"True Heroism" (3x91) is the ninety-first episode of the third campaign of Critical Role. Chaos reigns as Bells Hells attempt to find each other and leave Kreviris, but an old enemy complicates their attempted escape...
Synopsis[]
Announcements[]
- First sponsor is Ravensburger's That's Not a Hat, but cat-Sam is asleep and declines to read the copy. Mouse-Taliesin is happy to do it (and is stellar at catching a thrown Fig Newton).
- The latest episode of 4-Sided Dive is now on YouTube, featuring the witches... and also Liam. Also, Dani Carr's recaps are available.
- Comic book news! Midst: Address Unknown 1 is coming and is available to pre-order now.
- Help playtest Daggerheart and use the official form to comment.
Previously on Critical Role[]
So, last we left off: Bells Hells slowly crawling towards the center of the chaos on Ruidus. You found the subterranean core of the Kreviris Imperium in Vaterra Kreviris, this massive underground cavern, the space where the singular glass pillar, this massive central piece of strange Ruidian glass that marks the center of their culture here, surrounded by this evocative and interwoven city. You've made friends with the Volition, the rebellious group that's been fighting against the Imperium, and decided to embark on two of their multitude of simultaneous missions to both prove yourselves an ally and to help the cause.
You decided to be part of a bombing mission, which this side of the table helped out with alongside your good friend Ira Wendagoth, the Nightmare King, while this side went to retrieve a very important ally and figure with information about what's going on between the Imperium, the Weave Mind, and the Ruby Vanguard. During these separate missions, it seemed the bombing mission was a success through illusion and conversation, though the setting suggested to have been set at a much quicker time than was anticipated. Ira Wendagoth, not one to think about other people, their safety other than his, mostly managed to escape, though a little bit of wear and tear as the detonation caught up with you and blew two of you out the exit like a cannon, as the explosion rocked the interior of this cavern, shaking the space within. This team here had infiltrated an engineering bay within an area south of the Arx Creonun. Here, you found a number of creatures that were being experimented on and being mutated and changed, and your target was indeed inside one of these liquid-filled chambers. You essentially ambushed and rapidly slaughtered some of the dangerous guardians of this Engineering Bay laboratory. After battling one of these partially incomplete, terrifying creatures that was released in the middle of the scuffle, you managed to break the glass and abscond with the half-conscious target of your interest here: Evoroa, a female bormodo who has been working with the opposing side while also feeding information, bits and pieces, to the Volition. With her under your arm, Imogen cast Invisibility across that troop and you just barely escaped the now incredibly dangerous, intense, and Imperium-filled interior of this structure.
As you are now scattered into various places here within the main city, trying to reconvene, you hear the chaos of shouts and screeches as the armed forces of the Imperium are beginning to gather in response to this massive explosion that rocked the interior of the subterranean community. You also hear the screech of Gloamglut as your supposed father, the Sorrowlord Zathuda who was also within the cavern when it detonated, his mount is seeking above. You all notice, across the way, another explosion outside of the aforementioned music hall where your mother was to be assassinated. You see that streak of power go firing up into the air and then hear a voice scream into the minds of the two Ruidusborn present: "Did she know!?"
Part I[]
Fan art of the crater, by David Garcia.[art 2]
Imogen recognizes the voice saying, "Did she know?!". It is her mother, Liliana Temult, and her levitating figure is moving rapidly around the cavern holding the city. The invisible Laudna, Orym, Chetney, Imogen, and the rescued Evoroa move cautiously through the panicked and mobilizing city. Meanwhile, Fearne, FCG, and Ashton find each other. Above them, an armored figure flies atop Gloamglut, and levitating reiloran mystics gather around the Prime Pillar, focusing upon it until it begins glowing, then emits a burst of magic-suppressing energy. The disguises of Fearne's group, as well as the Invisibility of the other and the telepathic link between them all, fade away, leaving them exposed and noticeable. Imogen casts Invisibility on the rest of her group and Evoroa guides them toward the Volition headquarters.
Gloamglut dives toward Fearne's group and she tries Charm Monster, but the creature uses a Legendary Resistance to avoid it. Ashton breaks through the walls of several buildings and they dive through them, but Ashton accidentally knocks a building down and draws the creature's attention. It uses its Dark Fire Gaze against them, singeing them and pursuing as they run. Suddenly, Athion Zathuda's voice calls from above, noting Fearne is indeed her mother's daughter for fighting against him, causing him both pride and hate. Fearne Wild Shapes herself and Polymorphs FCG into slithers so they can swim through rock, and with the still Shard-transformed Ashton they burrow their way into the rock beneath the cavern.
