*Spoilers* The Betrayal | Critical Role C2E69 Highlight 

Just noticed that when Fjord said, "Why?" he did it in his "real" voice.

Yasha/Ashley: Never Matt: Make wisdom saving throw Everyone: Say sike right now

This wouldn't have happened if they had just given Matt his critical role land

The famous line: "THE CREATURE IS NOT WILLING"

Man...can you imagine the artwork for that "Mirror Image" Jester scene? Jester pleading for Yasha to stop, and Yasha mercilessly just cutting through the clone... That brief realization that without that spell, Yasha would have murdered Jester. That's devastating.

Obann: Avenge me. Ashley/Yasha: Never Matt: Make a wisdom saving throw. everyone else: *poops their pants*

> Obann: “Avenge me.” > Yasha: “Never.” > Matt: “Roll a Wisdom Saving throw.” > Everyone: *_”W H A T”_*

Tal is what made me really afraid. I can't ever remember him being this nervous. When Tal and Liam get scared you know it is BAD.

Man, it's crazy what Matt does to justify Ashley's long absences

Jester's broken "YASHA" as she reached for her just made me break. That pain in her voice when Jester witnessed her friend turn against her and the decision to leave Yasha is just absolutely heartbreaking.

Seeing Laura get teary when she has to decide to leave Yasha or not and ultimately runs makes me cry even thinking about it, let alone watching it

this wasn't a betrayal, this was kidnapping, yasha is a hostage in there

I cried over Yasha... And the moments before hand “We can be your new family” And they had to leave her behind. Charmed. Trapped with a demon..

MVP goes to Caleb for his excellent wizardplay. Switching from one spell to another in a rapid fire, doing everything he can to help his friends escape. He definitely saved Cad, Fjord, AND Bau’s lives, all in one battle!

Thank God Matt forgot sentinel allows you to opportunity attack someone even if they disengage or that would have been one dead Beau

Geeeeez man, Taliesin looks so so stressed out. Not only was Cad almost at death's door, but he must've felt so much tension between M9 and just wanted to keep everyone sane. It's hard being the heart in a party.

just remember nott told yashsa not to judge Caleb because he was brainwashed when he killed his family JUST BEFORE THIS SHJT HAPPENED

It's that quiet little "Oh no... I *hate* it..." that comes out of Laura as much as it comes out of Jester that does me in. Absolutely wrecked.

So Fjord asking “why?” In his true voice to Yasha, all week I’ve assumed that Yasha replied “ I hurt you”. Now I’m hearing “I heard you” with Matt confirming that Yasha says this in a disembodied voice. Since failing that wisdom roll, she spoke to no one except for Fjord. Especially after Matt’s conclusion from Yasha’s perspective, I’m here for our Yasha is fully aware but trapped in a body not in her control.

Ashley telling Laura to “run bb” is the saddest thing ever. They were staring in each other’s eyes and almost crying and Ashley tells Laura to leave her....

Sometimes I’m like how is this NOT staged!!!!!???? And other times I remember the day a friend of mine rolled 14 natural 20s in one game. It’s always amazing how often these guys let things play out so perfectly. Also great editing, very touching.

That "yasha" jester did made me think of when grog yelled fix him to everyone in campaign one. The voice actors really put their heart and soul into these characters for 4-6 hours on thursdays and my god you cant tell me this show hasnt made you cry at least once cause you're lying to yourself.

I love that they all care so much for the other characters. Ashley looked so upset each time she had to attack someone, she tells Laura to run so Jester wouldn't die, everyone got super worried for Jester when it looked like she was about to be killed.

Talisen having several "coming to jesus" moments this last episode. I think he really believed someone would die in this fight.

This edit is amazing, all that pain and anguish conpressed into 25 minutes! Fjord asking "Why" in his regular voice, Jester screaming and crying for Yasha, Caleb and Caduceus' panic, it hurts so good, Beau just barely getting out, it all hurts so good 😭

I wonder how this would’ve ended if Molly were still here... I don’t think Jester would be the only one yelling for Yasha

Matt making Ashley roll was the cruelest part. She looked so aad.

This part is like if Boromir just went nuts for the ring, and remained nuts, and banded with the orcs at Amon Hen

3:34 With Sam's shirt, even Matthew looked surprised when Matt told Ashley to make a Wisdom save with disadvantage.

Obann: Avenge me Yasha: never Matt: make a wisdom saving throw Everyone: *w a i t*

I think that flower might end up being super helpful later. Locate object once they have an idea where she is will help immensely.

