"4-Sided Dive: Party of NPCs" (4SDx02) is the second episode of 4-Sided Dive, discussing from "Omens Above" (3x19) to "Fight at the Museum..." (3x21) with guests Laura Bailey, Taliesin Jaffe, Liam O'Brien, and Sam Riegel. Sam served as the night's Tavern Keeper, and the guests played Street Fighter V after the break with Liam ultimately winning the final battle against the secret opponent, Dani Carr.
Synopsis[]
Cold open[]
“
I, Sam Riegel, rolled the highest, making me your second Tavern Keeper, so I have to host this train wreck and read off this here teleprompter without reading it beforehand, which is why I'm gonna read the rest of this doing my best impression of Fjord's accent. Which one? I guess we'll find out. This'll surely go off without a hitch blast. Tonight, we'll unpack the puzzlingly purple, telepathically tact tack box of Laura Bailey's ultimate horse girl, Imogen Temult. Tack is the correct word for horse equipment, fun fact. Orym, Liam O'Brien's teeny, tattooed, twinkle-toed tank is the talk of the town. And how's this for a segue? Like he'd say Eldritch Blast. Bait 'n switch Blast! Oh my god. Wow. Sam Riegel, the Jaws of Joy, is playing a robot cleric. Was he that British? Oh sure. I don't know. You're doing great. Is playing a robot clerk because I guess that's where we're at now. But Fresh Cut Grass is so adorable, it makes me want to change Fjord accents. And help, it's again. Taliesin Jaffe is playing another home-brewed subclass, and in the spirit of Ashton's fundamental chaos, let's roll on a random table to see how I throw to the opening titles. I rolled at two, which means sad dad dance. (doing a sad dad dance) Be sure to stick around because, later, we'll be beating each other up in a "Critical Role" "Street Fighter V" tournament of epic proportions.
”
–
Sam's cold open
What the Fuck is up with That?[]
What has it been like to have a group that's so fluid? With Bertrand's death, did this fall out? Chetney joining, Dorian leaving.
- For Laura, it was "weird" to play without Travis at the table.
- It was "weird" to be on the way to know each others characters and then loose them.
- For Liam, it was "weird" to join the main story from a mini series and temporarily be a mini group within Bells Hells.
- The cast is apparently very, very close to Sam's mom.
WTFIUWT? (Ruidus)
- Bells Hells knows that: Imogen's mother was possibly Ruidus-born; was part of research connected with her possible trait; the red dreams are taking place on the surface of Ruidus because it's also red.
- Sam realized the meaning of the big moon, little moon — Orym's tattoo symbolizing him with his husband Will.
- Chetney's lycanthropy is moon related.
- Ashton has four rage builds: Gravity, Time, Space, and Possibility.
- In The Legend of Vox Machina, Laudna died during the fully visible Ruidus, which, according to Sam, is possibly the reason for her reincarnation.
WTFIUWT? (Twilight Mirror Museum's heist)
- Laura thinks they might've prepared better (e.g. scout the perimeter)
- Liam created Orym specifically to probe all the electrical sockets, leaving the responsibilities to the rest of the group. However, he and Imogen came to be the leaders.
- Taliesin: "With exception of Imogen, on a certain bizarre level, this is a group of NPCs". Orym — a guard, Ashton — a goon for a villain, FCG — companion, R2D2 Laudna — dead body, ghost. Imogen is the only one who "seems to have a feeling of intense destiny". Dorian is also included in the consideration.
- Returning to the heist, it went relatively well. However, Chetney's prospecting was risky.
You know, between EXU and Campaign III and, frankly, the other campaigns, there have been a lot of heists. What are some of your favorite heist movies or heist scenarios?
- Heist scenarios from CR: infiltration of Vergesson Sanatorium, robbery of Sutan residence
- Heist movies: ""Hudson Hawk", "Leverage" TV show, "Bottle Rocket", "Logan Lucky", "Heat", "Italian Job", and "Quick Change".
- Romantic comedies: "French Kiss", "Fish Called Wanda".
The Tower of Inquiry: Round 1[]
@ittybittybagebits, Twitch: "What aspects of your current character were pre-planned and what ended up coming out organically while roleplaying? Such as Veth's fear of water, or Clay and tea being in-game additions to the character? How much do you allow roleplaying interactions to affect what you've already planned for your character? — pulled by Laura
- Liam puts little traffic cones out and then he gets on his little RP tricycle and see which ones he run into and see where it goes. For example, Orym's love of pies.
- Laura did not plan the fear of heights for Imogen. However, she planned out Imogen's relationship with Laudna in cooperation with Marisha.
- Taliesin tries to figure out how punk culture unfolds in Exandria.
- Sam discovered that FCG is flat earther and eats coins, partially because Sam doesn't want to manage his money in this campaign. Also planning his character, Sam wanted to play a class/subclass that gets rewards for role playing, which led to the cleric's Empathy Domain.
- Sam never tells about the technical aspects of his character, items, etc.
The Deep Dive[]
- For Sam: How is Fresh Cut Grass doing since their malfunction in the Shade Mother's lair, can you give us some insight on what happened to him down there?
- Sam knows all the mechanics. Fresh Cut Grass knows from Milo that it was an energy overload and they needed to rest.
- For Taliesin: Where did Ashton get their magic glass hammer?
