Critical Role's Exandria Unlimited campaign brought fresh new faces to the table, including a brand new Dungeon Master, Aabria Iyengar. Set in Matthew Mercer's Tal'dorei approximately 30 years after the Chroma Conclave arc from the first campaign and 10 years after the adventures of the Mighty Nein, this eight episode mini-season took fans by storm thanks to Iyengar's enthusiastic and unique approach to DM-ing.

Along with a new DM, Exandria Unlimited also introduced two brand new players to the table, Robbie Daymond and Aimee Carrero. Still, it wouldn't be Critical Role if there weren't some familiar faces in the game. Ashley Johnson, Liam O'Brien and Matthew Mercer all joined in, the five of them forming a party who, by the last episode, named themselves The Crown Keepers.

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Iyengar's style is incredibly different from Critical Role's main Dungeon Master Matthew Mercer, who will return to the DM's seat for the core game's campaign three sometime this fall. While both approach Dungeons & Dragons wholeheartedly with the story in mind, Iyengar went above and beyond at times to see her players flesh out their in-game vision in ways some DMs may consider controversial -- but it worked. She doled out inspiration on a regular basis, rewarding players with dice re-rolls for their cleverness and ingenuity and (occasionally) just for making her laugh.

The Crown Keepers got off to a rough start early on thanks to dice rolls that caused them to stumble through encounters. However, their struggles became incredibly endearing. By the time they were joined by a sixth player, special guest Anjali Bhimani, it seemed like a miracle that they'd managed to survive as long as they had. Over the course of the eight episode mini-series, the characters became as real and lasting as those introduced over the course of Critical Role's previous two campaigns.

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The final episode, which aired August 12, saw the story culminate in the jungles as the party came face to face with a power-hungry elf in purple who had been hunting Carrero's character, Opal, for several episodes in hopes of capturing Opal's twin sister and Warlock Patron, Ted. Battling through obstacles -- which included a giant, grotesquely animated version of Ted rising from the earth -- the party barely managed to take out the enemy. They only did so with the help of a dark Vestige of Divergence forged for a Betrayer God known as the Spider Queen that the party had been avoiding for most of the game.

Incorporating history, lore, story elements and even characters from past campaigns made the world familiar enough that it was easy for fans to fall in love with the story, the new players and the new DM even while missing those not at the table. However, the mini-series left behind major plot threads. Iyengar, who took opportunities after each episode to provide viewers glimpses of things the players didn't see, finished out the final episode by teasing a dangling plot thread -- one that may indicate the Crown Keepers will someday return to face the powerful enemy they managed to outwit early on.

While Critters continue waiting for the third campaign, Exandria Unlimited offered an exciting glimpse into other aspects of Mercer's world from Iyengar's fresh perspective. The mini-campaign did more than just hold fans over until the next full season -- it was a successful experiment that deserves to come back in the future.

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