Spoilers for Critical Role Campaign 2 Episode 12 (obviously). Check out the recap for Campaign 2 Episode 11 here.
Go check out the full episode at GeekandSundry.com!
The Mighty Nein attempts to complete their plans to incriminate high-ranking political figures in Zadash.
Previously
The Mighty Nein began talks with The Knights of Requital, a rebel group in Zadash. They planned to discredit major individuals: Lord Zutan and the High Richter. After modifying the plan, they prepared for the quickly approaching gala, where everything would come together, and, hopefully, allow The Knights of Requital to infiltrate the higher ranks of the city’s political system.
Now
After finishing their meeting with the other members of The Knights of Requital, The Mighty Nein discusses their next steps. Beau suggests that Jester could forge some letters that would incriminate Lord Zutan and the High Richter. She also suggests that Nott should break into some safes in their homes to plant evidence.
Through some discussion, they decide to keep the plan simple. They will plant evidence to tie Pruseen to a false assassination plan for the Lawmaster Orentha and evidence to tie Zutan to the Myriad. Beau and Molly also suggest leaving a money trial.
Caleb puts the possibility out there that this is all a trap for them. He advises that they might be walking into a trap. They decide to investigate their friends in The Knights of Requital before proceeding with the plan.
They follow Nott to Dolan’s home. They all decide that Fjord will go up to the door in disguise. He knocks and Dolan and Horace open up. He informs them that he has news from The Mighty Nein. When they open up, he drops his disguise.
Fjord asks where Lord Zutan lives. They reveal he lives in The Guilded Willows. They describe a 3 story house with dark wood and gold leaf. They tell him that the house itself is pretty gaudy and hard-to-miss.
Horace and Dolan mention that the other Zutans have taken over their business since they were disgraced. They mention Ren Zutan, specifically. He can be found in a white and peach building near the Appletree facility.
Before Fjord leaves, Dolan mentions that most of the others will not be present during their operation to maintain plausible deniability. Ulag will be able to assist them, however.
The others forcefully remind him that he needs to get a hold of the High Richter’s handwriting as well. Fjord goes back to the house and knocks on the door again. They tell him that they don’t have anything for him and they close the door once again.
Fjord comes back to the party and relays everything he learned to the party. They decide that Jester and Beau will go to Zutan’s to try and get a handwriting sample. They make their way towards the Tri-Spire.
The guards stop them at the gate. They say that they have never seen Beau before. Jester assures them that Beau came through earlier as her guest. The guards let them both in.
They make their way through the Tri-Spire to Ren Zutan’s estate. When they reach the building, they quickly scope out the windows and entrances.
Jester suggests luring the guards away from the practice. They also wonder if they should get a climber’s kit to break in through a second story window. They find a shop that’s still open and buy a grappling hook and rope.
Meanwhile, Nott, Caleb, Molly, and Fjord discuss breaking into Ren Zutan’s practice. They make their way to The Guided Hand Infirmary. The building is one story, and there are lights on inside the building. Caleb sends Frumpkin over to the building. He runs over to a window and looks inside.
Inside the building, Caleb sees through Frumpkin’s eyes a bandaged man laying on a bed. Through a back window, he sees a teenage girl sitting on another bed. In another room, he sees a masked person feeding diseased patients. None of the rooms appear to be offices. Caleb guesses that those are on the interior of the building.
Caleb climbs into Fjord’s shoulders. He vanishes Frumpkin and makes the cat reappear on the roof. He climbs off of Fjord’s shoulders.
A worried child asks Fjord where the cat went. Fjord lies that Frumpkin must have just run around the corner. The little boy, whose name is Simon, says he was just about to pet Frumpkin when he vanished from existence. The little boy runs to the other side of the building to find the cat.
Through Frumpkin’s eyes, Caleb sees a small trap door on the roof, though it is currently closed. Caleb magically recalls Frumpkin, and, in an instant, the cat reappears on his shoulder. Simon stares at Caleb and Frumpkin in amazement.
Caleb: “Cats are the best.”
Nott shooes Simon away. Caleb and Fjord begin to plan their next steps. Fjord suggests beating up Nott so she can infiltrate the building as a patient. Nott argues that she’s being singled out because she’s a woman. Caleb suggests Molly can disguise himself as a diseased person instead. Molly says he can disguise himself and have Fjord drag him in. While they are distracting everyone else, Caleb and Nott can break into the office.
