Beau: "Sorry, I'm not great with people." Caleb: "Sorry, I'm not great with people." Nott: "Sorry, I'm not great with people." Keg: "Sorry, I'm not great with people." Molly: "Oh, this is gonna be fun!"
@@sandorfalusi3486 fun indeed.. i really hope molly enjoyed his last moments of life, getting to spit in his enemy's face at least. seems like something he'd enjoy.
Caleb's soliloquy makes more sense when you remember he was trapped in an asylum for a very long time. He talks to himself. He's been alone for a long time.
@@TobiMaster456 yeah we know more now about Caleb’s time there, but he still could have a habit of talking to himself. He was still alone. I just like it when Liam RPs like that.
@@TobiMaster456 wouldn't stop someone from thinking that kind of stuff to themselves. and some of the smarter ppl i know tend to talk to themselves. but liam's roleplaying and improvising, so i'd suppose any of these takes would be equally true.
I like how the the Iron Shepherds are like a twisted, evil version of the Nein. They have 7 members, 2 Spell casters, a leader with an accent who uses a blade, a rogue, and a barbarian.
This is my personal pick for the MN season 1 finale. Give us an entire season with Molly, have the penultimate ep be the warden battle/Kiri farewell, then hit us with this sucker punch! Lord, I can’t wait
Assuming the season follows the LoVM pattern of four batch of three semi-related episodes, I think the last batch would be more like: Episode 10: After finding out that they were stolen from as a cliffhanger in Episode 9, they find the kids, fight the Gear Warden, say goodbye to Kiri, and then Jester, Fjord, and Yasha are kidnapped. Episode 11: This episode. The rest of the M9 wake up to discover the others are missing, introduce Keg, find and fight Lorenzo, Molly (*SPOILERS*) dies. Episode 12: Introduce Caduceus, attack the Sour Nest, and kill Lorenzo
@@christophermolloy2336 To each their own. I felt elation when Tiberius left the party. I couldn't stand him. And felt nothing...neither elation or sadness when he was discovered dead. Just...nothing. Didn't care at all. It was just like some random NPC that got little screen time died. Oh well.
@@BinTtown Everyone has that crazy uncle in the family and although he made things crazy and not too many people liked him. He's still part of the family. There was still that connection. And I respect the way that it all worked out.
I know that I'm late to the party but at this part of the campaign, I've come to realize that what Caleb lacks in interaction skills, he makes up by using Frumpkin to calm or comfort people. And I love that tiny detail.
I’ve always thought Liam’s IRL personality seems to be the most subtle at the table. Not as wordy or loud, but always witty. So it’s not a surprise to me that he could bring that kind of nuance to a character. I’ve grown to appreciate him a lot over time.
@@ODUBlue I feel that also why he and Sam work so well together. Liam’s subtle wit and Sam’s over the top hijinks balance each other perfectly, and their real life friendship makes it always a joy to see their characters interact.
@@Grinningfartking6969 spoiler I hated Molly, I'm gonna say Taliesin has been my least favourite this season, I think he was stuck in Percy's evil-ish scheming personality a bit. Ironic he'd talk about "helping them bleed out" just moments earlier, and than it happened to him xD
way too far down. thanks to who made it 8:36 Recap starts 10:37 Recap ends 15:03 Frumpkin's very specific transformation 15:51 a 2, a 2, and a 1 for investigation 17:10 Taliesen's a voice actor 23:00 A shadowed figure 24:40 Enter Ashly Burch 27:45 jUSt maKE ConVErsAtIoN 29:57 Nott's a creepy little girl 33:39 Caleb gets a nickname 44:50 On the road again 49:17 Choosing a friend to leave behind 58:00 Exploring abandoned house 1:02:20 Horses are disturbed 1:06:05 Horse down 1:08:35 Roll initiative 1:10:05 Stunning strike 1:18:33 Another horse down 1:20:52 Keg nat 20 1:28:23 Revisiting Campaign 1 1:32:45 HDYWTDT 1:34:40 A mercy kill 1:35:33 A not-so-merciful kill 1:39:00 Mercer's dream set-up 1:41:21 Beau the surgeon 1:51:50 Frumpkin transformation 1:54:02 Welcome back PT2 2:02:17 Natural 20 at disadvantage 2:12:38 WC is gone forever... 2:14:24 Nott the detective girl 2:15:46 Long rest and a new day 2:17:23 Frumpkin does a shimmy dance 2:20:19 Molly entertains a child 2:21:28 Do you know Pumat Sol? 2:23:28 Back on the road again 2:23:40 Liam goes Vax 2:25:33 Jester's sketchbook 2:33:15 Keg and Nott 2:37:30 "your vague past" 2:38:00 The Backstory Drinking Game 2:40:00 Molly and Beau: the best lie you ever told 2:44:23 Caleb's soliloquy 2:49:42 Travellers spotted 2:52:47 Keg recognizes 2:54:21 Caleb has a suggestion 2:58:15 Keg's confession 2:58:54 Nott's confession 3:01:23 Matt's warning 3:03:13 "Now is the time." 3:09:03 Planning 3:17:16 Nott has a gun 3:19:30 "This is a great plan" 3:23:32 DM witch Matthew Mercer 3:39:17 Liam comments on the plan 3:40:45 Spooning 3:42:16 Whippets from Xhorras 3:43:08 Enter opponents 3:45:06 Execute plan 3:47:10 Roll initiative 3:56:00 Keg's intel now questionable 3:59:14 Lorenzo' first turn. Players discuss the successfulness of the plan 4:01:07 First Blood Maledict 4:07:15 Keg takes disadvantage 4:10:07 Slow goes down 4:11:55 Lorenzo's held action triggers 4:19:25 Wisdom saving throws of hope 4:20:24 Molly engages Lorenzo 4:21:59 Lorenzo's second turn 4:22:20 Second Blood Maledict 4:22:51 Fall 4:23:55 Final thoughts 4:25:55 Leaves the table 4:28:25 Keg engages Lorenzo with speech 4:34:11 Lorenzo's third turn 4:36:36 Example 4:38:01 Fuck you 4:38:40 Everyone takes a deep breath
"Who considers you a great detective?" "Jester, one of our friends who got stolen" So technically Jester, who is part of "The greatest detectives" knows who abducted them :o CASE SOLVED
Oh no now I'm thinking of Jester, bloodied and bruised, sitting and leaning against a wall she's chained to in an empty cavern that echoes when she says quietly, in an attempt to cheer herself and Fjord up, "Well at least we know who took us. We solved the case." Just super sad, maybe a little cough after. Fjord doesn't say anything.
The epilogue by Matt about not harassing the players over the game is very telling how they’re impacted by all the vitriolic hate they get. I really feel for them, a PC death is really good drama and can be amazing if it’s handled right and just like he said “it’s going to make a great story”
I agree, but a PC death really should be because of that player making mistakes (which he did, not having good AC as a melee character that uses HP as a resource not a great combo) not because a player wanted to be dramatic. Taking a minus 1 or 2 on all attacks against him would have been enough to get her point across, not disadvantage on all rolls against everyone in that fight. Also she should have stuck to her guns and took disadvantage on that last persuasion roll. Ultimately Cadeuces is a better character than Molly, but loosing a character can really suck. All from experience playing the character who died, caused a PC death, and as a DM who had that happen.
From the way you're talking it sounds like you watch this show for the mechanics of DND.... really??? Who cares what ruling they did, Critical role has always been and the story first and the game second. Sure Cad is a stronger character mechanically but even that doesn't matter in the slightest.
@@rekkwaffle7668 partly, yeah. Since it is a role playing game that I too play, that has rules. My comment was more about player choice, not rules lawyering. Molly probably would have died in that fight regardless, and if not then at some point in the future. The rules help define the game. When they deal with lorenzo, it doesn't go the way Matt wanted it too but he went with it because the dice, the rules, said so.
It's sad that Matt needed to say all that about not harassing players but some fans are really just awful people who take this show WAY too seriously. There's nothing wrong with being passionate about it but throwing hate towards the players outside of the game is NOT a sign of passion, it's a sign of derangement.
@@musicformadmenI imagine that Ashly got heavy criticism for deliberately choosing to have Keg take disadvantage for RP reasons, with neckbeards accusing her of getting Molly killed. It was a solid RP decision, and they were clearly outmatched no matter what. They really only could have won if they'd rolled exceptionally well, and the opposite happened. How the fight turned out was no one's fault. The only fault lies in them engaging in the fight to begin with, and they couldn't have known that was the case because Matt deliberately gave them faulty information that they thought was correct. Like Matt says at the end, it was a terrible convergence of events.
@@Fangoros I feel like Sam either: misspoke, meaning to say that this campaign wasn't yet as emotionally deep; was being sarcastic, as is normal for Sam; or meant that perspectively this campaign is already deeper than the previous was at this same point in time, which is hard to gauge. I say this mostly because if it wasn't one of these three scenarios, Sam is just wrong this time. Campaign 1 had a lot of side story, but the emotional depth was certainly there. Marisha cried...a lot. Ashley cried a few times. Laura had to stop herself from crying. The guys all managed to keep from crying, but had a lot of moments where they had to take a minute and just not say anything (other than a few expletives or "wow..."). So far, before tonight, the deepest we've really had was "Do we really want to take this bird child into constant danger?" Followed by a saddened "No, she stays here without us." Which was a damn good scene, and she would have certainly died and gotten the whole party killed tonight, but before that the emotional depth of C2 was like a shallow puddle.
@@catsnorkel Yes. That was possibly the most emotionally charged moment in all of campaign 1, and as of episode 30-something in campaign 2, it still hasn't been topped. I don't imagine it will. To possibly have the key to saving your doomed friend (I don't think Liam would have actually let them save Vax, but Sam and Scanlan didn't know that), then having to choose between that or stopping a hell-bent new god, Sam really felt the impact of that choice. Most movies and TV shows never get that sort of payoff, but CR managed it in a live DnD campaign. I fucking love this group.
@@wizrad2099 Campaign 1 also had like 2 years of prior content before it was streamed to audiences to build up characters' backstories and such that the cast were able to play off of, so campaign 2 is in a different circle. It's weird to compare the two - doesn't really feel right to do so.
55:55 Taliesin: this is going to be a cursed trip Also Taliesin in Talks a while back: yeah somebody’s gonna bite it at level 5 haha The man doesn’t know his own powers
I mean. He is the Bard that served both the High king of albion, the great raven, Bran the Blessed, and later, the High King of Britons, The great bear, Arthur Pendragon. The man served the great fairy tale kings, and the ran in madness at the end of the tale. Needless to say. He is a mighty being who may not even know the full extent of his own power!
The farm house they broke into. He took that symbol of Pelor off the wall and with heavy sarcasm said "THIS obviously brought whoever live here luck" and slipped it in his pocket.
I really didn't notice how much I really appreciate Liam's roleplaying until just now. I have to assume he has a paper where he wrote out what his character does to cast each and every one of his spells because i am pretty sure they are consistent. And he also seems meticulous with keeping track of material components he needs.
They announced the birth (two weeks prior?) of the kid of two of their players. Then the character of one of their players died for good, which is something they’re usually able to stop or avert but couldn’t this time.
Casually rewatching during quarantine and I had forgotten how funny the beginning of this episode is as it gets overshadowed by other events. The whole initial meeting with Keg is gold.
@@Hartsele - IKR? I’m watching it for the first time but I got spoiled a long time ago. I’m sitting here, with a stuffed animal and a box of tissues, paused at 4:14, and that quote just... broke me early. And yeah, the funny stuff is really catching me off guard. I know the gut punch is coming, but it’s so light and goofy... I’m in emotional turmoil.
Holy shit the way Matt looks so defeated and kinda upset but just has to keep going because that's the reality of battle. There's no time to stop and do anything
And that's why he's so good. This wouldn't be half as entertaining if the stakes weren't real. They went in with a bad plan against a superior force and lost. Of course it sucks if an amazing character like Molly dies, but this happend when.. .five years ago and people still bring up his death? That's good story telling
@@kida4313 It's so good. This is my second watch through and I could see how terrible their plan actually was, vs the first time I saw it and thought they would have the upper hand. The death is so memorable and informs the greater narrative from this point forward.
@@vanessaaves3271 To be fair, they have absolutely no clue how powerful this slaver troupe is. This is my first time watching the episode and my alarm bells only started ringing (rather loudly) when Lorenzo cast a level 5 Cone of Cold. In retrospect, the only chance they ever had at this point in time would have been freeing all the prisoners BEFORE starting the fight. Hindsight is 20/20. ...a 4hp Mollymauk would have died in either scenario though, if he's charging a full-health Barbarian... no, wait, the Barbarian's barely hurt defacto leader. 🙄
@@drithius4801 I agree, I suppose when I first watched it, I also was a newish player (but definitely brand new to magic users) so the cone of cold didn’t mean a whole lot to me. Ashley Birch got a lot of hate for choosing roleplaying her character as being scared of Lorenzo, but I totally get it.
@@drithius4801 matt also didnt give them a suprise round, which i thought was bullshit. id be furious if i spent the past 30 minutes coming up with an ambush only to get literally nothing out of it because the gm preplanned them losing since laura and travis were gonna be out for a few months and he needed them to be captured
BIT OF SPOILERS BUUT! When Talisen says "eye's never shut" when Molly dies, all I can think of is the symbolism that, Molly never truly dies there. How he instead is there to look at the sky for the final time just as when he saw the sky for the first time, his eyes wide at the new world. And now he leaves the world where he made great friends and went down fighting to save them. Long may he reign, Circus Man.
I took it more to mean that he wasn't afraid and that he faced it head-on/without blinking. edit : he woke up buried under the ground... with dirt in his eyes I'd imagine =/ although that would have be great(well, situationally) if he'd woken up like Jack on "Lost" staring up at the sky...
What breaks my heart the most in this episode is the absolute devastating pain you see in Matt's eyes in the end. You can even see it the wide shot before they cut to the fanart at the end, when he takes a deep breath and just stares blankly then that smile drifts away... Fuck man.
@@Ericb1980 Sad table you run at, they knew what type of guy they were facing, and this was the right way to go. Those pixie tables were nothing bad happens are the worst.
