Kingsley Tealeaf

→ This page is about the player character. For the previous player character who used the same body as Kingsley, see Mollymauk Tealeaf, and for the NPC who had the body before that, see Lucien Tavelle.

Kingsley Tealeaf
Official 2022 portrait of Kingsley in 837 PD, by Ari.
Type	Player Character
Actor	Taliesin Jaffe
Character Information
Name	Kingsley Tealeaf
Pronouns	he/him
Also known as	King Circus Man (by Caleb)
Race	Tiefling
Class	Blood hunter (Order of the Ghostslayer) Rogue (Swashbuckler)
Age	26 or 27 (biologically, in 837 PD) Less than a year (as Kingsley, in 837 PD)
Languages	Common, Infernal
Place	Darktow Isle
Family	Mollymauk Tealeaf (symbolic brother)
Connections	Mighty Nein The Revelry Lucien and Mollymauk (shared body) Fjord (captain)
Profession	Pirate Plank King
Status
Status	Alive
Stats
Level	17 (Blood Hunter ≥ 11, Rogue (Swashbuckler) ≥ 5)
HP	163
AC	20
DC	11 / 17
Str	10
Dex	18
Con	14
Int	12
Wis	16
Cha	12
Reference(s)
Appearances
First seen	"Long May He Reign" (2x140)
Last seen	"The Mighty Nein Reunited Part 2" (Sx74)
Stream	Campaign Two (2 episodes) Specials (2 episodes)

Kingsley Tealeaf, also known as King Tealeaf, is a tiefling Blood hunter/rogue inhabiting the same body as Mollymauk Tealeaf and Lucien Tavelle. He is played by Taliesin Jaffe.

Description

Appearance

Kingsley, by Ari.

Kingsley has the same body as Molly and Lucien, and thus presumably the same overall appearance. He is a lavender tiefling with red eyes, curled horns, and a forked tongue. Multiple tattoos adorn his body, starting with a serpent tattoo that curls all along the length of his right hand and up his arm, then winds into a floral piece on his shoulder, and then into a peacock with tail feathers that run up the side of his face. Between his shoulder blades rising towards the hairline, he has tattoos of an eye within a pyramid, illuminated by another eye above it. Flanking and connecting through it like a mantle, he has a moon and sun tattoo on the back as well.

However, Kingsley does not have the red eye tattoos that Mollymauk and Lucien had.

Personality

Kingsley was eager to find out more about the world and about himself. He seemed to think highly of himself, choosing the name Kingsley because he felt like a king.

Biography

Background

The original inhabitant of Kingsley's body was Lucien. He grew up in Shadycreek Run and later joined the Claret Orders, before splitting up and forming the Tombtakers, a small group of mercenary blood hunters. In 833 PD, Lucien acquired a tome that allowed him to gain powers and knowledge from the Somnovem, an ancient group of mages ruling a living city in the Astral Sea. Drawn in by the promise of power, Lucien attempted to complete a ritual to reach the Somnovem, but was double-crossed by the mage he hired to perform the ritual, and his soul was broken and scattered. Believing him to be dead, his allies buried his body.

Some time after, a fragment of Lucien's soul still present in the body awoke and dug his way out of the grave. He was in a catatonic state, with no memories of his past, only able to say one word: "Empty". Soon after, he was taken in by Gustav Fletching, the leader of The Fletching and Moondrop Traveling Carnival of Curiosities. He eventually developed a new personality and began using the name Mollymauk Tealeaf. Molly traveled with the carnival for two years, then joined the Mighty Nein. A few months of adventuring later, he was killed by Lorenzo while attempting to rescue his kidnapped friends.

An old ally of Lucien's, Cree, had previously met Mollymauk. Upon hearing of his death, she headed to his grave site and successfully resurrected Lucien, who did not retain memories of Mollymauk's life. After gathering the rest of their group, the Tombtakers headed to the ruins of Aeor to attempt to reach the Somnovem through different means. Eventually, the Mighty Nein heard of this, and traveled to Aeor, then to the Astral Sea in an attempt to stop Lucien's plans. Lucien successfully merged with the Somnovem, then with the rest of the city. During their fight with Lucien, the Mighty Nein began to call out to him as if he were still Molly. This seemed to cause Lucien pain and prevented him from taking additional attacks, strongly suggesting that Molly's memories and personality still existed within him. He was eventually killed.

"Long May He Reign" (2x140)

After Lucien was taken down, Caleb attempted to bring Mollymauk back to life. The ritual initially failed, but through Caduceus's Divine Intervention, the tiefling came back to life. He initially seemed confused and child-like, repeating the word "Empty" over and over again, but seemed to recognize the Mighty Nein.

