Campaign synopsis: “Hero to many. Enemy to some. When Thjazi Fang is marked for execution, various figures from across his remarkable life unite to uncover the truth behind his grim fate. In a land still suffering from the fallout of dead gods and living in the shadow of a tumultuous rebellion, these disparate people will come together across the fractured world of Aramán and connect in ways they never imagined.
As hope and victory fade, a question hangs over Aramán. Without the Gods, what great deeds now fall to us? And who, or what, shall grab their crown from themselves?”
Episode synopsis: “Tyranny struggles with her crueler instincts as the Soldiers discover a safe haven for fairies that may hold clues about Cyd’s whereabouts…”
The opening/ad read
As if the episode starts with Vaelus basically doing maypole. Is this a thing in America? I remember having to do it in primary school so it feels like an extremely British thing.
Flowers bloom wherever Vaelus walks, so she’s basically Persephone. I LOVE that. The set does give off Ancient Greek vibes so having a character inspired by Greek mythology makes sense. Does anyone else think this? Or am I projecting my own desires for this campaign?
This cold opening was a great way of humanising Vaelus. She’s been quite cold and otherworldly until now but seeing her play with her siblings as a child was lovely. I’m always a fan of Ashley’s characters. Her performance is often more subtle than the others at the table, maybe other than Fearne (her best character if you ask me), so I can see Vaelus becoming a really interesting character.
I love that Omar is now always on the table for the ad reads, he is SO cute. I’d love it if my dog could lie on a table like that but he’s a huge whippet and when I say huge, I mean huge. He constantly gets mistaken for a greyhound, so it’s not possible. Anyway, the announcement playhouse is fun, but I do miss the announcements being at the table. It felt less like they were trying to sell us stuff if that makes sense? I’ve just realised how often I ask questions in these posts. Apparently I’m a very inquisitive person.
Characters
I love Thimble, it’s such a cool idea to play a pixie, but realistically, how much damage can she really do during combat? She’s four inches tall and uses sewing needles (and a toy sword after this episode). Has anyone human sized ever been mortally wounded by a sewing needle? Am I being pedantic and I need to start suspending my disbelief more? It’s already hard to believe that everyone can hear her perfectly well. It would be cool if at some point, she gets a spell or item that lets her grow to human size.
I’m starting to get very attached to Wicander. He’s arrogant and a bit of an idiot but these traits are making him so endearing. Sam really knows how to create a character you instantly love (not including Scanlan, I haven’t watched campaign one). I’m weirdly looking forward to his ridiculous spiritual weapons. We all remember spiritual Nick Jonas from campaign three. I’m still not convinced he’s actually a cleric though. His wisdom is way too low and his charisma too high. I was about to say something big is coming related to Wicander and then the wing reveal happened.
Robbie apologising to Whitney after Kattigan shouted at Tyranny is so sweet. It was actually quite jarring to see him play a character that gets angry like that. Robbie is too much of a cinnamon roll for that, but he’s also a great actor so I’m so surprised he’s able to act in this way. It just surprised me as we’ve previously only seen him as Dorian and Cerkonos.
I always forget how unhinged Brennan’s NPCs are. The guy with the human-sized head on the doll-sized body (Skinner I think) was ridiculously funny. It felt like his bit just kept going and I was already laughing but then he screamed and I lost it completely. Brennan disappeared completely, that NPC possessed him entirely. “I wanna open you up and put my hat in you” has to be one of the most unhinged things an NPC has ever said in a campaign. For context, he’s a redcap and if you don’t know what that is, they kill things and then soak their hats/hoods in the blood of their victim. This is exactly what the overture was missing. The NPCs, not soaking hats in blood.
I’m starting to think going to the Glade was an excuse for Brennan to shamelessly flirt with Travis and Robbie. I mean, if you have the opportunity, take it. Nevermind that Travis’s wife is sat next to him, we all know Laura loves it. Nothing was funnier in campaign three than Chetney flirting with Imogen and she’d react with complete disgust.
Speaking of the romance side of campaigns. I wonder who will pair up in campaign four. So far, I can’t imagine any of them getting on long enough to form a romantic bond. However, I do know a lot of people are rooting for Wicander and Tyranny. Personally, I like the idea of Vaelus and Julien purely because I love fictional couples who are mean to each other but in a flirtatious way.
Combat
We’re finally getting combat with Teor, Wic and Tyranny. I’m so excited to see firstly how Whitney plays combat and secondly, what Wic’s combat will be like. This is the first time I’ve watched Whitney play, I don’t think she’s been in any other Critical Role shows, but please correct me if I’m wrong. Travis has multi-classed as a paladin before so it’s not as exciting, but the paladin class did get a real refresh and apparently it’s one of the best classes now. Which would explain why there are multiple paladins in this campaign.
Nevermind, Tyranny got charmed straightaway and didn’t get to do anything. She did however get to do some stuff in the second combat and she did great. It’s obvious she’s pretty new to this, which is fine. Plus low level warlocks kinda suck. You get no useful bonus actions and we all know levelled spells also suck for warlocks. What do you mean you still only get two spell slots. Eldritch blast it is.
The cooldown
The website on the QR code on the bottom of Sam’s chalice is hilarious. Brennan will never live down the American Girl doll shoes.
The cooldown currently feels like a very condensed version of 4-sided dive. I really hope they have some type of show like that for this campaign. I don’t always catch things when I watch the episodes so I loved getting insights into character and story elements during the show. Plus, who doesn’t want even more Critical Role?
I love listening to Robbie talk about his characters and how he created their weapons, story etc. he has such a beautiful way of describing things. It’s crazy to think that Kattigan is only his second ever character.
Final thoughts
The audio is still driving me a little crazy. You can EQ audio with a push of a button, why is the volume all over the place? It was forgivable back when the episodes were live, but they’re fully edited now so there’s no excuse.
This was a really fun episode. I love the soldiers table a lot. They haven’t said which table(s) next week’s (today’s when this is posted) episode will feature but I am interested to see what everyone else is up to. Especially after Bolaire’s reveal a few weeks ago.
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