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I can't help thinking about Keyleth's increasingly horrified expression during the debrief with the Bells Hells—

like. they were up there for, what, 2 days? 3? and they:

Killed one of the Will-masters

Made contact with an underground revolutionary militia on the day they were going to conduct a covert assassination against Ludinus' four-star general

Assisted said revolutionary militia in the largest anti-Imperium attack in history, which in all likelihood resulted in massive and irreparable damage both to Ludinus' drilling site and to the capital fucking city of Ruidus

Also assisted the revolutionary militia in the rescue of a strategic scientific target, who is now their charge in the absence of any remaining Volition members

Brought said scientist back to Exandria as a major source of information about everything that the Emperium was doing, and learned from her where Ludinus is precisely at this very moment

After surviving that, one of their own willingly sacrificed himself, apparently beyond resurrection, to kill Ludinus' three-star general

Successfully turned Ludinus' four-star general into a double agent with the power of love

and at the end of all of that, they get to say that, yeah, they met the fucking Weave-mind too. because sure, why not?

#critical role #note watches c3 #critical role spoilers #critical role campaign 3 #to be clear this is not a criticism I love the sheer chaos going on here #but holy shit they accomplished a LOT in a very short amount of time

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name a more iconic duo than Aabria Iyengar and telepathic bond. I'll wait

#critical role #note watches c3 #critical role c3 #critical role liveblog

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c3e92 pt. 1: the Bells Hells

Man, Matt really had to open with that somber tone, didn't he—

Orym immediately takes the lead, begins to guide them away from the city, away from the storms. It makes sense — the rest of them haven't experienced something like this before, the loss of a loved one, of a friend, in the heat of a battle when you can't stop for even a second to process what just happened.

Liliana can't go with them — if she leaves, they'll know, and she's more useful to them as an agent on the inside. If she goes, then the Bells Hells won't know the developments on the moon, won't know what's going on; but while she's here, she can relay that information back to Exandria.

In order to reawaken Predathos, there are boundaries that imprison it within itself, set up by the gods. The Ruidisborn are part of pushing through those boundaries, and are supposed to be what breaks the final one; without an exaltant vessel, Predathos can't step beyond its cage.

Liliana is not the only possible vessel — she is simply the strongest one. If she goes, then another Ruidusborn will take her place. She's communed with it, and she doesn't think that it wants them, wants mortals — it just wants to be awake, to be free. But they, and especially Orym, cannot take her word for it, because everything she knows about it is what it has told her.

Imogen makes the right call and clues the Bells Hells in to not telling Liliana about the secret passage. Liliana tells her that as long as Imogen is not on Ruidus, they can contact each other in dreams safely, presumably because she would be reaching out to Imogen beyond the eyes of the Weave-mind. She also tells them that the Weave-mind and Ludinus haven't been able to trust her because they cannot fully see within her mind. A wave of relief and heartbreak washes over her as Imogen tells her to stay.

Ludinus first made contact with the Weave-mind about three centuries ago (corresponding to the fall of Molaesmyr), and they both knowingly use each other to their own ends, each thinking that they'll have the final word. But Ludinus has been "following a path laid out for him by Predathos."

Liliana was at the conservatory in Jrusar when Ludinus found her and started to groom her to become an exaltant. He offered to free her and Imogen from the burden, but she didn't realize what was being done until she was already too deep in it.

"How can we get out of the city safely?" "Give me your hands." Liliana teleports them to the edge of the Bloody Bridge. "Find those who you can trust. Then, find me, when you need my guidance. I'll see you in your dreams."

As soon as they step through the bridge, they see that the interior is the same encampment. They bluff their way through, with the aid of a phantasmal force, and make it outside — there's evidence of recent battle here. There are "trophies," too — holy symbols and Vasselheim armor set out on pikes. They spot the familiar symbol of the Changebringer, looking off to an unknown horizon from a tattered cloak, and they take it.

Imogen sends a message to Keyleth: "We're back. We're at the surface of the Malleus Key, trying to find a way to get back to you." "Oh. That is wonderful news. I'll be at the encampment as soon as I can — can you get there safely? Oh. That's not how this works. Uh, I'll—"

The tension begins to fade as they make their way westward toward the encampment they first came from.

Ashton: "He'd been itching to do that since the day I met him." Orym: "But I've seen enough fights go south. If he didn't do that, we'd all be dead."

FCG made his death count, and they can all make it worth it — but Ashton can be angry, too. Those two things are easy to hold at the same time.

As for Liliana, they made the right call, not trusting her. She may have her reservations about Ludinus, she might not support him, but she's very much a believer of Predathos, of Ludinus' goal.

Laudna: "That bit she said, about how this is what you're designed for... it reminded me of FCG, but I also feel like I owe you an apology. I feel like I understood your mom, on a deeper level, in that moment; I think it's reminiscent of something I think we all struggle with, not being able to supersede that feeling of being designed. Controlled. Manipulated. But it also made my heart break for her. It feels like we've been very privileged to go on a journey guided by FCG to learn that we're more than what our creators intended for us, and I don't think she's had that." Laudna hits the nail on the head: any one of them could've been in Liliana's shoes. Until the shard incident, Ashton was. But they had someone, a group, to pull them back from the edge.

