Gunpowder Plot

is the thirty-first episode of the first campaign of Critical Role. Scanlan finds himself alone, caught in a Briarwood trap! Meanwhile, the party fuels the fire of rebellion, but will Whitestone pay too high a price? The revolution has begun, and nothing can stop it now!

Due to technical difficulties, the Critmas portion of this episode was released as a special episode,. In addition, it was uploaded to YouTube in two parts rather than one.

Scanlan and Goliath
Pieces of wood scatter into the foyer as Scanlan the triceratops slams through the door. In front of him is a rising staircase leading up to a balcony on the second floor. Eight guards line the balcony, armed with crossbows, and at the top stands Duke Goran Vedmire, a large, hairless, gray-skinned goliath wielding a two-handed sword and armored with a breastplate.

Realizing the guards were expecting him and are prepared to fight, Scanlan immediately turns to the right and charges into a barred door. His horns pierce the wood and the door is damaged and buckles inward, but does not open all the way. He pulls his horns free.

The guards shift position to get a better aim at the triceratops. Vedmire begins heading down the stairs, grinning as he readies his sword. Lifting one arm into the air, he shouts to his guards "Aim! FIRE!" as he points towards Scanlan. A barrage of crossbow bolts fly through the air. Half of them embed themselves in the dinosaur, the other half miss.

Scanlan bursts through the door into a dining room. He moves to the side, waiting next to the door to attack the first person to walk through.

Vedmire dashes up to the door, but does not enter the dining room. Seven of his guards follow behind him. The eighth guard attempts to leap down from the balcony but misjudges his landing and injures his ankle, falling prone.

Hearing the approaching footsteps, Scanlan drops his triceratops form, returning to his normal gnome size. He peeks around the corner and casts Stinking Cloud, enveloping the entire group of foes. All but two of the guards succumb to the noxious fumes, coughing and vomiting. Vedmire is also overcome by the stench. Taking advantage of this momentary distraction, Scanlan clumsily slides across the dining room table.

Vedmire, coughing, manages to escape the Stinking Cloud. He glares into the dining room at Scanlan, growling and grinding his teeth. The two unaffected guards rush in, reloading their crossbows and firing at the gnome. One bolt slices into his shoulder and the other pierces through his thigh. Three more of the guards within the Stinking Cloud manage to shake off its effects.

Scanlan shouts "Oh no!" and dives under the table, pretending to hide, then uses Dimension Door to teleport to the roof. Rain is still pouring down. One of the zombie giants is lumbering its way towards the mansion. Scanlan casts Invisibility on himself and starts digging through his pockets, looking for anything he could use to create fire. He finds a Potion of Fire Breath. Looking around for any sort of hatch or attic entrance, he cannot find anything. He pulls the cork from the potion, drinks it, and feels a burning heat rise within him.

Scanlan runs across the roof towards the front entrance of the building as he begins to hear voices from the streets. He leans over the edge of the roof and unleashes a spray of fire from his mouth, igniting the front of the building. However, he loses his invisibility by doing so.

Panicked voices ring out from inside the house. Two guards rush outside, searching for the source of the flames. Looking up, they see Scanlan peeking his head over the edge of the roof. They pull out their crossbows and fire, both bolts missing. The guards quickly duck back inside the building, getting out of range of the fire-breathing gnome.

Scanlan runs over to the back of the house and repeats his fire-breathing, igniting the mansion on the opposite site. Looking back towards the front, he sees a pillar of black smoke is beginning to rise up from the building. He also sees a hatch slam open as Duke Goran Vedmire pulls himself up onto the roof.

Scanlan summons Bigby's Hand as the goliath stalks towards him. As Vedmire pulls back his sword to attack the hand, it slams towards him, shoving him off of the roof. Scanlan hears him impact with the ground.

Running over to the roof hatch, Scanlan blasts his final fire breath into it, igniting the ladder as well as the two guards climbing up it. He begins running to the opposite side of the roof from where Vedmire fell.

The two guards manage to douse the flames on themselves and climb up onto the roof. They fire two crossbow bolts into the fleeing gnome, one hitting his side and the other hitting his shoulder.

