"4-Sided Dive: To Be Continued!" (4SDx10) is the tenth episode of 4-Sided Dive, discussing episodes of the third campaign up through "Axiom Shaken" (3x43) with guests Ashley Johnson, Liam O'Brien, Sam Riegel, and Travis Willingham.
Synopsis[]
Provided with permission by Loquacious Quark.[1]
What are timeliness and punctuality, really? A construct of the oppressive bourgeoisie, that's what. Regardless, we join Ashley, Travis, Sam, and Liam on tonight's episode. Sam wins host with a natural 20 and immediately misses his spot. The opening schtick requires Sam to read the rest of the prompter as Drunk Jimmy Stewart and watching him struggle with the impression is hilarious in and of itself.
What the Fuck is Up With That?
Everyone enjoyed hanging out with the Gorgynei. Travis likes that they aren't all werewolves. He clarifies that when Chetney turned into a werewolf, the Claret Orders in that area came to him and said, "This was not a planned thing, so you need to learn to control this immediately or we will end you." People uncontrollably changing and spreading the curse gives them a bad name. What if a werewolf bites a werebear?
Liam would be a were-rat in real life. Sam wants to be a were-eagle.
Everyone loved the fight against Chetney. Travis: "Everyone should have at least one moment in their lives where Matt Mercer leans across the table and hands you a piece of paper that's just instructions to fuck up the rest of the table." It was titled "Chetney Unleashed!" and gave him 60 extra hit points, the frightening howl, and three legendary actions. Ashley wonders if he'll get there in base character campaign. Liam also loves getting to fight the party, no holds barred. Travis generally feels like the group fights in sync, but in that moment he felt like "I can't read their minds anymore! I'm disconnected from the flow!"
Travis had a tiny plastic werewolf of Wolf Man he used to bring to church with him on Sundays. Ashley is indignant he never named him. "He's a killer, Ashley. You don't give him names." He used to get up early on Saturdays to watch the Teen Wolf cartoon and colored his skin brown with magic marker to simulate fur and taped fake claws to his fingers.
Orym's sword upgraded! He has a tiny bit of additional range and some Grasping Vine abilities. Seedling: The Wayward Pilgrim.
Everyone is wearing blue except for Liam. Cute!
Travis always gets tripped up when Mercer reveals a secret such as Predathos which he's been building to for years. Planerider Ryn was mentioned in the original Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, then had her sanctum visited by the Mighty Nein in Campaign Two, where Luc Brenatto got killed. Sam is convinced they're getting into alien, intergalactic stuff for this world now. Liam gets genuinely giddy talking about the intertwining of dunamancy, the mesh net around Ruidus, and the threads of fate.
Liam thinks dunamancy is part of existence itself, but the Luxon beacons might be "rabbit pellets" of Predathos shot out when he arrived. Is Predathos Galactus, eater of worlds? Dani Carr comes on to straighten out lore! Early iterations of the Exandrian creation myth implied that the gods and primordials never got along--while they coexisted, there was always some animosity. Later, with the schism/Calamity, the Prime Deities went to open war against the primordials and Betrayer Gods in order to protect creation. This new suggestion that everyone fought together against Predathos at some point is an exciting reveal, and that two of them were devoured by Predathos is very alarming.
What is Bell's Hells going to do with this information? They're so new to even interplanar travel that the idea of inter-deity warfare is beyond them.
Sam talks about his conflict between wanting to learn more about himself in Yios and the group's time pressure elsewhere. Everyone laughs at the poor secretary getting bribed, even unintentionally, into helping them.
Liam originally thought that someone got up to the moon ages ago and built the city after it was created, but now he's not sure. Instead, he wonders if it's part of a city which just got chunked up from Exandria when creating the moon in the first place. Dani posits that everyone on the moon is a worshipper of Predathos (Predathans) because since worship gives a god its power, you don't want worshipers of a god-eater running around outside the mesh net, strengthening it on the main continent. If new people have begun worshipping him with flares, occasionally teleporting themselves to the moon, that might be strengthening Ruidus and causing the changes we're seeing that may be making Predathos stronger. Liam is sure that if someone exploded Milwaukee into space, the city would survive.
