The Throne Room

is the seventh episode of the first season of Critical Role. With an uneasy agreement struck between Lady Kima of Vord and Clarota, Vox Machina quietly begins a search of Emberhold. Lady Kima means to strike a blow against their unseen enemy by cutting off the head of K'Varn's military forces. The party battles its way through the fortress and, with some quick thinking from Tiberius, manages to gain the upper hand against the duergar king, Murghol, and his queen, Ulara. The king falls, but victory comes at a price...

Announcements

 * Travis Willingham (Grog) is not joining the cast for this episode.
 * Promo kits are still available. For every 50 subscribers there will be a draw in the chat.
 * Every 10 subs, Steam keys for different games will be given away.
 * Promoted their charity, 826LA.
 * There will be a giveaway from Espionage Cosmetics, with the winner selected at the break.

Recap
''The party were given a mission to seek out a female halfling paladin, named Lady Kima of Vord, who had been missing while on a vision quest, seeking a deep dark evil that had grow beneath the dwarven city of Kraghammer. The party traveled to the city, delved deep within its caverns and ended up in the Underdark — a landscape of terror and darkness. They allied themselves with an illithid, Clarota, who is exiled from his society and wishes reentry by saving them from K'Varn. After a series of battles with the duergar and illithid, they found their way into the duergar fortress, Emberhold, where they saved Lady Kima from torture. A tenuous alliance between Kima and Clarota was forged and they all head back to the main floor of the fortress.''

Part I
Two duergar are now in the hallway on the main floor. Vax slips by down another hallway that is empty and keeps going. Vex whispers angrily, "Why are you doing this?" Vax finds a smithy and invites an invisible Scanlan and Clarota to follow him. As they catch up, Vax moves around to the second door to the smithy and throws his Keen Dagger into the base of the duergar blacksmith's skull.

Kima, angry, and tired of waiting, follows after the scouting party, fortunately appearing not to catch the guards' attention. When she joins them, she looks around for her equipment but doesn't find anything and continues on.

The others, still at the stairs, follow as well. As Vex and Trinket enter the empty hallway, something alerts one of the guards and they both move towards them. Vax, who is just around the corner, stabs one of them as they move passed. Vex shoots the second duergar, who then enlarges in size. Percy, on the other side of the hall from Vax, hits him with the butt of his gun. Now incapacitated, Pike slits his throat with her Mace of Disruption.

Returning to Kima, Vax places his hand on her shoulder, "Allow me." And he again takes the lead. Listening at a door, and hearing nothing, Vax proceeds to check for traps and unlock the door to a commode. Tiger-Keyleth and Grog move the bodies of the guards inside.

Vax bypasses an empty barracks and proceeds to a red-carpeted foyer that leads to the front entrance of the fortress. Across from the entrance is a set of wooden doors which he listens at. He hears nothing, but notices that the door is unlocked.

Scanlan goes back, opens the door to a guest room and takes a dump on the bed just as Vex passes in the hall. Of course, Scanlan is still invisible, so all she sees is apparating poo.

Vax peers in the door he's listening at and sees a great hall. A glimmer on one of the tables catches his eye, and he is about to investigate when Tiberius pushes ahead and gets spotted by two duergar down a perpendicular hallway.

The guards throw javelins at Tiberius, but he manages to cast Blur on himself first, causing them to miss. Vex climbs on Trinket's back and fires at them. The duergar advance on Tiberius with their hammers. Only one hits, and their frustration manifests as they both increase in size.

Tiger-Keyleth vaults off of Grog's back, and, upon landing, clamps around the arm of a guard and bites down hard. He hits her on the snout and tears his arm from her jaws.

Vax peers out of the great hall and throws two daggers, the second causing a lethal blow. Tiberius casts a Fire Bolt at the last guard, causing his armor to tear and his skin to char. Tiberius fires a second bolt that knocks him off his feet, dead on the ground.

Keyleth drags the guard to the bathroom, as Scanlan exits the guest room pulling on his invisible pantaloons.

Vax returns to check out the shiny thing, Clarota, Kima, Scanlan, Percy, Pike and Vex following. The glimmer on the table is formless. Vex calls out, "It's a trap!" It vanishes, the doors slam shut, and the room goes dark. Vax responds, "Fuck."

Pike, Vex and Clarota feel a searing pain so severe it stuns them. Vax pulls out his Flametongue Dagger for light. An illithid appears out of the darkness and grabs Vax, wrapping its tentacles around his face. Kima leaps on top of the table, runs towards the illithid and smites it.

meanwhile, on the other side of the door, Tiberius points at Grog and says, "You know what to do, dammit." Grog rages and takes two big swings at the door, cleaving it in two, and moves into the room.

Vax pulls free of the illithid's grasp and stabs it with his dagger, killing it. Tiberius waltzes into the room and casts Light and then Obelisk of Stone under a second illithid. The illithid rolls off the pillar before it slams into the ceiling and then disappears.

New

 * Unnamed duergar blacksmith
 * Four unnamed duergar guards
 * King Murghol
 * Queen Ulara

Returning

 * Clarota
 * Lady Kima of Vord
 * Sarenrae (mentioned only)

Quotations
Vax: "I continue to creep away, from my sister, specifically."
 * Vex: "Maybe you can put yourself in a box and walk around in it."
 * Scanlan: "Wait! What about us." and "Why don't you just keep going forever?" [In response to Vax's scouting ahead, alone.]
 * Scanlan: [singing] "We're walkin' down a hall. Nobody's watching us."
 * Vex: "All I want to do is find the damn treasure room!"