Bats Out of Hell

is the ninth episode of the seventh chapter of Critical Role.

Pre-Show

 * The updated Critical Role fan art appreciation gallery was shown.

Announcements

 * The Critical Role survey ends April 18th. It can be taken at http://www.geekandsundry.com/CRsurvey
 * There are thirty sets of Critical Role dice left in the store, but there will be more available soon.
 * The next Wednesday Club episode will be about how to read comics, targeted towards those who have somehow never read a comic before. Taliesin will not be in that episode.
 * The dice are all sold out now.
 * Matt and Taliesin will be on Eric's TBD RPG tomorrow at noon Pacific time for the Doctor Who RPG. Matt plays an Ood named Meatstick and Taliesin will be using his old man voice. Darin De Paul might also be in that episode.
 * There is a new Signal Boost episode starring Marisha which will be shown during the break.
 * Matt will be at Sakura-Con from April 14-16 in Seattle. He'll be doing some panels, signings, and other fun stuff.
 * Will Friedle will be at the Wales Comic Con on April 8-9.
 * Matt, Taliesin, and Marisha will be guests at MomoCon from May 25-28 in Atlanta, Georgia.
 * Talks Machina is every Tuesday at 7pm Pacific time. Next week they'll be talking about this episode and the previous one.
 * The Talks Machina live panel at WonderCon had a great turnout: approximately 2800 fans attended.
 * The recorded panel will be uploaded to the Geek & Sundry YouTube account on Friday at 8pm Pacific time.
 * Guest player Noelle Stevenson had a great day today and had a good lunch.
 * Liam promotes Noelle's book Nimona. He's reading it to his kids. There's a bear in it. Lots of other animals too.

Previously on Critical Role
"Vox Machina...goes to Hell. In tying up loose ends and dealing with lingering business, [they've] decided to travel to the Nine Hells of Baator, specifically the second layer of Dis, to where the Iron City of Dis, under the rule of Dispater, to seek out the place where Hotis the rakshasa—which is now in a chain of perpetually hunting member of [their] team—[they] decided it was best to end it there as the only way to kill the entity is to destroy it on its own home plane.

"So [they] gathered [themselves], [they] transported via Keyleth onto the second layer of Hell, [they] wandered incognito as various demonic-adjacent entities, [they've] avoided a modicum of interest or other issues, [they've] made friends and signed a contract for aid with a cambion owner of some sort of a tavern in the vicinity.

"[They] met with a silly shop owner, [they] ate soul stones, and [they've] agreed to—for safe passage into the subterranean prison of Mentiri, which apparently houses Hotis as he's reforming, [they've] come to discover—[they] will go and assassinate a pit fiend named Utugash, who is the superior of the individual [ Percy ] signed the contract with, and upon his destruction and without leaking any information that could tie this individual to the assassination, be granted passage safely and unspoiled into the prison to seek out [their] quarry, slay it, and return home safely.

"As [they] snuck into the home of this pit fiend, [they] quickly discovered a dwarvish female who had endured quite some torture and was found chained to a table. [They] released her and she introduced herself as Tova. [...] [Their] new dwarven friend transformed into some sort of a lycanthrope were-bear, taking a greatsword from Grog's stash in the Bag of Holding.

"[They] gave chase over one of the guardians and keepers of the stronghold, killed it, and in doing so alerted other members of the stronghold, killed them and in doing so alerted other members of the stronghold, and Grog creeping forward down this hallway revealed a central chamber where, betwixt two pools of what appear to be molten glowing blood, and sitting upon a throne, the corpulent, grotesque, sweaty, slick pit fiend named Utugash sits there."

Part I
Utugash gives Grog a toothy grin and speaks directly into his mind: "So. What do you bring to me to pleasure?"

The pit fiend just stands there, armed draped over his axe, not feeling threatened at all by Grog.

Vax clicks his Boots of Haste and moves up to the opening in the wall. He throws three daggers at the pit fiend, hitting with all three and using Divine Smite on the first. Vax then ducks back behind the wall next to Grog.

Trinket runs up the hallway and enters the center chamber. Vex backs up next to Doty and holds her attack until she has visual on the pit fiend. Trinket attacks Utugash with his claws, but due to the attack not being magical it doesn't do as much damage as anticipated.

Taryon runs up next to Vex, pulls a patch off his Robe of Useful Things, and slaps a window onto the wall. Vex fires her two arrows through the new opening, the first being a Bramble Shot which fails to restrain Utugash but still does some damage. The pit fiend hefts his axe over his shoulder and snarls at the two individuals he sees through the new window. Vex ducks into a corner, out of view. Tary tells Doty to go back up Grog. The automaton squeezes through the hallway.