Sam and Ashley both are desperate to go to the moon. Ashley wonders if they're mining the moon. BASA? Bells Aeronautics Space Administration?
Otohan Thull used to follow the Duskmaven, but appears to no longer do so. Ethedok used to oversee darkness and winter; Vordo used to oversee fate and order. After those gods were eaten, their realms were combined into the fate and death/darkness domains of the previous god of the dead, prior to the Raven Queen ascending.
Liam finds real gambling very boring; the other three gamble for fun. Liam has no interest in getting good at reading people; he'd rather take his $80 and go see a show. Laura apparently loves to gamble (craps, Sic Bo Dragon). Travis is not allowed within a mile of Laura when she's gambling; he's a cooler for her! Ha! Once he came up to her while she was on a hot craps run and the dice immediately threw snake eyes. Ashley has played War at Vegas against the house and lost and won $20 in about fifteen seconds before leaving. Liam would rather buy a Switch.
The Tower of Inquiry!
Travis approaches a very dangerously leaning tower. There is no, no, no way this is going to work. AND IT DOESN'T, DOWN IT COMES. Every time he doesn't score the most points in Quiplash, he must perform certain exercises. Back to the tower: what genre of video game would your character enjoy? Orym: Soul Caliber. Fearne: The Sims, because she wants to control things. Chetney: Rollercoaster Tycoon. FCG: Duck Hunt or Hitman.
Sam doesn't know if FCG was successful at any of his assassinations and really wants to know.
Ashley pulls a block from the toppled six-inch tower and still almost knocks it over.
Character's favorite Broadway musical? Chetney: Beauty and the Beast. FCG: Starlight Express, Orym: Billy Elliott. Fearne: Into the Woods or Hadestown.
Liam's block: Character's favorite reality TV show? (Ashley loves reality TV and and is loving Below Deck right now. "Downton Abbey, but for boats.") FCG: Couples Therapy. Chetney: Bob Ross. Sam: Not Bob Vila? Travis, as Chet: Don't give me that amateur shit! Orym: Ninja Warrior, American Gladiator, MXC.
The Deep Dive!
What was the inspiration for Shithead? During character design, he was asked if FCG had a familiar. He thought perhaps he should since he kept shitting on other people's familiars, but once it was designed, he landed back on, "No, I HATE familiars," and gave the character to Matt. "I made this thing, I don't know what it is. Can you do something?" and Matt took it from there.
Liam loves magic after Caleb, so he's glad to have a bit of magic again. Since it wasn't a new/extant sword, he got to pick his own name. He was tossing around ideas of plants pollinating, of seeds being dispersed by the wind over great distances in order to start new life, and landed on Seedling.
In Fearne's eyes, Grandma can do no wrong. She genuinely believes Morri will help them without strings. Ashley didn't expect how much she enjoys actively coming up with ways to make everyone at the table squeamish. Matt and Aabria Iyengar both helped create Morri--Ashley did have tons of input though. Lots of Fearne also came from ExU--she reflects some of Aabria's playfulness. Liam: "Nana is fucking dangerous." Ashley: "Noooooo!" Liam: "She is at BEST true neutral, right in the middle, and Fearne is her darling little Rapunzel child imp while she is dark, dark, dark and twisted."
Why was Ruidus affecting Chetney specifically? Travis has no idea. He can't tell if Predathos is growing in power or if it's a quality from the consumed deities. Is this a pulse, a harbinger of something to be unleashed? Chetney traditionally only transforms from a full Catha, and he normally maintains control the whole time; this was the first time Ruidus had forced him to change and had caused him to lose control.
FCG wants to do things like smell, love, and taste, so baking is meant to help them understand how taste works.
