HEY, there might be some SPOILERS under the thing 7:55 EPISODE STARTS 11:25 Recap Ends 46:35 Sam flask 58:20 Imogen and Lilliana 1:04:00 The Weave Mind 1:51:10 BREAK ENDS, map out 2:11:25 Chetney’s last words 3:17:40 Otohan goes Super Saiyan 4:03:00 Sending to Lilliana 4:26:20 FCG was alive The in-game start date for the episode is still debatable. Sam’s gas can has his cat mask, and says “In Bio” beneath. Wow Now, more than ever, I want to ask people to reply with timestamps of their favorite moments. Hopefully, collectively, we can make a whole fleshed out set, even when I am constrained. I think the algorithm limits replies to one or two stamps per, but experiment if you want. I'll post my full stamps to Reddit. Any moments I missed? Feel free to post them here. Is it Thursday yet?

Fcg’s story began with him accidentally killing his friends and ended with him sacrificing himself for his friends

Nothing quite like a 5 hour shopping episode

2:09:06 Travis: "I almost got solo'd in one round!" Matt: *A C T I O N S U R G E*

You know that something big is going to happen when Sam is silent for an hour.

The first words in the next episode are: "My name is Taryon Darrington, my friends call me Tary".

SPOILER WARNING: Do not read the comments, if you have not seen the episode.

"Pain doesn't make people, it's love that makes people. The pain is inconsequential. It's love that saves them.” His love saved them...

Brennan Lee Mulligan in ExU: Calamity: "Sometimes, without even rolling, a player just gifts you with a natural 20." Matthew Mercer in this episode: "Go ahead and roll 20d8 for me, please." Wonderfully poetic... 😭

Otohan: “I am inevitable” FCG: “And I……am……Fresh Cut Grass”

The greyed out portrait at the end killed me 😭

SPOILER Taliesen called it in a 4sided dive episode ages ago. That robot had a deathwish to save its friends. He was right.

I was like, "Oh this is a long episode. I'll just finish it during my breakfast." Cut to me weeping at 7am before work.

A heartbreaking truth is that by getting rid of Otohan, FCG did for Oyrm what Scanlan couldn't do for Vax.

4:05:57 It's overshadowed by the blaze of glory, but this part where Orym, beaten down and practically dead, stands in place, like Captain America strapping on his already-broken shield to face Thanos and his whole army on his own, in the face of his father and husband's killer, absolutely broke me.

One other part I LOVE about the end there, is when Sam needs all those D8s, Laura, who has always been a stickler with her dice and people touching them, ESPECIALLY with Sam, is so eager to hand them over.

FCG is never going to find out that Exandria is not flat.

No spoiler... Marisha at Sam: I'm so mad at you right now. Travis at Sam, simultaneously: I'm so proud of you.

Gotta say, I loved what Otohan brought to the campaign. No nonsense, no grandiose monologues, no overinflated ego, she's built for one thing and she knows it. Just a straight up killler. Brutal stuff, brutal battle, loved this so much.

The scariest thing is when Matt said "roll 20 d8," I immediately thought, "I don't know if that's going to be enough..."

3:38:49 Talesin to very low health Travis "Do you have any Blood-- well, you *can't* do any Blood Maledicts cause you'll just fuckin go down." Man... I was not ready for that 'Oh yeah. You would know, Tal. Wouldn't you??' reactionary sad thought.

"Of all the souls I have encountered in my travels, his was the most.... [voice breaks] human."

To all future critters: SPOILER WARNING !!! DON'T LOOK IN THE COMMENT SECTION

*minor spoilers* The saddest thing about the fight this episode, is that Chetney couldn’t apply his bloated agony curse, which if I recall, does increasing damage every time the target does more than 1 attack. So just imagine how impactful that could have been.

"Smiley day to you " on a hoodie, is all i want now.

From "What's my mother's name," to Market of Wonders, to this heroic sacrifice, Sam Riegel is a master storyteller

Oh boy! A critical role episode where the Bells Hells fight Otohan Thull and Sam's doing the "I'm a cat..." ad read? Surely nothing terrible will happen! Not like there's a certain history there, or something...

