HEY, there might be some SPOILERS under the thing 1:10 Sam’s perfect impressions 4:00 Taliesin summons a demon 10:35 Episode Starts 13:50 Laying down fire 15:15 Liam loses mini privileges 20:00 Battle begins, Marisha is tense 22:10 The joy of counterspell 38:20 Explaining D&D to Sam 55:20 Let’s get weird 57:30 Speaking of demon summoning 1:03:45 Public school burns 1:15:55 Beau fights her own impatience 1:17:20 Liam is having a great time 1:20:30 That’s the Bailey family, Sam 1:22:20 Jester the pirate 1:34:30 Fireball 1:40:20 Beau’s power walk 1:42:20 Matt’s accidental commercial 1:44:40 Break Starts (and ends) 1:48:05 Summon the fearsome Gwar 1:49:10 WAAAAY up there, Fjord 1:50:15 The best guard we’ll never hear again 1:52:15 Dealing with the Plank King 1:59:30 The guards like cats now 2:05:00 Beau flashes a badge 2:07:40 The trial of Avantika 2:13:25 The king passes sentence 2:15:40 M9 are bad employers 2:17:15 Snake eyes 2:27:00 Well now I have to look up Max Headroom 2:32:30 Orley has two eyepatches 2:34:25 Hats and Teddies 2:37:05 The council of jerks 2:38:40 Beau backstory 2:42:10 Fjord and Jester 2:43:55 Messages to Kiri 2:46:30 Everyone has control water 2:51:45 It’s a button mine down there 3:03:20 Soaking Willies 3:06:50 Plot twist: it was all a hallucination 3:08:25 The song was better when Matt sang it 3:11:55 Oh yeah, the ferret 3:13:10 Marius got jacked 3:16:50 Nott learns the hand signals 3:17:40 Underwater talking 3:24:25 Episode Ends Between Twitch and UA-cam, live viewership of this episode peaked around 60,000 people. The in-game start date for the episode was the 4th of Duscar 835. Sam’s flask says “I’ve made a “Good Plan”” Any moments I missed? Feel free to post them here. Is it Thursday yet?
can you just imagine Avantika's terror? first she basically blackmails them, thinking she was in control. then she finds a kindred spirit (or so she thinks) in Fjord and feels even more in the position of power. and then the morning after the break-in, it just suddenly goes to shit from one minute to the other. Her crew gets shredded and she doesn't live to see the sun set. in one morning, she went from queen of the world to a head on a pike. that's terrifying
I was just watching this episode with headphones on the subway. As I stood up to get off the train the man sitting next to me said something inaudible, so I took my headphones out and said, "Sorry?" He made the sign of the cross and in his best Jester voice said, "May the Traveler bless you." So that is a surreal thing that's just happened.
Caleb negating Avantica's gift from the serpent with counter spell is one of my favorite events of the series..."Where's your god now?" while her ship is in flames. lol.
I feel with this so hard, I'm playing a kenku plague doctor wizard rn with my friends and I've bodied entire enemy encounters but if I get one bad roll I might go down in two or three hits lol
It's a good thing Caleb takes every opportunity to cast spells as rituals instead of normal, otherwise he wouldn't have had the firepower for that fight after not sleeping.
@Matthew Desrosiers If you have the time there is no reason you should not be able to do it. Any DM that disallows ritual listed spells to be cast as a ritual is crippling one of the strongest features of ritual casting classes and therefore handicapping those classes. Anyone that is going to heavily handicap classes like that for no good reason is probably not going to be worth having as your DM.
if only he wasn't dead wrong in even thinking he could attempt the Counterspell. Idk how he repeatedly gets away with not understanding/deliberately stretching how his spells work, especially with a DM as diligent as Matt
@@jeepersmcgee3466 bending rules for narrative purposes - especially in such a high-octane encounter and double especially in a game thats heavily narrative-driven - is a completely fine thing for a DM to do. besides matt allowed regardless of whether or not it broke rules and ultimately DM's word is law in terms of game mechanics within their own campaign. i think liam says fuck it and attempts things knowing full well that theyre *technically* not right because itd be super fuckin cool to happen and itd make for a more entertaining game overall if cool shit happens
@@jeepersmcgee3466 It's a super cool moment. Rules should be flexible to allow for things like this, DM made the right call. Besides, after counterspelling with disadvantage, then another check with disadvantage, he's earned it
At like 1:17:10 ish when Liam looks so mad and Matt is like "What!" and Liam is just like "I'M JUST MAD AT THE VILLIAN, YOU'RE DOING A GREAT JOB!" is so loving and fun! I just love the bond all these guys share!!!!
Sad thing is he should not be able to have done it as Matt made a mistake. Counterspell requires you to see the person casting the spell not just hearing them casting thru an opaque fire that is blocking sight. "Casting Time: 1 reaction, which you take when you see a creature within 60 feet of you casting a spell"
@@adarian that's a fair point, but for cinematic effect, I think Matt tries to let the players work within reason, and if I remember correctly he made him role for it??
@@teeny_ducken You roll for counterspell anyway since it was a higher level than 3. Yes he also made him roll a perception check to hear the spell casting. Ya he does does allow things for cinematic effect but to be honest that leads to rulings both for and against the same thing which really leads to expectation issues. He has stopped many counterspells before because no line of sight of the caster with no perception roll to hear it and counter it. One thing you should strive to be as a GM is consistent in your rules and rulings and Matt fails at that all day long on multiple issues. He is a A++ story DM and a C on the mechanical part of running the rules of the game and being consistent. Some of the problem I know from 30+ years of experience of DM'ing is that he does not make his players responsible for anything when they should be the ones responsible for things revolving around their character and would lighten his load and make it easier to focus and make better and more consistent decisions in the moment. Almost all of his mistakes come in combat where he is running a dozen mini's and recording their hp's and roleplaying them etc. and would benefit heavily from the players being responsible for their own things. A DM should not have to ask the players to make a concentration check when something hits them. They should know and make that check without being asked to. A DM should not wait for half a minute for you to say what you are going to do on your turn and if you do take that long to state your intent you should just lose your turn to being flustered in the moment. The player has a lot of time while they are waiting for their turn to come back to them to figure out what they are doing. He should NEVER have to look up a spell or ability of an experienced player unless he thinks what the player is saying it does is wrong with leeway given to new players. None of these people are new players. They all have near a thousand hours at the table. If a player says they are casting X and I have to look up a spell and then correct you that you can not cast it or that it will not have the effect you desire you waste the spell slot and it fails. Each round is 6 seconds and you spent it casting a spell that failed, and I would let them do a bonus action and move but their main action would be gone. Do that just a few times to someone and they will pay attention, read their spells fully and get it right from then on. It can even lead to great story moments as that inaction could cause a player to get killed and they can now roleplay the guilt they feel over that characters death etc. Most people watch for the story and not the mechanics. Usually only old DM's like me get annoyed with the continuous mechanical failures of both the players and the DM so feel free to ignore me and my pet peeves. For me I would liken it to me watching a well acted, fantastic story with some pretty cringe worthy CGI work. Still worth watching for the story and acting you just have to wonder how that bad CGI work made it in there all the time.
@@adarian I would argue that Matt Mercer probably has a pretty good idea on all the rules and regulations of the game, but chooses to bend them to allow more freedom cinematically to his players. I'm sure it's not perfect DnD, but mechanics are only there to give somewhat of a structure to the game. You don't leave a session bragging about how well you added your proficiency bonus to your stealth roll, but instead bragging about how you did a somersault behind the guards without him knowing,, you remember the story and less of the mechanics. Above all else, the game of DnD is about having fun and chilling with friends. I won't say you're wrong, because I'm sure you know much much more than me about the subject. But I will say I think Matt knows exactly what he's doing and chooses to stretch the rules rather than act without knowledge of them.
@@teeny_ducken If you want to bend or even ignore rules to make a more cinematic form of D&D for an audience or for your players that is fine. The rules even state that new rules can be added and rules can be removed. The problem is when the DM makes one ruling sometimes and then the opposite others. It is detrimental to your players to not know what can or can not be done. This causes several issues. 1. People who know the rules well and follow them are punished if you do this. If I was playing Caleb there, knowing that wall of fire is an opaque structure and you can not see thru it and knowing counterspell requires sight I would never have cast counterspell. People who follow the rules that they have been told are the rules and have seen rulings before from that DM that enforced that rule will never get the advantage people continuously trying to bend or break rules will. 2. A person continuously asks for rule bends and breaks because they know they might get it and there is no cost to them as if the answer is no you just move on and do what you would have normally done. This slows down combat for the rest of the table and makes it drag which is already slow in all roleplaying games in general. Some of the longer combats on CR have been 3-4 hours long and it is detrimental to let people waste everyone's time asking for the moon. At my table if you keep asking for rule breaking things to happen I will sooner or later say sure you try that, explain in detail how it fails and then move on to the next in line on the initiative list. In campaign one Keyleth would try and use grasping vine all the time in reaction to something when it was not a reaction spell and thus had to be cast on your turn. Matt told her no a lot but he also said yes often enough to reward her for it and thus she would keep asking all the time. 3. Favoritism. No DM is perfect and favoritism or even just perceived favoritism can come about when you make reverse rulings on something. If you try X and another person tries X and you both get told no and then another person tries X 3 sessions later and is told yes, how does that make you feel? Does it make you feel like the DM is playing favorites? Lets add another layer and say the person he allowed to do it is a close friend or maybe a significant other. What would you think then? Many a game table has been broken up by exactly that type of stuff. It will not happen on a show like CR as any one of them leaving no matter how they were treated at the table would be foolish as CR now makes each of them more money than their voice over work every will. I mostly criticize this style of rulings for one reason. It sets a bad example for new DM's. A lot of new people have been introduced to roleplaying thru CR but 99% of roleplaying sessions do not include a DM or players with many years of experience and often do not include a group entirely comprised of good real friends who have known each other for years and years. They are mostly comprised of a few loose acquaintances and maybe one or two who know each other fairly well. If you start making rulings that swing back and forth in a group like that you will have people leave after they lose faith in you as the DM, unless your storytelling is just that amazing where the players would overlook it to stay in the story, which maybe 1/100 DM's would fit in that catagory. The table will fall apart. Some will never try again if that was their first experience DM'ing or playing and I do not want that for anyone.
Man, this moment was pure awesomeness. Liam knows his shit. I had so much fun picturing Avantica's on a power trip, rising the sea thinking she was about to crush them for this hobo wizard to cancel her in an instant like "Darling, magic is MY domain"
I feel really bad for Bouldergut. She didn't know she was on the wrong side. She loved everyone on Avantika's crew--they were her family. And now they're gone, even though she tried so hard to protect them. Poor thing. She didn't have very high intelligence, but she was loyal, sometimes even kind and just wanted to keep her people safe. Poor Bouldergut.
