Beyond the Boundaries

is the thirty-second episode of the second campaign of Critical Role. The Mighty Nein return to several old stomping grounds as they journey south to Nicodranas and the Menagerie Coast...

Pre-Show
Liam ran a Curse of Strahd encounter ("The Old Bonegrinder Mill") for his daughter Romper-Stomper and her friends earlier. According to Travis, Liam is too merciful: he let the party live. Matt points out that it's not much of a life...it's Barovia, after all.

Announcements

 * Tonight's fantastic sponsor for Campaign 2 (since Day One) is D&D Beyond!
 * Sam decided to do a simple ad read for tonight...but he left the copy at home on his printer. But Sam is an "improv god", right? He can improvise an ad on the fly, right? As he stumbles through his ad, the Devil himself (Mephistopheles, in VO) criticizes Sam for his lousy improv skills. The Devil officially releases Sam from his demonic pact...Sam's soul simply isn't worth it. Matt points out that without Satan at his back, he's afraid that Sam can't play D&D anymore, and he asks Sam to leave the table.
 * Handbooker Helper: Matt reminds about Critical Role's new show "Handbooker Helper"! Sam asks Betty Crocker to sue them. Marisha asks (if Hamburger Helper starts selling more) to sponsor them. The show will be bite-sized (five minutes or less) episodes that will serves as an introduction to new players or a refresher course for 5th edition rules. The first episode will be posted on the Critical Role YouTube channel on Wednesday, August 29, 2018, with new episodes posted to YouTube every Wednesday.
 * Production Team AMA: The production crew (Dani, Max, Vinnie, and Rachel) will be answering fantastic production questions from the Critter community in a Reddit AMA on Friday, August 24, 2018 at 2 pm PDT. This was a special incentive that was unlocked during the 826LA charity stream a few months ago.
 * Matt, Marisha, and Taliesin will be at Burning Man next week, so next Thursday is the return of "Critical Liam"! They thought about doing the much-anticipated Laura Bailey one-shot instead, but she has a baby. Liam will be running a non-canon one-shot with Laura, Sam, and Travis, and guest stars TJ Storm and Erica Luttrell. A little tease: as a late birthday present to Travis...there will be werewolves. Matt is particularly excited about TJ: he's not just a phenomenal and physical performance-capture/motion-capture actor for video games...he's also a huge D&D nerd. TJ has been a Dungeon Master for 20+ years.
 * Wyrmwood giveaway: Critical Role will be doing its "Wyrmwood give-a-Ray" during the break, so they require you to come over to the Critical Role Twitch chat. Matt will get you up to speed when all that is happening.
 * Merchandising update from Laura: Laura hastily tells Critters to go to the store...check out shop.critrole.com...did she get it right? There's T-shirts and a bumper sticker that says something about The Traveler! Travis adds that there are also retro tees, Critter caps, Mighty Nein tees, etc. Sam clarifies it's a "dad cap", not a Critter cap. Laura adds that there are also some pins...maybe there's pins...maybe there's not? Travis says Laura is the worst. Go to the store and find out!

Previously on Critical Role
"So...last we left off: The Mighty Nein - having completed their journey north and their two jobs for the Gentleman - return with a new friend: a new companion... and the memory of an old.

"You spent two weeks in Zadash, utilizing your downtime. Some to a very successful level, some in a nearly TERRIBLY NOT successful level but managing to skirt by!

"But you've taken your time, decided on a new path: a new adventure ahead of you. Loaded up your things, and currently - with your cart, horses, and selves together - you begin making your way towards the southern area of Zadash and out towards the roads ahead..."

Part I
As the party leaves Zadash on the magic cart, Caleb thinks back about his time focusing on the dodecahedron, and tells Caduceus to ask Jester to show it to him. Caduceus does, and receives the mote of possibility. They reach Alfield at the end of the second day of travel, check in with Bryce, and then meet them at the Feed and Mead. Bryce tells the Nein that the Ashguard Garrison has fallen. They discuss the best dick Jester has ever seen and call it a night. Jester Sends to her mother to let her know they're coming.

Toward the end of the next day's travel, Caduceus spots a cluster of stones that don't look right. They investigate and find a leather pouch filled with 500 gp worth of gems. They refill the pouch with rocks and leave it there, taking the gems. On the next day, they see a single horse and rider heading quickly north, and Caduceus and Jester (the only two visible in the cart) change their appearances as he passes. That evening, they reach Trostenwald and visit the jail to see Gustav, suggesting that maybe they can pay off his debt. He says he appreciates it, but it's his burden, not theirs. They tell him of Molly's death. The debt is 2100 gp, bargained down to 1500, which they pay, and Gustav is released.

Break

 * Handbooker Helper ad
 * D&D Beyond ad
 * Sona trailer
 * "Is Superman still Superman if...?" (Wednesday Club animated short)
 * Osage tourism ad (ad for Season 2 of "We're Alive: Frontier")
 * "Painter's Guild" Season 3 on Geek & Sundry
 * "How To Play" with Becca Scott: Ya Blew It!

Part II
The next morning, Nott tries to buy components to make a tanglefoot bag, but her disguise is inadequate and she has to leave the store quickly. The party sets off south again, traveling uneventfully for two more days. On the third day, they reach the Wuyun Gates, which are now much more heavily guarded by the Righteous Brand than previously. All carts passing through are being thoroughly inspected. Fjord uses the dodecahedron, since he'll be doing the talking. They all get out of the cart as they approach the gates, telling the guards they're heading south to buy products for trade, and that the enchantment on the cart makes it appear to hold standard sacks and boxes. The guards are slightly suspicious, but let them pass, and they continue south.

Suddenly, Caduceus hears muttering ahead, and warns them there are giants. They see a two-headed giant ettin waiting in ambush, and Caduceus casts Calm Emotions on it. As they drive by the now-mellow giant, another one rises from the other side of the road and yells at the first. Caleb casts Fear on the angry one and it starts running away. As the Nein drive away as fast as they can, the spells wear off and the giants start throwing stones and running to catch up to the cart. Caleb casts Enlarge on Beau.

With only one ettin close enough to be a danger, the party whack away at him and Beau succeeds in stunning him and knocking him prone, then runs to the other one and starts whacking at him. She manages to kill one, and Caleb kills the other with a Fireball, triggering a PTSD attack. Beau carries him back to the cart, where he recovers. The next morning, they see two carts passing by, filled with various caged animals-- a traveling pet store. Jester and Beau are entranced. The dealer shows them many animals, and they end up buying an owl for Beau, a crimson weasel for Jester, and a blink dog for both of them, which they name Nugget.

They travel on uneventfully for the next few days, eventually catching sight of the Lucidian Ocean, edged by jungle along the Ashkeeper Peaks, and the port city of Nicodranas in the distance.

The Mighty Nein

 * Beauregard
 * Caduceus Clay
 * Fjord
 * Frumpkin
 * Jester Lavorre
 * Nott
 * Yasha Nydoorin (absent)
 * Caleb Widogast

New

 * Dualla
 * Kestiff Drudy
 * Jamyela (older baboon in Kestiff Drudy's menagerie)
 * Kluss (clerk in The Nestled Nook Inn)
 * Nugget
 * Sprinkle (not-yet-named)
 * Professor Thaddeus (not-yet-named)

Returning

 * Adelaine
 * Thadeus Candleglow
 * Crute
 * Bryce Feelid
 * Gustav Fletching
 * Norda
 * Yorda

Quotations

 * Matt: Caleb, your mind slips back into contemplative thought recalling the time you had spent focusing on the dodecahedron. Focusing onto it, once again allowing your consciousness to slip gently towards wherever this object draws it in, it feels like you're looking into infinite space both within and beyond this small geometric shape. You can sense and see light and cloud and matter and vacuum, this kind of expanse of everything and nothing between these long stretches. You feel like there's an absence around you, but the more time you spend, the more you adjust to the space, the more your vision clarifies, the more the darkness is not pure darkness but a weave of millions of tiny threads, all moving, faintly traveling in different directions, tugged by some unseen force independently. You watch one thread, you pick one focus, and you can see it pulling along. And it brightens and brightens and brightens until it reaches, in that tiny little infinitesimal push, a burst of light, and it changes direction. And you see in that space where that burst of light had happened, you see seven other shadow-threads begin to emerge from that point that then fade away to nothing, the thread having now curved and taken a different path. A choice, a decision made, and a different destiny for whatever that strange thread is following. And pulling back, you now see the thousands, tens of thousands, millions of these that all wander in their own independent, solitary directions, some crossing, some parallel, some alone. And you wonder what all of this means, and what this has to do with the essence of this device, the powers that it seems to impart, and what it is that the Kryn Dynasty has designs for.