Exandria Unlimited: Calamity Wrap-Up 

It’s so poetic that the only non spell caster survived this campaign

The fan theory that the Orb going to Cerrit’s daughter kickstarted the Cobalt Reserve is perfect as far as I’m concerned. I love it.

I got so lost in the story, I thought that Zerxius was legitimately talking to a surviving good Celestial part of Asmodeus, that was trapped in this devil's body. I thought (I wanted) it could be possible to redeem some part of that Betrayer God. I bought the idea that Asmodeus sided with the first people (the Primordials) of Exandria and only wanted to take the magic away from mortals, to return the world to the way it was before mortals had magic. The father of lies got me.

Aabria talking about Brennan not doing any affectation for Asmodeus is so on point. I showed some clips to my brother, a Dimension 20 fan, and he immediately went "oh, when brennan doesn't do any accent for the villain, those are the scariest ones"

Cerrit using his detective skills to discover what his children were like was genuinely one of the saddest moments in the series and probably in Critical Role.

One of my favorite parts of Calamity was when Brennan nonchalantly brutally murdered Zerxus multiple times

Sam Riegel being told he could pick essentially unlimited magical items for a mini campaign called CALAMITY and choosing a WAND OF SMILES is….very on brand. Also, shouts to Lou for saying he couldn’t roll up to Critical Role as a fuckin’ bard, when he’s sitting at a couch with the bardiest bard to ever bard, a bard that fought Vecna, a bard that wore a pink leotard to a live show, a bard that sang about anal beads in an animated show on Amazon….

When Luis said that Zerxus red flag was his instant attachment issue, it gave me a pause. Most media romanticize the idea of love at first sight. Luis straight up spitting fact that this can be problematic.

Please for the love of Asmodeous can we have more Brennan, Lou and Luis. They are a welcome addition to the CR family

I love the reveal of Xerxes flaw. Half the cast is playing characters that scream their hubris to the world, literally planning to bridge between the heavens and earth because they believe that is the only thing that separates man and gods. In contrast, Xerxes, a godless redemption Paladin, is set up so beautifully as a forgiving, humble man of the people, tormented by tragedy, but not trying to unwind the fabric of reality to undo it. A paragon in contrast with the rest of the city. The reveal of his flaw in reviving the betrayer gods was brilliant. Laerryn believed she was equal to the gods, Xerxes pitied them. The moment where he shouted down at a god, scolding him even as his effortlessly ripped his skin from his body. What a brilliant idea for a character. Turning the ideals of redemption into the flow of believeing that you are grand enough to redeem even the gods. Such a subtle, honest, believable arrogance.

What really stood out at a moment for me, and has stuck with me since finishing watching, wasn't like the the overarching theme or the poignant ending or any of that; it was a throwaway moment in a long series of throwaway moments coughed forth from the endless Atheneum of Brennan's mind. When all the people were fleeing and teleporting and whatnot, Brennan talked about a wizard that was working the teleportation circles and warning people not to crowd them for safety reasons, even though the sky was breaking and the world was ending. Then another fleeing wizard, who I guess outranked him, hit him with a Control Person spell and yelled "Get us out of here!" and shoved his way onto the circle before the flash went off, vivisecting several people due to overcrowding. It's such a Blink And You'll Miss It moment that easily gets lost in a literal 6 hour feature film, but just the hard baked context and genuine desperation of the moment and Brennan's penchant for understanding people and the ways in which they act made for, imo, the rawest moment of the whole series, and one of the hardest in CR altogether. I still think about it.

