Against the Tide of Bone

is the ninth episode of the third chapter of Critical Role. Exhausted and facing an undead army, Vox Machina prepares to storm Whitestone Castle! Thankfully, they're about to get some help from divine intervention...

Announcements

 * Zac Eubank starts things off with two, three really quick announcements:
 * Geek & Sundry starts early the day after the episode (2015-11-13) for some special programming. By request, Erika and Josephine are playing Tomb Raider at 13:00 PST despite not being on the schedule. Amy joins them for it as well.
 * Taliesin Jaffe is stated to join as a guest player on the G&S show Group Hug the same day.
 * The chat room is on sub-only for the night due to requests from viewers.
 * Ashley Johnson joins in via Skype from New York for this episode after she informed Matthew Mercer out of the blue that she could play shortly before the show went live.
 * Marisha Ray put up her Spotify playlist for Keyleth on the Geek and Sundry site.
 * Wyrmwood Gaming is still a supporter of the show and the code "critrole" can still be used for free shipping of their products.
 * The character portraits are updated with new artwork by Critical Role official artist Kit Buss.
 * The "Critmas" segment of goes up tomorrow.
 * A plug for the merchandise on the Geek & Sundry online store.
 * Fallout 4 came out, with Matt voicing the characters MacCready and Z1-14. Marisha laments that the way she as a player gets critiqued by MacCready in the game for picking up junk is similar to how Matt does so in real life.
 * BlizzCon had recently happened with Matt, Marisha, Taliesin, and Liam O'Brien attending and meeting a whole bunch of Critters. Liam was "prom queen" at BlizzCon.
 * The Geek & Sundry crew went and donated a nice, fatty check worth $115,204 earned from the Extra Life charity to the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles. Ashley was amazed due to having mistakenly misread the amount thinking it was lower.
 * Marisha and Taliesin announce their weekly comic strip, the first run featuring the party's first Winter's Crest festival, written by Marisha and Taliesin and illustrated by Critical Role artist Wendy Sullivan Green. The first strip can be found here.

Previously on Critical Role
"The party of Vox Machina, having traveled across Tal'Dorei to the city of Whitestone to seek a pair of seemingly vicious and evil individuals known as Lord and Lady Briarwood, members of the past that Percy's family fell to oh so many years ago, leaving what he thought was the sole survivor to the de Rolo family. Upon coming to Whitestone, finding its people downtrodden and oppressed by the Briarwood rule, as well as the cutthroats and mercenaries that they had brought along with them when they took the city, now given lordship and plots of land, rule over this entire town. The word began to spread of possible new rebellion, as [the party] trudged through the town leaving burned marks, burned houses, and very, very slaughtered people in the process, very bad people. As these murmurs began to continue to roll and coalesce, [they] spoke to a number of individuals in the city that were involved in previous failed rebellions, and seemed to build up what may be the last chance for Whitestone, as part of this information was revealed that Percy's thought-dead sister Cassandra still existed within the castle, and had been what people thought the only living de Rolo and bastion of hope within the city—now there were two.

"Upon triggering the initiation of this, the party split: Scanlan Shorthalt running to one of the nobles' home, while the rest of the party went to the other, to set a diversion at the same time. It may not have worked as intended, but it definitely worked, as we had an epic bard versus goliath rainstorm rooftop showdown. The rest of the party made their way into Count Tylieri's home, destroyed his vampiric self, and got some information out of the guards before escaping into the town, which has now gone into chaos.

"Many of the townsfolk have become the militia that they've been preparing to be. Armed with whatever they could find, they've managed to take down a number of the large hulking zombie giant guardians throughout the city. Many lives were lost in the process and the battle is ongoing. As [Vox Machina] rushed towards the center of the town to check in on the Sun Tree, finding all the previous bodies that resembled members of Vox Machina cut from its boughs, [they] saw, swarming into the center of the city, a large horde of skeletal undead, clattering forth into the dark, as the sun has now set over the horizon, the rain beginning to pour heavily onto the center of the town. There were efforts meant to keep the army at bay, as [they] all rushed towards the west to escape the immediate fray."

