Desperate Measures

is the second episode of the fourth chapter of Critical Role. Vox Machina must deal with the Chroma Conclave's attack on Emon and the possible slaughter of much of the city's leadership and notable citizenry.

Previously on Critical Role
"The group Vox Machina, after finishing their foray in Whitestone, finding a member of the Council—Riskel Daxio, who was a cult member for this entity called Vecna—bringing him to justice and executing him in the throne room of the palace of Emon. They discovered, during the search, the Traveling Troupe of Dr. Dranzel's performance troupe, which Scanlan used to be a part of. During this time they kind of hashed a plan to have Vox Machina seek this house, that apparently had fallen into disarray and the owner disappeared for a while, that may contain some goods. The party went and investigated it—they had previously been to the house and were curious as to where it stands at this point in time, especially if people were disappearing into it.

"Upon going into what was once General Krieg's house, where they once fought a blue dragon, they discovered the corpse of Krieg, long buried from the collapse of the cavern and picked apart by some sort of other large clawed creature, and immediately got into some sort of a fight with a purple worm and a frost worm that were essentially battling over whatever it was that was moving in that tunnel that seemed to be nice and tasty. These adolescent worm creatures, not even fully grown, proved a nice little challenge, but the party managed to succeed in escaping after killing them, before the mother showed up.

"They returned to Emon, managed to help Scanlan's now-discovered daughter Kaylie out of a pinch and getting imprisoned after she got in a major bar brawl, and the party returned to their Keep, where they were notified that Uriel, the Sovereign of Tal'Dorei and the city-state of Emon, had an announcement to make in the Cloudtop District. So [they] gathered Gilmore, gathered the rest of the party, and everyone went to the Cloudtop District around [dusk] at the presentational stage. At which point, Uriel announced that he felt he was no longer a worthy leader or ruler of this entire realm that he has under his watch, and is deciding to step down.

"During this announcement, however, a number of strange entities came through the clouds in the sky, as a series of chromatic ancient dragons swooped in and began to just destroy the city of Emon. Many of the townsfolk gathered at that square were immediately killed. The party, as well as a few other straggling survivors, ran away as both the gargantuan black and green dragons began to chase [them] down. Right before they honed in to pick [the party] off, an even larger ancient red dragon shoved them off to head east, to continue their plot, after slamming down into the center of Emon and claiming it as his own domain. The party escaped via the druid's Transport via Plants spell and just stepped through the tree to land in the center of their Keep of Greyskull."

Survival
Escaping from Emon's Cloudtop District using Keyleth's Transport via Plants, Vox Machina returns to Greyskull Keep in the midst of the Chroma Conclave's attack. After sending the keep's staff to the relative safety of the basement, some of the party goes to the keep's outer walls, only to find dozens of Emon's refugees clamoring for entry. Vax'ildan passionately orders the guards to open the gates and escort the refugees inside, but an ancient white dragon approaches the keep and attacks—despite being ordered to pursue other tasks by the ancient red dragon in.

Vox Machina attempts to fight off the ancient white dragon, with Trinket being frozen to unconsciousness and many refugees frozen to death. Pike heals Trinket, and the party prepares to flee. Before the situation becomes more dire, the ancient red dragon again orders the ancient white dragon—revealing his name as Vorugal—to continue east. Vorugal flies off, leaving Vox Machina and the surviving refugees in a traumatized state. Approximately twenty-five refugees survive and stay the night in Greyskull Keep's temple.

The Wishing Skull
As the party tends to the wounded refugees and damaged structures, Grog and Percy begin arguing about using the evil skull from General Krieg's house to make a wish to undo the recent disaster. Eventually, the whole party becomes involved in the struggle for the skull.

Allura Returns to Emon
While the members of Vox Machina are locked in a stand-off over the skull, Lady Allura arrives with a dwarf:  elementalist named Drake Thunderbrand. Lady Allura and Vox Machina share information, revealing a great deal of Critical Role&apos;s lore:
 * Lady Allura was in Whitestone when a terrible feeling overcame her, and her connection to the teleportation sigils in her tower and in the Alabaster Lyceum were suddenly severed.  She teleported herself and Drake Thunderbrand to Greyskull Keep as it was the only place she had enough familiarity with outside the city.
 * Lady-Allura-with-Githyanki-Soul-Gem.jpg skull contains the soul of a very old githyanki trapped in a soul gem, who may or may not be able to grant a wish.  The granting of a wish can be extremely dangerous.
 * Lady Allura does not know of Raishan or Umbrasyl.
 * Vorugal has been known to wander the wastes north in Othanzia, and some of Vorugal's offspring have wandered farther.  The Skysunder that Vox Machina destroyed two years earlier (in-game time) that was sealed in the Frostweald was one of Vorugal's children.  Vorugal has not been seen wandering out as far as Emon before.
 * The ancient red dragon is named Thordak, the Cinder King.
 * Thordak destroyed Byroden, the childhood hometown of Vex'ahlia and Vax'ildan, killing the twins' mother.
 * Lady Allura once travelled with an adventuring party that included Lady Kima, Drake Thunderbrand, Sirus, Dohla, and Ghenn.  Lady Allura's party sealed Thordak in the Elemental Plane of Fire at the cost of Sirus, Dohla, and Ghenn's lives.
 * Lady Allura assures Keyleth that Thordak was not freed by Keyleth destroying the sparkstone she obtained in.
 * Lady Allura supposes that even if Vox Machina's killing of Brimscythe invited the Chroma Conclave's assault on Emon, then the responsibility still weighs more heavily on Allura for trapping Thordak in the first place.
 * Westruun must have been attacked, because Lady Allura lost her connection to the sigils there.
 * Pyrah has been destroyed, apparently during Thordak's escape from the Elemental Plane of Fire.  Where the Fire Ashari village once stood, there is now nothing but sundered wood, charred bodies, and trees flattened by an explosive blast.  In the center, there is a large, ominous, flickering gash between the Elemental Plane of Fire and the Material Plane, roughly thirty to forty feet in width and height, as magma pours out of it.  Wandering imps, elementals, and various entities continue to escape from the portal into the mountains.

Next Steps
Vex and Vax vow to each other that they will kill Thordak, or they will die trying. Vox Machina, Lady Allura, and Drake Thunderbrand decide that their next course of action should be to assess which of their allies still live.

Vox Machina

 * Keyleth
 * Percival de Rolo
 * Scanlan Shorthalt (DM-controlled)
 * Grog Strongjaw
 * Pike Trickfoot
 * Trinket
 * Vax'ildan
 * Vex'ahlia