critical role campaign 3, episode 38 āa dark balanceā - in which a companion is returned, new allies are made, and a powerful friend is lost.
halloween episode!! matt lowkey jumpscared me in his costume with his freaky contact lenses ahakahskah.
everyone comes-to around laudnaās body, and they explain to pike and vex what happened. imogen excitedly says she thinks they did it - pike puts her hands over laudna, and says the spirit of delilah feels āgreatly diminishedā. she tells the group that she can give no assurances the resurrection will work, but she will do her best, and vex tells her to do it.
fcg is like āuhhh wonāt your husband be unhappy about this?ā and vex is like ālet me handle thatā. GAAMSHAKSJA YESSSS.
pike tells them there is still a possibility that delilah could come back into laudnaās body, but that the likelihood has been greatly lessened by what they did. she also says that now there is a possibility that, if and when laudna comes back, she will be completely severed from delilah. YESS COME ON PIKE, LETāS GO QUEEN.
pike says she will call on 3 of them to speak with the soul of laudna throughout the ritual. oooh come on imogen, girl, this is your time to SHINE.
the ritual begins - orym takes pikeās hand first and makes a speech about how they need her, and he makes poppies bloom in her hair, which is a beautiful gesture. he succeeds the check. NICE. 1 down!
oh noooo fcg tries to compel her back, and rolls a nat 1!! ššš
come on, laura bailey. pull another vex/percy speech out of your hat. i believe in you. AHH. she begins with āyou know you saved my life, right?ā and i immediately well up with tears. she tells laudna that nobody is going to control her anymore, but if she chooses to come back, imogen will be here to love her, and to fill the hole left by delilah. WAAAHHH šššš NOO SHE ONLY ROLLS A 7. FUCK FUCK FUCK.
woahā¦ the moment matt rolls to see if the resurrection worked, lauraās nose starts bleeding. š«Ŗšµāš«
pike is unsure if it worked - she asks if laudna is usually a shallow breather, and imogen says she usually doesnāt breathe at all. pike takes a deep breath and SLAPS LAUDNA ACROSS THE FACE. š AND SHE SITS UP!! THEY FUCKING DID ITTTT!!!!!!!!!
awww, you guysssss š (ignore the crazy costumes and whatever the fuck chetney is doing š)
imogen is just clutching laudnaās hand and smiling at her šš babyyyy. she seems normal! she canāt tell if delilah is gone yet, but iām sure they will work it out lol. she remembers everything that happened. š„ŗ
ooh, vex is standing with her bow out, arrow pointing right at laudnaās head. she asks pike to check that laudna is herself, and tells laudna not to move, a little apologetic. fair enough. imogen does NOT think this is fair enough, and looks like she wants to rip a chunk out of vex š she is preparing a ātelekinetic shoveā if vex tries anything (not that she could stop it, sorry imogen). wild akaksjs battle of the lauras. š
pike says itās definitely only laudna in there! vex lowers the bow with a shaky sigh. thank FUCK, thinks everyone in the room lmao.
when laudna realises sheās in whitestone, she gets REALLY scared. š„ŗ orym and imogen apologise, and say they had to come here to bring her back, and that they can leave right now if she wants. they tell her that whitestone is really nice now, and laudna seems hesitant, but maybe interested in seeing it.
vex says they are her guests, and can stay in the castle if they like. laudna seems rather overwhelmed, and is like š«Ŗš«Ŗš«Ŗ when she says her name is lady de rolo.
OH MY GOD?? first of all, there are two invisible rifleman who reveal themselves in the room. woah. then vex steps through the door and reveals the HOUSE IS SURROUNDED BY 50+ SOLDIERS WITH WEAPONS TRAINED ON THE HOUSE. percy donāt fuck around! and the man himself is here, with his big fuckoff gun of course, asking vex and pike if all is well. WOW. DUDE. I GET IT, BUT WOW. vex tells him to stand down.
laudna asks imogen to stay close, and they clutch hands tightly. AWW. travis points between marisha and laura with a very sweet expression (maybe insinuating romance???) and they grin back and cuddle up, just so happy to have their girls reunited. ššš
they have placed marisha beside laura, which they did in c1 when couples began to pair off - was that on purpose?? for this purpose? did they KNOW at this point that they were gonna be walking that path??
laudna walks out and takes in this new whitestone, and matt describes the sight of it as replacing her dark, awful memories of this place with earlier ones, her childhood before the briarwoods. i think this is actually healing for her. šš she spots the sun tree, in full green healthy leaf, and asks imogen if they can go see it.
ahakahskaj ashton to the many guards now milling around: ācan we have some air, people??ā I LOVE THEM.
