SPOILERS for Critical Role Episode 70 (obviously). Go check out the full episode at GeekandSundry.com!
Nick’s recap of Episode 69 can be found here.
After resurrecting Percy, Vox Machina finds that an old enemy has been hiding in plain sight.
Previously on Critical Role
The group returns to Whitestone. Pike revives Percy from his untimely demise at the hands of Ripley and the group relaxes and plots their next move.
Seeker Asum, a halfling and their ally from Emon asks to meet them in the war room with new and pressing information.
Upon meeting him there he reveals his true nature. The ancient green dragon, Raishan, presenting herself as an ally. “I wish to kill the Cinder King, and I need your help.”
Now
The dragon, previously disguised as Asum, asks Vox Machina for an alliance. Vax immediately questions why they should make an alliance with him.
Asum: “I wish to kill the Cinder King. Now, will you accept my alliance?”
Raishan admits to the party that she was cursed by a druid of Melora, and, as time went on, she began to succumb to the sickness. While fighting Thordak, he saw that she was cursed and offered to cure her. In return, he demanded her servitude.
Thordak then left to claim more for his domain. After many years of him not returning, Raishan found him in the fire plane. She begged him for the cure, but he refused to give it to her until she freed him. After he was released from the fire plane, he assembled the conclave and defeated Tal’dorei. However, he still withheld the cure from Raishan. She tells the party that she seeks revenge for his lies about curing her, and she seeks the party’s help because she is too weak to do so on her own.
Keyleth angrily tells Raishan that Thordak will suffer and burn, but she will not be there to witness it. Raishan continues to try to reason with her, but Keyleth, angered by Raishan’s abuse of her people, continues to berate her. Raishan tells her that their alliance is more advantageous than sheer anger, but Keyleth refuses to put aside Thordak’s massacre of her people. Though Raishan was not the one who slaughtered her people, she infultrated the Ashari and was the key to Thordak’s escape.
Percy reiterates Keyleth’s point, and again questions Raishan’s motives.
Percy: “You need us, and this is all you bring?”
Raishan reveals that Seeker Asum is alive, and admits that his conversation with them before she revealed her true form was mostly true, sans her deceits he used to get close to the party. Vex asks what her illness is. The illusion of Asum begins to falter. The party sees that the dragon is beginning to become grotesque with illness and frailty. The party, beginning to consider Raishan’s proposition begins to question the dragon. Keyleth still refuses to agree to let Raishan live, and she reminds her that she may be a “puny druid” but also that a puny druid is what brought her here in the first place.
Vex questions if Raishan has really tried everything to cure herself of the curse. Raishan confirms that she has.
Percy: “Really, this is a conversation about if we kill you before or after the Cinder King.”
Grog and Vex ask if she’s been sleeping in Asum’s bed and using his soap the whole time. She confirms that she has, and the party agrees that it is gross.
Since the white dragon is less powerful than Raishan, Scanlan questions why Raishan can’t just kill the white dragon herself. He points out that it would make it more clear that she has no ill intentions towards them. She responds that it would paint a target on her back and bring Thordak’s attention to her.
Keyleth again points out that they don’t really need her and they could just kill her now. Percy reminds her that Whitestone is his home, and they cannot destroy the castle to kill her. Sensing her temporary safety, Raishan begins to taunt her. The party talks Keyleth out of attacking her. They compromise at a second round of negotiations and to not reveal her true identity to anyone in Whitestone.
They discuss their following actions. Eventually, they decide that they will work with her for now.
Keyleth holds out her hand to shake on the deal. Raishan crosses the the room to shake it.
Raishan: “You’ve grown quite a bit in just these few moments, Keyleth.”
Raishan retires to Asum’s room. The party heads to the magically-protected war room near the zyggurat beneath the castle.
The party begins to discuss the merits of teaming up with Raishan, and what motives may have not yet been revealed.
They consider using the gate spell. They know that they need to get the dragon away from the city as soon as possible. They decide to use the spell scroll for gate to summon a goristro, a fiend from the abyss, named Yenk. Their hope is that Vorugal would hunt Yenk, and they would fight each other. This would also allow them to take the spire of conflux, one of the vestiges of divergence, which is embedded in the goristro’s stomach.