Divine Intervention
As the downpour continues and lightning cracks across the sky, Vox Machina runs through the muddy streets of Whitestone. Behind them, a seemingly endless horde of skeletal soldiers gives chase. Ahead of them, a voice shouts out. "There! Run! Aid them!" Ten armored civilians appear about a hundred feet away from them, led by Keeper Yennen, who is also wearing armor, holding a shield and a holy symbol of Erathis.

Keyleth is unwilling to leave the civilians to fight the undead horde alone and breaks out of Vax'ildan's grasp, running back towards the skeletons. Vax, Percy, and Trinket also turn around and follow, the bear carrying Vex'ahlia on his back.

Keyleth drops her Call Lightning spell that she had activated previously and begins conjuring a Flaming Sphere. Trinket charges up next to her. On his back, Vex pulls out an arrow and casts Conjure Barrage, the arrow splitting into numerous shards as it flies towards the skeleton horde. The front row of five or six skeletons is completely disintegrated and the row behind that is riddled with splinters. The skeletons collapse into the mud as sixty more close in behind them.

Keyleth raises a Wall of Stone underneath herself, lifting her ten feet into the air and blocking off the entire street. Close to seventy skeletons run into the wall and begin scraping at the wall with swords and shields and bare bones. Still running for the treeline, Scanlan notices that no one else is with him and turns around to rejoin the others. Percy and Vax climb up onto the wall. Some of the skeletons are climbing on each other to get to the top.

Percy pulls out his pepperbox and prepares to shoot anything that gets too close. He looks around for any undead stone giants, but has difficulty seeing due to the poor visibility from the storm. Scanlan shouts to Grog to throw him to the top of the wall. Vax turns back to the approaching civilians and Keeper Yennen and shouts for them to bring fire.

Yennen looks over his shoulder. The villagers part, and from behind them a small armored humanoid runs up, glowing with radiant energy. An avatar of Sarenrae in the form of a tiny gnome cleric charges forward, the raindrops sizzling off her form. Vax helps Percy lean down from the wall and they help pull her and Keeper Yennen to the top. The glowing form is warm to the touch but not entirely solid, as if she is an apparition of her physical self.

Vox Machina excitedly greets Pike Trickfoot. Keyleth worries that Pike has died, but the cleric assures her that she is just fine. Vax asks how she got here but she says there's no time to explain. The horde of skeletons is swarming the wall. Percy takes a shot at one as it reaches for his leg, exploding the skeleton into splinters of bone. However, another one immediately takes its place. Percy shouts "Whatever you're going to do, do it!" as he fires a second shot with The List, blasting a chunk off the skeleton's skull. The gunslinger takes his third shot and destroys the rest of the skull, causing the skeleton to fall backward and disappear into the swarm.

As the horde of skeletons push forward, they begin to swell up, slowly reaching the top of the ten-foot wall. Keyleth sends her Flaming Sphere into the thick of them, incinerating and turning seven to dust and damaging a few others.

With a boost from Trinket, Vex reaches the top of the wall. She fires a Lightning Arrow into another cluster of skeletons, instantly destroying the main target as well as twelve more in a ten-foot radius, various pieces of bone and weaponry being flung into the air. The horde fills in the gap with about sixty-five remaining.

Grog tells Scanlan "Go get her," as he throws the gnome onto the top of the wall. Upon reaching it, Scanlan is simply stunned at Pike's presence, distracted by her beauty but still ready to kick some ass, a sentiment which Pike happily agrees with.

Pike makes a daring leap off the wall, angelic wings shooting from her back for a split-second. They flap once then disperse into feathers as she lands deep into the horde. With her height, all she can see are chattering bones with a sliver of skyline above. As the skeletons reach for her and swing their blades down, she clutches her holy symbol and channels Sarenrae's power to use Destroy Undead. The resulting shockwave of radiant energy annihilates thirty-six of the skeletons, leaving only about twenty remaining which rush towards the glowing beacon of a gnome.

