The Path to Whitestone | Critical Role: VOX MACHINA | Episode 27

[@georgelopez9411]

Can I just mention how much of a champ Sam was this session? When the group's getting frustrated and energy's low, he starts acting goofy to lighten the mood around. He even gets Travis to chuckle a few times. Every group needs a Sam.

[@rizahawkeyepierce1380]

He's really great at managing the group's emotions and lightening the mood when things get tense or giving genuine encouragement when people need it.

[@kqwer19]

A lot of people compliment Travis for RP and Game Tactics and which is earned, but Sam is the powerhouse that grounds this show.

[@derekhandson351]

Feel like that's a Bards job

[@Nastyn1nja808]

@@derekhandson351 lol of course

[@Marpaws]

He's amazing

[@VredeGaming]

Taliesin, 2015: "Save RP for good stuff." Liam, 2019: "Hold up, I wanna roleplay fish and chips!" They've come so far...

[@matthiashavrez]

To be fair, he was only trying to stop Orion from thinking he was the only main character.

[@nwfndalchemist]

Hey that fish and chips scene was brilliant and important

[@epicglitter7218]

yeah (Campaign 2 spoilers) - the "fish and chips" thing seemed like a way for Caleb to open rp chat with the wildbros about spirituality, alignment, and purpose without making it seem too forced. the party just learned the identity of an ultra-powerful enemy, and it made sense Caleb would have some questions or need reassurance about why he, personally, should stay and fight alongside the group in the face of such high stakes/odds. (fair point overall though - I think Campaign 2 does allow a little more breathing room to rp casual, ordinary tasks)

[@kaeleastlord]

I mean, the previous half hour or so before fish and chips was the girls getting tattoos and passing out

[@DrugsAreForWinners]

I'd donate hundreds to see Liam RP an entire hour or two hour conversation with Gilmore.

[@apugalypse_now]

"Dear Tiberius, I understand your request ..." [Sam looks some combination of bored, annoyed, and uninvolved] "... *however* " [Sam's head snaps up instantly]

[@Phiro00]

can i get a timestamp?

[@karlhans8304]

timestamp please

[@Kaiser8361N]

Somebody?? Time stamp please?

[@apugalypse_now]

2:41:43

[@Kaiser8361N]

that really updated my journal 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻thank you kindly

[@Masteph93]

I love Taliesin for just candidly saying "well that's just weird" and not letting it slide off. Throw the discomfort right back on to the perpetrator.

[@samuelstensgaard4828]

Just adds a tiny bit of irony knowing that he's one of the PCs who has a romance in this campaign and, ya know, is actually super tactful and respectful throughout the whole experience.

[@greglewis7044]

@@samuelstensgaard4828 I've always been curious why they get wierd when Orison says stuff like that but laugh when Sam says things 100x worse. In fact i'm pretty sure Sam has said that EXACT thing during the 3 seasons.

[@katarinamueller6745]

@@greglewis7044 because there are differences, when sam makes comments like that its not sam, at least not really, its scanlen, them as the characters and we as the audience all know that, as a character, thats just who scanlen is, the comedic relief who often makes crude jokes , but i emphasize here that it is scanlen, not sam whos making those comments (ex. when scanlen makes comments kind of like that with pike, its not at all sam making comments like that to ashley).but then you have orion making comments like that, and i do mean orion specifically, tiberius is not a character who has comments like that, in that moment it was clearly orion saying that (through tiberius) to laura, not tiberius about vex. (plus if scanlen made a comment like that and the rest of the table was clearly uncomfortable and especially here where they pretty much verbally said "im uncomfortable" sam would've immediately apologized and took it back, but here orion sticks with it and doesn't apologize)

[@shadow2xx439]

@@katarinamueller6745 doesnt he also try to hide it and say that no one sees it? Scanlan usually is open with it, including expecting ppl to notice and (in character) shame him or laugh at him a bit. I wont say orion is saying it as himself, but it doesn't go in line with what we've seen from his character and they just have a different bond with him than they do with sam. If I have a friend that that's very flirty and one that's not, I wouldn't expect the one that's not to suddenly start play-flirting with me without feeling weird abt it or at least off put. I think orion gets more hate than necessary, but here he just happened to cross a line.

[@dizzygunner]

@@greglewis7044 first time watching CR and my take from what I have seen is, that it's completely out of character for him to say that, not to mention every time Orion does something like shopping or in combat he drags things on, and asks questions he already know the answer to (IE he was told multiple times how his ring works with spell levels, and he tried multiple times to get around it hoping Matt would forget), and on top of all that he was meta gaming the shit out of some parts and very clearly spoofing his dice rolls at some points. I'm pretty sure the reaction is partly to do with them having enough of his shit at this point

[@Mewchu14]

The look Travis gives Laura when she announces she was nominated for the Golden Joystick and didn’t tell him is relationship goals tbh. It’s just a look of pride and love, and while he immediately goes into a gag, it’s just a really nice moment. They really are just so great together.

[@MasterCrander]

10:45

[@ReplicatorFifth]

@WintersTheHero I adore them as a couple

[@spectralumbra1568]

One of their most adorable moments, specifically for Travis, had to be during the fourth Narrative Telephone episode where Travis actually interrupted his retelling of the story to say he was too distracted by how cute Laura was to remember the story.

[@theorder7346]

Because of moments like these I don't know how little of Critical Role those people have watched that say Travis is the demonic embodiment of toxic masculinity till this day.

[@isaac8734]

There is an episode in C2 that she comes right from award ceremony stiol with amazing dress and makeup just the look on his face seeing her...

[@sammyjf]

Thank you water-speech Talieson for bringing a smile to Travis’ face.

[@strixx_-4483]

SJF We love Taliesin. He brings all of us joy.

[@havock89]

@@strixx_-4483 He is certainly an interesting fellow :)

[@bashboppullit]

Right?? What a great way to cut the tension

[@noahclayman6943]

It’s tough coming back to season 1 after being spoiled by having Flando’s timestamps the entirety of season 2

[@JavierPerez-cx4jw]

Noah Clayman God. Flando. What a god. He and Taliesin make up my personal religious pantheon.

[@enic4529]

I've finished campaign 2 and am now watching C1 and i miss flando so muchhhhh

[@CreateAmazment]

@@enic4529 same

[@descendfromgrace1]

10:43 - Laura gets nominated/Travis doesn't know 12:56 - Game begins 16:58 - Percy's Dark Passenger 32:22 - Misfire 5.1 SFX 45:49 - Tiberius sings it's sixty feed (based on Thriller by Michael Jackson) 50:11 - Scanlan Inspiration Song 57:23 - Marisha hits self with laser pointer 1:02:20 - Vax's Attempted One Liner 1:35:23 - Travis sings "Scrye me a River" 1:42:40 - Break starts 1:55:26 - Break ends 2:02:53 - Scanlan Inspiration Song 2:07:42 - [The video stream pauses?] 2:08:14 - [Video stream resumes, phew!] 2:11:35 - Travis is Bored 2:40:13 - Orion Breaks Matt 2:41:38 - Tibs' Father's Reply 2:44:30 - Keyleth Speaks Water Elemental 3:17:05 - Scanlan Eavesdropping 3:21:47 - Cliffhanger 3:27:06 - Game ends These had them by other people. You have to go further down in the comments for them.

[@charliecoke7396]

@@descendfromgrace1 I'm a little disappointed that "half chub" isn't a stamp

[@revas5945]

I dont get why ppl are accusing Marisha of metagaming when she confronts Percy about the "your soul is forfeit" line. She literally made a point to skip a turn and observe what Percy was doing in shock right as it happened. Obviously it shook Keyleth and she is worried about her friend. Silly chat.

[@paulvamos7319]

I just wish this wasn't 7 years ago! It's almost time travel😂❤‍🔥

[@Kimfeyable]

She even adressed it last episode to the other in the roleplay and the RP talked over this.

[@mislocos8]

To be fair the man just had to sit and have dinner with the people he knows is responsible for his families murder, and not more than 30mins later he is in a fight with people trying to kill him. Keyleth has never experienced that level of loss or anger. Let the man vent a little, she has more of a problem with what he said rather than what tiberious did.

[@paulvamos7319]

@@mislocos8 Because she is more elemental than anyone sees so, she would react more strongly to a feeling than seeing something while still in shock from what Percy said!🤗 Keyleth is an emotional being and it's not just what Percy said but, the way he said it!👍

[@MBirdman]

Because she is not just addressing the "your soul is forfeit" only but adds "if there's smthng deeper you might be serving". Also she insight checked him last episode after He heard "vengeance". He didn't react. That was heavy metagaming. It happens, impossible not to hear things but she is insisting on it. DMs usually say "you didn't hear that".

[@JJ-he4pe]

Has anyone else noticed over the past few weeks that the stuffed Trinket bear in the background has slowly been gaining armour.

[@chirpthewolf4869]

Jordan Webb I now notice it

[@Contradae]

@@chirpthewolf4869 They have another show on their twitch i believe, that is about cosplay creation and they were using trinket as a model.

[@Logan_Baron]

Yeah on the geek and sundry twitch they had a show called "Mines and Crafts". They played Minecraft AND did crafty things. Cosplay was a big part of it, but other things too. And yeah they specifically made armore for trinket since he had gotten his new armor.

[@thisnerdyninja]

Jordan Webb I noticed it the previous episode! The helmet was still white and had lines on it that had numbers on them. It looks so cute 😭

[@miketheknife813]

they had separate streams where they made it

[@DerLamer]

Grog's entire actions this session: "I buy a shovel and a pickaxe." No wonder he was bored out of his mind.

[@AncientSlugThrower]

DerLamer He did at least roll a glorious beard.

[@bryanc.6735]

@@justinscarnegi84 he should have. would be a top 5 episode.

[@u.s.s.chucklefucker1657]

@@justinscarnegi84 he needs the pickaxe in case there's stone in the hole he's gunna have Tibs dig for himself.

[@Cheesusful]

Did he ever use the shovel+pickaxe?

[@ClokworkGremlin]

You're not joking. 2 hours in, he's beaten an invisible creature to death, bought a shovel and pickaxe, and dropped his big metal die on the floor. [edit]2 and a half hours in, and the most interesting thing Travis has done all session is roll 8 beard checks in a row.

