Thank you again for doing these. I always fall asleep a few minutes after it starts.

I was so shocked when Aabria switched with Matt

Thank you for this synopsis. I've found that I enjoy them more than the actual episodes.

I feel like Liliana is going to receive a novel like Anna Ripley or Lucien. See you in January when it's anounced😊.

I agree with you on what you say about this episode, I was pumped for the first half, then the second half was a bit poorly executed because of Aabria's over-descriptiveness. The first turn of the combat, Morrigan's took half an hour, not only because the player was confused by her abilities, but because Aabria described the most mundane things and would interrupt at times. Before that there was a ten minute time period after Opal's initial explosion, where she spent 15 minutes describing a pointless perception check that somehow became about the Raven Queen.

So my thoughts about the "bait-and-switch" is that this was a very quick "emergency" plan. I think they were long planning on doing another ExU interlude to give the primary cast a break, similar to your theory from a couple weeks ago about the splitting the party so people can take a vacation. I also thinking they are planning on a bigger crossover where the crown keepers (or whoever is LEFT of the crown keepers after this fight) meet up with Bells Hells for a bit and they need to first establish what has been happening with the crown keepers for that to happen. I think what wasn't planned was the timing of this. I think the [spoiler for Ep 91 if people haven't watched it, why are they here] major PC death in Episode 91 threw a wrench in the CR production. I think it is clear that they are not going to be able to resurrect FCG which means Sam needs a new character (or reviving an old one, personally I'd like to see Luke join Bells Hells, I think that would be fun), they'll need to make a new opening credits sequence and new character art, they'll need to do the types of pre-game sessions Matt is famous for where he'll work with Sam to establish a new character, and all of this takes time. Time that gives them on CR two choices: a. no Sam for a while while all of this happens, or b. We do a longer break for CR. I think because of things like the fact that Sam typically does all the ad reads makes a impractical, and if they were planning on a crown keepers/bells hells crossover anyway, why not take this opportunity to just jump to ExU for a bit, which will give the cast time to take their vacations, time for sam to roll a new character and do the prep sessions with Matt (or prep a return of an old character), time for new character art to be commissioned and made, time for 1 or possibly 2 new opening credit sequences to be made, one with a tribute to FCG's death, and another with that plus the new character which won't be introduced until after the new character is introduced which I think will be IN Episode 93 whenever that happens. p.s. I think you misread the closing slate card on the episode, the slate card didn't say that bells hells would return in the next episode which will be episode 93, it said that they would return Episode 93 following this crown keepers adventure. I think we'll be sticking with the crown keepers for at least 1 more full episode, if not 2-3.

Hey man another awsome vid, helped me to understand alot of whats happening as i felt so lost and disconnected, as i knew who 1 person was from the crown keepers and i dont think the narative was easy to follow, im sure she did a great job for people who have watched the series they are from. I think it would have been better if she popped on and said to find out about the other half of the storie watch the one shot next week. As a spin off episode. Maybe thats just me, your breakdown did help me understand it alot more tho so thankyou

Deni$e needs to appear and rko opal from out of nowhere. And then she needs to powerbomb derrix for ditchin her before helping to saving the world

Thank you for recap, it was really helpful for the second part of the episode. I wanted to stay in touch but couldn't find the will to watch it after Matt and Aabria switched. Aabria is such an enigma for me, I don't have short attention span and I love Tolkien deeply, so the description-heavy storytelling should be my thing, but it's just so tedious. I guess it doesn't go very well with ttrpg's, as it does in the books.