Ashton: "It made me very angry, and I don't like being angry. You're too fucking good for her. I hope she's right, I really do — I hope her ends are great, because these means are unforgivable."

Orym sticks one of Otohan's blades in the dirt. "That is the blade that killed my husband. She is not right." He walks away.

Chetney (/Travis) has a feeling about where Ludinus was; he turns to Everoa. She tells them that he's in Aeor. That's where he's been getting all these machines, the dispelling array, the influence for the keys, the war machines.

There are multiple layers of the Prime Pillar, and while they got through the first layer, the second was divinely-originated adamantine; when they discovered this, Ludinus left for Aeor to try and find a solution, but he hasn't returned in days. Something in Aeor, called the Dominox, was delaying his Aeorian excavations.

Aeorian technology had a unique understanding of how to unravel the basis of divine magic, which the Emperium needed to burrow through the shell containing Predathos. So Ludinus went in search of the Factorum Malleus within the depths of Aeor.

The glass on Ruidus is the remnants of Predathos' last form, the form it was imprisoned in. Its body was turned in to its own prison — the same thing that happened to Alyxian.

"There are moments in someone's life when they need to decide what to do next. I think this is one of them." Ashton needs to sleep, needs to break something — but in the morning, they'll all have some thoughts about who they're going to be next.

Orym breaks into tears, finally lets the facade slip to Imogen. "Every one of us makes our decisions through the lenses we see life through. I can't take mine down. It's not even about revenge for me; I'm just trying to honor what they signed up to do." Although they might not have seen eye to eye in the past, Imogen reassures Orym that he should have no doubts about her goals now; Liliana made her choices, and Imogen understands that now.

As Imogen leaves, Orym reaches out to Dorian. "We're home. Can you hear me? Northeast of Bassuras. Can you get there? I'm... struggling. Can you get here? Fuck, I miss you."

Matt asks everyone to leave the table, then he leaves, too.

Aabria sits behind the screen.

You know what? I think it's time to see the other half of the story.

I'm splitting this one into two parts! pt. 2 under the cut

This is most likely going to be my last summary-style liveblog post! I'll be reverting back to doing one-post stuff as things happen, it's just easier on me and my hyperfixation-addled interest that way :)

c3e92 pt. 2: the Crown Keepers

We open on the Crown Keepers plus Cyrus, not far from Kraghammer. They have been moving from village to village across the world to keep away from Poska. It's been nearly a month, and each of them have a cache of both money and brumestone. But two weeks ago, the Apogee Solstice began, and the Blightstar was lost from the skies of Tal'dorei.

Dariax's divine soul comes from a deity known as "the Observer." Even he, alongside Lolth, Melora, and the Raven Queen have felt fear from their patrons (though from the Observer, more a feeling of curiosity toward the world).

It was Orym's message that pushed the Crown Keepers to haste, trekking toward Zephrah. Even then, as they travel,

Dariax has no goal outside of a sense of kinship toward those he's traveled with, and a new sense of protectiveness over Opal. He's liable to stay at Dorian's side to follow in his footsteps. Protector.

Morrighan is like a horse chomping at the bit; she's been given new purpose from the Matron of Ravens, calls herself (and perhaps was designated) a champion. She feels distant from the Crown Keepers and allegiance to the Matron; the second she says bite, she'll bite, no matter who it is. She's multiclassed into paladin. Lying in wait.

Fy'ra Rai hasn't been fully lost or demoralized, but confused as to where she is most needed now. She remembers saying that not all family is blood, much family is chosen, so she's diverting her protective nature from her sister to the Crown Keepers, who the Wildmother pulled her to protect. She still feels the loss of her sister, Poska. Conflicted.

Dorian thought he wanted this scenario — freedom, adventure. But it's not the situation dragging his mood down; he's had more time alone, and he feels the group start to drift, and he's coming to an unsettling realization: he's missing something in this equation. It's something he ran from months ago, something he felt like he didn't have and wanted. He's starting to wonder why he's here, for the first time ever. From drifting to searching.

Opal is in a dream-like existence, where she's losing the thread. There are moments of clarity, and she works overtime to be more herself around the Crown Keepers then; she feels like if she can keep it together, then she has control. But much like when you're in that space between falling asleep and being awake, it's all confusing. In the moments where it feels more dreamlike, she becomes darker, unsettling and unsettled. Opal's dreams were the things that went first. It's not that she sleeps and has nightmares; every night for the past 2 weeks, she goes to sleep and wakes up exhausted, as if her body had been tensed and moving throughout the night, with no memory of the time between. Every dawn, if she reaches for Ted, she is exhausted. If she presses, she tells her little. It's not her fight.

Some days into this journey, something in Opal's mind breaks. She stops in the middle of the road, listening. Immediately, the Crown Keepers snap to attention.

Morrighan feels that same ineffable sense of purpose, the absolute density of presence, the pure light that she felt when she made the pact with the Matron — inverted. The same bestowment of power and purpose, tinged with something that curdles the stomach of the Matron, and so curdles Morrighan's.

Morrighan sees it in a crow's song before it happens, but Opal raises, levitates, then expands outward in every direction.

Matt slides over to the other side of the table, leaving Amy alone on the top table, and we launch into combat against Lolth-Incarnate Opal!

