Critical Role Review: C3 Episode 21
By: I.Am.No.Man.
Episode 21: Fight at the Museum
Recap
The Bells Hells find themselves facing down two giant clay golems and the other adventuring party, The Verdict, and their prize trapped behind unbreakable glass. Imogen commands the golems to grovel, buying the Hells the precious seconds they need to crack open the case and secure the earring. As the Hells turn to make their escape, the golems leap back into action, surrounding Laudna and knocking her unconscious with two massive hits.
Imogen manages to drag Laudna to safety and the Hells realize that standing ground and fighting may be a death sentence, better to make a run for it. The Hells begin to retreat into the previous chamber, carefully avoiding any more hits from the golems. They all pile up against the door and realize...it's somehow locked. Realization dawns on them...the Verdict must have repaid trick for trick and placed the Hells own immovable rod against the door, trapping them with the golems.
The Hells engage in a frantic fight to survive against the powerful golems. They hack, slash, smash, and burn their way through the golems, taking some nasty hits in return. Fearne manages to take the first golem out with her scorching hands. Imogen races to the only other doorway out of this chamber and gets the door unlocked. As she turns to usher her teammates in, the remaining golem sends a helpless Orym launching fastball style right at her. They both manage to barely cling to consciousness as their teammates rally around them. Orym shakily pulls himself back to his feet, dodges through his companions legs, runs up the front of the golem and stabs it clean through the head.
The golem's form melts back into inert clay and the Hells can finally catch their breath. As they rest, they decide the best course of action may be to wait right where they are and let the Verdict come to them. They'll have the advantage of knowing where all the traps are located, and the upper hand of being rested after a fight. The Hells hunker down in the chamber and keep an ear out for the approach of the verdict.
Before too long, Chetney and Orym pick up the sounds of the other team's approach. Imogen waits until the crew begins trying to pick the locked door into their chamber before setting off a fiery trap. The sound of scorching flames and the pained screams of the Verdict fill the air for an uncomfortable few seconds. The Hells give the Verdict a few moments to recover and make a retreat, but Chetney informs Imogen that he can still hear the other group trying to make their way into the chamber. Imogen mercilessly triggers the fire trap again. More screams and panicked yelling. It sounds like one of their party may be unconscious. Imogen gives them another brief round to rethink their attack and run for cover. For a third, and brutally vicious time Imogen triggers the fire trap and finally sends the Verdict running for their lives.
It's only a few seconds later that the Hells are filled with a bit of regret at how far things went. FCG, Fearne and Orym all beg to help the Verdict and make sure that no one is seriously hurt. FCG and Fearne help to heal and resuscitate the more severely injured members of the Verdict while calling for a truce between the parties. The Verdict agree to let the Hells walk away with this victory.
The Hells begin to wind their way back to the entrance of the museum, picking up a few (in Ashton's opinion) well deserved mementos along the way. Ashton manages to find some cryptic papers and a strange set of eyeglasses locked in Evon Hytroga's desk that he tucks away to explore later. Chetney snatches the journal of Vespin Chloras (the figure at the helm of the Calamity). Ashton also picks up the helmet of a Hishari cult warrior. Finally satisfied with their rewards, the Hells head back to the main entrance of the museum to find Hytroga.
Evon Hytroga enthusiastically greets the group, and is only mildly disappointed to find out the Hells have been successful in infiltrating the museum and claiming the earring. He concedes the win to the Hells and offers them a grand prize of...their magically painted portrait hanging on his 'wall of winners'. Well...I guess it's a good thing Ashton looted his own prizes from the museum before they left.
The Hells decide that, since they technically stole from Hytroga and he seems the type of man to hold a grudge against that, it may be best if the crew hightails it back to Jrusar post haste. After a few quick hours of rest in a camp outside of town, the Hells rise bright and early to pack up their belongings and get on back home.
As the gang splits up to gather their things, Chetney drops in to inquire about a familiar figure. He visits the town's crafter, known as Zadro. Chetney asks Zadro if she knows any news of Oltgar, their old mutual mentor. Zadro immediately grows cold and suspicious, setting Chetney on edge and the two begin to circle each other like a pair of wolves. Sensing that there is no love for Oltgar left between either of them, the pair agree it's best if Chetney leaves and never comes back or mentions the name Oltgar in Zadro's presence again.
Orym has a run in with Estoni, the kind astronomer that the Hells questioned earlier. Estoni is glad he caught the Hells on the way out of town, as there is one more important piece of information he wanted to pass along. He reveals that the Lumas twins may have been involved with an eccentric 'club' named the Grim Verity that made it their mission to explore and explain conspiracy theories in Exandria. Estoni gives Orym a letter to bring to his old colleague Ebonold Kai in Yios. This may help open some more doors into the Lumas twins' murder.
