Divergent Paths | Critical Role | Campaign 2, Episode 25 

Thank you not flando

Thank you sooo much! Your really help me enjoy the show

🙌🙌🙌

Ellie K you’re a rockstar for going back through and doing this!

the hero we dont deserve but the hero we need

Probably the only time he gets to use a southern accent without someone shouting, "IT'S HIGH NOON!"

Sounds more like McCree than Fjord, to be honest. Not nearly deep enough.

@@Draezeth You mean Cassidy

@Fluffy Jay you mean mccree

Ashley's Jester voice was pretty good too 😁

Hahahaha

I was like number 666, not sure how I feel about that

​@@TaterTeeTz it means you're the emperor of Rome but will go crazy

I'd love that if it happened sequentially despite them not knowing. Like she says it just as he helped the baby out

Rage is so much quieter without Travis

Travis does so so much for the overall hype/morale

@@internetextraordinaire1472 he’s an incredible player!

@@michaelj.mccall6530 he actually is especially from a game mechanics kind of perspective. FYI Travis is the guy who didn't want to get into dnd

@@TheOuchee yeah hes their only front line in the past 200 episodes lmao

I always wondered why Ashley never got excited when she raged.. Same with Talisen, only Travis uses 200% off energy and I feel that’s true to barbarian class..

The whole group feels like such a close knit family, but those two especially.

You may not be able to pick your own family... but eventually you get to pick your own family. Definitely had some unrelated aunts and uncles growing up, and all these friends are lucky to have each other.

Interesting note: they played twins because they actually share a birthday, just 5 years apart.

I have 2 nieces and 2 nephews that way and I love them all.

“Someday our children will realize that some of their favorite family members were friends we loved so much we gave them family titles”

:'(

I can't bring myself to like. 69 likes is the only thing keeping me from manly tears over Kiri.

Almost 2 year late and Kiri moment stills hit me right in the feels. :(

GUTTED.

Time to be that guy. "Did you do it? Did you birth your first born?" "Yes." "What did it cost you?" "Everything."

ACTM that is quite misleading

@@OTKok *owo?*

@@user-kx8pu6ys5i UwU

@@fafathought7506 uwO

Was thinking the same thing

So... Kiri Can Communicate.

@@alvinfong1449 She communicates through mimicry and doesn't have a language that anyone in the party can understand. Dunno how up on the dnd lore you are, but Kenku originally couldn't actually speak in common. They had to mimic sounds in order to communicate.

@@joshuaroberts4604 They were making a joke. Theres an anime called Komo can't communicate

​@@alvinfong1449 I did not expect a manga reference here, but bravo! 😂

Here I am, saying I’m not gonna have people playing a table top game make me cry … I’ve cried like every couple episodes … and this one was just brutal 😭

I love them so much

The empire kids forever. Caleb remains one of my favorite characters of all time

Liam immediately committing to the bit and snoring, Marisha joining him and leaning against the computer, it's just ~art~

Not sure why it needs to be "empire siblings energy" instead of just regular siblings energy other than the fact they are both born within the Empire. Being kids of the Empire doesn't mean anything special here though.

@@cjtrules1 "empire siblings" is a fan nickname for Beau and Caleb's friendship. "Empire siblings energy" isn't meant like "all siblings from the Empire act like this", it's like "Beau and Caleb's relationship is perfectly represented by this moment".

chaotic good in a nutshell tbh

To be honest they have never said or inacted the first statement. They only said the latter and if there's money in it the better. They always act to their morals. And they haven't comitted actual crimes. They are not Lawful, neither good nor evil at least as a group.... i mean nott is the embodiment of "ooooh shinyyyy".

@@BattleCookie404 I mean, they commited crimes but only in the intrest of helping people they cared about but crimes arent inherently evil, not even remotely

Why not both? :)

I totally think of the group as chaotic neutral with jester as the heart and fjord as the moral compass. While caleb is the paranoid,but really brilliant brain. 😂

And kidnapped by NPCs

😭💔

I... i cried for kiri

Laura: ...GOD FUCKING DAMMIT!!!!!