My favorite part, is that "control water" is not only accesibile to Jester and Cad, but also Nott as an arcane trikster and Caleb as a wizard, it killed me😂 poor Fjord
They accidentally stole a pirate ship TWICE?? And not even the same pirate ship but TWO DIFFERENT pirate ships on two different occasions, the second ship even better than the first????
@@jacobfoster6080Yeah, that's pretty standard Taliesin, though. He says phrases like "I'm going to do something a little weird" a lot, and 90% of the time it's followed by him doing something that is only weird in how unweird it is in light of said declaration. I wonder if it's just an ironic meta-joke he likes.
I love how much depth Matt puts into all of his characters. Avantika is a villain, and during the trial it was her or the Mighty Nein, and I wanted her to lose. But, Matt doesn't let her go out as a snarling, fighting monster. Instead, she takes one last look out to the docks, to the sea and to the being she gave up everything to serve. I don't actually want Uk'otoa to come back, but her realizing that she would never be able to accomplish that goal was so quietly sad. You can feel her desperation and sadness and rage and finally acceptance as she chooses not to speak when she realizes its over, instead of trying to plead her way out of it and dying a coward. You know a villain is great when their defeat is bittersweet.
@@goatelope7539 sending spell - jester said she contacted kiri every once in a while to check in, so that implies that Kiri might have picked up a few things from jester that way
@@guyperson7487 oh yea! Totally get it! Matt does an amazing job too! He's the best DM I've ever seen! I was just commending Travis for playing multiple characters as a PC. It's kind of different to compare a PC playing multiple characters to a DM playing multiple characters.
Yeah, they always laugh at the best characters, and Orly is a long lasting highlight. Matt probably knows how to pull it off so well because as he mentioned, he himself stuttered when he was young.
2:13:50 is some of the best DMing I’ve ever seen. Matt’s literally roleplaying both characters himself and they’re all so shocked and terrified, Marisha looks physically ill.
Marisha was so happy that one of her Ki point ability checks actually worked, as hardly any have worked in the campaign so far. It's like she was so happy and relieved that the roll did what she wanted to do in roleplaying.
@@kmacgregor6361 - She might not have prepared that spell that day. But yes, that was my thought. Even taking the jewels out of the extradimensional space in her haversack seemed like a bad idea to me; they were safely hidden there from spells like Locate Object, and inside a lead safe in that space. It was only the book that they didn't manage or bother to get into the bag that was the problem! (As well as the jewels, I don't know what happened to the Periapt of Proof against Poison they identified. That's a really good non-atunement item for a tank, especially a low-AC tank like Yasha. Would be a shame if that was part of what Jester threw away. But I don't think anyone has it.) As Laura said on Talks, her first thought after Caleb cast Wall of Fire was "dammit, I wish I hadn't thrown away those jewels" :P To be fair, it was not a bad idea at the time if you forgot or don't understand that extradimensional spaces make things hard for divination. This point came up in a later episode and seemed like news to the party.
Can we take a second to appreciate Laura’s brilliant line at 2:43:18? She was able to take two aspects of Fjord’s character (the accent slip and his clear attachment to Vandren) and connect them so seamlessly, with no previous evidence at all that these things were connected. I know Taliesin/Caduceus is the one typically associated with insight, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t legitimately gasp when Laura said this!
Okay hey you might not see this, but I didn't quite understand this part. Maybe it's because I'm not a native English speaker, but at what part does his accent slip? I thought this line was so interesting, I was just annoyed I couldn't figure out why
@@hsp_123quite a few points. Especially in dream sequences (which sometimes is just one on one) or right after waking up. Essentially when Fjord is most himself before putting on "the mask" for the day.
Caleb is literally the definition of a glass canon. Dude has relatively low hp and an Armor Class of 11, but has some of the most powerful spells in the game.
@@Chroniclerope if they're actively deciding so, the yes absolutely. If they're striving for rule accuracy (which Matt always is unless he specifies otherwise), then they're objectively wrong
@@jeepersmcgee3466 Matt specified that on episode 1 of campaign 1 and people still get mad over this, desperately trying to call them wrong all the time. Enjoy the show my dude
Avantika set her fate into stone when she underestimated a group that literally killed a hydra right in front of her Honestly I don't know what she was expecting she basically kept threatening them when they allways had the upper hand I mean c'mon they sailed up to her with a ship they stole from her and practically killed all the crew on the ship
Yeah like when she said something like "oh you will kill people soon enough" and I was like...do you forget how they got here? With your ship and not your crew...?
@@johannav9420 SPOILERS HERE: In hindsight, I like to think her overconfidence came from her faith in Uk'otoa. Faith that wasn't exactly misplaced since he did end up bringing her back.
Can we just appreciate for a moment the collaborative effort from Fjord and Beau to make the best use ever of Extort Truth? They could have taken the easy route and ask Jester to cast Zone of Truth, but giving Beau the pleasure to hit Avantica in the face and giving her credibility to do so just after she introduced herself as a member of the Cobalt Soul was an amazing moment. Seriously, after all the shit the Nein took since they accidentaly stole that ship, this was their first crowning moment of awesome in a long time.
It was good but 1st crowning moment, i disagree ..the decoding of avantika's notes actually turned the table...that was awesome..even matt was also shocked .that was a high DC..
I find it hilarious just how quickly fortune turns on the Mighty Nein. "WELP... We're now accused of a crime we didn't commit." "Never mind... We proved our innocence (?)." "WELP... We might have become terrorists." "Never mind... We got made a deal to sort it out." "WELP... We're now under the bidding of a Crime Lord." "Never mind... he likes us." "WELP... OUR FRIENDS HAVE BEEN TAKEN BY SLAVERS AND ONE OF THEM IS DEAD." "Never mind... we killed them all... Rest in Peace, Molly." "WELP... After several streaks of Bad Luck we are wanted by one of the major ports in the area for various reasons, we accidentally stole a pirate ship, and are now doing the bidding of a Pirate Cult..." "Never mind... not only did we eliminated the Pirate Cult, but we were gifted a ship with our freedom for our good work... all at the cost of being wanted/banished by another major port..." Honestly... every couple episodes feels like emotional whiplash, my heart can hardly take it T_T
FUCKING SAME. I love the flexibility of D&D, but during this campaign, I can NEVER expect a plotline to hold steady for more than 5 episodes. If the campaign hasn't totally changed by then, then there's at least two new curveballs we didn't know about before. I feel you on the whiplash, man.
@@Drekromancer I keep running into spoilers online about M9 but at this point I'm not even sure if vague spoilers will really affect me because EVERY. EPISODE. IS. BAT. SHIT. CRAZY. 🤣
@@trishapellis if every player is happy to follow the "railroad" DM then no its utterly mental... For every other group of normal people doing random shit.. M9 is about right
@@karmicpopcorn6440 Glad you didn't get spoiled to hard this time, but it's probably not a good idea to read comments before you finish the episode. I think if you're going to talk about stuff further in the campaign you should certainly put a spoiler tag on a comment, but otherwise you should expect spoilers for any given episode in the comment section.
Yea-- that's the way it should be. Beau did what she was uncomfortable doing--- being the talker. Which, narratively is HUGE for her character. You could see that the skill challenge when they escaped the island from the Yuan Ti/Lizard Men--- she legit felt useless. (She says it under her breath). It was a team effort and she didn't have anything to bring that was worthwhile. So here-- being the 1st on initiative-- she does the SMART play and races to Plank King as planned. She was better served doing this. It all came to a head when she was able to pull off the "Zone of TrueFist" (😏) on Avantica (Fjord with the flawless assist). She handled it very well. I'm really proud of Marisha this campaign. I don't need perfection or perfect plays-- I just wanted her to be better mindful of exactly what her character can do Seems she is finally getting a good grasp of that.
@@josephdouglas5242 I actually like reading the comments beforehand. Spoilers can be fun, like hearing that a character dies can make me more excited to see how it happens. But yeah people who don't like spoilers should avoid scrolling down, and people who intentionally try to ruin things for others are assholes.
Fjord: If you serve this dark entity, pursue it, find its artifacts, fight your way into its secret temples and place the artifacts there, you will be bestowed the power to control water! Jester: Ohh, I just have it. Caduceus: I have it too! I know Travis, I would have thrown my dice too.
@@LetTheBodyFall Control Water is a 4th level spell. It's a bit more powerful than the Shape Water cantrip. Still it's pretty stingy on Uk’otoa's part. Not much of a reward unless special rules or exponential growth are involved.
Shows Fjord: "This is Reginald. He's a purebred Doberman Habersham, he cost $2000, and we're on a waiting list for 2 years to get him." Shows Nott and Jester: "These are my babies Chonco and Fuckass, I found them in a dumpster, and I love them more than life itself."
LOL EXACTLY !! i think though that was a bit of a hard judgement from the plank king, to exile those who defended him (and themselves). he should had rewarded them.
Yea but comparatively like what led to Molly's death with sam going through on the bad plan, its playing into the character, and plank king dkes not seem the forgiving type whatsoever, and as he said the problem was they came under false pretense, so regardless of if they defended him they broke his rules, and depending how much of a stickler he is, it could go really bad
@@darthinhilus2416 he kinda did, considering he let them take the better ship. I think he had to look tough on interlopers to keep his own position secure, so he found a way to "punish" them while actually rewarding them. What his real thoughts were we don't know but "leave and don't come back, but here's a new car" is pretty good...
@@cussundriakneal9904 I wonder if Matt decided to make a counterspell mistake because he saw how excited Liam was? Counterspell requires you to see the person casting which he could not as he had a 20 foot opaque wall between them and let him counterspell by sound alone. "Casting Time: 1 reaction, which you take when you see a creature within 60 feet of you casting a spell"
adarian He got him to roll a perception check and also apparently the book he had said you just had to know that it is being cast so it seems like a honest mistake but i’m pretty sure the perception check made up for it
@@adarian Honestly, as a DM, that's the kind of moment when I ignore the rules. Rule of cool overlaps this kind of detail and an exhausted wizard managing to cast a counterspell despite the disadvantage to negate a rising tide about to crush his wall of fire was way to awesome to be ignored by some trivial rules.
@@Sakharee the taxan accent is how Vandren speaks the English accent Travis used when he came back to consciousness a few episodes back is his real accent
Bruh that awkward moment after that talk between Fjord and Jester... They're not only excellent voice actors but they capture the moment of "liking each other but not being right there yet" perfectly
It reminded me of [SPOILERS FOR C1] right after Vex and Percy's talk after the ice dragon fight, when they were both kinda just being awkward, but them being much further along in their relationship than Jester and Fjord (and the iminent threat of death by dragons) he kissed her. I love that moment so much, but this moment was also perfect for where Fjord and Jester are right now.
2:12:07 "You have 60 seconds, but I have more knuckles." *!Spoilers below!* Beau really came in clutch in this episode. First the uncharacteristic moment of patience with the guards then with pulling out the Colbalt Soul card. Beau saved their asses in the trial. She fucking slam dunked it in that scene.
This is, so far, the most engaging fight episode-- because the actual fight was only the 1st part of the battle. The second part was the testimony of M9 to the Plank King. I was genuinely afraid for them.
