Zemnian Nights

is the eleventh episode of the second campaign of Critical Role. The Mighty Nein finally make it into the Tri-Spire, exploring the upper echelon of Zadash and investigating the Knights of Requital’s claims of corruption within the government...

Announcements

 * There are 2 sponsors
 * Pacific Rim: Uprising release will be on March 23rd
 * D&D Beyond returning sponsor. Sam had a skit prepared with Ashley but Ashley is not here so Sam does only his part.
 * Selena Ruth, director of photography and dear friend of the Critical Role cast, is moving on to better pastures.
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 * Critical Recap is out. If you need a refresher of the first 10 episodes of the second campaign you can watch Critical Recap on YouTube, hosted by Dani Carr. She originated the term "Is it Thursday yet?"
 * Talks Machina is every Tuesday evening, 7PM Pacific. Hosted by Branredabafurser. He talks about the last episode of Critical Role.
 * Podcast of last week's episode is now available for download where all fine podcasts are downloadable.
 * Wondercon is this weekend in Anaheim. They will all be there at 11:30AM Sunday for a Critical Role panel in the Arena, same area as last year. Marisha is on Saturday at the Sagas of Sundry panel, in room 300B, at 2PM. After that is the Women in Pop Culture panel. Before all that, Taliesin is going to be talking about comic books in that same room at the Wednesday Club.
 * C2E2 convention is comming up in a few weeks in Chicago. They are going to be there for Saturday and Sunday, that’s April 7th and 8th. You can buy tickets at c2e2.com. They have signings, panels and fun stuff.
 * Issue five of Vox Machina Origins, the comic book, is still out.
 * Laura's merch update. The CR shirts that everybody loved, our throwback shirts, sold out the first night. But they are accepting backorders right now.
 * Their fantastic charity, 826, and 826LA, and all the other 826 chapters out there, they do fantastic work with underprivileged kids and teens in creative writing and have great classes and tutoring programs. If you have the opportunity to donate either some money or your time, if you want to volunteer as well, highly recommend it. Please look into it.
 * Matthew will be at Otafest in Calgary, up in Canada, May 18th to the 20th, and A-Kon in Texas June 7th through 10th.

Previously on Critical Role
Last we left off, The Mighty Nein, the intrepid adventurers, had completed their task they had achieved from the King's Hall taskboard to eliminate this spider scourge that had seemingly clogged up a portion of the sewers, discovered a subtle passage into the more upper class elements of the city, managed to extract some information from an individual they had saved from the webbing there, got [their] reward for it, had a conversation with Ulog of the Knights of Requital, who had discussed interest in possibly bringing [them] in for some endeavor.

''[They] had also, as the evening progressed, finished [their] night checking out the Evening Nip, a tavern that seemed extremely shady. Having some piss-poor ale, [they] had just exited the exterior of the tavern's location, out into the midnight evening air of Zadash, still a bit bruised and beaten from the battle earlier in the day, but eager to continue with what [their] next endeavor is.''

Part I


The group settles in for the night at the Leaky Tap as a thunderstorm comes upon the city. When they wake the next morning, The Mighty Nein find that the storm has stayed through the night, but Yasha has not.

During the day, Beau orders a new poncho-like cloak from a tailor while Fjord, Nott, and Molly visit Pumat Sol. After inquiring about custom items, Nott asks Pumat Sol how he's able to be split into multiple copies of himself. Pumat explains that he's an annex of the Cerberus Assembly. He provides the assembly with enchanted objects and they provide him with the copies.

Meanwhile, Jester, Beau, and Caleb enter the Tri-Spire and stop by the bakery before heading to the Chastity's Nook. Caleb asks the shop owner, Iva Deshin, if the shop has any historical romances. She offers a banned book, Courting of the Crick, but the steep price leads Caleb to decline. He instead buys a book titled Shallow Breaths. After harassing a customer, Jester buys Tusk Love and surreptitiously buys the banned book.

Jester, Beau, and Caleb head to the Pillow Trove to return Jester's key. They go up to Jester's room to check out the accommodations. Jester gives the banned book to Caleb as a gift, but he refuses to accept it. He instead tells Beau that she may have it.

