Previously on Critical Role, the Mighty Nein buried Mollymauk Tealeaf along the road and continued onward towards Shady Creek Run. There they met with their patron, the domineering Ophelia Mardun, and accepted her offer to eliminate the slavers known as the Iron Shepherds once and for all. Along the way, they encountered a new ally, a firbolg named Nila. She was a kind soul, but her partner and son had been taken by the Iron Shepherds, and she was out for their blood. United in Shady Creek Run, the rag-tag Mighty Nein searched for additional allies before they made their attack.

Single-Paragraph Synopsis

The Mighty Nein ventured into the woods outside Shady Creek Run in search of a priest that might help them survive the battles with the Iron Shepherds. There they met Caduceus Clay, a free-flowing firbolg cleric of the Wildmother who agreed to help them on their quest. With Clay on their side, the Nein assaulted the Iron Shepherd’s hideout and delved into their inner sanctum. They defeated their barbarian (who had claimed Yasha’s greatsword as the spoils of war) and found Nila’s partner and child. Nila freed her family and bade the party a tearful farewell—and wished them good fortune on their journey. The Nein looked into the darkness of the basement before them. The journey would only get harder from here.

(Art by @Zephyri.)

Full Summary

The Mighty Nein had gathered in Shady Creek Run to determine their next course of action. Their reconnaissance of the Iron Shepherds’ hideout, the Sour Nest, had gone poorly. They still needed additional help if they were to defeat the Shepherds, too. They asked Keg for information about local sellswords and deliberated over hiring members of the Grudge Gang or the Taskers.

The Grudge Gang was a loose network of mercenaries unaffiliated with the factions of Shady Creek Run, whereas the Taskers were a small subset of the Grudge Gang who keep the peace around town. Beau worried if it would be problematic if they hired other mercenaries to take out the Iron Shepherds. Ultimately, they decided not to worry about hiring mercenaries. It was too risky a proposition. They instead traveled into the Savalier Wood in search of the aid of a priest beyond the walls of the town. The party passed through the woods and found their way to the Blooming Grove, a mystical site within the wood. A dozen crumbling walls, in a pattern of concentric rings, stood like fallen sentinels around the site they found. The virulent corruption of the forest had broken through each and every wall—except for one.

Child of the Wildmother

Within the innermost wall was a tiny, verdant paradise of unsullied nature. The party jumped over the wall and made their way into this stronghold of nature’s power. They peered within the structure, opened the door—and a shaded figure emerged from within. Taliesin returned to the set, and his new character was introduced!

Taliesin described his appearance. “From this small stone temple emerges a tall… not necessarily thin firbolg. Pale, with a grayish color, and a shock of weirdly pink mohawk hair. He’s gaunt, has a little fuzz, and is wearing this gentle silk shirt with one long, flowy sleeve. And he’s got a cup of tea and he’s just staring.”

He looked at the group and said, without missing a beat, “I think I’ve only got three more cups [to serve tea in], hold on.” He disappeared back into the house.

“He’s a firbolg!” Nila exclaimed. “My smell bag was right!”

This firbolg cleric was Caduceus Clay, a bit of an oddball… but he seemed kind enough. Perhaps overly gracious and optimistic. He poured tea into the three cups he found and apologized that they would have to share. Nila was completely smitten with the new firbolg. She rushed up to him and hugged him.

“I haven’t had one of these things in a long time,” he said, and accepted the hug eagerly. Clay related to his guests that the corrupted nature has been assailing his temple for the past 100 years. All the others of his family and order left long ago. There wasn’t much fort left, but he was holding it down nonetheless.

At the party’s request, Caduceus agreed to join them in their campaign against the Iron Shepherds. He gathered his things, including “green beetle armor,” a chitinous metal breastplate with a pearlescent green-blue tint that shifted as the light glinted off it. He grabbed a similarly constructed shield and a staff with a large amethyst at its head.

Nott, wanting to assess Clay’s healing abilities, rapid-fired three crossbow shots at Beau. Clay healed the wound with his magic; pinkish moss blossomed from the wound and healed it as if weeks upon weeks of natural healing had taken place in just an instant.

They then made their way to the Sour Nest. Keg stepped in a hornet’s nest as the party approached, alerting one of the guards in the courtyard, and the guard spotted Frumpkin! The guard loosed a crossbow bolt and struck Frumpkin in owl form cleanly in his body and dealt 4 damage… just one point less than Frumpkin’s current hit points (since Liam rolls for Fumpkin’s hit points whenever he summons him).

They deliberated over their plan of attack a bit… and then took a short rest for an hour and prepared to attack.

Raiding the Sour Nest

Caleb transformed Frumpkin into a spider about the size of a small bird and send him in to perform reconnaissance. Shortly after midnight, a guard shift occurred. It was the moment the party had been waiting for. They split up, ascended the wall, and beat down the guards. They joined back up on the wall, scouted out the courtyard below, and scurried through it to the front door.

The party infiltrated the facility and snuck through a few rooms before causing a commotion and falling face-first into a combat with the guards. Midway through the encounter, one of the Iron Shepherd’s true members appeared, ready to fight. It was the barbarian woman from before—and she was wielding Yasha’s sword! Caleb, enraged, immolated the barbarian with his magic, searing her flesh from her bones. He gazed distantly into the flames for a lingering moment, but managed to shake off the oncoming fugue. He looked at his companions and assured them that he still had his wits about him.

Faced with a locked door into the basement, Caleb cast knock and Nott deftly disarmed a trap. Within the lower chamber, they found several cages… and two members of the Iron Shepherds standing guard, alerted to the party’s presence by the sounds of combat above. (And though Matt didn’t note it, the loud noise of the knock spell probably also tipped them off.)

Clay, dressed as a guard, lured one of the guards out of the basement. The party beat him into the dirt the instant he exited the stairwell. They went deeper into the basement, and Nila examined the cages, searching for her son. And within one of them, she found Asar and Ketor, her son and partner. She healed the two of them, fighting through tears as she gasped out “I have a family again!” She managed to bend open the bars of the cage wide enough for Asar to crawl through, but not enough for Ketor to do the same.

She used her magic to revive Ketor, and the two firbolgs put their strength together and tore the bars of the cage apart. The exertion popped his shoulder out of place, but he stumbled out of the cage and wrapped his partner tightly in a weary embrace. Nila and her family departed the Nein for Clay’s temple, but she left her friends with a parting gift: a single red feather from a necklace of six. The party could find the firbolgs again at Crisp Vale Thicket if they followed to where the moss was thickest.

The Mighty Nein gazed into the darkness beyond. There was only one way forward, and it was deeper into the Iron Shepherds’ snare.

The next episode of Critical Role will be a live show at Gen Con, starting Friday at 6 PM Pacific. Mark your calendars!

Unless otherwise credited, all images in this article are courtesy of Critical Role.  

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.