You've heard of flying carpets, but what about a fighting carpet? A rug ruckus, botched plans and worse rolls, multiple heists, and an explosive twist ramp up the action as Critical Role goes Coen Brothers!
Episode Recap
The Mighty Nein make their final plans to set the document forgery/heist plot in motion. As Caleb helpfully summarizes, the goal is to "tie Sutan to the Myriad, tie the High Richter to the Knights of Requital, and tie Sutan and the High Richter to each other." The plan: steal Lord Sutan's official seal from his house and plant incriminating forged letters from the High Richter, then plant letters to frame the High Richter in her house.
The group splits up to do recon. Beau and Jester successfully case Sutan's house. The others go to the Guided Hand Infirmary, the medical practice Sutan stole from Dolan and Horus and gave to his own son. They hope to determine whether the son is corrupt, and also to try to find any helpful documents or handwriting samples.
Hijinx ensue at the clinic as the plan goes awry immediately. They end up fleeing the building -- Nott and Caleb are briefly pursued by Crownsguards, and Molly has to crash through a window to escape. They gain nothing from the experience, but it was highly entertaining.
The next night is the pre-harvest festival gala for the city's wealthy set in the Tri-Spires. This event will get Lord Sutan and the High Richter out of their homes for the evening, so the heists can commence.
Jester, Beau, Nott, Caleb, and Ulag break into Sutan's house first. They battle a surprisingly effective fighting carpet, which manages to render both Nott and Beau unconscious before being destroyed. The seal is found and the evidence planted. Nott fails to disarm the trap on the box the seal was kept in, so she is paralyzed for an hour.
They escape Sutan's house with some difficulty, then head to the High Richter's house to complete the plan. Jester and Fjord impersonate the High Richter and one of her guards to enter her house while Nott, Caleb, and Ulag go over the wall and break in through the back door.
After a whole game of mostly very low rolls, Fjord rolls a natural 20 on an Investigation check, locating and deactivating a trap. They go upstairs to the High Richter's bedroom, where Jester rolls another natural 20 and finds a copy of The Courting of the Crick under her mattress with a bookmark in it. They also find documents which prove the High Richter knew Ulag's wife was innocent, but sent her to prison anyway because she wanted to portray dwarves as violent and evil. Ulag is naturally furious, but glad to find this evidence.
Caleb tries to swipe a spell scroll case they find, and Fjord strenuously objects since they are trying not to leave evidence of any break-in. Fjord summons his falchion and threatens Caleb with it, so Nott pulls her crossbow on Fjord, who gets ready to summon Eldritch Blast.
Just then, the High Richter returns home and catches everyone in the house except Beau and Molly, who stayed outside as lookouts and rolled a series of lousy Perception checks. The High Richter gloats, boasting that she is going to send them all to prison or have them executed. Jester attempts Hold Person, which fails after a natural 20 saving throw. Ulag leaps onto the evil High Richter and slams a charge from a Necklace of Fireballs into her mouth, incinerating both of them. Caleb is too close to the fireball and is knocked unconscious.
Outside, Molly and Beau see the explosion, then notice a high-pitched whining sound. They look toward the towering Zauberspire and see a spherical mass of black energy expanding through the side of the tower. The mass disappears, leaving a massive hole in the tower, which begins to crumble. Two figures leap out of the tower. Blue magical energy coalesces to hold it up, and two extremely powerful mages fly down from the top of the tower and begin casting bolts of energy in the direction of the figures who ran out, killing one of them. What is happening?
Fjord revives Caleb with a healing potion. The windows blew out with the explosion and the house is on fire, so everyone escapes. Nott quickly pilfers the spell scroll Caleb wanted on her way out.
Chaos erupts in the streets as the gala attendees run for their lives. The Mighty Nein slip into the sewer, where they encounter a figure wearing chitinous armor, like the drow's armor in The Courting of the Crick. He is holding a mysterious, gray, 12-sided device with handles. He speaks to them in Undercommon. None of them speak it, so Caleb begins to cast Comprehend Languages as the mysterious armored figure attacks. Cliffhanger!
I've highlighted some of my favorite bits from the episode below. Which parts did you like best?
Play of the Game
Ulag's kamikaze strike, which kicked off a shocking and thrilling sequence of events.
Quote of the Week
"There's a meta-gaming pigeon."
Unsolved Mysteries
The plot kicked into high gear this week, so we didn't delve further into anyone's mysterious backstories. Instead, we can spend the week speculating on what the heck is going on with the attack on the tower, which is a more pressing concern.
Character Notes
I love Nott's habit of ending every Message spell with, "You can respond to this message."
The brief standoff between Caleb, Fjord, and Nott in the High Richter's bedroom quickly got back-burnered by everything exploding, but they have some serious issues to resolve.
This episode marked the second time a party member pretended to have a horrifying STD as part of some scheme. To be fair, claiming you have extreme syphilis is an attention-getter. Molly's attempt to fake it with scrambled egg-based makeup ultimately was unnecessary, but it shows real commitment to his mission of distraction.