[@jamesmartin3996]

I love that Sam refuses to metagame AT ALL even when he knows it's gonna screw him over

[@MissTrimmm]

James Martin hes like the exact opposite of tiberius lol

[@timfrank7461]

@@MissTrimmm he should name his character meta game 😂

[@pawekostyra1667]

@@MissTrimmm I guess that's why tiberius is a sorcerer

[@cussundriakneal9904]

@@MissTrimmm That's probably a little intentional, since poor Sam had to sit RIGHT NEXT to the metagaming asshat. XD

[@grilledleeks6514]

Because hes good at the game. Orion fails to understand that winning is kind of pointless if you make your entire group hate playing with you

[@crayfish9966]

Orion: "I have one more errand" Travis: *Raises large D20 with malicious intent*

[@BadWolf739]

Okay when you say: "Can I do a thing?" The DM says "No." You say "Can I do it anyways?" And he proceeds to dock you 500g and a day in effort trying maybe it's time to stop asking for stuff.

[@superlolgal555]

ikr

[@awesomechainsaw]

We also got that with the death laser as well. There was a ton of that this episode.

[@supergirlihateu]

You think he'd know better when Matt "You can certainly try" Mercer says "No," it probably means no.

[@azarinevil]

If Orion hadn't expected it all right then and there Matt probably would have been a bit more understanding. What Orion tried to do would properly take months or years of experimentation and thousands of gold in materials (if not tens of thousands) and a long talk outside the game with Matt to have him homebrew the rules for the spell in advance. As a DM I get where both are coming from and why Matt had to make, what to me, was the right call. As for Percy and his death laser, that was actually more reasonable.. he had an idea and as an inventor would attempt it regardless just to see if he could. He RP'd it through as true to his character and didn't really do so in a way to challenge Matt.

[@bryanc.6735]

So this has to be the episode that I decided that I really don't like Orion. He's a pain in the ass.

[@blueskyinfiniti]

Vex: studies under a master of her class type learning a sweet new ability Vax: I bought some sticks. Dead.

[@samuelstensgaard4828]

Hey man, they were useful sticks

[@xx5760]

Pointy sticks

[@keyaperturetelecine]

honestly, ignoring all the tibs/orion drama, taliesin translating keyleth's water elemental speech into /literal water gargling/ is probably my favorite moment in the show so far

[@counterhitgaming2621]

Thank you some one can see the little things in life

[@SCarr8813]

I completely forgot about this episode until and then the gargling happened and I couldn't help but smile because Tal just cut the stress in that room by 50%

[@Blueshellkyle]

Same honestly.

[@superlolgal555]

I actually fell over laughing it was great

[@u.s.s.chucklefucker1657]

He's such a doll and after watching these first 27 episodes, I laugh whenever people say Taliesin metagames in the second Campaign.

[@miecha4445]

Some Orion moments I originally posted further down in the comments. 28:10 Orion talks about not metagaming so far, meaning he's had a talking to about it. 1:04:10 Orion makes an Arcana check, rolls low, rolls again, saying the first roll was an accident 🙄 1:29:20 Orion talks about how they all need to get properly prepared and announces that Tiberius all of a sudden has access to a whole army. Laura gives him some much deserved snark. 1:31:30 the half chub 1:58:05 Taliesin is trying to make an Archimedes death ray, something he asked Matt if he could do before they started playing. Orion offers several times to make it himself. This may not seem so bad, but Taliesin's character is a tinkerer and this is his storyline. Between the army and this it really seems like Orion was trying to be the main character. 2:18:40: Orion starts shopping. He spends most of this time trying to upgrade all his items, even when they are already very powerful. Keep in mind Matt asked the cast to keep shopping time short so that they could get on with the story. 2:22:25 Sam makes a comment indicating that he's annoyed Orion pestered him into giving away his ring of spell storing a few episodes back. 2:24:50 Orion tries to buy 1500 mirrors, likely to make his own Archimedes death ray. 2:27:50 Orion tries to fuse a fog spell with a sleep spell, something you simply can't do. Matt gets annoyed and punishes him for it. 2:28:25 Travis is annoyed Orion's still shopping. Orion tries to go to Allura's, realizes he can't, and retcons it. 2:29:20 Sam gives Orion some more much deserved snark. 2:30:00 Orion does one last thing, then he goes broke and the rest of the cast finally do their things. 2:40:10 Turns out Orion wasn't done yet after all. 2:40:35 Orion writes a letter to his Dad, calling in the army that he suddenly has. 2:41:20 Laura: Tiberius is basically the giant eagles from lord of Rings and can wreck destruction whenever he wants. 2:41:35 Dad writes back, doesn't let Orion have an army.

[@skuney4851]

bless u i was looking just for this.

[@Asilv-t2n]

Goat

[@ramiro090x]

what´s the deal with the half chub? I don´t understand what that means, is it a boner? Why would Tibs get a boner in that situation ELI5 pls

[@smkfet]

@@ramiro090x Tiberius is a Dragonborn noble who is obsessed with armies and wars and stuff. He wants to be a master general or some shit, but most of the game has been character roleplay and individual violence so Vex putting on a general cap would be like his fetish. Even though they didn't do much strategy in that scene to begin with.

[@thespankmyfrank]

Thank you. This episode is like watching a train wreck, I can't look away.

[@jdwayne00]

Travis would like to rage

[@Red_Lanterns_Rage]

Atrocitus would also like to rage lolz

[@technoviking5490]

1:33:34 Orion: "What's his name?" Sam: *with a completely serious face*" ... That's Matt."

[@troygoom2251]

Thanks so so much

[@PiroMunkie]

Props to Sam for considering that hearing gunshots coming from the keep where you knew your gunsmith was tinkering might not necessarily be unusual.

[@darthbrooks4933]

Incorrect, that shows a complete lack of firearm understanding. Gunsmiths aren’t shooting their weapons in the same place their gunsmithing….

[@jademerrydown2943]

​@@darthbrooks4933 at this point percy is the only gun smith on the world. He may likely be testing his guns in the place he makes them.

[@_JesusChrist.]

Exactly! You’re so much smarter than darthy.

[@darthbrooks4933]

@@jademerrydown2943 no gunsmith worth his salt does that without taking precautions, of which would make it where you wouldn’t hear random gunshots…do you own any firearms? My guess is no

[@darthbrooks4933]

@@_JesusChrist. don’t you have people to send to hell?

[@TheMrsW1z]

[Grabs chair facing the camera and spins it 180 degrees] "So..." [Sits on the chair the wrong way round] "You made it to episode twenty seven."

[@j.m.r.7737]

Why Yes, Yes I did

[@nicks4903]

sonofa-

[@FeenMachine88]

had to see what the hub bub was about

[@jaegar2786]

I’m so excited! It’s his last episode!

[@DuceJX]

im kinda gonna miss the red scaly bastard

[@emmawirtz6541]

HOly balls, when Liam told Orion ‘you’re not there’ as Liam tries to go about his errands... I know I’m late to the game here and we all know about the Orion drama, but I had to rewatch that part. One of the only times I’ve actually seen Liam legit pissed, and I’m caught up on campaign 2.

[@filipferencak2717]

@Michael Mclellan Agreed. His character was my favourite for the first 9 episodes and then he pulls all this shit. Such a let down. The rest of critical role is amazing though.

[@CadillacDeVilledElegance]

Very upset about how this all went down for Orion.. A shame what happened to him in his personal life. For those who don't know, to sum it up; Relapsing (and withdrawal from drug use, going through therapy/rehab for it) while doing cancer treatment, and having relationship troubles, and failing friendships. Emotionally unstable, having allegations of cheating (which I never checked to see how that ended), and all those other issues.. I feel bad for Orion. He's such a nice dude now. I'm happy he's in a better place, but man, just because he made a few mistakes in his life, all this happened..

[@BloodshydGamz]

@@CadillacDeVilledElegance it is sad that all of this happend i agree and i can understand how that made him do what he did on the show even the cheating dice rolls he was going through a hard time. But he made major mistakes out of the show as well such as stealing money that he had raised for charity and raising money for a fans dads death without their concent and then stealing that money as well. I hope he is doing better and i wish him the best but just because he was going through shit doesnt give him permission to steal from children and take advantage of his followers.

[@loganreads90]

I still miss him, despite the fact the group now has better chemistry. He will always be an original member of Vox Machina in my book. I respect the group's decision to remove Orion; however, I will always think highly of him.

[@AFanOfCinema]

Emma Wirtz What's the timestamp for that?

[@JackDManheim]

I know it’s a problematic episode but 2:26:34 is such a beautiful moment to me, where Laura notices Travis’s frustration and comforts him

[@the_Monkey_Wolf]

This makes me so happy

[@canadian__ninja]

It says a lot about the room at that point in the campaign that Travis of all people is like this. He's like water off a duck in every other episode for the most part

[@wickleman]

I'm with Travis. With the previous episode and then another drawn out episode, I would be bored out of my mind playing. It's hard enough just watching.

[@envymordecai4429]

3:11:11 Even in character she checks on him V: I ask Grog if he’s okay. G: I’m bored as shit. V: Wanna arm wrestle?!

[@R_Caine]

Forgive me if I misquote this, but there's no light without darkness for it to dispel.

[@Dadankslayer]

I can see the pain and anger in Travis, Liam, and Taliesin's faces this whole episode and I'm very glad Laura and Sam were able to get the mood back up so many times, true mvps this episode.

[@grumdiddlydoo3559]

For the record, any slumps Liam went through during this period of time was likely due to the passing of his Mother; or her struggles leading up to that point. His time with his friends playing DnD was one of the things that allowed him to cope with this. Unless I missed a behind the scenes comment, I honestly never got the read that Liam held anything against Orion. He comes off as the type who would of been a front runner to efforting to keep the band together if he had to vote.

[@higglybiggly1174]

​@@grumdiddlydoo3559 Liam and Orion were irl friends before the stream, like him and Sam were. However as Orion got involved in drugs and his life fell apart it carried over into the game. I'm sure he's not raging mad like Travis is, but you can see the disappointment in how his friend is acting in this episode. There's a reason this is his final episode, and I'm sure it wasn't just one person's decision

[@grumdiddlydoo3559]

People need to separate their feelings from that of others may be feeling. Unless Liam admitted it and I didn't see it, how can you know for certain he wasn't putting on the same RP face he puts on every session? If this is the episode I think it was, it was rough on nearly everyone even outside of Orions antics. It was a shopping/preparation episode with no fights or big reveals if memory serves. That alone has been a big turn off for players like Travis. When something puts you in a bad mood, it can be further exacerbated by other events. Again, Orion's situation aside, others at the table were semi-arguing with Matt over what they could or couldn't do. There was confusion, and frustration. They are just people, and can have rough days. We don't have to make Orion out to be the spawn of the devil and why everything was horrible with him in the show. Not defending his cheating tactics or other issues. Just gets tiring watching people look for an easy out to put all the fault on 1 person. @@higglybiggly1174

[@CactuarJack007]

@@grumdiddlydoo3559nah, you can clearly tell where the pain points in this episode are coming from.