Scanlan, thoroughly impressed with Pike, jumps off as well but due to the slickness of the wall falls short of reaching her. Seeing Pike in danger of retaliation, he casts Lightning Bolt through his crotch in an attempt to impress the cleric, the resulting thrust an arcane display of virility if ever there was one. The spell barely misses Pike and slams into a row of seven skeletons, destroying five of them and heavily damaging the remaining two.

On the other side of the wall, skeletons converge on the party but are being repelled by Yennen's group, the cleric himself casting Destroy Undead as well. He shouts to the party, "You! Don't worry! We got this! You do what you must! It has begun! Finish it!" With that, he jumps into the fray, shield and holy symbol in his hands.

As the surviving skeletons converge on Pike, Vax jumps off the wall towards her. Three of the skeletons reach Pike and take swipes at her, but the cleric's shield and armor easily deflect the attacks. Vax decks one of the skeletons with his right fist which has the symbol of Sarenrae sewn into the glove. The skeleton shrugs off the weak attack.

Grog leaps up onto the wall and uses it as a stepping stone to jump off, entering the fray with his Firebrand Warhammer attached to the Chain of Returning. He easily smashes the two nearest skeletons and throws the warhammer into a third, destroying it. Grog then pulls the hammer out of the slick mud back to him as he licks it off, his tongue burning due to the warhammer's hot surface. Over time, Vox Machina picks off the remaining four skeletons on their side.

The rains pours heavily and as lightning flashes Vax sees one of the undead giants slamming its fist into something on the other side of the town square. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees a second giant to the south. Vax urges the party to go finish off the giants while they have a holy gnome on their side.

Percy calls out to Keeper Yennen, asking if he could hold the attack until morning. The older cleric is clutching his holy symbol as he charges toward the skeletons, casting Destroy Undead and disintegrating them instantly. He looks over his shoulder and says "Til morning? Why wait til morning, we're fighting now!"

Giant Hunting in the Streets
Vox Machina splits into two groups: Percy, Keyleth, and the twins in one; Grog and the gnomes in the other. The "Big and Smalls" group, as dubbed by Scanlan, will head to the south and the other group will head to the east. Vex takes some of the Dust of Tracelessness from Grog. Percy tells them all to meet near the western wall of Whitestone when they're done.

The party makes their way around the Sun Tree. They see the tracks left in the mud by the skeletal army and hear shouts of combat and commands throughout the city. They split into their groups at this point, Grog carrying the gnomes on his shoulders. He feels that Pike is lighter than normal and her presence has a slight vibration. He charges to the bottom of the town square, almost slipping in the rainwater but managing to catch himself. He passes by several streets before seeing another patch of skeletons off to the left, fighting against five villagers. Several bodies of villagers lie on the ground, one of which is still alive and dragging himself towards the goliath and calling for help.

As Grog approaches with the gnomes, they see that the man's face is covered in blood and his side appears to have been torn through by a spear. Grog lowers Pike to the ground and she begins to cast Cure Wounds on the wounded man. Looking up at the radiant gnome, the man mistakes her as an angel and says "No, no, not yet, not yet!" She holds the sides of his face and smiles down at him as the energy of Sarenrae flows through his body and starts closing his wounds. The man takes a deep breath and sits up, glancing around in confusion. Looking at Pike, he calls her an angel. Pike tries to deny it, but the man reaches forward and thanks her as the gnome helps him to his feet. Grog tells the man "Run. Now." Still wounded but no longer on death's door, the man says "I intend to", grabs his sword out of the mud, wipes it off, and runs back into the fight with a battle cry. "I like him," Grog says. Placing Pike back on his shoulder, they continue charging southward.

They pass several more streets, the buildings all dark and closed down. They hear the sound of a large, heavy mass hitting the ground, and as they turn the corner they see three standing rebels with a pile of wounded or killed at the giant's feet. The giant is nearly untouched and seems to have caught the villagers unprepared, swinging its club at them as they try to decide whether to run or fight.