2:43:41 The scene of Jester and Fjord talking about messaging Kiri really hits hard when you remember that when the group was saying goodbye to Kiri, that Laura and Travis couldn't be there. The look on Travis's face was the perfect image of a new father missing his child. Please go visit your bird-child!😭😭
Only the interference of outside guards had any chance of keeping them, they all just fucking bailed hardcore. I don't know enough about warlocks, but I assume Fjord couldn't have used Hunger of Hadar to keep of pursuers, right? After his little ape went wild?
@@onyxtay7246 That was my assumption. Wonder what would have been more effective in the end, Hunger of Hadar vs. the Barlgura. I think the Barlgura was probably the better choice, given how quickly Avantika got down there, and how the M9 would have been affected by HoH too. And even if HoH would have been better, I don't think it would be worth giving up that awesome spell description. The absolute best moment for Fjord so far in my opinion.
Rule of storytelling: "if a plan is explained on-screen, it must inevitably fail". Although improvised storytelling has a lot of leeway in regards to rules, D&D is one of the situations where this rule seems to be followed pretty consistently. All things considered, though, their original plan failed in their favour. What a fucking stellar session. Had me pausing every few seconds to scream a little.
This is also because this group is not very good at making plans. This is not me dissing them, they are very good at storytelling and roleplaying, but they aren't great at strategic thinking. They are good at thinking on their feet though, and they make very good on the fly decisions. There are several reasons for that: - They are always doing what we call "planning for success", this is something that most people would do intuitively and this is poor way to make plans. This is when you say: I'm going to do that, then this and then that... You plan your action sequentially. The issue is that when you plan your second action, you've already assumed that the first is going to be successful. So you have a long sequence of actions that is planned and if a single one fails, then your entire plan needs to be scrapped. Instead, you should "prepare for failure". You start with the minimal plan, the things that must be accomplished to achieve the goal. We want to steal from Avantika's office thus we need at least to get inside it, to search it and get out of it. How could these actions fail? We could get recognized, we could fail to find what we need in her office, we could trigger a trap, we could fail to pick the lock of a safe... and so on (make it as exhaustive as possible). Then what do we do as countermeasures against these possibilities? Then how could these countermeasures fail? How do we manage once this specific failure has happened... and so on. Do you remember the last time they prepared an escape route in advance in case they failed to beat their enemy? I don't. They never do that. - They are trying to do everything at once. They have lots of ideas and makes lots of plans, but they are reluctant to scrap ideas. For example, they like making distractions even when it doesn't serve any clear purpose to what they're doing and often the distraction just ends up alerting the enemy of their presence needlessly. I can think of the example of the ambush that cost Molly's life. They cut a tree to start the ambush. What was the point of cutting the tree? Blocking the road? Useless, if they had managed to have the slavers on the run, they would have had basically won anyhow. Having it fall on their head or separate their group in two? Sure, but then the tree was cut too early for that. Do they try to focus fire and kill the casters quickly? Then the entire group must have to be doing that. Do they want to use the commotion to free their companions and escape? Then, all of them have to act toward the success of this plan. Instead, some of them are doing one thing, others are doing another thing.
to be fair, everything that happened this episode they planned offscreen, and surprisingly everything happened according to plan. what is probably the only plan that worked perfectly wasn't even planned on screen.
@@Djorgal Agreed 100%. Like the hospital, or the Platinum Dragon temple, or stealing the luck orb- They expect things to work, so they don't plan an escape, and some of their plans end with success by the skin of their teeth (or just end without failing by the skin of their teeth).
I'm very late to this but I have to say that Marisha really blew my mind when talking to the Plank King, how she turned the scorch mark on the boat from the wall of fire as the U of Uk'otoa, implying Avantika started summoning it and the Mighty Nein were there to stop the ritual.
My question is, how did she know there was a perfect U burned into the ship? As soon as it went up she took off. She’s never seen the spell work before. There were other fireball explosions that she heard from a distance. Matt described the U shape burn for everyone being shackled near the ship, but she was FAR away at the time. She wouldn’t know there was a U shape burned into the ship.
@@cstarkawaii3612my thought process is if she saw a giant fire wall in a U shape then it wouldn’t be a jump to say it left scorch marks. Especially when all of Caleb’s spells have left scorch marks where he used them
I know we’re never gonna see it but man. Just imagine how wonderful pirate Molly could’ve been. He already had the wonderful coat an eccentric pirate could have
HAHAHAHAHAHHAAJAUHAI HAHAIA Omg Cabeeeeeeeb - SPOILERSSSS ON CURRENT EPISODe - “I mean we are all arrested, we are being judged by the pirate king, I was almost dead, there was demons and ships on fire and the villain of this plot was just strangled and killed right in front of us BUT........this book/journal is really interesting righ?! I totally recomend it! “ Caleb being Caleb is the best Caleb.
@@CalebUlrich Yeah it had been an hour at least (they took a short rest btw the encounter and the court scene) side note: the tonal whiplash from Caleb's book obsession had the most wholesome Autism energy and I love him for it
Love how the previous episode highlighted Sam, Laura and Taleisan's characters and their skills and flaws, and then this episode we got some amazing moments from Marisha, Liam and Travis. Marishas amazing role play with the plank king and interrogating to Liams fantastic combat plays. Even Travis' wonderful chat with the plank king. One of my favorite episodes
3:04:09 Beau: "Do you ever feel like your relationship with your cat is hindering building stronger relationships with human people?" Me: Ouch, that one hurt
It's funny how it's the opposite of truth, cause Caleb so quickly has good relationships with anyone in the crew, Nott shares her fears and troubles with him, loves him, Fjord respects him and shares his shit with him, which is a lot for someone like fjord, Jester - same thing, they had enough great convos and already share a bond, he even started being friends with Cad due to specifically seeking him out to talk things thru, rather than hiding from him. The only person he has mixed relationship with is Beau. And it would be stupid of her to say it's any of his fault. She literally called two things that he likes stupid and boring and told him to shut up two episodes before. It's like the opposite of a person you should try to be friends with. I wonder why she so often misinterprets things about Caleb. Guess it's canon for her personality to be bad at reading people, but still
Like, you think these fearful fighters should be intelligent, two clerics, a warlock, a wizard, a monk. Nope. These idiots make inanimate penises with a rare magic item they found.
@@CalaisShore 🤣 Only the wizards should be intelligent, which Caleb and Nott very much aren't. The clerics and monk are wise but being wise doesn't mean they are bright. They should know what not to do but not how to do things like not get caught stealing. And Warlocks are just charming. Haha.
@@Kento300 Caleb is very intelligent but deeply fucked up psychologically and Nott isn't a wizard she's a rogue who knows some arcane tricks. Jester is a cleric but a trickster cleric which means mischief is a major motivator and Caduceus is a stoner. As for Beau IIRC monk proficiencies are in Dex and Con nowadays.
This whole episode is a banger start to finish, but Fjord trying to convince Nott to go in the ocean and Nott going 'Fuck this guy!' was the funniest thing 2:51:30 ish for the full exchange
I love how Matt doesn't check their dice very often but at 2:09:45 he gets up to look at it. It doesn't feel like he didn't believe Travis but that seeing it with his own eyes was important in sharing that moment with the players. Something about the emotion there just felt like a really cool moment of DM celebrating with the players.
i could FEEL poor Travis' disappointment when he discovered that he literally traded his soul for a spell in cleric's list. I was hoping he could have gotten a little more than that :(
He didn't do that yet, though. That was Avantika. He was annoyed that other people had it when he missed out. /edited for grammar bc jesus i can't spell sometimes
I'd guess that if Avantika (or any one person) got a second eye and used it in a second seal, the resulting power might have been stronger than just another 4th level cleric spell 1/day on top of Control Water. Like maybe buffing the power of your water control? Or at will instead of 1/day?
@@Peter_Cordes She summoned a massive wave that would've put out all of Caleb's wall of fire had she succeeded and not been counterspelled. That's very obviously bigger than 5 feet lol
2:39:55 i love LOVE that nott asked beau if being part of the expositors meant she has a license to kill bc that is also one of the first questions beau asked dairon when she joined the expositors. sam wasn't even there when she asked that, everyone else had been asked to leave the table. truly a squad that shares a braincell 💚
episode 4: Beau I joined a secret organzation that roots out corruption, everyone sure jan's her now: Beau I am part of a sercret organization of the cobalt soul, Everyone surprise pikachu face
After they come back from the break at 1:45:30, I enjoyed noticing Liam getting into character, going from a big grin on his face hearing about the "U" scorched onto the boat by his Wall of Fire to him physically pulling down on his cheeks into a frown before focusing for a moment on getting into the grumpy Caleb mindset. (Getting into character is fun. 😊)
Watching this from self isolation due to the Covid-19 pandemic. So glad I have so many episodes to watch. This is the mot alone I’ve ever felt. You all give me so much joy, which is definitely helping ❤️ Sam launching into The Indigo Girls, brought me extra joy because it’s the song my sisters and I sing when we’re on road trips ❤️ I am crocheting dice bags, watching CR campaign 2 and filling out the character sheet for my first D&D game which was supposed to be starting this coming weekend. I am playing Kiri as a 16 year old rogue 🗡.Thank you for all you do 💜💜💜
I am also watching this during the pandemic and it is doing pretty good and has kept my sanity PERFECTLY in check. Goodluck on playing as Kiri I hope you'll enjoy it! 🤭
Day 22 of self isolation, steadily making my way through the second campaign. It's like having a bunch of cool Nerds sitting next to me, making me laugh (and sometimes cry). It makes everything that much easier to bear. And I haven't even seen campgain 1 yet so there is sooo much more to come.
for some reason i actually feel sad for Avantica??? haha - I mean, she's a power-hungry cult-leading murderer but she was that with SUCH style surrounded with people who were deeply loyal to her! to see her brought down like THAT. damn. :'( would have liked her as Plank King more than the current one! but then again for her to have installed herself with the Nein's help they would have had to help her become a super powerful avatar of some sort of tentacly ocean creature. and maybe that meant that she would have tried to remove Fjord....
I feel bad for her too. I mean she was power hungry, but it felt more like an obsessive fascination with something beyond the world she lived in. Like, imagine you're living on normal, boring ass earth when you learn an ancient god is sleeping and you would be gifted supernatural abilities for helping awaken them. She had a vision and it got the better of her. I don't think she was meant to be hated as a character either. If you think about it she wasn't really painted as a bad guy. She seemed just more of a fanatical version of Fjord just searching for this being of beyond that called to them.
@@zichithefox4781 Same! I really think that the killer in her is just an extension of who she really is: a fanatical zealot who truly cares about something. Her passion for Uk'otoa was so legitimate, and her attraction to Fjord (while also manipulative) was clearly genuine, imo. Especially when you see how she handled it at the end. I feel really bad for her. She lost everything. She was amazing, and I just wish the M9 had given her a chance.
