#exu e1

[patetemult]

There was a lot of talk about how Utkarsh made such a great guest (even pre you know what) because his inexperience played into his character, and I'm here to give you the gem that is Aimee Carrero. Newbie Aimee and DM Aabria quickly becoming a fave dynamic of mine <3

[ravendruid]

This is my favorite thing about Exandria Unlimited.

[fjorests-of-wildemount]

They're going to fall back in love over the Apocalypse 🥰

[gorgynei]

"and here in this sleepy trade stop along the amber road, a handful of wandering destinies slowly begin to intersect..." that always gets me. no matter how many times i watch c2e1 that line always hits me so hard. c2 premiere im in love with you

[songofwizardry]

ExU calamity episode 1: my head is spinning. i have out loud said “what the fuck????” so many times. i am vibrating. feel like i need to rewatch the episode immediately whilst taking notes like i’m in a lecture. have some Thoughts because if I don’t put them somewhere i will explode

[this is very long, bc there was a lot. also very late, because I forgot to finish it and post it. ah well.]

good evening and we open with the weirdest and most terrifying shit you will ever witness. thank you for tuning it

also zerxus has a strength of 29 (giant strength belt?) and an ac of 25 holy shit

a small child fishing for stars in the void? cool cool cool

Aabria is mouthing “what. the. fuck.“ and ma’am I could not agree more

oh cool it’s his son. cool and there’s a dead husband. let’s just start off with emotional damage it’s fine

“Ghor Dranas” ooooooohhh here we go Calamity here we come

“if you can see the stars when you look down, what will you see when you look up?” what a metal line I love it

this is the most opening to ever opening

Loquatious Seelie!

love that Sam is just a presenter. he’s achieved his final form. also his appearance is slightly terrifying. also a Seelie hmmmm. 

this is just Sam’s ad copies with his ridiculous characters taken to the net level I’m Dying

“Exandria Firma” is a great phrase

“Seelie you later!” yes

I love Laerryn instantly. what a vibe

and they’re divorced we spent so long begging for divorced PCs for C3 I am so fucking glad we get to see it here!

hands down Sam is a great person for this dynamic and I am so hyped to see how he and Aabria play off each other

same with Nydas, I am kinda obsessed with the vibe that these PCs are giving off of “extremely busy extremely good at their jobs high up people in a powerful city, on the eve of the biggest event of seven years”

the whole Sphinx drama is incredible

the kites are such a cool idea! also aww a loaf. cute.

a surplus of ether? hmmmm. we are getting into the Magic Theory (TM) over here I am Interested

Cerrit is definitely in a different movie to everyone else. Travis is killing the noir vibe. I love it

also an eisfuura detective that’s really fun

the description of the whole thing being dispelled/obliterated is really cool! I am living for Brennan’s descriptions here

and finally, Marisha!

brumestone jewellery I am loving the description of all the opulence of Patia. also the nepotism

man Brennan is really making the point of these are the people who get shit done, this is where the power lies really well here

sorry the oracles are taking a break????? surely that’s not fucking good!

I love the general disdain everyone has for people attempting the Raven Queen’s ritual

I also love how they’re all casually namedropping vespin fucking chloras as though he’s just..... some dude. which I guess he is right now!

oh also I like how everyone’s storylines are tying together! I initially assumed we would have a bunch of strangers but this makes way more sense and is much more fun

a party! exclusive magic VIP seating! hoddmedods or whatever the fuck! chandeliers and caviar, the world can’t touch us here!

Zerxus’ son is staying with Nydas’ family? wtf this gets more and more intriguing

lol bringing along Bolo is the most fancy rich important person move, great work Loquacious. also Brennan is a delight

“Ghor Dranas is attributed to the Lord of the Hells, a specific phrasing during his defeat. "Put me where you will, I will gather my shadows to me.” oh my god that is an incredible line. I had not considered the phrase ‘gathering of shadows’ in any other context I love that

Loquacious inspiring Laerryn and the perfume smells like their wedding. excuse me who gave you permission to do this to me.

oh cool the piece of metal is the bow of a solar. made of extraplanar gold. and it was destroyed by something older and deeper than a spell. this is vespin summoning a goddamn betrayer to destroy it fucking hell. this is fine.

