Converging Fury

is the twenty-seventh episode of the second campaign of Critical Role. Still reeling from the cost of their first fight against the Iron Shepherds, the Mighty Nein gain another ally and enter Shadycreek Run, where they begin to plot their revenge against their formidable foe...(with guests Ashly Burch and Sumalee Montano!)

Pre-Show

 * Welcome back, Ashly Burch! And welcome to Sumalee Montano, who will be joining as the narrative requires.

Announcements

 * Tonight's D&D sponsor is D&D Beyond!
 * Sam reads some fan mail about Critters who use D&D Beyond. The Critters write about how the website helped them get over the loss of a beloved character, how much they love Sam's interactions with Taliesin, etc. Sam swears that the emails were sent in several weeks ago.
 * Critical Role is heading to San Diego Comic Con...in a day! Their panel on Saturday will be rebroadcast next Tuesday as next week's Talks Machina. Our fantastic host Brian W. Foster will destroy their sense of well-being!
 * Wyrmwood giveaways will be held during the break in the chat for the Critical Role Twitch channel.
 * The cast decides to try and stall. Ashly asks Matt what he had for breakfast? Matt laughs: she assumes he ate breakfast.
 * merch update from Laura: If Laura were here, she would remind Sam to remind the Critters that there are still some "Nott the Best Detective Agency" T-shirts in the Critical Role store.

Previously on Critical Role
''Last we left off, The Mighty Nein were making their way northward across the northern side of the Marrow Valley, toward the city of Shadycreek Run, to fulfill the second of two jobs they had accepted from The Gentleman while they were in Zadash. Along the journey, while they were leaving Hupperdook in the middle of the night, three of their members [(Fjord, Yasha, and Jester)] had been taken. It was discovered in the morning when they were nowhere to be found, that they had been captured by a group of slavers traveling north back to the city of Shadycreek Run itself.''

''Upon investigating the details of this capture, [the party] encountered an individual coming up the road with a similar aligning interest, Keg. In discussing the means of traveling to find these individuals responsible, and discovering that Keg had information on them, [they] decided to travel together making [their] way around the Crispvale Thicket. Encountering a number of indigenous, insect-like creatures known as ankhegs near the long-abandoned farmlands that were once built in the outskirts of the forest. Camping inside, [the party] encountered a few members of a firbolg village that had long existed, hidden from the world within this thicket that had been assaulted by these same slavers, known as the Iron Shepherds. [They] encountered an elder protector of this tribe, along with a boy who had survived this encounter, and were sent off on [their] way.''

''Traveling northward on horseback, [the party] managed to catch up and actually make ground on the Iron Shepherds. Comparing your intel, and through a few surprises as to what they were carrying, a plan was hatched to set an ambush, to halt them in their tracks, and assault them. Upon the plan taking off, things were going in [the party's] favor, but through a [...] series of moments of bad luck, and a too-late realization of the overwhelming power of the foe [they] faced, one of [the Mighty Nein] fell. Mollymauk lies slain in the middle of the road at the hands of Lorenzo, the leader of the Iron Shepherds.''

''Making an example, pushing Keg onto the ground, leaving her with the knowledge of what he perceives as her fault, to live with it; and to spread their name and the terror of what they do, and not to let anybody else get in their way. [The party] watched quietly, unable to really have a moment yet, to digest what has happened, as [they] see the carts slowly, quietly, make their way northward: out of sight beyond the hills, towards [their] eventual destination.''

Part I
A faint bit of snowfall is coming down from the clouds above as the stunned group - Beau, Nott, Caleb, and Keg - look down at the bloodied, still body of Mollymauk Tealeaf, as the snow slowly begins to fall and rest upon his form. Caleb breaks the silence first, saying they have about ten minutes to figure out what they want to do here before he sends Frumpkin after the Iron Shepherds. Beau walks over to Keg and slams her into the ground, angrily asking why she didn't tell them Lorenzo was a high magic user. Keg is as shocked as they, protesting that she didn't know.