Context-Free Comedy
"He took an hour to cosplay his d***!"
contributed by Annie Bulloch
Episode Recap
The Mighty Nein make their final plans to set the document forgery/heist plot in motion. As Caleb helpfully summarizes, the goal is to "tie Sutan to the Myriad, tie the High Richter to the Knights of Requital, and tie Sutan and the High Richter to each other." The plan: steal Lord Sutan's official seal from his house and plant incriminating forged letters from the High Richter, then plant letters to frame the High Richter in her house.
The group splits up to do recon. Beau and Jester successfully case Sutan's house. The others go to the Guided Hand Infirmary, the medical practice Sutan stole from Dolan and Horus and gave to his own son. They hope to determine whether the son is corrupt, and also to try to find any helpful documents or handwriting samples.
View attachment 95876
When you cause the DM make that face.
When you cause the DM make that face.
Hijinx ensue at the clinic as the plan goes awry immediately. They end up fleeing the building -- Nott and Caleb are briefly pursued by Crownsguards, and Molly has to crash through a window to escape. They gain nothing from the experience, but it was highly entertaining.
The next night is the pre-harvest festival gala for the city's wealthy set in the Tri-Spires. This event will get Lord Sutan and the High Richter out of their homes for the evening, so the heists can commence.
Jester, Beau, Nott, Caleb, and Ulag break into Sutan's house first. They battle a surprisingly effective fighting carpet, which manages to render both Nott and Beau unconscious before being destroyed. The seal is found and the evidence planted. Nott fails to disarm the trap on the box the seal was kept in, so she is paralyzed for an hour.
View attachment 95877
Sam held Nott's paralysis pose for 12 straight minutes onscreen!
Sam held Nott's paralysis pose for 12 straight minutes onscreen!
They escape Sutan's house with some difficulty, then head to the High Richter's house to complete the plan. Jester and Fjord impersonate the High Richter and one of her guards to enter her house while Nott, Caleb, and Ulag go over the wall and break in through the back door.
After a whole game of mostly very low rolls, Fjord rolls a natural 20 on an Investigation check, locating and deactivating a trap. They go upstairs to the High Richter's bedroom, where Jester rolls another natural 20 and finds a copy of The Courting of the Crick under her mattress with a bookmark in it. They also find documents which prove the High Richter knew Ulag's wife was innocent, but sent her to prison anyway because she wanted to portray dwarves as violent and evil. Ulag is naturally furious, but glad to find this evidence.
Caleb tries to swipe a spell scroll case they find, and Fjord strenuously objects since they are trying not to leave evidence of any break-in. Fjord summons his falchion and threatens Caleb with it, so Nott pulls her crossbow on Fjord, who gets ready to summon Eldritch Blast.
Just then, the High Richter returns home and catches everyone in the house except Beau and Molly, who stayed outside as lookouts and rolled a series of lousy Perception checks. The High Richter gloats, boasting that she is going to send them all to prison or have them executed. Jester attempts Hold Person, which fails after a natural 20 saving throw. Ulag leaps onto the evil High Richter and slams a charge from a Necklace of Fireballs into her mouth, incinerating both of them. Caleb is too close to the fireball and is knocked unconscious.
Outside, Molly and Beau see the explosion, then notice a high-pitched whining sound. They look toward the towering Zauberspire and see a spherical mass of black energy expanding through the side of the tower. The mass disappears, leaving a massive hole in the tower, which begins to crumble. Two figures leap out of the tower. Blue magical energy coalesces to hold it up, and two extremely powerful mages fly down from the top of the tower and begin casting bolts of energy in the direction of the figures who ran out, killing one of them. What is happening?
View attachment 95878
When the DM causes the whole party make that face.
When the DM causes the whole party make that face.
Fjord revives Caleb with a healing potion. The windows blew out with the explosion and the house is on fire, so everyone escapes. Nott quickly pilfers the spell scroll Caleb wanted on her way out.
Chaos erupts in the streets as the gala attendees run for their lives. The Mighty Nein slip into the sewer, where they encounter a figure wearing chitinous armor, like the drow's armor in The Courting of the Crick. He is holding a mysterious, gray, 12-sided device with handles. He speaks to them in Undercommon. None of them speak it, so Caleb begins to cast Comprehend Languages as the mysterious armored figure attacks. Cliffhanger!
I've highlighted some of my favorite bits from the episode below. Which parts did you like best?
Play of the Game
Ulag's kamikaze strike, which kicked off a shocking and thrilling sequence of events.
Quote of the Week
"There's a meta-gaming pigeon."
Unsolved Mysteries
The plot kicked into high gear this week, so we didn't delve further into anyone's mysterious backstories. Instead, we can spend the week speculating on what the heck is going on with the attack on the tower, which is a more pressing concern.
Character Notes
I love Nott's habit of ending every Message spell with, "You can respond to this message."
The brief standoff between Caleb, Fjord, and Nott in the High Richter's bedroom quickly got back-burnered by everything exploding, but they have some serious issues to resolve.
This episode marked the second time a party member pretended to have a horrifying STD as part of some scheme. To be fair, claiming you have extreme syphilis is an attention-getter. Molly's attempt to fake it with scrambled egg-based makeup ultimately was unnecessary, but it shows real commitment to his mission of distraction.
Context-Free Comedy
"He took an hour to cosplay his d***!"
contributed by Annie Bulloch
