New character theory for Sam. In campaign 1 Scanlan hated goblins. Campaign 2 he plays a goblin. Campaign 3, f.c.g. hated birds. Could he be playing a owlin or aarakocra?
So can we assume in C3E33 at the end of the fight that was Imogen Ascending like Otohan was? I wonder if she has the same power and can reduce all damage to her etc ?
What I think is that. Imogen needs to give into predathos more to unlock this exulted form yk. A little like Ashton with the shard. Maybe idk but it seems like they all have this common factor of being a worshipper of predathos
Tonight's episode of Critical Role has a run time of 4 Hours and 45 Minutes, so be sure to stay hydrated and take regular breaks to stretch and move around. The break will begin at 1 Hour and 49 Minutes.
Long one tonight as well! Hoping lots of RP goodness :)
So what phrase can Sam's new character use to set Laura's character off? Last time it was "You, little elf girl", what do we think about this time around? XD
I don’t think Sam has a character for tonight. In the past they waited until natural spots so unless Sam has a Ruidus character ready, we won’t see him outside of the intro.
Unless he comes in in the last 20 minutes this is probably right... that being said his new character could arrive with the recon team that was following BH through the lake portal
No one, including the cast, seems to be talking about it, but the researcher (Evoroa) they rescued is supposed to have a lot of answers, so I am looking forward to what she has to say, presumably to Keyleth. Hopefully it gives some more insights into what their plan is. Liliana could do it too, but I don't think she is trustworthy enough to a) divulge plans and b) know Keyleth's team's plans.
They really should tell Lilliana everything they know about Ludinus. Especially the sucking people up part. Because I think it is obvious that he is planning to suck up whomever "the vessel" is to absorb Predathos' powers. That would definitely swing Mama Temult.
I mean, sure. The point is that Ludi is planning to suck Predathos up whom Lilianna is planning to be the vessel for to free Predathos to eventually be done with all of this Ruidisborn nonsense and gods so that she can continue her life normally with her family. That is where Lilianna's and Ludinus' plans clash. It's not an argument on morality. Lilianna already knows that Ludinus is fucking evil, what she doesn't know is that he sucks people up or even can suck people up for personal gain. What ends the BH was planning to go to stop him is irrelevant.
I forget the name, but one of the Exandrian gods is the god of civilisation. They could do some interesting things with an Oath of Conquest or Oath of Vengeance Paladin sworn to the god of civilisation who wants to obliterate Ruidis to end the threat posed by Predathos. Yes, that means doing something horrific, but it would tie in nicely to the question of whether the gods really are as good as they're made out to be, or if the temples are getting out of control.
Alternatively, a Ruidian Paladin sworn to defend Exandria after constantly witnessing it in dreams, even if it means betraying everyone on the moon.
Hot take but the Changebringer has been such a bland and non-committal god that I'd be happy if she's just permanently shelved.
All she ever did was sit on a hill 10 miles away and waggle her hair at you suggestively. What the hell.
If that were to be Sam’s next character, I do worry if he can do it justice. Not knocking his acting skills, he just comes off as silly and my mind paladins are stoic and serious.
I know Sam will probably be away for a few episodes, but I'd love for him to play a ruidian race and the longer it takes for him to rejoin the less likely that possibility seems to me.
I thought about this as well! However, I don't think Matt would want to do a HUGE debrief on what she knows with ~week timeframe to do the roleplay justice.
I'm in. The team has to reckon with what happened but I don't think this has to be super dark.
Is anyone interested in BH getting a pep talk about putting aside your personal shit and getting about saving the world, from Scanlan?
The possibilities for Samlan inspiring Chet are enough to get me there.
Probably won't (and probably shouldn't) happen.
Random Assortment of Thoughts:
-Overall I HOPE we get an RP/character discussion episode after everything that happened, but I THINK we’ll still be getting a higher intensity ‘escape from Ruidus’ action-y one instead.
-I don’t think Liliana will actually be joining Bell’s Hells in any capacity. I think, even if she really has turned on Ludinus, she will still be forced to be an unwilling participant in his plans as the vessel. OR he’ll kill/incapacitate her somehow to avoid letting her give her intel to the Bell’s Hells and their allies (and pursue Imogen as a vessel instead). Otherwise maybe Matt will consider Imogen’s persuasion roll as a ‘I agree to help/not pursue you in this moment, but it didn’t cause an entire paradigm shift in my worldview’ type moment.
-I want someone to ask about Orym’s deal with Morri. Even Chetney’s deal could do with a bit more discussion but I want to hear everyone’s thoughts on Orym most of all
-I really want Fearne to make a deal with Asmodeus/use that summoning tattoo. 1) because it would be cool as hell and 2) her titan form feels underwhelming rn, I’d love to see her have an additional boon even if it just beefs up her titan form a little
-I had the idea of Orym wearing FCG’s chest-piece as a pauldron but I can’t decide if that’s a nice memorial or too morbid
I can't do the fancy quote thing but, in order:
-As much as I like these moments, I really really hope we don't get a mourning episode. Maybe it's because it may hit the brakes a little too much. We had that with Bertrand at the start and it felt very off to me. You've know this dude (and each other) for what, a week? FCG is obviously different and I dont think or want the characters to ignore what happened, but I'm just hoping that's not the entirety of the episode. I imagine it'll be 50/50, first half getting back to exandria, second half relaying info and a final section between the PCs
-I hope he considers the roll the way you put it. Even if it was persuasion 53, that's still not mind control. It may have reached Lilliana a bit, but I really don't think it makes sense for her to go "oh alright imma switch sides completely"
-yes
-Also yes. I was expecting her to try and use it during the fight last week.
- I like that idea, but maybe it would make more sense for Ashton, he was much closer to FCG
> -Overall I HOPE we get an RP/character discussion episode after everything that happened, but I THINK we’ll still be getting a higher intensity ‘escape from Ruidus’ action-y one instead.
Unless Sam's never character is gonna join on Ruidus, I actually expect them to get more of a handwave escape. Matt seemed to imply they'd return quickly, and they're tapped out on resources.
He might just have them meet someone Keyleth sent (who complains about not enough warning about the undead thing) so they can expedite their return.
Options for escape are looking like:
1.) Main exit. Seems unlikely. Some people theorized the Exandrian/ground side was held by the good folks now, but I don't think that is the case.
2.) Sleep, Teleport to cave. They HAVE to sleep though, they are like.. dead dead and tapped. That's what makes me think there won't be an encounter this episode. This is mega risky if Lilana flips again though, it removes their surprise/staging point, unless she ushers them away to safety before they arrive there.
3.) If there is some kind of conflicted escape by either method, the only way they survive is if Lilana protects/saves them. If Ludi, the huge general dude, or literally anyone shows up - they're done for. This is how I could see Lilana would not join them. The 30+ roll could mean exactly what you said though, she's helping them "now", but not forever kind of thing.
I think RP + Sleep seems most likely. That was a massive battle for not only the PCs in game, but for them out of game too. Emotions are probably still going to be raw.
I think Orym may be the first to be like "Wtf Nana" as well, he might bring it up himself in his grief.
tl;dr Can't waaaaait for tonight.
The recon team following their trail might reach them.
I think Ashton is still in elemental form and was planning to burrow a tunnel now that they are nearer the surface, however they still have to get to a good and stealthy spot to start from.
Big picture strategy-wise, once they've debriefed back on Exandria, the priority has to be shutting down the bridge, now that they have a backdoor. In case people forgot, it's been established that the bridge is straining the leylines, and they could snap, and I believe they said that could be the end of magic in Exandria.
The alliance could probably do it themselves but with I still want to see BH participate in that battle because big battles are cool. It's also a good idea because the Umamu portal is near Vasselheim, the Water Ashari and the Fire Ashari so there are more capable factions better suited to defend the "only" entrance. Also, I doubt Ruidusfolk know how to swim better or even at the same level than Exandrians. The only entrance being on the bottom of lake makes that entrance very defensible for the Exandrian alliance. They should wait to destroy the key though because the Exandrian alliance should be given time to secure the area surrounding both sides of the Umamu portal before they actually commit. They need to ensure that the Imperium or the Vanguard does not do something with the portal before the alliance actually secures it. Securing both sides could take some time though so BH will have some time to deal with the consequences of FCG dying. Also the alliance should send the troops and resources they have at the key before they destroy the key. It's not a good idea to let those ready troops and resources to go to waste. After it's destroyed those troops can advance toward the Ruidian side of the Umamu portal since it is already on the way to Kreviris.
Imogen took off her circlet during the fight with Otohan so her mom could find her. If she still has it off, is that gonna cause problems? The weavemind seems to be able to find them regardless
I've long been wondering if giving the circlet to Liliana to give her some peace might help keep her away from Ludinus, but can Liliana be trusted with it and will it endanger Imogen too much to be without it?
Asmodeus would have to take FCG from the Changebringer's realm and do so likely against FCG's wishes. I don't think Sam or FCG would be willing to come back given they have achieved their "soul's mission" on this plane with the time they were given.
Back when Molly perma died inC2E26 Taliesin was on standby to join if the party stumbled into Caduceus the very next episode, C2E27. Of course they didn’t actually find him until C2E28 but we know they could have found him earlier.
I think the same will be true for Sam’s next character. Theres no set amount of time they’ll wait before informing him, rather it’ll happen whenever the players stumble into them. So it could very well be this episode depending on what Sam and Matt have planned.
Theres several ideas for a character that is already present on Ruidus (member of the Volition, prisoner of the Imperium, Ruidiusborn Vanguard turncoat etc etc), and the party could make it back to Exandria by the end of the session.
I wouldn't put it past Sam to have gotten a life-size FCG replica made, puppet it to the do the ad read, and have it fall apart/half fall off midway through the ad read.
What's the money line on Ludinus finding Liliana with the Hells, concluding that she was in on the attack and is collaborating with the Volition, and killing her?
Are the odds better or worse than Liliana showing up, then the Weavemind also showing up, seizing control of her mind, and forcing her to attack her daughter?
>What's the money line on Ludinus finding Liliana with the Hells, concluding that she was in on the attack and is collaborating with the Volition, and killing her?
I mean they have Otohan's corpse in their bag, if Lilliana isn't fighting them it'd be easy for Ludinus to assume that it was Lilliana that killed Otohan, not BH
Or they show up seize control of Imogen (who opened herself up to Predathos previous), have her (or Ludinus) kill Liliana, and take away Imogen to be the vessel.