They consult with Pike about the goristro. She isn’t sure, but wisely warns them that fiends are bad.
The party decides that they need more information on goristros before proceeding with the plan. They split up. Vex and Percy go to the library and Grog and Scanlan go to Keeper Yennen to ask about fiends, specifically goristros. Vax stops Keyleth before she leaves and suggests they go to the Temple of the Raven Queen.
On the way, Vax tells Keyleth that she has the potential to live for thousands of years, and he thinks that she should. After their plan is complete, he suggests that she live a more quiet and safer life. Keyleth responds that she must continue, and that she has a sworn duty to her people. He gives her his cloak of displacement.
Vax: “I’m so used to you smashing across our enemies shoulder-to-shoulder with Grog that I get complacent. You’re strong. I know that… So much more powerful than I am. It’s lured me into a false sense of security. I can’t have you gone. I need you here. So anything we can do to stack the deck in your favor… When you fell yesterday… It shook me.”
Keyleth: “It seems to be a trend.”
At the library, Percy and Vex peruse the books for about two hours. They don’t find much, but they do find a tome of the betrayer gods. They find dipictions of a vrock, marilith, and a goristro.
Grog and Scanlan meet with Keeper Kennan. After patting him down, they ask about goristros. He knows about goristros, but not Yenk specifically. He says they are front-line behemoths from the Pre-Divergence era. They ask if they have any resistances, but he does not know. Grog intimidates and guilts him into finding more information.
Vax goes to temple. He asks about the goristro Yenk. A voice responds that it is secret, but that the path he walked on the way to the sphinx gave him what he needed. It ends by whispering to stay alive.
When the party meets back up with each other, Vex decides to brew poisonous tea just in case. Since it cannot be used on Raishan (she is a green dragon who cannot be affected by poison), they decide to use it in case another enemy appears.
Scanlan and Grog discuss the merits of pistols versus melee weapons. Grog argues that melee has a more intimate, personal touch. Grog pulls out two pistols that he was holding on to for Percy and tosses one to Scanlan, along with 15 ammo. Scanlan spins it and puts it in his pocket.
Percy arrives and asks for his guns back. Grog is hesitant and Percy begins to bargain for his guns, so he can clean them. First, Percy gives him his cloak, and Grog, in return, gives him back one gun. Grog tries to take Percy’s glasses, but he refuses, since he needs them to see to clean the guns. Percy then offers to give Grog a title: Grand Poobah D’doink of All This and That. He explains that it brings no money or land. Grog accepts and hands over the weapons.
Scanlan reminds Percy that he said he would teach him to use the guns.
Grog goes to find Vex. He thanks her for flashing him during a previous battle and hands her a potion of superior healing.
Vex then mentions to Keyleth that he only gives cloaks to those he cares about and winks. Keyleth is excited she got a wink from Vex.
Vax asks Percy to give him advice about what the Raven Queen told him. He asks him if he knows which sphinx the voice could have been referring to. Percy says he assumes it was the one guarding the treasure. He also advises that, if all goes well, they will not be fighting Vorugal themselves, but that the goristro and the white dragon will simply kill each other.
Scanlan, being the only one besides Keyleth who can use the spell, says he can possibly cast gate, but warns that if it doesn’t work, it will never work again. While he is technically able to cast the spell, he is not strong enough to guarantee its success. They know that Kima wanted to fight the white dragon and wonder if Allura will be able to cast the spell for them.
Keyleth realizes that a solstice is coming up in about a month. She mentions to the party that these are important days when nature and the stars align, and also that this is when Raishan was able to free Thordak from the fire plane. Keyleth asks what they would do if they were a dragon and people were in the position of being able to betray them. Percy responds that he would turn on them immediately after the fight. However, they also feel that they are safe for the moment. They decide to honor their agreement to work with Raishan at least until they kill the white dragon.
Vex decides to check on Zahra, who had previously agreed to craft her another arrow of dragonslaying. She takes her attention away from the ziggurat to craft another. While the price is originally 30,000 gp, Vex talks her down to 12,000 since they are friends. Vex begrudgingly pays the cost.