Molly finds a private area to create fake infected skin on his groin. He gets creative, even using eggs, beer, hot sauce, and mayonnaise in his water skein in anticipation of his performance. Caleb tells Nott that they are going to pull their “mother’s love” act.
Fjord leads Caleb up to the door. Caleb, Nott, and Frumpkin hid half a block away.
Fjord and Molly enter the building. Fjord begins coughing while Molly loudly insists he needs no help. The man at the front desk immediately pulls a cloth over his nose and mouth.
Caleb uses disguise self to transform into a half orc woman. He picks up Nott as if she’s a child and begins to walk over to the practice.
Molly throws up on the orderly. He cuts his neck, causing him to bleed everywhere.
He begins to crawl around the room. Fjord begins to move in the opposite direction. Caleb enters the building and ducks into a hallway. An orderly stops Caleb and Nott asking where they’re going. Nott unconvincingly begins to wail like a small child.
The orderly looks at them, confused. Caleb poofs Frumpkin into existence on the orderly’s shoulder. The cat begins to attack, tearing into his neck. The orderly yells and throws Frumpkin off.
A man with short hair and a white robe emerges from one of the rooms. He yells at the orderly to get the cat out of the building. Molly crawls into the hall, yelling that the orderlies have no legal authority over him.
The orderlies pick up Molly and try to pull him into a empty room. He goes limp in their hands. When they open the door, he tries to make a break for it, but they manage to hold onto him.
Molly yells out that he’s magically possessed and uses vicious mockery on one of the orderlies. Still, they manage to throw him into the room and lock the door behind him.
Caleb sneaks into an empty room and shits the door behind them. Nott begins to panic asking what they should do. An orderly walks in, asking what they are doing. They both run out of the room and down the hall towards the office.
Caleb and Nott meet up with Fjord and quickly discuss their next steps. Two clerks come up to them with the doctor, who asks Fjord what the problem is.
Fjord explains that he’s had a terrible cough and his breakfast hasn’t agreed with him. Fjord is led into a room, all the while explaining that he thinks he’d pooped his pants. He is left in the room with a bedpan.
A physician goes up to Caleb and Nott. Caleb, who is still in disguise, explains that Nott has a fever. The physician reaches for Nott, who immediately begins to hiss at the him. The physician falls back in fear, yelling.
Nott jumps out of Caleb’s arms and begins to run towards the office. However, another physician grabs Nott before she can make it very far. The physician throws Nott out of the building and pushes Caleb out as well. The physician calls for the guards. They immediately begin to run away. The physicians shout behind them.
They hide in the shadows and listen as the guards pass by, unable to find them.
Fjord sneaks out of his room and grabs a handful of papers from the doctor’s desk. He manages to slip out right before the doctor notices. Fjord heads out of the infirmary as the orderlies make their way to Molly’s room.
Molly tries to remove one of the panes from the window, but shatters it. As Fjord sneaks to the outside of the building where Molly’s room is, he sees the tiefling burst through the window. Fjord yells at him to run.
They scatter and manage to avoid the guards. On the way back to The Leaky Tap Tavern, Fjord looks through the notes, but doesn’t manage to find anything related to the High Richter.
When they meet back up with Jester and Beau, they ask why Molly is disheveled and smells like various foods.
Molly: “I was making a distraction.”
Nott explains that they almost had to kill an orderly, and the plan did not go terribly well. Jester tells them that they saw some windows they can sneak through. She shows the group the grappling hook and rope they bought.
Nott: “It was a good dry run for our real heist we’re doing in a day. We’re working out the kinks.”
They wonder if the fact that some of the orderlies and the doctor saw the real face of at least Nott will be an issue. They guess that the practice will simply assume it was a failed attempt to steal pharmaceuticals.
Because they have been mostly unable to acquire the handwriting of the High Richter and Lord Zutan, Caleb suggests that they plant forged letters from an intermediary instead. Jester, with help from the others, writes the letter.
They discuss plans to distract the guards at Lord Zutan’s estate. Nott writes a letter in thieve’s cant about The Myriad.
Nott goes over to Caleb. She reveals that she has absconded with some items recently. She tells him that she acquired them in the basement of The Leaky Tap. She shows him the bracelets from the skeleton.
Caleb takes the bracelets and examines them. They aren’t enchanted, but the metals are worth a little bit of money. Caleb suggests to Nott that she sell them or wear them. He also says he’s disturbed that there is a dead person in the basement of the inn.
Nott asks how Caleb knows identify, and he says it’s just one of the spells he has learned over the years. He promises that she can learn it too. She compliments his strength and asks how strong he is. He doesn’t answer her specifically, but he assures her that he is planning on getting stronger through study and hard work.