@@Ericb1980 hes insinuating that you probably play at a dnd table that doesnt let player characters die and hes basing that off the fact that you said "he didnt HAVE to kill him" Which he kinda did because why would the character just up and leave molly on the ground? i love molly but its part of the game man, dont get mad at matt for playing the game correctly. But who cares this happened months ago and taliesin's got a new character, just sad to see people are still mad at matt for running the game as you should.
@@AceBradMan Right, but she also wore plate armor and was notoriously the least stealthy member of Vox Machina as a direct result of her disadvantage on stealth checks from wearing heavy armor.
@mr.e7541 I know you're joking but it needs to be said. I am well aware that Pike was a gnome. But she was a gnome that wore full plate armor and was notoriously bad at stealth checks. Hence the joke.
Spoilers ahead: Honestly, my favorite moment in all of critical role looking back is here, better and more memorable to me than even the cupcake, and no it’s not Molly dying. It’s the night before, with Molly playing Cards with Beau. That night, although not apparent immediately, is the biggest philosophy shift I think of any of the characters, where Beau realized that what she was doing with her life wasnt meaningful compared to what it could be, and what the Nein has been doing up to that point was insanely selfish compared to what they could have been doing. This scene set up so much to happen after Molly’s death. I think out of all the characters, Beau takes Molly’s death the hardest, but she makes something out of it more than anybody else. It changes her, and because of that it changes the group’s philosophy as a whole. And 73 episodes later, and the episode 99 pause, I think they’re doing a pretty damn good job at leaving things better then they found it.
The hupperdook arc and kiri sorta helped them realize that helping people just for the sake of good had it's own reward, up until then they had been, as Caleb so often calls them, "a group of assholes". Molly's death was the turning point where they stopped being a bunch of selfish assholes and started working towards teamwork.
Me last episode: Well, that was nice, a bit of emotional stuff, I'd like to see this a bit more often. Me now: wAIT no NOT LIKE THIS, I take it back, I take iT BACK!
Between this and the last episode, I’ve cried more than I ever have for anything but the death of someone I know. Molly was someone that I aspire to be and a character that I truly wish could have seen more of the world. Goodbye my friend, long may you reign.
Ronald Mackillop I didn't cry for Molly the first time I watched this, but I didn't really appreciate how incredibly different he was. Now, during quarantine, all I want is our pink friend to come home.
He needs to do what he wants, and he questions how the people he is with will help him in his goals, but he stays with them anyways. Honestly it just foreshadows his characterization transition along with him nearly helming the party during this episode.
I heard about the Molly episode for so long until I finally got to it. I never knew it was the week after Ronin was born & half the cast was gone. That’s a really big moment for them to miss.
Same, I knew it was coming but had no idea actually how it would happen. Kinda makes sense that it was this episode though, seeing as the group was smaller and they had no cleric for healing (+ the dice gods were against them this fight). Really fucking sucks. Excited to see what Tal brings in the future though, because I have luckily had 0 spoilers about the rest of his journey in this campaign.
@@sethcordle15 Really? I was spoiled with nothing for C1 but just about every major plot point for C2. I think that's why I've enjoyed C1 a lot more from the start.
@@grimreefer9324 I really have no idea, a lot of people think Molly's death was planned and it's things like that that make me understand why, but Tal's reaction just seemed too real for it to be planned
@@Albatross0913 The other part that makes me think so is that Matt didn't even roll to see if Lorenzo hit Molly while he was unconscious. Granted, he would've had advantage and Molly's AC wasn't great so he probably would've hit, but there was a small chance he could've missed. I believe Tal has also talked about how he didn't have much fun in combat as Molly, simply because the blood hunter class wasn't as fine tuned as it is now and it was very high risk low reward, especially at low levels. But I'm also with you, Tal's reaction did seem very genuine, as did Matt's. Matt's voice seemed to be shaking a bit as he asked Molly what his last words were. Idk man, I'm just a firm believer that Molly should've been a swords bard. Would've been fantastic.
Up to this point, it felt to me like *maybe* they were subtly hinting at a possible Molly/Caleb romance down the line at some point? Just with little comments they'd make to each other, not to mention the kiss Molly gave Caleb when he broke down a little while before this. I dunno, maybe I was reading too much into it, but it kinda felt like that was where it was going eventually.
@@SkilesHasFunme too … which makes this so brutal as I was really excited for that duo 😢 it’s brutal in general but even more so. I just liked their chemistry and I wanted to explore that more. But from what I’ve heard during the talk sessions, I don’t think what happened to Molly was expected to happen this fast …
Going into this, I knew it was going to happen. I knew exactly which episode, and I thought I could get to this point without getting to attached to him. But I did get attached, and it does hurt, and I will miss that magic tiefling man and all his good cheer. Long may he reign.
I basically figured out he died by watching the animated intro, someone spoiled for me what episode he died. I tried not to get attached but he’s just too likable and it breaks my heart :(
Alexander Holscher pretty much in the same boat. I knew the episode but I didn’t know exactly how or when and so even though I was expecting it there was still that bit of awe and shock
My first watch of CR. I Notice how Liam quietly goes after Tal after the events to ensure he’s okay, subtley going to refill water. The tenderness and empathy of these people to their friends, honestly. It was a very good decision. Something like this never feels good.
@viiviheittokangas5240 always wondered what happened to him, never really paid attention to the rest of the community stuff so was strange how he just disappeared. Good to know
Rudimentary Timestamps while Flando is catching up 0:10 New studio! 1:32 Sam reenacts Baby Bailingham's coming into this world 8:36 Recap starts 10:37 Recap ends 15:03 Frumpkin's very specific transformation 15:51 a 2, a 2, and a 1 for investigation 17:10 Taliesen's a voice actor 23:00 A shadowed figure 24:40 Enter Ashly Burch 27:45 jUSt maKE ConVErsAtIoN 29:57 Nott's a creepy little girl 33:39 Caleb gets a nickname 44:50 On the road again 49:17 Choosing a friend to leave behind 58:00 Exploring abandoned house 1:02:20 Horses are disturbed 1:06:05 Horse down 1:08:35 Roll initiative 1:10:05 Stunning strike 1:18:33 Another horse down 1:20:52 Keg nat 20 1:28:23 Revisiting Campaign 1 1:32:45 HDYWTDT 1:34:40 A mercy kill 1:35:33 A not-so-merciful kill 1:39:00 Mercer's dream set-up 1:41:21 Beau the surgeon 1:51:50 Frumpkin transformation 1:54:02 Welcome back PT2 2:02:17 Natural 20 at disadvantage 2:12:38 WC is gone forever... 2:14:24 Nott the detective girl 2:15:46 Long rest and a new day 2:17:23 Frumpkin does a shimmy dance 2:20:19 Molly entertains a child 2:21:28 Do you know Pumat Sol? 2:23:28 Back on the road again 2:23:40 Liam goes Vax 2:25:33 Jester's sketchbook 2:33:15 Keg and Nott 2:37:30 "your vague past" 2:38:00 The Backstory Drinking Game 2:40:00 Molly and Beau: the best lie you ever told 2:44:23 Caleb's soliloquy 2:49:42 Travellers spotted 2:52:47 Keg recognizes 2:54:21 Caleb has a suggestion 2:58:15 Keg's confession 2:58:54 Nott's confession 3:01:23 Matt's warning 3:03:13 "Now is the time." 3:09:03 Planning 3:17:16 Nott has a gun 3:19:30 "This is a great plan" 3:23:32 DM witch Matthew Mercer 3:39:17 Liam comments on the plan 3:40:45 Spooning 3:42:16 Whippets from Xhorras 3:43:08 Enter opponents 3:45:06 Execute plan 3:47:10 Roll initiative 3:56:00 Keg's intel now questionable 3:59:14 Lorenzo' first turn. Players discuss the successfulness of the plan 4:01:07 First Blood Maledict 4:07:15 Keg takes disadvantage 4:10:07 Slow goes down 4:11:55 Lorenzo's held action triggers 4:19:25 Wisdom saving throws of hope 4:20:24 Molly engages Lorenzo 4:21:59 Lorenzo's second turn 4:22:20 Second Blood Maledict 4:22:51 Fall 4:23:55 Final thoughts 4:25:55 Leaves the table 4:28:25 Keg engages Lorenzo with speech 4:34:11 Lorenzo's third turn 4:36:36 Example 4:38:01 Fuck you 4:38:40 Everyone takes a deep breath 4:40:54 Fanart Compilation EDIT: Flando's back. Find their timestamps and go shower them with likes Long may he rein. kon ona o awen pona.
A moment of silence for Molly. He went out like he wanted to. He never wanted to know who he was before he woke up without his memories, and he never did. Whoever he was before that, he became a decent tiefling that protected his friends to his last breath.
@@absintheminded8466 mostly the way Tal tried to have it his way every step of the way. Trying to take extra actions he can’t do, arguing with the DM, getting flustered when his low-DC abilities fail, etc.
@@whatinthek7931 I’m not sure you do either if you think wanting your character to be able to do everything and getting frustrated when it can’t doesn’t qualify.
Caleb *uses suggestion to make people tell him the truth.* Also Caleb "I take people at their word." I would also take people at their word if I could compel them to be truthful.
watching this episode is like when you watch a show or movie or play a game where right at the start you are told a character is gonna die at the end and you just watch how they spend their last day unaware that it is their last day
For some reason, out of everything in this episode, the part that really sticks with me is the fact that Caleb, Nott, Molly, Beau, and Keg canonically spooned for warmth as they slept because they chose not to make a campfire.
Remember when Nott didn't participate in the Merrow fight due to roleplaying? This how they play the game and I think it's why we like watching it. If it was a bunch of min maxers with perfect strategies blasting through every fight I don't think we would enjoy it as much.
Agreed, someone in the comments is giving them shit for not being good at planning strategies and stuff. Like, get the fuck out of here. If you want something like that, find a different channel or play it yourself
@@Anegor - Molly was at 4 HP. I don't think Keg fully engaging would have avoided a character death at least a round later or something. Although *possibly* it could have ended up with Molly going unconscious and getting captured if the party bailed then, especially given the slavers have another healer beyond the druid. (The not-sorcerer Bard). They were totally screwed, and should have bailed after downing 1 opponent, as soon as Lorenzo busted out a 5th level spell. That made it obvious this needed to be treated as a guerrilla warfare situation, not a fight to the death, unless the M9 all wanted to die. But they hadn't tried to talk Beau out of her cocksure we're-going-to-win attitude so she went to engage Lorenzo. Possibly for that reason Molly ran to help his verbal sparring partner, basically throwing away his life. (On Talks Machina, Tal revealed that his plan was to run the turn after that. That's only going to work if he's conscious, and using amplified Blood Maledict is maybe his best chance at taking 0 hits from Lorenzo and staying up.). Molly does have a "we don't leave friends behind" attitude / philosophy, but I think this was Tal mis-calculating the odds of survival, or just going with RP choices even though he knew they had poor odds of survival. Or maybe he thought that if he did knock himself out, Lorenzo wouldn't brutally finish him off and someone could maybe get him up with a potion, or maybe he'd get captured. I *think* Ashly was planning to fully fight in the next round. Or maybe she saw how outmatched the group was and was trying to lay groundwork for ending the fight early. I 100% don't blame her for her actions in combat, the M9 was not going to wipe out the opposition even if Keg had used Action Surge to get in and make an attack on Lorenzo, and had not taken disadvantage. Possibly if Nott had gotten lucky and found + released some of Jester, Fjord, and/or Yasha, and clearly they were trying not to meta-game the knowledge that wasn't going to happen. Not being more forceful about how much the slavers out-power the party was a problem, so yeah it's not great that a guest came in with a reckless character bent on vengeance that would go along with the party planning this ambush at all. But hopefully the Critical Role cast learned their lesson that not all fights are winnable, especially if you start out with some poor rolls for key parts of you plan (opening cages). Having an exit strategy is important.
@@carlycchapman - I think it's possible to discuss what the optimal strategy would have been, and what might have happened with other tactical choices, without saying it's what the players *should* have done and without blaming them for their choices. I realize that some people in comments *are* crapping on the players, and agreed that's not cool.
I loved the irony because asking so many questions overly aggressively is what Beau always does. So was funny to see someone do it to her for a change.
Worst thing: with metagaming they could have made it work. Im glad they didnt but they could have bought him back. Raise dead has a 10 day window. And while it's a 5th lvl spell, so lvl 9 jester would be their earliest, they could simply gentle repose him every few days after getting jester back (which Was realistic to achieve in 10 days)
@@Daepilinthey wouldve made it work if Tal wanted it to. whenever a PC dies, matt discusses with the player to see whether they want to pursue the character further. taliesin wanted to let molly rest.
@echohoboy17 where was it said he does that every time? I know that's how it was with Laudna in the current campaign, but I had no idea Tal was given the same option back in c2
Since the moment my friends showed me this show I have been preparing for this episode I have known what happens since the beginning and now I have come to it I am not ready And yet I am at the same time Good luck to the people whom do not know and I hope you enjoy this episode.
@@technoleo9 I told my friends to spoil it for me since I never thought I'd watch it myself Well things have changed and I've been dreading this episode since then.
Thank you i travel this distance with you knowing the incident that lies ahead i slowed my haste watching episodes... i dont want it to happen but it must... Long may he reign
Liams acting as Caleb is impeccable even little details, slipping a couple german words in here and there, even using the german 3 with his thumb pointer and middle finger, there’s so many little things he does so well its incredible
@@thespankmyfrankthe finale of this campaign is just over 7 hours. Its CR's longest episode. Most of it is M9 closing their story, discussing deeds and goals of each characters future. Doesn't feel like 7 hours and it wraps up very well.
