"Critical Role plays Daggerheart" (Sx83) is a special live one-shot featuring the online premiere of Darrington Press's under-development gaming system Daggerheart.
Synopsis[]
Pre-show[]
- Welcome to the live Daggerheart open beta one-shot! And also Critical Role's 9 year anniversary!
- Play test materials and surveys available now on daggerheart.com and Demiplane.
- Lots of Daggerheart content is now available on the Critical Role YouTube channel.
Introduction[]
Welcome one and all to the realm of Lochspire, a rolling collection of winding land masses that tumble from the mountains of creation into the surrounding seas that coil between the broken expanse of grassy hills, rocky crags, and mysterious overgrowth, from the length of the Builder's Bridge to the distant ruins of Nicks. Here beneath the Hallows above, mortals mingle with a great many relics and ruins of ages long past, now left to crumble beneath ambition and progress. Here, the echoes of traumatic wars linger and unhealing scars that stretch the land while remnants of vibrant and magical beings dance between the sunbeams and ancient places of thrumming power. Here, the common folks seek revelry and purpose in a world that churns in a constant state of change. Fortune and glory ever call to many, and life in Lochspire is rarely dull for those with an eye for opportunity and an eagerness to walk beyond what is comfortable. Even so, older and crueler wills lurk within the depth of every shadow and in the twisted heart of every city, even within the most sacred of natural places. It is here where our story begins. In the late afternoon of a late summer day, within a moss-dappled cabin nestled within the outskirts of the divine timberland known as the Emerald Sky, home to the will of Ondra, goddess of the wild and wooded places. Here among the ever-climbing perimeter trees, within the home of the retired war hero Everett Cole, a troop of journeyman adventurers bonded through circumstance finish their last meal before trekking into the ominous deep of the Emerald Sky.
Part I[]
The Menagerie, a group of adventurers, is having a meal in Everett's home. While Danté Terrapin and Bunnie are fanning the fire, the retired adventurer and host asks them about why are they visiting the area, and how familiar they are with it and the local goddess, to which Xarlo Grandall answers by comfirming he's familiar with both, as a follower of Ondra. That leads to the group recalling how they ended up traveling there: the day before they had been looking for their first job as an adventuring party in Fort Overmarsh, and had even considered (at Pango and Oppy's suggestion) to work for free at first to show their skills. Shortly after they met a group of elves and faeries from the Velvet Grove asking for help after being sent away by Boko, their local guardian. They explained to the adventurers how their home was becoming corrupted and pestilent, with the Exia river growing murky, and the forest around it turning violent, although confirming the water itself wasn't the source of the corruption, since they had drunk it too. The Menagerie decided to investigate it for them and potentially meet with Boko, and in exchange they would spread the name of their group, improving their reputation. Back to the present, Everett gives some instructions to the adventurers, telling them how to find their destination following the river upstream, and mentioning the ominous sounds of the ether carcrow, as well as Wild Cullen, a ranger who could help them, and who is actually Xarlo's acquaintance, and one of the reasons why he left his life of isolation and found his new friends.
Shortly after the group leaves Everett's cabin, making their way through the forest. While Sweetpea and Bunnie chat about the latter's shows, the group hear a moaning sound. Xarlo and Danté go investigate, with the former noticing a shadowy creature flying away; as they keep walking they notice claw marks, and how the forest is getting darker. They find a strange purple slime that Sweetpea and Oppy examine, identifying its numbing properties when the fungril touches it; Pango is interested in it because it reminds him of the red "seep" that took the people at his homeland, although it isn't the same substance. Kexon Peros decides to explore further by himself, encountering a two-headed owl, who asks him who he is. As the faerie answers and returns with his friends, the creature follows him, and although Xarlo proves himself trustworthy by showing his symbol of Ondra, Echo still focuses on the rest of the Menagerie. The owl asks something to three of them: Danté confesses he wants to best the man that humilliated him, Kexon admits he fears disappointing his family and not obtaining knowledge, and Sweetpea proves her survival skills by showing her Shadow Step to move through darkness. Satisfied, Echo leaves, allowing them to continue.
Not long after the adventurers find a wounded hedge bear, and Bunnie casts Enrapture to make sure it focuses on her and not her friends; however, when more beasts appear, a battle ensues. Danté, Bunnie and Sweetpea exchange some attacks with the bears, with the former being wounded himself, but Xarlo notices that those creatures seem to be corrupted, so he decides he will try to heal them. Pango joins the fight, but both Sweetpea and him are hit; Oppenheimer then tries to defend his friends with magical fire, but he misses and ends up badly injured. Kexon then tries attacking with fire too, and manages to knock out one of the hedge bears, although one of the others attack the wizard in retaliation. Xarlo heals Oppy, and he uses his Rain of Blades against the bears. After that, Bunnie sings to motivate her friends, and she and Pango (despite the latter's shyness) manage to kill another beast with a coordinated attack. Danté and Oppy then do the same, teaming up to defeat the remaining hedge bear, which leaves them with only one of the animals alive, although unconscious.
Fan art of Pango and Bunnie, by Elaine Tipping.[art 2]
Break[]
- Daggerheart Open Beta: Playtest the game and bring us your feedback through the official surveys!
Part II[]
After the battle, while the party is concealed by Kexon's Mysterious Mist, Xarlo goes to the hedge bear, and channels his healing magic while he shares a story about a past (and more positive) encounter with a different bear. He manages to heal its wounds and get rid of the corruption, after which the animal leaves; the adventurers, after some consideration, decide to follow it, hoping to find something useful. Although they don't locate the Cleft Hand rock, which is one of the landmarks Everett had mentioned, their connection with nature is so strong they find the river; noticing that the area seems to be corrupted, with unhealthy vegetation and murky, thick water, Sir Danté takes some of it in his canteen, and Bunnie checks with Pango, who confirms the corruption there isn't like the seep that traumatized him so much. She confesses that she and Danté have dealt themselves with a strange phenomenon (a red mist) that affected people too. The group keep going, and eventually they find the mutilated corpse of Wild Cullen (that Xarlo recognizes), and they examine it, noticing, thanks to Kexon, that he was attacked by surprise and got hit in the head, before even using his own weapons. Shortly after the Menagerie is attacked by several river creatures, and although Pango deals with most of them easily and Sir Danté and Xarlo help with their own weapons, soon a corrupted timber serpent comes out and attacks the three of them, as well as Oppy, after failing to notice Sweetpea, who is hiding; the rogue, after spotting a vulnerable spot (the serpent's swelling throat), attacks, being supported by Bunnie's debilitating performance, Oppy's Unleash Chaos, and Pango's strike. Although the giant is then attacked by the timber serpent and some skitterfish start bothering Bunnie, Sir Danté kills the bigger monster, and the smaller ones leave.
The adventurers take some time to rest, and after taking some useful gear from Wild Cullen, Xarlo builds a cairn to put him to rest, letting Ondra and the forest claim his mortal remains. The seraph's magic and Bunnie's music help healing wounds and eliminating stress, and after some light activities, the group keeps going. They eventually reach the source of the river, very corrupted, and surrounded by pulsing vines. Xarlo then tries to channel the power of his goddess to cleanse the spring, but this causes a different reaction: Boko, the fane guardian itself, awakens and attacks, being affected by the corruption of the land. The adventurers react immediately as a team: Sweetpea (with some magical assistance from Kexon), restrains the stone guardian with Shadow Bind, while Pango and Danté attack with their weapons. With some difficulty, Xarlo (supported by Bunnie's rally) manages to heal Boko, but not entirely. Pango ends up restrained by vines as the fane guardian gets free and brutally attacks Sir Danté; Oppy uses Unleash Chaos once more and notices a red glow within the abscess of vines, but then Kexon, who had been helping the sorcerer, is hit by a rock. Bunnie, despite having Sweetpea and Xarlo's assistance, falls into the water, and then Boko attacks the fungril, leaving her injured; however, both she and her faun friend get to attack the guardian successfully. Pango, after breaking free from the vines, grabs Danté and throws him, allowing him to destroy the abscess.
Boko regains control as the spring clears (in time to stop before hitting Xarlo), and the forest around them starts to heal. The Glen Warder is thankful for the Menagerie's help, and very sorry for its actions and its carelessness. The guardian explains to them how it allowed a mysterious traveler to stay in the fane to commune with Ondra, and the man acted strange, wandering and paying no attention to Boko's guidance; the day after the man left, the corruption began. When the adventurers ask for more details about the suspect, the fane guardian manipulates its own stone-like face, making it look like that of an older man whom no one recognizes except Bunnie, because she knows him: he is Dyson Broche, an occasional patron of the Lilly Locket Lounge.
Featured characters[]
The Menagerie[]
- Bunnie - Troubadour bard (Ridgeborne faun)
- Kexon Peros - School of War wizard (Loreborne faerie)
- Oppenheimer "Oppy" Betabean - Primal Origin sorcerer (Seaborne ribbet)
- Pango Small - Stalwart guardian (Underborne giant)
- Sir Danté Terrapin Terrapin - Call of the Brave warrior (Wildborne galapa)
- Sweetpea Betabean - Nightwalker rogue (Seaborne fungril)
- Xarlo Grandall - Divine Wielder seraph (Wanderborne simiah)
New[]
- Boko the Glen Warder - fane guardian
- Dyson Broche - older con man, occasional patron of the Lilly Locket Lounge
- Echo - two-headed owl
- Everett Cole - human retired war hero
- Ondra - god of forests and woods
- Twix and Twex, two of Xarlo's puppies
- Wango - Pango's brother
- Wild Cullen - mixed lineage elf-human ranger (deceased)
Quotations[]
Trivia[]
- Sam, who is playing a much bigger character than usual, brings out a teeny tiny flask which he names "Daggerfart"[1].
- Despite being a one-shot, it ends with a cliffhanger that suggests the return of the Menagerie in the future.
External links[]
Critical Role Creates Characters in Daggerheart | Open Beta on the Critical Role YouTube channel is the session zero for this special, where the cast created their characters.
References[]
Art:
- ↑ Fan art of the Betabeans under the rain, by Odd (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Fan art of Pango and Bunnie, by Elaine Tipping (source). Used with permission.