And so it begins, the long tale of a man who drinks from increasingly unnecessarily large containers

I do love the twins Vax- dagger dagger dagger Vex- haggle haggle haggle

Liam:" you can give me- nevermind." Matt: "inspiration? What, begging from the DM now?" Liam: "more like praying." Matt: "I'll give you inspiration when you god-damn earn it."

no one: percy: my name is Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III. you killed my father. prepare to die

liam was really like "if this is where i die then by god i'm fucking monologuing"

I love as Vax is having his going-down speech everyone is looking sad and what not but Travis just has that massive grin of “oh yes, that’s the top notch Roleplay shit I signed up for.”

23:55 never realised before. Fist thing matt does is point out all the possible exits. Neat and subtle way for DM to say “you ain’t winning this one. *run* ”

The 2 nat 20's right after Vex spots her brother is something truly beautiful

Carriage driver: “They’ll find me; they’ll kill me!” Percy: “No they won’t; I will kill you first. Tell me what you know.” No mercy Percy in full force

...guys, we’re getting this animated.

Matt: “You are reduced to your primal instincts” * Tiberius runs away*

I'll start with Bad News. Nothin' travels faster. God I love these guys :D

Are we just going to gloss over the fact that Vax's monologue actually made Matt's voice crack? Damn, that shit was powerful.

"Let's play, Matt. Let's play." Truly, dead men have no fear.

"Gosh, you guys are good-looking." If this line is not in the animation, I am going to riot.

Two things. One - Taliesin's voice as Percy is insanely attractive. Two - Whomever did the subtitles to denote Trinke's mood (Happy bear noises, sloppy bear noises, rolling bear noises) is a genius and deserves a lot of love. (Editing for a third - Matt's old-lady running at 3:12:03 is the funniest thing I've seen all week)

Vex: We're very strong right now and full of health. Vax: (head slams down onto table) Lost my shit.

I like how Liam and Laura act like they're actually brother and sister.

I know these videos are so old now nobody is gonna see this, but for Kit to have the confidence to get fully into the RP and even do accents surrounded by professional voice actors was really cool to see. She did an outstanding job.

Broker: hey that complete stranger you just met owes me money- Percy: I CHOOSE VIOLENCE.

...so this is where the tradition of Sam Riegel and his novelty drinking implements began...

"I think of my friends, that I've spent so much time with. I think of Keyleth, beautiful, walking under the trees. I think of my twin sister as a young girl, folding up linens with our mother. I think of my sister as an adolescent in lessons, smarter than me. I think of the woman she grew into. Hiking over many, many, many miles together. My best friend. My best friend, Vex'ahlia. And before I can think no more, I say a prayer to Sarenrae to watch over my friends and keep them safe." -- Vax'ildan, 2015

42:02 “A small shiver runs down your spine, Vex: a feeling you haven’t felt before. A feeling of sudden and immediate sourceless dread, and in that instant you know that there is almost no time.”

Matt: *turns Tiberius into a basic lizard with no speech or magic power* Orion: "You underestimate my power to disrupt"

"What a lovely dinner we ha- LIGHTNING!" Hardest I've ever laughed watching CR.

Lillith: "You travelled with my cousin Zahra" Scanlan: "Ohh! I had a sleepover with her!"

1:34:30 is probably my favourite moment. "Oh hello. What a lovely dinner we ha-LIGHTNING!"

I respect that scanlin tried to reject the eagle picking him up as he didn't know it was keylith. Love seeing them being as fair as possible.

I got so caught up with Vax's situation, and the tiefling, and the Suggestion spell... But Percy's shout of 'SYLAS!' brought me RIGHT back to Percy's story. Taliesin gets better at this every episode, hot damn!

Vax on the ground saying “hey percy” gave me some serious feels.

marisha passing her turn because keyleth was so shocked by percy was amazing

Liam being a bi disaster about the briarwoods is so funny

My god we constantly give credit to the players but Matt just blew this out of the water. Playing such a hateful villain that is hated universally is hard. His briarwoods just gave me chills.

I absolutely love how anti meta sam plays

33:20 Marisha really calls out orion “..I don’t know that. I’m not metagaming like other people we might know” I think i lived for that moment

Liam over here like "If I make everyone depressed they'll try extra hard to save Vax!" For real tho holy shit

"Hello. What a lovely dinner we-LIGHTNING!" Possibly my favourite moment of the entire series so far. Fucking died laughing.