Meanwhile, Imogen's group is searching for the Volition headquarters when suddenly walls of stone rise all around them, blocking them in. Above them they see the purple energy surrounding Imogen's mother as she demands, "Did you know?" Imogen successfully feigns ignorance of what she means, and the battered and levitating Liliana lowers to about 20 feet above them. Imogen tells her she wants to free her, but her mother is convinced it's too late. Imogen pulls out the locket her father gave her,[1] and her mother tells her: "I don't want Ludinus to see how powerful you are. He'll make you the vessel instead." Imogen begs her very persuasively to run away with her, but her mother responds that the Mind is looking, and she needs to think. The stone walls crumble away and she flies off.
However, she is almost immediately replaced by five reiloran Mystics, the Weave Mind, apparating in front of the group. They greet Imogen, and despite the Invisibility spell, also greet each of the others present. They address Chetney, saying they've connected with his essence before, and he remembers when back on Exandria he felt the influence of Ruidus on his lycanthropy. Their attention shifts to Laudna, sensing Delilah's presence within her, then to Orym, who under his breath calls on Nana Morri's help to get all of them out of there. The Mind welcomes Imogen home, and says that they will also allow the others to remain with her, but then apparently sense their resistance (with the influence of Nana Morri) and disappear. Evading the other Mystics searching the town, the group continues moving.
Fan art of Fearne and Imogen exploring their Ruidusborn abilities, by Odd.[art 3]
The other group sees Liliana hovering, from a distance, and moves underground in that direction until the movement and footfalls from the city above them ceases. FCG surfaces and sees the Weave Mind surrounding Imogen before they vanish, and when Imogen moves off, FCG's group follows, still underground. Eventually both groups move into the tunnels outside of the city and rejoin forces. While the other talk and plan, FCG starts licking things, enjoying his temporary tongue. Imogen Sends to Rashinna, telling her they have Evoroa and asking for advice. Rashinna responds that the safe house has been abandoned, and advises them to take Evoroa and find their allies. They eventually decide to try to reach the surface through the tunnel system and move onward. When Fearne drops the Polymorph, FCG heals Evoroa slightly since she is still suffering the aftereffects of her imprisonment in the murky liquid of the laboratory's glass vat.
During this, the party notices a shadowy figure apparate and then vanish. When Laudna checks the scry ball, the blip indicating Otohan Thull has moved very close to them, and they begin traveling as fast as possible further up the tunnel. Ashton collapses the tunnel behind them as they move, while Imogen casts Mage Armor, FCG Sympathetically Binds with everyone but Fearne, and Laudna casts Mirror Image while tracking through the scry ball that Otohan seems to be moving with them, then ahead of them. Orym takes point 15 feet in front of the group and sees a shadow running down a side tunnel toward them. As it reaches the party, the shadow takes color and Otohan Thull stands before them.
Break[]
- Let's giftwrap a cat! Or get That's Not a Hat.
- Ring of Brass minis available for preorder.
- Daggerheart Open Beta now running. Info at Daggerheart.com.
- Clips from "4-Sided Dive: Witch Sesh" (4SDx22).
- Merch Alert! Candela Obscura dice tray, dice set, and hoodie; "You can certainly try" hoodie, Critical Role dad hat, Fearne duster kimono in all five CR shops; Bells Hells lightweight hoodie and Fearne art nouveau t-shirt in all shops except Australia; Ruidus dice set in the US, UK, and EU.
- Queen by Midnight promo.
- Introduction to "Candela Obscura: The Gilded Graveyard" (CO4x02).
- Trailer for Midst Season Three podcast.
- Candela Obscura Original Soundtrack, Welcome to Tal'Dorei and Welcome to Wildemount albums available now on all digital music platforms.
- Critical Recap every Wednesday on CritRole.com. Submit fan art and cosplay for possible inclusion in the weekly online gallery.
- Marisha unboxes Critical Role Twitch subscriptions.
Part II[]
Fan art of Chetney's death, by Hugo Pereira.[art 4]
Orym immediately attacks Otohan's backpack with his Ruidian glass shortsword and Thull uses two Legendary Actions to push him away 30 feet. Laudna summons her Hound of Ill Omen and Banes Otohan. On her turn, Thull attacks Chetney mercilessly, knocking him out and continuing to attack until he is dead. Ashton, still in his Shard-form, attacks but does relatively little damage. Fearne activates her Spark of Rau'shan to transform into a fire creature. Fresh Cut Grass casts Revivify on Chetney, bringing him back to life, but FCG is now out of diamonds. Otohan uses her last legendary action to attack Imogen and knock her prone, but Imogen is able to pull the backpack off of her, removing her ability to summon her echo knights.