Scanlan and Grog search for Kima to accompany them in fighting Vorugal. Along the way, they also find Allura. Scanlan asks Allura if she can cast the spell. She says she cannot, but she thinks it’s an extremely useful spell. She tells him that she could learn it, which would destroy the scroll, but she wouldn’t be able to cast it for a few years. Scanlan decides he will take the risk and cast it himself.
Vex and Grog ask Kima if she wants to accompany them to kill a dragon. She excitedly agrees. The party then realizes that she does not know all of the details of what they are about to do.
They decide to put it to a vote. Keyleth, Scanlan, and Percy vote for her to not come and Grog and Vex vote for her to come. Scanlan defers to the Grand Poobah’s judgement and switches his vote. Kima will come with them.
Meanwhile, Vax goes to find Kynan. He finds him training with Jarrett. Vax borrows him and promises that he will return to training tomorrow. They apologize to each other: Vax for leaving him without help nor guidance, and Kynan for being naive and joining Ripley. Vax then asks him to train the guards in Whitestone to use firearms. He also gives him the keen dagger and two regular daggers. He brings Kynan back to the party.
Kima returns with all of her armor and weapons and is promptly told that the party isn’t leaving until tomorrow. They start discussing where Raishan is going to sleep when they realize that Kima is still standing there.
Percy leads a confused Kynan away so the others can talk in private.
Vax: “Kima, we need to discuss something and if it doesn’t go well, Scanlan is going to erase your memory, but…”
They explain their deal with Raishan. They tell her that they are going to seek revenge on the dragon that killed Tiberius. Kima is angry, but sees that it is the best plan they have, albeit a stupid one. She agrees to keep Raishan’s identity a secret and help them fight the white dragon. She threatens to clock Scanlan if he attempts to erase her memory.
Vex attunes her coldsnap armor and unattunes her bracers. Percy takes off his gloves and attunes to Animus, Ripley’s pepperbox.
Percy goes to see Asum/Raishan. He tells her about the plan to bait Vorugal with the goristro. She tells him that Vorugal and Thordak are unaware that they plan to attack.
Keyleth heads to the Sun Tree and reaches it before the rest of the party. She casts commune with nature and speaks to the sun tree. Since he is over arcane lay lines, she asks which cities are on the lay lines. She attempts to sense which cities are there through his roots. The tree does not know, and the cities are just beyond what she can magically see. He also doesn’t know what the ziggurat is feeding. The Sun Tree, feeling Keyleth’s frustration tells her to chill. She then asks if Whitestone has been brought to the attention of any of the gods recently. He says that all of the gods, even Peylor, have left hundreds of years ago. She tells him to not feel lonely since she is around.
Sun Tree: “With you around, Keyleth, no one could ever be lonely.”
She then tells him that the party and Kima will be traveling through him shortly and to not be alarmed when it happens. He said that it doesn’t hurt, but it does tingle a little when people travel through him.
The party meets back up with Keyleth. Scanlan tries to wipe Kima’s mind. The spell fails and she attacks him.
They leave for Draconia. Scanlan magically creates a mansion for them to sleep in. Since he is still angry with Kima for hitting him, he makes Kima sleep in the living room and tells the servants to not serve her. Grog gets her some food from the kitchen. Keyleth promises to prepare hero’s feast for tomorrow.
Keyleth leaves the mansion to scry on Tooma and the Ravinites. She sees Tooma in her village, asleep in her tent. She considers also spying on Vorugal, but decides against it.
Scanlan and Vax decide to visit Tooma, so the party heads to the Village of the Ravinites to visit her. After convincing the guards they need an audience with Tooma, they are let in to see her. She promises her men will be there to help them fight Vorugal. She also recommends that they cast gate in the northern side of the ravine.
They return, and the party goes to sleep, preparing for tomorrow.
To be continued…
New Critical Role Recaps will be here on ProjectDerailed.com every week!
Like us on Facebook and Follow us on Twitter to see when we post and for all kinds of other cool nerdy shit.
Remember to tune into Critical Role Thursdays at 7pm Pacific on Geek and Sundry’s Twitch Channel.
Is it Thursday yet?
About the Artist: Nick Uroseva (@Nick_Uroseva)
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.