Nott asks if he needs magic items to get stronger. He says that certain items would be helpful, but it’s an abstract question overall.
He asks if everything is all right. She says that it is, but she is interested in helping him.
Nott: “I have great faith in you. I know you’ll do great things, and I just want to help you get there.”
They all go to bed.
The next morning, they discuss their plans. Beau suggests that they go shopping for the gala masquerade masks. That way, if they get stopped, they will be able to feign that they belong. Molly takes the lead on acquiring costume pieces. He manages to find a shop that will make them masks and outfits for all six of them.
Caleb buys two strings of sausages: one for the mastiff at Lord Zutan’s estate and one for Nott. Jester writes a letter from the perspective of The Knights of Requital. They decide to leave it in the High Richter’s house. They decide to burn most of it as if Pruseen tried to destroy the evidence.
Jester, Nott, and Caleb decide to break into Lord Zutan’s house. Fjord says he will disguise himself as a crownsguard. Molly will keep watch out back.
Caleb begins to smash the sausage over Frumpkin and spread the grease in his fur. He meows unhappily while Caleb apologizes.
They go back to the sewers. A single crownsguard stands nearby, but he doesn’t pay much attention to the sewer entrance. Jester decides to distract the guard and meet the others in The Tri-Spire later.
She distracts the guard by asking him about nearby candy shops. He begins to give her directions while the others scurry down. Nott, distracted by the candy conversation, hits her head and lets out a yelp. Jester tries to convince the guard that it was simply a noise she made while choking, but he still goes over to the sewer.
Jester falls over, still pretending to choke. The guard looks back at her for a moment. Just then, Caleb sends Frumpkin running out of the sewer, knocking into whatever he can.
The guard, believing that Frumpkin was the cause of the noise, helps Jester up and wishes her a good night. After a few minutes, Frumpkin rejoins the others in the sewer.
Jester suddenly remembers she was supposed to meet Ulag at the Song and Supper. She rushes over to the tavern, leaving the others to wait in the sewer.
Ulag angrily exclaims that it took her long enough to arrive. She lies and says that they had been there, but they must have missed each other. She puts some of her outfit on him to get him in the door. He grumpily follows her to The Tri-Spire.
The guards stop Ulag at the door. Jester assures them that Ulag is a comedian and the entertainment for the night. The guard asks Ulag to tell him a joke.
Ulag: “What do you call a king on his birthday? An arsehole.”
The guard is unamused.
Jester explains that Ulag isn’t a joke-telling comedian. He’s a physical comedian. She pushes him over to make her point.
The guards do laugh at this. Ulag glares at Jester. He stumbles and falls again. The guards let him in.
They let the others out of the sewer and make their way towards Lord Zutan’s estate.
They notice the decorations for the festival and the increased number of Crownsguard in the area. The social elite are gathered in The Silken Terrace.
They duck through others going to the event and arrive at Lord Zutan’s home.
They discuss how they will let the dog out. Ulag suggests simply climbing the tree outside their field of vision. Frumpkin paces outside the fence in case he’s needed.
Beau is the first to climb the tree, planning on helping the others. However, Nott scurries up the tree around everyone else and Ulag pushes past Beau, who is going too slow for his taste. Beau ends up being the last to arrive.
Jester throws the grappling hook. It doesn’t catch, but she makes thunder noises using thaumaturgy to cover up the clanking sound of metal on the roof. Nott takes the grappling hook away from her and throws it, thinking Jester isn’t precise enough.
Nott’s throw makes the grappling hook arc high in the air before falling back towards the ground. Jester manages to just barely catch it before it hits the ground.
Beau tries leaping from the tree to the roof and setting up the grappling hook herself. She easily leaps off the branch and lands silently on the roof. She fixes it around a smokestack. The others shimmy across.
Caleb sends Frumpkin through the gate. The dog notices and chases after him, bringing the guard along with him. The group shimmies across without the guards noticing.
Jester asks Nott to send Fjord a message asking if they looked cool going across. Fjord responds by asking if they went already.
Fjord wanders into an alley and uses disguise self to make himself appear as a crownsguard.
Caleb sends Frumpkin over to Molly and tells him to listen to the tiefling.
They begin to pull on shingles on the roof. Jester puts them in her backpack. They find an entrance to the attic and slip in.
Nott sends a message to the others saying that they are going into the attic. When no one responds, she becomes convinced that they are dead.