That's because he DID know I think. Spoilers: 1. The bloodhunter class was created by Matt. Molly was a showcase, but a bit untried or untested maybe. 2. After now starting this season for the 3d time, binging the episodes one after the other in a week or two time, I noticed Taliesin clearly doesn't like the Molly character or playing Molly from around episode 5 on. You notice it if you pay attention to the background chatter between talisien and the rest of the cast, and even in the interaction between Tal and Matt sometimes. Especially when he's rolling bad it's clear he doesn't like the character. He even stops adding backstory, deepening or evolving the character of Molly from around ep20 on, and he seems to be basically going through the motions and is almost playing a caricature or stereotype. Like he knew Molly wasn't worth investing in anymore or he couldn't be bothered to invest in Molly anymore. 3. Taliesin makes some seriously questionable decisions during the battle. Getting right up next to the big boss when severely damaged. Using his self-damaging abilities when already really low on hp, and while still next to a powerful boss, knocking himself out in the process. Etc. It's like he was lining himself up to get skewered. 4. It fits the Lorenzo character to kill a character bleeding out storywise, but even then Matt usually would let the boss go after the other characters when someone goes unconscious. He usually only "actively" kills a character due to passive effects from the battle. But for some reason in this case Lorenzo needs to "set an example" and actively makes Lorenzo kill Molly? Weird. 5. Taliesin comes back with a level 5 character that he was able to completely tailor to his liking, and that fits him like a glove. And imo he plays the new character with much more enthousiasm than he ever played Molly. 6. Matt and the cast are nice, great people, but they're also not stupid and are running a business. You created a new class for d&d that is sold on apps, and want to showcase it and advertise it, but it's not working for the player playing it. What better way to generate buzz and interest in this case, and even "marter" the character and class, than to kill the character in a spectacular way, making sure the character (and its class) trend all over the D&D community? 7. Matt later says the Lorenzo character was meant to become a recurring villain and nemesis of the nine, especially because he killed Molly. But this was accidentally cut short by Caleb killing Lorenzo on his escape. This opens the possibility that Lorenzo was created not just as kidnapper of the missing players characters, but as a villain also with the purpose of killing Molly. It all fits neatly in the story arc. Maybe the commercial arc is not a reason, and I'm reading too much into that. But as a good DM, like Matt is, if a character REALLY isn't working out for a player, like it seemed not to for Taliesin, you allow them to get rid of that character and get them a new and better fitting one. IMO Taliesin knew what was coming and knew this was the battle he was getting rid of Molly. And it was all cleverly disguised in story and drama so the fans wouldn't hate on Matt or Tal or the show. But again, only my opinion of course...
Indeed, specially because he did start to say something abut not amplifying the maledict, but retracted it himself saying he did intend to do that. There was an instinct of preservation of your priced character, but integrity and honesty wins at the end. This happened in Campaign 1 as well, with Travis having to roll at a disadvantage for dropping Craven edge. While we want the characters to live so we can enjoy their journey, these things are the ones that makes us love the party and the players
SPOILERS! When Taliesin says, a bit after Molly's death: "Fuck, I can't watch this" his expression twitches slightly as he leaves the table. Heart wrenching, I too relate to the death of ones beloved character.
@@cmmndrblu Because Keg is doing literally nothing usefull. That's pretty devastating in such a toe to toe fight. Imagine any team sport you know and one individual is just doing nothing. The effected group is instantly at a disadvantage. In a 5 on 5 a 20 % disadvantage that is.
@@Dreagostini it’s such a tough situation since they aren’t playing at full strength here, this is a very tough encounter with a team that has zero heals and somebody who hasn’t played with them before. The whole thing sucks
@@I_hate_card_games All of this is true. Doesn't change the outcome, though. And as long "Keg" is the one being criticised for what "she" did, and not Ashly for she did with the character. So ingame: Keg fucked up. Out of Game: Ashly decided to play Keg organically, with flaws and fuckups. Molly's death in out of game perspective is just a string of bad luck and some mediocre or careless decision, like knocking yourself out. BUt out of game and in game doesn't mix. Two worlds, two seperate reasonings.
Can we take a second to appreciate Matt's creative solution to not having 3 people present for the game? It works well for the story. . . . . . . . . And long may he reign. Poor Molly :(
I don’t think it was very well done tbh. Caleb always does his tripwire thing before they camp. It would have woken him up when Yasha, Fjord and Jester moved from inside to outside of its range. Also, when Yasha was fighting the abductors, Matt originally called for her to make a Strength saving throw to resist being shackled because it was the correct call, but then quickly changed it to an acrobatics check knowing that Yasha has good strength but shitty dexterity. Matt also suggested making an attack before giving Ashley a chance to think about her turn, so she immediately did that. One really good turn she could have taken would have been to rage first (giving her advantage on strength checks and strength saving throws, making her very difficult to restrain) and then use reckless attack, and attack twice (she gets to attack twice from being a lvl 5 barb). Another thing she might have done if she had more time to think about it is simply run. She could have run in a few different ways: (1) Simply use all of her movement speed plus the dash action to get as close to the camp as possible; (2) Use the disengage action so as to not provoke attacks of opportunity and then use all of her movement speed to run; (3) She could have used her racial ability to try to fear the attackers in a 10ft radius of her and then use all of her movement to run. Another thing she could have tried is to use the sword to dispel the spell that was silencing her and then yell out to the camp. This is probably not the best option as she didn’t know the source of the magic and so wouldn’t know what to target. Still, most of these options are better than what she did. Instead, Matt kind of baited her into just doing a basic attack and then after she did he quickly ended her turn without even asking her if she wanted to move anywhere. This allowed the abductors to have their turns before she could do much. Very frustrating to watch.
@@JaxonBurn From the description of Alarm, the spell Caleb is using: "Until the spell ends, an alarm alerts you whenever a Tiny or larger creature touches or enters the warded area. When you cast the spell, you can designate creatures that won't set off the alarm." His party would be designated as not setting it off, otherwise it would constantly be going off if they were inside it. Also, they weren't in actual combat. They didn't roll initiative. So the action, bonus action, movement action economy isn't really in effect. There were no turns being taken, it was just a series of actions in a scene. He didn't end her turn right away, he let her attack as part of the scene and then moved on to the next action, and he suggested an attack because Ashley said she pulls her weapon and is "ready to go". That tells me she wants to hit someone. Yasha was going to be captured, because she needed to be captured in order to be able to write her out of the story without just having her disappear into a storm again, and the way Matt ran it allowed it to be an actual part of the game, rather than him just describing them being captured or the party waking up this session with them all gone with no explanation. It was done wonderfully. It gives the audience and the players a look at the villain, it removes the characters in an interesting way, it ends the session on a great cliff hanger, and the player got to be involved rather than it just being described to them. Even if they couldn't win without getting lucky, it was still more interesting the way it was done than if Matt just described the events happening with no involvement from any players.
i was well aware of what was going to happen tonight since i spoiled spoiled myself on accident and i was like sHIT but i was also like okay its apart of the game but the fact that talieson had to leave,i think, is the most heartbreaking part of this
It was *very* hard to avoid spoilers for this. I even knew it was going to be this episode because of comments on an AWNP episode, where Sam and Liam had Ashly Burch on as a guest. The comments were full of stuff about her killing Mollymauk. I didn't know not to look at the comments *there* so I got spoiled on that specific detail. ua-cam.com/video/socI2SO06og/v-deo.html So I was wondering if it was going to be a betrayal, but once they started planning I realized it was probably just going to be them biting off more than they could chew, thanks to Keg's help. Especially when the leader busted out a 5th level spell, cone of cold! Matt maybe could have given Caleb and/or Nott an Arcana check to realize how powerful it was, then they maybe could have got the F out after downing the druid. Guerrilla warfare against a superior force; regroup for another attack later, again on their own terms. Preferably as an ambush while the slavers were camped, though, not all awake. I don't think we've ever seen Critical Role abandon a fight and run away when things weren't going well, despite a couple other times when only luck saved their asses. (e.g. Grog's tribe in the town.) Fortunately with Matt's prompting and RP choices by Ashly, and by Matt for the NPCs, they avoided the TPK they seemed to be heading for.
@@Peter_Cordes Same thing happened to me. They didn't even say spoiler. Why do people not give warnings for something like that? I think it was kinda rude. I mean... how hard is it to put the word "spoiler" at the top of a comment?
I love how you can see them fighting the infamous fly when Dam finishes the announcement for the bit. You can see it buzz by back and forth and _it is huge_
The worst part about being so helplessly late to CR is not getting to share this loss with the whole comunity. I accidentaly spoiled myslef the episode of Molly's death being at episode 12, and I feared this moment so much. I was shaking since they began the ambush. He was my favourite character of them all for many reasons. Even tho he is not a real person, Im going to miss him very much. Long may he reign.
He felt very much like Taliesin having fun cosplaying Taliesin - I felt he brought the circus neatly into CR and led to a lot of good moments on Talks giving a bit of an insight to Taliesin as well as how he played Molly. It certainly helped give me an increased appreciation for the Chaotic Good people in my life.
i know what you mean, mostly i dont mind reading or hearing about spoilers, as to me experianing something is different from just reading about it, but with that watching it now compared to when it happened are 2 majorly different things
Same, I had spoilers from my DM and I stated griving back then. I have also been delaying this episode for a whole day. I am just so sad Molly is such a vibe, he had such good moments
Matt: *visibly upset by how the fight went* Matt + everyone there: Please be kind, don't bombard us with what Could Have been we're all doing our best and this sucks but it'll work out for a great story This comment section: WELL I THINK MATT SHOULD HAVE-
@Don't Ask I wouldn't describe it as instability. By this point we've spent, what, 100 hours with these characters? Of course the fans are emotionally invested in them. Add in the more hardcore D&D players, who are making complaints about challenge rating being too high, and there's always going to be friction. The problem is that those doing the complaining often forgot something basic - to be kind. We love these characters, of course the creators and actors of those characters do too. You could see the hurt in Matt's face, he took no pleasure from what happened. For some fans to castigate him for that was too far. Hurt feelings are expected, but lashing out is not okay. But it's an all too common reaction, not just online. The majority of people lash out at things that hurt them. The problem is when the thing that hurt them was another person.
@Don't Ask The original comment didn't mention the death threats, which I only found out about after posting my comment. This is my first watch through of the series. I only discovered CritRole last year, been working my way through from Campaign 1. So I'm years behind on the gossip and behind the scenes info. I will say though, the OP only mentioned fans getting upset, which is what I was defending as understandable. I was upset, and I wondered if there was some behind the scenes thing (like Talesin talking to Matt about making a new character because he didn't like Molly, or something like that) which pushed Matt into killing Molly. You're right, sending death threats (or any kind of abuse) is completely beyond the pale, it's unacceptable behaviour, and I wish the twats could be legally tracked down and charged for it. Rules lawyering, being upset and having a moan, saying what x person should have done, that's all fine. But yeah, threats and abuse is criminal and I agree, a sign of a mind that isn't as fully attached to reality as it should be.
Honestly the part about campaign 1 I didn't like was how often Vox Machina got to bring back the dead. Matt did make it more difficult with the ritual but still felt a bit X-MEN like with the resurrection.
@@taylamuller1811 i mean i play dnd too and i don't do that shit wrong. i think its probably them being tired from the day, and them being actors so maybe not the best relationship with math at school and generally, or something like that.
@@darthinhilus2416 I can definitely tell you that probably none of these people at the table except for Matt, are great at math. Like basic level without adrenaline it's easy, basic level with adrenaline, they're emotions high from losing friends and stress from most of them being squishy. Math is the least of their concerns. I personally suck at math myself (I had to go to a specific school where they taught art students the way they think so I could graduate BECAUSE OF MATH) so I can't imagine how hard simple math would be right now.
@@darthinhilus2416 plus as soon as you go above 20 do you really care about specifics? They're recording, fighting, and strategizing. Messing up math really isn't a big deal or anything to feel smarter/better about (not that anyone was claiming so)
I believe they just changed it when he went unconscious, and left it at that state for the rest of the video. Back at this point in the stream, they altered the pics of the characters based on their current HP.
1:28:26 Matt: “You teleport through campaigns” Same: “It’s not as emotionally deep as this one” Talisen: “Give it time” ☠️ That, I believe, is what some would call *”foreshadowing”*
Well she played a big part in him dying because she just had to be quirky and play her FIGHTER character like a pussy. Did not like her one bit, I really don't get any of the comments saying they should keep her.
@@xXxIMNOTANGELxXx I find it funny more people blame Keg/Ashley than... you know, Matt? It's all part of the game so I don't think _anyone_ deserves shit for it, but if someone did, you'd think it'd be the DM.
@@xXxIMNOTANGELxXx Also, Keg as a character is pretty brave and a capable fighter, a force to be reckoned. But. Her friend was killed/enslaved by The Iron Shepherds, by Lorenzo, recently I would bet. Her choice to role play trauma was right.
@@belindaluna2067 Indeed, like Matt committed mistakes (Dispel for example); Talesin over-gambled his hitpoints on amplified blood maledicts; Beau didn't acted as the mobile tank she is, thought she did right by slaying the druid; Nott forgot she could use MAGE HAND AS A BONUS ACTION to try to unlock, what would allow her to sneak attack; and Caleb did few things beside Slow, causing minor damage.
@@aramislima902 right so.... What made her not tell them the right information about Lorenzo and the crew which made them underestimate the situation and therefore Molly died? Ehats kind of a character roleplay was that? Did she not work for them for months.. "oh they must have just got reaaal good all of a sudden". No. Ashley did not care enough to read a piece of paper propetly, it was her mistake as a player and not just the way the game goes. Of course Matt or the crew won't unleash fire on her and throw hher under the bus. She was annoying and inconsistent. It's my opinion and you are free to have whatever opinion you want, but episodes with her werr so far my least favourite... Or well if it wasn't for Nila or Shakaste.
I don't get it. On the screen he had an HP count and it was at 14, then got dropped to 0 from a single maledict. Did they kill a PC from miscalculaing or was the count incorrect?
@@sirhasslich536 The HP counter isn't a perfect guide and they don't always keep up with it properly. You'll notice mistakes in it, though it has become less frequent as they've practiced with it.
@@sirhasslich536 The Hit point counter was off at the start, even so Molly had activated both of his swords at the start of the fight, making him take 10 damage, but they showed that he was at 59/59 hit points instead of 49/59.
If someone ever asks me for the meaning of "emotional whiplash" I'm gonna show them this video. Long may he reign. Edit: 4:33:45 "Molly's dead." damn. Before, Matt used "not moving" as a descriptor, and you can see him kinda tiptoeing around using the words "dead body". But that was so...final.
This was one of the few episodes where I experienced a serious "emotional hangover" the next day. Should hurt a little less the second time around... but it still hurts.
I was shaken until I saw Taliesin's face and heard his voice when he said he had to leave the table. Suddenly I'm sobbing. Poor, sweet man. I feel so much for him.
Yo, do you remember when he said in an earlier episode, ‘yeah I’m not too attached to this character,’ and shrugs at hoods near death? I believe it was in the fight with the merrow people. Then this… I really liked molly. I knew this was coming eventually but still he real grew on me after I started not liking him a little bit. Then after he buys the tapestry he starts really gains good light in my eyes.
