What Bits May Come | 4-Sided Dive | Episode 30 Discussing Up To C3117

Summary

Critical Role Podcast Summary: "What Bits May Come | 4-Sided Dive | Episode 30 Discussing Up To C3117"

Release Date: December 20, 2024

Welcome to Episode 30 of "Four Sided Dive," where the Critical Role team delves deep into the intricacies of their ongoing campaigns. This episode concentrates on discussions up to Campaign 31, Episode 17 (C3117), offering fans an intimate look into combat strategies, character dynamics, and the ever-evolving narrative of their beloved tabletop roleplaying games.

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1. Malleus Key Fight: Strategies and Experiences

The discussion kicks off with an in-depth analysis of the recent Malleus Key battle, a pivotal confrontation in the campaign.

• Combat Mechanics and Challenges:

  • Marisha Ray commends the battle's design, highlighting the intricate mechanics introduced by their game master (GM), Matt Mercer. "The mechanics that Matt came up with were incredible," she remarks ([43:06]).
  • Robbie Daymond shares his experience with complex tactics, such as casting Time Stop and delayed Fireball spells, emphasizing the high-risk, high-reward nature of such choices. "It was fun... I cast a spell, and then it's D4 plus one turns. I rolled a four on four side of die." ([44:38])

• Team Dynamics and Decision Making:

  • Liam O'Brien reflects on decision paralysis during the fight, especially with a new character build that limited his mobility. "I spent my whole last turn. I'm going to go over here." ([19:59])
  • Ashley Johnson discusses her character's spontaneous actions and the unpredictability of battle scenarios. "If you cut the... What the fuck is up with that?" ([07:04])

• Notable Quotes:

  • Liam O'Brien on grappling with new builds: "I felt like cloistered to a certain area and it was hard for me." ([19:59])
  • Robbie Daymond on spell usage: "It's actually one of the closest ways of natural human speech. It mimics natural human speech." ([10:24])

2. Character Development and Relationships

Exploring the intricate relationships and character arcs that drive the narrative forward.

• Pike and Scanlan's Potential Romance:

  • The panel speculates on the budding relationship between Pike and Scanlan, discussing the long lifespans of gnomes and the possibility of a late-life romance. "Maybe we'll get married." ([14:36])
  • Marisha Ray envisions them as "star-crossed lovers" with deep emotional connections. "I could see pike and Scanlan being that couple where they're like, we're old." ([14:31])

• Fearne's Grief and Vax's Return:

  • Ashley Johnson delves into Fearne's emotional turmoil following the return of Vax, emphasizing the profound impact on her character. "It's tragic... knowing that she has to go home alone tonight." ([118:14])
  • Marisha Ray relates Fearne's experience to real-life grief, portraying her as an allegory for the complexities of moving on. "Keyleth is this whole other person who lives not just in my head, but in all of our." ([120:18])

• Notable Quotes:

  • Robbie Daymond on character motivations: "And my life is still meant to be one of service to counterbalance the darkness of my beginning." ([63:07])
  • Ashley Johnson on Fearne’s feelings: "It's tragic... how could you just... How could you just." ([120:18])

3. The Tower of Inquiry: Interactive Segment

A playful yet insightful segment where the hosts engage with fan questions, adding a layer of interactivity to the discussion.

• Pulling Questions:

  • The hosts take turns answering questions pulled from the "Tower of Inquiry," addressing fan curiosities about character decisions and hypothetical scenarios.
  • Danny Carr emphasizes the collaborative nature of the tournament, stating, "We have had moments in the show that I have laughed so hard I peed a little." ([150:37])

• Notable Interaction:

  • A humorous moment occurs when the hosts struggle to pull a block without causing the tower to fall, leading to playful banter and lighthearted exchanges. "What if he just turned to you?" ([140:34])

• Notable Quotes:

  • Danny Carr on answering questions: "It's been so different... figuring out where they fit in and what makes sense." ([66:35])
  • Marisha Ray on experimental formats: "Creativity often has to happen inside of a box." ([149:53])

4. Reflections on Campaign Storylines and Lore

The conversation shifts to broader reflections on the campaign’s storytelling elements and the integration of Exandria's rich lore.

• Animated Series Integration:

  • Robbie Daymond discusses the seamless blending of animated characters like Zerxus into the main campaign, pondering the "what-ifs" of altering original campaign moments. "We decided Keyleth is the Spire of Conflux." ([66:42])

• Unanswered Mysteries:

  • The hosts express curiosity over unresolved plot points, such as the hidden ice forest city and the implications of defeating key NPCs. "There's a Whole probably other city under JRUSAR that we haven't even like..." ([78:30])

• Notable Quotes:

  • Liam O'Brien on storytelling parallels: "What a blessing... stepping in to be the protagonist of their own favorite book." ([121:00])
  • Marisha Ray on lore integration: "We tried new things, we tossed out new ideas... we had some crushed, some flopped." ([149:53])

5. Final Discussion Points and Closing Remarks

As the episode winds down, the hosts share final thoughts on their collaborative efforts and the enduring bond within the Critical Role community.

• Appreciation for the Team:

  • Danny Carr lauds co-host Kyle Shire for his creativity and support, stating, "I have to do some research... get back on the table." ([127:22])
  • Marisha Ray emphasizes the importance of experimenting with different formats and gives thanks to the audience for their support and flexibility. "A massive thank you to our audience who gave us that grace." ([146:57])

• Notable Quotes:

  • Liam O'Brien on the emotional resonance of their stories: "It's a story of Eurydice and Orpheus... we learn about the human heart." ([121:00])
  • Robbie Daymond on the campaign’s impact: "We've lived the dynamics of those relationships for...one user years." ([120:53])

6. Notable Quotes Summary

• "The mechanics that Matt came up with were incredible." — Marisha Ray ([43:06])
• "It's actually one of the closest ways of natural human speech. It mimics natural human speech." — Robbie Daymond ([10:24])
• "Maybe we'll get married." — Liam O'Brien ([14:36])
• "It's tragic... how could you just... How could you just." — Ashley Johnson ([120:18])
• "Creativity often has to happen inside of a box." — Marisha Ray ([149:53])
• "It's a story of Eurydice and Orpheus... we learn about the human heart." — Liam O'Brien ([121:00])

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Conclusion

Episode 30 of "Four Sided Dive" offers a compelling blend of tactical combat analysis, heartfelt character discussions, and interactive fan engagement. The Critical Role team not only dissects pivotal moments within their campaigns but also reflects on the profound emotional journeys of their characters, resonating deeply with the audience. As they navigate the complexities of storytelling and character development, the bond among the hosts and their dedication to the craft shine through, promising even more captivating adventures in future episodes.

Thank you for tuning in! If you enjoyed this summary, consider dropping a rating and review on your favorite podcast platform.

Transcript

[Liam O'Brien]

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[Marisha Ray]

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[Ashley Johnson]

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[Robbie Daymond]

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[Liam O'Brien]

We are so excited to share with you our brand new podcast from the World of Exandria the Re Slayer's Take.

[Robbie Daymond]

In this audio adventure, you'll be guided.

[Liam O'Brien]

Through the wild continent of Issylra, home to some of the most dangerous creatures. Here, the Slayer's Take is the most notorious monster hunting group in the realm, but when previously slain creatures start returning from the grave, it's up to six misfit mercenaries to band together and reslay these supernatural threats as the Reslayers take. So come follow along these audio escapades as the second coolest monster hunters this side of Exandria battle a growing undead army of dangerous creatures. The party is led by a duo of game masters, George Primavera and Nick Williams, with the main cast including Jasmine Buular, Caroline Lux and Jasmine Shion. Listen to new episodes every Monday anywhere you stream podcasts or become a Beacon member and listen to the podcast two weeks early and uninterrupted by ads.

[Marisha Ray]

Welcome to Four Sided Dive, Critical Role's monthly show featuring a roundtable discussion about the events and characters of our current campaign alongside a heavy helping of hijinx. Four Sided Dive usually airs the first Tuesday of every month at 7pm Pacific on our Twitch and YouTube channels, with the VOD available on YouTube the very next day. And of course each episode releases right here on the Critical Role Podcast Network the following Friday. Let's take a dive, shall we?

[Robbie Daymond]

Four sided dive. Thy light fades dim and low. Done are the days of queries towering tall and broomy dear, his gogled eyes forsworn. Look, there he leans forgotten, cloaked in dust While Mappo sulks his dark soul left unloved despite the crew's hard labor lifting him aloft. How oft they tried and yet the vibe most fel the tragedy of mop that welcomed hell. Hark ye the aimless din of opens cold accursed block a sea block born of dreams rash with the hands that sought to summon marvels yet side the crowd begone benign block and cease cruel chorus of cross talk crass and callow A verbal salad chaos of cacophony, Croutons of law so rudely tossed and tainted that then were buried low beneath the fraught and feckless crunch of shard and maddened mummery. But here, here sits the deepest wound of all. Poor Liam O. Genteel, witty Liam O, who hosted only once Ere now, alas, for 30 terms have come to pass and he, he twice alone was bid to wear the crown who fated him to draw these lots so ill? Why twice, when he a heart so true and keen Deserved a hundred chances at the helm? An oversight of crew burned out and bleary a bit or not a bit that is in question. Tis villainy, I say, a foul disgrace and my eyes turn to rain My heart twice the dive had four sides, yet I hosted twice. Tis folly now hour revels round to sleep. We thank you critters who did take the dive for surer show need not know what it is to know the hearts of those who take it in. Welcome to Foresight and Dive. Let's do one final show for Campaign 3. Oh, welcome back, friends. It's so good to have you here. Thank you, Kyle, for giving me some iambic pentameter meat to chew on. Oh, Kyle.

[Marisha Ray]

Shire hum.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yum.

[Robbie Daymond]

Real good. Real good.

[Ashley Johnson]

Even though I had no idea what.

[Robbie Daymond]

You were talking about. Yeah, not sure I did either.

[Ashley Johnson]

I got crouton lore and that was. That made sense to your brain?

[Robbie Daymond]

Well, I did spend months in prep, so I'm a little disappointed in myself.

[Marisha Ray]

Little summer stock action.

[Robbie Daymond]

Well, we've got so much to talk about tonight, so why don't we just get to it? We're gonna begin with our typical discussion segment. What the fuck is up with that?

[Liam O'Brien]

I get it. It was a metered poetry joke. I was there. I was there. I was there with it. I just chose not to laugh. Take that. What?

[Marisha Ray]

What?

[Robbie Daymond]

What the fuck is up with that? It's.

[Liam O'Brien]

Well, it starts with the trick.

[Marisha Ray]

It's not really.

[Liam O'Brien]

It doesn't work.

[Robbie Daymond]

If you cut the. What the fuck is up with that? Then you're good.

[Liam O'Brien]

It's a good standard deviation.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

The fuck is up with that? Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

Can I ask a question that has nothing to do with anything?

[Robbie Daymond]

We don't do questions.

[Liam O'Brien]

No problem.

[Ashley Johnson]

Can someone break down iambic pentameter to me?

[Robbie Daymond]

Sure.

[Liam O'Brien]

Really?

[Marisha Ray]

Yes.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yes, absolutely.

[Ashley Johnson]

Because I didn't. I was never like a Shakespeare kid. I like it.

[Marisha Ray]

You've asked the right.

[Ashley Johnson]

Shakespeare's great. I have acid rapidly.

[Marisha Ray]

Well, pentameter, okay, the pentatonix don't mess.

[Liam O'Brien]

This up or the theater nerds are gonna destroy us.

[Danny Carr]

I'm showing your audience right now.

[Marisha Ray]

So pent means five. Iambic, I think, refers to the cadence.

[Robbie Daymond]

Every line of Shakespeare's verse goes but up bad. Up bad. Up bad. Up bada. So stress in those words almost exclusively. Not 100% of the time. Yeah. Oh, what a rogue and peasant slave am I.

[Liam O'Brien]

Language is going off well, but when they're not.

[Robbie Daymond]

The only example of iambic pentameter there is.

[Liam O'Brien]

And when they're not an iambic pentameter, usually at the beginning or the end, it's called a troche. It's called a trochee. Sometimes it's called a standard deviation, which he often wrote in if you need a word that doesn't quite fit in. And these are divided via scansion and each of those broken syllables.

[Ashley Johnson]

Scansion.

[Liam O'Brien]

Scansion is what you use to determine poetic meter. And it's interpretive. And you can add diacritical marks to scan a piece of text, those things.

[Robbie Daymond]

Uh huh, yeah. And it flows really well when it goes bad. Up, bada, bada. However, the trochee, some say, is when you really wanna like jar the audience or like have a thought that sticks out. Instead of going ba da bada bada, it goes ba, ba, ba, ba. There was a trochee or two in the cold open.

[Liam O'Brien]

And I think in. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think in Lear he goes, never, never, never, never, never. At a key moment when he's going bad. That's the opposite of iambic pentameters, that he's losing his mind.

[Danny Carr]

It's also a way that you're able to essentially have the writer direct your actors, because if they also know how to read the iambic pentameter, you know what he's the emotion that he's wanting you, by the way, that the pentameter is broken up in these trochees in the scansion and things like that. Because it's essentially a way to have shorter rehearsal periods as well during this time. And he's just essentially saying, okay, I've given you this monologue, and via all of the clues, I have left you within the actual way that it is written. I have told you how I want you to read this, how I want you to deliver it.

[Liam O'Brien]

Nerds.

[Robbie Daymond]

Nerds, for my money. Just. It feels good to say the words when they're in iambic pentameter. It just. It flows off the tongue real well.

[Danny Carr]

It's actually one of the closest ways of natural human speech. It mimics natural human speech.

[Marisha Ray]

Well, he also. He has that whole, like, the one soliloquy, right, that's trippingly. Tripping on.

[Robbie Daymond]

Speak the speech, I pray thee.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Danny Carr]

Speak the speech, I pray you.

[Marisha Ray]

Speak the speech, I pray thee.

[Robbie Daymond]

Trippingly on the tongue.

[Marisha Ray]

Trippingly on the tongue. So it's like him writing in iambic pentameter to Danny's pointer.

[Danny Carr]

I think he's notes to the actor.

[Marisha Ray]

Like, how to say it.

[Liam O'Brien]

And even worse, he doesn't always write in it. It can also mean character distinction. So higher class characters will often speak in poetry, but sometimes lower class comedic characters will speak in prose to separate them from the rest of the cast.

[Danny Carr]

Yep.

[Marisha Ray]

Your touchstones, back when touchstones. Your horses in prose. A lot. Your whores. Yeah. A lot of people.

[Ashley Johnson]

Your whores speak in that.

[Danny Carr]

Yes.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, man. Coin that phrase. I can't even. Not gonna say it out loud. Nope, I'm not gonna say it. Blank speaking prose.

[Robbie Daymond]

Back when Robbie joined us on Exu, I know you from the voiceover world, mainly. And so I was like, oh, we're gonna get to know each other even more because we work in the same industry. But then pretty soon, it became apparent that you were a big theater guy, which I just didn't know. And you and I spiraled. Spiraled down, down, down, down to the point where you invited me to see your friend in a show at South.

[Liam O'Brien]

Coast Rep. Oh, that was an experience.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

Wasn't my friend great in that show?

[Robbie Daymond]

He was great.

[Liam O'Brien]

He was great.

[Robbie Daymond]

So was the show.

[Liam O'Brien]

And he was great.

[Robbie Daymond]

South Coast Rep was great. It was amazing.

[Liam O'Brien]

What a great theater.

[Marisha Ray]

Everyone should read some Shakespeare.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah, Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

I stand by it.

[Liam O'Brien]

I'm totally lost.

[Marisha Ray]

What are we here to talk about?

[Robbie Daymond]

We are going to find out what the fuck is up with andSummer Night's.

[Danny Carr]

Dream is a great story starter.

[Liam O'Brien]

Sorry, I can actively hear your editor's fingers cutting as we speak.

[Marisha Ray]

Well, they're making the prompter bounce.

[Robbie Daymond]

You guys, please. The Malleus Key fight. Am I right?

[Marisha Ray]

Am I right? Horses.

[Ashley Johnson]

Wow.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

We gotta talk about the Malleus Key. About rolling up with Vox Machina and friends.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah, I'm happy to be an Asterix. That's. I'm good with it. Me too.

[Robbie Daymond]

Me too.

[Ashley Johnson]

You're a Toki. What is it again?

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, it's your co actor.

[Robbie Daymond]

Marisha is a Toki. We were talking trochees.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Trokey.

[Liam O'Brien]

Wow.

[Ashley Johnson]

Never mind.

[Liam O'Brien]

I just spit. This is a great way to start. This is a great way to start a trochee.

[Ashley Johnson]

A trochee was the word that I was looking for.

[Liam O'Brien]

I like the other one better.

[Ashley Johnson]

How about it?

[Robbie Daymond]

Not to be confused with Chokey, which is another kind of theater reference. That's true.

[Ashley Johnson]

This theater takes stuff is just great.

[Marisha Ray]

Just great.

[Robbie Daymond]

All right, so Vox Machina back together. The band's back together. More or less. A little less. We've got divorces coming together.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah. Forces and horses.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, that's pretty cool. Wow. Thank you. That's true.

[Danny Carr]

Thank you.

[Liam O'Brien]

Trochee rhyming couplet.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

Wait, wait, wait, wait. So I don't know enough about the lore, or did it happen off screen? There was Scanlan. There was Scanlan, Pike, a little of this, and then they split.

[Marisha Ray]

It happened off.

[Liam O'Brien]

It happened off screen.

[Ashley Johnson]

Kind of a lot of it happened off screen. Like there was always a. Somewhat of a flirtation, I think over the years. Just as like us being funny. And then, you know. Cause there were other very prominent romances happening.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

On the table.

[Robbie Daymond]

Pike was always the one for Scanlan. I mean, I think the backgrounds were there from the tippy top.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, my good.

[Ashley Johnson]

I kind of feel like they're always gonna be, I don't know, dancing with each other.

[Marisha Ray]

Star crossed lovers.

[Ashley Johnson]

Star crossed lovers, if you will.

[Robbie Daymond]

So much in your future. There's so much horseplay and divorce play coming.

[Liam O'Brien]

That's good.

[Ashley Johnson]

I'm into it. I'll give it a try. Yeah, it's a. It's. It's. Yeah. It was always a. Well, there. Won't they.

[Marisha Ray]

I could see pike and Scanlan being that couple where they're like, we're old. We don't want to be lonely.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, like.

[Ashley Johnson]

Like together.

[Liam O'Brien]

Like. Like if we're both unmarried by the time we're 63, we'll get married.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

Maybe we'll get married.

[Robbie Daymond]

Okay.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yes, yes, yes.

[Liam O'Brien]

I really extended that to 63. I don't know how those characters are.

