Web Video / Critical Role: Exandria Unlimited

Exandria Unlimited is an anthology limited series, spinning off from Critical Role.

The first season takes place in city of Emon on the continent of Tal'Dorei thirty years after the adventures of Vox Machina and roughly six years after The Mighty Nein's adventures. It premiered on June 24, 2021. It was followed by a two-part special, Exandria Unlimited: Kymal, on March 31 and April 1, 2022, featuring most of the gang getting back together about a year later to pull a heist.

Season two, Exandria Unlimited: Calamity, takes its players back to the Age of Arcanum, almost a thousand years prior to the adventures of Vox Machina. It features a group of heroes uncovering deep corruption in their city as the world fails—or chooses not—to see the doom on its doorstep. It premiered on May 26, 2022.

The cast of Exandria Unlimited is as follows:

Season 1 and Kymal

• Aabria Iyengar as the Dungeon Master.
• Anjali Bhimani as Fy'ra Rai, fire genasi Way of Four Elements monk.^note guest star in Season 1, also appears in Exandria Unlimited: Kymal
• Aimee Carrero as Opal, human Hexblade warlock.
• Robbie Daymond as Dorian Storm, air genasi bard.
• Ashley Johnson as Fearne Calloway, faun Circle of Wildfire druid (accompanied by Little Mister, a monkey fire elemental).
• Erica Lindbeck as Morrighan Ferus, lagomore Arcane Trickster rogue.^note appears only in Exandria Unlimited: Kymal
• Matthew Mercer as Dariax Zaveon, dwarven Divine Soul sorcerer.
• Liam O'Brien as Orym of the Air Ashari, halfling fighter.

Calamity

• Brennan Lee Mulligan as the Dungeon Master.
• Luis Carazo as Zerxus Ilerez, human Oath of Redemption paladin.
• Aabria Iyengar as Laerryn Coramar-Seelie, elven abjuration wizard.
• Marisha Ray as Patia Por'co, elven enchantment wizard.
• Sam Riegel as Loquatius Seelie, changeling College of Eloquence bard/Archfey warlock.
• Travis Willingham as Cerrit Agrupnin, eisfuura Inquisitive rogue.
• Lou Wilson as Nydas Okiro, human Draconic Bloodline sorcerer/College of Swords bard.

Exandria Unlimited provides the following tropes:

Season 1 and Kymal

• Aborted Arc: Once Opal puts on the circlet, the whole issue with Dorian Storm being corrupted by the Spider Queen is never brought up again, which extends into campaign 3 and Kymal later on.
• Actor Allusion: When Dariax wants to insight check Gilmore, Aabria gives Matt advantage on the roll "for a very meta reason."
• And the Adventure Continues: Episode 8 ends with the group deciding to continue traveling together, having a number of things still to do (as well as needing to deal with Opal now wearing the Circlet). As Aabria puts it, they "walk off into the proverbial sunset".
• Arc Villain: They manage to squeeze in two for the 8-episode duration - Poska for 1 to 3 and Myratta for the rest of it.
• Bavarian Fire Drill: Subverted in Kymal part 2 - Morrighan has to convince one of the senior bartenders to leave the sky deck, by making up an excuse about getting more olives, but due to the Nameless Ones laying siege to the city, the bartender immediately figures out that shit is about to go down, and leaves of her own will.
• Bizarrchitecture: Episode 7 - our heroes on the way to Niirdal-Sarqet come across some bizarre ancient ruins, with a giant floating cube that somehow has its own gravitational pull on all its 6 faces.
• Blood Is the New Black:
  • Enraged by what happened to her and the party, Episode 6 sees Opal deciding to stab her kidnapper right in the chest and drag her dagger straight down before pulling it out. She is covered in blood and looks to be something of a serial killer as a result. The rest of the cast, including Aabria, are incredibly disturbed by this.
  • Opal once again invokes this trope once again in Episode 8, this time when she slits Myr'atta's neck.
• Breaking Old Trends:
  • This is the first Critical Role property (outside of one-shots and the UnDeadwood mini-series) to have a completely different Game Master other than Matt running a full campaign that's considered to be canon to the world of Exandria.
  • As all of the episodes are prerecorded, the episode titles are displayed right on the stream, in comparison to them appearing on the VOD a few days later.
  • In the absence of Sam's ads, "Cozy/Comfy Matt" (which is just Matt in his iconic red robe chilling on a plush seat) and Omar, Matt and Marisha's corgi, do the ad-bit instead. This leads to Aabria challenging Matt to break continuity with her various comments after the ad just to screw with him. ^note The show was recorded before the inserted ad bits.
• Breather Episode: Zigzagged - the shopping in Episode 3 and the Byroden pageant in Episode 4 all happen in between some of the most high-tension moments of the campaign thus far. Lampshaded when Aabria points out that "this is the last bit of comfort before a hard road" though Fy'ra is the only one who knows that.
