5 of the Scariest Moments in Critical Role

Across its multiple campaigns, oneshots, and spinoffs, Critical Role is filled with emotional storytelling and gripping action. We’ve laughed and cried with these characters, watching them grow from unassuming individuals into legendary heroes. But for every hilarious chair and “It has begin,” there’s an emotionally devastating counterspell and “I have so many flowers to bring her.”

However, it’s not all straightforward fantasy storytelling. Critical Role has many influences as well as complex original plotlines that occasionally veer in a different direction — namely horror. Game Master Matthew Mercer effectively, sparingly uses instances of horror to heighten the stakes and create pulse-pounding battles and encounters at the table. Even guest players and GMs have been part of these moments. Let’s take a look at the top 5 scariest scenes from Critical Role.

(Beware spoilers for Vox Machina, Mighty Nein, Bells Hells, and Exandria Unlimited: Calamity)

---

5. Laudna Kills Bor’Dor (Bells Hells)

While she may tell everyone she’s “fun scary,” Bells Hells’ undead pact-magus Laudna is born of horror herself (but more on that later). With a dark connection to her shadowy patron, she possesses abilities that morph her form into something more dreadful. Her spells even deal with the very forces of life and death. Bells Hells becomes splintered into two teams, thrown across Exandria following a tense encounter in the Hellcatch Valley during the Apogee Solstice. Ashton, Orym, and Laudna form “Team Issylra” along with guest adventurers Prism Grimpoppy (Emily Axford), Deni$e Bembachula (Aimee Carrero), and Bor’Dor Dog’Son (Utkarsh Ambudkar).

At first, Bor’Dor comes across as inexperienced and scared, though possessing magical potential. However, it’s skeptical Deni$e who believes there’s something he isn’t telling the team. When pressed, Bor’Dor reveals that he’s a seasoned member of the Ruby Vanguard, among those working to free Predathos from its Ruidus prison in order to exterminate all the prime deities of Exandria. He watched Bells Hells kill his friends in Marquet, and has been waiting for his chance at revenge.

During a battle (Episode 3×63, “A Haunted Past”) where Bor’Dor seems to have intent to kill, emotionally fragile Laudna is so overcome by this betrayal that she lets her darkness take over, draining his life force. As she does this, she hears a heartbeat in the back of her mind, as some shadowy force of vitality returns to her and her patron. It marks a rare instance of lethal inter-player conflict that is made all the more haunting by watching Laudna essentially relapse into a side of herself she has been working to disavow. Her body morphs and shifts to reflect the frightful truth of her powers, shocking players and viewers alike as Bor’Dor breathes his last under her grasp.

---

4. Obann and the Laughing Hand (Mighty Nein)

The Mighty Nein’s warrior Yasha Nydoorin has had a troubled past, filled with loss — of love, of memories, and of free will. In her time before meeting the other adventurers, she worked in service of a fiend named Obann, who kept her as a personal bodyguard and used her to kill his enemies. Under his thrall, she also became a follower of the Angel of Irons, the Chained Oblivion, an evil deity devoted to madness and destruction. Yasha loses years of her life and memories in Obann’s service, and in “The King’s Cage” (Episode 2×69), the party comes into conflict with that devil and his newest associates.

The battle between the Mighty Nein, Obann, and the Laughing Hand ultimately ends in heartache as the party loses Yasha to the fiends once more, forced to leave her behind in the tomb. But before that, it is a harrowing struggle as Obann unleashes his true demonic form and the Laughing Hand, a massive creature, is awakened.

The Laughing Hand is the undying champion of the Chained Oblivion, distinctive for his nearly twelve-foot tall stature and his twisted body being covered in toothy maws, with a notable grin on his left hand (the right hand is missing below the forearm and is bonded to a massive blade where his wrist would be). When struck for physical damage on his body, mouths appear at the site of the wound and unleash a chorus of dissonant laughs that cause psychic damage to nearby foes. That’s enough to chill anyone to the core — including Yasha’s closest allies as they struggle to rescue their friend from the control of monsters.

---

3. The Whispered One Awakens (Vox Machina)

Vox Machina faces an ever-growing chain of immense conflict. From unyielding, undead threats like Delilah and Sylas Briarwood to an entire league of full-grown dragons in the Chroma Conclave, they are often facing threats far bigger, older, and more powerful than any one of them alone. But in a realm as storied as Exandria, there are bound to be even more unfathomable evils lurking — enter the Whispered One.

Known by other names throughout the world (and fantasy tabletop lore), the Whispered One is an ever-growing threat in the background of Vox Machina’s adventures, eventually reaching a climax at the conclusion of the campaign. Even the Briarwoods were dedicated to his cause, and as our heroes travel the hells and back, they are eventually faced with the horrifying knowledge that the villain has ascended and could end their world as they know it. The ascension ritual and its consequences span several episodes, but they’re a fantastic and frightening class in mounting tension, as cultists are sacrificed, instant-kill spells are cast, and the party nearly gets permanently cut in half.

The remaining 15 episodes of this campaign after the Whispered One’s return are filled to the brim with the undead, distrust, and the ever-present fear of a seemingly invincible villain finding them no matter where they go (very Michael Myers-esque). And while the party ultimately emerges triumphant, their victory is not without death and disintegrations. It’s as harrowing as it is horrifying, representing a pulse-pounding escalation for the first of these renowned campaigns.

---

2. Cognouza Incarnate (Mighty Nein)

Throughout the travels of the Mighty Nein, these adventurers desperately try to bring back their untimely fallen comrade Mollymauk Tealeaf, only to discover his body has wandered off of its own accord. It seems the body’s original owner, a soul named Lucien Tavelle, has returned to residence, and he wants to complete his mission of ascending to power beyond the mortal plane.

Stepping outside the realm of traditional fantasy gameplay, the party’s final standoff with Lucien goes full-tilt cosmic horror as the villain morphs into an entity called the Neo-Somnovem and eventually merges with the entirety of the Cognouza Ward of Aeor itself. Empowered by the Eyes of Nine (or the nine members of the Somnovem council), he goes on to become Somnovem Omega in his final form.

He’s Got a Second Health Bar?

As Somnovem Omega, Lucien becomes an amalgam of all the souls trapped in the collapsed ward, composed of writhing flesh, gibbering mouths, and more. Each of the city’s previous leaders lends their power to the villain, manifesting as nine eyes spread across his new form. Considering that aspects of the antagonist were called “Cognouza flesh horrors” throughout the in-game battle should give you enough of an indication at how skin-crawling the descriptions here were.

The battle with Cognouza Incarnate is fraught, as the Mighty Nein has to navigate a living city that can strike at them from seemingly any angle. This phase of the battle is also his second incarnation after a grueling clash with the Neo-Somnovem form, giving the episode (Episode 2×140, “Long May He Reign”) a true Dark Souls level of deep horror and soul-rending weariness. Lucien’s nigh-legendary abilities also had the power to induce feelings of madness and guilt, to create nightmarish illusions, and to simply absorb the flesh of living beings — all textbook staples of incomprehensible eldritch horror. With a custom miniature and a pulsing battle map to boot, this epic showdown was truly frightening to behold.

---

Honorable Mentions…

Now, before we reveal the most frightening moment from across all the Critical Role campaigns, let’s take a moment to recognize two other standout moments worth acknowledging. These two honorable mentions may not have had such large plot impacts as the other entries on the list, but the shock response they invoke from the seated cast (and the fans) certainly make them memorable, especially in the delivery by the game masters narrating them.

Honorable Mention: Artagan Strangles Vax’ildan (Vox Machina)

From a brief segment of Episode 1×112 (“Dark Dealings”), this particular moment is filled with humorous disbelief in the form of out-of-character table talk. At the same time, the cast’s sheer, wide-eyed terror cannot be overlooked as a trickster fey Artagan (also known as Garmelie) strangles assassin Vax’ildan to death.

At this point, it’s known that Vax cannot truly die as an emissary of the Matron of Ravens, but that does not stop the discomfort and fear elicited by Matt Mercer’s description of the deed. What results is Artagan’s ultimate underwhelmed reaction as Vax disintegrates under his grasp, only to return unharmed shortly thereafter. Marisha Ray even humorously expresses her terror, saying she’s the one who has to go home with Matt after that incident.

Honorable Mention: Meeting Zerxus Ilerez (ExU: Calamity)

Courtesy of guest Game Master Brennan Lee Mulligan (best known for his work on DropoutTV), the Exandria Unlimited: Calamity special opened with a stomach-dropping moment even before viewers had properly met a single player character. In introducing player Luis Carazo, Mulligan prompts him to describe his character and give his name “with the understanding that your mouth is filled with blood.”

The gasps at the table are instantaneous. Of course, no one expected ExU: Calamity to be a happy affair — it does describe the fall of the city of Avalir just before the Calamity, a great deific war, lays waste to the Age of Arcanum and Exandria as it once was. Carazo goes on to introduce his examplar knight Zerxus Ilerez, who eventually becomes bound to the service of a devil lord (and has a role in The Legend of Vox Machina season 3). Even still, his introduction set a bloody, frightening tone for all of the Calamity miniseries, shocking players and viewers alike with how quickly the apocalyptic action took hold.

---

1. The Suntree in Whitestone (Vox Machina)

“It’s us…”

Without a doubt, the most frightening, horrific moment across all three campaigns has to be one whose echo is felt across years of adventures. Not only does Vox Machina’s arrival in Whitestone (Episode 1×28, “The Sun Tree”) have traditional horror factor as they encounter reanimated corpses, vampires, and the necromancy of Delilah Briarwood, but it also instills the deepest sense of dread and despair in the characters, players, and viewers.

Upon reaching Percival de Rolo’s ancestral home of Whitestone, the ragtag band of adventurers are met with a haunting sight. The Sun Tree in the middle of town is desiccated and dying, and upon its boughs swing several corpses. It’s enough of a cold welcome to give anyone a fright, but what’s worse is the description that follows.

Vox Machina soon realizes that the bodies are trussed up as effigies of themselves. Multiple innocents were killed, maimed, painted, and clothed to mock the heroes and end all sense of hope they have for victory. And while that’s terrifying enough, what follows after the adventurers liberate Whitestone continues to have an impact even on Critical Role Campaign 3: Bells Hells.

Generational Trauma

As it turns out, Bells Hells’ Hollow One, Laudna, is the young woman who was murdered in effigy of Vex’ahlia. Born a human, her ears were docked to make her appear half-elven, and the wash of necromantic energy that exploded through the town after the Briarwoods were defeated brought her back as an undead entity. From both The Legend of Vox Machina series and Laudna’s memories in Campaign 3, viewers learn that these unwitting, innocent men, women, and children were invited to a lavish dinner by Delilah and Sylas before meeting their untimely ends.

Further, it seems even defeat at the hands of Vox Machina (several times over) could not end Delilah’s hold on her necromantic magic. Even now, she serves as a magical patron to Laudna. Due to its lingering grip on Exandria, the sight of the deadened Sun Tree easily claims the dubious honor of being the most chilling moment in Critical Role history.

---

Want More Critical Role?

Those are our picks for the scariest moments across Critical Role campaigns, but what do you think? Share your thoughts at side.show/geekgroup or in the Sideshow Social Network. And as always, don’t forget to Let Your Geek Sideshow!

If you’re looking to collect the ultimate adventuring party, be sure to browse Sideshow’s full Critical Role collection, featuring prints and statues of your favorite heroes from all three campaigns! Is it Thursday yet?

Do you have a taste for terror? Are you ready to party like a vampire and wake up screaming? Run while you can … Spooktacular has come home!

Kiss your nerves goodbye during Sideshow’s Spooktacular 2024, a celebration with ghastly giveaways, deathly deals, eerie exclusive perks, and more. Join us from October 25 – October 31 by visiting side.show/spooktacular and don’t forget — sleep is for the weak!