The party knows that Otohan can hit any of them virtually at will, that she has many attacks, that they do massive damage, and that fleeing isn't an option because of her speed advantage. Orym Misty Steps to Bait and Switch with Imogen and attacks for significant damage. Otohan uses her first Legendary Resistance on Laudna's Blight and for the first time misses on two attack swings against Imogen, but still knocks her unconscious. When Otohan moves away, both Orym and Fearne hit on opportunity attacks, and when Thull goes after Laudna, she hits her Mirror Images but then crits. Chetney, now conscious but barely, Misty Steps to Imogen and feeds her a health potion, bringing her back. Fearne Blights, and FCG casts Mass Cure Wounds.
Orym has now spent all his superiority dice but attacks. Laudna tries Hunger of the Shadow but misses, then Blights, and Otohan chooses not to use her last Legendary Resistance. Ashton has held their action, and when Otohan is pulled within melee of them at the start of her turn, she screams, igniting Exaltant power and becoming an Exaltant Fury, gaining new powers and strengths, including that all damage to her is halved. She retaliates against Ashton before leaping to attack Imogen, knocking her unconscious, then attacking Chetney and knocking him unconscious, then attacking FCG with both regular and Legendary actions. After Ashton's damaging attacks, she returns to FCG and knocks them unconscious as well. Imogen rolls a 20 on her death save, bringing her conscious but she chooses to play dead.
The party continues to attack but is increasingly out of spells and abilities. Laudna brings FCG conscious with Wither and Bloom and hits Otohan with more Eldritch Blasts. Otohan attacks Orym, then drinks a custom healing potion giving her 66 additional hit points before hitting him again and knocking him unconscious. With two party members now unconscious (Chetney and Orym), Ashton takes a healing potion and attacks, but she retaliates. Fearne casts Aura of Life and Otohan retaliates again, immediately breaking her concentration. FCG flips his Coin of the Changebringer seeking guidance on what they should do but the goddess is unable to answer, and Otohan's use of the potion to regain so many hit points combined with being resistant to all damage is making it seem almost impossible to kill her with the assets the party has remaining to them. FCG opts to cast Mass Cure Wounds, bringing Orym and Chetney back to consciousness. He also gives Orym a d6 but that pushes his stress level to red. Imogen Sends to her mother, telling her that Otohan has them cornered and it's about to be over, asking for help, but the response is only that Liliana will try to find them.
Barely able to move, Orym attacks but does almost no damage and Laudna Eldritch Blasts. Otohan knocks Orym unconscious, then turns on Fearne and Ashton. She knocks Ashton unconscious but he bounces back with Relentless Rage before falling to another attack. Otohan stabs Imogen but Imogen continues to play dead. Chetney's Shatter and Fearne's Blight hit, although Otohan saves on the Blight and attacks FCG, leaving him close to unconscious but alive. At this point, the health Otohan regained from downing the health potion (even with damage halved or quartered) is almost gone, but she is still up.
Fan art of FCG confronting Otohan, by Nico Silva.[art 5]
FCG, in a berserker rage, pushes Otohan away from the party and casts Guiding Bolt straight through the mood gem in his chest to trigger an explosive reaction. The red in his eyes fades to white and he smiles at his friends before the arcane core inside him detonates, successfully killing Otohan at the cost of his own life.
Bells Hells, dazed by the sudden turn of events, stabilize their unconscious party members and realize they have to get moving before other soldiers arrive. Imogen finds the Staff of Dark Odyssey, which managed to survive the blast but doesn't have enough remaining charges for a teleportation spell right now. Chetney gathers Evoroa, who hid during the fight and escaped further injury. Fearne and Orym gather the pieces they can find of FCG's body, including part of his still-smiling head and his chest piece with the three blades of grass, while Ashton retrieves FCG's Coin of the Changebringer from where it was embedded in a nearby wall. The group places Otohan's body, backpack, and intact weapons in the portable hole before numbly continuing through the tunnels up to the surface of Ruidus. A short time later, Liliana descends and apologizes to Imogen, who replies "Me too."
Featured characters[]
Bells Hells
Returning
- Athion Zathuda
- Delilah Briarwood
- Evoroa
- Gloamglut
- Liliana Temult
- Otohan Thull
- Rashinna (via Sending)
New
- The Weave Mind (via an illusion), five reiloran mystics who rule Kreviris
Mentioned
- Bertrand Bell
- Birdie Calloway (unnamed)
- The Changebringer
- D
- Dancer
- Deanna Leimert
- Derrig (unnamed)
- Dorian Storm
- F.R.I.D.A.
- Ira Wendagoth
- Ludinus Da'leth
- Nana Morri
- Will (unnamed)
Quotations[]
- Athion Zathuda: (to Fearne) How fitting my singular kin fights against me, bucks the order and call. You are your mother's daughter. The mix of pride and hate I hold for you, Fearne Zathuda, oh, it is delicious. A true chaos being of cold shadow and fiery whim.
