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Five memorable Natural 20s | Critical Role
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- Published on Oct 23, 2020 veröffentlicht
- Here are five of my favourite poetic Natural 20 moments from Critical Role. This is in no way a top five ranking.. that would be bloody impossible to pick.
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I love the look on Matt's face when something is supposed to be near impossible and a nat 20 happens. Like he gets excited for it too haha
Almost like there's a reason a nat 20 skill check isn't an auto success. There shouldn't be a 5% chance of succeeding at anything possible.
Yeah man thats d&d lol
He is the definition of "DM with the players, not DM vs the players"
I know! With that first one for Liam, Matt’s expression looked like a mixture of “Dude, that’s awesome!” and “God-f-king-damnit, Liam!!”
Oh he lives for those moments. You can just see his brain going into overdrive trying to come up with some epic way to tell the story of how they succeeded.
Grog’s two Nat 20s is arguably the greatest moment in VMs history. Grog, being such a dearly loved character...after making a poor decision as only he could (pulling that card from the DoMT)...having an entire episode dedicated to searching for him...getting the famous and satisfying HDYWTDT...and in front of a live audience. Incredible!
It's even more satisfying considering he made a grand total of two attacks in that entire one-shot.
@Kakyo01 ty
@First Last "How Do You Want To Do This"
What does HDYWTDT stand for?
Liam: I need a nat 20
Taliesin: You’ll get one
Liam: I rolled a nat 20
Taliesin: ‘,:)
*cue segment of "Card Sharks" music for winning game and match, then the following theme"
Matt: 👁👄👁
The spirit of percy showing his colors
He played it real cool after as well. What a G.
he’s an ancient eldritch pyramid, he can manipulate some insignificant maths rocks
Player: Natural 20
DM: so what’s that total?
(The most terrifying phrase that can be uttered)
@TheTriforcekeeper welp my dad (the dm) is lying to me apparently then lmao
@Cheerio RAW, nat 1s on ability checks aren't critical fails. It's literally only on attack rolls that nat 1s and nat 20s work that way. The keyword here being "RAW" (=rules as written)
@Jeremy Berringer i dont like that nat 1s on ability checks and attacks are critical fails but nat 20s are only critical successes on attacks
@Jeremy Berringer it’s a guaranteed success until it’s a roll where u need a small number
@Mr. Boyer sorry, but what does this comment even mean? Is it impossible to climb on a dragon with -2 strength. No. So I don’t know why you even brought that up. What I’m saying is, if a players asks something that you absolutely know wouldn’t work even if they got a natural 20, it’s a pretty dick move to give the player hope by making them roll when you were never going to give it to them anyway. It’s a waste of time.
I hold that the double Nat 20 in The Search for Grog is far and away the greatest moment in CR History for me. It is the perfect storm:
+ 4(ish) hours of no Grog, so this is his first real moment in the One Shot
+ Two back-to-back Nat 20 Rolls
+ 152 damage in two hits (with the added bonus that Grog literally 86'ed the guy at the end)
+ following on from the previous, the HDYWTDT
+ Live crowd reactions
Just... 😚👌 Perfect
@Robert Muts Matt allowed it, made sense thematically
Rule of cool
I'm not even into dnd and I got buzzed off that
And Ashley's/Pike's hug is so adorable
Well, campaign 2 is over for a while now. So, I'd have to say a close second would have to be Beauregard's double 20s during the boss fight.
its literally one of the peaks of fiction for me, and it was complete random chance and improvisation that ended with a satisfying, hype climax after hours of build-up and was a sick end to the adventures of vox machina. just an amazing moment.
Travis doesn't crit often, but when he does, it's damn epic
@Sean SBK He's the kind of DnD player I'd like to be. He doesn't get disheartened by Nat 1's, he leans into them for the fun of the moment. I tend to take them too personally.
He even fails epicly.
@Dan Cook or the time when he initially got the Nat 20 constitution save with Craven Edge, but Travis realized that Grog was exhausted, so he actually had disadvantage, and ended up getting a Nat 1 instead.
Just like that time he got 3 natutal 1s in a row. Epic!
Yeah Travis has some uncanny ability to roll either a Nat 1 or a Nat 20 at the perfect time for the narrative, to make either a super epic moment or a hilarious prat fall. For instance the 3 Nat 1s in a row at the festival in Zadash
Funfact: They fought the last creature on a tower, that if screamed into the winds around it every plane would here it.