- The hammer was made by Milo from the materials that were used to repair Ashton's head after the accident in Jiana Hexum's manor. Knowing that it's a glass hammer, it was not supposed to work but the hammer is somehow magical and tough. Before the glass hammer, they had chain knuckles (depicted on the official art).
- For Laura: Did Imogen know that the lightning strike marks on her arms have been slowly growing in relation to the dreams or is that discovery new for her?
- Initially, Imogen had no lightning marks on her body, but with each dream, featuring the red storm, the marks progressed. Also, the purple hair was not a narrative choice.
- For Liam: How is Orym handling Laudna's revelation about her past? What was it like to hear her tell that story?
- Being near Keyleth and the rest of Vox Machina, Orym heard all kinds of stories, which makes him believe in Laudna's misfortunes.
- For Sam: Liam famously picks your characters' race and class for each campaign. What was your reaction when he picked robot healer and where did the therapist idea come from?
- When Liam said that Sam would play robot cleric, Sam looked on the different ways he can play cleric: Pike — classic cleric, Jester — "bad cleric", Caduceus Clay — had his own vibe and calmness. Sam attempted to find another way and explore themes he knows nothing about. At some point he considered to make FCG curse A LOT and use a weird voice, imitating Dancer's character, but abandoned this idea.
- For Taliesin: Ashton claims to not be here to make friends but how is he feeling about the members of Bells Hells?
- Ashton does not quite comprehend how little they know about themselves. Everybody needs people. Ashton moves toward this idea, as they getting closer with Bells Hells, mostly due to him sharing their bend toward bad desicions.
- For Laura: Do you have theories on who the figure that Imogen saw in the red storm might be?
- Laura theorizes that Imogen's mother, Liliana Temult, may have dual characteristics: one screams for her to run away and another suggests to embrace the storm. Or it may be a bad version of Imogen who sides with the destructive storm. When Laura was working on Imogen's backstory, she made it clear for Matt that Imogen believed the red storm is there to terminate her. However, now Laura is unsure if Matt followed her suggestion.
- For Liam: How has it been navigating new group dynamics after Orym's time with the Crown Keepers, what is it like taking the same character out of one group and into another?
- Bells Hells have at least Orym and Imogen as leaders, whereas in the Crown Keepers, Orym was the only one navigating the group, occasionally joined by Dorian. Liam is still in the EXU group chat, despite the fact that the story came to an end.
- For Sam: How does FCG feel about the way others treat them? He is often the source of interest and confusion for many people, how does that attention affect them?
- In the beginning of the campaign, FCG thought it was great that people are interested in them in any shape or form, but recently, prior to "Fight at the Museum..." (3x21), they, supported by Bells Hells, realized that it was not the ideal situation.
- For Taliesin: Did Ashton live the Greymoore State Home their entire childhood or did they live somewhere else beforehand?
- Ashton was growing at the Greymoore from his older childhood to their teenage years.
- For Laura: The ball seemed to be a very tumultuous experience for Imogen, can you tell us more about what that night was like for her?
- The ball was the most nervous recent experience for Imogen, gathering crowds of individuals full of overwhelming thought she can accidentally read. However, she was excited to at last dress up for a special occasion.
- For Liam: How is Orym feeling about the winding thread left behind by the assassins? What is chasing this path like for him?
- No one knew what to make of the assault on Zephrah, making Orym want to forget and come to peace with this unsettled memories that would have never be resolved, but would have haunt all his life. But when the second attack happened, he became frustrated that all the leads are growing cold, through Orym decided to move forward, since this is all he could do.
The Tower of Inquiry: Round 2[]
@butchcookie on TikTok: If the campaign was a Muppet movie, which Muppet would play your character? — pulled by Sam
- FCG — Beaker or Bunsen Honeydew
- Fearne — Janet (although they said "Janet", they meant "Janice")
- Ashton — Animal
- Orym — Kermit, Robin, Scooter
- Imogen — Scooter
- Chetney — Statler and Waldorf
- Laudna — The Count
- Dorian — Rowlf the Dog
- Matt Mercer — John Denver or Mark Hamill surrounded by Muppets
Improvised lore nuggets during Street Fighter V[]
Battle between Taliesin and Liam
- Imogen does not take Chetney's flirting seriously.
- Imogen is actively blocking surface thoughts of people around her in order to maintain a good faith in humanity.
Battle between Laura and Sam
- For Ashton, Taliesin for the first time wrote a backstory featuring something that his character did not know
- According to Taliesin, Ashton "is not a character who anything good has ever happened to", which is the least favorite type of character for Matt because he is a good person.
- When Liam is creating a backup character, he'd likes to make a connection to already existing narrative to give a character from the start a purpose to exist in the story. Orym was a backup character in Campaign One, but due to Vax surviving most of the game, Orym was transferred further into Exandria Unlimited.
Battle between Liam and Sam
- In Imogen's backstory, Laura wrote that she is chased by terrifying dreams of an unspecified storm, but she had no idea of its connection with Ruidus. Matt's only comment was: "by the way, your storm is red."
- Taliesin now has to rewrite a small aspect of his backstory because it "crosses over" with Orym too much.
Battle between Liam and Dani
- Laudna is Dani Carr's favorite character from Campaign Three.
Quotations[]
- Taliesin (speaking of Bells Hells): "On a certain bizarre level, this is a group of NPCs."
External Links[]
References[]
Art: