Critical role sets serious milestone in latest episode of Campaign 3

Critical Role told viewers to expect the unexpected in Campaign 3, and at the end of its 33rd episode — over 130 hours into the game — they delivered in a big, heartwarming way.

[Warning: This story contains spoilers for episode 33 of Critical Role’s Campaign 3. The video on demand of that episode will not air until Monday, September 12, with audio-only podcast available on Thursday, September 15.]

The dust still hasn’t cleared, but after the season ended on Thursday night, two characters — Orim (Liam O’Brien) and Fearne (Ashley Johnson) — were lying dead, and two more were dying. The fifth, a clever automaton named Fresh Cut Grass (Sam Rigel), is left hiding in an alley while the streets of Basuras explode around them. Matthew Mercer seems to have created the deadliest and possibly purposefully unstoppable fight in CR history.

The set was washed with the colors of fire and sunset which is reminiscent of Xandria Unlimited: Disaster – A subtle foreshadowing of how intense this episode was. This episode was phenomenal for more than just its body count. At several points last night, the cast noted that they also had so many characters unconscious was unusual at a certain time.

Episode 33 begins in the middle of an earlier surprise battle, as the fort the party was infiltrating was attacked in the midst of an indiscriminate dust storm. Acting as a titular ally to the fort’s defenders, Paragon Calls, the Belles Hells divide the party and use the cover of the chaotic battle to complete their intended heist. The first half was eventful, but often light-hearted, as Chetney (Travis Willingham) missed a tripwire and “ass on a teakettle” below, and Ashton (Taliesin Jaffe) and Fresh Cut Grass made donuts in a Mad Max-inspired crawler. did. But the party took some serious hits as they came up against rival bounty hunter Artana Vo. While they managed to subdue and negotiate with him before betraying him within a few minutes (did I mention it was a chaotic episode?), the encounter was just one way the party took away the strength of the party in the first half. was taken.

In the second half of the episode, he had just one adversary: ​​Ottohan Thul, the legendary leader of Paragon Call. While it is impossible to align non-player characters with player character levels or classes, it is clear that Otohan Thul is remarkably formidable. As Ashton told the party about his reputation in episode 27: “When I was a kid, if you wanted to talk about the craziest, crazed, crazy bastard in the history of this town, who just killed everyone.” Something killed and messed up, it was the person. It was nightmare fuel, this person.” Otohan lives up to his reputation, standing with mythical actions and stiff resistance.

Luckily for hell, he also had some clutch magic up his sleeve, courtesy of Streakhaven: A Curriculum of ChaosPublished in December 2021. Silver barbs, both of which force an opponent to redouble their attack And Gives an ally an advantage – all in the form of a reaction, which is effectively a bonus action that players can turn into in a number of situations. Silver barbs have quickly become the new go-to magic for the high-level game: Last night, it allowed Laudna (Marisha Ray) to spread a critical hit on the party. Rey also used Wither and Bloom, a second-level area of ​​effect spell that similarly allows allies to re-roll hit dice while enemies make saves. Twice a night this allowed Laudna to stand near death as a character, a significant move that meant Ashton and Chetney were still barely alive at the end of the episode. as Tal’dori Reborn Co-Head and MCDM Managing Editor Hannah Rose Saw an hour in the second part of the show. “If this season was still happening 10 months ago, the Wither and Bloom and Silver Barb spells wouldn’t be around, and this fight could be even worse!”

But that just wasn’t enough. The Bells Hells were in battle for almost the entire episode – three hours and 30 minutes – a punishing battle previously experienced in the final episodes of their previous campaigns Vox Machina and The Mighty Nine. When Vox Machina fought for four hours at the table in 2017, the characters were tightly adapted to D&D’s capstone fourth level of play. At level 15, The Mighty Nine was lower in 2021, but still near the top of tier three. In both cases, the parties collected and operated a handful of wondrous artifacts. In contrast, Hell is still a comparatively modest seventh tier, mid-tier two and barely considered Heroes of the Realm. They don’t have a bunch of big, shiny magical items on hand.

But it may turn out that there is even more power within many of these characters. In recent episodes, we’ve discovered lethal abilities—enough to kill an entire party of adventurers—behind the shiny, chipper exterior of Aormton Fresh Cut Grass. We’ve seen glimpses of Launda and Ashton’s magical power, and a large part of the party is concerned with Ruides, the mysterious red second moon of Xandria that looms large in this campaign. In recent episodes, those occult powers are bringing Hell to the attention of very powerful forces.

Last night, Imogen (Laura Bailey) was the prime target. We know that Otohan is very similar to the woman who has the disturbing, red-washed dreams we’ve seen during prior episodes. In this episode, we also get confirmation that Otohan was involved in the mysterious, violent death of Orim’s husband. Otohan’s goals are still unclear, but his moves in this fight were calculated to break Imogen. he repeated, unnecessary coup de grace Party members to the detriment, even after Imogen’s repeated cries that she would leave herself.

But what Otohan wanted was not a submission, but an explosion – and as the episode ended, that’s exactly what happened. The rest of Hell watched as the world around them turned red and their soft, shy friend stirred up, her pale skin turning red and sparkling with glowing purple energy. As she screams, space battles, buildings turn to rubble, and the world turns white… as Mercer calls the session.

Cameras rolled for the cast’s reactions, a mix of confusion (Marisha Ray asking “Am I dead or alive?” and Sam Rigel yelling “Did we go somewhere? Did she disappear? Did we dead?”) and praise (Travis Willingham) and Ashley Johnson declare “That was awesome!” And Liam O’Brien declared “It was a great game, Matt”). Mercer had a broad smile on the faces of his players astonished. Unlike prior character deaths, none of the players left the table, although Table Talk reveals that this is as surprising to the players as the spectators.

In contrast to an irreversible death of an earlier campaign – Mollymouk’s early death in Expedition 2’s episode 26 – The Hells Doing There’s access to the kind of magic that would allow a resurrected – and possible access to still-stronger resurrection spells, Orim’s Expedition 1 Archdruid Keeleth, through his connection. Or it could all be unnecessary: ​​Viewers already speculate that it might be a dream or something beyond the game’s typical logics — not to contrast the bloody vision with Brennan Lee Mulligan’s EXU: Disaster.

Many viewers rested on the fact that this is a fairly “early” episode (compared to the 100+ runs of prior campaigns), relying on Mercer as the DM and storyteller. and Mercer in turn is aware of this trust, posting Twitter“If you need to take some time to process, that’s fine. Just know that we have trust and consent at our table for this game and the challenges it presents. The darkest moments are often the darkest.” Bright leads to Epiphany. Love you all.

If you want to watch Battle of Otohan, I recommend hitting up the stream — which is due out on YouTube on Monday, or available now to Twitch subscribers — right after the mid-game break at the two-hour mark. Afterwards. Critical Roll airs every Thursday at 7 p.m. PT on Twitch.