fuck! matt tells them that laudna has -4 to every check until she takes a long rest, and that will reduce by 1 each day. daaaamn, the full resurrection spell is INTENSE.
laudna and imogen walk to the sun tree, and laudna says she feels like sheās still dreaming, just that itās not a nightmare this time. imogen smiles SO fondly, and tells her itās real. she pinky swears that itās not another delilah trick. š„¹ THEY MIGHT KILL ME.
laudna stares up at the tree, the horrible nightmare memory clashing with the beautiful, peaceful sight in front of her. she is in this state of dissonance when some kids run past, and one of them stops to talk to her. š„¹ she shows them pĆ¢tĆ©. they think sheās fun scary. š„°
she leans into the trunk of the sun tree and goes into her āform of dreadā, but the veil sheds like falling leaves, and branch-like protrusions come out from her shoulders, cycling through seasons. that is so beautiful, wowwww.
percy approaches, and laudna is a little scared, so imogen steps up and holds her hand again. š„¹ percy apologises, both for the horrors suffered under the briarwoods and for the guns pointed at her resurrection agajahsj. he introduces himself, and laudna goes āi named my rat after youā. percy: āexcuse me, what?ā šššš
vex comes up and tells percy ādarling, youāre so awkwardā. GSKASJAKHSAKHS REAL AND TRUE.
laudna tells percy to feel the tree, because itās warm, and he goes āyouāre going to make me do a keyleth thing, arenāt you?ā WHICH IS WEIRDLY SWEET LMAO. he touches the trunk with the air of āa parent placating a childā, but then softens, smiling a bit. vex and imogen join, also pressing their hands to the tree, and imogen psychically calls everyone else over. WHAT A MOMENT.
percy, very fondly, tells them that keyleth talks to the sun tree, and says itās very nice. š„¹ eventually, he leaves, but he has a soft look on his face, and tells laudna to hold on to the people who care about her. šš„° vex hangs back, saying she will show them to their rooms.
FEARNE ASKS IF SHE CAN HUG PIKE IN THANKS, AND TRIES TO STEAL THE FUCKING HOLY SYMBOL. ASHLEY JOHNSON, YOU CHAOS DEMON. she fails, bc pikeās perception must be through the fucking roof with whatever wisdom score she has, and pike doesnāt call her out, but says she wants her to stay in eyesight. š jesus christ sgskhskhs.
oh my god i have no idea whatās happening. laudna pulls pĆ¢tĆ© out and casts āfind familiarā, and HE GROWS WINGS AND ANIMATES?? AND TALKS TO THEM IN HIS ROUGH COCKNEY ACCENT? WHAT IS HAPPENING. idk if this spell can usually be used like this, and by someone who isnāt a wizard or druid, or if matt homebrewed this rule because itās funny agakahakah. OH itās because of the pact! well, okay then! everyone asks how long this spell lasts, and marisha is like āumā¦ forever!?ā she looks 20% āwhat have i doneā and 80% elated with her creation being now in the hands and voice of matt lmao.
they have dinner in the castle, which makes laudna a little twitchy, but vex assures her there have been significant renovations, and it's a different room. š„ŗ fcg asks about the temple of the change bringer, and is told where to find it. he also offers therapy to percy, much to everyoneās combined delight and exasperation.
percy says that fcg is the first automaton heās met that is āsocially engagingā, and says the only other one he has met was created by their friend, and had limited speech. TARY MENTION!!!
oh my GODDDDD. fearne asks PERCY DE ROLO if he can make a gun for her monkey to shoot his flaming shit from. I AM GAGGED. PERCY IS GAGGED. vex goes āmaybe one of the prop guns you made for our kids would work?ā SGAKSHKASHKAHA. NO FUCKING WAY. she rolls high enough persuasion that percy considers giving her one of the toy guns. incredible. insane. he excuses himself to work on it. broā¦ vex: āwell, youāve certainly loosened him up!ā š
imogen asks vex in her head if she can make sure the main course is not lobster, because thatās what laudna was served at the evil dinner. š„ŗ SHEāS SO THOUGHTFUL AND SWEET. vex politely excuses herself to check, because SHE IS ALSO VERY SWEET.
left alone, bells hells begins to quietly and quickly discuss how much they are going to tell these people, since they now have laudna back, and have to continue in their other little missions. orym says he wants to keep them as allies, so he thinks they should tell them everything, but ashton seems unsure. he says they should keep a close eye on laudna tonight. idk what they think the de rolos may do, but i guess he doesnāt trust them fully, which is fine. OOH imogen has a sudden thought, and casts ādetect thoughtsā to see if there are more invisible guards, and there ARE. she goes through all the partyās heads, one by one, telling them they are being watched/listened to, and to watch what they say.
