Warning: The following recap of Critical Role Campaign 3, Episode 79, contains spoilers.
Bells Hells kicked off their corporate retreat in the Fey Realm with paternity tests and curious team-building exercises, here’s a full recap of Critical Role Campaign 3, Episode 79.
What Happened in Critical Role Campaign 3, Episode 79 (Recap)
Resident force of chaos Sam Riegel always kicks Critical Role off with a memorable ad read, so viewers may have been temporarily thrown by his relatively normal sales pitch for Persona 5 Tactica. However, fans knew programming was back on track when a producer rushed Riegel an envelope containing the results of a paternity test that proved, once and for all, that Dungeon Master Matthew Mercer was his biological father. Though the younger Mercer chuckled through this antic, paternal origins actually became a surprising theme of the episode.
When Bells Hells arrived in the Fey Realm at the end of Episode 78, Ashley Johnson’s Fearne Calloway briefly informed her grandmother Morrigan of her charged encounter with the devil, Teven Klask. In response, Nana Morri briefly became Nana Maury, ominously hinting at a romantic tryst in Fearne’s mother’s past. The follow-up conversation between Fearne and Birdie Calloway in this episode confirmed the mounting suspicion that Oleander “Ollie” Calloway is not the mischievous faun’s biological father.
Birdie Calloway explained that, before falling for Ollie, she was wooed by Sorrowlord Athion Zathuda of the Unseelie Court. In retrospect, Birdie realized that Athion’s poetic proclamations of love were but a smokescreen to disguise his ulterior motive to sire a Ruidusborn child. Though both Fearne and Imogen Temult are Ruidusborn, there’s a stigma often associated with those born under the flare of Exandria’s red moon. In fact, Mercer had previously explained that couples in Zephrah would even attempt to delay childbirth to evade Ruidian superstitions. Athion’s contrasting aspirations for a Ruidusborn child thus pepper added intrigue into Campaign 3’s ongoing investigation into the Moon of Ill-Omen.
The reveal that the Sorrowlord sired Fearne helped provide further clarity regarding Bells Hells’ personal lore, including their encounter with Unseelie agent Dusk/Yu and Nana Morri’s showdown with Athion during their last visit to the Fey Realm. Morrigan disclosed that her protection of Fearne within the largely untouchable grounds of Ligament Manor infuriated her biological father. While the party knows that Athion’s working with Ludinus Da’leth and the Ruby Vanguard, it’s implied that this alliance stems from his ambition to unseat the Moonweaver and exploit the ensuing Fey power vacuum.
As Fearne and Birdie had their revelatory mother-daughter conversation, other characters engaged in role-playing moments as the party awaited their team-building exercises. This downtime brought a particularly noteworthy decision from Laura Bailey’s Imogen, who removed the Circlet of the Hidden Eye that has been utilized to quiet her oftentimes overwhelming mind-reading capabilities. Imogen was motivated to revaluate her powers as a strength in the wake of Ashton’s rogue actions with the shard of Rau’shan, determining that her mind reading would have allowed her to sense that something was awry.
Bells Hells Trial of Honesty
Though Nana Morri and Fresh Cut Grass planned Bells Hells team-building itinerary together, the Fatestitcher modified the Aoermaton’s memory so that they could participate in the exercises alongside their friends. Morri unveiled that they had built activities based on the tenets of trust, communication, and honesty, with a magical item from her collection offered as a reward upon the successful completion of each exercise.
When Bells Hells selected honesty as their first trial, Nana Morri unceremoniously jettisoned them to the bottom of a chasm and tasked them with retrieving her Monocle of True Essence and making their way out. The catch? The terrain was responsive to honest inner truths, only once voicing these aloud would a path out of the chasm begin to materialize. This mechanic delivered heartily on its juicy role-playing premise, with the full list of character secrets as follows:
Fresh Cut Grass:
- Lacking in conventional appetite, the Aeormaton enjoys eating silver more than copper.
- Sometimes they pity members of Bells Hells – particularly Chetney – for wasting the opportunities afforded by their “beating hearts”.
- They’re disturbed that killing and inflicting harm, deep down, relaxes them a bit.
- Despite their newfound faith, they worry the Changebringer doesn’t care about them.
Imogen:
- She’s genuinely scared to see her mother, Liliana Temult, again.
- Despite her deep love for Laudna, she’s disgusted by the idea that Delilah Briarwood watches them.
- She admits: “I don’t know if I wanna save gods who don’t love me.”
- She was disappointed in Fearne for running from her power when it came to the shard.
Chetney:
- He cited wood’s superiority to metal. While this initial statement did not impact that chasm, Chetney’s follow-up confession that wood’s decline in popularity makes him feel obsolete does earn a response from the terrain.
- New backstory details unlocked: Chetney was abandoned by his entire family as a child.
Laudna:
- Delilah wants the shard of Rau’shan and lately Laudna’s been having trouble delineating her patron’s desires with her own.
- She sometimes (all the time) fantasizes about Bells Hells abandoning their world saving mission.
Orym:
- He confessed that he’s lonely all the time. Especially at night, regardless of whether or not his friends are sleeping beside him.
- Striking once more on the episode’s unexpected paternal themes, Orym disclosed that, although he laughed it off at the time, he sometimes wonders if Chetney might be his dad.
- The fighter’s spent time thinking of means to neutralize each member of Bells Hells if needed.
- Like many Critical Role fans, he really misses Dorian Storm.
Ashton:
- They’re the reason the Jiana Hexum robbery went sideways and The Nobodies broke up.
- In quiet moments, they worry about one member of the party accidentally killing another one.
- They would rather have died than have caused further disruption in Fearne’s life.
Fearne:
- She believes Bells Hells are ill-equipped and will fail in their mission to thwart Ludinus (Laudna seconded this opinion).
- She does stuff to them while their sleeping…but, like, nothing weird.
Pâté de Rolo:
- “I don’t have feelings, I’m a construction!”
A few standouts among these secrets include the massive peak into Chetney’s backstory. The Travis Willingham character was originally conceived for “The Night Before Critmas” one-shot and those seasonal roots still shine through in this Home Alone-esque origin complete with names like Hermey and Sugarplum. The emotional fallout from the shard and the daunting task ahead of the party on Ruidus likewise loomed large in the party’s conscience. Liam O’Brien even sprinkled in some crumbs for the Critical Role fans who ship Orym and Robbie Daymond’s Dorian Storm.
Despite leeches, rainstorms, and nearly debilitating phallic mushroom humor, the party clawed their way out of the chasm and earned Morri’s Monocle of True Essence.
Bells Hells Trial of Communication
Morri transported Bells Hells to a cavern buzzing with thunder wasps for their trial of communication, requesting three volunteers for the exercise. Chetney, Imogen, and Ashton volunteered, succumbing to temporary magical blindness with accompanying blindfolds provided to the player characters at Critical Role‘s table. What followed was an innovative minigame that saw a rotating set of two characters guiding their blindfolded friend through a maze where risks included free fall and thunder wasp damage.
Though Critical Role’s stacked with some of the industry’s most impressive voice actors, sometimes the show’s best moments come when their well-crafted characters fade into the background. Mercer’s wildly entertaining trial exemplified how the route of Critical Role’s appeal stems from the simple act of watching long-time friends play silly games together.
Despite Ashton’s last-minute tumble, Bells Hells were able to complete the team-building exercise thanks to Orym volunteering for one additional round where Nana Morri’s magical bumpers were turned off. As a result, Bells Hells procured their second magical item, the Scarf of Intrusive Intent. The episode came to a close before the party could embark on the final trial of trust, but Mercer teased its intriguing premise.
Episode 80 will pick up with Bells Hells conducting a fetch quest to retrieve three blanched ivory branches from altars spread throughout a Fey forest. The catch? Two members of their party will be replaced with doppelgangers. Mercer explained that, at the start of the next session, each player will be given a card identifying whether they will be playing their character or a doppelganger. The doppelganger cards will have specific instructions that will thwart the team’s efforts.
Sam’s Can: Episode 79’s gas can borrowed the phrase “Just Don’t” from the back of Ashton’s jacket, with an attached plushie of the character modified to reflect the notorious shard incident.
After reading that recap, you can find the complete schedule for Critical Role here.
