"Critical Role EXTRA – Liam's Quest!" (Sx12) is an RPG one-shot which aired in lieu of "The Feywild" (1x59) as some cast members were traveling. As the guest Dungeon Master for this campaign, Liam O'Brien leads the players—who are playing themselves—through a mundane voice acting session when extraordinary events leave them struggling to survive in a Lovecraftian horror adventure based on popular movies and video games, followed by a Q&A session with questions from Twitter.
The sequel to this episode is "Liam's Quest: Full Circle" (Sx16).
Synopsis[]
Pre-show[]
This is not a normal Vox Machina episode because Matt Mercer and Marisha Ray are in Mackay, Australia to attend the Haven Expo. Liam was not supposed to do this one-shot; he didn't have the time but he got the time because a two days directing job of his was cancelled. Laura is hula-hooping for some reason.
Announcements[]
- Joe Mad poster available on the Geek and Sundry online store for a week.
- Signed posters are still available until tomorrow at 1:00.
- Thank you to the fans for raising $84,512.57 this week-end to support the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Therefore, the "Deadlands One-Shot for MDA Charity!" (Sx11) is available on geekandsundry.com as part of the reward for reaching the $75,000 goal.
- The blue Critical Role t-shirt is still available. All proceeds go to charity.
- Critical Role will be at the San Diego Comic Con, more details coming next week. They're also going to be at PetCo Park in San Diego.
- Critical Role Live! Tickets are online now for the live stream of "Heredity and Hats" (1x60), the first live show put on by Critical Role. It is set for 14 July 2016 in West Hollywood at the Landmark Theater on Pico at 7:00pm Pacific.
- New Vampire D Comic at the Unified Pictures booth.
Part I[]
It's a hot day in LA as our group of four start their activities. Laura, Travis, Sam and Taliesin have been working on the mo-cap for the third game in the Felguard series for months. Today is the first day of VO sessions at Warner Bros. Studios. Everyone had a busy morning; Travis was working out at home, Laura was doing a 9-1 session of work, Taliesin has been working on another project at home and Sam is rushing over from one of the animated series he works on. Sam's neighbors are on vacation and he is watching their dog Bixby, a pug. He can't leave him in the hot house all day so he brings the dog along to work.
Everyone arrives to find that their voice over director is their friend Liam O'Brien. Their friends, Pierce O'Toole and Emma are also there. Three Devs from Phalanx Studios are on set as is Jenna, the writer they all know well from the mo-cap sessions. Their director Garrett also greets them and tells them the scenes they mo-capped are looking great, asking Laura about her bruise she got. The audio lead Gus is eyeing Bixby and Liam says they'll work it out, telling Sam he can keep him with him as long as he is quiet. Pierce pops in and gets Starbucks orders. The group get their mics on and set up for the session. Liam comes into the booth, smiling but a little tense. He tells them they have a lot to get through so they can't mess around too much. Sam asks about Laura's bruise and she says it actually really hurt. Liam points out the scripts and reminds Laura where they were in the context of the scene. They do their first take and Liam gives them some notes, setting up again for another take. In the second take, Sam says pickup pretty much every other sentence causing everyone in the back room to laugh. They do their next take and Liam says it was awesome, talks to the devs and asks for one more take where Laura explodes more on Sam's character. They do take four and Liam turns back to the devs.
They wonder what's going on as Liam talks and Laura spaces out looking at her water bottle, which strangely ripples. There is a vibration in the ground and then the room rocks to the side. A pulse of energy hums through the group. On the other side of the glass, Liam is floating two feet in the air and suddenly his body rips in half as strange beads of mercury float in between the two halves in lieu of gore. The back wall behind them expands, looking wet and purple, and they see a tunnel form. Four more 'Liams' crawl up its sides, yanking the devs into the tunnel. The two halves of Liam that were floating have dropped to the ground. Laura also drops to the ground while Travis and Taliesin try to bar the door but it is already jammed from the rocking. The two halves turn towards Pierce who has returned with coffee runs, pursuing him out the door followed by the two halves. The devs are gone and Allen is pulled into the tunnel.