Once inside, Caleb casts detect magic, but doesn’t find anything.
Nott uncovers a trap door to the main area of the house. They look down and see a hallway with no one in it.
They get down into the hallway. Caleb starts detecting magical auras in the hallway from the torches, a suit of armor, and a sword on the wall. Caleb warns the others that he worries that the suits and armor will start moving.
Jester concentrates and magically finds where the wax seal is. She tells the others that it is in the chamber beyond. She tells Caleb that they should just move forward.
Nott looks for the traps on the chamber door. She notices that it is trapped but manages to disable it. She opens the door to see a fireplace with two giant statues of lions on each side, a balcony that isn’t visible from the outside, and a table with chairs.
Caleb walks up behind Nott and peeks in. He notices that the cabinet and the rug give off magical auras.
Nott goes forward, looking for traps in the room.
Jester announces that the seal is under the rug.
Beau looks over to the fireplace and notices a piece of the stonework doesn’t match the others. She presses into the brick, and it sinks into the stonework. The magic on the cabinet disappears.
Nott casts mage hand and folds back the carpet, looking for the seal. Suddenly, the carpet flies off of the floor and shoots towards the group.
The rug of smothering flies over to Nott and wraps itself around her, totally enveloping the goblin so she cannot breathe.
Jester casts guiding bolt on the carpet. The spell hits, but they hear Nott yell out in pain as it does. They realize that damaging the rug also damages Nott.
Still, Beau runs over and hits the carpet twice with her staff, knocking Nott unconscious in the process. She also in the process gathers that it isn’t vulnerable to anything.
Ulag rushes over to and attempts to stab the rug, but misses.
The rug drops Nott and envelopes Beau instead.
Caleb rushes over to Nott and pours a healing potion in her mouth.
Nott, not wanting to hurt Beau, tries to wrestle it off of his friend. Jester joins in, but neither of them are able to free Beau.
Nott swings her shortsword at the rug and connects with it. She swings it again. It rips the rug in half, but she also slices into Beau, knocking the monk unconscious. Jester quickly heals her. Beau jumps up, worrying about bleeding on the rug, but it is already destroyed.
Nott goes over to a nearby chest and opens it. Immediately, her muscles tense up, and she is paralyzed. Ulag opens the cabinet without issue. Ulag finds robes, polished bracers, and statuettes.
Jester pets Nott’s head and promises she will heal the goblin in the morning when she has her spells.
Caleb looks inside the chest Nott is holding. On the inside, he sees platinum pieces, a single polished, glowing river stone, wax, and the wax seal. Jester quickly looks around for his handwriting, but finds none. Caleb pockets the stone.
Beau looks through the desk and finds Lord Zutan’s handwriting. Jester, with Beau’s help, quickly scrawls a letter to Diana Pruseen.
They leave quickly. As they go, Jester slips a pamphlet for The Traveler into some books.
Fjord goes up to a nearby group of guards in disguise. He tells them that there is a disturbance nearby and they must come with him. Two of them follow.
Molly goes up to the group as well. He says he’s part of the entertainment for the night, and offers a card reading. The guards refuse. However, Frumpkin, on Molly’s command, streaks by, distracting the dog and the guards once more.
At that moment, the group goes back across the roof to the tree. However, Jester, carrying Nott, manages to slip on the rope and fall. She hooked Nott onto the rope right before falling, however.
She crashes into the ground. Beau pulls Nott and the rope back onto the roof to hide.
Molly rushes over to Jester, who managed to land on the outside of the fence. The guards come over as well. They lie that ruffians had beaten up Jester.
The guards, not believing the lie, but assuming they’re only drunk, lead them out of the Tri-Spire.
While the guards are distracted, the others make their way over to the tree. They escape, and they hustle over to the High Richter’s.
Jester and Molly rush to another entrance so they can enter again. The guards let them through without issue.
Beau asks when the gala will be over, but Ulag is unsure. They have to rush to complete their mission. Molly agrees to drunkenly distract The High Richter if she should come around.
They reach the High Richter’s house, unsure of how they will enter without catching the attention of the guards. They decide they have to use the front door.
Fjord and Jester use disguise self. Jester disguises herself as the High Richter. She makes it appear that she is wearing a white cloak with wine spilled on it. Fjord disguises himself as a crownsguard. Meanwhile, Beau and Caleb boost Nott over the wall in the back. Ulag follows, insisting he isn’t going to back out now. Caleb follows as well. Beau and Frumpkin stay behind.