Tary and Grog see Utugash making some unknown gestures in the air with one hand.

Keyleth pushes past Tary and climbs through the window to get in range. She casts Blight on the pit fiend but he resists some of the spell damage. Keyleth turns to climb back through the window but only makes it halfway through.

Tova barrels through the window, knocking Keyleth onto the floor of the central chamber. The werebear rushes up to Utugash and strikes him twice with her claws. The first strike glances harmlessly across the pit fiend's belly but the second sinks in. Tova places a Blood Curse of Mutual Suffering on Utugash.

Grog runs in to join the bears, flanking the pit fiend. He smashes the Titanstone Knuckles together to Enlarge himself and hits Utugash twice with the Dwarven Thrower. Grog goes into a Frenzied Rage.

Percy wanders back over to the cells the party passed by earlier and takes a look inside. He sees piles of chests, boxes, and crates. The door is locked. He fires at the lock with his pistol, blasting it off. The door swings open. Percy fires twice at Utugash through the window, using the remaining charges of Cabal's Ruin to add to the damage. The gunslinger ducks behind the cell door for cover.

Utugash hits Tova with his axe, but due to the Curse of Mutual Suffering the damage he deals is inflicted on his own body as well. The pit fiend makes another gesture in the air.

Trinket smells someone else in the room. Tova, who can understand the bear in her were form, understands him saying that there are two small creatures in the room with them. The sound of grinding stone is heard. The ceiling opens up and searing hot oil spills down into the center of the room, hitting Grog, Trinket, and Tova. The pit fiend is not harmed as he is immune to fire damage.

Vax hears the creaking sound of a gate opening and turns to see a bone devil entering the hallway. The devil hits him with its claws and tail, but Vax manages to avoid some of the damage.

Utugash creates a Wall of Fire around himself, reaching nearly to the ceiling, obscuring the pit fiend from view, and engulfing Grog, Trinket, and Tova. Utugash stays in the center of the flames, content with his position in the battle.

Vax casts Vow of Enmity on the bone devil. He disengages from it and backs away, then hits the devil with a Divine Smite-charged Whisper.

Vex glances through the window; she just sees Trinket's butt sticking out of a wall of fire and Keyleth struggling to get back to her feet. She fires an arrow at where she remembers Utugash being, but the wooden shaft burns to ash upon hitting the fire. She fires the next arrow with the Blazing Bowstring in the hopes that the fires will cancel out, but misses, the arrow ricocheting off the back wall. Vex backs away from the window again.

Trinket attacks Utugash again then gets out of the fire. He backs up into a corner. Suddenly a giant spiked cage of heated metal falls from the ceiling, trapping Trinket within.

Taryon jumps through the window, accidentally landing on Keyleth. He runs into the flames and right up to Utugash. Tary throws acid onto the devil, but he manages to resist it entirely. Tary just stabs Utugash with his lance and calls for Doty to come back him up. Doty rushes into the flames but the damage is enough to make him collapse to the ground, unmoving.

Utugash sticks a hand out of the flames and makes another gesture. Grog and Tova begin noticing there a several stone circles on the walls, and as the pit fiend gestures two of them press into the wall on their own.

In the hallway, the floor swings out from under Vax and the bone devil. The rogue stabs his daggers into the wall on either side, barely avoiding falling into the molten iron below. The bone devil stays aloft with its insectoid wings. After a few moments the floor swings back into place.

Keyleth stands up and casts Tidal Wave towards the wall of fire. It hits Utugash and Tova, knocking them both prone. The flames from the Wall of Fire are extinguished...before reigniting because the spell is still active. Keyleth crawls back through the window and ducks into cover.

Tova maintains control of her were form. She stands up and uses her Crimson Rite and encase her claws in ice. She claws into the pit fiend before backing out of the fire.

Grog unleashes a flurry of blows onto the prone pit fiend, taking advantage of his new Action Surge ability to deal a massive amount of damage. He then backs out of the ring of fire.

Percy sees the bone devil targeting Vax. He comes out from behind the door and uses his Boots of Spider Climbing to take a position on the wall, casts Hex on the devil, and fires at it. The force of the bullet slams the fiend back against the wall. Percy fires two more times, the first hitting the devil in the eye but the second missing. Vax is rather nervous about the bullets whizzing past his head. Percy runs back behind the door.

There is a grinding sound above Grog as another spiked metal cage drops down on him from the ceiling. In his enlarged form it only covers his torso, but it still restricts his arm movement.

