This week on Critical Role we see Xhorhasian assassins, cosmic dreams, intra-party drama, surprising character revelations, a callback to Campaign 1, and a mid-episode level-up!
Episode Recap
We pick up at last week's cliffhanger as the Xhorhasian assassin attacks. He casts Darkness, complicating the combat. Everyone tries to do non-lethal damage while hoping to convince him they don't want a fight, only information.
Nott casts a Message to the drow, hoping to overcome the language barrier: "Do not fight us! We are no fans of the Empire either. You can reply to this message." There is no reply. After a few rounds of combat, Molly manages to knock out the assassin, then stabilizes him.
They search the drow. He has 116 platinum and 12 gold, three daggers, a longsword, fancy Xhorhasian armor, boots, and the weird, glowing dodecahedron with handles. Its magical aura feels like infinite nothingness, which scares Caleb.
Caleb casts Comprehend Languages so he can talk to the drow, but he won't talk. Once they realize the drow speaks Common, Molly uses Devil's Tongue to finally charm him into opening up.
The drow, Thuran, calls the dodecahedron "the Beacon." It's an artifact from his culture which allows "the rebirth of our people," stolen from Xhorhas by the Dwendallian empire. It seems the drow can use them to reincarnate somehow. It didn't create the hole in the tower -- his companion did that. They were sent by their empress, Leylas Kryn, and they had help on their mission. He reacts subtly when the party mentions Ulag, so there seems to be some connection there.
The group lets him go, but they keep his money, weapons, and boots. A minute after he leaves, the party overhears the Crownsguard catch and kill him. Outside, Caleb, Jester, Nott, and Beau successfully team up to swipe the Beacon from the Crownsguard.
Fjord and Beau find Dolan and Horus. The Knights of Requital never intended to assassinate anyone, so they're afraid this mayhem will be traced to them. They didn't know Ulag was involved with the Xhorhasians. Dolan wants Horus to leave town and lay low while Dolan tries to continue the original plan to replace the High Richter. Horus reluctantly goes back to the Leaky Tap with them so Fjord can escort him out of town in the morning.
Caleb takes the Beacon to the secret second cellar under the Leaky Tap, the one with the old skeleton in it. Let's call it the Skellar. Caleb wants to obtain a lead box to protect the Beacon from divination magic.
The others are upstairs going through the drow loot. They split the cash and give Nott several items for Caleb to identify. Since everyone but Caleb is there, they discuss the conflict between Fjord and Caleb (and Nott) at the High Richter's house. A spirited and emotional discussion about trust and mutual goals ensues. Nott eventually reveals how she views her relationship with Caleb (see Quote of the Week below).
In the Skellar a bit later, Caleb identifies various items, including the scroll case Nott secretly stole from the burning house. The longsword and boots are magic. The stone Caleb stole from Lord Sutan is one of a pair enchanted to exchange messages. Caleb has Schmidt the Unseen Servant open the scroll case, which he correctly believes to be trapped. Two scrolls are inside. Caleb is thrilled about what spells they contain, but Liam won't say what they are, waiting for the right time to deploy them.
Caleb tells Nott he was supposed to go to the Soltryce Academy once. His small town even raised money to send him, but Caleb did something that made it no longer possible. He says he's not interested in going now, but will learn on his own. "Correction: I will learn with your help."
Everyone but Liam gets booted off the stage! Caleb has a symbolic, Beacon-influenced dream in which he sees infinite, slightly varied Calebs, all going in different directions among the stars. Then the Beacon pulls all the Calebs back into one person. He feels at peace for the first time in ages and gets a restful night's sleep.
Everybody comes back in and levels up to 4! They roll their new HP on air, which is a first.
In the morning, Fjord and Horus find the city gates locked down. Every person trying to get in or out is being interviewed. They return to the Leaky Tap.
After some discussion about various tasks they can do, they go to the Invulnerable Vagrant to buy a lead-lined box. Fjord gets a few details about Pumat Prime's backstory. Nott asks whether it's possible to enchant a flask to never run out of liquor. It is, for 250 gold. SOLD!
Caleb buys two spells: Shocking Grasp and Shield.
One of the Pumats is reading a book: The Daring Trials and Tribulations of Taryon Darrington.
They go to the Evening Nip to meet the Gentleman. Beau and Jester give the "many gifts" codeword and everyone is admitted to the secret room under a trap door in the back. Soft music plays as they descend a staircase. There's an underground tavern at the bottom.
As they enter, a black tabaxi recognizes Mollymauk. He exclaims, "Lucien! You're alive!" and swoops in to hug him. Molly acts like he doesn't know him, but there can't be that many people you could mistake Molly for. Cliffhanger!
Play of the Game
In a combat-light episode, Mollymauk's successful use of Devil's Tongue to charm Thuron produced a lot of information that would have been difficult to obtain otherwise.
Quote of the Week
Nott: "Caleb and I have a very special relationship. It is that of a parent and a child. But I am the parent. You do understand that, correct? I protect him. He's my boy and I keep him safe. I want him to thrive and get better and better and more powerful and stronger because he can achieve great things."
Context-Free Comedy
"...and that's where we stand with the weirdos."
Tell us what you thought was your favorite parts of this episode of Critical Role?
contributed by Annie Bulloch
Episode Recap
We pick up at last week's cliffhanger as the Xhorhasian assassin attacks. He casts Darkness, complicating the combat. Everyone tries to do non-lethal damage while hoping to convince him they don't want a fight, only information.
