History NightmareFuel / CriticalRole

!!Campaign 1: 2015-2017
[[folder:Pre-Stream]]
* In their pre-stream adventures, Vox Machina fought the Dread Emperor, a character taken directly from D&D 3.5e's Book of Vile Darkness. A character who has its own entry in the main [[NightmareFuel/DungeonsAndDragons D&D Nightmare Fuel]] page, see there for its full horror. This is also the same incident where Keyleth ended up killing a child.

[[folder:Episode 03: Strange Bedfellows]]
* Scanlan's (and everyone's) first encounter with a mindflayer. The way Matt describes the first sighting of one is super creepy.

[[folder:Episode 08: Glass and Bone]]
* The central fight of this episode is like something out of a horror film. The party comes across this ominous sea of bone fragments in a cavern, and they are so spooked by it that they pile onto a small and thin rock slab that Tiberius levitates forward. Then they find a duergar and a troll, who are killed by ''something'' and then pulled by skeletal arms down into the sea of bones. The creature is another stitch monster. It has four acidic tentacles, violent madness, and [[BodyHorror the ability to move and twist in ways that it really shouldn't.]]

[[folder:Episode 10: K'Varn Revealed]]
* The collective OhCrap that Vox Machina has at the discovery that K'Varn is a beholder does a great job of selling how out-of-their-league they feel.
** Keyleth is scared right out of her vision and is soaked in cold sweat.
** You can see Laura's eyes shoot open at Keyleth's line as if she herself (not just Vex) is scared.
** Scanlan asks what a beholder is and Tiberius responds "it's something we don't want to fight".
** When shown a picture of a beholder and told what it can do, Grog responds, "Oh, so it's the worst case scenario".
** Percy, calm and rational as ever, describes his strategy for handling the situation. It is based on ''avoiding'' K'Varn as much as possible and freeing the mind-flayers to fight on their behalf.
** Pike suggests using Divine Intervention (10% success rate and, if successful, can't be used again for weeks) to see if Sarenrae will personally help them.
** Lady Kima, who up until this point has been really gung-ho about smiting evil, suggests reconnaissance instead of attack.
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[[folder:Episode 16: Enter Vasselheim]]
* When Vox Machina and their allies reach the final room of the vault, it is covered in spider webs and Vex senses a ''horde'' of phase spiders living here along with several much bigger creatures. The party stealths, sets up defense, and buffs themselves up, but none of it matters when they discover what ''else'' is in the room with them. As soon as they seal the Horn of Orcus, four giant platinum golems activate; [[AlwaysABiggerFish the first crushes one of the larger spiders in a single stomp]]. Matt makes his spookiest voice since Clarota and says, "GET OUT!" The party immediately obeys. [[BloodKnight Grog doesn't try to fight it, ]][[{{Greed}} Vex doesn't try to pry any sapphires lose,]] and Scanlan doesn't make any jokes. They just run as fast as they can. Between the music, Matt's narration, and the Skill Challenge, it is a tense chase scene.