[Ashley Johnson]

I mean, they're gnomes, so they'll. They'll.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

I mean, there's a lot of time that they have on Exandria to explore and to have fun with their lives. How long do gnomes live? 500 years?

[Robbie Daymond]

69 years, Gen. 69 years.

[Ashley Johnson]

All right, well, perfect.

[Danny Carr]

In that case, Chutney is old for a gnome at 400. Oh, so it's. So, yeah, it's like, between 4 to 500.

[Ashley Johnson]

How old?

[Robbie Daymond]

Pike. Ish.

[Ashley Johnson]

Pike? I. I have no idea.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yes.

[Ashley Johnson]

How would I hold. How old would Pike.

[Danny Carr]

You never told me how old pike is. Babe, I got nothing for you.

[Ashley Johnson]

She has scrubbed her birth date away from Google.

[Liam O'Brien]

What does that mean? We're all just talking about that.

[Ashley Johnson]

I don't know. She's maybe like.

[Liam O'Brien]

Are you gonna say it right now? You're just gonna wing it? You're gonna make a canon choice for. I'm not trying to stifle you. If you wanna do it, do it.

[Ashley Johnson]

I get mixed up with.

[Marisha Ray]

What is the range? What is her casting range?

[Ashley Johnson]

Maybe, like, in the late hundreds.

[Danny Carr]

Okay.

[Liam O'Brien]

Okay.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

Maybe early 200s. Oh, would that be, like, midlife?

[Robbie Daymond]

You're an older woman. Then I think to Scanlan. I don't think he's over 100.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, maybe not.

[Danny Carr]

Then I think 99 or, like, right at 100, like, right now.

[Ashley Johnson]

Well, then I don't know if she would be. They'd be around the same.

[Danny Carr]

You want lore? Do you want Scanlan Lore?

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, I think they would be maybe be around the same age.

[Liam O'Brien]

Okay, fine.

[Ashley Johnson]

Could just go with, like, a nice even hundred.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

She made her centennial.

[Robbie Daymond]

If you live that long. Do we finally get to forget how old we are? Finally?

[Marisha Ray]

Is it a problem that I forget how old I am every other day?

[Ashley Johnson]

I do too. When you hit those, like, mid to late 30s.

[Robbie Daymond]

I've been wrong. I remember.

[Ashley Johnson]

I was like. I don't remember which number it is.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

You're like, Am I 37? Am I 38?

[Marisha Ray]

You have to think about it.

[Robbie Daymond]

I had a great moment a few years ago where I thought I was X years old, but I was actually one year younger than I thought was so happy that day.

[Ashley Johnson]

Well, how long.

[Marisha Ray]

How long were you thinking about? Like, did you think you were older?

[Robbie Daymond]

I think for a year or two, I thought I was older than younger.

[Ashley Johnson]

What I really like doing, I like telling people that I'm older than I am, yeah. Because then you always get the reaction of, like, what? You look great. Because I always feel like people go the opposite and then they're like, like, you don't want to be like, I'm 50. Like, wow, you look so good.

[Liam O'Brien]

That's pretty good.

[Robbie Daymond]

I don't know.

[Danny Carr]

I'm blatantly lying to my face.

[Ashley Johnson]

Blatantly lying. It's a fun, you know, thing to do.

[Marisha Ray]

I love stretching to 50.

[Ashley Johnson]

I could do 50.

[Marisha Ray]

You could do 50?

[Liam O'Brien]

You think you could play 50?

[Ashley Johnson]

I think I could.

[Liam O'Brien]

Well, you'd need some makeup for sure to get you there.

[Ashley Johnson]

Well, I could make it work depending on what I'm wearing. Maybe I could do 50. I could be 50.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, man.

[Ashley Johnson]

This is so apropos of the Malleus in any. The Malleus fight.

[Robbie Daymond]

Did the fight go as everyone expected?

[Ashley Johnson]

No, it went great.

[Marisha Ray]

I am very happy with my choices, as controversial as they may have been at the time.

[Robbie Daymond]

Are they controversial?

[Marisha Ray]

Well, did that earthquake spell, which.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, yeah, I thought that was clutch.

[Marisha Ray]

I think it worked out good.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Matt was like, yeah, if it would have gone down, you would have fucked everything up entirely. And I'm like, yeah, I knew that it didn't, but it didn't.

[Liam O'Brien]

There was so much going on. I had a couple of moments of decision paralysis. I feel like, where I like, I like. And also having never had that build before, I wished I had some more long range mobility. Because the battle map was so big. I often felt like cloistered to a certain area and it was hard for me. I would like. But everybody's so op. So I'd be like, oh, I want to go help Grog. Oh, he's fucking killed everybody. And I spent my whole last turn. I'm going to go over here. I felt like that until, like mid battle near the end. Yeah. But it was very satisfying to watch and participate in. I had a lot of fun moments. But, like, it was definitely. I think that was my biggest challenge with, like, a build I'd never played before.

[Marisha Ray]

That's definitely like one a level 20 combat issue and then also an eight player table issue where you'll, you know, and like Matt and plenty of good GMs will be like, know what you want to do by the time that it gets to you. And that's smart advice and all fine and dandy until you're like, all right, I'm gonna rush up and I'm gonna help Grog. And then it changes right before your turn comes up, you're like, well, shh.

[Liam O'Brien]

Eight, 20, level 20 players, a lot can change in six, seven rounds. And you're fighting high level enemies. Like, I'll just talk about it. I had a combo. I wanted to do that. I never ended up getting to use the spell. And I knew like, when you have you got so many things you can do, you're not gonna get to do it all. But like, I had so many moments. I was like, I can't believe I did that. When I flew into the carapace of the creature that was with the grog was fighting, I have like an explosion, like one shot move. And my plan was to fly into his butt and blow up. That's what I wanted to do. And then by the time I was like, oh no, chop this head off. And I'm like, well, fuck, now I'm stuck in a butt. You know, it's like, that's the way it goes.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

You know, I didn't do any of the things I thought I was going to do with Liev. She has these two rods. One was just for healing for free, like crazy. But the other one, I was going to plant it in the middle of the battlefield and was going to help everybody. But instead I ended up running, playing hide and seek and running to the back of the map. And then I knew there was the possibility of Vax hitting the field and coming out. And Vax with his miniature, I should be able to take him from his starting point to the parking lot.

[Liam O'Brien]

Right.

[Robbie Daymond]

Because his mobility is ridiculous. He went 15ft and then the battle ended.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

I was like, I get to fly.

[Marisha Ray]

And it's.

[Liam O'Brien]

That's it. But you got kind of. Didn't you get kind of like Matrix born out of the goo too? In the beginning you're just like a little, A little fetus out there to meet us.

[Robbie Daymond]

He's been spinning in there rapidly for months.

[Marisha Ray]

He's a little scrambled.

[Robbie Daymond]

It's like you do the thing with a baseball bat and you spin around.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

Lucky he stayed on his feet.

[Liam O'Brien]

All that aside, it sure was fun. It was fun watching everybody do their thing. It was the combat. You guys play so fast too. Like, even though it takes a long time between everyone, it really feels like. Feels like things are moving.

[Marisha Ray]

That's good to know.

[Ashley Johnson]

That is good to know. It doesn't feel like that, by the way.

[Liam O'Brien]

I have a limited basis for comparison, so please don't take that too much to heart.

[Robbie Daymond]

Over the years, my notion of round of combat is six seconds, which is technically the rules. That's not how I think about it. Anymore. No, it's too. It's just. We're just metering out what happens in the fight.

[Marisha Ray]

I don't think it applies to our group. The six second rule.

[Liam O'Brien]

I mean like from an imagination standpoint, but a mechanic standpoint. You're still abiding by the rules.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

Like for how long spells stay up and all that stuff. But it doesn't feel like six seconds.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Because I think theoretically, I mean that Malyuski fight was only what, like five rounds?

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah, something like that.

[Marisha Ray]

So it's like, oh, we did all of that. We killed a giant worm, bees giant extra, two extra bugs, extra, brought down four towers and busted out the facts in like 20 seconds.

[Robbie Daymond]

I wanted to get out my old skeletor toy and put them on the back of that bug and just play with my action figures. That bug was so cool.

[Marisha Ray]

The bug was awesome.

[Liam O'Brien]

I didn't like the worm. It made me uncomfortable. Yeah, I'm glad that's where my fight journey ended.

[Robbie Daymond]

It looked like other things.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, it looked like I said it out loud.

[Marisha Ray]

The worms always do. They always do.

[Ashley Johnson]

Worms always make you a little uncomfortable.

[Marisha Ray]

What else is on this menu?

[Robbie Daymond]

Well, I mean host one night. So after the battle ended and we got vax out of the vending machine, I'll say one thing simply. We don't know what's gonna happen tomorrow, but what's on everyone's mind. What's on my mind most is what's gonna happen between Cerkonos and Lieutel if the world doesn't end. Yes, I think you can expect that Liev is gonna get on his body. She lives with death, meditating on death so often that she fully enjoys life and she has a very active sex life. And you are just.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, get it girl.

[Robbie Daymond]

Latest, Latest.

[Liam O'Brien]

Hey, latest in. Soon to be greatest.

[Marisha Ray]

Just so you know, you're saying Liev like she's a little party girl. She gets her own.

[Robbie Daymond]

She enjoys living.

[Ashley Johnson]

Liev tell she said about Bertrand and.

[Danny Carr]

You showed up the wonders of the ages. You said something to Bertrand back in.

[Robbie Daymond]

The wonder of the ages.

[Danny Carr]

Yes. The wonder of the ages. Yes.

[Robbie Daymond]

I mean that's why she goes for silver foxes is because she's been around so long she is not putting up with any 20 year old nonsense. She needs some kind of.

[Marisha Ray]

She needs a man.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Danny Carr]

Smart girl.

[Ashley Johnson]

Down to receive.

[Robbie Daymond]

So she just like clamped Bertrand's lips shut and that was all that was needed.

[Marisha Ray]

Look.

[Danny Carr]

Cause he can do other things with his lips.

[Robbie Daymond]

Just stop. Stop talking.

[Ashley Johnson]

Stop talking.

[Liam O'Brien]

Well, that's not gonna be a problem for us. The stopping topping.

[Ashley Johnson]

But I feel like Draconos is really getting into the meat, man. Scanlan.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, I don't know.

[Robbie Daymond]

What's your thing? What would. What would Scanlan shorthalt do? Was that it?

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, yeah, yeah. His little wrist.

[Robbie Daymond]

His little wrist pants.

[Marisha Ray]

His little wristband.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah, yeah. Well, Scanlan do. That was just a pick on the fly.

[Marisha Ray]

It was so good.

[Liam O'Brien]

I was literally. We built the character and I was like, okay, I gotta do stuff. And then as soon as, like, the idea came around that, like, you guys were looking for him, I literally just went, wait. Like, if there's someone perceptive out there, you could probably see the moment the idea drops in my bee brain, I'm like, he fucking loves Scanlan. He's got no charisma. It's everything wants to be. He's already strong, powerful, everything that he wants to be. And it's like, there it is. I wish I could just tell a good joke and I can't. I know this guy. This guy.

[Marisha Ray]

That's the thing. It is an archetype that I feel like we all know that guy who's like, boring as. And then he's like, I love going to stand up comedy on the weekend. What? Oh, okay. I. I think comedy bang bang every Tuesday night.

[Ashley Johnson]

Let's start stand up classes.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

I think you called it out on the last dive. But one of my favorite moments of the last few games is just Vex with Pike going like Serkonos. If pike were available, you'd hit it, right?

[Liam O'Brien]

No, no.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, Lightning fast.

[Liam O'Brien]

So lightning fast.

[Ashley Johnson]

So good. It was so good. Oh, man, I also forgot Serkonos was such a looker.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, he's a hiding.

[Ashley Johnson]

I was like, oh, my God. I forgot that that's what he looks like.

[Marisha Ray]

You know those druids.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, Druids, man.

[Marisha Ray]

I mean, just live a long time. We don't age.

[Liam O'Brien]

You know, you made the mistake of allowing me to communicate directly with your artists. So, yeah, there's zero percent chance I'm not gonna make a hobby. Yeah, I'm outed for what I like.

[Marisha Ray]

I mean, to be fair, fit right in, I would say. I mean, of course, over time we have our, like, veth, our knots and we have our, like, laudnas. But let's be honest. 80% of the reason you play D and D or other tabletop RPGs is so you can look hot.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yes.

[Robbie Daymond]

I made the hottest halfling I could.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, you want to look hot.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, I agree with you. You want to just be the hottest you can be.

[Marisha Ray]

Laura Bailey. I think somewhere we still have an email for first Vex Art. Just make her hot.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah. Yeah, it's true.

[Liam O'Brien]

Well, good. Nobody sent me the memo, but I'm glad I figured it out.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah. Yeah, it's really true because it's in your gut. It's in your DNA.

[Ashley Johnson]

I know.

[Robbie Daymond]

We should. As trepidatious as I am about it, we should probably talk about the question mark that is hanging in the air at this moment, not knowing what the final musical notes of this song are, which is. Vax is plopped out. Boy. I had no idea what was going on in that moment. So he's here, hovering for a night. We don't know if the gods are going to be gone. We don't know if the gods are going to be dead. We don't know if the gods. The status quo is going to remain.

[Ashley Johnson]

So the most heartbreaking part of that whole game was when we finished everything, and then just looking over at Keyleth Marisha, I was just like. I just. I. I mean, we talked about this the other day, but I just. I. I wasn't thinking that that was gonna be her reaction. And then just the whole end of the game, I was like, oh, no.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, I hope that doesn't come across. This is an overreaction on my part.

[Ashley Johnson]

No, because it didn't. Because it was so, like. It was so grounded to me. It felt so grounded and so real. Cause it was just like. It was a moment of. Oh, that's right. Like, they haven't had all this time together and they're getting this one night together. And, like, how could you just. Of course you would be excited, but also devastated. And. Ugh.

[Marisha Ray]

It was a moment that Matt said is, as the matron of ravens, it was the moment that he was like. One night that I was like, fuck. But also, of course. And once again, we've talked about this. We don't know what the future holds yet. We don't know.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah, I'm nervous even to. To talk about it, telegraph what I feel or think about it. Just because.

[Ashley Johnson]

Is still playing out.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah, it's still playing out. And I don't think there's one way that the story could end. You know, the matron sees a few different threads branching off in different directions, but it all depends on what.

[Danny Carr]

She can't see yours. Your threat is hidden to her.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, that's right.

[Marisha Ray]

Sorry, Wilmot.

[Robbie Daymond]

You know what it just randomly reminded me of in the moment, for the first time ever was back in Campaign one. I think we were in the Knowing Mistress library. And the fact that in campaign, that was randomly how Percy and Vex's secret wedding plopped out into the group. Yes.

[Danny Carr]

Dawnfather Temple.

[Robbie Daymond]

Dawnfather Temple, where it was.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yes.

[Danny Carr]

I remember it perfectly.

[Robbie Daymond]

And Keyleth just cried out, and that's such good news that they're married. But you, in the moment, said, Keyleth cried out. And for a split second, Vex, Laura was so confused, like, why it's happy news. And then you didn't respond, and I just was like, it's. Cause that's not what's gonna happen on our side.

[Marisha Ray]

Correct.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oof.

[Robbie Daymond]

It's difficult.

[Marisha Ray]

I mean, it's shitty, right? It's like a shitty reaction because it's like jealousy, but it's pure jealousy in terms of just, like, cool. Good for you. So heavy for you.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah. You can't help but think about, like, what about the one I love? Like, I didn't.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, just time being robbed.

[Ashley Johnson]

Right.

[Danny Carr]

It was also the fact that Vex specifically told Vax, don't run off and get married over the. Over the year that we're apart. And then she went off and got married while y'all were apart. There were a few things in there.

[Robbie Daymond]

It's like, great wrinkles and complications and contradictions. And that's what life is.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

I mean, it's just very human. And of course, like. And we've talked about this on the side. Like, don't get me wrong, I love the tragedy of it. Like, there is something, like, very, you know, Keyleth's life kind of got chosen as a tragic one there after everything happened with the matron of ravens. But maybe there's time to fix that.

[Robbie Daymond]

I mean, Vax isn't playing shuffleboard.

[Marisha Ray]

No. But we'll see. There might be time to turn that around 30 years later. Wee, that's cool.

[Robbie Daymond]

What the fuck is up with that?

[Marisha Ray]

What the fuck is up with that?

[Robbie Daymond]

Okay, we talk about one night. What now? I think we can move on to the murdy Nerns at this point. Right?

[Ashley Johnson]

Murdered Nerns.

[Danny Carr]

That's just a suggestion. Y'all can talk about whatever you want.

[Robbie Daymond]

Well, I mean, is there any questions? You have Dani Carr about this?

[Danny Carr]

Yeah. I got so many questions, but I am someone who, in general, I like to wait to see what happens. And I am the same way about, like, I'm literally sitting over here, like, about to, like, cry because of Vax and Keyleth. And so I would love to talk about the Mighty Nein. Otherwise I will start sobbing.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

Let'S see the Mighty Nein. Here's my question for the Mighty Nein. Why were you guys ragging on my tower the last dive?

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, you watched that?

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah. You said you had. You said you had beef with me. Explain the beef. Where's the beef?

[Marisha Ray]

Well, what did we say?

[Robbie Daymond]

Another great reference for the kids.

[Liam O'Brien]

They're gonna love it. Uh huh.

[Marisha Ray]

What did we say? I'm trying to remember. What did we say?

[Robbie Daymond]

Well, you were mad about doors or lack. You guys were very confused about what actually exists in there.

[Marisha Ray]

You didn't have doors. So everyone.

[Robbie Daymond]

I spent. There were two episodes in Campaign 2 where I spent two hours combined explaining that place. I wasn't going to break down the architecture of the whole tower a second time. The second floor has nine walk in closets with doors that open up. And you can open them and say, give me a pile of potatoes.

[Ashley Johnson]

So the walk in closets have doors, but the bedrooms do not.

[Liam O'Brien]

I'd just like to know that if you had infinite level 20 magic, your one wish would be a pile of potatoes.

[Robbie Daymond]

The second floor is like the room of requirement. Whatever you need, you can have. Do you need archery targets? You got it. Do you need lots of legos to play with? You got it. Do you need sheep? You got it. You close the doors and open them and they're in there. It's the one mutable thing in the tower that changes. Sam was like, you can just change anything you want. The tower, he has ocd. Guys, it's like the tower is fixed in place. It doesn't change, just the trappings. You guys had a date on that second floor.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, we did.

[Robbie Daymond]

Doors opened up and a bar slid out.

[Ashley Johnson]

You had a date everywhere.

