The Unsleeping City, aka "Staten Island woman beats the shit out of everyone: the saga"

Lou shouting "SOMEBODY CALL WIZARDS OF THE COAST" and "WHAT WEIRD HOMEBREW BULLSHIT IS THIS YOUR FUCK" at Brennan made me laugh so fucking hard He's the best

So Kugrash has become king of the rats Misty is queen of the fairies Pete and Kingston are some sort of cosmic yin and Yang Sofia is presumably the monastery’s chosen one And Ricky is Mr March

the party calling brennan sick while he's counting his dice is so fucking hysterical

"You do FORTY fire damage???" - Brennan, as he adds a zero to the HP of the fairies

Honestly just Brennan’s CONSISTENCY in his voice acting of all the NPCs over the course of AN ENTIRE SEASON is mind blowing

if ur good enough at bullshitting, the plot of the musical is still there,,, _honestly, this is a beautiful abstract showing of tatania’s internal conflict,, fighting against herself,,, the naked man representing temptation,, the cockroach as her disgust in herself, the worker symbolising her hard-working effort to win this battle with herself,,,, the hairy baby as her failure’s that she still cant let go of,,, truly beautiful to see this perspective._

Truly, the most powerful NPC of all time: Stephen Sondheim

One of many things I love about Brennan's DM-style: he never unduly tries to nerf his players. Like Ricky's abilities came in so clutch in this fight and a lesser DM might have bullshit something like 'the creatures don't technically count as fey so that won't work', but Brennan just rewards his players for playing smart and lets them feel powerful while still making challenging, engaging fights

I love that Wally is a musical prodigy.

Emily Axford is a fucking terrifying pc, god damn

I love how ricky(zach) just existing next to the party completely foiled all the enemies plans

Ally staring down Brennan rolling an armful of dice while everyone shittalks the DM is the true DnD experience.

Misty: “I killed the queen! This is America, we don’t have royalty here!” Also Misty, 10 minutes later: “I mean, who am I to refuse the crown?”

I've been DMing for about four years now and when Brennan explained how combat worked in this episode, I lost my mind. I love this.

Y'all there's nothing funnier than thinking of this whole fight happening and the whole time Ricky is protecting everyone and knocking out Faeries naked as the day he was born.

Brennan impishly adding more and more damage dice to his hand while they impotently crow about sadism is delicious.

Sophia is like, who needs a ranged spell attack? I can jump that distance

11:30 "I'm a 55 year old man, I'm not jumping down to the stage." Probably a good idea, considering Misty's good friend John Wilks Booth did that after shooting Lincoln and broke his leg.

Zac's little "It's a coin" after Murph mentions a d2 is hilarious. (For anyone wondering, it's at 19:21)

Stephen Sondheim looking to an ordinary wild bear and speaking calmly to it to become his mount seems so natural that the Umbral Arcana need not apply. This is the head canon I love to build. Thank you.

Am I the only one who is like "Pete summon Alejandro! You just need to say his name three times"

Brennan using "dirty little rat" as a compliment at 1:18:42 is so great.

Sofia's "Does a hit?" is such a power move and I love it every time

Ally's little "we did have homework" when they reminded Siobhan to mark her successful save ☠️

This is one of Brennan's all time master class DM game. The amount of questions and scenarios being thrown at him, the quick thinking and adjusting to fit narrative and game sense, the daunting style of play he has with the fairies. It's all just a masterful performance.

Misty just insulted someone to death.

Brennan: Picks up a whole bunch of dice The Party: ITS TIME TO STOP WHEN WILL YOU LEARN THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES TO YOUR ACTIONS

Let’s be honest, this whole fight was an excuse for everyone to let out at much theater kid energy as Siobhan had been radiating the whole campaign. Also important character stuff, I guess.

It is so bittersweet watching this episode for the first time after Stephen Sondheim's death and seeing how beloved he is by all of the cast. May his memory be a blessing.

Everyone just yelling at Brennan for a solid minute was perfect

I love how Siobhan takes a pause and says "arithmetic" instead of math lol.

Okay. When Lou was "F*&% your home brew bullshit!" I died, Im now a lich and still laughing.

The "What kind of Spider-Man Turn off the Dark shit is this?" line took me out. I have died. I checked my own pulse, that line killed me.

Titania, introduces herself as queen Sophia, Esther and Misty: As New Yorkers, we took that personally

So how many performance checks do you want for this session? Brennan Lee Mulligan: yes

I love that Tatania speaks in Iambic Pentameter that is an awesome detail.