After finding Critical role 5 years ago, this is the episode I catch up with live.

Sam is the best player ever. Even when his character just died, he throw a joke to make the rest of the table feel better... Ashley : I go retrieve what's left of FCG's body. Sam : It's just the tongue. All table laugh-cry, quickly stop... Marisha : Anything left of his torso? Matt : It was mostly destroyed. Sam : Just the little wooden feet. Table laugh again. Sam you are the best support friends can wish for. It's visible at how they all got saddened by your character's death... and give Liam a hug, he's your husband and need your love!

My father didn't stop protecting his friends, and neither did my husband.

Next week will start with Travis rolling a 1 and Chetney dying.

4:40:40 - “I like being on the other end of this for once” GODDAMIT TALIESIN WHY DO YOU HAVE TO GO AND MAKE ME LAUGH SO HARD AFTER I’VE CRIED AND SCREAMED MYSELF HOARSE

4:01:05 - Matt: "How are you on Stress?" Sam: "This will do it..." Matt's Face...

If you're sad about the end of this episode, feel free to go back to the beginning of the episode, where the cast reacts to Taliesin's mouse voice. (1:05)

At 4:26:48, look at Matt's face. It's the same journey as the "what level? Nine" from VM. The shock, the realisation, the respect. Sam Riegel Sam Riegeled once again.

2:09:04 Travis thought he was in the clear, but he didn't account for matt's most powerful secret weapon: his comedic timing

Without saying too much.. it was the Dad voice from Travis.. "MARISHA.." that cracked me, but Talisan shattered me. 😢😭💔 Sam, you beautiful genius.❤

3:58:49 Laura: "It only makes sense to do damage in this moment if what you're going to do is going to knock her out. But it won't." Sam: (whispers) "It might..." The plan was there...

Please, please, please, bring Matt and Sam for the next episode of 4 Sided Dive, I really really wanna listen to them talk about their feelings from this episode

FCG being the one to organise the team building exercises hits a LOT different now😢

Insane how close it was to TPK. FCG had 5 hit points at the end, end even that only because he got lucky and Matt rolled 2 points of force damage. At that point the only person not on deaths door was Fearne, every other member of the party hanging by a thread, with some already on the floor. One more turn of Otohan and at least two more people would fall. Which would mean they probably wouldn't be able to put her down before her next turn. Which would be the turn where she knocks down the last of them. ONE BAD DAMAGE ROLL AWAY FROM THE TPK.

"I am so mad at you" "I am so proud of you" Peak friendship

I love how Travis shows his leadership skills in this episode "take your time..." Calming down the pace to make sure mistakes aren't made at the table is sometime as important to a game as what your character actually does.

😭 FCG offered to give his life for his companions so often, it always made me grumpy that he thought of himself as a disposable service for the greater good. I’m glad that when he finally was able to do it, that it wasn’t just as a robot doing his duty. That he recognized himself as actually alive and that it was a sacrifice rather then a service 😭😭😭 As an aside I hope Sam’s next main character (if there is one) is a big sized character like cad or grog just for the variety of it all lol

I don't know if Matt will ever see this, but I want to send my full and utter respect and love to him. I obviously don't know exactly what was going on in Matt's mind when the fight with Otohan broke out, but if there was ever a single seed of doubt or regret when he saw how desperate the situation got for Bells Hells, just know that I wouldn't have changed a thing about this episode. The dice told a story, you could say. All of this was meant to happen, and I am glad it did, however distraught I may be. This was where the story was meant to go, and you told it beautifully. Thank you for what you do Matt, every Thursday. We love you very much. (Sending critter hugs)

This was his “Suuuuperrmaaaaan” Iron Giant moment

I can't tell you how happy it made me that he figured it out in the end. That all that God stuff and aeor stuff wasn't important. That was what mattered was his friends and the bonds they held over everything.

"Bonus action Jesus Christ" sounds like a cool ability for a cleric

No one at the table cheered or got excited at that last HDYWDT. I don't think I've ever seen that before.