Oh my gosh, what happens to Kiri, Does she get taken by the crown!

I also like how Matt had Ashley play through the kidnapping at the end even though they both knew Yasha couldn't win without causing problems for a bit

@@caseybaker7935 It's really good from a story telling perspective because the characters need to have agency in their story. They don't need to win every fight but they do need to have the ability to try (hence why one of my favorite quotes from CR is Matt's "You can certainly try"). It's also good for the players and GM because it really sucks if the player doesn't get to control their character during play (without talking to their GM first at least). It's always very clear that Matt and Ashley have a plan thought out for Yasha's absences in the story, and it's a sign of his excellent GMing that he gives every opportunity to his players to let them play it out.

​@@kl-1447 - They only sort of tried in ways that were doomed to fail and lead to the narrative outcome they knew they needed. If not for that, they could have done several things differently: * As soon as they notice the Silence effect, run for the others and shake them awake, or yell once out of the silence bubble. Probably at least one of the three would succeed at that. Silence is not normal, and a clear sign something is up, probably an ambush. Jester has been doing magic most of her life, and Silence (2nd) is on the Cleric spell list, so she knows it exists as a spell that their enemies can do. * If nobody reacted fast enough to run, Yasha could dispel Silence with Magician's Judge and yell. Silence (2nd) would be automatically dispelled, no roll needed. * After resisting Hold Person, disengage and run for the group instead of just swinging. (She didn't say out loud that she was raging, but here damage rolls was only possible with rage. So she also had advantage on Athletics.) * Activate her Fallen Aasimar ability, Necrotic Shroud (skeletal wings, etc.) Creatures within 10ft that can see you have to make a Cha save or be frightened of her (and thus unable to move closer) until the end of her next turn. The DC is only 8 + proficiency + Cha mod, though, so like DC 9 or something with Yasha's negative Cha. Her Light cantrip has a Verbal component, so Silence did prevent her from using that to wake the party without dispelling it. Jester's Invoke Duplicity can be done while silenced, potentially confusing people trying to tackle her. (Her 1.5 round invisibility usage of Channel Divinity isn't until level 6; they're level 5 at this point.) To me, the clearest sign of Ashley playing into Matt's script was the turn when she just took out her sword and started swinging, rather than running to wake the others. Tactics are not Ashley's best thing, but I *hope* she'd have played that differently if she was actually trying. All that said, I like the way they played it out. That was definitely better than just having Matt narrate that they got silenced and captured. But to me it was clear that they weren't really trying. (Or if they were, they were doing even worse than usual at tactics, by a significantly margin, since they didn't try anything that had a chance to alert the rest of the group.)

@@Peter_Cordes Also notice the other two characters involved were the ones played by people not there (Laura and Travis) so Matt could control their actions and guarantee the outcome he wants.

@@cjtrules1 - Yes, that made it even easier for Matt to get the outcome he planned. If Travis and Laura had also been there, they'd still have been trying to play into what Matt was clearly setting up, probably not trying things that could wake the rest of the group. Matt said he had planned for Laura+Travis to be there for that game; IDK if he simplified his plan any (e.g. by having Jester wake up and join them), or if what we saw was pretty much what would have happened with 3 players. Maybe he'd have given Laura or Travis a tip-off to wake up as the other two were talking on watch, and then rely on their improv skills to follow his lead.

Knowing what happens next episode . . . That hits right there.

In the long run, he ended up doing just that.

@@laylascrimgeour-brown1603 i am not ready for that…

“I am your god, long may I reign” Forever Mollymauk, forever…

@@laylascrimgeour-brown1603 literally cried on my rewatch when she said that bc even after [REDACTED] she still kept a piece of molly alive

Big mood

*Everyone felt that*

SAME

🥺💛

Me: Hey brain, can you not hit me emotionally over this fictional bird girl? Brain: GO * * * * YOURSELF!

