A Show of Scrutiny

is the second episode of the first chapter of the second campaign for Critical Role.

Previously on Critical Role
''Last we left off, our slowly gathering band of adventurers had begun to have their stories intertwine in the city of Trostenwold in the southern reaches of Western Wynandir on the continent of Wildemount. ''

''Here we had Nott & Caleb, who had been traveling southward, coming and meeting, in the center of the tavern in the Nestled Nook Inn, with Jester, Beauregard, and Fjord. Upon which they were invited to a nearby carnival that had begun preparing for the performances that evening, in which they met Yasha and Molly. ''

After swapping swapping some stories, earning and losing some gold, ''they began to gather on the outskirts of the Usterloch, the lake right on the eastern edge of Trostenwold, for the opening performance of the Fletchling and Moondrop Traveling Carnival of Curiosities. Upon entering the tent, they saw a number of performances. ''

''However, during a musical performance by a young Dwarven girl, who's voice was [a] magical, enchanting experience, a member of the audience rose and began to transform into a terrible undead creature that began to lash out killing another member of the audience, who came one of these creatures. [The party], grabbing [their] weapons from Yasha, who had been keeping them stashed away, leaped into the fray, slaughtered both of these terrible beasts just in time for the Crown's Guard to rush in and ask what the h*ll happened. ''

After information was gathered of who was immediately available and responsible for the carnival, Gustav, Bo the Breaker, and Molly were marked to be arrested.

One of the guards was escorted outside of the tent by Yasha, who was going to show him where this young Dwarven girl was currently resting, and upon being led astray, she ran away to the distant hills and vanished.

Under Scrutiny
After Yasha's escape, the guard she tricked rushes into the carnival tent and tells the watch master what has happened. The watch master reprimands the guard and sends him with several others to investigate. The watch master then orders the remaining guard to shackle the remaining members of the troupe. The watch master tells the group they are not to leave Trostenwold until the investigation is complete. Caleb tries to vouch for Molly but the watch master won't hear of it. The watch master offers to take them to the Stockade to which they decline.

Caleb sends Frumpkin to scout ahead as Fjord, Jester, Nott, and Caleb all follow the Crown's guard back to the Stockade. Beauregard circles back to try and find Toya, the dwarven singer from the carnival's show. Caleb looks through Frumpkin's eyes while Nott leads him ahead. As Beauregard sneaks behind the tent she see the guard pulling the rest of the performers into a group. Beau sees Toya being led out with the devil toad, Kylre.

Beau makes a distraction by hitting a horse on the buttocks. Beau, using her distraction, moves toward the girl and the devil toad. One of the guards out of the corner of his eye sees Beau move up behind the devil toad and Toya. While trying to usher the girl and the beast away the guards take Beau into their custody and plan to bring her to the Stockade.

Under Arrest
Beau tries and fails to disable the guards and realizes she is in fairly heavy bonds. Beau and the members of the carnival are taken to the stockade, an unaesthetic but defensible building. The group are lead in toward an office where Norda, the Law Master, is sending a piece of parchment by foot messenger. The watch master brings forth the arrested individuals and explains to the law keeper what has occurred and why they were arrested. The law master introduces herself and accuses the carnival of killing two Trostenwold citizens. Jester corrects her by saying that the beasts who slayed the civilians were not part of the show.

Gustav Fletching, the carnival master, pleas with the law master, claiming that he was the only one who should be held responsible. Bo tries to protest but is put down by Gustav. Molly corroborates Gustav's story flawlessly. The master sends both Bo and Gustav to the cells below the building. The law master asks the party where they are staying and Jester is very excited to be a "group you guys." The law master dismisses them and has the guard escort them to the street.

Caleb calls back Frumpkin and pulls Nott toward the inn. Molly makes sure the group knows that he owes them nothing. Jester asks about Toya to which Molly responds by saying that "it is just a show". Fjord asks about Kylre. Beau is pulled up to the stockade and pleads for help as she passes the other group. Molly "stands guard" outside of the stockade as the rest of the group go to help Beau. Beau is taken straight past the office and down to the basement. The group is stopped by a guard and are told to exit after they see Beau off to her cell.

Jester and Beau talk about keeping a low profile before going down to the basement. The smell is quite offensive and Jester remarks that "it smells like Caleb down here." Beau is put into her cell and they explain why she isn't allowed to see the law master. Beau tries to explain her escape attempt by calling it a spasm. The guards don't buy it and carry her off to her cell. The jailer tells the group to come back in the morning.

The group negotiates a conversation between Beau and the law master. Fjord defends Beau by saying she was reacting to the situation because something similar had happened to her little sister. Jester misunderstands and thinks that Fjord is trying to say that Toya is Beau's adopted sister. Beau begins to play along not fully understanding. The law master tells Beau that her "sister" is under investigation. Beau tries to say she is willing to help by showing her wounds from the battle. This worries the law master about whether she is infected. The jail guard states that the injury is just bludgeoning. In frustration of the late hour, Norda puts the group at the jail under house arrest at the Nestled Nook Inn until the investigation is over.

Back at the Inn
The group returns to the Nestled Nook Inn, and rest of the group ask Molly if he had witnessed another incident in his travels with the carnival like the monster's transformation. Molly says that in thousands of shows nothing like it had happened. They all arrive at the Inn and start looking for Nott & Caleb.

Caleb & Nott have meanwhile returned to their room, and are discussing the current situation. Caleb had come to this town in hopes of finding more people to join up with, but he does not trust the rest of the group. Nott suggests using the group to try and distract the town until they can escape and move on. They decide to continue to act as part of the group until they are able to make a plan.

