Critical Role: Aeor

April 5, 2021 12:18 PM - Season 2, Episode 132

Having located the secret entrance to Aeor, the Mighty Nein take stock of what waits for them both above and below the ice...
posted by nubs (13 comments total)

Matt was having so much fun with Essek and Dagen, it was great.
posted by dinty_moore at 1:35 PM on April 5, 2021 [1 favorite]

I wish they'd try another scrying on the TT to try and see where they are.
posted by bleary at 7:59 AM on April 6, 2021

I'm only 80 episodes behind now :|
posted by fleacircus at 6:27 PM on April 6, 2021

That means you're close to the first Campaign 2 fanfare posts, so you can comment on older episodes as you watch them!
posted by dinty_moore at 6:33 PM on April 6, 2021 [1 favorite]

Fleacircus, I am a an episode and a half behind right now and I’m the one posting these!

Enjoy the journey, however long it takes. I sometimes find I don’t like being all caught up because it leaves me at loose ends; having CR on for entertainment while I cook or clean is a big coping mechanism for me.
posted by nubs at 6:55 PM on April 6, 2021 [2 favorites]

Nubs, I started a re-listen of campaign 2 from the beginning back in October, (when there was an unexpected break and I wanted a Mollymauk refresher) - six months later I've gotten to episode 57. Which, it's been interesting going back and seeing what I'd forgotten - like the whole Asarius subplot, which lasted 4 episodes. How I forgot about the sexy bugbears, I don't know. But also, I'm definitely doing this because sometimes the thing I need in the background while working/cooking is just some friendly chatter I've heard before.
posted by dinty_moore at 7:00 PM on April 7, 2021

I caught up to CR early in the pandemic and stuck with it each week, until a couple weeks ago. I don't know why, but I've felt the whole Aeor saga has been a drag. There were some highlights—some really cool monster and dungeon design from Matt—but there's just been so much... wandering? I kind of wish that Matt would just drop the floating city over Exandria and be like "Yeah, well, while you guys were meandering around all over the place, the Nonagon kept on moving." I'll probably catch up at some point—I enjoy spending time with the CR too much not to—but I might fast forward a bit.
posted by synecdoche at 2:50 PM on April 9, 2021 [1 favorite]

You could maybe keep up by skimming wiki recaps for the highlights?
posted by bleary at 9:56 AM on April 11, 2021

synecdoche, I've felt a certain amount of foot dragging going on...not from Matt, but from the players, who seem very apprehensive about the Tombtakers along with the whole Nine Eyes gang. Many of them expect that their characters are not going to survive (especially Liam, who I expect to run Caleb in a somewhat suicidal fashion during this last arc; he won't go cheaply, but if there's a chance for Caleb to go out while saving others, he'll take it), and they needed some time to say goodbye, I think.

With this episode, now that they are back in the north, things are rolling again.
posted by nubs at 7:05 PM on April 11, 2021 [1 favorite]

It depends on what part you dislike the most, I think - I think actually the kind of early-Eiselcross arc (Post Vess's Death, Pre-Tombtaker fight) was probably the most wandering/directionless - they didn't really seem to really know what to do about Lucien, about the threshold crests, have any idea of who to contact . . but I still loved it, because there were so many fun little character moments while they were traveling and the tension with traveling with the tombtakers was a lot, but also extremely compelling.

Post tombtaker fight, they had very specific goals, took some big risks (some smarter or better executed than others), and started doing more planning and dramatic goodbyes. Which, the goodbyes are usually fine to watch (sometimes I feel like they're trying to one-up the other, but we're nowhere near where Vax was last campaign), but D&D planning tends to sound a lot like the world's worst conference call - even if it's necessary. The stuff that they were doing post Santorum ended being mostly reactionary - three episodes of just straight reacting is a lot.

Now they're able to actually act on all of those plans - I think the players are also excited to be able to move forward and not constantly be in react mode, because the players were especially giddy through the first half. And yeah, Matt playing Essek (those spell descriptions! That sass!) and Dagen (that very different but still great sass!) - he seemed excited about this, too. But I wouldn't be surprised if we're up for a lot more planning, a lot more long stressful fights, and a lot more tearful goodbyes, partially because that's just how high level D&D is (plus or minus the tearful goodbyes depending on party). Waiting for the episodes to build up, watching the fights and the planning parts at 1.5 speed, and enjoying the rest isn't a horrible way to enjoy it.
posted by dinty_moore at 8:26 PM on April 11, 2021 [1 favorite]

I've recently become unable to watch live, and find myself greatly preferring watching immediately after, at 1.5x.

Highly recommended.
posted by coriolisdave at 8:03 PM on April 12, 2021

Oh yeah, coriolisdave, I do 1.25x at a minimum, then kick it up to 1.5x for fights.
posted by HE Amb. T. S. L. DuVal at 4:06 PM on April 19, 2021

Well here I am 5.5 months later, that works about to about half an episode every day.

They really obliterated those giants hoo boy. Paralysis attacks are pretty swingy though; one iteration might be a joke, while another could be a TPK.

I have very low confidence that Ashley got the final total right on her critical. Also, Travis has really been on a high for the last few episodes, he's very loud and charismatic.

Matt sort of handing them the brown mold situation because they were being really bad at figuring anything out right then.
posted by fleacircus at 2:36 PM on September 19, 2021 [1 favorite]