[@quantumraptor1485]

“Can we fuse this with this?” Matt straight up says “No” “Can we try super hard?” And then he is punished 500gold

[@himederecosplay2610]

and then he said it was "worth a shot" no???? it literally was not?????

[@tharfagreinir]

Never took the hints. The obsession with upgrading enchantments was really weird.

[@Lucifronz]

@@tharfagreinir Not really. Enchantments are cool. I can't blame him for wanting to give it a shot.

[@gnomesaiyan1680]

@@Lucifronz Part of the problem is I don't think Orion understood how Bounded Accuracy worked. A +1 enchantment in 5E is relatively more powerful than a +1 in Pathfinder.

[@fernandozavaletabustos205]

Watching this episode after watching the new Super Geek Mike video about Tiberius!

[@phoogoo]

Tiberius: Can I get unlimited holy water, enchant my staff, enchant my ring of protection to +2, buff my ring of spell storing, enchant my bolts with sleep and fog, teach my pet a bunch of tricks and buy every mirror in the city to craft an archimedes ray that our tinkerer couldn't do? Grog: Can I see if my beard grows?

[@jamiesmyth5965]

Also Grog: I buy a shovel and a pickaxe

[@aidenharper6013]

Yeah, ine or 2 of those things would be fine. Hell even all of the spread out over like 5 lvls wouldnt be game breaking especially with a DM like Matt, but all in one day? Thats beyond selfish, its just unreasonable and illogical.

[@trealosgaming3345]

@@aidenharper6013 i think he tried to upgrade the ring 3 or 4 times before hand

[@Ace5004]

@Philip Moseman he did. The exact same ring with Gilmore, who told him it wouldn't work and it'd be easier to just buy a new one with that enchantment.

[@lesterjennings4044]

Yes as my first time through here's hoping grog gets his beard so Vax can threaten to shave it again.

[@TrumpeterOnFire]

"You lose 500 gold and you realize the DM was right" lmao Matt

[@dau8566]

101 on how to take the hint from a dm that you're being an asshole

[@wereberius9201]

Timestamp?

[@Kirakina1]

@@wereberius9201 2:28:00 start there

[@yshrivera]

Travis: How bout you get nothing else, and move on? It's serious when he doesn't use his Grog voice in C1. This was amazing

[@gabrielbjornursidae]

@@hahmann Same Orion who bragged about not metagaming this one time at the start. You shouldn't have to brag about not metagaming, it should just not happen.

[@mudkipjuice]

As someone that teaches elementary school-aged children with behaviour issues, I do GREATLY applaud Matt at his patience and his attempts to accommodate Orion in a way that wasn't unfair to everyone else. That is genuinely not easy to do for the children I teach, let alone a grown man who should know better and should be more aware of people he considers friends. Matt really tried to give Orion chances, I could see it in every episode when Orion started going off the rails. I just wish Orion had taken the clues.

[@LannasMissingLink]

Yeah and considering the jokes he makes about his own bad behaviour, it's not even clues. They must have spoken directly to him offscreen a few times

[@xEvilRaptorx]

2:48:10 Matt's ready for this game to be over, and throughly is done with orion.

[@spectralumbra1568]

@@LannasMissingLink A few episodes ago when Orion rolled a 1, he even went off on the audience for, I assume, people saying he never rolled low and accusing him of fudging his dice rolls. They're definitely talking with him off screen.

[@LannasMissingLink]

@@spectralumbra1568 yep! Enjoying myself much more with the later episodes

[@emilymckenna4973]

Orion just has some bad behavior. A few episodes back he rolled a natural one, after being accused of fudging dice rolls and this episode Keyleth was helping him count audibly and looking over at him more versus just giving him the disapproving side eye she often gave. When he rolled the 1 he said “Hey! Internet! There’s my natural 1! Suck it! It happens!” That session he had plenty of lower rolls. He had to have massive help counting dice. He seems to have honest issues doing math. It isn’t just with dice rolls. When Matt doesn’t give him the total of how much gold he spent when buying multiples of an item he has to ask. They definitely talked outside the game because he basically bragged to Matt about how he finally wasn’t going to be metagaming in this upcoming battle. Keyleth once told Orion “I can’t do that, I don’t know that, I don’t metagams like some people we know.” There’s just a LOT when I’ve looked for it. I really was initially just annoyed with his inability to learn how to play when they’d been playing for a while and some other things but I saw of these major issues as time went on. Plus he can get a bad temper...

[@DarthRioBarbossa]

I love Jarett so much. Dude grabbed a ghost, demanded a raise, then went to take a nap.

[@thetardyowlvg9155]

I aspire to be like Jarett

[@Law-of-EnTropy]

Ranger Laura: *casts cure wounds on anyone she can* Cleric Laura: "B-but. . . I have to kill it. . ."

[@neohamilton551]

To be fair, trickster domain cleric. Not exactly your typical Seren rae goddess of healing and mending kind of deal... So....

[@Law-of-EnTropy]

@@neohamilton551 that doesn't excuse Laura from not preparing Cure Wounds on so many occasions though. Actually, whenever she does that, Sam is always at the ready to remind her that she _can_ heal people.

[@neohamilton551]

@@Law-of-EnTropy I suppose that is true. But you have to remember that clerics do not exist just to heal.

[@Law-of-EnTropy]

@@neohamilton551 as I mentioned, Sam is always at the ready to remind Laura that she _can_ heal. Not necessarily to be just a healer, but to have the versatility to actually heal people when they need it which is pretty much one of her major features as a cleric, in general. There had been a number of instances when she could have readily heal someone but decided to blast a guiding bolt, which then missed and (knowing how Laura is with dice rolls) got salty about it.

[@ciaranmcguinness8900]

Luckily they have two clerics

[@benjaminolson7206]

I think "calling the Draconian army" should just be an accepted euphemism for trying to break the game, and particularly for trying to do it in a way that marginalizes every other character.

[@OmniValor]

Nice trope entry, might actually be an original lol

[@dndbasement2370]

Unfortunately thats a problem with the players imagination of what they like. I often got players who loved anime characters with abusive powers and those players i can tlel you always try to enforce the fact that their characetrs is beyond the other players because their character is "stronger" then it is. my cousin love the idea of hercules and the likes, and those characters have uber stats way beyond what normal beings should have. and thus he always felt left out when he realised that a beholder could easily kill him. so yeah unfortunately not every table is for everyone. Orion had a very different idea of what his character wa sall about. being th eprince of his kingdom it is evident that he could bring the kingdom into war. but that was not what matt had in mind and thus story wise, it clashed. thats why you should not discard your ideas and talk to your dm to find a way to make it work. but yeah its a 50/50 job. you are not willing to do 50% of the way and let the rest be done by your DM, then i think the table is not for you.

[@OmniValor]

tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AttackOnOneIsAnAttackOnAll I found the entry on his trope page, but it seemed like he was trying to turn the situation into a hard "Deus ex machina", which Mercer caught onto very quickly, and had his father simply refuse his "request"

[@dndbasement2370]

@@OmniValor reguardless of what trope you think he was on or not, doesn't matter. d&d is about becoming a hero, not about tropes and entertainement... i think what made orion go crazy was that they started live streaming. which to him meant he had to change his game. a game the others weren't ready to change. some people changes in front of the camera, talieesin specifically stopped being in front of the camera for that very reason, him able to stream is a definitely against his principles, but the fact he is not forced and he is not pressured into doing it, means the whole difference to him. the same cannot be said about orion. in his video about redemption and why the reasons he had to go away, he said himself that he changed over the years, the cinema changed him and it wasn't for the better. he accepted it now. but back then, it wasn'T the case. he refused to change cause he thought it was real and true for him. he baffled the very reason we play d&d in the first place just to try to elevate himself and his ideas in front of an audience. thats cinema for you. but d&d isn't that.

[@OmniValor]

@@dndbasement2370 lolwut

[@aqwjazeoth]

That scathing look that Matt gives Taliesin at 27:16 when he says, "AmBEARdextris," is GloRiOuS.

[@seven-cats-3]

thanks for catching that :D

[@pagenein]

I was HOPING someone had commented on this hahah

[@dorianpink5359]

honestly my favourite moment in the whole thing lmao

[@ReplicatorFifth]

I liked Talisin's pun :x

[@TheRealNGTN]

@@travishopkinsc3072 Did you?

[@caffeinedelusions]

All the people in the chat feed commenting about how Marisha was metagaming because she thought 'now your soul is forfeit' was more than just a badass oneliner are idiots. That was CLEARLY Taliesin dropping an RP hook that he WANTED someone to pick up.

[@zoltanszaszi2264]

Yes, that was definitely him showing the dark side of Percy.

[@sugar-high_kitsune]

Right? Like, for us and the players, that was a SEXY freaking line... But, imagine you're a sheltered, naive druid and you just watched one of your only friends in the world BLOW THE FINGERS off of this poor, snivelling civilian who is literally begging for his life; all with a strange weapon that has never even been CONCEIVED in this WORLD before. Then, later that *same* night, he screams at some random dude who isn't even a real threat to you "YOUR SOUL IS FORFEIT." It made perfect sense in character, and it's really touching that Keyleth actually tried to reach out to Percy when she had every right to fucking RUN-

[@fruttibasket]

I was SO HAPPY that Marisha caught that and actually had it bother Keyleth. As Taliesen I would've been so discouraged if I dropped a hint of my character's morality crumbling and absolutely no one paid attention to it.

[@ARreckless14]

No, all you guys are reading way too much into this line. Percy said that off the top. Nothing more nothing less. He was ROLE PLaYIng his character.

[@Lucifronz]

Thankfully there are a few people in chat who were telling off the others. It's not "metagaming" it's a good-aligned character being worried about their friend becoming too hell-bent on revenge, _which is literally Percy's whole fucking arc._ If she's not looking out for him and being "annoying" as they claim, Taliesin doesn't get to pursue his story and get deeper with it than just shooting some vampires for sport.

[@bigmanchild61]

True story when Travis says "and how about you do nothing else" and Laura smacks him and says stop, all I can think is that would be me and my wife

[@philic212]

@Abbi Cordeniz you're soon late.

[@samobrien6720]

Philip Cassidy for me he’s right on time

[@toryfox4580]

I loved that moment

[@HydraxSly202]

Gotta love Travis. xDDD

[@deathless12345678]

I would have liked to see the conversation after the stream ended. By 2:55:00 you could see on orians face that he knew he was done and was trying to back peddle.

[@spshouppe]

Finally watching this series...yeah this is a rough one. Huge props to Laura for doing her damnedest towards the end to stop Travis from literally falling asleep/walking off the set by involving Grog in as much as she could. She can easily read his mood.

[@thissucks_]

to be fair it was very easy to read him in the end/after break. But yes very nice to see.

