Fun Scary

, also called "4-Frighted Dive", is the seventh episode of 4-Sided Dive, discussing up to with guests Laura Bailey, Matthew Mercer, Marisha Ray, and Travis Willingham. After the break, they played Five Nights at Freddy's: Help Wanted. The secret word was "Tempest".

Costumes
The guests and Dani Carr wore costumes chosen in the previous episode,, by drawing a flavor word and a noun out of cauldrons. Marisha Ray, as the winner of last month's game, was allowed to choose three of each to create a costume, and Dani drew for what she would wear. The other costumes were said to have been then assigned at random to this month's guests.
 * Dani: 90s mermaid
 * Laura Bailey: art school demon, drawn by Marisha
 * Matthew Mercer: garbage robot, drawn by Ashley Johnson
 * Marisha: disco dinosaur, drawn by Sam Riegel
 * Travis Willingham: laser werewolf, drawn by Liam O'Brien

What the fuck is up with that?
'''The clash with Otohan. What the fuck is up with our grand exit from the Seat of Disdain?'''
 * Marisha thought it was initially going okay. Travis and Laura agree: the sandstorm was providing cover as was the unknown attack, and it felt chaotic, but in a good way. They agree that they should have perhaps not tried to take the crawler, and Travis points out that the Spider Climb to Otohan might have alerted her that something was up. Marisha agrees - she hadn't expected anyone to be on the balcony and had intended to plant the ring amongst their belongings instead. She had also initially planned to plant the ring on the crawler, but after the crawler was hit she realized that it wouldn't be going out with the shipment, so she had to change her target.
 * Matt confirms this is the case - Bells Hells had just joined the Paragon's Call and so eyes were already on them, and Otohan was already suspicious of the external attack as it quickly became apparent it wasn't a sufficiently large force to pose a real threat. The Darkness spell confirmed her suspicions. The crawler and the relatively slow exit also tipped her off.
 * The encounter could have gone differently - had the party scattered immediately, perhaps only one would have died, and there would have been a manhunt for the rest.
 * The initial infiltration went smoothly though, and they successfully took some crates!
 * Everyone goes off on a tangent about the potential of the Potion of Possibility; could it be used to grow Dunamancy fruit?

Tower of Inquiry: Secret Word
Joanne Harnett: To any player, who's been sent out of the room while "secret business" happens at the table, how do you avoid seeing spoilers from Critters? — pulled by Travis
 * Don't use social media!
 * Matt will also remind the cast to not watch certain episodes or segments (such as the Yu Suffiad scene) until it's revealed in-game.

What the fuck is up with that?, continued
Apparently Otohan has mind powers and wants something to do with Imogen.
 * Laura isn't sure what Otohan wants! Imogen has seen her in her dreams, and she seems to have an army, but Otohan has said very little that's specific either in her dreams or in the combat.
 * Travis wonders if Otohan knows Liliana Temult and Laura points out that she has deliberately not cast Sending to Liliana. Laura says that Imogen had until recently thought that Liliana had died in childbirth, but the memory during the combat was from when she was around a year old, and then Hondir said that he'd seen Liliana twelve years ago.
 * Marisha and Travis wonder where Bells Hells went during Imogen's power surge - did they or the buildings go to Ruidus? They also point out that Imogen's physical form was outside of Ashton when she and FCG were probing their mind, but they could also see her within Ashton's mind.
 * They all theorize more about what's in Ruidus. Matt isn't answering, and is having trouble drinking water in the robot costume.

'''Fearne, Orym, and Laudna all went down. What were you thinking?'''
 * Laura, Marisha, and Travis all thought it was going to be a total party kill.
 * Travis was looking to Matt to see if he was trying to signal something, but Matt seemed very calm - though Matt tells Travis that he was actually very nervous.
 * Matt did want to convey how powerful Otohan was, since she's an important figure within the campaign, but there were several ways it could have shaken out: they could have scattered and had a manhunt, or Otohan might have taken some of the party hostage. By the time she left, she was quite low in HP and had used up most of her limited abilities.
 * Laura and Travis point out that part of why the fight was so brutal is that Bells Hells agreed to run- Marisha agrees, noting that Molly's death had tipped off the cast that running is sometimes a good option - but then they were unable to get away from Otohan and her shadows. The lower initiative rolls didn't help.
 * Otohan initially wanted to understand what was going on, but once she realized that Bells Hells weren't just mercenaries but were rather friends, she used those relationships to manipulate.
 * They all agree that they are able to have such tense battles because they're comfortable with each other as players, and that having a brutal combat encounter does make the victories much more enjoyable because there are stakes.
 * The cast then talks about how in this campaign they made a lot of characters who are fairly chaotic, in contrast to the Mighty Nein, who had a few more chaotic characters but were much more serious. Travis jokes that Orym must have a much darker and chaotic backstory and can't just be the calm one.