Opal hears the voice in her ear. "Hah. So sorry. I think... I wanted us to have a little more time to do this organically. But your sister keeps getting in my way. I don't care about my image; I care about my life. And what I need more than rehabilitation and public perception is a champion — a true champion. I need you to come with me, and I need to sever the ties that keep you with [the Crown Keepers]. They tie you to this place, they hold you back, and what I need is someone who works for me, who serves me. You accepted my crown, and now, the bill is due. Opal, Twice-Crowned, you will become my champion."

Morrighan update: She's an oath of vengeance paladin!

She hits Opal, but Opal takes none of that damage — Ted takes all of it. As the blade sinks in, it hits the dark shadow of something that looks like Opal but cut and muscled.

As Dorian beseeches her — "why are you doing this?" — the Opal that is acting responds, not the Opal that is within: "she doesn't know."

Off of a successful religion check, Fy'ra Rai asks the Wildmother first what she, Fy'ra, could do to stop Opal's transformation: remove the crown. Then, she asks what the Wildmother could do to stop it: why would I? As the third question, what does the Wildmother need from Fy'ra to help Opal? Why would I stop this from happening? The answer is not furious, it is fearful.

Melora, the Wildmother would not herself stop this transformation from happening. Opal donned this crown willingly, and these are the consequences; why would the Wildmother intervene? And further, the Wildmother is afraid of the Blightstar, of Ludinus, of Predathos. Why would she stop the exaltation of the champion of the gods? It's not like the Prime Deities and the Betrayers have never been united before. It's not like the circumstances weren't almost precisely the same.

Lolth speaks again: "What are you willing to do? I will make her mine. Are you willing to kill her? I will not die to that." They see a flash of red.

Then, as Morrighan picks up one of the clusters of crystals surrounding her, something inside Opal's mind shatters — a memory rises, then breaks and fades. There's a story, told to the pair of them shortly before their mother disappeared, when they were three years old. There's a word: "evalux." A splinter-group, mis-matched eyes. "A long time ago, a group of people found something called a Beacon. They learned from it about some great entity or god, a concept that sought to know itself, to understand via experience the world of Exandria. It split itself apart. This one was found far away. These people that worshiped the Luxon found and created magics within themselves to split their own souls apart so that they could learn who they were via observation." Opal was a child, torn in two, learned what she liked and loved and knew through observation of Ted — and so, Opal and Ted are entangled. Opal understands herself because she understands Ted; she is not lost to her, she is her. They are something rare and magical — a memory, rare and lost forever in the moment of knowing.

Matt: "I'm gonna go ahead and cast bless at 2nd level—" Aabria: "GOD DAMNIT"

Cyrus the Himbo my beloved — "BROTHER, I CANNOT SEE. Should I shoot an arrow??" "NO—"

As they pick up the gems surrounding Opal, they each see a memory. The one that Fy'ra picks up is from a week ago, a village hardly more than a hamlet, a mixture of cold and humid and quiet. In an inn, in the memory, they bump in to each other — Fy'ra is holding the two pars of the once-whole tiger eye, moving them between her fingers like worry stones. "I told you it was... important to heal things with [Ted]. I've always known that [my sister] is... my sister, but she's always been a bit of an asshole. But I never thought that she would want to kill me."

Fy'ra and Opal find common ground, being the one whose asshole sister is trying to kill her and being the asshole sister (respectively). As they do, Fy'ra looks to the crown digging into Opal's skin. "I don't know what is happening to you, but you can trust me to fight for you as if you were my sister, too."

(guys please watch this instead of reading my recap, the humor here is so much better than I could ever transcribe—)

#critical role #note watches c3 #critical role spoilers #critical role campaign 3 #critical role c3 #critical role liveblog

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I fucking told you there was going to be some cross-campaign simultaneous table shenanigans happening this campaign—

what a transition though. my god. so fucking excited for this, crown keepers my absolute beloved

#critical role #note watches c3 #critical role spoilers #critical role campaign 3 #critical role c3 #critical role liveblog #even if we get the Crown Keepers for multiple episodes I'm still tagging it c3 #I don't have a dedicated EXU tag #we're all screaming about the crown keepers but what happens when it's Luis and Lou at the table? #<- it wasn't but COULD YOU IMAGINE

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Official art of Ashton and Fearne's titan transformations by Tyler Walpole, used to create their miniatures featured in the most recent episode!

#critical role #critical role art

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Oh Liliana Temult the Exaltant that you are.

#critical role #critical role fanart #critical role spoilers

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although I'm not entirely sold on FCG being resurrected, I just had a thought:

if FCG's resurrection is an ordeal like Laudna's was -- which I think it absolutely should be, and even better if the rest of the Hells slowly consider along the way that doing so might be a disservice to FCG's life and sacrifice -- then that could lead them directly to Aeor.

assuming that resurrection spells work only on Ruidus, or that resurrection spells with a casting time of more than one action don't work at all -- sure, they might make stops along the way to see Pike, Dancer, or Devexian, but ultimately the destination, I think, would be Aeor. and that exploration, which they've created time for due to the explosion at Kreviris, could lead to all sorts of things, not the least of which is the discovery of Ludinus' designs for the malleus key, dispelling array, and Predathos-releasing machine.

#critical role #critical role spoilers #critical role campaign 3

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calling 911 on sam riegel for emotional damage 😭😭😭😭

#critical role #critical role spoilers #critical role campaign 3 #critical role fanart #o h . . . . . #the colors..... the softness...

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one last time:

#critical role #critical role spoilers #fcg #critical role fanart

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Sam Riegel really constructed the perfect tragic character arc here. A good tragedy is one rooted in the flaws of the character, written into the bones of their personality so that their downfall feels at once inevitable and entirely preventable. And that was FCG to a T.

Because they were so convinced they were less than everyone else from minute one. They were so self-sacrificng that their central healing mechanic was built around it. And they came so far towards self-worth. They found a God and a soul, they made friends that told them how important they were. They fell in love!

But it was never enough. It was never enough because they were literally built for this. Constructed with a bomb in the center of their chest and a martyr complex and so much love. Dying for their friends was almost an inevitable conclusion.

#critical role #critical role spoilers #critical role campaign 3 #this this this #I can't help but feel that Sam's experience in EXU: Calamity heavily influenced his decisions with FCG #because good tragedy is so difficult to do in an improvised setting with limited foreshadowing #but both exu:c and FCG's arc here managed it very well

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Endless Bells Hells

#critical role #critical role campaign 3 #critical role c3 #critical role spoilers #OUGH #the expressions.......

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I especially like that FCG cast his guiding bolt through the Changebringer's coin, the symbol of chance and choices and (for him) asking for direction, at a time when the Changebringer had previously bowed out of input (should we run? the coin lands on its side) and when it came to that final moment FCG made the choice himself. They self-actualized not just in believing their personhood but in believing their agency. FCG, today you were the bringer of change.

#critical role #critical role spoilers #critical role campaign 3 #critical role c3 #yeah.....

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c3e91

We open on the two teams booking it back toward the Volition hideout.

As the extraction team enters the industrial and residential circle of the city, the populace of Kreviris is in a rising panic, and soldiers are beginning to flood toward the Prime Pillar. Mystics begin to emerge as well, like bees swarming out of a hive. They form a matrix around it and the pillar lights up as a gossamer wave emanates out from it — a wave of dispelling energy breaks the extraction team's invisibility and the detonation team's illusion. They are all visible in the streets of Kreviris.

Their telepathic bond is gone too — that means that the dispel wave is at least 5th level.

Fearne spots that Zathuda appears to have survived the explosion and is riding Gloamglut in surveying circles around the pillar. As their illusion breaks, the dragon lands on the rooftops above them and looks down.

Ashton build update: While transformed by the shard of earth, Ashton's weapons have siege, which lets them deal double damage to structures (like walls). This lets him break down walls like a Looney Toons character so that they can escape the dragon (with a whole-ass building as a casualty, because siege doubles the already-doubled damage of a crit).

Meanwhile, Imogen recasts invisibility and Everoa starts to guide them out.

They tuck into a passage, but Zathuda calls out: "Fearne! It would be my own who fights against me. You really are your mother's daughter. It's a mix of pride and hate I hold for you, Fearne Zathuda! A true chaos being of cold shadow and fiery flame." Gloamglut can't quite find them.

Fearne polymorphs FCG into a slither then turns into one with wildshape, and with Ashton able to glide through the rock with the shard, they are safely burrowed underground and start heading back to where they came from.

As the extraction team gets closer to the edge of the city, walls of stone rise from the ground and encircle them in a 40-foot cage — the wisdom save that Laudna failed was most likely a scry, and they glance up to see a wind-swept, bloodied Liliana descending. Imogen is the only one visible.

When Liliana speaks, it has multiple tones, like an offset harmony as she speaks. "Did you know?" [Did I know what?] (persuasion: 31) "Then why are you here?" It's almost hard to focus on her from the pressure her presence is exerting.

Imogen takes out the locket that Relvin gave her. [You're so powerful. A better whole, mama.] "I don't want Ludinus to see how powerful you are. He'll make you the vessel instead." [Run away. Run away with me.] "I can't. As long as I'm here, I can control what happens around him. If I'm not here, there are so many others, children—" [You're hurt. Please, come with me. Please.] (persuasion: 31) "The Mind is lookin'. I have to think. I'll find you. I'll find you. Go. Go."

She drops the walls and shoots up through the ceiling of the city like a bullet. They start running. In front of them, five reiloran mystics clad in golds, platinums, gems, intricate robes — their crests with bones, runes, and chains. They are so adorned with jewelry that it's difficult to discern their age through the masks. Their outline is impressive, but their legs dangle down like straggly roots without ground. They speak: "There you are. Who are you?"

They turn to Chetney. "We've connected to your essence before..." There was a moment when the red moon seemed to look in to Chetney's soul, and he began to lose control — and it's happening again now, that same feeling. "Sweet feral child, instrument of our desire... who else joins us?"

To Laudna, or Delilah beneath: "Two spirits reside in one vessel. We can give you all that you desire."

As they look at each of them in turn, the Bells Hells' wills turn to paper. They turn to Orym, but before they can speak, he says under his breath: "Nana Morri, I need you, right now. We need to get out of here. All of us. Now."

They turn from Orym to Imogen: "You... you've come home. We're happy to have you. The rest may stay — no. They resist. They must go. Welcome home." And their illusions disappear. They keep running, and make it into a tunnel that climbs toward the top of the city.

