I have officially crossed the halfway point in Bells Hells, Critical Role’s third campaign. I have been watching both Bells Hells and Aramán at the same time. Bells Hells is a campaign that seems to cause quite a stir online. It’s arguably the campaign that faces the most criticism, with fans either loving it or hating it, with some middle ground in between. While I have some thoughts, I’d rather save them for when I fully finish the campaign, which I’m hoping will be sometime next year. To celebrate reaching the halfway point, I wanted to summarize some of my favorite moments from the campaign thus far.

Spoilers for Bells Hells and potentially the other Critical Role campaigns below

The Witches

When I say the witches, I’m referring to Imogen (played by Laura Bailey), Laudna (played by Marisha Ray), and Fearne (played by Ashley Johnson). I’m biased towards Imogen because I love sorcerers, and having played one in a two-year campaign, I’m going to be drawn to anyone who plays that class. Imogen is the character who is tied the most to the plot as she tries to find her mom. Laudna was a character I was drawn to the first time I watched this campaign, and that hasn’t changed. Finally, Fearne. This is Ashley’s first campaign where she’s in almost all the episodes. It seems Ashley truly has fun playing Fearne, and I think her goofy persona offsets some of the darker moments of the campaign. When I think about my favorite characters in this campaign, it’s got to be the witches for me.

Imogen, Laudna, and Fearne take Pretty out on a Date

In the episode “Ghosts, Dates, and Darker Fates”, Imogen, Laudna, and Fearne meet Pretty, an orc cook at the Soot and Swill Tavern. As a partial distraction, they ask Pretty out on a date, which he accepts. The whole episode is hilarious as the cast tries not to laugh at certain points. This is one of the lighter moments of this campaign and shows how the cast can keep things light and entertaining.

Character Backstory

Besides the witches, there are so many other moments that center on the other characters. We learn about Fresh Cut Grass (FCG) (played by Sam Riegel), where it’s discovered that he killed the other automatons in his group. Despite being a cleric, he also has the capacity for violence. There’s an episode with Chetney (played by Travis Willingham) where the rest of Bells Hells have to fight him as a werewolf when he transforms under the moon. I like how the other characters get their moments to shine, and that’s been fun to see.

The Guests

In previous Critical Role campaigns, there have been players brought on as guests depending on where the party is at. One of my favorite guests thus far has been none other than Emily Axford. For those who may not be familiar, Emily is on NADDPOD, which I love, and Dimension 20. To see her be a guest on Critical Role is a full-circle moment. She absolutely knocks it out of the park. I mean, I wasn’t surprised; it’s Emily. Prism is a wizard of the Cobalt Soul, and her personality fits well with the other characters. Do I need to cosplay Prism now? I believe the answer is yes. Christian Navarro, Aabria Iyengar, Aimee Carrero, and Utkarsh Ambudkar were phenomenal and made these episodes fun even though the party was split.

While keeping up with two Critical Role campaigns feels like a full-time commitment, I’m determined to finish Bells Hells till the end. It might mean I take a break, but that’s okay! Once I finish the campaign, I plan on writing a longer post to summarize more thoughts about this campaign as a whole.