Hush

is the seventh episode of the second campaign of Critical Role. The group plunges deeper into the gnoll mines, coming across an unexpected ally (guest Khary Payton), and wandering into a nest of dangers.

Pre-Show
There's been a slight delay due to technical difficulties. Tonight, we'll be having a special guest jump in, partway into the story.

Announcements

 * Tonight's sponsor has been our sponsor since the beginning and onward through the campaign: our friends at D&D Beyond. D&D Beyond now has open alpha access to the mobile app.  Pit Crew can't display the links below Sam, so he has to read them out loud.
 * Sam also wrote a 1980s commercial jingle. You have to imagine the synthesizers.  The rest of the cast really wants to make that an actual commercial now.  Matt is sad that Sam is no longer a Bard.
 * A reminder: Amazon Prime allows you to subscribe to a Twitch channel once per month for free (Twitch Prime). So if you have it, you can subscribe to Geek & Sundry or any other Twitch channel you are a fan of.  Matt's voice got really high for a second, so the rest of the cast starts repeating the announcement in Mickey Mouse's voice.
 * Talks Machina will be discussing tonight's episode next Tuesday (February 27, 2018) at 7:00 PM PST, with our host Brian W. Foster ("W. Foster, Esq.", when he dresses up nice).
 * merch update from Laura: If you've gone to the Geek & Sundry store lately, there's stuff in there. Specifically, there are more Critical Role dice, if you've been wanting some of those. (Not the Vox Machina dice, those aren't back in-stock yet.) There's also stickers, keychains, t-shirts (lots of t-shirts, you should check 'em out), notebooks, and awesome pencils.  Travis and Liam remind her that the art book is still in-store.  There's also an apron for the Slayer's Cake.  Just one apron...supplies are limited.
 * The podcast for last week's episode ("The Howling Mines") is now available on the Critical Role Podcast where all fine podcasts are available for download on the Internet.
 * It has been announced that at Emerald City Comic Con, the Critical Role comic will have a limited release (only 1,000 copies) of the physical paper copy of "Vox Machina: Origins #1". Travis displays one such copy, which the cast geeks out over.  Sam urges Travis not to take the comic out of it's plastic sleeve because then it will no longer be "mint" condition.  Travis insists that his hands will make it worth more.  Taliesin tells them that the coolest part is the back.  Travis flips it over to reveal Laura, advertising the Slayer's Cake apron.
 * Travis and Laura will be at Emerald City Comic Con too, so after you pick up your copy, you can tell Laura how much you liked her character.
 * "Vox Machina: Origins #5" will be released on digital platforms on March 7, 2018. So those who want to get to the next chapter of this six-issue arc without having to wait for the print edition (Travis does) can download it.
 * This campaign continues to push our amazing friends at 826LA. They are an amazing charity group that helps take underprivileged children and young teens, and give them a chance to learn in-depth creative writing.  They do wonderful work, so check it out if you have the opportunity.  You can give financially or with your time to volunteer and be part of the program.
 * Sam has one more thing: Carol is a Critter and awesome fantasy writer. She has been watching the new campaign, but she's feeling a little under the weather, so Sam wanted to wish her a speedy recovery.

Previously on Critical Role
"Last we left off: The group of adventurers, in seeking where a war band of Gnolls (which had attacked the city of Alfield they were passing through on their way to Zadash), began to track them, as to where they had retreated with a number of bodies - both dead and living - of the civilians of the town they had taken with them.

"You eventually tracked them to what seemed to be an abandoned mine, a number of miles away from the city, to the northeast. You entered...narrowly missed a trap or two, managed to recover a couple of interesting items, delved onto the left side during the first divide of pathways, and came upon what appeared to be some sort of a small ritual with a number of Gnolls and some humanoid figure wearing bits of Gnoll as almost like an armor or a cloak.

"After he had left along with the previously armored Gnoll that you had battled during the incursion at Alfield, you tore into a number of hyenas and the Gnolls that remained within the chamber, and upon defeating them, took a moment to take a breath: kind of get your bearings...before hearing a muffled *BOOM!* in the distance, what seemed to be some sort of low vocalization, some cackling, and then eventually the scream of a woman saying, 'No, my baby!', and you began to run and give chase..."

Part I
The party followed the tunnel downwards, towards the woman's voice they had heard. They eventually found a chamber containing hyenas and gnolls carrying a small human child. A nearby rumbling made the group pause before Nott, Fjord, Jester, and Molly initiated an ambush. Nott attempted to remove the child from danger; however, the hyena attacked him and knocked him unconscious. Jester was able to stabilize him with her healer's kit.

When the fight was over, Jester tried to feed the unconscious child a donut, to Shakäste's bewilderment.

After a decently long fight, Nott and Jester took out the Pack Lord together, declaring that they'd "cracked the case."

Player Characters

 * Beauregard
 * Fjord
 * Frumpkin (absent, mentioned)
 * Jester
 * Nott
 * Shakäste (guest)
 * Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna (guest)
 * Mollymauk Tealeaf
 * Caleb Widogast
 * Yasha (absent)

New

 * Jules
 * Petrov

Returning

 * Winter's Crest
 * Bryce Feelid
 * Herma
 * "Gnoll Washington" (the armored gnoll pack leader)
 * unnamed priest to Yeenoghu

Mentioned

 * Thadeus Candleglow

Quotations

 * Matt: "The shaft curves to the right..."
 * Travis: "It's usually to the left, but whatever..."
 * Sam: "Not from her perspective."
 * Sam: "No, no! You can't have a better accent than all of us!"
 * Marisha: "I'm in love...what?" (after Khary describes Shakäste's appearance)
 * Laura: "I can't either!"
 * Shakäste: "I tend to look over the people who happen to be around here."
 * Laura: "You couldn't have rolled that for me?!?" (when Matt rolled a successful Wisdom saving throw against Jester's Toll the Dead, but rolled a failed Dexterity saving throw against Shakäste's Sacred Flame)
 * Shakäste: "I would like to materialize the all-inspiring sass of Estelle Getty..." (Shakäste summoning his Spiritual Weapon)
 * Shakäste: "This is what your problem is: maybe next time you'll eat something less human-like, baby."

Trivia

 * Khary Payton's first roll of the episode was a natural one.
 * Shakäste achieved the "How do you want to do this?" against the manticore during the boss fight.