PURVON SUUL!!!!!!!

absolutely a joy to watch Sam, Travis and Marisha lose their entire shit as he walks in

Aabria knows what’s up, “I’ll tell you later”

“is he wearing armour” “... no” I am loving this so much 

I love how Dean Hollow’s thing of “well this god was one of us before, so we can join them too”. Like the context to the mages’ hubris is so well done and it makes sense!

“And Purvon Suul walks away” need a live Liam cam for this, how’s he reacting to this signature move of apparently all champions of the Raven Queen

the hoddmedod 1 has thoughts and 2 is thinking ghor dranas everything is super fine and ok

Loq taking back what he said with gift of gab... what a spell I love it

okay okay what everyone has been talking about: Cerrit’s 31 on investigation and Brennan’s absolutely genius description of invisibility

I am not gonna lie both the way he’s described invisibility working from a physics standpoint and the delivery of “You have been trained to look for these things. They always move in twos.” will be in my head for a very long time

a stitched together man wtf

“You will never reach the Wildmother’s embrace in time” sorry WHAT. what is happening. excuse me.

and Vespin fucking Chloras is behind the mirror???

holy shit what an episode

okay last thoughts: so much lore, but it’s delivered in such a good way! like I didn’t feel the story stalling or anything it was actually such a fast paced episode! I adored the world building, the feel of Avalir and of the circle of brass as a whole, it’s done so well. and the characters are extremely intriguing

also I know Brennan is amazing and I loved his worldbuilding in eg Unsleeping City, but holy shit has he blown it out of the water with the tension and the pace and the worldbuilding and the threads of mystery and feel of something going wrong here. masterful tension building I adore it

I am so excited this may become my favourite mini-series. cannot wait to see where this goes

[inktrailing]

“FREE ADVICE CHANGE YOUR FIRST NAME”

“IT'S NORMAL WHERE I COME FROM.”

[bebopsisyphus]

"if you look down and see the stars, what do you see when you look up?" versus the statue of Patia's grandad looking down at the replica of the city so that people see his face when they look up

[flusterfluff]

Imagine bullying people out of a discord server for using a unit you dislike. Imagine banning people from a discord server because they're not "good enough" to play your 2000 IQ tower defense game the way you want them to. I'm going to M9 my Ling just to spite those fuckers.

[shuttershocky]

Soooo uh after banging my head against Crying Over Spilled Milk since event launch im sitting here with probably the best it's gonna get not willing to flub it so... Ask tumblr authorities for help it is then? E2 Eyja, Exu, Skalter, Zima, Gravel, E1 Silverdaddy, Elysium, Ethan, La Pluma and Nearl, 40 life, how the fuck do I get this catboy out of my brain forever ~~and ascend to bear hell~~

I immediately see a problem, you don't have a way to kill the dancers or Phantom.

You need someone with range and AOE or chain damage (like Passenger) to take out the dancers while they spin on the right side of the stage. You don't want to take these guys on one by one because each time one of them falls to low health, they buff everyone else on the map with attack speed which can quickly overwhelm your defenses.

Exusiai might be able to take them out with enough buffs, but you're going to have to pray she's able to kill them before they come fight you.

Also remember to bait out Phantom's jump by blocking him with Gravel, putting his skill on cooldown and letting you block him with your real defensive line. He has 40% evasion from all attacks when unblocked, so you can't rely on dealing with him with only ranged damage. You must drag him into a brawl. (Remember to kill his summon too)

Due to your massive number of lives, you can let many enemies leak, just make absolutely sure Phantom WILL die, as he will take out 30 lives if he crosses the gate.

