Home is Where the Heart Is

is the ninety-second episode of the second campaign of Critical Role.

Previously on Critical Role
''So, last we left off: The Mighty Nein had brokered a coming negotiation between the warring nations of the Dwendalian Empire and the Kryn Dynasty, set to occur somewhere in the Lucidian Ocean between Nicodranas and the Whitedawn Lagoon, roughly four weeks out is when they had confirmed it. You also learned that they had acquired and arrested Vence, the fugitive who was part of the Angel of Irons Cult. And in the interim, you made your way back to Xhorhas. You made it to your home, the Xhorhaus, and had an evening to rest after an extended period of extreme duress and stress, the recovery of your friend Yasha, some underground pit fighting, and a dinner with Essek after an invitation in which you got a chance to know each other a little better.''

''You then, in discussing your plans moving forward, some possibilities and pursuing some of the various goals that still remain looming for a few of you, you were greeted by Essek and he offered at one point to help you with this strange problem you were having with the equation for the spell that you had been developing since discovering its early sketches, essentially, or the first half of its development by Halas within his Happy Fun Ball, as you put it. With the aid of Essek, both Nott and Caleb, up in his tower, finished the development of this spell. You all rushed to gather your materials that were required for its casting and watched as Caleb prepared the ritual to bring Nott back to her original form, the body she was meant to have. The ritual progressed, seemingly without issue until the moment in which the transition of the body was meant to happen. Reaching towards it, however, the magic was balked by some sort of dark power, a curse that remained laid upon Nott, preventing it from succeeding, locking her still to the current goblin body that she’s grown to loathe. Well, maybe grown a little more comfortable with it since then, but...''

As the ritual comes to an unexpected end, you look as the clay element of the tub that Nott had been placed upon has shattered and scattered across the room, the magic itself suddenly flaring out, the sigil that marked the ritual going cold, and all of you look down to see Nott there, sitting atop the broken sections of hardened clay, a goblin as she’s always been since you met her.

Part I
Nott and Caleb realize that none of the others heard the woman's cackling laughter when the spell failed, and Nott shares that it sounded like the woman who changed her into a goblin. She tells the party that when she woke up, changed, the goblins had taken her to the woman's home in a wooded mountainous area a few days away from Felderwin. Looking at the map, Nott remembers that it was somewhere at the edge of the Marrow Valley, and Beau suddenly realizes that this story of a strange woman sounds very like the stories her father told of the old fortuneteller who advised him to buy his farm and grow grapes, promising him riches and the woman he loved. Beau feigns illness as an excuse for the party to leave Essek's home and go back to the Xhorhaus.

Once home, she tells them again about the deal that her father made with an old fortuneteller woman in the woods near Mount Mentiri. He sought her out and asked how he could find his own wealth, and she told him he would have a successful winery, marry, and have a young "beau" to inherit the family business. Her father took it so literally that he named his daughter Beau and trained her in the business. They argued because Beau wanted to travel and try to sell their wines in other cities, and her father was terrified that fate would come knocking for her if she did. Beau feels that was selfish of him; that if something happened to her, her father's dynasty would crumble. He gave Beau the piece of jade she wears around her neck because he believed it would protect her.

While the party discusses their next steps, Caduceus casts Commune, learning from the Wildmother that the woman that cursed Nott is still alive, that that woman has conversed with Beau's father, and, after some hesitation to pose the question, which he regards as a weakness, that his family waits for him at the Menagerie. He is convinced they need to visit Beau's father to learn more about the old woman. While Beau is extremely reluctant, she eventually agrees, and they decide to use Teleportation Circle to go to Zadash to do what research they can at the Cobalt Soul before heading west towards Kamordah in the morning.

At the library, they learn of a soothsayer named Isharnai the Prism Sage who lives among the Cyrios Mountain woods near Kamordah. For a price, she weaves boons and hexes for those who seek her out. Nott uses Disguise Self to show Jester what the woman who cursed her looked like, and Jester casts Scrying on her. She sees a cluttered house and the woman casting runes there, moving in an odd, inhuman way, with exceptionally long arms and fingers. Isharnai looks up, straight at Jester's scry focus, and says, "Hello, who's this I see?" She peers into it closely, saying she hopes this means she's having visitors before crushing it. Jester is terrified.

They head to the Evening Nip for drinks. Jester talks to the Gentleman, her father, in his private office, telling him everything that's happened and what's coming up next. He seems slightly confused by the whirlwind that is Jester, but charmed nonetheless. He agrees to give them free drinks and a room for the night and Jester excitedly runs out to tell the group how much her dad loves her.

Fjord goes over to talk to an increasingly withdrawn Beau. She tells him the Mighty Nein has become her family now, and she doesn't like looking at her past that didn't contain them. She doesn't like that she still finds herself trying to be something to please her father. And part of her is convinced that destiny or inevitability will indeed someday come knocking for her, even if she tries to ignore it.

Break

 * D&D Beyond animation.
 * Get early access to full color custom minis online at HeroForge's Kickstarter, both color 3D printed, or hand-painted.
 * All Work No Play is back from the dead... again! Starting 4 February 2020 at 4:00 pm PST on alternating Tuesdays on Twitch and Thursdays on YouTube..
 * Clips from .
 * Sam Riegel just QB'ed the Marquet Meatmen to victory in Superb Bowl LXIX (nice), and he's celebrating with a Twitch subscription.
 * Critters' art montage.

The Mighty Nein

 * Beauregard Lionett
 * Caduceus Clay
 * Caleb Widogast
 * Fjord
 * Frumpkin
 * Jester Lavorre
 * Nott the Brave
 * Yasha Nydoorin

New

 * Isharnai, the Prism Sage (via Jester's Scrying)
 * Keifer
 * Clara Lionett
 * Thoreau Lionett Jr.

Returning

 * Essek Thelyss
 * The Gentleman
 * Kutha
 * Thoreau Lionett

Mentioned

 * Old Masqier

Quotations
Caleb: Who? Yasha: I don’t need to tell you who. I’m sorry, I– As someone who has lost someone that they love very much, I know how important it is to say things before it is too late. Caleb: (whispering) It’s too late now. It’s too late.
 * Beau: I think I’ve worked so hard because I scripted this day in my inevitable future, that I would go back to him, a successful woman, respected member of society, Cobalt Soul, and Expositor, the thing he threw me away to, and I embraced. And then I would get mad at myself, because I felt like I was doing exactly what he was doing to me my entire life, scripting me to be something else. And I’m still doing it. I haven’t seen him in three years and I’m still trying to be... something, and I think what’s scary is that I like this and what I’ve found. And I don’t think it was until Nott started talking about having to go home and go away that it truly started terrifying me. Because for the first time, I’m happy. And what if that goes away?
 * Yasha: Do you love her?