Tale Gate | Episode 2 | Discussing Up To C4E18

Sorry for the voice note, but can we get a takeaway tonight, Mum? Oh, no, no, we've got leftovers in the fridge. They'll do it, it'll be nice. Um, sorry, I'll eat it. Who's for pizza? Pizza! Sure, we can give you lots of data, but what really matters is friends and family. That's why we're happy to be your second most important network. Tesco Mobile. It pays to be connected. Terms Apply, see tescomobile.com. Why Tesco Mobile? Why hello there, Distinguished Campaign 4 listeners. Welcome to Tailgate, our new talk-back show hosted by me, Whitney Moore. In this series, we'll sit down with the cast after each tail will arc and spill the tea together on all things Campaign 4. Plus, if you're a Beacon member, the Svore will continue with the Night Cap, a Beacon exclusive segment where we answer your questions from the Discord chat. Each Tailgate episode is streamed live on Beacon.tv, YouTube and Twitch and will arrive here on the Critical Role Podcast Network one week later. So if you ever want to join in on the live fun, check us out on one of those platforms. Alright, without further ado, let's get this Tailgate started. Oh! Good evening everyone, and welcome back to Tailgate. I'm your host, Whitney Moore, and tonight we are seeking some answers from the Seekers table as they have just wrapped up their first arc on Campaign 4. Yeah, we have a lot of ground to cover, feelings to process. Octus has had his cousin's mutated angel head in a bag. It's a whole thing. Let's open that gate. Let's kick it off with a Lorekeeper question. Sha-Wit. All unexpected alliances begin, but I feel like I'm about to quiz you. Don't make sure to change. Great question for me. Unexpected alliances began to form for the Seekers. Who do you feel your character grew closer to during this adventure? We'll start. Oh, who? I don't know. I'm sure. I think I grew the closest to Vaelis. Aww! Well, because we started at neutral. We started at a deficit. There was a lot of ground to cover there. But I think they grew closer through this whole thing. Teaching me to meditate was very sweet, because I was going to go crazy if I didn't. I need my spell slots back, so that's important. I like that sort of... We had these very sweet little moments at night when everybody else was sleeping. It was like a secret rendezvous that no one was supposed to know about. Oh, wow. Secret love. That's a problematic age gap relationship. It really kind of is. You're bad for shipping. We're both effectively immortal. It doesn't matter. That's true. See, this is what's wrong with Twilight. Does anybody else have any... You know what's not wrong with Twilight, though, is vampire baseball. Yes! This is a show where we talk about Twilight. I agree with her. Anybody else have some unexpected relationships blossom that they weren't intending to happen? I mean, I think Taisa's wasn't... That it was unintended. The sort of... Not souring, but transformation of Taisa and Autis' relationship was the thing that we talked about. Just being dynamic with a previously established strong relationship. With a pre-existing condition? Your pre-existing condition being alive, which was wildly reversed. I think it's both Vaelis and Julian is, I think, the fun thing. With Vaelis, those were both deeply negative relationships when we all met in the Overture. And then finding different... It's fun to find a reason to get along with people. So finding our common bird ground, Brennan kept shooting birds into us. It's like, come on, you guys. You figure it out! You go into the bird, you go into you, and then those birds go into you. Bond! I like what you said about how you earned the friendship because you guys squabble a lot. And just as a reminder, everybody here likes each other. Squabble like a bird would, almost. And I love that sentiment of, like, it's nothing is promised and you guys are building these relationships as they come. I love it. I feel like we've kind of talked about this too, where I am, Ashley, very deeply uncomfortable with confrontation. So I'm always like, when there's people... Good people. Like... I know. So this character, I'm like, wait, how do I just say stuff? Like, how are you just okay with not thinking about everything that you're saying that's going to affect people or just not care, rather? I don't know! I'm still figuring it out. You're crushing it. You're doing great. It's like, I definitely... I have the panic afterwards where I'll say stuff, a bunch of stuff, and then I'll be like, what the fuck do I say? Yes. Yeah. Well, I want to make things about me for a minute, because you guys fought my sisters, and I want to hear all about what that was like. I was watching gagged and gooped. Well, because also they were so... Brennan made them so scary, and then the dice was like, actually no, they're huge losers. What was that like? Scary in quotes. Like, stablock scary, maybe. But I think the rest of it just even gave more understanding of who Tyranny is and where that family comes from to like a, oh, they're all like this. Yeah. Yeah. It was so funny. Because like having watched, you know, soldier stuff as it was going on, I knew you had been impersonating Octus, but Octus didn't know. So the whole thing of them coming in and thinking I'm you, or I'm Wick and you were Tyranny, and just being like, what are you talking about? It was just so... You were like, ooh, it's so scooby, dude. It was very scooby, dude. It was so funny. I didn't meet you except to yell at you once, and then like Wick, I knew as like from Noble Houses, but I was like, what do you meet? Can I beat him? Like it's just, it was just so silly. So good. Well, I want to bounce around because I've got a lot of questions for all of you, but let's get to... Ooh, Ashley. Poirouat. Where does Vaelis' distrust of Aranessa stem from? Yeah. Ooh. Dig deep. I think... There was a hair, no, pay attention to me, there was a hair on my pants. Dude. What is happening over here? This man must be here, this is all tied. All right. I feel like it's not just Aranessa. I feel like she just doesn't really know how to trust anybody. And I think... I'm fine. I'm fine. I do want to touch all of this. You can do me too, though. Sorry, we just need to get our wiggles out. This was sticking up out of the couch and it was a lot longer than I thought it would be. I didn't know what to do once I did it. I was doing it too and I was like, wait, this is actually really fine. This is all very carefully engineered tea leaves. We are answering no questions. No questions, sorry. Ashley, I rudely interrupted you. No, it's totally fine. I just so unbelievably relatable because I was already wanting to play with it. Like I said, we just got to get