• Buffy Speak:
  • The party attempting to sneak onto a ship in episode 1 leads to calling the hatch over the hold a "boat door".
  • Episode 3. The heroes trying to re-enter the city discreetly goes butt-shaped when Dorian and Fearne end up drawing way too much attention, which Aabria described as being caught in the crowds' "eye-rays".
• Butt-Monkey: Future Matt is consistently made this by Aabria, occasionally with the other cast members joining in on the fun.
• Call-Back:
  • Past parties' track record with opening doors is reflected as early as episode 1, with Dariax getting his lockpicks dissolved by an acid trap to Fearne headbutting it to no avail.
  • Trouble ensues because a magical rift has opened up in Thordak's Crater and cinderslags, the elemental spawn of the hatred and fury of Thordak, are emerging from the rift.
  • Orym has heard of a magic shop in Emon, and Shaun Gilmore is directly named as someone who can help the party with identifying a magical symbol.
  • Dariax tries to figure out Dorian's Mysterious Past, and ends up guessing that he was carnival folk. Both could also describe Mollymauk.
  • There's one within the series when it's revealed that any food that's been inside the circlet of the Spider Queen will not only rot but spontaneously generate live spiders if you eat it. The climax of the last episode has a twisted case of Divine Intervention when Myratta tries to cast one last spell, but instead of the magic words it's live spiders pouring out of her mouth.
• Cerebus Syndrome: While still plenty funny, the story becomes more serious as Lolth, through the Circlet of Barbed Vision begins to take hold of the characters, pushing them to more uncomfortable situations and decisions.
• Cliffhanger: The first season ends with Poska sitting in her office, talking with an unknown person as she makes a declaration of war against the party if they ever come back into "her city".
• Continuity Nod:
  • Suude and residuum makes a return, as well as jokes about drugs. Orym tries to get word to the Voice of the Tempest, or more specifically her friends, that the products are being sold on the black market.
  • The Myriad and the Clasp, the two Thieves' Guild in Emon, fought a turf war that no one knew who won, and the Nameless Ones are picking up the pieces.
  • According to Opal, all girls from Byroden knows how to handle ropes, which includes Vex.
  • The party stumbles across the Circlet of Barbed Vision, another Vestige of Divergence; specifically a Vestige derived from the Lolth, the Spider Queen.
• Cultural Cross-Reference: "Twisted Mister" from episode 4 is based directly on the nue, the Japanese chimera with a snake for a tail, due to it being primate-based instead of a quadruped to reflect that it's an evil mutated Mister.
• Denser and Wackier: In comparison to the heroic epics of Vox Machina and the Darker and Edgier character-based story of the Mighty Nein, Exandria Unlimited's party has a stronger propensity for comedy and bizarreness due to being way out of their element in the city of Emon.
• Deus ex Machina: Part 2 of Kymal introduces the heist coin, giving each player one shot at carrying out an action like they'd planned it out long before even if they didn't.
• Double Entendre: A lovely one when Opal is immediately smitten with Gilmore, only to smack face first into Incompatible Orientation, at the same time that he presents our heroes with the magic box that can send something to him only once.
  Opal: So, the box only works one way? It doesn't go both ways?
  Orym: You gotta find the right box.
• Early-Bird Cameo: The last episode of Narrative Telephone season 2 had Aabria Iyengar as a completely original character, a London Gangster-esque criminal ringleader, who turned out to be Poska.
• Five-Second Foreshadowing: Episode 7 - Aabria describes the floating cube as having its own gravity on all its 6 faces, which Aimee immediately attributes to magnets. Turns out the battle map for this scene not only has a rotating cube in the center, but it really has magnets for holding the minifigs!
• Foreshadowing:
  • The party trying to piece together their missing time in episode 1 leads to Dorian briefly thinking that they might be missing someone. She shows up in episode 4.
  • Towards the end of episode 5, Ted reveals to Opal that she's spotted a "woman in purple" that clearly isn't the Spider Queen or the Wildmother. The Stinger reveals that it's Myratta, who's been following them.
• Four Is Death:
  • Episode four is the closest we get to outright Character Death. Evil!Fearne almost kills Opal, partly because she's had some experience.
  • Episode eight (four times two) ends with Arc Villain Myratta Killed Off for Real.
• The Ghost: Poska is turned into this in Kymal - an eyewitness account places her in said city at the time, but our heroes never get to face her. The closest we get is Opal faking her death.
• Got Volunteered: Starting from episode 2, Aabria makes a few comments about the ad segment, particularly noting how wonderful Matt looks. Because the ad segments are filmed after the main episodes have wrapped, she only needs to describe it in order to make him do it.
