Stalker in the Swamp | Critical Role | Campaign 2, Episode 21 

M9: kiri what do you have?! Kiri: A KNIFE! M9: NO!

They can never remember they have an item that allows them a reroll, but God damn they will never forget about their plethora of ball bearings

Fjord:" I cast eldritch blast" Beau:gets covered in acid and faints Fjord:"I cast regret"

"I'm disappointed in you Mr. Fjord!" "Eh that means....literally nothing to me." I just about died laughing at that response.

Theory: Kiri is the meta-gaming pigeon who repeats information that the players forget.

One of the low key impressive things in this episode is how Matt continued his normal dm tasks but still managed to accurately recall who said what so he could mimic it as Kiri the entire time.

Marisha's slow, silent head turn when Liam called Beau dead weight is the funniest shit

Who ever is typing up the little notes that show up is killing it this episode. “Fjord’s HP: there isn’t any” and “Magnets: how do they work?” Killed me

“I’m disappointed in you.” “That means literally nothing to me.” ⚰️

*"I cast regret."*

I like that Matt punished the party for chit chatting in an enemy zone

Cali was so amazing. Her standing up for Caleb and after he walked away giving the scroll to Nott to give it to Caleb later and not going into Caleb's personal space.

Kiri tried to stab the fog but mist.

"Is it Thursday yet?" Silly Matt, it's always Thursday when you're behind. *Clicks next video*

"You can't use your trauma as an excuse to control other people," says Beau using her trauma as an excuse to control Caleb.

28:37 Caleb’s low-key panic attack when Nott says her name is Bren…. god Liam is so good

Caleb: "Why are you booing me? I'm right!"

DnD Beyond: we made you into an 80's cartoon, isn't that cool! The party and Matt: **openly sobbing**

They've changed so many rules to make the game more fun, but somehow "Cats don't have dark vision" is where they draw the line. lol

The fact that they actually talked like 5 straight minutes right next to their enemies and therefore lost the surprise attack LITERALLY blows my mind

"If he dies we can get the money back" - Yasha with the SENSIBLE take!

everyone: wailing on caleb for being cautious cali: ‘no i completely get it it’s important to double check. he’s cool’

Mark's Levitate clutch attempt at 2:06:10 is so smart. I love how excited Matt gets at it. Like an old master getting surprised by some young person's new trick. d&d is so cool

Laura Bailey: Oh no don't pick up Beau. Matt: What a great idea. The cardinal sin of dnd players is saying things aloud.

HEY NEW WATCHERS There are SPOILERS for much later in the campaign littering the comments, don't read them unless you're willing to get spoiled for MUCH LATER EPISODES

I’m 100% on board with showing the HP of each character during battles. The crew at CR is killing it during the holidays!

1:30 Critical Role anime intro 3:30 ONE MORE TIME 9:50 Episode Starts 14:55 The ninth appears 17:55 Fjord’s daughter 19:15 What kind of bowl? 25:30 An hour is a long time 29:50 Vebron is into the reverse Trogdor 31:55 The Might Nein release form (fanart?) 35:40 Fjord’s dad joke 39:20 Wrecking Caleb 41:55 The arcane knowledge of pronunciation 43:20 Caleb makes a joke 50:15 That’s Dr. Creepypervert to you 1:04:20 Classic Salty Pete maneuver 1:26:15 This is how Travis holds children 1:38:50 Choosing the right corpse 1:41:25 “Hey dead person…” 1:45:15 OH GOD, NOW WE’RE FIGHTING 1:53:45 40 feet trolls deep 1:57:50 Make a regret save 2:06:05 HDYWT Save The Day 2:09:10 Sam’s devastating jokes 2:17:20 “We’ll be idiots if we want to” 2:22:40 Break Starts and ends 2:23:50 Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal 2:25:30 Sam roasts Caleb 2:35:20 Nott Bren 2:38:00 Tugging that branch 2:53:30 Visual aid 2:59:15 Somehow the only Thor: Ragnorock reference 3:03:00 Battle Begins 3:20:00 Enlarged Beau is best Beau 3:24:45 The Snitch attempts to flee Matt 3:39:35 HDYWTDT 4:04:00 Bowl games 4:14:15 The story hooks are unleashed

I love those notes that come up on the screen, the deadpan sarcasm of it is amazing. “Fjord’s HP: he doesn’t have any.”