The two groups meet up and begin getting to know each other a bit, over some drinks. Fjord asks what Caleb & Nott were doing in the town, to which Caleb says that they were trying to relax from their travels and resupply. Jester shows a "etching" she made in the table and the rest of the group discuss where they are from. Nott reveals that her and Nott have been having a bit of bad luck, because she has sticky fingers and "loves trinkets". She had collections of "sticks" and "rocks", which were actually canes and rings/necklaces, that were taken when they were imprisoned recently. Nott tries to show her pick-pocketing skills but ends up failing horribly.

Caleb shows off his transmutation magic by having Nott use a pot that allows Nott to turn a copper into a silver. Nott tries to sell the pot for 5 gold, but ends up selling it for 1 gold. After this, Nott asks Beau how she knows how to speak Halfling. Beau says that where she grew up, Kamorda, has a very large number of Halflings that dealt with her parents' winery. She was taught the language to make sure she could keep the books for her parents. Fjord asks for a bigger display of Caleb's power, but Jester misinterprets and use thaumaturgy to open all the windows in the Inn. Caleb then has Nott stand on the table and begins creating globs of light and the globs form into Nott's shape and combine with her turning Nott into the "Gob Light".

Fjord reveals that most of his power has been a recent occurrence for him, but when Beau asks about his what happened he side stepped the question. He states that Jester and him were from Port Damali, and had met Beau only a few days ago. Fjord had seen Jester's magic before they had started traveling. Caleb also offers during this conversation to help Fjord with learning to use his powers.

Beau asks for somebody to check her wounds, and Jester begins poking at it with the blunt end of a fork, and sees puss coming out but it was an illusion by the Traveler, her deity. At this point everyone decides to go to bed, and Jester makes some caricature drawings of certain things she saw over the day.

Leading an Investigation
In the morning, Fjord sees Molly praying over his swords, and asks what he is doing to which Molly creates a complicated lie that Fjord sees through easily. Everyone decides to try and escape the Inn to investigate what happened. After realizing that Caleb & Nott are not under house arrest, the rest of the group uses disguise kits and illusions to slip past the guards. One group at a time, they slip past the guard in front of the tavern and begin their investigation.

The group wonders who the old man may have been. Molly suggests that they go to the local market to find out any rumors about him. They find out that his name was Enon Brinjay, a retired man in his 80s who helped at the docks. Enon frequented a pub called The Olde Mudhole. Fjord notes that this is the second time that their group had dealt with the Usterloch. Fjord, Jester, & Beau had fought a giant water snake that was terrorizing the townsfolk. Jester had almost died during this fight.

The group goes to The Olde Mudhole and meet Vosna the bartender. Over drinks they discuss the fate of Enon; the bartender is saddened by the death, but is more about the fact that he lost a patron. He notes that Enon came in the day before, but he was in good health. He also noted that he did a bit of work at the docks. The group find very little else at the pub.

Caleb notes the book that Vosna is reading, a Zemnian romance called The Rosed Embrace, and starts a conversation about the author. Caleb fakes having read one of the authors earlier works. He then asks about any places to pick up a book, and finds out about a place called Burnished Biblos run by a man named Oglin.

Molly sits down with a solitaire player in the bar, and tries to start a game with him, the man refuses because he "don't play with devils". Molly then asks about Enon and the solitaire player says that Enon always had his head in the clouds and that the solitaire player warned him not to go. The man seems angry at the carnival and at Molly.

Beau begins to point out how the Crown's Guard could have set up the whole attack to make the carnival a patsy for something sinister. The group agrees that could be an option, but decide it will be easier to continue looking at the docks for more information in the Dock Ward.

Break

 * Brian Foster reveals the code word to be "Carnival"
 * Painter's Guild is returning for a second season to alpha on January 8th
 * Thrashtopia: Adulting in the Apocolypse - Break Ups
 * Chronicles of Exandria Vol 1 Advertisement
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 * Winner is AvelineRayne

Part II
The Loch Ward

The investigation picks up with the group arriving at the docks. With only a few minutes of illusion left, Jester and Beau suggest asking Reynaldo, the fishermen, about Enon. They find him at his home skinning the giant snake that Beau killed. A bit confused about who they are, given their disguises, Reynaldo greeted the group. Beau and Fjord dropped their disguises in order to talk to him. Fjord asks if any other creatures or zombies had been seen around the docks. Reynaldo states that other then the snakes, nothing strange had been noticed. He does state that there is a couple big snakes that come to shore every so often, but other then that nothing else has bothered the docks.

Player Characters

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

New

 * Norda, Lawmaster of Trostenwold
 * Vosna, barkeep of Ye Olde Mudhole
 * Oglin Hornsblower, owner of a "hoarder's shop"
 * Jonas, Guard posted outside The Nestled Nook Inn
 * Lucas, Guard posted outside The Nested Nook Inn

Returning

 * Enon Brinjay, the old human who became a zombie
 * Gustav Fletching
 * Bo "the Breaker"
 * Desmond Moondrop
 * Mona
 * Yuli
 * Orna the Fire Fairy
 * Kylre the Devil Toad
 * Toya the Vivid Voice

Quotations
Nott: He has a magical spell that alerts you when someone tries to break in your room! Caleb: That is correct. Mollymauk: Well that's convenient. Caleb: I will take a moment to do that, and it will let me know. Nott: The best part is, it doesn't alert him when I sneak in or out! Caleb: [quietly] That you know of... Nott: Wait... what?
 * Caleb: I have some magic for that.

Trivia

 * When Nott says she "loves trinkets," it is likely a meta reference to Vox Machina's pet bear, named Trinket, in the previous campaign. A running gag in the first campaign was Sam Riegel's general contempt for Trinket, often making suggestions to leave him behind or, more drastically, put him into situations that would potentially lead to him getting him killed.