The Family Business

is the ninth episode of the fourth chapter of Critical Role. Vox Machina returns to where much of the group's history began: Westruun. But all is not well! Not only has the Chroma Conclave decimated the area, but another strangely familiar threat has taken hold of the city, as well...

Pre-Show
The following pre-show promotional videos were shown on the Twitch stream, but they are not included on the final YouTube VoD:
 * International Tabletop Day promotional video:
 * This video was played multiple times, and it featured tabletop gaming scenes with cosplay at Game Häus in Glendale, CA.
 * ITTD is 2016-04-30.
 * Find participating locations near you at TableTopDay.com.
 * Preferred Partner locations will also get some variety of limited ITTD game pieces, which are themed after Geek & Sundry's most memorable moments, for:
 * International Tabletop Day call for store partners (presented by Ivan Van Norman):
 * This video was played multiple times.
 * Submit your one-minute or less video of you saying your name (or your store's name), talking about board games, reminiscing about games, or playing games all across the world.
 * Deliver to Geek & Sundry in a high-resolution file (720p or higher) in a .MOV or .MP4 format.
 * Submit either through WeTransfer or Dropbox to [mailto:preferredpartner@geekandsundry.com preferredpartner@geekandsundry.com].
 * Submit by the deadline of 2016-04-15.

Announcements

 * Sam Riegel is running late.
 * Liam O'Brien is joining via Skype from his family home.
 * Sam arrived.
 * Matthew Mercer and Marisha Ray will be guests at Tekko in Pittsburgh on the weekend of 2016 April 8th–10th.
 * Tomorrow, 2016-04-01, is the last day to pre-order the Gilmore's Glorious Goods T-shirts from the Geek and Sundry webstore.
 * Two new shirts are available for pre-order from the Geek and Sundry webstore. One is the "Dagger Dagger Dagger" design, and the other is the "Strongjaw Ale" design, both of which were created by Kennef Riggle. They will be available for one week.
 * Critical Role is trying to find vendors that offer a greater range of T-shirt sizes.
 * Sam Riegel voice directed a cartoon called Home, based on the movie Home, and the studio just announced it today.
 * This is the 47th episode—three episodes away from the 50th episode.
 * The 50th will be a regular episode, depending on where the story is at the time.
 * There should be a couple surprises.
 * There will be a big Critmas event on the 50th episode, after which the on-stream Critmas tradition will go on hiatus until the holidays.
 * Wyrmwood Gaming partners with Critical Role, offering free shipping with the "critrole" discount code.
 * Marisha Ray's last episode hosting Signal Boost will be Tuesday (2016-04-05), before the host rotation begins. She will continue producing the series.
 * Liam O'Brien is currently in the kitchen of the house in which he grew up—the same room where he played Dungeons & Dragons for the first time as a child, now playing it as a professional actor.

Previously on Critical Role
"Vox Machina, having to traverse the world in search of artifacts known as the Vestiges of the Divergence—ancient items of power used in massive-scale warfare in ancient moments of history—had acquired one from a sunken temple to the Champion of the Raven Queen, taking the life—thankfully not permanently—of Vex'ahlia. The party then retrieved their first artifact and then made their way towards the Pyrah tribe of the Ashari druids, the fire guardians of the gate to the Elemental Plane of Fire, which apparently Thordak, the Cinder King—the great red dragon that helms the Chroma Conclave that has torn through all of the civilization of Tal'Dorei—emerged from.

"The party went there, found a surviving faction of the Pyrah tribe including Cerkonos, their headmaster, as well as a few members of Keyleth's tribe, the Air Ashari, and her father. They went towards the remnants of the Cindergrove, ran into an... ally, a strange blue-scaled dragonborn by the name of Gern Blanston, master of necromancy and candle-making, and combining the two for interesting effect. They fought their way through the Cindergrove, tearing through elementals, encasing ifrits in hamster balls and holding them aloft for extended periods of time, and then managed to seal the gate with the help of the druidic tribes there, Gern, and the intrepid adventurers known as Vox Machina. After which, they went to spend the evening there on the mountainside, to rest before continuing their journey to wherever that next step may be."