Team detonation can see Liliana's walls going up and race toward it — they reach team extraction in time to see the Weave-Mind leave, and the Bells Hells reunite.

Imogen casts sending on Rashina: "We have Everoa. The city is unsafe. How's the safehouse? If it's not safe, we'll take her with us elsewhere." The safehouse is, unfortunately, abandoned. Too hot for us to regather. Rest. Find the allies you promised. Take her with you. Anything of import, let us know.

The Bells Hells resolve to leave the city and return to the secret passage to Exandria. They approach the top of the tunnel, and as they realize Otohan is following them, they start collapsing the tunnel behind them and preparing for battle. (I think this is the point where Matt regrets, just a little bit, giving Ashton this stone-surfing ability.)

Bormodo update: Their speed is 25.

Otohan goes around the tunnel collapse and gets ahead of them. Orym takes point to listen for her — he doesn't hear anything, but sees an echo — "then, it suddenly has color, has form. Otohan is here."

To break!

Begin combat:

Orym goes first, and opens with a hex and then two critical hits on Otohan's backpack.

Otohan takes Chetney down and kills him in one round, but expends a lot of her juice to do so — action surge is down, and so are three of her psionic dice. Matt is absolutely playing her how he should be — with a lone fighter like her, she needs to get someone down in almost every round because the action economy is so desperately stacked against her.

Chetney's last words are, "for four hundred years, I looked up at the moon. Not a bad place to go."

She looks at Imogen. "We have more than enough Ruidisborn to complete our plan. The loss of one candidate will not be impactful."

Fearne activates the spark of Rau'shan, and becomes a creature made completely of fire. While it's active, difficult terrain does not impede her movement.

God, the fact that Matt allows FCG to trade his 7th-level spell slot for preparing revivify definitely says something about how this fight is going thus far — but FCG attempts a revivify on Chetney: "Chetney, you haven't become a legend yet." Resurrection spells work, or at the very least they work on the moon! Chetney's DC goes up to 11, he's back up with 1 hit point, and FCG has no more diamonds.

Imogen's telekinesis tears the backpack off of Otohan, and she pushes it toward Ashton so he can smash it. "Oh, you bitch!" That's anger there. As it's torn off, the shadows around her vanish — she can't use any of her echo knight abilities anymore, so they were all sourced from the backpack.

Orym update: He did get the fey-touched feat, and took misty step for his 2nd level spell. He teleports, does a bait and switch with Imogen, and starts going off on this bitch — advantage for flanking and two back-to-back crits.

Laudna hits a massive blight roll and burns one of her legendary resistances, on top of three eldritch blast hits.

Fearne update: When she hits with an attack or spell, she can choose to deal additional fire damage.

Orym has rolled so many natural 20s this fight, and I can't help but feel that it's excellent poetic justice.

Otohan uses her second action surge, confirming that she's at least a 17th level fighter, but is most likely 20th.

Chetney, on 1 hit point, uses his healing potion on a downed Imogen instead.

Laudna update: The ability is actually called hunger of the shadow shard, meaning it's actually sourced from the piece of the gnarlrock that Delilah absorbed and not Delilah intrinsically. Also, she can keep using it until it works, but once it works it can't be used again. Also also, the energy that emanates from Laudna's hand as she does that is unfamiliar to Otohan, and she looks afraid.

Ashton update: Ashton's gravity rage build does not require a saving throw — it stands to reason that their other rage builds don't either, only the extra abilities do. That makes a lot of sense, actually. Also, when Ashton has the shard activated, they can choose to deal an additional 1d6 fire damage on a hit; and at some point, their chaos burst damage went up to 1d8.

Otohan update: She actually did go super-Sayan, and has an exalted rage form that has an increased AC and, presumably, an increased damage output, bonus to hit, and saves. She also regains both action surges when it happens.

Ashton rage build update: As a reaction, Ashton can use erratic defense and roll 1d4. On one of the results, Ashton takes half damage from the attack and the attacker is pushed 30 feet away.

Oddly enough, she downs Imogen again and doesn't go for a kill shot — instead, she downs Chetney again and doesn't kill anyone, which is going to allow FCG to heal everyone back up.

Otohan having resistance to all damage in this form on top of 25 AC is....... that feels like a little bit too much to me. just barely. But we'll see. (edit from future Note: this is the point where the party begins to lose hope.)

On one of Otohan's blades, when it hits a creature that's concentrating on a spell, the concentration check DC is doubled, which drops Fearne's aura of life. FCG, on their last leg, triggers their stress response. See above.

Genuinely, this is 100% the kind of situation that I would warn new or even half-seasoned GMs about — the kind of situation that you look at and say, "do not ever do this unless you are 100% certain that your group would be okay with it." And I hope, but I know many won't, that the fandom will respond to this in the way that they should, recognizing that this is a group of players who know each other so intimately that the GM can do this and have the table be not only alright but content with it.

As a hail-mary, Imogen casts sending on Liliana. "Otohan has us in the tunnels. It's about to be over. Help." The response: "I don't — I'll try to find you. I don't know how fast I can get there, I'll try to find you." Imogen takes off the circlet to help her find them.

"We might have misjudged this a tidy-bit—" Travis. Laura. what do you mean. She sought you out. There was no way to avoid this.