[@Tcrumpen]

Well being husband and wife they would be very easy to read for each other

[@russellogren2183]

That is very rare for Travis. He is usually so involved in others roleplaying. Even when he appears on Stream of Many Eyes.

[@kapitan19969838]

Travis has had a tough long day, we've all been there

[@trinifernandez8870]

In my opinion, one os Laura's strongest qualities as a player is exactly this. She is amazing at picking up cues, not stealing the spotlight and always makes an effort to give everyone their time to shine.

[@albadore]

Third time watching this. Only this time did I catch Taliesin saying "am-bear-dextrous" when Trinket attacked with both paws. It pays to listen to that man.

[@Sideway8]

Matt's reaction to that is great lol (timestamp 27:15)

[@vexbanearamori7224]

@@Sideway8 straight up ¬¬

[@slayeroffurries1115]

A positive comment? Impossible!

[@Blasted2Oblivion]

It's for things like this that I will often watch an episode a second time and focus on Taliesin specifically.

[@Roguekriger]

Matt: "I wanna try and keep the shopping concise" Orion: "And I took that personally"

[@fauna575]

I know a lot of people have commented about just how Fed Up Travis looks here but I just realised that there's a reason why he's showing it more than the cast - Travis has stated before that he has ADHD (specifically, the inattentive type) so being forced to sit through multiple rounds of Orion's bullshit while not being allowed to fidget/zone out because it would make their growing group look"unprofessional" on stream... well that's just ADHD hell

[@mr_dino4222]

Oh god. I have ADHD, too, and that legitimately sounds like torture.

[@InLiquidColor]

That combined with the horribly inappropriate comment Orion made towards Laura's character before all the shopping started... His face was livid that moment forward.

[@maggiekoubenec1554]

@@InLiquidColor hey can you put the timestamp for that? i legit want to see Travis's face

[@InLiquidColor]

@@maggiekoubenec1554 I would have to go back and look for it but it's when they're making plans for something. Sorry I'm unable to do so right now.

[@maggiekoubenec1554]

In Liquid Color ok thank you :) I’m currently watching and I’m at about 1:42:00 so I’ll keep an eye out

[@MrSHADOWANGEL999]

A round of applause to both Matt and Travis for the exceptional show of patience and restraint

[@hankukakohanminaolen7182]

Especially Travis because he has ADHD, that must've been NOT FUN.

[@bdletoast09]

Admirable from Travis as he was a player, but as the DM, I think Matt was *too* patient. There comes a moment when a player is just being annoying and you have to tell them "Ok, I'm done with this, now we're RPing what the others want to do." The whole table was agonizing during this episode, that was hard to watch.

[@hankukakohanminaolen7182]

@@bdletoast09 I'm not really sure if Orion's quitting from the show was planned yet, but I just feel like Matt wanted to give him some extra attention as a "parting gift".

[@bdletoast09]

@@hankukakohanminaolen7182 I mean, if it wasn't decided yet, this shopping session was certainly the last straw. I'm kinda baffled by Orion's incapacity at reading social cues here. The entire cast (save maybe for Liam who was trying to be nice until the very end) was about to crack. I wouldn't have blame Travis for leaving the table honestly, he looked so bored it made me feel sad.

[@tonybeaumont8289]

@@bdletoast09 honestly I'm surprised Travis had the self control to not snap him like a twig. Especially after the "half chub" comment directed at Marisha

[@konstantinospetrakis2418]

Just check how Marisha and Sam are looking at Orion's rolls like hawks lol. The guy was cheating so bad they were forced to police him.

[@zoidberg4tsar]

Marisha give Matt a specific look around 48 mins to so in and Matt gives her a wink back. It's in reference to him splitting his spell and causing 14 and 18 damage, respectively. It's clear they all know but aren't going to bring it up on stream, messing with the production.

[@Yasha277]

She didn't give him much of a "specific" look at all. I just rewound to it and she didn't give any kind of face.@@zoidberg4tsar

[@PetraPoolnoodleVods1]

@@zoidberg4tsar the wink was at the other table. after the wink he turns directly to look at Orion who is to his left. Marisha would be even further left

[@Critter94]

Man Travis seems like an absolute sweetheart. Orion chipped away at that over 27 episodes and he's so done to point of muttering he wants to kill him.

[@askthepizzaguy]

Travis seems like a dude I could meet for the first time and give him a genuine hug. And I am not a touchy feely person.

[@Direwolf181]

@@askthepizzaguy Honestly Travis does just have that huggable appeal he's like a huge Teddiebear

[@spenceroneil4747]

Wait when did he say that?? I never caught that

[@thisiscait]

@@spenceroneil4747 2:26:20

[@geraldkatz7986]

Laura calms him down. Interesting note, before this Tiberius teaches his pseudodragon to be quiet and Matt mentions being quiet is an important lesson for a creature to learn.

[@pagenein]

In all seriousness, “you can’t *win* d&d” IS the most important lesson to learn as a player. It’s about having fun as a group, not about getting the most xp, action, or benefits. If the group isn’t having fun then something needs to change.

[@dndbasement2370]

Alas there are wins and loses in d&d and in life in generals. Kiling the lich king might be a win for the paladin and the cleric. But losing their best friend, the druid, might not be for the rogue who had fell in love. Those who say this sentence are just trying to cheer up but reality is... What is for one person might not be the same for another and it is that win and loss that makes drama and it is that drama that makes great story. And yes this is me trying not to spoil the ending of campaign 1. There was clearly a loss at the end and it made for an incredible moment.

[@sigurdgram]

you can win dnd, by fulfilling your obligation. every person that sits down at that table has an unspoken obligation to try and make sure everyone else has a great time.

[@pagenein]

sigurdgram you’re damn right

[@django3422]

@@dndbasement2370 You kinda spoil the ending as soon as you draw attention to the fact that you're not trying to spoil the ending. "This specific scenario I just described? That's me trying not to spoil anything." Instantly makes it clear that said scenario is gonna come in to play. Good job.

[@dndbasement2370]

@@django3422 then you just didn't understand the warning son... saying you dont want to spoil the ending is usually meaning you shouldn't read more then the first line of the post because the spoiler is coming. not my fault you didn't understand the point and continued readin post about something you haven't seen yet.

[@nebulous426]

I really wish "I realize what I'm doing and I stop" had been Orion's approach to this entire campaign.

[@elbruces]

That would have made for a hilarious catchphrase too. Especially for befuddled Tiberius.

[@onepunchtocelebrate670]

In a sense, it was.

[@lordpepper6932]

He got the first part of it, he just didn't stop

[@fernandozavaletabustos205]

Watching this episode after watching the new Super Geek Mike video about Tiberius!

[@FadzaiSimango]

Underrated comment

[@Captain_Garchomp]

at 2:42:08 when Orion is sending the note to his father and going off the rails you can see a comment in the chat that reads, "Dear Son, No." just thought that was funny

[@isaac8734]

Matt's snappy "poppycock" is also very funny comeback

[@kyridounis5040]

@@isaac8734 I think at that point even Matt was getting tired of hearing orion's voice😅😅

[@isaac8734]

@@kyridounis5040 yeah thats pretty obvious and visable the lack of interest the attention span matt have there. And he has so much tolerance and patience and poker face game that its actually an epic feat to break him like this. Well done orion.

[@CronyxRavage]

Re: "going off the rails", if there are rails at all, there's a problem. That implies the characters have no agency. There's a reason the term "rail roaded" has a negative connotation. The Tiberius character has had this back story from the beginning, Matt approved it at character creation. If someone with ties to the government discovered a den of vampires who were trying to manipulate local politics, it makes complete sense for that character to try to raise the alarm. Everything the Tiberius character did made sense from an In Character perspective.

[@danielmcgillis270]

@@CronyxRavage What he was trying to do is to totally derail a story arc. As a DM I don't like it when I am setting up an epic story arc with elements of backstory, a powerful enemy to overcome, some very important foreshadowing for an arc down the line by having a player just nuke the entire site from orbit. And it was not so much what Tiberius was doing as much as it was what Orion was doing. He was trying to trade a very good story of V.M. going in underground and doing a full on insurgency. The Briarwood arc possibly some of the best Live D&D5e ever done for "OK, you call your daddy. He mobilizes the army of Draconia and they storm Briarwoods, take back the castle, find a strange ball in the basement, and everything is solved without the need for 20 hours of roll play and my entire story arc is destroyed. So lets get back to finding all of Tiberius's artifacts he is looking for by going to the Feawild. No need to go with Whitestone now at all. Just call in the eagles and do a nuke strike. Then there was all of the personal BS that Orion was pulling that was not on stream. I think mostly that is why they asked in to leave. No so much the gameplay. But that had been getting real annoying for some time.

[@Im-Not-a-Dog]

Orion: "Tiberius gets half a chub." Travis: "Your Soul Is Forfeit!"

[@Albatross0913]

"orion gets a punch in the teeth"

[@gallaetha_matt]

Achievement Unlocked: Made it through THAT episode

[@gallaetha_matt]

@@happybookbee godspeed

[@gallaetha_matt]

@Cthulhu it's so hard to watch, yet I can't look away.

[@Amethystar]

Second time through, knew it was coming. Still just as... *shudders* But, the Briarwoods are coming! Time to buckle up!

[@Dan280974]

error 404 like not found

[@fernandozavaletabustos205]

Watching this episode after watching the new Super Geek Mike video about Tiberius!

[@Sprtschk]

Taliesin closing his eyes while Matt describes his dream makes me happy. They just really go from happy-go-lucky nerds to taking this so seriously.

[@TerrorBlades]

If you are here: 2:18:40 Skip to here: 2:30:25

[@DrugsAreForWinners]

Upvote the shit out of this.

[@lazerbeams2536]

I found this too late, dear God that was painful

[@annafantasia]

Upvotedddddd

[@SPACEHARICE]

GOD FUCKING DAMMIT I literally found this right after I found where to skip

[@czr3k18]

Travis putting his head down was PERFECT lol

[@socratesl7020]

Laura was the GOAT this episode. She helped Travis when he was not doing well due to Orion AND she took Matt by his word and understood that the chores were supposed to be brief and instead of stepping on other peoples feet and doing what they tried.

