Critical Role! D&D With Nerdy-Ass Voice Actors

Spoiler

Man, I'm sad that Ashley wasn't there to do it but Mercer's decisions of what to do with Yasha's grief were EVERYTHING I was hoping for, and unexpectedly I L O V E Jester's issues that she's dealing with "why didn't you come?"

 

I read that Ashley gave him guidance on how Yasha would react

 

Spoiler: Episode 30 spoilers

I saw this post and felt a lot better about how everything resolved.

Basically, Molly didn't want to explore his past, absolutely no interest, he would have begrudged anything to do with it. Had his body revived, and some amnesiac tiefling followed the note to Zadash, found the tabaxi and learned about Lucien/Nonagon/etc? Well, that person would have been an NPC who caused the rest of the Nein a lot of heartbreak, and Molly would be gone except in their hearts.

Instead, they buried Molly. He was the last person to wear those bones and that face. He died himself, as he chose to be. And that's something.

Plus, the whole ritual and book and the lady and the organization that they were avoiding? Sounds like some mid-high level stuff. Some pieces of it all might come up. But they're not the focus.

 

Well I'm about to cry again.

But yeah, that makes it a lot easier to stomach, thanks.

 

Spoiler: honey heist 2

I am. AMAZED by Marisha's ability to carry out such an extended godfather reference and impersonation. It was impressive.

 

hi everybody, I'm eP and I have a really serious Critical Role problem!

SO I had watched episodes 1-23 of C1 in, like... 2016? early 2017? and really liked it, but I saw what I would characterize as a Daunting number of videos in the playlist, and also I had audio issues with my computer that meant I could only listen with USB speakers, and for one reason or another I stopped watching. right.

cue January 2018, when I decided the best thing to do with my decidedly limited computer time (place I was at only let us have 'em for, like, two hours on weekdays and mmmaybe five hours on weekend days? and I had to do homework and things too in that time... would estimate I had about 12 hours of Critical Role Time a week) was watch Critical Role. all. of fucking. Critical Role. I therefore began with episode 24/the Briarwoods arc and, yes, watched all of it. it took an embarrassingly long time for me to figure out that I could watch it at faster-than-normal speed if I also read the subtitles, whereupon I began to watch at 1.5x or 2x speed, naturally. I finished C1 at... the beginning of April, I think?... and commenced watching C2. ended up watching the first fifteen as back episodes, then finishing those at the beginning of May and starting to... not watch them live, because of aforementioned strict computer controls, but watch a new one each Monday when it was posted to YouTube. watched 16-25 like that and then returned home, whereupon I FINALLY could watch them (and Talks Machina) live. and! yes!! I'm still real super fuckin' amazed I watched all that shit!!!

I haven't had any other fans to talk to about this all since I started watching this year; I don't have a Twitter, Tumblr, or Reddit. SO. I have a lot of THOUGHTS, and am very EXCITED, and don't really want to post an unsolicited screed of C1 opinions (except I kinda do), BUT have some gratis thoughts on C2 and its most recent elements:

Spoiler: spoilers for C2 generally

I adore the M9, and it's still so cool to see them playing new characters! and accents!! there are such nice new accents!! essentially all of them went "but what if I was... THE OPPOSITE of my C1 character" and it's great. I especially like seeing Travis stretch his legs as, y'know, someone who's smart and charismatic, because in C1 he just could not contribute to anything strategic as Grog and only rarely and in times of great personal pain ever contributed out of character, and he's very strategic. seeing Marisha play Beau makes me happy as well, even aside from how much I like Beau generally—I guess I was letting my perceptions of Keyleth's personality color my interpretations of her player's, but she genuinely seems to worry less about what to do and just have fun. (or it might just be that she no longer has access to every fucking druid spell in the PHB and just hits things now. :P) Laura is having the time of her fucking life as Jester. I think Ashley is enjoying being a stone-cold motherfucker instead of Everyone's Tiny Gnome Mom a lot. Taliesin also (and he's said this on TM) got to switch from drawing on the aspect of his personality corresponding to Percy the Smart Grimdark Mostly-Straight* Buttoned-Up Aristocrat to drawing on the part of himself corresponding to Molly the Delighted YOLO Thigh-High-Wearing Queer-As-Fuck Carnie, which is, as he might say, very nice.
*in that Percy was in no way uncomfortable with Two Sam Riegel Characters' attraction to him, and in that his response to the Tary marriage thing wasn't "uh yeah I would never under any circumstances marry a dude," it was "sorry I already have an SO." also, I suspect that, like me, a Fellow Bisexual, Taliesin Jaffe finds totally straight D&D characters slightly baffling, like why would you limit yourself like that? Liam too, but that's a different conversation

