Waste and Webs

 is the tenth episode of the second campaign of Critical Role. The Mighty Nein delve into the sewers of Zadash in search of the mysterious beast that has been terrorizing the Crownsguard...

Pre-Show
On the Twitch stream, a Critical Role fan art slideshow played before the episode began. The slideshow repeated partially until the episode began. The slideshow featured a new song by Colm McGuinness ("KawlumPlaysGuitar" on YouTube) called "Welcome to Wildemount" ("a lead-in of hype").

Announcements

 * Tonight, we have dual sponsors:
 * D&D Beyond is offering up a new discount code for 25% off on any single purchase in the D&D Beyond marketplace. Use the code "invisiblewand" at checkout. Sam does a D&D Beyond ballet to the tune of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite, Op. 71a: No. 2b, Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy.
 * Far Cry 5 is available on March 27, 2018 on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Vax'ildan does the sponsor ad from the afterlife...which the Raven Queen gave him literally four minutes ago. Go to farcry.com to learn more and pre-order a copy...but there aren't any computers where Vax is. The latest installment of Far Cry is set in the fictional Hope County, Montana, where a fanatical doomsday cult known as "The Project at Eden's Gate" has taken control. You (the player) are the hero of the story in a thrilling world that hits back with every punch, and where the places you discover and the locals you ally with will shape your story in ways you will never see coming. Travis says the multiplayer is SO good. Vax also mentions that there is a "training video" on Nerdist in which Kyle Hill, Dan Casey, and Erika Ishii go out into the field and attempt to recreate challenges the player will face in-game: shooting, car drifting, dog training, and more. Vax asks that the Critters send him some comic books, because he is really bored in the afterlife. Travis really enjoyed Far Cry 4, so he has even higher expectations for Far Cry 5. Liam comments that the story looks dark. Travis is excited about the ATVs.
 * Twitch Prime: If you have Amazon Prime, you can easily subscribe to any Twitch channel for free, once each month.
 * Last week's episode of Critical Role ("Steam and Conversation") is available today on the Critical Role Podcast.
 * Talks Machina about tonight's episode will be available at 7:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, March 20, 2018 where it always is (Geek & Sundry Twitch and Project Alpha).
 * WonderCon: Critical Role will have a Talks Machina panel on Sunday, March 25, 2018 at 11:30 AM PDT in the Anaheim Convention Center Arena. If you are attending WonderCon, please come and join us for the panel. They shall all be as ridiculous as usual. Matt doesn't know if Sam will be wearing his "box-crotch onesie" from Gen Con 2017. Laura suggests that maybe he could do an interpretive dance at WonderCon too. Liam suggests using a d8 or d12 instead of the Cube. Sam replies that would be pushing the envelope for dick jokes, and Laura replies that there is no end to dick jokes.
 * C2E2: Critical Role will be having signings and panels on April 7 and 8, 2018. You can get tickets now at c2e2.com. Matt met a lot of great Critters at Lexington Comic & Toy Con, and many of them said they would be in Chicago as well.
 * Once again, 826LA is a fantastic charity that we promote for Critical Role. They do great work with after-school classes and creative writing for underprivileged children and teens. If you are able, see if you can provide some funds to help what they do or even go ahead and teach and be a part of that wonderful environment. Taliesin ran into a Critter who has started to run D&D games for the program and volunteer for 826LA.
 * merch update from Laura: Ashley models the retro Critical Role shirt...which is hard to see, because of her overalls. No one is wearing the "sophisticated" shirt with the Critical Role logo on it, but Liam holds it up to the camera.
 * Travis likes Girl Scout cookies.

Previously on Critical Role
"So...last we left off: The Mighty Nein had been making their rounds in the city of Zadash: seeking opportunities, information...kind of getting their bearings amongst the various townsfolk, streets, and what goings-on there are. Getting updates from town criers wandering through the roads. Speaking with individuals going into bathhouses, where you met up with your fantastic long-lost Barbarian, Yasha, coming to join alongside you guys in your exploits.

"You managed to converse with what seemed to be a meeting - or at least, Beau and Fjord met with - a meeting of unhappy denizens of the Empire, discussing their frustrations beneath the Leaky Tap, and had [cross-referenced] some information with them.

"You had gone and made some purchases. You had sold off a few of the things you had acquired in your journey northward along the Amber Road. You had decided to - looking for work - go to the King's Hall, where they had a task board there, and had taken one of the contracts that had apparently been posted: to where you will be paid to seek the sewers beneath the city (near the outskirts of the Tri-Spire area of the town) for something that had been lurking within those tunnels below. Apparently, a couple of guards had not returned, and one had gone there and fled. And you were promised a sum of money should you be able to exterminate whatever this entity is, bring back proof of its demise. So you jauntily accepted this.

"Before this happened, as a part of a journey towards this Tri-Spire, both Caleb and Jester made their way there. Caleb unsuccessfully entering a nicer district of the city that did not seem to believe or respect his presentation. Jester did so, got a room at one of the hoity-toity inns in the district, and was led to some mild disappointments. Where we left off, the two of you had reconvened, and began making your way back to meet up with the rest of your friends at the Leaky Tap Tavern..."

Part I
Still at the Leaky Tap, Jester tells the party a little more about The Traveler before they head out to check out the sewers. On the way, Caleb picks up a cloak to wear over his clothing, and earmuffs for Nott.

