"On the Scent" (4x07) is the seventh episode of the fourth campaign of Critical Role, featuring the Soldiers table. The Soldiers arrive in the Kingdom of Timmony, where local customs are bending against the religious influence of the Candescent Creed...
Synopsis[]
Cold open[]
The staff and students of the Penteveral (including Murray) are assembled for the initial address of their new Dean, Kora Keplenvaisreck. Meanwhile at the Archanade museum, Bolaire is with Lord Temoday Wurnst and Lady Amariya Cormoray, who is admiring the first Pariah Blade to kill a god in Aramán. Bolaire tells her this is a reproduction, but offers to show her the real one. She is curious whether the blades could harm celestials as well as gods, and seems particularly interested in the mysterious weapon that slew Rauwyn, the Trickster. Back at the Penteveral, Dean Kora thanks the Sundered Houses for their support and announces a Cormoray scholarship. Murray is having a hard time containing her disgust, and the Dean Messages her to come to her office after the ceremony.
Announcements[]
- Sam's still lost his voice, so Taliesin was pressed into service at the last minute for the ad read, doing a bad impression of a German club kid. We DO learn his Vox Machina tattoo is on his left deltoid, and that Taliesin can dance and looks good in a tail! Oh, and the sponsor is Emberwood Forge, where code Criticalrole now gets 10% off and a free exclusive miniature.
- The Thank Goodness it's Thursday! charity special raised over $80,000, so on December 10 they'll host the 10-year anniversary charity auction benefiting all the Critical Role Foundation partner charities. Ashley is contemplating adding her Campaign Three dice tray to the auctioned items.
- The Critical Role shops are currently running clearance sales.
- Dungeons of Drakkenheim is coming to Daggerheart. The Kickstarter is at ghostfiregaming.com/drakkenheart.
Part I[]
As the Wraith Tree burns, Wicander confesses he didn't know he could do some of the things he just did in the battle. Thimble loots the bodies, finding gold and two mysterious potions, which they take. The party realizes that by killing the undead-producing tree, they have made the Dahapshanee Wood somewhat safer. As they go through the bodies, Tyranny begins casually snacking on the fresher ones. The group begins traveling again, but gets lost in the dark and decides to camp in a tree.
In the morning, they notice ordinary life is beginning to come back to the forest. By afternoon, they are on the outskirts of the Kingdom of Timmony and catch sight again of the King's Highway. Thimble tells Teor about Soobri's vision seeing his brother Talcydimir chained behind carriages bearing crow's feathers, and Teor suspects they should hurry to catch up. Kattigan recently spent time in the area and recognizes their location as Vallow, a rural area with few roads, some crofter villages, and with many traps designed to give warning of undead invading from the nearby forest. They do, however, spot a freshly built temple of the Candescent Creed.
Inside, they find Tholomoine, a small rotund man sweeping up, who almost collapses when Wicander introduces himself and tells him they're just checking to make sure he has everything he needs. Tholomoine explains the Lux, or chaplain, was summoned to Arderin yesterday with all the other Luxes in Vallow by the Earl. Tholomoine is taken aback that Wick is traveling with a fairy and a demon, neither of which are canonically worthy of being anointed. Wick asks for food and horses, but Tholomoine has only bread.
Thimble has stormed outside when she hears the Creed's attitude toward fairies, gathering stones to throw at Wick when he leaves. Kattigan joins her and finds Tasker, a shepherd, who when he sees Thimble is almost reverent, remembering the fair folk of his youth. They tell Tasker that the forest should now be somewhat safer, for which he is grateful. He shares with them that the King is traveling south on the road for a meeting with the orcs of Kahad and the Revolutionary Council. He has also heard that yesterday, a nama came out of the woods seeking sanctuary in another village, but was betrayed by the Lux there to the Earl and was taken captive. The Lux then ordered him taken to the Baron of Sloak, in Gormalay.
As Wick and Tyranny finish their bread and exit the temple, Thimble pelts him with rocks, angry at his Creed's looking down on both fairies and demons. She tells him that taking the religion down from the inside is the only way she'll forgive him, but Tyranny points out they need to focus on finding Cyd first. When Kattigan shares what he learned from the shepherd, they realize they must hurry to Gormalay. They also realize that the stronghouse Casimir Gavendale had the title to must be the castle of the Barony of Sloak granted to him by House Tachonis. Due to Teor's desire to rescue his brother as soon as possible, they decide to take the King's Road, although when asked Teor says that they should focus first on bringing Casimir to justice rather than saving Cyd.