[Robbie Daymond]

Doors opened up and a hot pants everywhere. All right, hot pants. The second floor has nine closets and there were bedrooms inside the closet, but I don't.

[Marisha Ray]

There are bedrooms in the closets.

[Robbie Daymond]

There are like nine garages that opened up and gave you a bedroom.

[Marisha Ray]

So is it the size of a walk in closet or is it the size of a.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yes, large.

[Marisha Ray]

Very large.

[Robbie Daymond]

The size of a garage. And there's two wooden doors that open and close.

[Marisha Ray]

A walking closet.

[Robbie Daymond]

Danny has seen the like 15 page document that outlines.

[Marisha Ray]

But I think it's because in the show, I think you said, I think in CR you're just like, oh yeah, you guys are just all on. Like you said something about curtains. One floor and there's curtains.

[Robbie Daymond]

You said something about the four poster beds having black I was making shit up as I went.

[Ashley Johnson]

I feel like I remember the curtains thing too. I forgot it was the. It was the bed.

[Marisha Ray]

I think my brain was going to, you know, in like Zelda, in like, Breath of the Wild or Tears of the Kingdom, when you go into an inn and it's just curtains dividing beds.

[Danny Carr]

I think we were. I think some people were imagining an infirmary situation where the beds were divided by curtains because you could. That was not what you were trying to.

[Robbie Daymond]

Super sexy and fun on the four side. On the. Is what I meant. Whether or not I got it out right, I don't know.

[Danny Carr]

It's theater of the minds.

[Robbie Daymond]

You can't see my invisible, non existent tower.

[Ashley Johnson]

I have a very clear visual of what the tower looks like in my head.

[Liam O'Brien]

I actually did, too. And I'm not even one of those people that, like, when I close my eyes and think of an apple, I don't really see an apple. I just understand the concept of apple.

[Marisha Ray]

Wait, you are one of those people.

[Ashley Johnson]

You're not.

[Liam O'Brien]

I am. You know how some.

[Marisha Ray]

You are one of those people.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

How some people, like, keep an apple. Some people see the sketch, some people see black and white. Yeah. Some people see a vivid apple. I'm not the apple guy. I have to, like. I understand it innately, but I don't see it. And I could see your tower.

[Marisha Ray]

I always find that fascinating.

[Liam O'Brien]

I was just happy to be there.

[Marisha Ray]

So wait, when we do do theater of the mind stuff.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Do you visual. Like, do you visualize it?

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, a visual holodeck.

[Danny Carr]

Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

No. So I look up a lot because I am imagining, but I don't imagine in a visual way. I just understand it. I don't see it in my mind's eye.

[Robbie Daymond]

What about in the voiceover booth?

[Liam O'Brien]

What?

[Robbie Daymond]

In the voiceover booth, do you see visuals and surroundings and stuff when you're doing your thing?

[Liam O'Brien]

No, I'm just 100% in the moment in. So, like, when you used to have an imaginary partner in theater, I would never look across the way and see a crying lover. I would just understand that a crying lover was there conceptually. Is that weird? Am I outing myself too much as a certain kind of thinker?

[Ashley Johnson]

No.

[Marisha Ray]

I don't know, but there's a word, there's a term for these kind of people, and I don't remember what it's called.

[Danny Carr]

Asia? Is that it?

[Marisha Ray]

Maybe.

[Liam O'Brien]

I don't know.

[Danny Carr]

I'm gonna. I have the Internet in my hand.

[Liam O'Brien]

You don't have to diagnose me. On the last episode of foresighted die.

[Marisha Ray]

No, I find it fascinating. Oh, shit.

[Danny Carr]

I got it.

[Ashley Johnson]

Okay, okay, wait, wait. Read it. What does it say?

[Danny Carr]

Hang on. Aphantasia is the inability to visualize. Basically the way that this is described is that people have, on a scale of 1 through 5, can either see an apple, like, vividly and beautifully. On A2, they can see like kind of a cartoon drawing of an apple. On three, they see a black and white apple. Four, they see the cartoon outline of an apple. On five, they see nothing. And I think that's what Robbie is describing. It's called Aphantasia.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah. But I have super vivid dreams.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, that's cool. You have super vivid dreams.

[Liam O'Brien]

Very, very vivid, lifelike dreams.

[Ashley Johnson]

You're also very creative.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, thank you.

[Ashley Johnson]

So it's weird how I feel like those things would go hand in hand.

[Robbie Daymond]

Of really being able to visualize word and language focused.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah. I've never been much of a visual learner. I'm more of an auditory tactile learner. Yeah, yeah. Experiential. But like, when Matt or any GM describes something to me, I don't have a problem putting myself in the space. I don't have a problem conceptualizing of it even spatially. Like, totally. I have that kind of awareness. I just don't see.

[Marisha Ray]

See it. That's cool.

[Liam O'Brien]

Is it? I don't know. It's weird. I just understand it.

[Marisha Ray]

It's different. It's just people's brains are weird.

[Liam O'Brien]

If anyone out there relates, leave your comments in.

[Danny Carr]

Critrole.Com Tower I was having.

[Marisha Ray]

This conversation with a friend the other day and he was saying the same thing, but he does law. He's a lawyer. And so he's like, yeah. I imagine things like black and white or even in like, ones and zeros almost.

[Liam O'Brien]

That's actually a lot closer. It's just a concept of. Of being. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

I think it's fast. One thing, one quirk about me, and I mean, life as an actor has trained me to kind of to make eye contact a lot. But I think in life, when I'm absorbing, if someone's explaining something complicated to me, I will. My eyes drift away from them often and I will just focus on the words or I feel like I get confused to the point where my wife is like, are you not even paying attention to me? I'm like, no, no, I have to. I'm not going to follow where we're going. Yeah. And I listen to a ton of. I mean, I'm the only person in America who listens to podcasts. I listen to a lot of podcasts and talk radio and.

[Liam O'Brien]

Same.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That's interesting.

[Liam O'Brien]

Well, you're an auditory learner, then.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah, but I feel like I have the holodeck, both in the VO booth and with what we do. Like, right now, she just looks like a dying woman whose hair is falling out, and there's a dead rat perched on her shoulder.

[Liam O'Brien]

I think you look great.

[Danny Carr]

Thanks.

[Marisha Ray]

Jesus. It's your character.

[Robbie Daymond]

You made her. She's fun, scary. I was really happy and was pushing for it to get the tower out just because we are on such a rapid climb to Destiny that I felt like we would all benefit from taking that time out and injecting some fun.

[Ashley Johnson]

Just having a fun.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah. Having a minute for. For heartfelt conversations like. Like. Like Oren and. Oren and Dorby Bum had.

[Liam O'Brien]

No, you want to say Dorym, it's okay.

[Robbie Daymond]

No, I don't want to say it out loud.

[Ashley Johnson]

Don't just ship the name.

[Marisha Ray]

Do it.

[Danny Carr]

Should be glad I didn't hijack the episode.

[Robbie Daymond]

Like, rabiam rabium. Lobby, Lobby.

[Danny Carr]

No, that's a real person.

[Marisha Ray]

I don't like that lobby.

[Robbie Daymond]

And one of my favorite things from the tower was a decision that I made up on the spur of the moment, which was making Caleb a sea popper.

[Ashley Johnson]

I love that.

[Robbie Daymond]

That was also so good. Not planned. Not planned. I just knew in the moment it had to be.

[Marisha Ray]

Which also tracks.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, that tracks.

[Danny Carr]

Talked about, like, how you would collect cat figurines, like, everywhere you went. Of course. That was the thing.

[Ashley Johnson]

It totally tracks.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yes. And now, retroactively, the toys that little Bren saw in the store are the shapes, the animals, the beasts that Caleb turns into an adult. So it wasn't the case when campaign two was happening, but now it is 100% true that Caleb turned into an ape because he was looking at a little wooden ape in a window. Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

I love a retcon. I love it.

[Marisha Ray]

I love it.

[Danny Carr]

That's not a Retcon. That's just the story revealing itself.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

Chipping away some more stone.

[Ashley Johnson]

It's always fun to go back to Mighty Nein, but I didn't know I.

[Liam O'Brien]

Was absent for the wish. Right. So the existence of sea poppers was because of a wish Chetney made, Or is that debatable? I wasn't here for it. I just found out about that.

[Marisha Ray]

Still debatable.

[Robbie Daymond]

I feel like that's chicken or eggy.

[Liam O'Brien]

Ooh. Okay.

[Marisha Ray]

Well, he also. Because we Also don't know any of this. Like all of us.

[Robbie Daymond]

Right.

[Liam O'Brien]

You can't see it or it wouldn't work.

[Robbie Daymond]

Right. Did he making that deal ripple backwards through time and slightly reorganize the past? And bumped Caleb into being a sea popper by making that wish.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, man.

[Marisha Ray]

It's very.

[Robbie Daymond]

It's like the Oracle.

[Marisha Ray]

Oracle in the Matrix.

[Liam O'Brien]

Sure.

[Robbie Daymond]

What's really gonna bake your noodle?

[Ashley Johnson]

Yes.

[Marisha Ray]

Would you have broken it if I hadn't said anything? Anything?

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

I guess Mighty Nein has Chetney to thank for their existence.

[Danny Carr]

Yes, we do.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

It's also our second Matrix reference of We're Doing Great. Of the episode 2001.

[Liam O'Brien]

No, no, no, no, wait.

[Danny Carr]

1999 Matrix was 99.

[Marisha Ray]

99, baby.

[Ashley Johnson]

99 baby.

[Robbie Daymond]

Should we talk about the weave mind battle?

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

That was fun.

[Marisha Ray]

And fungal friends is on here. And. And lol Force cage.

[Ashley Johnson]

I love.

[Liam O'Brien]

I want to hear about the Mighty Ne fight. I want to hear. How was it there? Tell me about it. What happened? What was your favorite part?

[Marisha Ray]

The mechanics that Matt came up with were incredible.

[Robbie Daymond]

Well, there were five floating psychics and they were surrounded by crystals. And it became apparent that we had to break the crystals or we weren't gonna. We had to break some of the crystals, at least.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

But they also were all taking. If one of them took damage, they were sharing damage. They were sharing damage and sharing, like, hive mind shit. Hive mind shit.

[Robbie Daymond]

You could focus. Whittle one character down. It was just a collective lowering of water.

[Liam O'Brien]

It's frustrating. So cool. Anybody's ever played a good TCG or board game when you're trying to focus in.

[Marisha Ray]

Focus on.

[Liam O'Brien]

You have a special ability that allows you to spread it. That's tough stuff. How'd you handle it?

[Marisha Ray]

But they.

[Robbie Daymond]

Well, we kind of halfsies the strategy.

[Marisha Ray]

We did. And I think that was actually the right call because they also had this ability, this triangulation ability where they would.

[Robbie Daymond]

If you were in the middle of three of them.

[Marisha Ray]

In the middle of three of them. So they would all flip, float around, and they were trying to make their triangle as, like, wide as possible.

[Liam O'Brien]

Was it pretty mobile?

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah, floaty.

[Liam O'Brien]

How many of them were there?

[Robbie Daymond]

Five.

[Liam O'Brien]

Five? Well, you can't make that many triangles with five. I was gonna say if it was like eight or something, you'd be in real tricks.

[Robbie Daymond]

Tried to get trigonometry.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, it was very. Yeah. And then so like they would float into a triangle and then one of them. If one of them cast an ability, it would hit everything inside that triangle.

[Liam O'Brien]

Ooh. So an area of effect created by, like, angle based maneuvering.

[Robbie Daymond]

Oh, that sounds awesome.

[Marisha Ray]

It was awesome.

[Liam O'Brien]

That's cool.

[Ashley Johnson]

It was really cool.

[Robbie Daymond]

I was excited to use a ninth level spell that I've never used before. I cast Time Stop, and I rolled the maximum number of turns you could roll.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, that's right. That was so crazy.

[Robbie Daymond]

It was fun. However, some of the choices that I made during the Time Stop were pointless. I rolled. The best part was, is that I put a delayed fireball over some of their heads, and then I threw another fireball to trigger it. So two of them went off. But I also cast Mirror Image, which failed every time I was attacked. And I cast a spell that makes me be on fire so that if anyone ever hits me, they get burned. No one ever came near me.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah, but you probably look cool. You're on fire the whole time.

[Ashley Johnson]

But it was so cool because you just kept taking turns.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

And I was like, wait, so you just stopped time and you were like, I want to do this.

[Robbie Daymond]

You cast a spell, and then it's D4 plus one turns. And I rolled a four on four side of die.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, wow.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

So you get five turns in a row. Fun.

[Marisha Ray]

Five turns in a row. And then they had all these crystals. So there were these floating crystals.

[Robbie Daymond]

Uncut gems, you might say.

[Marisha Ray]

Uncut gems.

[Ashley Johnson]

Uncut gems.

[Marisha Ray]

That's a throwback. And the crystals had, like, abilities each turn. And then also the more crystals there were, the more the weave mind would regenerate. Hit points every turn.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh. Oh, fun.

[Marisha Ray]

So we kind of started.

[Robbie Daymond]

We got rid of, like, 40% of them. Yeah, 30 to 40%.

[Marisha Ray]

Well. And then we. I know Travis was kicking himself, which he shouldn't have. Cause it just took us a minute to figure it out. They were vulnerable to force damage, which is what Eldritch Blast does. And we kept thinking, like, oh, you gotta hit it with melee. But then just force damage. So he was like, fuck, if I'd have known, I could have just been like, pop, pop, pop. Spell sniping spell.

[Liam O'Brien]

Sniped it. Yeah. Interesting. Who took the biggest shit in the whole battle? Who tripped over their shoelaces? Who rolled the natural one when they were flying through the air going, this was. Was there anybody just really cocked a roll?

[Marisha Ray]

Dani looks like she immediately has an idea. I'm trying to think.

[Danny Carr]

I mean, it was kind of you, babe.

[Marisha Ray]

Me?

[Liam O'Brien]

What'd you do?

[Marisha Ray]

What did I do?

[Danny Carr]

Yeah, I mean, Bell's Hell's had a turn.

[Liam O'Brien]

I'm not trying to call Anybody out? I just think it's funny when it.

[Danny Carr]

Happened, but she took the biggest shit in mighty knots.

[Ashley Johnson]

I took a pretty. I was so mad at myself. That game, what happened with you?

[Danny Carr]

You kept your stunning strikes, kept failing for the whole time until the very end.

[Liam O'Brien]

But if that's as bad as it gets, then it probably had to be pretty good.

[Danny Carr]

It did really, really well.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, I feel like Mighty Neinyin did really well.

[Marisha Ray]

Okay, to be fair, stunning strike is deliberately tough to hit because it's so powerful.

[Danny Carr]

But of everybody. Of everybody, I think you had the hardest run of it. But I think that even then like mighty and I kind of kicked fucking ass, man.

[Marisha Ray]

I didn't feel that way.

[Robbie Daymond]

That's.

[Marisha Ray]

I felt like I did pretty great.

[Liam O'Brien]

You guys love D and D so much. You like defending yourself.

[Ashley Johnson]

No, not true. Because you can kind of nailed it.

[Marisha Ray]

Dumping stunning and strikes and keep trying.

[Liam O'Brien]

So extension among the ranks.

[Robbie Daymond]

Beau's defense, the last one did take and just the way initiative went, it was lining up to me and I was already considering disintegrate and you lock someone into place and I went, oh, it's an auto success.

[Danny Carr]

It was perfect. My only thing was just Mighty Nein crushed it so hard. So the only real choice was, well, I guess it was kind of Beau. But even then she kicked ass. Yeah, like everybody just fucking crushed it.

[Marisha Ray]

Jester's blade wall.

[Danny Carr]

Caduceus had a couple, had a couple goose eggs.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Danny Carr]

Not even really Caduceus having the goose eggs, but he made the crystals vulnerable and that only like really helped for like one round.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, we tried to take. Yes.

[Marisha Ray]

Poor Laura. She's trying to do this like badass high level spell. It just sends some, some butcher knives going ching ching, ching, ching, ching, ching in the air.

[Danny Carr]

Forgot that that blade wall happened. Yeah, you know what? That one's worse. That one's worse. That's on me.

[Liam O'Brien]

Take that lurk and I hear defend yourself.

[Robbie Daymond]

That's what happens on this show.

[Danny Carr]

You forgot that it existed. Not going in the recap. Sorry guys.

[Robbie Daymond]

Whoever's on this show rounds on the absent members. It happens again and again and again.

[Marisha Ray]

Fuck your tower. See now, now you're.

[Liam O'Brien]

Stop. Stop.

[Robbie Daymond]

Please stop fighting in my tower. Fuck in my tower.

[Danny Carr]

Look, Caleb. Look, it's Caleb's Widowgast nation. Nine sided tower is for lovers. I'm telling you.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

Also people this week have asked me or last week or at some point asked me where Essek's room is. Caleb's room is Essex room. There's not a devoted Room for Essex. Caleb's room. This year it's Essex Room.

[Marisha Ray]

Like my grandpa.

[Danny Carr]

Partners work.

[Marisha Ray]

They've reached a certain age. Exactly.

[Ashley Johnson]

Better if we're not in the same room, honestly.

[Robbie Daymond]

The center of the tower, where there's no gravity is their bedroom.

[Danny Carr]

Exactly. What do you think? What do you think the top floor is used for?

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

Wait, there's no gravity? Yeah, there's. There's no gravity.

[Liam O'Brien]

How do you even purchase. I'll think about it.

[Marisha Ray]

I just saw like half a dozen thoughts.

[Ashley Johnson]

There were so many thoughts and none.

[Liam O'Brien]

Of them were visual. So we're clear, we haven't put any.

[Ashley Johnson]

Of those out there.

[Robbie Daymond]

You need a wizard to cast reverse gravity. And it's on the ceiling.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, boy.

[Robbie Daymond]

How about those fungal friends?

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, my God, I love them.

[Robbie Daymond]

Big, big Princess Mononoke energy. Yeah, Just like the Cloroks coming out. Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

Four spirits.

[Ashley Johnson]

When Matt does little creatures like that, I know, they're just so cute and I'm like, let them be little.

[Marisha Ray]

Like Dave Bradley Baker. Clicks yes. Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, he kills me with creatures.

[Liam O'Brien]

I do always like the potential for them to maybe be bad. I always. I mean, I like the potential for them.

[Ashley Johnson]

I felt like they were gonna teeter.

[Liam O'Brien]

They're like, come, come, come.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yes.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, it has happened before.

[Robbie Daymond]

Oh, yes. Little cute, little glowing things in the forest.

[Ashley Johnson]

Glowing things.

[Marisha Ray]

You're like, oh, look, they're little like fireflies. And then they're like.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

Or attached to a larger killer pufferfish type monstrosity. Yeah, yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, like a d. Like an angler. Like a dwindler, literally.

