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Critical Role Recap – Episode 66 – “A Traveler’s Gamble”

So, I noticed these were starting to get a little wordy so I am making an effort to keep them a little more abbreviated.

SPOILERS for Critical Role Episode 66 (obviously).  Go check out the full episode at GeekandSundry.com!
My recap of Episode 65 can be found here.

Vox Machina parlay with J’mon Sa Ord, ruler of Ank’harel, for aid against the Chroma Conclave and Scanlan carries out his “drug” deal.

Previously on Critical Role

The Party arrives in the massive desert city of Ank’harel. They explore its sights, smoke hookah, drink expensive booze, and visit the palace. They are lead to the very top of the tallest tower in Ank’harel and are greeted by J’mon Sa Ord.

Now

“Welcome to Ank’harel, heroes of Tal’dore. I am J’mon Sa Ord. It is my pleasure to meet you.”

J’mon Sa Ord stands before the party. An androgynous form, J’mon (whose preferred pronoun is “they”)  nearly matches Grog in height and wears a simple tunic, no shoes, and has long dark hair.

J’mon admits that word of the dragon attack has reached Ank’harel, and they hope that the party’s arrival brings good news that the problem has been dealt with, so trade with Emon could resume.

Keyleth: “Bad news, actually.”

Percy: “Bad new and progress.”

Keyleth: “Eh. Mostly bad news.”

The party tells J’mon that it is not one dragon, but a conclave, working together.

J’mon clarifies that it is chromatic dragons they speak of, then agrees that their cooperation is unusual.

The party tells him of the leader, a massive ancient red dragon named Thordak.

J’mon says that a red dragon by that name attacked Ank’harel centuries ago, but that they doubt that it is the same beast. They watched Thordak slain with their own eyes.

Vox Machina explains that they heard that the dragon’s heart was replaced with a shard of an ancient artifact, acquired during his imprisonment on the Elemental Plane of Fire, and perhaps he was resurrected.

Percy points out that regardless of if this is the same Thordak or if it is a dragon that adopted the same name, this dragon should be a concern.

J’mon assures him that Ank’harel has ample defenses, but agrees to provide his assistance if the party can prove their might.

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J’mon vanishes and a massive, fifteen-foot-tall, golem made of brass and cobalt drops from a perch outside onto the balcony and lumbers into the tower, dragging a massive cleaver of a weapon.

Vax lashes out and attacks with his daggers. Percy opens fire but his bullets don’t appear to have an effect.

Grog rages and flings his javelin of lighting, but it sails past the golem, off the balcony of the tower and out of sight.

The creature opens it mouth and unleashes a cloud of poison gas upon them.

The party continues to take turns chipping away at the golem’s metallic armor. Percy, continues to be almost entirely ineffective.

Grog uses his titanstone knuckles to cast enlarge on himself and he attempts to shove the golem.

Scanlan uses Bigby’s hand to smash out one of the massive windows of the tower.

Keyleth transforms into an earth elemental and begins attempting to shove the golem out the window. She struggles to budge it.

Golem flies into a frenzied rage and manages to shove the construct staggering backward, and with a massive kick to the chest, he sends the golem tumbling out of the window.

“THIS! IS! VOX MACHINA!”

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They watch the golem plummet hundreds of feet and crash through the roof of the Cerulean Palace below.

Earth-Keyleth, Giant-Grog, and Bigby’s Hand exchange high-fives and Keyleth and Grog chest bump.

J’mon reappears, amused. They congratulate Vox Machina and gift them a flute that, only once, will call J’mon to their aid.

The party inquires how J’mon can do this and J’mon’s form begins to shift. Wind picks up in the room and their form shifts backward, revealing their true identity as a gigantic brass dragon.

The party is amazed as J’mon’s large draconic form looms above them, filling the once-spacious throne room. They reveal that their true name is Divosa.

Scanlan asks if there is a symbol or some kind of mark the party could use to show others in the city they have gained the emperor’s favor. Divosa presents him with an amulet.

The party bids the dragon farewell and turns to leave. They see the cobalt golem return from the lift, dented, but otherwise not to terribly damaged from the fall. It lumbers past them and clambers up to its original perch, out of sight.

