He's amazing at what he does. MATT: And final thank-yous to Warner Bros and Monolith Entertainment for letting us incorporate the Shadow of War soundtrack into our Critical Role soundtrack here on the air, so those will be coming into the new campaign. And, super excited, CD Projekt Red has been nice enough to allow us use of the Witcher series soundtrack to also incorporate into the campaign, which, honestly, when we started playing at home, the Witcher soundtrack was most of my music, and I couldn't use it when we started streaming, and so it's been a cool full-circle to be able to bring it back in. Plus it brings a unique flavor that works with the new campaign setting, so.
With that, I believe our announcements are done. Thank you for bearing with us. LAURA: Wait, we're going to give-- oh, that's-- MARISHA: Afterwards. SAM: There's one more announcement. MARISHA: Our announcement is our brand-new opening title sequence. Which I think we're ready for. MATT: So, as we bring it down, guys, let's go ahead and prepare to dive in to the new year and the new campaign for this episode of Critical Role. (yelling) [80s music] (laughter) MATT: And welcome back. TRAVIS: That was a new level. MATT: We've definitely returned to the table. Thank you, Sam. So. MARISHA: Wait, super fast. We've got to go through credits. Right? Okay this website. So normally we don't do this, and I did this once before when we released our other opening title sequence. Yeah, 50th. So we're going to do this again. These are just people who do so much and who do not get enough love. I'm going to shout them out. Sean Becker, who's the unsung hero of Geek and Sundry, he's the executive producer. T.J. Rotell, he's our production manager around here, he makes sure that we actually have cameras. Maxwell James, our producer that makes this show go every week. Dani Carr, our production coordinator, also huge producer here. Steve Sprinkles, who directed that amazing opening title sequence. SAM: That's not a real name! MARISHA: I know. I love it on the slate. It always says 'Sprinkles'. Jan-Michael Losada, who is our D.P., and is the same D.P. from last time. Tristan Savage-Tate, our first A.C. Sean Delahunt, who is our key grip. Tyler Hart, who is our gaffer, who gaffs everything around here, he's amazing. Jenny Newman, who did the amazing wardrobe. She sourced all the wardrobe. Wren Witting, who's one of our hair and makeup artists. Vanessa Marie, who is our second hair and makeup artist. Jose Sosa, who was our production assistant. Selina Ruthe-- LAURA: That's a lot of pieces of paper! MARISHA: I know. Selina Ruthe, who did additional photography, and she also does stuff every day. LAURA: Why didn't you put them on the same piece of paper? MARISHA: Because I didn't know there was going to be this many. Brandon Clark, who was our location manager. Pamela Joy, who shot all the photos for that, and Loretta Ritchert. LAURA: Yeah, they're with Heirloom Photography, and they did all of our thumbnails, too. They did that poster. ASHLEY: Go check them out on Instagram! MARISHA: Jason Charles Miller, who does our music. LIAM: Party on, Garthok! MARISHA: Sean Hudson, who does our post-production. And Andy Inglat, who edited that thing. Okay. I'm sweating a lot. MATT: That's okay. So. SAM: What a night. Well, guys... TALIESIN: This has been great. LIAM: Holy shit. MATT: Everyone. Everyone. SAM: Can we open our fricking books yet? MARISHA: Not yet. MATT: Welcome to Wildemount. The year is 835 P.D., or post-Divergence. This continent is divided both by jagged terrain and political powers. The Menagerie Coast, a collection of city-states united under the Clovis Concord, monopolizes the southwestern shores and ports of Wildemount, thriving on open trade and cultural freedom. Beyond the Cyrios Mountains lies the massive region known as Wynandir, bisected by the Ashkeeper Peaks. Eastern Wynandir houses the expansive wastes and turbulent badlands of Xhorhas, overrun with all manner of beasts and terrors, relics from the final battles of the Calamity that ruined that scarred landscape. Northward, you would find the Greying Wildlands, a lawless realm harboring a curse that has kept it unconquered by human hands. However, this story begins in the territory of Western Wynandir, within the boundaries of the Dwendalian Empire. Emerging 13 generations before, the Dwendalian Empire has slowly spread to encompass the surrounding societies of the region, absorbing the peoples of the Zemni Fields and the Marrow Valley, before finally conquering the Julous Dominion and taking the whole of Western Wynandir for the Empire. SAM: There will be no test. MATT: No. This is-- let me continue. Under the rule of the current