They locate the sewer entrance, tell the guard they're there to kill the monster, and he lets them in. The group heads toward the left to a dead end, but sees signs that something has moved through recently. Nott licks a spot that looks as though someone had been dragged and tastes blood. The group turns around and heads toward the other direction when they reach a fork in the sewer. One has water coming down it while the other is dry, with traces of webbing. The group spots one of the clusters of refuse moving, so Beau tosses a ball bearing at it. It hits and breaks away some of the pile, and they see the horrible matted fur of a giant sewer rat. It shrieks, and the other garbage piles also prove to be concealed, horribly infected rats, which attack.

The rats are not difficult to kill, but release poison gas when they die from stabbing or slicing. Beau discovers that bludgeoning damage does not cause poison gas to be released, nor do Caleb's Fire Bolts. They eventually manage to kill all of them and move onward, reaching a large, dense clump of webbing with a dog-sized mass encased within it. Further on are more and larger webs with larger lumps. Mollymauk cuts through the smaller one, releasing a desiccated rat corpse. Caleb summons an Unseen Servant which pokes at another web holding a humanoid-sized lump, which proves to be a similarly dead Crownsguard. They continue further, with Caleb incinerating webs so that they can proceed once they check to make sure their occupants are dead. The corpses all have heavy puncture wounds in their necks and have been drained of all blood. The webbing grows heavier and heavier, hiding the end of the tunnel completely. Molly manages to bring down a wall of web, revealing a giant nest. As Jester moves up toward a sewer exit to make sure it is open so that it could be used to retreat if necessary, she notices one of the webbed bodies, a halfling, is not dead but only unconscious.

Break

 * Nerdist Far Cry 5 promo
 * "This is your brain on spoilers" ("Additional Knowledge Acquired" PSA)
 * Key Question promo
 * "This is Critical Role. This is Twitch Prime." ("Additional Knowledge Acquired" PSA)
 * How to Play Deception: Murder in Hong Kong ("How to Play by Becca Scott")
 * "This is your brain on spoilers" outtake

Part II
Jester, who is 20 feet away from the halfling, is worried about walking any further because the webbing is causing her feet to stick to the ground a lot. She asks to check on the halfling. Fjord goes to check on Nott in the back. Caleb and Beau walk up to Jester and join her in investigating the halfling, with Caleb casting Dancing Lights. The halfling has bandages around his neck (not fresh wounds).

As they investigate, Fjord and Nott have a sudden feeling, and they slowly turn around to find a pale blue-white arachnid creature as its pincers open up.

After killing the phase spider, they loot the nearby bodies. They heal and free the halfling, Thed, from the webbing. Thed gives Beau information on where to find The Gentleman, but makes the entire group swear that they never saw nor met him. Caleb takes Jester aside and gives her 100 gold that he found among the bodies as an apology for his grumpy behavior toward her. Jester takes the money, but promises that she'll use it for both of them. She also apologies to Caleb for her ignorance.

The group decides to leave the sewers via the grate directly above them, which happens to lead to the Tri-Spires. Forcing the large body of the spider through the small grate and parading it through the district attracts the attention of the Crownsguard. The Mighty Nein are escorted out of the Tri-Spires and to the Kings' Hall. They receive 700 gold for the body of the spider and return to the Leaky Tap to freshen up.

After a failed attempt by Nott to get Fjord's academy letter, the group reconvenes downstairs. Ulog is a few tables away and brings Fjord and Beau downstairs and inquires about whether they had spoken to the rest of the Nein about the Knights of Requital and also to ask about their fighting skills and background. Ulog alludes to a potential move on the Empire, even offering to allow the rest of the Nein to be brought in and the offering of coin. Fjord mentions seeing the posting at the Hall about reporting dissenters to the empire, and Beau asks about the curiosity of the timing. Beau and Fjord discuss the danger with being involved with "amateur hour" before rejoining the Mighty Nein as Jester is describing a client of her mother's.

While discussing about potentially helping the Knights of Requital, the group discusses Frumpkin's death, finding a moment of humor in the circumstances. When they try to go back to the Pillow Trove, the guard refuses to let anyone apart from Jester in, so they instead go to the Evening Nip where they meet the bartender dwarf Clive Bens who seems fixated on Fjord. One of the two other patrons of the bar appears to have a tattoo similar to Thed. The group finishes their beer before heading back to the Leaky Tap for the night.

The Mighty Nein

 * Beauregard
 * Fjord
 * Frumpkin (absent, mentioned)
 * Jester Lavorre
 * Nott
 * Yasha Nydoorin
 * Mollymauk Tealeaf
 * Caleb Widogast

New

 * Clive Bends
 * Cloen
 * Lawmaster Orentha
 * Thed

Returning

 * Ulog
 * Herald Voloshin

Mentioned

 * The Gentleman
 * Pumat Sol
 * Dolan Thrym
 * The Traveler

Quotations

 * Matt: "Cwitters..."
 * Jester: "I bet he's REALLY HANDSOME."
 * Molly: "I don't normally speak with the dead on a first date, but…I’ll think about it."
 * Matt: "Don't see anything dangerous, Georgie!"
 * Nott: "If there’s a way to pin the rat to the wall, I’ll do that."
 * Beau: "Look, I don't mean to have resting bitch face, okay?"
 * Nott: "You know what, I think he is grumpy, but he stands next to Beau so much that he looks happy."

Trivia

 * Sam's giant flask bears a message saying "GOBLIN JUICE" in this episode.