Percy compliments Divosa on its craftsmanship and the dragon mentions that there are many through-out the palace.

The party descends in the lift. The emerge to find the waiting room they previously waited in completely decimated and palace staff hastily scrambling to repair the damage. The party is relieved to find no one was injured.

The group attempts to locate Grog’s lost javelin. Percy does some math (with a Natural 20) and manages to conceive some incredibly complex calculations to approximate the trajectory of the weapon.e66-3

Vex jumps on her broom to fly up to get a better look. Percy hangs on, dangling below it, directing her based on his calculations. He momentarily gets sick and vomits. Vex gets sick from seeing his vomit and vomits herself.

Despite Percy’s complex math, the two are unable to locate Grog’s javelin.

They give up and head back to the inn to change and head to the casino for Scanlan to meet his contact about buying the fusaka spice. Scanlan puts on his red shirt the spice dealer told him to wear. The others put on nice clothes.

The group asks Scanlan if he is sure this a drug deal. Scanlan assure them that it is. He points out the fact that shifty people approached him when he was asking about spice around the bazaar and that those people certainly acted like it was an illicit substance.

Scanlan plans to go in alone, Vax stealthily tailing him. Vex, Keyleth, and Percy will stick together, and Grog, dressed in his usual barbarian outfit (plus his horn-helemet) will also wander the casino alone, a bottle of “Sand Kheg’s Hide” in each hand.

The reach the casino, the Luck’s Run, and entire to find a cacophony of sights and sounds. Two different entertainers compete for the ear of the establishment and the smell of flavored tobacco meets their noses.

There appears to be many tables of card games and dice games and a large table in the corner seems to be taking bets on lizard races. Keyleth bee-lines for it, Vex and Percy in tow.

Keyleth asks the game keeper about the game, he tells her it is called Run of Luck and is the game for which the casino is named. She asks for a closer look, to immediate suspicion. They learn one of the lizards is named “Thordak”, after the “stupid bastard who attacked the city hundreds of years ago.”

Percy asks some questions about the game and Keyleth gets closer and attempts to cast speak with animals. She is immediately grabbed by security and thrown out for “funny business.”

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Percy and Vex pretend to not know her and stick around to bet on a race. Vex gets second (getting half her bet back) and Percy loses, having bet on Thordak.

Scanlan begins wandering further into the casino away from the group, whispering “I’m the guy” to random people as he passes. Vax is watching, nearly invisible (with his nat20 stealth).

Percy and Vex find a dice game called Ivandra’s Favor. Vex loses her first go, dropping 50GP. Percy wins on his first roll not even looking at it, doubling his 25GP bet. He plays again and loses it all, breaking even. Vex tips the game keeper and the duo head to the bar for drinks.

Scanlan is approached by a half-orc that claims to be his contact. He leads the way upstairs to a private room. Vax blends in with the crowd and follows.

Scanlan and the half-orc sit down. The half-elf Scanlan met earlier was behind the door, he exits, shutting the door behind him. The half-orc says he, just in case, brought twice the amount Scanlan asked for, produces two large sacks.

Scanlan plays it coy, and asks for a sample, to make sure the “stuff” is up to his standards. The contents of the sack are brown, earthy, and unrefined. The half-orc says it will need further refinement before use.

“Listen friend, this isn’t my first rodeo.” Scanlan takes some and snorts it.

Its earthy and there is a zest to it but otherwise no effect.

The half-orc says that it is normally 250gp a bag, but he is willing to give both bags to Scanlan for 400. Scanlan offers 300, but the half-orc dosen’t budge, having already offered a discount. Scanlan pays and they exchange money and goods at the same time.

Scanlan, now with his purchase, decides to ask “This is a drug right?”

The half-orc tells him it is, “It just doesn’t take effect immediately.

Scanlan secures the sacks in a backpack given to him by the half-orc and the half-elf. The half-orc asks Scanlan’s name and he replies “The Meatman.”

Scanlan leaves and heads down the corridor back down to the casino. Vax grabs his shoulder scaring the gnome. “AH! THIS ISN’T MINE I SWEAR!” Throwing the bag. Vax catches it. Scanlan tells him he took some of it and doesn’t know what it does. Vax reaches in a takes some as well, to no immediate effect.