The group doesn't have signal on their phones or Wi-Fi. The Liams have left the control room and the intestinal tunnel has swelled shut. Travis tries to push the ceiling part of the door up to no avail. The rest of the group move out of the way as Taliesin tries to throw the TV through the window and manages to smash it open. They try to sneak out of the room up the stairs by the light of cell phones. They see a crumpled part of the hallway and they can hear something metallic spilling from the kitchen. They see coins piling out of the door. While they argue what to do a giant red claw rakes in some of the gold, revealing a sword in the pile. Travis goes to retrieve the sword as well as a dagger, bow and a rod, slicing himself in the process. He brings the weapons to his friends, divvying it up. Travis takes the sword, Taliesin takes the rod, Laura takes the daggers and Sam takes the bow. They see a quiver still in the pile as the claw rakes through again. As soon as Taliesin takes the rod, he gets a migraine level headache and goes to the bathroom. He searches and finds a giant jar of Advil and takes four of them. He rejoins the group as the snout starts to poke through the door. Travis grabs a handful of coins and Sam grabs the quiver as they run past.
Two doors are cracked open further down the hallway. Laura creeps up to the door where light is coming through and sees a server room. A pale glow is appears on the terminals and she hears a faint voice she knows, Ashley, who says "Find...me...waiting...cafeteria". The other end of the tunnel crunches and they run past the other open door which creaks open revealing the porthole of a boat scraping by the door as water sloshes through, the letters 'IC' pass by. They open the door to get to the lobby and there is sunlight in the lobby. They run for the door to get out to the parking lot and as Taliesin grabs the door the humming returns. The group is frozen in place. The door handle is rusting and old and they see a five-story-tall squid-like monster.
Everyone but Taliesin is frozen in terror and he sees that it has noticed them, so he starts pulling his friends back from the door. The creature groans and flexes, releasing something from its skin, and another pulse moves through their heads. It disappears and the buildings around it are covered in centuries of vegetation. A pond has formed and the thing that dropped is slithering in the water. The building is gone and they are basically outdoors. Travis figures that they have somehow traveled through time. They argue whether they should attack the thing in the pond and try to stealth away but Bixby barks, giving away their location.
Travis tries to distract and moves in front of Laura, throwing a protein packet at the monster which explodes in its face. Sam tries to shoot an arrow and misses, hiding behind Taliesin. Laura throws a dagger and manages to hit it in one of its eight eyes. Taliesin's headache swells and he can see tentacles on his own hands. He uses the tentacle to attack and it cowers. The creature jumps and latches onto Travis, who shaves it off with his sword. Sam tells Bixby to get his dropped arrow and shoots at the monster, killing it. Laura retrieves her dagger and Sam has to pick Bixby out of the pond to keep him from drowning.
They reach the canteen, where Ashley's distorted voice said she could be found, and find it overgrown and broken down. Upon hearing rustling in the bushes they try to hide. In order to cross the grass, Sam carries Laura, who carries Bixby. Travis refuses to carry Laura and opts to carry Taliesin because he said please. Sam steps on a twig as they cross, setting off rustling, and they see a flash of yellow fabric up the wall. Taliesin tears up a comic book in order to make a torch, lighting it. It burns down, but as it does a blinding light appears in the center of the room, revealing a vision of Ashley Johnson sitting in front of a desk, facing them.
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Fan art of Ashley Johnson from "Critical Role EXTRA – Liam's Quest!" (Sx12), by Truffery.[art 2]
She greets them, and then begins to talk as if everything is normal, discussing Blindspot and how she'll be home soon, until she is asked whether she's experiencing the same things they are. She suddenly goes still and then lifts into the air, arms outstretched, pale and translucent, white feathered wings shooting out from her side, her hair floating and her eyes going wide. A powerful voice warns them that there is no time, that "the tower awaits", and that if they don't "make haste the clock can never turn back. Only you."