Turning to face the guards, Scanlan stands with his arms outstretched, closes his eyes, and falls backwards off the roof. Bigby's Hand catches him and gently lowers him to the ground. Scanlan runs and jumps onto the gate, climbing over it and landing on the other side.

He sees a zombie giant stomping towards him. As it approaches, a number of figures swarm out of the nearby building and begin attacking the giant. Scanlan casts Invisibility on himself and watches the fight from the shadows.

After several minutes, the mansion is completely engulfed in flames. The guards and Vedmire managed to escape the burning building and are searching the perimeter for Scanlan.

As Scanlan watches the undead giant, he notices that the attacking figures are Whitestone residents that have armed themselves with makeshift weapons and armor. Neither side seems to be winning, but the crowd has effectively halted the giant for the moment. Scanlan, having used up most of his spells, decides to wait and watch the citizens' fight rather than rejoining his comrades.

Attack on Tylieri
While all of this has been happening with Scanlan, the rest of Vox Machina begins their assault on Count Tylieri's mansion. As Grog and Trinket rush the front door, Percy, Vex'ahlia, Vax'ildan, and Keyleth are sneaking around the back.

Grog, already raging, smashes open the front door with his foot and runs inside, Trinket following closely behind. Standing against the banister on the second floor are ten guards with their crossbows at the ready. Count Tylieri stands at the top of the staircase and orders the guards to fire. Six of the bolts hit Grog and none hit Trinket due to the goliath standing in front of the bear.

Around the back of the building, Percy goes to the first door he sees and attempts to open it, only to find it locked. Vax runs up and pulls out his lockpicks, unlocking the door with no difficulty. It opens into a dark kitchen. Vax clicks his Boots of Haste and walks through an archway leading into a hallway with one door at the end and another on either side. Percy enters the hallway with Vax following closely behind, and Vex follows a bit further back. Opening the door on the right leads to a rather nice bathroom. Percy tries the other door on the left of the hall but cannot open it.

Back in the main foyer, Count Tylieri steps forward, looking down over the banister at Grog. Grog stares up at him and his many guards.

Tylieri leaps up onto the ceiling and sticks to it, skittering across like a spider. He lands right in front of Grog, who sees a deathly hunger in the man's eyes. Swiping at the goliath with clawed hands, he manages to catch Grog off guard with the first attack, but just misses with the second. Tylieri glares at him with a hissing sound, licking his fanged lips.

Grog goes into a frenzied rage, ignites his Firebrand Warhammer, and recklessly slams it twice into Count Tylieri. In reaction, the vampire strikes out and grabs Grog by the throat, the claws digging in slightly.

The guards all reload their crossbow bolts. Three fire towards Trinket and the other seven aim for Grog. One bolt bounces off the bear's armor, but the other two hit flesh. Grog, left wide open from his reckless attack, is struck by all seven crossbow bolts.

Trinket backs up, gets a running start, then curls up and rolls towards Count Tylieri, who dodges out of the way and claws into the bear as it passes. Trinket turns around and bites at the vampire, sinking his teeth in and pulling on him to try and break Grog free of the grapple.

Still outside the building, Keyleth searches the sky for smoke rising from Vedmire's mansion, but is unable to see anything through the storm. She follows the others inside, pushing past them in the hallway, and opens the door at the end. Inside is a long dining room with a double window on the wall and a second door that seems to lead into the main foyer. Keyleth walks over to the window and looks out, searching again for any smoke or fire. She tries to call Scanlan over her Earring of Whisper, but she is just out of range.

Percy runs up to the door and opens it, letting light and the sounds of battle enter the dining room. He swings around the doorframe and finds himself standing at the base of the staircase with the guards above him, and Grog, Trinket, and Tylieri struggling with each other in front of him. Looking up at the closest guard, Percy raises his gun, eyes turning black as smoke begins to pour out of them. Smoke also emerges from the guard, who looks confused as the smoke begins curling around him, marking him with a Hex. Percy fires three times. The first two shots miss and blast chunks off the banister, but the third explodes the guard's head into a burst of black smoke which then pulls away from the lifeless body and begins circling the next guard in line.

Vax dashes through the dining room and slides across the table, which impresses Keyleth. The druid wishes him good luck as the rogue runs straight for Tylieri. He stabs the vampire three times in the side, first with the Flametongue Dagger, then the Keen Dagger, then the Flametongue again.

