Critical Role Recap: Episode 11

Previously on Critical Role, the Mighty Nein delved into the sewers of Zadash and killed a monstrous phase spider and returned it to the King’s Hall for a bounty. Upon returning to their home tavern, the Leaky Tap, they were told by their friends in the Knights of Requital that they were planning something big, and wanted to speak with the Mighty Nein the next evening.

Single Paragraph Synopsis

This week’s episode was a build-up episode. The first half of the episode was made up of a lot of funny fluff, while the second half began to delve into the political intrigue plot that will likely run through this entire campaign. The Mighty Nein did some errands around town, chilled with Pumat Sol, read fantasy smut, and ordered pastries. Then, they found themselves involved once more with the Knights of Requital and a plot to return justice to the Dwendalian Empire by bringing down a foul oligarch and a corrupt lawwoman.

Art by Caio Santos (@BlackSalander)

Full Length Summary

After a restful sleep at the Leaky Tap, the Mighty Nein prepared to face the next day. Knowing that the Knights of Requital wished to speak with them about a surely illegal matter that evening, the characters decided to get some business done while the day was still young.

Their first order of business was to joke around with Nott as she created an illusory persona for her disguise self spell, essentially playing around with the Skyrim character creation screen for ten minutes. Red hair, green eyes, a patrician nose, clown overalls, a bowtie… wait. Caleb interjected, “How about a simple halfling woman?”

Eventually, two courses of action are settled: Fjord, Nott, and Molly will go to Pumat Sol’s shop, the Invulnerable Vagrant and do business with our favorite NPC. Meanwhile, Jester, Caleb, and Beau will go back to the Trispire District to turn in Jester’s room key at the Pillow Trove and maybe find Chastity’s Nook, the smutty bookstore Caleb has been trying to find for something like eight episodes.

When Jester said she wanted to turn in her key, Fjord seemed surprised. He asked why her mom wouldn’t just pay for the room. Jester paused for just a moment too long. His question had struck a nerve—it seemed for just a moment at all the sorrow she had been sitting on since she sat alone in that room with the Traveler would come rushing up again—but Molly quickly interjected, and Jester came up with a reasonable answer, saying there was no sense in racking up debt and wasting her mother’s money.

The two groups parted ways, though Beau quickly bought a fashionable cloak in the Penta Market so that she could more easily enter the wealthy Trispire District.

Pumat Sol Returns

Fjord and his party arrived at the Invulnerable Vagrant and met up with the ruddy-nosed firbolg Pumat Sol. Two identical Pumat Sols were tending to the shop (there were even more the first time!), and after some light conversation, Fjord presented the leather mariner’s armor he retrieved from the sewers last episode. He asked Pumat Sol if the armor’s enchantment could be transferred to a different suit; he didn’t care for the nautical designs on the leather. The Pumat Sols conferred in private, speaking to “Pumat Sol Prime” in the back room, and stated that while they could do the job, it would cost Fjord 80 gold for the service.

Fjord blanched at the price and asked for a moment to consider.

During that time, Nott asked Pumat Sol why there were so many of him. Pumat leaded down over the tiny goblin. His face tensed, and Nott flinched. Then Pumat’s face relaxed into a huge, toothy smile and he laughed and tossled Nott’s hair, his massive palm engulfing her entire head. He pointed at the wall, which bore an arcane sigil—three diamond shards arranged in a pattern. Somehow, these other Pumat Sols are all simulacra of the original Pumat Sol, who was currently doing work in the back room. These Pumats are simulacra of the original Pumat Sol.

Pumat was an Annex of the Cerberus Assembly, the simulacrum explained, and earned this favor from the Cerberus Assembly for his services. The party inquired further about the Cerberus assembly, and all the simulacrum could say was that he thought they were doing good for the people of the Empire. They kept the Crown’s power in check and promoted education in the middle and lower classes of Zadash. Fjord was pleasantly surprised by this news; perhaps not all parts of the Empire were as bad as the corrupt elite. Maybe there was something worth saving in the Dwendalian Empire after all.

After long consideration, Fjord decided to pay 80 gold and have the enchantment transferred. Molly browsed the shop’s stock during this time, and decided to treat himself and purchase a periapt of wound closure.