[@s4ml3j3]

I felt like the massive and great time-stamp collections are lost somewhere in the comment section so I'm casually leaving mine here now so maybe I can help someone else out! (Also, yes, I just got into Critical Role 2 years later and am trying to catch up, wish me luck!) 9:18 Vaxmas! 12:53 “Welcome back.” 17:06 Recap ends and game starts 20:27 Scanlan’s morbid view on Trinkets current state 23:15 Percy shoots at nothing, and HITS 28:12 Orion makes Matt proud 32:22 Vox Machina Ricocheting 36:55 Karma happens for re-doing dice rolls 37:25 Ricocheting Trinket 42:44 Grog is a painter :) 43:10 Tiberius compliments Vax 48:58 Scanlan Dimension Door’s and is greeted by a crazy thing 50:10 “All the single Percys!” inspiration song 1:03:19 Scanlan hides and Grog does a blessing 1:09:50 “And my axe!” 1:11:12 Tiberius wakes up and old man just to tell him to back to sleep 1:16:00 Vex passive aggressively offering frittatas 1:30:19 Started from the bottom, now they got diplomatic immunity, snickers 1:33:33 “That’s Matt.” 1:38:04 Sam says to leave the decision up to the stream 1:42:38 Break time 1:55:24 Part 2 starts 2:07:07 Liam is amazed at Matt’s memory skill 02:07:42 - 02:08:15 Freeze frame lasts 02:08:44 The Unfortunate Quest of the Lost Belt continues! 02:11:35 Pay attention to a bored Travis, culminates 02:11:53 and then RPGs an old man 02:15:28 Scanlan tries to get a custom c*ckring done 02:25:10 Tiberius needs mirrors, ALL of the mirrors 02:27:50 Don’t. Argue. With. The. DM. 02:40:10 Orion breaks Matt 02:41:36 Tibrerius’ father rejects his plea, also poppycock! 02:43:33 Vex super-not-suspicious-at-all letter to the Emperor 02:44:40 Keyleth talks to a water elemental, Percy helps 02:48:15 Basically the “errands”-part ends 02:48:50 Vex clearly would’ve haggled 03:01:42 Scanlan prays for the horses 03:16:15 Keyleth is being eloquent and humble about her wisdom 03:17:07 Scanlan is amazing 03:20:10 “That’s adorable.” 03:21:30 Twins get natural twenties! 03:24:37 Grog attempts to throw Scanlan 03:27:14 The session ends

[@jonathantanner6701]

Same. I think it started out great, but Matt's the only writer and not incorporating direction very well which is a shame because I think he could be an amazing director. Just needs to give his friends some "this is what this character is feeling" descriptions every once in a while. But, they are doing all of this for their own amusement rather than a creative work for an audience or profit which is also unique. We're less than ghosts to them because they can interact with ghosts in their world.

[@MercuryVII]

s4ml3j3 dude thank you

[@liamgreen1982]

thanks my guy

[@pennding3415]

Got in whem the second season started so i have alot of ground to cover

[@yichella]

Thanks for the stamps. I've just started watching recently - three years late and so much to catch up on. Wish me luck as well! How far along are you now?

[@Blizzic]

"Ambeardextrous" Matt barely has time to shoot Tailesin a dirty look before it cuts away. I love it.

[@trinifernandez8870]

Tib: "As Vex is saying this, tiberious is getting a half-chub" Talesin: upset, but trying to stay in character Marisha: Murderous laughter Sam: Disbielef Liam: Surprise, then just anger Laura: trying to ignore it Travis: *You will die in the next 20 seconds* And Matt is just trying to move on

[@worldeater2414]

Ya know, a part of me always wondered why he left. I guess i just never noticed how bad the player was, i didn't catch the pervy comment he made either. Now that i really think about it, it's probably why Travis didn't want to do romance in the games. He looked like he was gonna dive across the table at Tiberius, and Matt just looked done.

[@thefriendlyknight]

... what does that mean? If it's not too much to ask, of course.

[@worldeater2414]

@@thefriendlyknight What does what mean?

[@thefriendlyknight]

@@worldeater2414 "half-chub"

[@worldeater2414]

@@thefriendlyknight a semi, or as it is more clinically known as, a semi erection.

[@ingrid-c1379]

Sam saying that when Tiberius comes back after all his shenanigans that they all left 4 days ago was just perfect, 10/10 should've done it.

[@MegatronDconZ]

rewatching this back again, travis you are my hero, the patients it took for you to not jump over the table and choke the life out of him is tremendous

[@azarinevil]

And Matt for not kicking him off the table the moment they caught on to his cheating. As a DM I would have killed Tiberius off by episode 3

[@toptentex3541]

Carey Roberts How was he cheating?

[@azarinevil]

@@toptentex3541 Changing dice rolls, not recording spell slot and sorceror point uses so he could over use them and "prove" he was still able to, lying about dice rolls, lying about how much gold he still had (Rematch specifically), and rolling before declaring what he was doing to avoid fails (consistently after being called out BTS for dice related cheating, but also prior mainly with downtime activities). His attempts to go beyond reason through metagaming are also debatable forms of cheating, he tries to get out ahead of Matt by preparing for things he had no reason to know as Tiberius or by pushing beyond the pseudo-realistic limits of the campaign world. He was trying to speed run boss fights and destroy amazing character story arcs through the D&D equivalent of walkthroughs and cheat codes.

[@marias5685]

aye same for matt

[@CorrectionUnknown]

patience*

[@Fitz97forpresident]

"...leaving a bear on suicide watch..." That statement was much funnier than it should have been.

[@dheraxysgames1783]

FitzyJM so strange I read this at the exact time it was said

[@jamesgarlick4573]

That joke was un-bear-able

[@matthewacker7796]

You are on watch, you'll have to BEAR with me...

[@genericchannelname3663]

@@matthewacker7796 What timeis it around ?

[@DumbAce]

What was the time stamp on that

[@Logan_Baron]

Truth is Orion never actually left the group. Tibs is just STILL shopping for mirrors.

[@chrisshirley7760]

Larry Berry scrolling through all these comments to find this one was worth it.

[@bradenpotts]

Funny and made me laugh, but Matt does give him a conclusive reason to not rejoin the group later on.

[@raymondmacdonald2464]

lol

[@raymondmacdonald2464]

@@bradenpotts what episode???

[@AlwaysConfused4]

@@raymondmacdonald2464 keep watching, it’s much better if it isn’t spoiled

[@vtheman1850]

Dude, Matt is, even here trying to respect the player and the character with the absurdity of the "Dad can I have an army" scene. Like they've all CLEARLY had enough, but the DM is such a class act he's still trying to make it work.

[@EmmerFan]

I love that Sam actually has to work for his inspiration ability. I find it so funny. I thought it was just flavor his singing but a while back when I saw Matt give a lower inspiration dice because the song wasn't good enough.

[@Kira2056]

no he just leveled up since then. It starts as a d6, goes to a d8 at fifth level, and is a d10 at 10th level. At 15th level it will become a d12 and won't go higher than that.

[@Neutral_Tired]

they started at lvl 9

[@HozukiHangetsu]

No, Matt gives Scanlan a d6 instead of a d10 when he feels like the song wasn't inspiring (assumedly--that's what the criteria appears to be for a reduced Bardic Inspiration). He started off the streamed episodes with a d10 inspiration die technically. Matt just made the stakes higher.

[@GuiTheKratos]

What? No, they started level 9, now they're level 11, back then it was a d8. And Matt is just making fun, he doesn't really lower the inspiration dice.

[@MissTrimmm]

Guilherme Medeiros they also did experience leveling this campaign so everyone is at a different point so they dont all level at the same time. So it's more or less impossible to know where they were at the start individually but I think everyone was 10, give or take a level maybe

[@pagenein]

Idk about yall I’m just here for the subplots of The Missing Snake Belt and Grog Growing a Beard

[@egoraptorschin9412]

I actually want to see round three of grog and the half orc

[@RufusMcTwigglefart]

*smiles in fore-knowledge*

[@melissawardjohns220]

Wonder if the half orcs is supposed to be Kord. Would be really funny if grog had cheated on a fight against a deity. Yes I know in 2020 I'm far behind so I'm watching to catch up.

[@steffaniee2292]

We cant forget Simon the snake belt

[@Jackie_Tikki_Tavi]

Grog's beard is legit not even a subplot. It's a trusted friend. Trust me, I'm from the "future" and it's _glorious_

[@StretchyPlays]

"D&D is a game where you can do pretty much anything." Orion: "...pretty much?"

[@joshwilhoyte4453]

Permissive DM tells his players that they can try to do anything. Multiple players take actions to get cheaper items and abilities and make custom items and do crazy stuff like build death lazers. ‘Fandom’: Orion is a powergamer. He’s trying to use his spells to do unusual things.

[@floatingeyeballs44]

I love how Sam's face just disappears every time he takes a sip from that giant mug

[@grantcactus9973]

Looked up from this reply to see him mid sip and. Yeah that mug just swallows him

[@obama9016]

@@grantcactus9973lmaoooo me too read the reply and just looked up to see a big mug

[@Iwaleilanifilmies]

How did we all have the same experience hahahaha

[@Kyshakk]

9:18 - Vaxmas! 10:43 - Laura gets nominated/Travis doesn't know 12:53 - “Welcome back.” 16:58 - Percy's Dark Passenger 17:06 - Recap ends and game starts 20:27 - Scanlan’s morbid view on Trinkets current state 23:15 - Percy shoots at nothing, and HITS 28:12 - Orion makes Matt proud 32:22 - Vox Machina Ricocheting 36:55 - Karma happens for re-doing dice rolls 37:25 - Ricocheting Trinket 42:44 - Grog is a painter :) 43:10 - Tiberius compliments Vax 45:49 - Tiberius sings it's sixty feed (based on Thriller by Michael Jackson) 48:58 - Scanlan Dimension Door’s and is greeted by a crazy thing 50:10 - “All the single Percys!” inspiration song 57:23 - Marisha hits self with laser pointer 1:02:20 - Vax's Attempted One Liner 1:03:19 - Scanlan hides and Grog does a blessing 1:09:50 - “And my axe!” 1:11:12 - Tiberius wakes up and old man just to tell him to back to sleep 1:16:00 - Vex passive aggressively offering frittatas 1:30:19 - Started from the bottom, now they got diplomatic immunity, snickers 1:33:33 - “That’s Matt.” 1:35:23 - Travis sings "Scrye me a River" 1:38:04 - Sam says to leave the decision up to the stream 1:42:38- Break time 1:55:24- Part 2 starts 2:02:53 - Scanlan Inspiration Song 2:07:07 - Liam is amazed at Matt’s memory skill 2:07:42 - 02:08:15 Freeze frame lasts 2:08:44 - The Unfortunate Quest of the Lost Belt continues! 2:11:35 - Pay attention to a bored Travis, culminates 02:11:53 and then RPGs an old man 2:15:28 - Scanlan tries to get a custom c*ckring done 2:25:10 - Tiberius needs mirrors, ALL of the mirrors 2:27:50 - Don’t. Argue. With. The. DM. 2:40:10 - Orion breaks Matt 2:41:36 - Tibrerius’ father rejects his plea, also poppycock! 2:43:33 - Vex super-not-suspicious-at-all letter to the Emperor 2:44:40 - Keyleth talks to a water elemental, Percy helps 2:48:15 - Basically the “errands”-part ends 2:48:50 - Vex clearly would’ve haggled 3:01:42 - Scanlan prays for the horses 3:16:15 - Keyleth is being eloquent and humble about her wisdom 3:17:07 - Scanlan is amazing 3:20:10 - “That’s adorable.” 3:21:30 - Twins get natural twenties! 3:24:37 - Grog attempts to throw Scanlan 3:27:14 - The session ends

[@JayFamTWH]

This one, this one here

[@theoverlander4579]

Ty bro

[@weissflower]

Kyshakk Thank you!!