[[folder:Episode 21: Trial of the Take Part 4]]
* The party encounters a pair of phantoms which immediately possess Vax and Keyleth. This leads to several tense rounds where they have to knock their party members unconscious to free them from their ethereal captors without killing them. Keyleth approaches the edge of death.
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[[folder:Episode 22: Aramente to Pyrah]]
* After unwittingly throwing themselves into the Elemental Plane of Fire, Matt asks for a stealth check. They do so. Then he reveals that a red dragon is soaring over head; an ''[[StrongerWithAge ancient]]'' red dragon. These are CR ''24''. Compared to them, Rimefang, who almost killed both Scanlan and Percy, is an upstart teenager. If Vex hadn't cast Pass Without Trace ''just'' prior to this, it would have seen them. You can see how shocked the cast is and how relieved they are that it didn't notice them. They also give Matt grief after the session ends.
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[[folder:Episode 24: The Feast]]
* Vax getting trapped by the Briarwoods, who then say he looks "delicious." Note that this is also the last sentence before the CliffHanger.
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[[folder:Episode 25: Crimson Diplomacy]]
* Percy ''snaps,'' and goes through every shade of AxCrazy from the moment he fights the Briarwoods and on. Perhaps the most chilling part is when he [[ColdBloodedTorture shoots the fingers off a wounded servant]]. In-universe, these events seem to have deeply shaken Keyleth.
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[[folder:Episode 26: Consequences and Cows]]
* Desmond's entire recollection of the horrible series of events after the sacking and occupation of Whitestone by the Briarwoods and their employed army of cutthroats and mercenaries, and his subsequent nightmarish experience in the city's castle after being taken in as the Briarwoods' personal coach driver. Brilliantly voice-acted courtesy of Matt Mercer, the boy's tale is enough to chill anyone listening to the bone.
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[[folder:Episode 27: The Path to Whitestone]]
* Percy's dream at the beginning is him reliving the murders of his family and his flight from WhiteStone. It was rather graphic.
** Later on, Percy is reluctant to involve his friends in his Briarwood trouble given how much it has cost them already. Then he hears a demonic voice in his mind. It whispers ''Vengeannnnnnce...'' over and over again. He immediately changes his mind.
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[[folder:Episode 28: The Sun Tree]]
* The eponymous Sun Tree in Whitestone. There are eight corpses strung up from the tree, painted and dressed to look like Vox Machina. The two worst effigies were an eight-year old child to represent Scanlan, and [[AndYourLittleDogToo a poor, random bear for Trinket.]] In the words of everyone watching, fuck the Briarwoods. Percy adds a bit of FridgeHorror, too:
-->'''Keyleth:''' Why would they put a warning for us here in the city?
-->'''Percy:''' They invited us.
** Just the manner in which Matt describes it is chilling. The players are all visibly shaken; Taliesin and Marisha at different points say that their characters look away and have had enough, but Matt keeps talking as if no one said anything, his narration matter-of-fact and to the point.
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[[folder:Episode 29: Whispers]]
* The Banshee that attacks Percy, Scanlan and Vax in the church. It takes out Percy with a wail (Reduces to 0 if failed) and then attacks him again while he's prone.
* At the altar in Pelor's profaned temple, the party finds alchemical substances and notes from a Briarwood agent. They imply that someone is trying to copy Percy's invention. Vox Machina could soon be faced with enemy gunslingers. This is the "terrible mistake" that Talespin spoke of in a previous Q&A session.
* Percy kills Sir Stonefell, one of the people on The List, and briefly appears to transform into the smoky entity from his nightmares. Grog then rolls a Nat 20 to pull out a prisoner's tongue, Percy brands him with The List, and then Grog tosses him out a window. Then Vox Machina burns the structure down while branding it with the De Rolo family crest. The revolution is off to a dark and bloody start.
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[[folder:Episode 31: The Gunpowder Plot ]]
* The scenes of the revolution get pretty gruesome. You have giants crushing barely armed civilian militia and skeletal shock troops emerging from the darkness and fog. More viscerally than that, there is a sense that the revolution is getting out of control. There are already many civilians out attacking the undead giants but Vox Machina isn't ready. They are (not completely but significantly) injured and tapped out spell-wise and want/need to rest. If they do, civilians die and the revolution might collapse. If they don't, they might get overwhelmed.
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[[folder:Episode 33 Reunions]]
* Is Cassandra a mole? That kind of paranoia makes for tense scenes. On one hand, a DecoyDamsel is very possible given Sylas' Charm ability. On the other hand, Cassandra is between vicious captors and suspicious rescuers who might kill her first.
* Once again, Vox Machina has a close call with ghosts. Three of them possess Vax, Keyleth and ''Grog''. Thus half the party is trying to kill the other. Both sides are badly hurt before its over; Percy is ''one'' failed save away from death. Looming over this battle is the possibility that Lord and Lady Briarwood might step in at any time, and finish off the weakened group.
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[[folder:Episode 34: Race to the Ziggurat]]
* The trap in the Residuum room is very tense. It ''starts'' with a pair of walls trapping the party and Lord and Lady Briarwood entering to taunt them. Vax tries to save the group, only to put them in more danger and ''then'' get charmed. What follows is a frantic group trying everything they can think of to get out of the death trap. The flying potion Vex took from Ripley was key; if she didn't have it the whole party could have dissolved right then and there.
* The room at the top of the Briarwoods' ziggurat is decorated with "a tapestry of dead bodies", each with their left hand and eye removed. Lady Briarwood also comes within a single hit point of permanently killing Vex and turning her into a zombie. This session was apparently stressful enough to give the players [[https://twitter.com/executivegoth/status/672892158534246401 actual nightmares]].
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[[folder:Episode 35: Denouement]]
* Percy's interrogation of Lady Briarwood. When she says everything has already been taken from her, Percy says she still has her sanity and her life. She won't be leaving with the latter, but he ''might'' let her keep the former. When she isn't convinced, Taliesan says "I'm going to be an asshole." What does he do? Cast Minor Illusion to make his face look like Lord Briarwood's, ''screaming in agony and slowly melting''. No Mercy Percy indeed.
* Percy's conversation with Orthax must have unsettling for his friends. First they see him talking to himself and then pointing his (broken) gun at his own head. They think he's gone crazy; broken from stress and grief. ''Then'' the giant shadow demon comes out of him.
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[[folder:Episode 39: Omens]]
* The ending of the episode. 4 ancient chromatic dragons have attacked Emon. This is an apocalypse level event, and there wasn't a damn thing Vox Machina could do about it. The dragons smashed a city without breaking a sweat. Gilmore is missing in action and there is no telling if Uriel or any other members of the council survived. Things look grim not only for Vox Machina, but the world.
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[[folder:Episode 42: Dangerous Dealings]]
* Vax explains how he ended up joining The Clasp. Someone wanted Vex for some unspecified, but ''definitely'' creepy, reason, and The Clasp had been hired to take her. Vax made a deal with them to spare her, which involved bringing them a ''child rapist'', who they changed into an exact replica of Vex using a staff made out of human tongues. The worst part about this is that Vax doesn't know what happened after this, meaning that both Vex's stalker and ''a child rapist who now looks like her'' might still be out there. In his own words, he didn't tell anyone before because it was too creepy.
** Making things worse; the aforementioned staff of human tongues? It's a ''real'' D&D magical item - a Major Artifact[[note]]the most powerful items in the game, virtually godlike[[/note]] from the Book of Vile Darkness {{sourcebook}} for 3rd edition. It's called [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Despoiler of Flesh]], and changing somebody into the exact physical replica of somebody else is the ''least'' of its [[BodyHorror "fleshcrafting"]] powers.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 47: The Family Business]]
* Matt continues his trend of horrifying, descriptive nightmares. Vax dreams of falling as the Raven Queen addresses him as her champion. Meanwhile, Grog dreams of using Craven Edge to cut down hundreds of foes while blinded... only to find, once his eyesight returns, that he has actually cut down farmers, children, and even Pike. And then he looks up to see Kevdak and his former Herd, who are proud of what he has just done.
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[[folder:Episode 54: In the Belly of the Beast]]
* The episode ends with Grog hanging from Umbrasyl like a piñata as it flies back to Gatshadow with Vax and Scanlan trapped inside the dragon's body, and the latter two have no obvious means of escape.
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[[folder:Episode 57: Duskmeadow]]
* Mitigated somewhat by her being a (mostly) benevolent Goddess, but the process of communion with the Raven Queen is still nightmarish. The follower enters a pool of blood within the temple, so deep that the blood reaches head-height before even nearing the center. They have to submerge their entire body in it and experience drowning for a few moments until eventually they are transported to the Raven Queen's realm. The way Matt describes Vax and ''especially'' Percy's drowning sensations makes it worse. Percy panics and tries to swim upward, only to find the blood goes on forever with no surface in sight, and eventually resigns himself to his own death.
* Percy's theory that the gate that Thordak used to escape might have been caused by something ''worse'', with the Cinder King just taking an opportunity. Considering Thordak... let's hope Percy's wrong on that one. (Fortunately, he seems to be; the Fire Ashari close the rift without too much of an issue.)
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[[folder:Special Episode: The Screw Job]]
* Being an "evil campaign", there was bound to be some backstabbing among party members, but even then, seeing a party member kill another on-screen is chilling. Tarvis finishes off two unconscious characters, Devan and Dren, by attacking them and causing them to auto-fail Death Saving Throws. The way he executes the first is incredibly disturbing, slowly thrusting a knife into their unconscious body while Dren, who was in love with Devan, is ForcedToWatch. And he rendered the second unconscious by strangling them with his whip.
* The one-shot ends with The Shrew returning to deliver a TotalPartyKill by sucking all the moisture out of the party members' bodies, "like the end of ''Film/RaidersOfTheLostArk'' ". Mitigated somewhat by the fact that [[AssholeVictim there were all horrible people]] (with the possible exception of [[TokenGoodTeammate Obby]]), but still, not a good way to go.
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[[folder:Episode 61: Denizens of the Moonbrush]]
* The Last Campsite of Sorudun the Happy. Nothing but some floating magical musical instruments around a campfire playing a jaunty tune... that doesn't get any quieter even if you plug your ears. Anyone who gets too close is forced to dance until they die of sheer exhaustion. An elf and a lycan were already there at the time and both seem near their limit from the way Matt describes it, and Vax and Scanlan end up falling victim to it and are only saved by the group's quick thinking. Matt's description of Vax dancing is extremely creepy, explaining that his smile slowly becomes [[ComicBook/TheJoker Joker Venom]]-esque, all the while stating how Vex notices that the campsite is full of scattered bones, obviously from previous victims. Matt also describes how Scanlan [[DeathOfPersonality loses his sense of self entirely]] and is concerned with nothing but the dance. And Vox Machina didn't even figure out how to STOP the enchantment, only managing to pull Scanlan and Vax away, so it could claim more victims in the future.
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[[folder:Episode 68: Cloak and Dagger]]
* Near the end, Percy is tragically killed by his archrival, Anna Ripley. Scanlan is able to contain her with a clutch Otiluke’s Resilient Sphere, and what follows is quite possibly the most ''terrifying'' display of brutality ever exhibited by Vox Machina, [[CruelAndUnusualDeath as they proceed to slowly surround Anna before literally tearing her apart in a fit of grieving rage as soon as Scanlan drops the Sphere.]] It is all described in [[NauseaFuel such loving detail,]] too. The party ''[[UpToEleven and the players]]'' are quite possibly at the [[DarkestHour lowest point]] they've ever been, and it's both incredibly unnerving and [[TearJerker heartbreaking]] to see.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 69: Passed Through Fire]]
* Matt's description of Orthax "hungrily feasting" on Percy's soul during his death. Even worse is the knowledge that he's been in that situation for an entire day - and once Percy comes back, he implies that [[AndIMustScream it felt much longer]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 77: Clash at Daxio]]
* The description of Thordak can be considered truly nightmarish in itself. And then there's the reveal of his actual physical form in Episodes 78 and 79, along with the description (and portrayal) of his sheer insanity.