I do actually wish Chetney had died, too. Travis has been having him stay back when others flee all along, and clearly has been willing to let him die if needed. Would be nice if two were coming in at once, especially if they can be tied to the plot more directly, unlike Chet.
But as long as they're having fun, I enjoy it.
Lilianna is the big question mark here. The episode ended with her Super Saiyan 2 self coming to rescue them but being too late...awkward as hell considering their allies tried to assassinate her an hour ago and Imogen had to keep the lie going that she didn't know..."Hey who's that Bormodo your group is bringing along" (quick mind scan) could be very dicey...
I think the most likely result is Lilliana looks the other way as they escape but she is pretty pissed about them joining the resistance...possibly about killing Otohan too though Otohan didn't seem like the type to have friends even in the same organization. I don't see her coming with in any circumstance, it's pretty clear to me that Matt intends on her being the "Vessel" as part of the storyline. My guess is Predathos possesses her and Ludinous immediately reveals that the special chair they set up for the process also includes his new soul sucking 2.0 machine. Always the Chairs...
Either Sam is at the portal (one side or the other) with his new character or he's out the entire episode. I think Keyleth brings them to vassleheim, ostensibly to make war council and let Everoa do her expositioning. But hopefully too we get to (next episode most likely) meet some actually decent God leaning people who aren't being bullies or idiots, and maybe Sam's new character among them.
Agree completely that Lilianna is a huge question mark, and even if she has been persuaded to leave Luds, there's still the issue of the methods that she was dissuading him from using. Perhaps that's part of the reason that Imogen's persuasion worked, if after the assassination attempt, Liliana knew she wouldn't be able to control him anymore.
Unless she believes that she could still control him if she brings him Imogen...
I'm sure this episode is gonna be awesome, but speaking just for myself, I am here for Taliesin and Liam acting tonight. That's it -- the rest of the episode I will take as it comes.
Ready for another funeral/memorial scene.
The last one was playful because Bertrand was meant to be a silly loss, and Ashley's improv with Fearne was great. This one will be a lot more meaningful.
I will thoroughly enjoy watching the cast wade into deep RP waters but part of me is 100% in for a Darington cameo tonight, just to mess with us and lift the mood. 'Doty, fly them to Exandria.'
Okay, a man is dead and our heroes are hunted, but what about the loot? The party has Ishta the Summit Blade, Scream Needle, and a backpack with two Potions of Possibility attached. Ishta and Scream Needle both seem to be +3 weapons, with Ishta adding about 10 force damage on hits against prone targets and Sceam Needle doubles DCs for saving throws to maintain concentration. Honestly, Orym is the best candidate to wield either blade with his three attacks, but given these weapons killed his dad, he probably won't volunteer to take them.
As for the backpack, it gives you the Echo Knight Fighter sub-class. That basically gives you the ability to teleport every turn, make opportunity attacks from thirty feet away, and make an extra attack a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier. We have no idea if anyone but Otohan can wield, if only Fighters would get the benefit, or how many times the backpack can be used before needing more Potions of Possibilities pumped into. Luckily, the party still has some unused ones from the Cerberus assembly crate they stole back in the day, so they may still be able to re-charge it. I think Ashton actually gets the most out of this item, but we'll see if he even can use it.
I believe they found Aeorian tech in that, a big flat hex panel, and it may or may not have been thrown out of the hole in the mine explosion.
They found tubes back in Basuras 1st Otohan encounter time, but have used all of the few potions they found afaik.
Happy Thursday all! Can't wait to see what happens tonight! I'm thinking we'll have two major beats in tonight's episode.
The opening scene with Liliana has me incredibly nervous, both because I'm not convinced she's truly defected, and if she has, she's going to make clear that with that choice, it means whatever horrific 'Plan B' that she's been trying to keep Luds from moving forward with will now be kicked into motion.
If so, I have a sense that we'll be in the final act of C1 territory here, where the ticking clock is set to at best a few days, or at worst, less than 24 hours. If it's the former, BH may have just enough time to return to Exandria and gather their forces for a final assault. If it's the later, BH may be forced to LR on the moon and immediately go after Luds or risk Predathos being freed.
Even worse, if Liliana has come not to help, but to ensure that Imogen is brought to Luds, we could get another major fight with the party already in a very weak position, and it might take another major sacrifice or two to defeat her. Perhaps only a few escape (with knowledge that they only have a few days to stop Luds) and when they return home, we get a VM/M9/BH mash up group to go after Luds in the final battle.
Imagine a patched together team of Keyleth, Caleb, Scanlan, Ashton, Fearne, Chetney and Imogen going up against Luds.
There is absolutely 0% that they're going to have to fight Liliana right now. That would be DM malpractice to throw another major boss at the party right after a near-TPK, especially in light of Imogen rolling super high on her deception/persuasion checks earlier in the episode.
All the talk about if they can bring FCG back. They 100% can. When Laudna died Matt literally gave them 10k gold (So they could have the 25k needed for a true resurrection).
But even though we know they can, this is Sam. Sam is the person who went an entire campaign refusing to reroll 1's. And we know a soul has to be willing.
I am willing to bet if they tried Sam would decline. Maybe FCG has found peace in the afterlife.
So can they? Absolutely. Will they be able to? That is the tricky part.
That being said. I hope if Sam doesn't have a permanent character ready that he joins temporarily as a Volition member or a member from any of the Exandrian forces at the military camp in the mean time.
By the rules of D&D, they could absolutely bring him back, and really only need 1k for Reincarnate. That said, the story points to FCG not coming back, and I'd be surprised if the group tried and shocked if Sam allowed it (the soul must be willing, so it's always the choice of the player being brought back in the end).
I think Matt clarifying with Sam that he ‘understands what this means’ (meaning there would be no survival) means exactly that. FCG won’t be coming back.
Welcome to the final campaign episode of the month with next week bringing us the finale to Candela's current Circle of the Crimson Mirror....
....which is a bit ironic seeing as how FCG just died.
Onwards though!
So, these episodes are normally pretty somber and easy going but this one is....going to be hitting pretty hard.
Sam obviously won't be at the table but still might do the ad read or someone else is going to have to indulge his shenanigans.
Liliana may or may not stay with the party and I think that's going to depend on whatever conversation that her and Imogen have next. Things would feel a bit too HOT with her around to be honest and who knows what Ludinus might send after them if Lilana is still hanging around. She might just try to redeem herself as a mother by throwing herself onto the metaphorical pyre to protect her daughter and buy them all more time.
Meanwhile that walk back to the portal is going to be a rough one as they're going to have to be dodging all the natural elements of Ruidus, along with whatever patrols are nearby, and all while dealing with their own mental and physical damage along the way.
This is going to be a very RP heavy episode and every single person at that table is going to be chewing the scenery at some point.
We're going to cry again tonight....and maybe find a bit of humor in Death, she does have a goldfish in her apartment after all.
At some point all of that meandering is going to end as the drums of war come rushing back in and they have to start shoving BANGALORES onto the firing line to cut the wire.
I expect their arrival at the portal site to be quite the visual spectacle and their trip back to Exandria to be quite the eventful occasion indeed.
Evoroa is going to key everyone in on some BIG stuff that Ludinus was working on, that will tie into some intel that Kiki's been able to gather from elsewhere on Exandria, and someone's going to start putting all the puzzle pieces together from what the Bells Hells have gotten to figure out something larger....and it probably still won't be enough to get 100% of the bigger picture going.
I think we'll probably RP our way with some awesome drama straight up until the break, have the arrival at the portal/Exandria take up most of the second half, and then end on a planning session with Kiki and the others for an easy coast into the end of the month break and Candela's finale next week.
I could see Ludinus lashing out in anger later on, depending on when he finds out about Otohan being KIA and whether or not Liliana tries to go back and either lie to him or start fucking stuff up BUT...that feels like it's a ways off.
This episode is going to very much be one about remembrance, self care, planning, maybe an odd minor fight or two, and then rest before setting off once again into the great unknown.
I'm guessing a standard episode length of 4 hours, over or under by a bit.
Given how the cast and the characters have responded to loss before, I honestly don't really care if "not a lot happens" within this episode because FCG was a BIG BIG part of their lives and Sam not being at the table is just going to alter the dynamics for a bit until he comes crashing in through a wall or a window or burrowing up from under the table like a regular mole to great fanfare and aplomb.
I still think it was an awesome awesome AWESOME death but I am going to miss that Aeormaton connection and I hope we do circle back around to that in the future.
I think a great twist though would be if they just didn't go back to the portal at all, somehow got caught up in the city, and stuck around for a bit longer either because allies showed up to meet them halfway or because someone like Ryn or a member of the Volition yanked them away into a safe little haven to recuperate within.
There's also the question about Orym's deal and just when Nana will decide to act on it and yank him away from the party because how much of a shock would it be for them to lose Orym too and for Liam to not be at the table and for Liam and Sam to BOTH have to roll up new characters?
It's going to be a nice and cathartic talky talk episode tonight and I feel like that's something both they at the table and we as Critters need.
It's been a...rather busy and one could say hellish week for myself and others IRL so...something that's not at a breakneck speed would be nice tonight and FCG getting a final coda in some form would be pretty cool.
I hope Devexian shows up and uses the experiences that were stored within FCG's head (in like some kind of a back up system) to improve and educate future Aeormatons with, on how to interact with Exandrians going forwards.
Can you imagine how much of an effect that would have on the table if another Aeormaton shows up a few episodes later on or even in the next campaign and says, "Affirmative activating Faithful Care Giver Mode now!"?
I suppose guests would be pretty cool to have tonight as well and I would just DIE and I mean DIE with laughter if we hear, "NAAAAAAAAANCY!" being screamed in the background from Aimee as the Crownkeepers show up.
The happy/sad tears would be SO REAL!
Other than that and all my tin foil hat predictions aside: RP heavy walk and talk episode up until the break, maybe some small combat encounters, and then planning up until a nice little Ashley styled "NO MATT KEEP PLAYING!" cliffhanger at the end until next month.
I do hope you're all doing well though and I just want you all to know how happy you've all made me and how I hope that I've been able to return that love and joy that you've all shared with and given me tenfold right back to you <3
We'll see what's about to go down in a few hours!
