Independent Witches

is the fourth episode of 4-Sided Dive, discussing up to and Exandria Unlimited: Calamity with guests Laura Bailey, Aabria Iyengar, Ashley Johnson, and Marisha Ray. Laura served as the night's Tavern Keeper, and the guests played "Cuppa Questions", a version of beer pong without alcohol in which they answer questions on the coasters underneath the cups.

What the fuck is up with that?
Gnarlrock shard shatters witches' friendship
 * Laura and Marisha both found it really sad! They checked in with each other after the game and both thought it was sad but also a great dramatic development.
 * Laura points out that Erika also showed up very quickly after, so Imogen and Laudna didn't get a chance to really talk through it before Dusk showed up, and Imogen's having a rough day re: being bald.
 * Aabria agrees that it's both a heartbreaking scene and also a really interesting hook, and that Imogen losing her hair feels appropriate as a breakup haircut.
 * Ashley notes that she has no poker face and her face during that scene was very expressive. She says it's one of her favorite moments at the table.
 * Ashley's reaction is shown as a picture-in-picture. This was shortly after a similar picture-in-picture of the 'Omar Cam' which shows the point of view of Omar, who is in the studio.
 * Laura asks Marisha if she knew where Matt was going with the scene as Delilah and Marisha says she didn't, and she's not sure what Delilah's trying to do.
 * Everyone else wonders if Delilah is trying to come back to life.
 * Aabria and Marisha talk about how difficult it is to fight with friends and how terrible it feels, and Laura agrees and says that Imogen's response was very different from what she'd have done in reality.
 * Marisha really liked the "You lied" line and how it underscored Imogen's feelings about the gnarlrock shard.
 * Marisha and Laura compare the fight and everything else going on with having a fight with a friend just before a sleepover and having to act as if everything's fine.
 * Aabria agrees and says the worst part is how they're both being quiet and not talking about it with each other.

Calamity!
 * Aabria feels it helped her realize that Exandria is a post-apocalyptic setting, and how advanced society was during the Age of Arcanum.
 * Marisha agrees and notes that Travis had mentioned that prior, the cast had always seen the Calamity as a far-off bad thing that happened without it feeling real, and now it does.
 * Laura agrees; Ashley does too, especially after seeing the ruins of Aeor in Campaign 2 but she's not entirely caught up yet with Exandria Unlimited: Calamity!
 * Aabria notes that Laerryn made a very "anti-Ashari" choice.
 * Laura brings up Brennan's GM-ing and how she's sorry she wasn't able to be at that table. She and Marisha discuss the process for Patia; Laura had only come up with the vague outline of a politically connected wizard. In some ways it was freeing to Marisha to not have to pick a class but in other ways it was intimidating to play such a political character.
 * Aabria points out that in a way, the Ring of Brass in most campaigns would be NPCs: the cast was specifically asked to play very important and connected characters in Avalir. She played Laerryn specifically as someone who did not keep notes on all the arcane engines. She also notes that as the first Exandria Unlimited GM, she felt a little protective of Brennan, but he started off incredibly strong.
 * The lore documents for Calamity were HUGE.Laura adds that this happens for the main campaigns as well - once the cast has a backstory for their character, Matt will send them information they'd know.
 * Ashley found what she has watched incredibly compelling, and agrees that in most campaigns you start off as a nobody and work your way up, but that wasn't the case.
 * Marisha shouts out Lou's work as Nydas.
 * Aabria meanwhile shouts out the moment where Patia repeatedly rewound Cerrit's statement about selfish choices. She also mentions that the lore of the Calamity until then had always been that one wizard made a bad choice, but the series showed it was an entire cultural attitude that led to it.
 * Marisha brings up Niirdal-Poc as feeling like it answers the question of what sorts of cultures could have survived the Calamity, and Aabria agrees that this was the idea behind the city and specifically the idea of balance, as the other campaigns in Exandria all feel as though they've been attempting to restore a balance.
 * Aabria also talks about how the short length of the miniseries pushed them all to make intense character choices because there was no time to slowly discover a character.

In what kind of apocalypse would you thrive?
 * In discussing Children of Men, Aabria reveals she isn't terribly fond of babies and then the subject of Omar comes up; Dani reveals he's been asleep on her feet for several minutes.
 * Aabria would do well in a Waterworld scenario.
 * Marisha would do well in the world of Mad Max, and Ashley considers this as well.
 * Laura doesn't feel she has good apocalypse skills but the others say she'd make a good mysterious matriarchal leader.
 * Ashley does not like zombies. This turns into a brief discussion of zombie, and Aabria invites Ashley to Waterworld.

Trivia

 * The drink special on the chalkboard during the Twitch countdown was "The Boom-Boom Replenishment". It references both the fireworks throughout Exandria Unlimited: Calamity and American Independence Day the day before the episode aired.