Smut and Pastries

Meanwhile, Jester’s party traveled to the Trispire District, and were able to make it past the guards without much trouble. Before returning to the Pillow Trove, Caleb and Jester agreed that they wanted to visit Chastity’s Nook, the smutty bookstore. They walk through the Trispire District and see the three great towers that gave the district its name. Beau wracked her brain thinking of their names and eventually came up with the Zauberspire (which is German for “magic spire,” as the Zemnian language of Wildemount is analogous to real-world German), the Triumph Chime, and the Constellation Bridge. They walk through the district and enter the Gilded Willows neighborhood, which is essentially the bourgeois “Bel Air” residential neighborhood.

Chastity’s Nook had the appearance of a rustic house, complete with thatched roof, but the appearance was all artifice and aesthetic. “Like a tiki bar?” Marisha asked.

“Yeah, sort of,” Matt replied. The store wasn’t packed, but it was “making business.” Before stepping inside, Caleb and Jester visited the Meal Hearth, the bakery next door. Caleb offered to get Jester some sweets, and Jester gleefully ordered some bear claws, done with lots of cinnamon, Nicodranus-style. Caleb ordered a fresh loaf of bread, and went to the Chastity’s Nook while the loaf baked.

The smutty bookstore was dimly lit and filled with the thick scent of incense. Beautifully painted nude portraits graced the walls and stacks of books filled the shelves. Each volume bore a painted cover depicting a tantalizing scene. As Caleb, Beau, and Jester entered, they were approached a middle-aged human woman with wild, curly, and mousy brown hair. She introduced herself as Iva Deshin, and asked if there was anything she could do to help.

While there, Jester bought a handful of bawdy novels, including Tusk Love, a particularly saucy novel about romance between a human woman and a male half-orc. Meanwhile, Caleb told Iva that he was in the market for smutty historical fiction. Iva seemed to think Caleb a man of taste and asked him to follow her. “Define historical,” she said. “What are your interests?”

Caleb explained that he didn’t like like shallow smut. He wants to “learn something while he’s being titillated.” (“Edubation!” quipped Marisha, causing the cast to break into a chorus of laughter.) Iva stated that she had something, but the it’s a banned book. Banned for 15 years, in fact. She has a few copies of The Courting of the Crick, but they’re pricy; 15 gold each. Caleb examined the volume, but decided that it was too pricy. The smut wasn’t even that good, either. Jester decided to buy the book as a present for Caleb, since he got her the bear claws earlier.

The party left Chastity’s Nook behind and traveled to the Pillow Trove. While relaxing there for a few minutes, the party had a political discussion. Beau and Caleb discussed their feelings on the Empire, with Beau stating she thinks the system is “bullshitty,” while Caleb responded that while the system may be bad, “it is what it is.” Jester prodded Beau, looking for more details. Was Beau planning a rebellion? Beau shut Jester down.

“No,” she said. “I just wanna make a ton of money and drink a lot of booze.” The best thing to do, in Beau’s mind, was just to be happy and make the best of a bad situation.

The Knights’ Master Plan

The party reunited in the Leaky Tap later that afternoon, and they decided to kill time until the Knights of Requital convened that evening. Night fell, and the storm that raged over Zadash slowly died down to a quiet drizzle by sunset.

Jester started reading Tusk Love, the half-orc romance novel. The half-orc’s name was Oskar, and she was utterly swept away by the fantasy of it. Fjord intruded on her and asked what she was reading. She airily replied, “Nothing, Oskar…”

Beau and Caleb both read The Courting of the Crick and learned a bit about the history of Wildemount, though Beau wasn’t sure how much of it was true. A lot of details conflicted with what she had learned as true history. The story was set against the backdrop of a war between Xorhas and the Dwendalian Empire. A dark elf “crick” assassin—crick being a nationalistic slur against the people of Xorhas—attempted to slay a Dwendalian general… the story went on. It was interesting historical drama, but the smut was mediocre.

“This book sucks,” Beau declared, setting the book down just in time for the Knights of Requital to arrive in the taproom of the Leaky Tap. First Dolan, then Kara, then another dwarf, then a new human man. Beau, Caleb, and Fjord followed them into the cellar. Dolan Thrym was present, and the human man they didn’t recognize was his partner, Horace Thrym. Along with the other dwarf Ulag and the half-elf woman Kara, the Knights of Requital have put two months into planning an operation, and they need the Mighty Nein’s help in executing the plan.

Ulag explained: The Knights of Requital intercepted documents delivered to Lord Sutan, one of the Trispire’s politically connected oligarchs. The documents implicated him in business with an undesirable criminal involved with the Myriad, a vile crime syndicate deeply entrenched in Zadash.