Matt rolling behind the screen and not having Otohan attack to kill is hopeful! But still, the sheer hopelessness here among the players is something you really should not do if you don't know your table. (At the same time, there's also a building hopelessness in Matt, which I think is what allows the following events to transpire.)

That there's no music behind this half of the fight, or at least very low-volume music, is also...... not helping, I don't think.

Man, this is a BG3-ass fight. Literally fighting until the last hit point, spending every scroll and potion you can, especially because getting someone up means they get a full round of actions.

End of combat

With 5 hit points left, FCG casts a 4th-level guiding bolt at their core. You know what this means, right? "Yes. The rage that I feel, the stress being so high, the fuel pumping through my core — it has reached a level it's never reached before, and it is so intense, that for the first time I realize that I am made of metal and wires, but I am alive. I am alive not because I was made, I'm alive because they made me alive, and it's the connections that I made with all of them. It's a feeling of joy, and I am happy to do this, because they saved my life. And I'll save theirs."

FCG pushes Otohan back so that only they are in the blast radius. They roll 20d8, for 79 damage. "FCG... how do you want to do this?"

"The last things I see are Bertrand, and Dorian, and Frida. I just feel connected to everybody. Some connections are made with wires, and some are made with blood, some are made with bone, some are made with wood, but they all matter. And they, even in this dark, dark cave, they make every day a smiley day. So I just sign off, and go."

The red in FCG's eyes turns to white, and there is a smile turned toward the rest of the Bells Hells. Otohan goes to awkwardly pull a blade, and before she gets a chance to dart away, a ball of crackling energy fills the space, rocks around her — she is incinerated, utterly. Then it stops, leaving a crater in the ground. "The sound of hundreds of small pieces of metal sprinkle across the room. The charred, lifeless body of Otohan Thull is left there."

"The thing about heroic sacrifice is it doesn't just give meaning to the person in the moment — it's an inspiration that we have to carry with us. As this moment of tragedy washes over you, in ways that maybe some of you already knew, or are realizing right now... the stakes are realer now than ever. And this loss cannot be in vain. As the silence and numbness begins to subside, you start to hear the distant sounds of shouting soldiers. People coming. You know you have to keep going."

Ashton goes to find FCG's coin — it's like a beacon guiding them to the exit. He takes it. There is still part of FCG's head and smile left — lenses cracked, jaw unhinged, but it's something. They also recover the teleportation staff.

Of Otohan, nothing is left but her backpack, which was away from the explosion, and her blades, thrown away in the blast.

"Numb and distracted, pushing ever-onward because that's what this is all about," the remainder of the Bells Hells emerges onto the wind-swept quiet of Ruidus. Liliana descends, and takes Imogen's hand. As the dust rolls by and the clouds clear, with the vision of Exandria above... the stakes are clear. Sam Riegel, you motherfucker.

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[12pt-times-new-roman]

Bells Hells level 13:

Everyone's proficiency bonus increases to +5, so their proficient attack rolls, saving throws, and skill checks go up by +1.

Ashton takes a level in barbarian. He gets +10 hp and brutal critical improvement, so he rolls an extra 2d12 on a critical hit with the hammer.

Fearne takes a level in druid, making her class levels druid 10/rogue 3. She gets +4 hp and cauterizing flames, which lets her heal a creature 2d10+WIS when another creature dies within 30 feet of Mister.

FCG takes a level in cleric. He gets +7 hp and access to 7th level spells.

Laudna takes a level in sorcerer, making her class levels sorcerer 10/warlock 3. She gets +8 hp and empowered spell for her metamagic feat. She also gets an additional cantrip and leveled spell, which can be up to 5th level.

Imogen takes a level in sorcerer. She gets +7 hp and access to 7th level spells.

Orym takes a level in fighter. He gets +12 hp and a second use of indomitable (reroll a failed saving throw). Because of the proficiency bonus increase, his passive perception is now 33.

Chetney takes a level in blood hunter, making his class levels blood hunter 12/rogue 1. He gets +5 hp and an ability score improvement or feat.

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[12pt-times-new-roman]

New Blood, Old Regards

Thanks to @eyeofthenewt1 for this art piece!

Greetings! Although the Stats Team is still in a state of retirement, we’ve periodically updated several of our Campaign 3 Running Stats categories and galleries thanks to the efforts of a new team of data collectors. This team, consisting of Archivists Astral, Ethereal, Fey, and Shadow, have been preparing since the beginning of the year to launch their own site, and that day has come! With that, we’re pleased to present:

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Although they have been providing CritRoleStats updates for our Campaign 3 records, their site will be its own thing with its own tools, toys, and focuses, such as graphics derived from their own databases of data. Please visit them at their website, reach out to them, and check them out on their various social media pages:

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CritRoleStats will continue to update our databases and running stats pages with the data we receive from the Omen Archive until the end of the campaign, so that anyone from academics to casual fans have access to a complete catalogue of three campaigns worth of data. After that, our site will be completely (accessibly) archived, and our legacy will be carried on entirely by projects like the Omen Archive.

Thanks Are In Order

Outside of our final livecast, we realize we went out without the proper thanks to the community members who helped us grow. We’d like to take this opportunity to give credit where we feel it’s due.

We’d like to thank the team at Critical Role for their support over the years, with special thanks to Dani Carr for both her wonderful spirit, tenacious work ethic, and the marvelous send-off she gave us.