Yeah, I kinda felt bad/weird about her death too...It was a shocking moment - incredible, story-wise - but shocking nonetheless. I think it's partly to do with the manner in which she was killed. It's not as if they killed her during the battle, where anything goes; she didn't go out fighting. It's the fact that she had her neck snapped while defenceless in chains. It's the most vulnerable we've ever seen her, and it's her last moment alive. And, tbh, I'm not saying she's a saint by any means, but I didn't even really see her as a 'villain' per say, at least not in the stereotypical sense of the word. I agree with Zichi that it doesn't seem she was meant to be painted as one. Also, let's not forget that Fjord attempted to drown her back inside the Temple a few episodes ago, which was pretty fucking shady. Kinda puts them on the same wave-length - no pun intended.
When I see powerful evil enemies be brought to their knees, I only see a lion forced in a cage by sticking spears in it's ribs. It's hard to justify it, even when you know what they did.
I knew this episode was something special and then Liam said MATT this is the BEST and it felt like we were all sharing a moment! What a fantastic game.
Sometimes, sailors would wear an eyepatch while still having both eyes, so when they go below deck, they'd still be able to see, since it's bright af up on deck, and the eye under the eyepatch would still be adjusted to the dark.
1:16:00 to 1:16:34 - My favourite Travis/Marisha moment of all time. He goes from joking to letting her make the decision to being so. Damn. PROUD! I love them!
Damn, Marisha comin in hot with the clutch speeches. It's pretty fun to see her strut out some clever dialogue after how awkward Keyleth's speeches were.
HEY, there might be some SPOILERS under the thing
1:10 Sam’s perfect impressions
4:00 Taliesin summons a demon
10:35 Episode Starts
13:50 Laying down fire
15:15 Liam loses mini privileges
20:00 Battle begins, Marisha is tense
22:10 The joy of counterspell
38:20 Explaining D&D to Sam
55:20 Let’s get weird
57:30 Speaking of demon summoning
1:03:45 Public school burns
1:15:55 Beau fights her own impatience
1:17:20 Liam is having a great time
1:20:30 That’s the Bailey family, Sam
1:22:20 Jester the pirate
1:34:30 Fireball
1:40:20 Beau’s power walk
1:42:20 Matt’s accidental commercial
1:44:40 Break Starts
(and ends)
1:48:05 Summon the fearsome Gwar
1:49:10 WAAAAY up there, Fjord
1:50:15 The best guard we’ll never hear again
1:52:15 Dealing with the Plank King
1:59:30 The guards like cats now
2:05:00 Beau flashes a badge
2:07:40 The trial of Avantika
2:13:25 The king passes sentence
2:15:40 M9 are bad employers
2:17:15 Snake eyes
2:27:00 Well now I have to look up Max Headroom
2:32:30 Orley has two eyepatches
2:34:25 Hats and Teddies
2:37:05 The council of jerks
2:38:40 Beau backstory
2:42:10 Fjord and Jester
2:43:55 Messages to Kiri
2:46:30 Everyone has control water
2:51:45 It’s a button mine down there
3:03:20 Soaking Willies
3:06:50 Plot twist: it was all a hallucination
3:08:25 The song was better when Matt sang it
3:11:55 Oh yeah, the ferret
3:13:10 Marius got jacked
3:16:50 Nott learns the hand signals
3:17:40 Underwater talking
3:24:25 Episode Ends
Between Twitch and UA-cam, live viewership of this episode peaked around 60,000 people. The in-game start date for the episode was the 4th of Duscar 835. Sam’s flask says “I’ve made a “Good Plan””
Any moments I missed? Feel free to post them here. Is it Thursday yet?
Missed you Flando
Flando
Thank you for all your work!
Man, you are doing the good work. +1000 karma
Flando a god amoungst men
This episode is what happens when Caleb finally gets his hands on a book and someone wants to take it away from him
best comment for this episode by far
😂😂
FOR REALLL hahhahahaha
Agreed love this comment
See, this is where playing Gollum comes in handy
can you just imagine Avantika's terror?
first she basically blackmails them, thinking she was in control. then she finds a kindred spirit (or so she thinks) in Fjord and feels even more in the position of power.
and then the morning after the break-in, it just suddenly goes to shit from one minute to the other.
Her crew gets shredded and she doesn't live to see the sun set.
in one morning, she went from queen of the world to a head on a pike.
that's terrifying
And in that same way, M9 went from cockroaches under a boot to burning down a queen's legacy. Now THAT shit is something else.
Cussundria Kneal and all that changed because of a fucking notebook. Knowledge is power y’all.
That is DnD justice at its finest
Life of a pirate. She did similar things to others as well. People who trusted her, ending up as a sacrifice to Uk'otoa.
“That’s life Harry. One minute you’re eating a burger, the next minute you’re dead meat.”
I was just watching this episode with headphones on the subway. As I stood up to get off the train the man sitting next to me said something inaudible, so I took my headphones out and said, "Sorry?"
He made the sign of the cross and in his best Jester voice said, "May the Traveler bless you."
So that is a surreal thing that's just happened.
Love it💚✌
This is awesome!!❤
That is SO COOL
Motherfucker mmjust casually met the traveler XD
this has done wonders for my view of people
Caduceus: head of HR department, master chef, combat medic, and dead tea extraordinaire
Still my favorite Critical Role character. 😌🍵
He's ACTUALLY the best! What a pure and beautiful character! I swear they better not corrupt him! 😑😑😑
Love how Caleb opened the battle with two god tier moves and then instantly goes unconscious. Glass canon at its finest
Then wakes up and would have sealed the fight if this fight happened somewhere without guards.
@@JEL625 Caleb loves the smell of napalm in the morning...just before his PTSD kicks in
Caleb negating Avantica's gift from the serpent with counter spell is one of my favorite events of the series..."Where's your god now?" while her ship is in flames. lol.
I feel with this so hard, I'm playing a kenku plague doctor wizard rn with my friends and I've bodied entire enemy encounters but if I get one bad roll I might go down in two or three hits lol
@@TaterTeeTz kenku plague doctor vibe is the best, I love it
It's a good thing Caleb takes every opportunity to cast spells as rituals instead of normal, otherwise he wouldn't have had the firepower for that fight after not sleeping.
Lol firepower
@Matthew Desrosiers If you have the time there is no reason you should not be able to do it. Any DM that disallows ritual listed spells to be cast as a ritual is crippling one of the strongest features of ritual casting classes and therefore handicapping those classes. Anyone that is going to heavily handicap classes like that for no good reason is probably not going to be worth having as your DM.
@Matthew Desrosiers has he ever read the players handbook?
its powercreeping at his best.. he tries to bend the rules anytime he got the slightest possibility..
@@rolandschulz9799 And he should - its Matts job to keep watch.
"I'm gonna ask you to make a persuasion check, with disadvantage, because you just SUMMONED a FUCKING DEMON" god I love d&d
I busted out laughing
Came to comments for this
same vibe as "Deception check. Disadvantage. because that is a GROWN MAN" from ExU
They seem to be more focused on what appeared in the scar of reality you just left.
When you're the 666th like... "Excellent, this is all coming together nicely!"
Every time I watch the plank king interrogate Avantika I completely forget I’m watching Matt talk to himself.
For real though. the man is the greatest story teller
Every time you watch this..?
nobody but matt can play two different parts at the same time so awesomely
@@BorovskijThis and the previous episode have really high rewatch value. At least for me, they're so fun.
@@Borovskij I'm gonna keep it real with you chief, I've watched through C2 6 times now.
"I rolled a 14 and a 19! SHE FAAAILLSS!!" - Watching Liam turn into an absolute excitement gremlin brings me so much joy XD
You could see new veins appearing as he said it 😂
if only he wasn't dead wrong in even thinking he could attempt the Counterspell. Idk how he repeatedly gets away with not understanding/deliberately stretching how his spells work, especially with a DM as diligent as Matt
@@jeepersmcgee3466 bending rules for narrative purposes - especially in such a high-octane encounter and double especially in a game thats heavily narrative-driven - is a completely fine thing for a DM to do. besides matt allowed regardless of whether or not it broke rules and ultimately DM's word is law in terms of game mechanics within their own campaign. i think liam says fuck it and attempts things knowing full well that theyre *technically* not right because itd be super fuckin cool to happen and itd make for a more entertaining game overall if cool shit happens
@@jeepersmcgee3466 That's dumb, it isn't that implausible and rule of cool and DM rules supersede all.
@@jeepersmcgee3466 It's a super cool moment. Rules should be flexible to allow for things like this, DM made the right call. Besides, after counterspelling with disadvantage, then another check with disadvantage, he's earned it
At like 1:17:10 ish when Liam looks so mad and Matt is like "What!" and Liam is just like "I'M JUST MAD AT THE VILLIAN, YOU'RE DOING A GREAT JOB!" is so loving and fun! I just love the bond all these guys share!!!!
It's so wholesome and heart warming.
I've never seen Liam more excited this campaign than when he used Counterspell... and actually succeeded.
Sad thing is he should not be able to have done it as Matt made a mistake. Counterspell requires you to see the person casting the spell not just hearing them casting thru an opaque fire that is blocking sight.
"Casting Time: 1 reaction, which you take when you see a creature within 60 feet of you casting a spell"
@@adarian that's a fair point, but for cinematic effect, I think Matt tries to let the players work within reason, and if I remember correctly he made him role for it??
@@teeny_ducken You roll for counterspell anyway since it was a higher level than 3. Yes he also made him roll a perception check to hear the spell casting. Ya he does does allow things for cinematic effect but to be honest that leads to rulings both for and against the same thing which really leads to expectation issues. He has stopped many counterspells before because no line of sight of the caster with no perception roll to hear it and counter it. One thing you should strive to be as a GM is consistent in your rules and rulings and Matt fails at that all day long on multiple issues. He is a A++ story DM and a C on the mechanical part of running the rules of the game and being consistent.
Some of the problem I know from 30+ years of experience of DM'ing is that he does not make his players responsible for anything when they should be the ones responsible for things revolving around their character and would lighten his load and make it easier to focus and make better and more consistent decisions in the moment. Almost all of his mistakes come in combat where he is running a dozen mini's and recording their hp's and roleplaying them etc. and would benefit heavily from the players being responsible for their own things. A DM should not have to ask the players to make a concentration check when something hits them. They should know and make that check without being asked to. A DM should not wait for half a minute for you to say what you are going to do on your turn and if you do take that long to state your intent you should just lose your turn to being flustered in the moment. The player has a lot of time while they are waiting for their turn to come back to them to figure out what they are doing. He should NEVER have to look up a spell or ability of an experienced player unless he thinks what the player is saying it does is wrong with leeway given to new players. None of these people are new players. They all have near a thousand hours at the table.