@@reclaimer1173 I knew his death was coming but I thought I read that it was in episode 76, so I was wholly unprepared for this episode. I do remember Taliesin saying he wasn't too attached to this character, can't remember when though. I didn't want to get too attached but I definitely did.
It distinctly reminded me of Percy's dramatic death back in C1, because the table made a similar joke at the time when Matt knocked over Percy's figurine in the same episode. History doesn't repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme.
VJ i suppose it’s just as scripted as any dnd game, though he leaves a few options it’s still a story told by the dm that the players act out, so not really scripted, rather guided
@@KumaoftheForest Incorrect. He's had Molly planned since campaign 1 as a back up. And he didn't have any backups planned at this point. If you follow Talks Machina he says as much. Caduceus was created in a week after this.
After fighting a bunch of horrors like a giant corpse-making toad, an out of control automaton, and an arena full of monsters during the Harvest Festival... ...I'd consider the group family.
Yeah, from my own experience in high stakes anxiety combat DND. If you roll high and you have a high bonus, you really don't bother with math, and also at that point in this episode, it was about midnight, brains were not in their prime.
@@oulaavii A lot of time I forget to just add my bonuses as I know it will be high. I have a +8 in charisma at level 5 so when I roll stuff like a 16 I sometimes just forget numbers do the addition thing as my DM has already ruled it as a hit.
She does it on purpose, ever since she was sat next to Travis her "cooked rolls" and other bs calmed down a bit because he reeled her in. Now he's not there, we have deep voice Keyleth.. Yay, not.
Jesus, even knowing what was coming, I’m still in such a state of shock right now. The way the energy at the table flipped on its head and Tal had to step away just shook me to my core. Long may he reign.
@@Stick_and_stone thats the 2nd comment I have seen you write in this comment section that is toxic and rude for no reason? Why write it? Why be here? What do you gain from it besides being a problem for others?
After nearly 40 years of D&D as player and DM, I don't get sad about character deaths. What was most disappointing to me about Molly's death was that Tal/Molly was stepping up and becoming more involved and interesting in the wake of Travis', Laura's, and Ashley's departure. I felt like he was creating a subtly but noticeably different dynamic amongst the players, and I was looking forward to seeing his character be more of a driving force. Looking forward to seeing Tal's new character once I'm caught up.
Death is a part of life. As devastated as I am(he was my favorite. I think we all saw so much potential in Molly and i was so pumped for that!), I am equally excited to see how the Nein is effected - the good and the bad.
Yeah, I'm not hurt by a PC death, but by the fact that Molly was honestly the most intriguing and mysterious of all the characters and now we'll never know what was up with him.
Respectfully disagree, he caused quite a bit of rift between the party early on. It was more or less Beau and Molly vs Caleb and Nott, with Molly consistently being the primary instigator. There is significantly more cohesion after this point. Cad is by far the best thing that could have happened for the Nein, and while I also would have liked to see Molly’s backstory as a PC, I think his death would have been inevitable with his inferior combat abilities.
I remember watching this the first time through and I paused it just after the "bug battle" and my brother asked what episode I was on (since he was fully caught up at the time with the M9 dealing with a roc I think) and I told him 26 and he got all wide eyed and said "sooo have you reach the *event* yet?" and I, having been traumatized by the movie Tremors as a kid, was like "YEAH THAT WAS LIKE RELIVING LITERAL CHILDHOOD NIGHTMARES WITH THOSE THINGS COMING OUT OF THE GROUND" and he just kinda got confused and quiet and said "yeeeaah I don't remember that. It gets overshadowed. There's a thing later, you'll know it when you reach it." I mean, he wasn't wrong.
To all future critters:
DON'T
LOOK
IN THE COMMENT SECTION
Can someone please pin this comment!?
+ so this makes it higher
Dislike all the spoiler comments
Hero.
For the comment section is dark. And full of terrors
Beau: "Sorry, I'm not great with people."
Caleb: "Sorry, I'm not great with people."
Nott: "Sorry, I'm not great with people."
Keg: "Sorry, I'm not great with people."
Molly: "Oh, this is gonna be fun!"
Shit... I just finished this episode... wasn't fun. Fuck.
@@sandorfalusi3486 fun indeed..
i really hope molly enjoyed his last moments of life, getting to spit in his enemy's face at least. seems like something he'd enjoy.
@@sandorfalusi3486 wow, a fellow hungarian in the critical role comment section!
@@TheTiredBard Wow! We get 1 more and we can basically hold a CritRole Con in Hungary!
Narrator’s voice: It was not, in fact, fun.
Caleb's soliloquy makes more sense when you remember he was trapped in an asylum for a very long time.
He talks to himself. He's been alone for a long time.
I'm so sorry - I ruined your perfect 500 likes ;-;
Why must you hurt me in this way
I mean it's late to argue now but i thino he was katatonic most of the time in the asylum and he run when he got healed by that other girl
@@TobiMaster456 yeah we know more now about Caleb’s time there, but he still could have a habit of talking to himself. He was still alone. I just like it when Liam RPs like that.
@@TobiMaster456 wouldn't stop someone from thinking that kind of stuff to themselves. and some of the smarter ppl i know tend to talk to themselves. but liam's roleplaying and improvising, so i'd suppose any of these takes would be equally true.
ah, just another episode of critical role, can't wait to see what wacky shenanigans they will get into, specially my favorite character Mollymauk
im taking a vacation.
my favorite characters are always these ones, I guess I have a type...
word for word what i said during my first watch throguh lmfao
Hey man, this is kind of a spoiler
@@gabrielladavidson2938 this aired 3 yrs ago don't read the comments if you're trying to avoid spoilers lol
Such an underrated line.
"Oh, your flask runs out?"
Oscar Pines that was hilarious
‘oh, your flask runs out?’ *chuckles in smug*
@@doctorbath-o7 Nott's Smugness level reaching critical levels hehe
I can't stop laughing
Was not expecting Oscar Pines to be here x)
I like how the the Iron Shepherds are like a twisted, evil version of the Nein. They have 7 members, 2 Spell casters, a leader with an accent who uses a blade, a rogue, and a barbarian.
Casually rewatching during quarantine, seeing this comment hurts me even more
A purposeful foil?
ClutzyGamer Oh definitely. I have absolutely no doubt. Knowing Matt that is...
Tfw Molly and Beau got replaced by unnamed thugs. Feelsbadman
Caleb doesn't use a blade
« Yes mother, i bring news from the womb » that made me laugh so much
Watched all of both campaigns, and this ad is still top 3 for me. Isnt number 1 just cause there are too many gems to keep track of all of them.
D&D beyond!
Kojima: I can use that... Yes!
@jack meoff *baby Bailey's first words.
Can confirm. Still the best add of all time
This is my personal pick for the MN season 1 finale. Give us an entire season with Molly, have the penultimate ep be the warden battle/Kiri farewell, then hit us with this sucker punch! Lord, I can’t wait
yeah, I've been re-watching M9 since the announcement! I can't wait to see my favorite ragtag group of criminals....
I'd say make the battle with the warden and the kidnapping ep10, e11 episode investigation back story on Lorenzo, e12 this battle. Big cliffhangers.
Either this, or Yasha storming off away from his grave.
@@wouldiwasshookspeared4087 Agreed, either way the last shot of the season is gotta be a close up on the Molly's coat hanging from the posted branch.
Assuming the season follows the LoVM pattern of four batch of three semi-related episodes, I think the last batch would be more like:
Episode 10: After finding out that they were stolen from as a cliffhanger in Episode 9, they find the kids, fight the Gear Warden, say goodbye to Kiri, and then Jester, Fjord, and Yasha are kidnapped.
Episode 11: This episode. The rest of the M9 wake up to discover the others are missing, introduce Keg, find and fight Lorenzo, Molly (*SPOILERS*) dies.
Episode 12: Introduce Caduceus, attack the Sour Nest, and kill Lorenzo
Two non-goodbyes that always make me sad:
Actual Jester not being able to say bye to Kiri.
Yasha not being there for Molly.
I LOVED the tiberious goodbye in the first campaign, although it still made me kinda sad
@@Cole-bt7zc both the goodbye and the funeral for Tiberius made me cry
@@DredgenStorm Right in my feels....
@@christophermolloy2336 To each their own. I felt elation when Tiberius left the party. I couldn't stand him. And felt nothing...neither elation or sadness when he was discovered dead. Just...nothing. Didn't care at all. It was just like some random NPC that got little screen time died. Oh well.
@@BinTtown Everyone has that crazy uncle in the family and although he made things crazy and not too many people liked him. He's still part of the family. There was still that connection. And I respect the way that it all worked out.
I know that I'm late to the party but at this part of the campaign, I've come to realize that what Caleb lacks in interaction skills, he makes up by using Frumpkin to calm or comfort people. And I love that tiny detail.
Exactly. It's also how Liam sees it. He got asked about it in Talks Machina and confirmed it.
"I couldnt begin to know how to comfort these folk.. but Frumpkin* can."
I’ve always thought Liam’s IRL personality seems to be the most subtle at the table. Not as wordy or loud, but always witty. So it’s not a surprise to me that he could bring that kind of nuance to a character. I’ve grown to appreciate him a lot over time.
@@ODUBlue I feel that also why he and Sam work so well together. Liam’s subtle wit and Sam’s over the top hijinks balance each other perfectly, and their real life friendship makes it always a joy to see their characters interact.
Frumkin is everyone's emotional support pet and I'm here for it
Hearing the old woman say “You’re lucky” and Molly responding “We’ll see” really hits deep
😭
he jynxed himself super hard at the start he kept talking about dying
Seeing all that art of Molly sitting on "Lucian"s grave really hits deep.
@@Grinningfartking6969 spoiler
I hated Molly, I'm gonna say Taliesin has been my least favourite this season, I think he was stuck in Percy's evil-ish scheming personality a bit. Ironic he'd talk about "helping them bleed out" just moments earlier, and than it happened to him xD
@@AWindy94 2 21⁹¹⅔²⅖31 2nd 12am 31 ²111 23rd e 23rd²²21st¹w 1¹¹12th 29⁹11 22 11th
way too far down. thanks to who made it
8:36 Recap starts
10:37 Recap ends
15:03 Frumpkin's very specific transformation
15:51 a 2, a 2, and a 1 for investigation
17:10 Taliesen's a voice actor
23:00 A shadowed figure
24:40 Enter Ashly Burch
27:45 jUSt maKE ConVErsAtIoN
29:57 Nott's a creepy little girl
33:39 Caleb gets a nickname
44:50 On the road again
49:17 Choosing a friend to leave behind
58:00 Exploring abandoned house
1:02:20 Horses are disturbed
1:06:05 Horse down
1:08:35 Roll initiative
1:10:05 Stunning strike
1:18:33 Another horse down
1:20:52 Keg nat 20
1:28:23 Revisiting Campaign 1
1:32:45 HDYWTDT
1:34:40 A mercy kill
1:35:33 A not-so-merciful kill
1:39:00 Mercer's dream set-up
1:41:21 Beau the surgeon
1:51:50 Frumpkin transformation
1:54:02 Welcome back PT2
2:02:17 Natural 20 at disadvantage
2:12:38 WC is gone forever...
2:14:24 Nott the detective girl
2:15:46 Long rest and a new day
2:17:23 Frumpkin does a shimmy dance
2:20:19 Molly entertains a child
2:21:28 Do you know Pumat Sol?
2:23:28 Back on the road again
2:23:40 Liam goes Vax
2:25:33 Jester's sketchbook
2:33:15 Keg and Nott
2:37:30 "your vague past"
2:38:00 The Backstory Drinking Game
2:40:00 Molly and Beau: the best lie you ever told
2:44:23 Caleb's soliloquy
2:49:42 Travellers spotted
2:52:47 Keg recognizes
2:54:21 Caleb has a suggestion
2:58:15 Keg's confession
2:58:54 Nott's confession
3:01:23 Matt's warning
3:03:13 "Now is the time."
3:09:03 Planning
3:17:16 Nott has a gun
3:19:30 "This is a great plan"
3:23:32 DM witch Matthew Mercer
3:39:17 Liam comments on the plan
3:40:45 Spooning
3:42:16 Whippets from Xhorras
3:43:08 Enter opponents
3:45:06 Execute plan
3:47:10 Roll initiative
3:56:00 Keg's intel now questionable
3:59:14 Lorenzo' first turn. Players discuss the successfulness of the plan
4:01:07 First Blood Maledict
4:07:15 Keg takes disadvantage
4:10:07 Slow goes down
4:11:55 Lorenzo's held action triggers
4:19:25 Wisdom saving throws of hope
4:20:24 Molly engages Lorenzo
4:21:59 Lorenzo's second turn
4:22:20 Second Blood Maledict
4:22:51 Fall
4:23:55 Final thoughts
4:25:55 Leaves the table
4:28:25 Keg engages Lorenzo with speech
4:34:11 Lorenzo's third turn
4:36:36 Example
4:38:01 Fuck you
4:38:40 Everyone takes a deep breath
This is really useful thanks
Boost!
Boost
bump
Sad they got rid of intermissions, but hey, BUMP!
"But you just gave me 20 gold..."
"Right, so I know you can afford us."
words of a legend, long may he reign
This so perfectly demonstrates why I will miss Molly
"your flask runs out" Nott thinking it smells like broke in here
I died
it was hilarious. the shaaaade.
@@Marpaws - Shes short but she casts a lot of shade.
@@Ajehy yuuuuuup.
"Natural 20."
"You have disadvantage in that armor..."
"Natural 20."
Now you know where all of their bad lucks came froom
I need that time link!!!!
@@tiny099 2:02:15
Did I fricking stutter
The Anti-Wil Wheaton.
Spoilers
The fact that Jester, Fjord and Yasha probably heard Mollymauk die while being locked up and unable to do anything is just so painful
Fuuuuuck! I didn't even think of that D:
in TalksMchina Matt said that they didnt heard them
@@alenavakh1940 That's weirdly a huge relief to me. I've had literal night terrors that are almost exactly the OP's post.
😔😔😔😢
Why it's make believe
"Who considers you a great detective?"
"Jester, one of our friends who got stolen"
So technically Jester, who is part of "The greatest detectives" knows who abducted them :o
CASE SOLVED
The greatest detectives did it again.
Oh no now I'm thinking of Jester, bloodied and bruised, sitting and leaning against a wall she's chained to in an empty cavern that echoes when she says quietly, in an attempt to cheer herself and Fjord up, "Well at least we know who took us. We solved the case." Just super sad, maybe a little cough after. Fjord doesn't say anything.
@@oliviahaglund8978 sorry :s
!!!
@@oliviahaglund8978 but they are gagged...... They can't speak....
Molly: "We don't leave people behind, that's the deal."
Long may he reign
Long may he live!
Molly; "I'm taking the gun."
Always a douchebag
We will never see his like again,
and now his watch has ended.
Words to live by, words to die by
@@sifuculreif6448 well...
The epilogue by Matt about not harassing the players over the game is very telling how they’re impacted by all the vitriolic hate they get. I really feel for them, a PC death is really good drama and can be amazing if it’s handled right and just like he said “it’s going to make a great story”
Here here good sir, here here.
- An overly critical amateur who at least admits it
I agree, but a PC death really should be because of that player making mistakes (which he did, not having good AC as a melee character that uses HP as a resource not a great combo) not because a player wanted to be dramatic. Taking a minus 1 or 2 on all attacks against him would have been enough to get her point across, not disadvantage on all rolls against everyone in that fight. Also she should have stuck to her guns and took disadvantage on that last persuasion roll. Ultimately Cadeuces is a better character than Molly, but loosing a character can really suck. All from experience playing the character who died, caused a PC death, and as a DM who had that happen.
From the way you're talking it sounds like you watch this show for the mechanics of DND.... really??? Who cares what ruling they did, Critical role has always been and the story first and the game second. Sure Cad is a stronger character mechanically but even that doesn't matter in the slightest.
@@rekkwaffle7668 partly, yeah. Since it is a role playing game that I too play, that has rules. My comment was more about player choice, not rules lawyering. Molly probably would have died in that fight regardless, and if not then at some point in the future. The rules help define the game. When they deal with lorenzo, it doesn't go the way Matt wanted it too but he went with it because the dice, the rules, said so.
rekkwaffle I believe it was necessary for molly to die, even in the story. Probably just delaying the inevitable.
It's sad that Matt needed to say all that about not harassing players but some fans are really just awful people who take this show WAY too seriously. There's nothing wrong with being passionate about it but throwing hate towards the players outside of the game is NOT a sign of passion, it's a sign of derangement.
What happened
@@musicformadmenI imagine that Ashly got heavy criticism for deliberately choosing to have Keg take disadvantage for RP reasons, with neckbeards accusing her of getting Molly killed. It was a solid RP decision, and they were clearly outmatched no matter what. They really only could have won if they'd rolled exceptionally well, and the opposite happened. How the fight turned out was no one's fault. The only fault lies in them engaging in the fight to begin with, and they couldn't have known that was the case because Matt deliberately gave them faulty information that they thought was correct. Like Matt says at the end, it was a terrible convergence of events.
@@devindenman526 Pretty sure on her turn she rolled all four rolls as a miss, the disadvantage didn't even do anything.
1:28:34
Sam - "It's not as emotionally deep as this one."
Taliesin - "Give it time, give it time."
Coincidental Foreshadowing at its finest
Well Sam was saying that C2 is already emotionally deeper
@@Fangoros I feel like Sam either:
misspoke, meaning to say that this campaign wasn't yet as emotionally deep;
was being sarcastic, as is normal for Sam;
or meant that perspectively this campaign is already deeper than the previous was at this same point in time, which is hard to gauge.
I say this mostly because if it wasn't one of these three scenarios, Sam is just wrong this time. Campaign 1 had a lot of side story, but the emotional depth was certainly there. Marisha cried...a lot. Ashley cried a few times. Laura had to stop herself from crying. The guys all managed to keep from crying, but had a lot of moments where they had to take a minute and just not say anything (other than a few expletives or "wow..."). So far, before tonight, the deepest we've really had was "Do we really want to take this bird child into constant danger?" Followed by a saddened "No, she stays here without us." Which was a damn good scene, and she would have certainly died and gotten the whole party killed tonight, but before that the emotional depth of C2 was like a shallow puddle.
@@wizrad2099 Sam definitely cried at the end, when he failed to rescue Vax
@@catsnorkel Yes. That was possibly the most emotionally charged moment in all of campaign 1, and as of episode 30-something in campaign 2, it still hasn't been topped. I don't imagine it will. To possibly have the key to saving your doomed friend (I don't think Liam would have actually let them save Vax, but Sam and Scanlan didn't know that), then having to choose between that or stopping a hell-bent new god, Sam really felt the impact of that choice. Most movies and TV shows never get that sort of payoff, but CR managed it in a live DnD campaign. I fucking love this group.
@@wizrad2099 Campaign 1 also had like 2 years of prior content before it was streamed to audiences to build up characters' backstories and such that the cast were able to play off of, so campaign 2 is in a different circle. It's weird to compare the two - doesn't really feel right to do so.
55:55 Taliesin: this is going to be a cursed trip
Also Taliesin in Talks a while back: yeah somebody’s gonna bite it at level 5 haha
The man doesn’t know his own powers
I mean. He is the Bard that served both the High king of albion, the great raven, Bran the Blessed, and later, the High King of Britons, The great bear, Arthur Pendragon.
The man served the great fairy tale kings, and the ran in madness at the end of the tale.
Needless to say. He is a mighty being who may not even know the full extent of his own power!
@@padraig548 I'm definitely convinced that Taliesin is THAT Taliesin, too. Immortal fey being.
The farm house they broke into. He took that symbol of Pelor off the wall and with heavy sarcasm said "THIS obviously brought whoever live here luck" and slipped it in his pocket.
He also talked about Molly not expecting his luck to last forever and fully expected to go out, which is kind of chilling
@@Butterzzzz It kind of makes sense though. I don't know much about the class but it seems like Blood Hunter is inherently risky.
I really didn't notice how much I really appreciate Liam's roleplaying until just now. I have to assume he has a paper where he wrote out what his character does to cast each and every one of his spells because i am pretty sure they are consistent. And he also seems meticulous with keeping track of material components he needs.
I took a lot of inspiration from liam when i was playing my wizard. Its fun to rp your spellcasting
I think Liam could be the modern Stanly Tucci - the perfect character actor.
Liam is amazing, I really love him and his roleplaying
Really
Or you just, y'know, *remember* that you use your components when spellcasting
This is great, it starts with a fake birth of a real person and ends with real death of a fake person
I don't get it. Could you explain what you meant?
They announced the birth (two weeks prior?) of the kid of two of their players. Then the character of one of their players died for good, which is something they’re usually able to stop or avert but couldn’t this time.
@@courtneyo.6240 Ohhh okay I get it now, I forgot that this episode opened with the "reenactment" of Ronin's birth
You can't have a "real" death of a fiction.
@@shawkorroryou can depending what you perceive is real. truth is relative my guy
Casually rewatching during quarantine and I had forgotten how funny the beginning of this episode is as it gets overshadowed by other events. The whole initial meeting with Keg is gold.
Ashley Burch is a very funny person
But also so much foreshadowing. It’s like they summoned it into existence with their jokes.
@@Rosiepedia 1:14:08 Sam literally says "They killed Molly." Crazy.
@@Hartsele - IKR? I’m watching it for the first time but I got spoiled a long time ago. I’m sitting here, with a stuffed animal and a box of tissues, paused at 4:14, and that quote just... broke me early.
And yeah, the funny stuff is really catching me off guard. I know the gut punch is coming, but it’s so light and goofy... I’m in emotional turmoil.
@@Hartsele I'm not one of those people who thinks CR is scripted, but holy fuck moments like that really can make it seem like it is
The fact no one made a nine to five joke is honestly criminal
An hour got knocked off the work week.
More like nein to feiv
@@shepgustafson8131 fünf
Holy shit the way Matt looks so defeated and kinda upset but just has to keep going because that's the reality of battle. There's no time to stop and do anything
And that's why he's so good. This wouldn't be half as entertaining if the stakes weren't real. They went in with a bad plan against a superior force and lost. Of course it sucks if an amazing character like Molly dies, but this happend when.. .five years ago and people still bring up his death? That's good story telling
@@kida4313 It's so good. This is my second watch through and I could see how terrible their plan actually was, vs the first time I saw it and thought they would have the upper hand. The death is so memorable and informs the greater narrative from this point forward.
@@vanessaaves3271 To be fair, they have absolutely no clue how powerful this slaver troupe is. This is my first time watching the episode and my alarm bells only started ringing (rather loudly) when Lorenzo cast a level 5 Cone of Cold. In retrospect, the only chance they ever had at this point in time would have been freeing all the prisoners BEFORE starting the fight. Hindsight is 20/20.
...a 4hp Mollymauk would have died in either scenario though, if he's charging a full-health Barbarian... no, wait, the Barbarian's barely hurt defacto leader. 🙄
@@drithius4801 I agree, I suppose when I first watched it, I also was a newish player (but definitely brand new to magic users) so the cone of cold didn’t mean a whole lot to me. Ashley Birch got a lot of hate for choosing roleplaying her character as being scared of Lorenzo, but I totally get it.
@@drithius4801 matt also didnt give them a suprise round, which i thought was bullshit. id be furious if i spent the past 30 minutes coming up with an ambush only to get literally nothing out of it because the gm preplanned them losing since laura and travis were gonna be out for a few months and he needed them to be captured
BIT OF SPOILERS BUUT!
When Talisen says "eye's never shut" when Molly dies, all I can think of is the symbolism that, Molly never truly dies there. How he instead is there to look at the sky for the final time just as when he saw the sky for the first time, his eyes wide at the new world. And now he leaves the world where he made great friends and went down fighting to save them. Long may he reign, Circus Man.
I took it more to mean that he wasn't afraid and that he faced it head-on/without blinking.
edit : he woke up buried under the ground... with dirt in his eyes I'd imagine =/
although that would have be great(well, situationally) if he'd woken up like Jack on "Lost" staring up at the sky...
Long may he reign.
With the most recent episodes, the "eyes of nine"... They never shut now, do they, hunting through the astral sea forever... 👀👀👁️👀👀
@Alexander Whitbourn Honestly, it's common courtesy to do that.
Huh
What breaks my heart the most in this episode is the absolute devastating pain you see in Matt's eyes in the end. You can even see it the wide shot before they cut to the fanart at the end, when he takes a deep breath and just stares blankly then that smile drifts away...
Fuck man.
Olivia M. Meh. He went ahead with it. He didn’t HAVE to kill him. Just dumb.
@@Ericb1980 it's what the character would have done
@@Ericb1980 Sad table you run at, they knew what type of guy they were facing, and this was the right way to go.
Those pixie tables were nothing bad happens are the worst.
D. Deurloo sad table I run at. What does that even mean?
@@Ericb1980 hes insinuating that you probably play at a dnd table that doesnt let player characters die and hes basing that off the fact that you said "he didnt HAVE to kill him"
Which he kinda did because why would the character just up and leave molly on the ground? i love molly but its part of the game man, dont get mad at matt for playing the game correctly. But who cares this happened months ago and taliesin's got a new character, just sad to see people are still mad at matt for running the game as you should.
49:47 Taliesin: "If someone's gonna die, we have to leave a marker so we can come back and find where he's been interred."
Funny you should say that.
HOW RIGHT YOU WERE
this super hits different now
Palpatine voice: "Ironic"
Oh fuck off! Too soon
This has many meanings now
Matt: "Somehow the Dwarf in plate armor is the stealthiest among you"
Meanwhile, somewhere in Tal Dorei Pike Trickfoot wakes in a cold sweat.
Pike isn't a dwarf, she's a gnome I'm pretty sure
@@AceBradMan Right, but she also wore plate armor and was notoriously the least stealthy member of Vox Machina as a direct result of her disadvantage on stealth checks from wearing heavy armor.
@@starscream71288 i misunderstood your comment
Pike was a gnome you racist 😂
@mr.e7541 I know you're joking but it needs to be said. I am well aware that Pike was a gnome. But she was a gnome that wore full plate armor and was notoriously bad at stealth checks. Hence the joke.
"Oh... your flask runs out?"
*smiles at the camera*
I'm not even all the way through and I know that's the best part.
how... how did that pan out?
Oh No....
How could this happen to meeee I've made my mistaaakes!!!
Got no where to ruuun
Oh, oh no no no. No. No no no.
Spoilers ahead:
Honestly, my favorite moment in all of critical role looking back is here, better and more memorable to me than even the cupcake, and no it’s not Molly dying. It’s the night before, with Molly playing Cards with Beau. That night, although not apparent immediately, is the biggest philosophy shift I think of any of the characters, where Beau realized that what she was doing with her life wasnt meaningful compared to what it could be, and what the Nein has been doing up to that point was insanely selfish compared to what they could have been doing. This scene set up so much to happen after Molly’s death. I think out of all the characters, Beau takes Molly’s death the hardest, but she makes something out of it more than anybody else. It changes her, and because of that it changes the group’s philosophy as a whole. And 73 episodes later, and the episode 99 pause, I think they’re doing a pretty damn good job at leaving things better then they found it.
Like I’m obviously really sad he died, but I feel Molly’s death really helped the M9 develop and bond as a group
@@gabesynnott6506 Beau stopped being a shithead after Molly died. The little tea leaf did so much
@@AlyxGlide Beau stopped being AS MUCH OF a shithead after Molly died.
A minor correction but an important one, I feel.
The hupperdook arc and kiri sorta helped them realize that helping people just for the sake of good had it's own reward, up until then they had been, as Caleb so often calls them, "a group of assholes". Molly's death was the turning point where they stopped being a bunch of selfish assholes and started working towards teamwork.
Keg: I grew up in shadyrun's creek. Everyone's favorite past time there is stabbing people
Awww Kiri would've loved there
"I kill people :D"
The change in energy was jarring, they were all clearly deflated but still had to finish the battle, Tal leaving the table was heartbreaking
Me last episode: Well, that was nice, a bit of emotional stuff, I'd like to see this a bit more often.
Me now: wAIT no NOT LIKE THIS, I take it back, I take iT BACK!
Mollymauk; you did this to me
Now go back and watch the parts of episode 25 while they're leaving town and just feel your insides empty out.