Vlad the Impaler I felt like I was about too as well which is just insane such a great story 👌

and so did I....

Not just at making NPC's, also at creating that perfect moment. Everything from the nighttime fireworks, the looming possibility of a negative outcome for the kids and the aftermath of a difficult fight fell exactly into place. Just a masterpiece

Don't forget that in campaign 1, when they found Gilmore in the rubble of his shop, the party dumped the cleric's highest level spell into him. To make a good NPC, you just need to add a little bit of character to them, and actually have them interact with your PCs.

I straight up cried, horrible ugly crying. It ripped me apart. 😭

Right!, like wtf I cried for an imaginary bird girl

honestly it was Matt's voice break that just sent me over the edge.

for me it was when Beau said she knew another mouth to feed was asking a lot

Then you look and Sam has a triple mustache while crying

bit late on the thread but for me it was the music box. so glad he found a sound clip for it, it really set the mood

Liam, however, can do an unusually good impression of Jester. _"How about we play Truth or Dare...only without the second part?" Casts Zone of Truth_

Is Fjord isn’t great either except when he’s copying what was just said.

His Fjord actually is just the voice he uses for McCree in Overwatch

It ain’t exact- but it’s close

His Fjord sounds like his Eder voice from Pillars of Eternity to me

Why did they need tar? Couldn't they have just used grease? It's a standard item, still fairly sticky and dark, should have worked about as well as tar for obstructing the Death Machine sensors.

*DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS!*

L Foster wouldn’t have been as fun hindsight is 20/20 though haha

@@lfoster6759 Are you mad? Throwing grease on a Clockwork Warden would be like casting haste on it.

@@lfoster6759 Tar remains relatively viscous at high temperatures, whereas grease would just lubricate it (I suppose it depends on the grease, but standard garden variety would flow pretty easily above 100 C).

it felt really cinematic :)

Just ask flando man

Thats hilarious

This is not only hilarious, but the exact same thing happened to me when I was rewatching this. By the end, I simply could not look at Sam anymore. The mustaches were too diabolical in their power.

Don't ask me why I initially read this as you became homeless and was very confused. Tired and comment reading doesn't mix it seems

@@sarahmaydwell1422 i lost my place in the world but that mustache was my guiding star. best interpritation

I have been dying over this comparison for 10 minutes. Thank you

This made my day

Same :D i cried and then laughed .........and had a really really really good time

What a roller coaster of emotions this has put me thru

I was OK with Kiri, but looking at Marisha actually cry and Ashley try SO HARD to not start bawling gave me the feels.

Matt knew what he was doing with that box XD

Matt made Kori's departure so touching I was blubbering! Just before Marisha was, the music box just made it worse 🥲

Tal tearing up and saying "That's just mean" to Matt in that moment.

oh no i’m so sorry

@@nosuchthingasgoodcows7003 Lmao yeah I can't believe I commented that on the episode right before 😭

i saw this comment and actually laughed out loud im so sorry

Long may he reign

@@EliteVeyron835 damn I thought I avoided that spoiler 😭👌 that's what I get for reading comments

As a 20 level rogue still using that dagger but now its enchanted

Campaign 3 a mysterious Kenku assassin hunts the party paid by a random lord the party pissed off.

"I kill people!"

They've all retired from adventuring after everyone took an arrow to the knee?

Campaign 3 needs an incredible ascending bird-god, it's just Kiri but somehow she managed to break the curse of her race and learned language and became powerful af Edit: or by then she has amassed such an incredible variety of things to say that it's as if she has language anyway

Itsa hiiiiigh nooon.

È mezzzzogiorrrno

That's exactly what I was thinking😂

It’s like in a video game when your customised character who looks ridiculous gets to be in a dramatic cutscene

It's funny cause Matt Mercer is the voice of McCree

Oh no, so sorry, next episode probably took you by surprise

A million broken hearts.

