Stephen Colbert's D&D Adventure with Matthew Mercer

is the forty-third special episode of Critical Role.

Noticing strange disappearances, Capo the book-learned bard grew frustrated when no one would listen to him. He gathered his belongings, weapons, and bee companion Eric to find the root of this terrible series of disappearances.

Synopsis
Trying to find the source of the disappearances, Capo and Eric head to the forest and are attacked by a black furred panther with part of its face scraped off to the bone and its clouded eye dangling out of the socket. Missing his first strikes at the panther, Capo manages to keep it at bay. He casts Thunderwave at the panther, causing its flesh to shake of its bones, and reveals the entryway into the subterranean regions beneath the Plumgroves. Hearing a distant echoing whine from deeper within the caverns, the duo heads in.

Finding a bridge and two stone imps, Capo decides to throw a rock at the imps causing one of them to fall into the ravine into the water below. He then ties his 50-foot rope to the bridge post and crosses the bridge. Halfway across, his rope ends and as he stops to untie himself, he is hit by an energy blast from the remaining imp, almost throwing him off the bridge. As he gets to the edge of the rope bridge, it fires another blast but he ducks and tumbles out of the way reaching the opposite side, and heads into the next dark cavern.

In the next chamber, Capo find some dull red spheres. As he approaches, one of them rolls in his direction and stops. He steps backwards and sees a little line appear across the front of it and it rolls a little faster in his direction. As he runs towards the tomb, six or seven of the spheres begin to roll out of the piles of bones and where the crack was opened he can see small rows of serrated teeth. Capo discovers that the spheres are discarded, failed attempts to recreate the magic of the Crimson Sphere of Generosity. Capo is hit by two of the spheres before he can get to the tomb where the final one leaps towards him and latches onto his chin. When he throws it, it shatters against the crystal floor, and all the rest of the spheres come to rest.

As he begins to look at the tomb, he hears a faint, strange, ethereal voice. A ghostly apparition appears of a female knight, her golden armor and beautiful dark skin bathed in a pale blue ethereal glow. He recognizes this to be Shiona, the warrior that previously defeated the mage. When Capo reaches for the sword, the spirit flares angrily.

He answers the ghost by telling her that he fights to alleviate children's poverty. The ghost says his heart is pure and driven. The Exalting Blade of Favor is his and he needs to finish what they could not. She then disappears. Capo removes the sword and is surprised as it begins to talk to him as he continues beyond the tomb. He listens through the door but hears nothing and tries to pick the lock with his thieves' tools. Willing his sword to give light, it lights his way with bright torchlight into the next chamber.

Entering the laboratory, he finds fresh-ish decaying corpses, and Zathkira hunched over, pulling apart one of the corpses. He tells Capo he is looking for the source of a strange relic’s power, named "generosity". Convincing Zathkira to give him the orb, he tells Eric to scan around the back side. When he concentrates on the orb he knows that where humans keep their generosity is in their heart and he puts the orb on his nose. The effect of the nose settles and the sword hypes Capo up to fight Zathkira. He gives in.

Failing to dodge the first attack, Capo almost dies from a bolt of lightning, but he heals himself and Eric turns to attack Zathkira. After being stung by Eric, Zathkira casts Inflict Wounds and kills Eric. Seeing this, Capo turns invisible and heads towards the bed. Not knowing where Capo went, Zathkira casts another bolt of lightning toward the corner of the room. Capo searches the bed finding a glass tube that contains some sort of faint blue energy and smashes it, and the body of Zathkira just falls limp.

Player Characters

 * Capo
 * Eric

New

 * Zathkira
 * Shiona