HEY, there might be some SPOILERS under the thing 0:10 Marisha’s announcements 2:25 Travis’s merch corner 3:35 Recap 5:25 Bolo is not debris 6:30 Intro cinematic 8:05 EPISODE STARTS 10:15 Travis repressed the end of last episode 16:30 Talon to Wingspan 20:25 Talon is a snitch and Cerrit loves it 22:15 Evaluating Purvan 26:20 Dex on dex 28:30 The sphinx delivered 30:50 The Taxmen cometh 35:05 Is it really so evil to erase random people’s memory? 37:10 The greatest man in Avalir 37:45 Matching Cerrit’s face (bird teeth) 41:55 The Heart of Avalir 43:10 A new machine 45:40 Evandrin’s locket 49:10 Nydus and Laerryn 54:05 The Astral Leywright 55:45 IT’S BEAUTIFUL 1:03:20 Sam has fun secrets (The Dreshari Tithe and the Arboreal Calix) 1:14:15 Alessander can’t lie 1:17:55 5 is not great 1:22:50 Nydas has tan lines 1:24:20 Patia is very disrespectful 1:26:25 Cerrit want a cracker 1:28:10 The Beverage Ball 1:29:55 Debating extraplanar travel 1:34:55 A marital spat 1:41:00 Patia and the Raven Queen 1:45:10 Zerxus makes an inspiring speech 1:48:15 The results of a nat 20 religion check 1:56:25 The Schism 1:57:35 Brennan improvises canon 2:04:35 Patia checks her Nest 2:07:05 Low level spells are useful 2:09:40 A disappointing gift 2:11:45 The fireworks begin (BREAK STARTS) 2:17:35 Art Montage 2:22:20 BREAK ENDS 2:24:20 The Gift 2:25:40 Accidentally gassing the party 2:27:05 Key party of mind-shielding 2:27:55 Interrogating Madara 2:31:45 Seelie saved Purvan 2:34:05 Destroying Madara 2:38:25 Don’t say Xerox 2:40:25 Pre-recorded segments 2:42:25 Seelie sometimes comes in after hours 2:43:50 Seelie is secretly evil (Vespin background) 2:47:15 Zoom and enhance 2:50:30 Tree of Gnomes (Brennan gets womped) 2:57:30 Loquatius is lying 3:01:10 Sam is feeling himself 3:06:10 Laerryn hates restraint 3:07:25 Map out 3:11:35 Battle begins 3:14:00 Jeremy Crawford let’s us know how counterspell works 3:18:40 Box of doom 3:22:05 Laerryn ended the battle 3:23:25 Hard to get Cormorant’s info now (Evokers are dumb) 3:28:35 A letter from the Gau Dreshari 3:35:10 Scrabbles is having a good day 3:39:35 Loras actually loves Nydas 3:41:55 What happened at the Hall of Prophecy 3:52:20 Nydas just takes a bath 3:57:40 Divine sense 4:02:10 Zerxus breaks the buddy system 4:06:45 Speaking with Asmodeus 4:11:30 The betrayal, in Asmodeus’ words 4:26:55 Protection from Evil and Good 4:30:20 Lou reads the prophecy 4:34:35 Akami chokes out 4:37:25 Episode Ends The in-game start date for the episode was in the year 0 I guess. So, I think Brennan is doing great, if you want to see more of his DMing you can watch Dimension 20 on the Dropout streaming service. I usually don’t like to promote paid services here, but as a Dropout subscriber, I’ll say it’s been worth it for me, not only for Dimension 20, but Game Changers and Um Actually. So maybe get Dropout. Any moments I missed? Feel free to post them here. Is it Thursday yet?

Every time there's a nat 20 on a lore check Brennan has to act as if he's not thrilled for the opportunity to info dump

I love the detail of how all the oracles went mad in the final days before the apocalypse. Such a brilliant little detail of world building. They knew what was coming and it utterly broke them.