[Robbie Daymond]

He did that to us. Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, that's funny. Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

You guys, did you know There's a planet Earth 3 out right now?

[Liam O'Brien]

Like a documentary?

[Robbie Daymond]

Can we go there?

[Marisha Ray]

Like Planet Earth. Like the series Planet Earth.

[Ashley Johnson]

They put out a third.

[Marisha Ray]

They put out a third one.

[Liam O'Brien]

When did it drop?

[Marisha Ray]

I don't know.

[Liam O'Brien]

Soon.

[Marisha Ray]

It had to have been like a couple. A couple weeks or maybe months ago.

[Liam O'Brien]

Sure.

[Ashley Johnson]

There was nothing better to watch sometimes.

[Liam O'Brien]

Sometimes.

[Marisha Ray]

There is nothing better to watch sometimes than Ashley Johnson.

[Liam O'Brien]

I know when those sometimes are. We all know when those sometimes are.

[Ashley Johnson]

Well, I mean, not all the time, but like, there's times sometimes between the.

[Liam O'Brien]

Hours of 10:30 and 1:00am under certain scenarios.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yes, of course. Where you're like, oh, no way.

[Robbie Daymond]

Planet ears.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yup, man.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

They'Re just ants, you know?

[Marisha Ray]

You know, I bring it up because, I mean, it's Planet Earth. They always, like, spend 10 years making them and they capture the craziest shit.

[Ashley Johnson]

The craziest shit.

[Marisha Ray]

And there's. I don't know. I don't know where I'm going with this. It's cute. Animals who are deadly is where I'm going.

[Robbie Daymond]

The fungal creatures of Ruadiska congregating deep below the surface of the moon.

[Ashley Johnson]

I wish we could planet Exandria. Like just a voiceover of just like a. Like a docu series of like something really nice to put on while you're sleeping. Have Liam do the voice.

[Liam O'Brien]

Fantastic.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yes.

[Liam O'Brien]

I'd watch it.

[Ashley Johnson]

When you see my seat in the wild.

[Marisha Ray]

That's just your cosmo grim voice.

[Robbie Daymond]

The Dathos lurks deep within the bowels of Ruid. Will he pop his head out, yes or no?

[Ashley Johnson]

I would listen to that and fall asleep to that. Yeah, but the slip and slides.

[Liam O'Brien]

Slip and slides.

[Ashley Johnson]

That was such a cool gaming mechanic.

[Liam O'Brien]

But like hurdy slip and slides. Yeah, they're real. In real life though, like I was down in Costa Rica. Slip and slides. Not slip and slides. Slide.

[Danny Carr]

Did you know the real.

[Liam O'Brien]

They're real. Yeah, water slides that hurt. Like I was at a Costa Rica.

[Robbie Daymond]

That was a real thing for a short time in New Jersey. I was there.

[Liam O'Brien]

No, in Costa Rica. The water slides are all made of just like a rock. It's like a carved out concrete.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

You're just hoping you don't get concussed on the way down.

[Ashley Johnson]

You gotta wear jeans. Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

Have you ever done on that barracks water slides? Rock slides?

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

In Puerto Rico.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah, they are. You get four.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah, they do. They spit.

[Ashley Johnson]

I mean, you have to be fully clothed.

[Liam O'Brien]

They spit you out 16ft above the water surface.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah. Just this last summer I was in upstate New York and I went on one that I hadn't been to since I was like a 10 year old. And I would go like, ah, okay, I'm gonna get out. No. Oh my God. I'm going another 200ft. I went like. You just kept going 1,000ft. I was like, I'm gonna die today. I guess I'm gonna die today.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah. You're like, this is so fun. Is this safe?

[Liam O'Brien]

No. The answer is no.

[Ashley Johnson]

Do people get hurt out here?

[Marisha Ray]

There's barely someone died on this thing. See, in Kentucky we would take tarps and line them up and then like lube them down with like dawn dish soap and then shoot ourselves into ponds.

[Liam O'Brien]

That sounds.

[Ashley Johnson]

Hell yeah. Hell yeah. Did you guys ever do like sleeping bags down staircases?

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, yeah, for sure.

[Ashley Johnson]

So that's what the slides reminded me of.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

Because when you go down, you're like.

[Marisha Ray]

That or like, big cardboard box or something too.

[Ashley Johnson]

Big cardboard box. Keeping the pillows inside.

[Liam O'Brien]

Laundry bin. Laundry. Plastic laundry. Yeah, yeah. Top notch.

[Marisha Ray]

Classic.

[Robbie Daymond]

Went to dreaded Action park, which you can learn about in a documentary. So until you actually went there, I will tell three short stories. One is one of the best rides. There was a super short one that I couldn't stop thinking about. About on our water slide thing, which is just you climb up, you go into this tube, and it goes down into the ground, takes a sharp right and then spits you out like, 30 or 40ft above the water. It's pitch black, and you just go. And your head goes boom. Every time. Every time. There was another rock.

[Liam O'Brien]

That sounds great. That was the best one. You said that was the best one.

[Robbie Daymond]

There was another one that was like an almost completely vertical drop that then went down, down, down, like probably 100 or 150ft, and then no, then turn and then you slide out. The problem is it wasn't one long piece of plastic. It was, like, joining segmented segments. So there was a. Between every piece. And it was like you got caned on the way down.

[Marisha Ray]

I was like, ow.

[Robbie Daymond]

Welts all up and down your back.

[Liam O'Brien]

I just involuntarily grabbed my pieces in fear. We've got the tape, Jim. I literally do.

[Robbie Daymond]

Then there was the Alpine Slide, which were, like, little go cart.

[Ashley Johnson]

That was horrifying.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yes. And you sat in a little, like, go kart thing with a lever, and you would pull the lever back to slow down or just let it go forward to go. And I watched a kid 100ft in front of me fly off and smash his head on another and out.

[Marisha Ray]

Sure.

[Liam O'Brien]

Wow.

[Ashley Johnson]

I mean, people literally died on that ride, right?

[Marisha Ray]

Who died on that ride?

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah.

[Danny Carr]

Action Park. Watch it, y'all.

[Liam O'Brien]

But there's so many people who didn't die. Am I right?

[Robbie Daymond]

And that reminds me of Liliana Temelt.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yes. You've only hosted this show twice.

[Marisha Ray]

She almost died.

[Robbie Daymond]

She almost died. Yep.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

And she didn't even go to Action Park.

[Robbie Daymond]

We would have. We would have lost her. Her for sure if we had just up one earlier.

[Marisha Ray]

One more time. One more time.

[Robbie Daymond]

If enough of us had up our rolls so that the average was super low, that would have meant dead mom.

[Liam O'Brien]

I feel like we were doing so well that Matt was a little tough on us in one sequence. Like, we had one mid roll and he was like. I was like, what?

[Marisha Ray]

Why?

[Liam O'Brien]

Why you put.

[Robbie Daymond]

Over there?

[Ashley Johnson]

Yes.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, yeah, I know.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

But that made sense, though, where I Think it was like after we. We were in the fungus room and.

[Danny Carr]

You know when you were in the fungus.

[Marisha Ray]

The fungus room.

[Ashley Johnson]

Is that it?

[Robbie Daymond]

Titmouse. Anime.

[Marisha Ray]

I was also. I was wondering if, like, Ashen giving over the seed was completely fucking us. I didn't know what was going on.

[Ashley Johnson]

There was so much. I was like, are we doing the right thing?

[Marisha Ray]

There was so much going on with that.

[Robbie Daymond]

Say it like that.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

It was pretty funny. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

[Marisha Ray]

Am I right?

[Ashley Johnson]

Wow.

[Marisha Ray]

And then we were like, oh, we.

[Robbie Daymond]

That's a Calamore.

[Marisha Ray]

We got it. And then Matt was like, oh, you talk to them. I see. And they shoot you down another water slide and it's like an express path. Red marker. And I was like, the fuck?

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

Took a little.

[Ashley Johnson]

Why?

[Liam O'Brien]

I didn't understand that either. But he's got his reason.

[Marisha Ray]

He's got his reason.

[Liam O'Brien]

Of course.

[Robbie Daymond]

Maybe we shot like a quarter mile off in the wrong direction.

[Liam O'Brien]

Right?

[Ashley Johnson]

I know.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

We don't know.

[Robbie Daymond]

Maybe It's. It seemed good.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

So the seed. I wanted to ask about the seed because I missed the seed. You guys got a seed at some point. Yeah. And how long had Ashpen been holding onto that? Long time.

[Ashley Johnson]

Very long.

[Marisha Ray]

40 episodes.

[Liam O'Brien]

So potentially something that could have been forgotten in a bag and not used. Do you think Taliesin. He's not here. I'd love to ask him. Do you think he just saw an opportunity? Cause I felt like that was an awesome, beautiful, mystical kind of moment.

[Danny Carr]

It was right before the first time you went to Ruidus. So it's fewer than that. It's more like 20 to 30.

[Ashley Johnson]

I think you got it at the All Mines with the Virginia.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Danny Carr]

But it was the last trip to the All Mines Burn. It was right before y'all went to Ruidus the first time the All Mines Burn.

[Ashley Johnson]

That was in.

[Danny Carr]

That's in Bassuras.

[Liam O'Brien]

It just felt like a really cool tableau that I'm glad Matt latched onto and ran with. Like, once it started happening, it was.

[Robbie Daymond]

And that alien life and this seed now have a beautiful relationship either for the rest of eternity or the next 90 minutes.

[Marisha Ray]

I know.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

That was my. Like. I don't know if it was supposed to go sooner. And maybe the allmind's Burn might have more of a psychic connection on the moon, which would have helped us along the way or if this is like, long term shit. I'm just not sure.

[Ashley Johnson]

I think it could have helped us along the way if we would have done it earlier.

[Marisha Ray]

I kind of forgot yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

As a side note, that's why they.

[Marisha Ray]

Didn'T do it sooner.

[Robbie Daymond]

As a side note, I love with Matt's running of this story, I love the juxtaposition or the mixing of different elements. Like, he gave us the desperation and. And the fear of losing Liliana and rushing there gave us little cute fungal things and a water slide. Right. And then a fight where we were racing to stop a woman from being evaporated in front of our eyes. And Matt is just really, really great at. Even in dire times, we are still playing a game. We still like wonder and imagination and fun. So, like, I really appreciate how much sort of light and sparkle was mixed amongst the thrill ride of this end game that we're in.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

Anyway, compliments.

[Liam O'Brien]

It's also so indicative of real life represented in fantasy. Like, if you want to go down the rabbit hole, you can say, okay, the outcome of that fight was saving Imogen's mother. And how much could that potentially impact her decisions moving forward? We don't know. How different could her arc have been had her mother died? I think that for her, character arc is such a coin. Or character arc, character arc is such a coin toss of how that could have landed. And in reality, it was decided by something as innocuous as how, well, we rode a water slide. And if that's not what life is, I don't know what else it is. Serendipity. Being at the right time at the right place or wrong time at the right place and how it can all go. Any innocuous thing you do can inexorably change your life or arguably every innocuous thing you do does.

[Robbie Daymond]

So. Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

I don't know. I think it's so cool to think about it in that way.

[Robbie Daymond]

Curse fate is you can't find your car keys for 20 minutes, but that's the thing that stops you from getting totaled by a bus in an hour. Stuff like that.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah, that's life. You might get hit by a bus.

[Ashley Johnson]

C'est la vie.

[Liam O'Brien]

Too dark.

[Marisha Ray]

Like those final rounds, though, where it was like, oh, we have four player turns.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Or Imogen's mom dies, and it's like each one had to. And then it was right after Brayus, like, biffed it. Brayus took all those swings on Ludinus and back.

[Danny Carr]

Who took the most giant shit.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah. Because he held his turn.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, he set it all up.

[Marisha Ray]

Set it up and biffed it. That sucked. And then after that, it was like, well, damn. And then you set up that beautiful force cage. It was force Gauge's time to shine, baby.

[Ashley Johnson]

It was time.

[Robbie Daymond]

There's no better person to trap in a box than Ludinus Dalath.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah, I just. It's been such an abject failure for me the whole campaign. I was so scared to use it. But we were literally a turnout before my turn, and I was like, that's the right play. It's the only play. We're one turn away. I was looking at you, like, 90ft across the map. I only saw one route for you to get there. And then it's also not my decision to. To make. It's Imogen's decision. So I've gotta ask her if I can do it. And thankfully, it worked out. But it had never worked out before.

[Robbie Daymond]

It was brilliant. Like, I had a thing I was gonna do, but I rated it maybe a third of a chance. One third chance it would succeed.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah. I literally smacked my head on my dice and poked myself in the forehead with the D4 when I was like, this has never worked.

[Marisha Ray]

And I was like, boss, insectful insult to injury.

[Liam O'Brien]

But it worked. It worked for as far as we know.

[Robbie Daymond]

Boy, I tell you, if Liliana had kicked the bucket, I think im's chances of picking dark choices would have gone up like, 45%.

[Marisha Ray]

Agree?

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

I think not a done deal.

[Liam O'Brien]

But Ludinus chance of survival also would have been even lower. I think you would have caught a little dark image in which maybe is fun, but maybe we still will. I don't know.

[Robbie Daymond]

Well, this has been so great, talking about what is up and all that, but we do have other portions of this game. We have a little bit of the Tower of Inquiry to tug at.

[Marisha Ray]

Tower of Inquiry.

[Robbie Daymond]

It's pretty simple. If you haven't watched the show, we're gonna take turns pulling blocks from the tower.

[Marisha Ray]

If you haven't watched the show.

[Robbie Daymond]

Danny reads us the corresponding fan question. What a time to tune in. And we each give our own answer. And if for some reason the tower should fall on the first pull or after, there'll be a consequence for the one who destroys it. Robbie diamond, step up to the plate.

[Ashley Johnson]

How dare you, Draymond.

[Liam O'Brien]

You know, I always pawn this off on somebody else, so I'm actually glad to do this. Bob's your uncle.

[Marisha Ray]

One, two, three.

[Liam O'Brien]

Whoa, I missed it.

[Ashley Johnson]

That was.

[Robbie Daymond]

You are the Auntie Laura.

[Ashley Johnson]

A wild choice. Wait, you gotta put it back on.

[Danny Carr]

Oh, I'll even go.

[Liam O'Brien]

I'll even put it on the same. Oh, I can't do that.

[Danny Carr]

Yeah, no.

[Liam O'Brien]

Easy peasy, cinco. Let's Hit it.

[Danny Carr]

All right. Number five from Amelia. Loved seeing Zerxus animated in Vox Machina. Thought it was so seamlessly blended with some of my favorite plot points from campaign one. I was wondering what the conversations are like around altering original campaign moments to include beloved characters of other campaigns like Zerxus. Are there any ideas around this that ended up not being used that you thought were cool?

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, my goodness.

[Ashley Johnson]

That's a big question.

[Marisha Ray]

It's a big question. We've answered versions of this a few times across many interviews.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

There's a bajillion ideas that hit the writer's room floor, hit the cutting room floor. You just don't have time for all of it.

[Liam O'Brien]

I'll answer this one. What are you talking about?

[Marisha Ray]

I mean, you know, you still know. Ultimately, I think it's just trying to like, weave together what is a several hundred hour long story into 12 episodes a season. 30 minute episodes, 22 minute episodes.

[Robbie Daymond]

Right. And we were already messing with the reality there. Like in the campaign, they did not go to the nine Hells for that. Right. They got that in the elemental plane of fire.

[Danny Carr]

What are you talking about? Sorry.

[Robbie Daymond]

Well, I'm talking about animated. Right. Like, we fused a few things for the visit to get the play to the Dawn Martyr and where we met Xerxes. And originally, I think that was just gonna be a devil.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

But no, you know, like, there's not a lot of investment in that. So, you know, in the writer's room, there's a lot of like, what if it was this guy?

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

What if we pulled this over from 50 miles away?

[Marisha Ray]

Does that work here? Yank was the grease road that had the Spire of Conflux at it.

[Danny Carr]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

Tum Tum. Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

And then so we just kind of put Yank because we still really wanted to have the Yank in Vergor Vorugal battle. But we basically got rid of the Spire of Conflux being a thing in the show.

[Liam O'Brien]

Right.

[Robbie Daymond]

We decided Keyleth is the Spire of Conflux.

[Marisha Ray]

Keyleth is the Spire of Conflux. Her leveling up is her Aramente. So we didn't want to, like, it's a little bit of a hat and a hat in the Animated Series.

[Robbie Daymond]

The Yank Vorugal fight is just one of those flags that in the beginning of the season, we're like, this has to happen now. Let's figure out how it does. And everything's built up to get there.

[Marisha Ray]

A lot of what we changed and built up in the Animated Series is Pike story. Stuff.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Primarily because you were in and out so much blind spot.

[Ashley Johnson]

We had to figure out a way to make that. I mean, it kind of, I feel like, was a cool opportunity to bring a lot of stuff in that you didn't get a chance that I didn't get a chance to explore. But also, like, stuff we wanted to try with the story of, like. Well, we can't have pike going in and out because that wouldn't make sense in the series. So let's. Let's just have fun with it, which I love. Because we can't tell the same story that we tell at the table in 22 minute episodes in a season. You know, like, what's the best way to tell this story?

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah, Solving a Rubik's cube. I also really love Pike's greater presence and stronger through line through that season because it had such a ripple effect into Scanlan's story as well and changed the tenor of his melody in the season as well. It was very cool.

[Marisha Ray]

You just ended up. Cause I remember it was after Calamity, literally, like after shooting Calamity, and we were still at the table and I was sitting next to Travis and he was like. And we were going. If you remember, episode four was no pun intended. Hell. And everyone is having a hard time trying to figure out how to make it make sense, how to break it, how to break it. And then he was like, it's Zerxus. It was a cool moment.

[Danny Carr]

I can give Elvium Au. That is just answering the question, what if pike was there?

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah. Yeah, kinda.

[Robbie Daymond]

Oh, man.

[Ashley Johnson]

I know. We'll never know.

[Liam O'Brien]

Speaking of pike, do a. Do a thing.

[Robbie Daymond]

That's right. He beat me to it.

[Liam O'Brien]

Go pull a block. I stole your host.

[Danny Carr]

Mommy. You are not the host today. It's so natural.

[Robbie Daymond]

Co host.

[Danny Carr]

So naturally good at it.

[Ashley Johnson]

Nope.

[Danny Carr]

I refuse.

[Robbie Daymond]

This poll brought to you by Lobby.

[Ashley Johnson]

I feel like this is, like this is a little tilted already.

[Marisha Ray]

It is a little askew.

[Robbie Daymond]

Oh.

[Ashley Johnson]

48.

[Liam O'Brien]

Whoa.

[Danny Carr]

48. 48.

