Awesome / Critical Role Rumblecusp Arc

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

Episode 100: Hunted At Sea

• Travis makes a couple of great rolls at the start of the action. First, he rolls the highest possible roll for the ship's speed, allowing them to stay ahead of the dragon turtle. Then, Matt has him roll initiative for the ship while he rolls for the dragon turtle. They tie at 15, so they roll off again to see who goes first. This time, Travis rolls a 14 to Matt's 11.
• Speaking of Travis, the way that Fjord leads the party at the deck of his own ship is amazing. Even more amazing when we think of how he grew up in a orphanage and was named "stone" because he was cast away. He really came a long way!
• Caleb and Jester try to polymorph the dragon turtle. Caleb's attempt just fails, but Jester succeeds, turning it into a regular sea turtle and ending the fight.
  • … or rather, delaying it. It turns out that regular sea turtles are faster than dragon turtles. It is still following them.
• With time and some effort, and a clutch Bane from Caduceus, Caleb polymorphs the turtle into a sea slug. That ends the fight.

Episode 101: Mysteries, Memories and Music

• Beau rolls a History check to learn more about Deinoycheus. Marisha rolls a natural 20 for an end result of 31, and knows everything there is to be known about them.
• Yasha plays her harp for the villagers. Even with her ability penalty, she gets a 17 (thanks to an Enhance Ability from Jester). Caleb casts Silent Image on her, making it look like she is giving off a bit of lightning. The beauty of her song entrances the villagers.

Episode 102: Ghosts, Dinosaurs, and Stuff

• Matt's map skills have not diminished from disuse. The swamp map he brings out at the start of the episode is fantastic.
• Caduceus makes his save against the Bodak's presence, and realises that the eyes are the source.
  Caduceus: Don't look at the eyes!
• Veth makes a sneak attack on the Bodak with her crossbow, and debuts a brand new spell of her own (well, Sam's) creation: Brenatto’s Voltaic Bolt.
• Fjord gets the first post-COVID hiatus HDYWTDT on the Bodak, and proceeds to finish off the last will-o-wisp, ending the fight.
• Caduceus uses Thaumaturgy to distract a T-Rex that has come very close to their position. A Natural 20 from Taliesin allows the ruse to work.
• It takes some effort, but Caduceus is able to cast Greater Restoration on Viridian. Her real name is Vilya of the Air Ashari... Keyleth's mother, who vanished during her Aramente.
  • Sam gets points for figuring it out before anybody else did. Well, technically the chat did, because they (we) have been wondering this ever since we met Viridian. He found out by glancing at the chat of episode 100 when the fandom started to question it. You know, when we first met her!
  • It must be noted this is undeniably an awesome moment for Matt, who confirms he's been sitting on the ultimate fate of Keyleth's mother since the start of the first campaign! Long game indeed.

Episode 103: Maritime Mysteries

• Fjord summoning Star Razor after being forced to give it up to Vokodo in the previous episode - as Nott later notes, it’s a power move.
• Caleb's ingenious use of Programmed Image within the Nein's protective dome to project images from their journey together to try and help them keep their memories. It doesn't work; but it's excellent as a display of Liam's creativity and Caleb's character growth.
• Marisha has Beau jump off a cliff as a shortcut into a waterfall cave Fjord found himself in, prompting the cast to recall what happened the last time she made a cliff dive. Despite passing through an illusory wall which made the descent even harsher, not only does she manage to cross the impossibly long distance, she uses Slow Fall to negate all the damage she could've taken. Needless to say, Marisha managed to redeem herself for Keyfish through her "Dope Monk Shit".

Episode 104: The Ruined Sliver

• Thanks to a clutch Natural 20, Beau catches up to Caduceus and subdues him with Stunning Strike. It takes her a couple tries, but it eventually works.
• Caleb uses Cat's Claw creatively, dragging Caduceus to safety.
• Taliesin tried Divine Intervention... and rolled a 5, giving us the first successful Divine Intervention of the campaign! He learned some important information about Vokodo: he came from the Astral Sea, running from something, and his arrival at Rumblecusp changed both the island and Vokodo himself.
  • The following episode goes to prove just how clutch this information is.
• Jester uses Turn Undead on the beings they fight in the ruins, and it hits almost all of them. Matt rules that the turning manifests as a ghostly Traveler tapping each undead on the shoulder, and with his cloak manifesting over Jester herself.
• Fjord gets the second post-Covid hiatus HDYWTDT against the lead wraith, frightening the others off. He uses his Relentless Hex to telepoort behind the wraith and unleashes a fifth level Divine Smite for a whopping 65 damage. The chat, naturally, was full of "nothing personnel kid".