The first scene with Orwyn, he asks Cerrit how the wife is doing and they should come over for dinner. The last scene with Orwyn is him having the Rune of Recall potions for Cerrit’s kids, with the Rune set to bring them to their mother. The first interaction seemed as if Cerrit had kept his partner in the dark, sharing nothing of what went on at home (furthering the pattern of these all being extremely lonely people). But the fact that Orwyn knew sending the kids to their Mother meant getting them out of the city means that he did know that she and Cerrit had split. The first scene of them was Orwyn gently prodding. A casual ask. An open ended dinner invitation that could be construed as mostly small talk, but he was gently trying to bring them together. Orwyn now favorite NPC. Even above Bolo

In a different time at a different place, Zerxus would be a very passionate fanfiction writer. *I CAN CHANGE HIM*

The little nugget of genius that I want to point out is what Brennan did with Vespin Chloras. To completely flip the scrip on the concept of an evil wizard in a way that made perfect sense as a symbol of hubris was brillant ! We only got glimpses but the story was perfect : 1. The Matron of Ravens ascends, making a precedent that mortals can become gods by replacing existing ones. 2. The best wizards of the age try to replicate the Matron's ritual but keep failing, presumably because they can't find the right names. 3. Vespin Chloras tries to be smarter than anyone else by aiming to replace a betrayer god because he reasonned that he could become omnipotent AND destroy an evil entity in on fell swoop. 4. Vespin comes face to face with the Lord of Hells but the ritual would take away his own name and he just can't let that go, so he makes a bargain with the devil to never be forgotten. 5. Asmodeus fucks up everything and honestly he didn't even have to do any of the legwork. 6. Vespin Chloras has one last moment of realization where he just breaks down because of how much he messed up. This little story in the story is so good and fucked up and I love it !

I was DESTROYED when Brennan flashed back to Nidus and his brother looking up at the city like "Do you think we'll ever get there?" That shit lives in my head rent free

I love that here Brennan is talking about how he's spamming Matt's phone and asking him about every little thing like that annoys him and in the GM roundtable Matt gushed about how nice it was to have a collaborator when it comes to worldbuilding. It's so nice :)

An important part of the Cobalt Soul fan-theory that wasn't mentioned in the stream is that the symbol of the Cobalt Soul is entirely contained within a circle. You know, what happens when you take a (magic memory) sphere and represent it in 2D.

As a Filipino who actually does practice Kali, hearing Travis explain his process for creating Cerrit brought a smile to my face.

Man, knowing how established Brennan is in the sketch comedy/improv world, hearing him call something a perfect joke is a bigger compliment than I think even Sam realizes.

Brennan was absolutely right about “And Remember The Market Of Wonders” being a PERFECT joke, because it relieves us in the moment of genuine heartache without eroding what that heartache stood for.

I can honestly listen to them talk about this "behind the scenes" stuff FOR DAYS. I live for it

I don't know if I'll ever stop being giddy at seeing Brennan and Lou on the CR set.

(this is not me shitting on anyone in this talk they only has so much time) I think Lou didn't get enough love for being such a driving force not only of humor and energy but real emotion and incredible character acting. Lou, you're a legend.

I was really surprised to find out that Brennan and Luis didn't know each other prior to the Calamity campaign. The way Luis kicked it off in the first episode I thought for sure they had been playing together many times before.

I love how all these flawed characters got to have some semblance of redemption at the end of the campaign. Cerrit, the Eye that sees everything and everywhere but home, got to have a second chance to be with family. Zerxus with his compassion wrapped in arrogance, this time pursuing redemption for himself. Hell might have his soul, but his heart remained safe among the stars. Quay initially killed the truth in the name of love. Eventually, he found a love returned by championing the truth. Patia & Nydas were hoarding knowledge and riches. In the end, she choose the dreamers and he protected his most important hoard, the people. And Laerryn with her single minded ambition went from starting the calamity to giving the world a fighting chance. Their stories came full circle in such a satisfying albeit tragic way. The level of character progression we got in just 4 episodes is beyond incredible. I want more!

Zerxus was such a great flawed hero and Luis did a masterful job of playing "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" to it's most insane degrees. The whole cast really brought there A game in this game of flawed paragons but being so deep in "everyone can be redeemed" that he made a pact with Asmodeus... Masterfully played

Talking abotu Patia being alone its even reflected in their deaths. The Lovers die in each others arms, together. The Men who were like Brothers died side by side, one takign his final act to do the only thing he could to prevent his freind and brother from becoming someting awful. The Fater and survior flees to make it back to his family. Patia? Patia dies alone on the floor.