[Marisha Ray]

Reacting to the wrong part. That's my point. 48.

[Ashley Johnson]

What a number.

[Liam O'Brien]

Higher than five.

[Danny Carr]

This is interesting considering we're so close to. Since this is so close to. To the end of the campaign. But Kayla Cabral asks, what do you think your character would be doing right now if they hadn't joined up with Bell's Hells.

[Liam O'Brien]

You said Kayla Cabral.

[Danny Carr]

Kayla.

[Liam O'Brien]

I thought that was the start of the question. That's a badass fantasy name. Kayla. That's a great. I thought. Talk to me about the Kayla Cabral fight is what I was expecting. What would they be doing.

[Robbie Daymond]

As the.

[Danny Carr]

World falls down around them? What would they be doing right now.

[Robbie Daymond]

If we hadn't met up and fallen down this journey together? And Ludinus still would have been doing Ludinus things?

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, no. Magical furniture. No. Bird.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah. I mean, I feel like for Fearne, she'd still be stuck in Nanamoorhy's protection.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Danny Carr]

But she had left before. She had left that before she met Bell self, before she met the Crown Keepers.

[Ashley Johnson]

You are correct, Dani. She went out and about in the world. But I mean, so much of that leaving was because of.

[Danny Carr]

But if it's only that she hadn't met Come part. Like, let's say. Like, let's say that it. Let's say it's. Instead of. Instead of him bringing you. Instead of Orym bringing you. What if you had stayed with Opal and Dariax, had gone with Dorian and Orym to Marquette? Never would have. Never would have been part of Bell's Hell.

[Ashley Johnson]

Never would have been a Bell, but part of Bell's Hells would have just like.

[Marisha Ray]

Well, and you had a moment, right, where you're like, do I stick with Fearne or mix it up?

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah. After we had talked after Exu.

[Liam O'Brien]

Is that too much? How the sauce is made? Like, the idea that you were trying out your characters in Exu.

[Marisha Ray]

Well, because I remember talking to you guys and I was like, look, it would be awesome to, like, pull people over, but also, if it doesn't work. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. Or if you're not. If you're like, I don't want to play this person for the next three years.

[Liam O'Brien]

I know you had been building.

[Robbie Daymond]

Oh, I've been thinking about it for.

[Marisha Ray]

A long time because you were. You were toying around.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, I was toying around with so much. Yeah, we had so many of those. Those. We had so many games just playing and figuring stuff out and trying different. Trying different classes, trying different types of characters and. Yeah, I. I never was planning to ever play a Druid. It just kind of made sense for Fearne. I always wanted to play a rogue.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

And I just never ended up finding the right character. But I think after playing Fearne with the crew, I was like, oh, I like this.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

I like this dynamic with the Dorian, Oram and Fearne. I want to keep her going.

[Liam O'Brien]

You got your levels of rogue in the end, though.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

You tipped yourself.

[Ashley Johnson]

I did, yeah. Just to steal shit.

[Marisha Ray]

How many.

[Ashley Johnson]

Which later I was like, Half.

[Liam O'Brien]

How did I do that?

[Marisha Ray]

Three.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, you got three Rogue.

[Marisha Ray]

Three rogue.

[Ashley Johnson]

Sure. I don't know, guys. I don't have a fish.

[Danny Carr]

You did go. I think Arcane Trickster to give yourself some wizard spells.

[Robbie Daymond]

If Bell's hells hadn't congealed. Do you think probably Laudna and Imogen would just be wandering together?

[Marisha Ray]

Probably, yeah. I imagine we could have probably stayed in Jrusara for maybe a little longer before where both of us felt like we needed to get the fuck out of Dodge.

[Robbie Daymond]

But they're still Ruidusborn, so they'd still be having dreams. I wonder if that's fair. I wonder if you can argue.

[Liam O'Brien]

No.

[Ashley Johnson]

Well, fair. Fearne's never had dreams, but Fern was.

[Danny Carr]

Still part of the puzzle. That's the thing.

[Ashley Johnson]

Fern was still part.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, well, and there was also the whole draw of Rudisborn kind of being going on. Being pulled in, going on their pilgrimage. So I could fully see Laudna being like, well, we have to figure this out. We gotta go.

[Robbie Daymond]

Liliana would be reaching out to her daughter somehow, no matter what.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

With that in mind, I feel like Fearne probably would have been pulled into the bad side. It's been like, oh, sure, I'll help out.

[Marisha Ray]

I can see that.

[Robbie Daymond]

I could too.

[Danny Carr]

You're my father.

[Ashley Johnson]

Cool. Oh, great. Oh, probably. Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Always on the edge of like slipping into a cult accidentally.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, for sure, for sure. I love that.

[Liam O'Brien]

Literally beginning, beginning. Even exu Times view, you were always in question. You had a shadow version of yourself being like, come on over.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, she's Fae. Yeah, she's Fae. You never know.

[Robbie Daymond]

I think Orym would have still ended up being a minor role in it all. Only because if. If shit was hitting the fan on a global level, he would have continued to do traveling soldier ambassador work for the Ashari. But then when shit hit the fan, he probably would have either been summoned back or felt compelled to go back and lend a hand on the battlefield that surrounded Vox machina and everything.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, he would have been at the Malleus Key fight probably no matter what.

[Robbie Daymond]

As part of the onslaught. But not any of the stealth teams.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, I can see that.

[Liam O'Brien]

I think Dorian, I'd have to take it back to pre Exu. I would say if he'd never met up with that squad, just cause that's I think, where he found his mooring. I feel like he would be in high level trouble. Like, I feel like he's so down for anything that without foundation he would have worked himself into. He would be in a mess Somehow he'd be wrapped up, but in a way that. Not good.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, wow. Yeah, I could see that he'd be.

[Robbie Daymond]

Recruited to the vanguard.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, maybe. Maybe Dad'll be so sad.

[Robbie Daymond]

All right, Marisha. Yeah. Watch me pull a brick from the tower.

[Marisha Ray]

Bait and switch.

[Danny Carr]

I could see Dorian and Cyrus being like vaudeville people who are like, running scams on people, and you scam the wrong guy. Dorian and Cyrus, just like, just. Just having like a. A hat and cane routine.

[Liam O'Brien]

We picked a pocket of this ludinous fella.

[Robbie Daymond]

That's your thing.

[Liam O'Brien]

That's your thing. That's your thing. You'd be our third scam.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, I probably would have been. We would have found each other.

[Robbie Daymond]

That's a three.

[Danny Carr]

That's a three.

[Marisha Ray]

Three.

[Danny Carr]

Great.

[Robbie Daymond]

What?

[Marisha Ray]

He's probably amused by numbers we already figured out.

[Liam O'Brien]

Maybe I only have numbers in my brain. Let's not push it any further.

[Danny Carr]

So this is from Lacecap on Twitter. Which non furniture related mystery in Exandria is the biggest splinter in your mind from this campaign? Mine is the hidden ice forest city that BH ended up in when one of their teleports misfired. I keep wondering if it's connected with Cerrit, Maya and Patia's orbit. Hilariously. I can answer that question for you if you read the recap for that episode, I tell you exactly what city that is.

[Liam O'Brien]

Read the recap.

[Marisha Ray]

I forgot about that city.

[Robbie Daymond]

So.

[Ashley Johnson]

Me too.

[Robbie Daymond]

Like, unanswered mystery. We left us. What happened after we fled? The Shade Mother. She's still down there? Yeah, she's still Shade Mother. Controlling people with booger snot coming out the plumbing in that city. Never looked back. Had bigger things to think about.

[Danny Carr]

Had the Green Seekers dealing with her, so hopefully they took care of it.

[Ashley Johnson]

Hopefully they took care of it.

[Robbie Daymond]

Where are the Green Seekers at mine?

[Liam O'Brien]

Feels small and selfish, but it's. Was my brother saveable? I think that's still lingering in the back of my head. Even though the hope is a sliver. That's still lingering. Small and selfish, but not selfish. I think the character thinks about it.

[Robbie Daymond]

Caring about your brother. Yeah, I think we'll allow it.

[Liam O'Brien]

Listen, the world's about to explode.

[Ashley Johnson]

I don't know.

[Marisha Ray]

I mean, this. I don't know if this is a mystery, but I cannot stop thinking about FCG's coin that we dropped down.

[Robbie Daymond]

Down the bottom.

[Ashley Johnson]

That was right early. Early on.

[Liam O'Brien]

Who's the creeper? Creepy tunnels.

[Marisha Ray]

The creepy tunnels under Jrusar Duggar? No, the core spire. Yeah, like, basically, there's a Whole probably other city under JRUSAR that we haven't even like, oh, my God. We've barely scratched the surface. Not even scratched the surface.

[Liam O'Brien]

Wow.

[Robbie Daymond]

Huh.

[Danny Carr]

It's not really a city. It's more that there's like mines.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Danny Carr]

There's mines below.

[Marisha Ray]

But hey, every city needs good tunnel people living in there, you know, I love mole. Yes, exactly. Exactly.

[Danny Carr]

You know, you know, I'm the first.

[Marisha Ray]

One to be like, thunder.

[Danny Carr]

Is it mole people? I feel like it's probably mole people.

[Robbie Daymond]

Probably.

[Marisha Ray]

When in doubt. Mole people.

[Danny Carr]

When in doubt.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah. So I just feel like there's. I still. I think I've said this before where it's like one of the side quests that I want to do is be like, hey, let's go get FCG Squad coin.

[Ashley Johnson]

That's kind of fun.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

God, I can't think of anything right now.

[Robbie Daymond]

Letter's connection to the old world.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

Like we would have explored probably quite a bit more than we did.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

And ties to like, Devexian.

[Marisha Ray]

Yep.

[Ashley Johnson]

We still haven't figured out anything with Devexian.

[Marisha Ray]

Not really.

[Danny Carr]

If you want to hear more about.

[Ashley Johnson]

That's something I would want to know about.

[Danny Carr]

If you want to learn more about Devexian, you should listen to the reslayer's take on Beacon.

[Ashley Johnson]

Ooh.

[Marisha Ray]

It's family friendly.

[Danny Carr]

All ages.

[Marisha Ray]

All ages.

[Robbie Daymond]

All right. It's four sided dive. So that being said, let's round out with 1/4 pull from the tower.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, we're going to do it. Okay, okay. All right, I'll do it.

[Ashley Johnson]

Do it, do it.

[Liam O'Brien]

Last pull.

[Marisha Ray]

Last one, last one. Let's see, let's see. I feel like woodpecker approach.

[Liam O'Brien]

23.

[Marisha Ray]

34.

[Danny Carr]

34, 34.

[Marisha Ray]

There you go.

[Ashley Johnson]

34. You're holding it like a Price is Right.

[Liam O'Brien]

Nice.

[Robbie Daymond]

Wow.

[Ashley Johnson]

Beautiful. Beautiful.

[Robbie Daymond]

I like that vowel.

[Danny Carr]

Okay, Vanna. All right, From Shaffee for everyone. Do you think any of the previously established characters from past campaigns, NPCs and player characters are Ruidusborn?

[Ashley Johnson]

Ooh, interesting. Victor. Victor.

[Robbie Daymond]

Oh, man.

[Danny Carr]

May he rest in peace.

[Ashley Johnson]

May he rest in pieces. Yeah. Literally.

[Marisha Ray]

I feel like there were a few that Matt had kind of sort of alluded to.

[Ashley Johnson]

Keyleth was for some reason, but I guess not. No, she's just a ginger in the beginning, but she's just a ginger. Yeah, yeah.

[Danny Carr]

Keyleth has enough.

[Marisha Ray]

Hi, married boys.

[Liam O'Brien]

And I'm like, oh, yes, they're one for one.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

Ginger and Rudisborn same.

[Marisha Ray]

I could see like Gilmore being rudestborn.

[Robbie Daymond]

Zara.

[Marisha Ray]

Zara.

[Ashley Johnson]

Zara. Could be a ruidusborne.

[Marisha Ray]

She's got moon shit.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, I'll go back. Exu Pasca Posca. Man, you like her lot in life. Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

I'm surprised she isn't sh. Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

What is she up to? Well, you guys in Kaimal kill her.

[Liam O'Brien]

She saw she was actively hunting us.

[Ashley Johnson]

When last she was.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, he fled on the floating balcony.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah. Yeah. Did a car chase or they. Yes, they did.

[Marisha Ray]

Yes.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

What if the Quad Roads lotto winner guy.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

When he came back.

[Ashley Johnson]

When he come back.

[Liam O'Brien]

He was at the ball, right, wasn't he?

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Danny Carr]

Preston Drotalon.

[Liam O'Brien]

Nice.

[Ashley Johnson]

Maybe. Maybe. Buddy.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah, buddy. Is he just on a cliff somewhere.

[Ashley Johnson]

Going on Darrington Brigade.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, I love. He's theoretically rude as born, but too dumb to like receive the message.

[Robbie Daymond]

Jess thinks it's pretty.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, maybe all of Darrington Brigade. Yeah, they just. None of them knew.

[Robbie Daymond]

Entire group.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

We still have a broken plane rider Rin in our bags, don't we?

[Danny Carr]

No, she, she, she.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh no we don't.

[Ashley Johnson]

She came back.

[Marisha Ray]

She put her together.

[Danny Carr]

She dimensioned her.

[Marisha Ray]

That's right.

[Danny Carr]

Door dashed away.

[Ashley Johnson]

She's that kind of is amazing doordashed and she.

[Robbie Daymond]

We didn't have time because we were in a crunch.

[Marisha Ray]

But we tried to be like come.

[Robbie Daymond]

Back seedling after its level up for the person who's attuned to it can regrow any limbs, arms, fingers, peens, anything that's dropped off. So if we had just an hour, I was going to lay the sword on Rin like the lady of the Lake or something, so that.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh cool.

[Robbie Daymond]

There would be attunement, you know, once we brought them back. And then I would just be a loner for an hour. It would've been like a little magical. Think of the wild mother. And they could have got their arm back. But we had to go. Yeah, that's right, we had to go.

[Danny Carr]

She can do that in the future.

[Robbie Daymond]

If we don't all die.

[Ashley Johnson]

If she lives. That is cool.

[Robbie Daymond]

Line riders are all right. Anyway, well, Chetney's the last full plane rider.

[Ashley Johnson]

Shitney.

[Robbie Daymond]

Well, thank you. Shaffee Lacecap. Amelia and Kayla Cabral. I took it as Caleb could brawl. Yeah, I thought it was like a one shot or something. And if you have a question for our tower of inquiry. Ah, well, you shit out of luck. Now it's time to slide into the deep dive where lorekeeper Dandy Carr passes out mugs filled with questions.

[Ashley Johnson]

Questions.

[Liam O'Brien]

Caleb could brawl. So like the ley lines are messed up for a day and all we got is fisticuffs.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yep.

[Liam O'Brien]

And it's just a wizard fight.

[Marisha Ray]

Just. Oops. All Caleb's.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, that's fun.

[Robbie Daymond]

Weak. Noodled slap fight.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, that sounds.

[Danny Carr]

I don't know.

[Liam O'Brien]

I think. I think Caleb's got hands.

[Robbie Daymond]

Oh, sure.

[Danny Carr]

I insert a few of these, so enjoy. Just, you know, run through.

[Robbie Daymond]

You know what?

[Danny Carr]

We do feel like you answered something already.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

We're gonna go around and take turns pulling the questions out and. Hey, Robbie, you go first.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh. Do you know how. I know how? It's the holidays. I am so ashy. I just noticed on camera. This is definitely a guy who worked on a tropical vacation, came back and didn't moisturize for a week. Anyway, comment. If you relate, what's it been like as Dorian with bells? Hells and the Mighty? Nein. Do you feel like the only human in a cast of Muppets? If So, are you more like Michael Caine or a Tim Curry who rides these?

[Danny Carr]

And I was really proud of that one because I love the Muppets.

[Liam O'Brien]

It's cute. I'm so tough on you, Danny.

[Danny Carr]

I just love me Robbie.

[Liam O'Brien]

Teasing's my love. Language. Oh, it was so fun. Are you kidding me? It was. It was unhinged. It was delightful. It was watching. It was watching a master class of what? You guys have been doing this for a decade. It was a blast.

[Ashley Johnson]

If.

[Liam O'Brien]

If. If Dorian was a grounding force at all to be supportive while you guys went through your machinations. I. I was glad to be there.

[Marisha Ray]

Just talking to each other.

[Liam O'Brien]

It was super fun. And everybody was down to clown. I loved when Yasha jumped in and we just played background music from.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, that's right. All the various scenes.

[Liam O'Brien]

You mimed with me for, like, 30 minutes.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah. We did mime for a really long time. I was like, I'll mime till the end of time.

[Marisha Ray]

I was committing someone else to the bit.

[Liam O'Brien]

I was like, she's still committing to this bit. It was the best.

[Ashley Johnson]

Well, you kept going. And I was doing the same thing. I was like, fuck, he's still fucking miming it. I'm.

[Robbie Daymond]

Kay.

[Marisha Ray]

I'm going to drown.

[Liam O'Brien]

I probably fancy myself a Tim Curry, but I'm maybe more of a Michael Caine. I would have to say.

[Marisha Ray]

I would agree with that.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah. Yeah. This was the best.

[Danny Carr]

You treated the Muppets very seriously. I would say you're more of a Michael Caine. Yeah. You treated the Muppets with. You treated the Muppets very seriously. Whereas. As opposed to a Tim Curry who's like, no, I am also a Muppet.

[Liam O'Brien]

This is my only musical number quote from up at Treasure Island. Yeah, it was awesome. It was literally the best. What does it feel like? What did it feel like? It felt good.

[Robbie Daymond]

Let's go to Asholie.

[Ashley Johnson]

All right. I chose this one because this is. I really like this question. This is for me, Liam and Robbie.

[Marisha Ray]

Sorry.

[Ashley Johnson]

Marisha. Was it strange to see Opal while inhabiting different characters? What would your Bell's Hells character have done if they had been there instead?

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, wait, what was the question?

[Liam O'Brien]

That's a great question.

[Ashley Johnson]

Was it strange to see Opal while inhabiting different characters?

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

What would your Bells Hells character have done if they had been there instead?

[Robbie Daymond]

I think try to see if she was reachable and try to get her to stay with us 100% would have.

[Liam O'Brien]

Cocked the whole fight. I would have gotten diverted. I would have gone off. I would have gone off target as. As Dorian for sure. I. I'm bad at that stuff.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

Same. I think Fern would have just. Would have. Yeah, Same. Been like, no, no, no, we're not leaving you. You're coming with us. We're figuring this out. Cuz she just. She loves Opal so much.

[Liam O'Brien]

It would have been a problem.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

Or stuck to mission. And would have been fucked up because of it.