If a player says they are casting X and I have to look up a spell and then correct you that you can not cast it or that it will not have the effect you desire you waste the spell slot and it fails. Each round is 6 seconds and you spent it casting a spell that failed, and I would let them do a bonus action and move but their main action would be gone. Do that just a few times to someone and they will pay attention, read their spells fully and get it right from then on. It can even lead to great story moments as that inaction could cause a player to get killed and they can now roleplay the guilt they feel over that characters death etc.
Most people watch for the story and not the mechanics. Usually only old DM's like me get annoyed with the continuous mechanical failures of both the players and the DM so feel free to ignore me and my pet peeves.
For me I would liken it to me watching a well acted, fantastic story with some pretty cringe worthy CGI work. Still worth watching for the story and acting you just have to wonder how that bad CGI work made it in there all the time.
@@adarian I would argue that Matt Mercer probably has a pretty good idea on all the rules and regulations of the game, but chooses to bend them to allow more freedom cinematically to his players. I'm sure it's not perfect DnD, but mechanics are only there to give somewhat of a structure to the game. You don't leave a session bragging about how well you added your proficiency bonus to your stealth roll, but instead bragging about how you did a somersault behind the guards without him knowing,, you remember the story and less of the mechanics. Above all else, the game of DnD is about having fun and chilling with friends.
I won't say you're wrong, because I'm sure you know much much more than me about the subject. But I will say I think Matt knows exactly what he's doing and chooses to stretch the rules rather than act without knowledge of them.
@@teeny_ducken If you want to bend or even ignore rules to make a more cinematic form of D&D for an audience or for your players that is fine. The rules even state that new rules can be added and rules can be removed. The problem is when the DM makes one ruling sometimes and then the opposite others. It is detrimental to your players to not know what can or can not be done. This causes several issues.
1. People who know the rules well and follow them are punished if you do this. If I was playing Caleb there, knowing that wall of fire is an opaque structure and you can not see thru it and knowing counterspell requires sight I would never have cast counterspell. People who follow the rules that they have been told are the rules and have seen rulings before from that DM that enforced that rule will never get the advantage people continuously trying to bend or break rules will.
2. A person continuously asks for rule bends and breaks because they know they might get it and there is no cost to them as if the answer is no you just move on and do what you would have normally done. This slows down combat for the rest of the table and makes it drag which is already slow in all roleplaying games in general. Some of the longer combats on CR have been 3-4 hours long and it is detrimental to let people waste everyone's time asking for the moon. At my table if you keep asking for rule breaking things to happen I will sooner or later say sure you try that, explain in detail how it fails and then move on to the next in line on the initiative list. In campaign one Keyleth would try and use grasping vine all the time in reaction to something when it was not a reaction spell and thus had to be cast on your turn. Matt told her no a lot but he also said yes often enough to reward her for it and thus she would keep asking all the time.
3. Favoritism. No DM is perfect and favoritism or even just perceived favoritism can come about when you make reverse rulings on something. If you try X and another person tries X and you both get told no and then another person tries X 3 sessions later and is told yes, how does that make you feel? Does it make you feel like the DM is playing favorites? Lets add another layer and say the person he allowed to do it is a close friend or maybe a significant other. What would you think then? Many a game table has been broken up by exactly that type of stuff. It will not happen on a show like CR as any one of them leaving no matter how they were treated at the table would be foolish as CR now makes each of them more money than their voice over work every will.
I mostly criticize this style of rulings for one reason. It sets a bad example for new DM's. A lot of new people have been introduced to roleplaying thru CR but 99% of roleplaying sessions do not include a DM or players with many years of experience and often do not include a group entirely comprised of good real friends who have known each other for years and years. They are mostly comprised of a few loose acquaintances and maybe one or two who know each other fairly well. If you start making rulings that swing back and forth in a group like that you will have people leave after they lose faith in you as the DM, unless your storytelling is just that amazing where the players would overlook it to stay in the story, which maybe 1/100 DM's would fit in that catagory. The table will fall apart. Some will never try again if that was their first experience DM'ing or playing and I do not want that for anyone.
Taliesin in a serious tone, not joking "We don't have to pigeon this... We know what you can do"
is such a great line out of context
"How do I want to do this?" is also a great one-liner from Matt last campaign when a DMPC killed a big boss
@@JonathanMandrake happens in this one too, later
Last episode Caleb cast Wall of Fire and I just smiled
This episode he goes COUNTERSPELL and I get *chills*
Man, this moment was pure awesomeness. Liam knows his shit. I had so much fun picturing Avantica's on a power trip, rising the sea thinking she was about to crush them for this hobo wizard to cancel her in an instant like "Darling, magic is MY domain"
Zynthio CALEB IS A STRAIGHT G. TELL ME IM WRONG.
@Prof. Toast this comment gave me even more chills, wish he would have said something similar to that, would have been even more beast !!!
EVERYTIME THIS PARTY HAVE A BADASS MOMENT AND IT LAST FOR THE NEXT EPISODE I GET SO EXCITED
Like a Voldemort vs Dumbledore moment.
"Actually, ya know what, no, it is a short rest"
The Warlock: "Bless you mercer"
Pretty much, yeah.
666 likes. Forgive me if I don't like.
@@lordrorek1907 come back and give him a like now he’s over 1.3k
@@juiciethebox1564 It is done!
Caleb was traumatized by Fire
Nott is traumatized by Water
They are the perfect pair
And Jester is traumatized by being alone. So the MN is perfect for her lol
squall-eater crew: "i'm about to end this group's whole caree-"
Fjord's demon: "Hi there"
Then caleb’s fireball says: “ bye bye”
General Kenobi
@@heidiboulton3693 hello there
@Z3us same here
@z3us it would make sense considering a Balgura is pretty much a demonic ape
"Let your memory be besmirched, for the few days it's recalled"
A HELL OF A LINE!!!!!
And this is all improv too. It's crazy how good of a job they all do!
Shivers 😬
@@TheTitan099 I'm sure he had that line ready just in case.
What time stamp
@@SebastianMartinez-bj4uh 2:13:36
I feel really bad for Bouldergut. She didn't know she was on the wrong side. She loved everyone on Avantika's crew--they were her family. And now they're gone, even though she tried so hard to protect them. Poor thing. She didn't have very high intelligence, but she was loyal, sometimes even kind and just wanted to keep her people safe. Poor Bouldergut.
I know. I felt bad for Bouldergut.
Agreed, one big puppy 🐶
@@Ragnarok6664 well, a big, dangerous, murderous puppy
I just want to give her a hug shes lovely
I felt terribly sad for her as Matt described her as inconsolable as the guards detained her. Poor creature.
Fjord: "You can control water??"
Jester and Caduceus: "What, like it's hard?"
My favorite part, is that "control water" is not only accesibile to Jester and Cad, but also Nott as an arcane trikster and Caleb as a wizard, it killed me😂 poor Fjord
And I see them both as Elle Woods
Since I'm binge watching this... Cali did it like 20 episodes ago back in the swamp as well lol
"YOU'RE DOING GREAT, EVERYTHING IS FANTASTIC, I'M HAVING A WONDERFUL TIME" is the single biggest mood in a dnd encounter that's getting super intense
Liam was saying this right as I scrolled to this comment, and I love the coincidence!
They accidentally stole a pirate ship TWICE?? And not even the same pirate ship but TWO DIFFERENT pirate ships on two different occasions, the second ship even better than the first????
They stole one ship, became pirates, then stole another ship FROM the pirates they met from the first ship.
They have got to be the best pirates I have ever seen
Its called "failing upwards"
Spoiler for episode 103 ish:
Then that boat gets destroyed, so they steal at least one OTHER ship to escape.
Jesse Eible Hargro they’re going through ships like horses
Loved Taliesen " Let's get weird" and Travis "We're getting weird right?" Unleashes demon....loved it.
I loved how he said lets get weird and then just disappeared and walked away
@@jacobfoster6080Yeah, that's pretty standard Taliesin, though. He says phrases like "I'm going to do something a little weird" a lot, and 90% of the time it's followed by him doing something that is only weird in how unweird it is in light of said declaration. I wonder if it's just an ironic meta-joke he likes.
It's weird not to be weird
NODDERS
I love how much depth Matt puts into all of his characters. Avantika is a villain, and during the trial it was her or the Mighty Nein, and I wanted her to lose. But, Matt doesn't let her go out as a snarling, fighting monster. Instead, she takes one last look out to the docks, to the sea and to the being she gave up everything to serve. I don't actually want Uk'otoa to come back, but her realizing that she would never be able to accomplish that goal was so quietly sad. You can feel her desperation and sadness and rage and finally acceptance as she chooses not to speak when she realizes its over, instead of trying to plead her way out of it and dying a coward. You know a villain is great when their defeat is bittersweet.
Azula from Avatar?
None of the things you just said happened in the show or Matt intended to do them
@@TransilvanianHunger1334 I rolled a high insight check lol
@@naaziaf7239 Yeah you are right, you just went a bit overboard
Faizaan723 its okay, I forgive you. Just dont do it again.
It occurs that Kiri probably learns new words in Jester’s voice every once in a while and her new family has no idea why lol
This is a *super* underrated comment
@@slywolfe criminally so.
What am I missing? Message???
@@goatelope7539 sending spell - jester said she contacted kiri every once in a while to check in, so that implies that Kiri might have picked up a few things from jester that way
@@slywolfe I didnt listen far enough, finally caught that part where she talked about it
M9: *Gets caught*
Also M9: ♪"We didn't start the fire"♪
Beau, Fjord, and Jester: "It was Avantika"
It was always burnin since the world's been turnin, avantika started the fyyaaa!!
Episode Title: In Hot Water
Aka: the episode poor Travis plays three characters in combat!
You did great Travis!!
Heather Bretsch Matt is playing all of the others except the rest of TM9
@@guyperson7487 oh yea! Totally get it! Matt does an amazing job too! He's the best DM I've ever seen! I was just commending Travis for playing multiple characters as a PC. It's kind of different to compare a PC playing multiple characters to a DM playing multiple characters.
Goes to show that PC's should try their hand at DM'ing. It'll give you super powers!
wait he plays yasha and fjord, who else does he play?
@@azzy4625 SPOILERS FOR THE EPISODE.......... I'm assuming they're referring to the demon fjord summoned?
Sometimes I almost get upset when the cast laughs at Orley, but then I realize they're laughing because Matt is *SO. DAMN. GOOD.*
Yeah, they always laugh at the best characters, and Orly is a long lasting highlight. Matt probably knows how to pull it off so well because as he mentioned, he himself stuttered when he was young.
You could not be so easily offended
@@whatwhatdbzwhat4475 Does it offend you? :3
Yeah they're not laughing at his stutter, they're laughing at how amazingly their friend becomes a completely different person.
@@khornetto No.
2:13:50 is some of the best DMing I’ve ever seen. Matt’s literally roleplaying both characters himself and they’re all so shocked and terrified, Marisha looks physically ill.
Taliesin's face, too. Slightest reaction and barely visible, but speaks volumes.
I think Marissa wanted to cry when she convinced the Plank King to let her extort truth from Avantika. That’s when they knew it was over.