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[[folder:Episode 82: Deadly Echoes]]
* The reverse gravity chasm trap. It was bad enough that the gravity in the chasm was inverted. It was even worse when bodies starting falling upward and the ceiling was a ''massive amount of bodies bound together in the shape of a human skull.'' And then they find out all those bodies are undead, and they are hungry.
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[[folder:Episode 86: Daring Days]]
* It's more on a personal level, but there's something unnerving in what we know about Taryon Darrington's father. Taryon initially says he's a real estate agent, before admitting he doesn't know what he actually does. But the way he values strength and, in Taryon's own words, "a cut-throat attitude", is fine with his daughter constantly picking up on his son and completely disrespects him for not being strong and ruthless (Taryon might be arrogant and a bit spoiled, but he does have some impressive skills, considering he is at the very least capable of building constructs, but that means nothing to his father), and the sheer vagueness about the details of how he got and kept his fortune, with his own son knowing nothing except that he has a huge influence in many places and that Taryon is convinced that he would have no problem having the whole of Vox Machina killed, makes it a far darker picture.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 87:Onward to Vesrah]]
* Percy reveals just how bad it was to have his soul consumed by Orthax. He also drops this lovely bit of FridgeHorror:
-->'''Percy:''' Where did the people I killed go?
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[[folder:Episode 88: Tangled Depths]]
* The episode is an exercise first in paranoia as Vox Machina tries to find the requisite three lodestones in the water plane while avoiding the Kraken, and then in endurance and helplessness when the Kraken takes notice of them, as characters are grappled and freed, swallowed and spit up, and knocked unconscious and revived over and over again over the course of ''hours'' of gameplay, while the group has to fight the monster off without killing it.
* Then there's the usual fears inherent in being in an eternal plane of water with limited visibility and enormous sea-life - Taliesin says it's literal nightmare fuel for him as a ichthyophobe.
* In the episode of ''Talks Machina'' following this episode, Matt revealed that even had Vox Machina passed all their stealth checks and quickly found the lodestones, the Kraken would still have made its presence known in some way, and that it had [[ParanoiaFuel probably been watching them the whole time]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 89: Curious Tides]]
* The second thing to occur, following a brief meeting between Vax and the Raven Queen, is the Kraken trying to force its way through the portal between the Water Plane and the Material Plane. When the guards manage to repel the tentacle and beak, it turns to face the portal, its eye taking up the entire space. When Grog [[EyeScream hits the eye with his hammer]], it promises Grog that this isn't the last Grog has seen of it before retreating.
* After returning to Greyskull Keep from Vesrah, Vox Machina decides to crack open one of the books they collected after defeating Raishan. It's the journal of a man named Opash, describing in detail his experiments with the soul, necromancy, torture, lichdom, and dracolichdom. Opash's account abruptly ends, and the book continues with Thordak's writings, trying to piece together an unknown equation. Vex, who had been reading the book, nearly falls victim to a presence from the book reaching out into her mind before she shakes it off and shuts the thing.
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[[folder:Episode 91: Vox Machina Go to Hell]]
* Keyleth and Taryon both accidentally consume souls. Even worse, Percy does so ''knowingly'', and discovers the sensation is familiar - while possessed by Orthax, he tasted souls from his pepperbox kills.
* Really the entire City of Dis counts. Matt's horrifying descriptions of the city even cause some of the players to shiver. While there had been a sense that there were at least some human like entities in the City of Brass, the group is hard pressed to find anything that looks human here, save for the occasional Tiefling or heavily abused slave. Among the things they see include: alien geometry; tortured souls twisted into horrifying masses of flesh, chained as servants to greater demons, some of which are casually impaled on the sides of buildings; terrifying winged creatures that stalk the city and shriek eerily; a form of guard that is nothing but a twisted pile of bones with insectoid-like wings and a scorpion tail; and, at one point, a large orb containing the screaming souls of some unfortunates. And through it all, the ominous iron tower sits on the horizon, shifting into a person's view no matter where they look. The players quickly began to question the wisdom of their decision to journey to this awful place. Travis even lampshades it well by saying "It's like something out of Silent Hill".
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 93: Bats Out of Hell]]
* After the battle with Utugash, the group is intentionally and willingly arrested in The Nine Hells. This was all part of their plan, but they did come awfully close to torture at the hands of a chain devil. Matt's description of the prison is utterly horrifying in it detail, and the group is left in a less than ideal position bound to a wall with their gear just out of reach.
* Due to not getting a chance to heal between fighting Utugash and the prison escape, Keyleth falls unconscious against a bone devil and fails two death saving throws... [[FromBadToWorse while the prison was on high alert and the party was about to be swarmed by guards.]] She was also the only one with ''Plane Shift'', which was essentially the party's only possible escape at that point. It's very, very likely Vox Machina was one roll away from a horribly gruesome TotalPartyKill at the hands of devils in hell if she had died.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Special Episode: Liam's Quest: Full Circle]]
* Liam's descriptions of the hellscape the de-aged group finds themselves trapped in, including skinless jungle cats and plants that may or may not be filled with blood.
* Liam describing the bloody demise of the entire party, one after another, to the increasing shock of the rest of the table.
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[[folder:Episode 99: Masquerade]]
* Matt's depiction of Howard Darrington's fury when he discovers that Tary has refused his offer and given away most of the family's property to clear their debt is hauntingly similar to a real life abusive parent. The reactions of the rest of the family were terrifyingly realistic as well.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 100: Unfinished Business]]
* After over 60 episodes, ancient dragons, the deaths of nearly every member of the party, and the destruction and rebuilding of a nation, we discover that Lady Briarwood is still alive, and the ritual that failed? It didn't fail the second time. The look on Taliesin's face is one of utter shock and despair.
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[[folder:Episode 101: Thar Amphala]]
* The descriptions of the cultist corpses going through the siphon are quite disturbing. The party then decides to go to the Shadowfell through the siphon beneath Whitestone. Fortunately they put on the amulet before crossing through, or else the damage suffered would've been a lot worse.
* The Shadowfell itself. And the fact that Delilah Briarwood is already in the process of completing her ritual for Vecna's ascension.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 102: Race to the Tower]]
* Vecna, the Whispered One, the Undying King, '''''rises.''''' His arrival is as great and terrible as befits this storied character. And he lives through the episode.
* Speaking of Vecna, he also uses one of the worst 9th level spells: [[OneHitKill Power Word: Kill]]. No roll to hit. No saving throw. If you don't have enough hit points, you are ''dead''. The players' reactions show how horrible it is to be on the wrong end of such a spell. The kicker? [[FridgeHorror Players have to guess, a DM doesn't.]] [[ParanoiaFuel He can always keep track of his players HP.]]
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[[folder:Episode 103: The Fate-Touched]]
* Keyleth points out that, as she used Foresight on Vax in Episode 101, he more than likely had forewarning of his own death by disintegration in the previous episode but, being paralyzed, was completely unable to do anything about it.
* The eyeball the party takes from Delilah Briarwood's corpse. It looks around of its own accord. When Scanlan picks it up, it compels him to try and gouge his own eye out. Pike knocks it from his hand, and it burrows into the ground. ''Yeesh.'' Scanlan drops it into a pocket dimension to keep it from causing any more trouble--once they dig it from the ground, of course.
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[[folder:Episode 105: The Fear of Isolation]]
* Vecna finds Vox Machina as they track down an old gnome named Sprigg that will be useful in defeating him, and somehow has assassins arrive in the blink of an eye. The worst part? We have no clue how he knew or did any of this.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 106: The Endless Atheneeum]]
* Even though Scanlan succeeds in becoming the champion of Ioun, there's a pause in the celebration as Ioun... sees something. And then, to the horror of cast and chat, we learn the truth - Vecna has succeeded into ascending to godhood. In only ''two days''. Despite Vox Machina successfully gaining the favor of two gods, aside from the Raven Queen, it might all be for nothing now.
** Even worse is the setting out-of-universe. The crew is silent, there's no music playing, and the only noise is Matt's voice as he describes it.
* '''''Delilah Briarwood is alive yet again.''''' As if that wasn't enough, as Keyleth is scrying on her, Vecna speaks directly into her mind, taunting her all the while.
-->'''Vecna:''' Like what you see?
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 111: Shadows of Thomara]]
* Pike's attempt to Speak With Dead fails horrifically, inflicting 31 damage to her because it was nothing but laughter.
* Scanlan's first attempt at taking control of the Sphere of Annihilation results in him losing half of his face.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 112: Dark Dealings]]
* The mansion is destroyed with Dispel Magic. The good: everyone lives. The bad: Delilah Briarwood, Sylas Briarwood, and a necrodragon await right outside. The ugly: Delilah's all ready with a Counterspell to anticipate Keyleth's clutch Plane Shift. The relief: Delilah's spell failed.
* The description of Vax being strangled to death by a morbidly curious Artagan creeps everyone out, especially Marisha (who complains that she has to go home with Matt).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 113: The Final Ascent]]
* The big one: Vex and Vax kill Kaylie and Cassandra, with Arkhan nearly doing so to Gilmore (as he said, luckiest natural 1 ever). Sure, they didn't ''know'' they were doing so, but the cast noted how seriously fucked-up Matt was (compared to the previous episode, even) to come up with such a thing that exploited their playstyles for such a horror.
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[[folder:Episode 114: Vecna, the Ascended]]
* You thought Kaylie, Cassandra, and Gilmore's abduction from last episode was bad? Vox Machina arrives at the top of Entropis to find that not only is Vecna ''stories tall'', but he has [[WouldHurtAChild Velora Vessar]] [[HumanShield imprisoned inside his chest]]. A ''Sunburst'' from Keyleth frees her and she's ejected from Vecna's chest, but when Vex flies down and catches her, she realizes that the attack killed Velora.
* Zahra and Kashaw show up in the middle of the battle, riding in on wyverns. Hooray! They each only manage to get a single action in before Vecna casts ''Hold Monster'' on them...and their mounts, sending them plummeting, helpless to save themselves.
** Speaking of frozen and helpless, as soon as J'mon Sa Ord joined the battle in their Devossa form, Vecna trapped them inside of a mid-air ''Force Cage'', which couldn't be dispelled and remained in place for an ''hour''.
* Vecna is just ''full'' of [[SarcasmMode delightful tricks]]. As soon as he discovers the threat that Grog is, attuned to the Sword of Kas, he casts the spell ''Maze'' on Grog, banishing him to another plane where he's trapped in an endless maze.
* Vox Machina came within ''ten hit points'' of destroying Vecna's avatar completely, which would have allowed Vecna to retreat to a reliquary and come right back again. This could have dragged the fight against Vecna on even longer, and Vasselheim might have been completely destroyed.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 115: The Chapter Closes]]
* Vecna has been defeated, the world is at peace... So in the safety of Whitestone, Grog pulls a card from the Deck of Many Things. The result? The Void--Grog's soul is sucked from his body into a small red gem safeguarded in [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast the Halls of Pandemonium]]. Pike, who had been in the forest, arrived just in time to witness it, unable to do anything to stop it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:One-Shots, Misc, and Meta]]
* Episode 12 is mostly light and funny, but there is one scene that is rather scary. Snugglelord sets a house on fire because his subordinates failed to break its door or pick the door's lock. The occupant tries to escape the flames and smoke, but can't because the lock is jammed by a broken pick. Matt narrates them coughing and banging on the door, and the three adventurers are arguing about something petty instead of helping them. Eventually, the door opens and the occupant is revealed to be a little halfling girl. She escaped the flames to arrive at the mercy of an AntiheroTeam that is heavy on the ''anti''. Making it still worse, Snugglelord tries to get her to call him "daddy" which [[EveryoneHasStandards even the kill-happy Ulfgar said was creepy]].