Spoiler: regarding recent episodes

I would argue that Caduceus draws on a similar aspect of him as well; he taps into the same GNC* well in design terms, and he's similarly countercultural. it's just a different counterculture. also in contrast to Percy, he is very definitely WISE instead of smart. *incidentally, the FUCK was up with Matt's post-mortem Very Careful Avoidance Of Gendering Molly... I think it was last episode? did Taliesin say something to him?? lOOK I NEED RETROACTIVE CONFIRMATION OF MY GENDERQUEER MOLLY HEADCANON, OKAY

Nott means a sad lack of Sam Riegel's Singing and a happy lack of Scanlan Doing And Saying Dumb And Cringey Things (though she's said some cringey things herself, ngl), and I love her generally; it's interesting to see Sam playing WAY FAR from his own personality. and I just fuckin' love Caleb, Caleb is my fave, I think he's more different from Liam than Vax was but he's a FASCINATING character.

otherwise wrt the Mighty Nein I am greatly desirous of Backstory and also People Being Friends With Caleb. that's it, that's all I want, gimme that sweet sweet character development

Spoiler: more specific thoughts about most recent episodes

I'm delighted to have Travis and Laura back, I guess I didn't know how much I liked them until they were missing and I WAS SAD :( I'm also glad to have the Iron Shepherds storyline resolved, it was very important story-wise but extremely stressful and like... serious? it was so great to see them just dicking around Zadash for the past couple in-game weeks and laughing and having fun, instead of GRIMLY ATTEMPTING TO SAVE THEIR FRIENDS and having panic attacks (according to Taliesin). Nila and Keg (and Sumalee and Ashly) were great, but. yeah.

in regard to the whole Permadeath Debacle: I was fucking fine until they had his fucking funeral, specifically Nott refusing to take anything and justifying it by saying, "He told me not to steal from happy people," whereupon I fucking lost it. fucking thanks, Sam Riegel, I realize that was superlative acting to move me so much emotionally but I was fine till then, why'd you have to say that, but once they stopped lingering on it IC I was fine. tbh I was excited to see the new character Taliesin had rolled up—like, Molly was great, but I had every confidence that Taliesin would replace him with someone good, and so far Caduceus has not disappointed!
(this has a little to do with my beloved Grave cleric, but only a little, 'cause he's nothing like Caduceus personality- or story-wise, his defining trait being A Loving Father. but I do love me those Grave Domain mechanics. Matt was so fucking indignant when Caduceus healed Beau for 21 with that 2nd-level cure wounds, it was great.)

Honey Heist 2: Electric Beargaloo was incredible, dare I say better than the original. Marisha is the Pun Queen and the boys are worthy courtiers, and I found it inordinately hilarious that it had a "Mature Audience" warning on Twitch beforehand. actually, I was kind of nervous initially, like what fuckery did they get up to to give this that warning when the show is full of so much shit normally, but actually it was just a slightly-above-average concentration of dick jokes and the fact that it was prerecorded, so. I mean, it had nothing on fucking Episode 109, aka Sam Riegel Salivates Over Percival de Rolo Live In A Morph Suit, that's for damn sure. also, Liam Las Vegas is a gay icon

edit: something about the spoiler mechanic here is BROKE AS SHIT and I give up. they will not nest? new ones keep manifesting themselves??? sorry.

edit the second: it also has something to do with the size of the font? maybe? and whether it's italicized? also maybe? oh well I hope this is vaguely comprehensible anyway

edit the third, moderator edition: HAH yes it was size tags I had to go into "bb code editor" mode to find the extra spoiler tags and fix it.