Beau searches Molly's body and takes his tarot cards for herself. She tosses the Periapt of Wound Closure to Caleb, and takes the money and Summer's Dance. Nott wants to leave his things with him, reasoning that he woke up once before; he might do it again and need them. Nott and Keg think that cutting their losses and running is the safest choice now. Beau is furious they're forgetting about the captured Jester, Yasha, and Fjord. Caleb thinks they've invested a lot of time into this alliance and he's not willing to walk away. Beau says she's going to try to start following Molly's example to leave every town better than she finds it. There doesn't seem to be any way to find a cleric with the ability to raise Molly, so they painfully decide to bury him. Caleb digs a grave with his cat's paw, removing Molly's coat, and wrapping him in his tapestry. He writes a note and places it in the folds of Molly's clothes, then hammers a branch into the ground above the grave like a post, and hangs Molly's coat from it.

Caleb says that they're going to get their three friends back; they have not traveled with them this far to throw it away. Nott pushes, asking why he wants to go after them. She wants to hear him say it. When Caleb responds that their deaths would be a waste, she says, "Wrong. Why?" and after a silence, Caleb storms off into the woods. Beau thanks Keg for making her offer to Lorenzo, and they agree no more running away.

Meanwhile, Caleb goes over to where the horses are set, and notices a new one looking right at him. Its shape begins to shift and change, until he is looking at a seven-and-a-half-foot tall female firbolg, who says she has been watching them. She is sorry for their loss. Caleb calls the others over, and they ask if she can bring dead people back to life. Regretfully, no. Beau remembers Jumnda telling them that Nila was heading north looking for her son, and the firbolg confirms she is Nila. She may be able to help them, as she is looking for the same people they are. She has killing abilities she would like to use on the Iron Shepherds, such as summoning lightning from the sky to fry Lorenzo. Her intensity, coming from the soft-spoken firbolg, is startling, and they happily accept her aid. She is searching for not only her five-year-old son, but also her partner.

Shadycreek Run is still two days travel away, and the Sour Nest, Lorenzo's encampment, is another two hours north into the forest from there. A little way down the road, they find three bodies: the captives that were killed in the battle. They continue traveling north until dark, when they camp and spend an uneventful, but cold and snowy, night. The next morning, they continue through the Quannah Breach in the Dunrock Mountains at the northern border of the Dwendalian Empire.

They reach the gate run by the Uttolot family of the Tribes of Shadycreek Run. Beau and Keg stealth, Caleb and Nott disguise themselves, and Nila shapeshifts into a horse; they pay the toll and are admitted to the Greying Wildlands. They soon reach Shadycreek Run, and head for the Landlocked Lady, a brothel run by the Mardoons, the rival family of the folks that employ the Iron Shepherds, and their contact for The Gentleman. Shadycreek Run is a wretched hive of scum and villainy. The only law is the volunteer force known as "Taskers". The party goes directly to the brothel.

Break

 * D&D Beyond ad
 * Additional Knowledge Acquired: Marisha tries to advertise Twitch Prime, but the copy is confusing...something about breaking eggs?
 * "How To Play with Becca Scott": Disney's Villainous
 * "The Wednesday Club: 5-Minute One-Shot": You are the contractor after the X-Men mansion gets blown up for the 13th billion time. What would you do to make the school more difficult to destroy?

Part II
Behind the desk is a bearded, slightly balding human man who greets them, offering rooms and companionship for rent. They ask after the Mardoons, and are told they're at the Estate Sybaritic today. While they're trying to decide their next move, Nila pulls out her smell bag containing various treasures she has collected, and gets a rosy, sweet smell which tells her it will be a good outcome to go see Ophelia Mardoon. They rent rooms there for the night, with Beau also ordering a companion for an hour. When Nott and Caleb say they'll share a room, Keg asks if they are "together", and on being told no, comments that she thinks Caleb could do better anyway, which Nott agrees with.

The next morning before going downstairs, Caleb and Nott talk. Caleb reiterates that they've done a lot with "these people" and if they can rescue them without losing their own lives, it will help them get to where they want to be. Nott tells him that she too wants to find and rescue the other party members, but because their lives now are better, fuller, and richer, and because she loves them. She wants to make sure they're not just using them.

Downstairs, Keg reads Nott an apology she has written for saying she wasn't good enough for Caleb. They set off for the Mardoon estate, being told on the way out by the day clerk Keelyn that they should listen carefully while there. He tells them its appearance and location northwest of the city.