So in the last combat Grog literally declared to every plane in existence, that you infact DO NOT fuck with Vox Machina.
*[Everyone will remember that.]*
Legendary
That's one way to send a clear message.
That's badass!
The first two in this serve a valuable lesson: anytime you need to roll nothing under a natural 20, have marisha sitting beside you, bonus points if she sees/reacts to your natural 20 a half-second before you call it
And have Taliesin around to bless it
I came here to say this; Marisha 100% confirms the natural 20 a microsecond before anyone has a chance to react, and it 1 million % sells the roll to Matt (and the audience). :) Makes me smile like an idiot whenever the cast reacts like they do when another member of the cast excels at something, but never more so when a natural 20 changes the pace or tone of the evening and someone just *goes off* as a result (doubly so when it's Marisha). :chuckle:
The 2 20s from Grog are making up for Fjords 3 1s.
@Jonathan I think you're mixing up the nat 20 from Percy and Grog's nat 20s because I believe the first hit was 60-something damage.
Also Grog had double 1s when Lionel was introduced
@Scribbler Studios nah he did over 200 damage. Just his first attack did over 150 and the other was 86
152 my bad
So for those who didn't bother to calculate, Grog did 192 damage in two swings.
Grog's 2nd nat20 at a live event was when D&D turned into pro wrestling for a few minutes.
@Curtis Holsinger As a reminder, Big Show(Paul Wright in AEW) played a one-shot with Magenello & Willingham a few years ago.
Arguably Xavier Woods joining Acq Inc is when D&D and wrestling merged... if you haven't seen those sessions I highly recommend them, it turns out he is perfect for this sort of thing
Matt: ……….. How do you wanna do this? 😂😂
We need memorable nat 1's next!! This video is soooooo good!!
What are you talking about? We already have the Wil Wheaton Dice Curse video. That man has single-handedly used all the Nat 1s
Half of them would be from Wil W's guest episodes. The dude rolled so many nat 1s that there is a void in the universe where you physically can't roll a nat 1
Grog rolling double nat 1's when Chod was around
Wouldn't that just be a Wil Wheaton montage?
There is one now in case you missed it
3:36
Look closely at Matt's face. That is the face of simultaneous Surprise, Defeat, and Pride. As a DM, whenever your players roll a Nat20 at a critical moment, you can't help but smile at your own ruin.
@David Zachary No shit. Otherwise you could just roll, say Nat 20 and scoop it up and move it to a 20 every time. The whole point is for the DM to verify it. Matt STILL leans over and checks the die and he's been DMing for them for how long now?
@This Is Chris I've never heard that about "grabbing the die," and I've played with folks who go all the way back to 2E. That sounds like a house rule when you don't trust all your players.
"Huh, this is a new feeling... pride in someone else..."
Actually... I'm pretty sure that's the look of disappointment.
You're never supposed to grab the die after it's been rolled. You leave it so the DM can be assured it's actually what they say it is.
I know it wasn't hype in the moment, but Keyleth's nat 20 after touching the orb was very important
@nuru666 to be fair.... she does have plane shift..... if she survived..... there was a chance she could come back.
Yeah, if she had rolled anything but a nat 20 for that, Keyleth would have been gone for good.
@Groovy Even if she had she would have been stuck in Thar Amphala. By the time they figured out what the whole situation was and gone after Vecnards the first time like they did they would have run into an undead Kiki.
No way she survives that. She did that right after they fought the Briarwoods. She would've been grated cheese.
Oh indeed. Imagine how different the campaign would've been had she not survived that.
These freak outs are the best part.
My last campaign I had a player that kept detailed notes of each session, NPCs they talked/heard about, random lore, cool moments. Whenever someone rolled a nat 20 (even me as the DM) he wrote in big letters) if a fellow PC rolled one he'd hop around and get hyped. After we finished the campaign we sat back and went through his notes as a highlight of the many months of adventuring.
also any time the players make the dm say "mother fker" you are heading into a good time.
