Harvest Close

is the seventeenth episode of the second campaign of Critical Role.

Pre-Show

 * Congratulations to Sam Riegel on his Emmy win.

Announcements

 * The show had two sponsors: D&D Beyond and Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire. For D&D Beyond, Sam "discovered" an old script for a sitcom ad featuring Gail from the previous weeks D&D Beyond ad.

Previously on Critical Role
''The Mighty Nein in the city of Zadash. Long in the Dwendalian Empire, [they have] made a small name for [themselves] in a few factions. [They have] done a deed or two for the King's Hall here in service of the Crown. [They have] done a deed or two with the Knights of Requital, that involved getting caught up briefly in a manhunt, as [they] were loosely responsible for the death of the High-Richter, the high judge of the local court. Managed to make an introductory trade, a deal if you will, with The Gentleman, this subterranean figure of not the most legal of maneuvers. You delved deep into one of the subterranean river tunnels beneath the city of Zadash for him, managed to clear out and recover materials from a long-buried research facility from the Age of Arcanum.''

''Upon returning, the deal was solid. [The Gentleman] managed to smuggle out Horris [Thrym], who needed to be away from the town for the time being while this investigation was happening. In doing so, also managed to clear [their] names of the death of the High-Richter. Upon returning back, getting a few deeds done, now waiting for this to blow over, and hearing word that there is no longer a manhunt for a number of [the Mighty Nein] in cahoots to this, [they] begin to prepare for the coming Harvest Close Festival. Now we're getting close to the third of the month of Fessuran, [they've] all managed to prepare in the ways [they] want, got a few things on [their] side. [ Caleb has] delved into some of the mysteries of the Beacon that [he] maintain[s]. [ Nott ] retrieved [her] Forever Alcoholic Flask. That's where we'll begin today.''

Carnival Games
There were four soldiers of the Righteous Brand on an elevated platform manning a game called Titan's Grasp.

When Yasha participated in the game, the pot had 43 gold in it. After paying for her first two swings, she hit the bar with her first strike. The stone moved slightly and fell back into place. For her second swing, the stone shifted and slammed on to the other side. With that success, she won the pot of 44 gold.

The four soldiers reset the game and put 5 gold back into the pot. Fjord and Molly added both 1 gold piece to the pot, bringing the pot to 7 gold pieces. Jester tried her best to hit the metal bar, and caused the stone to impact with the ground and roll over twice. Jester also won the game and the meager pot of 7 gold.

After the second win, the soldiers took a 30 minutes break to inspect the hammer, the fulcrum, and the stone used for the game, wondering if they had somehow been cheated. However, they could not find anything that would indicate as much. Jester skipped away from the game's setup.


 * [54:00 - 1:22:48] missing

Arm-Wrestling Tournament
On a large, central platform in the middle of the Pentamarket, a number of members of the Righteous Brand were gathered. They were joined by one well-adorned human male wearing ornamental armor, brown hair in a top knot, and a big, thick beard. At this platform people could arm wrestle each other. If someone won the game, they gets to go up against their finest solder, Gunther Prast. They would also ask them if they would be interested at all in joining the Righteous Brand.

Beau played against Kendall, a grizzled-looking beastly man. This game was won by Kendall. Next Kendall played against Gunther Prast, and lost the game leaving Gunther as the winner. Yasha challenges Gunther for a match. After a long, intense duel, Yasha emerged victorious.

The Mighty Nein

 * Beauregard
 * Fjord
 * Frumpkin
 * Jester
 * Nott
 * Mollymauk Tealeaf
 * Caleb Widogast
 * Yasha

New

 * Darrow
 * Jermai Kull
 * Gunther Prast
 * Oremid Hass
 * Lauren Schvine
 * Leopold Wanstiker
 * Starosta Wyatt Fedar
 * Yadaka Brigman

Returning

 * Trent Ikithon
 * Orentha Stonegrasp
 * Dolan Thrym

Mentioned

 * Leylas Krynn

Trivia

 * Sam's giant flask bears a message that has a picture of a pigeon and the words "COOO! COOO! USE MAGE HAND! COO! COO!" in this episode.