Scanlan jumps off of Grog's shoulder, pulls out his Wand of Magic Missiles, and fires eight darts at the giant, causing some of its flesh to fall off and expose bone. The giant turns its head to face him, aware that it is now flanked. Scanlan darts off into the alcove of a building on his left and inspires Grog.

Grog goes into a frenzied rage and rushes at the stone giant, slamming his warhammer into its leg, breaking the bone and destroying the bottom half of it.

Using one hand to maneuver on the stump of its leg, the giant turns to face Grog, raising its club up. Grog, who is familiar with stone giants, notices that half of its face has been torn off by some kind of claw and its jaw has been broken. The giant strikes Grog twice with its club and the goliath takes each hit without moving, showing off his own strength.

The three members of the resistance run up with their shortswords out and stab into the giant.

Pike holds her holy symbol and casts Guiding Bolt, releasing a beam of divine energy from her hand that hits the giant, searing through its body and leaving a pulsing glow within it.

Grog swings his hammer at the giant's head, cracking its skull and causing it to cave in slightly. He strikes again, caving it in further as the jaw hangs loose, and the third strike takes the jaw off entirely, sending it flying down the street.

Scanlan runs up near Grog and fires a Lightning Bolt up at it, this time aiming through his backside. The lightning arcs through the giant's body, nearly knocking it over but it catches itself. Scanlan then turns to Pike and inspires her.

Turning its attention away from Grog, the giant limps over to Scanlan, taking a slash from one of the citizens in the process. As it raises its club to strike, the gnome pulls out his shawm and plays a horrendous note on it as he casts Cutting Words. The noise does not distract the giant as it strikes, hitting Scanlan and damaging his shawm. It raises its club again, but Scanlan ducks down to fix his shawm and the club just passes over his head.

The civilians move up and attack. One misses entirely, the next manages to stab into the giant, and the third jumps up onto the giant's back, pierces the sword into its spine and drags it down. A horrible rotting smell emerges from the wound, nearly causing the man to vomit as he jumps back to the ground.

Using her Sprinter's Boots, Pike runs around to the back of the giant, pulls out her Mace of Disruption, and slams it into the open wound on its back, burning away the undead flesh. Pike leaps onto one of its knees, jumps into the air, drops her shield, and slams the mace into the front of its chest. The torso rips open and bursts with divine energy. The giant's organs turn to ash and its body disintegrates. Pike lands perfectly, picks up her shield, and looks over at Grog and Scanlan. Scanlan faints.

The three soldiers step towards the goliath and the gnomes.

The soldiers pull their wounded friends to their feet and begin moving the corpses of the others off to the sides of the road, using torches to set the bodies aflame.

Grog, Pike, and Scanlan head for the western wall to meet up with the other group. Scanlan keeps an eye out for any sort of beret or other hat.

Giant Hunting at the Temple
The other group—Percy, Keyleth, Vex, and Vax—rushes past the town square through the rain. They see the first giant that Vax had spotted just outside the city on the outskirts of the forest near the temple of Pelor. The zombie giant has been pushed back by the civilians and is swinging at them with a large metallic weapon. Vax goes stealth and Vex places her Hunter's Mark on the giant when she is within range.

The party runs in through the gates of the graveyard and see that all of the graves have been exhumed. They get the feeling this is where a lot of the undead have come from, although someone had to have given them weapons and armor.

Six guards are remaining, fighting back against the giant and pushing it towards the temple. Vax splits off from the group and approaches the conflict from the side. Vex leaps off of Trinket's back as they get closer.

Percy pulls out Bad News and aims at the giant. When it raises the morning star it wields, Percy fires at its hand, blowing two of the fingers off and causing it to drop the weapon. He reloads the rifle and fires his second shot into its legs.

The giant, now unarmed, turns to look at Percy, growls, and grabs a big piece of stone rubble from the temple. Lifting the rubble over its head, the giant lobs it towards Percy, slamming into the human and knocking him off his feet. His arm is pinned under the rubble for a moment but he manages to shove it off.

Using her Earring of Whisper, Vex asks her brother if he remembers the giant they fought a few years before. He says he does. Vex shoots two arrows, one into the giant's knee and one into its chest.