* Liam's Christmas one-shot, despite having the players play as cute, funny elves, had some creepy moments, such as fighting those Krampus-type creatures, the initial trek through Halloween Land, going through the tower and finding rooms filled with desecrated corpses and bloody hooks, pieces of dead leprechauns in garbage piles, the worm king (who's clearly an expy of Oogie Boogie), and the Hollow King, the latter of whom has two retractable jaws and drags Chutney off to what can only be guessed as Hell.
** [[MoodWhiplash This is supposed to be a fun Christmas adventure, right?]]
* In the vein of "fun" adventures, the Red Nose Day 2019 special has Matt reimagine the humble red nose into the MacGuffin of the quest, the Sphere of Generosity - then goes a step further by having the BigBad attempt to replicate its power. And fail repeatedly. The result - dozens of red orbs scattered all over the floor, which not only ''have minds of their own'' but MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily. Like flying piranhas, but ''harder to hit.''
[[/folder]]

!!Campaign 2: 2018-present
[[folder:Episode 1: Curious Beginnings]]
* During the young dwarf girl's performance at the circus, one of the audience members in the first row morphs into a zombie and starts attacking the audience, taking out a bystander and having her transform too. Matt's description is enough to make anyone squirm due to the immense [[BodyHorror body horror]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 2: A Show of Scrutiny]]
* The zombie transformations mentioned above? We find out in this episode that direct contact isn't necessary to pass TheVirus on. And that those affected seep sand from their open wounds.
* Not to mention what happens to Beau's wound when Jester tries to heal it despite being out of spell slots: it turns sickly green, and when Jester pokes it with the blunt end of a fork, it starts spewing pus everywhere, much to the horror of the party. The fact that it turns out to have been an illusion (implied by Jester to be a prank by her patron deity, the Traveler) doesn't lessen the NauseaFuel of it.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 3: The Midnight Chase]]
* An [[GoddamnedBats Imp]] takes Fjord out in a single hit. Fjord currently has 20 health, the group's third-highest (second-highest of those present), and has the option of remaining at 1 HP once per long rest. One failed save and one forgotten ability later, Fjord took 21 damage. Level 2 characters are squishy, and Fjord's only the Warlock, not the [[SquishyWizard wizard]], who also ended up knocked silly. One third of the group was out in that battle thanks to two Imps.
* Matt's description of Fjord's Hexblade's Curse ability - his falchion grows barnacles and starts to drip salt water, shadows grow from the area and begin to wrap around the Devil Toad. The imagery is supremely creepy.
* Also the fact that Nott has eaten Frumpkin a few times. Given that re-summoning Frumpkin takes 10 gold worth of incense along with a quantity of herbs and charcoal, what situation must they have (repeatedly) been in where a 10-gold meal was the best choice?
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 5: The Open Road]]
* When the group camps out for the night, Fjord has a rather terrifying dream involving sinking and tumbling through water and drowning... until he comes face to face with [[EldritchAbomination some kind of terrifying oceanic mass with a single yellow eye]], which is very heavily implied to be his warlock patron, and gives him some rather cryptic but ominous instructions. To make it worse, when he wakes up, [[OrWasItADream he coughs up a sizable amount of salt water.]]
* Nott goes to pursue the fleeing Gnoll leader and the cart of corpses the other Gnolls are carrying away. She ends up running into an area of the town that's almost completely burning, smoke everywhere making it almost impossible to see or breathe. Out of the smoke steps the Gnoll leader, [[OhCrap much closer than Nott expected.]] He slowly strides forward, ready to carve into her with his glaive, but instead goes for his longbow. This is ''not'' an act of mercy, as he ends up knocking unconscious not just Nott, but Molly as well (with a Natural 20 in his case). Even worse, over 10 more Gnolls were ready to swarm the pair of them. It's a good thing Jester got to them in time, any slower and that could have been the end of Nott and Molly. A harsh lesson that going LeeroyJenkins at Level 3 ''really'' isn't a good idea.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 6: The Howling Mines]]
* Matt's vivid descriptions of the Gnoll priest, a humanoid creature wearing a Gnoll skin made of mismatched body parts, who throws human hearts to his Gnoll attendants. He also describes the Gnolls' IAmAHumanitarian behaviour in nauseating detail.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 7: Hush]]
* The manticore itself, being a huge lion-like beast with wings, a strangely human-like face and a maw filled with rows of teeth, that is introduced tearing apart a frightened crownsguard and feeding on their remains.
* The image of the manticore on the ground, laughing uncontrollably next to the body of its baby, is certainly twisted.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 10: Waste and Webs]]
* The party encounters some mutated sewer rats that have all kinds of refuse, trash and excrement stuck to their fur. To make matters worse, their bodies appear to have become so noxious, they release DeadlyGas if they're sliced or hacked open.
* Further along, the Mighty Nein discovers several bodies that are strung up in webbing and, upon investigating, find that they have been completely sucked dry. It should come as no surprise then that the sewer monster turns out to be a big ol' [[GiantSpider Phase Spider]] that can disappear and reappear at will.
** And then there's the pulsating sack of eggs, full of hatching baby phase spiders... (out of character, Travis is visibly and vocally disturbed at this mental image, and [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere nopes his way out of the game for the next three minutes]]). They set the nest on fire, but Matt's narration implies some of them may have survived.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 11: Zemnian Nights]]
* While investigating the Leaky Tap's second cellar, the group discovers a decomposed skeleton. While its condition suggests it's been there for a ''very'' long time, the party don't really find any other clues beyond the fact that the barrels around the skeleton appeared to have been positioned deliberately to keep the remains out of sight, so foul play was probably involved. [[NothingIsScarier The fact that we know so little about how and why this dead body got in the basement of a seemingly benign inn makes it all the scarier.]]
* Nott's charm-induced confession about why she was trying to steal Fjord's letter. Not only does she speak in a cold tone, but she also explains how desperately she needs Caleb to get stronger so he can protect and potentially even ''change'' her.
* During the conversation between Molly, Nott, and Fjord, Nott makes a crack about Fjord having braces after he comments that he used to be the typical heavy kid growing up and wasn't always handsome. Fjord replies that he "did [his] own dental work". Since we know that Travis deliberately chose for Fjord to not have the usual half-orc tusks in his artwork, [[TheToothHurts it paints a rather horrifying picture.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 12: Midnight Espionage]]
* While it was resolved well, both Nott and Beau were nearly suffocated by the Rug of Smothering in Lord Sutan's study. Matt's descriptions of it completely encasing Nott's tiny body as well as the MortonsFork the rest of the party found themselves in between either trying to pry the Rug off or attacking it and transferring damage to whoever is trapped inside of it were also pretty terrifying.
* Whatever the Knight's plan was, it wound up going pear-shaped ''very'' fast near the end;
** While planting the evidence in Sutan's home was relatively easy, everything went to shit when the High Richter returned home early. After a series of jabs at Ulog and the position the Richter has put his wife in, he goes ballistic and shoves his amber amulet down her throat. This then activates a massive Fireball spell that engulfs the both of them and sets the house on fire, with the last thing Jester sees of them being their charred corpses.
** Immediately afterward, as the party escapes the Richter's burning home, they look out towards the Trispires to see if anyone is coming for them. They then all bear witness to the bottom third of the Zauberspire getting engulfed in a giant black ball of crackling energy, followed by two pairs of figures escaping from the ruined tower and shooting lighting bolts at each other. The Harvest Festival descends into pure pandemonium, with people all but trampling each other to escape the district and the destruction that is being caused by the flying, magic slinging combatants. One even delivers an ominous message to Beau after turning his opponent to near ash right in front of her.
** Finally, after the party escapes into the sewers and is trying to understand what the hell just happened (since they're far more inexperienced than Vox Machina were at this point, they react ''much'' more viscerally), Caleb, Beau, and Jester notice liquid in a place it usually isn't. Liquid being caused by a heavily wounded ''creature'' in spiky, chitonous armor and holding a pulsating dodecahedron. It then screams something at them in Undercommon, draws its blade and attacks. Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to [[OhCrap our first soldier from Xhorhas.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 13: Lost and Found]]
* While Nott and Caleb's relationship is indeed quite heartwarming, the former's confession to the group also highlights a well of ruthlessness in Nott. She ''desperately'' wants to protect Caleb, and has more or less voiced her conviction to [[KnightTemplar do whatever is necessary to succeed]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 14: Fleeting Memories]]