My favourite part of Brennan playing Asmodeus was Asmodeus saying how he created evil just so that people could appreciate the good times more. Like, I straight up believed him. I also in the back of my head knew that it was the father of lies, but still.

I can't believe Travis based Cerrit off of the Philippine eagle. That was an awesome progression of ideas from merely focusing on what cool weapon Cerrit could wield. These people are awesome! MORE, PLEASE! :D

The moment when brennen said the "and I didn't do anything wrong" line I literally had chills

Luis doubling down on the extremeness of redemption paladin was so good. Love Zerxus looking at the literal Father of Lies and being like: "I can fix him."

Bolo was clearly the previous god of death. When the Raven Queen ascended, Bolo fell but was never destroyed. Just forgotten.

‘We don’t need an army, we just need One Guy’ Brennan is a gift

I just wanted to add one small shout out. Cerrit's old partner Orwyn using his last dying moments to provide his partner and friend with a way to save his children was heartwrenching and beautifully poetic. The fact that his friend was writing a last letter to him in his own blood and literally bled out while doing so was amazing and hurt on levels that I can't explain. As a father with lifelong friends who also have children, I know beyond any doubt that I would help protect my friends children at the cost of my life if need be and they would do the same. The humanity displayed in that scene and the pain written on Travis's face was palpable. Beautiful story telling, wonderfully roleplayed and that scene simply does not get the recognition and credit that it deserves. Bravo to everyone involved.

Oh my goodness. Adult Maya would be the most complicated character, because she has that history of a father that wasn’t there, then he was. But by then the whole world is messed up, and holds the entire knowledge of Patia inside the palm of her hand at any point in time, so what kind of trauma would she have? She would be such a cool character to play.

Brennan saying “fuck a rest, they don’t need em” resonated with me on a spiritual level after my last session where the entire party had no spell slots, no bardic inspiration, no lucky uses, no ki points, single digit HP, and three of the five had between 4 and 2 levels of exhaustion, before they got a long rest. That was a long day for them

My head canon is definitely the theory that the "failure" of Patia's parents could very well have been that her mother actually became the Raven Queen, and her ascension to goddesshood didn't sit well with Patia's grandfather.

I think we just need a thread of the rawest lines from Brennan. Mine was [Asmodeus to Xerxes] "you know the difference between you and the Dawnfather? The Dawnfather is a lot more humble"

Luis either still being stiff/nervous around the group or having trouble to join the convo because there's a lot of hyper talker in the group. But whichever it is, lots of us know how that feels like. And it's so cool for Travis to keep pulling him whenever he have the chance. And as always, awesome cast, awesome game...

Here’s some timestamps: 0:50 Title sequence courtesy of Sam 1:42 Sam’s introduction 2:07 Brennan’s introduction 2:36 Lou’s introduction ft pizza sashimi 3:43 Travis’ introduction 4:17 Aabria’s introduction ft rock-paper-scissors 5:32 Q: Did knowing that this was the Calamity change character building? 6:57 Picking magical items 9:55 Sam and Lou’s multiclassing 12:08 Which class did the multiclassers start with? 13:24 What was Patia’s school of magic? 14:50 Brennan’s tangent on GMs giving free reign to players ft Wegolas 16:10 Travis’ character creation 18:59 Secret meetings of the nasties 23:40 Luis’ character creation 25:08 Two moments where Zerxus could’ve spilled the beans 27:36 “Luis is gone, there’s only Zerxus now” ft paladin discussion 30:52 Never trust a motherfucker with a cause 32:30 Loquatius lying to himself ft his motivations 34:11 Cerrit’s flaws 35:21 Travis pays attention to his wife 36:03 Cerrit is the one non-shady guy 39:04 Q: What made Travis and Luis want their characters to have kids? How did that affect their choices? 40:32 Travis and Jor-El 41:35 Travis’ analogy about kids 42:24 Luis honestly doesn’t think kids are gross 42:49 Luis’ reasoning about having a kid in game 44:35 Elias staying with Nydas’ brother 45:44 Sam and Aabria’s justification on not having kids 46:08 Early talks: Laerryn being Elias’ mom 47:33 Zerxus becoming the First Knight ft Kevin 48:48 What was it like for Brennan to RP kids? 50:40 Q: Does Nydas feel like his dreams were realized despite the fall of Avalir? ft Brennan, king of intros, outros and segues 52:15 Brennan is not the killer here (or is he?) 53:39 The moment of realization in a character arc 54:32 Can we please hit the brakes? (we can’t) 54:53 Brennan on Lou’s character shift 57:50 Cerrit being away for the Blight 1:00:14 Q: Was Laerryn’s urgency because of Quay or something else? 1:02:19 How much of Laerryn and Loquatius’ relationship was pre-planned? Ft Loquatius Hambrick-Zucker 1:04:41 Aabria did not expect the Sam Riegel emotional rollercoaster 1:06:49 Sam’s speech in episode 4! 1:09:06 The perfect joke 1:10:32 Aabria’s best game decision 1:11:40 Q: How does Patia feel about her grandfather’s deal? 1:14:09 Patia is lonely ft Brennan feeling emotions 1:16:47 The Gau Drashari and consulting with Matt 1:20:02 Love for Matt 1:20:22 Love for Brennan 1:21:36 Brennan discusses the lore 1:23:14 Love for Luis for starting off SO WELL 1:25:41 Zerxus establishes attachments fast 1:27:58 Character choices that made Brennan’s job easier 1:28:45 Zerxus never doubting the bad guy - who is not lying much ft “homeboy’s like ‘yeah, sure, man’” 1:30:51 The pure terror of Brennan as the Lord of the Hells 1:32:49 “You guys love it when people are hurting” 1:33:40 Brennan’s most terrifying choice of not doing an accent 1:34:07 Did Brennan have contingency plans? (He did. So many.) 1:37:53 The final roll of the campaign 1:39:17 The sphere going to Maya 1:40:16 “Is the orb okay?! The little library, where is it at?!” 1:40:56 Fan theory about Patia’s sphere 1:41:47 Future Kir is jacked 1:42:22 Bookends 1:44:03 The most burning question: WHAT HAPPENED TO BOLO?! 1:46:21 Best accent of all time 1:46:33 “How many beers are dragons out here grabbing?”

I love how Brennan immediately yes ands Lou with Pizza Sashimi

1:20:22 This just makes me want Sam on a D20 side campaign, though Sam at a table with Ally and Emily might unleash an actual chaos god upon the planet...

Brennan: You can choose as many OP items as you want Sam: I choose.... me

Stupid theory: Bolo survived and went through a teleportation circle. However, the circle messed up and sent her and a group of randos to Wildmount. The group asks "Where are we?" Bolo asks "this your house?" The randos don't understand that this is a question, due to her accent. The randos then say "Oh? She says this place is called Xhorhas, I guess?" And that is how Xhorhas came to be.

Still cracks me up we all kinda thought Zerxes and Asmodius were being very homoerotic when really he's just "I'M GONNA GET SO MANY GOOD DAD POINTS" when seeing Asmodeus lol

Brennan + Matt has got to be something special. I need to see them collab actively on another one shot! ANOTHER!

Abria built a character to survive the first moments of calamity, Sam built a character that made her character accept death.

Dude, the best part for me, was when Lou / Nydas, summoned his dragon dude "Shak" the last time. and Shak tried to say his piece, the same thing he says everytime he's summoned - and friggin... Nydas just goes: "No! Shut the fuck up! We don't have time for this!" I had to pause the video cuz I was laughing so damn hard I could barely see. It was fantastic.