Vax dashes towards the giant, leaps off its thigh, and uses the arrow protruding from its chest to pull himself onto the giant's shoulders. He stabs the Flametongue Dagger into the center of its skull and uses his weight to tear the blade down its face, easily breaking through the brittle bone underneath. The giant clamps down on the blade as it passes through its jaw, causing Vax to catch himself and kick off from the giant, landing on the ground beside it.

The members of the resistance use the opening granted by the arrival of Vox Machina to begin jabbing their spears into the side of the giant, taking chunks out of it and scraping away at its form.

Keyleth moves closer to the fight but realizes if she starts bringing down lightning bolts she'll end up killing the guards. She looks around for Vax and, seeing him standing near the giant, closes her eyes and casts Heat Metal on his daggers in an attempt to help the rogue deal more damage. However, he ends up dropping the red-hot daggers into the mud as they burn his hands. Vex'ahlia turns to Keyleth and says "What the fuck?" Not noticing, Keyleth uses a Grasping Vine to grapple the giant and pull it downwards.

Percy gets back to his feet, reloads Bad News, and shoots at the giant's face. Using his Action Surge, he reloads, fires a second shot, reloads again, and fires a third shot. He then uses Second Wind to recover some health.

Now missing large chunks from its body, the undead giant reaches down and picks its morning star back up. It swings the weapon down towards Vax but the rogue easily dodges out of the way, the morning star sinking harmlessly into the mud. The giant pulls its weapon free with a sucking sound.

Bracing himself, Vax reaches down and picks up his still-hot daggers, further burning his hands in the process. He slices both daggers down the front of the giant's body, breaking open its chest. The giant stumbles back and the air releases from its lungs...then it staggers back up, barely holding on to its undead life.

Vex fires an arrow at the giant through her Blazing Bowstring. As the giant raises its hand to strike back at Vax, the arrow pierces straight into its eye and out the back of its head, flames licking out of the other eye. The giant lurches forward and falls as Vax and one of the guards quickly dodge out of the way.

Vax sticks his hands in a puddle to soothe the burns. Vex and Trinket run up towards the guards. Keyleth sees what Vax is doing and is momentarily confused. The rogue holds his burnt hands out and asks Keyleth to fix them. The druid is immediately apologetic and grabs Vax's hands to cast Cure Wounds on them. Vax holds her hands as she does so. Vex'ahlia walks between them, breaking their connection as she goes to talk to the guards. Percy puts his guns away and follows her.

The guards are stabbing into the fallen body of the giant to makes sure that it's dead. Although they are wearing guard armor, underneath they are dressed more like farmers. Vex puts a hand on the shoulder of one of them.

The guard sheathes his weapon. His men walk over to him, one making a final stab at the body of the giant. The group of citizens begins walking back towards town. As they leave, Keyleth tells them to keep watch for the sign of Pelor in the sky. Those words remind them of something, and three of them run back to the doorway of the temple. They stop in front of it and give a silent prayer to themselves, hand over their heart, then rejoin their companions and head back to the city.

Vax investigates a few of the open graves and sees that the coffins are still present but have all been opened, the lids taken off. The bodies are missing from them, as expected. In one of the coffins he finds an ornamental dagger that has a golden sheen and gems encrusted into it. Vex encourages her brother to jump down into the grave and get it. Vax leaps down, lands on the coffin, and picks up the dagger to examine it closer. It's lightweight and purely ornamental, and there don't appear to be any enchantments on it. Vax returns the dagger to its place in the coffin, pats it, and climbs back out of the grave.

Keyleth looks to see if there is anything she can harvest from the undead giant's body, but everything is far too rotted to be of any use or value.

The party decides to head west to meet up with their companions. Vex takes out the bit of Dust of Tracelessness she received from Grog, but finds that it has turned to plain sand. Apparently its magical properties only apply when it is fresh out of the bag. Nevertheless, together Vex and Percy manage to lead the group on a path that reduces the tracks they leave.

New

 * Anna Ripley (disguised as an old woman)

Returning

 * Keeper Yennen