Episode 105: Rumble at Rumblecusp

• Jester's absolutely batshit plan to recruit the Dragon Turtle to fight Vokodo. It ultimately fails due to a narrow miss on a Persuasion check but that doesn't detract from the audacity and brilliance.
• With some gentle questions from the Nein, Jester comes to a realization about Artagan: he's not a bad guy, just occasionally thoughtless about the effects of his actions on others. The Nein reiterate that they are concerned for Jester first.
  Beau: We're here for Jester, not Traveler Con. Just say the word, and we'll do whatever you want. We'll kill a demigod, we've done it before.
• At the end of the talk, the Nein realize that they collectively pulled a Caduceus. Caduceus is thrilled, in his low-key way.
  Caduceus: It was great. I just got to sit here and nod. I didn't have to say anything.
• Yasha has another dream/vision from the Stormlord. She has to make a Wisdom saving throw to proceed. Thanks to the Heroes Feast giving her advantage (which she needed!) she succeeds. She then notices a bolt of lightning headed for her. She states that she does not want her fear any more, and surrenders to it. She embraces what the lightning brings, and responds to the Stormlord's challenge. She brings out her wings, still withered... and they become feathered!
  • And then, she looks down and sees Zuala trapped in a tangle of chains. She is tempted to try and free her, but chooses to fly upward. She she does, she hears Zuala say "I'm proud of you. Don't let me be a shackle." She breaks through the clouds, looks down on Exandria, and feels a freedom she's never felt.
• Cad's successful divine intervention brought in some very key information, allowing the Mighty Nein to absolutely terrify Vokodo with illusions and a successful Banishment.
• The entire fight with Vokodo is almost entirely in the Mighty Nein's favor! Minus Yasha getting hypnotized for the majority of the fight and the three reflected spells (call lightning against Fjord, Beau and Cad getting hit by Caleb and Jester's respective Banishments), they manage to neatly corner Vokodo, mainly by making him waste turns — making him fall prone with Command, tricking him with an illusion spell, and some good saving throws thanks to Heroes Feast.
• Veth's successful first use of Magical Ambush; note that Vokodo is a customized Morkoth so likely has a 20 Intelligence, which means her illusion spell was very likely to fail even with a disadvantage saving throw and yet she successfully tricks him and absolutely terrifies him with her choice in illusion.
• It takes a few tries, but Jester is finally able to cast Banishment on Vokodo! That takes the enemy out of the fight, but Jester has to maintain the Banishment for 1 minute in order to make it permanent.
  • ...which it doesn't. Laura makes all the rolls she needs, but Matt appeals to the party's collective greed. With Vokodo gone, all the treasure on its back goes away as well. She drops the Banishment, and the Nein unloads on Vokodo as he returns. Caleb gets the HDYWTDT with Disintegrate, thanks to a clutch Natural 1 Matt rolled on the save.
• There was a point earlier in the fight where Caleb managed to Counterspell something Vokodo was about to try. Matt didn't say what it was at the time, but later admitted that it was a Chain Lightning. Given that they were in an aquatic environment, it would have wreaked havoc on the Nein and Vilya.
• As Vokodo died, all present caught a vision of what it was running from: some kind of city in the Astral Sea. It is alive, and it is hungry, and it frightened Vokodo. Matt's description was amazing.
  • Somewhere in this city are nine eyes. Nobody says anything, but at least Liam and Sam very clearly thought of Mollymauk. If they (and everyone else who made that connection) were right to do so, then Matt has been planning this city since the start of the campaign.

Episode 106: A Fog Lifted

• After the Nein and Vilya escape from the tunnels, they take a moment to exult in their success.
  Beau: We made like four plans, abandoned all of them, and still won!
• Yasha bamfs out the wings in order to help catch the falling Beau. They are the new, white, feathered wings of a Protector aasimar!
  • The wings only last for a minute, so Yasha and Beau end up falling. However, a Natural 20 Athletics roll from Beau and a Natural 19 from Yasha lets them take half damage on the landing.
• Veth gets her flask back, but has lost her taste for whisky! She's willing to give it up, and Beau takes it. However, if they can find a mage who can change the enchantment so it produces something with less alcoholic content, she'll want it back.
• Caduceus has a great idea for how to handle the matter of money for those villagers who leave (as Jester had pointed out, some of the more unscrupulous villagers might use the money as an opportunity to either enrich themselves or stir up trouble). They hold a leaving ceremony where those who leave mark their island names on a stone and leave the stone behind. Then, right before they go off, they are handed a small bag filled with whatever they need (translation: some money) in secret, or at least in a way that doesn't make it obvious what they are given. That way, no one who decides to stay in Vo will know about the money being given away.