- Liliana Temult: (to Imogen) I don't want Ludinus to see how powerful you are. He'll make you the vessel instead.
Imogen: Run away! Run away with me.
Liliana: I can't. As long as I'm here I can control what happens around him. If I'm not here, there are so many others, children. - Chetney: (dying) For 400 years I looked up at the moon. Not a bad place to go.
- Matt: We've been doing this for nine years. We got to go in. To me, it's the end of a story. It just means opportunities.
- FCG: For the first time, I realize that I am made of metal and wires, but I am alive. I am alive for the first time, and I am alive not because I was made by D or Dancer, or even the Changebringer, I'm alive because they made me alive. It's the connections that I made with all of them. It's a feeling of joy, and I'm happy to do this because they saved my life, and I'll save theirs.
- FCG: Some connections are made with wires, and some are made with blood, and some are made with bone, and some are made with wood, but they all matter. Even in this dark, dark cave, they make every day a smiley day.
- Matt: The thing about heroic sacrifice is it doesn't just give meaning to the person in the moment, but it's an inspiration we have to carry with us.
Inventory[]
| Adjustment | Count | Item | Source | Destination | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Expended | 1 | Diamond | FCG | Chetney | Worth at least 300 gold |
| Expended | 1 | Enhanced Potion of Supreme Healing | Otohan | Otohan | Did 20d4+20 healing. |
| Expended | many | Potion of Healing | the party | the party | Only Orym had a potion remaining at the end of the encounter. |
| Acquired | many | Pieces of FCG | the tunnel | Fearne Orym |
Orym took the piece with the three blades of grass. |
| Acquired | Coin of the Changebringer | the tunnel | Ashton | ||
| Acquired | Otohan's backpack | the tunnel | Chetney | ||
| Acquired | Otohan's body and possessions | the portable hole | |||
| Acquired | 1 | Staff of Dark Odyssey | FCG | the party |
Trivia[]
- Bells Hells reached level 13 just before this episode began and rolled for hit points.[3]
- Ashton rolled a 7 and continued taking Barbarian levels, gaining Brutal Critical.
- Fearne rolled a 2 (her second 2 on HP in a row!) and took her 10th level in Druid, gaining Cauterizing Flames.
- FCG rolled a 3 and took another Cleric level, gaining a 7th-level spell slot.
- Laudna rolled a 4 and took the level in Sorcerer, choosing Empowered Spell and gaining another cantrip.
- Imogen rolled a 5 and took the level in Sorcerer, gaining a 7th-level spell slot.
- Orym rolled a 10 and took another Fighter level, pushing his Passive Perception to 33 (!) and another use of Indomitable.
- Chetney rolled a 3 and took his 12th level in Blood hunter, gaining an ASI or a feat.
- Sam's jerrycan has his cat mask attached with a caption that says "In Bio" beneath[4].
- The Potion of Supreme Healing consumed by Otohan during the battle was a special one-time custom version that did 20d4+20 healing.[5]
- The fact that FCG's core could explode was revealed by Professor Vitro Isham of the Aydinlan Seminary in Yios.[7]
- The colors of the background in the thumbnail hint at the silhouette of a raven behind Sam, this bird being an animal closely associated with death in Exandria. It is unclear if this is intentional.
- The new seating position for the two teams, first seen in "Mission Improbable" (3x90), has been maintained for this episode as well.
- Chetney and FCG's deaths in this episode were the eighth and ninth times a player character died in Campaign Three, and the 31st and 32nd PC deaths overall.
- FCG's death was also the second perma-death of a PC in this campaign, and the fourth overall.
References[]
- ↑ See "An Exit Most Fraught" (3x48) at 3:42:06.
- ↑ See "True Heroism" (3x91) at 4:28:39.
- ↑
Critical Role (@CriticalRole) on Twitter: "LEVEL UP ⬆️ ✨ Bells Hells hit Level 13! Watch them choose their new abilities before Episode 91 kicks off TONIGHT (4/11) at 7PM PT on Twitch and YouTube! 🔔 🔥" (2024-04-11).
- ↑ See "True Heroism" (3x91) from 46:30 through 46:45.
- ↑ Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) on Twitter: "This was a 20d4+20 version. A special one-time custom gift for bosses who have a legendary history. ;)" (2024-04-12).
- ↑ See "True Heroism" (3x91) at 3:48:44.
- ↑ See "Ominous Lectures" (3x45) at 1:06:51.
Art:
- ↑ Fan art of Sorrowlord Zathuda, by Nillumina (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Fan art of the crater, by David Garcia (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Fan art of Fearne and Imogen exploring their Ruidusborn abilities, by Odd (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Fan art of Chetney's death, by Hugo Pereira (source). Used with permission.
- ↑ Fan art of FCG confronting Otohan, by Nico Silva (source). Used with permission.
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