King Bertrand Dwendal, now in his 68th year, most are left to their own devices. You live as you did before. The crown only takes a tithe of what you produce and earn. You follow its laws, worship its gods, and bow to its installed local leadership. In return, denizens of the Empire are protected from the chaotic horrors and shadowed evils that stalk the edges of the civilized lands. This accord has led to a prosperous century for the Empire, or at least the political elite. Tensions brew beneath the chafing watch of the Crown's Guard. Every temple is government-owned and run, and worship outside the approved idolatry is met with imprisonment. Rumors of military clashes at the eastern border near Xhorhas have many common folk on edge. Our story, however, begins much smaller. Here in the southern reaches of the Marrow Valley, beyond the entry gates of the Wuyun Gorge, lies the small rural town of Trostenwald. Bordering the blue waters of the Ustaloch, this town came to prominence near the turn of this recent century, when the surrounding fertile farmlands were discovered to produce a unique type of grain and wheat, leading to a boom of breweries. When the glut subsided, three large families stood triumphant in the local business of fermented delights. Now Trostenwald thrives on their exports of fish, crops, and ale. Here in this sleepy trade stop along the Amber Road, a handful of wandering destinies slowly begin to intersect. We begin in the early hours of the morning on the day of Grissen in a messy room on the second floor of the Nestled Nook Inn. A bleary-eyed, bruised man in a tattered coat slowly wakens from his lengthy sleep, catching his small, snoring ally curled at the foot of the bed. Liam, if you would like to describe your character, please. (nervous laughter) LAURA: Oh my god, no pressure! SAM: Were we supposed to prepare this? LIAM: I'm pretty filthy. I have a mess of reddish-brown hair, and really filthy road clothes. I wear a long coat that I slept in. I slept about 20 hours last night. Jeez. Unshaven, a bit of a mess. SAM: So far you're just talking about current Liam. LAURA: What color are your eyes? I need visual. LIAM: They're blue. That's it. It was a rough day yesterday, and-- that's it. MATT: And your name is? LIAM: Oh. Caleb. Caleb Widogast. MATT: All right. As your smaller friend curls awake, Sam, would you like to describe your character? SAM: Yeah. Um. I am a little goblin girl. (laughter) SAM: I am a goblin. So, you know, the green skin, the green hair, the yellow eyes. And she wears not-great clothes, just like her traveling companion there. She hides in the shadows a lot, because she knows goblins aren't welcome in this part, and that's about it. I mean, she's a little skittish, and right now she's probably stirring awake as well, right? MATT: Well. What's your name? SAM: Oh. Nott the Brave. MATT: So Caleb, as you come to consciousness, you glance over and can see, slowly snoring and rousing at about the same time, Nott's eyes blink open, her slowly groaning face looking over towards you. SAM: (high-pitched Cockney accent) Oh! You're finally awake, I see. Oh yeah, motherfuckers. It's on. You were out for quite some time, there. Rough day, eh? LIAM: (light German accent) Not our best day, no. SAM: No, I mean, usually you're so good at everything, but yesterday you were just-- maybe you needed the sleep, is what you needed. LIAM: Thank you. SAM: Well, don't thank me yet. I should probably tell you what happened while you were asleep. I mean, you were asleep for so long. I got bored, frankly. I was going through my pack and reorganizing. LIAM: Has anybody seen you-- seen you seen you? SAM: Well, I mean, many people? I got bored. You've never slept that long, so I left, I went downstairs, I thought I'd do a bit of window-shopping, and you know how sometimes I get the itch, you know? LIAM: I do. Did you make it back here okay, at night? SAM: I'm here, aren't I? LIAM: Yeah, you are. SAM: Yeah, I did. But I might have been spotted by a few of the Crown's Guard. LIAM: Did you have the mask on? SAM: No? No, I didn't. But they didn't catch me, so. Listen, I'm sorry, sometimes I get the urge, I've got to take something, you know? I was trying to replentish what you lost yesterday, and I failed. LIAM: Well, we-- (sighs)-- discussed coming to a bigger town. It's going to be a little more difficult now. You can't go-- it was easier on outskirts, it was easier in farms, but we can't do that here. SAM: I know, I'm sorry. Yeah. I know. You're right. Yep. I just got a little bit squiggly. That's all. LIAM: Okay. Well, I think today you should have the mask on at all times. SAM: Yeah, good idea, Caleb. LIAM: It's better when we're