like Trayon but Scanlan is so much better to have in the group than him.
Alex Omega WHEN he is lucky, this is a luck game, not skill, because there is none in rolls
Xeno ze Serpent Still the best
3:33:42 Marisha/Keyleth's reaction to this is a nice echo of Delilah's reaction to Sylas getting killed in the Briarwood arc. Looks like Delilah got her poetic justice after all.
eerily similar, for anyone who is curious. it happens at 3:47:19 of the linked episode.... "Race to the Ziggurat"
ua-cam.com/video/2AqLu-u-GcY/v-deo.html"
The way Delilah is described to react to Silas' disintegration is almost exactly like how Keyleth reacts to Vax, I really think Keyleth having an eerie repeat of Delilah's life choices following their loved ones' deaths could've been a really cool plot element.
@@sydney4814 Oh God, I almost forgot about Kiki's "lamest one-liner ever".
@@sydney4814 Not to mention the parallel between both episodes' names: "Race to the *"
@@deimon451 I somehow didn't even register that! I guess Mercer thought the same too :)
Got me thinking of another eerie parallel this one between delilah and vax: both made a deal to dedicate their life to a cause in order to save someone they love from death and they both died because of that.
why didnt the rogue learn a new language?
because Thieves' Cant
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Ian Berry
Lol!
Now go stand in the corner and think about what you've done
A year later and this joke is still to funny
I love how it's been a year and this joke still has zero dislikes
Finally getting through the first campaign, and all I can think of is vex being so proud she learned thieves cant and rarely using it. So dam funny.
Sam talking about 9th level spells “We gotta learn how to use them better.”
You did mate. You really did.
Vecna just got a little taste of his worst enemy. This counterspell was nothing compared to the one that sealed his doom
Imagine how things might have gone if Sam knew how well Glibness works with Counterspell as a Bard...
@@higglybiggly1174 ok, this hyped me even more to watch the last fight
@@Zombiewithabowtiewow ye and its not concentration. Auto-counterspelled regardless of spellevel
@@Elaksomfan while it is nice I think it would have been a bad idea. If I recall correctly he was out of spell slots above 2nd after the final fight, he used his 9th because he had to, not to be on the safe side.
Travis diving in front of ash when matt goes to kill pike "DON'T YOU DO IT!"
Time stamp?
@@ravenqueen4873 3:54:30
Grog will forever protect his Monstah.
3:42:55 I think this is the most direct Matt has ever been basically saying "the next few turns decide if this is a TPK or not".
Rubikx Few turns, for sure. I think the biggest roll was a few episodes back. When Keyleth’s turn came in the halls of the 9 Hells prison and she had to make a death saving throw with 2 failed, Matt told them that a failed save would have been a TPK. Some intense moments in the late stages of Vox Machina’s campaign.
That was absolutely chilling. It's incredible how while everyone else thought they still had a fighting chance, Matt could already see the outcome of the battle and knew that "if Percy doesn't start moving towards Keyleth NOW you are all going to die".
Seriously this moment is how you know Mercer has mercy - a less lenient DM would've let the party burn without any hints whatsoever.
@@SocialistSadako Lord have Mercer
@@Kamoflage7yeah, that was intense. And then after when Marisha is asking if anyone needs healed, Laura loses it a bit and says 'heal your fucking self!"lmao. They didn't know how close they were to being stuck in a prison in the 9 hells, and when they did they immediately went into panic mode.
“Magic can’t put me to sleep.” 15secs later magic laid her down for a nice dirt nap.
When Scanlan counterspelled that counterspell I really wanted him to say, "We will leave, 'cause Burt Reynolds says we can leave!"
I'm so sad he only said that twice and it never became a catchphrase.
Sam Riegel will never get enough credit for how awesome he is.
4:25:15 The number 1 take away is how AWESOME Sam is. The players may not admit it, but those of us really paying attention know.
58:45 especially with his clever mug stickers
Omg Laura's "Twinsies out" was SO heartbreaking
You can just see/hear Percy fall even more in love with Vex when she suggests to burn the whole city down. They are perfect for each other.
liam's reaction to where matt decided to end the episode was utterly fucking soul destroying
this entire episode. amazing
Watching in late 2018: "I don't feel so good Mr Mercer"
I say this as the highest compliment: Eff you. That line still hurts in 2020.
@@Caitydid561 and 2022
@@SmithASB2024
@@Dome_Winnerme too!
Vox Machina has forgotten a key aspect of DnD. There will be boss battles that you are NOT MEANT TO FIGHT YET!!
gabthegreat01 yeah but you still have to try. There’s no leaving and grinding exp somewhere else. If they didn’t fight here they would have been in a worse situation later on.
Except they didn't do that badly, if they had thrown on some freedom of movement and Scanlan had been allowed to get Vecna in his eye cone, they probably would have won.
@@agilemind6241 vecna wouldn't die since he's a lich. They reform at their phylactery if you destroy their body.
PotatoSack Studios But it would at least have bought them some time
@@pallasproserpina4118 1d10 days.
Coming back here from season 3 and season 2, and I realize all over again how much I love these characters. Season 1 was just so special.