Sam's "Caleb also likes to burn his friends"-joke went totally under-appreciated because only he and Marisha were there for the backstory. XD

Fjord: "I go unconcious" Everyone: "Aaawww..." Fjord: "I use my relentless endurance" Everyone: Yaaaaaaayyy!"

I like how Caleb learned more about a god in 30 seconds with a 12 arcana roll than the entire c3 party did in 50+ episodes.

Everyone’s talking about Beau and Caleb But not Molly saying he’s bad at communication when Caleb made it very clearly why he was so cautious 💀

Matt about Mark: "He is like my brother from another mother". Me: "He is probably exaggerating because the guy is also a DM. They may be just good friends." Mark describing a Fireball: "this green flame magic COALESCES" Me: "Definitely his brother from another mother!"

Yeah, I gotta agree with some of the other comments; I feel like Caleb being apprehensive in returning this Godly item to a complete stranger was the right thing to do. Beau and Jester flaming him left me a bit salty.

“We take that, and we learn that as a lesson for later on.” He already learned the lesson once, Beau. He was doing that LITERALLY because he learned it once.

Just Yasha, low-key saving the world from Tiamat.

“Hey you dead person” is the required verbal component FYI. I love whoever makes those messages.

Came back to catch up on new episodes and thought I'd check out the comments for this episode, glad to see Bowlgate lives on. XD Almost reminds me how much I miss playing Cali. :(

Caleb: "We should be cautious with this world ending artifact" Cali: "I agree with Caleb" Everyone else: "Wow Caleb, don't try to control other people's destinies you dickhead"

Caleb: We should be extremely cautious handing over this instrument of world ending destruction Everyone else: You're being unreasonable just hand the thing over That exchange made me absurdly upset

“Liam likes to burn his friends” “Caleb also likes to burn his friends” YIKES

HEY, there might be some SPOILERS under the thing 1:30 Critical Role finally gets an anime intro (Kamil and Kevin, karekareo on Twitter) 3:30 ONE MORE TIME (k on Patreon, Ki Frame on RU-vid) 9:50 Episode Starts 14:55 The ninth appears 17:55 Fjord’s daughter 19:15 What kind of bowl? 25:30 An hour is a long time 29:50 Vebron is into the reverse Trogdor 31:55 The Might Nein release form (fanart?) 35:40 Fjord’s dad joke 39:20 Wrecking Caleb 41:55 The arcane knowledge of pronunciation 43:20 Caleb makes a joke 50:15 That’s Dr. Creepypervert to you 1:04:20 Classic Salty Pete maneuver 1:26:15 This is how Travis holds children 1:38:50 Choosing the right corpse 1:41:25 “Hey dead person…” 1:45:15 OH GOD, NOW WE’RE FIGHTING 1:53:45 40 feet trolls deep 1:57:50 Make a regret save 2:06:05 HDYWT Save The Day 2:09:10 Sam’s devastating jokes 2:17:20 “We’ll be idiots if we want to” 2:22:40 Break Starts and ends 2:23:50 Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal 2:25:30 Sam roasts Caleb 2:35:20 Nott Bren 2:38:00 Tugging that branch 2:53:30 Visual aid 2:59:15 Somehow the only Thor: Ragnorock reference 3:03:00 Battle Begins 3:20:00 Enlarged Beau is best Beau 3:24:45 The Snitch attempts to flee Matt 3:39:35 HDYWTDT 4:04:00 Bowl games 4:14:15 The story hooks are unleashed Between Twitch and RU-vid, live viewership of this episode peaked around 55,000 people. The in-game start day for the episode was the 8th of Fessuran 835. Sam’s flask says “The Bagel Knows” The Stream of Many Eyes was great for those who were able to catch it live. The games should be going up on the Dungeons and Dragons RU-vid page in the next few days, so watch for it. I really loved Matt’s Force Grey game. Any moments I missed? Feel free to post them here. Is it Thursday yet?