• Hidden Elf Village: What our heroes expected to be the ruins of Qol'niira turned out to be the still-thriving city of Niirdal-Poc, with not just elves but dwarves, genasi, halflings, tabaxi and even a rare elephant-man race.
• In-Series Nickname:
  • Dorian dubs the mesa that has popped up in the middle of Flamereach Grove the "Oh No Plateau".
  • Aabria falls victim to the curse of DMs having their names and concepts mocked when the players christen her cool elemental rift the Ash Hole.
  • Gilmore's glitter-spewing wagon gets the not-that-endearing nickname "Glitter Shitter".
  • Thanks to Aimee beating a disadvantaged deception roll at a level previously thought impossible (two natural 20s in a row), Orym would thereafter be known also as "Nancy".
• Inspector Javert: Myratta Niselor, the Syngorn sentry captain who's been doing some morally questionable things to clamp down on the spread of the Feywild into the material plane, from her use of residuum spikes (the equivalent of sticking plutonium rods into the earth) to taking Opal's warlock patron for her own use.
• It Only Works Once: Episode 3 has the "one-way box", intended to send something placed into it directly to Gilmore by teleporting to him, leaving nothing behind. Our heroes agree to send it with a written note and the Circlet of the Spider Queen to Gilmore... and then forget the circlet.
• It's Always Mardi Gras in New Orleans: The party arrives in Byroden just in time for their yearly pageant, because of course they do.
• Killer Game Master: Aabria's style is very different from Matt's, frequently calling for saving throws seemingly out of nowhere and putting the party up against powerful enemies in fights. At the end she flat-out admitted, in a sorrowful tone, "I didn't kill any of you, and I wanted to so badly!"
• Miserable Massage: In Kymal pt. 2, the Crown Keepers stop by the "Chroma Dawn Cave" spa at the Maiden's Wish casino in order to follow up on a tip. Dorian elects to try out the full-body massage in the Umbrasyl room, only to find it's a very intensive deep tissue massage administered by an orc. The others hear him screaming from across the spa and rush to his defense.
• Mundane Solution: The party faces a massive fey crocodile in episode 5... which is put out of commission when Opal figures out how to flip it over.
• Mundane Utility: Dariax's magical disguise cloak ends up seeing a lot of use during the Byroden pageant, for costume changes.
• Mythology Gag: Season 1's opening starts out with Matt Mercer's Dariax waking up on a roof, and the first living being he sees is a pigeon.
  Liam: I thought the metagaming pigeon would come in much later.
• The Nameless: A new crime syndicate has emerged in Emon, with its members "new to the territory and trying to make a name for themselves while not having a name."
• "No. Just… No" Reaction:
  • In the first episode, the guys try to piece together What Did I Do Last Night?, specifically how the pissing contest came about, and Aabria makes them roll for it despite Foregone Conclusion being firmly in effect. Then they get to the peeing part...
    Aabria: No. We don't need to do the sounds...
  • Episode 3 has the infamous case of Opal trying to create a distraction by passing off Orym as her missing daughter. Aabria immediately demands a roll "with disadvantage because that's a grown man." Which is rendered moot when Aimee rolls a 20 both times, driving Aabria to Sanity Slippage.
• Oh, Crap!: Episode 6 - a Big Friendly Dog starts going through the leftover pie in Dariax's bag, a split second before he remembered that the circlet of the Spider Queen was also in there...
• One-Steve Limit: Confusion is caused by two similarly-named party members, Dorian and Dariax. Matt takes a chance to call out Liam over this after his confusion over campaign one's Vax'ildan and Vex'ahlia. There's also Gilmore's husband, Darius.
• Precious Puppies: Omar, Matt and Marisha's corgi, makes an appearance for the "Cozy Matt" pre-game section.
• Shown Their Work: Somehow played straight and for laughs at the same time in episode 5, when the party has to battle an alligator, and Aimee reveals that real alligators will turn docile when flipped onto their backs. After the guys look it up online and confirm this really is a thing, Aabria is forced to go along with it, leading to a rare bloodless victory.
• Shout-Out:
  • The central premise of transporting the circlet of the Spider Queen mirrors that of The Lord of the Rings, from Dariax being the one guy who can handle the artifact without issue, to Dorian turning into their Boromir.
  • The iconic ploy to overturn the fey crocodile leads to Aimee leading a chant to "flip this bitch!" Flip This Bitch is an actual building company that's worked with Critical Role a few times, up to and including the game room for campaign 3.
  • Opal's new familiar Ted 2 is a venomous spider that sounds like a small boy.
• So Much for Stealth:
  • In episode 1, all our heroes come up with different personas to sneak onto a ship, and Fearne in particular hauls some vegetables while talking a bit too loudly in an accent that sounds like she was kicked off the set of Harry Potter.
