Welcome to this week's Critical Role Roundup. This week the Mighty Nein descend into sewers and deal with exploding rats and hatching spider eggs. We have action, new music and a lot more in this week's episode of Critical Role!
Hey, there's new music over the preshow fan art montage! The music itself is fan art: this is "Welcome to Wildemount" by Colm McGuinness. Check out the video on YouTube.
Jester and Caleb return from their trip to the Silken Terrace and meet the rest of the Mighty Nein at the Leaky Tap. Jester tells them she saw the Traveler. They carefully quiz her about this, because gods usually don't hang out with people, but she insists that he might even be there with them right now. Fjord rolls a Perception check, but perceives no deities in the room.
The party encourages Caleb to upgrade his wardrobe to something nicer and less socially limiting. He just wants a cloak to put over his old clothes, but reluctantly agrees that he could blend in more. On the way to the sewer job, Caleb goes to a shop -- Ye Olde Navy, let's say -- to find basic, blending-in clothes. He also buys Nott a large set of earmuffs and a woolen cap, which will help disguise her goblin ears and keep them warm in the cold northern climate.
They enter the sewer and look for clues to where the webbed nest is. Eventually they find a hint of webbing along the ceiling, and Map #1 comes out!
There weren't enough rat miniatures on hand, so there's a dog mini or two in there to substitute.
Swollen, mutant sewer rats attack the Mighty Nein. Piercing the rats releases poison gas, so killing them via bludgeoning damage works best. Eventually they kill all the rats that attacked.
Moving on, they find the nest of dense webbing. Creatures are trapped in it, cocooned in webbing. Caleb sends his Unseen Servant, Schmidt, to poke at the human-size cocoons to see if they are alive. They don't move, but a limp arm flops out of one, revealing the corpse is one of the missing Crownsguard.
The web nest is under another manhole that leads out of the sewer. Jester finds a living, unconscious male halfling with a thick band of tattoos around his neck webbed to the back wall. Nott and Fjord get a creepy feeling and turn around to see a massive white and blue Phase Spider right behind them. It bites Fjord then disappears, and Map #2 appears!
The spider phases in again and attacks Fjord, dropping him to 0HP, but his half-orcish Relentless Endurance brings him up to 1HP. Yasha rages and slashes the spider. Nott shoots it with her crossbow. Fjord uses the glove that shoots Scorching Rays. The spider bites Yasha, who uses her aasimar ability Healing Hands on herself. Beau whacks the spider with her staff, and Molly finally kills it using Vicious Mockery, as his Infernal phrase burns it from the inside.
Taliesin quipped, "My words are just making his blood boil."
A nearby cluster of spider eggs begins to hatch, so they burn them. They loot the corpses, finding weapons, some interesting leather armor, and a little money. Caleb pockets the money he finds without telling the others. Yasha also hides some money. Shiny-object enthusiast Nott takes a button from each body she can find.
They wake up the halfling rogue, Thed. Beau asks him who the Gentleman is, and Nott rolls a natural 20 to persuade him in Thieves Cant that they are trustworthy. He directs them to a local dive bar called the Evening Nip and gives them a code phrase to say after ordering a drink: "I have no coin, but I am willing to offer many gifts."
Nott sees a Thieves Cant phrase, "money pot," scratched on the wall behind the ladder up out of the sewer. The sewer grate is inside the gated Tri-Spire District. When they get out, Molly gets up in Caleb's personal space and tells him it's fair to skim some money off the top, but he should make sure to redistribute 60-70% of it. Later, Caleb gives the money he took to Jester.
Two Crownsguard stop the group and escort them to the Tri-Spire's exit gate, more or less politely. They carry the spider to the Kings Hall and collect their 700 gold. Lawmaster Orentha, a human woman in her 60s, asks to meet them, extending her thanks. The group leaves to clean up and celebrate.
Caleb pulls Fjord aside and offers to trade him the studded leather armor for the glove that shoots Scorching Rays. An Identify spell revealed that the armor, engraved with an ocean theme, protects the wearer in water, appropriate for Fjord's apparent history. Caleb feels the fiery glove would suit him. Fjord offers to trade for Caleb's story about his history with fire. Caleb says he doesn't trust him -- or anyone else -- enough yet to tell him, but to ask again soon. They trade the items.
At the Leaky Tap, Fjord and Beau see Ulag, the dwarf from the Knights of Requital meeting. He's been watching the Mighty Nein and knows they have fighting skills. Assured the others aren't big Empire fans, he asks to hire the group to do "something good in this city to change the status quo, and root out some of the unworthy at the top." They aren't acting against the Empire, but against certain people who abuse their power in the town. "There's a shift coming that we want to ride the wave of," he says, and promises details at a meeting tomorrow. Fjord and Beau are curious, but skeptical.
The Mighty Nein check out the Evening Nip, a rough-looking dive bar. Only two patrons are in the bar, human men -- one with a tattoo like Thed's -- plus a dwarf bartender named Clive. He serves them very bad ale. The place seems less like a functional bar and more like a crime front. They decide not to use the code phrase or start anything since they are still beat up from the sewer fight, so they finish their terrible drinks and leave.