As they travel, they notice small Druidic shrines honoring dogs and providing them food, water, and shelter, since dogs are used by the Druids of the area to carry messages (since they can speak with them). Once on the road, they fail to find any horses but reach Arderlin safely. There, they encounter significant presence of the Candescent Creed, and feeling running against the King, with preachers accusing him of putting himself above the light of their religion. Wicander attempts to get a ride on a wagon for the group and the first driver he approaches is a supporter of the king and refuses, but Teor is more successful with another driver.
The driver asks them about the new Baron of Sloak, whom they had thought would be another Tachonis but is instead Baron Gavendale, and is sad to hear he is not a good man. She allows them to sleep in the wagon overnight, and during the night Thimble notices a large, alert dog watching them from a distance, an enormous guard dog called a Rock's mastiff that usually guards important people. When she wakes Kattigan and looks back, the dog is not there.
Break[]
- Ads for Emberwood Forge and Dispatch.
- 4th Annual Critmas Sale now in the Critical Role Shops.
- Promos for Critical Role Presents: Winter's Crest, Weird Kids, Critical Role Foundation, Beacon.tv.
- Trailer for The Mighty Nein (animated), Season One now releasing on Prime Video.
- New Merch: Leftover NYC pop-up shop wedding merch in the US only; C4 roll call t-shirt everywhere except Australia; Delilah Briarwood dice set in US, EU, and UK; Daggerheart folio, Fjord and Jester sherpa fleece jackets, champion dice for Grog, Percy, and Essek, red dice bag in all shops.
- Submit fan art and cosplay for possible inclusion in the weekly online gallery. Critical Recap releases every Wednesday on CritRole.com.
- Beacon cures low CR but can cause diarrhea.
Part II[]
Thimble badly needs sleep but when Kattigan says he's going to go look for the mysterious mastiff, she opts to join him. Investigating, he finds massive paw prints heading in the direction of Sloak. Inside the tavern, a large dog with some blue in its fur rests by the fire. The innkeeper tells them that she saw the Rock's mastiff, and it belongs to Augustus Valian, the king of Timmony, but Thimble notices she glances toward the dog near the fire as she speaks. When the innkeeper leaves to get them food, Thimble looks through keyholes upstairs and sees a room with shields bearing the crest of House Seremai, a vassal house of House Tachonis. Downstairs, Kattigan reluctantly tries to cast Speak With Animals on the sleeping dog but learns she can actually talk, and her name is Dame Morgaine.
Fan art of Kattigan and Thimble at the inn, by Lap Pun Cheung.[art 1]
In the ensuing conversation, they learn Morgaine is a hound of the king, as is Hawkins, the hound Thimble saw outside. They share that they are looking for Cyd, a friend of theirs taken captive by the new Baron of Sloak, and Morgaine informs them that the people sleeping upstairs are guests of the new baron. They have heard he may actually be a criminal from the south, and Thimble confirms this. Morgaine shares that the hounds travel freely throughout Timmony should they see either her or Hawkins again.
In the morning, Tyranny warns Wicander that because of the hostility between the Candescent Creed and the King, they should perhaps keep a lid on their connection to it, and Wick agrees. In a rainstorm, they reach the tiny hamlet of Sloak, the location of the small, crumbling castle of the Baron, and see a small group of horsemen flying Seremai and Tachonis flags approaching it from a different angle. Kattigan sends Wulferic out to scout ahead and when he returns, he indicates at least one of their quarries is nearby. The group realizes that there are no carriages there, as were seen in the vision of the group transporting Cyd, but the horsemen will arrive at about the same time they do.
Thimble flies off to scout the castle and the others move through the village, which seems downtrodden but ordinary and unfortified. Flying unseen over the courtyard, she sees a group of six knights, eight men-at-arms, three Crow Keepers, and Casimir Gavendale greeting the large group of better-dressed knights of House Seremai, including Lord Seremai himself, an extremely tall person bearing a spear and the shield Thimble saw back at the inn. Something in his mouth seems luminous. With him is Lord Doset Tachonis (a cousin of House Tachonis) and Doset's older sister Univere, whose face has teeth tattooed on the outside of her lips making the bottom half of her face look like a skull. As Thimble watches, Doset hands Casimir the title to Castle Sloak.
Casimir wants Cyd dead for stealing the title from him, but Lord Doset tells him Talcydimir is no longer his concern. Casimir is also angry at the condition of the castle that was his payment for betraying Thjazi Fang, and reveals that the object in the sky that Thjazi saw at his execution was a falcon. Univere is very interested in this knowledge, telling Doset they need to leave immediately. When they turn to go, Casimir throws a rock at them angrily, and to teach him a lesson Lord Doset has him spanked with a sword before all his men till he is bleeding, before they depart. Casimir furiously tells his men to go double the taxes in the village.