They enter the edges of the Savalirwood, a cursed greyish-purple ashen colored forest which the city has used as a defensive position against the Empire in the past. Nila speaks with a bird which tells her the forest has been like this since before its time and to beware of spirits and bone-spurred beasts. It leads them to the Mardoon house, the Estate Sybaritic, a dark red wood two-story estate at the edge of the city that's in the beginning stages of showing disrepair, surrounded by a tall spear-topped stone wall. It is well-guarded.

Caleb tells the guards they have a private message for Ophelia Mardoon from a very refined gentleman from the south. After a few minutes, they are admitted and greeted by a tiefling woman with dark-grey skin and ankle-length, straight black hair falling behind her. Her horns curve up into large points behind her head and she has bright yellow pupil-less eyes. Her smile shows two fanged canines. In a Zemnian accent she asks if they bring tidings from The Gentleman, and they confirm they are the help he sent.

She tells them that her most trusted team of smugglers on the Zadash route were slain a month ago by the Jagentoths, who sponsor the Iron Shepherds. She wants retribution by killing everyone in the Sour Nest, but it cannot be traceable back to the Mardoons. Beau asks if Ophelia's priest can raise the dead, and Ophelia tells them that if they're looking for help, try the Blooming Grove where a strange hermit lives. They are led out through a hidden back tunnel and travel two hours east to the Sour Nest.

The Sour Nest is a stronghold surrounded by a tall wall and dense forest trimmed back to prevent overhanging branches. Caleb sends owl-Frumpkin to scout and sees that the carts have returned and there are at least five people visible inside at first glance. Keg tells them the prisoners would probably be held in the basement. Nila transforms herself into a mouse and Frumpkin carries her into the courtyard of the stronghold, dodging a crossbow bolt on the way out.

Mouse-Nila scurries inside and spots two more guards in a mess hall, and finds a trapdoor which she is unable to get past, but hears voices and Lorenzo's laugh from below. She runs upstairs and finds three bedrooms containing a total of seven beds, and evidence of possible cannibalism in Lorenzo's room. She runs back outside, where she is retrieved by the watching owl-Frumpkin, who dodges another crossbow bolt on the way out.

Nila drops mouse form and tells the party everything she saw, drawing them a sketch of the layout. They attempt to scout the exterior to look for secret tunnels, but Keg's clumsiness alerts a guard and they run back to town.

The Mighty Nein

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

New

 * Champ
 * Keelyn
 * Ophelia Mardoon
 * Nila
 * Vorsah

Returning

 * Keg
 * Lorenzo
 * Protto
 * Wohn

Mentioned

 * Asar
 * The Gentleman
 * Jumnda
 * Kiri
 * Kitor
 * Lord Anselm Mardoon
 * Pumat Sol
 * Rissa Tinkertop

Quotations
Beau: "Pour a drink?" Nott: "Sure. I'll pour drinks." Beau: "Long may he reign." Nott: "Long may he reign." Beau: "That's the best fucking shit I got." Caleb: "Shine bright, circus man." Caleb: I like them. Nott: That's a good start. I think they like you.
 * Beau: "I realized if I can deliberately leave a town shittier than what I found it, of course he could fucking leave a town better than what he found it. And I'm not going to do that again. I'm not saying that, you know, I'm going to go off and be a fucking hero; but maybe we can equal out and I can at least not fuck any more shit up. Take baby steps towards the leaving the town better . . . thing. So that's the least I can do for him."
 * Nott: "Molly said not to steal from happy people."
 * Nott: "Should we say some words or anything?"
 * Nott: I know we have things to do, and I want to do them. But the reason I want to find these people and rescue them is not to use them, and it's not because we've invested time in them, but it's because I love them. We need to find them and rescue them because we're a team now. So if you're just using them or whatever, that's fine and I'll support you; but I want to find them so that we don't go back to the way it was, when we were hiding in the shadows and ducking into alleys to get away from people. We were safe, but we weren't really alive, right? With these people, we're having fun and winning contests and killing bad guys and rescuing children, and it's amazing. I hope you're with me on that, and I hope we are on the same page.

Trivia

 * Keg was aroused once in this episode.