Fjord runs ahead of Jester and warns the guards that the High Richter is in one of her moods. They let her pass without incident.
When she goes to open the door, she sees that it’s locked. She angrily gestures at a guard to unlock it. They hurriedly comply.
When Fjord and Jester immediately begin to worry about possible magical traps. However, Fjord notices that two of the statues on the mantel have made marks in the dust from being turned. They turn the statues, and they click, disarming whatever was there.
Ulag and Nott unlock the back door. Beau sends Frumpkin after Caleb, telling the cat to warn him to keep an eye on Ulag.
As Beau scopes out the area, one of the guards notices her. She just keeps walking, trying to act casual.
Ulag, Caleb, and Nott enter into a dining room as Jester and Fjord explore the second floor. Caleb and Nott look for magical and physical obstacles as they move through the house.
Jester and Fjord find a bedroom. It is decorated as gaudily as the rest of the house. Oddly, it is covered with portraits of human men. They go through the room. As they do, Nott sends them a message and they respond that they’re upstairs. The other groups moves to their location.
Jester reaches under her mattress. She pulls out a book and sees that it is The Courting of the Crick.
Ulag goes through the desk. Caleb detects magic and sees that there is something emiting evocation magic in the desk.
Jester hides the burnt piece of letter under the High Richter’s bed. She takes the wax sealed letter and puts it in the desk. The letter from the Knights of Requital she hides under the clock.
Ulag pulls the notes from his wife’s case out of the High Richter’s desk. He reads aloud, saying that she wanted to prove that even the most unassuming dwarves can be cutthroat. The papers admit that she was innocent and wrongfully convicted.
Molly notices a figure moving through the gate. He starts loudly singing, pretending to be drunk.
Jester sees this too and tells them all to run. Everything is set in place.
Caleb goes over to the scroll case and reaches for it. Fjord sees this and immediately draws his falchion on Caleb.
Fjord: “Leave no trace.”
Fjord and Caleb begin to argue. Nott immediately pulls her crossbow and points it at Fjord. Caleb agrees to walk out, and they all put away their weapons. As they reach the landing, they see High Richter Pruseen.
She looks up at them and informs them that breaking into the High Richter’s home carries a life sentence. Ulag pulls out the papers that prove his wife’s innocence. He tells the High Richter that it’s over for her. She simply laughs and asks how they plan to deliver it.
She pulls a brass bell out and rings it. Ulag hands the papers to Caleb, making him promise that he will free her.
Jester, running out of options, casts hold person on the High Richter. However, she is able to shake it off.
Just then Ulag leaps off the stairs and tackles the High Richter. He wrestles her to the ground and rips off his necklace. He takes the amber bead from it and shoves it into her mouth. There is a moment, and then a fireball erupts.
They look down at the staircase, and see it is on fire. They see the twisted, gnarled corpses of Ulag and the High Richter.
From outside, Caleb and Molly see the windows being blown out and a huge eruption from inside the home.
Almost immediately after, a high pitched impossibly loud whine and a black sphere emerge from the top of the Zaubire spire. It rapidly explains. Suddenly, it folds into nothing. Then, the spire begins to collapse. This catches the attention of the guards. There is a flash of blue light that holds the partially collapsed tower aloft. Two figures fly from the top of the tower.
Chaos erupts and the guards begin to rush through the city.
Fjord shoves a healing potion into Caleb’s mouth. Nott, still upstairs, steals the scrolls for Caleb.
They drag Caleb out and rush outside. Nott jumps out from the window near her. She runs over to Molly and the others and starts accusing him of starting this. Through the chaos, Beau and Molly convince her it wasn’t him.
As they run, they see bolts of lightning raining down. A dark figure is stuck down. A hooded male mage flies down to him. He calls out that one is falling and to find the others.
The Mighty Nein runs to the sewers and sneaks into them. Above, they hear the region descend into chaos. They wonder who they were targeting. They guess that it wasn’t meant to target them.
They make their way to the other part of the city. As they travel, they see a male humanoid figure in insect-like leather armor. He says something to them in Undercommon. Caleb casts comprehend languages.
The figure draws a gnarled, hooked blade and rushes towards them.
To be continued…
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Nick is a professional graphic artist from Youngstown, Ohio. He has a BA in Multimedia Technology. When he isn’t doodling for one thing or another, he spends is his time writing and Dungeon Mastering several D&D games, enjoying craft beer, shooting zombies with Nerf blasters, and tweeting about #CriticalRole. Buy him a coffee!
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