At this moment they are hit with a wave of golden light, and all their wounds are healed, as well as gaining twenty-five hit points. Ashley tells them she loves them all, and then disappears.
Break[]
- If you're watching via Facebook, the broadcast will end in two minutes. Head to twitch.tv/geekandsundry to continue watching!
- Tune in Tomorrow: Group Hug | 4:00pm PDT, Herolix Battles with Guest Scott Porter. Gather Your Party | 7:00pm PDT, Party Time with Geek & Sundry. G&S | Twitch
- Cameron Rice and Elizabeth Hayhrust talked about the Public viewing: The Last Man on Earth, July 6th 10:00pm Pacific after the concession stand. twitch.tv/geekandsundry.
- Signal Boost! with America Young.
- Hector's Book Club (But it's with America Young). Hexed Comic presentation
Part II[]
The light fades and the party feels the radiation rising again. When it stops, they're not inside the cafeteria anymore, but around them is just wasteland. The only thing that dominates the landscape is the Warner Bros. water tower, standing above the waste looking brand new. Rifts in the sky above it tear open, vanishing as quickly as they come, every six or seven seconds, a lightning storm around it. As they start to move forward toward the tower, they see smaller Liams glued, Geiger-like, all over its legs, some sort of mucus-like membrane over them holding them in place. Laura thinks the tower is where the Liams are born. The whole thing seems charged with electricity. Above the tower flies a corpse-like flying horse of the apocalypse, and on it rides a Conan O'Brien lich. The horse lands on the top of the tower and shrieks. As the tower pulses with radiation, even smaller Liams are shot out of the small Liams glued to it, landing near the party.
As they approach the tower, the lich takes off again and flies towards them. Taliesin successfully casts Chill Touch on Conan O'Brien and then hides behind Laura who is hiding behind Travis. As Travis dashes towards a Liam approaching, Laura throws one dagger which misses. Sam also takes a shot, killing one Liam. The lich stuns Travis, and Taliesin casts Chill Touch on one Liam and executes it. Then he slaps Travis, who recovers from the stun. Laura throws a second dagger, slaying another Liam. Sam tosses the dagger back to her, then shoots an arrow at the lich. Taliesin casts Mage Hand, retrieving Laura's first dagger. Travis runs underneath the lich and throws his sword at him, which misses. Laura gets rid of one more Liam, while Sam takes another shot at Conan, who points at him and casts a spell which damages Sam a lot and slows him down, freezing him. Laura keeps taking Liams down. Travis turns to the lich and asks if he is willing to accept a sacrifice for mercy. He then looks for Sam and tries to cut off one of his arms, missing him. As a reaction, Sam orders Bixby to attack Travis. The lich keeps hitting Sam, who is knocked unconscious. The party is now making its way toward the tower, while other Liams are spawning. Taliesin aims for the lich, while Laura comes back for Sam, unconscious and frozen in place. Travis follows her and hits Sam, chopping off his arm.
Suddenly the party (except for Sam) sees a motorcycle with a sidecar driven by Matthew Mercer and Marisha Ray plowing through the dirt. Marisha has tats all up her arms and a bandanna tied around her head. Matthew has an eyepatch and a shotgun hanging off his side with a guitar. Mercer shouts, "We don't have much time! We have to act now!" while Marisha leaps off the motorcycle with a flip. She shoots out fire and hits the Warner Bros. tower, which explodes in flame. Grizzled Matt Mercer jumps down out of the sidecar and says, "Hold on! I know it's rough. You're the only thing that can fix this!" He whips the guitar off, and the party is healed. Sam starts to thaw, and the arm reconnects, while the ice melts away. They gain 30 hit points, as three Liams explode. Marisha yells, "It's already over! There's no--" and then they bamf out along with the motorcycle. Conan's horse crumbles to dust and the lich plummets to the ground. He attacks Laura, who is paralyzed. Taliesin casts Chill Touch once more on the lich, and hits him. Travis, finally able to use his sword, takes a swing at Conan, hacking one of his arms off. Sam, with his now reattached arms, takes advantage of Laura's paralysis to kiss her, but ends cutting his lip on her teeth. The lich turns to Travis and hits him, but he manages to shrug off the paralysis. Taliesin crits with the umpteenth Chill Touch cast on the lich, getting the final blow on it. He slaps Conan O’Brien repeatedly, knocking bone after bone away. The lich snaps, and the remaining bones collapse to the ground. Taliesin goes to loot the body but finds nothing, while Laura unfreezes. Travis claims the lich's skull. In that moment, they all feel pushed through time, and the session ends.