I do find it quite ironic how the foreshadowing in this show ended up working. I think it's very ironic that Brennan mentions how Zerxus just fed the lord of hells the lies he in turn spits back at him at the Hall of Prophecy, considering that is literally how they got in that building just moments before. Sofyra literally says "oh you're friends with Loras?" and Nydas just says "Yeah, sure, that." And it's like a cool little accidental mirroring of the bigger thing to come.

I didn't realize Patia had her memory modified. When Brennan said it was something Patia learned from a women whose name she could not remember, I thought for sure Patia's mother was the Raven Queen. She's an elf. The ascension happened 120 years before. I put 2 and 2 together and got 5 I guess

I still come back to Calamity every few months. I truly think that this series was the best short form game of DnD that I've ever seen. Just beautiful and brilliant beginning to end.

My favorite moment is Laerryn giving her arcane ball to Loquatius. I remember thinking that was a terrible decision tactically because it should go to one of the wizards but it made perfect sense for her character, only for it to pay off later because it allowed Zerxus to revive Patia. I love it because it reminded me that D&D is first and foremost a ROLEplaying game, not a tactical one.

I just want Ashley to roll another 8 on the random encounter table, and for Matt to bring in a great wyrm with an Aeorian (Slavic) accent

The immense trust between all of them is remarkable. Despite knowing that tragedy is inevitable, the players let themselves be emotionally invested in the story because they know Brennan will do their stories justice. And he did. What a beautiful story they weaved together.

Cerrit's nat 20 over Vespin and watching the entire team giving him all advantages they have left to help him flee Avalir before destruction was so amazing!

"Its a fan theory but what if the orb started the cobalt reserve" *Matt off camera furiously writing out new lore for the cobalt reserve*

Calamity really is my favourite 4 episodes Critical role has ever done. Especially episode 4! 6 hours but every minute jam packed of awesome stuff

Brennan, Lou, and Luis HAVE TO COME BACK. They are incredible additions to make a beautiful story!

Luis deserves all the praise and love srsly. His role-playing is just so theatrical and dramatic and you can SEE from the table during the series that that's what bonded Marisha and Luis cus she's someone whos also so into the role-playing and the narrative aspect of dnd. Love these dramatic dorks so much

"It was supposed to be a bit" is one of the most powerful things in DnD I think

I love the idea that Bola was an Aeorian spy. Imagine she sneaks down into the labyrinth and finds the ASTRAL leywright, technology which she is able to somehow note down and report back to the leaders of the Cognouza ward...

Travis threw that game of Rock, Paper, Scissors.

sobbing bc the entire time they’re talking about children Brennan is playing with his engagement ring :,)))

Just to touch on the talk about Zerxus believing and falling for the lies of the betrayer god was when they were interacting that first time- Brennan said something to the effect of 'I promise I'll never forget you' in response to Luis asking to not be forgotten AND to be spared. That was an IMMEDIATE red flag where I was like 'okay, some shady shit is going on' because I had totally fallen for the sob story that was being spun so elegantly but when Brennan masterfully sidestepped the mercy part of the request and was just like 'oh, I'll remember you alright' it was a biiiig moment of panic for me as the viewer but so exhilarating.

I can watch Brennan saying "Greeves are for the legs" in his head like a bunch while Travis was talking like over and over again in his head

i love Brennan for having such deeply thought out points that still take him 27 false starts and tangents to convey

After watching the wrap-up and reflecting upon mini-campaign a little bit, I've came to a conclusion about Zerxus (especially after Luis mentioned character's flaw in forming attachments way too fast). His heart and amounts of love in this heart were too big for his chest. And he was deprived from the opportunity to properly express that feeling. His husband died, he was far away from his son, and stuck in this goddamn tower, alone. It feels like Zerxus was made to be a caring person, a someone who shines this light of love all around. Instead, he was "imprisoned" in these First Knight's quarters during the age of mageocracy and ultimate selfishness. And this need to care about someone played a terrible trick with him. Like, seeing a wounded fiend would instantly trigger the instinct "I must help, I must save this one from suffering". Luis played this incredible character so good it hurts. (Edit: a couple of typos.) P.S. I hope there aren't a lot of mistakes :D

We didn't get much of it, but I loved the brotherly childhood friends battle-brothers dynamic with Xerxus and Nydus, and I wish we could see a longer campaign with Luis and Lou playing characters with a relationship like that.