"I'll give you inspiration when you've goddamn earned it." - DM of CHAOS

Ngl Percy really did shine in this episode. Loved it when he sreamed "SYLAS!" and when he said Vax was foolish for risking his life but thanked him anyways. And the "whats wrong with you!?" into a natural 20 in the last fight just cemented it

Holy shit. This episode went to all the dark places. No Mercy Percy was in full effect, he pulled out THE MASK, Vax almost DIED, Kit was INCREDIBLE as Lilith. I’m so glad that I decided to watch this series after finishing Vox Machina on Prime. I’m forever in love with this group

Bring in the gnome! Do you desire a gnome, sire? I would like the gnome brought before me. Bring the king a gnome! Make sure he is of foul mouth and many a song! Oh, fetching the gnome! I assure you, sire, this gnome has many songs, a very tiny ... instrument, and ...

I love how as soon as Liam role plays Vax's thoughts, everyone else gets their game faces on. Every party member knows two things...they're going to save Vax and the Briarwoods are on borrowed time.

I have gotten so used to Vax’s accent that when Liam pronounces his Rs in regular conversation it catches me off-guard.

Vex: "We're very strong right now, and full of health" Vax: face plants

"The universe is random. It doesn't care about you and me." Tonight's episode of Critical Role is brought to you by Nihilist Arby's.

Whenever Vex asks "where's Trinket?" I imagine him wearing a fedora and going on secret missions. EDIT: 31/12/2021 Since this is literally my most popular comment ever (no kidding, how the hell did this happen?), here's a little reward as a sign of my appreciation for all the future critters 1 2 3 4! He's carnivoran mammal From the family Ursidae of action He's a furry doglike beast Who never flinches from a fra-ee-ay-ee-ay He's got more than just share spells His bestial fury comes striaght from hell And the women swoon Whenever they hear him say (insert Matt Mercer sad bear noise) He's Trinket, Trinket the grizzly bear (Marisha: you can call him Agent T) Trinket (Marisha: I said you can call him Agent T) A-gent-T!

Delilah Briarwood calling out to Percy, saying he's always welcome back home... sounds sooo chilling knowing that that's Grey DeLisle-Griffin (the voice of Azula) doing it in the animated series.

Matt as the Broker: "Sweet Lillith, you've been a very bad girl." Marisha offscreen: "Ooh." Same, girl. Same.

2:18:00 Keyleth: Where are you from?! Your accent's so-" Lillith: "Nicodranas, of course. We have the best tieflings."

That Broker fight was hilarious. I love how everyone's like 'You picked the WRONG day to mess with us!' (especially Percy. Holy SHIT, Percy.) and is pulling out all their new shit in defence of this person they barely know, mostly because they've just had ENOUGH - while Vax is over there like *chucks dagger* 'Did I ever tell you guys how much I appreciate you? I should do that more often. I'm so glad I'm here with all of you.' *chucks another dagger* It's really entertaining relief after the stress of the first half - obviously the characters are still messed up, but the players (and DM tbh) seem to be on a post-emotion high and just having a bloody great time.

3:08:51 - I just have to come back here after watching Episode 3 of The Legend of Vox Machina No Mercy Percy is so ICONIC!

23:10 Matt: "No, I'll give inspiration when you've goddamn earned it." 40:02 Vax's 'Critical' monologue 41:39 Matt: "Go ahead and make a wisdom saving throw." Liam goddamn earned it.

The way Percy started naming his diceased family members. That was the most intense moment of roleplay I've seen yet. (Watching CR for the very first time!)

okay how come I see no comments about "YOU FOOL YOUR SOUL IS FORFEIT!" I mean holy crap that gave me chills, Taliesin is amazing in this episode.