Q&A[]
- Would you consider taking Critical Role on an international tour?
- Baby steps first, let's see how the first live show will go.
- How old are your characters?
- Grog Strongjaw doesn't know; Vex'ahlia and Vax'ildan are 27-28, Percival de Rolo is in his early 20s. Sam doesn't reveal how old Scanlan Shorthalt is but he looks like he's around the other's age, but of course, gnomes age differently.
- How much the early part of the game was true to life?
- It was exaggerated but some of the people and places are real.
- If you could play as another character of Vox Machina, body switch for a day, who would it be?
- Travis takes Scanlan; Liam would keep Vax's body but have Vex's personality; Sam and Taliesin would take Grog.
- What class Marisha was for her brief cameo?
- She was a monk. Liam asked everyone what they thought they would be, except for Ashley but Liam knew what he wanted to do.
- If you were given the shot, just one shot, you get one play, what position are you going to play, defense/offense?
- Will Vax and Gilmore ever end up together?
- Liam doesn't know. But the only thing is, Vax is completely in love with Keyleth.
- Travis, how much do the Giants, Washington's team, and the Eagles suck?
- Pretty bad.
- Liam, what was your inspiration for this story?
- He wanted do to something different than what Matt does, which is something opposite to high fantasy.
- Taliesin, what kind of things do you have in your car for this sort of scenario?
- He has a quiver of arrows, his laptop and work stuff, a black velvet frock coat, large leather boots, a hardcover copy of The Wicked + The Divine, and some nail wraps.
- How much do you all love Hamilton?
- All obsessed with it.
- Which class would you have been, Liam, had you been playing?
- Probably a rogue still.
- Sam, how much time do you spend on your goblet?
- He spends one minnute before every episode gluing something at the bottom.
- Do you guys jump on the shipping bandwagon or is it completely weird for you?
- They just watch and admire; Taliesin is happy to see it but don't want to call attention to it, either. Laura loves looking at the art.
- Who is more useful, Bixby or Trinket?
- Sam has a new found respect for Laura after playing a ranger with an animal companion who can die quickly, but he still don't like Trinket however.
- Who does Pike like?
- Laura was the first to know because Ashley told her, but she's not going to say who.
- If you guys get the airship, who would be the captain and what positions would you man?
- Percy would be captain and Scanlan will be cabin boy.
- Did Vax know that Gilmore wasn't Gilmore when he stabbed him?
- Liam says he knew but he didn't know it was Rakshasa, just that it wasn't Gilmore because his behavior didn't match the real Gilmore.
- Taliesin, will you ever use Diplomacy again?
- Yes but it's complicated to use. In order to use it, Percy has to be hit by lightning, which will eventually happen.
- Travis, what class were you in the game we just played?
- A fighter.
- What level were you when you all started the game?
- All level one.
- Does Grog have any love interests?
- He does, a beer mug.
- Was what we saw earlier the average day for a voice actor?
- It was hammed up but it wasn't that far from the reality.
- Laura, do you think stealing the broom was enough to change alignments?
- Hard no, it's just a broom. Laura didn't realize that if someone stole something from another player was a bad thing, she just thought it was funny. Vex has very good intentions for anything that she does. So if anything, she should have just dropped to neutral or chaotic good. But going straight up for chaotic neutral, dropping two levels of alignment was wrong for Laura. She talked with Matt afterward because it wasn't right for Vex to be that alignement, that's not where she is in her head.
- Liam, did it go better than you expected? Were you nervous DMing for your friends, and would you be open to doing it again?
