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Total Party Kill: Chicago Live 2025

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"Total Party Kill: Chicago Live 2025" (Sx95) is the recording of Critical Role's 10-Year Anniversary Chicago Live Show, which took place on 10 April 2025 at the Wintrust Arena in Chicago, Illinois as part of the 10th Anniversary Live Tour. The cast of Critical Role transforms into one of their original campaign characters (voted on by the audience). Game Master Matthew Mercer transports the cast into the deadly game show "Total Party Kill", hosted by the charismatic Malvolio Contreras (special guest Robbie Daymond).

Synopsis[]

Pre-show[]

Introduction[]

It's only been months since the historical event known as the Catatheosis transpired, the very pantheon of Exandria vanishing from the realm to be reborn in mortal form to escape the hunger of Predathos the God Eater. In the aftermath of this chaos, many facets of society and the reaction to adjust is seen in both robust and mysterious ways. Refugees from the red moon Ruidus seek to explore their new home, and integrate with the societies that will have them, while those that remain amongst their crimson, wind-sheared homeland work to rebuild Ruidian society, either as an opportunity for a better future, or to reclaim the proud tyranny of the Weave Mind. On Exandria, the many temples of Vasselheim develop protocols to seek out the reborn deities, desperate to establish counsel and guidance within the divine before darker minds and interests can snuff out the light of the Primes as they discover their lives and purpose. The legendary protectors of the realm, Vox Machina, wrestle with the responsibility of their titles in a world now thrown into a new age of growing change and chaos. The subversive guardians known as the Mighty Nein work to quell dangerous opportunism in a time where ancient dangers grow unsealed alongside new powers seeking to seize the vacuum. A complicated chosen called Bells Hells flee from the most zealous factions of Vasselheim and deep worship, labeled by some as heretics and criminals of the doctrines of the faithful. It's in these times, where ancient magic and arcane seals of old remain broken in the wake of the Malleus Solstice, sometimes overwhelming power finds those whom even fate might deem dangerously unworthy.

Part I[]

In the war room of Whitestone, Vox Machina is meeting with Allura Vysoren, Cassandra de Rolo, Kima of Vord, and Shaun Gilmore about how to deal with the present situation, when Grog suddenly disappears. Meanwhile, the Mighty Nein are in search of some cult members of the Cloaked Serpent deep in abandoned Zemnian underground tunnels beneath Rexxentrum when they are confronted by a massive snake-like creature. As they rush to attack, Caleb, Beau, Jester, and Kingsley disappear. Simultaneously, in the snowy Vesper Timberland of Issylra, Bells Hells is fleeing from several unhappy worshippers of the gods when a divine glyph explodes around them and a judicator stomps toward the party. As several of them succumb to its magical effect, Fearne disappears. Meanwhile, the audience is pulled into a beautiful theater, waiting for the entertainment to begin. In the darkness, a voice introduces itself as Malvolio Contreras, the MC, who (joined by Matt as his sidekick, Merty) sings a song welcoming everyone to the game show "Total Party Kill", where they will put the audience's chosen heroes through a series of challenges.

Malvolio and Merty - Pyromeekorai

Fan art of Malvolio and Merty, by Pyromeekorai.[art 1]

The contestants are introduced: Beau, Kingsley, Veth, and Jester on the Red Team; Grog, Caleb, and Fearne on the Blue Team. The first game is "Burst Your Bubble", which involves sitting on balloons to break them. Although Ape-leb easily defeats Veth, she stealthily removes his chair, fooling Merty into thinking her team actually won, and the Blue Team is punished with fire damage. Malvolio tells them, however, that in the next round they'll be able to use more magic.

The next game is "The Traveler's Blessing", where each team chooses a member to channel the Traveler by wearing a helmet topped by a statue of the god (definitely not resembling anything else) while another throw rings at it. Grog outperforms Beau, and the Red Team is set for punishment, but Jester tells Malvolio he'll be her best friend if he doesn't hurt them, and he can be her maid of honor. As he shakes hands with her, accepting the deal, a wave of necrotic damage sweeps out from him through her and on to the rest of the team (who take half damage).