* We finally find out about Mollymauk's past and his whole AmnesiacHero deal. The first thing he remembers is waking up ''BuriedAlive'', with no idea who he was or how he got there: the circus found him naked, catatonic, and borderline-mute, covered in dirt and muttering "empty" as a MadnessMantra.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 16: A Favor In Kind]]
* Fjord has another dream involving his patron, and this one is as creepy as the first: the patron again tells him to "consume", and Fjord takes this to mean his sword. He ends up shoving it down his throat, and Matt describes [[NauseaFuel in terrifying detail]] how the edge of the blade cuts Fjord's throat and the blood bubbles up. When the dream ends and Fjord awakens, [[OrWasItADream he finds blood on his mouth.]] The most terrifying part, however, is the fact that, when Fjord swallows the sword, ''the patron vocally approves''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 17: Harvest Close]]
* While Nott may not have learned much from her [[{{VideoGame/MetalGear}} Solid Snake-esque]] mission, finding out that the Dwendalian Empire and Xhorhas are about to go from border skirmishes to full-on war is pretty scary. Even worse is that the ''Empire'' is the aggressive force. There's barely any information on what Xhorhas is up to (although Nott does make out "1000s dead"), but whatever they're doing is enough that the Empire sees fit to go in with a preemptive strike.
* The way Matt describes the two losing groups in the tournament is gorier than usual. The ''only'' mitigating factor is that two clerics were on hand to successfully keep death away.
* The Minotaurs and Hill Giant fought in the tournament are sapient (if hostile) beings imprisoned and tortured into mindless rages so they can be used as CannonFodder for gladiatorial bouts. ''If'' they survive they are re-shackled with magical bindings that rob them of power and the will to resist until they're needed again.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 18: Whispers of War]]
* Thanks to some good rolling from Matt, Yasha took 43 damage in a single hit from the hill giant, which, judging by the players' reactions, was just ''barely'' enough not to [[ChunkySalsaRule instantly permakill her]]. (In order to die immediately and skip going unconscious, a character has to take enough damage to take them to zero hit points plus their total hit points, which in Yasha's case is 42. If she had 1 HP left when she was hit, that would've been it for her) In the first campaign, character [=HPs=] were high enough that this rule was never an issue, but this moment shows just how dangerous things are for a low-level party.
** [[https://www.critrolestats.com/blog/2018/5/15/monster-analysis-victory-pit-round-3 The CritRole Stats website]] analyzed this and found that everyone else in the party but Fjord or Beau could have been one-hit permakilled by this amount of damage (for Molly, it depends on what he rolled for his amplified Blood Maledict earlier), and realized that Caleb going into this fight at 23/25 HP [[DoWellButNotPerfect was actually a good thing]] as he would die from this two-hit-combo if his HP was full. Think about that for a minute. If this fight had gone differently, Caleb, Nott, Molly, Yasha or Jester could have instantly died. And Jester didn't learn Revivify until ''after'' the fight.
* Liam finally spills Caleb's backstory. Holy SHIT. When Caleb was 15 years old, he was one of three children chosen to be trained at the Soltryce Academy. A year later, a man named Trent Ikithon (the current Archmage of Civil Influences for the Cerberus Assembly, who the Nein had met previously) came and took them to a faraway house for tutoring. There, they were put through brutal abusive training for a whole year, eventually requiring them to murder traitors to the empire. One day, about six months after beginning his private lessons with Trent, Caleb returned to his parents to overhear them plotting against the Empire. For his graduation ceremony, he realised what he had to do, and told Trent. The three students went to each of their parents' houses in turn, Caleb watched as the other two murdered their parents. Then it was Caleb's turn. He parked a horse cart next to his parents' house, set it on fire, and let it burn. For a moment, he felt the weight of what he'd done, and Caleb completely lost his mind, ending up in an asylum for 11 years. Finally, a healer cast a spell that lifted not only his madness... but the ''fake memories Trent placed in his head''. His parents weren't really traitors. Making all of this even worse, the Nein met Trent Ikithon earlier that same day, unaware of how much of a monster he was.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 24: The Hour of Honor]]
* While still remaining somewhat vague on the details, Beau tells Nott some of her backstory. We previously knew that her father was disappointed in her being born a girl and decided to raise her as a son and there was at least some physical abuse involved, but now we know she started her forays into the criminal element of her home town via undermining her families wine business as both an attention seeking action and a minor form of revenge. Additionally, she claims that her father arranging her to be kidnapped by the Cobalt Soul as a teenager, a place that she admits tried to break her spirit and forced her into harsh physical training, was the best thing that he ever did for her. Let me repeat that. Having his own child abducted from her home was the BEST outcome. Considering the details she's given thus far and the fact she stopped her exposition soon afterwards, her father was quite a monster, and worried at least some fans that there is yet more she is still unwilling to share.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 25: Divergent Paths]]
* The groups descent down into the sealed of section of the prison can only be described as going into a horror game. The construct the group is going after has been sealed inside one wing of the prison for over two years, and it shows. There is almost no light, the walls are covered in scratches, cuts, and marks left by either the constructs blades, or worse, the criminals left to die by the prison guards. The group even find a cell very close to the entryway that somehow wasn't broken into, but Matt is quick to point out the skeletons inside the cage. [[FateWorseThanDeath Think about how terrifying]] it would be to be left to die in a cell with a giant machine of death outside, waiting till you eventually starve to death because it can't break in to kill you?
* The construct itself also has another frightening aspect to it: ItCanThink, at least, it has some programing that makes it seem like it can. At one point, Nott throws tar on its "eye", and it retracks the "eye" and cleans it off after only a single turn of being blinded. Worse yet, because of its multiple blades, Matt rules it doesn't have disadvantage on attacks when blinded. Think about that; it can NoSell being blinded, and even when blinded still attack with the same lethal intent as before. The construct clearly [[GoneHorriblyRight was too good as its task]].
* After a heartwarming farewell to Kiri, this episode's ending is MoodWhiplash incarnate. Due to Travis and Laura's baby and Ashley needing to film Blindspot again, Matt has to [[PutOnABus put Jester, Fjord and Yasha on a bus]]. How does he do this? Having the three of them get ambushed, magically stunned, gagged and captured by unknown individuals who seem to be slave traders. This all happened within a silence spell, so the rest of the party slept through it none the wiser.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 26: Found & Lost]]
* Lorenzo is without a doubt one of the most frightening antagonists ever faced on Critical Role. Not only is he responsible for Jester, Fjord and Yasha's kidnapping and the first party death of Campaign 2 (and the first permanent death on the show) but the implications of exactly what this guy does are horrifying. Keg says those captured by him are "broken", both physically and mentally. He also shrugs off ''being set on fire'', and probably would've caused a TotalPartyKill if it weren't for Keg offering to "be taught a lesson". He slowly drags her to Caleb, Nott and Beau, while still on fire, and calmly tells them not to mess with the Iron Shepherds again, and moves in to execute Keg... only to stop and tell her death is too good for her, and that he wants her to ''live'' [[CruelMercy with the memory of what happened.]]
** The situation before Keg spoke up was so grim that Taliesin had to leave the table - not just because Molly was dead, but from nerves.
--->'''Taliesin:''' I can't watch this...
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 27: Converging Fury]]
* Remember how bad Lorenzo was in the last episode? It gets worse. When Nila infiltrates the Iron Shepherds' stronghold as a mouse, she finds a stone platter in his bedroom with some recently-eaten bones... [[IAmAHumanitarian including a small skull that doesn't look like it belonged to an animal.]] Combined with the heavy indent in his bed, it's likely Lorenzo is NotEvenHuman.
** The above, combined with his size, favoring of a Glaive as his weapon and usage of [[KillItWithIce Cone of Cold]] all hint that he might be an {{Oni}}.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 29: The Stalking Nightmare]]
* Though Caleb's tendency to use fire as his primary mode of offense has made him a frequent source of truly gruesome killing blows, [[spoiler: his HDYWTDT against Lorenzo is on another level entirely, seeing Caleb drive a Fire Bolt through the back of his head, burning Lorenzo's eyes right out of his skull and scorching him alive from the inside out. Lorenzo ''remains alive through this'' just long enough to try, in vain, to escape up the dungeon stairs.]] Granted that [[spoiler: a murderous, baby-eating HeroKiller]] really deserves no less, but of all the ways Caleb has dispatched one of his enemies, this one has to be the absolute nastiest way to die.