Next week: Political rabble-rousing? Organized crime escapades? Maybe Caleb finally gets to visit the smutty bookstore!
Hey, there's new music over the preshow fan art montage! The music itself is fan art: this is "Welcome to Wildemount" by Colm McGuinness. Check out the video on YouTube.
Jester and Caleb return from their trip to the Silken Terrace and meet the rest of the Mighty Nein at the Leaky Tap. Jester tells them she saw the Traveler. They carefully quiz her about this, because gods usually don't hang out with people, but she insists that he might even be there with them right now. Fjord rolls a Perception check, but perceives no deities in the room.
The party encourages Caleb to upgrade his wardrobe to something nicer and less socially limiting. He just wants a cloak to put over his old clothes, but reluctantly agrees that he could blend in more. On the way to the sewer job, Caleb goes to a shop -- Ye Olde Navy, let's say -- to find basic, blending-in clothes. He also buys Nott a large set of earmuffs and a woolen cap, which will help disguise her goblin ears and keep them warm in the cold northern climate.
They enter the sewer and look for clues to where the webbed nest is. Eventually they find a hint of webbing along the ceiling, and Map #1 comes out!
There weren't enough rat miniatures on hand, so there's a dog mini or two in there to substitute.
Swollen, mutant sewer rats attack the Mighty Nein. Piercing the rats releases poison gas, so killing them via bludgeoning damage works best. Eventually they kill all the rats that attacked.
Moving on, they find the nest of dense webbing. Creatures are trapped in it, cocooned in webbing. Caleb sends his Unseen Servant, Schmidt, to poke at the human-size cocoons to see if they are alive. They don't move, but a limp arm flops out of one, revealing the corpse is one of the missing Crownsguard.
The web nest is under another manhole that leads out of the sewer. Jester finds a living, unconscious male halfling with a thick band of tattoos around his neck webbed to the back wall. Nott and Fjord get a creepy feeling and turn around to see a massive white and blue Phase Spider right behind them. It bites Fjord then disappears, and Map #2 appears!
The spider phases in again and attacks Fjord, dropping him to 0HP, but his half-orcish Relentless Endurance brings him up to 1HP. Yasha rages and slashes the spider. Nott shoots it with her crossbow. Fjord uses the glove that shoots Scorching Rays. The spider bites Yasha, who uses her aasimar ability Healing Hands on herself. Beau whacks the spider with her staff, and Molly finally kills it using Vicious Mockery, as his Infernal phrase burns it from the inside.
Taliesin quipped, "My words are just making his blood boil."
A nearby cluster of spider eggs begins to hatch, so they burn them. They loot the corpses, finding weapons, some interesting leather armor, and a little money. Caleb pockets the money he finds without telling the others. Yasha also hides some money. Shiny-object enthusiast Nott takes a button from each body she can find.
They wake up the halfling rogue, Thed. Beau asks him who the Gentleman is, and Nott rolls a natural 20 to persuade him in Thieves Cant that they are trustworthy. He directs them to a local dive bar called the Evening Nip and gives them a code phrase to say after ordering a drink: "I have no coin, but I am willing to offer many gifts."
Nott sees a Thieves Cant phrase, "money pot," scratched on the wall behind the ladder up out of the sewer. The sewer grate is inside the gated Tri-Spire District. When they get out, Molly gets up in Caleb's personal space and tells him it's fair to skim some money off the top, but he should make sure to redistribute 60-70% of it. Later, Caleb gives the money he took to Jester.
Two Crownsguard stop the group and escort them to the Tri-Spire's exit gate, more or less politely. They carry the spider to the Kings Hall and collect their 700 gold. Lawmaster Orentha, a human woman in her 60s, asks to meet them, extending her thanks. The group leaves to clean up and celebrate.
Caleb pulls Fjord aside and offers to trade him the studded leather armor for the glove that shoots Scorching Rays. An Identify spell revealed that the armor, engraved with an ocean theme, protects the wearer in water, appropriate for Fjord's apparent history. Caleb feels the fiery glove would suit him. Fjord offers to trade for Caleb's story about his history with fire. Caleb says he doesn't trust him -- or anyone else -- enough yet to tell him, but to ask again soon. They trade the items.
At the Leaky Tap, Fjord and Beau see Ulag, the dwarf from the Knights of Requital meeting. He's been watching the Mighty Nein and knows they have fighting skills. Assured the others aren't big Empire fans, he asks to hire the group to do "something good in this city to change the status quo, and root out some of the unworthy at the top." They aren't acting against the Empire, but against certain people who abuse their power in the town. "There's a shift coming that we want to ride the wave of," he says, and promises details at a meeting tomorrow. Fjord and Beau are curious, but skeptical.
The Mighty Nein check out the Evening Nip, a rough-looking dive bar. Only two patrons are in the bar, human men -- one with a tattoo like Thed's -- plus a dwarf bartender named Clive. He serves them very bad ale. The place seems less like a functional bar and more like a crime front. They decide not to use the code phrase or start anything since they are still beat up from the sewer fight, so they finish their terrible drinks and leave.
Next week: Political rabble-rousing? Organized crime escapades? Maybe Caleb finally gets to visit the smutty bookstore!