It's almost 3 am its too late to be crying

Yasha's "Run bibi" at 8:42 to Jester kills me every time

The M9 is developing an amazing pattern of executing the bad guys Matt obviously intends to be long term epic villains as they (the villains) attempt to escape.

There's that great moment that I'm certain everyone's been in, where you look at your character sheet hoping there's some way to save your allies and then finding it all hopeless. Hits hard man.

The way Ashely whispers "Run Baby." to Laura when she's struggling with the decision just breaks my heart every time .

Jester screaming out Yasha's name gave me chills. Freaking Laura Bailey man, she's too good.

After watching this, I'm a little torn. On one hand, I'm devastated by the event, even more so that we aren't going to see Yasha for a long time. One the other hand, as a DM, I'm impressed on just how good of a twist this was. It wasn't just a form of domination, this was some sleeper agent, Order 66 shit. I got flashbacks when watching this dude! *Good soldiers follow orders*

I started watching the video but chickened out less than 30 seconds in because this episode hurt so much. I was like “Oh, this is episode 69, nothing terrible will happen” but I was oh so wrong

why couldn't it be a fun sexy shopping episode 😭

The amount of fics that were written abiut this by the the next day after the stream is ridiculous and my heart can't handle it

Why is it that when their PC's get controlled, they always roll good?

Can I just state that the silence spell would have been a god send in this dungeon? No noise on the bridge and Mr. Obahn would not be able to speak his little words to wake up the laughing boi.

I thought my heart was ready. It was not. I love and hate all of the last moments with Yasha. From Nott giving her a flower, to Jester telling her she hates it, to Fjord just asking "why?", and to Nott and Jester again reaching out for her while the door closes. Thanks for making your videos. You do an amazing job editing and getting their reactions.

“Revel in the pain you inflict on others, and relish the pain you suffer yourself as an offering to the Crawling King.” -Laughing Hand “Seek and exalt places where no light touches.” “Imprison those who cannot resist you, and drag all life into the darkness.” Is it safe to assume that a good fair amount of other agents of the Angel of Irons have already unleashed the other two champions at the same time this all happened? We all know that probably other operatives are still fanning the flames of the war and others are focusing on opening rifts from the Nine Hells, so is it three sects doing this operation simultaneously so to speak?

I forgot about fjord relentless endurance while this was happening and thought for sure he was dead.

I'm gonna just go watch the Huperdook episodes on repeat until it nullifies this pain, Jesus Christ Mercer, so good.

That final 'You're scared' killed me : (

Nooo! Oh my gawd. Especially after all of this, Yasha so deserves her redemption and happily ever after. those saying Ashley needs a new character, I disagree, I think Yasha has so much potential. She needs to accept all she's done, come to terms with herself, break her chains and get her wings back, and learn to love again. That's a fuckin lot. She's got a long way to go but she's an awesome character and totally deserves a happily ever after. Or whatever, even if she doesn't get one, they'll at least give us some hope for her before they violently snuff it out. That's just good story telling. Fuck I love this show.

Thank you for condensing all that pain into 25 min. I don’t think I’d be able to handle rewatching the Entire episode 😭

@17:48 Sam Riegel: "Are we all in except Yasha?" Matt Mercer face: "holy shit you are!"

"a creature is not willing" my absolute favourite moment of this campaign

I appreciate the dedication from tal, the level of stress he’s visibly going through is really commendable

The conflict Laura added to Jester while trying to decide whether to run or not was brilliant. Such poignant emotion. And I like to think Ashley's "Run, babe." Was in character Yasha breaking control long enough to make sure she didn't hurt Jester. And Jester only leaving because of that.

Reminder that that was likely caused by Geas at 9th level to maintain that. Oban was way stronger than any of them gave him credit for.

I'd give 11millions dollars alone to see this episode animated

I can’t wait for the fan art of the mighty nein holding out their hands as they left Yasha behind 😭😭

My question is, was Matt really prepared to TPK the M9? If it weren't for some very fortunate rolls there could've been at the very least multiple casualties. That's how scary that was for me. It could've all ended right there.

Honestly once the laughing hand was released, I thought, we might watch a TPK. Then as it went on I kept thinking. 'One of them is not making it out alive.'

Tal worded it adequately: "Fuck, dude!"

This would have been the perfect time for one of them to do a hold the line sacrifice. Glad they all made it out but imagine the guilt of Yasha when she finally comes back if she killed Beau.

I'm so thankful for people like you in the community! I love watching these recaps so much because I sadly don't have time to re-watch episodes. So thank you, you're awesome!

I came in expecting the episode would be funny, because man, it's 69. But dude, that was intense... And heartbreaking.