[Ashley Johnson]

It would have messed up so many things.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah. The world would end.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah. But it was great, though. Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

It would have been awesome.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

But that's why I gotta assume that's why Matt did it there instead of elsewhere.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

Because these characters have no motive. It's just a stranger. But what a cool moment. That was badass.

[Ashley Johnson]

But it was like, even going back with the matron fight.

[Robbie Daymond]

We just got the.

[Ashley Johnson]

We just got the simulation. But like his fearne. I hated it. Cause I was. And it made me mad at the matron because I was like, why are you making me fight somebody that I love? Like, I know this is a test, but I hate this. Like, this isn't gonna make me wanna support you.

[Robbie Daymond]

It was a little bit proving Ludinus point, which is you're using this person. She's not even here. But you're using this because you know it will push us or test us or like we're in some little lab experiment for you right now to make. To see if we can do what you need.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah. That's what it felt like. And I was a little like, there was a part of me that was like, what if I just didn't fight? Just didn't take the turn. Like, I'm not gonna do this. But then I couldn't do it because it's DD and I'm like, I'm not gonna not take my turn. But anyway, yeah, I'm glad we. It would have been very different if it would have been bells. Hell's been like oval girl. Have fun. Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

Liam. Talk about that clutch disintegrate. That took the weave. Mine down. I had been weighing that for a pair of rounds. But the thing about disintegrate is it's big risk, big reward. And if they succeed, their Dex save it just nothing happens. And you've wasted a high, high level spell. And it really was because Beauregard set up the bowling pins and gave Caleb a perfect shot and was just a big old dose of damage right at the end. It felt good.

[Marisha Ray]

Well, because we like, we have our little combo move, Caleb and Beau.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah. Which we talked about doing but didn't get to do.

[Marisha Ray]

Get to it where I can. And I'm blanking on the damn name right now.

[Robbie Daymond]

Oh, what? Your monk. Your cool monk shit. Is that does it?

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah. Where I. Debilitating barrage, I think is what it's called.

[Robbie Daymond]

I think it's just a taint punch.

[Marisha Ray]

It's just a taint punch with flavor with a little bit of hot sauce on it so it burns.

[Ashley Johnson]

Gross.

[Robbie Daymond]

Right, so Beau sets the person up for mega damage. And then Caleb.

[Danny Carr]

That's right. L did this on uktoa.

[Marisha Ray]

We did this on a. Yes, yes, yes.

[Robbie Daymond]

And while in the aftermath between campaign two and campaign three, obviously Bo and Yasha have a great marriage. Great sex, apparently, all over the planet.

[Ashley Johnson]

Why would you not?

[Robbie Daymond]

When they're not off hours, Bo and Caleb will have formed sort of like a. Shh. It's not one for one, but like a Sherlock and Watson fight. Problems in Rec centrum and around.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

You said Sherlock and Watson. I was still thinking about their love life. I got confused for a second.

[Marisha Ray]

I mean, let's be real.

[Liam O'Brien]

No Conan Doyle rolled that way.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Let's see what I got. Should I not? Or are you still talking?

[Robbie Daymond]

I'm done.

[Marisha Ray]

Okay, good.

[Ashley Johnson]

I'm done.

[Marisha Ray]

Beau is clearly still very guarded around new people. Correct. With her trust in the mighty Nein. Above all. Correct. Has her time with the Cobalt Soul hardened her more? Yeah. I mean, I don't think jumping off of exactly what you're about to say. I don't think doing what she does, specifically with the Kobold soul and with Caleb makes her any more trusting of people.

[Danny Carr]

Yeah. Her Whole thing is rooting out corruption. Like, that's not gonna lead you to being the kind of person, like, I'm super trusting.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yes.

[Danny Carr]

Even if you've grown as a person, especially with your tight knit group of friends, you're only gonna trust them.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah. 100%.

[Danny Carr]

You're gonna be extremely wary of other people. Always.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

And on top of that, Beau's always been a little shit talker. So of course she's also gonna be like. She's gonna be like, can you all handle this? Cause you guys seem like you suck.

[Ashley Johnson]

I love it so much.

[Danny Carr]

Yeah, this was definitely. I actually really liked Bo in these, like, couple of episodes. We got to see her especially interacting with Bell's hells. Because it was very clearly, at least to me, her putting up this front of just immediately, just like, I'm gonna tell you guys all of these things and I'm gonna say like, oh, yeah, my wife and I hated each other whenever we first met and all these things. Cause you don't want them to know anything about you. You don't want them to know the truth. You don't want them to know that you were crazy about her, like the moment that you saw her and stuff like that. She was monochrome in a world of color and stuff like that. That's the kind of stuff you tell random strangers that you don't trust. You're gonna be like, oh, no, I didn't like her. What about it? You wanna know more? No, I don't like you either. Like, I love it. It was just such a great encapsulation of who Beau is and how she presents herself to other people that she's still not quite on the level with. Like, you gotta chip away before you get to Realbo.

[Marisha Ray]

A hundred percent, I love her. I love her 100%.

[Ashley Johnson]

I love her.

[Danny Carr]

I'm sorry for saying that she was shitty in the fight. Cause she wasn't. She was perfect.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, well, I forgive you.

[Danny Carr]

Okay. I love you, Bobby.

[Robbie Daymond]

Next.

[Liam O'Brien]

I hope I pull a question where everybody tells me how much they love me.

[Robbie Daymond]

Suck.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, God. How did you approach playing Serkonos for the table?

[Marisha Ray]

We need to talk about this a little bit.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah, I'll make it brief. We got a lot of questions. Yeah, I mean, the Scanlan idea literally came. Dropped in in the moment. There's a great thanks to whoever contributes to all the wiki stuff. The wiki was great. Made my build a lot easier. Things that I knew I had to do. Went back and revisited the vox machina episodes. Tried to watch Clips of kind of like what that was. And then the rest was filling in the gap of what 30 years looks like for a guy like that. But the wiki helped because I'm like, oh, he only ages 1 to 10. He's got these responsibilities. So, you know, a lot of my character building throughout this whole thing, Dorian included, is making it plug and play for myself so I don't get too lost in the sauce. So you give me a character that's got 10 years worth of lore connected to a large group. And the easiest thing for me to do was to make him stalwart and sort of, like, dedicated to duty and isolated. And then it led to some just unintentionally funny character choices that once they started to develop in the moment, I was like, ah, this is fun. This is where I can find the fun in this. And, yeah, I mean, it was just a. A pleasure to play true, true improv. Two days before, I was like, what.

[Robbie Daymond]

Am I going to do? And, yeah, makes me want to go back to the Animated Series and retroactively put in shots of him, like, in front of a mirror, going, you've got the Serkonos.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yes, yes.

[Liam O'Brien]

Scanlan does something funny. He's like, you see where it builds? Yeah, yeah, exactly.

[Danny Carr]

There's still the future.

[Marisha Ray]

I was gonna say, honestly, season four. If there is a circonis in season.

[Liam O'Brien]

Four, figure it out.

[Ashley Johnson]

Okay. One of these. We did answer, but I do that sometimes because I'm like, I know I answered this. I know we don't have a lot of time.

[Danny Carr]

Yeah, just do it. That is the last one for campaign.

[Ashley Johnson]

I know. That's why I was like, okay, so I'm gonna answer. Okay, let's go with this one. How does Fearne feel about the Ruby Vanguard treating her like a VIP hostage? They called her a Prime Acquisition. Is it especially strange after the death of her father? I actually forgot about that. They called her a Prime Acquisition.

[Danny Carr]

I thought you were gonna say, I forgot that her father died.

[Ashley Johnson]

I was like, wait, her, huh? None of this. I know. I feel like at least how. I've kind of been, like, playing it with Fearne in moments like these. I feel like the VIP thing, or like the Prime Acquisition. I feel like it doesn't make her feel any different because she's like, well, they. They think they know what the story is here, but they have no idea. None of us do. I don't know if that makes any sense. Like, I think. Trying to think of how to word this without giving too much. I don't know, it's not that like Fearne doesn't think highly of herself in any way or that she does not. But I don't know how to answer this question. This is a hard one.

[Danny Carr]

She is a princess. Professor.

[Ashley Johnson]

She is a princess. She's professor princess. She does think, yes.

[Marisha Ray]

Professor, princess.

[Ashley Johnson]

Professor, princess. I think it just, it's all the same to her. Like, if that makes any sense of we just have a job to get done and life is just going to go on. And me being this VIP hostage isn't like it's. It's like nothing's going to change. I don't know. I don't know how to make sense of this. Let's go on to the next question. I'm not answering this correctly. Sorry, Danny.

[Danny Carr]

You're perfect.

[Ashley Johnson]

I liked it because I was like, oh, wait, not Danielle.

[Liam O'Brien]

It was a very dao of Fearne answer. You're just cruising down the river. Yeah, yeah.

[Danny Carr]

I feel like it makes sense for Fearne. She's just like, yeah, good. I'm the important hostage because it's going.

[Ashley Johnson]

To get us in and I'll use.

[Marisha Ray]

It to get us in further down the river. Incubus.

[Ashley Johnson]

Incubus. She's a little bit of an incubus.

[Robbie Daymond]

What was it like for Caleb to mentor other young adventurers like Imogen to open his tower to those who might need it? I think that Caleb is kind of in his Elora era. I actually really love the sort of corruption fighting Xemnian kids story that I hope to one day tell. That is a big favorite of mine. But I also love Caleb as a teacher, teacher and guide for young people. And I don't think of him as ever wanting any kind of like laurels or fame really. The way that like Vox Machina is legendary and known. I still think in a way he's like, that's not for me because while I have come to accept my past and everything that happened, my life is still meant to be one of service to counterbalance the, the darkness of my beginning. And the best he can do is mentor other people. And Imogen is her own character and her own person. But clearly to Caleb there is a lot of like turmoil in there. And just he's looking at a young person who's not sure what is right. And I think was gravitated towards that in a teacher or like an uncle or mentor. Fashion professor.

[Marisha Ray]

Professor Princess.

[Robbie Daymond]

It's sweet. Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

Professor Princess.

[Robbie Daymond]

Caleb is definitely professor princess.

[Ashley Johnson]

Definitely.

[Danny Carr]

But is he a pillow princess? I'm sorry.

[Ashley Johnson]

Wow, Danny.

[Danny Carr]

Sorry. Came out. Danny, go back to my corner.

[Liam O'Brien]

That's the next question.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah, there it is.

[Marisha Ray]

It is. Just to jump off of what you were saying. Seven years have gone by, and the Mighty Nein are still like unsung heroes. Yeah, I think we will be for forever.

[Ashley Johnson]

Forever?

[Danny Carr]

That's your story?

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah. Like, we got sucked in on this rudest business, but even still, it's like, we'll throw these things at you guys.

[Robbie Daymond]

And in the end, it's only going to be of these three groups. It's really only Vox Machina that's going to be like it that we're thrust into this massive spotlight. But Hell's Hells were like a weird little screwball unit that nobody should have bet on. And Mighty Nein, I think, are all super fucking confident, but they're gonna continue to work angles and pull strings invisibly for the good of. The good of the world.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, we're just gonna keep doing our community service. How does Laudna feel about the matron of Ravens now? What does her connection mean to her? Yeah, it was very fun and felt good to have a character that wasn't like, fuck you, Matron. For, I think, the first time in this campaign. But I think it's still just an extension of, like, Laudna kind of always, like, craving to be seen a little bit and kind of craving and also having that infatuation with, like, people of stature and people in power. And, you know, she's always kind of admired lords and ladies and Regency, and I think it's kind of like that, but on a godlike scale. So just even a little bit of the nod. And then also, so many people have looked at Laudna for so long as this abomination of her being undead and not really existing between the veils. So to have the. Yeah, I was convinced that the matron of Raven was gonna be like, mm, mm, you're not good. You're a bastardization of what I represent. But the fact that she was like, yeah, I like you, kid.

[Robbie Daymond]

Maybe that would've been a reaction 30 years ago, but with everything that's going.

[Ashley Johnson]

On, you gotta use the dang mask.

[Robbie Daymond]

Gotta get it back from the cow first.

[Ashley Johnson]

I got it from her.

[Robbie Daymond]

You got it back?

[Marisha Ray]

I got it from her.

[Robbie Daymond]

Okay.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, oh, oh.

[Danny Carr]

Imogen telekinetically pushed it into her.

[Marisha Ray]

I bullied it. Yeah, Yeah. I was just waiting for the right moment.

[Robbie Daymond]

I think we could do. We could do two more rapidly. Rapidly.

[Marisha Ray]

I think so.

[Robbie Daymond]

A little quicker answered it.

[Danny Carr]

Talk about Doram. I'm gonna lose My shit answered it.

[Liam O'Brien]

Talk to us about the relationship between Orym and Dorian. You willed it into being their scene of confession and how they're doing in this new romance. Is it a romance yet? That's a good question. To me it's only the possibility of. I think the love, the attraction. For my part, the passion is there. But to me, a romance requires the time to activate. And I think you said something beautiful when we first said that. It was like what could have been if only we had more time. If only, if only, if only. And I think that's a beautiful place for love to begin and love to exist because I feel like for a lot of people that's how unrequited or a lot of love stories sort of end up is. Like it was just never right. And sometimes you never find that. So, you know, I mean this is coming from someone who like I used to date my wife in college and we didn't see each other for seven years, didn't talk and now we're married and have two little babies. Like for me that's one of the things where it's like.

[Marisha Ray]

It's one of my favorite stories. Wow.

[Liam O'Brien]

I love it when you know it's your person. You know it's your person.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

And he's always got something in the back of your head. And I think that's always been on my mind since episode, you know, one of exu. And to be able to say it like open and freely and to admit that this isn't the right time, it's not the right place, fucking figure it out later. Was really freeing. I finally glad just to do it.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah. I think they're still earning and it's only going to be another six or 24 hours or whatever it's going to be. They're earning their. Their way toward a reprieve from the insanity and then they can just like vax and keyleth. Like it depends on. It really depends on what happens in the next 12, 24 hours. But it goes back to Exu for me as well. And you never like I don't couldn't predict where the campaign were going to go or if my other role player at the table would be even interested in following that thread with me or not. But I can remember I knew that I wanted the this story to be like Orym's like wandering out of the woods and going like can I start again? Was was one of the things I wanted to sniff out. And I remember just randomly role playing in one of those exu episodes where either you or Matt narrated. Like, I nestle up next to the other one. And so Dariax and Dorian were like nestled under a tree. And I. And I had Orym was awake doing guard watch up in the tree. And all the way back then, I was like, I remember that. Not for me, but I wish.

[Liam O'Brien]

I may not be able to visualize things in the moment, but that image is etched in my head too, from way early on. And I think that was the birth of it. And I think Dorian was still finding his own freedom in a sense of literally being released into the world for the. I was exploring all sorts of options. I think for Dariax, there was a moment there at a certain point, you know, maybe. And I and other characters three game.

[Robbie Daymond]

In anything can happen.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

Our first four sided die. Who do you have a crush on? And I said, he got, you know, some romantic vibes around the table from other things, though he never really. He kept a distance at us.

[Marisha Ray]

Okay, what did I do wrong?

[Robbie Daymond]

What?

[Ashley Johnson]

What?

[Liam O'Brien]

What?

[Ashley Johnson]

What?

[Robbie Daymond]

What?

[Marisha Ray]

I was wondering. I was wondering because. Okay. Oh, yay. Spill the tea. Because I was like, is he crushing on Imogen? Is he probably going to crush him?

[Liam O'Brien]

Are you crushing Imogen? That's interesting. It's good. It's glad.

[Robbie Daymond]

I'm glad.

[Liam O'Brien]

I know your ships.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah, Seriously.

[Liam O'Brien]

What's your question, Matt?

[Robbie Daymond]

No, no. You son of a bitch.

[Liam O'Brien]

Should we guess? Bold of you to think it's one person. And that was true. Not just a red herring. Like, there were other characters where, you know, even though Orym was kind of always where my head was at, if another opportunity within the group had presented itself, I don't think Dorian would have, like, shut it out because he's there for the experience of life. So.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, it was because I remember. I thought you had a crush on Imogen for a minute.

[Liam O'Brien]

Maybe you were the first one I princess carried, so.

[Ashley Johnson]

That's right.

[Liam O'Brien]

Ooh, the fans hate it. They hate it. I wanna break up your favorite ship, but no, no, it was always. It was always Orym.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, no, I love it.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, man. I answered my other questions, but I will just say how fun it was to jump back into Yasha. I didn't have Yasha questions, which I'm okay with.

[Marisha Ray]

There was one.

[Danny Carr]

There is a question I think for. It might be a Marisha question, but it's for both of y'all where I talk about where it's a. It's a Yasha and it's a Yasha.

[Marisha Ray]

A Yasha Noble here I'll lend you a question.

[Danny Carr]

There was also a question about Ashton in there or there should have been.

[Ashley Johnson]

What were some of the. There is. And that is one question that I was like, should I answer this? I think I'm gonna wait.

[Danny Carr]

That is totally fine. I'm glad that you told the fans that you're gonna wait so they don't think I didn't ask.

[Ashley Johnson]

No, no, no. There is a question here about Ashton, but I was like, I need to figure some stuff out first. What were some of the dynamics that you two wanted to bring to Beau and Yasha's relationship seven years later? Well, so much of that was so last minute.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

We were like, oh, shit.

[Ashley Johnson]

Cause there was so much. Like, tonight you guys are playing these characters and tonight you guys are gonna. So now you're jumping into M9. And I think there was just like, there was a lot going on.

[Marisha Ray]

There's a lot going on the last.

[Ashley Johnson]

Few games of like, figuring out.

[Robbie Daymond]

So with both of your graph favorite relationships, it was last second. What are we.

[Ashley Johnson]

I mean, I mean, I don't know. I feel like with Beau and Yasha just. It's so easy for me to slip in to just being in love with Beau.

[Danny Carr]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

Cause I just love when Marisha gets in her just like. Like, just frustrated and, like, mad with everybody and just every day.

[Robbie Daymond]

Like, every day.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah. I love it. I love, like, she's just.

[Marisha Ray]

It's fair.

[Ashley Johnson]

I love her. So I. I don't know. It's easy to hop back into. And there's like a comfort in it, too, of, like, the two of them and figuring out where their lives are going to go and what their wants are going to be. And there was a very last minute of like, wait, did we say we were adopting kids? Yeah. Didn't we say we were gonna adopt kids? Did we do it yet? And then we were like, we can't just. We can't just like, decide that right now.

[Marisha Ray]

It's too weighty of a decision.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah. We'll just talk about it again.

[Liam O'Brien]

But you can.

[Marisha Ray]

You literally can.

[Liam O'Brien]

You could have just said, yeah, we could have.