The bone devil flies over Vax and lands behind him, attacking with both claws and tail, but the half-elf dodges all three strikes thanks to the devil being disoriented from Percy's attack.

Two bearded devils come through the gate at the end of the hallway and rush into the central chamber.

Utugash stands up and looks down at Taryon. The pit fiend makes a full round of attacks against the cowering human, biting into his head, missing with his claw attack, hitting with his burning axe, and slamming into Tary with his tail. Taryon barely holds onto consciousness with the extra vitality granted from Keyleth's Inspiring Leader speech earlier that day.

Utugash just stands there within the flames, waiting for people to come to him.

Vax shoots out his wings, casts Hunter's Mark on the bone devil, and flies back down the hallway away from it. The devil takes a swing at him with its tail, but misses. Vax throws Whisper at the bone devil.

Vex hops through the window, runs up to the caged Trinket, and places the bear back within Raven's Slumber. She then retreats back through the window and hides.

Taryon strafes clockwise around Utugash and fires his Ring of the Ram at full strength towards the devil, but the blast misses completely. Tary runs up to Doty, picks up his book, puts it in his Bag of Holding, then curls up into a ball as he casts Sanctuary on himself.

Keyleth hops back through the window and casts Sunbeam. She lines up with the bearded devil and blasts them with the beam, dealing significant damage and blinding them. Keyleth turns to try and see Tary, but he is obscured by the wall of fire; only half of Doty can be seen through it. Instead the druid turns to Tova, apologizes for hitting her with the Tidal Wave earlier, and gives her a Healing Word.

Tova grabs the cage that had been trapping Trinket, lifts it over her head, and attempts to throw it at one of the bearded devils, but she fumbles it and the cage rolls across the floor and ends up blocking the opening to the hallway.

Grog tears the cage off of himself. He turns around to the nearest bearded devil and effortlessly crushes it. The body burns to ash and cinders.

Tova places another Curse of Mutual Suffering on Utugash and makes a "come at me bro" motion.

Percy reloads and fires again at the bone devil, exploding its head as it leaps for Vax. He then fires twice at the remaining bearded devil, killing it before it can rush Tova. The gunslinger then backs further away from the action.

Utugash bites into Tary's shoulder then rakes his claws across the human's stomach. Taryon falls unconscious, blood pouring from his torso and steaming across the ground. Vox Machina's dragontooth necklaces begin to pulse, signalling that one of them has fallen.

Utugash takes flight and lands on top of Tova and Keyleth, crushing and pinning them to the ground. The pit fiend takes some damage due to Tova's Curse of Mutual Suffering. Utugash attacks Keyleth with his axe. The druid casts Absorb Elements as a reaction to reduce the fire damage. The pit fiend then attacks her with his tail, scoring a critical hit and dealing massive damage. Keyleth is looking pretty rough.

With the bone devil destroyed, Vax flies into the central chamber and sees Keyleth bleeding under the pit fiend. He moves his Hunter's Mark to Utugash and attempts to stab the fiend in the chest with his daggers, but can't quite land a hit. Vax keeps his grip on Utugash.

Vex places her Hunter's Mark on the pit fiend and backs away as his tail smacks her through the window. Off balance from the tail strike, Vex's first arrow misses, but the second finds its mark. Because of her previous experience fighting Ghurrix, Vex is now familiar enough with pit fiends to see that Utugash is looking pretty hurt, although he is attempting to hide it. The ranger backs up around a corner.

Taryon continues to bleed out onto the floor, his condition worsening.

Two imps that had previously been invisible appear. They were apparently the ones who had been pressing the buttons on the walls. They both fly down towards Keyleth and attempt to sting her but fail.

Keyleth casts Shapechange and becomes a fire giant, her sudden growth pushing Tova and the imps away. Now of equal size with the pit fiend, she grabs Utugash by the throat, lifts him, and slams him into the ground.

Tova casts Blood Curse of the Marked on Utugash and tears into him with her claws. As she rips his chest open, she says "How do you like me now, asshole?" The pit fiend desperately claws back at her but soon succumbs to his wounds and falls limp.

Fire giant-Keyleth stands up and says "'Sup?" to Grog in Giant, which he eagerly responds to. Tova spits on Utugash's body then flops onto her back and reverts back to dwarven form. She asks Vox Machina if they want to get a beer with her.

The two imps still in the chamber turn invisible and attempt to flee. The Wall of Fire dissipates, revealing Taryon's bleeding unconscious form. Vax lands next to him and casts Lay on Hands to wake him up.