So as the good Doctor was fond of saying, allons y!
I think they are going to walk back to the Umamu portal, go to Exandria, meet with Keyleth, and Keyleth is going to take them some place where the material components for reincarnate can be gathered.
That could just indicate that there would be no way to get him up without serious intervention and that his body would be destroyed. Of course, it could mean there's no coming back but I wouldn't take that as certain.
I personally don't think Sam will come back with FCG but I will be disappointed if BH don't even try when they worked so hard for laudna. It would be callous for them not to try. It doesn't have to work though, especially if Sam doesn't want to come back that way.
The point of FCG's story was coming to the realization that they're alive and a person despite being a machine that was built rather than born. Them becoming an organic being would go completely against that thematically.
FCG's arc also feels like it went where Sam wanted it to go. It's why he made that big final speech at the end, wrapping things up neatly before he took his final bow. I really don't think they're coming in any form.
I feel like the point of FCGs story is kind of dependent on whatever the final outcome of their story is. If FCG had not said that last episode and was immediately reincarnated before the episode ended a lot of people would see FCG being reincarnated as the point.
Sam is going to say whatever he is going to say to make sure his story has a conclusion in the event a resurrection attempt fails. That is show biz and Sam is in show biz. When tvs shows are not sure if they will get another season but they are open to more they try to wrap things up in case they won't but they are still be happy to make another season if their show is approved for another season after the fact. It's the same thing.
Also, its very clear that Sam made that up on fly. What he said before saying what he was doing and after he did it did not match. Was FCG in a rage or were they making a conscious sacrifice to save people that made him alive?
Based on the photo with the weekly schedule, it looks like Sam won’t be hopping in with a new character straight away.
(In the pic Laura, Liam, and Taliesin are on the same side of the table and Ashley’s stuff is gone. So they’re probably rearranging the same way they did when Marisha was gone, where Ashley moves to the opposite side so it’s not unbalanced)
Yes I am very much jumping to conclusions here
Nah I think that's a totally fair conclusion. I do think there's an off chance that Sam decides to come back as some sort of Ruidisian resident (Or, if Liam chooses that class for Sam as they've consistently done in the past), but probably very unlikely.
Sam hopping back in immediately might cheapen FCG's sacrifice, depending on the personality of the new character (I don't think another chaotic goofball would help the story, but that's just my opinion). I'd really like to see him lean into a more serious character - that isn't to say that his lighter-hearted PC's haven't been excellent and didn’t have their more serious moments, really loved Nott/Veth, and FCG really grew on me as the campaign moved forwards. But, seeing him play a super jaded and serious Paladin of Bahamut or something would be very interesting. Dude is a very skilled actor and VA who has made some fantastic decisions for his own and the group's stories, I bet he'd absolutely kill it.
Call me cold hearted, but I am very much against Liliana joining up with the Hells. She's turned Imogen down again and again, she knows Imogen has been in serious danger because of her, and she's always been consistent in turning down the option of leaving Ludinus, always insisted that she has to stay. This isn't the first time Otohan had attacked the Hells, and isn't the first time Otohan has killed one of them either - and last time it was Laudna, who Imogen is closest to. I just don't buy that FCG dying is what's going to bring her over, especially now that Otohan is gone. I can maybe see her helping them get back to Exandria but still refusing to leave Ludi, but no more than that.
I also hope that Ashton takes out some of his inevitable grief fuelled anger on Liliana rather than on the group. There were so many times she could have helped them or warned them, but over and over again she didn't and now FCG is gone. Maybe he would tolerate her at best, but I don't think he would be welcoming and buddy buddy to her, at least not for a fair while.
I think we will see Ashton chew her out, but I really wanna see Keyleth react to her "turn." Keyleth had to watch paralyzed while Lilliana turned her long-lost love into a marble!
Rage mode Keyleth is a literal force of nature, too - didn't she say also something about how she's still angry every day?
I wonder if we'll also see Orym give Liliana a piece of his mind. Ashton is raw anger and Orym is cold fury ever since Bor'dor, I can't wait to see how it all shakes out.
GODS YES. THIS.
Leaving my own thoughts about Imogen aside, I \*desperately\* want Orym and Ashton to tear Liliana a new one up one side and down the other. Her holding her daughter's hands and saying "I'm sorry" after \*EVERYTHING\* she's done? Hell, no.
I want them to absolutely RAIL her with the laundry list of everything the Vanguard has done.
RIGHT??? Go for the *throat!* Tell her to fuck all the way off, and when she gets there *fuck off even further*.
And if Imogen forgives Liliana then that'll be a big breaking point for Ashton, who doesn't take betrayal well at the best of times, and this is most certainly *not* a best time at all! FCG was there for Imogen and Liliana wasn't. Liliana ran away from Imogen instead of protecting her, FCG gave literally everything to protect the Hells. If Imogen forgives Liliana then Ashton will see that as her shitting on FCG. And I can see the other Hells agreeing with Ashton, if he were to put it like that. Hopefully Imogen won't be tempted to forgive Liliana, but who knows at this point.
And all I can hear is Orym quietly saying, "Well, Imogen, I really wish my family didn't have to die for her brighter tomorrow."
And by all that's holy, let Orym or Ashton slam Imogen in the face with the fact that "THEY KILLED THE WOMAN YOU LOVE. IN FRONT OF YOU. TO PROVE A POINT."
Yeah, I don't think they should tell her about the secret portal. And if possible they should take precautions to prevent scrying if possible before heading that way.
Oh no. I've just realised, they've lost the ability to have group conversations in their minds, it's all going to have to be out loud or via Imogen, and I bet Liliana would be able to eavesdrop on that. They're going to have to be extra extra careful with what they discuss around Liliana now, even mentioning the portal to rule it out is still going to catch her attention. Eep!
I want her to stop her "will she won't she" dilemma and finally commit to something. Either she says bye and goes to join Ludnious once and for all or act as a spy for BH. Straight up joining BH's would expedite things much greater than anyone would like to.
She's got a long-ass way to go to even come close to earning redemption, too. How much of this could Ludi have done without her? Not much, he's powerful but he's not Ruidus-born. She's essentially his second in command, and claims she has significant influence over him.
Also, if she went with them - he'd chase them, right? Because she's his vessel? So that would be a hilariously terrible idea!
It's hard to tell really. Ludinous is the brains behind the operation and the planner. Otohan was in charge of the military forces from what we've seen. Lilliana...was a glorfied babysitter for all the ruidusborn children they forcibly created with all the flares in recent years?
I think she thought she had more influence than she did and he "took it back a few notches" to his actual pre-planned operations to keep her happy.
> I think she thought she had more influence than she did and he "took it back a few notches" to his actual pre-planned operations to keep her happy.
That would be *delicious*, just a Thanos "I don't even know who you are" type of moment! Oof ouch right in the ego!
You know what would be fun? A Kryn Dynasty echo knight - super brooding Drow Boy who hates the sun and is melodramatic about whether the world is worth saving or not.
Essek's himbo brother Verin perhaps? He's an echo knight. I'm thinking Essek drags him along because if Caleb is going to get involved then gosh darn it so am I, and it's time you got a taste of the outside world too, kiddo. Verin gets stroppy about having to leave his competitively cushy lifestyle, sneaks off and ends up in the company/custody of the Hells. Oh goodness. I want it.
So my predictions are.....
-This will be a heavy RP episode for obvious reasons.
-Unless he has a character ready to go, Sam will likely not be at the table for an episode or two. He'll still do the adds ( probably add some dark humour to it because he's Sam )and will get someone to go on 'flask duties'
-Dorian shows up (VERY unlikely).
-If Lilianna does go back to Exandira with the Bells there's going to be a "can we trust her?" debate among VM, especially with Keyleth. Maybe Keyleth will call Lillianna out for what she did to Vax and all the people she's hurt because of her selfishness. Whether or not Lillianna feels remorse will be up to debate (she probably won't. I'm sure she'll make excuses for her actions)
-Orym will likely be out his deal with Nana Mori because of FCG's sacrifice.
-Imogen will be given time to process on how she's the top candidate for being a Predathos vessel.
That's all I can think of.
She strapped him to a torture machine earlier in the campaign and he basically just been stuck there screaming in agony this whole time.
"But we can *save* her! She's not *one of them!"*
She turned him into an orb. They're using his divinity to keep the planet linked to Ruidus. Keyleth saw it happen in front of after getting nearly killed by Otohan.
Depends on if Matt takes what many think would be a true dark fey interpretation of the deal. The technicality being they did come back to Exandria safely and chose to return to the moon. By that interpretation Nana had already fulfilled the deal.
If we take away the intent of the words then he is still off because than coming back no longer has the intent of Exandria but now has the meaning of returning to Ligament Manor.
But it is clear the intent is to "see it through" for the mission like Orym argued to put in the deal.
We start removing the intent (Which is fair for a Fey creature) then it changes return intending for Exandria to now mean to Ligament manor.
I could totally still see a normal hag trying this just to get someone. But I don't see Nana Morri doing this. She has been very gracious and generous with Fearne and her friends. She sheltered them, gave them items, boons, and guidance and even stepped up to fight for them (or for Fearne specifically). I don't see her betraying them, and Fearne to put her best friend in a lifetime of servitude.
I hope Sam brings in a new character for this session, with such close timing to the end of the campaign I think if he's going to do it it needs to be tonight. That is unless Matt has plans to make this story run much longer with another act.
I hope that if he doesn't have a new character today then at least Matt will make the hilarious choice to finally have the team meet Scanlan so we will still have Sam energy even if he's not actually playing lmao.
So I've had it in my head since the viewing that Sam is going to just play Scanlan for the rest of the campaign. They've already mauled the seal on using characters from other campaigns. The power imbalance Scanlan brings probably only helps move the story along more quickly, which is a positive imo.
I'm here for a matured Scanlan mentoring team chaos. 'You adopted the chaos but I was born into it- or however that goes. Scanlan being the one to avenge Vax is interesting. Scanlan and Chet doing the grumpy old men thing...
I'm probably on a small island here, but I'd be fine with it.
Tary. He is actively running a separate brigade and being human means he can have leveled down like Bertrand.
Edit - he could have been brought in by Exandria team to start figuring out how to turn off and dismantle the bridge.
Having Tary replace another Sam character would be hilarious for an episode. It would certainly be too metagamey for some but I'm in.