percy comes back and gives fearne what is essentially a potato gun. this feelsā¦ fine. he tells her to not give it to the monkey until they have left the city. š
after dinner, orym says they have some things to discuss in private, and percy leads them to a small chamber with couches. laudna looksā¦ very nervous. my poor girl. š„ŗ
ashton fishes the residuum out of the hole (lmao) and gives it to orym, who explains that it was being sent to (or from? to i think) the cerberus assembly in wildemount. (OOOOOH i fucking hope they follow this thread, because it will inevitably lead to caleb and beau š¤Æš±) the party tells them about the potions of possibility being shipped, too.
percy says they were aware of residuum shipments going missing, and have been trying to work out where they were going. he has been following some āpersonal threadsā leading eastward, and had narrowed it down to the dwendalian empire already. he has suspicions about the cerberus assembly, but didnāt want it to be them, because they are a āmessy organisation to confrontā. NO KIDDING, BESTIE. YOU HAVE NO IDEA.
imogen tells the full story - the assembly/otohan/unseelie connections, the approaching apogee solstice, the divine cage around ruidus, the fucking CITY on ruidus. percy and vex explain/draw out the divine gate that they have fucking SEEN lmao, and orym and imogen confirm thatās what they saw around the moon. percy and vex are perplexed and troubled by this.
imogen asks if they have heard of forgotten gods, and they explain that there might be old gods who have been forgotten to time. damn, they are really throwing everything at the de rolos, huh? š
percy and vex ponder all this for a bit, and i guess they will start following their own leads. the party plans to leave the next morning, via the druid they have loose allyship with in jrusar. in the meantime, percy wishes them goodnight and leaves to go and write some letters. a few of bells hells make soft noises of complaint as he takes the residuum, and he goes āoh iām sorry, was this yours?ā everyone is chastened, except fearne, who goes āyes!ā š i love how fearne consistently has the opinion of āif it is in my possession, it belongs to meā. lmaoooo. percy gives them a few handfuls of it āfor emergenciesā and also if they need an example of it in their investigations, going forward.
percy bids them goodnight, but vex stays back for a bit. she apologises to laudna again, saying she feels partially responsible for what happened. she tells the others to look out for laudna, and gives her a ring???? a ring of protection. š ohhhh, my girl. vex i love you forever. laura looks on the verge of tears.
OH MY GOD fearne tells vex as sheās leaving that she can come to their room if she feels restless. SGAKSHAKSHKS OH MY GOD. i mean, i fucking GET it, vex is hot as fuck, shoot your shot. but oh my GOD.
laudna decides she wants to sleep out by the sun tree - i think, despite this relatively positive experience, she is deeply unsettled by this castle, and fair enough. the others all happily follow her out, and they all camp under the tree. š„¹š
aw, after the break marisha has been moved back to her regular spot, so my imogen/laudna theory was wrong lol. oh well, theyāre still gonna be together, so iām happy.
IMOGEN HAS A DREAM. UH OH. fcg has been casting āshared dreamā every night, so they are there this time. she tells fcg to stay close. they see a masculine form, impossible to distinguish any specifics, walking away into the red storm. it is eerily familiar to the times she watched bertrand and the twins walk into the storm, and those situations ended in death, soā¦ FUCK. godddd it better not be eshteross. fuck.
imogen holds fcgās hand and wills herself to fly up above the storm, to try to get a better view of where she is. it is definitely not her home where she grew up, she can see that now. fcg can see that she looks like herself, but entirely in shades of red. COOL.
imogen tries to reach out to eshteross through her dream, but it doesnāt connect - she canāt cast here. the storm goes cold, which has never happened before, and imogen gets scared. š„ŗ
fuck! the storm turns into the vast expanse of space, and then all the stars blink out and the ground vanishes, leaving them floating in a dark void. they wake with a start. WOWā¦
fearne has a conversation with the sun tree and OH MY GOD, have i missed this chill fucking tree. š
imogen tries to message eshteross, but gets no response. this is very worrying until they realise it is pre-dawn in jrusar, so maybe heās just asleep. CROSS ALL FINGERS.
chetney gives imogen her wooden toy, and it is a VERY intricate horse made of a bunch of tiny pieces that travis clearly built from a kit. he is loathe to let anybody touch it in case it falls apart. š very cute!!
fcg sends to manaia to ask if she can open a portal to the sun tree. she replies like ā... who is this?ā š oops. fcg replies again to explain who they are and asks for that favour, in about 2 hours time. manaia agrees. GOOD, SORTED.
