Lost & Found

is the thirteenth episode of the second campaign of Critical Role. The Mighty Nein deal with the fallout from the night’s events, working to repair the fraying edges of the Knights of Requital and learning how to trust their own team...

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Previously on Critical Role
''So last we left off, the Mighty Nein had gotten themselves involved in a number of various factions in the city of Zadash and decided to buy in to aid the Knights of Requital in their attempt to get one of the various powerful lords of the city and the High-Richter, both seemingly corrupt individuals, ousted. You had planned forgeries that you were going to place in their homes at night during an offsite gala in the Tri-Spires, not too far from where your breaking and entering was to occur.''

Bringing Ulog along, one of the members of the Knights of Requital, you snuck into Lord Sutan's house, managed to avoid a number of the pitfalls, traps, and contents within, going straight to the bedroom, where you battled the Rug of Smothering, knocking a couple of you out, but found within a couple of interesting items that you gathered, and the wax seal you needed to complete the forgeries to make this loop come together.

''From there, you immediately went across over to the High-Richter's home. You managed to-- well, the two of you managed to obscure yourselves to look like the High-Richter and one of her guards, went right into the abode. The rest of [the Mighty Nein] met from the outside, and within the interior of the bedroom, you discovered Ulog had found papers that proved that his wife was innocent and that the High-Richter was basically making an example out of her, as well as discovering a scroll case that led to a brief confrontation.''

''After placing the document required, you went to leave right as the High-Richter seemed to have arrived. She had a seemingly confident demeanor as she rung the bell for her guards, and at that moment, Ulog, realizing that this was his chance to get vengeance when no one else was taking a stand, rushed her, placed a bead within her mouth that caused a Fireball to detonate, killing them both, destroying most of the torso of the High-Richter and Ulog together. At that point, [the Mighty Nein] began to radically find a way to flee; the window shattered out from the gable windows at the top floor. You heard the guards trying to bash in the front door to make their way in.''

''After fleeing outside, you heard this strange sound as this large, dark sphere seemed to emerge from the distant Zauberspire of the Hall of Erudition. It seemed to collapse in itself, causing the base of the tower to lose structure, and it began to tip over, stopping midway, seemingly by some sort of force field holding it in place. You watched as two darkened figures leapt from the tower, while two other ones began to glide off the top of the tower, firing bolts of energy in various forms of magical attack in their direction. Using the chaos, you all fled through the night, darkness, back towards the sewers where you came.''

''You managed to watch one of the two dark figures be slaughtered on the street and be gathered by some shaded, older figure who was one of the flying mages who was giving chase. You all ducked down into the sewer system, and began to notice a trail of blood amongst the dried sewer run. Putting some lights up ahead of you at this intersection, which you had been previously before, you immediately noticed there was a darkened figure of black leather armor with various horns and hooks at the joints, chitinous insect-like in its appearance. The creature seemed to notice your presence and called out in a language you couldn’t understand. In an attempt to cast a spell to understand the language, the creature seemed to deem it as an aggressive stance and then rushed you. And that’s where we left off.''

Part I
The Mighty Nein fight and eventually subdue the drow. They tie him up and strip him of his armor and his effects. Among his inventory is a dodecahedron and quite a bit of platinum coin. When Caleb attempts to Identify the dodecahedron, he realizes that the magic it contains is outside of the parameters of the spell, and his mind begins to open up into space, an endless infinity of nothingness. He pulls back, but continues to think about it.

The drow, who gives his name as Thuron under the influence of Molly's Devil's Tongue, informs the group that he and his companion had just recovered the dodecahedron and intended to take it back to his people. He refers to the artifact as "the beacon", and informs them that it originally belonged to his people, but it was stolen from them by the Dwendalian Empire. His people need the beacon to be "rebirthed." It is of such importance that he virtually begs them to return it and free him to return it to the Dynasty.

After much deliberation, The Mighty Nein decide to give him back his armor and the beacon, and let him go. Moments after they do so, they hear the crownsguard kill him farther down the sewer.

The Mighty Nein resurface in the Tri-Spire to find the crownsguard marching both the body of the drow and the beacon to the King's Hall. As they march, Jester trips the guard holding the beacon, and a disguised Caleb manages to sneak the beacon away, with the aid of Nott creating a Silent Image of a duplicate beacon.

The party splits - Fjord and Beau to search for the Knights of Requital and the rest to The Leaky Tap. Fjord and Beau find Horris and Dolan at their home and break the news of Ulog's death to them. They convince Dolan to stay in the city to see the plot through while Horris will go to Alfield and lay low.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party arrive at the Leaky Tap and head down into the basement with the beacon, seeing the skeleton that Nott had found earlier. Caleb suggests that he and Nott spend the night there with the beacon, and the rest of the party go back upstairs, leaving him alone holding the dodecahedron. Jester goes to talk to Claudia Sheed, the owner of the Leaky Tap, to ask if she has a lead safe they can borrow to put the beacon in to keep it hidden. Claudia is behaving strangely and tells Jester she has sold the inn to a friend, Lauren Schvine, and gives Jester her safe.

Break

 * International TableTop Day (ITTD) 2018 trailer
 * "Asinine Wisdom" Season 2 trailer
 * Key Question promo
 * Journal Promo for "We're Alive: Frontier"
 * Painters Guild at Games Workshop clip

Part II
While Caleb hunkers down in the cellar of The Leaky Tap with the beacon, the rest of the party and Horris gather in the girls' room. Nott determines that the safe is iron, not lead. Horris says he'll wait till morning to get out of town and retires to another room. They divide up the gold, with Nott taking Caleb's share for him.