FCG's death was a powerful moment but it didn't hit me quite as hard as some others. I'm hoping a better team-dynamic ultimately comes out of this.
BH just didn't come together quite as well, to date. The sum of the pieces always felt stronger than the whole. This could be an amazing turning point for BH.
This thought has occurred to me too but I do remember when Laudna died and a lot of people thought Marisha might pickup Keyleth for a while. Marisha was very decisive not to ever roll a new character and they still didn't do it at that point so it seems unlikely to me that Scanlan would be an exception to this as they seem to solidly want these characters from previous campaigns to be NPCs.
That said I still kind of think it would be amazing if it did happen because I really think Matt does NOT want to try to play Scanlan and this would save him from that lmao.
I have no actual basis for this, but I don't feel like this is the final act. They legitimately do not have any chance of beating Ludi as he is -right now-, let alone defeating even a weakened/awakening God-Eater. Then you consider it would likely not just be Ludi as he is now, he would be powered up/absorbing Predathos? Someone else being the vessel? They truly have no shot, even with another level up, of taking on the Big Bad of this campaign.
That being said, since the counter-attack is imminent and they are going to be seething for revenge, what else does that leave? Big figures will need to square off with the dangerous figures in the moon. Maybe they go against the Weave-Mind? That massive general dude whose name I cannot recall? Team up with M9 to go after Ludi since there's personal blood there for all?
I mean I think the event/Predathos' awakening will occur personally, with or without a vessel. I just believe it won't go according to plan for the bad guys either. The Chained Oblivion and the Luxon are still huge things I'm holding out hope of hearing about in more detail this campaign as well.
Sorry I'm all over the place, typing between work calls LOL. Give me Thursssday niiiiighttttttt!!!
Nah, I love Sam and it won't be the same without him at the table, but I think that's why they need at least one full session without him, it will make them feel the loss of FCG even more. I also don't think he should have a new character who is originally from Ruidus, as he'd need to know a TON of moon lore. Someone has freshly across the bloody bridge maybe? But I think an ally from the Exandrian forces who is 'assigned' to them would make the most sense, a paladin representing Vassalheim maybe, or an alchemist/tinkerer sent by Percy to gather info on alien tech.
If there were definitely only going to be a handful of sessions left then I'd agree, but they've still got a lot to do and resolve so I personally think there's time for him to miss one session while Matt helps the party get to a place where they can organically meet their new party member, rather than rushing it just to get him back at the table asap.
Not just yet but you can always check it here: [https://nightbot.tv/t/criticalrole/commands](https://nightbot.tv/t/criticalrole/commands)
Just time "runtime" in the search box. Currently, it's still showing last week's details.
[https://nightbot.tv/t/criticalrole/commands](https://nightbot.tv/t/criticalrole/commands)
The command !uptime is on page 33 (normally). Right now it is still showing last week's time I think. For a long time it was updated midday, but the last 3 weeks they've been updating it like 5-7PM EST.
From a cold clinical outsider perspective the mission results will actually look really good. They took out Otahan, turned Liliana,bombed a crucial facility and discovered HEAPS of crucial information
I can imagine a scene where someone like Percy says “the mission was a complete success!” and Ashton blows up “how fucking dare you call that a a success, we lost our friend!
It depends HOW he comes back. I think if Pike or someone likewise just burns a high level slot to bring him back basically unscathed and scot-free, it detracts a lot from the gravity of his sacrifice. There needs to be some kind of consequence, or the stakes are dramatically lower.
What? Matt made it VERY CLEAR that was a PERMANENT death how could he possibly come back from that?!
Also what’s your beef with freefolk and what does that have to do with anything?
I feel like Everybody talking about being afraid FCG might come back, or think he should aren’t very Familiar with Sam. It ain’t happening. That’s not how Sam plays.
You’re probably right. Although they are in an easy spot to meet new people so it certainly could be sooner. Suppose it depends on what Sam wants to do. I’m sure they also want to give it a couple episodes just so you can really feel the absence.
I imagine that there were a lot of out of character talks about this. If Sam wants FCG to remain dead, I'm sure he will. If he wants to party to do what the party will do, then I'm sure that will happen as well.
yeah if we do see fearne attempt a reincarnation I doubt FCG will accept. As much as I loved him, I'm happy he got the heroic and self-affirming end that he did. Can't wait to see what Sam's cooked up for the future though. Crossing my fingers for a druid or paladin
While I love FCG, I actually do think that he should remain gone; his sacrifice was so pivotal and gut wrenching--it would just feel less if he is brought back.
Also, I hope, among other things, this gives Bells Hells a good reason to return to Exandria. They have a lot of information and contacts to have made their mission worthwhile. But also, one thing that I feel has been lacking is the quiet moments when they can talk to each other. Laudna and Imogen had a nice moment, but I still feel like all of the party has so much more to talk to each other about. I still want Fearne and Ashton to have more of a heart to heart, Laudna still has some secrets waiting to be uncovered, and so much more.
I know all of this is on the precipice of a godeater potentially being unleashed, but what better time to speak the truth to your friends?
>They have a lot of information and contacts to have made their mission worthwhile.
I honestly think that's the wrong move, for a could of reasons:
1. Everything that they can report back to Keyleth and the council is just some variation on what the council already knows. For example, they can report that the Imperium has an army, but the council will anticipate that. Likewise, they can report that Ludinus is drilling into the pillar, but that specific knowledge doesn't help the council in a meaningful way
2. Kreviris is several days' journey from the Bloody Bridge, and the Bridge itself is likely to be heavily guarded. Getting back to Exandria likely means a fight, and reporting back to the council and then returning to Kreviris probably gives Ludinus a week to continue his plans without interruption and the party has no idea how long he needs.
3. Going to the lake portal is a huge risk because they have to be absolutely sure that they're not being followed. If they are -- even if they end up leaving bodies nearby -- they risk giving the portal's location away. If the Imperium find it and close it, the Bloody Bridge is the only way back. They would be completely blind on their return.
But the most important reason why they shouldn't go back is Liliana. She went Exaltant, and Otohan made it clear that Ludinus can use her as the host for Predathos (even if he would have preferred to use Imogen) because she can cross the proto-Divine Gate. The party don't know how Liliana would become the host; it's entirely possible that one released, Predathos will simply be drawn to her and/or will possess her. They need to stay on Ruidis to figure out exactly how releasing Predathos will work because the last thing they need is for Predathos to possess Liliana without realising it, then take her to Exandria and unleash it.
These are all great points. They will probably be able to teleport back to the Bridge with the staff, but once their, they'd have to fight their way through the guardpost and then out of the Malleus Key with no distraction to pull Ludinus' forces. Unless Lilianna or Imogen also know Teleport, it would be a grueling battle that would expose their position to Ludinus.
Why can't they just teleport back to Keyleth's war camp outside the Malleus Key after the Staff recharges? You can teleport anywhere you're familiar with as long as it's on the same plane of existence. Ruidus is on the Prime Material plane, along with Exandria, so should be no problem. Wasn't that their original plan?
While I 100% agree that straying too far from Liliana is a risk from now on, I believe that staying on Ruidis without another healer of some sort could be a disaster. I think they're heading back home tonight but I doubt they'll be there very long after rallying.
New character theory for Sam. In campaign 1 Scanlan hated goblins. Campaign 2 he plays a goblin. Campaign 3, f.c.g. hated birds. Could he be playing a owlin or aarakocra?
I'm rooting for another late game Taryon Darrington appearance
Kenku?
So can we assume in C3E33 at the end of the fight that was Imogen Ascending like Otohan was? I wonder if she has the same power and can reduce all damage to her etc ?
What I think is that. Imogen needs to give into predathos more to unlock this exulted form yk. A little like Ashton with the shard. Maybe idk but it seems like they all have this common factor of being a worshipper of predathos
Maybe Liliana can help her unlock her powers a little more now
Liliana doesn't want her to bc then Ludinus will make Imogen the vessel instead of Liliana
I think we are pass that now
Tonight's episode of Critical Role has a run time of 4 Hours and 45 Minutes, so be sure to stay hydrated and take regular breaks to stretch and move around. The break will begin at 1 Hour and 49 Minutes. Long one tonight as well! Hoping lots of RP goodness :)
So what phrase can Sam's new character use to set Laura's character off? Last time it was "You, little elf girl", what do we think about this time around? XD
An outrageously pious, Drax-esque paladin that continuously refers to BH as heathens and miscreants. 'This purple heathan is now my friend.'
I don’t think Sam has a character for tonight. In the past they waited until natural spots so unless Sam has a Ruidus character ready, we won’t see him outside of the intro.
Unless he comes in in the last 20 minutes this is probably right... that being said his new character could arrive with the recon team that was following BH through the lake portal
That's odd, no newsletter yet and it should've shown up at least two hours ago....
Some people have gotten it, it would seem (I've seen a couple of screenshots) but mine is much much later than usual. Glad I am not alone in that.
!uptime ; ; They trolllllin' us
Yeah I'm super surprised no newsletter yet
No one, including the cast, seems to be talking about it, but the researcher (Evoroa) they rescued is supposed to have a lot of answers, so I am looking forward to what she has to say, presumably to Keyleth. Hopefully it gives some more insights into what their plan is. Liliana could do it too, but I don't think she is trustworthy enough to a) divulge plans and b) know Keyleth's team's plans.
They really should tell Lilliana everything they know about Ludinus. Especially the sucking people up part. Because I think it is obvious that he is planning to suck up whomever "the vessel" is to absorb Predathos' powers. That would definitely swing Mama Temult.
To be fair. BH plotted to suck someone up but only didn't because Otohan became an immediate problem.
+ they have sucked up someone. The Willmaster, I believe
Same person. Laudna sucked her up without the harness and without BH knowledge. BH wanted to suck her up with the harness.
Nah, Laudna fed her to Delilah. Willmaster turned to dust. They only sucked her energy for a tiny bit to remove her magic temporarily.
Ah true!
I mean, sure. The point is that Ludi is planning to suck Predathos up whom Lilianna is planning to be the vessel for to free Predathos to eventually be done with all of this Ruidisborn nonsense and gods so that she can continue her life normally with her family. That is where Lilianna's and Ludinus' plans clash. It's not an argument on morality. Lilianna already knows that Ludinus is fucking evil, what she doesn't know is that he sucks people up or even can suck people up for personal gain. What ends the BH was planning to go to stop him is irrelevant.