“How many dice is that?? Someone call Wizards of the Coast! What kind of weird homebrewed shit is this?!” 🤣 Lou kills me

Murph's finger to forehead when he realizes Hypnotic Patter could end all the Fae warriors and frustrate Brennan so much is solid gold..

Ok the party heckling brennan when he's showing off all the dice he's about to roll is absolutely hysterical

Huh, the numbers do enhance the story telling. The ritual has a DC 10, so Misty’s +11 in performance means if not for extenuating circumstances, Misty literally couldn’t fail this.

"You have to. You have to throw Stephen Sondheim as a blind bear." God I love this season so much

i love when brennan says “hell yeah” to a player’s idea. to me, that moment is the essence of good DND

I wish Wally just had a gun somehow

1:54:15 "this is America, we don't have royalty here" Kugrash, the Rat King

Lou/Kingston calling his loaned dice 'his boy' gives me life

It has just occurred to me that this is the second time the whole gang has seen Ricky naked.

I fully believe that Murph is cursed Edit: or maybe he's not cursed he's just a guy!

_"Don't worry, it was the dice that made it a bad turn!"_ *True. The dice giveth and the dice taketh away.*

I asked my dad what he would think if he was at the premier of a play, and at the end Stephen Sondheim came in riding a bear and was like "Beautiful! Magnificent!" And he said "I think I went to that play." And then wandered away.

love Brennan calling Emily's jump move the craziest thing in the world when he hasn't even seen half of her other ideas in later games yet

Brennan performing and singing all over this episode is just *chef kiss*

This fight was so intricate and there were so many turns per round and literally so many spells and blessings and effects so Brennan handled this and kept track of it beautifully. Like there was legit so much going on and he still had it all moving like clockwork. He’s so cool-

Brennan realizing that he put basically everyone outside of counterspell range is exquisite

The best part of an immersive roleplaying game is... *MATH*

My favorite thing ab this amazing episode is before misty”s performance check Ally tells Brennan that Pete failed too, and Siobhan just looks at them literally sideways and says “DO WE HAVE HOMEWORK TONIGHT?!?” I relate to Siobhan too much

I love how Zac is so goofy during role play but takes the battles so seriously

Stephen Sondheim passed away almost exactly a year after this video released. I feel it is very fitting that a performance so full of light and wonder would become a part of his legacy. He truly was magical.

Siobhan’s characters get so much poetic justice in D20! Fantasy high gives her an abusive older sister, Siobhan punches her in the face and casts hideous laughter. Unsleeping city gives her a heinous b**ch monarch. Her revenge “Dance, monkey! DANCE!”

finally the broadway debut wally deserves

How many dice are you rolling for that attack? Brennan: Yes

HEY, there might be some SPOILERS under the thing 1:00 ‘Previously On’ ends 1:25 Battle map closeups 2:25 Recap Ends, rules explanation 4:40 Box of Doom: The availability of Misty’s acquaintances 5:50 We bow to Brennan (but also… f*** you, Brennan) 6:30 Esther and Wally are so cool 7:25 Combat starts 14:05 Kugrash finishes the fight 16:05 The cockroach’s debut 19:00 Looking for d4’s 21:45 Special effects 22:25 What did Sondheim ever do to you? 23:25 Creativity is magic 26:15 Box of Doom (First performance roll) 27:40 Kingston is a big Into the Woods fan 31:05 Sofia is starstruck 37:20 Sofia makes her Broadway debut 38:40 Proficient in dance 41:25 Stop yelling things from the audience 42:25 Ricky’s plan 43:35 Ricky sells the stripping 45:00 What’s Esther’s deal 46:15 Wally helps 49:35 Rat rolls 52:00 Abs of protection 53:25 Look it up 57:30 Box of Doom (Second performance roll) 1:01:00 Misty has dramatic flair 1:04:45 Fight choreography 1:07:55 Once again, please don’t full volume shout from the audience during the show 1:13:05 Ricky inspires Misty 1:14:25 An absolutely nonsense situation 1:17:40 Steven Sondheim keeps it light 1:19:35 Bumblebee swarm 1:24:10 Brennan is a sick man 1:25:00 Call WOTC! Call Reddit! 1:29:20 Taunting Brennan with dice 1:32:00 Box of Doom (Third performance roll) 1:36:45 Defeating the Box of Doom 1:39:25 Kung fu Shakespeare 1:41:30 Don Confetti respects the sanctity of marriage 1:42:00 Sondheim fights for the theater 1:43:25 Ricky provides narrative justification 1:46:40 Kugrash exits, pursued by bear 1:49:00 Lou is proud of his son 1:51:20 Box of Doom (Fourth performance roll) 1:52:10 The power of theater 1:53:20 Breaking Titania 1:56:05 Sondheim loved it 1:57:55 Ricky’s wraps things up 1:58:35 Sondheim’s showstopper 2:01:50 Perry is Perry 2:02:40 Misty takes donations 2:05:45 Episode Ends I’ve been here the whole time! Any moments I missed? Feel free to post them here. Bye intrepid heroes!