'''Laudna's dead. What the fuck is up with that?''' We're going with the Voice of the Tempest, Keyleth of the Air Ashari!
 * Travis mentions that because they opened with two characters dead and Laudna at two death saves, they thought that at least there was a decent chance that Marisha would roll above a ten giving them time to stabilize her, but Laudna died at the very top of the episode.
 * Marisha points out that while a natural one was obviously significant, any number below ten would have been a failure. She also points out that she'd used her warlock and Hollow One abilities earlier and couldn't rely on them now.
 * Matt discusses encounter balance; because the party has a cleric and Fearne always has Revivify prepared as part of her subclass, he does take that into account when trying to create a difficult encounter.
 * Marisha did have a bad feeling about the whole thing. She and Matt agree that the use of the Changebringer coin was great, and Marisha explains that she even whispered to Travis that it would make more sense to resurrect Orym, as Laudna had come back before. The decisions made felt right to her.
 * Laura felt the opposite - she had made her peace with Orym and Fearne's deaths but assumed Marisha would roll high and Laudna would stabilize.
 * Travis and Laura both thought that after Laudna died, the move would be to leverage her connection to Delilah Briarwood. Travis surmises, based on what Matt said about FCG's use of Gentle Repose, that Delilah was perhaps planning to take over Laudna's body but could not, and that was why she was so powerless.
 * Matt discusses why resurrection is difficult to obtain: Death is still an important part of life, so resurrection is not simple, and those who can perform it often limit its use.
 * They discuss how difficult it must be for Orym, whose husband died similarly to Laudna and who could not be resurrected despite being close to Keyleth, which brings us to...
 * Matt is excited but slightly nervous - he was cognizant of Orym and Laudna's connections to Vox Machina, but is trying to steer away from Bells Hells making Keyleth "their taxi" as the Mighty Nein did for Essek. There are ways to keep the party from using this connection too much - everyone is busy in preparing for the apogee solstice - but Matt had not realized that Keyleth would be used as a means to travel to Whitestone.
 * They discuss who's in Whitestone: Percy and Vex, naturally, and Pike has since settled there. Travis says that Grog might be away on business.
 * More generally, Matt is excited to have some cross-campaign plots and interactions because he's never been able to do subsequent campaigns in the same world with a same or similar group: this is his first opportunity, and it's been pretty emotional and fun.
 * Everyone agrees that Matt does a good job playing Keyleth as an NPC.

What is your favorite scary movie?
 * Laura: the original British version of The Descent.
 * Marisha: The Amityville Horror, which is one of her mother's favorite scary movies as well.
 * Matt: Hereditary is a really good recent film, but he also likes Poltergeist.
 * Travis: He was fascinated by The Exorcist but could only watch it in small chunks because he was too scared. The same goes with The Thing.
 * This sparks a discussion over movies that people ran out of because they were too scared:
 * Travis ran out of The Neverending Story and Jurassic Park as a child.
 * Laura never ran out of a theater, but she watched Poltergeist with her grandmother when she was very young and was scared and ran out of the room.
 * Matt, also as a child, ran out of Ghostbusters and Beetlejuice.
 * Marisha's mother was born on Halloween so Marisha was exposed to a lot of scary movies young and loves them.

The Tower of Inquiry: Round 1
'''DuctTapeWolf on Twitter: What would your character's minor day to day superpower? Examples: cutting onions without crying, always waking up on time without an alarm, never gets lost in cities.''' — pulled by Laura
 * Imogen would be able to bring back burnt-out lightbulbs.
 * Chetney would have adamantine fingernails.
 * Marisha initially suggests that Laudna would wilt flowers when she walks past, but the rest argue that's not a superpower, so they consider either that she could naturally Spider Climb, or that she could be a crash test dummy and pop her joints back into place without issue.
 * Eshteross would be able to bake perfect cookies every time.

Aaron Young: If your character teamed up with an existing character from TV or film, who would best compliment your character as a partner? — pulled by Marisha
 * Chetney would team up with Bilbo Baggins and then steal the one ring from him, or possible Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer so he could unionize the reindeer.
 * Marisha considers John Constantine, for Laudna, but then decides on Elvira.
 * Imogen would team up with Jean Grey or Scarlet Witch.

The Deep Dive
Matt: What has it been like to introduce elements from Campaign 2, such as the Cerberus Assembly, Ludinus, and dunamis? It's exciting! A lot of the threads were introduced in Campaign 2 or even earlier, and so it's fun to finally see them come to fruition.

Marisha: What is it like see Keyleth come back, but not be there at the table? Very strange, but she thinks Matt's been doing a great job as Keyleth!

'''Travis: Chetney had some interesting memories come back during the white out. Can you tell us anything about the wayward romances or the long life that Chetney recalled?''' Travis actually did not recognize those names, but Chetney has had a long and interesting life. The group briefly talks about how Imogen has really only probed deeper into Ashton's mind.

