Critical Role Campaign 3 Begins!

 Well, after months away, we finally have the third campaign of Critical Role running!

Oh, and it's spoilers from here on out, FYI.

Campaign 3 takes place on the continent of Marquet. While we saw the classically desert region in campaign one, in this campaign things start off in a jungled region in the city of Jrusar. The city is really cool, conceptually - it's built on five massive spires of rock, with urban locations crawling up the side along corkscrewing streets.

One of the biggest surprises is that fully half the cast (and yes, we'll get into the divisibility of the cast in a moment) is playing characters we've already seen.

First, though, the new characters.

We're initially introduced to Laudna and Imogen (Marisha Ray and Laura Bailey, respectively.) Laudna is a warlock with the undead patron, but also has what appears to be one level of sorcerer of indeterminate subclass. Imogen is a sorcerer (I didn't clock the subclass - I think it's a homebrew). The two of them are trying to get into the elite university at the top of one of the spires of Jrusar, seemingly to better understand Imogen's powers. They've got an established rapport as friends (they could be a couple, but I wasn't sure) and have been staying in Jrusar with a kindly old lady.

Next, we get Ashton and Fresh Cut Grass. Ashton (Taliesin Jaffe) is an Earth Genasi Barbarian with what appears to be a homebrew subclass (some kind of gravity theme) and seems to be a mess of a person who likes it that way. Their companion is Fresh Cut Grass (Sam Riegel,) an intensely friendly automaton (I'd assume a re-skin of Warforged) who bonded with Ashton after his/their old adventuring party was killed off by some monsters while they were in their inactive mode. FCG is a cleric (again, of unknown subclass) who seems to be genuinely pure and kind and perhaps a little naive. (Of note, Sam's comically huge drinking vessel now is a gas tank, which was hopefully brand-new before he drank anything out of it.)

The next introduction was a bit of a surprise - Matt Mercer called out Liam, Ashley, and Robbie, and three of the members of the party from Exandria Unlimited emerged. That's right, it looks like Fearne, Dorian, and Orym are continuing their stories on into the main campaign. It also seems as if Robbie Daymond is joining the cast of Critical Role (technically, he's listed as a special guest star on the Critical Role twitter feed, but at least so far he seems just as integrated into the game as Orym and Fearne). For those who didn't watch EXU, Dorian is an air genasi bard, Orym is a Halfling battlemaster fighter, and Fearne is a satyr wildfire druid (with "Mister," her pet fire elemental that takes the form of a monkey).

The party's first combat was against a selection of animated objects - a rug of smothering, a couple of dancing swords, and an animated table, and I began to wonder if Robbie Daymond was just replacing Travis Willingham in the line-up. But then, mid-combat, a very old man came out to join the fray - but not just any old man: it was Sir Bertrand Bell, whom we last saw in The Search for Grog (and the Search for Bob) post-campaign Vox Machina one-shots.

So, the line-up seems to be two fighters (possibly both battlemasters?) a druid, a bard, a barbarian, a cleric, a sorcerer, and a warlock/sorcerer. Am I a little bummed we aren't getting a full paladin or an artificer? A little, but I trust these people to make an entertaining story whatever they play.

It's actually a pretty decent balance of melee and ranged, and they've got a decently diverse spellcasting variety.

We are, of course, just barely starting the story here. The party is level 3 (except Bertrand, who's already level 5 - though he had been level 18 or 19 when last we saw him). The magic that set off the animated objects seems like it could be a big deal. As the episode ends, the party comes to an orcish nobleman's house seeking work, but it's far too early to figure out if he's going to be a major player for the campaign or if this is purely prelude.

But it's nice to have something to look forward to on Thursdays again.