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We’d like to thank both our patrons and our Ko-Fi supporters for allowing us to carry on for as long as we have, and to make sure our work can continue to reach those who want to be informed and inspired. Thank you to our regular visitors, as well; traffic is supportive in several ways!

Thank you to those who have been with us, whether it’s the very beginning, sometime in the middle, or even if you’re tuning in just now. Your patronage and your expression of value in our work has been a blessing. (Thanks for the 1d4.) We’d also like to thank everyone who has continued to visit the site in spite of the lack of regular content creation on our part, and are grateful that so many of you are still finding use in the previous campaigns’ worth of data, as well as the current one.

We love you all very much. Now, back to retirement!

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[12pt-times-new-roman]

I find it a little funny how Laudna 'holding Imogen down' is depressing, while over there's Fearne asking Ashton to "not let her float away" an them saying "got you"

It's like..

#critical role #critical role spoilers #critical role campaign 3 #Imogen and Fearne are such interesting foils

[12pt-times-new-roman]

c3e90

It looks like no one's leaving the table for the party split, but they did rearrange seating so they're grouped together. Matt cut between their perspectives, but I'm going to keep them separate for ease of access here.

The demolition team:

We begin with the demolition team: Ashton, Fearne, and FCG, accompanied by Ira. They follow the tunnel to the Sprawl Grotto, an Escher-like mase of buildings and pathways at the base of the canyon that houses this part of Kreviris.

The life here is a unique mirror to Exandria: the general shape and silhouette is the same or similar, but the specifics are alien. The beggars here don't ask for coin, they ask for tools -- but there are still beggars.

There are large beasts of burden here, as well as battle mounts being armored and prepared to ride. Chained to the wall of one of the barracks is the currently-resting Jabberwock of Sorrowlord Zathuda.

Through another series of tunnels, they come to the base of the central pillar of Kreviris, where there's an entrance to the excavation site. "Stay close, talk only when necessary, and if anything goes sideways, find creative ways to do away with unwanted curiosities."

The tunnel they enter has a very specific direction with no deviations like a usual mining tunnel would -- whoever built this knew what they were trying to get to, and the fastest way to get there. Off the main tunnel there are barracks and storage rooms -- it appears that they've recovered rare precious metals like gold and silver, too. The miners are of various peoples, but the soldiers here are almost exclusively reiloran.

They're stopped by a guard, who talks telepathically to Ira; then, Ira leads them to the entrance of a barracks. Inside, the Sorrowlord Zathuda stands at a table with his helmet off. His facial hair is unkempt and he's clearly uncomfortable with being on Ruidus. He's conversing with someone they've never seen: flanked by two Avadons is a massive reiloran hulk with a smooth, polished black iron mask covering his entire face, wearing incredibly intricate body armor with tusks and blades woven in, adorned with black and red strips of leather. He stands at nearly 10 feet tall.

Zathuda addresses him aloud as he leaves: "What thy will might be, Sunder King, the Vanguard will see it through." The hulk is Zuth, the Sunder King, one of the heads of the Dominion of Kruth.

One of Zuth's avadons begins to sniff out FCG and Fearne casts speak with animals to try to speak to it. To my surprise, it works! That means these things are beasts, not aberrations. The avadon is called back by Zuth, and they depart.

Farther down the tunnel, they come to a blast boundary and an inward-opening door that would let something large through -- but it's sealed. Ashton approaches, and Ira's thought-eater visage offers them superiority over the two guards at the gate.

Ira didn't expect this -- they got the blast door up fast, so whatever is beyond it might be what they're using to dig. He buys them a few minutes by telepathically sending the guards away -- with Ludinus' staff, FCG casts passwall to make a tunnel through the door, and they all file through. Since passwall lasts for an hour (and is not concentration), Ira casts an illusion over the hole to hide it so they can use it to escape.

The wall was 15 feet thick -- it was meant to withstand massive explosions. On the other side, there's a lever to open it.

As they continue down the tunnel, it gets more rough and unpolished. There is erosion here, where things have pushed through without reinforcement. There's also a distant grinding sound, and as they approach -- with their path lit by proximity-based mining lights -- they see elements of ruidian glass emerging from the wall like unearthed crystals. As they continue, the glass becomes more prominent, like this tunnel is drilling into the very base of the pillar. The grinding is joined by a hum, and at the end of the excavation, there are a handful of reilorans manning a machine: "a contraption that has some sort of a black exhaust, reminiscent of a burning oil mixed with ozone. It's having a hard time -- you can't tell if it's moving at all, but the sound is deafening. You see the massive device, eight feet wide on rollers with a handle where a hulk is pushing it into the wall... beyond that, there are two simply-dressed reilorans holding the sides, and one with Emperium, Dominion of Kruth armor keeping watch back down the tunnel, toward you."

They debate whether they should plant the explosives here in the return tunnel, or if they should fight these guys, stop the machine, and explode it.

Ira intends to use all of these explosives in this area. This is only one of many of these tunnels -- there's no way this is the only machine of its kind boring into the moon, but it's one of them, at least.

Ira offers to go into the fray and charm or sleep the folks working the drill, plant the explosives, then run -- Fearne and FCG will aid him in charming, but Ashton will play safety on the tunnel. "Let's go destroy something beautiful."

