Critical Role Review: Campaign 2 Episode 6

By: I.Am.No.Man.

Missed last week's review? Find it here!

Episode 6: The Howling Mines

[arve url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DHEj9nY-wo&t=14122s" /]

Recap

As morning breaks in the town of Allfield, our companions find themselves assessing the damage from the previous night’s attack. The town is still smoldering and trying to pick up the pieces after the Gnolls’ deadly assault. Fjord and Caleb help some of the townsfolk dig out their shops from the rubble and head to the town center to meet with Bryce, their emissary from the crown’s guard. He thanks them for their help in the fight last night and extends another offer to them. 30 gold for each Gnoll they hunt down, and more for any survivors they can rescue. The group agrees to help and prepare to adventure into the mines where the Gnolls seem to be holed up.

Fjord’s Expedition (Sam Riegel’s pun, not mine, seriously, watch the moment at 1:29:20) scout out the entrance of the Mine. They find a familiar cart near the entrance, soaked and splattered with blood and gore, guarded by three hyenas. Fjord creates a distraction and the others launch a sneak attack to quickly take down the hyenas. Seeing that the entrance of the mine is now unguarded, the group stealthily makes their way into the Mine. When Caleb asks her to scope out the two paths, Nott, who is terrified of being attacked, quickly gets drunk from whatever drink she has stashed in her little flask, and quietly stumbles down one of the two paths to check them out. (By the way, Drunk Nott is my new favorite character).  A few tense minutes pass and Nott sounds the alarm that she has been discovered. The group rushes in and finds two Gnolls attacking Nott. They rush in to save Nott and kill the two Gnolls.

Making sure Nott is ok they ask her to scope out the other path. With a little help from her liquid courage, she returns with the report that the path on the left spirals downward further into the mine. She leads the group further into the mine and they begin to hear the sounds of gnolls coming from a cavern down below. They discover a large group of Gnolls and hyenas gathered around a makeshift altar of sorts. They are feasting on the freshly harvested hearts of the townsfolk they captured. Disgusted by the horrifying murder and gore, the group attacks the Gnolls and unleash a furious assault.

There’s a crazy fight a bunch of level 3 adventurers take out low level monsters. Jester’s lollipop makes an appearance again, Fjord has awesome ice armor, Nott stabs a Gnoll to death. It’s amazing. While the group take a moment to recoup and search their surroundings, a scream from nearby startles them, a woman screams for her child. The group knows what they must do… they rush ahead.

Review

I loved this episode. The story is winding up and getting more exciting each episode. The character interactions and growth are just delightful to watch. There were so many great moments between each of the characters. Caleb’s social awkwardness and his protectiveness of Nott are super endearing. Nott’s entire drunk escapade in the mine was one of my favorite moments of the campaign. Jester is just as quirky and strange as always but has some serious hints of an intense back story that I’m dying to know more about. Marisha is really hitting her stride as the cringe-inducing, clumsy Beau. I am really warming up to Beau and there were a couple moments this episode that had me laughing. I loved Beau’s strange ingenuity in the Gnoll fight, using the ball bearings to make the terrain more difficult, but my favorite moment had to be her prolonged fight with one particularly dexterous Gnoll. I burst out laughing at the descriptions of Beau trying and failing to hit this poor Gnoll, only for her to end up on the ground, writhing in pain, and somehow kicking the Gnoll in the face by accident.

The cliffhanger this week has me itching for Thursday’s episode. There is also the exciting announcement of this campaign’s first guest star! Khary Payton, who plays King Ezekiel in the Walking Dead, will be joining the cast for next week’s episode! So many things to look forward to! Is it Thursday yet??

It is, it is Thursday! Episode 7 review incoming!