* Considering their reputation, the destruction of the Iron Shepherds can be this for the people of Shady Creek Run. A group that feared destroyed in a night by a force that left only bodies belonging to Shepherds behind, none of their own.
* The uncharacteristically sinister way by which Clay makes use of his Staff of Swarming Insects.
-->'''Clay:''' Time to feast, children...
* Matt confirmed during the Talks Machina panel at [=GenCon=] that [[spoiler: Lorenzo was stalking the Mighty Nein the entire time they were in The Sour Nest by using his natural abilities as an oni to fly above them while invisible.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 33: The Ruby and the Sapphire]]
* The Mighty Nein meets Jester's mother, the renowned Ruby of the Sea, but discover that one of her clients has become possessive, threatening her other patrons and demanding her attention. This is not only a horrible scenario - it's an all too likely and familiar one for sex workers. Jester also has to deal with the unfortunate AdultFear of having her mother, the person who sheltered and protected her, be in danger - [[FridgeHorror danger she might never have known about if the Nein hadn't come to Nicodranas]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 34: Encroaching Waters]]
* Oh sure, bring your pets through a long dive underwater and into battle. [[SarcasmMode They'll always be]] ''[[SarcasmMode juuuuuuust]]'' [[SarcasmMode fine, no need to worry, Jester, as Nott and Caduceus have it under control.]] Thankfully, nothing happened to them ''this'' episode...
* Thanks to his periapt of wound closure, Caleb doesn't drown but essentially gets waterboarded, yo-yoing between consciousness and unconsciousness for a large part of the battle. Caduceus gets a similar treatment, prompting him to be so afraid of the water in the next episode that he has to cast Calm Emotions on ''himself'' just to swim out to a boat.
* Fjord uses his Accursed Specter ability for the first time, raising one of Algar's bodyguards as a dripping, barnacle-encrusted ghost. Matt's description of it is terrifying, so much that Algar spends his first turn afterwards cowering. Fjord used this purely as an intimidation tactic, and it worked.
* Imagine this fight from Algar's perspective. Hit with a fireball (which left his two bodyguards badly burned), trapped in pure darkness with Lovecraftian tentacles, falling unconscious in the darkness, being revived, the darkness dissipating only to find one of your bodyguards dead and raised as the specter mentioned above, being choked by Beau's staff while interrogated, and finally having your hand cut off. [[AssholeVictim He had it coming]], but this is one of the most brutal treatments the Nein have given an enemy.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 35: Dockside Diplomacy]]
* The Nein intimidate Algar into fleeing the city. Some highlights:
** Fjord using Mask of Many Faces to turn into Algar, then Travis gives a terrifyingly accurate impression of the first thing Matt says in character as Algar after doing that.
** Beau slams his head against the wall to use Extract Aspect. 10 times.
** Caduceus using Decompose on Algar’s severed hand in front of him.
** Even Nott backs away in fright and calls them “fucked up”
* Think of Marian's situation. It's entirely possible that she'll receive a report that Jester killed herself before the end of the night, and Jester can't use a Sending until she's slept. Even so, Jester and friends left to go on a short errand and got in such trouble that they had to get the hell out of Dodge - that's among most parents' worst fears.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 41: A Pirate's Life for Me]]
* Wyatt Marinus is unusual for a goliath in that he has long, flowing hair... which is revealed to be from the scalp of his predecessor. Wyatt has been wearing the scalp on his own head for ''fifteen years.'''
* The Traveller reappears...and his conversation with Jester this time is ''very'' creepy, referring to the meeting with the other worshippers in a year and calling said worshippers "brethren", tossing a dark twist on just what kind of deity he is. Additionally, when Jester asks him for advice on how to make a boy (Fjord) like her, his first suggestion is ''brainwashing''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 44: The Diver's Grave]]
* The trek through Dashilla's lair feels like something out of a horror setting. Eyeless ghosts appear ahead of the group, the walls close in to entangle them (and the group see some half-digested Merrow corpses still caught in them), and all the while certain members feel a cold touch at the back of their head for a moment. The main chamber's entire floor is full of bones, and Dashilla herself has MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily. And the cold touches? That was her, stalking the group the whole time and marking certain members for mind-control.
* Worse, one of her attacks [[OneHitKill stops Caleb's heart on a critically failed save, dropping him to zero health]]. Throw in her three Legendary Actions, and she could theoretically have flatlined the whole group in just two or three rounds.
* In what can only be described as part dick-measuring contest, part loyalty pact, and part morbid curiosity, Fjord and Caleb start to finish one of Dashilla's blood sacrifices by ''slicing their palms apart'', trying to one-up each other. Luckily, they reach an understanding, but once they get back to the ''Squall Eater'', a storm has partially formed, leading them to realize they ''were performing the ritual she uses to sink ships.'' That's right- Fjord and Caleb nearly sunk their own ship and killed everyone on board (as Matt puts it, there would have been a ''hell'' of a skill challenge to get the ship out of the center of the storm had they finished the ritual.)
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 47: The Second Seal]]
* The idea of swimming alone through a small, seaweed-filled tunnel with absolutely no light is enough to give any claustrophobic person nightmares. And Nott is afraid of the water, too. Poor thing.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 48: Homeward Bound]]
* The visit to Felderwin leads to one of the most tense scenes of the entire campaign. Investigating the burnt-out ruins of Nott's halfling friend Yeza's house reveals a secret basement. There, they find a metal chest with a tripod big enough to hold the dodecahedron they carry, a chair with some broken ropes attached to it (implying someone may have been recently tortured or interrogated), and the remains of some notes detailing experiments into the Beacon and distilling its effects into potions to create hasted [[SuperSoldier Super Soldiers]]... and the letter mentions Trent Ikithon. And Caleb noticed two mages he recognized from his time at the Academy on the way to the village, with the whole of it all inducing a StressVomit. The atmosphere is intense as Fjord and Caduceus bluntly tell the group: "we have to get out of here". And the episode ends with the same two mages making their way back to Yeza's home, and they're going to notice someone else has been there...
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 49: A Game of Names]]
* Nott's backstory. She was originally a Halfling who was killed by goblins and brought back as a goblin through what's implied to be a particularly cruel use of the reincarnate spell. ''And she was stuck with the clan for months after''.
* Caleb reveals that he has scars on his arm from Trent ''implanting crystals into his skin'' to experiment on him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 51: Xhorhas]]
* The Kryn soldiers who ambush the Muck-Men are some of the most terrifying enemies the Nein have encountered so far. The mage and fighter quickly turn the skirmish into a MookHorrorShow, one using a DoppelgangerAttack to eviscerate a soldier, the other using gravity magic not yet seen to reduce a group of soldiers to a mess of flesh and bone fused with the surrounding rock. The group's leader, whom the Nein had recently spoke to, is killed in a similar fashion. The these deaths are accompanied by some of the most graphic and visceral descriptions Matt has used so far. They prove to be more than a match for the Lv 8 party too, with Jester nearly dying and both getting away despite Beau's Ki Point barrage. A grim reminder of what the Nein are walking in to.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 53: Cornered]]
* Fjord has another dream vision from Uk'otoa, and he is ''not'' happy that Fjord's leaving him hanging, threatening with a "punishment" and crushing him to close the dream out.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 55: Duplicity]]
* The succubus and incubus use their Charm abilities to devastating effect. Nott and Caleb are alone in a chamber, and Caleb is silently charmed. The rest of the group walks over, and eats a Fireball followed by a Wall of Fire. Later, Yasha is charmed, raging and slicing at everyone she can reach (mostly Caleb, though), and stubbornly refusing to make her Wisdom saves against the charm - she's a demon in battle, as her name implies, so she frustrates everyone with her power and determination.
* Nott going from triumphant cheering to a LittleNo as she realizes that her explosive arrow not only killed the fiend... it also killed Caduceus. If it wasn't for Jester's clutch save with revivify, Caduceus would have died one episode after surpassing Mollymauk for number of episodes on the show.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 59: Perspective]]
* The Chasme. Despite looking like [[BigCreepyCrawlies a giant mosquito]] [[LightmareFuel with a mullet]], its droning wings made Fjord and Jester fall unconscious early into the fight. It drained Fjord's maximum hit points from 82 to 36, which makes him now [[SquishyWizard squishier]] than ''Caleb''. If Caduceus was unable to halve the damage by being just a little further away, this attack would have ''immediately killed Fjord'' without any chance of death saves.
