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4x09 is the ninth episode of the fourth chapter of Critical Role. Vox Machina returns to where much of the group's history began: Westruun. But all is not well! Not only has the Chroma Conclave decimated the area, but another strangely familiar threat has taken hold of the city, as well...
Synopsis
Pre-Show
The following pre-show promotional videos were shown on the Twitch stream, but they are not included on the final YouTube VoD:
- International Tabletop Day promotional video:
- This video was played multiple times, and it featured tabletop gaming scenes with cosplay at Game Häus in Glendale, CA.
- ITTD is 2016-04-30.
- Find participating locations near you at TableTopDay.com.
- Preferred Partner locations will also get some variety of limited ITTD game pieces, which are themed after Geek & Sundry's most memorable moments, for:
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- International Tabletop Day call for store partners (presented by Ivan Van Norman):
- This video was played multiple times.
- Submit your one-minute or less video of you saying your name (or your store's name), talking about board games, reminiscing about games, or playing games all across the world.
- Deliver to Geek & Sundry in a high-resolution file (720p or higher) in a .MOV or .MP4 format.
- Submit either through WeTransfer or Dropbox to preferredpartner@geekandsundry.com.
- Submit by the deadline of 2016-04-15.
Announcements
- Sam Riegel is running late.[1]
- Liam O'Brien is joining via Skype from his family home.[2]
- Sam arrived.[3]
- Matthew Mercer and Marisha Ray will be guests at Tekko in Pittsburgh on the weekend of 2016 April 8th–10th.[4]
- Tomorrow, 2016-04-01, is the last day to pre-order the Gilmore's Glorious Goods T-shirts from the Geek and Sundry webstore.[5]
Laura is excited about the two new T-shirt designs announced on 4x09.[6]
- Two new shirts are available for pre-order from the Geek and Sundry webstore. One is the "Dagger Dagger Dagger" design, and the other is the "Strongjaw Ale" design, both of which were created by Kennef Riggle. They will be available for one week.[7]
- Critical Role is trying to find vendors that offer a greater range of T-shirt sizes.[8]
- Sam Riegel voice directed a cartoon called Home, based on the movie Home, and the studio just announced it today.[9]
- This is the 47th episode—three episodes away from the 50th episode.[10]
- The 50th will be a regular episode, depending on where the story is at the time.
- There should be a couple surprises.
- There will be a big Critmas event on the 50th episode, after which the on-stream Critmas tradition will go on hiatus until the holidays.
- Wyrmwood Gaming partners with Critical Role, offering free shipping with the "critrole" discount code.[11]
- Marisha Ray's last episode hosting Signal Boost will be Tuesday (2016-04-05), before the host rotation begins. She will continue producing the series.[12]
- Liam O'Brien is currently in the kitchen of the house in which he grew up—the same room where he played Dungeons & Dragons for the first time as a child, now playing it as a professional actor.[13]
Previously on Critical Role
"Vox Machina, having to traverse the world in search of artifacts known as the Vestiges of the Divergence—ancient items of power used in massive-scale warfare in ancient moments of history—had acquired one from a sunken temple to the Champion of the Raven Queen, taking the life—thankfully not permanently—of Vex'ahlia. The party then retrieved their first artifact and then made their way towards the Pyrah tribe of the Ashari druids, the fire guardians of the gate to the Elemental Plane of Fire, which apparently Thordak, the Cinder King—the great red dragon that helms the Chroma Conclave that has torn through all of the civilization of Tal'Dorei—emerged from.
"The party went there, found a surviving faction of the Pyrah tribe including Cerkonos, their headmaster, as well as a few members of Keyleth's tribe, the Air Ashari, and her father. They went towards the remnants of the Cindergrove, ran into an... ally, a strange blue-scaled dragonborn by the name of Gern Blanston, master of necromancy and candle-making, and combining the two for interesting effect. They fought their way through the Cindergrove, tearing through elementals, encasing ifrits in hamster balls and holding them aloft for extended periods of time, and then managed to seal the gate with the help of the druidic tribes there, Gern, and the intrepid adventurers known as Vox Machina. After which, they went to spend the evening there on the mountainside, to rest before continuing their journey to wherever that next step may be."[14]
Part I
Fan art of Scanlan's Magnificent Mansion, by Lap Pun Cheung.[art 1]
Having successfully closed the portal to the elemental plane of fire, Vox Machina decided to take a rest before venturing on to the next Vestige of Divergence. Scanlan, for the benefit of both Vox Machina and the surviving Fire Ashari, cast Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Mansion. Through a spectral doorway, everyone in the group was treated to a beautiful mansion with hundreds of servants and any food or drink they could want.
Fan art of Vex'ahlia flying on the broom she stole from Gern Blanston in 4x08, by Megzilla87.[art 2]
Vex'ahlia used this time to start practicing with the Broom of Flying stolen from their blue drangonborn friend, Gern Blanston[15]. Vex first tried to riding the broom in the mansion's training room, with no success. She next tried to get Scanlan's help. Sitting on the black satin sheets of Scanlin's bed, with a quick investigation they discovered the activating phrase: "candlestick" in Draconic. Vex (and Laura Bailey) was overjoyed at having re-gained the ability to fly.
Screenshot of Laura Bailey as she activates Death from Above.[art 3]
Later that night, while the household was sleeping, three of the party members had nightime visitors. The first was Keyleth, who was visited by the leader of the Fire Ashari, Headmaster Cerkonos. During their talk, Headmaster Cerkonos revealed that it was the Green Dragon Raishan who had opened the portal to the fire plane and had released Thordak from his prison. Raishan had managed this by disguising herself as a human female orphan, adopted out of generosity by the Fire Ashari. As a final warning, Cerkonos warned Keyleth not to trust all of their allies going forward.
Fan art of Raven Dreams, by Lap Pun Cheung.[art 4]
The next nighttime visitor was to Vax'ildan, in a strange dream. Vax dreamed that he was faced with a giant golden web, each strand seeming to pulse with life. While examining this web, a cold hand reached out and plucked one. Turning around, Vax saw the Raven Queen holding the plucked golden strand representing Vax's life. The Raven Queen cryptically offered Vax, her new champion, a choice to be a great leader and tyrant or to choose to remain a nobody. Before Vax provided a response, he was dropped into darkness and the dream ended.
The last member of Vox Machina to get a strange dream was Grog. Asleep on the sandpit of the training room, Grog dreamed of being in an arena. Blinded by the sun, but wielding Craven Edge, Grog cut down all the foes before him in the arena. Once his vision cleared, Grog saw that he had actually cut down women, children, innocent people, and his friend Pike. While in the dream Grog wished to cry out in horror, but he could only laugh. The dream ended with Grog being approached by the members of the Herd of Storms, led by Kevdak, who bowed before Grog.
The next morning, the team re-grouped and had a chance to discuss Vex's new broom and their next plan of action. As they were still in the mansion, Scanlan treated his friends to a breakfast of chicken, waffles, and mimosas.
Break
Part II
Featured Characters
Vox Machina
- Keyleth
- Percival de Rolo
- Scanlan Shorthalt
- Grog Strongjaw
Pike Trickfoot(absent)- Trinket
- Vax'ildan
- Vex'ahlia
New
- Horace[spelling?]: A goliath from Grog's herd, younger and smaller than Grog. Horace's name was given by Kevdak in ridicule. Grog killed Horace with Craven Edge.
- Kohl[spelling?]: Accompanies Horace in patrolling the fields.
- Reginald ("Reggie"): A farmer whose daughter was abducted by a group of half-orcs, goliaths, and others. Horace took pleasure in torturing Reginald occasionally, and referred to him as "Reggie".
- Zanror: Grog's cousin; Kevdak's son. Mentioned only.
Returning
- Margrave Atrix: Mentioned only. "Margrave" is a position and title, and Atrix is the current Margrave.
- Cerkonos: His right arm, destroyed in Thordak's escape from the Elemental Plane of Fire, is in the process of regrowing now.
- Kevdak: Grog's uncle. According to Horace, Kevdak swore fealty to Umbrasyl. Mentioned only.