I've said this when I watched it before it was public, and I'm going to say it again: this is the *best* fight the entirety of Dimension 20 has ever had. It's so thrilling to watch it feels like the finals of the Olympics

I totally wanted Patti LuPone to come out from backstage and kick Titania in the neck.

"we're gonna eat your a*s, BRENNAN" my favorite line of the season so far

I've seen the finale of the first season of Critical Role and the ending of the first season of Dimension High, AND participated in a homebrew campaign that lasted over six months and ended with the rather Undertale ending of a Monk convincing TWO super evil entities to give up their evil ways and embrace the power of dance and I think this is STILL the most chaotic and insane session of D&D I've ever seen.

If I had a nickel for each time Brennan had Episode 12 be a fight against a hated rival of Siobhan's character who was supported by otherplanar forces, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice

Emily's smug cackle when she rolls well is everything

these characters just cannot go to any event without combat huh, loll. Anyways, thanks for these videos they always change my fridays from good to great!

When Brennan said upstage of misty and moved her downstage of misty I broke

I DEMAND they write a full musical for Midsummer

I love that Wally has serious pipes.

Siobhan’s “Do we have homework tonight?!” So relateable.

1:16:03 Lou's Fabian is showing.

Misty's total roll on that nat 20 was 41, by the way.

Can we just point out that Ally is having way too good luck with wild magic surges. Like good for them but for fuck sakes. I’m currently playing a wild magic sorcerer, my surges have made me go down in age 4 times in a row IM NOW 5 YEARS OLD AND HAVE -4 STRENGTH! I was originally 18 Edit: just yesterday I got a ten on the dice so we’re back to 15!

It took me until now to realize that every member of the party is a spellcaster. I love it

I have auditory processing issues which means that, while I technically can hear the videos, I do struggle with videos if they don’t have accurate closed captions. As a lot of people have mentioned, there’s a lot of issues with the captions. Please try and work on them

"Stephen Sondheim makes an unarmed strike" were words i never thought i'd hear together

A firefighter, a cowboy and a construction worker on stage, unintentional Village People homage. xD

Literally haven't seen this type of fight done. Absolutely brilliant use of character's backstory to add challenge to fights.

"THIS IS AMERICA! WE DON'T HAVE ROYALTY HERE!" This play's got everything. Love, sadness, loss, pain, joy, happiness, the New Yorker Spirit and the glorious American spirit of shitting on all monarchical systems. Fucking beautiful!

Ally mocking Brennan when they were collecting dice from everyone was absolute gold😭😂

I love this party. "Don't feel bad, it was the dice that made it a bad turn."

i love how even when a member has a bad turn the group is so nice and encouraging

Im gonna need the stat block for Stephen Sondheim

I'm gonna need BLM to publish Sondheim's character sheet

Emily is so wild. She pours creativity and innovativeness at every step. Love her on D20.

“MY SON AND I LOVE THE LION KING!!” “I had nothing to do with that” “STOP BEING MODEST”

I just love it when Brennan gets shocked by the power of his players. "you do FORTY fire damage??? HOLY SHIT"

I like to think that Ricky chose to get naked because he read about Daniel Radcliffe doing Equus after the Harry Potter movies in one of those free magazines they used to give out at Cineplex and went "This must be what live theatre is. Awesome."

watching this episode now feels like the greatest possible homage to Stephen Sondheim

19:19 murph: “he’s just looking for a D2” zac: “it’s just a coin” how is zac so effortlessly funny 😭😭

may his memory be a blessing, stephen sondheim was a blessing even in fiction

Siobhan’s sweater is so freaking gorgeous

The fact that misty forgot who she invited. I expected Nod and the unicorn and literally anyone they had ever come in contact with to show up and be like “oh we’re fighting 🤷🫡”

*looks at people who thumbs downed this video* i'm gonna need you to roll initiative.

Talk about rising the stakes, a musical ritual to sustain the life of one of the PCs in the middle of intense combat, like the whole encounter is magnificently insane :D

The sound of dice being rolled is the easiest way to scare the shit out of your players.

I love how Brennan is a supportive DM. Like when they do really well he hyped them up and gets excited with them