I hope everybody enjoys this carefree and lighthearted episode. 💛

And the last words Otohan Thull hears are .... "I'm a cat"

Sam sitting there with the biggest smile on his face looking like “it’s not about winning. It’s about telling a good story with friends”

4:26:58 The look on Matt's face is giving: "I may have taken things a bit too far...." 4:28:47 The line that broke us all.

Imogen struggling with the fight to love/hate her mother for ages and quickly Fern hears "he's proud?" and her loyalty is quickly shaken lol such a chaos beast

there's something incredibly sad about players' characters' deaths, but there's something even sadder about a player's character who dies sacrificing themselves to save their friends. i think one of the reasons why this is especially painful, more than molly's death, or laudna's death (for me) is bc it reminds me of calamity and how in that last leg, they all knew they were about to die with the city, and even then, the ring of brass put all of their hopes and items to try to make cerrit go back to his family. fcg knew they all had very little chances to make it out alive, but he also put all he had left to try to make sure their friends wouldn't die and would finish their mission.

Thank you to all the people who made it clear to not read the comments because I definitely would have and probably been even more sad 😢

This campaign is going to be an absolute banger of an animated series. The 4-sided dive on this one is going to be WILD. I hope the cast for it will be Matt, Sam, Travis and Marisha just by all their different reactions.

Half an hour into this, Ashton one-hits a frickin HOUSE. And then of course the other stuff happens. One of the most epic episodes ever.

After being warned about AoE damage, Sam proceeds to move directly next to every Critter.

So many abilities used incorrectly in the heat of getting pooped on. Good classic D&D. You know you’re doing it right when the players panic so much they forget how their abilities work.

What a truly beautiful showing of genuine emotions. You can see how much each and every person at that table loves each other. How Matt was able to hold it together and then improvise the poignantly meaningful closing remarks about heroic sacrifice was astonishing and demonstrates the depths of his empathy, wisdom, and kindness.

Talisen being the first to break always gets me.....

The text I got from my roommate after repeatedly screaming "DONT DO IT NO NO NO" the top of my lungs. "I've been waiting since Thursday, I'll grab snacks and let's discuss"

MEGA SPOILERS, DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED I love that in their final fit of rage and anger, FCG, someone who struggled with their mortality the whole campaign and someone who doubted themselves and wondered if they truly did have a soul, essentially said "fuck you, I am alive, and I'm making my own decisions now"

This is the second episode where I've thought "this will be the moment that Fearne finally activates her hotline to Asmodeus". But she never does.

Just confirmed it...the background music at the end is the same music as the end of exu calamity 😭

First 40 episodes: "I wanna die, I'm not alive, I'll go down in a blaze of glory to save the people!" Thesis Mid 40 episodes: "I've learned I have value and I should stop running out and nearly getting myself killed. I have self worth." Antithesis This Episode: Synthesis.

There is something beautiful with how Travis reacts during the ending. He loves the story told of others.

I wish Fearne had considered the very mighty ally she could summon just by kissing her finger

“Whoever it was, just put it back. I think they’ve earned it. Put it back.“

After this, I don't think Ashton cares about helping the gods. They just want to make the person who sent Otohan after them suffer.

Love the light on the battle map as well as the close ups. Need more of that during battles and when showing amazingly crafted minis.

