Aramente to Pyrah

is the twenty-second episode of the first campaign of Critical Role. With their trials behind them, the members of Vox Machina reunite within the walls of the Slayer's Take. Newly marked and happily reunited, the group decides to set out for Pyrah to find the Fire Ashari, escorting Keyleth on the next leg of her Aramenté.

Announcements

 * Subscriber challenge: there will be a giveaway for every 100 new subscribers to the channel. Additionally, if the 7000 subscriber mark is hit by tomorrow morning, something vague involving a Pikachu costume will be happening. There will also be a party and possibly a Snugglelord / Overlord body pillow.
 * Matt talks about the charity 826LA and its after-school tutoring program.
 * There will be no new Critical Role next week due to Matt and Marisha leaving for the desert (Burning Man). Normal episodes will resume the following week.
 * Taliesin cleanses any residual Wil Wheaton dice energy from his spot at the table.
 * Sam will not be making it tonight due to family obligations.
 * Travis shows off the very large weapon he got for his birthday.

Part I
The separated halves of Vox Machina are joyfully reunited at the Slayer's Take guild hall on the completion of both their contracts.

For their formal induction into the guild, Huntmaster Vanessa takes the party to a secured chamber below the guild hall. The chamber contains a ziggurat, a hidden temple to Ioun, the goddess of knowledge. There they meet Osysa, a gynosphinx, who magically brands their shoulders with the mark of the Slayer's Take. Osysa explains how her pact with Ioun allows her to watch over Vasselheim and the guild.

Vanessa then brings them back upstairs and distributes payment for their part in the original hydra contract. The party share tales from their time apart. Vex, to great dismay, learns about the fate of the flying carpet. Just then, they are interrupted by a knock on the door as Mertin announces a visit from Pike. Pike explains that she has some time off from working at the Temple of Sarenrae and can join them for a little while.

The party go shopping in the Quadroads, where Tiberius invests in some mundane weapons. Grog haggles with a merchant for a potion; however, he doesn't quite grasp the point of haggling and takes a bad deal. This infuriates Vex, who marks the merchant as he is packing up to leave but is unable to do anything. They all go for a drink to help Vex feel better.

Part II
The next morning, Tiberius finds a merchant selling small creatures and purchases a sickly green pseudodragon as a pet, which he names Lockheed. The party decide to visit the Fire Ashari for the next step in Keyleth's Aramenté. To that end, they visit a mapmaker named Tyriok to get general directions toward the Sunder Peak mountain.

After a couple days of travel, the party arrive at the mountain home of the Fire Ashari. As they make their way up the mountain path, they are beset by a trio of boulder-hurling giants but manage to escape. They make it to the caldera of the mountain and are met by an envoy of the tribe. They are brought to meet Flamespeaker Cerkonos, the headmaster of the Fire Ashari.

Cerkonos confirms that Keyleth's mother, Vilya, came through about ten years ago on her own Aramenté. He invites Keyleth to begin her trial immediately, with no preparation.

Keyleth recounted to the rest of the party the trials she went through during her Aramente with the Earth Ashari at Terrah, who affirm that they have her back.

They proceed to the Cindergrove, where they find and enter a portal into the Elemental Plane of Fire. Cerkonos tells her to "follow the footsteps" to find a "stone spire." As the group tracks a set of fiery footsteps, they see a huge red dragon pass overhead briefly, but it does not see them.

Arriving at the stone obelisk that Cerkonos told them to look for, they find Cerkonos himself and two other druids. The druids transform into fire elementals to test the party's skills in combat. The party take down two of the druids before a cinder storm interrupts their fight and they are forced to flee the plane.

Once back outside the portal, Cerkonos congratulates Keyleth on completing her trial. He gifts her a spark stone in celebration of the deed. Their mission complete, they spend the night in Pyrah before returning to Vasselheim. Pike returns to her temple.

Vox Machina

 * Keyleth
 * Percival de Rolo
 * Scanlan Shorthalt (DM-controlled)
 * Tiberius Stormwind
 * Grog Strongjaw
 * Pike Trickfoot
 * Trinket
 * Vax'ildan
 * Vex'ahlia

New

 * Cerkonos
 * Tyriok Gadsworth
 * Osysa
 * Cidrick Gillsman
 * Calhoun
 * Thordak
 * Lockheed

Returning

 * Mertin Cyndrial
 * Vanessa Cyndrial

Mentioned

 * Pa'tice

Behind the scenes
Travis' favorite moment of playing Grog's low intelligence was this episode's reverse-haggling with the Vasselheim trader and giving him three vials of blood instead of two.

Quotations
Percy: Oh, I see how this could work out poorly. Pike: What if she gets mad? Keyleth: I've thought about that a little bit, and then tried not to think about that a lot. Taliesin: (whispering) What would Vex do? What would Vex do?! Grog: How about... Taliesin: (relieved) Thank you! Grog: ...all of the dragon's teeth and three of the vials of blood? (There is stunned silence; Liam and Laura hang their heads in shame and embarrassment.) Marisha: Wha--?! (Orion and Ashley gawk in disbelief; Talesin lets out an agonized groan.) Cidrick: Done. (The two shake hands while the cast erupts into laughter.) Matt: He accepts all of the dragon's teeth, three of the four vials of blood. You can mark those off your Bag of Holding. Laura: (laughing) You are such a dick! Taliesin: We're getting you a leash!! Grog: (laughing) Vex will be so proud of me!
 * Vex: And he kissed you? Wait. A guy that's married to a god kissed you?
 * Keyleth: Part of one of the ceremonies that the Earth tribe gives is called the Oloore ceremony. It's a tea that they make that is derived from a local plant that– It's essentially a vision quest tea; it gives you visions. It's a cultural tradition, I guess. I saw two paths. One was an older woman, who was wise and hardened and brave, and she had a line of young Ashari behind her. And I ran away. I feel like she was me. And I ran away, and I went down another path. There was a tree. It was young, but strong, and it had a familiarity. As I reached out and touched it, my vision was taken through the path of the roots, and I could see the world, and I could see how everything was connected, and it took me to you all. And you were strong and fighting and proud, and then Vax yelled out, 'This one is for Keyleth!' I wasn't with you. And then Grog yelled out, 'This is for our princess!' And it broke away, and I realized that I was that tree, and it was my death. And as I ran to the other side, I went back to the old woman, and all of my people slowly started fading behind her, and as she looked at me, she said, 'Your future is as important as it is fragile. Protect it.' And she, too, faded away. I realized she was me. And when I came out of my vision, I talked with the Earth Headmaster Pa'tice, and she told me that if I was going to survive, I needed to have the will to do what was necessary, and the strength. And ever since the child, it's been hard. I was there for a long time at the Earth Tribe, longer than most stay on their Aramenté. I couldn't get through the trial; every time I used a natural magic, every time I tried to fight, I just saw flashes of that child's eyes. I was blocked. Normally, they save the Oloore ceremony for the final testament, but they actually started me with the Oloore ceremony in order to help hopefully unlock my spiritual blocking that I was having. But I don't know...
 * Cidrick: How about this? All direct trade, no coin exchange necessary: all fourteen of your dragon's teeth and, perhaps, two of those blood vials.