Critical Role Review: C2 Episode 107
By: I.Am.No.Man
Episode 107: Devoutness and Dicks
Recap
Jester enlists the Nein's help in ironing out the details of TravelerCon. They realize they aren't quite sure what Artagan's end goals for the finale of the Con might be. Luckily, he appears and helps clarify some key details. They land on pulling the ultimate long con by pretending that the Traveler was actually the trickster goddess The Moonweaver the whole time. Somehow, this satisfies Jester's desire for a balance between keeping the Traveler all to herself and not wanting to hurt or guilt trip all the rest of the Traveler's followers.
With these final details nailed down, some serious planning happens. There will be dick statures, a dick hunt, a dick toss, a golden dick-et, and a pilgrimage to the top of a volcano while also carrying hand whittled dicks. Caleb will craft dicks, he likes dicks, he wants more dicks. And also there will be a dance/fighting mosh pit. Welcome to TravelerCon.
Realizing that they need a large amount of food to feed the attendees something other than cheese sandwiches and lettuce, the Nein come up with the fantastic idea of hunting down a T-Rex for some fresh meat. The Nein track down a large, white, OLD dinosaur asleep next to his last meal.
Surprisingly, Veth bungles their surprise attack by falling out of a tree, but the Nein quickly react and land some solid blows on the disoriented dino. Caduceus lands a prescient Ray of Enfeeblement that makes the fight feel like a bunch of teens beating up on an old man. The fight leans heavily in the Nein's favor. The bloodied T-Rex gets one devastating bite on Beau, but thanks to a quick reaction from Caduceus she lives to punch another day. Caleb polymorphs into an orange, striped T-Rex and initiates dino on dino destruction.Fjord puts the T-Rex out of his misery with three eldritch blasts.
Just now, the Nein realize there is no easy way to drag the gigantic carcass back through the forest to camp. Caleb, still as a T-Rex, gets bored and begins eating the carcass. Jester thinks that three T-Rexes are better than two and she also polymorphs into a sparkly blue T-Rex. She and Caleb begin to drag the body back to camp.
The Nein spend the next few days finalizing preparations for the Con. More followers begin to arrive by boat. Jester sees some familiar faces in the crowd. Beau meets a travelling lutesman named Kent Plucker that Sam Riegel recognizes as a member of Dr. Dranzel's Travelling Band from Campaign 1. Kent helps Beau set up the booze and gets the party going. The frivolous chaos that ensues would make any trickster god proud. Jester shares a moment with the Traveler and she tells him she is proud of him and he is in turn proud of her. She bites his nose, he kicks her kneecap. They are weirdly adorable.
Veth skirts the edges of the party and finds Vilya sitting alone. She sits with Vilya and they talk about the events of the week. There is no one left for Vilya to send home, yet she still lingers here, a bit nervous to go back home after so many years. Veth has a powerful and emotional talk, mom to mom, about what it means to be an adventurer and a mother. Vilya realizes she can no longer put off being with her family and asks Veth to say goodbye to the Nein for her. She leaves a few flowery mementos behind for Yasha, Fjord, and Caduceus. Veth watches as she creates a doorway to an unfamiliar landscape. Several figures step forward to investigate the doorway and as Vilya steps through, Veth sees a beautiful red haired woman wearing a queenly mantle and crown of antlers clutch her chest and begin to run forward to meet Vilya. She doorway closes and Veth's heart warms knowing Vilya is finally home.
Review
This episode had quite a mix of events. The first half of the session was a bit slow, though mottled with far too many dick jokes, puns, and innuendos. Based on the ever reliable CritRoleStats, the cast said the word 'dick' 99 times.
Caduceus attempted to dig a little deeper into their creepy vision surrounding Vokodo's death. Strangely though, the Wildmother can offer no answers or comfort to his questioning. I'm still of the mind that this tidbit Mercer gave us will snowball into something rather epic. Something creepy this way comes. The cast have also tried to dig into the strange coincidence that Molly had nine eye tattoos and Matt dropping the name Eyes of Nein. Even with high religion and history checks, the Nein got absolutely nothing from this breadcrumb.
By far the most exciting interlude this episode would have to be when the Nein decide to go hunt a T-Rex. The cast went into the fight a bit nonchalantly, and I'll admit I wasn't terribly worried about the fight going south at all. But when Mercer rolled that natural 20 on a bite attack, and we all realized that the dino was capable of dealing 136 points of damage in one hit, everyone got a teensy bit more serious.Everyone thank your Clerics. Even with that shocking reveal, the fight was so one sided the HDYWTDT was more of a pity euthanasia than an epic takedown.
The second half of the episode had not one but two Campaign 1 easter eggs! Kent Plucker, one of the musicians from Scanlan's band showing up on the island was a sweet little moment that tugs our Vox Machina heart strings. The second moment that collectively wrecked all the Critters was a beautifully narrated reunion we've imagined since the Nein met Vilya. Vilya finally, quietly returned to her home and we got the briefest, heart-shattering view of Keyleth realizing her mother was finally home.
Overall this was a funny, irreverent, saccharine fan service of an episode. Now that Jester knows what Artagan wants for his future, I am excited to see if she can actually pull the switcharoo off. And then, after this months long journey to TravelerCon is finally over, where will the Nein go next?? Don't worry, it's almost Thursday!