I'm used to the trope of "realizing the prophecy by trying to circumvent it" so it's cool to see its brother "that prophecy is deeply unsettling so I'll enter full denial mode and continue about my day, ignoring all the signs screaming that it's coming".

I can't get over how well Sam and Aabria play a divorced couple. They do it so well I forgot they were just acting

2:11:45 Lou standing up from his chair just so he can flip Brennan off from the right angle is the true Dimension 20 experience brought to Critical Role.

"So here's the issue, right? Five is not great." I love Brennan *so much*

“So many snitches in this city. Can nobody keep a damn secret?” “On a 29 Persuasion: no they cannot” 😂

Patia: We accidentally killed the Magister Laerryn, still angry: It wasn't an accident. Quay: Which Magister? Patia: Cormorant. Quay and Nydas: Were you able to talk to him? Get meaningful information and intel??? Patia: That's what Zerxus is for! Zerxus? Zerxus: Did you kill him or just knock him unconscious? Patia: No, he's dead Zerxus: *grunts in tired paladin* Okaay. This part is so real for any dnd party omfg

I love that Travis is still Critical Role's biggest fan. His reactions are just like ours.

Something really cool I noticed with Brennan's DMing, even as someone who's watched all of Dimension 20's campaigns, is how he's always able to find a way to explain an ability check even with a low roll. Cause most of the time in D20, he'd make a joke or a punchline when someone rolls really low for a check cause overall Dimension 20 focuses on comedy. But here on Critical Role, I can really see how serious he can be when he needs to be. Case in point, when Travis rolled low for the Medicine check, instead of being silly about it like Cerrit just poking the body or whatever, he explains what conclusion Cerrit would arrive to (even with a low roll) as a professional investigator. And as a newbie DM, I just have so much to learn from him.

Travis geeking out over his imaginary kid is just so darn incredibly wholesome.

Gotta say, of all of Brennan's brilliance as a DM, one of my favourite things about his games is just how liberal he is with the information he gives his players, he encourages them to make the right checks, shares immense insight into the inner workings of the pc's particular areas of expertise and helps his players connect the dots, guiding them through the mysteries and plots he lays out without necessarily holding their hands. I'm so used to DMs being fairly reticent with how much information they share about their big secret plots, either being too subtle or straight up heavy-handed. Almost as if they're hesitant to let their players in on the obscure intricacies of their worlds as opposed to encouraging them to unravel them. Not to mention I often shy away from playing archetypes of characters far smarter than myself because I'm worried my roleplay alone won't be able to pull it off, but on Brennan's table, I feel like you could rock up saying "Hello yes I'm an astrophysicist and a part-time artificer with an esoteric interest in the arcane makeup of extraplanar entities" and Brennan would just go "I've got you, fam". I really wish more DMs adopted this method of _helping_ their players truly feel like they're adept in the niches they're leaning into, beyond just the roll of the dice.

I have a theory that as a character prompt, they were all told to have a secret that could *potentially* cause the calamity and it's going to be a whodunit to see if any or all of them are the ones to backstab or pull the trigger

"When you kneel to one god, you kneel to them all." Holy shit this character is compelling as fuck. Such strong conviction, such pure motives... a tragic destiny written plain.

4:10:46 "A door opened, yes that's true" I love the irony that Brennan says the Lord of hells doesn't lie, really, he just repeats back what Zerxus says that Zerxus wants to hear. Go back like, five, ten minutes to them getting into the hall, they all laughed at Nydas for doing the exact same thing to Sofyra.

Sam "was that the big bad of the whole arc? did we do it?!" my brother in christ your group is technically the big bad in this story

"Being able to go to other planes is the only thing separating us and them". The IMMENSE hubris. This is Greek style pride before the fall and I love it

Luis is just so good and I'm not sure I could survive both him and Liam at a table.

