Critical Role Recap: Episode 26
Previously on Critical Role, the Mighty Nein delved into the Gearhold Prison in the city of Hupperdook and helped a young gnomish family be reunited with their parents, and left their young charge Kiri with the family before they traveled into unfamiliar and dangerous territory. The Nein departed Hupperdook the next morning and traveled towards Shady Creek Run, where the Gentleman had another contract for them. On the road, however, Jester, Fjord, and Yasha were ambushed during the night and kidnapped by an unknown group of slavers.
What remained of the Mighty Nein awoke the next morning… but only four of them remained.
Single-Paragraph Synopsis
The Mighty Nein, now without Jester, Fjord, and Yasha, searched for their missing friends. While they couldn’t find their friends, they did encounter a dwarf named Keg—played by guest star Ashly Burch! Keg revealed that she believed the Nein’s companions were stolen by a group of slavers known as the Iron Shepherds, and that she had beef with them, too. They joined forces and traveled towards Shady Creek Run, the Shepherds’ base of operations. They encountered the Iron Shepherds along the road and engaged in a vicious melee with them, attempting to free their many slaves before the reached Shady Creek Run.
Their fight ended in tragedy.
Art by @AnanasDragon.
Full Summary
The Nein—now made up solely of Beau, Caleb, Molly, and Nott—soon discovered that their missing companions truly were disappeared. Caleb transformed Frumpkin into a peregrine falcon and asked him to scan the area. Frumpkin found the site where the three were captured, and the rest of the Nein followed their tracks to a crossroads, where the trail was lost in the criss-crossing of wagon tracks.
Off on the horizon, the remaining Nein spotted a suspicious figure on the horizon and prepared to ambush them. It was a broad, stout figure—a dwarven woman with five-o’-clock shadow and a cigarette hanging out of her mouth. She was dressed in powerful armor that was beaten all to hell. She carried a hammer in one hand and an axe in the other.
Ashly Burch, a guest star for this week, joined the game as Keg the dwarf fighter.
Meet Keg
The Nein’s reaction was… intense, but they managed avoid coming to blows with their new guest.
After cooling off, they quickly allied themselves with Keg, and learned from her that she was looking for the slavers also. They’re a group called the Iron Shepherds, and they’re based out of Shady Creek Run. She was on a mission to kill every last one of the Iron Shepherds, and needed a bit of buy-in from the Nein so she could trust them. Molly instantly tossed her 20 gp and asked for a cigarette. She obliged—and said that there was no one left to help her.
Keg revealed that she had been tracking the Iron Shepherds for quite some time. There were five of them, a barbarian, a sorcerer, a rogue, and several others. All of them some of the fiercest warriors she’d ever met. The Mighty Nein were undeterred, and agreed to work with Keg. They packed up their things, mounted their horses, and journeyed towards Shady Creek Run. The road took them towards a thick forest. Night began to fall as they entered the forest, and they found an abandoned farmhouse at the edge of the road. They cautiously entered the house and investigated its dilapidated interior.
There was little of value in the house, but while they explored, Beau felt a strange tremor around them. A movement in the earth, like pulses in the ground growing closer and closer. Beau and Molly ran for the tree line, while Nott remained inside the house and cowered beneath a bunch of detritus within. Beau kicked her horse and sent it off in the other direction. Something burst from the ground and caused the horse to run—but the burrowing creature spit a globule of acid at the fleeing horse, searing it.
Ankhegs.
New Team, New Dangers
Initiative was rolled, and Keg and the Nein engaged the acid-spewing burrowers. The ankhegs were vicious and their acid was potent, but the Nein and their friend were fearsome warriors—the monstrosities never stood a chance. The Nein’s horses, however, fared less well, and Beau said farewell to her loyal steed, Water Closet. Nott severed its tongue as a snack, just before it died. Also in the aftermath of the combat, Beau removed some of the ankhegs’ acid sacs with surgical precision.
With the battle concluded, they pressed on through the forest and set up camp at dusk. Caleb cast alarm during his watch, and used his find familiar spell to transform Frumpkin, currently a falcon, into an owl. Frumpkin flew through the darkened forest and found a fire. He advanced towards the light and saw a wizened woman—but tall, nearly seven feet tall, with greyish-blue skin and pointed ears—standing over a cauldron and placing items within it. A young boy sat near the cauldron, holding his knees to his chest, was huddled near the fire.