Marisha was so happy that one of her Ki point ability checks actually worked, as hardly any have worked in the campaign so far. It's like she was so happy and relieved that the roll did what she wanted to do in roleplaying.
Holy hell Laura is hitting it out of the park with her way of leading Caleb and Fjord into talking about their pasts. Like a goddamn sniper
Laura definitely has a high wisdom IRL
Fjord "Avantika is not to be trusted."
Also Fjord: summons a demon in broad daylight in front of literally everyone.
I feel bad for Caleb that he didn’t get to hang out with his new wizard friend!
Are we sure he was a wizard? May just have been a scribe.
@@StormageddonTMS at least a book worm friend
I KNOW RIGHT!! why did the plank king exile them? they literally only uncovered a plot against him, and defended themselves !!
And they could ask about Vandren!! It seemed that he was well known at Darktow.
AND they could have talked and figure out Jamedi and his undead deal. LMAO IM SO DISSAPOINTED IN MATT FOR EXILING THEM!!
What do you call a tortle eating breakfast?
It's Orly in the morning....
When does a Tortle start his day?
ORLY in the morning😏
Way ay up she rises, way ayyy up she rises, way ay up she rises, Orly in the morning!
^^^I hate all of you
Kilhelm casts hideous laughter. Roll d20
Now i want a version of Troy & Abed in the Morning from Community, but instead it's Cad & Orly in the Morning
Just think, this whole victory was only possible through a series of nat 20's
Calebs Natural 20 to crack the book, Fjords Natural 20 Persuasion to let Beau punch the truth out of Avantika.
And all of it balanced out by Jester rolling two Natural 1's to come to dive in the docks for a fistful of rocks.
Dnd in a nutshell
@@Zombiewithabowtie Which was totally unnecessary because she could just cast locate object.
@@kmacgregor6361 - She might not have prepared that spell that day. But yes, that was my thought.
Even taking the jewels out of the extradimensional space in her haversack seemed like a bad idea to me; they were safely hidden there from spells like Locate Object, and inside a lead safe in that space. It was only the book that they didn't manage or bother to get into the bag that was the problem!
(As well as the jewels, I don't know what happened to the Periapt of Proof against Poison they identified. That's a really good non-atunement item for a tank, especially a low-AC tank like Yasha. Would be a shame if that was part of what Jester threw away. But I don't think anyone has it.)
As Laura said on Talks, her first thought after Caleb cast Wall of Fire was "dammit, I wish I hadn't thrown away those jewels" :P To be fair, it was not a bad idea at the time if you forgot or don't understand that extradimensional spaces make things hard for divination. This point came up in a later episode and seemed like news to the party.
Can we take a second to appreciate Laura’s brilliant line at 2:43:18? She was able to take two aspects of Fjord’s character (the accent slip and his clear attachment to Vandren) and connect them so seamlessly, with no previous evidence at all that these things were connected. I know Taliesin/Caduceus is the one typically associated with insight, but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t legitimately gasp when Laura said this!
Okay hey you might not see this, but I didn't quite understand this part. Maybe it's because I'm not a native English speaker, but at what part does his accent slip? I thought this line was so interesting, I was just annoyed I couldn't figure out why
@bruh717 at one point Fjord uses a British accent (his real one) rather than the western one he uses all the time with the M9
@@hsp_123quite a few points. Especially in dream sequences (which sometimes is just one on one) or right after waking up. Essentially when Fjord is most himself before putting on "the mask" for the day.
Caleb is literally the definition of a glass canon. Dude has relatively low hp and an Armor Class of 11, but has some of the most powerful spells in the game.
Dude needs to pump his Dex.
They're even more powerful thanks to none of them really knowing how spells work
@@jeepersmcgee3466the spells work how the GM determines they work, that’s the law.
@@Chroniclerope if they're actively deciding so, the yes absolutely. If they're striving for rule accuracy (which Matt always is unless he specifies otherwise), then they're objectively wrong
@@jeepersmcgee3466 Matt specified that on episode 1 of campaign 1 and people still get mad over this, desperately trying to call them wrong all the time. Enjoy the show my dude
Avantika set her fate into stone when she underestimated a group that literally killed a hydra right in front of her
Honestly I don't know what she was expecting she basically kept threatening them when they allways had the upper hand
I mean c'mon they sailed up to her with a ship they stole from her and practically killed all the crew on the ship
I mean... You're not wrong. She did fucked up.
Yeah like when she said something like "oh you will kill people soon enough" and I was like...do you forget how they got here? With your ship and not your crew...?
She was a very arrogant person, so getting killed because she underestimated m9 is honestly a pretty fitting end.
@@johannav9420 SPOILERS HERE:
In hindsight, I like to think her overconfidence came from her faith in Uk'otoa. Faith that wasn't exactly misplaced since he did end up bringing her back.
@@FunnelCakeRyan yeah but she got her ass whooped again lol
Caleb last episode "Murder has premeditation"
Caleb this episode "My next round I was going to fireball the whole ship"
Well, he did quite clearly imply that contrary to the rest of the group, he considers *himself* a murderer...
I think he was the only one that killed anyone.....
When I mean anyone, I mean EVERYONE.....
Still not 1st degree. Hanging on to those subtle distinctions!
@@csn583you'd be a good lawyer. I'm a fan of the distinction
Sam: *Holds up Illuminati photo*.
Taliesin: "I've lost so much weight since that photo."
Underrated joke
Bouldergut saying "my friends" and being truly sad at losses of the crew really hit me.
Liam: I’M HAVING A WONDERFUL TIME!
Sign of a good D&D game/group. The players are pissed at the enemies, not the DM.
Can we just appreciate for a moment the collaborative effort from Fjord and Beau to make the best use ever of Extort Truth? They could have taken the easy route and ask Jester to cast Zone of Truth, but giving Beau the pleasure to hit Avantica in the face and giving her credibility to do so just after she introduced herself as a member of the Cobalt Soul was an amazing moment.
Seriously, after all the shit the Nein took since they accidentaly stole that ship, this was their first crowning moment of awesome in a long time.
Well, to be fair, Jester was still just disguised as some random pirate, so that would have been a bit strange
Ya if they would have asked jester probley would have been less likely to trust them
It's one of my fave moments now
Yeah like that awesome thing in the trmple starting with the hyfra fight, the dive, yhe escape and the chase weren't absolutely amazing
It was good but 1st crowning moment, i disagree ..the decoding of avantika's notes actually turned the table...that was awesome..even matt was also shocked .that was a high DC..
2:51:55 I love Nott so much. The ENTIRE “Don’t you talk down to me” sequence
FUCK THIS GUY
😂😂
@@CERap22 Yeah, totally.
The "Fuck this guy!" is my favorite part in the whole series so far. After Nott mocks Fjord for a good few minutes
I died lol
I find it hilarious just how quickly fortune turns on the Mighty Nein.
"WELP... We're now accused of a crime we didn't commit."
"Never mind... We proved our innocence (?)."
"WELP... We might have become terrorists."
"Never mind... We got made a deal to sort it out."
"WELP... We're now under the bidding of a Crime Lord."
"Never mind... he likes us."
"WELP... OUR FRIENDS HAVE BEEN TAKEN BY SLAVERS AND ONE OF THEM IS DEAD."
"Never mind... we killed them all... Rest in Peace, Molly."
"WELP... After several streaks of Bad Luck we are wanted by one of the major ports in the area for various reasons, we accidentally stole a pirate ship, and are now doing the bidding of a Pirate Cult..."
"Never mind... not only did we eliminated the Pirate Cult, but we were gifted a ship with our freedom for our good work... all at the cost of being wanted/banished by another major port..."
Honestly... every couple episodes feels like emotional whiplash, my heart can hardly take it T_T
FUCKING SAME. I love the flexibility of D&D, but during this campaign, I can NEVER expect a plotline to hold steady for more than 5 episodes. If the campaign hasn't totally changed by then, then there's at least two new curveballs we didn't know about before. I feel you on the whiplash, man.
@@Drekromancer I keep running into spoilers online about M9 but at this point I'm not even sure if vague spoilers will really affect me because EVERY. EPISODE. IS. BAT. SHIT. CRAZY. 🤣
@@Drekromancer You're telling me this is, in fact, *not* how D&D always goes?(because I might be a bit disappointed..?)
@@trishapellis if every player is happy to follow the "railroad" DM then no its utterly mental... For every other group of normal people doing random shit.. M9 is about right
@@trishapellis if you think this is nuts, try watching oxventure- I personally suggest the episode "mind your manors"
Liam’s shear rush of endorphins with that first counterspell is so apparent it’s contagious
I felt it too!! No need for caffeine when you've got CR to binge watch in the mornings.
I love how Jester's threat of "I'll give you a tattoo" is more threatening than "I'll kill you"
>> Edit: forgot SPOILER tag
So lovely how Beau gets rewarded for her patience with guards by being given a free punch at Avantika’s face.
J.W. Minnaard perfect example of a DM rewarding smart playing.
I read this and thought "bah, now I know what's going to happen".
It played out much differently than I expected.
@@karmicpopcorn6440 Glad you didn't get spoiled to hard this time, but it's probably not a good idea to read comments before you finish the episode. I think if you're going to talk about stuff further in the campaign you should certainly put a spoiler tag on a comment, but otherwise you should expect spoilers for any given episode in the comment section.
Yea-- that's the way it should be. Beau did what she was uncomfortable doing--- being the talker.
Which, narratively is HUGE for her character. You could see that the skill challenge when they escaped the island from the Yuan Ti/Lizard Men--- she legit felt useless. (She says it under her breath).
It was a team effort and she didn't have anything to bring that was worthwhile.
So here-- being the 1st on initiative-- she does the SMART play and races to Plank King as planned. She was better served doing this.
It all came to a head when she was able to pull off the "Zone of TrueFist" (😏) on Avantica (Fjord with the flawless assist).
She handled it very well.
I'm really proud of Marisha this campaign. I don't need perfection or perfect plays-- I just wanted her to be better mindful of exactly what her character can do
Seems she is finally getting a good grasp of that.
@@josephdouglas5242 I actually like reading the comments beforehand. Spoilers can be fun, like hearing that a character dies can make me more excited to see how it happens. But yeah people who don't like spoilers should avoid scrolling down, and people who intentionally try to ruin things for others are assholes.
Fjord: If you serve this dark entity, pursue it, find its artifacts, fight your way into its secret temples and place the artifacts there, you will be bestowed the power to control water!
Jester: Ohh, I just have it.
Caduceus: I have it too!
I know Travis, I would have thrown my dice too.
Because fluffin Clerics and their MASSIVE spell list.
You don't need to make our Warlock boy feel bad about his small spell list. ;)
what's funnier is that Sam took the Shape Water cantrip bc of this lmao
@@LetTheBodyFall to be fair shape water is a solid utility cantrip.
This feels like a good analogy for cults.