As Vax and Tylieri lock eyes, the vampire sinks its fangs into Grog's throat and begins drinking his blood. Tylieri releases his grip for a moment and moves to the other side of the goliath's throat and attempts to bite down, but catches his teeth in the chainmail wrapped around the neck. Still holding Grog by the neck, the vampire claws across his face. Grog shoves Tylieri away. The vampire's wounds are visibly healing, so Grog bashes the man with his hammer and reopens them.

The guards fire their crossbows. Three of the bolts hit Percy in the chest and a fourth glances off his shoulder. Four more bolts hit Grog. There are now so many sticking out of his body that they almost provide a sort of armor for him. The guards reload their crossbows.

As Vex makes her way into the dining room, Trinket claws at Tylieri, dropping him to his hands and knees. The bear clamps his jaws over the vampire's head and tears it off, the body turning to mist as he screams in pain. The mist hovers in place.

Still thinking about how cool it was when Vax slid over the table, Keyleth imitates him. She slides over to the door and sees the mist in the center of the room, as well as the many armed guards up above. Assuming the mist is some sort of poison, she casts Wind Wall to put up a barrier between her friends and the guards. Keyleth again tries to contact Scanlan through the earrings and hears some crackling, but the signal is too weak to get any sort of message through. Concentrating on the Wind Wall, Keyleth backs into the corner.

Percy continues shooting at the guards. The first shot ricochets off armor but the second two hit the guard, nearly knocking him off his feet. Percy takes an ominous step up the stairs.

Vax slaps Grog on the ass and tells him to kill, then runs halfway up the stairs, leaps over the banister onto the second floor, and stabs the hexed guard between the ribs with the Flametongue Dagger and Keen Dagger. The guard crumples to the ground, dead.

The mist that was once Count Tylieri's body cannot escape from the force of the Wind Wall. However, Trinket is also bludgeoned by the heavy gusts.

Grog sprints up the staircase and slams his hammer into one of the guards, shattering the crossbow. The second blow from the hammer is audible as it impacts the guard's armor, knocking the guard back against the wall as the third swing of the hammer smashes into the banister and cracks part of the floor.

The guard that was just attacked by the goliath retreats to a corner, terrified. Another guard fires a bolt into Vax's chest, cracking his sternum a bit. The two guards nearest Grog pull out their swords and swing at him. One blade hits him in the shoulder but doesn't do any real damage and the second misses entirely as Grog ducks out of the way. Two more of the guards fire bolts at Grog, but only one of them hits. The three remaining guards all fire down at Trinket but the bolts are all deflected by the Wind Wall. Trinket manages to escape from the Wind Wall and moves over to stand near Keyleth.

Vex finally makes it into the main foyer and casts Conjure Barrage, sending a torrent of arrows into the group on the second floor, including Vax and Grog. The guard that Grog had been attacking falls to the ground, riddled with arrows. Vex places her Hunter's Mark on one of the farthest guards, who seems to be commanding the others.

Maintaining her Wind Wall, Keyleth asks what the mist is. Percy shouts back that it's a vampire. Keyleth drops the Wind Wall and as the mist tries to escape she fires a Sunbeam directly into it, evaporating it as it gives out a screeching cry.

Percy moves his Hex to the next guard and walks up the stairs, aiming and firing his last two shots, blasting a hole where one of the guard's lungs was. The guard crumbles down into a pile as Percy reloads his pepperbox and moves his Hex down the line of guards.

Vax runs up to the same guard Percy just hexed and stabs him twice with the Keen Dagger and once with the Dagger of Life-Stealing, jamming the blades up into his torso. Vax kicks the guard over the banister and he lifelessly tumbles down the stairs past Percy. Vex stops the body with her foot.

Grog looks at the five remaining guards and decides to wait for now so that his companions can have a better shot.

The guards look at each other. The one who seems to be the leader shouts "Men! Run!" All five of them leap from the balcony. Three of them stick the landing and rush for the door, but the other two don't fare so well. One of them breaks his ankle and the other slams his hip into the ground, both falling prone. As the guards run out the door, Trinket claws at the one that Vex'ahlia had marked, causing him to cry out in pain. The three guards dart out into the rainstorm.

