Critical Recap: Critical Role C3E109 “A Test of Fate”

Hello! Welcome to Critical Recap! I’m Dani Carr, the Critical Role Lore Keeper. Let’s dive into our recap of Critical Role Campaign 3 Episode 109: A Test of Fate!

BLOOD TIES

Fearne and Ashton wake up with Gloamglut and discuss the lives they never expected to have. Fearne gives Gloamglut the choice to stay or go and Gloamglut teaches her how to call for him in the future. She gives him a friendship bracelet from the hem of her dress, then tells Gloamglut to go do what he wants. Gloamglut takes off to go hunt. Inside, the others question whether magic will remain in the absence of the gods. Nana Morri believes that the gift of magic was always there for mortals to take—the Arch Heart simply showed them the path.

Birdie and Ollie come down to say goodbye to Fearne. Mother and daughter hope they can get to know each other better once all this is over. Dorian, thanks to good ol’ fashioned peer pressure, puts on the Quintessence Array harness and uses it to absorb the Harp of Valor, gaining an HP increase of 5 and advantage on performance checks. Nana sends everyone back to Vasselheim without worry for the time dilation and they head to the Duskmeadow for a chat with the Matron of Ravens.

They arrive at the Raven’s Crest temple and enter, making their way up to the stained glass sacred space where the three high priestesses of the Coven of the Veil await them. They meet their leader, Lieve’tel, who informs them that to commune with the Matron requires them to walk the in-between of life and death. They must “sink and release.” She shows them a pool of blood in the space, which Bells Hells slowly enter. Laudna is excited, while Orym, Braius, and Fearne are hesitant. But they all take the plunge.

UNCERTAINTY

Dorian is the last to let go, having to choose not to breathe for the first time in his entire life, as air genasi can breathe underwater. Fear and panic gives way to comfort, like they have been here before and will be here again. They land on a solid surface and see a glittering web of golden threads—an impossible array of gold against a sea of black. The Matron appears in her mantle of black feathers and porcelain mask and asks why they have sought her again.

Laudna explains that they heard the Matron wanted to talk through the Arch Heart and the group reveals what they saw in Aeor. The Matron says that death cannot be stopped, but delayed. She is the steward of death and the watcher of Fate, which means she is always looking for patterns within her tapestry. They carry the natural arrogance of mortal life, like so many heroes before them; how are Bells Hells any different? She tells them to go home, but Imogen has no idea where that is anymore.

The Matron says they all walk towards an uncertain future, one even she cannot see. This saga of the gods and their fate has ruined so many, with some still to prove their impact on history. She shows them Liliana, forced to abandon her life and follow her instinctual destiny but knotted by uncertainty. Opal, the manipulated dual soul. Vespin Chloras, who tried to rewrite history from her shards and damned the world in the process. The Matron wants proof of Bells Hells’ worthiness to alter Exandria’s history. Imogen steps up and speaks highly of them all. The Matron hopes Bells Hells have the strength to endure where the others faltered.

THE TEST

The Matron pulls back, her mask growing enormous as Liliana, Opal, and Vespin take offensive poses. Fearne tries to go to Opal, who attacks her with no recognition in her eyes. The Matron’s test begins, a fight to see if Bells Hells have the strength to do what must be done. Dorian is angry, refusing to let another god make a mockery of Opal. She transforms into a drider, a horrifying half-spider creature wielding opalescent daggers. Orym has to believe that this isn’t really Opal and kills her, causing her to sink into the blood pool.

Gravity reverses, time stops are enacted, the battle wages on. Dorian touches a string of fate, struck with Opal’s memories over her lifetime, all the way to her sharpening her blade in the Hellcatch Valley. It’s not real. Laudna takes on her form of dread to look like the Matron and causes her spirit of death to look like Emhira, the person the Matron was when she destroyed Aeor. This gets a shuddering reaction from the placid mask.

Liliana looks to Imogen, saying they have to get out here and asking if she trusts her. Imogen says yes and is given a power word stun for trusting her own mother. Chetney kills Vespin and Orym kills Liliana, who screams for the frozen Imogen. The bodies vanish into the blood and in place of the mask is a woman—the Matron, but no longer grandiose and intimidating. A woman who apologizes. She needed to see if they could do this when they are so personally invested.

MASKLESS

The Matron did call for Bells Hells. She and the Arch Heart have parallel opinions. The cycle of the gods, no matter how they pull away, ever continues. They do not stop manipulating and imposing their rule even under the guise of protection and guidance. They are unchanging and stagnant while their children are the bastion of change and evolution. The Matron removes her mask: a pale, sad woman looks out. She tells them she is tired. What do they wish to know?

