Path of Brass

is the fifth episode of the sixth chapter of Critical Role. Vox Machina heads to Fort Daxio to begin preparation for the upcoming fight with Thordak. With time running out until the climactic battle, the party decides to travel to the Elemental Plane of Fire in search of the final Vestige, but find themselves in over their heads...

Announcements

 * Sam performs a Loot Crate song with rhyming help from Ashley
 * Several cast members will be at BlizzCon this weekend
 * A new GM Tips is up at Geek & Sundry
 * Marisha shouts out the Spotify playlists each cast member made for their character and announces a new round of them coming out next week
 * Ashley is here in person!
 * Critical Costume contest winners will be announced at the break (after they decide who the winners are)
 * Talks Machina premiers on November 15th

Previously on Critical Role
"Vox Machina, in their attempt to take down the Chroma Conclave, have slain three of the five dragons and have made a tentative alliance with a fourth—Raishan, the Diseased Deceiver—in the hopes of taking down the fifth and most powerful master of the entire Conclave, Thordak the Cinder King, who currently resides over the now elementally-corrupt city of Emon. The ground itself is beginning to boil and crack with fire elemental energy.

"They all sit within Whitestone, deciding upon the coming rush to the final battle, considering what allies they have at their disposal, what locations they want to put this battle in. They've had these conversations, they've revealed Raishan to the rest of their allies within Whitestone, and they previously spoke about taking this to Fort Daxio, to the north of Emon."

Part I
The party decide to go to Fort Daxio to gather forces for the coming battle. They attempt to find someone who knows anyone at the fort so she can scry on them and find a tree for Teleportation via Plants but are unable, and eventually they find that Allura can Teleport them to just outside of it. The spell is cast and the party. As the approach the gate, Allura announces herself and the group and asks for passage inside. The gate opens and everyone files in. They are greeted by several guards, led by General Elle Gorgofon. She is anxious to hear word from the regiments that previously left the fort, but is disheartened to hear that they are still in Syngorn.

The conversation is moved inside the inner wall, and on the way the party notices that there don't seem to be very many soldiers here. They pass a room full of corpses of some sort of leathery creature and make their way to a haphazardly-prepared meeting room. The general tells them that they are running very low on supplies and that their trade routes have been harried by wyvern riders. Vex tells her that Syngorn has been transported to the Feywild and that the warmaster and his forces are stuck there. The general says that they couldn't hope to mount an attack on Emon without those forces.

Vox Machina tells her that they've killed three of the five members of the Chroma Conclave and that they have a plan to send several allied forces to Fort Daxio and lure Thordak there, with themselves as the bait. The general agrees to aid in this plot, and Vox Machina works on getting supplies for the forces here.

Scanlan casts Magnificent Mansion and feeds 100 of the troops in the mess hall, for today at least. The twins fly high above the fort looking for any spots where the terrain might be useful, but don't see anything particularly promising. Keyleth begins using Stone Shape to prepare a bunker beneath the fort to be "dragon-flame-proof." Percy spends the day repairing one of the fort's trebuchets and is able to make it completely functional.

The next morning, the party discusses their next move. Allura is unsure how much time they have, given that Vorugal's death would certainly provoke a vengeful response from Thordak. They make a list of allies that must be notified of the plan and Allura uses Sending to contact the twins' father Syldor and Mikael Daxio in Syngorn. She also contacts someone in Whitestone to tell them to expect Raishan bringing Seeker Assum there.

After some deliberation, the party decides to travel to the Elemental Plane of Fire to seek one last Vestige, the Plate of the Dawnmartyr, and to possibly gather information about the nature of the Ember Seed within Thordak. Keyleth uses Teleportation Via Plants to send everyone to Pyrah where the opening to the fire plane is. They greet Cerkonos and bring him up to speed. Cerkonos tells them that the City of Brass where the Vestige is located is three-days' foot travel from the planar tear, and expresses his distaste for and fear of the denizens of the city. The party decide to instead travel straight to the city via Keyleth's Planeshift spell.

Cerkonos agrees to lend the aid of the Fire Ashari to the coming battle and will contact Korrin to ask for the aid of the Air Ashari as well. He again warns them of the terrible creatures that live in the City of Brass and wishes them well. Keyleth casts Planeshift and the party find themselves in the fire plane at the gates of the city.

Break

 * A short Loot Crate ad is played.
 * Winners of the #CriticalCostumes contest are announced:
 * @couple_cosplay for Grog
 * @KinnVelier for Pike
 * @sara_rohkov for Vex
 * @missbelletrist and @miss_riahne for Vax
 * @criticalcorrupt for Keyleth
 * @karrey for Percy
 * @cat_cosplay for Scanlan
 * @jettiebettie for NPC (Anna Ripley)
 * @kwwins #3 overall (Keyleth)
 * @norfrosch #2 overall (Victor)
 * @calahammer #1 overall (Percy)
 * Imgur link to winners

Vox Machina

 * Keyleth
 * Percival de Rolo
 * Scanlan Shorthalt
 * Grog Strongjaw
 * Pike Trickfoot
 * Trinket
 * Vax'ildan
 * Vex'ahlia

New

 * General Elle Gorgofon
 * Senokir
 * Uten

Returning

 * Cerkonos
 * Shaun Gilmore
 * Allura Vysoren