The two both try a few more times, again with no effect. They head back down and regroup with the others.

Grog attempts  to flirt with women, claiming to be the “Countess of Febreeze.” He has no luck until he finds an older woman who seems to pay him interest. Turns out she is married. Grog and her husband exchange words and it is not long before Grog is swarmed by security and tossed out, meeting Keyleth.

Percy, who was in the process of buying drinks for the group, has them put into to-go cups (1GP a piece) and they leave. It is decided these are ridiculous souvenir cups. Keyleth loves them.

The group goes back to the inn and experiments with the spice. Scanlan takes more. Keyleth examines it but can’t make out quite what it is is. Keyleth tries burning it, it smells very nice. Grog eats a huge chunk of it. No effect.

Eventually Vex heads downstairs and asks the in keep if the kitchen can make anything with Fusaka, the spice Scanlan bought, to “remind her of home.” The inn keep says sure but the Inn only keeps a little bit, because it is a more expensive cooking spice. Meanwhile Scanlan is in his room trying to ingest the “drug” anally.

Vex asks Scanlan how much he spent. He lies and says 50GP.

Vex: “If it were more, I’d feel bad, but only 50 gold is fine.”

Percy mixes some of the spice with a glass of Sand’kheg and Scanlan downs it without question, immediately getting very numb and very drunk.

Scanlan awakes the next morning very hungover.

Percy: “HOW’S YOUR HEAD!?”

Scanlan: “Argh! Fuck you!”

Scanlan laments his purchase of the spice and begins thinking of ways of selling it to get his money back. “I flew too close to the sun.” He asks the innkeeper how much a sack of fusaka usually goes for. 10GP, but it can usually be bartered down from there.

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The party heads to the Crystal Chateau, the university of magic that J’mon told them they could go to have questions about the vestiges answered. The notice much of the buildings in the district are constructed with whitestone only available in Whitestone.

They pass a strip mine but guards send them on their way. They eventually reach the gates of the university. After presenting the creast the J’mon gave them, an elderly gnome greets them. They say they wish to speak to the headmaster, James Cragon. The gnome leaves and they wait nearly an hour.

The headmaster, and elf, eventually emerges to speak to them through the gate. They ask for a private place to speak and he casually conjures a box enclosing them, blocking off the sight and sound from all around them.

They tell him about the vestiges, and Percy insinuates that he is from Whitestone, and that an open relationship with the university might be in the future if he cooperates. He agrees to examine there vestiges and share what knowledge he has.

He examines Mythcarver, the Titanstone Knuckles, Fenthrass, and the Deathwalkers Ward. He says that the blade and the knuckles are of arcane origin as opposed to the other two. He says the Deathwalker’s Ward has been “awakened”.

Percy shows him a shard of the green glass substance the Briarwoods were creating using whitestone. He is fascinated by the substance and reluctant to give it back.

They ask about the Den of Druja, but the headmaster says that is a sour spot in the university’s history and refuses to speak any more of it.

The party leaves and decides to check on Mistress Asharu’s place, the home of the Scarbearer that is said to possess the next vestige the seek.

They arrive and sneak inside. They find the scroll that was pushed through the wall, their proposal, lays untouched. They see dried blood and follow it to a trap door in the floor. The decend to find the body of a one-eyed woman that matches the description of Mistress Asharu. Her cloak, the vestige they seek, missing. There are several sets of footprints. Small circular puncture wounds dot her corpse, passing straight through her body. Similar marks adorn the stone walls.

Percy immediately recognizes these as bullet wounds and marks.

There is only one person they know that has this technology. The one entry on Percy’s list that got away. Dr. Anna Ripley.

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To be continued…


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Nick Uroseva (@Nick_Uroseva)
Nick is a social media marketing professional and content creator by trade but also dabbles in everything from graphic design, photography, illustration, videography & video editing, animation, and podcasting. He is the Co-Creative Head at Derailed Medial LLC, the creator and Dungeon Master of the ENNIE-nominated podcast Tales of the Voidfarer and cast member on Cape Chronicles and Fables Around the Table.

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