critical role campaign 3, episode 42 ‘the city of flowing light’ - in which the gang blows off some steam in a casino, gets a tour of yios, and runs into an old foe.
everyone gets a long rest after their streaking through the jungle lmao and in the morning, imogen ‘sends’ to captain xandis to give a vague estimate of their location, saying she will fly up above the trees in a few hours to give a better visual.
manad is cooking a weird rabbit thing he caught, and fcg asks if they can learn to cook 🥹 laudna asks for the heart and tries to put it in pâté’s chest, but it just falls out. 💀
HOLY SHIT orym’s new sword has ‘grasping vine’ AND he can use it to slash from a distance! THAT IS SOOO FUCKING SICK, DUDE. everyone has noticed he has a cool new toy and they are like ???
fearne and laudna have a little moment - fearne apologises again for tossing a coin to decide who to resurrect, because it felt so flippant, and she clearly feels awful about it. laudna forgives her, and says she made a good choice, and fearne says she is really happy laudna is back, because she ‘missed her terribly’. 🥹😭 CUTE.
laudna asks fearne to teach her fire magic, and fearne VERY excitedly agrees - she explains how to conjure fire, and laudna does it… AND SENDS A TORRENT OF FIRE RIGHT AT FEARNE. fearne gets BLASTED with what i am pretty sure is a purple and black ‘fireball’, and is singed as fuck. laudna is SO apologetic, but fearne is just like I AM THE BEST TEACHER EVER. THAT WAS AMAZING. 😂😂😂 mister is also very excited by this agakahja but annaline has to put out part of the forest that briefly ignited. 😵💫
AGSKAHSKSHS ashton sidles up to annaline and, very casual-like, asks if she can teach him a few things with her hammer. 😂 DAMN. fair enough, she seems lethal as fuck. they spar for a bit.
the skyship finds them, and annaline gives chetney a last bit of advice - to trust his friends and lean on them if he needs to. awwww she’s a sweetheart!! she tells them they can come back and visit whenever. 🥰
ooh i forgot, we found out one of the gorgynei, uther the wereboar, was a member of the claret orders! i wonder if he knew lucien???
AWW manad comes up and awkwardly tells fearne she can visit any time… he is SOOO into her. chetney is like ☹️ in the background agajahkaha. IT’S OKAY CHET, I’M SURE YOU CAN JOIN IN. OR MAYBE WATCH?
they are back on track, heading for yios. fcg asks denalia (the very sweet, soft spoken bugbear cook) if she can help him recreate eshteross’ cookie recipe, and she’s really excited about it, in a very low-energy way ahajahaha. travis is like “AWWW SHE’S A SWEETHEART”. 😂🥰
AHFGHDH one morning orym goes in to see chet, and travis roleplays chetney with his arms chained above his head, asking orym to unlock him. orym: “having an awakening…” GWAKHSAKHSS LIAM. orym: “where are the keys?” chetney: “under my body…” I FUCKING LOVE THESE IDIOTS. i love how much fun travis is having with chetney, being a bit flirtier and looser with the group. you can see how travis has progressed gradually to this point, through his other characters. grog didn’t seem interested in romance at all. fjord was quite shy and restrained with romance/sex, which was very sweet and made his eventual romance with jester really lovely - i got quite demisexual vibes from fjord, similar to keyleth. but chetney is just… balls to the wall hedonist vibes lmaooo. it’s an interesting change of pace!
awwww orym gives chetney the little wolf he’s been whittling 😭 and chet is very touched, but is like ‘this is Awful’ so gives him a finesse tool to use next time lmaooo. they are kinda…???? oh man, i am totally getting fjord/caleb vibes again lmaooo travis and liam just can’t help themselves. some of my favourite cr screenshots are of marisha being like in the middle of the intense homoeroticism of caleb and fjord’s conversations 😂
orym tells chetney about his new sword, and shows him the cool new abilities by shooting vines at him. he explains how it happened, and when he says he ‘slid his sword in to the sheath’, ashley and laura very quietly lose it. 😂 laura is like “I SWEAR, IT WASN’T ME THIS TIME” 😂😂😂
awwwww orym named his sword ‘seedling’ 😭😭😭 he’s so fucking babygirl. why does this always happen to me. liam o’brien characters make me INSANE with no exception. what the fuck does he put into his little guys to make them catnip to me?????