[rosekicks]

so if I want to watch Critical Role...where is the best place to start in the main campaigns? should I just go back from the beginning of Campaign 1?

So you wanna start watching critical role!!! Welcome to this insane fandom be prepared for utter chaos.

If I were you, the first thing I would do (if you haven’t already) is watch season 1 of the legend of vox machina. The show does an incredible job of summing up everything you need from the first arc of C1 without having to deal with the teething problems the stream itself faced in its first year or so. The first episodes of campaign 1 are difficult to deal with for a lot of reasons - mainly audio issues, out of game drama (which is a whole other fucking thing I can tell you about if you want to know), and poor set design. TLOVM will give you all the crucial bits from those early episodes, and will contain other bits of information you’ll want going into C2 and C3.

Following that, which campaign you decide to watch first is going to be down to you. I started on C2 and utterly fell in love, but there is nothing stopping you from starting with C1 (so long as you’re willing to deal with the teething problems for 15 or so episodes), C2 or C3!

Since C3 is currently our main source of content, and is early enough in its arc to not be super intimidating to catch up on, if I were you I would hop straight into the start of C3 after watching TLOVM. Either that, or start with something even smaller, like EXU (the original EXU!) which has an 8-episode arc and takes place just before C3 with some character overlap.

If you’d like a general lowdown on the characters or story content (without spoilers) of each campaign so you can figure out which one you wanna jump into first I am more than happy to provide that info, just let me know.

So, final recommendations:

- watch TLOVM S1 (not completely necessary but highly recommended for background info, especially if you’re gonna start with C3)

- Either start CR proper with EXU or C3

P.S. Timeline for reference and in case you want to watch in chronological order:

- EXU Calamity

- C1, Vox Machina

- Vox Machina one shots (search for grog/Bob, dalen’s closet)

- C2, Mighty Nein

- EXU

- C3, Bells Hells E1-16

- EXU Kymal (timeline overlap)

- C3, Bells Hells E17 ->

[patetemult]

aimee was so real for this, I need checks irl too

[ravendruid]

As you walk around this place that you've heard tell, it's called Greyskull Keep, you have a sense of weight and purpose. And then a little breeze crosses you from the east, and it carries on it a scent that reminds you of home, of the mountains, of forest, of old, hardy trees that have stood longer than maybe even this city. And something profoundly green, but not quite natural.

Aabria single-handedly ripping my heart out of my chest and tearing it to shreds.

[fjorests-of-wildemount]

Listen, somewhere in the Raven Queen's realm beyond the divine gate, Vax'ildan is nursing an ENORMOUS crush on Purvan.

[gorgynei]

okay here we go. why the shadowy attackers from exu (the first one) e1 are possibly the gray assassins.

the gray assassins - - able to teleport - connection to ruidus - use poison - hate the calloways - connected to super magical crown (moontide crown) - wears black

the shadowy attackers - - able to teleport - connection to ruidus (blightstar) - use poison - specifically creepy about fearne - connected to super magical crown (circlet of barbed vision) - wears black

LIKE!!! LIKE!!!!!!

the only reason that i wont outright say that this is canon is because the shadowy attackers do not disintegrate into goop when they die, but this much evidence i think deserves some serious consideration in spite of that!!!

[psychicdamaged]

hello these mfers are so stupid!?!?!?!? they wake up with no memories of the past 6 days. they decide to commit a lil crime for fun. they kill a few people. they steal EXTREMELY valuable residuum from an unknowns thieves guild and try to lie about it?? hello!?!?! I love them all so much

[inktrailing]

Ghor Dranas was the capital of the Betrayer Gods' alliance and was located in Xhorhas during the Age of Arcanum. It was destroyed in the final battles of the Calamity. The city of Rosohna now stands on the same site.

https://criticalrole.fandom.com/wiki/Ghor_Dranas