SPOILERS FOR THE END OF EPISODE brennan is so sick for using HIS voice for the betrayer like. he KNOWS it makes him personable and relatable and sympathetic and it's so much better than some deep gravelly monster voice

The existential dread i felt watching this episode was INTENSE. This event is a fixed point in Exandrian Lore and knowing that their utopia will be gone in a matter of days is utterly terrifying. Its Cosmic Horror at its finest.

I cannot believe that during the entire conversation about the Astral Leywright and whether or not they 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 make such a machine, Sam Riegel's character is the voice of reason.

The best thing to ever happen to this campaign was no one ever telling Travis what a force of nature Brennan is. Fucking incredible.

Brennan speaking as Asmodeus is absolutely terrifying, because he both lies easily to zerxus' face and also doesn't technically lie at all

4:17:28 "Our promises were to the Primordials, and were called Betrayers!" Goosebumps man, what a great line

I love how Brennan is so Irish that every time he experiences any emotion, he instantly turns bright pink.

brennan made three people fully leave their seats in the span of one episode i feel like that’s gotta be a record

The amount of self restraint it must have taken to NOT call this episode 'Sympathy For The Devil' is just unimaginable.

Lou’s shaken delivery of “O-Obviously…” and follow up was SOOOoooo chilling, especially how jovial he had consistently been acting up to that point.

Zerxus to Asmodeus: “I could fix him.” Asmodeus and the other betrayer gods: “I can make him worse.”

"You have no idea what secrets I have kept. For you." I don't know what the context is yet, but something tells me Sam's fabulous little changeling man is about to shatter my heart.

Brennan's face as Xerxus says "the moment you kneel to one god you kneel to all of them" is so happy and proud

Whoever sits next to Marisha becomes her emotional support grabby-person

*Devils are highly charismatic. They use their silvery tongues to deceive others towards darker paths* Me: "Heh, that would never work on me. I'd never fall for something so obviously evil." *Brennan as Asmodeus* Me: "Huh, you know this guy's making some good points..."

the hold this mini-campaign has on me is unmatched

1:36:47 The whole interaction of: Laerryn: "I'm not convinced you were going to keep a world-changing technological achievement fucking secret!" Loquatius: "You have no idea what secrets I've kept *for you*." Brennan: "Sam, I'd like a deception check." Sam: "Deception...32." was Fucking AMAZING.

Watching this mini-series is like the first time I watched Revenge of the Sith: I KNOW how it has to end, but I am still somehow praying that it can change

An atheist paladin giving a spongebath to a devil and forming a covenant is now my favorite moment of the entirety of CR. Easy.

Brennan’s entire dialogue as Asmodeus was so good. I was not expecting him to actually yell out the way he did. Really sold the story and mood of the moment.

4:12:37 I love the momentary shift at the table as Zerxus says "Will you kneel?" To ASMODEUS and the cast simultaneously think "DID THIS MOTHERFUCKER JUST-" before he adds "... with me?".

Man this was the greatest "sympathy for the devil" moment I have seen played out in any form of media. An atheist paladin unwittingly making a pact with Asmodeus himself. Absolutely Fing incredible.

Luis here is a such a standout, can we please get him back? I would love to see him and Liam go toe to toe in drama and seriousness.

I’m so incredibly glad that the players are leaning into their characters’ tragic, calamity-inducing flaws. Patia cannot comprehend that the gods exist above mortals, Nydas doesn’t know when to stop progress and expansion, Zerxus is blinded enough by disdain for the prime deities and his broken heart that he’ll fall hook line and sinker for the Lord of Lies’ sob story, etc. There’s something in the clear unflappable tragedy of these characters that I’ve never seen in an AP; generally character flaws are to be overcome, but we and the players know for a fact that the characters are bringing about their own downfall. 10/10, one of the best AP experiences in the medium’s short history.

The mouth muscle control Brennan has when playing Asmodeus is insane. The little lip curls that are at times too small to see. The resting position of "Im fully listening." Everything about his whole demeanor. Outstanding acting.

Goddd Sam’s timid “I can be late” in Aabria’s face absolutely killed me

bruh maybe it's controversial but i love the structure of this mini series. it's not 'scripted' but like... they have a 30 page lore doc and they know, approximately, how the story is going to end. it's definitely more tightly contained than an average DnD game is, almost more like an interactive novel. There can't be 20 episodes of this, because it's not conducive to that. it's structured like a tragedy, and i think that super works to the narrative's favor! plus the cast and DM are killing it, and obviously having a fun time bringing this glimpse into the past to life.

Whoever decided to put Aabria and Travis next to each other - THANK YOU. Thank you so much

It’s trippy watching Brennan’s eyes when his players are talking, the man is clearly paying such close attention to his craft

the absolute chaos of the D20 classic episode ending of "i'm gonna everybody roll initiative and that's all for this episode" and the CR cast's reaction to it is perfect. Lou's resignation as he pulls out his dice to roll initiative - i can practically here his inner monologue going "this is where he's gonna end the episode, i can just tell. of course this is where he ends the episode"

Even after just two episodes of ExU Calamity, I would love to see more mini-series of high-level characters. The lore, dynamics, and drama is just so addicting to watch!

Laeryn: kills a dude in 1 round The look on Sam's, her ex husband's face: I am in danger

As much as I love this mini-campaign, I'm glad it wasn't any longer than 4 episodes. Timing and length is just as important as any other part of a piece of media, and avoiding any time jumps in this story and *forcing* the players and the audience to live every moment before the apocalypse is SO enticing!!! The reason so many people are GRIPPED by this series is because EVERY! MOMENT! COUNTS! You can't look away because if you blink you miss an important step in deciding the fate of Exandria

It's upsetting that nobody else thinks it's hilarious that Travis's impression of infernal is deeply growling out "OSHKOSH B'GOSH."

The whole conversation between Zerxus and Asmodeus was SO good, dear god. Brennan and Luis killed it. The acting, the tension... I know a lot of people are talking about Zerxus being manipulated and buying the lord of lies' lies, but I'm so fascinated by the idea that Asmodeus might have been telling the truth - that Zerxus wasn't tricked because he didn't NEED to be tricked. Asmodeus wouldn't even have to lie to Zerxus to get him on his side, because Zerxus already dislikes the gods. And Brennan has a habit in his other campaigns of showing religion from complex angles (celestials are not all good, fiends are not all bad), so I honestly think that there was at least some truth to what Asmodeus said about his feelings of betrayal toward the gods, and even about why he gave the gifts he did to the people of Exandria. Luis played Zerxus so beautifully, and I don't think he played Zerxus as a sucker at all. Oath of Redemption paladins are idealistic, but not stupid. I think he has a good read on their interaction. He isn't 100% on Team Asmodeus - he doesn't help Asmodeus escape or enter Exandria - he just barely heals him, which didn't really do much besides ease his pain (Asmodeus already pointed out that he can't actually die). I think that, basically, Zerxus has acknowledged what the rest of the party has not - that the betrayer gods are coming to Exandria and there's nothing they can really do to stop them - and so he begs Asmodeus to not take out his anger on the mortals when he arrives. Which is a very realistic response, honestly? Tbh I think he's the only PC in the party who's genre-savvy enough to realize that they're in an apocalypse story right now. Also the homoeroticism of it all was off the charts, holy shit. tenderly tending to a fallen angel's wounds as he wears your dead husband's face,,, asking him to kneel with you,,,,,,, he tells you he will never forget you, for as long as he exists,,,,,,,,,,,,, Brennan Lee Mulligan if you make the bad-but-sad devil guy pure evil I will not actually be surprised but I will be very angry with you for playing with my heart like that

"What's the biggest, dumbest statue in here? It's *mine* now." With a single line, Laerryn gave Fearne a run for her money.

For me, it's when Brennan lets Aabria talk through the machinery, then when she gets to the Arboreal Calix, he stops her and says "actually you haven't worked much with it..." with the tiniest smirk on his face. I didn't notice that my first time watching.