[@DarkDecenders]

You are a god amongst men!!!

[@Williamshakesqueer]

Blessed be

[@kam3148]

Sam “can he (Tiberius/Orion) get back to the keep and realize we all left like 4 days ago?” Little did he know..... lol

[@danielmcgillis270]

Savage.

[@markleeper593]

Yeah lol Sam was manifesting his own reality there

[@iank472]

@@markleeper593 sometimes if you're a really good little gnome (that only occasionally shits on people's beds), and you wish real hard, that wish comes true!

[@AnneIllustrating]

S: “I gently fall asleep under Percy’s workbench, where I’ve been hiding this whole time.“ P: “You’re not gonna sleep down ther-“ S: “Natural 20.” Best thing.

[@ludm1la]

When is this!

[@RaiofLight]

@@ludm1la 1:11:50 😸

[@ganymeade275]

I enjoyed that he thought he was going to be asleep in a machinist shop for more than 30 seconds before loud banging noises broke out

[@whoahanant]

I can imagine Percy standing there like "you can't sleep und..." Scanlon instantly passes out under the desk. XD

[@aidantheraider6324]

Yes, yes I am

[@seabassdigiorno8212]

ah to be a fly on the wall of that studio after the cameras stopped rolling 😬

[@SloppyMcFloppy1029]

With all the tiberious stuff going on, can we just appreciate how thankful taliesin was for trinket being there as a badass guard and emotional support hybrid?

[@sugar-high_kitsune]

Everyone needs a lil' bit of Trinket Love... whole dang reason he's the only Critical Role pin I've bought. xD

[@leannabanana55]

2:48:30 Matt to Vox Machina: "You do not have your horses with you, because they would not be able to travel through the teleportation circle with you" Mighty Nein: 'lol wanna bet'

[@pitchysadistic]

bamfing around in the most inconvienient and troublesome way possible is somewhat of a calling card for the cast lmao

[@isaac8734]

Their Teleportation shenanigans was one of the best CR moments ever lol 😆...

[@bennitori4]

"Can we just let Grog go on his own solo adventure." Poor Travis. He got to do nothing for practically an hour, and was perfectly quiet the whole time. I mean obviously he wasn't happy, but my god did he handle it well.

[@TheJerbol]

An hour? More like nearly 4

[@justanotherrandomontheyout4791]

Legit the only thing he got to do was by a shovel and pickaxe

[@tiph3802]

@@justanotherrandomontheyout4791 he kicked that wraiths butt! That was cool!

[@christopherrodriguez6304]

I have had this happen to me every time i played in my brothers campaigns I got tired so I decided to become the dm no I play everything mwahahahah

[@NicoleKisa]

You mean like Grog's 1 on 1 ring battles? Each an hour at least, each solo; having had 2 before this episode. Ya'll suck at being critical.

[@Bad_At_Parties]

2:30:25 I think this was the moment Matt said to himself, "This is the last time Orion is playing with us. I'm DONE."

[@Cmanisthecoolest]

Right after he emphasized OVER AND OVER that he could do one arrow in six days. “Ok and I do TWO of those”

[@geybackgeybackson2838]

That army shut-down was beautiful. Props to Matt Mercer for how that played out.

[@EricBurnetMusic]

The letter from Tiberius' father was basically Matt explaining why Orion had to go.

[@nabilabsood6967]

I know. RIP Orion.

[@caketin6470]

Taliesin crossing himself after Orion said “I’m going to try something I haven’t tried before” at 45:58 was both hilarious and probably how everyone else was feeling

[@APyre00]

It's be so funny if it didn't hurt so much lmao

[@daisykid3]

I didn't notice him doing that before, that's funny

[@biggdaddi9789]

Nah the GOAT has to go to Sam for interrupting Orion do explicitly bring up that they hadn't rested so a bunch of their spells had already been used, which looking at with the hindsight that we know he cheated a ton, is just really funny.

[@GnomeDeathKnight]

Also Liam quietly saying "infinite" after MM asks for Tiberius's fly speed. There are so many little moments in this episode that make it clear the group is fed up with Orion.

[@ryanwindham634]

@@GnomeDeathKnight Same for me. They all actually seemed rather tense from the start of the video and it only got worse as the session went on. If his metagaming and cheating wasn't enough, he was constantly inserting himself into conversations, those in the rp and those outside it. Everyone did a great job at hiding their frustration, though it was very clear Travis was really starting to break and he had to be exhuasted as hell by the end of the session

[@MuuToo]

2:42:04 "Tiberius just saved vox. Your welcome haters" in chat getting delayed to right as Matt is shutting down the army plan cracks me up.

[@samuelstensgaard4828]

That guy in that chat definitely owns a fedora, I'm sure of it

[@cyruskane8687]

@@samuelstensgaard4828 He literally named himself "Truealpha1986". He's at least 300 pounds

[@kookycrypt]

Matt was a saint dealing with Orion. His patience and fairness speak well of his character and I really respect him more after this. I'm glad that the group didn't have to deal with Orion's metagaming after this episode.

[@Odinson-px3ss]

Agreed

[@ganymeade275]

I feel like he did say things to Orion a few times off camera, there was clearly a conversation about metagaming prior to this episode for example.

[@azarinevil]

@@ganymeade275 And I noticed the Matt clearly said "If you roll the dice first before saying for what, it doesn't count" which was a deliberate jab at Orion for doing that in almost every episode.

[@m1ckyg21]

well honestly, if you look at orion at the beginning of the episode, it appears he has the vacant stare of someone "high as shit". I think he was very very much on whatever he was addicted to during this episode

[@ProbieKnox]

@@m1ckyg21 blah blah blah excuses blah blah blah more excuses blah blah blah.

[@daylondealva4448]

"Hakuna-frittata" "What a wonderful meal" No one else caught that. I did. So sly. Well played Mercer... well played

[@johntompkins]

Daylon de Alva I loved that moment

[@zeusthunder6799]

1:16:12

[@SmolFoxTrue]

I think many of us did

[@masmurdermonkey9233]

I'm still not sure.

[@safi6749]

What does it mean Sorry for replying 5 yrs later

[@claired2452]

Does anyone else notice Travis at 3:34:07 raising that dice and really really wanting to chuck it at a certain someone's head?

[@PunkX2000]

someone in the live chat even mentioned it by saying "Travis about to bring the pain."

[@fernandozavaletabustos205]

Watching this episode after watching the new Super Geek Mike video about Tiberius!

[@TommyWalker1]

It's my head cannon that right after the broadcast ended, Travis took Orion by the collar and said, "If you ever say some shit about my wife like that again..." It's not shocking at all that this was Orion's last episode.

[@Champs808]

Matt: Ok Orion, you have now successfully buffed all your stats to straight 25's, you have an AC of 50, you have 1000 hit points, all your items are +5, you are invulnerable to sleep, fear, disease, poison, charm, domination, confusion, and petrification, and your breath weapon deals 50d12. Orion: I head to Gilmore's again...

[@elijahpayne646]

"Also just want to remind everyone for the millionth time that I am the only glass cannon of the group"

[@kittikats]

Reminds me of a DND horror story where someone was trying to "win" and murder hoboed a quest giver in the first session. DM and rest of players were getting sick of the BS so the DM said "you win! That guy was secretly the big bad, you defeated him, you out smarted me, you win!" Mhobo looked really happy then the DM made the butler / noble / quest giver get back up and continue on like nothing happened. MHobo tried to play but the DM stopped him. I'm sorry but I have to continue the game for the rest of the people that didn't win. We have to keep going until they do. And since you've won you can't win again.

[@agathiandevaraj9757]

Siting next to him is Sam who played entirety of the campaign at 14--15 AP, taking almost all attacks thrown at him, with a smile on his face because he enjoys playing the game

[@Lunatic108]

Dude is pure cancer (no pun intended) and really fucked up the group, im so glad he is gone after this, cant deal with his toxic bullshit anymore.

[@martinemaggi8507]

"I go find Allura"

[@derfelpendragon5080]

9:18 Vaxmas! 12:53 “Welcome back.” 17:06 Recap ends and game starts 20:27 Scanlan’s morbid view on Trinkets current state 23:15 Percy shoots at nothing, and HITS 28:12 Orion makes Matt proud 32:22 Vox Machina Ricocheting 36:55 Karma happens for re-doing dice rolls 37:25 Ricocheting Trinket 42:44 Grog is a painter :) 43:10 Tiberius compliments Vax 48:58 Scanlan Dimension Door’s and is greeted by a crazy thing 50:10 “All the single Percys!” inspiration song 1:03:19 Scanlan hides and Grog does a blessing 1:09:50 “And my axe!” 1:11:12 Tiberius wakes up and old man just to tell him to back to sleep 1:16:00 Vex passive aggressively offering frittatas 1:30:19 Started from the bottom, now they got diplomatic immunity, snickers 1:33:33 “That’s Matt.” 1:38:04 Sam says to leave the decision up to the stream 1:42:38 Break time 1:55:24 Part 2 starts 2:07:07 Liam is amazed at Matt’s memory skill 02:07:42 - 02:08:15 Freeze frame lasts 02:08:44 The Unfortunate Quest of the Lost Belt continues! 02:11:35 Pay attention to a bored Travis, culminates 02:11:53 and then RPGs an old man 02:15:28 Scanlan tries to get a custom c*ckring done 02:25:10 Tiberius needs mirrors, ALL of the mirrors 02:27:50 Don’t. Argue. With. The. DM. 02:40:10 Orion breaks Matt 02:41:36 Tibrerius’ father rejects his plea, also poppycock! 02:43:33 Vex super-not-suspicious-at-all letter to the Emperor 02:44:40 Keyleth talks to a water elemental, Percy helps 02:48:15 Basically the “errands”-part ends 02:48:50 Vex clearly would’ve haggled 03:01:42 Scanlan prays for the horses 03:16:15 Keyleth is being eloquent and humble about her wisdom 03:17:07 Scanlan is amazing 03:20:10 “That’s adorable.” 03:21:30 Twins get natural twenties! 03:24:37 Grog attempts to throw Scanlan 03:27:14 The session ends

[@chrisp2531]

Boost this to the top

[@mothwizard3095]

This deserves way more likes, thanks!