our stuff out. Yeah, I don't think Vaelis really trusts... No, I know she doesn't. She doesn't trust people. Trust no bitch. And I think it... Well, I think it takes her a lot to trust people because everybody, she's like, what's your... Yeah. What's your deal? So I think it's not just Aranessa. I think it's so many people. I was feeling it about everybody here. For sure. But, you know, had wonderful moments with everybody where it's like figuring out who these people are. But Aranessa, something's too good about her. Yeah. Something's too good about her. We've never seen all of her face. I don't trust anyone whose face I have. Are you going to take that thing off and get somebody a little smooch, huh? I don't know. I don't know. And why can't you be me? I might never take it off. Whoa. I don't know. We'll see. We'll see. We'll see. We'll see. But, um... You got one from both sides. Yeah. She's like, you came bail gate. Let's go. Yes. All right. Well, I want to jam through this question. So Matt, tell us about the... What? I want to get these out of the way. I want to get... I just thought to do it. It's St. Patrick's Day. When that... And I knew that. Yes. I knew that. I knew that wherever you are. Matt, tell us about the Daredevil subclass. What aspects of this homebrew appealed to you for Julian and what are some interesting fiat chas? I... We're still developing it as it goes on. But like the concept behind it was wanting to create a fighter subclass that was based in high-risk, high-reward mechanics. You know, Julian in particular is very much kind of that rush head-first into danger. And sometimes it works out really great. Others really poorly. And that to me is a very fun dynamic with, you know, dice-based role-playing games in general. And just wanted to lean more into that. Like safety is fun, but I like... I like when I succeed spectacularly, it's awesome. When I fail spectacularly, it's awesome. And just wanted to kind of build some of that leans into that. And you know, also make my other players feel like, why are you doing that? No, why would you do that? I'm like, because it's fun. Yeah. Yeah, I mean you haven't gotten to be at a table really with Sam, so somebody's got to pick up the mantle and it's honored to be like, hey, what the fuck? Hey, what? Yeah. Why you do that? Yeah. Some of the level three features that he got. One is, we call it like, writing the threshold where when he's... What? Change it back to edge. No, we're not right. We can't do writing the threshold. I like edging. It was originally titled, writing the edge, but we realized that would just... We all shame. I have a history of being shamed for not thinking about things out loud first. So I decided to change it, writing the threshold. But yeah, so to where... And I guess I work with this with Chris and Jeremy to like, you know, build this home brew. And so part of it is whenever he's under 50% hit points, whenever he's like more or less he... his second wind feature gives him temporary hit points as opposed to hit points. That's so good. But the benefit of that is whenever he is bloodied more or less, he can spend his hit dice instead of second wind features to use it. Wow. I love that. God, I love that. So I can't heal himself up to full necessarily, but he can burn more second winds for other things that he can use. So for instance, if I want to use second winds for some of the other fighter features, or in this instance, the thing called daring strikes, which is you can spend a second wind or can try and make a daring strike. If he rolls to hit and it succeeds, I can spend a second wind to do an additional d10 damage on the attack, which is fun. Whoa. If I miss the attack, then the next attack against me has advantage. So it's like... How fun. Very cool. Very much. I mean, it suits Julian so much because he has such a liability that he'd make these crazy choices and have these great strokes of luck and also punish everyone. Yep. That's how I like to do it. We love. Liability, but he's the best at what he does. And Chat, don't you dare try and bully me into making it right in the edge again. Yeah. Chat, do it. It'll all still be edging in our hearts. Yeah. Well, I'm on the threshold of excitement about Abrea's question. No segue. What is? Perfect segue. Yes. How does Taisha feel being on the possible outs with the circle of ancients? Is she worried about being ousted or does she feel they'll understand her perspective? I think for Taisha, the idea of having a level 20 plus, or not level, but 20 wisdom, Druid fight means that everyone's going to approach the argument with sort of open heart and trying to take things in best faith. So you can have your presuppositions, but like there's an assumption that there will be like it will be like you'll be heard and listened to. So I think Taisha is kind of sitting in the position where either her circle will listen to her or she will continue to do what she does and not like ride the circle of ancients as like the reason that she does it. I mean, from the very first, her first act of Druidic magic is to pull her son back from the veil of death. Like so she's already always been flirting with the edge of what it means to be a Druid and respect the balance of life and death. You're not her first son that she's been like, no, no, no dead for you. He's still good. He's still good. It's fine. Second rule. Yeah. Five second rule. If you catch him on the first bounce, you were a little farther down the path. But like again, it's like seven second rule. Like if I can get him on the first bounce, he's not fully dead yet. It's fine. So I think as much as she loves her order, she doesn't actually feel that beholden to those structures. Yeah, like she's going to follow her in. She's looking up for A1, baby. 100% and yes, she should. The sauce. She loves, actually would she eat steak because. Yeah, she's not that kind of Druid. She loves metal and steak. Yeah, great. Let's go. A1 steak sauce. Yeah. Today's sponsor. She loves A1 steak sauce. The level 10 she's got, I think. Yeah. Circle of the condiment. Circle of the condiment. I'm going to make my own Druid circle. I know it'll be full of ketchup. That'd be my Druid circle. This question is for everyone, but I'm going to direct it to Ashley first. The Seeker's goal was to find information. What piece of lore from these sessions has intrigued you most as a player? You know, God, there's just so much that I love. I will say there were so many moments at the table. I know this is totally, I'm going to answer the question, but I'm going to take a little road trip. There were so many moments at the table when I was sitting there and I was like looking around and I'm like, man, Brendan, so smart, so great. I'd