[Marisha Ray]

But I mean, we kind of brought it into the game where it feels like we're still. That's probably what Fo and Yasha have probably been discussing it for stepping.

[Ashley Johnson]

When things calm down, we can.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

When things. You know, I think just after this winter solstice.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

After this winter solstice.

[Liam O'Brien]

Fast forward 20 years later to Palm Springs.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

Remember when we were going to do this every year after this Talk about it again.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah, it's funny.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, but it's just. It's so great. Yeah. Anyway.

[Robbie Daymond]

All right. My last one. One last one for me. One last one for you, Marisha. As we move into the final phase of Bell's Hell's Predathian journey, whereas. Or Orym landing on the God question, where are they? All right now. So I'll kick it off and you can jump in. Only in the last few episodes do I think that there is a little bit of waver or wiggle to Orym's thinking on it. Just because of their meeting with the Arch heart and the matron and realizing that the gods are just as conflicted as the mortals are, that he now a little bit doubts that there is 100% right answer. He knows that they have to stop Ludinus from doing what Ludinus wants to do, but he is only 95% sure they need to stop it all from happening instead of 100% sure. What about y'all?

[Liam O'Brien]

Good question.

[Robbie Daymond]

Before you get to your question.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think we'll find a time where we all like. It feels like such a cop out, but I do think, like, there will be a moment, the moment will present itself and we all go like, this is it. This is the right moment. And I've kind of said that a few times in game where it's like, well, we gotta talk this out. We gotta all be on the same page. We gotta have a plan. And it's. It's like, what Plan? Plan for what? We don't even fucking know what we're walking into.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

And so I think it's gonna be like an in moment thing where we're just all gonna like, trust in each other and know that it's right. Yeah, I think we'll all land on. I mean, it's gonna have to be right. Whatever we decide it's gonna be, gonna have to be right.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, I feel the same way.

[Robbie Daymond]

Not if we pile of rocks on top of that force cage.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, definitely can't move.

[Liam O'Brien]

I think Dorian shifted from sort of the opposite of a man of faith, like a little bit of a God hater, into his true, canonically chaotic, neutral self of a utilitarian. I think he'll do with whatever the gods that most benefit the people that he loves. Which is weighty when you say it out loud, that you're willing to sacrifice the gods for your mortal friendships. But I think that's where he's at, wherever it goes, if it means keeping him around, he'll stomach it. If it means getting rid of him, all the better as long as the people that he cares for end up on the right side of it. So yeah, yeah, definitely utilitarian about it.

[Ashley Johnson]

I just feel like Fearne is just like as long as my people are safe, the world could burn, doesn't matter.

[Marisha Ray]

That feels like the one thing that we are, even if we have different flavors of it. It feels like all of Bell's hells is kind of like we're kind of the adventuring party for the people. Like we've kind of always been that way a little bit.

[Liam O'Brien]

Maybe that's the root of our consternation with, with this God issue, is that we have no objective way of determining of whether the gods are for the people. The arguments have been made that they're very self interested, all those things and then arguments have been made that no, the gods are here to protect us and they love you and they want you to flourish and they've given you all these powers. Why else would they do that? So I think that might be the source of our conflict. Are the gods for the people?

[Marisha Ray]

For the people?

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah. Hard to say.

[Marisha Ray]

I think I get like torn too because I think like regardless, just in like faith in real life, people need faith too. You know, like even if we're like well, fucking whatever, we can have a godless world and keep doing what we've been doing this whole time. There are people in Exand. Like it is undeniable that the gods are important to, important to a lot of people in Exandria. So I think that that has to be taken into consideration as well.

[Robbie Daymond]

In a way I think Orym treats it like that moment in Oppenheimer where they're about to do the test and he says there's the this percent chance that that will cause the end of the world and they just don't know. And that's what Orym worries about. But there's nothing to be done. There's no like sitting it out because Ludinus is going to wield it. So the only choice is to run toward Ludinus and stop Ludinus from whatever it is he thinks he's going to do. That's heavy.

[Ashley Johnson]

That's really heavy.

[Robbie Daymond]

I mean that's been Orym the whole time is like there's just, it's a question mark. No idea what releasing for Dathos actually means on a tangible. Forget about the gods. Good, bad, help us, love us. A detriment to us. We don't know what the Physical releasing of whatever Predathos is would do.

[Liam O'Brien]

An Orym is a soldier. He's a.

[Robbie Daymond]

Well, you say man of the people. He's thinking of keeping the global populations safe from extinction event.

[Liam O'Brien]

The ultimate protector.

[Marisha Ray]

Hope we don't light the atmosphere on fire that part. These are the last questions.

[Robbie Daymond]

This is the last question.

[Marisha Ray]

This is the last question.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yours.

[Marisha Ray]

I'm gonna do a twofer just once again so people know she's a twofer. What does Laudna think of the Liliana situation? I mean, and that's basically Laudna's mother in law. Yeah, I mean, I'm glad we saved her. Obviously there was a time where Laudna was not super stoked with Liliana. Cause she was like, you kinda abandoned your daughter and I love your daughter. And so that fucking sucks. Once again, I don't think it's too dissimilar than a spouse. Most marriages who has, I mean, you know, that's my partner. And yeah, what did your dad do? How many people have had that where you're like, I don't care if it's your father, he's being a fucking asshole right now. So yeah, she kind of had that. But I mean, obviously I think she's come around a lot to Liliana and I think especially after her situation with Delilah, I think has kind of has a little bit of a different understanding on the whole situation of getting like kind of being trapped in a circumstance that's not necessarily of your own creation and feeling that guilt from it as well. Last one. How is Keyleth doing with the return of Vax? We kind of touched on this a little bit. I feel like it'd be a good one to end on.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, me too. Me too. Me too.

[Marisha Ray]

To have him back, but only for one night is both a blessing and a curse. Yeah, I mean, I guess just to, I don't know, clear the air or whatever. Yes, I was upset at the end of that episode, but I think I do want to paint it and like make sure everybody knows, you know, I'm not upset with the way the story or anything went. It is just because that is like how intense and real these characters feelings are in all of us. It's silly to a certain extent where you're like, oh, this imaginary person has had such. This like profound effect on my life. And it's not even like it's not coming. It's not driven from like a point of self pity, if that makes sense. Like it is not like, oh, Marisha feels bad with the way these Circumstances are. It truly is like, Keyleth is this whole other person who lives not just in my head, but in all of our. Everyone's heads now. Like thousands of people's heads.

[Robbie Daymond]

It's about 2,000, I think, is the max.

[Marisha Ray]

Yes, 2,000. So when I think about, like, their situation, it is like this profound empathy and, like, sense of sadness for Keyleth as a person, which is, like I said, weird, since she's birthed from my head. But it is, like, a very removed sense of, like, emotional connection. So that's where those feelings were coming from. And I think, like, Sam said it in our cooldown. He was like this. I feel. He, I think, was the first one to say, I feel so bad for Keyleth. And it was like, yes, correct.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Cause it's just like, damn. Just either give her peace or give her resolution or give her. Her man back. And, yeah, we have. I don't want to say much at all. Liam and I have talked about it on, like, we'll find that sense of resolution. We just don't know what that means yet.

[Robbie Daymond]

Don't know what the landscape is.

[Marisha Ray]

Don't know what the landscape is.

[Ashley Johnson]

But you know what's crazy? It's like you saying, like, yeah, it's wild to think about playing these characters. Obviously, it's fantasy. They're not real. But all of us have spent so much time together as those people.

[Robbie Daymond]

We've lived the dynamics of those relationships for.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yes. So they totally feel like. I think at the end of that, I was just like, I know Keyleth's story, but at the end of it, I'm just like, that's my friend hurting.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, exactly.

[Ashley Johnson]

And, like, knowing that she has to go home alone tonight. Clearly you don't. But, like, thinking of it just. I'm just like, she goes at home alone at night and always holds a candle for this person that is just not gonna ever come back. Like, it kills me.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

Well.

[Marisha Ray]

And Keyleth, I mean, once again, I know we've all talked about this as a group. Like, she's definitely a very real allegory. I mean, not even an allegory. She is, like, a real example of what a lot of grief can manifest as. And currently she is kind of stuck in this worst case of grief, which is like, the inability to move on.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yes.

[Marisha Ray]

And that sucks.

[Ashley Johnson]

It's tragic.

[Marisha Ray]

It's tragic also. Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

You know, very juicy. But it's just like, God, what a story, you two. What a story.

[Liam O'Brien]

I don't think it's weird. At all. To feel those feelings in a visceral way. Because, you know, again, outside looking in from what you guys have done, we started the night with poetry. And lots of millions of people, hundreds of thousands of people, have favorite poems and books and films and pieces of art that affect them on their day to day life that are basically cooked up in a vacuum until they make their way out into the world. And what's unique about what you guys do here is that those stories are alive currently every single day, and they're being crafted in the moment based on your own understanding of the characters. So for me, just watching it unfold, feeling the feelings of those characters is not only expected, but like, what a blessing. How many people would love to have the opportunity to step in to be the protagonist of their own favorite book. And, you know, that's a special kind of sadness that just feels earned and totally reasonable to me.

[Robbie Daymond]

So all love happy endings. I love happy endings. But we also. There's a reason why Medea and Romeo and Juliet and other works, tragedies, you know, resonate 2,000, 3,000 years later.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, I mean, I. Once again, we've talked about this, but I think we've all had our Hadestown kick. And at the very end of that show, you know, they say, like, why do we tell this stories? We tell this story again, like, the play ends with the way it begins, and it is a story of Eurydice and Orpheus. It is a story that has been told millions of times. And it's like, why? Why tell it again? It's like, we're going to do it again anyway. Because.

[Liam O'Brien]

Because my favorite part of Hamlet too is when Hamlet comes back to life and gets pooped out of an egg and he's just a gooey baby. That's my favorite part of the Hamlet story.

[Marisha Ray]

Matrix. We did it three for three, baby.

[Robbie Daymond]

We like art like that because it makes you feel so intensely that you learn about the human heart.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yes, yes, sure.

[Marisha Ray]

And like, stories like that, like, you learn something different every time too. Like, there's so many of my favorite. It's like, why do you watch your favorite movie again and again you've seen it.

[Robbie Daymond]

AirBuds. Totally.

[Marisha Ray]

Fuck yeah. Is he gonna make that basket?

[Liam O'Brien]

I'm more of a. More of a Golden receiver fan.

[Danny Carr]

To the clown or to the boyfriend.

[Marisha Ray]

Who loves him, which is even a pink. And now people recreate that exact same moment on Instagram every day.

[Robbie Daymond]

I'm sorry, did I derail your final point?

[Marisha Ray]

Nope, that was my point. We tell the same Story again and again.

[Robbie Daymond]

Well, buds, that's it for the deep dive. Which means we're almost done with this four sided dive. But before we go, it's time for one more round of questions from the tower of inquiry. Oh, campaign three surprise. Get up there dreaming.

[Liam O'Brien]

One last tower block.

[Ashley Johnson]

Let's go.

[Liam O'Brien]

I'm ready.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, I was pontificating over here thinking, drive it like you stole it.

[Liam O'Brien]

I'm gonna same side it. This one is tight.

[Ashley Johnson]

This is the last.

[Marisha Ray]

This was the last one sided dice. Oh, my goodness.

[Liam O'Brien]

37.

[Robbie Daymond]

Here we go.

[Marisha Ray]

Whoa.

[Robbie Daymond]

Let's fucking go.

[Liam O'Brien]

That was a good year.

[Robbie Daymond]

Everyone's gonna pull one Mr.

[Danny Carr]

Person. Many characters will at some point reach a major crossroad where taking one direction or the other determines their path forward. Class, personality, et cetera.

[Marisha Ray]

Does he choose the clown football or basketball or the king? Yeah, pick a sport, bud.

[Danny Carr]

He truly does not.

[Robbie Daymond]

That's all.

[Marisha Ray]

I can leave.

[Danny Carr]

Y'all had me crying over there and now I can't even get through this question. Fuck y'all.

[Robbie Daymond]

Earbud is bittersweet.

[Danny Carr]

It's a beautiful story about the love between a boy and his dog.

[Liam O'Brien]

You don't have to win state to make this. That's not what matters. How'd you play? Please look back, Mr.

[Robbie Daymond]

Person. Mr. Person. What was that?

[Liam O'Brien]

Mr. Person.

[Danny Carr]

Please look back on one such crossroad for any of your characters and tell us who they would be if they'd gone the other way. Oh, look at your Crossroads, starring Britney Spears.

[Ashley Johnson]

At the crossroads. So you don't get lonely.

[Robbie Daymond]

Well, man, I'll throw a big one on the table. What would have happened if I hadn't decided early in campaign one? Well, I guess I'm just gonna trade in my character so that Laura can keep playing hers. Like, it would have affected the tenor of everything, probably in the Sunken in the Tomb.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. If we're talking all three campaigns, like, boom.

[Robbie Daymond]

Me, spur of the moment. And that moment was just like, shit, Laura's really sad. She's gonna lose her character. I don't want her to do that. I'll lose my character. It's fine. Domino. Domino. Domino. Domino. Domino. Domino. Black marble.

[Marisha Ray]

I was pretty bullish in campaign two about sacrificing Beau with Sharnae with the hag. And then Queen Lore Bailey came in with the dust of forgetfulness and the muffin.

[Robbie Daymond]

Those cakes you want that got.

[Marisha Ray]

But I was, yeah, I was pretty, pretty stern on relinquishing myself for the greater good. Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

Crossroads.

[Danny Carr]

Crossroads.

[Liam O'Brien]

Probably when I picked up that phone Call from Marisha Ray around December of 2020 or whenever that was. I was like, what are you calling? I was in my car. I was like, who's this?

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, great answer, Great answer.

[Robbie Daymond]

And that's why we got dink.

[Liam O'Brien]

Dink face.

[Marisha Ray]

Question.

[Liam O'Brien]

Get out of here. No, I think. I think there was a serious moment where Dorian could have just walked off into the sunset with Dariax, believe it or not, after that whole thing went down and he was just like, we're at town. What do we do next? If he hadn't white fanged him, I.

[Ashley Johnson]

Pull out of here. Get out of here.

[Liam O'Brien]

You can't. I thought about it. Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, that's interesting.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah. Just never would have joined. Like, that's not coming back. I like you guys, but not that much.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, that's interesting.

[Robbie Daymond]

Is it when you booked the job.

[Ashley Johnson]

On Blindspot, I mean, if. I mean, if we're going. If we're taking that route.

[Marisha Ray]

Also kind of a point, though.

[Ashley Johnson]

Also kind of a point. Because that honestly would have been such a crazy game changer because I literally would have been here full. I mean, who knows? That's a life. That's a life. Crossroads. That.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

You also booked that role, like, weeks before we started.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah. What was it, like, two weeks, three weeks before we started streaming. Yeah, we were geared up and you were like, well.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, we're just totally crazy.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah. Wild One of the Goonies.

[Robbie Daymond]

That. That. That moment I remember.

[Danny Carr]

You're gonna come live with me now.

[Ashley Johnson]

Gonna come with me now. Oh, shoot. I had just forgotten one. Like, I thought of one and then that one took. That one took over. No, no, no, that was a. Let's go with that. Yeah, that was a big cross. That's. I don't think anything that I say.

[Marisha Ray]

Is gonna be much better than that.

[Ashley Johnson]

More of a change than.

[Robbie Daymond]

Guess you better pull a brick down.

[Ashley Johnson]

I'll go pull a brick down.

[Danny Carr]

I will. Also to jump off of your Vax, throwing the. Throwing caution to the wind on his. With Laura, I would say the even bigger question. I feel like the way that you played Vax, he was always going to choose that for Vax. My bigger question is if he had not chosen to go with the matron after he was disintegrated by the whisper. If he had chosen to wait for Keyleth to see if she could bring him back instead of taking the matron's offer to make him a revenant. I just feel like that's another one. That's one I think about all the time.

[Marisha Ray]

Just like, man, it would have been a whole other story. Deep dive of, like, trying to get a true resurrection.

[Danny Carr]

Yeah. Because y'all would have had to go try to find those diamonds.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

In my mind, I mean, like, anyone can play anything any way they want, but in my mind, the promise had already been made.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, for sure.

[Robbie Daymond]

There was no veering off of it. I committed to the bit, and that's how I've looked at it the whole time. Like, do I wish they had had a happy ending? Part of me does. Forever Will wish that he got to Sunset at the end of that. I can't listen to Tokyo Sunrise and hold it together, but I really just felt like I was following the breadcrumbs as they led. And it doesn't. I don't feel like there was any veering off of it.

[Marisha Ray]

Tokyo Sunrise, it's an amazing song by LP that I put on my third Keyleth playlist, I think, in honor of Vax and Keyleth.

[Robbie Daymond]

Good song.

[Marisha Ray]

It's a great song. Very tragic.

[Danny Carr]

Second bell sells playlists.

[Liam O'Brien]

Any point, Pull a brick, Ashley Johnson.

[Ashley Johnson]

I did.

[Robbie Daymond]

What'd you get? 1311.

[Ashley Johnson]

Lucky number 13.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, spooky.

[Ashley Johnson]

I'm not putting it up because Robbie didn't put it.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, do them both.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

No, we'll do it together.

[Robbie Daymond]

Oh, no. What if a tower falls?

[Ashley Johnson]

Hang on a minute. Okay, last one ever.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, my God. What?

[Liam O'Brien]

Take that. Take that. There's no rules. Make a team.

[Robbie Daymond]

Make a team.

[Marisha Ray]

That's true. Let's get freaky.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yes. Do it.

[Marisha Ray]

Oh, I'm so excited right now.

[Liam O'Brien]

Come on.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yes.

[Marisha Ray]

What happens if just those two fall?

[Liam O'Brien]

Let's go. Now we're playing games.

[Danny Carr]

Okay, I started in a really bad spot for this.

[Ashley Johnson]

That is very stressful looking. I can't even look over this.

[Danny Carr]

Number 13 from Valnar, which NPC from. From Exandria. Would you like to play in a slice of lifestyle spinoff campaign?

[Ashley Johnson]

Facts of Life spinoff campaign.

[Liam O'Brien]

Been there, Done it, Soconos, baby.

[Marisha Ray]

That's kind of true. Slice of life spinoff campaign. Oh, what's the name of the smut peddler?

[Danny Carr]

Oh, Iva.

[Marisha Ray]

Iva, my girl. Yes, your girl.

[Danny Carr]

If you want to read more about Iva's adventures. Chronicles of Exandria, Volume 2, the mighty Nein, is coming soon, and it's real good. You'll learn how she and Yusa became pen pals.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, that's.

[Danny Carr]

It's real cute.

[Marisha Ray]

I'll be her. I'll just deal with.

[Danny Carr]

Iva's great.