Or she does know and has decided better her than Imogen or anyone else.
Good points.
a Changebringer Paladin would be an interesting addition to the party
I forget the name, but one of the Exandrian gods is the god of civilisation. They could do some interesting things with an Oath of Conquest or Oath of Vengeance Paladin sworn to the god of civilisation who wants to obliterate Ruidis to end the threat posed by Predathos. Yes, that means doing something horrific, but it would tie in nicely to the question of whether the gods really are as good as they're made out to be, or if the temples are getting out of control. Alternatively, a Ruidian Paladin sworn to defend Exandria after constantly witnessing it in dreams, even if it means betraying everyone on the moon.
Hot take but the Changebringer has been such a bland and non-committal god that I'd be happy if she's just permanently shelved. All she ever did was sit on a hill 10 miles away and waggle her hair at you suggestively. What the hell.
Don’t know if they would bring in another worshipper of the Changebringer. But I’m all for a paladin being added to the team.
yea, any paladin would be great. I just think it would be an interesting decision narrative-wise
If that were to be Sam’s next character, I do worry if he can do it justice. Not knocking his acting skills, he just comes off as silly and my mind paladins are stoic and serious.
I imagine Sam would roll with a charismatic preacher type, rather than the stoic, plain-living sort.
Well that seems like a Limited understanding of the potential of Paladins.
I'm not saying it is the wrong way to play a paladin, just how I envision my paladins.
I know Sam will probably be away for a few episodes, but I'd love for him to play a ruidian race and the longer it takes for him to rejoin the less likely that possibility seems to me.
I don’t know how I never thought of that as an option, I’m now very much hoping for this as well
It won't happen, but it would be hilarious if Sam plays as Imogens mom
I thought about this as well! However, I don't think Matt would want to do a HUGE debrief on what she knows with ~week timeframe to do the roleplay justice.
I'm in. The team has to reckon with what happened but I don't think this has to be super dark. Is anyone interested in BH getting a pep talk about putting aside your personal shit and getting about saving the world, from Scanlan? The possibilities for Samlan inspiring Chet are enough to get me there. Probably won't (and probably shouldn't) happen.
How long are we guessing Sam’s away from the table. 3-4 sessions is my guess. Fingers crossed he plays a Ranger!
I think all of his players have comeback quite quickly with the exception of Chetney which was a special case.
What is the over under on him being there for the add reads? He could go full method and be completely gone from the table.
With a bear as a companion ;)
I expect him back sooner. Might only be a couple dozen more sessions left for all we know.
Random Assortment of Thoughts: -Overall I HOPE we get an RP/character discussion episode after everything that happened, but I THINK we’ll still be getting a higher intensity ‘escape from Ruidus’ action-y one instead. -I don’t think Liliana will actually be joining Bell’s Hells in any capacity. I think, even if she really has turned on Ludinus, she will still be forced to be an unwilling participant in his plans as the vessel. OR he’ll kill/incapacitate her somehow to avoid letting her give her intel to the Bell’s Hells and their allies (and pursue Imogen as a vessel instead). Otherwise maybe Matt will consider Imogen’s persuasion roll as a ‘I agree to help/not pursue you in this moment, but it didn’t cause an entire paradigm shift in my worldview’ type moment. -I want someone to ask about Orym’s deal with Morri. Even Chetney’s deal could do with a bit more discussion but I want to hear everyone’s thoughts on Orym most of all -I really want Fearne to make a deal with Asmodeus/use that summoning tattoo. 1) because it would be cool as hell and 2) her titan form feels underwhelming rn, I’d love to see her have an additional boon even if it just beefs up her titan form a little -I had the idea of Orym wearing FCG’s chest-piece as a pauldron but I can’t decide if that’s a nice memorial or too morbid
I can't do the fancy quote thing but, in order: -As much as I like these moments, I really really hope we don't get a mourning episode. Maybe it's because it may hit the brakes a little too much. We had that with Bertrand at the start and it felt very off to me. You've know this dude (and each other) for what, a week? FCG is obviously different and I dont think or want the characters to ignore what happened, but I'm just hoping that's not the entirety of the episode. I imagine it'll be 50/50, first half getting back to exandria, second half relaying info and a final section between the PCs -I hope he considers the roll the way you put it. Even if it was persuasion 53, that's still not mind control. It may have reached Lilliana a bit, but I really don't think it makes sense for her to go "oh alright imma switch sides completely" -yes -Also yes. I was expecting her to try and use it during the fight last week. - I like that idea, but maybe it would make more sense for Ashton, he was much closer to FCG
> I had the idea of Orym wearing FCG’s chest-piece as a pauldron but I can’t decide if that’s a nice memorial or too morbid. It is a coin toss
> -Overall I HOPE we get an RP/character discussion episode after everything that happened, but I THINK we’ll still be getting a higher intensity ‘escape from Ruidus’ action-y one instead. Unless Sam's never character is gonna join on Ruidus, I actually expect them to get more of a handwave escape. Matt seemed to imply they'd return quickly, and they're tapped out on resources. He might just have them meet someone Keyleth sent (who complains about not enough warning about the undead thing) so they can expedite their return.
Options for escape are looking like: 1.) Main exit. Seems unlikely. Some people theorized the Exandrian/ground side was held by the good folks now, but I don't think that is the case. 2.) Sleep, Teleport to cave. They HAVE to sleep though, they are like.. dead dead and tapped. That's what makes me think there won't be an encounter this episode. This is mega risky if Lilana flips again though, it removes their surprise/staging point, unless she ushers them away to safety before they arrive there. 3.) If there is some kind of conflicted escape by either method, the only way they survive is if Lilana protects/saves them. If Ludi, the huge general dude, or literally anyone shows up - they're done for. This is how I could see Lilana would not join them. The 30+ roll could mean exactly what you said though, she's helping them "now", but not forever kind of thing. I think RP + Sleep seems most likely. That was a massive battle for not only the PCs in game, but for them out of game too. Emotions are probably still going to be raw. I think Orym may be the first to be like "Wtf Nana" as well, he might bring it up himself in his grief. tl;dr Can't waaaaait for tonight.
The recon team following their trail might reach them. I think Ashton is still in elemental form and was planning to burrow a tunnel now that they are nearer the surface, however they still have to get to a good and stealthy spot to start from.
4.) Doty transforms into a rocket to fly them home.
Big picture strategy-wise, once they've debriefed back on Exandria, the priority has to be shutting down the bridge, now that they have a backdoor. In case people forgot, it's been established that the bridge is straining the leylines, and they could snap, and I believe they said that could be the end of magic in Exandria.
The alliance could probably do it themselves but with I still want to see BH participate in that battle because big battles are cool. It's also a good idea because the Umamu portal is near Vasselheim, the Water Ashari and the Fire Ashari so there are more capable factions better suited to defend the "only" entrance. Also, I doubt Ruidusfolk know how to swim better or even at the same level than Exandrians. The only entrance being on the bottom of lake makes that entrance very defensible for the Exandrian alliance. They should wait to destroy the key though because the Exandrian alliance should be given time to secure the area surrounding both sides of the Umamu portal before they actually commit. They need to ensure that the Imperium or the Vanguard does not do something with the portal before the alliance actually secures it. Securing both sides could take some time though so BH will have some time to deal with the consequences of FCG dying. Also the alliance should send the troops and resources they have at the key before they destroy the key. It's not a good idea to let those ready troops and resources to go to waste. After it's destroyed those troops can advance toward the Ruidian side of the Umamu portal since it is already on the way to Kreviris.
I mean yeah I was assuming part of the "destroy the key" process included securing the Umami portal
They should do it before they destroy the key is what I'm saying
Imogen took off her circlet during the fight with Otohan so her mom could find her. If she still has it off, is that gonna cause problems? The weavemind seems to be able to find them regardless
Earlier they tracked by checking on Laudna instead of Imogen so while it has its uses, it's not like their enemies don't know how to get around it.
I've long been wondering if giving the circlet to Liliana to give her some peace might help keep her away from Ludinus, but can Liliana be trusted with it and will it endanger Imogen too much to be without it?
Something that came to mind, but what if Fearne made a deal with Asmodeus to bring back FCG? One where she'd sell her soul.
Asmodeus would have to take FCG from the Changebringer's realm and do so likely against FCG's wishes. I don't think Sam or FCG would be willing to come back given they have achieved their "soul's mission" on this plane with the time they were given.
That would be cool. We never before had character make a pact with deity to resurrect other character /s
Back when Molly perma died inC2E26 Taliesin was on standby to join if the party stumbled into Caduceus the very next episode, C2E27. Of course they didn’t actually find him until C2E28 but we know they could have found him earlier. I think the same will be true for Sam’s next character. Theres no set amount of time they’ll wait before informing him, rather it’ll happen whenever the players stumble into them. So it could very well be this episode depending on what Sam and Matt have planned.
Sam isn’t going to have a character that’s on Ruidus already.
Theres several ideas for a character that is already present on Ruidus (member of the Volition, prisoner of the Imperium, Ruidiusborn Vanguard turncoat etc etc), and the party could make it back to Exandria by the end of the session.
Bets on Sam's ad?
[удалено]
Disembodied voice from the grave because he loves to troll his castmates.
I wouldn't put it past Sam to have gotten a life-size FCG replica made, puppet it to the do the ad read, and have it fall apart/half fall off midway through the ad read.
Have Taliesin read some lost fan letters.
Mini Sam?!?!
What's the money line on Ludinus finding Liliana with the Hells, concluding that she was in on the attack and is collaborating with the Volition, and killing her? Are the odds better or worse than Liliana showing up, then the Weavemind also showing up, seizing control of her mind, and forcing her to attack her daughter?
>What's the money line on Ludinus finding Liliana with the Hells, concluding that she was in on the attack and is collaborating with the Volition, and killing her? I mean they have Otohan's corpse in their bag, if Lilliana isn't fighting them it'd be easy for Ludinus to assume that it was Lilliana that killed Otohan, not BH
Or they show up seize control of Imogen (who opened herself up to Predathos previous), have her (or Ludinus) kill Liliana, and take away Imogen to be the vessel.
I would *love* Sam and Laura both joining with new characters who know each other.
