Sam really knows how to pull our heart streams 🥲 Exandria Unlimited: Calamity Part 4 • Fire and Ruin | Exandr... Watch more Critical Role videos bit.ly/3NI3Hr6
As Brennan said in the campaign wrap up, this final speech is incredibly moving, and the last remark about Mercer's spell ink is the definition of a perfect joke. This mini arc is truly the best tabletop campaign I've ever seen, and this is just one of many shining jewels in the crown of its storytelling.
Anyone whos playing a bard, please watch and learn. This is a masterclass in not only character playing, but also in emotion and comedy and heartbreak and humanity and hope. This is the band on the titanic playing as the ship goes down. And a thousand years from this moment, if Bells Hells finds any info about the ring of brass or avalir, you can cleanly place the praise onto Loquatious and Sam
For anyone coming to this clip without knowledge of what happened next, find Brennan's (the DM) speech following this, because it's beautiful. The basic summary of it is that Sam's speech was so beautifully presented that he waived the need to roll for a result, instead declaring it so effective as to be worth a natural 20. Everything he was trying for with this succeeded, and while no one's lives were guaranteed saved, he did at least give the people the absolute best chance at survival possible
Because Brennan also knew that awarding this as a Nat 20 wasn’t guaranteeing a drastic shift in the overall story. In fact, he knew that the Calamity would be occurring, he knew this group were going to fail to stop the inevitable. But he knew that this would set up a vision of Peri-Calamity Exandria that ensured that there was a hope for the future, which inevitably resulted in modern day Exandria. It’s also why Cerrit’s escape was so important and impactful: out of the ashes of the complete decimation of the Shattered Teeth, Toramunda, and the Ring of Brass, a inquisitor eisfuuran phoenix would rise, literally and figuratively.
Ho-ly FUCK that was so GOOD I’m still blown away rewatching. The touching tribute to his friends/ex. The amazing joke with a small reference to Matthew Mercer. The jabs at the ruling parties that were trying to sacrifice the masses to save themselves. All of it was beautiful.
This is, wihout a shadow of a doubt, the best DnD I have ever seen. Brennan Lee Mulligan at the helm of Mathew Mercer's world, with Sam Riegal, Marisha Ray, Travis Willingham, Aabria Iyengar, Lou Wilson, and Luis Carazo at the table. The energy was unmatched. The story, the tension, the heartbreak and hope. A message about love, a warning about hubris. It's all 10/10.
In my head canon, Eldamir was going to teleport in and set him straight, but after hearing the speech he was too ashamed to contradict the Herald’s orders.
@@TacoBlend Or he was already dead. With devils flying all over the city, even a powerful wizard can be overwhelmed, especially an old one who can't run that fast.
Sam's speech was incredible as everyone has pointed out, but I feel like an underrated moment in this clip is Brennan's sound effect of Loras yelling while inside the Wall of Force. It just sounds absolutely perfect and exactly how you would imagine it would sound
I'm pretty sure it wasn't even edited like i can't remember a time even after switching to recorded broadcasts that CR ever used post edit effects like that during the game I'm pretty sure Brennan is just that good lmao
Watching this a few times this is my takeaway. Wonderful instigation by Brennan. “ how does silvery barbs work?” You actually forget at the end that he even posed this question. That’s how you suggest as a Dm in the moment without overstepping, especially in a 4 episode campaign, and it made all the difference. This story would’ve had a completely different outcome without that question.
Especially because it was I think still a relatively new and niche spell. It was in a source book for a magic the gather setting that afaik wasn't super well received, so people outside the optimazation communities who all know how good the spell is wouldn't have that much experience with it.
A masterpiece from start to finish. Sam really is a master of his craft, that even after multiple rewatches of this series, he can still bring a person to tears with just a speech.
How is it possible to be the most infuriating and yet the most inspiring member of the CR cast? Sometimes it seems like he's not paying attention, or paying too much attention to the wrong thing, and then he pulls off the most memorable moments like this. Damn you, sir.
When I started watching the show, I found Sam to be annoying. I felt he was always distracting the table from the important stuff and I thought he wasn't as invested in the story as the rest of them... But boy, was I wrong. The more I watch, the more I was entrapped by this man's natural charm. He can be a bit too much at times, but he cares very much for the story he and his friends are telling, and when he wants to, he can be the most incredible guy at this table filled with incredible people.
This really felt like the peak of DND experiences, all of the cast working together and all in it, the DM leading the experience, it honestly looks like a group of friends in one of their parent’s basements just having fun
Someone told me Sam uploaded a picture of his handwritten speech that he'd created during this episode, I'm not sure if it's on Twitter or Instagram... does anyone have a link to it?
This moment lives uncontested in my mind as the most *epic* moment in roleplaying ive ever witness. As a humble wordmancer myself, I aspire to be *this epic* of a wordmancer. He wrote this IN SESSION. Sam, you are forever valued and worshipped. May you live long and prosper
i haven't watched everything CR has put out but i've seen a lot, and this is by far sam's best moment as a player and actor. the whole calamity minigame was phenomenal.
Such a beautiful speech. But I can't get over that I'm old enough to have picked up on that Win, Lose, or Draw reference. No wonder my back hurts all the time.
Whats with the cuts, I mean you cut out literally less than 3 seconds of line at some points for no reason. "If you are part of the administration, [ANY administration]" you took out two words in that line and it cuts a little of the heart of it out.
It's a mini campaign that shows the final hours before the calamity. If you don't know critical role, think of Noah's flood. But he isn't Noah. He's just the journalist that brings the news of the coming doom to the world.
ExU Calamity, talks about the Calamity, an event in Critical Role's world Exandria that wasn't really talked about cause it happened a long time ago. Kind of a prequel. Can't say more without spoiling so go watch it!