'''Laura: Imogen destroyed the purple crystal Fearne gave Laudna but kept her own, even attempting to use it to save Laudna. What are her thoughts on this crystal and how is she feeling towards it now?''' She initially planned to keep it on Laudna but realized it would fall off, and she kept thinking about getting rid of it but hasn't. Imogen wonders if the gnarlrock has altered her thoughts, but she isn't sure. Marisha recommends not getting rid of magical items.

'''Matt: You've mentioned that you have conversations with players after character deaths to see what they want. What were those conversations like with Liam, Ashley, and Marisha? Was it a different experience than when Molly died?''' In general, Matt talks to players based on the rules established at the table to see what they want - if they want to continue playing this character or at least continuing their story in some way, or if they'd rather play someone new. When Molly died, Taliesin told Matt that he had intentionally planned to make it impossible to resurrect him, and created Caduceus, who was incredibly important to the Mighty Nein's party composition and story. In this case, Ashley and Liam wrote up backup characters, but Marisha has not yet, though she has some vague ideas. She does want to keep playing Laudna, but she doesn't want Laudna to come back without any consequences or complications. However, she isn't interested in rolling a new character until things are resolved, and she told the crew that she will wait if necessary if she does need to come up with a new character so that they have time to get the art ready.

Marisha: Do you have thoughts on what you might roll for another character, or are you planning to see what happens over the next few episodes first?
 * Since she already answered this, Marisha drew a new question.

Marisha: What are your thoughts on Laudna returning to Whitestone to potentially be resurrected once more? It's going to be messed up! She wonders what's been happening with the ziggurats, particularly with the solstice coming up.

'''Travis: Chetney is a bit of a detective, sniffing out Yu's double cross and guessing that Ira's arcane telescope was originally for the Unseelie. Is Chetney, Amateur Sleuth, an aspect you intended to explore for him or has this come about from roleplay?' Travis has been playing D&D for some time, so he's gotten used to certain patterns, but for Yu specifically, he was watching Treadstone'' because a friend was in it, and in it, the sleeper cells were sent pictures of their targets, and he realized that matched Yu's story. For Ira, he doesn't trust Fearne, and he had a hunch that Ira was probably up to something more complicated than what he said. He wishes that he could have looked at Ira through the weave lens before Ashton broke it. And in general, Chetney is old enough to have a lot of life experience. Marisha points out that Travis is a good strategist, and Travis also credits playing Cerrit in Exandria Unlimited: Calamity as putting him a detective mindset.

Laura: How does Imogen feel about Ashton calling her a superhero versus Chetney wondering if she is someone to be afraid of? She agrees more with Chetney. She feels a lot of guilt for the destruction her powers caused, and the fact that she wasn't really in control of them. Marisha and Laura both have a lot of theories about Imogen and her powers.

The Tower of Inquiry: Round 2
'''Sivsi on Tumblr: How much did you all know about each other’s characters before C3 started? To those who coordinated their backstories, how was the idea approached?''' — pulled by Matt
 * They discussed their classes to make sure there wasn't overlap, which is how Marisha and Laura decided to play Laudna and Imogen as having known each other. They also all saw Fearne and Orym in Exandria Unlimited with the knowledge that they'd be coming in to Campaign 3, which led Laura to revise Imogen slightly because she'd originally planned to be more fey-influenced and had a hag in her backstory. Taliesin and Sam coordinated their backstories as well, and Bertrand was already established. Travis also had a different character in mind who was somewhat more serious, but after playing Fjord he wanted to be more chaotic this time, though he has that character saved as a backup.

Dylan Daniels: How did you come up with your character’s name/does it have any special meaning? — pulled by Travis
 * Chetney was influenced by Chutney Chocolatecane though they are different characters, so the name is similar, but Pock O'Pea comes from something that Travis and Laura's son Ronin would babble when he was first learning to talk. Laura and Matt joke that this will give whatever ghost Ronin was seeing power.
 * Marisha had a lot of different names in mind and decided on Laudna because it was evocative of laudanum - she wanted something kind of hazy and strange.
 * Laura just really likes how the name Imogen sounds.

Trivia

 * The drink special on the chalkboard during the Twitch countdown was "Too-Bloody Marys".
 * This episode was Halloween themed and was titled 4-Frighted Dive with a new logo. The music during the Twitch countdown was replaced with horror music, the overlay was re-colored to grayscale with red accents, the chalkboard said "Tonight's Ghouls" instead of "Tonight's Guests", the intro was changed into grayscale with screaming, and the set was appropriately decorated. The guests wore costumed that were randomly determined in, then randomly assigned to them; Dani randomly determined her own costume in that episode as well.
 * The Twitch countdown featured a moment where Laura, using animated psychic powers, changed her mug from her plastic placeholder mug to her complete mug created by Flip This Bitch. This is the first episode this mug is used.
 * A photograph of Sam Riegel was edited into various shots, including behind guests and into Five Nights at Freddy.