Caleb: Wants to be cautious with highly enchanted communication device to one of the most evil beings in the universe. Everyone else: Why would we be cautious with that? Super powerful artifacts should always go to people you met this morning who self professed growing up in a cult.

Love how Matt is committed to play the sleazy and creepy Febron.

at 4:10:09, the way liam delivered the line, "beauregard, what if she had been lying to us?" hurt me so much. he plays caleb so heartbreakingly well

4:04:00 Poor Caleb, he was totally right on wanting to be cautious before giving the bowl to Cali.

Sam's flask says "the bagel knows." Sam couldn't have known yet because Everything Everywhere All at Once wasn't out. but speaking to you from the tail end of 2022, yes, the bagel does indeed know.

Cali: is it flammable mr. Creepy pervert. Verbron: First off I resent that. Cali: Do you? Verbron: shakes his head nah.. Lol

Cali: "Cats don't like me" Caleb: "I take a step and a half away from Cali"

Why do I get the feeling that at least a part of Beu’s baggage is what’s causing her to lash out at Caleb about his baggage

Damn, Matt’s hair is looking especially glorious this episode

I love how you can tell what NPC Matt is playing simply by the mannerisms he has like when he switches to Kiri he starts looking around jerkily and bobbing his head before he even says anything

So you've got a character who is descended from a specifically evil kind of dragon. And they have a tendency to be overwhelmed by that draconic nature. And they admit to having done some seriously evil shit as part of a cult dedicated to one of the great forces of evil in the world who is also draconic. Sure let's give them the bowl without checking their intentions. You know the bowl. The one that lets you commune with said evil draconic god when you fill it with blood. The evil bowl. The bowl specifically for evil. That bowl.

I love at 1:59:27 you can actually see Matt transition from DM to husband as he realizes this will kill Marisha's character. After a moment he then goes back to being impartial when her says "What are you doing Caleb?". Honestly never thought I'd get so into a show about DnD, but 80 hours deep and here we are.

My favorite detail of that DnDBeyond commercial is them adding in Caleb casting dancing lights as the fight starts

Props to Matt for dealing with 8 insane characters, playing two NPC's, and DMing simultaneously

Fjord's HP: "He doesn't have any."

Can I just say I love the contrast of Matt bending over backwards last episode to make sure the Nein saved Kiri to this episode where he’s doing everything he can to kill the little pervert dude they hired 😂 Like Kiri tanked a 19 damage hit that definitely should have killed her, meanwhile the Nein took their eyes of this dude for 10 seconds and Matt was like “Sorry he got snatched by a troll, it happens 🤷🏽”

I’m just saying, Caleb is in the right. Remember the last time let a guest near a powerful artifact? Nothing personal, just business lol

It's honestly absurd that cats don't have dark vision

Why are people acting so agressively to Caleb? Checking that an absolute stranger with a very strong desire for a very powerful object is to be trusted sounds exactly the right thing to do. He didn't even word it badly saying that he hopes she is telling the truth he just wants to check. Didn't understand that at all

Matt: Every hit it takes, it spews this toxic green caustic spray that really damages the shit out of anyone near it. Oh, and Febron is dead cause you hit it and is covered in it. Marisha: I run up and take as many attacks as possible. Matt: You take 33 points of damage from the toxic spray. Marisha: *shocked Pikachu face* Travis: I hit it two mo' times while she's right in front of it. WTF?