 

First of all, I feel all of this, second of all PLEASE take this as your invitation to post campaign 1 opinions. I'm thoroughly enjoying 2 but...man campaign 1 was just so fucking good and I miss Zara especially.

I especially feel the love for caduceus and like. I LOVE his acting for him, both accent and mannerisms/way of speaking. It's just. So likable and just generally pleasant. My favorite interaction so far was his introduction to Nila's smellbag and he went "huh...I need one of those for me...that may be the most efficient decision making tool I've ever seen". (whoops I think he's my favorite of the nein)

 

Spoiler

I haven't watched it, but I believe in one of the episodes of 'Talks Machina' either shortly before or shortly after Molly's death they talked a bit about his gender - Taliesin I believe said something to the effect of "he's a 'he', but he doesn't actually have strong feelings one way or another", which I guess they decided to make more explicit in the actual show, which is sweet.

 

YOU ASKED FOR IT MAN

Spoiler: contains discussion of big C1 plot points

opinions: [mentally rummages through 114 episodes] wrt guests, I liked Zara too; she and Kash were definitely the most iconic guest PCs, and I love me that warlock aesthetic. I don't doubt that Mary will return as a guest eventually with another delightful character, though, and Will Friedle as well. although I found the announcement that they were having children... jarring, tbh, not least because I am incapable of seeing straight sexual tension at all, ever, I am always fucking surprised, like, "oh I thought?? they were friends??? wut." Joe is a magnificent fuckin' troll, props to him. Patrick Rothfuss roleplays like he writes, which is really quite impressive, and I think he brought that writer's eye for detail and backstory and theme to everything Kerrek did. TBT to Lyra, she was great and I haven't forgotten.

REGRETTABLY I had an identical "the fuck? where did this come from" reaction to both Vax/Keyleth and Vex/Percy, which is completely my social-cue-missing-ass autistic fault but meant I was kinda "eh" about the development of both of them, and also felt that way re: the sudden "ACTUALLY I LIKE YOU LET'S GET MARRIED IN THE EPILOGUE" Pike/Scanlan thing, which I maintain came OBJECTIVELY out of the fuckin' blue on Pike's end, but, y'know. predictably, however, I was an Allura/Kima truther FROM WHEN THEY WERE """REALLY GOOD FRIENDS""" REUNITED IN EMON, and especially when they lived in the same fucking house in Whitestone and no one said anything and I was so frustrated like. anyway, A Good. Vax/Gilmore also A Good, but that's not the story choice Liam made and I respect that.

INDIVIDUALLY let me begin by saying god bless the twins, their relationship was the best. best twinnies, oh my god. I thiiiink I liked Vax more, which probably has a lot to do with the fact that I vastly prefer playing rogues and paladins to rangers, and also because the Raven Queen is some dope shit, sign me the fuck up. Pike is, of course, a ray of sunshine in all our lives and the Coolest Team Mom. I liked Keyleth, both because I related to her struggles with self-confidence and social shit AND because, let's be real, high-level druid spells are some cool shit. Grog is, well, Grog, as exemplified by his Bad Decisions re: Craven Edge and the Deck, lol. Percy... I didn't actively dislike, but was definitely not my fave, in large part because of his entitlement and because, well, he may have had the Edgy Grimdark Aesthetic but he really made questionable moral decisions?? Taliesin's said as much.