[@GoddessxEbony]

Bump

[@ugerwashy]

"Travis RPGs an old man" Did you mean RPs?

[@DeathToRain]

thank you ❤

[@Extremelixer]

Did nobody pick up on the absolute sick burn Matt laid on Orion during the Animal Handling check? Orion: I would like to teach it to be Quiet Matt: ah yes a very important thing to teach a creature

[@bingbongwingwong]

That's not what that is

[@bingbongwingwong]

@Nylthanyr IV No I get that you think that was a joke, it just wasn't. Sorry to break that to you.

[@notsureicare488]

@@bingbongwingwong Not all burns are over the top mic drops. Theres no reason Matt should have said it the way he did unless he was being passive aggressive.

[@bingbongwingwong]

@@notsureicare488 Yeah except he wasn't being passive aggressive. He literally just said it's important to train a pet in d&d to be quiet. It wasn't some subtle jab at Orion likening him to a creature that needs to learn to be quiet... Like I said to the other guy, that wasn't what that was. Lol hundreds of people reading way too far into nothing.

[@notsureicare488]

@@bingbongwingwong Its more hundreds of people able to perceive something you cant seem to.

[@JustAnotherGamerChic]

I started watching critical role a couple weeks ago, and I've been HOOKED. I know a lot of these comments are about Orion, but can we talk about Taliesin? This man is an absolute gem. His one-liners are absolutely hilarious, and he does such a great job of lightening the mood when everyone gets tense. He plays his mopey Percy beautifully, but he's goofy and charming out of character. The bit at 2:44:30 is definitely in my top 5 best moments of the series so far. The moment Marisha mentions elemental speech, this man does not hesitate I've really loved all of the characters so far, and the actors are a wonderful bunch. But Taliesin is just the perfect player, from a D&D playgroup perspective

[@cloud_sauce]

Yep, totally agree! Watching campaign 1 (and CR) for the first time, and I'm really glad that Percy got his arc relatively early in the series. From earlier episodes, I had already gotten the impression that Taliesin is a pretty cool guy. But he didn't get to RP as much as the others (which is fine, not all characters have to be outspoken and extroverted). So I'm glad the Briarwoods story-line allowed him to naturally step into the spotlight more often, thus showing us his many skills - from acting out tense dramatic moments, to more silly one-liners and spectacular Aquan translation! ^^

[@inkandcaffeine]

i absolutely love how committed he is to the RP!! like closing his eyes when Matt is describing a dream or making facial expressions in character when NPCs are talking, he's definitely the most fun to watch no matter the character hes built!! (hes also such a gem in real life to his friends, 10/10 man right there)

[@tiph3802]

You have impeccable taste! I adore Taliesin!

[@claudiopereira5163]

Same, Tiberius was my favorite character on my first episodes, but after kvarn fight percy is by far the best, I would say percy is my favorite character now but sam (scanlan) is the best player. for me.

[@JennyDolfen]

I agree Taliesin is probably close to an ideal RPG player. He comes up with amazing characters and backstories (for each of his characters), has an absolutely wonderful presence at the table, doesn't take any spotlight away from anyone else, has some of the best one-liners (often completely underappreciated) and is just quietly fine with all that. I want more players like that in my gaming sessions, honestly!

[@JohnnyBoy-wi4kn]

Orion: *Begins to speak* Travis: I would like to RAGE

[@fernandozavaletabustos205]

Watching this episode after watching the new Super Geek Mike video about Tiberius!

[@Yoder023]

​@fernandozavaletabustos205 Please give a link cuz I want to know what built up to this moment I mean WTF Orion???

[@fernandozavaletabustos205]

@@Yoder023 His channel is SuperGeekMike and his videos are called "Let's Talk About Tiberius" and "Why We Talk About Tiberius".

[@Ashowleigh]

You could really cut the tension in the room with a knife! I’ve never seen Travis look so mad and bored every-time Orion would talk. The conversation after this episode I can imagine between them all would’ve been pretty tense. The comment Orion made about the Harpies seemed like a bad way to disguise his anger cause it seemed very targeted at Travis “a harpy is a jerk stupid butthole that is loud” sams eyebrow raise, Liam and Laura’s reaction. 3:06:00 - chat for twitch on screen even commenting negatively about Orion this episode too. It’s pretty sad how negatively his behaviour has effected the group that normally are joking about and laughing way more.

[@rachelburns5453]

When Percy said he didn't have the money and Keylith piped right up that she'd pay for it in full it warmed my heart in the middle of a dismal episode

[@Logan_Baron]

Marisha pointing out to Orion that he rolled a d10 instead of a d8. Whether it was intentional or not, it shows that they were having to police Orion's die rolls because of previous problems.

[@ScorchHellfire]

I mean... other people at the table have admitted to rolling the wrong die type in both campaigns... It's not like it doesn't happen.

[@SoyDrinker]

@@ScorchHellfire Other people didn't get kicked off the show for a history of horrible metagaming, constant dice fudging, using resources they didn't have, etc.

[@sarahf9732]

And the way he responds, "Oh this is a d8 right?" so passive aggressively. Yuck. This is literally the first ep of Campaign 1 I'm watching (Recommended to start here where production value improved a bit) and I hate him.

[@SoyDrinker]

@@sarahf9732 This is BY FAR his worst episode. I would personally recommend starting at episode 1 because there are a lot of great moments in the early episode but if the very early production value is too bad for you to get into it, I'd recommend at least starting at 24. That's where this arc actually starts so you miss some important stuff and Orion doesnt do or say anything bad in episode 24-25.

[@briangronberg6507]

There are some rough episodes later. The underwater encounter (trying to avoid spoilers) was particularly hard to watch, but yeah, this episode is definitely the worst. Between a lack of coordination among the players, Acaba’s erection comment and 10 errands, and Willingham’s “Oh I’m gonna f*cking kill someone,” (for which he never apologized as far as I know), it’s painful.

[@IceDragon978]

Taliesin translating to water elemental-ese is the highlight of this series so far. Especially nice since it came after a two hour shopping spree.

[@barking-in-the-dark]

Sorry, I know this is a year later (I'm new to the CR universe) but Taliesin's gurgle-speek was one of my favorite parts of this episode, and had me laughing pretty hard.

[@danielmetcalfe5589]

Travis seething after Orion’s “half-chub” comment is an amount of self-control I envy and applaud. That is a good man.

[@ALJ9000]

I probably would’ve blown a vein if I was there

[@yaredkokeb5362]

@@ALJ9000 to be fair Sam has made the half chub joke twice until now and nobody batted an eye

[@ALJ9000]

@@yaredkokeb5362 It’s about the context prior to the joke rather than the joke itself. In the context of discussing how to avoid getting arrested for a crime you have not committed, noting that your character is getting aroused is not usually humorous

[@otrofrio9280]

​@@yaredkokeb5362good point but scanlan is character wich is common ground saying shit Jokes like that

[@Acranify]

i would kinda like to know the inevetable talk they had behind the scenes when the cameras was off.

[@snarglblargn4986]

Best line in the episode: "Being quiet is very important to teach a creature" SAVAGE

[@Galinda33]

Honestly, I was thinking “how can he teach Lockheed something he himself doesn’t know how to do?”

[@dau8566]

i wish i could give you more than a thumbs up. i slammed my desk so hard when he said this.

[@Celticshade]

ikr, i think it went right over orions head but honestly dont give a shit cause everyone else understands.

[@BBTManiac]

Liam's got the smuggest grin ever

[@danielmcgillis270]

I did not even realize that was a dig. It did not look like it registered on Orion at all. I was thinking that yes, teaching a pet to be silent is important to teach a pet. You don't want it blowing a stealth roll. Especially when that is Pike's job.

[@SableMelody]

Can we talk about Taliesin's water elemental gargling sound effect when Keyleth was talking to her summoned elemental... he's so underrated, I laughed my ass off

[@cloud_sauce]

Yes! That took me by surprise. I rewinded a couple of times to properly take in the nuances in his Aquan translation xD

[@thomasjoychild4962]

Sam's willingness to physically enact various things Scanlan does is always great :P

[@Sideway8]

The look on his face when he's eavesdropping and pops up between them

[@eremundead6321]

Travis processing what orion said, and then falling into quietly muttering indescernible curses is great foreshadowing for him playing a warlock later, imo

[@Shashou1987]

I know I'm a Bit late here but that would be a good Background, A Normal Guard is a Loyal guy gets betrayed by the kingdoms wizard and makes a deal in order to become a Warlock.

[@michaelskinner6531]

When Matt says "I'm not perfect". No, you shut the hell up Matt. You are a beautiful person.

[@supercool1312]

Michael Skinner but he isnt, has he done bad things in his past? probably. he probably threw a tantrum as a child and hit someone in school so no, he isnt perfect. he is a good person and close, but not perfect

[@WorldWalker128]

Being beautiful doesn't make someone perfect. Just look at Helen or Troy. She let two nations fight to the death over her.

[@jakobschoning7355]

No one is perfect. No one can even be perfect. Claiming someone to be so only puts a pressure one them that they can not possibly stand up to.

[@hotwaterisspicy]

Omg you guys it’s a lighthearted joke of endearment. Calm down.

[@stormdaddy928]

imagine people taking you completely and 100% serious and trying to actually teach you that people aren't perfect... oh wait that happened.

[@liamwelsh4665]

2:26:50 ok I just noticed can we appreciate how good of a wife Laura is being at this moment? Travis is having an ADHD test of strength and instead of being mad for Travis fidgeting and stuff Laura in consoling Travis. Absolute best wife.

[@TimStamper89]

She understands him well enough and knows what he needs there and then. That's a proper partner. You see him reflect this when she announces her award nomination and in later in this and other campaigns when she comes from awards ceremonies

[@antonymilne1346]

Not just a test of ADHD strength, this was also a test of Travis' will and morality, you cannot convince me that at least some point durring this episode he wasn't considering if the backlash and punishment would be worth it to walk over and slap Orion in the head

[@isidorex]

Laura Bailey is a force of nature - she's younger than I am and she's still my role model lol

[@NoraMakesSounds]

@@antonymilne1346 I know it's been 4 months, but I'd like to point out that he also cared about the game and the people playing it. It wouldn't just be backlash on him, it would be the entire cast. I really appreciate that he looked out for them in that moment too. If he hadn't, LIVE, it's not too unlikely they would have ended Critical Role there.

[@ozu2647]

about 20 secs before, Travis murmurs “im gonna fucking kill [this guy?] Laura probably heard him and was checking in

[@SgtSoda]

Orion: “I wanna go to every shop in the city looking for mirrors.” Matt: *Laughing* “Well there are general stores with mirrors you can buy, there are mirror shops...” Orion: “Ok cool, I need 1,500 of them” (5x5”) Matt: *Glares in horror and slight disgust* “There aren’t that many mirrors in the city.”