  • In episode 3, an attempt by our heroes to sneak back into a city where the Nameless Ones are already looking out for them somehow leads to Dariax disguised as a dancing showgirl while Opal is the too-young mother of a strangely ripped and armed little girl.
• The Stinger: Unlike the rest of the show, the stingers are shown at the very end, after the players have left the table. Aabria has stated that the players have no idea what happens in these stingers until after the episode has aired.
  • Episode 1: After seeing the destruction at the warehouse, Poska orders the townhouse to be burned down.
  • Episode 2: Ted watches Opal, frustrated, but intent on always protecting her twin.
  • Episode 4: Ted is all alone in darkness, despite being with Opal. She starts to feel the seed of recognition - of potential - and it starts to grow.
  • Episode 5: Myr’atta Niselor, the elven leader of the Verdant Guard, is "bloodied, broken, and undeterred". She pulls out a spike of residuum, causing Melora's jungle to shudder.
  • Episode 6: Ted is all alone in the darkness, when suddenly a woman in purple robes show up. The woman has been waiting for her for so long, and reaches out to Ted. Ted screams.
  • Episode 8: Poska sits in her office, talking with an unknown person. Clearly displeased, she enacts a declaration of violence against the party, waiting for the day that they come back to Emon.
• Sure, Let's Go with That: When Dariax is trying to figure out Dorian's background, he guesses, "you're carnival folk!" Dorian is clearly not, but after a moment he says, "you're absolutely right! Don't tell anyone!"
• Sweet Home Alabama: Byroden, which already exists in canon as Vex and Vax's hometown, is portrayed similar to a Texas border town thanks to Aimee Carrero's input.
  Liam: Does Byroden have water?
  Aabria: There is, it just has tea and sugar in it.
• Thieves' Guild: The party deals with a new criminal syndicate that has emerged in Emon, the titular Nameless Ones.
• This Is for Emphasis, Bitch!: Dariax of all people gets his own superhero moment, when Myratta attempts a Taking You with Me on him... and fails.
  "Didn't you know? Blood of the Mountain in me, BITCH."
• Title Drop:
  • Episode 1: "The hissers are gone and you're alone in a warehouse operated by the Nameless Ones."
  • Episode 2: "We're running to the Oh No Plateau, and we're going to what?"
• Unfortunate Name: In Kymal there's apparently a spa themed after the Chroma Conclave with each member of the Conclave being associated with a certain spa treatment. Dorian lampshades that naming a spa treatment after someone with "Diseased" as part of their title probably isn't the best idea...
• What Did I Do Last Night?: The party awakens in the townhouse sans a chunk of their memory. Dariax, in particular, finds himself on the roof, with poop in his beard and pee on his spear.

Calamity

• Arc Number:
  • 120 keeps popping up, as it's the number of years since the last Apogee Solstice and the ascension of the Raven Queen.
  • Cerrit keeps rolling 31. His last roll, and the last roll of the campaign, is a 31 (with aid and advantage from his dead and dying friends) to escape the crumbling city and reunite with his family. The DC was 30, the max covered by the rulebook, and denotes a task that is nearly impossible, yet he made it.
• Arc Words: "All will be well" is uttered by multiple characters but with changing context as the plot progresses. At the begining, it denotes of the hubris of the wizards of Avalir who view themselves at the apogee of their age. As the events leading to the Calamity start to unfold, it resonates as denial from the protagonists who refuse to come to term with the fact that their city is doomed. In the final moments of the last episode, when spoken by Nydas to reassure his brother, it is a hopeful mantra that despite the terror ahead, the world will not end with the Calamity.
• Ambiguous Syntax: The closing line of the speech that finishes Episode 4 can be taken two ways, and remains true either way. The Calamity was started by the party's actions, but at the same time, because of the party's actions, it will not last forever and there is hope for the future.
• Apocalypse How: As the title suggests, the series answers the question of what caused the Calamity: a 150-year-long war between the Prime Deities and Betrayer Gods that killed two-thirds of Exandria's population, altered much of Exandria's geography, and ended the Age of Arcanum. It was ultimately a culmination of hubris and distrust, taken advantage of by the Betrayer Gods and their mortal conspirators. The Gau Drashari used the Tree Of Names upon Avalir as a Cosmic Keystone to protect Exandria from extraplanar invasion, but due to their distrust of Avalir, refused to explain what it actually did; and the wizards of Avalir were too condescending towards druidic magic to ever consider it might be important. This set the stage for the Tree to be sabotaged - knowingly and unknowingly - and ultimately destroyed, triggering the Calamity.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: The Septarion are revealed as conniving, corrupt and venal. Even Cool Old Guy Eldamir the Wise expects the citizens of Avalir to sacrifice their lives to preserve the city and the Septarion. Loras of the Weaver’s Mask is so haughty and selfish that Marisha wants to kill him out of spite.