- Better. He would do it again but not all the time because it's a lot of work for not a lot of time because he has two kids and his work schedule. Liam was anxious about it in the leadup, but five minutes into it, he was having a blast, didn't care, and wasn't worried about what he was going to say.
- Was there anything on your character sheets tonight that you did not get to do, but wish you had done?
- Taliesin had Hellish Rebuke, Travis had Second Wind, Laura had a dagger, and Sam had Favored Terrain of voiceover booths.
- If your character could get the kill on any one of the dragons, which one would you want it to be and why?
- Travis says Grog would kill Raishan.
- For Travis. What the hell, dude?
- Complicated question.
- Do you all agree with the stats that Liam gave you?
- Taliesin felt highly complimented on his, Sam disagreed completely, and Laura pretty much agreed.
- Does doing so much VO in video games decrease or increase your enjoyment of playing them?
- They do love playing video games they're in.
- Was the Liam in the recording studio the real Liam, or was there a Liam mastermind somewhere?
- In Liam's imagination, it was the real one. It got pulled apart and send off a chain of Liam duplication.
- Why did Conan choose Liam?
- Liam can't anwser that.
- What is the scariest moment for you so far in the Critical Role campaign?
- Travis didn't want to die by Kevdak. Taliesin says it's the most scared the group has ever been going into the Kevdak fight, because they realized too late they shouldn't have done it. For Liam it was the Rakshasa moment.
- Will you dress as your characters at the live show?
- They have not thought about that, but it will not happen.
- Laura and Travis, how did it feel RPing as a couple tonight?
- It felt pretty normal.
- Do you ever feel like Mercer is picking on you?
- No. There's never real anger towards him at all.
- Are you going back to New York Comic Con?
- They don't know yet.
- Who would win in a fight, Stinky Jules or Percy?
- Percy. Because the level of Stinky Jules is lower than Percy's.
- If you could have on thing answered about the current campaign by Matt, what would it be?
- Travis wants to know if the Titanstone Knuckles level up any higher than they already are. But for the most part, they want to discover things as they're playing.
- How much is planned and how much is improv-ed?
- They never had conversations with Matt about what they're going to do, unless they're going to do something he needs to know about.
- Has Matt ever had to crash with one of you guys because Marisha got mad at him after a game?
- No.
- Why hasn't Scanlan's daughter smelled the poo and taken it out?
- Who knows? She might've.
- Do you have any character regrets you wish you could do over?
- Scanlan regrets trying to sleep with his daughter. Percy doesn't believe in individual regrets, just life lessons. Other than the regret of his own existencen he's down. Vex regrets not beeing able to bring Vax out of his sadness. For Vax it was during the Raven Queen and the Deathwalker's Ward moment, Liam wanted to sacrifice Vax so Vex could life. That's not what happen and that's not what Liam wanted, he wanted to follow the Everlight and he was in love. It was frustrating.
- Bonus: Pirates or ninjas?
- Pirates for Taliesin and Laura, ninjas for Liam, Sam, and Travis.
Is it the day before Friday yet?
Featured Characters[]
New[]
- Laura Bailey
- Bixby
- Taliesin Jaffe
- Ashley Johnson [DM]
- Matthew Mercer
- Conan O'Brien
- Liam O'Brien
- Marisha Ray [DM]
- Sam Riegel
- Travis Willingham
Quotations[]
- Sam: (to Taliesin) You're a voice actor.
Laura: He's a warlock. Let's be honest.[1] - Laura: Travis Willingham! You do NOT kill Sam Riegel right now! [2]
References[]
Art:
- ↑ Fan art of the characters from "Critical Role EXTRA – Liam's Quest!" (Sx12). Foreground: Travis, Taliesin, Sam, Laura, and Bixby. Background: Matt, Marisha, Ashley, Liam, and Conan O'Brien., by Hugo Cardenas (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Fan art of Ashley Johnson from "Critical Role EXTRA – Liam's Quest!" (Sx12), by Truffery (source). Used with permission.