Keyleth manages to swat one of the imps like a mosquito, but the other flies off. Vex runs up to Percy and kisses him on the cheek, then they both start to search through the cells.

Frightened, Taryon throws his lance at the fire giant, but it just ricochets off of her. Vax quickly informs him that the fire giant is Keyleth.

Vex shouts back at them to loot the body, then goes back to checking the cells. Some are empty, some contain long-dead rotting corpses, but the first contains a fair amount of stashed gold as well as Tova's maul and armor, which they return to her.

As the final cell door it opened a lemure bursts through. Percy threatens the creature, casting Friends and telling it to "run, and owe Orthax [its] freedom". The lemure just stares in confusion until Percy fires his gun at the ground next to it, at which point it takes a reactionary swing at him. Vax perches on Keyleth's fire giant shoulder and just watches all of this. Vex fires an arrow into the lemures, causing the creature to dissolve into slush.

Searching through the rest of the cells, they just find rotting meats and various sulfurous chemicals that Percy can't quite identify at the moment. He takes five vials to examine later.

The only thing on Utugash's body is the black metal axe he wielded. Grog excitedly grabs it, but it is too large for him to use effectively. Taryon identifies it as a Black Iron Axe of Corruption, which mostly used to intimidate lesser devils and has little power on its own. Most of the properties is showed during the battle were due to it being wielded by a pit fiend. Grog drops it in the pool of blood.

Tova asks who they all are and why they are here, as Vex pops Trinket out of the necklace and casts Cure Wounds on him. Percy tells her that they had a grudge and they were here to take care of it, which Tova easily accepts.

Vax asks the dwarf what her story is. Tova came to the Hells with friends, most of whom are dead now, but two of them might still be alive and in prison. She needs to rest up and get back there to help them escape. Tova had also been imprisoned until Utugash purchased her to try and corrupt her soul.

Vex asks Tova if she knows about the Bastion of Flesh, but she's not sure; the jailers didn't give her a lot of information. With her bear senses, though, Tova think she could at least find her way back to where her friends were. She refuses to leave them behind, as one of her friends made a contract with a devil.

The escaped imp has probably alerted the guards at this point, so Vox Machina prepares to be arrested. Grog heads down the hallway to check out the other rooms. Vax flies to catch up with him, but not before Grog triggers a glyph that creates a column of energy that engulfs Grog and deals some psychic damage. Vax tells him to wait a second and let the rogue check the rest of the room for traps.

The room has another one of those blood pools in the center and several more glyph traps near the walls. At this point the half-elves all hear the sounds of several different entities landing on the roof. Keyleth proposes disguising herself as one of the guards, but Percy worries that she might end up getting separated from the rest of the group.

A hatch opens in the ceiling and about a dozen assorted devils drop in, some wearing the golden armors of the Whisperers. Vex quickly places Trinket back in Raven's Slumber. Taryon drinks a Healing Draft and prepares his lance, not wanting to leave Doty. Vex quickly casts Cure Wounds on herself. Percy walks over to sit with Tary and Doty. Keyleth turns into a bone devil.

Vax walks up to stand next to Grog, facing the devils. The two bone devils, each wearing a certain sash, look around and ask if they will resist or surrender. Grog looks to Vax. Vax tells the devils that he surrenders, which they take as surrender for the entire group.

The devils begin pulling out chains and manacles. Two of them place multiple layers of restraints around Grog, then shackle Vax, then head into the central chamber to restrain the rest. One of the bone devils approaches Keyleth and says something in Infernal. She tries to mimic the sounds, but the devil accuses her of being a liar and demands that she reveals herself. Keyleth returns to her half-elf form and is immediately shackled as heavily as Grog.

Percy attempts to trick the devils into bringing Doty along with them, but they pay him no mind as they shackle him and Taryon. All of them are then chained together and brought to their feet. A bone devil reads them their charges (usurping a trusted of Dispater) and sentences them to "moral reassignment and delivery". The devil grabs the chains and tugs. The devils pulls them up and out through the hatch in the ceiling.

Taryon glances over his shoulder as he is pulled out and sees several devils tearing Doty apart.

Break

 * The Critical Role fan art appreciation gallery is shown.
 * An advertisement for International Tabletop Day is shown.
 * The new episode of Signal Boost starring Marisha Ray is shown.

Vox Machina

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

New

 * Krix: the chain devil jailer

Returning

 * Taryon Darrington
 * Doty
 * Hotis
 * Ipkesh
 * Tova
 * Utugash

Mentioned

 * Dispater
 * Orthax