I love the fact that the majority of music this episode was the music from the WoW Battle for Azeroth cinematic. It really did work well....

You know, a betrayal is kinda like a reversal; You have this one thing and you have the same thing but upside down, so you know, it's not that far from a 69.

"Hey, I'm gonna miss some sessions, work's really kicking off for me." "Okay, great, I'll write that in a bit." "...wait what?"

I would like to thank you for this video, it gave me enough information of the session and nearly made me cry. Thank you very much for this video

Ashley’s “Run baby” and Jester’s yelling “Yasha” hurts SO BAD EVERYTIME

"Fly, you fools!"

Damn, Tal is usually the one who keeps calm in stressful situations. That’s how you know this was bad.

BBEG confirmed to be Fjord!! I knew it! He was the one to set in motion Yasha's betrayal, since he dealt the final blow to Oban! (I'm joking, but it's funny how they always talk of Fjord being the one to betray them, when there are some that already tried doing that >_> Willingly or not, it still happened)

THE most dangerous thing in DnD isn’t the ancient red dragon or the archmage turned lich or the eldritch horror from beyond the stars. It’s the mind controlled raging barbarian who is ripping your party to pieces.

Jester crying out to Yasha is the saddest thing :(

I saw spoilers and thought someone died. Now I know it's just as bad

This is amazing editing!! 🙌🙌🎉 Also, probably on of the top 3 most heartbreaking episodes in campaign 2 😭

I just realized it’s been over a year since we had a “everyone but _____, please leave the table”

Great job on this edit!

I cannot wait for next week's art. It's going to be heart-breaking and magnificent.

This is fantastic! Thank you for your epic editing of this sequence! : )

The final moments of the fight and beyond are going down as a Big Moment in the M9's story. @_@ Holy crap, this was epic. Great editing and sum-up of the fight!

behold the power of blindspot! great episode and great video here condensing half of it in 25 minutes for easier viewing. couple close calls also, jester, caduceus and fjord were close and beau got close to being close too. next episode is going to be cool

Hey just a thank you for making this; my husband showed me this video to try and get me to check out D&D with him. And after seeing this I proceeded to watch ALL of season 2 and now almost all of season 1. Critical Role is so important to me now, thank you!

Cant get over the fact that the music was SO ON POINT during that entire ordeal.

I knew this was coming. Ever since the devastation Yasha caused during episode 55, I knew she'd be charmed, or unnaturally turned against the party, again.

It's 3am and you got me in my feels

Whenever I watch this episode and Ashley is out of character and says "Run baby" to Laura I feel like tearing up... when you are flipped, a barbarian, and know you are stronger than your tiefling friend you just to tell them to get the f*%# out of there.

Man going back and watching this clip still hurts me now. Each of the character's reaction, their feeling that their friend "betrayed" them. Just absolutely heartbreaking. The players obvious devastation (I mean who can blame them) brought out into their character's, into such a wonderful display of misery and heartbreak. Not to mention Matt's really good story telling and also just the way he set this all up. I know I say heartbreaking quite a few times, but really there is no other word that best describes what just happened.

The fact it's the boy king's theme playing cracks me up.

Good work mate, very concise and carefully collected

I have no words for this one... I was not ready. I knew from seeing this that it wasn't going to be a good time, but it took a couple days to finally watch the episode... I wasn't ready.

I know it was sad. But Caleb and Cad really helped each other this episode

Watching this again...I'm amazed everyone but Yasha made it out. So many close calls...one bad die roll and at least half the party would've died. Holy shit....freakin love this show

Fjord and Jester both almost died from Yasha. Imagine how devastating that would have been.

Normal DM: *yeah she’s sick she’ll be gone for a while* Mercer:

damn dude... that was some good editing. so touching...

18:30 moment is kind of ruined with Sam's horrible Matt-face shirt. XD I love it.

How Ashley feels during this battle is how I felt playing parts of The Last of Us Part II. It’s almost poetic.

Gotta say, a fat load of help the Storm God was for his hopeful chamption

I am so completely and utterly blown away by these folks. I grew up playing RPGs, from the blue box basic set I received for Christmas in 1979, on through AD&D 2E, to other games like Top Secret, Star Frontiers, Car Wars, Traveler ... I have always considered myself an RP gamer, but now after watching a bunch of CR content, I realize that I have never actually role-played a game in my life. These are the experiences I always wanted to have. The people I played with were only in it for the (virtual) material gains, while what I wanted, I only now have realized, was to tell stories.

Not the laughing hand - merely a servant of the laughing hand. And already way overpowered.