12:10 Brennan says “Hey GMs, fuck a rest”. In my home game my character just got out of a dungeon crawl over 3 sessions with 1HP remaining and no healing in the party available. So in other words I dig a rest.

MUST. MAKE. DIVERGENCE ONE-SHOT. BRING BACK . LUIS AND LOU.

Paesha was by far my favourite character because it was so subtle but when Brennan asked if she had any last thoughts before she died she had nothing to say. She had nothing except her career, nothing to say. She died in a way that completely cancelled out her life’s work to a net zero and she had milliseconds to confront that. She probably just felt relief and exhaustion that it was all over. I selfishly wish she had a chance to look at that and articulate it before she died, but honestly the silence was beautiful too.

As a Filipino, hearing that Cerrit was inspired by the Philippine eagle really brings a smile to my face.

I need more Brennan with the crit role crew right now

I feel that first scene with Zerxes saving Asmodeus fits in perfectly with something Brennan said in one of the Escape from the Bloodkeep Adventuring Academies: "When are villians at their most relatable? When they lose."

I appreciate dnd players like Luis and Marisha so much cus they're so into the narrative and role-playing aspect, it makes me less embarrassed for being just like them. Most players are more into combat and exploring which is NOT a bad thing; I just get too shy to be really immersed and really be my character. Luis just giving his all in every dialogue and Marisha just loving every second, God I felt so validated lmao. Thank you for this ❤

Baby duck Zerxus is such an entertaining lens to rewatch this through. "He attaches fast". Fuckin baby duck. Perfect. Hadn't picked up on it.

God this was so good. Brennan, the cast, the setting, just YES. Critical Role, this was exquisite. Thank you so much, and please make more.

Can we get a “Betrayer’s” game with Matt, Aabria, and Brennan playing as the gods they have embodied. I don’t know who’s DMING this but I think it would be a sick one shot.

As a new dad myself, watching Cerrit had me absolutely glued to the screen. When he made it out of the city to see his kids and keep his promise I absolutely balled while holding my baby

Watching this for the umpteenth time and I’ve only just noticed how stupid I was that all of Luis’ character building went completely over my head. Brennan said he got so immersed he only saw Zerxus but as someone who never knew Luis Carazzo I thought that’s just what he was like! Committing to the character so much you completely disappear from the table is seriously impressive and I am at awe of his storytelling ability!

1:23:16 I am so glad that Travis brought this up!! when I saw that Brennan chose Luis to start in episode one I immediately had a theory as to why and now I get to share it with someone else 😂 My theory as to how Brennan plays at the table is that he wants to make sure everyone feels included, no one feels left out, and everyone is given their time to shine. he knew that three of them are core members of the CR team, one player had also DMed a series for CR, and one player was one of his best friends. the logical choice for who should start, from that perspective, is Luis. it immediately brings him into the fold and gives him the opportunities to show what he’s got and set the tone. brilliant DMing from the first decision to the last. BLeeM is a treasure among men.

Putting on my DM hat, there is a lot of meat on the bone to introduce some very special potential villians, The Nagpa, to Exandria. 13 evil wizards who were cursed by the Raven Queen for betraying her in the hour of her ascension. They can only learn new magics from dead civilizations.. which is perfect when a mcguffin like the Orb of Avalier in the world. If the Orb is central to the origins of the Cobalt Soul, then they were unable to access the vast information within, or they've decided to hide it away so that a second Age of Arcanum could never occur. Either way, it is possible for players and NPCs in the world to dramatically change the face of Exandria going forward. Also, Cerrit was very close to the explosion of two powerful concentrations of Arcane and Druidic magic, and the destruction of both a Fire and Earth Primordial. I can imagine him going on to father more kids, and starting a sorcerous blood lineage unique to Exandria. Calamitous Bloodline Sorcerer maybe.

ima be honest. I was all in with Zerxus. Asmodeus seemed like a good guy who'd been f'd over. Absolutely went gold when we turned around with the 'I didn't do anything wrong!'