As the Hells begin the quiet trek back to Jrusar, FCG helps to identify some of the relics the Hells picked up from the museum. He gives the eyeglasses of Charming to Fearne, lets Laudna know that the enchanted papers from Hytroga's desk can only be read when exposed to extreme cold, and manages to magically cure Imogen's still blue skin back to her normal hue.
Laudna casts a quick ray of frost over the papers from Hytroga and the Hells are able to decipher the strange ledgers. Apparently Hytroga has a deal with Spireling Shen from The Clasp back in Tal Dorei to trade in fake artifacts. Not only that, but Ashton also catches the name of his sponsor Jiana Hexam. Hytroga's spies report that Jiana has been receiving three shipments from Wildemount that are then picked up by a mysterious figure. Ashton remembers finding a crate that matches the descriptions in the papers when his old crew broke into her estate, though he can't recall what was in that crate. He'll have to see if he can dig up some more information on that another time.
After a few days of uneventful travel, the Hells find themselves cresting the hills and spotting the skyline of Jrusar once again. The city holds endless threads for the Hells to follow, which will they choose to explore next? We'll find out in the next episode!
Review
The Bells Hells completed a successful mission in the Heartmoor! I'm amazed that this group of chaos gremlins managed to make it out of Hytroga's house of horrors mostly in one piece. And, on top of claiming victory, uncovered some more fascinating threads to follow in the future.
Mercer pulled an interesting move by trapping the Hells in the chamber with the golems. That moment when the group realizes just how strong the golems are and just how trapped they might be was one of the more exciting moments in the episode. The group wasted no time messing around though, and immediately unleashed everything they had left at the monsters. The gang did a great job navigating a nasty battlefield and narrowly avoiding any more close calls.
Imogen had quite a dark moment in this session when she decided to show absolutely no mercy and completely obliterate the Verdict in three intentionally harrowing attacks. I'm not sure if Laura got caught up in survival mode in the moment, or there's a seriously messed up side of Imogen that we haven't seen before. But that was brutal. Imogen's more peace-loving companions were quick to make up for the slip up and rush to the aid of the injured. Thankfully, no one actually died during the encounter, though there were a couple close calls. I guess it wouldn't be a Critical Role campaign without at least one extraordinarily violent outburst on a mostly innocent party.
Ashton's rage looting actually led to some very interesting finds. We for sure got confirmation that the 'incredible' relics found in Hytroga's museum were in fact manufactured fakes produced by... none other than famed crime syndicate The Clasp. That dangerous groups reach is far and wide. Ashton also has another thread leading back to Jiana Hexam to follow...if only he can remember what might have been in that mysterious crate he's reading about.
Travis was in a rare form during tonight's session. He leaned much more heavily into the chaos and humor than he normally does, which is saying a lot because he's not been one to shy away from a humorous moment before. But his encounter with ex-colleague Zadro was downright hilarious. I was expecting a calm chat about an old hated mentor, commiserate about how tough they had it, express a mutual admiration for each other's craftsmanship... but no. What unfolded was one of the most odd games of chicken I've ever seen. Neither Chetney or Zadro could convince the other they weren't spies for Oltgar. They were both too suspicious to actually pass along any useful information to each other and we were left with more questions than answers! We'll see if this Oltgar manages to pop up again anytime soon.
We also managed to pick up a new Lumas twins thread after what seemed like a final dead end. We have a new name to investigate and a new city to possibly visit to keep this strange story going. This campaign has been chalk full of strange conspiracy theories, especially surrounding Ruidus. And it seems like the twins may have been deeper into the conspiracy than we realized. The supposedly harmless group, The Grim Verity, may actually lead to some very dangerous places. We'll see how quickly the Hells pick up this story line again.
We're back where we started with next episode! The gang arrived safely in Jrusar with a wide open world of possibilities awaiting them. Where will the threads lead next? We'll find out soon! Don't worry Critter's, it's almost Thursday.
Don't Miss It!
If you've been missing the Mighty Nein, you can catch Nott, Beau and Yasha getting up to their old antics in the Red Nose Day one-shot Dignity, starring special guest Stephen Colbert. Its a quick and breezy hour and a half special that doesn't have a boring minute in it.
A new episode of Critical Role's after-show 4 Sided Dive airs Tuesday, May 3rd.
Get ready for Episode 22 of Campaign 3 in its normal time slot, Thursday May 5th.