- Abjurist Noja: Mentioned only.
- Wilhand Trickfoot: Mentioned only.
Inventory
| Adjustment | Count | Item | Source | Destination | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acquired | 27 | gold pieces | Horace's corpse | Scanlan | Scanlan looted Horace after he was slain by Grog. |
| Ignored | 1 | bone necklace | Horace's corpse | Horace's corpse | Scanlan left these items upon looting Horace's corpse. |
| 1 | human-teeth bracelet |
Quotations
Screenshot of Marisha Ray laughing at Travis Willingham's rage over the cast misinterpreting "midnight tomorrow" as "midnight tonight".[art 5]
- Travis Willingham: "Tomorrow at midnight is the deadline."Laura Bailey: "Which, to me–"Matthew Mercer: "Would that be, like, midnight tonight, or...?"Laura: "See?!? That's exactly what I was asking Travis–"Travis: "Listen–"Laura: "–and he–"Travis: "–you smart son of a bitches, it's so simple! Tomorrow at midnight."Laura: "Is, like, in a few hours."Travis: "Oh my god. Oh my god. I'm gonna rage before the show even starts."[...]Laura: "So is it ending tomorrow night, or is it ending tonight?"Travis: "Holy shit."Matt: "I don't know; you should order tonight just in case."Laura: "I'm scared it's actually ending tonight, and he thinks it's tomorrow night, but I think it might be tonight."Matt: "To be safe, make it tonight, but it's probably tomorrow night, but to be safe, make it tonight."Laura: "It's probably tomorrow night. He's gonna murder us all. Very shortly."Matt: "Save it—save it for the battle. Save it for the battle, Travis."[16]
- Marisha Ray: "My last episode of Signal Boost is this Tuesday–"Sam: "What do you mean, 'last'? You just started!"Marisha: "Yeah, we rotate hosts out."Sam: "Oh."Marisha: "Because it's, like, our favorite things–"Sam: "But you're the best host!"Taliesin: "Of all the hosts they've had, she's certainly the best [...]." [There have been no other hosts.]Sam: "She is; she's number one!"[...]Marisha, with cheerful sarcasm: "I'm glad my friends support me!"[...]Sam: "Just tell me: am I one of the hosts?"Marisha: "Do you wanna host? Do you wanna do it? Yeah!"Sam: "Just tell me—just tell me when, and... I will probably be twenty minutes late."[17]
- Percy, to Scanlan: "I think your penis may have more names than I do. I'm kind of horrified."[18]
External Links
References
- ↑ See 4x09 at 0:00:19.
- ↑ See 4x09 at 0:00:24.
- ↑ See 4x09 at 0:00:52.
- ↑ See 4x09 at 0:01:15.
- ↑ See 4x09 at 0:01:53.
- ↑ See 4x09 at 0:03:15.
- ↑ See 4x09 at 0:03:07.
- ↑ See 4x09 at 0:04:02.
- ↑ See 4x09 at 0:04:32.
- ↑ See 4x09 at 0:04:58.
- ↑ See 4x09 at 0:05:42.
- ↑ See 4x09 at 0:06:20.
- ↑ See 4x09 at 0:07:18.
- ↑ See 4x09 from 0:07:46 through 0:10:13.
- ↑ See 4x08.[citation needed]
- ↑ See 4x09 from 0:02:17 through 0:03:06.
- ↑ See 4x09 from 0:06:20 through 0:06:56.
- ↑ See 4x09 at 0:12:44.
Art:
- ↑ Fan art of Scanlan's Magnificent Mansion, by Lap Pun Cheung (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Fan art of Vex'ahlia flying on the broom she stole from Gern Blanston in 4x08, by Megzilla87 (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Screenshot of Laura Bailey as she activates Death from Above."The Family Business" (1x47) at 0:40:51
- ↑ Fan art of Raven Dreams, by Lap Pun Cheung (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Screenshot of Marisha Ray laughing at Travis Willingham's rage over the cast misinterpreting "midnight tomorrow" as "midnight tonight".4x09 at 0:02:35
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