"Fond Farewells" (2x141)

Fan art of Kingsley's dreams about the broken chains in Cognouza, by CT Chen.

The Nein brought Kingsley to the Blooming Grove, where he spent the rest of the day wandering around and seemingly not knowing who the others were. After Jester cast Greater Restoration on him, he regained full control of his body and mind, but didn't retain many memories of his past. He mentioned a woman wearing a red coat, and felt that Yasha was familiar to him. After the Mighty Nein described Mollymauk to him, he declared that it wasn't him, and chose the name Kingsley, keeping the surname Tealeaf.

Kingsley's dreams of his confinement and escape from Lucien included memories of strange black chains that invisibly wove through Cognouza, now broken, the sound of them shattering between worlds, and the angry, unknowable, primal, ancient cry that he could never forget. This represented a now-broken connection between Cognouza and Tharizdun.

Post-Campaign

Fan art of Kingsley Tealeaf, by rosygloomart.

Kingsley expressed great interest in traveling and discovering more about himself and the world, embarking on the Nein Heroez with Jester and Fjord. They spent the next months sailing the waters between the Menagerie Coast and Darktow Isle while trying to start a shipping company (tentatively named "Stone's Throw Shipping"). One evening, a storm overtook the ship and it was attacked by a storm giant and multiple deep scions acting on behalf of the imprisoned demigod Uk'otoa, who almost immediately knocked Jester unconscious. To halt the attack, Fjord reluctantly gave his Cloven Crystal to a scion, but the giant tore the ship apart and destroyed it before departing. The crew escaped in Kingsley's boat-in-a-box. Once they were joined by the rest of the Mighty Nein (except Caduceus), the group traveled via Teleport to Nicodranas where they spent the night at Fjord and Jester's home before traveling on to the Cyrios End Forest (where Fjord had determined the third temple must be based on his earlier vision of its location). Eventually they reached the ancient ruins of a ruined temple of Zehir just as the party of deep scions led by the storm giant pushed through into the clearing.

After the scions succeeded in releasing Uk'otoa, the eyes of a three-headed snake statue began glowing green and spoke to the party, telling them that in order to reimprison Uk'otoa, one of them must bear the mark of Zehir. Kingsley immediately volunteered but gave way to Fjord. The statue cracked, revealing a rapier embedded within it, the Fang of the Spire King, which Fjord accepted but gave to Kingsley as more suited to his fighting style. Kingsley then used it in the battle and eventual defeat of the leviathan. The night before, he talked to Beau and Yasha about Mollymauk, wanting to know their impressions of him because he had been trying to figure out where his other two personalities went wrong so he could make new mistakes. He thought of Molly and Lucien almost as his parents. He had been talking to Caduceus Clay about Lucien because it was nice to have a friend who didn't have the association with Mollymauk. Both Beau and Yasha shared their impressions, and Yasha urged him not to take the dark path.

Fan art of Kingsley as the Plank King, by ElesirArt.

Kingsley remained in contact with the Mighty Nein, and one month before the apogee solstice of 843 PD, when Luc Brenatto ran away from home, Kingsley helped Luc's parents track him down, finding him in Alfield. During the solstice the blood hunter was presumably at sea, but Jester spoke to him regularly.

"Total Party Kill: Chicago Live 2025" (Sx95)

A few months after the end of the Era of Reclamation, after the gods chose to be reborn as mortals some of their cults were still active. Kingsley joined the Mighty Nein as they chased the Cult of the Cloaked Serpent through the tunnels beneath Rexxentrum. When they were facing a naga, a dark entity kidnapped Kingsley, Jester, Veth, Caleb, and Beau, transporting them all to a pocket dimension in which them and other heroes from Vox Machina and Bells Hells had to compete in games organized by Malvolio Contreras. During the game, King was annoyed by the situation but spent some time flirting with Fearne Calloway anyway; however, after a bit it became clear that their host was dangerous, and the adventurers teamed up against him. A battle ensued, during which Kingsley attacked and mocked Malvolio, weakening both his confidence and his powers; at one point, in revenge for using him to block Grog Strongjaw's attack, the blood hunter managed to steal the host's hat, which was hiding ridiculously tiny horns. Shortly after that Kingsley defeated Malvolio by stealing the jewel that gave him most of his powers, and after he ran away, all the adventurers returned to Exandria.

Later life

At some point, Fjord recovered a ship after defeating a pirate attack and gave it to Kingsley to captain for him. Kingsley re-christened it the Mollymauk. A month later, Kingsley and the ship vanished, leaving a note thanking Fjord but telling him he was never giving the ship back, and headed to Darktow Isle where he joined the Revelry. Eventually, he replaced Wyatt Maranoss to become the new Plank King.

Relationships

Mollymauk Tealeaf

Kingsley's first impression of Mollymauk was that he seemed pretty weird. He stated that he didn't enjoy the name Mollymauk or his flashy embroidered coat. However, he was intrigued by these memories, and decided to regard Mollymauk as a brother, taking the same last name. After a few years spent figuring out who he was, Kingsley finally learned about Molly's life through Beau's journal and the stories told by the Mighty Nein.

Fjord

Kingsley sailed on the Nein Heroez with Fjord as his captain for many years, and learned a great deal from him. However, even though he "loves" Fjord, he enjoys being better at Fjord's job than Fjord is, and is "very specifically trying to undermine him at every moment."

Character information

Notable items

• Black coat (created by Jester)
• Inescapable Lash
• Flask of Perpetual Booze
• Acheron Blade rapier
• Folding Boat (the "Boat-in-a-Box")
• Fang of the Spire King, a magic rapier gifted by Zehir to Fjord, and given by him to Kingsley
• Ring of Water Elemental Command, Ring of Swimming, or other ring that gives him a swim speed

Abilities

Tiefling abilities

Kingsley, as the third incarnation in the same body (following Mollymauk and Lucien) is a Devil's Tongue tiefling, and manifests the same abilities:

• Darkvision
• Variant: Devil's Tongue
  • Vicious Mockery
  • Charm Person spell (1/day, as a 2nd-level spell)
  • Enthrall spell (1/day)
• Hellish Resistance

Feats

• Piercer (+1 Dex)
• Tough

Blood hunter abilities

Unless otherwise noted, these abilities are presumed from the Blood Hunter class features:

• Crimson Rite
  • Rite of the Flame
  • Rite of the Dawn
• Extra Attack
• Hunter's Bane: Advantage tracking fey, fiends, or undead and on Intelligence checks to recall information about such creatures.
• Blood Maledict (3/rest)
• Brand of Castigation
• Grim Psychometry (advantage on history checks on evil subjects)
• Dark Augmentation (Additional 5 ft speed, bonus to STR, DEX, and CON saves)

Rogue abilities

• Expertise: Acrobatics, Perception
• Sneak Attack (3d6)
• Thieves' Cant
• Cunning Action
• Swashbuckler abilities
  • Fancy Footwork (after a melee attack, no Attacks of Opportunity from that creature)
  • Rakish Audacity (Add CHA modifier to initiative, can sneak attack when you and another creature are adjacent and you're not surrounded)

Appearances and mentions

• Campaign Two
  • "Long May He Reign" (2x140) (first appearance)
  • "Fond Farewells" (2x141)
• The Nine Eyes of Lucien (mentioned)
• Specials
  • "The Mighty Nein Reunited Part 1" (Sx73)
  • "The Mighty Nein Reunited Part 2" (Sx74)
  • "The Mighty Nein Reunion: Echoes of the Solstice" (Sx79), mentioned only
  • "Total Party Kill: Chicago Live 2025" (Sx95)
• Campaign Three
  • "The Nein Hells" (3x111), mentioned only
  • "A New Age Begins" (3x121), mentioned only
• Wildemount Wildlings (show)
  • "Into the Wilde" (WWx02), mentioned only, unnamed

Quotations

• Kingsley: (to the Nein Heroez's crew) All right, everybody, get to your work. You're too pretty to die today.
• Kingsley: I try to be a good person, or whatever I think that is. I take care of the crew. I work hard. If you're working with somebody for someone, you take care of them. But sometimes that means you have to get a little violent, make some unfortunate decisions.
• Kingsley: (about Fjord and Jester) There will always be respect. It may not always look like it, but I promise there will always be respect. They taught me most of everything I know.

Trivia

Kingsley in Crit Recap Animated.

Fan art of Molly and King, by Odd.

• No reason was given by Taliesin Jaffe to explain why Kingsley came to be instead of Mollymauk.
  • While talking about developing Molly in "Critical Role Campaign 2 Wrap Up" (Sx56), Taliesin discussed the concept of mermaids (in many tales, creatures without souls) and of the blank slate (tabula rasa).
  • When Lucien's soul was received by Sehanine the Moonweaver, she did a moon oracle card reading for him, after which a sprout started growing from the Love card, while the goddess explained that maybe "fourth time's the charm". This was a reference to Kingsley and the beginning of his life (the fourth time a soul would inhabit Lucien's body).
• Taliesin Jaffe in San Diego Comic-Con 2022 - Critical Role Q&A Panel had revealed that Mollymauk would not return, because "it was always the plan" to be "a celebration of the ephemeral".
• It is revealed in Critical Role: The Mighty Nein - The Nine Eyes of Lucien that Lucien had a younger sister, Aldreda, and a niece, Marii. While Kingsley has no known connection with either of them, technically speaking they are his biological family.

References

Art: