Talks Machina 11: The Deceiver's Stand

is the eleventh episode of Talks Machina. Laura Bailey, Taliesin Jaffe, Ashley Johnson, and Marisha Ray discuss with Brian Wayne Foster. Ashley and Brian's dog Sully is also present.

Introduction

 * Brian and Ashley introduce their pug Sully to everyone, who is on Ashley's lap wearing a red bowtie. They discuss everyone bringing in their pets, including Laura's dog Charlie and Marisha's bird Dagon. Taliesin's cats and chickens might not work so well.


 * They discuss Taliesin's rendition of "Pure Imagination" from the previous episode,.


 * They are sponsored tonight by Marvel PuzzleQuest. Brian jokes that Sam stole his planned bit about the app in the last episode.

CritRoleStats
What happened in :
 * This was the second time Scanlan has died in a 24-hour period, both involving Cone of Cold.
 * Raishan took 314 damage while she was invisible. She then didn't take any damage until Keyleth cast Feeblemind. She had 520 hp and took a total of 541 damage.
 * Episode with the fourth most spells cast by players (54); five more would have tied for first place.
 * This was the third time a guest (Patrick Rothfuss) has gotten the How do you want to do this?, the first two both being Mary Elizabeth McGlynn in (Rimefang) and  (Beholder).

Part 1

 * At the request of Shelby Fawn Mongan, Laura hugs Ashley on stream for all the Critters who have been missing her.

GIF of the Week
Winner: Cody Cheung (@Its_A_Narwhal on Twitter); GIF of Marisha falling off her chair in excitement and her feet flying in the air.

Prize: Red Critical Role T-shirt and "How do you want to do this?" bracelet.

Part 2

 * Marisha's mom tries to FaceTime her. She declines the call.
 * They talk about whether Patrick Rothfuss should get the Raishan plushie because he dealt the killing blow.

Fan Art of the Week
Winner: David Rodrigues (@3rdclover on Twitter and @david-rodrigues on Tumblr); Art of Vax begging the Raven Queen to save Scanlan's life (higher res version).

Prize: Monster Manual signed by the Critical Role cast

Part 3

 * Brian was deeply moved when Grog yelled "FIX HIM!"

Thank My Guests

 * Arshley Jenkins
 * Talisman Jafar
 * Martricia Rave
 * Layra Bundy

Laura adds, "thanks Brain Fester."

Talks Machina After Dark

 * First time mention of Chris Willmott on Talks, about his sound editing skills at picking up whispers.

Wrapping up

 * Marisha wants to have a "Pearly Gates Talk" when the campaign is over to ask Matt all the questions they didn't get a chance to. Now with Talks Machina, they have a format for it.
 * Brian wants a new segment for Talks Machina of "Taliesin Tops Your Story" because every time you tell a crazy story, Taliesin has one even more out there.
 * Brian thanks Courtney for collating the questions from chat, as well Chris, Max, Eddie, Amandine, and "everyone else."

Quotations

 * Ashley: I'm not all the way through, so if we could not have spoilers [please]? Just kidding. What if I did that? What an asshole. "Can we not?"
 * Brian: Imagine having all your bad jokes from a single episode transcribed for you and emailed to your private email every week.
 * Taliesin: The fear is the fun. You can't worry about that. You gotta go in and be an idiot.
 * Laura: [Scanlan is] so fun and he brings so much spontaneity to the group. I can't imagine not having him in the party.

Notes and references
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Art: