With the Critical Role cast having played Dungeons & Dragons together for decades, it's easy to assume they’re experts who can handle every combat scenario Dungeon Master Matthew Mercer throws at them. Yet as every D&D player eventually learns, no matter how long you’ve played or prepared, sometimes the dice just aren’t on your side. That was certainly true four years ago, in Critical Role Campaign 3, when the party, Bells Hells, faced something even scarier than battling demons in Hell, or an ancient black dragon in the mountains — something that, for the first time in Critical Role history, nearly led to a total-party kill (TPK).
What could possibly be scarier than those things? A level 20 human fighter called Otohan Thull. To learn more about the goings-on in Ruidus and recover Armand Treshi on orders from their benefactor, Lord Eshteross, Bells Hells infiltrated the headquarters of the Paragon’s Call, a mercenary group that had captured Treshi.
Unknown to Bells Hells, the Paragon’s Call was also working closely with the Ruby Vanguard, including one of its most prominent members, Otohan Thull. During the party’s rescue of Treshi in Campaign 3, episode 33, "Blood and Dust,” Thull revealed herself, halting their escape from the Paragon’s Call headquarters. From the moment Thull appeared, it was clear Bells Hells were in over their heads.
Thull not only destroyed the sand crawler the party was using to escape in just a few hits, but she also downed Ashton Greymoore (Taliesin Jaffe) with a three-hit attack in a single move. Worse, she had an item under her cloak that let her summon shadowy warriors to fight the party. With Thull a formidable threat on her own, her minions spelled certain doom for the party.
As the fight progressed, the players found themselves torn. Thull was extremely powerful, but if they focused on her all at once, they might take her down for good and use the whipping dust storm as cover for their escape. Yet while some characters, such as Chetney (Travis Willingham) and Orym (Liam O’Brien), fought back, Thull quickly knocked them unconscious.
Thull’s goal of getting Imogen (Laura Bailey) to give in to her Ruidusborne powers, along with her merciless attacks, made a handful of Bells Hells panic and flee. This indecision and fear would eventually cost several Bells Hells party members their lives: Thull's terrible blows took Orym, Fearne (Ashley Johnson), and Laudna (Marisha Ray). Others, including Chetney and Ashton, also fell, but only unconscious.
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