Thimble returns to the party with her report and they debate what to do now. Teor thinks Cyd may be back at the tavern where they were and they should return there immediately, having changed his mind about attacking Casimir first, but as the others talk, he realizes they could try to get information from Casimir and take some of his horses, since the Tachonis caravan is too numerous to attack. They really need to know where Cyd actually is, and they remember that Dame Morgaine mentioned that she had business in Sloak today. Eventually they decide to deal with Casimir first, with Tyranny pretending to be a healer and Wicander embracing his identity as a member of the Candescent Creed. Thimble, Kattigan, and Teor will work around the edges of the castle.
As Wick and Tyranny (in disguise) travel along the road, they meet Casimir's knights on their way as ordered to the village. Tyranny tells the leader, Sir Gully Breeches, they've been told Baron Casimir needs healing, but is not believed at all. As the knights move to arrest them, Wick casts Charm Person successfully on Sir Breeches but his use of magic is spotted and the other guards grapple them. Amazingly, Wick's spell convinces Sir Gully to stop, and when the knights see the light beaming from him they recognize him as a member of Sundered House Halovar, assuming they traveled with the party from House Tachonis. They are escorted to the castle by one of the knights who announces Lord Wicander Halovar and his companion Dr. Finger to Casimir, who seems unimpressed and sends them away, but Wicander manages to convince him he has come at the Tachonis's request to support Casimir. The other three party members have snuck around the side of the castle and remain hidden. They all realize that Casimir hasn't slept in days and is clinging to the edge of sanity, and hopes to use Wicander to get the support of the local people.
Featured characters[]
Soldiers
Schemers
Mentioned
- Ellipides Tallbarrel, former dean of the Penteveral
- King Augustus "Gus" Valian of Timmony
- Earl of Vallow (unnamed)
- Lord and Lady Sloak, former Baron and Baroness of Sloak (unnamed)
- Occtis Tachonis
- Old Robert, a neighbor in Vallow
- Talcydimir Pridesire
- Thjazi Fang
- Ulbid Morn
- Windy, Tasker's wife
Returning
- Amariya Cormoray
- Lord Temoday Wurnst, an ally of Lady Amariya
New
- Casimir Gavendale, former Crow Keeper, new Baron of Sloak
- Dame Morgaine, Hound of the King
- Doset Tachonis, cousin of Occtis Tachonis, former Baron of Sloak as the second husband of Lady Sloak
- Gully Breeches, man-at-arms of Casimir Gavendale
- Gwen, innkeeper
- Hawkins, Hound of the King
- Hugh, man-at-arms under Gully Breeches
- Kora Klepenvaisreck, fifth dean of the Penteveral
- Sir Aniko Seremai (unnamed)
- Tasker, shepherd
- Tholomoine, acolyte of the Candescent Creed
- Univere Tachonis, older sister of Doset Tachonis
Quotations[]
- Tyranny: (to Wicander) Don't ever try to be like Teor. Only Teor can be like Teor.
Inventory[]
| Adjustment | Count | Item | Source | Destination | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acquired | 38 | Gold pieces | zombie bodies | Thimble/Teor | The coins were from several different sources and denominations. Thimble immediately gave them to Teor for holding. |
| Acquired | 2 | Sawed-off horns of Soobri | a dead hunter | Thimble | |
| Acquired | 2 | Potions | a dead hunter | Thimble | The liquid is a bodily fluid of a creature, but remained unidentified. |
| Acquired | 2 halves | Broken, corroded bronze holy symbol | the wraith | Teor | It bears the symbol of Tansul, the Shaper of the sun god. |
| Acquired | 1 | Dagger | zombie body | Teor | |
| Acquired | 1 | Charm bearing the letters T & W | tree in Vallow | Thimble | The charms are placed there by couples seeking luck in their upcoming marriages. |
Trivia[]
- Brennan's shirt during the Cold Open is the same as in "Knives and Thorns" (4x06)'s Cold Open and indicates that it was recorded on a different day than the rest of the episode.
- Sam's drinking chalice has a picture of Brennan on the bottom.[1]
References[]
Art:
- ↑ Fan art of Kattigan and Thimble at the inn, by Lap Pun Cheung (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Fan art of Doset and Univere Tachonis, by ElesirArt (source). Used with permission.
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