working together. If you need to steal something, do it with my help, all right? SAM: Yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah. LIAM: Back up the conversation a minute. Thank you. I would not be alive if you had not-- you saved my life. So thank you. SAM: Ah, no problem. LIAM: Yesterday was really not great. SAM: Yeah, well, we'll do better today, right? LIAM: Sure. Sure we will. Are you hungry? SAM: Yeah, I'm starving. MATT: At this point, you notice the gentle smell of cooked meats and promises of mediocre porridge and eggs just barely begins to creep beneath the subtle floor of your room, meet your nostrils. LIAM: Well, Nott, what are we going to do today? I can go down and get breakfast and bring it up here. At least-- I don't know. I mean, I'm a little wary of just splashing back into the town right away. SAM: Let's go down, get some food. I'll come with you, 'cause as you said, we're better together. And we'll take it from there. You need some books and stuff, right? LIAM: Always. SAM: All right, well, that's on the to-do list. LIAM: All right, well, let's get something to eat, then. MATT: All right, so you prepare yourself with your mask set over? SAM: Yes, yeah, so I have a half a mask that covers my goblin face, and with the hood over, kind of obscures. Maybe it's not a goblin, maybe it's a little halfling person or something. MATT: Which is helpful. The southern, more rural region of the Empire, especially near Felderwin, which is one of the largest tilling and farming areas of the entire Empire, has a very heavy halfling population. And so while this city is not the core of it, you'd probably see a larger 20-25% of the population here in Trostenwald is halfling. So you pass off pretty decently as long as you keep away from discerning, intent eyes. So the two of you manage to gather your things for the time being, wander down the stairs from the top floor down to the base of the tavern, which, the air is already bustling with townsfolk and all manner of travelers preparing to take on the day's responsibilities. Yorda, the 40-something woman barkeep with shoulder-length blonde hair and weathered skin that you previously rented your room at the inn from, frantically darts behind the bar while the red-headed barmaid rushes from table to table. It seems that the clientele is a bit more than they were expecting this morning. Yorda yells from behind the bar to the barkeep, "Adelaine, two more brats and a bit of mush at the corner table." She looks up, "I'm working on it!" And she runs over and heads back to the kitchen. There's a faint bit of music as two slovenly-looking musicians in the corner are trying to work for tips with a small hat on the floor that it looks like nobody's thrown any coin into it. The tables are fairly busy, except for maybe two that appear to be available between the two of you guys, if you'd like to find a seat. LIAM: Okay. Sure. Is that easy to do, find a seat? MATT: Yeah, you walk over to it, you sit down. (laughter) LIAM: Is this how D&D works? SAM: What do we roll for? (laughter) MATT: You sit down, and due to the chaos that ensues around you, it takes a little while for Adelaine, the red-headed barmaid, to come by, and she scoots by the table. "I'm terribly sorry. What "can I get you?" SAM: You know, meat if you have it, but if you don't, that's okay, too. Potatoes, or bacon if it's on the menu, but really anything-- MATT: "I can get you all three, it's fine. What you want?" LIAM: A Trost for each of us, please. MATT: "For breakfast? I like you. All right, two Trosts and a bunch of meats. Be right back." And she rushes off, she pulls her hair back and ties it as she goes into the kitchen, getting ready for the midst of chaos. While you guys have a moment there at the table, you can hear conversation muttering around you, and you have a brief bit of privacy to discuss. LIAM: Yes, I need books, that's true, but did you find drink yesterday? SAM: I have a little left in my flask. LIAM: How much? SAM: Just a couple swigs. LIAM: So that's also on the to-do list, then. SAM: I mean, if you don't want me to get too jittery, yeah. LIAM: All right. Okay. So we'll do that first. SAM: All right. TRAVIS: I love her. (laughter) MATT: A short time passes before the two platters are rushed over and scattered across the front of your table with a clattering. Pile of meats there set for you, a little bit placed on the side, because you might need, especially with the look on your face-- Adelaine gives you a glance and goes, "Put something in your belly." Comes back and slides two Trosts to you. SAM: I remove my little mask, and then just go (eating noises).
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