I fell asleep while they were fighting and woke up for the last 15 min of the episode, and i feel like i didnt lose anything important

I have watched a bit of the Exandria Unlimited with the Crownkeepers. I can understand the point of Aabria being a little too descriptive, but it's part of story telling sometimes. Sometimes you need to be descriptive in order to let the audience know what exactly they should picture. Although its not entirely the best method, especially when you are about to go into combat, I honestly thought that this was a better means for now. After all, Bells Hells has been going through so much that, we as the audience have barely any idea what Dorian and the other Crownkeepers are doing at all. Therefore, the transition from Bells Hells to Crownkeepers was honestly a little surprising, yet kind of worth it at the same time. I think Matt too needed a slight break from DM'ing a bit as well, especially rolling super well for Otohan in Ep 91 and the painful death of FCG. Also, what the heck exactly happened that night? Cause I saw something about the chat on twitch was being very toxic?? I wasn't there for all of it, but if that's something best not mentioned, sorry for asking. I just figured I'd ask cause this was surprising to me.

I have a feeling the guests we're planned and scheduled a while in advance, before what transpired with FCG. It was just unfortunately bad timing that it fell when it did, along with the week break in the story for Candela Onscura, and kind of crashed all the momentum that was build up from the Ruidus mission in FCG sacrifice. It wasn't my favorite episode and definitely killed the high I was riding after the last episode. But thats life, and at least we may get Robbie back from it. 🤞

34:00 My guess is that The Dominox are the Aorians revived by Devexian.

I don't think Matt wanted Aabria to introduce D&D™ Lloth into his gameworld, so I'm expecting Opals demise to be engineered to clean that up. But I'd much prefer it if she had an active role in trapping Predathos in a warped and wicked plot. A lot hinges on this combat, it is a pivot point that deserves attention.

ty

1) Thank you for the recap. I genuinely appreciate the effort and work you put into these videos. 2) I find Aabria, as a player (other than Llearyn), very off-putting. She plays her characters in an ostentatious way that makes her hard to watch (for me, at least). However, I like Aabria as a GM. To me, her GM'ing style is the perfect mix of mostly storytelling with a smaller than normal emphasis on game play mechanics. I believe this GM style is perfect for new TTRPG players who might get easily overwhelmed by the complexity of DnD rules & expectations. And her table last night was mostly new/newish TTRPG players. 3) I honestly think the main cast could use a mental timeout after ep. 91. That was an emotionally heavy episode. 4) In terms of moving the story over to the Crown Keepers, that didn't bother me. It was as good a time as any to make the switch. I know I've been curious as to what's been going on with them. Plus, how many times can Orym reach out to Dorian, and as viewers of the show, we never get a chance to see the WHY behind Dorian never responding to Orym? The story threads (Luxom, Aeor, gods seeking help/champions, Ludinus' intentions) are beginning to weave together, and I am excited to see how things play out with both TCK and BH. 5) I think Liliana is playing on Imogen's emotions. She is too interconnected with Predathos and Ludinus to genuinely side with Bell's Hells. But her tie to Imogen could certainly give Team Ludinus insider information on the resistance's plan. Just how Imogen believes that their bond will give BH insider info on Ludinus' plans. 6) Never in my nearly 50 years have I ever seen a community as toxic, ungrateful, and entitled as the Critical Role community. Last night's stream chat was so disrespectful. People can disagree with an opinion or game play but the extremes in voicing those disagreements/dislikes went so far sideways that it left me feeling that as a fan base, we truly do not deserve the work & effort the CR team puts into these play sessions and broadcasts. Last night was so disheartening.

Another good review ZB. I can find Aabria grating at times as well though overall she does a good job. I just felt a style clash this episode given that I was expecting a remorseful "What do we move on" type of episode, but mostly got Aabria being blood thirsty lol. I may need to watch it again to see if I feel the same way.

I had no problem with this episode They all seemed to get to where they needed to be. Really curious to see if Sam will return and if so with what new character.

Look I love Aabria. She's a fantastic dm. So descriptive, cares about her players. But oh man does she run combat slow The only thing I don't like about her style. Back to the beginning of the episode. I love that they lied to Liliana about the secret entrance to the moon. I don't know if they can truly trust her.

I’m just not a fan of Abria the DM. 🤷‍♂️ I love Abria the player! She was amazing in Calamity and the episodes she’s been in this season.