Both groups head back to the Leaky Tap for a midday rest in preparation for the meeting at night in the cellar. Fjord and Beau decide to case the joint and find an external cellar entrance, which Nott is able to unlock, leading to a different cellar from the one they visited before. This cellar contains a couple of jugs of older ale, a few odd copper pieces—and a skeleton with metal bracelets on its wrists. Unable to discern how old the skeleton might be beyond "very" or indeed how it died, they cover their tracks minimally and return to the inn. They discuss briefly how to keep watch during the upcoming meeting, and decide that Nott will stay above ground and use Message to alert them if trouble ensues.

Break

 * Nerdist Pacific Rim: Uprising japanese commercial
 * How To Play: Pacific Rim: Extinction
 * The Wednesday Club: 5-Minute One-Shot: "You're transported to a fantasy realm and you will have to fill the following roles with existing superheroes to bring with you (fighter, tank, cleric, mage, and rogue). What's your team?"

Part II
Fjord, Beau, and Caleb go to the cellar for the midnight meeting while Jester, Molly, and a disguised Nott keep watch. At the rebel group's meeting, Ulog speaks of political intrigue. He asks The Mighty Nein to steal Lord Sutan's seal and a sample of his handwriting. Ulog and his group plans to forge a letter from Sutan speaking of an assassination. Meanwhile, The Mighty Nein would then need to sneak into the High Richter's living space and trash it, staging it as an attempted assassination. The letter coupled with the ransacked home would hopefully sow discord between the High Richter and Lord Sutan, making it easy to oust one or the other.

Sensing the holes in the plan, Fjord, Beau, and Caleb suggest that they use the letters to frame the High Richter as the mastermind behind the rebel group and bring the letters to the attention of the Lawmaster. Fjord asks for the rest of the night to talk over the plan with The Mighty Nein. Both groups agree to meet the next afternoon at the Song and Supper Inn. Nott follows two of the rebels home and attempts to eavesdrop on their conversation but cannot hear anything helpful: Caleb has Frumpkin follow her but they can't make out anything either. Before going to bed, The Mighty Nein agree to research the rebel group a bit more before helping them out. Caleb visits the girls and asks Beau for The Courting of the Crick before going to his room for the night. Fjord, with the help of Molly, sets up a trap for Nott to figure out her true purpose in rifling through Fjord's belongings. Nott falls for the trap easily. Molly quickly charms Nott, compelling her to tell the truth: she wants Fjord's letter from the Soltryce Academy to give to Caleb. Nott wants Caleb to become more powerful so that he may protect her and change her appearance. Fjord expresses his wish that Nott will eventually come to trust the group, not just Caleb.

The next day, The Mighty Nein disguise themselves and go to the High Richter's home. They manage to deceive her into thinking that they are aristocrats with a grievance against the Baumbachs and to take up their case as a favor. While bowing goodbye, Molly intentionally spills his water skein. The High Richter expresses disgust for Molly's manners and tieflings in general, showing her true character.

The rebel group offers The Mighty Nein around 700 gold to complete the job. Despite Caleb's strong reservations, they accept the job and begin planning.

The Mighty Nein

 * Beauregard
 * Fjord
 * Frumpkin
 * Jester Lavorre
 * Nott
 * Yasha Nydoorin
 * Mollymauk Tealeaf
 * Caleb Widogast

New

 * Iva Deshin
 * Madam Luenna
 * Horris Thrym
 * Dayana Prucine

Returning

 * Kara
 * Pumat Sol
 * Dolan Thrym
 * Ulog

Mentioned

 * Themond

Quotations
Jester: (reading Tusk Love) Nothing, Oskar. Don’t worry about it.
 * Fjord: What you reading there, Jester?

Trivia

 * Sam's giant flask bears a message saying "SORRY LAURA, I ATE INDIAN FOR LUNCH" in this episode.
 * The term “Crick” is short for "cricket" because supposedly when the Kryn armies charge into battle, the holes and tubes designed into their armor sounds like a flock of crickets rushing into battle.