The Midnight Chase

is the third episode of the first chapter of the second campaign for Critical Role.

Pre-Stream
Matt thanks Liam for his ever-creative vocabulary every week, right before the camera goes live.

Announcements

 * Our sponsor tonight and for the foreseeable future is D&D Beyond: Sam is kind of losing his voice, so he has Laura read the ad copy. D&D Beyond is the official digital toolset for Critical Role.  It's a great app...especially if you're the kind of superstitious gamer who thinks that the color or style of the dice actually affect how it rolls.  Check it out at www.dndbeyond.com, and use the code "beginnings" to get 10% off any book in their marketplace.  Also, Sam Riegel is a cockbag.
 * Talks Machina, hosted by Brian Wayne Foster, is hosted every Tuesday at 7:00 PM on Twitch and Alpha.
 * "A Show of Scrutiny" is now available on the Critical Role Podcast.
 * "Vox Machina: Origins #4" was released digitally yesterday (January 24, 2018). Matt loves Olivia Samson's art, and she actually came from the Critical Role fan art community.
 * Matt had his wisdom teeth removed last Saturday, so he apologizes that his cheeks are still a little puffy. Laura thinks Matt looks chiseled.  Marisha says he looks fine, and it's all in his head.
 * Check out the charity 826LA. They do amazing programs on creative writing for underprivileged kids.  If Critters have the opportunity to donate or donate their time to become one of 826LA's fantastic volunteers, that would be fantastic.  Critical Role loves them and has been supporting them for a long time.  Check them out, or if you live outside of Los Angeles, check out the 826 near your home.
 * That's it for announcements. That was really fast.  Laura hasn't even finished rolling to "reset" her dice yet.

Previously on Critical Role
"So, last we left off: This intrepid band of slowly-converging-individual-stories-into-some-semblance-of-an-adventuring-party have found themselves caught up in an investigation. There was a Carnival that you had attended - of which Mollymauk was a part of - that had a terrible scenario occur: An older man who was at the Carnival had been transformed, in the middle of the performance, into some horrible undead creature that attacked and assaulted other people within the tent.  You defeated it, and then since, have all been under investigation and been told that you can't leave the town.

"To try and absolve yourselves of any sort of doubt, you've begun to investigate what the cause is for this strange transformation. You've gone around the town, asking questions, meeting individuals...eventually finding yourselves back at the tent in the middle of the night.  Past midnight in the early hours of the morning, sneaking into tents and asking members of the Carnival what they may know about what has transpired.

"Upon speaking with a number of members of the Carnival, two of the guards that were on-site suddenly fell dead where they were standing, writhing in pain as they passed. And you watched as a large shadow, of which you had confirmed being fiendish in nature, leapt northward towards the Ustaloch and out of sight.  As both Fjord and Caleb had rushed out of the main tent to see the center of the camp, where these two bodies begin to rise up.  Two more of the freshly-transformed, undead creatures, now angered and looking about for something to feast upon..."

We're Fighting Already?!?
"Detect Good and Evil" was Jester's third and final spell, so she only has cantrips left. No time to worry: Roll Initiative!

Break

 * The Twitch chat prize this week was a complete Wyrmwood Gaming dice tower system, made of cherry wood. The codeword was "Mystery", and the winner was "KoehlerArt".
 * An ad for Season 2 of "Painter's Guild", hosted by Will Friedle, only on Project Alpha.
 * The announcement of "Good Fortnight, Kevin", starring Kevin. Although Darin De Paul and Amy Vorpahl have fulfilled their contractual obligations, Geek & Sundry still has to do a morning show.  However, thanks to budget cuts, they only have to do it once every two weeks.  Featuring cameos from known Geek & Sundry personalities like Marisha Ray...even if they just stand there and don't say anything. Starting January 29th, and every other Monday after!
 * The announcement of "Behind the Shield": the official after-show for "Shield of Tomorrow"! It's like Talks Machina, but Star Trek!  Geek & Sundry, in their infinite and glorious wisdom, has given Sam de Leve this show as their very first to host.  Sam is excited, but Eric Campbell reminds them that they don't have a lot of time for the ad and they need to just stick to the teleprompter.  This 30-minute show is exclusive to Project Alpha.  Sam gets too excited to finish, so Eric takes over.  The cast of Shield of Tomorrow, and maybe even some special guests, will be on to answer questions and talk space stuff.  Eric also announces that Shield of Tomorrow episodes will now be posted on YouTube, at which point both Sam and Eric get VERY excited.
 * On this installment of "Adulting in the Apocalypse", Whitney Moore teaches us how to tie a tie (or as Whitney's grandpa called it: a "collar serpent"). For more of Whitney's issues and post-apocalyptic friends, watch "Thrashtopia" on Project Alpha.
 * On the latest "How to Play" with Becca Scott, Becca teaches us how to play "You've Got Problems" by Jack Dire Studios.
 * gallery of Critical Role fan art

Crookedstone Island
The sun has set as our heroes approach the outer banks of Crookedstone Island.

Player Characters

 * Beauregard
 * Fjord
 * Frumpkin
 * Jester
 * Nott
 * Mollymauk Tealeaf
 * Caleb Widogast
 * Yasha (absent, mentioned)

New

 * Noah, the sailor
 * Shelby (Fjord's mustang)

Returning

 * Oglin Hornsblower
 * Jonas
 * Kylre
 * Lucas
 * Mona
 * Ornna
 * Toya
 * Yorda
 * Yuli

Mentioned

 * Bo "the Breaker"
 * Gustav Fletching
 * Norda

Quotations

 * Jester: "I'm THE Cleric?!? I've never traveled with a bunch of people I thought would die in front of me!"
 * Fjord: "Is that single horse a, uh...a mustang?"
 * Jester: "I fell asleep halfway through drawing the two zombies...making out!"
 * Caleb: "Leave me alone, I'm reading."
 * Jester: "I'm not afraid of dicks."
 * Marisha: "She's not your sister, anymore..."
 * Liam: "You can't make me Vax again..."
 * Jester: "What are the odds that Yasha's on this island and she'll come save us all?!?"
 * Travis: "I've got a spell save DC, y'all!"

Trivia

 * Two players got the How do you want to do this?: Nott against a zombie Crownsguard and Fjord against Kylre.