I love how Brennan brings out the box of doom, he simply cannot resist the allure. I also love how Brennan can’t help but make mirrors fucked up and ominous (cough cough the seven/fantasy high sophomore year)

Brennan showing his mad love for his friends by repping his Naddpod sweater while DM'ing on Critical Roll with Lou Wilson!

This whooooole campaign can be summarised to one, single, horrifyingly destructive word that will definitely bring down everything: Hubris.

Ok, so the way everybody is showing their hubris and playing into their desires to do "good" even though they have a million red flags screaming at them that they're in the wrong and need to take a step back has got me shook. Like it is insane watching them all orchestrate their own demise with absolute blinders is wild how they're pulling it off. And Brenna's depiction of Asmodeus floored me. I have never felt such sympathy for evil before, and what's worse was that my takeaway was that everything he said was true. Everything he felt was true, and it was SO true, that he basically TOLD Zerxus, all of this is true, which means so is my role and my job. I HAVE to play my part. I HAVE to deceive you. But I will ALSO protect you from me as a show of good faith to protect you from yourself against me. I fuggin cried lmao

Haven't finished but Laerryn and Patia's mean girl energy with Madara is incredible, feel so bad for the poor girl but also gotta gaslight gatekeep girlboss

The greatest challenge of speaking to a master liar: you'd be a fool to trust a single word coming out of their mouth, but you'd also be a fool to discount everything that they say as a lie. A great liar tells just as much truth as they do lies.

truly obsessed w brennan bringing back the biz glitterdew voice for travis's kid

Spoilers: The fact that the name calix is itself a reference to a botany term for the protective layer of a flower bud is some of the greatest story telling. (Arboreal Calix = trees sepal or saplings shell)

I Love how Brennan was like “i may not be at D20 but imma bring the box of doom to y’all”.

Luis' reaction to Marisha saying, "What good is loyalty to a dead person?" hurt me deeply

One of the fun things about a series this short is that every moment something critical is happening, there's no down time it's all calamity all the time

Anyone else notice Luis literally crying at the mention of evandrin around 45m? I am just amazed at the sweetness of his openness and marishas kindness getting him tissues. It was so sweet and cute 🥹

The way marisha has picked up and absorbed Matt's terminology and isms, and now she absorbs Brennans favorite word "Incredible" lol. Just very cute.

"We should continue to consider that false." The talent at everyone at this table never ceases to amaze me, but damn did this episode knock it out of the park.

Can we all appreciate the depth of the lore of Exandra that Brennan has digested and put to memory. Obvs he must have been able to sit with Matt and discuss at length, many times. Still, for a world not made of him, he clearly knows it's lore inside out.

This is such a different story the second time around, it's WILD

I can’t stop watching Aabria while Luis is describing how he thinks the tree is what made Evandrin sick because SHE KNOWS that’s what happened to him! I love it

Pretty sure Laerryn did an experiment that made Evandrin sick and Loquatius covered it up. Really excited for this secret to cause the calamity :)

Me, not knowing Brennan's DM style: This will be interesting to watch. I hope we can get a few laughs in. Me, now, having an idea of Brennan's DM style: now what kind of fucked up shit are we going to get?

Poor Madara thinks she completely ruined a party. She sounded like she was going to go home and cry herself to sleep

I need more Lou and Travis interactions. They make each other laugh and bounce off each other so well!

Partway through this episode, I was starting to feel a little bad for Luis; his character is fairly quiet and it seemed like he was along for the ride without having an opportunity to shine. Then we got to the Hall of Prophecy, and all doubt vanished. What a scene! What a cast! What a game!