He probably had the stream open on another monitor, but I don't have a hard time believing either way

He's an actor, he's probably used to acting at a blank wall, especially if he's making audition videos, or doing voice acting.

He’s also committed to the German accent

@@TieflingKumasi yeah, with a quite strange german at times. though mostly correct.

@@reesofraft4166 as a german i was suprised that he only learned german for 3 years.

It would be even more poetic if they had a daughter who would eventually act just like kiri

@@Allantitan and look like her!

@@vanillemor5009 a bird….?

@@rowanw1312 (yeah, that's kinda the joke. :D)

@@vanillemor5009 yeah I got the joke…

Relevant right now.

It's not that they can't speak. They have the knowledge but their entire race has a curse put on them that denies them their own speech and flight. If they break the curse they can immediately start speaking like a normal being but until then they are stuck only mimicking speech.

YYYYEEEESSSS!!! PLEASE!!

My one and only hope for the live show in London is a now adult (by Kenku standards) Kiri swoops in to save them

​@@leah3801 A somewhat odd turn of phrase considering that most kenku are unable to fly without magic.

What?

@@internetextraordinaire1472 Beau's a lesbian and Caleb's bisexual, they can't keep each other "straight"

I cackled at this, thank you so much

This was *exactly* where my mind went when she asked that.

When was Caleb declared bi? Is it an interview with Liam I missed?

Wave Cannon opinion seconded

Opinion third-ed

Fourth-ed

I concur!

anyone have a time stamp for her impression?

It's cause Jester taught her the most words or phrases

Oh hi totally could’ve happened 😂

😆

That's a Marisha thing. 😄

I kinda like that she is an actual asshole though too. A lot of times people say that a character is an asshole but they never actually are. Beau is so antagonist most of the time that when we get these moments it feels like real developers

@@lonely1951 that's why I like her

Beau is an asshole, but an asshole who would not only fight someone for her friends, would (and does) listen to her friends when they try to help her be less of an asshole, even if it is to mixed results. Such a fun character. But my God, my inner bard or "face" wants to slap her everytime she sasses someone in authority whose help they need.

What? It shows A LOT

someone accidentally wakes her up kiri:go fuck yourself

I kill people!

@@placeswebreathe5814 go fuck yourself 😊

"Wrapped around his weenie"

Go FUCK yourself! :D

They might need to write her into another storyline though--hupperdook works as a stop in DND, but probably not so much in a show with plot.

​@@carlotta4thdepends how they go with it! I think the Mighty Nein needs a longer story to tell it's subtleties and all, but that might be because it's the campaign I watched first and because we have been able to see it from it's beginnings... So I'm probably skewed but I personally think the MN needs to have a more "saga" approach to it, like I'd see it be a 10-seasons long animated saga with 20 episodes per season...

"Go fuck yourself!" or "I kill people"?

*stab* "this means we're friends"

Idk when she said “I can send a message” that kinda gave me godfather vibes

she can learn new words :)

This comment made me laugh, good job!!

BuzzyBee Gacha I knew they were gonna leave Kiri in hupperdook but i still teared up once the music box got going

That music box is literally the first time I have shed a tear for fictional character in years and it was all the feels

yes indeed, I am indeed crying

I listened to this at work and was totally fine until the music box started plays and then I started ugly crying...like openly weeping....at work.

@@dairypig same. Even characters I'm super invested in like this have never been this impacting and it just hits you like a bag of flour.

This was actually mentioned like 2-4 episodes back where she goes down and Matt says "Mark it down on your tattoo" Which she does, shows travis, and states I finally have a use for this new tattoo. Travis shakes his head forward and mouths wow thats cool, and Laura shakes her head no at him. It was a cute moment.

@@Oddoad6001 dude that’s awesome.

You know how sometimes you'll walk into a room and forget why? Do you think Matt ever has moments as the NPCs where he forgets what he was doing and does stuff like that to stall while he remembers/improvises?

