A Favor in Kind

is the sixteenth episode of the second campaign of Critical Role. The Mighty Nein deal with the ramifications of their actions in the research facility, exploring more of the dark caverns beneath Zadash and experimenting with dangerous unknowns...

Pre-Show

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Announcements

 * Vox Machina Origins #6 out now
 * Another 826LA Strech Goal achieved (Matt Mercer Fireside Chat)
 * Critical Recap for "Where the River Goes" out now
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 * Podcast for "Where the River Goes" out where all podcasts are available
 * Matthew Mercer set for Con visits in Calgary, Canada & Fort Worth, Texas

Previously on Critical Role
"Last we left off, The Mighty Nein, after being in proximity to some sort of an assault from Xhorassian operatives in the city of Zadash here in the center of the empire, they found themselves also caught up in a murder of the High Richter in the city. They pulled away and realized that there was a manhunt for individuals that were seeming in connection with this murder. And, as this was transpiring, they had to smuggle out some allies they had found and had been working with, Dolan and Horris. Dolan, who, part of this whole deal was to get him involved in local politics, but Horris needed to be smuggled out for safety in case they got caught.

''So, you made your way to The Evening Nip; met up with Yasha. Down there you had a conversation with this individual called The Gentleman. You made a deal. You've kind of decided to trust each other on this endeavor and do a quid pro quo - a little favor for one, favor for the other - and see if this is a business relationship that you want to develop. In doing so, Horris was smuggled out of the city safely, seemingly.''

''You were brought down through the tunnels of the underworks toward an underground dock where the river exited toward the northeast toward Barrelbend. You loaded up on boats to make your way toward what seemed to be a recently uncovered but barely explored underground research facility, long buried, where The Gentleman asked you to enter it, see what you found, clear it out if possible, and return.''

''As you made your way down there, assailed by a few of the creatures that existed in that tunnel, you found the exterior of this research facility, broke your way in, began to meander around and discover strange mysteries afoot in its construction. The urns throughout its vicinity, the strange wisps of spiritual energy that came to assault you in the process. Bypassing traps, mostly, kind of. Completing the mystery of the strange, arcane runes in the ceiling and the schools of magic that they seemed to connect to. And you found your way into some sort of secret study or den where there were research tables set up, a mostly empty bookshelf, braziers filled with ash to the side between pillars, two small chambers with these cages with tight-knit bars containing urns and empty nooses hanging above and seemingly filled with ash. You began to look throughout the room. You found a sword across the upper ceiling, an ornamental blade of some kind. You [Caleb] recovered a book of notes and began to read through to get a feel for the person or entity that seemed to have written what remained of these pages. And around this time, the wind began to pick up in the center of the chamber as this darkened figure began to rise from the stonework. This large, tattered cloak of a figure, just spreading and whipping around like this sudden wind is tossing aside sails of a dark ship. You see this skeletal, ghostly face begin to emerge from it. Its voice slowly hissing out, "My secrets are yours," as you saw small glows begin to emerge from the ash in the urns."''

Part I
The Mighty Nein defeat the ghostly creature and its accompanying will 'o wisps. Molly, Jester, Fjord, and Beau take a boat to explore the other fork in the river that they have yet to explore and find a waterfall with a chamber hidden behind it.

Fjord's Dream
As the group takes a long rest, he faded into a dream of himself standing in total darkness. In his hand was the Waste Hunter Blade. A large yellow eye appeared in front of him. A voice said Consume. Fjord opened his mouth and pushed the sword into it. He felt pain but also a strong hunger and continued to push the sword further. After he had swallowed the sword, the voice said Good. The eye closed. Fjord realized he was underwater and started trying to swim against the current. After a few seconds of struggling, he woke up suddenly. The Waste Hunter Blade was gone. Fjord wiped his mouth and found a little bit of blood. He summoned his pact weapon. Instead of the Waste Hunter Blade, his weapon took the form of the old falchion again, but it had a more curved appearance similar to the Waste Hunter Blade. This suggests that Fjord's falchion absorbs his other weapons, taking on their characteristics. Fjord goes back to sleep without telling anyone about the dream.

Break

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Part II
Fjord keeps his dream a secret, but he divulges a bit of his backstory. The Mighty Nein row back up the river and are taken to The Gentleman once again. The Gentleman seems satisfied with the results of their quest and promises them that he will clear their names; they just have to lay low for a few days.

The Mighty Nein embark on various endeavors over the next few days, including:
 * Caleb & Fjord visiting Dolan and giving him the papers to prove Ulog's wife innocent.
 * Fjord returning to the Sutan's hospital to investigate.
 * Jester tries and fails to deface a statue of The Matron of Ravens
 * Beau and Mollymauk take a shroom-like drug that could have had massive side-effects, but instead just allowed them to see into the ethereal plane while high.
 * Nott sends a package to Felderwin
 * Caleb, Yasha & Nott visit The Invulnerable Vagrant
 * Beau trains with the monk order in Zadash
 * Caleb (with the help of Nott & Jester) successfully stares into and identifies the beacon

The Mighty Nein

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

Returning

 * Expositor Dairon
 * Siff Duthar
 * Fjord's Patron
 * The Gentleman
 * Kara
 * Rodel
 * Dolan Thrym
 * Expositor Xenoth

Mentioned

 * The Crawling King
 * Ren Sutan
 * Horris Thrym
 * Ulog

Quotations
Molly: "I never had a childhood." *laughs hysterically*

Trivia

 * Sam's giant flask bears a message that reads "COMEDIC GENIUS" that appears to be taped over the multicolored "FART" letters from the previous episode. Only the R and the T are completely visible in this episode.