Brennan stringing us along as the devil himself is a thing of beauty

53:25 Can we talk about how realistic Brennan's "Machinery Startup" sound was, like holy shit

I gotta say, as a long time CR fan who only knows Brennan from from his gameshows and comedy sketches, he's a fascinating comparison to Matt. I'd say Matt, at least for me, does a better job embodying the various NPCs and making them come alive (talented voice actor, who'd have thunk it?), but Brennan paints a scene and plays with tone and timing better than anyone I've ever seen. My gods, I'm watching/listening to this while pottering with other chores and the like and he's still managing to creep me out being home alone.

I love Aabria being the audience representative and making Asmodeus and Zerxus kiss with her hands as soon as Brennan says he's beautiful 😆

"You wouldn't happen to have a knock spell handy?" "No, but actually yes."

1:30:38 "Did you see the fondue?" and Zerxus' "I did, I saw it all." was dripping with disdain. Love it.

the butterfly effect is insane. loquacious and zerxus interferring and causing lacrytia to not kill purvan condemned vex to death, vax to service of the raven queen, and completely changed the course of history

Normally we observe these stories from the "Hero's" perspective, but I feel like this story is about how this group successfully caused the Calamity as opposed to failing to prevent it.

The thing is, I love Sam Riegel not least because he often looks like he's tuned out or not really paying attention -- or half-attention (and by his own account that's sometimes true) -- but then he pipes up at a moment like 2:01:13-2:02:08 and goes full galaxy brain "Insighting/Inciting the World" on par with the DM.

This miniseries is my first experience watching Brennan DM, and I absolutely adore how he sidedoors story moments with gorgeous prose. He did it with the "Invisibility is a pretty beloved power" monologue in Episode 1, and he did it again with the "Clerics have fallen out of vogue here in Avalir" monologue this Episode, and, coincidentally, both of those moments were related to the k'nauth that Cerrit eviscerated.

I love how Brennan gives them information after ability checks, he really frames it in terms of their character's experiences and knowledge. And he also like tells you things about the world in general in his answers. Idk i really enjoy it!

I haven’t been this excited about a series in a long time. Don’t get me wrong, I love the main campaign, but this is something else. I’ve never seen Brennan before and this is AWESOME.

Sam straight up wearing the leopard print suit, if I didn't think his character wasn't the guy from fifth element before, oh it absolutely shows it now.

Laerryn: "the gods are not so special" Gods: *and we took that personally*

Even though I've already watched this campaign, and I know almost everything that happens in it, the interaction between Zerxus and Asmodeus STILL grabs me in a chokehold. There's just so few ways to describe how intense that whole scene was. Beautiful, beautiful work from Luis and Brennan

Travis's ADHD is having him hyperfocused on that entire 4.5 hour session. He hardly looked away once! You can tell he's so blown away by the world building and intricate storylines.

As someone who loves her clerics hearing Brennan's explanation for the growing strengths of leveling clerics gave me such a happy moment and LOADS to think on in my games!

Sorry, I haven't seen a single post on just, everyone's reactions during Asmodeus's speech. Like Aabria's constant "Oh F***" Travis in constant awe. The general shock, I love it soo much.

I wish I was there when Matt was showing Brennan all his Dwarven forge. Matt: "This one's Maria This one's Avantica This one's ukahtoa This one's a chair, You know why we're afraid of the chair? . . . No you don't wanna know . . . " 😆

Luis made such strong moves when he was dealing with Asmodeus. With everything being so bad bad bad with that situation, him still playing that First Knight, Godless Man of the People was just amazing and gave me so many goosebumps. Truly, just some masterclass heavyweight RP

It makes total sense that Asmodeus would be the one "leading the charge". He's one of the most clever and cunning beings in the universe. He's the ultimate strategist with plans that span millenia. This is a being who was put on trial by the angels of Mt. Celestia, accused of corrupting mortals to sin, and had the god of absolute law declare him innocent becuase he was such a wordsmith and manipulator.

I love coming back after the wrap up and watching the zerxus and lord of hells scene after Travis Marisha and Aabria talk about how fucking terrifying Brennan was while playing him as just himself talking.