Critical Role sets grim milestone in the latest episode of Campaign 3

Critical Role told viewers to expect the unexpected in Campaign 3, and at the end of its 33rd episode — more than 130 hours into the game — they delivered in a big, heart-pounding way.

[Warning: This story contains spoilers for episode 33 of Critical Role’s Campaign 3. The video on demand of that episode will not air until Monday, September 12, with audio-only podcast available on Thursday, September 15.]

The dust hasn’t even cleared yet, but as the session came to a close on Thursday night, two characters — Orym (Liam O’Brien) and Fearne (Ashley Johnson) — lay dead, and two more lay dying. Fresh Cut Grass (Sam Riegel) was the fifth character, a brilliant automaton. He was hidden in an alleyway as Bassuras exploded about him. Matthew Mercer may have created the most fatal, but possibly unwinnable, battle in CR history.

Image: Hannah Friederichs/Critical Role

Image: Hannah Friederichs/Critical Role

This set is reminiscent to the colors of sunset and fire. Exandria Unlimited: Calamity — a subtle foreshadowing of just how intense this episode was. It was more than just the body count. The cast mentioned that it was impossible to have that many characters at one time last night. unconsciousIt was not common to see them at the same time.

Image: Hannah Friederichs/Critical Role

Episode 33 was set in middle of surprise combat. In the midst of blinding dust storms, the fortress that the party was trying to infiltrate was attacked. Acting as nominal allies to the fortress’s defenders, Paragon’s Call, the Bell’s Hells split the party to use the cover of the chaotic battle to complete their intended heist. The first half was eventful but often lighthearted, as Chetney (Travis Willingham) missed a tripwire and bounced downstairs “ass over teakettle,” and Ashton (Taliesin Jaffe) and Fresh Cut Grass did donuts in a Mad Max-inspired crawler. The party was not without its challenges, however. They were confronted by Artana Voe (a rival bounty hunter). They managed to negotiate and subdue her, but she betrayed them all within minutes.), the encounter was just one of the ways in which the party’s strength was sapped in the first half.

In the second half of the episode, they had just one adversary: Otohan Thull, the legendary leader of Paragon’s Call. While non-player characters are impossible to align with player character levels or classes, it’s clear that Otohan Thull is remarkably formidable. As Ashton told the party in Episode 27 about her reputation: “Back when I was a kid, if you wanted to talk about the most fucked up, crazy, insane motherfucker in the history of this town, who just killed and fucked everything up, this was the person. This was nightmare fuel, this person.” Otohan lives up to her reputation, stacked with legendary actions and stiff resistances.

They had some great clutch magic, thanks to the Hells. Strixhaven, A Curriculum of ChaosThis article was published December 2021. Silvery Barbs is a combination that forces your opponent to reroll its attack gives advantage to an ally — all as a reaction, which is effectively a bonus action that players can wedge into many situations. Silvery Barbs is quickly becoming the go-to spell in high-level play. Last night it enabled Laudna (MarishaRay) to disperse a major hit at the party. Ray also utilized Wither and Bloom to allow allies to reroll hit dies while enemies make saves. Laudna was able to hold a character close to death twice in one night, which meant that Ashton & Chetney weren’t quite dead at the end. It was as Tal’Dorei Reborn Co-lead and MCDMManaging Editor Hannah RoseIt was noticed an hour into second-half of the show. “If this session were taking place even 10 months ago, the Wither and Bloom and Silvery Barbs spells wouldn’t be around, and this combat could be going even worse!”

Image: Hannah Friederichs/Critical Role

But it just wasn’t enough. Bell’s Hells were in combat rounds for nearly the entire episode — three hours and 30 minutes — a punishing fight only previously experienced in the final episodes of their previous campaigns Vox Machina and the Mighty Nein. When Vox Machina battled for four hours at the table in 2017, the characters were firmly optimized for D&D’s capstone fourth tier of play. The Mighty Nein were at level 15 in 2021. However, they are still very close to Tier 3. Both parties also had collected and power up some wondrous artifacts. While the Hells have reached the relatively low seventh level (tier 2 middle), they are not Heroes of the Realm. They just don’t have a bunch of big, shiny magical objects to hand.

It may be that some of these characters have even more power. In recent episodes, we’ve discovered the lethal capacities — enough to kill a whole party of adventurers — lurking behind the shiny, chipper exterior of Aeormaton Fresh Cut Grass. The magical powers Launda, Ashton and others have been revealed to us. A large portion of this party also has connections with Ruidus, an exalted red second moon from Exandria. These latent abilities have been bringing Hells to the notice of powerful forces in recent episodes.

Imogen (Laura Bailey), the main target of last night’s episode, was Imogen. We’ve known Otohan closely resembles the woman haunting the disturbing, red-washed dreams we’ve seen during prior episodes. In this episode, we also had confirmation that Otohan was involved in the mysterious, violent death of Orym’s husband. Otohan’s goals are still unclear, but her moves in this fight were calculated to break Imogen. Her repeated and unnecessary actions were not necessary. coups de grâce Imogen repeatedly crys for her life that she won’t give up, but they continue to take down party members.

Image: Hannah Friederichs/Critical Role

But what Otohan wanted wasn’t submission, but explosion — and as the episode ended, that’s just what happened. The remaining Hells watched as the world around them turned red and their gentle, shy friend levitated, her pale skin turning red & crackling with glowing purple energy. As she screams, space warps, buildings turn to rubble, and the world goes white… just as Mercer calls the session.

The cameras kept rolling for the cast’s reactions, a mix of confusion (Marisha Ray asking “Am I dead or alive?” and Sam Riegel yelping “Did we go somewhere? Did she disappear? Are we dead?”) and appreciation (Travis Willingham and Ashley Johnson declaring “That was awesome!” and Liam O’Brien declaring “That was a great game, Matt”). Mercer was unable to contain his surprise at seeing the faces of his fellow players. No player left the table unlike in previous character deaths. However, table talk indicates that it is equally bewildering for the players and the audience.

Unlike the one irrevocable death of a prior campaign — Mollymauk’s early death in Episode 26 of Campaign 2 — the Hells Do have access to the kind of magic that would allow for a Revivify — and through Orym’s connection to Campaign 1 archdruid Keyleth, potential access to still stronger resurrection spells. Or that all may be unnecessary: Viewers already speculate that this might be a dream or something else beyond the typical logics of the game — not unlike the bloody vision that Brennan Lee Mulligan opened EXU: Calamity with.

Many viewers took comfort in the fact that this is a fairly “early” episode (compared to the 100+ runs of prior campaigns), trusting in Mercer as DM and storyteller. Mercer seems to be aware of the trust and posts on Twitter, “If you need to take some time to process, that is ok. Just know there is trust and agreement at our table for this game and the challenges it offers. Many times, the darkest hours lead to the greatest epiphanies. Love you all. <3”

If you’d just like to watch the Otohan fight, I recommend hitting up the stream — which is due out on YouTube Monday, or is available to Twitch subscribers now — right after the mid-game break at the two hour mark. Twitch airs Critical Role every Thursday at 7 pm PT.