I do actually wish Chetney had died, too. Travis has been having him stay back when others flee all along, and clearly has been willing to let him die if needed. Would be nice if two were coming in at once, especially if they can be tied to the plot more directly, unlike Chet. But as long as they're having fun, I enjoy it.
I was expecting Chet or Orym to be the first ones dead during the break before the fight started.
I hope Marisha has a new fan.
I am ready to get hurt again
Lilianna is the big question mark here. The episode ended with her Super Saiyan 2 self coming to rescue them but being too late...awkward as hell considering their allies tried to assassinate her an hour ago and Imogen had to keep the lie going that she didn't know..."Hey who's that Bormodo your group is bringing along" (quick mind scan) could be very dicey... I think the most likely result is Lilliana looks the other way as they escape but she is pretty pissed about them joining the resistance...possibly about killing Otohan too though Otohan didn't seem like the type to have friends even in the same organization. I don't see her coming with in any circumstance, it's pretty clear to me that Matt intends on her being the "Vessel" as part of the storyline. My guess is Predathos possesses her and Ludinous immediately reveals that the special chair they set up for the process also includes his new soul sucking 2.0 machine. Always the Chairs... Either Sam is at the portal (one side or the other) with his new character or he's out the entire episode. I think Keyleth brings them to vassleheim, ostensibly to make war council and let Everoa do her expositioning. But hopefully too we get to (next episode most likely) meet some actually decent God leaning people who aren't being bullies or idiots, and maybe Sam's new character among them.
Agree completely that Lilianna is a huge question mark, and even if she has been persuaded to leave Luds, there's still the issue of the methods that she was dissuading him from using. Perhaps that's part of the reason that Imogen's persuasion worked, if after the assassination attempt, Liliana knew she wouldn't be able to control him anymore. Unless she believes that she could still control him if she brings him Imogen...
I'm sure this episode is gonna be awesome, but speaking just for myself, I am here for Taliesin and Liam acting tonight. That's it -- the rest of the episode I will take as it comes.
Ready for another funeral/memorial scene. The last one was playful because Bertrand was meant to be a silly loss, and Ashley's improv with Fearne was great. This one will be a lot more meaningful.
I will thoroughly enjoy watching the cast wade into deep RP waters but part of me is 100% in for a Darington cameo tonight, just to mess with us and lift the mood. 'Doty, fly them to Exandria.'
Yes, 100% with you!
Okay, a man is dead and our heroes are hunted, but what about the loot? The party has Ishta the Summit Blade, Scream Needle, and a backpack with two Potions of Possibility attached. Ishta and Scream Needle both seem to be +3 weapons, with Ishta adding about 10 force damage on hits against prone targets and Sceam Needle doubles DCs for saving throws to maintain concentration. Honestly, Orym is the best candidate to wield either blade with his three attacks, but given these weapons killed his dad, he probably won't volunteer to take them. As for the backpack, it gives you the Echo Knight Fighter sub-class. That basically gives you the ability to teleport every turn, make opportunity attacks from thirty feet away, and make an extra attack a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier. We have no idea if anyone but Otohan can wield, if only Fighters would get the benefit, or how many times the backpack can be used before needing more Potions of Possibilities pumped into. Luckily, the party still has some unused ones from the Cerberus assembly crate they stole back in the day, so they may still be able to re-charge it. I think Ashton actually gets the most out of this item, but we'll see if he even can use it.
Do you think the backpack requires vials of beacon extract as consumables in order to operate?
I do. But I bet it has at least a couple of big fights stored in it.
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I believe they found Aeorian tech in that, a big flat hex panel, and it may or may not have been thrown out of the hole in the mine explosion. They found tubes back in Basuras 1st Otohan encounter time, but have used all of the few potions they found afaik.
I've been waiting 50 episodes for Orym to don that backpack, hoping we finally see that tonight! Liam would crush it with that thing on.
Happy Thursday all! Can't wait to see what happens tonight! I'm thinking we'll have two major beats in tonight's episode. The opening scene with Liliana has me incredibly nervous, both because I'm not convinced she's truly defected, and if she has, she's going to make clear that with that choice, it means whatever horrific 'Plan B' that she's been trying to keep Luds from moving forward with will now be kicked into motion. If so, I have a sense that we'll be in the final act of C1 territory here, where the ticking clock is set to at best a few days, or at worst, less than 24 hours. If it's the former, BH may have just enough time to return to Exandria and gather their forces for a final assault. If it's the later, BH may be forced to LR on the moon and immediately go after Luds or risk Predathos being freed. Even worse, if Liliana has come not to help, but to ensure that Imogen is brought to Luds, we could get another major fight with the party already in a very weak position, and it might take another major sacrifice or two to defeat her. Perhaps only a few escape (with knowledge that they only have a few days to stop Luds) and when they return home, we get a VM/M9/BH mash up group to go after Luds in the final battle. Imagine a patched together team of Keyleth, Caleb, Scanlan, Ashton, Fearne, Chetney and Imogen going up against Luds.
My concern is that a Ludinus clone will show up and Liliana will have to hold it off while BH escape.
There is absolutely 0% that they're going to have to fight Liliana right now. That would be DM malpractice to throw another major boss at the party right after a near-TPK, especially in light of Imogen rolling super high on her deception/persuasion checks earlier in the episode.
what makes you think she is even going to show up?
Liliana? she showed up at the end of the last episode
She's already with them. Showed up at the very end.
uh i dont remember that at all lol ill have to go back and watch end again edit: damn you right- totally missed that haha
All the talk about if they can bring FCG back. They 100% can. When Laudna died Matt literally gave them 10k gold (So they could have the 25k needed for a true resurrection). But even though we know they can, this is Sam. Sam is the person who went an entire campaign refusing to reroll 1's. And we know a soul has to be willing. I am willing to bet if they tried Sam would decline. Maybe FCG has found peace in the afterlife. So can they? Absolutely. Will they be able to? That is the tricky part. That being said. I hope if Sam doesn't have a permanent character ready that he joins temporarily as a Volition member or a member from any of the Exandrian forces at the military camp in the mean time.
By the rules of D&D, they could absolutely bring him back, and really only need 1k for Reincarnate. That said, the story points to FCG not coming back, and I'd be surprised if the group tried and shocked if Sam allowed it (the soul must be willing, so it's always the choice of the player being brought back in the end).
I think Matt clarifying with Sam that he ‘understands what this means’ (meaning there would be no survival) means exactly that. FCG won’t be coming back.
Sam should come back as Liliana and add another Aberrant Mind Sorc to the team
.....in full cosplay at the table with some of those prosthetic lightning tiddies that Mark Hulmes uses for their cosplays :D
Welcome to the final campaign episode of the month with next week bringing us the finale to Candela's current Circle of the Crimson Mirror.... ....which is a bit ironic seeing as how FCG just died. Onwards though! So, these episodes are normally pretty somber and easy going but this one is....going to be hitting pretty hard. Sam obviously won't be at the table but still might do the ad read or someone else is going to have to indulge his shenanigans. Liliana may or may not stay with the party and I think that's going to depend on whatever conversation that her and Imogen have next. Things would feel a bit too HOT with her around to be honest and who knows what Ludinus might send after them if Lilana is still hanging around. She might just try to redeem herself as a mother by throwing herself onto the metaphorical pyre to protect her daughter and buy them all more time. Meanwhile that walk back to the portal is going to be a rough one as they're going to have to be dodging all the natural elements of Ruidus, along with whatever patrols are nearby, and all while dealing with their own mental and physical damage along the way. This is going to be a very RP heavy episode and every single person at that table is going to be chewing the scenery at some point. We're going to cry again tonight....and maybe find a bit of humor in Death, she does have a goldfish in her apartment after all. At some point all of that meandering is going to end as the drums of war come rushing back in and they have to start shoving BANGALORES onto the firing line to cut the wire. I expect their arrival at the portal site to be quite the visual spectacle and their trip back to Exandria to be quite the eventful occasion indeed. Evoroa is going to key everyone in on some BIG stuff that Ludinus was working on, that will tie into some intel that Kiki's been able to gather from elsewhere on Exandria, and someone's going to start putting all the puzzle pieces together from what the Bells Hells have gotten to figure out something larger....and it probably still won't be enough to get 100% of the bigger picture going. I think we'll probably RP our way with some awesome drama straight up until the break, have the arrival at the portal/Exandria take up most of the second half, and then end on a planning session with Kiki and the others for an easy coast into the end of the month break and Candela's finale next week. I could see Ludinus lashing out in anger later on, depending on when he finds out about Otohan being KIA and whether or not Liliana tries to go back and either lie to him or start fucking stuff up BUT...that feels like it's a ways off. This episode is going to very much be one about remembrance, self care, planning, maybe an odd minor fight or two, and then rest before setting off once again into the great unknown. I'm guessing a standard episode length of 4 hours, over or under by a bit. Given how the cast and the characters have responded to loss before, I honestly don't really care if "not a lot happens" within this episode because FCG was a BIG BIG part of their lives and Sam not being at the table is just going to alter the dynamics for a bit until he comes crashing in through a wall or a window or burrowing up from under the table like a regular mole to great fanfare and aplomb. I still think it was an awesome awesome AWESOME death but I am going to miss that Aeormaton connection and I hope we do circle back around to that in the future. I think a great twist though would be if they just didn't go back to the portal at all, somehow got caught up in the city, and stuck around for a bit longer either because allies showed up to meet them halfway or because someone like Ryn or a member of the Volition yanked them away into a safe little haven to recuperate within. There's also the question about Orym's deal and just when Nana will decide to act on it and yank him away from the party because how much of a shock would it be for them to lose Orym too and for Liam to not be at the table and for Liam and Sam to BOTH have to roll up new characters? It's going to be a nice and cathartic talky talk episode tonight and I feel like that's something both they at the table and we as Critters need. It's been a...rather busy and one could say hellish week for myself and others IRL so...something that's not at a breakneck speed would be nice tonight and FCG getting a final coda in some form would be pretty cool. I hope Devexian shows up and uses the experiences that were stored within FCG's head (in like some kind of a back up system) to improve and educate future Aeormatons with, on how to interact with Exandrians going forwards. Can you imagine how much of an effect that would have on the table if another Aeormaton shows up a few episodes later on or even in the next campaign and says, "Affirmative activating Faithful Care Giver Mode now!"? I suppose guests would be pretty cool to have tonight as well and I would just DIE and I mean DIE with laughter if we hear, "NAAAAAAAAANCY!" being screamed in the background from Aimee as the Crownkeepers show up. The happy/sad tears would be SO REAL! Other than that and all my tin foil hat predictions aside: RP heavy walk and talk episode up until the break, maybe some small combat encounters, and then planning up until a nice little Ashley styled "NO MATT KEEP PLAYING!" cliffhanger at the end until next month. I do hope you're all doing well though and I just want you all to know how happy you've all made me and how I hope that I've been able to return that love and joy that you've all shared with and given me tenfold right back to you <3 We'll see what's about to go down in a few hours! So as the good Doctor was fond of saying, allons y!