Scanlan... is a contentious subject, I guess. I love Sam's singing, and he's undeniably very funny, and Scanlan was self-evidently a Good Meme, plus he was a clutch fuckin' spellcaster a lot of the time, but he did... a lot of assholeish shit? in particular I have not forgiven him for the Drugs Debacle, which I really... never thought was funny, in part due to personal shit, and the ensuing, fucking. PICKING HIS UNGRATEFUL ASS UP AND LEAVING, MY GOD WAS THAT UPSETTING AND INFURIATING?? AND HE DIDN'T HAVE TO DO IT??? I MILDLY RESENT SAM RIEGEL FOR THAT AS WELL??? I did like the Kaylie storyline, though.

Tary was also a douche, but something about it being unintentional made me like him more, I guess. he was a Good Meme, and also had surprisingly touching Daddy Issues, and yeah. liked him, laughed at him, Sam Riegel's comedic genius strikes again.

in terms of NPCs, I've already expressed my admiration for Gilmore, Kima, and Allura. J'mon Sa Ord was also dope as shit, as were Vanessa and Artagan. the Briarwoods were hands-down the best humanoid antagonists, imo, and debatably the best period, and the Whitestone arc remains one of my faves. dragons are really exciting to fight, and Raishan was an interesting, well-developed villain in her own right, but again, ssssecond to the Briarwoods, tbh. Vecna was likewise... well, I'll put it this way: Matt did a good version of Vecna, but he's out there in the lore already, not 100% original like the Briarwoods, and anyway demigods are almost... too omniscient to make really great antagonists? like, they're far enough removed from mortal life that they're just Malicious Forces Of Evil, not personal. but he was a hell of a godly enemy and a hell of a final boss, and his whole ascension and the divine trammels and the zombie titan dungeon crawl were really well done.

which leads me to my final point: Matt is an exemplary DM. like, holy shit. I feel like C2 has been a lot more player-character-driven, at least so far, but in C1 Matt really got the chance to show off his plotting skills (in addition to his worldbuilding, descriptions, and encounter design, which are uniformly excellent. except for "siggle"). the fact that they were at such high levels (and incidentally, it is really exciting to watch play at such high levels in and of itself, at least for me... "we're basically gods" indeed) was a part of it, and like I said he did some great epic-level stuff. his extraplanar stuff in general was really cool as well, and he did some sick-ass gods. I mean, the Raven Queen? Ioun? sign me the FUCK up.

...a long general impression....... and if you want I can talk more about individual plot points........... although I might need a slightly more focused topic to do anything but "AND THEN" ramble...........

yeah, Duceus is really chill, and the accent and mannerisms Taliesin have put together are gr8. he's just? a soothing presence??? honestly he's the new cinnamon roll, too good, too pure. he also reminds me a lot of this Buddhist religion professor I had, attitude and voice (although this dude had a little bit more Southern than Duceus, lol), which is cool, especially because Taliesin said he based him in part on a Buddhist (monk) he knew. I mean, I've already stated my fav, but I do love me some Arizona Green Tea firbolg. :P (firbolg racial abilities are also super dope from a mechanical perspective, although personally I'm eh on the Nature Aesthetic for my characters.)

Spoiler

actually I think that was in the first TM for C2—Brian was like, "people on Twitter keep asking me for Molly's pronouns? what are they?? she, they???" (his assumption being, I guess, that other players + Matt might've screwed them up in the first session like they did with Nott's*) and Taliesin said something like what you said, that people call Molly "he" so he rolls with that but he doesn't really give a shit, which is essentially the basis of my aforementioned theory. :P it's theoretical in the sense that neither Taliesin or Molly have said anything about Molly's gender identity specifically, but, I mean, #probable. anyway, like I said, though, that was way back in January, which is why it would be a bit odd for Matt to emphasize it now unless Taliesin had said something to him privately. then again, it might just be Matt trying Very Hard To Be A Good Ally And Have Good Nonbinary Representation, which he does, god bless his heart. it's just. I can see him trying Very Hard sometimes and it's kinda adorable. :P