@nuru666 I've been playing for about 6 years, dming for about 5. That group was by far my favorite and made me realize just how much fun this hobby could be. Everyone had a good spirit, even if i messed with them. They were all super into their characters and the story. They'd evolve their character based on the story, not powergaming. This same player was a fighter that had sort of found religion, he beheaded a guy that the rest of the group didn't want to. So the entire rest of the campaign they'd throw that in his face and the player spent 4 sessions communing with his god, trying to find a way to help the family of the person he beheaded and feeling terrible. He eventually took a rank in paladin to "atone for his actions".
Really miss that group. Real life sucks :(
I wanna play in a group with someone like that
First one, Matt: "holy shit, you would have needed to roll a 20." (passes pre-written paper to Liam) Talk about prep...
I love how Travis turned 2 nat 20's in a live show into a full-blown WWE match.
@Jacob That was Avantika's journal, where she wrote about her plan after securing the relics of Uko'toa. But because it had been written in Avantika's personal script and style, it was made only so she could read it at leisure with no one able to discern the meaning. Hence why Liam asked if HE could given time and the ability to understand the syntax of language and stuff...and due to the uniqueness of said language/code, it was set at a rather difficult DC to beat.
it was her spellbook, im assuming he makes item cards for any spell casters spell book for organization
probably had it ready in case they ether found the key to the cypher or somehow got it out of her
The thing about being a dm is you need to be prepared for EVERY single possibility
The best part about that last one where Grog get's the back-to-back 20's is...on the next special one-shot where they have to find Bob and escape, he rolls another Nat 20 on his first roll of the session...meaning Grog technically hit THREE 20's in a row.
AND the last roll in campaign 1 was a natural 20 from grog, which makes it *4* in a row
While this one was a lot less hype since it wasn't a climactic story moment, Ashly Burch in C2 rolling on a stealth check with disadvantage and getting 2 nat 20s...that was pretty dope.
in plate armor no less. imagine that, a silent clanking kitchen.
I don't know what it is a about Travis but every time he rolls 1's or 20's there's some cinematic shenanigans going down. Or at least some abrupt hilarity. It's like his superpower.
@Ken Dyer oh, I see. So it's a guilty until proven inocent situation
@Ken Dyer but what would they gain from faking nat 20’s? And do they then fake all the rolls? We don’t have any direct video of the dice as they are rolled either. And Travis’s triple nat 1’s earlier in campaign 2, did they fake those as well?
See what I did here? If we need to see everything with our own eyes, then there is a lot of things we then need to question. I have never seen how many electrons is in a hydrogen atom, but I don’t need to, becouse I don’t live my life assuming everyone lies. And by taking a stance such as: "They are faking the rolls" then so many other questions arise that also need to be answered.
@Mikael Barr Kongsteien do we have direct video of the die as they are rolled? No? Then its absolutely possible.
@Ken Dyer Think about going through life believing things which are so, so wrong
It's called faking rolls for dramatic purposes.
The first one cracks me up SO MUCH because Matt looks so damn smug when he says "Go ahead and make an intelligence check.", while also crossing his arms, so his reaction to the Nat 20 is even funnier. I love it.
I also like where beau is getting tapped in her training but just gets pissed and throws 2 blind haymakers getting natural 20s on both
@Iven Kohn Yeah, it was after the trial thing. Chapter 4. Matt had everyone leave the room except for Marisha for her personal session. Pretty interesting
@Ian Murphy 3 or 4 I believe, sorry I dont know exactly
What episode?
11:35 Ashley hugging Travis like he's a teddy bear will always be one of my favorite clips
Seriously, the kill shot in Kevdak was insane!
That look on Matt's face at 6:55 is such pure glee. Those are the moments I love DM'ing for.
That 2nd nat 20 by Grog, and the audience reaction, is like the gamer equivalent of the world cup of D&D team winning the penultimate award.
Wow, I just now realised that both battles where Grog went "Vox Machina, fuck shit up!" ended with him actually fucking shit up with a nat20 killing blow!
When he really wants others to succeed is when he shines the most. His power truly comes from his friends
If I had a nickel for every time Grog entered a fight late and immediately killed the boss in his first turn using a Nat 20, I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice, right?
For me, the most memorable will always be Vex's nat 20 confession. I cry every time.
@Morgan Harris Ep 69 at about 1:11:40
Same. It was my first thought!
which ep was this again?