• Bait-and-Switch: In episode 2, as the characters stand up from the table after discussing some alarming news, Brennan says that there are explosions... only to reveal that it was a fireworks show. The cast complained vociferously at the Mood Whiplash, with Marisha jokingly yelling that she was canceling the show immediately.
• Book Ends:
  • Cerrit's first skill check of the campaign is a 31. Brennan notes that 30 is the highest DC threshold that the rules cover, denoting a "nearly impossible" task. Cerrit's final skill check for the campaign is for a DC 30 task - escaping Avalir as it is consumed by the Calamity - and he rolls a 31.
  • Patia also starts her first appearance going to the statue of her grandfather and wishing it "Happy Replenishment", then goes and does the same thing just before entering the final confrontation of the game.
  • Both the first and last episodes begin with the word “fire". The first image of the campaign is a dream of fire destroying the world, and the campaign ends with fire consuming Avalir and the Ring of Brass... but in different contexts, depending on the character.
• Call-Forward:
  • The city of Avalir is implied to have inspired the name of the Savalirwood in Wildemount.
  • The continent of Domunas is called "the Smile of Exandria", hinting that its form in the future - after being destroyed - is called "The Shattered Teeth".
• Cassandra Truth: The Oracles, though decreed to have been mad and spouting false prophecies, were revealed, in episodes 3 & 4, to be entirely correct & completely sane. The Octothurge was declaring the prophecy that the city was to be destroyed impossible out of pure hubris.
• Catchphrase Interruptus: Nydas can use a gold coin from a dragon's hoard to summon said dragon to him - and it's actually intelligent enough to make a big bombastic announcement every time. Which Nydas had been fed up with before the whole Calamity thing.
  Shak'orzhan: (starts inhaling)
  Nydas: We don't have time for-Shut the FUCK UP!
• Chekhov's Gun: In episode 3, Laerryn siphons some magic from the enemy to fill a vial with ether, which she later palms off to Loquatius. In episode 4, Loquatius and Patia are briefly dead, and Zerxus uses up his one ress on Loquatius... but the ether vial is used to bring back Patia as well.
• Chekhov's Gunman: The first episode involves Nydas getting the favor owed to him by a sphinx by getting it to participate in the Parade of Beasts, which it does with trepidation. In episode 4 the sphinx considers the favor as fully repaid by pulling a Big Damn Heroes.
• Cigarette of Anxiety: After Zerxus communes with Asmodeus, the Lord of the Hells and the Father of Lies, basically Dungeons and Dragons' Satan, in episode 2, Marisha exclaims that she needs a cigarette and she doesn't even smoke.
  • Considering how intense that scene got, there might be multiple reasons for that.
• Conspiracy Thriller: Calamity plays out like this, with the plot kicked off by Cerrit investigating the mysterious disappearance of Vespin Chloras. As the story continues, it reveals a second conspiracy involving all of the other members of the Ring of Brass, who have been secretly plotting to create and activate a machine that can change the leylines of Exandria to allow Avalir to travel between planes, and stealing a vast quantity of Avalir's ether energy as the final step; and their cover-up of the pseudo-death of Evandrin, the first mortal test subject.
• Continuity Cameo: Champion of the Raven Queen Purvan Suul, who appeared only as a corpse in "The Sunken Tomb" in Campaign 1, and his wolf companion Galdric, who went on to become a guardian of Whitestone, appear at the party in Episode 1 to impart a warning to Loquatius and Zerxus.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: While most D&D campaigns the actors have been in start with characters at a lower level who are generally misfits and screw-ups, Calamity begins with Level 14 characters with established careers, reputations, and responsibilities. Through the course of their stories, the other parties of Critical Role all grew closer, but the Ring of Brass were friends beforehand and their relationship nearly implode as a result of their actions.
• Darker and Edgier: Brennan has repeatedly stated that Calamity is a "capital T-tragedy", as the heroes try to prevent an apocalypse while also finding out the corruption that underscores the city of Avalir. The Downer Beginning establishes this right from the gate, as Zerxus gets hit with the grief of his dead husband and son as well as the utter horror of the battle between Pelor and Asmodeus.
• Dark Reprise: Calamity's intro theme is a much heavier, darker version of EXU's main theme, set in minor key and with a heavier emphasis on the percussion and base parts.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: One of the primary motivations for Laerryn working on the Astral Leywright is the threat of Aeor possibly succeeding with it first. Just to emphasize it further, we meet an Aeorian native who's ambiguously Russian.
• Doomed by Canon: The heroes of Calamity are set up to fail, given that the Calamity is established in the main campaigns and worldbuilding material. ^note  However, according to a Syfy interview, there was a joking agreement between Matt Mercer and Brennan Mulligan that if there were four natural 20s in a row at any point, then Calamity could be averted. But that is a very slim chance.
