Talks Machina 15: Tangled Depths

is the fifteenth episode of Talks Machina. Matthew Mercer, Marisha Ray, and Travis Willingham discuss with Brian Wayne Foster and special guest Gil Ramirez (@GilTheVlogsmith). Ashley Johnson joins in for the After Dark segment.

Announcements

 * The episode is sponsored by Loot Crate. The theme for the month of March is Far Cry: Primal.
 * Brian plugs Talks Machina: After Dark and jokingly remarks that last week the guests sang the entire musical Cats, and tonight, Travis will shave a hairless cat.
 * Taliesin's new show is Wednesday Club on Geek & Sundry.
 * Geek & Sundry's 2-year anniversary stream is this weekend, including fundraising for charity. Critical Role cast members will be playing Mansions of Madness.

CritRoleStats
Facts about (from ):
 * This was the longest episode to date, at 5 hours, 31 minutes and 30 seconds broadcast time. It had 4 hours, 46 minutes, and 50 seconds of gameplay time.
 * Vox Machina started the kraken encounter with 936 combined hp, including Heroes' Feast. It ended with 70 hp, with 132 hp healed. The kraken's size is gargantuan.

Questions addressed to Gil
Slide show of wands made Gil, the dice owned by the cast while they were being made in Gil's forge, and Gil cosplaying as Gilmore. Gil's D4 dice are shaped like crystals instead of tetrahedrons because 1) the shape is complicated to melt out of steel and 2) its shape is similar to a caltrop that can be very dangerous, especially if stepped on.




 * Gil unbuttons his shirt to reveal a black t-shirt underneath that says "Don't Fuck Me Gil..." on the front and "Damnit Gil!" on the back.
 * Gil has some cards labeled "Mox Tachina" and asks Brian joke questions submitted on the Critical Role fan club page on Facebook.
 * "How did you convince your parole officer to host a weekly show?" (attended his child's birthday party)
 * "What résumé format are you using while you currently look for another job?" (Papyrus font)
 * "What's the current rate on Denise's ransom these days?" (she wants a helicopter)
 * "How long do you think it'll be before I get your job?" (as soon as he violates parole)
 * "Hey buddy, you sure do make a lot of parole and incarceration jokes. Got something you want to talk about?"
 * "How much hair product do you put in your hair?" (He stole some expensive product from Troy Baker and has been using tiny amounts for the last eight months)

GIF of the Week
Winner: Colin Hughes (aka "The Grand Poobah of GIFs and stuff" aka @colinhughes3 on Twitter); GIF of Liam miming putting on his helmet to breathe underwater and knocking it, with a helmet drawn in for effect.

Prize: LootCrate box.

Fan Art of the Week
Winner: Will Kirkby (aka @chamonkee on Twitter); Art of Keyleth underwater with gills during the kraken fight.

Prize: Mahogany Sentinel Deck Box from Wyrmwood Gaming.

Part IV

 * They talk some time to discuss "the discourse" as it happens on Reddit, where people sometimes pick apart Matt's DM calls and math. Brian is not impressed with how they spend their time, while Matt says they are "passionate". He recently posted on the subreddit to clarify expectations around discourse.
 * Brian says that Laura has noticed that Grog is very popular on the subreddit. They discuss how much they'd like Travis to DM a one-shot. Marisha jokes that it'd be like Key & Peele sketch where a DM's cousin joins a game and then takes over as DM.


 * Marisha says they thought they were going to have to travel much further to get to the lodestones, and should have scouted first and adapted their strategy when they were all right there. Travis says they didn't need everyone to gather the stones, so the fastest people could have gone in and everyone else waited by the portal.

Thank My Guests

 * Jill the Blogsmith
 * Matt You Kerster
 * Patricia Glaze
 * Trap His Quilting Hand
 * with host Crying Game Foster

Talks Machina After Dark with Ashley

 * Ashley joins and squeezes next to Brian in his chair.

Quotations

 * Gil: I don't really make the marble. Travis:Lie to us, Gil. Tell us you make the marble. Gil: I actually make the marble. I poop them out as lodestones.
 * Brian (on using hair product): I try to create a mile out of an inch, just like this show.
 * Matt: At level 12, you get the "Don't fuck me, Gil" ability. Gil: It's a feat.

Trivia

 * Gil was chosen as a moderator for the live premier of.
 * According to Matt, Gil was the first community critter that the cast ran into "in the wild", at the Ren Faire. Maybe about a month and a half after.
 * Random fact from Matt: If someone from VM would have went through the rift during the battle with the kraken and asked for help from Water Ashari, they would have sent waveriders to aid. (between 1:16:00 and 1:21:00)