The Nein rushed towards the camp, but the tall woman raised a hand as they approached. “You will not take any more of us,” she shouted. She tried to use magic to affect Beau’s mind, but she shrugged the effect off. Beau looked the woman over and discovered that she was a firbolg—not a hag, as might have been expected. She introduced herself as Jandla of the Guiatao clan, and she has been nursing the boy, Umbo, back to health for a number of days. Her clan was attacked by killers. Keg recognized the attackers’ methods. This was the work of the Iron Shepherds.
With mutual enemies, the Nein and the firbolgs decided to camp together. The next morning, Caleb and Frumpkin visited the boy Umbo and entertained him by causing Frumpkin to do a silly dance for the boy. They resolved to keep moving and leave the firbolgs alone and not drag them into their conflict. Jandla wished them well, and Beau thanked her.
“Normally Fjord is here to do this,” she grumbled to the party.
“No, it was good. The best you ever did.” Caleb reassured her.
“Oh!” Beau exclaimed. She turned back to the firbolgs with a look of confidence on her face. “Thank you,” she repeated.
Peregrine Frumpkin art by @BlackSalander.
Secret Sharing
The road to Shady Creek Run was long, and the air grew cold and thick with snowfall. That night, during their watches, Nott tried to get information about Keg’s past out of her, but the dwarf had little desire to speak about her old trauma. Their conversation transformed into a shouting match, and they awoke Beau and Molly, both of whom decided they may as well start their own watch. As they looked out over the snow-covered field, Molly and Beau played a quick game of truth-telling, where they revealed the best lies they had ever told.
Molly revealed he once pretended to be a noble—a long lost royal from across the sea—for two weeks during a scam.
Caleb, during last watch, sat by the fire with Frumpkin and delivered a long, somber, self-doubting monologue to his faithful companion. He then stared into the fire for five minutes—which turned into two long hours—before waking his friends.
The Cart
The next day, they found the cart. It was familiar to Keg. Just the sight of it brought back painful memories. And in her moment of weakness, Caleb cast suggestion, and she felt magically compelled to offer up all information useful to their situation. She haltingly gave the following information. Their leader was Lorenzo, a human fighter. Their party was composed of Ruza, a half-elf sorcerer, Prado, a halfling rogue, Dwelma, a half-orc druid, and Wan, a human barbarian. Keg qualified that Wan was not as bad as the rest of them.
Seven figures lurked within the cart. Keg fearfully hissed for them not to engage—they were outnumbered and facing superior warriors. Nott and Molly prepared a plan; ride ahead of the cart, plan an ambush, and set all of their captives free during their surprise attack.
After discussing—at length—the best way to attack the camp, the party began to prepare their ambush, moving logs and selecting the best bushes and trees for hiding spots. They rested for the rest of the night, huddled together to share body warmth. In the morning, Caleb’s alarm spell went off—the carts were almost at the ambush site! From their hiding places, the party could see Dwelma, Ruza, and Lorenzo walking alongside the back cart, which was driven by Wan. As the carts reached them, Beau pushed a dead tree over and it snapped, smashing onto the lead cart! Prado, who was driving the cart, dodged the falling tree trunk. Caleb cast slow, catching all of the slavers and two of the horses—but most of the slavers made their saving throws. Two of their minions were slowed, as well as the sorcerer Ruza (who revealed herself to be a bard), but Lorenzo, Dwelma, and Wan all successful shrugged off the spell.
Keg trembled in her boots as she faced down her old boss, Lorenzo, but held her ground and continued to fight. Mollymauk’s own Blood Maledict attack knocked him unconscious—and Lorenzo thrust his blade into Molly’s chest and twisted. With his last moments, the tiefling spat blood straight into the slaver’s face.
The fight had turned foul. Keg screamed out for mercy, and offered herself as a sacrifice.
“The Iron Shepherds have a reputation, and I expect you to tell everyone you come across what happened this day.” Lorenzo pulled back his glaive, and whispered a dire warning into her ear. “We’re moving out boys. And if I ever see any of you again… well, I suppose you can see your friend on the other side.”
The Mighty Nein were beaten, bruised, and left holding the corpse of one of their first companions. They were alive, but at what cost?
How will the Mighty Nein go on after such a crushing defeat? Is it Thursday yet?
Unless otherwise credited, all images in this article are courtesy of Critical Role. Most illustrations can be found in this week's Critical Role Fan Art Gallery.
James Haeck is the lead writer for D&D Beyond, the co-author of the Critical Role Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, and a freelance writer for Wizards of the Coast, the D&D Adventurers League, and Kobold Press. He loves watching Critical Role and wants everyone he knows to get into it, too. He lives in Seattle, Washington with his partner Hannah and his very own Frumpkins, Mei and Marzipan. You can usually find him wasting time on Twitter at @jamesjhaeck.