@@LetTheBodyFall Control Water is a 4th level spell. It's a bit more powerful than the Shape Water cantrip. Still it's pretty stingy on Uk’otoa's part. Not much of a reward unless special rules or exponential growth are involved.
Caleb pulling that opening MVP grand mage moment got me so pumped!! I LOVE THIS GAME!
2:12:53
"Look me in the eye woman..."
The tone, the stare!
Soo many Goosebumps
Shows Fjord: "This is Reginald. He's a purebred Doberman Habersham, he cost $2000, and we're on a waiting list for 2 years to get him."
Shows Nott and Jester: "These are my babies Chonco and Fuckass, I found them in a dumpster, and I love them more than life itself."
Imagine be so chaotic, you get vanished from a "lawless" pirate Island 🤣
LOL EXACTLY !! i think though that was a bit of a hard judgement from the plank king, to exile those who defended him (and themselves). he should had rewarded them.
Yea but comparatively like what led to Molly's death with sam going through on the bad plan, its playing into the character, and plank king dkes not seem the forgiving type whatsoever, and as he said the problem was they came under false pretense, so regardless of if they defended him they broke his rules, and depending how much of a stickler he is, it could go really bad
@@darthinhilus2416 he kinda did, considering he let them take the better ship. I think he had to look tough on interlopers to keep his own position secure, so he found a way to "punish" them while actually rewarding them. What his real thoughts were we don't know but "leave and don't come back, but here's a new car" is pretty good...
The one law got broke xD
@@persephoneunderground845 "New" is a bit of a stretch since it was badly damaged in that fight
I've just seen Liam's reaction to counterspell. It is THE BEST MOMENT. Love iiiiiiiiiiitt
He was literally shaking after he did it.
@@cussundriakneal9904 I wonder if Matt decided to make a counterspell mistake because he saw how excited Liam was? Counterspell requires you to see the person casting which he could not as he had a 20 foot opaque wall between them and let him counterspell by sound alone.
"Casting Time: 1 reaction, which you take when you see a creature within 60 feet of you casting a spell"
adarian He got him to roll a perception check and also apparently the book he had said you just had to know that it is being cast so it seems like a honest mistake but i’m pretty sure the perception check made up for it
@@adarian Honestly, as a DM, that's the kind of moment when I ignore the rules. Rule of cool overlaps this kind of detail and an exhausted wizard managing to cast a counterspell despite the disadvantage to negate a rising tide about to crush his wall of fire was way to awesome to be ignored by some trivial rules.
When Jester dropped the bomb that Fjord talks like Vandren, and all the other's reactions to that bomb, I lost my goddamn mind.
Yeah, I did not quite get it though? What does she mean?
@@Sakharee the taxan accent is how Vandren speaks the English accent Travis used when he came back to consciousness a few episodes back is his real accent
@@PrinceHippo373 when did we hear Vandren talk though?
@@Sakharee we didn't but jester apparently did as she said Fjord spoke like him.
@@PrinceHippo373 so she made it up?
Bruh that awkward moment after that talk between Fjord and Jester... They're not only excellent voice actors but they capture the moment of "liking each other but not being right there yet" perfectly
It reminded me of [SPOILERS FOR C1] right after Vex and Percy's talk after the ice dragon fight, when they were both kinda just being awkward, but them being much further along in their relationship than Jester and Fjord (and the iminent threat of death by dragons) he kissed her. I love that moment so much, but this moment was also perfect for where Fjord and Jester are right now.
"This is the best plan we've ever had. It cannot fail."
One stab victim, one hallucinating crewman, and a summoned demon later....
Oh man... I effing love D&D lmfao
i wanted Caduceus to point Avantika´s body and tell the plank king "i can make tea out of that... if you want"
That would have killed me on the spot
@@math_plant like molly?
@@kariissmol9172 yeah -_-
2:12:07 "You have 60 seconds, but I have more knuckles."
*!Spoilers below!*
Beau really came in clutch in this episode. First the uncharacteristic moment of patience with the guards then with pulling out the Colbalt Soul card. Beau saved their asses in the trial. She fucking slam dunked it in that scene.
Even in the short time she’s worked with Dairon, she learned so much patience. And this is before they’re truly connected.
I was so stressed when she kept pushing her luck with the Plank King, but yeah. She really nailed it. Aggressively diplomatic.
This is, so far, the most engaging fight episode-- because the actual fight was only the 1st part of the battle. The second part was the testimony of M9 to the Plank King.
I was genuinely afraid for them.
2:43:41 The scene of Jester and Fjord talking about messaging Kiri really hits hard when you remember that when the group was saying goodbye to Kiri, that Laura and Travis couldn't be there. The look on Travis's face was the perfect image of a new father missing his child.
Please go visit your bird-child!😭😭
This is the second time that Liam is just sitting here like “I thought we had TWO clerics, why am I still on the ground”
What cool about this episode is that it shows that when the M9 want to get away they are GONE.
I read this before watching and omg I did not realize how right you were jc 😂
they're like the biggest "NOPE" energy out there xD
Only the interference of outside guards had any chance of keeping them, they all just fucking bailed hardcore. I don't know enough about warlocks, but I assume Fjord couldn't have used Hunger of Hadar to keep of pursuers, right? After his little ape went wild?
@@dig8634 He used one spell slot for thunder step, the other was the demon. He's got 4 levels before he gets that third slot.
@@onyxtay7246 That was my assumption. Wonder what would have been more effective in the end, Hunger of Hadar vs. the Barlgura.
I think the Barlgura was probably the better choice, given how quickly Avantika got down there, and how the M9 would have been affected by HoH too. And even if HoH would have been better, I don't think it would be worth giving up that awesome spell description. The absolute best moment for Fjord so far in my opinion.
Rule of storytelling: "if a plan is explained on-screen, it must inevitably fail". Although improvised storytelling has a lot of leeway in regards to rules, D&D is one of the situations where this rule seems to be followed pretty consistently.
All things considered, though, their original plan failed in their favour. What a fucking stellar session. Had me pausing every few seconds to scream a little.
This is also because this group is not very good at making plans. This is not me dissing them, they are very good at storytelling and roleplaying, but they aren't great at strategic thinking. They are good at thinking on their feet though, and they make very good on the fly decisions.
There are several reasons for that:
- They are always doing what we call "planning for success", this is something that most people would do intuitively and this is poor way to make plans. This is when you say: I'm going to do that, then this and then that... You plan your action sequentially. The issue is that when you plan your second action, you've already assumed that the first is going to be successful. So you have a long sequence of actions that is planned and if a single one fails, then your entire plan needs to be scrapped.
Instead, you should "prepare for failure". You start with the minimal plan, the things that must be accomplished to achieve the goal. We want to steal from Avantika's office thus we need at least to get inside it, to search it and get out of it. How could these actions fail? We could get recognized, we could fail to find what we need in her office, we could trigger a trap, we could fail to pick the lock of a safe... and so on (make it as exhaustive as possible). Then what do we do as countermeasures against these possibilities? Then how could these countermeasures fail? How do we manage once this specific failure has happened... and so on.
Do you remember the last time they prepared an escape route in advance in case they failed to beat their enemy? I don't. They never do that.
- They are trying to do everything at once. They have lots of ideas and makes lots of plans, but they are reluctant to scrap ideas. For example, they like making distractions even when it doesn't serve any clear purpose to what they're doing and often the distraction just ends up alerting the enemy of their presence needlessly.
I can think of the example of the ambush that cost Molly's life. They cut a tree to start the ambush. What was the point of cutting the tree? Blocking the road? Useless, if they had managed to have the slavers on the run, they would have had basically won anyhow. Having it fall on their head or separate their group in two? Sure, but then the tree was cut too early for that.
Do they try to focus fire and kill the casters quickly? Then the entire group must have to be doing that. Do they want to use the commotion to free their companions and escape? Then, all of them have to act toward the success of this plan. Instead, some of them are doing one thing, others are doing another thing.
Also if the plan explained succeeds then expect a repercussion to follow.
to be fair, everything that happened this episode they planned offscreen, and surprisingly everything happened according to plan. what is probably the only plan that worked perfectly wasn't even planned on screen.
@@Djorgal Agreed 100%. Like the hospital, or the Platinum Dragon temple, or stealing the luck orb- They expect things to work, so they don't plan an escape, and some of their plans end with success by the skin of their teeth (or just end without failing by the skin of their teeth).
Rule of table top roleplay games, the plan will always fail, quickly, in unexpected ways.
Matt swearing in french was in my top 10 moments from this episode!! my petite Franglais heart was so full!!
Alexandria Jackman wait when was that? 😮
@@Myliio After Caleb's Counterspell worked, I think, so near the beginning.
23:58
They aren't too good at the languages, but at least they try. That's nice.
I'm very late to this but I have to say that Marisha really blew my mind when talking to the Plank King, how she turned the scorch mark on the boat from the wall of fire as the U of Uk'otoa, implying Avantika started summoning it and the Mighty Nein were there to stop the ritual.
My question is, how did she know there was a perfect U burned into the ship? As soon as it went up she took off. She’s never seen the spell work before. There were other fireball explosions that she heard from a distance. Matt described the U shape burn for everyone being shackled near the ship, but she was FAR away at the time. She wouldn’t know there was a U shape burned into the ship.
I think she might guess because she was there for the fire itself.
@@cstarkawaii3612my thought process is if she saw a giant fire wall in a U shape then it wouldn’t be a jump to say it left scorch marks. Especially when all of Caleb’s spells have left scorch marks where he used them
@@cstarkawaii3612 And she was pretty high up and away to see the fire...
3:23:16 to quote Leonard Snart, “make the plan, execute the plan, expect the plan to go off the rails…. throw away the plan!”
u r a man of culture i see
I know this is from 2 years ago but damn I love this comment
matt, to caleb: "fjord is getting you up"
laura: *suddenly looks up with manic glee in her eyes at the implication of a dick joke*
I know we’re never gonna see it but man. Just imagine how wonderful pirate Molly could’ve been. He already had the wonderful coat an eccentric pirate could have
Except he was the opposite of a pirate values wise
However, Jester disguised herself as Pirate Molly so he's 100% canon
This aged like fine wine.
Molly had jarlaxle energy it could have been great
Having seen the ending of this campaign, I like this comment
HAHAHAHAHAHHAAJAUHAI HAHAIA
Omg Cabeeeeeeeb
- SPOILERSSSS ON CURRENT EPISODe -
“I mean we are all arrested, we are being judged by the pirate king, I was almost dead, there was demons and ships on fire and the villain of this plot was just strangled and killed right in front of us BUT........this book/journal is really interesting righ?! I totally recomend it! “
Caleb being Caleb is the best Caleb.
Although, seeing as he failed his saving throw he probably wouldn't have actually said that? Unless enough time elapsed fro him to snap out of it
@@CalebUlrich Yeah it had been an hour at least (they took a short rest btw the encounter and the court scene)
side note: the tonal whiplash from Caleb's book obsession had the most wholesome Autism energy and I love him for it
Love how the previous episode highlighted Sam, Laura and Taleisan's characters and their skills and flaws, and then this episode we got some amazing moments from Marisha, Liam and Travis. Marishas amazing role play with the plank king and interrogating to Liams fantastic combat plays. Even Travis' wonderful chat with the plank king.