• Downer Beginning: The first episode begins with Zerxus waking up in the ruins of Avalir, with blood in his mouth. He then finds his son in the chaos of it all, fishing in the spot where Imyr Por'co's statue is supposed to be, witnessing a myriad of stars. He dives down into the hand of Asmodeus, seeing a vision of his dead husband comforting him. Pelor comes into view, and it seems that the two gods are battling each other. Zerxus reaches up, shouting at the Dawnfather to stop... waking up soon thereafter, horribly shaken by his dream.
• Downer Ending: Brennan Lee Mulligan even says in Episode 1 that "this is not happy-fun-time". And given the Calamity's importance to the world-building of Exandria, there's no way this campaign could end any way other than badly. All but one of the Ring of Brass dies. Cerrit is the one that lives, only doing so by running rather than fighting, and it's just by the skin of his teeth that he manages to get away. The Calamity occurs, the Betrayer Gods rise, and the world as the characters know it is all but wiped out. That said, it's not all bad; a good proportion of Avalir and Cathmoira's citizens are able to escape, including the young children of the Sorcerer's Academy. Patia is able to Fling a Light into the Future by teleporting the magical orb containing her vast stockpiles of history and knowledge, and Cerrit is able to escape the destruction of Avalir to reunite with his family and fight for the future together with them. And their actions in destroying the two imprisoned Primordials have ensured that the Calamity will eventually end, even if none of them will be there to see it.
• Dramatic Irony:
  • The viewers know that the Calamity is a Foregone Conclusion and that all of the player characters are likely Doomed by Canon. The characters themselves think it's just another beautiful day in the wondrous city of Avalir.
    Brennan: "It's 1979, and disco is never gonna die!"
  • The Champion Purvan Suul, who would become a legend during the Calamity appears at the party in Episode 1 as a level 7 Ranger (half the level of this campaign's party) with muddy boots, barely worthy of the main characters' notice. So while the players from Campaign 1 freaked out over his appearance, their characters were unimpressed.
• Epic Hail: When the Calamity starts, Loquatius commandeers his news-station's magical projectors to project his final announcement to both Avalir and Cathmoira, both rallying the citizenry and commanding them to escape, while also informing the city's elites that the Septarion has ordered them to go down with the ship (in complete opposition to the Septarion's actual orders).
• Enhance Button: Somehow it's possible to do this with magical holograms, as Loquatius digs up a recording by his star reporter, and then blows up the background to reveal Vespin Chloras talking to Lacrytia Hollow and Loras.
• Extradimensional Emergency Exit: The leader of the Seelie Court opens up portals all over Exandria and offers this to any and all fey creature of her Court as a means to escape The Calamity that is about to happen. Loquatius Seelie declines in order to help mitigate the disaster, and also because his heart belongs to another.
• False Reassurance: At the start of Episode 4, Brennan has all the players to roll for each of their magic items to see which are destroyed, but tells Luis he doesn't need to roll for his Holy Avenger. This is because the Holy Avenger is corroded and unmade instantly.
• False Utopia: Avalir is initially presented as a utopia where the cutting edge of magic has ensured a comfortable life for all, filled with commonplace wonders that would be unthinkable in the modern age of Exandria. It soon becomes evident there is a deep vein of corruption and hubris running through it, including whispers of an upcoming war with Aeor, and even (most of) the Ring of Brass is engaged in a conspiracy to steal half of the city's energy to power Laerryn's Astral Leywright machine. When Avalir is about to be destroyed by the Calamity, the ruling archmages move to sacrifice the citizenry to preserve the city and save their own lives and riches.
• Fate Worse than Death: The Big Bad promises this if they are victorious in Episode 4. Asmodeus remarks to Zerxus that, once he's collected every mortal soul and all of his brothers and sisters (the other gods) in his Pit, "I will only have eternity to punish them."
• Foregone Conclusion: Since the Calamity is important to the world-building of Exandria, it is to be expected that the Calamity is going to happen, and there's nothing the player characters can do to avert it. Brennan Lee Mulligan even says in Episode 1 that "this is not happy-fun-time", and he makes good on his word. The mini-series is more about how it happened and why it happened than trying to avert the Calamity altogether. The series also shows the Ring of Brass partially caused the Calamity to happen, but at the same time, helped prevent it from being as bad as it could have been.
• Foreshadowing: Kir calling Maya "Egghead" isn't just a bird-based pun, it also implies she's The Smart One. Hopefully smart enough to handle the knowledge left behind by Patia.
• Four Is Death:
  • It's four episodes about the End of an Age - worth noting is that the last episode ends up running for over six hours due to how much they need to cram in.
  • In episode 3, Cerrit gives up on the Ring of Brass and leaves, while Patia is delving into whatever the Tree of Names can offer her, so the real trigger of the Calamity is the four remaining players, Loquatius and Laerryn vs Nydas and Zerxus in all out civil war.