oh my godddddd, vex takes them to the whitestone branch of gilmoreās glorious goods!!! INCREDIBLE. gilmore is currently in the emon store, but his associate jerry is here to help š they buy some healing potions, and matt says they can do the rest of the shopping off stream lol.
meanwhile, fcg has gone to the temple of the changebringer! the holy man meets him and seems a little perplexed, as most people are by fcg, but heās nice enough. he tells fcg that the changebringer is the goddess of roads and travelling and adventure, and that her followers essentially believe that one chooses their own path, guided by her. this seems to really resonate with fcg, and they burn some incense and give a quick prayer before heading back to meet their friends.
manaia opens the portal through the tree, and just like that, bells hells are back in jrusar. as they leave, vex tells imogen to let her know if anything important changes/happens.
they begin to head in the direction of eshterossās house, discussing what they should do if heās been compromised. they canāt get in there easily because of all the fucking booby traps, so GOD i hope heās okay.
they get to the house, and it looks normal from the outside. imogen sends to him again, but still gets no reply. AHHHHH NOOOOO FUCK!!! fcg casts ālocate creatureā and can tell that eshteross is in the house, not moving, but the details of the spell donāt specify that the creature has to be alive, so that is still in question. now they need to get into the deathtrap house without dying ahakah.
chet goes invisible and goes up to the door - knocks a few times, to no response. he pulls out the thieves tools and asks if he can check for traps. matt: āroll an investigation check.ā laura: āof course itās trapped.ā travis: ā17.ā matt: ādoesnāt appear to be trapped.ā sam: āohh, thatāa a high dc.ā travis: āweāre fucked!ā šš the door opens, and nothing immediately explodes, so thatās a win, i guess.
laudna sends pĆ¢tĆ© flying in to check it out - SMART. the frumpkin method! liam is mildly frustrated that marisha doesnāt remember the details of the spell that he is SO familiar with lmao.
pĆ¢tĆ© flies in, with laudna looking through his eyes, and the first thing she notices is that there are signs of a struggle. NOOOOOOO!!!!! he flies through, seeing blood all over the floor and up the stairs. fuck fuck fuck.
pĆ¢tĆ© flies into a bed chamber where the blood seems to lead into, and finds a familiar body, face down on the ground. FUCK. laudna messages chet, telling him to get in there in case heās still alive. chetney creeps in, still invisible. matt says the smell of blood is a little off. hmmā¦ what the fuck does that mean.
chet finds his cane š upstairs, he finds the body of eshteross, absolutely slashed up. š„ he rolls a nat 20 on perception, and can SMELL OTOHAN. SHE WAS HERE. i mean, of course, but FUCK this means this was a direct effect of them fucking with otohan. goddd this is so horrible.
chetney follows the path of eshterossās arm under the bed, finds a lockbox he was clearly reaching for. unfortunately he sets off a trap, takes some damage, but manages to get the box. he checks eshterossās pulse, and heās definitely dead. š„ŗš
the box contains a bunch of sealed letters, addressed to eshterossās associates and allies. one is addressed to bells hells. š chetney takes them all, and opens the bells hells one. it says if they get this letter, his fate and past has caught up to him. it thanks them for their friendship and their work, and encourages them to continue. š„¹ awwwww buddy. he also included his cookie recipe š and a third page that travis quickly pockets without reading out loud, much to the outrage of the rest of the table agakshs. laura: ādo NOT do that, travis willingham! that is not acceptable!ā sam: āyou can NOT!ā travis: ābet your ass i can.ā šš
heās kidding - he pulls it out again agakhsksh. it is basically a will that says he leaves them his trusted weapon āturmoilā and THE FUCKING SKYSHIP. OH MY GODDDDDD NO WAY.
ohhh i just worked it out - the weird smell mingling with the blood = this was the shadow assassins, and that fucking poison/venom they use to prevent resurrection is what chet can smell. FUCK YOU, OTOHAN.
chetney joins the others, and tells them they should gtfo - we know that otohan is an absolute beast in combat, and chetney seems to be worried sheās still around.
shit, liam has the same thought i did - he asks if there is any blood on the cane chetney grabbed, and when matt confirms, he asks if the smell is familiar. matt says yes - it is the smell of the toxin that kept keyleth from reviving his husband and father. AUGHHHHHHHH. ššš
FUCKING OTOHAN NEEDS TO STOP KILLING CHARACTERS I AM ATTACHED TO. I CANāT WAIT FOR BELLS HELLS TO KILL HER. I ASSUME A LONG WAY DOWN THE LINE, BUT IāLL BE READY WITH A FUCKING BALLOON PARTY.
