Brennan Lee Mulligan made one thing very clear to his players and viewers when he took over as Dungeon Master for Critical Role’s Campaign 4: he would not be pulling any punches. There have been homebrewed rules, new death mechanics, and the assurance that the world of Aramán is not level-scaled — meaning players will encounter enemies with a much higher Challenge Rating than they’re supposed to take on.
The lethality of Aramán was thoroughly demonstrated in the latest episode of Critical Role Campaign 4, where decisions led to devastating consequences.
Ed. note: The following contains major spoilers for Critical Role Campaign 4’s episode 30, “Here in the Dark.”
We had originally thought that death had claimed a player character during the opening episodes of Campaign 4, with Occtis Tachonis (Alexander Ward) ambushed by his family and left for dead to perform a complicated ritual that would have restored the Tachonis house to its former glory. Thanks to some very tricky rolls from Bolaire Lathalia (Taliesin Jaffe) and Murray Mag’nesson (Marisha Ray), that proved not to be the case, and Occtis was raised as a Hollowed One.
More than 20 episodes later, there have been plenty of close calls for several of the player characters across the first arc. The convergence of the tables that reunited the Soldiers, Seekers, and Schemers might have fooled a few Critters into thinking there would be safety in numbers, but as the latest episode proves — nobody is safe when Mulligan is at the head of your Dungeons & Dragons table.
A couple of episodes ago, the tables split into three different teams. One such team, Team Bird-Watching, was made up of Thimble (Laura Bailey), Occtis Tachonis (Ward), Sir Julien Davinos (Matthew Mercer), Teor Pridesire (Travis Willingham), and Teor’s brother, Cyd. Their mission was to infiltrate House Tachonis’ home, Obrimus Manor, within the city of Dol-Makjar in order to rescue a kidnapped ally, Mara the Wing, and find the gem that would help cure Julien’s sister, Alba, of her curse.
Episode 29 had Team Bird-Watching already in a perilous position, with everyone minus Occtis (and eventually Thimble, after Occtis granted her protection) vulnerable to the Tenebral Reaches of the underworld that Obrimus Manor was connected to. By the end of the episode, almost all of them had suffered heavy damage.
Matters only grew worse throughout episode 30. With so many of them at half health or lower and a time limit set by Mulligan, Team Bird-Watching had to decide: stick together or split up to achieve their goals before House Tachonis returned from their meeting with the other Sundered Houses. Experienced Dungeons & Dragons players know that splitting the party is generally unwise, but that’s still exactly what happens. Occtis and Thimble are searching for Mara, Julien is trying to find the gem’s location, and Teor and Cyd are looking for three statues believed to be significant to Ulbid Morn, a gnome they met earlier in the Soldier’s first arc.
It’s this split in the party, coupled with Willingham’s poor roll on the investigation, that leads Teor and Cyd into a room containing the necromantic remains of Raimond Davinos, Julien’s father. A hulking figure in life, even more so in death, Raimond and several other zombies quickly surround Teor and Cyd. Even with the Katari paladin leveling up to level 5, it proves too much. While Teor deals a devastating blow to the undead Raimond, both he and his brother perish, alone in the dark.
Critical Role has had plenty of deaths in previous campaigns, but this one marks the very first death of a player character in Aramán. What makes this one particularly damning, however, is that there were a couple of opportunities for other characters in Obrimus Manor to rush down and help Teor and his brother, the biggest of which was Julien Davinos.
After finding and seizing the gem, Julien is on his way to the aviary to join Occtis and Thimble. However, Julien’s shadow (which has a mind of its own because of a curse) warns him that Teor is in danger. Mulligan gave Mercer a choice: go down to save Teor, or continue to join Thimble and Occtis and secure their other objective.
The tough decision was made even harder by each player’s commitment to role-playing fully what their characters would do. While that phrase has often been used in TTRPG spaces to excuse poor behavior, this time around, Julien’s decision to ultimately abandon Teor and Cyd to their fate makes sense.
Not only does Julien not have the same connection to Teor as others do; in previous episodes, Julien’s mother, Maya Davinos, had begged him not to die in a dark hole somewhere, chasing vengeance. Furthermore, he has a gem that could cure his sister, Alba. While Julien isn’t evil, he is a complicated character who is willing to put his family above others, even other player characters.
Critical Role isn’t just a bunch of nerdy voice actors sitting around and playing Dungeons & Dragons anymore — it’s grown so large that it’s practically its own TV series. That means there have to be narrative stakes and risks, as well as cohesion with player choices, which keeps viewers on the edge of their seats. Mercer’s choice, cruel as it may seem, ultimately shows how steadfast Critical Role is in its commitment to delivering a narrative experience that isn’t afraid to take risks.
That doesn’t mean we won’t be sad to see our favorite Katari paladin go, but it’s stakes like these that make us tune into Critical Role every week. With how brutal Aramán has proven to be, we expect it won’t be the last time we see a player character death in Campaign 4.
R.I.P., Teor and Cyd. You shall be missed.
Campaign 4 of Critical Role is available to watch live on Twitch, YouTube, and Beacon.tv on Thursday nights at 10 p.m. PDT. If you can’t catch the episode live, don’t worry — Critical Role posts the episode to YouTube the following Monday at 3 p.m. EDT/12 p.m. PDT.