The next game tests intelligence in the form of Exandrian lore. First question for Grog: Which of these celestial forces does the Matron of Ravens hold dominion over? Grog gets it wrong, choosing "death and undead" rather than the correct answer "winter and fate". Beau doesn't know that the body of water between Issylra and Tal'Dorei is named the Ozmit Sea. Caleb knows that Devo'ssa was a brass dragon, but Kingsley doesn't remember the animal on the crest of the Dwendalian Empire is an owl. Kingsley does, however, notice that when the audience cheers his threatening of Malvolio, a sequin falls from the MC's jacket. Fearne doesn't know which dragon has its lair in Mythburrow (Gelidon), but uses Sleight of Hand to look at the answer card. Veth sees this, however, and responds with Phantasmal Force to make her see the wrong answer and get it wrong. For the final question, Veth pulls it out for the Red Team by remembering that the historical era when the gods of Exandria first divided into Prime and Betrayer was known as the Schism, and the Blue Team takes more damage. The audience boos, making Malvolio appear slightly ill.

The next game involves drinking an unidentified substance without changing facial expression. They're all too good at this, as all six contestants manage easily, so the MC brings out the big guns: tequila and hot sauce. Even that fails to break anyone.

The next game is for a blindfolded team member to draw a prompted object, and their team members to guess it. Fearne guesses Caleb's cat and Beau guesses Jester's beacon. Fearne gets Caleb's vampire, and Malvolio draws Jester aside and tries to bribe her to throw the next round. The audience's booing deeply hurts Malvolio, and Jester feels like maybe all this isn't his choice. Her team fails to guess that her drawing is of Caleb's spellbook, and the Blue Team steals the win. The Red Team takes significant fire damage (although Kingsley is resistant and Jester has the Ring of Fire Resistance).

Adventurers dancing by Elaine Tipping

Fan art of the adventurers dancing, by Elaine Tipping.[art 2]

Malvolio and Merty are secretly conversing, and Malvolio admits that although he was feeling pretty dicey there for a while, he now thinks they've got this in the bag. The final game is a dance-off, and before it begins Beau Extracts Aspects from Malvolio, learning he's immune to Charm, Paralyze, and Frightened, and that there is a powerful well of dark arcana within him. First, Grog goes against Beau for a tie, then Kingsley goes against Fearne. The audience determines that the Blue Team won overall, and the Red Team is about to take more damage when Kingsley uses Vicious Mockery on Malvolio. When Merty has him roll a wisdom save against it, Malvolio recognizes he is speaking in a different voice, a force beyond any he's encountered, and he takes psychic damage while feeling a little more dismayed.

Malvolio reveals that the audience's applause has filled him with power and rage, and their booing has no effect upon him now. As Malvolio leaves the stage, the players find themselves magically transported to a green room.

Break[]

Part II[]

During their few minutes alone in the green room, Beau shares that she sensed dark energy within Malvolio, and Jester is convinced he's acting under compulsion. Kingsley notes that when someone makes fun of Malvolio, it seems to hurt him. Jester casts Mass Cure Wounds. Just then, the green room door opens and Malvolio steps in, telling them they have many more games to play. He snaps his fingers and they're transported back into the theater, now holding an impossibly massive contest mountain full of physical challenges and traps. Malvolio immediately casts Fiery Encore on Fearne, revealing that his personality is now much darker and more vengeful, and that he is here to see them die. Kingsley tells him he's nothing but an empty suit, and that hurts. Jester gives him a hug, casting Inflict Wounds for massive damage as she does so, and initiative begins.

Beau attacks with Belabor, getting a Stunning Strike which is negated by Malvolio's use of Manifest Contestant transfering the damage and the stun to Jester. He then uses Impossible Trivia to inflict psychic damage on Beau, and Bardic Demoralization to mock Grog, telling him his age is making him weak and causing him to have subtract a d12 roll (10) from his next d20 roll. He then sends a transformed Merty after Veth but he misses. Grog rages and attacks with the Bloodaxe, hitting him once, but they realize that as Malvolio's confidence returns, he seems to have resistance to damage (Unflappable Confidence). Kingley empowers his Acheron Blade and attacks first Malvolio, then Merty. Both are horrified that Merty is being targeted and Malvolio uses a Legendary Action to send Merty after Kingsley, but he misses. Veth casts Phantasmal Force on the MC, thoroughly embarrassing him by making him see toilet paper stuck to his shoe, breaking through his Unflappable Confidence. Using the Stormrider Boots, Caleb casts Immovable Object on Malvolio's coat locking him in place before flying away. Fearne follows up with Moonbeam, and they learn he is a shapechanger because he has to roll his save with disadvantage. He takes full damage from the spell, and Mister follows up with a flaming poo to the neck. Malvolio retaliates with a legendary action causing all of them to take thunder damage from the audience's applause.

Beau locates the arcane recording crystals in the theater and destroys one of them, slightly reducing Malvolio's defenses. A dark voice rings out: "I gave you these gifts. Use them as we see fit, or I will take them away." Under the Moonbeam, Malvolio's boots fade away leaving him barefoot and completely demoralized, but he holds himself together, transporting everyone into a different theater and using his Demoralization ability on Jester. She responds by summoning a Spiritual Weapon in the form of a giant limp dick and hitting him with a Sacred Flame. Confused, Grog attacks the dick, but his mighty swing causes no damage. Malvolio uses Manifest Contestant to insert Kingley in front of him to absorb some of the damage from Grog's subsequent axe attacks against him, then uses a legendary action to attack Grog but misses. With his rapier, Kingsley flicks the hat from Malvolio's head and onto his own, revealing Malvolio's very tiny horns before Kingsley stabs him thoroughly. Veth casts Tasha's Hideous Laughter on the audience, causing them to roar with mocking laughter. Malvolio shrinks back and the voice returns, asking him why the execution is delayed. A dark flash dispels the spell making his coat immovable and he remembers his purpose: to kill the party. Caleb's Disintegrate misses and Malvolio uses his legendary action Multitasker to retaliate, but Caleb Shields and it only hits for very minor damage. Merty follows up, however, and does significant damage. Fearne's Contagion misses but she suggests Malvolio abandon his master and join them instead. The voice responds menacingly, "I will eat your soul if you don't finish them."

Beau runs back to Malvolio and attacks him with her staff but can't stun him. The voice reminds Malvolio he has his gifts and his "compatriot", and the party is closer to death than he thinks. The stage changes again, to a scene 10 years ago in a living room, with friends around a table playing D&D. Gradually, other people begin watching and it grows. Malvolio announces that for this one last round they're going to try to fuck each other up. He casts The Deadly Game on Fearne and Veth, shifting them into the competition mountain and causing Dorito-shaped spikes to rise up around them which Veth avoids but Fearne does not, rendering her unconscious and giving her two death saving failures. When Jester admits she's the healer of the group, he uses Bardic Demoralization on her and Merty attacks her, but Beau uses Sentinel against him and Jester retaliates with Hellish Rebuke while heading towards Fearne and casting Mass Cure Wounds to bring her back. Grog activates his Titanstone Knuckles and attacks, but Malvolio uses Manifest Contestant to pull Fearne in to shield him, knocking her out again. Kingsley slashes the bolo from Malvolio's neck, destroying the gem it holds, and the voice groans in agony and smoke rises up as Malvolio falls.

When the smoke clears, they see Malvolio, now a Byrodian-accented helpless creature who tells them the story about how his dog found the gem and his parents crafted it into his bolo tie. The next thing he knew, he was thirsting for blood and vengeance against heroes, and begs for mercy. Veth demands he dance first, and as Malvolio does, he dashes away, taunting that the beautiful fools fell for it and seeking applause. The pocket plane collapses and the heroes are returned from whence they came.

Featured characters[]

Quotations[]

  • Kingsley: How we have survived with you people around is beyond-- Oh, that's right, I didn't.
  • Beau: Oh, cool, it talks. They made snakes worse.

Trivia[]

  • The song "F*ck Your Favs" sung by Robbie and Matt was written by Robbie Daymond and Garrett Williamson.
  • Malvolio's speech about the 10 years of Critical Role and a group of friends playing Dungeons & Dragons in a living room was improvised by Robbie. He asked Matt if he could change the original scene (in which they would simply change the space to resemble different types of stages) and Robbie wrote some lines a few seconds before it happened.[1]
  • The characters in this live show were all under 17th level, which means Beau, Caleb, Jester, Kingsley, Veth, and Grog were weaker in Malvolio's realm.[2]
  • Laura admitted that during the balloon-theme trial she started using her nails to help Sam pop them, since he was struggling to do so by himself.[3]

References[]

  1. ↑ TOTAL PARTY KILL | Chicago Live | Cooldown at 0:11 (subscription required) (Transcript).
  2. ↑ See "Total Party Kill: Chicago Live 2025" (Sx95) at 3:22:44.  Damaging cantrips such as Jester's Sacred Flame roll only three dice.
  3. ↑ TOTAL PARTY KILL | Chicago Live | Cooldown at 8:34 (subscription required) (Transcript).