8:15 - Sam gets the mug! 13:00 - Game starts (but for real at 14:15) 20:20 - Vax to the Briarwoods trying to talk his way out “Gosh you guys are good looking” 27:20 - Sylas bites Vax 28:45 - Vax says Jenga and jumps out the window (They hear his shout for help and start looking for Vax, Keyleth poops on a servant, fight starts) 40:00 - Vax’s thoughts as he goes unconscious :( 48:38 - Kit Buss joins the game 59:00, 1:00:55 - Laura’s 2 natural 20s to save Vax 1:04:00 - Vex takes 66 points of damage from Delilah’s Finger of Death 1:10:00 - Scanlan heals Vax ♪ 1:11:50 - Scanlan ♪ Hey there Delilah ♪ and suggests she to make out with Silas, but it fails 1:13:10 - Liam “She doesn’t even feel a little bit horny?” and “She has a headache” 1:15:35 - Lillith is revealed to be a tiefling/Not the time to be hitting on her Tiberius 1:16:40 - Percy “SYLAS!!” 1:19:05 - Sylas recognizes Percy, “The pup yet lives” 1:22:00 - Scanlan distracts Sylas ♪ 1:30:15 - Tiberius cursed, feeble mind? 1:38:55 - “SYLAS” part 2 1:49:35 - Briarwoods teleport to carriage, Percy shoots out the wheel, it topples over 1:53:05 - Delilah taunts Percy about visiting his home and family 1:54:55 - Briarwoods disappear for real this time 1:55:38 - Percy shoots off 3 of the carriage driver’s fingers, interrogation, Percy asks about his family and says all of their names (except for Cassandra’s) 1:57:20 - Break starts 2:09:10 - Break ends (Percy knocks driver unconscious, guards try to arrest Lillith and Keyleth gets them to back off) 2:14:20 - Tiberius tries to get help from Allura 2:15:10 - Vex & Keyleth help Vax, who thinks he’s dangerous, while Percy searches carriage 2:16:30 - Vox Machina questions Lillith 2:19:35 - Lillith explains the glowing mark on her chest 2:20:40 - Ailing Vax/Liam headdesk, Uriel arrives right after 2:22:00 - Percy tells Uriel the Briarwoods killed his family 2:22:53 - Lillith frantically tells Uriel what happened - “heaving bosoms” and thinks she’s “getting the vapors” 2:24:10 - Scanlan “(Tibs) seems normal to me”, they go to a temple to get Tibs and Vax healed 2:27:25 - Tiberius healed 2:28:40 - Vax “You didn’t shit yourself so you’re a winner,” Vax gets healed 2:33:03 - They tell the cleric about Pike 2:36:10 - Vax tells them what happened and apologizes 2:37:25 - Keyleth “They said your family is still there,” Percy “They’re liars” 2:39:20 - Percy thanks Vax 2:39:33 - Grog tells Vax he’s glad he didn’t die, then smacks him. “No one kills you but me” at 2:40:15 2:41:25 - The Broker shows up and a fight starts 2:47:30 - Lillith “You tell my sister I hope her face still festers” 2:50:30 - The first Trinket cannonball 2:57:58 - Scanlan puts old woman to sleep, then inspires Lillith with a sexy dance 3:06:20 - Percy starts shooting at the Broker, gets HDYWTDT at 3:08:10, “Your soul is forfeit” at 3:08:54 3:12:25 - Keyleth in shock at Percy, skips her action 3:21:05 - Tiberius chainsaws the old woman 3:23:15 - Scanlan can’t just shit on command 3:24:45 - Lillith questions reanimated Broker and sends him back to her family 3:31:00 - More Lillith backstory with her sisters 3:33:20 - Little Vax and Vex moment, Scanlan licks Tiberius 3:33:42 - Game ends Bonus 3:36:20 - Liam thinks his character will die first

There was a time my cousin pointed energetically at the sky and shouted, "LOOK! A DISTRACTION!" I fell for it completely. So thusly I laughed far too hard at Scanlan's distraction tactics. Well done.

Laura almost crying while Vax gives his (possibly) dying words... What a powerful scene.

"...Third, if you’re not sure what to do next, feign illness, end the session early, and plot your next move..." -Dungeon Master's Guide "And with that we'll go to break." -Matthew Mercer Look at Matt, taking tips from the DMG.

I notice that as soon as Tiberius got into the Brierwood fight, Matt hit him with a spell that prevents him from saying, "I'm Tiberius Stormwind!"

Can we talk about how Marisha is looking at Matt with so much love when hes role playing with the kids during the break. My heart!

"SILAS!!" ... that gave me goosebumps like crazy.

Vax: " OH, I'M ALIVE!" Me: "OH, and I'm wearing headphones!"

as amazing as the animated scene was, I think I prefer this version. Percy's cold, quiet fury is so much more terrifying than the shouting

Dunno if you noticed, but since the rakshasa "Tiberius BS" episode, everytime Orion take any action, matt fullproof it. Matt note all the spell lvl's Orion use, check all Orion spells on the player handbook and reprimand him on every metagaming attempts. [O:"i ask my dragon to ask for me" M:"no you can't, you can convey feelings"] [O:"i cast fly 4th level on the party" M:"as you do you start plummeting" O:"But..." M:"Concentration spell, 4 people max, end previous spell"] [O:"i make my portal" M:"you used all spell slots"]

Okay I know the Briarwoods are evil and twisted... But can I just say...relationship goals????

Percy's rolls against the Briarwoods...The Dice Know....

Matt realizing why Orion kept charging the decanter and hitting him with feeble mind to stop him in his tracks was next level big brain.