[Marisha Ray]

She's the best Horny middle aged women every day.

[Liam O'Brien]

I feel like eshteross had like a rich. I feel like he had a ball of life.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

Give him his own like Frasier sitcom.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh my God. Yeah. But he's low key. Doing cool shit on the weekends though. For sure.

[Marisha Ray]

I love that.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah, yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

Constantly is hiring like a new assistant who is trying to survive in his house full of death traps.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh. Oh, it's like a Spinal Tap. Like they're always dying every episode. Spinal Tap 1974.

[Marisha Ray]

Speaking to the youths.

[Danny Carr]

They know that this goes to 11.

[Robbie Daymond]

Back to LinkedIn.

[Marisha Ray]

Honestly, everyone should watch Spinal Tap. I stand by that.

[Ashley Johnson]

H. So good.

[Liam O'Brien]

Ooh, you got a favorite NPC you want to see?

[Ashley Johnson]

Thinking. I'm thinking, I'm thinking. I mean I always go back to Victor cuz I just love Victor so much. But I mean, what would. What would. That's just because I like Matt doing that voice.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

Like a Joey esque show starring Gaztomo. Yes.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh my God. Gaz Tomo.

[Robbie Daymond]

Like maybe depending on what happens in the next 24 hours, he ends up on exandria and it's just like him fish out of water. Learning about the Blue promise.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah. What's his or like Devexian becoming a real boy type of a thing. Like being his own man or being his own, you know, whatever and dude his own person.

[Marisha Ray]

Now I'm thinking of Daz having like a born yesterday type of like stumbling through just discovering what the Blue promise has to offer. It's a good show.

[Robbie Daymond]

Chocolate in the peanut butter.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh my God.

[Liam O'Brien]

Like a, like a buddy comedy with him and the guy who pulled the wish card.

[Danny Carr]

Oh, yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

Just double, double idiots.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Just a little dumb and dumber action. You're with me. Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

I thought you were with me.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh my God.

[Robbie Daymond]

Okay, we did pull. Pull.

[Marisha Ray]

There's something there.

[Robbie Daymond]

I feel like you created the show. So I'm going to pull a block and then you'll pull the final block.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yay.

[Ashley Johnson]

Okay. I love that.

[Liam O'Brien]

Okay, do it, do it, do it.

[Ashley Johnson]

But like the thing is, if it falls like this, should there be consequences?

[Danny Carr]

Yes, consequences in the box, babe.

[Ashley Johnson]

All right, all right.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, it is wiggly, baby.

[Ashley Johnson]

Now you touched it.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh my God. It is wiggles.

[Robbie Daymond]

Just because Laura said it out loud.

[Ashley Johnson]

No, those are rules. If you touch it, you got to take it out.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, look at that thing, baby.

[Ashley Johnson]

Damn, girl, I hate looking at.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, come on. Come on, baby, do it.

[Marisha Ray]

What are we doing?

[Liam O'Brien]

Let's go.

[Robbie Daymond]

21 Blackjack.

[Marisha Ray]

This is a whole ass sure.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

But also, you created the show.

[Danny Carr]

All right, Captain Lock, when do you start connecting campaign story and character history when creating new characters before start of a campaign, does it go hand in hand, or do you first create the characters and then find their place in the story?

[Robbie Daymond]

That one.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

I think of the story that I. The kind of character and the story I want to tell, and then I figure out where it fits into our universe.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah. I would say for our main campaigns, that's how it is for the core group. Guests who come on, obviously have a different experience because they're going to be a little bit more of the former, where they're kind of trying to figure out where they fit in and what makes sense, but it doesn't mean that that has to dictate their personality or what class or anything that they play. And then I would also say, like, an extension of that. It's a little bit different as well when it comes to, say, Calamity or Downfall. Because then once again, we have. You kind of come to the table with an assignment.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Ashley Johnson]

It's been so different.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah. Like, you guys knew you were playing gods in Downfall.

[Robbie Daymond]

Right. I would say with a longer campaign, you're gonna be living in that for a really long time. So I picked. I work on that very carefully. But for shorter run things, there's so many different factors, like what's needed, what's a muscle I can stretch that I haven't done for a super long campaign. So I do something different than my other stuff.

[Liam O'Brien]

It feels like reverse character study for theater. Since we talked so much about theater today. Right. Usually you get the text and it's informative, their choices in the moment. And then if you're one of those actors, you can then go back and create an imaginary backstory that motivates. Motivates you throughout that if you're not just an off the page kind of person, and this is the opposite, you make up the backstory, and then you get thrust into the theater and you. And then the plot unfolds. Yeah. Yeah. It's interesting.

[Marisha Ray]

And then you're just kind of reacting in real time.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

Because. Yeah. Like with Calamity with Patia, Brennan had kind of spit out a bunch of floor. And I told him. I was like, oh, well, I want to be a Kennedy. It's basically exactly what I said. And so I was like, the granddaughter of. Yeah, he's a guy. So anyway, it's a little bit different every time. Yeah, it's a little different every time.

[Robbie Daymond]

There you go.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, get it, get it, get it, get it, get it.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

Get it.

[Ashley Johnson]

Pull that block.

[Liam O'Brien]

Feel it.

[Ashley Johnson]

All right, all right, here.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, that is so. It is wobbly.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, that is fun to look at. That's stressful.

[Marisha Ray]

What is that? That? Never mind.

[Danny Carr]

Where are we going with that?

[Marisha Ray]

I don't know.

[Liam O'Brien]

You could do.

[Robbie Daymond]

You got this.

[Ashley Johnson]

I am. I can.

[Liam O'Brien]

I mean, you can do an easy.

[Robbie Daymond]

One, or you could also just deck the tower.

[Marisha Ray]

I know. I thought about it. I'm, like, lightheaded. Nope. That looks good.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, that is a bold move.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, look at him jiggle. Look at him go. Yes.

[Danny Carr]

Oh, what's the number?

[Marisha Ray]

Build? Oh, 31.

[Danny Carr]

31.

[Marisha Ray]

I kicked it. I kicked it. I kicked the bar.

[Ashley Johnson]

God, I don't even want to look at this.

[Liam O'Brien]

Star Cross lovers. Make that crisscross.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, God.

[Liam O'Brien]

Come on.

[Ashley Johnson]

It's gonna.

[Liam O'Brien]

Come on.

[Ashley Johnson]

It's gonna be fine. It's gonna be fine.

[Liam O'Brien]

Come on.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yes.

[Ashley Johnson]

Okay, okay, okay.

[Liam O'Brien]

I like it. I like it. Pin up, pin up, pin up.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yes.

[Ashley Johnson]

Look what you made. I did this.

[Liam O'Brien]

Don't you.

[Ashley Johnson]

Don't you do it?

[Robbie Daymond]

Not for the Lord.

[Danny Carr]

Dissonant Faye on Beacon, Discord asks, the Mansion of Ravens had the imp Slitch held in a glass amulet. On Downfall, if your character could have any creature held in a glass amulet to bamf out at any time, what would it be? Trinket. Doesn't count. He also has a glass amulet to bamf out at any time.

[Ashley Johnson]

Dang.

[Liam O'Brien]

Any creature.

[Robbie Daymond]

Any creature.

[Liam O'Brien]

Open the box.

[Robbie Daymond]

What's in the box?

[Ashley Johnson]

Should Dani take the consequences?

[Liam O'Brien]

Yes.

[Danny Carr]

I've never had a consequence ever.

[Ashley Johnson]

Ever in your life.

[Liam O'Brien]

Never.

[Robbie Daymond]

Never done anything.

[Marisha Ray]

We're gonna take this consequence.

[Danny Carr]

All right, well, first you have to answer about the glass bubble.

[Marisha Ray]

Okay.

[Robbie Daymond]

Okay.

[Liam O'Brien]

Any creature you wanna bamf out.

[Marisha Ray]

Any creature.

[Danny Carr]

I just want my dog, Yaga. I just want my little baby.

[Marisha Ray]

That's a good one.

[Ashley Johnson]

I would pick an emotional support dog.

[Danny Carr]

Yeah. My dog. I want her right here so that.

[Marisha Ray]

I can get at all times. Damn. That's a good idea. Creature.

[Robbie Daymond]

Oh, yeah. All fantasy back, my buddy.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

Oh, yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

Or grog.

[Liam O'Brien]

Grog.

[Robbie Daymond]

He fixed all my problems.

[Liam O'Brien]

Technically a creature.

[Robbie Daymond]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

I don't know. I feel like I'd. I'd almost wanted to be a little funny, though. Like an emotional support fish.

[Liam O'Brien]

That's good.

[Marisha Ray]

And you, like, bam it out and it, like, flaps around, and then I'm like, okay.

[Liam O'Brien]

You throw it off a cliff, maybe.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

Like, easy air, bud. Doesn't matter. The sport. He's gonna be a good Time.

[Danny Carr]

He can play every. He's so good at it.

[Marisha Ray]

He's airbot. He's airbot.

[Robbie Daymond]

Gonna lock it. I think we solved it. So thank you, Mr. Persson, Valnar, Captain Locke, and Disnit Fay. And if you have a question for our pile of inquiry, you're SOL before.

[Marisha Ray]

We move on, our consequence, which I think is just to make Kyle feel better about himself, Whomever destroys the Tower of inquiry in episode 30 of Four Sided Dive must say five nice things about Four Sided Dive.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, wow.

[Liam O'Brien]

Well, there is five of us.

[Marisha Ray]

We could split the two, I think. That's right. We all get to say one nice thing about this show.

[Robbie Daymond]

Okay.

[Ashley Johnson]

Okay.

[Liam O'Brien]

I have to do some research.

[Danny Carr]

I didn't get a stocking. Do I count?

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, you count. Wait, you didn't. You knocked it over. Yeah.

[Danny Carr]

Very difficult task to say five nice things about our show.

[Ashley Johnson]

Can I take the snowman out?

[Danny Carr]

Yeah, he can be your friend.

[Liam O'Brien]

You gonna get him?

[Robbie Daymond]

What do you do?

[Liam O'Brien]

Release him.

[Marisha Ray]

The snowman or the Santa?

[Ashley Johnson]

That's not a snowman. That's Santa.

[Marisha Ray]

That is Santa.

[Ashley Johnson]

I know my holiday stuff.

[Marisha Ray]

Who wants to start one?

[Ashley Johnson]

Wait, this is looking Five nice things.

[Marisha Ray]

You just have to say one, though.

[Liam O'Brien]

One?

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah. We're gonna split the load.

[Liam O'Brien]

From the cradle to the grave. I was here for one. I was here for 30. Glad to see you born. Glad to see you die.

[Marisha Ray]

Rob. Damn, not twist.

[Danny Carr]

Tell us how you really feel. It was just Bobby. You shit on my questions. You shit on the show.

[Robbie Daymond]

Love you.

[Liam O'Brien]

Danny, stop.

[Robbie Daymond]

How's your friend? How's your friend there?

[Liam O'Brien]

Look at him.

[Robbie Daymond]

Look at his tummy.

[Ashley Johnson]

Kim got a tummy ache. Look at Tim's tummy. What's the matter, sir?

[Danny Carr]

What if he just turned to you?

[Ashley Johnson]

I would throw it and I would run.

[Liam O'Brien]

What is your nice thing about force? I did die.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, it's been fun. What did you say, giant?

[Liam O'Brien]

No, it's perfect. Why don't you just take.

[Ashley Johnson]

Oh, wait, did someone else say it? And I wasn't paying attention.

[Liam O'Brien]

Liam, your thoughts?

[Robbie Daymond]

I'll say that a lot of us are hard workers and we're constantly, like, thinking and planning and building and doing and performing and role playing. And what's nice about this show is that we get to kind of just come and shoot the shit and there's a little less pressure to, like, do a triple lutz. And I just like hanging out with you guys on the show. But just you three. The rest can. I could do with that.

[Marisha Ray]

I agree with that.

[Ashley Johnson]

But in seriousness, it actually, it is really Fun a lot of the time to talk about things that we don't get to in the game. When you're like, well, I need to, like, explain myself.

[Marisha Ray]

Yes, for sure.

[Ashley Johnson]

Like, there's. It's therapeutic, it's nice. It really has been fun.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

I tease to, but yes. Long form hangout podcast is vibe and I like it. Yeah, yeah. Go to sleep.

[Marisha Ray]

Go to sleep. Is that far sided Dive.

[Liam O'Brien]

Everybody help. He knows mma.

[Marisha Ray]

Danny, you go and then I'll close it out.

[Danny Carr]

Okay. All right. Executive producer, who is my boss, I would say my favorite thing is getting to. To work with Kyle Shire on making this show for y'all every single month and getting to collaborate with him. He is one of the most brilliant people that I truly know and that I count as a friend and a wonderful co worker. I love, love, love getting to make this with him and getting to make each other laugh. He makes me laugh constantly with his ideas for this. And really, the whole show has just been us making each other laugh, so. And really, you guys were just kind of third on the list.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah, baby.

[Marisha Ray]

I was trying. Oh, no.

[Danny Carr]

You trying to pick my nose.

[Marisha Ray]

I was trying to. Yeah, a little bit. I was trying to boop. You get a little bit of a boop. Yeah.

[Liam O'Brien]

No, this is.

[Danny Carr]

A lot of people commented and were like, why doesn't Dani just hang out behind the bar? It's because of this. Because if you look at Marisha and Liam in their standard form, it's just my boobs.

[Liam O'Brien]

I'm very short.

[Marisha Ray]

The whole show will just be this.

[Danny Carr]

It'll just be this, guys.

[Marisha Ray]

It's just this.

[Danny Carr]

And that's why I had to find ways to be behind the bar that made sense, because it's just this. It's just my tits hate it.

[Robbie Daymond]

That's why.

[Marisha Ray]

Amazing.

[Ashley Johnson]

I love it.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah.

[Robbie Daymond]

Is that the best?

[Marisha Ray]

This isn't a cop out. No. I have the last thing. I have the last thing. This isn't a cop out, but it's kind of jumping off of what Dani said. There was so much about this show that was a bit of a scramble. There was. We wanted to mix it up, so we were trying to be very experimental. I want to say a massive thank you to our audience who gave us that grace. I know some people didn't like it. I don't care. We had reasons. We had reasons from top to bottom of why we did this show the way we did this show. I do think the format ended up growing on people over time, and so I am a firm believer in firm. Like As a creative director and just creator in general, you can't always come out with the final product. And if anything, I think that is like a massive detriment to creativity, because if you keep trying to come up with what you think is the final iteration of something, oftentimes you'll never release anything. Creativity often has to happen inside of a box. And you work with your format, you work with your limitations, you work with what you have. And so when we started four Sided Dive, so much of it was an experiment and it remained an experiment from episode one to episode 30. We tried new things, we toss out new ideas, we mixed it up. And I love that about this show. We did some incredible bits. We had some incredible guest hosts, we had people come in, we had some cold opens, some crushed, some flopped, but we were always empowered. And of course, and same that Dani already said, have to give a shout out to Kyle Shire. Four Sided Dive has been his baby from top to bottom. He wrote so many of the bits. He, you know, he wrote all the bits. He wrote all the bits. Come here, Kyle.

[Liam O'Brien]

Come here.

[Ashley Johnson]

Get out here.

[Liam O'Brien]

Come on, Kyle. This is your ear bud moment.

[Ashley Johnson]

This is your ear bud moment.

[Robbie Daymond]

Can you see my tits?

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah. Yes.

[Danny Carr]

Really good.

[Robbie Daymond]

Wonderful.

[Marisha Ray]

Beautiful.

[Robbie Daymond]

Love you too.

[Marisha Ray]

But, yeah, I always, I. I hope it came through. Wanted you to, like, continue to experiment. It didn't have to be the same every time. You know, we always tried to find the format and find what works best and yeah, we crushed it.

[Liam O'Brien]

I don't think you guys can hear me, but I'll speak up.

[Danny Carr]

Talking to her boobs.

[Liam O'Brien]

I'll talk. Thank you guys for giving me a playground to play and.

[Robbie Daymond]

And whatnot. I really appreciate it and thank you.

[Liam O'Brien]

For all the trust. I hope I didn't make you guys act a fool too many times.

[Marisha Ray]

No, it was amazing. You're an anti Sean. My penny.

[Liam O'Brien]

Finally engaged.

[Marisha Ray]

Yeah, this, I think that is the perfect, actually encapsulation of it. This show for the past three years has been our playground and I love it for that. And yeah, it's had some incredible moments. There have been moments in the show that I have laughed so hard I peed a little. And so, yeah.

[Danny Carr]

Oh, no, chairs will.

[Marisha Ray]

Have to be replaced. But anyway, yeah, yeah, it's been great. It's been good times.

[Robbie Daymond]

Oh, man, I want to thank everyone here. Marisha Ray, Ashley Johnson, Robbie Damon, Danny Carr, our lore keeper, Kyle, the entire crew. I'm Liam O'Brien, your 30th tavern keeper, and I guess this is our outro.

[Liam O'Brien]

Friends around the table. Time to celebrate. It's a party, hit the lights, here we go, Go, go waste the night away With a little escape It's a chance to lose control so let's just leave this world be behind. Everybody come on, take a dive. One by one we roll the dice. Come on, critical girl for another round your friends are here that she won throwing back it's good times all night long. No way to lose when you're having this much fun. It's your turn. No way to lose when you're having this much fun.

[Marisha Ray]

Bye Bye. For a slid dive.

[Ashley Johnson]

Okay, we're going, we're going, we're going, we're going.

[Danny Carr]

Oh, God.

[Ashley Johnson]

One more, one more, one more. Okay.

[Liam O'Brien]

Yay.

[Robbie Daymond]

There's roomy.

[Liam O'Brien]

He gets in there somewhere.

[Ashley Johnson]

Yeah.

[Marisha Ray]

That's it for the podcast version of this episode of Four Sided Dive. If you've enjoyed this deep dive into the campaign, be sure to drop us a rating and a review on whatever podcast platform you're using. Your thoughts may just encourage a new critter to take the plunge. Four Sided Dive normally airs on the first Tuesday of every month at 7pm Pacific on our Twitch and YouTube channels, with the VOD available on YouTube the very next day. And of course, each episode releases right here on the Critical Role Podcast Network the following Friday.

[Liam O'Brien]

This episode is brought to you by Progressive Commercial Insurance Business owners Meet Progressive Insurance. They make it easy to get discounts on commercial auto insurance and find coverages to grow with your business quote in as little as 7 [e-mail] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company coverage provided and serviced by affiliated and third party insurers. Discounts and coverage selections not available in all states or situations.

[Marisha Ray]

What if you could finish your list.

[Ashley Johnson]

And still get a great deal at Best Buy? The deals are still here with last minute savings on plenty of gifts. Learn [e-mail] Best Buy Imagine that.