Between this and the last episode, I’ve cried more than I ever have for anything but the death of someone I know. Molly was someone that I aspire to be and a character that I truly wish could have seen more of the world. Goodbye my friend, long may you reign.
Ronald Mackillop I didn't cry for Molly the first time I watched this, but I didn't really appreciate how incredibly different he was. Now, during quarantine, all I want is our pink friend to come home.
AcCuRAtE
Can we take a moment to appreciate how Mercer takes the time to encourage kindness and love after an episode like that. A great DM and an amazing man.
Without question! And the whole crew can get such hate sometimes too.
At first I read the last part as "an amazing mom" and I didn't even question it.
haha and at the same time "oh, this is going to be delicious"
Matt truly comes across like such a good, caring and generous person. And incredibly humble, despite so many obvious gifts and talents.
It'd be sad if I met him and he turned out to be an asshole 😂
When Caleb was talking to himself I felt my heart break just a little bit more for him. :(
When was that exactly?
Robert Tomasik 2:45:00 ish!
He needs to do what he wants, and he questions how the people he is with will help him in his goals, but he stays with them anyways. Honestly it just foreshadows his characterization transition along with him nearly helming the party during this episode.
Wasn't he talking to Frumpkin?
@@daniellapointe6658 Nah, when Matt was hooting he told Frumpkin "You're fine" and kept referring to himself in the third person.
I heard about the Molly episode for so long until I finally got to it. I never knew it was the week after Ronin was born & half the cast was gone. That’s a really big moment for them to miss.
The M9 lost 5 members in two episodes...
One things for sure, this is gonna be brutal AF in the animated show.
Same, I knew it was coming but had no idea actually how it would happen. Kinda makes sense that it was this episode though, seeing as the group was smaller and they had no cleric for healing (+ the dice gods were against them this fight). Really fucking sucks. Excited to see what Tal brings in the future though, because I have luckily had 0 spoilers about the rest of his journey in this campaign.
@@thespankmyfrank It’s weird how almost every part of C1 was spoiled for me, but this was the only aspect I ever heard about C2 before starting it.
@@thespankmyfrank Its almost like the journey and not the destination matter......
@@sethcordle15 Really? I was spoiled with nothing for C1 but just about every major plot point for C2. I think that's why I've enjoyed C1 a lot more from the start.
I knew it was coming, but that didn’t make it any easier.
me too!! i got spoiled and i was like sHIT but i was also like okay its apart of the game
but this... it hurt
I figured it out by fanart and only by fan art 😭
I didn't think it would be so soon, and fucked over by his own ability, I didn't think it would end like that...
I almost feel like it made it worse. You really appreciate all the great team moments when you know what's coming 😢
I rly saw it coming before they even made the plan but it didn't make it any better
55:55 Tal: "terrible things are going to happen, this is going to be a cursed trip."
Oh, Molly...
HOW WAS THERE THIS MUCH FORESHADOWING??
@@grimreefer9324 I really have no idea, a lot of people think Molly's death was planned and it's things like that that make me understand why, but Tal's reaction just seemed too real for it to be planned
Truer words were never spoken.
A fortune teller to the end
@@Albatross0913 The other part that makes me think so is that Matt didn't even roll to see if Lorenzo hit Molly while he was unconscious. Granted, he would've had advantage and Molly's AC wasn't great so he probably would've hit, but there was a small chance he could've missed. I believe Tal has also talked about how he didn't have much fun in combat as Molly, simply because the blood hunter class wasn't as fine tuned as it is now and it was very high risk low reward, especially at low levels. But I'm also with you, Tal's reaction did seem very genuine, as did Matt's. Matt's voice seemed to be shaking a bit as he asked Molly what his last words were. Idk man, I'm just a firm believer that Molly should've been a swords bard. Would've been fantastic.
SPOILERS!
everybody is talking about Molly, but like
RIP Water closet
Those poor innocent horses...
Long may they neigh
Nott really cast tongues...
I think what made this hurt more for me was that Molly started to protect and personally shield Caleb this episode
Up to this point, it felt to me like *maybe* they were subtly hinting at a possible Molly/Caleb romance down the line at some point? Just with little comments they'd make to each other, not to mention the kiss Molly gave Caleb when he broke down a little while before this. I dunno, maybe I was reading too much into it, but it kinda felt like that was where it was going eventually.
@@SkilesHasFunme too … which makes this so brutal as I was really excited for that duo 😢 it’s brutal in general but even more so. I just liked their chemistry and I wanted to explore that more. But from what I’ve heard during the talk sessions, I don’t think what happened to Molly was expected to happen this fast …
@SkilesHasFun I felt the same way, but I must have missed the kiss do you remember what episode that was?
@@Rogue_odyssey its near the end of ep 7. after Caleb's HDYWTDT
Press F for Watercloset. Truly the most major death in this episode.
yes indeed
No other death in this episode could outshine the tragedy of loosing our boi WC
F
F
F
@@cheeselord3655 i like your name
Going into this, I knew it was going to happen. I knew exactly which episode, and I thought I could get to this point without getting to attached to him.
But I did get attached, and it does hurt, and I will miss that magic tiefling man and all his good cheer. Long may he reign.
Knew it was coming as well, didn't make it any easier.
So I was In the same situation, BUT I THOUGHT IT WAS EPISODE 27
I basically figured out he died by watching the animated intro, someone spoiled for me what episode he died. I tried not to get attached but he’s just too likable and it breaks my heart :(
Alexander Holscher pretty much in the same boat. I knew the episode but I didn’t know exactly how or when and so even though I was expecting it there was still that bit of awe and shock
This was an episode i watched live... i wasnt ready for it.
Watching Matt's smug grin at 2:02:15 for the "you're at disadvantage for the armor" disappear when Ashly rolls a Nat 20 anyway is so damn funny.
My first watch of CR. I Notice how Liam quietly goes after Tal after the events to ensure he’s okay, subtley going to refill water. The tenderness and empathy of these people to their friends, honestly. It was a very good decision. Something like this never feels good.
Highly recommend watching the Talks Machina following this episode, even if you don't usually make time for them.
Its called being a normal human being
@@TimpanistMoth_AyKayEll link to that please? Assuming its still around?
@@JnEricsonxThey have deleted all the talks machina episodes, because the host was abusive. So we cannot watch them anymore sadly
@viiviheittokangas5240 always wondered what happened to him, never really paid attention to the rest of the community stuff so was strange how he just disappeared. Good to know
Rudimentary Timestamps while Flando is catching up
0:10 New studio!
1:32 Sam reenacts Baby Bailingham's coming into this world
8:36 Recap starts
10:37 Recap ends
15:03 Frumpkin's very specific transformation
15:51 a 2, a 2, and a 1 for investigation
17:10 Taliesen's a voice actor
23:00 A shadowed figure
24:40 Enter Ashly Burch
27:45 jUSt maKE ConVErsAtIoN
29:57 Nott's a creepy little girl
33:39 Caleb gets a nickname
44:50 On the road again
49:17 Choosing a friend to leave behind
58:00 Exploring abandoned house
1:02:20 Horses are disturbed
1:06:05 Horse down
1:08:35 Roll initiative
1:10:05 Stunning strike
1:18:33 Another horse down
1:20:52 Keg nat 20
1:28:23 Revisiting Campaign 1
1:32:45 HDYWTDT
1:34:40 A mercy kill
1:35:33 A not-so-merciful kill
1:39:00 Mercer's dream set-up
1:41:21 Beau the surgeon
1:51:50 Frumpkin transformation
1:54:02 Welcome back PT2
2:02:17 Natural 20 at disadvantage
2:12:38 WC is gone forever...
2:14:24 Nott the detective girl
2:15:46 Long rest and a new day
2:17:23 Frumpkin does a shimmy dance
2:20:19 Molly entertains a child
2:21:28 Do you know Pumat Sol?
2:23:28 Back on the road again
2:23:40 Liam goes Vax
2:25:33 Jester's sketchbook
2:33:15 Keg and Nott
2:37:30 "your vague past"
2:38:00 The Backstory Drinking Game
2:40:00 Molly and Beau: the best lie you ever told
2:44:23 Caleb's soliloquy
2:49:42 Travellers spotted
2:52:47 Keg recognizes
2:54:21 Caleb has a suggestion
2:58:15 Keg's confession
2:58:54 Nott's confession
3:01:23 Matt's warning
3:03:13 "Now is the time."
3:09:03 Planning
3:17:16 Nott has a gun
3:19:30 "This is a great plan"
3:23:32 DM witch Matthew Mercer
3:39:17 Liam comments on the plan
3:40:45 Spooning
3:42:16 Whippets from Xhorras
3:43:08 Enter opponents
3:45:06 Execute plan
3:47:10 Roll initiative
3:56:00 Keg's intel now questionable
3:59:14 Lorenzo' first turn. Players discuss the successfulness of the plan
4:01:07 First Blood Maledict
4:07:15 Keg takes disadvantage
4:10:07 Slow goes down
4:11:55 Lorenzo's held action triggers
4:19:25 Wisdom saving throws of hope
4:20:24 Molly engages Lorenzo
4:21:59 Lorenzo's second turn
4:22:20 Second Blood Maledict
4:22:51 Fall
4:23:55 Final thoughts
4:25:55 Leaves the table
4:28:25 Keg engages Lorenzo with speech
4:34:11 Lorenzo's third turn
4:36:36 Example
4:38:01 Fuck you
4:38:40 Everyone takes a deep breath
4:40:54 Fanart Compilation
EDIT: Flando's back. Find their timestamps and go shower them with likes
Long may he rein.
kon ona o awen pona.
Thank you, my non-flando friend
Thanks
Keep up the good work
Ellie K these time stamps are nice
1:14:05 Foreshadowing
A moment of silence for Molly. He went out like he wanted to. He never wanted to know who he was before he woke up without his memories, and he never did. Whoever he was before that, he became a decent tiefling that protected his friends to his last breath.
he died as he lived, a Mary Sue
What makes you say his character was a Mary Sue?
@@absintheminded8466 mostly the way Tal tried to have it his way every step of the way. Trying to take extra actions he can’t do, arguing with the DM, getting flustered when his low-DC abilities fail, etc.
@@DwiteLoot i’m not sure that you understand what a Mary Sue is.
@@whatinthek7931 I’m not sure you do either if you think wanting your character to be able to do everything and getting frustrated when it can’t doesn’t qualify.
Caleb *uses suggestion to make people tell him the truth.*
Also Caleb "I take people at their word."
I would also take people at their word if I could compel them to be truthful.
watching this episode is like when you watch a show or movie or play a game where right at the start you are told a character is gonna die at the end and you just watch how they spend their last day unaware that it is their last day
For some reason, out of everything in this episode, the part that really sticks with me is the fact that Caleb, Nott, Molly, Beau, and Keg canonically spooned for warmth as they slept because they chose not to make a campfire.
And they put molly in the middle, omg... that hurts
Remember when Nott didn't participate in the Merrow fight due to roleplaying? This how they play the game and I think it's why we like watching it. If it was a bunch of min maxers with perfect strategies blasting through every fight I don't think we would enjoy it as much.
Agreed, someone in the comments is giving them shit for not being good at planning strategies and stuff. Like, get the fuck out of here. If you want something like that, find a different channel or play it yourself
Yeah, characters being perfect and well put together is boring. The bad decisions are what create a great story.
@@Anegor - Molly was at 4 HP. I don't think Keg fully engaging would have avoided a character death at least a round later or something. Although *possibly* it could have ended up with Molly going unconscious and getting captured if the party bailed then, especially given the slavers have another healer beyond the druid. (The not-sorcerer Bard).
They were totally screwed, and should have bailed after downing 1 opponent, as soon as Lorenzo busted out a 5th level spell. That made it obvious this needed to be treated as a guerrilla warfare situation, not a fight to the death, unless the M9 all wanted to die.
But they hadn't tried to talk Beau out of her cocksure we're-going-to-win attitude so she went to engage Lorenzo. Possibly for that reason Molly ran to help his verbal sparring partner, basically throwing away his life. (On Talks Machina, Tal revealed that his plan was to run the turn after that. That's only going to work if he's conscious, and using amplified Blood Maledict is maybe his best chance at taking 0 hits from Lorenzo and staying up.). Molly does have a "we don't leave friends behind" attitude / philosophy, but I think this was Tal mis-calculating the odds of survival, or just going with RP choices even though he knew they had poor odds of survival. Or maybe he thought that if he did knock himself out, Lorenzo wouldn't brutally finish him off and someone could maybe get him up with a potion, or maybe he'd get captured.
I *think* Ashly was planning to fully fight in the next round. Or maybe she saw how outmatched the group was and was trying to lay groundwork for ending the fight early. I 100% don't blame her for her actions in combat, the M9 was not going to wipe out the opposition even if Keg had used Action Surge to get in and make an attack on Lorenzo, and had not taken disadvantage. Possibly if Nott had gotten lucky and found + released some of Jester, Fjord, and/or Yasha, and clearly they were trying not to meta-game the knowledge that wasn't going to happen.
Not being more forceful about how much the slavers out-power the party was a problem, so yeah it's not great that a guest came in with a reckless character bent on vengeance that would go along with the party planning this ambush at all. But hopefully the Critical Role cast learned their lesson that not all fights are winnable, especially if you start out with some poor rolls for key parts of you plan (opening cages). Having an exit strategy is important.
@@carlycchapman - I think it's possible to discuss what the optimal strategy would have been, and what might have happened with other tactical choices, without saying it's what the players *should* have done and without blaming them for their choices.
I realize that some people in comments *are* crapping on the players, and agreed that's not cool.
I still think Nott had the best idea when he talked about killing the horses. Plus... horse jerky.
Ashly Burch’s character showed up and immediately started questioning like everything they do and it’s refreshing
“Don’t worry it’s a cat!”
“What the fuck is going on?”
I loved the irony because asking so many questions overly aggressively is what Beau always does. So was funny to see someone do it to her for a change.
Yeah it was great. She talked all that crap, and then was practically worthless in combat.
@@MrFahqup In what combats? I'm kinda confused by your comment lmao
@@huntertaylor7103 against the ball with blades last session I'm pretty sure
Around 4.30-ish, Liam is flipping through the PHB - the spell section near the end. I strongly suspect he's looking up the rules for Raise Dead 😢
LMAO...
@@GottaLookInwardToSeeOutward some people laugh when they're in pain, it's the only way they can soothe it.