They are almost always so happy and jovial, but it is jarring how quickly the very air seems to get sucked out of the room whenever a PC goes down. They immediately go into serious panic mode and you can tell they are on the verge of sobbing. And then Liam stabs them in the heart with his dying imagery.

My favourite thing, aside from Taliesin's role playing in this episode and just my overwhelming love for Percy, is Marisha's face when Percy first yells, "SILAS!" Just the sheer eagerness.

Oof... Jeez Liam, don't you need to get a permission slip to take us on a Feels trip like that. T_T

It's really hard to quantify "the best episode of Critical Role" but this one, which I'm now seeing for the first time (hello 2020'ers) has Percy absolutely blowing my mind. "What is wrong with you? Don't you see there is nothing here for you? Run away before you DIE!" BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM BLAM *dead* "YOUR SOUL IS FORFEIT" Like holy shit.

I think its really funny that during the whole briarwood fight grog only had half a beard

"I lick all of Vox Machina." - Tiberius Stormwind (from Draconia)

Pyke would have curb stomped these vampy fools

Marisha straight up telling Orion “I don’t know that. I’m not metagaming. Like other people we may know”

probably one of my favorite ooc quotes so far: Travis, after Taliesin rolls a 30 on his first attack against the briarwoods: Rock. His. Shit.

Was anyone else reminded of Pippin in the Lord Of The Rings when they handed that extra large stein to Sam? "It comes in pints!?"

One of the many things I love is how Sam/Scanlan is so silly, but when shit hits the fan there's no one you'd rather have with you.

These are my timestamps that I posted to tumblr years ago. I know they already showed up here but I'm posting them for myself now. 8:15 - Sam gets the mug! 13:00 - Game starts (but for real at 14:15) 20:20 - Vax to the Briarwoods trying to talk his way out “Gosh you guys are good looking” 27:20 - Sylas bites Vax 28:45 - Vax says Jenga and jumps out the window (They hear his shout for help and start looking for Vax, Keyleth poops on a servant, fight starts) 40:00 - Vax’s thoughts as he goes unconscious :( 48:38 - Kit Buss joins the game 59:00, 1:00:55 - Laura’s 2 natural 20s to save Vax 1:04:00 - Vex takes 66 points of damage from Delilah’s Finger of Death 1:10:00 - Scanlan heals Vax ♪ 1:11:50 - Scanlan ♪ Hey there Delilah ♪ and suggests she to make out with Silas, but it fails 1:13:10 - Liam “She doesn’t even feel a little bit horny?” and “She has a headache” 1:15:35 - Lillith is revealed to be a tiefling/Not the time to be hitting on her Tiberius 1:16:40 - Percy “SYLAS!!” 1:19:05 - Sylas recognizes Percy, “The pup yet lives” 1:22:00 - Scanlan distracts Sylas ♪ 1:30:15 - Tiberius cursed, feeble mind? 1:38:55 - “SYLAS” part 2 1:49:35 - Briarwoods teleport to carriage, Percy shoots out the wheel, it topples over 1:53:05 - Delilah taunts Percy about visiting his home and family 1:54:55 - Briarwoods disappear for real this time 1:55:38 - Percy shoots off 3 of the carriage driver’s fingers, interrogation, Percy asks about his family and says all of their names (except for Cassandra’s) 1:57:20 - Break starts 2:09:10 - Break ends (Percy knocks driver unconscious, guards try to arrest Lillith and Keyleth gets them to back off) 2:14:20 - Tiberius tries to get help from Allura 2:15:10 - Vex & Keyleth help Vax, who thinks he’s dangerous, while Percy searches carriage 2:16:30 - Vox Machina questions Lillith 2:19:35 - Lillith explains the glowing mark on her chest 2:20:40 - Ailing Vax/Liam headdesk, Uriel arrives right after 2:22:00 - Percy tells Uriel the Briarwoods killed his family 2:22:53 - Lillith frantically tells Uriel what happened - “heaving bosoms” and thinks she’s “getting the vapors” 2:24:10 - Scanlan “(Tibs) seems normal to me”, they go to a temple to get Tibs and Vax healed 2:27:25 - Tiberius healed 2:28:40 - Vax “You didn’t shit yourself so you’re a winner,” Vax gets healed 2:33:03 - They tell the cleric about Pike 2:36:10 - Vax tells them what happened and apologizes 2:37:25 - Keyleth “They said your family is still there,” Percy “They’re liars” 2:39:20 - Percy thanks Vax 2:39:33 - Grog tells Vax he’s glad he didn’t die, then smacks him. “No one kills you but me” at 2:40:15 2:41:25 - The Broker shows up and a fight starts 2:47:30 - Lillith “You tell my sister I hope her face still festers” 2:50:30 - The first Trinket cannonball 2:57:58 - Scanlan puts old woman to sleep, then inspires Lillith with a sexy dance 3:06:20 - Percy starts shooting at the Broker, gets HDYWTDT at 3:08:10, “Your soul is forfeit” at 3:08:54 3:12:25 - Keyleth in shock at Percy, skips her action 3:21:05 - Tiberius chainsaws the old woman 3:23:15 - Scanlan can’t just shit on command 3:24:45 - Lillith questions reanimated Broker and sends him back to her family 3:31:00 - More Lillith backstory with her sisters 3:33:20 - Little Vax and Vex moment, Scanlan licks Tiberius 3:33:42 - Game ends Bonus 3:36:20 - Liam thinks his character will die first