Art:

  1. ↑ Fan art of Malvolio and Merty, by Pyromeekorai (source). Used with permission.
  2. ↑ Fan art of the adventurers dancing, by Elaine Tipping (source). Used with permission.
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"How to Score a Massive Hit" (Sx01) • "Wizard World Gaming Portland Panel" (Sx07) • "Critical Role Q&A and Battle Royale!" (Sx08) • "Critical Role Q&A and Battle Royale: Take II" (Sx10) • "Critical Role EXTRA – Liam's Quest!" (Sx12) • "Critical Role's 'The Dating Game' Panel – SDCC 2016" (Sx13) • "Critical Role Answers Your Questions at SDCC!" (Sx14) • "Fireside Q&A with Matthew Mercer" (Sx17) • "Talks Machina Live With Brian W. Foster And Critical Role! (SDCC 2017)" (Sx20) • "Talks Machina: Campaign Wrap-up" (Sx31) • "Talks Machina Fireside Special: Q&A with the Critical Role Cast" (Sx33) • "Fireside Chat & NPC Build with Matthew Mercer" (Sx34) • "Fireside Chat with Sam Riegel" (Sx40) • "End of 2019 Fireside Chat" (Sx50) • "Explorer's Guide to Wildemount Q&A and Fireside Chat with Matthew Mercer" (Sx53) • "Critical Role Campaign 2 Wrap Up" (Sx56) • "Exandria Unlimited Wrap-Up" (Sx59) • "Kith & Kin Fireside Chat Q&A" (Sx63) • "Game Masters of Exandria Roundtable" (Sx69) • "Exandria Unlimited: Calamity Wrap Up" (Sx70) • "San Diego Comic-Con 2022 - Critical Role Q&A Panel" (Sx71) • "San Diego Comic-Con 2023 - Critical Role Fireside Chat & Cast Q&A" (Sx77) • "Critical Role: Sick Day" (Sx82) • "Candela Obscura: Game Master Roundtable" (Sx86) • "San Diego Comic-Con 2024 - Critical Role Fireside Chat & Cast Q&A" (Sx87) • "Anime NYC 2024 - Critical Role Fireside Chat & Cast Q&A" (Sx88) • "Wrap Up: Campaign 3 and the Era of Reclamation" (Sx94)
 
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"November 2015 Critmas" (Sx04) • "December 2015 Critmas" (Sx05) • "To the Poop! Goblins: A Critical Role Pathfinder One-Shot" (Sx09) • "Deadlands One-Shot for MDA Charity!" (Sx11) • "Critical Role EXTRA – Liam's Quest!" (Sx12) • "Liam's Quest: Full Circle" (Sx16) • "Talks Machina – Pants Optional Critmas" (Sx18) • "Critical Role One-Shot: Shadow of War – Part 1" (Sx22) • "Critical Role One-Shot: Shadow of War – Part 2" (Sx23) • "Critical Role One-Shot: Thursday by Night" (Sx24) • "Critical Role One-Shot: Thursday by Night – Part 2" (Sx25) • "Critical Role One-Shot: Once Upon a Fairytale Cruise" (Sx28) • "Critical Role One-Shot: Kobolds, Catacombs and Dragons (Oh My!)" (Sx29) • "Critmas!" (Sx32) • "Crash Pandas: Too Trashed, Too Curious" (Sx37) • "Critical Role and the Club of Misfits" (Sx38) • "The Night Before Critmas" (Sx41) • "Tails of Equestria One-Shot" (Sx44) • "Call of Cthulhu: Shadow of the Crystal Palace" (Sx46) • "Feast of Legends" (Sx48) • "Cinderbrush: A Monsterhearts Story" (Sx51) • "Doom Eternal One-Shot" (Sx52) • "Diablo One Shot" (Sx54) • "The Elder Scrolls Online: Blackwood - Part I: Death & Taxes" (Sx55) • "The Elder Scrolls Online: Blackwood - Part II: A Faulty Foundation" (Sx58) • "The Nautilus Ark: A Johnson Corp Odyssey" (Sx60) • "The Elder Scrolls Online: Blackwood - Part III: The Golden Goose" (Sx62) • "Elden Ring One-Shot: O Ye of Little Faith" (Sx65) • "Tiny Tina's Wonderlands One-Shot" (Sx66) • "Generation Nord" (Sx72) • "The Legend of Zelda One-Shot: Lookout, Here We Come!" (Sx76) • "Mortal Kombat 1 One-Shot: Sindel vs. The Realms" (Sx78) • "Persona 5 Tactica One-Shot" (Sx80) • "Critical Role plays Daggerheart" (Sx83) • "The Menagerie Returns!" (Sx84) • "Ménagerie a Trois" (Sx85) • "Critical Role Presents: A Daggerheart Critmas Story Live Show" (Sx89) • "Assassin's Creed Shadows One-Shot" (Sx90) • "Suikoden One-Shot" (Sx93) • "The Elder Scrolls Online One-Shot" (Sx96)
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