Honestly throughout critical role’s history the most hype I have ever been from a nat 20 will always be kevdak. Literally would have been the death of Grog if not for that hit being a nat 20. I remember running out of my room screaming into the living room of my very confused family, very very confused.
That was an insane fight and is to this day my favourite CR fight in either campaign.
That whole fight was so nutty
Not only that the whole thing might have been a tpk that fight went terribly
What's funny is how Matt is so incredulous at Travis' second Nat 20 that he actually stands up to go check.
He didn't believe him the first time, but he did the 2nd. He just needed to see a historical moment of rolling Nat 20 a second time. There's a reason he made the cameraman catch that one.
The crowd cheering on Grog as Matt said “how do you wanna do this?” Absolutely amazing!!
The avantika journal nat 20 will always be my favorite,that was the only way of shutting her down
@Jesus E Sanchez I know this is some necro, but to me it just sounds like you were complaining that he didn't fudge the DC to accommodate your result. Getting a 30 in Lockpicking isn't too hard with a high dex mod, bardic inspiration and a nat 20. You also had other things here and didn't manage to make it. It's very unfortunate, but you had a fair chance.
I loved it too but because Liam had been having a crap day, rolling badly, and he got such a huge pick me up from that roll.
@AGEmail Exactly. Just don't mention the door or something
@Sama Hardy Whenever making someone roll, you must always account for a success. Otherwise, what's the point? If it's impossible, don't have them roll.
@Sama Hardy PREACH
My friend had recently started DMing and this is one of the lessons that I hope he picks up on. At one point we were trying to unlock the entrance to where a lich was sealed (long story, not worth explaining), and the cleric used guidance, the bard gave an inspiration, and our rogue had expertise in thieves' tools
All factored in, he got a 29 but my friend stuck too close to what the DM screen's suggested DCs were (He set it to the 30 "impossible" DC) and said that we failed and couldn't retry. He's really good for a first time DM, but that really reminded me that he is still a new Dungeon Master
I kid you not, no mater how many times I watch it, I get chills when Grog goes "FOR STRONGJAW!!!"
"How do you wanna do this?" Has to be the best thing to hear in these moments
Especially after a hard battle, like the one with Kevdak and how much hype everybody had after Matt asked Travis how he wanted to describe Grog finishing Kevdak off. XD Especially when thinking of Taliesin going "YES!! YES!!!", Marisha with "It worked!", then Liam and his epic "Poetic justice!!" on top of it!
When grog killed Kevdak and Ashley said “fuck you” she sounded exactly like Ellie😂
0:45 Matt looks so smug thinking "He'd have to roll a nat 20 to get this, there's no way"
and then looking at Taliesin when he says "goddammit", he knows exactly who's to blame XD
I love that this video is full of so much greatness that Matt's physical acting of the dragon in his final moments is just glossed over. Like. The way his face changes at the moment of the disguise drop, the heavy chuckle, and then just *thunk*.
8:19 when the rest of the party is worried about whether grog has enough hp to survive.... And he just waves them all off with his hands; as if saying "shhhhhh". Following it up with an "I don't care" because he is totally engrossed in this moment and u can see he has resigned himself to whatever fate has in store ........ I remember when I saw this the first time, Travis caused me to cease jumping up and down, and hold my breath for what was coming next!
so much for compiling theit has caused me to relive so much of the joyI got from watching this show/game/family/movement/most epic thing 🙏
Reminds me of a fight my party was in recently. Undead Dragon, gets knocked down real low, but is still dealing considerable damage. My Tabaxi Ranger is only on 15 health, but if the dragon doesn't go out this turn, then it won't just be me going down. Zephyr Strike plus Feline Agility means that the distance is closed instantly but still leaves me open to a reaction attack (not opportunity attack, unfortunately) that whittles me down to 5 health. While it wasn't a nat20, my attack still strikes true, but the dragon dying causes a magical explosion that hits me for my remaining 5 health, and I fall unconscious. Fortunately, we had a healer so I was quickly tended to without needing death saves.
The Kevdak moment was so sweet, but let's not forget, if it wasn't for how well Taleisin did earlier, would've been a whole different situation
Again with the godling, Percy and his action surges...
Tbh i love the twiggy moment but it makes me sad cuz canonically none of the characters saw it, and sure she got the dragon tooth, but still.