This was probably the most powerful episode of this campaign, and will continue to be such. A huge loss, lets see how this turns out.
I'm worried because in that way we are losing four characters for some time at best or even longer if they don't rescue rest of the party so they will be broken and sold into slavery.
At this point, the Mighty Nein have now reach a all-time low at thus point. Not only did three of their friends capture (the actors gone for sometime), but now they lose another member to death and got thier first defeat in this campagin. It was already obvious that without the cleric, even a added fighter wasn't enough to help against such powerful enemies, and even the info on thier foes were wrong. Down to four once more (offically three), the MN have no chance at standing any better in a fight and it would be dangerous to go to the Shady Creak with the bad guys being in there. And worse of all, the team need to find a cleric or anything to revive Molly from death in less then ten days, which will be hard while they will have to fend off dangers on their own. I pray that Molly will return, as i wanted to see more of the Blood Hunter.
I think during this fight their main focus should have been freeing their three companions so the will have more power and healing.
Just a point of correction, Keg did not hold her ground when confronting Lorenzo but turned and fled (as her character would) and weakly threw javelins at the rogue and did not return until Molly fell. Pretty good role playing on her part but tactically a horrible decision for an already very difficult fight.
I'm devastated at the turn of events, mostly because Molly was one of my favorite characters. Since this is D&D, I know that this may or may not be permanent. Also, it makes for DAMN good story telling. So while my throat clenched up, I am enraptured to find out what happens next.
Something else I realized today: this technically isn't the first time Mollymauk/Nonagon/Lucien has died. That might be an interesting way for Taliesin to play a "new" character if they can't find a way to resurrect him soon.
Man, that fight was tough to watch. I know they were eager to find their companions, but as soon as Lorenzo used that frost spell for heavy damage, they should have backed out to regroup. From what Keg mentioned, they should have had a bit more idea of the slaver's power and could have been more tactical. Though, I understand they stayed pretty true to their characters in rushing in; with exception of utilizing their overwhelming need for self-preservation. Fjord and Molly were my favorite as far as personalities and the people playing them, so it'll be interesting to see if I can invest myself in any of the others or if Tal will draw me in with another amazing personality.
Gosh dang ya messed up a lot of details, was that on purpose?
Ditto! I like them a lot. I've played one a few times.
Another point of note, Lorenzo whispered the dire warning in Keg's ear, then kicked her to ground.
The “We’re moving out boys..." speech was to everyone. The way the article is written it sounds like that was the dire warning.
I'm confused as to why Molly didn't even get a chance for death saves? Is it since hits while unconscious are automatic crits????
Yeah, since he used his Blood Maledict on a reaction, it knocked him down to 0. So, Lorenzo got his two attacks in, at advantage. So each hit is two failed saves. There was no recovering from it.
Per the rules for Unconscious:
Lorenzo was standing directly over the body so definitely within 5 feet. And if a critical hit counts as two death saves, when Lorenzo stuck the first blow it was two failed saves, and with the second blow it become essentially four failed saves making it true death.
If Molly didn't use his blood maledict he would have taken that first hit and then been knocked unconscious and as long as Lorenzo didn't have three attacks per round, Molly would have had a chance to be pulled away or something. At least, that's how I understand the situation. I may be wrong
That was a good show, and they are lucky that Matt played it merciful, as I'm pretty sure he could have wiped out the whole party pretty easily with the way they were rolling. And I have no idea how they are gonna bring Molly back as they are MILES from anything and the only way they can transport him is via slumping him over a horse. I also love the dead eye that Marisha was giving to Matt the whole time after Tal died.
Wow this was a good episode. I am glad too, for a little while there the episodes were getting stale. Having their companions getting captured and the follow up to it was a fun and an interesting twist. Having Ashly be part of this weeks show was fun and she did a good job. Obviously the big talking point of this episode is going to be the ending with the fight. And again I am happy how it went and interested to see how it will evolve the campaign. I have seen people saying the dice rolls were against them or bad planning was to blame. I didn't think either case was true. They were told from the beginning that they were going against an enemy with more members and once we saw that cone of cold we knew they were higher level. It would have been really difficult for them to scrape together a victory. Now with just 3 of the Nein still here what do they do? They can't hope to win a fight against this enemy, but can they allow their friends to be sold off?
Sheeet got real!!! Much like the early season of Game of Thrones its awesome when characters you like can actually you know, umm, well die!
I liked Molly, but I think bringing him back through DM intervention would be kind of cheap. I think it would serve the game, the story and the party more if they took it as a hard lesson and moved forward rather than making it a comic book style death.
However
This is their game, and they can and should do as they like.
ooooooffff