Part I
Having successfully closed the portal to the elemental plane of fire, Vox Machina decided to take a rest before venturing on to the next Vestige of Divergence. Scanlan, for the benefit of both Vox Machina and the surviving Fire Ashari, cast Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Mansion. Through a spectral doorway, everyone in the group was treated to a beautiful mansion with hundreds of servants and any food or drink they could want.

Vex'ahlia used this time to start practicing with the Broom of Flying stolen from their blue drangonborn friend, Gern Blanston. Vex first tried to riding the broom in the mansion's training room, with no success. She next tried to get Scanlan's help. Sitting on the black satin sheets of Scanlan's bed, with a quick investigation they discovered the activating phrase: "candlestick" in Draconic. Vex (and Laura Bailey) was overjoyed at having re-gained the ability to fly.

Later that night, while the household was sleeping, three of the party members had nightime visitors. The first was Keyleth, who was visited by the leader of the Fire Ashari, Headmaster Cerkonos. During their talk, Headmaster Cerkonos revealed that it was the Green Dragon Raishan who had opened the portal to the fire plane and had released Thordak from his prison. Raishan had managed this by disguising herself as a human female orphan, adopted out of generosity by the Fire Ashari. As a final warning, Cerkonos warned Keyleth not to trust all of their allies going forward.

The next nighttime visitor was to Vax'ildan, in a strange dream. Vax dreamed that he was faced with a giant golden web, each strand seeming to pulse with life. While examining this web, a cold hand reached out and plucked one. Turning around, Vax saw the Raven Queen holding the plucked golden strand representing Vax's life. The Raven Queen cryptically offered Vax, her new champion, a choice to be a great leader and tyrant or to choose to remain a nobody. Before Vax provided a response, he was dropped into darkness and the dream ended.

The last member of Vox Machina to get a strange dream was Grog. Asleep on the sandpit of the training room, Grog dreamed of being in an arena. Blinded by the sun, but wielding Craven Edge, Grog cut down all the foes before him in the arena. Once his vision cleared, Grog saw that he had actually cut down women, children, innocent people, and his friend Pike. While in the dream Grog wished to cry out in horror, but he could only laugh. The dream ended with Grog being approached by the members of the Herd of Storms, led by Kevdak, who bowed before Grog.

The next morning, the team re-grouped and had a chance to discuss Vex's new broom and their next plan of action. As they were still in the mansion, Scanlan treated his friends to a breakfast of chicken, waffles, and mimosas.

Vox Machina

 * Keyleth
 * Percival de Rolo
 * Scanlan Shorthalt
 * Grog Strongjaw
 * Pike Trickfoot (absent)
 * Trinket
 * Vax'ildan
 * Vex'ahlia

New

 * Horace: A goliath from Grog's herd, younger and smaller than Grog. Horace's name was given by Kevdak in ridicule. Grog killed Horace with Craven Edge.
 * Kohl: Accompanies Horace in patrolling the fields.
 * Reginald ("Reggie"): A farmer whose daughter was abducted by a group of half-orcs, goliaths, and others. Horace took pleasure in torturing Reginald occasionally, and referred to him as "Reggie".
 * Zanror: Grog's cousin; Kevdak's son. Mentioned only.

Returning

 * Margrave Atrix: Mentioned only. "Margrave" is a position and title, and Atrix is the current Margrave.
 * Cerkonos: His right arm, destroyed in Thordak's escape from the Elemental Plane of Fire, is in the process of regrowing now.
 * Kevdak: Grog's uncle. According to Horace, Kevdak swore fealty to Umbrasyl. Mentioned only.
 * Abjurist Noja: Mentioned only.
 * Wilhand Trickfoot: Mentioned only.

Trivia

 * This episode marks the first time Scanlan casts Mordenkainen’s Magnificent Mansion.

Quotations

 * Percy, to Scanlan: "I think your penis may have more names than I do. I'm kind of horrified."
 * Percy, to Scanlan: "I think your penis may have more names than I do. I'm kind of horrified."
 * Percy, to Scanlan: "I think your penis may have more names than I do. I'm kind of horrified."