Sometimes we forget just how impactful Caleb's nat 20 was and how much it changed the game
Grog VS Kevdak, absolutely chilling every time.
For! STRONGJAAAW!!!
This show's been going on for years, but imo they still haven't had a fight better than The Kill Box.
amazing vid! i can't agree more that the nat20s for grog was the most cinematic bullshit i've ever seen done by this improv show. how poetic the dice can be to this day is so unbelievable lmao tbh
The "How do you wanna do this?" Is the greatest phrase of all. Translate to "How badass do you want this kill scene to be?"
That smile on Matt's face at 11:25 he knows what gonna happen next! That's right, everyone losing their minds!
The more I play D&D and watch Critical Role, the more I’ve come to realize that if you set a DC that requires a Natural 20 to succeed, the player is gonna succeed.
“How do you wanna do it?” The greatest statement in any RPG 😂
You can just tell Mat gives up when he says “How do you want to do this?”
Oh man Grogs double 20....There is nothing better.
I can name one. Grog getting 2 natural 1's and then Lionel getting 2 natural 20's. The character interactions were great
That actually make me so happy when they jump up and cheer for each other.
You can see the life of matt leave his eyes everytime he hears "nat 20"
Liam: I am going to do this crazy deciphering with a nat 20
Matt: hands it to him on a paper, already prepared.
Actually, I think that paper was for a necklace they scored earlier, since deciphering the journal as going to take all night, and Liam/Caleb wanted to Identify the necklace first before delving into the journal.
Percy's maintaining hex after being fire bombed is probably my second favorite one from C1, pokeball Grog is easily my favorite simply from Matt's reaction alone. Haven't started C2 yet so I don't have a favorite yet.
VOX MACHINA SPOILERS
6:57 this moment is now immortalized in animated form… it was FUCKING GLORIOUS!!! It was EXACTLY as it was described, HOLY FUCK!
Edit: almost exactly. The metal music was SO HYPE!
I'll never get over the fact that Matt was that incredulous at Grog's luck. 2 Nat 20s in a row: "NO NO NO NO NO"
Damn, I really need to finish campaign 1 so I can watch that one shot! I love how animated they get during live shows.
the kevdak fight is my favorite VM moment and i’m so happy we’re getting it this season
The violence in Ashley’s fuck you during the Kevdak fight is still one of my favorite things
6:27
Episode, timestamp
I remember I had simillar feeling dealing 139 damge to Strahd in one turn and killing him after looong campaign. Epic feeling :)
I’ve likened these natural 20 moments to when your favourite sports team does something spectacular in the most clutch/last min moments. It’s an incredible feeling.
Sometimes, I forget how hype DnD can actually be
Pokégrog will always be the most badass HDYWTDT to me.
This video has my two favorite moments in CR history. Both of them are from Best Boy Grog. The best live moment and the most Hype moment has to be the double Nat 20s in the search for Grog. But even that awesomeness is topped by the final blow of the Kevdak fight. The Kevdak fight was like 5.5 hours long and it ended it the most poetic way I could possibly think of. It feels scripted but its not, the dice helped tell an amazing story that I will never forget. These moments will always help cement Grog as one of my favorite characters in CR history.
The whole ONE SHOT will live on forever in the annals of CR lore and myth forever. Am I right?
I'll never forget the divine intervention role to save a certain character's soul
Travis is such a perfect hype man for his fellow players and he celebrates the best.
Seeing this made the memorable 2 nat 20 by Lionel followed by 2 nat 1 by grog (ep 100). That was *chefs kiss* perfection. And also made me realized i miss grog and pike dynamic.
That's going to be awesome if included in the animated series!
The last clip in particular brings me so much joy. I’ve done theater. There’s something about the rush of a hyped audience that just…electrifies you, gets all that adrenaline and endorphin pumping and gives you a rush you can’t possibly describe.
It also speaks as to just how mesmerizing CR is - that at its heart, it’s just a group of people engaged in group oral storytelling, sometimes with little miniatures. And yet there’s a sold-out crowd of fans as crazed as those watching a rock concert or a sporting event. They can SEE and FEEL the story alongside the actors. They get just as swept up in it as if it were played out in full, with life size monsters and dungeons.
What CR’s done is so “lightning in a bottle”. They’ve tapped into this niche that hadn’t really been explored in mass media before. And it’s made them superstars.