honestly Talks is at least 50% Brian trying to find indirect ways to ask shit like "is Beau gay" (as opposed to bi, since she's demonstrably into women; he accomplished this by mentioning that everyone on Tumblr calls Beau a Disaster Lesbian, and Marisha was like "ACCURATE LOL") and "is Caleb/Molly** a thing in canon" (the below-related Wall Incident having just occurred; he succeeded in getting Liam and Tal chitchatting, which went about like: (Taliesin) "I'm curious if Caleb's picked up on Molly's attitude towards him," (Liam) "I've noticed that Molly's kind of— [vague gesture]"***, (Taliesin) "yeah," (Liam) "but I mean that's just me, Caleb finds Molly overwhelming and isn't really interested in a relationship right now"), because Brian Knows What Tumblr Wants but is also not about to read aloud an actual, literal question card that actually, literally says "what sexuality is [x] character," although he did essentially ask "does Yasha like Beau" once. it's pretty gr9. fuckin' shame they ain't on YouTube, though.

*I think Liam is the only person (aside from Sam) not to have slipped up with Nott's pronouns at least once, which is interesting to me and probably also totally insignificant, I just like Liam

**which, incidentally, I completely fucking missed, like I flat-out did not fucking notice their dynamic. then I noticed some shit in the art reels (as curator Liam is either shipper garbage or more likely just Knows What The Fans Want), was like "???? hm," discovered said ship's wild popularity on AO3 and was like "aight I'm generally on board but why. is this so popular???", and then fucking finally remembered the time IN CANON when Molly "gently and socially" pinned Caleb to a FUCKING WALL "face-to-face," I am quoting Taliesin word-for-word here, told him to not steal too much shit without sharing, and closed by PATTING HIS CHEEK and FUCKING LITERALLY SAYING "good boy" which I guess explains all the praise kink stuff on AO3. I guess, y'know, maybe. I, the world's worst MLM shipper, watched that and remembered only that Molly had pressured Caleb to not hide shit from the group. my only, my only excuse is that Caleb to all appearances Really Didn't Like any of that because it involved a) personal contact, with which he is uncomfortable, and b) a very aggressive attempt at eye contact, with which he is also uncomfortable, and that was exactly why Molly did that the way he did, to make him uncomfortable and kinda threaten him. so apparently I was like "y u be mean to my socially anxious fave Molly >:((((" instead of like "y u do AGGRESSIVELY FLIRTATIOUS things to my fave Molly >:)", but. I don't know. anyway that's my Widomauk story, which is now at best marginally relevant

***cue me going "HOW THE FUCK DID YOU NOTICE THAT, LIAM??? AM I JUST THIS BAD AT TELLING WHEN PEOPLE ARE FLIRTING????" which, correct

edit: spelling. also, I am really sorry for these footnotes in retrospect, they are so long

 

I'm bad at any and all sexual tension at all. Including the molly pins caleb to the wall that you mentioned. Like. If anyone ever tried that with me I would probably take it as assault and possibly try to fight them. Literally the ONLY flirting I actually saw and noticed was gilmore on vax because...i mean he was literally saying that he's into him.

But not only that, his voice itself is just. So nice. It's a pretty voice. (just realizing this as I'm typing) HE SOUNDS LIKE SOMEONE READING A BEDTIME STORY TO A TODDLER AND GOOD AT IT.

My thoughts exactly. It also took me a WHILE to like him with the pestering pike and being generally a whiny bitch about her not being in to him. And I feel you SO hard on the bitter about scanlan up and leaving. Like. He. Who is literally the single most outwardly selfish asshole of the group and who actively hid his past to such a ridiculous extent. Was talking about feeling used and uncared for? lol fuck out of here with that. He's funny, and viscous mockery is my absolute favorite spell in the game thanks to him. But yeah. just. Yeah. I did REALLY love though the interaction with Ioun. Her choosing him over Percy because Percy seeks and seeks knowledge sure, but he hoards it which. Fucking incredible parallel to Vecna A+++ Matthew, excellent, call him the fuck OUT. Whereas Scanlan sings it from the rooftops, he discovers all he can and he spreads it as far as he can. and that's. A. much like Ioun said So Good. and B. relatable.