Some Statistics about the fight for any who are curious: Otohan has: 418-485hp (fluctuates based on if she had resistance to force damage from Laudna's eldritch blasts, if Matt remembered that she had resistance against Imogen's Psychic Lance, and if she had resistance against what FCG did); enters exultant fury state after losing 299hp and it returned to the top of her turn; 22AC (25 when she goes into exultant fury); has an attack bonus of +14 to her strikes; attacks a total of 52 times in 5 rounds of combat; deals an average output of 23 damage per strike before factoring any resistances (damage range was between 13-37 before resistances are accounted for); uses a total of 17 psionic dice and 4 action surges during the combat; she is a 20th level fighter of the psi warrior subclass; resistance against all known damage when in her exultant fury state; an action economy of 57 (attacks + dashes + potion usage + reactions) for the 5 rounds of combat Bells Hells: action economy of 84, dealing a total of 687 damage (before factoring resistances) over the course of 5 rounds Things Otohan forgot to do: she forgot one of her attacks on the 2nd and 5th round of combat; she never used her second wind ability; she never used her indomitable ability to reroll a failed saving throw Things Bells Hells forgot to do: Imogin could have moved away from Otohan during the first round after hitting her with shocking grasp, since shocking grasp has the effect of robbing the target of their reaction that turn; Fearne could have used cunning action to disengage during the 4th round, after casting Aura of Life, to get out of Otohan's range of attack; Laudna kept forgetting to give somebody advantage whenever she used silvery barbs; Fearne should have been adding 1d8 fire damage to each of her flaming rays that hit in the 3rd round rather than 1d8 to the spell in total, since that spell specifies separate attacks (it's one of the best spells Fearne can use when she gets that extra damage) Iffy stuff in Otohan's favor: she used a total of 17 psi dice, when her max should be 12, but they may have been restored when she entered her exultant fury; Telekinetic Control during the first round seems like Telekinetic Movement, which only works on willing creatures, but this is likely a homebrewed version for Otahan's use; Dealing full slashing damage to Chetney in his wolf form would only work if the weapons were magically enchanted rather than telekinetically infused with power since Matt has previously made a distinction between the two when Ashley asked if her magical resistance would grant her advantage in a saving throw against a telekinetic effect, which Matt said it did not work that way Iffy stuff that Bell's Hells did: Fearne randomly did 5 (reduced to 2) fire damage during the 4th round that I don't know where it came from, though I presume it has something to do with her fire titan abilities; FCG revived Chetney even though we were under the impression that revival magic isn't working right now, though we learned that information when Sending was also down, so maybe the divine magics are coming back onlline Things that broke the rules in Otohan's favor: Matt forgot to calculate the falling platform damage in the first round due to the chaos of the moment; Otohan used multiple psionic strikes on given turns (5 on her final turn) which the ability explicitly states that it can only be used once per turn; during the first round of combat, Otohan used a legendary action following Caviar's turn, but LAs can only be used after a PC's turn, Imogen could have Shocking grasped her and moved away before Otohan had the chance to strike; Otohan used protective field at the top of the second round even though shocking grasp stripped her of her reaction that turn, saving her 12 points of damage; while the players caught Otohan nearly using 2 bonus actions in the 2nd round, she winds up using 2 bonus actions during the 3rd (which causes FCG to go unconscious right before his turn, losing his turn to a death saving throw) and 5th rounds (which allowed her to reach FCG after stabbing Imogen) of combat; death saves are made at the beginning of the turn, so Imogen should have had her whole turn to use during the 3rd round; Laudna didn't get flanking with Fearne during the 3rd round when she tried to use Hunger of the Shadow (I don't actually know what that ability is called), possibly turning that miss into a hit (she should have been flanking since Matt told Liam that Fearne was taking the place he would need to be in to get flanking with Laudna, meaning that those two were in flanking positions already) Things that broke the rules in BH's favor: Ashton used Eratic Defense in the 3rd round (which should cost his reaction) after holding his action to attack which uses his reaction to activate, meaning he should have taken an extra 8 damage from that attack; Fearne uses a second reaction in the 5th round for an opportunity attack after already using shield, which means Otohan should have taken 4 less damage Some personal gripes I have about the combat: Matt picked and chose how to interpret Ashton's gravity ability - when Otohan was making L.A. attacks within 15ft of Ashton, she didn't get disadvantage on those attacks since she hadn't yet started her turn within the area of effect, but when her turn came and she exited the area of effect, she didn't keep the disadvantage from starting her turn there - the rule should either be that all attacks made within the area of effect have disadvantage due to the logical nature of how the gravity pull would work or it would have to be that anybody who starts in the gravity well get the disadvantage against other creatures for their whole turn if you wanted to follow RAW, you shouldn't be able to pick and choose between the two; Fearne's Titan form needs some work - it takes her full action to activate and all we've seen it do is add 1d8 fire damage to damage that she outputs, either there's a lot that we haven't seen yet, or it's coming off more like the blessing of the fire elemental, rather than the shard of a flame titan; Otohan is a broken character - she was a level 16 when they first fought and BHs were all level 7, we've seen their achievements and how they clawed their way up into power, going into dangerous places (primarily on their own) to gain their 6 levels to where they are now, Otohan was primarily with her army or with Ludinous, or with Liliana and somehow she gained 4 levels to be level 20 in the same time??? maybe it's because I didn't see what she was up to, but I feel cheated, then there is her exultant fury which would be alright if it bumped up her AC and gave her resistances, but it seems to have given her resistance to all types of damage (under the assumption that eldritch blast was doing have damage, since force damage is the rarest thing for dnd 5e stuff to have resistance to), but it had the effect of restoring her psi dice and giving back her action surges, mind you, fighters only get a second action surge at level 17... the level that full casters get access to 9th level spells... that would be the equivalent of Raishan getting to use another meteor swarm against vox machina once she was getting low on health, there's also the idea that it seems that ability essentially gives her the effects of a short rest besides health, but the only times that I've seen any such effects is an incredibly high arcana check by Caleb & Essek in C2, a deal with a betrayer god while equipping their weapon of divergence in EXU, or a successful divine intervention in a dimension 20 campaign, you simply don't give that type of effect to anybody without a consequence or a very difficult role (I know that Matt can do what he likes to keep the game interesting, this it just me ranting), but we didn't see any evidence of sacrifice or consequences in Otohan going super Sayan, the final thing that I was annoyed by is the concept of Otohan being foul, Matt said that killing her target quickly is what she is meant to do during the first round when he killed Chetney, but that would imply that she is an assassin type character, but assassins don't get an extra 180+ health out of nowhere - as a 20th level fighter with a constitution modifier of 2 (she had a +8 on a constitution saving throw against one of the blights and soldiers are proficient in constitution saving throws, proficiency modifier at level 20 is +6, so the base constitution modifier is +2) can have a maximum of 240hp if they get a 10 on every level up health dice, giving her an extra 40 is no problem since she could have the sturdy feat, but she had somewhere between 380 (379 damage had been dealt before FCG's final blow) and 485 health, which is just disgusting for an assassin type character to be given that much health, if she wanted to solo them down, one by one, she probably could have done so - kill Chetney, kill FCG, kill Laudna, kill Orym in that order and then run away because none of them can catch her... please let me know if I missed anything or if you disagree with my stance on any of this, I'm just glad Otohan is finally dead, though it is bittersweet