Nott tells them she'll be joining Caleb guarding the dodecahedron in the basement, and the rest of the party is suspicious that she and Caleb are planning to run off together with it during the night. They confront her over Caleb's attempt to take the magic scrolls from the High-Richter's house, and Nott points out that they destroyed the rug and left plenty of other traces first. Nott says that they've been very clear that they're in this for what they can grab for themselves. She corrects Fjord's assumption that she relies on Caleb for protection, saying it's the other way around. She views him as a son and wants what is best for him, because he can achieve great things. The party is taken aback at this, but they assure Nott that if they can learn to be a part of the group, they will protect both Caleb and Nott. Nott grudgingly says she'll talk to Caleb about it, and they give her the things they need identified. Molly throws in an extra platinum coin.

Meanwhile, Caleb converses with himself by talking to the skull in the basement, which says “Maybe you should tear it off your chest... It’s driving you crazy.” Nott joins him, and gives him the scroll case from the High-Richter's house and his share of the money, along with all of the other items. He cautiously identifies them. The scroll case explodes on opening, but the spells are intact, and he is thrilled by at least one of the spells he gains. Nott also tells him that the rest of the party don’t trust them and think they need to cooperate and communicate more. Caleb says he wants the group to work, so even though he doesn't agree he'll do what they need. He tells Nott he was going to go to the Soltryce Academy when he was young, but he "fucked it up".

During the night, Caleb has a dream that he is being pulled through space. Around him are many versions of himself, and they all begin to walk in different directions. He feels there is something wonderful and ancient about the dodecahedron, and for the first time in a long time, feels at peace. He wakes after a very restful night's sleep.

Fjord accompanies Horris to the city gates only to find that the crownsguard are interviewing everyone leaving the city. They decide to find another way for Horris to leave and return to the inn. Caleb tells the group that the stone from the Sutan Residence is half of a set of Sending Stones, and they put it in the Haversack.

The Mighty Nein visit The Invulnerable Vagrant and buy a lead-lined box, several healing potions, and look at the other available items. Nott gives a Pumat Sol her platinum flask to have it enchanted to never run out of alcohol. Caleb buys Shield and Shocking Grasp scrolls. On the way out, Nott asks Pumat what he's reading, and he replies, “It’s a collection of crazy tales about this weird fella. It’s The Daring Trials and Tribulations of Sir Taryon Darrington. This guy’s been all over the place. It’s kind of wild.”

They return to The Leaky Tap and put the dodecahedron in the lead box, and into Jester's haversack. The longsword and the boots they found are magical. Molly takes the longsword for Yasha, and Beau takes the boots, which are a once a day 1d8 to initiative.

They return to The Evening Nip in search of The Gentleman and Kara, and are allowed to descend to the secret, underground bar by telling the bartender they "offer many gifts". Below, they meet a tabaxi woman who instantly recognizes Molly, greets him as "Lucien," and hugs him.

The Mighty Nein

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

New

 * Cree
 * Clay Owens

Returning

 * Clive Bens
 * Yannick Dumel
 * Claudia Sheed
 * Pumat Sol
 * Dolan Thrym
 * Horris Thrym
 * Thuron (name revealed)

Mentioned

 * Taryon Darrington
 * Doty
 * Oremid Hass
 * Iliana
 * Jan
 * Kara
 * Lauren Schvine
 * Ulysses Stanneras
 * Ulog

Quotations

 * Laura: Oh, I am the inventory person. Shit...
 * Molly: I don't know anything - it's part of my charm!
 * Beau: Stay in school! (Beau trying to keep a pair of teenagers away from Caleb and the Beacon)
 * Caleb: This thing...is beyond comprehension, even. And the desire to get it back is going to be great.
 * Caleb: I place the thing in my lap and I pick up the skull. Oh, so many secrets, huh, Yorick? (gravelly) “Maybe you should tear it off your chest.” I don’t think that’s a good idea. “It’s driving you crazy.” Maybe not yet. “It’s probably a good idea.” You’re funny.
 * Molly: With a group like this of very untrustworthy people - we're untrustworthy people - you've got to trust each other. 'Cause you have to trust somebody. You can't trust not anybody, 'cause then you're just alone. (Molly encouraging Nott to be more of a part of the group)
 * Nott: I think there’s a bit of a misconception here. Caleb and I have a very special relationship. It is that of a parent and a child. But I am the parent. You do understand that, correct? I protect him. He’s my boy, and I keep him safe. I want him to thrive and get better and better, and more powerful and stronger. Because he can achieve great things. When I found him, he was nothing. He was a scared little boy in the corner of a jail cell. As we have gotten more comfortable, he has gotten more comfortable and come out of his shell. It’s my job to protect him, because I love him, and I am his protector. Not because he protects me.
 * Fjord: Have you not been to The Invulnerable Gentleclerk?
 * Pumat Sol : "Oh, it's gotta be fiction. But it's good fiction!" (Pumat's review of Tary's book)
 * Taliesin: You fuckers don't know shit. (about Molly's backstory)

Trivia

 * This episode marks the first time a character from Campaign 1 has been mentioned in Campaign 2.
 * Sam's giant flask bears a message saying "Teenage Mutant Ninja Tortles" in this episode.
 * The party reached level four in this episode.