• Hero of Another Story: Purvan Suul, a champion of the Raven Queen whose actions during the Calamity would make him a legend whose name (and armor) would endure to the time of the Vox Machina campaign and beyond, appears briefly in the first two episodes conducting his own investigation into Vespin Chloras's actions.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Nydas' Taxmen are robots build to fight a potential war against Aeor, with many advantages against spellcasters... which bites the Ring of Brass in their collective asses when the cultists sabotage and take control of some of them.
• Just Before the End: No matter what the players do, the game will end with Avalir in flames. The miniseries will chronicle how it gets to that point.
• "Leave Your Quest" Test: Brennan gives most of the party a chance to back out of sacrificing for the future. None of them take it.
  • Zerxus has the chance to refuse the power and damnation of Asmodeus's mace, and instead die peacefully, avoiding Hell but obviating any chance to reunite with Evandrin or Elias.
  • Patia has an opportunity to find her hidden memories of her parents if she gives up her chance to Fling a Light into the Future by sending her memories and knowledge to Maya.
  • The Seelie Queen gives all the Fey of her court, including Loquatius, a free ticket off of Exandria if they're wiling to leave the realm and its people behind.
  • Laerryn, in her final spell, has one last choice to preserve Avalir at the risk of potentially unleashing the Primordials.
• Last Day of Normalcy: In the Calamity opener "Excelsior", the first half (after the Dreaming of Things to Come opening) is spent establishing the Ring of Brass in the shining city of Avalir, hours before the Calamity will bring it to ash and ruin.
• Logical Weakness: Brennan points out that a completely invisible assailant would essentially be blind if light passed through their retinas, meaning that one could theoretically watch for the barest pinpricks of visible eyes to spot an invisible man. And in Cerrit's case, kill him first.
• Mayfly–December Romance: Loquatius and Laerryn had the archetypical example of this, which unfortunately fell through at first. In a Dramatic Irony moment, Laerryn as an elf believed herself to be the longer-lived one, but it's revealed later that Loquatius is a Seelie Court level fey, meaning she might have it backwards.
• Meaningful Name: Zerxus' pet Tempus is a flying creature called a griffon. There is a Latin saying, "Tempus fugit", time flies. The last we see of Tempus in Calamity, he is flying to reunite Evandrin and Elias.
• Mood Whiplash: Brennan's habit of inserting comedy at the worst moments comes back with a vengeance.
  • The Downer Beginning of the first episode is quickly contrasted with the peace and whimsy of Avalir. Aabria heavily lampshades this after Brennan finishes his soliloquy of the city.
    Aabria: Stop being cool like we don't remember what just happened!
  • Happens again at the top of episode 2, when Cerrit gets a Sending just after stashing the body of the man he killed. He gets a Sending from his son, telling him that his sister (Cerrit's daughter) has snuck out of the house with some liquor that she snuck from the house. The talk is filled with over-the-top spy-speak, and Brennan gives the boy a hilariously nerdy voice. Cerrit mostly plays along, but breaks character for a moment to sincerely tell his son that he loves him. The chat was amused and touched, but also horrified because the kid will very likely die within a day or so.
  • Brennan describes a bunch of explosions happening near the party in episode 2 and 3, naturally making them incredibly nervous... only for him to jovially state that it's actually just the fireworks extravaganza for the Replenishment Ball. The cast instantly resort to calling out Brennan for his antics.
  • Sam also gets in on the fun, with Loquatius capping off an emotional speech asking that the people of Avalir remember the members of the Ring of Brass - even coming close to tears as he describes Laerryn as the most beautiful woman in the world - with a sponsor read for spell ink.
• The Nudifier: While the backblast from destroying the Tree of Names was not meant to have this effect, it only disintegrates magical items... and Loquatius was wearing an entirely magical suit.
• Our Sphinxes Are Different: Invoked - Nydas has a sphinx that owes him a boon after he rescued it, and his best idea is to have the sphinx participate in the Parade of Beasts. The sphinx, which is of the sentient riddle-giving variety, finds this demeaning and confusing.
• Prequel in the Lost Age: The miniseries is set in the Age of Arcanum, around a thousand years before the main Critical Role campaign settings proper.
• Pride: The Fatal Flaw of most of the main cast, as well as of the Age of Arcanum as a whole. Nearly everyone is extremely confident in their arcane prowess, and the recent ascension of the Matron of Ravens has led many powerful mages including Laerryn and Patia to consider themselves above the gods. This naturally leads to disaster.