Man it’s episodes like this that remind me on how good an RPer and storyteller Sam is. Scanlan had many moments like this, having to use his his 9th lvl to kill Vecna instead of wish for Vax to be saved, Scanlan’s original departure, Scanlan using his last wish to bring Vax for Vex’s wedding, Nott purposely incurring the wrath of the manticore by killing its baby to save Fjord, purposely noting using cunning action disengage to incur an AOE when Nott was at low HP to allow Jester to escape the blue dragon, and now this. His whole speech as FCG was beautiful.

Also, huge, huge respect for Matt, for guiding everyone through it so graciously. That can't be easy, needing to be the one to pull yourself together to finish it. He did wonderfully.

Ashley spent hours using Mister in the beginning, even asked for Mister to be with her on the bombing run, has been holding the Mister puppet the whole game, turns into a fire monster, doesn't use Mister to harass/blind Otahan during the fight.

Thinking back to one of the 4 Sided Dice episodes where Sam was talking about the "big" moments with the party clerics in the other campaigns and he said that he wanted a similar moment for C3, I thought that moment played out with the clutch Banishment on FCG and Fearne a few episodes ago. I was wrong.

I love Otohan because EVERY SINGLE TIME she appears SHIT goes down and builds up the tension more than any other villain character in Critical Role FOR ME.

4:37:30 "I'm really sad." I don't know why, but this tiny phrase hits like a ton of bricks. (me too, oh my god.)

I was not ready. I need a hug. What a legend, man...

I think that the supreme potion was the thing that disbalanced the fight, another healing potion but the supreme would be just fine and the party would have handle it.

Liam: "hopefully she doesn't have another Action Surge" Otohan, three Action Surge's later: "you were saying?"

Everyone on the internet: Sam once again delivered a heart wrenching monolgue that made everyone cry. Me: FCGs arc should have been surviving this and learning to not glorify sacrifice. No monologue can change my mind, I mean good could this monolgue be anyways? Sam: And I realise that I am alive me: oh fu...oh he got me

In my headspace I imagine the last episode of the campaign they try to put FCG together and the episode ends with him saying “Smiley Day to Ya!” Would be a poetic end, kinda like the end of Monsters Inc. XD

you know over the years as a DM and as a player I have had heated conversations about thing being demonstrated at the end of this session. Role Playing vs Roll Playing and how they relate. Personally as a player I like two types of games, one which is more for fun is a sort of rule lawyer humor snark fest where the characters by nature are a bit OP. The other is where Role Playing >>> Roll Playing (this does not mean that the dice does not matter). As a GM/DM I have table top rules that can be put on top of most games which allow a player who does something in their role... to buff the dice rolls significantly to enable the outcome of their role playing to occur. As a DM when you confront several of the scenes in this episode, where your party is just being overwhelmed, heading perhaps towards a tpk because they made some bad strategic decisions and so on, and you get what happens at the end you have a choice. Honor the Role or honor the Roll. Matt deserves profound credit not only for his skill as a DM in dealing with the situation but the art of being a DM in making Sam/FCG's sacrifice viable. Purely based on the mechanics employed by this enemy, she highly likely could have survived Sam/FCGs sacrifice. That I think was the look on Matt's face as he was running thru his options. In role playing terms, FCG's Role Playing act of sacrifice was worthy of giving the party an out on the TPK. So in terms of the art of the DM he honored. The 10d8 was probably based on a likely number to have a chance to drop the boss below zero, and I would not be surprised if in his head, Matt added FCG's Constitution to the damage total, and had it still been low, he would have made up some mechanic to do the job.

4:26:43 - Matt's realization of what he's going to do before anyone else does... wow.

This was either top 1 or top 2 episode of the entire campaign so far, depending on how flustered you were by that Vax cameo during the Solstice. I know people probably already forgot, but this is ALSO the episode where Laura Freaking Bailey dropped two consecutive 31s for a major plot twist.

How jealous is Travis that Chetney didn't get to die 😂

Marisha: I summon my hound of ill omen (aka, a hellhound). Also Marisha: He's an emotional support dog.🤣🤣🤣🤣

4:23:58 "To me, it's the end of a story. It just means opportunities." That was so powerful from Matt, he was ready for the TPK which makes everything else after even more incredible and beautiful.

Good luck to the Monday critters

The last thing Otohan sees and hears is a wide-eyed and crazy faced FCG licking their lips whispering, "We had been trying to reach you about your cars extended warranty.......but now its too late."

I can't believe Sam did it again he is a master at pulling out the emotional roller coaster of a scene. This had me in tears thank you critical roll team for always being so amazing.

"I see now that the circumstances of one's birth are irrelevant...it is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are."

I'm halfway through. The way matt is totally giddy right now is just so disturbing and I'm LIVING FOR IT

Amazing moment in this session - one that sticks with you for a while. Loved it.

I love these relaxed "beach episodes". A nice happy vibe.

I can just imagine after they've defeated Predathos, Ashton standing in the presence of gods yelling at the Changebringer to bring FCG back. because they deserved it after sacrificing everything to make sure they were able to survive long enough to save the gods.

Few things I have ever watched have ever given me this level of emotional impact. I too shed tears. I bet most did. Sam Riegel, I salute you.

I started with arrival at Kraghammer back in November 2022. What an amazing episode to finally catch up to all the other critters out there. I can't wait to see what happens next.