* The brief glimpse we get into the other side of the Abyssal rift. This time, it's a demonic forest of trees whose branches are ''live snakes'', which turn to look at the party through the portal as they frantically try to close it. It's a good thing they did.
* The incredibly creepy Dybbuk that served as the episode's {{Cliffhanger}} ending. Earlier, Landspeaker Soorna mentioned seeing the body of her dead brother being demonically possessed. The Mighty Nein witness this possession when a [[KillerRabbit beautiful little glowing jellyfish]] floats into the torn-apart body of a dead giant. The giant's head slowly creaks upward, giving a [[SlasherSmile twisted grin]] that [[GlasgowGrin tears open its unhinged jaw]]. Sweet dreams!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 60: A Turtle By Any Other Name]]
* Dybbuks have their Violate Corpse ability, which earns its own entry on this list for Matt's vomit-inducing queasy descriptions.
* This was the second rift generator the Nein have located and disabled. Someone is hiding them... and they could be hidden in any civilized area.
* Yasha's first dream is unnerving as well, where a demonic figure is showing her that everyone she's allowed to get emotionally closer to her is dead presumably by her hand. Having Mollymauk be the first body named only makes it worse.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 61: Agreements]]
* Uk'otoa comes knocking again in another one of Fjord's dreams, first submerging him, before the leviathan reiterates its intention to punish Fjord. The Cloven Crystal that Fjord had absorbed long ago begins to glow inside him, and a cloud of blood that spills around his chest seems to imply Uk'otoa pulled it out of him. Fjord then wakes up, coughing up his signature falchion and finds that he cannot make it disappear again, having been rendered powerless by his patron. Though his magic returns a few hours later, the knowledge that Uk'otoa can strip Fjord of his powers at any time is haunting.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 64: A Dangerous Chase]]
* Looking like emaciated humanoids with multiple SpiderLimbs, the three Sorrowsworn make slow, sad moaning sounds before skittering towards you at [[JumpScare incredibly fast speeds]]. They impale and clutch their prey as close to their bodies as possible (one even tried to force Caleb's head into its wounded torso), and unleash a terrifying HowlOfSorrow that can literally frighten you to death with psychic damage.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 66: Beneath Bazzoxan]]
* Underneath the temple of Bazzoxan (which was dedicated to the Betrayer Gods), the group finds a courtyard filled with a dozen white stone statues of hairless angelic figures, sitting on their knees with wings folded and hands in their laps. All the statues are [[TearsFromAStone crying]] fresh TearsOfBlood that pool into their open palms, and upon closer inspection they give off low thrumming vibrations which sound like a pattern of seven repeating song-like notes. The rest of the courtyard is littered in broken swords and armor, sooty white feathers, and skeletal Celestial corpses.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 67: Beyond the Eyes of Angels]]
* The group attracts the attention of several [[GiantSpider five-foot spiders]] that can liquify their prey into a disgusting reddish-brown mush strewn about the area. After fighting them off, Caleb torches a massive egg sac attached to the wall; it starts spilling [[SpiderSwarm hundreds of writhing burning spiders]] that he [[KillItWithFire frantically fire-blasts again]] to finish the job.
* While running down a spiral staircase, they're assailed by a [[FogOfDoom fog-like creature]] that can suddenly disappear and re-emerge from anywhere in the surrounding mist; only manifesting a creepy face and wispy arms to attack before vanishing again.
* The next area is a TortureCellar with a wide variety of chains and torture implements... and also over fifty [[TheUndead undead]] corpses within range of Detect Undead, with dozens more further down the sloped chamber floors. The group has to fight off waves of decaying papery corpses that shuffle out of the several body piles surrounding them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 68: Reflections]]
* The group comes to a dark chasm crossed by a narrow chain bridge; [[HearingVoices eerie whispers]] emanate from the pit whenever loud noises are made, which causes states of confusion like momentary catatonia, walking in random directions, or suddenly attacking the nearest person. When Nott ends up dangling off the side of the bridge, Matt describes what she sees underneath (a horrifying creature known as a Gibbering Mouther):
-->'''Matt:''' It looks like water almost, but it’s textured weird, and it’s moving weird. It’s not moving like water; [[BlobMonster it’s moving like tar or oil]]. But it’s not tar or oil; you focus in more and you can see it looks like [[EldritchAbomination skin and flesh moving against itself]], writhing and shifting. You see [[EyesDoNotBelongThere eyes appear and move]] and then vanish within; [[MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily teeth and mouths]] spiralling in it before vanishing below. It is a [[EvilIsVisceral mass of skin and flesh and muscle and teeth and mouths and eyes]], and you can hear the noises that are coming out of each of these [[TooManyMouths dozens of mouths]] that are just sliding and shifting below.
* After everyone gets across the chasm, they enter a maze-like cave full of reflective surfaces. Yasha goes up and touches one of the mirrors; [[MirrorScare her reflection]] suddenly gets a SlasherSmile, and pulls Yasha through into a mirrored replica of the caves. Fjord and Caduceus do the same, and they fight off four [[MirrorMonster doppelgangers]] that look identical except for the feral, unhinged jaws and acidic bites.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 69: The King's Cage]]
* The Laughing Hand is one, as whenever it's injured, the cut grows teeth and laughs like the Gibbering Mouther. Bonus points for being a homebrew based on [[https://twitter.com/matthewmercer/status/1144761702908489728 a bad dream Matt had]]. It's LITERALLY nightmare fuel.
* [[UpToEleven YASHA]]. With his dying breath Obann triggers a FaceHeelTurn in Yasha by calling upon a pact they had made during her forgotten time. Yasha's full Rage and Barbarian abilities are turned against the rest of the party and it's ''terrifying''. Shortly after being turned she looks over at Nott and, per Matt's description, no longer recognises her as a friend.
* The epilogue cuts back to Yasha and The Laughing Hand still inside the tomb. Matt describes how Yasha gathers up what remains of Obann as The Laughing Hand slowly and methodically bashes away at the barriers keeping them in. It's unclear how long it takes them, Matt implies it's an extended amount of time, but the fact remains that they're making their way out and there's very little that can stop them.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 70: Causatum]]
* Jester Scrys on Yasha. She sees her in a dark cave... outside the King's Cage, meaning she and the Hand broke through all the barriers in ''less than 24 hours''. Yasha is kneeling in prayer, a flame between her hands... until the familiar red hand of Obann is seen over her shoulder, congratulating her. [[ShaggyDogStory After all their effort]], Obann came BackFromTheDead not even a ''day'' after their fight, and his mind control of Yasha is strong enough to ''compel her to resurrect him'' when needed. Worse, similar to Hotis from the last campaign, Obann is a strong enough Fiend that the only way to kill him for good is on his home plane. The Nein now have a terrifying recurring enemy...
* The Nein meet with a Scourger who had been captured in a recent attack on Xhorhas. It's hard to tell what's worse, the conditions of her prison (brutally beaten, chained to a chair in a dark room with a single slit for light, with the implication [[{{Squick}} there are no bathroom facilities]], in the deepest level of a mind-bending Escher-like maze) or her demeanour: completely unhinged, almost gleefully awaiting her execution as she has no desire to give away information, and with the same scars on her arms as Caleb. Thankfully she isn't Astrid, but she still serves as a horrifying look at what Caleb was being trained to become... and confirmation that Trent succeeded in moulding ''many'' more than just Astrid and Eodwulf like this... It's also very unnerving that she knows of Bren, while he doesn't recognize her.
** While interrogating her, Liam-as-Caleb drops the accent [[EloquentInMyNativeTongue as he's speaking in his native Zemnian.]] Caleb's tone of voice during this whole conversation is a ''terrifying'' contrast to the self-hating, socially-awkward wizard we've come to know, and a grim reminder that his high Charisma isn't GameplayAndStorySegregation: Caleb can be downright frightening when he wants to be.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Episode 72: Clay and Dust]]
* Fjord gets another Uk'otoa dream, and it's meaner than usual. The stars all blink out, the moon turns into one of the serpent's eyes, and a mouth rips open from the black sky, which spews tendrils that wrap Fjord up, bring him in, and crush his dream-self to death, waking his real self up sans powers once more.
** Crossed with Awesome, Fjord's response included picking up his sword, walking to the kiln, and threatening Uk'otoa with graphic suicide while actually beginning to run himself through (three inches into his chest!). Fjord then removed the blade, holding it over the magma, and letting his blood and viscera splash into the lava where they instantly boiled into smoke, all while standing directly next to the forge, one step from sure death should he faint from blood loss, lose his balance, or go in on his own. Finally, Fjord stepped back and hurled the falchion into the lava, destroying it. If it had gone any further than it did, or if it hadn't been done for the purpose of standing up to Uk'otoa, it would have been terrifying instead of simply spellbinding.
[[/folder]]