"So, the first time one of us ever dies, we're gonna go drinking for a whole night and reminisce."
...they were so sweet, so innocent :D
3:45:05 the look on Taliesin’s face as Matt tells him that the guy he just did 70+ damage to looks “relatively untouched”
The absolute feeling of horror realizing you all made a horrific mistake
Spoiler For Episode:
Can we appreciate the camera work on the map flashed and turned off with Matt describing the plane shift to the fey wild.
Yep, that was on point
👏👏👏
"We don't have enough time for a Hero's Feast, it takes an hour." Take a short rest. 😅
In this campaign it's house-ruled that short rests take 15-30 minutes instead of a full hour, but yeah I noticed that too and it was pretty funny
@@SoloStudiosOfficial still another 30 mins could have seriously helped. Ah well
@@SoloStudiosOfficial Oohh that explaina it, I was so confused by that logic
in the shadowfel grog shall wait until the dice read five or eight
dude... now you made me feel old and even more sad...
(Rest in peace Robin Williams)
Aww! Nice reference!😎
4:24:25 (Marisha's Face) TFW your IRL boyfriend murders your RP boyfriend and you may never get him back.
Of all the days for Laura Bailey to wear a shirt saying "Good Vibes Only"
I would like to say that who ever did the subtitles for this show did a FANTASTIC job.
When it's late and you're tired and you listen to the recap and have a MAJOR SPOILER and realize you clicked episode 103 instead of 102. Goddamnit.
Or when the autoplay thinks it's a good idea to just randomly play the episodes and you don't realise until said recap.
@@Kasino80 I've been burnt by autoplay beofre and even by the Playlist, almost.
So I juat look it myself.
Its not like I'm gonna be too bothered to do it by hand with 4 hour streams xD
Jup 😕
Oh man, you too? Luckily I caught on quick and changed over in time.
Anyone else think Matt sounded like a stern parent with the " We're gonna have some discussions " line?
revenant
Gamingwiz135 Matt has clarified on Reddit that he would never ban True Ressurection, as many incorrectly assumed. He explained that the discussion would be with the players and the deceased to help them map out their options. Hope this dispells any confusion.
Got a link, perhaps?
I figured, i just thought the tone was funny.
4:24:10
2020 Crew bringing it up again
5:58 Recap
8:30 Game start
14:00 Entering the city
24:30 Wafting the smoke helped :D
31:20 zombie survival mode
32:50 Oscillating druid fan
34:30 The bait
39:49 Who's laughing now?
50:17 A wild door appeared!
1:01:42 Scanlan does it again!
1:18:00 Grog smashing heads like they're melons
1:43:27 Break ends
2:17:24 Vecna's greeting
2:28:15 Laura Bailey : eloquence personified
2:34:10 The Undying King
2:37:28 Leeeroy Jenkins
2:38:50 kVecna's first turn
3:14:16 Complimenting the DM / "Sleep"
3:16:25 "You took him from me, I'm now going to take him from you"
3:18:11 Twins out ?
3:19:25 Retro-active counterspell
3:32:45 Dust in the wind 3:37:50 Percy vs Delilah
3:53:40 Taryon 3:54:30 Travis the human shield ("Baby don't hurt me no more")
4:10:55 Liam tries to give away his cards 4:12:30 Plate of the Dawn Martyr activates
4:18:30 Sam saving his reaction
4:20:20 Yo dog; I heard you like counterspell, so I'm counterspelling your counterspell
1:25:14 break starts
Thanks
Fun fact of boosting: the little girl ran at 13.6 mph
Boost
This is really far down
Man I'm spoiled (pun intended) by Flando's timestamps being pinned at the top in Campaign 2, impossible to avoid spoilers here lol.
I found this through the fan made animations so that ship has sailed for me but it is cool that they did that.
Bro saaamee. I'm not super worried about spoilers, but still, quite a task to go through a bunch of spoilery comments to find some highlight list
What a rollescoaster of an episode!! Dat ending... I haven't feared a TPK like this since Thordak. Way to work them up, Matt.
vecna makes thordak look like a kobald
Honestly I felt more fear with the Dragons because there was such a build up. I feel there wasn't enough for Vecna so knowing what was more then likely going to happen felt lacking to me.
Still freaking but again something isn't there.
That here is only the innitial build up for Vecna.Even if they somehow kill him he is a lich god with a phylactery so to destroy him will be an entire ark.Never mind his army.If you look between the lines they scored a grate victory.They destroyed his HQ.They killed hundreds of cultists.They killed one of his generals and possibly got the eye of Vecna unknowingly(eye-Deleila).All this with only one death witch at their lvl is like getting the flu.
I honestly think a cocky ass kicking is enough build up for Vecna. VM hasn't been this humbled since Raishan round 1
Troy I like VM is sertainly humbleed.Exept for Scanlan that is.Even Vecna is WTF is up with this guy.
"The #1 lesson, the one take away tonight, is just how OP Vax'ildan is."
God I love Liam so much.
Time?