[@leonmayne797]

Reasons Tiberius is Santa Claus: -Has an endless sack full of magical things -Speaks in a gruff, old-fashioned manner -Is a wizard with apparently limitless power -Is red -Disappears after Christmas

[@caffeinedelusions]

Sorcerers are different from wizards.

[@sharaburton6987]

oof lmao

[@mafaldacosta13]

One more: -Travis wants to murder him

[@Tyr_Archalion]

@@caffeinedelusions Tibs is in that weird space where he's mechanically a High Chr Low Int Sorcerer, but Orion RPs him as a High Int Low Chr Wizard for some reason.

[@keithwinget6521]

@@mafaldacosta13 that made me truly laugh a full belly laugh. Thanks!

[@mrcopycat2355]

1:31:36 Orion: *half-chub joke* Travis: "Your free trial of existence is about to be revoked"

[@VG-fk6nk]

And it was. You don't mess with the CEO's wife/

[@mrcopycat2355]

@@VG-fk6nk Was he CEO at that time, though? I thought they finished the deal with Geenk N Sundry to make their own brand much later

[@VG-fk6nk]

@@mrcopycat2355 Maybe, I don't know. But I feel like that comment from Orion was the final straw for Travis, and he put his foot down to kick the fool out (pun not intended?). And they generally listen to Travis, so there you go.

[@mrcopycat2355]

@@VG-fk6nk Oh yeah, that makes sense

[@sarahnaberhaus7121]

Grog awoke within him. I was worried he might go into a frenzied rage.

[@MisfitSass]

Legend says, if will wheaton and talisan drop a dice together the universe would explode

[@jochi7585]

Sass Master I’d like to see their characters fight each other, and how much talieson devastates wil xD

[@azarinevil]

@@jochi7585 Be more fun to see them paired up as DM/GM vs. player. Maybe the next Cthulhu one-shot they can have Wil on so Talesin can drive him absolutely insane LOL.

[@bretsheeley4034]

@@jochi7585 Matt: "That has to be the first time, I think, ever... in the history of D&D... or ANY role-playing game... where a PC successfully killed another PC off... while everyone was rolling for initiative."

[@thetruestinsanegamer10]

@@bretsheeley4034 Is that an actual quote or did you make that up? Because I really can't tell hahaha.

[@xXXxToxyxXXx]

I needed the giggles that this comment gave me.

[@Logan_Baron]

Since this seems to be the focal point of contention against Orion, I will post my issues here. If you have no wish to read another Orion bashing post skip this. Tiberius was pretty much my favorite character, though that could vary by episode and moment, I have a love of spellcasters and planners. I defended his actions during the beholder encounter and the killing of the old woman. Things started to go off the rails here, and I can look back now and see many problems with his play style. This isnt even considering all the stuff that Orion did outside the stream and unrelated to the game, which are terrible in themselves. Besides his metagaming, his dice fudging, and other things, like the "I want to do 6 things. Those things don't work the way I wanted? Then forget it I don't do those and now I want to do these 6 other things. I can't do that? Well then let me say the same exact idea even though you just told me I couldn't". I realize looking back that a big problem was him staying in his lane in roleplaying. In D&D everyone plays a role. The Wizard takes care of the spells, the rogue does the sneaky sneak, etc. But then there's also the roles like the planner, the tank, and even the comic relief. Tiberius did well when he fit into his role as the professor and the spellcaster. But then he wanted to get into everyone else's lanes and make the show all about him. Laura/Vex had Trinket and so he got a pet pseudodragon. If that were all then it wouldn't be a big deal. Scanlan makes the sexual jokes and come-ons, and Orion tries to jump in on that too. To disastrous results. He starts inventing weapons, Percy's role, and they are pretty high damage melee weapons and uses them brutally. Grogs role. The Briarwood arc is Percy's story. Tiberius jumps into this with the "Yeah ME, It happened to ME. I HATE them". Trying to take on some of the personal vendetta aspect for Tiberius. Because the whole story needs to be about him and not Vox Machina. Anything that others do or get attention for, he wants to take for himself. You've got to fill your role and let the others fill theirs, let them have their drum solos too, and their parts of the story that aren't shining a light on you at the moment. Ideally, you want to support them and help them get their spotlight moments.

[@WolfGoddess77]

I wondered if anyone else had noticed that Orion started to adopt traits of the other characters rather than stay in his own little spellcasting niche. Thank you for bringing up that point. Orion's behavior started to bother me ever since the K'Varn fight, but I think him trying to wedge his way into other characters' skillsets is what finally put me over the edge of complete dislike.

[@AndrewWaite]

Well said sums up the thoughts I didnt know I had

[@Magnadra1989]

Wow didn't see it from this point of view. I found it really Strange for him to get a Pet Dragon (that half of the Time was forgotten or only get something to eat) The Performance from Orion had really varried from Episode to Episode in some he wasn't even as forcefull to get the Spottlight in other I could Not stand him. He got a faire share of criticism what he has done outside of the game I have no clue. Oh for the Aspekt of "Metagaming" I didn't really know what this term mean (I don't Play DnD) so if anybody could explain it to me would be helpfull

[@Logan_Baron]

@@Magnadra1989 Metagaming is using outside of game knowledge or player knowledge over character knowledge. It can vary in type and degree. It can be things like reading the monster manual and finding out a monster's weaknesses when the character you are playing would not have such information. Sharing knowledge or plans with other players when your character is not in the room. Even being genre-savvy and thinking of things in-game mode can be considered metagaming. Such as saying "I know there's a way across that chasm hidden somewhere in this room because I know that the DM would not have written it there without a way for us to get across". In one episode Sam was going to cast a certain spell on an enemy. Matt informed him that the type of creature (whether it's classification is say Giant, humanoid, creature, etc) was not the type the spell would work on. Sam asked if Scanlan would know that. He was so intent on Not metagaming that IF he decided that Scanlan would not realize the spell would not work on that enemy then he would still cast it and waste the spell.

[@Magnadra1989]

@@Logan_Baron thanks

[@Logan-tv5zj]

Orion is supremely lucky that Travis is a patient man, especially for how thoroughly he decided to test that patience. From the moment he makes the erection joke to the end of the episode, you can see Travis's patience slowly wearing thin, but he clamps down on it and keeps it together for the sake of the show. Well done, Travis.

[@DrakeOVoiceOvers]

definitely have to give Laura a huge round of applause for keeping the teddy bear of a man turning into a grizzly multiple times.

[@violetbean8928]

also Travis could tear them all apart like a Gorilla with rabies if he wanted to, and he definitely wanted to do it to Orion

[@bgold54g]

It’s amazing how different he is the next episode compared to this one

[@caosisaac]

​@@DrakeOVoiceOversshe's had lots of practice thanks to trinket.

[@mreyn17]

Agreed, and I cant actually make out if he says "I'm ready to go" or "I'm ready to go home" or something along those lines at 2:40:47

[@AlexDoge20]

I will never get over Tiberius/Orion trying to make The Briarwood Arc about him. It is literally Percy's arc and did an incredible job of bring Taliesin out of his shell and causing some incredible RP/story/character moments, and he took the first opportunity possible to make it about him. Not cool.

[@brunogigliotti4216]

IKR!! "I would like to go on a quest ALONE that takes multiple months so I can make a portal to a different dimension for my own reasons!"

[@godspeedhero3671]

@@brunogigliotti4216 This is kind of a side effect of Critical Role being a live show. In a normal D&D game, it wouldn't be all that crazy to have Tiberius leave the party for a while and do his own little dumb quest as the idea of "character story arcs" isn''t usually a thing. Most DMs would just have them not be present for the next few sessions and handle what they were doing alone offline.

[@tiph3802]

@@godspeedhero3671 that's a thing actually. It's not that common.

[@missingaria2503]

@@godspeedhero3671 It might be normal in your games but certainly not in mine. If you can't be there to help your party with their moments then you don't deserve your own and you should just play solo RPGs on the computer instead of taking center stage 100% of the time. I've literally pulled players into another room and told them to shape up for Orion's type of behavior because it's hard to get those shy characters to let themselves enjoy the RP aspects of DnD. Behavior like Orion's can easily shove those kinds of players right back into their shells after weeks, months, even years of hard work. It's selfish and there's no place for it among DnD players. Characters? Sure, but not players.

[@zaynkor2670]

He did that during the intro too. They were talking about Sam's birthday and Orion made it about him by saying it's also his mother's birthday. Just let the guy who is sitting right next to you have his moment dude.

[@hawkeyeplerce5238]

I just want to say bless Laura Bailey for holding back Travis all night long. You can see her talking to him as he gets madder and madder

[@888pil]

the chat is so annoying. complain a little bit while tibs is shopping but completely dogpile marisha when she starts RPing the conversation with Percy at the end, which I thought was lovely, and calling it awkward and boring. She is helping to further the story and giving Tal the space to expand on his character, and noticing the others' acting/dialogue choices. i'm so glad they don't show the chat on screen anymore

[@basvanderwerff2725]

ye im glad the chat is cut out of the video's further on in the campaigns, i just tend to cover the chat part with some other window to stop it from constantly distracting/annoying me.

[@piranhaplantX]

Yeah, this actually baffled me. They would accuse her of metagaming when she did, and I dont think they really understood what the he'll that word means. I mean, in all fairness, most of them did it a tiny bit. But generally, excluding Orion, it wasn't excessive or, more importantly, disruptive to the RP. In Keyleth's case, she has been building up this concern about the party going down a bad path for the past few episodes, and I can respect it. In fact, I think I would even applaud it, because a lot of the stuff they've been doing could justify an alignment change for what are supposed to be mostly good characters. I actually think Liam realized this too, which is why has been trying to do things right lately.

[@thefriendlyknight]

The chat also really pissed me off last episode, when they were trying to avoid a costly conflict. It was probably the only time everyone, including Orion, tried to work together to achieve a goal and a good one at that. Meanwhile, the chat was calling that very intense moment "boring" and yelling "just kill it." It just really ticked me off. Maybe I'm just new.

[@estibon3872]

@@thefriendlyknight New here too. i can barely read the chat because it goes so dang fast, but yea, i agree 100%. especially because they caught all kinds of shit for killing that old lady. I've noticed Matt keeps track of the little things and adds them up.

[@user-jt1js5mr3f]

Some people just suck.

[@TheStarkiller501]

Laura: "we know Tiberius is the giant eagles from Lord of the Rings" A sarcastic summary of what he appeared to view himself as

[@ARreckless14]

…….yeah……we know