I noticed that too🤣 its hilarious. All of his NPCs are incredible but seem to not be able to navigate their own shops🤣

Ive only recently discovered CR but without a week between episodes you notice a lot of Matts crutches. Every missed attack "goes wide". If i had a dollar for everytime matt mercer has used the phrase "and with that" id be rich. He is a mastermind

I noticed that too and even picked it up for my own game.

I think you misspelled "glorious" there

Oh he was very choked up too. Whole demeanor changed

My theory is he flipped his mustache to catch all the tears

Somehow, by pure magic, so many incredible moments and plot twists occur in episodes where Sam is wearing ridiculous outfits. (Looking at you, Leprechaun Sam)

she didn't use rage. if she did she'd have had advantage on the saving throws. Also, no racial....

@@TheHighborn 1:46:21 She rages.

@@TheVoltage2 I think, that Highborn is talking about the end of the episode

@@jumpstick9446 But the OP was talking about when she was raging.

@@TheVoltage2 I know

He said it right as I was reading this comment

I was listening to the action, but only glancing at the video every 10 minutes during the construct fight - and every time I looked back, I saw Sam wearing a completely different type of facial hair. coming back to a newer, wackier Sam every few minutes is such a vibe

I knew it looked familiar

As someone who might be caught up in like 3 years, it's good to know that sone things in the current live episodes are the same

I knew it! I was having de já vous feelings 😅

I want to like, but funny number is to funny.

Can't wait for Mighty nein animated series ❤

Yeah that damn sweet melody softly playing really helped make that emotional gut punch land

fucking music box man... a bit of a shame that laura wasnt really present for it. kiri and jester had the closet relationship.

Why must this move my cold, dead heart?

@@alanchoichang8336 Laura as Jester would have lost it in a way as beautiful as "I didn't tell you, but Its yours"

I haven’t had my heart moved this much since I saw Dom die in Gears. Damn I both love and hate it when people know how to pull of a scene with the perfect music.

🥲

what made me cry was when kiri and molly nodded at each other... and knowing what happens later in the campaign... that this was the last nod between them made me cry...

“I said it but I didn’t MEAN it!”

I don't think Laura would have allowed them to leave Kiri had she been there.

Especially with all the hormones her body was pumping out to prepare for motherhood, leaving her surrogate daughter would leave her a blubbering mess.

Along with the pregnancy hormones she’d’ve been a WRECK

Same ;-;🗡️🗡️

And the fact that her last words to Molly were "take care of them" BUAAAAH 😭😭😭

this hits harder than "I.. am.. Ironman"

this hurts waayyyy too much!

I cried like a little girl, and I'm a 30 yo man.

_Mariana??_

Yeah. Especially as a German, you get the Chills and are impressed as well.

He has said in the past he LOVES nat 1's because he finds failures way more entertaining than successes.

Sam's default setting is confidence 😉

It’s amazing

I don’t think I’m ever going to forget his peak confidence after telling Matt he rolled a 0 on a deception check.

@@captaincapitalis1205 One of my favorite moments lol

@Don't Ask Why not? He does often make good suggestions, choices & attacks, as well as very persuasive arguments from what I've seen. Just because his dice screw him over frequently doesn't mean he's not playing intelligently. You really just kinda sound like a hater imo.

@Don't Ask It makes you a person not elaborating on their point

It is only matched by the annoying "rules misunderstandings" he keeps trying to pull in every single fight.

You may want to timestamp Nott stealing a pistol, to explain why she has that in her inventory. Around 3 hours 20 mins

If you have the dates saved, could you add the original upload dates for the episodes?

Boost

Another boost

Thank you 😁

Underrated. 😂

@@gavinlangston603 truly.

Can I get a large McFjord meal please?

McFjord. It's perfect.

THANK YOU! I wasn't the only one hearing McCree when Matt did Fjord xD

Also where he and marisha got a taste of what class they may want to play in c3

Yeah I felt like Marissa neglected her duties playing Fjord in that fight when she didn’t celebrate the raging 😄

Same.