However, as the Knights of Requital attempted to deliver these documents to the Lawmaster of Zadash, they were themselves intercepted by High Richter Pruseen, perhaps the most corrupt judicial official in the city, and had the documents confiscated and placed several of the Knights under watch by the Crownsguard. The Knights want to turn Lord Sutan against the High Richter, and then expose them both to the Lawmaster. If they could prove to the Lawmaster that both Lord Sutan and the High Richter were corrupt, both could lose their positions and the Knights of Requital could put one of their own agents in the position of High Richter. They could start undoing some of the corruption within the Empire with one of their own as the High Richter of Zadash.

They laid out a plan: infiltrate Lord Sutan’s estate, steal a copy of his seal and his handwriting, forge a letter to his unsavory criminal partner about an assassination of the High Richter. Then, infiltrate the High Richter’s home, tear it up… staging a fight that didn’t happen while she’s out at a fancy ball. Then, they’ll take the letter and deliver it to Lawmaster.

Fjord suggested another option: frame the High Richter as the head of the Knights of the Requital and let her take the fall as a traitor to the empire. Then simply “disband” and rename the organization and continue operation. Horace rather liked this plan. They decided that it would be better to leave the Leaky Tap behind as a meeting location, just in case. They settled on the Song and Supper Inn as their new meeting spot.

Nott and Caleb

Just after their meeting, Fjord caught Nott trying to steal from his pack. Molly and Fjord captured the thieving goblin girl, and tried to get her to answer truthfully: why was she trying to steal from him? Not getting an answer, Molly used his Devil’s Tongue invocation to charm her into explaining. Nott, completely under Molly’s spell, reaveled that she was looking for Fjord’s letter to the Solstrice Academy. Nott wanted to take it and give it to Caleb. Nott knew that Caleb has the potential to be very powerful. She needs Caleb to be powerful so that he can save her.

“Nott,” Fjord asked, “What do you need to be saved from?” “So much,” Nott answered. “So much, but mainly, there’s a lot of dangers in the world. And a lot of dangers for me. And especially… the closer we get to the North… they don’t like me up there. He can protect me.” “We can protect you!” Molly said. “No…. you can’t.” Fjord furrowed his brow. “Are you worried about something or someone in particular finding you.” “Maybe, yes,” Nott said. “There’s a few people I’m worried about. But no one specific where we’re going. I just know that people are always trying to get me. I just wish … I need his magic to be there for me when I need safety.” She struggled to stammer out her next thought. “I need him. I need him to live.”

Investigating the High Richter

The next day, the party prepared their story so they could investigate the High Richter before enacting their plan. They settled on being traders from the Timault Storehouse, and their story was that the Baumbach family of Alfield dodged paying their invoices.

“And then stole our puppies!” Jester interjected.

The Mighty Nein decided to sneak into the Trispire via the sewers. Fjord used crown of madness to cause one guard to attack the other, then broke the sewer gate and snuck in. The fight drew a huge crowd, and the guard was hauled off and arrested. They made their way through the sewers, emerged into the Trispire, and then wandered towards the High Richter’s home. It was an impressive estate surrounded by a high stone wall.

They managed to catch the High Richter Pruseen as she was just leaving, and spoke with her briefly. She was a haughty elf with a nasty attitude, a cruel disposition, and deep-seated prejudices, especially against tieflings. Most of the Mighty Nein decided they didn’t like her and privately agreed to take her down. Caleb was skeptical; did they have the right to ruin the life of some ******* just because that person was cruel? They’re ********, too, after all!

Caleb deferred even thinking about moving forward with this plan until he had an offer of pay from Dolan and the other Knights of Requital. The rest of the Mighty Nein agreed, and met with Dolan and company in their new meeting spot. Each of the four leaders of the Knights of Requital put forth money. Ulag put forth the highest sum, over 500 gold: his life savings. This got everyone’s attention, and they all agreed to the plan, though some did so more reluctantly than others.

After accepting the job, the Mighty Nein and the Knights of Requital went their separate ways, breathless and nervous with anticipation. The Nein decided to spend the next day getting ready for the infiltration.

“At dawn we plan.”

Critical Role will return on March 29th, 2018. Is it Thursday yet?

James Haeck is the lead writer for D&D Beyond, the co-author of the Critical Role Tal'Dorei Campaign Setting, and writes as a freelancer for Wizards of the Coast, the D&D Adventurers League, and Kobold Press. He loves watching Critical Role and wants everyone he knows to get into it, too. He lives in Seattle, Washington with his very own Frumpkins, Mei and Marzipan. You can usually find him wasting time on Twitter at @jamesjhaeck.