The Matron did not know what would happen to Vax’ildan, her Champion. His thread is hidden from her, and he does not deserve any of this. The gods wish to dissolve the Divine Gate and deal with Predathos directly at whatever cost. But that requires unanimous agreement from those who created it. They do not know who is dissenting, but have their suspicions. Distraction is all that keeps them from warring amongst themselves.

The Matron carries a unique perspective. She is the keeper of Fate and therefore wishes to let Fate decide. She wants to let the people of Exandria determine what their future is to be, and she will not flee. They ask what will happen to the balance of Fate and the ushering of souls to the afterlife. There were souls before her brethren ever came. She assumes Exandria’s natural cycle would re-establish itself. The structure she looks over was put in place by the gods, but the soul will find its way.

THE REASON

Fearne asks the Matron why she wanted to become the god of death. “Because he asked.” Though books and philosophers would speak of her ambition, which is true to a degree, the Matron did it all with the previous god of death’s help. She came to him in his frozen enclave and tried to pry the secrets of divinity from him. They had conversations for years. They became friends. She thinks she may have loved him.

She took his place because he asked her to, even helping her craft the Rite of Ascension. He now knows peace, having gone wherever gods go when they are undone. She still feels echoes of him in her work, in the cold of winter and the door beyond. His shadow. She feels for him, for all. Ashton asks if it was worth it. She doesn’t know yet. Maybe that’s why she is curious.

Predathos, though, was before her time. Her family kept the knowledge locked away. But it is bound to wherever the gods come from. Imogen asks how they contain Predathos as a vessel and not become ripped apart. She tells them, the same way she survived her own rite: love. It is more resilient than they know. The love they have for each other can be their anchor. The Matron does not want to guide their decisions one way or another, but to empower them to do what they think is right. Is it possible to undo Predathos instead? Anything is possible. Her life is proof of that.

SURPRISES

As for aid, the Matron holds out her mask. Braius takes it. He is at a crossroads and maybe this can be the nudge he is looking for. As for the mask, in a moment of need, wear it and call—she will send what she can but doesn’t know what will make it, depending on where the mask is used. She will see them all eventually. If the Matron leaves, what happens to her Champion? She doesn’t know and likes not knowing.

When was she last surprised by something? Three decades ago, a mortal’s choice and sacrifice to give everything he loved to protect his world. That is what makes mortals special. Time after time, they defy the gods in beautiful ways. So maybe it is time for the gods to stop trying to forge their futures. That is Dorian’s favorite part about being a person and he hopes she gets to experience it again soon. She misses mortality and knows what she gave up to do this.

The Matron does not know what her place would be if the divine system were no longer here. If they spare the gods, Bells Hells need to know WHY they are choosing mercy and renegotiate the terms of their relationship to mortals. As for her Champion… to save him, they must destroy the Malleus Key but remove the Luxon Beacon first. This relic can change the nature of the universe in ways nearly as terrifying as Predathos.

TRUST & CLEVERNESS

As for trusting Opal and Liliana, the Matron says that Bells Hells know them better than she does. She needed to see what they were willing to do, but that choice is theirs. Ashton asks if Laudna will be okay. Laudna’s thread is silver, while the others are gold. Her fate once lay between the realms. As it stretches, it grows golden and connects with Imogen’s before spidering out to the rest of Bells Hells.

The Matron tells Laudna she was a victim of circumstance and cruelty. She is not anathema, but on a path to righting what has wronged her. If she continues on this path, could she become whole again? Anything is possible. Laudna takes the mask and thanks the Matron. She hopes that one day the Matron can see the original god of death again. She deserves that. The Matron believes she deserves little, but she remembers what it was like to fight for survival. She has her ways. She’s a clever girl, in her own words.

The Matron retreats, another mask appearing on her face. It is time for them to go. Bells Hells are once more consumed by the blood pool and return safely to the interior of the Raven’s Crest.

That is it for Episode 109 of Critical Role!

FINAL THOUGHTS

• That was SO much information about the Matron! Things we never knew, history proven to be wrong! The Matron is everything to me.
• Anything is possible. Love is always the most powerful thing in the world. Even to gods.
• BH are still long rested, the fight didn’t take a physical toll on them – just an emotional one!
• Like Delilah to Laura Bailey, Vespin Chloras’ greatest enemy is Travis Willingham himself.

Catch Episode 110 on Thursday, October 10th at 7pm Pacific on beacon.tv, where Beacon members get access to the entire episode, podcast included! The episode will also release on twitch.tv/criticalrole and on youtube.com/criticalrole and a week later on our podcast. Is it Thursday yet?