Grog leaps over the banister, holding his warhammer over his head, and slams it down into the torso of one of the prone guards, caving in the armor and ribcage. Grog raises his hammer again and slams it down into the guard's head, smashing it like a watermelon. The other prone guard is completely terrified, trying to back away with a broken ankle. Grog brings down the hammer onto the knee of his unbroken leg, severing the lower half of it entirely. The warhammer's flame instantly cauterizes the wound so he doesn't bleed out.

Vex fires a Lightning Arrow into the group of guards escaping. The one who was marked by her is electrocuted and falls to the ground. The other two are jolted, glance at each other, and keep running. For a moment, Vex considers letting them go, but then her brother shouts "Vex! No survivors!" so she fires another arrow at one of the retreating guards. The arrow sticks right into the back of the guard's head and his body falls and slides through the mud. Readying her bow again, Vex shouts for the other escaping guard to stop. He freezes and slowly turns around, shaking. Beckoning with a finger, Vex hisses, "Get. Inside. Now."

Keyleth moves past Trinket, peeks around the door, and shoots a Sunbeam at the terrified guard standing outside, vaporizing him instantly. As his ashes float away, his armor falls to the ground. Keyleth searches the sky and sees a little bit of smoke, but isn't sure if it was caused by Scanlan or just a normal chimney.

Interrogations and Investigations
The remaining guard, with his broken ankle and missing leg, hyperventilates and tries to back away from Grog. Vax hops off the balcony and stands next to the goliath. Percy goes to investigate the second floor. Keyleth stays outside to wait for Scanlan's cue.

Grog holds his hammer over the guard's remaining knee and threatens to make his death slow and painful if he doesn't answer their questions. Vax clarifies to the guard that they aren't interested in him specifically, just the people he works for: the Briarwoods. The guard says they are in the castle, or possibly under it; they spend an equal amount of time in each. At Vex's questioning, he also says that there is no one else in Tylieri's house, as they were all waiting in the foyer for Vox Machina. Satisfied, Vex follows Percy up the stairs. Black smoke is still trailing behind the gunslinger.

Vax asks the guard for secret passageways or any other information that generally shouldn't be spread around. The guard says that the Briarwoods have good plans for Whitestone, although he doesn't know what those plans are. He explains that the guards were supposed to stop the insurrection, so they gathered up certain people based on descriptions given to them and hung them from the Sun Tree as a warning. When they saw Sir Kerrion's house go up in flames, they knew Vox Machina was serious. Tylieri and Vedmire heard from one of their contacts that the group was planning an attack, so the two of them prepared a trap.

The captured guard mentions that he was involved in the hangings at the Sun Tree. Vax asks him angrily about the child who was hanged, and when the guard gives no response, he slits his throat. The rest of the group seems to approve, especially Grog.

Up on the second floor, Vex pushes Percy against the wall and looks into his eyes.

Vex sees Percy's hands shaking and the smoke still slowly circling his ankles. Percy reassures her that he is fine for now, and that she will know when he is not.

Keyleth, still outside, now sees a dark plume of smoke in the distance, apparently Scanlan's signal. She also sees people stepping out of their homes. Keyleth casts her Skywrite spell and uses the smoke rising in the distance to draw the de Rolo family crest in the sky.

Percy and Vex search through the rooms on the second floor and gather about 230 gold pieces. They also find a full jewelry box and Vex grabs the entire thing to look through later. The master bedroom does not have a bed in it. The two of them head back down the stairs as Vax heads up them. He has a look through the room as well, but doesn't find anything else.

After a few more minutes, the noise outside becomes louder. Keyleth sees that the townsfolk have gathered whatever weapons and armor they could find and are forming small bands. Keyleth tells the rest of the party to start wrapping up their investigations so that she can ignite the building.

Grog smashes open one of the doors in the foyer. It leads to a standard office room. On impulse, Grog pulls the rug away from the floor, revealing a hatch underneath. The goliath excitedly shouts his discovery to the others.

Percy continues checking the other rooms, first finding a sitting room, and then the servants' quarters which have been converted into a torture room, albeit nicer in its appearance than the duergar-operated torture room Vox Machina discovered in the Underdark.