My favorite part is everyone yelling at fjord for how he holds Kiri

Everyone: "Lets do something different with the next Campaign" Liam and Sam: "Ok, We made characters that wouldn't have fallen for Arkhans Betrayal that easily" Everyone Else: "HOW DARE YOU"

caleb: i'm awkward, i don't like people, people don't like me also caleb: hello newcomer i'll help you integrate yourself into the group oh you're having a hard time? here's my literal emotional support cat for you hope it helps love you

Caleb: We shouldn't trust Cali's word, we just met her Cali: That's fair Beau: You can't control other people's destiny, let the woman we met a couple hours ago have the item that can be used for evil WTF Beau? Jester, Molly, don't encourage her having reckless abandon.

Beau telling Caleb "you don't get to control others because of your PTSD and your shitty self-image" made no sense to me here. She's already used that in a previous episode, and it was spot on. This was about something way beyond himself. That was a dangerous item, and he was the only one being cautious, while the rest were just not wanting to be distrusting of a guest's character on the show. A little rough getting through that conflict with Beau, because no one else had his back. Marisha tries too hard sometimes. Liam was my favorite player in C1 and he's already becoming my favorite in C2.

CritRoleStats Time Stamps for Kiri parts! (0:12:43) (like Fjord) It’s sharp! (0:17:30) (like Jester) A bird! (0:17:33) (like Jester) She walks around. (0:17:40) (like Cali) Hello? (0:19:14) (like Jester) Your underwear? (0:25:15) (like Nott) Welcome to The Mighty Nein! (0:25:28) (like Cali) Hello, Kiri! I’m Cali! (0:25:35) (like Cali) You’re Kiri. (0:26:37) *growls like crocodile* (0:27:12) (like Frumpkin) *purrs* (0:29:03) (like Jester) This is Kiri! (0:33:04) (like Jester) Welcome to the Mighty Nein! (0:37:01) (like Jester) There’s lots of creatures around that could hurt. (0:39:27) (like Cali) Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! (0:39:37) (like Jester) Wrapped around his weenie. (0:42:28) (like Cali) MEE-ster Fjord! (0:56:32) *imitates windchime* (1:18:35) (like Fjord) You’re a fan of pie. (1:22:00) (like Nott) You’re a cultist? (1:26:34) (like Nott) It’s me, Bren! (1:41:22) (like Jester) I’ve never done this before! (1:41:28) (like Jester) Be careful. (1:44:17) (like Cali) If it bleeds, we can kill it. (2:04:18) (like Beau) F***! (2:56:26) (like Cali) I killed people. (2:56:35) (like Jester) Kiri. Don’t. Move. Unless something chases you. Right. (3:58:37) (like Cali) I killed people! (4:03:20) (like Jester) I’m so proud of you!

Part elf, part human, part dragon Sounds like it was a fun party

29:26 I love how Travis gets excited and matt just winks back, what a bro moment I love it :D

Why is Caleb THE ONLY critical thinking member of the group. Everyone else: "I trust this random person i just met with a super powerful tool" Caleb: "maybe we should just think about it first, just to be safe" Everyone else: "why are you trying to control people" Like what? Especially beau! Like she is wholly unreasonable and acts emotionally and not logically. She always jumps on him when logic is on his side. Period. Like "if we screw up then we learn it for next time..." OR hear me out...."think...BEFORE you have to learn the lesson" I would have Caleb's back in EVERY one of these disagreements so far. Like it's crazy lol

Ashley: "Is Kiri Down here?" Matt: "Yeah shes down in the corner." Ashley: "Ffffffffff She better not die."

Pretty sure Kiri is an excuse for Matt to start impersonating and practicing his Jester for when Laura goes on maternity leave... quite clever.

Very very late, but I would 100% watch an 80s version of the M9 as shown by DnD Beyond.

I felt sooooo bad for Liam bc that was total bs at the end there, but then I remembered when he picked Scandland up by his scruffy neck and escorted him to a cave corner ; removed his belt, and had a similar conversation in S1

Matt's imitation skills are absolutely incredible.... listening without watching and I keep having to stop and look at the captions to see that it is Kiri talking.

Yasha: Does her thing at the end Stormlord: Good job. Take that you 5 headed scaly bastard!