Regarding Tary, I found him kind of meh for the most part. I just really loved the scene where all of Vox Machina is bullying and hazing him with the battlefield testing thing mostly because it just showed how terrifyingly POWERFUL they are. Plus just the sheer awesomeness factor of it. Like. Come on. Keyleth just casually throws up a windwall as Vax sneaks up and fucking brains Tary from behind and THEN shenanigans begin? Like. You have to admit that's just COOL.

I enjoyed the Vecna storyline, and it was cool how it got tied in to the Briarwoods, because yes agreed they were REALLY cool (and they just ramped that way the fuck up with the casual BONE DRAGON), but I was a little disappointed that nothing ever happened more with the horn of Orcus. Like. That sounded like so much of a Main Story plot? And it just. Fizzled out. Like the chroma conclave interrupted something to do with it if i recall? and nothing ever came of it. I was lowkey hoping for an Orcus cult. But like I said. Vecna was cool too.

 

@Lebesgue Integreat (Hopefully the double ping isn't too annoying! I apologize if it was)

But yea, there's like this weird growing sentiment of people thinking Caleb is a manipulative asshole taking advantage of people like Jester and Fjord, being abusive towards Nott, and is Evil alignment & will turn on the party
That's KIND OF always been a theory that he might end up fighting against the M9 later on, but some people have taken things Caleb's done lately and ran with it all the way to 'He's an Abuser'
Esp after last episode.

 

Nah it's all good, the clarity was very nice actually, I appreciate it.
Also. I am the first to say I think Caleb is one of, if not the most dangerous member of the party and I am Worried for him with regards to how comfortable he's gotten with fire and how quick he's gotten to pulling that trigger. That said. I uh. I don't remember a single time where he takes advantage of either Fjord or Jester???? The one time that anything even came close to happening was with the scroll in that house with the stand-off and since then I don't think he has tried to steal or even hide anything from the rest of the party. The one and only thing he did to Nott where I was :/ was the Suggestion thing back in Nicodranas, and even then, it was a true fact that they couldn't very well leave a GOBLIN with a Charisma worse than fucking me out on a boat in the middle of the ocean. The rest of the time he has been nothing but supportive and protective? Which, let's be real Nott absofuckinglutely needs protection, this shit was said in their damn intros??? This is sounding a lot like people don't know how to listen to canon again.

 

It's people confusing "being a good person" with "being a good character" again.

 

Spoiler: E46 picture

Look you can spot the exact moment Marisha and Travis' hearts get torn to shreds by Ashley's monologue :D

 

Spoiler: Up to Ep 13 of the second campaign

I just got halfway through episode 13 and I'm real irritated about some stuff. Like, the whole party besides maybe Jester seems to have this really low view of Nott's intelligence. Even Caleb's pretty condescending to her at times, and they've all sorta done that thing where they talk all slow and deliberate at her, like they're trying real hard to word their big important thoughts so they can fit in her tiny little brain, and it's fucking infuriating. And now they're all ganging up on her, trying to convince her that Caleb's manipulating her into acting against the party's best interests, and Nott makes this little speech like"I'm an adult, actually, and I am aligning myself with Caleb because he's important to me and also I can make my own decisions without being manipulated into things" and Molly's replay is literally "you aren't as smart as you think you are." Fuck off, Molly, Christ.

I'm real mad.

 

Spoiler

There's a few points later that are worse with Fjord especially, plus the one moment with Caleb that's...hooooo that's something for sure (which I think really also kind of outlines Caleb's character), though the thing with Fjord becomes sort of a running gag that Nott herself participates in occasionally, though we do see it really grates on her. It plateaus off a bit for the most part though and just kind of doesn't come up as often.

