Critical Role Review: Campaign 2 Epsisode 13

By: I.Am.No.Man

Episode 13: Lost and Found

Missed last week's review? Find it here![arve url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GNcQ1Abnek&t=1s" /]

Recap

The Nein face off against the stranger in the dark. An imposing figure in devilish  Crick armor, obviously wounded and defensive, carries a glowing orb that emanates a strange energy. Caleb attempts to communicate with the figure, but he rushes at the group with weapons drawn.They grapple with the powerful dark elf, taking dangerous slashes from his sword. Molly manages to knock the elf out cold and the group ties him up and questions him. They learn that he and the other figure the Nein saw killed in the streets were sent to recover the glowing beacon and return it to his people. He claims the orb was stolen by the wizards from Zadash. Still wary of the imposing figure, they debate whether to leave him tied up or release him without his weapons. After a few tense moments, he manages to convince the group to let him go with the orb.A few moments after the Nein release him, they hear a commotion from up ahead. Shouts and weapons clanging ring through the sewers. The Nein rush back the opposite direction and hide from the advancing Crown’s Guard. They emerge from the sewers and hide amongst the crowd. The Crown’s Guard emerge carrying the body of the dark elf, singing their own praises for saving the city. Caleb, Jester and Nott quickly come up with an improvise plan to steal back the orb from the Guard. Caleb, disguised as a guard, manages to get his hands on the orb. Nott distracts the Guard with an illusory duplicate of the orb allowing Caleb and the others to escape with the orb. They make their way back to the inn to find Dolan, leader of the Knights of Requital.Fjord and Beau locate Dolan and Horace, two of the members of the Knights of Requital that asked for the Nein’s help. They relay the story of the heist gone wrong, and of Ulag’s suicide sacrifice and the murder of the High Richter.  Dolan claims to have no connection to the simultaneous attack on the Tri Spires tower. Fjord calms the nervous duo and asks what their next plan of action is. Dolan wants to move ahead with his plan to step in and take over for the High Richter, but asks for Fjord’s help in getting Horace out of the city to lay low for a week or so.Caleb and Nott bring the orb to a dusty, unused cellar behind the inn that Nott discovered the day before. The cellar still contains an old, decayed skeleton that Nott had raided previously. They decide to spend the night there, hiding with the orb. Nott goes upstairs to grab some of their belongings and let the group know their plans. While Nott is gone, Caleb talks to the skeleton about how his secrets are slowly driving him insane. Beau confronts Nott about Caleb’s stealing and shifty behavior. Nott defends Caleb and turns the argument around on the group, asking what the group has ever done him. Nott returns to Caleb and gives him the spell scrolls she stole from the High Richter’s home and tells him about the group confronting her about their stand-offish behavior. Caleb is ecstatic to get his hands on more magical spells and agrees to maybe try to be a little nicer to the others. They spend the night guarding the glowing orb together. Caleb has strange dreams of flame and power and a hundred different paths his life could take.The next morning the group visit Pumat Sol to buy a lead lined box to contain the glowing orb’s magical aura. Once the orb is contained, the Nein decide to investigate Kara, another member of the Knights of Requital whose location is unknown. The only clue they have is her place of work, a shady bar called Evening’s Nip. The group remembers visiting the bar and being off put by the rather uncomfortable, shifty looking patrons and the general awkward silence of their intrusion. The group guessed the bar was a front for some kind of illegal activities. They decide to revisit the bar and gain any information they can about Kara’s whereabouts. They gain access to the Evening Nip’s more secretive area of the bar. In this hidden room, there is a lithe Tabaxi male with dark fur and a panther like face. He immediately recognizes the tiefling named Molly, but calls him by a different name, Lucian, and says he is so glad to see him alive. Molly tries to play off the Tabaxi man and feigns ignorance about the situation but everyone is now suddenly on edge.

Review

There was a little bit of everything in this episode. A tense fight, a daring escape, a heist, some shopping, and a little bit of mysterious backstory.  A lot happens in this episode and the humor that ties it all together makes this one of those episodes that seems like it lasts forever, but you love it so you’re glad it never ends. The story does take quite a few twists and turns that are a bit unexpected. The group lets the Crick armored man go with the orb, but then decides they must steal the orb once the Crown’s Guard gets their hands on it. They agree to help get Horace out of the city as a fugitive. Molly’s little twist ending, revealing he may not be at all the person they thought he was. I really loved the Easter Egg from Campaign 1, Pumat Sol’s reading material The Daring Trials and Tribulations of Sir Taryion Darrington. Seeing their reactions to Tary’s book being canon was hilarious. It was particularly coincidental for me, as I was just watching the episodes from Campaign 1 when Taryion is adventuring with Vox Machina (more campaign 1 episode reviews are on the way! I promise!)The story moved along pretty quickly this episode and kept me engaged. It did start to drag a little when the group split up for about an hour to go do their own things but once they got back together and decided to visit Pumat Sol, things picked back up again.I did find the whole confrontation between Nott and the rest of the group a little too tense for comfort. I had a hard time swallowing Beau/Marisha’s particularly harsh role play during this scene. It felt…just plain mean to be mean. I didn’t understand why there had to be so much yelling and accusation. I could feel my eyebrows rising with every argument that Beau made against Caleb and Nott.We got two backstory hints from characters this week. Caleb got his own strange dream sequence one-on-one with the DM. Molly got a more mysterious, shady backstory hint with the Tabaxi man calling him by a different name. I can’t wait to see where they will take Molly’s story! I have been itching to learn more about the enigmatic purple tiefling.