The fact that the whole group was so willing to immediately trust Cali when they STILL don’t trust Caleb and Nott is wild to me. They even have a spell to ensure someone is telling the truth and refused to even entertain the idea. It honestly made me think less of most of the party. Especially Beau, who KNOWS why Caleb doesn’t trust easily when it comes to powerful magic.

First time watching.... Caleb's actions with Cali were sooooo valid. 😤 That conversation was so so frustrating and I'm thankful for Cali agreeing with Caleb's actions. 🤌 But ugh. Ridiculous. 😤

1:55:55 "Febron, by the way? *Fuckin' DEAD* "

I love the side chat scroll."Fjord hp: He doesn't have any." and "Beauregard hp: "We know it's still wrong it's chat's fault."

I love how Sam and Laura are always whispering to each other and giggling. This groups friendship is so wholesome and weird, I love it.

last episode: marisha and laura talking about captain maximillian’s luscious locks this episode: matt shows up with luscious locks 💅

The similarities between Caleb and Calis backstory are insane. The "I helped kill people, I helped torture people, I have to make sure they can't do this to anyone ever again" is so similar to Calebs words.

Pros to Calebs Plan: -Gets to make sure that they're not passing off a powerful artifact to a cultist of a Betrayer God -Low effort, fairly non-intrusive Cons: -None

I love coming back and watching Liam/Caleb stress TF out every time they say the name “Bren”. I also love that it was a complete accident on sams part.

Kiri's little shake of her feathers made me SO HAPPY 1:26:35

Caleb: and what if we're wrong Beau: then we learn from the mistake How about we don't make the mistake to learn from?

Caleb: Tries to prevent the end of the world from an evil dragon god Beauregard: "wHaT ThE heLL MAn?!?" Cali: "He is doing the right thing" Beau: "Nu-uH"

Liam*Remembering the last time someone took a powerful object and just said “nothing personal, just business” and blinked out*

"OMG it's all our characters animated!!!" - 😭😭😭 hits different, now that both VM and M9 got animated

"What appears to be. . . " -Matt Mercer, every episode.

I love how Knott and Jester get all motherly and yell at Fjord for carrying Kiri wrong 😅 straight up Momma Bears!

Beau's tearing into Caleb pissed me off something fierce.

I am SO glad that this campaign Matt isn't having the universe wait for them no matter what they decide to get sidetracked on.

28:38 "What's your name?" Nott: Bren Caleb: *Stares down Nott in shocked horror/anger for several moments.* Nott: shurgs in confusion Me who is watching this the second time: 😲

58:45 Matt: The material of the chime isn't wood, it's bones. And the twine is dried sinew. M9, disgusted: oh god Ashley smiling and nodding: cool!!

As a first time watcher, I feel like Caleb and Nott would have left this group with the way they've been treating them.

Caleb being cautious and the entire party turns on him. Its annoying sometime. The fucking wizard that knows the most about the arcane gets shat on because he wanted to make sure a stranger that they knew less than a day doesn't turn around and just use it

really glad to see all the comments super upset with how caleb was treated in this episode. i mean, his caution was _completely_ justified, and beau _taking him to a separate corner and apprehending him/cussing him out?_ that shit pisses me OFF, man. i'm sure that the players didn't mean anything ill by it and were just staying in character but i would have gotten genuinely frustrated and upset if it were me. mad respect to liam. edit because im still mad: and using his _trauma_ as a _weapon_ against him? he TRUSTED her enough to confide in her. he trusted her enough to tell her about the _worst moments of his life,_ and that she wouldn't bring it up again, and she _uses it as a weapon to talk down to him._ his trauma isnt related to this scenario at _all!_ and on top of that she _yells_ it so that the rest of the party can hear and _exposes his personal business! that _*_he trusted her with!_*_ to the rest of the party!_ i don't by any means hate marisha. asshole characters are necessary and the fact that im emotionally invested enough to get this pissed speaks numbers. im criticizing the character, not the player. but just... _god._ beau, that was _really, really, really shitty._