To quote Brennan: “Incredible!” I could listen to these guys talk about this perfect run of dnd forever. I wish I could cast modify memory on myself so I could watch it all for the first time again!

My only critique of this video is that it isn’t 12 hours long.

Travis admitting with his entire chest that he wore a black t-shirt in an effort to not get food on himself when he ate dinner is the ADHD mood of a lifetime

The Plight of Bolo: A EXU One-shot following our favorite Aeroian Spy, the dragon necromancer played by Brennan!

0:50 Title sequence courtesy of Sam 1:42 Sam’s introduction 2:07 Brennan’s introduction 2:36 Lou’s introduction ft pizza sashimi 3:43 Travis’ introduction 4:17 Aabria’s introduction ft rock-paper-scissors 5:32 Q: Did knowing that this was the Calamity change character building? 6:57 Picking magical items 9:55 Sam and Lou’s multiclassing 12:08 Which class did the multiclassers start with? 13:24 What was Patia’s school of magic? 14:50 Brennan’s tangent on GMs giving free reign to players ft Wegolas 16:10 Travis’ character creation 18:59 Secret meetings of the nasties 23:40 Luis’ character creation 25:08 Two moments where Zerxus could’ve spilled the beans 27:36 “Luis is gone, there’s only Zerxus now” ft paladin discussion 30:52 Never trust a motherfucker with a cause 32:30 Loquatius lying to himself ft his motivations 34:11 Cerrit’s flaws 35:21 Travis pays attention to his wife 36:03 Cerrit is the one non-shady guy 39:04 Q: What made Travis and Luis want their characters to have kids? How did that affect their choices? 40:32 Travis and Jor-El 41:35 Travis’ analogy about kids 42:24 Luis honestly doesn’t think kids are gross 42:49 Luis’ reasoning about having a kid in game 44:35 Elias staying with Nydas’ brother 45:44 Sam and Aabria’s justification on not having kids 46:08 Early talks: Laerryn being Elias’ mom 47:33 Zerxus becoming the First Knight ft Kevin 48:48 What was it like for Brennan to RP kids? 50:40 Q: Does Nydas feel like his dreams were realized despite the fall of Avalir? ft Brennan, king of intros, outros and segues 52:15 Brennan is not the killer here (or is he?) 53:39 The moment of realization in a character arc 54:32 Can we please hit the brakes? (we can’t) 54:53 Brennan on Lou’s character shift 57:50 Cerrit being away for the Blight 1:00:14 Q: Was Laerryn’s urgency because of Quay or something else? 1:02:19 How much of Laerryn and Loquatius’ relationship was pre-planned? Ft Loquatius Hambrick-Zucker 1:04:41 Aabria did not expect the Sam Riegel emotional rollercoaster 1:06:49 Sam’s speech in episode 4! 1:09:06 The perfect joke 1:10:32 Aabria’s best game decision 1:11:40 Q: How does Patia feel about her grandfather’s deal? 1:14:09 Patia is lonely ft Brennan feeling emotions 1:16:47 The Gau Drashari and consulting with Matt 1:20:02 Love for Matt 1:20:22 Love for Brennan 1:21:36 Brennan discusses the lore 1:23:14 Love for Luis for starting off SO WELL 1:25:41 Zerxus establishes attachments fast 1:27:58 Character choices that made Brennan’s job easier 1:28:45 Zerxus never doubting the bad guy - who is not lying much ft “homeboy’s like ‘yeah, sure, man’” 1:30:51 The pure terror of Brennan as the Lord of the Hells 1:32:49 “You guys love it when people are hurting” 1:33:40 Brennan’s most terrifying choice of not doing an accent 1:34:07 Did Brennan have contingency plans? (He did. So many.) 1:37:53 The final roll of the campaign 1:39:17 The sphere going to Maya 1:40:16 “Is the orb okay?! The little library, where is it at?!” 1:40:56 Fan theory about Patia’s sphere 1:41:47 Future Kir is jacked 1:42:22 Bookends 1:44:03 The most burning question: WHAT HAPPENED TO BOLO?! 1:46:21 Best accent of all time 1:46:33 “How many beers are dragons out here grabbing?”