be like, oh man, playing with Matt has been amazing and Abrea and Alex, oh, these are all DMs. Okay. Oh, I feel like I don't know what's going on. There was so much that I talked about where everybody would be like this, like picking up on each other and I was just pinwheeling and I'm like, got it, got it. I totally know what's going on. And I told Matt the other day, I was like, I feel like I'm like running on Windows 98 and everybody's like so much further along and I'm like, I'm going to get there. I just like, give me a second. But I respect that. What was, now I forgot what the question was. Your favorite piece of lore. Yes, my favorite piece of lore. That is so validating because also same. I also feel like sometimes I'm just watching the game and I'm like, all the time. I was supposed to be listening to that. Yes. I was just watching voices happen. That happens all the time. All the time. It's my favorite thing to be like, yeah, shit, I also go here. Yes, yes, yes. But it's also like playing with all of you. It's so beautiful to watch. Like it's so, it is like I was at the table with like some of the best of the best and just like how you also, how like Alex, Alex was there too. And no, but just like. That's the way that they all were like, how you guys can talk and shit, you know, like just so much. I love it. Yes, I love it. But lore drops that are something that you were really excited and happy to see. Thank you. Thank you. One you all are also at the end. Figuring out the purpose of that entire ritual that killed Octus and realizing how heinous the intended result was going to be. Yeah, that was a big one. Yeah, nasty business. We can still do it by the way. There's parts and coabilities it would give you. Yeah, we're on a sunset. Octus. Yeah, let's try after this show. Yeah, let's do it in the corner. Let's go. Just text Brandon. Hey man, just letting you know we kind of did a little side game here and we did it bad. It didn't work. It actually changes your story. I was so convinced when we were walking through Tannasar that we were going to like complete, like we were completing it and now part of me is like, shit, what if we should have maybe like a little bit to be like, well maybe he's our evil angel. I don't know. But we can fix it. Yeah, I didn't because I don't know either. This was not part of my backstory. This is a Brandon thing. Yeah. So I'm like, I don't know what's happening either as much as any of you do. So it was just, it was wild to go through all of the pieces of that and to like use the Kiminim Kedas on the rock, I can say it, on the rock to get the information and see Tannsul and all that stuff was incredible and then like going into that, all that whole area and going through and seeing the ritual and like thinking, maybe they burned my heart. Like it's just like, it's a whole thing. It was, there were so many Lord, it was a little, it felt so focused on what had happened in the first couple of episodes with me that I was like, this feels a lot about me and you can focus on other people too. I told Alex this over the weekend when we were at DC, which ruled that put us at a point in time now. We can't just be nebulous now. That's true. Oh yeah, this is live. It is an important time. I was like, what are you talking about? I'm really, really excited. I'm here with it. Alex, Oktis is a load bearing character. There's a lot that happens lore wise and I actually have this next on my question. So Alex, we'll keep talking about it. What was it like fighting a version of what Oktis was to become and understand more about what his family meant to do to him? I mean, I love that fight so much. It was so much fun and the fact that both of you went down on towers stressed me the fuck out. Oh my God. It was fine. It was me fine. But it was such a beautiful thing too, beautiful and a very sad way of just like seeing this person who so believed in what my family is doing and then being kind of turned into this monster and force and realizing then or that my family saw them as a mistake and just left them there. Yeah. To be in the spacemen is just like, oh, we messed up. Well, we'll just close the door. Yeah, we'll just close the door. And then to then finally defeat her and then for her, you know, her head to still be alive for a little while and then ask me if she did a good job. Essentially, I was so sad. That was sad. And it was just, oh, and then I took the head with me and I had that now. And you have that. Gross. And you have that now. I have that now. Good barter. I will say, Tannisar was so cool. Just going over the bridge and the visual of it. Yeah. All of the Eternal Night was really, really fun. Yes. Yes. And then the fact that no item any of us had that refreshed on a sunrise worked anymore. It was a good thing to us. Yeah, yeah. Speaking of family drama, Matt, how did it feel for Julian to get revenge on his first to Conus? Franz. Franz. Franz had it coming. Look, look, I know, I know, I know you were supposedly like, like the least hopeful to Conus, but Franz, bar none. Apparently, sucked. Worst to Conus. Worst to Conus. You, you, you got the wrong end of that stick. I was like, wait, does he have powers? He might have. He didn't have a chance to use them. He didn't use them. You both just got, just started shoving each other. Yeah. It was, it was, it was very like that at the Roxbury about what, what, what? Into one of us fell into the river. Franz, maybe you have a little bit of help. Three of us are like fighting demons and you're just like slamming into this guy. Look, I got a goal. No, I felt good. I felt good. Yeah, I, I, like in my head, I think legitimately Julian is like keeping notches for each one. Like he's, he's, he's, he's, yeah, he's keeping nachos in his belt for each one that he kills. And then when they're all dead, he'll eat them. He'll finally have a snack. That does sound, honestly, yeah. Delayed gratification feels correct. Yeah. Writing the threshold. Yeah. This is just going to become exactly what you wanted it not to become. Cause now I'm going to be thinking about thresholds. Welcome to my life here at Critical Role. I love it. Abrea. Yeah. Um, how is Tisha not knowing where we were talking about Octus as Tisha's son, but you have another son. Okay. Wow. We are really, really getting to it. How's it, how's it going? How's she feeling about that? We are the seekers and thus far we have, we have found exactly none of the stuff that we saw. And I think that's a reflection on us. Uh, I mean, yeah, obviously it's like it's devastating to not get the visual confirmation that he's okay. But at the end of the day, Alagar is 27 years old, uh, and is, has made the same choices that Tisha's made in her life to willingly