Worst thing: with metagaming they could have made it work.
Im glad they didnt but they could have bought him back. Raise dead has a 10 day window. And while it's a 5th lvl spell, so lvl 9 jester would be their earliest, they could simply gentle repose him every few days after getting jester back (which Was realistic to achieve in 10 days)
@@Daepilinthey wouldve made it work if Tal wanted it to. whenever a PC dies, matt discusses with the player to see whether they want to pursue the character further. taliesin wanted to let molly rest.
@echohoboy17 where was it said he does that every time?
I know that's how it was with Laudna in the current campaign, but I had no idea Tal was given the same option back in c2
"This journey is cursed," said Mollymauk Tealeaf
THIS HURT OMFG
Sam screamed “MOLLY’S DEAD!” In the first fight as a joke after he teleported and it hurt my soul
Since the moment my friends showed me this show
I have been preparing for this episode
I have known what happens since the beginning and now I have come to it
I am not ready
And yet I am at the same time
Good luck to the people whom do not know and I hope you enjoy this episode.
Long may he reign
I saw the intro video and was like whaa... Then the comments ruined it for me 🤐
@@technoleo9 I told my friends to spoil it for me since I never thought I'd watch it myself
Well things have changed and I've been dreading this episode since then.
Thank you i travel this distance with you knowing the incident that lies ahead i slowed my haste watching episodes... i dont want it to happen but it must... Long may he reign
"Good luck to the people who do not know," aka. "literally nobody reading this comment."
“Thanks for sticking with us, you guys, I know it’s getting pretty late but I wanna see how this ends.”
No Matt, no you do not… cries
Liams acting as Caleb is impeccable even little details, slipping a couple german words in here and there, even using the german 3 with his thumb pointer and middle finger, there’s so many little things he does so well its incredible
Thats just a European thing, I think it's very common across the world too.
@@joking2052I came here to say this. It surprised me that the Americans do it differently!
@@kimifuryeah, it’s index, middle, and ring finger here. Thumb is for 5
I love when Matt apologizes for a long session. Dude, I will watch an 8hr session without complaint!
*flash back to Campaign 2 finale*
Okay, 10 hours
Me, who started this campain like 2 weeks ago: Oh, honey 😄
@@enderbrightrubysheen I think Funkythulhu means one 10 hour session? I do not know as this is as far as I've come in CR2
Wait, WHAT?? Is the finale 10 hours?? Holy fucking shit what have I gotten myself into lmao.
@@thespankmyfrankthe finale of this campaign is just over 7 hours. Its CR's longest episode. Most of it is M9 closing their story, discussing deeds and goals of each characters future.
Doesn't feel like 7 hours and it wraps up very well.
Keg: Just so you know, we're probably gonna die, guys.
Molly: I know.
Normal dnd campaign groups: No guys we gotta prepare we’re gonna die!!!
The mighty nien: we’re gonna die. We know
great now I'm crying :D
We are going to die, only to rise again, in a new and better form...
@@theyonlycomeoutwhenitsquiet well now I think his first form is juuuust fine ;)
That's because he DID know I think.
Spoilers:
1. The bloodhunter class was created by Matt. Molly was a showcase, but a bit untried or untested maybe.
2. After now starting this season for the 3d time, binging the episodes one after the other in a week or two time, I noticed Taliesin clearly doesn't like the Molly character or playing Molly from around episode 5 on. You notice it if you pay attention to the background chatter between talisien and the rest of the cast, and even in the interaction between Tal and Matt sometimes. Especially when he's rolling bad it's clear he doesn't like the character. He even stops adding backstory, deepening or evolving the character of Molly from around ep20 on, and he seems to be basically going through the motions and is almost playing a caricature or stereotype. Like he knew Molly wasn't worth investing in anymore or he couldn't be bothered to invest in Molly anymore.
3. Taliesin makes some seriously questionable decisions during the battle. Getting right up next to the big boss when severely damaged. Using his self-damaging abilities when already really low on hp, and while still next to a powerful boss, knocking himself out in the process. Etc. It's like he was lining himself up to get skewered.
4. It fits the Lorenzo character to kill a character bleeding out storywise, but even then Matt usually would let the boss go after the other characters when someone goes unconscious. He usually only "actively" kills a character due to passive effects from the battle. But for some reason in this case Lorenzo needs to "set an example" and actively makes Lorenzo kill Molly? Weird.
5. Taliesin comes back with a level 5 character that he was able to completely tailor to his liking, and that fits him like a glove. And imo he plays the new character with much more enthousiasm than he ever played Molly.
6. Matt and the cast are nice, great people, but they're also not stupid and are running a business. You created a new class for d&d that is sold on apps, and want to showcase it and advertise it, but it's not working for the player playing it. What better way to generate buzz and interest in this case, and even "marter" the character and class, than to kill the character in a spectacular way, making sure the character (and its class) trend all over the D&D community?
7. Matt later says the Lorenzo character was meant to become a recurring villain and nemesis of the nine, especially because he killed Molly. But this was accidentally cut short by Caleb killing Lorenzo on his escape. This opens the possibility that Lorenzo was created not just as kidnapper of the missing players characters, but as a villain also with the purpose of killing Molly. It all fits neatly in the story arc.
Maybe the commercial arc is not a reason, and I'm reading too much into that. But as a good DM, like Matt is, if a character REALLY isn't working out for a player, like it seemed not to for Taliesin, you allow them to get rid of that character and get them a new and better fitting one.
IMO Taliesin knew what was coming and knew this was the battle he was getting rid of Molly. And it was all cleverly disguised in story and drama so the fans wouldn't hate on Matt or Tal or the show.
But again, only my opinion of course...
Keg: I know who took your friends
Nott: I AM THE GREATEST DETECTIVE
I gave one person a drink and cracked the case.
I think a unspoken aspect of this is Taliesin’s integrity as a player. A lesser player would have fudged that blood maledict. Not Taliesin
Indeed, specially because he did start to say something abut not amplifying the maledict, but retracted it himself saying he did intend to do that. There was an instinct of preservation of your priced character, but integrity and honesty wins at the end. This happened in Campaign 1 as well, with Travis having to roll at a disadvantage for dropping Craven edge.
While we want the characters to live so we can enjoy their journey, these things are the ones that makes us love the party and the players
SPOILERS!
When Taliesin says, a bit after Molly's death: "Fuck, I can't watch this" his expression twitches slightly as he leaves the table. Heart wrenching, I too relate to the death of ones beloved character.
Thank you for the warning :)
SPOILERS
Also, remember in the last episode when he gave whats-her-name in Hupperdook he'd come back for booze?😰 no u won't mollymolls
Lorenzo: "I'm gonna kill you!"
Molly: "Not if I kill me first!"
Hey, you can't kill someone who is already dead. *Taps forehead, crying a bit*
Honestly this is why I don't get why people blame keg. Molly literally knocked himself unconscious (poor Taleliesin)
@@cmmndrblu Because Keg is doing literally nothing usefull. That's pretty devastating in such a toe to toe fight. Imagine any team sport you know and one individual is just doing nothing. The effected group is instantly at a disadvantage. In a 5 on 5 a 20 % disadvantage that is.
@@Dreagostini it’s such a tough situation since they aren’t playing at full strength here, this is a very tough encounter with a team that has zero heals and somebody who hasn’t played with them before. The whole thing sucks
@@I_hate_card_games All of this is true. Doesn't change the outcome, though. And as long "Keg" is the one being criticised for what "she" did, and not Ashly for she did with the character. So ingame: Keg fucked up. Out of Game: Ashly decided to play Keg organically, with flaws and fuckups. Molly's death in out of game perspective is just a string of bad luck and some mediocre or careless decision, like knocking yourself out. BUt out of game and in game doesn't mix. Two worlds, two seperate reasonings.
Can we take a second to appreciate Matt's creative solution to not having 3 people present for the game? It works well for the story.
.
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.
.
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And long may he reign.
Poor Molly :(
I don’t think it was very well done tbh. Caleb always does his tripwire thing before they camp. It would have woken him up when Yasha, Fjord and Jester moved from inside to outside of its range.
Also, when Yasha was fighting the abductors, Matt originally called for her to make a Strength saving throw to resist being shackled because it was the correct call, but then quickly changed it to an acrobatics check knowing that Yasha has good strength but shitty dexterity. Matt also suggested making an attack before giving Ashley a chance to think about her turn, so she immediately did that. One really good turn she could have taken would have been to rage first (giving her advantage on strength checks and strength saving throws, making her very difficult to restrain) and then use reckless attack, and attack twice (she gets to attack twice from being a lvl 5 barb).
Another thing she might have done if she had more time to think about it is simply run. She could have run in a few different ways: (1) Simply use all of her movement speed plus the dash action to get as close to the camp as possible; (2) Use the disengage action so as to not provoke attacks of opportunity and then use all of her movement speed to run; (3) She could have used her racial ability to try to fear the attackers in a 10ft radius of her and then use all of her movement to run. Another thing she could have tried is to use the sword to dispel the spell that was silencing her and then yell out to the camp. This is probably not the best option as she didn’t know the source of the magic and so wouldn’t know what to target. Still, most of these options are better than what she did. Instead, Matt kind of baited her into just doing a basic attack and then after she did he quickly ended her turn without even asking her if she wanted to move anywhere. This allowed the abductors to have their turns before she could do much. Very frustrating to watch.
@@JaxonBurn From the description of Alarm, the spell Caleb is using: "Until the spell ends, an alarm alerts you whenever a Tiny or larger creature touches or enters the warded area. When you cast the spell, you can designate creatures that won't set off the alarm." His party would be designated as not setting it off, otherwise it would constantly be going off if they were inside it.
Also, they weren't in actual combat. They didn't roll initiative. So the action, bonus action, movement action economy isn't really in effect. There were no turns being taken, it was just a series of actions in a scene. He didn't end her turn right away, he let her attack as part of the scene and then moved on to the next action, and he suggested an attack because Ashley said she pulls her weapon and is "ready to go". That tells me she wants to hit someone.
Yasha was going to be captured, because she needed to be captured in order to be able to write her out of the story without just having her disappear into a storm again, and the way Matt ran it allowed it to be an actual part of the game, rather than him just describing them being captured or the party waking up this session with them all gone with no explanation.
It was done wonderfully. It gives the audience and the players a look at the villain, it removes the characters in an interesting way, it ends the session on a great cliff hanger, and the player got to be involved rather than it just being described to them. Even if they couldn't win without getting lucky, it was still more interesting the way it was done than if Matt just described the events happening with no involvement from any players.
Eh, I didn’t like Molly that much, and it just goes to show how silly the blood hunter class is
@@vagueIdeals Does it though? I don't think so. I'm quite enjoying my own blood hunter.
@Alyosha I don't get the molly hate, I couldn't stand him at first but he's been one of my favs since about episode 10
"THEY HAVE GREAT SENTIMENTAL VALUE"
Best line Liam has ever said
i was well aware of what was going to happen tonight since i spoiled spoiled myself on accident and i was like sHIT but i was also like okay its apart of the game
but the fact that talieson had to leave,i think, is the most heartbreaking part of this
It was *very* hard to avoid spoilers for this. I even knew it was going to be this episode because of comments on an AWNP episode, where Sam and Liam had Ashly Burch on as a guest. The comments were full of stuff about her killing Mollymauk. I didn't know not to look at the comments *there* so I got spoiled on that specific detail. ua-cam.com/video/socI2SO06og/v-deo.html
So I was wondering if it was going to be a betrayal, but once they started planning I realized it was probably just going to be them biting off more than they could chew, thanks to Keg's help. Especially when the leader busted out a 5th level spell, cone of cold! Matt maybe could have given Caleb and/or Nott an Arcana check to realize how powerful it was, then they maybe could have got the F out after downing the druid.
Guerrilla warfare against a superior force; regroup for another attack later, again on their own terms. Preferably as an ambush while the slavers were camped, though, not all awake.
I don't think we've ever seen Critical Role abandon a fight and run away when things weren't going well, despite a couple other times when only luck saved their asses. (e.g. Grog's tribe in the town.) Fortunately with Matt's prompting and RP choices by Ashly, and by Matt for the NPCs, they avoided the TPK they seemed to be heading for.
@@Peter_Cordes Same thing happened to me. They didn't even say spoiler. Why do people not give warnings for something like that? I think it was kinda rude. I mean... how hard is it to put the word "spoiler" at the top of a comment?
I love how Matt choked up at Liam cheerfully going “A real job, dad!” when his role was announced as The Doctor
Wait, what?!?!
@@Rowlurorowf Not The Doctor, just the doctor in the opening skit
01:50 for timestamp
@@CaptainArthanos ok, freaked me out for a moment there
I love how you can see them fighting the infamous fly when Dam finishes the announcement for the bit. You can see it buzz by back and forth and _it is huge_
1:09:07 I just realized: Liam is so committed to Caleb’s German-esque accent that he even holds up three fingers like a German.
He would get riddled with bullets if he didn’t hold his fingers up properly at a table like that.
@@spacetoastjam7656 beautiful reference
@@spacetoastjam7656 Captain America: "I understood that reference"
You say 3 like that in sign language too
Look at the culture in these replies. Im proud of you guys
The worst part about being so helplessly late to CR is not getting to share this loss with the whole comunity. I accidentaly spoiled myslef the episode of Molly's death being at episode 12, and I feared this moment so much. I was shaking since they began the ambush. He was my favourite character of them all for many reasons. Even tho he is not a real person, Im going to miss him very much. Long may he reign.
He felt very much like Taliesin having fun cosplaying Taliesin - I felt he brought the circus neatly into CR and led to a lot of good moments on Talks giving a bit of an insight to Taliesin as well as how he played Molly. It certainly helped give me an increased appreciation for the Chaotic Good people in my life.
i know what you mean, mostly i dont mind reading or hearing about spoilers, as to me experianing something is different from just reading about it, but with that watching it now compared to when it happened are 2 majorly different things
Same, I had spoilers from my DM and I stated griving back then. I have also been delaying this episode for a whole day. I am just so sad Molly is such a vibe, he had such good moments
Good news is that since this is getting animated, old and new fans will all come together to mourn again!
feeling just about the same right now
Matt: *visibly upset by how the fight went*
Matt + everyone there: Please be kind, don't bombard us with what Could Have been we're all doing our best and this sucks but it'll work out for a great story
This comment section: WELL I THINK MATT SHOULD HAVE-
@Don't Ask I wouldn't describe it as instability. By this point we've spent, what, 100 hours with these characters? Of course the fans are emotionally invested in them.