@@lukehicks6722 4:25:10
3:53:42 this is the saddest thing I've ever heard Sam say about either of his characters
You know what is wild? If Sam had the opportunity to counterspell Vecna's Disintegration of Vax, he wouldn't have had a counterspell left for their exit. So in a way... Vax really did end up sacrificing himself to save his sister, like he always wanted.
This is another reminder of why I dont read the comments before the end
@@dakotafwebster8062 i have a question cus a lot of people say that or complain about spoilers. What do people expect the comments to be about if not what happens during the episods
@@Zalied valid question but I get stoned and forget sometimes hence the comment
@@dakotafwebster8062 lol fair fair.
@@dakotafwebster8062 this is the best reply in the CR comment section ever lmao
Matt is really nice dude
Is it just me or is that mask he wears in the intro very similar to the ravenqueen's face... plus that line Matt mentioned "pulling the strings of fate" last time the RQ had a major part...
8:34 Game starts
1:43:28 break ends
4:06:32 Travis jogging on the spot out of excitement/tension has got to be one of my favourite parts this episode xD
Vox Machinas Plans:
Plan A: Attack the Tower.
Plan B: Open Orange Julius Stand.
Rob Wong Juice Machina
Plan C(ompleted): Slayer's Cake
To be fair, the undead are shown to be a bunch of idiots, so it may have worked if it weren’t for those meddling flying stuffed bats, and veccna too
matt saying "be mindful of your choices" gave me fucking chills
“It’s just a game.....best 5 years of my life”
😭
does anyone have the timestamp for this? i feel like i missed it and can't find it😭
I really feel that this episode is the reason they are so much better in C2. They ate a huge helping of humble pie. And it makes me think that they finally realize that if they dont want Matt to kill them then they need to take combat and especially preparation more seriously.
You say that, and yet I feel like they did a very similar thing with Obon and the cursed tree. They *forced* that fight and were very lucky to walk away from it without leaving anyone behind.
@@govirdrauka7116 nah, that Obon fight they gambled to beat them to the punch and not fight them at all.
That was the gamble they made, and it failed, so they had to fight not rested.
LMAO no. They didn't get better in C2 until they lost Mollymauk due to terrible planning and were forced to live with consequences they couldn't undo. And even afterward their typical battle plans are more scattershot than real strategy.
@Danan "Robin Nelsen They honestly don't have the ability or predisposition to plan better, it's not just arrogance or inability."
They don't have the ability or predisposition, but it's not just inability? Come again? That's EXACTLY what it means to say it's inability, my guy.
@@govirdrauka7116 Matt admitted that Oban rolled VERY well in that fight to accomplish his goal in the first or second round, if he was stuck with the tree it would have been different. Not saying it would have been easy, but like this fight, early rolls decided it (all it takes is vecna rolling bad initiative and things look very different). Thats dnd though
Marisha standing up and walking around worried af during that awful fight is such a mood
Do you have a timestamp?
The epitome of "In and out, ten minute tops" followed by panicked screaming
[SPOILER]
Pike: You guys, are we not gonna do a hero's feast?
Vex: It's an hour. It takes an hour, right?
Scanlan: We can't. Can't risk it.
Vax: What do you think is going to happen in an hour? Everything is going to kick off in an hour?
"EVERYTHING KICKS OFF IN AN HOUR"
It's Always Sunny in Exandria
Meh, I don't blame them - time is arbitrary in this type of make believe game. Ultimately the call was basically whatever Matt felt like.
@@8684LYFE *Whoooosh* lol
Coming from a post- Thanos snap world
Vax disintegrates and then after the game Taliesin immediately goes "I don't feel so good."
Can confirm. When I (as DM) stand for an encounter, it's serious. When I have to pause on MY turn to read things, it's deadly.
100% correct. When I stand for my players (as a DM) it universally imo means "it's about to go down"
I try and stand as a general rule, much like I try and roll dice for no reason what so ever :)
@@almogmagar standing means we're about to throw some hands.
the way matt backs away at around 3:18:20 made my heart drop, He's hating that he has to do that to them
Scanlan, officially the Deadpool of the Critical Role universe.
Timestamps gathered from other comments, for re-watching purposes.
Spoilers ahead.
1:18:00 Grog smashing heads like they're melons
1:43:27 Break ends
2:17:24 Vecna's greeting
2:28:15 Laura Bailey : eloquence personified
2:34:10 The Undying King
2:37:28 Leeeroy Jenkins
2:38:50 Vecna's first turn
3:14:16 Complimenting the DM / "Sleep"
3:16:25 "You took him from me, I'm now going to take him from you"
3:18:11 Twins out ?
3:19:25 Retro-active counterspell
3:32:45 Dust in the wind
3:37:50 Percy vs Delilah
3:53:40 Taryon
3:54:30 Travis the human shield ("Baby don't hurt me no more")
4:10:55 Liam tries to give away his cards
4:12:30 Plate of the Dawn Martyr activates
4:18:30 Sam saving his reaction
4:20:20 Yo dog; I heard you like counterspell, so I'm counterspelling your counterspell
0:34:37 Scanlan's Major Image (Creepy Girl)
2:38:40 Liam: we we're not prepared
4:32:19