Grog calls for one of the twins to come and check the hatch for "boobies". Vax looks it over and finds no traps. Grog flings it open. There is no ladder, just a ten-foot drop down into the basement. He jumps down. In the room is an area of fresh dirt with a dark box about eight feet long.

Vax jumps down as well, holding his Flametongue Dagger as a light source. The box is a fairly well-crafted coffin. Grog guesses that there is treasure inside and Vax agrees that they should take a look at it. The rogue checks it for traps and doesn't find any, but is still wary. Grog offers to smash it open, but before he can, Vax kicks it over. The lid comes off and a musty smell fills the air. Inside the coffin are a few small keepsakes and a cloak, which Vax takes for himself. He cuts through the lining of the coffin but doesn't find anything else.

Back upstairs, Percy rummages through the notes in Tylieri's desk. Most of them are trade ledgers. He does find a note saying that the trade of the stone for which Whitestone is named has been halted, although the stone itself is still being mined. Percy knows that this stone is often used to create objects that are easier to enchant. All of the stone being produced by Whitestone is being kept within the city, which Percy assumes to mean the Briarwoods are making something big.

Grog asks if Vax is done with the coffin, which he says he is, so Grog smashes the coffin to pieces. They both get the feeling that this was what the vampiric mist was trying to get to in order to survive.

Keyleth sees another zombie giant moving towards the plume of smoke in the distance as the citizens of Whitestone attack it. Nobody seems to be headed towards Tylieri's house. The party gathers outside of the mansion, the rain washing the blood from their bodies.

With her friends encouraging her, Keyleth casts Flaming Sphere and peeks through the entrance as she moves it all around the foyer, painting the room with flame. As the fire becomes an inferno, people in nearby homes press against their windows and watch this happen with smiles on their faces, their children whispering to each other.

Vex casts Pass Without a Trace and they all sneak off into the alley behind the burning mansion, heading back towards The Alcove.

The Citizens' Rebellion
As Vox Machina darts through the streets, they hear in the distance the sound of yells and occasionally the crashing of wood and stone. Armored Whitestone residents run through the streets, shouting orders to each other and helping the wounded. It seems the rebellion is in full force. Grog pulls out the Dust of Tracelessness and sprinkles it behind the group to hide their tracks in the mud.

They all make their way to the Alcove and gather in front of the building. The doors are closed and locked. Looking around, they don't see any signs of an ambush but they do hear pacing footsteps within the building. Keyleth knocks on the door and quietly calls out for Jordana. A nervous voice from inside asks who they are. Vex identifies herself as "Crazy Grandma". After a moment, Jordana unlocks the door and lets them in.

Since the group is no longer under the Seeming illusion, Jordana again asks them who they are. As Vex tries to explain that she was the old lady from before, Scanlan catches up to the rest of the group. Keyleth praises his work at Vedmire's mansion and gives him a high-five. Scanlan gives a quick summary of his adventure as Jordana watches warily.

Vax explains to the girl that Whitestone is not safe for outsiders, so they had been under an illusion when they first met her. They ask to rest in her store and she agrees, but questions how long they plan on staying.

The party debates how long they should rest. They are tired from the previous battle and low on spells, but the rebellion has just begun and they worry that if they wait too long all the citizens will be killed.

Vex asks if Jordana can contact anyone. The nervous girl says there are a few people she could talk to, but she doesn't want to go outside at the moment. Vex and Percy understand and drop the subject.

The group that attacked Tylieri bring up the fact that the guard they interrogated mentioned an informant. The twins briefly suspect Jordana, but she just looks like a scared and uncomfortable girl.

Eventually Vox Machina decides to take a short rest to tend to their wounds, then head out to join the rebels in taking out the zombie giants. Percy gives Vex his Headband of Initiative, Vax examines his new cloak, and Scanlan sings a Song of Rest.

Just as they are finishing their rest, they hear heavy footfalls nearby, a low moaning, and something heavy hitting the ground followed by cheers. Vox Machina heads outside as Jordana locks the door behind them. They see the body of the giant about sixty feet away and three people are in the process of hacking its head off just to make sure it's dead. There are seven citizens total, looking pretty injured but also eager and full of adrenaline.