Add in the more hardcore D&D players, who are making complaints about challenge rating being too high, and there's always going to be friction.
The problem is that those doing the complaining often forgot something basic - to be kind. We love these characters, of course the creators and actors of those characters do too.
You could see the hurt in Matt's face, he took no pleasure from what happened. For some fans to castigate him for that was too far. Hurt feelings are expected, but lashing out is not okay.
But it's an all too common reaction, not just online. The majority of people lash out at things that hurt them. The problem is when the thing that hurt them was another person.
@Don't Ask The original comment didn't mention the death threats, which I only found out about after posting my comment. This is my first watch through of the series. I only discovered CritRole last year, been working my way through from Campaign 1.
So I'm years behind on the gossip and behind the scenes info.
I will say though, the OP only mentioned fans getting upset, which is what I was defending as understandable. I was upset, and I wondered if there was some behind the scenes thing (like Talesin talking to Matt about making a new character because he didn't like Molly, or something like that) which pushed Matt into killing Molly.
You're right, sending death threats (or any kind of abuse) is completely beyond the pale, it's unacceptable behaviour, and I wish the twats could be legally tracked down and charged for it.
Rules lawyering, being upset and having a moan, saying what x person should have done, that's all fine. But yeah, threats and abuse is criminal and I agree, a sign of a mind that isn't as fully attached to reality as it should be.
Me: *pumps shotgun, aims at comment section* Shut. Up. They did their best.
@@Pro_Butcher_Amateur_Human any person of any small amount of fame has gotten death threats.
Honestly the part about campaign 1 I didn't like was how often Vox Machina got to bring back the dead. Matt did make it more difficult with the ritual but still felt a bit X-MEN like with the resurrection.
Marisha: "16 plus 7 is 21? Right?"
Ashly: "Yeah."
No one bats an eye...
yea they are so bad wtf always doing the simplest of math wrong
@@darthinhilus2416 it's adrenaline and having to stare at a bunch of numbers for like four hours straight. Gets difficult to do math with that combo.
@@taylamuller1811 i mean i play dnd too and i don't do that shit wrong. i think its probably them being tired from the day, and them being actors so maybe not the best relationship with math at school and generally, or something like that.
@@darthinhilus2416 I can definitely tell you that probably none of these people at the table except for Matt, are great at math. Like basic level without adrenaline it's easy, basic level with adrenaline, they're emotions high from losing friends and stress from most of them being squishy. Math is the least of their concerns. I personally suck at math myself (I had to go to a specific school where they taught art students the way they think so I could graduate BECAUSE OF MATH) so I can't imagine how hard simple math would be right now.
@@darthinhilus2416 plus as soon as you go above 20 do you really care about specifics? They're recording, fighting, and strategizing. Messing up math really isn't a big deal or anything to feel smarter/better about (not that anyone was claiming so)
Oh my god...
SPOILER!!
I didn't notice that after he died, they changed Molly's character portrait below Taliesin...
I believe they just changed it when he went unconscious, and left it at that state for the rest of the video. Back at this point in the stream, they altered the pics of the characters based on their current HP.
Yeah they do that when a character goes down. There's also a red glow when they go under half(?) HP as well.
1:28:26
Matt: “You teleport through campaigns”
Same: “It’s not as emotionally deep as this one”
Talisen: “Give it time”
☠️
That, I believe, is what some would call
*”foreshadowing”*
Ahhhhhhhh
Keg: I'm just gonna say, you're probably going to die, guys.
Molly: We know
Well she played a big part in him dying because she just had to be quirky and play her FIGHTER character like a pussy. Did not like her one bit, I really don't get any of the comments saying they should keep her.
@@xXxIMNOTANGELxXx I find it funny more people blame Keg/Ashley than... you know, Matt? It's all part of the game so I don't think _anyone_ deserves shit for it, but if someone did, you'd think it'd be the DM.
@@xXxIMNOTANGELxXx Also, Keg as a character is pretty brave and a capable fighter, a force to be reckoned. But. Her friend was killed/enslaved by The Iron Shepherds, by Lorenzo, recently I would bet. Her choice to role play trauma was right.
@@belindaluna2067 Indeed, like Matt committed mistakes (Dispel for example); Talesin over-gambled his hitpoints on amplified blood maledicts; Beau didn't acted as the mobile tank she is, thought she did right by slaying the druid; Nott forgot she could use MAGE HAND AS A BONUS ACTION to try to unlock, what would allow her to sneak attack; and Caleb did few things beside Slow, causing minor damage.
@@aramislima902 right so.... What made her not tell them the right information about Lorenzo and the crew which made them underestimate the situation and therefore Molly died? Ehats kind of a character roleplay was that? Did she not work for them for months.. "oh they must have just got reaaal good all of a sudden".
No. Ashley did not care enough to read a piece of paper propetly, it was her mistake as a player and not just the way the game goes. Of course Matt or the crew won't unleash fire on her and throw hher under the bus. She was annoying and inconsistent. It's my opinion and you are free to have whatever opinion you want, but episodes with her werr so far my least favourite... Or well if it wasn't for Nila or Shakaste.
What a way to christen the new studio: with the blood of a beloved character.
Hmm yes... the finest of wines
Sam inadvertently dressed up for a funeral.
oof.
I don't get it. On the screen he had an HP count and it was at 14, then got dropped to 0 from a single maledict.
Did they kill a PC from miscalculaing or was the count incorrect?
@@sirhasslich536 The HP counter isn't a perfect guide and they don't always keep up with it properly. You'll notice mistakes in it, though it has become less frequent as they've practiced with it.
Rude
@@sirhasslich536 The Hit point counter was off at the start, even so Molly had activated both of his swords at the start of the fight, making him take 10 damage, but they showed that he was at 59/59 hit points instead of 49/59.
If someone ever asks me for the meaning of "emotional whiplash" I'm gonna show them this video.
Long may he reign.
Edit: 4:33:45 "Molly's dead." damn. Before, Matt used "not moving" as a descriptor, and you can see him kinda tiptoeing around using the words "dead body". But that was so...final.
This was one of the few episodes where I experienced a serious "emotional hangover" the next day. Should hurt a little less the second time around... but it still hurts.
TOTALLY. I had this episode spoiled for my from the comments, but KNOWING what happens made the rest of the episode so strange to watch.
I love how many times throughout this episode there are instances of unfortunate foreshadowing among the cast
Yeah, I'm on my 2nd listen and they unknowingly foreshadow a ton.
Last episode there are a bunch too
Sam: "(Campaign 1) isn't as emotional as this one!"
Tal: "Give it time... give it time."
Audience rewatching: "Oh you sweet summer child..."
Long may he reign.
Finally finished the episode. SPOILER
Well, that's one way to commemorate a new studio. Blood sacrifice.
All I could think about when Matt described the dodecahedron was "A NEW HAND TOUCHES THE BEACON"
And then me saying "FUCK FUCK FUCK LOAD GAME LOAD GAME LOAD GAME!!!!!"
@@nyxwolf2759 Getting dragged into the sky: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH
Me the second I heard those infamous words: "... well sh- AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"
Molly's last words should've been: "It was Feathers and Leathers."
No way. He took that to his grave. He will laurd that over them til the end of days xD
It was Feathered Leather but I feel ya
I was shaken until I saw Taliesin's face and heard his voice when he said he had to leave the table. Suddenly I'm sobbing. Poor, sweet man. I feel so much for him.
Yo, do you remember when he said in an earlier episode, ‘yeah I’m not too attached to this character,’ and shrugs at hoods near death? I believe it was in the fight with the merrow people. Then this… I really liked molly. I knew this was coming eventually but still he real grew on me after I started not liking him a little bit. Then after he buys the tapestry he starts really gains good light in my eyes.
@@reclaimer1173 I knew his death was coming but I thought I read that it was in episode 76, so I was wholly unprepared for this episode. I do remember Taliesin saying he wasn't too attached to this character, can't remember when though. I didn't want to get too attached but I definitely did.
@@reclaimer1173 I'm pretty sure he was saying that sarcastically during the fight, in a funny way.
@@CoLoJePa I'm pretty sure he was saying it in a comedic way.
@@thedankgnasty1890 idk, I'm autistic so tend to take things at face value and it made me emotional. Haven't seen this in months though.
That baby better be something special because an ancient goth deity was sacrificed in its name.
Lmao
Well, it was going to be a regular baby, then they sacrificed an ancient goth deity. Now he doesnt get colds as often.
@@LoLotov underrated reply
Their new studio needed a blood sacrifice, as well.
@@LoLotov pure gold my friend.. pure gold
Nott's "They Killed Molly!!" in the beginning really do be hitting different the second time around :")
When did he say this? Got a time stamp?
@@MrBoogerPig 1:14:09
It distinctly reminded me of Percy's dramatic death back in C1, because the table made a similar joke at the time when Matt knocked over Percy's figurine in the same episode. History doesn't repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme.
😢
*bird lands on shoulder* "oh don't worry, it's usually a cat"
"WHAT?!?!"
The amount of dramatic irony in this episode is exceptionally disturbing given that this show is based on luck and improv and is not scripted
Not scripted on the whole, more precisely.
@@tannertadlock7741 explain, please?
VJ i suppose it’s just as scripted as any dnd game, though he leaves a few options it’s still a story told by the dm that the players act out, so not really scripted, rather guided
You can see Taelin wanted Mollymuck dead for a while tho
@@KumaoftheForest Incorrect. He's had Molly planned since campaign 1 as a back up. And he didn't have any backups planned at this point. If you follow Talks Machina he says as much. Caduceus was created in a week after this.
29:45 beau: "we're a little on edge, considering famil-i mean, party members got abducted" oh HONEY U WENT THERE
After fighting a bunch of horrors like a giant corpse-making toad, an out of control automaton, and an arena full of monsters during the Harvest Festival...
...I'd consider the group family.
Marisha: “16+7 thats… 21, right?”
Everyone: “… yeah, sure”
thank goodness others noticed i felt like math was a whole was insulted 😂
"I mean i'm sure a 21 is good enough"
Yeah, from my own experience in high stakes anxiety combat DND. If you roll high and you have a high bonus, you really don't bother with math, and also at that point in this episode, it was about midnight, brains were not in their prime.
@@oulaavii A lot of time I forget to just add my bonuses as I know it will be high. I have a +8 in charisma at level 5 so when I roll stuff like a 16 I sometimes just forget numbers do the addition thing as my DM has already ruled it as a hit.
She does it on purpose, ever since she was sat next to Travis her "cooked rolls" and other bs calmed down a bit because he reeled her in. Now he's not there, we have deep voice Keyleth.. Yay, not.
"oh? Your flask runs out?"
smug giggling
Jesus, even knowing what was coming, I’m still in such a state of shock right now. The way the energy at the table flipped on its head and Tal had to step away just shook me to my core. Long may he reign.
Why let something so stupid affect you like that though?
Same here. I knew it was coming tried so hard not to let Molly become one of my favorites. Did not work
@@Stick_and_stone Every comment I've seen from you is just negative
@@Stick_and_stonebecause people get emotionally invested in the entertainment they watch? Just because you don’t doesn’t mean no one else does.
@@Stick_and_stone thats the 2nd comment I have seen you write in this comment section that is toxic and rude for no reason? Why write it? Why be here? What do you gain from it besides being a problem for others?
2:10:40
Molly: "Just woke up and they were gone."
Jumnda: "Well, you were lucky."
Molly: "We'll see."
Caleb's monologue doesn't get enough praise. Liam is so very, very good
I respectfully disagree. Although funny and savvy, i think he has 1 gear, sad and melodramtic.
@P.Bateman “MediocreGatsby” I think you're missing a ton of nuance, then.
@@stormy7722 Loving the obvious contradiction there lol
@@Backsquatch lol..poorly written on my part. I think Liam is savvy and funny. His acting has 1 gear. Everything is a tier B Shakespeare tragedy.
@@stormy7722 lmao how does that make him not good?? He's just very very good at Shakespearean tragedy
After nearly 40 years of D&D as player and DM, I don't get sad about character deaths. What was most disappointing to me about Molly's death was that Tal/Molly was stepping up and becoming more involved and interesting in the wake of Travis', Laura's, and Ashley's departure. I felt like he was creating a subtly but noticeably different dynamic amongst the players, and I was looking forward to seeing his character be more of a driving force. Looking forward to seeing Tal's new character once I'm caught up.
Death is a part of life. As devastated as I am(he was my favorite. I think we all saw so much potential in Molly and i was so pumped for that!), I am equally excited to see how the Nein is effected - the good and the bad.
Yeah, I'm not hurt by a PC death, but by the fact that Molly was honestly the most intriguing and mysterious of all the characters and now we'll never know what was up with him.
Respectfully disagree, he caused quite a bit of rift between the party early on. It was more or less Beau and Molly vs Caleb and Nott, with Molly consistently being the primary instigator. There is significantly more cohesion after this point. Cad is by far the best thing that could have happened for the Nein, and while I also would have liked to see Molly’s backstory as a PC, I think his death would have been inevitable with his inferior combat abilities.
@@kolosmenus oh. No, Matthew will not let that backstory go to waste. If you are caught up you know what I mean.
Taliesin: *Terrible things are about to happen*
Me: *Oh man, you have no idea*
Liam, not paying attention, as Caleb: What? Sorry, I was reading a spellbook
I remember watching this the first time through and I paused it just after the "bug battle" and my brother asked what episode I was on (since he was fully caught up at the time with the M9 dealing with a roc I think) and I told him 26 and he got all wide eyed and said "sooo have you reach the *event* yet?" and I, having been traumatized by the movie Tremors as a kid, was like "YEAH THAT WAS LIKE RELIVING LITERAL CHILDHOOD NIGHTMARES WITH THOSE THINGS COMING OUT OF THE GROUND" and he just kinda got confused and quiet and said "yeeeaah I don't remember that. It gets overshadowed. There's a thing later, you'll know it when you reach it."
I mean, he wasn't wrong.
Without Laura to reel Sam in, he's playing Nott with a crazed energy that i am lovingg
She’s got less impulse control than he does, the fuck are you talking about?
@@jgamer2228 it's what makes them such a dynamic detectice duo