The Mines of the Many

is the ninety-eighth episode of the first campaign of Critical Role. Vox Machina inquires with The Myriad in order to alleviate the Darringtons of their debt. But is the light at the end of the tunnel a sign of hope... or imminent death?

Announcements

 * Injustice 2 came out recently, featuring Taliesin as Barry Allen, Liam as Eobard Thawne, Laura as Supergirl, Travis as Jay Garrick, and Matt as Deadshot.
 * MomoCon is May 25-28. Taliesin, Marisha, Matt, and Brian W. Foster will be there for a live Talks Machina panel.
 * Matt will be at A-Kon, June 8-11.
 * Talks Machina is live on Tuesdays, 7 PM Pacific, on Twitch and Alpha. Submit gif and/or fan art of the week to submit@talksmachina.com.
 * Laura plays Dr. Eva Tyson in Farpoint, which just came out on PlayStation Virtual Reality.
 * Due to absences, instead of a regular episode next week, there will be a non-canon, high-level Battle Royale.
 * Jon Heder will be appearing as a guest player on June 1.

Previously on Critical Role
"Vox Machina—upon working on their bakery, the Slayer's Cake, in Whitestone—made a possible new hire who turned out to be a bounty hunter: a drow bounty hunter named K'ryyn who was sent here to acquire Taryon Darrington and bring him back home to his city of Deastok in Wildemount.

"[Vox Machina], through a series of high-level magic scrying and transportation, managed to cut off this specific bounty hunter on the outskirts of the city and in doing so made an agreement to not slay her where she stood and instead possibly make a transaction down the road.

"[They] then made [their] way into the city of Deastok, to the Darrington Estate, and were led up into the study of Howaardt Darrington, father of Taryon. [They] all discussed the reasons of why [Tary] was brought back, the current financial state of the family, and the intent to resolve and remedy long-standing sins of the father through '[Taryon] standing up and doing [his] family duty', from [Howaardt's] perspective.

"We left off as [the party] had just finished that conversation, exited the study, and were about to go about [their] business."

At the Darrington Estate
Taryon leaves the rest of the party in a downstairs room while he goes to talk to his sister, Maryanne. She confirms everything his father has told him, insisting that, as she claims more responsibility over the family business, she will not make the same mistakes that he made. Tary then rejoins his friends downstairs. He confesses that he does feel some duty to his family, though the proposed arranged marriage is at best a plan B.

Tary's mother, Mariya, catches them as they prepare to leave the house. After being introduced to Vox Machina, she asks for a moment alone with her son. She confides to him that she has taken vicarious joy in seeing him escape his duties for the past year. They discuss their favorite books from Tary's library (Mariya has been reading up), and then say good night.

Contacting the Myriad
Vox Machina make their way to the Grumpy Lily, arriving just after dusk. Vex'ahlia asks to speak to "the Many," while Vax'ildan writes "discuss" in Thieves' Cant on the table. At that, the barkeep takes them downstairs. Keyleth gives an Inspiring Leader speech as they walk.

At the bottom of the stairs, they emerge into a much bigger, more lively underground tavern. They find seats and order drinks. Tary purchases a drink "for Korshad, courtesy of Taryon Darrington," which they see delivered to a man across the room. They wait for a while for Korshad to acknowledge them, ordering a new round of drinks. Grog tries to flirt with one of the band members, a goliath woman. Vex finally bribes Wence, the barkeep, to ask Korshad for a moment of his time.

Korshad joins their table. They discuss the Darrington family's debt, which Korshad plans to collect in six months' time. A deal is struck; the Darringtons will be allowed to keep, not all of their lands, but at least their mansion itself and enough wealth to live on, in return for a favor from Vox Machina. The favor will be to clear a platinum mine owned by the Myriad, which has been taken over by some ancient, hostile entity.

The Platinum Mines of Herethis
Vox Machina check in with K'ryyn, the bounty hunter, to find out how they can contact her later. That done, Keyleth casts Wind Walk. They make their way the 120 miles or so to the Herethis Forest, where the platinum mine is located. Vax finds some dead bodies at the mouth of the mine, which Pike and Vex come to investigate.

Pike casts Speak with Dead on one of the bodies. It tells her of "skittering beasts" that were awakened by "the smaller one," a baby-like creature whose scream brought down the mine. Keyleth recognizes the skittering beasts, by their description, as ankhegs. Using Commune with Nature, she verifies that there is an extraplanar influence at work, something ancient that was recently disturbed, at the bottom of the mine. She also detects close to a hundred of the ankhegs nearby.

The party take a Heroes' Feast before they go to sleep in the woods nearby.

Symphior, the Withered Planetar
In the morning, Keyleth gives another speech and Tary hands out items in preparation for the fight. Keyleth uses her staff to conjure an air elemental. Thus prepared, they fly down the center of the mine shaft.

At the bottom of the shaft, they find an ancient stone platform carved with Celestial runes that speak of a gestating guardian called Symphior. The guardian appears just then, a corrupted-looking cherub. It releases a horrible scream and they leap into combat.

The party tear into the cherub creature while it summons lava from the ground beneath them, traps Keyleth and Grog in the earth, and attempts to freeze Vax in a casing of ice. As it takes heavy damage, the creature unleashes a burst of radiant energy from its chest, doing a huge amount of damage to everyone close by. It tries to flee out the top of the mine shaft, but Vex shoots it dead before it can escape.

As ankhegs begin climbing down the walls toward them, the party quickly fly back up the center of the mine shaft. They take a few hits of ankheg venom as they go, but emerge relatively safely out the top of the mine. Tary, Pike, and Keyleth drop a few damage spells on the mouth of the mine to keep the ankhegs inside.

Vox Machina

 * Taryon Darrington
 * Doty 2.0 (absent; not mentioned)
 * Keyleth
 * Percival de Rolo
 * Grog Strongjaw
 * Pike Trickfoot
 * Trinket
 * Vax'ildan
 * Vex'ahlia

New

 * Camilla
 * Korshad
 * Mariya Darrington
 * Maryanne Darrington
 * Symphior
 * Wence

Returning

 * Bertholt
 * K'ryyn

Mentioned

 * Crysa-Thul
 * Howaardt Darrington
 * Dr. Dranzel
 * Scanlan Shorthalt
 * Lydia Truscan

Trivia

 * The character of Symphior was created as a collaboration between Matthew Mercer and the chat room during.
 * On Twitch, this episode was named "Sins of the Father".