It's my personal head cannon that as she said "rage" Travis in the delivery room just turned away for a second, did a smile and fist pump and then turned back.

You're not alone there

hahaha i also did a RAAAAAAR YEEAAH in Travis’ absence

You just started the rainfalls on my face again :'o it was indeed very beautiful, I've just sat here watching and crying for a very long time. Beautiful how this show can touch you.

the best part is that its just his McCree voice

And then there's Marisha as Fjord lmao

That's one of the reasons why I always take a couple of months off watching CR every time I catch up. I can't deal with the waiting :p Just finished C1 last week, been binge-watching since January, and after finishing this rewatch, I intend to catch up on C3, which is three times longer now than when I caught up last time.

I cried anyway

@@Nobody-yn9bq so did I my good friend

4D DM chess

Not wrong

I still hope, that one of the players hands his character sheet over to Matt after this campaign, becoming the BBEG of the next Campaign. Caleb seems like the perfect candidate

You have fallen for my trap Mr. Mercer

The German accent doesn't help

Yes it's fuckin weird but cool

Captain Pandabear I thought so too lmao

Ashley may not be the most flamboyant member of the cast, but she's got some talent.

@@BNRmatt yeah my man :)

Idk he kinda just seemed drunker than usual, even fairly early on lol

Stick with what you're good at.

@@Bavio I think everyone watching knows Matt is McCree xd

@@Bavio yeah, that's why he said it. His fjord voice is just his Mccree voice

@@tarik365 I had no clue till just now Also, who's McCree?

Yeah, he needs to change the infliction of the words to be truly Fjord. Fjord is very staccato when he speaks.

Oh look...I’ve been impaled *weak laugh and alittle blood comes out of his mouth*

Just like when Grog, being the powerful majician he is, cast Decapitate once upon a time. 😂😂😂

Travis similarly shows how invested he is, especially during his one-on-ones with Fjord’s patron.

^^^

I rolled a Nat 1. It dealt a lot of damage

@@weirdnerd1007 same...

😭

yUP

crabb manboi honestly I feel that way when any of them miss, I mean with Ashley it’s not as bad bc it happens so much but it’s better when they’re all there

I especially felt for this episode though... Travis should have been the one negotiating with the asshole warden since, as clever as Molly's bullshitting is, his stats just aren't made for this. And Jester being absent for the separation with Kiri just feels wrong.

Ashley on the other hand feels more like a guest star

@@KumaoftheForest It gets better later on. But yeah, that's a shame that she missed out so much of the beginning. It really hurts her character since she's supposed to be there but never says anything (and I love Travis, but Grog and Yasha aren't the same character, even if they're both barbarians. He never uses half of her powerful abilities coming from her aasimar's blood or her zealot subclass)

They slowly turned from untrusting co-workers with shady backgrounds, to friends, helpers of the people with shady backgrounds. Basically, leverage.

This is DnD, M9 got there a little quicker then most parties I know lol

I can’t imagine like ep 50 vox moc doing this ether

2 months behind and right there with you 😭 I even knew it was coming because I saw some comments and I still cried so much

**bawling*

Yeah, no, I can't stop crying. I'm only watching this now for the first time and I'm a wreck...

Same! 😭

I made the mistake of listening to this at work and now i have to keep from crying while helping customers T-T

But she was our figment of Matt's imagination

My thought too, lmao.

The man deserves it

Anyone as makes the lovechild of a dalek and a roomba is good in my book.

@@claygardiner7543 omg it is their lovechild

You smooth son of a bitch

i hate you for making me laugh as i cry

That joke was just fowl.

That joke was horrible, but i love it

I scrolled past this comment about 10 times while watching this episode, and just as I finish it I just now see the pun. That's a like right there

I love that idea

Marisha needs to be Cad because he's the only other one without an accent lol

But then SPOILER : it isn't canon

Prince Mills dream sequence...wait it’s the M9, NIGHTMARE MODE

@@FantasticAlbum77 spent 10 minutes wondering what this means realised and now im sad and disgusted