Nott casts a Message to the drow, hoping to overcome the language barrier: "Do not fight us! We are no fans of the Empire either. You can reply to this message." There is no reply. After a few rounds of combat, Molly manages to knock out the assassin, then stabilizes him.
View attachment 96083
This new screen configuration puts the map in the biggest section, showing off that beautiful Dwarven Forge.
This new screen configuration puts the map in the biggest section, showing off that beautiful Dwarven Forge.
They search the drow. He has 116 platinum and 12 gold, three daggers, a longsword, fancy Xhorhasian armor, boots, and the weird, glowing dodecahedron with handles. Its magical aura feels like infinite nothingness, which scares Caleb.
Caleb casts Comprehend Languages so he can talk to the drow, but he won't talk. Once they realize the drow speaks Common, Molly uses Devil's Tongue to finally charm him into opening up.
The drow, Thuran, calls the dodecahedron "the Beacon." It's an artifact from his culture which allows "the rebirth of our people," stolen from Xhorhas by the Dwendallian empire. It seems the drow can use them to reincarnate somehow. It didn't create the hole in the tower -- his companion did that. They were sent by their empress, Leylas Kryn, and they had help on their mission. He reacts subtly when the party mentions Ulag, so there seems to be some connection there.
The group lets him go, but they keep his money, weapons, and boots. A minute after he leaves, the party overhears the Crownsguard catch and kill him. Outside, Caleb, Jester, Nott, and Beau successfully team up to swipe the Beacon from the Crownsguard.
Fjord and Beau find Dolan and Horus. The Knights of Requital never intended to assassinate anyone, so they're afraid this mayhem will be traced to them. They didn't know Ulag was involved with the Xhorhasians. Dolan wants Horus to leave town and lay low while Dolan tries to continue the original plan to replace the High Richter. Horus reluctantly goes back to the Leaky Tap with them so Fjord can escort him out of town in the morning.
Caleb takes the Beacon to the secret second cellar under the Leaky Tap, the one with the old skeleton in it. Let's call it the Skellar. Caleb wants to obtain a lead box to protect the Beacon from divination magic.
The others are upstairs going through the drow loot. They split the cash and give Nott several items for Caleb to identify. Since everyone but Caleb is there, they discuss the conflict between Fjord and Caleb (and Nott) at the High Richter's house. A spirited and emotional discussion about trust and mutual goals ensues. Nott eventually reveals how she views her relationship with Caleb (see Quote of the Week below).
In the Skellar a bit later, Caleb identifies various items, including the scroll case Nott secretly stole from the burning house. The longsword and boots are magic. The stone Caleb stole from Lord Sutan is one of a pair enchanted to exchange messages. Caleb has Schmidt the Unseen Servant open the scroll case, which he correctly believes to be trapped. Two scrolls are inside. Caleb is thrilled about what spells they contain, but Liam won't say what they are, waiting for the right time to deploy them.
Caleb tells Nott he was supposed to go to the Soltryce Academy once. His small town even raised money to send him, but Caleb did something that made it no longer possible. He says he's not interested in going now, but will learn on his own. "Correction: I will learn with your help."
Everyone but Liam gets booted off the stage! Caleb has a symbolic, Beacon-influenced dream in which he sees infinite, slightly varied Calebs, all going in different directions among the stars. Then the Beacon pulls all the Calebs back into one person. He feels at peace for the first time in ages and gets a restful night's sleep.
View attachment 96081
"Meanwhile, longtime viewers have traumatic flashbacks to Campaign 1."
"Meanwhile, longtime viewers have traumatic flashbacks to Campaign 1."
Everybody comes back in and levels up to 4! They roll their new HP on air, which is a first.
In the morning, Fjord and Horus find the city gates locked down. Every person trying to get in or out is being interviewed. They return to the Leaky Tap.
After some discussion about various tasks they can do, they go to the Invulnerable Vagrant to buy a lead-lined box. Fjord gets a few details about Pumat Prime's backstory. Nott asks whether it's possible to enchant a flask to never run out of liquor. It is, for 250 gold. SOLD!
Caleb buys two spells: Shocking Grasp and Shield.
One of the Pumats is reading a book: The Daring Trials and Tribulations of Taryon Darrington.
They go to the Evening Nip to meet the Gentleman. Beau and Jester give the "many gifts" codeword and everyone is admitted to the secret room under a trap door in the back. Soft music plays as they descend a staircase. There's an underground tavern at the bottom.
As they enter, a black tabaxi recognizes Mollymauk. He exclaims, "Lucien! You're alive!" and swoops in to hug him. Molly acts like he doesn't know him, but there can't be that many people you could mistake Molly for. Cliffhanger!
View attachment 96082
"WHO THE FRICK IS LUCIEN?"
"WHO THE FRICK IS LUCIEN?"
Play of the Game
In a combat-light episode, Mollymauk's successful use of Devil's Tongue to charm Thuron produced a lot of information that would have been difficult to obtain otherwise.
Quote of the Week
Nott: "Caleb and I have a very special relationship. It is that of a parent and a child. But I am the parent. You do understand that, correct? I protect him. He's my boy and I keep him safe. I want him to thrive and get better and better and more powerful and stronger because he can achieve great things."
Context-Free Comedy
"...and that's where we stand with the weirdos."
Tell us what you thought was your favorite parts of this episode of Critical Role?
contributed by Annie Bulloch