Matt targeted Tiberius with the intelligent reducing spell totally to prevent him from counter spelling their escape

Liam repeatedly blows me away with how great a roleplayer is. Talesian is a close second

I am kind of amazed that Matt didn't say that Vex's first two arrows were guided by Sarenrae (?). Two amazing rolls right after a faithless man prays.... She is definitely on Vax's side IG.

and this is where Sam’s increasingly over the top advertisements for corporate sponsors both in game and out begins. Plugging Gilmore’s at the temple.

1:56:23 When Taliesin (Percy) Starts naming his family... bro, chills down my spine by that roleplaying moment!

This episode is awesome, but it breaks my heart. The entire second half of this episode I was getting more and more agitated because they kept joking around in the temple and Percy just sat there with a 1000 yard stare and a face of absolute defeat. Ffs, Vox Machina, your friend just confronted the people that murdered his entire family and first they got away and then he shot a helpless boy's fingers off in anger. He is clearly not feeling too great, so GO HUG HIM RIGHT NOW! Also, major props to Taliesin of course, he is as always an absolute delight to watch. He is one of the few that keeps me glued to the screen even when he doesn't say a word for 20 minutes, because he ALWAYS reacts to everything in character. In the temple scene and after, he didn't smile ONCE, not even when Scanlan shamelessly plugged Gilmore and everyone else was laughing. When everyone cheered and lost their shit at his HDYWDT with the Broker, he was the only one who didn't. And that's not because he's not enjoying the scene, but because in that situation, Percy would have absolutely nothing to smile about. That dedication to his character is definitely part of what makes Percy/Taliesin by far my favorite of the bunch.

Marisha's sass at Orion when she says "I'm not meta gaming like some people we know" was honestly so funny 👌👌👌

"Hey Percy" Ouch. Liam killed it this game. Very stressful open.

Percy: "can't you see there is NOTHING here for you?! Leave while you are still alive! Also Percy: immediately blows a baseball sized hole in the same dudes chest before he can actually flee"

If I were Percy after this whole fiasco, I'd be making a Hellboy Special- aka, bullets with glass tips containing holy water, clover leaves, white oak splinters, silver shavings, and garlic ("... The works").

Sam is a great player. He only does what his character knows

I found it was odd why Tiberous decided to prepare his Dechanter of endless water in the middle of the desperate race to unconscious Vax. Then I realized Orion was metagaming by knowing he was going to be fighting vampires and planned to use their running water weakness against them.

Five years later, Sam Riegel's enormous drinks become everything from a meme to a message of hope. This is how you *really* change the world, folks. Tell stories and have fun.

I love how in character Taliesen gets. While everyone else is yelling and celebrating after the HDYWTDT, he keeps a straight face and obliterates the broker.

1:34:30 "HELLOoo what a lovely dinner we haLIGHTNING"

Percy yelling "SYLAS!!" just hits so much harder here than it does in the animated series.

can I just say I love Marisha and Laura and Taliesin being so emotionally invested but I also really love Travis and Sam, somber, but hiding smiles at just how goddamn good Liam is at this game and creating moments you can be so emotionally invested in

"Matt's like, damn you and your counterspell, you're ruining my plans" Tidings, tidings of what is to come, far in their future but in their future nonetheless.

Scanlan: "We should haggle." Vex: "No!!" Maybe the cleric should check Vex as well. She is quite obviously not well, considering she refused to haggle.

Tiberious seeing everyone having fun tormenting the old woman, and then going insanely overboard just to be a part of it, was very much a "I AM NOW CHOPPING OFF PHYLLIS' HEAD WITH A CHAIN SAW" moment.

Liam: life is random and doesn’t care about you and me Wil Wheaten: *loud, extreme and audio clipping laughter*