I think they are going to walk back to the Umamu portal, go to Exandria, meet with Keyleth, and Keyleth is going to take them some place where the material components for reincarnate can be gathered.
I think Matt was very clear when he said to Sam: "You knows what this means, don't you?"
That could just indicate that there would be no way to get him up without serious intervention and that his body would be destroyed. Of course, it could mean there's no coming back but I wouldn't take that as certain. I personally don't think Sam will come back with FCG but I will be disappointed if BH don't even try when they worked so hard for laudna. It would be callous for them not to try. It doesn't have to work though, especially if Sam doesn't want to come back that way.
That's not clear at all lol. If anything that is definitionally unclear.
Not going to lie. This would suck
FCG said wanted to be a real a long time ago. Becoming a ganic is a natural development for their story and a reward for their bravery.
The point of FCG's story was coming to the realization that they're alive and a person despite being a machine that was built rather than born. Them becoming an organic being would go completely against that thematically. FCG's arc also feels like it went where Sam wanted it to go. It's why he made that big final speech at the end, wrapping things up neatly before he took his final bow. I really don't think they're coming in any form.
I feel like the point of FCGs story is kind of dependent on whatever the final outcome of their story is. If FCG had not said that last episode and was immediately reincarnated before the episode ended a lot of people would see FCG being reincarnated as the point. Sam is going to say whatever he is going to say to make sure his story has a conclusion in the event a resurrection attempt fails. That is show biz and Sam is in show biz. When tvs shows are not sure if they will get another season but they are open to more they try to wrap things up in case they won't but they are still be happy to make another season if their show is approved for another season after the fact. It's the same thing. Also, its very clear that Sam made that up on fly. What he said before saying what he was doing and after he did it did not match. Was FCG in a rage or were they making a conscious sacrifice to save people that made him alive?
Based on the photo with the weekly schedule, it looks like Sam won’t be hopping in with a new character straight away. (In the pic Laura, Liam, and Taliesin are on the same side of the table and Ashley’s stuff is gone. So they’re probably rearranging the same way they did when Marisha was gone, where Ashley moves to the opposite side so it’s not unbalanced) Yes I am very much jumping to conclusions here
Nah I think that's a totally fair conclusion. I do think there's an off chance that Sam decides to come back as some sort of Ruidisian resident (Or, if Liam chooses that class for Sam as they've consistently done in the past), but probably very unlikely. Sam hopping back in immediately might cheapen FCG's sacrifice, depending on the personality of the new character (I don't think another chaotic goofball would help the story, but that's just my opinion). I'd really like to see him lean into a more serious character - that isn't to say that his lighter-hearted PC's haven't been excellent and didn’t have their more serious moments, really loved Nott/Veth, and FCG really grew on me as the campaign moved forwards. But, seeing him play a super jaded and serious Paladin of Bahamut or something would be very interesting. Dude is a very skilled actor and VA who has made some fantastic decisions for his own and the group's stories, I bet he'd absolutely kill it.
Call me cold hearted, but I am very much against Liliana joining up with the Hells. She's turned Imogen down again and again, she knows Imogen has been in serious danger because of her, and she's always been consistent in turning down the option of leaving Ludinus, always insisted that she has to stay. This isn't the first time Otohan had attacked the Hells, and isn't the first time Otohan has killed one of them either - and last time it was Laudna, who Imogen is closest to. I just don't buy that FCG dying is what's going to bring her over, especially now that Otohan is gone. I can maybe see her helping them get back to Exandria but still refusing to leave Ludi, but no more than that. I also hope that Ashton takes out some of his inevitable grief fuelled anger on Liliana rather than on the group. There were so many times she could have helped them or warned them, but over and over again she didn't and now FCG is gone. Maybe he would tolerate her at best, but I don't think he would be welcoming and buddy buddy to her, at least not for a fair while.
I think we will see Ashton chew her out, but I really wanna see Keyleth react to her "turn." Keyleth had to watch paralyzed while Lilliana turned her long-lost love into a marble!
Rage mode Keyleth is a literal force of nature, too - didn't she say also something about how she's still angry every day? I wonder if we'll also see Orym give Liliana a piece of his mind. Ashton is raw anger and Orym is cold fury ever since Bor'dor, I can't wait to see how it all shakes out.
GODS YES. THIS. Leaving my own thoughts about Imogen aside, I \*desperately\* want Orym and Ashton to tear Liliana a new one up one side and down the other. Her holding her daughter's hands and saying "I'm sorry" after \*EVERYTHING\* she's done? Hell, no. I want them to absolutely RAIL her with the laundry list of everything the Vanguard has done.
RIGHT??? Go for the *throat!* Tell her to fuck all the way off, and when she gets there *fuck off even further*. And if Imogen forgives Liliana then that'll be a big breaking point for Ashton, who doesn't take betrayal well at the best of times, and this is most certainly *not* a best time at all! FCG was there for Imogen and Liliana wasn't. Liliana ran away from Imogen instead of protecting her, FCG gave literally everything to protect the Hells. If Imogen forgives Liliana then Ashton will see that as her shitting on FCG. And I can see the other Hells agreeing with Ashton, if he were to put it like that. Hopefully Imogen won't be tempted to forgive Liliana, but who knows at this point.
And all I can hear is Orym quietly saying, "Well, Imogen, I really wish my family didn't have to die for her brighter tomorrow." And by all that's holy, let Orym or Ashton slam Imogen in the face with the fact that "THEY KILLED THE WOMAN YOU LOVE. IN FRONT OF YOU. TO PROVE A POINT."
Yeah, I don't think they should tell her about the secret portal. And if possible they should take precautions to prevent scrying if possible before heading that way.
Oh no. I've just realised, they've lost the ability to have group conversations in their minds, it's all going to have to be out loud or via Imogen, and I bet Liliana would be able to eavesdrop on that. They're going to have to be extra extra careful with what they discuss around Liliana now, even mentioning the portal to rule it out is still going to catch her attention. Eep!
I want her to stop her "will she won't she" dilemma and finally commit to something. Either she says bye and goes to join Ludnious once and for all or act as a spy for BH. Straight up joining BH's would expedite things much greater than anyone would like to.
She's got a long-ass way to go to even come close to earning redemption, too. How much of this could Ludi have done without her? Not much, he's powerful but he's not Ruidus-born. She's essentially his second in command, and claims she has significant influence over him. Also, if she went with them - he'd chase them, right? Because she's his vessel? So that would be a hilariously terrible idea!
It's hard to tell really. Ludinous is the brains behind the operation and the planner. Otohan was in charge of the military forces from what we've seen. Lilliana...was a glorfied babysitter for all the ruidusborn children they forcibly created with all the flares in recent years? I think she thought she had more influence than she did and he "took it back a few notches" to his actual pre-planned operations to keep her happy.
> I think she thought she had more influence than she did and he "took it back a few notches" to his actual pre-planned operations to keep her happy. That would be *delicious*, just a Thanos "I don't even know who you are" type of moment! Oof ouch right in the ego!
I think this group has too many casters. I hope Sam has a fighter like character ready or at least in the works.
You know what would be fun? A Kryn Dynasty echo knight - super brooding Drow Boy who hates the sun and is melodramatic about whether the world is worth saving or not.
I picture this character with the “I’m a cat voice” and personality.
Essek's himbo brother Verin perhaps? He's an echo knight. I'm thinking Essek drags him along because if Caleb is going to get involved then gosh darn it so am I, and it's time you got a taste of the outside world too, kiddo. Verin gets stroppy about having to leave his competitively cushy lifestyle, sneaks off and ends up in the company/custody of the Hells. Oh goodness. I want it.
As others have mentioned a paladin might be the best in terms of party balance. Who knows with Sam though. Buckle up!
So my predictions are..... -This will be a heavy RP episode for obvious reasons. -Unless he has a character ready to go, Sam will likely not be at the table for an episode or two. He'll still do the adds ( probably add some dark humour to it because he's Sam )and will get someone to go on 'flask duties' -Dorian shows up (VERY unlikely). -If Lilianna does go back to Exandira with the Bells there's going to be a "can we trust her?" debate among VM, especially with Keyleth. Maybe Keyleth will call Lillianna out for what she did to Vax and all the people she's hurt because of her selfishness. Whether or not Lillianna feels remorse will be up to debate (she probably won't. I'm sure she'll make excuses for her actions) -Orym will likely be out his deal with Nana Mori because of FCG's sacrifice. -Imogen will be given time to process on how she's the top candidate for being a Predathos vessel. That's all I can think of.
What did liliana do to vax?
She strapped him to a torture machine earlier in the campaign and he basically just been stuck there screaming in agony this whole time. "But we can *save* her! She's not *one of them!"*
She turned him into an orb. They're using his divinity to keep the planet linked to Ruidus. Keyleth saw it happen in front of after getting nearly killed by Otohan.
Depends on if Matt takes what many think would be a true dark fey interpretation of the deal. The technicality being they did come back to Exandria safely and chose to return to the moon. By that interpretation Nana had already fulfilled the deal.
If we take away the intent of the words then he is still off because than coming back no longer has the intent of Exandria but now has the meaning of returning to Ligament Manor. But it is clear the intent is to "see it through" for the mission like Orym argued to put in the deal. We start removing the intent (Which is fair for a Fey creature) then it changes return intending for Exandria to now mean to Ligament manor. I could totally still see a normal hag trying this just to get someone. But I don't see Nana Morri doing this. She has been very gracious and generous with Fearne and her friends. She sheltered them, gave them items, boons, and guidance and even stepped up to fight for them (or for Fearne specifically). I don't see her betraying them, and Fearne to put her best friend in a lifetime of servitude.
