The Path to Whitestone

is the fourth episode of the third chapter of Critical Role. Ghostly attackers infiltrate Greyskull Keep as Vox Machina prepares to journey northeast to Whitestone and confront the Briarwoods. Meanwhile, Keyleth begins to suspect that a mysterious power holds sway over Percy.

Recap
"The group, having heard that the Briarwoods—a couple who had taken power in the town of Whitestone far to the northeast, and apparently responsible for the destruction of Percy's entire family and his escape into the wilds of Tal'Dorei—were going to be coming to Emon to bridge a political handshake with Sovereign Uriel and all of Tal'Dorei proper, to build a bridge across the channel that separates this continent from Wildmount across the sea.

''"Upon hearing about this, the party was planning to—after being invited to this banquet—gather information, and in the process of doing so Vax got himself caught by sneaking into their bedroom after them and was nearly killed in the process. The group managed to aid him, pull him out from the jaws of death, and the Briarwoods escaped through arcane means, leaving a shattered carriage, a mostly beaten driver of their carriage, and through the scuffle a number of guards were hurt or killed, and the party, upon meeting an individual named Lillith, a tiefling, and leading her back to the Keep, were seemingly attacked by a series of bounty hunters that were after her. There was some... intense violence displayed against a few of them, and this all got back to the Council. The Council then called Vox Machina to the central palace and essentially began the structure of a trial to see if they themselves were responsible for essentially attacking guests of the Council, ruining what could have been a very lucrative union between the two towns, and possibly murdering an old woman. So they had their membership revoked, and during this sequence apparently the charmed Seeker Asum was restored, but seemingly to little effect. The group then left, realizing that perhaps the moral ramifications of many of their actions are having bigger impact due to their visibility and their heroic status in the kingdom at large.''

''"When they returned to the Keep they found two representatives of the northern farmers of Emon who required aid: a series of their livestock had been stolen over the past few weeks and was putting them in dire straits when it came to the necessary amount of meat they had to raise. The group, trying to turn their morality on its head, decided to aid them, awaited out in the center of the cow pasture at night; masquerading, through illusionary magic, as cows themselves. The giant roc, a gargantuan bird that swooped down and grabbed Cowleth—Keyleth here, sucked her away. The rest of the party Tiberius then enabled to fly through arcane means, thus we had a squadron of evening cows chasing after the roc, which then got turned into a cow, to crash into a mountain. They chased it back to its perch up in the Cliffkeep Mountains to the northwest of Emon, and engaged apparently a guardian of this roc, a gnome druid who had been removed from society for quite some time. After some rather roundabout—and at some points on the edge of conflict—conversation, they managed to convince him to instead take the bird and flee across the Ozmit Sea to the northwest, towards Vasselheim, where it would be a much better landscape for the creature to thrive and grow. After that the party is making its way back, right around the beginning of daybreak, towards the Keep."''

Part I
Percy dreams of his family, watching them all die. Everything is enveloped in flame, and the smoke coalesces into a form. The smoke entity encourages Percy to seek vengeance and justice.

Percy wakes up in his workshop below Greyskull Keep. He's not sure how long he's been there. He leaves the workshop and sees Jarett being held up by his neck by some invisible creature. Percy shouts for help, pulling out The List and firing at the entity, hitting it and causing it to drop Jarett. It moves towards the cell where Desmond is, and a second invisible creature comes down the stairs and attacks Percy. The entity in the cell with Desmond begins choking him. Trinket, who had been sleeping outside Percy's workshop, attacks the one next to Percy. Jarett gets up and runs to the cell, unlocking the door.

The rest of Vox Machina has just made it back to the Keep, and they hear the gunshots ringing out and start running in as Shayne and Cordell open the gates for them.

Percy takes a point-blank shot at the one in front of him, but his pepperbox misfires. He pulls out Bad News and swings it like a bat, bludgeoning the entity and thankfully not damaging the gun. The entity strikes back at Percy, missing the first swing but hitting with the second. The creature in the cell tries to choke out Desmond, but the carriage driver manages to resist.

Trinket backs away, taking a hit as he does, then jumps and leaps onto the nearest creature, knocking it prone. Jarett grapples the one in the cell, dragging it back out into the hallway.

Vex runs down the stairs, just barely getting a shot off on the enemy Jarett is grappling, then places her Hunter's Mark on it. Keyleth follows behind, but can't get close enough to attack.

Grog charges in, raging, and runs up to Jarett. He crushes a vial of Holy Oil in his hand and punches the entity repeatedly, although the Holy Oil doesn't seem to add anything to the attack.

Vax clicks his Boots of Haste, sprints up beside Trinket, and sneak attacks the entity on the ground, and then hits it twice more with the Dagger of Life-Stealing and the Keen Dagger.

Tiberius flies down the stairs into the middle of the hallway and casts Glacial Blast from both hands, at each entity. Vax and Jarett dodge out of the way, and the invisible creatures take the hit.

Scanlan Dimension Doors into Percy's workshop, sees Percy outside the door, and heads that way. He sees the enemy right in front of him and retreats back into the workshop, inspiring Percy as he does.

Percy tries to clear his gun, but the barrel of The List comes off and hits the ground. Frustrated, he throws the gun into his workshop and pulls out Bad News, taking a point-blank shot at the creature in front of him. It hits, causing a deafening sound that makes Vax's ears ring. The entity screams and disperses. Percy reloads and moves around the corner to shoot the second enemy. It hits, but the noise causes Tiberius, who was hovering nearby, to temporarily go deaf.

The remaining entity breaks Jarett's grapple and attacks Desmond, knocking him unconscious. Jarett runs up and tries to attack it through the bars of the cell with his shortsword, but can't land any attacks.

Vex moves further into the hallway and shoots at it twice, the first arrow hitting but the second missing and shattering on the wall.

Keyleth moves up behind Vex and casts Faerie Fire, covering the entity in a purple glow and nullifying its invisibility, revealing it to be humanoid in shape but with legs that appear to be shimmering and shifting. Keyleth also casts Healing Word on Desmond, bringing him back to consciousness.

Grog swings at the entity with his Firebrand Warhammer, hitting all three times and doing heavy damage. Vax weaves his way through the crowded hallway and sneak attacks the entity through the bars, finishing it off.

Tiberius rushes over to Desmond and gives him a sandwich. Vex also heads over and casts Cure Wounds on him. From his hiding spot in Percy's workshop, Scanlan shouts out, asking if it's safe for him to come out now.

Desmond, terrified, asks what those things that attacked them were. Vax is somewhat familiar with these creatures, naming them as Invisible Stalkers. He gets the feeling that they were sent by the Briarwoods.

Jarett apologizes for being unprepared to face invisible enemies, and asks what exactly they're up against. Tiberius tells him they're fighting vampires and possibly liches. Jarett requests a pay raise, then heads upstairs to check on his fellow guards.

Vax sits down next to Desmond and reassures him that Vox Machina will do their best to protect him. Desmond leans in and quietly asks if he can be kept far away from Percy. Vax promises that he will be separate from Percy and kept safe. Desmond says he trusts Vax, and pleads with him not to let the Briarwoods get him.

The party relocates Desmond to Tiberius' room, and Grog carries the bed back upstairs. Tiberius says he'll sleep in his laboratory.

Tiberius calls for Erwen, waking him up. The dragonborn realizes that it's six a.m. and sends Erwen back to bed, saying they'll talk about it later in the day. The rest of the party heads up to go to bed as well, Scanlan falling asleep under Percy's workshop without the tinkerer noticing. Grog stays with Desmond for protection.

On their way up the stairs, Vax asks Keyleth if her hand is alright from where the roc bit it earlier. Keyleth, still upset with him, brushes him off.

Percy heads back to his workshop to fix The List and stays there to continue working on his projects.

The party—minus Percy—wakes up around noon and heads downstairs, where Laina has prepared breakfast for them. She is pleased to see them and tells them how a nice couple came by and dropped off plenty of fresh vegetables, the group realizing these were the farmers they helped out the day before.

As the party eats, they hear a sudden clearing of the throat and turn to see Seeker Asum, having gone completely unnoticed by them until now. He thanks Keyleth for removing Lord Briarwood's charm from him, and apologizes for pretending it didn't work back in the Palace. Vax apologizes in turn for forgetting to meet up with Asum during the feast and running off on his own. Asum accepts his apology.

Asum says he suspects Sovereign Uriel has been under the same charm since the dinner. Keyleth asks why Asum kept up the charade, and he says he was trying to stay in Uriel's good graces so that he could have a chance to get Vox Machina close enough to remove the charm. Vex asks if the rest of the Council has been charmed. Asum responds that Allura looked to be of sound mind, and the Briarwoods' focus seemed to mostly be on Uriel.

Vox Machina debates over whether they should focus on clearing Uriel of the charm, or clearing their own names of wrongdoing. Asum offers his aid in whatever they decide to do, but says he will soon be leaving to head to Wildmount to do more research into the Briarwoods.

Keyleth goes to get Percy, and finds him just outside the room, leaning against the wall and listening. The gunslinger begrudgingly joins the rest of the group in the kitchen.

Percy insists that they aren't prepared to face the Briarwoods, and worries that he'll get the whole party killed. Tiberius offers to bring in the Draconian Knights to raze Whitestone if necessary.

After debating for a while longer, they still haven't come to a conclusion. Frustrated, they ask for Percy's opinion, as he has been very quiet throughout the conversation. Percy hears a voice whisper in his ear, "Vengeance...vengeance..."

Percy says they need a week to prepare themselves, then they will quietly leave Emon to go to Whitestone. Grog calls a vote: he, Vex, Vax, and Scanlan agree with Percy. Keyleth and Tiberius don't say anything.

Seeing that Vox Machina has come to a conclusion, Seeker Asum gets up, saying he'll be leaving for Wildmount in three days. Percy thanks everyone for their help, apologizing again for dragging them into this situation. Tiberius apologizes to Percy for everything that has happened to him and his family, and promises to help him get the final blow on every name on The List.

The party leaves the kitchen and scatters. As he leaves the room, Percy hears the voice again, saying "Yessss...."

Vex follows Seeker Asum, and requests that he, as a fellow ranger, teach her in the art of stealth. Asum agrees to help with what he can in the three days before he must leave.

Tiberius heads to his laboratory and begins writing a letter.