One of my favorite episodes
3:04:09
Beau: "Do you ever feel like your relationship with your cat is hindering building stronger relationships with human people?"
Me: Ouch, that one hurt
It's funny how it's the opposite of truth, cause Caleb so quickly has good relationships with anyone in the crew, Nott shares her fears and troubles with him, loves him, Fjord respects him and shares his shit with him, which is a lot for someone like fjord, Jester - same thing, they had enough great convos and already share a bond, he even started being friends with Cad due to specifically seeking him out to talk things thru, rather than hiding from him.
The only person he has mixed relationship with is Beau. And it would be stupid of her to say it's any of his fault. She literally called two things that he likes stupid and boring and told him to shut up two episodes before. It's like the opposite of a person you should try to be friends with. I wonder why she so often misinterprets things about Caleb. Guess it's canon for her personality to be bad at reading people, but still
22:20 is the face of a true pyromaniac, you can almost HEAR Liam's last pieces of sanity snap inside his head.
AAAAAAA idk if you ment to make me feel sad but this somehow made me very sad
@@jonathansims967 well well well we meet again
@@moose1277 you. My esteemed nemesis.
I adore the nein. they have one collective braincell but I love them so much
Like, you think these fearful fighters should be intelligent, two clerics, a warlock, a wizard, a monk. Nope. These idiots make inanimate penises with a rare magic item they found.
@@CalaisShore 🤣 Only the wizards should be intelligent, which Caleb and Nott very much aren't.
The clerics and monk are wise but being wise doesn't mean they are bright. They should know what not to do but not how to do things like not get caught stealing.
And Warlocks are just charming. Haha.
@@Kento300 Caleb is very intelligent but deeply fucked up psychologically and Nott isn't a wizard she's a rogue who knows some arcane tricks.
Jester is a cleric but a trickster cleric which means mischief is a major motivator and Caduceus is a stoner. As for Beau IIRC monk proficiencies are in Dex and Con nowadays.
@@CalaisShore and send their only two clerics alone, to scout .
Jin Kazusa Well at least they’ve got that part right. Ford is very charming
I love that, to Sam, Taliesin, an immortal piramid who lived longer than the universe, speaks the long forgotten eldritch language known as Italian
I think you'll find that was "Ancient Greek" 😂
This whole episode is a banger start to finish, but Fjord trying to convince Nott to go in the ocean and Nott going 'Fuck this guy!' was the funniest thing 2:51:30 ish for the full exchange
I love how Matt doesn't check their dice very often but at 2:09:45 he gets up to look at it. It doesn't feel like he didn't believe Travis but that seeing it with his own eyes was important in sharing that moment with the players. Something about the emotion there just felt like a really cool moment of DM celebrating with the players.
i could FEEL poor Travis' disappointment when he discovered that he literally traded his soul for a spell in cleric's list. I was hoping he could have gotten a little more than that :(
He didn't do that yet, though. That was Avantika. He was annoyed that other people had it when he missed out.
/edited for grammar bc jesus i can't spell sometimes
I'd guess that if Avantika (or any one person) got a second eye and used it in a second seal, the resulting power might have been stronger than just another 4th level cleric spell 1/day on top of Control Water. Like maybe buffing the power of your water control? Or at will instead of 1/day?
To be fair it was a tidal wave avantica was summoning which is a bit more than just shape water
@@frostfoxy7779 - can you give a timestamp to prove that? I don't think Tidal Wave sounds right.
@@Peter_Cordes She summoned a massive wave that would've put out all of Caleb's wall of fire had she succeeded and not been counterspelled. That's very obviously bigger than 5 feet lol
The amount of fan art of Caleb casting firewall is of the charts... not complaining though, that was super hype
I have to say, Caleb acting like a proud parent about frumpkin finding the ship is priceless.
I just like to imagine the Plank King and Beau sharing baffled looks at their weird nerd friends talking about weird cypher nerd shit
2:39:55 i love LOVE that nott asked beau if being part of the expositors meant she has a license to kill bc that is also one of the first questions beau asked dairon when she joined the expositors.
sam wasn't even there when she asked that, everyone else had been asked to leave the table. truly a squad that shares a braincell 💚
episode 4:
Beau I joined a secret organzation that roots out corruption,
everyone sure jan's her
now:
Beau I am part of a sercret organization of the cobalt soul,
Everyone surprise pikachu face
Well, the cobalt soul isn't exactly a secret
yes, you found it. this is. the best episode of campaign 2
I dunno friend this is a great episode dont get me wrong, but that BQ meeting and the more recent meeting with King Deedeede are on par.
Nooo don’t say that! That means it can only go downhill from here
Best episode of C2 *so far**
My favorite was Molly's death
Yet
After they come back from the break at 1:45:30, I enjoyed noticing Liam getting into character, going from a big grin on his face hearing about the "U" scorched onto the boat by his Wall of Fire to him physically pulling down on his cheeks into a frown before focusing for a moment on getting into the grumpy Caleb mindset.
(Getting into character is fun. 😊)
i didnt notice, thats so funny!
This will be the second city doc's they've left in flames after deciding to leave every city better than it was. I love them.
Watching this from self isolation due to the Covid-19 pandemic. So glad I have so many episodes to watch. This is the mot alone I’ve ever felt. You all give me so much joy, which is definitely helping ❤️ Sam launching into The Indigo Girls, brought me extra joy because it’s the song my sisters and I sing when we’re on road trips ❤️
I am crocheting dice bags, watching CR campaign 2 and filling out the character sheet for my first D&D game which was supposed to be starting this coming weekend. I am playing Kiri as a 16 year old rogue 🗡.Thank you for all you do 💜💜💜
Your campaign can still happen if you guys can access online dnd such as roll 20
Ditto. Started earlier in the week and have just had this playing in the background while I paint or read or whatever :D
You wouldn't be making those dice bags to sell would you?
I am also watching this during the pandemic and it is doing pretty good and has kept my sanity PERFECTLY in check. Goodluck on playing as Kiri I hope you'll enjoy it! 🤭
Day 22 of self isolation, steadily making my way through the second campaign. It's like having a bunch of cool Nerds sitting next to me, making me laugh (and sometimes cry). It makes everything that much easier to bear. And I haven't even seen campgain 1 yet so there is sooo much more to come.
for some reason i actually feel sad for Avantica??? haha - I mean, she's a power-hungry cult-leading murderer but she was that with SUCH style surrounded with people who were deeply loyal to her! to see her brought down like THAT. damn. :'( would have liked her as Plank King more than the current one! but then again for her to have installed herself with the Nein's help they would have had to help her become a super powerful avatar of some sort of tentacly ocean creature. and maybe that meant that she would have tried to remove Fjord....
I feel bad for her too. I mean she was power hungry, but it felt more like an obsessive fascination with something beyond the world she lived in. Like, imagine you're living on normal, boring ass earth when you learn an ancient god is sleeping and you would be gifted supernatural abilities for helping awaken them. She had a vision and it got the better of her. I don't think she was meant to be hated as a character either. If you think about it she wasn't really painted as a bad guy. She seemed just more of a fanatical version of Fjord just searching for this being of beyond that called to them.
@@zichithefox4781 Same! I really think that the killer in her is just an extension of who she really is: a fanatical zealot who truly cares about something. Her passion for Uk'otoa was so legitimate, and her attraction to Fjord (while also manipulative) was clearly genuine, imo. Especially when you see how she handled it at the end. I feel really bad for her. She lost everything. She was amazing, and I just wish the M9 had given her a chance.
Yeah, I kinda felt bad/weird about her death too...It was a shocking moment - incredible, story-wise - but shocking nonetheless. I think it's partly to do with the manner in which she was killed. It's not as if they killed her during the battle, where anything goes; she didn't go out fighting. It's the fact that she had her neck snapped while defenceless in chains. It's the most vulnerable we've ever seen her, and it's her last moment alive. And, tbh, I'm not saying she's a saint by any means, but I didn't even really see her as a 'villain' per say, at least not in the stereotypical sense of the word. I agree with Zichi that it doesn't seem she was meant to be painted as one. Also, let's not forget that Fjord attempted to drown her back inside the Temple a few episodes ago, which was pretty fucking shady. Kinda puts them on the same wave-length - no pun intended.
When I see powerful evil enemies be brought to their knees, I only see a lion forced in a cage by sticking spears in it's ribs. It's hard to justify it, even when you know what they did.
I knew this episode was something special and then Liam said MATT this is the BEST and it felt like we were all sharing a moment! What a fantastic game.
Someone has to say this. Sam Riegel's bit on DnDbeyond is the only advertisement I will never skip.
i love how Orly's eye patch moves from eye to eye at any given conversation :D
Sometimes, sailors would wear an eyepatch while still having both eyes, so when they go below deck, they'd still be able to see, since it's bright af up on deck, and the eye under the eyepatch would still be adjusted to the dark.
@@wouldiwasshookspeared4087 Yeah, and Mythbusters even confirmed that it works, and quite well, too.
@@wouldiwasshookspeared4087 maybe Matt is a MythBusters fans
@@dragoninthewest1 He most definitely is. He and Marisha knew Grant Imahara personally
2:04:38 Just look at Sam's face while Beau starts telling a bunch of pirates that's she's an basicly an Empire Federal Agent. xD
Caleb was doing terrible rolls last episode that the spells he made in the ship made it up for him
1:16:00 to 1:16:34 - My favourite Travis/Marisha moment of all time. He goes from joking to letting her make the decision to being so. Damn. PROUD! I love them!
His bouncy, giddy excitement was unspeakably adorable.
Plank King: "What brought you out there, to mucking with the pirates' deals?"
Fjord: "So, I slipped from a pier in Nicodranas..."
No, he was kicked by a donkey in Zadash.
I love the start of this episode. Caleb does everything in his power to keep his new family safe. Will always be my favorite character.
“I trust him. He’s Frumpkin.” Man that hit me, that was just so sweet & wholesome lol
Health bar combat overlays!! My immersion is a +8 now
Matt looked soooo heartbroken when Caleb cast fireball and it obliterated this entire crew that he had created. Hell of an episode!!
It makes it that much more impactful since they were so built up. It's awesome
Damn, Marisha comin in hot with the clutch speeches. It's pretty fun to see her strut out some clever dialogue after how awkward Keyleth's speeches were.
Holy shit, the follow up with Fjord and Beau putting Avantika to inquisition - this episode is PEAK D&D
I'm not much of a Marisha fan, but damn if she wasn't clutch this episode.
It was super out of character for beau
@@slvaltva1392no it wasn’t
really???? Let me guess, because you said so? Great middle school lever argument@@iceebeeforme
1:50:05 one of Matt’s best one-off voices.
Crazhead89 it’s a pretty great Ali G impression