Chetney dissing Orym's wolf figurine went about as well as could be expected. Chet was very kind when Orym told him about Will, and he wanted to repay him with something Chetney valued. Liam did order a wooden wolf figurine from Etsy, but it was too good for both Orym's skill and compared to Travis's gifts, and now he feels weird about dragging this poor Etsy seller through the muck, so he's just going to keep it at home.
Ashley couldn't look Marisha in the eyes after the coin flip. She was depressed for a full week. She hated holding their lives in her hands. Having to do that has affected Fearne in a very big way (more protective); she's starting to learn how to experience human feelings. "This makes my stomach really anxious and I don't know why." After talking with Laudna, Ashley isn't sure if either she or Fearne feel better.
It's too early to tell if Chetney's beast is better tamed. Travis doesn't trust Mercer at all.
What's the deal with Imogen's weird fire alien? Exciting stuff!
What did FCG think of the Speak with Dead spell? It's super creepy and gets into soul stuff--if you can just talk to someone after you're dead, what does that mean? "What do I believe? I don't actually know yet!"
Orym, despite his high history, knows nothing about the history of other realms. His history comes from overhearing Exandrian conversations about local issues, not other-planar stuff. Sam: "For the record, I don't just willy-nilly choose which rules to follow or not. I just don't follow the stupid ones. Like Luck. Luck's a stupid rule."
Fearne felt incredibly special that Laudna asked her to pass something on to her. Fearne has a fascination with what makes people tick, and getting to work on that with Laudna was special. It hurt that Chet's original howl went unanswered. Still, Travis liked the metaphor. Alone, not enough; together, we start the party.
Tower of Inquiry
What would be your characters' Smash Ultimates? Boy, this is not the crew for this question. They immediately misinterpret it as to which character they would play. Orym: Princess Peach. Fearne: Bowser. Sam: Lucario, the first name he sees while Googling; Liam suggests Kirby; Sam suggests Rob. Chetney doesn't even try.
A minigame to preface the break: Sam, Name That Staff! He's been given a dossier with names and faces and he's worked closely with all of today's contestants. First crew member: a lovely fellow in teal shorts who's been an editor at CR for over four years. He talked with Sam for half an hour about Donkey Kong at the recent holiday party. Sam suggests: "Dave, or something with a D." Alas, it's Max Schapiro.
Contestant two: a TALL guy who's been a producer on the show for three years. "He burned his crotch while helping you do an ad read bit." Sam: "Eric?" No, no, it's Kyle Shire.
Contestant three: it's Marisha. Just Marisha in a sweatshirt. Sam: "I feel like I should know this one. It's tip of my tongue. I know that you're one of the two women on the show. Two women? Maybe there's only one." Dani: "It's definitely three." Sam: "You're not Ashley, because Ashley's here on the show. It's a trick question. She doesn't work here." Marisha: "You were at my wedding!"
There is a very funny ad over the break featuring Travis and Laura in a straight-to-TV holiday romcom spoof.
Post-Break Shenanigans!
Quiplash, for the first time for most of them, it looks like. FCG is desperate for guidance and has been reaching out to the Changebringer for guidance, but if she doesn't answer soon, he might start reaching out to other gods. After the first round, Travis has by far the most points.
Ashley is beyond excited about the potential to visit the Fey Realm and meet Nana. After the second round, Sam is in the lead. Travis, as promised by Jenga, runs around the set shrieking like a little schoolgirl. However, he wins the last round and asks a question instead.
Travis was super grumpy after the first game of the M9 reunion because he so immediately lost his orb. He hated that he had to give up the fight.
Caleb in Liam's head is so "gasp, point" about everything going on with the Cerberus Assembly. Liam loves/hates every development.
Our last development: the lights cut out, and when we can see again, we are shocked, SHOCKED to see that the set broom has been broken bloodily in half and has a kitchen knife sticking out of it. Murder? On MY Critical Role set? To be continued, it seems...
And that's a wrap. Is it Thursday yet?
Quotations[]
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References[]
- ↑ Originally posted at https://www.tumblr.com/loquaciousquark/709206981107417088.
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