Also, on the one hand, a lot of what Molly says is definitely stuff that people need to hear, people do need to be reminded that they are not necessarily the greatest and most powerful, but on the other hand, doing that right in the middle of everyone downplaying Nott's intelligence and agency is unfair and unreasonable as well as just entirely too much.

 

Spoiler

aw, Fjord and Caleb were the ones I was most hoping would improve. They're the ones who got sorta rebuked. There was a scene a few episodes back where Nott explicitly tells Caleb she's not an idiot and that she was just playing along with some condescending bullshit that Fjord said to her. I kinda hoped that they might have a little lightbulb moment or something there.

And I dunno, man, if Molly was gonna say something important and relevant at that point, he should probably have said that Caleb isn't as smart as Nott thinks he is, and that if she wants to protect him then she'll have to stop indulging his dumber ideas. I'm just having trouble taking that in good faith, yunno? It wasn't relevant at that moment, and I don't really think it was relevant to Nott at all. Plus, he was being a skeevy dick that entire argument. Like, the dumbshit scorpion and the frog turtle metaphor that paints Nott and Caleb as needing to be saved from themselves by the rest of the Nein, who only have their best interests at heart. Which is bullshit. Nott and Caleb being more of a unit themselves than a part of the Nein doesn't hurt Nott and Caleb, it hurts the Nein. Him trying to paint this like the two need the Nein because Caleb will get them both killed if they're on their own is just. Urgh. And him being all agro about Nott trying to steal from "the group" when he encouraged her to steal from Beau, like. It's all just really fucking skeevy.

 

Actually, I don't know that I'm really getting what Molly meant with his dumbshit scorpion and the frog turtle metaphor. I initially read it like Nott was supposed to be the turtle and Caleb was supposed to be the scorpion, cause he said it was supposed to explain what Beau meant when she brought up Stockholm syndrome, but maybe he was thinking that Nott and Caleb are the scorpion to the Nein's turtle? Either way, it's a horseshit metaphor. The scorpion and the frog is about how sometimes people will fuck you over even if they also fuck themselves over in the process because they can't help their untrustworthy or destructive natures. Or whatever. It's certainly not about people needing to trust one another. Kinda the opposite.
Also, a turtle would be a really good animal to transport a scorpion over a body of water. It has a shell. The scorpion would have to deliberately try to harm it to hit anything that's vulnerable, not just sting wildly because it can't help itself.

 

Spoiler

Caleb is...Caleb is a lot of things. Beau is trying to kind of steer him straight, doing much better what Molly was trying to do. That said, Nott is still very much so "Caleb above all" and while I do absolutely believe that he cares about her and would almost automatically be down for anything she felt was important, I don't know whether or not he would end up willing to make real sacrifices in terms of his goals for her. They do talk about it and Caleb does apologize and you can decide for yourself if what he did was absolutely necessary. Personally, I'm still pretty :/ about it because [redacted].

Fjord is definitely getting better about some things, just nott particularly Not (pun very intended here). I think he sort of sees her mostly in light of her alcoholism and dedication to Caleb rather than as a whole person. Which, not that this justifies it, Nott hasn't really become a really well-defined person to him yet, he doesn't know her past or goals like Caleb and Beau do. Obviously, you could say the same about Yasha (which oh god this past episode we got so much about her it was wonderful). Either way, that doesn't really excuse his being a dick, but I think it is always worth it to look at why if for no other reason than to say with more specificity, "you are a dick because . . .".

I understood the metaphor being Caleb and Nott as the scorpion with the Nein as the turtle, yes. And to be fair them looking out only for each other does pose a danger to the rest of the group but that's I think not particularly important at the moment. Honestly I think "skeevy dick who tries to hold people accountable but also doesn't really care about context of situation" is kind of just how Molly is as a character.

 

IDEA: MIGHTY NEIN VS VOX MACHINA AT THE END OF CAMPAIGN 2, LIKE THEY MEET EACH OTHER AND HAVE A FIGHT CLUB. I DEMAND THIS TO COME ALIVE AND HAPPEN.