put himself into danger for the world's sake. So at some point as a good parent, you respect the choices your kid made. She was freaking out because it was a prophetically bad moment that he was in. But if he's just going back to like drink a castle torch and like occasionally swash some buckles, go for it. I loved that moment with Julian of like, what's my, what's my son up to? Yeah. Did you, that was so funny. Did you find my son? I, did you find my son? Should have checked you. That has no comment. The god that lives behind Julian's eyes says nothing. Um, Ashley, what was it like to bond with the Stone of Night song and use it to speak with the dead? So crazy. Um, I mean, just a little, crazy. That's crazy. That's it. No, that was, uh, I, I mean, none of, nothing in the game am I expecting at all. You know, and I think I, I, there was, there was another purpose that I thought that that was going to be for. And the fact that I was able to sort of tune with it and then speak with dead. And then I was like, I want to make this such a cool moment. But it was just everything. Uh, yeah, that was a really cool moment. And it felt really special. And, um, yeah, it was beautiful. I think I'm going to ask the voice of God if we have time for one more question before we move on, because we got a lot, a lot. Okay, great. I am going to ask, um, a question for everybody before we move on because you guys have, uh, interacted with some very fun NPCs. And I am so curious. We've had Aronessa, Hanan, Hanan, Dr. Talter, which is, I don't know for some reason that name is so funny to me. And Dame Sarah, do you guys have a favorite NPC that you all have, have rolled with? I mean, comedically, I love Dr. Talter. Me too. But I really like Dame Sarah. Do we catch Dr. Talter's first name? Amri. Amri. Good job. Sorry. Dr. Talter. Dr. Talter. You're rewriting it. It's Isabelle. Yeah. Dr. Talter. That's a family name. That's it. Yeah, no, I love Dame Sarah. I find it was just such a kind of sadly sweet relationship to being like, oh, you got fired and you don't know why. And like, you're just like, oh, my whole life is ruined. I guess I'll come with you to the dark. Yeah. You're only relatable. Yeah. And to be her last act, to be like trying to save my life and then getting absolutely bodied by a celestial thing was terrible. That was rough. Yes. That was bad. Karzling, that's my favorite. Oh, yeah. I loved him. Every now and then, Brennan will just do the little thing of like, a little guy and I'm like, yeah. Yes, please. Thank you. Thank you, papa. A little guy with a crazy voice. Well, yes, I'll have another. Otto. Otto is my pick. Otto is very well. Otto Einfossen. This bloom is no longer suitable for this conversation. Yeah, you made salsa, brah. So terrifying, but also like, want to get a beer with him. He's, he's, I don't know if I should say that. He's, I don't know. I lost the thread of what I was going to say because I was like, yeah, he's cool. Like under the sort of fantasy world that we live in, like in the real world, I do not want to hang out with this actual murderer. No. In the fantasy context that we live in, he's going to be such a chill dude to drink with. And if he turns on you, you're not going to be around long enough to know that things have gone borrally. You're like, oh no, and then it's over. So you're fine. And I said that I do realize that my impression of a, of a, of a Einfossen was horribly off. No, there's so many numbers of the family. Because like, I had no idea they had German accents when I did mine. And so I was just like, oh, I chose wrong. That feels in character for, for Octus. I love, I love Dr. Tulter because I love when Brennan does characters where they just like, there's no filter. It just like, just word vomit comes out and then they realize it in the moment and they just like, maybe I shouldn't have said that. And then I love Dr. Tulter. But I'm going to say, I'm going to jump back to the soldiers. Okay. Really upset that I haven't been able to, to hang out with any of these dogs. Oh my God. We got one. I watched it. Yes. I was watching it and I was like, what the fuck? Yeah. Truly felt like a fairy tale delight story. I forgot we were in danger. It was just like, oh, these dogs, these knights, knights of the, how is it keying them? All right. I'm not talking about my table. Before we go any further, we need to pause for a moment because it is time for noteworthy notables where we celebrate the brilliant works of those within the Kruger community. Yeah. We have four incredible pieces to get through tonight. So let's get into it. Our first noteworthy notable is from Karissy Carson at Karissy Carson Art. Let's see it. I want to see, I want to see. Give me, give me, give me. Give me, give me, give me, give me. Oh, there it is. Oh yeah. The piece of shit. That's awesome. So good. I remember seeing this one. It's insane. Get in there. All right, sorry. Hold on, hold on. Hold on, let me see. It's so cool. Wow. The perspective, right? I love it. Do you actually, do you realize how cool of a character you built? Like, I remember sitting in our character gen when you were talking about, you're like, I wanted to like swing this sensor. I just remember being like, fuck it. This looks so weird. It's so good. Sorry. I also think it's so high. I'm like a pillow over my, because I'm like, I just want to. It's just comfortable that way. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. I don't need the body support. Thanks. Okay, we got to keep going. Next up, this one is from Colleen at Bloodwell, Dr. Biola. Oh yeah. Oh, with the hands. With the hands. I think that was to Conis. What's he saying? One down. One down. That's sad that he's the worst ever. I love the lighting on it too. Hell yeah. Yeah, that's rad. It's giving scar? Yeah. Absolutely. And it is. No. No, no. Julian's a little scar-coded. Oh yeah. I like that. Yeah, little light and gay, you know. Oh yeah. Or just gay. What's a hair? Our third noteworthy notable tonight is from Lea. Yes. Oh, it's beautiful. I love this so much. It's so hot. It's fun to see the ones that are picked that we have shared in our group chat. Yeah. I like it. Yeah. I love it. It's a heart. Our final noteworthy notable is from Seyon. Yeah. I love that. Yeah, it's so cosplay. That is so cool. It's incredible. I love it so much. It's so cool. It's incredible. I love it so much. It's so cool. Oh yeah. Look at me doing science. Dude, it's also very Disney villain-coded. Oh look at that. Just lounging on the bed. You have a better bed than I do. I know. What's this place? Of course. Beautiful. I just like that you're really landing that Octus fell out of a Guillermo del Toro movie. Yeah, Tom. He just tumbled right out of it. He's a kind from Crimson Peak. Yeah. We saw from one at DC who gave you a piece of art that was as Frankenstein. Yeah, from the middle. It was really, really cool. All right. And if you guys are watching at home and you would like to be featured on a future noteworthy notables, go check out critrole.com slash submit. Submit to me. Oh wait. Oh dear. What's happening? Acting. Is there a special fifth and secret noteworthy notable? What? It looks like somehow a few of my old take-times. What? Romo shoot got into the teleprompter. I guess we might as well show them. Pin. Look how beautiful Pin look. Pat. Oh my gosh. Absolutely got a shout out wardrobe by Jenny Newman and Nancy Young. Look at that boot. Makeup by Dre Rene. Hair by Natsuki. Props and set by Noxwell. Birth and photos by the amazingly talented Michael Schmidt. You guys who's right here. We had such is that the one of me spitting? Yes. Yes. Oh my God. Come on and say hello. Come on and run. Run. Run. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. you guys, you want to keep rolling? How should we continue looking at pictures? What if we were like, no. I'm cool with either. Ha ha ha ha. Okay. I think you lean more towards one, I think. Ha ha ha. I'm good with it. We can look at pictures of me later after. After. What's with? Okay, you guys, I want to know, what was it like to approach House Einfoszen with the tail of the Palazzo Divinos? Cause you guys had some juicy. I'm definitely a tails. Let me get tail. Yeah. No, I, it was, I mean, it was intense. It was coming off of so much violence and intensity and danger. Like we, I mean, pretty much every table was, keep sliding down the counter. Soldiers left to chase. You know, Schemer stayed, we fled. And so we had the fleeing energy going straight into that whole region in the castle. Clip and mick. Clip and mick. And so it was, it was a, it was a shift of vibe, definitely. I think, and sorry Schemers. I know they were talking about possibly keeping this info as a useful thing. And the first thing we did was walk in and be like, hey, crazy thing happened. Yeah. Dalmatia. Yeah. I tried for five seconds to keep things under wraps and then I was like, this isn't going to work. Yeah, no. Ha ha ha. They did not give us clear instructions on what not to say. And we were not the table of subtlety. Ha ha ha. I think, I think Julian very much is one of the people that has leaned upon the historical concept that the Sundered Houses are a unit. Yeah. And so even with their challenges and squabbles, like having this Taconus terror happen from underneath, assumes that all the other houses are at the same level field as Royce. And the minute it came out, it was like, oh, maybe this was a bad choice. Yeah. Maybe this was a bad call. I don't know. I'm in Fasden school. You're probably so chill. I'm so fine. It's interesting, Matt, because it feels like Julian is kind of a babe in the world in a way that is different from Octus, where it's like, he has this level. You guys both have this level of privilege, but you have this inherent sort of trust, whereas you're sort of the Black Sheep or your family. And so you kind of have the edge of like, maybe I don't run in with all of my information, but you're just like a cushy boy. Like you're just. Cushy boy with a low wisdom. Ha ha ha. Cushy boy. Although I want to say, I did forget one NPC that I love, which is the fucking bird guy in the- Yeah! He was sure of the- Yeah, that's all. I just remembered that guy. Oh yes! God, there were so many. Dude, Brynnan just, he's a fount. He's a fount of them. Ashley, how does, did I ask you, how does Vaelas feel of having her goal of resurrecting her goddess out loud? No. I just thought it in my own own head. I had that feel. I mean, Sorry about that. It had to be said, I think. I think we all sort of knew, I think everybody picked up, I think Julian and Tysha especially picked up on it first. Not that Octus didn't, but I think we had a relationship that felt different, I think, in the beginning. Yeah, there was like plausible deniability that it could have been about something else. Yes. You know. And I thought, there's a lot of complicated feelings there because it's not just that for her. I think it's, you know, getting close to people is very hard because then you start caring about stupid people. So, You know, I, I'm wearing it because I'm Alex. I'm Alex. Damn. Yeah, stupid people. Fucking Brynnan did. Gosh, that's getting absolutely roasted. Everyone, I'm gonna bend everyone back into $3. No, but that's all of you. I'm like, I play a smart character. I, Nam-Dum. Like, she doesn't want to get close to anybody, but it's really hard when you start having these really sort of profound interactions with people, which she's had with everybody here. I mean, especially Tysha, but I think there's, I think there was also a part of her where it kind of felt good to say it out loud because there's more to it than that though. But whatever, I can't, that's all I'll say. Well, you just touched on something that I want to keep talking about your relationship and Tysha's relationship because you guys went through a lot together. You, as a worshipper of the dead god, a dead god and a descendant of god killers, you shared a bathtub. Yeah. Olala. Yeah. Memories of death, chats with the dead. You guys have been through a lot. So how is that, how did that blossoming relationship affecting you? And we did lose our screens. We don't need them. We don't need them. But we're gonna see what's happening out there. We're here. I just thought it was so fun that our very first interaction was Tysha immediately like clocking the like, oh, your identity as you walk into this space is identifying yourself as a like mourner and protector of the landry. The first thing I'm gonna say to you is like the cheapest shot I can make about your dead god. Of course. So having that be the like beginning of the relationship. And then through all of those moments going like, oh, the important thing here is seeing the fundamental humanity elf man, elfidity. Elf, elfidity. I feel like I just had a little stroke. Elf, tiddy. To see the elf, tiddy. To see an elf, tiddy. To see an elf, tiddy. I went to the bath together. That scene gave Octa's a full panic attack. You know, and I will say there was so much, I even forgot to say, I feel like for, I feel like there was so much going on in that scene. And I also feel like for Vaelis sort of physically getting naked in front of Taisha. Oh, la la. Sorry. I think. I think there was. It's a children's show. I know. It's a family show. I think there was, that is a way that she's able to show what happened to her without having to say it. Yeah. So I know, like, you know, I don't know if that makes any sense. Yeah, absolutely. You can see all the scars and we don't have to talk about it, but we both know. But, and also I'm very much enjoying playing a character that has a lot left to learn and it has sort of a wrong perspective on something. Of like, can you come back from that? Can you learn? Can you unlearn? If you've been taught something that maybe is not that great and hurts other people. So. It's similar. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. I love the beauty of, like, yes, you are functionally immortal, both of your characters are functionally immortal, but like, to be alive is to be open and reactive to change. So having you guys immediately like stare that down in the first arc, it just makes it feel like, oh, this character is going to be dynamic. You spent 800 years alive and now, like, but we're watching you still grow as a person like everyone does. I know she was alive for 800 years, but in service. Yeah. So it's like the 70 years. It's like, wait, who that? Yeah. Yeah. And for a being that's so not used to change, you were living in a constant for 800 years to then have to change is like, it's going to go slowly. You're gonna, you're so, that muscle is so atrophied. You know? Yes. And there's an interesting thing of also like, from my perspective or thinking about Vaelis from an outside perspective of looking at Octus and being like, oh, that thing is dead and it acts now very much like me. You know, Vaelis looking like it doesn't sleep anymore. It doesn't do these things. Yes. I remember you said that after the game where, where after you were resurrected and you said to Bren and you said something like, we're very similar. Yeah. You're like, but I'm dead and Vaelis is alive. I was like, Brad feels that's not nice to hear. Yeah. But it's true. But it's a sweet connection. And also led to that meditation moment, which was so sweet. Well, speaking of characters with wrong perspectives, Matt. Yep. You had, you had. I mean the support on that. You had a really sweet sort of out of, out of his typical wheelhouse sweet memory come up of his father and his support and his youth. So what was it like to explore a happy memory from Julian's childhood regarding the father that he had just lost and how is Julian handling his grief? I mean, it was a wonderful unexpected moment. Julian, of course, is in my head and how I've discussed it with Brennan, you know, is a lot of very complicated dynamics within his family, within his house, and within kind of the general world politics and getting a moment, an unexpected moment to kind of step into the bittersweet facets of the outside of a relationship we only saw as tense before it came to an end only allows me to sit further into that bittersweet feeling within the character. So like, yeah, I had in my head these ideas, these dynamics, but being able to actually like play through that, even just further colors that internally and makes it that much harder, you know? Yeah, and it's so sweet to humanize him too, because it shows the pain, you know? You go, I can fix him. You go, oh, he's really just... You cannot fix him. Yeah. I can't. Except for Julian. Except for Julian. What is that? Just as Taylor said, only Julian can fix Julian. Only Julian can fix Julian. No, it's, yeah, it was... It's the wonderful opportunities in games like this where we get to paint with different colors and push each other to paint with different colors through scenes we do together or with Brennan as the GM, or any GM really, getting able to like take a player out of the moment that they think they're gonna be going and go like, hey, here's some pink to pass with for a little bit, you know, and see how that feels. And in that moment, find things you don't expect to within a character that you've already kind of grown comfortable with. Yeah. I really appreciate that. And as far as like his dynamic with his dad, yeah, he's not doing well. No. I think it's especially tough for him, because in my head, he's had a continuously growing tension with his father, and both of them do care about each other immensely, but the paths in their lives, their responsibilities, and their differences in perspective on how things are supposed to be has built up so much, and they both want so bad to reconcile. And before they had the chance to have that robbed is like gut-wrenching. Yeah, absolutely. Oh, this is such a sweet answer, Matt. I just, I love, oh, we saw a great Julian Cosplayer also. I saw Matt. Yeah, so great to see. Alex. Oh, God. Hmm. Hmm. Are you making it up right now? Yeah, there's nothing on that I found. Wow. It's just a picture of Alex. I'm looking at him. I'm candy crushed for an hour. Ha ha ha. How is Octus handling the death of Dame Gaius Ceramae, the disgraced knight of his vassal house who died protecting him? Speaking of grief. Well, as we kind of discussed, Brennan, I think during a cool down or something like that, it was the way his emotions work now, Octus's are a little strange because nothing happens automatically anymore in his body or anything. So it's like he has to finally think about something and like analyze it to like feel anything about it. Intellectualizing emotions. Yeah, I have to intellectualize emotions to actually get the emotions to trigger, which is a weird thing for Octus. That's so like because he is in fact dead, so in a way his subconscious systems don't really work anymore. So like he doesn't, the same as he doesn't create saliva or do anything like that anymore, those things have to be actively considered in order to like trigger. Yeah. You'll create saliva or guilt. What? Yeah. The limbic system is not functioning. So as of this point in time, he hasn't really had a chance to sit with it yet. So he hasn't really, he hasn't felt anything about it other than just, oh, shit. Like in the moment of like that they died, that's bad, we're in danger. But he hasn't had actual time to sit and feel the feelings about a person he didn't know that well, but who definitely gave their life in service and to protect him. But, and I have feelings about it, but Octus hasn't had a chance to like sit with it and feel those things and analyze that situation yet. Yeah, that's a great answer. I also, you just reminded me of a part that I loved from your arc, which was you trying to make yourself puke up the beer. It was so early days. That was so nasty. That was just, that also has one of my favorite screenshots of you walking in on that and me closing my jacket and then actually just pointing at me. Yeah. Hey, something really gross has just happened. Yeah, that was something, I did not expect that to be as gross as it was and Brennan made it so gross. And I was like, this is rough, man. I'm like, oh, what? Yes. This is a real memory of like a friend whose younger sister had one of those dolls that you could feed. Oh my God. But they put actual food inside her and then it like rotted. Oh. And somebody was describing it. I was like, I haven't thought of that since I was a kid. I'm a doll. Yeah, sorry buddy. No, it's fine. Everything Brennan's done with me being dead because I really wanted to like play into the being dead is not a good thing. It's not just like problems go away when you're dead. And so Brennan really took that brand with it and it's like, everything about Octus is so bad. And it's like, he's just so barely holding it together. Yeah, this new death becomes your sequel on a big fan. It's so cool. But there's been so many moments where I get surprised with you and Brennan bringing up something like your breath or like little things where you're like, of course that would be gone. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's, whoa, my God, I love it. The learning to control his blood was kind of part of that of being like, oh, I don't use this anymore. I can use it for something else. And that like brain of what a wizard is, is like, you know, the scientific aspect and like the invention using pieces of himself that he no longer needs. That's so cool. Just sitting here and being like, I'll use every part of the buffalo. Yeah. And then you wonder why Tais is like, are you not like your family? Cause that's what they did to you. And you're like, we're not using this blood. Here you go. Yeah. It's my blood. I wish that we were on a nightcap so that I could make the joke that I want to make. But I'll save it for later. There you go. Dang. No fool at nightcap. Don't for you. Send the children to bed. We talk about butt. Abrea. That's definitely what we're gonna talk about. 100%. Speaking of Octus, what was it like for Taisha to debate? You had this debate with your fellow Druids about your friend's son, your son friend. The Druids are so cool. Yeah. Yeah, Hannah and Fox pretty hard. I like Hannah and Fred. I like Hannah and so much. He's just like, that felt like a fun little shout out from Brennan where we've talked a lot about like the philosophy of like Druids relationship and like Orc's relationship to the Sundered Houses and seeing politically what is happening in Cajad and like Dolmaukyar and having a character that can kind of stand beside Taisha and go like, actually you should be mad at her. And I'm like, not now. Shut up. Shut up. You're very cool tree ribs, but shut up. Tree ribs. Yeah, those tree ribs. That's his old tribs. Tribs. That's his old hand and tribs. Hand and tribs. It sounds like a friend you'd have in high school. Yeah. 100%. Well, my friend, Hand and Tribs, yeah, he fell off of a cliff that one time. He's fine though. There's trees everywhere. He can't speak four numbers, but it's fine. Yeah. Missing six to eight. But it's a very quickly answer. It was very fun to again, play with like the philosophical underpinnings of Taisha and having to like defend your choices as instinct, but born off of the like, I hate to like quote Malcolm Gladwell, but there's something about that like instinct. Why? Why? Why do you hate to? Oh, that's for the nightcap. That's for the nightcap. That's fine. Yeah. But that idea that like instinct is usually born of like your brain beginning to put together something that you haven't fully thought about yet. So in that moment when she went like, this doesn't seem quite right. Yo, get off the path. Flip a bitch, come back. That she was exploded. Exactly. Beginning to see something and then trying to explain that to the druid is like, hey, I can't quite tell you why I feel so strongly that this is a yes, but like, hold, I'll make a good case in a week or two. Yeah. The answer will come in time. You guys are all blowing my mind with these answers. It's just, I feel like I learn so much every time we talk about our characters because all of you as actors have really different approaches and I just love you. I just am having a really good time. That's all. Everybody's really good at their jobs. Well, we just talked about Hanon and you had a moment with Hanon too. So Ashley, wow, wow. What was that? What was that? Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Speaking of strokes. Wow. What was it like to confront Hanon? Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. I just got really nervous because I'm like, what have we done? What have we? What have we done? How come everyone just pops off and hits somebody? I know and it's like, wait, what can'ts I talk about? Yeah, that was intense. I feel like Hanon, I'm just throwing out some words to protect myself right now. You're doing great. Thank you, thank you. I feel like Hanon will really help. Okay, wait. Was it Hanon that dropped the flower doll term? Yes. Yeah, that was rough. That was rough. But I- I'm either human being like, I know what that means. Yeah. The rest of us are like, a word. Bad? Is it bad? Did he do a cuss? Yeah, I mean, it's a really interesting way to get out information. And I think that's what's, I don't know, I loved the approach that Brennan had with someone being confrontational towards me and saying something to sort of, what am I trying to say? To sort of get out information about the sisters a little bit. But I think, yeah, we'll talk about that more later, maybe. Oh la la. Yeah, oh la la. Okay. I know that's a tricky one. Yeah, that's a tricky one. Too many, we don't want to get into spoiler territory. Oh, so instead I'll ask Matt, what was it like saying goodbye again? So many goodbyes. Oh, wait, I just drive it home. Yeah, saying goodbye to Erin Nessa. And how is Julian feeling about her departure to the Golden Orchard? You gotta say goodbye to your haste machine. I know, it's hard to say goodbye to haste as a fighter, I'll tell you that. That's why we replace it. But like, is she in love with you? I don't see it. Sorry, I'm just throwing it out there. Maybe not. Are you related? We're not related, but not. I was not sure if she was doing it. That's fine. I'm just gonna overturn my name. I'm overturning my name. Yeah, because like, you know, are the... Sometimes y'all are related. Like, castle house to... What? Fair, fair. I watch a lot of Game of Thrones. I'm sure it's... I don't know. There might be some... I'm pretty sure there's some mind-frozen paths crossed at some point generationally. You know, Hustaveenos is a castle house of Royce. He grew up, she's more or less is kind of like an aunt to him. Like, you know, she's about 15 years older than him, I think, and so like, he was a baby when she was a teenager and she probably like watched him grow up and everything. And so I think that they're very, very close, especially