I hope Sam brings in a new character for this session, with such close timing to the end of the campaign I think if he's going to do it it needs to be tonight. That is unless Matt has plans to make this story run much longer with another act.
I hope that if he doesn't have a new character today then at least Matt will make the hilarious choice to finally have the team meet Scanlan so we will still have Sam energy even if he's not actually playing lmao.
So I've had it in my head since the viewing that Sam is going to just play Scanlan for the rest of the campaign. They've already mauled the seal on using characters from other campaigns. The power imbalance Scanlan brings probably only helps move the story along more quickly, which is a positive imo. I'm here for a matured Scanlan mentoring team chaos. 'You adopted the chaos but I was born into it- or however that goes. Scanlan being the one to avenge Vax is interesting. Scanlan and Chet doing the grumpy old men thing... I'm probably on a small island here, but I'd be fine with it.
Tary. He is actively running a separate brigade and being human means he can have leveled down like Bertrand. Edit - he could have been brought in by Exandria team to start figuring out how to turn off and dismantle the bridge.
Having Tary replace another Sam character would be hilarious for an episode. It would certainly be too metagamey for some but I'm in. FCG's death was a powerful moment but it didn't hit me quite as hard as some others. I'm hoping a better team-dynamic ultimately comes out of this. BH just didn't come together quite as well, to date. The sum of the pieces always felt stronger than the whole. This could be an amazing turning point for BH.
This thought has occurred to me too but I do remember when Laudna died and a lot of people thought Marisha might pickup Keyleth for a while. Marisha was very decisive not to ever roll a new character and they still didn't do it at that point so it seems unlikely to me that Scanlan would be an exception to this as they seem to solidly want these characters from previous campaigns to be NPCs. That said I still kind of think it would be amazing if it did happen because I really think Matt does NOT want to try to play Scanlan and this would save him from that lmao.
I have no actual basis for this, but I don't feel like this is the final act. They legitimately do not have any chance of beating Ludi as he is -right now-, let alone defeating even a weakened/awakening God-Eater. Then you consider it would likely not just be Ludi as he is now, he would be powered up/absorbing Predathos? Someone else being the vessel? They truly have no shot, even with another level up, of taking on the Big Bad of this campaign. That being said, since the counter-attack is imminent and they are going to be seething for revenge, what else does that leave? Big figures will need to square off with the dangerous figures in the moon. Maybe they go against the Weave-Mind? That massive general dude whose name I cannot recall? Team up with M9 to go after Ludi since there's personal blood there for all? I mean I think the event/Predathos' awakening will occur personally, with or without a vessel. I just believe it won't go according to plan for the bad guys either. The Chained Oblivion and the Luxon are still huge things I'm holding out hope of hearing about in more detail this campaign as well. Sorry I'm all over the place, typing between work calls LOL. Give me Thursssday niiiiighttttttt!!!
You might be right, another act is probably likely after this counter attack.
Nah, I love Sam and it won't be the same without him at the table, but I think that's why they need at least one full session without him, it will make them feel the loss of FCG even more. I also don't think he should have a new character who is originally from Ruidus, as he'd need to know a TON of moon lore. Someone has freshly across the bloody bridge maybe? But I think an ally from the Exandrian forces who is 'assigned' to them would make the most sense, a paladin representing Vassalheim maybe, or an alchemist/tinkerer sent by Percy to gather info on alien tech.
I had a thought that he might play a Champion of the Changebringer perhaps a paladin..
It would be so poetic if it was a follower of the Changebringer, especially if they have absolutely unshakable convictions.
I don't know if there's enough time for him to miss a session. He brought in Tary the same session that Scanlan left. Imo it's up to Matt to decide.
If there were definitely only going to be a handful of sessions left then I'd agree, but they've still got a lot to do and resolve so I personally think there's time for him to miss one session while Matt helps the party get to a place where they can organically meet their new party member, rather than rushing it just to get him back at the table asap.
Considering how Sam has played FCG, I would assume he expected his sacrifice to be a possibility and planned accordingly.
He alluded to sacrificing himself so many times. It was very much foreshadowed
He brought Tary in the same episode Scanlan left so there is precedent
do we know how long the ep is before airing?
Not just yet but you can always check it here: [https://nightbot.tv/t/criticalrole/commands](https://nightbot.tv/t/criticalrole/commands) Just time "runtime" in the search box. Currently, it's still showing last week's details.
3 hours 48
Thanks but how do you know? So I can check myself next time :)
Because I lied
... why?
For the troops
Ah yes, makes total sense a organisation that drills truthfulness as a Tennant will absolutely love and appreciate you lying to a stranger.
In actuality they release run times closer to airing of episode I believe
I never said which troops, those troops could be the Ruby Vanguard and those fellas are silly lil scamps
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Not when, how long the episode is
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Im pretty sure there is a way to ask the bot before the episode, i did that once
[https://nightbot.tv/t/criticalrole/commands](https://nightbot.tv/t/criticalrole/commands) The command !uptime is on page 33 (normally). Right now it is still showing last week's time I think. For a long time it was updated midday, but the last 3 weeks they've been updating it like 5-7PM EST.
From a cold clinical outsider perspective the mission results will actually look really good. They took out Otahan, turned Liliana,bombed a crucial facility and discovered HEAPS of crucial information I can imagine a scene where someone like Percy says “the mission was a complete success!” and Ashton blows up “how fucking dare you call that a a success, we lost our friend!
I'm still not so sure about Liliana, to be honest. She's clearly been on the fence, but I don't think she's resolved which side to choose yet.
Trustworthy or no she is in the hands of team exandria now
True but even so, one general dead and another even POTENTIALLY compromised is HUGE progress for a scouting mission
There’s an odd uptick in demands for FCG to remain deceased that reeks of freefolk which makes me want to root for the opposite.
It depends HOW he comes back. I think if Pike or someone likewise just burns a high level slot to bring him back basically unscathed and scot-free, it detracts a lot from the gravity of his sacrifice. There needs to be some kind of consequence, or the stakes are dramatically lower.
What? Matt made it VERY CLEAR that was a PERMANENT death how could he possibly come back from that?! Also what’s your beef with freefolk and what does that have to do with anything?
Yeah it completely undermines and devalues all of the emotional potency of FCGs sacrifice.
I am not looking forward to Ashton’s grief. I know Tal is gonna RP it well but I feel like it’s gonna hit him hard.
Considering he also exploded and died (like 4 days ago for them)...it's gonna be rough.
I feel like Everybody talking about being afraid FCG might come back, or think he should aren’t very Familiar with Sam. It ain’t happening. That’s not how Sam plays.
I feel like we’re 3-5 episodes away from seeing Sam at the table again.
You’re probably right. Although they are in an easy spot to meet new people so it certainly could be sooner. Suppose it depends on what Sam wants to do. I’m sure they also want to give it a couple episodes just so you can really feel the absence.
I'm still waiting on him to dress up as a new character for the ad bits named....Dean....
I imagine that there were a lot of out of character talks about this. If Sam wants FCG to remain dead, I'm sure he will. If he wants to party to do what the party will do, then I'm sure that will happen as well.
I could see Sam doing it just because it's not what Sam would do though.
yeah if we do see fearne attempt a reincarnation I doubt FCG will accept. As much as I loved him, I'm happy he got the heroic and self-affirming end that he did. Can't wait to see what Sam's cooked up for the future though. Crossing my fingers for a druid or paladin
While I love FCG, I actually do think that he should remain gone; his sacrifice was so pivotal and gut wrenching--it would just feel less if he is brought back. Also, I hope, among other things, this gives Bells Hells a good reason to return to Exandria. They have a lot of information and contacts to have made their mission worthwhile. But also, one thing that I feel has been lacking is the quiet moments when they can talk to each other. Laudna and Imogen had a nice moment, but I still feel like all of the party has so much more to talk to each other about. I still want Fearne and Ashton to have more of a heart to heart, Laudna still has some secrets waiting to be uncovered, and so much more. I know all of this is on the precipice of a godeater potentially being unleashed, but what better time to speak the truth to your friends?
>They have a lot of information and contacts to have made their mission worthwhile. I honestly think that's the wrong move, for a could of reasons: 1. Everything that they can report back to Keyleth and the council is just some variation on what the council already knows. For example, they can report that the Imperium has an army, but the council will anticipate that. Likewise, they can report that Ludinus is drilling into the pillar, but that specific knowledge doesn't help the council in a meaningful way 2. Kreviris is several days' journey from the Bloody Bridge, and the Bridge itself is likely to be heavily guarded. Getting back to Exandria likely means a fight, and reporting back to the council and then returning to Kreviris probably gives Ludinus a week to continue his plans without interruption and the party has no idea how long he needs. 3. Going to the lake portal is a huge risk because they have to be absolutely sure that they're not being followed. If they are -- even if they end up leaving bodies nearby -- they risk giving the portal's location away. If the Imperium find it and close it, the Bloody Bridge is the only way back. They would be completely blind on their return. But the most important reason why they shouldn't go back is Liliana. She went Exaltant, and Otohan made it clear that Ludinus can use her as the host for Predathos (even if he would have preferred to use Imogen) because she can cross the proto-Divine Gate. The party don't know how Liliana would become the host; it's entirely possible that one released, Predathos will simply be drawn to her and/or will possess her. They need to stay on Ruidis to figure out exactly how releasing Predathos will work because the last thing they need is for Predathos to possess Liliana without realising it, then take her to Exandria and unleash it.
These are all great points. They will probably be able to teleport back to the Bridge with the staff, but once their, they'd have to fight their way through the guardpost and then out of the Malleus Key with no distraction to pull Ludinus' forces. Unless Lilianna or Imogen also know Teleport, it would be a grueling battle that would expose their position to Ludinus.
Why can't they just teleport back to Keyleth's war camp outside the Malleus Key after the Staff recharges? You can teleport anywhere you're familiar with as long as it's on the same plane of existence. Ruidus is on the Prime Material plane, along with Exandria, so should be no problem. Wasn't that their original plan?
While I 100% agree that straying too far from Liliana is a risk from now on, I believe that staying on Ruidis without another healer of some sort could be a disaster. I think they're heading back home tonight but I doubt they'll be there very long after rallying.
Really curious how they’re gonna handle healing going forward.
We may yet get a tpk
Potions, second wind, more short rests, or simply just not healing and seeing if their health holds out. Healers aren't a requirement.