I'm not verse with D&D at all, I definitely would love to learn but this is one of my favourite moments of all time ❤️
One Natural 20 moment I love has been when Laura rolled it when all of Vox Machina were trying to revive Percy in Episode 69, after Vex makes her confession and tells Percy her heart is his, landing it on a persuasion roll, surprising everyone, as Travis gestures to Matt to come and see with Matt going "I trust you." while Laura is super psyched at getting her natural 20.
Even that camera man was hype but he needed to stay still to get the shot lmao this is what makes D&D so fucking awesome!
Travis always seems to get the first roll nat20 when he is fresh into a game. He got literally the first roll of campaign 2 as a nat20. He got some of his first rolls back as Grog in TSFG oneshot. I feel like he did it once or twice more in campaign 2... did he get any when he was temporarily a no-class?
He rolled amazingly well in the remorhaz fight. Especially when you consider that he was making strength checks with pretty low strength. No 20s, but he managed to grapple and restrain a huge creature long enough for Beau and Cad to get out of certain doom.
"Just give it a minute..." They had no idea what was coming 😆
I Don't Think Anything Will Ever Top Travis' Double Nat20s At The Live Show.
2:33 look at Taliesin blessing the dice with his eldritch powers with a quick kiss.
Grog has the best Natural 20 kills.
Twiggy was the best one. The whole sequence leading up to it is so great
the energy in the crowd during the search for grog, i can just feel through my computer monitor.
I have never played DnD and I've never been more excited in my life to see these natural 20's
I love that we live in a time where there's an audience for a d&d game and natural 20s are celebrated like touch downs.
I hoped Vex’s double Nat 20’s to save her brother from the Briarwoods would have been here because that was high stakes and emotional.
We better get an animated version of the Kevdak fight in LOVM season 2!
Its always great to see the split reaction between the party and the DM because a 20 means TOTALLY opposite results for eachother.
I ENTIRELY agree with the first clip (Caleb deciphering Avantika's book) because it changed the tide of pretty much EVERYTHING that happened afterward. There would have been no meaningful evidence for Beau to present the Plank King, AAAH EVERYTHING COULD HAVE GONE SO WRONG IF IT WEREN'T FOR THAT FATEFUL DICE ROLL
all of these rolls are very important and poetic, but remembering that we’re getting to see the kill box animated in a few weeks…goodness gracious
"Just give it a minute." Understatement of the century.
The moment I was thinking about and will never forget was season 1 when grog came out rolled a nat 20 killed his uncle and vex rolled a nat 20 for intimidation that fight and that moment was just crazy in critical role history never be forgotten
Best part about Kevdak is that Matt came out later and said if anyone but grog got the kill shot that fight was on the fast track to a TPK.
Ashley’s hype for Grog’s huge moments had to have been the catalyst for her making Yasha - and Travis’ hype every time Yasha raged was fucking amazing.
Scanlon's Nat 20 Counterspell against Vecna the Ascended is amazing.
Twiggy’s 20 was so awesome, last man standing one last shot
I think Vex's two natural 20s when saving Vax from Briarwood dinner was really great (unfortunately not featured here).
you could say they were
*Critical Rolls*
🤦🏻🤦🏻🤦🏻🤦🏻
oh god take my like,,,
Slow clap
@Nicholas Joldersma i've been waiting to do this pun for so long, you have no idea
I see what you did there!
Damn fine selection, I must say! I'd personally add Buddy's Nat20s from the Darrington Brigade one-shot, but these are goooood!
I think grog headbutting the giant into submission in early campaign one during the search in the underdark deserves atleast an honorable mention
Look at matt in the last one when he's saying "How do you wanna do this ?"
He leans back a bit, knowing it's gonna explose as he says that xD
The sheer happiness when they defeat a big monster and Matt says those magic words: "How do you wanna do this?"
I love marishas reaction to crits
This video gets me so emotional!! Thank you for this!
I SO wanna join these guys on a D&D run! They have SO MUCH FUN!!!
the visual image of grog, confused to hell and back, just swinging at the first thing he sees is just stupidly funny.
its not at all what happened but its such a hilarious concept.
And Mercer just site there after two nat20 rolls in a row like "Yeah, this is a thing that just happened"
6:57 is still my favorite HDYWDT in the history of CR