given a lot of the other politics and everything around there and his tension with his family, his mother and his father in their own unique ways. I think she's one of the people that kind of still believes in him and kind of has his back in a lot of ways because they've grown up a lot together and that he looks up to her tremendously and is one of the people that he really doesn't want to disappoint. So I think he keeps a lot of his bullshit out of her periphery. Respect. And he's definitely on his best behavior when she's around. And so I think her presence on the heavy leg of this journey was very much keeping him together out of just, I guess, being used to keeping it together in her presence. And so I think part of sending her off to Golden Orchard was one he really wanted to make sure to check in that they were safe, that his sister, more than anybody and his mother were safe and that Golden Orchard was not in danger in the way that the Plaza de Venus was, but he also wanted to kind of let off the chain a little bit if they were heading to head towards Morzicon as possible territory. And so he's like, hey, this not only makes sense for you tactically and I appreciate you, but I want to get messy. And I can't get messy around you. So it's huge. He's like, please, don't go any more, please. We were like, wait, what's the word you use? Can you use the little, what's the little clicker that makes him stop? Clicker trainer? There you go. The vibrator? Yeah, he has a little collar. I just realized you describing that age gap and that dynamic just made me think, could you imagine babysitting a little kid and be like, when you grow up, you can't let me die, okay? That's your whole deal. I'm gonna change your diaper and then you're gonna protect me with violence. Yeah. It's interesting to hear you talk about it, Matt. Cause Julian, sir Julian, sorry, he is so... I was waiting for you to correct me. Put some respect on that name. He's such a little asshole, but also it's so clear that he has this real code of conduct that he lives by and he's like, he is so messy, but also at the end of the day, like I've seen the choices that he makes and he does have his own internal honor system, it seems like. He does, he has things in life that he holds very important. He has his own set of rules that he lives by and believes in and he adheres to them very strongly. Just everything in the margins or between those rules is like, whatever, it's all, it's a free for all. And he's definitely one of those people that like very much in a soldier between wars, when you define yourself through victory and violence and then you have an extended period of peace. And you're in this kind of affluent place where you don't know where you belong, but you have a lot of privilege. One of the options is to become an absolute fuckboy. And that's definitely kind of where he went. I get it. Yeah, me too. Do you, do you get it? You died a virgin. So. Superdue. And that's okay. And that's okay. That's okay. What a question for Alex and Matt. What are Octus' feelings about Julian's quest for vengeance towards his own family? And how did it feel for Julian to get revenge on his first to Conus? That's so complicated. Cause obviously Octus also is furious with his family and like that whole situation is all fucked up and betrayal. But also they are his family. And so watching his brother get thrown off of a thing into a waterfall, it's like, but I can't, yeah, that guy, he was a dick to me my whole life, but like he's still my brother. And so it's like a weird, there's a lot of confused emotions there when he bothers to like, again, activate that. Cause he can, compartmentalization is so easy for Octus. Now he just like stops thinking about it and it goes away. So like, it's very, it's a very sort of sticky and complicated situation. And is also then equally difficult to have a relationship with Julian because the man who is trying to murder my family. And I'm also kind of like, I don't necessarily disagree with you, but also this puts me in a weird position to be like, go kill my family. Like it's, it's so messy. It's complicated. I mean, you can't, you can't pick your family, but you can kick them off a cliff. Yes. And that's what I live by. I think it's so funny that Tisha, somebody who can like very, is very open with her feelings. And has access to her emotions, had all of us on the road with her. Like people who are like, let me just put this somewhere. Let me trash compact it down. Let me put it over here. And then just, I think it's kind of beautiful. It's interesting. I feel like this, this, this seeker arc, for the most part, was one loud conversation away from everybody unraveling and screaming at each other. And everyone was just right on the edge of holding it together the entire time. Which led to this like underlying like energy. It was full of all the foam in the table. It was so fun to watch. Again, my favorite thing is the world is to argue with people in a role-playing game song. It's my favorite. I'll get there. I'll get there. I'll get there. It feels like mush and Barbies together. Where you're like, yeah. Yeah. There was, I was getting into it, and getting more comfortable with it. And I'm like, oh wait, wait, this is actually kind of fun. It's good to have it. Can somebody be mean to me? That's the wrong lesson. Throw all the table like, somebody, somebody come at me. Anybody? I love it. You guys, this has been such a fun chat. I love to hear your perspectives about what is happening and also just be reminded of all the crazy lore that you guys got because the soldiers were like, I've pushed a guy and met a dog. Like, it was great. Which is great, I guess. Red Cap's gonna put his hat in me. Oh my God. Red is full of little freaks and I'm here for it. He is. He kills people every day. He kills people every day. 100. Well that brings us to the end of our time here at Tailgate. I know. If you're watching on YouTuber Twitch, thank you for journeying with us tonight. And we'll see you again very soon after the Schemers arc. But if you're a beacon subscriber, don't go anywhere. We're heading straight into the nightcap where we open up the conversation to our beacon bits on our exclusive beacon discord. We'll see you there. Woo! Yum-ba-wa! That's all for this festive frivolity. Thank you for being here today. You're cordially invited to our exclusive after party. Head over to beacon.tv for the nightcap and hear the cast answer questions directly from our beacon bits. Have something you'd like to ask our adventurers? Become a beacon member at beacon.tv and join us live for the next Tailgate to get your burning questions answered by the cast themselves. Until the next time, the tables turn.