oh my god, they get their first glimpse of yios, and it sounds GORGEOUS - a city built on a multi-tiered lake, with canals and BIOLUMINESCENT ALGAE OR SOMETHING IN THE WATER. 🤯 i wanna go there sooooo bad.
xandis docks the airship and the dock itself is a fancy lounge with gambling and rooms to stay in… let’s gooooo!! ashton gets drinks for everyone and they find a table away from the crowds (for imogen’s head). 🥰 fcg, ashton, and fearne go exploring, and fcg does a general ‘detect thoughts’ scan. they pick up that there seems to be something large in the lake that’s eating all the fish (uh oh), and something about stratos spies being around (aeshanador was at war with the stratos throne, but there has been an uneasy truce for about 20 years).
fearne goes up to a guard and asks what there is to know about the city. the guard seems kinda perplexed by her agajahaj, and when she asks about the seminary, he asks if she’s a student. fearne, without even a moment of hesitation, goes “i’m a professor. i’m a travelling professor, i’m here to go… to there.” 😂😂😂 ASHLEY I LOVE YOU SO MUCH.
she rolls pretty low on deception, but the guard still tells her where to find the seminary. ashton comes up and says they are working for her, and asks where to find ‘rough and tumble’ in this city. WGAJSHSKS. everyone makes fun of tal for asking the cops where to get into trouble 😂
meanwhile! chet and laudna are conspiring about how to use pâté (invisible) to cheat at cards, while in earshot of imogen and orym, who are like 😑 lmao. orym can tell the guards are watching them, and passes this on to imogen, who tells laudna (in her head) that trying anything illegal is a bad idea rn.
fearne and ashton come back over, and ashton goes (moodily) “the guards are dicks” 😂 marisha says “acab”, in what i think is meant to be a whisper to sam but it is LOUD 😂 FUCK YEAH MARISHA.
everyone decides to do some gambling, since they’re all loaded now anyway - fcg, chetney, and fearne sit at a table and roll some dice. fcg immediately asks to borrow 25 more gold from chetney, and uses that to cast ‘divination’ and ask the changebringer what to do next. 😂😂😂 THIS IS A 4TH LEVEL SPELL. THIS is sam riegel playing a cleric lmaooooooo. the changebringer whispers at him to fold. THANKS BESTIE! 😂
just fearne and chetney left, and the sexual tension is HIGH. they both make deeply cringe comments about being wolves/dogs (love it) and continue to raise. UH OH FEARNE IS GONNA TRY SOME SLEIGHT OF HAND SHIT. OF COURSE SHE IS. matt warns ash that the dc is 22, so she has to roll 17 or higher, and she gets cold feet, but liam goads her into it, and SHE ROLLS AN 18. SHAKSHAKSHKAHS.
chetney still somehow wins, even with fearne cheating 😂 travis rolled 8 on a d8, 6 on a d6, and 4 on a d4. what the FUCK, dude. liam: “that is the most improbable rolling in the history of this game!” 😂😂😂 to be fair, travis has been rolling INSANELY well for the last few episodes. wasn’t it last episode that he got like 4 or 5 nat 20s in one fight?? it does remind me, though, of a time waaaay back in c2 when fjord rolled 3 nat 1s in a row while trying to play a carnival game, so i guess this balances that out lmao.
there’s another game that is basically blackjack, and a few of them decide to play that one too. laura: “imogen wouldn’t play, but laura REALLY wants to gamble.” 😂 they basically roleplay bullying imogen into trying it to make it make sense lmaoooo i love dnd.
SOMEHOW travis, laura, liam, and tal ALL ROLL 21????? what the fuck are the chances of that???? damn, they are definitely gonna think they are cheating now lmaooooooo.
fcg heads off to get them a room, and when explaining that they want a nice big suite, they say: “my friend chetney, he was very intent on getting some sort of big suite… he really wants to swing a big dick while he’s here.” everyone starts giggling, and none of them are with fcg, but talesin goes “where did you learn that language?” and sam goes: “from YOU, ashton!” tal: “goddamnit…” 😂😂😂
fcg asks for it to be comped because of some shit chetney was saying earlier, and then tries to cast ‘fast friends’, which FAILS because the clerk rolls a NAT 20. 💀 fearne, who has followed fcg, steps in and asks if there is a discount for professors of the seminary. 😂 GODDDDDD. THIS IS A MESS AND I LOVE IT. talesin: “start looking for other hotels.” 😂
they end up just paying for the room and asking the clerk to lie and say it was free if chetney asks. GODDDDD.
they play another round of the more complicated game and lose badly - ashton loses 200 gold agakahaksh. all the throwing money around seems to attract a ‘rakish’ figure, an uniya who introduces himself as landon and wants to give them a tour of the city. a round of insight checks and mind reading, and he seems okay, but definitely wants to squeeze them for as much gold as he can, i think.
laudna lies and tells him they are a travelling performance troupe LMAOOOOO. orym is like ‘this is my moment!’ and starts doing cirque du soleil shit, hanging from the ceiling using his vine sword. 😂 laudna ‘puppets’ pâté and fearne begins playing her flute. wow agajagsj this is not a bad cover story, actually. but idk why they felt the need to lie in the first place???? for the bit, i guess.
landon tells them he went to school for carpentry/furniture making, and chetney goes laura: “i switch my mind reading to chetney.” matt: “you don’t have to. you hear-” *knocks the underside of the table* DDGAKSHAKSHKAHS. it seems like he’s lying, but chetney doesn’t know that. lmaooooo. based on chetney’s response to manad and landon, i guess he has a thing for orc/half-orc guys?? a lingering bit of fjord’s influence, maybe lmao. 💜
fcg tells landon to meet them here in the morning, to everyone else’s mixed reactions of excitement, confusion, and exasperation lmao. they go to the room and order a bizarre combination of foods (they are being such terrible hotel guests they they all feel the need to clarify THEY ARE NOT LIKE THIS IRL, IT IS FANTASY) including a fuckton of shrimp, which leads to some truly gross jokes. 😂
ashton threatens pâté, saying if he is secretly delilah, that they will fucking kill him. which is sweet, but i’m pretty sure a familiar is just a familiar. 😂 ashton wouldn’t know that though!! they just want to protect laudna. 🥹
imogen goes into the washroom, then turns invisible and JUMPS OUT THE WINDOW. BRUH. orym hears her fly out, with his freakishly high perception, so she tells him in his head that she will be back. she flies somewhere quiet, and ‘sends’ to her mother again, telling her she's in yios and needs guidance. her mother responds that she should stay put and stop trying to find her, saying she has sacrificed everything to keep her safe and that she is safest as far from her as she can get. she, again, says ‘run, imogen’. GOD this is so sad.
imogen sneaks back in and orym covers for her 🥹
the next morning, everyone heads down to meet landon, who takes them in the direction of the seminary. the clerk seems to know him and shoos him out, which… feels like a bad sign agskshsk. or maybe they’re related?? idk.
landon walks them to the area where the universities are, and there are actually a few! a couple of things we learn about yios - there appear to be ferries that move people around/through the levels, using the canals; it is majority (like 50%) orc or half-orc/uniya in population, and most of the statues of founders also appear to be orcs; the city is built in a way that works with the landscape rather than, like, a flattened grid, so it is delightfully curving and winding. i LOVE the concept of yios - i think this is the city i would most like to visit irl from c3 so far.
landon takes them to the seminary and points them in the direction of the admin building. ashton gives him 10 gold as a retainer for the day plus tip, and everyone is like WOWWWW. ashton is very free with his money lmaooo.
HOLY FUCK. against all odds, as they approach the building, they hear a bird screech and look up - AND THE HUGE BIRD FCG HAS BEEN TERRIFIED OF IS RIGHT FUCKING ABOVE THEM. WHAT THE FUCK?? SHITHEAD THE GIANT BIRD WITH ONE CLOUDY-EYE AND A VENGEANCE AGAINST FCG IS REAL???