[[foldercontrol]]
!!One-Shots and Special Episodes
[[folder:Call of Cthulhu Shadow of the Crystal Palace]]
* Taliesin's Call of Cthulhu one-shot is steeped in it. At one point, as Taliesin describes a pair of "shadowy hands" grabbing them, [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou the lighting shows shadowy hands around him]].
* The first sign of things going wrong happens about halfway into the episode. The group run into the security guard they met earlier, except he has his back always turned to them, has no reflection in the window, and [[MadnessMantra constantly repeats "Nothing to worry about, just go about your business."]]
* The final hour of the episode ratchets up the tension dramatically, as the group start to lose their lanterns one-by-one (the only thing that keeps the Shadow People at bay), which leads to CharactersDroppingLikeFlies. By the end, only a freak Critical Success (a double 0 on a D100, i.e. a 1/100 chance) saves the three survivors from a TotalPartyKill.

* Taliesin's Call of Cthulhu one-shot is steeped in it. Not only for the eldritch setting but also the fact that even the [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou lighting around Taliesin changes to show tentacles at a point]].

[[folder:One-Shots and Special Episodes]]

[[folder:Episode 72]]

[[folder:Episode 70]]

* [[UpToEleven YASHA]]. Obann's with his dying breath triggers a FaceHeelTurn in Yasha by calling upon a pact they had made during her forgotten time . Yasha's full Rage and Barbarian abilities are turned against the rest of the party and it's ''terrifying''. Shortly after being turned she looks over at Nott and, per Matt's description, no longer recognises her as a friend simply "a goblin woman hiding nearby".

* [[UpToEleven YASHA]]. Obann triggers a FaceHeelTurn in her that persists after he's killed by Fjord. Yasha's full Rage and Barbarian abilities are turned against the rest of the party and it's ''terrifying''. Shortly after being turned she looks over at Nott and, per Matt's description, no longer recognises her as a friend simply "a goblin woman hiding nearby".

[[folder:Episode 69]]

* The Laughing Hand is one, as whenever it's injured, the cut grows teeth and laughs like the Gibbering Mouther.

* The epilogue cuts back to Yasha and The Laughing Hand still inside the tomb. Matt describes how Yasha cathers up what remains of Obann as The Laughing Hand slowly and methodically bashes away at the barriers keeping them in. It's unclear how long it takes them, Matt implies it's an extended amount of time, but the fact remains that they're making their way out and there's very little that can stop them.

* [[UpToEleven YASHA]]. That is all.
* 95% of this episode, really.

* Nice

[[folder:Episode 68]]

[[folder: Episode 08: Glass and Bone]]

[[folder: Episode 10: K'Varn Revealed]]

[[folder: Episode 16: Enter Vasselheim]]

[[folder: Episode 21: Trial of the Take Part 4]]

[[folder: Episode 22: Aramente to Pyrah]]

[[folder: Episode 33 Reunions]]

[[folder: Episode 12: Midnight Espionage]]

[[folder: Episode 13: Lost and Found]]

[[folder: Episode 14: Fleeting Memories]]

[[folder: Episode 16: A Favor In Kind]]

[[folder: Episode 17: Harvest Close]]

[[folder: Episode 18: Whispers of War]]

[[folder: Episode 24: The Hour of Honor]]

[[folder: Episode 25: Divergent Paths]]

[[folder: Episode 26: Found & Lost]]

[[folder: Episode 27: Converging Fury]]

[[folder: Episode 29: The Stalking Nightmare]]

[[folder: Episode 33: The Ruby and the Sapphire]]

[[folder: Episode 34: Encroaching Waters]]

[[folder: Episode 35: Dockside Diplomacy]]

[[folder: Episode 41: A Pirate's Life for Me]]

[[folder: Episode 44: The Diver's Grave]]

[[folder: Episode 47: The Second Seal]]

[[folder: Episode 48: Homeward Bound]]

[[folder: Episode 49: A Game of Names]]

[[folder: Episode 51: Xhorhas]]

[[folder: Episode 53: Cornered]]

[[folder: Episode 55: Duplicity]]

[[folder: Episode 59: Perspective]]

[[folder: Episode 60: A Turtle By Any Other Name]]

[[folder: Episode 61: Agreements]]

[[folder: Episode 64: A Dangerous Chase]]

* The trap in the Residuom room is very tense. It ''starts'' with a pair of walls trapping the party and Lord and Lady Briarwood entering to taunt them. Vax tries to save the group, only to put them in more danger and ''then'' get charmed. What follows is a frantic group trying everything they can think of to get out of the death trap. The flying potion Vex took from Ripley was key; if she didn't have it the whole party could have dissolved right then and there.

[[folder: Episode 61]]

* Uk'otoa comes knocking again in another one of Fjord's dreams, first submerging him, before the leviathan reiterates its intention to punish Fjord. The Cloven Crystal that Fjord had absorbed long ago begins to glow inside him, and a cloud of blood that spills around his chest seems to imply Uk'otoa pulled it out of him. Fjord then wakes up, coughing up his signature falchion and finds that he cannot make it disappear again, having been rendered powerless by his patron.

* Fjord has another dream vision from U'kotoa, and he is *not* happy that Fjord's leaving him hanging, threatening with a "punishment" and crushing him to close the dream out.

[[folder: Episode 60]]