Ira's charm gets three of the four to leave, and Fearne's hits the fourth one. They set the bombs and book it.

Ashton rage build update: The time build increases their speed by 30 feet, to a max walking speed of 80ft.

When the explosion goes off, the shockwave cascades through the tunnels, and the entirety of the ground above the city of Kreviris bulges and starts to collapse inward. As the flames follow the shockwave, every person left in the tunnel is incinerated on contact -- Ashton uses the shard to dash at an insane speed through the rock with FCG in tow, and even though they take half the shockwave damage, they make it out into the cavern. From the amount of dice Matt is rolling, it sounds like these bombs dealt a combined 50d6 force damage (so 10d6 per bomb) for the shockwave alone -- I have to imagine that the fire would've done at least 50d6, if not 100d6.

As they fly through the air and land, barely alive, in the cavern, they hear Gloamglut's screech -- the Sorrowlord may well have been in those caverns, and may well have gotten incinerated in the blast.

From her vantage point, Fearne is able to pick out the forms of Ashton and FCG, and meets back up with them after being jettisoned to the surface by Ira.

The infiltration team:

Imogen, Laudna, Fearne, and Chetney set off, invisible, on the street level of the Sprawl Grotto, heading toward the central spire.

As they travel, they see that the people of the city are packing. Families are loading up carts, stores are putting their goods into crates and pulling down their banners, beasts of burden are laden with full saddlebags. There are also many groups of mycits coming out from the small tunnels in the walls, carrying vibrant bundles of fungi and piling them.

They get the sense that the mycit are also under the rule of the Emperium, but are following the directions of both soldiers and civilians.

As they approach the Prime Spire, the wealth of the populace increases, as does the number of reilorans and the number of military patrols.

They find a path into the spire, but the door is guarded by a number of reilorans.

As they begin their approach to the Prime Pillar, they can see that there are branch-like growths coming from it, liked hooked roots. (Talisein, rightfully, looks very concerned about this.)

They spot a balcony built in to the Colloquium of Candescence that they can get to -- in an alleyway, Laudna uses spider climb, then Imogen casts invisibility on her again, so she can climb up there with a rope and everyone can get up there without dropping invisibility.

Once they're inside, Chetney opens the satchel they were given at the safehouse: from it, Everoa's seita runs out! "Everoa, yes. She's my bormodo. You're helping? Good! My name is Gona." They say that soldiers took Everoa underneath the engineering bay, where she was working. Gona can sense that Everoa is still alive, and can lead them to the engineering bay. As per Matt's ruling, creatures using an invisible creature as a mount also becomes invisible, so Gona climbs under Imogen's coat.

The infiltration group gains a guide toward the engineering bay, and Otohan's signal on the scry ball is still far above them.

Matt describes this building as having been shaped psychically, through pure force of will.

Chetney uses grim psychometry on the Prime Pillar: "You get flashes of red -- stone crushing, feelings of anger and hunger, and you feel a brief moment of loneliness." So it seems like this pillar has something to do with Predathos' imprisonment, like a trammel or shackle.

In the engineering bay, there's an odd chemical smell. Reilora work at metal and stone instruments, inspecting samples; the bay itself is a series of small, laboratory-like rooms connected by thin hallways. Chetney notices that, in a far chamber, there is a device similar to the piece of the Aeorian dispelling array that they found on the caravan.

In the next room, there are jars of liquid, labeled, with organs in them -- they vary in size, but some appear almost fetal. One of them reads "primary zinc input -- failure." Another says "use of strong psychic influence at second stage -- ruined brainstem. Failed." The things collected here are essentially bioengineering experiments kept for research purposes. In the same room, there's a massive glass tube with greenish-brown liquid in it -- similar to the things we saw in Aeor and the Folding Halls.

The next room is the largest, and there are numerous jars with specimens, as well as tubes with metal cages around them. In one is a reiloran shape; in another, a smaller shape, growing strangely. There's an autopsy taking place -- they're picking apart and studying a Judicator. They also see an orrery that displays a theoretical cross-section of the layers of Ruidus, and the center is a teal glass core with pillars piercing it from the crust. It appears to take up about 30-40% of Ruidus' mass.

They see the scientist in one of those tubes, suspended in the vat.

They're still in this room when the explosion goes off. The entire compound quakes -- Chetney gets a couple people to evacuate, but it seems like this level is structurally stable for now.

As they pass by, they look at the Judicator: it looks like a metal mask was seared onto the flesh of the face, and now that it's been removed, it took the skin with it to reveal muscle, bone, and sinew. The eyes are gone.

After a battle, they get Everoa out of the tube and book it back toward the Volition hideout. On the way out, they snag a piece of Aeorian tech, some of the fetus jars, and the Ruidus orrery. The way Everoa wants to go is filled with soldiers, so they go back the way they came and find the balcony again.

And back together:

Fearne and Imogen, as the red glow brightens around them, hear an ear-piercing, world-shattering scream of horror, agony, and fear -- a female voice. Liliana.

As the demolition team runs back to the Volition hideout and the infiltration team emerges on the balcony, they see the Music Hall: the roof explodes outward, the pieces hover in the air and a lavender pillar of energy emanates from it, as Liliana appears to exalt again.

That lavender flame flickers in the air, and Fearne and Imogen hear a single phrase: "Did she know?"

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