The storm is still ongoing, with bolts of lightning visible in the distance. The group of citizens looks up, gives a short cry of victory, then darts off towards the center of the city. The de Rolo symbol in the sky has moved and distorted sightly due to the storm, but is still visible.

Scanlan remembers that Desmond, the Briarwoods' carriage driver, had told them that Tylieri was hanged from the Sun Tree by Sylas Briarwood. Scanlan suspects that the Sun Tree is where the vampires are spawning from. Keyleth counters that the man in the bar that Vax and Scanlan talked to said that people who die in Whitestone don't say dead, and she suspects that the entire land is cursed, which Grog agrees with. Either way, the group agrees to head for the Sun Tree, searching for giants on their way there.

As they head southwest through the town, the chaos seems to have died off in the area. They come across another felled zombie giant surrounded by eight civilian corpses, two of which are torn in half, one appearing to be half-eaten, and the rest smashed.

They make their way to the town square where the Sun Tree is located. Across the square is a zombie giant riddled with spears or javelins and struggling with a group of civilians. Looking at the tree, Keyleth sees eight ropes dangling free with no bodies hanging from them. Vex moves closer and sees that the ropes have all been cut, and there are actually numerous ropes all over the tree, some old and weathered, some torn, some cut.

The battle still rages across the square, and as the party looks back the way they came they see a large group of figures through the rain. As the sun sets and the figures approach, it becomes clear that it is a group of thirty to fifty armored skeletons marching in from the north.

Keyleth quickly climbs up the Sun Tree. Scanlan blows his Horn of Fog, filling the area with a heavy fog that obscures everything. The zombie giant smashes the final person that was attacking it. Keyleth climbs as high as she can up the tree, the branches creaking under her weight, and Vex climbs up after her. From this angle, she can see that there are actually closer to a hundred skeletons marching towards the group. Vax stands below her, ready to catch her if the branches break.

Keyleth starts conjuring an Ice Storm. The clouds begin to funnel downward, electricity bolting through them. The funnel of clouds goes dark as cold wind begins to swirl around it, then tears open as jagged ice and sleet begin to pour down into the center of the horde. Between twenty-five and thirty of the skeletons are blown apart, bone shards scattering everywhere. The ground becomes icy and some of the skeletons slip, but the group as a whole continues marching forward.

Vex yanks Keyleth back and the two of them climb down the tree. The zombie giant has noticed them at this point and begins stomping towards them. Vex places her Hunter's Mark on the giant and Keyleth begins casting Call Lightning. The skeletons start emerging from the fog.

Vox Machina begins running from the town square, heading for the treeline to the west. Trinket runs up behind Vex and scoops her onto his back. She prepares to shoot the giant as Keyleth brings down a lightning bolt upon it, blasting off a chunk of its torso. Vex fires the arrow from her Longbow of the Sky Sentinel. It splits into three and all of them pierce the giant's chest, sparking with electricity underneath its skin. The giant is still running after them.

Percy stops and pulls out Bad News. As he does, the giant slams its fist down into him. Percy manages to fire the gun, blasting through its torso and taking out the spine as Vax throws two daggers, one hitting each eye. The giant's torso tumbles off of its legs, which continue walking on their own for a few steps before collapsing into the mud.

Vax grabs Keyleth and pulls her after the rest of the party as they flee the area. Looking over their shoulders, they see the skeleton army pouring into the streets. It seems the Briarwoods were prepared to handle the rebellion.

Behind the scenes
The entire 40-minute scene at the beginning starting with Scanlan as a triceratops was entirely unplanned. It was one of Sam's favorite moments in the entire campaign. It was later depicted in the Legend of Vox Machina episode "Scanbo".

Vox Machina

 * Keyleth
 * Percival de Rolo
 * Scanlan Shorthalt
 * Tiberius Stormwind (absent)
 * Grog Strongjaw
 * Pike Trickfoot (absent)
 * Trinket
 * Vax'ildan
 * Vex'ahlia

New

 * Count Tylieri
 * Duke Goran Vedmire

Returning

 * Jordana Whisk

Quotations

 * Scanlan: (In the form of a Triceratops) Think like a Triceratops...I need...shelter?