This group of people was perfect for the story. Also, glad they did this as I had no idea the Twitter Spaces wrap up was a thing

Me, experiencing the heartbreak that is Crown of Candy and Unsleeping City: oh, boy! A Brennan Lee Mulligan dm'ed campaign! I won't cry this time. Narrator: Mikey did in fact cry and they cried many many times for each episode.

Bolo from Aeor theory: She WAS a polymorphed Chromatic Dragon...she knew what was going down and wanted to see Tiamat's arrival firsthand.

Ok so like, I'm gonna NEED both Lou Wilson AND Luis Carazo back as guest characters at some point down the line. they are both FUCKING INCREDIBLE

This wrapup is brilliant. I really love the chemistry the cast and crew clearly had with each other. The layers and complex narrative arcs they wove together as a unit are so impressive. Brennan Lee Mulligan is a force of nature, and him and Matt Mercer collaborating was something spectacular to behold.

1:33:04 This is so fucked up yet so brilliant. And I love the reveal by Luis Carazo that Zerxus has attachment issues. His attachment to his dead husband, his attachment to his estranged son that is only his husband's blood, and the immediate "bond" that he formed to Asmodeus. And the hot take I have is that Zerxus and Jester are very, very similar as people. They both have this toxic idea is "Everyone can be better as long as I make them happy/better." They have this concerning mindset that "I can fix them". It is a very scary mindset to have in any relationship when you're going in with the attempt to change that person. Both were sheltered and isolated, Zerxus when he was First Knight and Jester during her childhood. And Jester and Zerxus had no knowledge of the other deities and their realms of influence. The only difference is that Zerxus wanted to redeem others out of his own hubris, because "anyone can be redeemed". Meanwhile Jester did everything with and for Artagan because she's a people-pleaser, she wants people to like her. She wants attention from the people that know her, she wants to make people happy to make herself happy. Not to mention their bond with their patrons is very similar. And their patrons are very similar. Both Artagan and Asmodeus are very similar in their ability to manipulate others and "comfort" the people they're tricking. Jester "loved" Artagan because he was her only "friend", Artagan simply saw her as a chess piece in his whole game. Asmodeus saw Zerxus as a tool to getting what he wants while also hating him, and Asmodeus hated Zerxus because of his arrogance.

Having watched C1 -> C3, and the One-Shots... Marisha has flourished in C3 playing Laudna, but my god - in this Calamity series she smashed it. Really grown as a player and her timing, touch and sensitivity to the plot, and how she moved the story - incredible.

The cobalt soul being a legacy of Cerrit and Paris’s family legacies is so crazy good I would love if it was true

1:09:08 Game recognizing Game: Brennan talking about Sam's speech! 💕❤💕 We Critters know how NUTS Sam is, but we also know and have seen the real genius underlying all his antics. I love Brennan for making a point to talk about Sam's speech. I just hope Sam was able to let all the praise in.

Hot take: Sam Riegel, Aimee Carrero, Ashley Johnson, Emily Axford, Erika Ishii and chaos Matt Mercer as PC's in a short campaign. Travis choosing a majestic, almost extinct bird and an underrated fighting style, both from my country, as inspo pegs for Cerrit adds more to my Travis simp points.

Sam has done the "big speech" informed by everything that came before, before. When Scanlan left Vox Machina in Campaign 1, the speech he gave was an amazing bit of acting coming from the one player that was never really taken seriously, because his character had never been serious.

is it terrible that i still want to know more? like i have so many questions and i just want to know EVERYTHING! this was so good.