Episode 107: Devoutness and Dicks

• The actual plan the group comes up with for Traveler Con is quite solid. Essentially, they want to pass the Traveler off as having been the Moonweaver this entire time, and direct the Traveler’s cult to worship Sehanine instead. This plan let’s the Traveler escape his own worship, hurts no one, and in fact may help certain followers by directing their worship to a more established deity. Plus, the Moonweaver, as a Chaotic deity of Trickery and deceit, is probably one of the members of the pantheon least likely to exact karmic divine vengeance for getting an influx of weird, phallic worshippers. When the Nein aren’t terrified for their lives, they’re actually capable of some quite solid plans.
• When Matt brings out the T-Rex battle map, he tells the cast that he made it during the break. As in, during that particular episode's break!
  • He then confirms that he made most of his maps during the mid-episode breaks.
• The T-Rex is described as being old and albino. Matt doesn’t have an albino T-Rex, so he uses a more gray colored mini. Though with the lighting on the map, the mini looks albino, making some of the players think Matt was lying.
• Fjord gets the HDYWTDT on the T-Rex by blasting it with three Eldritch Blasts.
• The Nein (and the cast!) has been concerned with getting Vilya safely home to Zephrah and her family. At the end of the episode, she finally returns... and is greeted by a shocked, thrilled Keyleth! They did it!
  • Matt and Sam have an amazing conversation that leads up to it. They both bring their A-game, and Matt goes and tops it with his description of the reunion (at least the brief bit Veth saw). A few cast members were visibly teary, especially Marisha, and Travis makes a point of congratulating Matt as soon as he ended the episode.
• Sam recognising one of the Traveler’s followers as a member of Scanlan and Dr Dranzel’s old troupe.

Episode 108: Traveler Con

• Caduceus, Fjord, and especially Beau are ready to immediately step in if Jester is in any way hurt by the events of Traveler Con. Considering that Artagan is even more powerful than Vokodo, that is quite something.
• During the Commune, Caduceus asks the Wildmother if the Traveler is being reasonably honest about his intentions. She doesn't know. Artagan is so chaotic that even the gods can't get a good read on him!
• Yasha gets the revelers to stop having Beau make them drinks with a Natural 20 Intimidation roll.
• Caleb has a new plan for what he wants to do: basically, kick the Cerberus Assembly's ass. He's hinted at that for a while now, but now he's openly speaking of it.
• Yasha reveals that she has made strides in forgiving herself for everything, and believes that she has a purpose with the Nein.
• Jester uses her magic paint to create a high priestess outfit. A Performance result of 17 gives her an outfit she is proud of, and the creation drew an impressed crowd of villagers and cultists.
• As Yasha starts her musical performance, Artagan steps in with the special effects. He addresses the crowd, calling her Yasha the Reborn.
  • Caleb also uses his magic to make lightning come off of Yasha. It forms electric penises and subtle electric moons.
• Jester and Traveler do a good job of improvising the ascension ceremony, realizing too late that they should have gone over this ahead of time.
  • The Traveler tells Celia, who has the golden dick glued to her hand, to trust him. She nods in agreement and runs toward the caldera. Beau intervenes, thinking that she's going to throw herself into the volcano. It turns out that she wasn't going to, so Beau tackled her for nothing. She goes to throw the dick into the volcano, but can't. It is passed off as if the prank was planned all along.
• A Celestial appears at the climax of the ceremony, revealing the truth. She is a servant of Sehanine, who is Not Happy with him. She chains him to take him away, even as Jester tries to intervene. It turns out that she is an avatar of Sehanine, who was playing a prank of her own on him. She accepts the worshipers he was going to foist off on her, and warns Artagan about playing with powers he can't match.
• Fjord/Travis has an absolutely brilliant idea when Jester is holding on to Artagan. He puts a hex on her, and uses his Relentless Hex class ability to teleport to her so he could start pulling her back. It's usually used in combat, and Laura was clearly afraid that Fjord would attack Jester to make her let go, but instead we got a clever use of the ability that was still perfectly legal as written.
• When Artagan talks with the Nein, he is characteristically playful about teaching Jester something eventually. Veth isn't having it.
  Veth: Eventually? She just saved you from a fucking god! Teach it to her now!
  • Artagan takes her aside. He apologizes for every negative trait that's rubbed off on her, and sincerely thanks her for everything she's done for him.
  • Artagan even admits that the Nein are basically right about him. He is a manipulator.
  • Artagan gives her a gift: her duplicate can now move twice the range, and she can now speak through the duplicate.
• Artagan actually apologizes to the Nein for everything!
• Finishing the Rumblecusp Arc and Traveler Con brings the Nein to level 13! Caduceus, Caleb and Jester now have access to 7th level spells, Veth now has 3rd Level spells, and Beau has the Tongue of Sun and Moon, allowing her to understand all languages. Fjord has become a 3rd level paladin, though Travis hasn't yet decided on his Oath (he and Matt will work that out during the week before the next episode).