• "Ray of Hope" Ending: The series ends with the start of the Calamity, and the destruction of Avalir and the continent of Domunas. However, due to the actions of the Ring of Brass, a good proportion of Avalir and Cathmoira's citizens are able to escape and survive, including the young children of the Sorcerer's Academy. Patia is able to Fling a Light into the Future by teleporting the magical orb containing her vast stockpiles of history and knowledge to Maya - Cerrit's daughter, safely in Gwessar - and Cerrit himself is able to escape the destruction of Avalir to reunite with his family and fight for the future together with them. And finally, their actions in destroying the two imprisoned Primordials have ensured that the Calamity will eventually end with the triumph of the mortals.
  Brennan: And though Calamity is here, because of you, it will not be here forever.
• Running Gag:
  • The Campaign 1 cast members still giggle at the name "Purvan", after the entire Vox Machina cast made fun of his unintentionally Euphemistic Name back when the character was first introduced. Sam, as Loquatius, even advises that the NPC change it.
  • Marisha still spends stressful moments under the table, with only her head sticking out.
  • Due to Zerxus making use of a 10-foot aura to boost his allies, Luis ends up asking "are they within 10 feet of me?" several times.
• Shout-Out:
  • Hodmedods are robot NPCs with pre-programmed lines that Brennan voices in Rhys Darby's NPC accent from Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle.
  • Loquatius makes use of magical crystals to store information, bringing to mind the Fortress of Solitude.
• Teleporter Accident: During the devils' attack on Avalir, a large group of people tries to escape via teleportation dais. The operator yells that they're crowding the platform and some people need to step off, but one of the terrified passengers casts Command on him to force him activate the dais. Everyone on it is immediately bisected.
• Unperson: Whatever Patia's parents did to disappoint her grandfather, he thought it was bad enough to merit removing them from their daughter's memories. Considering that she's an archivist who obsessively records everything and yet has apparently never fully confronted this realization before, he presumably didn't stop there.
• Wham Line:
  • Asked to Zerxus by Asmodeus in a dream, theoretically throwing the entirety of the Exandrian pantheon on its head:
    Asmodeus: Whom did we betray?
  • Right out the gate in the opening, the DM asks Luis as Zerxus:
    Brennan: I need you to describe your character, and tell us your character’s name, but I would love for you to do that with the understanding that your mouth is filled with blood.
  • Purvan Suul explains that none of the Prime deities felt an attempted attack upon their seat (to ascend, you have to target an existing god of the domain you want and replace them). Which means Chloras was trying to take a Betrayer god's seat.
  • "I want to ask you, um... your arm touching the tree. Uh, are you weakest, do you feel, at the elbow or the shoulder?"
  • The moment that Zerxus' compassion is undone, when he tries in vain again to complete the Ritual of Atonement on Asmodeus, who explains why it failed: "You tried to make me atone... but I didn't do anything wrong!"
  • This, immediately followed by Marisha confirming that she'd never previously thought for a second about her character's parents:
    Brennan: I have a question for you. We have heard Patia speak often of her grandfather... and we have never heard her speak of her parents. A silence deep and profound. So I want to ask you. Do you think your memories of them are in that orb, or were they taken away? And if they were taken away, do you think they were taken away by you yourself, or by your grandfather when he was alive?
  • Stated by Asmodeus as Avalir is about to set down for the Replenishment and the Primordials are about to be unleashed on the world, showing us that the continent of Domunas is what will later be known as the archipelago of The Shattered Teeth.
    Asmodeus: Well, if Domunas is the Smile of Exandria, then let's shatter her teeth!
• Wham Episode:
  • Episode 2 is just one The Reveal after the other, Brennan strafing the party with lore bombs. Laerryn is trying to plane-shift the entire city, not just limiting themselves to travelling on the ley lines of Exandria. Patia used to know the Matron of Ravens before her ascension. Lacrytia Hollow sends Patia a bottle of poison with an ominous note about it being an easy way out when the end comes. The Oracles have either gone mad or been slaughtered, leaving only one sane member. Asmodeus spoke with Zerxus and played him like a fiddle, receiving his aid and kindness.
  • Episode 3 is the beginning of the end. The reveals come thick and fast in the six-hour runtime. Evandrin is not dead, merely trapped, and it's Laerryn's fault because she planeshifted him. Zerxus has been the Chosen of Asmodeus, even before he communed with the Lord of the Hells. The Tree of Names was created by the druids of Gau Drashari, working in tandem with Avalir and casting a spell of protection over Exandria as the city roams. In the future, when the order has fractured into separate tribes across Exandria, they will simply be known as the Ashari. Cerrit pulls a Screw This, I'm Outta Here to save his family, and finds his old friend and partner murdered. The Ring of Brass implodes and fights each other because of their need to keep secrets and cover up failures. And, most importantly, Laerryn destroys the Tree, unleashing Asmodeus and beginning the Calamity in earnest.
• Working with the Ex: Laerryn and Loquatius are divorced, but because they're both in high positions within the city and share the same social circle, they are forced to work together - much to Laerryn's annoyance.